Again, the identification of the person with the corn
appears alike in the savage custom of adapting the age and stature
of the victim to the age and stature, whether actual or expected, of
the crop; in the Scotch and Styrian rules that when the corn-spirit
is conceived as the Maiden the last corn shall be cut by a young
maiden, but when it is conceived as the Corn-mother it shall be cut
by an old woman; in the warning given to old women in Lorraine to
save themselves when the Old Woman is being killed, that is, when
the last corn is being threshed; and in the Tyrolese expectation
that if the man who gives the last stroke at threshing is tall, the
next year's corn will be tall also. Further, the same identification
is implied in the savage custom of killing the representative of the
corn-spirit with hoes or spades or by grinding him between stones,
and in the European custom of pretending to kill him with the scythe
or the flail. Once more the Khond custom of pouring water on the
buried flesh of the victim is parallel to the European customs of
pouring water on the personal representative of the corn-spirit or
plunging him into a stream.
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