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Frazer, James George, Sir, 1854-1941

"The Golden Bough"

Moreover, two horns are set up on the last heap of corn,
and it is called "the horned Goat." At Kreutzburg, East Prussia,
they call out to the woman who is binding the last sheaf, "The Goat
is sitting in the sheaf." At Gablingen, in Swabia, when the last
field of oats upon a farm is being reaped, the reapers carve a goat
out of wood. Ears of oats are inserted in its nostrils and mouth,
and it is adorned with garlands of flowers. It is set up on the
field and called the Oats-goat. When the reaping approaches an end,
each reaper hastens to finish his piece first; he who is the last to
finish gets the Oats-goat. Again, the last sheaf is itself called
the Goat. Thus, in the valley of the Wiesent, Bavaria, the last
sheaf bound on the field is called the Goat, and they have a
proverb, "The field must bear a goat." At Spachbr?cken, in Hesse,
the last handful of corn which is cut is called the Goat, and the
man who cuts it is much ridiculed. At D?rrenb?chig and about Mosbach
in Baden the last sheaf is also called the Goat. Sometimes the last
sheaf is made up in the form of a goat, and they say, "The Goat is
sitting in it.


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