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The corn-spirit was probably thus represented as lame because he had
been crippled by the cutting of the corn. Sometimes the old woman
who brings home the last sheaf must limp on one foot.
But sometimes the corn-spirit, in the form of a goat, is believed to
be slain on the harvest-field by the sickle or scythe. Thus, in the
neighbourhood of Bernkastel, on the Moselle, the reapers determine
by lot the order in which they shall follow each other. The first is
called the fore-reaper, the last the tail-bearer. If a reaper
overtakes the man in front he reaps past him, bending round so as to
leave the slower reaper in a patch by himself. This patch is called
the Goat; and the man for whom "the Goat is cut" in this way, is
laughed and jeered at by his fellows for the rest of the day. When
the tail-bearer cuts the last ears of corn, it is said, "He is
cutting the Goat's neck off." In the neighbourhood of Grenoble,
before the end of the reaping, a live goat is adorned with flowers
and ribbons and allowed to run about the field.


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