At Oberinntal, in the Tyrol, the last thresher is called Goat. So at
Haselberg, in West Bohemia, the man who gives the last stroke at
threshing oats is called the Oats-goat. At Tettnang, in W?rtemburg,
the thresher who gives the last stroke to the last bundle of corn
before it is turned goes by the name of the He-goat, and it is said,
"He has driven the He-goat away." The person who, after the bundle
has been turned, gives the last stroke of all, is called the
She-goat. In this custom it is implied that the corn is inhabited by
a pair of corn-spirits, male and female.
Further, the corn-spirit, captured in the form of a goat at
threshing, is passed on to a neighbour whose threshing is not yet
finished. In Franche Comt?, as soon as the threshing is over, the
young people set up a straw figure of a goat on the farmyard of a
neighbour who is still threshing. He must give them wine or money in
return. At Ellwangen, in W?rtemburg, the effigy of a goat is made
out of the last bundle of corn at threshing; four sticks form its
legs, and two its horns.
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