" When a harvester has
overstrained and lamed himself, they say in the Graudenz district of
West Prussia, "The Bull pushed him"; in Lorraine they say, "He has
the Bull." The meaning of both expressions is that he has
unwittingly lighted upon the divine corn-spirit, who has punished
the profane intruder with lameness. So near Chamb?ry when a reaper
wounds himself with his sickle, it is said that he has "the wound of
the Ox." In the district of Bunzlau (Silesia) the last sheaf is
sometimes made into the shape of a horned ox, stuffed with tow and
wrapt in corn-ears. This figure is called the Old Man. In some parts
of Bohemia the last sheaf is made up in human form and called the
Buffalo-bull. These cases show a confusion of the human with the
animal shape of the corn-spirit. The confusion is like that of
killing a wether under the name of a wolf. All over Swabia the last
bundle of corn on the field is called the Cow; the man who cuts the
last ears "has the Cow," and is himself called Cow or Barley-cow or
Oats-cow, according to the crop; at the harvest-supper he gets a
nosegay of flowers and corn-ears and a more liberal allowance of
drink than the rest.
Pages:
1260
1261
1262
1263
1264
1265
1266
1267
1268
1269
1270
1271
1272
1273
1274
1275
1276
1277
1278
1279
1280
1281
1282
1283
1284