Here, again, we meet with that confusion
between the human and animal shape of the corn-spirit which we have
noted in other customs. In Canton Schaffhausen the man who threshes
the last corn is called the Cow; in Canton Thurgau, the Corn-bull;
in Canton Zurich, the Thresher-cow. In the last-mentioned district
he is wrapt in straw and bound to one of the trees in the orchard.
At Arad, in Hungary, the man who gives the last stroke at threshing
is enveloped in straw and a cow's hide with the horns attached to
it. At Pessnitz, in the district of Dresden, the man who gives the
last stroke with the flail is called Bull. He must make a straw-man
and set it up before a neighbour's window. Here, apparently, as in
so many cases, the corn-spirit is passed on to a neighbour who has
not finished threshing. So at Herbrechtingen, in Th?ringen, the
effigy of a ragged old woman is flung into the barn of the farmer
who is last with his threshing. The man who throws it in cries,
"There is the Cow for you." If the threshers catch him they detain
him over night and punish him by keeping him from the
harvest-supper.
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