At Friedingen, in
Swabia, the thresher who gives the last stroke is called
Sow--Barley-sow, Corn-sow, or the like, according to the crop. At
Onstmettingen the man who gives the last stroke at threshing "has
the Sow"; he is often bound up in a sheaf and dragged by a rope
along the ground. And, generally, in Swabia the man who gives the
last stroke with the flail is called Sow. He may, however, rid
himself of this invidious distinction by passing on to a neighbour
the straw-rope, which is the badge of his position as Sow. So he
goes to a house and throws the straw-rope into it, crying, "There, I
bring you the Sow." All the inmates give chase; and if they catch
him they beat him, shut him up for several hours in the pig-sty, and
oblige him to take the "Sow" away again. In various parts of Upper
Bavaria the man who gives the last stroke at threshing must "carry
the Pig"--that is, either a straw effigy of a pig or merely a bundle
of straw-ropes. This he carries to a neighbouring farm where the
threshing is not finished, and throws it into the barn.
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