Chapter 41 The corn-spirit changed into an animal: the corn-spirit as a bull, cow, or steer

The corn-spirit is also often conceived in the form of a bull, cow, or steer.At Konitz in West Prussia, when the wind blows through the corn, it is said that "the steer ran through the corn."Wherever the crops grow thickly in the field, people in some parts of East Prussia say "there is the bull lying there."In the Graudenz district of West Prussia, when a reaper limped from overwork, it was said that "the bull has hit him."The man of Lorraine said: "He has the bull." Both expressions mean that he accidentally bumped into the Corn-spirit, who punished him for his disrespect.The men near Chambery cut themselves with their own scythes at reaping, saying they were "wounded by the steers."In the region of Benzlau (Silesia), sometimes the last sheaf of grain in the field is tied in the shape of a horned ox, covered with ears of corn, and led by a rope.This image is called an old man.In some parts of Bohemia the last sheaf is tied into a human form and is called a bull buffalo.These examples show the mixing of the corn-spirit's human form with the corn-spirit's animal form.Everywhere in Swabia the last sheaf of corn in the field is called a cow; and the one who cuts the last ear "has a cow," and calls him a cow or a barley cow or an oats cow, depending on Depending on the type of grain, when eating the harvest supper, the person gets a bouquet of fragrant flowers and ears of corn, and can drink as much wine as he likes than others.People teased him, mocked him, so no one wanted to be the cow.The cow is sometimes fashioned into the shape of a woman out of ears of corn and cornflowers, and is brought back to the farm by the man who cuts the last handful of corn.The children ran after him, and the neighbors laughed at him until the farmer took the cow.In this instance, there is apparently confusion as to whether the corn-spirit is in human or animal form.In some parts of Sweden the person who reaps the last ear is called the wheat cow, the corn cow, the oats cow, the corn steer, and is the subject of jokes.Also, in the Rosenheim district of Upper Bavaria, when a certain farmer was late in harvesting after his neighbors, the neighbors set up a straw bull in his field.This kind of bull is made of rice stakes on a wooden frame. It is huge, covered with flowers and leaves, and hangs a sign with a slanted doggerel swearing at the owner of the land.

The corn-spirit, in the form of a bull or steer, was "killed" in the field when the harvest was over.At Pouilly, near Dijon [a city in central-eastern France], when the last part of the ears of grain in the field is about to be harvested, a steer with flowers, ribbons and ears of grain is led around the field and the whole harvest is harvested. Those who followed behind walked and danced.A man posing as a devil unexpectedly cut off the last ear of corn and killed the cow immediately.Part of the beef is served as a dish for harvest dinners, and the rest is salted for the first day of planting next spring.In places such as Punta Moussan, on the last night of harvest, a calf is hung with flowers and ears of grain and led three times around the farm (either lured with bait, or driven by men with sticks, or by the farm. the Lord's wife with a rope).The calf had to be the first calf born on the farm that spring to be selected.All the people who participated in the harvest took their own tools and followed the cow, and then let the cow go, and the harvesters chased it together. Whoever caught it was called the calf king.Finally, the calf was solemnly slaughtered.In Lunéville the calf was always slaughtered by the Jewish merchant of the village.

Sometimes the corn-spirit hides among the cut corn in the barn, and does not emerge as a bull or cow until threshing.In the Wohringen region of Thuringia, the person who gives the last stroke during threshing is called a cow, or more specifically a barley cow, an oat cow, a pea cow, etc., according to the different crops.He is covered with grain and grass, and two sticks are stuck on his head to represent the horns of the cow. Two children lead him to the well to drink water by rope.Along the way he was going to low like a cow, and for a long time after that he was called the cow.In the Swabian district of Obermedlingen, when the corn was nearly finished, everyone took care not to hit the last stroke, for whoever did the last stroke "had the cow."The cow was tied with straw, put on a worn woman's petticoat, stockings, and a turban, and was tied to the back of the man who "had the cow" with a straw rope, and his face was blackened with grass. The rope is tied to a wheelbarrow and pushed around the village.Here again we see the confusion of the corn-spirit's human and animal forms seen elsewhere in the custom.In Schaffhausen [Schaffhausen, Thurgau, and Zurich are all administrative states of the Swiss Confederation. ], the man who threshed the last stroke was called a cow; in the canton of Thurgau he was called a corn bull;In the Zurich area, "threshing cows" were wrapped in straw and tied to trees in orchards.Arad in Hungary [according to the Hungarian pronunciation, it should be Orod, now a small city in western Romania. ] place, the person who threshed the last stroke was wrapped in grain grass, and the grass was covered with cowhide with horns.At Pessnitz in the Dresden district, the man who flails the corn for the last time is called a bull, and he has to make a scarecrow and put it in a neighbor's window.Apparently, as is the practice in many lands, this also means passing on the corn-spirit to neighbors who have not yet finished threshing.In Herbrechtingen in Thuringia, idols in the shape of old women in rags were thrown into the barn of the farmhouse where the grain was finally threshed, and the person who threw it shouted: "Here are the cows for you." ’” If the threshing man of the house catches him, he will be detained overnight, and he will not be allowed to go back to the harvest dinner.In these customs we again encounter the confusion of the corn-spirit's human form with that of animals.

Also, it is sometimes believed that the corn-spirit, who took the form of a bull, was killed while threshing.In the district of Auxerre [the capital of the French department of Monnar], when the last sheaf was being threshed, the threshers shouted twelve times: "We killed the bull." Bordeaux [the capital of the French department of Gironde] Nearby, as soon as the harvest was over, a steer was slaughtered in the field, and the man who gave the last stroke was said to be "he who killed the bull."In the region of Chambéry [the capital of the French department of Savoie] the last sheaf of grain in the field is called "the sheaf of the strong ox," and all those who reap it compete in a mowing contest.They call the cutting of the last handful of corn a "slaughter of the ox," and the man who cuts the last handful of corn immediately slaughters a live cow in the field, and the beef is eaten at dinner.The job of the young corn-spirit is to cause the next year's grain to grow.It is believed to be the baby of the corn-spirit, born in the reaped fields.Berry [a region in central France, originally a province, which is now Cher. ] similarly in the region, where it was believed that the image of the young corn-spirit's calf was born in the field.When the bundler runs out of rope at the end, he piles up the remaining ears of wheat and at the same time imitates the lowing of a cow, which means "the sheaf has given birth to a calf."In the Dom [Mountains in south-central France, belonging to the Dom Mountain Province. ] In mountainous areas, if the person who binds the grain behind the reaper fails to keep up, everyone will say "he (or she) is giving birth to a calf."In some parts of Prussia, when encountering a similar situation, they shouted "the bull is coming" to the man, and imitated the roar of the bull.In these instances the backward woman is regarded as the corn-spirit cow or old corn-spirit, and the presumed calf is the corn-spirit calf or young corn-spirit.There is a legend in some places in Austria. It is said that when the grain sprouts in spring, a small calf can be seen in the grain seedlings. This calf is going to hurt the child.When the grain seedlings undulate like waves in the wind, people say that it is a calf walking.Apparently, as Manhart says, the calf in the spring is the same animal that is believed to have been killed later at harvest.