Section 7. The Corn-spirit as a Bull, Cow, or Ox.
ANOTHER form which the corn-spirit often assumes is that of a
bull, cow, or ox. When the wind sweeps over the corn they say at
Conitz, in West Prussia, "The Steer is running in the corn"; when
the corn is thick and strong in one spot, they say in some parts of
East Prussia, "The Bull is lying in the corn." 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 Chambéry 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. But he is teased
and laughed at; so no one likes to be the Cow. The Cow was
sometimes represented by the figure of a woman made out of ears
of corn and corn-flowers. It was carried to the farmhouse by the
man who had cut the last handful of corn. The children ran after
him and the neighbours turned out to laugh at him, till the farmer
took the Cow from him. Here again the confusion between the
human and the animal form of the corn-spirit is apparent. In
various parts of Switzerland the reaper who cuts the last ears of
corn is called Wheat-cow, Corn-cow, Oats-cow, or Corn-steer,
and is the butt of many a joke. On the other hand, in the district of
Rosenheim, Upper Bavaria, when a farmer is later of getting in his
harvest than his neighbours, they set up on his land a Straw-bull,
as it is called. This is a gigantic figure of a bull made of stubble on
a framework of wood and adorned with flowers and leaves.
Attached to it is a label on which are scrawled doggerel verses in
ridicule of the man on whose land the Straw-bull is set up. 1
Again, the corn-spirit in the form of a bull or ox is killed on the
harvest-field at the close of the reaping. At Pouilly, near Dijon,
when the last ears of corn are about to be cut, an ox adorned with
ribbons, flowers, and ears of corn is led all round the field,
followed by the whole troop of reapers dancing. Then a man
disguised as the Devil cuts the last ears of corn and immediately
slaughters the ox. Part of the flesh of the animal is eaten at the
harvest-supper; part is pickled and kept till the first day of sowing
in spring. At Pont à Mousson and elsewhere on the evening of the
last day of reaping, a calf adorned with flowers and ears of corn is
led thrice round the farmyard, being allured by a bait or driven by
men with sticks, or conducted by the farmer's wife with a rope. The
calf chosen for this ceremony is the calf which was born first on
the farm in the spring of the year. It is followed by all the reapers
with their tools. Then it is allowed to run free; the reapers chase it,
and whoever catches it is called King of the Calf. Lastly, it is
solemnly killed; at Lunéville the man who acts as butcher is the
Jewish merchant of the village. 2
Sometimes again the corn-spirit hides himself amongst the cut
corn in the barn to reappear in bull or cow form at threshing. Thus
at Wurmlingen, in Thüringen, the man who gives the last stroke at
threshing is called the Cow, or rather the Barley-cow, Oats-cow,
Peas-cow, or the like, according to the crop. He is entirely
enveloped in straw; his head is surmounted by sticks in imitation
of horns, and two lads lead him by ropes to the well to drink. On
the way thither he must low like a cow, and for a long time
afterwards he goes by the name of the Cow. At Obermedlingen, in
Swabia, when the threshing draws near an end, each man is
careful to avoid giving the last stroke. He who does give it "gets
the Cow," which is a straw figure dressed in an old ragged
petticoat, hood, and stockings. It is tied on his back with a
straw-rope; his face is blackened, and being bound with
straw-ropes to a wheelbarrow he is wheeled round the village.
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 Thüringen, 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. In these latter customs the confusion
between the human and the animal shape of the corn-spirit meets
us again. 3
Further, the corn-spirit in bull form is sometimes believed to be
killed at threshing. At Auxerre, in threshing the last bundle of corn,
they call out twelve times, "We are killing the Bull." In the
neighbourhood of Bordeaux, where a butcher kills an ox on the
field immediately after the close of the reaping, it is said of the man
who gives the last stroke at threshing that "he has killed the Bull."
At Chambéry the last sheaf is called the sheaf of the Young Ox,
and a race takes place to it in which all the reapers join. When the
last stroke is given at threshing they say that "the Ox is killed";
and immediately thereupon a real ox is slaughtered by the reaper
who cut the last corn. The flesh of the ox is eaten by the threshers
at supper. 4
We have seen that sometimes the young corn-spirit, whose task
it is to quicken the corn of the coming year, is believed to be born
as a Corn-baby on the harvest-field. Similarly in Berry the young
corn-spirit is sometimes supposed to be born on the field in calf
form; for when a binder has not rope enough to bind all the corn in
sheaves, he puts aside the wheat that remains over and imitates
the lowing of a cow. The meaning is that "the sheaf has given birth
to a calf." In Puy-de-Dôme when a binder cannot keep up with
the reaper whom he or she follows, they say "He (or she) is giving
birth to the Calf." In some parts of Prussia, in similar
circumstances, they call out to the woman, "The Bull is coming,"
and imitate the bellowing of a bull. In these cases the woman is
conceived as the Corn-cow or old corn-spirit, while the
supposed calf is the Corn-calf or young corn-spirit. In some parts
of Austria a mythical calf (Muhkälbchen) is believed to be seen
amongst the sprouting corn in spring and to push the children;
when the corn waves in the wind they say, "The Calf is going
about." Clearly, as Mannhardt observes, this calf of the
spring-time is the same animal which is afterwards believed to be
killed at reaping. 5