Section 8. The Corn-spirit as a Horse or Mare.
SOMETIMES the corn-spirit appears in the shape of a horse or
mare. Between Kalw and Stuttgart, when the corn bends before
the wind, they say, "There runs the Horse." At Bohlingen, near
Radolfzell in Baden, the last sheaf of oats is called the
Oats-stallion. In Hertfordshire, at the end of the reaping, there is
or used to be observed a ceremony called "crying the Mare." The
last blades of corn left standing on the field are tied together and
called the Mare. The reapers stand at a distance and throw their
sickles at it; he who cuts it through "has the prize, with
acclamations and good cheer." After it is cut the reapers cry thrice
with a loud voice, "I have her!" Others answer thrice, "What have
you?"-"A Mare! a Mare! a Mare!"-"Whose is she?" is next
asked thrice. "A. B.'s," naming the owner thrice. "Whither will you
send her?"-"To C. D.," naming some neighbour who has not
reaped all his corn. In this custom the corn-spirit in the form of a
mare is passed on from a farm where the corn is all cut to another
farm where it is still standing, and where therefore the corn-spirit
may be supposed naturally to take refuge. In Shropshire the
custom is similar. The farmer who finishes his harvest last, and
who therefore cannot send the Mare to any one else, is said "to
keep her all winter." The mocking offer of the Mare to a laggard
neighbour was sometimes responded to by a mocking acceptance
of her help. Thus an old man told an inquirer, "While we wun at
supper, a mon cumm'd wi' a autar [halter] to fatch her away." At
one place a real mare used to be sent, but the man who rode her
was subjected to some rough treatment at the farmhouse to which
he paid his unwelcome visit. 1
In the neighbourhood of Lille the idea of the corn-spirit in horse
form in clearly preserved. When a harvester grows weary at his
work, it is said, "He has the fatigue of the Horse." The first sheaf,
called the "Cross of the Horse," is placed on a cross of boxwood
in the barn, and the youngest horse on the farm must tread on it.
The reapers dance round the last blades of corn, crying, "See the
remains of the Horse." The sheaf made out of these last blades is
given to the youngest horse of the parish (commune) to eat. This
youngest horse of the parish clearly represents, as Mannhardt
says, the corn-spirit of the following year, the Corn-foal, which
absorbs the spirit of the old Corn-horse by eating the last corn
cut; for, as usual, the old corn-spirit takes his final refuge in the
last sheaf. The thresher of the last sheaf is said to "beat the
Horse." 2