The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion (Vol. 2 of 2)Frazer, James George
ReligionComparative
The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion (Vol. 2 of 2)
Frazer, James George
Magic; Mythology; Religion; Superstition
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.(99) Similarly in Berry the young corn-spirit is
sometimes believed 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.”(100) 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.”(101) 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.(102) 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.(103)
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.”(104) In Hertfordshire, at the end of the reaping, there
is or was 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 all his corn
reaped.(105) 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. “Crying,
calling, or shouting the mare is a ceremony performed by the men of that
farm which is the first in any parish or district to finish the harvest.
The object of it is to make known their own prowess, and to taunt the
laggards by a pretended offer of the ‘owd mar’ [old mare] to help out
their ‘chem’ [team]. All the men assemble (the wooden harvest-bottle being
of course one of the company) in the stackyard, or, better, on the highest
ground on the farm, and there shout the following dialogue, preceding it
by a grand ‘Hip, hip, hip, hurrah!’
“ ‘I ’ave ’er, I ’ave ’er, I ’ave ’er!’
“ ‘Whad ’ast thee, whad ’ast thee, whad ’ast thee?’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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