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
Further, the corn-spirit often appears in the form of a goat. In the
province of Prussia, when the corn bends before the wind, they say, “The
Goats are chasing each other,” “the wind is driving the Goats through the
corn,” “the Goats are browsing there,” and they expect a very good
harvest. Again they say, “the Oats-goat is sitting in the oats-field,”
“the Corn-goat is sitting in the rye-field.”(50) Children are warned not
to go into the corn-fields to pluck the blue cornflowers, or amongst the
beans to pluck pods, because the Rye-goat, the Corn-goat, the Oats-goat,
or the Bean-goat is sitting or lying there, and will carry them away or
kill them.(51) When a harvester is taken sick or lags behind his fellows
at their work, they call out, “The Harvest-goat has pushed him,” “he has
been pushed by the Corn-goat.”(52) In the neighbourhood of Braunsberg
(East Prussia) at binding the oats every harvester makes haste “lest the
Corn-goat push him.” At Oefoten in Norway each harvester has his allotted
patch to reap. When a harvester in the middle has not finished reaping his
piece after his neighbours have finished theirs, they say of him, “He
remains on the island.” And if the laggard is a man, they imitate the cry
with which they call a he-goat; if a woman, the cry with which they call a
she-goat.(53) Near Straubing in Lower Bavaria, it is said of the man who
cuts the last corn that “he has the Corn-goat or the Wheat-goat, or the
Oats-goat,” according to the crop. Moreover, two horns are set up on the
last heap of corn, and it is called “the horned Goat.” At Kreutzburg, East
Prussia, they call out to the woman who is binding the last sheaf, “The
Goat is sitting in the sheaf.”(54) At Gablingen in Swabia, when the last
field of oats upon a farm is being reaped, the reapers carve a goat out of
wood. Ears of oats are inserted in its nostrils and mouth, and it is
adorned with garlands of flowers. It is set upon the field and called the
Oats-goat. When the reaping approaches an end, each reaper hastens to
finish his piece first; he who is the last to finish gets the
Oats-goat.(55) Again, the last sheaf is itself called the Goat. Thus, in
the valley of the Wiesent, Bavaria, the last sheaf bound on the field is
called the Goat, and they have a proverb, “The field must bear a
goat.”(56) At Spachbrücken in Hesse, the last handful of corn which is cut
is called the Goat, and the man who cuts it is much ridiculed.(57)
Sometimes the last sheaf is made up in the form of a goat,(58) and they
say, “The Goat is sitting in it.” Again, the person who cuts or binds the
last sheaf is called the Goat. Thus, in parts of Mecklenburg they call out
to the woman who binds the last sheaf, “You are the Harvest-goat.” In the
neighbourhood of Uelzen in Hanover, the harvest festival begins with “the
bringing of the Harvest-goat;” that is, the woman who bound the last sheaf
is wrapt in straw, crowned with a harvest-wreath, and brought in a
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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