(M133) In these last instances the corn-spirit is personified in double form as male and female. But sometimes the spirit appears in a double female form as both old and young, corresponding exactly to the Greek Demeter and Persephone, if my interpretation of these goddesses is right. We have seen that in Scotland, especially among the Gaelic-speaking population, the last corn cut is sometimes called the Old Wife and sometimes the Maiden. Now there are parts of Scotland in which both an Old Wife (_Cailleach_) and a Maiden are cut at harvest. As the accounts of this custom are not quite clear and consistent, it may be well to give them first in the words of the original authorities. Thus the late Sheriff Alexander Nicolson tells us that there is a Gaelic proverb, “A balk (_léum-iochd_) in autumn is better than a sheaf the more”; and he explains it by saying that a _léum-iochd_ or balk “is a strip of a corn-field left fallow. The fear of being left with the last sheaf of the harvest, called the _cailleach_, or _gobhar bhacach_, always led to an exciting competition among the reapers in the last field. The reaper who came on a _léum-iochd_ would of course be glad to have so much the less to cut.”(546) In further explanation of the proverb the writer adds: “The customs as to the _Cailleach_ and _Maighdean-bhuana_ seem to have varied somewhat. Two reapers were usually set to each rig, and according to one account, the man who was first done got the _Maighdean-bhuana_ or ‘Reaping-Maiden,’ while the man who was last got the _Cailleach_ or ‘old woman.’ The latter term is used in Argyleshire; the term _Gobhar-bhacach_, the lame goat, is used in Skye. “According to what appears to be the better version, the competition to avoid the _Cailleach_ was not between reapers but between neighbouring crofters, and the man who got his harvest done first sent a handful of corn called the _Cailleach_ to his neighbour, who passed it on, till it landed with him who was latest. That man’s penalty was to provide for the dearth of the township, _gort a’ bhaile_, in the ensuing season.