




                             The Golden Bough

                     A Study in Comparative Religion

                                    By

                        James George Frazer, M.A.

                   Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge

                             In Two Volumes.

                                 Vol. II.

                           New York and London

                            MacMillan and Co.

                                   1894





CONTENTS


Chapter III--(_continued_).
   § 10.--The corn-spirit as an animal.
   § 11.--Eating the god.
   § 12.--Killing the divine animal.
   § 13.--Transference of evil.
   § 14.--Expulsion of evils,
   § 15.--Scapegoats.
   § 16.--Killing the god in Mexico.
Chapter IV--The Golden Bough.
   § 1.--Between heaven and earth.
   § 2.--Balder.
   § 3.--The external soul in folk-tales.
   § 4.--The external soul in folk-custom.
   § 5.--Conclusion.
Note. Offerings of first-fruits.
Index.
Footnotes






                               [Cover Art]

[Transcriber's Note: The above cover image was produced by the submitter
at Distributed Proofreaders, and is being placed into the public domain.]





CHAPTER III--(_CONTINUED_).




§ 10.--The corn-spirit as an animal.


In some of the examples cited above to establish the meaning of the term
"neck" as applied to the last sheaf, the corn-spirit appears in animal
form as a gander, a goat, a hare, a cat, and a fox. This introduces us to
a new aspect of the corn-spirit, which we must now examine. By doing so we
shall not only have fresh examples of killing the god, but may hope also
to clear up some points which remain obscure in the myths and worship of
Attis, Adonis, Osiris, Dionysus, Demeter, and Virbius.

Amongst the many animals whose forms the corn-spirit is supposed to take
are the wolf, dog, hare, cock, goose, cat, goat, cow (ox, bull), pig, and
horse. In one or other of these forms the corn-spirit is believed to be
present in the corn, and to be caught or killed in the last sheaf. As the
corn is being cut the animal flees before the reapers, and if a reaper is
taken ill on the field, he is supposed to have stumbled unwittingly on the
corn-spirit, who has thus punished the profane intruder. It is said "The
Rye-wolf has got hold of him," "the Harvest-goat has given him a push."
The person who cuts the last corn or binds the last sheaf gets the name of
the animal, as the Rye-wolf, the Rye-sow, the Oats-goat, etc., and retains
the name sometimes for a year. Also the animal is frequently represented
by a puppet made out of the last sheaf or of wood, flowers, etc., which is
carried home amid rejoicings on the last harvest waggon. Even where the
last sheaf is not made up in animal shape, it is often called the
Rye-wolf, the Hare, Goat, and so on. Generally each kind of crop is
supposed to have its special animal, which is caught in the last sheaf,
and called the Rye-wolf, the Barley-wolf, the Oats-wolf, the Pea-wolf, or
the Potato-wolf, according to the crop; but sometimes the figure of the
animal is only made up once for all at getting in the last crop of the
whole harvest. Sometimes the animal is believed to be killed by the last
stroke of the sickle or scythe. But oftener it is thought to live so long
as there is corn still unthreshed, and to be caught in the last sheaf
threshed. Hence the man who gives the last stroke with the flail is told
that he has got the Corn-sow, the Threshing-dog, etc. When the threshing
is finished, a puppet is made in the form of the animal, and this is
carried by the thresher of the last sheaf to a neighbouring farm, where
the threshing is still going on. This again shows that the corn-spirit is
believed to live wherever the corn is still being threshed. Sometimes the
thresher of the last sheaf himself represents the animal; and if the
people of the next farm, who are still threshing, catch him, they treat
him like the animal he represents, by shutting him up in the pig-sty,
calling him with the cries commonly addressed to pigs, and so forth.(1)

These general statements will now be illustrated by examples. We begin
with the corn-spirit conceived as a wolf or a dog. This conception is
common in France, Germany, and Slavonic countries. Thus, when the wind
sets the corn in wave-like motion, the peasants often say, "The Wolf is
going over, or through, the corn," "the Rye-wolf is rushing over the
field," "the Wolf is in the corn," "the mad Dog is in the corn," "the big
Dog is there."(2) When children wish to go into the corn-fields to pluck
ears or gather the blue corn-flowers, they are warned not to do so, for
"the big Dog sits in the corn," or "the Wolf sits in the corn, and will
tear you in pieces," "the Wolf will eat you." The wolf against whom the
children are warned is not a common wolf, for he is often spoken of as the
Corn-wolf, Rye-wolf, etc.; thus they say, "The Rye-wolf will come and eat
you up, children," "the Rye-wolf will carry you off," and so forth.(3)
Still he has all the outward appearance of a wolf. For in the
neighbourhood of Feilenhof (East Prussia), when a wolf was seen running
through a field, the peasants used to watch whether he carried his tail in
the air or dragged it on the ground. If he dragged it on the ground, they
went after him, and thanked him for bringing them a blessing, and even set
tit-bits before him. But if he carried his tail high, they cursed him and
tried to kill him. Here the wolf is the corn-spirit, whose fertilising
power is in his tail.(4)

Both dog and wolf appear as embodiments of the corn-spirit in
harvest-customs. Thus in some parts of Silesia the person who binds the
last sheaf is called the Wheat-dog or the Peas-pug.(5) But it is in the
harvest-customs of the north-east of France that the idea of the Corn-dog
comes out most clearly. Thus when a harvester, through sickness,
weariness, or laziness, cannot or will not keep up with the reaper in
front of him, they say, "The White Dog passed near him," "he has the White
Bitch," or "the White Bitch has bitten him."(6) In the Vosges the
Harvest-May is called the "Dog of the harvest."(7) About Lons-le-Saulnier,
in the Jura, the last sheaf is called the Bitch. In the neighbourhood of
Verdun the regular expression for finishing the reaping is, "They are
going to kill the Dog;" and at Epinal they say, according to the crop, "We
will kill the Wheat-dog, or the Rye-dog, or the Potato-dog."(8) In
Lorraine it is said of the man who cuts the last corn, "He is killing the
Dog of the harvest."(9) At Dux, in the Tyrol, the man who gives the last
stroke at threshing is said to "strike down the Dog;"(10) and at
Ahnebergen, near Stade, he is called, according to the crop, Corn-pug,
Rye-pug, Wheat-pug.(11)

So with the wolf. In Germany it is said that "The Wolf sits in the last
sheaf."(12) In some places they call out to the reaper, "Beware of the
Wolf;" or they say, "He is chasing the Wolf out of the corn."(13) The last
bunch of standing corn is called the Wolf, and the man who cuts it "has
the Wolf." The last sheaf is also called the Wolf; and of the woman who
binds it they say, "The Wolf is biting her," "she has the Wolf," "she must
fetch the Wolf" (out of the corn).(14) Moreover, she is herself called
Wolf and has to bear the name for a whole year; sometimes, according to
the crop, she is called the Rye-wolf or the Potato-wolf.(15) In the island
of Ruegen they call out to the woman who binds the last sheaf, "You're
Wolf;" and when she comes home she bites the lady of the house and the
stewardess, for which she receives a large piece of meat. The same woman
may be Rye-wolf, Wheat-wolf, and Oats-wolf, if she happens to bind the
last sheaf of rye, wheat, and oats.(16) At Buir, in the district of
Cologne, it was formerly the custom to give to the last sheaf the shape of
a wolf. It was kept in the barn till all the corn was threshed. Then it
was brought to the farmer, and he had to sprinkle it with beer or
brandy.(17) In many places the sheaf called the Wolf is made up in human
form and dressed in clothes. This indicates a confusion between the
conceptions of the corn-spirit as theriomorphic (in animal form) and as
anthropomorphic (in human form).(18) Generally the Wolf is brought home on
the last waggon, with joyful cries.(19)

Again, the Wolf is supposed to hide himself amongst the cut corn in the
granary, until he is driven out of the last bundle by the strokes of the
flail. Hence at Wanzleben, near Magdeburg, after the threshing the
peasants go in procession, leading by a chain a man, who is enveloped in
the threshed out straw and is called the Wolf.(20) He represents the
corn-spirit who has been caught escaping from the threshed corn. In Trier
it is believed that the Corn-wolf is killed at threshing. The men thresh
the last sheaf till it is reduced to chopped straw. In this way they think
that the Corn-wolf who was lurking in the last sheaf, has been certainly
killed.(21)

In France also the Corn-wolf appears at harvest. Thus they call out to the
reaper of the last corn, "You will catch the Wolf." Near Chambery they
form a ring round the last standing corn, and cry, "The Wolf is in there."
In Finisterre, when the reaping draws near an end, the harvesters cry,
"There is the Wolf; we will catch him." Each takes a swath to reap, and he
who finishes first calls out, "I've caught the Wolf."(22) In Guyenne, when
the last corn has been reaped, they lead a wether all round the field. It
is called "the Wolf of the field." Its horns are decked with a wreath of
flowers and corn-ears, and its neck and body are also encircled with
garlands and ribbons. All the reapers march, singing, behind it. Then it
is killed on the field. In this part of France the last sheaf is called
the _coujoulage_, which, in the patois, means a wether. Hence the killing
of the wether represents the death of the corn-spirit, considered as
present in the last sheaf; but two different conceptions of the
corn-spirit--as a wolf and as a wether--are mixed up together.(23)

Sometimes it appears to be thought that the Wolf, caught in the last corn,
lives during the winter in the farmhouse, ready to renew his activity as
corn-spirit in the spring. Hence at midwinter, when the lengthening days
begin to herald the approach of spring, the Wolf makes his appearance once
more. In Poland a man, with a wolf's skin thrown over his head, is led
about at Christmas; or a stuffed wolf is carried about by persons who
collect money.(24) There are facts which point to an old custom of leading
about a man enveloped in leaves and called the Wolf, while his conductors
collected money.(25)

Another form which the corn-spirit often assumes is that of a cock. In
Austria children are warned against straying in the corn-fields, because
the Corn-cock sits there, and will peck their eyes out.(26) In North
Germany they say that "the Cock sits in the last sheaf;" and at cutting
the last corn the reapers cry, "Now we will chase out the Cock." When it
is cut they say, "We have caught the Cock." Then a cock is made of
flowers, fastened on a pole, and carried home by the reapers, singing as
they go.(27) At Braller, in Transylvania, when the reapers come to the
last patch of corn, they cry, "Here we shall catch the Cock."(28) At
Fuerstenwalde, when the last sheaf is about to be bound, the master lets
loose a cock, which he has brought in a basket, and lets it run over the
field. All the harvesters chase it till they catch it. Elsewhere the
harvesters all try to seize the last corn cut; he who succeeds in grasping
it must crow, and is called Cock.(29) The last sheaf is called Cock,
Cock-sheaf, Harvest-cock, Harvest-hen, Autumn-hen. A distinction is made
between a Wheat-cock, Bean-cock, etc., according to the crop.(30) At
Wuenschensuhl, in Thueringen, the last sheaf is made into the shape of a
cock, and called Harvest-cock.(31) A figure of a cock, made of wood,
pasteboard, or ears of corn, is borne in front of the harvest-waggon,
especially in Westphalia, where the cock carries in his beak fruits of the
earth of all kinds. Sometimes the image of the cock is fastened to the top
of a May-tree on the last harvest-waggon. Elsewhere a live cock, or a
figure of one, is attached to a harvest-crown and carried on a pole. In
Galicia and elsewhere this live cock is fastened to the garland of
corn-ears or flowers, which the leader of the women-reapers carries on her
head as she marches in front of the harvest procession.(32) In Silesia a
live cock is presented to the master on a plate. The harvest supper is
called Harvest-cock, Stubble-cock, etc., and a chief dish at it, at least
in some places, is a cock.(33) If a waggoner upsets a harvest-waggon, it
is said that "he has spilt the Harvest-cock," and he loses the cock--that
is, the harvest supper.(34) The harvest-waggon, with the figure of the
cock on it, is driven round the farmhouse before it is taken to the barn.
Then the cock is nailed over, or at the side of the house door, or on the
gable, and remains there till next harvest.(35) In East Friesland the
person who gives the last stroke at threshing is called the Clucking-hen,
and grain is strewed before him as if he were a hen.(36)

Again, the corn-spirit is killed in the form of a cock. In parts of
Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Picardy, the reapers place a live cock in
the corn which is to be cut last, and chase it over the field, or bury it
up to the neck in the ground; afterwards they strike off its head with a
sickle or scythe.(37) In many parts of Westphalia, when the harvesters
bring the wooden cock to the farmer, he gives them a live cock, which they
kill with whips or sticks, or behead with an old sword, or throw it into
the barn to the girls, or give it to the mistress to cook. If the
Harvest-cock has not been spilt--that is, if no waggon has been upset--the
harvesters have the right of killing the farmyard cock by throwing stones
at it or beheading it. Where this custom has fallen into disuse, it is
still common for the farmer's wife to make cockie-leekie for the
harvesters, and to show them the head of the cock which has been killed
for the soup.(38) In the neighbourhood of Klausenburg, Transylvania, a
cock is buried on the harvest-field in the earth, so that only its head
appears. A young man then takes a scythe and cuts off the cock's head at a
single stroke. If he fails to do this, he is called the Red Cock for a
whole year, and people fear that next year's crop will be bad.(39) In the
neighbourhood of Udvarhely, Transylvania, a live cock is bound up in the
last sheaf and killed with a spit. It is then skinned. The flesh is thrown
away, but the skin and feathers are kept till next year; and in spring the
grain from the last sheaf is mixed with the feathers of the cock and
scattered on the field which is to be tilled.(40) Nothing could set in a
clearer light the identification of the cock with the spirit of the corn.
By being tied up in the last sheaf and killed, the cock is identified with
the corn, and its death with the cutting of the corn. By keeping its
feathers till spring, then mixing them with the seed-corn taken from the
very sheaf in which the bird had been bound, and scattering the feathers
together with the seed over the field, the identity of the bird with the
corn is again emphasised, and its quickening and fertilising power, as the
corn-spirit, is intimated in the plainest manner. Thus the corn-spirit, in
the form of a cock, is killed at harvest, but rises to fresh life and
activity in spring. Again, the equivalence of the cock to the corn is
expressed, hardly less plainly, in the custom of burying the bird in the
ground, and cutting off its head (like the ears of corn) with the scythe.

Another common embodiment of