The “neck” was taken to the farmer’s wife, who was supposed to keep it in the house “for good luck” till the next harvest came round.[1] Near Trèves, the man who reaps the last standing corn “cuts the goat’s neck off.”[2] At Faslane, on the Gareloch (Dumbartonshire), the last handful of standing corn was sometimes called the “head.”[3] At Aurich, in East Friesland, the man who reaps the last corn “cuts the hare’s tail off.”[4] In mowing down the last corner of a field French reapers sometimes call out, “We have the cat by the tail.”[5] In Bresse (Bourgogne) the last sheaf represented the fox. Beside it a score of ears were left standing to form the tail, and each reaper, going back some paces, threw his sickle at it. He who succeeded in severing it “cut off the fox’s tail,” and a cry of “You cou con!” was raised in his honour.[6] These examples leave no room to doubt the meaning of the Devonshire and Cornish expression “the neck,” as applied to the last sheaf. The corn-spirit is conceived in human or animal form, and the last standing corn is part of its body—its neck, its head, or its tail. Sometimes, as we have seen, it is regarded as the navel-string.[7] Lastly, the Devonshire custom of drenching with water the person who brings in “the neck” is a rain-charm, such as we have had many examples of. Its parallel in the mysteries of Osiris was the custom of pouring water on the image of Osiris or on the person who represented him.
In Germany cries of Waul! or Wol! or Wôld! are sometimes raised by the reapers at cutting the last corn. Thus in some places the last patch of standing
