Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 3, 1892.djvu/466

458 it appears that the hare was once a common embodiment of the corn-spirit.

"In some parts of Ayrshire the cutting of the last corn is called 'cutting the hare', and in Germany the name for the last sheaf is 'the hare'. In east Prussia they say that the hare sits in the last patch of standing corn, and must be chased out by the last reaper." The reapers hurry with their work, each being anxious not to have to "chase out the hare"; for the man who does so—that is, who cuts the last corn—is much laughed at. At Birk, in Transylvania, when the reapers come to the last patch, they cry out, "We have the hare." At Aurich an expression for cutting the last corn is "to cut off the hare's tail". "He is killing the hare," is commonly said of the man who cuts the last corn in Germany, Sweden, Holland, France, and Italy. In Norway, the man who is thus said to "kill the hare", must give "hare's blood", in the form of brandy, to his fellows to drink.

IX. There are a few other apparent survivals of hareritual besides the customs we are investigating.

(1) It is well known to all students of folk-lore that relics of ancient worship may often be discovered in those customary rents and services which comprise offerings of flowers or animals. It is therefore worth while to notice the survival in Sheffield of a rent which consists of two white hares, to be paid on St. John's Day.

(2) There is a nursery rhyme "whose antiquity and connection with sorcery", says Mr. Leland, "is very evident." It is as follows:

Now Mr. Leland quotes from the Magical Spells of