batch.motif.comparative-golden-bough-volume-2-frazer-gutenberg-l372-l444
---
record_id: batch.motif.comparative-golden-bough-volume-2-frazer-gutenberg-l372-l444
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
passage_locator:
label: 'The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion (Vol. 2 of 2) / CONTENTS;
lines 372-444'
start: '372'
end: '444'
translation: 'The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion (Vol. 2 of 2)'
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: ''
summary: The passage surveys European harvest customs and sayings in which the corn-spirit,
the last sheaf, the last harvester, or a harvest effigy is identified with a goat.
It also reports interpretations in which the corn-spirit is caught at harvest,
remains over winter, flees to uncut corn, or is represented by a sheaf passed
from farm to farm.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The passage states that the corn-spirit often appears in the form of a goat.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: In Prussian examples, movements of corn in the wind are described with sayings
about goats moving, browsing, or sitting in grain fields, and these sayings are
linked with expectation of a good harvest.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: Children are warned not to enter corn, bean, rye, oat, or other fields because
named goat beings are said to be there and may carry them away or kill them.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:4
text: Sick or lagging harvesters may be described as having been pushed by the Harvest-goat
or Corn-goat.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:5
text: In several local customs, the person who cuts or binds the last corn, the
last sheaf, or the last heap of corn is called or marked as a goat.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: obs:6
text: Some customs make a material goat figure from wood, straw, or the last sheaf,
and associate it with the end of reaping.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:8
- id: obs:7
text: 'The passage reports two views of the corn-spirit: one in which it remains
in the farmhouse or barn over winter, and another in which it moves to farms where
corn is still standing.'
category: other
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:8
text: In the Skye custom described, a sheaf called the Cripple Goat is sent from
the first farmer to finish reaping to another farmer still reaping, and then passed
onward until all corn is cut.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:9
text: The passage suggests that the Cripple Goat may be lame because the corn-spirit
has been crippled by the cutting of the corn.
category: other
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:10
text: In the Böhmer Wald example, a loser in a race to bring corn home is marked
by village boys, who erect a large straw Oats-goat on his roof at night.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: corn-spirit
description: A spirit associated with corn, described as appearing in goat form,
being caught, living over winter, or fleeing to standing corn.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:5
- ev:7
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Corn-goat / Oats-goat / Rye-goat / Bean-goat / Harvest-goat
description: Named goat forms or labels associated with grain fields, the last sheaf,
the last harvester, or harvest effigies.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:8
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: children warned away from fields
description: Children are told not to enter fields because goat beings are sitting
or lying there and may harm them.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: harvesters and last reaper or binder
description: Harvest workers who may lag, cut or bind the last sheaf, receive a
goat name, or be processed and decorated after harvest.
role_refs:
- role:5
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: farmers and messenger in Skye custom
description: Farmers pass a sheaf called the Cripple Goat from a completed farm
to another farm where reaping is still unfinished.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: village boys in Böhmer Wald custom
description: Boys mark the loser of a race and set a large straw Oats-goat on his
roof.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
roles:
- id: role:1
label: goat-formed harvest spirit
assigned_to:
- fig:1
- fig:2
basis: The passage explicitly states that the corn-spirit often appears as a goat
and gives multiple goat names tied to crops.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:2
label: spirit retained or displaced by harvest
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The corn-spirit is described as either living in the farmhouse or barn over
winter, or fleeing to another farm where corn remains standing.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: role:3
label: name or embodiment of the last grain
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The last heap, last sheaf, last handful, or material goat figure is called
Goat, Corn-goat, Oats-goat, or similar names.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:8
- id: role:4
label: potential victims of field-being warning
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: Children are warned that goat beings in the fields may carry them away or
kill them.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:5
label: laggard or afflicted harvester
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: A sick or slow harvester is said to have been pushed by the Harvest-goat
or Corn-goat.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:6
label: human bearer of goat identity at harvest end
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: The person cutting or binding the last sheaf is called the Goat or a crop-specific
goat, sometimes decorated, led, drenched, or made to keep the name for a year.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: role:7
label: transmitter of the Cripple Goat sheaf
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: The Skye custom has a sheaf passed from one farmer to another until all reaping
is finished.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: role:8
label: ritual mockers or markers of harvest loser
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: Village boys identify the loser of the corn-home race and put the straw Oats-goat
on his roof.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: goat as crop-spirit form
literal_form: Goat, Corn-goat, Oats-goat, Rye-goat, Bean-goat, Harvest-goat, Wheat-goat
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: sym:2
label: last sheaf or last handful
literal_form: The last sheaf, last handful of corn, or last heap of corn called
Goat or said to contain the Goat
associated_figures:
- fig:2
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: sym:3
label: horns on last heap
literal_form: Two horns set up on the last heap of corn, which is called the horned
Goat
associated_figures:
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: sym:4
label: wooden or straw goat effigy
literal_form: A carved wooden Oats-goat adorned with oats and flowers, or a large
straw Oats-goat set on a roof
associated_figures:
- fig:2
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:8
- id: sym:5
label: Cripple Goat sheaf
literal_form: A sheaf called the goabbir bhacagh, translated as the Cripple Goat,
passed among farms during reaping
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: sym:6
label: harvest wreath, corn-ear crown, bell, and liquor
literal_form: 'Decorations or treatment given to a person identified as Corn-goat
or Goat: straw wrapping, wreath, corn-ear crown, bell, procession, and drenching
with liquor'
associated_figures:
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Goat beings in grain fields
summary: The passage reports sayings that identify motion in grain with goats and
warn children that goat beings dwell in crop fields.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Goat pushes or marks the laggard harvester
summary: Harvesters who are sick, slow, or not finished after neighbours are described
through goat language, including being pushed by the Corn-goat or remaining exposed
to goat mockery.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
- fig:4
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: scene:3
label: Last corn as Goat
summary: At harvest completion, the last corn, last sheaf, last handful, last heap,
or person handling it is called Goat or a crop-specific goat, sometimes with horns
or a goat-shaped effigy.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
- fig:4
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
- sym:3
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: scene:4
label: Human Corn-goat procession and mockery
summary: The last binder or cutter may be wrapped in straw, crowned, carried or
led, given a bell, drenched with liquor, or made to bear the goat-name for a year.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
- fig:4
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: scene:5
label: Corn-spirit retained, fleeing, or passed onward
summary: The passage contrasts the view that a farm keeps its corn-spirit over winter
with the view that the spirit flees to uncut corn, and illustrates the latter
with a Skye sheaf passed from farm to farm.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:5
symbol_refs:
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: scene:6
label: Oats-goat placed on the loser's roof
summary: In the Böhmer Wald example, peasants race while bringing corn home; boys
identify the loser and erect a large straw Oats-goat on his roof at night.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
- fig:6
symbol_refs:
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: Corn-spirit in goat form
taxonomy_refs:
- seasonal_cycle
basis: The passage repeatedly links a crop spirit or crop-field presence with goat
names and goat forms across harvest contexts.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:5
confidence: high
cautions: The available taxonomy has no specific goat or grain-spirit category;
seasonal_cycle is used because the material is explicitly harvest-seasonal.
- id: motif:2
label: Last sheaf or last harvester embodies the harvest being
taxonomy_refs:
- seasonal_cycle
basis: The last sheaf, last handful, last heap, and the person who cuts or binds
the last sheaf are called Goat or crop-specific goat names and may be decorated
or mocked.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
confidence: high
cautions: The passage gives local customs but does not prove a single origin or
uniform meaning for all examples.
- id: motif:3
label: Harvest spirit moves from cut fields to uncut fields
taxonomy_refs:
- seasonal_cycle
basis: The passage states a view that the corn-spirit flees to another farm where
corn remains standing and illustrates this with the Skye Cripple Goat sheaf passed
from farmer to farmer.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
confidence: medium
cautions: The movement of the spirit is reported as an interpretive view; the Skye
custom itself is described concretely as a sheaf-transfer custom.
- id: motif:4
label: Crippled harvest being caused by cutting the corn
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The Cripple Goat sheaf is interpreted as representing a corn-spirit made
lame by the cutting of the corn, with comparison to a limping bearer of the last
sheaf.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage uses probabilistic language for this interpretation.
- id: motif:5
label: Mock-penalty for being last in harvest work
taxonomy_refs:
- seasonal_cycle
basis: Lagging, losing, or last-finishing harvesters receive goat-related names,
cries, ridicule, processions, or roof effigies.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:8
confidence: high
cautions: The social meaning of the mockery varies by locality and is not fully
explained in the passage.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The passage presents a recurring European harvest pattern in which goat language
or goat figures mark the corn-spirit, the last sheaf, or the person associated
with the last grain.
claim_level: same_motif
target: European goat-associated harvest customs in Prussia, Norway, Bavaria, Swabia,
Hesse, Mecklenburg, Hanover, Switzerland, Styria, Skye, and Böhmer Wald
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:6
- ev:8
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: The passage is a comparative scholarly synthesis and does not establish
historical contact or common inheritance among the listed local customs.
- id: claim:2
claim: 'Several customs assign a similar function to goat imagery: marking the vulnerable
endpoint of harvest work, especially the last sheaf, last handful, last worker,
or last farm still reaping.'
claim_level: same_function
target: Last-sheaf and last-harvester goat customs across the cited European localities
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:6
- ev:8
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: The functional similarity is supported by the passage, but local ritual
details and meanings differ.
- id: claim:3
claim: The Skye Cripple Goat sheaf is compared within the passage to the idea that
the corn-spirit moves from harvested fields to fields where corn remains standing.
claim_level: same_function
target: Transfer of a harvest-spirit representation from completed harvest to unfinished
harvest
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The passage frames this as an explanatory interpretation of the custom
rather than as a directly reported native explanation.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 372-386
quote_or_summary: The passage says the corn-spirit often appears as a goat; Prussian
sayings describe goats moving or sitting in corn, oats, rye, and beans, and children
are warned that such goat beings may carry them away or kill them.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary used.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 386-397
quote_or_summary: Sick or slow harvesters are said to have been pushed by the Harvest-goat
or Corn-goat; in East Prussia and Norway, lagging harvesters are associated with
goat cries or danger of being pushed.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary used.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 397-417
quote_or_summary: Examples from Bavaria, East Prussia, Swabia, Hesse, and nearby
areas call the last corn, last heap, last sheaf, last handful, or a carved/formed
goat figure the Goat, Corn-goat, Wheat-goat, or Oats-goat; horns may be set on
the last heap.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary used.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 417-430
quote_or_summary: The person who cuts or binds the last sheaf may be called Harvest-goat,
Corn-goat, Rye-goat, or Goat; some are wrapped in straw, crowned, brought to the
village, led with a bell, drenched with liquor, or made to bear the name for a
year.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary used.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 431-438
quote_or_summary: The passage contrasts a view that a caught corn-spirit lives in
the farmhouse or barn over winter with a view that it is a genius or deity of
all corn and flees to another farm where corn is still standing.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary used.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 438-443
quote_or_summary: In the Skye custom, the farmer who first finished reaping sent
a man or woman with a sheaf to a neighbour still reaping; the sheaf passed onward
until all corn was cut and was called the Cripple Goat.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary used.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 443-444
quote_or_summary: The passage says the corn-spirit was probably represented as lame
because it had been crippled by the cutting of the corn, and refers to an old
woman bearing the last sheaf who must limp on one foot.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary used.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: lines 444
quote_or_summary: In the Böhmer Wald mountains, peasants racing to bring corn home
are observed by village boys, who mark the loser and erect on his roof a large
straw figure of a goat called the Oats-goat.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary used.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: medium
notes: The passage is explicit about goat-associated harvest customs and comparisons
among regions. Motif taxonomy mapping is less certain because the available taxonomy
lacks specific categories for grain spirit, last sheaf, or goat effigy.
reviewer_status:
status: needs_review
reviewer: ''
reviewed_at: ''
notes: Machine-generated draft from OpenAI Batch; not human-reviewed.
extracted_by: openai_batch:gpt-5.5
extracted_at: '2026-04-28'
notes: |-
Only the supplied passage and metadata were used. No historical-contact or common-inheritance claim is made.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:comparative-golden-bough-volume-2-frazer-gutenberg__l372-l444
passage_sha256=ee0e261cb015b48ca5abbf3d10c823fae376be315adedd0e623dbe4fdf20f346