And， generally， in Swabia the man who gives the last stroke with the flail is called Sow. He may， however， rid himself of this invidious distinction by passing on to a neighbour the straw-rope， which is the badge of his position as Sow. So he goes to a house and throws the straw-rope into it， crying， There， I bring you the Sow. All the inmates give chase； and if they catch him they beat him， shut him up for several hours in the pig-sty， and oblige him to take the Sow away again. In various parts of Upper Bavaria the man who gives the last stroke at threshing must carry the Pigthat is， either a straw effigy of a pig or merely a bundle of straw-ropes. This he carries to a neighbouring farm where the threshing is not finished， and throws it into the barn. If the threshers catch him they handle him roughly， beating him， blackening or dirtying his face， throwing him into filth， binding the Sow on his back， and so on； if the bearer of the Sow is a woman they cut off her hair. At the harvest supper or dinner the man who carried the Pig gets one or more dumplings made in the form of pigs. When the dumplings are served up by the maidservant， all the people at table cry Süz， süz， süz ！ that being the cry used in calling pigs. Sometimes after dinner the man who carried the Pig has his face blackened， and is set on a cart and drawn round the village by his fellows， followed by a crowd crying Süz， süz， süz ！ as if they were calling swine. Sometimes， after being wheeled round the village， he is flung on the dunghill.
Again， the corn-spirit in the form of a pig plays his part at sowing-time as well as at harvest. At Neuautz， in Courland， when barley is sown for the first time in the year， the farmer's wife boils the chine of a pig along with the tail， and brings it to the sower on the field. He eats of it， but cuts off the tail and sticks it in the field； it is believed that the ears of corn will then grow as long as the tail. Here the pig is the corn-spirit， whose fertilising power is sometimes supposed to lie especially in his tail. As a pig he is put in the ground at sowing-time， and as a pig he reappears amongst the ripe corn at harvest. For amongst the neighbouring Esthonians， as we have seen， the last sheaf is called the Rye-boar. Somewhat similar customs are observed in Germany. In the Salza district， near Meiningen， a certain bone in the pig is called the Jew on the winnowing-fan. The flesh of this bone is boiled on Shrove Tuesday， but the bone is put amongst the ashes which the neighbours exchange as presents on St. Peter's Day (the twenty-second of February)， and then mix with the seedcorn. In the whole of Hesse， Meiningen， and other districts， people eat pea-soup with dried pig-ribs on Ash Wednesday or Candlemas. The ribs are then collected and hung in the room till sowing-time， when they are inserted in the sown field or in the seed-bag amongst the flax seed. This is thought to be an infallible specific against earth-fleas and moles， and to cause the flax to grow well and tall.
But the idea of the corn-spirit as embodied in pig form is nowhere more clearly expressed than in the Scandinavian custom of the Yule Boar. In Sweden and Denmark at Yule (Christmas) it is the custom to bake a loaf in the form of a boar-pig. This is called the Yule Boar. The corn of the last sheaf is often used to make it. All through Yule the Yule Boar stands on the table. Often it is kept till the sowing-time in spring， when part of it is mixed with the seed-corn and part given to the ploughman and plough-horses or ploughoxen to eat， in the expectation of a good harvest. In this custom the corn-spirit， immanent in the last sheaf， appears at midwinter in the form of a boar made from the corn of the last sheaf； and his quickening influence on the corn is shown by mixing part of the Yule Boar with the seed-corn， and giving part of it to the ploughman and his cattle to eat. Similarly we saw that the Corn-wolf makes his appearance at mid-winter， the time when the year begins to verge towards spring. Formerly a real boar was sacrificed at Christmas， and apparently also a man in the character of the Yule Boar. This， at least， may perhaps be inferred from a Christmas custom still observed in Sweden. A man is wrapt up in a skin， and carries a wisp of straw in his mouth， so that the projecting straws look like the bristles of a boar. A knife is brought， and an old woman， with her face blackened， pretends to sacrifice him.
