where they all got a drink of beer. Then under the seven lindens of the neighbouring Sommerberg, the Grass King was stripped of
his green casing; the crown was handed to the Mayor, and the branches were stuck in the flax fields in order to make the flax grow
tall. In this last trait the fertilising influence ascribed to the representative of the tree-spirit comes out clearly. In the neighbourhood
of Pilsen (Bohemia) a conical hut of green branches, without any door, is erected at Whitsuntide in the midst of the village. To this
hut rides a troop of village lads with a king at their head. He wears a sword at his side and a sugar-loaf hat of rushes on his head. In
his train are a judge, a crier, and a personage called the Frog-flayer or Hangman. This last is a sort of ragged merryandrew, wear-
ing a rusty old sword and bestriding a sorry hack. On reaching the hut the crier dismounts and goes round it looking for a door.
Finding none, he says, "Ah, this is perhaps an enchanted castle; the witches creep through the leaves and need no door." At last he
draws his sword and hews his way into the hut, where there is a chair, on which he seats himself and proceeds to criticise in rhyme
the girls, farmers, and farm-servants of the neighbourhood. When this is over, the Frog-flayer steps forward and, after exhibiting a
cage with frogs in it, sets up a gallows on which he hangs the frogs in a row. In the neighbourhood of Plas the ceremony differs in
some points. The king and his soldiers are completely clad in bark, adorned with flowers and ribbons; they all carry swords and ride
horses, which are gay with green branches and flowers. While the village dames and girls are being criticised at the arbour, a frog is
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secretly pinched and poked by the crier till it quacks. Sentence of death is passed on the frog by the king; the hangman beheads it and flings the bleeding body among the spectators. Lastly, the king is driven from the hut and pursued by the soldiers. The pinching
and beheading of the frog are doubtless, as Mannhardt observes, a raincharm. We have seen that some Indians of the Orinoco beat frogs for the express purpose of producing rain, and that killing a frog is a European raincharm.
Often the spirit of vegetation in spring is represented by a queen instead of a king. In the neighbourhood of Libchowic (Bohemia), on the fourth Sunday in Lent, girls dressed in white and wearing the first spring flowers, as violets and daisies, in their hair, lead about the village a girl who is called the Queen and is crowned with flowers. During the procession, which is conducted with great solemnity, none of the girls may stand still, but must keep whirling round continually and singing. In every house the Queen announces the arrival of spring and wishes the inmates good luck and blessings, for which she receives presents. In German Hungary
the girls choose the prettiest girl to be their Whitsuntide Queen, fasten a towering wreath on her brow, and carry her singing through
the streets. At every house they stop, sing old ballads, and receive presents. In the south-east of Ireland on May Day the prettiest girl
used to be chosen Queen of the district for twelve months. She was crowned with wild flowers; feasting, dancing, and rustic sports
followed, and were closed by a grand procession in the evening. During her year of office she presided over rural gatherings of
young people at dances and merrymakings. If she married before next May Day, her authority was at an end, but her successor was
not elected till that day came round. The May Queen is common In France and familiar in England.
Again the spirit of vegetation is sometimes represented by a king and queen, a lord and lady, or a bridegroom and bride. Here again
the parallelism holds between the anthropomorphic and the vegetable representation of the tree-spirit, for we have seen above
that trees are sometimes married to each other. At Halford in South Warwickshire the children go from house to house on May
Day, walking two and two in procession and headed by a King and Queen. Two boys carry a May-pole some six or seven feet high,
which is covered with flowers and greenery. Fastened to it near the top are two cross-bars at right angles to each other. These are
also decked with flowers, and from the ends of the bars hang hoops similarly adorned. At the houses the children sing May songs
and receive money, which is used to provide tea for them at the schoolhouse in the afternoon. In a Bohemian village near Konig-
gratz on Whit-Monday the children play the king's game, at which a king and queen march about under a canopy, the queen wearing
a garland, and the youngest girl carrying two wreaths on a plate behind them. They are attended by boys and girls called grooms-
men and bridesmaids, and they go from house to house collecting gifts. A regular feature in the popular celebration of Whitsuntide in Silesia used to be, and to some extent still is, the contest for the kingship. This contest took various forms, but the mark or goal
was generally the May-tree or May-pole. Sometimes the youth who succeeded in climbing the smooth pole and bringing down the
prize was proclaimed the Whitsuntide King and his sweetheart the Whitsuntide Bride. Afterwards the king, carrying the May-bush,
repaired with the rest of the company to the alehouse, where a dance and a feast ended the merrymaking. Often the young farmers
and labourers raced on horseback to the May-pole, which was adorned with flowers, ribbons, and a crown. He who first reached the
pole was the Whitsuntide King, and the rest had to obey his orders for that day. The worst rider became the clown. At the May-tree
all dismounted and hoisted the king on their shoulders. He nimbly swarmed up the pole and brought down the May-bush and the
crown, which had been fastened to the top. Meanwhile the clown hurried to the alehouse and proceeded to bolt thirty rolls of bread
and to swig four quart bottles of brandy with the utmost possible despatch. He was followed by the king, who bore the May-bush
and crown at the head of the company. If on their arrival the clown had already disposed of the rolls and the brandy, and greeted
the king with a speech and a glass of beer, his score was paid by the king; otherwise he had to settle it himself. After church time the
stately procession wound through the village. At the head of it rode the king, decked with flowers and carrying the May-bush. Next
came the clown with his clothes turned inside out, a great flaxen beard on his chain, and the Whitsuntide crown on his head. Two
riders disguised as guards followed. The procession drew up before every farmyard; the two guards dismounted, shut the clown into
the house, and claimed a contribution from the housewife to buy soap with which to wash the clown's beard. Custom allowed them
to carry off any victuals which were not under lock and key. Last of all they came to the house in which the king's sweetheart lived.
She was greeted as Whitsuntide Queen and received suitable presents--to wit, a many-coloured sash, a cloth, and an apron. The king
got as a prize, a vest, a neck-cloth, and so forth, and had the right of setting up the May-bush or Whitsuntide-tree before his master's
yard, where it remained as an honourable token till the same day next year. Finally the procession took its way to the tavern, where
the king and queen opened the dance. Sometimes the Whitsuntide King and Queen succeeded to office in a different way. A man of
straw, as large as life and crowned with a red cap, was conveyed in a cart, between two men