Meanwhile, the rest of the
party laugh heartily and urge on and soothe the human team. "Softly!
softly, boy! Come, courage! Look out! Patience! Stoop! The gate is too
low! Close up, it's too narrow! a little to the left; now to the right!
Come, take heart, there you are!"
So it sometimes happens that, in years of abundant crops, the ox-cart,
laden beyond measure with fodder or grain, is too broad or too high to
enter the barndoor. And such exclamations are shouted at the powerful
cattle to restrain or excite them; and with skilful handling and
vigorous efforts the mountain of wealth is made to pass, without mishap,
beneath the rustic triumphal arch. Especially with the last load, called
the _gerbaude_, are these precautions required; for that is made the
occasion of a rustic festival, and the last sheaf gathered from the last
furrow is placed on top of the load, decorated with ribbons and flowers,
as are the heads of the oxen and the driver's goad. Thus the triumphal,
laborious entry of the cabbage into the house is an emblem of the
prosperity and fruitfulness it represents.
Arrived in the bridegroom's yard, the cabbage is taken to the highest
point of the house or the barn. If there is a chimney, a gable end, a
dove-cote higher than the other elevated portions, the burden must, at
any risk, be taken to that culminating point.
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