Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review Volumes 32 and 33.djvu/228

216 farmers, I suppose every farmer in this land would not dare to winnow his crops without first having installed the Corn Baby. I understand from enquiry that the Baby is made from the last corn reaped. It is tied to a bamboo pole, and erected in the heap of corn ready for winnowing. The grain has been trodden out of the husk by the. cattle, and the mass is heaped up on the threshing floor. On a favourable day, when the wind is blowing strongly, the mass is poured out before the wind, the chaff carried to a distance, and the clean grain falls at the winnowers' feet. In the picture you see the mass ready for winnowing and the Corn Baby standing in the midst. This picture was taken at Sohagpur about a mile from the Mission bungalow."