Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 6 1888.djvu/277

Rh in Revue des traditions populaires, October 1888, p. 484, seq.), from all parts of the country where the custom is still observed.

So much for what I saw. Now for what I ascertained about the "Maiden" by inquiry from different inhabitants, particularly Miss McColl and Miss Watt of Kirkton. At harvest the last corn cut on the farm is dressed like a doll and called "the Maiden." It is kept in the farmhouse, generally above the chimney-piece, for a good while, perhaps a year. One old woman stated that she has known people keep the old "Maiden" in the house till the new "Maiden" of the next year is brought in. It is not every house on the farm that has a "Maiden," but only the farm-house itself. The farm on which we witnessed the cutting of the "Maiden" was a small one, and the members of the family sufficed to cut the corn without needing to hire reapers. But on large farms where there are many reapers, a competition takes place as to who shall have the "Maiden." Each reaper is followed by a girl binding the corn as he cuts it. A reaper who wishes the girl who follows him to have the "Maiden" will sometimes leave a little corn uncut and will turn it down, and the girl who is binding the corn behind him will throw a sheaf over it to hide it. At the end of the reaping (which may not be finished for several days), when a rush has been made on the (supposed) last patch standing in order to make the "Maiden" from it, the girl who knows where the corn was turned down and hidden returns to it and cuts it after all the rest has been cut. It is for the girl who follows binding the corn that the reaper turns down the corn; he himself takes no more concern about it. If several have thus concealed uncut corn, the girl who is cunning enough to wait till all the rest have revealed their hidden corn and cut it is successful, for her corn is the last cut and out of it is made the "Maiden." It is supposed to be always the youngest maiden on the field who cuts the "Maiden." Mrs. Stewart, of Immercon, a farm about three miles from the Kirkton of Balquhidder, told my sister that formerly on the evening when the "Maiden" was cut they had what they called a "Kirn," i.e., cream whipped up and eaten with bread or mashed potatoes; in the potatoes were put a ring, thimble, and sixpence for the same purpose of divination as at Hallow e'en. At another farm they used to give