Miscellanea. 441
Ulag was grain expeditiously dried for the quern, either in a pot over the fire or by a red-hot stone that was being kept per- petually rolling among the grain in a tub. The operator preserved his hands from being injured by the hot stone by keeping both his hands full of grain as he rapidly rolled the stone round. Ulag so made is the origin of the Gaelic proverb, which not many understand now : ^'■Clachfo shioV^ (stone under grain) ; or in full: '■'■ Tionndadh na daich fdn t-siol" (turning the stone under the grain) ; in other words, " A rolling stone gathers no moss."
The Mhaighdean-B/iuana, or Reaping-AIaide7i^ was the last sheaf of oats to be cut on a croft or farm. Before the reaping- machine and binder took the place of the sickle and the scythe, the young reapers of both sexes, when they neared the end of the last rig or field, used to manoeuvre to gain possession of the Mhaighdean-Bhuana. The individual who was fortunate enough to obtain it was ex officio entitled to be the King or the Queen of the Harvest-Home festival. The sheaf so designated was carefully preserved and kept intact until the day they began leading home the corn. A tuft of it was then given to each of the horses, as they started from the corn-field with their first load. The rest of it was neatly made up, and hung in some conspicuous corner of the farm-house, where it remained till it was replaced by a younger sister next season. On the first day of ploughing a tuft of it was given (as on the first day of leading home the corn) as a Saimiseal or handsel for luck to the horses. The Alhaighdean-Bhuana so preserved and used was a symbol that the harvest had been duly secured, and that the spring work had been properly inaugurated. It was also believed to be a protection against Fairies and Witchcraft.
I picked up the above note in the summer of 1897 from a farm manager in the neighbourhood of Kilmartin. A facsimile of the Mhaighdean-Bhiiana, made by my informant, has been presented by me to the Society's Museum at Cambridge, November, 1900.'
Fairy-lore. — Na Sithichean a' ruavihar leis «' chois-chrium (The fairies delving with the crooked spade, lit. " crooked- foot"). — A certain poor man, who was at his wit's end with the spring labour, said one evening as the shades of night forced him to stop work : " B^aill learn gu^n robh niaiteach criochnaichte "
' Cf. Folklore, vi., 149, 150. — E. S. II.
