Page:Shetland Folk-Lore - Spence - 1899.pdf/179

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

Shetland Folk-Lore

dried. On the wall hung a straw mat, called a flakkie, on which the corn was winnowed after being thrashed, and to separate the dumba before being ground. In the barn also was the hand-mill (Fig. 11), resting on a rude table called a looder. This mill was and still is chiefly used for grinding burstin (corn dried in a kettle over the fire). Well-made bere burstin makes delicious bread.

In the corner of the butt-end lay the knockin' stane and mell, for the purpose of shelling bere, or barley, as a delicacy for helly days and Sunday dinners. At the burn close by stood the water-mill (Fig. 12), on which the crop was ground during the yarrowin. The mill was driven by a rude, horizontal water-wheel, called a tirl. Over the "eye" of the mill was suspended an apparatus through which the corn passed, consisting of a happer, shö, and klapper. In a corner of the looder stood a toyeg (a small straw basket), containing as much corn as would be a hurd o'

172