THE EARLY COLD WEATHER 191 



the women of each household grind it to-day, just as 

 they did in the times of the patriarchs. The women, 

 as they grind the corn, sit face to face, the Hght hand- 

 mill between. It must have been to women so grinding 

 that our Lord alluded when He said that of the two 

 the one should be taken, and the other left. 



The handmill is to the Indian household much 

 what the distaff and spindle were to the household of 

 mediaeval Europe. It is always associated with the 

 careful housewife, the industrious maiden. It must be 

 confessed, however, that it does not suggest to the 

 minds the same poetical images. Nevertheless it has 

 been made the subject of a pretty verse — a verse 

 composed, according to tradition, by a fakir, one 

 Kubbeera Doss, who lived some three centuries ago. 

 The verse, if I remember it correctly, is as follows : — 



" Chultee, chuckee, dakhekar 



Dea Kubbeera ro : 

 ' Do patan ke beech akar 



Sabit gia neh ko.' " 



It may be thus rendered : — 



*• Seeing a handmill grinding, 



Kubbeera gave a sigh : 

 ' Who come between the two discs 



None unbroken pass.' " 



The millstones suggest the earth and the heavens, 

 the grains of corn the human race, all of whom are 

 destined to death and decay. 



I have mentioned that the women I met were all 

 singing. To a European ear nothing could be more 

 discordant than the sound ; even distance did not soften 

 it. I inquired of my servant what were the words of 



