015. "The Wringing of Milk Bringeth Forth Butter"
"The Wringing of Milk Bringeth Forth Butter"
"Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood; so the forcing of wrath bringeth forth strife." But the word for "churning" and "wringing" is the same in Hebrew. It is the wringing of milk that bringeth forth butter, just as these women are squeezing and wringing this milk in the "bottle." There is no analogy between our mode of churning and pulling a man’s nose until the blood comes, but in the Arab operation the comparison is quite natural and emphatic.
What are these women kneading and shaking in that large black bag, suspended from this three-legged crotch? That is a bottle, not a bag, made by stripping off the entire skin of a young fuffalo. It is full of milk, and that is their way of churning. When the butter "has come," they take it out, boil or melt it, and then put it into bottles made of goats’ skins. In winter it resembles candied honey, in summer it is mere oil.