Die Kukruzpuppe

In the eyes of a little Schwob girl, there was nothing
like making such a doll. It was a form of meditation -
but this word didn't belong to her vocabulary, not yet.
She called this playing.

All she needed was a corn cob and a warm summer
day. She sat down in the shade of a tree, directly onto
the warm soil, barefoot and her hair tied to a bun.
The air was silent, even the song of the turtle dove
and the humming of the bees were incorporated into
that silence.

She started shredding carefully the leaves of the corn
cob, then making two braids held together by bows
made of a spare corn leaf. The flowers for the small
crown were also at hand.

The variations in styling were endless, there was only
one rule: all the materials had to be natural and seasonal -
nothing strange to that summer afternoon was allowed.

Then the girl gave her creation a name.

Weeks later, the doll ended in a corner, together with the
other leftovers from the summer, which eventually landed
in the backyard, where the animals left no trace of them.