Page:Mistral - Mirèio. A Provençal poem.djvu/107

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His cudgel,—savage weaner!—never blenching,
And first the young calves from the udders wrenching,
Upon the wrathful mother fell so madly
That cudgel after cudgel brake he gladly,
Till she, by his brute fury masterèd,
Wild-eyed and lowing to the pine-copse fled!

Oft in the branding at Camargue had he
Oxen and heifers, two-year-olds and three,
Seized by the horns and stretched upon the ground.
His forehead bare the scar of an old wound
Fiery and forked like lightning. It was said
That once the green plain with his blood was red.

On a great branding-day befell this thing:
To aid the mighty herd in mastering,
Li Santo, Agui Morto,⁷ Albaron,⁸
And Faraman⁹ a hundred horsemen strong
Had sent into the desert. And the herd
Roused from its briny lairs, and, forward spurred

By tridents of the branders close behind,
Fell on the land like a destroying wind.
Heifers and bulls in headlong gallop borne
Plunged, crushing centaury¹⁰ and salicorne;¹¹
And at the branding-booth at last they mustered,
Just where a crowd three hundred strong had clustered.