Page:Mistral - Mirèio. A Provençal poem.djvu/148

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"And the poor dead arise and kneel to pray,
And mass is said by priests as pale as they.
Ask the owls else, who clamber down the steeple
To drain the lamps of oil; and if the people
Who thus partake of the communion
Be not all dead except the priests alone!

"What time the beldam jeers at February,⁷
Let women everywhere be wondrous wary,
Nor fall asleep on chairs for awful reason!
Shepherds as well, at yon uncanny season
Early your charges fold, an it mislike you
A spell should motionless and rigid strike you

"For seven years' time. The Fairies' Cavern, too,
Looses about these days its eerie crew.
Winged or four-footed, they o'er Crau disperse;
While, from their lairs aroused, the sorcerers
Gather, the farandoulo⁸ dance, and sup
An evil potion from a golden cup.

"The dwarf-oaks dance as well. Lord, how they trip it!
Meanwhile there 's Garamaude⁹ in wait for Gripet.¹⁰
Fie, cruel flirt! Ay, seize the carrion,
And claw her bowels out! Now they are gone,—
Nay, but they come again! And, oh, despair!
The monster stealing through the sea-kale there,