Page:Mistral - Mirèio. A Provençal poem.djvu/134

 NOTES TO CANTO V.

$1$, or Oulimpe, is a lofty mountain on the boundary-line of the Var and Bouches-du-Rhone.

$2$ Queiras, a valley of the Upper Alps.

$3$ Penduline, Motacilla pendulina.

$4$ Eel-grass, ValisneriaVallisneria [sic] spiralis of Linnæus.

$5$ "Pretty moon-wheat," ''poulit blad de luno. Faire de blad de luno'' signifies, literally, to rob parents of their wheat by moonlight. Figuratively, it is used for love-making on the sly.

$6$ Goose-foot, Chenopodium fructicum of Linnæus.

$7$ Jan de l'Ourse is a story-book hero, a kind of Provençal Hercules, to whom many exploits are attributed. He was the son of a shepherdess and a bear, and had for companions in his exploits two adventurers of marvellous strength. The name of the one was Arrache Montagne; that of the other, Pierre de Moulin.

$8$ This bridge is the Roman antiquity known as the "Pont du Gard."

$9$ Green heron, Ardea virides.

$10$ Sainte Baume, a grotto in the midst of a virgin forest near St. Maximim, to which Ste. Magdalene used to repair, to do penance.

$11$ $12$ Trincataio is a suburb of Arles, in Camargue, united to the town by a bridge of boats. The water-sprites, or trevi, were said to dance on the tips of the waves by the light of the sun or moon.