Page:Mistral - Mirèio. A Provençal poem.djvu/140

114 Strange, airy things, they used to flit about Dimly, 'twixt form and substance, in and out: Half-earthly made, to be the visible Spirit of Nature; female made as well, To tame the savagery of primal men. But these were fair in fairies' eyes, and then

They loved: and so, infatuate, lifted not Mortals unto their own celestial lot; But, lusting, fell into bur low estate, As birds fall, whom a snake doth fascinate, From their high places. But, while thus I write, The bearers have borne Vincen up the height.

A dim, straight passage led the cavern toward, A rocky funnel where they gently lowered The sufferer; and he did not go alone,— Yet was Mirèio's self the only one Who dared to follow down that awesome road, Commending, as she went, his soul to God.

The bottom gained, they found a grotto cold And vast; midway whereof a beldam old, The witch Taven, sat silent, cronching lowly As lost in thought and utter melancholy, Holding a sprig of brome, and muttering, "Some call thee devil's wheat, poor little thing,