Page:Mistral - Mirèio. A Provençal poem.djvu/170

144 "So much, good friend, I say in utmost faith. Nor would I, Ambroi, fret myself to death If I were thou; but, seeing him so mad, I would say plainly, 'Calm your mind, my lad! For if you raise a tempest by your passions, I'll teach you with a cudgel better fashions!'

"If an ass, Ambroi, for more fodder bray, Throw him none down, but let thy bludgeon play. Provençal families in days bygone Were healthy, brave, and evermore at one, And strong as plane-trees when a storm befell. They had their strifes, indeed,—we know it well;

"But, when returned the holy Christmas eve, The grandsire all his children would receive At his own board, under a star-sown tent; And ceased the voice of strife and all dissent, When, lifting hands that wrinkled were and trembled, He blessed the generations there assembled.

"Moreover, he who is a father truly Will have his child yield him obedience duly: The flock that drives the shepherd, soon or late, Will meet a wolf and a disastrous fate. When we were young, had any son withstood His father, he, belike, had shed his blood!"