Page:Mistral - Mirèio. A Provençal poem.djvu/180

154 "'Twas you," she cried, "came one day to the farm, And said, 'If ever thou dost come to harm,— If any lizard, wolf, or poisonous snake Ever should wound thee with its fang,—betake Thyself forthwith to the most holy Saints, Who cure all ills and hearken all complaints.'

"And sure I am in trouble now," she said: "Therefore we 'll go, and come back comforted." Then lightly from her white cot glided she, And straightway opened, with a shining key, The wardrobe where her own possessions lay: It was of walnut wood, and carven gay.

Here were her childhood's little treasured all: Here sacredly she kept the coronal Worn at her first communion; and anear There lay a withered sprig of lavender; And a wax taper almost burned, as well, Once blessed, the distant thunder to dispel.

A smart red petticoat she first prepares, Which she herself had quilted into squares,— Of needlework a very masterpiece ; And round her slender waist she fastens this; And over it another, finer one She draws; and next doth a black bodice don,