venuti

Margin 239“Toza, fi’m ieu, cauza pia,destors me sui de la viaper far a vos compaignia;quar aitals toza vilanano deu ses pareill pariapastorgar tanta bestiaen aital terra, soldana.”(Dejeanne 1971:33)The other day beside a hedgeI found a low-born shepherdess,Full of joy and ready wit,And she was the daughter of a peasant woman;Cape and petticoat and jacket, vest and shirt of fustian,Shoes, and stockings of wool.I came towards her through the plain,“Damsel,” said I, “pretty one,I grieve for the cold that pierces you.”“Sir,” said the peasant maid,“Thank God and my nurseI care little if the wind ruffle me,For I am happy and sound.”“Damsel,” said I, “pleasant one,I have turned aside from the roadTo keep you company.For such a peasant maidShould not, without a suitable companion,Shepherd so many beastsIn such a lonely place.”(Pound 1952:62–63)Pound’s version is again rather close, and it is not distinguished byprosodic and lexical invention. His sharpest departure from theProvençal, however, is extremely pointed: he used the archaism“damsel” to render the knight’s epithet for the shepherdess, “toza,”which Emil Levy defined as “jeune fille” (“young girl”) (Levy 1966),yet with an unsavory connotation, “fille de mauvaise vie”(“immoral girl”). (The Provençal text also stigmatizes the girl with