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240 The Translator’s Invisibility“mestissa,” a reference to her low birth that likewise carries thesense of “mauvais, vil.”) Pound’s use of “damsel” at once idealizesand ironizes the image of the girl, sarcastically marking her inferiorsocial position and portraying the knight as a wittily deviousseducer, out to overcome her resistance with flattering appeals toher (presumed) class aspirations.Pound so enjoyed the knight’s predatory sexuality that he wistfullyimagined the girl yielding at last. After quoting his partial translationof the poem, he added that “The adventure is finally brought to asuccessful termination” (Pound 1952:63). But the fact is that the girlwithstands the knight’s advances and concludes the dialogue withsome cryptic wit of her own—in Frederick Goldin’s rendering,“Don, lo cavecs vos ahura,que tals bad’en la peinturaqu’autre n’espera la mana.”“Master, that owl is making you a prophecy:this one stands gaping in front of a painting,and that one waits for manna.”(Goldin 1973:77)Blackburn translated Marcabru’s entire text, and his version quiteclearly borrows lines from Pound’s, while just as clearly revising thefather’s phallic aggressiveness:The other day, under a hedgeI found a low-born shepherdess,full of wit and merrimentand dressed like a peasant’s daughter:her shift was drill, her socks were wool,clogs and a fur-lined jacket on her.I went to her across the field:—Well, baby! What a pretty thing.You must be frozen, the wind stings…—Sir, said the girl to me,thanks to my nurse and God, I carelittle that wind ruffle my hair,I’m happy and sound.