Page 184 - madame-bovary

making a confused line with their unequal rumps. Drowsy
pigs were burrowing in the earth with their snouts, calves
were bleating, lambs baaing; the cows, on knees folded
in, were stretching their bellies on the grass, slowly chew-
ing the cud, and blinking their heavy eyelids at the gnats
that buzzed round them. Plough-men with bare arms were
holding by the halter prancing stallions that neighed with
dilated nostrils looking towards the mares. These stood
quietly, stretching out their heads and flowing manes, while
their foals rested in their shadow, or now and then came
and sucked them. And above the long undulation of these
crowded animals one saw some white mane rising in the
wind like a wave, or some sharp horns sticking out, and the
heads of men running about. Apart, outside the enclosure,
a hundred paces off, was a large black bull, muzzled, with
an iron ring in its nostrils, and who moved no more than
if he had been in bronze. A child in rags was holding him
by a rope.
Between the two lines the committee-men were walking
with heavy steps, examining each animal, then consulting
one another in a low voice. One who seemed of more im-
portance now and then took notes in a book as he walked
along. This was the president of the jury, Monsieur Deroz-
erays de la Panville. As soon as he recognised Rodolphe he
came forward quickly, and smiling amiably, said—
‘What! Monsieur Boulanger, you are deserting us?’
Rodolphe protested that he was just coming. But when
the president had disappeared—
‘Ma foi!*’ said he, ‘I shall not go. Your company is better

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