kine

noun

1. Archaic.  plural of cow.

[origin: Middle English kyn, from Old English cyna, genitive pl. of cu]

HOWARD’S USAGE:

Kine is used in three of Robert E. Howard’s poems:

Last he turned to the Northward, leaving the warm seas behind,
Leaving behind the warm lands rich with gold and with kine.
Back, yes back to the Northland sailed Harald, the viking bold,
With his long ship red with blood and weighted with gems and gold.
To Kirkness-town he sailed and anchored his long ship there,
With his flag, the flag of the cormorant, floating free to the air.

[from “Eric of Norway”; to read the complete poem, see The Collected Poetry of Robert E. Howard, p. 356 and The Rhyme of Salem Town, p. 76]

Let him teach
Of destruction of sin,
Decency toward women,
Kindness toward men.
Ho, then the swine!
In fury they rise,
Bigoted hate
In their piggish eyes.
Nay, nay, seek not
To uplift the swine.
Prey upon them
Like a wolf on kine.

[from “Mankind”; to read the complete poem, see The Collected Poetry of Robert E. Howard, p. 358 and The Rhyme of Salem Town, p. 24]

Now I am but a simple churl
Who loves the kine and grass,
To watch the burning dawns unfurl,
And the fleecy clouds that pass.

I love to dream and take my ease,
I wish no mortal ill;
I thought to live my life in peace
On some green Devon hill.

But when the Broad-brims stopped all play,
And stifled fun and mirth
I roused myself and rode away
To ride them off the earth.

[from “The Road to Bliss”; to read the complete poem, see The Collected Poetry of Robert E. Howard, p. 479 and A Rhyme of Salem Town, p. 88]