Literal translation
to make [someone] keep the goats
Meaning
to keep someone stuck up a tree or ladder
Explanation
The literal image is that of someone tasked with watching goats, an activity that requires staying still for a long time at a high point, a pasture or a rock, without being able to come down at will. To faire garda lei cabro to someone means keeping them, playfully or mischievously, stuck in a high position they cannot leave on their own: the clearest case is a child stranded at the top of a tree or a ladder, or held up on a see-saw while the other end stays on the ground. The verb garda carries its basic sense of keeping watch, and cabro means goat, the construction remaining transparent once the image is grasped. The expression belongs to the familiar register of children's games and harmless teasing, where someone is kept stuck up high for fun. It shows well how Provençal builds expressions from concrete rural scenes, here the herding of goats on the hills.