The king's general behaviour suggests that he deemed his blindness
not merely to be a most regrettable misfortune, but that he regarded
it as a deserved culpable affliction.
When a small boy I was told that he lost his eyesight through an act
of charity. He drew a purse from his pocket, intending to give a
beggar an aim when his horse shied violently, causing the
steel-beaded tassels of the purse to injure his eyes.
Later, as I grew older, I heard a different tale:
The king as a student, then being crown-prince of the realm, found
pleasure in looking at the wine which was red, and at a pair of eyes
that were blue and shone like heavenly stars, oh so gently and
tenderly! But he looked, alas, once too often--into eyes that blazed
with lurid flames of hate and fury--the terrible eyes of the
green-eyed monster. There came a flash as of lightning with a loud
report and he saw stars that fell fiercely fast until they vanished
under a cloud of awful gloom in the hopeless despair of perpetual
night; but the glorious luminous star of day for him shone not again,
nevermore, on earth! To this day I know not which version tells the
truth.
The castle's grand hall was overflowing with people. I followed in
the wake of father, who had fallen into line, advancing gradually
toward the august presence of a crowned king.
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