I thought on nothing then but
to sit fast; and, considering the fear that had seized upon me, I
sat very well. He afterwards flew down again towards the earth,
and lighting upon the terrace of a castle, without giving me any
time to get off, he shook me out of the saddle with such force,
that he made me fall behind him, and with the end of his tail
struck out my right eye. Thus I became blind of one eye, and then
I began to remember the predictions of the ten young gentlemen.
The horse flew again out of sight. I got up very much troubled at
the misfortune I had brought upon myself: I walked upon the
terrace, covering my eye with one of my hands, for it pained me
exceedingly, and then came down and entered into the hall, which
I knew presently by the ten sofas in a circle, and the eleventh
in the middle, lower than the rest, to be the same castle from
whence I was taken by the roc. The ten half-blind gentlemen were
not in the hall when I came in, but came soon after with the old
man; they were not at all surprised to see me again, nor at the
loss of my eye; but said, We are sorry that we cannot
congratulate you upon your return as we could have desired; but
we are not the cause of your misfortune. I should be in the wrong
to accuse you, said I, for I have drawn it upon myself, and I can
charge the fault upon no other person.
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