and the true; with these I will protect the
beautiful. Much shall change for the better when I am there." Now his
thoughts were bold and great, as our thoughts generally are at home,
before we have gone forth into the world and have encountered wind and
rain, and thorns and thistles.

In him and in all his brothers the five senses were highly developed,
inwardly and outwardly; but each of them had _one_ sense which in
keenness and development surpassed the other four. In the case of the
eldest this pre-eminent sense was Sight. This was to do him especial
service. He said he had eyes for all time, eyes for all nations, eyes
that could look into the depths of the earth, where the treasures lie
hidden, and deep into the hearts of men, as though nothing but a pane
of glass were placed before them: he could read more than we can see
on the cheek that blushes or grows pale, in the eye that droops or
smiles. Stags and antelopes escorted him to the boundary of his home
towards the west, and there the wild swans received him and flew
north-west. He followed them. And now he had gone far out into the
world--far from the land of his father, that extended eastward to the
end of the earth.

But how he opened his eyes in astonishment! Many things were here to
be seen; and many things appear very different when a man beholds them
with his own eyes, or when he merely sees them in a picture, as the
son had done in his father's house, however faithful the picture way
be. At the outset he nearly lost his eyes in astonishment at all the
rubbish and all the masquerading stuff put forward to represent the
beautiful; but he did not lose them, and soon found full employment
for them. He wished to go thoroughly and honestly to work in the
understanding of the beautiful, the true, and the good. But how were
these represented in the world? He saw that often the garland that
belonged to the beautiful was given to the hideous; that the good was
often passed by without notice, while mediocrity was applauded when it
should have been hissed off. People looked to the dress, and not to
the wearer; asked for a name, and not for desert; and went more by
reputation than by service. It was the same thing everywhere.

"I see I must attack these things vigorously," he said; and attacked
them with vigour accordingly. But while he was looking for the truth,
came the Evil One, the father of lies. Gladly would the fiend have
plucked out the eyes of this Seer;