The old man and his slaves landed immediately, and advanced towards the subterranean dwelling, with a countenance that showed some hope; but when they saw the earth had been newly removed, they changed colour, particularly the old man. They lifted up the stone, and went down; they called the young man by his name, but he not answering, their fears increased; they went down to seek him, and at length found him lying upon the bed with the knife in his heart, for I had not power to take it out. At this sight, they cried out lamentably, which increased my sorrow: the old man fell down in a swoon. The slaves, to give him air, brought him up in their arms, and laid him at the foot of the tree where I was; but, notwithstanding all the pains they took to recover him, the unfortunate father continued a long while in that condition, and made them oftener than once despair of his life; but at last he came to himself. Then the slaves brought up his son's corpse dressed in his best apparel, and when they had made a grave, they put him into it. The old man, supported by two slaves, and his face all covered with tears, threw the first earth upon him, after which the slaves filled up the grave.
This being done, all the furniture was brought out from under ground, and, with the remaining provisions, put on board the vessel. The old man, overcome with sorrow, and not being able to stand, was laid upon a sort of litter, and carried to the ship, which put forth to sea, and in a short time sailed quite out of sight.
After the old man and his slaves were gone with the vessel, I was left alone upon the island. I lay that night in the subterranean dwelling, which they had shut up; and when the day came, I walked round the isle, and stopped in such places as I thought most proper to repose in when I had need.
I led this wearisome life for a month together; after which I perceived the sea to be mightily fallen, the island to be much larger, and the main-land seemed to be drawing nearer me. In effect, the water grew so low, that there was but a small stream between me and the Terra Firma. I crossed it, and the water did not come above the middle of my leg. I marched so long upon the slime and sands that I was very weary; at last I got upon firm ground, and, when at a good distance from the sea, I saw a good way before me somewhat like a great fire, which gave me some comfort, for I said to myself, I shall find somebody or other, it not being possible that this fire should kindle of itself; but when I came nearer, I found my error, and saw that what I had taken to be fire was a castle of red copper, which the beams of the sun made look, at a distance, as if it had been in flames.
I stopped near the castle, and sat down to admire its admirable structure, and to rest a while. I had not taken such a full view of this magnificent building, as it deserved, when I saw ten handsome young men coming along as if they had been taking a walk; but that which most surprised me was, that they were all blind of the right eye; they accompanied an old man, who was very tall, and of a venerable aspect.
I could not but wonder at the sight of so many half-blind men all together, and every one of the same eye. As I was thinking in my mind by what adventure all these could come together, they came up to me, and seemed to be mighty glad to see me. After the first compliments were passed, they inquired what had brought me hither? I told them my story would be somewhat tedious, but, if they would take the trouble to sit down, I would satisfy their request. They did so, and I related unto them all that had happened unto me since I left my kingdom, which filled them with astonishment.
After I had ended my discourse, the young gentlemen prayed me to go with them into the castle; I accepted the proffer, and we passed through a great many halls, antichambers, bedchambers, and closets, very well furnished, and arrived at last in a spacious hall, where there were ten small blue sofas set round, and separate from each other, upon which they sat by day, and slept by night. In the middle of this round there stood an eleventh sofa, not so high as the rest, but of the same colour, upon which the old man before mentioned sat down, and the young gentlemen made use of the other ten, whereas each sofa could only contain one man. One of the young men says to me, Comrade, sit down upon that carpet in the middle of the room, and do not inquire into any thing that concerns us, nor the reason why we are all blind of the right eye; be content with what you see, and let not your curiosity go any further.
The old man, having sat a little while, rose up, and went out; but he returned in a minute or two, brought in supper for the ten gentlemen, distributed to each man his proportion by himself, and likewise brought me mine, which I ate by myself, as the rest did, and when supper was almost done, he presented to each of us a cup of wine.
They thought my story so extraordinary, that they made me repeat it after supper, and this gave occasion to discourses which lasted a good part of the night. One of the gentlemen, observing that it was late, said to the old man, You see it is time to go to bed, and you do not bring us that with which we may acquit ourselves of our duty. At these words the old man rose, and went into a closet, from whence he brought out upon his head ten basons, one after another, all covered with blue stuff: He set one before every gentleman, together with a light.
They uncovered their basons, in, which there were ashes, coal- dust, and lamp-black; they mixed all together, and rubbed and bedaubed their faces with it in such a manner, that they looked very frightful. After having thus blackened themselves, they fell a-weeping and lamenting, beating their heads and breasts, and cried continually, This is the fruit of our idleness and debauches.