Summary of the Country of the Blind
Herbert Wells
Country of the Blind
There was a legend about a mysterious mountain valley in the middle of the Ecuadorian Andes, separated from the outside world after the eruption of the volcano. It was called the country of the blind. In the valley, that was all that a man could wish, and the settlers who had gone there lived freely. But a strange illness attacked them, it struck blindness of all newborns, and sometimes even older children. Vision melted so gradually that people hardly noticed his loss. In all but vision, they were strong and capable people.
But one day a man came to the community from the outside world. It was the conductor of the English, who came to Ecuador to climb mountains. His name was Nunez. At night, he fell from a great height onto a steep snow slope and rolled down with a large snowfall. Everyone considered him dead. But he survived. Enchanted by the fantastic, mysterious beauty of nature, he lay quiet. The next morning he went down for
Nunez could always feel the beauty, and he wholeheartedly began to thank the fate that she gave him a gift of sight. But how easy and free the movements of the blind can be, he learned only when he decided to establish his will and raised a rebellion. He wanted in a fair fight to prove to them the superiority of the sighted. Following his decision, he had already grabbed a shovel, and then he learned about himself something unexpected for him: that he simply could not blindly hit a blind man. But the blind realized that he had started and also grabbed shovels and stakes and began to move towards him. Then he ran, not really knowing where to run. And the blind almost overtook him, he miraculously managed to hide behind the wall of the Valley of the Blind. There he spent two days and two nights without food and shelter. Eventually, he crawled to the wall with the intention of making peace. He said he was insane and asked to take him back. He was accepted, but made servant. His master was a good-natured man, imbued with him. Nunez fell in love with his youngest daughter Medina-Sarote. She was not much appreciated in the world of the blind, because she had sharp features, her closed eyelids were not pressed and red, like the rest in the valley, they seemed to be able to rise again at any moment. She had long eyelashes, which was considered ugly in the blind. She also fell in love with him, and they decided to get married. But the blind were against it, because Nunez was considered an underdeveloped person who would dishonor their kind and spoil their blood. One wise elder offered a way out: you need to remove Nunez eyes to heal him of oddities. For the sake of his beloved, he agreed, although he did not dare to part with his vision, since there are so many beautiful things in the world. On the last day before the operation, he said goodbye to his lover and walked for a long time. Nunez was going to just go to a secluded place and stay there until the hour of his sacrifice, but looked up and saw morning – a morning like an angel in gold armor. He went ahead for the wall in the mountains.
When the sun bent towards the sunset, he no longer clambered: he was far and very high. He lay quietly, and there was a smile on his face. Around him was the indescribable beauty of nature, but he no longer looked at this beauty, he lay motionless, smiling, as if satisfied with the one that escaped from the Valley of the Blind, where he thought to become king. Sunset burnt out, night came, and he lay still, reconciled and pleased, under the cold light stars.
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