ther for as much gold as would go into all
the sacks that could be sewn by all the needles (and those of the
smallest size) that could be crammed into Notre-Dame from the floor to
the ceiling, filling the smallest crannies. Yet neither had a crust
that night to rub his gums with.

Whatever Devil it is, however, that tempts men to repose--and for my
part I believe him to be rather an Aeon than a Devil: that is, a
good-natured fellow working on his own account neither good nor
ill--whatever being it is, it certainly suits one's mood, for I never
yet knew a man determined to be lazy that had not ample opportunity
afforded him, though he were poorer than the cure of Maigre, who
formed a syndicate to sell at a scutcheon a gross such souls as were
too insignificant to sell singly. A man can always find a chance for
doing nothing as amply and with as ecstatic a satisfaction as the
world allows, and so to me (whether it was there before I cannot tell,
and if it came miraculously, so much the more amusing) appeared this
thicket. It was to the left of the road; a stream ran through it in a
little ravine; the undergrowth was thick beneath its birches, and just
beyond, on the plain that bordered it, were reapers reaping in a
field. I went into it contentedly and slept till evening my third
sleep; then, refreshed by the cool wind that went before the twilight,
I rose and took the road again, but I knew I could not go far.

I was now past my fortieth mile, and though the heat had gone, yet my
dead slumber had raised a thousand evils. I had stiffened to lameness,
and had fallen into the mood when a man desires companionship and the
talk of travellers rather than the open plain. But (unless I went
backward, which was out of the question) there was nowhere to rest in
for a long time to come. The next considerable village was Thayon,
which is called 'Thayon of the Vosges', because one is nearing the big
hills, and thither therefore I crawled mile after mile.

But my heart sank. First my foot limped, and then my left knee
oppressed me with a sudden pain. I attempted to relieve it by leaning
on my right leg, and so discovered a singular new law in medicine
which I will propose to the scientists. For when those excellent men
have done investigating the twirligigs of the brain to find out where
the soul is, let them consider this much more practical matter, that
you cannot relieve the pain in one limb without driving it into some
other; a