MS-HRC-SB-5-10

[1074] or else I have shrunk again.[1075] But just before she reaches me
what do I do but suddenly up with[hm] with my head, like a
jack-in-the-box, the old eyes starting out of their sockets
glaring up at her.[1076] For I can make them goggle too, I can open
them and close them and make them goggle or beady like a pig's,
as the fancy takes ^{spirit moves} me.

[1077] And while it is true I cannot turn my
head, my neck having stiffened prematurely, this does not mean
that it is always turned in the same direction.[1078] For with a kind
of tossing and writhing, I finally succeed in imparting to my
trunk the degree of twist required, and not merely in one dir-
ection, but in the other also.[1079] This little f^gal^me, which I should
have thought inoffensive, has cost me dear, and yet I could have
sworn I was insolvable.

[1080] It is true one does not know one's own
riches, until they are lost.[1081] And no doubt I have others still
that only await ^require the thief to be broguh brought to my notice ^{home to me}.
[1082] And today, if I can still open and close my eyes, as in the past,
I can no longer, because of my roguish character, move in and out
my head in and out, as in the good old days.[1083] For a collar, fixed
to the mouth of the jar, now secures ^encircles my eⁿeck, just below the chin.

[1084] And my mouth ^lips which used to be hidden, and which I sometimes pressed
against the freshness of the stone, can now be seen by all and
sundry.[1085] But this changed is tempered, it is only fair to say, with
certain advantages which I did not enjoy before, among others the
opportunity of catching flies.[1086] I snap them up, clack![1087] Does this
mean I have still my teeth?[1088] To have lost one's limbs and preserved
one's dentition, what a mockery![1089] But it would surprise me.[1090] Flies.

[1091] They are not perhaps very nourishing, or tasty, but that is not
the point, the point is elsewhere, far from the useful and the
agreeable.[1092] I also catch moths, but not so attracted by the lanterns,
but not so easily.[1093] But I am only a beginner, at this new exercise,
I am far from having reached my peak. ^{I'll do better in time.}[1094] Now to revert to the gloomy
side of this affair, I may say that this collar, or ring, of cement,
makes it very awkward for me to turn, in the way I have said.[1095] I
take advantage of this to learn to stay quiet.To have before my

[1096] To have before my