MS-OSU-RARE-115

[1591] And now my progress, at all times slow and
painful, was so more than ever, because of my
short stiff leg, the same which had so long seemed to me as
stiff as a leg could be, to my ^{inexperience,}

[1591] for it now grew stiffer than ever, a thing
which I should not have thought possible,
and at the same grew daily shorter,
but above all because of the other leg, which
now also rapidly stiffened, it supple so long,
but did not yet shorten, unfortunately.

[1592] For
when the two legs shorten at the same time, and
at the same rate, things are not so bad. [1593] But
when one shortens, while the other remains station-
ary, then there is some cause for worry. [1594] Not that I
worried exactly, no, but I was bothered. [1595] For
I didn't know on which foot to come down,
between one hop and the next.

[1596] Let us try and
elucidate this dilemma.
[1597] The tender leg was the one
already stiff, there is no denying that,
and it was the other that habitually
took my weight when I landed^,[⁁] ^{[ADDITION]Addition on page 78rand supported me, until I was ready to proceed.}

[1598] But now ^this
latter, as a result ^{no doubt} of its stiffening, and the
commotion thus set up among its nerves and tendons,
began to be even more tender than the other.
[1599] What a story, God ^send I don't get it
wrong.

[1600] For to the old pain I had
become as it were accustomed, yes, as it were.
[1601] Whereas to the new, though of the same family exactly,
I had not yet had the time to adjust myself.

[1602] It must not be forgotten either that having one
bad leg and ^{one more or less good leg}, I
was able to rest the former, and reduce its
sufferings to a minimum, by never using
it, but only the latter, thanks to my crutches.

[1603] But expedient was now no longer
possible! [1604] For I no longer had one bad leg and
^{one more or less good leg}, but now both were bad.
[1605] And the worse, to my way of feeling, was that which
up to then had been ^good, that is to say relatively
^good, and to the deterioration of which