MS-WU-MSS008-3-50-1

[0621] a word for me I mean, for he spoke to his dog which ^{[place = supralinear] [⁁]who} listened
attentively, cocking his ears. [0622] I got to my knees, no, that doesn't
work, I got up and watched the little procession recede. [0623] I heard
the shepherd whistle, and I saw him flourishing his crook, and the
dog bustling about the herd, which but for him would no doubt have
fallen into the canal. [0624] All that through a glittering dust, and
soon through that mist too which rises in my ^{[place = supralinear] [⁁]me} every day and veils
the world from me and veils me from myself.

[0625] The bleating grew
faint, because the sheep were less anxious, or because they were
further away, or because my hearing was worse than a moment before,
which would surprise me, for my hearing is still very good, scarcely
blunted coming up to dawn, and if I sometimes hear nothing for hours
on end it is for reasons of which I know nothing, or because about
me all goes really silent, from time to time, whereas for the just ^{[place = supralinear] [⁁] [place = supralinear] righteous}
the tumult of the world never stops.

[0626] That then is how that second
day began, unless it was the third, or the fourth, and it was a bad
beginning, because it left me with persisting doubts, as to the
destination of those sheep, among which there were lambs, and often
wondering if they had safely reached some commonage or fallen,
their skulls shattered, their thin legs crumpling, first to their
knees, then over on their fleecy sides, under the pole-axe, though
that is not the way they slaughter sheep. ^{[place = overwritten] , [place = supralinear] [⁁]but with a knife, so that they may bleed to death.}

[0627] But there is much to be
said too, for these little doubts. [0628] Good God, what a land of breeders,
you see quadrupeds everywhere. [0629] And it's not over yet, there are
still horses and goe ^{[place = overwritten] a}ts, to go no further ^{[place = supralinear] [⁁]mention only them}, I feel them watching ^{[place = supralinear] out} for
me, to get in my path. [0630] I have no need of that. [0631] But I did not lose
sight of my immediate goal, which was to go ^{[place = supralinear] [⁁]get} to my mother as quickly