naftakin, the blind           
                                   
                                          
 a  student  at the charcoal guild... his 
 eyes sewn  shut  from birth...  the most 
            successful student            
                                          
 but one day he fell  down into a crystal 
 cavern. it  was deep  in the mountain, a 
 great  hall  with  only  a  single  tiny 
 inlet  for   both   light  and   falling 
                students...               
                                          
 in the fall, the quartz  sliced  off the 
 threads in his  eyes,  opening them  for 
 the   first   time.   before   him,  the 
 crystals mirrored and refracted the  one 
 light  smidge into a  whole  night  sky, 
 and  he   was   struck  down   with  awe 
                                          
 but also  with  shame, because his  eyes 
 had  seen.  hurriedly,  he  used  thread 
 from  his  robe   to   sew   them   back 
 together, and when help came he  did not 
        tell of his transgression.        
                                          
 for  years he studied at the  guild.  he 
 became a  master,  and  then a  pilgrim. 
 yet the image  from the cave  never left 
                   him.                   
                                          
 at the end  of  his  life,  when  at the 
 edge of  the  world he  opened his  eyes 
 for a second time,  stars had hatched in 
                 them...