beast. If, in an unguarded moment, he looked upon the cattle, they died; whatever he regarded and praised, perished. To complete his misfortunes, his father and mother died broken-hearted. The "Evil Eye," as he came to be called in his native place, where his pernicious glances had caused such destruction, sold all his property and removed to the banks of the Vistula. He there took up his abode in a solitary house, dismissed all the domestics, save only one—an old man-servant, who had nursed him in his infancy, and whom alone the evil eye had no power to harm.
The Evil Eye seldom left home, seeing that desolation and even death followed his looks. Whenever he drove out, his old servant sat by his side, to warn him that they were approaching a village, a town, or human being. The unhappy man would then either close his eyes, or cast them down and look on a bundle of pea-straw, which was always lying at his feet.[1]
Knowing the baneful power of his eyes, which in spite of himself brought misery and desolation around him, the unfortunate man had his house so arranged that all the
- ↑ It is the common belief that one possessed of an evil eye, by looking on a bundle of pea-straw hurts nobody,—the pea-straw is only more thoroughly dried up. The eyes of the basilisk are said to have the same influence on rue: when this reptile looks on rue it loses its freshness and colour.
