and he abode so blind eighteen years. And at the last, a worshipful woman came to visit and comfort him. And when she knew how he was made blind, she bade him be of good cheer, and said if he would visit sixty churches with good devotion, and then to have the water that the king had washed his hands in and wash his eyes withal, he should have his sight again. Then he was greatly comforted, and gat him a guide, and went and visited three score churches with great devotion, and came to the king's palace and cried for help, and they that heard him bade him cease of his crying, but for all that he cried more and more. And when the king understood it, he called him to him and said: ’Why should I not set my hands to help this poor man, though I be unworthy, if it please God to relieve him and to give to him his sight?' And because he would not be found disobedient to God ne presumptuous, he took water and washed his eyes full meekly, and anon he was restored to his sight, and saw as clearly as ever he did.
As the king on a time sat at the table with the queen and her father Earl Godwin, and saw how Harold and Tosti, the two sons of Godwin, played tofore the king; but at the last the game turned into earnest, and they began to fight. And Harold took his brother by the hair, and threw him to the earth and fell upon him in great anger, and would have strangled him but if he had been let. Then the king demanded Godwin if he understood anything thereby, and he said: 'Nay, forsooth.' Then the king said: ’Ye shall see when they come to
