PROLOGUE
Youth and age
OW
Natali, ny daughter began fe with one eye obit placed centrally
Inher forehead. appeared ea barely wedk after er cneeption
in October 2002 and had things gone aery there it would have
remained,» wet cjlopean hallow, glowering in the shadow of «
frotesque probes that would have grown in place of her nose”
"Thre are many explanations fr what inspired the legend ofthe
Ccylopes the one-eyed monsters of dasa mythology ~ invoking
cereything from an ancent find of mysterious dart ephant skal,
to the blaclamts habit, inthe days before protective goles. of
protecting one eye wih 2 pach. But the most ikly inspiration is
ts the saddest occasionally hua eylos survivesin the wom
long enough to cmerge visibly disigured: Once upon atime someone
{gota good look at what they had aborted ~ and forever fer wished.
they hadnt
“This happened nots long ago. George Gould and Wales Py
Indispensable woume Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine of 896
‘includes an account of « woman of hie)-fv, the mother of seven
hldren who shi pregnant was feeding some rabbits, when one
ff the animals jumped at her with ees hiring” upoo hes, casing
_ Sudden ight” The chs mouth an ace were sal and abitthupe ted of os, ad's sy gon 9/4 in ong BY
searsch broad, dicted upward at an angle of 45 degree Between
‘xb peand the mouth was an organ resembling adult ee Within
‘havo nperfct eyes which moved eey whe ie ate
“Fhe disiguremeat of the face was the outward mark of a
crc apa ola faethe alle ofthe rant dvdeinto wo
‘eles Unk ales. So, meriflly after about ten mintes the
aided. The mother went on to have two mor, perfectly
‘eal chiren
‘Hea beings aise not fom dust, but fom stl hardly more
cediyngs 2 geld spite. How, from this unpromiing materi