right eye, and destroyed one of his eyes. And Harold , by force, drew it out, threw it away with his hands and broke it ; and because his head was in great pain he rested on his shield . The Normans saw that the English defended them selves well, and were so strong that they could avail little against them . They consulted privately, and arranged among themselves to draw off from the English , and to make a semblance of flight, so that the English should pursue them and scatter through the fields. If they could separate them they could better assail them , and their strength would be much less, and so they would easier dis comfit them . And as they said , so they did , and the English pursued them ; little by little the Normans give way in flight, and the English follow ,the more the Normans drew off, the more nearly the English approached . Through the withdrawal of the French the English thought and said that the men of France were flying, that they never would return .
The feigned flight deceived them , through the flight great harm accrued to them , for if they had not moved , right well they might have defended themselves , and hardly had been vanquished. But like madmen they scattered, like madmen they pursued. You might see with great subtlety, the men of Normandy retreat, retreating they march slowly, to make the English come on . The Normans fly, and English chase ; they couch their lances, they raise their axes ; when they were cheering and scattered over the open , you might have heard the barons -
