Hadst thou been aught but gossamer, feathers, air,
So many fathom down precipitating,
Thou’dst shivered like an egg; but thou dost breathe,
Hast heavy substance, bleed’st not, speak’st, art sound.
Ten masts at each make not the altitude
Which thou hast perpendicularly fell.
Thy life’s a miracle. Speak yet again.
– William Shakespeare
King Lear, Act 4, Scene 6. Edgar, no longer playing the part of Poor Tom, pretends to be a new person who saw Gloucester leap from the nonexistent "cliff." Edgar pretends to the blind Gloucester that he fell and miraculously survived. Even if Gloucester were made of only thread, feathers and air, he should have shattered like an egg falling as he did, Edgar tells him. Gloucester’s life and survival is a miracle, his son.