The Country of the Blind by H.G.Wells

Nunez is a mountaineering guide from Bogota who has taken a group of English mountaineers to climb the fictious Parascotopetl crest in the Andes. Accident strucks as he falls down a precipice. Luckily for him, he falls on a thick bed of soft snow. He starts to explore to find a  way to get back to histown.

On reaching the valley, he discovers a land very unfamiliar. The land is covered with lush meadows. On walking further down he finds three men working in a field. Nunez gestures that he has come down from the mountains, but the men don't seem to notice him. He realises these men are blind. After much shouting he approaches towards them and becomes sure this is the much fabled "The Country of the Blind". A proverb strucks his mind,"In the Country of the Blind, the One-eyed Man is King."

Nunez explains to the blind men that he has come from a land where there are thousands and thousands of people and where men can see. But the blind men don't seem to understand. The valley was once flooded by people who wanted to escape from the tyranny of the Spanish rulers. A series of earthquakes completely isolates the valley from the outside world. Another disaster strucks as a peculiar disease starts making all new born babies blind. By the time the last sighted man dies, the valley had completely learned to live without sight. Over the years the word 'sight' did not have any meaning to them. But the land is gentle and fertile. Also there are no thorns, deadly insects or any beasts except for the gentle llamas.

The three men lead him to their village and to the village elders. People start putting their hands and nose to feel and smell him. The elders dismissed him as totally uncivilized with words such as 'see', 'sight' and 'blind'. Such words did not exist in their language. Frustrated, Nunez becomes angry but they calm him and he reluctantly submits to their way of lif because returning to the outside world is impossible. He is surprised that the houses did not have windows and the people worked at night and slept at sunrise. Despite trying his best he is not able to make them understand. Utimately he gives up and tells them that he is mad. The villagers are much happier at listening this.

Nunez is assigned to work for a villager named Yacob, and he becomes attracted to Yacob's youngest daughter, Medina-sarote. To Nunez, she is one of the most beautiful women she has seen. But the blind folk consider her to be ugly because her skin was too smooth. To them a beautiful women was one with more cuts and features.
Nunez explains to Medina-sarote about his world and what sight actually means, but she politely dismisses him.

The village doctor suggests that Nunez is acting stupid because of the organs he calls "eyes" is diseased and is affecting his brain. If this organ is removed he will he will become normal. Nunez consents to his operation merely because he loves Medina-sarote. But at sunrise, on the day of the operation, he changes his mind and decides to escape the valley. He would have to leave his love. He makes his way towards the mountains and succeeds in crossing it. He turns back to have one last look at the country he had thought to be king.