Astronomer story

[Mark Smith]

Some days ago we broached the subject of "glaur" from p229: "..a fool
with his eyes in the glaur."  This is the landlord of the Cudgel and
Throck reprimanding himself for not heeding the advice of the horoscope
provided by Emereson.  He says, in other words, that he is a
shortsighted fellow, paying more attention to the "glaur" (mud, ground)
than the stars.

Yesterday I read something, somewhere (a little fuzzy here) about the
"well known" story of the astronomer who wandered around gazing at the
stars, not noticing the pit he fell into in front of him. Can anyone
supply the source of the original story, or is it just a generic sort of
ancedote?
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