Great. But you fought a great while; I wonder you was not weary. Valiant. I fought till my sword did cleave to my hand; and when they were joined together as if a sword grew out of my arm, and when the blood ran through my fingers, then I fought with most courage (2 Sam. xxiii. 10). Great. Thou hast done well. Thou hast "resisted unto blood, striving against sin." Thou shalt abide by us, come in and go out with us; for we are thy companions. in my lot with thieves (Prov. i. 10-14). | and soul and spirit and all (Eph. vi. 12–17; Then they demanded what I would say to Heb. iv. 12). the second. So I told them that the place from whence I came, had I not found incommodity there, I had not forsaken it at all; but finding it altogether unsuitable to me, and very unprofitable for me, I forsook it for this way. Then they asked me what I said to the third. And I told them, my life cost more dear far than that I should lightly give it away. Besides, you have nothing to do thus to put things to my choice; wherefore at your peril be it if you meddle. Then these three, to wit, Wild-head, Inconsiderate, and Pragmatic, drew upon me, and I also drew upon them. So we fell to it, one against three, for the space of above three hours. They have left upon me, as you see, some of the marks of their valor, and have also carried away with them some of mine. They are but just now gone: I suppose they might, as the saying is, hear your horse dash, and so they betook themselves to flight. Great. But here was great odds, three against one. Valiant. It is true; but little or more are nothing to him that has the truth on his side. "Though an host should encamp against me," said one, "my heart shall not fear though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident," &c. (Ps. xxvii. 3). Besides, said he, I have read in some records, that one man has fought an army: and how many did Samson slay with the jawbone of an ass! (Judges xv. 15, 16.) Great. Then said the guide, Why did you not cry out, that some might have come in for your succor ? Valiant. So I did, to my King, who, I knew, could hear, and afford invisible help, and that was sufficient for me. Great. Then said Great-heart to Mr. Valiant-for-truth, Thou hast worthily behaved thyself. Let me see thy sword. So he showed it him. When he had taken it in his hand, and looked thereon awhile, he said, Ha! it is a right Jerusalem blade (Isa. ii. 3). Valiant. It is so. Let a man have one of these blades, with a hand to wield it and skill to use it, and he may venture upon an angel with it. He need not fear its holding, if he can but tell how to lay on. Its edges will never blunt. It will cut flesh and bones Then they took him and washed his wounds, and gave him of what they had to refresh him; and so they went on together. Now, as they went on, because Mr. Greatheart was delighted in him (for he loved one greatly that he found to be a man of his hands), and because there were with his company them that were feeble and weak, therefore he questioned with him about many things; as, first, what countryman he was. Valiant. I am of Dark-land; for there I was born, and there my father and mother are still. Great. Dark-land, said the guide; doth not that lie upon the same coast with the City of Destruction? Valiant. Yes, it doth. Now, that which caused me to come on pilgrimage was this: We had one Mr. Tell-true come into our parts, and he told it about what Christian had done, that went from the City of Destruction; namely, how he had forsaken his wife and children, and had betaken himself to a pilgrim's life. It was also confidently reported, how he had killed a serpent that did come out to resist him in his journey; and how he got through to whither he intended. It was also told, what welcome he had at all his Lord's lodgings, especially when he came to the gates of the Celestial City; for there, said the man, he was received with sound of trumpet by a company of Shining Ones. He told it also how all the bells in the city did ring for joy at his reception, and what golden garments he was clothed with; with many other things that now I shall forbear to relate. In a word, that man so told the story of Christian and his travels, that my heart fell into a burning haste to be gone after him; nor could father or mother stay me. So I got from them, and am come thus far on my way. Great. And what did they say else? Valiant. Why, they told me that it was a Great. You came in at the gate, did you dangerous way; yea, the most dangerous not? way in the world, said they, is that which the pilgrims go. Valiant. Yes, yes; for the same man also told us, that all would be nothing, if we did not begin to enter this way at the gate. Great. Look you, said the guide to Christiana, the pilgrimage of your husband, and what he has gotten thereby, is spread abroad far and near. Valiant. Why, is this Christian's wife? Great. Yes, that it is; and these also are her four sons. Great. Did they show wherein this way is so dangerous? Valiant. Yes, and that in many particulars. Great. Name some of them. Valiant. They told me of the Slough of Despond, where Christian was wellnigh smothered. They told me that there were archers standing ready in Beelzebub Castle, Valiant. What! and going on pilgrimage to shoot them that should knock at the Wicket-gate for entrance. They told me too? Great. Yes, verily; they are following also of the wood and dark mountains: of the after. Valiant. It glads me at heart. Good man! how joyful will he be when he shall see them that would not go with him, yet to enter after him in at the gates into the city! Great. Without doubt it will be a comfort to him; for, next to the joy of seeing himself there, it will be a joy to meet there his wife and children. Valiant. But, now you are upon that, pray let me hear your opinion about it. Some make a question, whether we shall know one another when we are there. Great. Do they think they shall know themselves then, or that they shall rejoice to see themselves in that bliss? And if they think they shall know and do these, why not know others, and rejoice in their welfare also? Again, since relations are our second self, though that state will be dissolved there, yet why may it not be rationally concluded that we shall be more glad to see them there, than to see they are wanting? Valiant. Well, I perceive whereabouts you are as to this. Have you any more things to ask me about my beginning to come on pilgrimage? Great. Yes. Was your father and mother willing that you should become a pilgrim? Valiant. O no! They used all means imaginable to persuade me to stay at home. Great. Why, what could they say against it? Valiant. They said it was an idle life; and if I myself were not inclined to sloth and laziness, I would never countenance a pilgrim's condition. Hill Difficulty; of the lions; and also of the three giants, Bloody-man, Maul, and Siay-good. They said, moreover, that there was a foul fiend haunted the Valley of Humiliation; and that Christian was by him almost bereft of life. Besides, said they, you must go over the Valley of the Shadow of Death, where the hobgoblins are; where the light is darkness; where the way is full of snares, pits, traps, and gins. They told me also of Giant Despair, of Doubting Castle, and of the ruin that the pilgrims met with here. Further, they said I must go over the Enchanted Ground, which was dangerous; and that, after all this, I should find a river, over which I should find no bridge, and that that river did lie betwixt me and the Celestial Country. Great. And was this all? Valiant. No. They also told me that this way was full of deceivers, and of persons that lay in wait there, to turn good men out of the path. Great. But how did they make that out? Valiant. They told me that Mr. Worldly Wiseman did there lie in wait to deceive. They also said that there was Formality and Hypocrisy continually on the road. They said also, that By-ends, Talkative, or Demas would go near to gather me up; that the Flatterer would catch me in his net; or that, with green-headed Ignorance, I would presume to go on to the gate, from whence he was sent back to the hole that was in the side of the hill, and made to go the by-way to hell. Great. I promise you this was enough to discourage. But did they make an end here? Valiant. No; stay. They told me also of many that had tried that way of old, and that had gone a great way therein, to see if they could find something of the glory there that so many had so much talked of from time to time; and how they came back again, and befooled themselves for setting a foot out of doors in that path, to the satisfaction of all the country. And they named several that did so, as Obstinate and Pliable, Mistrust and Timorous, Turn-away and old Atheist, with several more, who, they said, had some of them gone far to see if they could find, but not one of them found so much advantage by going as amounted to the weight of a feather. Great. Said they anything more to discourage you? Valiant. Yes. They told me of one Mr. Fearing who was a pilgrim; and how he found this way so solitary, that he never had a comfortable hour therein; also, that Mr. Despondency had like to have been starved therein yea, and also (which I had almost forgot) that Christian himself, about whom there has been such a noise, after all his ventures for a celestial crown, was certainly drowned in the Black River, and never went a foot further, however it was smothered up. : Great. And did none of these things discourage you? Whoso beset him round With dismal stories, Hobgoblin nor foul fiend Shall life inherit. CHAPTER XII. THE ENCHANTED GROUND. By this time they were got to the Enchanted Ground, where the air naturally tended to make one drowsy. And that place was all grown over with briers and thorns, excepting here and there, where was an enchanted arbor, upon which if a man sits, or in which if a man sleeps, it is a question, say some, whether ever he shall rise or wake again in this world. Over this forest, therefore, they went, both one and another, and Mr. Great-heart went before, for that he was the guide; and Mr. Valiant-for-truth, he came behind, being there a guard, for fear, lest peradventure some fiend or dragon or giant or thief should fall upon their rear, Valiant. No; they seemed but as so many and so do mischief. They went on here, nothings to me. Great. How came that about? Valiant. Why, I still believed what Mr. Tell-true had said; and that carried me beyond them all. Great. Then this was your victory, even your faith. Valiant. It was so. I believed, and therefore came out, got into the way, fought all that set themselves against me, and, by believing, am come to this place. Who would true valor see, Let him come hither; To be a pilgrim. each man with his sword drawn in his hand ; for they knew it was a dangerous place. Also they cheered up one another as well as they could. Feeble-mind, Mr. Great-heart commanded should come up after him; and Mr. Despondency was under the eye of Mr. Valiant. Now they had not gone far, but a great mist and darkness fell upon them all; so that they could scarce, for a great while, see the one the other. Wherefore they were forced, for some time, to feel for one another by words; for they walked not by sight. But any one must think that here was but sorry going for the best of them all; but how much worse for the women and children, who both of feet and heart were but tender. Yet so it was, that through the encouraging words of him that led in the front, and of him that brought them up behind, they made a pretty good shift to wag along. The way also was here very wearisome, through dirt and slabbiness. Nor was there, on all this ground, so much as one inn or victualling-house, therein to refresh the feebler sort. Here, therefore, was grunting, and puffing, and sighing. While one tumbleth over a bush, another sticks fast in the dirt; and the children, some of them, lost their shoes in the mire ;- while one cries out, I am down; and another, Ho! where are you? and a third, The bushes have got such fast hold on me, I think I cannot get away from them. Then they came at an arbor, warm, and promising much refreshing to the pilgrims; for it was finely wrought abovehead, beautified with greens, furnished with benches and settles. It also had in it a soft couch, whereon the weary might lean. This, you must think, all things considered, was tempting; for the pilgrims already began to be foiled with the badness of the way. But there was not one of them that made so much as a motion to stop there; yea, for aught I could perceive, they continually gave so good heed to the advice of their guide, and he did so faithfully tell them dangers, and of the nature of dangers, when they were at them, that usually, when they were nearest to them, they did most pluck up their spirits, and hearten one another to deny the flesh. This arbor was called The Slothful's Friend, on purpose to allure, if it might be, some of the pilgrims there to take up their rest when weary. I saw then in my dream, that they went on in this their solitary ground, till they came to a place at which a man is apt to lose his way. Now, though when it was light their guide could well enough tell how to miss those ways that led wrong, yet in the dark he was put to a stand. But he had in his pocket a map of all ways leading to or from the Celestial City; wherefore he struck a light (for he never goes, also, without his tinder-box), and takes a view of his book or map, which bids him be careful in that place to turn to the right-hand way. And had he not here been careful to look in his map, they had all, in probability, been smothered in the mud; for just a little before them, and that at the end of the cleanest way, too, was a pit, none knows how deep, full of nothing but mud, there made on purpose to destroy the pilgrims in. Then thought I with myself, Who that goeth on pilgrimage but would have one of these maps about him, that he may look, when he is at a stand, which is the way he must take? They went on, then, in this Enchanted Ground, till they came to where there was another arbor, and it was built by the highway-side. And in that arbor there lay two men, whose names were Heedless and Toobold. These two went thus far on pilgrimage; but here, being wearied with their journey, they sat down to rest themselves, and so fell fast asleep. When the pilgrims saw them, they stood still, and shook their heads, for they knew that the sleepers were in a pitiful case. Then they consulted what to do; whether to go on and leave them in their sleep, or to step to them and try to awake them. So they concluded to go to them and awake them, that is, if they could; but with this caution, namely, to take heed that themselves did not sit down, nor embrace the offered benefit of that arbor. So they went in and spake to the men, and called each one by his name (for the guide, it seems, did know them); but there was no voice nor answer. Then the guide did shake them, and do what he could to disturb them. Then said one of them, I will pay you when I take my money. At which the guide shook his head. I will fight so long as I can hold my sword in my hand, Isaid the other. At that one of the children laughed. Then said Christiana, What is the meaning of this? The guide said, They talk in their sleep. If you strike them, beat them, or whatever else you do to them, they will answer you after this fashion; or, as one of them said in old time, when the waves of the sea did beat upon him, and he slept as one upon the mast of a ship, "When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again" (Prov. xxiii. 34, 35). You know, when men talk in their sleep, they say anything, but their words are not governed either by faith or reason. There is an incoherency in their words now, as there was before betwixt their going on pilgrimage and sitting down here. This, |