The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan Every Child Can Read
_Mer._ Alas! to be in my case, who that so was could but have done so?
You saw that the door was shut upon me, and that there was a most cruel
dog thereabout. Who, I say, that was so faint-hearted as I, would not
have knocked with all their might? But, pray, what said my Lord to my
rudeness? Was He not angry with me?
CHR. When He heard your lumbering noise, He gave a wonderful innocent
smile; I believe what you did pleased Him well enough, for He showed no
sign to the contrary. But I marvel in my heart why he keeps such a dog;
had I known that afore, I should not have had heart enough to have
ventured myself in this manner. But now we are in, we are in, and I am
glad with all my heart.
_Mer._ I will ask, if you please, next time He comes down, why He keeps
such a filthy cur in His yard. I hope He will not take it amiss.
"Ay, do," said the children, "and persuade Him to hang him, for we are
afraid he will bite us when we go hence."
So at last He came down to them again, and Mercy fell to the ground on
her face before Him, and worshiped, and said, "Let my Lord accept the
offering of praise which I now offer unto Him with my lips."
[Sidenote: MERCY EXPRESSES HER FEARS]
So He said unto her, "Peace be to thee; stand up." But she continued
upon her face, and said, "Righteous art Thou, O Lord, when I plead with
Thee; yet let me talk with Thee of Thy judgments. Wherefore dost Thou
keep so cruel a dog in Thy yard, at the sight of which such women and
children as we are ready to fly from the gate with fear?" He answered
and said, "That dog has another owner; he also is kept close in another
man's ground, only my pilgrims hear his barking: he belongs to the
castle which you see there at a distance, but can come up to the walls
of this place. He has frighted many an honest pilgrim from worse to
better, by the great voice of his roaring. Indeed, he that owneth him
doth not keep him out of any good-will to me or mine, but with intent to
keep the pilgrims from coming to me, and that they may be afraid to come
and knock at this gate for entrance. Sometimes also he has broken out,
and has worried some that I love; but I take all at present patiently. I
also give my pilgrims timely help, so that they are not delivered up to
his power, to do with them what his doggish nature would prompt him to.
But, what! my beloved one, I should suppose, hadst thou known even so
much beforehand, thou wouldst not have been afraid of a dog. The beggars
that go from door to door will, rather than lose a supposed alms, run
the danger of the bawling, barking, and biting too, of a dog; and shall
a dog in another man's yard, a dog whose barking I turn to the profit of
pilgrims, keep any one from coming to me? I deliver them from the lions,
their darling from the power of the dog."
MER. Then said Mercy, "I confess my ignorance, I spake what I understood
not: I acknowledge that Thou doest all things well."
CHR. Then Christiana began to talk of their journey, and to inquire
after the way.
So He fed them, and washed their feet, and set them in the way of His
steps, according as He had dealt with her husband before.
So I saw in my dream that they walked on in their way, and had the
weather very comfortable to them.
Then Christiana began to sing:
"Blessed be the day that I began
A pilgrim for to be;
And blessed also be the man
That thereto moved me.
"'Tis true 'twas long ere I began
To seek to live for ever;
But now I run fast as I can:
'Tis better late than never.
"Our tears to joy, our fears to faith,
Are turned, as we see;
Thus our beginning (as one saith)
Shows what our end will be."
Now, there was, on the other side of the wall that fenced in the way up
which Christiana and her companions were to go, a garden, and that
garden belonged to him whose was that barking dog, of whom mention was
made before. And some of the fruit-trees that grew in that garden shot
their branches over the wall; and, being mellow, they that found them
did gather them up and oft eat of them to their hurt. So Christiana's
boys, as boys are apt to do, being pleased with the trees, and the fruit
that did hang thereon, did bend the branches down, and pluck the fruit,
and begin to eat. Their mother did also chide them for so doing; but
still the boys went on.
"Well," said she, "my sons, you do wrong, for that fruit is none of
ours;" but she did not know that it did belong to the enemy: I'll
warrant you, if she had, she would have been ready to die for fear. But
that passed, and they went on their way.
[Sidenote: THE ILL-FAVORED ONES]
Now, by that they were gone about two bow-shots from the place that led
them unto the way, they espied two very ill-favored ones coming down
apace to meet them. With that, Christiana, and Mercy her friend, covered
themselves with their veils, and so kept on their journey; the children
also went on before; so that, at last, they met together. Then they that
came down to meet them came just up to the women, as if they would
embrace them; but Christiana said, "Stand back, or go peaceably by, as
you should."
Yet these two, as men that are deaf, regarded not Christiana's words,
but began to lay hands upon them. At that, Christiana, waxing very
wroth, spurned at them with her feet. Mercy also, as well as she could,
did what she could to shift them. Christiana again said to them, "Stand
back, and be gone; for we have no money to lose, being pilgrims, as you
see, and such, too, as live upon the charity of our friends."
ILL-FAVORED ONE. Then said one of the two men, "We make no assault upon
you for money, but are come out to tell you that, if you will grant one
small request which we shall ask, we will make women of you for ever."
CHR. Now Christiana, imagining what they should mean, made answer again,
"We will neither hear nor regard, nor yield to what you shall ask. We
are in haste, and cannot stay; our business is a business of life or
death."
So again she and her companions made a fresh attempt to go past them;
but they letted them in their way.
ILL-FAV. And they said, "We intend no hurt to your lives; it is another
thing we would have."
CHR. "Ay," quoth Christiana, "you would have us body and soul, for I
know it is for that you are come; but we will die rather upon the spot,
than to suffer ourselves to be brought into such snares as shall risk
the loss of our well-being hereafter." And, with that, they both
shrieked out, and cried, "Murder! murder!" and so put themselves under
those laws that are provided for the protection of women. But the men
still made their approach upon them, with design to prevail against
them. They therefore cried out again.
[Sidenote: A RELIEVER APPEARS]
Now, they being, as I said, far from the gate in at which they came,
their voices were heard from where they were, thither; wherefore some of
the house came out, and, knowing it was Christiana's tongue, they made
haste to her relief. But by the time that they were got within sight of
them, the women were in a very great terror; the children also stood
crying by. Then did he that came in for their relief call out to the
ruffians, saying, "What is that thing you do? Would you make my Lord's
people to do wrong?" He also attempted to take them, but they did make
their escape over the wall into the garden of the man to whom the great
dog belonged; so the dog became their protector. This Reliever then came
up to the women and asked them how they did.
So they answered, "We thank thy Prince, pretty well, only we have been
somewhat affrighted: we thank thee also for that thou camest in to our
help, otherwise we had been overcome."
RELIEVER. So, after a few more words, this Reliever said as followeth:
"I marvelled much when you were entertained at the gate above, being ye
knew that ye were but weak women, that you asked not the Lord for a
conductor. Then might you have avoided these troubles and dangers; for
He would have granted you one."
CHR. "Alas!" said Christiana, "we were taken so with our present
blessing, that dangers to come were forgotten by us. Besides, who could
have thought that, so near the King's palace, there could have lurked
such naughty ones? Indeed, it had been well for us had we asked our Lord
for one; but, since our Lord knew it would be for our profit, I wonder
He sent not one along with us."
REL. It is not always necessary to grant things not asked for, lest, by
so doing, they become of little value; but when the want of a thing is
felt, then he who needs it feels its preciousness; and so when it is
given it will be used. Had my Lord granted you a conductor, you would
not either have so bewailed that oversight of yours, in not asking for
one, as now you have occasion to do. So all things work for good, and
tend to make you more wary.
CHR. Shall we go back again to my Lord, and confess our folly, and ask
one?
REL. Your confession of your folly I will present Him with. To go back
again you need not; for, in all places where you shall come, you will
find no want at all; for, in every one of my Lord's lodgings, which He
has prepared for the care of His pilgrims, there is sufficient to
furnish them against all attempts whatsoever. But, as I said, He will be
asked of by them, to do it for them. And 'tis a poor thing that is not
worth asking for.
[Sidenote: THE PILGRIMS PROCEED]
When he had thus said, he went back to his place, and the pilgrims went
on their way.
MER. Then said Mercy, "What a sudden blank is here! I made account we
had been past all danger, and that we should never see sorrow more."
CHR. "Thy innocence, my sister," said Christiana to Mercy, "may excuse
thee much; but as for me, fault is so much the greater, for that I saw
the danger before I came out of the doors, and yet did not provide for
it when provision might have been had. I am, therefore, much to be
blamed."
MER. Then said Mercy, "How knew you this before you came from home?
Pray, open to me this riddle."
CHR. Why, I will tell you. Before I set foot out of doors, one night, as
I lay in my bed, I had a dream about this; for methought I saw two men,
as like these as ever any in the world could look, stand at my bed's
feet, plotting how they might prevent my salvation. I will tell you
their very words. They said (it was when I was in my troubles), "What
shall we do with this woman? for she cries out waking and sleeping for
forgiveness: if she be suffered to go on as she begins, we shall lose
her as we have lost her husband." This, you know, might have made me
take heed, and have provided when provision might have been had.
MER. "Well," said Mercy, "as by this neglect we have been made to behold
our own imperfections, so our Lord has taken occasion thereby to make
manifest the riches of His grace; for He, as we see, has followed us
with unasked kindness, and has delivered us from their hands that were
stronger than we, of His mere good pleasure."
CHAPTER III.
THE INTERPRETER'S HOUSE.
Thus, now, when they had talked away a little more time, they drew near
to a house which stood in the way, which house was built for the relief
of pilgrims, as you will find more fully related in the first part of
these records of the Pilgrim's Progress. So they drew on towards the
house (the house of the Interpreter); and, when they came to the door,
they heard a great talk in the house. Then they gave ear, and heard, as
they thought, Christiana mentioned by name; for you must know that there
went along, even before her, a talk of her and her children's going on
pilgrimage. And this was the more pleasing to them, because they had