The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan Every Child Can Read
heard she was Christian's wife, that woman who was some time ago so
unwilling to hear of going on pilgrimage. Thus, therefore, they stood
still, and heard the good people within commending her, who, they little
thought, stood at the door. At last Christiana knocked, as she had done
at the gate before. Now, when she had knocked, there came to the door a
young maiden, and opened the door and looked; and, behold, two women
were there.
[Sidenote: THE INTERPRETER'S HOUSE]
MAID. Then said the maid to them, "With whom would you speak in this
place?"
CHR. Christiana answered, "We understand that this is a place prepared
for those that are become pilgrims, and we now at this door are such;
wherefore we pray that we may be partakers of that for which we at this
time are come; for the day, as thou seest, is very far spent, and we are
loth to-night to go any farther."
DAM. Pray, what may I call your name, that I may tell it to my lord
within?
CHR. My name is Christiana: I was the wife of that pilgrim that some
years ago did travel this way; and these be his four children. This
young woman is my companion, and is going on pilgrimage too.
INNOCENT. Then Innocent ran in (for that was her name,) and said to
those within, "Can you think who is at the door? There are Christiana
and her children, and her companion, all waiting for entertainment
here."
Then they leaped for joy, and went and told their master. So he came to
the door, and looking upon her, he said, "Art thou that Christiana whom
Christian the good man left behind him, when he betook himself to a
pilgrim's life?"
CHR. I am that woman that was so hard-hearted as to slight my husband's
troubles, and then left him to go on his journey alone; and these are
his four children. But now also I am come, for I am convinced that no
way is right but this.
INTER. Then is fulfilled that which also is written of the man that
said to his son, "Go, work to-day in my vineyard;" and he said to his
father, "I will not;" but afterwards he repented, and went.
CHR. Then said Christiana, "So be it: Amen. God make it a true saying
upon me, and grant that I may be found at the last of Him in peace,
without spot and blameless!"
INTER. But why standest thou thus at the door? Come in, thou blessed
one. We were talking of thee but now; for tidings have come to us before
how thou art become a pilgrim. Come, children, come in; come, maiden,
come in.
So he had them all into the house.
[Sidenote: PILGRIMS ENTERTAINED]
So when they were within, they were bidden to sit down and rest them;
the which when they had done, those that attended upon the pilgrims in
the house came into the room to see them. And one smiled, and another
smiled, and they all smiled for joy that Christiana was become a
pilgrim. They also looked upon the boys; they stroked them over the
faces with the hand, in token of their kind reception of them; they also
carried it lovingly to Mercy, and bid them all welcome into their
master's house.
After a while, because supper was not ready, the Interpreter took them
into his significant rooms, and showed them what Christian, Christiana's
husband, had seen some time before. Here, therefore, they saw the man in
the cage, the man and his dream, the man that cut his way through his
enemies, and the picture of the biggest of them all, together with the
rest of those things that were then so profitable to Christian.
This done, and after those things had been seen and thought of by
Christiana and her company, the Interpreter takes them apart again, and
has them first into a room where was a man that could look no way but
downwards, with a muck-rake in his hand. There stood also one over his
head, with a celestial crown in his hand, and proffered to give him that
crown for his muck-rake; but the man did neither look up nor regard, but
raked to himself the straws, the small sticks, and the dust of the
floor.
Then said Christiana, "I persuade myself that I know somewhat the
meaning of this; for this is a figure of a man of this world. Is it not,
good sir?"
INTER. "Thou hast said the right," said he; "and his muck-rake doth show
his worldly mind. And whereas thou seest him rather give heed to rake up
straws and sticks, and the dust of the floor, than to do what he says
that calls to him from above with the celestial crown in his hand; it is
to show that heaven is but a fable to some, and that things here are
counted the only things substantial. Now, whereas it was also showed
thee that the man could look no way but downwards; it is to let thee
know that earthly things, when they are with power upon men's minds,
quite carry their hearts away from God."
CHR. Then said Christiana, "Oh, deliver me from this muck-rake!"
INTER. "That prayer," said the Interpreter, "has lain by till it is
almost rusty. 'Give me not riches' is scarce the prayer of one of ten
thousand. Straws, and sticks, and dust, with most, are the great things
now looked after."
With that, Mercy and Christiana wept, and said, "It is, alas! too true."
[Sidenote: INTERPRETER'S ALLEGORIES]
When the Interpreter had showed them this, he had them into the very
best room in the house; a very brave room it was. So he bid them look
round about, and see if they could find anything there. Then they looked
round and round; for there was nothing to be seen but a very great
spider on the wall, and that they overlooked.
MER. Then said Mercy, "Sir, I see nothing."
But Christiana held her peace.
INTER. "But," said the Interpreter, "look again."
She therefore looked again, and said, "Here is not anything but an ugly
spider, who hangs by her hands upon the wall."
Then said he, "Is there but one spider in all this spacious room?"
Then the water stood in Christiana's eyes, for she was a woman quick of
mind; and she said, "Yes, my lord; there is here more than one; yea, and
spiders whose venom is far more destructive than that which is in her."
The Interpreter then looked pleasantly upon her, and said, "Thou hast
said the truth."
This made Mercy blush and the boys to cover their faces; for they all
began now to understand the riddle.
Then said the Interpreter again, "The spider taketh hold with her hands
(as you see), and is in kings' palaces. And wherefore is this recorded,
but to show you that, how full of the venom of sin soever you be, yet
you may, by the hand of faith, lay hold of and dwell in the best room
that belongs to the king's house above."
CHR. "I thought," said Christiana, "of something of this; but I could
not imagine it all. I thought that we were like spiders, and that we
looked like ugly creatures, in what fine rooms soever we were: but that
by this spider, this venomous and ill-favored creature, we were to learn
how to act faith, that came not into my mind; and yet she has taken hold
with her hands, and, as I see, dwelleth in the best room in the house.
God has made nothing in vain."
Then they seemed all to be glad, but the water stood in their eyes; yet
they looked one upon another, and also bowed before the Interpreter.
He had them then into another room, where were a hen and chickens, and
bid them observe a while. So one of the chickens went to the trough to
drink; and every time she drank, she lifted up her head and her eyes
toward heaven. "See," said he, "what this little chick doth; and learn
of her to acknowledge whence your mercies come, by receiving them with
looking up. Yet again," said he, "observe and look."
So they gave heed, and perceived that the hen did walk in a fourfold
method towards her chickens. First, she had a common call, and that she
hath all day long. Secondly, she had a special call, and that she had
but sometimes. Thirdly, she had a brooding note. And, fourthly she had
an outcry.
INTER. "Now," said he, "compare this hen to your King, and these
chickens to His obedient ones: for, answerable to her, He Himself hath
His methods which He walketh in toward His people. By His common call,
He gives nothing; by His special call, He always has something to give;
He also has a brooding voice for them that are under His wing; and He
hath an outcry, to give the alarm when He seeth the enemy come. I chose,
my darlings, to lead you into the room where such things are, because
you are women, and they are easy for you."
CHR. "And, sir," said Christiana, "pray let us see some more."
So he had them into the slaughter-house, where the butcher was killing a
sheep; and, behold, the sheep was quiet, and took her death patiently.
Then said the Interpreter, "You must learn of this sheep to suffer, and
to put up with wrongs without murmurings and complaints. Behold how
quietly she takes her death; and, without objecting, she suffereth her
skin to be pulled over her ears. Your King doth call you His sheep."
After this, he led them into his garden, where was great variety of
flowers; and he said, "Do you see all these?" So Christiana said, "Yes."
Then said he again, "Behold, the flowers are diverse in stature, in
quality, and color, and smell, and virtue, and some are better than
others; also, where the gardener has set them, there they stand, and
quarrel not one with another."
Again, he had them into his field, which he had sowed with wheat and
corn; but when they beheld, the tops of all were cut off, and only the
straw remained. He said again, "This ground was made rich, and was
ploughed, and sowed; but what shall we do with the crop?" Then said
Christiana, "Burn some, and make muck of the rest." Then said the
Interpreter again, "Fruit, you see, is that thing you look for; and, for
want of that, you send it to the fire, and to be trodden under foot of
men. Beware that in this you condemn not yourselves."
Then, as they were coming in from abroad, they espied a little robin
with a great spider in his mouth. So the Interpreter said, "Look here."
So they looked, and Mercy wondered; but Christiana said, "What a
disparagement is it to such a pretty little bird as the robin-redbreast
is; he being also a bird above many, that loveth to maintain a kind of
sociableness with man! I had thought they had lived upon crumbs of
bread, or upon other such harmless matter. I like him worse than I
did."
The Interpreter then replied, "This robin is an emblem very apt, to set
forth some people by; for to sight they are as this robin, pretty of
note, color, and conduct. They seem also to have a very great love for
those that are sincere followers of Christ; and above all other to
desire to associate with them, and to be in their company, as if they
could live upon the good man's crumbs. They pretend, also, that
therefore it is that they frequent the house of the godly and the
appointments of the Lord; but, when they are by themselves, as the
robin, they can catch and gobble up spiders, they can change their diet,
drink wickedness, and swallow down sin like water."
So, when they were come again into the house, because supper as yet was
not ready, Christiana again desired that the Interpreter would either
show, or tell of, some other things that were profitable.
Then the Interpreter began, and said, "The fatter the sow is the more
she desires the mire; the fatter the ox is, the more thoughtlessly he
goes to the slaughter; and the more healthy the lusty man is, the more
prone he is unto evil. There is a desire in women to go neat and fine;
and it is a comely thing to be adorned with that which in God's sight is
of great price. 'Tis easier watching a night or two than to sit up a
whole year together; so 'tis easier for one to begin to profess well
than to hold out as he should to the end. Every ship-master, when in a
storm, will willingly cast that overboard which is of the smallest value