DOUBTING CASTLE AND GIANT DESPAIR.
I SAW then, that they went on their way to a fair stream. Here then
Christian and his friend did walk with great joy. They drank, too, of
the stream, which was sweet to taste, and like balm to their faint
hearts. More than this, on the banks of this stream, on each side, were
green trees with all kinds of fruit: and the leaves they ate to ward
off ills that come of too much food and heat of blood, while on the
way. On each side of the stream was a mead, bright with white plants;
and it was green all the year long. In this mead they lay down and
slept. When they did wake they felt a wish to go on, and set out. Now
the way from the stream was rough, and their feet soft, for that they
came a long road so the souls of the men were sad, from the state of
the way. Now, not far in front of them, there was on the left hand of
the road a mead, and a stile to get right to it: and that mead is
known as By-path Meadow. Then said Christian to his friend, "If this
mead doth lie close by the side of our way, let us go straight to it."
Then said Christian to his friends, "If this mead doth lie close by the
side of our way, let us go straight to it." Then he went to the stile
to see, and lo, a path lay close by the way on the far off side of the
fence. "It is just as I wish," said Christian; "come, good Hopeful, and
let us cross to it."
_Hope._--"But how if this path should lead us out of the way?"
"That is not like to be," said the next. "Look, doth it not go straight
on by the side of the way?" So Hopeful, when he thought on what his
friend said, went in his steps, and did cross the stile; and at the
same time, while they cast their eyes in front of them, they saw a man
that did walk as they did, and his name was Vain-Confidence: so they
did call to him, and ask him to what place that way led. He said, "To
the Celestial Gate." "Look," said Christian, "did not I tell you so? by
this you may see we are right." So they went in his wake, and he went
in front of them. But, lo, the night came on, and it grew quite dark;
so that they that were in the rear lost the sight of him that went in
front.
He then that went in front, as he did not see the way clear, fell in a
deep pit, which was there made by the prince of those grounds to catch
such vain fools with the rest, and was torn in bits by his fall.
Now Christian and his friend heard him fall: so they did call to know
the cause: but there was none to speak.
Then Hopeful gave a deep groan, and said, "Oh, that I had kept on my
way!"
[Illustration: This is Vain-Confidence whom Christian and Hopeful saw
in the way as they did walk.--Page 70.
_Pilgrim's Progress._]
_Chr._--"Good friend, do not feel hurt. I grieve I have brought thee
out of the way, and that I have put thee in no slight strait; pray, my
friend, let this pass; I did not do it of a bad will."
_Hope._--"Be of good cheer, my friend, for I give thee shrift; and
trust, too, this shall be for our good."
Then, so as to cheer them, they heard the voice of one that said, "Let
thine heart be set on the high road; and the way that thou didst go
turn once more." But by this time the way that they should go back was
rife with risk. Then I thought that we get more quick out of the way
when we are in it, than in it when we are out.
Nor could they, with all the skill they had, get once more to the stile
that night. For which cause, as they at last did light neath a slight
shed, they sat down there till day broke: but as they did tire they
fell to sleep. Now there was not far from the place where they lay a
fort, known as Doubting Castle, and he who kept it was Giant Despair:
and it was on his grounds that they now slept. Hence, as he got up at
dawn, and did walk up and down in his fields, he caught Christian and
Hopeful in sound sleep on his grounds. They told him they were poor
wights, and that they had lost their way. Then said the Giant, "You
have this night come where you should not; you did tramp in, and lie
on, my grounds, and so you must go hence with me." So they were made
to go, for that he had more strength than they. They, too, had but
few words to say, for they knew they were in a fault. The Giant hence
drove them in front of him, and put them in his fort, in a dank, dark
cell, that was foul and stunk to the souls of these two men. Here then
they lay for full four days, and had not one bit of bread, or drop of
drink, or light, or one to ask how they did: they were, hence, here
in bad case, and were far from friends and all who knew them. Now in
this place Christian had more than his own share of grief, for it was
through his bad words that they were brought to such dire bale.
Now Giant Despair had a wife, and her name was Diffidence: so when he
was gone to bed he told his wife what he had done. Then he did ask her,
too, what he had best do more to them. Then she said to him that when
he got up in the morn he should beat them, and show no ruth. So when
he rose he gets him a huge stick of crab, and goes down to the cell to
them, and falls on them and beats them in such sort that they could do
naught to ward off his blows, or to turn them on the floor. This done,
he goes off and leaves them there to soothe each one his friend, and to
mourn their grief. The next night, she spoke with her lord more as to
their case, and when she found that they were not dead, did urge him to
tell them to take their own lives. So when morn was come he told them
that since they were not like to come out of that place, their best way
would be at once to put an end to their lives, with knife, rope, or
drug. But they did pray him to let them go; with that he gave a frown
on them, ran at them, and had no doubt made an end of them with his own
hand, but that he fell in one of his fits. From which cause he went
off, and left them to think what to do. Then did the men talk of the
best course to take; and thus they spoke:
"Friend," said Christian, "what shall we do? The life that we now live
is fraught with ill: for my part, I know not if it be best to live
thus, or die out of hand: the grave has more ease for me than this
cell."
_Hope._--"Of a truth, our state is most dread, and death would be
more of a boon to me than thus hence to stay: but let us not take our
own lives." With these words Hopeful then did soothe the mind of his
friend: so they did stay each with each in the dark that day, in their
sad and drear plight.
Well, as dusk came on the Giant goes down to the cell once more, to see
if those he held bound there had done as he had bid them: but when he
came there he found they still did live, at which he fell in a great
rage, and told them that, as he saw they had lent a deaf ear to what he
said, it should be worse for them than if they had not been born.
At this they shook with dread, and I think that Christian fell in a
swoon; but as he came round once more, they took up the same strain of
speech as to the Giant's words, and if it were best give heed to them
or no. Now Christian once more did seem to wish to yield, but Hopeful
made his next speech in this wise:
"My friend," said he, "dost thou not know how brave thou hast been in
times past? The foul fiend could not crush thee; nor could all that
thou didst hear, or see, or feel in the Vale of the Shade of Death;
what wear and tear, grief and fright, hast thou erst gone through, and
art thou naught but fears? Thou dost see that I am in the cell with
thee, and I am a far more weak man to look at than thou art: in like
way, this Giant did wound me as well as thee, and hath, too, cut off
the bread and drink from my mouth, and with thee I mourn void of the
light. But let us try and grow more strong: call to mind how thou didst
play the man at Vanity Fair, and wast not made blench at the chain or
cage, nor yet at fierce death; for which cause let us, at least to shun
the shame that looks not well for a child of God to be found in, bear
up with calm strength as well as we can."
Now night had come once more, and his wife spoke to him of the men, and
sought to know if they had done as he had told them. To which he said,
"They are stout rogues; they choose the more to bear all hard things
than to put an end to their lives." Then said she, "Take them to the
garth next day, and show them the bones and skulls of those that thou
hast put to death, and make them think thou wilt tear them in shreds,
as thou hast done to folk like to them."
So when the morn was come the Giant takes them to the garth, and shows
them as his wife had bade him: "These," said he, "were wights, as you
are, once, and they trod on my ground, as you have done; and when I
thought fit I tore them in bits, and so in the space of ten days I will
do you: go, get you down to your den once more." And with that he beat
them all the way to the place. They lay for this cause all day in a sad
state, just as they had done. Now, when night was come, and when Mrs.
Diffidence and her spouse the Giant were got to bed, they once more
spoke of the men; and, with this, the Giant thought it strange that he
could not by his blows or words bring them to an end. And with that his
wife said, "I fear that they live in hopes that some will come to set
them free, or that they have things to pick locks with them, by the
means of which they hope to scape." "And dost thou say so, my dear?"
said the Giant; "I will hence search them in the morn."
Well, in the depth of night they strove hard to pray, and held it up
till just break of day.
[Illustration: CHRISTIAN & HOPEFUL escape from DOUBTING CASTLE]
Now, not long ere it was day, good Christian, as one half wild, brake
out in this hot speech: "What a fool," quoth he, "am I, thus to lie in
a foul den when I may as well walk in the free air: I have a key in
my breast known as Promise, that will, I feel sure, pick each lock in
Doubting Castle." Then said Hopeful, "That is good news, my friend;
pluck it out of thy breast and try."
Then Christian took it out of his breast, and did try at the cell door,
whose bolt as he did turn the key gave back, and the door flew back
with ease, and Christian and Hopeful both came out. Then he went to the
front door that leads to the yard of the fort, and with this key did
ope that door in like way. Then he went to the brass gate (for that he
must ope too), but that lock he had hard work to move; yet did the key
pick it. Then they thrust wide the gate to make their scape with speed.
But that gate as it went back did creak so, that it woke Giant Despair,
who, as he rose in haste to go in search of the men, felt his limbs to
fail, for his fits took him once more, so that he could by no means go
in their track. Then they went on, and came to the King's high road
once more, and so were safe, for that they were out of his grounds.
Now, when they had got clear of the stile, they thought in their minds
what they should do at that stile, to keep those that should come in
their wake from the fell hands of Giant Despair. So they built there a
pile and wrote on the side of it these words: "To cross this stile is
the way to Doubting Castle, which is kept by Giant Despair, who spurns
the King of the good land, and seeks to kill such as serve him."