The Rocky Island | Page 8

tearing another; and as if
this was not enough, oftentimes they would quarrel and fight with one
another, until the ground all around was covered with their bodies
strewed upon it.
Yet for all this, some would sing, and dance, and frolic; and this
seemed to me the saddest of all, for they were like mad men; and mad
in truth they were, for in the midst of their dancing and their singing,
one and another would get near the side of some great pitfall, and step
over into its flames, even with the song upon their lips.
In vain did I strain my eyes to see any light at the end, as I had seen it
in the garden. If it was there, the black clouds had rolled over it so thick
and dark that not a ray of it was left.
Yet I heard one and another offering to lead those that would follow
them, safely through this terrible wilderness; and such men never
wanted followers: so I watched many of these leaders, to see what they
would do for those that trusted them. Little help could any of them
render. Some put their followers on a path which led straight down into
the deepest and most frightful pitfalls; some set them on a path which
wandered round and round, and brought them at the end back to the
same place from which they started; some led them into thorny places,

where the poor pilgrims pierced their bleeding feet with many a wound:
but not one did I see who brought them into any better place, or took
them any nearer to their journey's end.
How they found their way at all, was at first my wonder. But as I
looked more closely, I saw in all their hands little lanterns, which just
threw a feeble light upon the darkness round them. These were always
brightest in the young, for they soon grew very dim; and the falls and
blows they met with, bruised and shattered them so much, that some
had hardly any glimmering left, even of the feeble light which they had
seemed to cast of old.
I looked at them until my heart was very sad, for there was no peace, no
safety, no hope; but all went heavily and sadly, groaning and weeping,
or laughing like madmen, until, sooner or later, they seemed all to
perish in the fearful pitfalls!
Then my angel-guide spoke to me again, marking my sadness, and he
said, "Hast thou well observed this sight?" and I answered, "Yes." Then
he said, "And wouldst thou see more?" So when I had said "yes,"
methought we were once more flying through the air, until again he set
me on my feet, and bid me look down. Now here, too, strange noises
reached my ears; but as I listened to them, I found that there were
mixed with them such sounds as I had not heard before. Sweet clear
voices came up now from the din, speaking, as it were from one close
by me, words of faith, and of hope, and of love; and they sounded to
me like the happy talking which I had heard at the first between the
glorious beings in the garden.
So when my guide touched my eyes, I bent them eagerly down into the
darkness below me.
At first I thought that it was the same place I had seen last, for there
was a busy multitude passing to and fro; and there was music and
dancing, and sobbing and crying; there were pitfalls, too, and wild
beasts. But as I looked closer, I saw that, in spite of all this, it was not
the place that I had seen before. Even at a glance I could see that there
were many more flowers here than there; and that many amongst the

pilgrims were going straight on, with happy faces, by a road which
passed safely by all the pitfalls. I could see, too, that at the end of the
road was a dim shining of that happy light which had been so bright in
the beautiful garden.
Now, as I looked, I saw that there were but a few who kept to this
straight safe road, and that many were scattered all over the plain. I saw
many leave this path even as I looked upon it; and very few did I see
come back to it: those who did, seemed to me to find it very hard to get
into it again; whether it was that its sides were slippery, or its banks so
steep, many fainted and gave up, after trying to climb into it again. But
it seemed quite easy to leave it; for every one who left it went on at first