ow I saw a multitude of men, women, and children, passing on through a
waste and desolate wilderness. Here and there, indeed, there were still
flowery spots, but they were soon trodden down by the feet of those who
passed along. Strange too were their steps. Now, instead of passing
straight on, they moved round and round, for they were all in the black
darkness. The ground was full of pitfalls, in the low bottoms of which I
could see red fire burning fierce and hot, and one after another fell
over into these pitfalls, and I saw them no more. Evil beasts, too,
moved amongst them, slaying one, and 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