Christiana Page 12

  By this time, much to the relief of all, they were approaching the brow of the hill. Now, near the top of the hill Difficulty they came to the place where Mistrust and Timorous had tried to discourage Christian. Therefore 'twas here that the King had ordered a stage to be built. On the stage was a metal plaque engraved with these words:

  "Let him that sees this stage take heed

  Unto his heart and tongue;

  Lest, if he do not, here he speed

  As some have long ago."

  The words under the verse were:

  "This stage was built to punish such

  as through timorousness or mistrust

  shall be afraid of continuing on pilgrimage.

  Also, on this stage both Mistrust and Timorous

  were burned through the tongue with a hot iron

  for endeavoring to hinder Christian in his journey."

  The place where Mistrust and Timorous were punished

  "So that is what happened to them!" exclaimed Christiana. "I had always wondered why they were so tight-mouthed in their speech."

  "And yet they did not profit from their punishment," observed Mercy. "They still go about trying to dissuade honest hearts from going on pilgrimage."

  "Aye," agreed Christiana. "Alas, I fear something worse lies ahead for those two."

  Now by this time Samuel was caught up and had given the bottle of juice to his mother.

  "How much did you drink?" asked Matthew suspiciously.

  "What makes you think I drank any?" answered Samuel, a bit hurt at the false charges.

  "Thank you very much, Samuel," said Christiana, casting a disapproving eye upon Matthew, who still would not meet her gaze.

  CHAPTER XII

  Giant Maul And His Kittens

  So they went on down the far side of the Hill Difficulty until they got them to the beginning of the narrow passageway that led to the two chained lions. Now, the ground being level here, the younger boys had gone ahead, eagerly looking into all the gullies and thickets alongside the narrow way. But when, upon rounding a corner, they saw two furry mounds on either side of the path they abruptly went silent. But not before their chatter had awakened the mountainous felines These stretched and shook themselves awake with such a roaring as made the earth tremble. This made the boys shake in their boots. Moreover it also awoke a one-eyed giant who bounded to his feet with a start. Upon seeing three young boys less than a stone's throw off, he blinked his one large eye, smiled his most engaging checker-toothed grin and beckoned for the boys to come near.

  But the boys wisely went dashing back and hid themselves behind the armor of Mr. Great-heart. "How now, my boys!" said he with a grin.

  "You love to race ahead when all is safe and merry.

  Why then rush you back when suddenly 'tis scary?"

  "S'cuz we saw lions," cried Joseph.

  "Big, huge, hairy monster lions!" added Samuel.

  "And there was this spooky looking giant sleeping under a gnarly tree!" exclaimed James.

  "Eh? A giant, do you say?" inquired Great-heart.

  "He was napping against an oak tree, Great-heart," volunteered Joseph.

  "And he had a big pile of bones behind him!" said Samuel.

  "Some of them looked to be fresh, too," added Joseph.

  "Hmmm. This is new. I wonder who he could be?"

  "He has only one eye, Great-heart," declared Samuel.

  "Oh?"

  "Yeah," added Joseph. "It was a huge, squarish eye. And when he looked at me and beckoned for me to come to him, it was hard to turn away."

  "Did it have a bluish glow to it?"

  "Sure did!" declared James.

  "Aha! Then I know this foul fiend. 'Tis the giant Grim. We call him Bloody-man on cause of all the pilgrims he has slain by means of his hypnotic eye. But I did not know that he was now working with the lions. Did you notice, boys? Are the lions still chained?"

  "We don't know, Great-heart," answered Joseph.

  "Well, no matter. God commands us go forward."

  "Into danger?" queried Matthew.

  "When it comes to a command of God, the only danger is in cowering back, Matthew. God's most dangerous commands are always married to His greatest promises. Therefore let us obey the one and trust the other." Then Great-heart drew his sword and pointed the way saying, "Come, boys! Let us play the man!"

  Now upon their approach, the giant rose to his full towering height, turned his evil glowing eye upon Great-heart, and growled in his slurred speech, "Halt! Who goes there?"

  The Giant Grim

  "Greetings, Mr. Bloody-man!"

  "Eh! Who is this what calls me by that evil name? My name be Grim. Mr. Grim"

  "Your name be Bloody-man, the story teller! You are famous for your tales of violence and bloodshed and we will have none of them. Are you ready to step aside?"

  "Step aside! Pah! Do you think me be posted here to make your way so easy as that?"

  "Then we shall have to persuade you!"

  "We?!" said the giant, casting about with a nervous eye in search of reinforcements. But seeing only two women and four young boys he plucked up his arrogant courage and in mocking tones said, "Say now. Might you not be that pea-brained conductor called Great-heart?"

  "I am known by the latter name, yes. How did you know?"

  "I know because I know," answered the giant cryptically. "And why hast thou trespassed upon my grounds and disturbed me sweet kittens?"

  "Because these tender ones are on pilgrimage and this is the way they must go."

  "Nay! This is not the way!"

  "My map says it is! Therefore stand aside and let us pass."

  "Pah! Over my dead body!"

  "Oh? Are you a prophet now?"

  "Very funny, wimpy one!

  "Stand aside or lay down your life," commanded Great-heart.

  "You took the words right out of my mouth, feeble fool. Turn - or burn."

  "There is no turning back with this company, Bloody-man. Choose now whether to part with your pride or your head."

  "Pah! Pretty strong words from one so small as thou! And alone at that!"

  "Not so alone as you might think! For I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts and I wield the Sword of the Spirit! Moreover I travel in company with a woman of great faith who knows how to take the Kingdom of God by violence. Therefore, give back peaceably or expect to add your carcass to that pile of bones behind you."

  Upon hearing about a woman of great faith the giant hesitated a moment before blurting out, "More big words empty in the air! But you have forgotten about me kittens. In my victory I shall feed these sweet women and their pups to my ferocious felines? Are you willing to risk that, pea-brain?"

  "Ferocious! Hah! These cats have neither tooth nor claw!"

  "Eh! Wha?" sputtered the unnerved giant. "A . . . and who told you that vicious lie?"

  "'Tis common knowledge among conductors. 'Tis also known that they are chained and can reach none who stay in the middle of the road."

  "Pah! Lies! All lies! Woman! Seest thou any chains upon me kittens?"

  "Uh, no, not from here," confessed Christiana. "But we have God's Word."

  "But with thine eyes! With thine eyes, woman! Seest thou any chains?"

  "No," she was forced to admit. "I see them only through the eyes of faith."

  "Ptah!" spat the giant. "Faith hath no eyes! Go back!"

  "It has eyes sharp enough to see through you, Mr. Bloody-man!" declared Christiana with a holy boldness that surprised even herself.

  "Grim, Ma' am. My name be Mr. Grim."

  "A name that will aptly describe your future unless you kindly step aside and let us pass!"

  "This is not the way!"

  "I think it is!"

  "Nay. Thee must needs go around this place by using yonder well-traveled detour."

  "Detour? Hmmm," murmured Christiana, gazing upon a wide and well-marked path which did indeed seem to go around this place of danger.

  "
It seems to be quite well-traveled, Mother," noted Matthew.

  "Hmmm," puzzled Christiana. "What to do?"

  "What do you think, Madam?" asked Great-heart. "Do you want me to take you by way of yonder detour?"

  "It is obviously an easier way. Let us take it and be safe," advised Matthew.

  "But will it take us to the Celestial City? What do you think, Great-heart?"

  "Some, er . . . uh . . . that is, I think some have perhaps managed to get back onto the strait path."

  "Some! You think! Perhaps! Don't you know?"

  "No, Ma'am.

  "And is there some guarantee that there are no dangers on yonder detour?"

  "Au contraire, Ma'am. Quite the opposite."

  "And might not the detours have detours nested within them?"

  "They might."

  "And does your map show the way through detours looped within other detours?"

  "That would be impossible, Madam, for detours are ever changing. Our map shows only the one strait unchanging way."

  "So what I hear you saying is that we must follow the map straight on without taking any detours. Am I reading you correctly, Mr. Great-heart?"

  "You are, Ma'am.

  "Then would it not have been faster if you had just given the command and saved us all this discussion?"

  "I am here to enable decisions, Madam; not to make them."

  "I should go straight on, shouldn't I."

  "Your Lord would be pleased."

  "Then straight on it shall be!" Christiana then assumed the stance of a warrior and, turning to face the giant, pointed a commanding finger at his one blood-shot eye and commanded, "Stand aside, Bloody-man!"

  "W . . . wha?" stammered Grim, shocked at such a show of raw courage.

  "I said: stand back and let us pass in peace!"

  "This is not the way! See how this ancient path is all overgrown with weeds? Why, the shadow of a pilgrim hath darkened this broken-down trail in years!"

  "And why is the path so well traveled up to this point?"

  "Uh . . . because it comes to this point before turning into the woods. Thousands have gone on before thee in perfect peace and safety," he lied.

  "And should the detours of the many determine the path of the few? Should we not rather trust our map and go straight on?"

  "You try - you die!" he snarled, hefting his gnarly club and taking up a defiant stance between the lions.

  "Better to die in the right way than to wear out our lives in a maze of demonic detours!" answered she.

  "You will give your children over to death!" he vowed, pointing first at the quailing children and then to his pile of well-picked bones. "And that little one," he hissed, fixing a spell-binding gaze upon James, who retreated behind his mother's skirts. "Him will I roast alive over a slow fire. I shall eat him with my famous relish sauce and then feed his scraps to my cats."

  At this, James plugged his ears and buried his head in Christiana's skirts.

  "This is the way!" maintained Christiana.

  "Nay. And you shall not step one foot in it!" snarled he, beginning to swing his club side to side. Taking their cue the two great lions shook the ground with their roaring and stood snarling and slavering on either side of the giant.

  Now certainly, to the eye of flesh, it seemed that, even if one should somehow survive the thrashing club, he would still be ripped to shreds by tooth and claw. The giant, noting the impact of his actions on the trembling children, and seeing Matthew whisper some cowardly advice into his mother's ear, smirked an evil grin of anticipated victory and said, "Well? Will you heed good counsel and go the easier way? Or no?"

  Then was Christiana filled with the Spirit of the Holy One. Thus empowered she advanced with nary a trace of fear, declaring, "I feel the inspiration of the Almighty in my breast! I am arisen a mother in Israel and I shall not be turned aside by such as you! Mr. Great-heart!"

  "Madam?"

  "Can you take him?"

  "All things are possible to she that believes."

  "Please. A plain answer, Sir. Can you take him?"

  "If you have faith simple enough to take God at His word - I could cast yonder oak into the sea."

  "Then I choose to believe," she answered firmly. "Lord! Help Thou mine unbelief. Forward?"

  "Aye," answered Great-heart grimly. "Forward!"

  "What can I do?" asked the heroic little mother.

  "Raise hands to heaven and pray to God on my behalf," he commanded. Then, turning a determined eye to the Cyclops, he said, "And now to deal with you, Mr. Bloody-man!"

  Now when the giant saw this little mother of great faith lifting hand and heart to heaven, an icy shiver of fear streaked down his spine and he involuntarily called out, "No!"

  "I come for your head, Mr. Bloody-man!" vowed Great-heart advancing fearless to the fray. And lo, to the monster who could see only with the eye of flesh, that shining sword took on the aspects of a fiery, flashing lightning bolt.

  "God has found in this frail woman faith enough to consume you and your fraudulent felines," continued Great-heart, "and a thousand besides!"

  "O Lord, help him," prayed Christiana.

  "Wait! Wait, wait, wait!" stalled the giant, casting about for some way to win by deceit that which he was about to lose by battle. "What be thy name, courageous lady?" he asked courteously.

  "My name be Christiana," answered she suspiciously. "Why do you ask?"

  "Hmmm," murmured Grim as he scratched his head thoughtfully. "And might you perhaps be wife to a certain pilgrim named Christian?"

  "I am."

  "Ah! Heh heh. Now I see from whence thou hast such pluck and courage. Heh heh heh. You have done well to stand thy ground so bravely, my dear. Truly, your husband would be proud."

  By now the lions had become impatient for their next meal and belched forth with such a fearsome roaring that it shook the ground and sent the younger boys scurrying behind their mother.

  "Shut up!" snarled the giant in a guttural voice that send the two cats to slinking back in shame. "Please pardon the rudeness of my kittens," he continued, in his softest and most pleasant voice. "These foul beasts have no manners about them. Now then, seeing that thou art so wondrously brave, as was thy dear husband, I have decided to let thee pass unopposed."

  "And why this sudden change of heart?" questioned Christiana suspiciously.

  "Oh, 'tis no change at all, Ma'am. Heh, heh, heh. Actually I be set here by thy very own Master to test thy resolution. You have passed His test, Madam - yes indeed passed it. Passed it gloriously."

  "'Tis a lie," whispered Great-heart.

  "So I thought," answered she under her breath.

  "Besides," continued Grim engagingly, "I admire courage wherever I hap to find it. Heh heh heh. Even if you were an enemy, I would admire your courage. But since we are comrades, please," said he, stepping aside and gesturing towards the narrow passageway with a bow, "feel free to pass thee on."

  Then Christiana drew near her guide and asked in quiet tones, "Great-heart? Why this sudden change?"

  "He sees that you are invincible, Madam. Therefore does he seek to save his life through deceit."

  "But he is ready to compromise. What be the price?"

  "Does it matter?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "The price of compromise is always more than a pilgrim can pay."

  "But what is his offer? Perhaps there is no compromise required."

  "Ask him, if you must."

  "Mr. Bloody-man!" challenged Christiana.

  "Grim, Ma'am. Heh, heh, heh. My name be Grim, if thee please."

  "What is your true name?"

  "Grim, Ma'am."

  "You speak a lie! Mr. Great-heart . . . "

  "No, nay! Nay, nay, nay. Wait, wait. Heh, heh, heh, My . . . uh. . . my name be Bloody-man - although I much prefer to be called Mr. Grim."

  "Speak truth, Mr. Bloody-man. Is this overgrown path indeed the only true way?"

  "Uh . . ."

&nbs
p; "Is it?"

  "Ummm . . . aye, Ma'am."

  "And is it not your master rather than mine who has set you here?"