Post 3

I saw, in my dream, that the Interpreter took Christian by the hand again, and led him into a very dark room, where there sat a man in an iron cage. Now the man seemed very sad. He sat with his eyes looking down to the ground, and his hands folded together, and he sighed as if his heart would break.

Then said Christian: “Who is this?”.  “Talk with him and see”, said the Interpreter. “What used you to be?” asked Christian. “I was once a flourishing professor, both in my own eyes, and also in the eyes of others”, answered the man. “I was on my way, as I thought, to the Celestial City, and I was confident that I would get there.”  “But what did you do to bring yourself to this condition?” Christian asked. “I failed to keep watch”, the man replied. “I followed the pleasures of this world, which promised me all manner of delights. But they proved to be an empty bubble. And now I am shut up in this iron cage – a man of despair, who can’t get out.”

No further explanations were given. No one said who put him there. But the Interpreter whispered to Christian: “Bear well in mind what ou have seen.”

– from the Dangerous Journey: The Story of Pilgrim’s Progress