Christiana

by Jim Pappas

  As for Great-heart and the others who were temperate in all their habits, they had scarce begun to break a sweat. They dodged and ducked, thrust and parried, and were thus able to keep the giant hopping. But nevertheless, his great size and decades of training stood him in good stead and Great-heart knew that he had bitten off a big mouthful. Then said Gaius. "Can I help you, Great-heart?"

  "Nay," warned he. "Stay back."

  "Aye, old man," grizzled Slay-good. "Wait till I have finished with these mercenaries of yours and then I'll take care of thee. Dry thy meat for jerky, I will."

  "But he is giving you a rough time of it," continued the brave innkeeper. "What can I do?"

  "You can pray," cried Great-heart as a glancing club-clobber put a dent in his shield and sent him stumbling backwards. "Lift up your hands in prayer!"

  At this, Slay-good mocked, saying, "Pray! Hah, hah, hah! Pray to what?"

  "To God," answered Gaius proudly.

  "Hmmph," puffed the giant. "You're as stupid as that old dolt in the cave. He was praying to be delivered too."

  "Well, too bad then," teased Great-heart, trying hard to inflict a wound with his flashing sword.

  "What's (puff, puff) too bad?" queried the giant, whose curiosity forced an expenditure of precious breath on mere words.

  "Too bad you won't be alive to see the answer to his prayers." Then Great-heart gave a shout, "Ha!" and attacked again from a different angle. "Honest!"

  "I am here, Great-heart," answered the old gent from just outside the circle of battle.

  "Time to put your words to the test."

  "Which?"

  "Yeah, which?" jeered the giant, who was desperately trying to work his way back to the shelter of his den.

  "You told us that a true Christian can never be overcome unless he surrenders his will."

  "'Tis a true saying!" affirmed the old one.

  "Then come make of it a true doing," ordered Great-heart. "Just a little more help and we'll soon have him on the run."

  "I am here!" cried the old man as he entered the fray with his spear.

  "Pah! Puny old midget," snarled Slay-good. "Take that, Graybeard! Hah!"

  "Aauugh," cried the old man as he was sent rolling by a glancing blow of the giant's club.

  Now although on the surface it seemed that Slay-good was doing well enough, Great-heart saw a weak link in his chain of defense and began to test his theory.

  "Samuel, Joseph, Honest! Surround him all sides! Don't let him get any closer to his den!"

  "Keep back, young ones!" ordered Slay-good. "My quarrel is with this Chicken-heart."

  "His name is Great-heart," declared Samuel.

  "Yeah," added Joseph. "And your quarrel is with God, not man!"

  "Hah, hah, hah!" sneered Slay-good.

  "Chicken-heart, or great -

  no mind to me whilst being ate!"

  Now this battle raged on for above an hour. Then, by mutual consent, all broke off to catch wind. As soon as the cannibal could control his breath, he asked again,"Why (puff, puff) are you (puff) here on my ground?"

  "I told you before," answered Great-heart. "To avenge the blood of pilgrims."

  "Hmmph!" 'Twill take a greater one than thee and these."

  "As you wish," answered Great-heart. "Samuel!"

  "Sir?"

  "Bring forth the 'key of promise'."

  "Eh?" grunted the giant. "What be this?"

  "Here you are, sir."

  "Deliver it unto Gaius."

  "Here you are, sir," said Samuel as he handed the key to his host.

  Now when the giant saw the golden key of power glowing warm in the hand of Gaius, his brute instincts told him that he was somehow in danger most mortal. Therefore without warning, he rushed upon Gaius with intent to capture the key.

  "Great-heart!" warned Old-honest as he charged the giant from the side. Now the old gent scarcely came to the giant's waist, and what he did in his moment of valor scarcely slowed the giant down. But it was enough to give Great-heart that needed split second to come to the rescue.

  "No magic keys!" screamed Slay-good. "Put it away!"

  "If you will put up your club," answered Great-heart.

  "Fat chance, chicken-heart."

  "So I thought, Ha! Gaius! Use the key to storm the gates of heaven!"

  "Fool! There are no gates around here for miles," jeered Slay-good.

  "I'll do it, Great-heart," answered Gaius as he climbed up an outcropping of rock, knelt down and lifted his key towards heaven. Moreover he began to quote words of deliverance from the psalms of David. Also, back home, Christiana felt impressed to gather her sons and daughters to join her in taking the kingdom of heaven by violence. And so they did.

  So the warriors went at it again. The giant, now fighting for his very life, put forth such heroic efforts as to cause Mr. Great-heart to give back. But it was ground dearly purchased for he found himself being lured onto a piece of flat ground where Honest and the young men could harry him from all sides. Then Great-heart began to implement the plan God had given him.

  "Pah!" snapped the giant. "Ye are a pack of hounds!"

  "Indeed we are," agreed Great-heart. "Hounds of heaven who have got their fox up a tree! Hah! Back! Brother Gaius!"

  "Up here, sir."

  "You are taking the kingdom of heaven by violence, I trust."

  "Aye."

  "Then time for us to do our part. Boys! Watch for the pattern. Look what he does when I attack from the left. Ha! See?"

  "Not yet," answered Samuel.

  "And now from the right. Ha! See, Joseph?"

  "Maybe I do," returned Joseph.

  Now all this time Feeble mind was praying; Christiana and her band were praying; Gaius was praying; the warriors were praying both in their hearts and by their actions.

  Now the giant was becoming increasingly confused. For, expert that he was at battle, he was stymied over and over again in his attempts to inflict any mortal wounds. Yea, his best-aimed blows seem to be ever so slightly deflected in mid air; or his most powerful swings seemed to mysteriously slow down 'ere they reached their target. And all the while he felt as if he were trying to fight through a mysterious thickness in the air - a thickness that seemed to slow him down and weary him more and yet still more. Yet in spite of angel intervenings, the power and bulk of Slay-good made him a force yet to be reckoned with. Therefore all the warriors were careful to stay clear of that murderous blood-stained cudgel.

  Finally, after another set of left-right feints by Great-heart, Samuel shouted, "I see it, Great-heart! I see the pattern!"

  "Good! How about you, Joseph?"

  "Aye, sir. See it I do. Are we ready to act upon it?"

  Now this was an unnerving conversation for Slay-good. "Pattern?" he gasped, fearfully "What (puff, wheeze) pattern?"He had already come to the settled conviction that he was doing battle against more than flesh and bones. Thus it was that he was desperately trying to fight his way back to his lair.

  "Old-honest?" asked Great-heart.

  "I see no pattern, Great-heart," admitted Old-honest. "But I am certainly eager to deliver a heart-piercing blow to this evil rogue."

  "Pattern smattern!" grunted the giant. "I shall crush all you superstitious eggheads to pilgrim-burger and fry thee for supper! Hah!"

  "Gaius?"

  "Doing battle, Great-heart," he answered.

  "Bah!" sneered Slay-good contemptuously. "He's (puff , wheeze) doing no more than (whew) lifting his hands to the sky."

  "There is your mistake, defeated foe!" returned Great-heart. "He is doing greater warfare than any of us. Hah!"

  "Erraaaahh!" roared the giant with a desperate swing at Great-heart's head.

  "Ready?" called Great-heart as he nimbly dodged the murderous blow and returned one of his own.

  "Ready!" answered Samuel.

  "Ready!" echoed Joseph.

  "Ready as I'll ever be," shouted Old-honest, hobbling in and out of the fray as best he could.
/>   "Ready f . . . f . . . for what?" stuttered Slay-good, dimly perceiving that there was a plot afoot.

  "First from the left," cried Great-heart as he let fly an attack from that side. This the giant defended with apparent ease, not realizing that he was not only unbalancing himself, but also opening himself to an attack from the right.

  "Now from the right! Hah! . . . there!" shouted Great-heart. "Did you all see it?"

  "S . . . s . . . see w . . . what?" stammered the giant from the murky depths of a mind beclouded by gluttony.

  "I see what you mean now!" cried Old-honest. "Let me deliver the first thrust."

  "So you shall, old hero," promised Great-heart. "Here comes the opening."

  "Wha . . . what opening?" asked Slay-good. "What k . . . kind of g . . . game are you fools playing?"

  "'Tis a game called 'Rolling Heads'," teased Great-heart. "And here comes the first move. One!" he shouted as he delivered a power-blow from the left.

  "Ha!" replied Slay-good with a skillful block.

  "Two!" cried Great-heart with another powerful swing from the right.

  "What the . . . " demanded the giant, who longed for nothing more than a chance to flee to his cave and cool his burning lungs.

  "Three!" cried Great-heart, flying upon Slay-good from the left with such fury that the giant had all he could do to cover himself from that quarter. Then, as promised, Old-honest delivered a telling wound to the giant with his spear, crying, "Hah! Take that, foul enemy of God and man!"

  "Aaauuugghh!" screamed the giant, turning to crush the old fellow with one smashing blow. But, 'ere he could even raise his club, he was twice again pierced by Joseph and Samuel. This put him into such a blinding frenzy of pain that he began a furious attack upon empty space. Then Great-heart let fly with such a furious flurry of blows at the giant's head and sides that he dropped his weapon and fell to his knees.

  "Mercy!" he sobbed from the blinding pain of his many wounds. "Have mercy."

  "Yea. You shall have the mercy of receiving swiftly what you have given to others with slow tortures. I have made you a promise which I shall now keep! Hah!" So our hero delivered a fatal blow beneath the fifth rib which laid the quivering man-eater lifeless at the feet of all. Then, as promised, Great-heart followed King David's example with Goliath and took off the blasphemer's head. This was later planted upon a post as a warning to others of his ilk who might think to molest innocent pilgrims.

  Bringing home the head of Giant Slay-good

  Then Gaius came down to the weary band of warriors and said gratefully, "Ah, Great-heart! And you his faithful band. A great victory has been won this day. Thank you. Thank you very, very much."

  "'Twas your skillful use of the promises that turned the tide, dear Gaius," responded Great-heart. "He was more than this small army could have managed otherwise."

  "Yea!" declared Samuel. "I saw many a deadly blow mysteriously turned aside."

  "Aye," agreed Joseph. "I perceived early on that we were not fighting alone."

  "'Tis true," agreed Great-heart. "Gaius and his unseen hosts were with us all the way. Thank you, Gaius."

  "Oh, 'twas not only I that bore you up on the wings of prayer," answered Gaius. "You can be sure that there was a faithful mother in Israel with her finger on the promises of God as well."

  "And no doubt there were a couple of brothers and brides upon their knees too," added Samuel gratefully.

  Then, after a few moments to catch their breath, Great-heart said:

  "Well, boys? What say you go on up to the monster's den and answer somebody else's prayers?"

  CHAPTER XXII

  Mr. Feeble-mind

  So Joseph and Samuel made their way into the murky darkness to rescue poor Feeble-mind. All this time he had been listening to the terrible fracas without and praying that the forces of God might prevail on his behalf.

  So the little band came home with their trophies. At sight of the huge head locked in its death-grimace, all were visibly repulsed. But Mercy, for some mysterious reason, was especially affected with a wave of nausea.

  But the prize that was of most interest to all was the poor rescued soul named Feeble-mind. When he was presented to Gaius as a token of their victory, he was given a royal welcome. Back at the inn he was given clean clothes (probably sewn by Mercy), shown to his bath, and offered all the finest resources of the place. Yea, he was told that his room would be that with the choicest view.

  Then was Mr. Feeble-mind all abashed with tender gratitude and said through swimming eyes, "Ah! This is an unexpected favor. 'Tis like the sun shining out of a blackish cloud. Did Giant Slay-good intend me this favor when he captured me and promised that I should go no farther? Did he know that by stealing my gold he would be speed me on my way to streets of gold? Nay, I doubt it. But surely God has made all things work together for good for this poor man who loves Him. Amen."

  So they had him into the house and did indeed give him the upper room with a view of the sunrise. Later that night, around the fire, the pilgrims interviewed him. Christiana began:

  "Dear Mr. Feeble-mind, whence come you?"

  "I come from the town of Uncertainty," said he.

  "And what led you to start out on pilgrimage?"

  "Well," said he softly, "as you can see, I am a rather sickly man - so much so that old Death came sniffing and scratching at my door at least once or twice a day. I locked and barred the way as best I could. But I could sense the day coming when I would be too weak to keep him out. Then there came a minstrel to our town who sang of a land where there was no death. Nay, not even one man of feeble health! So what choice did I have but to ask directions and strike me out for such a place? And so, here I am. And I hope, by the grace of God, to get me up to that better land - a land where I shall have a glorified body and never more know pain."

  "But, sir," asked Christiana earnestly, "did no one tell you that the pilgrim's way is oft-times difficult and filled with dangers?"

  "Oh, aye, yes," replied he with a nod and a wry smile, "I heard tell of bogs, and lions and giants galore. 'But', said I to myself, 'Self - to stay here in Uncertainty is to live but one heartbeat away from eternal death. But, on the road that leads to glory, every step takes you closer to eternal life. Therefore, Self, old boy, better to die reaching out to life than to wait here for death.' And so, as you can see, I am here. And while I got here slower than most, it was a bit faster than some."

  "Like who?" asked Matthew.

  "Well, thee was a man named Self-will who kept getting delayed by something along the path."

  At this all looked knowingly at Old-honest.

  "And do tell," inquired Mercy, "did the Slough of Despond detain thee long?"

  "Nay, not a bit," answered he, "for I came there at a time when a friend of mine named Mr. Fearing was being carried across. I saw the timing as the providence of God and followed along hot in his footsteps. When we got across, he saw me all out of breath and so led me by the hand all the way up to the Wicket Gate."

  "And how did they treat you there?" she asked. "Kindly, I trust."

  "Oh, graciously. Yea, very graciously. The Lord of that place ignored my feebleness of body and mind and treated me as if I were some sort of long-lost royalty. I stayed there for some time until I felt ready to go on. Then He gave me my certificate and told me that if I was faithful unto death, I would surely reach the City."

  "And did you enjoy the house of the Interpreter?"

  "Oh, my, yes! He was most gracious."

  "And did you enjoy the many lessons and parables he shared with you?" asked Phoebe.

  "I'm sorry, miss, but I'm not sure I catch your meaning. He did tell me stories and showed me many interesting things, but I'm not sure what it all meant."

  "Uh, what about the Hill Difficulty?" asked James. "Did you find it hard going?"

  "Oh, my, no! When the Interpreter saw my weakness of body, he called for one of his mighty men named Prayer and bade him carry me to the top. 'T was a deli
ghtful journey actually. On the back of Prayer I was able to stride right on past many a pilgrim stronger than I."

  "Really!" marveled Great-heart. "I have heard that the ground is level at the foot of the cross and now I see how."