You can fancy how very happy little Christian felt as he walked along.
“I have lost my burden,” he said to himself, “and the King has given me these beautiful clothes! I think I would have started on my journey long ago if I had known how pleasant it is to be a little pilgrim.”
Then he remembered Christiana, and he thought what a pity it was that she had not come with him. But he did not know how she would have managed it, for she had three brothers, besides her baby sister, and she had to take care of them all.
We might have taken turns carrying the baby, he thought. But even then the boys would have been very tired. Perhaps when I get to the City I might ask the King to send someone to help her with the children, for I should like her to come too.
Then he wondered whether his mother had told the King that she had left a little boy behind her in the City of Destruction, and whether she would know that his burden had been taken away and that the King had sent him such beautiful gifts.
They are so very beautiful, he thought as he looked down once more at the clothes in which the Shining One had dressed him. They are as white as snow, and they are not the least bit hot and heavy, as my old ones were.
He was walking on with his mind full of these things when he saw, just before him, three boys lying on the grass by the side of the road. He stopped to look at them as he passed, and then he found that they were all fast asleep and that their feet were bound together with bands of iron.
The day was very hot, and these boys had foolishly turned out of the path and had lain down to rest for a little while. The servants of the Wicked Prince were always on the watch for careless pilgrims, and as soon as the lads were asleep they had hastened to bind their feet, so that, unless the King Himself sent someone to help them, they would never be able to take another step toward the Celestial City.
Little Christian felt that it would be unkind to leave them lying there, so he went up to them and called to them.
“You had better get up,” he said. “This is not at all a safe place to sleep in. Don’t you know that someone has bound your feet together?”
Then one of them, whose name was Simple, answered, without even opening his eyes. “What is the matter? I don’t see anything to hurt. Do let one have a minute’s peace!”
But little Christian said, “I am sure you are in great danger. Make haste, and let me help you to undo these irons.”
The boy who lay next to Simple was named Sloth, and at last he sat up and began to rub his eyes in a very sleepy way. He looked at little Christian, but he would not listen to his advice.
“What is the use of disturbing us?” he said. “Just go on. I shall be coming soon, when I have had a good rest.”
And the third boy, who was called Presumption, said, “Surely we can do as we like! If we choose to sleep in a dangerous place, it is our business, not yours. So go on your journey, and don’t meddle with other people.”
Then they both lay down again by the side of Simple, and in a few minutes Christian saw that they were all sleeping as soundly as before.
It was of no use for him to waste his time over such idle, foolish boys, so he was obliged to turn away, feeling very sorry that they would not listen to him or believe that they were in the power of the Wicked Prince.
