creaking that it waked Giant Despair, who got up hastily to
follow his prisoners, but he could not run after them, for again he
took one of his fits. Then Christian and Hopeful went on till they
came to the King's highway and so were safe, because they were out of
the giant's grounds. Now when they had got over the stile, they began
to wonder what they should do to keep other pilgrims from falling into
the hands of Giant Despair. So they agreed to put up there a pillar,
and to write on it this sentence: "Over this stile is the way to
Doubting Castle, which is kept by Giant Despair, who despiseth the
King of the Celestial Country and seeks to destroy His holy pilgrims."

Many pilgrims, that came after, read what was written and escaped
Giant Despair. They then went on till they came to the Delectable
Mountains. These mountains belonged to the Lord of the steep hill
which Christian had climbed. So they went up these mountains to behold
the gardens and orchards, the vineyards and fountains. There, too,
they drank and washed themselves and ate the fruit of the vineyards.
Now there were Shepherds on the mountains, who welcomed them lovingly
and showed them many wonders. First they took them to the top of a
hill which was very steep on one side, and bid them look down to the
bottom. So Christian and Hopeful looked down, and saw at the bottom
several men dashed all to pieces by a fall that they had had from the
top.

"These," said the Shepherds, "are for an example to others to be
careful not to clamber too high, or to come too near the brink of this
mountain." The name of this mountain was Error.

Then the Shepherds took them to the top of another mountain, and the
name of it was Caution, and the Shepherds bid them look afar off. When
the pilgrims did this, they saw, as they thought, several men walking
up and down among the tombs that were there. And they saw that the men
were blind, because they stumbled sometimes upon the tombs, and
because they could not get out from among them.

Then said Christian, "What means this?"

The Shepherds then answered, "Did you see a little below these
mountains a stile that led into a meadow?"

They answered, "Yes."

"From that stile," said the Shepherds, "there goes a path that leads
straight to Doubting Castle, which is kept by Giant Despair. These
men," and the Shepherds pointed to those among the tombs, "came once
on a pilgrimage as you do now. But when they came to the stile,
b