in the midst of the plain,
and as they took no heed, they both fell in. The name of the slough
was Despond. Here they lay for a time in the mud; and the load that
Christian had on his back made him sink all the more in the mire.

Pliable.--Ah! friend Christian, where are you now?

Christian.--In truth, I do no know.

Then Pliable said to his friend, Is this the bliss of which you have
told me all this while? If we have such ill speed when we first set out,
what may we look for twixt this and the end of our way? And with that he
got out of the mire on that side of the slough which was next to his own
house; then off he went, and Christian saw him no more.

So Christian was left to strive in the Slough of Despond as well as he
could; yet his aim was to reach that side of the slough that was next
The Wicket Gate, which at last he did, but he could not get out for the
load that was on his back; till I saw in my dream that a man came to him
whose name was Help.

What do you do here? said Help.

Christian.--I was bid to go this way by Evangelist, who told me to pass
up to yon gate, that I might flee from the wrath to come, and on my way
to it I fell in here.

Help.--But why did you not look for the steps?

Christian.--Fear came so hard on me that I fled the next way and fell
in.

Help.--Give me your hand.

So he gave him his hand, and he drew him out, and set him on firm
ground, and bade him go on his way.

Then in my dream I went up to Help and said to him, Sir, since this
place is on the way from The City of Destruction to The Wicket Gate, how
is it that no one mends this patch of ground, so that those who come by
may not fall in the slough?

Help.--This slough is such a place as no one can mend. It is the spot to
which doth run the scum and filth that wait on sin, and that is why men
call it the Slough of Despond. When the man of sin wakes up to a sense
of his own lost state, doubts and fears rise up in his soul, and all of
them drain down and sink in this place: and it is this that makes the
ground so bad. True there are good and sound steps in the midst of the
slough, but at times it is hard to see them; or if they be seen, men's
heads are so dull that they step on one side, and fall in the mire. But
the ground is good when they have once got in at the gate.

Now I saw in my dream that by this time Pliable had gone back to his
house once more, and that his friends came to see him: some said how
wise it