lives, blood, bodies, souls, silver, gold, precious stones, and what not.
And, moreover, at this fair at all times there is to be seen juggling,
cheats, games, plays, fools, apes, knaves, and rogues, and that of every
kind.' And then our author goes on to tell us the names of the various
streets and rows where such and such wares are vended. And from that
again he goes on to tell how the Prince of princes Himself went at one
time through this same fair, and that upon a fair day too, and how the
lord of the fair himself came and took Him from street to street to try
to get Him induced to cheapen and buy some of the vain merchandise. But
as it turned out He had no mind to the merchandise in question, and He
therefore passed through the town without laying out so much as one
farthing upon its vanities. The fair, therefore, you will see, is of
long standing and a very great fair. Now, our two pilgrims had heard of
all that, they remembered also what Evangelist had told them about the
fair, and so they buttoned up their pockets and pushed through the booths
in the hope of getting out at the upper gate before any one had time to
speak to them. But that was not possible, for they were soon set upon by
the men of the fair, who cried after them: 'Hail, strangers, look here,
what will you buy?' 'We buy the truth only,' said Faithful, 'and we do
not see any of that article of merchandise set out on any of your
stalls.' And from that began a hubbub that ended in a riot, and the riot
in the apprehension and shutting up in a public cage of the two innocent
pilgrims. Lord Hate-good was the judge on the bench of Vanity in the day
of their trial, and the three witnesses who appeared in the witness-box
against the two prisoners were Envy, Superstition, and Pickthank. The
twelve jurymen who sat on their case were Mr. Blindman, Mr. No-good, Mr.
Malice, Mr. Love-lust, Mr. Live-loose, Mr. Heady, Mr. High-mind, Mr.
Enmity, Mr. Liar, Mr. Cruelty, Mr. Hate-light, and Mr. Implacable,--Mr.
Blindman to be the foreman. And it was before these men that Faithful
was brought forth to his trial in order to his condemnation. And very
soon after his trial Faithful came to his end. 'Now I saw that there
stood behind the multitude a chariot and a couple of horses waiting for
Faithful, who (so soon as his adversaries had despatched him) was taken
up into it, and straightway was carried up through the clouds, with sound
of trumpet, the nearest way to the Celestial gate.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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