The story ends happily. The dreadful dragon is slain by the Red Cross Knight who finds Una again. But what we love most in _The Faery Queen_ is not so much the story, as the sweet and lovely music of Spenser's wonderful lines, such lines as you will find in Canto IX of the first book, and also in Canto VIII of the second book. The second stanza of Canto VIII, second book, tells of the angels visiting the earth to care for us. How oft do they their silver bowers leave To come to succour us, that succour want, How oft do they with golden pineons cleave The flitting skyes, like flying pursuivant, Against foule feendes to aide us militant: They for us fight, they watch and dewly ward, And their bright squadrons round about us plant; And all for love, and nothing for reward: O, why should heavenly God to men have such regard? {141} You will notice that the spelling of some of the words in the poem is not the same as we use. They are the same words only spelled differently. For Spenser lived nearly four hundred years ago. Would you like to have the names and dates of some of those who are counted among the greatest writers of the world? Then you may trace for yourselves how the inspiration of genius is found from age to age in different countries. Homer wrote about nine hundred years before the birth of Christ. Virgil, the Latin poet,--you remember that both Kipling and Macaulay have told us something of the Romans, the great law-givers and road-builders whose language was the Latin language,--lived and wrote from 70 B.C. to 19 B.C. The following names and dates, you will easily understand. Dante, 1265-1321. Cervantes, 1547-1616. Shakespeare, 1564-1616. Goethe, 1749-1832. Johann Wolfgang Goethe was a German writer whose most famous works are _Faust_ and _Wilhelm Meister_. He lived at almost the same time as Scott. Several of the writers in the Bible belong to the same rank as those named in this brief list. {142} CHAPTER XXI JOHN BUNYAN AND THE PILGRIM's PROGRESS The story begins in this way. "As I walked through the wilderness of this world, I lighted on a certain place where was a den, and laid me down in that place to sleep; and as I slept, I dreamed a dream. I dreamed, and, behold, I saw a man clothed in rags standing in a certain place, with his face from his own house, a book in his hand, and a great burden upon his back." We wonder why the man had a burden on his back, and we wish we could help him to get rid of it. A man called Evangelist met the man with a burden on his back. Evangelist pointed out to the man a wicket-gate, and asked him if he could see a shining light. When the man answered that he did, Evangelist told him to go straight to the gate and knock at it. Then he would be told what he was to do. Now the man's name was Christian.