The bishops came again and, taking him between them, led him up and down and said, "Brother, God be praised, thy wish is fulfilled. Now listen to our counsel. Thou hast seen with thine eyes both the joys and the pains. We will tell thee ere thou dost pass hence, of our common fate. That land that is so full of sorrow, evening and morning, where thou as well as many other souls didst suffer sorely, is called by men purgatory. And this land, where thou now art, so wide and spacious and so full of bliss, is called paradise. No man may come here until he has been purged and made clean there. When they come hither, we lead them into joy, sometimes by groups of twelve and ten. And some are so bound, that they know not how long they must endure the heat; but if their friends who are left on earth have masses sung, or else give food or some other kind of alms, all the better will these folk speed and will come out of their misery into this paradise, where joy and bliss ever are, and will live here in perfect peace. Just as they come out of purgatory, so pass we on to God's glory, which is the high kingdom of the celestial paradise, wherein enter only Christian folk to a joy unequalled. When we come out of the fire of purgatory we cannot pass at once into that place nor see God's face, but must dwell here a long time. Even the child born tonight must pass through that pain before he can enter heaven, and how much harder is it for an old man who has been long in sin to come hither!" Forth they went until they saw a very high mountain where all was pleasure. Finally they came to the top, and saw all its joys. There were all manner of bird songs; much delight was there and evermore shall be. There is more joy in a bird's mouth than in any harp or fiddle or crouth,[29] whether on land or sea. That land so fair is called the terrestrial paradise; the other paradise, which is the kingdom of God, is above the air and has joys unequalled. (In the earthly paradise Owain was, which Adam had lost, and if Adam had done according to the will of God, neither he nor his offspring would have had to depart out of that joy. Yet, since Adam broke God's commandment so soon, God made him delve with pick and spade in the earth, to help his wife and himself. God was very wroth with him. An angel of stern countenance, bearing a sword of fire, came and made them sore afraid, and drove them out into the world, where they lived evermore in sorrow and woe. And when he died he came to hell, as did all his descendants, until the Son of God was born, by whose passion and death man was brought out of that prison.)[30]