Well, he walked on and on, over hill and valley and through the deep forest, until he came at last to the kingdom of the unclean. There were the walls of hell and the gates of hell, and as he looked he saw that sentinels were standing at every gate. As soon as he came near a gate the devil doing sentry go calls out: "Who goes there?" "A sinful soul come to you to be stewed in the boiling pitch." "And what is that you've got in your hand?" "A sack." And the devil yelled out at the top of his voice and gave the alarm. From all sides the unclean rushed up and began closing every gate and window in hell with strong bolts and bars. And the soldier walked round hell outside the walls, unable to get in. He cried out to the Prince of Hell: "Let me into hell, I beg you. I have come to you to be tormented, because I have sinned before God and before man." "No," shouted the Prince of Hell, "I won't let you in. Go away. Go away, I tell you. Go away, anywhere you like. There's no place for you here." The soldier was more troubled than ever. "Well," says he, "if you won't let me in, you won't. I'll go away if you will give me two hundred sinful souls. I will take them to God, and perhaps, when he sees them, he will forgive me and let me into heaven." "I'll throw in another fifty," says the Prince of Hell, "if only you'll get away from here." And he told the lesser devils to count out two hundred and fifty sinful souls and to let them out quickly at one of the back doors of hell, while he held the soldier in talk, so that the soldier should not slip in while the sinful souls were going out. It was done, and the soldier set off for heaven with two hundred and fifty sinful souls behind him, marching in column of route, as the soldier made them for the sake of order and decency. Well, they marched on and on, and in the end they came to heaven, and stopped before the very gates of Paradise. And the holy apostles, standing in the gateway of Paradise, said: "Who are you?" "I am the soldier who hung Death in a sack, and I have brought two hundred and fifty sinful souls from hell in hope that God will pardon my sins and let me into Paradise." And the apostles went to the Lord, and told him that the soldier had come, and brought with him two hundred and fifty sinful souls. And God said: "Let in the sinful souls, but do not let in the soldier." The apostles went back to the gateway, and opened the gates and told the souls they might come in. But when the soldier tried to march in at the head of his company they stopped him, and said: "No, soldier! There's no place for you here." So the soldier took one of the sinful souls aside and gave that soul his sack, and told him: "As soon as you are through the gates of Paradise, open the sack and shout out "Into the sack, soldier!" You will do this because I brought you here from hell." And the sinful soul promised to do this for the soldier.