pillar sat a grey owl-of-the-desert, with folded wings; and in the evening
light I saw the desert fox creep past it, trailing his brush across the
sand.
Further, yet further, as I looked across the desert, I saw the sand
gathered into heaps as though it covered something.
I cried to God, "Oh, I am so weary."
God said, "You have seen only one half of Hell."
I said, "I cannot see more, I am afraid of Hell. In my own narrow little
path I dare not walk because I think that one has dug a pitfall for me; and
if I put my hand to take a fruit I draw it back again because I think it
has been kissed already. If I look out across the plains, the mounds are
burial heaps; and when I pass among the stones I hear them crying aloud.
When I see men dancing I hear the time beaten in with sobs; and their wine
is living! Oh, I cannot bear Hell!"
God said, "Where will you go?"
I said "To the earth from which I came; it was better there."
And God laughed at me; and I wondered why he laughed.
God said, "Come, and I will show you Heaven."
...
And partly I awoke. It was still and dark; the sound of the carriages had
died in the street; the
woman who laughed was gone; and the policeman's
tread was heard no more. In the dark it seemed as if a great hand lay upon
my heart, and crushed it. I tried to breathe and tossed from side to side;
and then again I fell asleep, and dreamed.
God took me to the edge of that world. It ended. I looked down. The
gulf, it seemed to me, was fathomless, and then I saw two bridges crossing
it that both sloped upwards.
I said to God, "Is there no other way by which men cross it?"
God said, "One; it rises far from here and slopes straight upwards.
I asked God what the bridges' names were.
God said, "What matter for the names? Call them the Good, the True, the
Beautiful, if you will--you will yet not understand them."
I asked God how it was I could not see the third.
God said, "It is seen only by those who climb it."
I said, "Do they all lead to one heaven?"
God said, "All Heaven is one: nevertheless some parts are higher than
others; those who reach the higher may always go down to rest in the lower;
