Great Heart, Christiana, Mercy, and the boys continue the journey, leaving the battle with the giant Maul. Leaving the Valley of the Shadow of Death, they come upon the point where Christian met up with Faithful. Christiana and her sons have some questions for Great Heart.
Christiana: "But weren't you afraid, good Sir, when you saw him come out with his club?"
Great Heart: "It's my duty to distrust my own ability so I might rely on Him who is stronger than all."
Matthew: "When you've all thought what you please, I think God has been wonderfully good to us, both in bringing us out of this valley and in delivering us out of the hand of this enemy. For my part, I see no reason why we should distrust our God anymore since He has now given us such a testimony of His love in such a place as this."
Going on, the party encounters a sleeping pilgrim, who wakes up, and is apparently ready to fight. Great Heart calms him down, claiming to be his friend, and the pilgrim says that he was afraid that the party was in the company of those who robbed Little Faith of his money.
Great Heart asks the pilgrim for his name, but the pilgrim is not willing to share it. He only claims his hometown, which is the Town of Stupidity, beyond the City of Destruction. Great Heart then guesses the pilgrim's name, which is Old Honesty. Honesty blushes, and says "I hope my nature will agree to what I'm called. But Sir, how could you guess that I am such a man since I came from that kind of a place?" Great Heart replies that He has heard of him, from his master, but expresses wonder "that anyone could come from your place, for your town is worse than what the City of Destruction is itself."
Mr. Honest replies, "Yes, we're farther away from the sun, so are more cold and senseless. But even if a man lived in a mountain of ice, if the sun of righteousness arose upon him, his frozen heart would feel a thaw; and this is how it has been with me."
Everyone is introduced, and Mr. Honest is especially enthusiastic about meeting Christiana, and has special blessings for her, her sons Matthew, Samuel, Joseph, and James, and Mercy, Christiana's companion from the City of Destruction.
(to be continued, this is a long chapter)
Thoughts on this chapter
This chapter begins a change of style in the narrative. From here on, we are going to be picking up more pilgrims until the entourage resembles a small church. Part Two is not the walk of a couple of individuals that Part One was. Three people are introduced today (though the last two are not actually encountered, just talked about). I'll add more comments when I finish this chapter.