So Watchful the porter rang a bell, at the sound of which a grave and beautiful damsel came out of the door.  When she saw Christian she brought him into the Palace Beautiful, and she and her sisters talked with him until supper was ready.  Now all their talk at table was about the Lord of the hill, and, by what they said, I knew that He had been a great Warrior, and that He had fought and slain Death, but not without great danger to Himself, which made me love Him the more.  They talked together till late at night, and after they had committed themselves to their Lord for protection, they went to bed.  The room in which the pilgrim slept had a window opening towards the sunrising, and the name of the room was Peace.  In the morning they all got up, and after some more talk, they told him that they would take him to the armory before he left them.  So they did, and when he came out, he was harnessed from head to foot, lest he should be attacked in the way.  Then Christian walked with his friends to the gate, and there he asked the porter if he had seen any pilgrims pass.

The porter answered, “Yes, a pilgrim called Faithful has passed this way.”

“Oh,” said Christian, “I know him.  He comes from the place where I was born.  How far do you think he has got?”

“By this time he is below the hill,” said the porter.

Then Christian began to go down the hill into the Valley of Humiliation, where it is difficult not to slip.  He went down very warily, yet he slipped once or twice.  Now in the valley Christian had a hard fight with a fiend called Apollyon.  Apollyon was a monster and hideous to behold.  He was clothed with scales like a fish, he had wings like a dragon, feet like a bear, and his mouth was as the mouth of a lion, and out of it came fire and smoke.  When he came up to Christian he looked at him with rage in his face, and said, “Prepare thyself to die, for thou shalt go no farther.”  And he threw a flaming dart at him, but Christian had a shield in his hand, which caught the dart, so that it did him no harm.  Then did Christian draw his sword, but Apollyon threw darts at him as thick as hail, and wounded him in his head, his hand, and foot.  This great combat lasted half a day, till Christian was almost worn out.

Then Apollyon came close to Christian, and wrestled with him and gave him a dreadful fall, and Christian’s sword flew out of his hand.

“I am sure of thee now,” said Apollyon.  But while he was taking a last blow to kill this good man altogether, Christian nimbly stretched out his hand for his sword, and caught it.  Then he gave Apollyon a deadly thrust, and Apollyon spread his wings and sped him away, so that Christian saw him no more.  In this combat no man could imagine, unless he had seen and heard as I did, what yelling and roaring Apollyon made all the time of the fight.  He spake like a dragon.  On the other side, sighs and groans burst from Christian’s heart.  I never saw him give so much as a pleasant look, till he saw that he had wounded Apollyon with his two-edged sword.  Then indeed he did smile and look upward, but it was the dreadfulest sight that ever I saw.