Part 15

In the dark one night I lay upon my bed. I heard the policeman’s feet beat on the pavement; I heard the wheels of carriages roll home from houses of entertainment; I heard a woman’s laugh below my window--and then I fell asleep. And in the dark I dreamt a dream. I dreamt God took my soul to Hell.

Hell was a fair place; the water of the lake was blue.

I said to God, “I like this place.”

God said, “Ay, dost thou!”

Birds sang, turf came to the water-edge, and trees grew from it. Away off among the trees I saw beautiful women walking. Their clothes were of many delicate colours and clung to them, and they were tall and graceful and had yellow hair. Their robes trailed over the grass. They glided in and out among the trees, and over their heads hung yellow fruit like large pears of melted gold.

I said, “It is very fair; I would go up and taste the--”

God said, “Wait.”

And after a while I noticed a very fair woman pass: she looked this way and that, and drew down a branch, and it seemed she kissed the fruit upon it softly, and went on her way, and her dress made no rustle as she passed over the grass. And when I saw her no more, from among the stems came another woman fair as she had been, in a delicate tinted robe; she looked this way and that. When she saw no one there she drew down the fruit, and when she had looked over it to find a place, she put her mouth to it softly, and went away. And I saw other and other women come, making no noise, and they glided away also over the grass.

And I said to God, “What are they doing?”

God said, “They are poisoning.”

And I said, “How?”

God said, “They touch it with their lips, when they have made a tiny wound in it with their fore-teeth they set in it that which is under their tongues: they close it with their lip--that no man may see the place, and pass on.”

I said to God, “Why do they do it?”

God said, “That another may not eat.”

I said to God, “But if they poison all then none dare eat; what do they gain?”

God said, “Nothing.”

I said, “Are they not afraid they themselves may bite where another has bitten?”

God said, “They are afraid. In Hell all men fear.”

He called me further. And the water of the lake seemed less blue.

Then, to the right among the trees were men working. And I said to God, “I should like to go and work with them. Hell must be a very fruitful place, the grass is so green.”

God said, “Nothing grows in the garden they are making.”

We stood looking; and I saw them working among the bushes, digging holes, but in them they set nothing; and when they had covered them with sticks and earth each went a way off and sat behind the bushes watching; and I noticed that as each walked he set his foot down carefully looking where he trod. I said to God, “What are they doing?”

God said, “Making pitfalls into which their fellows may sink.”

I said to God, “Why do they do it?”

God said, “Because each thinks that when his brother falls he will rise.”

I said to God, “How will he rise?”

God said, “He will not rise.”

And I saw their eyes gleam from behind the bushes.