Little Pilgrim’s Progress

by Helen Taylor

This is a retelling for children of Bunyan’s classic allegory of the Christian life. It begins:

Little Christian lived in a great city called Destruction. Its streets were full of boys and girls who laughed and played all day long. This was in the summertime when the sun was shining and the city looked bright and pleasant. On the rainy days in winter the children did not feel so happy, and they would sometimes be glad to sit down quietly and listen to stories.

Now and then a grave-looking man, or a woman with a gentle face, would come to the city for a little time, and these strangers always tried to make friends with the children, and were willing to tell them stories whenever they would listen.

“There is a beautiful country,” they would say, “far away from this city. A very good and wise King rules over it, and loves little children dearly….