In the garden all the apple trees were in blossom. They had hastened to bring forth flowers
before they got green leaves. In the yard all the duckling walked up and down. The cat basked
in the sun and licked the sunshine from its own paws.
And when one looked at the fields, how beautifully the corn stood and how green it shone,
without comparison! And there was a twittering and a fluttering of all the little birds, as
if the day was a great festival; and so it was, for it was Sunday. All the bells were ringing,
and all the people went to church, looking cheerful, and dressed in their best clothes. There
was a look of cheerfulness on everything. The day was so warm and beautiful that one might have
said:" God's kindness to us men is beyond all limits."
But inside the church the pastor stood in the pulpit, and spoke very loudly and angrily. He
said that all men were wicked, and God would punish them for their sins, and that the wicked,
when they died, would be cast into hell, to burn for ever and ever. He spoke very excitedly,
saying that their propensities would not be destroyed, nor would the fire be extinguished, and
they should never find rest. That was terrible to hear, and he said it in such a tone of
conviction; he described hell to them as a miserable hole where all the refuse of the world
gathers. There was no air beside the hot sulfur flame, and there was no grond under their feet;
they, that wicked ones, sank deeper and deeper, while aternal scilence surrounded them! It was
dreadful to hear all that, for the preacher spoke from his heart, and all the people in the
church were terrified.
Meanwhile a birds sang merrily outside, and the sun was shining so beautifully warm, it seemed
as though every little flower said:" God, Thy kindness towards us all is without limits." Indeed
, outside it was not at all like the pastor's sermon.
The same evening, upon going to bed, the pastor noticed his wife sitting there quiet and pensive.
"What's the matter with you?" he asked her.
"Well, the matter with me is," she said, "that I can't collect my thoughts, and am unable to
grasp the meaning of what you said to-day in church- that there are so many wicked people, and
that they should burn eternally. Alas! eternally- how long! I am only a woman and a sinner before
God, but I have should not have the heart to let even the worst sinner burn for ever, and how
could our Lord to do so, who is so infinitely good, and who knows how the wickedness comes from
without and within? No, I am unable to imagine that, although you say so."
It was aumumn; the trees dropped their leaves, the earnest and severe pastor sat at the beside
of a dying person. A pious, faithful soul closed her eyes for ever; she was the pastor's wife.
..."If any one should find rest in the grave and mercy before our Lord you shall certainlly do
so," said the pastor. He folded her hands and read a psalm over the dead woman.
She was buried; two large tears rolled over the cheeks of the earness man, and in the parsonage
it was empty and still, for its sun had set for ever. She had gone home.
It was night. A cold wind swept over the pastor's head, he opened his eyes, and it seemed to
him as if the moon was shining into his room. It was not so, however; there was a being standing
before his bed, and looking like the ghost of his deceased wife. She fixed her eyes upon him
with such a kind and sad expression, just as if she wished to say something to him. The pastor
raised himself in bed and stretched his arms towards her, saying:"Not even you can find eternal
rest! You suffer, you best and most pious woman?"
The dead woman nodded her head as if to say:"Yes." and put her hand on her breast.
"And can I not obtain rest in the grave for you?"
"Yes," was the answer.
"And how?"
"Give me one hair- only one single hair- from the head of the sinner for whom the fire shall
never be extinguished, of the sinner whom God will condenm to eternal punishment in hell."
"Yes, ont ought to be able to redeem you so easily, you pure, pious woman." he said.
"Follow me," said the dead woman. "It is thus granted to us. By my side you will be able to
fly wherever you thoughts wish to go. Invisible to men, we shall penetrate into their most
secret chambers; but with sure hand you must find out him who is destined to eternal torture,
and before the cock crows he must be found!" As quickly as if carried by the winged thoughts
they were in the great city, and from the walls the names of the deadly sins shone in flaming
letters: pride, avarice, drunkness, wantonness- in short, the whole seven-colored bow of sin.
"Yes, therein, as I believed, as I knew it," said the pastor, "are living those who are
abandoned to the eteral fire." And they were standing before the magnificently illuminated
gate; the broad steps were adorned with carpets and flowers, and dance music was sounding
throught the festive halls. A footman dressed in silk and velvet stood with a large silver-
mounted rod near te entrance.