The Pilgrim’s Progress VIII: The Lions and the Giant
- Aug 14
- 5 min read
Last Friday, Christiana, her children, and Mercy set out under the protection of Great-heart, the faithful guide sent by the Interpreter.
They had come to the Cross. They had passed Simple, Sloth, and Presumption. They had climbed Hill Difficulty, rested at the spring, and continued upward.
Now the road leads them toward another familiar place.
But this time the danger is not sleeping men beside the road.
It is waiting for them in plain sight.
The Lions
Bunyan tells us simply:
“So they went on till they came within sight of the lions.”
The children who had been walking ahead suddenly discover that courage is easier when there is no danger in sight.
Great-heart notices.
“How now, my boys, do you love to go before when no danger doth approach, and love to come behind as soon as the lions appear?”
There is something wonderfully human about the question.
The boys had been brave enough while the road was safe.
Now there are lions.
Great-heart does not abandon them. He draws his sword.
And then another figure appears.
His name is Grim, though Bunyan also calls him Bloody-man, because he has killed pilgrims. He is one of the giants.
Grim challenges Great-heart:
“What is the cause of your coming hither?”
Great-heart answers without hesitation:
“These women and children are going on pilgrimage, and this is the way they must go. And go it they shall, in spite of thee and the lions.”
Grim will not yield.
“This is not their way, neither shall they go therein.”
Christiana has heard enough.
She knows that the road ahead is the road she has chosen.
And so she speaks:
“Though the highways have been unoccupied heretofore, and though the travellers have been made in time past to walk through by-paths, it must not be so now I am risen a mother in Israel.”
There is no turning aside.
The road is the road.
And Great-heart steps forward.
Great-heart and Grim
Grim has the lions.
Great-heart has his sword.
But Bunyan gives us something more important than weapons: he gives us a conversation.
Great-heart approaches him.
Grim threatens.
Great-heart refuses.
And then the fight begins.
It is not a brief encounter.
“Then there was a battle fought between Great-heart and Grim, the giant.”
They fight for a long time.
The women and children watch.
Mercy watches.
Christiana watches.
And Great-heart does not retreat.
Finally the giant is overcome.
“So Great-heart smote him, and slew him, and cut off his head.”
The pilgrims have passed through.
The lions remain, but the man who had used them to terrify pilgrims is gone.
Bunyan does not stop to give us a long explanation.
He simply lets the victory stand.
The road that had been avoided can now be traveled.
And Christiana and her company continue.
The House Beautiful
Soon they come to the House Beautiful—the same house where Christian had once been welcomed.
There they meet the Porter.
Great-heart tells him who is coming:
“Here is the wife of Christian, with her children and her young friend Mercy. They have come hither on a pilgrimage.”
The Porter is delighted.
“I know you.”
He knows Christian.
And now he welcomes Christian’s family.
The pilgrims enter.
But Great-heart does not remain.
He tells them that he must return to his Master.
Christiana is troubled.
“You have been so loving and faithful, and have fought so stoutly for us. How can we go on without you?”
Mercy joins her:
“We should have perished if you had not led us.”
And then one of the children takes Great-heart by the hand:
“Oh, sir, won’t you go on with us, and help us? We are so weak, and the way is so rough and dangerous!”
It is difficult not to hear the tenderness in the scene.
The children have come to love their guide.
But Great-heart has another duty.
“I must obey my Master.”
And so he leaves them.
Yet he gives them hope that if his Master should command him to return, he will gladly come again.
Prudence and the Children
Inside the House Beautiful, another kind of journey begins.
The children are questioned by Prudence.
She wants to know what they have learned.
And Bunyan lets the children answer.
They are not treated merely as passengers on their mother’s pilgrimage.
They are pilgrims themselves.
Prudence asks them about their thoughts, their understanding, their knowledge of the King, and their desire for the things that belong to the heavenly country.
The conversation is remarkably natural.
Bunyan does not give us a lecture on Christian education.
He gives us children being questioned.
And the answers reveal what has been happening on the road.
They have been listening.
They have been watching.
They have seen their mother trust.
They have seen Mercy walk with them.
They have seen Great-heart draw his sword.
They have seen the lions.
They have seen the giant fall.
The journey is teaching them.
Then Matthew Becomes Sick
But Bunyan does something unexpected.
After the danger comes hospitality.
After the battle comes illness.
Matthew, one of Christiana’s sons, becomes sick.
The family is frightened.
The sickness is serious.
And the House Beautiful becomes a place not merely of instruction and rest, but of care.
Here again Bunyan lets the characters speak rather than stopping the story for explanation.
The remedy is found, and Matthew recovers.
The children are not invulnerable because they are pilgrims.
Christiana is not protected from fear because she is a mother.
Mercy does not cease to be Mercy because she is traveling toward the Celestial City.
The pilgrimage contains lions and sickness, courage and weariness, danger and hospitality.
Bunyan's road is never one-dimensional.
What Great-heart Has Shown Them
Great-heart has now done what Christiana and the children could not have done for themselves.
He has taken them through a dangerous place.
But notice something important.
He did not make the road disappear.
The lions were still there.
Grim was still there.
The hill was still there.
The danger was real.
What changed was that they were no longer facing it alone.
That is one of the quiet beauties of Christiana’s pilgrimage.
Christian had walked much of this road alone.
Christiana walks it with others.
Her children walk beside her.
Mercy walks beside her.
Great-heart goes before them.
The people at the House Beautiful receive them.
And along the way, the pilgrims discover that the road to the Celestial City is traveled not only by individuals, but by a company.
“The Way Was Rough and Dangerous”
The little boy’s words to Great-heart perhaps say more than any commentary could:
“We are so weak, and the way is so rough and dangerous!”
That is the pilgrimage.
Weak pilgrims.
A rough road.
Dangerous places.
Lions.
Giants.
Sickness.
And yet—
they go on.
Christiana does not turn back.
Mercy does not turn back.
The children do not turn back.
And Great-heart, when his Master sends him, does not turn back.
The story continues because the pilgrims continue.
Bunyan has no interest in pretending that the road is easy.
But neither does he leave us believing that the road is hopeless.
The lions are there.
So is Great-heart.
The giant is there.
So is the sword.
The sickness comes.
So does the remedy.
The pilgrims are weak.
But they are not alone.
And the road still leads forward.
Toward the Celestial City.
The journey continues.
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All along life's pilgrim journey
Savior, let me walk with Thee.
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Who would true valour see,
Let him come hither;
One here will constant be,
Come wind, come weather
There’s no discouragement
Shall make him once relent
His first avowed intent
To be a pilgrim.
Whoso beset him round
With dismal stories
Do but themselves confound;
His strength the more is.
No lion can him fright,
He’ll with a giant fight,
He will have a right
To be a pilgrim.
Hobgoblin nor foul fiend
Can daunt his spirit,
He knows he at the end
Shall life inherit.
Then fancies fly away,
He’ll fear not what men say,
He’ll labor night and day
To be a pilgrim. – John Bunyan
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