Going down the hill was slower than climbing up. The little girl’s heel had only just healed, so Great-heart chose a stretch with a handrail and took them one at a time. Christiana began to see an advantage in going slowly. At last she could notice the tiny flowers instead of looking only at the mountain still ahead.
In the Valley of Humiliation, a shepherd boy sat on a flat stone mending his pipe. His sheep grazed nearby. His coat was old, and his lunch was only bread and a little cheese. Yet he quietly sang about the Lord’s care. Those who had it did not need other people’s praise to know they were blessed.
Listening, Christiana remembered a dress she had once hidden. It was only a little worn, but she did not want her neighbors to know. She had told Mercy to come to the back door to mend it. Now Mercy stood beside her, with a carefully washed patch on her own skirt.
“Have you never lived in a larger house?” Christiana asked the boy, then wished she had not.
He smiled. “I’ve visited the palace on the hill. It’s a good place. The grass here is good too. When the sheep have enough to eat, they don’t wander so much.”
He cut his cheese to share with the children. Christiana did not tell him to keep it because she was ashamed of accepting food from a poor child. She thanked him and brought out her own cakes. They ate together beside the stone.
Great-heart pointed to an old battlefield. Chris had been attacked there. The boy did not speak at once. His mother saw his hand tighten and asked whether he wanted to go past the place today.
“We can,” he said. “But I don’t want to tell the fighting part.”
They went around the old fragments on the ground. Chris only said that he had dropped his sword, and that later people had come to bind his wounds. His father stood beside him. When he finished, his father said, “This time we’re here.”
Before they left, Great-heart read that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Christiana’s daughter asked whether being humble meant always saying how bad you were.
“No,” Great-heart said. “It means knowing that every good thing we have comes from God. We needn’t make ourselves greater than others. We can listen to the truth and serve. Today this boy welcomed us. We can thank him properly instead of pretending we are the only people with something to give.”
The valley was quiet. The shepherd played his repaired pipe again. Christiana turned to wave. He had never asked who made her dress or how large her old house had been. After walking beside the stream a while, she discovered that she had no wish to explain.