{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_51732/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_51732","id":"gutenberg_51732","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/51732","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321 -- Adaptations"],"text":"DANTE\n\n\n\n\n                          THE VISION OF DANTE\n\n               A STORY FOR LITTLE CHILDREN AND A TALK TO\n                             THEIR MOTHERS\n\n                                  BY\n\n                          ELIZABETH HARRISON\n\n                            SECOND EDITION\n\n                      ILLUSTRATED BY WALTER CRANE\n\n             PUBLISHED BY THE CHICAGO KINDERGARTEN COLLEGE\n                 ART INSTITUTE BUILDING, CHICAGO, ILL.\n                                 1894\n\n                              COPYRIGHTED\n                         BY ELIZABETH HARRISON\n                                 1892\n\n                          The Lakeside Press\n                  R. R. DONNELLEY & SONS CO., CHICAGO\n\n\n\n\n_PREFACE._\n\n\n_Is not the reason why the Divine Comedy is called a \u201cworld poem\u201d to be\nfound in these significant facts: it portrays the sudden awakening of a\nhuman soul to the consciousness of having gone astray; it shows the\nloathsome nature of sin; it pictures the struggle necessary to be freed\nfrom sin; it emphasizes that God is ready to help as soon as the soul is\nready to be helped; and at last it declares that the Vision of God will\ncome to the soul which perseveres in the struggle? These are the\nessential truths which make the great poem of Dante one of the\nmasterpieces of the world of art. May not it--as well as all other truly\ngreat things--be given to little children in a simple way?_\n\n\n\n\nTHE VISION OF DANTE.\n\n\nI want to tell a wonderful story to you, dear children. It has been told\nover and over again for six hundred years, yet people keep reading it,\nand re-reading it, and wise men never tire of studying it. Many great\nartists have painted pictures, and sculptors have made statues, and\nmusicians have composed operas, and clergymen have written sermons from\nthoughts inspired by it. A great poet first gave it to the world in the\nform of a grand poem which some day you may read, but I will try to tell\nit to you to-day as a short story. I am afraid that you would go to\nsleep if I should undertake to read the poem to you. You do not yet know\nenough about life to understand it.\n\nOnce upon a time, very long ago, there was a man whose name was Dante.\nHe had done wrong and had wandered a long way from his home. He does not\ntell us how or why. He begins by saying that he had gone to sleep in a\ngreat forest. Suddenly he awoke, and tried to find his way out of it,\nfirst by one path and then another; but all in vain.\n\nThrough an opening where the tall trees had not grown quite so thick, he\nsaw in the distance a great mountain, on the top of which the sun was\nshining brightly. \u201cAh!\u201d thought he to himself, \u201cif I can but reach the\ntop of that mountain I am sure I can see a long way in every direction.\nNo woods can grow tall enough to keep me from finding my path then!\u201d So\nwith fine courage he started toward the mountain, but he had not walked\nfar when a beautiful, spotted panther stood with glaring eyes in his\npathway. He trembled, for he knew that going forward meant that he would\nbe destroyed. He turned hastily aside into another path, but he had gone\nonly a short distance in this direction before he saw a huge lion coming\ntowards him. In greater haste than before he turned into still another\npath. His heart was beating very fast now, and he hastened along without\ntaking much notice of what lay before him. Suddenly he came upon a lean\nand hungry wolf, which looked as if he could devour half a dozen men.\nDante turned and fled back into the dark woods \u201cwhere the sun was\nsilent.\u201d He thought, \u201cWhat is the use of trying to get out of this\nterrible forest? There are wild beasts on every side. If I escape one I\nam sure to be devoured by another; I might as well give up trying.\u201d He\nhad now lost all hope.\n\nJust at this moment he saw a man coming towards him. The face of the man\nwas beaming with smiles as if he had some good news to tell. Dante ran\nforward to meet him, crying, \u201cHave mercy on me, whoever you are! See\nthat\n\n[Illustration: Copyrighted 1892]\n\nbeast from whom I have fled! My body is trembling yet with fright.\u201d\n\nThe strange man, whose name was Virgil, told Dante that he had come to\nhelp him, but that they would have to go by another path to get out of\nthis savage wilderness. He then explained that they must go down through\na deep, bad smelling and dark hole in the ground, and must meet with\nmany disagreeable things and crawl through much dirt and filth; but\nafter they had gone through this close, dirty tunnel, they would again\nsee the light, and if they had strength enough to climb, they might in\nthe end get to a delightful spot on the top of the mountain called the\nTerrestrial Paradise, from which lovely place Dante could go home if he\nwanted to.\n\nAt first Dante was afraid to go with Virgil, although he had often read\nthe wise and noble books which the latter had written. But when he heard\nthat BEATRICE, whom he had loved as he loved no one else on earth, had\ncome from heaven in the form of a bright Angel to urge Virgil to come to\nhim, his heart was so filled with joy that he at once renewed his\ncourage, and told Virgil to go forward, promising that he would trust\nhim as a guide.\n\nThey then began their perilous journey. The dark pit through which they\nwere to pass was the shape of an immense funnel, or a cone turned upside\ndown. It was so large that it reached from the surface down to the very\ncentre of the earth; so that though it was as twilight where they\nentered, and was quite wide and airy, yet as they slowly travelled\ndown its rocky sides the place grew darker and narrower, and the air\nmore stifling, and the smell was worse than anything of which you have\never dreamed. At times Dante nearly fainted, but Virgil put his arms\naround him and held him up until he revived. I will not stop to tell you\nof all the horrible experiences they went through. By and by, when you\ngrow to be men and women, you can read the whole poem for yourselves.\n\nAt last they reached the bottom of the foul pit; it was the very centre\nof the earth, and was the darkest spot possible. Then they began to\nclimb through a narrow opening which they saw. They wanted to get to the\nsurface on the other side of the world, and again see the light of the\nsun.\n\nDante felt as if he were escaping from a terrible plague-stricken\nprison-house. The first things he looked at were four beautiful stars\nshining far above his head; then he knew he was where he could get fresh\nair and light, for he felt sure that where stars were to be seen air and\nlight could be found. They soon discovered that they were on a large\nisland, in the middle of which stood a great mountain. This, Virgil told\nDante was the mountain which they would have to climb.\n\nIt was Easter morning!\n\nAs they were looking about them, not knowing exactly which way to turn,\nthey saw an old man with a long white beard. His face was so radiant\nthat it reminded Dante of the stars at which he had been gazing. The old\nman told them where to go to begin the ascent of the mountain. But he\nsaid that Virgil must first get the grim and dirt off of Dante. You know\nwe can not very well go into dirty places without having some of the\ncinders and ashes and other filth stick to us. He also kindly told them\nwhere they could find some easily bent rushes which they could use to\ngird up Dante\u2019s long cloak, so that he might climb the better.\n\nI think it must have been the old man\u2019s kindness to the many strangers\nwho came to the island that caused his face to look so beaming as to\nremind Dante of the stars. Poor Dante thought over all his past life,\nhow he had wandered away from his home, how he had found himself in the\ngloomy woods, how he had met the fierce beasts, and last of all he\nthought of the blackening dirt he had gotten on himself in coming\nthrough the deep hole. Then he thought of his rescue from all these\nevils, and the tears rolled down his cheeks. Virgil spread his hands out\nupon the grass, still wet with dew from heaven, and with the moisture\nthus gained he washed Dante\u2019s face. The tears Dante was shedding helped\nalso to wash away the dirt.\n\nAfter this they went to where the rushes were growing and gathered some\nfor a belt for Dante. Strange as it may sound to you, dear children, as\nfast as they gathered one rush another sprang up in its place. They\nbound these enchanted rushes around Dante\u2019s waist, and he was now ready\nfor the upward climb and was quite eager to begin.\n\nThey turned and looked once more at the ocean. Dante\u2019s eyes were just\nbeginning to get used to the sunlight. Suddenly he saw a strange white\nlight coming along the sea towards them. He was astonished. As it came\nnearer and nearer the light grew more and more dazzling, and Dante saw\nthat it was a _glorious and radiant angel_! He fell upon his knees and\ndropped his gaze to the ground, for the face of the angel was so bright\nthat he could not look upon it. The strange and beautiful being came\nswiftly forward, bringing with him a small boat full of people, the very\nwater became resplendent with light as the boat moved swiftly through\nit, yet the angel had neither oar nor sail. His shining wings, spread\nhigh above his head, seemed to waft the boat along by some invisible\npower. He landed the people, and--quick as a sunbeam, was gone.\n\nThe newly arrived souls came up to Dante and Virgil and inquired the\nway, for they too were going up the steep rough mountain, around which\nwound a difficult path. The end of the path no one could see. They\nwalked along together for a short distance, and while Virgil was\nsearching the ground for the right path, Dante lifted his eyes upward\nand saw some people looking over a rocky wall that bordered the road on\nthe next bend above them. To these fellow-travellers he called for help,\nas he felt sure they must have found the right road up the mountain\u2019s\nside. They gladly pointed out the spot where Virgil and Dante could find\nthe way, and soon our two travellers were upon it.\n\nBut now arose a serious difficulty. From the growing\n\n[Illustration: Copyrighted 1892]\n\ntwilight they knew that night was coming on, and in this strange, new\ncountry nobody dared travel in the dark. There were too many pitfalls\nand stumbling blocks to make it safe to travel without the light of the\nsun. Virgil knew that the wisest and best thing to do in hours of\ndarkness was to keep still and wait for more light. A man whom they had\nmet on the road pointed out a safe little valley where they could stay\nuntil the sunlight came once more.\n\nAh, how I wish you could have seen that valley!\n\nIt was called the Valley of the Princes. As they approached it a vision\nburst upon them of the loveliest spot that could be imagined. If gold\nand silver and scarlet and green and blue and all the finest colors in\nthe world were put together into a flower garden they would not make\nanything half so beautiful as was this Valley of the Princes. Not only\nwere the colors so fine, but the perfumes were the sweetest ever\nbreathed. They went quietly and slowly into the valley and sat down. The\nair about them grew darker and darker as the sun set behind the\nmountains.\n\nAll at once Dante heard some voices singing a gentle hymn. I think it\nmust have been a hymn something like our own little hymn, \u201cWearily at\nDaylight\u2019s Close,\u201d for it made Dante think of the Heavenly Father, and\nlook up into the sky, whose only brightness was the stars shining far\nabove his head. As he looked he saw sweep down out of the high heavens\ntwo glad angels of God, robed in pale shining green. Each was surrounded\nwith a radiance so bright that it was dazzling; both carried swords of\nfire. Lightning never came from the sky more swiftly than did these two\nangels. They separated as they approached the earth; one placed himself\nupon the mountain on one side of the valley and the other upon the\nmountain on the other side. Dante wondered what all this meant, but the\nman who had told them where to find the valley was still with them. He\nexplained that the angels had come to protect all travellers who were\nstaying in the dark valley until light should come again and they could\nsee to go forward.\n\nJust then Dante turned and saw a great ugly snake winding its way\nsilently through the grass. Quick as a flash of lightning one of the\nangels descended from his high post, and, with a touch of his flaming\nsword, turned the snake, which fled in dismay. Then Dante knew that the\nangels had indeed been sent from heaven, and in his heart he felt very\nglad that all through this dark night he might be sure of their\nprotecting love. He then quietly laid himself down upon the grass and\nwent to sleep. While sleeping he had a strange dream; an eagle of fire\nseemed to be bearing him up through the air.\n\nHe awoke. It was morning; the sun was shining and the birds were\nsinging. Flowers were blooming all around him--and yet it was not the\nsame place in which he had gone to sleep. He saw on looking about him\nthat he was farther up the mountain side. He turned questioningly to\nVirgil, who soon told him that while he had slept in the Valley of the\nPrinces another angel, named Lucia, had been sent from heaven to bear\nhim in her arms over the rough places where he could not have travelled\nunaided, and that he now stood at the real entrance of the path up the\nmountain.\n\n\u201cWe must pass through that gate which you see in front of you,\u201d said\nVirgil, \u201cand before you enter it I must tell you that there will be some\nvery hard climbing for you and sometimes you will grow weary and\ndiscouraged, but be assured that it will become less painful as you\nclimb. The hardest part is the first part. It grows easier and easier as\nyou near the top, until, when you reach the Terrestrial Paradise, there\nwill be no longer any climbing at all. There you shall again see your\nbeloved Beatrice and she will reveal to you a VISION of GOD HIMSELF.\u201d\n\nWith this they started towards the gate. Now I must tell you about this\ngate, children, because it was a very peculiar gate, and some of these\ndays you may have to go through it yourselves. As they came near, Dante\nsaw that it had three broad steps leading up to it. The bottom step was\nlike polished marble, and so shining that you could see your face\nreflected in it. Each traveller who approached it saw just how unclean\nhe was, or how tired, or how cross looking. The next step was a dark\npurplish black step. It was cracked lengthwise and crosswise, and had a\nsad look about it as if it were sorry for the reflections which it saw\nin the bottom step. The third step at the top was red, so red that it\nreminded Dante of blood. Above this towered the great gateway. Upon the\nsill of this gate sat another wonderful angel in shining garments which\nwere brighter than the noon. His feet rested upon the top step.\n\nAs Dante and Virgil approached, the angel asked them what they wanted.\nThey told him that they wished to go through the gate in order that they\nmight climb the mountain. The angel leaned forward, and with the edge of\nthe sword which he held in his hand he printed on Dante\u2019s forehead seven\nletters. Dante knew that the seven letters stood for the seven things\nthat were wrong inside of his heart. Then the angel took from his side a\nsilver key and a golden key, and unlocking the gate with each, he let it\nswing wide open on its hinges, and our two travellers passed through.\n\nThey had no sooner entered than they heard a man singing praises to God.\nAs they travelled along the path which wound upward, they saw upon the\nrocks at their sides wonderfully carved pictures of people who had been\ngood and kind and always thoughtful of others instead of themselves. As\nDante looked at them they seemed to him to be the most marvellous\npictures he had ever seen. He thought within his heart, \u201cHow beautiful!\u201d\n\u201cHow beautiful!\u201d \u201cHow I wish I could be like these people!\u201d Then he\nturned and looked down upon the rocks on which he was treading, he saw\nthere were more carvings upon the stones below; but these were of\npeople who thought of nobody but themselves--haughty people, selfish\npeople, and idle ones.\n\nAs Dante gazed upon them, he bowed himself lower and lower, for he\nthought within himself, \u201cI fear I am more like these people than I am\nlike the others.\u201d He had been a very proud and haughty man in the past,\nand now he knew how ugly and selfish that haughtiness was. As he\nascended the road, he must have prayed to God to make him more like the\nbeautiful and gentle people whose portraits he had seen upon the rocks\nat his side. He had been walking, bent very low; all at once he\nstraightened himself up; he felt as if some great weight had been lifted\noff his shoulders. He turned to Virgil, saying, \u201cMaster, from what heavy\nthing have I been lightened?\u201d Virgil glanced up at his forehead. Dante\nstretched forth the fingers of his hand and slowly felt the letters\nwhich the angel had placed upon his forehead. There were but six. There\nhad been seven. Virgil smiled, and the two passed on.\n\nTheir ears caught the sounds of voices singing in sweet tones, \u201cBlessed\nare the poor in spirit!\u201d \u201cBlessed are the poor in spirit!\u201d Then Dante\nknew that the other souls, too, had prayed to God to take pride and\nhaughtiness and selfishness out of their lives.\n\nThey passed along the higher terrace on the mountain side, and here they\nsaw no pictures, but heard strange, sweet voices singing through the\nair. These voices were singing of the people who had been glad when\nothers were made happy, who had loved and praised the good in those\nabout them, who had rejoiced when some one else besides themselves had\nbeen commended. The voices seemed so joyful as they told of these loving\nhearts, that Dante shut his eyes and listened. Soon he heard other\nvoices tell of the people who had liked to talk of themselves and not of\nothers, who did not care to hear anybody else praised, people whom it\nmade unhappy to know that anybody else was happy. \u201cAh!\u201d thought he to\nhimself, \u201cI fear, I fear that I have been like these last people of whom\nthe voices tell such sad, unhappy things. How I long with all my heart\nto be freed from this hateful thing, called _Envy_!\u201d Then again he\nprayed to God to help him to rejoice over the happiness of others, to be\nwilling to help others, and to realize that others were helping him; and\nas he thought these thoughts and prayed this prayer, another burden\nseemed lifted from off him, and he put his hand to his forehead and\nfound that another of the terrible letters was gone. He had but five\nremaining on his forehead now, and already the climbing seemed easier.\n\nThey came soon to another very difficult passage in the road, and so\nrough and sharp were the rocks which stood in the pathway that Dante\u2019s\nheart failed him, and he must have stopped in his onward journey up the\nmountain had not another loving angel of God come from some unseen\npoint, and, lifting him with strong arms, carried him over the hard\nplace, setting him again upon his feet. I think Dante must have thanked\nGod for thus sending him help in his moment of\n\n[Illustration: Copyrighted 1892]\n\ndiscouragement; at any rate, he felt that he had been slothful and not\neager enough to reach the top of the mountain.\n\nOn and on he travelled, sometimes with voices in the air singing to\nencourage him, sometimes with warnings coming from unknown quarters. The\nvery trees laden with fruit on the roadside seemed to say, \u201cTake enough\nof us, but do not eat too much; a glutton cannot see God.\u201d\n\nAs they mounted higher and higher the landscape grew broader and\nbroader, and more filled with a strange new sunshine. The huge bowlders\nand angry-looking rocks below, which had so frightened Dante as he began\nhis journey, seemed now scarcely larger than pebbles and little stones.\nHe smiled to think that he had ever cared for them at all. All weariness\nwas gone, the last of the mysterious letters had vanished from his\nforehead, and the one longing of Dante\u2019s heart was to meet again his\nbeautiful and beloved Beatrice, and be led by her into the presence of\nthe GREAT GOD OF THE UNIVERSE, who had so wonderfully and so\nmysteriously sent His angels to help him on the way.\n\nAt last they reached the spot called the Terrestrial Paradise, and\nthere, as Virgil had told him, stood his loving Beatrice, who took him\nby the hand and led him up into Heaven itself, beyond the clouds, beyond\nthe stars, beyond planets and worlds, even to the foot of the THRONE OF\nGOD!\n\nOf this I cannot tell you. No words of mine could make you see that\nglorious vision as Dante then beheld it. Your own little hearts must be\nfreed from all wrong thoughts, from all evil motives, from all selfish\ndesires, must be filled with a love of others, and with generous\nwillingness to do for others, and then may come to you, too, some day,\nthis GREAT VISION that came to Dante.\n\n\n\n\nTHE VALUE OF THE STUDY OF DANTE TO MOTHERS.\n\n\nThe last two centuries have been largely scientific and analytic. The\neffort has been to get away from the pictorial and symbolic, to get at\nthe _exact facts_. Yet, after each new step forward in exact thinking,\ncomes the reaction toward the more poetic forms of thought. The human\nimagination becomes hungry and demands that it shall have its share of\nintellectual food as well as the human reason. This is the secret of the\npower which the world\u2019s great poets have always exercised. They throw\nessential truth back into its embodied or symbolic form, so that the\nimagination may see it pictured forth even where the reasoning power is\nnot strong enough to grasp it in its abstract form.\n\nThe \u201cmyth\u201d has always been the great educator of the race. The mighty\nprophets and seers of the past ages have ever made use of it as a means\nby which to express God\u2019s messages to mankind.\n\nFroebel, the apostle of childhood, illustrates to the mother how she can\ngive an impression of a great spiritual law by means of a certain poetic\npresentation in play. He then adds:\n\n    \u201cBehold then in this little play\n     A world-wide truth set free!\n     Easily may a symbol teach\n     What thy reason cannot reach.\u201d\n\nIn fact, almost all of the kindergarten songs and stories and games have\nin them an inner or symbolic meaning. They not only teach to the child\nthe facts of the world about him and guide him to observe accurately\nsuch properties of matter as form, color, number, position, size, etc.,\nbut they give him much deeper, more significant impressions of higher\nthings.\n\nOne can see, at once, the direct connection between the study of the\ngreat poets of the world--there are not more than half a dozen of\nthem--and the nursery and the kindergarten. The mother-heart of the race\nhas instinctively felt this connection, and the folk lore of the ages\nhas been handed down to us in nursery tale and childish legend. But the\neducators of older people do not always make use of the pictured forms\nof truth. The greatest educator that earth has ever known spake not unto\nthe multitude--except by parables. His method of teaching has never been\nexcelled.\n\nThe study of Dante emphasizes the value of the poetic form of\nexpression for the experiences of the human soul. The Divine Comedy can\nbe looked at in many ways, literally, politically, artistically and\nethically. We could regard it merely as the imaginary experiences of a\nman who suddenly awoke and found himself in the midst of a dark wood,\nwho in trying to find his way out was met by a leopard, a lion and a\nshe-wolf. He turns back in despair to the place \u201cwhere the sun is\nsilent,\u201d but is met by the poet Virgil, who offers to show another way\nout, and so on. These mere literal facts of the poem could not cause it\nto live in the hearts of men for six hundred years.\n\nSome commentators have explained the poem to be the political\ndisappointment of Dante, pouring itself out in bitter though brilliant\nimagery. The leopard is Florence, the lion is France, the she-wolf is\nthe Papal power of Rome. But Florence and France and Rome have passed\nout of their supremacy in the minds of men, and the Divine Comedy still\nkeeps its hold upon the affections of mankind. Some other meaning must\nlie in the poem, else we would not be studying it to-day.\n\nIs it not this? Dante is giving us an account of the soul\u2019s\nestrangement--that soul is his own soul, yet it mirrors also each soul\nwhich has wandered \u201cfrom the true path.\u201d In fact it describes the\nspiritual struggle of every soul which has felt that it was out of\nharmony with the divine order. The beasts of selfishness, of pride and\nof greed have stood in the way and obstructed the return to the path of\nlight. The great question is, How can this soul get back into the\nright path? It is the old story of Adam and the fall of man retold. It\nis the picture which every great poet holds up--man\u2019s soul in a state of\nestrangement, and the struggle to get back to \u201cthe peace of God which\npasseth all understanding.\u201d This will explain why the human heart for\nsix hundred years has read and re-read the great poem of Dante.\n\nMarvellous and significant indeed are the lessons which we can learn\nfrom it--lessons which can be applied every day to our own lives and the\nlives of those about us, who are groping blindly in \u201cthe dark wood,\u201d yet\nwho are longing to get out of their vice, or doubt, or despair. Is it\nself-indulgence? Is it inordinate ambition, or is it greed of possession\n(not always money possessions) which stands in the way? Must we pass\nthrough an inferno of suffering, and learn by experience that God\u2019s way\nis the best way, or, can we learn that the way of the transgressor is\nhard from this great drama; learn, as it were, by \u201cvicarious experience\u201d\ninstead of actual experience? Rightly understood, this is the office of\nevery great soul, to save its fellow-mortals if possible from sin and\nsuffering. Thus the Divine Comedy becomes the shield of Perseus in which\nthe terrible gorgon head of evil may be seen and comprehended without\nwithering or turning to stone the life that comes in contact with it.\n\nI know of no study more helpful to mothers than this same study of\nDante. The nature of every sin is pictured forth by its symbolic\npunishment. The sharp distinction between sins of impulse and sins of\nintent is made, and the close connection of the will power with right\nand wrong doing is clearly shown.\n\nELIZABETH HARRISON.","title":"The Vision of Dante: A story for little children and a talk to their mothers: (Second Edition)","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":4821}