- Christian comes to a great hill with a spring at the bottom. There, he sees three roads: one that goes to the right, one to the left, and one, "the narrow way which lay right up the hill" (P197). Guess which one is the correct one?
- Bingo. The narrator tells us that this path is called Difficulty. Christian drinks from the spring and then begins up the narrow path, singing how he knows this is the right way.
- The narrator tells how he sees Formalist and Hypocrisy also come to the foot of the hill, but decide to take the two other paths that look easier. One of these paths leads to a great forest called Danger and the other to a dark, mountainous place where the man falls and dies. So much for shortcuts!
- Christian comes to resting place on his way up the hill and, unfortunately, falls asleep while admiring the clothes that the Shining Ones gave him at the cross. While he is asleep, the scroll they also gave him to read falls out of his hands and, when he wakes up to keep moving, it's left at the resting place behind him. Oops.
- On his way up, Christian meets Timorous and Mistrust, who are running down. Afraid of even more difficulty, not to mention a pair of lions they saw ahead, they have decided to abandon the journey and go home.
- Christian is startled by what they say and, reaching for his scroll for comfort and guidance, finds that it is gone.
- The narrator lengthily describes Christian's distress at losing the scroll—how ashamed he is for falling asleep and how much time it is causing him to lose. Finally, he returns to the resting place and finds the scroll again. Delighted and repentant, Christian then remembers the lions that Timorous and Mistrust had mentioned and grows afraid since it is dark and lions hunt at nighttime.