And the soldier walked round hell outside the walls, unable to get in.
He cried out to the Prince of Hell:
"Let me into hell, I beg you. I have come to you to be tormented, because I have sinned before God and before man."
"No," shouted the Prince of Hell, "I won't let you in. Go away. Go away, I tell you. Go away, anywhere you like. There's no place for you here."
The soldier was more troubled than ever.
"Well," says he, "if you won't let me in, you won't. I'll go away if you will give me two hundred sinful souls. I will take them to God, and perhaps, when he sees them, he will forgive me and let me into heaven."
"I'll throw in another fifty," says the Prince of Hell, "if only you'll get away from here."
And he told the lesser devils to count out two hundred and fifty sinful souls and to let them out quickly at one of the back doors of hell, while he held the soldier in talk, so that the soldier should not slip in while the sinful souls were going out.
It was done, and the soldier set off for heaven with two hundred and fifty sinful souls behind him, marching in column of route, as the soldier made them for the sake of order and decency.
Well, they marched on and on, and in the end they came to heaven, and stopped before the very gates of Paradise.