Then he begged our Lord to let him turn back.
“Not yet,” said our Lord, “for I want to show you something which will give you courage to meet all sorrows.”
For this they had gone on through mist and cold until they had reached an interminably high wall, which prevented them from going farther.
“This wall extends all around the mountain,” said our Lord, “and you can’t step over it at any point. Nor can any living creature see anything of that which lies behind it, for it is here that Paradise begins; and all the way up to the mountain’s summit live the blessed dead.”
But Saint Peter couldn’t help looking doubtful. “In there is neither darkness nor cold,” said our Lord, “but there it is always summer, with the bright light of suns and stars.”
But Saint Peter was not able to persuade himself to believe this.
Then our Lord took the little bird which He had just found on the ice, and, bending backwards, threw it over the wall, so that it fell down into Paradise.
And immediately thereafter Saint Peter heard a loud, joyous trill, and recognized a bullfinch’s song, and was greatly astonished.
He turned toward our Lord and said: “Let us return to the earth and suffer all that must be suffered, for now I see that you speak the truth, and that there is a place where Life overcomes death.”
And they descended from the mountain and began their wanderings again.