Die Pforten des Paradieses

A hallucinatory story of the Children's Crusade under whose banner a great procession of boys and girls set off for the Holy Land to liberate it from the Infidel. As they go, they confess their "sins" to an elderly cleric who marches with them, and as they recount their sorrowful lives he gradually comprehends why each of them has joined the crusade. The one thing their reasons have in common is that they all arise from love - not, as one might expect, the spiritual love that a crusade should inspire, but human, physical love. The lives of these touching, defenceless, passionate children are depicted with savage clarity. Innocent and depraved alike are cut off from all guidance and protection, except that of the appalled priest; and the result of the only guidance he can offer is described in the final pages with dreadful force.