134. After a while my sight was opened so that I could to some extent look at the world itself. There were many meadows to be seen, and woods with leafy trees, as well as sheep with woolly fleeces. Later I saw a few of the inhabitants; they were of the lower classes, dressed in very much the same kind of costume as peasants in Europe. I also saw a gentleman with his lady; she had a fine figure and behaved becomingly. So did the man; but I was surprised to see he had a lordly, almost haughty, walk. The lady, however, walked humbly. The angels told me that this is the custom in that world, and that such men are loved because they are none the less good. I was further told that they are not allowed to have more than one wife, because this is against their laws.
The lady whom I saw had a broad garment covering her chest, behind which she could hide. It was made so that one could put one's arms into it and so put it on, and thus be lost to view. Its lower part could be tucked up; when tucked up and held close to the body it looked like the bodices worn by women in our world. But the same garment could also be worn by a man. A gentleman was seen to take one from a lady and put it round his back, and when he unfastened the lower part it fell to his feet like a gown, and he walked off wearing it like this. What I saw in that world, I saw not with my bodily eyes, but with the eyes of my spirit. A spirit is able to see things in a world, when permitted to do so by the Lord.
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