268. After that the two angels were affected with a desire, as was I, to see some of those people who from a love of the world are caught up in a delusionary lust or fantasy that they possess all riches. And we perceived that this desire was inspired in us in order that we might learn something about them. Their abodes lay beneath the ground under our feet, but above hell. Consequently we looked at each other and said, "Let's go." Seeing then an opening with a stairway in it, we descended by it; and we were told to approach them from the east, in order not to enter into the mist of their fantasy, which would cloud our understanding and with it our vision. [2] Suddenly, then, we saw a house built of reeds, being thus full of cracks, standing in a cloud of mist, which continually poured out like smoke through the crevices in three of the walls. Going in, we saw a group of fifty people on one side and fifty on another, sitting on benches, with their backs to the east and south so that they faced toward the west and north. Each had a table in front of him, and on the table some bulging moneybags, surrounded by a quantity of gold coins. We inquired, "Is that the wealth of all the inhabitants of the world?" To which they replied, "Not of all the inhabitants of the world, but of all the inhabitants in our kingdom." Their speech had a hissing sound; and they themselves had what appeared to be roundish faces, which glistened like snail shells. The pupils of their eyes also seemed to glitter in fields of green, an effect arising from the light of their fantasy. Standing now in the midst of them, we said, "You believe, then, that you possess all the wealth in your kingdom." "Yes," they said, "we do." "Which of you does?" we asked then. "Each of us," they said. So we asked, "How can each of you possess it when there are so many of you?" They replied, "We each know that all that is his is mine, nor is anyone permitted to think, still less say, 'What is mine is not yours.' However, we may think and say, 'What is yours is mine.'" The coins on the tables looked as though they were made entirely of gold, even to us. But when we let in some light from the east, they turned out to be specks of gold which the people had magnified into coins by a united effort of their common fantasy. They said that everyone who entered had to bring with him some gold, which they would cut into bits, and the bits into specks; and by the combined force of their fantasy they would then enlarge these into grander-looking coins. [3] At that we then said, "Were you not born human beings capable of reason? What is the reason for this delusionary foolishness of yours?" "We know it is only imaginary nonsense," they said, "but because it pleases the inner longings of our minds, we come in here and entertain ourselves with thinking as though everything were ours. We do not stay here, however, more than a few hours. After that we leave, and every time we do our minds recover their sanity. Nevertheless, from time to time our delusionary pleasure overcomes us, causing us periodically to return, and periodically to leave. Thus we are sometimes wise and sometimes mad. "Besides, we know that a hard fate awaits those who craftily steal the property of others." "What fate is that?" we asked. "They are swallowed up," they said, "and thrust naked into some prison in hell, where they are made to toil for food and clothing, and afterwards for a few pennies. They accumulate these pennies and set their heart's delight in them. But if they do any mischief to their companions, they have to give them part of their pennies as a fine."