When day dawned all was still in the valley, and as Alexander looked about he saw around him nothing but high rocks coming sheer down from the mountain sides, but when the sun shone into the valley, he took heart and began to ride round the sides to examine them for himself, and this he did three times, but he found no way out. Then he sat down by a great stone, on which was marked a five-pointed star, with many letters written on it, and as he did so the words of Anectanabus came into his mind, how that this star was put for a seal over spirits in prison, and he remembered the mighty words that call on the spirits of the air and the earth, and he said them, and bade the spirit under the seal answer him. Then a voice came from under the stone and answered him, and told who he was, and how he had been shut under that stone for hundreds of years to work the will of the gods; and he asked Alexander to let him go free. So Alexander knew that if he set free this spirit he would destroy the enchantment of the Valley of Terror, and he determined to let the spirit go, but first he questioned him as to the way out, and the road to the Wells of Life, and how he should know them. Then said the spirit, “O Alexander, there be three Wells of Life, nor is it easy to find them. These be their properties. The first is the Well of Life, and in it if any dead thing is put, it straightway comes to life again. The second is the Well of Youth, and in it all who bathe come again to the age of twenty-five, be they an hundred winters old. The third is the Well of Never-dying Men, and he who bathes in it shall not die of any disease or hurt of iron, yet may he suffer pain of disease and hunger, but he cannot die. Nor can this well be seen of all men, or at any day, for but once in a year can it be seen, and then no more of any man for another year. For the way out, I myself will lead you and your horse, and I will give you the stone Elmas, which shall guide you to the wells, for it shall shine and sparkle while you are in the right way, and when you are in the wrong it shall grow dull and dark. Long and dreary shall the road be, and few may go with thee to that land.”
Then Alexander drew his sword and cut away the words marked on the five-pointed star, and when they were rubbed out, he hacked away the comers of the star, and as he did so, the earth-shook, and the stone rolled over, and a young man stood by him holding a ruby in his hand, and he said, “O King, take the stone Elmas, and set it in the handle of thy sword, and come thou and thy horse with me, for the valley is open, and men shall call it no longer the Valley of Terror.” So the king came with his horse, and he passed out where the army had gone, and mounted his horse, and turned to thank his guide, and lo I he was alone. Then he rode into camp, and all men rejoiced to see him.
Now, as Alexander came into the camp of the Greeks from the valley, an old man of the country came up on the other side, and the guards brought him before the King. Then he asked him concerning the land, and who was the lord of it, and the old man said that no man ruled in it, and few lived in it. Then Alexander asked him of the Wells of Life, and the old man answered that he had seen them in his youth and had bathed in the Well of Youth. Then Alexander asked him if he would guide him to them, and the old man said he would, but that he would not bathe in them, for he wished not to live past his time. So he went with Alexander and his host as they travelled far into the land of Ind.
For many days the host travelled, till at last the old man said that they were near the land of the Wells of Life, and then Alexander bade the army to halt, and he chose out a few of his Greeks and with them he set out on his search. It had been told Alexander that in the land there were many wells, and that none could tell one from another, till they came to the right one, so that he had prepared a way to find them out. Now the first well they should come to was the Well of Life, and Alexander bade all his men take in hand a salt fish, and wash it in every well they came to, till they should see some strange thing, when they were to tell it to him. It must be said that they of the host knew not what Alexander was seeking, nor what was the reason of this washing of salt fish. So the men went from one well to another, laughing and joking, and washing their salt fish, till one of them, Andreas by name, dipped his fish into a certain well, and suddenly the fish came to life in his hand and slipped out into the well. Then he cried out with a loud voice, and all the men near came running up to him, but he could say or do nothing but point to the fish swimming about in the spring. So they fetched Alexander to the spring, and he gave orders to fill a cask with the water of it, but the old man said that the water was useless except it were drunk when it was drawn from the spring.
Then he came to the Well of Youth, and it was in a dry land where no man dwelt, for there was no river or tree near. And Alexander would fain have the old man bathe in that well, but he would not, for he said that it was good to be young once, and to be foolish once, but to be young twice would be to be always a fool, and old age was best when a man was tired of life. So the young men bathed in the spring and their hearts grew hopeful, and they rejoiced in their youth.
There remained the Well of Never-dying Men to be sought for, but the old man told them that this was not here, nor was there any way to it from that place, for they must seek it in the dark desert. On this Alexander asked him of that desert, and he said that there the land was dark day and night, the sun shone not there, and there was no track or path for men to travel by. “Yet,” said the old man “it will be easy for thee to enter into the land and to find the well, for thy stone Elmas will guide thee to it when thou art in the land.” And with these words the old man turned away, and when Alexander looked for him, behold, he was not with them. Then Alexander and his men returned to the army.
