The Story of Alexander

by Robert Steele

Few days after Alexander and his army entered into a plain full of fair flowers and trees. Now the trees of this land were fruitful and bore all manner of food for man, and amongst them were apples and almonds, vines and pomegranates, and plums and damsons; and it was in this land that the Greeks first ate of damsons, for they did eat of them three days while they were in the forest. But as they went through the wood, they came upon giants twice as high as other men, clad in coats of skin, and covered with long hair. So the Greeks and the Indians were sore afraid lest these giants should fall upon them and slay them, while the giants called one to another, and came together through the trees to gaze on them, for they had never seen men before. When the Greeks saw that these giants were calling to one another and coming together, they drew up in line of battle, and the knights clad in armour mounted their battle horses, and the archers and spearmen prepared their weapons for the onset: for the Greeks had never heard of giants who did no harm to men. But these giants were great stupid oafs who stood gazing with open mouths at Alexander and his men preparing to slay them, and their food was grapes and pomegranates. And when the army was drawn up in line, and all men were ready, Alexander gave the word and they raised a loud shout so that the woods rang again, and the giants turned and fled, for they had never heard sound of man or of trumpet. Then the knights followed them and slew some six hundred of them in the field and in the chase, so that none of them were left in the land round about.

The tale tells that Alexander passed on with his army, still seeking the wonders of the land and finding no man in this part of it, till he came to another river where he halted for many days. And there came men of the land to him, and Alexander asked them of the wonders of the land, so they told him of certain trees near by which grew with the sun, and when it was high they were great, and as the sun fell below the earth so the trees grew smaller and sank down into the soil. But when the king would set out to see this marvel, they told him that no man could go near it for there was a wild man who guarded the wood and suffered no one to pass. Then Alexander sought counsel of his wise men, and they bade him take a fair white maiden such as the wild man had never seen and hold her before him, and so they did, and the wild man became quiet and still at the sight of her, so the Greeks crept up to him and bound him in great chains, and brought him before the King’s tent: now this wild man was covered with hair stout and strong, and his arms were great, and his strength was as that of ten men. And when the King had gazed on him they bound him to a tree, and slew him, and burnt him to ashes, for he had slain much folk of that country.

Next day the King and his company came to the place of the trees, and they wondered at the sight, how they grew as the day grew, and the height of them was a spear’s length, and on them were fruits like to apples, and men called them the trees of the sun. Now the tent of the King was over against the place where the trees grew, and in the hot sunlight he felt thirst, so he bade one of his carles fetch him an apple, and the man sprang forth to do his bidding, but when he laid his hand on the fruit he fell to the ground as if he was slain. There were birds on those trees among the branches and some men wished to put their hands on them, for they did not fly away from them, but as they did so, flames of fire came out from the trees; and the men of the country told them that no man could touch these trees and live. Then Alexander asked them of the Land of Darkness, for the stone Elmas shone brightly, and he knew that he was drawing near that land: but they said that no man went to that land, for the way was through a desert that none could cross.

Then Alexander chose him out of all his army three hundred young men, able to endure hardship, and they made them ready to go with him to the Land of Darkness, while the army was left in the hand of King Porus; and he gave orders that the young men should carry with them stores of food and water to pass through the desert to the land they sought. Now there was a certain old man in the army named Bushi, who had two sons chosen to go with the King, and he bade them to take him with them to the Land of Darkness, but they said to him that the King had straightly commanded that no old man should go with them. Then said the old man, “O Sons, make strong a box, and put me inside it, and set the box on a mule and carry it with the baggage, and it shall be for your good, for a party without old men to advise can come to no good.” So his sons did as he bade them, and closed him in a box, and set him on a mule’s back, and carried him with them to the land. And as Alexander went on his way they met men of the land, journeying in the desert, and these told them of the Well of Life, and how a man had drunk of that well, but he could not find his way out of the Land of Darkness, and ever he wandered to and fro, up and down, till at last he gave up the search, and dwelt in a tower alone, and as the years rolled on he grew smaller and smaller, and more and more cruel, and when men came into that land, he slew them and fed on their flesh.

Now when Alexander drew near the Land he came to a desert land, where was neither well nor living thing, and they hastened through it for five days, but on the morrow of the sixth day the sun rose not, and there was no light of day: and so the king knew that he had come on the Land of Darkness, but the tales that he had heard came to his mind, and he feared, for he had no mind to wander through that land without a guide. Then he went back with his men for half a day’s journey, and lo! the light of the evening, so he camped in that place and waited for morning light. On the morrow he took counsel with his men, as to the way of return, and he offered great reward to any man who should show the way of a safe journey back, but his young men said, “O King, it is ours to go where thou dost order us, and what thou biddest, that will we do:” and he found no counsel in them. Then the two sons told their father how the King had stopped and asked for counsel, and Bushi bade them bring him before Alexander, and when they feared he bade them be bold, for he had good counsel to give.

The tale tells that the King was sitting sorrowful in his tent that day, for he dared not enter the Land without some means of safe return, and he was unwilling to go back to the army without having reached his object; and when the guards entered and told that an old man sought speech of him, he thought that one of the gods must have come to his help. So he made him to sit in his own seat, for the man was very old and feeble, and asked him what he would. Then Bushi answered and said, “O King, hear the words of an old man; there is no love like the love of a mother for her young. Now thou hast here with thee, many asses with their foals. This is my word to thee. Leave here on the borders of the Land, half thy men with their baggage trains, and leave with them the young foals, and go thou with their mothers and the rest of thy men into the Land, and do thy heart’s desire: then when thou wilt return from this Land, loosen the mothers and leave them free, and take them for thy guides, and they will lead thee back to the place where their young ones be.”

Then Alexander the King praised him greatly, and gave rich reward to the young men, his sons, and he offered to take the old man to the Well of Life, but he would not, for he said, “How should I desire to live for ever, being such a man as I am, for the bitterness of death is past to me.” Then he gave counsel to the King that no man should bathe in any well in the land, till he had seen it, for if he did the well would disappear for a year. So Alexander did as the old man Bushi advised him, for he divided his men into two bands, and one he left on the borders of the Land of Darkness, with their baggage and with the young foals, and one he took with him, and the men he took with him he straightly charged to come to him when they found the well, and on no account to bathe in it. So he entered the Land, and the stone Elmas shone with a light like a star, and guided them on the road for three days. But on the fourth day it grew duller, and Alexander knew that he had passed the place of the Well of Life; and he ordered his men to search for the well in all directions, but not to go out of sound of the trumpets which rang out every hour, and to come into the camp when it sounded. Seven times did the trumpet sound, and the scouts came in, but on the seventh time, one of them, Philotus by name, came in with his hair wet, and Alexander knew that he had disobeyed the word of the king, and had bathed in the well. Then said he to him, “O Philotus, canst thou lead me to the well thou hast bathed in,” and the man answered, “Yea, Lord;” and they set out together, but no well could be found. Then the wrath of the King burst out, for he knew that he should see the Well no more for a year if he remained in that place, and that all the labour of his expedition was spent for nought but to make this Indian immortal, and he bade men bring great stones, and build them in a pillar round the Indian and close it at the top, and they did so, and he was left alive inside the pillar, for indeed the Greeks could not slay him. This done, Alexander put the reins on the necks of his asses, and they turned and led the way to their young, and in three days he was out of the Land of Darkness and on his way to the army.

In few days the King set out again with his host and went on his way towards the mountain lands, and ever the way led upward till after eleven days’ journey they came to a great plain among the mountains, covered with trees and plants, and well watered by noble rivers. The fruits were of the finest savour, and the water was sweeter than milk or mead, and clearer than crystal. So they went on through the land for many days, but they found no man in it, and no houses or temples of the gods; until they came to a high mountain which seemed to reach even to the clouds, and no way was there of crossing it, it was so steep and rugged. But when they came up to this range they found two passes which led through the range, and where they met was a great temple, and the one path led to the East, the way of the sun-rising, and the other to the North. Now there was no man to tell them where these paths led, or what was to be met in them. Then Alexander thought within himself that he would go to the East, for the Gods had predicted that in the East he should learn when and where was the end of his days, and the army of the King went through the pass for seven days.

But on the eighth day, a sudden death fell on many of the men in the host, for when they came to a certain spot or place among the mountains, ever one or another noble knight would fall down suddenly and lie dead on the road, nor did all men who passed the place die, but some only. Then fear came upon all men, and those who had passed the place dared not move either forward or backward, and those who had not passed it would not go forward, nor indeed did the King command them, for all men said, “The wrath of the gods is upon us for coming into this land.” So Alexander sought to find the reason for this death, and he went with one of his knights up the mountains at the side of the pass, till he came to a place whence he could see the whole of the pass and the mountains behind it, and looking down into the valley he saw in one of the clefts of the hills a loathly serpent, old and wrinkled, his thin long neck and great head lying on the ground before it. And while the King looked down, the ungainly worm slowly raised its heavy head and looked down on the valley, and let it fall again, and a cry of grief from his men told him that two more of his knights had fallen dead on the pass, and Alexander knew that his eyes saw the Basilisk.