The tale tells that this beast is the most deadly of all serpents, for its venom is such that whatsoever living thing it looks on it slays, yea, the very grass is withered by its deadly breath. And no man may slay it unawares easily, for once a man slew one with a lance, and the venom of it was such that he died from it, though he came no nearer the body than a spear’s length. This the king knew and he sought not to slay it with a weapon, but he worked so that the worm should kill itself; for he caused his men to make a shield larger than a man, and on this shield he bade put a bright polished mirror, and he wrapped his feet in linen, and put off his armour, and going softly he bore the shield with its mirror before him, and set it down before the den of the basilisk, and went his way. But the basilisk raised its head as its manner was, and looked before it, and saw its face in the mirror, and the poison of its own look killed it, so it fell dead with its eyes wide open, and lay along the path. Then the knight who was on the mountain watching blew his horn, and all men heard it and rejoiced and praised the brave king who had delivered them from the basilisk.
All this while the march of the host had lain between mountains, and when men climbed to the top they saw nothing but other mountains stretching away as far as they could see, no towns, no villages, no living things, and on the day after the basilisk was slain, the road suddenly stopped among the mountains, and the host could go no further. Then Alexander the King bade them turn back to the parting of the ways, and as they passed the place where the basilisk had been he bade them burn it in asbestos cloth, and take its ashes, for the ashes of the basilisk are a precious thing, able to turn lead into pure gold, but the men found it not, though the great mirror was still there. And at the last they came to the temple at the parting of the ways, and the army lay round the temple for a day to rest, for they were sore wearied with the passage through the Eastward way. The next day at sunrise two aged men came out of the temple, and Alexander spoke with them and they told him of the ways, how that Bacchus, one of the gods, had made this road when he came into India and conquered it, and how he had caused the mountains to come together and block it up, so that no man should pass through by it after. Then Alexander asked them of the Northward way, and they told him how it led to the Trees of the Sun and Moon: and they told of the wonders of the trees, and how they spoke with men’s tongues, and told what should be in time to come, and Alexander the King rejoiced.
CHAPTER XVII. HOW ALEXANDER CAME TO THE TREES OF THE SUN AND THE MOON, AND WHAT THEY TOLD HIM.
Howbeit Alexander made no sign to them of his joy, for he seemed not to believe the old men, and he said: “Have I spread the might of my name from the East even unto the West to no end but to become a sport to old men and dotards.” Then the old men made oath by the gods that this thing was true, and they told the King how that these trees spoke both in the Greek and the Indian language; and Alexander asked them of the way to this marvel, and the men answered: “O King, whosoever thou art, no greater marvel shalt thou see than this we tell thee of. The way to it is a journey of ten days, nor can your army pass because of the narrow paths, and the want of water, but at the most four thousand men with their beasts of burden and their food.” Then all the friends of the King and his companions besought him to go and see this great thing, and he made as if he hearkened to their prayers, and consented to go with them. So he left the army with its baggage and the elephants in the hands of King Porus his friend, and set out on the Northward Way to seek the trees which spoke to men.
Now the Northward Way was like the Eastward one, a narrow road among high mountains, and little ease was there in going through it, and for three days they came to no water, but at noon on the fourth day they came to a spring which flowed out of a cave on the hillside. Then the Indians told Alexander that this cave was sacred to Bacchus, so he entered it and offered up a sacrifice to the god, and prayed him that he might return safe to Macedon, lord of the world, but he got no sign from the god that his prayer was heard. Then on the morrow he set out, and on the tenth day at even they came to the foot of a great cliff, shining in the setting sun from thousands of brilliant points like diamonds, and from chains of red gold leading from step to step up the face of the rock, high up beyond the ken of men. And as the sun shone on it the steps seemed carved from sapphires and rubies, so deep were the blue and red of their colour. Then Alexander the king set up altars to the gods of heaven, and offered sacrifices to each one of them, and he and his men lay that night at the foot of the cliff.
Early in the morning he arose, and when he had called to him his twelve tried princes, he began to ascend the steps on the side of the mountain, and as he went up it seemed to him that he was going into the clouds, and when he looked down, the path by which he had come seemed as a silver ribbon among the hills, and the men of his host seemed smaller than bees, and nothing that might happen seemed strange to him, for his joy and lightness of heart. So on and on they went and at length they came to the last of the steps, two thousand five hundred of them, and they found that on the top of the cliff was a wide plain, and in the distance they saw a fair palace set in a garden, and a noble minster shining in the sun like gold. All the plain was full of rich and noble trees bearing precious balm and spices, and many fruits grew on their branches, and the inhabitants of the plain fed on them, for there were many men on the plain, and all men and women were clothed in the skins of panthers or of tigers sewn together, and they spoke in the Indian tongue. As the Greeks drew near the palace they saw it, what a fair home it was, and how it had two broad doors to its hall, and seventy windows of diverse shape, and when they came to the doors they found them covered with beaten gold, and set with fair stones.