Secundur (Alexander the Great) of curly locks like horns and fiery eyes,
for such is the translation of Zulf-kur-nain, came to India, you know, a
great many years ago.
He came to conquer, but his principal reason for leaving his country was
in order that he might drink of the Ab-Hyātt, or Water of Life, which he
had been told was to be found in the hills of India.
For a very long time he wandered about in Northern India, but could not
discover any tidings about this Water of Life, till one day after
conquering a special tribe of people, he demanded of them where the
spring could be found.
They replied that they had heard about it as somewhere in the hills
above where they resided, but that they had never been there, and they
added that no one could get there, for that the spring could only be
approached through a number of winding passages in the jungle, and there
was the fear of never getting back, if even you could succeed in
reaching it.
Secundur said to them, “Well then, cannot you tell me what I can do, for
I have come all this way to drink of this water?” They replied they
could only suggest to him that if he could procure a mare that had
recently foaled, and could picket the foal at the entrance to the
winding paths, he might ride the mare to the spring, and that she would
be sure, from the love for her foal, to bring him safely back to the
entrance.
This plan Secundur adopted, and eventually reached the spring from
whence was bubbling up the Water of Life. He stooped down, and had taken
up some of the water in his two hands joining them together like a cup,
and was about to raise the water to his lips, when he heard a noise like
_kurr! kurr!_ several times repeated, and looking up he saw a large
Raven perched on a rock and shaking its head and crying out in a human
voice, “Don’t drink! Don’t drink! Look at my piteous plight! See what a
state I have come to by drinking this water; only a mass of skin and
bone and not a feather left, and so I have been for many years, and
shall never die!”
Upon hearing this Secundur threw back the water into the spring and
cried out, “Ya! Nuseeb! Ya! Nuseeb! Oh, my fate! and so I am not to
drink the Water of Life after all my efforts to do so. What shall I do?
and I _must_ believe this Raven, the bird of fate and omen.”
Secundur then remounted the mare and retraced his steps, and as the
villagers said, true enough she had no difficulty in wandering in and
out amongst the paths till she came again to her foal.
He then returned to his camp, very sorrowful, and in order to relieve
his mind he used to take long walks alone, and always dressed in the
plainest garb.
[Illustration: SECUNDUR ZULF-KUR-NAIN.]
He had gone a long distance from the camp when one day he met some
villagers, and found out from them that there were two wonderful “Trees”
near their village which had the magic power to answer questions put to
them, and that their replies were always quite correct. They said, “But
we must get old men to go with you, for they do not understand young
men, nor do young men understand them,”
This they did, and when Secundur was approaching the “Trees” there was a
voice heard, “Here comes Secundur! the great king Secundur!” Whereupon
the villagers fell down at his feet to ask his pardon, for they had
thought him all along as a common traveller.
Secundur at once allayed their fears and said, “Never mind! put to the
‘Trees’ the questions I ask you.” And he said, “Ask how long I have to
live.” And the reply came, “Seven years!” “Ask again, How long it will
take me to return to my country.” And the reply came again, “Seven
years!” “Oh sorrow upon sorrow!” said Secundur: “It was not my “Kismut”
(fate) to drink the Water of Life, and now it is not my “Kismut” to see
again my mother, for I am sure to be delayed on my way back to my native
land.”
Upon return to his camp he ordered that it should be moved the next day,
and march in the direction of his own country. He had not made many
marches when he came to a town, and the people came out to meet him,
asking him to deliver them out of the hands of “Freebooters” who were
continually raiding upon them.
Secundur remained with them for some time, and taught them how to build
a wall round the town, but all this delayed him on his way back, as he
thought it would.
Being still very sorrowful, he sent one day for two or three of his
Ministers and said to them, “My home is yet a long way off, and who can
tell whether I shall live to return to it? so I am going to give you a
command, and you are to write down what I say; and should I die suddenly
the letter which you shall write at my dictation, and which I will sign,
and which you will keep, shall be at my death sent to my mother and
delivered into her hands. Now write as follows:
“From your son Secundur:
“I am near dying, and have had this letter written to you and have
signed it myself. It is the custom of this country that when a person
dies in a family, cooked bread is always given away in charity to the
poor, for it is supposed to do good to the deceased. Now, I am going to
ask you when you hear of my death, only to give cooked bread in charity
to those who have never lost a relation. Again, should you ever come to
the place of my burial and call out, ‘Secundur, Zulf-kur-Nain,’ I will
reply to you from my grave.”
Now the first request was so designed because Alexander knew that his
mother could not find a family that had not to mourn some loss or other;
and she would thus come to see that she was not alone in her grief, and
that all human beings were afflicted with the death of relatives.
As the tale goes, said the narrator, Secundur did die, and was buried,
and the letter was sent to his mother.
Just prior to his death, however, he called before him all his Ministers
and said, “When you are carrying my corpse to the grave let all my
troops of every arm of the force follow me, and outside of my shroud let
one of my hands be placed with the palm uppermost.”
Of course in those days Ministers never said “No” to the commands of the
King, so they all exclaimed, “Your commands, Sire, shall be obeyed!”
When they had come out from the Presence, however, they said one to
another, “That is a singular command of the King! Whoever heard of
troops following a dead General? We must really again go and enquire if
these are his precise instructions.” But they feared to go all together,
so deputed the favourite Minister to go into the Presence, who made his
salaam, and repeating the King’s commands, asked if these were to be
carried out.
“Send for them again,” said the King, “Send for all these ignorant
Ministers!” When they came he taxed them with their want of sense and
said, “Do you not see that by ordering all my troops to follow me to the
grave I wanted to show to you and to all the world that ‘Secundur’
though he conquered with such troops, they could not save him from
death; and by placing my hand out of the shroud, that you and all else
might know that empty were my hands when I came into the world, and
empty are they when I go out of it.” “Oh King!” said they all, “now we
truly comprehend the meaning.”
This all happened just before he died, and everything was done as the
King commanded; and the letter was given into the hands of a Minister to
convey to the mother, as I told you.
Upon receiving the letter the mother, though borne down with her great
sorrow, did not long delay before she set out to visit the grave of her
son. Now there were many graves and many tombs in the graveyard, and she
wandered up and down for a long time, calling out, “Secundur! Oh my
Secundur! my beloved Secundur!” but no reply came from any of the tombs.
Then the thought crossed her mind that the letter had said that she was
to call out, “Secundur Zulf-kur-Nain.” So this she did, and was at once
replied to by her son who said, “Did I not tell you to call out”
Secundur Zulf-kur-Nain’ for there are many Secundurs here?” “Yes, alas!”
she replied, and the voice then ceased to speak, and though she waited
it never spoke again.
Now the design of Secundur by this, was also to give his mother another
reason for pacifying her grief in knowing that there were many
“Secundurs” who had died and had been buried, and that she was not the
only mother in the world who had lost a Secundur.
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