DID HIS FIRST DEED OF ARMS.
So it was that there was at this time a certain prince in the land
of Cappadocia, and in the night as he lay sleeping a vision came to
him, and it seemed that his room was filled with a shimmering blaze
of light, and while he looked a great dragon came into the room,
and he shut his eyes for fear. Then there came a voice, saying,
“Fear not, O king, but look up, and hearken to my words,” and when
he raised his head he saw an exceeding fair man standing in the
room, and he had two horns on his head, and a golden crown like one
of the gods. Then the vision bade him convey the horse Bucephalus
to the land of Macedonia to king Philip; and tell him that he who
should tame this horse should rule the land after him. The prince
answered, “Where is this horse Bucephalus that I may take him?” and
the vision said that on the morrow the horse should be brought him.
And suddenly the room was dark, but the prince lay turning this
matter in his mind till the grey of the first dawn, and he slept.
On the morrow as he sat on his seat under the oak of judgment,
there came to him some of the country folk bringing with them a
fair white colt, and his mouth was bound with iron chains. As they
came near the king asked them whose was the foal and why they
brought him in chains; and the men answered that this colt was so
wild that no man dare go near him to mount him, and that he would
take no food since he had left his mother but the flesh of men.
Then they consulted the priest of the temple, and he bade them
carry the young horse to the king, for he would never be tamed but
by a great king’s son, nor could any other man mount him. So the
king gave them a great reward and they went their way. Now the
horse had on his forehead two bones like small horns, and the men
called him for that Bucephalus.
Now when the horse was brought to Philip the king of Macedonia he
was fain of him, for he was of noble form, and it seemed as if he
would be the best horse in the world, so he thanked the prince
greatly, and made men build a stable for the horse of iron bars,
strong and good. Therein was he put, and men doomed to death
were brought to that place and thrown to him, and he tore them to
pieces, and fed on them. And no man willingly went near the stable
in which he was.
It fell on a day when Alexander was come to youth, that he chanced
to stand at a window of the palace while this wild horse was being
led by in iron chains, and the prince wondered at the sight, for it
seemed to him that this was the noblest of horses, and he could not
tell why he was kept in chains. But when he had come down to the
courtyard the grooms had gone, so he followed them searching for
the horse’s stable, and at the last he came upon the iron house,
and looking into it he wondered at the horrible things he saw
there. Then one of the grooms came up to him and told him how the
horse fed on man’s flesh, and how that should be till he was tamed
and ridden by a great king’s son. Hearing this Alexander went up
to the bars and called the horse, and the wild animal came up to
them, and laid out his neck. Then the prince put his hand through
the bars and Bucephalus licked it, and folded his feet and fell to
the ground, looking up into Alexander’s face.
Thus was the horse tamed, and Alexander lifted up the gate-bolts
and entered the stable boldly, and stroked Bucephalus on his back
with his hand, while the horse turned his head round and watched
him fondly. Then he got a bridle and saddle, and girt him round
and loosed his chains, and leaping on his back rode him off, while
the good white horse obeyed the rein as if he had been ridden ten
years. Now, while Alexander was riding him round the courtyard,
men had run to king Philip and had told him how the prince had
gone into the cage of the fierce man-eating horse, and the king
came down to see what should hap, and found Alexander master of
the horse. Then Philip the fierce remembered the saying of the
gods, and he greeted him with words of praise, and said, “Son, of
a truth thou shalt reign in my stead when I am gone, and the land
shall wax great. Ask now a gift of me, and I will give it.” “Then,”
said Alexander, “make me a knight, and a chief with men-at-arms to
follow me.”
Great was the joy of Philip that his son’s first wish was to be a
leader of men in war, and that he had done this great thing, so
he granted it with good will. “I give thee, O son,” said he, “one
hundred of my best horses, and sixty thousand gold pieces from my
coffers, and the best of my chieftains and proved princes to be thy
men, and free of my house shalt thou be, to abide there in peace,
or to go from it to seek adventure in war. Thou hast done a man’s
deed, and man shalt thou be called.” Then the prince gave him lowly
thanks, and sped off to gather together a little band of twelve
chieftains, picked and proved leaders of men, whom he had chosen to
lead his men, and when this was done each got together tried men
to follow them till the number of the band was made up.
Now when Alexander had got together his band, he made ready to go
out in search of his first adventure, and in few days he rode out
into the world in knightly array into a land unknown, nor did he
stay until he came into the land of Peloponnesus. Now the king of
this land was called Nicholas, and when tidings were brought him
that a band of strange knights had come into his land, he ordered
that a host should be gathered together, and he with a few knights
rode out far before his following, and came to the men of Alexander
and began to question them in his wrath and anger, “Oh, ye knights,
who is your leader, and why come you here in my land?” Then the
courteous knight Alexander came to the front: “Sir knight,” said
he, “Philip the fierce, king of Macedon, is my father, and I am his
heir Alexander.” And the king stood up in his stirrups, and sternly
looking at him, said, “Whom think you that I am?” “Sir,” said
Alexander, “you are as now king of this folk, nor do I grudge your
honour, but beware of pride, for wise men tell that the highest
thing falls soonest, and that which is least of all is ofttimes
brought to the stars.”
“True is thy word,” said the king, “and soon shalt thou prove its
truth it may be; look well to thyself lest thy speech come home to
thee.”
Then Alexander burst into rage, and with bitter words ordered him
to return to his following if he wished safety, and Nicholas the
king, flaming with bitter wasp-like anger, took up a handful of mud
and threw it in the face of Alexander, and swore by the heart of
his father that he would put him to death with his own hands if he
fled not. But the noble Alexander controlled his rage at the foul
insult, and keeping his face by a mighty effort, though his hands
were gripping each other through, said, “As thou hast wronged me
causelessly, Nicholas, I swear by my father and by my god that thou
shalt see me ere long for this cause, and that I shall take thy
land from thee, or thou my life from me.” So a day was set for them
to meet in fight, and they parted on either side.
Now were men on both parts getting them ready for the fight.
Alexander hurried home into Macedon and assembled a mighty host of
knights and archers, men proved and skilled in arms. And when the
host was assembled, with his princes and captains, he sought the
presence of Philip and took his leave, and mounting Bucephalus his
brave white horse, he led, first of all, his army out of the broad
gates of the town. So on the appointed day the field is covered
with the array of either host, and now men lift up the banners
and shake them out to the wind, and the clarions sound out till
the whole field rings with the music, and the woods and the hills
answer them again. Then each noble prepares for battle, his helm
on his head he strides to his horse, and jumps on his steel-clad
saddle, he hangs round his throat his bright shimmering shield, and
handles his lance. Then is the stamping of steeds, the stripping
of banners, the clouds of dust rise in the air, and suddenly the
crowds meet with a shock in the middle of the plain. Now the steeds
rear up against each other, and the spears break through the
blazoned shields and through the helmet bars, while the cypress
lance shafts splinter into fragments, and down fall knights and
dukes from their steeds.
Well and nobly did the young Alexander fight his first battle. Sir
Nicholas took him a spear, and rushed on the young knight to get
him a name, and to keep his oath that he had sworn. Then Alexander
took another lance from his squire, for the first one was strained
in the fight by this time and might betray him, and they met one
another in the field, and men stayed to see this fight. So sore
were their strokes that the long lances split, even from point
to handgrip, so that there was not an ell long piece in either
man’s hand. Then each threw the fragment away, and out flashed
their swords from the sheaths, and they hacked and hewed at each
other through mail-coat and helmet. But mail and helm were good
and gave not way, till Alexander grew mad with rage, and with one
full stroke he struck off the head of King Nicholas clear through
the neck and helm, and he fell down to the earth. So it was that
Alexander got him great worship by this victory, for all the men
of that country and their lords came to him, and falling on their
knees put them in his mercy, and acknowledged him as ruler of the
land. Thus he defeated his enemy, and revenged the insult of King
Nicholas, and returned home with fame and good to his father.
The tale tells that as he entered Macedon he found the town at
feast, and his father at his high table; but another woman sat in
the seat of the queen, for Philip had put away Olympias, as the
seers had told her years before. So Alexander bowed him down meekly
in seeming, and said, “Father, I pray thee receive the fruits of my
first victory ere I go hence to the wedding.” “And whose wedding
dost thou go to?” said the king. “To my mother’s,” said he, “for I
will marry her to some noble king, and I will make him the greatest
king on earth, for it likes me not to stay here while she is in
disgrace, and I know not for what.” Then Philip grew white with
wrath, but one Lysias, a knight at the table, said, “O king, heed
not his talk, for this fair queen shall bring thee a son greater
than him.” Turning to him, Alexander with his truncheon struck him
a blow so that he fell dead to the ground, and men said that in
truth he had deserved it; but Philip started up at the deed, and
snatching a blade rushed on Alexander, aiming a fierce blow at
him, for the gods had blinded his eyes so that he knew not wisdom
from folly, or right-doing from wrong. But as he came on, his
feet failed him, and ere he reached Alexander the king staggered,
stumbled, and fell to the ground, though no man saw cause for it.
Then Alexander laughed out loud, and said, “Does the Governor of
Greece fear one youth? What ails thee to fall?” and he struck over
the tables of the feast, and dragging the bride out of the hall
by her hair he brought her to his mother, for his heart was full
of wrath at the wrong done to her, while Philip was carried away
stricken with sore sickness. Thus was his mother avenged, and the
marriage feast disturbed.
But when Alexander’s wrath cooled it came into his heart to make
peace between Philip and his mother, and rising up he went to the
bed of Philip, and there he spoke words as a friend might speak,
and the gods put in the king’s heart to forgive the death of
Lysias, and to reconcile him to his wife; and so the king rose up,
and leaning on Alexander’s shoulder, went with him to Olympias, and
there he took her in his arms and kissed her, and forgave all her
faults, and she was made queen again, and reigned in Macedon to her
life’s end.
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