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.
But the doors of the palace opened and shut, and there stood before
them a negro, ten feet high, with great teeth showing over his
lips, his ears pierced and a great pearl in each, and clothed in
skins. And when he had saluted them he asked them why they had come
to that land, and they said that they wished to see the trees that
spoke, and to hear something from them. Then the negro bade them to
take three of them, and to put off their shoes, and their weapons
and ornaments, and to clothe themselves in fair white linen, and
Alexander and two of his companions did so, and the negro brought
them within the palace, leaving the rest of their companions
outside. And as they went in they marked the fair garden, and in it
were golden vines bearing on them grapes of rubies and carbuncles,
and they saw how precious a place it was, so that Paradise alone
excelled it.
Now when they were come to the inner door of the hall, the negro
bowed himself down before them, and opened the door before them,
but went not in himself, for that room was the chief of the palace,
and when they lifted up their heads they saw before them a couch
and on it was a man. Now the hangings of the couch were of golden
brocade, and its coverlet was blue, embroidered with shining ones
in bright gold, and the bedhead was embroidered with cherubim with
glancing wings, and the canopy with the bright seraphim. The
curtains were of silk and on them was a fair garden of needlework,
and in it were beasts and birds, and the pillars were of the same,
and all the points and ornaments were of pearl. The romance tells
that he who rested in that room was one of the noblest-looking men
that ever had life, with a face bright and bold as fire, his hair
was long and grey, and his beard was as white as the driven snow.
When the King and his peers saw him they knew that he must be of
the blood of the gods and not of mankind, and they knelt down on
the ground before him, and saluted him with all reverence. Then
he reached out his arms to them, and raised him on the bed, and
answered them: “Hail, Alexander,” said he, “All hail, thou who
wieldest the earth, thou and thy princes are welcome. Sir, thou
shalt see with thy sight such marvels as never before man saw; and
thou shalt hear of what shall come, things that no man hath heard
but thee.” Then was the King astonished that his name was known,
and he said, “Oh, holy happy man, how dost thou name my name, since
thou hast never seen me before?” And the god answered: “Yea, I knew
thee ere a word of thy fame had spread over the earth.” Then he
went on: “Wish ye to look upon the trees that bloom for ever, the
trees of the sun and of the moon, that can speak and tell thee of
what is to be?” And Alexander the king said, “Yes by my crown, this
would I do more than anything else in the world.” Then the god
said, “Art thou clean of body and mind, thou and thy friends; for
no man may enter the place where they are who is not pure of all
stain?” and Alexander answered that they were. So the Elder arose
from his bed, and cast on him a mantle of gold, and the ground
glittered for the glory of his weeds, and he led them to the door,
and there stood there two elders like to those Alexander had seen
at the Parting of the Ways, and he gave them into their hands,
and bade them lead them to the place where they would be. Then he
turned and departed, and Alexander and his friends Ptolemy and
Antiochus went with the elders.
As they went the elders asked them if they had any metal or rich
thing with them, and bade them cast it off, and one of the elders
stayed at the door of the minster while the other led them through
it, and after that the three Greek lords passed through a wondrous
thick wood, full of most precious trees, olives and sycamores,
cypresses and cedars, with balm and myrrh trickling down the trunk
and all manner of incense and aromatic spices. In this wood they
came upon a little round clear space, and when they looked they
saw a great tree whereon was neither fruit nor leaves, bark nor
bast, and it was one hundred feet high. And on it they saw a bird
resting on one Of its branches, and the bird was of the size of a
peacock, with a crest such as the peacock has, and its cheeks and
jaws were red like a fowl, and its breast was of golden feathers,
and its back and tail of blue speckled with crimson, and its body
of gold and red speckled with grey. Then Alexander the king stayed
and considered this bird and wondered at it, and the guide answered
his thought: “Why dost thou wait and wonder, yon is the Phœnix, the
bird that lives a hundred years, and has no mate:” and he turned
them a little way and they saw a spot where two trees grew side
by side, the trees of the Sun and the Moon. “Behold now,” quoth
the guide, “these holy trees; form in thy mind the question thou
wouldst ask of them, but say it not in words that can be heard; and
thou shalt have an answer in plain words, such as no other oracle
gives. And this shall be a sign to thee that the gods are good to
thee, since they read thy thoughts and need not words to tell them
thy question.”
The tale tells us that these trees were not like others, but their
boles and leaves shone like metal, and the tree of the sun was like
gold, and the tree of the moon was like silver, and the tree of the
sun was the male, and that of the moon the female. Then Alexander
asked his guide: “In what way will the trees answer me?” and the
Elder answered him: “Truly, O King, the Sun-tree begins to speak
in the Indian tongue, and ends in Greek; but the Moon-tree, since
it is female, speaks in a contrary manner, for it begins in Greek
and finishes in Indian, and thus in two tongues each tells us its
mission of fate.” Then he wished to offer sacrifices before the
trees to honour them as gods, but the Elder forbade him, for he
said that no living thing was to be injured in this place, and no
fire must be brought there, but that the only sacrifices offered
to the trees were kisses on the tree-boles. And when he heard this
Alexander the King knelt down on the ground and kissed the boles of
the trees one after the other, and asked within himself whether he
should return to Macedon, where his mother dwelt, having conquered
all the earth.
Now, when he had asked this question in his mind, and he and his
fellows were kneeling on the ground before the tree, suddenly it
began to move, and the leaves began to quiver, though all was still
and calm in the forest, and there was a sound of going in the
tree-tops, and a sighing as if the wind was rustling through the
leaves, and the sighing and moaning of the leaves grew louder, and
with a swaying sough this answer came to the King: “O Alexander,
unbeaten in war thou art, and shalt be lord of all the world, yet
never shalt thou see the soil of thy sires, or return to thy dear
land of Macedon; thou shalt see thy mother and thy land no more.”
When they heard these things the companions of Alexander fell down
to the ground as if dead, so great was their grief, and they heard
no more of what was said; but Alexander knelt down before the
Moon-tree to ask of it a question. Then the Elder came to him and
said: “O King, the tree of the Moon answers not till the night has
come, and the moon is full in the sky.” So the King turned to his
companions, and comforted them with his kind words and gifts, and
bade them be of good cheer.
When the night was come Alexander rose up again to go before the
Moon-tree, and to hear its oracles, and his companions told him
of the danger of being unarmed and alone by night, but Alexander
feared not, for it was not lawful to slay any one in that forest,
neither was there any man in it save the guide and themselves. And
having adored the tree and kissed it, he knelt down before it, and
thought to ask when and where should be his end. Then at the moment
when the rays of the moon made the leaves shine with splendour,
he heard a voice from the tree: “Alexander, the end of thy life
draws near; this year shall be thine, but in the ninth month of
the next thou shalt die at Babylon, deceived by him in whom you
fully trust.” Then he was filled with grief and he looked at his
friends, and he knew that they were ready to die for him if need
be, and he thought of the other companions in whom he trusted, and
that if he slew them he might save himself, and then he thought of
the endless suspicion and sorrow he would live in for the rest of
his days, and he remembered the words of the god when he told him
that it was not good for men to know the end of their days, and he
strengthened his heart and comforted his friends, and he bade them
swear never to reveal the things they had heard, and again they
returned to the minster, and found tents thereby where they might
rest, and beds of skins, and on an ivory table there was food and
drink set for them, fruit and bread, and water from the stream. So
they slept and rested.
Then in the morning the Elder woke him from sleep, and led him
before the bare tree, and bade him ask of it what he would, and
he knelt before it and kissed it, and asked in his mind, “Who is
it that shall harm my mother or sisters or myself?” Then he had
this answer from the tree: “O mighty lord, if I should tell thee
the man who should betray thee it were easy for thee to slay him
and to overcome thy fate, and the oracles would be made of none
effect. Therefore thou shalt die at Babylon, not by iron, as thou
deemest, nor by gold, silver, nor by any vile metal, but by poison.
Thy mother shall die by the vilest death, and shall lie unburied in
the common way, to be eaten by birds and dogs. Thy sisters shall
live long and happy lives. Short as thy life shall be, thou shalt
be lord of all lands. Now ask no more, but return to thy army and
to Porus thy friend.” And the Elder came up to him and said: “Let
us depart with speed, for the weeping and moaning of thy companions
have offended the holy ones of the trees,” and Alexander and his
companions departed from the forest. Then he asked the Elder who
was the god of the palace, and he told the King it was Bacchus, who
had sent him to the temple at the Parting of the Ways, and who had
welcomed him in the palace. So Alexander came to his peers, and
with them went down the golden stairway and joined the host, and
hurried on day after day until he came to the Parting of the Ways,
and there he found his army under the command of Porus his friend.
And after the army was gathered together, Alexander the King spoke
of his journey to the oracles, and how he had climbed the stairway,
and how he had been guided by the god, and had asked the trees of
his fate, and he told them that the trees had promised him that
he should conquer the world, and return to Macedon, and live a
long life, and all the army shouted with joy. But the comrades of
Alexander and his twelve peers were sad, for they knew what was
foretold, yet they said not a word of it, but shouted with the
rest. Then Porus the Indian doubted of the truth, and he questioned
the king’s companions closely, but they told him not of the oracle:
howbeit he was assured in his heart that Alexander was to die, and
he thought to seize on the empire, and he began to contrive the
king’s death; and Alexander knew of his questionings, and kept
watch over his doings.
Then orders were sent to the host to prepare for their march, for
Alexander was minded to set out and conquer the nations that had
not yet submitted to him, yet before he started, he bade men set
up two marble pillars at the temple of the Parting of the Ways,
and between them a pillar of gold, and on it was written in the
language of the land, how that Alexander the king had come to this
spot and had conquered all nations, and it said how that there was
no passage to the Eastward but to the Northward only. And when this
was done all the tents were struck and the host moved into a land
to the north, where they had not yet been; and the people of the
land brought him tribute.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]