WENT UP INTO THE AIR, AND DOWN INTO THE SEA.
Candoyl and Alexander rode from the city out into the open country,
and all day passed through it, till as the sun went down they came
near the hills, and they found there a cave, great beyond measure,
hidden between two hills, and there they harboured all night. And
when evening was come Candoyl spoke to Alexander and said, “Sir,
in this cave men say that the gods appear, and tell men what shall
come to pass.” Then was Alexander rejoiced and gave thanks to the
gods, and went in to the darkest part of the cave, but Candoyl
abode at the mouth. And as Alexander drew near he saw a great cloud
and from it a light glimmering like stars, and as he gazed him
thought he saw in the midst of it a throne, and on it was a great
grisly god whose eyes shone out fierce like lanterns. Then was
Alexander sore dismayed, and fell to the ground. “Hail, Alexander!”
quoth that high god. “Sire, what is thy name, and now shall I call
thee?” said the king. “Thinthisus is my name, and all the world is
under my hand. Yet hast thou built a city in thy name, and thou
hast set me there no temple.” “Sire, if I return to Macedon, I will
build thee a temple as master of the gods: none shall be like it in
any land.” “Nay, nay, long not thereafter; thou shalt never look
on that land. Go further, and behold.” Then the king looked and he
saw another cloud not far off, so he went thither, and lo! another
grim god seated before him. Kneeling on the earth he asked, “Who
art thou, Lord?” and the god answered him, “I am Serapis, the god
of thy father, the father of gods.” Then said Alexander, “Tell me,
I pray thee, the name of the man that shall slay me:” but the god
answered him, “O king, in time past I told thee that should any man
know the cause of his death beforehand, he would suffer greatly;
be of good heart, thou hast conquered many nations, thou shalt yet
do great deeds; thou hast built a mighty city which shall endure
for ever; many men shall resort there, and many races of kings
shall rule it; thou shalt die and be buried in a noble city far
from thine own land.” Alexander bowed himself down before the god
and returned to the mouth of the cave, and found Candoyl waiting
for him in the morning dawn, and the plain lay before him covered
with his armies, and he bade farewell to the son of Candace, each
departing to his own.
It fell as Alexander rode on towards his camp that he began to
doubt in his mind that something was wrong, for all things looked
to be untended, and no guards were set round the army, and as he
drew nearer he heard shouts and cries, so he spurred up his steed
and rode into the camp, and no man stopped him, for all were drawn
to one place. But when he had come thither he found that the
Greeks were drawn up in array, and that the Indians and Persians
were running hither and thither, shouting and crying; so that
every now and then a band of them would turn against the Greeks
and make as if to force their way among them, and when they were
driven back they would again begin to cry and shout. So the Lord
of Macedon rode up among them, and no man of the Indians knew him,
for his helmet was closed, and he came to his own men and they
knew him, and shouted for joy and opened a way for him. Then he
sent for Ptolemy, and when he was come he asked him what was the
cause of this trouble and why the Indians were so sore afraid. But
it is to be said that at the sound of Alexander’s voice all men
had returned to their tents and the guard had gone out round the
camp. Then Ptolemy told the king how that men had come to the camp
three days agone telling of a new and strange folk coming from the
north, frightful beyond bearing, and how they destroyed all things
they came across and spared nothing that was good, but what they
consumed not they wasted, and whom they kept not for slaves they
killed in their wanton sport. And they were short, shorter than
any men, and no man might look on them without fear. So these men
had fled from before them, and they had come to King Alexander to
preserve them from their enemies, and Ptolemy charged them to tell
their tale to no man. But when they had been in the camp two days
and had not seen the Lord of Macedon, their fear broke out again,
and they told their tale to whoever would hear them, and the story
spread, and a saying arose among the Indians that this foe was
right at hand, and they clamoured for Alexander to come out and
lead them, and they threatened to tear the camp to pieces if he
came not.
Then were these ambassadors of fear brought before Alexander, and
he questioned them of this people and of its coming, and they told
him how that they were scarce ten days’ journey from them, and that
they were settled in that land and had sown a crop, for it was ever
their custom to come into a land at sowing time and to make the
men of that land their slaves, so that they reaped the harvest
for them, and then to slay them or drive them out to starve. And
the ambassadors told how this race of dwarfs raged horribly at the
name of Alexander, and said they had come to destroy him and the
Greeks from the face of the earth, and they told last how these men
were enemies of the Gods themselves above all things, so that evil
was their good and good their evil. Then Alexander asked which of
them had seen this folk, but no man had seen them, save one who had
been far off them. So he sent for the clerk who had told him of the
double-dealing of Porus and straitly questioned him, and he told
the king how these folk were scarce two cubits high, but stronger
than mortal men. “For in winter they wear no clothing, but they are
covered with hair from their waist downward; their mouths are huge
and set with fangs like a wild boar, their hands are like lion’s
claws, no man may look on their eyes when they are set on him, and
their ears are so great that in sleep they serve as coverlets. Two
princes have they, whose names are Gog and Magog.” Moreover the
clerk said mayhap the saying of the ambassadors was true, that they
would wait where they were till next spring time, yet mayhap they
might move before winter came on. Then Alexander decided that he
would attack these dwarfs in the land where they were and drive
them back to their own land.
The tale tells that the march of the army lay through a strange
land and many wonders there befell them, for they passed through
the valley of serpents and fought the griffins; they came to the
shores of the sea and saw there wondrous beasts, and many things
of which it were long to speak. On the third day of their march
they came into a dark valley smelling sweetly of all spices, there
cloves and ginger, and the pepper plant grew. But among these
shrubs were many serpents and adders, who lived on the plants and
had none other food, and these snakes had on their heads an emerald
crown, as it were of goldsmith’s beaten work. Now the people of
that land, when they wish to gather the pepper, set fire to this
wood, and the flame drives away the snakes, but blackens and rivels
the pepper. In the hills of this place were many precious stones
called smaragds, and Alexander set his heart on gathering them,
and sent men to climb the hills, but when they came near the place
where the stones were, beasts came out and fell on them, in shape
like lions but with cleft claws a yard across, and among them
were griffins, with birds’ wings and beak and claws but otherwise
like to a lion, and each of them so strong that it might bear
away a knight full armed on his horse. Then came up Alexander and
encouraged his dukes, and bade them shoot with a will, and the
archers and arbalasters shot altogether, and the knights struck
down and killed many of the beasts with their lances and their
battle-axes, but the griffins tore the knights from their saddles
and with their tails blinded them so that they could not see where
to strike, and at last the Greeks were driven down, and over two
hundred of those who wore golden spurs were slain in that fierce
fight. Yet were a few of the griffins beaten down, and four of them
were bound in strong chains and borne away by Alexander.
On the morrow after the host had come clear away from these hills,
it came to a great and mighty river running straight down to the
shores of ocean, and its banks were covered with huge reeds,
longer than the highest tree, and so heavy that twenty men could
scarce lift them. Of these reeds Alexander bade them make barges
and ferry over his host, for the river was twenty furlongs broad,
and two days were spent in the crossing over of the army. And
when Alexander and his men were on the further side of the river
the people of the land came to him, and they were a simple folk,
clothed in the skins of great fish and of beasts. Nor were they
inhospitable, for they brought sponges, white and purple, mussels
so great that six men might make a meal of one, eels from the river
thicker than a man’s leg, and lampreys weighing twenty pounds
each. Then Alexander thanked them for their gifts, and gave them
great rewards, and asked them of their land and its wonders, and
they told him of the sirens who lived in that river, women with
long hair for clothing who lived in the water like fishes. Yet
when these creatures saw any man they drew him into the water,
if he knew not their craft, and kept him there till he died, and
sometimes they bound him to the great reeds and forced him to make
sport for them till at the last they killed him, for they had
neither love nor hate nor any care or thought, naught of mankind
save its outward semblance. Then Alexander bade his men to search
for these beasts and offered great rewards, and at the last two
of them were taken and brought before him, and they were white as
snow, their hair came down to their feet round their body, and they
were taller than men have custom to be, yet they could not live
without water, and in few hours’ time both were dead.
And Alexander the king spoke with their wise men of the combat with
the dwarfs from the desert of the north, since the men of that
land were exceeding wise, and they told him of the way by which
he could fall on them at unawares; and when they knew that he had
with him in the host the griffins they rejoiced and told him of a
marvellous thing. Then the Lord of Macedon caused his smiths to
make him a chair of black iron, and on the top of it at each corner
was a large smaragd stone, and they brought the chair to the top
of an exceeding high mountain in that land, and when they had come
thither they bound the griffins to each corner of the chair at the
bottom with great and very strong chains, for Alexander was minded
to be carried up into the air by the griffins that he might see
all lands. So when he was set in his chair and covered round with
great bars of iron, he bade them uncover the eyes of the griffins,
and they saw the smaragd stones fixed high above them and all at
once they flew up towards the stones, for the sight of that stone
is meat and drink to these animals, and they hunger to gather it
together and to bear it off to their dens, neither care they for
any hurt they receive in the getting of it. So they flew and soon
Alexander was borne out of sight of men, high above the clouds, and
he saw the earth below him like a basin, and the lands, and the
way to the dwarfs, the men of Gog and Magog, and still they flew
higher and the earth grew small like a mill-stone and the ocean and
the rivers seemed like a writhing adder, and then the gods struck
the griffins with fear, and they shut their eyes and stretched out
their wings, and sunk lower and lower till they lay at the last on
the ground in a green field in a strange land, and Alexander looked
round and saw far on the towers of Jerusalem. But the griffins
arose, and flew away till they came to their nest in the mountains,
and when they came thither the Lord of Macedon left his seat and
made his way through the hills till he came to the river, when he
crossed it and came to his army again.
Then marched the host on its way and at the last it came near the
country of the ambassadors where the abominable dwarfs were, and
when they came there the ambassadors went forward to bring the news
of the coming of the Greeks. It chanced that the third day after
the coming of the ambassadors was a feast of the dwarf-folk, and
all the men of that country kept the news of the coming of the
Greeks from them so that they met in all their number in one place.
It was of custom among them that every feast some one should be
slain in torment that the chief men of the dwarf-folk might give a
presage of what should befall the folk, and that feast one of them
was to be slain for he had given food to a man that was starving
in a prison cell. So the ambassadors returned and told Alexander
what was to be done; and he deemed it well to fall on them when
they were all in one place. And this he did, and the fight was long
and sore between him and the dwarfs, for the dwarfs were so small
that they escaped the lance point, and they ran under the horses
and houghed them, and their skins were so tough that the arrows
glanced off them, if they did not hit straight, and the sword edges
slipped, but the claws of the dwarfs and their teeth and their
arrows availed them little against the armour of the Macedonians.
In the night after the battle of the first day the guards cried
out for that lights were moving on the field of battle, and soon
three dwarfs came near holding in their hands peeled white wands;
and when the guards saw them they brought them to the tent of
Alexander. Then the eldest of them said, “O leader of the Greeks
from Macedon, truly ye be braver than the Persians or the men of
India, give us now an ounce of gold and a sword for each man and
we will return whence we came.” Then Alexander said, “O leader of
the dwarfs, haters of God and men, meseems I am not come to this
land but to free mankind from you. If ye abide my face till day I
will slay you all, and if ye flee I will pursue you till ye return
to your own land.” Then he bade his men to take them and lead them
from the camp.
It was of custom among this folk to travel in great waggons, and
to make of these their forts in times of danger, so on the morrow
when the Greeks and the Persians drew out in battle array, the
dwarf-folk came not forth all to attack them as on the day before,
but the more part stayed within the waggons, and when the knights
rode up to the waggons their progress was stopped and they could
go no further, and the dwarfs stood on the waggons and mocked and
jeered at them as they shot their arrows at them, and the knights
were sore angered and brought up firebrands but the dwarfs had
covered the waggons with hides so that they burnt not. So that day
wore on, and when night came the Greeks returned to their camp,
and they spent the night in plans for the morrow. When it was light
the army of Alexander got them ready for another day’s fighting,
but when they came out on the plain, they found not the hordes of
the dwarfs for they had departed, burning all the country round.
Then Alexander provided good store of food and drink and began to
follow up the abominable dwarfs, for well he knew that he should
find neither on the road, for these wretches destroy all the crops
and poison and defile all the springs of water they pass. And after
many days he came to the land of the dwarfs, and there he found
two-and-twenty kings, and fought a great battle with them, and made
them give up all the iron and copper in their land, and then he set
his men to build a great wall at the entrance to their land.
Now the land of the dwarfs lies behind two very high mountains
and there is no way by which men may come in or go out of it but
between these mountains, so Alexander built a wall across from
one to the other and he strengthened it with the iron and the
copper of the dwarfs, and wrought mighty spells on it, so that no
dwarf should pass over it, and left them there. And all the world
rejoiced and praised the name of Alexander, and this deed of his
was counted the greatest of his life. And in after days a tale
grew, and men told how every day the dwarf-folk came down to the
wall and tore it down bit by bit with their claws, and night by
night the spells of Alexander prevailed and the wall was made whole
again, because this folk feared not the gods, nor obeyed them. But
the tale tells that when the enemy of the gods and the deceiver of
men shall come on earth, he will teach them to name their children
“Inshallah,” which means, if the gods will, and then when they call
their children to help them, they will tear down the wall, and come
out from their prison, and destroy the cities of Alexander, and the
works of men since his time, and bring death on all men, if the
gods stay them not.
Furthermore men told of this dwarf-folk, that they have among
them sorcerers who work such spells that the might of the dwarfs
is increased an hundred-fold, and that when the time shall come,
these sorcerers will run through the air between heaven and earth,
swifter than the wind, and will slay a child, and will dip the
weapons of the dwarf-folk in its blood, and each of the dwarfs
shall have with him a hundred warriors on horseback, armed with
mace and spear. And when they ride out through the broken wall and
through the iron threshold that Alexander built to strengthen the
wall, the hooves of their horses shall wear away a span-depth from
the lower threshold of iron, and their spear-points shall wear away
a span-height from the upper threshold of brass. And these sayings
of men show how great was their fear of the dwarf-folk, and their
thanks to the Lord of Macedon, who freed the land from them.
After these things the heart of Alexander was lifted up and he
thought within himself that he was even as one of the high gods,
for he had travelled through the air, where no man had been before,
borne by griffins on an iron throne, and he had saved all men from
the foes of mankind, and he had raised himself above all men in
power and dignity, nor had any man conquered him or stood before
his face. So when his army turned and came to the shores of ocean,
a new thought came into his mind how that he would see the wonders
of the sea, and the things that live there, and come not up to the
surface of the deep.
So he ordered, and his cunning men began to make for him great
sheets of green glittering glass, and to shape it into a box, and
bind it with great girths of iron, that he might sit in it and see
all things that were without it, while he himself was untouched.
Then he bade them take it to the borders of ocean, and bind great
chains to it, and take it in a boat, and when he was entered into
it to let it sink to the bottom of the sea for a set space of time.
And as all things were ready, and he had given in charge to Roboas,
son of Antipater, whom he loved, to draw him up after the set time,
there came to him a clerk who had been sent to him by Roxana the
Queen on a special errand. So the clerk drew near, and said, “O
Alexander, thus saith Roxana thy Queen and thy love: Many nights
have I been troubled concerning thee, for a man with two horns on
his head has stood by me, and has warned me of evil that may hap
to thee. Now, therefore, I send thee a ring, one of the treasures
of Darius, my father; slay and offer a sacrifice to the gods, rub
the ring with the blood, and wear it, and no evil shall happen thee
on the sea or under it.” Then Alexander did as the messenger bade
him, and offered the sacrifice to the gods, and put the ring on his
finger, but none of those who stood by understood the matter, for
the message was a secret one.
[Illustration: Alexander sees the wonders of the sea]
The tale tells that Alexander entered into the vessel of glass,
and quickly shut the wicket; and his princes pointed it with pitch
so that no water might come in at the joints, and in a moment he
entered the deep with a heavy plunge. There saw he fish whose
figures he had never dreamed of, with forms diverse and horrible,
and creeping things and four-footed things crawling on the sea
bottom, and feeding on strange fruits of corals and sea weeds and
trees growing on the sand and sea ooze, and great monsters came
sailing up to the side of the cage and looked in and turned away
affrighted, and other sights he saw such that he would never tell
to any man till the day of his death, for they were so horrible
that tongue could not tell or man hear them told, and Alexander
fell down on the floor of his vessel of glass and lay there for a
time without life.
Now when the set time was come that Alexander was to be drawn up,
it fell that Roboas, the son of Antipater, was struck by some god
with blindness, for he loosened the chain from the ship and let
it fall so that it ran into the sea and sunk. And as he saw what
he had done, and how he had destroyed the life of his lord, he
plunged into the sea straightway, if so be he might die with him,
for his comrades were like to tear him in pieces. But the great
iron chains falling into the sea broke the vessel of glass, and the
gods saved Alexander again, for the chains crushed him not, and the
glass wounded him not, and he was borne to the surface of the sea
whether by the rush of the water or by the virtue of the ring of
Roxana, and his princes saw him come to the surface and they took
him up, for they thought it was Roboas, and when they found it was
Alexander great was their joy, and Roboas also they brought up, and
Alexander forgave him, for much did he love him.
[Illustration]