The Wonders Of The World

: King Alexander's Adventures
: Jewish Fairy Tales And Legends

One day a strange rumbling noise was heard, and toward evening the

army halted by the side of a river even more mysterious than the River

of Life. It was not a river of water, but of sand and stones. It

flowed along with a roaring sound and every few minutes great stones

were shot up into the air.



Alexander asked the Jewish soldier if he could explain.



"This," said the Jew, "is the Sambatyon
the river which ceases to

flow on the Sabbath."



"And what lies beyond?"



"The land of the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel," was the answer. "None

have seen this country."



"Cannot the river then be crossed?" asked Alexander.



"Not by all who wish to cross."



The next day was Friday, and Alexander waited until the evening to see

what would happen.



An hour before sunset, at the time of the commencement of Sabbath, the

river ceased to flow. The rumbling died down and the Sambatyon

appeared like a broad expanse of shining yellow sand.



"To-morrow I shall cross with my army," said Alexander, but next

morning the Sambatyon was enveloped in dense black clouds.



Alexander could not see a yard in front of him, and when he ventured

on to the sand, the horses sank into it. Flames were also seen in the

clouds. After the sun had set and the Sabbath had ended, the clouds

cleared away, the rumbling began again and the sand flowed once more

like a river.



Alexander was disappointed for a while, but at last he consoled

himself with the thought that he had conquered the whole world.



"Now must I carry out my project of ascending above the clouds and

afterward descending into the sea," he said, and he proceeded to carry

out the instructions given to him in Jerusalem.



Four huge eagles were caught and chained to a big box. At each end of

the box was a pole, and on the end of each a brilliant jewel was

placed. When all was in readiness, Alexander entered the box and

carefully closed the doors.



"Thus did Nimrod ascend into the sky," he said, "but he was a fool. He

shot arrows into the air, and when the angels returned them stained

with blood, he thought he had killed God. I desire only to see the

heavens, not to conquer them."



He gave the signal, and the heads of the eagles chained to the poles

were uncovered. The moment they saw the dazzling jewels they tried to

snatch them, but could not. So they continued to rise higher and

higher until the box was carried above the clouds. By looking through

the windows at the top and bottom of the box, Alexander could see how

high he was. For a long time he saw nothing but clouds, which appeared

like a vast sea beneath him, but when these cleared away, he saw the

earth again.



So high was he that the world looked like a ball. Until then he had

not known the earth was round. The seas enveloping the greater part of

the globe looked like writhing serpents.



"Now I can understand," he said, "why the wise rabbis say that the

great fish, the leviathan, surrounds the world with its tail in its

mouth."



Then he looked above. The sun seemed further away than ever.



"Heaven is not so near as I thought," he said, and seeing himself but

a tiny speck miles above the earth and still further away from the

heavens, he grew afraid for the first time in his life. With a stick

he knocked the jewels from the poles outside the box, and the eagles,

seeing them no longer, began to descend. Alexander breathed more

freely when he was safe on the ground again, but he would not tell his

generals what he had seen.



"Wait until I have descended into the sea," he said.



Under his orders, a diving bell of clear thick glass, bound with iron,

had been constructed. Alexander entered the bell, all the joints were

then tightly secured with pitch, and the bell lowered from a ship into

the ocean by means of chains.



Before he entered, Alexander took the precaution to put on a magic

ring, which his wife, Roxana, had sent him. This, she said, would

protect him against the monsters of the deep.



Down, down into the watery deep sank the bell, and for some time

Alexander could see nothing. When his eyes grew accustomed to the

strange, greenish light, he noticed multitudes of queer fish darting

round about the bell. Many were of a shape never conjectured by man,

some were so tiny that he could scarcely see them, and others so large

that one of these monsters actually tried to swallow the bell. But

Alexander showed the magic ring which glowed like a blazing star and

the monster darted away.



So deep down sank the bell that no light could at last penetrate from

the sun. Most of the fish, however, were luminous, and Alexander was

almost dazzled by the changing of the brilliant lights as the denizens

of the deep swam swiftly around the bell. Shells of wondrous beauty

did he see, together with pearls of great size. The treasures of the

deep were revealed to him, and he saw that the riches on land were as

nothing compared with them. He saw the coral insects at their work of

building, and of entrancing beauty growing in the oozy bed of the

ocean.



"I wonder," said Alexander, "if I dare venture forth and take some of

these beautiful gems back with me. The ring will protect me."



Alexander was one of the bravest men that ever lived, and he

immediately set about trying to open the bell. In doing so, he rattled

the chains by which it was lowered, and Robus, the officer in charge,

took this as a signal to raise the bell.



In his excitement he dropped the chains into the sea, and they fell

with a big crash on the bell and smashed it to pieces. When Robus saw

what had happened, he cast himself into the sea in a gallant endeavor

to rescue his master.



Down below in the glittering depths of the ocean, Alexander saw the

fish hurrying away in great fear and he heard the rattling of the

chains as they dropped through the water. He looked up and saw them

crash on the bell. A terrible, buzzing sound filled his ears, a

thousand dazzling colors danced before his eyes and made him giddy.



With great presence of mind he remembered his ring, and immediately a

big fish swam underneath him, raised him from the wreckage of the bell

and rose swiftly to the surface. Alexander emerged just as Robus dived

into the sea. At once he showed the fish his ring and it dived and

brought his gallant officer safe to his side.



"I have seen enough," said Alexander, when he was safe on land, "more

than mortals should see. I have learned that the earth is for man and

that the air above and the waters beneath are for the other and more

wonderful creatures of God."



He made preparations to return to Macedon, but his army was wearied

with long marching and begged of him to let them rest. Accordingly, he

halted outside Babylon. Sickness seized him, but he remembered the

warning of the rabbis and would not enter the city. For days he

wandered around until his soldiers showed signs of mutiny. Then,

throwing caution to the winds, Alexander entered Babylon.



At once his illness took a serious turn, and in a few days he died.

When the Jews heard the news, they mourned him sincerely, for they

knew that they had lost a good friend. All that remains as a memorial

of Alexander is the city of Alexandria, which he founded in Egypt. It

stands to this day.



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