The Legend of Alexander the Great

There once lived a king whose name was Alexander the Great. This was in ancient times, so very long ago that neither our grandfathers, nor our…

There once lived a king whose name was Alexander the Great. This was in ancient times, so very long ago that neither our grandfathers, nor our great-grandfathers, nor our great-great-grandfathers, nor any of our forefathers could remember it. This king was a hero among heroes. No strong man in the world could defeat him. He loved to wage war, and his army was made up entirely of heroes. Whoever King Alexander the Great went to war against, he defeated them all. He brought every earthly kingdom under his rule. Then he reached the edge of the world and found peoples who terrified even him, brave as he was: they were fiercer than savage beasts and ate people alive. Some had only one eye, in the forehead, and others had three eyes; some had only one leg, and others had three, and they ran as swiftly as an arrow flies from a bow. These peoples were called Gog and Magog.

Yet King Alexander the Great did not lose courage before these wild peoples: he began to wage war against them. Whether he fought them for a long time or a short time is unknown; but the wild peoples took fright and fled from him. He pursued them, driving them on and on, until he forced them into such tangled wilderness, ravines and mountains as no tale can tell and no pen describe. There they hid from King Alexander the Great. What did King Alexander do with them? He drew two mountains together above them to form an arch, set pipes upon the arch, and went back to his own country. Whenever winds blow through the pipes, a dreadful howling rises; those sitting inside cry, “Oh, Alexander the Great must still be alive!” These Gog and Magog are still alive to this day and tremble at Alexander, and they will come out of there just before the end of the world.