Budge_Ethiopic_Alexander

ALEXANDER DEPARTS FOR THE LAND OF DARKNESS. 265
"hath granted me to see this darkness, and to
"explore it, and to behold the Water of Life."
And Matun the sage said unto him, "Behold, thou
"shalt find it, and thou shalt see therein the
"wonderful things of God; but now this is a
"hard thing to take upon thyself Moreover, if
"thou shouldst not attain unto the Well of the
"Water of Life weary not thyself for I fear
"for thee lest thou attain it not;" but his words
did not offend the Two-horned. This is the
manner of the darkness into which the Two-horned
came.
And it came to pass that when the Two-horned Alexander
had made ready to march into the darkness, hefte^weii of
commanded the men to go with him for many^'^^-
days, and it is said that they travelled for two
years until, at length, they arrived at [a place]
of darkness, where the blackness is not like unto
the darkness of night, but is like unto the mists
and clouds which descend at the break of day;
and having gone a great distance into the darkness,
his troops were weary and exhausted. And behold
they came to a large stone statue [several] cubits
high, and [p. 153] - one of its hands was raised
up to heaven, and the other [pointed] to thenefindsa
earth. Then the Two-horned cried unto the wise^^"^'
men, saying, "What say ye concerning this statue,
"and what is the interpretation thereof?" They
said unto him, "This is a sign unto thyself And
"we tell thee, O king, that there is nothing beyond
"this statue except the heavens; and God Al-
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