Budge_Ethiopic_Alexander

A CHRISTIAN ROMANCE. 475
it and thus] carried off the men into the darkness,
and they bore them away, and after three days
and three nights they arrived in the light of the
Country of the Living. And when they returned
to Alexander the king they told him all that had
happened, and all that they had seen in the
darkness until they arrived at' the light of the
Country of the Living.
CHAPTER IX.
And Alexander made ready ships, and rafts, and Huge wrds
rowing boats. And he slew bulls and sheep, without^ ^"e'^sflertT
cutting off their privy members,^ and they tied the'°"^'
[carcases of the] bulls to the [fronts of the] ships with
ropes, and as the eagles stretched themselves out
and flew after the carcases the ships were dragged
along by their wings; and in three days and three
nights they brought Alexander and his men into
the light, even as they had done for the men who
had gone thither before. And it came to pass
that when they had gone forth [from the sea],
[p. 289] they saw the City of the Saints, and all
the water there is sweeter than the grapes of
which wine is made, and sweeter than sugar. And
all the stones which they have there are of sard,
and chalcedony, and jacinth, and sapphire, and there
'
' Read -lin ! -ttCVTr • ' Read HJi^flA
3 To this day in the East great care is taken in skinning
sheep and other animals, the skins of which are to be used
to support rafts.
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