Tarikh al Dhul-Qarnayn

From Record Of Fantasy Adventure Venture
Jump to: navigation, search

Tarikh al- Dhul-Qarnayn, chapter 57

in Greek, translated by Leo from the original Arabic

 Dhul-Qarnayn received two prophecies: that he would be killed by a river
 an that after his death his empire would bbe destroyed by the followers
 of Ten-Ghari, who are commonly known to be the tribes of Yajuj and
 Majuj, which teem innumerably in the east.
 Now Dhul-Qarnayn had acquired a ring from deep within the treasure
 houses of Persia, which had once belonged to Kourosh the Great, and this
 ring was such that it would grant three wishes, and these wishes were of
 a most uncommonly powerful nature; but Kourosh never used it, even
 against the forces of Yajuj, which slew him and flayed him and filled
 his skin with blood and made it dance like a puppet.  His son Kambujiya
 used one wish to conquer Misr, which had hitherto not been conquered
 except thrice in the distant past.  Daraya-Wahush used one wish to open
 the tomb of Queen Ni-Tukayrish, which had stymied all human ingenuity to
 open in any other way.  But he then, in frustration, had declared the
 ring a vile bauble, and all but discarded it, so that Dhul-Qarnayn found
 it in his treasure hoard, and kept it with him always, carefully
 planning when to use the wish.  And when he had heard the prophecy of
 the followers of Ten-Ghari, he resolved that although his own flesh may
 perish, his empire must endure, and he wished a mighty wish, and
 conjured up, as the ring crumbled to dust, a giant brazen horn, one of
 the two for which he is famous.  And the horn had this power, that it
 would blow constantly as the wind sailed through, and its volume and
 tone were such that no follower of Ten-Ghari would approach it; and as
 long as it blew, the followers of Ten-Ghari should not respass on the
 empire of Dhul-Qarnayn.  And some say Dhul-Qarnayn had done the world a
 great boon then, for had it not been for this horn, which still winds,
 the people of Yajuj and Majuj, who neither Kourosh nor Dhul-Qarnayn had
 been able to conquer, would have overrun the earth.  But instead they
 are compelled to remain in their homeland, milling eternally.
 And then Dhul-Qarnayn came to the Wadi al Hagarah, also known as the
 river Saba-Tayyah, which runs in a circle and cannot be crossed.  And
 Dhul-Qarnayn was wroth that had used the ring for his brazen horn, for
 feign would he know what was beyond the Wadi al Hagarah.  And six days
 he camped by its shore, waiting for its tumult to die down; but no
 longer.  For on the sixth day, he vowed that he would cross it; and was
 wounded grievously by stones in the attempt; and his men draggd him back
 out, and he said, "A river will be my death, but it will not be this
 one," and he came away from the Wadi al Hagarah and never returned.
 But Dhul-Qarnayn's empire was destroyed at the battle of Ib-zush, when
 the last man who would hold it entire fell before the war elephants. 
 And all elephants, when they are to die, are led by a mysterious being
 named Ten-Ghari to the elephant's graveyard.