In few days the King set out again with his host and went on his way towards the mountain lands, and ever the way led upward till after eleven days’ journey they came to a great plain among the mountains, covered with trees and plants, and well watered by noble rivers. The fruits were of the finest savour, and the water was sweeter than milk or mead, and clearer than crystal. So they went on through the land for many days, but they found no man in it, and no houses or temples of the gods; until they came to a high mountain which seemed to reach even to the clouds, and no way was there of crossing it, it was so steep and rugged. But when they came up to this range they found two passes which led through the range, and where they met was a great temple, and the one path led to the East, the way of the sun-rising, and the other to the North. Now there was no man to tell them where these paths led, or what was to be met in them. Then Alexander thought within himself that he would go to the East, for the Gods had predicted that in the East he should learn when and where was the end of his days, and the army of the King went through the pass for seven days.
But on the eighth day, a sudden death fell on many of the men in the host, for when they came to a certain spot or place among the mountains, ever one or another noble knight would fall down suddenly and lie dead on the road, nor did all men who passed the place die, but some only. Then fear came upon all men, and those who had passed the place dared not move either forward or backward, and those who had not passed it would not go forward, nor indeed did the King command them, for all men said, “The wrath of the gods is upon us for coming into this land.” So Alexander sought to find the reason for this death, and he went with one of his knights up the mountains at the side of the pass, till he came to a place whence he could see the whole of the pass and the mountains behind it, and looking down into the valley he saw in one of the clefts of the hills a loathly serpent, old and wrinkled, his thin long neck and great head lying on the ground before it. And while the King looked down, the ungainly worm slowly raised its heavy head and looked down on the valley, and let it fall again, and a cry of grief from his men told him that two more of his knights had fallen dead on the pass, and Alexander knew that his eyes saw the Basilisk.