Famous friends
Nearly two thousand fife hundred years ago, there lived a king called Alexander the great. He was the son of Philip II of Macedonia.
When Alexander was a boy, a magnificent horse was brought to the court of his father, for sale. The animal was to be sold for thirteen talents. Talents are ancient coins.
Many were eager to buy the horse but none cloud get close enough to saddle the restless animal, for he was wild and unreadable.
Alexander pleaded with his father to let him try. Realizing that the horse was terrified of its own shadow, he turned the horse towards the sun so that its shadow fell behind. This calmed the horse and the price proudly rode away.
Observing this, his father said, `my son, look for a kingdom worthy of your greatness, for Macedonia is too small for you.’
And that is exactly what Alexander tried to do when he grew up. He fought many battles and always rode Bucephalus, for that was the horse’s name. The friendship and trust between man and horse lasted until Bucephalus died at the battle of Hydaspes, of wounds received in battle. `Oh my friend, my greatest and most loyal friend, would that I had died with you,’ so he mourned for the mighty horse.
It is said that Alexander loved Bucephalus so much that he would ride other horses for inspections and normal duties to ensure that his favorite horse would not be overworked. `Feed him well, oats, carrots and beets, for he is a prince among horses,’ he would say.
Alexander called his horses Bucephalus which means ox- headed, which may seem a strange sort of name for a horse!
Alexander was so broken –hearted when his horse died, that over the grave site he built the city of Bucephala, now a part of Pakistan.
The Indian king Porushotham, an extremely tall person, led the attack on Alexander at the battle of Hydaspes. He led his army to battle on elephants. They must have looked an imposing sight to Alexander’s men.
After conquering a part of India, Alexander began preparations for an advance into Arabia. He lived only three years after the death of his beloved horse, dying at the young age of thirty –two, of a fever, through some people claim he was poisoned.
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