y wounded by Ravana, the demon
king of Ceylon. The other bird related to Rama, who found it disabled:
"Once upon a time we two (brothers), with the desire of outstripping
each other, flew towards the sun. My wings were burnt, but those of my
brother were not.... I fell down on the top of this great mountain,
where I still am."[193]

Another version of the Etana story survives among the Arabian Moslems.
In the "Al Fatihat" chapter of the _Koran_ it is related that a
Babylonian king held a dispute with Abraham "concerning his Lord".
Commentators identify the monarch with Nimrod, who afterwards caused
the Hebrew patriarch to be cast into a fire from which he had
miraculous deliverance. Nimrod then built a tower so as to ascend to
heaven "to see Abraham's god", and make war against Him, but the tower
was overthrown. He, however, persisted in his design. The narrative
states that he was "carried to heaven in a chest borne by four
monstrous birds; but after wandering for some time through the air, he
fell down on a mountain with such a force that he made it shake". A
reference in the _Koran_ to "contrivances ... which make mountains
tremble" is believed to allude to Nimrod's vain attempt.[194]

Alexander the Great was also reputed to have ascended on the back of
an eagle. Among the myths attached to his memory in the Ethiopic
"history" is one which explains how "he knew and comprehended the
length and breadth of the earth", and how he obtained knowledge
regarding the seas and mountains he would have to cross. "He made
himself small and flew through the air on an eagle, and he arrived in
the heights of the heavens and he explored them." Another Alexandrian
version of the Etana myth resembles the Arabic legend of Nimrod. "In
the Country of Darkness" Alexander fed and tamed great birds which
were larger than eagles. Then he ordered four of his soldiers to mount
them. The men were carried to the "Country of the Living", and when
they returned they told Alexander "all that had happened and all that
they had seen".[195]

In a Gaelic story a hero is carried off by a Cromhineach, "a vast bird
like an eagle". He tells that it "sprang to the clouds with me, and I
was a while that I did not know which was heaven or earth for me". The
hero died, but, curiously enough, remained conscious of what was
happening. Apparently exhausted, the eagle flew to an island in the
midst of the ocean. It laid the hero on the sunny side. The hero
proc