Then having asked God how he should recognize the wise man of whom God had spoken to him, he was bidden take a fish in a basket; “and,” said God, “the fish will lead thee to my faithful servant.”
Moses went on his way with Joshua, having the fish in a basket. In the evening he arrived on the shore of the sea and fell asleep.
When he awoke in the morning, Joshua forgot to take the fish, and Moses not regarding it, they had advanced far on their journey before they remembered that they had neglected the basket and fish. Then they returned and sought where they had slept, but they found the basket empty. As they were greatly troubled at this loss, they saw the fish before them, standing upright like a man, in the sea; and it led them, and they followed along the coast; and they did not stay till their guide suddenly vanished.
Supposing that they had reached their destination, they explored the neighbourhood, and found a cave, at the entrance to which were inscribed these words, “In the Name of the all-powerful and all-merciful God.” Joshua and Moses, entering this cavern, found a man seated there, fresh and blooming, but with white hair and a long white beard which descended to his feet. This was the prophet El Khoudr.
Some say he was the same as Elias, some that he was Jeremiah, some that he was Lot, and some that he was Jonah. The greatest uncertainty reigns as to who El Khoudr really is. All that is known of him is that he went with Alexander the Two-horned, to the West, and drank of the fountain of immortality, and thenceforth he lives an undying life, ever fresh, but also marked with the signs of a beautiful old age.
El Khoudr derives his name from the circumstance of his having sat on a bare stone, and when he rose from it the stone was green and covered with grass.[[545]]
In later times he was put to death for the true faith with various horrible tortures, by an idolatrous king, but he revived after each execution.
The explanation of the mystery of El Khoudr is this. He is the old Sun-god Thammuz of the Sabæans, and when he was dethroned by Mohammed, he sank in popular tradition to the level of a prophet, and all the old myths of the Sun-god were related of the prophet.
His wandering to the West is the sun setting there; his drinking there of the well of immortality is the sun plunging into the sea. His clothing the dry rock with grass is significant of the power of the sun over vegetation. His torments are figures of the sun setting, in storm, in flames of crimson, or swallowed by the black thunder-cloud; but from all his perils he rises again in glory in the eastern sky.[[546]]
Moses said to El Khoudr, “Take me for thy disciple, permit me to accompany thee, and to admire the wisdom God hath given thee.”