The Life of Al-Khidr, the Green Man

Now, the one called al-Khidr was born under the reign of Semiramis in a small village near the lake of the Khanavari. With the High King Haiq he marched to avenge the death of Arah the Beloved, and it was in this stalemate of a battle that he was captured, and brought before the Babelite Emperor. The Emperor had constructed a bonfire to burn the prisoners, a bonfire so great (for the Emperor only built the largest of anything he built) that no one could approach the fire, for the heat, close enough to toss the prisoners in. “Only let me live, O Emperor,” said Khidr, “and you will see what a service I will perform for you.” And he constructed then the first catapult, to hurl the prisoners across the great distance to the fire. So great was the heat, that no one reached the fire whole, having been reduced to ash in their flight, and the Emperor said, “You have done me no service.” So Khidr rolled the prisoners in wool soaked in water, and catapulted them into the fire. And there was a great hissing, and the prisoners flew into the fire, wherein they burned. And the Emperor was pleased, and he made Khidr his trusted advisor. Khidr loved his life above all things, and the Emperor held this life in his hands.

Now in those days the sons of Yonton and the sons of Ham recalled their old quarrel, for the castration of the drunken prophet. Pupien of Kor was then the wisest of men, and through him spoke Allah, and he told the Emperor what Allah had said. But the sons of Yonton had come from Semasaieb to slander Pupien, and they said, “Why does he not die?” So the Emperor sent Khidr to find the answer. And Khidr penetrated deep into the empire of Kor, and there he found fire and water, and he returned to the Emperor. “Why does he not die?” asked the Emperor. “I no longer need to tell you,” said Khidr. And he went into the wilderness and wept for fifty years over the fates of those whom he had catapulted. When he returned, he was bright green, and the world was in ruins. By the stones of Babel stood a stake on which rested the incorruptible head of Pupein. The Emperor and the Empire were just a vague memory. Pupien spoke briefly of the magic that had done him in, and the magic that had done Nimrod in. Then he passed away, and Khidr buried the head. And the people all around were dumfounded, and worshipped a black phallus they painted gold.

Then Khidr walked the earth, and where he went he tried to do good. He remembered some things about Allah that others had forgotten, and when he found that the one known as Musa remembered as well, he tested his wisdom. This was his habit, to spread wisdom by constant testing.

Lethargy and despair overtake all those who receive immortality, but Khidr did not succumb to these vices. He advised the conqueror Dhul Qarnayn and slew the Silenean dragon. He traveled to the farthest islands of the west, and there tested the courage of the local sultan by offering to strike off the head of any who would first strike off his own. He saved the uncle of the Prophet (PBUH) from the innumerable djinn. And to all he could he whispered what he had learned, for as he tested, so he was tested, and as he spread wisdom, so he received it. “Allah will end the world when he wills it,” he said, “but it will be because Allah wills it, and not because we let it fall.”

But by a lake he was born, and by a lake he met his end. There he fought a thief and a murderer, and there he stays forever.