Page:Folk-lore of the Holy Land.djvu/75

Rh IX EL KHUDR of the saints oftenest invoked in Palestine is the mysterious El Khudr or Evergreen One. He is said to have been successful in discovering the Fountain of Youth, which is situated somewhere near the confluence of the two seas. This fountain had been vainly sought for by other adventurers, including the famous Dhu’lkarneyn, the two-horned Alexander, who with his companions came to the banks of the stream that flowed from it, and actually washed the salt fish which they had brought with them as provision in its waters, and yet, though the said fish came to life again and escaped them, failed to realise the happiness within their reach. They went on their way till they came to the place where the sun sets in a pool of black mud, and their leader built eighteen cities, each of which he called Alexandria, after himself; but neither he nor his companions became immortal, because they failed to see and use the one opportunity of a lifetime.

El Khudr, more fortunate or more observant, not only found the fountain, but drank of its waters, so he never dies, but reappears from time to time as a sort of avatar, to set right the more monstrous forms of wrong and protect the upright. He is identified with Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, with Elijah the prophet, and with St George. Jewish