sometimes mistaken for El Khudr. He has been seen in the act of casting himself from a precipitous cliff, attempting suicide in his despair; but in vain. He is described as a very tall old man, covered with white hair, his beard and nails exceeding long. He always takes to flight if one tries to approach him.
To return to Mûsa. On leaving the shepherd, the prophet wandered further along the chalky hillsides till he unexpectedly came upon a group of stone-cutters who were excavating a chamber in a wall of rock. Having greeted them, Mûsa inquired what they were about, and was told that the king of the country had a very precious treasure which he wished to hide carefully from human sight, and that therefore he had commanded them to hollow out a rock-chamber in this lonely spot in the wilderness. It was now midday, and very hot. Feeling tired, and as there seemed to be no shade anywhere else, the Lawgiver asked permission to enter the cave and rest there. Permission was courteously granted. The weary prophet was not in the least aware that he had asked leave to rest in his own predestined sepulchre. Hardly had he assumed a recumbent posture, when the leader of the gang of workmen, who was the Angel of Death in disguise, offered him an apple. Mûsa, having accepted and smelt at it, expired immediately. His funeral rites were then performed by the supposed workmen, who were in fact angels expressly sent for the purpose.
