At last it came to pass at a certain time that, Hayy Ibn Yokdhan stepping out of his cell to look out for some food in the same place to which Asal had retired, they spied one another.

Asal, for his part, had no doubt but that the man he saw was some religious person given to solitude who had retired into that Island as he had done himself. He was afraid, therefore, lest if he should come up to him and make himself known, it might spoil his meditation, and thus become an impediment to him in accomplishing his desires.

But, as for Hayy Ibn Yokdhan, he could not imagine what it was: for of all the creatures he had ever beheld in his life, there was none that resembled him in the least.

Now Asal was clothed in a black coat, made up of hair and wool, which he fancied was a natural cover; at which Hayy stood a long time in utter wonder and astonishment. Thereupon Asal, being afraid lest he should disturb his meditation and divert his attention therefrom, turned his back and fled. Hayy Ibn Yokdhan ran after him, driven by an innate desire to know and find out the truth of things.

When he saw, however, that Asal fled from him with all his might in such haste, he retired a little into the background and hid himself there, so that Asal thought he had gone off altogether and gone far away from that place where he had seen him. Asal therefore began to betake himself, as his custom was, unto his prayers and reading, to invocation and weeping, to supplication and complaining, and these exercises had quite turned him away from any other thing.