He came out before him and stood waiting to board a ship. Two women were with him. He saw two birds soaring over the water. He raised his voice and said, “Birds, you soar over the sea; have you seen the place where one could find Bar-Yochai?” He waited some and said, “Birds, O birds, fly away.” They flew away and disappeared into the sea.
Before he boarded the ship, the birds approached again, and in the beak of one of them was a letter. It read that Rabbi Shimon, the son of Yochai, had left the cave together with his son, Rabbi Elazar. Rabbi Pinchas went to them and found them completely changed: their bodies were covered with sores (like holes in the ground—see the Talmud, Bava Batra, 19:2) from staying in the cave for so long. He wept and said, “Woe that I have seen you so!” Rabbi Shimon replied: “O how happy is my lot that you have seen me so, for had you not seen me so, I would not have been what I am!”
