Khizr (Khwaja Khizr, 'the Green One'), the deathless prophet-saint of the wider Islamic and Iranian world, is woven into Yaghnobi and Tajik agrarian belief as the patron of vegetation, running water and safe passage. Wherever his foot falls the ground turns green, and he is invoked for the fertility of crops and flocks and for aid to travellers lost in the high passes. In the agricultural cult of the Yaghnob and neighbouring valleys he is closely identified with Bobo-i Dehqon, the two sharing the role of quickening the sown field; petitioners hope for his unseen presence at spring festivals and at moments of sudden need.