A continued reading diary post about "Jewish Fairy Tales and Legends" by Gertrude Landa (1919).
The Sleep of One Hundred Years
I didn't really understand the purpose of the story, but I do know it made me sad. Rabbi Onias, who was saddened that Jerusalem was desolate, fell asleep for 100 years and awoke to the reborn Jerusalem. I thought he would be happy to see the place resurrected, but instead he felt like an outsider to these new people and ways of life. It broke my heart that all he wanted was Jerusalem to be alive and then when it was he didn't fit in there anymore. I wish there could have been some other happier ending, maybe if I retell this story I will switch it up.
King for Three Days
This story focuses on the first crusade by Godfrey de Bouillon and the Rabbi Rashi's prediction. It was interesting to see Godfrey accomplish his goal of becoming king but still to remain sad an empty. I feel like this can relate to a lot of things in our lives, we set our sights on something but once we get there we realize it really wasn't what we wanted in the first place. The character of Godfrey is not one that I liked, he was an evil man and he had no respect for Rashi. He demanded Rashi give him a blessing and threatened to kill him if his prophecy was wrong.
The Higgledy-Piggledy Palace
What an interesting title. I did not like the beginning of this tale when the Pharaoh purchased Sarah from Abraham, but then when the spirit came to save her I really enjoyed it. At one point I even laughed because the spirit was tormenting the pharaoh; he had laid down on his bed and then the spirit lifted it and dumped him out of it. I love seeing the Lord always protecting his people. This tale could be retold as a tour guide taking people through a haunted house.
The Bogey Man
The Boogeyman is a very familiar name today, but the creature and legend is totally different than this tale. The Bogey man in this story is a scary robot like creature that Rabbi Lion built to obey him, and that the children called the Bogey Man. Today it is a monster that is said to live under the bed of children, and many movies/tv shows have featured depictions of him. It's interesting to know where the character originally came from and then to see how it changed over time. This could be a great bedtime story to retell.
 |
| The Bogey man trying to break into a synagogue to free himself of the Rabbi's control. |
This story made me think of the Shrek movie where the king is a frog and he dies, except this one is a little different in that the king and queen die and the frog is purchased by the son. It made me happy to see the son and his wife following the fathers last will so unwaveringly. I'm sure it was hard on them to give the frog all their food while they were starving. I didn't expect it to turn out this way but I'm glad the son was repaid many times over for caring for the frog. With the frog shrinking and hopping into the river at the end, I could continue the story and have some kid pick up the frog from the river in present day. I think that could be quite interesting to see the frog grow and the kid care for him in todays setting.
 |
| The fairy frog leading the son and wife to the forest to receive their gifts. |
No comments:
Post a Comment