Reading B: Jewish Fairy Tales

Jewish Fairy Tales

The Sleep of One Hundred Years

At the time of the destruction of the first temple, everyone was suffering. Rabbi Onias mounted on a camel and was making his way toward the city. He was starving but he was saving water and dates in case he found someone who needed more than him. When he finally got to the city, it was destroyed. He wept until he fell asleep, and he slept for 100 years. 

When he woke up he found himself surrounded by dates and his beard white and camel dead. The water and dates were still fresh though- so Jerusalem was still alive. He started looking for his family but he only found his grandson. He took his dates and water back to where had slept and slept again but never woke up. 

A Beauty Queen Camel

King for Three Days

Godfrey de Bouillon was a famous warrior who was a part of the first crusade. He hated the jews and wanted to exterminate them. He and his man massacred large numbers of jews. Rashi one of the wisest sages came to Godfrey and he demanded a blessing. However, Rashi refused. Rashi told him that he would rule as its king for three days and return with very few men. His prediction came true with a stone killing a man and horse right before they got home. 

The Higgledy-Piggledy Palace

Sarah the great mother of the Jewish people and wif of abraham was the most beautiful woman who ever lived. She gathered crowds in Eygpts where they had fled too. He contained his wife in a box to stop this and told the customs officials it contained barley. But they were curious and opened the box and sent her to the pharaoh. Sarah didn't want to upset him so she told him that Abraham was her brother.  The Pharaoh gave a ton of gold and jewels to Abraham for Sarah. She didnt like him but he wanted to get with her. Abraham was praying so she was not scared. When he went after her something struck her and beat him whenever he tried to touch her. The spirits kept tormenting him and gave him leprosy. Abraham cured him and took back his wife and warned him of endangering his descendants.

The Rabbi's Bogey-Man

The rabbi lion of prague was upset that he did not have a servant to tend his fire. People were not scared of him, he was smart but his experiments in chemistry were a little scary, so no one would work for him. So he made a mechanical woman to tend his fire during the sabbath. It was controlled by his thoughts and he had to remove the name from her mouth so she didn't cause issues at night.  

One night she was playing with the children and made them a fire but made it so big it caught a house. The king was confused after this incident and asked how it happened. The rabbi explained the sacred name to him. The kids called him the bogey man and he started to speak, wanting to work for the king as a soldier. One day he was trying to get into the synagogue so he wouldn't have any power over him and then he was destroyed. 

The Fairy Frog

Hanina was called to his dying parents and told only to grieve for 7 days, then go to Passover festival and buy the first thing offered. This would bring great fortune. After his parents died he did exactly that. He bought a silver casket with a curious design for a 1000 gold pieces. Inside was another casket and inside that was a frog who was hungry. The frog grew to be as large as a man and then granted wishes. He gave them food and taught Hanina the lore of men. When it was time for the frog to repay them they went to the forest and all the animals brought the jewels. 

Fairy Frog