Reading Notes: Jewish Fairy Tales, Part B

The Higgledy-Piggledy Palace from Jewish Fairy Tales and Legends by Gertrude Landa.

Sarah:

Sarah was “the wife of the patriarch Abraham and the great mother of the Jewish people.”

The woman was extremely beautiful; bewitching beauty, casting a hypnotizing effect on every one that beheld her.

She had an awesome complexion that was really clear, meaning she didn’t have to deal with the annoyance of zits and pimples or even stubborn freckles that refused to stay hidden.

Abraham:

Worry-wart/concerned about his exceedingly beautiful wife being too beautiful, (the story even goes so far as to add) “as if she were something more than human.”

During his fleeing from Canaan to Egypt, Abraham grew really worried and anxious about Sarah being so pretty/other-worldly so he gets all paranoid.

Paranoia drives him to put Sarah into a big box so

1)    People would stop staring

2)    The Egyptians wouldn’t steal Sarah and put her in the king’s harem.

Despite his worries, Abraham relies faithfully on God.

When Abraham gets to the Egyptian border, he doesn’t want the customs officials to open the box.  Since he knows if Sarah is revealed they will take her to the Egyptian king, Abraham offers to pay the duty (tax) on the highest valued goods.  Unfortunately, this makes the officers suspicious and really curious so they decide to open the box anyway.  After Sarah is revealed, they quickly take the two to the king.

Pharaoh:

He is super impressed with the beauty of Sarah and completely infatuated with the enchanting quality of her image.

After being told that Abraham is only her brother (which is a big lie), Pharaoh decides Sarah will join his harem as his favorite.

Sarah thinks he is ugly and unattractive – she attributes him with a creepiness, cruelty, and a vile quality.

Pharaoh thinks he’s all that and that everything he is offering Sarah (to make her queen) is so amazing that she should never even think about joking about wanting to simply leave with her brother/Abraham.

Abraham agrees to the Pharaoh’s payment of compensation in exchange for Sarah because he knows there will be nothing good about incurring his anger.  He trusts that God will keep her safe and find a way to rejoin the couple.  When left alone with the Pharaoh, Sarah rejects his advances and warns him not to come close.  Sarah stands her ground when he makes to come near because she has faith in God.

Each time the Pharaoh takes a step towards her, something strikes him on the head, the shoulder, and other body parts.  When he goes to touch her, the “invisible spirit” touches his arm and he can no longer move it.  The Pharaoh insults Sarah by calling her a witch so she has the spirit hit him some more – all over.  The Pharaoh leaves but is only tormented further by the spirit’s antics.

The spirit dumps him out of beds and chairs, which he takes as the furniture rejecting him.  To the Pharaoh, the corners appear to move so that he runs into them and the stairs go down when he tries to walk upwards on them.  He even discovers that he has leprosy in the morning.  Here, the text refers to the title: “Such a higgledy-piggeldy palace was never seen.”

Pharaoh gives up, believing that the woman had brought a plague upon him.  He tells Abraham to take his sister/Sarah and get out of Egypt.  When Abraham is about to leave, after healing the Pharaoh with a magic jewel, he tells the Egyptian king of Sarah’s true identity as his wife.  Abraham, loyal to God as ever, warns that if he or any of the Pharaoh’s descendants try to persecute the descendants of Abraham then “will our God, He, the One God of the universe, surely punish the king with plague again.”

GIF courtesy of Daily Moss