Reading Notes: Week 04 "Jewish Fairy Tales" Part A

     For week 04, I chose to read the Jewish Fairy Tale unit. The Classic units didn't particularly interest me as I've read them before, and since I read the Women Saints unit I wanted to read something different. Of the six stories in Part A, "The Beggar King" was my favorite.

    This one interested me the most because of the genie and how his magic operated. From what I've heard online and come across in brief searches, the genie in Middle Eastern folklore is seen as a demon and force of evil.

    However, in this story, the genie is sent to teach people who disrespect the Scripture a lesson. This brings up several questions for me.

  1. In Jewish folklore, are all genies like this?
  2. Is it just this specific genie who is sent to reprimand people?
    1. Is it his punishment?
    2. Does he do this willingly?
    3. Is this the job he chose/signed up for/was created for?
  3. Can he only impersonate men? What about women?
    1. Is there a separate genie for the women?
  4. How do his powers work? He's not the usual genie most Westerners would think of, so what are his total powers?
    1. Just impersonation? Anything else?
    2. At the beginning of the story, he changes from a deer to a person, is this a separate power or an extension of his power to impersonate flawlessly?
I think it would be really interesting to see the story from the genie's perspective. He impersonates perfectly, so does he immediately have the knowledge, or does he have the magic to cover up his flubs? I think it would be funny to see the potential misadventures of this genie, especially juxtaposed to the serious situations the king ends up in.


Mule deer bucks with antlers in velvet. (Source: NPS)

Bibliography: The Beggar King from Jewish Folkore by Gertrude Landa

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