Reading Notes, Jewish Fairy tales, Part A

Reading Notes on The Beggar King

(The Beggar King from Wikipedia Commons)

Plot: In this story, a rich and proud king tears some pages out of the Holy Book because it states that riches are not forever. The king then goes deer hunting with some of his court. He thinks he has cornered the deer only to discover a boy wearing deerskin in the forest. The boy says he is a genie who has lured the king there to teach him a lesson for tearing the pages out of the book. He then steals the king's clothes and meets up with the courtiers saying he is the true king. The actual king wanders around and tries to tell a wood cutter what has happened. The wood cutter laughs at him and gives him some rags. He then goes to the castle, but the guards only laugh at him when he says he is the king. He tries to work in the field but is not cut out for it. Eventually, he ends up with a group of blind beggars as their guide. One day the genie, acting as king, calls for a feast for all the beggars in the kingdom. The real king meets the genie and repents for his sins. The genie then offers to let him be king again but the king says he cannot as the blind beggars need him. For being truly repentant the genie takes the kings place as a beggar so they are not alone. The king ruled from then on and was one of the kindest and fairest kings of the land.

Characters: The king is the main character who is prideful and disrespects God, but later repents and becomes a good man. The genie acts only as a character to punish and change the king. The wood-cutter is the first negative encounter the king has once he becomes a beggar. The blind beggars are people who truly need him which helps change his ways.

Setting: This is sent in a kingdom in medieval times I am fairly certain.

Lesson: The lesson here is that it is important for a king to be humble and that if you truly repent for your sins they can be forgiven.

Ideas: I think I would like to make a story very much in the same vein but set it in modern times. Instead of a king maybe it would be a CEO and keep the genie as well. I would also probably keep the central theme but take some of the more religious tones out of the story.

Story from: Jewish Fairy Tales and Legends by Gertrude Landa