Reading Notes: Jewish Fairy Tales Part B

Oh Boy, here I go beating people again: Image

The Higgledy-Piggledy Palace
I think if I retold this story, it would be pretty funny to retell it from the point of view of the spirit with the club. I'd like to think that he's just some dude who likes turning invisible and beating people up with a big stick, and simply jumps at the chance to do so whenever he's asked. Maybe I could even include an angle where God hears Abraham's prayer and understands the urgency of the situation, but all the other angels, who all have crazy powers and authority, are otherwise occupied, leaving him with no other choice than to send in the guy with the club, whose only trait is, you guessed it, beating people with a club.

The Rabbi's Bogey-Man
This is a very interesting story and one that has a good deal of story angles to pursue if I wished to retell it. I think that if I were to retell it, however, I might go with a more-horror focused style, perhaps borrowing from stories like Frankenstein. I could possibly tell the story from the Rabbi's point of view as he slowly watches his creation change over time and realize that it is a monster. Another option is to tell the story from the point of view of the Golem itself as it progressively gains more and more consciousness and hatred towards its creator.

I could make the nature of the Golem much more uncertain, such as making it unclear as to whether taking the Name out of his mouth truly turns him off, or leave clues that he is slowly breaking his bonds of servitude by showing him doing small things without the Rabbi's permission. This could help to build tension and lead to the climactic ending of the Golem trying to break into the synagogue like in the original story.

Bibliography - The Higgledy-Piggledy Palace & The Rabbi's Bogey-Man from Jewish Fairy Tales by Gertrude Landa (1919)

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Storybook Comment Wall

Mothman: Image My Storybook Project, Mythical Monsters of the New World can be found here I hope you all enjoy it, and I appreciate any feedback you can give! EDIT 3/5: I have heavily revised my Introduction, so if you have not read the new version yet, do so now!

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Hey! My name is Brett Drake and I'm a senior Public Relations major with a Classical Culture minor. I'm from the small town of Wagoner, Oklahoma (if you've heard of it, chances are you're also from northeast OK!) and while I've enjoyed my time here at OU, I can't wait to graduate in May. I want to become a graphic designer in the OKC area after graduation and help local businesses build their brands. My favorite class last semester was Digital Design (surprise, surprise) as it allowed me to really hone my skills as a designer across all different types of media. Me at the Coliseum : Photo by a friend Last summer, as I talked about in my favorite place post , I was able to study abroad in Italy for the month of June, allowing me to finally travel outside of the country for the first time in my life. While traveling abroad had its ups and downs (I arrived in Rome running on a good 3 hours of sleep and had lost my luggage), overall it was an amazing experie

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