Week 4 Story - Rachel and the Jinn

She'd met Jacob at a fountain

He wanted for them to be wed

But Jacob married Leah first 

Because he had been misled 

Her father Laban had given Jacob Leah

He said "To wed the younger first is forbidden"

And though Laban had pushed Jacob into Leah's bed,

She thought: "He didn't have to give her children."

The Lord gave Leah children quickly;

Rachel was barren though she prayed.

Jacob wished to return to Canaan--

Too long had he stayed

The road to Canaan was long

and the journey took its toll

Their family traveled far and Laban followed,

Seeking the idols Rachel stole

One of these items contained a jinn

Or so the household servants said

Leah had four sons, Bilhah two;

Rachel was determined to get ahead

She called the spirit from the lamp

and soon the jinn came forth

She demanded he bless her with a son,

and he chuckled "What's it worth?"

"What will you risk for a child?

For I have magic in my eyes

Of course, I can lend my talents to you

But all magic has a price."

She swore thrice that she wanted the babe

Caught in competition with her sister.

The jinn smiled, then cackled wildly

And the sound of it unnerved her.

But she ignored her reservations

And reached out to the spirit

He took her hand and gave her magic;

She was glad when she could feel it.

"You swear your son has a great destiny,

But this gift will bring you strife,"

The jinn grinned his evil grin and said:

"If you're wrong, your son pays with his life."

With this iron covenant in mind,

She bade her husband come to bed,

And though they conceived Joseph that night,

The jinn's words stayed in her head.

Years later her son had become his father's favorite

His brothers--jealousy was within them;

Jacob gave Joseph a colored cloak

His brothers tore it from him

They left him in the cold and in the dark,

They told his father he'd been eaten--

The jinn snickered down in his lamp

But the Lord's plan would not be beaten

Joseph understood men's dreams

And this gift took him far, when he answered Pharaoh's call

Her hard-won son saved and forgave his family

And Rachel had been right after all.

"The Meeting of Jacob and Rachel" by William Dyce
Source: Wikimedia Commons

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Author's Note: I based this story off of the stories from the Jewish Fairytales: most of which turned out to be character's from the Bible but with more mythical creatures tied in. A lot of times, the stories reminded me of the fact that the Bible has cultural significance beyond the religious aspect, and is really the story of a people and the heroic figures within the Jewish tradition. As a kid, I was fascinated by the weird, competitive way Rachel and Leah went about having children with Jacob. I thought it would be interesting to explore that story with the added context of coexisting paganism and the addition of a mythical creature who could possibly explain why she was able to have children all of a sudden.

Also, I thought it would be fun to write it as a poem. A lot of the Jewish Fairytales had really short lines, and I just thought I'd try something new--though I must admit that the ABAB rhyme scheme is a bit of a crutch for me

Reading Notes - Jewish Fairytales (Reading A)

I read the Jewish fairytales for this week's reading assignment and I was skeptical, in the way that we're all naturally skeptical of things that are unfamiliar. I didn't really know what a "Jewish fairytale" would look like, but as I read the stories, I noticed that they all feature very familiar characters--just interacting in ways that I've never heard of before and speaking with others that are less familiar. 

Taking these well-known biblical figures and reading stories about them in less magnanimous contexts has really been a treat. I am really familiar with their "Bible stories," because even though I'm not a fan of organized religion, I was raised in a Black Baptist church where my father was a deacon, my mother a deaconess, and my godfathers are pastors. But sometimes we forget that religious texts have more to them than just "spiritual advice" or "guidance." Books like the Torah and the Bible have cultural significance beyond the religions that are associated with their words. 

I liked all of the stories, but I didn't really get any story ideas from a specific story. I'm more interested in trying to replicate the humanization of well-known spiritual characters. Part of me wants to know if these stories were originally part of the Bible or other religious texts and over time they were just removed or forgotten, or if they were simply oral traditions about Biblical characters that were eventually transcribed separately. But I digress. 

The storytelling challenge for me would be to write a story about a Biblical character and use the "folktale" style to de-aggrandize him or her. I know I can't be the only one who forgets that Bible characters are "human." They always seem to be held above the rest of use in traditional references. I think that it can be cool to use folk to make these characters that we have put on pedestals over the course of centuries seem more human. 

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Bibliography: Jewish Fairytales and Legends by Gertrude Landa

Source: Christ Gain via Flickr