Reading Notes: King for Three Days

King for Three Days, from the Jewish Fairy Tales and Legends by Gertrude Landa (1919), is the story of Godfrey de Bouillon fighting in the First Crusade in the 11th century. He hated Jews and was known as a really cruel man for his actions in this crusade. He went from town to town exterminating all the children of Israel. By massacring as many Jews as he could, you can predict that his luck will not last forever and that something will happen to him that he will not like and try to change. The single most important part of the plot happens next in the story. He seeks and tries to obtain a blessing from a holy man such as a rabbi. He finds a rabbi by the name of Solomon ben Isaac. He will later become famous and be better known as Rashi. Knowing who Godfrey de Bouillon is and the actions that he has taken, Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac does not want to give him a blessing. Instead he predicts what will happen and tells Godfrey that he will be the king. Godfrey is happy and thinks this is a blessing. The rabbi continues and tells him that he will only last as king for three days and that he will only come back with three horses and three men. It's interesting that the bible continually uses the number three. It appears hundreds of times in both the New and Old Testaments. As the story continues he becomes king and leaves after three days. He is very happy as he leaves because he leaves with four men on horses proving that the rabbi was wrong. I am not very happy with this part of the story because as he is entering through the gate a huge stone falls off the gate and kills one of his men leading to the rabbi being right. It does not seem right for how he lost his fourth man. I think that if I were to retell the story I could change the ending making it more realistic and have less of a foolish ending.

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