Folktales of Joha, Jewish Trickster

8: Joha and the king

8 JOHA and the king “I kill the king beneath my cloak!” C H A P T E R 137 F o l k t a l e s o f J o h a 138 Providential Spaghetti One day Joha came home very hungry: “Mama, I want to eat! Mama, I want to eat!” His mother said to him: “Go and wander around for a bit, and I’ll make you spaghetti in the meantime!” She put the water on to boil, and he went off. He went off . . . walked around a bit, and then sat down outside. He was tired. As he was sitting, he said, gesturing with his hands: “Now my mother has put the water on to boil. . . . The water is boiling . . . . Now my mother has put the spaghetti in the water. And now perhaps the spaghetti has already cooked. And now my mother is calling me—‘Joha, come, come! Joha, come, come! The spaghetti is ready!’” Meanwhile, the king and queen, who were sitting on their balcony, thought that Joha was calling them. They said: “Let’s go and see what Joha wants!” They left their palace to go to him. At that moment, the whole palace collapsed and was destroyed. The king and queen were saved, and they were very happy that Joha had saved their lives, otherwise they would have died in the destroyed palace. They embraced him and said: “Why did you call us?” Joha said to them: “No, no . . . I was thinking: My mother is calling me to come and eat the spaghetti.” The king said: “Let’s go to your mother!” They went to his mother, and she said: “What happened?” Joha said: “Nothing, Mama! It happened like so and so . . . and look: The king and queen have come with me!” The king gave him a purse of gold and said: “Take this purse, for having saved our lives!” NARRATED BY SARA BEHAR – 1998 J o h a a n d t h e K i n g 139 Seven with One Blow! Joha was on his way to the city. He walked and walked, and was crossing a field. The flies didn’t give him any respite. Joha lashed out this way, and lashed out that way, and caught a fistful of flies. He opened his hand and counted them: seven! “Ah!” said Joha. “I killed seven with one blow!” He wrote on his belt: “Seven with one blow!” and continued on his way. All of those who met him read this on his belt and said: “What a strong man this is!” And they ran for their lives. From one to the other, the news finally reached the ears of the king. The king sent for Joha and said: “I heard that you killed seven with one blow. Since you are so strong, I want you to liberate my kingdom from this giant who is attacking us.” “All right!” Joha said to him. “But if I do it, I want your daughter in marriage!” “So be it!” the king said to him. The next morning, Joha went out to find the giant in the forest. When he saw him from afar, Joha began to shout, “Run away, giant! Know that I eat ‘slaughtered meat’! Know that I killed seven with one blow! Seven with one blow!” He ran from one part of the forest to another, each time hiding behind another tree. The giant ran from one part of the forest to another, looking for Joha, but wasn’t able to catch him or even catch sight of him. And Joha was shouting and shouting, “I killed seven with one blow! Seven with one blow,” until the giant fell down, dead from exhaustion and fear. At that point Joha came out, took his knife, and buried it in the giant’s heart. F o l k t a l e s o f J o h a 140 Joha went to the king and said: “Lord King, I have killed the giant! Now give me your daughter as wife.” And so the king gave him his daughter. They made a great and beautiful wedding, and in the end Joha became king. NARRATED BY MATILDA KOEN-SARANO – 1992 The Vinegar The king sent Joha to buy vinegar. Before he came to the bazaar where they sold vinegar, Joha passed in front of the fruit vendors, and he...