Week 2 Storytelling: Sister Wives

"Asher."
"Here."
"Benjamin."
"Here."
"Dan."                                                                                  
"Here."
"Dinah."
"Here!"
"Gad."
"Here."
"Issachar."
"Here."                                                                                 
"Jospeh."
"Here."
"Levi."          
"Here."
"Naphtali."
"Here."
"Reuben."
"Here."
"Simeon."
"Here."
"Zebulun."
"Here."

Jacob's Flight by von Carolsfield, mythfolklore

"Wow. That took much longer than expected. When I took this job, I did not realize how many children I was taking on. Your father just instructed me to take care of his children. Who knew he had thirteen of them!" Jacob's children watched their teacher silently as she recovered from her surprise.
"Well, we don't all have the same mom," Asher said bluntly.
"Asher!"  Benjamin exclaimed. "That's not really 'first day' information."
"You only say that because Dad loved your Mom, Ben. The rest of us think our moms should get some recognition too," Judah stated from the back of the room."
"At least your mom is still alive!" Joseph blurted out.
"Oh, shut UP, Joseph!" Dinah said with an exasperated tone. The kids all began bickering at once. The volume in the room grew louder and louder. Ms. Carolyn knew she needed to gain control over the kids before they got out of hand. She was an experienced caretaker, but she had never worked with a family with thirteen children before.
"ENOUGH!" Ms. Carolyn shouted. The room grew still and silent as the children stared at Ms. Carolyn. All twenty-six eyes were opened wide, shocked by their caretakers outburst.
"Excuse us, Ms. Carolyn," Reuben, the oldest, apologized on the behalf of himself and his siblings. "It's just, our family is a bit complicated. It may be better if we explain this to you." Ms. Carolyn immediately regretted taking on this job. But Rebekah (Jacob's mother) had been a great friend to her. She wanted to return the favor by helping Rebekah's son, but she was not aware of how complicated Jacob's family was.
"Okay. Maybe I should get some background information. What was your name again, son?"
"I'm Reuben. I'm the oldest of us all. My mother is Leah. Our mother gave our father seven children, six sons-"
"And one daughter," Dinah interrupted.
"I see. Wow! Seven children. Sounds like a hero." Ms. Carolyn said.
"Pft... You want to know who a hero is?" Joseph asked. Before Ms. Carolyn could answer, Joseph continued, "Our mother, Rachel."
"Both Rachel and Leah will be remembered as great women, Joe," Issachar pointed out to ease the tension.
"Excuse me... what about our mother?" Naphtali questioned, Dan nodding in agreement behind him.
"And ours!" Gad and Asher exclaimed in unison.
"Okay, wait one minute kids," Ms. Carolyn said in her calmest voice. Things were really getting interesting now. She was extremely curious but did not want to see to eager to learn more. "Reuben. Since you are the oldest child, I would like you to explain this all to me." Her statement was met with groans and eye rolls, but Reuben began.
"Let's see. Our father, Jacob, worked for Leah, my mother's, father. He was given my mother in turn for seven years work. As I said, she gave birth to seven of us: Me, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Dinah."
"Ahem," Asher cleared his throat obnoxiously.
"Since Asher seems to have something to say, I will let him speak now." Reuben stated calmly.
"That was very respectful of you, Reuben," Ms. Carolyn said. "Go on," she instructed Asher.
"My mother, Zilpah, was Leah's handmaid. Leah gave our mother to our Dad to wife," Asher explained.
"Leah claimed us as her own," Gad added.
"But that doesn't change the fact that Zilpah is our Mom," Asher spat. Ms. Carolyn knew she needed to change the subject.
"Dan! I haven't heard much from you. Why don't you tell me your story?"
"Oh. Well, my mother is Bilhah. Rachel's handmaid. Rachel was barren, so she gave my mother to our father to bear children-which are me and Naphtali." Naphtali waved to Ms. Carolyn. She smiled in response. "So where are Rachel's children?" Ms. Carolyn inquired.
"Right here!" Joseph and Benjamin said in unison. "Dad waited fourteen years to make our mom his wife. He loved her so dearly. He was always the one she wanted, but her father kept her away from our dad in order to get more work out of him. She passed when she gave birth to Ben. Everyone got quiet. Dinah looked down, ashamed of her outburst earlier. She grabbed Joseph's hand.
"I am sorry for your loss," Ms. Carolyn said. "All of you." The children looked at each other and smiled. "You all seem like a wonderful family. I am looking forward to caring for you all," she expressed with genuine enthusiasm.

Bibliography: Stories of Women (Rachel and Leah) from the Bible, link to online source.

Author's Note: When I read the story of Leah from the Bible, I was immediately intrigued. In addition to this though, I was extremely confused. There were so many children and so many mothers and so many weird names that I could not keep track of who belonged to who. I figured others had had the same problem as me, and so I decided to write a story in which all of those relationships are expressed clearly. The Bible stories I enjoyed most these past two units were those with dialogue, so I knew that had to be an important part of my story. I kept the relationships all the same, but I was able to do some character development with the children that was not at all there in the Bible stories I read. The jealousy among the women though, especially between Leah and Rachel, which I feel I expressed through the children's comments. In reality, the family really was quite broken and the children did not end up interacting as family, but I decided to take a lighter, more positive approach with my story where the children realize that no matter what, they are still one, big family.