Mila's Tale: A Biblical Retelling Short Story by Mystery Author Laurie R. King

 I often read separately published short stories at the end of a month, but this is the first time I considered one blogworthy. I came upon "Mila's Tale" by Laurie R. King while browsing through Kindle titles looking for a short story on April 30.  I'd started and abandoned two previously, but I'd never once abandoned a Laurie R. King book unfinished.  She always holds my attention.  So I knew I'd found that final read of the month the moment I saw King's name.

                   

I really liked this modern day retelling of the Biblical story about Jephthah's daughter. King develops her into a relatable character for modern readers which makes the ending feel even more tragic.

Unfortunately,  King appropriates the Jewish term midrash to describe her story.  I'm  sorry Ms. King, but midrash simply doesn't apply in this case.  I grew up hearing midrashim throughout my childhood.  They're considered part of the oral tradition of Judaism.  They contain missing scenes or details that weren't included in the text.  They flow seamlessly from the original.  Jewish children can be so familiar with a midrash that they believe that it's actually in the Bible.  A midrash never displaces the story to a totally different context as happens in "Mila's Tale".  There is nothing wrong with writing retellings of Biblical stories that take place in the contemporary world, but please don't call it a midrash.

An actual midrash  from Ibn Ezra is cited in King's commentary that appears after the story. It reminded me of the Euripides play, Iphigenia in Tauris.  Like Euripides, Ibn Ezra re-wrote the ending of the story so that it's more to his liking.  Stories like the one of Jephthah's daughter illustrate that ancient Judaism was radically different from the religion as it is currently practiced.

King also refers to feminist theologian Phyllis Trible's Texts of Terror.  Trible sees the story of Jephthah's daughter as an attack on patriarchy.  King wonders why the compilers of Old Testament biblical texts would have included it.  Good question!  The documentary hypothesis conceptualizes the Bible as being composed of differing narratives with varying viewpoints.   See the Wikipedia article I've linked. Also see The Dartmouth Bible which contains annotations that identify certain verses as belonging to one of the particular versions described in the documentary hypothesis.  The Dartmouth Bible was a college textbook of mine. The reason why I bring all this up is because the same Bible that contains the story that Eve was created from Adam's rib also contains Genesis 5:2  which reads as follows in The King James Version:

^" Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created."

So there's a Biblical verse from a perspective that sees both sexes as having been created together as presumed equals. Perhaps the same individual that contributed it, also selected the story of Jephthah's daughter.  We'll never know.

King says that she originally intended to write a series of Biblical retellings like "Mila's Tale".  I would have been interested in seeing them.  I think they would require King to look at the Bible through fresh eyes.