#rimonah of the flashing sword

[ariel-seagull-wings]

ILLUSTRATIONS BY OMAR RAYYAN FOR RIMONAH OF THE FLASHING SWORD: A NORTH AFRICAN TALE (RETOLD BY ERIC A. KIMMEL)

@isthemedia @adarkrainbow @themousefromfantasyland @tamisdava2 @storytellergirl @the-blue-fairie @princesssarisa @professorlehnsherr-almashy @grimoireoffolkloreandfairytales @softlytowardthesun

[tamisdava2]

I found Romana in three sources: the book Miriam's Tambourine: Jewish Tales from Around the World by Howard Schwartz, the picture book Rimonah of the Flashing Sword by Eric A Kimmel, and the article Red as Pomegranate.

Thank you for sending me the sources and also for the link!

[ariel-seagull-wings]

FICTIONAL CHARACTER ASK: ROMANA/RIMONAH

@themousefromfantasyland @the-blue-fairie @softlytowardthesun @faintingheroine @grimoireoffolkloreandfairytales @princesssarisa @lord-antihero @angelixgutz

Tagged by no one. I just wanted the chance to talk about her character.

Favorite Thing About Them: Her tale is so rich of twists and adventures. She goes to live with a band of thieves to escape her murderous stepfamily and the sourcerour who serves them, them suffers a death like sleep and in her dreams falls in love with a Prince who turns out to be a real person, and them is enchanted into a dove until finally being rescued by her fiancee and father thanks to the old wise woman's help.

Least Favorite Thing About Them: In Howard Schwartz's narration for his version collected in the book Miriam's Tambourine: Jewish Folktales from Around the World Romana/Rimonah is described as having light skin and praysed as extremely beautifull because of it, like its european equivalent stories Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs and The Tale of the Dead Princess and the Seven Knights. That same narration also has the element of washing a scarf and skin in three different waters: red waters, black waters and white waters. Romana/Rimonah washes the scarf and bathes in the white waters and becomes more beautifull, while her stepsister Laymuna washes the scarf and bathes in the black waters and becomes more ugly. The unfortunate implication is that Romana/Rimonah gained even lighter skin to be considered more "beautifull" while Laymuna becamed darker skinned and as such more "ugly". I am not very fond of that element in the Schwartz version, and i am glad that in his picture book retelling, Rimonah of the Flashing Sword, Eric A. Kimmel changed the description of Romana/Rimonah's beauty by saying she is dark as a pomegranate peel, with eyes as bright as pomenagrate seeds and a voice as sweet as pomegranate juice.

Three Things I Have In Common With Them:

I have sephardic jewish heritage

I could be naive and manipulated by strangers when i was young

My skin color is reminiscent of a pomegranate peel

Three Things I Don't Have In Common:

I am not royalty

I am not born in Egypt

I have a good relationship with my stepmother

Favorite Line:

This line she says in Eric A. Kimmel's picture book retelling Rimonah of the Flashing Sword, begging to the huntsman for her life as a child

Do not do this wicked deed. Spare my life. Heaven will surely reward you.

brOTP: The Old Wise Woman and The Forty Thieves. Her stepsister Laymuna if someday she regrets her crimes and gets redeemed.

OTP: The Prince.

nOTP: The Sourcerour.

Random Headcanon: She is the daughter of an inter-ethnic and inter-faith marriage between and arab muslim father and a jewish mother, and by her mother's side she descends from another jewish egyptian Fairest of them All type heroine: Kohava the Wonder Child.

Unpopular Opinion: This tale deserves to be adapted into a big budget movie to become more well known for people, who already are familiar with several adaptations of the Grimm's Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs. The christian german tale is just one among hundreds of varieties of Fairest of them All type of stories around the Globe. People need to know that beautifull jewish heroines are not limited to the biblical stories of Ruth and Esther and that they also exist in a rich folklore of diverse jewish comunities.

Song I Associate With Them:

Trough Heaven's Eyes

Erev Shel Shoshanim

Hene Ma Tov

Et Dodim

Lamidbar

Favorite Picture of Them:

The illustrations made by Omar Rayyan for Eric A. Kimmel's picture book retelling Rimonah of the Flashing Sword

[princesssarisa]

I'll have to look for Rimonah of the Flashing Sword. I've read the version of this tale in Miriam's Tambourine already, and I've always loved Eric A. Kimmel's retellings of Jewish folktales – Hanukkah Bear and Herschel and the Hanukkah Goblins are childhood favorites of mine – but I've never known him to retell a Sephardic story before, only Ashkenazi ones.

FICTIONAL CHARACTER ASK: ROMANA/RIMONAH

@themousefromfantasyland @the-blue-fairie @softlytowardthesun @faintingheroine @grimoireoffolkloreandfairytales @princesssarisa @lord-antihero @angelixgutz

Tagged by no one. I just wanted the chance to talk about her character.

Favorite Thing About Them: Her tale is so rich of twists and adventures. She goes to live with a band of thieves to escape her murderous stepfamily and the sourcerour who serves them, them suffers a death like sleep and in her dreams falls in love with a Prince who turns out to be a real person, and them is enchanted into a dove until finally being rescued by her fiancee and father thanks to the old wise woman's help.

Least Favorite Thing About Them: In Howard Schwartz's narration for his version collected in the book Miriam's Tambourine: Jewish Folktales from Around the World Romana/Rimonah is described as having light skin and praysed as extremely beautifull because of it, like its european equivalent stories Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs and The Tale of the Dead Princess and the Seven Knights. That same narration also has the element of washing a scarf and skin in three different waters: red waters, black waters and white waters. Romana/Rimonah washes the scarf and bathes in the white waters and becomes more beautifull, while her stepsister Laymuna washes the scarf and bathes in the black waters and becomes more ugly. The unfortunate implication is that Romana/Rimonah gained even lighter skin to be considered more "beautifull" while Laymuna becamed darker skinned and as such more "ugly". I am not very fond of that element in the Schwartz version, and i am glad that in his picture book retelling, Rimonah of the Flashing Sword, Eric A. Kimmel changed the description of Romana/Rimonah's beauty by saying she is dark as a pomegranate peel, with eyes as bright as pomenagrate seeds and a voice as sweet as pomegranate juice.

Three Things I Have In Common With Them:

I have sephardic jewish heritage

I could be naive and manipulated by strangers when i was young

My skin color is reminiscent of a pomegranate peel

Three Things I Don't Have In Common:

I am not royalty

I am not born in Egypt

I have a good relationship with my stepmother

Favorite Line:

This line she says in Eric A. Kimmel's picture book retelling Rimonah of the Flashing Sword, begging to the huntsman for her life as a child

Do not do this wicked deed. Spare my life. Heaven will surely reward you.

brOTP: The Old Wise Woman and The Forty Thieves. Her stepsister Laymuna if someday she regrets her crimes and gets redeemed.

OTP: The Prince.

nOTP: The Sourcerour.

Random Headcanon: She is the daughter of an inter-ethnic and inter-faith marriage between and arab muslim father and a jewish mother, and by her mother's side she descends from another jewish egyptian Fairest of them All type heroine: Kohava the Wonder Child.

Unpopular Opinion: This tale deserves to be adapted into a big budget movie to become more well known for people, who already are familiar with several adaptations of the Grimm's Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs. The christian german tale is just one among hundreds of varieties of Fairest of them All type of stories around the Globe. People need to know that beautifull jewish heroines are not limited to the biblical stories of Ruth and Esther and that they also exist in a rich folklore of diverse jewish comunities.

Song I Associate With Them:

Trough Heaven's Eyes

Erev Shel Shoshanim

Hene Ma Tov

Et Dodim

Lamidbar

Favorite Picture of Them:

The illustrations made by Omar Rayyan for Eric A. Kimmel's picture book retelling Rimonah of the Flashing Sword