Next we see the proud Haman being annoyed by the fact that Mordecai won't bow to him. So he suggests to the king that all the Jews be killed & the king says, sure go ahead. Moredecai sends Esther another very brief message (SOS), but this time she doesn't pass it on to the king. She writes back (Can't!) and he responds (Must!). The narrative, of course, spells out more detail, but no way could we have the kids write complete messages. So anyway, then everyone kneels down to "pray and fast" for the count of three (days). Esther goes to see the king and he welcomes her. She invites him and Haman to a feast for the following night. (We cut this down to just one feast. Saved time & didn't change the basic plot.)
Haman is really puffed up now; he's the only commoner invited to the royal feast. (I am SO PROUD of our Haman. He used to be one of our biggest behavior problems but lately he has been doing so well. He actually got into hamming it up, this time! I love it!) Only one thing mars his self-congratulations: that Mordecai still refuses to bow to him. Hmm…why wait until the day for all the Jews to be killed? Since he's in such obvious favor with the king, why not ask tomorrow morning that Mordecai be put to death right away?
That night the king can't sleep so he's browsing through his scrapbook. He comes across the note written by Mordecai that saved his life, and realizes he has never done anything to reward him, for shame!
So the next morning Haman shows up, and before he can get a word out, the king asks him, what should be done for someone I want to honor? Haman is sure he's the one the king means, so he thinks of something he'd really like: wearing the king's robe & crown, riding the king's horse, and having someone lead him around the city telling everyone how much the king honors him. The king says: Fantastic idea! Go get Mordecai and do that for him right now! Haman has no choice but to comply:
Whew, that was awful. Good thing he hadn't put forth his request!! Oh well, he still has this wonderful banquet to look forward to, right? And wonderful it was!
Afterward the king is so happy he says to Esther, absolutely anything you want, what can I do for you? She says, "Just save my life from the wicked enemy who wants to kill me and my people." The king says, who would dare do such a thing? Esther points dramatically to Haman. The king calls for his soldiers, who pull a pillowcase over his head and lead him off. (Haman really did do a great job, but he couldn't take the pillowcase; that was a bit too much.) The king does away with the order for the extermination of the Jews, & he & Esther live happily ever after. (Yes, I know, the laws of the Medes and the Persians could not be revoked, but it was simpler this way and again, didn't really change the basic plot.)
Our game was to determine whether the king would allow you in to see him, since in our story that was an iffy thing. We had the "king" (one of our fathers) sit on his throne, with an armed soldier guarding the invisible door about six feet in front of him (to prevent the kids from crushing too close and spoiling the idea that not just anyone can approach the king). Then we had each child draw a "Do" card provided from "The Appreciation Game." If they were able to do what it said, they could get in to see the king, who gave them a treat. Everyone passed.
The king wore a crown, Esther wore a crown, even Mordecai wore a crown for a little while, so our craft was making crowns.
Since I wasn't sure I had enough of the gold paper to make a model, I didn't discover ahead of time that the pieces didn't stay stuck to the headband very well. It was getting sort of frustrating until someone had the idea to grab a stapler. Next time, double-sided tape on the headband would be the way to go.
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