The book I am translating is a fictional novel set in the background of the Israel's history, and it starts at a point in time when The Prince of Egypt comes bact to claim his kinsmen, the Israelites, for God.
We follow the story from the perspective of a young man, a devoted believer in The Promised Land, who only hears about Moses' return, about his quarrel with The Pharaoh, and the plagues. When informed that the Israelites followed Moses out of Egyptian slavery, he sets off to catch up with them, and join the return to the home of his ancestors.
It's interesting to put a big figure like Moses in a position of a support role (and not really hear any of his speeches until chapter 8 or 9 or something like that).
For some reason, most people think that splitting the sea - The Red Sea - and receiving two tablets with commandments is the end of the story. It's such a big moment that we don't even think about the fact that they are, in fact, now in the middle of nowhere, far from civilization, far from all they knew in Egypt, wandering through the desert.
Of course, we've read The Book, or heard the stories, and we know they eventually make it to Canaan.
And by The Book, I mean The Bible, not the book I am translating.
Those who know the stories a little better, also know that a walk through the desert that was supposed to take three or four weeks, ended up taking 40 years. So tell me, how does crossing The Red Sea qualify for a happy ending?! Especially since we already know the historical facts.
It makes me wonder about all the Cindarellas out there. Who knows if their "Happy ever after" is also "a lot of work" like my married friends tell me. After all, Cindarella and Prince didn't spend a few years dating and getting to know each other and travelling Europe together. They just got married.
And I wonder if she had daddy issues since her father had died when she was still a child. And how Prince dealt with those issues... Where did she learn people skills?
And The Little Mermaid ends up marrying the man she fell in love with as a 16-year-old. Doesn't that bother anyone?
It's a mystery to me why we (me included) fall for the fairy tales, knowing they are fairy tales, but take them more seriously than we're ready to admit.
Maybe we need the happy endings so much we're ready to invent them.
But I've strayed from the subject. I believe that God's ideas always have happy endings. Had people listened to God's first good idea, they would never have touched that tree. They also wouldn't need to be taken out of slavery 2500 years later, because there would BE no slavery.
Interestingly, God has had many other good ideas since. But for some reason it's so hard to believe they are good (we'd rather believe in fairy tales). I'm just glad He has more good ideas in store and hasn't given up on us. On me. =)
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