Anglo Saxon Colored Pencil Folk Art Bible-Esther

Anglo Saxon Colored Pencil Folk Art Bible-Esther
24" x 18"
Book 17 Poster 17

My key memory words:
Plotting and Preventing Destruction
Conflict, Cunning, Courage, Conquest
Vashti deposed, Haman defeated, Purim decreed

King Ahassuerus is having a party in his pink floored palace. (Sorry just couldn't resist saying that.)He sends for Queen Vashti to show her off in front of his party friends and she refuses to come. The  party friends are depicted towards the lower left sitting around drinking from gold goblets. You can see the messenger sent to call Vashti shruging his shoulders and telling the king she won't come. Vashti and her party can be seen above the messenger. Because she might be a bad influence on the other women she is banned and a new queen is sought. Through her relative, Mordecai, Esther is among the entrants to this quest. Ahassuerus chooses her and she (a Jew) becomes queen. Also Mordecai, shown continually sitting by the gate, overhears a plot against the king and helps to foil it, the men are hanged, and the incident is written down in a book.
Now Haman is the kings "prime minister" and he commands everyone to bow down to him when he passes but Mordecai being a Jew would not bow to him. After that Haman plots to destroy not only Mordecai but all Jews and has the king proclaim a day to do it. Haman can be seen walking past the gate and people in the outer court are bowing. Haman can also be seen in the lower left hand corner beside the king pointing towards the gait where Mordecai sits.
Through Mordecai Esther hears of the plot to kill all the Jews, she asks for prayer and fasting, (Purim)and takes her life in her hands to approach the king and receive the scepter and ear of Ahassuerus. Esther plans a banquet to expose Haman's plot to kill all the Jews including her since she is also a Jew. Just prior to hearing this King Ahassuerus can't sleep and has someone read to him and is refreshed about Mordecai saving his life. You can see the book/scroll in the king's hand. He wants to honor him for this and asks Haman, who has just arrived, what he would do to honor someone. Unknowingly Hamon tells the king to have the honoree wear the kings robes and ride the kings horse and be shown off in front of people. The king orders Haman to do this for Mordecai not yet knowing what plot is in the making. You can see Haman honoring Mordecai on the white horse top right. One of the good things about folk art is Haman can be several places in the same picture.
Finallly Esther tells the king what Haman has planned to do and the king has Haman hanged and since he cannot undo his prior declaration of death to the Jews he declares the Jews may defend themselves. The king promotes Mordecai, the Jews destroy their enemies( the battles and taking of treasures shown in the top of the picture), and the fast /prayer feast of Purim becomes a Jewish custom.
Their were many events that happened in this book which seemed to just fall into place at the right time. Ron and I have a saying about that. "What a coincidence". and we mean "What a God"!