Bernard and Esther

The Imagination Station is broken, and Robyn and Melanie are moping around Whit's End - until Bernard Walton declares that a good story beats any machine and settles in to prove it. He tells the true tale of Esther, a Jewish orphan raised by her cousin Mordecai, who is chosen from all the beauties of Persia to be King Xerxes' new queen. Keeping her heritage a secret, Esther even helps Mordecai foil a plot to murder the king. But when Mordecai refuses to bow to Haman, the proud new prime minister, Haman tricks the king into signing an unchangeable decree: every Jew in the empire must die. Mordecai begs Esther to plead with the king for her people's lives, for she is their only hope. Yet anyone who enters the king's court uninvited is doomed... and Esther trembles: "Uncle, if I do this, I will die."

Found on It's Another Fine Day... Album 11 · 12 episodes

The run See every episode

0159 The Homecoming A young man with a troubled past returns to Odyssey seeking something the town may not be ready to give.

0160 A Rathbone of Contention When Bart Rathbone fast-tracks the grand opening of Odyssey's new electronics store, his habit of cutting corners - and borrowing other people's talent for free - puts the whole venture on shaky ground.

0161 Isaac the True Friend Feeling friendless, Isaac takes an Imagination Station trip into the story of David and Jonathan and discovers what true friendship really costs.

0162 Peacemaker When two friends' quarrel threatens a church project to help the homeless, Connie learns that making peace takes more than smoothing things over.

0163 A Model Child An eleven-year-old girl's envy of a glamorous young model fades as she discovers the painful cost of growing up too fast.

0164 Sixties-Something When a sixties nostalgia craze sweeps Odyssey, Connie goes searching for the decade's most inspiring writer - and finds far more than she bargained for.

1 of 2 0165 Bernard and Esther With the Imagination Station broken, Bernard proves a well-told story beats any machine by spinning the biblical tale of a brave young queen whose people's fate rests in her hands.

2 of 2 0166 Bernard and Esther At Whit's End, Bernard finishes his cliffhanger tale of Queen Esther, who must risk her life before the king to save her people from the scheming Haman.

0167 Dobson Comes to Town A bewildered stranger walks into Whit's End with no idea how he got there - and he turns out to be someone the whole town of Odyssey knows by name.

0168 The Curse A mysterious medicine man walks into Whit's End and pronounces an ancient curse on the building's owner - and one by one, the impossible signs start coming true.

0169 Hold Up! When a nervous stranger pulls a gun at closing time, Whit's End becomes the stage for a battle of wits - and a debate about whether people are really good at heart.

0170 A Test for Robyn A shortcut-loving Robyn learns the hard way that "cramming Thursday night" is no match for a big history test - or for her own conscience.

1 of 2 0171 The Cross of Cortes When a mysterious map from an old missionary friend draws Whit and Eugene to Mexico, their fact-finding trip turns into a treasure hunt shadowed by a dangerous rival.

Featured characters

Minor characters & crew 15 more roles

15 supporting roles

Esther (b) Nora Frank-Pericone Haman Walker Edmiston Mordecai Hal Smith Haman's Servant Bob Luttrell King's Servant Will Ryan King Xerxes Earl Boen Bigthan Will Ryan Terash Dave Madden First Adviser Will Ryan Second Adviser Walker Edmiston Third Adviser Phil Lollar King's Captain Phil Lollar King's Herald Dave Arnold Man in the palace Bob Luttrell Queen Vashti Chris Anthony

Made by

Chris Anthony Host Phil Lollar Writer · Director · Producer Bob Luttrell Sound Designer · Producer Dave Arnold Producer Chuck Bolte Executive Producer

The story

Read the full synopsis 3 min

The Imagination Station has broken down, and Robyn and Melanie Jacobs are moping around Whit's End because it won't be fixed for another week. Bernard Walton, who is helping out behind the counter, can hardly believe his ears - two healthy young ladies who think they need a machine to keep from being bored. Determined to prove that a good story beats any contraption, he tells the girls to get comfortable. Melanie asks for a story where the hero is a girl, so Bernard begins the true tale of a brave young woman named Hadassah - better known by her biblical name, Esther.

Long ago, the great King Xerxes, ruler of the Medes and Persians, has thrown a six-month party for all the officials of his empire. On the final day he sends a servant to fetch his wife, Queen Vashti, so he can show off her beauty to his guests. But Vashti refuses to be paraded in front of the king's drunken friends, and she sends back a firm no. Furious, Xerxes consults his advisers, who convince him to banish the queen by royal decree - a law of the Medes and Persians that can never be changed. When the king cools off, he regrets what he has done, but it is too late; he can never see Vashti again. To cheer up their brooding king, the advisers hatch a plan to gather the most beautiful girls in the empire so Xerxes can choose a new queen.

That is where Esther comes in. She is a lovely Jewish girl whose parents died long ago, and her cousin Mordecai, who works at the palace, has raised her as his own. Before Esther is taken away, Mordecai gives her a solemn warning: she must not tell anyone, not even the king, that she is a Jew. Esther promises to trust him. After a full year of beauty treatments, she is brought before Xerxes, who declares her the most beautiful creature he has ever seen and proclaims to the whole world that he has found his queen.

Esther keeps her promise about her heritage, and Mordecai rises to become a palace official. One day he overhears two servants, Bigthan and Terash, plotting to murder the king in his bedchamber. Mordecai passes the warning to Esther, Esther sends word to the king, and the assassins are caught red-handed - with a dagger hidden among the wine goblets. At the queen's request, the rescue is credited to Mordecai and recorded in the royal chronicles.

Soon afterward, Xerxes appoints a man named Haman as prime minister and commands everyone to bow whenever he passes. Mordecai alone refuses, for to bow before something is to worship it, and he worships the Lord God alone. When Haman learns that Mordecai is a Jew and that all Jews live the same way, his fury swells beyond one man. At a palace party he tells the king about a race of people whose laws are different and who refuse to bow, and he persuades Xerxes to let him deal with them. The king hands over his ring bearing the royal seal, and Haman sends out a terrible decree in the king's name: on an appointed day, every Jew in the empire - young and old, women and children - shall be killed.

As the empire falls into panic, Mordecai puts on mourning clothes and cries out before the palace gates. Esther sends to ask what is wrong, and Mordecai gives her a copy of the decree along with a desperate plea: she must go to the king and beg for the lives of their people, for she is their only hope. But Esther is afraid. The king has not called for her in more than a month, and anyone who enters his inner court without being summoned is doomed to die. "Uncle," she says, "if I do this, I will die."