Bernard and Esther

At Whit's End, Bernard Walton finishes serving a customer and picks up right where he left off, telling Robyn and Melanie Jacobs the rest of the story of Esther. Mordecai has just revealed Haman's terrible plan to destroy the Jews, and Esther is shocked. Mordecai urges her to go to the king and plead for her people, but Esther knows that anyone who enters the king's inner court without being summoned is doomed to die - unless the king holds out his golden scepter. Mordecai reminds her that perhaps God has brought her into the palace for just such a time as this. So Esther asks the Jews of the city to fast for her, and after three days she puts on her finest robes and enters the throne room, declaring, "If I perish, I perish." King Xerxes smiles and extends the scepter.

Instead of blurting out her request, Esther shrewdly invites the king and Haman to a banquet she has prepared. When the king presses her for her real wish, she asks only that both men return for a second banquet the next day, where she promises to explain everything. Haman rides home feeling on top of the world - until he passes Mordecai at the gate, still refusing to bow. Furious, Haman complains to his wife Zeresh, who suggests he build a gallows seventy-five feet high and ask the king in the morning to hang Mordecai on it. Haman loves the idea and orders it built at once.

That night, God is quietly at work. The sleepless king reads the records of his kingdom and discovers that Mordecai, who once exposed a plot to assassinate him, has never been rewarded. When Haman arrives to ask for Mordecai's execution, the king first asks him how to honor a man who truly pleases the king. Certain the honor is meant for himself, Haman describes a grand parade with royal robes, the king's own horse, and the royal crown. The king is delighted and orders Haman to do exactly that - for Mordecai. Humiliated, Haman leads his enemy through the streets, then rushes home, where Zeresh warns him that if Mordecai belongs to the God of the Jews, opposing him will be fatal.

At the second banquet, Esther finally makes her petition: she begs the king to save her life and the lives of her people, revealing that she herself is a Jew and that the wicked Haman is their enemy. Stunned, Xerxes storms into the garden to think. Haman, panicking, grabs Esther's arm to beg for mercy just as the king returns, and Xerxes believes Haman is attacking the queen. At that very moment a servant arrives to announce that Haman's gallows is complete, and the whole scheme against Mordecai comes to light. The king orders Haman hanged on his own gallows.

Xerxes gives Haman's wealth to Esther and appoints Mordecai prime minister in Haman's place. But the decree against the Jews bears the great seal and cannot be reversed, and Esther despairs for her people - until Mordecai has an idea. A lion may not be so eager to attack if the lamb can defend itself, so with the king's authority Mordecai sends out a new decree giving the Jews everywhere permission to defend themselves. In the end no one dares to harm them, and the day becomes a holiday remembering the courage of a remarkable young woman named Esther.

Back at Whit's End, the girls thank Bernard for the story, and he points out that they could have read it for themselves - it is right there in the Bible. John Whittaker arrives with good news: the Imagination Station is up and running again. But Robyn has had enough adventure for one day, and Melanie decides she has some reading to do, leaving Whit and Bernard to share a song.