In the land of France, there was a minister named Godefroy de Bouillon. He was a warrior with a cruel character, and he would destroy anything he saw. When he heard about the wisdom of Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, Rashi, and his greatness—that people came from all lands seeking his advice—he sent a message to Rashi asking him to come. Rashi, who knew this man was cruel, refused to go to him.
When the minister heard this, he took his warriors and his horse and came to Rashi’s Beit Midrash (study hall) to unleash his cruelty upon him. When he arrived, he saw all the doors of the yeshiva open and all the books open, but he didn’t see a single person. He called out, “Shlomo, Shlomo!” Rashi answered, “Here I am, here I am,” but the minister could not see him. He only heard his voice. He called out to him several times: “Rashi, Rashi!” And Rashi said, “Here I am.” But the minister couldn’t see him.
The minister was bewildered and went outside. He found Rashi’s student and asked him to go. Rashi was called, and it was promised and sworn that nothing bad would happen to him. Rashi agreed to come before the minister, and the minister received him with great honor. The minister said to him, “I see you are a wise and holy man. I seek your advice. I have 100,000 horsemen and 200 large ships, and I have another 7,000 horsemen. I want to go to Jerusalem to wage war and conquer that city. Don’t fear me. I seek your advice. Tell me what you think.”
Rashi answered him briefly: “You should know that you will conquer the city of Jerusalem, and you will rule over it for three days. On the fourth day, the Muslims will chase you out, and you will run away. You will come back to France with three horses.” The minister was not too happy with that kind of report. He told Rashi, “If it’s true and you’re correct that I will come back with three horses, let it be so. If not, I will feed your flesh to the dogs and kill every Jew in France.” Then he left.
And so it was. The minister went and waged war on Jerusalem. Exactly as Rashi said, it happened: he ruled over Jerusalem for three days, and on the fourth day, the Muslims chased him out. Besides his own horse, he had three more horses with their riders. He thought to himself, “Now I’m going to take my revenge against Rashi, because I have four horses, not three horses like Rashi said.” But Hashem foiled his plan, and a miracle happened: when he entered the city, a stone fell from the ancient wall onto one of the horsemen and killed him. At the end of the day, exactly as Rashi said, he returned with three horses.
When he entered the city, before going home, he went to Rashi’s Beit Midrash to bow down to the holy man. But Rashi had already passed away. Rashi left behind three daughters and no sons. The oldest was associated with Rabbi Meir, who had the Rashbam, Rabbeinu Tam, and Rivam, who were Rashi’s grandchildren. The second daughter married Rabbi Yehudah ben Natan, who passed away at a young age. The third daughter married Rabbeinu Ephraim, who was a very, very great hacham (sage).