1. Flatbusher – My impression was that LF was arguing with Avi, not with you. I don’t think that you and LF were contradicting each other. You are both leaning towards the idea that midrashim are meant literally.
2. Avi- The Medrash says that Vashti had a tail. It does not say that this is meant in a physical sense. That is your interpretation. A tail can be taken to mean a physical tail or it can mean a spiritual tail. In order to know which it is, you must know how to understand Midrashim. In every day language, we use the word “tail” a certain way. The Midrash is not every day language, and we have to know how to understand Midrashim.
Anytime you read anything in any discipline, you have to first understand the language being use. If you want to read a math textbook, you need to first know what the various mathematical terms mean. A particular mathematical term may have a different meaning in math than it does in every day language. Even within every day language, different terms can have different meanings in different contexts.
Certainly when we are dealing with Torah and particularly with Midrashim, we have to know the language first. We have to first study what the Rishonim and Mefarshim on Midrashim, etc. tell us about how to understand Midrashim.