mobico:
“LF, the earliest source for this is the Yalkut Me’am Lo’ez, written about 500 years ago. There is no Midrashic account of…”
Sorry, I don’t really recall when Yalkut was written. He CERTAINLY did not make up stuff. He’s quoting Tana’im. As far as your mocking the “inspiration for the ubiquitous kindergarten project seen this time of year”, Medrash (Medrash Rabbah, Tanchuma) writes it. Read. Learn. Have you learned the WHOLE Torah to know if it’s NOT there?