The fools of Chelm and their history

by Isaac Bashevis Singer

Other authorsUri Shulevitz (Illustrator)
Paper Book, 1973

Call number

FICTION Singer Copy 2

Publication

New York, Farrar, Straus and Giroux [1973]

Description

Even though they were poor, the people of Chelm were content with their lives until the Council of Sages made them aware of their problems.

User reviews

LibraryThing member lilithcat
Chelm is a Polish town famous in Jewish folklore as a town of fools. One story is that G-d sent his angels to populate the earth, each with a basket of wise souls and a basket of foolish souls which they were to distribute evenly. One angel was daydreaming, and hit a tree (or a mountain, depending
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on which story you're hearing), and spilled her basket of foolish souls all in one place -- Chelm. Many stories and jokes are told about the tortured logic of the Chelm-ites.

In Singer's story, the first "sage" of Chelm called a council meeting to solve the problem of poverty and famine. He decided to go to war with a neighboring village, for no reason than that the other village thought the Chelmites fools. (It doesn't work). The story goes on from there, as one foolish thing follows another. The lost war is followed by a revolt, followed by another revolt, and so on, and then the Women's Party takes over. ;-))

Told with Singer's inimitable and sly wit, the story is enhanced by Shulevitz' delightful illustrations.
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LibraryThing member raizel
A rather dark, bitter story about war, revolution, slavery, sycophants, dictators, poverty. In other words, a humorous tale.

Similar in this library

Status

Available

Call number

FICTION Singer Copy 2

ISBN

0374324344 / 9780374324346

Barcode

30402098616263
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