Gimpel the Fool (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Isaac Bashevis Singer
- First Published: 1945
- Type of Plot: Fable
- Time of Work: The early twentieth century
- Setting: Frampol, Poland
- Principal Characters: Gimpel, Elka, The Spirit of Evil
- Genres: Fable, Short fiction
- Subjects: Marriage, Jews or Jewish life, Adultery, Death or dying, Faith, Bereavement or grief, Orphans or orphanages, Naivete
- Locales: Poland
The Story
Gimpel, who has had the reputation of being a fool since his school days, is the narrator of his own story. He relates how the other children used to tease and play tricks on him, and how, because he did not want to endure their taunts when he expressed disbelief in what they said, he made the decision to believe them—in the hope, as he says, that it would do them some good.
An orphan, Gimpel was apprenticed to a baker, and all of his customers continued to tease him by telling him outlandish things that had supposedly happened. Gimpel says that he knew the...
[The entire page is 1447 words long]
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