Two Chelm Stories

Two Chelm Stories

Isaac Bashevis Singer’s earliest Chelm stories appeared in English as part of his first collection for children, Zlateh the Goat (1966), illustrated by Maurice Sendak, who was then already known as an author and illustrator of children's literature.

The collection contains three stories set in Chelm—a legendary Jewish town or shtetl known for the foolishness of its sages—inaugurating Singer into a tradition of Yiddish storytelling that included Y. L. Peretz, Leyb Kvitko, Shloyme Bastomski, Menahem Kipnis, and J. J. Trunk, among others. Singer composed a handful of additional Chelm tales for his followup children’s book, When Shlemiel Went to Warsaw (1968), illustrated by Margot Zemach. Singer published another English-language book, The Fools of Chelm and Their History (1973), illustrated by Uri Shulevitz, which presented a folkloristic take on modern history, and included many of these stories in his unillustrated collection, Stories for Children (1984), which featured most of his writing for young readers.

Read “The Political Economy of Chelm” here and “The Rise and Fall of King Vaizatha of Chelm or How Chelm Remained Penniless” here. The full introduction to these new translations can be read here.