GIMPEL THE FOOL
301
is
coming to Frampol; Gimpel, the moon fell down in Turbeen;
Gimpel, little Hodl Furpiece found a treasure behind the bathhouse."
And I like a Golem believed everyone. In the first place, everything
is
possible, as it is written
in
the Wisdom of the Fathers, I've for–
gotten just how. Second, I had to believe when the whole town came
down on me!
If
I ever dared to say, "Ah, you're kidding!" there
was trouble. People got angry. "What do you mean! You want to
call
everyone a liar?" What was I to do? I believed them, and I hope
at least that did them some good.
I was an orphan. My grandfather who brought me up was al–
ready bent toward the grave. So they turned me over to a baker, and
what a time they gave me there! Every woman or girl who came to
bake a pan of cookies or dry a batch of noodles had to fool me at
least once. "Gimpel, there's a fair in heaven; Gimpel, the rabbi gave
birth to a calf
in
the seventh month. A cow flew over the roof and
laid brass eggs." A student from the Yeshivah came once to buy a
roll, and he said: "You Gimpel, while you stand here scraping with
your baker's shovel the Messiah has come. The dead have arisen."
"What do you mean?" I said. "I heard no one blow the ram's horn!"
He said, "Are you deaf?" And all began to cry: "We heard it, we
heard!" Then
in
came Reitze the candle-dipper and called out
in
her hoarse voice, "Gimpel, your father and mother have stood up
from the grave. They're looking for you." To tell the truth, I knew
very well that nothing of the sort had happened, but all the same
while folks were talking, I threw on my wool vest and went out. May–
be something had happened. What did I stand to lose by looking?
Well, what a cat-music of jeers went up. And then I took a vow to
believe nothing more. But that was no go either. They confused me
so
that I didn't know the big end from the small.
I went to the rabbi to get some advice. He said: "It
is
written,
better to be a fool all your days than for one hour to be evil. You
are
not a fool. They are the fools. For he who causes
his
neighbor
to feel shame loses paradise himself." Nevertheless, the rabbi's daugh–
ter took me in.
As
I left the rabbinical court she said, "Have you
kissed the wall yet?" I said, "No, what for?" She answered, "It's a
law, you've got to do
it
after every visit." Well, there didn't seem
to
be
any harm
in
it. And she burst out laughing. It was a fine
trick.
She put one over on me, all right.
