Extract

I am Gimpel the Fool. I don't think myself a fool. On the contrary.

The whole town of Frampol conspires to deceive a baker named Gimpel, telling him his wife is faithful when she is not, that the rabbi has confirmed miracles that never occurred, and Gimpel believes every word because belief is the only garment his soul knows how to wear. Published in Yiddish in 1953, the story reached the wider world through Saul Bellow's English translation, where its deceptive simplicity startled readers accustomed to modernist irony. Gimpel is no simpleton; he is a man who chooses trust over suspicion, who would rather be deceived than become a deceiver. In the luminous final passage, the fool reveals himself as something closer to a saint, carrying his credulity into eternity like a lantern.