Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share King Tumbo and Mr. Monk
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
King Tumbo and Mr. Monk
Every culture has stories of silly people, ridiculous animals, and strange beliefs. In Eastern European Jewish folklore, many of these tales of foolish folk take place in the town of Chelm. Thank goodness for Chelm. We the audience get to laugh, think, and decide how things really should be.
And of course, we all know foolish people, and foolish places. In story, and in real life. Why, near the small New Jersey shore town where I grew up, the elected officials would tell the citizenry over and over that a certain road with broken cement near the town center would be re-paved. And, of course, the citizens believed them. Each year, “It is just about to happen,” the mayor and town council would say. “Trust us!” And, year after year, there was another excuse to not pave the road. “Too expensive. Someone absconded with the money. It is not a convenient time to do this.” Every election the same people were elected. And the road was not paved. How silly was that? A whole town! Can you imagine?
This week’s story comes from Southeast Asia. It is about a very silly animal. And a very silly predicament. Now, you tell me – which animal is the silly one? Is it the monkey? I mean, what a silly creature a monkey is! Or is it another animal? The mouse, the cat, the elephant? Do you know a story of silly people, or silly animals. Email me and let me know what you think!
Enjoy!
Robin
The music from this podcast is “Before She Is Even Born – Variations on the Sher”, by Skip LaPlante, with Alice Even Cohen, Rob Kaplan, Skip LaPlante
View all episodes
By JCast NetworkEvery culture has stories of silly people, ridiculous animals, and strange beliefs. In Eastern European Jewish folklore, many of these tales of foolish folk take place in the town of Chelm. Thank goodness for Chelm. We the audience get to laugh, think, and decide how things really should be.
And of course, we all know foolish people, and foolish places. In story, and in real life. Why, near the small New Jersey shore town where I grew up, the elected officials would tell the citizenry over and over that a certain road with broken cement near the town center would be re-paved. And, of course, the citizens believed them. Each year, “It is just about to happen,” the mayor and town council would say. “Trust us!” And, year after year, there was another excuse to not pave the road. “Too expensive. Someone absconded with the money. It is not a convenient time to do this.” Every election the same people were elected. And the road was not paved. How silly was that? A whole town! Can you imagine?
This week’s story comes from Southeast Asia. It is about a very silly animal. And a very silly predicament. Now, you tell me – which animal is the silly one? Is it the monkey? I mean, what a silly creature a monkey is! Or is it another animal? The mouse, the cat, the elephant? Do you know a story of silly people, or silly animals. Email me and let me know what you think!
Enjoy!
Robin
The music from this podcast is “Before She Is Even Born – Variations on the Sher”, by Skip LaPlante, with Alice Even Cohen, Rob Kaplan, Skip LaPlante