Meet the Town of Helm
Posted By Randy on January 5, 2011
Among the most famous folk stories ever written down are those that involve the people who live in the remote Polish town of Helm (sometimes spelled “Chelm”). Famous or not, there will still be some of you who have never heard of the place, let alone its impressive inhabitants, so I’m about to fix that.
First off, let’s get the pronunciation down. To properly speak the name of Helm you need to pronounce the “H” correctly. If you do it like you’re preparing your throat to hawk a loogie, and then stick the “elm” on the back side, you’ll pretty much have it.
The citizens of Helm, who are referred to as Helmites, are so interesting because they believe themselves wise, and thereby commit an error in judgement that persistently blinds them to the fact that they’re actually world class idiots.
In the introductory chapter to his bottomlessly entertaining book The Wise Men of Helm & Their Merry Tales, which you can enjoy simply by clicking the title, Solomon Simon sets the stage for getting to know the Helmites better:
“There was that winter, for instance,a cold, bitter winter, when the Helmites had no fire-wood to warm their homes. They suffered much through the long months, and, determined that such a thing should never again happen in Helm, the very next year they built a high brick wall all around the town to keep out the cold.”
I invite you to explore the lore of Helm, and as part of the ride you’ll no doubt also enjoy the adventures of a Helmite named Shmendrik in the 1999 National Film Board of Canada production of Village of Idiots, a John Lazarus adaptation of a Jewish folk tale. Mrs. LFM and I particularly enjoyed Shmendrik’s direction finding strategy.
What a great little story..thoroughly enjoyed. I especially liked the detailed cartooning, like the steam off the food, flys on the cow and the house scene where a plate is placed on the table and the outer wall is left unfinished, just showing us a window so as to draw attention to the table and one of the children. Cleverly drawn ! And yes, I could see me taking that direction after a sleep !
[…] two years ago I wrote about a wonderful piece of work by Solomon Simon called The Wise Men of Helm & Their Merry Tales. I recommend you go there now and watch the hilarious film adaptation made by the National Film […]