When Shlemiel Went to Warsaw (Yiddish: ווען שלימואל איז געגאנגען קיין ווארשע) is a short story by Isaac Bashevis Singer from his cycle about the Wise Men of Chełm.
[2] The book contains eight stories: "Shrewd Todie and Lyzer the Miser"; "Tsirtsur and Peziza" (original 1967 title: A mayse vegn shretelekh un grilen); "Rabbi Leib and the Witch Cunegunde" (Yiddish title: R. Leyb Sore's un di makhsheyfe Kunegunde, 1967); "The Elders of Chelm and Genendel's Key"; "Shlemiel, the Businessman"; "Utzel and His Daughter Poverty"; "Menaseh's Dream" (Yiddih title: Der plats, 1967), and "When Shlemiel went to Warsaw".
When he is going to continue his journey, the city elders persuade him to stay until the "other" Shlemiel returns, to take care of the "other" family.
The early print of this story may be found in the 1887 book Der Khelemer khokhlem by an obscure writer Herts Bik.
Village of Idiots is a 1999 Canadian short animated comedy Jelena Sitar Cvetko created the puppet performance "When Shlemiel went to Warsaw" ("Kako je Šlemil šel v Varšavo"), Puppet Theatre Maribor, Slovenia,[6][7] for which she earned the award for the best direction at the 2014 International Puppetry Festival (Međunarodni festival lutkarstva).