There are several distinct, although overlapping categories of fool as a

stock character A stock character, also known as a character archetype, is a fictional character in a work of art such as a novel, play, or a film whom audiences recognize from frequent recurrences in a particular literary tradition. There is a wide range of st ...

creative works A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, and composition. Legal definitions Creative works require a cr ...

(literature, film, etc.) and

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

: simpleton fool, clever fool, and serendipitous fool.

Silly fool

A silly, stupid, simpleton, luckless fool is a butt of numerous jokes and tales all over the world. Sometimes the foolishness is ascribed to a whole place, as exemplified by the

Wise Men of Gotham Wise Men of Gotham is the early name given to the people of the village of Gotham, Nottinghamshire, in allusion to an incident where they supposedly feigned idiocy to avoid a Royal visit. Legend The story goes that King John intended to travel ...

. The localizing of fools is common to most countries, and there are many other reputed imbecile centres in England besides Gotham. Thus there are the people of

Coggeshall Coggeshall ( or ) is a small town in Essex, England, between Colchester and Braintree on the Roman road Stane Street and the River Blackwater. It has almost 300 listed buildings and a market whose charter was granted in 1256 by Henry III. ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, the "carles" of

Austwick Austwick is a village and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England, about north-west of Settle. The village is on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Before local government reorganisation in 1974, Austwick ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

, the "gowks" of Gordon,

Berwickshire Berwickshire ( gd, Siorrachd Bhearaig) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in south-eastern Scotland, on the English border. Berwickshire County Council existed from 1890 until 1975, when the area became part of th ...

, and for many centuries the charge of folly has been made against silly

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

and

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

(''Descriptio Norfolciensium'' about twelfth century, printed in Wright's ''Early Mysteries and other Latin Poems''). In

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

there are the " Schildbürger", from the fictitious town of "Schilda"; in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, the people of Kampen; in

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

, the people of Kocourkov; and in

Moravia Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The me ...

the people of Šimperk. There are also the Swedish Täljetokar from

Södertälje Södertälje ( , ) is a Urban areas in Sweden, city in Södermanland and Stockholm County, Sweden and seat of Södertälje Municipality. As of 2017, it has 72,704 inhabitants. Södertälje is located at Mälarens confluence in to the Baltic Sea ...

and Kälkborgare from Kälkestad, and the

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

tell tales of the foolish inhabitants of the ''Molboland''. In

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

, the people of Galicia are the butt of many jokes. In Spain, the people of Lepe, a town in Andalusia, follow a similar fate. Among the

ancient Greeks Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cultu ...

Boeotia Boeotia ( ), sometimes Latinized as Boiotia or Beotia ( el, Βοιωτία; modern: ; ancient: ), formerly known as Cadmeis, is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Central Greece. Its capital is Livadeia, and its lar ...

was the home of fools; among the

Thracians The Thracians (; grc, Θρᾷκες ''Thrāikes''; la, Thraci) were an Indo-European languages, Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe in ancient history.. ...

, Abdera; among the ancient

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

Nazareth Nazareth ( ; ar, النَّاصِرَة, ''an-Nāṣira''; he, נָצְרַת, ''Nāṣəraṯ''; arc, ܢܨܪܬ, ''Naṣrath'') is the largest city in the Northern District of Israel. Nazareth is known as "the Arab capital of Israel". In ...

; among modern Jews,

Chełm Chełm (; uk, Холм, Kholm; german: Cholm; yi, כעלם, Khelm) is a city in southeastern Poland with 60,231 inhabitants as of December 2021. It is located to the south-east of Lublin, north of Zamość and south of Biała Podlaska, some ...

; among the ancient Asiatics,

Phrygia In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; grc, Φρυγία, ''Phrygía'' ) was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. After its conquest, it became a region of the great empires ...

.G. Seal, ''Encyclopedia of folk heroes'' (ABC-CLIO, 2001), pp. 272-3

Subcategories

Jewish folklore Jewish folklore are legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales, stories, tall tales, and customs that are the traditions of Judaism. Folktales are characterized by the presence of unusual personages, by the sudd ...

Schlemiel Schlemiel ( yi, שלומיאל; sometimes spelled shlemiel or shlumiel) is a Yiddish term meaning "inept/incompetent person" or "fool". It is a common archetype in Jewish humor, and so-called "''schlemiel'' jokes" depict the ''schlemiel'' falling i ...

and Schlimazl are two popular subtypes of a fool. The following saying helps to tell them apart: a schlemiel is a man who spills hot soup on a schlimazl: the first one is clueless, while the second one is luckless. Numbskull/noodlehead stories are about well-meaning folks who take an advice too literally to their own grievance or who find the most complicated solution to the most simple problem. However, sometimes they may end with luck ("serendipitous fool"). These can vary from an absent-minded professor (a stock character in itself) to Jack from ''

Jack and the Beanstalk "Jack and the Beanstalk" is an English fairy tale. It appeared as "The Story of Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean" in 1734 4th edition On Commons and as Benjamin Tabart's moralized "The History of Jack and the Bean-Stalk" in 1807. Henry Cole ...

'' who exchanged a cow for a bean. In that, numbskull stories overlap with

trickster In mythology and the study of folklore and religion, a trickster is a character in a story (god, goddess, spirit, human or anthropomorphisation) who exhibits a great degree of intellect or secret knowledge and uses it to play tricks or otherwi ...

stories, where a numbskull is often a "mark" (victim) for a trickster.

Wise and clever fools

Many tales are based on the idea that a simple nature of a fool is a guise of wisdom, or even the wisdom itself. On the other hand, the mask of a fool may be used to utter wise but unpleasant truths. Some classify jesters into two categories: "natural fools" (people who lacked social awareness and could occasionally utter the truth simply being unaware of social conventions) and "licensed fools" (often picked to be jester for their physical handicap, and telling the truth was simply part of their "job description"). In addition to jesters, naturally stupid people gave rise to other categories of respected fools, such as

holy fool Foolishness for Christ ( el, διά Χριστόν σαλότητα, cu, оуродъ, юродъ) refers to behavior such as giving up all one's worldly possessions upon joining an ascetic order or religious life, or deliberately flouting soci ...

, e.g., ''

yurodivy Foolishness for Christ ( el, διά Χριστόν σαλότητα, cu, оуродъ, юродъ) refers to behavior such as giving up all one's worldly possessions upon joining an ascetic order or religious life, or deliberately flouting socie ...

'' in Russian tradition,

avadhuta ''Avadhūta'' ( IAST ', written as अवधूत) is a Sanskrit term from the root 'to shake' (see V. S. Apte and Monier-Williams) that, among its many uses, in some Indian religions indicates a type of mystic or saint who is beyond egoic-cons ...

in some Indian religions, and other manifestations of "

crazy wisdom Divine madness, also known as ''theia mania'' and crazy wisdom, refers to unconventional, outrageous, unexpected, or unpredictable behavior linked to religious or spiritual pursuits. Examples of divine madness can be found in Hellenism, Christia ...

" in various cultures.

Serendipitous fool

In scenarios of this kind a simpleton, a laughing stock in the end wins big, usually a princess or a kingdom, or wealth, or all the above.

Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among the ...

have three tales of a lucky simpleton. ''

The Queen Bee "The Queen Bee" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in Grimm's Fairy Tales (KHM 62). It is of Aarne-Thompson type 554 ("The Grateful Animals"). Synopsis Two sons of a king went out to seek their fortunes, but fell into disorde ...

'', ''

The Three Languages "The Three Languages" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale number 33. It is Aarne-Thompson type 671. Origins The tale was collected by the Brothers Grimm from a man named Hans Truffer from Visp. The tale was included in ...

'' and ''

The Three Feathers "The Three Feathers" (''Die drei Federn'') is a story by the Brothers Grimm, in their ''Kinder- und Hausmärchen''. It is KHM nr. 63. It is classified as Aarne–Thompson–Uther ATU 402, "The Animal Bride". A second variant of the tale also col ...

''. In these the fool gets help from animals.Stock Figures in Jewish Folklore: Universal Yet Uniquely Jewish
by Solveig Eggerz (retrieved January 24, 2014) The luck of the Russian folk character ''

Ivan the Fool Ivan the Fool () or Ivan the Ninny is a lucky fool stock character who appears in Russian folklore, a very simple-minded, but, nevertheless, lucky young man. Ivan is described as a likeable fair-haired and blue-eyed youth. The approximate se ...

'' comes from his simplicity.

Heroes, villains and fools

While some characters are archetypal fools, at the same time, the coordinates "

hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or a main fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or Physical strength, strength. Like other formerly gender-specific terms (like ...

villain A villain (also known as a "black hat" or "bad guy"; the feminine form is villainess) is a stock character, whether based on a historical narrative or one of literary fiction. ''Random House Unabridged Dictionary'' defines such a character a ...

/fool may be seen as major measures of any character. Sometimes these traits mix or boundaries are blurred."Orrin Edgar Klapp, "Heroes, Villains, and Fools: The Changing American Character", 1962

Archetypal foolish persons

of Russian folklore *, Polish version of Ivan the Fool *

Hloupý Honza Honza is a very common Czech name which may be informally used interchangeably with Jan ( en, John). It comes from German Johann(es) → Hans → Honza. Possible diminutives are Honzík or Honzíček. In Czech every Jan can be called Honza. ...

, Czech

Archetypal foolish groups

Fools of Chelm The tradition of humor in Judaism dates back to the Torah and the Midrash from the ancient Middle East, but generally refers to the more recent stream of verbal and often anecdotal humor of Ashkenazi Jews which took root in the United States ove ...

Wise men of Gotham Wise Men of Gotham is the early name given to the people of the village of Gotham, Nottinghamshire, in allusion to an incident where they supposedly feigned idiocy to avoid a Royal visit. Legend The story goes that King John intended to travel ...

* Molboers * Hölmöläiset

Racist and other discriminative joke series

Blonde joke Blonde jokes are a joke cycle based on a stereotype of a dumb blonde woman. These jokes about people, generally women, who have blonde hair serve as a form of blonde versus brunette rivalry. They are often considered to be derogatory as many are m ...

s *

Sardarji jokes Sardarji jokes or Sardar jokes are a class of ethnic jokes based on stereotypes of Sikhs (who use the title of "Sardar", with -ji being an honorific). Although jokes about other ethnic and linguistic communities are found in various regions of I ...

* Polish jokes *

East Frisian jokes In German humour, East Frisian jokes (german: Ostfriesenwitz) belong to the group of riddle jokes about certain nationalities, in this case the East Frisians of northern Germany. The basic structure of these jokes takes the form of a simple q ...