Zlateh the Goat

“Zlateh the Goat” by Isaac Bashevis Singer (first published in 1966) is a folktale that follows a family and its goat during hard times. Singer wrote the story, which Maurice Sendak illustrated, to entertain and to teach the following moral: “We must accept all that God gives us—heat, cold, hunger, satisfaction, light, and darkness” (419).

Other works by this author include The Magician of Lublin, The Slave, and Gimpel the Fool.

This study guide references the Holt-McDougal edition.

The story takes place in an unknown village in Eastern Europe. The protagonist, Aaron, and deuteragonist, Zlateh, live outside of town in a small village. The exposition introduces Reuven, a furrier and the family patriarch; his wife, Leah; their daughters, Anna and Miriam; their eldest child, Aaron; and their beloved family goat, Zlateh.

Singer, a Hasidic Jewish man and the son of a rabbi, intertwines his Yiddish culture into his writing. He initially highlights internal and external conflicts concerning faith during hardship and human interaction with nature: “At Hanukkah time the road from the village to the town is usually covered with snow, but this year the winter had been a mild one” (414).