Ivan the Fool — Russian fairy tale character
Ivan the Fool is usually the youngest son of a peasant family. He doesn’t think before acting, and often does things randomly. Other people don’t take him seriously – at best they treat him like a fool, and at worst they push him around. Ivan the Fool doesn’t like work; he can’t manage even the simplest task, instead bringing woe upon his family or employer. Yet somehow, he always blunders through thanks to some miraculous assistance, and ends up achieving feats that not even heroes can manage.
Despite his chaotic nature, Ivan the Fool fulfills a very important role: his bungling antics provide amusement for both the other characters and the readers too, and they prove that even the slowest sometimes turn out to be the fastest. We find Ivan the Fool in stories such as “Little Ivan the Fool,” “The Humpty-Back Little Horse” and “Sivka-Burka.”