The author of classic Yiddish novels and short stories, Sholem Aleichem -- best known for having inspired the popular play, Fiddler on the Roof, evokes the voices of Yiddish speakers in these monologues written between 1901 and 1916. In each piece, a man or a woman comes forward to tell the story. The implied listeners -- a rabbi, a doctor, or the author himself -- says virtually nothing. Aleichem pretends to have transcribed these private performances for the reader's benefit.