The story was first published in The Reporter on April 11, 1963, and collected in Idiots First (1963). It also appeared in A Malamud Reader (1967), The Stories of Bernard Malamud (1983), and Two Fables (1978), where it appeared along with "Talking Horse." The story was adapted for the stage at the Israeli Gesher Theater, along with other tales, under the title Schwartz and Other Animals.