It wasn't foolish. Now you know. Take the motor off so you can remove the pull starter. Rotate the pulley to see if it retracts on it's own. If it don't, the spring is probably broken. You can take the spring out and look at it. If just the end of it broke off, you might be able to put a bend in the end and secure it back into the slot that it fits in and rewind it. (of which is going to be a challenge and you'll wish you had 3 hands.) Then you can put the rope back on and "try" to put it back together. If all this is more than you can do, look on Ebay for a new one. Pull starters are usually less than $30 depending on what motor. Good luck. And when you put your motor back on, put a piece of printer paper between the gears, hold them snug together, and tighten the motor mount bolts to get the proper distance between the gears.
