Short Fiction by Leo Tolstoy (book reader for pc TXT) π

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While perhaps best known for his novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, the Russian author and religious thinker Leo Tolstoy was also a prolific author of short fiction. This Standard Ebooks production compiles all of Tolstoyβs short stories and novellas written from 1852 up to his death, arranged in order of their original publication.
The stories in this collection vary enormously in size and scope, from short, page-length fables composed for the education of schoolchildren, to full novellas like βFamily Happiness.β Readers who are familiar with Tolstoyβs life and religious experiencesβas detailed, for example, in his spiritual memoir A Confessionβmay be able to trace the events of Tolstoyβs life through the changing subjects of these stories. Some early stories, like βThe Raidβ and the βSevastopolβ sketches, draw from Tolstoyβs experiences in the Caucasian War and the Crimean War when he served in the Imperial Russian Army, while other early stories like βRecollections of a Scorerβ and βTwo Hussarsβ reflect Tolstoyβs personal struggle with gambling addiction.
Later stories in the collection, written during and after Tolstoyβs 1870s conversion to Christian anarcho-pacifism (a spiritual and religious philosophy described in detail in his treatise The Kingdom of God is Within You), frequently reflect either Tolstoyβs own experiences in spiritual struggle (e.g. βThe Death of Ivan Ilyitchβ) or his interpretation of the New Testament (e.g. βThe Forged Couponβ), or both. Many later stories, like βThree Questionsβ and βHow Much Land Does a Man Need?β are explicitly didactic in nature and are addressed to a popular audience to promote his religious ideals and views on social and economic justice.
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- Author: Leo Tolstoy
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βYou were captured by Kazi-Mohammed,β he said, and pointed at the red-bearded Tartar. βAnd Kazi-Mohammed has given you to Abdul Murat,β pointing at the dark one. βAbdul Murat is now your master.β
ZhΓlin was silent. Then Abdul Murat began to talk, laughing, pointing to ZhΓlin, and repeating, βSoldier Russ, good Russ.β
The interpreter said, βHe orders you to write home and tell them to send a ransom, and as soon as the money comes he will set you free.β
ZhΓlin thought for a moment, and said, βHow much ransom does he want?β
The Tartars talked awhile, and then the interpreter said, βThree thousand roubles.β
βNo,β said ZhΓlin, βI canβt pay so much.β
Abdul jumped up and, waving his arms, talked to ZhΓlin, thinking, as before, that he would understand. The interpreter translated: βHow much will you give?β
ZhΓlin considered, and said, βFive hundred roubles.β At this the Tartars began speaking very quickly, all together. Abdul began to shout at the red-bearded one, and jabbered so fast that the spittle spurted out of his mouth. The red-bearded one only screwed up his eyes and clicked his tongue.
They quietened down after a while, and the interpreter said, βFive hundred roubles is not enough for the master. He paid two hundred for you himself. Kazi-Mohammed was in debt to him, and he took you in payment. Three thousand roubles! Less than that wonβt do. If you refuse to write, you will be put into a pit and flogged with a whip!β
βEh!β thought ZhΓlin, βthe more one fears them the worse it will be.β
So he sprang to his feet, and said, βYou tell that dog that if he tries to frighten me I will not write at all, and he will get nothing. I never was afraid of you dogs, and never will be!β
The interpreter translated, and again they all began to talk at once.
They jabbered for a long time, and then the dark man jumped up, came to ZhΓlin, and said: βDzhigit Russ, dzhigit Russ!β (Dzhigit in their language means βbrave.β) And he laughed, and said something to the interpreter, who translated: βOne thousand roubles will satisfy him.β
ZhΓlin stuck to it: βI will not give more than five hundred. And if you kill me youβll get nothing at all.β
The Tartars talked awhile, then sent the servant out to fetch something, and kept looking, now at ZhΓlin, now at the door. The servant returned, followed by a stout, barefooted, tattered man, who also had his leg shackled.
ZhΓlin gasped with surprise: it was KostΓlin. He, too, had been taken. They were put side by side, and began to tell each other what had occurred. While they talked, the Tartars looked on in silence. ZhΓlin related what had happened to him; and KostΓlin told how his horse had stopped, his gun missed fire, and this same Abdul had overtaken and captured him.
Abdul jumped up, pointed to KostΓlin, and said something. The interpreter translated that they both now belonged to one master, and the one who first paid the ransom would be set free first.
βThere now,β he said to ZhΓlin, βyou get angry, but your comrade here is gentle; he has written home, and they will send five thousand roubles. So he will be well fed and well treated.β
ZhΓlin replied: βMy comrade can do as he likes; maybe he is rich, I am not. It must be as I said. Kill me, if you likeβ βyou will gain nothing by it; but I will not write for more than five hundred roubles.β
They were silent. Suddenly up sprang Abdul, brought a little box, took out a pen, ink, and a bit of paper, gave them to ZhΓlin, slapped him on the shoulder, and made a sign that he should write. He had agreed to take five hundred roubles.
βWait a bit!β said ZhΓlin to the interpreter; βtell him that he must feed us properly, give us proper clothes and boots, and let us be together. It will be more cheerful for us. And he must have these shackles taken off our feet,β and ZhΓlin looked at his master and laughed.
The master also laughed, heard the interpreter, and said: βI will give them the best of clothes: a cloak and boots fit to be married in. I will feed them like princes; and if they like they can live together in the barn. But I canβt take off the shackles, or they will run away. They shall be taken off, however, at night.β And he jumped up and slapped ZhΓlin on the shoulder, exclaiming: βYou good, I good!β
ZhΓlin wrote the letter, but addressed it wrongly, so that it should not reach its destination, thinking to himself: βIβll run away!β
ZhΓlin and KostΓlin were taken back to the barn and given some maize straw, a jug of water, some bread, two old cloaks, and some worn-out military bootsβ βevidently taken from the corpses of Russian soldiers. At night their shackles were taken off their feet, and they were locked up in the barn.
IIIZhΓlin and his friend lived in this way for a whole month. The master always laughed and said: βYou, IvΓ‘n, good! I, Abdul, good!β But he fed them badly, giving them nothing but unleavened bread of millet-flour baked into flat cakes, or sometimes only unbaked dough.
KostΓlin wrote home a second time, and did nothing but mope and wait for the money to arrive. He would sit for days together in the barn sleeping, or counting the days till a letter could come.
ZhΓlin knew his letter would reach no one, and he did not write another. He thought: βWhere could my mother get enough money to ransom me? As it is she lived chiefly on what I sent her. If she had to raise five hundred roubles, she would be quite ruined. With Godβs help Iβll manage to escape!β
So he kept on the lookout, planning how to run
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