What Men Live By and Other Tales
By Leo Tolstoy
()
About this ebook
This collection of four stories by Leo Tolstoy was published in 1885, a few years after his religious conversion to radical non-violent Christianity, and the stories reflect his concerns at that time.
Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy grew up in Russia, raised by a elderly aunt and educated by French tutors while studying at Kazen University before giving up on his education and volunteering for military duty. When writing his greatest works, War and Peace and Anna Karenina, Tolstoy drew upon his diaries for material. At eighty-two, while away from home, he suffered from declining health and died in Astapovo, Riazan in 1910.
Read more from Leo Tolstoy
A Calendar of Wisdom: Daily Thoughts to Nourish the Soul, Written and Se Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5War and Peace Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Death of Ivan Ilyich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Confession Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Following the Call: Living the Sermon on the Mount Together Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/550 Great Love Letters You Have To Read (Golden Deer Classics) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5War and Peace : Complete and Unabridged Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Christmas Library: 250+ Essential Christmas Novels, Poems, Carols, Short Stories...by 100+ Authors Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wise Thoughts for Every Day: On God, Love, the Human Spirit, and Living a Good Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What is Art? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tolstoy's Stories for Children Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Greatest Christmas Stories of All Time: Timeless Classics That Celebrate the Season Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Gospel in Brief: The Life of Jesus Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Big Book of Christmas Tales: 250+ Short Stories, Fairytales and Holiday Myths & Legends Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMaster and Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Death of Ivan Ilych (Complete Version, Best Navigation, Active TOC) (A to Z Classics) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thoughtful Wisdom for Every Day: 365 Days of Love, Kindness, Healing, Faith, and Peace Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings50 Beautiful Christmas Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBEST RUSSIAN SHORT STORIES Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Confession and Other Religious Writings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to What Men Live By and Other Tales
Related ebooks
What Men Live By and Other Tales Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhat Men Live By Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Clock That Lost Its Tick and Other Tales Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsS. I. Short's: Cool Water Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBeguiled Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy Wife and Mine Rod Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dark Side of Ambition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Grotto Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSimon Salamander Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHappy Deathday To You Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Adventures of Don Lavington Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIvan the Fool Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Romany Rye: A sequel to "Lavengro" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWoman Hunt Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIngheist Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTHE BRAVE SWISS BOY - A novel from Harper's Young People Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGirl from the Kip Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNo Worries Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Someday the Rabbi Will Leave Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Perfect Trouble Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsForeign Soil: And Other Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5People of Few Words - Volume 4 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAs Seen By Me Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Romany Rye Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Deadly Affair Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJimmy and the Lae Lines Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Happy Man Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Forged Coupon, and Other Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Blue Bedroom and Other Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tis the Season Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Classics For You
The Fellowship Of The Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Scarlet Letter Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5East of Eden (Original Classic Edition) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mythos Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Iliad: The Fitzgerald Translation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flowers for Algernon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bell Jar: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rebecca Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Silmarillion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Heroes: The Greek Myths Reimagined Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Warrior of the Light: A Manual Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Iliad (The Samuel Butler Prose Translation) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Learn French! Apprends l'Anglais! THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY: In French and English Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Good Man Is Hard To Find And Other Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As I Lay Dying Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jonathan Livingston Seagull: The New Complete Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gilgamesh: A New English Version Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Odyssey: (The Stephen Mitchell Translation) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Things They Carried Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Animal Farm: A Fairy Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Farewell to Arms Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sense and Sensibility (Centaur Classics) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Count of Monte-Cristo English and French Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wuthering Heights (with an Introduction by Mary Augusta Ward) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Old Man and the Sea: The Hemingway Library Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Confederacy of Dunces Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Canterbury Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for What Men Live By and Other Tales
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
What Men Live By and Other Tales - Leo Tolstoy
2017
All rights reserved
TABLE OF CONTENTS
WHAT MEN LIVE BY
THREE QUESTIONS
THE COFFEE-HOUSE OF SURAT
HOW MUCH LAND DOES A MAN NEED?
WHAT MEN LIVE BY
A shoemaker named Simon, who had neither house nor land of his own, lived with his wife and children in a peasant’s hut, and earned his living by his work. Work was cheap, but bread was dear, and what he earned he spent for food. The man and his wife had but one sheepskin coat between them for winter wear, and even that was torn to tatters, and this was the second year he had been wanting to buy sheep-skins for a new coat. Before winter Simon saved up a little money: a three-rouble note lay hidden in his wife’s box, and five roubles and twenty kopeks were owed him by customers in the village.
So one morning he prepared to go to the village to buy the sheep-skins. He put on over his shirt his wife’s wadded nankeen jacket, and over that he put his own cloth coat. He took the three-rouble note in his pocket, cut himself a stick to serve as a staff, and started off after breakfast. I’ll collect the five roubles that are due to me,
thought he, add the three I have got, and that will be enough to buy sheep-skins for the winter coat.
He came to the village and called at a peasant’s hut, but the man was not at home. The peasant’s wife promised that the money should be paid next week, but she would not pay it herself. Then Simon called on another peasant, but this one swore he had no money, and would only pay twenty kopeks which he owed for a pair of boots Simon had mended. Simon then tried to buy the sheep-skins on credit, but the dealer would not trust him.
Bring your money,
said he, then you may have your pick of the skins. We know what debt-collecting is like.
So all the business the shoemaker did was to get the twenty kopeks for boots he had mended, and to take a pair of felt boots a peasant gave him to sole with leather.
Simon felt downhearted. He spent the twenty kopeks on vodka, and started homewards without having bought any skins. In the morning he had felt the frost; but now, after drinking the vodka, he felt warm, even without a sheep-skin coat. He trudged along, striking his stick on the frozen earth with one hand, swinging the felt boots with the other, and talking to himself.
I
I’m quite warm,
said he, though I have no sheep-skin coat. I’ve had a drop, and it runs through all my veins. I need no sheep-skins. I go along and don’t worry about anything. That’s the sort of man I am! What do I care? I can live without sheep-skins. I don’t need them. My wife will fret, to be sure. And, true enough, it is a shame; one works all day long, and then does not get paid. Stop a bit! If you don’t bring that money along, sure enough I’ll skin you, blessed if I don’t. How’s that? He pays twenty kopeks at a time! What can I do with twenty kopeks? Drink it-that’s all one can do! Hard up, he says he is! So he may be—but what about me? You have a house, and cattle, and everything; I’ve only what I stand up in! You have corn of your own growing; I have to buy every grain. Do what I will, I must spend three roubles every week for bread alone. I come home and find the bread all used up, and I have to fork out another rouble and a half. So just pay up what you owe, and no nonsense about it!
By this time he had nearly reached the shrine at the bend of the road. Looking up, he saw something whitish behind the shrine. The daylight was fading, and the shoemaker peered at the thing without being able to make out what it was. There was no white stone here before. Can it be an ox? It’s not like an ox. It has a head like a man, but it’s too white; and what could a man be doing there?
He came closer, so that it was clearly visible. To his surprise it really was a man, alive or dead, sitting naked, leaning motionless against the shrine. Terror seized the shoemaker, and he thought, Some one has killed him, stripped him, and left him there. If I meddle I shall surely get into trouble.
So the shoemaker went on. He passed in front of the shrine so that he could not see the man. When he had gone some way, he looked back, and saw that the man was no longer leaning against the shrine, but was moving as if looking towards him. The shoemaker felt more frightened than before, and thought, "Shall I go back to him, or shall I go on? If I go near him something dreadful may happen. Who knows who the fellow is? He has not come here for any good. If I go near him he may jump up and throttle me, and there will be no getting away. Or if not, he’d still be a burden on one’s hands. What could I do with a naked