Walk in the Light & Twenty-three Tales Walk in the Light & Twenty-three Tales LEO TOLSTOY Translated from the Russian by Louise and Aylmer Mau Translated from the Russian by Louise and Aylmer Maude Please share a link to this e-book with your friends. Feel free to post and share links to this e-book, or you may e-mail or print this book in its entirety or in part, but please do not alter it in any way, and please do not post or offer copies of this e-book for download on another website or through another Internet-based download service. If you wish to make multiple hard copies for wider distribution, or to reprint portions in a newsletter or periodical, please observe the following restrictions: • You may not reproduce it for commercial gain. • You must include this credit line: “Copyright 2011 by The Plough Publishing House. Used with permission.” Walk in the Light While There is Light andTwenty-Three Tales were translated from the Russian by Louise and Aylmer Maude. Cover art (wood cut of Tolstoy) by Karl Mahr,  for Gemeinschafts-Verlag Eberhard Arnold, Sannerz/Leipzig. This e-book is a publication of The Plough Publishing House, Rifton, NY 12471 USA (www.plough.com) and Robertsbridge, East Sussex, TN32 5DR, UK (www.ploughbooks.co.uk) Copyright © 2011 by Plough Publishing House Rifton, NY 12471 USA C ontents Walk in the Light While There Is Light A Talk among Leisured People ................................................2 Walk in the Light While There Is Light ..............................6 Twenty-three Tales Part i Tales for Children......................................................... 51 God Sees the Truth, but Waits ............................................ 52 A Prisoner in the Caucasus................................................... 59 The Bear-Hunt ...................................................................... 82 Part i i Popular Stories .......................................................... 90 What Men Live By ................................................................. 91 A Spark Neglected Burns the House .................................110 Two Old Men ........................................................................ 123 Where Love Is, God Is ..........................................................143 Part iii A Fairy Tale .................................................................154 The Story of Ivan the Fool.................................................. 155 Part iv Stories Written to Pictures .................................... 179 Evil Allures, but Good Endures ........................................ 180 Little Girls Wiser than Men ............................................. 183 Ilyas......................................................................................... 185 Part v Folktales Retold ........................................................ 190 The Three Hermits ................................................................ 191 C o n t e n t s iv The Imp and the Crust ....................................................... 197 How Much Land Does a Man Need? .................................. 201 A Grain as Big as a Hen’s Egg .............................................. 215 The Godson ..........................................................................218 The Repentant Sinner ......................................................... 234 The Empty Drum ................................................................. 237 Part vi Adaptations from the French ..................................244 The Coffeehouse of Surat ................................................. 245 Too Dear! ..............................................................................252 Part vii Stories Given to Aid the Persecuted Jews ............ 256 Esarhaddon, King of Assyria ............................................. 257 Work, Death, and Sickness: A Legend .............................. 262 Three Questions ................................................................. 265 Wa l k I n t h e L i g h t Wa l k i n t h e L i g h t W h i l e T h e r e I s L i g h t A Talk am on g L e i s u re d Peo pl e An Introduction to the Story that Follows Some guests assembled at a wealthy house one day happened to start a serious conversation about life. They spoke of people present and absent, but failed to fnd anyone who was satisfed with his life. Not only could no one boast of happiness, but not a single person considered that he was living as a Christian should do. All confessed that they were living worldly lives con­ cerned only for themselves and their families, none of them thinking of their neighbors, still less of God. So said all the guests, and all agreed in blaming themselves for living god­ less and unchristian lives. “Then why do we live so?” exclaimed a youth. “Why do we do what we ourselves disapprove of? Have we no power to change our way of life? We ourselves admit that we are ruined by our luxury, our effeminacy, our riches, and above all by our pride –our separation from our fellow men. To be noble and rich we have to deprive ourselves of all that gives man joy. We crowd into towns, become effeminate, ruin our health, and in spite of all our amusements we die of ennui, and of regrets that our life is not what it should be. “Why do we live so? Why do we spoil our lives and all the good that God gives us? I don’t want to live in that old way! I will abandon the studies I have begun– they would only bring me to the same tormenting life of which we are all now complaining. I will renounce my property and go to the country and live among the poor. I will work with them, will learn to labor with my hands, and if my education is of any use to the poor I will share it with them, not through institutions and books but directly by living with them in a brotherly way. “Yes, I have made up my mind,” he added, looking inquiringly at his fa­ ther, who was also present. “Your wish is a worthy one,” said his father, “but thoughtless and ill-con­ sidered. It seems so easy to you only because you do not know life. There A Ta l k A m o n g L e i s u r e d Pe o p l e 3 are many things that seem to us good, but the execution of what is good is complicated and diffcult. It is hard enough to walk well on a beaten track, but it is harder still to lay out a new one. New paths are made only by men who are thoroughly mature and have mastered all that is attainable by man. It seems to you easy to make new paths of life only because you do not yet understand life. It is an outcome of thoughtlessness and youthful pride. We old folk are needed to moderate your impulsiveness and guide you by our experience, and you young folk should obey us in order to proft by that experience. Your active life lies before you. You are now growing up and developing. Finish your education, make yourself thoroughly conversant with things, get on to your own feet, have frm convictions of your own, and then start a new life if you feel you have strength to do so. But for the present you should obey those who are guiding you for your own good, and not try to open up new paths of life.” The youth was silent and the older guests agreed with what the father had said. “You are right,” said a middle-aged married man, turning to the youth’s father. “It is true that the lad, lacking experience of life, may blunder when seeking new paths of life and his decision cannot be a frm one. But you know we all agreed that our life is contrary to our conscience and does not give us happiness. So we cannot but recognize the justice of wishing to escape from it. “The lad may mistake his fancy for a reasonable deduction, but I, who am no longer young, tell you for myself that as I listened to the talk this evening the same thought occurred to me. It is plain to me that the life I now live cannot give me peace of mind or happiness. Experience and reason alike show me that. Then what am I waiting for? We struggle from morning to night for our families, but it turns out that we and our families live ungodly lives and get more and more sunk in sins. We work for our families, but our families are no better off, because we are not doing the right thing for them. And so I often think that it would be better if I changed my whole way of life and did just what that young man proposed to do: ceased to bother about my wife and children and began to think about my soul. Not for nothing did Paul say: ‘He that is married careth how he may please his wife, but he that is unmarried careth how he may please the Lord.’” But before he had fnished speaking his wife and all the women present began to attack him. “You ought to have thought about that before,” said an elderly woman. Wa l k I n t h e L i g h t A Ta l k A m o n g L e i s u r e d Pe o p l e 4 “You have put on the yoke, so you must draw your load. Like that, everyone will say he wishes to go off and save his soul when it seems hard to him to sup­ port and feed his family. That is false and cowardly. No! A man should be able to live in godly fashion with his family. Of course it would be easy enough to save your own soul all by yourself. But to behave like that would be to run contrary to Christ’s teaching. God bade us love others; but in that way you would in His name offend others. No. A married man has his defnite obliga­ tions and he must not shirk them.It’s different when your family are already on their own feet. But no one has a right to force his family.” But the man who had spoken did not agree. “I don’t want to abandon my family,” he said. “All I say is that my family should not be brought up in a worldly fashion, nor brought up to live for their own pleasure, as we have just been saying, but should be brought up from their early days to become accustomed to privation, to labor, to the service to others, and above all to live a brotherly life with all men. And for that we must relinquish our riches and distinctions.” “There is no need to upset others while you yourself do not live a godly life,” exclaimed his wife irritably. “You yourself lived for your own pleasure when you were young, then why do you want to torment your children and your family? Let them grow up quietly, and later on let them do as they please without coercion from you!” Her husband was silent, but an elderly man, who was there spoke up for him. “Let us admit,” he said, “that a married man, having accustomed his family to a certain comfort, cannot suddenly deprive them of it. It is true that when you have begun to educate your children it is better to fnish it than to break up everything– especially as the children when they grow up will choose the path they con­ sider best for themselves. I agree that for a family man it is diffcult and even impossible to change his way of life without sinning. But for us old men it is what God commands. Let me say for myself: I am now living without any obligations, and to tell the truth, simply for my belly. I eat, drink, rest, and am disgusting and revolting even to myself. So it is time for me to give up such a life, to give away my property, and at least before I die to live a while as God bids a Christian live.” But the others did not agree with the old man. His niece and godchild was present, to all of whose children he had stood sponsor and gave presents on holidays. His son was also there. They both protested. “No,” said the son, “You worked in your time, and it is time for you to rest Wa l k I n t h e L i g h t