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On a freezing winter afternoon, Vasili Brekhunov, a greedy, self-satisfied village merchant, sets off by sleigh with his patient, good-natured servant Nikita…
On a freezing winter afternoon, Vasili Brekhunov, a greedy, self-satisfied village merchant, sets off by sleigh with his patient, good-natured servant Nikita to buy a grove at a bargain price before a rival can. Impatient to close the deal, he refuses to wait out a gathering snowstorm, and the two men lose their way again and again in the blizzard. As night falls and the cold closes in, the master faces a choice that will show what his life has been worth.
Context and significance
Leo Tolstoy wrote the story in 1895, in the years after his religious conversion, and it is one of the finest of his late works, a simple parable about death and love for one's neighbour. Louise and Aylmer Maude, friends of Tolstoy who lived for years in Russia, made the translation. Read also his The Kingdom of God Is Within You.
About the author
Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910), born at Yasnaya Polyana and a veteran of the Crimean War, wrote two of the summits of the novel, War and Peace and Anna Karenina.
In later life he preached simplicity and non-violence in The Kingdom of God Is Within You, a book that deeply influenced Gandhi.