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Short Fiction ▾
contents
  1. The Raid
  2. The Wood-Felling
  3. Recollections of a Scorer
  4. Sevastopol
  5. Meeting a Moscow Acquaintance in the Detachment
  6. The Snowstorm
  7. A Russian Proprietor
  8. Lucerne
  9. Albert
  10. Two Hussars
  11. Three Deaths
  12. Family Happiness
  13. Polikoúshka
  14. The Porcelain Doll209
  15. The Decembrists
  16. Adaptations and Imitations of Hindu Fables
  17. From the New Speller214
  18. The Great Bear
  19. The Foundling
  20. The Peasant and the Cucumbers
  21. The Fire
  22. The Old Horse
  23. How I Learned to Ride
  24. The Willow
  25. Búlka
  26. Búlka and the Wild Boar
  27. Pheasants
  28. Milton and Búlka
  29. The Turtle
  30. Búlka and the Wolf
  31. What Happened to Búlka in Pyatigórsk
  32. Búlka’s and Milton’s End
  33. The Gray Hare
  34. Ermák
  35. Natural Science Stories
  36. A Prisoner in the Caucasus
  37. God Sees the Truth, but Waits
  38. The Bear-Hunt222
  39. What Men Live By “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not abideth in death.” 1 John 3:14 “Whoso hath the world’s goods, and beholdeth his brother in need, and shutteth up his compassion from him, how doth the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither with the tongue; but in deed and truth.” 3:17–18 “Love is of God; and everyone that loveth is begotten of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” 4:7–8 “No man hath beheld God at any time; if we love one another, God abideth in us.” 4:12 “God is love; and he that abideth in love abideth in God, and God abideth in him.” 4:16 “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar; for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” 4:20
  40. Memoirs of a Lunatic
  41. A Spark Neglected Burns the House “Then came Peter, and said to him, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? until seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times; but, Until seventy times seven. Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would make a reckoning with his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. But forasmuch as he had not wherewith to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And the lord of that servant, being moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt. But that servant went out, and found one of his fellow-servants, which owed him a hundred pence: and he laid hold on him, and took him by the throat saying, Pay what thou owest. So his fellow-servant fell down and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee. And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay that which was due. So when his fellow-servants saw what was done, they were exceeding sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. Then his lord called him unto him, and saith to him, Thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou besoughtest me: shouldest not thou also have had mercy on thy fellow-servant, even as I had mercy on thee? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due. So shall also my heavenly Father do unto you, if ye forgive not every one his brother from your hearts.” Matthew 18:21–35
  42. Two Old Men
  43. Where Love Is, God Is
  44. The Story of Iván the Fool And of his two brothers, Simon the Soldier and Tarás the Stout; and of his dumb sister Martha, and of the old Devil and the three little imps.
  45. Evil Allures, but Good Endures
  46. Little Girls Wiser Than Men
  47. Ilyás
  48. Croesus and Solon
  49. The Three Hermits An Old Legend Current in the Volga District “And in praying use not vain repetitions, as the Gentiles do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask Him.” Matthew 6:7–8
  50. The Imp and the Crust
  51. How Much Land Does a Man Need?
  52. A Grain as Big as a Hen’s Egg
  53. The Godson “Ye have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, but I say unto you, Resist not him that is evil.” Matthew 5:38–39 “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” Romans 12:19
  54. The Repentant Sinner “And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:42–43
  55. The Candle “Ye have heard that it hath been said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth: but I say unto you, That ye resist not evil.” Matthew 5:38–39
  56. The Death of Ivan Ilyitch
  57. Kholstomír
  58. Walk in the Light While There Is Light
  59. The Kreutzer Sonata But I say unto you, that everyone that looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. Matthew 5:28 The disciples said unto him, If the case of the man is so with his wife, it is not expedient to marry. But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, but they to whom it is given. Matthew 19:10–11
  60. The Devil But I say unto you, that everyone that looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. And if thy right eye causeth thee to stumble, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not thy whole body be cast into hell. And if thy right hand causeth thee to stumble, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not thy whole body go into hell. Matthew 5:28–30
  61. Françoise (Tolstoy’s Adaptation of a Story by Guy de Maupassant)
  62. The Empty Drum (A Folktale Long Current in the Region of the Volga)
  63. A Dialogue Among Clever People
  64. The Coffeehouse of Surat (After Bernardin de Saint-Pierre.)
  65. The Young Tsar
  66. Master and Man
  67. Three Parables
  68. Too Dear! (Tolstoy’s adaptation of a story by Guy de Maupassant.)
  69. Father Sergius
  70. The Overthrow of Hell and Its Restoration
  71. Three Questions
  72. After the Dance
  73. Esarhaddon, King of Assyria306
  74. Work, Death, and Sickness
  75. Alyosha the Pot
  76. The Posthumous Papers of the Hermit, Fedor Kusmich
  77. A Prayer “Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask Him.” Matthew 6:8
  78. Kornéy Vasílyef
  79. Strawberries
  80. Why?
  81. God’s Way and Man’s
  82. There Are No Guilty People
  83. The Wisdom of Children
  84. Two Wayfarers
  85. Khodinka332
  86. The Memoirs of a Mother
  87. Father Vasily
  88. Three Days in the Village
  89. Singing in the Village
  90. Traveller and Peasant
  91. A Talk with a Wayfarer
  92. From the Diary
  93. The Forged Coupon
  94. My Dream
  95. Endnotes
English ▾

Short Fiction

Leo Tolstoy, translated by Louise Maude, Aylmer Maude, Nathan Haskell Dole, Constance Garnett, J. D. Duff, Leo Wiener, R. S. Townsend, Hagberg Wright, Benjamin Tucker, Everyman’s Library, Vladimir Chertkov, Isabella Fyvie Mayo

free · 663,778 words · ~44 h read · first published 2003

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The Raid

A Volunteer’s Story

restoring your place…

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appears in

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thank you for reading

Short Fiction by Leo Tolstoy, translated by Louise Maude, Aylmer Maude, Nathan Haskell Dole, Constance Garnett, J. D. Duff, Leo Wiener, R. S. Townsend, Hagberg Wright, Benjamin Tucker, Everyman’s Library, Vladimir Chertkov, Isabella Fyvie Mayo. The text is in the US public domain, from the Standard Ebooks edition. Served from our own copy; read on their site for the full edition with images and typography.

First published in 2003.

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