Short Fiction, Leo Tolstoy [general ebook reader .txt] 📗

with our horns, and from a large one we flee. But how can I help becoming frightened? Let a branch crackle in the forest, or a leaf rustle, and I am all atremble with fear, and my heart flutters as though it wanted to jump out, and I fly as fast as I can. Again, let a hare run by, or a bird flap its wings, or a dry twig break off, and you think that it is a beast, and you run straight up against him. Or you run away from a dog and run into the hands of a man. Frequently you get frightened and run, not knowing whither, and at full speed rush down a steep hill, and get killed. We have no rest. All the evil comes from terror.”

Then the Hermit said:

“Not from hunger, not from love, not from rage, not from terror are all our sufferings, but from our bodies comes all the evil in the world. From them come hunger, and love, and rage, and terror.”

The Wolf and the Hunters

A Wolf devoured a sheep. The Hunters caught the Wolf and began to beat him. The Wolf said:

“In vain do you beat me: it is not my fault that I am gray⁠—God has made me so.”

But the Hunters said:

“We do not beat the Wolf for being gray, but for eating the sheep.”

The Two Peasants

Once upon a time two Peasants drove toward each other and caught in each other’s sleighs. One cried:

“Get out of my way⁠—I am hurrying to town.”

But the other said:

“Get out of my way, I am hurrying home.”

They quarrelled for some time. A third Peasant saw them and said:

“If you are in a hurry, back up!”

The Peasant and the Horse

A Peasant went to town to fetch some oats for his Horse. He had barely left the village, when the Horse began to turn around, toward the house. The Peasant struck the Horse with his whip. She went on, and kept thinking about the Peasant:

“Whither is that fool driving me? He had better go home.”

Before reaching town, the Peasant saw that the Horse trudged along through the mud with difficulty, so he turned her on the pavement; but the Horse began to turn back from the street. The Peasant gave the Horse the whip, and jerked at the reins; she went on the pavement, and thought:

“Why has he turned me on the pavement? It will only break my hoofs. It is rough underfoot.”

The Peasant went to the shop, bought the oats, and drove home. When he came home, he gave the Horse some oats. The Horse ate them and thought:

“How stupid men are! They are fond of exercising their wits on us, but they have less sense than we. What did he trouble himself about? He drove me somewhere. No matter how far we went, we came home in the end. So it would have been better if we had remained at home from the start: he could have been sitting on the oven, and I eating oats.”

The Two Horses

Two Horses were drawing their carts. The Front Horse pulled well, but the Hind Horse kept stopping all the time. The load of the Hind Horse was transferred to the front cart; when all was transferred, the Hind Horse went along with ease, and said to the Front Horse:

“Work hard and sweat! The more you try, the harder they will make you work.”

When they arrived at the tavern, their master said:

“Why should I feed two Horses, and haul with one only? I shall do better to give one plenty to eat, and to kill the other: I shall at least have her hide.”

So he did.

The Axe and the Saw

Two Peasants went to the forest to cut wood. One of them had an axe, and the other a saw. They picked out a tree, and began to dispute. One said that the tree had to be chopped, while the other said that it had to be sawed down.

A third Peasant said:

“I will easily make peace between you: if the axe is sharp, you had better chop it; but if the saw is sharp you had better saw it.”

He took the axe, and began to chop it; but the axe was so dull that it was not possible to cut with it. Then he took the saw; the saw was worthless, and did not saw. So he said:

“Stop quarrelling awhile; the axe does not chop, and the saw does not saw. First grind your axe and file your saw, and then quarrel.”

But the Peasants grew angrier still at one another, because one had a dull axe, and the other a dull saw. And they came to blows.

The Dogs and the Cook

A Cook was preparing a dinner. The Dogs were lying at the kitchen door. The Cook killed a calf and threw the guts out into the yard. The Dogs picked them up and ate them, and said:

“He is a good Cook: he cooks well.”

After awhile the Cook began to clean peas, turnips, and onions, and threw out the refuse. The Dogs made for it; but they turned their noses up, and said:

“Our Cook has grown worse: he used to cook well, but now he is no longer any good.”

But the Cook paid no attention to the Dogs, and continued to fix the dinner in his own way. The family, and not the Dogs, ate the dinner, and praised it.

The Hare and the Harrier

A Hare once said to a Harrier:

“Why do you bark when you run after us? You would catch us easier, if you ran after us in silence. With your bark you only drive us against the hunter: he hears where we are running; and he rushes out with his gun and kills us, and does not give you anything.”

The Harrier said:

“That is not the reason why I bark. I bark because, when I scent