Collected Shorter Fiction, Volume 1

by Leo Tolstoy

  Something was coming towards me like a whirlwind, snorting as it came; and I saw the snow flying up quite near me. I glanced straight before me, and there was the bear, rushing along the path through the thicket right at me, evidently beside himself with fear. He was hardly half a dozen paces off, and I could see the whole of him – his black chest and enormous head with a reddish patch. There he was, blundering straight at me, and scattering the snow about as he came. I could see by his eyes that he did not see me, but, mad with fear, was rushing blindly along; and his path led him straight at the tree under which I was standing. I raised my gun and fired. He was almost upon me now, and I saw that I had missed. My bullet had gone past him, and he did not even hear me fire, but still came headlong towards me. I lowered my gun, and fired again, almost touching his head. Crack! I had hit, but not killed him!

  He raised his head, and laying his ears back, came at me, showing his teeth.

  I snatched at my other gun, but almost before I had touched it, he had flown at me and, knocking me over into the snow, had passed right over me.

  ‘Thank goodness, he has left me,’ thought I.

  I tried to rise, but something pressed me down, and prevented my getting up. The bear’s rush had carried him past me, but he had turned back, and had fallen on me with the whole weight of his body. I felt something heavy weighing me down, and something warm above my face, and I realized that he was drawing my whole face into his mouth. My nose was already in it, and I felt the heat of it, and smelt his blood. He was pressing my shoulders down with his paws so that I could not move: all I could do was to draw my head down towards my chest away from his mouth, trying to free my nose and eyes, while he tried to get his teeth into them. Then I felt that he had seized my forehead just under the hair with the teeth of his lower jaw, and the flesh below my eyes with his upper jaw, and was closing his teeth. It was as if my face were being cut with knives. I struggled to get away, while he made haste to close his jaws like a dog gnawing. I managed to twist my face away, but he began drawing it again into his mouth.

  ‘Now,’ thought I, ‘my end has come!’

  Then I felt the weight lifted, and looking up, I saw that he was no longer there. He had jumped off me and run away.

  When my comrade and Damian had seen the bear knock me down and begin worrying me, they rushed to the rescue. My comrade, in his haste, blundered, and instead of following the trodden path, ran into the deep snow and fell down. While he was struggling out of the snow, the bear was gnawing at me. But Damian just as he was, without a gun, and with only a stick in his hand, rushed along the path shouting:

  ‘He’s eating the master! He’s eating the master!’

  And, as he ran, he called to the bear:

  ‘Oh, you idiot! What are you doing? Leave off! Leave off!’

  The bear obeyed him, and leaving me ran away. When I rose, there was as much blood on the snow as if a sheep had been killed, and the flesh hung in rags above my eyes, though in my excitement I felt no pain.

  My comrade had come up by this time, and the other people collected round: they looked at my wound, and put snow on it. But I, forgetting about my wounds, only asked:

  ‘Where’s the bear? Which way has he gone?’

  Suddenly I heard:

  ‘Here he is! Here he is!’

  And we saw the bear again running at us. We seized our guns, but before anyone had time to fire, he had run past. He had grown ferocious, and wanted to gnaw me again, but seeing so many people he took fright. We saw by his track that his head was bleeding, and we wanted to follow him up; but, as my wounds had become very painful, we went, instead, to the town to find a doctor.

  The doctor stitched up my wounds with silk, and they soon began to heal.

  A month later we went to hunt that bear again, but I did not get a chance of finishing him. He would not come out of the circle, but went round and round, growling in a terrible voice.

  Damian killed him. The bear’s lower jaw had been broken, and one of his teeth knocked out by my bullet.

  He was a huge creature, and had splendid black fur.

  I had him stuffed, and he now lies in my room. The wounds on my forehead healed up so that the scars can scarcely be seen.

  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.’ – I Epistle St John iii. 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.’ – iii. 17–18.

  ‘Love is of God; and every one that loveth is begotten of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.’ – iv. 7–8.

  ‘No man hath beheld God at any time; if we love one another, God abideth in us.’ – iv. 12.

  ‘God is love; and he that abideth in love abideth in God, and God abideth in him.’ – iv. 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?’ – iv. 20.

  I

  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 worn 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-ruble note lay hidden in his wife’s box, and five rubles 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-ruble note in his pocket, cut himself a stick to serve as a staff, and started off after breakfast. ‘I’ll collect the five rubles 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 sheepskin 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’m quite warm,’ said he, ‘though I have no sheepskin 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 sheepskins. 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 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 mus
t spend three rubles every week for bread alone. I come home and find the bread all used up, and I have to fork out another ruble and a half. So just you 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, ‘Someone has killed him, stripped him, and left him here. 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 man? I couldn’t give him my last clothes. Heaven only help me to get away!’

  So the shoemaker hurried on, leaving the shrine behind him – when suddenly his conscience smote him, and he stopped in the road.

  ‘What are you doing, Simon?’ said he to himself. ‘The man may be dying of want, and you slip past afraid. Have you grown so rich as to be afraid of robbers? Ah, Simon, shame on you!’

  So he turned back and went up to the man.

  II

  SIMON approached the stranger, looked at him, and saw that he was a young man, fit, with no bruises on his body, only evidently freezing and frightened, and he sat there leaning back without looking up at Simon, as if too faint to lift his eyes. Simon went close to him, and then the man seemed to wake up. Turning his head, he opened his eyes and looked into Simon’s face. That one look was enough to make Simon fond of the man. He threw the felt boots on the ground, undid his sash, laid it on the boots, and took off his cloth coat.

  ‘It’s not a time for talking,’ said he. ‘Come, put this coat on at once!’ And Simon took the man by the elbows and helped him to rise. As he stood there, Simon saw that his body was clean and in good condition, his hands and feet shapely, and his face good and kind. He threw his coat over the man’s shoulders, but the latter could not find the sleeves. Simon guided his arms into them, and drawing the coat well on, wrapped it closely about him, tying the sash round the man’s waist.

  Simon even took off his torn cap to put it on the man’s head, but then his own head felt cold, and he thought: ‘I’m quite bald, while he has long curly hair.’ So he put his cap on his own head again. ‘It will be better to give him something for his feet,’ thought he; and he made the man sit down, and helped him to put on the felt boots, saying, ‘There, friend, now move about and warm yourself. Other matters can be settled later on. Can you walk?’

  The man stood up and looked kindly at Simon, but could not say a word.

  ‘Why don’t you speak?’ said Simon. ‘It’s too cold to stay here, we must be getting home. There now, take my stick, and if you’re feeling weak, lean on that. Now step out!’

  The man started walking, and moved easily, not lagging behind.

  As they went along, Simon asked him, ‘And where do you belong to?’

  ‘I’m not from these parts.’

  ‘I thought as much. I know the folks hereabouts. But how did you come to be there by the shrine?’

  ‘I cannot tell.’

  ‘Has someone been ill-treating you?’

  ‘No one has ill-treated me. God has punished me.’

  ‘Of course God rules all. Still, you’ll have to find food and shelter somewhere. Where do you want to go to?’

  ‘It is all the same to me.’

  Simon was amazed. The man did not look like a rogue, and he spoke gently, but yet he gave no account of himself. Still Simon thought, ‘Who knows what may have happened?’ And he said to the stranger: ‘Well then, come home with me, and at least warm yourself awhile.’

  So Simon walked towards his home, and the stranger kept up with him, walking at his side. The wind had risen and Simon felt it cold under his shirt. He was getting over his tipsiness by now, and began to feel the frost. He went along sniffling and wrapping his wife’s coat round him, and he thought to himself: ‘There now – talk about sheep-skins! I went out for sheep-skins and come home without even a coat to my back, and what is more, I’m bringing a naked man along with me. Matryóna won’t be pleased!’ And when he thought of his wife he felt sad; but when he looked at the stranger and remembered how he had looked up at him at the shrine, his heart was glad.

  III

  SIMON’S wife had everything ready early that day. She had cut wood, brought water, fed the children, eaten her own meal, and now she sat thinking. She wondered when she ought to make bread: now or to-morrow? There was still a large piece left.

  ‘If Simon has had some dinner in town,’ thought she, ‘and does not eat much for supper, the bread will last out another day.’

  She weighed the piece of bread in her hand again and again, and thought: ‘I won’t make any more to-day. We have only enough flour left to bake one batch. We can manage to make this last out till Friday.’

  So Matryóna put away the bread, and sat down at the table to patch her husband’s shirt. While she worked she thought how her husband was buying skins for a winter coat.

  ‘If only the dealer does not cheat him. My good man is much too simple; he cheats nobody, but any child can take him in. Eight rubles is a lot of money – he should get a good coat at that price. Not tanned skins, but still a proper winter coat. How difficult it was last winter to get on without a warm coat. I could neither get down to the river, nor go out anywhere. When he went out he put on all we had, and there was nothing left for me. He did not start very early to-day, but still it’s time he was back. I only hope he has not gone on the spree!’

  Hardly had Matryóna thought this, when steps were heard on the threshold, and someone entered. Matryóna stuck her needle into her work and went out into the passage. There she saw two men: Simon, and with him a man without a hat, and wearing felt boots.

  Matryóna noticed at once that her husband smelt of spirits. ‘There now, he has been drinking,’ thought she. And when she saw that he was coatless, had only her jacket on, brought no parcel, stood there silent, and seemed ashamed, her heart was ready to break with disappointment. ‘He has drunk the money,’ thought she, ‘and has been on the spree with some good-for-nothing fellow whom he has brought home with him.’

  Matryóna let them pass into the hut, followed them in, and saw that the stranger was a young, slight man, wearing her husband’s coat. There was no shirt to be seen under it, and he had no hat. Having entered, he stood neither moving, nor raising his eyes, and Matryóna thought: ‘He must be a bad man – he’s afraid.’

  Matryóna frowned, and stood beside the oven looking to see what they would do.

  Simon took off his cap and sat down on the bench as if things were all right.

  ‘Come, Matryóna; if supper is ready, let us have some.’

  Matryóna muttered something to herself and did not move, but stayed where she was, by the oven. She looked first at the one and then at the other of them, and only shook her head. Simon saw that his wife was annoyed, but tried to pass it off. Pretending not to notice anything, he took the stranger by the arm.

  ‘Sit down, friend,’ said he, ‘and let us have some supper.’

  The stranger sat down on the bench.

  ‘Haven’t you cooked anything for us?’ said
Simon.

  Matryóna’s anger boiled over. ‘I’ve cooked, but not for you. It seems to me you have drunk your wits away. You went to buy a sheepskin coat, but come home without so much as the coat you had on, and bring a naked vagabond home with you. I have no supper for drunkards like you.’

  ‘That’s enough, Matryóna. Don’t wag your tongue without reason! You had better ask what sort of man —’

  ‘And you tell me what you’ve done with the money?’

  Simon found the pocket of the jacket, drew out the three-ruble note, and unfolded it.

  ‘Here is the money. Trífonof did not pay, but promises to pay soon.’

  Matryóna got still more angry; he had bought no sheepskins, but had put his only coat on some naked fellow and had even brought him to their house.

  She snatched up the note from the table, took it to put away in safety, and said: ‘I have no supper for you. We can’t feed all the naked drunkards in the world.’

  ‘There now, Matryóna, hold your tongue a bit. First hear what a man has to say —!’

  ‘Much wisdom I shall hear from a drunken fool. I was right in not wanting to marry you – a drunkard. The linen my mother gave me you drank; and now you’ve been to buy a coat – and have drunk it too!’

  Simon tried to explain to his wife that he had only spent twenty kopeks; tried to tell how he had found the man – but Matryóna would not let him get a word in. She talked nineteen to the dozen, and dragged in things that had happened ten years before.

  Matryóna talked and talked, and at last she flew at Simon and seized him by the sleeve.

  ‘Give me my jacket. It is the only one I have, and you must needs take it from me and wear it yourself. Give it here, you mangy dog, and may the devil take you.’

  Simon began to pull off the jacket, and turned a sleeve of it inside out; Matryóna seized the jacket and it burst its seams. She snatched it up, threw it over her head and went to the door. She meant to go out, but stopped undecided – she wanted to work off her anger, but she also wanted to learn what sort of a man the stranger was.