How Much Land Does A Man Need?, Leo Tolstoy #57

"If I stopped now, after coming all this way- well, they'd call me an idiot!"

If you're thinking to read a classics short story then read this one. It will be the finest short story you are ever going to read. The title is simple and very much like the story's plot. Tolstoy reminds us again about a simple life lesson that we tends to forget. this is the book to choose if you want to know about Tolstoy.

How Much Land Does A Man Need?

The book follows the story of a peasant called Pakhom. One day, his wife's sister came by to his place and accidentally he over heard their conversation. Both got a different life, the elder lives in a big city and the younger- Pakhom's wife- lives in a village. The elder brags about silk and glamorous life of a big city and try to persuade her sister to live with them but she refused and said,

'We may live roughly, but at least we are free from anxiety. You live in better style than we do, but though you often earn more than you need, you are very likely to lose all you have. You know the proverb, 'Loss and gain are brothers twain.' It often happens that people who are wealthy one day are begging their bread the next. Our way is safer. Though a peasant's life is not a fat one, it is a long one. We shall never grow rich, but we shall always have enough to eat."

While Pakhom's on the other hands thought that he'd be happy if he has more lands. Then, from there the adventure of Pakhom possession over lands and money grew bigger every time he has more lands.

This story is an allegory of human's possession that never stopped growing. Human never felt contented in whatever we already had in life. While we busy chasing that ' La Vie Magnifique' we forgot that the more we have, the more we got to lose. Though the ending is obvious, this story is a very good reminder for each of us. Sometimes we did not realise how rich we already were because we're too busy comparing our life to others.

Daily reminder: little things in life matters

What Men Live By

A little bit different than the first story, the second story did not have an obvious ending and left me with tears of joy. The story goes with an angel named Mikhail on searching three things on what made us human alive. God asks him to live on earth and not to come back - to Heaven- until he answered the 3 questions: what dwelleth in men, what is not given in men, and what men live by.

The story opens with bible verses that taken from 1 John. If we pay on attention, the verses have told us how's the story going to end, but still, it is too beautiful to be skipped! It only took one seat to finish this story but it'll left you a lifetime lesson. Very simple yet very deep.

When someone's prioritise others more than themselves, God love is working in each of them. God has always lived inside of us and every one carries a little fraction of God inside them. Love has taught us that as a men we can't live by ourselves and we need another person company. We never knew what we really need if it's not because of the others.

After all, it's Tolstoy! What more can you expect from Tolstoy if it's not Красота (read: Кrasоtа).

'I understood that God does not wish men to live apart, and therefore he does not reveal to them what each one needs for himself; but he wishes them to live united, and therefore reveals to each of them what is necessary for all.'

- What Men Live By, Leo Tolstoy

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Full collection of Penguin Little Black Classics: https://www.littleblackclassics.com/list.html

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