The Two Old Men Page #4

"The Two Old Men" is a short moral tale by Leo Tolstoy that explores themes of friendship, generosity, and the human capacity for kindness. The story revolves around two elderly men who, despite their different approaches to life, embark on a journey together. As they encounter various challenges and situations, they reflect on their past decisions and life lessons. Ultimately, the narrative highlights the importance of compassion and understanding in nurturing meaningful relationships and the value of selflessness in human interactions. Through its simple yet profound storytelling, Tolstoy invites readers to contemplate their own values and behaviors in the context of friendship and community.

• Short story

								

and the man were looking out of the window. Eliséy awoke, and he began
to speak to himself in an audible voice:

"I will buy out the field and the mowing to-morrow, and will buy a
horse, and flour to last until harvest-time, and a cow for the children.
For how would it be to go beyond the sea to seek Christ and lose him
within me? I must get the people started."

And Eliséy fell asleep until morning. He awoke early. He went to the
rich merchant, bought out the rye and gave him money for the mowing. He
bought a scythe,--for that had been sold, too,--and brought it home. He
sent the man out to mow, and himself went to see the peasants: he found
a horse and a cart for sale at the innkeeper's. He bargained with him
for it, and bought it; then he bought a bag of flour, which he put in
the cart, and went out to buy a cow. As he was walking, he came across
two Little-Russian women, and they were talking to one another. Though
they were talking in their dialect, he could make out what they were
saying about him:

"You see, at first they did not recognize him; they thought that he was
just a simple kind of a man. They say, he went in to get a drink, and he
has just stopped there. What a lot of things he has bought them! I
myself saw him buy a horse and cart to-day of the innkeeper. Evidently
there are such people in the world. I must go and take a look at him."

When Eliséy heard that, he understood that they were praising him, and
so he did not go to buy the cow. He returned to the innkeeper and gave
him the money for the horse. He hitched it up and drove with the flour
to the house. When he drove up to the gate, he stopped and climbed down
from the cart. When the people of the house saw the horse, they were
surprised. They thought that he had bought the horse for them, but did
not dare say so. The master came out to open the gates.

"Grandfather, where did you get that horse?"

"I bought it," he said. "I got it cheap. Mow some grass and put it in
the cart, so that the horse may have some for the night. And take off
the bag!"

The master unhitched the horse, carried the bag to the granary, mowed a
lot of grass, and put it into the cart. They lay down to sleep. Eliséy
slept in the street, and thither he had carried his wallet in the
evening. All the people fell asleep. Eliséy got up, tied his wallet, put
on his shoes and his caftan, and started down the road to catch up with
Efím.


VII.

Eliséy had walked about five versts, when day began to break. He sat
down under a tree, untied his wallet, and began to count his money. He
found that he had seventeen roubles twenty kopeks left.

"Well," he thought, "with this sum I cannot travel beyond the sea, but
if I beg in Christ's name, I shall only increase my sin. Friend Efím
will reach the place by himself, and will put up a candle for me. But I
shall evidently never fulfil my vow. The master is merciful, and he will
forgive me."

Eliséy got up, slung his wallet over his shoulders, and turned back. He
made a circle around the village so that people might not see him. And
soon he reached home. On his way out he had found it hard: it was hard
keeping up with Efím; but on his way home God made it easy for him, for
he did not know what weariness was. Walking was just play to him, and he
swayed his staff, and made as much as seventy versts a day.

Eliséy came back home. The harvest was all in. The home folk were glad
to see the old man. They asked all about him, why he had left his
companion and why he had not gone to Jerusalem, but had returned home.
Eliséy did not tell them anything.

"God did not grant me that I should," he said. "I spent my money on the
way, and got separated from my companion. And so I did not go. Forgive
me for Christ's sake."

He gave the old woman what money he had left. He asked all about the
home matters: everything was right; everything had been attended to and
nothing missed, and all were living in peace and agreement.

Efím's people heard that very day that Eliséy had come back, and so they
came to inquire about their old man. And Eliséy told them the same
story.

"You see," he said, "the old man started to walk briskly, and three days
before St. Peter's day we lost each other. I wanted to catch up with
him, but it happened that I spent all my money and could not go on, so I
returned home."

The people marvelled how it was that such a clever man had acted so
foolishly as to start and not reach the place and merely spend his
money. They wondered awhile, and forgot about it. Eliséy, too, forgot
about it. He began to work about the house: he got the wood ready for
the winter with his son, threshed the grain with the women, thatched the
sheds, gathered in the bees, and gave ten hives with the young brood to
his neighbour. When he got all the work done, he sent his son out to
earn money, and himself sat down in the winter to plait bast shoes and
hollow out blocks for the hives.


VIII.

All that day that Eliséy passed with the sick people, Efím waited for
his companion. He walked but a short distance and sat down. He waited
and waited, and fell asleep; when he awoke, he sat awhile,--but his
companion did not turn up. He kept a sharp lookout for him, but the sun
was going down behind a tree, and still Eliséy was not there.

"I wonder whether he has not passed by me," he thought. "Maybe somebody
drove him past, and he did not see me while I was asleep. But how could
he help seeing me? In the steppe you can see a long distance off. If I
go back, he may be marching on, and we shall only get farther separated
from each other. I will walk on,--we shall meet at the resting-place for
the night."

When he came to a village, he asked the village officer to look out for
an old man and bring him to the house where he stayed. Eliséy did not
come there for the night. Efím marched on, and asked everybody whether
they had seen a bald-headed old man. No one had seen him. Efím was
surprised and walked on.

"We shall meet somewhere in Odessa," he thought, "or on the boat," and
then he stopped thinking about it.

On the road he fell in with a pilgrim. The pilgrim, in calotte, cassock,
and long hair, had been to Mount Athos, and was now going for the second
time to Jerusalem. They met at a hostelry, and they had a chat and
started off together.

They reached Odessa without any accident. They waited for three days for
a ship. There were many pilgrims there, and they had come together from
all directions. Again Efím asked about Eliséy, but nobody had seen him.

Efím provided himself with a passport,--that cost five roubles. He had
forty roubles left for his round trip, and he bought bread and herring
for the voyage. The ship was loaded, then the pilgrims were admitted,
and Tarásych sat down beside the pilgrim he had met. The anchors were
weighed, they pushed off from the shore, and the ship sailed across the

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