The Two Old Men Page #5

"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

								

sea.

During the day they had good sailing; in the evening a wind arose, rain
fell, and the ship began to rock and to be washed by the waves. The
people grew excited; the women began to shriek, and such men as were
weak ran up and down the ship, trying to find a safe place. Efím, too,
was frightened, but he did not show it: where he had sat down on the
floor on boarding the ship by the side of Tambóv peasants, he sat
through the night and the following day; all of them held on to their
wallets and did not speak. On the third day it grew calmer. On the fifth
day they landed at Constantinople.

Some of the pilgrims went ashore there, to visit the Cathedral of St.
Sophia, which now the Turks hold; Tarásych did not go, but remained on
board the ship. All he did was to buy some white bread. They remained
there a day, and then again sailed through the sea. They stopped at
Smyrna town, and at another city by the name of Alexandria, and safely
reached the city of Jaffa. In Jaffa all pilgrims go ashore: from there
it is seventy versts on foot to Jerusalem. At the landing the people had
quite a scare: the ship was high, and the people were let down into
boats below; but the boats were rocking all the time, and two people
were let down past the boat and got a ducking, but otherwise all went
safely.

When all were ashore, they went on afoot; on the third day they reached
Jerusalem at dinner-time. They stopped in a suburb, in a Russian
hostelry; there they had their passports stamped and ate their dinner,
and then they followed a pilgrim to the holy places. It was too early
yet to be admitted to the Sepulchre of the Lord, so they went to the
Monastery of the Patriarch. There all the worshippers were gathered, and
the female sex was put apart from the male. They were all ordered to
take off their shoes and sit in a circle. A monk came out with a towel,
and began to wash everybody's feet. He would wash, and rub them clean,
and kiss them, and thus he went around the whole circle. He washed
Efím's feet and kissed them. They celebrated vigils and matins, and
placed a candle, and served a mass for the parents. There they were fed,
and received wine to drink.

On the following morning they went to the cell of Mary of Egypt, where
she took refuge. There they placed candles, and a mass was celebrated.
From there they went to Abraham's Monastery. They saw the Sebak garden,
the place where Abraham wanted to sacrifice his son to God. Then they
went to the place where Christ appeared to Mary Magdalene, and to the
Church of Jacob, the brother of the Lord. The pilgrim showed them all
the places, and in every place he told how much money they ought to
give. At dinner they returned to the hostelry. They ate, and were just
getting ready to lie down to sleep, when the pilgrim, who was rummaging
through his clothes, began to sigh.

"They have pulled out my pocketbook with money in it," he said. "I had
twenty-three roubles,--two ten-rouble bills, and three in change."

The pilgrim felt badly about it, but nothing could be done, and all went
to sleep.


IX.

As Efím went to sleep, a temptation came over him.

"They have not taken the pilgrim's money," he thought, "he did not have
any. Nowhere did he offer anything. He told me to give, but he himself
did not offer any. He took a rouble from me."

As Efím was thinking so, he began to rebuke himself:

"How dare I judge the man, and commit a sin. I will not sin." The moment
he forgot himself, he again thought that the pilgrim had a sharp eye on
money, and that it was unlikely that they had taken the money from him.
"He never had any money," he thought. "It's only an excuse."

They got up before evening and went to an early mass at the Church of
the Resurrection,--to the Sepulchre of the Lord. The pilgrim did not
leave Efím's side, but walked with him all the time.

They came to the church. There was there collected a large crowd of
worshippers, Greeks, and Armenians, and Turks, and Syrians. Efím came
with the people to the Holy Gate. A monk led them. He took them past the
Turkish guard to the place where the Saviour was taken from the cross
and anointed, and where candles were burning in nine large candlesticks.
He showed and explained everything to them. Efím placed a candle there.
Then the monks led Efím to the right over steps to Golgotha, where the
cross stood; there Efím prayed; then Efím was shown the cleft where the
earth was rent to the lowermost regions; then he was shown the place
where Christ's hands and feet had been nailed to the cross, and then he
was shown Adam's grave, where Christ's blood dropped on his bones. Then
they came to the rock on which Christ sat when they put the wreath of
thorns on his head; then to the post to which Christ was tied when he
was beaten. Then Efím saw the stone with the two holes, for Christ's
feet. They wanted to show him other things, but the people hastened
away: all hurried to the grotto of the Lord's Sepulchre. Some foreign
mass was just ended, and the Russian began. Efím followed the people to
the grotto.

He wanted to get away from the pilgrim, for in thought he still sinned
against him, but the pilgrim stuck to him, and went with him to mass at
the Sepulchre of the Lord. They wanted to stand close to it, but were
too late. There was such a crowd there that it was not possible to move
forward or back. Efím stood there and looked straight ahead and prayed,
but every once in awhile he felt his purse, to see whether it was in his
pocket. His thoughts were divided; now he thought that the pilgrim had
deceived him; and then he thought, if he had not deceived him, and the
pocketbook had really been stolen, the same might happen to him.


X.

Efím stood there and prayed and looked ahead into the chapel where the
Sepulchre itself was, and where over the Sepulchre thirty-six lamps were
burning. Efím looked over the heads to see the marvellous thing: under
the very lamps, where the blessed fire was burning, in front of all, he
saw an old man in a coarse caftan, with a bald spot shining on his whole
head, and he looked very much like Eliséy Bodróv.

"He resembles Eliséy," he thought. "But how can it be he? He could not
have got here before me. The previous ship started a week ahead of us.
He could not have been on that ship. On our ship he was not, for I saw
all the pilgrims."

Just as Efím was thinking this, the old man began to pray, and made
three bows: once in front of him, to God, and twice to either side, to
all the Orthodox people. And as the old man turned his head to the
right, Efím recognized him. Sure enough, it was Bodróv: it was his
blackish, curly beard, and the gray streak on his cheeks, and his brows,
his eyes, his nose, and full face,--all his. Certainly it was he, Eliséy
Bodróv.

Efím was glad that he had found his companion, and he marvelled how

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