Fables for Children, Stories for Children, Natural Science Stories, Popular Education, Decembrists, Moral Tales

by Leo Tolstoy

This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

Genres: Short Stories, Classics, Fiction

195 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 12, 2015

About the author

Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (Russian: Лев Николаевич Толстой; most appropriately used Liev Tolstoy; commonly Leo Tolstoy in Anglophone countries) was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist fiction. Many consider Tolstoy to have been one of the world's greatest novelists. Tolstoy is equally known for his complicated and paradoxical persona and for his extreme moralistic and ascetic views, which he adopted after a moral crisis and spiritual awakening in the 1870s, after which he also became noted as a moral thinker and social reformer.

His literal interpretation of the ethical teachings of Jesus, centering on the Sermon on the Mount, caused him in later life to become a fervent Christian anarchist and anarcho-pacifist. His ideas on nonviolent resistance, expressed in such works as The Kingdom of God Is Within You, were to have a profound impact on such pivotal twentieth-century figures as Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Reviews

[Mariangel · Rating 4 out of 5]

My book from Gutenberg contains:

-Adaptations of Aesop fables and of Hindu fables. These are many, but only half a page short each.
-The tales of Yasnaia Poliana (including A prisoner of the Caucasus) which I have reviewed here:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

-Natural science stories, explaining practical concepts from physics, zoology and botany in a short, engaging way.
-Three fragments of the Decembrists, an unfinished novel. The first version was the most polished and I would have certainly continued reading the full novel, had it existed.
-An essay on popular education full of common sense. Tolstoy criticizes the same nonsense pedagogical theories that are in vogue right now, over 150 years later, and gives his own solution, which he successfully implemented as a teacher in Yasnaia Poliana.
Some very short stories:
-The three hermits (or staretz). I already knew several versions of this fable.
-Neglect the fire
-The candle
-Where love is, there God is also
-The fiend persists but God resists
-Two little girls
-The two brothers and the gold

And finally, two novellas:
-The two old men, about a Pilgrimage to Jerusalem
-Ivan the fool, a very funny fairytale about three brothers trying to make their fortune, and the devils attempts to thwart them.

[Sharon Barrow Wilfong · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know if Tolstoy wrote these stories or compiled them. They are small moral tales like Aesop's Fables, each only a paragraph long. Still they are interesting and worth reading.

[Taylor Norman]

“Tolstoy respected children and often portrayed them as wiser than adults. He thought that the world would be better if adults remembered and lived by their childhood beliefs. When he was a child, Tolstoy’s beloved oldest brother Nikolai invented games, including a search for a green stick on which he had written the secret of a good and just world. At Tolstoy’s request, he is buried at Yasnaya Polyana in the woods near a ravine where Nikolai had supposedly hidden that stick” (9), “Introduction,” by Donna Tushing Orwin.

“Don’t fret about the work,” said she, “don’t look either before or behind to see how much you have done, or how much there is left to do; only keep on working and all will be right.” (57), “The Empty Drum”.

“‘All I did was to see that the peasant had more corn than he needed. The blood of the beasts is always in man; but as long as he has only enough corn for his needs, it is kept in bounds. While that was the case, the peasant did not grudge his last crust. But when he had corn left over, he looked for ways of getting pleasure out of it. And I showed him a pleasure—drinking—and when he began to turn God’s good gifts into spirits for his own pleasure—the fox’s, wolf’s, and swine’s blood in him all came out. If only he goes on drinking, he will always be a beast!’” (73), “The Imp and the Crust”.

“It once occurred to a certain king, that if he always knew the right time to begin everything; if he knew who were the right people to listen to and whom to avoid; and, above all, if he always knew what was the most important thing to do, he would never fail in anything he might undertake” (75), “Three Questions”.

“‘Now! It is the most important time because it is the only time when we have any power. The most necessary man is he with whom you are, for no man knows whether he will ever have dealings with anyone else: and the most important affair is, to do him good, because for that purpose alone was man sent into this life!’” (80), “Three Questions”.

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let me begin by stressing that I very much enjoy Tolstoy. And I appreciated the opportunity to read some of his stories that I had not encountered elsewhere. But I take issue with this collection presented as “stories for young people”. With the exception of “The Empty Drum” and “Three Questions”, the stories in this collection are grim and risk leading a young reader to the unfair conclusion that Tolstoy is irredeemably dark and depressing. There is more than one poor translation or typo in this anthology, such as when the devil threatens an imp with, “I’ll have you ducked in holy water!”. And the illustrations in this edition are strange and unlovely. Surely there are nicer introductions to Tolstoy for young readers than this.

[William Hiser · Rating 5 out of 5]

Folktale
Stories for Young People, written by Leo Tolstoy, edited by Donna Tussing Orwin and illustrated by Herve Blondon, is a 80 page children’s collection of folktales published by Sterling in 2005. It was written for grades 5 -8, ages 10 – 14. This A collection of five short stories by nineteenth-century Russia author Leo Tolstoy that includes folktales and fairy tales. Although the stories are set in nineteenth century Russia, their plots are universal. Filed with plot twists, these clever tales will educate as well as entertain with Tolstoy’s ability to get inside the hearts and minds of his characters.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five short stories written in a folktale style by Leo Tolstoy, including The Three Questions.

I enjoyed using this book as an introduction to Tolstoy for my fifth graders. We used it as a springboard to talk about philosophy, Russia, and literary themes of grace and forgiveness.

The introduction includes a brief biography of Leo Tolstoy.

Literary device: metaphor

[Ed · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would not say this is for children. Good stories and I enjoy that there is a narrative thread throughout.

[Scott Hayden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Neither action-packed, nor snarky, Tolstoy's gentle tone and straightforward plots makes me think of him as a Russian Mr. Rogers.

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author included an introduction about Tolstoy. The book has five short stories written by Tolstoy. All are appropriate for older children, teens, and adults!

[FAHED · Rating 4 out of 5]

Translated to malayalam language titled 'Moonu Punyathmakkalum Mattu Kathakalum'

[Monica Taylor-Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

Why is it about A (devil)

This book would be amazing if it was not about the devil I hate the devil I love GOD.
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