Three Simple Men: And Other Holy Folktales

by Leo Tolstoy, Jon M. Sweeney (Retelling), Anna Mitchell (Illustrations)

You’ve met the characters in these stories before. We meet them in folktales from all around the world. There is the simple, wise old man who understands far more than he knows; the pompous religious expert who discovers his folly before it’s too late; nosey neighbors and petty relatives; and a fight between good and evil in which, by story’s end, good and evil almost seem to switch places. These classic folktales, made popular a century ago by Leo Tolstoy, are retold here for a new generation, beautifully illustrated in this gorgeous book designed for reading out loud, reading over and over again, and giving to friends.

Genres: Classics, Fiction

80 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 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

[Chris Gleck]

This book is copyrighted 2015 (because of the notes and introduction recently added), and I purchased it new since I was intrigued by the fact that Tolstoy had written these stories in the 1880's. He wrote them as a result of reawakening to his childhood religion and sharing his newfound spiritual truths. For me, these tales were not all that inspirational, but I am not a folktale person to begin with. I enjoyed the biographical information provided about Tolstoy more than the tales. The book itself is beautiful as are the illustrations. I will be passing this book along to one of the "grands."

[Mary Elizabeth Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Continuing in my Tolstoy-obsessed era

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

The great Russian Novelist, Leo Tolstoy, wrote long complicated novels like War & Peace and Anna Karenina. But Tolstoy was also known for his ideals, and his spirituality, and for preserving and retelling Russian folktales. In a short volume, three of Tolstoy's tales are retold with notes and an introduction by Jon Sweeney (independent scholar, and author of more than twenty books). Sweeney's prose combines with Anna Mitchell's illustrations to produce Three SImple Men & Other Holy Folktales.

The stories that Sweeney retells are some favorites. The title story retells the story of the three hermits, who are visited by priests who judge them simple and shallow in their prayer life and try to instruct them. The priests somce to see that these simple monks are deep in communion with God when they see them walking towards their boat on the waves. Next Sweeney retells the Godson (rechristened The Godson Learns to Fight Evil) and A Spark Neglected Burns the House ( new title: One Neglected Spark May Burn Down a House).

Sweeney's retellings have some creative license. Tolstoy's Three Hermits have no individual characteristics (they are simply, three hermits). Sweeney describes them individually as basket maker, a forager for food, and the thinker (3-4). Conversely The Godson learns to Fight Evil simplifies Tolstoy's account, removing some of its preachiness and its magical elements (57).In One Negelected Spark, Sweeney adds a Tolstoy-esque element, the aging, ailing father streched out on the stove recovering from athsma (59). Despite some poetic license Sweeney is faithful to the plot of Tolstoy's tales.

I don't prefer these adaptations to the originals, but I enjoyed them. Moreover, the prose is simple enough that my eight-year-old daughter read them happily. I liked Sweeney's introduction and his brief notes on each story where we reflects on what Tolstoy was trying to do as a storyteller. I i give this book four stars

Note: I received this book from Paraclete Press in exchange for my honest review.

[Daxon Greystone · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was frustrated that Sweeney did not make clear in his introduction the extent to which he had altered the stories. While I respect the value of retelling folk tales, leaving out entire aspects and driving a religious agenda not of Tolstoy's own without representing as such up front left me feeling bamboozled. Write your own folktales "as inspired by Tolstoy" rather than parading your views under his name.

The art included in the book illustrated by Anna Mitchell is beautiful. It is worth picking up to leaf through and see her work.

[Charles · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately, I didn't care much for this book. On the positive side, the package is very nice and there are some wonderful interior illustrations by Anna Mitchell. However, the stories themselves and their presentations are--in my opinion--weak. These are retellings of Tolstoy's original tales by Jon M. Sweeney. However, Sweeney indicates in his "Author's Notes" that he took quite a few liberties with Tolstoy's text that irritated me. I would much rather have seen as close of a translation as possible to the original tales. Sweeney cut a third of "A Godson Learns to Fight Evil," removing Tolstoy's "preachiness" as well as "some of the more magical elements..." He indicates that he "removed some of this tension" from the tale called Three Simple Men and completely altered the opening of the story from what Tolstoy had written. I don't know Jon Sweeney. He may be a perfectly nice guy, but I didn't buy the book to read Sweeney's work. I wanted Tolstoy's, or as close as I could get to it in translation. Plus, who "removes" tension from a story? Stories thrive on tension. Overall, the stories were so simplified and "universalized" that I found them bland. This is, of course, my personal opinion, and yours may differ.

[Grady Ormsby · Rating 3 out of 5]

In 1906 Leo Tolstoy published Twenty-Three Tales. This collection of stories included tales for children, popular stories, fairy tales, folk tales retold and stories adapted from French. All the stories are didactic containing strong (often Christian) morals.
Three Simple Men & Other Holy Folktales by Leo Tolstoy, selected, retold and with notes and introduction by Jon M. Sweeney and illustrated by Anna Mitchell is made up of three of Tolstoy’s tales. The first is “Three Simple Men.” The three men are exemplars of the idea that simple faith is often more powerful than institutional doctrine. The second tale, “A Godson Learns to Fight Evil,” is a quest story focusing on courage, wisdom and persistence The third tale, “One Neglected Spark May Burn Down a House,” is a story of how a misunderstanding can lead to bickering, followed by vengefulness blinded by malice and onward to tragedy.
The tales reflect Tolstoy’s reputation of being a visionary, a non-violent humanist and a spiritual anarchist.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book much more interesting for its historical notes on Tolstoy’s conversion and his views of the Church than for the retelling of his stories. Previously I knew little to nothing of his turn to faith. The introduction describes the change that occurred later in his life and (very poetically) his views on art (with the occasional nod to George Macdonald). The back matter explains Sweeney’s changes to the original stories and elaborates on Tolstoy’s intent with each. Sweeney also sparked my interest in some of Tolstoy’s other religious works (the novel Resurrection and also What I Believe which was banned during Tolstoy’s day). All in all this book is good to spark an interest in exploring more of Tolstoy himself.

[Candice Kamencik]

Unfortunately I was unable to read this book due to technical issues with the copy I received. I downloaded this book via the Kindle app for the iPad, and when I went to read it, I found the test was jumbled. A sample of the first story follows:

"Thanks be to God," he'd whisper when One summer day, two young priests were on a ship of his baskets turned out especially fine. city of Arkhangelsk, the chief northern The strongest man was in charge of finding food. He port of Russia, to Solovki Monastery in the islands of the didn't smile as the littlest man, but he worked the White Sea.

I appreciate the opportunity to read and review this book, and hopefully my technical feedback will be of help in some way!

[Henk · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is not a book by Leo Tolstoy, it's by some god botherer. The writing is not engaging, completely missing the 'dark side' that folk tales generally have. I may need to find a proper translation at some point but if this really is 'with some of the preachiness removed' as is claimed in the author's notes then maybe I'll pass.

[Zahirah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't realize this was a retelling. But the writing was nice as an introduction to Tolstoy. But then this was compiled as a collection of Christian stories so it doesn't matter that it was written by Tolstoy I guess. And I was surprised he only found three.

[Jan1243 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love Tolstoy. Well done, but I was a little sad that these weren’t his originals.

[Stephanie Dunn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful illustrations, but I was disappointed to realize only after reading them that they’ve been edited to such an extent that they’re quite altered from Tolstoy’s original works.

[airy xie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is superb, not only kid-friendly, but the simplicity to remind us the mysteries of folktales and time reading it.

[Cashie · Rating 5 out of 5]

These are so simple but so profound and inspiring. The three stories are definitely worth the read.

[Jackie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a beautiful collection of 3 spiritual folktales that meant a lot to Tolstoy. Each story shows how Tolstoy believed in God and was a spiritual man, but he didn't like the church believing them to be hypocritical. This is also reflected in his two infamous novels War and Peace & Anna Karenina. Sweeney, the translator, does take out some aspects of the originals so he can focus on the main themes of them. Each one teaches the reader life lessons in a whimsical and endearing way. It is like reading something that the Grimms Brother's or Hans Christian Anderson wrote, but with spiritual undertones. The title story is about a trio of "simple" men living on an island and their encounter with three priests who try to teach them the "right" way to pray. The second story is about a young man who must learn how to fight evil. The final story is about a feud between friends over something silly. Isn't that how all feuds start? LOL

[Gena DeBardelaben · Rating 4 out of 5]

eARC: Netgalley

A wonderful collection of Christian folklore by Tolstoy.

Highly recommend!