On this day in 1828 Leo Tolstoi was born.

If War and Peace is a bit much, here’s your chance to read some Tolstoi.

The Prisoner in the Caucasus

Here’s the entire entry at that infallible source:

“The Prisoner of the Caucasus” (Russian: Кавказский пленник, Kavkazskii plennik) is an 1872 novella written by Leo Tolstoy. The story is based on a real incident in his life while he was serving in the Russian military. It is about two soldiers kidnapped by their rivals for ransom who were in custody for some time. They tried to escape twice, were caught the first time, but succeeded the second.

It’s a stub.

The story begins: (Sorry ’bout the missing characters.)

AN officer named Zh�lin was serving in the army in the Caucasus.

One day he received a letter from home. It was from his mother, who wrote: I am getting old, and should like to see my dear son once more before I die. Come and say good-bye to me and bury me, and then, if God pleases, return to service again with my blessing. But I have found a girl for you, who is sensible and good and has some property. If you can love her, you might marry her and remain at home.

Zh�lin thought it over. It was quite true, the old lady was failing fast and he might not have another chance to see her alive. He had better go, and, if the girl was nice, why not marry her?

So he went to his Colonel, obtained leave of absence, said good-bye to his comrades, stood the soldiers four pailfuls of vodka as a farewell treat, and got ready to go.

It was a time of war in the Caucasus. The roads were not safe by night or day. If ever a Russian ventured to ride or walk any distance away from his fort, the Tartars killed him or carried him off to the hills. So it had been arranged that twice every week a body of soldiers should march from one fortress to the next to convoy travellers from point to point.

It was summer. At daybreak the baggage-train got ready under shelter of the fortress; the soldiers marched out; and all started along the road. Zh�lin was on horseback, and a cart with his things went with the baggage-train. They had sixteen miles to go. The baggage-train moved slowly; sometimes the soldiers stopped, or perhaps a wheel would come off one of the carts, or a horse refuse to go on, and then everybody had to wait.

When by the sun it was already past noon, they had not gone half the way. It was dusty and hot, the sun was scorching and there was no shelter anywhere: a bare plain all round, not a tree, not a bush, by the road.

Zh�lin rode on in front, and stopped, waiting for the baggage to overtake him. Then he heard the signal-horn sounded behind him: the company had again stopped. So he began to think: “Hadn’t I better ride on by myself? My horse is a good one: if the Tartars do attack me, I can gallop away. Perhaps, however, it would be wiser to wait.

As he sat considering, Kost�lin, an officer carrying a gun, rode up to him and said:

“Come along, Zh�lin, let’s go on by ourselves. It’s dreadful; I am famished, and the heat is terrible. My shirt is wringing wet.”

Kost�lin was a stout, heavy man, and the perspiration was running down his red face. Zh�lin thought awhile, and then asked: “Is your gun loaded?”

“Yes it is.”

“Well, then, let’s go, but on condition that we keep together.”

So they rode forward along the road across the plain, talking, but keeping a look-out on both sides. They could see afar all round. But after crossing the plain the road ran through a valley between two hills, and Zh�lin said: “We had better climb that hill and have a look round, or the Tartars may be on us before we know it.”

RTWT and remember, Daily Readings can be read in under 30 minutes.

Stay well. Keep safe. Read.