The four classic tales in this volume illuminate Leo Tolstoy's radical orientation toward war and commerce, revealing his vision for a sustainable, peaceable world. The feature story, Ivan the Fool, presents an archetypal fool who works hard, cooperates with everyone, and manages to foil every attempt to cause his downfall. In the end, peasant life comes out on top, while the pillars of imperial Russian society topple down. Esarhaddon, King of Assyria explores a king's empathy-based revelation to end all violence; and A Grain as Big as a Hen's Egg playfully looks at the relationship between health, soil, labor, and food economies. Three Questions sums up Tolstoy's highest ideal of serving others in the present moment. Some may critique these stories as being too simplistic or too moralistic. But these tales have stood the test of time precisely because they entertain well while evoking universal truths that lift us above humanity's self-serving impulses.
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Leo Tolstoy. Ivan the Fool and Three Shorter Tales for Living Peaceably
Ivan the Fool and Three Shorter Tales for Living Peaceably
Table of Contents
Foreword
Introduction
The Story of Iván the Fool
Esarhaddon, King of Assyria
A Grain as Big as a Hen’s Egg
Three Questions
Introducing Holy Fool Arts
Отрывок из книги
by Leo Tolstoy
Edited by Ted Lewis
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In many folk tales, including the ones in this volume, the fool is pitted against characters who act as personifications of the dominant culture. It is important, therefore, to unpack the narrative function not only of Ivan’s brothers, but also of the devil and his servants, the imps. The Christian church after Constantine derived many of its images of the Devil from ancient pagan representations of animal gods, in order to seed mistrust and doubt in those traditions. We think it is better to understand the “devil” and his “imps” in Tolstoy’s tales as personifications of systemic injustice. Walter Wink’s work on the biblical “principalities and powers” helps us see the spiritual significance of political and societal institutions and their role in the personal and political oppression.
In Ivan’s adventures, we can glimpse the truth that “personal redemption cannot take place apart from the redemption of our social structures,” as Wink writes.7 He goes on to say: “The gospel, then, is not a message about the salvation of individuals from the world, but news about a world transfigured, right down to its basic structures.”8
