Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy; Russian empire, Tula province; 08/28/1828 – 11/07/1910
Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy needs no introduction. This is a world-famous luminary of Russian and world realism. Tolstoy's works have been republished many times in most languages of the world, they have been filmed in almost all countries, and Tolstoy's plays are still very popular. All this makes Leo Tolstoy’s inclusion in our rating simply mandatory. After all, his works are still relevant today, thanks to this, those who want to read Tolstoy do not decrease over the years.
Biography of Tolstoy L. N.
Lev Nikolaevich was born into a famous noble family. The roots of the Tolstoy family date back to the 14th century. Leo was orphaned at a fairly young age; first his mother passed away, and then his father. Distant relatives and aunts took turns raising children. In 1844, Tolstoy entered the Imperial Kazan University, but the young man studied very poorly, which is why the threat of repeating the course hangs over him. In the future, Leo Tolstoy’s occupation varied quite a bit: he was an avid gambler and reveler, and then he tried himself in literature. This mainly depends on his financial situation. This lasts until 1951 until he becomes a cadet in an artillery brigade. The very next year Sovremennik published the debut, partly autobiographical work Tolstoy's "Childhood". This debut work is quite successful, which allows the author to write subsequent works more confidently, which only strengthen his authority.
But Tolstoy, like many writers of that time such as, and many others, had the opportunity to take part in numerous wars. First it was two years in the Caucasus, where a young cadet gave up the St. George Cross to his colleague. Then it was the defense of Sevastopol, which prompted Tolstoy to write the cycle “ Sevastopol stories" These works of L. N. Tolstoy further cemented his fame as a great writer. 
Begins in 1857 new stage in Tolstoy's life. He goes on a trip to Europe. After returning from Europe in 1961, Tolstoy became a peace mediator in the Tula province. It is during this period of the writer’s life that the most readable novels Tolstoy's "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina". These works have become iconic both for the author and for world literature in general. In subsequent years, right up to his death, the author devotes a lot of time to writing new works, as well as educational and social work. He opened schools for peasants, published an educational magazine and was involved in charity work. At the same time, he was very sensitive to family values and children.
Works by LN Tolstoy on the Top books website
In our ratings, the works of Leo Tolstoy are presented in all specialized categories. Of course, most of them are in the rating, which is a natural phenomenon for a prose writer. In addition, Tolstoy’s works are so popular to read that even after many years, some of them are included in our rating. It is also worth noting that Tolstoy’s books for children and works in the genre of plays are very popular. In general, with full list You can find Tolstoy's works below.
All works of LN Tolstoy
- Decembrists
- A novel about the time of Peter I
- A hundred years
- Two hussars
- Morning of the landowner
- Polikushka
- Cossacks
- Death of Ivan Ilyich
- Kreutzer Sonata
- Devil
- Owner and worker
- Father Sergei
- Hadji Murad
- Fake coupon
Childhood-adolescence-youth:
Stories:
- History of yesterday
- Raid
- Marker Notes
- Wood cutting
- Blizzard
- Demoted
- Lucerne
- Albert
- Three deaths
- Two horses
- Bounce
- Aeronaut's Story
- How people live
- Where there is love, there is God
- Two old men
- If you let the fire go, you won't be able to put it out
- The enemy's is sculpted, but God's is strong
- Two brothers and gold
- Ilyas
- Cross
- How much land does a person need?
- Candle
- Three elders
- Canvas meter
- Three sons
- Who is right?
- Francoise
- Surat coffee shop
- Karma
- Three parables
- Expensive
- Assyrian king Esarhadon
- Destroying Hell and Rebuilding It
- A tale about Ivan the Fool and his two brothers: Semyon the Warrior and Taras the Belly, and the dumb sister Malanya, and about the old devil and the three little devils.
- Divine and human
- For what?
- Korney Vasiliev
- Berries Wolf
- Grateful soil
- Songs in the village
- Conversation with a passerby
- Three days in the village
- Alyosha Pot
- Accidentally
- Father Vasily
- What I saw in my dream
- Idyll
- Diary of a Madman
- Posthumous notes of Elder Fyodor Kuzmich...
- Two different versions of the history of the beehive with a popular cover
- The power of childhood
- The Young King's Dream
- Khodynka
- Traveler and peasant
- History of yesterday
- How Russian soldiers die
- Yule night
- Uncle Zhdanov and gentleman Chernov
- Excerpts from stories from village life
Fairy tales and fables:
- Shark
- Astronomers
- Baba and the chicken
- Squirrel and wolf
- God sees the truth, but will not tell you soon
- Big stove
- Bulka
- Vizier Abdul
- Merman and pearl
- Volga and Vazuza
- Wolf and Crane
- Wolf and mare
- Wolf and goat
- Wolf and goat (2)
- Wolf and bow
- Wolf and hunters
- Wolf and dog
- Wolf and old woman
- The Wolf and the Lamb
- Wolf and pig
- Sparrow and swallow
- Raven and crows
- Raven and fox
- Harmful air
- Jackdaw and pigeons
- Jackdaw and jug
- Galchonok
- Stupid guy (Stupid guy)
- Head and tail of a snake
- Geese and peacock
- Two brothers
- Two merchants
- Two comrades
- Two horses
- Girl and mushrooms
- The girl and the robbers
- Division of inheritance
- Wild and tame donkey
- What is the wind for?
- Clever Ram
- Milch cow
- Oak and hazel
- A fool and a knife (Like a fool cut jelly)
- Hedgehog and hare
- Vest
- Hares
- Hares and frogs
- Hare and hound dog
- Hut and Palace (Tsar and Hut)
- Indian and Englishman
- Prisoner of the Caucasus
- How a house was repaired in the city of Paris
- How wolves teach their children
- How a thief gave himself away
- How geese saved Rome (ancient Roman legend)
- How a boy talked about how he found queen bees for his grandfather
- How a boy talked about how he stopped being afraid of blind beggars
- How a boy talked about how a thunderstorm caught him in the forest
- How the boy talked about how he was not taken to the city
- How a man divided geese
- How a man removed a stone
- How Bukharians learned to breed silkworms
- How my aunt talked about how she learned to sew
- How I learned to ride a horse
- Stone
- Reed and olive
- Chinese Queen Xilingchi
- Mosquito and lion
- Cow
- Cow and goat
- Bone
- Cat and mice
- Cat with a bell
- Kitty
- Cat and fox
- Crystals
- Who is right?
- Where does the water go from the sea?
- Chicken and golden eggs
- Hen and swallow
- Lion and fox
- Lion and mouse
- Lion and dog
- Lion, wolf and fox
- Lion, bear and fox
- Lion, donkey and fox
- Lazy daughter
- Bat
- Lipunyushka
- Fox and Crane
- Fox
- Fox and grapes
- Fox and goat
- Fox and monkey
- Horse and groom
- Horse and owners
- Frog and lion
- Frog, mouse and hawk
- Magnet
- Bear on a cart
- Wise old man
- Man and merman
- Man and horse
- Man and cucumbers
- Ant and dove
- Mouse under the barn
- Mouse, rooster and cat
- Mother hen and chicks
- Monkey
- Monkey and Pea
- Monkey and fox
- Deer
- Deer and vineyard
- Deer and lunch
- Donkey in lion skin
- Donkey and horse
- Touch and vision
- Force from speed
- Father and sons
- Where did fire come from when people did not know fire?
- Why is there wind?
- Why do trees crack in cold weather?
- Why can you see in the dark?
- Hunting is worse than bondage
- Hunter and Quail
- Peacock
- Peacock and crane
- First flight
- Quail
- Peter I and the man
- Foundling
- Fire
- Fire dogs
- The truth is more expensive than anything else
- Righteous Judge
- Bounce
- Birds and nets
- Birdie
- Bees and drones
- Worker Emelyan and an empty drum
- Workers and cock
- Equal inheritance
- Hare
- Fisherman and fish
- The best pears
- San Gotthard dog
- Svyatogor the hero
- How many people?
- Blind man and milk
- Death of Oleg
- Dog and wolf
- The dog and the thief
- The dog and its shadow
- Jacob's dog
- Dog, rooster and fox
- Dogs and cook
- Owl and hare
- Falcon and rooster
- Soldier
- Sun and wind
- Disputants
- old horse
- The old man and death
- Old grandfather and grandson
- Scary beast (Who is scarier)
- Dragonfly and ants
- Severe punishment
- Dampness
- Calf on ice
- Thin threads
- Ax and saw
- Three thieves
- Three rolls and one bagel
- Luck
- Specific gravity
- Already and a hedgehog
- Stubborn horse (How a man over-stubborned a horse)
- Duck and month
- The Teachings of Christ Explained to Children
- Learned son
- Fedotka
- Filipok
- Master and rooster
- Owner and dog
- Heron, fish and crayfish
- Royal brothers
- Tsar and shirt
- The king and the elephants
- Tsar and falcon
- Turtle and eagle
- Flair
- Jackals and elephant
- Shat and Don
Our ship was anchored off the coast of Africa. It was a beautiful day, a fresh wind was blowing from the sea; but in the evening the weather changed: it became stuffy and, as if from a heated stove, hot air from the Sahara desert was blowing towards us.
Before sunset, the captain came out onto the deck and shouted: “Swim!” - and in one minute the sailors jumped into the water, lowered the sail into the water, tied it and set up a bath in the sail.
There were two boys with us on the ship. The boys were the first to jump into the water, but they were cramped in the sail, and they decided to race against each other in the open sea.
Both, like lizards, stretched out in the water and, with all their strength, swam to the place where there was a barrel above the anchor.
The squirrel jumped from branch to branch and fell straight onto the sleepy wolf. The wolf jumped up and wanted to eat her. The squirrel began to ask:
- Let me in.
Wolf said:
- Okay, I’ll let you in, just tell me why you squirrels are so cheerful. I’m always bored, but I look at you, you’re up there playing and jumping.
One person had big house, and in the house there was a large stove; and this man’s family was small: only himself and his wife.
When winter came, a man began to light the stove and burned all his wood in one month. There was nothing to heat it with, and it was cold.
Then the man began to destroy the yard and drown it with wood from the broken yard. When he burned the entire yard, it became even colder in the house without protection, and there was nothing to heat it with. Then he climbed in, broke the roof and began to drown the roof; the house became even colder, and there was no firewood. Then the man began to dismantle the ceiling from the house in order to heat it with it.
A man was riding a boat and dropped precious pearls into the sea. The man returned to the shore, took a bucket and began to scoop up water and pour it onto the ground. He scooped and poured out for three days without tiring.
On the fourth day a merman came out of the sea and asked:
Why are you scooping?
The man says:
I realize that I dropped the pearl.
The merman asked:
Will you stop soon?
The man says:
When I dry up the sea, then I will stop.
Then the merman returned to the sea, brought those same pearls and gave them to the man.
There were two sisters: Volga and Vazuza. They began to argue about which of them was smarter and who would live better.
Volga said:
Why should we argue - we are both getting older. Let's leave the house tomorrow morning and go our separate ways; then we will see which of the two will go through better and come to the Khvalynsk kingdom sooner.
Vazuza agreed, but deceived Volga. As soon as the Volga fell asleep, Vazuza at night ran straight along the road to the Khvalynsk kingdom.
When Volga got up and saw that her sister had left, she quietly and quickly went her way and caught up with Vazuzu.
The wolf wanted to catch a sheep from the herd and went into the wind so that dust from the herd would blow on him.
The sheepdog saw him and said:
It’s in vain, wolf, that you walk in the dust, your eyes will hurt.
And the wolf says:
That’s the trouble, little dog, that my eyes have been hurting for a long time, but they say that dust from a flock of sheep heals my eyes well.
The wolf choked on a bone and could not breathe out. He called the crane and said:
Come on, you crane, you have a long neck, stick your head down my throat and pull out the bone: I will reward you.
The crane stuck his head in, pulled out a bone and said:
Give me a reward.
The wolf gritted his teeth and said:
Or is it not enough reward for you that I didn’t bite your head off when it was in my teeth?
The wolf wanted to get close to the foal. He approached the herd and said:
Why is your foal limping alone? Or do you not know how to heal? We wolves have such a medicine that there will never be lameness.
The mare is alone and says:
Do you know how to treat?
How can you not know?
So, treat my right hind leg, something in the hoof hurts.
Wolf and goat
The category is made up of Russian life, mainly from village life. Data on natural history and history are given in the simple form of fairy tales and fiction stories. Most stories deal with a moral theme, occupying only a few lines.
Stories and fairy tales, written Lvom Nikolaevich Tolstoy for textbooks, rich and varied in content; they represent a valuable contribution to the domestic and world literature for children. Most of these fairy tales and stories are still in books for reading V primary school. It is reliably known how seriously he took Lev Tolstoy to writing little fairy tales for children, how much he worked on them, remaking the fairy tale many times. But the most important thing is Tolstoy's little stories the fact that their creator is concerned about the moral side and the topic of education. These stories contain hints from which you must be able to extract good, good, moral lessons.
Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy often used a genre that everyone understood and loved fables, in which, through allegories, he unobtrusively and carefully presented completely different edifications and intricate morals. Stories and fairy tales on proverb topics Lev Tolstoy instill in the child hard work, courage, honesty and kindness. Representing a kind of small lesson - memorable and bright, fable or proverb teaches understanding folk wisdom, teaching figurative languages, the ability to determine the value of human actions in a generalized form.
Perhaps such a headline will confuse some parents, asking if she has gone crazy, stuff small child such complex works, even by Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy. But no, I didn’t :) More than a century ago, the famous Russian writer Leo Tolstoy wrote stories for peasant children, whom he taught to read and write in his Yasnaya Polyana estate. In those days, there were practically no children's books, so Tolstoy himself wrote many simple and understandable stories for children, which to this day have not lost their relevance and significance. From a young age, they develop a sense of goodness and justice, and learn to treat the world around them with love and respect. Therefore, I simply could not help but purchase at least a couple of books by this wonderful writer for my three-year-old son.
I adore Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy, not only his works, but also his entire philosophy and views on life. He was incredibly wise and highly moral. His views and attitude towards life resonate very much with how I understand our existence. Of course, I am far from such awareness, but Lev Nikolaevich inspires me! And his works breathe an incredible live atmosphere, they are simply magnificent!
That is why I decided to start introducing Tolstoy’s books from childhood. Moreover, Lev Nikolaevich wrote quite a few children's stories, fables and fairy tales, the adapted texts of which will also help to successfully introduce the child to magical world Russian classical literature.
"Little Stories"
The first thing I did was buy this wonderful book.
It's called "Little Stories". The name speaks for itself. The bulk of the book consists of short stories. About goodness, about justice, about honesty, about work, about friendship, about love, and other qualities that characterize a person’s high personality. Reading stories like this small child, you are letting him know the right things. What qualities in life are respected and valued, and which only disfigure a person. Here, for example, is one such short story.
Most of the stories are even shorter, just a couple of sentences, but they contain great wisdom! Leo Tolstoy's talent for investing deep meaning V simple words priceless and unique. And his books can undoubtedly be introduced to children from a very young age. In our case it is three years.
But this book is also suitable for older children. It has 183 pages and 65 works. There are also longer ones, like Filipok, for example, which can be read from the age of five.
So, the book “Little Stories” will not be superfluous in a children's library. Of course, it is better to read such stories with your mother, so that she comments and discusses with the child what the author wanted to say. Moreover, this book has a convenient format, good quality thick sheets and hard cover, and very soulful pictures, real, conveying the atmosphere of that time. I'm really glad I bought this book :)
"The Lion and the Dog"
I'm fully aware that it's simple but crazy dramatic work, too early for three years. But I just really wanted it to be in our home library. I myself read “The Lion and the Dog” before school, I just had this book in the house, and I picked it up and read it. Words cannot express the pain and compassion this story caused in my little heart. I was very worried. I believe that this book will not leave anyone indifferent. It awakens compassion, teaches empathy and sympathy for the pain of others.
There are cheaper versions of this book, but I chose this one - from the Rech publishing house. I really like illustrations in this style. It was as if the artist was making strokes with his brush right in the book.
The drawings are very laconic, they contain only basic sketches, but this makes them clearer to the child, and most importantly, they surprisingly allow you to feel literally every page more deeply.
The book brought by courier simply amazed me! It turned out to be larger than I imagined: the format is larger than A4; The quality is simply excellent, in general, a real decoration for a children's library! Well, I think we’ll try to read the story itself when we’re 4.5 years old. I’ll see if my son is ready to perceive this work, if not, then we’ll wait, but sooner or later the time for this book will undoubtedly come to us =)
Leo Tolstoy was not only a great writer known throughout the world, but also an outstanding teacher and philosopher. His books will allow us to get acquainted with his works of fiction, written for the enlightenment, education and upbringing of children. They contain works for initial reading, mainly from two large cycles of Tolstoy - “Russian Books for Reading” and “Folk Stories”.
The books are ideal for family reading, since the great Russian writer and thinker addressed his fairy tales, fables and parables not only to children, but also to himself to a wide circle readers of different ages, teaching moral lessons about kindness, hard work and spirituality.
Download books by Leo Tolstoy for children
Below, using the links, you can download several children's collections, authored by Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy. Among them there are fairy tales and fables and epics, in general several dozen of the most famous and best works Leo Tolstoy for children.
A selection of other children's books by Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy was born on September 9, 1828 in the Tula province (Russia) into a family belonging to the noble class. In the 1860s, he wrote his first great novel, War and Peace. In 1873, Tolstoy began work on the second of his most famous books, Anna Karenina.
He continued to write fiction throughout the 1880s and 1890s. One of his most successful later works is “The Death of Ivan Ilyich.” Tolstoy died on November 20, 1910 in Astapovo, Russia.
First years of life
September 9, 1828, in Yasnaya Polyana(Tula province, Russia) the future writer Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy was born. He was the fourth child in big noble family. In 1830, when Tolstoy's mother, née Princess Volkonskaya, died, his father's cousin took over the care of the children. Their father, Count Nikolai Tolstoy, died seven years later, and their aunt was appointed guardian. After the death of his aunt, Leo Tolstoy, his brothers and sisters moved to their second aunt in Kazan. Although Tolstoy experienced many losses at an early age, he later idealized his childhood memories in his work.
It is important to note that elementary education in Tolstoy's biography, he received lessons at home from French and German teachers. In 1843, he entered the Faculty of Oriental Languages at the Imperial Kazan University. Tolstoy failed to succeed in his studies - low grades forced him to transfer to an easier law faculty. Further difficulties in his studies led Tolstoy to eventually leave the Imperial Kazan University in 1847 without a degree. He returned to his parents' estate, where he planned to start farming. However, this endeavor also ended in failure - he was absent too often, leaving for Tula and Moscow. What he really excelled at was keeping his own diary - it was this lifelong habit that inspired much of Leo Tolstoy's writing.
Tolstoy was fond of music, his favorite composers were Schumann, Bach, Chopin, Mozart, Mendelssohn. Lev Nikolaevich could play their works for several hours a day.
One day, Tolstoy’s elder brother, Nikolai, during his army leave, came to visit Lev, and convinced his brother to join the army as a cadet in the south, in the Caucasus mountains, where he served. After serving as a cadet, Leo Tolstoy was transferred to Sevastopol in November 1854, where he fought in the Crimean War until August 1855.
Early publications
During his years as a cadet in the army, Tolstoy had a lot of free time. During quiet periods he worked on autobiographical story entitled "Childhood". In it, he wrote about his favorite childhood memories. In 1852, Tolstoy sent a story to Sovremennik, the most popular magazine of the time. The story was happily accepted, and it became Tolstoy's first publication. From that time on, critics put him on a par with already famous writers, among whom were Ivan Turgenev (with whom Tolstoy became friends), Ivan Goncharov, Alexander Ostrovsky and others.
After completing his story “Childhood,” Tolstoy began writing about his daily life at an army outpost in the Caucasus. The work “Cossacks”, which he began during his army years, was completed only in 1862, after he had already left the army.
Surprisingly, Tolstoy managed to continue writing while actively fighting in the Crimean War. At this time he wrote “Boyhood” (1854), a continuation of “Childhood”, the second book in autobiographical trilogy Tolstoy. In the midst Crimean War Tolstoy expressed his views on the astonishing contradictions of war through his trilogy of works, Sevastopol Tales. In the second book of Sevastopol Stories, Tolstoy experimented with relatively new technology: Part of the story is presented as a narration from the soldier's point of view.
After the end of the Crimean War, Tolstoy left the army and returned to Russia. Arriving home, the author enjoyed great popularity on the literary scene of St. Petersburg.
Stubborn and arrogant, Tolstoy refused to belong to any particular school of philosophy. Declaring himself an anarchist, he left for Paris in 1857. Once there, he lost all his money and was forced to return home to Russia. He also managed to publish Youth, the third part of an autobiographical trilogy, in 1857.
Returning to Russia in 1862, Tolstoy published the first of 12 issues of the thematic magazine Yasnaya Polyana. That same year he married the daughter of a doctor named Sofya Andreevna Bers.
Major Novels
Living in Yasnaya Polyana with his wife and children, Tolstoy spent much of the 1860s working on his first famous novel"War and Peace". Part of the novel was first published in “Russian Bulletin” in 1865 under the title “1805”. By 1868 he had published three more chapters. A year later, the novel was completely finished. Both critics and the public argued about historical justice Napoleonic Wars in the novel, combined with the development of stories that are thoughtful and realistic, but still fictional characters. The novel is also unique in that it includes three long satirical essays on the laws of history. Among the ideas that Tolstoy also tries to convey in this novel is the belief that a person’s position in society and the meaning human life are mainly derivatives of his daily activities.
After the success of War and Peace in 1873, Tolstoy began work on the second of his most famous books, Anna Karenina. It was based in part on real events period of the war between Russia and Turkey. Like War and Peace, this book describes some of the biographical events in Tolstoy's own life, most notably in the romantic relationship between the characters Kitty and Levin, which is said to be reminiscent of Tolstoy's courtship with his own wife.
The first lines of the book “Anna Karenina” are among the most famous: “Everyone happy families are similar to each other, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Anna Karenina was published in installments from 1873 to 1877, and was highly acclaimed by the public. The royalties received for the novel quickly enriched the writer.
Conversion
Despite the success of Anna Karenina, after the completion of the novel Tolstoy experienced spiritual crisis and was depressed. The next stage of Leo Tolstoy's biography is characterized by the search for the meaning of life. The writer first turned to the Russian Orthodox Church, but did not find answers to his questions there. He concluded that Christian churches were corrupt and, instead of organized religion, promoted their own beliefs. He decided to express these beliefs by founding a new publication in 1883 called The Mediator.
As a result, for his unconventional and controversial spiritual beliefs, Tolstoy was excommunicated from the Russian Orthodox Church. He was even watched by the secret police. When Tolstoy, driven by his new conviction, wanted to give away all his money and give up everything unnecessary, his wife was categorically against this. Not wanting to escalate the situation, Tolstoy reluctantly agreed to a compromise: he transferred the copyright and, apparently, all royalties on his work until 1881 to his wife.
Late fiction
In addition to his religious treatises, Tolstoy continued to write fiction throughout the 1880s and 1890s. Among the genres of his later works were moral stories and realistic fiction. One of the most successful of his later works was the story “The Death of Ivan Ilyich,” written in 1886. Main character struggling to fight the death hanging over him. In short, Ivan Ilyich is horrified by the realization that he wasted his life on trifles, but the realization of this comes to him too late.
In 1898, Tolstoy wrote the story “Father Sergius”, piece of art, in which he criticizes the beliefs he developed after his spiritual transformation. IN next year he wrote his third voluminous novel, “Resurrection.” Got the job good feedback, but it is unlikely that this success corresponded to the level of recognition of his previous novels. Other late works Tolstoy are essays about art, this satirical play entitled “The Living Corpse,” written in 1890, and a story called “Hadji Murat” (1904), which was discovered and published after his death. In 1903 Tolstoy wrote short story“After the Ball,” which was first published after his death, in 1911.
Old age
During it later years, Tolstoy reaped the benefits of international recognition. However, he still struggled to reconcile his spiritual beliefs with the tension he had created in his family life. His wife not only did not agree with his teaching, she did not approve of his students, who regularly visited Tolstoy in family estate. In an effort to avoid his wife's growing discontent, Tolstoy and his youngest daughter Alexandra went on pilgrimage in October 1910. Alexandra was the doctor for her elderly father during the trip. Trying not to show off your privacy, they traveled incognito, hoping to evade unnecessary questions, but sometimes this was to no avail.
Death and legacy
Unfortunately, the pilgrimage proved too onerous for the aging writer. In November 1910, the head of the small Astapovo railway station opened the doors of his house to Tolstoy so that the ailing writer could rest. Shortly after this, on November 20, 1910, Tolstoy died. He was buried in the family estate, Yasnaya Polyana, where Tolstoy lost so many people close to him.
To this day, Tolstoy's novels are considered one of the best achievements literary art. “War and Peace” is often cited as greatest novel ever written. In the modern scientific community, Tolstoy is widely recognized as having a gift for describing the unconscious motives of character, the subtlety of which he championed by emphasizing the role of everyday actions in determining the character and goals of people.
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Lion and dog
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In London they showed wild animals and for viewing they took money or dogs and cats to feed the wild animals.
One man wanted to see the animals: he grabbed a little dog on the street and brought it to the menagerie. They let him in to watch, but they took the little dog and threw him into a cage with a lion to be eaten.
The little dog tucked its tail and pressed itself into the corner of the cage. The lion came up to her and smelled her.
The little dog lay down on its back, raised its paws and began wagging its tail.
The lion touched it with his paw and turned it over.
The dog jumped up and stood on its hind legs in front of the lion.
When the owner threw meat to the lion, the lion tore off a piece and left it for the dog.
In the evening, when the lion went to bed, the dog lay down next to him and put her head on his paw.
Since then, the dog lived in the same cage with the lion, the lion did not touch her, ate food, slept with her, and sometimes played with her.
One day the master came to the menagerie and recognized his dog; he said that the dog was his own, and asked the owner of the menagerie to give it to him. The owner wanted to give it back, but as soon as they began to call the dog to take it from the cage, the lion bristled and growled.
This is how the lion and the dog lived whole year in one cell.
A year later the dog got sick and died. The lion stopped eating, but kept sniffing, licking the dog and touching it with his paw.
When he realized that she was dead, he suddenly jumped up, bristled, began to whip his tail on the sides, rushed to the wall of the cage and began to gnaw at the bolts and the floor.
All day long he struggled, thrashed about in the cage and roared, then he lay down next to the dead dog and fell silent. The owner wanted to take away the dead dog, but the lion would not let anyone near it.
The owner thought that the lion would forget his grief if he was given another dog, so he let him into his cage. live dog; but the lion immediately tore it into pieces. Then he hugged the dead dog with his paws and lay there for five days.
On the sixth day the lion died.
Kitty
There were brother and sister - Vasya and Katya; and they had a cat. In the spring the cat disappeared. The children looked for her everywhere, but could not find her.
One day they were playing near the barn and heard someone meowing in thin voices overhead. Vasya climbed the ladder under the roof of the barn. And Katya stood and kept asking:
- Found? Found?
But Vasya did not answer her. Finally Vasya shouted to her:
- Found! Our cat... and she has kittens; so wonderful; come here quickly.
Katya ran home, took out milk and brought it to the cat.
There were five kittens. When they grew a little and began to crawl out from under the corner where they had hatched, the children chose one kitten, gray with white paws, and brought it into the house. The mother gave away all the other kittens, but left this one to the children. The children fed him, played with him and took him to bed.
One day the children went to play on the road and took a kitten with them.
The wind moved the straw along the road, and the kitten played with the straw, and the children rejoiced at him. Then they found sorrel near the road, went to collect it and forgot about the kitten.
Suddenly they heard someone shouting loudly: “Back, back!” - and they saw that the hunter was galloping, and in front of him two dogs saw a kitten and wanted to grab it. And the kitten, stupid, instead of running, sat down to the ground, hunched its back and looked at the dogs.
Katya was scared of the dogs, screamed and ran away from them. And Vasya, as best he could, ran towards the kitten and at the same time as the dogs ran up to it.
The dogs wanted to grab the kitten, but Vasya fell with his stomach on the kitten and blocked it from the dogs.
The hunter jumped up and drove the dogs away, and Vasya brought the kitten home and never took it with him into the field again.
Hares
Forest hares feed on tree bark at night, field hares feed on winter crops and grass, and bean hares feed on grain grains on threshing floors. During the night, hares make a deep, visible trail in the snow. Hares are hunted by people, dogs, wolves, foxes, crows, and eagles. If the hare had walked simply and straightly, then in the morning he would have been found by the trail and caught; but the hare is cowardly, and cowardice saves him.
The hare walks through fields and forests at night without fear and makes straight tracks; but as soon as morning comes, his enemies wake up: the hare begins to hear the barking of dogs, the screeching of sleighs, the voices of men, the crackling of a wolf in the forest and begins to rush from side to side in fear. He will gallop forward, get scared by something, and run back in his tracks. If he hears something else, he will jump to the side with all his might and gallop away from the previous trail. Again something knocks - again the hare turns back and again jumps to the side. When it becomes light, he will lie down.
The next morning, the hunters begin to disassemble the hare's trail, get confused by double tracks and distant jumps, and are surprised at the hare's cunning. But the hare didn’t even think of being cunning. He's just afraid of everything.
Bulka
I had a face. Her name was Bulka. She was all black, only the tips of her front paws were white.
In all faces, the lower jaw is longer than the upper and the upper teeth extend beyond the lower ones; but Bulka’s lower jaw protruded forward so much that a finger could be placed between the lower and upper teeth. Bulka's face is wide; the eyes are large, black and shiny; and the white teeth and fangs always stuck out. He looked like a blackamoor. Bulka was quiet and did not bite, but he was very strong and tenacious. When he would cling to something, he would clench his teeth and hang like a rag, and, like a tick, he could not be torn off.
Once they let him attack a bear, and he grabbed the bear’s ear and hung like a leech. The bear beat him with his paws, pressed him to himself, threw him from side to side, but could not tear him away and fell on his head to crush Bulka; but Bulka held on to it until they poured cold water on him.
I took him as a puppy and raised him myself. When I went to serve in the Caucasus, I didn’t want to take him and left him quietly, and ordered him to be locked up. At the first station, I was about to board another transfer station, when suddenly I saw something black and shiny rolling along the road. It was Bulka in his copper collar. He flew at full speed towards the station. He rushed towards me, licked my hand and stretched out in the shadows under the cart. His tongue stuck out the entire palm of his hand. He then pulled it back, swallowing drool, then again stuck it out to the whole palm. He was in a hurry, did not have time to breathe, his sides were jumping. He turned from side to side and tapped his tail on the ground.
I found out later that after me he broke through the frame and jumped out of the window and, right in my wake, galloped along the road and rode like that for twenty miles in the heat.
How wolves teach their children
I was walking along the road and heard a scream behind me. The shepherd boy shouted. He ran across the field and pointed at someone.
I looked and saw two wolves running across the field: one seasoned, the other young. The young man carried a slaughtered lamb on his back and held its leg with his teeth. The seasoned wolf ran behind.
When I saw the wolves, I ran after them along with the shepherd, and we began to scream. Men with dogs came running to our cry.
As soon as the old wolf saw the dogs and people, he ran up to the young one, snatched the lamb from him, threw it on his back, and both wolves ran faster and disappeared from sight.
Then the boy began to tell how it happened: a large wolf jumped out of the ravine, grabbed the lamb, killed it and carried it away.
A wolf cub ran out and rushed to the lamb. The old man gave the lamb to the young wolf to carry, and he ran lightly next to him.
Only when trouble came did the old man leave his studies and take the lamb himself.
