By Count Tolstoy
Count Tolstoy, the great Russian author and Christian reformer, gives us the following parable.
Ivan was a hardworking and prosperous Russian peasant. Gavrilo, his neighbor, was a cripple. Both of them had very large families, but they liked each other. Then one day something happened which made them bitter enemies.
A bantam hen belonging to Ivan's daughter flew over into Gavrilo's yard. He and his family were eyewitnesses of this fact. A little bit later they heard her cackle as though she had laid an egg. But when they came to look for the egg they found none.
The quarrel began when Ivan's family accused Gavrilo of stealing the egg. In typical Russian anger they began to tear one another's clothes and to fight. Ivan pulled out part of Gavrilo's beard, which to the Russian was the symbol of dignity and manhood. Upon this Gavrilo swore by heaven to have Ivan sent to jail for revenge.
Ivan's father tried to straighten out the quarrel, accusing them of behaving like foolish children; for, after all, they were fighting over nothing. An egg was worth little. But neither one of them listened. They went to court about it; and while the case was being heard a bolt was missing from Gavrilo's wagon, and immediately he accused Ivan's boy of stealing it. So there was another case in court. During all this time the two families quarreled with each other. First Ivan would have Gavrilo arrested for some supposed bad deed, and then the cripple would have Ivan fined for something he did, or was supposed to have done. At last a deep hatred filled the hearts of all concerned. Since they would not reason together they resorted to violence.
At a wedding attended by both families Gavrilo struck Ivan's wife when she accused him of horse-stealing; and she was confined to her bed for several weeks. Ivan thought that the cripple should be sent to Siberia, but he only succeeded in having him punished with twenty lashes. When Gavrilo heard this sentence imposed he turned pale and swore revenge. "All right," he muttered; "he may lash my back. It will bum; but I will set his house on fire.'
Ivan heard what Gavrilo said and reported it to the judge. The judge called Gavrilo back and asked him what he had said, to which he replied, "Nothing!" Even the judges were frightened. The oldest of them spoke to Gavrilo in a friendly manner. "See here, you had better make up, and be friends again. You might have killed Ivan's wife, and we would have put a rope around your neck and hanged you. Confess, now; ask his pardon, and he will forgive you. Then we will change the sentence." But this did not make any impression upon Gavrilo; the sentence was carried out, and both neighbors went home hating each other.
That night it occurred to Ivan to look around the yard before going to bed, to see whether any harm had been done. There by the fence he noticed something moving. He listened, and beard a rustling of leaves and hay. Then he saw a man kindling a bundle of straw in his shed. "Now," muttered Ivan, "I have caught him in the act."
The dry straw blazed up and set the whole shed on fire. Ivan, instead of putting the small fire out, tried to catch Gavrilo; but, lame as he was, he jumped away and ran behind the shed. Ivan grasped his coat, but it tore away. He rushed after him, only to be struck by a blow that knocked him senseless.
While he lay unconscious on the ground Ivan's shed and house burned down, for there was none to put it out. Then the sparks flew over and caught Gavrilo's own house and shed, until at last the whole village was burned, and all were homeless. The old father was rescued with difficulty; and when Ivan went to him he said, "I told you so. Now tell me, who really did all this damage?"
"He, Gavrilo. I caught him at it. Right before my eyes he touched off the straw," cried Ivan.
"Ivan." said the father, "whose foolishness was it? In God's name, whose fault was it? You could have put out the fire and yet you preferred to chase Gavrilo." Only then did he realise what he had done, and he fell on his knees before his father and asked his and God's forgiveness.
Then his father told him not to tell of Gavrilo's crime, to spare him, and then God would forgive them both. So he followed his father's advice. No one ever knew who set the fire.
Ivan forgave Gavrilo. Gavrilo was much surprised that Ivan did not tell the judges who had set the village on fire. At first he was afraid of Ivan, but he got over it. While they were rebuilding their houses both families lived in one shed, and there was never any more quarreling. Ivan had learned his lesson. He knew now that a fire ought to be put out in the beginning, and that getting even through revenge results only in creating another wrong.
An evil act can be corrected only by a good deed. Love and forgiveness are the pillars of friendship.
