The candle

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Lev Tolstoy
portrayed by Ilya Repin in 1887

The candle ( Russian Свечка , Swetschka) is a story by Lev Tolstoy , which was written in the summer of 1885 and in the January 1886 edition of the literary supplement Knischki Nedeli ( weekly booklet) to the Petersburg literary weekly Die Woche and in the same year in Tolstoy's 4th Russian reader of the anthology Rasskasy «Novoi asbuki» , also in Petersburg, was published.

Tolstoy introduces his text with a Bible thesis .

content

The landowner lives in Moscow and has installed Mikhail Semyonovich, a former serf , as bailiff in his village in the Russian province . He robs the serf farmers. The landowner ignores the complaints of his farmers and leaves the people flayer in office. The farmer Semjon died from the lashes of the bailiff. The bailiff tortured farmer Anisim to death in the block . Because the farmer Sidor accidentally caught a linden tree while chopping wood, the bailiff hit his face bloody. The farmer Wassilij Mirajew is whipped every week. In addition, the bailiff took his wife away from him. Wassilij Mirajew calls for resistance. During the next torture, the bailiff is said to be dragged from his horse and killed. Peter Michejitsch, a quiet farmer, counters this and demands: “Submit to evil, and evil will submit to you.” When all farmers have to plow on Easter Monday , Peter Michejitsch sticks a burning wax candle on the crossbar of his plow. The farmers around Peter are amazed at the Easter miracle. Neither the wind nor the turning and turning of the plow can extinguish the candle flame.

The bailiff celebrates Easter at home and lets the village mayor monitor the plowing farmers. The latter has to report. When the bailiff found out about the miracle, he felt defeated by Peter Michejitsch. The bailiff wants to see what is going on and rides out. On the way his horse shies away from a pig in the village. The bailiff falls and is impaled on a fence post while falling. A pool of blood remains next to the dead person. "The earth hadn't wanted to suck it up [the blood]."

German-language editions

  • The candle. German by Arthur Luther . P. 94-104 in: Gisela Drohla (Ed.): Leo N. Tolstoj. All the stories. Fifth volume. Insel, Frankfurt am Main 1961 (2nd edition of the edition in eight volumes 1982)
  • The candle . Pp. 93–111 in Leo Tolstoy: Where there is love, there is God. Stories. Translation into German Arthur Luther. Brunnen Verlag, Gießen 2007 (6th edition 2016), ISBN 978-3-7655-1956-7

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ ru: Неделя (газета, 1866—1903) (Книжки Недели)
  2. ↑ Russian Рассказы из "Новой азбуки", in German stories from the New Alphabet
  3. ↑ Vol. 10 of the 22-volume Tolstoy edition, Moscow 1982
  4. ^ NT , Gospel of Matthew ( Matthew 5 : 38-39  EU )
  5. ↑ Russian Lidija Opulskaja : Comments on The Candle
  6. ↑ Edition used, p. 100, 4. Zvo
  7. ↑ Edition used, p. 100, 4. Zvo