2 h 7 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 52 pagesHardcover · 6 × 9 in · 52 pagesAbout this book
What do you owe a freezing stranger when your own family barely has enough?
In Leo Tolstoy’s What Men Live By, and Other Tales, ordinary people face choices that test their compassion. In the title story, Simon has only one coat when he finds a stranger in the cold. At home, his wife Matryona waits with little food. In Where Love Is, There God Is, the grieving cobbler Martin Avdeich watches for a promised visitor.
Two Old Men follows Efim Tarasych and Elisha Bodrov as they set out for Jerusalem. The Three Questions brings a king’s search for wisdom; The Coffee-House of Surat explores religious tolerance. How Much Land Does a Man Need? examines greed. Drawing on Christian teachings and Russian folk stories, these tales ask what people need—and what love asks of them.
What you’ll discover
- Kindness under pressure Enter Simon’s poor household, where sheltering a stranger means sharing what is already scarce.
- A stranger at work Watch Michael at the shoemaker’s bench, quiet and skillful, with smiles nobody can explain.
- Faith in daily life Explore how Tolstoy’s tales connect Christian teaching with ordinary acts of care.
- The cost of wanting Consider the pull of greed and pride through plain stories with direct moral questions.
- Room for reflection Read a tale in one sitting, then linger over its question of how to live.
Is it for you?
This book suits readers who like short stories with a clear moral heart, and anyone curious about Tolstoy's later faith. If you want subtle irony or tangled plots, you may find these tales too plain and too direct.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A poor shoemaker shelters a stranger
- Matryona's anger gives way to kindness
- Michael works, watches, and smiles three times
- Martin waits for a guest who may be Christ
- Two old men set out for Jerusalem
- What these tales say, and how they are told
Who’s who
- SimonA poor village shoemaker who finds a freezing stranger by a chapel and must decide what to do with his only coat.
- MatryonaSimon's practical wife, who runs the household on very little and first meets the stranger with anger.
- MichaelThe silent stranger who becomes Simon's helper, works skillfully at the bench, and smiles at moments nobody can explain.
- Martin AvdeichAn old, grieving cobbler who reads the Gospels in his basement shop and waits for a promised visitor.
- Efim TarasychA well-off, careful peasant who sets out for Jerusalem with a strict plan and a proud sense of duty.
- Elisha BodrovEfim's poorer, easygoing neighbor and traveling companion, who has long wished to see the holy places.
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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What Men Live By, and Other Tales
by Leo Tolstoy
Ordinary people face choices about kindness, faith, and greed.
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“I have spoken first of the ethical works of Tolstoy, because they are of the first importance to me, but I think that his aesthetical works are as perfect.”
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 6
A poor shoemaker shelters a stranger
The title tale begins with Simon, a village shoemaker who lives in a rented peasant hut with his wife, Matryona, and their children. They are very poor. Simon and his wife share a single sheepskin coat between them, and it is worn thin. Simon hopes to collect some money that villagers owe him and buy sheepskins for a new one.
His day goes badly. The debtors cannot pay, and Simon, cold and discouraged, stops to drink some vodka on the way home. He tells himself he does not need a coat after all. Tolstoy shows us a man who is neither saint nor villain, only tired and a little ashamed.
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The author
Leo Tolstoy
1828–1910 · Russian novelist and moral philosopher
Leo Tolstoy was a Russian author born in 1828 at Yasnaya Polyana, where he lived for much of his life. He wrote novels, stories, and essays. War and Peace appeared in 1865–1869 and Anna Karenina in 1875–1877. He died in 1910 at Astapovo, Russia.
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Questions about What Men Live By, and Other Tales
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What is What Men Live By about?
It tells of Simon, a poor shoemaker who takes in a naked stranger on a freezing night. The stranger, Michael, lives and works in his home, and the household slowly learns what truly keeps people alive.
Who is Michael in What Men Live By?
Michael is the silent stranger Simon finds by a roadside chapel. He becomes a skilled helper in the workshop and rarely smiles. Readers learn who he really is only at the end of the tale.
What other stories are in What Men Live By, and Other Tales?
The tales include Where Love Is, There God Is and Two Old Men, along with other short parables Tolstoy wrote in the 1880s.
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