"How Much Land Does a Man Need?" - Leo Tolstoy

"How Much Land Does a Man Need?" by Leo Tolstoy

(Part-II General English: Prose, Poetry, Drama, Grammar, Language Study & Oral Communication Skills - Prescribed to the students of the Affiliated Colleges of Manonmaniam Sundaranar University)

 

"How Much Land Does a Man Need?" is a story written by Russian author Leo Tolstoy. It is about greed, ambition, and the problems caused by wanting too much material wealth. The main character, Pahom, learns the hard way that wanting more and more land does not bring happiness.

The story starts with two sisters, one married to a peasant and the other to a merchant, arguing about whose life is better. Pahom, the peasant's husband, says that if he had enough land, he wouldn't be afraid of anything, not even the Devil. The Devil hears this and decides to test Pahom.

Pahom becomes very focused on getting more land. He buys a small piece of land from a rich person, which makes him wealthier and more important. But Pahom still wants more land and starts fighting with his neighbors over it.

Pahom hears about a group of people called the Bashkirs who are selling land for very low prices. He goes to see them and makes a deal. The Bashkirs are simple people and don't care much about their land. They offer Pahom a special deal: for 1,000 rubles, he can have as much land as he can walk around in one day, from sunrise to sunset. But if Pahom doesn't make it back to where he started by sunset, he will lose the land and his money.

Pahom is very excited about this chance and agrees to the deal. He plans his route and calculates how much land he can walk around in a day. The next morning, he starts walking at sunrise and marks his starting point with his hat. As he walks, Pahom thinks about how rich and successful he will be with all his new land.

As the day goes on, Pahom gets more and more tired. He realizes he tried to walk around too much land and didn't think about how hard it would be. But Pahm keeps going because he wants the land so badly. When Pahom gets to the last part of his journey, he is very tired and tries to hurry back to his starting point.

The sun starts to set, and Pahom is so tired he falls down just a few steps away from his hat. In his last moments, he realizes that wanting so much land was pointless and not worth it. Pahom dies, and the Devil wins by showing how dangerous greed and ambition can be.

The story ends with Pahom's servant burying him in a small grave. This shows that in the end, a person only needs enough land to be buried in. Tolstoy uses this story to teach that no matter how much land someone has, it will never be enough to make them happy. Instead, people should focus on what really matters in life.