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Promoting a Devil (also translated as The Imp and the Crust) is a short story by Russian author Leo Tolstoy first published in 1886. (Tolstoy used the same plot for a play titled The First Distiller written later in the same year). It is a cautionary tale story about a man who fell into a sinful life when he was given more than he needed.
The story opens with a peasant preparing to plow a field. Having gone without breakfast, he is careful to hide his dinner, a small crust of bread, under his coat. After plowing the field the peasant is hungry and ready for his dinner, but when he picks up his coat he sees that the bread is gone. It had been taken by a little devil, who was convinced that the peasant would become wrathful. Instead, the peasant decided that whoever took his bread must have needed it more than him, and he went on his way.
The little devil is brought before the Chief Devil, who is not pleased that the peasant was not corrupted. He threatens to douse the little devil with holy water if he fails again, and the little devil is sent out for another attempt at corrupting the peasant.
The little devil takes the guise of a pilgrim, and in this guise he gives the peasant farming advice throughout the seasons. The peasant grows a great surplus, and he begins to live much better than he had. One season, the little devil convinced the peasant to distill his extra corn into vodka, and the peasant takes his advice. The little devil then brings the Chief Devil to see the result of his works.
The devils witness a party hosted by the peasant, where all of the guests and the host himself indulge in several glasses of vodka. They start off joking and jovial, but as they consume more vodka, the party goers become more abusive and irate. When they finally leave the party they are thoroughly drunk, falling over each other and landing in the mud.
The Chief Devil is astonished. He is convinced that the drink must have been made from the blood of beasts to make the men act so beastly. The little devil explains that it was simply vodka, and he just needed to convince the peasant to turn God's gift of corn into idle liquor. The little devil knew that all men have a savage side inside of them, and when the peasant had just enough food to survive, the savage beast inside him was kept silent. But as soon as the peasant accumulates a surplus, corruption sets in. Convinced that the corruption of the peasants is complete, the Chief Devil awards the little devil a promotion.
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"Ivan the Fool" is an 1886 short story by Leo Tolstoy, published in 1886. The name "Ivan the Fool" hints to a popular hero of Russian folklore.
"How Much Land Does a Man Require?" is an 1886 short story by Leo Tolstoy about a man who, in his lust for land, forfeits everything.
"The Three Questions" is a short story by Russian author Leo Tolstoy first published in 1885 as part of the collection What Men Live By, and Other Tales. The story takes the form of a parable, and it concerns a king who wants to find the answers to what he considers the three most important questions in life.
"Repentance" is a short story by Russian author Leo Tolstoy first published in 1886. The story details the difficulties of a repentant sinner's attempts to enter Heaven.
"Wisdom of Children" is a short story by Russian author Leo Tolstoy first published in 1885. It takes the form of a parable about forgiveness.
"The Grain" or "A Grain As Big As A Hen's Egg" is an 1886 short story by Leo Tolstoy about a king seeking to understand the properties of a grain he acquires.
"Work, Death, and Sickness", sometimes also translated as "The Right Way", is a short story by Russian author Leo Tolstoy written in 1903. The story takes the form of a parable about the creation of work, death, and sickness.
The Cause of It All is a play in two parts by Leo Tolstoy published in 1910, and later translated by Aylmer and Louise Maude. It heavily features anti-alcohol and teetotaling themes.
The First Distiller, subtitled How the Imp Earned a Crust, is a play by Leo Tolstoy published in 1886, and translated into English by Aylmer and Louise Maude.
"A Morning of a Landed Proprietor" is a short story by Leo Tolstoy written and published in 1852, early in Tolstoy's career.
Polikúshka: The Lot of a Wicked Court Servant ("Поликушка") is a novella by Leo Tolstoy written in 1860 and first published in 1862. According to Tolstoy's translator, Aylmer Maude, it is the story of a serf who loses some money that belongs to his mistress before hanging himself.
"Two Hussars" is a novella by Leo Tolstoy published in 1856, and translated into English by Nathan Haskell Dole. This is a novel in which one generation struggles against an earlier generation, or Tolstoy's generation is in struggle against that of his fathers. Tolstoy translator Aylmer Maude describes the text as a "a rollicking tale with flashes of humor resembling Charles Lever's." Russian and Soviet literary scholar Boris Eikhenbaum has suggested that the introduction to Two Hussars was actually intended to be in The Decembrists, the incomplete novel that was supposed to be the following installment of War and Peace.
"The Port" is a short story by Guy de Maupassant written in 1889 and translated by Leo Tolstoy into Russian in 1891 as Françoise: A Story After Maupassant ("Франсуаза"). Other works by Maupaussant translated by Tolstoy include Too Dear!, which is often included in the popular collection of Tolstoy's work Twenty Three Tales.
"A Dialogue Among Clever People" is a short story by Leo Tolstoy published in 1892. Aylmer Maude was one of the first translators.
"The Coffee-House of Surat" is a short story by Leo Tolstoy written in 1891, first published in Russian in 1893, and first published in English in 1901. Like several other of Tolstoy's works, this work is based on a French piece translated by Tolstoy himself, by Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre. Due to the censorship in Russia, Tolstoy had to adjust the tale somewhat.
"The Young Tsar" is a short story by Leo Tolstoy written in 1894. According to Tolstoy's diary, he recalled having titled it "The Dream of a Young Tsar". The introduction that prefaces the story is by Aylmer Maude.
"Three Days in the Village" is a short story by Leo Tolstoy written in 1909, one year before Tolstoy's death. Although classified as fiction, it is autobiographical in nature and details Tolstoy's life on his estate and his travels to nearby villages, and the contrasts between the two. It was translated by Louise Maude and Aylmer Maude.
"The Godson" is a short story by Leo Tolstoy published in 1886. Inessa Medzhibovskaya, professor of English at New School for Social Research, describes it as the tale of a godson who is forbidden to open a certain sealed room in his godfather's palace, but then opens it and is banished, leading to his need for redemption.
"The Empty Drum: A Russian Folk Tale Retold by Leo Tolstoy" is a short story by Leo Tolstoy published in 1891. According to Aylmer Maude, famous Tolstoy translator, it was originally written in 1887, and is based on a folk story that reflects the Russian peasant's deep hatred of military service. It is based specifically on a folktale from the Volga region.
"Twenty-Three Tales" is a popular compilation of short stories by Leo Tolstoy. According to its publisher, Oxford University Press, the collection is about contemporary classes in Russia during Tolstoy's time, written in a brief, morality-tale style. It was translated to English by Louise Maude and Aylmer Maude
