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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.
"Ivan the Fool" is an 1886 short story by Leo Tolstoy, published in 1886. The name "Ivan the Fool" alludes to a popular hero of Russian folklore.
"Too Dear!" is a short story by Russian author Leo Tolstoy first published in 1897. It is a humorous account of the troubles of dealing with a criminal in the kingdom of Monaco.
"The Three Questions" is a 1903 short story by Russian author Leo Tolstoy 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.
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 Landowner's Morning", also translated as "A Morning of a Landed Proprietor" is a short story by Leo Tolstoy written and published in 1856, early in Tolstoy's career. It is a fragment of Tolstoy's unfinished Novel of a Russian Landowner.
"The Two Brothers and the Gold" is a short story by Leo Tolstoy written in 1885.
"Evil Allures, But Good Endures" is a short story by Leo Tolstoy written in 1885. It is commonly included in the massively-reproduced collection Twenty-three Tales.
"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.
"A Dialogue Among Clever People" is a short story by Leo Tolstoy published in 1892. Aylmer Maude was one of the first translators.
"Walk in the Light While There is Light" is a short story by Leo Tolstoy written in 1893. According to famed Tolstoy-translators Louise Maude and Aylmer Maude, this story reflects Tolstoy's interest with early Christians, and according to translator Huntington Smith, this is a story about the early times of Christianity.
"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.
"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 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 into English by Louise Maude and Aylmer Maude.
"Singing In The Village" is a short story by Leo Tolstoy written in 1909 and published in 1910. While classified as a short story, translator and biographer Aylmer Maude described the piece as a sketch. According to The Spectator in 1910, the story details "...the incidents of his daily life, his conversations with his village friends and with the tramps and beggars who gather at his door, and his reflections upon them."
"Thou Shalt Not Kill" is an article by Leo Tolstoy. Written in 1890, it was immediately censored by the Russian censors, and was finally published on August 8, 1900. It is about how rulers, kings, and presidents are murderers for ordering armies to commit murder, and how the assassinations of such rulers should come as no surprise.
