Leo Tolstoy
What Men Live By
The Conscious Library
Written work
What Men Live By
Чем люди живы
Tolstoy's first great popular story, based on a legend collected in Olonets province. A poor shoemaker, Semyon, takes in a naked man by a chapel: he is the angel Michael, punished by God to live among men until he learns three truths, the last of which is that men live by love. Published in 1881 in the magazine Children's Recreation. It belongs to the popular stories Tolstoy wrote after his conversion for the Posrednik press, in plain language and with the structure of a parable.
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Other works by Leo Tolstoy
- War and Peace · 1869
- Anna Karenina · 1877
- Resurrection · 1899
- Childhood · 1852
- Boyhood · 1854
- Youth · 1857
- The Cossacks · 1863
- Family Happiness · 1859
- The Death of Ivan Ilyich · 1886
- The Kreutzer Sonata · 1889
- Hadji Murat · 1904
- Father Sergius · 1898
- Master and Man · 1895
- The Devil · 1889
- The Forged Coupon · 1904
- Polikushka · 1863
- A Landowner's Morning · 1856
- Two Hussars · 1856
- Albert · 1858
- Kholstomer (Strider) · 1886
- Notes of a Madman · 1884
- Posthumous Notes of the Elder Fyodor Kuzmich · 1905
- A History of Yesterday · 1851
- The Raid · 1853
- A Christmas Night · 1853
- Uncle Zhdanov and Cavalier Chernov · 1854
- How Russian Soldiers Die (The Alarm) · 1854
- Notes of a Billiard Marker · 1855
- The Wood-Felling · 1855
- Sevastopol Sketches · 1856
- Sevastopol in December · 1855
- Sevastopol in May · 1855
- Sevastopol in August 1855 · 1856
- The Snowstorm · 1856
- The Demoted Officer (An Old Acquaintance) · 1856
- Lucerne · 1857
- Three Deaths · 1859
- Fragments of Stories from Village Life · 1862
- Idyll · 1862
- Tikhon and Malanya · 1862
- The Decembrists · 1884
- Novel of the Time of Peter I · 1873
- Prince Fyodor Shchetinin · 1878
- A Hundred Years · 1879
- The Toiling and Burdened · 1879
- The Mother · 1891
- Who Is Right? · 1893
- The Porcelain Doll · 1863
- The Two Brothers and the Gold · 1885
- Ilyas · 1885
- Where Love Is, God Is · 1885
- Evil Allures, but Good Endures · 1885
- Little Girls Wiser than Old Men · 1885
- A Spark Neglected Burns the House · 1885
- Two Old Men · 1885
- The Candle · 1885
- The Tale of Ivan the Fool · 1885
- The Three Hermits · 1886
- How the Little Devil Redeemed the Crust · 1886
- The Repentant Sinner · 1886
- A Grain as Big as a Hen's Egg · 1886
- How Much Land Does a Man Need? · 1886
- The Godson · 1886
- Emelyan and the Empty Drum · 1886
- The Three Sons · 1887
- Ending of the Little Russian Legend «Forty Years» · 1886
- Croesus and Fate · 1886
- The Coffee-House of Surat · 1887
- Too Dear! · 1890
- Françoise · 1891
- Karma · 1894
- The Young Tsar · 1894
- Three Parables · 1895
- Two Different Versions of the History of a Beehive with a Bark Lid · 1900
- The Destruction of Hell and Its Restoration · 1902
- Esarhaddon, King of Assyria · 1903
- Work, Death and Sickness · 1903
- Three Questions · 1903
- After the Ball · 1903
- Alyosha the Pot · 1905
- Korney Vasiliev · 1905
- Berries · 1905
- Divine and Human · 1905
- For What? · 1906
- What I Saw in a Dream · 1906
- Poor People · 1905
- Father Vasily · 1906
- The Power of Childhood · 1908
- The Wolf · 1908
- Children's Wisdom · 1909
- A Talk with a Wayfarer · 1909
- The Traveller and the Peasant · 1909
- Songs in the Village · 1909
- Three Days in the Village · 1909
- Khodynka · 1910
- Unintentionally · 1910
- Grateful Soil · 1910
- There Are No Guilty People · 1909
- The Three Bears · 1875
- How Uncle Semyon Told What Happened to Him in the Forest · 1875
- The Cow · 1875
- Filipok · 1875
- The Ant and the Dove · 1872
- The Blind Man and the Deaf Man · 1872
- The Tortoise and the Eagle · 1872
- The Foundling · 1872
- The Head and the Tail of the Snake · 1872
- The Stone · 1872
- The Eskimos · 1872
- The Polecat · 1872
- How Auntie Told How She Learned to Sew · 1872
- Fine Thread · 1872
- Speed Makes Power · 1872
- The Lion and the Mouse · 1872
- The Fire Dogs · 1872
- The Monkey · 1872
- How a Boy Told How He Was Not Taken to Town · 1872
- The Liar · 1872
- How a House Was Repaired in Paris · 1872
- The Ass and the Horse · 1872
- How a Boy Told How a Thunderstorm Caught Him in the Forest · 1872
- The Jackdaw and the Doves · 1872
- The Peasant and the Cucumbers · 1872
- The Woman and the Hen · 1872
- The Old Grandfather and the Grandson · 1872
- Dividing the Inheritance · 1872
- Where Does the Sea Water Go? · 1872
- The Lion, the Bear and the Fox · 1872
- How a Boy Told How He Found Queen Bees for His Grandfather · 1872
- The Dog, the Cock and the Fox · 1872
- The Sea · 1872
- The Horse and the Groom · 1872
- The Fire · 1872
- The Frog and the Lion · 1872
- The Elephant · 1872
- The Monkey and the Peas · 1872
- How a Boy Told How He Stopped Fearing Blind Beggars · 1872
- The Milch Cow · 1872
- The Chinese Empress Si Ling-chi · 1872
- The Dragonfly and the Ants · 1872
- The Mouse Maiden · 1872
- The Hen and the Golden Eggs · 1872
- Lipunyushka · 1872
- The Wolf and the Old Woman · 1872
- The Kitten · 1872
- The Learned Son · 1872
- How the Bukharans Learned to Breed Silkworms · 1872
- The Peasant and the Horse · 1872
- How Auntie Told Grandmother How the Bandit Yemelka Pugachev Gave Her Ten Kopecks · 1872
- The Vizier Abdul · 1872
- How the Thief Gave Himself Away · 1872
- The Burden · 1872
- The Plum Stone · 1872
- The Two Merchants · 1872
- The Dog of the St Gotthard · 1872
- A Peasant's Story of Why He Loves His Elder Brother · 1872
- How I Killed My First Hare · 1872
- Tom Thumb · 1872
- The Fool (A Tale in Verse) · 1872
- Svyatogor the Bogatyr · 1872
- The Girl and the Mushrooms · 1872
- The Ass in the Lion's Skin · 1872
- What Dew on the Grass Is Like · 1872
- The Hen and the Swallow · 1872
- The Indian and the Englishwomen · 1872
- The Stag and the Fawn · 1872
- The Waistcoat · 1872
- The Fox and the Grapes · 1872
- Luck · 1872
- The Maidservants and the Cock · 1872
- The Self-Spinning Wheel · 1872
- The Fisherman and the Little Fish · 1872
- Touch and Sight · 1872
- The Fox and the Goat · 1872
- How a Peasant Removed a Stone · 1872
- The Dog and Its Shadow · 1872
- The Shat and the Don · 1872
- The Crane and the Stork · 1872
- Sudoma · 1872
- The Gardener and His Sons · 1872
- The Owl and the Hare · 1872
- The Wolf and the Crane · 1872
- The Eagle · 1872
- The Duck and the Moon · 1872
- The Bear on the Cart · 1872
- The Wolf in the Dust · 1872
- The Willow · 1872
- The Mouse under the Barn · 1872
- How Wolves Teach Their Young · 1872
- The Hares and the Frogs · 1872
- How Auntie Told of Her Tame Sparrow, Zhivchik · 1872
- Three Rolls and One Pretzel · 1872
- A Thousand Gold Pieces · 1872
- Peter I and the Peasant · 1872
- The Mad Dog · 1872
- The Two Horses · 1872
- The Lion and the Little Dog · 1872
- An Equal Inheritance · 1872
- The Three Thieves · 1872
- The Father and His Sons · 1872
- What Causes Wind? · 1872
- What Is Wind For? · 1872
- The Best Pears · 1872
- The Volga and the Vazuza · 1872
- The Calf on the Ice · 1872
- The Golden-Haired Princess · 1872
- The Falcon and the Cock · 1872
- Warmth (I) · 1872
- Warmth (II) · 1872
- Warmth (III) · 1872
- The Jackals and the Elephant · 1872
- The Magnet · 1872
- The Heron, the Fish and the Crab · 1872
- How Uncle Told How He Rode on Horseback · 1872
- The Hedgehog and the Hare · 1872
- The Two Brothers · 1872
- The Water Sprite and the Pearl · 1872
- The Grass Snake · 1872
- The Sparrow and the Swallows · 1872
- Cambyses and Psammenitus · 1872
- The Shark · 1872
- Why Do Windows Sweat and Dew Form? · 1872
- The Bishop and the Robber · 1872
- Yermak · 1872
- Sukhman · 1872
- The King and the Falcon · 1872
- The Fox · 1872
- A Severe Punishment · 1872
- The Wild Ass and the Tame Ass · 1872
- The Hare and the Hound · 1872
- The Stag · 1872
- Hares · 1872
- The Dog and the Wolf · 1872
- The King's Brothers · 1872
- The Blind Man and the Milk · 1872
- The Grey Hare · 1872
- The Wolf and the Bow · 1872
- How a Peasant Divided the Geese · 1872
- The Gnat and the Lion · 1872
- The Apple Trees · 1872
- The Horse and Its Masters · 1872
- The Bedbugs · 1872
- The Old Man and Death · 1872
- How the Geese Saved Rome · 1872
- Why Do Trees Crack in Frost? · 1872
- Moisture (I) · 1872
- Moisture (II) · 1872
- The Different Connection of Particles · 1872
- The Lion and the Fox · 1872
- The Righteous Judge · 1872
- The Stag and the Vineyard · 1872
- The King's Son and His Companions · 1872
- The Young Jackdaw · 1872
- How I Learned to Ride · 1872
- The Axe and the Saw · 1872
- The Soldier's Wife's Life · 1862
- The Cat and the Mice · 1872
- Ice, Water and Steam · 1872
- The Quail and Her Chicks · 1872
- Bulka · 1872
- Bulka and the Wild Boar · 1872
- The Pheasants · 1872
- Milton and Bulka · 1872
- The Turtle · 1872
- Bulka and the Wolf · 1872
- What Happened to Bulka in Pyatigorsk · 1872
- The End of Bulka and Milton · 1872
- The Birds and the Net · 1872
- The Sense of Smell · 1872
- The Dogs and the Cook · 1872
- The Founding of Rome · 1872
- God Sees the Truth, but Waits · 1872
- Crystals · 1872
- The Wolf and the Goat · 1872
- Polycrates of Samos · 1872
- Volga the Bogatyr · 1872
- The King and the Shirt · 1872
- The Reed and the Olive Tree · 1872
- The Wolf and the Peasant · 1872
- The Two Companions · 1872
- The Jump · 1872
- The Oak and the Hazel · 1872
- Harmful Air · 1872
- Bad Air · 1872
- The Wolf and the Lamb · 1872
- Specific Gravity · 1872
- The Lion, the Wolf and the Fox · 1872
- The King's New Clothes · 1872
- The Fox's Tail · 1872
- The Silkworm · 1872
- The King and the Elephants · 1872
- Hunting Is Worse than Bondage · 1872
- The Hen and Her Chicks · 1872
- Gases (I) · 1872
- Gases (II) · 1872
- The Lion, the Ass and the Fox · 1872
- The Old Poplar · 1872
- The Bird Cherry · 1872
- How Trees Walk · 1872
- The Corncrake and His Mate · 1872
- How Balloons Are Made · 1872
- An Aeronaut's Story · 1872
- The Cow and the Goat · 1872
- The Raven and His Young · 1872
- The Sun Is Warmth · 1872
- Why There Is Evil in the World · 1872
- Galvanism · 1872
- The Peasant and the Water Sprite · 1872
- The Raven and the Fox · 1872
- A Prisoner of the Caucasus · 1872
- Mikulushka Selyaninovich · 1872
- The Wolf and the Mare · 1872
- The Bees and the Drones · 1872
- The Old Horse · 1872
- The Big Stove · 1875
- The Find · 1875
- The Girl and the Robbers · 1875
- The Hazel Branch · 1875
- The Little Bird · 1875
- The Azbuka (ABC) · 1872
- The New Azbuka · 1875
- Russian Readers (I–IV) · 1875
- Arithmetic · 1875
- The Infected Family · 1864
- The Nihilist · 1866
- The Power of Darkness · 1886
- Dramatic Version of the Legend of Aggei · 1886
- The First Distiller · 1886
- The Fruits of Enlightenment · 1889
- Peter the Baker · 1894
- The Living Corpse · 1900
- The Light Shines in Darkness · 1900
- The Cause of It All · 1910
- Song of the Battle of the Chernaya River, 4 August 1855 · 1855
- A Confession · 1882
- A Critique of Dogmatic Theology · 1880
- The Four Gospels Harmonized and Translated · 1881
- The Gospel in Brief · 1881
- What I Believe · 1884
- What Then Must We Do? · 1886
- On Life · 1887
- The Kingdom of God Is Within You · 1893
- The Christian Teaching · 1896
- What Is Religion, and Wherein Lies Its Essence? · 1902
- Religion and Morality · 1893
- How to Read the Gospel and What Is Its Essence? · 1896
- The Teaching of Christ Told for Children · 1908
- Thoughts of Wise Men for Every Day · 1903
- A Calendar of Wisdom (Circle of Reading) · 1906
- For Every Day · 1910
- The Path of Life · 1910
- The Law of Love and the Law of Violence · 1908
- Reply to the Synod's Edict · 1901
- Church and State · 1879
- Project for Reforming the Army · 1855
- Note on the Question of the Nobility · 1858
- On the Moscow Census · 1882
- Nicholas Stick · 1887
- It Is Time to Come to One's Senses! · 1889
- Why Do Men Stupefy Themselves? · 1890
- Afterword to The Kreutzer Sonata · 1890
- The First Step · 1891
- On the Famine · 1891
- A Terrible Question · 1891
- On Means of Helping the Population Suffering from Crop Failure · 1891
- Among the Needy · 1892
- In Memory of I. I. Raevsky · 1891
- Non-Activity · 1893
- Christianity and Patriotism · 1894
- Shame! · 1895
- Senseless Dreams · 1895
- The Persecution of Christians in Russia in 1895 · 1895
- The Beginning of the End · 1897
- Famine or No Famine? · 1898
- Two Wars · 1898
- Carthago delenda est · 1898
- The Slavery of Our Times · 1900
- Where Is the Way Out? · 1900
- Thou Shalt Not Kill · 1900
- Patriotism and Government · 1900
- The Only Means · 1901
- To the Tsar and His Assistants · 1901
- On Religious Toleration · 1901
- A Soldier's Memo · 1901
- An Officer's Memo · 1901
- To the Working People · 1902
- To the Clergy · 1902
- Bethink Yourselves! · 1904
- A Great Iniquity · 1905
- The End of the Age · 1905
- The One Thing Needful: On State Power · 1905
- The Meaning of the Russian Revolution · 1906
- The Only Possible Solution of the Land Question · 1906
- Thou Shalt Kill No One · 1907
- I Cannot Be Silent! · 1908
- Recollections of a Soldier's Trial · 1908
- The Inevitable Revolution · 1909
- The Only Commandment · 1909
- It Is Time to Understand · 1909
- The Superstition of the State · 1910
- On Socialism · 1910
- Speech to the Society of Lovers of Russian Literature · 1859
- On Popular Education (1862) · 1862
- The Yasnaya Polyana School in November and December · 1862
- On Methods of Teaching Reading · 1862
- Draft of a General Plan for Popular Schools · 1862
- Upbringing and Education · 1862
- Progress and the Definition of Education · 1862
- Who Should Learn Writing of Whom: Peasant Children of Us, or We of Peasant Children? · 1862
- On the Language of Popular Books · 1862
- On Popular Education (1874) · 1874
- Speech on Popular Editions · 1884
- Some Words about War and Peace · 1868
- Preface to the Collection «Tsvetnik» · 1886
- On Art · 1889
- On What Is Called Art · 1896
- What Is Art? · 1898
- Preface to the English Edition of What Is Art? · 1898
- On Shakespeare and the Drama · 1906
- On Gogol · 1909
- Preface to the Works of Guy de Maupassant · 1894
- Preface to S. T. Semenov's Peasant Stories · 1894
- Preface to W. von Polenz's Novel Der Büttnerbauer · 1901
- Afterword to Chekhov's Story «The Darling» · 1905
- Preface to V. S. Morozov's Story «For a Single Word» · 1908
- Preface to A. I. Ertel's Novel The Gardenins · 1908
- Preface to N. Orlov's Album «Russian Peasants» · 1908
- Introduction to Amiel's Journal · 1893
- On N. N. Ge's Painting «Christ's Last Conversation with His Disciples» · 1886
- Preface to T. M. Bondarev's «Industry and Parasitism» · 1888
- Preface to the Russian Translation of Alice Stockham's Tokology · 1890
- Preface to Edward Carpenter's «Modern Science» · 1898
- Preface to the Russian Translation of Henry George's Social Problems · 1907
- Letter to a Peasant on the Land · 1905
- On the Visit of Henry George's Son · 1909
- Letters · 1910
- Correspondence with N. N. Strakhov · 1896
- Letter to Alexander III · 1881
- Letter to the Editors of Russkie Vedomosti and Novoe Vremya · 1891
- Letter to M. E. Zdziechowski on Patriotism · 1895
- Patriotism or Peace? · 1896
- A Letter to the Liberals · 1896
- Letter to a Non-Commissioned Officer · 1899
- Letter to Nicholas II · 1902
- Letter to a Chinese · 1906
- A Letter to a Hindu · 1908
- Correspondence with Gandhi · 1910
- Letter to P. A. Stolypin · 1909
- Diaries · 1910
- A Landowner's Diary · 1856
- Fragment of the Diary of 1857 · 1857
- Notes of a Christian · 1881
- Dialogue · 1910
- The «Secret» Diary of 1908 · 1908
- Diary for Myself Alone · 1910
- Reminiscences · 1906
- My Life · 1879
- Chinese Wisdom · 1884
- Sayings of the Chinese Sage Lao-Tze, Selected by L. N. Tolstoy · 1910
- Tao Te King, or The Scripture of Morality (with D. P. Konishi) · 1913
- Essay on the Teaching of Confucius · 1903
- Mo Ti, a Chinese Philosopher: The Teaching of Universal Love · 1910
- How the Chinese Live · 1889
- Thief's Son · 1906
- What a Christian May Do · 1887
- The Holiday of Enlightenment of the 12th of January · 1889
- On the Relations between the Sexes · 1890
- God or Mammon? · 1895
- Nobel's Bequest · 1897
- Concerning the Congress of Peace · 1899
- The Commune and the World · 1899
- On Suicide · 1900
- On the Street Riots · 1901
- The Crisis in Russia · 1905
- Love Each Other · 1906
- Letter to a Revolutionary · 1886
- Letter to N. N. Engelhardt · 1882
- Letter to a Kind Youth · 1887
- Manual Labour and Intellectual Activity (Letter to Romain Rolland) · 1887
- Letter to A. V. Vlasov · 1889
- On Non-Resistance to Evil · 1890
- Letter to Sofia Tolstaya on the Famine · 1892
- Letters on Henry George · 1893
- Replies to Critics (Letters to the Daily Chronicle and a Polish Journalist) · 1895
- Reason and Religion · 1895
- Correspondence with P. V. Verigin · 1896
- Non-Resistance (Letter to Ernest H. Crosby) · 1896
- Letter to Eugen Heinrich Schmitt · 1896
- On the Deception of the Church · 1896
- Help! (Postscript to an Appeal for the Doukhobors) · 1896
- Letter to the Doukhobors of the Caucasus · 1897
- Correspondence with the Doukhobors in Canada · 1900
- Letters to an Orthodox Priest and a French Pastor · 1901
- On the Franco-Russian Alliance (Letter to Pietro Mazzini) · 1901
- Letter to the Tolstoy Society of Manchester · 1901
- Letters to Svobodna Misal · 1901
- Letter to a Jew · 1903
- Epilogue to Drozhzhin's Life and Death · 1895
- Apropos of A. I. Ershov's Recollections of Sevastopol · 1889
- Three Phases of Life · 1899
- Letter to the Ministers of the Interior and of Justice · 1896
- Letter to the Commander of the Irkutsk Disciplinary Battalion · 1896
- Letter to the Orthodox Clergy · 1903
- Complete Works in 90 Volumes (Jubilee Edition) · 1958
- Complete Works in 100 Volumes (Academic Edition) · 2000
Sources
- Толстой, Л. Н. Собрание сочинений в 22 томах. Moscú: Judózhestvennaia literatura, 1978–1985 (índices de los tomos 1–22 en la Biblioteca Virtual Rusa, RVB; el t. 10, de 1982, recoge los relatos de la Nueva Azbuka y de los cuatro Libros rusos de lectura).
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