A Grain as Big

as a Hen's
Egg

"The

Grain",
sometimes
also
translated as A Grain as Big as a
Hen's Egg, is a short story by Russian
author Leo Tolstoy written in 1886. It
takes the form of a parable about
being content with one's lot in life.

leo tolstoy
On September 9, 1828, Count Lev
Nikolayevich Tolstoy, usually referred
to in English as Leo Tolstoy, was born
in Tula Province, Russia. In the 1860s,
he wrote his first great novel, War and
Peace. In 1873, Tolstoy set to work on
the second of his best known novels,
Anna Karenina. He continued to write
fiction throughout the 1880s and
1890s. One of his most successful
later works was The Death of Ivan
Ilyich. Tolstoy died on November 20,
1910 in Astapovo, Russia.

A Grain as Big as a Hens Egg is

written from an objective, omniscient
point of view, observing each event that
led to the eldest mans story without
participation
in
the
action
or
commentary on its own presence,
remaining anonymous to the reader.

Summary
One day some children found a strange object in a
ravine, and they sold it to a passerby for a penny,
who then sold it to a curiosity shop. Eventually the
object found its way to the king, and the king was
very curious to know what it was. He called
together his wise men, and they discovered that
the object, about the size of a hen's egg, was
actually a large grain.

The king wanted to know where such a large

grain could come from, and he had his men bring
him an old peasant, hoping that he might know
something of it. An old decrepit peasant, nearly
blind, unable to walk, unable to see, was brought
before the king. The king showed him the grain,
and the peasant said that he had never seen
anything like it before, but maybe his father
would know something. The peasant's father was
found and brought before the king.

The father was apparently healthier than the

son, with only one bad leg and better eyes.
He, however, still could not identify the
grain, but suggested that his father might
know something about it. That peasant's
father was found, and he was a healthy man
with good legs and bright eyes. He identified
the grain as one that he and his family had
planted in abundance in their time.

The king asked the man why he was so much

healthier than his son and grandson, and how the
grains were so much bigger in his day. The man
explains that his health and the grains are
because in his time, men were content with what
they had, and they could thrive simply from the
fruits of their own labor. In the times of his son
and grandson, men begin to covet their
neighbor's property, and they could no longer find
contentment.

Maireev
Ayla V. Tecson
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