The story is set in India, where a wealthy merchant learns the importance of compassion and selflessness through a chance encounter at a coffee house. The merchant, who is proud of his wealth and status, is humbled by a poor and contented dervish who teaches him the true meaning of happiness and fulfilment. The story highlights the theme of the pursuit of material wealth and the emptiness it can bring, versus the satisfaction and joy that come from serving others. Read in English, unabridged.
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Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) was born about two hundred miles from Moscow. His mother died when he was two, his father when he was nine. His parents were of noble birth, and Tolstoy remained acutely aware of his aristocratic roots, even when he later embraced doctrines of equality and the brotherhood of man. After serving in the army in the Caucasus and Crimea, where he wrote his first stories, he traveled and studied educational theories. In 1862 he married Sophia Behrs and for the next fifteen years lived a tranquil, productive life, finishing War and Peace in 1869 and Anna Karenina in 1877. In 1879 he underwent a spiritual crisis; he sought to propagate his beliefs on faith, morality, and nonviolence, writing mostly parables, tracts, and morality plays. Tolstoy died of pneumonia in 1910 at the age of eighty-two.
Max Bollinger was born in Russia, grew up in Ukraine, and moved to England in 1993. He currently resides in London.