A Prisoner in the Caucasus (Tolstoy)
Short summary
The Caucasus, mid-19th century. An officer named Zhílin was serving in the Russian army when he received a letter from his mother asking him to come home.
While traveling with another officer, Kostílin, they were attacked by Tartars. Kostílin fled, but Zhílin was captured and sold to a Tartar named Abdul Murat, who demanded three thousand roubles ransom. Zhílin bargained it down to five hundred and wrote a letter with a false address.
In the Tartar village, Zhílin won respect by repairing clocks and making toys. The master's daughter, Dina, befriended him and secretly brought him food. Meanwhile, Kostílin moped and waited for his ransom. After a month, Zhílin dug a tunnel and they escaped at night, but Kostílin's weakness slowed them down and they were recaptured.
They were thrown into a deep pit. The Tartars wanted to kill them after a Russian attack killed one of their own. Dina warned Zhílin and brought him a long pole to escape. Zhílin climbed out alone as Kostílin was too weak. Dina helped remove his shackles, gave him food, and cried as they parted. Zhílin walked all night through the forest. At dawn, he saw Cossacks near the fortress but also spotted three Tartars approaching. He ran toward the Cossacks shouting:
Brothers! Brothers! Help! ...Brothers! Brothers! Brothers!
The Cossacks rescued him just in time. Zhílin returned to service, deciding fate was against his going home to marry. Kostílin was later ransomed for five thousand roubles, nearly dead.
Detailed summary by chapters
Chapter titles are editorial.
Chapter 1. Capture by the Tartars
Officer Zhílin served in the Russian army in the Caucasus during wartime. He received a letter from his elderly mother, who was failing in health and wished to see her son once more before she died. She had also found a suitable girl for him to marry.
Zhílin decided to visit his mother and obtained leave from his colonel. The roads were dangerous due to Tartar attacks, so travelers moved in military convoys twice weekly between fortresses. On a hot summer day, Zhílin joined a slow-moving baggage train with sixteen miles to cover.
Frustrated by the convoy's slow progress, Zhílin met fellow officer Kostílin, who suggested they ride ahead alone. Despite Zhílin's preference to scout the hills first, Kostílin insisted on taking the direct route. They agreed to stay together, with Kostílin carrying a loaded gun.
When Zhílin climbed a hill to scout ahead, he spotted thirty Tartars nearby. As he galloped back shouting warnings, Kostílin panicked and fled toward the fortress instead of providing cover. Zhílin found himself surrounded by Tartars, his escape route cut off. Though he fought bravely, drawing his sword against a red-bearded Tartar, he was shot from behind.
I know you, devils that you are. If you take me alive, you'll put me in a pit and flog me. I will not be taken alive!
Chapter 2. Life in captivity and meeting Dina
His horse fell dead, pinning Zhílin beneath it. The Tartars bound him, searched his belongings, and took his money and watch. They loaded him behind the red-bearded Tartar and rode to their mountain village. Children threw stones at the captive while dogs barked. Zhílin was shackled and locked in a barn filled with manure.
The next morning, Zhílin observed village life through a chink in the wall. He saw Tartar women carrying water and children playing. Soon, two Tartars entered his prison: the red-bearded captor and a dark, cheerful man with bright black eyes who would become his master.
Good Russ, good Russ... You, Iván, good! I, Abdul, good!
Abdul called for his daughter to bring water. A thirteen-year-old girl appeared, slight and thin with clear black eyes and a good-looking face. She wore a long blue gown with wide sleeves, decorated with Russian silver coins. The girl watched Zhílin drink with wide, curious eyes like he was a wild animal.
Later, Zhílin was brought to Abdul's house where Tartar men sat on carpets eating millet cakes and drinking buza. An interpreter explained that Kazi-Mohammed had captured Zhílin and given him to Abdul as payment for a debt. Abdul demanded three thousand roubles ransom, but Zhílin refused, offering only five hundred. After heated negotiations and threats, they settled on one thousand roubles. Kostílin was also brought in, having been captured separately when his gun misfired.
Zhílin deliberately wrote his ransom letter with the wrong address, planning to escape instead. He knew his mother could never afford such a sum. The prisoners were given old military clothes and boots, likely taken from dead Russian soldiers, and locked in the barn each night with their shackles removed.
Chapter 3. Zhilins skills and growing friendship with Dina
For a month, the prisoners lived on poor food - mainly unleavened millet bread. While Kostílin moped and waited for ransom money, Zhílin kept busy and alert, planning his escape. He walked around the village whistling and worked with his hands, making clay dolls and weaving baskets.
With God's help I'll manage to escape! Where could my mother get enough money to ransom me? As it is she lived chiefly on what I sent her.
Zhílin's craftsmanship impressed the villagers. He made a doll dressed as a Tartar and placed it on the roof, attracting the women's attention. When Dina saw it, she called other women to look and laugh. Though they dared not take it at first, Dina eventually seized the doll and ran away. The next morning, she had dressed it in red cloth and was singing lullabies to it like a baby.
After an old woman broke the first doll, Zhílin made an even better one for Dina. The girl began secretly bringing him milk daily, then goat cheese, and even mutton when Abdul slaughtered a sheep. During a rainstorm, Zhílin created a water wheel with dancing dolls that delighted the entire village. His fame spread, and Tartars from distant villages brought him broken guns, pistols, and watches to repair.
Zhílin even practiced medicine, mixing sand with water and whispering over it to cure a sick Tartar. When the man recovered, Zhílin's reputation grew further. He began learning the Tartar language, and some villagers grew familiar with him, calling him "Iván." However, the red-bearded Kazi-Mohammed continued to dislike him, frowning and swearing whenever they met.
Chapter 4. Learning about enemies and preparing to escape
An elderly Tartar with a white turban particularly hated Zhílin. This man had a brick-red wrinkled face, hooked nose, cruel grey eyes, and only two teeth like tusks. When Zhílin explored near the old man's garden with its beehives, the Tartar shot at him and complained to Abdul.
Abdul explained the old man's hatred: he had been a great warrior who lost seven of his eight sons when Russians destroyed his village. After finding his surviving son among the Russians, the old man killed him with his own hands and escaped. He had made a pilgrimage to Mecca, earning the title "Hadji," and now urged Abdul to kill the Russian prisoners.
He was the bravest of our fellows; he killed many Russians... Then the Russians came and destroyed the village, and killed seven of his sons.
Despite the old man's pressure, Abdul refused to kill Zhílin, having grown fond of him. Meanwhile, Zhílin secretly dug a tunnel under the barn wall during nights, working with his file to loosen the stones. He also scouted the surrounding terrain, climbing hills to identify the direction of the Russian fortress. From a high vantage point, he spotted what appeared to be smoke in a distant valley, marking his escape route between two wooded hills.
Chapter 5. Failed escape attempt with Kostilin
One evening, Tartars returned from a raid carrying the body of the red-bearded Tartar's brother, who had been killed by Russians. The village held a solemn funeral, with the body wrapped in linen and buried in a sitting position in an underground vault. The mourning ceremony lasted three days, with the entire village feasting on mare's meat and drinking buza.
On the fourth day, most Tartars rode away, leaving only Abdul at home. With the new moon providing dark nights, Zhílin saw his chance. He convinced the reluctant Kostílin to attempt escape, arguing that the angry Tartars might kill them rather than wait for ransom money.
That night, they crawled through Zhílin's tunnel. The watchdog Oulyashin began barking, but Zhílin had been feeding him and managed to quiet him with cheese and scratches behind the ears. They waited for the Mullah's call to prayer to end, then began their journey through the valley, guided by stars.
Zhílin discarded his worn boots and went barefoot, jumping from stone to stone. Kostílin struggled with blistered feet and constantly lagged behind, groaning with pain. They lost their way in the darkness and had to backtrack toward the wooded hills. In the forest, they encountered a stag that startled them before crashing away through the branches.
As dawn approached, Kostílin collapsed, unable to continue. Despite Zhílin's urgings, the heavy, exhausted man could go no further. Zhílin carried him on his back, but Kostílin's scream of pain alerted a passing Tartar horseman, who fired at them and rode off to gather reinforcements.
It won't do to desert a comrade... Why should you perish because of me? No I won't go. It won't do to desert a comrade.
Soon, strange Tartars with dogs tracked them down and captured both men. Abdul arrived with reinforcements and took his prisoners back to the village. By daybreak, they were in the village street, where children threw stones and beat them with whips while the Tartars debated their fate.
Chapter 6. Final escape with Dinas help
The old Hadji demanded their execution, while Abdul insisted on keeping them for ransom. They were thrown into a deep, twelve-foot pit behind the mosque, with permanent shackles and only unbaked dough and water for sustenance. The conditions were horrible - wet, close, and stinking. Kostílin became seriously ill, his body swollen and aching.
Zhílin grew despondent until Dina appeared at the pit's edge, dropping cakes and cherries to him. He made clay toys and threw them up to her. When she warned him that the men wanted to kill him, he begged for help. Despite her fear of being discovered, Dina promised to bring a pole.
Iván, they want to kill you! ...But I am sorry for you!
That evening, when most Tartars had left the village, Dina lowered a strong pole into the pit. Kostílin was too weak to attempt escape, so Zhílin climbed out alone. Dina helped pull him up with her small hands, laughing despite the danger. She tried to help break his shackles with stones, but her delicate hands lacked the strength.
As the moon began to rise, Zhílin knew he had to leave immediately to reach the forest before full daylight. Dina gave him cheese for the journey. He thanked her tenderly, stroking her head and promising never to forget her kindness.
Goodbye, Dina dear! I shall never forget you! ...Who will make dolls for you when I am gone?
Zhílin traveled through the night, dragging his shackled leg and hiding from Tartar horsemen. By dawn, he reached the forest's edge and saw the Russian fortress in the plain below, with Cossacks around their campfire. As he descended toward them, three Tartars spotted him and gave chase. In a desperate final sprint, Zhílin ran toward the Cossacks, shouting for help. The Cossacks rode out and drove off the Tartars, rescuing Zhílin just in time.
The soldiers welcomed him back, breaking his shackles and caring for him. A month later, Kostílin was also released after his family paid five thousand roubles ransom, though he was nearly dead when returned. Reflecting on his experience, Zhílin joked about his failed attempt to go home and marry.
That's the way I went home and got married! No. It seems plain that fate was against it!