A Spark Neglected Burns the House (Tolstoy)
Short summary
A Russian village. Two peasant families lived as good neighbors until the sons took charge. Iván Stcherbakóf was well-off with three working sons.
A quarrel began when Iván's hen laid an egg in neighbor Gabriel's yard. The women fought, then the men joined. Iván pulled hair from Gabriel's beard.
The feud escalated through lawsuits for six years. When Gabriel was sentenced to twenty lashes for striking Iván's pregnant daughter-in-law, he threatened revenge. That night, Gabriel set fire to Iván's property. Iván caught him but Gabriel escaped. The fire spread, burning half the village. Iván's father, dying from burns, asked his son:
Iván, I am dying, and you in your turn will have to face death. Whose is the sin?... Now, before God, say whose is the sin? What did I tell you?
Iván confessed his guilt. His father told him to hide Gabriel's sin. Iván forgave Gabriel, never revealed who started the fire, and they became good neighbors again.
Detailed summary
Division into chapters is editorial.
The prosperous families and the hens egg incident
In a Russian village lived a prosperous peasant named Iván Stcherbakóf, who was in his prime and considered the best worker in the village. He had three sons capable of work, with the eldest married and the second about to marry. His family owned three horses, a cow with calf, and fifteen sheep, living comfortably with only his ailing father as an idle mouth to feed.
Their peaceful existence was marred only by a growing feud with their next-door neighbor, Limping Gabriel, the son of Gordéy Ivánof.
In the fathers' generation, the families had lived as good neighbors, sharing tools and helping each other. However, when the sons took over the households, everything changed over a seemingly trivial matter. Iván's daughter-in-law had a hen that began laying early for Easter.
One day the hen flew into Gabriel's yard and laid an egg there. When the woman went to retrieve it, Gabriel's mother rudely refused to give it back, claiming they had no need of other people's eggs. This sparked a heated argument between the women that escalated when others joined in.
Escalation of the feud through courts and conflicts
The quarrel quickly turned violent when Gabriel returned from the fields and joined his wife. Iván and his son rushed out to help, and in the ensuing fight, Iván pulled a handful of hair from Gabriel's beard. Gabriel wrapped the torn hair in paper and took Iván to the District Court, declaring that he hadn't grown his beard for Iván to pull it out.
From his place on the brick oven, Iván's bedridden father tried to make peace between the families.
It's a stupid thing you are after, children, picking quarrels about such a paltry matter. Just think! The whole thing began about an egg... God sends enough for all!
But the younger generation refused to listen to his wise counsel. The feud continued to escalate as both families pursued legal action against each other. When Gabriel's coupling-pin disappeared, his family accused Iván's son of theft. The constant litigation consumed their time and resources, with both men frequently appearing before various courts.
Like dogs that attack one another and get more and more furious the longer they fight... So these peasants: they went to law, and... got more and more angry.
The conflict poisoned daily life as the families slandered each other and their children learned to abuse one another. Even simple tasks like washing clothes by the riverside became opportunities for bitter arguments. For six years this destructive cycle continued, with each legal victory only fueling more anger and desire for revenge.
The situation reached a dangerous climax during a wedding celebration in the seventh year, when Gabriel, drunk and provoked by Iván's daughter-in-law's accusations of horse-stealing, struck the pregnant woman so hard she was bedridden for a week. Iván was delighted, seeing this as his chance to have Gabriel imprisoned or exiled to Siberia.
Gabriels sentencing and the old fathers wise counsel
Through bribery and persistence, Iván succeeded in getting Gabriel sentenced to twenty lashes with birch rods. When the sentence was read, Gabriel turned pale and made a threatening remark about something of Iván's burning worse than his back would. The old Judge tried to reconcile the men, urging them to make peace, but Gabriel refused to humble himself.
Mind that something of yours does not burn worse than that!... Very well! He will have my back flogged: that will make it burn; but something of his may burn worse!
When Iván returned home that evening, he found his father had climbed down from the oven despite his illness. The old man delivered a powerful sermon about forgiveness and the futility of revenge, reminding Iván how neighbors used to help each other in the past.
If you nurse your anger it will be worse for you yourselves... If you get a hard word from anyone, keep silent, and his own conscience will accuse him.
The father urged Iván to go immediately to the authorities to stop the legal proceedings and make peace with Gabriel. For a moment, Iván's heart softened and he considered following his father's advice.
Go, Iván, don't put it off! Put out the fire before it spreads, or it will be too late... The more you bear malice, the worse it will be.
However, when the women returned home with fresh gossip about Gabriel's threats and legal maneuvers, Iván's heart hardened again and he abandoned thoughts of reconciliation.
The fire, confession, and forgiveness
That night, Iván heard Gabriel cursing outside and became convinced his neighbor would set fire to his property. He went out to patrol his buildings and caught Gabriel in the act of lighting straw near the eaves. When Gabriel saw him approaching, he fled, but Iván caught the skirt of his coat before Gabriel struck him with an oak wedge and escaped.
Stunned by the blow, Iván recovered to find his buildings ablaze. The fire spread rapidly in the windy conditions, consuming not only his homestead but Gabriel's as well, and eventually half the village. Iván stood helplessly watching his life's work burn, repeatedly crying out in anguish.
What is this, friends?... One need only have pulled it out from under the eaves and trampled on it! What is this, friends?...
The family lost everything except the horses that were at pasture. Iván's elderly father, burned by falling straw during the evacuation, was taken to the village Elder's cottage. On his deathbed, the old man asked his son whose sin had caused the village to burn. When Iván finally admitted his guilt, his father gave him final instructions about forgiveness.
Hide another man's sin, and God will forgive two of yours!... Don't tell who started the fire!
The old man died peacefully after delivering this final wisdom. True to his father's dying words, Iván never revealed that Gabriel had started the fire, and no one else discovered the truth.
Reconciliation and living as good neighbors
Iván's silence and forgiveness gradually melted Gabriel's anger and fear. When the village was rebuilt, both families chose to remain neighbors as before. They learned to live as good neighbors should, with Iván following his father's teachings about quenching fires at the first spark and responding to injury with attempts at reconciliation rather than revenge. The experience taught him to try to reform others with kindness rather than return evil for evil, and he passed these lessons on to his family. Through this transformation, Iván ultimately prospered even more than before the fire.