A Story Without a Title (Chekhov)
Short summary
In the fifth century, monks lived in a remote monastery, isolated from civilization by a vast desert. Their days were monotonous and unchanging, brightened only by the extraordinary talents of their Father Superior.
One night, a drunken townsman arrived at the monastery and criticized the monks for sitting in peace while people in town were suffering and perishing. His words deeply affected the Father Superior, who decided to visit the town to preach. After three months, he returned looking aged and distressed.
For seven days, he locked himself in his cell. When he finally emerged, he described to the monks what he had witnessed: the sinful pleasures of the town, including drunkenness, gambling, and the beauty of a half-naked woman. As he detailed these worldly temptations with increasing passion,
He spoke with inspiration, with sonorous beauty, as though he were playing on unseen chords, while the monks, petrified, greedily drank in his words and gasped with rapture... After describing all the charms of the devil...
the Father Superior cursed the devil and retreated to his cell. The next morning, he discovered that all the monks had fled to the town, seduced by his vivid descriptions of worldly pleasures.
Detailed summary
Division into chapters is editorial.
Life in the peaceful monastery
In the fifth century, life in a remote monastery followed a predictable pattern. Each day resembled the one before it, with the sun rising and setting in the same manner. The monks devoted their time to work and prayer, finding joy in the talents of their Father Superior.
One day was like another, one night like another. From time to time a storm-cloud raced up and there was the angry rumble of thunder, or a negligent star fell out of the sky... and that was all, and then each day was like the next.
The Father Superior possessed extraordinary musical gifts. His organ playing moved even the oldest monks to tears, and his passionate speeches about ordinary things like trees, wild beasts, or the sea captivated his audience. The monks relied on his talents as much as their daily bread, especially when they grew weary of their monotonous surroundings.
The monastery stood isolated, with the nearest human settlement over seventy miles across the desert. Only those who had renounced life ventured to cross this barren expanse to reach the monastery.
The townsmans visit and his challenge to the monks
One night, to the monks' astonishment, a visitor knocked at their gate. He was an ordinary man from town who loved life and had no intention of renouncing it. When asked how he had crossed the desert, he explained that he had been hunting, drunk too much, and lost his way.
After eating and drinking, the townsman looked at the monks reproachfully and criticized their secluded lifestyle.
"You don't do anything, you monks. You are good for nothing but eating and drinking. Is that the way to save one's soul? Only think, while you sit here in peace... your neighbours are perishing and going to hell."
The townsman's words, though insolent, had a profound effect on the Father Superior. The old monk exchanged glances with his brothers, turned pale, and acknowledged the truth in the visitor's criticism.
"My brothers, he speaks the truth, you know. Indeed, poor people in their weakness and lack of understanding are perishing in vice and infidelity, while we do not move, as though it did not concern us."
The Father Superiors journey to the town
The next day, the Father Superior took his staff, bade farewell to the brotherhood, and set off for the town. The monks were left without his music, speeches, and verses. They spent three dreary months awaiting his return.
Finally, they heard the familiar tap of his staff. When the monks rushed to greet him, they found him weeping bitterly. He appeared greatly aged, thinner, and his face showed profound sadness and outrage. For seven days, he locked himself in his cell, refusing food and drink, not playing his organ, and responding to the monks' entreaties with silence.
The Father Superiors return and his tales of temptation
At last, the Father Superior emerged from his cell. Gathering all the monks around him, he began to recount his experiences during the three months away. With a calm voice and smiling eyes, he described his journey to the town. On the road, birds sang to him, brooks gurgled, and youthful hopes filled his soul. He marched confidently like a soldier going to battle, composing poems and hymns along the way.
However, his voice quivered and his eyes flashed with wrath when he spoke of the town and its inhabitants. Never in his life had he seen or imagined what he encountered there. For the first time in his old age, he witnessed the power of the devil, the allure of evil, and the weakness of men.
Never in his life had he seen or even dared to imagine what he met with when he went into the town. Only then for the first time in his life, in his old age, he saw and understood how powerful was the devil, how fair was evil...
By an unhappy chance, the first dwelling he entered was a place of vice. About fifty wealthy men were eating and drinking excessively. Intoxicated, they sang songs and uttered terrible words that a God-fearing man would never pronounce. They feared neither God nor death, doing whatever they pleased. The wine they drank sparkled joyfully, as if aware of its devilish charm.
The Father Superior, growing increasingly incensed, described a sinful, half-naked woman who stood on a table amidst the revelers.
This woman was extraordinarily beautiful with dark skin, black eyes, and full lips. Her beauty could not be hidden by her clothes but thrust through them like spring grass through soil. She drank wine, sang songs, and gave herself to anyone who wanted her.
The old man continued his tale, wrathfully describing horse-races, bullfights, theaters, and artists' studios where they painted or sculpted naked women. He spoke with inspiration while the monks listened, petrified and rapturous. After vividly portraying the charms of the devil, the beauty of evil, and the fascinating grace of the female form, the Father Superior cursed the devil and returned to his cell.
The monks desertion
The Father Superior's vivid descriptions of worldly pleasures had an unexpected effect on the monks. His passionate account of the town's temptations, intended as a warning, instead awakened their curiosity and desire.
When he came out of his cell in the morning there was not a monk left in the monastery; they had all fled to the town.