Little Girls Wiser Than Men (Tolstoy)
Division into chapters is editorial.
The meeting and play in the puddle
It was an early Easter in a Russian village where sledging had just ended and snow still lay in the yards while water ran down the village street in streams. Two little girls from different houses met in a lane between homesteads where dirty water from farmyards had formed a large puddle. One girl was very small, the other slightly bigger, and both mothers had dressed them in new frocks for the holiday. The smaller girl wore a blue frock while the bigger one wore yellow print, and both had red kerchiefs on their heads. They had just come from church when they encountered each other.
First they showed each other their finery, then began to play. Soon they decided to splash about in the water. When Malásha was about to step into the puddle with her shoes on, Akoúlya stopped her, saying:
Don't go in so, Malásha, your mother will scold you. I will take off my shoes and stockings, and you take off yours.
They removed their shoes and stockings and began walking toward each other through the puddle, lifting their skirts.
The splash incident and escalating conflict
The water came up to Malásha's ankles and she expressed fear about the depth, but Akoúlya encouraged her to continue. When they got near each other, Akoúlya warned Malásha to walk carefully and not splash. However, Malásha immediately plumped down her foot so that water splashed right onto Akoúlya's frock, staining both the dress and splashing Akoúlya's eyes and nose. Seeing the stains on her new frock, Akoúlya became angry and ran after Malásha to strike her. Frightened and realizing she had gotten herself into trouble, Malásha scrambled out of the puddle and prepared to run home.
At that moment, Akoúlya's mother happened to be passing and saw her daughter's splashed skirt and dirty sleeves.
She scolded her daughter as a naughty, dirty girl and asked what she had been doing. Akoúlya replied that Malásha did it on purpose. At this, Akoúlya's mother seized Malásha and struck her on the back of her neck. Malásha began to howl so loudly that she could be heard all down the street. Her mother came out and demanded to know why her girl was being beaten.
She began scolding her neighbor, and the situation escalated quickly.
One word led to another and they had an angry quarrel... everyone shouting and no one listening. They all went on quarrelling, till one gave another a push.
The men came out and a crowd collected in the street. The affair had very nearly come to blows when Akoúlya's old grandmother stepped in among them and tried to calm them.
Childrens reconciliation and adult shame
While the women were abusing each other, Akoúlya had wiped the mud off her frock and returned to the puddle. She took a stone and began scraping away earth in front of the puddle to make a channel through which the water could run out into the street. Presently Malásha joined her and helped dig the channel with a chip of wood. Just as the men were beginning to fight, water from the little girls' channel ran streaming into the street toward the very place where the old woman was trying to pacify the men. The girls followed their stream, one running on each side.
Catch it, Malásha! Catch it! shouted Akoúlya; while Malásha could not speak for laughing.
Highly delighted and watching their chip float along on the stream, the little girls ran straight into the group of quarreling adults. The old woman, seeing them, pointed out the shame of adults fighting over children who had already forgotten their disagreement and were playing happily together. She declared that the children were wiser than the adults. The men looked at the little girls and were ashamed, laughing at themselves as they went back to their homes.
Except ye turn, and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven.