Strawberries (Tolstoy)
Short summary
Russian countryside, June. Nicholas Semyónovitch, a wealthy landowner, hosted a Petersburg visitor for dinner at his luxurious bungalow. They discussed politics late into the night with a doctor, debating constitutional principles and the future of Russia. Earlier that day, Nicholas had bought strawberries from peasant boys, and his young son Gógo ate them and developed stomach trouble. His wife Marie blamed him for the child's illness, causing tension between them.
Meanwhile, in the nearby village, peasant children woke early to pick strawberries in the forest. Taráska returned from night pasturing and joined his sisters Ólga and Groúsha.
The little girls, bent nearly double, picked the berries one by one with their small brown fingers, putting the worst in their mouths and the best ones into the mugs.
They helped find a lost toddler in the forest, got caught in a rainstorm, and afterwards took their berries to sell at the landowner's house. Marie refused them, but her older son bought the strawberries anyway. While the wealthy family worried about minor digestive issues and continued their abstract political debates, the peasant children returned home, gave their earnings to their mother, and fell asleep exhausted from their day's labor.
Detailed summary
Division into chapters is editorial.
The summer world of the wealthy landowners
It was a hot June day in the Russian countryside. The forest was thick with green foliage, wild roses bloomed sweetly, and the air was heavy with the scent of clover. Peasants worked in the fields while their children picked strawberries in the woods to sell to the wealthy summer residents.
These summer inhabitants of ornamented, architecturally pretentious bungalows, strolled with open sunshades, in light, clean, costly clothes, along sand-strewn paths
Among these summer estates stood the splendid bungalow of Nicholas Semyónovitch, complete with tower, veranda, and galleries. A troika-calèche waited outside, having brought a Petersburg gentleman to visit his old childhood friend.
The dinner party and political discussions
The friends had gathered for dinner in the garden, joined by a Liberal doctor, the children's tutor who was a revolutionary student, Nicholas's wife Marie, and their three children. The oppressive heat made eating nearly impossible.
They had had five courses for dinner... but the heat made it almost impossible to eat, so that all the work of the cook... was wasted.
During dinner, tension arose because Marie worried about their youngest son Gógo's stomach problems, and the revolutionary student eagerly interrupted political conversations to show he wasn't afraid to express his radical opinions.
After dinner, the men retreated to the veranda to drink iced narzán with wine and discuss politics. Their conversation grew heated as they debated electoral systems and the best form of government for Russia. The discussion continued past midnight, with the old driver waiting patiently outside.
The footman Iván interrupted to say the driver was getting restless, but the political debate continued until dawn. The Petersburg visitor finally departed, carried away by the discussion and forgetting to tip the footman.
The strawberry incident and family tension
The source of the family tension lay in an earlier incident involving strawberries. That morning, Nicholas had bought two plates of unripe wild strawberries from peasant boys without bargaining. His children had eaten them directly from the boys' plates before Marie came down.
When she came and heard that Gógo, whose stomach was already out of order, had been given strawberries, she became extremely angry... almost a quarrel.
The argument between husband and wife had been unpleasant, and by evening Gógo's condition had worsened. When Nicholas finally went to check on his son, he found Marie in the nursery with the doctor, who was examining the child. Marie blamed the strawberries for their son's illness, and it took Nicholas a long time to calm her down before they could finally sleep.
The peasant childrens morning preparations
Early that morning in the neighboring village, young boys returned with horses they had pastured all night. Taráska Resounóf, a twelve-year-old boy, rode ahead on a piebald mare, leading another horse.
He called to his sisters and brother, who were sleeping in the passage. Little Ólga jumped up, smoothing her tangled flaxen hair, while Fédka remained hidden under his sheepskin coat. The children had planned to go strawberry picking, and after Taráska ate his breakfast, he hurried to catch up with the girls who had already left for the forest.
Adventures in the forest while strawberry picking
The girls had run out without breakfast, and without even taking a bit of bread with them... picking the berries one by one with their small brown fingers
The children searched for strawberries in the forest clearings where trees had been felled. Groúsha got frightened when a hare suddenly rustled through the bushes, thinking it was a wolf, but then laughed at her own fear.
They encountered Aunty Akoulína, who was also picking berries with her little boy. When the boy went missing, Ólga helped search for him and found him sleeping peacefully under a bush, surrounded by angry birds protecting their nest. After a thunderstorm caught them while bathing in the river, the girls returned home and took their father his dinner in the fields.
Return home and contrasting satisfactions
The girls tried to sell their strawberries at Nicholas Semyónovitch's house, but Marie refused them. However, Vólya, the eldest son, secretly bought the berries with money from his nurse, avoiding his father who was still recovering from the sleepless night.
In Nicholas Semyónovitch's family everything was pursuing its usual course. All was well... nobody felt inclined for food... Vólya was contented because he had eaten...