The Old Horse (Tolstoy)
Division into chapters is editorial.
The old man Pímen and the tired horse Raven
In a village lived an extremely old man named Pímen Timoféich, who was ninety years old and resided at his grandson's house, no longer able to work. His back was bent, requiring him to walk with a cane and move his feet slowly.
He had no teeth at all, and his face was wrinkled. His nether lip trembled; when he walked and when he talked, his lips smacked, and one could not understand what he was saying.
Four brothers lived in the same village and were fond of riding horses. However, they had no gentle riding-horses and were only allowed to ride one horse named Raven.
The three brothers successful rides
One day their mother allowed them to ride, and all four brothers went with the valet to the stable. The coachman saddled Raven for them.
The eldest brother rode first, taking a long ride to the threshing-floor and around the garden. When he returned, the others shouted for him to gallop past them, which he did after striking Raven with his feet and whip. The second brother then mounted and rode for quite a while, also urging Raven with the whip and galloping uphill. The third brother rode to the threshing-floor, around the garden, down to the village, and raced uphill to the stable. When he returned, Raven was panting heavily, his neck and shoulders dark with sweat.
The narrators cruel attempt to make Raven run
When the narrator's turn came, he wanted to surprise his brothers and show them how well he could ride. He began driving Raven with all his might, but the exhausted horse refused to move away from the stable.
No matter how much he beat the horse, Raven would not run but only shied and turned back. The boy grew angry and struck him as hard as he could with his feet and whip, trying to hit places where it would hurt most.
I grew angry at the horse, and struck him as hard as I could with my feet and with the whip. I tried to strike him in places where it would hurt most; I broke the whip and began to strike his head.
Still Raven would not run. The frustrated boy rode back to the valet and asked for a stout switch, saying he wanted to heat up the horse and make him gallop.
The valet refused, telling the boy to get down and stop torturing the horse.
Don't ride any more, sir! Get down! What use is there in torturing the horse?
The boy felt offended and insisted he had not had a proper ride yet, demanding a good-sized switch.
The valets wisdom and moral lesson
The valet shook his head and delivered a powerful moral lesson to the boy.
Oh, sir, you have no pity; why should you heat him up? He is twenty years old. The horse is worn out; he can barely breathe, and is old. He is so very old!
The valet then made a comparison that would change the boy's perspective forever.
Just like Pímen Timoféich. You might just as well sit down on Timoféich's back and urge him on with a switch. Well, would you not pity him?
This comparison between the old, exhausted horse and the frail old man Pímen struck the boy deeply. He began to understand the cruelty of his actions and the suffering he was causing to a creature that was simply too old and tired to perform as demanded.
Understanding, forgiveness, and a lifelong lesson
I thought of Pímen, and listened to the valet's words. I climbed down from the horse and, when I saw how his sweaty sides hung down, how he breathed heavily through his nostrils...
The boy finally understood that it was hard for the horse and that before this moment, he had mistakenly thought riding was as much fun for Raven as it was for him.
Before that I used to think that it was as much fun for him as for me. I felt so sorry for Raven that I began to kiss his sweaty neck and to beg his forgiveness for having beaten him.
This experience transformed the narrator completely. Years later, as a grown man, he remained careful with horses and always remembered both Raven and Pímen Timoféich whenever he witnessed anyone torturing a horse. The lesson about compassion for the old and weak, whether human or animal, stayed with him for life.