The Peasant and the Cucumbers (Tolstoy)
Division into sections is editorial.
The peasants grand plan
A peasant decided to steal cucumbers from a gardener's plot. Under cover of darkness, he crept stealthily toward the cucumber patch, his mind already working on what he would do with his stolen goods. As he approached the vegetables, his imagination began to run wild with elaborate plans for the future.
Standing among the cucumber vines, the peasant began to fantasize about his scheme. He planned to steal a whole bag of cucumbers and sell them at the market. The peasant's thoughts turned to what he would purchase with the money from his theft:
I will carry off a bag of cucumbers, which I will sell; with the money I will buy a hen. The hen will lay eggs, hatch them, and raise a lot of chicks.
But the peasant's daydream did not stop there. His imagination continued to expand his future wealth. He envisioned selling the chicks and using that money to purchase livestock. His grand plan grew ever more elaborate as he stood there in the darkness:
I will feed the chicks and sell them; then I will buy me a young sow, and she will bear a lot of pigs. I will sell the pigs, and buy me a mare; the mare will foal me some colts.
The peasant's fantasy reached its peak as he imagined himself becoming a wealthy landowner. He pictured selling the colts and using the profits to buy property and establish his own garden. In his mind, he would become so prosperous that he would need to protect his own cucumber patch from thieves just like himself. He imagined hiring guards and personally supervising them to ensure no one would steal from his future garden.
I will hire watchmen, and put them in the cucumber patch, while I myself will come on them, unawares, and shout: 'Oh, there, keep a sharp lookout!'
So vivid was his daydream that the peasant became completely absorbed in his imaginary role as a wealthy landowner protecting his property. He envisioned himself surprising his own watchmen during their guard duty, checking on their vigilance and ensuring they were properly protecting his valuable cucumber crop. The fantasy felt so real to him that he forgot where he actually was and what he was actually doing. Lost in his elaborate scheme of future wealth and success, the peasant became carried away by his own imagination. He was no longer simply a thief creeping through someone else's garden, but in his mind had transformed into a prosperous property owner supervising his employees. The boundary between his criminal reality and his grandiose fantasy completely dissolved as he stood among the cucumber vines, plotting his path from petty theft to great fortune through this chain of increasingly ambitious business ventures.
The peasants downfall
The peasant became so engrossed in his fantasy that he forgot he was still standing in someone else's cucumber patch as a trespasser and thief. In his imagination, he was now the wealthy landowner, and he began to act out his role. Believing himself to be the master checking on his guards, he decided to demonstrate how he would surprise and test his future watchmen. Without thinking about his actual circumstances, the peasant suddenly shouted out loud, as if he were indeed the property owner catching his employees off guard. His voice rang out through the night air, breaking the silence of the garden.
Unfortunately for the peasant, this garden actually did have real watchmen protecting it.
The guards had been quietly patrolling the area, keeping watch for exactly this kind of intruder. When they heard the peasant's loud shout echoing through the garden, they immediately recognized it as the voice of a trespasser. The watchmen quickly located the source of the noise and discovered the peasant standing among the cucumber plants. Realizing they had caught a thief in the act, they rushed toward him. The peasant's elaborate daydream of future wealth and success came to an abrupt and painful end:
And this he shouted as loud as he could. The watchmen heard it, and they rushed out and beat the peasant.