The Young Tsar (Tolstoy)
Short summary
Russian Empire, 19th century. The Young Tsar had just ascended to the throne and worked tirelessly for five weeks.
On Christmas Eve, exhausted from signing decrees about taxes, alcohol sales, and punishments, he longed for rest with his wife. He fell asleep on a sofa and dreamed that a mysterious stranger appeared and guided him through visions of suffering caused by his orders. He witnessed prisoners in terrible conditions, a smuggler shot dead at the border leaving his family destitute, villages destroyed by state-sanctioned alcohol sales, and innocent people flogged under unjust laws. The guide showed him thousands of the best people imprisoned or exiled for opposing the state.
In despair, the Tsar asked what he could do. The guide's voice spoke:
You are not only the Tsar, but more. You are a human being... you have more immediate duties... human duties... the duty of a man in his relation to God, the duty toward your own soul.
He awoke and told his wife and an old courtier about the dream. The courtier urged him to dismiss his doubts and rule firmly, while his wife suggested delegating power to representatives. As they debated, the Tsar listened to the inner voice from his dream. The story ended without revealing which path he chose.
Detailed summary
Division into chapters is editorial.
The exhausted young Tsar seeks rest on Christmas Eve
On Christmas Eve, the young Tsar had just completed five weeks of intensive work since ascending the throne. He had attended to reports, signed papers, received ambassadors and officials, and reviewed troops. Exhausted like a traveler longing for water and rest, he yearned for just one day of respite from his duties to spend with his young wife, whom he had married only a month before.
That day he had worked until late examining documents, attended religious services, received official visitors, and met with three ministers. He approved increased import duties, sanctioned the Crown's sale of brandy and alcohol in villages, and signed various decrees including punishments for tramps and measures for religious dissenters. After a tiresome dinner with officials, he finally retired to his private apartments, changed from his heavy uniform into a comfortable jacket, and threw himself on the sofa. Feeling utterly happy and free, he fell into a deep sleep while waiting for his wife.
The mysterious guide appears and shows visions of prison
The Tsar was suddenly awakened by a soft touch on his shoulder. Instead of his expected wife, a mysterious stranger stood before him. Though the Tsar had never seen this man before, he felt as if he had known and trusted him for a long time. The stranger simply said "Come!" and laid his hand on the Tsar's head, causing him to lose consciousness momentarily.
When the Tsar regained consciousness, he found himself in a prison corridor filled with a stifling smell of sewage. The passage was lit by dim red lamps, with thick walls containing barred windows on one side and locked doors on the other. A sleeping soldier stood guard. The guide pushed the Tsar toward the first door, and remarkably, the sentry looked straight through them without seeing them. Through a small hole in the door, the Tsar observed a large room where six men paced endlessly like caged animals, while others sat or lay on shelves that served as beds.
The guide explained that these prisoners were all there by the Tsar's order, sentenced in his name. He pointed to a handsome young peasant with curly hair who was a murderer, though the guide considered him no more guilty than those who kill in war.
They are all here under lock and key by your order. They have all been sentenced in your name. But far from meriting their present condition... the greater part of them are far better than you.
Visions of frontier violence and smuggling corruption
Suddenly the Tsar found himself on the Prussian frontier, where a Russian soldier with a green band on his cap was pursuing fleeing smugglers. The soldier shouted warnings, then fired his rifle using smokeless powder. One fugitive fell wounded and crawled on his hands and knees before lying motionless.
That man was killed to protect the revenues of the State... These are the guards on the frontier, enforcing the revenue laws.
The scene shifted to a customs office where the dead smuggler lay with his wound and bloodstained clothes. His wife stood wrapped in shawls, gazing at his upturned feet and protruding eyeballs, while their children looked on in shock.
When officials questioned the soldier who had fired the shot, he trembled and could barely speak. Meanwhile, in another room, two men were drinking wine and conducting business with smuggled goods obtained cheaply through this violent system.
Visions of alcohols devastating effects on families and villages
The guide reminded the Tsar that he had signed orders concerning the sale of spirits. The vision shifted to a family discussing a dying nine-year-old boy who had been kept drunk continuously. The family spoke of widespread alcoholism in their village, where entire families were drunkards and public houses operated under imperial licenses. A student criticized how the government's main revenues came from the people's drunkenness, while officials, preachers, and bishops all participated in drinking.
Another scene showed a drunken peasant violently beating his elderly father, threatening to kill him despite the shame of striking one's parent. Officials rushed in to separate them, finding the father with a broken arm and the son's beard torn out. In the doorway, a drunken girl was making advances to an old peasant.
The Tsar exclaimed that these people were beasts, but more visions followed showing the systematic corruption and suffering caused by his policies.
Visions of judicial corruption and administrative oppression
The Tsar witnessed a justice of the peace sentencing a poor woman to two months imprisonment for stealing half a bundle of oats. The fat, bald judge with a chain around his neck conversed cordially with the landowner whose oats had been stolen. More cases followed involving stolen property and assaults on officials, while the families of the accused suffered from poverty and overwork.
Rapid visions showed floggings in Siberia, evicted Jewish families, bribery among officials, military corruption, and political persecution. The guide revealed tens of thousands of the best people imprisoned or ruined by false education, warning that all these destroyed lives weighed on the Tsar's soul.
The Tsar awakens and debates his responsibility with advisors
But what can I do? I do not wish to torture, to flog, to corrupt, to kill anyone! I only want the welfare of all. Just as I yearn for happiness myself, so I want the world to be happy as well.
The Tsar awoke from his dream, initially relieved it was not real, but soon realized the moral problems remained just as pressing. He found an old courtier speaking with his wife and shared his troubling visions. The courtier dismissed his concerns, insisting the Tsar exaggerated his responsibility and that he had committed no errors requiring forgiveness.
The young Queen, raised in a free country, disagreed and suggested delegating much of his power to the people's representatives. As the courtier and Queen debated, the Tsar listened to an inner voice telling him he had duties not just as a Tsar, but as a human being toward God and his own soul.
The Tsar opened his eyes as his wife awakened him from this second dream. The story concluded with the observation that which of three possible courses the young Tsar ultimately chose would be revealed in fifty years.
Which of the three courses the young Tsar chose, will be told in fifty years.