Why? (Tolstoy)
Short summary
Poland, 1830. Joseph Migoúrski visited the Jaczéwski estate intending to propose to the eldest daughter Wánda, but instead fell in love with fifteen-year-old Albína and left without proposing.
When the Polish uprising began, Migoúrski joined the revolutionary forces. After the rebellion was crushed, he was exiled as a common soldier to Urálsk. At eighteen, Albína traveled there to marry him despite everyone's objections. They lived happily and had two children, but both died from fever. Devastated, they planned an escape: Migoúrski faked his drowning and hid in a box disguised as children's coffins while Albína obtained permission to travel home with the bodies.
Their Cossack escort discovered Migoúrski in the box and reported them to authorities. When police arrested Migoúrski, Albína cried out:
Why? What for? It is my fault—my fault alone!... Forgive me! Forgive me!
Migoúrski was condemned to run the gauntlet but his sentence was commuted to lifetime exile in Siberia. Albína followed him there.
Detailed summary by chapters
Chapter titles are editorial.
Chapter 1. Joseph Migoúrskis visit to the Jaczéwski estate
In spring 1830, at the family estate of Rozánka, Pan Jaczéwski received a visit from Joseph Migoúrski, the son of a deceased friend with whom he had served under Kosciúszko's banner.
The old patriot hated Catherine II and believed firmly in the reestablishment of the Polish State. He lived with his second wife, whom he treated harshly, and two daughters from his first marriage: Wánda, a stately beauty who found country life tiresome, and fifteen-year-old Albína, his favorite.
Everyone at Rozánka was pleased when Migoúrski arrived. He had come intending to propose to Wánda, but after a week's stay, he left confused and upset without having done so. Only Albína understood why - she had noticed his special attention to her and felt his love, though she regarded herself as insignificant beside her accomplished sister.
She herself loved Migoúrski with her whole soul: loved him as one can only love for the first time, and only once in a lifetime.
Chapter 2. Revolution in Paris and preparations for Polish uprising
By summer's end, news arrived of revolution in Paris, followed by preparations for insurrection in Warsaw. Jaczéwski eagerly awaited news of Constantine's assassination and revolution's start. In November came tidings of the attack on the Belvedere, Constantine's flight, and the Diet's declaration deposing the Románof dynasty. Poland was free again! The household prepared for the rebellion's arrival. Wánda sent her diamonds to Warsaw for the Revolutionary Committee, while Albína focused only on Migoúrski's activities, knowing he had joined the forces.
Chapter 3. The crushing of the Polish rebellion
The Polish hopes were short-lived. The forces were too unequal, and the revolution was crushed again. Tens of thousands of Russians were driven into Poland under Diebitsch and then Paskévitch, saturating the ground with blood. Warsaw was captured, Polish detachments defeated. Hundreds of thousands were shot, flogged to death, or exiled. Among the exiled was young Migoúrski, his estate confiscated, sent as a common soldier to Urálsk. The Jaczéwskis received his letter from prison, expressing no regret for suffering for his native land.
Chapter 4. Jaczéwskis death and Albínas decision to marry
Old Jaczéwski's health deteriorated, and in 1833 the family went abroad. In Baden, Wánda married a rich Polish emigrant. The old man's illness progressed rapidly, and he died early in 1833 in Albína's arms, never forgiving his second wife. After returning to Russia, eighteen-year-old Albína announced her decision to go to Migoúrski in Urálsk and marry him. Despite her stepmother's objections about Migoúrski's selfish motives, Albína defended him and declared her irrevocable decision. Being legally of age with 300,000 zloty inheritance, no one could interfere.
Chapter 5. Migoúrskis life in exile and correspondence with Albína
Migoúrski lived in his own lodging rather than barracks, thanks to his battalion commander's sympathy.
In return, Migoúrski taught mathematics and French to the commander's sons. His life was monotonous, dull, and hard, with only correspondence with Albína bringing joy. When she asked about his former letter's meaning regarding "plans and dreams," he revealed his dream had been to call her his wife. She wrote back declaring her love. He replied she shouldn't have written that, as it was terrible to think of what might have been but was now impossible. She insisted it was not only possible but would surely happen. When she sent him 2,000 zloty, he returned it, begging her not to spoil their sacred friendship with money.
In November, while teaching the Lieutenant-Colonel's children, Migoúrski heard a post-bell and sledge stopping outside. The commander's wife announced that ladies were asking for him. Though he would have said it impossible for Albína to come, at heart he expected her. In the hall, he found Albína with her old nurse, her eyes beaming with joy of life beneath frozen lashes.
Chapter 6. Albínas arrival in Urálsk and the wedding
The Lieutenant-Colonel's kindhearted wife received Albína into her house until the wedding. The good-natured commander obtained necessary permission from authorities. A Polish priest was procured from Órenburg, and the ceremony took place with the battalion-commander's wife as the bride's mother and an exiled Pole as best man.
Though Albína loved her husband passionately, she only now began to truly know him. She found in the living man much that was ordinary and prosaic, absent from her idealized image, but also much that was simple and good. Despite his courage and strength, he proved mild and gentle as a lamb, with the same childlike smile that had attracted her at Rozánka. Migoúrski too learned to know Albína and women in general for the first time. Towards Albína as a woman he felt tender, ironical condescension, but towards Albína as herself, not only tender love but rapture and gratitude for her sacrifice.
They felt like two people who, having lost their way in winter, are in danger of being frozen, and warm one another.
They were happy in their children - a boy born a year after marriage who was his mother's image, and eighteen months later, a healthy pretty girl. Their misfortune was exile from home and the humiliation of their position, especially painful for Albína to see her hero husband subjected to military discipline and orders.
Chapter 7. Married life, children, and devastating loss
The Migoúrskis lived thus for five years until terrible sorrow overwhelmed them. First their little girl fell ill, then their boy. For three days he burned with fever, and on the fourth day died without medical aid. Two days later, the little girl died too.
If Albína did not drown herself in the Urál River, it was only because she could not think without terror of the state her husband would be in when he heard of her suicide.
Formerly active and busy, she now left duties to Ludwíka and sat listlessly gazing at nothing, or would run to her room to weep alone. In summer she visited her children's grave, tormented by the thought that they might have lived had they been in a town with medical aid.
Why? What for?... Josy and I want nothing from anyone, except that he should be allowed to live the life he was born to, and which his grandfathers lived.
She put the question to men and to God, and could not imagine the possibility of any answer. And without an answer there was no life for her.
Chapter 8. Rosolówskis arrival and tales of brutal punishment
At this unhappy time, a Pole named Rosolówski arrived at Urálsk.
He had been involved in a widespread plot organized by the exiled Polish priest Sirocínski to raise an insurrection and escape from exile. Rosolówski had been flogged for his participation and was now sent as a common soldier to Migoúrski's battalion. On his first evening with the Migoúrskis, he told them about the affair in his slow, quiet bass voice. The plan had been to incite soldiers and convicts to mutiny, get exiles to rise, seize artillery at Omsk, and liberate everybody. Success was assured until two betrayers revealed the plan. Rosolówski described in horrific detail the execution he was forced to witness - men being beaten to death with switches as they passed between two rows of soldiers. The last to be brought out was Sirocínski himself, who loudly repeated prayers as he was beaten.
Chapter 9. Planning the escape from exile
The next day, Albína met Migoúrski with a beaming face and announced her decision: she couldn't live there anymore and they must run away. Her plan was for Migoúrski to disappear one evening, leaving his overcoat and a suicide letter by the Urál River. While presumed drowned, he would hide until they could escape together. After long discussions with Rosolówski and Ludwíka, they refined the plan. Albína would petition to take her children's bodies home after her husband's "death." Instead of coffins, Migoúrski would hide in a specially constructed box in their tarantass. They would travel to Sarátof, then take a boat down the Vólga to the Caspian Sea and freedom in Persia or Turkey. Rosolówski helped construct the box with air-holes and a secret entrance from inside the vehicle.
Chapter 10. The escape begins across the steppe
The plan was executed successfully. Migoúrski staged his suicide, and after a week Albína received permission to leave and take her children's bodies. At the cemetery, they made the grave appear opened while leaving the actual bodies undisturbed. On departure day, at three in the morning, a Cossack escort arrived with a driver and three horses. Albína and Ludwíka sat in the tarantass with their little dog, while Migoúrski lay hidden at the bottom of the vehicle. They drove through the endless steppe covered with silvery feather-grass. Albína's heart swelled with hope and elation. At the first station, when alone, she checked on her husband, who reported feeling splendid and comfortable. Her spirits rose higher, and she amused herself with Ludwíka's comical coquetting with their good-natured Cossack escort.
Chapter 11. Arrival at Sarátof and hope for freedom
On the second evening, Sarátof and the Vólga appeared through the mist. They stopped in the Pokróvsky suburb opposite the city. Albína hoped to speak with her husband during the night, but the Cossack never left the tarantass, sitting nearby in a cart. Just before dawn, when she found the Cossack apparently sleeping and snoring, she spoke to Migoúrski through the box. But when she glanced at the Cossack, though he was snoring, his kind blue eyes were open, looking at her. She convinced herself it was her imagination. Albína crossed the Vólga to see the Governor, who, pleased by the attractive Polish widow speaking excellent French, granted all her requests and gave her an order for the Mayor of Tsarítsin. She arranged with a boatman to take them to Astrakhán in his boat, planning to place the wheelless tarantass inside for comfort.
Chapter 12. Discovery, capture, and final tragedy
The Cossack Daniel Lifánof was a thirty-four-year-old Old Believer from the Strelétsky Settlement, completing his army service.
He was ordered to escort two Polish women and coffins safely to Sarátof. But in the suburb, he noticed the little dog whining at the tarantass and heard a man's voice from under the seat. When Albína came to the tarantass at night, he pretended to sleep and distinctly heard the man's voice from the box. Early morning, he reported to police that the Polish women were carrying a live man instead of coffins. When Albína returned in her rapturously happy mood, sure freedom was near, she saw elegant horses and Cossacks at the gates with a crowd gathered. At the tarantass stood an imposing Police Master with glittering uniform. Between two soldiers, dressed as a peasant with hay in his tangled hair, stood Migoúrski, raising his shoulders in perplexity. When he saw Albína, he wished to approach but was prevented, saying gently, "Never mind, Albína, never mind!" As the terrible reality struck her, she remembered her children's death and cried out the eternal question that tormented her. Migoúrski was handcuffed and led away. Albína ran after him, crying "Forgive me! It is my fault alone!" He was tried for attempting escape and condemned to run the gauntlet, later commuted to lifelong Siberian exile. Albína followed him. Meanwhile, Daniel Lifánof, tormented by whether he had done right in reporting the Polish woman's husband, drank away all his money and clothes.
Whether he had done well to report to the Authorities about the Polish woman's husband inside the box?
Nicholas I rejoiced at having crushed the hydra of revolution... and prided himself on having benefited the Russian people by keeping Poland under Russian rule.