We have read a number of stories in life. However, not all stories touch our heart. For me, two Russian writers have been very inspiring. Of course, they are none other than Leo Tolstoy and Anton Chekov.

Though there are many other good writers around the globe whose great literary works can’t be underestimated, however for me, these two writers have been able to touch my (and I believe many of our) hearts and feelings.

The stories such as ‘How much land does a man need?’ ‘What man lives by’ ‘God sees to truth but waits’, etc. are a few of Tolstoy’s masterpieces, while ‘Grief , ‘Enemy’, ‘The Bet’ etc. are some of Chekov’s popular stories.

I would like to focus on one of them. In the story ‘How much land does a man need?’ the main character of the story becomes the victim of greed, who as a poor farmer had been living normally a happy life with his family, when one day someone informs him about the land somewhere far, where there was plenty and with  minimum expenses one could participate in a race and whatever acres of land he could cover, by walking or running, he could make that land his own.

But, there was a condition that one could start the race with the sunrise and that he should be back to the same point before the sun set. The poor farmer got interested as he believed he could easily make much land his own.

The next morning he started the race at the exact time as he didn’t want to waste a single moment. He ran and ran with all his energy with the desire to cover as much land as he could, and due to his greed he wanted to go farther and farther.

After running for some time he felt tired, thirsty and hungry but didn’t stop as he thought he was not going to die if he didn’t eat for a day.

Thinking so, he continued running and by the time the sun set, he could manage to return almost near to his destination, just six feet away from the end point, but unfortunately he fell due to exhaustion never to get up again.

The story teaches a great lesson, how a man becomes a victim of such vicissitudes where we are bound to lose our precious life, being oblivious of the joy of life such as love, kindness, friendship, music, family, travelling, the beauty of nature and many other such things.