Too Dear!

by Leo Tolstoy

A famous short story

Genres: Classics, Russian Literature, Short Stories, Russia, Fiction, Humor

2 pages

First published January 1, 1897

About the author

Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (Russian: Лев Николаевич Толстой; most appropriately used Liev Tolstoy; commonly Leo Tolstoy in Anglophone countries) was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist fiction. Many consider Tolstoy to have been one of the world's greatest novelists. Tolstoy is equally known for his complicated and paradoxical persona and for his extreme moralistic and ascetic views, which he adopted after a moral crisis and spiritual awakening in the 1870s, after which he also became noted as a moral thinker and social reformer.

His literal interpretation of the ethical teachings of Jesus, centering on the Sermon on the Mount, caused him in later life to become a fervent Christian anarchist and anarcho-pacifist. His ideas on nonviolent resistance, expressed in such works as The Kingdom of God Is Within You, were to have a profound impact on such pivotal twentieth-century figures as Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Reviews

[Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a quirky, satirical little tale by the great Leo Tolstoy. What happens if you sentence a murderer to death, but your country doesn't want to go to the expense of putting him to death? This short story explores the greed of the rulers of the small country of Monaco and the impractical steps they take when confronted with this problem. The ruler of Monaco doesn’t want to pay the cost for having the man properly guillotined, and none of their small army of soldiers wants to take on the job of beheading the criminal. Apparently just shooting him is not an option? Bureaucratic inefficiency at its best!

It's not clear to me whether Tolstoy is applauding the final absurd resolution or rolling his eyes at it. Perhaps a little of both.

Free online here. It’s not my favorite of Tolstoy’s short works, but it’s interesting.

One of these days maybe I'll actually work myself up to one of the classic Russian novels, but for now these short stories are a fun way to dip my toes in the deep waters of Russian literature without too much of a time commitment.

[Penny -Thecatladybooknook · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish it had been longer. This guy gets arrested for murder in Monaco. He was sentenced to death but the King has to figure out what to do with him because it costs so much to execute or keep him alive.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sounds about right. Kind of depressing. 3 stars.

[Lezlie The Nerdy Narrative · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sounds like a lot of judicial systems in modern day. These Kinglet and his officials looked to be in competition for the village idiot.

Funny and enjoyable little read. I have to wonder if Tolstoy was thinking of someone in particular when writing this piece.

[James Dempsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

an imaginatively unimportant tale - more an exercise in style than content.

[Talib Khan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny... But sad reality!
Not only he gets to live freely for Killing a man but given pension for life from state while other good people are working hard to survive.

What a world we live in, when a lot of criminals are politicians, it sounds to me as a metaphor for them.

[Lucas Wooten · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written a long time ago but sounds a lot like present day. Takes forever to figure out what to do with a criminal and they end up getting off or getting a comfortable life in prison in the end. Imagine if we lived in a world though where dealing with one criminal was such a big deal because it was abnormal instead of maxed out prisons everywhere. Decent little short story.

[GetBooked101 · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 Stars
Old but a goodie I read the translated copy and the story is still very relevant to today's society.
A criminal commits a crime and then gets paid by the Governor to leave bruh...
Pros
Very short
Good story
Cons
Just sucks how realistic this is, if you do a crime you do the time not get paid out.

[Ishan · Rating 3 out of 5]

What does a small kingdom do with a murderer when any way of punishment is too expensive for the state? They give him a pension to fund his market-gardening venture across the border and occasional visits back to the kingdom to play roulette.

[Abyss & Dust · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Too Dear!" is a funny but kinda depressing take on how money rules everything, even justice. The whole thing feels like a joke, but it’s also too real, governments really do make decisions based on cost, not morals. Tolstoy just exposes it in the most ironic way possible.

[Chrisanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slyly, politically brilliant tale about the costs of law.
He just doesn't take the moral costs of the lack of law into account. But then, that wasn't the point of the story. Or was it?

[Dr. Sabarish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually written by Guy de Maupassant. It's a translation. Good simple humour

[Luiz Santiago · Rating 5 out of 5]

5,0

[Gail · Rating 5 out of 5]

This short satire made me laugh out loud; hilarious in its absurdity.

[Nazanin · Rating 3 out of 5]

دوسش داشتم، واسه این روزا که رو مود داستان کوتاهم کاملا مناسب.🤌

[Steven van Doorn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little Tolstoy gem. Funny and it makes a good point. Public domain and available here: http://www.online-literature.com/tols...

[Meghana · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.65