How Much Land Does a Man Need? by Leo Tolstoy. Short summary

5 seconds

Pakhom learns that the Bashkirs are selling land cheaply. They are willing to sell him for 1,000 rubles as much as he will get from sunset to sunrise. Pakhom dies of the effort, and he gets 3 arshins for his grave.

1 minute

Pakhom is greedy for the earth. The devil decides to ruin him because of greed. A merchant who has come from afar tells the peasant that he can buy land from the Bashkirs very cheaply — 5,000 dessiatinas for 1,000 roubles.

Pakhom goes to the Bashkirs. It turns out the merchant was telling the truth. But they set a condition — they will give Pakhom for 1000 roubles as much land as he can walk from sunset to sunrise. But he must go back to where he started, otherwise the Bashkirs will take the money and give him nothing. Pakhom agrees.

The day before the sale, he has a dream where the devil takes the form of a Bashkir and a merchant, but he himself is lying dead. But that does not stop the greedy peasant.

In the morning Pakhom starts to run around the land. But he wants so much that when the sun is nearing sunset he is still far from his starting point. With incredible effort he manages to make it to sunset, but his heart fails and Pakhom dies.

They dig the peasant’s grave with three inches of earth. That is how much he, it turns out, needs after all.