Wisdom of Children by Leo Tolstoy. Short summary

5 seconds

Malashka splashed mud all over her. Their mothers fought, the men stood up for them and started fighting, but the girls had already made up and were playing together. The adults felt ashamed.

1 minute

The two village girls, Malashka and Akulka, were dressed by their mothers in smart sundresses and let out into the street. There was a big muddy puddle. The girls wanted to play in it. They climbed into the puddle, and Malashka splashed Akulka.

Akulka roared when she saw the mud on her sundress. Her mother started cursing that her daughter got dirty, but she blamed it on Malashku. Akulka’s mother started beating Malashka. Malashka’s mother saw this and fought with Akulka’s mother.

Gradually the whole village joined the quarreling, taking one side and the other. The men began to swear and started to fight. The old woman wanted to talk them out of it, but everyone was already on edge.

Meanwhile, Akulka and Malashka made up, dug a little stream out of the puddle, put a splinter in it and ran after it laughing. An old woman saw them and began to reproach the men that they were going to beat each other because of the girls, and they had long since made up.

The grown-ups saw this and were ashamed. It is not without reason that the Scripture says that if you are not like children, you will not enter the kingdom.