Godson-04

The Godson
by Leo Tolstoy

IV

Left alone, his godson lived so happily and contentedly that he seemed only to have been there three hours when in reality he had been there thirty years. At the end of those thirty years the godson drew near to the sealed door and thought within himself, "Why did my godfather forbid me to enter that room? Suppose I go in now and see what it contains?"

So he pushed at the door, the seals parted, and the door flew open. As he entered he could see rooms larger and more splendid even than the others, and that in the midst of them there was set a golden throne. On and on he walked through those rooms, until he had come to the throne. Ascending the steps, he sat down upon it. Hardly had he done so when he perceived a sceptre resting against the throne. He took this sceptre into his hand – and lo! in a moment all the four walls of all the surrounding rooms had rolled away, and he could look right round him, and see the whole world at a glance and all that men were doing in it. In front of him he could see the sea and the ships sailing over it. To his right he could view the life of all foreign, non-Christian nations. To his left he could watch the doings of all Christian nations other than the Russian. And lastly, on the fourth side, he could behold how our own – the Russian – nation was living.

"Suppose," he said to himself, "I look to see what is happening in my own home, and whether the crop has come up well?"

So he looked towards his own native field, and saw sheaves standing there; whereupon he began to count them, to see how many there were. While he was doing this he caught sight of a cart going across the field, with a peasant sitting in it. At first he thought it must be his father going to carry sheaves home by night, but when he looked again he saw that it was Vassili Kudnishoff, the thief, who was driving the cart. Up to the sheaves he drove, and began to load them on to the cart. The godson was enraged at this and cried out: "Father dear! they are stealing sheaves from your field!"

His father awoke in the middle of the night. "Somehow I dreamt that my sheaves were being stolen," he said. "Suppose I go and look?" So he mounted his horse and set off. As soon as he came to the field he perceived Vassili there, and raised the hue and cry. Other peasants came, and Vassili was beaten, bound, and carried off to prison.

Next, the godson looked towards the town where his godmother was living, and saw that she was now married to a merchant. There she lay asleep, while her husband had got out of bed and was sneaking off to his paramour’s room. So the godson cried out to the merchant’s wife: "Arise! your husband is about an evil business."

His godmother leapt out of bed, dressed herself and went to look for her husband. She shamed him utterly, beat his paramour, and turned him out of doors.

Then the godson looked to see how his mother was faring, and saw her lying asleep in the hut. Presently a robber entered, and began to break open her strongbox. At this moment she awoke; and cried out, whereupon the robber seized a hatchet, flourished it over her, and seemed on the point of killing her.

The godson could not restrain himself, but flung the scepter towards the robber. Striking him right on the temple, it killed him on the spot.

Instantly that the godson had killed the robber the walls of the pavilion closed in again, and the place became as before.

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