A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life

“Master and Man” is a short story by Leo Tolstoy, written in 1895. Its two main characters are Vasili, a prosperous merchant and landowner, and Nikita, the peasant who works for him. Vasili is self-important and business-minded, while Nikita is good-humored and long-suffering. Vasili often takes advantage of Nikita, skimping on his pay or selling him goods at an inflated rate. He convinces himself, however, that he is not cheating Nikita, but is rather his “benefactor” (205).

One night just after the holidays, Vasili decides to travel to a plot of land that he wishes to buy. Even though it is storming outside, he feels an urgency about traveling that night, so as to buy the land at a reduced rate before competitors can swoop in. His wife insists that Nikita accompany him. After Nikita saddles his beloved horse Mukhorty to a sledge, and the two of them set out in the storm. Vasili’s young son, whom Vasili thinks of as his “heir” (209), rides along on the blades of their sledge until Vasili shoos him off and tells him to go home.

The storm is bad, but Vasili, who is driving the sledge, insists on taking the shortest route to the grove, even though Nikita counsels him that the longer route is safer. When Vasili drives off the road, Nikita gets off the sledge and looks for the stakes that mark the road. They set out once more, but soon have to stop again, when the horse gets stuck in a ditch. Nikita again gets out of the sledge and tries to establish where the road is. He remains cheerful and diplomatic, although he is secretly doubtful of their journey’s success.

Eventually, they reach the small town of Grishkino, where a peasant gives them directions on how to get to Goryachin, their ultimate destination. The peasant also advises them to stay the night in Grishkino, advice which Vasili ignores. Back on the road, they are overtaken by a cartful of drunken peasants. Vasili is “cheered” (224) by the encounter, and in his exhilaration soon drives the sledge off the road and gets them lost again. Nikita, who is beginning to lose his patience, again gets out of the sledge to look for the road.

The horse takes them back into Grishkino. This time, they knock on the door of a wealthy acquaintance of Vasili’s. The man, an elderly patriarch, insists that they come in to warm themselves. They visit with the man, his wife, their two sons and families, and a neighbor. They are offered vodka, which Vasili accepts but which Nikita, who has quit drinking, refuses. After they drink several cups of tea, the patriarch’s wife asks them to stay the night, but Vasili again refuses. They go out again into the storm; the family’s peasant servant, a boy named Petrushka, accompanies them to a fork in the road.

Their horse becomes increasingly slow and tired. They are soon disoriented in the storm, and Nikita must get out of the sledge again. This time, when he gets back in, he takes the reins from Vasili. They drive a short distance, but must stop again when the horse balks. Nikita gets out of the sledge and immediately falls down the edge of a ravine—the reason the horse stopped. Once he clambers out, he tells Vasili that they have no choice but to spend the night where they are.

Vasili makes a bed for himself in the sledge, telling Nikita that there is no room for him. Nikita does not object, but digs a hole for himself in the snow at the foot of the sledge, after first covering Mukhorty with straw and a blanket. He covers his hole with straw as well, wraps himself up in sackcloth, and settles in for the night.

The story shifts to Vasili’s point of view. Alone in the sledge, he grows restless and thinks compulsively of his various holdings and business dealings, “the one thing that constituted the sole aim, pleasure and pride of his life” (247). He thinks of Nikita only in a dismissive and contemptuous way: “he disapproved of the peasant’s stupidity and lack of education” (247). Eventually, Vasili decides to set off alone on horseback, leaving Nikita in the snow, callously assuming that “it’s all the same to him whether he lives or dies” (255).

Woken by Vasili riding off, Nikita shouts for Vasili to at least leave the horse’s blanket for him, but Vasili doesn’t hear him. Nikita is cold and frightened, but comforted by thoughts of God, his “Chief Master” (257). He tells himself that he will soon be reunited with this Master, and gradually loses consciousness. Out in the storm, Vasili becomes more and more frightened and lost. He hears the sounds of wolves in the distance, and is startled by his horse whinnying. The horse eventually throws Vasili off to return to Nikita and the sledge.

Left alone, Vasili prays in terror, but finds it futile: “he clearly and indubitably realized that the icon, its frame, the candles, the priest, and the thanksgiving service, though very important and necessary in church, could do nothing for him here” (262) He sees a black shape in the distance, and soon recognizes the horse and sledge. Moving towards it, he sees Nikita, still slumped in the sledge. Nikita awakens, tells Vasili that he is dying, and asks that Vasili pay his family the money that he owes him. Instead, Vasili covers Nikita’s body with his own, taking spiritual as well as physical solace in their closeness, “a peculiar joy which he had never felt before” (265).

Both men fall asleep. Vasili dies during the night, as does Mukhorty, the horse. Only Nikita survives, kept warm by Vasili’s body. When other peasants find them the following morning, Nikita is taken to the hospital. We are told that he will live another 20 years, still working as a laborer despite having lost three toes to frostbite. He will die in his own bed, surrounded by his family and ready to leave this world for the next: “Whether he is better or worse there where he awoke after his death […] we shall all soon learn” (272).