"What Men Live By": An Obscure Story by Leo Tolstoy
© Susan Jensen
A winter hurricane aloof.
I heard his voice abroad and flew
To bid him welcome to my roof.
I warmed and clothed and cheered my guest
And laid him on my couch to rest;
Then made the earth my bed, and seemed
In Eden's garden while I dreamed...
Then in a moment to my view
The stranger started from disguise.
The tokens in his hands I knew;
The Savior stood before mine eyes.
He spake and my poor name he named,
'Of me thou hast not been ashamed.
These deeds shall thy memorial be;
Fear not, thou didst them unto me.'"
- James Montgomery, "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief"
The words to James Montgomery's hymn "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief," which has been excerpted above, echo a parable which Jesus Christ taught in The New Testament. In Matthew 25: 31-40, we read of a king who separates the people at Christ's coming. He tells some that they have inherited the kingdom of Heaven because they clothed, fed, visited and administered to the Son of God. But, the people don't understand. They ask when they saw Him, to which the king replies, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me" (Matthew 25:40). From the parable, we learn to help our neighbors because by doing so we glorify God.
Leo Tolstoy makes this statement in his short story, "What Men Live By." An obscure tale, the mention of which I can find nowhere in texts on Tolstoy, it tells of a poor cobbler who is travelling home late one night. As he is treading across the frozen ground, he notices a man who has been left naked in the cold. At first, he ignores the man, but then he stops short and chides himself saying, "What is this that you are doing, Simon? A man is perishing of cold, and you are frightened, and hurry by! Are you so very rich? Are you afraid of losing your money? That is not right" (11)! So, he turns and approaches the man. Feeling sorry for the man's misfortune, Simon clothes the stranger and takes him home where he feeds and warms him. Since the man belongs nowhere, he stays with Simon and his wife. As time wears on, they realize that the man never speaks of his family or home, is unusually quiet, makes an exceptional cobbler despite a lack of training, and is a very good man. At the end of the story, they realize why he is this way: he is an angel. He was sent by God to find out what men live by; having learned the answer, he is now able to return to Heaven. What truth did he find? That men live by love.
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