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

“Alyosha the Pot” is a 1905 story by Leo Tolstoy. Its titular character is a peasant who was given his nickname when, as a young boy, he broke a pot of milk that he was supposed to deliver. Alyosha is awkward, not good at school, and frequently teased and bossed around. He has, however, an obliging and cheerful disposition.

Alyosha has been working since he was a young boy, doing chores on his family’s farm. When he is 19, his older brother is drafted into the army, so Alyosha is sent to take his brother’s old job, working for a merchant family in town. The merchant is skeptical about Alyosha’s frail appearance, but Alyosha’s father reassures the merchant that Alyosha is a hard worker: “He just looks puny but you can’t wear him out” (442). The merchant is persuaded, and Alyosha moves in with the man’s family.

The merchant and his family condescend to Alyosha, and at the same time depend on him to do a multitude of chores: “The more he did the more they piled things on him” (442). When his labor destroys his one pair of boots, which are his brother’s hand-me-downs, the merchant reluctantly buys him a new pair, but then deducts this from Alyosha’s paycheck—money Alyosha always gives to his father.