The following version of this story was used to create this study guide: Tolstoy, Leo. “How Much Land Does a Man Need?” What Men Live By And Other Tales. Auckland: The Floating Press, 2011. Pages 50-70.

The story opens in the Russian countryside. A woman has traveled there to visit her younger sister. The younger sister lives in the countryside and is married to a farmer. The older sister lives in a city and is married to a tradesman. The sisters argue over which of them has a more desirable life. The younger sister argues that farm work is more stable, while the older sister argues that city life is more luxurious. The younger sister’s husband—a farmer named Pahom—interjects. He says that he is almost completely happy with his life, and that his only complaint is that he wish he owned more land. The Devil overhears Pahom’s comment and forms a plan to ruin Pahom.

Not long after the older sister’s visit, a woman in Pahom’s village decides to sell her land. Pahom sells his land and purchases 40 acres from the woman. He is happy with his new farm, which is larger and more productive. However, he grows frustrated when his neighbors repeatedly allow their cattle to graze on Pahom’s land. This animosity leads to grudges between Pahom and his neighbors. Pahom then learns of a village a few hundred miles away, where the land is even more fertile. He sells his farm and relocates to the village, where he soon owns an even larger and more productive farm. However, he is still unsatisfied with his amount of land, and he rents an additional plot of land. Unfortunately, the land is inconveniently located ten miles away from his farm.

Pahom remains in this new situation for three years and amasses much money. He then prepares to sell his land and relocate to an even larger plot of land that is all in one piece. However, he then hears of a distant people called the Bashkirs, who have much fertile land and have begun to sell it to outsiders for very low prices. Pahom travels to the land of the Bashkirs and sees that they do have much land, which looks to be very fertile. The Bashkirs use very little of their land, as they do not farm, and they instead subsist on food sources that require very little labor. They spend most of their time in leisure and seem to be very happy.

Pahom gives the Bashkirs gifts, and they agree to sell Pahom land for 1,000 roubles. They say that he will be given whatever plot of land he manages to encircle in a day’s walk. The day before this task, Bashkir has a dream in which the Devil laughs over his dead body, but he dismisses the dream upon waking. At sunset, he begins to walk the land, occasionally marking his path with a shovel. He attempts to encircle as large an area of land as possible in the allotted time. However, as the sun begins to set, he is still some distance from his starting point. If he does not return to his starting point by sunset, he will not be able to keep the land. He is exhausted from the day’s walk, but he sprints the final distance. He returns to his starting point just in time, but he then dies from exhaustion. A servant of Pahom’s then buries Phahom in a six-foot-long grave.