At firs glance, it would seem that the hand that penned these beautifully succinct fables and fairy tales is far removed from the epic talent of War and Peace and Anna Karenina.
Yet Tolstoy's immense novels and these near-magical short tales of peasants and tsars, imps and devils, foolish savants and wise fools are connected- by a common freshness of vision, an all-encompassing storytelling genius, and an omnipresent concern with good and evil.
Splendidly translated by Ann Dunnigan, whose recent version of War and Peace has been acclaimed the finest of modern English renderings, these fables and fairy tales offer a supreme example of a great writer in whom artist and moralist have become one.

“The real moral of Tolstoy comes out constantly…the great moral that lies at the heart of all his work…the curious cold white light of morning that shines over all the tales… the folklore simplicity…the love-one might almost say the lust –for the brute materials of nature…the ingrained belief in a certain kind of ancient kindliness sitting beside the very cradle of the race of man.” – G.K. Chesterton