Close to the village there lived a lady, a small landowner, who had an
estate of about three hundred acres. She had always lived on good terms
with the peasants, until she engaged as her steward an old soldier, who
took to burdening the people with fines. However careful Pahom tried to
be, it happened again and again that now a horse of his got among the
lady's oats, now a cow strayed into her garden, now his calves found
their way into her meadows-and he always had to pay a fine.
Pahom paid, but grumbled, and, going home in a temper, was rough with
his family. All through that summer Pahom had much trouble because of
this steward; and he was even glad when winter came and the cattle had
to be stabled. Though he grudged the fodder when they could no longer
graze on the pasture-land, at least he was free from anxiety about them.
In the winter the news got about that the lady was going to sell her
land, and that the keeper of the inn on the high road was bargaining for
it. When the peasants heard this they were very much alarmed.
"Well," thought they, "if the innkeeper gets the land he will worry us
with fines worse than the lady's steward. We all depend on that estate."
So the peasants went on behalf of their Commune, and asked the lady not
to sell the land to the innkeeper; offering her a better price for it
themselves. The lady agreed to let them have it. Then the peasants tried
to arrange for the Commune to buy the whole estate, so that it might
be held by all in common. They met twice to discuss it, but could not
settle the matter; the Evil One sowed discord among them, and they could
not agree. So they decided to buy the land individually, each according
to his means; and the lady agreed to this plan as she had to the other.
Presently Pahom heard that a neighbor of his was buying fifty acres,
and that the lady had consented to accept one half in cash and to wait a
year for the other half. Pahom felt envious.
"Look at that," thought he, "the land is all being sold, and I shall get
none of it." So he spoke to his wife.
"Other people are buying," said he, "and we must also buy twenty acres
or so. Life is becoming impossible. That steward is simply crushing us
with his fines."
So they put their heads together and considered how they could manage to
buy it. They had one hundred roubles laid by. They sold a colt, and one
half of their bees; hired out one of their sons as a laborer, and took
his wages in advance; borrowed the rest from a brother-in-law, and so
scraped together half the purchase money.
Having done this, Pahom chose out a farm of forty acres, some of
it wooded, and went to the lady to bargain for it. They came to an
agreement, and he shook hands with her upon it, and paid her a deposit
in advance. Then they went to town and signed the deeds; he paying half
the price down, and undertaking to pay the remainder within two years.
So now Pahom had land of his own. He borrowed seed, and sowed it on the
land he had bought. The harvest was a good one, and within a year he had
managed to pay off his debts both to the lady and to his brother-in-law.
So he became a landowner, ploughing and sowing his own land, making hay
on his own land, cutting his own trees, and feeding his cattle on his
own pasture. When he went out to plough his fields, or to look at his
growing corn, or at his grass meadows, his heart would fill with joy.
The grass that grew and the flowers that bloomed there, seemed to him
unlike any that grew elsewhere. Formerly, when he had passed by that
land, it had appeared the same as any other land, but now it seemed
quite different.