This is a very fine example of Leo Tolstoy's gift at telling good stories. This is an amazing short story about a merchant and how an unexpected event changes his life for the worse, but in a way, for the better…
Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (9 September [28 August] 1828 – 20. November 1910), usually referred to in English as Leo Tolstoy, was a Russian writer who is regarded as one of the greatest authors of all time.[2] He received multiple nominations for Nobel Prize in Literature every year from 1902 to 1906, and nominations for Nobel Peace Prize in 1901, 1902 and 1910, and his miss of the prize is a major Nobel prize controversy. (Wikipedia)