"The Empty Drum: A Russian Folk Tale Retold by Leo Tolstoy" (''"Работник Емельян и пустой барабан"'') is a short story by

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...

published in 1891. According to

Aylmer Maude Aylmer Maude (28 March 1858 – 25 August 1938) and Louise Maude (1855–1939) were English translators of Leo Tolstoy's works, and Aylmer Maude also wrote his friend Tolstoy's biography, ''The Life of Tolstoy''. After living many years in Russi ...

, famous Tolstoy translator, it was originally written in 1887, and is based on a folk story that reflects the Russian peasant's deep hatred of military service. It is based specifically on a folktale from the

Volga The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the List of rivers of Europe#Rivers of Europe by length, longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Cas ...

region.

Plot

According to an anniversary collection of Tolstoy's work published by

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...

, in this story, the hero, Emelyan (sometimes translated as "Yemilyan", "Emelyàn", or "Emelian"), rings the war drum, which is used to summon the soldiers of the tsar to the battlefield, and once the soldiers are assembled, he smashes the drum, releasing the power of the tsar over the people.

Publication

It was translated to English by

Leo Wiener Leo Wiener (1862–1939) was an American historian, linguist, author and translator. Biography Wiener was born in Białystok (then in the Russian Empire), of Lithuanian Jewish origin. His father was Zalmen (Solomon) Wiener, and his mother was ...

and published in 1904, republished in 1999 in ''"Tolstoy: Tales of Courage and Conflict"'', and again in 2009 in ''"Leo Tolstoy's 20 Greatest Short Stories"''.

Legacy

This work is cited as the inspiration for the 1928, Chinese literary anthology, named 空大鼓 (''"Kong Dragu"'', or ''"Empty Drum"'').

References

External links

* Original Text *
''The Empty Drum''
from RevoltLib.com *

from Marxists.org Short stories by Leo Tolstoy 1891 short stories {{1890s-story-stub

Plot

Publication

Legacy

See also

References

External links