INTRODUCTION
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through the descending gamut of degradation till at last he becomes the prey of the knacker and the wolves! Yet in his death and his degradation he is not such a dead loss to the community as his former owner, who, likewise come to naught, is buried in the tomb of his ancestors.
Count Tolstoï, as it were, only shows his hand in these stories; they give a foretaste of greater things to come. They are the vastly interesting and characteristic forerunners of his masterpieces. But even if he had done nothing else, they would stand by themselves as works of genuine genius.
