A short and simple morality tale from an author who I associate with just about everything but works short and simple.

The impetuous and selfish master Vasili Andreevich Brekhunov, eager to engage in his business of the world, effectively drags an unwilling peasant in his charge out into a deadly blizzard. Nikita the peasant, the picture of humility, does as his master bids and is nearly killed.

It's only after nearly abandoning Nikita horseless in a snow drift that the master has a revelation and in a decisive moment sacrifices his own life for Nikita's.

The point of the story seems to be just that grace can only be found in helping others. But surely Andreevich could have found a position wherein they BOTH could survive the cold and he could go on to apply his revelation to his own life in a more Dickensian fashion?

Oh well, I guess that's the price of the short story.