rashi,
In this parable by Leo Tolstoy, Pahom, a Russina peasant, overhears his wife and her sister arguing the merits of farm life versus city life. He boasts to himself that if he just had enough land, he would not even fear the Devil.
The Devil hears the boast and plans to exploit Pahom's greed. Pahom soon succeed in buying land, yet he quickly grows dissatisfied. He treats the local peasants as badly as he was once treated, and he continues to acquire more land.
When a traveling dealer tells Pahom about the region of the Bashkirs, where fertile land is available at low prices, Pahom travels there with his savings--100 thousand Rubles.
The Bashkirs welcome him and agree to sell, for a thousand Rubles, as much land as he can walk off in a day, as long as he returns before sunset to his starting point.
Pahom walks a great distance, trying to encircle as much land as possible. In his mad rush to the starting point, however, he collapses and dies. He ends up with six feet of land--enough for his grave.
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