Peasant brothers Ivan and Yermil could hardly be more different. Ivan, the elder, is happy in his farming life, though he struggles always to make ends meet. Yermil, by contrast, has dreams of improvement, and they are very specific: he is desperate to make money and escape the drudgery of the peasant round.

Yermil takes any opportunity he can to improve his financial state, though, at first, these are slow in showing themselves. As he grows more and more fixated on money-making, he begins to lose the ordinary sense that a peasant has of relishing the simple things of life. His soul withers under the weight of his eternal hunger for gain, and he loses his compass. One day, when his merchant master has put enormous trust in him, he sees a horrifying opportunity to really improve his wherewithal, and takes it. Little does he realise that this dreadful secret action will set in motion a train of events which will end in catastrophe...

Alexander Ertel's striking novella, a moral fable distinguished by its lucid colour and realistic detail, was first published in 1886. This translation by the author's daughter, Natalie Duddington, was first published in 1929.