The Three Hermits

This is one of my favorite short stories of all time. By Leo Tolstoy, of War & Peace and Anna Karenina fame.

It is about a bishop who is sailing past some islands in the Russian north, and comes across three religious hermits and tries to teach them the Lord’s Prayer. What he learns is perhaps more important, and more bizarre.

It’s online here. And don’t worry, it’s nothing near as long as War and Peace! I can’t vouch for these translations, I read them in another form. The story is – of course – available in print too! (I prefer printing this kind of thing out before reading it)

http://www.online-literature.com/tolstoy/2896/

http://www.indiadivine.org/audarya/advaita-vedanta/145977-three-hermits-story-leo-tolstoy.html