Seeking Chekhov's bet

one

A dark autumn night. The old banker paced up and down in his study, recalling a party he held fifteen years ago, which was also in autumn. At this party, many people of insight came and talked about many interesting topics. They talked about the death penalty in passing. There are many scholars and journalists among the guests, and most of them hold a negative attitude towards the death penalty. They think this kind of punishment is outdated, unsuitable for Christian countries and immoral. According to these people, the death penalty should be changed to life imprisonment.

"I don't agree with you," said the banker. "I have neither tasted the death penalty nor experienced the hardships of life imprisonment, but if I can evaluate it subjectively, I think the death penalty is more moral and humane than life imprisonment. The death penalty kills people at once, and life imprisonment kills people slowly. Which executioner is more humane? Is it the one who executed you in a few minutes, or the one who tortured you to death for years? "

-

The original text is Latin.

"These two punishments are equally immoral," said a guest, "because their purpose is the same-to take away people's lives. Country is not God. It has no right to take away the life it cannot return, even if it wants to return it later. "

Among the guests was a 25-year-old young lawyer. When someone asked his opinion, he said:

"Whether the death penalty or life imprisonment is immoral, but if I have to choose between the death penalty and life imprisonment, then of course I choose the latter. Life is worse than death. "

The heated debate began. Bankers at that time were young and energetic. On a whim, he punched the table and shouted at the young lawyer:

"This is wrong! I bet 2 million that you can't go to prison for five years! "

"If this is true," replied the lawyer, "then I bet I won't sit for five years, but fifteen years."

"Fifteen years? Ok! " The banker shouted, "Gentlemen, I bet 2 million."

"I agree! You bet two million, I bet my freedom! " The lawyer said.

In this way, this barbaric and absurd bet was established! That banker had millions of money at that time, even he couldn't tell. He is spoiled, frivolous and reckless, and he is in high spirits after gambling. At dinner, he made fun of the lawyer and said:

"Young man, wake up, it's not too late. For me, 2 million is a piece of cake, but you are taking a risk and you will lose the best three or four years of your life. I said three or four years, because you can't sit longer than this. Unfortunately, don't forget that voluntary imprisonment is much more difficult than compulsory imprisonment. You have the right to go out and enjoy your freedom at any time-this idea will make your life in prison miserable. I pity you! "

At the moment the banker paced up and down in his study, thinking about this past, he couldn't help asking himself:

"Why do you want to make such a bet? Lawyers wasted 15 years of good time, and I lost 2 million. What are the benefits? Can this prove to people that the death penalty is worse or better than life imprisonment? Can't, can't. Ridiculous, meaningless! On my part, it's all because of satiety and whim. Lawyers, purely greedy for money ... "

Then the banker recalled what happened after the above party. At that time, it was decided that the lawyer must move to a small room in the banker's back garden and live his prison life under the strictest supervision. It is stipulated that he has no right to cross the threshold, see the living, listen to voices, receive letters and newspapers for fifteen years. He is allowed to own a musical instrument and can read, write letters, drink and smoke. According to the contract, he can only communicate with the outside world through a small window specially designed for this purpose and is not allowed to talk. What he needs, such as books, music, wine, etc. He can write on a piece of paper and give as much as he wants, but only through the window. The contract stipulates various terms and details to ensure strict isolation of imprisonment, and stipulates that lawyers must sit for fifteen years, that is, from 1870 1 1 4/month 12 to 1885/kloc-0. Any attempt by the lawyer to breach the contract, even if he leaves two minutes earlier than the specified time, can relieve the banker of his obligation to pay him two million.

According to the lawyer's brief explanation, in his first year in prison, he was lonely, bored and miserable. No matter day or night, the piano often comes from his hut! He refused to drink and smoke. He wrote: wine arouses desire, and desire is the prisoner's number one enemy. Besides, nothing is more boring than not seeing anyone while drinking. Smoke stinks the air in his room. In the first year, lawyers asked for simple reading materials: love novels, detective novels, fairy tales, comedies and so on with complicated plots.

2 Chekhov's Works: Gambling

The next year, there was no music in the hut, and the lawyer's note only asked for classical works. In the fifth year, listening to music again, the prisoner asked for wine. People who watched him from a small window said that he only ate and didn't drink for a whole year, lying in bed, yawning and talking angrily to himself. He doesn't read. Sometimes I get up at night and write for a long time, and then I tear up everything I have written in the morning. They heard him cry more than once.

In the second half of the sixth year, prisoners were keen on learning language, philosophy and history. He is so eager to learn knowledge that the banker has no time to order the books he wants. In the next four years, he bought a total of 600 books at his request. Just as the lawyer was addicted to reading, the banker also received a letter from him:

Dear Warden: I write to you in six languages. Please submit this letter to the relevant experts for review. If they can't find the mistake, then I ask you to have a gun put in the garden. Gunshots will tell me that my efforts have not been in vain. Geniuses from different countries and different times have different languages, but their hearts are burning with the same passion. Ah, I hope you can know, because I can understand them, how happy I am now in my heart!

The prisoner's wish came true. The banker ordered two shots to be fired in the garden.

Ten years later, the lawyer sat motionless at the table, reading only the gospels. The banker wanted to know why he spent a year reading such an easy-to-understand and not-so-thick book when he could finish 600 profound books in prison. After reading the gospels, he continued to read religious history and theological works.

In the last two years of imprisonment, the prisoner read many books indiscriminately. Sometimes he studies natural science, and sometimes he consults Byron and Shakespeare. Some of his notes often require that chemistry books, medical books, novels, philosophical papers or theological works be sent to him at the same time. He reads as if he had fallen into the water and floated on the sea. In order to save his life, he couldn't wait to catch this sunken ship and another piece of driftwood!

-

Byron (1788- 1824) was an English poet.

Shakespeare (1564- 16 16) is an English poet and playwright.

two

The old banker recalled these things and thought:

"He is free tomorrow 12. According to the contract, I should pay him 2 million pounds. If I pay the money, I will be completely bankrupt and everything will be over ... "

15 years ago, he didn't know how many millions of dollars he had, but now he is afraid to ask himself: Is he rich or heavily in debt? In communication, he relied on lucky gambling and risky speculation, and his impatience, which he could not change when he was old, gradually caused his career to plummet. This fearless, overconfident and arrogant rich man has now become a middle-class banker, and the decline in securities always scares him.

"cursed bet!" The old man muttered to himself and hugged his head in despair. "Why doesn't this man die? He is only forty years old. Soon he will take my last money, get married and enjoy life. I, as a beggar, can only look at him with envy and listen to his confession every day:' Thanks to you, I am happy. Let me help you. No, this is too much! The only way to get rid of bankruptcy and humiliation is the death of this man! "

The clock struck three times. The banker listened carefully: everyone in the house was asleep, except the trees outside the window, which were purring with cold. He tried not to make any noise, took out the door key from the safe that had not been used for fifteen years, put on his coat and walked out of the room.

The garden is dark and cold. It is raining. The biting cold wind roared through the garden, making the trees restless. The banker focused, but he still couldn't see the land, the white statue, the hut or the trees. He touched the hut and called the watchman twice. No one answered. Obviously, the breeder has gone to shelter from the rain and is sleeping in the kitchen or greenhouse at the moment.

"If I have enough courage to realize my intention," the old man thought, "then the suspicion will first fall on the janitor."

He groped for the steps and doors in the dark, entered the front room of the hut, then walked into the aisle in the dark and struck a match. There's nobody here. There is a bed, but there is no quilt on it. There is a black iron stove in the corner. The seal on the prisoner's door is intact.

The match went out, and the old man was flustered and trembling. He touched the small window and looked in.

A dim candle was lit in the prisoner's room. He sat at the table by himself. Only his back, hair and two arms can be seen from here. On the table, in the two round-backed chairs, and on the carpet beside the table, there are books spread out everywhere.

3 Chekhov's Works: Gambling

Five minutes later, the prisoner did not move. Fifteen years in prison taught him to behave himself. The banker bent a finger and knocked on the small window, but the prisoner didn't respond. Only then did the banker carefully tear off the seal and insert the key into the lock hole. The rusty lock made a dull sound and the door creaked open. The banker thought there would be screams and footsteps at once, but after two or three minutes, the door was as silent as before. He decided to walk into the room.

There is a lifeless man sitting behind the desk. This is a bony skeleton with curly hair like a long woman and a messy beard. His face is khaki, his cheeks are sunken, his back is long and narrow, his arms are thin, and he holds his head with long hair in one hand. It looks really scary. His hair has turned gray. Look at his thin face like an old man. No one will believe that he is only forty years old. He fell asleep ... on the table, in front of his hanging head, there was a piece of paper with many words written on it.

"Poor man!" The banker thought, "He's asleep. He's probably dreaming about the two million dollars! As long as I pick up the half-dead man, throw him on the bed, suffocate his head with a pillow and press it a little, then even the most careful medical examination will not find any signs of sudden death afterwards. However, let me see what he wrote first ... "

The banker picked up the paper on the table and read the following words:

Tomorrow at twelve o'clock, I will be free and have the right to associate with others. However, before I leave this room and see the sun, I think it is necessary to say a few words to you. With an innocent conscience, facing the God who looks at me, I declare to you: I despise freedom, life and health, and despise all the so-called human happiness in your book.

For fifteen years, I have devoted myself to studying human life. Indeed, I can't see the world and people, but in your book, I drink mellow wine, I sing, chase deer and wild boar in the Woods, and love women ... The countless beautiful women created by your talented poet with the help of ingenious pens are as light as mortar clouds, and often come to visit me at night and whisper magical stories to me, which makes me fascinated. In your book, I climbed to the top of Elbrus (1) and Mont Blanc (2), and watched the sunrise in the morning and how the bloody sunset dyed the sky, the ocean and the mountains red. I stood there and saw how lightning split the dark clouds overhead and swam like a snake; I saw green forests, Yuan Ye, rivers, lakes and cities, and heard the song of Sai Wang and the flute played by the shepherd. I even touched the beautiful devil's wings, and they came to talk to me about God ... In your book, I also fell into the bottomless abyss. I worked miracles, killed people, burned cities, preached new religions and conquered countless kingdoms. ...

-

(1) in the Caucasus.

(2) in central Europe.

(3) In Greek mythology, Sai Ren, who is half man and half bird, lured sailors with songs and made them perish.

Your book gives me wisdom. Everything that has been created by people's tireless thoughts for thousands of years is now condensed into a ball and hidden in my mind. I know I am smarter than all of you.

I also despise your books and all kinds of happiness and wisdom in the world. Everything is insignificant, fleeting, illusory and unbelievable, just like a mirage. Although you are proud, smart and beautiful, death will wipe you out completely, just like killing mice in a cellar. Your descendants, your history and your immortal genius will either freeze into ice or burn with the earth.

You have lost your mind and gone astray. You regard lies as truth and ugliness as beauty. You will be surprised if toads and lizards suddenly grow on apple trees and orange trees for some reason, or if roses smell like horse sweat. Similarly, I am surprised at those of you who would rather give up the kingdom of heaven for the world. I don't want to know you.

In order to show you that I despise everything you live on, I gave up that two million. Although I once dreamed of it like dream of paradise, now I despise it. In order to give up this right, I decided to leave here five hours earlier than the prescribed time limit, thus violating the contract. ...

When the banker read this, he put the paper back on the table, kissed the weirdo's head and walked out of the hut with tears in his eyes. At any time in his life, even after losing everything in the exchange, he once despised himself as deeply as he does now. When he got home, he fell on the bed, but the tears of excitement kept him awake for a long time. ...

The next morning, the white-faced night watchman came to tell him that they saw the people living in the hut climb out of the window, enter the garden, walk to the gate, and then disappeared. The banker immediately took the servant to the hut to make sure that the prisoner had indeed escaped. In order to put an end to unnecessary rumors, he took the statement of giving up his rights off the table, went back to his room and locked it in the safe.

1889 1 month 1 day