Leo Tolstoy’s, who was born on 9 September 1828 and died on 20 November 1910, ego embraces the world, so that he is always at the center of his fictive creation, filling his books with his struggles, personae, problems, questions, and quests for answers, and above all with his notion of life as an ethical search as strenuous as the pursuit of the Holy Grail. He does not try to puzzle or dazzle; his work is not a clever riddle to be solved or a game to be played but a rich realm to be explored. He disdains the kind of exterior purism practiced by Gustave Flaubert and Henry James among others, which concentrates on the inner lives of individuals although he is superbly skilled at psychological perception. His aim, rather, is to discover, as far as he can, the essential truth of life’s meaning, the revelation to be gained at the core of the vast mesh of human relations. What energizes his work is his conviction that this truth is good and that, once discovered it will resolve the discords and conflicts that plague humanity. "The Empty Drum published in 1891 but originally written in 1887" is a short story by the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy. It is based on a folk story that reflects the Russian peasant's deep hatred of military service. It is based specifically on a folktale from the Volga region.
A man named Emelian took a woman for his wife that the king of the country had an eye on. So the king decided to overwork the man till he died so he could then marry his wife. But each time the man completed his task on time. Even when the tasks were impossible like building a cathedral in a day or a river with ships in it by nightfall his wife assured him it would be done and it was as she said. But then the King came up with an extraordinary task. He asked the man to, "go there, don't know where and bring that, and don’t know what." The Empty Drum," in which a poor man marries a lovely woman. The king sees the woman and wants to claim her for his own, so hires the man and tries to assign him harder and harder tasks so that when he fails, he will be put to death and the king can be free to pursue the woman (who refused him). He meets every challenge until finally, he is asked to go "there, don't know where" and get "that, don't know what." That way, the king is advised, whatever he gets, the king can say it's the wrong thing. The man ends up following a path advised by his wife (we never quite completely understand her in this story.
Another Way to Sum Up
Emelian is a worker who is put in danger of unimaginable tasks by a king. Emelian discovers an empty drum after being told to “go there, don't know where," and bring "that, don't know what.” He uses it to defeat the king and subdue the troops. A worker named Emelina once encountered a frog who later transformed into a lovely woman and became his wife. She caught the eye of a monarch who desired to steal her beauty. He made the decision to work Emelina hard until he died along with some servants. The worker did all tasks flawlessly with the help of his wife. The king then began to set impossible undertakings, such as paving a river in a single day or building a temple. Even this task was accomplished by Emelian with the aid of his magician wife.
The servant must "go there, don't know where," and bring "that, don't know what," the monarch invents in his fury as the final challenge. Emelian decides to leave and goes back home. The wife, though, offers him superior guidance. He finds the elderly witch thanks to a magical tale ball. Emelian searches for and brings the king an empty leather drum after being directed to do so by her. Emelian starts to beat the drum after he declines. The entire army is now under his command. The laborer overthrows the king and wins back his wife.