There is no explanation. Here in a vibrant new translation, the tale of a judge who slowly comes to understand that his illness is fatal was inspired by Tolstoy's observation at his local train station of hundreds of shackled prisoners being sent off to Siberia, many for petty crimes. When he learned that the sentencing judge had died, Tolstoy was roused to consider the judge's thoughts during his final days--a study on the acceptance of mortality only deepened by the death, during its writing, of one of Tolstoy's own young children.