Summary : Le Voyageur enchanté

During a steamship voyage on Lake Ladoga from Konevets to Valaam, passengers discuss the dreary town of Korela and debate the spiritual fate of those who commit suicide. While a cynical passenger and a pious merchant argue about whether suicides are eternally damned and beyond the reach of prayer, a silent, giant monk in a novice robe intervenes. Introducing himself as an experienced traveler, he challenges their views, asserting that even suicides can be saved through the persistent intercession of a living, humble priest. To support this claim, the monk recounts a miraculous tale about a Metropolitan bishop of Moscow who discovers that an alcoholic country priest, banned from ministry, secretly prays for the souls of those who died by suicide. After experiencing two powerful visions involving the devil host and the intervention of a saint, the bishop recognizes the profound spiritual value of the priest prayers and reinstates him. Following this story, the conversation shifts as the passengers question the monk about his background and whether he belongs to a monastery. The merchant taunts him, suggesting he is merely wearing the habit and could easily be conscripted into military service. Unfazed, the monk reveals that he has indeed lived an adventurous and varied life, having spent many years working as an expert horse dealer and tamer in the Russian military and in Moscow. He explains his unique, forceful methods for subduing notoriously vicious and dangerous horses that had previously defeated famous trainers, such as the Englishman Rarey. He describes how he would leap onto a fierce horse back, grip its ear, strike its head, and disorient it with a jar of paste and his cap until the animal submitted to his will. The monk recounts his encounter with the famous animal tamer Rarey, who attempted to hire him after hearing of his success with a notoriously dangerous horse. Although Rarey offered him a position and promised a large sum of money to learn his secret, the deal fell through because the monk considered his technique a simple matter of divine gift rather than a hidden trade secret. When Rarey pressed him while drinking rum, the monk made a sudden, menacing gesture with a glass that frightened the Englishman so badly that he fled under the table and escaped. Concluding that he was destined for a different path, the monk reflects on his tumultuous life filled with captivity, war, and extraordinary experiences, and agrees to share the full story of his past from the beginning.