The Bet (Anton Chekhov) — graded reader B1–B2

The Bet

A graded reader · Anton Chekhov · B1–B2

Warm-up

• Have you ever made a bet with a friend? What was it about, and who won?

• If you had to spend a month completely alone, what would you take with you?

• Is there a book that changed the way you think? What was it?

• Would you rather be very rich or completely free? Why?

The author and the book

Anton Chekhov (1860–1904)

Anton Chekhov was born in 1860 in Taganrog, a port in the south of Russia. His grandfather had been a serf, a peasant who belonged to a landowner, and his father ran a small grocery shop. When Anton was sixteen, his father went bankrupt and ran away to Moscow to escape his debts. Anton stayed behind in Taganrog to finish school.

In Moscow, he trained as a doctor. He paid for his studies by writing hundreds of short, funny stories for magazines, under invented names. "Medicine is my lawful wife," he once said, "and literature is my mistress."

"The Bet" first appeared on New Year's Day 1889, in the St Petersburg newspaper Novoye Vremya (New Time). Years later, Chekhov cut the original ending, because he felt it was "too cold and cruel". The year after it appeared, he crossed Siberia to visit the prison island of Sakhalin and interview the prisoners there.

He died of tuberculosis in Germany in 1904. He was only 44.

Key words

bet

the death penalty

life imprisonment

an agreement that the person who is wrong about something will pay the other person

when the law punishes a crime by killing the criminal

when the law punishes a crime by keeping the criminal in prison until they die

solitary confinement

ruined

being kept in prison completely alone, with no contact with other people

having lost all your money

Let's talk

• Chekhov was a doctor as well as a writer. How might medicine help a writer understand people?

• Which is crueller, the death penalty or a whole life in prison? Why?

• Can books teach us everything about life, or do we have to live it?

• The story is called "The Bet". What could make a bet dangerous?

PART 1 OF 4

Two million against fifteen years

PART 1 · TWO MILLION AGAINST FIFTEEN YEARS

It was a dark autumn night. The old banker was walking up and down his study, remembering a party he had given one autumn evening, fifteen years before.

Many clever men had come, and they had talked about the death penalty. Most of them were against it. It was old-fashioned and immoral, they said. Every country should replace it with life imprisonment.

"I don't agree with you," said the banker, their host. "In my opinion, the death penalty is more moral and more humane. It kills a man at once. Life in prison kills him slowly. Which executioner is kinder: the one who kills you in a few minutes, or the one who drags the life out of you over many years?"

"Both are equally immoral," said one of the guests. "They both take away life. The State is not God. It has no right to take away what it cannot give back."

Among the guests was a young lawyer of twenty-five. He said:

"The death sentence and the life sentence are both immoral. But if I had to choose, I would certainly choose life in prison. To live somehow is better than not to live at all."

A lively argument began. The banker, younger and more nervous in those days, suddenly lost control. He hit the table with his fist and shouted:

"It's not true! I'll bet you two million you couldn't stay in solitary confinement for five years."

PART 1 · TWO MILLION AGAINST FIFTEEN YEARS

"If you mean it seriously," said the young man, "I'll take the bet. But I'll stay not five years, but fifteen."

"Fifteen? Done!" cried the banker. "Gentlemen, I bet two million!"

"Agreed! You bet your millions, and I bet my freedom!"

The banker was spoilt and careless, with more millions than he could count, and he was delighted. At supper he laughed at the young man.

"Think again, young man! To me, two million is nothing. But you are losing three or four of the best years of your life. I say three or four, because you won't stay longer. And remember: when you know you can walk out at any moment, that thought will poison your whole life in there. I feel sorry for you."

Now the old banker asked himself: "What did that bet prove? Nothing! For me, it was the whim of a spoilt man. For him, it was simple greed for money."

Then he remembered the agreement. The young man would live in a lodge in the banker's garden. For fifteen years he could not step outside, see a human face, hear a human voice, or receive letters or newspapers. He could have books, music, wine and tobacco, but everything had to pass through a little window in the wall.

He had to stay exactly fifteen years: from twelve o'clock on 14 November 1870 to twelve o'clock on 14 November 1885. If he broke the rules even two minutes before the end, the banker would not have to pay him anything.

Book club

PART 1 · TWO MILLION AGAINST FIFTEEN YEARS

1. Why did the banker think the death penalty was kinder than life in prison?

2. How did the bet change from five years to fifteen?

3. What could the young man have in the lodge, and what was he not allowed?

4. "To live somehow is better than not to live at all." Do you agree with the lawyer?

5. Would you accept fifteen years alone for a huge amount of money? Why or why not?

6. What do you think fifteen years alone will do to the young man?

PART 2 OF 4

The prisoner in the garden

PART 2 · THE PRISONER IN THE GARDEN

In the first year, the prisoner's notes showed that he suffered terribly from loneliness and sadness. Day and night, the sound of the piano came from the lodge. He refused wine and tobacco. "Wine excites the desires," he wrote, "and desires are a prisoner's worst enemies. And nothing is sadder than drinking good wine and seeing no one." He read light books: love stories, thrillers, fantastic tales.

In the second year the piano was silent, and he asked only for the classics.

In the fifth year the music came back, and he asked for wine. He spent the whole year eating, drinking and lying on his bed, yawning and talking angrily to himself. He did not read. Sometimes at night he wrote for hours, and in the morning he tore up everything.

More than once, the watchmen heard him crying.

In the sixth year, he began to study languages, philosophy and history, so eagerly that the banker could hardly get the books fast enough. In four years, about six hundred books were bought for him. Then the banker received a letter:

"My dear Jailer, I am writing these lines in six languages. Show them to experts. If they find not one mistake, please fire a shot in the garden. Then I will know that my work has not been wasted. The geniuses of every age and every country speak different languages, but the same flame burns in them all. Oh, if you only knew how happy I am now that I can understand them!"

PART 2 · THE PRISONER IN THE GARDEN

The banker ordered two shots to be fired in the garden.

After the tenth year, the prisoner sat without moving at his table and read nothing but the Gospels. It seemed strange to the banker: a man who had mastered six hundred difficult books spent almost a year on one thin, easy one.

In his last two years, he read enormously, with no order at all: science, Byron, Shakespeare, chemistry, medicine, novels, philosophy. He was like a man in the sea after a shipwreck, grabbing at one piece of wood, then another, trying to save his life.

The old banker remembered all this, and thought:

"Tomorrow at twelve o'clock he will be free, and I must pay him two million. If I do, I shall be completely ruined."

Once he had had more millions than he could count. Now he was afraid to ask himself which was bigger: his debts or his money. Wild gambling on the Stock Exchange had slowly destroyed his fortune.

"That cursed bet!" he whispered, holding his head in despair. "Why didn't the man die? He is only forty. He will take my last penny, marry, enjoy life, gamble on the Exchange, and I will watch him like a jealous beggar. Every day he will say to me, 'I owe you the happiness of my life. Let me help you!' No, it is too much! There is only one way to save myself from ruin and shame. That man must die!"

Book club

PART 2 · THE PRISONER IN THE GARDEN

1. How did the prisoner's first year and his fifth year feel different?

2. Why did he ask the banker to fire a shot in the garden?

3. Why was the banker so afraid of paying the money now?

4. The prisoner's reading changed many times. What do you think was happening inside him?

5. What would you choose to read, or learn, with fifteen years and unlimited books?

6. The banker wants the prisoner dead. What do you think he will do tonight?

PART 3 OF 4

Three o'clock in the morning

PART 3 · THREE O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING

The clock struck three. The banker listened. Everyone in the house was asleep. Outside, there was only the sound of the cold trees in the wind. Quietly, he took from his safe the key to the door that had not been opened for fifteen years. He put on his coat and went out.

The garden was dark and cold. Rain was falling. A damp, sharp wind was rushing through the garden, howling, giving the trees no rest. The banker could see nothing: not the ground, not the white statues, not the lodge, not the trees. Near the lodge, he called the watchman twice. There was no answer. The watchman was probably asleep somewhere warm, out of the rain.

"If I have the courage to do it," thought the old man, "people will suspect the watchman first."

He felt his way up the steps and into the lodge, and lit a match. Nobody was there. There was a bed with no sheets on it, and a dark iron stove in the corner. The seals on the prisoner's door were unbroken.

When the match went out, the old man, shaking, looked through the little window. A candle was burning weakly in the prisoner's room. The prisoner was sitting at the table. The banker could see only his back, his hair and his hands. Open books lay on the table, on the two armchairs, and on the carpet.

Five minutes passed.

PART 3 · THREE O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING

The prisoner did not move once. Fifteen years in prison had taught him to sit still. The banker tapped on the window with his finger. Nothing. Then he carefully broke the seals and put the key in the lock. The rusty lock made a grating sound, and the door creaked. The banker waited for footsteps and a cry of surprise. Three minutes passed. The room was as quiet as before. He decided to go in.

At the table sat a man who did not look like other people. He was a skeleton, with skin pulled tight over his bones. He had long curls like a woman's and a wild beard. His face was yellow, the colour of earth, and his cheeks were hollow.

The hand that held up his head was so thin that it was terrible to look at. His hair was already turning grey. Looking at that old, starved face, nobody would believe he was only forty.

He was asleep. On the table, in front of his head, lay a sheet of paper, covered in small, neat handwriting.

"Poor creature!" thought the banker. "He's asleep, and probably dreaming of the millions. I only have to take this half-dead man, throw him on the bed, and press the pillow over his face for a little while. The best expert in the world would find no sign of a violent death. But first, let's read what he has written here..."

Book club

PART 3 · THREE O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING

1. Why did the banker think the watchman would be blamed?

2. What did the banker see when he first looked through the little window?

3. How had fifteen years changed the prisoner's body?

4. The banker calls him "Poor creature!" and plans to kill him. How can he feel both things?

5. Is the banker evil, or just a desperate man? What do you think?

6. What do you think the prisoner has written? Will the banker still kill him?

PART 4 OF 4

Five hours early

PART 4 · FIVE HOURS EARLY

The banker took the page from the table and read:

"Tomorrow at twelve o'clock I will be free to be with other people again. But before I leave this room and see the sun, I want to say a few words to you. With a clear conscience, as God sees me, I tell you that I despise freedom, and life, and health, and everything that your books call the good things of the world.

"For fifteen years I have studied life on earth. It is true that I have not seen the earth or people. But in your books I have drunk sweet wine, sung songs, hunted in the forests, and loved women.

In your books I have climbed the highest mountains and watched the sun cover the sky and the ocean with gold and crimson. In your books I have thrown myself into the bottomless pit, performed miracles, killed, burned towns, preached new religions, and conquered whole kingdoms.

"Your books have given me wisdom. Everything that the restless mind of man has created over the centuries is now in my head. I know that I am wiser than all of you.

"And I despise your books. I despise wisdom and all the blessings of this world. It is all worthless and false, like a mirage. You may be proud, wise and beautiful, but death will wipe you off the face of the earth, as if you were no more than mice under the floor.

PART 4 · FIVE HOURS EARLY

And your children, your history, your great geniuses will burn or freeze together with the earth.

"You have lost your minds and taken the wrong road. You have taken lies for truth, and ugliness for beauty. You would be amazed if frogs and lizards suddenly grew on apple trees instead of fruit. In the same way, I am amazed at you, who exchange heaven for earth. I do not want to understand you.

"To show you how I despise everything you live for, I give up the two million that I once dreamed of like paradise, and that I now despise. To lose my right to the money, I will leave this place five hours before the time, and so break our agreement..."

The banker put the page back on the table.

He kissed the strange man on the head, and left the lodge, crying. Never before, not even after his worst losses on the Stock Exchange, had he felt such contempt for himself. At home, he lay on his bed, but his tears and his feelings kept him awake for hours.

The next morning, the watchmen ran in with pale faces. They had seen the man from the lodge climb out of the window into the garden, go to the gate, and disappear. The banker hurried to the lodge with his servants. His prisoner had really gone. To avoid unnecessary talk, the banker took the letter giving up the millions, went home, and locked it in his safe.

Book club

PART 4 · FIVE HOURS EARLY

1. What does the prisoner say his books have given him?

2. How does the prisoner plan to lose his right to the money?

3. What did the banker do after reading the letter, and how did he feel?

4. The banker locks the letter in his safe. Why? What does it tell us about him?

5. The prisoner calls everything worthless. Do you think he is wise, or broken by fifteen years alone?

Big questions

1

So who won the bet? Did anybody win?

2

What did the bet prove about the death penalty and life imprisonment, if anything?

3

Was the prisoner right to despise the world, or did fifteen years alone destroy his judgement?

4

He lived a whole life through books. Is reading about something ever as good as doing it?

5

Chekhov cut his first ending because it felt "too cold and cruel". Is this ending kind, or cruel?

6

What do you imagine the lawyer did after he walked out of the gate?

TEACHER'S REFERENCE · SKIP OR DELETE BEFORE CLASS

Answer key

Part 1 · 1 Because it kills a man at once, but life in prison kills him slowly, over many years.

Part 1 · 2 The banker bet two million that the lawyer couldn't stay in solitary confinement for five years. The lawyer said he would stay not five, but fifteen.

Part 1 · 3 He could have books, music, wine and tobacco, passed through a little window. He couldn't step outside, see a human face, hear a human voice, or receive letters or newspapers.

Part 2 · 1 In the first year he was lonely and sad, played the piano and read light books. In the fifth year he drank, lay on his bed, didn't read, tore up what he wrote and cried.

Part 2 · 2 To show that experts had found no mistakes in his letter in six languages, so his work had not been wasted.

Part 2 · 3 He had lost most of his fortune gambling on the Stock Exchange, and paying two million would ruin him completely.

Part 3 · 1 Because the watchman was not at his post: he was probably asleep somewhere warm, out of the rain.

Part 3 · 2 A candle, and the prisoner sitting at the table, with only his back, his hair and his hands visible, and open books everywhere.

Part 3 · 3 He was like a skeleton, with a yellow face, hollow cheeks, long curls, a wild beard and greying hair. He looked old, though he was only forty.

Part 4 · 1 Wisdom: everything the human mind has created over the centuries.

Part 4 · 2 He will leave the lodge five hours before the end of the fifteen years, and so break the agreement.

Part 4 · 3 He kissed the prisoner on the head and left, crying. He felt more contempt for himself than ever before.