Which Tolstoy story features the peasant Pakhom, who dreams of owning more land?

Pakhom is the peasant protagonist of Leo Tolstoy’s story How Much Land Does a Man Need?

First published in 1886, the story follows Pakhom as his desire for land grows. He believes that greater ownership will make him secure and independent, but each acquisition creates a new appetite. The plot turns on an offer from the Bashkirs: for a fixed price, he may claim as much land as he can walk around in one day.

The story’s famous moral is that a person ultimately needs only enough ground for a grave. Tolstoy uses Pakhom’s fate to criticize greed, possessiveness, and the belief that material expansion guarantees happiness.

The title is sometimes printed with a question mark and sometimes without one, depending on the edition. Pakhom’s name and the land-buying plot distinguish it from Tolstoy’s other moral tales about peasants and spiritual transformation.