Necessity'. An Eastern Tale: Two sages search for enlightenment. They find something rather different.

Vladimir Galaktionovich Korolenko was born in Zhytomyr, Ukraine, then part of the Russian Empire on 27th July 1853.

His father died when he was 13 and life was then often struck with bouts of poverty, which resulted in his education being somewhat erratic. A spell in exile at 23 was followed by another as the politics of the times opposed his volatile but heart-felt passions.

Writing was also coming to the fore and in 1879 his debut short story telling of a young Narodnik searching for social...