You’ve met these characters before. There is the simple, wise old man who understands more than he knows; the pompous religious expert who discovers his folly before it’s too late; mosey neighbors and petty relatives; and a fight between good and evil in which, by the story’s end, good and evil almost seem to switch places. These classic tales, made popular long ago by Tolstoy in Russia, are retold here for English readers in a new century.