Page 22 - English Expedition Class 4

3 How Much Land Does a

Man Need?

The idiom to bite off more than one can chew means to try to take up more work than
one can handle. Let’s read a story and find out what happened to a man who bit off more than
he could chew.

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There was once an ambitious peasant called Pakhom. After gaining great plots of
land, he finally heard of a wonderful deal in a far-off country. He travelled to the land
of the Bashkirs and met the village elder, who seemed to him, a fool. The village elder
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told Pakhom that he could have all the land he wanted for a thousand rubles a day.
Pakhom did not understand. ‘What kind of rate is that – a day?’ he asked. ‘How

many acres could that be?’
‘We don’t do our business your way. We sell land by the day. However much you
can walk around in one day will be yours,’ said the elder.
When Pakhom said that a man can walk around much land in one day, the elder

burst out laughing and said, ‘All of it will be yours! But there is one condition. If you
do not return to the starting point by sunset, the money will be lost,’ he added.
Overjoyed at the prospect of gaining a lot of land, Pakhom spent a sleepless night.
At dawn, he went with the villagers to the top of a hill where the elder put down his

hat. After placing his thousand rubles on top, Pakhom began walking, digging holes
along the way to mark his land. The going was easy. He thought, ‘I’ll do another three
miles and then turn left. The land is so beautiful here, it would be a pity to miss any.’
Pakhom hurried throughout the morning, going out of his way to add more land.

But at noon when he looked back at the hill where he had begun, it was difficult to
see the people. ‘Maybe I have gone too far,’ he worried and decided he must begin to
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make shorter strides . As the afternoon wore on , the heat was exhausting. By now his
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bare feet were cut and bruised and his legs weakened. He wanted to rest but that was
out of question. Pakhom struggled on, walking faster, then running. He worried that
he had been too greedy and his fear made him breathless. He kept running. His shirt

1 ambitious: having a strong wish to be successful or rich 4 stride: step; the distance covered by a step
2 peasant: farmer 5 wore on: passed
3 ruble: the unit of money in Russia 6 bruised: with blue or brown marks on the skin as a result
of an injury
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