BOOK 4
Book 4, Part 1
Chapter 12
Pierre is pardoned and joins the prisoners of war. After the executions, he feels the universe is meaningless. But he meets the peasant Platon Karataev, who offers him potatoes with salt. ‘Pierre thought he had never eaten anything that tasted better.’ Platon is sad to learn that Pierre has no one, and he tells Pierre how he became a soldier. He prays to the saints of horses and falls asleep. Pierre remains awake, with something stirring in his soul.
Chapter 13
In this chapter, we are given a portrait of Platon Karataev, the little falcon. As round as a potato and just as earthy, his head is full of folk-saying that he uses only in their meaningful context. He never thinks before he speaks and loves and lives ‘affectionately with everything life’ brings him in contact with. Pierre spends four weeks in this shed with 28 other men, but his overriding memory of this time is of Platon Karataev.