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| Tolstoy at 20 |
Early on in his memoir
Childhood, which he started writing in Tbilisi (which is written თბილისი in the beautiful Georgian alphabet, or "anbani") at the age of 23, Tolstoy recalls his disappointment when he was around the age of 10, and his brother, a couple of years older, declined to play make-believe while the family are out on a picnic after a hunt. The ten-year-old Tolstoy saw his older brother's point, but reflected: "Ежели судить по-настоящему, то игры никакой не будет. А игры не будет, что ж тогда остается?" (translated in the 1964 Penguin Classic edition by Rosemary Edmonds as "If you only go by what's real there won't be any games. And if there are no games, what is left?").
