"How Much Land Does a Man Require?" is an 1886 short story by Leo Tolstoy about a man who, in his greed, forfeits everything. A peasant, Pahom, overhears his wife and sister-in-law arguing over the merits of town and peasant farm life. He thinks to himself, "If I had plenty of land, I shouldn't fear the Devil himself!". Unbeknownst to him, Satan is eavesdropping. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)