This "double encoding" arises from its framing as both short story, narrated by the fictional prisoner Goryanchikov from The House of the Dead, and as reminiscences of Dostoevsky himself, as a way to evade censorship.
[2] "The Peasant Marey" is preoccupied mainly with a childhood memory, when the speaker was nine and living with his father in Tula province.
The boy is frightened by rumors of a wolf prowling the countryside, and finds refuge with one of his father's serfs, Marey.
[3] The story opens around the holiday season of Easter, with the narrator wandering the prison camp.
The boy is mollified by the peasant's genuine concern and benevolent nature, and eventually returns to playing.