One Little Onion

In The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky there is a scene in which Grushenka, the young woman of questionable character that Alyosha’s brother and father were in love with, told a story she had heard as a child. She recounted to Alyosha, “Once upon a time there was a peasant woman and a very wicked woman she was. And she died and did not leave a single good deed behind. The devils caught her and plunged her into the lake of fire. So her guardian angel stood and wondered what good deed of hers he could remember to tell to God; ‘She once pulled up an onion in her garden,’ said he, ‘and gave it to a beggar woman.’ And God answered: ‘You take that onion then, hold it out to her in the lake, and let her take hold and be pulled out. And if you can pull her out of the lake, let her come to Paradise, but if the onion breaks, then the woman must stay where she is.’ The angel ran to the woman and held out the onion to her. ‘Come,’ said he, ‘catch hold and I’ll pull you out.’ And he began cautiously pulling her out. He had just pulled her right out, when the other sinners in the lake, seeing how she was being drawn out, began catching hold of her so as to be pulled out with her. But she was a very wicked woman and she began kicking them. ‘I’m to be pulled out, not you. It’s my onion, not yours.’ As soon as she said that, the onion broke. And the woman fell into the lake and she is burning there to this day. So the angel wept and went away.” Later as Alyosha had a dream that he was at the wedding of Cana and saw Father Zossima there, who had just died and caused a sort of faith crisis for Alyosha. The old man said to him, “We are drinking the new wine, the wine of new, great gladness; do you see how many guests? Here are the bride and bridegroom, here is the wise governor of the feast, he is tasting the new wine. Why do you wonder at me? I gave an onion to a beggar, so I, too, am here. And many here have given only an onion each—only one little onion.... What are all our deeds? And you, my gentle one, you, my kind boy, you too have known how to give a famished woman an onion to‐day. Begin your work, dear one, begin it, gentle one!” Ultimately any good acts that we do on earth amount to very little compared to the greatness of God. Relative to Him, He asks only that we give away a figurative onion as we try to do good in the world, and He will bring us back to Him for it.

                I think that one of the lessons from this story is that we should look for the onions that others give and focus on that instead of their sins and weaknesses. Alyosha was able to see good in Grushenka despite her unrighteous deeds during this exchange and called her his sister, and she responded with these words: “I’ve been waiting all my life for some one like you, I knew that some one like you would come and forgive me. I believed that, nasty as I am, some one would really love me.” He was able to see the figurative onion that she gave in kindness towards himself—focusing on that instead of the negative deeds of the past—and that changed both him and her. As we interact with others we too can see their good and the onions they give away instead of focusing on their faults and shortcomings. The Lord seems to have done this as He spoke of Oliver Granger saying, “When he falls he shall rise again, for his sacrifice shall be more sacred unto me than his increase, saith the Lord” (Doctrine and Covenants 117:13). The Lord saw his small sacrifice as more important than any lack of increase, and Oliver Granger was blessed by the Lord for it. We can do the same as we meet others imperfect as ourselves. Surely everyone who we interact with has onions that they have given or can give, and as we focus on recognizing those good deeds we will all be blessed. Compared to the Savior, none of us has really done any great deeds, but we can give away an onion in similitude of He who gave away His life to save us all. As His parable taught, if we can simply take a couple talents and use them for good, He will magnify us a hundredfold, saying: “Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord” (Matthew 25:23).