War and Peace Volume 4, Part 4, Chapter 9 Summary

  • Suddenly there’s a noise in the bushes. It’s...Ramballe, the French officer Pierre met in Moscow just before the fire. What are the odds? Pretty good, actually, since Pierre isn’t here and none of these guys know him.
  • Ramballe and a soldier come stumbling out of the woods. They’re starving and frozen and just sad.
  • The Russian soldiers give them food and drink. Then they carry Ramballe to the officer’s tent, since he can’t walk.
  • They feed the other guy and sing songs with him, trying to imitate the French words he’s saying. It’s an amazing scene of human connection in the middle of the nightmarish horror. People are still people.