 In the autumn of 1961, while in Moscow, Tolstoy recited the piece to Mikhail Katkov and Ivan Aksakov; their remarks were found to be to the point and some amends were made to the text.In the end of March 1862 A.K.Tolstoy sent the manuscript to "The Russian Messenger" wishing to see "not a single word being crossed out" from this final version.His demand was instantly accepted and the poem appeared in the April issue of the magazine.