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Lieutenant Makarov

The Russian Officer who shot himself because he was unable to pay a gambling debt.

The name Makarov, son of Makar, implies son of a peasant, and hence unsophisticated or even simple.

In The Tales Gurdjieff uses the saying “to where even ‘Makar did not drive his goats'” meaning very far away (P616) and also (p1115) “The unluckiest among us is the fir cone, because every Makkar stumbles over it.”

It is said that Peter the Great was once traveling through Riazan. He liked to talk to the common people incognito. It so happened that on a certain day, every peasant he met just happened to be named “Makar”. The Tsar was surprised by this, then was reputed to say, “From this day forth, you shall all be called Makar!” From that time, the name “Makar” was used as a catchphrase for “peasant man.”

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