The Prisoner of the Caucasus is an 1872 novella written by Leo Tolstoy for his ABC book. The story, originally intended for rural children, is written in simplified language. It was inspired by an incident from the Caucasian War that had happened to Tolstoy himself in June 1853 near Grozny. The title contains an allusion to the 1821 poem by Pushkin. It is included in the English-language compilation Twenty-Three Tales.