Selected Poetry / Избранное (англ.)

My father was also struck by a sudden disease one evening, after returning from another village, while he unharnessed his horse. There were different speculations about the nature of his illness, such as: В«He was struck by the horse devilВ», В«hit by a falling starВ» and the like.

My father didn’t stop working despite his illness, but he became lame in one leg.

One autumn day, after dinner, my father and mother were in the barn, and I sat by the side window reading the В«Message to HafizaВ», when a cart pulled up by our gate.

The stranger tethered his horse, entered the house and asked me: В«Where are your father and mother?В»

«At the barn», – I answered. The man said then: «Go fetch them then.» So I ran to the threshing floor and said: «There’s a man at the house and he wants to see you.» My father and mother immediately came home.

Soon after, father and mother walked inside the door and greeted the stranger.

They prepared tea. This time, with a guest being present, they poured me some tea, too, and they even placed a piece of sugar in front of me, which they didn’t normally do.

When my father asked: В«What business brought you here?В» the traveler replied: В«I came here for this child.В»

Father was bewildered by these words. В«Why so? Why did you come for him?В» he said. After these and other similar questions the traveler began the conversation thus:

В«I am from the village of Kushlavych myself.

This boy is our imam’s child. We lost touch with him several years ago and had no information about him, but we now found him. It turned out that he is living here with you. In Yaik he has an uncle – a man married to his father’s sister. When this uncle of his found out that his wife’s nephew was in the care of such simple folk he decided that the boy should live with him in Yaik. At his behest in Yaik, I went in search of this child and I’m now taking him away with me. »

The traveler’s words upset my father and mother to no end.

«Splendid! We fed him three or four years, when the price of a peck of flour was so and so much, and now, when he became fit for work, you want us to give him to you… No way, forget it! If he has family, where were they before?» They began to bicker and exchange words like this.