“Kecha” (excerpt from the novel)
The excerpt opens with a description of spring. Fifteen-year-old Zebi (Zebinisa) has spent the winter on household chores and amid worry over suitors; her friend Saltanat invites her to the village, to Enaxon’s home, to enjoy the spring. Her father Razzoq so‘fi is a gloomy, taciturn man who calls his wife Qurvonbibi “Fitna”; her mother finds a way to get permission, and the so‘fi agrees on condition that she not let non-mahram men hear her voice. On the road the girls ask the cart-driver O‘lmasxon to sing, and he points out that a famous singer is among them – Zebi; remembering her father’s condition, Zebi at first refuses, then joins the yor-yor the girls have started and her voice enthrals the driver. The hands of the two young people touch by chance over an old woman’s head and in the moonlight a new feeling appears in their hearts. In the village Enaxon and her sister-in-law plan to arrange an invitation to the mingboshi’s daughter and junior wife; at the gathering Xolmat notices the driver’s interest in Zebi, and Zebi speaks briefly with him under the mulberry tree. The excerpt ends with the girls dispersing after dancing and plov.
Choose scenes: read three episodes of the excerpt (getting permission, the song on the road, the talk under the mulberry) and find a title for each and write the characters’ mood.