“Do‘nan” is a story taken from “Yetti zog‘ora qissasi”. The old man Baxshilla maxsum tells it to his grandson Toshtemir from his own childhood. Baxshilla had a dun-coloured horse, Do‘nan; the horse had grown as attached to the boy as a friend of his own age and even saved him from a snake bite. One day a rich guest came to the village, and according to the village custom a guest could take away a gift of whatever caught his fancy. The guest liked Do‘nan and took him away the next day. Baxshilla wept for a night and a day, refused food and within three days became skin and bones. The horse also neighed without eating or drinking in its new home and wasted away — seeing this, the guest brought the horse back. The story is not aimed at blaming anyone, but at showing the delicate feelings of people and animals caught in a complicated situation: even the father suffers because he cannot break the custom. The author chose spoken, folk-style words that suit the old narrator’s age and experience.
Worked examples
Example — narrator’s language: if we “corrected” the sentences to literary-language rules, the old man’s own tone would be lost. So artistic language fits the hero’s age and experience.
Example — theme and idea: the theme is friendship between a person and a horse; the idea is that real love and loyalty can exist even in a creature without speech, and the difficult choice between custom and the heart.
Class activity
“Who is to blame?”: the class splits into three groups — Baxshilla’s brother, his father and the guest. Each group defends its character’s point of view; then they discuss why the writer does not condemn anyone.
Practice
1
Who tells the story to whom?
Baxshilla maxsum tells his grandson Toshtemir.
2
What danger does Do‘nan save Baxshilla from?
From a snake approaching the sleeping boy: the horse crushes the snake’s head.
3
Why does Baxshilla’s father not take the horse back from the guest?
Because by the village custom what a guest likes must be given away; the father does not want to betray the custom, although he suffers for his son.
4
What is the idea of the story and why does the author tell it through the old man?
The idea is loyal friendship between person and animal and human feeling in a complicated situation. Telling it through the old man gives the story a lively, believable, folk tone.