And the Mountains Echoed

A father tells a story to his children (Abdullah and Pari) at the close of a day. He tells the parable of a poor farmer named Baba Ayub, who toiled, “tending to his meagre pistachio trees” in Maidan Sabz, a desolate village (1). Ayub considered himself fortunate because he had a loving family with a good wife and five dutiful, wonderful children, although he felt a special affinity for his youngest son, Qais. However, Qais had a tendency to sleepwalk, and because his parents feared they would lose him, they tied a little bell around him so they would be able to hear if he began to sleepwalk. Even though he outgrew his tendency to sleepwalk, he could not part with his bell.

A div, a giant monstrous creature that eats children, comes to Maidan Sabz. The div approaches the apathetic Ayub household and warnsned them to make their child offering by dawn. Believing in the fable’s central theme, that “a finger had to be cut to save the hand” (5), Baba Ayub drew names from a sack, and his beloved Qais was chosen.

Even though they offering of Qais as a sacrifice was made, the conditions in Maidan Sabz are awful, suffering from drought, and the children are dying of thirst.