
When the war broke out, two brothersâAskhat and Muratâleft for the front. Only Askhat returned home. Murat, however, was taken prisoner; he ended up in Germany, where he was recruited into an intelligence school. After the war, he lived in the West. Thirty-five years later, Muratânow an agent for the anti-Soviet Ă©migrĂ© communityâreturned to his native village as a tourist. His former fiancĂ©e, Bermet, had married Askhat, and the couple was now raising their grandchildren. Upon learning that Bermet had given birth to a daughter back during the war, Murat realized that both the daughter and the grandchildren were his. Yet, he made no claims to them; instead, he silently accepted the role of a mere observerâand in that capacity, he returned to Munich.
Writer
Aleksandr Gorokhov
Language
Kirghiz, Russian

