Little Husband

The beginning of the 21st century. Some old wedding traditions survived in some villages of Caucasus. A 16-year-old Zeinab is engaged to a 9-year-old boy. The future mother-in-law likes the beautiful and hard-working girl, who is from a large poor family. The future mother-in-law, who is a widow, has incurable disease. She is in a hurry to marry his son so that little Azar and his family’s great property should not be left without a patron. Very beautiful Zeinab leads her family as well as she can. She is much irritated to take care of a little ungovernable child and endless instructions of her mother-in-law. Azar’s mother dies after some months, and Zeinab tries to look after her little husband with even more care and diligence. When Azar is 16, he asks the girl to perform her marital duties, but Zeinab does not let him to her. It is unexpected and bizarre for her to see a man and a husband in Azar. She did take care of the boy like a mother for years! On the other hand, Azar lacks neither handsomeness, nor temperament. (excerpt)