The Dark Valley Read Online Free PDF

him?
    Meanwhile, Habud regularly sent letters. He was glad that the Czar had been dethroned, but he wrote that that was not enough. Changes would have to be made so that every man would be able to eat from the honest sweat of his brow. Habud wrote many more things in his letter, but the Isans’ son would not read it to his father.
    “Your son has turned foolish, brother Badi. He has lost his senses.”
    Vands’ Badi refused to believe that his son had lost his senses. He knew that his son had an open mind. Who knew what the Isans’ son’s problem was with Habud? He had disliked Habud from the beginning.
    Habud wrote that he had turned to a regiment’s committee and that his regiment did not want war. In the evening, Badi would talk with Hatam’s daughter and ask her what had been said in the village. One evening Badi said:
    “Hatam’s daughter, have you heard what they are saying about our Habud? They say he has become a Bolshevik.”
    “A what?”
    “A Bolshevik. The Isans’ son was saying so. He is a Bolshevik who wants to mix the rich and the poor and make them equals.”
    * * *
    Another month passed.
    Then one day Habud came home without warning.
    It was already dark outside when he entered with a bag on his shoulders—a sturdy young man with a beard and moustache.
    There had not been as much joy in Vands’ Badi’s hut since the day it was built. There were questions, tears, hugs, and boundless happiness. Habud announced to his parents that he no longer needed to serve and that he no longer wanted to fight.
    “Let the Isans’ boys fight for a while.”
    After two years of absence, and exhausted from moving from one village to another, Habud laid his head next to his aging mother’s on the mat in his native hut.
    * * *
    The news of Habud’s arrival spread through the village the next day.
    Many were happy and ran over to Hatam’s daughter’s house to give her their blessings. But the Isans’ son, the penman, and even Zaki-the-Messenger were not happy.
    The Isans’ son said that Habud had become a Bolshevik, that he will cause chaos in the village, and that the waters will turn murky. Zaki-the-Messenger promptly commissioned himself to find out who Habud was with, where they were going, and what they were doing.
    An opportunity soon arose.
    At a meeting in the village, where Minas-the-Teacher was also present on behalf of the city’s committee, Habud said a few words about the Isans’ son.
    The meeting was about collecting taxes for the city’s committee. Minas-the-Teacher was saying that the revolution was in danger, that the Germans had bribed the Bolsheviks to crush the Russian troops. It was therefore necessary, Minas-the-Teacher was saying, to reinforce the army and be ready to lay down one’s life for the homeland.
    “I, for one, am ready! If I am called to leave my hearth and home, my work and duties, I shall gladly volunteer!” Minas-the-Teacher boomed as he thumped his chest and turned his hands like the sails of a windmill.
    The elder of the Isans’ brothers agreed that national taxes must be paid, because they are holy debts. He added that any troublemaker in the village should be chased away and that the few deserters of the village should be caught and sent to the city to fight the enemy.
    “And when are you planning on going?” Habud called out. He had been listening with his head bowed down, biting his lip.
    “Be quiet, you son of a bitch!” the penman and the messenger bawled out from across the room as they glared at him and signaled for him to be beaten. A few young men—the penman’s acquaintances—jumped at Habud to beat him, but Habud had not come away from the front without any experience. After several blows had been delivered on both sides, the villagers stepped in to separate the two camps.
    Habud left the meeting, went home, and calmed his mother. That night, he and two of his trusted friends left for the city. Habud ordered his mother not to say anything to