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Summary
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in And the Mountains Echoed, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Interconnectedness
Time, Memory, Forgetting, and Art
Compassion and Selfishness
Family
Power and Wealth
Summary
Analysis
The novel begins with an unnamed narrator promising to tell a story to two children, Abdullah and Pari. The narrator mentions the children’s mother, who is “away.”
Hosseini begins in an uncertain mode, without revealing the identity of his narrator at all (though we later learn it is Saboor). Hosseini will continue to structure his chapters this way—every chapter is almost its own vignette, with a new point of view and different characters. Thus, part of the experience of reading the novel is situating ourselves anew in each succeeding chapter.
Themes
The narrator begins his story. “Once upon a time,” he says, in a magical age, there was a farmer named Baba Ayub. Baba Ayub lived in a village called Maidan Sabz, and worked extremely hard to feed his large family. He loved his family, especially his youngest child, whose name was Qais. Qais was only a small boy, but he had boundless energy, and loved to laugh. Qais also had a bad habit of sleepwalking. In order to ensure that Qais wouldn’t hurt himself when he walked in his sleep, Baba Ayub decided to hang a small bell around Qais’s neck—thus, if Qais moved in the night, everyone would be able to hear him. Even as Qais grew older, he refused to stop wearing the bell.
We have almost no information whatsoever about the real characters before we are introduced to the world of this fairy tale. As the opening story, and one with a mythical, allegorical tone, it’s suggested that the narrator’s story will be important and symbolic, and will set the tone for the novel to follow. To begin with, it establishes the idea of a strong bond between a father and his child. The strength of the parent-child relationship will motivates many of the characters’ key actions.
Themes
Baba Ayub’s fortunes change for the worse one day when a div, an evil monster, comes to his village. The div kills and eats anyone who dares look at it. As a result, most of the villagers keep their eyes fastened on the ground to avoid making eye contact with the monster. The div announces that it will be patrolling the houses in the village. Whenever it knocks at someone’s door, the family inside will have to give it one child to take back to its home to eat—if not, the div will eat all of the children inside.
Themes
One night, the div knocks at the house of Baba Ayub. Baba and his family are horrified—they know that one of them will be eaten by the creature. After much agonizing, Baba Ayub decides to choose randomly. He labels five rocks with the names of his five children, places them all in a sack, and blindly chooses one. He chooses the rock bearing the name of Qais, his favorite child. Tearfully, Baba Ayub places Qais in a sack, with Qais screaming in horror and confusion the entire time. Baba Ayub places the sack containing Qais outside his house. Later, the div takes the sack and leaves the village for good.
Themes
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The narrator stops his story for a moment to note that Pari, Abdullah’s sister, has fallen asleep. He tells Abdullah to cover Pari with a blanket, and then resumes his story.
Themes
After the div takes Qais from the village, there is a forty-day mourning period. Everyone prepares food for Baba Ayub, telling him that they feel sorry for him. Baba Ayub begins to neglect his family and his work, and people whisper that he is going mad with grief. Baba Ayub feels guilty for not trying to fight the div. A real father, he tells himself, would have found a way to kill the div instead of cooperating with it.
Themes
Baba Ayub decides to seek out the div and kill it as revenge for it taking Qais. After many weeks of climbing and searching, Baba Ayub succeeds in finding the monster’s fortress. At the gates, Baba Ayub shouts to the div, and to his surprise, the div emerges. Baba Ayub angrily says that he has come to kill the div. Surprisingly, the div doesn’t immediately kill Baba Ayub—something about Baba Ayub’s appearance, the look in his eyes, or the fact that he is unafraid makes the div pause. After a moment, the div admits to Baba Ayub that he is impressed—clearly, Baba Ayub is a brave man. Baba Ayub disagrees—he isn’t brave, he argues, he just has nothing to lose: after all, the div has already taken the thing that mattered most to him.
Themes
The div tells Baba Ayub that he will gladly duel with him. Before the duel, however, the div suggests that Baba Ayub should come with him. Baba Ayub agrees, and he walks through the div’s fortress, into a room with a big glass window. Beyond the glass window, Baba Ayub is immediately shocked to see a group of happy young children, including his own son, Qais, playing in a beautiful garden. Baba Ayub shouts to his son—who seems older and happier than ever—but Qais does not respond. The div explains, very gently, that he had subjected Baba Ayub to a horrible test, a test which Baba Ayub has passed, and for which Qais has been amply rewarded.
Themes
Baba Ayub can’t understand what the div is telling him. The div explains that in his fortress, Qais is provided with a wonderful home, a good education, and many friends. One day, the div will allow Qais to go out into the world, where he may share his kindness and knowledge with others. Baba Ayub begs the div for a chance to talk to his son again. Reluctantly, the div takes a large hourglass and turns it upside-down. By the time the sand settles, the div explains, Baba Ayub must make a second choice: he can either take Qais home and spend the rest of his life with his son, or he can leave Qais in his new home.
Baba Ayub thinks for a long time. On one hand, he’s desperate to see his favorite child again. On the other, he recognizes that Qais’s life is better in the div’s home—Qais would surely be less happy in the village. After a long time, Baba Ayub becomes so frustrated that he breaks the hourglass and yells that the div is a cruel beast. The div tells Baba Ayub, “cruelty and benevolence are but shades of the same color.” When the div asks Baba Ayub for his choice, Baba Ayub gets up to leave, deciding that Qais will stay in the fortress. Before he goes, Baba Ayub tells the div that he hopes the div will be punished in hell forever. In response, the div throws Baba Ayub a small bottle, and tells Baba Ayub to drink it when he returns to his village.
After many days of travel, Baba Ayub returns to his home, where he finds his wife and family waiting for him. Baba Ayub drinks from the div’s bottle, and immediately forgets about his visit to the div. He forgets that he saw Qais, and that he had to choose whether or not to take Qais home—he even forgets that he had a son named Qais at all.
Themes
In the years following Baba Ayub’s return to the village, his fortunes turn yet again, and he becomes a hugely successful farmer. His crops bring him and his family great wealth, and his children all marry the finest suitors. He ends his life as an old, happy grandfather, taking great pleasure in the lives of his children and his young grandchildren. He loves taking walks through gardens and forests, where he feels thankful for his good fortune. But now and again, as he walks through the forest, he hears the ringing of a small, high-pitched bell. Although he has no idea where the sound comes from, or if it’s even real, it gives him a sense of profound sadness, which he’s incapable of putting into words.
The narrator ends his story. He tells Abdullah to go to sleep, as he and Pari have to wake up at dawn. He adds that he and Abdullah will say goodbye in the morning.
Themes
