Pervyy uchitel'

Gde-to idet voyna, a v malen'kom poselke, raspolozhennom v glubokom tylu, razygryvaetsya poetichnaya i polnaya dramatizma istoriya yunoshi-podrostka, podarivshego svoe serdce pervoy mestnoy krasavice - gordoy i nezavisimoy Dzhamile-
V Den' pominoveniya - pervyy den' oseni - staruha Tolgonay beseduet to li s polem, to li s duhami prirody, rasskazyvaya im istoriyu svoey nelegkoy zhizni, v kotoroy bylo i schast'e, i mnozhestvo gorestey i utrat-
Uzhe nemolodaya zhenshchina vspominaet svoe detstvo v malen'kom stepnom aule i cheloveka, raz i navsegda izmenivshego ee zhizn', - svoego pervogo uchitelya i pervuyu, nerazdelennuyu lyubov'-
Dolgie gody dlitsya vernaya druzhba tabunshchika Tanabaya i prekrasnogo konya-inohodca Gul'sary, slovno by simvoliziruyushchego svobodu i nezavisimost' samoy stepi. Odnako zlye lyudi nahodyat sposob razluchit' druzey-
Povesti, voshedshie v etot sbornik, napisany Chingizom Aytmatovym v raznye gody, odnako ih obedinyaet strastnaya lyubov' k ego rodnoy zemle - s ee drevney kul'turoy, tradiciyami, peredayushchimisya iz pokoleniya v pokolenie tysyacheletiyami, prekrasnoy i surovoy prirodoy i stol' zhe prekrasnymi, reshitel'nymi i sil'nymi zhenshchinami."