The guest was surprised. He clicked with his tongue, shook his head, and said:
"Evidently fortune flies around like a wheel: one it lifts up, another it takes down. Well, does the old man pine?"
"Who knows? He lives quietly and peaceably, and works well."
Then the guest said:
"May I speak with him? I should like to ask him about his life."
"Of course you may," said the master, and he called out of the tent: "Babay!" (This means "grandfather" in the Bashkia language.) "Come in and drink some kumys, and bring your wife with you!"
Ilyás came in with his wife. He exchanged greetings with the guests and with the master, said a prayer, and knelt down at the door; but his wife went back of a curtain and sat down with the mistress.
A bowl of kumys was handed to Ilyás. Ilyás saluted the guests and the master, made a bow, drank a little, and put down the bowl.
"Grandfather," the guest said to him, "I suppose it makes you feel bad to look at us and think of your former life, considering what fortune you had and how hard your life is now."