“May I speak to him?” asked the guest. “I should like to ask him about his life.”
“Why not?” replied the master, and he called from the kibítka in which they were sitting:
“ Babay ;” (which in the Bashkir tongue means “Grandfather”) “come in and have a cup of kumiss with us, and call your wife here also.”
Ilyás entered with his wife; and after exchanging greetings with his master and the guests, he repeated a prayer, and seated himself near the door. His wife passed in behind the curtain and sat down with her mistress.
A cup of kumiss was handed to Ilyás; he wished the guests and his master good health, bowed, drank a little, and put down the cup.
“Well, Daddy,” said the guest who had wished to speak to him, “I suppose you feel rather sad at the sight of us. It