“Yes, and now he has nothing left,” said Muhammad-Shah, “and he lives with me as my labourer, and his old woman is here too⁠—she milks the mares.”

The guest was astonished: he clicked with his tongue, shook his head, and said:

“Fortune turns like a wheel. One man it lifts, another it sets down! Does not the old man grieve over all he has lost?”

“Who can tell. He lives quietly and peacefully, and works well.”

“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 236 in which they were sitting: