took service with Muhammad-Shah as labourers. At first the position seemed hard to them, but they got used to it, and lived on, working as much as their strength allowed.
Muhammad-Shah found it was to his advantage to keep such people, because, having been masters themselves, they knew how to manage and were not lazy, but did all the work they could. Yet it grieved Muhammad-Shah to see people brought so low who had been of such high standing.
It happened once that some of Muhammad-Shah's relatives came from a great distance to visit him, and a Mullah came too. Muhammad-Shah told Ilyás to catch a sheep and kill it. Ilyás skinned the sheep, and boiled it, and sent it in to the guests. The guests ate the mutton, had some tea, and then began drinking kumiss. As they were sitting with their host on down cushions on a carpet, conversing and sipping kumiss from their cups, Ilyás, having finished his work, passed by the open door. Muhammad-Shah, seeing him pass, said to one of the guests:
'Did you notice that old man who passed just now?'
'Yes,' said the visitor, 'what is there remarkable about him?'
'Only this—that he was once the richest man among us,' replied the host. 'His name is Ilyás. You may have heard of him.'
'Of course I have heard of him,' the guest answered, 'I never saw him before, but his fame has spread far and wide.'
'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.'
