It came to about two o’clock. In the old days that was enough time for a few scandals to erupt at the ‘lower’ end of the table and a couple of low-powered brawls outside the door. But this wedding did not serve alcohol, and for the whole two hours the guests, demonstrating excellent breeding and restraint, concentrated and drank tea, although none of them was thirsty. And so for these two hours Yelemes was playing on Yerezhep’s nerves. It is known that tea at a dastarkhan is served, so to speak, from the bottom up – from the door to the most distinguished place. It means that Yelemes had to serve a tea bowl to Ye- rezhep, and the latter had to send it further, towards the most respected person… But every time it was Yerezhep’s turn, the tractor driver gave it to somebody else with an innocent face, or, outrageous as it was, he put it in front of him. This was repeated every time for the entire two hours. A second before giving the bowl directly to Yerezhep, Yelemes would start a very engaged conversation with someone, and seemingly for his own amusement he would put Yerezhep’s bowl in front of him and even take a sip from it! ‘Rascal!’ Yerezhep shouted to himself. ‘Like hell you’re listening that attentively! You don’t have enough brains for interesting conversations!’ And Yerezhep snatched his bowl right out of Yelemes’s hands as he brought it to his mouth, and with a clatter put it defiantly in front of him and hissed: ‘What are you doing, giving the horses a drink? There are three pails in front of you!’ Yelemes heard perfectly well about the horse, but he didn’t even raise an eyebrow. ‘I am a humble man,’ he muttered through gritted teeth, keeping a nonchalant expression on his face. ‘I’ve never had a horse. I wanted to get the donkey drunk, but you took the bowl yourself. And thank goodness…’ Yerezhep, savouring his tea, thought for a long time about the meaning of these words. While he guessed, he took a sip of tea from the bowl, but forgot to swallow it. ‘Son of a bitch!’ Yerezhep culturally wiped his mouth with his handkerchief, ‘If we were somewhere else I would punch you!’ Yelemes, finding no visible reaction on Yerezhep’s part, leaned towards his ear. ‘Do you know why Kazakhs need