Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson

1 The Arousing of Thought

1.46

When I heard about this Karapet and of this practice of his, I visited him one evening after the day’s work, with a small boordook of Kahketeenian wine, and after performing this indispensable local solemn “toasting ritual,” I asked him, of course in a suitable form and also according to the local complex of “amenities” established for mutual relationship, why he did this.