Grandma loved being with us. All of a sudden, a little one had pushed his way into her motherly, long-orphaned soul, filling it with light.

Twice Hööshek’s words reached us. Letters did not exist in those days, aside from those from far away, from soldiers. In the interior of the country we only had words which, as soon as they were spoken, were relayed from the mouth to the ear by people passing through. The first words Hööshek said and sent on their way to her sister were short and merely consisted of a statement and a question that probably contained an admonition as well: “The river has been passable again for quite some time now. Why haven’t you come back?” Before these words arrived, others had been spoken in our yurt. Father and Mother had invited Grandma to stay with us. Father’s offer had gone exactly as follows: “I carried my father away when he died, and my mother as well. Now I can stand tall before the sky and my children and say I have fulfilled my filial duties. But not all are granted the opportunity to fulfill their most sacred duty. The sky may know why that is. Since time immemorial people have done their best not to leave such duties unfulfilled. And whoever is allowed to perform this duty for another human being is a happy man. But the truth is that this right must be earned. Awaj, it is up to you to name the one you consider worthy to carry you in his hands the final distance when that day may come for you. Should your choice fall onto me, it would make me as happy as if my mother had returned to let me once again live with her for a while and then carry her to her final rest a second time.”

Mother decided on the following words: “I am not good enough to be given the honor of caring for my mother in her old age. Others, better ones among my siblings, have been chosen to do so. But you shall know, Daaj, that you will be a mother to me if you can see a daughter in me. And this, too, shall you know: When there is tea in the tea pot, I will pour you the strongest sip, and when there is meat in the kettle, I will serve you the tastiest bit.”