Nekrasov's adventures of Dunno. Dunno: The Adventures of Dunno and His Friends. Nikolai Nikolaevich NosovThe Adventures of Dunno and His Friends

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Chapter first. SHORTIES FROM FLOWER CITY

In one fairy-tale city there lived short people. They were called shorties because they were very small. Each short one was the size of a small cucumber. It was very beautiful in their city. Flowers grew around every house: daisies, daisies, dandelions. There, even the streets were named after flowers: Kolokolchikov Street, Daisies Alley, Vasilkov Boulevard. And the city itself was called the Flower City. He stood on the bank of a stream. The short people called this stream the Cucumber River because many cucumbers grew along the banks of the stream.
There was a forest across the river. The short ones made boats from birch bark, swam across the river and went into the forest to pick berries, mushrooms, and nuts. It was difficult to collect the berries, because the short ones were tiny, and to get the nuts you had to climb a tall bush and even carry a saw with you. Not a single short man could pick a nut with his hands - they had to be cut with a saw. Mushrooms were also cut with a saw. They cut the mushroom down to the very roots, then saw it into pieces and drag it home piece by piece.
The shorties were not all the same: some of them were called babies, and others were called babies. The kids always wore either long trousers untucked or short pants with waistbands, and the little ones loved to wear dresses made of colorful, bright material. The kids did not like to fuss with their hairstyles, and therefore their hair was short, and the little ones had long hair, almost to their waists. The little ones loved to do different beautiful hairstyles; they braided their hair in long braids, wove ribbons into the braids, and wore bows on their heads. Many kids were very proud of being kids, and were almost not friends with the kids at all. And the little ones were proud of the fact that they were little ones, and they also didn’t want to be friends with the little ones. If some little girl met a baby on the street, then, seeing him from afar, she immediately crossed to the other side of the street. And she did well, because among the kids there were often those who could not calmly walk past the little one, but would definitely say something offensive to her, even push her, or, even worse, pull her braid. Of course, not all kids were like that, but it wasn’t written on their foreheads, so the little ones thought it was better to cross to the other side of the street in advance and not get caught. For this, many kids called the little ones imaginaries - they’ll come up with such a word! - and many little girls called the kids bullies and other offensive nicknames.

Some readers will immediately say that all this is probably fiction, that such babies do not exist in real life. But no one says that they happen in life. In life this is one thing, but in a fairy-tale city it is completely different. Anything can happen in a fairytale city.

Sixteen short children lived in one house on Kolokolchikov Street. The most important of them was a short little boy named Znayka. He was nicknamed Znayka because he knew a lot. And he knew a lot because he read different books. These books lay on his table, and under the table, and on the bed, and under the bed. There wasn't a place in his room where there weren't books. Reading books made Znayka very smart. Therefore, everyone obeyed him and loved him very much. He always dressed in a black suit, and when he sat down at the table, put his glasses on his nose and started reading some book, he completely looked like a professor.

He had a small dog, Bulka, and also had a gun that shot corks. There lived the artist Tube, the musician Guslya and other kids: Toropyzhka, Grumpy, Silent, Donut, Rasteryayka, two brothers - Avoska and Neboska. But the most famous among them was a baby named Dunno. He was nicknamed Dunno because he knew nothing.

This Dunno wore a bright blue hat, canary yellow trousers and an orange shirt with a green tie. He generally loved bright colors. Dressed up as such a parrot, Dunno wandered around the city all day long, composing various fables and telling everyone. In addition, he constantly offended the little ones. Therefore, the little ones, seeing his orange shirt from a distance, immediately turned in the opposite direction and hid in their homes. Dunno had a friend named Gunka, who lived on Daisy Street. Dunno could chat with Gunka for hours. They quarreled among themselves twenty times a day and made peace twenty times a day.
In particular, Dunno became famous after one story.
One day he was walking around the city and wandered into a field. There wasn't a soul around. At this time the cockchafer was flying. He blindly ran into Dunno and hit him on the back of the head. Dunno rolled head over heels to the ground. The beetle immediately flew away and disappeared into the distance. Dunno jumped up, began to look around and see who hit him. But there was no one around.
“Who hit me?” thought Dunno. “Maybe something fell from above?”
He raised his head and looked up, but there was nothing above either. Only the sun shone brightly above Dunno’s head.
“So something fell on me from the sun,” Dunno decided. “Probably a piece came off from the sun and hit me on the head.”
He went home and met an acquaintance whose name was Steklyashkin.
This Steklyashkin was a famous astronomer. He knew how to make magnifying glasses from broken bottle shards. When he looked at different objects through magnifying glasses, the objects seemed larger. From several such magnifying glasses, Steklyashkin made a large telescope through which one could look at the Moon and the stars. Thus he became an astronomer.
“Listen, Steklyashkin,” Dunno told him. “You understand the story: a piece came off from the sun and hit me on the head.”
- What you. Dunno! - Steklyashkin laughed. - If a piece came off from the sun, it would crush you into a cake. The sun is very big. It is larger than our entire Earth.
“It can’t be,” answered Dunno. - In my opinion, the sun is no bigger than a plate.
- It only seems so to us, because the sun is very far from us. The sun is a huge hot ball. I saw this through my pipe. If even a small piece came off from the sun, it would destroy our entire city.
- Look! - Dunno answered. - I didn’t even know that the sun was so big. I’ll go tell our people - maybe they haven’t heard about it yet. But you still look at the sun through your pipe: what if it’s actually chipped!
Dunno went home and told everyone he met along the way:
- Brothers, do you know what the sun is like? It is larger than our entire Earth. That's what it is! And now, brothers, a piece has broken off from the sun and is flying straight towards us. Soon it will fall and crush us all. It's terrible what will happen! Go ask Steklyashkin.
Everyone laughed because they knew that Dunno was a talker. And Dunno ran home as fast as he could and let’s shout:
- Brothers, save yourself! The piece is flying!
- What piece? - they ask him.
- A piece, brothers! A piece came off from the sun. Soon it will flop - and everyone will be finished. Do you know what the sun is like? It is larger than our entire Earth!
- What are you making up!
- I'm not making anything up. Steklyashkin said this. He saw through his pipe.
Everyone ran out into the yard and began to look at the sun. They looked and looked until tears flowed from their eyes. It began to seem to everyone, blindly, that the sun was actually pockmarked. And Dunno shouted:
- Save yourself who can! Trouble!

Everyone began to grab their things. Tube grabbed his paints and brush, Guslya grabbed his musical instruments. Doctor Pilyulkin rushed around the house and looked for a first aid kit, which was lost somewhere. Donut grabbed galoshes and an umbrella and was already running out the gate, but then Znayka’s voice was heard:
- Calm down, brothers! There's nothing wrong. Don't you know that Dunno is a talker? He made it all up.
- Made it up? - Dunno shouted. - Go ask Steklyashkin.
Everyone ran to Steklyashkin, and then it turned out that Dunno had actually made up everything. Well, there was a lot of laughter here! Everyone laughed at Dunno and said:
- We are surprised how we believed you! - It’s as if I’m not surprised! - Dunno answered. - I believed it myself.
That's how wonderful this Dunno was.

Chapter first

Shorties from Flower City

There was a forest across the river. The short ones made boats from birch bark, swam across the river and went into the forest to pick berries, mushrooms, and nuts. It was difficult to collect the berries, because the short ones were tiny, and to get the nuts you had to climb a tall bush and even carry a saw with you. Not a single short man could pick a nut with his hands - they had to be cut with a saw. Mushrooms were also cut with a saw. They cut the mushroom down to the very roots, then saw it into pieces and drag it home piece by piece.

The little ones were not all the same: some of them were called babies, while others were called babies. The kids always wore either long trousers untucked or short pants with waistbands, and the little ones loved to wear dresses made of colorful, bright material. The kids didn’t like to mess with their hair, and that’s why their hair was short, and the little ones had long hair, almost to their waists. The little ones loved to do different beautiful hairstyles; they braided their hair in long braids, wove ribbons into the braids, and wore bows on their heads. Many kids were very proud of being kids, and were almost not friends with the kids at all. And the little ones were proud of the fact that they were little ones, and they also didn’t want to be friends with the little ones. If some little girl met a baby on the street, then, seeing him from afar, she immediately crossed to the other side of the street. And she did well, because among the kids there were often those who could not calmly walk past the little one, but would definitely say something offensive to her, even push her, or, even worse, pull her braid. Of course, not all kids were like that, but it wasn’t written on their foreheads, so the little ones thought it was better to cross to the other side of the street in advance and not get caught. For this, many kids called the little ones imaginaries - they’ll come up with such a word! - and many little girls called the kids bullies and other offensive nicknames.

In the same house lived the famous doctor Pilyulkin, who treated short people for all diseases. He always wore a white robe and wore a white cap with a tassel on his head. The famous mechanic Vintik also lived here with his assistant Shpuntik; lived Sakharin Sakharinich Syrupchik, who became famous for his love of sparkling water with syrup. He was very polite. He liked it when people called him by his first name and patronymic, and did not like it when someone simply called him Syrup. The hunter Pulka also lived in this house. He had a small dog, Bulka, and also had a gun that shot corks. There lived the artist Tube, the musician Guslya and other kids: Toropyzhka, Grumpy, Silent, Donut, Rasteryayka, two brothers - Avoska and Neboska. But the most famous among them was a baby named Dunno. He was nicknamed Dunno because he knew nothing.

In particular, Dunno became famous after one story.

One day he was walking around the city and wandered into a field. There wasn't a soul around. At this time the cockchafer was flying. He blindly ran into Dunno and hit him on the back of the head. Dunno rolled head over heels to the ground. The beetle immediately flew away and disappeared into the distance. Dunno jumped up, began to look around and see who hit him. But there was no one around.

“Who hit me? - thought Dunno. “Maybe something fell from above?”

He raised his head and looked up, but there was nothing above either. Only the sun shone brightly above Dunno’s head.

“So something fell on me from the sun,” Dunno decided. “A piece of the sun probably came off and hit me on the head.”

He went home and met an acquaintance whose name was Steklyashkin.

This Steklyashkin was a famous astronomer. He knew how to make magnifying glasses from fragments of broken bottles. When he looked at different objects through magnifying glasses, the objects seemed larger. From several such magnifying glasses, Steklyashkin made a large telescope through which one could look at the Moon and the stars. Thus he became an astronomer.

“Listen, Steklyashkin,” Dunno told him. “You understand the story: a piece came off from the sun and hit me on the head.”

- What you. Dunno! – Steklyashkin laughed. “If a piece came off from the sun, it would crush you into a cake.” The sun is very big. It is larger than our entire Earth.

“It can’t be,” answered Dunno. - In my opinion, the sun is no bigger than a plate.

– It only seems so to us, because the sun is very far from us. The sun is a huge hot ball. I saw this through my pipe. If even a small piece came off from the sun, it would destroy our entire city.

- Look! - Dunno answered. “I didn’t even know the sun was so big.” I’ll go tell our people - maybe they haven’t heard about it yet. But you still look at the sun through your pipe: what if it’s actually chipped!

Dunno went home and told everyone he met along the way:

- Brothers, do you know what the sun is like? It is larger than our entire Earth. That's what it is! And now, brothers, a piece has broken off from the sun and is flying straight towards us. Soon it will fall and crush us all. It's terrible what will happen! Go ask Steklyashkin.

Everyone laughed because they knew that Dunno was a talker. And Dunno ran home as fast as he could and let’s shout:

- Brothers, save yourself! The piece is flying!

- What piece? - they ask him.

- A piece, brothers! A piece came off from the sun. Soon it will flop - and everyone will be done for. Do you know what the sun is like? It is larger than our entire Earth!

-What are you making up?

– I’m not making anything up. Steklyashkin said this. He saw through his pipe.

Everyone ran out into the yard and began to look at the sun. We looked and looked until tears flowed from our eyes. It began to seem to everyone, blindly, that the sun was actually pockmarked. And Dunno shouted:

- Save yourself who can! Trouble!

- Calm down, brothers! There's nothing wrong. Don't you know that Dunno is a talker? He made it all up.

- Did you make it up? - Dunno shouted. - Go ask Steklyashkin.

Everyone ran to Steklyashkin, and then it turned out that Dunno had actually made up everything. Well, there was a lot of laughter here! Everyone laughed at Dunno and said:

– We are surprised how we believed you!

- It’s as if I’m not surprised! - Dunno answered. - I believed it myself.

That's how wonderful this Dunno was.

Chapter two

How Dunno was a musician

If Dunno took on something, he did it wrong, and everything turned out topsy-turvy for him. He learned to read only in letters, and could only write in block letters. Many said that Dunno had a completely empty head, but this is not true, because how could he think then? Of course, he didn’t think well, but he put his shoes on his feet, and not on his head—that, too, requires consideration.

Dunno was not so bad. He really wanted to learn something, but did not like to work. He wanted to learn right away, without any difficulty, and even the smartest little guy couldn’t get anything out of this.

Toddlers and little girls loved music very much, and Guslya was a wonderful musician. He had various musical instruments and often played them. Everyone listened to the music and praised it very much. Dunno was jealous that Guslya was being praised, so he began to ask him:

- Teach me to play. I also want to be a musician.

“Study,” Guslya agreed. – What do you want to play?

– What is the easiest thing to learn?

- On the balalaika.

- Well, give me the balalaika here, I’ll try it.

Guslya gave him a balalaika. Dunno strummed the strings. Then he says:

– No, the balalaika plays too quietly. Give me something else, louder.

Guslya gave him a violin. Dunno began to stroke the strings with his bow and said:

– Isn’t there anything even louder?

“There is still a pipe,” answered Guslya.

- Let's give it here, let's try it.

Guslya gave him a large copper trumpet. Dunno will blow into it, the trumpet will roar!

- This is a good tool! - Dunno was happy. - Plays loudly!

“Well, learn the trumpet if you like,” Guslya agreed.

- Why should I study? “I can do that already,” Dunno answered.

- No, you don’t know how yet.

- I can, I can! Listen! - Dunno shouted and began to blow into the trumpet with all his might: - Boo-boo-boo! Goo-goo-goo!

“You just blow and don’t play,” Guslya answered.

- Why don’t I play? - Dunno was offended. – I play very well! Loud!

- Oh you! It's not about being loud here. It needs to be beautiful.

“That’s how I do it beautifully.”

“And it’s not beautiful at all,” said Guslya. “You, I see, are not at all capable of music.”

– You’re not capable of it! - Dunno got angry. “You’re just saying that out of envy.” You want to be the only one listened to and praised.

“Nothing like that,” said Guslya. – Take the trumpet and play as much as you want if you think you don’t need to study. Let them praise you too.

- Well, I’ll play! - Dunno answered.

He began to blow into the trumpet, and since he did not know how to play, his trumpet roared, and wheezed, and squealed, and grunted. Guslya listened and listened... Finally he got tired of it. He put on his velvet jacket, put a pink bow around his neck, which he wore instead of a tie, and went on a visit.

In the evening, when all the kids were gathered at home. Dunno again took up the pipe and began to blow into it as much as he could:

- Boo-boo-boo! Doo-doo-doo!

- What's that noise? - everyone shouted.

“This is not noise,” answered Dunno. - This is me playing.

– Stop it now! - Znayka shouted. – Your music makes my ears hurt!

- This is because you are not used to my music yet. Once you get used to it, your ears won’t hurt.

- And I don’t want to get used to it. I really need it!

But Dunno did not listen to him and continued to play:

- Boo Boo Boo! Hrrrr! Hrrrr! Viu! Viu!

- Stop it! – all the kids attacked him. - Get out of here with your nasty pipe!

-Where should I go?

- Go to the field and play there.

- So in the field there will be no one to listen.

– Do you really need someone to listen?

- Necessarily.

- Well, go outside, the neighbors will hear you there.

Dunno went outside and began to play near the neighboring house, but the neighbors asked him not to make noise under the windows. Then he went to another house - they drove him out from there too. He went to the third house - they began to drive him out of there, but he decided to spite them and play. The neighbors got angry, ran out of the house and chased him. He forcibly ran away from them with his pipe.

Since then Dunno stopped playing the trumpet.

“They don’t understand my music,” he said. – They haven’t grown up to my music yet. When they grow up, they will ask, but it will be too late. I won't play anymore.

Chapter Three

How Dunno was an artist

Tube was a very good artist. He always dressed in a long blouse, which he called a “hoodie.” It was worth looking at Tubik when he, dressed in his robe and throwing back his long hair, stood in front of the easel with a palette in his hands. Everyone immediately saw that this was a real artist.

After no one wanted to listen to Neznaykin’s music, he decided to become an artist. He came to Tube and said:

- Listen, Tube, I also want to be an artist. Give me some paints and a brush.

The tube was not greedy at all; he gave Dunno his old paints and a brush. At this time, his friend, Gunka, came to Dunno.

Dunno says:

- Sit down, Gunka, now I’ll draw you.

Gunka was delighted, quickly sat down on a chair, and Dunno began to draw him. He wanted to portray Gunka more beautifully, so he drew him a red nose, green ears, blue lips and orange eyes. Gunka wanted to see his portrait as soon as possible. From impatience, he could not sit quietly in his chair and kept spinning around.

“Don’t turn around, don’t turn around,” Dunno told him, “otherwise it won’t work out as expected.”

– Is it similar now? - asked Gunka.

“Very similar,” answered Dunno and painted a mustache on him with purple paint.

- Come on, show me what happened! - Gunka asked when Dunno finished the portrait.

Dunno showed.

- Am I really like that? - Gunka shouted in fright.

- Of course, like that. What else?

– Why did you draw a mustache? I don't have a mustache.

- Well, they will grow up someday.

- Why is your nose red?

- This is to make it more beautiful.

- Why is your hair blue? Do I have blue hair?

“Blue,” answered Dunno. – But if you don’t like it, I can make green ones.

“No, this is a bad portrait,” said Gunka. - Let me tear it up.

– Why destroy a work of art? - Dunno answered.

Gunka wanted to take the portrait from him, and they began to fight. Znayka, Doctor Pilyulkin and the rest of the kids came running at the noise.

- Why are you fighting? - they ask.

“Here,” Gunka shouted, “you judge us: tell me, who is drawn here?” Really, it's not me?

“Of course, not you,” the kids answered. – There’s some kind of scarecrow drawn here.

Dunno says:

– You didn’t guess because there is no signature here. I’ll sign now and everything will be clear.

He took a pencil and signed under the portrait in block letters: “GUNKA.” Then he hung the portrait on the wall and said:

- Let it hang. Everyone can watch, no one is prohibited.

“It doesn’t matter,” said Gunka, “when you go to bed, I will come and destroy this portrait.”

“And I won’t go to bed at night and will keep watch,” answered Dunno.

Gunka was offended and went home, but Dunno actually didn’t go to bed that evening.

When everyone fell asleep, he took paints and began to draw everyone. He drew the donut so fat that he didn’t even fit in the portrait. I drew a toropyzhka on thin legs, and for some reason I drew a dog’s tail on the back. He depicted the hunter Pulka riding on Bulka. Dr. Pilyulkin drew a thermometer instead of a nose. Znayka doesn’t know why he drew donkey ears. In a word, he portrayed everyone in a funny and absurd way.

By morning, he hung these portraits on the walls and wrote inscriptions under them, so that it turned out to be a whole exhibition.

Doctor Pilyulkin woke up first. He saw the portraits on the wall and began to laugh. He liked them so much that he even put pince-nez on his nose and began to look at the portraits very carefully. He approached each portrait and laughed for a long time.

- Well done, Dunno! - said Doctor Pilyulkin. – I have never laughed so much in my life!

Finally he stopped near his portrait and asked sternly:

- And who is this? Is it really me? No, it's not me. This is a very bad portrait. You better take it off.

- Why film? “Let him hang,” answered Dunno.

Doctor Pilyulkin was offended and said:

- You, Dunno, are obviously sick. Something happened to your eyes. When have you ever seen me have a thermometer instead of a nose? I'll have to give you castor oil at night.

Dunno really didn’t like castor oil. He got scared and said:

- No no! Now I see for myself that the portrait is bad.

He quickly took down Pilyulkin’s portrait from the wall and tore it up.

Following Pilyulkin, the hunter Pulka woke up. And he liked the portraits. He almost burst out laughing looking at them. And then he saw his portrait, and his mood immediately deteriorated.

“This is a bad portrait,” he said. - Doesn't look like me. Take it off, otherwise I won’t take you hunting with me.

Dunno and the hunter Pulka had to be removed from the wall. This happened to everyone. Everyone liked the portraits of others, but did not like their own.

The last one to wake up was Tube, who, as usual, slept the longest. When he saw his portrait on the wall, he became terribly angry and said that it was not a portrait, but a mediocre, anti-artistic daub. Then he tore the portrait from the wall and took away the paints and brush from Dunno.

There was only one portrait of Gunkin left on the wall. Dunno took it off and went to his friend.

- Do you want me to give you your portrait, Gunka? And for this you will make peace with me,” Dunno suggested.

Gunka took the portrait, tore it into pieces and said:

- Okay, peace. Only if you draw one more time, I will never put up with it.

“And I will never draw again,” answered Dunno. “You draw and draw, but no one even says thank you, everyone just swears.” I don't want to be an artist anymore.

Chapter Four

How Dunno composed poetry

After Dunno failed to become an artist, he decided to become a poet and write poetry. He had a poet acquaintance who lived on Dandelion Street. This poet's real name was Pudik, but, as you know, all poets are very fond of beautiful names. Therefore, when Pudik began to write poetry, he chose a different name for himself and began to be called Tsvetik.

One day Dunno came to Tsvetik and said:

- Listen, Tsvetik, teach me to write poetry. I also want to be a poet.

- Do you have any abilities? – asked Tsvetik.

- Of course have. “I’m very capable,” answered Dunno.

“This needs to be checked,” said Tsvetik. - Do you know what rhyme is?

- Rhyme? No, I do not know.

“Rhyme is when two words end the same,” Tsvetik explained. – For example: duck is a joke, shortbread is a walrus. Understood?

- Well, say a rhyme with the word “stick.”

“Herring,” answered Dunno.

- What kind of rhyme is this: stick - herring? There is no rhyme in these words.

- Why not? They end the same way.

“That’s not enough,” said Tsvetik. – The words need to be similar so that it turns out smoothly. Listen: a stick is a jackdaw, a stove is a candle, a book is a cone.

- Got it, got it! - Dunno shouted. - A stick is a jackdaw, a stove is a candle, a book is a cone! That's great! Ha ha ha!

“Well, come up with a rhyme for the word “tow,” said Tsvetik.

“Shmaklya,” answered Dunno.

- What kind of schmuck? – Tsvetik was surprised. – Is there such a word?

- Isn’t it?

- Of course not.

- Well, then the bastard.

-What kind of bastard is this? – Tsvetik was surprised again.

“Well, when they tear something, that’s what you get,” explained Dunno.

“You’re lying all the time,” said Tsvetik, “there is no such word.” We need to choose words that exist, and not invent them.

– What if I can’t find another word?

- So you have no ability for poetry.

“Well, then figure out for yourself what kind of rhyme it is,” answered Dunno.

“Now,” agreed Tsvetik.

He stopped in the middle of the room, folded his arms on his chest, tilted his head to the side and began to think. Then he raised his head up and began to think, looking at the ceiling. Then he grabbed his own chin with his hands and began to think, looking at the floor. Having done all this, he began to wander around the room and quietly muttered to himself:

- Tow, tow, tow, tow, tow, tow, tow... - He muttered for a long time, then said: - Ugh! What is this word? It's some word that doesn't rhyme.

- Here you go! - Dunno was happy. – He himself asks words that have no rhyme, and also says that I am incapable.

- Well, capable, capable, just leave me alone! - said Tsvetik. - I have a headache. Write in such a way that there is meaning and rhyme, that’s poetry for you.

– Is it really that simple? - Dunno was surprised.

- Of course, it’s simple. The main thing is to have the ability.

Dunno came home and immediately began to write poetry. All day long he walked around the room, looking first at the floor, then at the ceiling, holding his chin with his hands and muttering something to himself.

Finally the poems were ready, and he said:

- Listen, brothers, what poems I wrote.

- Come on, come on, what are these poems about? - everyone became interested.

“I made this up about you,” Dunno admitted. - Here are the first poems about Znayka: Znayka went for a walk to the river, Jumped over a sheep.

- What? - Znayka shouted. - When did I jump over a sheep?

“Well, it’s only said that way in poetry, for rhyme,” explained Dunno.

- So, because of the rhyme, you will invent all sorts of lies about me? - Znayka boiled.

“Of course,” answered Dunno. - Why should I make up the truth? There is no need to create the truth, it already exists.

– Try again, you’ll find out! - Znayka threatened. - Well, read what you wrote about others?

“Listen to Toropyzhka,” said Dunno. Toropyzhka was hungry and swallowed a cold iron.

- Brothers! - Toropyzhka shouted. - What is he making up about me? I didn't swallow any cold iron.

“Don’t shout,” answered Dunno. – I just said for rhyme that the iron was cold.

- But I didn’t swallow any iron, neither cold nor hot! - Toropyzhka shouted.

“And I’m not saying that you swallowed something hot, so you can calm down,” answered Dunno. – Listen to the poems about Avoska: Avoska has a sweet cheesecake under her pillow. Avoska went to his bed, looked under the pillow and said:

- Liars! There is no cheesecake here.

“You don’t understand anything about poetry,” answered Dunno. - It’s only for rhyme that they say that it lies, but in reality it doesn’t lie. I also wrote something about Pilyulkin.

- Brothers! - Doctor Pilyulkin shouted. – We must stop this mockery! Are we really going to calmly listen to Dunno lying about everyone here?

- Enough! - everyone shouted. – We don’t want to listen anymore! These are not poems, but some kind of teases.

Only Znayka, Toropyzhka and Avoska shouted:

- Let him read! Since he read about us, let him read about others.

- No need! We do not want! - the others shouted.

“Well, if you don’t want to, then I’ll go read to the neighbors,” said Dunno.

- What? - everyone shouted here. -Are you still going to shame us in front of the neighbors? Just try it! Then you don’t have to return home.

“Okay, brothers, I won’t,” Dunno agreed. - Just don't be angry with me.

Since then, Dunno decided not to write poetry anymore.

Chapter Five

How Dunno rode in a carbonated car

The mechanic Vintik and his assistant Shpuntik were very good craftsmen. They looked alike, only Vintik was a little taller, and Shpuntik was a little shorter. Both wore leather jackets. Wrenches, pliers, files and other iron tools were always sticking out of their jacket pockets. If the jackets weren’t leather, the pockets would have come off long ago. Their hats were also leather, with canned glasses. They wore these glasses while working so as not to get dust in their eyes.

Vintik and Shpuntik sat in their workshop all day long and repaired primus stoves, pots, kettles, frying pans, and when there was nothing to repair, they made tricycles and scooters for short people.

One day, Vintik and Shpuntik did not say anything to anyone, they locked themselves in their workshop and began to make something. For a whole month they sawed, planed, riveted, soldered and showed nothing to anyone, and when the month passed, it turned out that they had made a car.

This car ran on soda water and syrup. There was a seat for the driver in the middle of the car, and a tank of sparkling water was placed in front of it. Gas from the tank passed through a tube into a copper cylinder and pushed an iron piston. The iron piston, under the pressure of gas, moved back and forth and turned the wheels. At the top above the seat was a jar of syrup. The syrup flowed through the tube into the tank and served to lubricate the mechanism.

These carbonated cars were very common among short people. But the car that Vintik and Shpuntik built had one very important improvement: a flexible rubber tube with a tap was attached to the side of the tank, so that you could drink sparkling water on the go without stopping the car.

Toropyzhka learned to drive this car, and if someone wanted to go for a ride, Toropyzhka took it for a ride and did not refuse anyone.

Syrupchik loved to ride in a car most of all, since during the trip he could drink as much carbonated water with syrup as he wanted. Dunno also loved to ride in a car, and Toropyzhka often took him for rides. But Dunno wanted to learn how to drive a car himself, and he began to ask Toropyzhka:

- Let me drive the car. I also want to learn how to manage.

“You won’t be able to,” said Toropyzhka. - It's a car. Here we need to understand.

– What else is there to understand! - Dunno answered. - I saw how you manage. Pull the handles and turn the steering wheel. It's simple.

– It only seems simple, but in reality it is difficult. You yourself will kill yourself and crash your car.

- Okay, Toropyzhka! - Dunno was offended. “If you ask me for anything, I won’t give it to you either.”

One day, when Toropyzhka was not at home, Dunno climbed into a car that was standing in the yard and began to pull the levers and press the pedals. At first he couldn’t do anything, then suddenly the car snorted and drove off. The shorties saw this through the window and ran out of the house.

- What are you doing? - they shouted. - You'll kill yourself!

“I won’t kill myself,” Dunno answered and immediately ran over a doghouse that stood in the middle of the yard.

Fuck-fuck! The booth crumbled to pieces. It’s good that Bulka managed to jump out, otherwise Dunno would have crushed him too.

- Look what you've done! - Znayka shouted. – Stop now!

Dunno got scared, wanted to stop the car and pulled some lever. But the car, instead of stopping, drove even faster. There was a gazebo on the road. Fuck-ta-ra-rah! The gazebo fell into pieces. Dunno was covered from head to toe with wood chips. One board caught him on the back, another cracked him on the back of the head.

Dunno grabbed the steering wheel and started turning. The car rushes around the yard, and Dunno screams at the top of his lungs:

- Brothers, open the gate quickly, otherwise I’ll break everything in the yard!

The shorties opened the gate, Dunno drove out of the yard and rushed down the street. Hearing the noise, short men ran out from all the yards.

- Be careful! - Dunno shouted to them and rushed forward.

Znayka, Avoska, Vintik, Doctor Pilyulkin and other little guys ran after him. But where is it? They couldn't catch up with him.

Dunno drove all over the city and didn’t know how to stop the car.

Finally the car drove up to the river, fell off a cliff and rolled head over heels. Dunno fell out of it and remained lying on the shore, and the carbonated car fell into the water and drowned.

Znayka, Avoska, Vintik and Doctor Pilyulkin grabbed Dunno and carried him home. Everyone thought he was already dead.

At home they put him on the bed, and only then Dunno opened his eyes. He looked around and asked:

- Brothers, am I still alive?

“Alive, alive,” answered Doctor Pilyulkin. “Just please lie still, I need to examine you.”

He undressed Dunno and began to examine her. Then he said:

- Marvelous! All the bones are intact, only there are bruises and a few splinters.

“It was my back that got caught on the board,” said Dunno.

“We’ll have to pull out the splinters,” Pilyulkin shook his head.

- Does it hurt? - Dunno was scared.

- No, not at all. Here, let me, I’ll take out the biggest one now. - A-ah-ah! - Dunno shouted.

- What you? Does it hurt? – Pilyulkin was surprised.

- Of course it hurts!

- Well, be patient, be patient. It only seems so to you.

- No, it doesn’t seem like it! Ah ah ah!

- Why are you screaming as if I’m cutting you? I'm not cutting you.

- Hurt! He himself said that it didn’t hurt, but now it hurts!

- Well, hush, hush... There is only one splinter left to pull out.

- Oh, don't! No need! I'd rather be with a splinter.

- You can’t, it’ll break out.

- Oooh-ooh-ooh!

- Well, that’s all already. Now you just need to anoint it with iodine.

- Does it hurt?

- No, iodine doesn’t hurt. Lie still.

- Don't yell, don't yell! You love to drive a car, but you don’t like to be patient!

- Ay! It burns!

- It will burn and stop. Now I'll put a thermometer on you.

- Oh, no need for a thermometer! No need!

- Why?

- It will hurt!

- Yes, the thermometer doesn’t hurt.

“You keep saying it doesn’t hurt, but then it hurts.”

- What an eccentric! Haven't I ever set a thermometer for you?

- Never.

“Well, now you’ll see that it doesn’t hurt,” Pilyulkin said and went to get a thermometer.

Dunno jumped out of bed, jumped out of the open window and ran to his friend Gunka. Doctor Pilyulkin returned with a thermometer and looked - there was no Dunno.

- So treat such a patient! - Pilyulkin grumbled. – You treat him, treat him, and he jumps out the window and runs away. Where does this fit!

Chapter Six

How Znayka came up with a hot air balloon

Znayka, who loved to read, read a lot in books about distant countries and various travels. Often, when there was nothing to do in the evening, he would tell his friends about what he had read in books. The kids loved these stories very much. They liked to hear about countries that they had never seen, but most of all they liked to hear about travelers, since various incredible stories happen to travelers and the most extraordinary adventures happen.

After hearing such stories, the kids began to dream about going on a trip themselves. Some suggested hiking, others suggested sailing along the river in boats, and Znayka said:

- Let's make a hot air balloon and fly in the balloon.

Everyone really liked this idea. The little ones had never flown in a hot air balloon before, and all the kids found it very interesting. No one, of course, knew how to make balloons, but Znayka said that he would think it over and then explain.

And so Znayka began to think. He thought for three days and three nights and came up with the idea of making a rubber ball. The short guys knew how to get rubber. In the city they grew flowers similar to ficus trees. If you make a cut on the stem of such a flower, white juice begins to flow out of it. This juice gradually thickens and turns into rubber, from which you can make balls and galoshes.

When Znayka came up with this idea, he told the kids to collect rubber juice. Everyone began to bring juice, for which Znayka prepared a large barrel. Dunno also went to collect juice and met his friend Gunka on the street, who was playing jumping rope with two kids.

- Listen, Gunka, what a trick we came up with! - said Dunno. - You, brother, will burst with envy when you find out.

“But I won’t burst,” answered Gunka. - I really need to burst!

- You'll burst, you'll burst! - Dunno assured him. - Such a thing, brother! You never saw it in a dream.

-What is this thing? – Gunka became interested.

“Soon we’ll make an air bubble and go traveling.”

Gunka became jealous. He also wanted to show off something, and he said:

- Just think, a bubble! But I made friends with the kids.

– With what babies?

“But with these,” said Gunka and pointed his finger at the little ones. – This little one’s name is Mushka, and this one’s name is Button.

Mushka and Button stood at a distance and looked warily at Dunno.

Dunno looked at them from under his brows and said:

- Oh, that's how it is! You're friends with me!

– I’m friends with you and with them too. It does not interfere.

“No, it interferes,” answered Dunno. – Whoever is friends with little ones is a little one. Quarrel with them now!

- Why should I quarrel?

- And I say, quarrel! Or I'll quarrel with you myself.

- Well, quarrel. Just think!

- So I’ll quarrel, and I’ll give your Mushka and Knopochka a kick!

Dunno clenched his fists and rushed to the little ones. Gunka blocked his way and hit him on the forehead with his fist. They began to fight, and Mushka and Button got scared and ran away.

- So, because of these little ones, you hit me on the forehead with your fist? - Dunno shouted, trying to hit Gunka on the nose.

- Why do you offend them? - Gunka asked, waving his fists in all directions.

- Just think, what kind of defender was found! - Dunno answered and hit his friend on the top of the head with such force that Gunka even crouched down and rushed to run away.

- I'm in a quarrel with you! - Dunno shouted after him.

- Well, please! - Gunka answered. “You’ll be the first to come to reconcile.”

- But you’ll see that I won’t come! We'll fly on a bubble to travel.

- You will fly from the roof to the attic!

- You will fly from the roof to the attic! - Dunno answered and went to collect rubber juice.

When the barrel was filled with rubber juice, Znayka stirred it thoroughly and told Shpuntik to bring the pump that was used to inflate car tires. He attached a long rubber tube to this pump, doused the end of the tube with rubber juice and ordered Shpuntik to slowly pump air into the pump. The tongue began to pump, and immediately a bubble began to form from the rubber juice, just as soap bubbles are obtained from soapy water. Znayka constantly coated this bubble on all sides with rubber juice, and Shpuntik continuously pumped air, so the bubble gradually inflated and turned into a large ball. Znayka didn’t even have time to coat him from all sides now. Then he ordered that the rest of the kids also apply the anointing. Everyone immediately got down to business. Everyone found work near the ball, but Dunno just walked around and whistled. He tried to stay away from the ball, looked at it from a distance and said:

- The bubble will burst! Now, now it will burst! Ugh!

But the ball did not burst, but became bigger and bigger every minute. Soon it swelled so big that the kids had to climb a nut bush that grew in the middle of the yard to coat the top and sides of the ball.

The work of inflating the balloon lasted two days and stopped when the balloon became the size of a house. After this, Znayka tied the rubber tube that was at the bottom with a string so that air would not escape from the ball, and said:

“Now the ball will dry, and you and I will get to work on another job.”

He tied the ball with a rope to a walnut bush so that it would not be blown away by the wind, and then divided the kids into two groups. He ordered one detachment to collect mulberry cocoons in order to unwind them and make silk threads. From these threads he ordered them to weave a huge net. Znayka ordered another detachment to make a large basket from thin birch bark.

While Znayka and his comrades were doing this work, all the residents of the Flower City came and looked at the huge ball, which was tied to a walnut bush. Everyone wanted to touch the ball with their hands, and some even tried to lift it.

“The ball is light,” they said, “you can freely lift it up with one hand.”

“It’s light, it’s light, but, in my opinion, it won’t fly,” said the kid, named Topik.

- Why won’t it fly? – asked the others.

- How will he fly? If he could fly, he would fly up, but he just lies on the ground. This means that even though it is light, it is still heavy,” answered Topik.

The shorties thought.

- Hm! Hm! - they said. – The ball is light, but still heavy. It's right. How will he fly?

They began to ask Znayka, but Znayka said:

- Be patient a little. You will see everything soon.

Since Znayka did not explain anything to the short ones, they began to doubt even more. Topik walked throughout the city and spread ridiculous rumors.

– What force can lift the ball up? - he asked and answered himself:

- There is no such power! Birds fly because they have wings, and a rubber bubble won't fly up. He can only fly down.

In the end, no one in the city believed in this idea. Everyone just laughed, walked up to Znayka’s house, looked at the ball from behind the fence and said:

- Look, look! It's flying! Ha ha ha!

But Znayka did not pay attention to these ridicule. When the silk net was ready, he ordered it to be placed on top of the ball. They stretched the net and covered the ball from above.

- Look! - the short men shouted from behind the fence. - The ball is caught with a net. They are afraid that it will fly away. Ha ha ha!

Znayka ordered to pick up the ball with a rope from below, tie it to a branch of a walnut bush and pull it up.

Now Toropyzhka and Shpuntik climbed onto the bush with a rope and began to pull the ball up. This made the audience very happy.

- Ha-ha-ha! - they laughed. - It turns out that this is a ball that needs to be pulled upward on a rope. How will it fly if you have to lift it on a rope?

“It will fly like that,” answered Topik. - They will sit on top of the ball and start pulling the rope - and the ball will fly.

When the ball was raised above the ground, the net at its edges hung down, and Znayka ordered a basket of birch bark to be tied to the corners of the net. The basket was rectangular. There was a bench on each side of it, and each bench could accommodate four kids.

The basket was tied to the net at four corners, and Znayka announced that the work of building the ball was finished. Toropyzhka imagined that it was already possible to fly, but Znayka said that parachutes still needed to be prepared for everyone.

– Why parachutes? - Dunno asked.

- What if the balloon bursts! Then you'll have to jump with parachutes.

The next day, Znayka and his comrades were busy making parachutes. Everyone made a parachute for themselves from dandelion fluffs, and Znayka showed everyone how to do it.

Residents of the city saw that the ball was hanging motionless on a branch, and said to each other:

- So it will hang until it bursts. There will be no flight.

- Well, why aren’t you flying? - they shouted from behind the fence. “You have to fly before the balloon bursts.”

“Don’t worry,” Znayka answered them. – The flight will take place tomorrow at eight o’clock in the morning.

Many laughed, but some began to doubt.

- What if they actually fly! - they said. - We must come tomorrow and see.

Chapter Seven

Preparing for your trip

The next morning, Znayka woke up his friends early. Everyone woke up and began to prepare to go. Vintik and Shpuntik put on their leather jackets. Hunter Pulka put on his favorite leather boots. The tops of these boots were above the knees and fastened at the top with buckles. These boots were very comfortable for traveling. Toropyzhka put on his zipper suit. This costume should be described in detail. Toropyzhka, who was always in a hurry and did not like to waste time, came up with a special suit for himself that did not have a single button. It is known that when dressing and undressing, the most time is spent on buttoning and unbuttoning buttons. Toropyzhka’s costume did not have separate shirts and trousers: they were combined into one piece in the style of overalls. This jumpsuit was fastened at the top with one button, which was on the back of the head. As soon as this button was unfastened, the whole suit, in some incomprehensible way, fell off the shoulders and fell at lightning speed to the feet.

Fat Donut put on his best suit. What Donut appreciated most about suits was the pockets. The more pockets there were, the better the suit was considered. His best suit had seventeen pockets. The jacket consisted of ten pockets: two pockets on the chest, two slanted pockets on the stomach, two pockets on the sides, three pockets inside and one secret pocket on the back. The trousers had two pockets in the front, two pockets in the back, two pockets on the sides and one pocket at the bottom, on the knee. In ordinary life, such seventeen-pocket suits with a pocket on the knee can only be found among cameramen.

Syrupchik dressed up in a checkered suit. He always wore checkered suits. And his trousers were checkered, and his jacket was checkered, and his cap was checkered. Seeing him from afar, the short ones always said: “Look, look, there’s a chessboard.” Avoska dressed up in a ski suit, which he considered very convenient for traveling. Neboska put on a striped sweatshirt, striped leggings, and wrapped a striped scarf around his neck. In this suit he was all striped, and from a distance it seemed that this was not Neboska at all, but an ordinary striped mattress. In general, everyone dressed in whatever they could, only Rasteryaika, who had a habit of throwing his things anywhere, could not find his jacket. He also put his cap somewhere and, no matter how much he looked, he could not find it anywhere. In the end, he found his winter hat with ear flaps under the bed.

The artist Tube decided to draw everything he saw during his trip. He took his paints and brush and put them in the balloon's basket in advance. Guslya decided to take his flute with him. Doctor Pilyulkin took the camp first aid kit and also put it in the basket, under the bench. This was very prudent, since during the trip someone could get sick.

It was not yet six o'clock in the morning, and almost the entire city had already gathered around. Many short people who wanted to watch the flight sat on fences, on balconies, on the roofs of houses.

Toropyzhka was the first to climb into the basket and choose the most convenient place for himself. Dunno followed him.

“Look,” shouted the spectators gathered around, “they are already starting to sit down!”

- Why did you get into the basket? - said Znayka. - Get out, it’s still early.

- Why early? “You can already fly,” answered Dunno.

– You understand a lot! The balloon must first be filled with warm air.

– Why warm air? - asked Toropyzhka.

– Because warm air is lighter than cold air and always rises upward. When we fill the balloon with warm air, the warm air will rise up and drag the balloon upward,” Znayka explained. - Uh, that means we still need warm air! - Dunno drawled, and he and Toropyzhka climbed out of the basket.

“Look,” someone shouted on the roof of a neighboring house, “they’re crawling back out!” We decided not to fly.

“Of course, we changed our minds,” they answered from the other roof. - Is it possible to fly on such a ball! They are just fooling the public.

At this time, Znayka ordered the short ones to fill several bags with sand and put them in the basket. Now Toropyzhka, Silent, Avoska and other kids began to pour sand into bags and put them in the basket.

-What are they doing? – the audience asked each other in bewilderment.

– For some reason they put sandbags in the basket.

- Hey, why do you need sandbags? - shouted Topik, who was sitting astride the fence.

“But we’ll get up and throw it on your heads,” answered Dunno.

Of course, Dunno himself didn’t know what the bags were for. He just made it up.

- You get up first! - Topik shouted.

Little Mikrosha, who was sitting on the fence next to Topik, said:

“They must be afraid to fly and want sandbags to fly instead.”

People around laughed:

- Of course they are afraid! Why should they be afraid? The ball won't fly anyway.

“Maybe he’ll still fly,” said one of the little girls, who were also looking through the cracks of the fence.

While they were arguing around, Znayka ordered a fire to be lit in the middle of the yard, and everyone saw Vintik and Shpuntik take out a large copper cauldron from their workshop and put it on the fire. Vintik and Shpuntik made this boiler long ago to heat the air. The boiler had a tightly closed lid with a hole in it. A pump was attached to the side to pump air into the boiler. This air was heated in the boiler and, already hot, came out through the upper hole in the lid.

Of course, none of the spectators could guess what the cauldron was for, but everyone made their own assumptions.

“They probably decided to make themselves some soup to have breakfast before the trip,” said the little girl named Romashka.

“What do you think,” answered Mikrosha, “and you would probably have a snack if you were going on such a long journey!”

“Of course,” agreed Romashka. - Maybe this is the last time...

- What - the last time?

“Well, they’ll eat one last time, and then they’ll fly, the balloon will burst, and they’ll crash.”

“Don’t be afraid, it won’t burst,” Topik told her. “In order to burst, you have to fly, but you see, he’s been hanging around here for a whole week and isn’t flying anywhere.”

- Now it will fly! - answered Button, who, together with Mushka, also came to watch the flight.

Soon all the spectators began to argue heatedly. If someone said that the ball would fly, then the other immediately answered that it would not fly, and if someone said that it would not fly, they immediately answered that it would fly. The noise was so loud that nothing could be heard. On one roof, two kids fought with each other - they argued so heatedly. They were forcibly poured with water.

By this time, the air had already warmed up enough in the boiler, and Znayka decided that it was time to start filling the balloon with hot air. But in order to fill the balloon with hot air, cold air had to be released from it first. Znayka went up to the ball and untied the string that was tightly pulling the rubber tube at the bottom. Cold air began to escape from the ball with a loud hiss. The short ones, who were arguing about whether the ball would fly or not, turned around and saw that the ball was quickly getting smaller. He went limp, shriveled up like a dried pear, and disappeared at the bottom of the basket. In the place where there used to be a huge ball, now there was only a basket covered with a net on top.

The hissing stopped, and immediately there was a friendly burst of laughter. Everyone laughed: both those who said that the ball would fly, and those who said that it would not fly, and Dunno’s friend Gunka laughed so hard that he even fell off the roof and got a bump on the back of his head. Doctor Pilyulkin had to immediately treat him and smear the lump with iodine.

- Just like that they flew! - they shouted around. - That's Znaykin's ball! We spent a whole week fiddling with it, but it just burst. Fun! I've never laughed so much in my life!

But Znayka did not pay attention to the ridicule this time either. He connected the boiler to the ball with a long tube and ordered the pump, which was attached to the boiler, to be pumped. Fresh air began to flow into the boiler, and the heated air passed through the tube directly into the ball. Gradually, the ball under the net became larger and larger and began to crawl out of the basket.

“Look,” the spectators rejoiced, “they’re cheating again!” These are the weirdos! And he will burst again.

Nobody believed that the ball would fly. Meanwhile, he became even larger, crawled out of the basket and lay in it, like a huge watermelon on a platter. Then suddenly everyone saw that the ball slowly rose up by itself and pulled on the net with which it was tied to the basket. Everyone gasped. Everyone saw that now no one was pulling the ball up on the rope.

- Hooray! - Chamomile shouted and even clapped her hands.

- Don't yell! – Topik shouted at her.

- Yes, he flew!

- I haven’t flown yet. You see, he is tied to the basket. How can he lift a basket and even with short ones!

Then Topik saw that the ball, having become larger, rose higher and the basket separated from the ground. Topik could not resist and shouted at the top of his voice:

- Hold it! After all, it will fly away! What are you doing?

But the ball did not fly away, since the basket was tightly tied to the walnut bush. She only rose slightly above the ground.

- Hurray! – was heard from all sides. - Hooray! Well done, Znayka! That's how Znaykin's ball is! What did they fool him with? Probably a ferry.

Now everyone believed that the ball would fly.

Chapter Eight

Finally, filling the balloon with warm air was completed. Znayka ordered the boiler to be removed and tied the rubber tube with a string with his own hands so that the warm air did not escape from the ball. After that, he ordered everyone to sit in the basket. Toropyzhka climbed in first, Donut climbed after him and almost fell on the heads of the other shorties. He was plump, all his pockets were filled with all sorts of things: where there was sugar, where there were cookies. In addition, he put on galoshes just in case, and held an umbrella in his hands. With a joint effort, Donut was put into the basket, and the rest of the short ones began to climb after him. Sakharin Sakharinich Siropchik fussed around the basket and sat everyone down.

“Please sit down,” he said, “make yourself comfortable.” There is enough space for everyone on the hot air balloon.

“You sit down too,” they answered him.

“I’ll have time,” answered Syrup. - The main thing is that you sit down.

He helpfully supported everyone by the arm and pushed them from below.

Finally everyone got into the basket. Only Syrup remained below.

- Why don’t you sit down? - they asked him.

- Maybe it’s better for me not to? - Syrup answered. - I'm very plump. It’s cramped for you there even without me. I'm afraid there will be an overload.

– Don’t be afraid, there won’t be any overload.

- No, brothers, fly without me. I'll wait for you here. Why should I embarrass you!

“You won’t embarrass anyone,” Znayka answered. - Sit down. Since everyone has decided to fly, then we will fly together.

Syrup reluctantly climbed into the basket, and then suddenly an unforeseen circumstance happened: the basket, along with the ball, immediately sank to the ground.

- Just like that they flew! – Mikrosha laughed on the fence.

- Why are you laughing? – Topik shouted at him. - There is misfortune here, and he laughs!

“There is no misfortune,” Steklyashkin answered. “It’s just that this balloon is designed for fifteen short people.” He can't lift sixteen.

- So they won’t fly? – asked Topik.

“We’ll have to leave someone alone, then they’ll fly,” said Steklyashkin.

“They’ll probably leave Dunno,” said Mushka.

Syrup, who was afraid to fly in a balloon, was delighted and said:

- Well, I said that there would be an overload! I better get out.

He had already raised his leg to get out, but then Znayka took one bag of sand and threw it out of the basket. The ball immediately became lighter and rose up again. Only then did everyone understand why Znayka ordered to put sandbags in the basket. Everyone clapped their hands, and Znayka raised his hand and addressed the short ones with a speech.

- Goodbye, brothers! - he shouted. - We will fly to distant lands. We'll be back in a week. Goodbye!

- Goodbye! Goodbye! Bon Voyage! - the short men shouted and began waving their arms and hats.

Znayka took a penknife from his pocket and cut the rope with which the basket was tied to the bush. The ball smoothly rose upward, caught its side on a bush branch, but immediately unhooked and quickly soared upward.

- Hooray! - the short ones shouted. – Long live Znayka and his comrades! Hurray!

Everyone clapped their hands and began tossing their hats into the air. The little ones hugged with joy. Mushka and Button even kissed, and Margarita began to cry.

Meanwhile, the ball rose higher and higher. He was blown to the side by the wind. Soon it turned into a small speck that was barely visible in the blue sky. Steklyashkin climbed onto the roof of the house and began to look at this speck through his chimney. Next to him, on the very edge of the roof, stood the poet Tsvetik. With his hands folded on his chest, he looked at the general rejoicing and seemed to be thinking about something.

Suddenly he spread his arms wide and shouted at the top of his voice:

- Poetry! Listen to the poems!

Everything around immediately became quiet. Everyone raised their heads and began to look at Tsvetik.

- Poetry! - the short ones whispered. - Now there will be poems.

Tsvetik waited a little longer until there was complete silence. Then he extended his hand to the flying ball, coughed a little, and said again:

A huge ball inflated with steam,

It was not for nothing that he rose into the air.

At least our little guy is not a bird,

It's still fit to fly.

And everything is available, ehma!

Now for our minds!

Well, there was a cry! Everyone clapped their hands again. The kids pulled Tsvetik off the roof and carried him home in their arms, and the little ones tore petals from the flowers and threw them to Tsvetik. On this day, Tsvetik became famous as if he himself had invented a hot air balloon and flew into the sky on it. Everyone memorized his poems and sang them in the streets.

For a long time that day, here and there one could hear: And everything is already accessible, ehma! Now for our minds!

Chapter Nine

Above the clouds

Our brave travelers did not even feel the ball rise into the air, it separated from the ground so smoothly. Only a minute later they looked out of the basket and saw a crowd of friends below, waving their hands goodbye to them and throwing their hats into the air. Shouts of “hurray” could be heard from below.

- Goodbye! - Znayka and his comrades shouted back to them.

They also began to wave their hats. Confused raised his hand to his head to take off his hat, and only then discovered that he was not wearing a hat.

- Stop, brothers! - he shouted. - Stop the ball! I forgot my hat at home.

– You always forget something! - Grumpy grumbled.

“Now it’s impossible to stop the ball,” said Znayka. “It will fly until the air in it cools down, and only then will it go down.”

- So, should I fly without a hat? - Confused asked offendedly.

“You found your hat under the bed,” said Donut.

“I found it, but I was hot in it, so I put it on the table, and then at the very last moment I forgot to put it on.”

“You always forget something at the very last moment,” said Grumpy.

“Look, brothers,” Dunno suddenly shouted, “our house remains downstairs!”

Everyone laughed, and Grumpy said:

– And you must have thought that the house would fly with us?

– I didn’t think anything like that! - Dunno was offended. “I just saw that our house was standing, so I said it.” We used to live in a house all the time, but now we fly in a hot air balloon.

“Here we go,” Grumpy grumbled. – We’ll fly somewhere else!

“You, Grumpy, keep grumbling,” answered Dunno. “There’s no peace from you even in a hot air balloon.”

- Well, go away if you don’t like it!

-Where am I going to go?

- Well, that's enough! – Znayka shouted at the debaters. – What kind of hot air balloon debate is this?

The balloon rose even higher, and the entire Flower City was visible in full view. The houses seemed very tiny, and the short ones were completely impossible to see. The balloon was carried away by the wind, and soon the entire city was visible far behind.

End of introductory fragment.

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PART I

Chapter first
Dunno is dreaming

Some readers have probably already read the book “The Adventures of Dunno and His Friends.” This book tells about a fabulous country in which babies and toddlers lived, that is, tiny boys and girls, or, as they were otherwise called, shorties. This is the short little kid that Dunno was. He lived in Flower City, on Kolokolchikov Street, together with his friends Znayka, Toropyzhka, Rasteryaika, mechanics Vintik and Shpuntik, musician Guslya, artist Tube, Doctor Pilyulkin and many others. The book tells how Dunno and his friends traveled in a hot air balloon, visited the Green City and the city of Zmeevka, what they saw and learned. Returning from the trip, Znayka and his friends got to work: they began to build a bridge across the Ogurtsovaya River, a reed water supply system and fountains, which they saw in the Green City.

The shorties managed to do all this, after which they began to install electric lighting on the streets of the city, installed a telephone so that they could talk to each other without leaving the house, and Vintik and Shpuntik, under the leadership of Znayka, designed a television so that they could watch films and movies at home. theatrical performances.

As everyone already knows, after the trip Dunno became much wiser, began to learn to read and write, read all the grammar and almost all the arithmetic, began to do problems and even wanted to start studying physics, which he jokingly called physics-mytics, but that’s why he I no longer wanted to study. This happens a lot in the land of short people. Some short people will make big promises, say that they will do this and that, even move mountains and turn them upside down, but in reality they will work for several days at full capacity, and then again begin to slack off a little.

Nobody, of course, says that Dunno was an incorrigible lazy person. Or rather, he simply lost his way. Having learned to read properly, he sat all day long over books, but he read not what was most necessary, but what was more interesting, mainly fairy tales. Having read fairy tales, he completely stopped doing business and, as they say, plunged headlong into dreams. He became friends with little Knopochka, who became famous for also loving fairy tales. Climbing somewhere secluded. Dunno and Button began to dream about various miracles: about invisible hats, flying carpets, running boots, silver saucers and liquid apples, magic wands, about witches and sorcerers, about good and evil wizards and sorceresses. All they did was tell each other different fairy tales, but their favorite pastime was to argue which was better: an invisibility hat or a flying carpet, samogud harp or running boots? And they argued so heatedly that sometimes it even ended in a fight.

Once they argued for two days in a row, and Dunno managed to prove to Button that a magic wand is best, because the one who owns it can get himself anything he wants. He just has to wave his magic wand and say: “I want me to have an invisible hat or running boots,” and all this will immediately appear to him.

The main thing, Dunno said, is that anyone who has a magic wand can learn everything without difficulty, that is, he doesn’t even need to study, but just wave his wand and say: I want to know arithmetic or French, and he will immediately know arithmetic and speak French.

After this conversation, Dunno walked around as if under a spell. Often, waking up at night, he would jump up in bed, start muttering something to himself and waving his arms. It was he who imagined that he was waving a magic wand. Doctor Pilyulkin noticed that something was wrong with Dunno and said that if he did not stop his nightly performances, he would have to be tied to the bed with a rope and given castor oil at night. Dunno, of course, was afraid of castor oil and began to behave more quietly.

One day Dunno met Knopochka on the river bank. They sat down on a large green cucumber, which grew in abundance around them. The sun had already risen high and was properly warming the earth, but Dunno and Button were not hot, because the cucumber on which they were sitting, as if on a bench, was quite cool, and from above they were protected from the sun by wide cucumber leaves that spread over them like huge green umbrellas. The breeze rustled quietly in the grass and raised light ripples on the river, which sparkled in the sun. Thousands of sunbeams, reflected from the surface of the water, danced on the cucumber leaves, illuminating them from below with some mysterious light. This made it seem that the air under the leaves, where Dunno and Button were sitting, was also agitated and trembling, as if flapping with countless invisible wings, and it all looked somehow unusual, magical. But Dunno and Button did not notice any magic around them, since this whole picture was too familiar to them, and besides, each of them was busy with their own thoughts. Button really wanted to talk about fairy tales, but for some reason Dunno stubbornly remained silent, and his face was so sour and angry that she was even afraid to talk to him.

Finally, Button couldn’t stand it anymore and asked:

- Tell me, Dunno, what fly bit you today? Why are you so boring?

“No fly has bitten me yet today,” answered Dunno. “And I’m boring because I’m bored.”

- That's how I explained it! – Button laughed. – Boring because it’s boring. Try to explain more clearly.

“Well, you see,” said Dunno, spreading his hands, “in our city everything is somehow not as it should be.” There are no, you know, miracles, nothing magical... It’s just like the old days! Then at almost every step you met wizards, sorcerers, or at least witches. It’s not for nothing that fairy tales tell about this.

“Of course, not without reason,” agreed Button. “But there were wizards not only in the old days. They still exist, but not everyone can meet them.

- Who can meet them? Maybe you? – Dunno asked with mockery.

- What are you, what are you! – Button waved her hands. “You know, I’m such a coward that if I met a wizard now, I probably wouldn’t say a word out of fear.” But you could probably talk to the wizard, because you are very brave.

“Of course, I’m brave,” Dunno confirmed. “But for some reason I still haven’t met a single wizard.”

“This is because courage alone is not enough here,” said Button. – I read in some fairy tale that you need to do three good deeds in a row. Then the wizard will appear in front of you and give you everything you ask him.

- And even a magic wand?

- Even a magic wand.

- Look! - Dunno was surprised. – What do you think is considered a good deed? If, for example, I get up in the morning and wash my face with cold water and soap, will that be a good thing?

“Of course,” said Button. “If it’s hard for someone, and you help, if someone gets hurt, and you protect them, those will also be good deeds.” Even if someone helps you, and you say thank you for it, you will also do well, because you should always be grateful and polite.

“Well, in my opinion, this is not a difficult matter,” said Dunno.

“No, it’s very difficult,” objected Button, “because three good deeds must be done in a row, and if at least one bad deed comes between them, then nothing will come of it and you will have to start all over again.” In addition, a good deed will only be good if you do it selflessly, without thinking that you are doing it for any personal gain.

“Well, of course, of course,” Dunno agreed. - What a good deed it will be if you do it for profit! Well, today I’ll rest some more, and tomorrow I’ll start doing good deeds, and if all this is true, then the magic wand will soon be in our hands!

Chapter two
HOW Dunno DID DO GOOD DEEDS

The next day Dunno woke up early and began to do good deeds. First of all, he washed himself properly with cold water, and did not spare soap, and thoroughly brushed his teeth.

“That’s already one good deed,” he said to himself, drying himself with a towel and carefully combing his hair in front of the mirror.

Toropyzhka saw him twirling in front of the mirror and said:

- Good, good! Nothing to say, very beautiful!

- Yes, prettier than you! - Dunno answered.

- Certainly. We need to look for a beautiful face like yours!

- What you said? Whose face is this? Is this my face? - Dunno got angry and hit Toropyzhka on the back with a towel.

Toropyzhka just waved his hand and quickly ran away from Dunno.

- Unfortunate Toropyzhka! - Dunno shouted after him. - Because of you, a good deed was lost!

The good deed really went to waste, as he became angry with Toropyzhka and hit him on the back with a towel. Dunno, of course, committed a bad deed, and now it was necessary to start the whole thing all over again.

Having calmed down a little. Dunno began to think about what other good deed he could do, but for some reason nothing practical came to mind. Before breakfast he had not come up with anything, but after breakfast his head began to think a little better. Seeing that Doctor Pilyulkin began to pound some kind of medicine in a mortar, Dunno said:

“You, Pilyulkin, work hard, always help others, but no one wants to help you.” Let me give you some medicine for you.

“You’re welcome,” Pilyulkin agreed. “It’s very good that you want to help me.” We should all help each other.

He gave Dunno a mortar, and Dunno began to grind the powder, and Pilyulkin made pills from this powder. Dunno got so carried away that he crushed even more powder than necessary.

“Well, nothing,” he thought. - This will not interfere with the matter. But I did a good deed.”

The matter really would have ended quite happily if Dunno had not been seen by Syrup and Donut doing this.

“Look,” said Donut, “Dunno, apparently, also decided to become a doctor.” It will be fun when he starts healing everyone!

“No, he probably decided to suck up to Pilyulkin so that he wouldn’t give him castor oil,” answered Siropchik.

Hearing these ridicule, Dunno got angry and swung a mortar at Syrupchik:

- And you, Syrup, keep quiet, otherwise I’ll hit you with a mortar!

- Stop! Stop! - Doctor Pilyulkin shouted.

He wanted to take the mortar from Dunno, but Dunno wouldn’t give it back, and they began to fight. During the fight, Pilyulkin caught his foot on the table. The table overturned. All the powder fell onto the floor, the pills rolled in different directions. Pilyulkin forcibly managed to take away the mortar from Dunno, and he said:

- Get out of here, you bastard! May I never see you here again! How much medicine was wasted!

- Oh, you disgusting Syrup! - Dunno swore. “I’ll show you again, if only you come across me!” What a good deed wasted!

Yes, the good deed was lost this time too, because Dunno didn’t even have time to complete it.

It was like this all day. No matter how hard Dunno tried, he could not do not only three, but even two good deeds in a row. If he managed to do something good, then immediately after that he did something bad, and sometimes some kind of nonsense came out of a good deed at the very beginning.

At night Dunno could not sleep for a long time and kept wondering why he could do this. Gradually he realized that all his failures were due to the fact that he had too rude a character. As soon as someone joked or made some harmless remark, Dunno immediately became offended, began to scream and even got into a fight.

“Well, nothing,” Dunno consoled himself. - Tomorrow I will become more polite, and then things will go smoothly.

The next morning Dunno seemed to be reborn. He became very polite and delicate. If he turned to someone with a request, he always said “please” - a word that had never been heard from him in his life. In addition, he tried to serve and please everyone.

Seeing that Rasteryka could not find his hat, which he constantly lost, he also began to search throughout the room and eventually found the hat under the bed. After that, he apologized to Pilyulkin for yesterday and asked him to allow him to grind powder again. Doctor Pilyulkin did not allow grinding the powder, but gave instructions to pick lilies of the valley from the garden, which he needed to prepare lily of the valley drops. Dunno diligently fulfilled this order. Then he cleaned the hunter Pulka's new hunting boots with wax, then began sweeping the floors in the rooms, although that day it was not his turn at all. In general, he did a whole bunch of good deeds and kept waiting for a good wizard to appear in front of him and give him a magic wand. However, the day ended, and the wizard still did not appear.

Dunno became terribly angry.

- Why did you lie to me about the wizard? - he said, meeting the next day with Button. “I tried like a fool, I did a whole bunch of good deeds, but I never even saw a wizard!”

“I didn’t lie to you,” Knopochka began to justify herself. – I remember exactly that I read about this in some fairy tale.

- Why didn’t the wizard appear? - Dunno advanced angrily.

The button says:

- Well, the wizard himself knows when he needs to appear. Maybe you did not do three good deeds, but less.

- “Not three, not three”! – Dunno snorted contemptuously. - Not three, but probably thirty-three - that’s how much!

The button shrugged:

- So, you probably did good deeds not in a row, but interspersed with bad ones.

- “Interspersed with the bad ones”! - Dunno mimicked Knopochka and made such a face that Knopochka even backed away in fright. “If you want to know, yesterday I was polite all day and didn’t do anything bad: I didn’t swear, I didn’t fight, and if I said any words, it was only “sorry,” “thank you,” “please.”

“I haven’t heard these words from you today,” Knopochka shook her head.

- Yes, I’m not telling you about today at all, but about yesterday.

Dunno and Button began to think about why everything turned out this way, and could not come up with anything. Finally Button said:

– Or maybe you didn’t do these actions disinterestedly, but for the sake of profit?

Dunno even flared up:

- How is this not selfless? What are you talking about! Helped the confused girl find her hat. Is this hat mine, or what? Pilyulkina collected lilies of the valley. What benefit do I have from these lilies of the valley?

- Why did you collect them?

- As if you don’t understand? She said it herself: if I do three good deeds, I will receive a magic wand.

- So you did all this to get a magic wand?

- Certainly!

- You see, but you speak disinterestedly.

- Why do you think I should do these things, if not for the sake of the wand?

- Well, you should do them just like that, with good intentions.

– What other motives are there!

- Oh you! – Button said with a grin. “You can probably do good only when you know that they will give you some kind of reward for it - a magic wand or something else.” I know that we have children who even try to be polite only because it has been explained to them that by being polite and pleasing they can achieve something for themselves.

“Well, I’m not like that,” Dunno waved his hand. “If you want, I can be polite for nothing and I can do good deeds without any benefit.”

After parting with Knopochka, Dunno went home. He now decided to do good deeds only out of good intentions and not even think about the magic wand. However, it’s easy to talk without thinking! In fact, when you want not to think about something, you must only think about it.

– What are you reading there that’s so interesting? You should read it out loud.

Dunno just wanted to say: “If you want it so much, then take it and read it yourself,” but at that time he remembered the magic wand and thought that if he fulfilled Pulka’s request, he would do a good deed.

“Okay, listen,” Dunno agreed and began to read the book out loud.

Hunter Pulka listened with pleasure, and he was not so bored with cleaning his gun. Other short children heard that Dunno was reading fairy tales, and also gathered around to listen.

- Well done, Dunno! - they said when the book ended. “It was a great idea of yours to read it out loud.”

Dunno was pleased that he was being praised, and at the same time it was very annoying that he remembered the magic wand at the wrong time.

“If I hadn’t remembered the stick and agreed to read the book just like that, I would have done it with good intentions, but now it turns out that I read for profit,” thought Dunno.

This happened every time: Dunno did good deeds only when he remembered the magic wand; when he forgot about her, he was only capable of doing bad things. Of course, to tell the truth, sometimes he still managed to do some very tiny good deed, without at all thinking that he was doing it for the sake of a magic wand. However, this happened so rarely that it is not worth mentioning.

Days, weeks and months passed... Dunno gradually became disillusioned with the magic wand. The further he went, the less often he thought about her, and in the end he decided that getting a magic wand was an unattainable dream for him, since he would never be able to selflessly perform three good deeds in a row.

“You know,” he once said to Button, “it seems to me that there is no magic wand in the world, and no matter how many actions you perform, you will only get a bang.”

Dunno even laughed with pleasure, because these words turned out to rhyme. The button also laughed, and then said:

– Why did the fairy tale say that you need to do three good deeds?

“This fairy tale must have been deliberately invented so that some stupid little people would learn to do good deeds,” said Dunno.

“This is a reasonable explanation,” said Button.

“Very reasonable,” Dunno agreed. - Well, I don’t regret that it all turned out this way. In any case, it was useful for me. While I was trying to do good deeds, I got used to washing my face with cold water every morning, and now I even like it.

Chapter Three
Neznaykin's dream is coming true

One day Dunno was sitting at home and looking out the window. The weather that day was bad. The sky was gloomy all the time, the sun did not come out even once in the morning, the rain poured incessantly. Of course, there was no point in even thinking about going for a walk, and this made Dunno feel despondent.

The weather has been known to affect Flower City residents differently.

Znayka, for example, said that he didn’t care whether it was snowing or raining, since the worst weather did not prevent him from sitting at home and doing his job. Dr. Pilyulkin claimed that he liked bad weather even more than good weather, because it strengthens the bodies of short people and this makes them sick less. The poet Tsvetik said that his greatest pleasure was to climb into the attic in the pouring rain, lie down there comfortably on dry leaves and listen to the raindrops knocking on the roof.

“The bad weather is raging around,” said Tsvetik. “It’s scary to even stick your nose out into the street, but in the attic it’s warm and cozy.” The dry leaves smell wonderful, the rain drums on the roof. This makes your soul feel so good, so pleasant, and you want to write poetry!”

But most of the shorties didn't like the rain. There was even one little girl, named Droplet, who cried every time as soon as it started to rain. When asked why she was crying, she answered:

"Don't know. I always cry when it rains."

Dunno, of course, was not as weak-hearted as this whiny Droplet, but in bad weather his mood deteriorated. So it was this time. He looked longingly at the slanting streams of rain, at the violets soaking in the courtyard under the window, at the dog Bulka, who usually sat on a chain in front of the house, but now climbed into his booth and was just looking out of it, sticking the tip of his nose into the hole.

“Poor Bulka! - thought Dunno. “He sits on a chain all day and can’t even run around to his heart’s content, and now because of the rain he has to sit in a cramped kennel. We’ll have to let him go for a walk when this nasty rain stops.”

But the rain still did not stop, and Dunno began to think that now it would never pass, but would rain forever, that the sun had disappeared forever and would never peek out from behind the clouds again.

“What will happen to us then? - thought Dunno. - After all, the water will make the earth wet. The slush will be such that you can’t walk or drive through it. All the streets will be filled with mud. Houses, flowers, and trees will drown in the mud, then short people will begin to drown. This is terrible!

While Dunno was imagining all these horrors and thinking about how difficult it would be to live in this slushy kingdom, the rain gradually stopped, the wind dispersed the clouds, and the sun finally came out. The sky has cleared. It immediately became light. Large, still wet drops of rain trembled, sparkled, and turned silver on the leaves of the grass and on the petals of the flowers. Everything around seemed to become younger, happy and smiling.

Dunno finally woke up from his dreams.

- Sun! - he shouted when he saw the sun shining brightly. - Sun! Sun!

And he ran into the yard.

The rest of the short guys ran after him. Everyone started jumping and singing and playing tag. Even Znayka, who said that he didn’t care whether there were clouds in the sky or the sun, also jumped for joy in the middle of the yard.

And Dunno instantly forgot about the rain and slush. It began to seem to him that now there would never be clouds in the sky again, and the sun would shine without ceasing. He even forgot about Bulka, but then he remembered and let him off the chain. Bulka also began to run around the yard. He barked with joy and grabbed everyone’s legs with his teeth, but it didn’t hurt, because he never bit his own, but only strangers. That was his character.

Having had a little fun, the short ones got back to work, and some went into the forest to pick mushrooms, because after the rain there are usually a lot of mushrooms.

Dunno did not go into the forest, but, sitting down on a bench near the gazebo, began to read a book. Meanwhile, Bulka, who could now run wherever he wanted, found a hole in the fence, climbed through it into the street and, seeing a passerby with a stick in his hands, decided to bite him. It is known that dogs really don’t like it when someone has a stick in their hands. Engrossed in reading, Dunno did not hear barking in the street. But soon the barking became much louder. Dunno looked up from the book and only then remembered that he had forgotten to put Bulka back on the chain. Having run out of the gate, he saw Bulka, who was barking furiously at a passerby and, trying to run behind him, tried to bite him on the leg. The passer-by was spinning in place and diligently swatting away Bulka with a stick.

- Get back, Bulka! Back! - he shouted, frightened. Dunno.

But seeing that Bulka was not listening, he ran up, grabbed him by the collar and pulled him aside.

- Oh, you little snake! They tell you, but you don’t listen!

Dunno swung his hand properly to hit Bulka on the forehead with his fist, but when he saw that the poor dog blinked his eyes and closed his eyes fearfully, he took pity on him and, instead of hitting him, dragged him into the yard. Having put Bulka on a chain, Dunno ran out of the gate again to find out if he had bitten a passerby.

The passerby, apparently, was very tired from fighting with Bulka and therefore sat down on a bench near the gate and rested. Only now Dunno took a good look at him. He wore a long robe of beautiful dark blue material, embroidered with gold stars and silver crescents. On her head was a black hat with the same decorations, and on her feet were red shoes with turned up toes. He didn’t look like the residents of Flower City, because he had a long white mustache and a long, almost knee-length, white beard that covered almost his entire face, like Santa Claus. In the Flower City, no one had such a beard, since all the inhabitants there are beardless.

– Did a dog bite you? – Dunno asked carefully, looking at this strange old man with curiosity.

“The dog is okay,” said the bearded man. - Wow, he's a pretty nimble little dog. Hm!

Putting the stick between his knees, he leaned on it with both hands and, squinting his eyes, looked at Dunno, who also sat down on the edge of the bench.

“This is Pulkin’s dog, his name is Bulka,” said Dunno. - Pulka goes hunting with him. And in his free time, Bulka sits on a chain so as not to bite someone. Didn't he bite you?

- No, my dear. Almost got bitten, but still didn’t bite.

“This is bad,” said Dunno. “That is, the bad thing is not that he didn’t bite, but that he probably scared you.” It's all my fault. I let him off the chain, and then forgot to put him back. Excuse me!

“Well, I’m sorry,” said the bearded man. - I see that you are a good kid.

- No, I just want to be good. That is, I wanted it before. I even did good deeds, but now I’ve given up.

Dunno waved his hand and began to look at the red shoes on his interlocutor’s feet. He noticed that the shoes were fastened with buckles that were made in the shape of a crescent moon and a star.

- Why did you quit now? - asked the old man.

- Because it's all nonsense.

– What nonsense are good deeds?

- No, wizards... Tell me, are these buckles on your shoes gilded or just gold?

- Simply golden... Why do you think that wizards are nonsense?

Dunno began to talk about how he dreamed of a magic wand, how Button told him that he needed to do good deeds, and how nothing worked out for him, because he was able to do good deeds only for the sake of a magic wand, and not selflessly.

- But you said that you let Bulka go for a walk - did you also do that for the sake of a magic wand? - asked the old man.

- What do you! - Dunno waved his hand. “I forgot about the magic wand then.” I just felt sorry that Bulka was on a leash all the time.

- So you did it for good reasons?

- Certainly.

- That’s one good deed!

- Marvelous! - Dunno exclaimed and even laughed with joy. “I didn’t even notice how good I was doing!”

“And then you did another good deed.”

- When is this?

“You protected me from the dog.” Is this a bad thing? Or maybe you did it for the sake of a magic wand?

- No! I didn't even remember the magic wand.

- Here you see! – the old man was happy. “Then you did the third good thing when you came to find out if the dog had bitten me and apologized.” This is good because you always need to be attentive to each other.

- Miracles in a sieve! - Dunno laughed. – Three good deeds – and that’s it! Such miracles have never happened to me in my life. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if I meet a wizard today!

– And don’t be surprised. You've already met him.

Dunno looked suspiciously at the old man:

“Perhaps you will also say that you are a wizard?”

- Yes, I am a wizard.

Dunno stared with all his might at the old man and tried to see if he was laughing, but his beard covered his face so tightly that it was impossible to detect a smile.

“You’re probably laughing,” Dunno said incredulously.

– I don’t laugh at all. You have done three good deeds and you can ask me for anything... Well, what do you like better: an invisible hat or running boots? Or maybe you want a magic carpet?

– Do you have a flying carpet?

- Of course! There is also a carpet. Everything is.

The old man shook out a rolled-up carpet from the wide sleeve of his robe and, quickly unrolling it, spread it on the ground in front of Dunno.

- But here are the walking boots, here is the invisibility hat...

With these words, he pulled out his hat and boots from his other sleeve and laid them side by side on the carpet. Following this, samogud harps, a self-assembled tablecloth and various other mysterious objects appeared in the same way.

Dunno gradually became convinced that this was a real wizard in front of him, and asked:

- Do you have a magic wand?

- Why not? There is also a magic wand. Here you are.

And the wizard took a small round reddish-brown stick from his pocket and handed it to Dunno.

Dunno took the wand.

- Is she real? - he asked, still not believing that his dream had come true.

“A real magic wand, you can be sure,” the wizard assured him. – If you don’t do bad things, all your wishes will come true, you just have to say what you want and wave your wand. But as soon as you commit three bad deeds, the magic wand will lose its magical power.

Dunno took his breath away with joy, his heart beat in his chest twice as fast as it should.

- Well, I’ll run and tell Button that we now have a magic wand! After all, it was she who taught me how to get it,” said Dunno.

“Run, run,” answered the wizard. - Let Button be happy too. I know that she has long dreamed of a magic wand.

The Wizard stroked Dunno’s head with his hand, and Dunno this time managed to see a wide, friendly smile on his kind face.

- Then goodbye! - said Dunno.

- Be healthy! – the wizard grinned in response.

Clutching his magic wand to his chest, Dunno started running and, trying to get to Knopochka’s house by the shortest route, turned into an alley. Then he remembered that he had forgotten to thank the wizard for the wonderful gift, and he ran headlong back. Running out of the alley, he saw that the street was completely empty. The wizard was not on the bench or in any other place nearby. He disappeared along with the magic carpet and other magical objects, as if he had fallen through the ground or disappeared into thin air.

Page 1 of 10

Chapter first. SHORTIES FROM FLOWER CITY

The short people called this stream the Cucumber River because many cucumbers grew along the banks of the stream.

The shorties were not all the same: some of them were called babies, and others were called babies. The kids always wore either long trousers untucked or short pants with waistbands, and the little ones loved to wear dresses made of colorful, bright material. The kids did not like to fuss with their hairstyles, and therefore their hair was short, and the little ones had long hair, almost to their waists. The little ones loved to do different beautiful hairstyles; they braided their hair in long braids, wove ribbons into the braids, and wore bows on their heads. Many kids were very proud of being kids, and were almost not friends with the kids at all. And the little ones were proud of the fact that they were little ones, and they also didn’t want to be friends with the little ones. If some little girl met a baby on the street, then, seeing him from afar, she immediately crossed to the other side of the street. And she did well, because among the kids there were often those who could not calmly walk past the little one, but would definitely say something offensive to her, even push her, or, even worse, pull her braid. Of course, not all kids were like that, but it wasn’t written on their foreheads, so the little ones thought it was better to cross to the other side of the street in advance and not get caught. For this, many kids called the little ones imaginaries - they’ll come up with such a word! - and many little girls called the kids bullies and other offensive nicknames.

In particular, Dunno became famous after one story.

“Who hit me?” thought Dunno. “Maybe something fell from above?”

He raised his head and looked up, but there was nothing above either. Only the sun shone brightly above Dunno’s head.

“So something fell on me from the sun,” Dunno decided. “Probably a piece came off from the sun and hit me on the head.”

He went home and met an acquaintance whose name was Steklyashkin.

This Steklyashkin was a famous astronomer. He knew how to make magnifying glasses from broken bottle shards. When he looked at different objects through magnifying glasses, the objects seemed larger. From several such magnifying glasses, Steklyashkin made a large telescope through which one could look at the Moon and the stars. Thus he became an astronomer.

Listen, Steklyashkin,” Dunno told him. “You understand the story: a piece came off from the sun and hit me on the head.”

What you. Dunno! - Steklyashkin laughed. - If a piece came off from the sun, it would crush you into a cake. The sun is very big. It is larger than our entire Earth.

“It can’t be,” answered Dunno. - In my opinion, the sun is no bigger than a plate.

It only seems so to us because the sun is very far from us. The sun is a huge hot ball. I saw this through my pipe. If even a small piece came off from the sun, it would destroy our entire city.

Look! - Dunno answered. - I didn’t even know that the sun was so big. I’ll go tell our people - maybe they haven’t heard about it yet. But you still look at the sun through your pipe: what if it’s actually chipped!

Dunno went home and told everyone he met along the way:

Brothers, do you know what the sun is like? It is larger than our entire Earth. That's what it is! And now, brothers, a piece has broken off from the sun and is flying straight towards us. Soon it will fall and crush us all. It's terrible what will happen! Go ask Steklyashkin.

Everyone laughed because they knew that Dunno was a talker. And Dunno ran home as fast as he could and let’s shout:

Brothers, save yourself! The piece is flying!

What piece? - they ask him.

Piece, brothers! A piece came off from the sun. Soon it will flop - and everyone will be finished. Do you know what the sun is like? It is larger than our entire Earth!

What are you making up?

I'm not making anything up. Steklyashkin said this. He saw through his pipe.

Everyone ran out into the yard and began to look at the sun. They looked and looked until tears flowed from their eyes. It began to seem to everyone, blindly, that the sun was actually pockmarked. And Dunno shouted:

Save yourself who can! Trouble!

Calm down, brothers! There's nothing wrong. Don't you know that Dunno is a talker? He made it all up.

Made it up? - Dunno shouted. - Go ask Steklyashkin.

Everyone ran to Steklyashkin, and then it turned out that Dunno had actually made up everything. Well, there was a lot of laughter here! Everyone laughed at Dunno and said:

We are surprised how we believed you! - It’s as if I’m not surprised! - Dunno answered. - I believed it myself.

That's how wonderful this Dunno was.

Chapter two. HOW UNZNAYKA WAS A MUSICIAN

Teach me to play. I also want to be a musician.

“Study,” Guslya agreed. -What do you want to play?

What is the easiest thing to learn?

On the balalaika.

Well, give me the balalaika, I’ll try it.

Guslya gave him a balalaika. Dunno strummed the strings. Then he says:

No, the balalaika plays too quietly. Give me something else, louder.

Guslya gave him a violin. Dunno began to stroke the strings with his bow and said:

- Isn’t there anything even louder?

There is still a pipe,” answered Guslya.

Let's bring it here, let's try it.

Guslya gave him a large copper trumpet. Dunno, how the trumpet will blow into it, how it will roar!

This is a good tool! - Dunno was happy. - Plays loudly!

Well, learn the trumpet if you like,” Guslya agreed.

Why should I study? “I can do that already,” Dunno answered.

No, you don’t know how yet.

I can, I can! Listen! - Dunno shouted and began to blow into the trumpet with all his might: - Boo-boo-boo! Goo-goo-goo!

“You just blow and don’t play,” Guslya answered.

How can I not play? - Dunno was offended. - I play very well! Loud!

Oh you! It's not about being loud here. It needs to be beautiful.

That’s how it turns out beautifully for me.

And it’s not at all beautiful,” said Guslya. - You, I see, are not at all capable of music.

You are not capable of it! - Dunno got angry. - You're just saying that out of envy. You want to be the only one listened to and praised.

“Nothing like that,” said Guslya. - Take the trumpet and play as much as you want if you think you don’t need to study. Let them praise you too.

Well, I'll play! - Dunno answered.

In the evening, when all the kids were gathered at home. Dunno again took up the pipe and began to blow into it as much as he could:

Boo-boo-boo! Doo-doo-doo!

What's that noise? - everyone shouted.

“This is not noise,” answered Dunno. - This is me playing.

Stop it now! - Znayka shouted. - Your music makes my ears hurt!

This is because you are not used to my music yet. Once you get used to it, your ears won’t hurt.

And I don’t want to get used to it. I really need it!

But Dunno did not listen to him and continued to play:

Boo Boo Boo! Hrrrr! Hrrrr! Viu! Viu!

Stop it! - all the kids attacked him. - Get out of here with your nasty pipe!

Where should I go?

Go to the field and play there.

So in the field there will be no one to listen.

Do you really need someone to listen?

Necessarily.

Well, go outside, the neighbors will hear you there.

Since then Dunno stopped playing the trumpet.

“They don’t understand my music,” he said. - They haven’t grown up to my music yet. When they grow up, they will ask, but it will be too late. I won't play anymore.

Chapter three. HOW NAZNAYKA WAS AN ARTIST

After no one wanted to listen to Neznaykin’s music, he decided to become an artist. He came to Tube and said:

Listen, Tube, I also want to be an artist. Give me some paints and a brush.

The tube was not greedy at all; he gave Dunno his old paints and a brush. At this time, his friend, Gunka, came to Dunno.

Dunno says:

Sit down, Gunka, now I’ll draw you.

Gunka was delighted, quickly sat down on a chair, and Dunno began to draw him. He wanted to portray Gunka more beautifully, so he drew him a red nose, green ears, blue lips and orange eyes. Gunka wanted to see his portrait as soon as possible. Because of impatience, he could not sit quietly in his chair and kept spinning around.

“Don’t turn around, don’t turn around,” Dunno told him, “otherwise it won’t work out as expected.”

Is it similar now? - asked Gunka.

“Very similar,” answered Dunno and painted a mustache on him with purple paint.

Come on, show me what you got! - Gunka asked when Dunno finished the portrait.

Dunno showed.

Am I really like that? - Gunka shouted in fright.

Of course he is. What else?

Why did you draw a mustache? I don't have a mustache.

Well, they will grow up someday.

Why is your nose red?

This is to make it more beautiful.

Why is your hair blue? Do I have blue hair?

Blue,” answered Dunno. - But if you don't like it, I can make green ones.

No, this is a bad portrait,” said Gunka. - Let me tear it up.

Why destroy a work of art? - Dunno answered.

Gunka wanted to take the portrait from him, and they began to fight. Znayka, Doctor Pilyulkin and the rest of the kids came running at the noise.

Why are you fighting? - they ask.

“Here,” Gunka shouted, “you judge us: tell me, who is drawn here?” Really, it's not me?

Of course, not you,” the kids answered. - There’s some kind of scarecrow drawn here.

Dunno says:

You didn't guess because there is no signature here. I’ll sign now and everything will be clear.

He took a pencil and signed under the portrait in block letters: “GUNKA.” Then he hung the portrait on the wall and said:

Let it hang. Everyone can watch, no one is prohibited.

All the same,” said Gunka, “when you go to bed, I will come and destroy this portrait.”

“And I won’t go to bed at night and will keep watch,” answered Dunno.

Gunka was offended and went home, but Dunno actually didn’t go to bed that night.

By morning, he hung these portraits on the walls and wrote inscriptions under them, so that it turned out to be a whole exhibition.

Well done, Dunno! - said Doctor Pilyulkin. - I have never laughed so much in my life!

Finally he stopped near his portrait and asked sternly:

And who is this? Is it really me? No, it's not me. This is a very bad portrait. You better take it off.

Why film? “Let him hang,” answered Dunno.

Doctor Pilyulkin was offended and said:

You, Dunno, are obviously sick. Something happened to your eyes. When have you ever seen me have a thermometer instead of a nose? I'll have to give you castor oil at night.

Dunno really didn’t like castor oil. He got scared and said:

No no! Now I see for myself that the portrait is bad.

He quickly took down Pilyulkin’s portrait from the wall and tore it up.

Following Pilyulkin, the hunter Pulka woke up. And he liked the portraits. He almost burst out laughing looking at them. And then he saw his portrait, and his mood immediately deteriorated.

“It’s a bad portrait,” he said. - Doesn't look like me. Take it off, otherwise I won’t take you hunting with me.

Dunno and the hunter Pulka had to be removed from the wall. This happened to everyone. Everyone liked the portraits of others, but did not like their own.

There was only one portrait of Gunkin left on the wall. Dunno took it off and went to his friend.

Would you like me to give you your portrait, Gunka? And for this you will make peace with me,” Dunno suggested.

Gunka took the portrait, tore it into pieces and said:

Okay, peace. Only if you draw one more time, I will never put up with it.

“And I will never draw again,” answered Dunno. - You draw and draw, but no one even says thank you, everyone just swears. I don't want to be an artist anymore.

Page 1 of 30

Chapter first. SHORTIES FROM FLOWER CITY

In one fairy-tale city there lived short people. They were called shorties because they were very small. Each short one was the size of a small cucumber. It was very beautiful in their city. Flowers grew around every house: daisies, daisies, dandelions. There, even the streets were named after flowers: Kolokolchikov Street, Daisies Alley, Vasilkov Boulevard. And the city itself was called the Flower City. He stood on the bank of a stream. The short people called this stream the Cucumber River because many cucumbers grew along the banks of the stream.
There was a forest across the river. The short ones made boats from birch bark, swam across the river and went into the forest to pick berries, mushrooms, and nuts. It was difficult to collect the berries, because the short ones were tiny, and to get the nuts you had to climb a tall bush and even carry a saw with you. Not a single short man could pick a nut with his hands - they had to be cut with a saw. Mushrooms were also cut with a saw. They cut the mushroom down to the very roots, then saw it into pieces and drag it home piece by piece.
The little ones were not all the same: some of them were called babies, while others were called babies. The kids always wore either long trousers untucked or short pants with waistbands, and the little ones loved to wear dresses made of colorful, bright material. The kids did not like to fuss with their hairstyles, and therefore their hair was short, and the little ones had long hair, almost to their waists. The little ones loved to do different beautiful hairstyles; they braided their hair in long braids, wove ribbons into the braids, and wore bows on their heads. Many kids were very proud of being kids, and were almost not friends with the kids at all. And the little ones were proud of the fact that they were little ones, and they also didn’t want to be friends with the little ones. If some little girl met a baby on the street, then, seeing him from afar, she immediately crossed to the other side of the street. And she did well, because among the kids there were often those who could not calmly walk past the little one, but would definitely say something offensive to her, even push her, or, even worse, pull her braid. Of course, not all kids were like that, but it wasn’t written on their foreheads, so the little ones thought it was better to cross to the other side of the street in advance and not get caught. For this, many kids called the little ones imaginaries - they’ll come up with such a word! - and many little girls called the kids bullies and other offensive nicknames.

This Dunno wore a bright blue hat, canary yellow trousers and an orange shirt with a green tie. He generally loved bright colors. Dressed up as such a parrot, Dunno wandered around the city all day long, composing various fables and telling everyone. In addition, he constantly offended the little ones. Therefore, the little ones, seeing his orange shirt from a distance, immediately turned in the opposite direction and hid in their homes. Dunno had a friend named Gunka, who lived on Daisy Street. Dunno could chat with Gunka for hours. They quarreled among themselves twenty times a day and made peace twenty times a day.
In particular, Dunno became famous after one story.
One day he was walking around the city and wandered into a field. There wasn't a soul around. At this time the cockchafer was flying. He blindly ran into Dunno and hit him on the back of the head. Dunno rolled head over heels to the ground. The beetle immediately flew away and disappeared into the distance. Dunno jumped up, began to look around and see who hit him. But there was no one around.
“Who hit me? - thought Dunno. “Maybe something fell from above?”
He raised his head and looked up, but there was nothing above either. Only the sun shone brightly above Dunno’s head.
“So something fell on me from the sun,” Dunno decided. “A piece of the sun probably came off and hit me on the head.”
He went home and met an acquaintance whose name was Steklyashkin.
This Steklyashkin was a famous astronomer. He knew how to make magnifying glasses from broken bottle shards. When he looked at different objects through magnifying glasses, the objects seemed larger. From several such magnifying glasses, Steklyashkin made a large telescope through which one could look at the Moon and the stars. Thus he became an astronomer.
“Listen, Steklyashkin,” Dunno told him. “You understand the story: a piece came off from the sun and hit me on the head.”
- What you. Dunno! – Steklyashkin laughed. “If a piece came off from the sun, it would crush you into a cake.” The sun is very big. It is larger than our entire Earth.
“It can’t be,” answered Dunno. - In my opinion, the sun is no bigger than a plate.
– It only seems so to us, because the sun is very far from us. The sun is a huge hot ball. I saw this through my pipe. If even a small piece came off from the sun, it would destroy our entire city.
- Look! - Dunno answered. “I didn’t even know the sun was so big.” I’ll go tell our people - maybe they haven’t heard about it yet. But you still look at the sun through your pipe: what if it’s actually chipped!
Dunno went home and told everyone he met along the way:
- Brothers, do you know what the sun is like? It is larger than our entire Earth. That's what it is! And now, brothers, a piece has broken off from the sun and is flying straight towards us. Soon it will fall and crush us all. It's terrible what will happen! Go ask Steklyashkin.
Everyone laughed because they knew that Dunno was a talker. And Dunno ran home as fast as he could and let’s shout:
- Brothers, save yourself! The piece is flying!
- What piece? - they ask him.
- A piece, brothers! A piece came off from the sun. Soon it will flop - and everyone will be finished. Do you know what the sun is like? It is larger than our entire Earth!
-What are you making up?
– I’m not making anything up. Steklyashkin said this. He saw through his pipe.
Everyone ran out into the yard and began to look at the sun. They looked and looked until tears flowed from their eyes. It began to seem to everyone, blindly, that the sun was actually pockmarked. And Dunno shouted:
- Save yourself who can! Trouble!

Everyone began to grab their things. Tube grabbed his paints and brush, Guslya grabbed his musical instruments. Doctor Pilyulkin rushed around the house and looked for a first aid kit, which was lost somewhere. Donut grabbed galoshes and an umbrella and was already running out the gate, but then Znayka’s voice was heard:
- Calm down, brothers! There's nothing wrong. Don't you know that Dunno is a talker? He made it all up.
- Did you make it up? - Dunno shouted. - Go ask Steklyashkin.
Everyone ran to Steklyashkin, and then it turned out that Dunno had actually made up everything. Well, there was a lot of laughter here! Everyone laughed at Dunno and said:
– We are surprised how we believed you! - It’s as if I’m not surprised! - Dunno answered. - I believed it myself.
That's how wonderful this Dunno was.

Chapter first. SHORTIES FROM FLOWER CITY

PART I

Chapter first Dunno is dreaming

Chapter two HOW Dunno DID DO GOOD DEEDS

Chapter Three Neznaykin's dream is coming true

Chapter first. SHORTIES FROM FLOWER CITY

Editor's Choice

Chapter first
Dunno is dreaming

Chapter two
HOW Dunno DID DO GOOD DEEDS

Chapter Three
Neznaykin's dream is coming true