In one city there once lived a doctor. His name was Gaspar Arneri. He was a scientist, and there was no one in the country wiser than him. The country where Gaspar Arneri lived was ruled by Three Fat Men, gluttonous and cruel. One day in the summer, in June, on a clear, sunny day, the doctor goes for a walk. In the square, he unexpectedly finds pandemonium, hears shots and, climbing the tower, sees artisans running from the Palace of the Three Fat Men, pursued by the guards. It turns out that the people, led by the gunsmith Prospero and the gymnast Tibulus, rebelled against the power of the Three Fat Men, but the uprising was defeated, and the gunsmith Prospero was captured. The bomb hits the tower from which Gaspar Arneri is watching what is happening, it collapses and the doctor loses consciousness. He woke up when evening came. The corpses of the dead are lying around. Returning home through Zvezda Square, the doctor sees how another leader of the uprising, gymnast Tibul, who remained free, fleeing from the guards pursuing him, deftly walks along a narrow wire directly above the square, and then escapes through a hatch in the dome. At home, the tired doctor is about to go to bed when suddenly a man in a green cloak crawls out of the fireplace. This is the gymnast Tibul. The next day, ten scaffolds are prepared in Court Square for the captured rebels. Then an extraordinary incident happens: the seller is carried away by the wind. balloons along with the balls and it falls straight into open window palace confectionery and falls straight into a huge cake. To avoid punishment, the confectioners decide to leave the seller in the cake, smearing it with cream and covering it with candied fruits, and serve it in the hall where the ceremonial breakfast is being held. Thus, the balloon seller, trembling with fear that he will be eaten, witnesses what is happening in the hall. Cake tasting is temporarily postponed. The Three Fat Men want to see the captive gunsmith Prospero, and then, when, having enjoyed this spectacle, they are about to continue the feast, a twelve-year-old boy, Tutti’s heir, bursts into the hall screaming and crying. The Fat Men have no children and are planning to hand over all their wealth and control of the country to Tutti, who is raised in the Palace as a little prince. Fat men pamper him in every possible way and indulge his whims. In addition, they want the boy to have a heart of iron, they do not allow him to play with other children, and his classes take place in a menagerie. Instead of a friend, an amazing doll was created for him, which is endowed with the ability to grow and develop along with Tutti. The heir is extremely attached to her. And now the beloved doll is broken: the rebel guards, who went over to the side of Prospero and the rebel people, stabbed it with bayonets. The fat people don't want Tutti's heir to be upset. The doll urgently needs to be repaired, but no one is able to do this except the most learned doctor Gaspar Arneri. Therefore, it was decided to send him the doll, so that by the next morning, repaired, Tutti would have it again. Otherwise, the doctor will face serious trouble. Since the Fatties' mood is ruined, the cake with the balloon seller is taken back to the kitchen. Cooks in exchange for Balloons help the seller get out of the Palace, show him a secret passage that starts from a giant saucepan. Meanwhile, at the Fourteenth Market, the Three Fat Men organize festivities for the people: performances, entertainment, performances, during which the artists must campaign for the Three Fat Men and divert the people's attention from the scaffolds that are being erected for execution. At one such performance there are Dr. Arneri and the gymnast Tibul, who was turned by the doctor into a black man for conspiracy. During the performance of the strongman Lapitup, Tibul cannot stand it and drives him off the stage, revealing to the people that he is not a black man at all, but the real Tibul. A fight breaks out between him and the bribed circus performers. Tibulus defends himself with cabbage heads, picking them straight from the garden and throwing them at the enemy. Grabbing another head of cabbage, he suddenly discovers that it is a human head, and none other than the balloon seller. This is how Tibul learns about the existence of a secret underground passage to the Palace of Fat Men. While Tibulus fights, Dr. Gaspar Arneri is found by the Fat Men's messengers and gives him the order and the broken doll. Doctor Gaspar Arneri is trying to fix the doll, but by morning he clearly cannot keep up. It takes at least two more days, and the doctor, along with the doll, goes to the Fat Men. On the way, he is stopped by the guards guarding the Palace and is not allowed to go further. They do not believe that he is really Gaspar Arneri, and when the doctor wants to show them the doll, he discovers that it is not there: having dozed off, he dropped it on the way. The upset doctor is forced to turn back. Hungry, he stops by Uncle Brizak's booth. Imagine his surprise when he discovers here a doll of the heir Tutti, which turns out to be not a doll at all, but a living girl named Suok, who looks like two peas in a pod to the doll. And then Tibulus, who soon appeared here, comes up with a plan to free Prospero. In the morning, Doctor Arneri comes to the Palace. The doll was not only corrected by him, but looked even more like a living girl than before. Suok is a good artist and looks great as a doll. The heir is delighted. And then the doctor asks as a reward to cancel the execution of ten rebels. The indignant Fatties have no choice but to agree, otherwise the doll may be damaged again. At night, when everyone is sleeping, Suok enters the menagerie. She is looking for Prospero, but in one of the cells she discovers a monster overgrown with fur, with long yellow claws, who hands her some kind of tablet and dies. This is the great scientist Tub, the creator of the doll for Tutti: he was imprisoned in the menagerie because he did not agree to make an iron heart for the heir. Here he spent eight years and almost lost his human appearance. Suok then finds Prospero's cage and frees him. With the help of a terrible panther released from a cage, Prospero and Suok break through to the very pan from where the underground passage begins, but Suok does not follow Prospero in time and is captured by the guards. Suok's trial will take place the next day. So that the heir Tutti does not accidentally interfere and upset their plans, by order of the Fat Men he is temporarily put to sleep. Suok does not answer questions and does not react at all to what is happening. The angry Fat Men decide to give her to the tigers. Tigers released from the cage, seeing the prey, first rush towards it, but then unexpectedly turn away indifferently. It turns out that this is not Suok at all, but the same damaged doll that the rebel guards took away from the dance teacher Razdvatris who found it. The real Suok was hidden in a closet, replaced with a doll. Meanwhile, shots are already heard and shells are exploding; the rebel people, led by the gunsmith Prospero and the gymnast Tibulus, storm the Palace. The power of the Fat Men is coming to an end. And on that tablet, which the dying creator of the doll handed to the brave Suok, he revealed to her an important secret: she is Tutti’s sister, who was kidnapped with him at the age of four on the orders of the Fat Men and then separated from her brother. Tutti was left in the Palace, and the girl was given to a traveling circus in exchange for a rare breed of parrot with a long red beard.
Yuri Karlovich Olesha (1899-1960) is a writer who is considered one of the best stylists in Russian literature of the 20th century.
His virtuoso language is difficult to appreciate by reading an incomplete text of the work, but only his summary. "Three Fat Men" is a fairy tale novel published in 1928. It embodies the spirit of romantic revolutionary struggle against injustice and oppression, and is full of fascinating events and amazing characters.
Part one. Rope walker Tibulus. A hectic day for Dr. Gaspar Arneri. Ten chopping blocks
Summary: “Three Fat Men,” chapters 1-2. Everyone in the city knew about the scholarship of Gaspar Arneri, a doctor of all sciences, from street boys to noble persons. One day he was going for a long walk outside the city, to the palace of the evil and greedy rulers - the Three Fat Men. But no one was allowed out of the city. It turned out that on this day the gunsmith Prospero and the circus gymnast Tibul led the assault on the government palace.
By evening it turned out that the rebel people were defeated, the gunsmith Prospero was captured by the guards and, by order of the Three Fat Men, he was put in a cage in the menagerie of the heir Tutti, and the gymnast Tibulus remained free to find him, the guards burned the workers' quarters.
Star area
Summary: “Three Fat Men,” chapter 3. The rich people rejoiced at Prospero’s captivity, and the working people rejoiced that Tibulus was free and laughed at the performance in the menagerie, where the rulers were portrayed by three fat monkeys. Returning home, Doctor Gaspar came to Star Square. It was called that because above it hung on cables the largest lantern in the world, similar to the planet Saturn. Tibulus appeared above the crowd filling the square. He walked along a cable that held a huge lantern. The guards were also divided into those who supported the people, and those who shouted: “Long live the three fat men!” Having reached the lantern along the wire, Tibul turned off the light and disappeared in the ensuing darkness.
Having reached home, where his housekeeper, Aunt Ganymede, was worried about him, the doctor, like a true historian, set out to record the events of the day. Then a noise was heard behind him, the doctor looked around and saw that Tibul had climbed out of the fireplace.
Part two. Doll of the heir Tutti. The Amazing Adventure of a Balloon Seller
Summary of “Three Fat Men,” chapter 4. At Court Square, the execution of the captured rebels was being prepared. A strong wind lifted a huge bunch of balloons into the air along with a stupid and greedy seller. He flew towards the Palace of Three Fat Men and through the open window of the royal kitchen fell into the middle of a huge birthday cake. To avoid the wrath of the gluttonous rulers, the confectioners covered the seller with cream and candied fruits and served him to the table.
Celebrating the victory over the rebel people, the fat men order Prospero to be brought. The gunsmith says with contempt that the power of the rich will soon come to an end, which frightens the guests of the fat rulers. “We will execute you along with Tibulus when we capture him!” Prospero is taken away, everyone is about to start eating the cake, but they are interrupted by the loud screams of the heir Tutti.
A twelve-year-old boy, the future heir of the Three Fat Men, a spoiled prince, was angry: part of the guards who had gone over to the side of the people chopped up the heir’s favorite doll with sabers. As tall as he was, this doll was Tutti’s only friend, and he demanded that it be repaired.
The festive breakfast was urgently stopped and the execution was postponed, the State Council sent the captain of the palace guard Bonaventure with the broken doll to Doctor Arneri, with the order to repair the doll by the morning.
The balloon seller really wanted to disappear from the palace. The cooks showed him a secret passage that began in one of the giant pots, and for this they asked for a ball. The seller disappeared into the pan, and the balls flew into the sky.
Negro and cabbage head
Y.K. Olesha, “Three Fat Men,” summary, chapter 5. In the morning, going to the doctor, Aunt Ganymede was very surprised when she saw a black man in his office.
The government bribed the artists and a circus performance glorifying the Fat Men was held in one of the squares. The doctor and the black man also went there. The spectators drive away the clown who called for the execution of the rebels, and the black man is mistaken for the same sold-out circus performer. It turned out that it was Tibul. Fleeing from those who wanted to catch him and hand him over to the authorities by throwing cabbage heads at them, the gymnast stumbles upon a balloon seller and discovers a secret passage to the palace kitchen.
Contingency
Y. K. Olesha, “Three Fat Men,” summary, chapter 6. Doctor Gaspar turned Tibul into a black man with the help of special liquids and was terribly upset when he carelessly revealed himself at the performance and then disappeared.
The captain of the guards came to the scientist with a broken doll and an order to fix it by morning. The doctor is amazed at the skill with which the doll is made and realizes that he has seen her face somewhere. Having disassembled the mechanism, he realizes that he will not have time to fix the doll by the morning and goes to the palace to explain this to the fat men.
Night of the Strange Doll
“Three Fat Men”, summary, chapter 7. On the way, the doctor falls asleep in the stroller, and when he wakes up, he discovers that the doll has disappeared, it even seemed to him that it came to life and left him. He searched for the doll for a long time until he ended up in the booth of Uncle Brizak’s troupe of traveling artists. Here he remembered where he had seen the face of the heir’s doll - a little artist from Uncle Brizak’s troupe, a dancer named Suok, looked like her.
Part three. Suok. Difficult role of a little actress
“Three Fat Men,” summary, chapter 8. When the doctor saw Suok, for a long time he could not believe that she was not a doll. Only Tibul, who appeared in the booth, was able to convince him of this. When the doctor spoke about the extraordinary similarity between the girl and the doll and about his loss, the gymnast outlined his plan: Suok will play the role of the heir's doll, open the cage of the armorer Prospero, and they will leave the palace through the secret passage that Tibulus discovered.
On the way to the palace, they saw the dance teacher Razdvatris, carrying in his hands the found broken doll of the heir.
Doll with a good appetite
Y. Olesha, “Three Fat Men,” summary, chapter 9. Suok played her role well. The doctor announced that he not only dressed the toy in a new dress, but also taught her to sing, write songs and dance. Heir Tutti was completely delighted. The fat rulers were also pleased, but they became terribly angry when the doctor, as a reward, demanded that the execution of the rebel workers be cancelled. Then the doctor said that the doll would break again if his demand was not fulfilled and the heir would be very dissatisfied. The pardon was announced, the doctor went home, Suok remained in the palace.
She really liked the cakes and the doll had an appetite, which made Tutti very happy - he was so bored having breakfast alone. And Suok also heard the iron heart of the heir Tutti beating.
Menagerie
Summary of the story “Three Fat Men,” chapter 10. The fat men wanted to raise Tutti to be cruel, so they deprived him of the company of living children and gave him a menagerie so that he would see only evil wild animals. Suok told him that in the world there is wealth and poverty, cruelty and injustice, that working people will definitely overthrow the power of the fat and rich. She told him a lot about the circus, that she could whistle music. Tutti liked the way she whistled a song on the key that hung on his chest so much that he did not notice how the key remained with Suok.
At night, the girl snuck into the menagerie and began looking for Prospero’s cage. Suddenly a terrible creature similar to a gorilla called her by name. The terrible beast died, having managed to hand Suok a small tablet: “Everything is written there.”
Part four. Armourer Prospero. The death of a candy store. Dance teacher Razdvatris
Yuri Olesha, “Three Fat Men”, summary, chapters 11-12. The fat men received terrible news that the rebels were coming to the palace. All supporters of the government rushed out of the palace, but at the menagerie they stopped in fear: Prospero was moving towards them, holding a huge panther by the collar in one hand, and Suok in the other.
He released the panther, and he, together with Suok, began to make his way into the pastry shop - to look for the saucepan where the secret passage from the palace began. The guards, loyal to the fat men, grabbed the young dancer when she was ready to jump into the underground passage after Prospero. The gunsmith was released, Suok was to be executed.
The dance teacher Razdvatris was supposed to be taken to the Palace by order of the Three Fat Men, but he was stopped by the guards who went over to the side of the people. They also got a broken doll of the heir Tutti.
Victory
Yuri Olesha, “Three Fat Men,” summary, chapter 13. While Prospero was fleeing through the underground passage, three people entered Tutti’s bedroom on the orders of the chancellor. They poured sleeping pills into Tutti’s ear, putting him to sleep for three days so that he would not interfere with the reprisal against Suok with his tears.
She sat in the guardhouse, guarded by guards still loyal to the fat men. At that moment, when the terrible chancellor came for her to take her to the trial of the Three Fat Men, three guardsmen who went over to the side of the rebels walked into the guardroom. The chancellor received a terrible blow and fell unconscious, and instead of Suok, a broken doll was brought to trial.
The judges could not get a word out of the doll. The parrot, who was called as a witness, repeated Suok's conversation with Prospero and the creature who died in the cage, whose name was Tub.
Suok was sentenced to death by wild animals. But when she was placed in front of the tigers, they did not react in any way to the torn, dirty doll. A scandal broke out, but then the storming of the palace by the rebel people began.
The victory of the rebels was complete, and the three fat men were put in the cage where Prospero was sitting.
Epilogue
The story of the great scientist Toub was written on the tablet. By order of the Fat Men, brother and sister - Tutti and Suok - were separated. Tutti became the heir, and Suok was given to traveling artists. Toub, by order of the Three Fat Men, made a doll that was to remain with the heir. When he was ordered to replace Tutti's living heart with an iron one, he refused, for which he was thrown into a cage. Tutti means “separated” in the language of the disadvantaged, and Suok means “whole life.”
The Three Fat Men is a revolutionary fairy tale novel written in 1924.
This fairy tale, which was in the spirit of the times, tells the story of the struggle of the poor against the dominance of fat monopolists in a fictional state.
The novel is imbued with a certain romanticism and cheerfulness, for which some critics admired it, others blamed this romanticism on the author.
Plot
In a non-existent state, the population is divided into fat people - the rich and poor - the rest of the people. However, this division is quite arbitrary: for example, Dr. Gaspar Arneri is a very wealthy man, but he sympathizes with the rebel people and helps the revolutionaries; The guards who fight with their fellow tribesmen who remained loyal to the fat men also go over to the side of the people.
Every now and then, riots break out in the country and the preconditions for a real revolution are taking shape. This movement has its own leaders: Tibul - tightrope walker, aerialist; Prospero is a talented gunsmith. Gaspar Arneri, a brilliant scientist of the widest profile, one of the smartest and most educated citizens of the country, is also close to the rebels.
As a result of the rebellion, Prospero is arrested and caged in the menagerie, but Tibulus remains free. He hides with Gaspar Arneri, who uses black ointment to disguise him as a black man. Tibulus learns that from the palace Three Fat Men there is a secret passage that the balloon seller told him about; he accidentally flew into the palace kitchen on his balloons and had difficulty convincing the cooks not to hand him over to the Fat Men.
At this time, the guards mutiny and, in the heat of the moment, pierce with a saber a wonderful doll belonging to the boy Tutti, the heir of the Three Fat Men. The Fat Men entrust Gaspar with repairing the doll, and this needs to be done in just one day. Naturally, it is not possible to repair it in such a period of time, and Gaspard goes to the palace to confess. However, on the way he loses the doll, and when he starts searching, he stumbles upon a van of traveling artists. There he sees a familiar girl, Suok, who looks suspiciously like a doll.
Suok agrees to pretend to be a doll and rescue Prospero from his cage. In addition, he and Gaspard played a comedy that saved the rebel guards from mass execution. Tutty is an extremely spoiled teenager to whom the Three Fat Men are planning to transfer all their wealth and power. The boy is very kind, and the Fat Men want to prevent this.
They order the scientist Tuba to create an iron heart, which had to be placed in Tutti’s chest instead of an ordinary human one; this would make the boy ruthless and evil. Tub refused to do this, for which he was put in a cage in the huge menagerie of Fat Men. The girl manages to take the key to the menagerie, which was hanging on Tutti’s chest, and get inside.
She saves Prospero, but suddenly notices a strange creature overgrown with fur. It was the scientist Tub, who also sat in a cage for so long that he grew hair and looked like a wolf. Tub tells Suok that she and Tutti are forcibly separated brother and sister; instead of the girl expelled from the palace, Tub created a doll - completely in her image and likeness.
Prospero takes a huge panther from the cage and with its help everyone tries to escape from the palace through a secret passage. The gunsmith was able to escape, but Suok was not. The fat men decide to execute her by throwing her into a cage with three tigers. At this time, Tutti's servants are put to sleep so that he does not interfere with the execution. However, the girl is saved by the guards, who found the broken doll and threw it into the cage instead of Suok. Tigers don't touch the toy. The fat people are surprised, but a revolution is happening. The people overthrow the Fatties, and Tutti and Suok end up together and have been giving wonderful performances ever since.
Criticism
Osip Mandelstam spoke enthusiastically about the novel and complained that it is almost not discussed in Russian literary circles. In his opinion, if “Three Fat Men” had been written by some foreign author, the attitude towards him would have been completely different. But Lydia Chukovskaya, the daughter of K.I. Chukovsky, criticized the fairy tale for its lack of feelings and abundance of “things.” She noted that Olesha in his fairy tale is too keen on comparing some things with others, he sees “roses” everywhere, and even in descriptions of the suffering of the people and mass execution he tries to make sublime comparisons.
Yuri Olesha
Three fat men
PART ONE
RIPE WALKER TIBUL
THE RESTLESS DAY OF DOCTOR GASPAR ARNERI
The time of wizards has passed. In all likelihood, they never actually existed. These are all fictions and fairy tales for very young children. It’s just that some magicians knew how to deceive all sorts of onlookers so cleverly that these magicians were mistaken for sorcerers and wizards.
There was such a doctor. His name was Gaspar Arneri. A naive person, a fairground reveler, a dropout student could also mistake him for a wizard. In fact, this doctor did such amazing things that they really looked like miracles. Of course, he had nothing in common with wizards and charlatans who fooled too gullible people.
Dr. Gaspar Arneri was a scientist. Perhaps he studied about a hundred sciences. In any case, there was no one in the land of the wiser and learned Gaspar Arneri.
Everyone knew about his learning: the miller, the soldier, the ladies, and the ministers. And the schoolchildren sang a song about him with the following refrain:
Our doctor Gaspard knows how to fly from earth to the stars, How to catch a fox by the tail, How to make steam from a stone.
One summer, in June, when the weather was very good, Dr. Gaspard Arneri decided to go on a long walk to collect some types of herbs and beetles.
Doctor Gaspar was an elderly man and therefore was afraid of rain and wind. When leaving the house, he wrapped a thick scarf around his neck, put on glasses against dust, took a cane so as not to stumble, and generally prepared for a walk with great precautions.
This time the day was wonderful; the sun did nothing but shine; the grass was so green that a feeling of sweetness even appeared in the mouth; Dandelions flew, birds whistled, a light breeze fluttered like an airy ball gown.
“That’s good,” said the doctor, “but you still need to take a raincoat, because the summer weather is deceptive.” It can start raining.
The doctor did the housework, blew on his glasses, grabbed his box, like a suitcase, made of green leather and went.
The most interesting places were outside the city - where the Palace of the Three Fat Men was located. The doctor visited these places most often. The Palace of the Three Fat Men stood in the middle of a huge park. The park was surrounded by deep canals. Black iron bridges hung over the canals. The bridges were guarded by palace guards - guardsmen in black oilskin hats with yellow feathers. Around the park, up to the very sky, there were meadows covered with flowers, groves and ponds. This was a great place to walk. The most interesting species of grass grew here, the most beautiful beetles buzzed and the most skillful birds sang.
“But it’s a long walk. I will walk to the city ramparts and find a cab driver. He will take me to the palace park,” thought the doctor.
There were more people near the city rampart than ever before.
“Is today Sunday? - the doctor doubted. - Don't think. Today is Tuesday".
The doctor came closer.
The entire square was filled with people. The doctor saw artisans in gray cloth jackets with green cuffs; sailors with faces the color of clay; wealthy townspeople in colored vests, with their wives, whose skirts looked like rose bushes; vendors with decanters, trays, ice cream makers and roasters; skinny square actors, green, yellow and colorful, as if sewn from patchwork quilt; very young children pulling the tails of cheerful red dogs.
Everyone crowded in front of the city gates. The huge iron gates, as tall as a house, were tightly closed.
“Why are the gates closed?” - the doctor was surprised.
The crowd was noisy, everyone was talking loudly, shouting, cursing, but nothing could really be heard. The doctor approached a young woman holding a fat gray cat, and asked:
– Please, explain what is happening here? Why are there so many people, what is the reason for their excitement and why are the city gates closed?
– The guards are not letting people out of the city...
- Why aren’t they released?
- So that they do not help those who have already left the city and went to the Palace of the Three Fat Men.
– I don’t understand anything, citizen, and I ask you to forgive me...
- Oh, don’t you really know that today the armorer Prospero and the gymnast Tibulus led the people to storm the Palace of the Three Fat Men?
- Armourer Prospero?
- Yes, citizen... The shaft is high, and on the other side there are guards riflemen. No one will leave the city, and those who went with the armorer Prospero will be killed by the palace guards.
And indeed, several very distant shots rang out.
The woman dropped the fat cat. The cat plopped down like raw dough. The crowd roared.
“So I missed such a significant event,” the doctor thought. - Am I really whole month didn't leave the room. I worked behind bars. I didn't know anything..."
At this time, even further away, a cannon struck several times. The thunder bounced like a ball and rolled in the wind. Not only the doctor was frightened and hastily retreated a few steps - the whole crowd shied away and fell apart. The children began to cry; the pigeons scattered, their wings crackling; the dogs sat down and began to howl.
Heavy cannon fire began. The noise was unimaginable. The crowd pressed on the gate and shouted:
- Prospero! Prospero!
- Down with the Three Fat Men!
Doctor Gaspard was completely at a loss. He was recognized in the crowd because many knew his face. Some rushed to him, as if seeking his protection. But the doctor himself almost cried.
“What's going on there? How can one find out what is going on there, outside the gates? Maybe the people are winning, or maybe everyone has already been shot!”
Current page: 1 (book has 8 pages in total) [available reading passage: 2 pages]
Yuri Olesha
Three fat men
Part one
Rope walker Tibulus
Chapter I
The hectic day of Dr. Gaspar Arneri
The time of wizards has passed. In all likelihood, they never actually existed. All these are fictions and fairy tales for very young children. It’s just that some magicians knew how to deceive all sorts of onlookers so cleverly that these magicians were mistaken for sorcerers and wizards.
There was such a doctor. His name was Gaspar Arneri. A naive person, a fairground reveler, a dropout student could also mistake him for a wizard. In fact, this doctor did such amazing things that they really looked like miracles. Of course, he had nothing in common with wizards and charlatans who fooled too gullible people.
Dr. Gaspar Arneri was a scientist. Perhaps he studied about a hundred sciences. In any case, there was no one in the land of the wiser and more learned Gaspar Arneri.
Everyone knew about his learning: the miller, the soldier, the ladies, and the ministers. And the schoolchildren sang a whole song about him with the following refrain:
How to fly from earth to the stars,
How to catch a fox by the tail
How to make steam from stone -
Our doctor Gaspard knows.
One summer, in June, when the weather was very good, Dr. Gaspard Arneri decided to go on a long walk to collect some species of herbs and beetles.
Doctor Gaspar was an elderly man and therefore was afraid of rain and wind. When leaving the house, he wrapped a thick scarf around his neck, put on glasses against dust, took a cane so as not to stumble, and generally prepared for a walk with great precautions.
This time the day was wonderful: the sun did nothing but shine; the grass was so green that there was even a feeling of sweetness in the mouth; dandelions flew, birds whistled; a light wind fluttered like an airy ball gown.
“That’s good,” said the doctor, “but you still need to take a raincoat, because the summer weather is deceptive.” It can start raining.
The doctor did the housework, blew on his glasses, grabbed his box, like a suitcase, made of green leather and went.
The most interesting places were outside the city - where the Palace of the Three Fat Men was located. The doctor visited these places most often. The Palace of the Three Fat Men stood in the middle of a huge park. The park was surrounded by deep canals. Black iron bridges hung over the canals. The bridges were guarded by palace guards - guardsmen in black oilskin hats with yellow feathers. Around the park, meadows covered with flowers, groves and ponds swirled up to the very sky. This was a great place to walk. The most interesting species of grass grew here, the most beautiful beetles buzzed and the most skillful birds sang.
“But it’s a long walk. I will walk to the city ramparts and hire a cab. He will take me to the palace park,” thought the doctor.
There were more people near the city rampart than always.
“Is today Sunday? – the doctor doubted. - Don't think. Today is Tuesday".
The doctor came closer.
The entire square was filled with people. The doctor saw artisans in gray cloth jackets with green cuffs; sailors with faces the color of clay; wealthy townspeople in colored vests, with their wives whose skirts looked like rose bushes; vendors with decanters, trays, ice cream makers and roasters; skinny square actors, green, yellow and motley, as if sewn from a patchwork quilt; very young children pulling the tails of cheerful red dogs.
Everyone crowded in front of the city gates. The huge iron gates, as tall as a house, were tightly closed.
“Why are the gates closed?” – the doctor was surprised.
The crowd was noisy, everyone was talking loudly, shouting, cursing, but nothing could really be heard.
The doctor approached a young woman holding a fat gray cat in her hand and asked:
– Please, explain: what is happening here? Why are there so many people, what is the reason for their excitement and why are the city gates closed?
– The guards are not letting people out of the city...
- Why aren’t they released?
– So that they don’t help those who have already left the city and went to the Palace of the Three Fat Men...
– I don’t understand anything, citizen, and I ask you to forgive me...
“Oh, don’t you know that today the armorer Prospero and the gymnast Tibulus led the people to storm the Palace of the Three Fat Men?”
- The gunsmith Prospero?..
- Yes, citizen... The shaft is high, and on the other side there are guards riflemen. No one will leave the city, and those who went with the armorer Prospero will be killed by the palace guards.
And indeed, several very distant shots rang out.
The woman dropped the fat cat. The cat flopped like raw dough. The crowd roared.
“So I missed such a significant event,” the doctor thought. – True, I didn’t leave my room for a whole month. I worked behind bars. I didn't know anything..."
At this time, even further away, a cannon struck several times. The thunder bounced like a ball and rolled in the wind. Not only the doctor was frightened and hastily retreated a few steps - the whole crowd shied away and fell apart. The children began to cry; the pigeons scattered, their wings crackling; the dogs sat down and began to howl.
Heavy cannon fire began. The noise was unimaginable. The crowd pressed on the gate and shouted:
- Prospero! Prospero!
- Down with the Three Fat Men!
Doctor Gaspard was completely at a loss. He was recognized in the crowd because many knew his face. Some rushed to him, as if seeking his protection. But the doctor himself almost cried.
-What's going on there? How can one find out what is going on there, outside the gates? Maybe the people are winning; or maybe everyone has already been shot.
Then about ten people ran in the direction where three narrow streets began from the square. On the corner there was a house with a tall old tower. Together with the others, the doctor decided to climb the tower. Downstairs there was a laundry room, similar to a bathhouse. It was dark there, like a basement. Lead up spiral staircase. Light penetrated the narrow windows, but there was very little of it, and everyone climbed slowly, with great difficulty, especially since the stairs were torn and had broken railings. It is not difficult to imagine how much work and anxiety it took for Dr. Gaspard to climb to the very top. top floor. In any case, on the twentieth step, in the darkness, his cry was heard:
“Oh, my heart is bursting, and I’ve lost my heel!”
The doctor lost his cloak on the square, after the tenth cannon shot.
At the top of the tower there was a platform surrounded by stone railings. From here there was a view of at least fifty kilometers around. There was no time to admire the view, although the view deserved it. Everyone looked in the direction where the battle was taking place.
– I have binoculars. I always carry eight-lens binoculars with me. “Here it is,” said the doctor and unfastened the strap.
The binoculars passed from hand to hand.
Doctor Gaspard saw many people in the green space. They ran towards the city. They were running away. From a distance, people looked like multi-colored flags. Guardsmen on horseback chased the people.
Dr. Gaspard thought it all looked like a painting magic lantern. The sun was shining brightly, the greenery was shining. The bombs exploded like pieces of cotton wool, the flames appeared for one second, as if someone had released sunbeams into the crowd. The horses pranced, reared and spun around like a top.
The park and the Palace of the Three Fat Men were covered in white transparent smoke.
- They run!
- They are running... The people are defeated!
Running people were approaching the city. Whole heaps of people fell along the road. It seemed as if multi-colored shreds were falling onto the greenery.
The bomb whistled over the square.
Someone got scared and dropped his binoculars. The bomb exploded, and everyone who was at the top of the tower rushed back down into the tower.
The mechanic caught his leather apron on some kind of hook. He looked around, saw something terrible and shouted across the entire square:
- Run! They've captured the armorer Prospero! They are about to enter the city!
There was chaos in the square. The crowd fled from the gates and ran from the square to the streets. Everyone was deaf from the gunfire.
Doctor Gaspard and two others stopped on the third floor of the tower. They looked out of a narrow window punched into a thick wall.
Only one could look properly. The others looked with one eye. The doctor also looked with one eye. But even for one eye the sight was quite terrible.
The huge iron gates swung open to their full width. About three hundred people flew through these gates at once. These were artisans in gray cloth jackets with green cuffs. They fell, bleeding. The guards were jumping on their heads. They cut with sabers and shot with guns. yellow feathers Black oilskin hats fluttered and sparkled, horses opened their red mouths, turned out their eyes and scattered foam.
- Look! Look! Prospero! - the doctor shouted.
The armorer Prospero was dragged in a noose. He walked, fell and got up again. He had tangled red hair, a bloody face and a thick noose wrapped around his neck.
- Prospero! He was captured! - the doctor shouted.
At this time, a bomb flew into the laundry room. The tower tilted, swayed, stayed in an oblique position for one second and collapsed. The doctor fell head over heels, losing his second heel, cane, suitcase and glasses.
Chapter II
Ten chopping blocks
The doctor fell happily. He did not break his head, and his legs remained intact. However, this doesn't mean anything. Even a happy fall along with a shot down tower is not entirely pleasant, especially for a man who was not young, but rather old, like Dr. Gaspar Arneri. In any case, the doctor lost consciousness from one fright.
When he came to his senses, it was already evening. The doctor looked around.
- What a shame! The glasses, of course, broke. When I look without glasses, I probably see as a nearsighted person sees if he wears glasses. This is very unpleasant.
Then he grumbled about the broken heels:
“I’m already short in stature, but now I’ll be an inch shorter.” Or maybe two inches, because two heels broke off? No, of course - only one inch...
He was lying on a pile of rubble. Almost the entire tower collapsed. A long, narrow piece of the wall stuck out like a bone. Music was playing very far away. The cheerful waltz flew away with the wind, disappeared and did not return. The doctor raised his head. Above, black broken rafters hung from different sides. The stars shone in the greenish evening sky.
-Where do they play it? – the doctor was surprised.
Without a raincoat it became cold. Not a single voice was heard in the square. The doctor, groaning, stood up among the stones that had fallen on top of each other. On the way he got caught up in someone's big boot. The mechanic lay stretched out across the beam and looked at the sky. The doctor moved him. He didn't want to get up.
The Doctor raised his hand to remove his hat. The locksmith died.
“I lost my hat too.” Where should I go?
He left the square. There were people lying on the road; the doctor leaned low over each one and saw the stars reflected in their wide-open eyes. He touched their foreheads with his palm. They were very cold and wet with blood, which looked black at night.
- Here! Here! - the doctor whispered. - So, the people are defeated... What will happen now?
Half an hour later he reached crowded places. He is very tired. He was hungry and thirsty. Here the city looked normal.
The doctor stood at the crossroads, taking a break from a long walk, and thought: “How strange! Multi-colored lights are burning, carriages are rushing, ringing glass doors. The semi-circular windows shine with a golden glow. There are couples flashing along the columns. There's a fun ball there. Chinese colored lanterns circle over the black water. People live as they lived yesterday. Don't they know about what happened this morning? Didn't they hear the gunfire and groans? Don't they know that the leader of the people, the armorer Prospero, has been captured? Maybe nothing happened? Maybe I had a bad dream?”
At the corner where the three-armed lantern burned, carriages stood along the sidewalk. Flower girls were selling roses. The coachmen were talking with the flower girls.
“They dragged him in a noose across the city.” Poor thing!
“Now he’s been put in an iron cage.” The cage is in the Palace of Three Fat Men,” said the fat coachman in a blue top hat with a bow.
Then a lady and a girl approached the flower girls to buy roses.
-Who was put in a cage? – she became interested.
- Armourer Prospero. The guards took him prisoner.
- Well, thank God! - said the lady.
The girl whimpered.
- Why are you crying, stupid? – the lady was surprised. – Do you feel sorry for the armorer Prospero? No need to feel sorry for him. He wanted us harm. Look how beautiful the roses are...
Large roses, like swans, slowly swam in bowls full of bitter water and leaves.
- Here are three roses for you. There's no need to cry. They are rebels. If they are not put in iron cages, then they will take our houses, dresses and our roses, and they will slaughter us.
At this time, a boy ran past. He first pulled the lady by her cloak, embroidered with stars, and then the girl by her pigtail.
- Nothing, Countess! - the boy shouted. - The gunsmith Prospero is in a cage, and the gymnast Tibulus is free!
- Oh, impudent!
The lady stamped her foot and dropped her purse. The flower girls began to laugh loudly. The fat coachman took advantage of the turmoil and invited the lady to get into the carriage and go.
The lady and girl drove off.
- Wait, jumper! – the flower girl shouted to the boy. - Come here! Tell me what you know...
Two coachmen got off the box and, tangled in their hoods with five capes, approached the flower girls.
“What a whip! Whip! - the boy thought, looking at the long whip that the coachman was waving. The boy really wanted to have such a whip, but it was impossible for many reasons.
- So what are you saying? – the coachman asked in a deep voice. – Is the gymnast Tibul at large?
- That's what they say. I was at the port...
“Didn’t the guards kill him?” - asked another coachman, also in a deep voice.
- No, dad... Beauty, give me one rose!
- Wait, fool. You better tell me...
- Yes, that means it’s like this... At first everyone thought that he was killed. Then they looked for him among the dead and did not find him.
- Maybe he was thrown into a canal? - asked the coachman.
A beggar intervened in the conversation.
– Who’s in the canal? - he asked. – Gymnast Tibul is not a kitten. You can't drown him. Gymnast Tibul is alive. He managed to escape!
- You're lying, camel! - said the coachman.
– Gymnast Tibul is alive! - the flower girls shouted in delight.
The boy pulled off the rose and started running. Drops from the wet flower fell on the doctor. The doctor wiped the drops from his face, as bitter as tears, and came closer to listen to what the beggar had to say.
Here the conversation was interrupted by some circumstance. An extraordinary procession appeared on the street. Two horsemen with torches rode ahead. Torches fluttered like fiery beards. Then a black carriage with a coat of arms moved slowly.
And behind were the carpenters. There were a hundred of them.
They walked with their sleeves rolled up, ready to work - wearing aprons, saws, planes and boxes under their arms. Guardsmen rode on both sides of the procession. They held back the horses that wanted to gallop.
- What is this? What is this? – passers-by became worried.
In a black carriage with a coat of arms sat an official of the Council of Three Fat Men. The flower girls were scared. Raising their palms to their cheeks, they looked at his head. She was visible through the glass door. The street was brightly lit. The black head in the wig swayed as if dead. It seemed as if there was a bird sitting in the carriage.
- Stay away! - the guards shouted.
-Where are the carpenters going? – the little flower girl asked the senior guardsman.
And the guard shouted in her very face so fiercely that her hair swelled up, as if in a draft:
- The carpenters are going to build blocks! Understood? The carpenters will build ten blocks!
The flower girl dropped the bowl. The roses poured out like compote.
- They are going to build scaffolds! – Doctor Gaspard repeated in horror.
- Blocks! - shouted the guardsman, turning around and baring his teeth under his mustache, which looked like boots. - Execution for all rebels! Everyone's head will be cut off! To everyone who dares to rebel against the power of the Three Fat Men!
The doctor felt dizzy. He thought he was going to faint.
“I’ve been through too much this day,” he said to himself, “and besides, I’m very hungry and very tired. We need to hurry home."
In fact, it was time for the doctor to rest. He was so excited by everything that happened, what he saw and heard, that he did not even attach importance to his own flight with the tower, the absence of a hat, cloak, cane and heels. The worst thing was, of course, without glasses.
He hired a carriage and went home.
Chapter III
Star area
The doctor was returning home. He drove along the widest asphalt streets, which were brighter than the halls, and a chain of lanterns ran high in the sky above him. The lanterns looked like balls filled with dazzling boiling milk. Around the lanterns, midges fell, sang and died. He rode along embankments, along stone fences. There, bronze lions held shields in their paws and stuck out long tongues. Below, water flowed slowly and thickly, black and shiny like tar. The city tipped over into the water, sank, floated away and could not float away, it only dissolved into delicate golden spots. He traveled on bridges curved in the form of arches. From below or from the other bank, they looked like cats arching their iron backs before jumping. Here, at the entrance, there was a guard stationed at each bridge. The soldiers sat on drums, smoked pipes, played cards and yawned at the stars.
The doctor rode, looked and listened.
From the street, from the houses, from the open windows of taverns, from behind the fences of pleasure gardens, came the individual words of a song:
Prospero hit the mark
Strait collar -
Sits in an iron cage
A zealous gunsmith.
The tipsy dandy picked up this verse. The dandy's aunt died, she had a lot of money, even more freckles and did not have a single relative. The dandy inherited all his aunt’s money. Therefore, he was, of course, dissatisfied with the fact that the people were rising up against the power of the rich.
There was a big show going on at the menagerie. On a wooden stage, three fat, shaggy monkeys portrayed the Three Fat Men. The Fox Terrier played the mandolin. A clown in a crimson suit, with a golden sun on his back and a golden moon on his stomach, recited poetry to the beat of the music:
Like three sacks of wheat
Three Fat Men fell apart!
They have no more important worries,
How to grow a belly!
Hey, watch out, Fatties:
The last days have arrived!
– The last days have come! - bearded parrots shouted from all sides.
The noise was incredible. Animals in different cages began to bark, growl, click, and whistle.
Monkeys scampered around the stage. It was impossible to understand where their hands and feet were. They jumped into the audience and started to run away. There was also a scandal in the public. Those who were fatter were especially noisy. Fat men with flushed cheeks, shaking with anger, threw hats and binoculars at the clown. The fat lady swung her umbrella and, catching her fat neighbor, tore off her hat.
- Ah, ah, ah! - the neighbor cackled and raised her hands, because the wig flew off along with the hat.
The monkey, running away, slapped the lady's bald head with his palm. The neighbor fainted.
- Ha-ha-ha!
- Ha-ha-ha! - cried another part of the audience, thinner in appearance and worse dressed. - Bravo! Bravo! Atta them! Down with the Three Fat Men! Long live Prospero! Long live Tibulus! Long live the people!
At this time, someone heard a very loud cry:
- Fire! The city is burning...
People, crushing each other and overturning benches, ran to the exits. The guards caught the runaway monkeys.
The driver who was carrying the doctor turned and said, pointing ahead of him with his whip:
- Guardsmen are burning workers' quarters. They want to find the gymnast Tibul...
Above the city, above the black heap of houses, a pink glow trembled.
When the doctor's carriage found itself at the main city square, which was called Zvezda, it turned out to be impossible to pass. At the entrance, a crowd of carriages, carriages, horsemen, and pedestrians crowded together.
- What's happened? - asked the doctor.
Nobody answered anything, because everyone was busy with what was happening in the square. The driver rose to his full height on the box and began to look there too.
This square was called Star Square for the following reason. It was surrounded by huge houses of the same height and shape and covered with a glass dome, which made it look like a colossal circus. In the middle of the dome, at a terrible height, the largest lantern in the world was burning. It was an amazingly large ball. Covered across with an iron ring, hanging on powerful cables, it resembled the planet Saturn. Its light was so beautiful and so unlike any earthly light that people gave this lantern a wonderful name - Star. That's what they began to call the entire square.
Neither in the square, nor in the houses, nor on the streets nearby, any more light was needed. The star illuminated all the nooks and crannies, all the corners and closets in all the houses that surrounded the square with a stone ring. Here people did without lamps and candles.
The driver looked over the carriages, carriages and coachman's top hats, which looked like the heads of apothecary bottles.
-What do you see? What is happening there? – the doctor was worried, looking out from behind the coachman. The little doctor could not see anything, especially since he was nearsighted.
The driver conveyed everything he saw.
And this is what he saw.
There was great excitement in the square. People were running around the huge round space, scattering in multi-colored handfuls. It seemed that the circle of the square was spinning like a carousel. People rolled from one place to another to better see what was happening above.
A monstrous lantern, blazing at a height, blinded the eyes like the sun. People raised their heads up and covered their eyes with their palms.
- Here he is! Here he is! - shouts were heard.
- Look! There!
- Where? Where?
- Tibul! Tibul!
Hundreds index fingers stretched to the left. There was an ordinary house there. But all the windows on six floors were open. Heads stuck out of every window. They were different in appearance: some wore nightcaps with tassels, the backs of their heads lined like raw sausages; others in pink caps, with kerosene-colored curls; others wear headscarves; at the top, where poor youth lived - poets, artists, actresses - cheerful, mustacheless faces looked out in clouds of tobacco smoke and the heads of women surrounded by such a radiance of golden hair that it seemed as if they had wings on their shoulders. This house, with open lattice windows and multi-colored heads that stuck out like birds, looked like a large cage filled with goldfinches. All heads, twisting as best they could, and risking dragging their owners along with them, which threatened to fly from a height onto the pavement, tried to see something very significant that was happening on the roof. It was as impossible as seeing your own ears without a mirror. Such a mirror for these people who wanted to see their own roof from own home, there was a crowd going wild in the square. She saw everything, screamed, waved her arms: some expressed delight, others - indignation.
There was a small figure moving along the roof. She walked slowly, carefully and confidently down the slope of the triangular top of the house. Iron rattled under her feet.
She waved her cape, trying to find her balance, just as a tightrope walker in a circus finds his balance with the help of a yellow Chinese umbrella.
It was the gymnast Tibul.
The people shouted:
- Bravo, Tibul! Bravo, Tibul!
- Hold on! Remember how you walked on a tightrope at the fair.
- He won't fall! He is the best gymnast in the country...
– It’s not his first time. We have seen how skilled he is at tightrope walking...
- Bravo, Tibul!
- Run! Save yourself! Free Prospero!
Others were outraged. They shook their fists:
“You can’t run away anywhere, you pathetic buffoon!”
- Rebel! They'll shoot you like a hare...
- Be careful! We will drag you from the roof to the chopping block. Tomorrow ten blocks will be ready!
Tibulus continued his terrible path.
-Where did he come from? - people asked. – How did he appear on this square? How did he get on the roof?
“He escaped from the hands of the guards,” answered others. - He ran, disappeared, then he was seen in different parts city - he climbed over the rooftops. He is as agile as a cat. His art was useful to him. No wonder his fame spread throughout the country.
Guards appeared on the square. Onlookers ran to the side streets. Tibul stepped over the barrier and stood on the ledge. He extended his cloaked hand. The green cloak fluttered like a banner.
With the same raincoat, in the same tights, made of yellow and black triangles, people were accustomed to seeing him during performances at fairs and Sunday festivities.
Now high under the glass dome, small, thin and striped, he looked like a wasp crawling along the white wall of a house. When the cloak inflated, it seemed as if the wasp was spreading green, shiny wings.
“Now you’re going to fall down, you dirty trickster!” Now you're going to get shot! - shouted the tipsy dandy, who received an inheritance from a freckled aunt.
The guards chose a convenient position. The officer was running around extremely worried. He was holding a pistol in his hands. His spurs were long, like runners.
There was complete silence. The doctor grabbed his heart, which was jumping like an egg in boiling water.
Tibulus paused for a second on the ledge. He needed to get to the opposite side of the square. Then he could run from Star Square towards the working-class neighborhoods.
The officer stood in the middle of the square in a flowerbed blooming with yellow and blue flowers. There was a pool and a fountain that flowed from a round stone bowl.
“Stop,” the officer said to the soldiers, “I’ll shoot him myself.” I'm the best shooter in the regiment. Learn how to shoot.
From the nine houses, on all sides, to the middle of the dome, to the Star, stretched nine steel cables, as thick as a sea rope, wires.
It seemed that from the lantern, from the blazing magnificent Star, nine long black rays were scattering over the square.
It is unknown what Tibulus was thinking about at that moment. But, probably, he decided this: “I will cross the square along this wire, like I walked on a tightrope at the fair. I won't fall. One wire stretches to the lantern, the other from the lantern to the opposite house. Having walked along both wires, I will reach the opposite roof and be saved.”
The officer raised his pistol and began to take aim. Tibulus walked along the cornice to the place where the wire began, separated from the wall and moved along the wire to the lantern.
The crowd gasped.
He walked either very slowly, then suddenly started almost running, stepping quickly and carefully, swaying, spreading his arms. Every minute it seemed like he was going to fall. Now his shadow appeared on the wall. The closer he got to the lantern, the lower the shadow fell along the wall and the larger and paler it became.
There was an abyss below.
And when he was halfway to the lantern, the officer’s voice was heard in complete silence:
- Now I'll shoot. He will fly straight into the pool. One two Three!
The shot rang out.
Tibul continued to walk, but for some reason the officer fell straight into the pool.
He was killed.
One of the guards held a pistol with blue smoke coming out of it. He shot the officer.
- Dog! - said the guardsman. “You wanted to kill a friend of the people.” I prevented this. Long live the people!
- Long live the people! – other guardsmen supported him.
- Long live the Three Fat Men! - their opponents shouted.
They scattered in all directions and opened fire at the man who was walking along the wire.
He was already two steps from the lantern. With waves of his cloak, Tibulus protected his eyes from the glare. The bullets flew past. The crowd roared with delight.
- Hooray! Past!
Tibulus climbed onto the ring surrounding the lantern.
- Nothing! - the guards shouted. - He will cross to the other side... He will walk along the other wire. We'll take it off from there!
Something happened here that no one expected. A striped figure, turning black in the glare of the lantern, sat down on an iron ring, turned some lever, something clicked, tinkled - and the lantern instantly went out.
No one had time to say a word. It became terribly dark and terribly quiet, as if in a chest.
And the next minute something hit and rang high, high again. A pale square opened in the dark dome. Everyone saw a piece of the sky with two small stars. Then a black figure crawled into this square against the background of the sky, and you could hear someone quickly running across the glass dome.
Gymnast Tibul escaped from Star Square through a hatch.
The horses were frightened by the shots and the sudden darkness.
The doctor's carriage nearly capsized. The coachman turned sharply and took the doctor in a roundabout way.
Thus, after experiencing an extraordinary day and an extraordinary night, Dr. Gaspar Arneri finally returned home. His housekeeper, Aunt Ganymede, met him on the porch. She was very excited. In fact: the doctor was absent for so long! Aunt Ganymede threw up her hands, gasped, and shook her head:
- Where are your glasses? Did they crash? Ah, doctor, doctor! Where's your cloak? Have you lost it? Ahah!..
- Aunt Ganymede, I also broke off both heels...
- Oh, what a misfortune!
“Today a more serious misfortune happened, Aunt Ganymede: the armorer Prospero was captured. He was put in an iron cage.
Aunt Ganymede knew nothing of what happened during the day. She heard cannon fire, she saw a glow over the houses. A neighbor told her that a hundred carpenters were building chopping blocks for the rebels in Court Square.
– I became very scared. I closed the shutters and decided not to go out. I was waiting for you every minute. I was very nervous. Lunch is cold, dinner is cold, but you are still not there...
The night is over. The doctor began to go to bed.
Among the hundred sciences he studied was history. He had a large leather-bound book, and in this book he wrote down his thoughts on important events.
“You have to be careful,” the doctor said, raising his finger.
And, despite his fatigue, the doctor took his leather book, sat down at the table and began to write down:
“Artisans, miners, sailors - all the poor working people of the city rose up against the power of the Three Fat Men. The guards won. The armorer Prospero was captured, and the gymnast Tibulus escaped. A guardsman has just shot his officer on Star Square. This means that soon all the soldiers will refuse to fight against the people and protect the Three Fat Men. However, we have to fear for the fate of Tibulus..."
Then the doctor heard a noise behind him. He looked back. There was a fireplace. Came out of the fireplace A tall man in a green cloak. It was the gymnast Tibul.