In the small state where Prince Demetrius ruled, every resident was given complete freedom in his endeavors. And fairies and magicians value warmth and freedom above all else, so under Demetrius many fairies from the magical land of Dzhinnistan moved to the blessed little principality. However, after the death of Demetrius, his heir Paphnutius decided to introduce enlightenment in his fatherland. His ideas about enlightenment were the most radical: any magic should be abolished, fairies are busy with dangerous witchcraft, and the ruler’s primary concern is to grow potatoes, plant acacias, cut down forests and inoculate smallpox. Such enlightenment dried out the flourishing land in a matter of days, the fairies were sent to Dzhinnistan (they did not resist too much), and only the fairy Rosabelverde managed to stay in the principality, who persuaded Paphnutius to give her a place as a canoness in a shelter for noble maidens.
This good fairy, the mistress of flowers, once saw on a dusty road the peasant woman Lisa, asleep on the side of the road. Lisa was returning from the forest with a basket of brushwood, carrying in the same basket her freak of a son, nicknamed little Tsakhes. The dwarf has a disgusting old face, twig-like legs and spider-like arms. Taking pity on the evil freak, the fairy combed his tangled hair for a long time... and, smiling mysteriously, disappeared. As soon as Lisa woke up and set off on the road again, she met a local pastor. For some reason he was captivated by the ugly little one and, repeating that the boy was miraculously handsome, decided to take him in as an upbringer. Lisa was glad to get rid of the burden, not really understanding why her freak began to look to people.
Meanwhile, the young poet Balthazar, a melancholic student, is studying at Kerepes University, in love with the daughter of his professor Mosch Terpin, the cheerful and lovely Candida. Mosch Terpin is obsessed with the ancient Germanic spirit, as he understands it: heaviness combined with vulgarity, even more unbearable than the mystical romanticism of Balthasar. Balthasar indulges in all the romantic eccentricities so characteristic of poets: he sighs, wanders alone, avoids student revels; Candida, on the other hand, is the embodiment of life and gaiety, and she, with her youthful coquetry and healthy appetite, finds her student admirer very pleasant and amusing.
Meanwhile, a new face invades the touching university reserve, where typical boors, typical educators, typical romantics and typical patriots personify the diseases of the German spirit: little Zaches, endowed with a magical gift of attracting people to himself. Having wormed his way into Mosch Terpin's house, he completely charms both him and Candida. Now his name is Zinnober. As soon as someone reads poetry or expresses himself wittily in his presence, everyone present is convinced that this is Zinnober’s merit; If he meows disgustingly or stumbles, one of the other guests will certainly be guilty. Everyone admires Zinnober's grace and dexterity, and only two students - Balthasar and his friend Fabian - see all the ugliness and malice of the dwarf. Meanwhile, he manages to take the place of a freight forwarder in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and then a Privy Councilor for Special Affairs - and all this is by deception, for Zinnober managed to appropriate to himself the merits of the most worthy.
It so happened that in his crystal carriage with a pheasant on the goats and a golden beetle on the heels, Kerpes was visited by Dr. Prosper Alpanus, a magician traveling incognito. Balthasar immediately recognized him as a magician, but Fabian, spoiled by enlightenment, at first doubted; however, Alpanus proved his power by showing Zinnober to his friends in a magic mirror. It turned out that the dwarf is not a wizard or a gnome, but an ordinary freak who is helped by some secret force. This secret power Alpanus was discovered without difficulty, and the fairy Rosabelverde hastened to pay him a visit. The magician informed the fairy that he had drawn up a horoscope for the dwarf and that Tsakhes-Zinnober could soon destroy not only Balthazar and Candida, but also the entire principality, where he had become his man at court. The fairy is forced to agree and deny Tsakhes her protection - especially since the magic comb with which she combed his curls was cunningly broken by Alpanus.
The fact of the matter is that after these combings, three fiery hairs appeared in the dwarf’s head. They endowed him with witchcraft power: all other people's merits were attributed to him, all his vices were attributed to others, and only a few saw the truth. The hairs had to be pulled out and immediately burned - and Balthasar and his friends managed to do this when Mosch Terpin was already arranging Zinnober’s engagement to Candida. Thunder struck; everyone saw the dwarf as he was. They played with him like a ball, he was kicked, he was thrown out of the house - in wild anger and horror he fled to his luxurious palace, which the prince gave him, but the confusion among the people grew unstoppably. Everyone heard about the transformation of the minister. The unfortunate dwarf died, stuck in a jug, where he tried to hide, and as a final benefit, the fairy returned him the appearance of a handsome man after death. She also did not forget the unfortunate man’s mother, the old peasant woman Lisa: such wonderful and sweet onions grew in Lisa’s garden that she was made the personal supplier of the enlightened court.
And Balthasar and Candida lived happily, as a poet and a beauty should live, who were blessed by the magician Prosper Alpanus at the very beginning of their lives.
Retold
“Little Zaches” is a work that is traditionally attributed to the era of German romanticism. Most often it is studied in universities when it comes to this cultural period. To quickly prepare for a seminar or test, read brief retelling books by chapter from the Literaguru team.
An exhausted peasant woman, Frau Lisa, walks along the road and decides to rest. From her basket appears a small, hairy, long-nosed freak, her son. Lisa complains about her hard life, swearing at little Tsakhes, who crawled out onto the grass. The woman falls asleep. Fraulein von Rosenschön (or, as she calls herself, Rosengrünschön), the canoness of the Institute of Noble Maidens, approaches her and notices the dwarf. She feels sorry for the peasant woman, and she takes the freak in her arms, combing his hair. The lady says he will have a wonderful future now and leaves.
The peasant woman, waking up, is surprised by her son’s marvelous hairstyle and sets off on the road. Little Tsakhes is taken by the pastor, who mistook the dwarf for a smart boy (while his son, a nice child, stood nearby, and his every word made the pastor admire Tsakhes). Frau Lisa happily parted with her son, not understanding this man’s reaction.
That mysterious lady was declared a witch by Baron Protextatus von Mondschein because she spoke to flowers and performed miracles, for example, punishing guilty people with magic. After complaining to the prince, she achieved good attitude to yourself. In fact, this is the fairy Rosabelverde. Once upon a time, under Prince Demetrius, this country was inhabited by fairies, and magic happened everywhere. But later, Prince Paphnutius introduced Enlightenment in the country and expelled all fairies to Dzhinnistan. But he learned that such a country did not exist and concluded that his country was better than Jinnistan. Rosabelverde managed to stay and persuade her to transfer to the Institute of Noble Maidens.
Chapter two
The scientist Ptolemy Philadelphus, in a letter to his friend Rufinus, reports about strange merry people walking around at night and impudently laughing at him. These are students in the village of Hoch-Jakobsheim near the city of Kerepes. Student Balthasar wanders through the forest after a lecture by science professor Mosch Terpin. His friend Fabian invites Balthazar to fencing, but he is happy in nature. He cannot stand the professor because he considers himself above nature and conducts experiments on it. Fabian notices that Balthasar does not miss a single lecture because he is in love with Turpin's daughter, Candida.
A barely noticeable dwarf rides past the students on a horse and falls to the ground. Balthazar helps the poor man get up, and Fabian laughs at Tsakhes' clumsiness. The dwarf declares that he is offended and leaves for the city. After Fabian leaves, the professor comes to Balthazar with his daughter and invites him as best student for a friendly evening.
Chapter Three
Fabian learns from the townspeople that no dwarf appeared in the city, but everyone saw how two horsemen arrived: one stately, the other a little smaller. He also tells his friend that Candida is not suitable for him because of her cheerful character. Balthasar does not sleep all night, and when he comes to Turpin, he sees a dwarf there, now his name is Zinnober. The professor praises him for his success.
When the freak falls to the floor, Balthazar wants to help him and touches his head. A piercing cat squeal is heard, and all those gathered reproach Balthazar for such a stupid joke: everyone thinks that it was he who squealed. Finally, Balthasar speaks with a poem about the nightingale’s love for a rose, after which everyone begins to praise Zinnober’s talent, and the student is horrified to see Candida kissing the big-nosed freak. Balthazar runs away in horror, thinking he has gone mad.
Chapter Four
In the forest, Balthazar slowly calms down, but suddenly he sees the violinist Sbjokk, his teacher. The musician runs away from the city: at the concert everyone applauded the dwarf, and the violinist was considered crazy when he began to attract attention to himself. In order to shoot himself, referendar Pulcher runs into the forest, but Balthazar stops him. At the interview at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, they took a meowing dwarf instead of Pulcher, although the referendar answered all questions.
Suddenly the heroes hear magical sounds: a shell-shaped carriage passes through the forest, in which a man in Chinese clothes sits, he is accompanied by a giant beetle, a pheasant sits in the coachman’s place, and the carriage itself is driven by unicorns. A ray flies out from the knob of the old man’s cane, striking Balthazar in the heart, after which the mysterious wanderer looks more welcomingly at the young people. Balthazar understands that only this man can save them.
Chapter Five
The Minister of Foreign Affairs is a descendant of that Protextatus of the same name. Prince Barsanuf notices the dwarf while visiting him and is pleased with “his” works (the prince scolds the student who sent them for slurping and the stain on his trousers that Zinnober put on). The lucky freak becomes a Privy Councilor.
Fabian tells Balthasar that the forest magician is the healer Prosper Alpanus, who, using ordinary tricks, pretends to be a wizard. At his house, students are greeted by giant frogs and an ostrich gatekeeper. Prosper tries in vain to find out who Zinnober is: an alraun or a dwarf. In the mirror, Balthazar sees the dwarf and Candida, rushes at him, but everything disappears. Zinnober - a common person. Fabian accuses the doctor of charlatanism, after which, on the way home, his sleeves disappear and a long train stretches out. Balthazar is wanted for attacking a privy councilor.
Chapter Six
Pulcher and Adrian spy on the dwarf and watch how the fairy combs his hair in the garden. They notice a glowing stripe on its head. From fear of being seen, Zinnober falls ill. When the doctor touches the strip on his head, the dwarf becomes furious. The prince gives the dwarf the position of minister after Protextatus made a report. Zinnober receives the Order of the Green-Spotted Tiger, and the tailor offers to fasten it with buttons so that the award will stay on his ugly body.
Meanwhile, a lady in black comes to Prosper Alpanus, and with the help of his cane the magician recognizes her as a fairy. Rosabelverde asks the doctor to visit the Institute of Noble Maidens. In the hands of a fairy and a wizard, objects acquire magical properties. The fairy begins to transform into different creatures, but Prosper Alpanus always surpasses her in magic. The guest breaks her golden comb. She is exposed and falls into the power of the owner of the house. She gained power thanks to Prosper. Balthasar's horoscope suggests that Tsakhes is not worthy of such honors. The fairy agrees to retreat.
Chapter Seven
Pulcher writes to the hiding Balthasar that Mosch Terpin takes advantage of his proximity to the court, because Candida is the dwarf’s bride. True, there is good news: at the zoo everyone mistook Zinnober for a rare monkey, not paying attention to the cage, and it seems that they stopped grooming him a long time ago.
Prosper Alpanus flies to the student on a giant dragonfly and informs him that Balthazar must pluck out three red hairs on the dwarf’s head and immediately burn them. Prosper must fly to India to the awakened Indian princess Balsamina, for whom he quarreled 2000 years ago with his friend Lotus. The magic doctor leaves Balthazar an estate in which married life will become heaven on earth. He also gives a snuffbox with a tailcoat for Fabian, who, because of his bewitched clothes, was considered a heretic by everyone in the city.
Chapter Eight
After visiting Fabian, Balthazar breaks into the house where the dwarf's engagement is already taking place and plucks out three hairs from him.
The disgraced Zinnober, whom everyone recognizes as an ugly dwarf, runs away. Candida comes to her senses and confesses her love for Balthasar, and Mosch Terpin, who is close to madness, blesses them. Nobody understands where the minister went.
Chapter Nine
At night, the valet sees the minister sneak into his room in the dark. In the morning, Frau Lisa, noticing her son through the window, shouts that she is the mother of a minister. But the crowd laughs, and those close to Zinnober see the freak Tsakhes in the window.
When they break in, they see that he died from getting stuck in a jar while trying to hide. A fairy is with him, she regrets her mistake. Prosper allowed the dwarf to be made attractive just before his death, so that he was again recognized as a minister and buried with all honors. Lisa becomes the main supplier of onions to the palace.
Chapter last
The author asks the reader for leniency towards his work. As for Balthazar and Candida, they played a wedding, which brought Mosch Terpin to a complete misunderstanding of what was happening, and he locked himself in the wine cellar.
Prosper flew to India, leaving the lovers to enjoy their marriage in a magical estate.
Interesting? Save it on your wall!(Story, 1819) Prince Demetrius ruled in one small state. In this state, every resident was given complete freedom in his endeavors. Fairies and magicians value freedom above all else, so under Demetrius many fairies from the magical land of Dzhinnistan moved to the small principality. But after the death of Demetrius, his heir Paphnutius decided to introduce enlightenment in his fatherland, which seemed to him to mean that all magic should be abolished. Pursuing his goal, he sent all the fairies to Dzhinnistan, and only the fairy Rosabelverde managed to stay in the principality, who persuaded Paf-nutius to give her a place as a canoness in a shelter for noble maidens. The result of the expulsion of the fairies was the drying up of the gardens of this fertile land. And then one day the fairy Rosabelverda, the mistress of flowers, saw the peasant woman Lisa asleep on the side of the road. Lisa was returning from the forest with a basket of brushwood, carrying in the same basket her freak of a son, nicknamed little Tsakhes. This dwarf had a disgusting old face, twig-like legs and spider-like arms. Taking pity on the evil freak, the fairy combed his tangled hair for a long time and, smiling mysteriously, disappeared. As soon as Lisa woke up and set off on the road again, she met a local pastor. For some reason, he really liked the little freak, and, repeating that the boy was a miracle good-looking, he decided to take him in. Lisa was glad to get rid of the burden, although she did not understand why people could like her ugly man. At the same time, the young poet Balthasar, in love with the daughter of his professor Mosch Terpin, Mosch Terpin, is studying. was possessed by the ancient Germanic spirit, as he understands it: heaviness combined with vulgarity, even more unbearable than the mystical romanticism of Balthasar. Meanwhile, a new face invades the touching university reserve: little Tsakhes, endowed with the magical gift of attracting people to himself. then once, having got into the house of Mosch Terpin, he completely charms both him and Candida. Now his name is Zinnober. As soon as someone reads poetry in his presence or expresses himself wittily, everyone immediately thinks that this is Zinnober’s merit. As soon as he meowed disgustingly or stumbled, one of the other guests turned out to be guilty. Everyone admires Zinnober's grace and dexterity, and only two students - Balthasar and his friend Fabian - see all the ugliness and malice of the dwarf. Meanwhile, he manages to take the place of a freight forwarder in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and then a Privy Councilor for Special Affairs, and all this is by deception, for Zinnober managed to appropriate to himself the merits of the most worthy. One day the city was visited by Doctor Prosper Alpanus, a magician traveling incognito. Balthasar immediately recognized him as a magician, but Phibian, spoiled by enlightenment, at first doubted. However, Alpanus proved his power by showing Zinnober to his friends in a magic mirror. It turned out that the dwarf is not a wizard or a gnome, but an ordinary freak who is helped by some secret force. Alpanus discovered this secret power without difficulty, and the fairy Rosabelverde hastened to pay him a visit. The magician informed the fairy that he had drawn up a horoscope for the dwarf, and that Tsakhes-Zinnober could soon destroy not only Balthasar and Candida, but also the entire principality, where he had become his man at court. The fairy is forced to agree and refuse Tsakhes her protection, especially since Alpanus deliberately broke the magic comb with which she combed his curls. However, after these combings, three fiery hairs appeared in the dwarf’s head. They endowed him with witchcraft power: all other people's merits were attributed to him, all his vices to others, and only a few saw the truth. The hairs had to be pulled out and immediately burned, and Balthasar and his friends managed to do this when Mosch Terpin was already arranging Zinnober’s engagement to Candida. Thunder struck, and everyone saw the dwarf as he really was. He was played with like a ball, he was kicked, he was thrown out of the house. In wild anger and horror, he fled to his palace, which the prince had given him, but the confusion among the people grew. Everyone heard about the transformation of the minister. The unfortunate dwarf died, stuck in a jug, where he tried to hide, and as a final benefit, the fairy returned him the appearance of a handsome man after death. She also did not forget the unfortunate man’s mother, the old peasant woman Lisa. Such wonderful and sweet onions grew in Lisa’s garden that she was made the personal supplier of the enlightened court.
Didn't your heart grieve at the sight of how an unworthy and insignificant person was surrounded with honors, endowed with all kinds of benefits and looked around with swaggering arrogance? The same sadness overwhelmed the great romantic Ernest Theodore Amadeus Hoffmann, who turned his intelligent and precise pen like a weapon against stupidity, vanity, and injustice, of which there are so many in our world.
The genius of German romanticism
Hoffmann was a truly universal cultural figure - writer, thinker, artist, composer and lawyer. Having lived a short life (only 46 years), he managed to create works that became an event not only in global art, but also in the personal cultural space of every person who touched the work of this genius.
Many of the images created by Hoffmann became household names. Among them is the hero of the fairy-tale short story “Little Tsakhes, nicknamed Zinnober.” Here the author showed such remarkable wit, depth of imagination and the power of artistic generalization that the fairy tale itself and the images recreated in it look extremely relevant today. Now in politics, now in art, now in the media, no, no, this ominous dwarf will appear - Little Tsakhes.
The story begins with a picture of a hot day and the sorrowful lamentations of a tired peasant woman. We learn that wealth, despite hard work, does not fall into the hands of this mendicant family. In addition, a rare freak was born in it, whose body the author very expressively compares either with a forked radish, or with an apple impaled on a fork, on which an absurd face was drawn, or with an outlandish stump of a gnarled tree. Two and a half years have passed since little Tsakhes was born, but no one saw any human manifestations in him. He still couldn’t walk or talk, and only made some meowing sounds. And it had to happen that at that time a real fairy passed by, who, however, had to disguise herself as a canoness (privileged nun) of a shelter for noble maidens, since fairies in that principality were under the greatest ban.
Fairy Rosabelverde was imbued with keen compassion for the pitiful family and awarded the tiny freak with extraordinary magical powers, which were not slow to manifest themselves before the peasant woman returned home. The pastor, whose house she was passing by, stopped the woman and, forgetting about his adorable three-year-old son, suddenly began to admire the monstrous dwarf clinging to his mother’s skirt. The Holy Father was terribly surprised that the mother could not appreciate the wondrous beauty of the beautiful child, and asked to take the baby to her.
A Note on Spiritual Qualities
The reader's next meeting with the one called little Tsakhes took place many years later, when he grew up and became a student. The first who met the evil dwarf in the forest on the way to Kerepes were noble young people - Fabio and Balthazar. And if the first had a mocking and sharp mind, then the second was distinguished by thoughtfulness and romantic aspirations. The sight and manners of the ugly stranger, who rolled out of the saddle in the most pitiful manner at the feet of the young men, evoked peals of laughter from Fabio, and sympathy and pity from Balthasar. Balthasar was a poet whose inspiration was reinforced by his ardent love for Candida, the pretty daughter of a professor from whom the young man attended a course of lectures on natural history.
Witchcraft power
The appearance of the vile dwarf caused in the city not the reaction that Fabian expected, anticipating general fun. Suddenly, for some reason, all the residents started talking about the unsightly freak as a stately and handsome young man with many virtues. The city went even more crazy, calling the little monster “an elegant, handsome and skillful young man” when little Tsakhes attended the literary tea party of Professor Mosch Terpin, whose daughter Balthazar was in love with. Here the young man read his delightful and refined poem about the nightingale’s love for a rose, in which he expressed the heat of his own feelings. What happened after that was simply fantastic!
Captivated by the poem, the listeners began vying with each other to praise... little Tsakhes, addressing him respectfully as “Mr. Zinnober.” It turned out that he was not just “intelligent and skillful,” but “wonderful, divine.” Then Professor Mosch Terpin showed amazing experiments, but it was not he who gained fame, but the same little Tsakhes. It was he who, due to his inexplicable witchcraft aura, was instantly called perfection in the presence of talented and intelligent people. Whether a gifted musician plays a concert - admiring glances are directed towards Tsakhes, whether a great artist sings with a magnificent soprano - and an enthusiastic whisper is heard that in the whole world one cannot find such a singer as Zinnober. And now blue-eyed Candida is madly in love with little Tsakhes. He makes a stunning career, becoming first a Privy Councilor and then the Minister of the Principality. Imbued with great importance and became demanding of honors, as Hoffmann ironically characterizes him, little Tsakhes.
Everything that someone does or says something remarkable in his presence is immediately attributed to Tsakhes. And vice versa, all the disgusting and absurd antics of a freak (when he wheezes, croaks, clowns around and talks nonsense) in the eyes of society are imputed to the real creator. That is, some kind of devilish substitution occurs, plunging into despair those who deserve success, but are doomed to shame because of the damned freak. Balthazar calls the witchcraft gift of the evil dwarf a hellish force that steals hopes.
But there must be some remedy against this madness! Witchcraft can be resisted if you “resist it with firmness”; where there is courage, victory is inevitable. The positive ones come to this conclusion - Balthasar, Fabian and the young referendar, who was aiming for the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs Pulcher (whose merits and position were stolen by Tsakhes). Friends learn about an amazing circumstance: every nine days a fairy flies into Tsakhes’s garden to comb his locks and renew his magical power. And then they begin to look for ways to cope with the spell.
Evil can be defeated
After this, another character appears in the fairy tale - the wizard Prosper Alpanus. Having studied books about gnomes and alrauns, he comes to the conclusion that little Tsakhes is an ordinary person, endowed with a wonderful gift beyond his deserts. In the magical battle between Alpanus and Rosabelverde, the more powerful magician deprives the fairy of the opportunity to help her charge: the comb with which she combed the hair of the little monster broke. And the wizard told Balthasar that Zinnober’s secret lay in three fiery hairs on his crown. They must be torn out and burned immediately, then everyone will see Tsakhes for who he really is.
From a philosophical point of view, the conflict of the plot lies in the fact that, due to an incomprehensible spontaneous intervention, injustice triumphs, and truth suffers defeat. Thanks to the support of the majority, evil becomes legitimate and begins to rule reality. And then you need a strong-willed impulse, resistance to mass hypnosis, to change the situation. As soon as this happens in the minds and actions of some, albeit a small part, of people acting together, the situation changes.
The young man successfully completes his mission: people are convinced of the true state of affairs, little Tsakhes is drowning in a chamber pot with his own sewage. The heroes are acquitted, Candida admits that she has always loved Balthazar, the young marry, having inherited magic garden and Alpanus's house.
Fiction is the other side of reality
Being an apologist for the ideas of the Jena romantics, Hoffmann was convinced that art is the only source of transformation of life. The narrative involves only strong emotions - laughter and fear, worship and disgust, despair and hope. In the fairy tale about little Tsakhes, as in his other works, the writer creates a half-real, half-mythical world in which, according to the Russian, a fantastic image does not exist somewhere outside of reality, but is the other side of our reality. Hoffmann uses the motif of magic in order to demonstrate more clearly and clearly what reality is. And in order to throw off her shackles, he resorts to sharp and subtle irony.
Artistic techniques
Well-known folklore motifs that signify sorcery are gracefully woven into the fabric of the narrative and played out in a unique way. Magic hairs that the fairy provided her pet with, the knob of a magic cane emitting rays in which all falsehood turns into something that does not seem to be, but actually is, a golden comb capable of turning the ugly into the beautiful. Uses Hoffmann and the famous fairy tale theme clothes, filling it with topical content not only for his contemporaries, but also for you and me. Let us remember the sleeves and tails of Fabian's frock coat, the length of which immediately became a reason to hang evil and stupid labels on its owner.
Hoffmann's irony
The writer laughs at the ridiculous innovations in the bureaucracy. The satirical image of an official's uniform with diamond buttons, the number of which indicates the degree of merit to the fatherland (ordinary people had two or three of them, Zinnober had as many as twenty), the author also plays with exquisite artistic sense. If the honorary ministerial ribbon was perfectly held on an ordinary human figure, then on the torso of Tsakhes - a short stump “with spider legs” - it could only be held by two dozen buttons. But “the venerable Mr. Zinnober” was, of course, worthy of such a high honor.
Finally, the statement of the result of the dishonest life of the ugly impostor seems brilliant: he died from the fear of dying - this is the diagnosis made by the doctor after examining the body of the deceased.
We have something to think about
Hoffmann wittily shows us a portrait of society, the mirror of which was the ill-fated little Tsakhes. Analysis of the problem leads us to the conclusion that it is very easy and hopeless to become mad in this way. If you yourself are ready to replace the truth with lies for selfish reasons, if you are not alien to the tendency to attribute the merits of others to yourself, if, finally, you are driven in life not by bold and free ideas, but by narrow-minded conformism, sooner or later you will put little Tsakhes on a pedestal nicknamed Zinnober.
Section one
Little freak. How Prince Paphnutius introduced education in his country, and the fairy Rosabelverde ended up in a shelter for noble maidens
On the way, a ragged peasant woman, exhausted from hunger and thirst, fell. She had a box of brushwood over her shoulders. She complained about her unhappy fate, about her miserable life, about the shame that the deformed child she herself had brought to her family. Most of all, she cursed the child, who was already two and a half years old, and she had not even gotten wet on her frail legs and had not learned to talk. her son ate a lot, like an eight-year-old boy, but there was no hope that he would work. In the box, the woman carried her degenerate along with the brushwood: “the monster’s head sunk deep between his shoulders, a hump like a pumpkin grew on his back, and thin legs, like hazel sticks, hung from his chest, so his whole body looked like a forked radish.” . This manifestation had a long, sharp nose, black shaggy hair, and a “pair of black eye sockets” sparkled on her wrinkled, old face.
The woman fell into a deep sleep, and the boy, coming out of the box, was fiddling around next to her. Currently, the patroness of the shelter was walking through the forest. Seeing this picture, she was upset because she could not help the grief of this woman.
Panna caressed the boy, combed his disheveled hair and decided to help his grief in her own way by sprinkling the child with fragrant water.
When the peasant woman woke up, she felt rested and cheerful, praised the curls of her little Tsakhes, and was surprised because he could walk and talk.
On her way home, at the pastor’s request, she stopped to rest at his house. The father praised her little son, who seemed to him a smart and handsome boy. The pastor asked Lisa to leave Tsakhes for his upbringing and, angry with the peasant woman for her beliefs in the foolishness of her own son, he took the monster and clicked the door.
Lisa returned home with a light heart and a box that now, without Tsakhes, seemed almost weightless.
As our reader understands, the whole secret lay in the spell of the patroness. Indeed, she was an extraordinary woman. Everyone who knew her said that since the patroness appeared in this area, she had not changed at all, had not aged. There were rumors back that this girl was a witch. People told all sorts of fables: someone saw her talking to animals and birds in the forest, or how she flew on a broom—they even wanted to throw her into the water to confirm their thoughts. Having learned about such intentions, the patroness complained to the prince, who stood up for her. Then the peasants, having come to their senses, gradually began to forget all sorts of fables and did not touch her anymore.
This respected lady of an imperious character was called Fraulein von Rosenschen, or, as he called himself, Rosenschen-Zelenova. She had a friendly look, and she seemed especially beautiful when the roses were blooming.
Panna Rosenshen was appointed patroness of the refuge by the prince himself, so Baron Pretextatus could not do anything, although he did not like this woman, because in one chronicle he did not find the surname Rosenshen-Zelenova and could not say anything about this pedigree.
In the prince’s office they knew that Panna was the glorious fairy Rosabelverde, known throughout the world.
Here's how it happened.
Fairies settled in the beautiful, warm, cozy and carefree country of Prince Demetrius; they loved freedom and a warm climate. The villagers - since there was not a single city in the principality - believed in miracles. After the death of Demetrius, his son Paphnutius began to rule, who was tormented by one thought: why were the people abandoned and dark. He truly began to lead the country by appointing his valet Andres as first minister, who did him a favor by lending him six ducats.
Andres advised Paphnutius to introduce education. But for the method to work better, a lot more had to be done: repair schools, rebuild roads, cut down forests, make the river navigable, plant poplars and acacias, plant potatoes, teach young people to sing evening and morning songs in two voices, inoculate smallpox and drive them out of the country. countries of people who interfere with their dangerous moods. The minister considered fairies to be such people, for they performed miracles and made people incapable of enlightenment. Therefore, it was decided to surround the fairy castles, destroy them, confiscate their property, and deport the fairies themselves to their country of Dzhinnistan, which is known from the Arabian Nights.
Prince Paphnutius signed a decree on the introduction of education. And they decided to leave one fairy to do what useful work among people, then the peasants will forget about fairies. Thus, they decided to “domesticate” not only the fairy, making her a useful member of society, but also the animals and birds confiscated from these posters.
Fairy Rosabelverde, a few hours before the introduction of education, managed to release her swans and hide her magical roses and various jewelry.
Paphnutius settled Rosabelverde in a shelter for noble maidens, where she called herself Rosenshen-Zelenova and began to manage it.
Chapter two
University in Kerepesi. How Mosch Terpin invited student Balthasar to tea
The All-Svitny scientist Ptolomeus, while on a trip, wrote letters to his friend Rufinus:
“Dear Rufina, I am afraid of the debilitating rays of the sun, so I decided to rest during the day and travel at night. The nights are dark here, and my driver has strayed from the smooth road onto the pavement. My head was covered with bumps, and from the shock I flew out of the carriage, the wheel of which broke. I reached the city, where I met amazingly dressed people. There was something eastern in their clothing that combined with the western. They released artificial clouds from tubes. They surrounded me on all sides and shouted: “philistine! Philistine!" This offended me, so I contacted the police. These barbarian people made a fuss, and my driver advised me to leave this city. Now I am in one of the villages closest to the city, where I am writing to you, my dear Rufinus. I want to learn about the customs and customs of this amazing people, etc.”
My dear reader, the great scientist Ptolomeus Philadelphus did not know that he was near the Kerepes University, and that these strange barbarian people were students. What fear would have gripped him if an hour ago he would have found himself at the house of Mosch Terpin, professor of natural sciences. Students loved his lectures because Mosch Terpin could explain why it rains, why it sparkles and thunders, why the sun shines during the day and the moon at night. And he explains in such a way that every child would understand. Allow me, kind reader, to send you to Kerepes to the house of this scientist. Among the professor's students, one young man, about twenty-three or four years old, will attract your attention. He has an almost bold look, but on his pale face the passionate rays of his eyes were dimmed by dreamy melancholy. This young man, dressed in an ancient German frock coat, is none other than the student Balthasar, the son of respectable wealthy parents, modest and intelligent.
All the students went to the fencing ground, and the pensive Balthazar went for a walk in the grove.
His comrade Fabian suggested practicing the “noble art of fencing”, and not wandering melancholy through the forest, because this is a bad habit.
Fabian went for a walk with a fellow student and started talking about Mr. Mosch Terpin and his lecture. Balthazar yelled that the professor’s natural lectures and experiments were “disgusting laughter from the divine nature.” “Often I wanted to break his glasses and flasks. After his lectures, it seems to me that buildings will collapse on my head, and oppressive horror drives me out of the city. But I can’t help but go to Turpin’s lectures, some strange force pulls me there,” Balthazar explained to his friend.
Fabian exposed this strange power by naming the name of Candida, the professor's daughter, with whom Balthazar fell in love.
The guys noticed a horse without a rider in the distance, thinking that the horse had thrown off its owner. They stopped the horse, with its boots dangling on its sides, to find its rider. But suddenly something small rolled under the horse’s feet. It was a hunchbacked baby who resembled an apple impaled on a fork. Fabian laughed, and the dwarf in a rough voice asked the way to Kerepes.
The kid was trying to put on his boots. Every now and then he stumbled and fell into the sand until Balthazar stuck his thin legs into the boots, lifting the baby up and lowering him into the boots.
Then the strange rider tried to get into the saddle, and again in vain: he turned over and fell. Again Balthazar helped him.
This stranger took offense at Fabiani's laughter and declared that he was "Princeton", so the guy should fight him.
Balthazar shamed his comrade for his behavior, but Fabian was not interested in this, he wanted to quickly return to the city to see the reaction of others. There will be laughter when they see this little ugly horseman. Fabian himself wanted to laugh, so he walked through the forest to the city.
Balthasar, while walking in the forest this time, met Candida and her father. Mosch Terpin invited him to tea and a pleasant conversation. What a smart young man should come.
Chapter Three
Literary tea party at Mosch Terpin. Young Prince
Fabian asked all the passers-by if they had seen the strange baby on horseback. But no one could say anything, and the guy did not notice the mocking smiles on their faces. People only said that two slender horsemen were passing by, one of them was short, handsome and pleasant in appearance. Balthazar and Fabian tried to convince everyone that the baby was disgusting and not good at all, but they had no luck. Fabian reminded his friend that tomorrow they would see “the tender mamzel Candida.”
Candida was as beautiful as a picture, with radiant eyes. She was a slender and agile girl, but her arms and legs could have been more sophisticated if she had eaten less cake. Candida loved fun company: played the piano, sang along, danced.
But poets can find flaws in every woman. their ideal: a girl should rush for poetry, according to their poems, sing songs to them.
Candida is the most cheerful and carefree, she liked conversations and humor. But there was a feeling in her that never turned into “banal sensitivity.” That's why Fabian decided that she was not suitable for Balthazar.
Fabian, entering Balthazar, smiled, because his friend was sitting so dressed up. The guy wanted to hit the heart of his beloved girl.
At the Terpin House, Candida treated the guests to rum, crackers and flat cakes. The student simply admired her and could not find the right words. The professor introduced Mr. Zinnober to the society, who was to study law at Kerepes University.
Fabian quietly joked to Balthazar: “I guess I’ll have to fight this Potorocha with flutes or maybe with awls! Therefore, I cannot take any other weapon against such a terrible enemy.”
His comrade shamed him again. Balthazar asked the kid if anything bad happened to him because of his unsuccessful horse riding. And Mr. Zinnober did not even remember that he fell from his horse, because it turns out that he was “the best rider” and even taught officers and soldiers riding in the arena.
Suddenly the baby fell head over heels when the stick he was leaning on slipped out of his hands. The dwarf got busy. Everyone decided that there was a huge cat in the hall, and then they said that it was Balthazar who was joking. The student was confused, and Candida calmed him down.
The turmoil in the hall subsided, everyone sat down and had some conversations. It was a convenient time to read a new, fresh work. And Balthazar, coming to his senses, read his poem about the nightingale and the purple rose. He read passionately, pouring out all the passion of his loving heart. The guy trembled with joy when he heard sighs or words: “Wonderful... Extremely... Divine! The poem captivated everyone.
But as soon as he finished reading, the listeners rushed to the dwarf with their praises and cries about his talent. Balthazar was confused. Even Fabian was convinced that the poems were written and read by Zinnober. A beautiful girl, Candida, at the request of those present, gave the freak her kiss. Balthasar got angry, and Fabian said that his comrade was jealous of Candida, and invited him to make friends with this young man, because he really deserves praise.
Now in the hall, Mosch Terpin with his physical equipment showed everyone the experience, and again the audience praised and applauded “dear Mr. Zinnober.” They tried to pick him up or shake his hand, but he “behaved extremely indecently”: he waved his small legs, throwing them into the professor’s thick belly and then croaked in a disgusting voice, creaked, pouting, “like a small turkey.”
Among the company was also the young Prince Gregor, who was studying at the university. He is very handsome with a noble and relaxed behavior, which showed his high birth.
Now Prince Gregor did not leave Zinnober, praising him as the best poet and physicist.
Mosch Terpin put forward versions that perhaps his protégé, Mr. Zinnober, is of princely, even royal blood: he is talented, noble in behavior. This is how the pastor who raised him recommended him.
At that moment they announced that dinner was ready. Zinnober hobbled towards Candida, clumsily grabbed her hand and led her into the dining room. How frantically Balthasar rushed into dark night, through the storm and rain, home.
Chapter Four
As the Italian violinist Sbioka boasted of putting Mr. Zinnober into double bass, and Referendar Pulcher could not get a position in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. How Balthasar was enchanted with the head of a stick
Balthazar sat on a stone in the wilderness, thinking about Candide. He understood, after analyzing the latest events, that the baby was fascinated, and this witchcraft must be stopped.
Returning to Kerepes, Balthasar met Signor Vincenzo Sbioca, a world-famous violin virtuoso, from whom he studied to play for two years. Sbioka spoke about his concert, where all the applause and praise went to Mr. Zinnober, and he, the musician, was almost beaten. Signora Bragazzi is in a fever, because everyone praised Zinnober’s singing, but she sang the aria. Offended by all this, Vincenzo Sbioca boasted of putting Zinnober into the double bass.
Balthasar had barely seen off the violinist when he saw his fellow referendar Pulcher trying to shoot himself. Pulcher spoke about his oral examination for the position of secret freight forwarder in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The embassy adviser encouraged him, because the work submitted to the ministry was approved by the minister himself.
— The adviser took the exam from me and the little dwarf. I answered all the questions, but the monster mumbled. The kid behaved indecently, fell from a high chair several times, and I had to sit him down. The adviser smiled kindly at him, they hired him, and they scolded me as if I had come drunk, fell out of my chair, behaved obscenely and knew nothing.
Balthazar shared his thoughts about witchcraft with the referendum, and they decided to bring the baby out into the open.
The comrades heard the music of harmony. A man dressed in Chinese was riding through the forest, with a magnificent beret on his head. The carriage is made of crystal and the wheels too. White unicorns were pulling a carriage, instead of a driver there was a golden pheasant, and a golden beetle was sitting behind. The man greeted his friends, and a bright beam fell on Balthazar from the shiny head of a long stick held by the stranger. It was as if someone had stabbed the young man in the chest. From that moment he decided that this man would save them from the “unholy Zinnoberian spell.”
Chapter Five
How Prince Barsanuf made the secret forwarder Zinnober a secret adviser for special matters. A picture book by Dr. Prosper Alpanus. Baltazarov's escape
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, under whom Herr Zinnober took up his new position, was a descendant of Baron Protextatus von Mondschein, who searched in the chronicles for the genealogy of the fairy Rosabelverde. His ancestor's name was Protextatus von Mondschein, and he had the best education.
The successor of the great Paphnutius, Prince Barsanuf loved him, because every question must be answered, he danced well and understood financial matters.
The baron invited the prince to breakfast with Leipzig larks and a glass of Gdansk golden vodka. Zinnober was also invited. The prince praised the baby, thinking that now it was he who filled out the papers so beautifully and correctly. At this time, the baby stuffed himself with larks, muttering and slurping insignificantly, and put an oil stain on the prince’s cashmere pants.
One young man approached, saying that it was he who was writing the report. But the prince snapped at him, accusing the guy of lying, also noticed that he was the one slurping and put a stain on his trousers.
During breakfast, the prince appointed Mr. Zinnober as Privy Councilor for Special Affairs, remarking: “A true Englishman!
Fabian told Balthasar about Zinnober's career, how Candida fell in love with him and became involved. And Balthazar was not bothered by this. He told his friend about what he had heard and seen in the forest, about the witchcraft of the dwarf.
Fabian insisted that this stranger was not a wizard, but Doctor Prosper Alpanus, who wanted to appear to be one. To make sure of this, the comrades went to the doctor’s villa.
They knocked on the lattice gate with a hammer, an underground rumble was heard, and the gate slowly opened. The guys walked along a wide alley, and two huge frogs jumped along them. Fabian threw a stone at one, and suddenly she turned into a woman, ugly and old, and the other turned into a man who was carefully digging a garden.
It seemed to Balthazar that white unicorns were grazing on the grass, and Fabian saw only horses among them.
Instead of a doorman there was a golden, ostrich-like, shiny bird. Fabian couldn’t believe his eyes here either, insisting that it was a guy in disguise.
The guests were greeted by Doctor Alpanus. Balthasar told him everything he thought about Zinnober. In his library, the owner took a book about root brownies, where they were drawn. When the doctor touched them, they came to life, then he stuffed them into the book again. Balthasar did not find little Zinnober either among the brownies or among the red-haired gnomes.
Then Dr. Alpanus decided to perform another operation. They went into another hall, where Prosper Alpanus demanded that Balthasar wish for Candida to appear.
Blue smoke appeared. Candida appeared, and next to her was the nasty Zinnober, whom she spoiled. Prosper gave Balthasar a club to beat the monster.
After this experience, the doctor concluded: Zinnober is a man, but what forces help him. He invited Balthazar to come again. Fabian shouted that he didn’t believe in these old wives’ tales. Prosper Alpanus reassured him by stroking his arm, from shoulder to wrist.
On the way to Kerepes, Balthazar noticed that his friend had a strange frock coat: the skirts were long and the sleeves were short.
Fabian himself did not understand anything. Having reached the gate, he saw that his sleeves were shortening, and his skirts were lengthening and dragging along the ground behind him. Passers-by laughed at him, and children pulled and tore his coat. As soon as he jumped into a house, the floors disappeared and sleeves appeared.
At this time, Balthazar was dragged into an alley by Pulcher. He said that they were looking for Balthazar because he was accused of violating domestic law: he broke into Mosch Terpin’s house and beat the ugly baby to death. The referendar promised the guy his help, and now sent him to the village of Goch-Jakobsheim, where the famous scientist Ptolomeus Philadelphus wrote his book about an unknown student tribe.
Chapter Six
As Privy Councilor, Zinnober combed his hair in his garden and took a dewy bath. Order of the Green-Spotted Tiger. How Panna Rosenschen visited Prosper Alpanus
Professor Mosch Terpin was happy that his daughter was marrying the Privy Councilor. Now he can rise up the ranks, just like his brother-in-law.
At dawn, Secretary Adrian, the young man who almost lost his place in the ministry office, walked around Zinnober. He regained the prince's favor by obtaining for him a wonderful remedy for removing stains. Privy Councilor Zinnober lived in a beautiful house with the best garden. Every nine days at dawn he himself, without a servant, although it was very difficult for him, got dressed and went into the garden.
Pulcher and Adrian sensed some kind of secret and, recognizing the valet whom the master was supposed to go to the garden at night, they entered the estate.
They saw that some woman with wings on her shoulders flew to the baby and combed his long curls with a golden comb. She wished him to be reasonable. And Kurdupel replied that he was already the smartest.
When the woman disappeared, Pulcher and Adrian jumped out of the bushes, noting that he had been well combed.
Zinnober wanted to run away, but his frail legs let him down. He fell and became entangled in the flowers that overgrown him.
On this occasion, Pulcher wrote a letter to Balthasar. Zinnober, upset by this incident, lay down in bed and moaned. Rumors of his illness came to the prince, who sent him his own physician.
The life doctor determined that the Privy Councilor does not spare himself for the sake of the fatherland. He probably noticed the red stripe on Zinnober's head and inadvertently touched it. Zinnober, sinister with rage, slapped the doctor in the face, the echo went through the room:
- I’m healthy, what do you want from me? I’ll get dressed now and go to the ministry for the conference.
Pretextatus von Mondschein asked Little Zinnober to read a note that he allegedly wrote himself. Hoping for the talent of the Privy Councilor, Pretextatus wanted to win from this report.
But in fact, the note was not written by Minister Mondschein, but by Secretary Adrian.
The kid mumbled and mumbled incomprehensibly, so the prince himself began to read the report. Satisfied, he appointed Zinnober minister and sent Mondschein to rest. The prince also awarded the baby the Order of the Green-Spotted Tiger; he wanted to hang the order ribbon, but it did not hang as it should, according to the rules, on Zinnober - the hill got in the way.
But the prince gathered an order council, which he ordered to figure out how to secure this ribbon on the body of the new minister. He gave them eight days. There were philosophers and a natural scientist here.
Everyone thought. In order to think better, they created conditions of complete silence: in the palace they walked in soft slippers, spoke in a whisper; near the palace the street was covered with a thick layer of straw; It was forbidden to beat drums and play musical instruments near the palace.
The theater tailor Kes, a dexterous and cunning man, was invited to the council. He quickly came up with the idea that the ribbon could be secured with buttons.
The prince approved the resolution of the order council: to introduce several degrees of the Order of the Green-Spotted Tiger, depending on the number of buttons. Minister Zinnober received a special reward: an order with twenty diamond buttons, since that is how many he needed for his strange figure.
Despite his wise invention, the prince did not like the tailor Kes, but still awarded him an order with two gold buttons.
Doctor Alpanus spent the whole night composing Balthasar's horoscope and learned something about the little Zinnober. He wanted to go to Hoch-Jakobsheim, and Fraulein von Rosenschen came to see him.
Vonbula in a long black dress and black haze. Directing the beam of his stick at her, Prosper saw a patroness in white robes, with transparent wings behind her back, with white and red roses in her hair.
He hid the stick and invited the lady for coffee. On this day, a lot of miracles happened: a lady spilled coffee, broke a golden comb, became a butterfly and a mouse, and the doctor turned over into a beetle, then a cat.
Prosper Alpanus told Madame Rosenchen that it was he who warned her about the introduction of education, it was he who kept his park and his magical supplies intact.
Panna asked the doctor to pardon her comrade as her pupil, then the sage showed Balthasar his horoscope. And Panna Rosenschen gave in to this higher power. Thus, the patroness and the wizard are friends.
Chapter Seven
How Professor Mosch Terpin explored nature in the princely cellar. "Mycetes Beelzebub" (1). The despair of student Balthazar. Gift of Prosper Alpanus
Balthazar received a letter from referendar Pulcher: “Our affairs, dear friend Balthazar, are getting worse. The disgusting Zinnober is now Minister of Foreign Affairs and has received the Order of the Green-Spotted Tiger with twenty buttons. Professor Mosch Terpin, through his future son-in-law, received the position of Director General of all Natural Affairs. He censors and revises solar and lunar eclipses, as well as weather forecasting in state-sanctioned calendars, and especially explores nature in the residence and surrounding area. He receives rare birds, the best animals, and in order to explore their nature, he orders them to be roasted, and then eats them. Zinnober made sure that Mosch Terpin could study his new treatise on wine in the princely cellar. He studied a lot of wine and champagne this way.
The minister promises to take revenge on you. And my every meeting with him becomes fatal. In the zoological office, when he stood in front of a glass cabinet with rare American monkeys, strangers confused him with a monkey, calling him Howler Beelzebub. I laughed so hard I couldn't help myself. Zinnober almost burst, his legs gave out, and the valet carried him to the carriage. He even refused the services of the prince's physician. Farewell, Balthazar, don’t lose hope, better hide.”
Balthasar sat brooding in the depths of the forest, lamenting his fate and the vain promises of Prosper Alpanus. Suddenly something flashed strangely, the guy saw a doctor flying towards him on an insect that looked like a field pipit.
Prosper forgave the young man for his thoughts and told him about his love. In India he has a beloved one, from whom his friend Lotus conveyed greetings to him. Point replacement, that was the name of the Indian princess, calls him to her. He also told about Panna von Rosenschen and her pet little Tsakhes.
His strange charms are hidden in three fiery shiny hairs, which Balthazar must pull out and immediately burn so that trouble does not happen. In order to look at the hairs, Alpanus gave the boy a lorgnette, and for his punished comrade Fabian - a tortoiseshell snuffbox, which would relieve him of his spell. Prosper will draw up a formal deed of gift, naming him Balthazar's uncle and giving him his wonderful estate. There, after the wedding, the young man lives with his young wife. This estate has best vegetables for salads, better weather for linen, the best carpets that do not spoil or get stained.
And Prosper Alpanus himself will go to his Balsamina.
(1) Mycetes Beelzebub (lat.) - Beelzebub monkey.
Section eight
In the morning Balthazar sneaked into Kerepes to the house of his friend Fabian. Fabian lay pale in bed. Now he already believed in all sorts of charms, because no matter what suit, which was not tailor-made, it still shortened the sleeves and lengthened the hems. There were a lot of suits hanging in his house right now. Fabian told his friend that theologians consider him a sectarian, and diplomats consider him a rebel. The rector called him, and the student appeared in a vest without a frock coat. Mr. Rector became terribly angry and ordered him to appear in decent form in a week. This deadline expired today. Balthasar handed Fabiano the snuff box. When the guys opened it, a beautifully tailored tailcoat made of the finest cloth fell out of it. This tailcoat suited the young man very well. The spell has disappeared. Balthasar then told his friend about his conversation with Uncle Prosper Alpanus. Fabian promised his support and help.
At that moment Referendar Pulcher was walking down the street, very upset. And Fabian called out to him, and he himself went to see the rector.
Pulcher listened to Balthasar's story, speaking about the sad hour, because it was today that the disgusting dwarf would solemnly celebrate his engagement. Mosch Terpin even invited the prince. In the hall, lit by hundreds of candles, stood the decorated little Zinnober, holding the hand of the young Candida, he grinned and grinned disgustingly. When the time came to exchange rings, Balthazar burst into the hall, followed by Pulcher and Fabian. Everyone started screaming and complaining about this disgrace. Balthazar, through a piece of glass, is probing a magical strand of hair. He grabbed him and Zinnober began to kick his legs, scratch, and bite. Then Fabian and Pulcher began to hold the baby. After this, neither the prince nor those around him saw in him that Minister Zinnober; everyone began to laugh at the Kurdupel dwarf, a disgusting monster.
The prince was angry with Mosch Terpin and took his position away from him general director natural affairs, because at the engagement he did not find his minister.
Mosch Terpin, out of rage, wanted to throw the dwarf out of the window, and the caretaker of the zoological office confused the baby with a monkey. The monster ran out into mocking laughter and, grunting, ran home, unnoticed even by her servants.
Balthasar told everything to Candida, who was fooled by Zinnober's spell. And the girl confessed her love to him. Mosch Terpin screamed, wringing his hands. He was also assured of the charms of the ugly curdupel, received from the fairy Rosabelverde.
“Yes,” said Mosch Terpin, “yes, I was enchanted by the ugly sorcerer... I can no longer stand on my feet... I am floating under the ceiling... Prosper Alpanus will come for me... I will fly on a butterfly... the fairy will comb my hair | Rosabelverde... patroness Rosenchen... I will become a minister! King! Emperor!
Candida and Balthazar informed the professor about their decision to get married. The father allowed: “... Marry, Love, starve together, I will give Candida not a penny of dowry.”
Balthasar wanted to convince him that they would not starve, and they postponed it until tomorrow, because Mr. Professor was very, very tired.
Chapter Nine
How old Lisa started a riot, and Minister Zinnober slipped while running away. How Prince Barsanuf became depressed, how he ate onions, and how no one could replace Zinnober for him
Minister Zinnober's carriage stood in vain almost all night at Terpin's house. For a long time the driver did not believe that Zinnober had gone home on foot and was not here.
Arriving home, he asked the valet, or the owner of the house. The servant said that the gentleman returned from the holiday dissatisfied, now grunting, now meowing like a cat, crawling under the valet’s feet. And now they sleep, snoring as they always do on big matters.
The servants went to check, and now Zinnober is snoring. The baby snored, won, whistled in a bizarre way.
Early in the morning there was a noise in the minister's house. Some old peasant woman, dressed in a wretched festive dress that had long since faded, asked to be her son, little Tsakhes. The doorman said that this was the house of Minister Zinnober, and there was no such thing among the servants. The woman was driven away.
Then she sat down on the stone steps of the house on the other side of the street. People began to gather around her. They didn't know if she was crazy or if there was truth in her words. The woman looked at the Zinnober window. And then she smiled:
- Here he is, my little Tsakhes.
Everyone looked there and began to laugh when they saw little Zinnober, in embroidered scarlet robes, hanging with an order ribbon, standing at the window that reached the very floor.
The spectators, laughing, shouted:
- Little Tsakhes! Little Tsakhes!
The servants laughed the most furiously when they saw their master.
The minister, realizing that they were laughing at him, began to threaten the police, guards, and prison. But the more the minister lashed out, the louder the laughter rose. They started throwing stones and vegetables at him.
Meanwhile, a rumor spread that this was really little Tsakhes, who had climbed to the top through shameful lies and deceit, taking away the proud name of Zinnober.
People poured into the ministers' house, the valet wrung his hands. He could not find his owner, and neither did the people.
When the riot subsided, Zinnober did not leave his hiding place. The valet noticed “that one beautiful silver vessel with ears, which always stood in the white of the toilet, because the minister valued it very much, as a precious gift from the prince himself, had small, thin legs sticking out.” When the servant pulled him out of there, His Excellency was dead - the valet began to cry; Having dried him, he put him in bed and called the life doctor.
Fraulein von Rosenschen entered the room. She calmed the people down, and after her came Lisa, little Tsakhes’s own mother. Dead Zinnober now seemed better than he ever had in his life. A soft, light smile froze on his lips. The hair again fell on the shoulders in curls, and did not curl up. Panna stroked the baby’s head, and instantly a red stripe glistened in his hair.
Lisa began to cry and complain: it would be better if he stayed at home, I would carry him in a basket, and they would give me coins someday.
Lisa thought that this whole house and the money that her son had made would remain hers. But no. The woman became even more upset. She wanted to take her little Tsakhes so that the priest would stuff him. The fairy got angry, sent the woman out, ordered her to wait, and wanted to do something to console and help.
Rosabelverde thanked Prosper Alpanus, who restored the baby to his appearance, that the monster would be buried with honors.
Prince Barsanuf cried a lot when he saw his minister dead. The life doctor, having examined the deceased, determined the cause of death - not physical, but mental. He believed that the minister was doing a lot state affairs, as well as the pressure of the medal ribbon interfered with the activity of the brain and nodal system.
The prince cried a little more and left. Leaving the house, he saw old Lisa with a wreath of golden bow. He spoke to her kindly, tasted her golden sweet onions, and ordered her to supply onions to the prince’s kitchen. The prince tried the sweet, strong, hot onion, and in front of him he saw the deceased Zinnober, who whispered to him: “Buy, eat this onion, prince, for the benefit of the state!” The prince gave the League several gold pieces, and so she got out of poverty with the help of the secret charms of the beautiful Rose.
The funeral of Minister Zinnober was one of the most magnificent: he was buried with honor, remembering all the services of his mind to the state.
Last section
How Professor Mosch Terpin calmed down, and Candida was never irritated again. Like a golden beetle buzzed in the ear of Doctor Prosper Alpanas, he said goodbye and left, and Balthazar lived happily with his wife
Now, dear reader, I want to say goodbye to you. The one who copies these sheets for you knows a lot about the glorious deeds of Zinnober and would gladly tell you. But alas! Looking back at strange events, having accumulated them, he is afraid of losing your trust, dear reader. Having written “The Last Section,” he asks to look at these images at ease, even to make friends with them.
The story could have ended with the death of Zinnober, and it would have been better to end with a joyful wedding.
Balthasar reassured Mosch Terpin by showing Minister Zinnober through the lorgnette; surprised him by introducing him to his uncle Prosper Alpanus, who gave the newlyweds his estate with surrounding forests, fields, and meadows. Here the professor could study his new experiments.
The guy introduced Candida's father to a spacious beer hall, which was no worse than a princely cellar.
At this point the professor calmed down.
Balthazar's wedding was celebrated in a suburban villa. The bride was absorbed by the fairy Rosabelverde, who surrounded the girl with her charms. Candida was extremely charming. In addition, Rosenshen gave her a wonderful magic necklace, and since then she put it on, and she never got irritated over trifles.
The young man and the young woman were happy.
The wizard and the sorceress decorated the wedding with miracles: sweet songs about love, tables with dishes and crystal bottles rose from the ground.
At night the golden beetle descended, and Prosper, saying goodbye to everyone, flew to India.
Balthasar, remembering the advice of Prosper Alpanus, wisely used the beautiful suburban estate, and became a good poet. Candida was never irritated, for she did not take off her necklace. The young people lacked nothing, they lived a happy family life.
So, the fairy tale about the baby Tsakhes, nicknamed Zinnober, now really has a completely happy ending p>
