The Adventures of Dunno and His Friends Nosov N 1980

178 Pages·1980·35.95 MB·English

Translated from the Rus

by Margaret Wettln

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{Chapter One. THE MITES OF FLOWER TOWN

Chapter Tz. DUNNO TAKES MUSIC LESSONS 2
Chopier Three, HOW DUNNO BECAME AN ARTIST 16
Chopier Four. HOW DUNNO BECAME. A POET 20
Chapter Fie. HOW DUNNO TOOK A BIDE IN A SODA-
WATER CAR 2s
Chapter Six, HOW DOONO MADE A BALLOON 31

Chapter Seven. PREPARATIONS TOR THE ASCENT 38
Chapter Light. UP IN THE AIR IN A BALLOON 44

Chapter Nite. UP YN THE CLOUDS 49
Chapter Ten. AN ACCIDENT. 58
Chapter Eleven. IN A STRANGE PLACE 6
Chapter Twelve. NEW FRIENDS. 67
Chapter Thirteen, DUNNO TELLS OF HIS ADVEN-
TURES. n
Chapter Fourteen. \ WALK ABOUT TOWN, 80
Chapter Fifer. IN THE HOSPITAL 88
Chaprer Sixteen. THE CONCERT 34
(Chapter Seventeen. BESDUM AND TWISTUM GO TO KI-
Te TOWN 98
Chapter Eighucen. IN KITE TOWN 104
Chapter Nineteen A VISIT TO A LIVE AUTHOR 110
Choprer Twenty, BLOBS. AT WORK M7
(Chapter Twent}-One. THE RETURN OF BENDUM AND
TwISTUM 123
Chapter Twent)-Two, THE ADVANTAGES OF MECHA-
NIZATION 129
Chapter Twenty-Tiee. DR, PILLMAN AND GRUMPS
RUN AWAY. 133
Chopler Twenty-Four. BLOBS’ EFFICIENCY MEASURE 138
(Chapter Twenty-Five SHOT 18 CURED 142
Chapter Twenty-Six. THE RETURN OF NAILS. 147
Chapter Tsenty-Seven. AN UNEXPECTED ENCOUN:
TER 151
Chapter Twenty-Fight. DUNNO 1S FORGIVEN, 156
Chapter Tventy-Nine, THE BALL 160

Chapter Thirty. HOME in

Chapter One
THE MITES OF FLOWER TOWN

(Once upon a time, in a town in fairyland. lived some people called the
Mites. They were called the Mites because they were very tiny, The big-
gest of them was no bigger than a pine cone. ‘Their town was very pretty
Around every house grew daisics, dandclions, and honeysuckle, and the
streets were all named after flowers: Blue-bell Street, Daisy Lane, and
Primrose Avenue. Thal is why the town was called Flower Town. Tt
stoed on the bank of a litte brook, The Mites called it Cucumber River
Trecause so many cucumbers grew on its banks.

On the other side of the brook wis wood, The Mites made bests out
cf bireh-bark and crossed the brook in them when they went to gather
nuts, berries, and mushrooms in the wood, It was hard for the Mites to

3
pick berties because thoy were so small, When they picked auts they had
to climb the bushes and take saws with them to cut off the stems, for the
Mites could not pick the nuts by hand. They sawed off mushrooms,
too-sawed them off at the very ground, then cut thew into pieves and
carried them home on their shoulders like logs.

‘There were two kinds of Mites-boy-Mites snd giel-Mites, The hoy-
Mites wore Jong trousers or short broeches held up by braces, and
girl-Mices wore dresses made out of all sorts of bright stuffs, The boy-
Mites couldn’t be bothered to comb their hair, and so they eut it short,
bout the girl-Mites wore their hair long. They loved to.comd it in all sorts
of pretty ways, Some wore it in Ione plaits with ribbons woven into
them. Others wore it hanging about their shoulders with big bows on
top.

‘The boy-Mites were so proud of being boys that they would have
nothing to do with the girlMites, And the girl-Mites were so proud of
Ising girls that they would not make friends with the boy-Mices. If
agirl-Mite caught sight ofa boy-Mite coming dawn the street, she would
crass 10 the other side. And she was quite right, for some of the hoy-

Mites were so nasty they would be sure to give
her a shove or pull her hair or call her a horrid
name. They were not ull like this, of course, but
you couldn't tell what they were like by looking.
at them, and 0 the girl-Mites decided to cross the
stcet every time, just in case, Sometumes you
could hear a boy-Mite call a gicleMite “Stuck-up!” and
the gitlMite would call back “Bully! or something
else just as rude,

Perhaps you don’t believe this. Perhaps you think sueh
things don't happen in real fife. Well, nobudy says they
do, Real life is one thing, and fairy-tale life is another.
Anything can happen in faity-tales.

In one of the houses in Blue-bell Steet lived sixteen boy-
Mites. The most important of thet: was Deono, He was na-
‘med Doono because he did know everything, and he knew
everything because he was always reading books. There
were books on his bed and under his bed. You couldn't find
4 spot in his room witholt a book on it, He learned all
sovts of things from these books, and so everybody admi-
ted him and did whatever he said. He always dressed in
black. and when he sa: down at his sriting-table with his
speciicles on and hegan reading a book, he looked for all
the world like & professor.

Ta this same house lived Dr. Pillmon, who looked after
the Mites when they fll il, He always wore a white coal und
a white cap with a tassel on it, Here, 100, lived the
famous tinker Bendum and his helper Twistum. And here
lived Treaely-Sweeter who, as everyone knew, had & great
weakness for fizzy drinks with lots of syrup in them. He
was very polite, He liked to have people call him
‘Tresely-Sweeter and was very unhappy when they called
him simply Sweeter

Besides these there was a hunter named Shot. He had a
lite dog he called Dot and a gun that shot corks. There
was also um artist named! Blobs and a musician named
Tells. The others were called Swifty, Cramps, Mums
Problly, But the most famous of them all was a Mite by the name of
‘Dunno, He vas called Dunno because he did not know everything — in
fact he did not know anything.

Dunno wore a bright blue hat, bright yellow trousers, a bright orange
shirt, and a bright gen tie, He was very fond of bright colours. He
would dress himself up in his bright clothes and go wandering about the
streets muaking up ull sorts of tales and telling ther toveverybeedy he met
He loved to tease the girl-Mites. As soon as a girl-Mite caught sight of
his orange shirt coming down the street she would turn round and ran
home.

Dunno had a friend named Gunky who lived in Daisy Lane. He and
Dunno would sit and talk for hours on end. They quatrelied twenty
times a day, but they always made it up.

(One day something happened to Dunno that made him the talk of the
town. He had gone for a walk in the fields all by himself. Suddenly
‘acockchafer came Hlying past and struck him on the back of the head.
Dunno tured a somersault in the air and fell lat on the ground. The
cockchafer kept on flying ane was soon out of sight. Dunno jumped up
and looked round to see what had struck him, but there was nothing te
be seen,

“What could have hil me? he thought. “Something must have fallen

He looked up in the air, but there was
nothing there either — nothing but the sun
which was shining brightly in the sky.

“It musi have been the sun,” he decided.
A piece must have broken off and fallen
He turned round and sel out for home, und on the
way’ he met a friend named Glass-Eve

Glass-Eye was. famous astronomer. He knew how to
make magnifying glasses out of bits of broken bottle.
Everything looked bigger when seen through these
glasses. By putting several of them together he had
made a telescope with which he studied the moon
and the stars.

“Glase-Eye,” sid Dunno, “a very strange. thing
has happened. A pioce of the sun dropped off and
hit me on the ced.

“What are you saying?" laughed Glass-Eye. “I a
piece of the sun had hit you, it would have smashed
you to smithereens. T
bigger than our earth

“I. eouldnt
then a saucer."

“It just seems to be because its 80 very far away.
The sun is a great ball of fire. I've seen it through
ny telescope. If just alittle bit of it broke off it would
smash our whole town.”

“Think of that! said Dunno. “I never knew the
sun was so big. Ill go and tell everybody about it,
they may not have beard. But take another look at
the sum through your clescope. Maybe it does have a
pieve out of it afer all”

Dunno set ont for home again, and he
said to everybody he met

id Dunno, “The sum is no bigger