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Dunno's Adventures
by Nikolai Nosov
Translated by Margaret Wettlin
freebooksforkids.net
Illustrated by Viktor & Kira Grigorievs
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Chapter Twenty-Nine
THE BALL
At this point the orchestra struck up a lively tune and everyone began to dance.
Swifty went whirling away with the black-haired Minny, Doono danced with Snowdrop, Grumps with Birdie, and — wonder of wonders! — Dr. Pillman with Honeysuckle! Really and truly! Strange as it may seem, Honeysuckle came to the ball. Instead of her usual white smock, she was wearing a pretty flowered dress. You would hardly have known it was the same Honeysuckle who ordered everybody about so brusquely at the hospital. With a smile on her face and her hand on Dr. Pillman's shoulder she went round and round in the dance.
"You must admit our methods of treatment are better than yours," she whispered into his ear. "Honey is the thing to treat all scratches, bruises, wounds, boils, and even abscesses with. Honey is a strong disinfectant and keeps things from festering."
"I must disagree with you," said Dr. Pillman. "All wounds, scratches and boils must be treated with iodine. Iodine, too, is a strong disinfectant and keeps things from festering."
"But you can't deny that your iodine burns the skin, while our honey is absolutely painless."
"I can't deny that your honey may do for treating girl-Mites, but it can't possibly be used on boy- Mites."
"Why is that?" asked Honeysuckle.
"You yourself have said that treatment with honey is painless."
"And do you think treatment ought to be painful?"
"I do," said Dr. Pillman firmly. "If a boy-Mite climbs a fence and scratches his leg, the leg must be painted with iodine so that the patient will know it is dangerous to climb fences and will not do it again."
"He'll just climb roofs instead and fall down and hurt his head," said Honeysuckle.
"Then we'll paint his head with iodine so that he'll know it's dangerous to climb roofs too. Iodine has great educational significance."
"A doctor should be more concerned with relieving suffering than with education." said Honeysuckle. "Your iodine only increases suffering."
"A doctor must think of everything," said Dr. Pillman. "Of course, if you're always treating girls there's nothing to think of, but if you're treating boys —"
"Let's change the subject," said Honeysuckle. "It's impossible to dance with you."
"It's you it's impossible to dance with." "You might be more civil."
"It's hard to be civil when I meet with such ignorance." "It's you who are ignorant. You're not a doctor at all, you're just a quack!"
"And you're a ... you're a ...."
Dr. Pillman was too furious to speak. He just stood there in the middle of the floor opening and closing his mouth like a fish out of water. Other couples kept bumping into them. Honeysuckle was nearly knocked off her feet.
"What are you standing here for?" she said, pulling his sleeve. "Dance. We're in the way."
With a hopeless wave of his hand, Dr. Pillman went whirling down the floor. At first they danced in silence, but soon they took up the quarrel again.
Roly-Poly was dancing with Fluff. Their talk was of an entirely different nature.
"Are you fond of bon-bons?" asked Roly-Poly.
"Awfully," said Fluff. "Are you?"
"Oh yes. But I like French pastry better."
"And I like ice-cream best of all."
Bendum was dancing with Chippy.
"I'd just love to learn to drive a car," said Chippy. "Lots of my friends know how, so I think I could learn too."
"It's very simple," said Bendum. "All you have to do is turn on the ignition, put her in gear, and step on the gas...."
Dunno was dancing with Cornflower. That is, he wasn't really dancing. She was dancing, but he was just leaping about like a goat, stepping on her toes and knocking into everybody.
"Let's sit out this dance," said Cornflower when she could stand it no longer.
They sat down on a bench.
"I don't know how to dance at all," confessed Dunno.
"I'm glad to hear you say it," said Cornflower. "Another boy would be sure to make excuses — say his feet hurt or his head ached, but you are honest enough to say you don't know how. I see I can make friends with you."
"Of course you can," said Dunno.
"I like to have boy-friends," said Cornflower. "I don't like girls because they're always standing in front of the looking-glass and thinking of their looks."
"Some boys like to stand in front of the looking-glass too," said Dunno.
"But you don't, do you?"
"Oh, no!" said Dunno. (This was not quite the truth, for he often glanced at himself in the looking-glass when no one was watching, and he thought quite a good deal about his looks. But so do all boys if the truth be told.)
"I'm very glad you don't," said Cornflower. "Let's be friends, you and I, shall we? And let's write letters to each other. First you write to me and then I'll write to you."
Caught! thought Dunno to himself, for he hardly knew how to write, and of course he would be ashamed to have Cornflower know this.
"Why should we write letters?" he muttered uneasily. "We don't live far away from each other. We can talk to each other."
"What a bore you are, Dunno!" said Cornflower. "You don't want to do anything I ask you to. If you only knew what fun it is to get letters!"
"Very well," said Dunno. "I'll write to you."
Soon it grew dark.
Hundreds of coloured lanterns were lighted. They gleamed on the trees and the pavilions. Here and there they were hidden in the grass under the trees, and it seemed as if the grass itself was glowing with some mysterious light. The lower part of the orchestra stand had a lovely blue curtain drawn across it. All of a sudden this curtain parted, revealing a stage.
Blossom, the poetess, came out on the stage and cried:
"Quiet, everybody! We are going to have a concert. Quiet!"
The Mites sat down on the benches in front of the stage and waited for the concert to begin.
"Quiet!" cried Blossom again. "The first number on the programme is me. I am going to read you my latest poem. It's about friendship."
The Mites clapped loudly. When the clapping had died down Trills lifted his baton, the orchestra began to play, and Blossom recited her poem to music. It was as fine a poem as all the others she had written, and it ended with the words: "On friendship happiness depends, we always ought to be good friends." Everyone liked the poem.
Next some dances were performed. Twelve girl-Mites dressed in thin frocks of different colours trimmed with ribbons did a number of dances, the most popular of which was "Turnip". The audience clapped their hands and called out "Encore!" until this dance was repeated twice. After this a boy-Mite chorus from Kite Town sang a few songs.
As soon as this chorus stopped singing Trills climbed on to the stage and called:
"Come up on the stage, fellows! Come on!"
Doono, Swifty, Dr. Pillman, and the rest of Doono's companions rushed to the stage.
"Attention!" called out Trills. "You are now going to hear the chorus from Flower Town!"
He played on his flute and all the Flower Town boys sang a song about a grasshopper written by Posey:
|
On to a blade of grass he flew, And amber
eyes, He did not eat the blade of grass, Nor touched a fly, But soon a tree-toad, greedy beast, Of
beetle's friend, Could ever one with ways so sweet So sad an end? |
So mournful was the song that not even the singers could keep from weeping bitterly. All of them felt sorry for the poor grasshopper who was eaten up by the greedy tree-toad. Tears streamed down every cheek.
"Such a sweet grasshopper!" gulped Scatterbrain.
"Didn't touch a fly, and was a friend to the beetle!" sniffled Swifty.
"And then had to go and get eaten up by a toad!" whimpered Bendum.
Doono was the only one who remained untouched.
"Don't cry, friends." he said consolingly. "The toad didn't really eat the grasshopper. It ate a fly, honest to goodness it did."
"Then I'm sorry for the fly," wailed Bendum.
"Why should you be sorry for a fly? They're a general nuisance and spread disease. How foolish to cry over a fly!"
"I'm not crying over a fly," said Grumps. "It's just that the song reminds me of how we used to sing back home."
All of a sudden Dunno sobbed so loudly that everyone else stopped crying and turned to comfort him. They begged him to tell them what the trouble was, but he was sobbing too hard to answer them. At last he gasped out:
"I ... I ... want to see ... Gunky!"
"How is thai?" asked everyone in surprise. "He never showed the least concern for Gunky, and now he's crying for him!"
"Oh, didn't 1?" said Dunno pettishly. "Do you think it's nice for me to be here and Gunky there?"
"Your Gunky won't die without you," said Swifty.
"He misses me just as much as I miss him. He's my very best friend, and I didn't even say good-bye to him when I left."
"Why didn't you?"
"I quarrelled with him and didn't want to say good-bye. When we sailed away he kept looking at me and waving his hand to me, but I turned away on purpose and wouldn't look at him. I was very proud to be going up in a balloon, but now I am troubled by my ... by my ... what do you call it?"
"Conscience?" suggested Dr. Pillman.
"That's it — conscience. If I had said good-bye to him 1 would feel better. Let's go home. I'll make it up with Gunky and say good-bye, to him."
"If we go home you'll want to say hullo and not good-bye," said Doono.
"First I'll say good-bye and then hullo, and everything will be all right."
"I'm afraid we'll have to go home, friends," said Trills. "Dunno is homesick."
"Well, it's high time I was getting back, too," said Dr. Pillman. "What if someone in Flower Town should fall ill while I'm away?"
"All good things come to an end," said Doono. 'We've got to go home some time. Let's go tomorrow."
When the ball was over, Cornflower went over to Dunno.
"So you're leaving?" she said sadly. "Yes, it's time we were going home."
"You weren't here very long."
"I'd like to stay longer, but I want to go home, too," said Dunno, dropping his head.
Cornflower said nothing for a little while.
"Of course it's time for you to go home," she sighed at last. "Your friends must be worried about you. I'm very glad that you don't forget your friends."
Both of them were silent. Dunno wanted to say something, but the words stuck in his throat. He dug into the earth with his heel and kept his eyes on the ground, unable to look at Cornflower. He was afraid she would notice the tears in his eyes. At last he raised his head and their eyes met.
"Would you like me to make you a knapsack?" she asked.
"I would."
On the next day Doono and his friends set out. They had decided to go on foot. The balloon had burst and it would have been hard to mend it. Besides, the wind was against them. Doono, with the compass in his hand, led the way. Behind him came Dr. Pillman. then Bendum and Twistum and all the others. Dunno was the very last.
They all had knapsacks on their backs which the girls of Greenville had made for them. Inside the knapsacks were buns to eat on the way, as well as seeds of fruit, vegetables, and flowers that were not to be found in Flower Town. Treacly-Sweeter had put a water-melon seed in each of his pockets.
AH the girl-Mites of Greenville came to see them off, and many of them were crying.
"Don't cry," said Doono. "Some day we'll make another balloon and come back to see you."
"Come in the spring, when the apple-trees are in blossom," cried the girls. "It's very beautiful here in the spring."
The girls stopped when they got to the end of the town, and the boys continued along a path that wound among high grasses and wild flowers.
"Good-bye! Good-bye! called out the girl- Mites. waving their hands.
"Good-bye!" called back the boy-Mites.
Cornflower waved her hand in silence.
Soon the boy-Mites were so far away they could hardly hear the voices of their Greenville friends.
"Dunno! Dunno!" called Cornflower suddenly.
Dunno turned round.
"Don't forget to write!"
Dunno nodded and waved his hat.
"He heard me!" cried Cornflower happily.
Soon the travellers were mere dots against the landscape, then they disappeared altogether around a bend in the road. Everyone felt very sad.
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
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