Nikolai Nikolaevich Nosov

Dunno on the Moon

Chapter first

How Znayka defeated Professor Zvezdochkin

Two and a half years have passed since Dunno made a trip to the Sunny City. Although for you and me this is not so much, but for little shorties, two and a half years is a very long time. After listening to the stories of Dunno, Knopochka, and Patchkula Pyostrenky, many of the little ones also made a trip to the Sunny City, and when they returned, they decided to make some improvements in themselves as well. The flower city has changed since then so that now it is unrecognizable. Many new, large and very beautiful houses appeared in it. According to the project of the architect Vertibutylkin, even two revolving buildings were built on Kolokolchikov Street. One is a five-story, tower-type, with a spiral descent and a swimming pool around (going down the spiral descent, you could dive right into the water), the other six-story, with swinging balconies, a parachute tower and a ferris wheel on the roof. A lot of cars, spiral vehicles, tube-planes, air-powered motorcycles, caterpillar all-terrain vehicles and other different vehicles appeared on the streets.

And that's not all, of course. The inhabitants of the Sunny City learned that the short men from the Flower City were engaged in construction, and came to their aid: they helped them build several so-called industrial enterprises. According to the project of engineer Klepka, a large clothing factory was built, which produced a wide variety of clothing, from rubber bras to winter coats made of synthetic fiber. Now no one had to pore over with a needle to sew the most ordinary trousers or a jacket. At the factory, everything was done for short cars. Finished products, as in the Sunny City, were taken to stores, and there everyone already took what they needed. All the concerns of the factory workers were reduced to inventing new styles of clothing and making sure that nothing was produced that the public did not like.

Everyone was very pleased. The only one who got hurt in this case was Donut. When Donut saw that now you can take in the store any thing that you might need, he began to wonder why he needed all that pile of costumes that he had accumulated at home. All these costumes were also out of fashion, and they still could not be worn. Having chosen a darker night, Donut tied his old suits in a huge bundle, secretly took them out of the house and drowned them in the Cucumber River, and instead of them he dragged himself new suits from the stores. It ended up that his room turned into some kind of warehouse for ready-made clothes. The suits lay in his closet, and on the closet, and on the table, and under the table, and on the bookshelves, hung on the walls, on the backs of chairs, and even under the ceiling, on strings.

From such an abundance of woolen products in the house, moths divorced, and so that she would not gnaw at the suits, Donut had to poison her daily with mothballs, from which there was such a strong smell in the room that the unusual little man was knocked down. The donut itself smelled, through and through with this stupefying smell, but he got so used to it that he even stopped noticing it. For others, however, this smell was very noticeable. As soon as Donut came to visit someone, the hosts immediately began to feel dizzy from stupefaction. Donuts were immediately chased away and all windows and doors were quickly opened wide to ventilate the room, otherwise one could faint or go crazy. For the same reason, Donut did not even have the opportunity to play with the shorties in the yard. As soon as he went out into the yard, everyone around him began to spit and, holding their noses with their hands, rushed to run away from him in different directions without looking back. Nobody wanted to hang out with him. Needless to say, for Donut it was terribly insulting, and he had to take all the costumes he did not need to the attic.

However, that was not the point. The main thing was that Znayka also visited the Sunny City. There he met the little scientists Fuchsia and Herring, who at that time were preparing their second flight to the moon. Znayka also got involved in the construction of a space rocket and, when the rocket was ready, made an interplanetary journey with Fuchsia and Herring. Arriving on the Moon, our brave travelers examined one of the small lunar craters in the region of the lunar Sea of ​​Clarity, visited a cave located in the center of this crater, and made observations on the change in gravity. On the Moon, as is known, the force of gravity is much less than on the Earth, and therefore observations of the change in the force of gravity are of great scientific importance. After being on the moon for about four hours. Znayka and his companions were forced to set off as soon as possible on the return journey, since their air supplies were running out. Everyone knows that there is no air on the Moon, and in order not to suffocate, you should always take a supply of air with you. In condensed form, of course.

Returning to the Flower City, Znayka talked a lot about his journey. Everyone was very interested in his stories, and especially the astronomer Steklyashkin, who more than once observed the Moon through a telescope. Through his telescope, Steklyashkin managed to discern that the surface of the Moon is not flat, but mountainous, and many mountains on the Moon are not like ours on Earth, but for some reason are round, or rather, ring-shaped. Scientists call these ring mountains lunar craters, or cirques. To understand what such a lunar circus or crater looks like, imagine a huge round field, twenty, thirty, fifty or even a hundred kilometers across, and imagine that this huge round field is surrounded by an earthen rampart or mountain only two or three kilometers high. , - so you get a lunar circus, or a crater. There are thousands of such craters on the Moon. There are small ones - about two kilometers, but there are also gigantic ones - up to one hundred and forty kilometers in diameter.

Many scientists are interested in the question of how lunar craters formed, from what they came from. In the Solar City, all the astronomers even quarreled among themselves, trying to resolve this complex issue, and were divided into two halves. One half claims that lunar craters originated from volcanoes, the other half says that lunar craters are traces of the fall of large meteorites. Therefore, the first half of astronomers are called followers of the volcanic theory or simply volcanists, and the second - followers of the meteorite theory or meteorites.

Znayka, however, did not agree with either the volcanic or meteorite theory. Even before traveling to the moon, he created his own theory of the origin of lunar craters. Once, together with Steklyashkin, he observed the Moon through a telescope, and it struck him that the lunar surface is very similar to the surface of a well-baked pancake with its spongy holes. After that, Znayka often went to the kitchen and watched pancakes being baked. He noticed that while the pancake is liquid, its surface is completely smooth, but as it is heated in a frying pan, bubbles of heated steam begin to appear on its surface. Having stepped on the surface of the pancake, the bubbles burst, as a result of which shallow holes form on the pancake, which remain when the dough is properly baked and loses viscosity.

Znayka even wrote a book in which he wrote that the surface of the moon was not always hard and cold, as it is now. Once upon a time, the Moon was a Fiery-liquid, that is, a ball heated to a molten state. Gradually, however, the surface of the moon cooled and became no longer liquid, but viscous, like dough. From the inside, it was still very hot, so hot gases escaped to the surface in the form of huge bubbles. Having come to the surface of the Moon, these bubbles, of course, burst. But while the surface of the Moon was still quite liquid, the traces of the bursting bubbles tightened and disappeared, leaving no trace, just as bubbles do not leave a trace on water during rain. But

MEETING THE WIZARD

When Button returned to the hotel, she immediately began to regret that she had not stayed with Dunno and Motley.

No matter how they did trouble without me ... No matter how something happened, she said.

Without them, she was a little bored. In order to have fun, Button turned on the TV. At that time, some short, bespectacled scientist was speaking on television and reading a long and boring report on carmines.

It's like they have nothing more to give! - Button said with annoyance.

Turning off the TV, she paced the room from corner to corner, now and then looking at the clock.

I'm going back to the zoo! she said, losing her patience, but she quickly dismissed the thought. How can I get to the zoo? I really can't climb over the fence! .. Well, well, let them just come back! I'll show them how to thrill me!

Time passed, but Dunno and Motley did not appear. The button no longer knew what to think, and began to imagine various horrors. It seemed to her that Dunno and Pestrenky were caught by the watchman and sent to the police. Every minute her anxiety grew.

Soon Knopochka could not find a place for herself from anxiety. It's midnight. The clock struck twelve.

Now it is clear that something happened to them, - said Button.

She already wanted to run to the zoo, but at that time the door opened, and Dunno and Motley appeared on the threshold. Both had disheveled hair, their eyes wandered wildly; Pestrenky's nose was scratched, and his face was soiled beyond the usual measure.

What else have you done there, Dunno? Button angrily approached him. - Where have you been all the time?

Don't worry, Button, don't worry, Dunno replied. - Everything will be fine, you'll see, just don't get angry. I, Button, set the lion free.

What lion? Button was scared.

Well, the one who was in the cage. I got into a cage with a lion by mistake.

The button was horrified.

Woe to me with you! she screamed. - Then you did tricks with donkeys, and now you've taken on lions! Where will it end?

Don't worry, Button. It will end well. Tomorrow morning I will go and do everything right. It will be light in the morning, and I won’t confuse anything. I'll fix it, you'll see!

You'll fix it! Better leave it all. If you want to know, I'm even glad now that you don't have a magic wand. Give you a wand, so you will arrange an earthquake here! We'll go home tomorrow, that's all. I don't want to stay here for a minute!

And what are you going to? I haven't told everything yet.

What else? Button was scared.

Our car was stolen.

This was still missing! Button exclaimed. - How are we going home?

What am I talking about? I'm talking about this. Let's get a wand - we will have a car; If we don't get it, there won't be a car.

The next morning, Button woke up, as usual, early, but when she went to wake Dunno, she saw that he was not in bed. Pied was still sleeping. She began to wake him up.

What is it, Motley? Where is the unknown?

But isn't he? - asked, waking up. Motley.

So no, since I'm asking.

He probably ran away to the zoo, - said Pestrenky.

Come on, get ready quickly, and let's go, - said Button.

Where are we going?

Well, the zoo, of course.

So there is a lion!

The lion must have been caught a long time ago.

Half an hour later Knopochka and Motley were already at the entrance to the zoo. Entering the gate, they quickly walked along the path. Motley kept behind Knopochka and looked around timidly. All the time it seemed to him that a lion was about to jump out of somewhere and rush at him. Still from a distance, Button and Motley saw a monkey cage and Dunno lurking around the corner. There was a cleaner in the cage. She was sweeping the floor with a broom. The button crept up to Dunno from behind.

What are you doing here? she asked.

Quiet! Dunno waved his hands at her. - The magic wand is here! There, you see, she is still lying on the floor, where the monkey left her yesterday. Now the cleaning lady will sweep the floor, and maybe she will throw the wand out of the cage - then we will take it, and everything will be in order.

In the meantime, the cleaning lady finished sweeping the floor, collected the garbage in a bucket, and picked up the wand and put it in the bucket too.

Nothing, Dunno reassured Button. - We'll go after her now and see where she throws the garbage.

However, the cleaning lady did not carry the garbage anywhere, but began to clean in the neighboring cage. So she moved from cell to cell, and the bucket was more and more filled with garbage. Finally, she finished cleaning and emptied everything in the bucket into the dustbin that stood by the fence behind the cages. Dunno waited for the cleaner to disappear, and said to Button and Motley:

Stay here and see that no one comes near.

And he ran to the box, opened the lid and climbed inside. For a while, muffled grunting and sniffling came from the box. Finally, Dunno's head popped out from under the lid.

Here it is, the magic wand! he said, smiling triumphantly.

For joy, the Button even jumped.

Bravo! she said, and slowly clapped her hands.

Dunno got out of the box and walked along the path, carefully carrying a wand in front of him.

Now I will take care of her! he said. Now no one can take her away from me!

Following Dunno walked Button and Motley. They held hands in unison. Both of their faces broke into smiles.

Now we can go to the circus and help Leaf out, - said Button.

Ah, true! I forgot about Leaf! - exclaimed Dunno. - Well, hurry to the circus!

He turned and ran towards the exit. Button and Motley could hardly keep up with him. Five minutes later, all three were already sitting in a striped push-button taxi. Dunno pressed the button with the inscription "Circus", and the car sped through the streets. They did not have time to look back, as they were already in the circus.

In the arena, they saw several acrobats jumping and tumbling - they must have been preparing for the evening performance. Dunno and Motley really wanted to look at them, but Button said:

Is this what we came here for? After we'll see.

Okay, after, - Dunno agreed.

Having made their way between the rows of chairs, our travelers entered the door for the artists and got into the service room. It was a long barn with a cement floor. Along the walls were cages with various animals. There was a lion in one of the cages.

Lion again! - Pestrenky said frightened. - Probably, some nonsense will come out again ...

At the end of the room were horse stalls. Coming closer, the travelers saw that among the horses was a donkey. He stood in a small stall, tied by a bridle to an iron ring that was set into the wall. Turning his head back, the donkey looked sadly at Dunno.

It is he! - Dunno whispered. - I recognize him.

Fearing that he would not get it from Leaf for turning him into a donkey, Dunno moved away from him and, preparing to run away as soon as possible, waved his wand.

I want the donkey to turn into Leaf! he said softly.

However, no transformation took place. Dunno again waved his wand and said louder:

I want this donkey to turn back into Little Leaf!

The transformation did not happen this time either.

What is it? - Dunno was excited.

He shook his wand in the air with all his might and shouted out his spells, but the donkey remained an ass and did not want to turn into Leaf. At this time, a circus guard approached them.

And what are you doing here? - he asked.

Dunno was confused and did not know what to say, but Motley came to the rescue.

We came to see the show,” he said.

And you have to come to the show in the evening.

The watchman escorted them outside and closed the door.

What is it? - Asked, perplexed, Dunno. Why did the wand stop working? Well, I'll check again.

He waved his wand again and said:

I want two servings of ice cream!

Three servings! - Pestrenky corrected.

I want three servings of ice cream! - Dunno repeated.

However, no matter how much he repeated these words, not even one serving of ice cream appeared.

Listen, Dunno, you probably took the wrong wand, - said Motley.

How - not that one? - Dunno was surprised.

Well, that one was magical, but this one wasn't magical at all.

Where do you think the magic is?

And the magical one remained in the dustbin.

Oh, I'm crazy! Dunno shouted, clutching his head. - Come on, quickly back to the zoo!

A few minutes passed, and our adventurers again raced through the zoo. Running up to the box, Dunno rushed at him like a tiger, knocked it upside down and poured all the garbage on the ground. The three of them began rummaging through the garbage, but no one found another wand.

You see! - Dunno said to Pestrenky. - There is no other wand. So this one is magical.

Come on, let me try, - Motley asked, sitting down to Dunno.

He took the wand, waved it and said:

I want a sandwich with jam! .. I want ice cream! .. I want noodles with butter! .. Table, cover yourself! .. Ugh!

Since none of his wishes came true, he put the Dunno's wand in his hands and said:

You must have been tricked by a wizard. He gave me some useless wand. All the magic has already come out of it.

Yes, Dunno grumbled, I would like to meet this wizard! I'd show him how to trick shorties and give them substandard wands!

Dunno was very upset, but Motley was not able to indulge in despondency for a long time. Or maybe it did not depend on him at all, but on the sun, which at that time rose high and flooded with its light the bench on which our three travelers were sitting. Having warmed himself in the sun, Pestrenky felt that life in the world was not bad at all. His cheeks spontaneously broke into a smile, and he said to Dunno:

Don't worry, Dunno! Still, not everything is lost. In extreme cases, you can go to the dining room and have lunch.

No, Motley, it's still unfair! You tell me why I did good deeds, huh? I have done three good things. And most importantly, everything in a row and completely disinterested!

While Dunno and Motley were talking, a passer-by appeared on the path in the distance. He wore a navy blue dressing gown, studded with gold stars and silver crescents that sparkled in the sun, and on his feet were red shoes with long, turned-up toes. In these shoes, he walked very quickly and completely silently. No one noticed how he approached the bench and sat down next to Dunno. For some time he sat silently, leaning his hands on a stick, and glanced askance at Dunno, who continued to talk to Pestrenky.

Suddenly Dunno felt that someone was sitting next to him. He cautiously squinted his eyes and saw a little old man sitting on a bench with a long gray mustache and a white gray beard, like dedafrost. His face seemed familiar to Dunno. Sliding his eyes down, Dunno saw on the old man's feet red shoes with turned up toes and buckles in the form of golden crescents.

Oh, yes, it's magic! Dunno suddenly remembered, and his face shone with joy. - Hello.

Hello, hello, friend! the wizard smiled. - That's where we met. Well, tell me, why did you want to see me?

Did I want to?

Is not it so? He himself just said: “I would like to meet this magician! I would show him." What did you want to show me?

The stranger was terribly ashamed. He lowered his head and was afraid to even look at the wizard.

I wanted to show you a magic wand, he finally murmured. - For some reason, she has deteriorated and does not want to fulfill any desires.

Ah, that's the point! - exclaimed the wizard and took Dunno's magic wand. - Yes, yes, I see it has deteriorated. Completely, brother, spoiled, completely. That's how! I told you that if you do three bad things, the magic wand will lose its magic power.

When did you say this? - Dunno was surprised. - Oh yes, that's right, you said. I completely forgot. Have I already done three bad things?

You made thirty-three of them! Button said angrily.

I can’t remember a single one, ”Dunno answered.

I'll have to remind you," said the wizard. - Didn't you turn Leaf into a donkey? Or do you think it's a good thing to do?

But then I was very angry, ”Dunno objected.

Whether you're angry or not angry, it doesn't matter. You always have to do well. Then you turned three donkeys into shorties.

But I didn't know what would come of it.

If you didn't know, then you shouldn't have done it. You must always act thoughtfully. Because of your thoughtlessness, a lot of trouble came out. And finally, you teased the monkey in the cage. This is also a bad move.

All right! Dunno waved his hand in annoyance. - It always happens like this: if you are not lucky from the very beginning, you are not lucky to the end!

Dunno was ready to cry from chagrin. And Pestrenky said:

You don't cry. Dunno. After all, even without a magic wand, you can live perfectly. What a wand for us, the sun would shine!

Oh, my dear, how well you said it! the wizard laughed and stroked Motley's head. - After all, it’s true, it’s good, our sun, kind. It shines equally on everyone: to those who have something, and to those who have nothing at all; who has a magic wand and who does not. From the sun it is light and warm for us, and our hearts are joyful. And without the sun, there would be no flowers, no trees, no blue sky, no green grass, and we would not exist either. The sun will feed us, and give us drink, and warm, and dry. Every blade of grass reaches for the sun. From him all life on earth. So why should we be sad when the sun is shining? Is not it?

Of course it is, agreed Button and Motley.

And Dunno answered.

Spikelet receives seeds of giant plants

The police attack was repulsed, and the astronauts finally got the opportunity to breathe easy. Evening soon came, followed by night. Znayka and his friends went to bed without leaving the rocket. For safety, the shorties decided not to turn off the weightlessness device at night. This did not prevent them from getting a good night's sleep, as they were all protected from the effect of weightlessness by the antilunite.

In the morning, as soon as everyone got up and had breakfast, an emergency meeting was called.

Znaika said:

Dear friends! The greatest caution is required of us now. For some reason, the local population met us with hostility. I believe that this is the result of the idiotic activities of Dunno and Donut (especially Dunno, of course), who got here before us and, of course, managed to prove themselves from the worst side. I think we should stay here for the time being and not take any further flights, as this can only piss off the lunatics. Now we will start building the first Space City on the Moon. We will build dwellings for ourselves, we will make a hangar for a rocket, we will plant terrestrial plants to provide our squad with food supplies for the future, since it is not known how long we will need to stay here. When the people here see that we do no harm to anyone, they will begin to treat us more friendly, and we will be able to learn from them all about Dunno and Donut and their whereabouts.

Znayka's proposal was approved, and the short men, under the guidance of the architect Kubik, began construction. Vintik and Shpuntik immediately began to assemble a universal combined wheel-tracked all-terrain vehicle, which was stored disassembled in a special rocket compartment. This all-terrain vehicle was suitable not only for driving, but also for many other needs. It had a tank for boiling water, a borehole drill, a washing machine, a plow for plowing the earth, a centrifugal pump with a sprinkler for watering plants, an apparatus for cleaning and conditioning air, a dynamo machine for generating electricity, a shortwave radio station, a ditcher and a vacuum cleaner. Among other things, the front wheel of the all-terrain vehicle was removed and replaced with a circular saw, with which it was possible to fell trees, clear them of branches, saw them into logs and make boards.

As soon as Vintik and Shpuntik found themselves in the forest with their all-terrain vehicle, logs, beams, boards, planks, slats, pickets and other lumber began to flow to the construction site in a continuous stream. Needless to say, of course, that all work on the construction was carried out in zero gravity, which greatly facilitated the work of the short men and speeded up the work.

Seeing that Vintik and Shpuntik filled up almost the entire construction site with lumber. Znayka ordered them to stop this business for the time being and start repairing the devices damaged by lunatics. Znayka himself, together with Fuchsia and Herring, were busy studying the properties of lunite and antilunite. Replacing lunite crystals in the weightlessness device, they found that the size of the weightlessness zone is in direct proportion to the size of the crystal: the larger the crystal, the larger the zone. By placing a crystal of lunite between the poles of a horseshoe magnet, Fuchsia found that the zone of weightlessness no longer spread in all directions, but spread only in one direction, in the manner of a light beam.

This was a significant scientific discovery, and Znayka said that in the future it would be possible to make devices for directed weightlessness and transmit weightlessness over a distance.

Having done a series of experiments with antilunite crystals, our researchers found that in this case the size of the crystals did not have a noticeable effect on the ability of antilunite to eliminate weightlessness. Regardless of whether a large crystal or a very small one was taken, it helped the little man to keep the weight with equal success. Herring explained this by the fact that the energy released by the antilunite is powerful, but its effect is limited to a small space, or, scientifically speaking, it manifests itself only at short distances.

Carried away by their experiments, Znayka, Fuchsia and Herring did not notice a lunatic who appeared from behind the hill, who was quickly approaching them, waving some piece of paper in his hand. Having run away from the hill and got into the zone of weightlessness, the lunatic unexpectedly soared upwards and screamed in fright.

Znayka. Fuchsia and Herring looked back at the scream and saw the short man fluttering absurdly in the air.

Try not to make unnecessary movements! Znayka shouted to him. - We will help you now!

Meanwhile, the lunatic was flying by inertia towards the rocket standing in the middle of the clearing. The short men who were busy building the house saw him.

I will now turn off weightlessness, and you support him carefully so that he does not hit the ground! Znayka shouted from a distance.

With these words, Znayka turned off the weightlessness device. The lunatic immediately flew down, right into the arms of Tubik and Pilyulkin, who came to him in time. Seeing that the lunatic was barely breathing, Pilyulkin carefully seated him on the ground, leaning his back against the post on which the barometer was fixed, and thrust a bottle of ammonia under his nose. Sniffing ammonia, the little man grimaced. His face brightened up a bit. He was about to say something, but he felt that his tongue did not obey him, and silently handed Pilyulkin a share of the Society of Giant Plants, which he held in his hand. The shorties instantly crowded around and began to look at the action depicted on it with huge cucumbers, watermelons and ears of giant earthly wheat. Pilyulkin turned the action over to the other side, and everyone saw the image of a spaceship and Dunno in a spacesuit.

Brothers, but this is our Dunno! - shouted Tubik.

Wait, something is written here, - Pilyulkin said and began to read what was printed on the back of the action.

Meanwhile, the lunatic finally came to his senses. He told the astronauts that his name was Kolosok and he lived in the village of Neelovka not far from here, then he asked them to give him some water to drink, and said:

Once I read in a newspaper that a spaceship arrived from a distant, alien planet loaded with seeds of giant plants. The article said that anyone who bought a share would be given those seeds. Our village is poor, but nevertheless we scraped together the required amount and bought a share. Many poor people then bought shares in clubbing. The rich, however, did not like the fact that the poor would soon be able to grow giant plants and, ending their poverty, would stop working for the rich. They began to write in the newspapers that there were no giant plants in the world, and there was no spaceship, that all this was invented by crooks in order to rob the gullible poor. Everyone rushed to sell their shares. But some poor people still believe that there are giant seeds, and do not lose hope of getting them.

None of the short men understood what these shares were and how they could be bought or sold. But Znayka, who knew a lot, immediately understood everything. So he said:

The poor do the right thing not to lose hope. We actually brought the seeds.

The spikelet beamed with joy.

When I saw a rocket in the air, - he said, - I immediately thought that this was a spaceship flying towards us with seeds.

Znayka ordered the shorties to prepare various seeds for Spikelet, and he himself began to ask if he had heard anything about Dunno with Donut.

How, how! - exclaimed Kolosok. - I heard a lot about Dunno. At first they said that he was a brave hero who flew from outer space. It was even shown on TV. And in the cinema. It was said that he brought us the seeds of giant plants. They said that he is very good and he wants us all to live well. Then they began to say that he was not a hero at all, and not a good one, and did not fly in from anywhere, that he was just a swindler who came up with this whole story with seeds in order to swindle the poor and get their hands on their money. They began to write in the newspapers that they had to catch him, tear him out well and put him in a jail.

Well, did they catch him? - asked Znaika.

Where exactly! Kolosok waved his hand. - He escaped somewhere. Nothing has been heard of him lately. Maybe the rich still put him behind bars. After all, it is unprofitable for them that he walks free and tells everyone about giant seeds. Recently a newspaper wrote that it is criminal not only to talk about these giant seeds, but even to think about them, because we seem to live well even without any seeds. And whoever thinks about seeds, he, therefore, is dissatisfied, and for this he should be in jail.

Where is that shack at your place? - asked Znaika.

Yes, do we have one jail! A lot of them. Every city has.

At this time, the shorties brought a large duffel bag filled with various seeds. Znayka explained to Koloska how to plant earthly seeds and how to care for seedlings. Finally, Kolosok put the duffel bag on his back and got ready to go back.

Tell the shorties from other villages, let them also come to us for seeds, ”Znayka said in parting.

The spikelet left, singing with joy.

Pilyulkin said:

Now sleepwalkers will come to us for seeds, and we will ask them about Dunno and Donut. Maybe in the end you will be able to find out where to look for them.

It may happen that Dunno and Donut will come themselves, - said Znayka. - As soon as they become aware that a rocket has arrived (and the news will spread quickly), they will understand that we flew to the rescue.

They can only come if they are free, Herring said. "But what if those nasty rich guys actually put them somewhere?"

In this case, they will have to be patient while we are busy searching, ”Znayka answered.

Suddenly, shots were heard in the distance. The shorties turned around and saw Spikelet, who was running back. At the same moment, five policemen jumped out from behind the hill. Quickly descending, they stopped, as if on cue, and kissed their guns, preparing to fire. Znayka saw this and, without a second's hesitation, turned on the weightlessness device. There was a volley. Unaware that they might be in a state of weightlessness, the police fired, and the resulting jet force carried them back. As a result, they rushed through the air with such a terrible speed that in one second they turned into barely noticeable dots and disappeared beyond the horizon.

You'll know how to shoot shorties in advance! Znayka grumbled angrily.

Before I could reach the forest along the road, the policemen jumped out from behind the bushes,” he said. - It's good that I spotted them in time and rushed to run away, otherwise I would have been in jail!

And who are these police officers? - asked Herring.

Bandits! - Kolosok said with irritation. - Honestly, bandits! Indeed, the duty of the police is to protect the population from robbers, in reality they only protect the rich. And the rich are the real robbers. They only rob us, hiding behind the laws that they themselves come up with. And what, tell me, is the difference, according to the law I will be robbed or not according to the law? I do not care!

Here you have something wonderful! Wink said. - Why do you listen to the police and even these ... as you call them, the rich?

Try not to obey here, when everything is in their hands: land, factories, money, and, in addition, weapons! - The spikelet was saddened. “Now I’ll come home,” he said, “and the police will seize me and put me in a jail. And the seeds will be taken. It is clear! The rich will not allow anyone to plant giant plants. It is not destined, apparently, to get rid of poverty!

Nothing, - said Znayka. - We will give you a weightlessness device. Let them then try to poke their noses with their weapons! Did you see how those five policemen flew?

Vintik and Shpuntik immediately built a weightlessness device for Kolosok and began to show how to handle it.

What is this? - Kolosok said in bewilderment. “So I’ll have to hang around in a state of weightlessness all the time?”

No, Znayka laughed. - We'll give you antilunite crystals and you can work as usual. Antilunite will protect you from weightlessness.

Znayka gave Spikelet a handful of antilunite crystals.

Everyone to whom you give such a crystal will save weight, even if it falls into the zone of weightlessness, - said Znayka. - Be careful though. Make sure that none of the crystals fall into the hands of robbers, that is, these very rich people of yours or policemen. Until the mystery of weightlessness is solved, the rich cannot harm us in any way.

Having experienced the effect of anti-lunite, Kolosok noticeably cheered up.

So, we still compete with the rich! he exclaimed. “Although they don’t want to, we will still have giant plants. Now I just want to get home!

Get on the all-terrain vehicle, - Vintik suggested. - Shpuntik and I will quickly roll you.

Kolosok explained where to go. All three boarded the all-terrain vehicle. In front of the steering wheel sat Vintik, behind him - Shpuntik with a weightlessness device in his hands, behind Shpuntik - Kolosok. In his hands was a bag of seeds, which he held tightly to his chest.

Seeing that everyone sat down, Vintik turned on the ignition and pressed the starter pedal with his foot. The engine hummed. The all-terrain vehicle took off. In one minute he crossed the clearing, jumped over the hill and, having left on the road, rushed to the forest blackening in the distance. The travelers were already close to the edge, when suddenly shots rumbled ahead again.

Police! - Kolosok shouted.

From fright, he fell off the seat and stretched out in the middle of the road with his bag. Noticing this, Vintik turned the car sharply and drove back. The shots continued to rumble. Bullets whistled around.

Turn on weightlessness soon, crow! Wink screamed.

Shpuntik caught himself and pressed the button of the weightlessness device. The shots stopped instantly.

I stopped the vehicle. Cog jumped off it and ran to Spikelet, sprawled in the road dust.

Are you injured?

It seems, no, - stammering from fright, muttered Spikelet.

Shpuntik ran up after Vintik. Together they helped Spikelet to his feet and put him back on the all-terrain vehicle.

Kuku where are you? There are policemen in the forest!

Take it easy! The police are not up to us now. Don't you hear?

Kolok listened. Some screams came from the forest.

Now let's see what's going on there, - said Vintik and turned on the engine.

Having approached the edge of the forest, the travelers saw several policemen among the trees. They floundered helplessly in the air, screaming desperately and clinging to the branches with their hands.

It is necessary to drive them from the trees so that the wind will blow them away from here, Vintik came up with.

Right! - picked up Shpuntik. - There is nothing for them to stick around here!

Jumping up to a tree with a policeman looming above, Shpuntik grabbed the trunk and began to shake it.

Help! howled the policeman, trembling all over.

Here I will help you! Shpuntik grumbled and shook the tree with such force that the policeman flew off to the side and, rising up, rushed over the forest like a soap bubble picked up by the wind.

The same fate befell several other policemen. The fattest policeman, whose name was Zhrigl, managed to hold out the longest. Seeing that there is no way to shake it off. Vintik grabbed the rifle, which was floating right there in a state of weightlessness, and, climbing up a tree, began to poke the gun barrel into Zhrigl's fat belly.

E! E! E! the policeman screamed in horror. - What are you doing? Be careful! It's a gun!

Well, what is a gun? - asked Vintik.

Like what? It can shoot!

Great importance! - Wink answered with a grin. - You yourself like to shoot at others.

Convinced that he could not escape retribution, the fat policeman somehow contrived and kicked Vintik right in the forehead.

Oh, you are! Vintik shouted, angry, and poked Zhrigl with a gun barrel with such force that the branch he was holding on to broke. Instantly soaring upward, plump Zhrigl swam over the trees after the rest of the policemen. He slowly tumbled in the air, howling with fear in every way, and continued to hold the broken branch in his hands.

Here I will show you how to kick with your feet! Vintik shouted after him.

Our friends rode the rest of the way without incident. In less than ten minutes they got out of the forest and drove up to the village of Neelovka, which consisted of several dilapidated huts. Hearing the noise of the engine, the inhabitants of the village jumped out of their houses, but, seeing that some strange car was approaching them, they backed away in fear.

Fear not, brothers! - Kolosok shouted. - It's me! Look, I brought the seeds!

Recognizing Spikelet, the shorties were delighted and surrounded the all-terrain vehicle from all sides.

Where are the seeds? What seeds? they shouted at each other.

Yes, here are the seeds! Look! Giant!

What started here, one cannot even say. Everyone screamed with joy, began to jump, dance. And for some reason one short man sat down on the ground, put his head in his hands and burst into tears.

Why are you crying, dear? Vintik asked him. - Has anything bad happened?

Oh baby, I'm crying with happiness. I thought we would never live to see such joy!

When the jubilation subsided a little, a short man, whose name was Kustik, approached Spikelet, and quietly said:

And we had the police here in the morning!

The short men remembered the policemen and became despondent.

Yes Yes! - all of a sudden everyone started talking. - A lot of police turned up. Whole squad. Everyone asked if any of us had seen the rocket fly. And when we confessed that we had seen, and said that you went to look for a rocket to get seeds, they were terribly angry. They told us all to stay at home and keep our noses out of the street.

I don't think they'll let us plant giant seeds," Bush said.

And we won’t even ask them,” Kolosok said. Now the cops can't do anything to us. We have weightlessness.

What weightlessness? - everyone was interested.

This is such a force, - said Kolosok, showing the weightlessness device. As soon as I press the button, the force will immediately jump out of the box and lift all the policemen into the air. Here, stand still. Now you will understand everything.

Having said this, Spikelet pressed the button of the device, and the shorties at the same moment felt how the soil had left from under their feet. Once in the air, they began to frantically wave their arms, kick their legs, trying to reach the ground, but nothing came of it. Convinced that the earth no longer holds them, everyone began to scream in fear and demand that Kolosok stop his tricks.

Friends, I assure you that these are not tricks at all! Shpuntik said.

And Kolosok shouted:

Now imagine that you are police officers and you want to catch me. Come on, catch! .. Why don't you catch? Ha ha ha!

Seeing, however, that the shorties were not at all laughing, since many had already turned upside down and were literally screaming in horror, he hurried to turn off the weightlessness device.

The little ones instantly fell down and, having come to their senses little by little, remained sitting on the grass. Everyone looked around in a daze, unable to understand what had happened. Finally Kustik got to his feet and, shaking his head, said:

Yes, brothers, you can see that weightlessness is a terrible force. Our policemen will not like this force!

Suspecting nothing, Dunno continued to gobble up raspberries, when suddenly there was a click from below, and he felt something tightly grab his leg. Dunno cried out in pain and, bending down, saw that his leg had fallen into a trap. At the same moment, Fix, who was following his every step, jumped out of his ambush and, running up to Dunno, hit him on the head with a broom with all his might.

- Oh, you bastard! So you, then, eat raspberries! shouted Fix, waving his broom.

- Listen, - Dunno was indignant, - what is it? Why a broom? And another trap here!

But Fix did not listen to him.

- I'll show you how to eat raspberries! - he repeated, twisting Dunno's hands behind his back and tying them with a rope.

The stranger just shrugged.

"I don't understand what's going on!" he muttered.

“I’ll take you now to Mr. Klops, then you’ll understand everything!” Fick threatened.

- To what kind of Mr. Klops? – asked Dunno.

- There you will see what Mr. Klops is like. And now - march! - said Fix and pulled the rope with such force that Dunno almost flew off his feet.

“How can I go, you foolish creature? Can't you see that my foot is in a trap? Dunno answered.

- Just think, tenderness is a foot in a trap! Fix said.

However, he bent down and freed Dunno's leg from the trap.

- Well, march, march, without talking! - he commanded and, without letting go of the end of the rope with which Dunno's hands were tied, pushed him in the back with a broom. “Don’t try to run away, you won’t leave me anyway!”

The stranger just shrugged in response. He could not run, if only because his leg, bruised by the spring of the trap, was in great pain. He limped along the garden, followed by Fix, breathing angrily, with a broom over his shoulder. Leaving the garden, they walked along long beds of moon cucumbers and tomatoes. Although Dunno was not up to it, he still looked around and noticed that the moon tomatoes and cucumbers were dozens of times smaller than those he was used to on Earth.

In the distance, three short men were watering the beds. Two manually pumped water with a pump, and the third directed a jet from a hose. The jet rose high and, crumbling into drops, fell from above like rain.

Soon the beds with cucumbers and tomatoes ran out and the beds with moon strawberries went. A few short men crawled among the beds and picked ripe strawberries, putting them in round wicker baskets. One of the working short men saw Fix with Dunno and shouted:

- Hey, Fix, did you catch the robber again?

“Again, but how about it,” Fix answered with a smug grin.

Are you taking Mr. Klops to?

- To Mr. Klops, otherwise to whom!

“Are you going to poison dogs again?” asked another short man, looking up from his work.

- Well, it's Mr. Klops themselves who know how to poison. What they order, so we will poison.

- Beast! grumbled one of the working shorties.

- Animal, I say, you and your Mr. Klops!

- I'll give those beasts! Fix snapped. “Here I’ll go and report to Mr. Klops that you are speaking your tongue here instead of working—find yourself on the street quickly!”

The shorties silently set to work. Fix poked Dunno in the back with a broom, and they went on. Climbing up the hill, Dunno saw a beautiful two-story house with a large open veranda. There were flower beds around the house. There were moon daisies, and pansies, and nasturtiums, and moon mignonette, and asters. Lunar lilac bushes grew under the windows of the house. All these flowers were the same as we have on Earth, only many times smaller. However, Dunno had already begun to get used to the fact that the plants on the moon were small, and this no longer surprised him.

Mr. Klops was sitting on the veranda. He was a plump, red-cheeked short man with a large pink bald spot on his head. His eyes were as narrow as slits, and there were almost no eyebrows, which made his face seem very cheerful and kind. He was dressed in loose dark brown silk pajamas with white stripes and slippers on his feet.

He sat at the table and did four things at once:

1) ate white bread with butter;

2) drank tea with jam;

3) read a newspaper;

4) incessantly waved and spat at the flies that swarmed over him, constantly landing on his bald head and falling into tea.

Mr. Klops did all these four things with such zeal that sweat literally streamed from him, rolling down streams from his bald head right down his cheeks and the back of his head behind his collar. This, apparently, did not give Mr. Klops any special pleasure, since he kept grabbing the towel hanging on the back of the chair and wiping his soaked bald head in one fell swoop, trying to grab his neck as well, after which he hung the towel back, after twisting it over his head so that disperse the flies.

Seeing Fix and Dunno approaching the house, Mr. Klops put aside a cup of unfinished tea and waited with curiosity to see what would happen next.

“Here, Mr. Klops, I caught the robber,” said Fix, stopping with Dunno at a respectful distance.

Mr. Klops got up from the table, went up to the steps that led down from the veranda, and, folding his plump hands on his stomach, began to look Dunno from head to toe.

- Probably fell into a trap? he finally asked.

“Yes, Mr. Klops. He ate raspberries and fell into a trap.

“Yes, yes,” Klops muttered. - Well, I'll show you, you'll dance with me! So why did you eat raspberries, you say?

“And he didn’t eat at all, but ate,” Dunno corrected him.

- Oh, you are touchy! Klops chuckled. - You can't even say a word! Well, OK! So why did you eat it?

Hand in hand, the friends left the lock chamber and, descending the stairs, found themselves on the surface of the moon. The picture that opened before their eyes, led them to awe and admiration. Below, at the very feet of the travelers, a plain spread out, resembling the motionless frozen surface of the sea, with shallow depressions and gently rising mounds. Like ordinary sea water, this wavy, as if suddenly petrified surface of the Moon was greenish-blue, or, as it is commonly called, aquamarine. In the distance, behind this seemingly unsteady surface, hills rose. They were yellow, like sand. Behind the hills rose bright red mountains. They, like tongues of frozen flame, soared up.

On the right hand, not far from our travelers, were the same fiery red mountains. They seemed to rise from the bottom of the petrified sea and stretched their pointed tops to the sky.

Looking back. Dunno and Donut saw mountains in the distance, which had a more vague outline. It seemed that they were as if made of cotton wool and in their appearance resembled clouds lying on the Earth. On their peaks and slopes, like fantastic glass castles, giant crystals protruded, resembling rock crystals in shape. Sunlight was refracted in the facets of these crystals, due to which they sparkled with all the colors of the rainbow.

Above all this bizarre world, like a bottomless abyss, the black sky gaped with myriads of large and small stars. The Milky Way, like a luminous road, stretched across this entire abyss and divided it into two parts. On the left side, among the stars that accumulated above the horizon, the burning Sun sparkled. In the right half, the planet Earth shone with a soft greenish light. It was illuminated by the sun's rays from the side and therefore looked like a crescent.

Against the background of a black sky gaping with emptiness, the entire surface of the Moon seemed especially bright and colorful. This was also facilitated by the absence of an atmosphere around the Moon, that is, simply speaking, air. As you know, the air not only absorbs the sun's rays, making them less bright, but also scatters them, softening the shadows cast by objects. On the Moon, the shadows of objects are always deep, dark, which is why the objects themselves stand out more clearly and look brighter and more colorful.

Not far from the cluster of cloudy mountains rose a solitary mountain in the form of a dark cone or pyramid. From its foot to the hillock, on which the rocket landed, a path stretched like a thin beam. It was bright, as if someone had deliberately sprinkled sand or chalk on the stony soil of the Moon in this place.

“This, presumably, is not without reason,” Dunno said to Donut. “This pyramid must have been built by lunatics. They've already paved the way for it. I think that the first duty we must examine the pyramid. What do you think?

Without waiting for an answer, Dunno walked with a brisk step towards the moonlit path. Seeing that he was already too late to express his opinion, Donut spread his arms and dutifully followed Dunno.

Some imagine that as soon as they manage to get to the Moon, they will immediately begin to jump on its surface like grasshoppers, and they explain this by the fact that on the Moon the force of gravity is almost six times less than on Earth. This, however, did not happen to Dunno and Donut. Although the Moon pulled them with less force than the Earth had once pulled, they still did not feel that there was any change in their weight. This was due to the fact that they spent a long time in a state of weightlessness and managed to wean themselves from gravity. The weight that they had acquired on the Moon seemed to them the most normal, the most ordinary weight that they had on Earth. In any case, they did not jump on the moon like some kind of grasshoppers or fleas, but walked normally.

True, Donut at times had a feeling that everything around was turned upside down. And the moon, and the mountains, and himself, and Dunno, who walked ahead - all this seemed to him upside down. It seemed to him that the lunar surface was above, and the sky with all the stars and the Sun below, and he himself was hanging upside down, clinging to the lunar surface with the soles of the space boots that were on his feet. At such moments, he was afraid that he was about to slip out of his boots and fly into space upside down, and the boots would remain on the moon. This forced him to constantly grab his hands on the tops of his boots and pull them tighter over his feet.

Such abnormal sensations were explained by the fact that due to the decrease in gravity on the moon, less blood in the body was attracted to the lower part of the body, that is, to the legs. The excess blood left in the upper body exerted increased pressure on the blood vessels of the brain, that is, the pressure that we experience when we happen to hang upside down. That is why the Donut had a feeling of hanging upside down. Since he seemed to himself turned upside down, to the extent that everything around him seemed upside down, and there was nothing to be done about it. At first, such an unnatural state was very frightening for Donut, but then he gave up on all this and decided that, in essence, it didn’t matter to him how to walk: upside down or down. It is fair to say that Dunno did not have such painful sensations at all, perhaps because he was very strong and not as fat as Donut.

The road to the pyramid was not as close as it seemed at first. It must be said that the distances on the moon are very deceptive. Due to the absence of air, distant objects are seen more clearly on the Moon and therefore always appear closer. Dunno and Donut have been walking for almost an hour, and the pyramid was still far away. The hot sun heated the suits more and more, but Dunno and Donut did not realize that they could use space umbrellas, and languished from stuffiness.

"Don't be so hasty, Dunno!" Donut pleaded. “We need to get some rest.

“And you, apparently, want to fry here in the sun,” Dunno answered. “We need to get to the pyramid as soon as possible and hide in the shade. Plus, there are all sorts of cosmic rays!

What other rays are there? Donut grumbled.

“Well, you won’t understand it right away,” Dunno answered. - I'll explain it to you later.

In fact, Dunno could not explain anything to Donut, since he himself did not know what cosmic rays were and how they differed from ordinary rays. He only heard from Fuchsia and Herring that such rays exist and should be feared while on the surface of the Moon.

Finally Dunno and Donut arrived at the destination of their journey. What they took from a distance for a pyramid turned out to be an ordinary mountain, or rather, an extinct volcano, the slopes of which were covered with cracks and hardened lava. The path along which Dunno and Donut walked led them to a cave formed in the mountainside. Trying to hide from the scorching rays of the sun as soon as possible, our travelers entered the cave. It was much cooler and cozier here than out in the open. It no longer seemed to Donut that he was about to jump out of his boots and fly away into the world space. Now he saw over his head not the starry sky, but the rocky vaults of the cave, and he felt that if he did fly, he would not be able to fly far. Pulling off his space boots and sitting comfortably on a smooth stone that lay against the wall of the cave, Donut began to rest.

Dunno followed his example and also sat down next to him. However, his nature was too active for him to remain motionless for a long time. As soon as his eyes became a little accustomed to the darkness of the cave, he jumped up and began to look into all corners. Having discovered that the cave did not end at all nearby, but led into the depths of the mountain, Dunno said that they should study it.

Donut reluctantly pulled on his boots, stood up, groaning, and followed Dunno. Before they had even taken ten steps, they found themselves in absolute darkness. Donut said that in such darkness it was unthinkable to conduct any kind of research, and was about to turn back, but just at that time Dunno turned on his electric flashlight, and the darkness instantly dissipated. The donut just grunted in annoyance. He had to continue on his way, and for him this was doubly undesirable, since, in addition to feeling tired, in addition, he began to experience the effect of low temperature on himself. The pleasant coolness, which at first had had such a beneficial effect on him, was suddenly replaced by a terrible cold. Donut's hands and feet began to freeze. He jumped up and down, kicked his legs, clapped his hands to keep warm, but all this helped him very little.

Dunno at this time did not even seem to notice the cold. He walked briskly forward, trying not to miss anything that caught his eye. At first, the road went through a wide tunnel, as if drilled into solid rock. The bottom of the tunnel lowered with each step, and therefore it was easy to go: it seemed as if someone was constantly pushing in the back. Suddenly, the walls of the tunnel parted, and the travelers found themselves in a huge underground or, as it would be more correct to call it, sublunar grotto.

The spectacle that opened before them was like some kind of fabulous realm of cold. Thousands of translucent ice icicles hung from under the soaring ceiling. Some of them were tiny and hung under the very ceiling with a sparkling fringe, others were larger and descended from above in sparkling garlands. Individual icicles were so large that their points almost reached the very bottom of the grotto, and some even rested with their ends against the bottom, forming, as it were, columns that supported the vaults. Frost painted fantastic patterns on the high rocky walls of this ice palace. Here, among the whimsically weaving of white, as if covered with hoarfrost, fir trees and palm trees, unprecedented flowers bloomed and huge stars twinkled with iridescent light, as if woven from the thinnest rays of ice.

Admiring this picture. The stranger moved on. Donut followed. Maybe because of the presence of huge masses of ice around, or maybe because the temperature actually dropped, Donut began to freeze even more and danced with such zeal on the go that one space boot jumped off his leg and flew somewhere. then to the side. Donut rushed to look for him and immediately got lost between the ice columns. Frightened, he began to call Dunno, but Dunno could no longer come to his aid. Just at this time Dunno left the grotto and got into a new tunnel, the bottom of which was covered with ice. As soon as Dunno stepped on the ice, he slipped and rolled down. There was not the slightest protrusion on the smooth surface of the ice to cling to to stop the fall. Dunno heard Donut's cry on the radiotelephone, but did not even pay attention to him, since he still could not do anything.

The tunnel, meanwhile, steeper and steeper went into the depths of the moon. Soon Dunno was no longer sliding on the ice, but simply fell into some kind of abyss. It wasn't so dark anymore. The light seemed to come from somewhere below. At the same time, it became much warmer, and after a few minutes it was already completely hot. The bright light hurt my eyes. Dunno decided that he was destined to die in the fire, and was already mentally saying goodbye to life, but suddenly the walls of the abyss parted and disappeared. Another minute, and Dunno saw that a bright sky stretched over him in all directions, as if covered with wavy clouds. And below ... Dunno tried to see what was below, but below everything was as if in a fog. A little time passed, and through the dissipating fog Dunno saw the land below with fields, forests and even a river.

"So that's what's going on here!" Dunno said to himself. - So, Znayka correctly said that the Moon is such a ball, inside of which there is another ball, and lunar shorties, or lunatics live on this inner ball. Well, let's wait a bit, maybe soon we will meet with the lunar shorties.

The unknown land meanwhile was approaching. Below, one could clearly see the city with its streets and squares. It was one of the largest lunar cities - Davilon. Soon Dunno could distinguish houses and even individual pedestrians on the streets. The wind carried him, however, not to the center of the city, but to one of the outskirts, to where gardens and orchards were visible, where the roofs of houses were buried in greenery.

“Well, that’s even good,” Dunno thought. “At least it will be softer to fall, otherwise, if you flopped in the middle of the pavement, you wouldn’t pick up even the bones.”

But Dunno feared in vain, as a small winged parachute, which was behind him, slowed down the fall. True, from an unexpected push Dunno's legs gave way and he sat down right on the ground. The parachute automatically folded behind him, taking the form of a hood. Dunno looked around and saw that he was surrounded by bushes with some tiny green leaves. Noticing that the leaves on the bushes fluctuated, Dunno concluded that there was an atmosphere around, that is, air. For usually the leaves on the trees do not sway by themselves; in fact, the wind moves the leaves, and the wind, as everyone now knows, is nothing but the movement of air.

Having come to this conclusion, Dunno took off his space suit and felt that not only was he not suffocating, but he could even breathe quite freely. It even seemed to him that the air around him was much better than the one he breathed on Earth. But this, of course, only seemed so to him, because he spent a long time in a spacesuit and a little weaned from the fresh air.

Taking a deep breath, Dunno felt that his heart began to beat much calmer in his chest. My heart felt light and cheerful. He even wanted to laugh, but caught himself in time and decided to wait a little with an expression of joy. First of all, of course, he should look around and find out where he was.

Having carefully folded the suit, Dunno hid it under one of the bushes and began to get acquainted with the area. Looking more closely at the bushes surrounding him, he became convinced that in reality they were not bushes, but small dwarf trees. Each tree is only one and a half to two times taller than Dunno's height. The branches of these trees were covered with tiny, pea-sized green apples. Picking one apple, Dunno tasted it and immediately spat it out, it turned out to be so sour. Nearby grew the same dwarf moon pears. Dunno decided to try the moon pear, but it was tasteless, besides, it must have been very tart, still immature.

Throwing aside the moon pear, Dunno began to look for something else to profit from. These moon apples and pears only served to whet his appetite; besides, it had been a long time since he had last eaten. Taking a few steps to the side, he found himself in front of a high wooden fence, along which thorny bushes grew, dotted with already quite tiny red berries. Having tasted one berry, Dunno was convinced that in front of him was a moon dwarf raspberry. It tasted no different from our usual terrestrial raspberries, only it was very small. Dunno began to fill his mouth with moon raspberries, but no matter how much he ate, he could not get enough.

* * *

However, this time he did not manage to satisfy his hunger. If he had behaved more carefully, he might have noticed that someone's attentive eyes had been following him from behind the bushes for a long time. Those attentive eyes belonged to a lunar little man named Fix. He was dressed in a red jacket, worn on the elbows, and in some kind of ridiculous greasy red cap on his head. On his feet he had trousers, which are usually worn tucked into boots, but there were no boots, but sandals, which he put on on his bare foot. In the hands of Fix was a broom, which he held at the ready, like a gun, as if he was going to go on the attack with this gun.

Suspecting nothing, Dunno continued to gobble up raspberries, when suddenly there was a click from below, and he felt something tightly grab his leg. Dunno cried out in pain and, bending down, saw that his leg had fallen into a trap. At the same moment, Fix, who was following his every step, jumped out of his ambush and, running up to Dunno, hit him on the head with a broom with all his might.

- Oh, you bastard! So you, then, eat raspberries! shouted Fix, waving his broom.

- Listen, - Dunno was indignant, - what is it? Why a broom? And another trap here!

But Fix did not listen to him.

- I'll show you how to eat raspberries! - he repeated, twisting Dunno's hands behind his back and tying them with a rope.

The stranger just shrugged.

"I don't understand what's going on!" he muttered.

“I’ll take you now to Mr. Klops, then you’ll understand everything!” Fix threatened.

- To what kind of Mr. Klops? – asked Dunno.

- There you will see what Mr. Klops is like. And now - march! - said Fix and pulled the rope with such force that Dunno almost flew off his feet.

“How can I go, you foolish creature? Can't you see that my foot is in a trap? Dunno answered.

- Just think, tenderness is a foot in a trap! Fix said.

However, he bent down and freed Dunno's leg from the trap.

- Well, march, march, without talking! - he commanded and, without letting go of the end of the rope with which Dunno's hands were tied, pushed him in the back with a broom. “Don’t try to run away, you won’t leave me anyway!”

The stranger just shrugged in response. He could not run, if only because his leg, bruised by the spring of the trap, was in great pain. He limped along the garden, and after him, sniffing angrily, came Fix with a broom on his shoulder. Leaving the garden, they walked along long beds of moon cucumbers and tomatoes. Although Dunno was not up to it, he still looked around and noticed that the moon tomatoes and cucumbers were ten times smaller than those he was used to on Earth.

In the distance, three short men were watering the beds. Two manually pumped water with a pump, and the third directed a jet from a hose. The jet rose high and, crumbling into drops, fell from above like rain.

Soon the beds with cucumbers and tomatoes ran out and the beds with moon strawberries went. A few short men crawled among the beds and picked ripe strawberries, putting them in round wicker baskets. One of the working short men saw Fix with Dunno and shouted:

- Hey, Fix, did you catch the robber again?

“Again, but how about it,” Fix answered with a smug grin.

Are you taking Mr. Klops to?

- To Mr. Klops, otherwise to whom!

“Are you going to poison dogs again?” asked another short man, looking up from his work.

- Well, it's Mr. Klops themselves who know how to poison. What they order, so we will poison.

- Beast! grumbled one of the working shorties.

- Beast, I say, you and your Mr. Klops!

- I'll give those beasts! Fix snapped. “Here I’ll go and report to Mr. Klops that you are speaking your tongue here instead of working—find yourself on the street quickly!”

The shorties silently set to work. Fix poked Dunno in the back with a broom, and they went on. Climbing up the hill, Dunno saw a beautiful two-story house with a large open veranda. There were flower beds around the house. There were moon daisies, and pansies, and nasturtiums, and moon mignonette, and asters. Lunar lilac bushes grew under the windows of the house. All these flowers were the same as we have on Earth, only many times smaller. However, Dunno had already begun to get used to the fact that the plants on the moon were small, and this no longer surprised him.

Mr. Klops was sitting on the veranda. He was a plump, red-cheeked short man with a large pink bald spot on his head. His eyes were as narrow as slits, and there were almost no eyebrows, which made his face seem very cheerful and kind. He was dressed in a spacious dark brown silk pajamas with white stripes and slippers on his feet.

He sat at the table and did four things at once:

1) ate white bread with butter;

2) drank tea with jam;

3) read a newspaper;

4) incessantly brushed aside and spat at the flies that hovered over him in a swarm, constantly landing on his bald head and falling into tea.

Mr. Klops did all these four things with such zeal that sweat literally streamed from him, rolling down streams from his bald head right down his cheeks and the back of his head behind his collar. This, apparently, did not give Mr. Klops any special pleasure, since he kept grabbing the towel hanging on the back of the chair and wiping his soaked bald head in one fell swoop, trying to grab his neck as well, after which he hung the towel back, after twisting it over his head so that disperse the flies.

Seeing Fix and Dunno approaching the house, Mr. Klops put aside a cup of unfinished tea and waited with curiosity to see what would happen next.

“Here, Mr. Klops, I caught the robber,” said Fix, stopping with Dunno at a respectful distance.

Mr. Klops got up from the table, went to the steps that led down from the veranda, and, folding his plump hands on his stomach, began to look Dunno from head to toe.

- Probably fell into a trap? he finally asked.

“Yes, Mr. Klops. He ate raspberries and fell into a trap.

“Yes, yes,” Klops muttered. - Well, I'll show you, you'll dance with me! So why did you eat raspberries, you say?

“And he didn’t eat at all, but ate,” Dunno corrected him.

- Oh, you are touchy! Klops chuckled. - You can't even say a word! Well, OK! So why did you eat it?

- Well, why ... I wanted to eat.

- Oh, poor thing! Klops exclaimed with mock sympathy. - Wanted to eat! Well, I'll show you, you'll dance with me! Is she yours, raspberry? Answer!

Why not mine? Dunno answered. “I didn’t take it from anyone. I plucked it on a bush.

From anger, Klops almost jumped on his short legs.

- Well, I'll show you, you'll dance with me! he shouted. Didn't you see that this is private property?

What is private property?

“What, you don’t recognize, perhaps, private property?” Klops asked suspiciously.

Why don't I admit it? Dunno was confused. “I admit it, only I don’t know what kind of property it is!” We don't have any private property. We all sow together, and we plant trees together, and then everyone takes what they need. We have just a lot.

- Where do you have it? Who do you have it? What do you have a lot of? Yes, for such speeches you should go straight to the police! They'll show you there! There you will swim! - Klops went bankrupt, waving his arms and not allowing Dunno to say a word.

Finally he clapped his hands and shouted:

At a shout, a short man jumped out of the door in the same attire as Fix, only without a cap. Seeing him, Klops snapped his fingers and pointed to the floor beside him. Fex instantly understood what was required, and, grabbing a chair that was standing at the table, placed it behind Klops. Klops slowly sank into a chair.

“Come on, bring this one here,” he said. – Mmmm... Bring Milordika here, here.

Fex ran as fast as he could to carry out the order.

“Your happiness is that I am a kind shorty,” said Klops to Dunno. I won't send you to the police. It's better not to mess with the police, brother. There is no benefit from the police - neither for me, nor for you, damn it!

At that moment, Fex appeared with a large, shaggy dog ​​on a chain.

“So be it, I’ll let you go,” Klops continued, turning to Dunno. - Only you run, my dear, quickly, otherwise the dog might bite you a little ... Free him! he ordered Fix.

Fix untied Dunno's hands.

“Now run, why are you delaying?” Klops said. “Or maybe you want a dog set loose on you?” Come on, Fex, set the dog on him.

Seeing that things were starting to take a completely undesirable turn, Dunno ran away with all his might. At the same time, Fex untied the chain, and the shaggy dog ​​rushed after Dunno.

“Take it, Milordik, take it!” Klops squealed happily and clapped his hands.

Noticing that the dog was overtaking him, Dunno turned sharply to the side. The dog rushed forward by inertia. Dunno repeated this trick every time Milordik ran up close, and the dog never managed to bite him. They ran around the house through the flower beds. Uprooted daisies, daisies, pansies, tulips flew from under their feet in different directions.

“My lordik, take him,” Klops strained. - What are you delaying? Can't handle one thief? Atu him! Oh you horse! Here I'll show you, you'll dance with me! .. Hey, Fex!

- What do you order, sir? Fex leaned respectfully towards Klops.

“Bring this one here at once… mmm… Bring Cesarino here.”

- I'm listening! Fex muttered and darted to the side.

A minute later he brought a tailless, lean dog with long, thin, bony legs and short brown hair.

- Let him down! Klops shouted. - Come on, take it, Cesarino!

Seeing that reinforcements had arrived at Milordik, Dunno rushed down the hill and jumped over the strawberry beds. Both dogs rushed after him, not understanding the road, and mercilessly trampled strawberries.

- What are they doing! What are they doing! yelled Klops, running downstairs and clutching his bald head. They will destroy my strawberries! Cesarino, Milordik, grab him, so that he was empty! Surround him! Run in from different directions!.. Oh, boobies, fools, brainless idiots! Two brainless idiots cannot cope with one brainless fool! .. Why are you gaping? Klops shouted at the working shorties. - Catch him! .. They stand and laugh, brainless! Here I am you!

The little guys quit their jobs and started chasing the dogs around the garden. Klops immediately saw that nothing good came of this for strawberries.

- Back! he shouted. - Here I will show you how to trample strawberries, you will dance with me!

The shorties stopped. Klops personally rushed to catch up with Dunno and got into a trap with his foot.

– What is this going on? he squealed, writhing in pain. - Hey, Fix, Fex, are you looking at it? I'll show you, scoundrels, you'll dance with me! They set traps everywhere! Release me, villains, otherwise I don't know what will happen!

Fix and Fex ran up to him and began to free his leg from the trap. At this time, Dunno, Milordik and Cesarino moved their field of activity from strawberries to beds with cucumbers and tomatoes. In one minute everything was mixed up there, and it was already difficult to make out where cucumbers grew and where tomatoes grew.

- Ah ah ah! What are they doing there! - Klops shouted, pouring blood from anger. - Hey, Fix, Fex, what are you mouths open, boobies? Hurry, bring your gun here, I'll kill him like a dog, he'll dance with me!

Fix and Fex instantly disappeared and a minute later returned with a gun.

- Shoot him! - Shouted, splashing saliva, Klops. “I won’t get anything for it anyway!”

Fix, who had a gun in his hand, took aim and fired. The bullet whistled two steps away from Dunno.

- Well, who shoots like that? Who shoots like that? Klops shouted with irritation. - Give me the gun. I'll show you how to shoot!

He snatched a gun from Fix and fired, but hit not Dunno, but Cesarino. The poor dog squealed wildly. Jumping up and doing somersaults in the air, he fell on his back and remained lying with his paws up.

- Well, you see, fool! Klops shouted, clutching his head. I killed the dog because of you!

Seeing that it came to shooting, Dunno ran up to the fence and, straining all his strength, jumped over it with a run.

- Oh, you are! he shouted, choking with anger. Klops. - Well, it won't work for you! I'll show you more! You dance with me!

He vigorously shook his fist over his bald head, which was reddened with anger, then spat out of annoyance and went home to count the losses caused by Dunno.