Nikolai Nikolaevich Nosov

Dunno in Sunny City

Chapter one

DON'T KNOW DREAMS

Some readers have probably already read the book "The Adventures of Dunno and His Friends". This book tells about a fabulous country in which babies and babies lived, that is, tiny boys and girls, or, as they were otherwise called, shorties. Here such a little shorty was Dunno. He lived in the Flower City, on Kolokolchikov Street, together with his friends Znayka, Toropyzhka, Rasteryayka, mechanics Vintik and Shpuntik, musician Gusli, artist Tube, doctor Pilyulkin and many others. The book tells about how Dunno and his friends made a trip in a hot air balloon, visited the Green City and the city of Zmeevka, about what they saw and what they learned. Returning from a trip, Znayka and his friends set to work: they began to build a bridge across the Ogurtsovaya River, reed water supply and fountains, which they saw in the Green City.

The shorties managed to do all this, after which they began to install electric lighting on the streets of the city, set up a telephone so that they could talk to each other without leaving the house, and Vintik and Shpuntik, under the guidance of Znayka, designed a TV so that they could watch movies at home and theatrical performances.

As everyone already knows, Dunno after the trip became much wiser, began to learn to read and write, read all grammar and almost all arithmetic, began to do tasks and even wanted to start studying physics, which he jokingly called physics-mysics, but that’s why he got tired of studying. This often happens in the country of short men. A short man will promise three boxes, say that he will do this and that, even turn mountains and turn them upside down, but in fact he will work for several days at full strength, and then again, little by little, begins to take off.

Nobody, of course, says that Dunno was an incorrigible lazy person. Or rather, he just went astray. Having learned how to read properly, he sat all day long over books, but he read not at all what was more necessary, but what was more interesting, mainly fairy tales. After reading fairy tales, he completely stopped doing business and, as they say, plunged headlong into dreams. He made friends with the little Button, who became famous for being also terribly fond of fairy tales. Climbing somewhere in a secluded place. Dunno and Button began to dream of various miracles: invisibility hats, flying carpets, walking boots, silver saucers and pouring apples, magic wands, witches and sorcerers, good and evil wizards and sorceresses. They only did what they told each other different fairy tales, but their favorite pastime was arguing which is better: an invisibility hat or a flying carpet, self-gusli or walking boots? And they argued so passionately that things sometimes even ended in a fight.

Once they argued for two days in a row, and Dunno managed to prove to Button that the best thing is a magic wand, because whoever owns it can get himself anything. He has only to wave his magic wand and say: “I want to have an invisibility hat or walking boots,” and all this will immediately appear to him.

The main thing, Dunno said, is that someone who has a magic wand can learn everything without difficulty, that is, he doesn’t even need to learn, but just wave his wand and say: I want, they say, to know arithmetic or French, and he will immediately begin to know arithmetic and speak French.

After this conversation Dunno walked like a bewitched one. Often, waking up at night, he jumped up in bed, began to mutter something to himself and waved his arms. He imagined that he was waving a magic wand. Dr. Pilyulkin noticed that something was wrong with Dunno, and said that if he did not stop his nightly performances, then he would have to be tied to the bed with a rope and given castor oil for the night. Dunno, of course, was frightened of castor oil and began to behave more quietly.

Once Dunno met with Button on the river bank. They sat on a large green cucumber that grew in abundance around. The sun had already risen high and warmed the earth properly, but Dunno and Button were not hot, because the cucumber on which they sat, as if on a bench, was rather cool, and from above they were protected from the sun by wide cucumber leaves spread over them, like huge green umbrellas. The breeze rustled softly in the grass and raised light ripples on the river, which sparkled in the sun. Thousands of sunbeams, reflected from the surface of the water, danced on cucumber leaves, illuminating them from below with some mysterious light. From this it seemed that the air under the leaves, where Dunno and Button were sitting, was also agitated and trembling, as if flapping countless invisible wings, and all this looked somehow unusual, magical. But Dunno and Button did not notice any magic around, since this whole picture was too familiar for them, and besides, each of them was busy with his own thoughts. Button really wanted to talk about fairy tales, but Dunno for some reason was stubbornly silent, and his face was so sour and angry that she was even afraid to speak to him.

Finally, Button still could not stand it and asked:

- Tell me, Dunno, what kind of fly bit you today? Why are you so boring?

“No fly has bitten me today,” Dunno answered. - I'm boring because I'm bored.

- That's how I explained it! Button laughed. Boring because it's boring. You try to explain better.

“Well, you see,” Dunno said, spreading his arms, “everything in our city is somehow not as it should be. There are no, you know, miracles, there is nothing magical ... Whether it's in the old days! Then, almost at every turn, there were wizards, sorcerers, or at least witches. No wonder this is told in fairy tales.

“Of course, not without reason,” agreed Button. “But there were wizards not only in the old days. They still exist, but not everyone can meet them.

Who can meet them? Maybe you? Dunno asked with a sneer.

- What are you, what are you! Button waved her hands. - You know, I'm such a coward that if I meet a magician now, I probably won't say a word from fear. But you could probably talk to the wizard, because you are very brave.

“Of course I’m brave,” Dunno confirmed. “But for some reason, I haven’t met a single wizard yet.

“That’s because courage alone isn’t enough here,” Button said. - I read in some fairy tale that you need to do three good deeds in a row. Then a magician will appear before you and give you whatever you ask him.

“And even a magic wand?”

Even a magic wand.

- Look you! Dunno was surprised. What do you think is considered a good deed? If, for example, I get up in the morning and wash my face with cold water and soap, will that be a good deed?

“Of course,” said Button. – If it will be hard for someone, and you will help, if someone will be offended, and you will protect, these will also be good deeds. Even if someone helps you, and you say thank you for it, you will also do well, because you should always be grateful and polite.

“Well, in my opinion, this is not a difficult task,” Dunno said.

“No, it’s very difficult,” objected Button, “because three good deeds must be done in a row, and if at least one bad deed falls between them, then nothing will come of it and you will have to start all over again. In addition, a good deed will only be good when you do it selflessly, without thinking that you are doing it for some personal benefit.

“Well, of course, of course,” Dunno agreed. - What a good deed it will be if you do it for the sake of profit! Well, today I will rest, and tomorrow I will start doing good deeds, and if all this is true, then the magic wand will soon be in our hands!

Chapter Two

HOW THE DON'T KNOW HOW DOES GOOD ACTIONS

The next day Dunno woke up early and began to do good deeds. First of all, he washed himself thoroughly with cold water, and spared no soap, and thoroughly brushed his teeth.

“That’s already one good deed,” he said to himself, drying himself with a towel and diligently combing his hair in front of the mirror.

Hasty saw that he was turning in front of the mirror, and said:

- Good, good! Nothing to say, very beautiful!

- Yes, more beautiful than you! Dunno answered.

- Certainly. Such a beautiful physiognomy, like yours, you need to look for!

- What you said? Whose face is this? Is that my face? Dunno got angry and lashed Toropyzhka on the back with a towel.

Hasty just waved his hand and quickly ran away from Dunno.

N. Nosov in 1958 wrote a fairy tale story about Dunno. First, it was published in the magazine "Youth", and later - a separate book. Now we will bring to your attention its summary. "Dunno in the Sunny City" is easy to read in the author's presentation and contains many funny details.

Dunno Dreams

Our hero was very fond of reading fairy tales and made friends with the girl Button, who also loved them. Dunno completely lost faith in fairy tales and wizards, but once he not only saved the old man from a dog that he let go for a walk, but also ran to find out if the dog had harmed him.

The old man turned out to be a wizard and gave Dunno a magic wand.

Travel

Dunno with the Button asked the magic wand for a car. Pachkula Motley joined them. They went to Sunny City. On the way, they saw cars of various designs, a steamer and a steam locomotive, a tractor and a combine harvester. Now we will find out what the adventures of friends are and their summary. Dunno in the Sunny City and his friends noticed that all the houses in it are very beautiful, and many cars drive along the streets, which had a variety of designs.

They went into a multi-storey building that had an escalator. Having ridden on it, they went further and saw canteens in which the short men not only ate, but also sat at chess, lotto, dominoes, read newspapers. In the yards everyone played ping-pong, football, volleyball, gorodki. There were swimming pools here and there. There was a theater or cinema in almost every home. Looking at one of the tall houses, Dunno came across a short man named Leaf and called him a donkey. Leaf politely spoke to him, but the unrestrained Dunno turned Leaf into a donkey. What else will our hero do, we will find out by reading the summary (“Dunno in the Sunny City” is a unique work).

Further adventures

Once in the hotel, the travelers saw a huge screen on the wall. The writer predicted the advent of modern flat wall TVs. Nosov looked many years ahead. Dunno in the Sunny City and his companions will see touch control of navigation devices, laser printing, video surveillance systems. When Dunno went to bed, his conscience spoke to him. She reproached him for his behavior with Leaf. The next morning Dunno learns from the newspapers that a new donkey has appeared in the zoo. He decides to rectify the situation and invites Button and Patchkula to go to the zoo. Conscience tormented Dunno all the time and hurried him. He mistakenly turns 3 real donkeys into shorties one by one.

They turned out to be bullies. Because of one of them, our hero got into the police. He was very scared and decided to get out of it with a magic wand. The walls collapsed, and policeman Svistulkin got a concussion and ended up in the hospital. Conscience will then talk with Dunno about his behavior, and for now we will continue our summary. Dunno in the Sunny City will see many miracles.

Continued adventure

Friends will be amazed that there are houses in the Sunny City that rotate. They will meet interesting short men: the architect Kubik, the engineer Klepka, the artist and the chess player Nitochka.

They will visit sports and water towns where they go in for sports and swim in the pools. They will see theater, chess and fun towns. Dunno, having learned from the newspapers about the unrest in the city, wants to stop everything with a magic wand, but loses it, and when she finds it, it turns out that she no longer has magical powers. At this time, N. Nosov again arranges a meeting of our travelers with the magician. He knows their desires.

They want everything to go well in the city: donkeys must go to the zoo, Leaf must turn into a short man, policeman Svistulkin must recover. Everything was done by a good wizard.

"Dunno in the Sunny City": the main characters

• Dunno is a very cunning, lazy dreamer, boastful, ignorant, but smart and quick-witted and very charming.
• Button is a smart, kind girl who believes in miracles. She knows how to keep, when she sees, from the wrong deeds of her friends.
• Pachkulya Motley - lazy, good-natured and always dirty. He asked the magician to make him love to wash. His wish came true.
• Conscience of the Unknown. She appears constantly and does not allow him to forget about bad deeds.

The story of N. Nosov unobtrusively teaches children to be attentive, sociable, kind.

The second book of N. Nosov's fairy tale trilogy. It tells about how Dunno received a magic wand and, together with his friends - Button and Motley, made a trip to the Sunny City.

Illustrations by G. Valk

Nikolai Nikolaevich Nosov
Dunno in Sunny City

PART I
Chapter one
DON'T KNOW DREAMS

Some readers have probably already read the book "The Adventures of Dunno and His Friends". This book tells about a fabulous country in which babies and babies lived, that is, tiny boys and girls, or, as they were otherwise called, shorties. Here such a little shorty was Dunno. He lived in the Flower City, on Kolokolchikov Street, together with his friends Znayka, Toropyzhka, Rasteryayka, mechanics Vintik and Shpuntik, musician Gusli, artist Tube, doctor Pilyulkin and many others. The book tells about how Dunno and his friends made a trip in a hot air balloon, visited the Green City and the city of Zmeevka, about what they saw and what they learned. Returning from a trip, Znayka and his friends set to work: they began to build a bridge across the Ogurtsovaya River, reed water supply and fountains, which they saw in the Green City.

The shorties managed to do all this, after which they began to install electric lighting on the streets of the city, set up a telephone so that they could talk to each other without leaving the house, and Vintik and Shpuntik, under the guidance of Znayka, designed a TV so that they could watch movies at home and theatrical performances.

As everyone already knows, Dunno after the trip became much wiser, began to learn to read and write, read all grammar and almost all arithmetic, began to do tasks and even wanted to start studying physics, which he jokingly called physics-mysics, but that’s why he got tired of studying. This often happens in the country of short men. A short man will promise three boxes, say that he will do this and that, even turn mountains and turn them upside down, but in fact he will work for several days at full strength, and then again, little by little, begins to take off.

Nobody, of course, says that Dunno was an incorrigible lazy person. Or rather, he just went astray. Having learned how to read properly, he sat all day long over books, but he read not at all what was more necessary, but what was more interesting, mainly fairy tales. After reading fairy tales, he completely stopped doing business and, as they say, plunged headlong into dreams. He made friends with the little Button, who became famous for being also terribly fond of fairy tales. Climbing somewhere in a secluded place. Dunno and Button began to dream of various miracles: invisibility hats, flying carpets, walking boots, silver saucers and pouring apples, magic wands, witches and sorcerers, good and evil wizards and sorceresses. They only did what they told each other different fairy tales, but their favorite pastime was arguing which is better: an invisibility hat or a flying carpet, self-gusli or walking boots? And they argued so passionately that things sometimes even ended in a fight.

Once they argued for two days in a row, and Dunno managed to prove to Button that the best thing is a magic wand, because whoever owns it can get himself anything. He has only to wave his magic wand and say: "I want to have an invisibility hat or walking boots," and all this will immediately appear to him.

The main thing, Dunno said, is that someone who has a magic wand can learn everything without difficulty, that is, he doesn’t even need to learn, but just wave his wand and say: I want, they say, to know arithmetic or French, and he will immediately begin to know arithmetic and speak French.

After this conversation Dunno walked like a bewitched one. Often, waking up at night, he jumped up in bed, began to mutter something to himself and waved his arms. He imagined that he was waving a magic wand. Dr. Pilyulkin noticed that something was wrong with Dunno, and said that if he did not stop his nightly performances, then he would have to be tied to the bed with a rope and given castor oil for the night. Dunno, of course, was frightened of castor oil and began to behave more quietly.

Once Dunno met with Button on the river bank. They sat on a large green cucumber that grew in abundance around. The sun had already risen high and warmed the earth properly, but Dunno and Button were not hot, because the cucumber on which they sat, as if on a bench, was rather cool, and from above they were protected from the sun by wide cucumber leaves spread over them, like huge green umbrellas. The breeze rustled softly in the grass and raised light ripples on the river, which sparkled in the sun. Thousands of sunbeams, reflected from the surface of the water, danced on cucumber leaves, illuminating them from below with some mysterious light. From this it seemed that the air under the leaves, where Dunno and Button were sitting, was also agitated and trembling, as if flapping countless invisible wings, and all this looked somehow unusual, magical. But Dunno and Button did not notice any magic around, since this whole picture was too familiar for them, and besides, each of them was busy with his own thoughts. Button really wanted to talk about fairy tales, but Dunno for some reason was stubbornly silent, and his face was so sour and angry that she was even afraid to speak to him.

Finally, Button still could not stand it and asked:

- Tell me, Dunno, what kind of fly bit you today? Why are you so boring?

“No fly has bitten me today,” Dunno answered. - I'm boring because I'm bored.

- That's how I explained it! Button laughed. Boring because it's boring. You try to explain better.

“Well, you see,” Dunno said, spreading his arms, “everything in our city is somehow not as it should be. There are no, you know, miracles, there is nothing magical ... Whether it's in the old days! Then, almost at every turn, there were wizards, sorcerers, or at least witches. No wonder this is told in fairy tales.

“Of course, not without reason,” agreed Button. “But there were wizards not only in the old days. They still exist, but not everyone can meet them.

Chapter one

Dunno dreams

Some readers have probably already read the book "The Adventures of Dunno and His Friends". This book tells about a fabulous country in which babies and babies lived, that is, tiny boys and girls, or, as they were otherwise called, shorties. Here such a little shorty was Dunno. He lived in the Flower City, on Kolokolchikov Street, together with his friends Znayka, Toropyzhka, Rasteryayka, mechanics Vintik and Shpuntik, musician Gusli, artist Tube, doctor Pilyulkin and many others. The book tells about how Dunno and his friends traveled in a balloon, visited the Green City and the city of Zmeevka, about what they saw and learned. Returning from a trip, Znayka and his friends set to work: they began to build a bridge across the Ogurtsovaya River, reed water supply and fountains, which they saw in the Green City.
The shorties managed to do all this, after which they began to install electric lighting on the streets of the city, set up a telephone so that they could talk to each other without leaving the house, and Vintik and Shpuntik, under the guidance of Znayka, designed a TV so that they could watch movies at home and theatrical performances.
As everyone already knows, Dunno after the trip became much wiser, began to learn to read and write, read all grammar and almost all arithmetic, began to do tasks and even wanted to start studying physics, which he jokingly called physics-mysics, but that’s why he got tired of studying. This often happens in the country of short men. Another short man will promise three boxes, say that he will do this and that, even turn mountains and turn them upside down, in fact, he will work for several days at full strength, and then again, little by little, begins to take off.
Nobody, of course, says that Dunno was an incorrigible lazy person. Or rather, he just went astray. Having learned how to read properly, he sat all day long over books, but he read not at all what was more necessary, but what was more interesting, mainly fairy tales. After reading fairy tales, he completely stopped doing business and, as they say, plunged headlong into dreams. He made friends with the little Button, who became famous for being also terribly fond of fairy tales. Climbing somewhere in a secluded place. Dunno and Button began to dream of various miracles: invisibility hats, flying carpets, walking boots, silver saucers and pouring apples, magic wands, witches and sorcerers, good and evil wizards and sorceresses. They only did what they told each other different fairy tales, but their favorite pastime was arguing which is better: an invisibility hat or a magic carpet, self-gusli or walking boots? And they argued so passionately that things sometimes even ended in a fight.
Once they argued for two days in a row, and Dunno managed to prove to Button that the best thing is a magic wand, because whoever owns it can get himself anything. He has only to wave his magic wand and say: “I want to have an invisibility hat or walking boots,” and all this will immediately appear to him.
The main thing, Dunno said, is that someone who has a magic wand can learn everything without difficulty, that is, he doesn’t even need to learn, but just wave his wand and say: I want, they say, to know arithmetic or French, and he will immediately begin to know arithmetic and speak French.
After this conversation Dunno walked like a bewitched one. Often, waking up at night, he jumped up in bed, began to mutter something to himself and waved his arms. He imagined that he was waving a magic wand. Dr. Pilyulkin noticed that something was wrong with Dunno, and said that if he did not stop his nightly performances, then he would have to be tied to the bed with a rope and given castor oil for the night. Dunno, of course, was frightened of castor oil and began to behave more quietly.
Once Dunno met with Button on the river bank. They sat on a large green cucumber that grew in abundance around. The sun had already risen high and warmed the earth properly, but Dunno and Button were not hot, because the cucumber on which they sat, as if on a bench, was rather cool, and from above they were protected from the sun by wide cucumber leaves spread over them, like huge green umbrellas. The breeze quietly rustled in the grass and raised light ripples on the river, which sparkled in the sun. Thousands of sunbeams, reflected from the surface of the water, danced on cucumber leaves, illuminating them from below with some mysterious light. From this it seemed that the air under the leaves, where Dunno and Button were sitting, was also agitated and trembling, as if flapping countless invisible wings, and all this looked somehow unusual, magical. But Dunno and Button did not notice any magic around, since this whole picture was too familiar for them, and besides, each of them was busy with his own thoughts. Button really wanted to talk about fairy tales, but Dunno for some reason was stubbornly silent, and his face was so sour and angry that she was even afraid to speak to him.
Finally, Button still could not stand it and asked:
- Tell me, Dunno, what kind of fly bit you today? Why are you so boring?
“No fly has bitten me today,” Dunno answered. - And I'm boring because I'm bored.
- That's how I explained it! Button laughed. - Boring because it's boring. You try to explain better.
“Well, you see,” Dunno said, spreading his arms, “in our city everything is somehow not as it should be. There are no, you know, miracles, there is nothing magical ... Whether it's in the old days! Then, almost at every turn, there were wizards, sorcerers, or at least witches. No wonder this is told in fairy tales.
- Of course, not without reason, - Button agreed. “But there were wizards not only in the old days. They still exist, but not everyone can meet them.
- Who can meet them? Maybe you? - Dunno asked with a sneer.
- What are you, what are you! Button waved her hands. - You know, I'm such a coward that if I meet a magician now, I probably won't say a word from fear. But you could probably talk to the wizard, because you are very brave.
- Of course, I'm brave, - Dunno confirmed. “But for some reason, I still haven’t met a single wizard.
"That's because courage alone isn't enough here," said Button. - I read in some fairy tale that you need to do three good deeds in a row. Then a magician will appear before you and give you whatever you ask him.
- And even a magic wand?
- Even a magic wand.
- Look you! - Dunno was surprised. What do you think is considered a good deed? If, for example, I get up in the morning and wash myself with cold water and soap, will this be a good deed?
“Of course,” said Button. - If it will be hard for someone, and you will help, if someone will be offended, and you will protect, these will also be good deeds. Even if someone helps you, and you say thank you for it, you will also do well, because you should always be grateful and polite.
- Well, in my opinion, this is not difficult, - Dunno said.
“No, it’s very difficult,” objected Button, “because three good deeds must be done in a row, and if at least one bad deed falls between them, then nothing will come of it and you will have to start all over again. In addition, a good deed will only be good when you do it selflessly, without thinking that you are doing it for some personal benefit.
“Well, of course, of course,” Dunno agreed. - What a good deed it would be if you do it for the sake of profit! Well, today I will rest, and tomorrow I will start doing good deeds, and if all this is true, then the magic wand will soon be in our hands!

Chapter Two

How Dunno did good deeds

The next day Dunno woke up early and began to do good deeds. First of all, he thoroughly washed himself with cold water, and did not spare soap, and thoroughly brushed his teeth.
“So there is already one good deed,” he said to himself, drying himself with a towel and carefully combing his hair in front of the mirror.
Hasty saw that he was turning in front of the mirror, and said:
- Good, good! Nothing to say, very beautiful!
- Yes perishing prettier you! - answered Dunno.
- Certainly. Such a beautiful physiognomy, like yours, you need to look for!
- What you said? Whose face is this? Is that my face? Dunno got angry and whipped Toropyzhka on the back with a towel.
Hasty just waved his hand and quickly ran away from Dunno.
- Unfortunate hurry! Dunno shouted after him. - Because of you, a good deed is gone!
A good deed really disappeared, because, getting angry at Toropyzhka and hitting him on the back with a towel. Dunno, of course, committed a bad deed, and now it was necessary to start all over again.
Calming down a little. Dunno began to think about what else to do a good deed, but for some reason nothing sensible came to mind. Before breakfast he hadn't thought of anything, but after breakfast his head began to think a little better. Seeing that Dr. Pilyulkin began to grind some drug for medicine in a mortar, Dunno said:
- You, Pilyulkin, you are always working, you are helping others, but no one wants to help you. Let me give you some medicine.
- Please, - Pilyulkin agreed. It's very good that you want to help me. We must all help each other.
He gave Dunno a mortar, and Dunno began to grind the powder, and Pilyulkin made pills from this powder. Dunno got so carried away that the powder was even more than necessary.
Nothing, he thought. - It won't get in the way. But I did a good deed."
The case would indeed have ended quite happily if Dunno had not been seen behind this occupation by Syrupchik and Donut.
- Look, - said Donut, - Dunno, you see, he also decided to become a doctor. That will be fun when he starts to heal everyone!
- No, he probably decided to suck up to Pilyulkin so that he would not give castor oil, - answered Syropchik.
Hearing these ridicule, Dunno got angry and swung a mortar at Syrupchik:
- And you, Syrupchik, be quiet, otherwise I’ll give you a mortar!
- Stop! Stop! cried Dr. Pilyulkin.
He wanted to take the mortar from Dunno, but Dunno did not give it back, and they began to fight. In a fight, Pilyulkin caught on the table with his foot. The table overturned. All the powder just fell on the floor, the pills rolled in different directions. Forcibly, Pilyulkin managed to take the mortar from Dunno, and he said:
- Get out of here, you bastard! I don't want to see you here again! How much medicine was wasted!
- Oh, you nasty syrup! - Dunno scolded. - I'll show you more, just get me! What a good deed wasted!
Yes, the good deed disappeared this time too, because Dunno didn’t even have time to complete it.
It was like that all day. No matter how hard Dunno tried, he could not manage to do not only three, but even two good deeds in a row. If he managed to do something good, then immediately after this he did something bad, and sometimes some nonsense came out of a good deed at the very beginning.
At night, Dunno could not sleep for a long time and kept thinking why he was doing this. Gradually, he realized that all his failures were due to the fact that he had a too rough character. As soon as someone joked or made some harmless remark, Dunno immediately took offense, began to scream and even got into a fight.
“Well, nothing,” Dunno consoled himself. - Tomorrow I'll be more polite, and then things will go smoothly.
The next morning Dunno seemed to be reborn. He became very polite, delicate. If he turned to someone with a request, he would definitely say “please” - a word that had never been heard from him in his life. In addition, he tried to serve everyone, to please.
Seeing that Confusion could not find his hat, which he constantly lost, he also began to search all over the room and finally found a hat under the bed. After that, he apologized to Pilyulkin for yesterday and asked him to allow him to grind the powder again. Dr. Pilyulkin did not allow the powder to be crushed, but gave instructions to pick lilies of the valley in the garden, which he needed to make lily of the valley drops. Dunno diligently carried out this order. Then he polished the hunter Pulka his new hunting boots with wax, then he began sweeping the floors in the rooms, although it was not his turn that day. In general, he did a whole bunch of good deeds and kept waiting for a good wizard to appear in front of him and give him a magic wand. However, the day ended, and the wizard did not appear.
The stranger was terribly angry.
- What is it you lied to me about the wizard? - he said, meeting the next day with Button. - I tried like a fool, did a whole bunch of good deeds, but I never saw a magician in my eyes!
“I didn’t lie to you,” Button began to justify herself. - I remember exactly what I read about it in some fairy tale.
Why didn't the magician show up? - angrily advancing Dunno.
Button says:
- Well, the wizard himself knows when he needs to be. Maybe you did not do three good deeds, but less.
- "Not three, not three"! Dunno snorted contemptuously. - Not three, but probably thirty-three - that's how many!
Button shrugged.
- So, you probably did good deeds not in a row, but interspersed with bad ones.
- "Interspersed with the bad"! - Dunno mimicked Button and grimaced such a face that Button even backed away in fright. - If you want to know, yesterday I was polite all day and didn’t do anything bad: I didn’t swear, I didn’t fight, and if I said any words, then only “sorry”, “thank you”, “please”.
“I don’t hear these words from you today,” Button shook her head.
- Yes, I'm not talking about today at all, but about yesterday.
Dunno and Button began to think why it all happened, and could not think of anything. Finally the Button said:
- Or maybe you did not disinterestedly commit these acts, but for the sake of profit?
Dunno even flared up:
How is that not disinterested? What are you talking about! Rasteryayke helped find a hat. Is this my hat? Pilyulkin collected lilies of the valley. What do I benefit from these lilies of the valley?
Why did you collect them?
- Don't you understand? She herself said: if I do three good deeds, I will get a magic wand.
- So you did all this to get a magic wand?
- Certainly!
- Here you see, and you speak - disinterestedly.
“What do you think I should do these things for, if not for the wand?”
- Well, you should do them just like that, with good intentions.
- What other motives are there!
- Oh you! Button said with a smile. - You can probably do well only when you know that you will be given some kind of reward for this - a magic wand or something else. I know we have little ones who even try to be polite only because they have been told that by being polite and pleasing you can get something for yourself.
“Well, I’m not like that,” Dunno waved his hand. - If you want, I can be polite for nothing and do good deeds without any benefit.
Having parted with Button, Dunno went home. He decided now to do good deeds only from good intentions and not even think about a magic wand at all. However, it is easy to say - not to think! In fact, when you want to not think about something, you are sure to only think about it.
Returning home, Dunno began to read a book of fairy tales. The hunter Pulka, who was sitting at the window cleaning his hunting rifle, said:
- What do you read there so interesting? You would read aloud.
The Dunno only wanted to say: “If you so desire, then take it yourself,” but at that time he remembered the magic wand and thought that if he fulfilled Pulka’s request, he would do a good deed.
- Well, listen, - Dunno agreed and began to read the book aloud.
The hunter Pulka listened with pleasure, and it was not so boring for him to clean his gun. The other shorties heard that Dunno was reading fairy tales and also gathered around to listen.
- Well done, Dunno! they said when the book was over. - It's nice you came up with - to read aloud.
Dunno was pleased that he was being praised, and at the same time it was very annoying that he did not remember the magic wand in time.
“If I hadn’t remembered the wand and agreed to read a book just like that, I would have done it out of good intentions, but now it turns out that I read for profit,” Dunno thought.
This happened every time: Dunno did good deeds only when he remembered the magic wand; when he forgot about her, he was only able to do bad deeds. Of course, to tell the truth, sometimes he still managed to do some very tiny good deed, not at all thinking that he was doing it for the sake of a magic wand. However, this happened so rarely that it is not worth mentioning.

Days, weeks and months passed ... Dunno gradually became disillusioned with the magic wand. The further, the less often he remembered her and in the end decided that getting a magic wand was an unattainable dream for him, since he would never be able to unselfishly perform three good deeds in a row.
“You know,” he once said to Button, “it seems to me that there is no magic wand in the world, and no matter how many deeds you do, you will only get shish.”
Dunno even laughed with pleasure, because these words turned out to be in rhyme. The button also laughed, and then said:
- Why did the fairy tale say that you need to do three good deeds?
“It must be that this fairy tale was deliberately invented so that some stupid short men would learn to do good deeds,” Dunno said.
"That's a reasonable explanation," Button said.
“Very reasonable,” Dunno agreed. - Well, I do not regret that it all happened. Anyway, it was helpful for me. While I tried to do good deeds, I used to wash my face with cold water every morning, and now I even like it.

Chapter Three

Dunno's dream comes true

Once Dunno sat at home and looked out the window. The weather that day was bad. The sky was gloomy all the time, the sun never came out in the morning, the rain poured incessantly. Of course, there was nothing to think about going for a walk, and this made Dunno feel despondent.
It is known that the weather had a different effect on the inhabitants of the Flower City.
Znayka, for example, said that he didn’t care if it snowed or rained, since the worst weather did not prevent him from staying at home and doing business. Dr. Pilyulkin claimed that he likes bad weather even more than good, because it hardens the organisms of short men and this makes them less sick. The poet Tsvetik said that the greatest pleasure for him is to climb into the attic in the pouring rain, lie down there comfortably on dry leaves and listen to the raindrops pounding on the roof.
“Bad weather is raging around,” said Tsvetik. - It’s scary to even stick your nose out into the street, but it’s warm and cozy in the attic. Dry leaves smell wonderful, rain drumming on the roof. From this it becomes so good in the soul, so pleasant, and I want to compose poetry!
But most shorties didn't like the rain. There was even one baby, named Droplet, who cried every time it started to rain. When asked why she was crying, she replied:
"Don't know. I always cry when it rains."
Dunno, of course, was not as faint of heart as this whiny Droplet, but in bad weather his mood deteriorated. So it was this time. He looked longingly at the slanting streams of rain, at the violets that were soaking in the yard under the window, at the dog Bulka, who usually sat on a chain in front of the house, but now climbed into his booth and only looked out of it, sticking the tip of his nose out of the hole.
"Poor Bulka! thought Dunno. - He sits on a chain all day long and cannot even run freely, and now he has to sit in a cramped kennel because of the rain. I’ll have to let him go for a walk when this nasty rain is over.”
But the rain did not stop, and Dunno began to think that now it would never pass, but would pour forever, that the sun had disappeared forever and would never again look out from behind the clouds.
“What will happen to us then? thought Dunno. - After all, the earth will get wet from the water. The slush will turn out such that neither pass nor pass. All streets will be filled with mud. Houses, and flowers, and trees will drown in the mud, then the little ones will begin to drown. What a horror!”
While Dunno imagined all these horrors and thought about how difficult it would be to live in this slushy kingdom, the rain gradually ended, the wind dispersed the clouds, the sun finally came out. The sky cleared up. It immediately became light. Large, not yet dry drops of rain trembled, sparkled, silvered on the leaves of grass, on the petals of flowers. Everything seemed to rejuvenate around, rejoiced and smiled.
Dunno finally woke up from his dreams.
- Sun! he shouted, seeing that the sun was shining brightly. - Sun! Sun!
And ran into the yard.
The rest of the shorties ran after him. Everyone began to jump and sing and play tag. Even Znayka, who said that he didn’t care whether there were clouds in the sky or the sun, also jumped for joy in the middle of the yard.
And Dunno immediately forgot about the rain and slush. It began to seem to him that now there would never again be clouds in the sky, and the sun would shine without ceasing. He even forgot about Bulka, but then he remembered and let him off the chain. Bulka also began to run around the yard. He barked with joy and grabbed everyone by the legs with his teeth, but it didn’t hurt, because he never bit his own, but only strangers. Such was his character.
After a little fun, the shorties got back to business, and some went into the forest for mushrooms, because after the rain there are usually a lot of mushrooms.
Dunno did not go into the forest, but, sitting down near the gazebo on a bench, began to read a book. Meanwhile, Bulka, who could now run wherever he wanted, found a hole in the fence, crawled through it into the street and, seeing a passerby with a stick in his hands, decided to bite him. Dogs are known to dislike terribly when someone is holding a stick. Carried away by reading, Dunno did not hear how barking was heard on the street. But soon the barking became much louder. Dunno looked up from the book and only then remembered that he had forgotten to put Bulka back on the chain. Running out of the gate, he saw Bulka, who barked furiously at a passer-by and, trying to run behind him, tried to bite him on the leg. A passer-by was spinning in place and zealously waving Bulka away with a stick.
- Back, Bulka! Back! - shouted, frightened. Dunno.
But seeing that Bulka did not obey, he ran up, grabbed him by the collar and dragged him aside.
- Oh, you are a snake! They tell you, but you don't listen!
Dunno waved his hand properly to hit Bulka on the forehead with his fist, but, seeing that the poor dog blinked his eyes and closed his eyes in fear, took pity on him and, instead of hitting him, dragged him into the yard. Putting Bulka on a chain, Dunno again ran out of the gate to find out if he had bitten a passerby.
The passer-by, apparently, was very tired from the fight with Bulka and therefore sat down on a bench near the gate and rested. Only now Dunno looked at him properly. He wore a long robe of beautiful dark blue material, on which gold stars and silver crescents were embroidered. On his head was a black cap with the same decorations, on his feet were red shoes with turned-up toes. He did not look like the inhabitants of the Flower City, because he had a long white mustache and a long white beard, almost to the knees, which covered almost the entire face, like Santa Claus. In the Flower City, no one had such a beard, since all the inhabitants there are beardless.
- Did the dog bite you? Dunno asked carefully, looking at this strange old man with curiosity.
- The dog is nothing, - said the bearded man. - Wow dog, pretty smart. Hm!
Putting a stick between his knees, he leaned on it with both hands and, squinting his eyes, looked at Dunno, who also sat down on the edge of the bench.
- This is Pulkin's dog, his name is Bulka, - Dunno said. - Pulka goes hunting with him. And in his free time, Bulka sits on a chain so that he does not bite anyone. Did he bite you?
- No, dove. Almost bit him, but still he didn't bite.
“That’s bad,” Dunno said. - That is, it’s bad not that he didn’t bite, but that he probably scared you. It's all my fault. I let him off the chain, and then forgot to put him back. You excuse me!
- Well, I'm sorry, - said the bearded man. - I see that you are a good kid.
- No, I just want to be good. That is, I wanted to. I even did good deeds, and now I quit.
Dunno waved his hand and began to look at the red shoes on the feet of the interlocutor. He noticed that the shoes were fastened with buckles, which were made in the form of a crescent with a star.
Why did you quit now? - asked the old man.
Because it's all nonsense.
- What nonsense - good deeds?
- No, wizards... Tell me, are these buckles on your shoes gilded or just gold?
- Just gold... Why do you think that wizards are nonsense?
Dunno began to talk about how he dreamed of a magic wand, how Button told him that you need to do good deeds, and how nothing came of it, because he was able to do good deeds only for the sake of a magic wand, and not disinterestedly.
- But you said that you let Bulka go for a walk - did you also do this for the sake of a magic wand? - asked the old man.
- What do you! Dunno waved his hand. - I forgot about the magic wand then. It was just a pity to me that Bulka was sitting on a leash all the time.
“So you did it out of good intentions?”
- Certainly.
- That's one good deed!
- Marvelous! Dunno exclaimed and even laughed with joy. - I did not notice how good I did!
And then you did another good deed.
- When is that?
You saved me from the dog. Is this a bad act? Or maybe you did it for the sake of a magic wand?
- Not! I didn't even think about the magic wand.
- You see! - the old man was delighted. - Then you did the third good deed when you came to find out if the dog had bitten me, and apologized. This is good, because you always need to be attentive to each other.
- Miracles in the sieve! Dunno laughed. - Three good deeds - and all in a row! I have never experienced such miracles in my life. I won't be surprised at all if I meet a wizard today!
- And don't be surprised. You already met him.
The stranger looked suspiciously at the old man:
- You, perhaps, will also say that you are a magician?
Yes, I am a magician.
Dunno stared at the old man with all his might and tried to see if he was laughing, but the beard covered his face so tightly that it was impossible to detect a smile.
“You must be laughing,” Dunno said incredulously.
- I'm not laughing at all. You have done three good deeds and you can ask me for anything ... Well, what do you like better: the invisibility cap or the walking boots? Or maybe you want a magic carpet?
- Do you have a flying carpet?
- How! There is also a carpet. Everything is.
The old man shook out a carpet rolled into a tube from the wide sleeve of his dressing gown and, quickly unfolding it, spread it on the ground in front of Dunno.
- And here are the walking boots, here is the invisibility hat ...
With these words, he pulled out a hat and boots from the other sleeve and laid them side by side on the carpet. Following this, in the same way, the gusli-samogudy, the self-assembled tablecloth and various other mysterious objects appeared.
Dunno gradually became convinced that he was in front of a real magician, and asked:
- Do you have a magic wand?
- Why not? There is also a magic wand. Here you are.
And the wizard took out a small round stick of reddish-brown color from his pocket and handed it to Dunno.
The stranger took the wand.
- Is she real? he asked, still not believing that his dream had come true.
"A real wand, you can be sure," the wizard assured him. - If you do not do bad deeds, all your desires will be fulfilled, you just have to say what you want and wave your wand. But, as soon as you commit three bad deeds, the magic wand will lose its magic power.
Dunno's breath was taken away with joy, his heart beat in his chest twice as fast as it should.
- Well, I'll run and tell Button that we now have a magic wand! After all, it was she who taught me how to get it, ”Dunno said.
"Run, run," said the wizard. - Let the Button be happy too. I know that she has been dreaming of a magic wand for a long time.
The Wizard stroked Dunno's head with his hand, and Dunno this time managed to see a broad, friendly smile on his kind face.
- Then goodbye! - said Dunno.
- Be healthy! The wizard chuckled in response.
Clutching a magic wand to his chest, Dunno rushed to run and, trying to get to Button's house in the shortest way, turned into an alley. Then he remembered that he had forgotten to thank the wizard for the wonderful gift, and he ran headlong back. Running out of the alley, he saw that the street was completely empty. The wizard was not on the bench, or in any other place nearby. He disappeared along with the magic carpet and other magical items, as if he had fallen through the ground or vanished into thin air.

Chapter Four

Dunno and Button meet Patchkul Pyostrenkoy

Seeing that now there was nothing to be done anyway and there was no way to correct this annoying oversight, Dunno went back to the Button. However, now he was in no hurry, even from time to time he stopped in the middle of the street, turned his head in annoyance, scratched his head, muttered something to himself and somehow quacked in a special way, after which he again continued on his way.
The button was playing on the street, not far from her house, and, seeing Dunno approaching, she ran towards him.
- Hello, Dunno! she cried happily.
Dunno stopped and, without answering Button's greeting, said gloomily:
- Now I'm no longer Dunno, but just a long-eared donkey.
- What happened? Button was worried.
- And then it happened that the magician gave me a wand, and I didn’t even say thank you to him, - here!
- What wand? Button was surprised.
- Well, "what, what"! It's like you don't know what sticks are! Magic wand!
- You, Dunno, it is clear that you are out of your mind. Invented some kind of magic wand!
And I didn't invent anything. Here she is. See?
And Dunno showed Button a stick, which he tightly squeezed in his hand.
- What is it? An ordinary stick, - Button said in bewilderment.
- "Ordinary stick"! - mimicked Dunno. - It would be better if you don't understand! The wizard himself gave it to me.
- What wizard?
"What a magician, what a magician!" It's like you don't know what wizards are!
“Of course I don’t know,” Button shrugged. - Imagine, never seen a living wizard.
- Well, he is like that, with a beard, and here are the stars and crescents ... Bulka barked, and I did three good deeds, you understand?
- I don't understand anything! You better tell me in order.
Dunno began to talk about everything that happened.
The button listened and said:
- Or maybe it was someone who laughed at you! Dressed up as a magician on purpose.
- And where did the magic wand come from, if it was not a magician?
"Are you sure the wand is actually magic?" You check?
- No, I haven't checked, but you can check.
- Why are you standing and talking? It is necessary to wave a wand and express some wish. If the wish comes true, then this is a real magic wand.
- And if it doesn't come true? - asked Dunno.
- Well, if it doesn't come true, then it means it's just a simple wooden stick, and that's it! How can you not understand this! - Button said with irritation.
She was nervous, because she quickly wanted to find out if it was a magic wand or not, and she was angry with Dunno because he still hadn't thought to check it.
“Well, okay,” said the Dunno. - Now let's try. What do we want?
- Well, what do you want? Button asked.
- I myself don’t know what I want ... Now, it seems, I don’t want anything.
- Well, what! Button got angry. - You figure it out. Do you want ice cream?
- Ice cream, perhaps, I want, - Dunno agreed. - Now let's ask for ice cream.
He waved his magic wand and said:
- We wish we had two servings of ice cream!
"On a stick," added Button.
Dunno timidly extended his hand forward and even closed his eyes.
“Well, how will there not be any ice cream?” - he thought, and immediately felt that something hard and cold poked into his hand.
Dunno immediately opened his eyes and saw in his hand a portion of ice cream on a stick. In surprise, he even opened his mouth and looked up, as if trying to find out where this ice cream fell from. Not finding anything suspicious at the top, Dunno slowly turned to the Button, holding the ice cream in his outstretched hand and as if afraid that it would disappear or fly up. The button also stood with ice cream in her hand and smiled happily.
- Mo-mo-mo-mo ... - Dunno muttered, pointing at the ice cream with his finger.
He wanted to say something, but he couldn't get a single word out of excitement.
- What is "mo-mo-mo"? Button asked.
Dunno just waved his hand and began to eat ice cream. Button followed suit. When the ice cream was finished, she said:
- Wonderful ice cream, isn't it?
- Wonderful! - confirmed Dunno. - Can we ask for more portions?
- Come on, go ahead, - Button agreed.

- We wish we had another portion of ice cream!
Something softly clicked, rustled in the air, and in the hands of Dunno and Button again appeared a serving of ice cream.

Dunno again seemed to be speechless for a minute. However, this time he came to his senses much faster and, after finishing the ice cream, asked:
- Shall we try again?
- Perhaps, you can still on the little thing, - said the Button. - Eh, what's there to mess around - "a little thing," Dunno grumbled and, waving his wand, said: - We want there to be a box of ice cream!
Bang! A large blue box hit the ground, the kind ice cream ladies carry ice cream in. Dunno opened the lid, from under which steam immediately began to swirl, and took out two servings of ice cream from the box. Closing the drawer and sitting on it, as if on a bench, Dunno began to nibble on ice cream, which turned out to be much harder and cooler than the previous one.
- That's ice cream! he praised. - You can break your teeth!
- I wonder if this stick can only get ice cream or something else? Button asked.
- Weird! - said Dunno. - This is a real magic wand, and she can do anything. If you want a cap of invisibility, you will get a cap of invisibility; if you want a flying carpet, he will give you a flying carpet.
- Well, let's ask for a magic carpet and fly to travel, - Button suggested.
Dunno really wanted to go traveling as soon as possible, but he remembered how scared he was to fly in a balloon that Znayka designed, and said:
- It is not very convenient to travel on a magic carpet, because when you fly at the top, you can’t see anything below.
“Well, then we need to think of something else,” said Button. - I read somewhere that there are some trains ... You sit, and you don’t need to do anything, because you are being transported by a locomotive by rail.
- I know that. Znayka told us about the railway. He saw her when he went to the Sunny City for books. But the railway is also a dangerous thing - there are crashes.
At this time, Dunno saw Vintik and Shpuntik, who were driving down the street in their new car. This car was a four-seater, with an open body, the same as the previous one, which Dunno broke when he decided to ride it. But, unlike the previous one, this car was much sleeker, and it had a more powerful engine, since it did not run on ordinary sparkling water, but on heated sparkling water.
Seeing Dunno and Button, Vintik and Shpuntik waved their hands at them. Dunno began to shout that he now has a magic wand, but the car crackled so much that Vintik and Shpuntik did not hear anything and, raising a cloud of dust, disappeared with their car at the end of the street.
- That's what we're going to travel! - exclaimed Dunno.
- By car? Button guessed.
- Certainly.
- Have you forgotten how you fell off the mountain in a car? And he almost killed himself and broke the car! - Hey, weirdo! Yes, I did not know how to manage then.
- Like now learned?
Now I don't even need to study. I will tell the wand that I want to be able to manage, and I will immediately be able to.
“Well then, well,” said Button. - Then let's go by car. It's really more interesting.
The stranger waved his wand and said:
- We want us to have a car, like Vintik and Shpuntik, and that I could drive!
Now a car appeared at the end of the street and quickly drove up to Dunno and Button. It even seemed to Dunno that it was Vintik and Shpuntik going again. However, when the car stopped, Dunno saw that no one was driving.
- What a thing! - he exclaimed, looking around the car from all sides.
He even looked under the car, imagining that the driver had deliberately hidden underneath to fool him.
Finding no one, Dunno said:
- Well, well, nothing surprising. Magic is magic!
With these words, he opened the car door, put the box of ice cream in the back seat, and sat in front of the wheel. Button sat next to him. Dunno already wanted to turn on the engine, but Button suddenly saw that some kid was approaching them.
“Wait a minute,” she said to Dunno. - How can we not crush him ...
Dunno waited for the baby to come closer, and saw that it was none other than the well-known Pachkulya Pyostrenky.
This Patchkulya Motley usually wore gray trousers and a similar gray jacket, and on his head he had a gray skullcap with patterns, which he called a yarmulke. He believed that gray matter is the best matter in the world, since it gets dirty less. This, of course, is nonsense and not true. The gray matter gets dirty, like the others, only the dirt on it is somehow less noticeable.
It should be mentioned that Pachkulya was a rather funny short man. He had two rules: never wash and never be surprised at anything. The first rule was much more difficult for him than the second, because the short men with whom he lived in the same house always made him wash before dinner. If he protested, then he was simply not allowed to eat. Thus, he still had to wash, but it did not matter much, since he had the property of quickly getting dirty. As soon as he had time to wash, as soon as some dirty dots, specks and stripes appeared on his face, his face quickly lost its natural color and became somehow scraggly. For this he was nicknamed Pachkuley. He would have remained for the whole century with this name, if not for one incident that occurred at the time when the famous traveler Tsirkul came to the Flower City.
The traveler Tsirkul was also a noteworthy person who should be told about. He was very thin and long: long arms, long legs, long head, long nose. His trousers were plaid and also long. This Tsirkul lived in the city of Katigoroshkin, where all the inhabitants never walked, but only rode bicycles. The compass also rode a bicycle all the time. And he was such an avid cyclist that it was not enough for him to travel around his city, and he decided to travel around all the short cities that were in the world.
Arriving in the Flower City, he traveled everywhere on his bicycle, stuck his long nose everywhere and got to know everyone. Soon he knew everyone without a trace and did not know only Pachkulya, whom the inhabitants deliberately hid, because they were afraid that he would disgrace them.
It seemed to many that if Compass saw his dirty face, he might think that in the Flower City all short men were such dirty little ones. That's why everyone tried to keep Pachkul out of sight of Tsirkul.
In general, everything went quite well until Tsirkul was about to leave. On that day, for some reason, Pachkul's supervision was weakened, and he got out into the street just at the moment when the inhabitants were saying goodbye to Tsirkul. Seeing an unfamiliar physiognomy in the crowd of short men, Tsirkul was somewhat surprised that he did not know him, and wanted to ask: “And who is that dirty one with you there?” But since he was a very well-mannered short man and could not use such rude words as "dirty", he asked the question in a more polite way:
- And who is that motley one over there?
Everyone turned around and saw Pachkulya, whose face was in fact mottled with dirt, since that day he had not washed his face since morning. Everyone really liked this word, and since then they began to call Pachkulya Pyostrenky. Pachkula himself also liked it when he was called by this name, because it sounded somehow more elegant and beautiful than just Pachkula.

Chapter Five

How Dunno, Button and Patchkula Pestrenky went to travel

- Hey, Pestrenky, hello! Dunno shouted when Pachkul came very close. - Look, we already have a car.
- Eco wonder! Vintik and Shpuntik have an even better car than yours,” Pachkula replied.
He stopped, shoved his hands into the pockets of his gray trousers, and stared at the front wheel of the car.
"That's not true," said Button. - This car is the same as that of Vintik and Shpuntik. And besides, Dunno has a magic wand.
- Think about it, you don't see it! - Pyostrenky answered again. - If I want, I will have a hundred magic wands.
Why don't you have them? - asked Dunno.
- Because I do not want it.
Dunno saw that you couldn’t get through him, and said:
- We're going to travel. Would you like to come with us?
- All right, - agreed Pestrenky. - Persuaded.
He opened the door, climbed into the car and sat down in the back seat with dignity.
- Well, you can get under way? - asked Dunno.
- Touch, touch! Button said.
- Yes, you touch, just do not kill to death, - added Motley.
Dunno turned the key on the dashboard of the car and pressed his foot on the starter pedal. The starter squealed like it was scraping against iron, and the engine thumped as it idled. After letting the engine warm up, Dunno squeezed the clutch, turned on the gearbox and, releasing the clutch, gave gas. The car started off. Dunno calmly turned the steering wheel, turned on the first speed, then the second, added and turned off the gas, forcing the car to go either faster or slower. Although he himself did not understand why he moved this or that lever, pressed this or that pedal, he did what was necessary each time, and never made a mistake. This was explained, of course, by the fact that, thanks to the magic wand, he instantly learned to drive a car and drove like a good driver who does not even think about what to turn and what to press, but does everything out of habit, mechanically.
Driving through the streets, Dunno deliberately pressed the signal button and blew loudly to attract the attention of the inhabitants. He wanted everyone to see how he bravely sits behind the wheel and is not afraid of anything.
However, the residents of the Flower City thought that Vintik and Shpuntik were driving, and no one paid any attention to Dunno.
While the car was traveling around the city, Button started a conversation with Pachkulya:
- You, Motley, as you can see, have not washed your face today?
- Even as washed!
- Why is it so dirty?
So, it's messed up again.
- You will have to wash again, because we cannot take such dirty things on a trip.
How is that "we can't"? They themselves persuaded me to go, and now suddenly we “we can’t”! - Pestrenky was indignant.
Dunno, meanwhile, left the city and, driving up to the Cucumber River, turned onto the bridge. At the end of the bridge, Button said:
- Come on, stop the car. Now Pyostrenkoy will wash himself in the river.
Dunno drove up to the shore and stopped the car.
- I protest! - Pyostrenky lost his temper. - There is no such rule to wash your face twice a day!
Well, if you don't want to, you'll have to stay here. We will go without you, - Dunno said sternly.
- It's like - without me? What do you think I have to trudge back on foot? In that case, take me back to where you got me. Otherwise, I disagree.
- Well, the jester is with him, let the dirty one go, - Dunno said. - Do not go back to us because of him back!
- And if during the trip we come to some foreign city and everyone sees that we have brought such a dirty little thing with us? We ourselves will have to blush for him, - said the Button.
"That's right," Dunno agreed. - You still need to wash, Pyostrenko. Come on, friends, all three of us wash ourselves, huh?
Hearing that he would not have to wash himself alone, Pestrenky calmed down and said:
- How do you wash yourself? No soap, no towels.
"Don't worry," Dunno replied. - All will be.
He waved his wand, and immediately three bars of soap and three towels appeared. Motley wanted to be surprised, but remembered his rule not to be surprised at anything and silently went to the river.
A few minutes later, all three were already washed and rolled in a car through the forest. The button was still sitting in front, next to Dunno, and Motley behind, next to the blue box. The road was winding and not entirely smooth. In some places, thick tree roots protruded from the ground, sometimes there were potholes and potholes. In such places, Dunno slowed down in advance so that it would not shake too much. Button kept turning back and looking at Pyostrenko with a smile. She liked that he was so clean and smart.
“You see how good it is,” she said. - It's nice when you wash yourself.
Motley angrily turned away and did not even want to look at Button.
"Well, stop pouting, it's impolite," said Button. - There you have ice cream in a blue box next to you. - Oh, it's ice cream! - Pestrenky was delighted. - And I look, what kind of box?
He took three ice creams from the drawer. Everyone began to eat. Dunno had to do two things at once: eat ice cream and drive a car. With one hand he held the steering wheel, and in the other he had ice cream, which he diligently licked with his tongue. Carried away by ice cream, Dunno did not see a bump ahead and did not have time to slow down in time. The car shook so violently that Pestrenky jumped up and inadvertently swallowed the entire serving of ice cream at once. All he had left in his hand was his wand.
- You, brother, be quiet! he said to the Dunno. - Because of you, I swallowed all the ice cream.
- It does not matter, - Dunno answered. - You can take yourself another portion.
- Then all right, - Pestrenky calmed down and took out a new portion of ice cream from the box.
Button said:
- And you, Dunno, better not eat ice cream. It distracts you and we might have an accident.
“And you don’t eat either,” Dunno answered, “because it also distracts me.”
- Well, I won't, - Button agreed.
- And I will, because I'm sitting behind and I'm not distracting anyone, - said Motley.
Soon they left the forest, and the car sped off across the field. The road went uphill, and it began to seem to our travelers that they had already reached the very edge of the earth, since behind the mountain, except for the sky, nothing was visible.
“We had to go in the other direction, because on this side the earth, as you can see, is already ending,” Dunno said.
- Yes, - Pyostrenky confirmed. - We didn't calculate a bit. Just in case, slow down, otherwise you will not have time to slow down, and we will fly upside down. And best of all, turn around, but let's go back out of harm's way.
- No, - Dunno answered. - I have long wanted to see what begins where the earth ends.
While they were talking, the ascent ended, and a wide view opened up before the eyes of the travelers. Below was a huge valley, to the right rose hills, overgrown with green grass and dense shrubs. The forest darkened in the distance. The whole valley was full of golden dandelions, blue cornflowers ... There were especially many white flowers, which the short men called "birch porridge." There was so much of this “porridge” that the ground seemed to be covered with snow in places. When our travelers saw so much beauty in front of them, they even took their breath away with joy.
“It turns out that the earth does not end here yet,” Dunno said.
- Yes, - picked up Pyostrenky. The land turned out to be larger than we thought. Thus, we have made an important scientific discovery, and on this occasion, you can eat another serving of ice cream.
With these words, he put his hand into the blue box, fished out a new portion of ice cream from it and began to eat.
The road went downhill, and the car rolled faster. Soon a new ascent began, and it again seemed to the travelers that they found themselves at the end of the earth, but as soon as the ascent ended, a new expanse spread out before them. This was repeated several times.
“They say that the earth is endless, and in which direction you go, you still won’t reach the end,” said Button.
- I think this is wrong, - Dunno answered. - We shorties are very small and cannot cover big things with our small eyes, that's why they seem endless to us.
"I think so too," Pestrenky picked up. “I think everything has an end. For example, there is a lot of ice cream in this box, but I have a suspicion that it will soon come to an end.
Conversing in this way, Dunno and his companions rushed farther and did not notice how they rushed to the crossroads. Here Dunno stopped the car to find out where to go next: straight, right or left. There was a pole at the crossroads, and on it were three arrows with inscriptions. On the arrow, which pointed straight ahead, it was written: "Stone City". On the arrow that pointed to the left, it was written: "Earth City". And, finally, on the arrow that pointed to the right - "Sun City".
“It’s clear,” Dunno said. - A stone city is a city made of stone. An earthen city is a city made of earth, where all the houses are earthen.
- And the Sunny City, then, in your opinion, is made of the sun - so, or what? - Pestrenky asked Dunno with a sneer.
"Maybe," Dunno replied.
“That can’t be, because the sun is very hot and you can’t build houses out of it,” said Button judiciously.
“But we’ll go there and then we’ll see,” Dunno said.
“We’d better go first to the Stone City,” suggested Button. - It is very interesting to look at stone houses.
“But I want to look at earthen houses. I wonder how the little ones live in them, - said Pyostrenky.
- There is nothing interesting. Let's go to the Sunny City - and that's it, - Dunno snapped.
- As everybody? What are you in charge of here? - Pestrenky was indignant. - We went together, so we should decide together.
They began to decide together, but still could not agree on anything.
- We'd better not argue, but wait. Let some chance tell us which way to go, - suggested Button.
Dunno and Motley stopped arguing. At this time, a car appeared on the left side of the road. It flashed before the eyes of travelers and disappeared in the direction indicated by the arrow with the inscription "Sun City".
“You see,” Dunno said. - This case shows that we also need to go to the Sunny City. But don't worry. First we will visit the Sunny City, and then we can wrap up in both Stone and Zemlyanoy.
Having said this, he turned on the engine again, turned the steering wheel to the right, and the car sped away.

Chapter six

The adventure begins

After the turn, the road became much smoother and wider. It was noticeable that cars drove here more often. Soon a car came across to meet our travelers. He rushed by so fast that no one had a chance to get a good look at him. After a while, another car caught up with them, and Dunno saw that it was of some unfamiliar design: low, long, with shiny headlights, painted bright green. The driver leaned out of the car, looked curiously at Neznaykin's car, then increased speed and quickly disappeared into the distance.
The road wound between the hills, went through the forest, then the field. Suddenly, the travelers found themselves in front of a river. The water sparkled ahead, and a bridge spanned over the water from one bank to the other. In the middle of the river, cutting through the waves with its bow, a steamer was sailing. He had a big chimney, and clouds of smoke were pouring out of the chimney.
- Look, the ship! shouted Button and clapped her hands for joy.
She had never seen a real steamboat, because she had never been anywhere except the Flower City, and steamboats did not sail along the Cucumber River. However, Button immediately guessed that it was a steamer, as she had often seen it in pictures in books.
"Let's stop and see," suggested Dunno.
Having entered the middle of the bridge, Dunno stopped the car. Everyone got out and, leaning on the railing of the bridge, began to look. There were many short passengers on the ship's deck. Some of them sat on benches along the sides and admired the beautiful shores, others talked to each other and even argued about something, others walked around. There were also those who dozed peacefully, sitting in soft armchairs with folding backs. It was very comfortable to sit in these chairs with legs up.
When the steamer sailed under the bridge, Dunno, Knopochka and Pyostrenkoy could see all the passengers on deck very clearly.
Suddenly, the bridge was shrouded in clouds of smoke, which escaped from the steamer pipe. Dunno coughed, choking in the smoke, but nevertheless ran to the other side of the bridge to look after the steamer. Button and Motley ran after him. When the smoke cleared, the steamer was already far away.
A minute later, our travelers were again sitting in the car and rolling on. Dunno all the time remembered the steamer and never ceased to be surprised:
- That's the ship! I would never have believed that such a giant could float on water.
The button was amazing too. But Pestrenky at first wanted to be surprised, but then he remembered his rule not to be surprised at anything and said:
- Eco marvel - steamboat! Just a big boat.
- You would also say: just a big trough! - answered Dunno.
- Why - a trough? It would be a trough, I would say - a trough, and I say - a boat.
- Listen, Motley, you better not piss me off! The driver should not be nervous when he is sitting behind the wheel, otherwise an accident will happen.
- So I have to tell a lie if you're driving?
- What lies? It's like I'm teaching you to tell a lie! - Dunno flared up. - Listen, Button, tell him, otherwise I'm not responsible for myself!
- Shut up, Motley, - said the Button. - You want to argue over trifles!
- Pretty trifles: he called the steamer a trough! Dunno fumed.
- I said - a boat, not a trough, - answered Motley.
- Well, I beg you, Motley, stop. Eat better ice cream, - the Button tried to persuade him.
Motley again took up the ice-cream and fell silent for a while.
The car continued to race through the fields and meadows. Before the eyes of the travelers, new distances opened up. After a while, a railway appeared ahead, along which there were telegraph poles with electric wires stretched between them. In the distance, a steam locomotive was puffing and dragging behind it a whole string of wagons.
The pipe of this locomotive did not stick up, but was bent back. Therefore, when steam escaped from the pipe, it flew back, and the reactive force pushed the locomotive forward. That's how he moved.
- Look, the train! A train! - Button shouted in delight.
She saw the train for the first time, but recognized it from the picture, just like the steamer.
- Look, really train! - Dunno was surprised.
Motley, who this time decided not to be surprised, said:
- Eco wonder - train! They put the houses on wheels, climbed into them themselves and rejoice, and the locomotive drags.
- Listen, Button, what is it? He's getting on my nerves again! - exclaimed Dunno.
Pestrenky snorted contemptuously:
- Just think, how gentle: "nerves"!
- I'll give it to you! Dunno got angry.
- Hush hush! What is the word "lady"? Button was outraged.
- Why is he talking to me - gentle?
- You, Motley, should not call him tender, - said Button.
- This is not good.
- What's wrong with that? - Pyostrenko objected.
- That's how ladies, so you know what's wrong! - Dunno grumbled. - I'm not responsible for myself!
The road along which the car raced crossed the railway track, and Dunno, arguing with Pyostrenkoy, realized too late that, moving over the rails, he could fall right under the locomotive. He decided to go faster in order to have time to cross the railway before the train approached this place, but the closer he drove to the railway line, the more clearly he saw that he would find himself at the crossing at the same time as the locomotive. Seeing that the locomotive is very close and that they are rushing right under its wheels. Dunno convulsively grabbed the steering wheel and said:
- Well! I told you there would be an accident!
Seeing that the locomotive is flying straight at them. The button huddled in horror and covered her eyes with her hands. Motley jumped to his feet and, not knowing what to do, hit Dunno on the top of his head with his fist and shouted:
- Stop, dumbass! What are you doing?
Realizing that it was still too late to slow down, and seeing that it would no longer be possible to slip in front of the locomotive, Dunno began to operate the steering wheel. At that moment, when it seemed that a collision was completely inevitable, he turned to the right and jumped out with his car onto the railway track in front of the locomotive. The car jumped over the sleepers, and behind it, puffing heavily, like a huge evil monster, a steam locomotive raced. Sitting in the back, Pestrenky felt the heat from the locomotive engulfing him. Beside him, a crate of ice cream bounced onto the seat. Pestrenky was afraid that the ice cream would jump out of the car, so he held the box with one hand, and held on to the back of the seat with the other hand.
- Dunno, dear, push it! - Pyostrenko asked in a voice trembling with fear. "Honestly, I'll never argue with you again!"
Dunno pressed all the pedals, but could not increase the speed. He also could not turn aside, because the railway track went along a steep embankment and it was impossible to move down.
Feeling that there was no collision, Button opened her eyes and, turning back, saw the engine that was chasing them on their heels. On the locomotive, too, only at that moment they noticed a car. Knopochka saw a short driver look out of the window of a locomotive booth and even gaped in surprise when he found a car rushing ahead. Frightened, he pulled the lever and began to give alarm beeps, then opened the valve, and steam rushed from under the wheels of the locomotive in all directions. Afraid that the steam would burn him, Pestrenky hid under the seat. Releasing steam, the engineer applied the brakes, and the train began to slow down a little. The car, moving at the same speed, began to move forward. The distance between him and the locomotive increased, but Dunno did not notice this. Seeing that the railway embankment ahead was not as steep as before, he turned to the side, and the car rushed down. Having run into a bump, she suddenly stopped, so that Knopochka and Dunno almost bruised their foreheads, and Motley, by inertia, flew out from under the seat along with the blue box. Flying over the car upside down, he flopped on the ground and remained lying motionless. The train also stopped at that time. Passengers jumped out of the cars, began to ask each other what happened, but no one knew anything. Some of them descended from the embankment and ran up to Dunno and his companions. Seeing that Pestrenky was lying motionless, everyone surrounded him. Someone said that you need to sprinkle cold water on his face - then he will wake up. But Motley, as soon as he heard about the cold water, he immediately jumped to his feet, looked around in a dazed voice and asked, stuttering:
- Where's mo-mo-ice cream?
- Mo-mo-ice cream is here, - Button answered, also stuttering from the excitement.
- That's it, then I'm calm, - answered Motley.
He cheered up, picked up the box from the ground and put it back in the car. At this time, the assistant driver came running from the locomotive.
- Are they all good? he shouted from a distance. - No one is hurt?
- Nobody, - Dunno answered. - All is well.
- That's good, otherwise the driver was scared to death when he saw that you were galloping ahead. Still can not come to his senses, - said the assistant.
- Where are you going? - Dunno asked.
“The train is going to the Sunny City,” the assistant answered him.
- We are also in the Sunny City, - Dunno was delighted.
“In that case, you need to drive along the highway,” the assistant said sternly.
- Who travels by car on the railroad?
- Yes, we were driving along the highway, and Pyostrenko said ... That is, at first we looked at the steamer ... such, you know, a big steamer ...
Dunno began to tell in detail about the steamer and how he argued with Pyostrenkoy, but at that time a locomotive whistle rang out.
“I beg your pardon,” Dunno’s assistant interrupted, “it’s time for us to go, because the train should not be late.” Next time, we'd love to hear your story.
With these words, he ran to the locomotive, which was already making steam. Passengers rushed to run to their cars.
- Listen, what other time? - Dunno shouted. - Next time, we may not meet again!
But no one listened to him. The train started, and some of the short men had to jump into the cars as they went.
- Well! - Dunno exclaimed offendedly. - Couldn't wait a bit. After all, I didn’t tell you the most interesting thing!

The full version of the work was withdrawn at the request of the copyright holder (www.strelbooks.com).
This part of the work is posted for informational purposes.
We recommend that you familiarize yourself with the full version at the link: https://www.litres.ru/nikolay-nosov/neznayka-v-solnechnom-gorode/

Nikolai Nikolaevich Nosov

Dunno in Sunny City

Chapter one

DON'T KNOW DREAMS

Some readers have probably already read the book "The Adventures of Dunno and His Friends". This book tells about a fabulous country in which babies and babies lived, that is, tiny boys and girls, or, as they were otherwise called, shorties. Here such a little shorty was Dunno. He lived in the Flower City, on Kolokolchikov Street, together with his friends Znayka, Toropyzhka, Rasteryayka, mechanics Vintik and Shpuntik, musician Gusli, artist Tube, doctor Pilyulkin and many others. The book tells about how Dunno and his friends made a trip in a hot air balloon, visited the Green City and the city of Zmeevka, about what they saw and what they learned. Returning from a trip, Znayka and his friends set to work: they began to build a bridge across the Ogurtsovaya River, reed water supply and fountains, which they saw in the Green City.

The shorties managed to do all this, after which they began to install electric lighting on the streets of the city, set up a telephone so that they could talk to each other without leaving the house, and Vintik and Shpuntik, under the guidance of Znayka, designed a TV so that they could watch movies at home and theatrical performances.

As everyone already knows, Dunno after the trip became much wiser, began to learn to read and write, read all grammar and almost all arithmetic, began to do tasks and even wanted to start studying physics, which he jokingly called physics-mysics, but that’s why he got tired of studying. This often happens in the country of short men. A short man will promise three boxes, say that he will do this and that, even turn mountains and turn them upside down, but in fact he will work for several days at full strength, and then again, little by little, begins to take off.

Nobody, of course, says that Dunno was an incorrigible lazy person. Or rather, he just went astray. Having learned how to read properly, he sat all day long over books, but he read not at all what was more necessary, but what was more interesting, mainly fairy tales. After reading fairy tales, he completely stopped doing business and, as they say, plunged headlong into dreams. He made friends with the little Button, who became famous for being also terribly fond of fairy tales. Climbing somewhere in a secluded place. Dunno and Button began to dream of various miracles: invisibility hats, flying carpets, walking boots, silver saucers and pouring apples, magic wands, witches and sorcerers, good and evil wizards and sorceresses. They only did what they told each other different fairy tales, but their favorite pastime was arguing which is better: an invisibility hat or a flying carpet, self-gusli or walking boots? And they argued so passionately that things sometimes even ended in a fight.

Once they argued for two days in a row, and Dunno managed to prove to Button that the best thing is a magic wand, because whoever owns it can get himself anything. He has only to wave his magic wand and say: “I want me to have an invisibility hat or walking boots,” and all this will immediately appear to him.

The main thing, Dunno said, is that someone who has a magic wand can learn everything without difficulty, that is, he doesn’t even need to learn, but just wave his wand and say: I want, they say, to know arithmetic or French, and he will immediately begin to know arithmetic and speak French.

After this conversation Dunno walked like a bewitched one. Often, waking up at night, he jumped up in bed, began to mutter something to himself and waved his arms. He imagined that he was waving a magic wand. Dr. Pilyulkin noticed that something was wrong with Dunno, and said that if he did not stop his nightly performances, then he would have to be tied to the bed with a rope and given castor oil for the night. Dunno, of course, was frightened of castor oil and began to behave more quietly.

Once Dunno met with Button on the river bank. They sat on a large green cucumber that grew in abundance around. The sun had already risen high and warmed the earth properly, but Dunno and Button were not hot, because the cucumber on which they sat, as if on a bench, was rather cool, and from above they were protected from the sun by wide cucumber leaves spread over them, like huge green umbrellas. The breeze rustled softly in the grass and raised light ripples on the river, which sparkled in the sun. Thousands of sunbeams, reflected from the surface of the water, danced on cucumber leaves, illuminating them from below with some mysterious light. From this it seemed that the air under the leaves, where Dunno and Button were sitting, was also agitated and trembling, as if flapping countless invisible wings, and all this looked somehow unusual, magical. But Dunno and Button did not notice any magic around, since this whole picture was too familiar for them, and besides, each of them was busy with his own thoughts. Button really wanted to talk about fairy tales, but Dunno for some reason was stubbornly silent, and his face was so sour and angry that she was even afraid to speak to him.

Finally, Button still could not stand it and asked:

- Tell me, Dunno, what kind of fly bit you today? Why are you so boring?

“No fly has bitten me today,” Dunno answered. - I'm boring because I'm bored.

- That's how I explained it! Button laughed. Boring because it's boring. You try to explain better.

“Well, you see,” Dunno said, spreading his arms, “everything in our city is somehow not as it should be. There are no, you know, miracles, there is nothing magical ... Whether it's in the old days! Then, almost at every turn, there were wizards, sorcerers, or at least witches. No wonder this is told in fairy tales.

“Of course, not without reason,” agreed Button. “But there were wizards not only in the old days. They still exist, but not everyone can meet them.

Who can meet them? Maybe you? Dunno asked with a sneer.

- What are you, what are you! Button waved her hands. - You know, I'm such a coward that if I meet a magician now, I probably won't say a word from fear. But you could probably talk to the wizard, because you are very brave.

“Of course I’m brave,” Dunno confirmed. “But for some reason, I haven’t met a single wizard yet.

“That’s because courage alone isn’t enough here,” Button said. - I read in some fairy tale that you need to do three good deeds in a row. Then a magician will appear before you and give you whatever you ask him.

“And even a magic wand?”

Even a magic wand.

- Look you! Dunno was surprised. What do you think is considered a good deed? If, for example, I get up in the morning and wash my face with cold water and soap, will that be a good deed?

“Of course,” said Button. – If it will be hard for someone, and you will help, if someone will be offended, and you will protect, these will also be good deeds. Even if someone helps you, and you say thank you for it, you will also do well, because you should always be grateful and