"Yuri Olesha. The three fat men (англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автора

"You're crazy!" the balloon man said angrily. "What do I want with that
pot? I want to get out of here. Do you think I'll climb into a pot instead?"
"Yes, that's just what you have to do."
"Get into the pot?"
"Yes."
"And then what?"
"You'll see. First, get into the pot. That's the best way to escape."
The copper pot was so big that the fattest of the Three Fat Men could
easily have got inside it, to say nothing of the skinny balloon man.
"Hurry up, if you don't want to get caught."
The balloon man looked down into the pot. It had no bottom. He saw a
big dark hole, just like a well.
"All right," he sighed. "Into the pot it is. At least it's no worse
than flying through the air and being covered with icing. Well, good-bye,
you rascals! Here's the payment for my escape."
He untied the knot and gave each boy a balloon. There was one for each:
twenty boys and twenty balloons, each one tied to its own string.
Then he climbed into the pot feet first. One of the boys put on the
lid.
"Balloons, balloons!" they shouted happily.
They rushed out of the kitchen to a little lawn in the park near the
bakery windows.
It was much more fun to run around with the balloons out in the open.
Suddenly, the three pastrycooks stuck their heads out of three windows.
"What's going on here?!" they all cried. "Come back inside this
minute!"
The boys were so frightened by the shouting that they let go of the
strings and the balloons flew off.
Their happiness had ended.
Twenty balloons were caught up by the wind. Higher and higher they flew
into the blue sky. Meanwhile, the kitchen-boys stood below on the grass
among the flowering sweet-peas, their mouths open and their heads in white
caps thrown back as they looked up at the sky.



CHAPTER FIVE


THE NEGRO AND THE HEAD OF CABBAGE


You probably remember that Doctor Caspar's frightening adventures ended
with Tibul the Acrobat climbing out of the fireplace in his study.
No one knows what went on in Doctor Caspar's workshop after that.
Auntie Ganimed was exhausted from all the excitement and the long waiting.
She was fast asleep, dreaming of roast chicken.
The next day (this is the day on which the balloon man flew into the
Palace of the Three Fat Men and the Guards broke the doll that belonged to
Tutti the Heir) Auntie Ganimed had a most unpleasant accident. She let a