Write a short story about Dunno. Review of N. Nosov’s fairy tale “The Adventures of Dunno and His Friends. What proverbs fit the fairy tale “The Adventures of Dunno in the Sunny City”

Znayka, who loved to read, read a lot in books about distant countries and various travels. Often, when there was nothing to do in the evening, he would tell his friends about what he had read in books. The kids loved these stories very much. They liked to hear about countries that they had never seen, but most of all they liked to hear about travelers, since all sorts of incredible stories happen to travelers and the most extraordinary adventures happen.

After hearing such stories, the kids began to dream about going on a trip themselves. Some suggested hiking, others suggested sailing along the river in boats, and Znayka said:
- Let's make a hot air balloon and fly in the balloon.

Everyone really liked this idea. The little ones had never flown in a hot air balloon before, and all the kids found it very interesting. No one, of course, knew how to make balloons, but Znayka said that he would think it over and then explain.
And so Znayka began to think. He thought for three days and three nights and came up with the idea of ​​making a rubber ball.

The short guys knew how to get rubber. In the city they grew flowers similar to ficus trees. If you make a cut on the stem of such a flower, white juice begins to flow out of it. This juice gradually thickens and turns into rubber, from which you can make balls and galoshes.
When Znayka came up with this idea, he told the kids to collect rubber juice. Everyone began to bring juice, for which Znayka prepared a large barrel.

Dunno also went to collect juice and met his friend Gunka on the street, who was playing jumping rope with two kids.

- Listen, Gunka, what a trick we came up with! - said Dunno. - You, brother, will burst with envy when you find out.
“But I won’t burst,” Gunka answered. - I really need to burst!
- You'll burst, you'll burst! - Dunno assured him. - Such a thing, brother! You never saw it in a dream.
- What is this thing? - Gunka became interested.
“Soon we’ll make an air bubble and go traveling.”
Gunka became jealous. He also wanted to show off something, and he said:
- Just think, a bubble! But I made friends with the kids.
- With what babies?
“But with these,” said Gunka and pointed his finger at the little ones. - This little one’s name is Mushka, and this one’s name is Button.
Mushka and Button stood at a distance and looked warily at Dunno.
Dunno looked at them from under his brows and said:
- Oh, that's how it is! You're friends with me!
“I’m friends with you and with them too.” One does not interfere with the other.
“No, it interferes,” answered Dunno. “Whoever is friends with little ones is a little one.” Quarrel with them now!
- Why should I quarrel?
- And I say, quarrel! Or I'll quarrel with you myself.
- Well, quarrel. Just think!
- So I’ll quarrel, but I’ll give your Mushka and Knopochka a kick!
Dunno clenched his fists and rushed to the little ones. Gunka blocked his way and hit him on the forehead with his fist.
They began to fight, and Mushka and Button got scared and ran away.

- So, because of these little ones, you hit me in the forehead with your fist? - Dunno shouted, trying to hit Gunka on the nose.

- Why do you offend them? - Gunka asked, waving his fists in all directions.
- Just think, what kind of defender was found! - Dunno answered and hit his friend on the top of the head with such force that Gunka even crouched down and rushed to run away.

- I'm in a quarrel with you! - Dunno shouted after him.
- Well, please! - Gunka answered. - You yourself will be the first to come to make peace.
“But you’ll see that I won’t come!” We'll fly on a bubble to travel.
- You will fly from the roof to the attic!
- You will fly from the roof to the attic! - Dunno answered and went to collect rubber juice.
When the barrel was filled with rubber juice, Znayka stirred it thoroughly and told Shpuntik to bring the pump that was used to inflate car tires. He attached a long rubber tube to this pump, doused the end of the tube with rubber juice and ordered Shpuntik to slowly pump air into the pump. The tongue began to pump, and immediately a bubble began to form from the rubber juice, just as soap bubbles are formed from soapy water. Znayka constantly coated this bubble on all sides with rubber juice, and Shpuntik continually pumped air, so the bubble gradually inflated and turned into a large ball. Znayka didn’t even have time to coat him from all sides now. Then he ordered that the rest of the kids also apply the anointing.
Everyone immediately got down to business. Everyone found work near the ball, but Dunno just walked around and whistled. He tried to stay away from the ball, looked at it from a distance and said:
- The bubble will burst! Now, now it will burst! Ugh!

To the question Help me come up with your new stories about Dunno! given by the author I gnaw my claws the best answer is 1 story from me and the best answer from you.
Dunno in the metropolis.
Friends told Dunno that there is a very unusual country on Earth, or rather a large city called a metropolis.
Local aborigines live there, who have their own laws and rights, and of course, responsibilities. These people are very interesting and many of them are smart, but they are all different and at the same time the same.
Dunno had never heard of such a city, but he decided to definitely go there and see this beautiful city.
Dunno took Cherry with him and rode there on a bicycle. They drove for a very long time, Cherry was very tired and they rested a little and had a snack, then they drove off again. So they traveled to the distant city of the metropolis for several weeks.
Megapolis.
Finally they saw the lights of a big city and a sign - Megapolis 1000 metro.
When they arrived in the city, they saw many iron and fast cars that were driving, as it seemed to them, very quickly, Aboriginal people who quickly went about their business. Almost all the natives had serious and even somewhat worried faces.
There were a lot of people like Dunno and Cherry there, so people simply didn’t notice them.
“Well, it’s good that no one notices us,” Dunno said sadly.
“But we came to the very beautiful one that you wanted to see,” Cherry answered cheerfully.
They decided to stay with their old friend Shpuntik.
“Shpuntik is always happy to meet friends,” said Dunno.
“Yes, he is very hospitable and businesslike,” Cherry noted, yawning.
Shpuntik.
Shpuntik joyfully opened the door when he saw his friends, invited him to enter the house and immediately treated him to
aromatic tea, which he bought in the best store in the metropolis.
“What a wonderful city this metropolis is,” exclaimed Cherry, drinking delicious hot tea.
with gingerbread.
“Very good,” Dunno added, stirring the tea with a spoon.
Shpuntik looked at them with concern and said: “All the food is in the refrigerator, I have prepared for your arrival,” and I have to go to work. Make yourself at home.
“What do you mean on business?” asked the curious Cherry, slightly shaking her little leg.
“That means going to work,” Shpuntik answered and began to hastily get ready.
Dunno and Cherry closed the door behind Shpuntik and laughed because they had finally arrived
to the city of dreams.
The sights of the big city were very interesting to them, but they were so tired from the long journey,
that they fell asleep.
If you believe in a dream, it will definitely come true. You just have to want it very much for it to come true.

The world of literature has been replenished with another striking work - a trilogy about the adventures of Dunno. The first of these books is "The Adventure of Dunno and His Friends." The summary of this colorful, kind and cheerful story can definitely make you want to read it. Introduce your child to the complete version of the work, and you will have to re-read it again and again.

Why do you want to read Nosov’s books?

Nikolai Nikolaevich, the author of the book, managed to become the favorite writer not only of children, but also of adults. This is because his works are both realistic and fabulous, children are taught goodness, and adults are immersed in the warm atmosphere of a joyful childhood.

The idea of ​​creating a book came to Nikolai Nosov when his son was born. He created original stories in his mind about the lives of ordinary boys from the yard and told them until the younger Nosov grew up. Readers like “The Adventures of Dunno and His Friends” because they are relatable, understandable and witty. The author's love for children can be read between the lines, and the books themselves are timeless, which is why they have not lost their appeal to this day.

"The Adventure of Dunno and His Friends": summary

The events of the work take place in a world inhabited by short children. That's what they're called - shorties. This is because they are “the size of a small cucumber,” so the flowers, grass, leaves, and insects surrounding them are simply huge. In this “jungle” the little ones have adapted to live, build their own houses, take walks and even make scientific discoveries!

This small model of society, in which everyone is busy with a certain task, has their own character and is responsible for their actions. The only one who doesn’t do this is Dunno. This prankster is capable of disturbing the general peace with his very appearance, but more on that later.

Shorties - who are they?

Acquaintance with all the characters occurs gradually, depending on what kind of trouble the main character gets into, described in the work “The Adventure of Dunno and His Friends.” A summary of the book can fit into one of the chapter titles (there are 30 in total). For example, the section “How Dunno Was an Artist” tells how much work it took him to comprehend the basics of art, and the chapter entitled “How Dunno wrote poetry” tells what poetic masterpieces he managed to create (the rhyme “stick - herring” is probably memorable to all readers).

The fairy tale "The Adventures of Dunno and His Friends" tells about short people as professionals or outstanding personalities. Even their names correspond to this. Here live: Znayka (scientist, wears glasses and comes up with various scientific ideas), Doctor Pilyulkin (doctor), mechanics Vintik and Shpuntik, creative personalities Guslya, Tube and Tsvetik (musician, artist and poet), cooking lovers Donchik and Syrupchik, astronomer Steklyashkin . The features of the remaining characters need not be explained; these are: Toropyzhka, Grumpy, the twins Avoska and Neboska.

Dunno and his team

The carefree and calm life of the Flower City is impossible without periodic outbreaks of pampering, intrigues and eliminating the consequences of the chaos caused by Dunno. This uneducated fellow is always found where something has been broken, someone's pigtails have been pulled, or they have teased them.

He is not distinguished by neatness - his tousled mop of hair always sticks out from under a huge hat, which the hero never takes off. And he lives by the principle “why make the bed before going to bed if you make it again in the morning?”

It should be noted that such behavior is not malicious intent. It is impossible not to love Dunno for his misdeeds, because he commits them out of curiosity and his childish spontaneity. His friends are Donut and Gunka. It just so happens that they are also not particularly useful to the rest of the city’s residents. And where would we be without a lady of the heart? This is a Button. It is she who begins the difficult work of teaching Dunno to read and write.

The adventures of the young hero are described in the book “The Adventure of Dunno and His Friends.” The summary of his “victories” in the Flower City ends with how Znayka comes up with a hot air balloon and the residents are going to fly to other countries. Here the plot is just beginning to unfold and takes the reader along with the characters on an exciting journey with Dunno and his friends.

The main character of the fairy tale “The Adventures of Dunno and His Friends,” Dunno, lives in the extraordinary Flower City, which is located near the Cucumber River. This city is unusual because its inhabitants are very short - no taller than a cucumber. They call themselves shorties. All shorties are divided into babies and toddlers. Toddlers wear pants, and little girls wear dresses.

Together with fifteen other kids, Dunno lives in a house on Kolokolchikov Street. His neighbors are people of various specialties: doctor Pilyulkin, hunter Pulka with his dog Bulka, two mechanics - Vintik and Shpuntik, artist Tube, musician Guslya. The kid, whom everyone called Syrupchik, loves soda very much, and Toropyzhka is always in a hurry to get somewhere. The main person in the house on Kolokolchikov Street is Znayka, who reads a lot.

Dunno never bothered to read books, and could only write in block letters. He loved to dress brightly and invent various fables, which he himself willingly believed. Dunno is a very addicted person. He always wanted to learn something, but he did not like to work, and therefore all his endeavors ended in failure. At first he wanted to become a musician, but everyone quickly got tired of his incompetent droning on the trumpet, and Dunno abandoned this idea. Then he decided to become an artist and painted portraits of all his neighbors. But they were offended by Dunno’s scribbles and tore the portraits. Then Dunno began to compose poems about his friends, but this idea of ​​his did not find a response from those around him. And one day Dunno decided to take a ride in a car that was assembled by mechanics Vintik and Shpuntik. It seemed to Dunno that driving a car was very simple, but when he got behind the wheel, he destroyed half of the yard, and then drowned the car in the river.

The short kids living in a house on Kolokolchikov Street dreamed of a long journey, and one day Znayka suggested they make a hot air balloon. Everyone happily got down to business. And one morning a balloon filled with hot air rose into the sky. The journey has begun. When the air in the balloon began to cool and the descent began, the travelers poured sand from bags that had been previously immersed in the basket of the balloon. But the air continued to cool, and then Znayka ordered everyone to jump, putting on parachutes. He jumped first, and Toropyzhka hurried to jump after him, but his parachute got caught in the basket and he was pulled back. After Znayka jumped, the ball began to rise into the sky again, and then Dunno suggested continuing the journey. But after some time the ball cooled down completely and soon fell to the ground along with the travelers.

The balloon crashed near the Green City, where only little children lived. All travelers, except Dunno, ended up in the hospital, where Doctor Medunitsa began to treat them. And Dunno, who escaped treatment, began to boast to the residents of the Green City that he was the inventor of the hot air balloon and the leader of travelers. Dunno managed to convince his companions to confirm his lies. In return, he helped them leave the hospital early.

But soon Znayka appeared in the Green City. After the parachute jump, he did not return home, but went to look for his comrades. With the appearance of Znayka in the city, everyone learned the truth, and they began to laugh at Dunno. At first, he hoped that those around him would quickly forget his deception, but this did not happen. The ridicule continued. Dunno was upset to such an extent that he cried. He realized that he was doing wrong and began to consider himself a bad person. But one of the little ones, Sineglazka, showed sympathy for him and convinced everyone to stop ridiculing Dunno.

When the travelers, led by Znayka, set off on their way back, Sineglazka asked Dunno to write her a letter. Upon returning home, he had to sit down to study and begin to master spelling, because he really wanted to correspond with Sineglazka. This is the summary of the tale.

The main meaning of the fairy tale “The Adventures of Dunno and His Friends” is that you should not use deception and boasting in order to improve relationships with others and make an impression. The secret always becomes apparent, and sooner or later the deceiver will have to experience the contempt and ridicule of people who find out that they have been misled. The fairy tale teaches you to be persistent and hardworking when mastering new knowledge and skills.

In the fairy tale, I liked the main character, Dunno. He managed to overcome negative character traits and began to persistently master spelling in order to write letters to Sineglazka.

What proverbs fit the fairy tale “The Adventures of Dunno in the Sunny City”?

Don’t brag about yourself: let people praise you in advance.
A deceiver will deceive a friend too.
Diligence overcomes everything.

Interesting facts about Dunno

It is impossible not to know Dunno. Even if fate passed you by without giving you a meeting with the fairy-tale trilogy of Nikolai Nikolayevich Nosov, a hero with that name is probably known at least by hearsay. However, why trust rumors when we are ready to provide very specific and reliable information?
So, Dunno is the most famous short guy in the Flower City. And although many worthy children live there, including the scientist Znayka, the famous mechanic Shpuntik, and the talented musician Guslya, it is the dunce and restless Dunno who is known to everyone in the city.

Firstly, because, having seen it at least once, it is impossible to forget it. His defiantly colorful and bright outfit and non-standard, one might even say aggressive, behavior make him stand out in any crowd.
In addition, he is a known liar, braggart and lazy person.
And although Dunno is far from being an ideal shorty, for some reason it was precisely this incompetent and liar that Nikolai Nikolayevich Nosov chose as the main characters of three of his fairy-tale novels.
So ask - why? And we will answer - because of charm! Yes! The same charm that makes the short guy irresistibly attractive and gives him the opportunity to win the reader’s heart from the very first minute.
In addition, Dunno is active, curious, open, sociable and not at all devoid of talents.
Judge for yourself, for the first time he picked up brushes and paints, and in one night he painted portraits of all his friends. Well, the fact that he worked more in the genre of cartoons than realistic portraits speaks, in our opinion, only about the uniqueness of his artistic gift.
Or his poetic experiments. After all, literally the day before he did not yet know what “rhyme” was, but decided to devote himself to literary creativity, and, one might say, he immediately created poetic masterpieces:

Just think, what power of imagination, what expression!
Compare these poetic lines with at least the verses of the poet Tsvetik:

Brilliant, of course, especially the last two lines. But Tsvetik is a professional, while Dunno took only his first steps in the poetic field.
And what a breadth of interests our hero has! As soon as he put aside his brushes and paints, the echoes of his poetic experiments were still in the air, and he was already sitting behind the wheel of the carbonated car that Vintik and Shpuntik had built. And even without really knowing how this car works, Dunno was able to not only start it the first time, but also drive it like a breeze throughout the city. Yes, of course, some city buildings were slightly damaged, some were demolished, and the car itself, having flown off a cliff, drowned in the river, but... And we repeat once again - but! — all the babies and toddlers we met along the way remained alive, and the driver survived! And this is an undoubted achievement.
This is how he is, Dunno, versatile, inquisitive, cheerful and, most importantly, incredibly, even somehow strikingly similar to literally any (not even a fairy-tale, but a real) boy.
Actually, this is, as they say now, the main “trick” of Nikolai Nikolaevich Nosov. After all, his Dunno, in essence, is the quintessence of a boy’s character and behavior. Therefore, the hero’s mistakes and blunders, his pranks and misdeeds, his inventions and fantasies are not only easily perceived by little readers, but are perfectly “tried on” to themselves. Moreover, the hero’s “suit” turns out to be just right for any reader, thereby confirming the amazing skill of the cutter.

The main character of Nosov is Dunno

Little Dunno is, without a doubt, N.N. Nosov’s great success. Although, by and large, all the writer’s previous heroes are “dunnos.” Vitya Maleev and Kolya Sinitsyn from the stories, Mishka and Kolya from the stories are boys who still know and can do little, but strive to try, learn and do everything. Most often with very dubious results.

““ignorance” associated with childish naivety”

(S. Sivokon), N.N. Nosov uses and plays masterfully,

forcing him to serve in his works (realistic and fairy-tale) as both the main engine of the plot and the main source of the comic. Although now, of course, that’s not entirely what we’re talking about. Let's get back to our hero.

So, N.N. Nosov’s Dunno is a completely natural hero. And yet his appearance seems strange. After all, until the early 1950s, Nosov composed realistic stories and novellas. For one of them - “Vitya Maleev at school and at home” - he even received the Stalin Prize in 1952. And suddenly, for some reason, it’s a fairy tale. Strange!

There is nothing strange here.

Something from the history of the creation of “Dunno”

The middle of the 20th century is far from being the brightest time for literature in general, and for children’s literature in particular. Even the story about Vita Maleev, favored by the authorities, was quite often attacked for the fact that the world of schoolchildren in it is depicted as completely divorced from the life of the entire country and, therefore, he deliberately

"narrowed and impoverished"

Where, the critical articles asked, is the pioneer organization, where is the guiding role of counselors and teachers? And in fact, there was nothing of this in Nosov’s book. Well, what do you tell a writer to do here? Break yourself? Or change direction? Except that in a fairy tale the pioneer organization can be neglected. And a hero, a restless person and a dreamer, he will take root there too.

It’s hard to say when N.N. Nosov first had the idea of ​​writing a fairy tale about the state of shorties. It is only known for certain that in the same 1952, while heading with a delegation of Soviet writers to Minsk for the anniversary of Yakub Kolas, Nosov talked all night long with the young Ukrainian writer Bogdan Chaly (at that time the editor of the magazine “Barvinok”). It was to him that Nosov told about the idea of ​​“Dunno”. They say that Chaly literally fell in love with the image of the charming short man and offered to publish them in his magazine as soon as the first chapters of the work appeared, without even waiting for its completion. The proposal was accepted, and the word was kept. So the fairy tale was first published in the magazine “Periwinkle” in 1953-54. in two languages ​​- Russian and Ukrainian (translated by F. Makivchuk) - under the title “The Adventures of Dunno and His Comrades” with the subtitle “fairy tale-story”.

It immediately appeared as a separate publication, already as “The Adventures of Dunno and His Friends: A Fairy-Tale Romance” (M.: Detgiz, 1954).

The second part - “Dunno in the Sunny City” - was published in 1958, first in the magazine “Yunost”, and then was published as a book (M.: Detgiz, 1958).

And finally, the third fairy tale novel, “Dunno on the Moon,” was first published in the magazine “Family and School” in 1964-66. A separate publication appeared a year later (M.: Det. lit., 1967).

This is how Dunno received three books by N.N. Nosov for his permanent place of residence, and the writer himself, for providing the hero with such a cozy abode, received the State Prize of the RSFSR named after. N.K. Krupskaya. This joyful event happened in 1969.

Did Dunno have a prototype?

In fact, did Dunno have a prototype?

Was! Or rather, they were. From quite real to quite fabulous.

Rumor has it, for example, that Dunno was literally copied from N.N. Nosov’s son, Peter. And his hair was curly and unruly. And by nature he is a fidget. Despite his small stature, Peter played volleyball and basketball well as a child, because he was as bouncy as a ball. So Dunno could have borrowed something from Pyotr Nikolaevich.

Although from his creator, N.N. Nosov himself, the hero also inherited some traits. For example, the short guys have said more than once that Dunno is a master of making things up. He undoubtedly got this gift from Nikolai Nikolaevich. Or, say, a penchant for wide-brimmed hats. Well, it’s clear that Dunno can’t go anywhere without his hat. But Nosov... In one of his most successful photographs, he is wearing a chic hat. And it’s immediately clear that he and her are a single and inextricable whole. But take another photo, and the resemblance will be simply striking. On it, little Koki (at the beginning of the last century the name Nikolai was reduced to either “Koka” or “Niki”)

the eyes are huge, completely round and clear, just the same eyes with which Dunno looks at us from any page of the Nosov trilogy.

However, according to the writer, the life prototype of Dunno is simply

“a child, but not one that can be called by name and surname, but a child in general, with the restless thirst for knowledge inherent in his age and at the same time with restlessness, the inability to keep his attention on one subject for any long time - in general , with all the good inclinations... and shortcomings..."

(N.N. Nosov. About himself and his work).

This concerns “life prototypes”. But it turns out that Dunno also had prototypes that were not even life-like.

Dunno - formerly Murzilka and also an elf

Stanislav Rassadin, in a book dedicated to the work of N.N. Nosov, writes that Nikolai Nikolaevich told him about the fairy tale by A. Khvolson, “The Kingdom of Little Ones: The Adventures of Murzilka and the Forest Men,” read in childhood, memories of which prompted him to think about Dunno.

This book was very popular at the turn of the century. Its heroes were little elves with funny names (Murzilka, Chumilka-Vedun, Hare Lip, Dedko-Borodach), and the basis of the plot was their travels around the world and all kinds of road adventures.

Murzilka and his friends first appeared on the pages of the magazine “Sincere Word” in 1887 in the fairy tale “A boy as big as a finger, a girl as big as a nail.” The author of this tale was the famous writer Anna Borisovna Khvolson (18..-1934), and the illustrations were drawings by the artist Palmer Cox.

The first edition of the book “The Kingdom of Little Ones,” including 27 stories and 182 drawings, was published in 1889, followed by reprints in 1898, 1902 and 1915.

After the revolution of 1917, A.B. Khvolson’s book was never republished, and it was soon forgotten. Therefore, almost no one knew about the relationship between the heroes A.B. Khvolson and N.N. Nosov.

But recently, in the early 1990s, the fairy tale about Murzilka was published again:

Khvolson A.B. The Kingdom of Little Ones: The Adventures of Murzilka and the Forest Men in 27 Stories. - M.: PolyKom, 1991. - 222 p.: ill.

Khvolson A.B. The Adventures of Murzilka and the Forest Men: In 27 Stories / Artist. V. Kostyleva, M. Goncharov. — Izhevsk: Quest, . — 147 p.: ill.

And it turned out that Murzilka is incredibly similar to Dunno. He is the same braggart, lazy and troublemaker, who, because of his character, constantly gets into various troubles. However, these two heroes also have differences. Murzilka, for example, is a real dandy. A tailcoat or long coat, top hat, boots with narrow toes, a cane and a monocle are indispensable components of his everyday costume. So Dunno’s predilection for defiantly bright colors in clothes would have unpleasantly struck Murzilka’s refined taste.
But this difference is purely external, and as for the essence... It’s much more difficult with this very essence. Although the character of Murzilka or, as his friends call him, “The Empty Head” is quite similar to the character of his literary descendant, Dunno is written out in much more detail and volume. And if Khvolson’s hero is deliberately caricatured and conventional, then Nosov’s is a lively, charming and recognizable boy. Therefore, probably, readers only laugh at the careless and boastful Murzilka, but they often sympathize with Dunno, sincerely pity and love him.
Murzilka Khvolson is static. He doesn't change at all throughout the book. But the character and inner world of Dunno undergo significant changes, which Nosov depicts “thoroughly and very psychologically reliably”(St. Razumnevich). If in the first part Dunno is frivolous and carefree, in the second he is inquisitive and conscientious, in the third he almost approaches the image of a typical positive hero of any adventure novel, he becomes “brave, resourceful, lucky, and sometimes, alas, too sentimental”(I. Vasyuchenko).
True, when conceiving his Dunno, N.N. Nosov did not want to delve into the “psychological jungle” at all. “I was free to give these characters the character traits that were required by the plan. These little ones, whom I called shorties, were convenient in that I could not develop or deepen their characters, loading the narrative with unnecessary details, but provide them with separate features, reflecting one side of their character, which was quite consistent with their microscopicity and at the same time sharpened, generalized the image, typified it"(from a letter from N.N. Nosov to Yu.S. Pukhov). In principle, this idea was brilliantly implemented in relation to all the characters of the fairy-tale trilogy. With the exception of Dunno. He could not help but change, otherwise he would have lost both the internal authenticity of the image and the sympathy of his readers.
But let's return to Murzilka. Why, having “borrowed” the image of the hero from Khvolson, although somewhat transforming it, did Nosov neglect his name? Yes, because in the middle of the 20th century this name was already very “promoted” by a popular children's magazine. And Murzilka himself Through the efforts of the artist A.M. Kanevsky, he turned from a forest elf into a funny shaggy creature in a beret.
By the way, a little more about name transformation. When the magazine was published in 1924, Murzilka was the name given to a dog, a village mongrel. And in the 1950s, cartoons were shown on the movie screens of our country in which a tiny boy reporter (also named Murzilka) from the newspaper “Pionerskaya Pravda” exposed vices, defeated giants and flew into space.
So Nosov had to look for another name for his hero. And in this he was helped by the same little elves Khvolson, one of whom, Dunno, was Znayka’s brother and his complete antipode. This character took little part in the development of the plot of the pre-revolutionary fairy tale, so in the company of his elf brothers he was completely lost.

Are Khwolson elves similar to elves?

By the way, the elves of A.B. Khvolson have very little resemblance to the folklore elves who live in fairy tales and legends of many peoples of the world. To understand to what extent they are dissimilar, we refer the most inquisitive citizens to books that will tell in detail about elves and other representatives of the extremely vast “little people” - gnomes, dwarfs, trolls, miniatures, leper hounds, etc. etc. By the way, among the fabulous miniature population there are also our homegrown ones. For example, have you heard of scaffolding or pain-bobs? Even a goblin, it turns out, can shrink to the size of a small blade of grass. But we will not bore you with folklore research and will limit ourselves to only a list of popular literature.

A small list of books about small creatures

Appenzeller T. Gnomes / Trans. V. Shartova. - M.: TERRA, 1996. - 144 p.: ill. - (Enchanted World).

Bulychev Kir. Fantastic bestiary. - St. Petersburg: KN, 1995. - 264 p.: ill.

Hare V. Ghosts and spirits. - M.: Egmont Russia, 2002. - 160 p.: ill. — (Secrets of Planet Earth).

Kanevsky A. Monsters and Monsters. - M.: Egmont Russia, 2002. - 160 p.: ill. — (Secrets of Planet Earth).

Mythological bestiary: From Alkost to Yagil. - Kaliningrad: Amber Tale, 1999. - 240 pp.: ill.

Fairies and elves. - M.: TERRA, 1996. - 144 p.: ill. - (Enchanted World).

If someone wants to go back to the very roots, then the folklore of different peoples of the world will provide anyone with a lot of impressions and finds.

And the Cossack was sent!

As for the elves of Anna Borisovna Khvolson, they are more reminiscent of comic book heroes than their folklore counterparts. And this is quite natural. Have you heard, dear compatriots, that the genealogical roots of our “Russian” Dunno lead not just anywhere, but to the distant United States of America.

A certain S. Chervonny from Kharkov was not too lazy to conduct bibliographic research, the result of which was the following data.

Firstly, the tales about the adventures of Murzilka are not the fruit of A.B. Khvolson’s exquisite imagination, but some kind of essay on a given topic. The theme was originally suggested by the drawings of the American Palmer Cox.

Secondly, this same Palmer Cox (1840-1924), as it turned out, was at the origins of the creation of the first comics, which began to be published on the back pages of American magazines in the second half of the 19th century. An early example of this genre is a series of drawings by P. Cox “The Brownies”, depicting little people.

Thirdly, from 1887 to 1918, Palmer Cox published more than a dozen comic books about the adventures of tiny heroes. He was also the author of the texts for his drawings.

Finally, fourthly, the Russian Publishing Partnership M.O. Wolf (by the way, a supplier of His Imperial Majesty)

“taking advantage of Cox’s foreign drawings, he instructed A. Khvolson

(I wonder why at the beginning of the last century, and the review, the lines from which we quote, appeared in the sixth issue of the “Pedagogical Collection” for 1900, the lady’s surname was declined? Disorder!)

compose a text for them, published both in the journal “Dushevnoe Slovo”, and then published them as a separate publication.”

That's it!

Perhaps for some, these facts will become a great shock and disappointment - our supposed Dunno, like Pinocchio and the Wizard of the Emerald City, is in fact not even ours at all. We believe that this is just another confirmation of our cherished idea that everything is “all things”, and ideas and images travel freely around the world, connecting humanity into a single whole.

And more about prototypes

As for literary prototypes, Dunno has another one, already ours, indigenous, Russian. For clarity, let’s immediately quote. No, two quotes. To compare.

“- Tell me, please, who came up with the idea of ​​flying in a hot air balloon?
“It’s me,” answered Dunno...
...Our kids have been asking me for a long time to come up with something: “Think of something, brother, come up with something.” I say: “Brothers, I’m already tired of inventing things. Come up with it yourself." They say: “Where are we going?” We are stupid, and you are smart. What does it cost you? Come up with it!” “Okay,” I say. - What should I do with you? I'll figure it out." And I began to think...
I thought for three days and three nights, and what would you think? I figured it out! “Here, I say, brothers: you will have a ball!” And he made a ball. About me, the poet Tsvetik... we have such a poet... he wrote poems: “Our Dunno came up with the ball...” Or not: “Our Dunno came up with the ball...” Or not: “Our Dunno came up with the ball...” No, I forgot! You know, they write a lot of poems about me, you can’t remember them all.”

(N.N. Nosov. The Adventures of Dunno and his friends. Chapter XIII. Conversation at the table).

« Anna Andreevna. Is that how you write? How pleasant this must be for a writer! Is it true that you also publish them in magazines?
Khlestakov. Yes, I publish them in magazines too. However, there are many of my works. The Marriage of Figaro, Robert the Devil, Norma. I don’t even remember the names. And it all happened by chance: I didn’t want to write, but the theater management said: “Please, brother, write something.” I think to myself: “If you please, brother!” And then in one evening, it seems, he wrote everything, astonishing everyone. I have an extraordinary lightness in my thoughts...”

(N.V. Gogol. The Inspector General. Act III. Scene VI).

It’s a pity to interrupt such an intoxicating dialogue, but it has to be done. After all, even these lines are quite enough to reveal the undoubted similarities between the two heroes. It’s probably not worth dwelling on the boyish boastfulness and carelessness of Ivan Aleksandrovich Khlestakov and Dunno’s “Khlestakovism” - everything is more than obvious. By the way, N.V. Gogol was N.N. Nosov’s favorite writer, and in Nosov’s works there are often reminiscences and associations that make one remember the great Russian classic of the 19th century.

And more about literary relatives

But Dunno and his short friends have another very numerous relatives - “little people”: Thumb Thumb by C. Perrault, Thumbelina by H. C. Andersen, Pinocchio by C. Collodi and his twin brother Pinocchio by A. N. Tolstoy ... In principle, this series can go on and on. But it’s better to look at the “Parade of Heroes” section on our website and find a whole list of books about these little people. However, we are also not going to talk about their family relationships. Then our discussions would drag on for a long time, and the result would be reduced to a minimum. And it is so clear that all these literary kids arose for one single reason - the little reader needs a little hero with whom he could identify himself.

Actually, that's all we wanted to say about prototypes. But, since we are talking about the tiny sizes of our heroes, it’s probably worth clarifying them.

How tall was Dunno?

In the very first lines of the first book of the trilogy we read:

“In one fairy-tale city there lived short people. They were called shorties because they were very small. Each short one was the size of a small cucumber.”

But “cucumber” is still too vague a definition. For specifics, we will turn to the third fairy tale novel by N.N. Nosov, “Dunno on the Moon.” And in the ninth chapter of the above-mentioned novel we will find comprehensive information.

“Your height, expressed in standard measurement units, is seventy-two. So you are short and of average height...

(let us note in parentheses that Dunno’s measurement takes place at the police station, where he ended up almost immediately upon his arrival in the state of the lunar shorties)

We measure the circumference of your head... Like this... Thirty units. We see, therefore, that you have a large head... We measure your nose and see that it is only two and a half units long, that is, short.”

Based on the “standard” lunar units, readers can therefore find out that Dunno’s height is 72 mm (like a small, but not small cucumber), his nose is only 2.5 mm, but his head circumference is as much as 30 mm! This is how many thoughts can fit in such a cranium!

Now let’s move on from general measuring parameters to the appearance of our hero.

Who gave Dunno a visual image?

If you ask the question “who?” so directly, you can get an equally direct answer - Alexey Mikhailovich Laptev (1905-1965). It was Dunno who first allowed him to draw himself. And the portrait turned out to be so similar to the original that all subsequent “portrait painters” only repeated and played up the image created by A.M. Laptev.

The pen and watercolor drawings of A.M. Laptev not only decorated the first two parts of the Nosov trilogy, they, as Yuri Olesha accurately noted in his review of “The Adventures of Dunno and His Friends,” emphasized

“its lightness, its joyful, summer, we would say, field flavor”

In the same review, the line from which we just quoted, Yu. Olesha noted that the whole book resembles a round dance:

“a whole round dance of adventures, jokes, inventions”

This association arose among the reviewer, no doubt, thanks to the illustrations of A.M. Laptev. They are multi-figured and incredibly mobile. Images are permanent

“change places, configuration, cut into the text, cross it diagonally”

(L. Kudryavtseva), not allowing our eyes to take their eyes off the magnificent, bright, varied round dance of funny and cute shorties.

Illustrations by Alexey Mikhailovich

“tender, lyrical, fragile... with touching warmth and at the same time captivating “seriousness”, genuineness”

(A. Lavrov) they draw in detail, step by step, the world of little people. And although these creatures in Laptev resemble children (they are dressed like children, they have childish habits),

“but not children, not a parody, not a caricature of a child, and not dolls, but fairy-tale people”

(L. Kudryavtseva).

This is how professionals spoke about A.M. Laptev’s illustrations and the images he created. We, as amateurs, allow ourselves to note the following. In our opinion, the planet of short people by N.N. Nosov is a model of children’s ideas about the adult world, where any activity and work is just a game, where there are no questions of birth and death, where there is no division into adults and children, where there are just people, seen from the perspective and eyes of a child. It seems to us that A.M. Laptev incredibly accurately managed to convey this view in his illustrations. His drawings are even somewhat reminiscent of children's drawings. Perhaps due to its ingenuity.

The third and last part of the Nosov trilogy was illustrated by Genrikh Oskarovich Valk (1918-1998). Valk is one of the earliest illustrators of N.N. Nosov. The writer’s first book, the collection “Knock-Knock-Knock,” was published in 1945 with drawings by Heinrich Valk, light, relaxed, carrying a barely noticeable shade of magazine humor. For the then young cartoonist, this collection became the first children's book in his professional career.

"So it began,

— wrote G.O. Valk himself, —

our long-term partnership with Nikolai Nikolaevich"

And he continued:

“I was lucky enough to illustrate almost all of his stories, the story “Vitya Maleev at school and at home” and his famous “Dunno on the Moon.”

Heinrich Valk preserved the Laptev image of Dunno and finally canonized him. The rest of the characters, according to Nosov’s (quite satirical) narrative,

“the artist gave the features grotesque, and sometimes caricature”

(L. Kudryavtseva).

None of the subsequent illustrators of the fairytale trilogy can yet compete with these recognized masters. Although fans of Dunno favorably view modern publications with drawings by Evg. Kozlov (stylized as Laptev) and A. Borisenko (stylized as Valk).

The publication of the trilogy at the end of the 1970s with drawings by A. Borisov, alas, did not find ardent adherents.

How Dunno became a popular brand

Having acquired his visual image through the efforts of artists, Dunno boldly stepped beyond the pages of his own book. All those half a century that have passed since the appearance of N.N. Nosov’s fairy tale, Dunno could be found anywhere. In cartoons (go to

If you want to clarify which ones) and on the stages of theaters, on the stage and in children's periodicals, on radio and television, at carnivals (by the way, the Dunno costume is a win-win and very inexpensive option) and quizzes. There are Dunno toys, Dunno candies and all sorts of other stuff. Even in exotic Japan, the famous confectioner Matsuo Kokado borrowed the name and image of the Nosovsky hero for his delicious products. And at home...

Rumor has it that a well-known art company led by Sergei Kuryokhin (Africa, Timur Novikov, etc.) chose in those memorable years the image of Dunno as the only hero not borrowed from foreigners as its graphic symbol (that’s how they missed it!). True, we were never able to verify this information, but we also couldn’t refuse it - it was too good. All that remains is to direct the most corrosive ones to B. Karlov’s article, where we got it from (see bibliography).

So, over the past fifty years, Dunno has become a real brand that is used by everyone who is not too lazy. This is probably why N.N. Nosov’s grandson Igor Petrovich decided to take the family business into his own hands. And currently he is closely monitoring the “freeloaders” and, most importantly, working on creating all kinds of continuations of his grandfather’s fairy tale. Books by I.P. Nosov are printed and sold out, but so as not to be reproached for their advertising or anti-advertising, we will limit ourselves to just stating this fact.

About cartoons

Cartoons about Dunno have been shown on the screens of our country since the early 1960s. Recently a “new generation” cartoon appeared - a very high-quality international product, “Dunno on the Moon.” Director A. Lyutkevich not only saw an ideal animated story in N.N. Nosov’s novel and G.O. Valk’s illustrations, but also brought it to screen life.

And now at the Tsentrnauchfilm studio they are filming a full-length animated film “Dunno and Barrabas”, which will involve both the Nosovsky hero and the heroes of the books by Anna Khvolson and Palmer Cox.

Children and philosophers suffer from Dunno syndrome

Really, it would be funny, like everything connected with the cheerful Nosov hero, if “Dunno syndrome” was not a professional term used in pediatric practice. The scientific name for the disease is impaired attention syndrome. It is he who is often the cause of “bad” behavior in children. The life of such children and their parents in most cases becomes very difficult, since the increased impulsiveness, inattention and hyperactivity of the sick do not fit into traditional patterns of behavior in society. True, although Dunno syndrome is a serious disease, experts say that, fortunately, it can be treated.

However, not only children, but also the greatest philosophers suffer from a kind of Dunno syndrome. To explain this idea, you will have to look into such depths of history that it will take your breath away. V century BC, Athens. Someone, wanting to know the answer to the question that tormented him: “Which of the Hellenes is the wisest?”, turned to the Delphic Oracle for clarification. And he received the answer: “Sophocles is wise, Euripides is wiser, and Socrates is wiser than all.” The philosopher, who was given the answer, then uttered the phrase that later became famous: “I know that I know nothing.” That's it, no comments.

They also say that Socrates was a short, stocky man with a huge head and a small snub nose. What a strange coincidence!