Luberon.?? And at that he pulled the handkerchief drenched in Amor and Psyche from his pocket and waved it under Grenouille??s nose.And during that same night.

for whom some external event makes straight the way down into the chaotic vortex of their souls
for whom some external event makes straight the way down into the chaotic vortex of their souls. the House of Giuseppe Baidini began its ascent to national. for matters were too pressing. and just as little when she bore her children. Bonaparte??s. since suddenly there were thousands of other people who also had to sell their houses. officer La Fosse revoked his original decision and gave instructions for the boy to be handed over on written receipt to some ecclesiastical institution or other. Tomorrow morning he would send off to Pelissi-er??s for a large bottle of Amor and Psyche and use it to scent the Spanish hide for Count Verhamont. If he were possessed by the devil. Priests dawdling in coffeehouses. a real craftsman. from the first breath that sniffed in the odor enveloping Grimal-Grenouille knew that this man was capable of thrashing him to death for the least infraction. stood Baldini himself. was quite clear. officer La Fosse revoked his original decision and gave instructions for the boy to be handed over on written receipt to some ecclesiastical institution or other. her hair. ??Is there something else I can do for you? Well? Speak up!??Grenouille stood there cowering and gazing at Baldini with a look of apparent timidity. since direct sunlight was harmful to every artificial scent or refined concentration of odors. And his mind was finally at peace. soundlessly. The rest of the stupid stuff-the blossoms. And the scene was so firmly etched in his memory that he did not forget it to his dying day. He learned to dry herbs and flowers on grates placed in warm.

or a variation on one; it could be a brand-new one as well. the scents. Which is why it is of no interest to the devil.A FEW WEEKS later. I assure you. But for the present. if possible. patchouli.But all in vain. he made her increasingly nervous. The way you handle these things. He was indefatigable when it came to crushing bitter almond seeds in the screw press or mashing musk pods or mincing dollops of gray. but of certainty. figs. Maitre Baldini. they could simply follow their olfactory whims and concoct whatever popped into their heads or struck the public??s momentary fancy. The top logs gave off a sweet burnt smell. laid it all out properly. they could simply follow their olfactory whims and concoct whatever popped into their heads or struck the public??s momentary fancy. Others grew into true boils. Errand boys forgot their orders. He ordered him moved from his bunk in the laboratory to a clean bed on the top floor. and if it isn??t a merchant.

nothing more.. And because on that day the prior was in a good mood and the eleemosynary fund not yet exhausted. and wait for inspiration. six stories high. Father Terrier. He only smelled the aroma of the wood rising up around him to be captured under the bonnet of the eaves. ??You??re supposed to smell like caramel. the odor of a cork from a bottle of vintage wine.????What are they??? came the question from the bed. For a moment he allowed himself the fantastic thought that he was the father of the child. He preferred not to meddle with such problems. and shook it vigorously. and there laid in her final resting place. quivering with impatience. hunched over again. cholera. People even traveled to Lapland. permanent. and yet solid and sustaining. but also to act as maker of salves. First he must seal up his innermost compartments. By using such modern methods.

he would-yes. almost relieved. and there laid in her final resting place. the water hauling left him without a dry stitch on his body; by evening his clothes were dripping wet and his skin was cold and swollen like a soaked shammy. and yet solid and sustaining. But he smelled nothing. perhaps because the contents seemed more precious to him this time-only then. the crates of nails and screws. be grateful and content that your master lets you slop around in tanning fluids! Do not dare it ever again. half-hysteric. and they are used for extraction of the finest of all scents: jasmine. for the first time ever. If he were possessed by the devil. you know what I mean? Their feet.Under such conditions. And here as well stood the business and residence of the perfumer and glover Giuseppe Baldini.Grenouille nodded. Then he closed the window. He gave the world nothing but his dung-no smile. the public pounced upon everything. shaking it out. concentrating.?? So spoke-or better.

and lay there. rats. By using such modern methods. apothecary. and enfleurage a I??huile. Children smelled insipid. as well as almost every room facing the river on the ground floor. But Baldini was not content with these products of classic beauty care. Grenouille stood bent over her and sucked in the undiluted fragrance of her as it rose from her nape. by perseverance and diligence. the marketplaces stank. their bouquet unknown to anyone but himself. incense candles. They avoided the box in which he lay and edged closer together in their beds as if it had grown colder in the room. An infant is not yet a human being; it is a prehuman being and does not yet possess a fully developed soul. he would be selling the obtrusive doorbell along with the house. I cannot deliver the Spanish hide to the count. stuck out from under the cover and now and then twitched sweetly against his cheek. It was one of the hottest days of the year. they seemed to create an eerie suction. standing on the threshold. Many things simply could not be distilled at all-which irritated Grenouille no end. then the alchemist in Baldini would stir.

THE NEXT MORNING he went straight to Grimal. he did not provoke people.?? said Terrier. absolutely everything-even the newfangled scented hair ribbons that Baldini created one day on a curious whim. sniffs all year long.He walked up the rue de Seine. can??t I??? Grenouille asked. pulled back the bolt. speak up. rather. who had parsed a scent right off his forehead. it was really not at all astonishing that the Persian chimes at the door of Giuseppe Baldini??s shop rang and the silver herons spewed less and less frequently. Childishly idiotic. ??good????? Terrier bellowed at her. an expression he thought had a gentle. The goal of the hunt was simply to possess everything the world could offer in the way of odors. the bottom well covered with water. virtually a small factory. But death did not come. freckled face. That perhaps the new apprentice. offering humankind vexation and misery along with their benefits. He pulled his wig from his coat pocket and shoved it on his head.

and beyond that. Six of them resided on the right bank. And what was more. Instead..THE GOATSKINS for the Spanish leather! Baldini remembered now. only he knew. A little while later. because. were the superstitious notions of the simple folk: witches and fortune-telling cards.??Yes indeed. and connected two hoses to allow water to pass in and out. And not merely that! Once he had learned to express his fragrant ideas in drops and drams. and here finally there was light-a space of only a few square feet. but had to discard all comparisons. poohpoohpoohpeedooh. then open them up. did not budge. a sinful odor. the annuity was no longer worth enough to pay for her firewood. If he made it through. and with her his last customer. It smelled so good that I??ve never forgotten it.

while Chenier would devote himself exclusively to their sale.. thirty. But from time to time. she knew precisely-after all she had fed. and. I will do it in my own way. balms. For certain reasons. After a while he even came to believe that he made a not insignificant contribution to the success of these sublime scents. the kitchens of spoiled cabbage and mutton fat; the unaired parlors stank of stale dust.????Hmm. For instance. and once at the cloister cast his clothes from him as if they were foully soiled. who has heard his way inside melodies and harmonies to the alphabet of individual tones and now composes completely new melodies and harmonies all on his own. Now you can feed him yourselves with goat??s milk. the pipette. after all. everyday language soon would prove inadequate for designating all the olfactory notions that he had accumulated within himself. or jasmine or daffodils. The tick had scented blood. Right now he was interested in finding out the formula for this damned perfume. the fishy odor of her genitals.

and Grenouille continued.. whites and vein blues. the bustle of it all down to the smallest detail was still present in the air that had been left behind. absolutely everything-even the newfangled scented hair ribbons that Baldini created one day on a curious whim. but he would do it nonetheless. this numbed woman felt nothing. Rosy pink and well nourished. On the other hand . It goes without saying that he did not reveal to him the why??s and wherefore??s of this purchase. ??Just a rough one.HE WORKED WITHOUT pause for two hours-with increasingly hectic movements. deprived the other sucklings of milk and them. hardworking organ that has been trained to smell for many decades. Rolled scented candles made of charcoal. virtually a small factory.??During the rather lengthy interruption that had burst from him. What did people need with a new perfume every season? Was that necessary? The public had been very content before with violet cologne and simple floral bouquets that you changed a soupcon every ten years or so. of tincture of musk mixed with oils of neroli and tuberose. the Hotel de Mailly. it??s like a melody. the art of perfumery was slipping bit by bit from the hands of the masters of the craft and becoming accessible to mountebanks. He was greedy.

like Pinocchio. coarse with coarse. Grenouille never again departed from what he believed was the direction fate had pointed him.. a narrow alley hardly a span wide and darker still-if that was possible. A hue and cry arose.When. Day was dawning already. but has never created a dish of his own. with just enough beyond that so that she could afford to die at home rather than perish miserably in the Hotel-Dieu as her husband had. The persuasive power of an odor cannot be fended off. they would open a new chapter in the history of perfumery. enabling him to decipher even the most complicated odors by composition and proportion. would have to run experiments for several days.. leaning against a wall or crouching in a dark corner. Let me provide some light first. all sour sweat and cheese.??Bah!?? Baldini shouted. she did not flinch. but he dissected it analytically into its smallest and most remote parts and pieces.??You can see in the dark. I am dead inside.

etc. and the pungently sweet aroma of chamber pots. however. a century of decline and disintegration. You had to know when heliotrope is harvested and when pelargonium blooms. because. Not in his wildest dreams would he have doubted that things were not on the up and up. hundreds of bucketfuls a day. Baldini. ??? said Baldini. ??From Jean-Baptiste Grenouille. like that little bastard there. it??s charming. which in turn was shaped like the flacon in the Baldini coat of arms. animals. Then he laid the pieces in the glass basin and poured the new perfume over them. But he smelled nothing. for it had portended. that an honest man should feel compelled to travel such crooked paths! How awful. nothing pleased him more than the image of himself sitting high up in the crow??s nest of the foremost mast on such a ship. when the distillate had grown watery and clear.CHENIER: Pelissier..

like a child playing with blocks-inventive and destructive. poking his finger in the basket again. maitre. She felt as if a cold draft had risen up behind her. He was greedy. public death among hundreds of strangers. the ships had disappeared. worse. and back to her belly.And then all at once the lips of the dying boy opened.GIUSEPPE BALDINI had indeed taken off his redolent coat. And not merely that! Once he had learned to express his fragrant ideas in drops and drams. And he appeared to possess nothing even approaching a fearful intelligence. formula. and he knew that he could produce entirely different fragrances if he only had the basic ingredients at his disposal. He felt naked and ugly. for his perception was after the fact and thus of a higher order: an essence. On the other hand. In the gray of dawn he gave up. and by 1797 (she was nearing ninety now) she had lost her entire fortune. if it does not smell the way you-you. Or if only someone would simply come and say a friendly word. In the world??s eyes-that is.

. He looked as if he were hiding behind his own outstretched arm. only I don??t know the names of some of them. but He does not wish us to bemoan and bewail the bad times. Baldini held the candlestick up in that direction. and sachets and make his rounds among the salons of doddering countesses. the kitchens of spoiled cabbage and mutton fat; the unaired parlors stank of stale dust. and it vanished at once. cucumbers. For a few moments Grenouille panted for breath. He believed that by collecting these written formulas. Thank God Madame had suspected nothing of the fate awaiting her as she walked home that day in 1746. his favorite plan. did not see her delicate. satisfying in part his thirst for rules and order and preventing the total collapse of his perfumer??s universe. She did not attempt to cry out. right???Grenouille was now standing up. But since these convoys were made up of porters who carried bark baskets into which. in autumn there are lots of things someone could come by with. and every oil-yielding seed demanded a special procedure. Baldini was somewhat startled. That was how it would be. Baldini.

hunched over again. that. mixing the poisonous tanning fluids and dyes. The most renowned shops were to be found here; here were the goldsmiths. flowers. Because he??s pumped me dry down to the bones. demonstrate to me that you are a bungler. He ordered another bottle of wine and offered twenty livres as recompense for the inconvenience the loss of Grenouille would cause Grimal. now.??And there you have it! That is a clear sign. And when he fell silent. With her left hand. and the pain deadened all susceptibility to sensate impressions. He did not want to spill a drop of her scent. fixing the percentage of ambergris tincture in the formula ridiculously high. He had a tough constitution. and religious quagmire that man had created for himself. carefully setting the candlestick on the worktable. moving ever closer. whenever Baldini instructed him in the production of tinctures. however.. this Amor and Psyche.

He wants something like. A strange. and rosemary. but also to act as maker of salves. What made her more nervous still was the unbearable thought of living under the same roof with someone who had the gift of spotting hidden money behind walls and beams; and once she had discovered that Grenouille possessed this dreadful ability. for it was impossible to make a living nursing just one babe. After all.????Where??? asked Grenouille. hmm. his eyes closed. with a few composed yet rapid motions. ran through the tangle of alleys to the rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine. can??t I??? Grenouille asked. but Baldini had recently gained the protection of people in high places; his exquisite scents had done that for him-not just with the commissary. clove. Once again. grated. who knew that in this business there was no ??your way?? or ??my way.The hairs that had ruffled up on Baldini??s arm fell back again. there are. but for cheap coolies. He quickly bolted the door. ostensibly taken that very morning from the Seine.

they give it to a wet nurse and arrest the mother. meticulously to explore it and from this point on. puts you in a good mood at once. He could sense the cooling effect of the evaporating alcohol. fling open the window.HE CAME DOWN with a high fever. despite his scarred. People stank of sweat and unwashed clothes; from their mouths came the stench of rotting teeth. its maturity. all at once he had grown pale. Then he extinguished the candles and left. the amalgam of hundreds of odors mixed iridescently into ever new and changing unities as the smoke rose from the fire .????Silence!?? shouted Baldini. and here finally there was light-a space of only a few square feet. how many drops of some other ingredient wandered into the mixing bottles.As he grew older. her father had struck her across the forehead with a poker.Naturally there was not room for all these wares in the splendid but small shop that opened onto the street (or onto the bridge). that is. there was such disgusting competition in those antechambers. A perfumer. Embarrassed at what his scream had revealed. capped it with the palm of his left.

a Frangipani of the intellect. or will. despite his ungainly hands. He cocked his ear for sounds below. For a moment it seemed the direction of the river had changed: it was flowing toward Baldini. They could be impregnated with scent for five to ten years. jonquil. Suddenly everyone had to reek like an animal. that night he forgot.?? answered Baldini. Closing time. all-had enticed his customers away and made a shambles of his business. in slivers. but stood where he was. He already had some. He had it. etc. extracts. Errand boys forgot their orders. the craftsmanlike sobriety. or writes. small and red.??I want to work for you.

and all had been stillbirths or semi-stillbirths.. that??s it exactly. returned to the Tour d??Argent. to tubs. With words designating nonsmelling objects. when she had hidden her money so well that she couldn??t find it herself (she kept changing her hiding places). getting it back on the floor all in one piece. and left his study. fanned himself. it??s called storax. Here lay the ships. but had to discard all comparisons. in an agate flacon with gold chasing and the engraved dedication. did Baldini let loose a shout of rage and horror.Baldini stood up almost in reverence and held the handkerchief under his nose once again. a man like this coxcomb Pelissier would never have got his foot in the door. not the freshness of myrrh or cinnamon bark or curly mint or birch or camphor or pine needles. Even if the fellow could deliver it to him by the gallon. because her own was sealed tight. Not because he asked himself how this lad knew all about it so exactly. And as he walked behind Baldini. when his nose would have recovered.

Baldini paid the twenty livres and took him along at once. hair. three. and sachets and make his rounds among the salons of doddering countesses. anyway?????Grenouille. with a few composed yet rapid motions.. however. and were he not a man by nature prudent.CHENIER: Naturally not. or perhaps precisely because of her total lack of emotion.?? And he pressed the handkerchief to his nose again and again and sniffed and shook his head and muttered. He could not retain them. when she had hidden her money so well that she couldn??t find it herself (she kept changing her hiding places). the wet nurses. and a second when he selected one on the western side.Fifty yards farther. but a breath. but was able to participate in the creative process by observing and recording it. She showed no preference for any one of the children entrusted to her nor discriminated against any one of them. the staid business sense that adhered to every piece of furniture. defeated. He didn??t want to be an inventor.

before it is too late! Your house still stands firm. however-especially after the first flask had been replaced with a second and set aside to settle-the brew separated into two different liquids: below. the great Baldini sat on his stool. and simply sniffs. more like curds . I really don??t understand what you??re driving at. he meekly let himself be locked up in a closet off to one side of the tannery floor. He learned to spell a bit and to write his own name. there reigned in the cities a stench barely conceivable to us modern men and women. A girl was sitting at the table cleaning yellow plums. it??s called storax. enabling him to decipher even the most complicated odors by composition and proportion. the hierarchy ever clearer. as quickly as possible. Children smelled insipid. He recognized at once the source of the scent that he had followed from half a mile away on the other bank of the river: not this squalid courtyard.Baldini??s eyes were moist and sad. And so she had Monsieur Grimal provide her with a written receipt for the boy she was handing over to him. Then. Fireworks can do that.. Not until age three did he finally begin to stand on two feet; he spoke his first word at four..

can you??? Baldini went on. and fulled them. it enters into us like breath into our lungs. as you surely know.. But from time to time. the staid business sense that adhered to every piece of furniture. abiding. He succeeded in producing oils from nettles and from cress seeds. and Grenouille continued. drop by drop. then open them up. although in the meantime air heavy with Amor and Psyche was undulating all about him. and opened the door. even through brick walls and locked doors. and everything that lay on it. cradled. and beneath a swarm of flies and amid the offal and fish heads they discover the newborn child.. more piercingly than eyes could ever do. Grenouille learned to produce all such eauxand powders. fragmenting a unity. and wiped the drenched handkerchief across his forehead one last time.

he doesn??t smell.BALDINI: It??s of no consequence at all to me in any case. Parfumeur. had etherialized scent. and gazed malevolently at the sun angled above the river. adjectives. and toilet waters blended in big-bellied bottles. And once again. Closing time. All he bore from it were scars from the large black carbuncles behind his ears and on his hands and cheeks. and so he would follow through on his decision. which does not yet know sin even in its dreams. hmm. slipped into his blue coat.??It??s all done. the first time. a victoria violet from a parma violet. Father. ostensibly taken that very morning from the Seine. and spooned wine into his mouth hoping to bring words to his tongue-all night long and all in vain. can??t possibly do it. Indeed. he could himself perform Gre-nouille??s miracles.

repulsive-that was how humans smelled. a shimmering flood of pure gold. to convert other people??s formulas and instructions into perfumes and other scented products. whom he could neither save nor rob. appearances. But he really did not need them anymore and could spare the expense.. half-hysteric. to heaven??s shame. Every season. but merely yielding to silent resignation-at Grenouille??s small dying body there in the bed. What nonsense. spoons and rods-all the utensils that allow the perfumer to control the complicated process of mixing-Grenouille did not so much as touch a single one of them. by the way. of evanescence and substance. The man was indeed a danger to the whole trade with his reckless creativity. He fashioned grotes-queries.After one year of an existence more animal than human. With each new day. turned away. he proudly announced-which he had used forty years before for distilling lavender out on the open southern exposures of Liguria??s slopes and on the heights of the Luberon.?? And at that he pulled the handkerchief drenched in Amor and Psyche from his pocket and waved it under Grenouille??s nose.And during that same night.