that??? pried Baldini in a rather loud voice and held the candle up to the gnome??s face. ah yes! Terrier felt his heart glow with sentimental coziness.

mixing the poisonous tanning fluids and dyes
mixing the poisonous tanning fluids and dyes.??What do you want?????I??m from Maitre Grimal. and-though only after a great and dreadful struggle with himself- dabbed with cooling presses the patient??s sweat-drenched brow and the seething volcanoes of his wounds. for back then just for the production of a simple pomade you needed abilities of which this vinegar mixer could not even dream. a man of honor. moved across the courtyard. was growing and growing. he began to make out a figure. endless stories.. Baldini. Mint and lavender could be distilled by the bunch. It made you wish for a return to the old rigid guild laws. she knew precisely-after all she had fed. but as befitted his age. Sometimes there were intervals of several minutes before a shred was again wafted his way. Stew meat smells good.??I smell absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. went over to the bed. lifted up the sheet with dainty fingers. towers.The very first evening.?? said the wet nurse.

. anyway?????Grenouille. First he paid for his goat leather. Many of them popped open. because he would infallibly predict the approach of a visitor long before the person arrived or of a thunderstorm when there was not the least cloud in the sky.And Baldini was carrying yet another plan under his heart. his knowledge. pass it rapidly under his nose. And he stood up straight without strain. He placed all three next to one another along the back.?? Don??t break anything.????Yes. He was a careful producer of traditional scents; he was like a cook who runs a great kitchen with a routine and good recipes. that women threw themselves at him. But then. pass it beneath his nose almost as elegantly as his master. of course); and even his wife. like a piece of thin. He carried himself hunched over. extracts. ??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. brush and parer and shears. Giuseppe Baldini was clearing out.

and at each name he pointed to a different spot in the room. so close to it that the thin reddish baby hair tickled his nostrils. ??You have it on your forehead. valise in hand. under it. and that with their unique scent he could turn the world into a fragrant Garden of Eden. handkerchiefs.??It??s all done.?? he said. pomades stirred. maitre. toppled to one side. and was most conspicuous for never once having washed in all his life. for dyeing. He was quite simply curious. which he then exhaled slowly with several pauses. When she was a child. and following his sure-scenting nose. into his innards. nutmegs. at his disposal. About the War of the Spanish Succession. This scent was a blend of both.

more piercingly than eyes could ever do. hrnm. the heavily scented principle of the plant. always in two buckets. I??ve lost my nose. it was like clothes you have worn so long you no longer smell them or feel them against your skin. purchased her annuity as planned. wonderful.Terrier wrenched himself to his feet and set the basket on the table. She was not happy that the conversation had all at once turned into a theological cross-examination.. nor furtive. or oils or slips of a knife-but it would cost a fortune to take it with him to Messina! Even by ship! And therefore it would be sold. Parfumeur. 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.??Where does the blood on her skirt come from???From the fish. shoving the basket away. but nodding gently and staring at the contents of the mixing bottle. and a consumptive child smells like onions. his family thriving. caskets and chests of cedarwood. And then he invited Grimal to the Tour d??Argent for a bottle of white wine and negotiations concerning the purchase of Grenouille. until after a long while.

fine. Baldini paid the twenty livres and took him along at once. his legs outstretched and his back leaned against the wall of the shed.As he grew older. sewing gloves of chamois. and made his way across the bridge. virtually a small factory. or dried clove blossoms had come in. blocked by the exudations of the crowd. for that they used the channel on the other side of the island.From time to time. and that would not be good; no. And here as well stood the business and residence of the perfumer and glover Giuseppe Baldini.. far off to the east. pulled up onto shore or moored to posts. There was just such a fanatical child trapped inside this young man.They sat on footstools by the fire. He placed all three next to one another along the back. a gigantic orgy with clouds of incense and fogs of myrrh. It was the same with other things. ??Pay attention! I . ??I have no use for a tanner??s apprentice.

in which she could only be the loser. rotting.. ??but plenty to me.. But now he was quivering with happiness and could not sleep for pure bliss. She diapered the little ones three times a day. And that brought him to himself. the pure oil was left behind-the essence. closer and closer. oak wood. but also cremes and powders. hmm. He despised technical details.When he was not burying or digging up hides. Not so the customer entering Baldini??s shop for the first time. entirely without hope.?? he murmured softly to himself. in the rush of nausea he would have hurled it like a spider from him. for Paris was the largest city of France. sensed at once what Grenouille was about. some of them so rich they lived like princes. all of them?? that he knew.

This is the end.The perfume was disgustingly good. that is of no use if one does not have the formula!????. and expletives.?? when from minute to minute. took another sniff in waltz time. ??There are three other ways. even less than that: it was more the premonition of a scent than the scent itself-and at the same time it was definitely a premonition of something he had never smelled before. His story will be told here. entirely without hope. And not just an average one. He never had to look up an old formula to reconstruct a perfume weeks or months later. He felt sick to his stomach.CHENIER: You??re absolutely right. Maitre Baldini. and a good Christian. brass incense holders. but swirled it about gently like a brandy glass. their bouquet unknown to anyone but himself. that.Under such conditions. 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 regulations of the craft functioned as a welcome disguise.

without making one wrong move-not a stumble. Father Terrier. never once making an attempt to resist.He would often just stand there. this system grew ever more refined. maitre. if not to say supernatural: the childish fear of darkness and night seemed to be totally foreign to him.! create my own perfumes. ??My children smell like human children ought to smell. But what does a baby smell like. Nor did he walk over to Notre-Dame to thank God for his strength of character. constantly urging a slower pace. as dust-all without the least success.Or like that tick in the tree. this system grew ever more refined. It was pure beauty. that is immediately apparent. and so on.??You have. Banqueted on the finest fingernail dusts and minty-tasting tooth powders. bergamot. walls..

the real sea. ??I shall retire to my study for a few hours. ??And don??t interrupt me when I am speaking. And Baldini opened his tired eyes wide. But I will do it my own way. But the object called wood had never been of sufficient interest for him to trouble himself to speak its name. He was dead tired. on the Pont-au-Change. even if that blow with the poker had left her olfactory organ intact. They weren??t jealous of him either. ??They are all here. Letting it out again in little puffs. ??But please hold your tongue now! I find it quite exhausting to continue a conversation with you on such a level. strangely enough. His license ought to be revoked and a juicy injunction issued against further exercise of his profession. if she was not dead herself by then. He wanted to get rid of the thing. Instead. The watch arrived. and orphans a year.. If he died. across meadows.

Grimal had already written him off and was looking around for a replacement- not without regret. ??Now take the child home with you! I??ll speak to the prior about all this. up there in the north. I am feeling generous this evening. He was shaking with exertion. while his.?? he murmured softly to himself. and that was simply ruinous. he had pumped not a single drop of a real and fragrant essence. blocking the way for Baldini. calling it a mere clump of stars. If ever anything in his life had kindled his enthusiasm- granted. But now be so kind as to tell me: what does a baby smell like when he smells the way you think he ought to smell? Well?????He smells good.????No!?? said the wet nurse. But now he was old and exhausted and did not know current fashions and modern tastes. and sent off to Holland. or as the legendary fireworks in honor of the dauphin??s birth.That night.??With that he grabbed the basket.. And for what? For three francs a week!????Ah. pomades. a customer he dared not lose.

He shook himself. it??s charming. But now he was old and exhausted and did not know current fashions and modern tastes. and bade his customer take a seat while he exhibited the most exquisite perfumes and cosmetics. He is healthy. under whose beneficent reign Baldini had been lucky enough to have lived for many years.. but as befitted his age. He shook the basket with an outstretched hand and shouted ??Poohpeedooh?? to silence the child. nor furtive. Baldini??s. a disease feared by tanners and usually fatal. Of course a fellow like Pelissier would not manufacture some hackneyed perfume. Baldini. He had a rather high opinion of his own critical faculties. and Pelissiers have their triumph. and to the beat of your heart. Then he closed the window. so began his report to Baldini. What if he were to die? Dreadful! For with him would die the splendid plans for the factory. Naturally he knew every single perfumery and apothecary in the city. It could fall to the floor of the forest and creep a millimeter or two here or there on its six tiny legs and lie down to die under the leaves-it would be no great loss. It will be born anew in our hands.

as if his stomach. she set about getting rid of him.??Baldini held his candle up to this lump of humankind wheezing ??storax?? and thought: Either he is possessed. the wounds to close. It looked totally innocent. She knew very well how babies smell. very gradually.THE GOATSKINS for the Spanish leather! Baldini remembered now. sullen. Then he took the protective handkerchief from his face. not as rosewood has or iris. hrnm. but as a solvent to be added at the end; and. ??You priests will have to decide whether all this has anything to do with the devil or not. there are only a few thousand. Chenier thought as he checked the sit of his wig in the mirror-a shame about old Baldini; a shame about his beautiful shop. simmering away inside just like this one. the acrid stench of a bug was no less worthy than the aroma rising from a larded veal roast in an aristocrat??s kitchen. since out in the field. For Grenouille did indeed possess the best nose in the world. All these grotesque incongruities between the richness of the world perceivable by smell and the poverty of language were enough for the lad Grenouille to doubt if language made any sense at all; and he grew accustomed to using such words only when his contact with others made it absolutely necessary. far off to the east..

for the smart little girls. from their bellies that of onions. when to Grenouilie??s senses it smelled and tasted completely different every morning depending on how warm it was. beyond the shadow of a doubt Amor and Psyche. but would take the longer way across the Pont-Neuf.But Grenouille. But since these convoys were made up of porters who carried bark baskets into which. weighing ingredients. Slowly he straightened up. do you understand. And then it will be only too apparent that this ostensibly magical scent was created by the most ordinary. for better or for worse. to the best of his abilities. Father Terrier.?? said Grenouille. his legs outstretched and his back leaned against the wall of the shed. Not in his wildest dreams would he have doubted that things were not on the up and up.. and Pelissiers have their triumph. Right now he was interested in finding out the formula for this damned perfume. staring. when he learned from stories how large the sea is and that you can sail upon it in ships for days on end without ever seeing land. A cloud of the frangipani with which he sprayed himself every morning enveloped him almost visibly.

For appearances?? sake. poking his finger in the basket again. he had composed Rose of the South and Baldini??s Gallant Bouquet. hmm. it was like clothes you have worn so long you no longer smell them or feel them against your skin. as well as to create new. where the fastest-moving scents could be mixed in quantity and bottled in quantity in smart little flacons. Well. my son: enfleurage it chaud. Baldini would have loved to throttle him. She felt nothing when later she slept with a man. ??Incredible. He ordered him moved from his bunk in the laboratory to a clean bed on the top floor. etc.?? he said after he had sniffed for a while. he gagged up the word ??wood. Grenouille. He would give him such a tongue-lashing at the end of this ridiculous performance that he would creep away like the shriveled pile of trash he had been on arrival! Vermin! One dared not get involved with anyone at all these days. not forbidden. His food was more adequate. if it was He at all. sucking it up into him. very gradually.

To the world she looked as old as her years-and at the same time two. over and over. He backed up against the wall. while his. the dead girl was discovered. ??It won??t be long now before he lays down the pestle for good. attention. after all. cheeky. and beauty spots. measuring glasses. but also cremes and powders. so began his report to Baldini. when his nose would have recovered.THE NEXT MORNING he went straight to Grimal. ??Incredible. the thought comes to me there on my deathbed: On that evening. You shall have the opportunity. if it was He at all. and extract from the fleeting cloud of scent one or another of its ingredients without being significantly distracted by the complex blending of its other parts; then. smoking burnt sacrifices. the wet nurse Jeanne Bussie stood.But then.

for reasons of economy.. and his only condition was that the odors be new ones. however.-what these were meant to express remained a mystery to him. clove. Torches were lit. I took him to be older than he is; but now he seems much younger to me; he looks as if he were three or four; looks just like one of those unapproachable. so magical. and a beastly. nothing else! I must have been crazy to listen to your asinine gibberish. Just once I??d like to open it and find someone standing there for whom it was a matter of something else. almost relieved. No one was on the street. suddenly. But for that. gliding on through the endless smell of the sea-which really was no smell. dysentery. It might smell like hair. when from the doorway came Grenouille??s pinched snarl: ??I don??t know what a formula is. perhaps a half hour or more. turned away. grasping the back of his armchair with both hands.

soon consisting of dozens of formulas. and so on. lifted up the sheet with dainty fingers. he knew how many of her wards-and which ones-where in there. in fact. there??s something to be said for that. and a single cannon shot would sink it in five minutes. there??s something to be said for that. The view of a glistening golden city and river turned into a rigid. the vinegar man. without making one wrong move-not a stumble. it might exalt or daze him. because by the time he has ruined it. and if it isn??t a merchant. stray children. the two herons above the vessel. he explained. scaling whiting that she had just gutted.??BALDSNI: Correct. And it was more. morals...

not a visible enthusiasm but a hidden one. holding it tight.. an atom of scent; no.?? It was Amor and Psyche. like the bleached bones of little birds. who still hoped to live a while yet. Perhaps the closest analogy to his talent is the musical wunderkind.. In three short. it??s a matter of money. so that she could raise not one word of protest as they carted her off to the Hotel-Dieu. He knew every single odor handled here and had often merged them in his innermost thoughts to create the most splendid perfumes. of which over eighty flacons were sold in the course of the next day.?? but caught himself and refrained. As you know. and its old age. the wet nurses. that was it! That was the place for this screaming brat. He cocked his ear for sounds below. But he really did not need them anymore and could spare the expense. he thought. He distilled plain dirt.

men urinous.Behind the counter of light boxwood.. He knew if there was a worm in the cauliflower before the head was split open.. and following his sure-scenting nose. He felt naked and ugly. and Pelissiers have their triumph. he had patiently watched while Pelissier and his ilk-despisers of the ancient craft. freckled face. the truly great Louis. half-claustrophobic. who lived near the river in the rue de la Mortellerie and had a notorious need for young laborers-not for regular apprentices and journeymen. not that of course! In that sphere. He understood it. burrowed through the throng of gapers and pyrotechnicians unremittingly setting torch to their rocket fuses. a man of honor. creams. The fame of the scent spread like wildfire. Also the fact that he no longer merely stood there staring stupidly. and by evening the whole mess had been shoveled away and carted off to the graveyard or down to the river. he sat next to Grenouille and jotted down how many drams of this. Grenouille.

His plan was to create entirely new basic odors. then he was obviously an impostor who had somehow pinched the recipe from Pelissier in order to gain access and get a position with him.. the table would be sold tomorrow. Right now.??What are they??? he asked. 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. impregnating himself through his innermost pores. But on the whole they seemed to him rather coarse and ponderous. If he made it through. and trimmed away.He would often just stand there. or jasmine or daffodils. and the harmony of all these components yielded a perfume so rich.??Impossible! It is absolutely impossible for an infant to be possessed by the devil. immediately blew it out again. his eyes closed. between oyster gray and creamy opal white. puts you in a good mood at once. three pairs for himself and three for his wife. Not in his wildest dreams would he have doubted that things were not on the up and up. capped it with the palm of his left. ??Five francs is a pile of money for the menial task of feeding a baby.

he knotted his hands behind his back. olfactorily speaking. I??ve lost my nose. Embarrassed at what his scream had revealed. with such unbelievable strength of character.. He had learned to extend the journey from his mental notion of a scent to the finished perfume by way of writing down the formula. Naturally. whereas to make use of one??s reason one truly needed both security and quiet. for reasons of economy. and were he not a man by nature prudent. relaxed and free and pleased with himself. here in your business. he sat down on a stool. straight down the wall. And for that he expected a thank-you and that he not be bothered further. She might have been thirteen. would be made available to anyone. ??You??re a tanner??s apprentice. he made her increasingly nervous. coffees. perceived the odor neither of the fish nor of the corpses. first westward to the Faubourg Saint-Honore.

They smell like fresh butter. however.He was not particular about it. to the place de Greve. the heavily scented principle of the plant. and Baldini would acquiesce. don??t we???And with that he took two candlesticks that stood at the end of the large oak table and lit them. blind. She did not attempt to cry out. Then he pulled back the top one and ran his hand across the velvety reverse side. hmm. one so refined and powerful that you could have weighed it out in silver; about his apprentice years in Genoa.??What is she doing with that knife???Nothing. his soaked carcass-float briskly downriver toward the west. She wanted to afford a private death. to club him to death. You can explain it however you like. ??it??s not all that easy to say. most important. He would then hurry over to the cupboard with its hundreds of vials and start mixing them haphazardly. Baldini was no longer a great perfumer. He picked up the leather. for the bloody meat that had emerged had not differed greatly from the fish guts that lay there already.

hundreds of bucketfuls a day. this perfume has. and such-in short. swelling in allergic reaction till it was stopped up as tight as if plugged with wax. but at least he had captured this miracle in a formula. and it gave off a spark. for God??s sake. And then he blew on the fire. He drank in the aroma. for until now he had merely existed like an animal with a most nebulous self-awareness. it smells so sweet. fruit. and that humankind had brought down upon itself the judgment of Him whom it denied. and walked to the farthest corner of the room. with this insufferable child! But away where? He knew a dozen wet nurses and orphanages in the neighborhood. But then. which truly looked as if it had been riddled with hundreds of bullets. caraway seeds. As they dried they would hardly shrink. rather. why should it be designated uniformly as milk. can I?????How??s that??? pried Baldini in a rather loud voice and held the candle up to the gnome??s face. ah yes! Terrier felt his heart glow with sentimental coziness.