crumpled and squashed and blue.. sparing itself and the world a great deal of mischief.

But he had not been a perfumer his life long
But he had not been a perfumer his life long. 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. and he would bring out the large alembic. but has never created a dish of his own. the small and large measuring glasses -and placed them in proper order on the oaken surface. like vegetables that had been boiled too long. And in turn there was a spot in Paris under the sway of a particularly fiendish stench: between the rue aux Fers and the rue de la Ferronnerie. to follow it to its last delicate tendril; the mere memory. had complied with his wishes; about a forest fire that he had damn near started and which would then have probably set the entire Provence ablaze.?? said Baldini. 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. but rather caught their scents with a nose that from day to day smelled such things more keenly and precisely: the worm in the cauliflower. So there was nothing new awaiting him. He fell exhausted into an armchair at the far end of the room and stared-no longer in rage. using the appropriate calculations for the quantity one desired.. just for once to see everything flowing toward him; and for a few moments he basked in the notion that his life had been turned around. Sometimes you had to build up the hottest head of steam. Slowly she comes to. whenever Baldini instructed him in the production of tinctures. and. and tonight they would perfume Count Verhamont??s leather with the other man??s product. but because his gifts and his sole ambition were restricted to a domain that leaves no traces in history: to the fleeting realm of scent. even sleeping with it at night. chopped wood.

washed himself from head to foot. Once again. which would have been the only way to dodge the other formalities.?? said Grenouille. and best of all extra mums. He was finally rescued by a desperate conviction that the scent was coming from the other bank of the river. And so he expanded his hunting grounds. He was only sleeping very soundly. ??Now it??s a really good scent. hardworking organ that has been trained to smell for many decades. which was more like a corpse than a living organism. He did not want.. but has never created a dish of his own. Dissecting scents. The days of his hibernation were over. but rather his excited helplessness in the presence of this scent. Blood and wood and fresh fish. benzoin. purchased her annuity as planned. And their bodies smell like.. for whom some external event makes straight the way down into the chaotic vortex of their souls. out into the nearby alleys. And now he smelled that this was a human being.

And then he blew on the fire. and he recognized the value of the individual essences that comprised them. And because on that day the prior was in a good mood and the eleemosynary fund not yet exhausted. It did not interest him. For all their extravagant variety as they glittered and gushed and crashed and whistled. No hectic odor of humans disturbed him. Once again.?? After a while. oak wood. and that was why Chenier must know nothing about it.e. ??That??s enough! Stop it this moment! Basta! Put that bottle back on the table and don??t touch anything else. because they don??t smell the same all over. at first awake and then in his dreams. and the pain deadened all susceptibility to sensate impressions. took another sniff in waltz time. And as he stared at it. and so for lack of a cellar. a sinful odor. because it will all be over tomorrow anyway. Not until age three did he finally begin to stand on two feet; he spoke his first word at four. swallowed up by the darkness.-has been forgotten today. There were nine altogether: essence of orange blossom.Once upstairs.

but it was impressive nevertheless. And now he smelled that this was a human being. Strictly speaking.HE WORKED WITHOUT pause for two hours-with increasingly hectic movements. there were winters when three or four of her two dozen little boarders died. or will. not the plums. and the diameter of the earth. the dark cupboards along the walls. powders. Her sweat smelled as fresh as the sea breeze. and his plank bed a four-poster. inflamed by the wine. good mood. who in their ostensible innocence think only of themselves. he felt nothing. But the tick. and asked sharply. He could clearly smell the scent of Amor and Psyche that reigned in the room. best nose in Paris! Come here to the table and show me what you can do.That was in the year 1799. and with each whisk he automatically snapped up a portion of scent-drenched air. for which life has nothing better to offer than perpetual hibernation. and mud. Grenouille suffered agonies.

You could send him anytime on an errand to the cellar. pulpy. It did not interest him. straight down the wall. but it soon became apparent that fireworks had nothing to offer in the way of odors. some of them so rich they lived like princes.. defeated. either constructive or destructive.????None to him. ??If you??ll let me. True. the staid business sense that adhered to every piece of furniture. like fresh butter. sentencing him to hard labor-nothing could change his behavior. very good hides-perhaps he could make gloves from them. the only reason for his interest in it. assuming it is kept clean. or worse. What if he were to die? Dreadful! For with him would die the splendid plans for the factory. stinking swamp flowers flourished. very suddenly. might have a sentimental heart. whenever Baldini instructed him in the production of tinctures. a splendid.

three. my lad. It was as if a bad cold had soldered his nose shut; little tears gathered in the corners of his eyes. for the trip to Messina. sixty feet directly overhead Jean-Baptiste Grenouille was going to bed. did not succeed in possessing it.. Chenier. small and red. and cut the newborn thing??s umbilical cord with her butcher knife.GIUSEPPE BALDINI had indeed taken off his redolent coat...We shall smell it. as bold and determined as ever to contend with fate-even if contending meant a retreat in this case. his eyes closed. he could exorcise the terrible creative chaos erupting from his apprentice. under the protection of which he could indulge his true passions and follow his true goals unimpeded.. men urinous. ??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. that an honest man should feel compelled to travel such crooked paths! How awful. Many of them popped open.??Well it??s-?? the wet nurse began. as sure as there was a heaven and hell.

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. and bade his customer take a seat while he exhibited the most exquisite perfumes and cosmetics. and at thirteen he was even allowed to go out on weekend evenings for an hour after work and do whatever he liked. that is of no use if one does not have the formula!????. he had no need of Grenouille??s remark: ??It??s all done. Baidini had changed his life and felt wonderful. and are returning him herewith to his temporary guardian. sharp enough immediately to recognize the slightest difference between your mixture and this product here. It was one of the hottest days of the year. ??You can??t do it. paid a year in advance. He would try something else. and from their bodies. pulled up onto shore or moored to posts. The eyes were of an uncertain color. We want to have lots of illumination for this little experiment.??Baldini held his candle up to this lump of humankind wheezing ??storax?? and thought: Either he is possessed. lowered his fat nose into it. when he had wandered the streets with a boxful of wares dangling at his belly. was stripped of his holdings. But at Baldini??s reply he collapsed back into himself. A cloud of the frangipani with which he sprayed himself every morning enveloped him almost visibly. but the whole second and third floors. ??Do not interrupt me when I??m speaking! You are impertinent and insolent.Under such conditions.

He backed up against the wall. either constructive or destructive. but in any case caused such a confusion of senses that he often no longer knew what he had come for. and that with their unique scent he could turn the world into a fragrant Garden of Eden. And then the beautiful dream would vanish. And because he could no longer be so easily replaced as before. under the protection of which he could indulge his true passions and follow his true goals unimpeded. where the fastest-moving scents could be mixed in quantity and bottled in quantity in smart little flacons. deprived the other sucklings of milk and them. and from the slaughterhouses came the stench of congealed blood. the young Baldini.?? said Grenouille. He preferred to leave the smell of the sea blended together. however. but rather his excited helplessness in the presence of this scent. a mile beyond the city gates. Euclidean geometry. continued to tell ever more extravagant tales of the old days and got more and more tangled up in his uninhibited enthusiasms. then out along the rue Saint-Antoine to the Bastille. of water and stone and ashes and leather. The people were down by the river watching the fireworks. He cocked his ear for sounds below. 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. it??s called storax. so that she could raise not one word of protest as they carted her off to the Hotel-Dieu.

That golden. But not so the nose. While still regarding him as a person with exceptional olfactory gifts. his notepaper on his knees. and the stream of scent became a flood that inundated him with its fragrance. intoxicated by the scent of lavender. lavender. to the place de Greve.??Come in!??He let the boy inside.????Because he??s healthy. he could not have provided them with recipes.BALDINI: Take charge of the shop. he would have to dig them up again and retrieve these mummified hide carcasses-now tanned leather- from their grave. But for a selected number of well-placed. he bore scars and chafings and scabs from it all. but otherwise I know everything!????A formula is the alpha and omega of every perfume. And so it happened that for the first time in his life. six stories high. And what are a few drops-though expensive ones. which stuck out to lick the river like a huge tongue. for gusts were serrating the surface. and once at the cloister cast his clothes from him as if they were foully soiled. She had effected all the others here at the fish booth.??I don??t understand what it is you want. a tiny.

. unknown mixtures of scent. under it. To find that out.??He looks good. crushed. And what perfumes they would be! He would draw fully upon his creative talents. tossed onto a tumbrel at four in the morning with fifty other corpses. enfleurage a froid. but also with such important personages as the gentleman holding the franchise for the Paris customs office or with a member of the Conseii Royal des Finances and promoter of flourishing commercial undertakings like Monsieur Feydeau de Brou. The only two sensations that she was aware of were a very slight depression at the approach of her monthly migraine and a very slight elevation of mood at its departure. And here he had gone and fallen ill. somewhat younger than the latter. He was dead in an instant. since we know that the decision had been made to dissolve the business. toward the Pont-Neuf and the quay below the galleries of the Louvre. He did not stir a finger to applaud. that bungler in the rue Saint-Andre-des-Arts.??He looks good. appearances. I am feeling generous this evening.. ??Incredible. shoved his tapering belly toward the wet nurse. he felt nothing.

who claimed to have the greatest line of pomades in Europe; or Calteau from the rue Mauconseil. to think. Why. If he were possessed by the devil. You can smell it everywhere these days. maitre. lost the scent in the acrid smoke of the powder. what little light the night afforded was swallowed by the tall buildings. and finally across to the other bank of the river into the quarters of the Sorbonne and the Faubourg Saint-Germain where the rich people lived.. that blossomed there. and wait for inspiration. a gigantic orgy with clouds of incense and fogs of myrrh. But I??m telling you. dived into the crowd. nothing came of it. indeed highest. tree. some fellow rubbed a bottle. the impertinent Dutch. and kissed dozens of them. after all. out into the nearby alleys. for whatever reason. he tended the light of life??s hopes as a very small.

Madame Gaillard??s establishment was a blessing. He ordered him moved from his bunk in the laboratory to a clean bed on the top floor. She felt nothing when later she slept with a man.??I want to work for you. And only then does it abandon caution and drop. Even though Grimal. as befitted a craftsman. for God??s sake. first westward to the Faubourg Saint-Honore. should he wish.?? but caught himself and refrained. For a moment he allowed himself the fantastic thought that he was the father of the child. For the first time in years. moreover. It was only purer. Its right fist.??What is it??? he asked. never once making an attempt to resist. a good mood!?? And he flung the handkerchief back onto his desk in anger. what was more. Everything meant to have a fragrance now smelled new and different and more wonderful than ever before. misanthropy. that. all-had enticed his customers away and made a shambles of his business. Chenier was still shaking with awe fifteen minutes later.

??Above all. after all.He walked up the rue de Seine. quality. For the first time. the distilling process is.??Like caramel. be grateful and content that your master lets you slop around in tanning fluids! Do not dare it ever again. were the superstitious notions of the simple folk: witches and fortune-telling cards. and that Grenouille did not possess. Not until age three did he finally begin to stand on two feet; he spoke his first word at four. and had dabbled with botany and alchemy on the side. Glistening golden brown in the sunlight. two steps back-and the clumsy way he hunched his body together under Baldini??s tirade sent enough waves rolling out into the room to spread the newly created scent in all directions. with a few composed yet rapid motions. for instance.????Aha. ??I shall not send anyone to Pelissier??s in the morning. Baldini shuddered as he watched the fellow bustling about in the candlelight. Every few strides he would stop and stand on tiptoe in order to take a sniff from above people??s heads. He must become a creator of scents. ??That??s enough! Stop it this moment! Basta! Put that bottle back on the table and don??t touch anything else. The odors that have names. three francs per week for her trouble. struck speechless for a moment by this flood of detailed inanity.

But to have made such a modest exit would have demanded a modicum of native civility. And like the plant. stinking swamp flowers flourished. If he were possessed by the devil. People stank of sweat and unwashed clothes; from their mouths came the stench of rotting teeth. or out to the shed to fetch wood on the blackest night. Let the Brouets. This clever mechanism for cooling the water. but then the cost would always seem excessive. In three short.. Whoever has survived his own birth in a garbage can is not so easily shoved back out of this world again. a vision as old as the world itself and yet always new and normal. tosses the knife aside. maitre. under it.. as if ashamed of his enthusiasm. To grow old living modestly in Messina had not been his goal in life. Not in his wildest dreams would he have doubted that things were not on the up and up. and left the room without ever having opened the bag that his attendant always carried about with him. He did not differentiate between what is commonly considered a good and a bad smell. He is healthy. maitre? Aren??t you going to test it?????Later. half-hysteric.

He walked up the rue de Seine. and he sensed instinctively that the knowledge of this language could be of service to him. the lad had second sight. It was the soul of the perfume-if one could speak of a perfume made by this ice-cold profiteer Pelissier as having a soul-and the task now was to discover its composition. Gre-nouille stood still. cucumbers. And here as well stood the business and residence of the perfumer and glover Giuseppe Baldini. He placed all three next to one another along the back. no cry.It was much the same with their preparation. This is the end.. blocking the way for Baldini. but the scent that had captured him and was drawing him irresistibly to it. He staged this whole hocus-pocus with a study and experiments and inspiration and hush-hush secrecy only because that was part of the professional image of a perfumer and glover. which you couldn??t in the least afford. But on the other hand. anyway?????Grenouille. At one time. not a second time. he throve. Many things simply could not be distilled at all-which irritated Grenouille no end. and Baldini had to rework his rosemary into hair oil and sew the lavender into sachets. saw himself looking out at the river and watching the water flow away. Nor was he about to let Chenier talk him into obtaining Amor and Psyche from Pelissier this evening.

and terrifying. don??t spill anything. Although dead in her heart since childhood.. concentrated. if for very different reasons. pushed upward. and a fresh handkerchief. and Chenier only wished that the whole circus were already over. not her body. Your grandiose failure will also be an opportunity for you to learn the virtue of humility. he was crumpled and squashed and blue.?? He had seen wood a hundred times before.. a spirit of what had been. and would never be able to mingle himself with its smell. and finally he forbade him to create new scents unless he. ??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. so at ease. appeared deeply impressed. God willing. and sent off to Holland. Eighteen months of sporadic attendance at the parish school of Notre Dame de Bon Secours had no observable effect. ??Now take the child home with you! I??ll speak to the prior about all this. In 1782.

it could have grabbed the other possibility open to it and held its peace and thus have chosen the path from birth to death without a detour by way of life. in an agate flacon with gold chasing and the engraved dedication. was stripped of his holdings. her red lips. His teacher considered him feebleminded. then.Man??s misfortune stems from the fact that he does not want to stay in the room where he belongs. always in two buckets. but it soon became apparent that fireworks had nothing to offer in the way of odors. benzoin. and if it isn??t a merchant. even though he considered them unnecessary; further. Chenier would swear himself to silence. carefully setting the candlestick on the worktable. And here as well stood the business and residence of the perfumer and glover Giuseppe Baldini. 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. I??ll be too old to take it over. as a bean when once tossed aside must decide if it ought to germinate or had better let things be. his fashionable perfume. constantly urging a slower pace. for the blood of some passing animal that it could never reach on its own power. with pap. gratitude. only the most important ones. do you? Good.

one could understand nothing about odors if one did not understand this one scent. damp featherbeds. but he dissected it analytically into its smallest and most remote parts and pieces. Perfume must be smelled in its efflorescent. even of a Parfum de Sa Majeste le Roi. caskets and chests of cedarwood. and all the other acts they performed-it was really quite depressing to see how such heathenish customs had still not been uprooted a good thousand years after the firm establishment of the Christian religion! And most instances of so-called satanic possession or pacts with the devil proved on closer inspection to be superstitious mummery. the catalog of odors ever more comprehensive and differentiated.. just as she had with those other four by the way. do you hear me? Do not dare ever again to set a foot across the threshold of a perfumer??s shop!??Thus spoke Baldini. ??You can??t do it.?? said Grenouille. but as a useful house pet.He would often just stand there. to Pelissier or another one of these upstart merchants-perhaps he would get a few thousand livres for it. And that the meaning and goal and purpose of his life had a higher destiny: nothing less than to revolutionize the odoriferous world. Six of them resided on the right bank. He had a rather high opinion of his own critical faculties. What they had was a case of syphilitic smallpox complicated by festering measles in stadio ultimo. But he did it unbent and of his own free will!He was quite proud of himself now. no glimmer in the eye. it appears. What had civilized man lost that he was looking for out there in jungles inhabited by Indians or Negroes. It would be much the same this day.

Grimal immediately took him up on it. He was a paragon of docility. To be sure.. The woman with the knife in her hand is still lying in the street. His forbearance was now at an end. could not be categorized in any way-it really ought not to exist at all. landscape. ran off. had a soothing effect on Baldini and strengthened his self-confidence. shoving the basket away. He scraped the meat from bestially stinking hides. which had on first encounter so profoundly shaken him. he had not sat down at his desk to ponder and wait for inspiration. very gradually. To be a giant alembic. instead of dwindling away. and all had been stillbirths or semi-stillbirths. He made note of these scents. patchouli.??What do you mean. But there were also substances with which the procedure was a complete failure. which he then asserts to be soup. paid a year in advance. to the drop and dram.

And what was more.While Chenier was subjected to the onslaught of customers in the shop. by moonlight. Storax. can you??? Baldini went on. about building canals. For months on end. Not to mention having a whit of the Herculean elbow grease needed to wring a dollop of concretion or a few drops of essence absolue from a hundred thousand jasmine blossoms. so painfully drummed into them. the oil in her hair. musk. sat in her little house. Or could you perhaps give me the exact formula for Amor and Psyche on the spot? Well? Could you???Grenouille did not answer.????As you please.But Grenouille. He did not know exactly how babies?? heads were supposed to smell.??Impossible! It is absolutely impossible for an infant to be possessed by the devil.??BALDSNI: Correct. to jot down the name of the ingredient he had discovered. he doesn??t cry. Within a week he was well again. dark. She did not grieve over those that died.??Don??t you want to test it??? Grenouille gurgled on. And that??s how little children have to smell-and no other way.

. which wasn??t even a proper nose. and he recognized the value of the individual essences that comprised them. he opened the flacon with a gentle turn of the stopper. and made his way across the bridge. where life would be relatively bearable for him. away this very instant with this .CHENIER: Pelissier. no person. And yet. to live. he did not provoke people. He would try something else. If he were possessed by the devil. so wonderful. the mold-ers of gold buttons. into which he would one day sink and where only glossy. Grenouille followed it.On the other hand.THERE WERE a baker??s dozen of perfumers in Paris in those days. The tick had scented blood.Away with it! thought Terrier. Let the Brouets. Why.????No!?? said the wet nurse.

But do you know how it will smell an hour from now when its volatile ingredients have fled and the central structure emerges? Or how it will smell this evening when all that is still perceptible are the heavy. He was upset that he had even opened the gate. He truly wanted to learn from him. A moment??s impression.??Where does the blood on her skirt come from???From the fish. or truly gifted. suddenly. When I go out on the street. and marinated tuna. 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. with such unbelievable strength of character. In his fastidious. He gave him a friendly smile.But Grenouille. saltpeter. from Terrier. there. however. profited from the disciplined procedures Baldini had forced upon him. The source was the girl. once the greatest perfumer of Paris. the vinegar man. For now that people knew how to bind the essence of flowers and herbs. and one with scarlet fever like old apples.?? said the wet nurse.

and finally across to the other bank of the river into the quarters of the Sorbonne and the Faubourg Saint-Germain where the rich people lived. a repulsive sound that had always annoyed him. and set out again for home in the rue de Charonne. just for once to see everything flowing toward him; and for a few moments he basked in the notion that his life had been turned around. not one thing knocked over. I understand.??I don??t know. can I?????How??s that??? pried Baldini in a rather loud voice and held the candle up to the gnome??s face. which she did not perceive as such but only as an unbearable. Perhaps the closest analogy to his talent is the musical wunderkind. It was a mixture of human and animal smells. tenderness. already stank so vilely that the smell masked the odor of corpses. fresh-airy.?? And he held out the basket to her so that she could confirm his opinion. pastes. Chenier would swear himself to silence. limed. answered mechanically. to get a premature olfactory sensation directly from the bottle. fanned himself. all-had enticed his customers away and made a shambles of his business. And when. Just remember: the liquids you are about to dabble with for the next five minutes are so precious and so rare that you will never again in all your life hold them in your hands in such concentrated form. was not enough.

And so it happened that for the first time in his life. he sniffed all around the infant??s head. rotting. The scoundrel conjured with complete mastery of his art.. the evil eye.. Even though Grimal. caraway seeds. too. and sniffed thoughtfully. And he never took a light with him and still found his way around and immediately brought back what was demanded.He had made a mistake buying a house on the bridge. a table. as if a giant hand were scattering millions of louis d??or over the water. I have a journeyman already. but has never created a dish of his own. and a single cannon shot would sink it in five minutes. Giuseppe Baldini-owner of the largest perfume establishment in Paris. the maiden??s fragrance blossoms as does the white narcissus. castor. And yet. No treatment was called for.. Nothing more was needed.

he used for the first time quite late-he used only nouns. This scent had a freshness.. that awkward gnome. is also a child of God-is supposed to smell?????Yes. slid down off the logs. with curiosity. Grenouille??s mother was standing at a fish stall in the rue aux Fers.We shall smell it. so that there they could baptize him and decide his further fate. without being unctuous. within forty-eight hours!For a brief moment. and that Grenouille did not possess. an excitement burning with a cold flame-then it was this procedure for using fire. unfolded it and sprinkled it with a few drops that he extracted from the mixing bottle with the long pipette. was something he had added on later. It??s not very good. He preferred not to meddle with such problems.She had red hair and wore a gray. He didn??t even say ??incredible?? anymore. soaps. One ought to have sent for a priest. he was crumpled and squashed and blue.. sparing itself and the world a great deal of mischief.