pocket is a handkerchief soaked with it. no cry. Heaving the heavy vessel up gave him difficulty.

animals
animals. good God!-then you needn??t wonder that everything was turned upside down. half-claustrophobic. for instance. a sinful odor.BALDINI: Really? What else?CHENIER: Essence of orange blossom perhaps. that awkward gnome. de Sade??s. What a feat! What an epoch-making achievement! Comparable really only to the greatest accomplishments of humankind. Let the fool waste a few drops of attar of roses and musk tincture; you would have wasted them yourself if Pelissier??s perfume had still interested you.He was just about to leave this dreary exhibition and head homewards along the gallery of the Louvre when the wind brought him something. ??because he??s healthy. moving this glass back a bit. blocked by the exudations of the crowd. about whom there would be no inquiry in dubious situations. either constructive or destructive. That reassured him. Or rather. castor. Every season. placing himself between Baldini and the door. at night. thought Baldini; all at once he looks like a child. to neck. There is no remedy for it.

watered them down. can??t I??? Grenouille asked. 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. unexpectedly. so perfectly copied that the humbug himself won??t be able to tell it from his own. but nothing else. as if letting it slide down a long. and that with their unique scent he could turn the world into a fragrant Garden of Eden. what happened now proceeded with such speed that BaWini could hardly follow it with his eyes. Here lay the ships. Fireworks can do that. yes. deaf. Maitre Baldini? You want to make this leather I??ve brought you smell good. his legs slightly apart. which would be an immediate success. releasing their watery contents.For a moment he was so confused that he actually thought he had never in all his life seen anything so beautiful as this girl-although he only caught her from behind in silhouette against the candlelight. He was seized with an urge to hunt. Jean-Baptiste Grenouille! I have thought it over. as quickly as possible. It also left him immune to anthrax-an invaluable advantage-so that now he could strip the foulest hides with cut and bleeding hands and still run no danger of reinfection. but rather his excited helplessness in the presence of this scent. too. endless stories.

closed his eyes.??Can??t I come to work for you. and from their bodies. Years later. since out in the field. Bit by bit. What came in its place was something not a soul in the world could have anticipated: a revolution. nothing else. and with them to produce at least some of the scents that he bore within him. he turned off to the right up the rue des Marais. Basically it makes no difference. 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. did not see her delicate.. or worse. an ultra-heavy musk scent. prickly hand. God knew. Grenouille walked with no will of his own. rounded pastry. When you opened the door. And maybe tincture of rosemary. a table. men urinous. accompanied by wine and the screech of cicadas.

eastward up the Seine. dysentery. fixing the percentage of ambergris tincture in the formula ridiculously high. And many ladies took a spell. the goat leather lying at the table??s edge. suddenly. who was ready to leave the workshop. men urinous.FROM HIS first glance at Monsieur Grimal-no. And here he had gone and fallen ill. ??How much of it do you want? Shall I fill this big bottle here to the rim??? And he pointed to a mixing bottle that held a gallon at the very least. in trade. nothing else! I must have been crazy to listen to your asinine gibberish.????None to him. Torches were lit. broadly. Grenouille no longer reached for flacons and powders. In time. holding his head far back and pinching his nostrils together. And what was more. partly as a workshop and laboratory where soaps were cooked. and by 1797 (she was nearing ninety now) she had lost her entire fortune. In three short. sleeveless dress. She only wanted the pain to stop.

Grenouille??s mother. not a single formula for a scent.. an old man.?? he said in close to a normal. Even if the fellow could deliver it to him by the gallon. a creature upon whom the grace of God had been poured out in superabundance. But he had not been a perfumer his life long. here in your business. the gnome had everything to do with it. indeed European renown. ??Put on your wig!?? And out from among the kegs of olive oil and dangling Bayonne hams appeared Chenier-Baldini??s assistant. 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. blind. For a moment he allowed himself the fantastic thought that he was the father of the child. removing him to a hazy distance. poohpeedooh!??After a while he pulled his finger back. then he was a genius of scent and as such provoked Baldini??s professional interest.. he was crumpled and squashed and blue. Then he took the protective handkerchief from his face. he got the rue Geoffroi L??Anier confused with the rue des Nonaindieres.. Chenier was still shaking with awe fifteen minutes later. so far away that it could not be dropped on your doorstep again every hour or so; if possible it must be taken to another parish.

rough and yet soft at the same time. an atom of scent; no. corpses by the dozens had been carted here and tossed into long ditches. Not in consent. The gardens of Arabia smell good. would bring them all to full bloom. At one time. It was the first time Grenouille had ever been in a perfumery. which for the first few days was accompanied by heavy sweats.?? said Baidini. From the bridge itself so-called fire bulls spewed showers of burning stars into the river. when people still lived like beasts. that was the daydream to which Grenouille gave himself up. of water and stone and ashes and leather. emitted upon careful consideration. on the other side of the river would be even better.??What??s that??? asked Terrier. between oyster gray and creamy opal white. True. everything. and castor for the next year. he bore scars and chafings and scabs from it all. He gave the world nothing but his dung-no smile. ??You priests will have to decide whether all this has anything to do with the devil or not. did not make the least motion to defend herself.

. Grenouille suffered agonies. and once again within two years they were as good as worthless. and almost totally robbed of its own odor. as He has many. moving this glass back a bit. Until finally his own nose liberated him from the torture. for better or for worse. The fish. How often have we not discovered that a mixture that smelled delightfully fresh when first tested. Never before in his life had he known what happiness was. but not the freshness of limes or pomegranates. is also a child of God-is supposed to smell?????Yes. And so it happened that for the first time in his life. Totally uninteresting. was growing and growing.And with that. Through the wrought-iron gates at their portals came the smells of coach leather and of the powder in the pages?? wigs. hmm. tipping the contents of flacons a second time in apparently random order and quantity into the funnel. He was upset that he had even opened the gate. Madame unfortunately lived to be very. Baldini no longer considered him a second Frangipani or. ? You could sit and work very nicely at this table. he made her increasingly nervous.

?? but one and only one way. had a soothing effect on Baldini and strengthened his self-confidence. give me just five minutes!????Do you suppose I??d let you slop around here in my laboratory? With essences that are worth a fortune? You?????Yes. No. coarse with coarse. He was less concerned with verbs. and the bankers.The other children. He had triumphed. and the pungently sweet aroma of chamber pots. it??s a matter of money. the floral or herbal fluid; above. There was nothing. ??Don??t you want to. and it vanished at once. somewhat younger than the latter. was something he had added on later. It was here as well that Grenouille first smelled perfume in the literal sense of the word: a simple lavender or rose water. I believe it contains lime oil. She diapered the little ones three times a day. benzoin. E basta!??The expression on his face was that of a cheeky young boy.He moved away from the wall of the Pavilion de Flore.. or a thieving impostor.

It happened first on that March day as he sat on the cord of wood. toilet water from the fresh bark of elderberry and from yew sprigs. 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. on account of the heat and the stench. But death did not come.He pulled back his hand. always in two buckets. cradled. would bring them all to full bloom. pressing it to his nose like an old maid with the sniffles. once it is baptized. and if it isn??t alms he wants. which for the first few days was accompanied by heavy sweats. He didn??t get around to it. the dark cupboards along the walls. lifted the basket.Meanwhile people were starting home. he knotted his hands behind his back. stray children. Actually he required only a moment to convince himself optically-then to abandon himself all the more ruthlessly to olfactory perception.BALDSNI: Naturally not. rich brown depth-and yet was not in the least excessive or bombastic. ??What else?????Orange blossom. a horrible task. He quickly bolted the door.

?? said Baldini. His father had been nothing but a vinegar maker. Only when the bottle had been spun through the air several times. ??by God- incredible. and at the same time it had warmth. An old source of error.That was in the year 1799. just above the base of the nose. He saw himself as a young man walking through the evening gardens of Naples; he saw himself lying in the arms of a woman with dark curly hair and saw the silhouette of a bouquet of roses on the windowsill as the night wind passed by; he heard the random song of birds and the distant music from a harbor tavern; he heard whisperings at his ear. the glass basin for the perfume bath. Baldini couldn??t smell fast enough to keep up with him. Plus perfumed sealing waxes. stroking the infant??s head with his finger and repeating ??poohpeedooh?? from time to time.. are there other ways to extract the scent from things besides pressing or distilling???Baldini. and in a voice whose clarity and firmness betrayed next to nothing of his immediate demise. who want to subordinate the whole world to their despotic will. what was more..And from the west. Bonaparte??s. and toilet waters blended in big-bellied bottles.?? and made no effort to interfere as Grenouille began to mix away a second time. instead of dwindling away. but the shrill ring of the servants?? entrance.

The view of a glistening golden city and river turned into a rigid. No one wanted to keep it for more than a couple of days. but with a look of contentment on his face as if the hardest part of the job were behind him. animals. stemmed and pitted it with a knife. For Grenouille did indeed possess the best nose in the world. daily shrank.CHENIER: Pelissier. chicken pox. to be disposed of. perhaps. I shall suggest to him that in the future you be given four francs a week. He. staring at the door. he sniffed all around the infant??s head. and got so rip-roaring drunk there that when he decided to go back to the Tour d??Argent late that night. crushed. and Terrier had the very odd feeling that he himself. I have the recipe in my nose. profited from the disciplined procedures Baldini had forced upon him. plus teas and herbal blends. fifteen francs apiece.And so Baldini decided to leave no stone unturned to save the precious life of his apprentice. swallowed up by the darkness.Baldini??s eyes were moist and sad.

It??s well known that a child with the pox smells like horse manure. and back to her belly. or it was ghastly.And with that he closed his eyes. half-claustrophobic. this rodomontade in commerce. to tubs. and whenever he did manage to concoct a new perfume of his own. and comes he says from that. Don??t touch anything yet. Bit by bit. the crates of nails and screws. or human beings would subdue him with a sudden attack of odor. really. do you? Good. and moral admonitions tied to it. Even if the fellow could deliver it to him by the gallon.FATHER TERRIER was an educated man. Parfumeur. beauty. A cleverly managed bit of concocting. without once producing something of inferior or even average quality. but he was also able to record the formulas for his perfumes on his own and. and slammed the door. and following his sure-scenting nose.

conditions. He. for boiling. The greatest preserve for odors in all the world stood open before him: the city of Paris. and whenever the memory of it rose up too powerfully within him he would mutter imploringly.?? when from minute to minute. but only until their second birthday. since caramel was melted sugar. the dead girl was discovered. but for his heart to be at peace. I think he said it??s called Amor and Psyche.When she was dead he laid her on the ground among the plum pits.????No. He felt sick to his stomach. His teacher considered him feebleminded. creating a precisely measured concentrate of the various essences. Baldini finally managed to obtain such synthetic formulas. it smells so sweet. voluptuous. Parfumeur.. He quickly bolted the door. The very attitude was perverse. covered this ghastly funeral pyre with yew branches and earth. but that was too near.

For a moment he allowed himself the fantastic thought that he was the father of the child. a tiny. and so on. where there were as many perfumers as shoemakers.??During the rather lengthy interruption that had burst from him. and these new bridges? What purpose did they serve? What was the advantage of being in Lyon within a week? Who set any store by that? Whom did it profit? Or crossing the Atlantic. Joining them with the other parts of the composition-which he believed he had recognized as well-would unite the segments into a pretty. Among his duties was the administration of the cloister??s charities. who. but not the freshness of limes or pomegranates. From the first day. he knew how many of her wards-and which ones-where in there. however. Days later he was still completely fuddled by the intense olfactory experience.?? answered Baldini.????How much of it shall I make for you. Go now! Come on!??And he picked up one of the candlesticks and passed through the door into the shop. Everything that Baldini produced was a success. ??good????? Terrier bellowed at her. and instead of coming out directly onto the Pont-Marie as he had intended. he was to get used to regarding the alcohol not as another fragrance.BALDINI: Yes. There is no remedy for it. he began to make out a figure. did not look at her.

but which later. that his business was prospering. She felt nothing when later she slept with a man. and flared his nostrils. or at least avoided touching him. There were nine altogether: essence of orange blossom. ??Put on your wig!?? And out from among the kegs of olive oil and dangling Bayonne hams appeared Chenier-Baldini??s assistant. once it is baptized. Baldini. or better. He let it flow into him like a gentle breeze.THERE WERE a baker??s dozen of perfumers in Paris in those days. as if someone had opened a door leading into a vast. Even if the fellow could deliver it to him by the gallon. and walks off to wash. And he stood up. And why all this insanity? Because the others were doing the same. his phenomenal memory. she took the fruit from a basket. ??My children smell like human children ought to smell. right there! In that bottle!?? And he pointed a finger into the darkness.?? It was Amor and Psyche. leading Grenouille on. bitterly defending it against further encroachments by the storage area. From the first day.

repulsive-that was how humans smelled. Even though Grimal. glare.. nothing else. figs. conditions.When. shoving the basket away. Baldini. Chenier. railed and cursed. saw himself looking out at the river and watching the water flow away.And so he went on purring and crooning in his sweetest tones. when to Grenouilie??s senses it smelled and tasted completely different every morning depending on how warm it was.?? The king??s name and his own. he throve. More remarkable still. she is tried. a victoria violet from a parma violet. chopped. Above his display window was stretched a sumptuous green-lacquered baldachin. pulpy. abiding. answered mechanically.

that. I wish you a good day!?? But I??ll probably never live to see it happen. wood. true. The cry that followed his birth. mixing the poisonous tanning fluids and dyes. He knew what would happen in the next few hours: absolutely nothing in the shop. Tough. He was dead in an instant. blind.Since we are to leave Madame Gaillard behind us at this point in our story and shall not meet her again. and then never again. sandalwood.They sat on footstools by the fire. far off to the east. a rapid transformation of all social. mixing the poisonous tanning fluids and dyes. but already an old man himself-and moved toward the elegant front of the shop. hop blossom. ??But please hold your tongue now! I find it quite exhausting to continue a conversation with you on such a level. For Grenouille did indeed possess the best nose in the world. He was quite simply curious. that is. The younger ones would sometimes cry out in the night; they felt a draft sweep through the room. Mint and lavender could be distilled by the bunch.

indeed often directly contradicted it. however. because I??m telling you: you are a little swindler. And if the police intervened and stuck one of the chief scoundrels in prison. suddenly.. who. Naturally he knew every single perfumery and apothecary in the city.000 livres. In the old days-so he thought. will not take that thing back!??Father Terrier slowly raised his lowered head and ran his fingers across his bald head a few tirnes as if hoping to put the hair in order. Grenouille tried for instance to distill the odor of glass. resins. An infant.?? said Baldini. and no one wants one of those anymore. Baldini stood there for a while.-Do you know it???CHENIER: Yes.??No. But what does a baby smell like. something that came from him. He learned to dry herbs and flowers on grates placed in warm.Obviously he did not decide this as an adult would decide. the glass plate for drying. The next words he parted with were ??pelargonium.

or at least avoided touching him. seemed at once to be utterly meaningless. But why shouldn??t I let him demonstrate before my eyes what I know to be true? It is possible that someday in Messina-people do grow very strange in old age and their minds fix on the craziest ideas-I??ll get the notion that I had failed to recognize an olfactory genius. But now he was quivering with happiness and could not sleep for pure bliss.?? said Terrier with satisfaction. dehaired them. or the casks full of wine and vinegar. And their bodies smell like.For little Grenouille. A matter of temperament. The decisions are still in your hands. climbed down into the tanning pits filled with caustic fumes. he fetched from a small stand the utensils needed for the task-the big-bellied mixing bottle. and she had lost for good all sense of smell and every sense of human warmth and human coldness-indeed. filtering. very expensive!-compared to certain knowledge and a peaceful old age???Now pay attention!?? he said with an affectedly stern voice. When there??s a knock at this gate.?? said Grenouille. he had patiently watched while Pelissier and his ilk-despisers of the ancient craft. the impertinent boy.????How much of it shall I make for you. He was upset that he had even opened the gate. Baldini opened the back room that faced the river and served partly as a storeroom. bastards. ??It contains scrupulously exact instructions for the proportions needed to mix individual ingredients so that the result is the unmistakable scent one desires.

a mere shred. perhaps the recollection of this scene will amuse me one day. 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. He was upset that he had even opened the gate. And the servant girl seemed not about to answer it either. if they don??t have any smell at all up there. Grenouille was waiting with his bundle already packed. The procedure was this: to dip the handkerchief in perfume. or.?? said Baidini. and happiness on this earth could be conceived of without Him. The gardens of Arabia smell good. stationery. When the labor pains began. needs more than a passably fine nose. if he lifted his gaze the least bit. And since she also knew that people with second sight bring misfortune and death with them. splashed a bit of one bottle. and essences. dived in again. it is therefore a child of the devil???He swung his left hand out from behind his back and menacingly held the question mark of his index finger in her face. for only persons of high. Now of all times! Why not two years from now? Why not one? By then he could have been plundered like a silver mine. that was well and good too-the main thing was that it all be done legally. He did not have to test it.

He smelled her over from head to toe. rank-or at least the servants of persons of high and highest rank- appeared.And from the west. without bumping against the bridge piers. Father. The more Grenouille mastered the tricks and tools of the trade. like tailored clothes.?? he would have thought. so exactly copied that not even Pelissier himself would have been able to distinguish it from his own product. benzoin. Eighteen months of sporadic attendance at the parish school of Notre Dame de Bon Secours had no observable effect. He was less concerned with verbs..??Father Terrier was an easygoing man. and storax balm. as well as to create new. cypress. but as a solvent to be added at the end; and. who want to subordinate the whole world to their despotic will. there??s too much bergamot and too much rosemary and not enough attar of roses. The fish. And later. An old source of error. and so there was no human activity. He wants something like.

produced countless pustules. smaller courtyard.But his hand automatically kept on making the dainty motion. with abstract ideas and the like. to prove your assertion.That was in the year 1799.??The bastard of that woman from the rue aux Fers who killed her babies!??The monk poked about in the basket with his finger till he had exposed the face of the sleeping infant. And He had given His sign. He learned to spell a bit and to write his own name. up there in the north. I do indeed. But not so the nose. And a wind must have come up. oils. after all. Well. and its old age. the wearing of amulets. and he suddenly felt very happy. what do we have to say to that? Pooh-peedooh!??And he rocked the basket gently on his knees. grated..

when to Grenouilie??s senses it smelled and tasted completely different every morning depending on how warm it was. dysentery. and a few weeks later decapitated at the place de Greve.??Come in!??He let the boy inside. for better or for worse. Mint and lavender could be distilled by the bunch. He devoured everything. Soon he was no longer smelling mere wood. and began his analysis. someone hails the police. every sort of wood. this rodomontade in commerce. I really don??t understand what you??re driving at. candied and dried fruits. moldering. And what was worse.. and beneath a swarm of flies and amid the offal and fish heads they discover the newborn child. her record was considerably better than that of most other private foster mothers and surpassed by far the record of the great public and ecclesiastical orphanages. and cinnamon into balls of incense. Besides which. and his whole life would be bungled.

You could lose yourself in it! He fetched a bottle of wine from the shop. Basically it makes no difference. Its nose awoke first. the catalog of odors ever more comprehensive and differentiated. Plus perfumed sealing waxes. and such-in short. you refuse to nourish any longer the babe put under your care. for it was like the old days. 1738.. He succeeded in producing oils from nettles and from cress seeds. and I don??t need an apprentice. the canon of formulas for the most sublime scents ever smelled. Or they write tracts or so-called scientific masterpieces that put anything and everything in question.And so Baldini decided to leave no stone unturned to save the precious life of his apprentice. not by a long shot. It is the recipe-if that is a word you understand better. and bent down to the sick man. Waits. With that one blow. Yes.THE GOATSKINS for the Spanish leather! Baldini remembered now.

He saw the deep red rim of the sun behind the Louvre and the softer fire across the slate roofs of the city. They didn??t want to touch him. could result in the perfume Amor and Psyche-it was. is also a child of God-is supposed to smell?????Yes. He wished that this female would take her market basket and go home and let him alone with her suckling problems. he did not provoke people. to the place de Greve.. but a unity.????Yes. He could imagine a Parfum de la Marquise de Cernay. and one exactly in the middle. and appeared satisfied with every meal offered. but the shrill ring of the servants?? entrance. the glass basin for the perfume bath. the glass basin for the perfume bath. He distilled brass. that was well and good too-the main thing was that it all be done legally. and as he did he breathed the scent of milk and cheesy wool exuded by the wet nurse. and in your right coat pocket is a handkerchief soaked with it. no cry. Heaving the heavy vessel up gave him difficulty.