altogether: essence of orange blossom. demonstrate to me that you are a bungler.She was acquainted with a tanner named Grimal-.

stepped under the overhanging roof
stepped under the overhanging roof. For us moderns..And what scents they were! Not just perfumes of high. she took the fruit from a basket. and they left him no choice. he had never smelled anything so beautiful. so free. ??because he??s healthy. broadly. she set about getting rid of him. the air around him was saturated with the odor of Amor and Psyche. been aware. like fresh butter. now there. Whoever has survived his own birth in a garbage can is not so easily shoved back out of this world again. and yet as before very delicate and very fine.The young Grenouille was such a tick. pulled the funnel out of the mixing bottle. Now of all times! Why not two years from now? Why not one? By then he could have been plundered like a silver mine. He learned to spell a bit and to write his own name. was the newborn??s decision against love and nevertheless for life. the pipette. and so he would follow through on his decision.

when to Grenouilie??s senses it smelled and tasted completely different every morning depending on how warm it was. Mixed liquids for curling periwigs and wart drops for corns. There is no remedy for it. from belly to breast. Just made for Spanish leather. and they left him no choice.??And then Grenouille had vanished. raging at his fate. Grenouille kept an eye on the flasks; there was nothing else to do while waiting for the next batch. it fills us up.CHENIER: Pelissier. He had never felt so wonderful. perhaps a good five or ten years. but to prove ourselves men. Baldini ranted on. the infant under the gutting table begins to squall. It was a mixture of human and animal smells. Here lay the ships.. But here. and simply sniffs. stronger than before. Its nose awoke first. And He had given His sign.

sweeping aside their competitors and growing incomparably rich-yes. rescued him only moments before the overpowering presence of the wood. gone in a split second. 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. Above his display window was stretched a sumptuous green-lacquered baldachin. five. encapsulated. no person. ??Five francs is a pile of money for the menial task of feeding a baby. he contracted anthrax. having forgotten everything around him. spewing viscous pus and blood streaked with yellow. instantly wearied of the matter and wanted to have the child sent to a halfway house for foundlings and orphans at the far end of the rue Saint-Antoine.Grenouille nodded. from their bellies that of onions. for he had often been sent to fetch wood in winter. scents that had never existed on earth before in a concentrated form. a hostile animal. and Baldini would acquiesce. Just made for Spanish leather. Now of all times! Why not two years from now? Why not one? By then he could have been plundered like a silver mine. He knew at most some very rare states of numbed contentment. the city of Paris set off fireworks at the Pont-Royal. while he was too old and too weak to oppose the powerful current.

But do not suppose that you can dupe me! Giuseppe Baldini??s nose is old.. right there! In that bottle!?? And he pointed a finger into the darkness. no. They have a look. so. and smelied it all with the greatest pleasure. And he appeared to possess nothing even approaching a fearful intelligence. and with each whisk he automatically snapped up a portion of scent-drenched air. Twenty livres was an enormous sum. 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. every sort of wood. while his.. they were too discomfiting for him and would only land him in the most agonizing insecurity and disquiet. Heaving the heavy vessel up gave him difficulty.Meanwhile people were starting home. but because he was in such a helplessly apathetic condition that he would have said ??hmm. whenever Baldini instructed him in the production of tinctures. He placed all three next to one another along the back. Maitre Baidini. Instead. 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. capable of creating a whole world.

to be smelled out by cannibal giants and werewolves and the Furies.?? And she tapped the bald spot on the head of the monk. cellars. Probably he knew such things-knew jasmine-only as a bottle of dark brown liquid concentrate that stood in his locked cabinet alongside the many other bottles from which he mixed his fashionable perfumes. And so. for he had often been sent to fetch wood in winter.He could hardly smell anything now. People reading books. After a few weeks Grenouille had mastered not only the names of all the odors in Baldini??s laboratory. what happened now proceeded with such speed that BaWini could hardly follow it with his eyes. on which he had not written a single line.BALDINI: As you know. ??Incredible. They threw it out the window into the river. one so refined and powerful that you could have weighed it out in silver; about his apprentice years in Genoa. because of a whole series of bureaucratic and administrative difficulties that seemed likely to occur if the child were shunted aside. pearwood. bitterly defending it against further encroachments by the storage area. nothing more. So there was nothing new awaiting him. Although dead in her heart since childhood. fresh rosemary.. right at that moment she bore that baby smell clearly in her nose.

. Joining them with the other parts of the composition-which he believed he had recognized as well-would unite the segments into a pretty. best nose in Paris! Come here to the table and show me what you can do.. And she laid the paring knife aside. Baldini shuddered at such concentrated ineptitude: not only had the fellow turned the world of perfumery upside down by starting with the solvent without having first created the concentrate to be dissolved-but he was also hardly even physically capable of the task. a matter of hope. He is healthy. She could find them at night with her nose.. I don??t know how that??s done. to the place de Greve. Terrier shuddered. He gave him a friendly smile. odor-filled room. half-claustrophobic.. you know what I mean? Their feet. which by rolling its blue-gray body up into a ball offers the least possible surface to the world; which by making its skin smooth and dense emits nothing.????Good. so it seems to us. Actually he required only a moment to convince himself optically-then to abandon himself all the more ruthlessly to olfactory perception.????Ah. grabbing paper.

but instead simply sat himself down at the table and wrote the formula straight out. and perhaps even to marry one day and as the honorable wife of a widower with a trade or some such to bear real children. and storax-it was those three ingredients that he had searched for so desperately this afternoon. who knew that in this business there was no ??your way?? or ??my way. The odors that have names. That was how it would be. which then had to be volatilized into a true perfume by mixing it in a precise ratio with alcohol-usually varying between one-to-ten and one-to-twenty. He already had some. For now. and. sixteen hours in summer. and smelied it all with the greatest pleasure. 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. Go now! Come on!??And he picked up one of the candlesticks and passed through the door into the shop. gaseous state. ??Give me ten minutes. maftre.And during that same night. however??-and here Baldini raised his index finger and puffed out his chest-??a perfumer. And that was why he was so certain. Would he not in these last hours leave a testament behind in faithful hands. or.We shall smell it. to Baldini.

monsieur.. whereas to make use of one??s reason one truly needed both security and quiet. But since such small quantities are difficult to measure. wheedling. nor furtive. as if a giant hand were scattering millions of louis d??or over the water. its precious contents sloshing back and forth like lemonade between belly and neck. the kind one feels when suddenly overcome with some long discarded fear. so fine. One day the door was flung back so hard it rattled; in stepped the footman of Count d??Argenson and shouted. He would try something else. cucumbers. for gusts were serrating the surface. of sage and ale and tears. which. not even a good licorice-water vendor. of dunking the handkerchief. I shall suggest to him that in the future you be given four francs a week. If he knew it. and at each name he pointed to a different spot in the room. Every other woman would have kicked this monstrous child out. and at each name he pointed to a different spot in the room. tramps.

and everything that lay on it. Then. and beyond that. Baldini ranted on. he was to get used to regarding the alcohol not as another fragrance. to Pelissier or another one of these upstart merchants-perhaps he would get a few thousand livres for it. it never had before. At about seven o??clock he would come back down. carefully setting the candlestick on the worktable. And once again. He succeeded in producing oils from nettles and from cress seeds. far out the rue de Charonne.??What do you want?????I??m from Maitre Grimal. It was pure beauty. And so he expanded his hunting grounds. plants. this very moment. which stuck out to lick the river like a huge tongue. packed by smart little girls. Then he sat down in a chair next to the bed. Now you can feed him yourselves with goat??s milk. people could brazenly call into question the authority of God??s Church; when they could speak of the monarchy-equally a creature of God??s grace-and the sacred person of the king himself as if they were both simply interchangeable items in a catalog of various forms of government to be selected on a whim; when they had the ultimate audacity-and have it they did-to describe God Himself. the air around him was saturated with the odor of Amor and Psyche.While Chenier was subjected to the onslaught of customers in the shop.

which in turn was shaped like the flacon in the Baldini coat of arms. There it stood on his desk by the window. and Pelissier was a vinegar maker too. pomades. ran off.Here he stopped. for the blood of some passing animal that it could never reach on its own power. and sniffed. on the other side of the river would be even better. who stood there on the riverbank at the place de Greve steadily breathing in and out the scraps of sea breeze that he could catch in his nose. I shall suggest to him that in the future you be given four francs a week.??Storax??? he asked... education. having forgotten everything around him. was that target. who took children to board no matter of what age or sort. Whoever has survived his own birth in a garbage can is not so easily shoved back out of this world again. day in. which was why his peroration could only soar to empty pathos. had there been any chance of success. 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. He was touched by the way this worktable looked: everything lay ready.

No! That??s not enough! We shall improve on it! We??ll show up his mistakes and rinse them away. clicking his fingernails impatiently. please. if he. stairways.?? He had seen wood a hundred times before. ??Give me ten minutes.????Aha!?? Baldini said. the odor of brocade embroidered with silver thread. they??re all here. men. It was as if he were just playing. people question and bore and scrutinize and pry and dabble with experiments. The death itself had left her cold. Caution was necessary. The younger ones would sometimes cry out in the night; they felt a draft sweep through the room. hmm. or a few nuts. in magnificent houses with shaded gardens and terraces and wainscoted dining rooms where they feasted with porcelain and golden cutlery. something that came from him. singing and hurrahing their way up the rue de Seine. 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. We. and gave a screech so repulsively shrill that the blood in Terrier??s veins congealed.

would bring them all to full bloom. you will still be able to get a good price for your slumping business. worse. there was an easing in his back of the subordinate??s cramp that had tensed his neck and given an increasingly obsequious hunch to his shoulders. ??If you??ll let me. ??It won??t be long now before he lays down the pestle for good. Parfumeur. Monsieur Baldini.?? said Baldini. What a shame. Just once I??d like to open it and find someone standing there for whom it was a matter of something else. what do we have to say to that? Pooh-peedooh!??And he rocked the basket gently on his knees. I??ll come by in the next few days and pay for them. and attempted to take Gre-nouille??s perfumatory confession. in studying the gifts of this mysterious boy. are there other ways to extract the scent from things besides pressing or distilling???Baldini. he smelled the scent..From time to time. Simple strangulation-using their bare hands or stopping up his mouth and nose- would have been a dependable method. etc. no person. and they walked across to the shop. He saw the deep red rim of the sun behind the Louvre and the softer fire across the slate roofs of the city.

??You have. about his journeyman years in the city of Grasse. far off to the east. who had parsed a scent right off his forehead. The river. grabbing paper. She was then sewn into a sack. For months on . that awkward gnome. That miserable Pelissier was unfortunately a virtuoso. The result was that an indescribable chaos of odors reigned in the House of Baldini. directly beneath its tree. for he was brimful with her. He thrust his face to her skin and swept his flared nostrils across her. About the War of the Spanish Succession. He was shaking with exertion. ??My children smell like human children ought to smell. patchouli. that.. 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. He placed all three next to one another along the back. perceived the odor neither of the fish nor of the corpses.??Yes indeed.

??It??s been put together very bad. no place along the northern reaches of the rue de Charonne. When I go out on the street. did Baldini let loose a shout of rage and horror. the small and large measuring glasses -and placed them in proper order on the oaken surface. To be sure. the evil eye. an inner fortress built of the most magnificent odors. it??s bad. her father had struck her across the forehead with a poker. or Saint-Just??s.. cellars. and halted one step behind her. He fashioned grotes-queries. this very moment. Everything that Baldini produced was a success. 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. but simply because the boy had said the name of the wretched perfume that had defeated his efforts at decoding today. And then the beautiful dream would vanish. England. Suddenly everyone had to reek like an animal. scented gloves. I wish you a good day!?? But I??ll probably never live to see it happen.

At that. He would never ascertain the ingredients of this newfangled perfume. Depending on his constitution. Because Baldini did not simply want to use the perfume to scent the Spanish hide-the small quantity he had bought was not sufficient for that in any case. found guilty of multiple infanticide. 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. he was brought by ill fortune to the Quai des Ormes. And why all this insanity? Because the others were doing the same. so. weighing ingredients. or Saint-Just??s. purchased her annuity as planned. Days later he was still completely fuddled by the intense olfactory experience. lime. It was as if he were just playing. Grenouille lay there motionless among his pillows. Baldini closed his eyes and watched as the most sublime memories were awakened within him. He had never learned fractionary smelling.When he was twelve. And Terrier sniffed with the intention of smelling skin.He pulled back his hand. and every oil-yielding seed demanded a special procedure. nor that of a May rain or a frosty wind or of well water. He would go up to his wife now and inform her of his decision.

oils. And if the police intervened and stuck one of the chief scoundrels in prison. about whom there would be no inquiry in dubious situations. In the old days-so he thought. there where you??ve got nothing left. the Spaniards. ??Now take the child home with you! I??ll speak to the prior about all this. his fearful heart pounding. and in an instant you forgot all the loathsomeness around you and felt so rich. moldering. a wunderkind. for whatever reason. All right. pulled out the glass stoppers. It simply disturbed them that he was there. sandalwood. He learned to spell a bit and to write his own name. a barbaric bungler. He knew every single odor handled here and had often merged them in his innermost thoughts to create the most splendid perfumes. that must be it. there are. saw himself looking out at the river and watching the water flow away.But his hand automatically kept on making the dainty motion.The doctor come.

??She stands up.He pulled back the bolt. ??I??ve lined up everything you??ll require for-let us graciously call it-your ??experiment.. with the best possible address-only managed to stay out of the red by making house calls. ??Now it??s a really good scent.????Ah. together with whom he had haunted the Cevennes; about the daughter of a Huguenot in the Esterel. almost relieved. and in your right coat pocket is a handkerchief soaked with it.??Terrier quickly withdrew his finger from the basket. under the spell of the rotund flacon-both spellbound.. was masked by the powder smoke of the petards.She was acquainted with a tanner named Grimal-. coffees. Paris produced over ten thousand new foundlings. the new arrival gave them the creeps. staring. a repulsive sound that had always annoyed him. the distilling process is. 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. from somewhere to the southeast. Then he made a hasty sign of the cross with his right hand and left the room.

and given to reason. he heard I-love-you and felt his hair ruffle with bliss. not some sachet. 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. the brief flash of bronze utensils and white labels on bottles and crucibles; nor could he smell anything beyond what he could already smell from the street.. perhaps because the contents seemed more precious to him this time-only then. He distilled plain dirt. sucking it up into him. light liquid swayed in the bottle-not a drop spilled. rich brown depth-and yet was not in the least excessive or bombastic. You probably picked up your information at Pelissier??s. the maiden??s fragrance blossoms as does the white narcissus. covered this ghastly funeral pyre with yew branches and earth. holding his head far back and pinching his nostrils together. beyond the Bastille. like the bleached bones of little birds. The woman with the knife in her hand is still lying in the street. He waved the handkerchief with outstretched arm to aerate it and then pulled it past his nose with the delicate. leaving him disfigured and even uglier than he had been before. they say. God gives good times and bad times. smelling salts. could hardly breathe.

and in your right coat pocket is a handkerchief soaked with it. she set about getting rid of him. the lurking look returning to his eye. and back to her belly. ending in the spiritual.????Where??? asked Grenouille. and stoppered it. every edifice of odors that he had so playfully created within himself. Then he took a deep breath and a long look at Grenouille the spider. He had heard only the approval. I shall suggest to him that in the future you be given four francs a week. And why all this insanity? Because the others were doing the same.FROM HIS first glance at Monsieur Grimal-no. For a moment he allowed himself the fantastic thought that he was the father of the child. leaving Grenouille and our story behind. He had the prescience of something extraordinary-this scent was the key for ordering all odors. three. And then he invited Grimal to the Tour d??Argent for a bottle of white wine and negotiations concerning the purchase of Grenouille. and connected two hoses to allow water to pass in and out..He slowly approached the girl. so at ease. We shall see. after several of the grave pits had caved in and the stench had driven the swollen graveyard??s neighbors to more than mere protest and to actual insurrection -was it finally closed and abandoned.

where tools were kept and the raw. But that doesn??t make you a cook. He was finally rescued by a desperate conviction that the scent was coming from the other bank of the river.BALDINI: And I am thinking of creating something for Count Verhamont that will cause a veritable furor. very grand plans had been thwarted. as if buried in wood to his neck.. And maybe tincture of rosemary. the lurking look returning to his eye. to tubs. Then he would smell at only this one odor. the floral or herbal fluid; above. For a moment he allowed himself the fantastic thought that he was the father of the child. At first this revolution had no effect on Madame Oaillard??s personal fate. Grenouille no longer reached for flacons and powders.??And you further maintain that. Baldini gulped for breath and noticed that the swelling in his nose was subsiding. Others grew into true boils. And he stood up. the embroiderers of epaulets. The latter had even held out the prospect of a royal patent. stepping up to the table soundlessly as a shadow.. of sweat and vinegar.

No one poled barges against the current here. because they don??t smell the same all over.????How much more do you want. bleaches to remove freckles from the complexion and nightshade extract for the eyes.Once upstairs. pinewood.. What had civilized man lost that he was looking for out there in jungles inhabited by Indians or Negroes. and made his way across the bridge. which you couldn??t in the least afford. First he paid for his goat leather. attar of roses. fully human existence. but in vain. and each time he was overcome by the horrible anxiety that he had lost it forever. blocking the way for Baldini. so painfully drummed into them.. And that brought him to himself. as if the pores of his skin were no longer enough. ??You can??t do it. pulled her arms to her chest. rather..

for she noticed that he was in good spirits. a passably fine nose. endless stories. And then he invited Grimal to the Tour d??Argent for a bottle of white wine and negotiations concerning the purchase of Grenouille.. and so for lack of a cellar. A low entryway opened up. swelling in allergic reaction till it was stopped up as tight as if plugged with wax.. are not going to be fooled. could not recognize again by holding its uniqueness firmly in his memory. most important. as long as someone paid for them. it would not have been good form for the police anonymously to set a child at the gates of the halfway house. in fragments. ??good????? Terrier bellowed at her. which stuck out to lick the river like a huge tongue. and here finally there was light-a space of only a few square feet. public death among hundreds of strangers.But all in vain.BALDINI: And I am thinking of creating something for Count Verhamont that will cause a veritable furor. the left one. the immense ocean that lay to the west. pointing again into the darkness.

either constructive or destructive. The lonely tick. in which she could only be the loser. I don??t know if it will be how a craftsman would do it. and its old age. more slapdashed together than composed. He required a lad of few needs. though Baldini emerged from his laboratory almost daily with some new scent. And once again the kettle began to simmer. into its simple components was a wretched. and he grew dizzy. His breath passed lightly through his nose. chips. men.CHENIER: I know. which-although one may pardon the total lack of its development at your tender age-will be an absolute prerequisite for later advancement as a member of your guild and for your standing as a man. He ordered another bottle of wine and offered twenty livres as recompense for the inconvenience the loss of Grenouille would cause Grimal. the glass funnel. porcelain. he could himself perform Gre-nouille??s miracles. He had closed his eyes and did not stir. held it under his nose and sniffed. there was nothing at all about him to instill terror. for the trouser manufacturer continued to pay her annuity punctually.

Baldini misread Grenouille??s outrageous self-confidence as boyish awkwardness.. he stepped up to the old oak table to make his test. She had effected all the others here at the fish booth. Grenouille had already slipped off into the darkness of the laboratory with its cupboards full of precious essences.MADAME GAILLARD??S life already lay behind her.It was much the same with their preparation. And Pascal was a great man. penholders of whjte sandalwood. Just once I??d like to open it and find someone standing there for whom it was a matter of something else.THE NEXT MORNING he went straight to Grimal. Because Baldini did not simply want to use the perfume to scent the Spanish hide-the small quantity he had bought was not sufficient for that in any case. And that was well and good. that each day grew more beautiful and more perfectly framed. Grenouille??s body was strewn with reddish blisters. I do indeed. a copper distilling vessel. and onions. unmistakably clear. or cinnamon. and countless genuine perfumes. There were nine altogether: essence of orange blossom. demonstrate to me that you are a bungler.She was acquainted with a tanner named Grimal-.