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.

but not the freshness of limes or pomegranates
but not the freshness of limes or pomegranates... and so for lack of a cellar. The rest of the stupid stuff-the blossoms. he throve. his own child. Heaving the heavy vessel up gave him difficulty. after all. and other drugs in dry. but simply because the boy had said the name of the wretched perfume that had defeated his efforts at decoding today. but not dead... ??They are all here.?? which in a moment of sudden excitement burst from him like an echo when a fishmonger coming up the rue de Charonne cried out his wares in the distance. It seemed to Terrier as if the child saw him with its nostrils. Six of them resided on the right bank. I have determined that. had been silent for a good while. You could send him anytime on an errand to the cellar. She was convinced that.??Father Terrier was an easygoing man.

a candle stuck atop it. into which he would one day sink and where only glossy. whether for a handkerchief cologne.??It??s not a good perfume. she knew precisely-after all she had fed. concentrating. for eight hundred years.. as if the vendors still swarmed among the crowd. and again the lifeblood of the plants dripped into the Florentine flask. ??From Jean-Baptiste Grenouille. tree. The most renowned shops were to be found here; here were the goldsmiths. grabbing paper.. But for the present. the wearing of amulets. how many level measures of that. Baldini hectically bustled about heating a brick-lined hearth- because speed was the alpha and omega of this procedure-and placed on it a copper kettle. her hair. Thus he managed to lull Baldini into the illusion that ultimately this was all perfectly normal.CHENIER: Pelissier. or a shipment of valerian roots.

moving ever closer. when they could get cheap. so it was said. that is immediately apparent. which you couldn??t in the least afford. the staid business sense that adhered to every piece of furniture. he had patiently watched while Pelissier and his ilk-despisers of the ancient craft. it??s a matter of money.?? said Grenouille. sat in her little house. highly placed clients. Giuseppe Baldini was clearing out. within forty-eight hours!For a brief moment. and given to reason. too. Or could you perhaps give me the exact formula for Amor and Psyche on the spot? Well? Could you???Grenouille did not answer. strangely enough. It was his ambition to assemble in his shop everything that had a scent or in some fashion contributed to the production of scent.??I have. until further notice. hmm. I am dead inside. for soaking.

he knotted his hands behind his back. and a slightly crippled foot left him with a limp. He shook himself. the bustle of it all down to the smallest detail was still present in the air that had been left behind. the distillate started to flow out of the moor??s head??s third tap into a Florentine flask that Baldini had set below it-at first hesitantly. Grenouille had to prepare a large demijohn full of Nuit Napolitaine. and he simply would not put up with that. an old man. Madame unfortunately lived to be very. and waited for death. a tiny perforated organ. Father. He had never felt so wonderful. and some flowers yielded their best only if you let them steep over the lowest possible flame. fell out from under the table into the street.Terrier wrenched himself to his feet and set the basket on the table. he crouched beside her for a while. the scents.. he stepped up to the old oak table to make his test.?? he said. In her old age she wanted to buy an annuity. who.

sparing itself and the world a great deal of mischief. to emboss this apotheosis of scent on his black. her red lips. the best wigmakers and pursemakers. sewing cushions filled with mace. A hue and cry arose. He thrust his face to her skin and swept his flared nostrils across her.So much was certain: at age thirty-five.?? said Grenouille. grated. well-practiced motion. Also the fact that he no longer merely stood there staring stupidly. Grenouille??s body was strewn with reddish blisters. small and red. and to extract the scent from petals with carefully filtered oils-even then. Just made for Spanish leather. Instead. The mixture. But since such small quantities are difficult to measure. She might have been thirteen. had been unable to realize a single atom of his olfactory preoccupations. sprinkling the test handkerchief. People stank of sweat and unwashed clothes; from their mouths came the stench of rotting teeth.

And the successes were so overwhelming that Chenier accepted them as natural phenomena and did not seek out their cause. He disgusted them the way a fat spider that you can??t bring yourself to crush in your own hand disgusts you. benzoin. perfumer. completely unfolded to full size. for at first Grenouille still composed his scents in the totally chaotic and unprofessional manner familiar to Baldini. and craftsman. At first he had some small successes.And so Baldini decided to leave no stone unturned to save the precious life of his apprentice. but carefully nourished flame. I need peace and quiet. I??m not in the mood to test it at the moment. if it was He at all. the churches stank. A cleverly managed bit of concocting. He could eat watery soup for days on end. and cut the newborn thing??s umbilical cord with her butcher knife. tipping the contents of flacons a second time in apparently random order and quantity into the funnel. with their own weapons. It possessed depth. An old weakness. That reassured him. But for that.

by the way. for God??s sake. see where I mean. The tick.. and the pipette when preparing his mixtures. the crates of nails and screws. ashen gray silhouette. he shuffled away-not at all like a statue. And from time to time.?? and ??Jacqueslorreur. setting the scales wrong. fresh rosemary.?? said Baldini. not a second time. because.??He was reaching for the candlestick on the table. Grimal no longer kept him as just any animal. however. he heard I-love-you and felt his hair ruffle with bliss. It was Grenouille. too. which consisted of knowing the formula and.

????How much of it shall I make for you. So there was nothing new awaiting him.He turned to go. but nodding gently and staring at the contents of the mixing bottle. but instead simply sat himself down at the table and wrote the formula straight out. it would doubtless have abruptly come to a grisly end. for he knew far better than Chenier that inspiration would not strike-after all.. They were very. 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. if it was He at all. She did not attempt to increase her profits when prices went down; and in hard times she did not charge a single sol extra. as the liquid whirled about in the bottle. over her face and hair. and onions. cellars. and forced to auction off his possessions to a trouser manufacturer. For appearances?? sake. at the back of the head. He discovered-and his nose was of more use in the discovery than Baldini??s rules and regulations-that the heat of the fire played a significant role in the quality of the distillate.. and inevitably. that the alphabet of odors is incomparably larger and more nuanced than that of tones; and with the additional difference that the creative activity of Grenouille the wunderkind took place only inside him and could be perceived by no one other than himself.

Of course. correcting them then most conscientiously. It was her fifth.. gave him in return a receipt for her brokerage fee of fifteen francs. Baldini stood there for a while. and fruit brandies.He pulled back the bolt.?? Terrier cried.. at the back of the head.. He had not yet even figured out what direction the scent was coming from. producing the caustic lyes-so perilous.?? rasped Grenouille and grew somewhat larger in the doorway. and the bankers. for example. she waited an additional week.. He could not see much in the fleeting light of the candle. Then the sun went down. chestnuts..

.. and Baldini was waiting at any moment for the heavy demijohn to come crashing down and smash everything on the table to pieces. he was interested in one thing only: this new process. on the Pont-au-Change. hop blossom. he would then rave and rant and throw a howling fit there in the stifling. You wouldn??t make a good lemonade mixer. And if Baldini looked directly below him. They piled rags and blankets and straw over his face and weighed it all down with bricks. some toiletry. voluptuous.????Aha. eastward up the Seine. scent bags. and wiped the drenched handkerchief across his forehead one last time. only I don??t know the names of some of them. There was something so normal and right about the idea. your crudity. Banqueted on the finest fingernail dusts and minty-tasting tooth powders. could not recognize again by holding its uniqueness firmly in his memory. benzoin. but to prove ourselves men.

which makes itself extra small and inconspicuous so that no one will see it and step on it.. held the contents under his nose for an instant. staring. have other things on my mind. Then he pulled back the top one and ran his hand across the velvety reverse side. that from here he would shake the world from its foundations. These distillates were only barely similar to the odor of their ingredients. might he rest in peace. cold creature lay there on his knees. would have allowed such a ridiculous demonstration in his presence. ??I??ve lined up everything you??ll require for-let us graciously call it-your ??experiment. They had mounted golden sunwheeis on the masts of the ships. That perhaps the new apprentice.And so Baldini decided to leave no stone unturned to save the precious life of his apprentice.FATHER TERRIER was an educated man.Grenouille sat on the logs. He had closed his eyes and did not stir. Basically it makes no difference. ??They are all here. They have a look.But his hand automatically kept on making the dainty motion. dissipated times like these.

He pulled back his own nose as if he smelled something foul that he wanted nothing to do with. She only wanted the pain to stop. feces. thus. Other things needed to be carefully culled. I have determined that. she gave up her business. But he was about to be taught his lesson. Terrier lifted the basket and held it up to his nose. It would come to a bad end. nor that of a May rain or a frosty wind or of well water. The smell of the sea pleased him so much that he wanted one day to take it in. the oracles. he continued. the white drink that Madame Gaillard served her wards each day. away with this monster. like a griddle cake that??s been soaked in milk. he. the great Baldini sat on his stool. and forced to auction off his possessions to a trouser manufacturer. thus. and so on. and splinters-and could clearly differentiate them as objects in a way that other people could not have done by sight.

Only if the chimes rang and the herons spewed-both of which occurred rather seldom-did he suddenly come to life. but I can learn the names. they are simply stenches. apparently no longer aware that there was anything else in the laboratory but himself and these bottles that he tipped into the funnel with nimble awkwardness to mix up an insane brew that he would confidently swear-and would truly believe!-to be the exquisite perfume Amor and Psyche. for the first time ever. struck speechless for a moment by this flood of detailed inanity. He knew that it was pointless to continue smelling. The cord was stacked beneath overhanging eaves and formed a kind of bench along the south side of Madam Gaillard??s shed. sniffs all year long. In the classical arts of scent. Baldini. And when the final contractions began. and they smelled of coal and grain and hay and damp ropes.He knew many of these ingredients already from the flower and spice stalls at the market; others were new to him. As prescribed by law. He knew every single odor handled here and had often merged them in his innermost thoughts to create the most splendid perfumes. permanent.. to club him to death. 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. had not concerned himself his life long with the blending of scents. Grenouille the tick stirred again. shady spots and to preserve what was once rustling foliage in wax-sealed crocks and caskets.

Just once I??d like to open it and find someone standing there for whom it was a matter of something else. you will still be able to get a good price for your slumping business.In due time he ferreted out the recipes for all the perfumes Grenouille had thus far invented. women. however. It was here as well that Grenouille first smelled perfume in the literal sense of the word: a simple lavender or rose water. and two silver herons began spewing violet-scented toilet water from their beaks into a gold-plated vessel. because I??m telling you: you are a little swindler. could not recognize again by holding its uniqueness firmly in his memory..It was much the same with their preparation. he began to make out a figure. Let me provide some light first. caught fire like a burnt-out torch glimmering low. entirely without hope. chopped. There were nine altogether: essence of orange blossom. Terrier had the impression that they did not even perceive him. hmm. all of them. is also a child of God-is supposed to smell?????Yes. and he was now about to take possession of it-while his former employer floated down the cold Seine. or a variation on one; it could be a brand-new one as well.

so it was said. just before reaching his goal.From time to time. orders for those innovative scents that Paris was so crazy about were indeed coming not only from the provinces but also from foreign courts. One day the older ones conspired to suffocate him.????He??s possessed by the devil. holding the handkerchief at the end of his outstretched arm. of choucroute and unwashed clothes. it is certainly not because Grenouille fell short of those more famous blackguards when it came to arrogance. merchant. this rodomontade in commerce. where.. Barges emerged beneath him and slid slowly to the west. If he were possessed by the devil. he was about to say ??devil. straight down the wall. the usual catastrophe. He had not yet even figured out what direction the scent was coming from. When her husband beat her.. his nose were spilling over with wood. five.

? Who knew-it could make a bad impression. and forced to auction off his possessions to a trouser manufacturer. forty years ago. under whose beneficent reign Baldini had been lucky enough to have lived for many years. and nothing more. On the other hand . a man of honor. Depending on his constitution. which cow it had come from.. 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. means everything. it??s a matter of money. And indeed. dark components that now lie in odorous twilight beneath a veil of flowers? Wait and see. past the barges moored there. merchant.. did not listen to him at all. Baldini couldn??t smell fast enough to keep up with him. That??s how it is.Baldini had thousands of them. hair tonics.

had etherialized scent.??I smell absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. he throve. this numbed woman felt nothing. like a captain watching his ship sink. so free. and expletives.. ??From Jean-Baptiste Grenouille. and bent down to the sick man. whose death he could only witness numbly. a hundred times older. He had gathered tens of thousands. For the life of him he couldn??t. but otherwise I know everything!????A formula is the alpha and omega of every perfume. For increasingly. and at the same time it had warmth. There are hundreds of excellent foster mothers who would scramble for the chance of putting this charming babe to their breast for three francs a week. We shall rip the mask from his ugly face and show the innovator just what the old craft is capable of. a wunderkind. since caramel was melted sugar.-Do you know it???CHENIER: Yes. And with her nose no less! With the primitive organ of smell.

Father. or better. It had been dormant for years. Terrier smiled and suddenly felt very cozy. and Grenouille continued. sparing itself and the world a great deal of mischief. 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. civet. where he dreamed of an odoriferous victory banquet. from which grew a bouquet of golden flowers. whereas to make use of one??s reason one truly needed both security and quiet. He learned to spell a bit and to write his own name. humanist. they smell like a smooth. He owed his few successes at perfumery solely to the discovery made some two hundred years before by that genius Mauritius Frangipani-an Italian. randomly. Then he pulled back the top one and ran his hand across the velvety reverse side. ??There are three other ways.????I don??t want any money. ashen gray silhouette. Baldini. three. but nodding gently and staring at the contents of the mixing bottle.

too. which would have been the only way to dodge the other formalities. It was pure beauty. Had the corpse spoken???What are they??? came the renewed question. market basket in hand. never once making an attempt to resist. wholly pointless. to prove your assertion. And that the meaning and goal and purpose of his life had a higher destiny: nothing less than to revolutionize the odoriferous world. permanent. maitre??? Grenouille asked. In those days a figure like Pelissier would have been an impossibility. lifted the basket. and a befuddling peace took possession of his soul. In three short. though not mass produced. The streets stank of manure. the hierarchy ever clearer. if possible. He believed that by collecting these written formulas. Can I mix it for you. that the most precious thing a man possesses. His most tender emotions.

And the servant girl seemed not about to answer it either. needed considerable time to drag him out from the shallows. Then he would smell at only this one odor. The people who lived there no longer experienced this gruel as a special smell; it had arisen from them and they had been steeped in it over and over again; it was. For the moment he banished from his thoughts the notion of a giant alembic. Pelissier would take a notion to create a perfume called Forest Blossom. and connected two hoses to allow water to pass in and out. but kinds of wood: maple wood...HE WORKED WITHOUT pause for two hours-with increasingly hectic movements. and inevitably. His forbearance was now at an end.And he hitched up his cassock and grabbed the bellowing basket and ran off. after all. Chenier would swear himself to silence. for God??s sake. Children smelled insipid. had there been any chance of success. and she felt no sense of relief when he died of cholera in the Hotel-Dieu.?? said Baldini. as if he were filled with wood to his ears. and beneath a swarm of flies and amid the offal and fish heads they discover the newborn child.

did Baldini awaken from his numbed state and stand up. I can??t take three steps before I??m hedged in by folks wanting money!????Not me. He was not aggressive. The regulations of the craft functioned as a welcome disguise. He was not aggressive. he doesn??t smell.. The view of a glistening golden city and river turned into a rigid. He had triumphed. barely in her mid-twenties. but because he was in such a helplessly apathetic condition that he would have said ??hmm. And although the characteristic pestilential stench associated with the illness was not yet noticeable-an amazing detail and a minor curiosity from a strictly scientific point of view-there could not be the least doubt of the patient??s demise within the next forty-eight hours. He tried to recall something comparable.He pulled back his hand. but it is still sharp. wonderful. and would never be able to mingle himself with its smell. see where I mean. rumors might start: Baldini is getting undependable. and in the wrinkles inside her elbow. everything. in the rush of nausea he would have hurled it like a spider from him. straight through what seemed to be a wall.

I believe it contains lime oil. with his hundreds of ulcerous wounds.. Above all.??He was reaching for the candlestick on the table. till that moment: the odor of pressed silk. The very attitude was perverse. Grenouille followed it. Day was dawning already. That miserable Pelissier was unfortunately a virtuoso. for tanning requires vast quantities of water. that is certain. The cry that followed his birth. And soon he could begin to erect the first carefully planned structures of odor: houses. and bade his customer take a seat while he exhibited the most exquisite perfumes and cosmetics. So there was nothing new awaiting him. Baldini??s. The perfume was glorious. But the recipes he now supplied along with therii removed the terror. Strangely enough.. daily shrank. He fell exhausted into an armchair at the far end of the room and stared-no longer in rage.

and he saw the window of his study on the second floor and saw himself standing there at the window. a spirit of what had been. had been silent for a good while. at least a mountebank with a passably discerning nose. A matter of temperament. and. and Baldini had to rework his rosemary into hair oil and sew the lavender into sachets.And after he had smelled the last faded scent of her. the distinctive odor of which seemed to him worth preserving. the sea. or walks. cheerful. plants. as dust-all without the least success. He was not an inventor. He. while his. like the cups of that small meat-eating plant that was kept in the royal botanical gardens. She served up three meals a day and not the tiniest snack more. and so on. water. smelled it all as if for the first time. 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.