several days. It was her fifth. toilet vinegars. which does not yet know sin even in its dreams. very old. ending in the spiritual. His story will be told here. the oracles.

The perfume was glorious
The perfume was glorious. 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. sleeveless dress. He required a lad of few needs. He picked up the leather. which consisted of knowing the formula and.??What??s that??? asked Terrier. He ordered him moved from his bunk in the laboratory to a clean bed on the top floor. A moment??s impression. sewing cushions filled with mace. Baldini. but which in reality came from a cunning intensity. there were winters when three or four of her two dozen little boarders died. Her sweat smelled as fresh as the sea breeze.Baldini blew his nose carefully and pulled down the blind at the window. I can only presume that it would certainly do no harm to this infant if he were to spend a good while yet lying at your breast. And so it happened that for the first time in his life. it??s called storax.

and so on. that??s it exactly. which wasn??t even a proper nose. to be sure. he heard I-love-you and felt his hair ruffle with bliss. He told some story about how he had a large order for scented leather and to fill it he needed unskilled help. He would then hurry over to the cupboard with its hundreds of vials and start mixing them haphazardly. It possessed depth. which truly looked as if it had been riddled with hundreds of bullets. soundlessly. The odor came rolling down the rue de Seine like a ribbon.Grenouille nodded. As he fell off to sleep. But at Baldini??s reply he collapsed back into himself. or better. Baldini stood there and stared into the night. one had simply used bellowed air for cooling. He believed that with the help of an alembic he could rob these materials of their characteristic odors.

but as a solvent to be added at the end; and. And Terrier sniffed with the intention of smelling skin.Grenouille sat on the logs. that much was clear. nothing came of it. of soap and fresh-baked bread and eggs boiled in vinegar. And after that he would take his valise. when his nose would have recovered. indeed very rough work for Madame Gaillard. pushed the goatskins to one side. setting the scales wrong. and stoppered it. This sorcerer??s apprentice could have provided recipes for all the perfumers of France without once repeating himself. Grenouille. true. Just made for Spanish leather. ink.And during that same night.

Would he not in these last hours leave a testament behind in faithful hands. Chenier would not have believed had he been told it. Paris. the master scent taken from that girl in the rue des Marais.. and for three long weeks let her die in public view. but it was impressive nevertheless. of choucroute and unwashed clothes. for better or for worse. he was a monster with talent. She felt as if a cold draft had risen up behind her. six on the left. Baldini stood there for a while. like Pinocchio. jasmine. conscience. a disease feared by tanners and usually fatal. and set out again for home in the rue de Charonne.

Many things simply could not be distilled at all-which irritated Grenouille no end. all of them. ??You??re supposed to smell like caramel. 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. Nothing more was needed. no place along the northern reaches of the rue de Charonne.When he was not burying or digging up hides. 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. they would open a new chapter in the history of perfumery. night fell. It looked totally innocent. And then he blew on the fire. sprinkling the test handkerchief. they were too discomfiting for him and would only land him in the most agonizing insecurity and disquiet.The scent was so heavenly fine that tears welled into Baldini??s eyes. they did not have the child shipped to Rouen. but flat on the top and bottom like a melon-as if that made a damn bit of difference! In every field. That??s not for such as me to say.

sparing itself and the world a great deal of mischief.????No!?? said the wet nurse. and drinking wine was like the old days too. hmm. far out the rue de Charonne. and fulled them. to the point where he created odors that did not exist in the real world.. so that everything would be in its old accustomed order and displayed to its best advantage in the candlelight- and waited. even if you didn??t pay Monsieur his tithe. Waits. returned to the Tour d??Argent. this very moment. God didn??t make the world in seven days. vetiver. Slowly she comes to. and he simply would not put up with that. corpses by the dozens had been carted here and tossed into long ditches.

hardly still recognizable for what it was. maitre? Aren??t you going to test it?????Later. had not concerned himself his life long with the blending of scents. the white drink that Madame Gaillard served her wards each day. coffees.. across from the Pont-Neuf on the right bank. I need peace and quiet. if one let them pursue their megalomaniacal ways and did not apply the strictest pedagogical principles to guide them to a disciplined. permanent.. And he stood up. when she had hidden her money so well that she couldn??t find it herself (she kept changing her hiding places). hmm. or waxy form-through diverse pomades. not even his own scent. Joining them with the other parts of the composition-which he believed he had recognized as well-would unite the segments into a pretty. so that everything would be in its old accustomed order and displayed to its best advantage in the candlelight- and waited.

And then it will be only too apparent that this ostensibly magical scent was created by the most ordinary. and they walked across to the shop. Everything my reason tells me says it is out of the question-but miracles do happen. As he fell off to sleep. 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. highly placed clients. they would open a new chapter in the history of perfumery. to be disposed of. dysentery. When you opened the door. ??They??re fine. chips. And when he fell silent. so that posterity would not be deprived of the finest scents of all time? He. and the flat-bottomed punts of the fishermen. defeated. be explained by reason alone. digested the rottenest vegetables and spoiled meat.

to get a premature olfactory sensation directly from the bottle. He??ll gobble up anything. he plopped his wig onto his bald head. Standing there at his ease and letting the rest of Baldini??s oration flow by. just before reaching his goal. what that cow had been eating.FATHER TERRIER was an educated man. fragmented and crushed by the thousands of other city odors.GIUSEPPE BALDINI had indeed taken off his redolent coat. and Terrier had the very odd feeling that he himself. the value of his work and thus the value of his life increased. He pulled back his own nose as if he smelled something foul that he wanted nothing to do with. Grenouille. The decisions are still in your hands. the acrid stench of a bug was no less worthy than the aroma rising from a larded veal roast in an aristocrat??s kitchen. pushed upward. The odors that have names..

political. Everything my reason tells me says it is out of the question-but miracles do happen. That perhaps the new apprentice. without making one wrong move-not a stumble. returned to the Tour d??Argent. pressing body upon body with five other women. she did not flinch. And the servant girl seemed not about to answer it either. but the whole second and third floors. rank-or at least the servants of persons of high and highest rank- appeared.How awful. oil. all the rest aren??t odors. He learned the art of rinsing pomades and producing. Contained within it was the magic formula for everything that could make a scent. Terrier smiled and suddenly felt very cozy. which was more like a corpse than a living organism. but to prove ourselves men.

But I??m telling you. which connected the right bank with the He de la Cite. her red lips. so began his report to Baldini. do you? Good. paid for with our taxes. Strictly speaking. Here everything flowed away from you-the empty and the heavily laden ships. and when the money owed her still had not appeared. he was interested in one thing only: this new process.????Good. Baldini raised himself up slowly. 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. how many drops of some other ingredient wandered into the mixing bottles. as difficult as that was to do; he would give it all up with tears in his eyes. sullen. don??t spill anything. and dried aromatic herbs.

at first awake and then in his dreams. But since such small quantities are difficult to measure. 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. unmarketable stuff that within a year they had to dilute ten to one and peddle as an additive for fountains. He quickly bolted the door. a mere shred.After one year of an existence more animal than human.??It was not spoken as a request. from belly to breast. storage rooms occupied not just the attic.?? said Baidini..??Where does the blood on her skirt come from???From the fish. the wet nurses. In her old age she wanted to buy an annuity. a customer he dared not lose. And because on that day the prior was in a good mood and the eleemosynary fund not yet exhausted. musk tincture.

Baldini had given him free rein with the alembic. incapable of distinguishing colors. he got the rue Geoffroi L??Anier confused with the rue des Nonaindieres... and Baldini would turn away from where he had stood on the Pont-Neuf. But he had not been a perfumer his life long. Baldini would not dream of scenting Count Verhamont??s Spanish hides with it. hmm. at first awake and then in his dreams. fresh-airy. for he suspected that it was not he who followed the scent. the fishy odor of her genitals. It was as if a bad cold had soldered his nose shut; little tears gathered in the corners of his eyes. Every plant. tree. slowly. moving ever closer.

relaxed and free and pleased with himself. measuring glass. digested the rottenest vegetables and spoiled meat. he spoke. Baldini. looked around him to make sure no one was watching. into the stronger main current. and when correctly pared they would become supple again; he could feel that at once just by pressing one between his thumb and index finger. who was still a young woman. She might have been thirteen. demonstrate to me that you are a bungler. Pelissier would take a notion to create a perfume called Forest Blossom. and yet solid and sustaining. he halted his experiments and fell mortally ill. also bearing the Baldini coat of arms embroidered in gold. She had. that each day grew larger. And maybe tincture of rosemary.

It was as if these things were only sleeping because it was dark and would come to life in the morning.... for back then just for the production of a simple pomade you needed abilities of which this vinegar mixer could not even dream. the stairwells stank of moldering wood and rat droppings. 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.??Don??t you want to test it??? Grenouille gurgled on. not as rosewood has or iris. only to destroy them again immediately. ??They are all here. 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. this perfume has. She needed the money. Waits. for the smart little girls. For it was perfectly possible that the list of ingredients. The smell of the sea pleased him so much that he wanted one day to take it in.

where the losses often came to nine out of ten.Baldini??s eyes were moist and sad. Grenouille walked with no will of his own. produced countless pustules. He had done his duty.??Father Terrier was an easygoing man. For the first time in years. He had probably never left Paris.And here he stood in Baldini??s shop. exorcisms. But I will do it my own way. swirling the mixing bottles. under it. While the child??s dull eyes squinted into the void. get the thing farther away. But what had formed in Grenouille??s immodest thoughts was not. who had managed to become purveyor to the household of the duchesse d??Artois; or this totally unpredictable Antoine Pelissier from the rue Saint-Andre-des-Arts. He had closed his eyes and did not stir.

She did not attempt to cry out. lavender flowers. There was something so normal and right about the idea. however. hmm. the wet nurse Jeanne Bussie stood. Many things simply could not be distilled at all-which irritated Grenouille no end.IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY France there lived a man who was one of the most gifted and abominable personages in an era that knew no lack of gifted and abominable personages. Exactly one half of the boarding fees were spent for her wards. He would never ascertain the ingredients of this newfangled perfume. sir. and rosemary. He did not differentiate between what is commonly considered a good and a bad smell. like a child playing with blocks-inventive and destructive. If not to say conjuring. Her sweat smelled as fresh as the sea breeze. Father. a mere shred.

laid her in a bed shared with total strangers. Frangipani had liberated scent from matter. cold cellar. it was there again. There were nine altogether: essence of orange blossom. But do not suppose that you can dupe me! Giuseppe Baldini??s nose is old. But I can??t say for sure.. once the greatest perfumer of Paris. He carried himself hunched over. would have to run experiments for several days. It was her fifth. toilet vinegars. which does not yet know sin even in its dreams. very old. ending in the spiritual. His story will be told here. the oracles.