This book contains most of my stories written for children over fifteen years. You will say that this is not enough. In 15 years, if I wrote only one page every day, I could already have about 5,500 pages. This means that I wrote much less than I could. And yet I don’t consider myself a big lazy person!

The fact is that during these years I was still working as a journalist and doing many other things. For example, I wrote articles for newspapers and magazines, dealt with school problems, played with my daughter, listened to music, went for a walk, and thought. And thinking is also a useful thing. Maybe even the most useful of all others. In my opinion, every person should think for half an hour a day. This can be done everywhere - sitting at the table, walking in the forest, alone or in company.

I became a writer almost by accident. I wanted to be a violinist, and I studied the violin for several years. But since 1943 I have not touched it anymore. The violin has been with me ever since. I'm always planning to add strings that are missing, fix a broken neck, buy a new bow to replace the old one, which is completely disheveled, and start the exercises again from the first position. Maybe I'll do it someday, but I don't have time yet. I would also like to be an artist. True, at school I always had bad grades in drawing, and yet I always really loved using a pencil and painting in oils. Unfortunately, at school we were forced to do such tedious things that they could make even a cow lose patience. In a word, like all the guys, I dreamed about a lot, but then I didn’t do much, but did what I least thought about.

However, without even knowing it, I spent a long time preparing for my writing career. For example, I became a school teacher. I don't think I was a very good teacher: I was too young and my thoughts were very far from my school desks. Perhaps I was a cheerful teacher. I told the guys different funny stories- stories without any meaning, and the more absurd they were, the more the children laughed. This already meant something. In the schools I know, I don't think they laugh much. Much that could be learned laughing is learned with tears - bitter and useless.

But let's not get distracted. Anyway, I have to tell you about this book. I hope she will be as happy as a toy. By the way, here is another activity that I would like to devote myself to: making toys. I always wanted toys to be unexpected, with a twist, so that they would suit everyone. Such toys last a long time and never get boring. Not knowing how to work with wood or metal, I tried to make toys from words. Toys, in my opinion, are as important as books: if it weren't, kids wouldn't love them. And since they love them, it means that toys teach them something that cannot be learned otherwise.

I would like the toys to serve both adults and little ones, so that the whole family, the whole class, together with the teacher can play with them. I would like my books to be the same. And this one too. She should help parents get closer to their children so that they can laugh and argue with her. I am pleased when some boy willingly listens to my stories. I rejoice even more when this story makes him want to talk, express his opinion, ask adults questions, demand that they answer.

My book is being published in the Soviet Union. I'm very pleased with this, because Soviet guys are excellent readers. I met many Soviet children in libraries, in schools, in the Palaces of Pioneers, in Houses of Culture - everywhere I visited. And now I’ll tell you where I’ve been: Moscow, Leningrad, Riga, Alma-Ata, Simferopol, Artek, Yalta, Sevastopol, Krasnodar, Nalchik. In Artek I met guys from the Far North and Far East. They were all great book eaters. How great it is to know that a book, no matter how thick or thin it is, is printed not to lie somewhere in the dust on a display case or in a closet, but to be swallowed, eaten with excellent appetite, digested hundreds of thousands of guys.

Therefore, I thank all those who prepared this book, and those who, so to speak, will eat it. I hope you will like it.

Bon appetit!

Gianni Rodari

The fairy was an old lady, very well-bred and noble, almost a baroness.

They call me,” she sometimes muttered to herself, “simply Fairy, and I don’t protest: after all, you need to have condescension towards the ignorant. But I'm almost a baroness; decent people know this.

Yes, Signora Baroness,” the maid agreed.

I'm not a 100% Baroness, but I'm not so far short of her. And the difference is almost invisible. Is not it?

Unnoticed, Signora Baroness. And decent people don’t notice her...

It was just the first morning of the new year. All night long the Fairy and her maid traveled across the rooftops, delivering gifts. Their dresses were covered with snow and icicles.

“Light the stove,” said the Fairy, “you need to dry your clothes.” And put the broom in its place: now for a whole year you don’t have to think about flying from roof to roof, especially with such a north wind.

The maid put the broom back, grumbling:

Nice little thing - flying on a broom! This is in our time when airplanes were invented! I already caught a cold because of this.

“Prepare me a glass of flower infusion,” the Fairy ordered, putting on her glasses and sitting down in the old leather chair that stood in front of the desk.

“Right now, Baroness,” said the maid.

The fairy looked at her approvingly.

“She’s a little lazy,” thought the Fairy, “but she knows the rules of good manners and knows how to behave with the lady of my circle. I will promise her to increase wages. In fact, of course, I won’t give her an increase, and there’s not enough money anyway.”

It must be said that the Fairy, for all her nobility, was rather stingy. Twice a year she promised the old maid an increase in wages, but limited herself to promises alone. The maid had long been tired of listening only to words; she wanted to hear the clink of coins. Once she even had the courage to tell the Baroness about this. But the Fairy was very indignant:

Coins and coins! - she said, sighing, - Ignorant people only think about money. And how bad it is that you not only think, but also talk about it! Apparently, teaching you good manners is like feeding a donkey sugar.

The fairy sighed and buried herself in her books.

So, let's bring the balance. Things are not good this year, there is not enough money. Of course, everyone wants to receive from the Fairy good gifts, and when it comes to paying for them, everyone starts haggling. Everyone tries to borrow money, promising to pay it back later, as if the Fairy were some kind of sausage maker. However, today there is nothing particularly to complain about: all the toys that were in the store have sold out, and now we will need to bring new ones from the warehouse.

She closed the book and began to print out the letters she found in her mailbox.

I knew it! - she spoke. - I risk getting pneumonia delivering my goods, and no gratitude! This one didn't want a wooden saber - give him a pistol! Does he know that the gun costs a thousand lire more? Another, imagine, wanted to get an airplane! His father is the doorman of the courier secretary of a lottery employee, and he only had three hundred lire to buy a gift. What could I give him for such pennies?

Giani Rodari (1920-1980) – Italian children's poet and writer, journalist and storyteller.

Childhood

Gianni was born on October 23, 1920 in the small town of Omegna, located in northern Italy. The present full name writer - Giovanni Francesco Rodari. His dad, Giuseppe Rodari, worked as a baker; he died early when Gianni was only 10 years old. The family was poor, the father’s salary was not enough, and the mother, Maddalena Ariochi, worked as a maid in rich houses.

Two more sons grew up in the family - Mario and Cesare. After the death of their father, the mother and three children returned to their native village of Varesotto, where the boys spent their childhood.

Gianni with early years grew up as a sickly and weakened child. He liked music very much, he even took several violin lessons. But he loved books even more. True, the boy read far from children's literature: the works of Nietzsche and Schopenhauer, the works of Lenin and Trotsky.

Despite poverty, Gianni grew up as a talented and kind boy. He was an incredible dreamer, constantly dreaming and believing in the best. Perhaps this is what made him a writer - the best friend of children all over the world.

Study, work, war

Gianni went to study at a seminary for the poor; in addition to training, they also provided food and clothing. After studying for three years, the young man received a teaching diploma primary school and took up teaching in a local village educational institution. He was only 17 years old at that time. Later he said to himself: “I wasn’t much of a teacher, but the kids didn’t get bored in my lessons.”.

When he was 19 years old, Gianni went to Milan, where he attended lectures Faculty of Philology at the Catalan University. At the same time, he became a member of the fascist youth organization “Italian Lictoral Youth”.

On the second world war the young man was not drafted due to health reasons. From 1941 to 1943 he again worked as a teacher in primary school and was a member of the Fascist Party. But at the end of 1943, after Germany occupied Italy, Cesare's brother ended up in a fascist concentration camp, and his two best friends died at the hands of the Germans, Gianni joined the Resistance Movement, and in 1944 he was accepted into the Italian Communist Party.

Literary and journalistic activities

In 1948, Gianni began working as a journalist at the publishing house of the Italian communists, Unita, at the same time he became interested in writing children's books, which in the future became his main activity.

In 1950, a weekly newspaper was created in Rome. children's magazine, and Gianni was appointed by the party to the position of editor-in-chief. In 1951, his works “The Book of Merry Poems” and “The Adventures of Cipollino” were published there.

His membership in the Communist Party helped popularize Rodari's books in the Soviet Union. In 1953, Soviet children could already read the Russian translation of “The Adventures of Cipollino”, in 1961 a cartoon was made based on the work, and in 1973 the feature fairy tale film “Cipollino” was released, where the author himself, Italian Gianni Rodari, played, he starred in roles of oneself.

In 1952 Gianni visited Soviet Union the first time, then he visited this country several times.

In 1957, Rodari passed the exams and received the title of professional journalist. But he did not stop writing for children; one after another, his collections of poems and stories were published:

• "Train of Poems";
• "Poems in Heaven and on Earth";
• "Tales on the Phone";
• "Cake in the sky"

His works, which have been filmed, are very popular in our country:

• “Gelsomino in the Land of Liars” (film “The Magic Voice of Gelsomino”);
• "The Journey of the Blue Arrow" (the film "Blue Arrow").

And also a poem that every Soviet schoolchild probably knew - “What do crafts smell like?”

In 1970, the writer was awarded the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Prize, thanks to which Gianni Rodari was recognized by the whole world. Upon receiving the award he said: “A fairy tale gives us the key with which we can enter reality in other ways”.

With his fairy tales, Rodari taught children not only to understand the world, but also to transform it: to overcome grief and injustice, in difficult situations to still believe in light and goodness.

Personal life

In 1953, Gianni married Maria Teresa Ferretti. Four years later, the couple had a girl, Paola.

Once on a trip to the USSR, Gianni took his little daughter with him, they walked past the windows of Soviet stores and in one of them they recognized Signor Tomato, Cherry, Cipollino, Prince Lemon. He stopped in front of this toy store, completely happy, because his childhood dream had come true: the heroes of his works became children's friends.

At the end of the 70s, Gianni Rodari became seriously ill and underwent surgery, but it was unsuccessful. The writer died on April 14, 1980 in Rome, he was buried in the Verano cemetery.

Read Rodari's tales

About Gianni Rodari

In 1920, a boy, Gianni, was born into a baker's family in Italy. He was often sick, cried, and was difficult to educate. The kid himself became interested in music and literature, played the violin and read books by Nietzsche and Schopenhauer, unusual for children.

The soul of the family was the father, who knew how to have fun and fill the lives of his wife and three sons with joy. His death was a heavy blow for Gianni, his mother, brothers Mario and Cesare. Mom worked day and night to somehow feed the family.

The boys studied at the theological seminary, because there was no need to pay, and with all their hearts they hated studying, the boring, measured life and the poverty that surrounded them. Gianni spent all his time in the library in order to somehow kill time, and then he developed a taste for it and could no longer tear him away from books.

In 1937, Gianni's torment ended with the end of the seminary. The young man began working as a teacher to earn money and help his mother, while studying at the University of Milan. However, with the outbreak of war, Gianni Rodari’s life changed...

A significant year in his life was 1952 - it was then that the future writer came to the USSR, where over time his fairy tales were loved more than in his homeland. In 1970, Gianni's Andersen Prize brought him long-awaited fame.

About the fairy tales of Gianni Rodari

The tales of Gianni Rodari are fantastic stories in which there is no banality or obsessive morality, everything in them is simple and at the same time filled with magic. Reading Rodari's fairy tales, an adult will more than once be surprised by the author's gift for inventing unusual characters. The child always reads or listens with sparkling eyes about the miracles that happen in fairy tales and empathizes with the heroes.

One way or another, you need to be an extraordinary person and love children very much in order to write such wonderful fairy tales, fill them with joy and fun, and shade them with a little sadness, but only slightly.

Gianni Rodari himself really wanted children to treat his fairy tales like toys, that is, to have fun, come up with their own endings to stories that they would never get tired of. Rodari tried to help parents get closer to their children and was very happy if the book was not only read, but also made the children want to talk, argue, and invent their own stories.

I would like to finish our a short history about the life and work of Gianni Rodari in his own words: “Books are the best toys, and without toys, children simply cannot grow up kind.”

Gianni Rodari

Bon appetit!

This book contains most of my stories written for children over fifteen years. You will say that this is not enough. In 15 years, if I wrote only one page every day, I could already have about 5,500 pages. This means that I wrote much less than I could. And yet I don’t consider myself a big lazy person!

The fact is that during these years I was still working as a journalist and doing many other things. For example, I wrote articles for newspapers and magazines, dealt with school problems, played with my daughter, listened to music, went for a walk, and thought. And thinking is also a useful thing. Maybe even the most useful of all others. In my opinion, every person should think for half an hour a day. This can be done everywhere - sitting at the table, walking in the forest, alone or in company.

I became a writer almost by accident. I wanted to be a violinist, and I studied the violin for several years. But since 1943 I have not touched it anymore. The violin has been with me ever since. I'm always planning to add strings that are missing, fix a broken neck, buy a new bow to replace the old one, which is completely disheveled, and start the exercises again from the first position. Maybe I'll do it someday, but I don't have time yet. I would also like to be an artist. True, at school I always had bad grades in drawing, and yet I always really loved using a pencil and painting in oils. Unfortunately, at school we were forced to do such tedious things that they could make even a cow lose patience. In a word, like all the guys, I dreamed about a lot, but then I didn’t do much, but did what I least thought about.

However, without even knowing it, I spent a long time preparing for my writing career. For example, I became a school teacher. I don't think I was a very good teacher: I was too young and my thoughts were very far from my school desks. Perhaps I was a cheerful teacher. I told the kids various funny stories - stories without any meaning, and the more absurd they were, the more the children laughed. This already meant something. In the schools I know, I don't think they laugh much. Much that could be learned laughing is learned with tears - bitter and useless.

But let's not get distracted. Anyway, I have to tell you about this book. I hope she will be as happy as a toy. By the way, here is another activity that I would like to devote myself to: making toys. I always wanted toys to be unexpected, with a twist, so that they would suit everyone. Such toys last a long time and never get boring. Not knowing how to work with wood or metal, I tried to make toys from words. Toys, in my opinion, are as important as books: if it weren't, kids wouldn't love them. And since they love them, it means that toys teach them something that cannot be learned otherwise.

I would like the toys to serve both adults and little ones, so that the whole family, the whole class, together with the teacher can play with them. I would like my books to be the same. And this one too. She should help parents get closer to their children so that they can laugh and argue with her. I am pleased when some boy willingly listens to my stories. I rejoice even more when this story makes him want to talk, express his opinion, ask adults questions, demand that they answer.

My book is being published in the Soviet Union. I'm very pleased with this, because Soviet guys are excellent readers. I met many Soviet children in libraries, in schools, in the Palaces of Pioneers, in Houses of Culture - everywhere I visited. And now I’ll tell you where I’ve been: Moscow, Leningrad, Riga, Alma-Ata, Simferopol, Artek, Yalta, Sevastopol, Krasnodar, Nalchik. In Artek I met guys from the Far North and Far East. They were all great book eaters. How great it is to know that a book, no matter how thick or thin it is, is printed not to lie somewhere in the dust on a display case or in a closet, but to be swallowed, eaten with excellent appetite, digested hundreds of thousands of guys.

Therefore, I thank all those who prepared this book, and those who, so to speak, will eat it. I hope you will like it.

Bon appetit!

Gianni Rodari

Journey of the Blue Arrow

Chapter I. SIGNORA FIVE MINUTES BARONESS

The fairy was an old lady, very well-bred and noble, almost a baroness.

They call me,” she sometimes muttered to herself, “simply Fairy, and I don’t protest: after all, you need to have condescension towards the ignorant. But I'm almost a baroness; decent people know this.

Yes, Signora Baroness,” the maid agreed.

I'm not a 100% Baroness, but I'm not so far short of her. And the difference is almost invisible. Is not it?

Unnoticed, Signora Baroness. And decent people don’t notice her...

It was just the first morning of the new year. All night long the Fairy and her maid traveled across the rooftops, delivering gifts. Their dresses were covered with snow and icicles.

“Light the stove,” said the Fairy, “you need to dry your clothes.” And put the broom in its place: now for a whole year you don’t have to think about flying from roof to roof, especially with such a north wind.

The maid put the broom back, grumbling:

Nice little thing - flying on a broom! This is in our time when airplanes were invented! I already caught a cold because of this.

“Prepare me a glass of flower infusion,” the Fairy ordered, putting on her glasses and sitting down in the old leather chair that stood in front of the desk.

“Right now, Baroness,” said the maid.

The fairy looked at her approvingly.

“She’s a little lazy,” thought the Fairy, “but she knows the rules of good manners and knows how to behave with the lady of my circle. I will promise her to increase her salary. In fact, of course, I won’t give her an increase, and there’s not enough money anyway.”

It must be said that the Fairy, for all her nobility, was rather stingy. Twice a year she promised the old maid an increase in wages, but limited herself to promises alone. The maid had long been tired of listening only to words; she wanted to hear the clink of coins. Once she even had the courage to tell the Baroness about this. But the Fairy was very indignant:

Coins and coins! - she said, sighing, - Ignorant people only think about money. And how bad it is that you not only think, but also talk about it! Apparently, teaching you good manners is like feeding a donkey sugar.

The fairy sighed and buried herself in her books.

So, let's bring the balance. Things are not good this year, there is not enough money. Of course, everyone wants to receive good gifts from the Fairy, and when it comes to paying for them, everyone starts bargaining. Everyone tries to borrow money, promising to pay it back later, as if the Fairy were some kind of sausage maker. However, today there is nothing particularly to complain about: all the toys that were in the store have sold out, and now we will need to bring new ones from the warehouse.

She closed the book and began to print out the letters she found in her mailbox.

I knew it! - she spoke. - I risk getting pneumonia delivering my goods, and no gratitude! This one didn't want a wooden saber - give him a pistol! Does he know that the gun costs a thousand lire more? Another, imagine, wanted to get an airplane! His father is the doorman of the courier secretary of a lottery employee, and he only had three hundred lire to buy a gift. What could I give him for such pennies?

The fairy threw the letters back into the box, took off her glasses and called:

Teresa, is the broth ready?

Ready, ready, Signora Baroness.

And the old maid handed the baroness a steaming glass.

Did you put a drop of rum in there?

Two whole spoons!

One would be enough for me... Now I understand why the bottle is almost empty. Just think, we bought it only four years ago!

Sipping the boiling drink in small sips and managing not to get burned, as only old gentlemen can do.

The fairy wandered around her little kingdom, carefully checking every corner of the kitchen, the store and the small wooden staircase that led to the second floor, where there was a bedroom.

How sad the store looked with drawn curtains, empty display cases and cabinets, littered with boxes without toys and piles of wrapping paper!

Prepare the keys to the warehouse and a candle, - said the fairy, - you need to bring new toys.

But, Madam Baroness, do you want to work even today, on the day of your holiday? Do you really think that anyone will come shopping today? After all New year's night, Fairy night, has already passed...

Imagine: one day, on the main square of the city, suddenly... an ice cream palace appeared! A real palace, with a roof made of whipped cream and chimneys made of candied fruits. Mmmm... how yummy! All the townspeople are children and even old women! - we spent the whole day devouring a delicious palace on both cheeks, and at the same time no one’s tummies hurt! This wonderful ice cream palace was “built” in one of his fairy tales by an Italian writer named Gianni Rodari.
...The parents of the most famous storyteller in the world - Hans Christian Andersen - were a shoemaker and a washerwoman. And Gianni Rodari grew up in a family of a baker and servants. Both storytellers were not spoiled in childhood by either luxury or satiety. However, it was next to them that she settled with youth a wonderful sorceress and fairy who chooses very few - Fantasia. More precisely, in childhood she comes to everyone, and then remains only with her most beloved ones. She leaves the evil, cruel, greedy and unjust, but comes to where kindness and pity live. Little Gianni wrote poetry, learned to play the violin and enjoyed drawing, dreaming of becoming a famous artist.
When the boy Gianni was only nine years old, his beloved father, who always felt sorry for stray cats, dogs and generally every living creature, saved a small kitten during the pouring rain, which almost drowned in a huge puddle. The kitten was saved, but the kind baker caught a cold in the cold rain, contracted pneumonia and died. Of course, this one noble man I just couldn't grow up to be a bad son!
Gianni Rodari always remembered his father and adopted from him the desire for justice, hard work and a kind, bright soul.
At seventeen Gianni became a teacher primary classes. His pupils built houses from letters, composed fairy tales together with the teacher and felt completely happy: such activities brought a lot of joy.
Well, how could fairy Fantasia leave such a wonderful person? She watched with admiration the unusual adult who had not forgotten about the world of childhood, and sometimes even helped him write books.
But he also fell in love with her. And he even wrote in honor of his fairy one of the most amazing books for children and adults called “The Grammar of Fantasy” - about how to teach children to compose. Not at all so that they all become writers and poets, but so that “no one is a slave.” Because fantasy not only develops the mind. The main thing is that it makes a person kinder, stronger and freer.
Gianni Rodari hated oppression and always fought for justice - both when he fought the fascists with weapons in his hands, and when he worked as a correspondent for the newspaper Unity (his sharp pen was a weapon no less powerful than a rifle).
His heroes also fought against evil: the clever Cipollino, the honest master Vinogradinka, the gentle professor Grusha and many others, thanks to whom the fairy-tale land of vegetables became free, and the children in it were able to study and play wherever they wanted.
Gianni Rodari, a cheerful, cheerful, inexhaustible and very kind storyteller, gave children many extraordinary stories with which they can play, like with colorful balls. “The Adventures of Cipollino”, “The Journey of the Blue Arrow”, “Gelsomino in the Land of Liars”, “The Grammar of Fantasy” - these books were loved by children all over the world.
It was he, Gianni Rodari, who brought the brave and kind Cipollino into our homes, he gave us the opportunity to hear the wonderful voice of Gelsomino, destroying the walls of prisons, in his fairy tale the devoted toy puppy Button turns into a living dog, and in another fairy tale the boy Marco, traveling in space on a wooden horse, got to the planet Christmas trees, where there is no fear or resentment. However, if we talk about all the heroes of the books of the Italian storyteller, then not a single page in the magazine will be enough. So it’s better to read Rodari’s books, and their heroes will become your true friends for life!