Other characters
- Cipollone is Cipollino's father.
- Prince Lemon is the cowardly ruler of the country.
- Signor Tomato is the manager of the Countesses of Cherries. Cruel and evil.
- Countesses Cherries - the Elder and the Younger - landowners. They treat their nephew poorly.
- Strawberry is the maid of Countess Cherry, a kind girl.
- Radish is Cipollino’s perky girlfriend.
- Lawyer Goroshek is prone to betrayal.
- Signor Petrushka is Cherry's strict teacher.
- Mr. Carrot is a detective, stupid and unlucky.
- Kum Blueberry - lives in the forest.
Relatives of Countesses Vishen:
- Cherry is the nephew of Countess Cherry. Cheerful and kind boy;
- Baron Orange is a big glutton;
- Duke Mandarin is capricious and greedy.
Village residents, friends of Cipollino:
- Kum Pumpkin is a humble poor man;
- Shoemaker Grape;
- Professor Grusha;
- Kuma Pumpkin;
- Leek.
Chapter-by-chapter summary (more detailed than summary)
Chapter 1
One day, the ruler of the country, Prince Lemon, visited a poor outskirts where a large, poor onion family lived. The ruler and his retinue had bells on their hats. They rang, and people came running, thinking it was a traveling orchestra.
Cipollone and his eldest son Cipollino were in the front row. Unable to withstand the pressure of the crowd, old Cipollone stepped on Prince Lemon's foot. For this, the soldiers arrested Cipollone as a dangerous rebel.
Cipollino obtained a meeting with his father, who was sent to prison. Cipollone told his son that he had already grown up and could go on a journey, study wisely, and his uncle would take care of his mother and brothers.
That's what Cipollino did. The road led him to a village, the last house of which looked like a dog kennel.
Chapters 2–3
This was Pumpkin's godfather's house. He earned money for building bricks all his life, but was only able to buy 118 bricks , so the house turned out to be tiny.
As soon as godfather Pumpkin finished telling Cipollino about this, Signor Tomato, the steward of the Countesses Cherry, rushed in on four cucumber horses.
He wanted to kick godfather Pumpkin out of the house. He said that he had permission to build a house from Count Vishny. But Signor Tomato said that Count Cherry died long ago, and the land now belongs to the countesses.
Seeing Cipollino, Signor Tomato asked why he was not at work. The boy replied that he was still learning - he was studying scammers.
The manager said that everyone here is a scammer, and if he found a new one, let him show him. The boy brought a mirror to Tomato’s face. He realized that Cipollino was mocking him and grabbed his hair. But from the onion smell he began to sneeze, and tears flowed from his eyes from the acrid bitterness. Tomato jumped into the carriage and sped away, threatening Cipollino with violence.
From that day on, Cipollino began working for the shoemaker Vinogradinka, who liked the brave boy who made Tomato cry.
Chapter 4
Signor Tomato and Lemonchiki kicked godfather Pumpkin out of the house and settled the dog Mastino there.
It was a hot day, and the dog was very thirsty. Cipollino saw that the dog was suffering from terrible thirst. The boy poured sleeping pills into a bottle of water and pretended to drink from it. The dog asked to take a sip. Cipollino told him to drink as much as he wanted. Mastino drank the water and immediately fell asleep.
Cipollino took the chain off the dog and took it to Countess Vishen’s castle. And the happy godfather Pumpkin climbed into his house.
Chapter 5
The villagers decided that Tomato would take revenge for having been made a fool twice already.
Chipolino offered to take the house away and hide it. Professor Grusha said that godfather Blueberry lives in the forest and will look after the house.
Godfather Blueberry agreed to help godfather Pumpkin and moved into his house from his home - a chestnut shell.
Chapter 6
At this time, relatives came to the countesses: Baron Orange and Duke Mandarin. The greed of the relatives upset the countesses and they took their frustration out on their nephew, the orphan Cherry.
Signor Tomato, having learned about the disappearance of the house, asked Prince Lemon to send Lemon policemen to the village. The police arrested everyone who came to their attention: Mother Vinogradinka, Professor Grusha, godfather Pumpkin.
Chapters 7–8
Cherry was walking in the garden, where his teacher, Signor Parsley, had posted notices that it was forbidden to touch the flowers or crush the grass.
Suddenly Cherry saw a boy and a girl behind the fence. They said their names were Cipollino and Radish. The children began to talk and laugh. Signor Tomato, hearing laughter, went to the park, saw Cipollino and became furious.
Cipollino and Radish ran away, and Cherry cried the whole evening. For the first time in his life, he made friends with the guys and was left alone again.
Chapter 9–10
At night, Cipollino and Radish met the maid Zemlyanichka in the garden and began to discuss how to rescue the villagers who had been imprisoned in the castle’s dungeon.
Mastino the dog noticed them. He knocked Cipollino down and, holding him, began to bark. Signor Tomato appeared and put the boy in the dungeon.
The Mole, who was digging a gallery for himself, mistakenly climbed into Cipollino’s cell. He dug another passage to the dungeon where the villagers were languishing. Cipollino, who followed Mole, found himself in their cell.
Chapter 11
Cherry, having learned that Cipollino had escaped from prison, decided to release the rest of the prisoners. The boy found out from the jailer that Tomato carries the keys to the dungeon in his stocking. Then he asked Strawberry to add sleeping pills to the cake for Tomato.
When the signor fell asleep, Cherry pulled the keys out of his stocking. To remove the guards guarding the prison, Zemlyanichka hid and shouted “guard” so loudly that the guards ran to save her. And Cherry released the prisoners and was surprised to see Cipollino among them.
Having learned that the prisoners had escaped, Tomato sent Prince Lemon a telegram in which he asked to send a battalion of Limonchiks
Chapter 12–15
Prince Lemon arrived in the village at the head of a battalion of Limonchiks. They arrested Luke Leek and lawyer Goroshka. The lawyer's owner, Tomato, did not want to help him out.
Prince Lemon was angry that the escaped prisoners could not be found. Then he accused Signor Tomato of being the instigator of the conspiracy and sentenced him to hang. Tomato told all this to Pea in his prison cell.
Pea told Signor Tomato where Pumpkin's godfather's house was hidden. Tomato began knocking on the door and told the guards to take him to Prince Lemon, as he had to report important information.
When Cipollino learned that they wanted to hang Signora Goroshka, he persuaded Mole to dig a passage under the scaffold. The executioner threw a noose around Pea's neck, the hatch opened, and Pea flew in. He fell into the hole that the Mole had dug. Cipollino cut the rope around Goroshka's neck. The rescued lawyer said that he told Tomato about Pumpkin's house. Cipollino rushed into the forest, but the house disappeared. Godfather Blueberry said that he was carried away by Lemonchiki.
Chapter 16
In order to catch the fugitives, Prince Lemon ordered a detective to be sent. But detective Mr. Carrot and the sniffer dog Hold-Grab couldn’t find them either.
Chapters 17–18
The Bear came to the cave where the fugitives were hiding. Cipollino became friends with him. Having learned that his parents were languishing in the menagerie, the boy invited the Bear to visit them. He sat on the Bear's back, and he rushed into the city.
But they were unable to free the bears from captivity. Cipollino and Bear were caught and kept in cages.
Cipollino managed to send a note to Cherry. He arrived and freed his friend, paying a fine for swimming in the pond (where Cipollino and the bears hid when they were caught).
Chapters 19–20
Cherry and Cipollino began to look for friends who had disappeared from the cave. And at this time, in the absence of the owners of the castle, Baron Orange and Duke Mandarin entered the cellar in the hope of profiting from something. Suddenly, Vishenka and Cipollino with friends whom they managed to find came out of a secret underground passage and captured the castle.
Chapters 21–22
The friends gathered to demand freedom from their enemies and then leave the castle.
Prince Lemon decided to attack the castle, but Cipollino began to pour wine from the cellar on the attackers. The lemons got drunk and fell asleep.
Chapter 23
A whole division of Limonchiks arrived at the castle. The friends wanted to escape through an underground passage, but they were betrayed by Pea, telling his enemies about this passage.
Tomato was so glad that he captured Cipollino that he sent the other prisoners home, and put the boy in an underground prison cell.
When the prisoners were walking in the yard, Cipollino met his father there. Cipollone whispered to his son that he would soon send him news. The next day, the Lame Legs spider brought a letter from him. In the letter, the father supported his son and advised him not to lose heart.
Chapters 24–25
Cipollino wrote letters to his father, Mole and Cherry on scraps of his shirt. The boy asked Cherry to give Mole a letter (in it he called Mole to his cell to discuss an escape plan).
Cipollino, with the help of the Lamefoot spider, drew a plan of a prison for Mole on a piece of shirt. The boy asked the spider to take a letter to his father and two letters to the castle of Count Cherry. Lamefoot agreed and went on the road.
Three days passed and the spider did not return. It turned out that he was pecked by a chicken, but another spider, his acquaintance, gave the letters to Cherry.
Chapter 26
Cipollino learned from one jailer that his father was very sick.
While walking, the boy heard the Mole's voice from underground. He reported that the underground passage was ready. You need to jump to the left one step, and the ground will fall under your feet.
Cipollino reported this to the prisoner walking ahead of him. One to the other. While someone was distracting the overseer, some prisoner would fall into an underground passage.
When the overseer realized that there were fewer prisoners and ordered them to stop, the remaining prisoners jumped into the underground passage. They also dragged Cipollino there, who wanted to stay in prison with his father.
The mole and other moles dug another passage into Cipollone's cell, and Cipollino and his friends carried him away through this underground passage.
Chapter 27
Prince Lemon organized an equestrian competition. Suddenly the ruler saw that Cipollino had crawled out of the ground at his feet (he and Mole had taken the wrong road).
Seeing his enemy, the boy snatched the whip from him and hit him on the back. The ruler ran away.
All the prisoners who escaped from prison came out of the underground passage and the people joyfully greeted them. And the prince jumped into the carriage and sped off. The carriage overturned, and the ruler flew into a pile of manure.
Chapter 28
At this time, in the castle, Signor Tomato announced to the villagers that, in addition to the already established air tax in favor of the countesses of Cherries, they must pay a tax on all precipitation, fog, frost and dew.
On the way home, the peasants saw that three bears and Cipollino had arrived on the train, who freed them from the zoo.
Chapter 29
Prince Lemon sat in a dung heap for a long time. When it started to rain, he came to the castle of Countess Cherry. To justify his dirty clothes, he said that he purposely changed his clothes in order to get to know his people better.
Signor Tomato saw that the prince was alarmed about something and... when he fell asleep, he wanted to go to the village. But he heard that someone was sneaking behind him. It was lawyer Goroshek. Behind him crept Signor Parsley, behind whom crept the Duke Mandarin, and after him Baron Orange.
Tomato decided to find out where they were going. So they spied on each other all night, and in the morning Tomato saw the banner of Freedom above the castle. It was hung out at night by Cipollino and Cherry.
Epilogue
Signor Tomato thought that this was Cherry's new trick, and ran upstairs to tear down the banner. Seeing Cipollino next to Cherry, Tomato pulled his cowlick. And then tears flowed from his eyes. He ran to his room and cried not only from the smell of onions, but also from the fact that he realized his powerlessness before the rebels.
After the rebellion, Prince Lemon and the Countess Cherries left their domains.
Baron Orange began working as a porter at the station, and Duke Mandarin lived at his expense.
Godfather Pumpkin became a gardener, Tomato became his assistant, Parsley became a watchman.
And the castle turned into a Children's Palace. There is a puppet theater, ping-pong, many other games and a school where Cipollino and Cherry began to study.
Performance in Moscow Cipollino
One of our favorite puppet theaters. The elder calls it “a theater with a beautiful red staircase.” The theater has a varied repertoire: classics and modern experiments. My kids and I have never been disappointed! Be sure to arrive to the theater early. First, have fun with Wardrobe Swaps. These are joker dolls in the wardrobe that are fun to chat with. Children love them! Secondly, there is a Theater Puppet House and many display cases with dolls - you can calmly walk around and look at all the dolls. Great aesthetic pleasure! ⠀ This time I took a risk and took my youngest (2.7) with me, I was so confident in the performance! With great pleasure we watched “Cipollino” - the famous story about the onion boy based on the fairy tale by Gianni Rodari. The performance is wonderful! The aftertaste after it is straight “strawberry” - bright and light. When you go out with your children after a good performance and they are satisfied, happy, cheerful, and it makes the birds sing with joy inside you! We had exactly these emotions from “Cipollino”. ⠀ The plot was clear. The elder did not have any difficulties in perception. The younger one (so it turns out) listens to all the works that I read to the older one. Therefore, he knew many heroes. All the hero dolls are great. I want to look at them and study the details. The puppeteers control the puppets dressed completely in black. You don't notice them at all against a black background. We have already watched a performance using this technique, and we really like it. The dolls seem to come to life on their own. The characters' personalities are perfectly conveyed. Cipollino is a mischievous boy; his friends - Carrot and Radish - kind and brave guys; Signor Tomato is an important and greedy gentleman, etc. There are few decorations, they appear like colorful spots from the depths of the dark stage - a dungeon, trees, houses. Here is Signor Tomato in his car or Prince Lemon in his carriage. The stage is not overloaded, everything is laconic. And there is even a wonderful solution with the Postman Spider, when he swoops over the children off stage. ⠀ In my opinion, the performance can be watched by children 3-4 years old and older. The plot is adapted, the characters are easy to read, the dolls are average and bright. The performance has an intermission - you can relax with your child during the break. The second act is fun and dynamic, everything happens very quickly here. The child will not have time to get tired. Recommended age from the theater 5+⠀ Of course, I recommend watching this play - it's fun adventures, light and mischievous. Lots of songs and even rap. There are familiar favorite characters, an instructive story about justice and friendship, and dynamics. Some advantages. Tested by two preschool children.
