"Yuri Olesha. The three fat men (англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автора

looked about and listened as he drove on.
From the streets, from the houses, from the open tavern windows and
from behind the park fences he could hear snatches of a song:

They've caught the horrid Prospero
And caged him like an ape,
With an iron collar round his neck-
To see he won't escape!

A drunken fop was singing it, too. The fop's aunt had just died. She
had a lot of money, still more ugly freckles and not a single other
relative. The fop had just inherited all his aunt's money. That is why he
was angry at the people for rising up against the rule of the rich.
There was a big act on at the animal show. Three fat and hairy monkeys
on a wooden stage were supposed to be the Three Fat Men. A terrier was
playing the mandolin. A clown dressed in a bright red suit with a golden sun
on his back and a golden star on his stomach was reciting a poem to the
music:

These Three Fat Men-
so fat are they,
They drink and gobble
night and day.
The only pastime that
they know
Is to watch their bellies
grow.
Beware, fat pigs, the time
will come
When you will pay for
what you've done.

"The time will come!" bearded parrots screeched from all sides.
There was a terrible din. The animals in the cages began to bark,
growl, chatter and whistle.
The monkeys dashed to and fro on the stage. It was hard to tell their
arms from their legs. Finally, they jumped down, scrambling over the heads
and shoulders of the screeching audience. The fattest men there were making
the most noise. Their faces red with anger, they threw their hats and canes
at the clown. A fat lady shook her umbrella at him and caught another fat
lady's hat instead.
"Oh! Ah!" the other fat lady screamed and waved her arms, because her
wig had come off together with her hat.
One of the monkeys clapped its hand on the lady's bald head as it
rushed by. She fainted straight away.
"Ha-ha-ha!"
"Ha-ha-ha!" the rest of the crowd laughed. These people were much
thinner and were more shabbily dressed.
"Bravo! Bravo!"
"Get'em!"