A summary of Georgy Polonsky’s "Cinderella’s Honeymoon"

This book is an ironic philosophical tale, written in 1995. It recounts the events following a lavish royal wedding. The author mercilessly shatters the illusion of cloudless palace happiness. The reader sees the underbelly of royal life, where sincere feelings clash with cold calculation, and state interests easily overwhelm simple human love.

Return to Pukhoperonia

The Fairy and her young apprentice, Jean-Paul, are in the capital of Mukhlandia. The boy is deeply concerned about Cinderella’s fate in Pooh-Peronia. He believes that life in the palace will be a severe trial for her. The girl and the Prince are completely unfamiliar with each other. The Fairy treats the situation with mild ridicule. She believes in the healing power of Lariel’s love. However, the page’s anxiety compels her to act. The Lady instructs the boy to return to the palace on his own for their honeymoon. He will have to test whether the newlyweds are truly happy.

Meanwhile, in the palace, young Princess Anna-Veronica wakes up completely alone. This beautiful name was given to Cinderella by her late mother. The girl wanders through the vast, empty halls. She is timid before the stern portrait of the late queen. The habit of hard work takes its toll, and the princess begins wiping away centuries-old dust. In this working garb, she is found by the cheerful servant Lucy-I-Will-Not-Give-In. The girls chat peacefully on the stairs. Soon Prince Lariel appears. The ruler demands that they immediately stop doing menial labor. He asks them to forget the old, humiliating nickname forever.

Lariel tells of the bitter envy of nineteen thousand girls in the kingdom. The famous slipper didn’t fit them. The monstrous financial poverty of Poohperonia is revealed. The state treasury is completely empty. The ailing Alcides II the Yielding, Lariel’s father, brings a strange, beautiful box. It’s a parcel from Baltasar, the ruler of neighboring Farmazonia. The king has sent a plaster cast of his daughter Juliana’s foot. The wealthy neighbor brazenly hopes to marry her off to Poohperonia’s heir. After this unpleasant conversation, Alcides II falls awkwardly down a tall staircase. The unfortunate monarch breaks his leg.

Diplomatic crisis

Downy Featheronia is on the brink of ruin. The country’s main wealth is fat geese. The Crown Council is in a complete panic. Farmazonia refuses to supply fresh cottage cheese and sour milk. This is a harsh economic blockade for an old debt on the lease of the Fermented Islands. The only bloodless way to save the country is a political marriage between Lariel and Juliana. The prince is attempting to lead the Crown Council on his own. The young man wants to abolish the brutal death penalty. He extols the purity of his young wife’s soul.

The ministers, led by the dwarf Baron Prognussi, exert brutal pressure on the inexperienced ruler. The Baron assumes the post of chief of the secret police. The Minister of News, Boom-Boumajo, reads a blackmailing letter. An unknown townswoman allegedly drank prussic acid because of the Prince’s marriage to a local commoner. The stepsisters Colette and Agnes appear in the hall with their insolent stepmother. They rejoice at their suddenly acquired title of count. An enraged Lariel dismisses the hypocritical relatives. At the end of the meeting, old General Grobani brings bad news: Freemason troops have fired on the Puhoperonian kitchens with automatic weapons. A full-scale war is brewing.

The crippled Alcides II sits in a wheelchair. Cinderella tenderly cares for her ailing father-in-law, feeding him sweet prunes and telling him fascinating tales. The monarch is incessantly capricious, demanding to be completely shielded from any bad news. Prince Lariel gallops frantically on his beloved horse, Carma. The young man physically prepares for possible military action. Aunt Hortense appears. The Duchess harshly reprimands the weak-willed ruler. She demands that Lariel be forced to part with Anna-Veronica. This will save the country from imminent famine. Alcides II weeps bitterly. The monarch complains that he is made of forty thousand tiny pieces. The old man has no opinion of his own.

Palace coup and escape

At night, Lariel locks himself in his cold study. He is torn between passionate love and the stern demands of state duty. Baron Prognussi brings a vile list of Cinderella’s trivial misdeeds. The girl nibbled pumpkin seeds during etiquette class and drank tea with a maid. The dwarf proposes using these disciplinary violations as a formal pretext for an immediate divorce. Suddenly, a frightened Princess Anna-Veronica rushes in. Secret assailants have slipped her a threatening lilac letter. Her enemies are calling for her to voluntarily return her engagement ring. Lariel finally loses his composure and lashes out at his defenseless wife.

At this moment, the unfortunate Boom-Boomajo appears. His right hand has transformed into a red, webbed goose foot. The terrified ministers report the capture of the impudent young wizard. Jean-Paul commits savage acts in retaliation for the persecution of his beloved princess. An indignant Anna-Veronica takes the glowing magic wand from her husband. She confidently threatens to transform all the men present into birds. The girl clearly sees Lariel’s political weakness. The prince has proven himself a false and cowardly man. The princess leaves, deeply disappointed by his unworthy behavior.

Jean-Paul sits in a gloomy palace dungeon. He’s sketching out the most complex formulas of hyperbolic geometry with a piece of charcoal. The boy is trying to recall the mathematical derivation for returning from another dimension. Cinderella secretly sneaks up to the prisoner. The girl brings a basket of hearty food and returns the magical mother-of-pearl instrument. She discovers something astonishing. The Freemason princess Juliana has long since fled abroad with the poor musician Ramon. It turns out that King Balthazar is merely engaging in diplomatic blackmail.

However, this good news no longer pleases the girl at all. The prince has betrayed their pure, bright feelings. Lariel turned out to be an ordinary, calculating politician, not a noble fairytale knight. Cinderella tearfully begs Jean-Paul to take her into invisible hyperbolic space. The boy categorically refuses. He remembers the formula for spatial transition, but has completely forgotten the reverse algorithm, twenty-one pages long. The princess desperately insists and kisses the young man passionately. Surrendering, the inexperienced sorcerer gives her an enchanted apple. The heroes bite into the fruit and vanish into thin air.

Invisible presence

A deep, viscous melancholy settles over the palace. Courtiers and common servants alike have identical ominous dreams of Death. A bony guest drinks iced tea, plays solitaire, and calmly awaits the old king’s demise. The dwarf Prognussi and the Minister of Aesthetics, Fouettel, unsuccessfully try to distract the heir to the throne. Lariel spends his days in his father’s empty wheelchair. The young man suffers from a severe, debilitating melancholy. He demands a beautiful monument be erected to the missing Anne-Veronica. At the same time, the minister is commissioned to publish one hundred thousand copies of Charles Perrault’s true stories.

Madame Colun’s stepmother and her wayward daughters brazenly arrive at the palace. The women hypocritically lie about having discovered spiritual communication with the missing girl. The relatives demand that he find them rich, youthful generals. The enraged prince shamefully expels the greedy family. Alone in the quiet library, the young man suddenly hears deep sighs. Lariel realizes the obvious: his invisible wife is right next to him. The young man passionately begs her to return. He fervently promises to dismiss all the ministers and correct the fatal mistakes they made.

Anna-Veronica’s voice, softly but firmly, refuses her husband. The girl speaks directly of knightly honor and royal duty. Love cannot be bargained for or subject to time constraints. One must simply live honestly and diligently fulfill one’s duties. The impudent Whistler Jean-Paul hurries the princess. They are significantly late for the theatrical premiere of a fairy tale in a neighboring state. An inexperienced young actress desperately needs directorial assistance in a complex scene at the royal ball. Lariel desperately rushes toward the slight rustle of an invisible dress. He tries to embrace his beloved wife tightly one last time, but his hands catch only a ringing void.