Dunno
Neznaika or Neznayka (Template:Lang-ru, the name derived from the expression "не знаю", or "I don't know") is a character created by Soviet children writer Nikolay Nosov. The name was also translated as "Dunno" and "Know-Nothing".
Heznaika, recognized by his wide-brim pointed hat, is a hero (actually, an anti-hero) of the trilogy, The Adventures of Neznaika and his Friends (1954), Neznaika in the Sunny Town (1958), and Neznaika on the Moon (1966). The trilogy tells about the life and adventures of fictional tiny (several centimeter high) children-like men called "shorties" ("коротышки"). It is traditionally classified as a fairy tale (сказка), but there is no magic and other traditional attributes of fairy-tales: besides tiny sizes of heroes, usage of sweet sirup instead of gasoline in a car, and some other fantasy elements, including the science fiction-like setting of the third novel, the heroes live a pretty much "normal" life, just like the life, e.g., in the Wind in the Willows. The books are heavily didactical, especially the third one which is actually a political satire on the capitalist society. At the same time, they are full of humor and adventures, and loved by children.
Neznaika and some other characters of the trilogy became stock characters in the Soviet children magazine Murzilka and in other publications.
In a nutshell, the first novel is about regular Soviet life of shorties in an "ordinary" Soviet city, the second one is their jorney into a Communist utopia, and the third one is their encounter with Capitalism still remained in a very remote place (on the Moon) ended with a victorious Socialist revolution.
Characters
Flower City dwellers
The characters in this city are based on a single personal trait, reflected in their names.
- Neznaika is a boy who knows nothing, canot do nothing and doesn't want to learn anything. At the same time he is often adventureous, bold, enterprising, resourceful and lucky. In other words, it is scaled-down version of a popular Russian folk hero, Ivan the Fool.
- Gunka, Neznaika's friend
- Znaika is a boy who knows everything, a nerd
- Vintik and Shpuntik, technicians
- Guslya, a musician
- Tyubik, an artist
- Knopochka, a girl
- Toropyzhka, a boy who hurries too much
- Rasteryayka, a boy who always loses things
- Doctor Pilyulkin
- Ponchik, likes to eat
- Siropchik, likes sweet things
- Pulka, a hunter
- Tsvetik, a poet
- Bul'ka, a dog
- Pachkulya Pyostrenky, always gets dirty
- Tsirkul (compass), a long-legged, long-nosed bicyclist
- Vorchun, always grumbles
- Molchun, speaks little
Green City dwellers
Only girls live in this city: they do not like boys because all of them are naughty and live in Kite Cyty
- Medunitsa, a girl, a doctor
- Sineglazka, a girl
- Snezhinka, a girl
- Samotsvetik, a girl
Kite City dwellers
Boys-only city
- Gvozdik, a boy
- Bublik, a car driver
- Shurupchik, a techician
- Smekyalo, a writer