Fattypuffs and Thinifers facts for kids
Title page of original French edition
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| Author | André Maurois |
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| Original title | Patapoufs et Filifers |
| Translator | Norman Denny |
| Illustrator | Jean Bruller |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
| Genre | Children's literature |
| Publisher | The Bodley Head |
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Publication date
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1930 |
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Published in English
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1941 |
| Media type | Print (hardback) |
| Pages | 96 |
| OCLC | 258165503 |
Fattypuffs and Thinifers (ISBN: 1-903252-07-5) is a 1941 translation of the French children's book Patapoufs et Filifers originally written in 1930 by André Maurois. It concerns the imaginary underground land of the fat and congenial Fattypuffs and the thin and irritable Thinifers, which is visited by the Double brothers, the plump Edmund and the thin Terry. Fattypuffs and Thinifers do not mix, and their respective countries are on the verge of war when Edmund and Terry make their visit.
Plot summary
Edmund and Terry find the entrance through the Twin Rock, where a long escalator descends into the bowels of the earth. The underground region is illuminated by large balloons filled with a blue, dazzling gas, which float in the underground sky.
At the bottom of the escalator a narrow quay, Surface-by-the-Sea, borders a large gulf. Edmund and Terry are separated here. Edmund is taken to Fattyborough, the capital of the Fattypuff kingdom, on the ship Fattiport, while Terry is ordered to board the steel vessel Thiniport for Thiniville, capital of the Thinifer Republic.
Edmund soon assumes an important position in the administration of Fattypuff, whose inhabitants are friendly, happy, and who live only for drinking and eating. Everything there is round and cushioned; the architecture is domes and baroque. Terry also rises through the ranks quickly in the land of the Thinifers, workaholics all, who scarcely eat, and who rush to and from their country, which is all high, sharp spires and thin railway cars.
For centuries Fattypuffs and Thinifers have been mortal enemies, having fought one another already in the War of the Captive Armies. Their main source of tension lies over ownership of an island in the gulf that separates the countries, and what to call it - the Fattypuffs prefer "Fattyfer," the Thinifers "Thinipuff." Negotiations, in which Edmund and Terry participate, are unsuccessful, and the countries go to war. The Thinifers emerge as the victors, and annex the Fattypuff kingdom.
The consequences of this annexation are unexpected. Many soldiers of the occupying army of the Thinifers begin to marry Fattypuff girls, and return to their homeland with affection for the country that they conquered. The Thinifers begin to adopt Fattypuff cuisine, habits, and attitudes. Consequently, the Thinifer president proclaims that the two peoples form a new nation, the United States of the Underground. King Plumpapuff of the Fattypuffs is made constitutional sovereign, while the Thinifer president is made his chancellor. All distinctions by weight are abolished. A toponymic compromise is reached: the island of Fattyfer-Thinipuff is called Peachblossom Island.
Edmund and Terry are allowed to return home, where their father has been looking for them at the base of the Twin Rock. They spent ten months underground, but only an hour has passed on the surface.
