Caius is a fool

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Caius is a fool is a 1953 book for children and young people by Henry Winterfeld . It is the first of three parts in the series Caius, the rascal from ancient Rome , which is about the adventures of the boy Caius and his friends in ancient Rome .

characters

In addition to the main characters of all three parts (see characters from the Caius series ), the following people appear in this volume:

  • Lukos , clairvoyant who runs his business exactly opposite the Xanthos School
  • Scribonus , Roman script expert
  • Livia , mother of Rufus
  • Rompus , Rufus' tutor, slave of Macedonian origin
  • Megabates , officer in the censor's office
  • Tellus , Exconsul and high general

action

During the lesson in which Xanthos teaches his students Greek vocabulary, Caius and Rufus get into an argument when Rufus Caius is a fool scribbles on his wax tablet and Caius in turn insults Rufus' father, General Marcus Praetonius, as a coward. The angry Xanthos sends Rufus home and gives Caius a detention. While packing his school supplies, Rufus accidentally packs Mucius' lantern.

During the night, Xanthos is the victim of a robbery, only a few textbooks and a few pictures are stolen. A little later, the friends in town discover, to their horror, the writing on the wall of the Minerva temple: Caius is a fool . Caius' sister Claudia tells the friends that Rufus should watch out for her father, Senator Vinicius, because Caius immediately accused Rufus of desecrating the temple and the senator wants to report him to the city prefect. The policemen who were on watch at the time in question tell Vinicius that there was no writing on the wall before the fifth hour.

When the friends want to hide Rufus in their secret mountain cave, they find Rufus dripping wet in his bed. In the Xanthos school they notice that after the attack, Rufus' writing board with that lettering is also missing; Antony also finds a gold chain with Egyptian hieroglyphics.

On the market square, the friends read a detailed report about the desecration of the temple in the current daily newspaper, which can be read publicly on wax tablets. The writing expert Scribonus examines the writing on the temple wall, but, to the disappointment of the friends, considers it to be real. Meanwhile Rufus is arrested. The friends search in vain for Mucius' lantern in Rufus' room, but find Rufus' wet clothes under the bed. Rufus' tutor Rompus has to confess to his mistress that Rufus secretly left the house last night; Rufus didn't come back until the next morning and refused to say where he had been.

When the friends no longer know what to do, they want to ask the clairvoyant Lukos for advice. At the sight of the gold chain, he throws the boys out of his house angrily, only Mucius involuntarily stays behind and discovers a ladder that leads to the roof of the house. On his way to the roof of the neighboring house, he comes to the neighboring Dianabad and falls asleep there. The next morning the lifeguard mistook him for the previous night's burglar and showed him Mucius' own lantern as evidence. Mucius realizes that Rufus was in Dianabad at the time of the desecration of the temple.

In their secret cave, he and his friends come to the conclusion that Rufus was with Lukos and then must have got to Dianabad, and they want to ask the emperor for mercy. Then Xanthos appears and finds an important clue in the reports of his students about the events: The detailed newspaper report in calligraphy can only have been written before the temple desecration; Messages of this length are only initiated by high personalities.

From Megabates, an official from the censor's office, the friends finally learn that the message came from ex-consul Tellus, a former general. Xanthos suspects a connection between the desecration of the temple and the festival that Tellus held on the same night. Antonius smuggled himself into Tellus' house to find out the names of the guests. Tellus becomes suspicious and tries to find out what Antony knows; However, he managed to escape and found out that the festival had been canceled. On his return he brings Tellus' coat with him, the gold chain is in the coat pocket.

When Xanthos wants to notify the police, an old man appears with a message from Rufus from the dungeon: "Tear off the red wolf's sheepskin!" Then they see Tellus walking past the Xanthos School and follow him to confront him. You meet Lukos and overwhelm him. Mucius finds out that Rufus meant Lukos with the "red wolf", since Lukos is something like "ho lykos" (incorrectly stated as "ho lukos" in the book at the point in question). the Greek word for "wolf" sounds.

Tellus admits that as a clairvoyant he wanted to get money in order to be able to pay his high debts. Rufus found out when he went to Lukos to have Xanthos bewitched. In order to render Rufus harmless, Tellus faked the desecration of the temple. The friends have his confession confirmed in writing.

Soldiers notified by Xanthos break open the door. Lukos flees and dies while jumping into the now empty swimming pool of the Diana bath; Rufus is released, the friends celebrate a feast.

expenditure

  • Henry Winterfeld: Caius is a fool: a funny and exciting detective story for children . Pictures: Charlotte Kleinert. Blanvalet, Berlin 1953 (first edition).
  • Henry Winterfeld: Caius is a fool: The rascal from ancient Rome (paperback) , Omnibus-Verlag, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-570-20520-7 .