Faramant

Faramant - Gatekeeper in the Emerald City . He began his service under Goodwin . Faramant gives green glasses to everyone who wants to get into the city so that the guests are not "blinded by the magnificence of the Emerald City" ^[1] . Travelers leaving the city hand over green glasses to the Gatekeeper for storage. Faramant himself wears glasses constantly, thus fulfilling the law of Great Goodwin, of which he is an ardent admirer. Even during the times of the Yellow Fog , when the limits of visibility in the gloom were reduced to a few steps and the Scarecrow issued a decree allowing him to take off his glasses, Faramant stubbornly continued to walk with his glasses, "bumping into passers-by" ^[2] . For the faithful Gatekeeper, it was inconceivable to break Goodwin’s order, even though Goodwin had left the country ten years ago. However, Faramant gave one copy of his own Ellie glasses when he met her in Kansas ^[3] ; for the Gatekeeper, it was, without a doubt, an extremely generous gift.

Faramant (along with Longbeard Soldier Dean Gyor ) - one of the closest associates of the Scarecrow. A participant in the defense of the Emerald City during both wars with Oorfene Deuce , as well as during the struggle against Arachne and the Menvites . It is curious that in the first edition of the book “ Oorfene Deuce and Its Wooden Soldiers ”, only three people defended the besieged city with defenders — Faramant, Dean Gior, and Scarecrow himself ^[4] , and not all the townspeople together, as described in the new edition. Twice Faramant was held captive by Oorfene and always resolutely refused to offer Juce to go to his service, for which he was imprisoned. Twice flew to Oihho in Kansas on behalf of the Scarecrow to ask friends from the Big World for help: thus Faramant turned out to be the only person from the whole Wizarding Land who had the opportunity to visit the Round the World Mountains.

Borrowing the image by other authors

He is a character in the tale of Leonid Vladimirsky " Pinocchio in the Emerald City ."

By nature, Faramant is phlegmatic and calm, while mocking is not alien to him. Inclined to pedantry - perhaps due to the fact that all his life he has been engaged in virtually “office” work: accounting, distribution and collection of green glasses. During the liberation campaign against Arachne, Faramant takes the post of chief of supply ^[5] .

The exact age of Faramant is not directly indicated anywhere, however, in the book " Yellow Fog " there is a mention that Faramant was "already in years" ^[5] . And in the very first edition of the tale "Urfin Djus and his wooden soldiers", published in the newspaper "Pioneer Truth" in 1962-1963, Faramant was described as "a thin middle-aged man" ^[6] ; however, in all subsequent editions of the tale this passage is absent.

For Volkov, the nameless Guardian of the Emerald City (English Guardian of the Gates ) from the tales of L.F. Baum about the Land of Oz served as a remote prototype of Faramant. However, in the “series” of Baum the Gatekeeper, the character is episodic and quickly “descends from the scene”. Volkov gave his Faramant not only a personal name, but also endowed him with many characteristics that the hero of Baum did not have. In particular, the Gatekeeper at Baum is not particularly patriotic and relatively easily lets in a hostile army of girls under the leadership of General Ginger ^[7] . Moreover, already starting with the second book about the Land of Oz, the Gatekeeper ceases to deal with the distribution of green points; the need for them generally disappears, since the plot no longer mentions the Wizard’s deception, and starting from the second book, the Emerald City is described as paved with real emeralds. And in the circle of close friends of the rulers of Oz - both the Scarecrow and Ozma - he also does not enter.

• Volkov, Alexander Melentievich. The Wizard of Oz; Oorfene Deuce and his wooden soldiers. - Chisinau: Literature of Artistry, 1985. - 301 p. - (Fairy tales about the Fairyland). - 400,000 copies.
• Volkov, Alexander Melentievich. Seven Underground Kings; The fiery god Marranov. - Chisinau: Literature of Artistry, 1986. - 319 p. - (Fairy tales about the Fairyland). - 400,000 copies.
• Volkov, Alexander Melentievich. Yellow fog; The mystery of an abandoned castle. - Chisinau: Literature of Artistry, 1987. - 316 p. - (Fairy tales about the Fairyland). - 400,000 copies.
• D.K. Pelageychenko. Encyclopedia of characters of Volkov's fairy tales about the Magic Land. (N - S) (unspecified) . Archived February 14, 2012.

• Forum "Emerald City"
• The list of characters in Volkov’s books about the Magic Land is a general list with brief descriptions.