Gremlins

The first book by the English writer Roald Dahl, written for a children's audience, was dedicated to gremlins. When he served as a pilot in the Royal Air Force, he often heard legends about these creatures, which were often blamed for the malfunction of aircraft engines.

Initially, Dahl, who was demobilized from the front due to an injury, wrote a short story "Gremlin Lore". This was the author's first attempt to write for children – before that, he had composed only adult stories on military subjects. Gremlins was first published in December 1942 on the pages of Cosmopolitan magazine. This story got to Walt Disney and he liked it so much that a whole illustrated book "Walt Disney" soon appeared.: The Gremlins (A Royal Air Force Story by Flight Lieutenant Roald Dahl)", which we now know as the primary source of legends about gremlins in their modern form.

Gremlins as characters have become extremely popular. Fifinella has even become a symbol of the Female Pilots of the US Air Force. Soon gremlins appeared in the form of cartoon characters from the Warner Bros. studio "Russian Rhapsody" and "Falling Rabbit" starring Bugs Bunny. This was their first appearance on the screen, but they already played a fairly important role in anti-Hitler propaganda.

After the war, the stories about gremlins were not forgotten, although their popularity dropped a little. They continued to appear in cartoons, films and comics. In 2006, Dark Horse Comics republished the legendary book and released a line of figurines and a comic book series.

Despite the fact that the characters were based on real stories of military pilots, thanks to the contributions of Roald Dahl and Walt Disney, no one took them seriously anymore. There are no modern eyewitness accounts of gremlins, despite the abundance of technical devices surrounding us.

So what is the famous book about? The plot of this story is simple:

Gremlins begin to take revenge on the British for destroying their house to make way for the construction of an aircraft factory. The main character of the book, Gus, flying his Hawker Hurricane single-seat fighter over the English Channel, encounters gremlins for the first time. They try to destroy his plane, but Gus convinces the gremlins to join forces in the face of a common threat - Hitler and Nazi troops. He succeeds, and gremlins, who have received special training in the ranks of the British army, help to restore Gus's plane.

The book also contains information about the life and everyday life of these creatures.

In the book of gremlins called widgets (widgets), and gremlins feminine — pirinelli (fifinellas).

From the description from the website fantlab.ru:

Gus looked at the right wing and saw standing on the wing of his plane a little man, hardly more than six inches tall, with a big round face and a small pair of horns growing from his head. On his feet were a pair of black shoes with suction cups that allowed him to stand on the wing at a speed of 300 miles per hour. Gremlin made four holes, then climbed on the engine cowling to magneto, the engine began to cough.

Translated by «Yandex.Translator»