The action takes place in the ancient Greek city of Abdera. This city, located in Thrace, has become famous in the history of mankind for the stupidity of its inhabitants, like the German city of Schilda or the Swiss city of Lalenburg.
The only sane person in Abdera is the philosopher Democritus. He comes from this city. His father died when Democritus was twenty years old. He left him a decent inheritance, which his son used on travels around the world. Returning to his hometown after a twenty-year absence, Democritus, to the great regret of the inhabitants of Abdera, retires, instead of telling them about his wanderings. Intricate reasoning about the origin of the world is alien to him, the philosopher first tries to find out the cause and structure of simple things that surround a person in everyday life.
Democritus, in his solitary dwelling, is engaged in natural science experiments that are perceived by the inhabitants of Abdera as witchcraft. Wanting to laugh at her compatriots, Democritus “admits” that he can experience his wife’s loyalty to her husband. To do this, put the woman’s tongue of a living frog on her left breast during sleep, then she will tell about her adultery. All Aberdeen husbands are taken to catch amphibians in order to verify the honesty of their wives. And even when it turns out that, without exception, the Aberdeen wives are faithful to their husbands, it does not occur to anyone how cleverly Democritus played on their naivety.
Taking advantage of the fact that the views of the philosopher do not find understanding among others, one of his relatives wants to prove that Democritus is insane. This will give him the right to take custody of a sick person and take possession of his inheritance. At first, the relative's accusation is based on the fact that in a city where frogs are especially revered, the philosopher catches them and conducts his experiments on them. The main accuser against Democritus is the archbishop of the goddess Latona. Upon learning of this, the defendant sends the High Priest for dinner as a gift of a peacock stuffed with gold coins. A greedy minister of worship removes suspicion from Democritus, but the relative does not calm down. Finally, it comes to the point that the court calls Hippocrates to Abder for medical examination, the Great Doctor arrives in the city, he meets with Democritus and announces that he is the only person in Abder who can be considered quite healthy.
One of the main hobbies of Aberdeen is theater. However, the plays that are staged on the stage of the theater, musical accompaniment and the play of the actors prove the absolute lack of taste among the Aberdeen. For them, all the plays are good, and the acting is all the more skillful, the less natural it is.
Once at the theater, the Abdera gave Andromeda Euripides to the musical accompaniment of composer Grill. Euripides accidentally appeared at the performance among the audience, who, on his way to the capital of Macedonia, Pella decided to visit the republic, "so famous for the wit of its citizens." Everyone was extremely surprised when a foreigner did not like the play, and especially the music, which, in his opinion, was completely inconsistent with the poet's plan. Euripides is accused of taking a lot on himself, then he has to admit that he is the author of the tragedy. They do not believe him and even compare him with the bust of the poet, who is installed above the entrance to the Aberdean national theater, but in the end they accept him as a dear guest, show the city and persuade them to give an idea on the stage of their theater. Euripides puts together with his troupe Andromeda, the music to which he also composed himself. At first, the abderites were disappointed: instead of the usual artificial suffering of heroes and loud cries on the stage, everything happened, as in ordinary life, the music was calm and in harmony with the text. The performance had such an impact on the imagination of the audience that the next day the whole of Abdera spoke with iambic from the tragedy.
The fourth book, "Stories .." describes a lawsuit about a donkey’s shadow. A donkey named Strution, whose donkey got foraged, hires a donkey to go to another city. The donkey driver accompanies him on the road. It gets hot on the way, as there wasn’t a tree steep, he gets down from the donkey and sits in his shadow. The donkey owner demands from Strution an additional fee for the animal’s shadow, the same one believes that “he will be a donkey three times if he does.” The driver returns to Abdera and feeds on to the court, a lengthy lawsuit begins, and gradually the whole city gets drawn into the trial and is divided into two parties: the party of “shadows” supporting the gear and the party of “donkeys” supporting the driver.
At a meeting of the Grand Council, which includes four hundred people, almost all the inhabitants of Abdera are present. Representatives of both sides are speaking. Finally, when the passions reach the limit and no one understands why such a simple matter has become insoluble, a donkey appears on the street of the city. Prior to this, he always stood in the city stables. The people, seeing the cause of the misfortune that has become universal, rushes at the poor animal and tears it into a thousand pieces. Both parties agree that the case is settled. It was decided to donkey a donkey to erect a monument, which should serve as a reminder to everyone, "how easily a flowering republic can die due to the shadow of a donkey."
After the famous lawsuit in Abdera’s life, first the archbishop Jason Agatiers, and after him all the citizens of the republic begin to intensively breed frogs, which are considered sacred animals in the city. Soon Abdera, together with the adjacent areas, turns into a continuous frog pond. When this excessive number of frogs was finally noticed, the city senate decides to reduce their number. However, no one knows how to do this, but the method proposed by the Academy of Abdera - to use frogs in writing - is objectionable to many. While the matter was in discussion, the city was flooded with huge hordes of rats and mice. Residents leave their homes, taking with them the sacred golden fleece from the temple of Iason. This concludes the history of the famous republic. Its inhabitants moved to neighboring Macedonia and there assimilated with the local population.
In the final chapter of the book, entitled “The Key to the History of Aberdeen,” the author once again emphasizes the satirical and didactic nature of his work: “All human races change from relocation, and two different races, mixing, create a third. But in the Aberdeen, wherever they were resettled and no matter how they mixed with other peoples, not the slightest significant change was noticeable. They are everywhere the same fools as they were two thousand years ago in Abdera. ”
