The Bödönfalva Wacky Bazaar was like a colorful whirlwind. In the middle of the square, the scent of sugar swirled, elderflower syrup glittered in bottles, and a juggling goat named Tömör tossed cucumbers into the air. Zozó and his best friend Rézi drifted through the crowd. In Zozó's hand, foamy elderflower syrup bubbled, Rézi carried a candyfloss mountain, and Bodza, the short-legged dachshund, sniffed enthusiastically at everything that seemed suspiciously delicious.

— Look, Aunt Teri's pickle stand! — Rézi pointed. Aunt Teri smiled at them from behind huge jars, where the cucumbers stood in line like a military band.

Zozó sipped the syrup, then took another big gulp. And then... hic! A tiny, mischievous sound popped out of him, as if a little frog had kissed the air.

— Did you hiccup? — Rézi's eyes widened.

— But just a little — Zozó waved. In the next moment, however, the hiccup not only returned but bounced like a rubber ball: hic!

From the puff of air following this hic! sound, Tömör the goat got confused for a moment and accidentally flicked a cucumber into the air. The spinning cucumber bounced back to the top of the pickle jar, and as it hit the wall of the jar, it clapped: plipp-plop, plipp-plop!

— This isn't a plain hiccup! — Rézi giggled. — This is a laughing hiccup!

To stop it, Zozó tried to sip the elderflower syrup backward. The spectators watched with bated breath as he tilted the bottle, tilted it... and in the end, the syrup trickled onto his ear. The hiccup bounced again in joy: hic! The stand signs immediately started rhyming: Langos — Munch-os, Pancake — Hat-cake.

Bodza, the dachshund, sneezed once at the cucumber scent, and from then on, barked only in rhymes: woof-rhyme, woof-grime! He ran around and around, and everyone held their bellies from laughter. A helium balloon let go and, floating jovially, hummed: boo-boo-boo.

— Quick! Let's catch your hiccup! — Rézi rattled, as if it were as simple as catching a stray balloon.

First, the classic tricks followed. Zozó held his breath. Held his nose. Counted the pickled cucumbers. Ten... eleven... fifteen and a half... hic! At every hiccup, a pancake turned in the air from the pancake pan and slapped back into the pan. The uncle working at the pancake stand couldn't believe his eyes: — Who turns here instead of me?

From the crowd, Magician Bendegúz stepped forward, with an ornate top hat and a scarf that was longer than a blanket dreaming of a snake. — Respected audience! — he shouted. — A special hiccup-catching trick is coming!

Bendegúz held his top hat over Zozó and whispered something that sounded like a coughing duck: quack-quack-quack! The hiccup, however, was more stubborn. Hic! And the magician's scarf suddenly turned into socks, hanging from the nearby flagpole like a striped flag. The audience clapped, Bendegúz bowed, and pretended he did it all on purpose.

— Maybe he needs to be scared — suggested Aunt Teri, and she took out a cucumber with hand-drawn eyebrows. Suddenly she shouted: — BOO!

Zozó jumped back in fright, Bodza rhymed thoughtfully: — Oo, boo, wow, cow! The hiccup jumped again: hic! A row of corn started popping on the counter, and by the time they realized, crispy popcorn was already falling like tiny rain, just much more delicious.

Then the Bazaar's loudspeaker yelped: — Attention, attention! Extraordinary event! In the Puffy-Parade Bouncy Castle, a laughter alarm has come into effect! Everyone who can, come laugh there!

Zozó and Rézi started running with Bodza towards the Puffy-Parade. The bouncy castle was like a rainbow cloud, just much more flexible. The children bounced up, down, right, left, back, forward. Zozó stepped onto it, and the moment he hiccuped again, the rubber surface burst into song: boom-boom-hic, boom-boom-hic! The whole bouncy castle began drumming the rhythm of the hiccup.

— I think your hiccup wants to play — puffed Rézi, as she somersaulted through a rainbow-colored gate. — It doesn't want to annoy you, it just likes to be in the middle of everything.

Zozó stopped, wiped the elderflower syrup off his forehead, and bent down, as if talking to his shoelace. — Hey, Hiccy! If you hear, speak!

As if in answer, a tiny giggle seemed to wave through the air, like wind ruffling water in a puddle. Hiccy, the invisible, mischievous hiccup-minignome, flicked the air further, and the horn of the distant chimney cake bakery gave a short rumble.

— I know you are here — whispered Zozó. — Let's play fair. If you get enough laughter, will you let me go?

The hic sound that came as an answer now really rang laughingly: hic-ahiccc! Rézi's eyes lit up. — Then let's make a Laughing Hiccup Parade!

Bendegúz immediately understood the seriously funny weight of the situation. He ran up onto a barrel and announced loudly: — Ladies and gentlemen, children and dogs, today we will break a national record: the longest, most resonant, most belly-aching joint laughter!

The crowd gathered around them. Aunt Teri distributed a cucumber to everyone, which could be tapped to a rhythm. Tömör the goat started juggling three cucumbers, two apples, and a wooden spoon, just so there was something to watch meanwhile. Bodza stood up on his hind legs and rhymed like this: — Hic-hac-hickyhic, don't miss the trickytick!

— On three — said Zozó. — One, two, thr... hic!

And then it broke out. First a gentle giggle, then a swirling snicker, then a huge, waving ocean of laughter. The children laughed, the adults laughed, the horn of the chimney cake bakery laughed deeply, the pan of the langos maker giggled, tinkling, even the city hall's bell chimed with it: heeheehee-ding-dong!

The laughter so vibrated the space that Hiccy, the hiccup-minignome, popped out of nothing. It wasn't truly visible, only like a trembling air bubble inside which glitter chased glitter. The bubble swung here and there with the laughter, grew a little at every haha, and shrank at every heeheehee.

Zozó took a deep breath, now holding the good mood inside instead of the hiccup, then let it out like a trumpet. The bubble grew; the whole bazaar sparkled within it: the spinning cucumbers, the bouncing pancakes, the rhyming dog, and finally... plip. Accompanied by a tiny, polite hic, it popped.

Silence fell. Then applause. Then even bigger applause, and someone shouted from somewhere: — Long live the laughing hiccup!

— And long live the elderflower syrup too! — added Aunt Teri, because business is business.

The bazaar slowly returned to its usual wackiness. The signs stopped rhyming, except the Pancake — Hat-cake sign, which decided poetry suited it well. Tömör the goat juggled one last round, Bodza switched back to normal woofs, although sometimes he smuggled in a rhyme: — Woof-pipe, woof-tripe.

— How do you feel? — Rézi asked Zozó, and pressed half a candyfloss into his hand.

— I'm a little lighter — Zozó grinned. — As if I blew out ten kilos of laughter.

Bendegúz fished two striped socks from the top of the flagpole and ceremoniously gifted them to Zozó and Rézi. — For heroes! — he said, and raised his top hat with a flourish.

On the way home, they still stopped for a pancake. The pancake turned off the baking sheet in the air and plopped straight onto the mayor's hat. The mayor, who had walked seriously until then, now modestly adjusted the pancake, which looked like a clown nose, then bowed: — Please, Bödönfalva is proud of its laughter.

— If I start hiccuping next time, let's tell Tömör — Zozó winked. — He'll catch it.

Bodza, hearing this, commented thus: — Woof-racket, hiccup-jacket!

And the bazaar, as if nothing had happened, bustled again. Only a very tiny, barely audible memory remained in the air: a hic that only ever sounded for the sake of laughter.