Raymond Queneau's novel "The Day of Saint Wait-Don't-Wait" tells the story of a country where strange customs and rituals reign, and its petrified ruler stands as a statue in front of the city hall. This is a myth with legendary heroes and no less legendary events, and at the same time it is a comic essay about colonial tourism, a caustic criticism of ethnographic stereotypes and a detached look at the absurdity of a “civilized” society. The novel is published in Russian for the first time.