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EVERYMAN'S LIBRARY EDITED BY ERNEST RHYS
FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
PINOCCHIO
BY " C. C O L L O D I "
(CARLO LORENZINI)
THE PUBLISHERS OF £F€1{r-Mt/iJ^S LlB^tA'FJ' WILL BE PLEASED TO SEND FREELY TO ALL APPLICANTS A LIST OF THE PUBLISHED AND PROJECTED VOLUMES TO BE COMPRISED UNDER THE FOLLOWING THIRTEEN HEADINGS:
TRAVEL ^ SCIENCE -^ FICTION
THEOLOGY & PHILOSOPHY
HISTORY ;^ CLASSICAL
FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
ESSAYS ^ ORATORY
POETRY & DRAMA
BIOGRAPHY
REFERENCE
ROMANCE
IN FOUR STYLES OF BINDING; CLOTH, FLAT BACK, COLOURED TOP ; LEATHER, ROUND CORNERS, GILT TOP; LIBRARY BINDING IN CLOTH, & QUARTER PIGSKIN
London: J. M. DENT & SONS, Ltd. New York: E. P. DUTTON & CO.
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
ERINDALE COLLEGE LIBRARY
Presented by Mr. Anthony Adamson
MIS7.IS FAIRY GOLD.
PROVL^SO
SHAKESPEARE
'/''
•^^ '^/v
PINOCCHIO THE STORY of a PUPPET ^CCOLLODI (g(® (CARLO LORENZINI)
LONDON:PUBLISHED tyJMDENT&SONSlI?
AND IN NEW YORK BY E- P DUTTON S CO
ERINDALE
COLLEGE
LIBRARY
THE TEMPLE PRESS, PRINTERS, LETCHWORTH
INTRODUCTION
Pinocchio is on the whole the best puppet story ever written, and it is certainly fitting that Italy should give it to us. No other country has ever loved puppets and puppet-shows with so much childish ardour and gaiety. It only remained for the wit of Signor Lorenzini^ otherwise and better known by his chosen niclc-name or pen-name of " Collodi/' to write once and for all the joyous epic of the puppet come to life, and put it into a new form. No doubt he gained his first notion of Pinocchio at home, but one wonders if by any chance he had heard of that English puppet-story. The Enchanted Doll, by Mark Lemon, which pleased us all mightily a generation ago, just at the time when he was growing up.
His name of Collodi he took from his native village so-called, where a tablet has been put up to his memory. He earned the gratitude of Italian folk, and of the children especially, not only by writing stories, but by working hard for the cause of educa- tion in season and out. He edited a paper by which he made his readers laugh first and think seriously afterwards; he helped them officially in administering the reforms that were needed in the schools; he was a pioneer in these grave matters, as well as a puppet-showman, so to speak. Finally, you will not sit long at his puppet-show witliout discovering how he made his Talking Cricket talk sense, and Pinocchio suffer for his puppetry and wooden-head. We laugh, and then find we have partly been laughing at ourselves — boys and girls, men and women — and are the wiser for it.
G. Lorenzini was bom in 1826 and died in 1890.
The following are the chief works of \jo\enz\n\ : —
Un romanzo in vapore da Firenze a Livomo: guida storico-umoristicaj 1856; Gli amici di casa: dramma, 1856, 2nd edition, 1862; I inistori di Firenze, 1857; La manifattura delle porcellane di Doccia: cenni illiistra-
vii
vlii THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
tivi, i86r; additions to G. Calenzoli's Dialoghi e commedine da recitarsi negli istituti femminili, 1876; Le Avventure di Pinocchio: storia di un burattino, 1883; II regalo del capo d'anno: descrizione degli usi e costumi di alcuni popoli meno conosciuti, 1884; Macchietto, 2nd edition, 1884; I'Abbaco di Giannettino per le classi elementari, 1885; Minuzzolo, 2nd libro di lettnra, 19th edition, 1888; La Geografia di Giannettino, 3rd edition, 1889; Libro di Lezioni per la 3a elementare, 1889; II viaggio per ritalia di Giannettino, 3 parts, 8th edition of part i, 1895; 5th edition of part 2, 1894 ; 2nd edition of part 3, 1891 ; Occhi e nasi : ricordi dal vero, 4th edition, 1891; Divagazioni Critico-umoristiche, raccolte e ordinate da G. Riguttini, 1892; Note Gaic, raccolte e ordinate da G. Riguttini, 1892; La Grammatica di Giannettino, 7th edition, 1893; Giannettino, Libro per i ragazzi, 24th edition, 1897; La Lantema magica di Giannettino: libro per i Giovanetti, 3rd edition, 1898; Storie allegre: libro per i ragazzi, 7th edition, 1898; L'azione morale della donna nella civile societa: discorso,
CONTENTS
How it came to pass that Master Cherry the carpenter found a piece of wood that laughed and cried like a child ......
II
Master Cherry makes a present of the piece of wood to his friend Geppetto, who takes it to make for him- self a wonderful puppet, that shall know how to dance, and to fence, and to leap like an acrobat
in
Geppetto having returned home begins at once to make a puppet, to which he gives the name of Pinocchio. The first tricks played by the puppet . . II
IV
The story of Pinocchio and the Talking-cricket, from which we see that naughty boys cannot endure to be corrected by those who know more than they do ..... 17
X THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
Pinocchio is hungry and searches for an egg to make himself an omelet ; but just at the most interesting moment the omelet flies out of the window
VI
Pinocchio falls asleep with his feet on the brazier, and
wakes in the morning to find them burnt off . 27
VII
Geppetto returns home, makes the puppet new feet, and gives him the breakfast that the poor man had brought for himself . . . . 31
VIII
Geppetto makes Pinocchio new feet, and sells his own
coat to buy him a Spelling-book . • . 37
IX
Pinocchio sells his Spelling-book that he may go and
see a puppet-show . . . 43
The puppets recognise their brother Pinocchio, and receive him with delight ; but at that moment their master Fire-eater makes his appearance and Pinocchio is in danger of coming to a bad end 49
CONTENTS xi
XI
PAGE
Fire-eater sneezes and pardons Pinocchio, who then
Baves the life of his friend Harlequin . . 55
XII
The showman, Fire-eater, makes Pinocchio a present of five gold pieces to take home to his father, Geppetto ; but Pinocchio instead allows himself to be taken in by the Fox and the Cat, and goes with them . . . . . 61
XIII The inn of The Red Craw-fish ... 69
XIV
Pinocchio, because he would not heed the good counsels
of the Talking-cricket, falls amongst assassins . 75
XV
The assassins pursue Pinocchio ; and having overtaken
him hang him to a branch of the Big Oak . 81
XVI
The beautiful Child with blue hair has the puppet taken down : has him put to bed and calls in three doctors to know if he is alive or dead . . 87
xii THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
XVII
PACK
Pinocchio eats the sugar, but will not take his medicine : when, however, he sees the grave-diggers, who have arrived to carry him away, he takes it. He then tells a lie, and as a punishment his nose grows longer ...... 93
XVIII
Pinocchio meets again the Fox and the Cat, and goes with them to bury his money in the Field of miracles ..... loi
XIX
Pinocchio is robbed of his money, and as a punishment
he is sent to prison for four months . . 109
XX
Liberated from prison, he starts to return to the Fairy's house ; but on the road he meets with a horrible serpent, and afterwards he is caught in a trap . 115
XXI
Pinocchio is taken by a peasant, who obliges him to fill the place of his watch-dog in the poultry-yard
XXII
Pinocchio discovers the robbers, and as a reward for his
fidelity is set at liberty . . . . 127
CONTENTS xiii
XXIII
PAGE
Pinocchio mourns the death of the beautiful Child with the blue hair. He then meets with a pigeon who flies with him to the seashore, and there he throws himself into the water to go to the assistance of his father Geppetto . . . 133
XXIV
Pinocchio arrives at the island of the " Industrious
Bees," and finds the Fairy again . . 1 41
XXV
Pinocchio promises the Fairy to be good and studious, for he is quite sick of being a puppet and wishea to become an exemplary boy . . . 151
XXVI
Pinocchio accompanies his schoolfellows to the seashore
to see the terrible Dog-fish . . . 157
XXVII
Great fight between Pinocchio and his companions. One of them is wounded, and Pinocchio is arrested by the gendarmes . . . 163
XXVIII
Pinocchio is in danger of being fried in a frying-pan
iilie a fish . . . . ■ '73
xiv THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
XXIX
PAGS
He returns to the Fairy's house. She promises him that the following day he shall cease to be a puppet and shall become a boy. Grand breakfast of coffee and milk to celebrate this great event . l8i
XXX
Pinocchio, instead of becoming a boy, starts secretly with
his friend Candlewick for the " Land of Boobies " 193
XXXI
After five months' residence in the land of Cocagne, Pinocchio, to his great astonishment, grows a beautiful pair of donkey's ears, and he becomes a little donkey, tail and all . . 203
XXXII
Pinocchio gets donkey's ears ; and then he becomes a
real little donkey and begins to bray . . 213
XXXIII
Pinocchio, having become a genuine little donkey, is taken to be sold, and is bought by the director of a company of buffoons to be taught to dance, and to jump through hoops : but one evening he lames himself, and then he is bought by a man who purposes to make a drum of his skin . . 223
CONTENTS XV
XXXIV
PAGE
Pinocchio, having been thrown into the sea, is eaten by the fish and becomes a puppet as he was before. Whilst he is swimming away to save his life he is swallowed by the terrible Dog-fish . . 235
XXXV
Pinocchio finds in tlie body of the Dog-fish . . . whom does he find ? Read this chapter and you will know . .... 247
XXXVI
Pinocchio at last ceases to be a puppet and becomes a
boy . . . . . . 255
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
THIS TIME MASTKR CHERRY WAS PETRIFItD
WHEN THE FIGHT WAS OVER .
GEPPETTO RUSHED AFTER HIM . ,
SNATCHED UP A WOODEN HAMMER
THUS SAYING IT SPREAD ITS WINGS
WHILST HE SLEPT HIS FEET TOOK FIRE
" OH ! POOR ME ! I SHALL HAVE TO WALK ON MY KNtE FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE ! " .
RAN TO LOOK AT HIMSELF IN A CROCK OF WATER
THE BOOK WAS SOLD THERE AND THEN
CARRIED HIM IN TRIUMPH BEFORE THE FOOTLIGHTS
HE SNEEZED AGAIN THREE TIMES
PAGE 1
7
»9 23
28
32 39 46
51
57
xviii THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
PAGB
THREW HIMSELF AT THE SHOWMAn's FEET . . 59
"don't listen to the ADVICE OF BAD COMPANIONS". 65
HE DREAMT . . . SHRUBS COVERED WITH CLUSTERS OF
GOLD SOVEREIGNS . . . 7I
THE PUPPET MADE A GESTURE WITH HIS HANDS TO
signify: "I HAVE GOT NONE " ... 77
"if I COULD ONLY REACH THAT HOUSE," HE SAID . Si
HIS NOSE HAD INCREASED SO MUCH ... 99
"WHY, HERE IS OUR DEAR PINOCCHIO ! " CRIED THE FOX IO3
"YOU ILL-EDUCATED PARROT " . . . Ill
THE POOR PUPPET HAD BEEN TAKEN IN A TRAP . II7
"YOU SHALL BE MY WATCH-DOG " . . . 1 23
HE BARKED EXACTLY LIKE A DOG. BOW-WOW-WOW . 1 29
STANDING ON A HIGH ROCK, KEPT CALLING TO HIS
FATHER . . . . .139
"AMUSE YOURSELF WITH YAWNING, AND MUCH GOOD
MAY IT DO you" . . . . 1 47
THEY PLAYED HIM ALL SORTS OF TRICKS . . I 58
GAVE HIM A BLOW ON THE HEAD WITH HIS FIST . 1 66
"WHAT SPECIES OF FISH IS THIS?" . . . 1 77
SEIZED THE BUNDLE IN HIS MOUTH . . . 183
THE SNAIL RETURNED CARRYING A SILVER TRAY . 1 9O
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xix
PACK
"what a delightful country! . . delightful country ! "
and the coachman .
HIS HEAD EMBELLISHED WITH DONKEy's EARS
"now LET THE AUDIENCE SEE HOW GRACEFULLY YOU CAN JUMP THROUGH THE HOOPS "
THE POOR MAN THOUGHT HE WAS DREAMING
" OH, MY DEAR PAPA ! I HAVE FOUND YOU AT LAST
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LAST ! " |
248 |
This time Master Cherry was petrified.
I
How it came to pass that Master Cherry the carpenter found a piece of wood that laughed and cried like a child.
There was once upon a time . . .
"A king! "my little readers will instantly exclaim.
No, children, you are wrong. There was once upon a time a piece of wood.
A »
2 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
This wood was not valuable: it was only a common log like those that are burnt in winter in the stoves and fireplaces to make a cheerful blaze and warm the rooms.
I cannot say how it came about, but the fact is, that one fine day this piece of wood was lying in the shop of an old carpenter of the name of Master Antonio. He was, however, called by everybody Master Cherry, on account of the end of his nose, which was always as red and polished as a ripe cherry.
No sooner had Master Cherry set eyes on the piece of wood than his face beamed with delight ; and, rubbing his hands together with satisfaction, he said softly to himself:
"This wood has come at the right moment; it will just do to make the leg of a little table."
Having said this he immediately took a sharp axe with which to remove the bark and the rough sur- face. Just, however, as he was going to give the first stroke he remained with his arm suspended in the air, for he heard a very small voice saying im- ploringly, " Do not strike me so hard ! "
Picture to yourselves the astonishment of good old Master Cherry !
He turned his terrified eyes all round the room to try and discover where the little voice could possibly have come from, but he saw nobody ! He looked under the bench — nobody; he looked into a cupboard
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 3
that was always shut — nobody ; he looked into a basket of shavings and sawdust — nobody ; he even opened the door of the shop and gave a glance into the street — and still nobody. Who, then, could it be ?
"I see how it is," he said, laughing and scratching his wig; "evidently that little voice was all my imagination. Let us set to work again."
And taking up the axe he struck a tremendous blow on the piece of wood.
" Oh ! oh ! you have hurt me ! " cried the same little voice dolefully.
This time Master Cherry was petrified. His eyes started out of his head with fright, his mouth \ remained open, and his tongue hung out almost to the end of his chin, like a mask on a fountain. As soon as he had recovered the use of his speech, he began to say, stuttering and trembling with fear:
"But where on earth can that little voice have come from that said Oh ! oh ! .f* . . . Here there is certainly not a living soul. Is it possible that this piece of wood can have learnt to cry and to lament like a child .'' I cannot believe it. This piece of wood, here it is; a log for fuel like all the others, and thrown on the fire it would about suffice to boil a saucepan of beans. . . . How then ^ Can any- one be hidden inside it ^ If anyone is hidden inside, so much the worse for him. I will settle him at once."
4 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
So saying, he seized the poor piece of wood and commenced beating it without mercy against the walls of the room.
Then he stopped to listen if he could hear any little voice lamenting. He waited two minutes — nothing ; five minutes — nothing ; ten minutes — still nothing !
" I see how it is," he then said, forcing himself to laugh and pushing up his wig ; " evidently the little voice that said Oh ! oh ! was all my imagina- tion! Let us set to work again."
But as all the same he was in a great fright, he tried to sing to give himself a little courage.
Putting the axe aside he took his plane, to plane and polish the bit of wood ; but whilst he was running it up and down he heard the same little voice say, laughing :
"Have done ! you are tickling me all over! "
This time poor Master Cherry fell down as if he had been struck by lightning. When he at last opened his eyes he found himself seated on the floor.
His face was quite changed, even the end of his nose, instead of being crimson, as it was nearly always, had become blue from fright.
II
Master Cherry makes a present of the piece of wood to his friend Geppetto^ who takes it to ?nake for him- self a wonderful puppet, that shall know how to dance, and to fence, and to leap like an acrobat.
At that moment some one knocked at the door.
"Come in," said the carpenter, without having the strength to rise to his feet.
A lively little old man immediately walked into the shop. His name was Geppetto, but when the boys of the neighbourhood wished to put him in a passion they called him by thenickname of Polendina,i because his yellow wig greatly resembled a pudding made of Indian corn.
Geppetto was very fiery. Woe to him who called him Polendina ! He became furious, and there was no holding him.
' Polendina. In Italian, pudding of Indian corn.
6 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
"Good day, Master Antonio," said Geppetto; " what are you doing there on the floor ? "
" I am teaching the alphabet to the ants."
" Much good may that do you."
"What has brought you to me, neighbour Geppetto ? "
" My legs. But to say the truth, Master Antonio, I am come to ask a favour of you."
" Here I am, ready to serve you," replied the carpenter, getting on to his knees.
"This morning an idea came into my head."
"Let us hear it."
" I thought I would make a beautiful wooden pup- pet ; but a wonderful puppet that should know how to dance, to fence, and to leap like an acrobat. With this puppet I would travel about the world to earn a piece of bread and a glassof wine. What do you think of it.?"
" Bravo, Polendina ! " exclaimed the same little voice, and it was impossible to say where it came from.
Hearing himself called Polendina Geppetto became as red as a turkey-cock from rage, and turning to the carpenter he said in a fury :
" Why do you insult me ? "
" Who insults you ? "
"You called me Polendina ! . . ."
" It was not I ! "
" Would you have it, then, that it was I? It was you, I say! "
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 7
"No!" "Yes!" "No!" "Yes!" And becoming more and more angry, from words
When the fight was over,
they came to blows, and flying at each other they bit, and fought, and scratched manfully.
When the fight was over Master Antonio was in possession of Geppetto's yellow wig, and Geppetto discovered that the grey wig belonging to the carpenter had remained between his teeth.
"Give me back my wig," screamed Master Antonio.
8 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
" And you, return me mine, and let us make friends."
The two old men having each recovered his own wig shook hands, and swore that they would remain friends to the end of their lives.
" Well then, neighbour Geppetto," said the carpenter, to prove that peace was made, " what is the favour that you wish of me ? "
" I want a little wood to make my puppet ; will you give me some ? "
Master Antonio was delighted, and he immedi- ately went to the bench and fetched the piece of wood that had caused him so much fear. But just as he was going to give it to his friend the piece of wood gave a shake, and wriggling violently out of his hands struck with all its force against the dried- up shins of poor Geppetto.
" Ah ! is that the courteous way in which you make your presents, Master Antonio ? You have almost lamed me ! . . ."
" I swear to you that it was not I ! . . ."
"Then you would have it that it was I .^ . . ."
" The wood is entirely to blame ! . . ."
"I know that it was the wood; but it was you that hit my legs with it ! . . ."
"I did not hit you with it ! . . ."
"Liar!"
"Geppetto, don't insult me or I will call you Polendina! . . ."
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 9
" Ass ! "
"Polendina!"
"Donkey! "
"Polendina! "
" Baboon I "
" Polendina ! "
On hearing himself called Polendina for the third time Geppetto, blind with rage, fell upon the carpenter and they fought desperately.
When the battle was over, Master Antonio had two more scratches on his nose, and his adversary had two buttons too little on his waistcoat. Their accounts being thus squared they shook hands, and swore to remain good friends for the rest of their lives.
Geppetto carried off his fine piece of wood and, thanking Master Antonio, returned limping to his house.
Ill
Geppetto having returned home begins at once to make a puppet^ to which he gives the name of Pinocchio. The first tricks played by the puppet.
Geppetto lived in a small ground-floor room that was only lighted from the staircase. The furniture could not have been simpler, — a bad chair, a poor bed, and a broken-down table. At the end of the room there was a fireplace with a lighted fire ; but the fire was painted, and by the fire was a painted saucepan that was boiling cheerfully, and sending out a cloud of smoke that looked exactly like real smoke.
As soon as he reached home Geppetto took his tools and set to work to cut out and model his puppet.
"What name shall I give him."*" he said to himself; "I think I will call him Pinocchio. It is a name that will bring him luck. I once knew a whole family so called. There was Pinocchio the father, Pinocchia the mother, and Pinocchi the children, and all of them did well. The richest of them was a beggar."
12 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
Having found a name for his puppet he began to work in good earnest, and he first made his hair, then his forehead, and then his eyes.
The eyes being finished, imagine his astonishment when he peceived that they moved and looked fixedly at him.
Geppetto seeing himself stared at by those two wooden eyes took it almost in bad part, and said in an angry voice :
"Wicked wooden eyes, why do you look at me?"
No one answered.
He then proceeded to carve the nose ; but no sooner had he made it than it began to grow. And it grew, and grew, and grew, until in a few minutes it had become an immense nose that seemed as if it would never end.
Poor Geppetto tired himself out with cutting it off; but the more he cut and shortened it, the longer did that impertinent nose become !
The mouth was not even completed when it began to laugh and deride him.
" Stop laughing ! " said Geppetto, provoked ; but he might as well have spoken to the wall.
" Stop laughing, I say ! " he roared in a threatening tone.
The mouth then ceased laughing, but put out its tongue as far as it would go.
Geppetto, not to spoil his handiwork, pretended
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 13
not to see, and continued his labours. After the mouth he fashioned the chin, then the throat, then the shoulders, the stomach, the arms and the hands.
The hands were scarcely finished when Geppetto felt his wig snatched from his head. He turned round, and what did he see ^ He saw his yellow wig in the puppet's hand.
" Pinocchio I . . . Give me back my wig instantly! "
But Pinocchio, instead of returning it, put it on his own head, and was in consequence nearly smothered.
Geppetto at this insolent and derisive behaviour felt sadder and more melancholy than he had ever been in his life before ; and turning to Pinocchio he said to him :
"You young rascal ! You are not yet completed, and you are already beginning to show want of respect to your father ! That is bad, ray boy, very bad ! "
And he dried a tear.
The legs and the feet remained to be done.
When Geppetto had finished the feet he received a kick on the point of his nose.
"I deserve it!" he said to himself ; "I should have thought of it sooner ! Now it is too late I "
He then took the puppet under the arms and placed him on the floor to teach him to walk.
14 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
Pinocchio's legs were stiff and he could not move, but Geppetto led him by the hand and showed him how to put one foot before the other.
When his legs became flexible Pinocchio began to walk by himself and to run about the room ; until,
m
Geppetto rushed after him.
having gone out of the house door, he jumped into the street and escaped.
Poor Geppetto rushed after him but was not able to overtake him, for that rascal Pinocchio leapt in front of him like a hare, and knocking his wooden feet together against the pavement made as much clatter as twenty pairs of peasants' clogs.
" Stop him ! stop him ! " shouted Geppetto ; but the people in the street, seeing a wooden puppet running like a racehorse, stood still in astonishment
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 15
to look at it, and laughed, and laughed, and laughed, until it beats description.
At last, as good luck would have it, a carabineer arrived who, hearing the uproar, imagined that a colt had escaped from his master. Planting himself courageously with his legs apart in the middle of the road, he waited with the determined purpose of stopping him, and thus preventing the chance of worse disasters.
When Pinocchio, still at some distance, saw the carabineer barricading the whole street, he endeavoured to take him by surprise and to pass between his legs. But he failed signally.
The carabineer without disturbing himself in the least caught him cleverly by the nose — it was an immense nose of ridiculous proportions that seemed made on purpose to be laid hold of by carabineers — and consigned him to Geppetto. Wishing to punish him, Geppetto intended to pull his ears at once. But imagine his feelings when he could not succeed in finding them. And do you know the reason ? It was that, in his hurry to model him, he had forgotten to make them.
He then took him by the collar, and as he was leading him away he said to him, shaking his head threateningly :
"We will go home at once, and as soon as we arrive we will regulate our accounts, never doubt it."
1 6 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
At this announcement Pinocchio threw himself on the ground and would not take another step. In the meanwhile a crowd of idlers and inquisitive people began to assemble and to make a ring round them.
Some of them said one thing, some another.
" Poor puppet ! " said several, " he is right not to wish to return home ! Who knows how Geppetto, that bad old man, will beat him ! . . . "
And the others added maliciously :
" Geppetto seems a good man ! but with boys he is a regular tyrant ! If that poor puppet is left in his hands he is quite capable of tearing him in pieces! . . ."
It ended in so much being said and done that the carabineer at last set Pinocchio at liberty and con- ducted Geppetto to prison. The poor man, not being ready with words to defend himself, cried like a calf, and as he was being led away to prison sobbed out :
"Wretched boy! And to think how I have laboured to make him a well-conducted puppet ! But it serves me right! I should have thought of it sooner! . . ."
What happened afterwards is a story that really is past all belief, but I will relate it to you in the following chapters.
IV
The story of Pinocchio and the Talking-cricket^ from which we see that na light y boys cannot endure to be corrected by those who know more than they do.
Well then, children, I must tell you that whilst poor Geppetto was being taken to prison for no fault of his, that imp Pinocchio, finding himself free from the clutches of the carabineer, ran off as fast as his legs could carry him. That he might reach home the quicker he rushed across the fields, and in his mad hurry he jumped high banks, thorn hedges, and ditches full of water, exactly as a kid or a leveret would have done if pursued by hunters.
Having arrived at the house he found the street door ajar. He pushed it open, went in, and having secured the latch threw himself seated on the ground and gave a great sigh of satisfaction.
But his satisfaction did not last long, for he heard some one in the room who was saying :
" Cri-cri-cri ! "
" Who calls me ? " said Pinocchio in a fright.
*' It is I ! "
B S7
1 8 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
Pinocchio turned round and saw a big cricket crawling slowly up the wall.
" Tell me, Cricket, who may you be ? "
"I am the Talking-cricket, and I have lived in this room a hundred years and more."
" Now, however, this room is mine," said the puppet, "and if you would do me a pleasure go away at once, without even turning round."
" I will not go," answered the Cricket, " until I have told you a great truth."
"Tell it me, then, and be quick about it."
"Woe to those boys who rebel against their parents, and run away capriciously from home. They will never come to any good in the world, and sooner or later they will repent bitterly."
"Sing away. Cricket, as you please, and as long as you please. For me, I have made up my mind to run away to-morrow at daybreak, because if I remain I shall not escape the fate of all other boys ; I shall be sent to school and shall be made to study either by love or by force. To tell you in confidence, I have no wish to learn ; it is much more amusing to run after butterflies, or to climb trees and to take the young birds out of their nests."
" Poor little goose I But do you not know that in that way you will grow up a perfect donkey, and that every one will make game of you ? "
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 19
" Hold your tongue, you wicked ill-omened croaker ! " shouted Pinocchio.
But the Cricket, who was patient and philosophical,
Snatclicd up a wooden h.imnicr.
instead of becoming angry at this impertinence, continued in the same tone :
"But if you do not wish to go to school why not at least learn a trade, if only to enable you to earn honestly a piece of bread ! "
20 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
"Do you want me to tell you?" replied Pinocchio, who was beginning to lose patience. " Amongst all the trades in the world there is only one that really takes my fancy."
"And that trade — what is it .? "
"It is to eat, drink, sleep, and amuse myself, and to lead a vagabond life from morning to night."
"As a rule," said the Talking-cricket with the same composure, "all those who follow that trade end almost always either in a hospital or in prison."
" Take care, you wicked ill-omened croaker ! . . . Woe to you if I fly into a passion ! . . ."
"Poor Pinocchio! I really pity you ! . . ."
" Why do you pity me ^ "
" Because you are a puppet and, what is worse, because you have a wooden head."
At these last words Pinocchio jumped up in a rage, and snatching a wooden hammer from the bench he threw it at the Talking-cricket.
Perhaps he never meant to hit him ; but un- fortunately it struck him exactly on the head, so that the poor Cricket had scarcely breath to cry cri-cri-cri, and then he remained dried up and flattened against the wall.
V
Pinoccbio is hungry and searches for an egg to inake himself an omelet ; but just at the most interesting moment the omelet flies out of the window.
Night was coming on, and Pinocchio, remembering thit he had eaten nothing all day, began to feel a gnawing in his stomach that very much resembled appetite.
But appetite with boys travels quickly, and in fact after a few minutes his appetite had become hunger, and in no time his hunger became ravenous — a hunger that was really quite insupportable.
Poor Pinocchio ran quickly to the fire-place where a saucepan was boiling, and was going to take oiF the lid to see what was in it, but the saucepan was only painted on the wall. You can imagine his feelings. His nose, which was already long, became longer by at least three fingers.
He then began to run about the room, searching in the drawers and in every imaginable place, in
22 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
hopes of finding a bit of bread. If it was only a bit of dry bread, a crust, a bone left by a dog, a little mouldy pudding of Indian corn, a fish bone, a cherry stone — in fact anything that he could gnaw. But he could find nothing, nothing at all, absolutely nothing.
And in the meanwhile his hunger grew and grew; and poor Pinocchio had no other relief than yawning, and his yawns were so tremendous that sometimes his mouth almost reached his ears. And after he had yawned he spluttered, and felt as if he was going to faint.
Then he began to cry desperately, and he said :
" The Talking-cricket was right. I did wrong to rebel against my papa and to run away from home. ... If my papa was here I should not now be dying of yawning ! Oh ! what a dreadful illness hunger is ! "
Just then he thought he saw something in the dust-heap — something round and white that looked like a hen's egg. To give a spring and seize hold of it was the affair of a moment. It was indeed an egg.
Pinocchio's joy beats description ; it can only be imagined. Almost believing it must be a dream he kept turning the egg over in his hands, feeling it and kissing it. And as he kissed it he said :
"And now, how shall I cook it? Shall I make
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 23
an omelet? . . . No, it would be better to cook it
Thus saying it spread its wings.
, . . Or would it not be more savoury to fry it in the frying-pan ? Or shall I simply boil
m a saucer
24 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
It ? No, the quickest way of all is to cook it in a saucer : I am in such a hurry to eat it ! "
Without loss of time he placed an earthenware saucer on a brazier full of red-hot embers. Into the saucer instead of oil or butter he poured a little water ; and when the water began to smoke, tac ! . . . he broke the egg-shell over it that the contents might drop in. But instead of the white and the yolk a little chicken popped out very gay and polite. Making a beautiful courtesy it said to him :
" A thousand thanks. Master Pinocchio, for saving me the trouble of breaking the shell. Adieu until we meet again. Keep well, and my best compliments to all at home ! "
Thus saying it spread its wings, darted through the open window, and flying away was lost to sight.
The poor puppet stood as if he had been bewitched, with his eyes fixed, his mouth open, and the egg-shell in his hand. Recovering, how- ever, from his first stupefaction, he began to cry and scream, and to stamp his feet on the floor in despera- tion, and amidst his sobs he said :
" Ah ! indeed the Talking-cricket was right. If I had not run away from home, and if my papa was here, I should not now be dying of hunger ! Oh ! what a dreadful illness hunger is ! , . ."
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 25
And as his stomach cried out more than ever and he did not know how to quiet it, he thought he would leave the house and make an excursion in the neighbourhood in hopes of finding some charitable person who would give him a piece of bread.
VI
Pinocchio falls asleep with his feet on the brazier^ and luakes in the morning to find them burnt off.
It was a wild and stormy winter's night. The thunder was tremendous and the hghtning so vivid that the sky seemed on fire. A bitter blusterous wind whistled angrily, and raising clouds of dust swept over the country, causing the trees to creak and groan as it passed.
Pinocchio had a great fear of thunder, but hunger was stronger than fear. He therefore closed the house door and made a rush for the village, which he reached in a hundred bounds, with his tongue hanging out and panting for breath, like a dog after game.
But he found it all dark and deserted. The shops were closed, the windows shut, and there was not so much as a dog in the street. It seemed the land of the dead.
Pinocchio, urged by desperation and hunger, laid hold of the bell of a house and began to peal it with all his might, saying to himself:
28 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
"That will bring somebody."
And so it did. A little old man appeared at a window with a nightcap on his head, and called to him angrily :
" What do you want at such an hour ? "
( m yyi
Whilst he slept his feet took fire.
" Would you be kind enough to give me a little bread .? "
"Wait there, I will be back directly," said the little old man, thinking he had to do with one of those rascally boys who amuse themselves at night by ringing the house bells to rouse respectable people who are sleeping quietly.
After half a minute the window was again opened, and the voice of the same httle old man shouted to Pinocchio :
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 29
"Come underneath and hold out your cap."
Pinocchio pulled off his cap; but just as he held it out an enormous basin of water was poured down on him, watering him from head to foot as if he had been a pot of dried-up geraniums.
He returned home like a wet chicken quite exhausted with fatigue and hunger ; and having no longer strength to stand, he sat down and rested his damp and muddy feet on a brazier full of burning embers.
And then he fell asleep; and whilst he slept his feet, which were wooden, took fire, and little by little they burnt away and became cinders.
Pinocchio continued to sleep and to snore as if his feet belonged to some one else. At last about daybreak he awoke because some one was knocking at the door.
" Who is there ?" he asked, yawning and rubbing his eyes.
" It is I ! " answered a voice.
And the voice was Geppetto's voice.
VII
Geppetto returns home, makes the puppet new feet, and gives him the breakfast that the poor man had brought for hiimef.
Poor Pinocchio, whose eyes were still half shut from sleep, had not as yet discovered that his feet were burnt off. The moment, therefore, that he heard his father's voice he slipped off his stool to run and open the door ; but after stumbling two or three times he fell his whole length on the floor.
And the noise he made in falling was as if a sack of wooden ladles had been thrown from a fifth story.
" Open the door ! " shouted Geppetto from the street.
" Dear papa, I cannot," answered the puppet, crying and rolling about on the ground.
" Why cannot you .'' "
" Because my feet have been eaten."
''And who has eaten your feet.^"'
" The cat," said Pinocchio, seeing the cat, who
3«
32 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
was amusing herself by making some shavings dance with her forepaws.
" Open the door, I tell you ! " repeated Geppetto. "If you don't, when I get into the house you shall have the cat from me ! "
" Oh ! Poor me ! I shall have to walk on my knees for the rest of my life ! "
" I cannot stand up, believe me. Oh, poor me ! poor me ! I shall have to walk on my knees for the rest of my life ! . . ."
Geppetto, believing that all this lamentation was only another of the puppet's tricks, thought of a
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO :^2
means of putting an end to it, and climbing up the wall he got in at the window.
He was very angry, and at first he did nothing but scold ; but when he saw his Pinocchio lying on the ground and really without feet he was quite over- come. He took him in his arms and began to kiss and caress him and to say a thousand endearing things to him, and as the big tears ran down his cheeks, he said, sobbing :
"My little Pinocchio! how did you manage to burn your feet ? "
"I don't know, papa, but believe me it has been an infernal night that I shall remember as long as I live. It thundered and lightened, and I was very hungry, and then the Talking-cricket said to me : ' It serves you right ; you have been wicked and you deserve it,' and I said to him : ' Take care, Cricket!' , . . and he said: 'You are a puppet and you have a wooden head,' and I threw the handle of a hammer at him, and he died, but the fault was his, for I didn't wish to kill him, and the proof of it is that I put an earthenware saucer on a brazier of burning embers, but a chicken flew out and said: 'Adieu until we meet again, and many compliments to all at home ' : and I got still more hungry, for which reason that little old man in a nightcap opening the window said to me : ' Come underneath and hold out your hat,' and poured a c
34 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
basinful of water on my head, because asking for a little bread isn't a disgrace, is it? and I returned home at once, and because I was always very hungry I put my feet on the brazier to dry them, and then you returned, and I found they were burnt off, and I am always hungry, but I have no longer any feet ! Ih! Ih! Ih! Ih! . . ." And poor Pinocchio began to cry and to roar so loudly that he was heard five miles off.
Geppetto, who from all this jumbled account had only understood one thing, which was that the puppet was dying of hunger, drew from his pocket three pears, and giving them to him said:
" These three pears were intended for my break- fast ; but I will give them to you willingly. Eat them, and I hope they will do you good."
" If you wish me to eat them, be kind enough to peel them for me."
"Peel them.f"' said Geppetto, astonished. "I should never have thought, my boy, that you were so dainty and fastidious. That is bad ! In this world we should accustom ourselves from childhood to like and to eat everything, for there is no saying to what we may be brought. There are so many chances ! . . ."
"You are no doubt right," interrupted Pinocchio, " but I will never eat fruit that has not been peeled. I cannot bear rind."
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO ss
So that good Geppetto fetched a knife, and arm- ing himself with patience peeled the three pears, and put the rind on a corner of the table.
Having eaten the first pear in two mouthfuls, Pinocchio was about to throw away the core ; but Geppetto caught hold of his arm and said to him :
" Do not throw it away ; in this world everything may be of use."
" But core I am determined I will not eat," shouted the puppet, turning upon him like a viper.
"Who knows! there are so many chances ! . . ." repeated Geppetto without losing his temper.
And so the three cores, instead of being thrown out of the window, were placed on the corner of the table together with the three rinds.
Having eaten, or rather having devoured the three pears, Pinocchio yawned tremendously, and then said in a fretful tone:
" I am as hungry as ever ! "
"But, my boy, I have nothing more to give you ! "
"Nothing, really nothing?"
" I have only the rind and the cores of the three pears."
" One must have patience ! " said Pinocchio ; if there is nothing else I will eat a rind."
And he began to chew it. At first he made a wry face ; but then one after another he quickly disposed of the rinds : and after the rinds even the
^6 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCGHIO
cores, and when he had eaten up everything he clapped his hands on his sides in his satisfaction, and said joyfully :
" Ah ! now I feel comfortable."
"You see now," observed Geppetto, "that I was right when I said to you that it did not do to accustom ourselves to be too particular or too dainty in our tastes. We can never know, my dear boy, what may happen to us. There are so many chances ! . . ."
VIII
Geppetto makes Finocchio neiv feet^ and sells his own coat to buy him a Spelling-book.
No sooner had the puppet appeased his hunger than he began to cry and to grumble because he wanted a pair of new feet.
But Geppetto, to punish him for his naughtiness, allowed him to cry and to despair for half the day. He then said to him :
"Why should I make you new feet? To enable you, perhaps, to escape again from home ? "
"I promise you," said the puppet, sobbing, "that for the future I will be good."
"All boys," replied Geppetto, "when they are bent upon obtaining something, say the same thing."
" I promise you that I will go to school, and that I will study and earn a good character."
"All boys, when they are bent on obtaining something, repeat the same story."
"But I am not like other boys! I am better than all of them and I always speak the truth. I promise you, papa, that I will learn a trade, and
38 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
that I will be the consolation and the staff of your old age."
Geppetto, although he put on a severe face, had his eyes full of tears and his heart big with sorrow at seeing his poor Pinocchio in such a pitiable state. He did not say another word, but taking his tools and two small pieces of well-seasoned wood he set to work with great diligence.
In less than an hour the feet were finished : two little feet — swift, well-knit, and nervous. They might have been modelled by an artist of genius.
Geppetto then said to the puppet :
" Shut your eyes and go to sleep ! "
And Pinocchio shut his eyes and pretended to be asleep.
And whilst he pretended to sleep, Geppetto, with a little glue which he had melted in an egg-shell, fastened his feet in their place, and it was so well done that not even a trace could be seen of where they were joined.
No sooner had the puppet discovered that he had feet than he jumped down from the table on which he was lying, and began to spring and to cut a thousand capers about the room, as if he had gone mad with the greatness of his delight.
"To reward you for what you have done for me," said Pinocchio to his father, "I will go to school at once."
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 39
" Good boy."
" But to go to school I shall want some clothes."
Geppetto, who was poor, and who had not so
Ran to look at himself in a crock of water.
much as a farthing in his pocket, then made him a
little dress of flowered paper, a pair of shoes from
the bark of a tree, and a cap of the crumb of bread.
Pinocchio ran immediately to look at himself in a
40 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
crock of water, and he was so pleased with his appearance that he said, strutting about Hke a peacock :
"I look quite like a gentleman! "
" Yes indeed," answered Geppetto, " for bear in mind that it is not fine clothes that make the gentleman, but rather clean clothes."
" By the bye," added the puppet, " to go to school I am still in want — indeed I am without the best thing, and the most important."
"And what is it?"
"I have no Spelling-book."
" You are right : but what shall we do to get one r
" It is quite easy. We have only to go to the bookseller's and buy it."
" And the money ? "
"I have got none."
" No more have I," added the good old man very sadly.
And Pinocchio, although he was a very merry boy, became sad also ; because poverty, when it is real poverty, is understood by everybody — even by boys.
" Well, patience ! " exclaimed Geppetto, all at once rising to his feet, and putting on his old fustian coat, all patched and darned, he ran out of the house.
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 41
He returned shortly, holding in his hand a Spelling-book for Pinocchio, but the old coat was gone. The poor man was in his shirt sleeves, and out of doors it was snowing.
" And the coat, papa ? "
"I have sold it."
"Why did you sell it?"
"Because I found it too hot."
Pinocchio understood this answer in an instant, and unable to restrain the impulse of his good heart he sprang up, and throwing his arms round Geppetto's neck, he began kissing him again and again.
IX
Pinocch'w sells his Spelling-book that he may go and see a puppet-show.
As soon as it had done snowing Pinocchio set out for school with his fine SpeHing-book under his arm. As he went along he began to imagine a thousand things in his little brain, and to build a thousand castles in the air, one more beautiful than the other.
And talking to himself he said:
" To-day at school I will learn to read at once ; then to-morrow I will begin to write, and the day- after to-morrow to cipher. Then with my acquire- ments I will earn a great deal of money, and with the first money I have in my pocket I will im- mediately buy for my papa a beautiful new cloth coat. But what am I saying .? Cloth, indeed ! It shall be all made of gold and silver, and it shall have diamond buttons. That poor man really deserves it ; for to buy me books and have me taught he has remained in his shirt sleeves. . . . And in this
43
44 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
cold ! It is only fathers who are capable of such sacrifices ! . . ."
Whilst he was saying this with great emotion he thought that he heard music in the distance that sounded like fifes and the beating of a big drum : fi-fi-fi, fi-fi-fi, zum, zum, zum, zum.
He stopped and listened. The sounds came from the end of a cross street that took to a little village on the seashore.
"What can that music be? What a pity that I have to go to school, or else . . ."
And he remained irresolute. It was, however, necessary to come to a decision. Should he go to school ? or should he go after the fifes ?
" To-day I will go and hear the fifes, and to- morrow I will go to school," finally decided the young scapegrace, shrugging his shoulders.
The more he ran the nearer came the sounds of the fifes and the beating of the big drum : fi-fi-fi, zum, zum, zum, zum.
At last he found himself in the middle of a square quite full of people, who were all crowding round a building made of wood and canvas, and painted a thousand colours.
"What is that building?" asked Pinocchio, turning to a little boy who belonged to the place.
" Read the placard — it is all written — and then you will know."
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 45
"1 would read it willingly, but it so happens that to-day I don't know how to read."
" Bravo, blockhead ! Then 1 will read it to you. The writing on that placard in those letters red as fire is :
"GREAT PUPPET THEATRE."
" Has the play begun long ? "
" It is beginning now."
" How much does it cost to go in? "
"Twopence."
Pinocchio, who was in a fever of curiosity, lost all control of himself, and without any shame he said to the little boy to whom he was
talking:
" Would you lend me twopence until to-morrow ? "
*' I would lend them to you willingly," said the other, taking him off, "but it so happens that to-day I cannot give them to you."
"I will sell you my jacket for twopence," the puppet then said to him.
"What do you think that I could do with a jacket of flowered paper? If there was rain and it got wet, it would be impossible to get it off my back."
" Will you buy my shoes ? "
"They would only be of use to light the fire."
" How much will you give me for my cap ? "
46 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
"That would be a wonderful acquisition indeed! A cap of bread crumb ! There would be a risk
The book was sold there and then.
of the mice coming to eat it whilst it was on my head."
Pinocchio was on thorns. He was on the point
of making another offer, but he had not the
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 47
courage. He hesitated, felt irresolute and remorse- ful. At last he said :
"Will you give me twopence for this new Spelling-book ? "
"I am a boy and I don't buy from boys," replied his little interlocutor, who had much more sense than he had.
"I will buy the Spelling-book for twopence,'^ called out a hawker of old clothes, who had been listening to the conversation.
And the book was sold there and then. And to think that poor Geppetto had remained at home trembling with cold in his shirt sleeves, that he might buy his son a Spelling-book !
The puppets recognise their brother Pinocchio, and receive him with delight ; but at that moment their master Fire-eater makes his appearance and Pinocchio is in danger of coming to a bad end.
When Pinocchio came into the little puppet theatre, an incident occurred that almost produced a revolution.
I must tell you that the curtain was drawn up, and the play had already begun.
On the stage Harlequin and Punchinello were as usual quarrelling with each other, and threatening every moment to come to blows.
The audience, all attention, laughed till they were ill as they listened to the bickerings of these two puppets, who gesticulated and abused each other so naturally that they might have been two reasonable beings, and two persons of the world.
50 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
All at once Harlequin stopped short, and turning to the public he pointed with his hand to some one far down in the pit, and exclaimed in a dramatic tone :
" Gods of the firmament ! do I dream, or am I awake? But surely that is Pinocchio! . . ."
"It is indeed Pinocchio! " cried Punchinello.
"It is indeed himself!" screamed Miss Rose, peeping from behind the scenes.
" It is Pinocchio ! it is Pinocchio ! " shouted all the puppets in chorus, leaping from all sides on to the stage. " It is Pinocchio ! It is our brother Pinocchio ! Long live Pinocchio ! . . ."
" Pinocchio, come up here to me," cried Harlequin, " and throw yourself into the arms of your wooden brothers ! "
At this affectionate invitation Pinocchio made a leap from the end of the pit into the reserved seats ; another leap landed him on the head of the leader of the orchestra, and he then sprang upon the stage.
The embraces, the hugs, the friendly pinches, and the demonstrations of warm brotherly affection that Pinocchio received from the excited crowd of actors and actresses of the puppet dramatic company beat description.
The sight was doubtless a moving one, but the public in the pit, finding that the play was stopped,
Carried him in triumph before the footh'ghts.
52 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
became impatient, and began to shout : " We will have the play — go on with the play! "
It was all breath thrown away. The puppets, instead of continuing the recital, redoubled their noise and outcries, and putting Pinocchio on their shoulders they carried him in triumph before the footlights.
At that moment out came the showman. He was very big, and so ugly that the sight of him was enough to frighten anyone. His beard was as black as ink, and so long that it reached from his chin to the ground. I need only say that he trod upon it when he walked. His mouth was as big as an oven, and his eyes were like two lanterns of red glass with lights burning inside them. He carried a large whip made of snakes and foxes' tails twisted together, which he cracked constantly.
At his unexpected appearance there was a profound silence : no one dared to breathe. A fly might have been heard in the stillness. The poor puppets of both sexes trembled like so many leaves.
" Why have you come to raise a disturbance in my theatre ? " asked the showman of Pinocchio, in the gruff voice of a hob-goblin suffering from a severe cold in the head.
" Believe me, honoured sir, that it was not ray fault! . . ."
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO $3
"That is enough! To-night we will settle our accounts."
As soon as the play was over the showman went into the kitchen where a fine sheep, preparing for
his supper, was turning slowly on the spit in front of the fire. As there was not enough wood to finish roasting and browning it, he called Harlequin and Punchinello, and said to them :
"Bring that puppet here: you will find him hanging on a nail. It seems to me that he is made
54 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
of very dry wood, and I am sure that if he was thrown on the fire he would make a beautiful blaze for the roast."
At first Harlequin and Punchinello hesitated ; but, appalled by a severe glance from their master, they obeyed. In a short time they returned to the kitchen carrying poor Pinocchio, who was wriggling like an eel taken out of water, and screaming desperately : " Papa ! papa ! save me ! I will not die, I will not die ! . . ."
XI
Fire-eater s?ieezes and pardons Pinocchio^ who then saves the life of his friend Harlequin.
The showman Fire-eater — for that was his name — looked, I must say, a terrible man, especially with his black beard that covered his chest and legs like an apron. On the whole, however, he had not a bad heart. In proof of this, when he saw poor Pinocchio brought before him, struggling and screaming "I will not die, I will not die I "' he was quite moved and felt very sorry for him. He tried to hold out, but after a little he could stand it no longer and he sneezed violently. When he heard the sneeze, Harlequin, who up to that moment had been in the deepest afiliction, and bowed down like a weeping willow, became quite cheerful, and leaning towards Pinocchio he whispered to him softly :
" Good news, brother. The showman has sneezed,
S6 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
and that is a sign that he pities you, and consequently you are saved."
For you must know that whilst most men, when they feel compassion for somebody, either weep or at least pretend to dry their eyes, Fire-eater, on the contrary, whenever he was really overcome, had the habit of sneezing.
After he had sneezed, the showman, still acting the ruffian, shouted to Pinocchio :
" Have done crying! Your lamentations have given me a pain in my stomach. ... I feel a spasm, that almost . . . Etci ! etci ! " and he sneezed again twice.
"Bless you!" said Pinocchio.
"Thank you! And your papa and your mamma, are they still alive ^ " asked Fire-eater.
" Papa, yes ; my mamma I have never known."
" Who can say what a sorrow it would be for your poor old father if I was to have you thrown amongst those burning coals ! Poor old man ! I compassionate him ! . . . Etci ! etci ! etci ! " and he sneezed again three times.
"Bless you! " said Pinocchio.
" Thank you ! All the same, some compassion is due to me, for as you see I have no more wood with which to finish roasting my mutton, and to tell you the truth, under the circumstances you would have been of great use to me ! However, I have had pity on you, so I must have patience. Instead of you I
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 57
will burn under the spit one of the puppets belonging to my company. Ho there, gendarmes ! "
At this call two wooden gendarmes immediately appeared. They were very long and very thin, and
He sneezed again three times.
had on cocked hats, and held unsheathed swords in
their hands.
The showman said to them in a hoarse voice :
" Take Harlequin, bind him securely, and then
58 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
throw him on the fire to burn. I am determined that my mutton shall be well roasted."
Only imagine that poor Harlequin! His terror was so great that his legs bent under him, and he fell with his face on the ground.
At this agonising sight Pinocchio, weeping bitterly, threw himself at the showman's feet, and bathing his long beard with his tears he began to say in a supplicating voice :
"Have pity, Sir Fire-eater! ..."
"Here there are no sirs," the showman answered severely.
''Have pity, Sir Knight! ..."
" Here there are no knights ! "
" Have pity, Commander ! . . ."
"Here there are no commanders! "
"Have pity, Excellence! ..."
Upon hearing himself called Excellence the show- man began to smile, and became at once kinder and more tractable. Turning to Pinocchio he asked :
" Well, what do you want from me ? "
" 1 implore you to pardon poor Harlequin."
" For him there can be no pardon. As I have spared you he must be put on the fire, for I am determined that my mutton shall be well roasted."
" In that case," cried Pinocchio proudly, rising and throwing away his cap of bread crumb — "in that case I know my duty. Come on, gendarmes !
1
Threw himself at the showman's feet.
6o THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
Bind me and throw me amongst the flames. No, it is not just that poor Harlequin, my true friend, should die for me I ..."
These words, pronounced in a loud heroic voice, made all the puppets who were present cry. Even the gendarmes, although they were made of wood, wept like two newly-born lambs.
Fire-eater at first remained as hard and unmoved as ice, but httle by little he began to melt and to sneeze. And having sneezed four or five times, he opened his arms affectionately, and said to Pinocchio:
" You are a good, brave boy ! Come here and give me a kiss."
Pinocchio ran at once, and climbing like a squirrel up the showman's beard he deposited a hearty kiss on the point of his nose.
" Then the pardon is granted ? " asked poor Harlequin in a faint voice that was scarcely audible.
"The pardon is granted!" answered Fire-eater; he then added, sighing and shaking his head :
" I must have patience I To-night I shall have to resign myself to eat the mutton half raw; but another time, woe to him who chances ! . . ."
At the news of the pardon the puppets all ran to the stage, and having lighted the lamps and chandeliers as if for a full-dress performance, they began to leap and to dance merrily. At dawn they were still dancing.
XII
The showman^ Fire-cater^ makes Pinocchio a present of Jive gold pieces to take home to his father^ Gcppetto ; but Pinocchio instead allows himself to be taken in by the Fox and the Cat^ and goes with them.
The following day Fire-eater called Pinocchio on one side and asked him:
" What is your father's name ? "
" Geppetto."
"And uhat trade does he follow?"
" He is a beggar."'
" Does he gain much ? "
" Gain much ? Why, he has never a penny in his pocket. Only think, to buy a Spelling-book for me to go to school he was obliged to sell the
6i
62 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
only coat he had to wear — a coat that, between patches and darns, was not fit to be seen."
" Poor devil ! I feel almost sorry for him! Here are five gold pieces. Go at once and take them to him with my compliments."
You can easily understand that Pinocchio thanked the showman a thousand times. He embraced all the puppets of the company one by one, even to the gendarmes, and beside himself with delight set out to return home.
But he had not gone far when he met on the road a Fox lame of one foot, and a Cat blind of both eyes, who were going along helping each other like good companions in misfortune. The Fox, who was lame, walked leaning on the Cat, and the Cat, who was blind, was guided by the Fox.
" Good day, Pinocchio," said the Fox, accosting him politely.
" How do you come to know my name ^ " asked the puppet.
"I know your father well."
" Where did you see him ? "
"I saw him yesterday at the door of his house."
" And what was he doing .' "
"He was in his shirt sleeves and shivering with cold."
" Poor papa ! But that is over ; for the tuture he shall shiver no more ! . . "
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 6;^
"Why?"
"Because I am become a gentleman."
" A gentleman — you ! " said the Fox, and he began to laugh rudely and scornfully. The Cat also began to laugh, but to conceal it she combed her whiskers with her forepaws.
"There is little to laugh at," cried Pinocchio
angrily. " I am really sorry to make your
mouths water, but if you know anything about
.it, you can see that these here are five gold
pieces."
And he pulled out the money that Fire-eater had made him a present of
At the sympathetic ring of the money the Fox, with an involuntary movement, stretched out the paw that had seemed crippled, and the Cat opened wide two eyes that looked like t\\o green lanterns. It is true that she shut them again, and so quickly that Pinocchio observed nothing.
" And now," asked the Fox, " what are you going to do with all that money ? "
" First of all," answered the puppet, " I intend to buy a new coat for my papa, made of gold and silver, and with diamond buttons ; and then I will buy a Spelling-book for myself."
" For yourself.? "
"Yes indeed: for I wish to go to school to study in earnest."
64 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
" Look at me ! " said the Fox. " Through my foohsh passion for study I have lost a leg."
" Look at me ! " said the Cat. " Through my foolish passion for study I have lost the sight of both my eyes."
At that moment a white Blackbird, that was perched on the hedge by the road, began his usual song, and said :
"Pinocchio, don't listen to the advice of bad companions : if you do you will repent it ! . . ."
Poor Blackbird ! If only he had not spoken ! The Cat, with a great leap, sprang upon him, and without even giving him time to say Oh ! ate him in a mouthful, feathers and all.
Having eaten him and cleaned her mouth she shut her eyes again and feigned blindness as before.
" Poor Blackbird ! " said Pinocchio to the Cat^ *' why did you treat him so badly? "
" I did it to give him a lesson. He will learn another time not to meddle in other people's conversation."
They had gone almost half-way when the Fox, halting suddenly, said to the puppet :
"Would you like to double your money?"
" In what way ? "
" Would you like to make out of your five miserable sovereigns, a hundred, a thousand, two thousand ? "
" I should think so ! but in what way ? "
"Don't listen to the advice of bad companions.
66 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
"The way is easy enough. Instead of returning home you must go with us,"
"And where do you wish to take me?"
"To the land of the Owls."
Pinocchio reflected a moment, and then he said resolutely :
" No, I will not go. I am already close to the house, and I will return home to my papa who is waiting for me. Who can tell how often the poor old man must have sighed yesterday when I did not come back ! I have indeed been a bad son, and the Talking-cricket was right when he said: 'Dis- obedient boys never come to any good in the world.' I have found it to my cost, for many misfortunes have happened to me. Even yesterday in Fire- eater's house I ran the risk. . . . Oh ! it makes me shudder only to think of it ! "
"Well, then," said the Fox, "you are quite decided to go home ? Go, then, and so much the worse for you."
" So much the worse for you ! " repeated the Cat.
" Think well of it, Pinocchio, for you are giving a kick to fortune."
"To fortune! " repeated the Cat.
" Between to-day and to-morrow your five sovereigns would have become two thousand."
" Two thousand ! " repeated the Cat.
" But how is it possible that they could have
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 6-]
become so many ? " asked Pinocchio, remaining with his mouth open from astonishment.
" I will explain it to you at once," said the Fox. " You must know that in the land of the Owls there is a sacred field called by everybody the Field of miracles. In this field you must dig a little hole, and you put into it, we will say, one gold sovereign. You then cover up the hole with a little earth : you must water it with two pails of water from the fountain, then sprinkle it with two pinches of salt, and when night comes you can go quietly to bed. In the meanwhile, during the night, the golJ piece will grow and flower, and in the morning when you get up and return to the field, what do you find ? You find a beautiful tree laden with as many gold sovereigns as a fine ear of corn has grains in the month of June."
"So that," said Pinocchio, more and more be- wildered, "supposing I buried my five sovereigns in that field, how many should I find there the following morning.''"
"That is an exceedingly easy calculation," replied the Fox, "a calculation that you can make on the ends of your fingers. Put that every sovereign gives you an increase of five hundred : multiply five hundred by five, and the following morning will find you with two thousand five hundred shining gold pieces in your pocket."
68 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
" Oh ! how delightful ! " cried Pinocchio, dancing for joy. " As soon as ever I have obtained those sovereigns, I will keep two thousand for myself, and the other five hundred I will make a present of to you two."
" A present to us ? " cried the Fox with indigna- tion and appearing much offended. " What are you dreaming of .^"
"What are you dreaming of.'"' repeated the Cat.
" We do not work," said the Fox, " for dirty interest : we work solely to enrich others."
" Others ! " repeated the Cat.
"What good people!" thought Pinocchio to himself: and forgetting there and then his papa, the new coat, the Spelling-book, and all his good resolutions, he said to the Fox and the Cat :
" Let us be oif at once. I will go with you.
XIII
The inn of The Red Craw-fish.
They walked, and walked, and walked, until at last, towards evening, they arrived dead tired at the inn of The Red Craw-fish.
" Let us stop here a little," said the Fox, " that we may have something to eat and rest ourselves for an hour or two. We will start again at mid- night, so as to arrive at the Field of miracles by dawn to-morrow morning."
Having gone into the inn they all three sat down to table : but none of them had any appetite.
The Cat, who was suffering from indigestion and feeling seriously indisposed, could only eat thirty- five mullet with tomato sauce, and four portions of tripe with Parmesan cheese ; and because she
6,
70 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
thought the tripe was not seasoned enough, she asked three times for the butter and grated cheese !
The Fox would also willingly have picked a httle, but as his doctor had ordered him a strict diet, he was forced to content himself simply with a hare dressed with a sweet and sour sauce, and garnished lightly with fat chickens and early pullets. After the hare he sent for a made dish of partridges, rabbits, frogs, lizards, and other delicacies; he could not touch anything else. He had such a disgust to food, he said, that he could put nothing to his lips.
The one who ate the least was Pinocchio. He asked for some walnuts and a hunch of bread, and left everything on his plate. The poor boy, whose thoughts were continually fixed on the Field of miracles, had got in anticipation an indigestion of gold pieces.
When they had supped, the Fox said to the host:
" Give us two good rooms, one for Mr Pinocchio, and the other for me and my companion. We will snatch a little sleep before we leave. Remember, however, that at midnight we wish to be called to continue our journey."
"Yes, gentlemen," answered the host, and he winked at the Fox and the Cat, as much as to say : " I know what you are up to. We understand one another ! "
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 71
No sooner had Pinocchio got into bed than he fell asleep at once and began to dream. And he dreamt that he was in the middle of a field, and the field was full of shrubs covered with clusters of gold
He dreamt . . . shrubs covered with clusters of gold sovereigns.
sovereigns, and as they swung in the wind they went zin, zin, zin, almost as if they would say : "Let who will, come and take us." But when Pinocchio was at the most interesting moment, that is, just as he was stretching out his hand to pick handfuls of those beautiful gold pieces and to put
72 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
them in his pocket, he was suddenly wakened by- three Tiolent blows on the door of his room.
It was the host who had come to tell him that midnight had struck.
" Are my companions ready ? " asked the puppet.
" Ready ! Why, they left two hours ago."
" Why were they in such a hurry ? "
" Because the Cat had received a message to say that her eldest kitten was ill with chilblains on his feet, and was in danger of death."
" Did they pay for the supper,'"'
"What are you thinking of.^* They are much too well educated to dream of offering such an insult to a gentleman like you."
"What a pity! It is an insult that would have given me so much pleasure ! " said Pinocchio, scratching his head. He then asked :
" And where did my good friends say they would wait for me ? "
" At the Field of miracles, to-morrow morning at daybreak."
Pinocchio paid a sovereign for his supper and that of his companions, and then left.
Outside the inn it was so pitch dark that he had almost to grope his way, for it was impossible to see a hand's breadth in front of him. In the adjacent country not a leaf moved. Only some night-birds flying across the road from one hedge to
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO y^
the other brushed Pinocchio's nose with their wings as they passed, which caused him so much terror that, springing back, he shouted : " Who goes there ? " and the echo in the surrounding hills repeated in the distance : " Who goes there ? Who goes there ? Who goes there ? "
As he was walking along he saw a little insect shining dimly on the trunk of a tree, hke a night- light in a lamp of transparent china. " Who are you ? " asked Pinocchio. " I am the ghost of the Talking-cricket," answered the insect in a low voice, so weak and faint that it seemed to come from the other world.
" What do you want with me .f* " said the puppet. "I want to give you some advice. Go back, and take the four sovereigns that you have left to your poor father, who is weeping and in despair because you have never returned to him."
"By to-morrow my papa will be a gentleman, for these four sovereigns will have become two thousand."
"Don't trust, my boy, to those who promise to make you rich in a day. Usually they are either mad or rogues ! Give ear to me, and go back." " On the contrary, I am determined to go on." "The hour is late! ..." "I am determined to go on." "The night is dark! . . ."
74
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
" I am determined to go on."
" The road is dangerous ! . . ."
" I am determined to go on."
"Remember that boys who are bent on following their caprices, and will have their own way, sooner or later repent it."
"Always the same stories. Good-night, Cricket."
" Good-night, Pinocchio, and may Heaven preserve you from dangers and from assassins."
No sooner had he said these words than the Talking-cricket vanished suddenly like a light that has been blown out, and the road became darker than ever.
XIV
Pinocchio^ because he would not heed the good counsels of the Talking-cricket^ falls amongst assassins.
" Really," said the puppet to himself as he resumed his journey, "how unfortunate we poor boys are. Everybody scolds us, everybody admonishes us, everybody gives us good advice. To let them talk, they would all take it into their heads to be our fathers and our masters — all : even the Talking- cricket. See now; because I don't choose to listen to that tiresome Cricket, who knows, according to him, how many misfortunes are to happen to me ! 1 am even to meet with assassins ! That is, how- ever, of little consequence, for I don't believe in assassins — I have never believed in them. For me, I think that assassins have been invented purposely by papas to frighten boys who want to go out at night. Besides, supposing I was to come across them here in the road, do you imagine they would frighten me ^. not the least in the world. I should
73
76 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
go to meet them and cry : ' Gentlemen assassins, what do you want with me ? Remember that with me there is no joking. Therefore go about your business and be quiet ! ' At this speech, said in a determined tone, those poor assassins — I think I see them — would run away hke the wind. If, however, they were so badly educated as not to run away, why, then, I would run away myself, and there would be an end of it. ..."
But Pinocchio had not time to finish his reasoning, for at that moment he thought that he heard a slight rustle of leaves behind him.
He turned to look, and saw in the gloom two evil-looking black figures completely enveloped in charcoal sacks. They were running after him on tiptoe, and making great leaps like two phantoms.
" Here they are in reality ! " he said to himself, and not knowing where to hide his gold pieces he put them in his mouth precisely under his tongue.
Then he tried to escape. But he had not gone a step when he felt himself seized by the arm, and heard two horrid sepulchral voices saying to him :
" Your money or your life ! "
Pinocchio, not being able to answer in words, owing to the money that was in his mouth, made a thousand low bows and a thousand pantomimes. He tried thus to make the two muffled figures, whose eyes were only visible through the holes in their
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO -j-]
sacks, understand that he was a poor puppet, and that he had not as much as a false farthing in his pocket. " Come now ! Less nonsense and out with the money ! " cried the two brigands threateningly.
The puppet made a gesture with his hands to signify : **I have got none."
And the puppet made a gesture with his hands to signify : " I have got none."
" Deliver up your money or you are dead," said the tallest of the brigands.
" Dead ! " repeated the other.
"And after we have killed you, we will also kill your father."
" Also your father! "
78 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
'' No, no, no, not my poor papa ! " cried Pinocchio in a despairing tone ; and as he said it, the sovereigns dinked in his mouth.
" Ah ! you rascal ! Then you have hidden your money under your tongue ! Spit it out at once ! "
But Pinocchio was obdurate.
" Ah ! you pretend to be deaf, do you ? Wait a moment, leave it to us to find a means to make you spit it out."
And one of them seized the puppet by the end of his nose, and the other took him by the chin, and began to pull them brutally, the one up and the other down, to constrain him to open his mouth. But it was all to no purpose. Pinocchio's mouth seemed to be nailed and riveted together.
Then the shorter assassin drew out an ugly knife and tried to force it between his lips like a lever or chisel. But Pinocchio, as quick as lightning, caught his hand with his teeth, and with one bite bit it clean off and spat it out. Imagine his astonishment when instead of a hand he perceived that he had spat a cat's paw on to the ground.
Encouraged by this first victory he used his nails to such purpose that he succeeded in liberating him- self from his assailants, and jumping the hedge by the roadside he began to fly across country. The assassins ran after him like two dogs chasing a hare :
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 79
and the one who had lost a paw ran on one leg, and no one ever knew how he managed it.
After a race of some miles Pinocchio could do no more. Giving himself up for lost he climbed the stem of a very high pinetree and seated himself in the topmost branches. The assassins attempted to climb after him, but when they had reached half- way up the stem they slid down again, and arrived on the ground with the skin grazed from their hands and knees.
But they were not to be beaten by so little : collecting a quantity of dry wood they piled it beneath the pine and set fire to it. In less time than it takes to tell the pine began to burn and to flame like a candle blown by the wind. Pinocchio, seeing that the flames were mounting higher every instant, and not wishing to end his life like a roasted pigeon, made a stupendous leap from the top of the tree and started afresh across the fields and vine- yards. The assassins followed him, and kept behind him without once giving in.
The day began to break and they were still pursuing him. Suddenly Pinocchio found his way barred by a wide deep ditch full of dirty water the colour of coffee. What was he to do.** "One! two ! three ! cried the puppet, and makmg a rush he sprang to the other side. The assassins also jumped, but not having measured the distance
8o THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
properly — splash, splash ! . . . they fell into the very middle of the ditch. Pinocchio, who heard the plunge and the splashing of the water, shouted out, laughing, and without stopping :
" A fine bath to you, gentleman assassins." And he felt convinced that they were drowned, when, turning to look, he perceived that on the contrary they were both running after him, still enveloped in their sacks, with the water dripping from them as if they had been two hollow baskets.
XV
The assassins pursue Pinocchio ; and having overtaken him hang him to a branch of the Big Oak.
At this sight the puppet's courage failed him, and he was on the point of throwing himself on the ground and giving himself over for lost. Turning, however, his eyes in every direction, he saw at some distance, standing out amidst the dark green of the trees, a small house as white as snow.
"If I had only breath to reach that house," he said to himself, " perhaps I should be saved."
And without delaying an instant, he recommenced running for his life through the wood, and the assassins after him.
At last, after a desperate race of nearly two hours, he arrived quite breathless at the door of the house, and knocked.
No one answered.
He knocked again with great violence, for he heard the sound of steps approaching him, and the heavy panting of his persecutors. The same silence.
82 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
Seeing that knocking was useless he began in desperation to kick and pommel the door with all his might. The window then opened and a beauti- ful Child appeared at it. She had blue hair and a face as white as a waxen image; her eyes were
' If I could only reach that house," he said.
closed and her hands were crossed on her breast. Without moving her lips in the least, she said in a voice that seemed to come from the other world :
"In this house there is no one. They are all dead."
" Then at least open the door for me yourself," shouted Pinocchio, crying and imploring.
" I am dead also."
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 83
"Dead? then what are you doing there at the window? "
" I am waiting for the bier to come to carry me away."
Having said this she immediately disappeared, and the window was closed again without the slightest noise.
"Oh! beautiful Child with blue hair," cried Pinocchio, "open the door for pity's sake! Have compassion on a poor boy pursued by assas . . ."
But he could not finish the word, for he felt himself seized by the collar, and the same two horrible voices said to him threateningly :
" You shall not escape from us again ! "
The puppet, seeing death staring him in the face, was taken with such a violent fit of trembling that the joints of his wooden legs began to creak, and the sovereigns hidden under his tongue to clink.
"Now then," demanded the assassins, "will you open your mouth, yes or no ? Ah ! no answer ? . . . Leave it to us : this time we will force you to open it ! . . ."
And drawing out two long horrid knives as sharp as razors, clash . . . they attempted to stab him twice.
But the puppet, luckily for him, was made ot very hard wood ; the knives therefore broke into a
84 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
thousand pieces, and the assassins were left with the handles in their hands staring at each other.
"I see what we must do," said one of them, "He must be hung! let us hang him! "
" Let us hang him ! " repeated the other.
Without loss of time they tied his arms behind him, passed a running noose round his throat, and then hung him to the branch of a tree called the Big Oak.
They then sat down on the grass and waited for his last struggle. But at the end of three hours the puppet's eyes were still open, his mouth closed, and he was kicking more than ever.
Losing patience they turned to Pinocchio and said in a bantering tone :
" Good-bye till to-morrow. Let us hope that when we return you will be polite enough to allow yourself to be found quite dead, and with your I mouth wide open."
And they walked off.
In the meantime a tempestuous northerly wind began to blow and roar angrily, and it beat the poor puppet as he hung from side to side, making him swing violently like the clatter of a bell ringing for a wedding. And the swinging gave him atrocious spasms, and the running noose, becoming still tighter round his throat, took away his breath.
Little by little his eyes began to grow dim, but
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 85
although he felt that death was near he still con- tinued to hope that some charitable person would come to his assistance before it was too late. But when, after waiting and waiting, he found that no one came, absolutely no one, then he remembered his poor father, and thinking he was dying ... he stammered out :
" Oh, papa ! papa ! if only you were here ! " His breath failed him and he could say no more. He shut his eyes, opened his mouth, stretched his legs, gave a long shudder, and hung stiff and insensible.
XVI
The beautiful Child with blue hair has the puppet taken down : has been put to bed and calls in three doctors to know if he is alive or dead.
Whilst poor Pinocchio, suspended to a branch of the Big Oak, was apparently more dead than ahve, the beautiful Child with blue hair came again to the window. When she saw the unhappy puppet hang- ing by his throat, and dancing up and down in the gusts of the north wind, she was moved by com- passion. Striking her hands together she made three little claps.
At this signal there came a sound of the sweep of wings flying rapidly, and a large Falcon flew on to the window-sill.
" What are your orders, gracious Fairy '^. " he asked, inclining his beak in sign of reverence — for I must tell you that the Child with blue hair was no more and no less than a beautiful Fairy, who for more than a thousand years had lived in the wood.
87
88 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
" Do you see that puppet dangling from a branch of the Big Oak?"
"I see him."
<' Very well. Fly there at once : with your strong beak break the knot that keeps him suspended in the air, and lay him gently on the grass at the foot of the tree."
The Falcon flew away, and after two minutes he returned, saying :
"I have done as you commanded."
"And how did you find him? "
"To see him he appeared dead, but he cannot really be quite dead, for I had no sooner loosened the running noose that tightened his throat than, giving a sigh, he muttered in a faint voice : " Now I feel better ! . . ."
The Fairy then striking her hands together made two little claps, and a magnificent Poodle appeared, walking upright on his hind-legs exactly as if he had been a man.
He was in the full-dress livery of a coachman. On his head he had a three-cornered cap braided with gold, his curly white wig came down on to his shoulders, he had a chocolate-coloured waistcoat with diamond buttons, and two large pockets to contain the bones that his mistress gave him at dinner. He had besides a pair of short crimson velvet breeches, silk stockings, cut-down shoes, and hanging
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 89
behind him a species of umbrella-case made of blue satin, to put his tail into when the weather was rainy.
" Be quick, Medoro, like a good dog ! " said the Fairy to the Poodle. " Have the most beautiful carriage in my coach-house put to, and take the road to the wood. When you come to the Big Oak you will find a poor puppet stretched on the grass half dead. Pick him up gently, and lay him flat on the cushions of the carriage and bring him here to me. Have you understood ,'' "
The Poodle, to show that he had understood, shook the case of blue satin that he had on three or four times, and ran off like a racehorse.
Shortly afterwards a beautiful little carriage came out of the coach-house. The cushions were stuffed with canary feathers, and it was lined in the inside with whipped cream, custard, and Savoy biscuits. The little carriage was drawn by a hundred pairs of white mice, and the Poodle, seated on the coach-box, cracked his whip from side to side like a driver when he is afraid that he is behind time.
A quarter of an hour had not passed when the carriage returned. The Fairy, who was waiting at the door of the house, took the poor puppet in her arms, and carried him into a little room that was wainscotted with mother-of-pearl, and sent at once to summon the most famous doctors in the neighbourhood.
90 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
The doctors came immediately one after the other: namely a Crow, an Owl, and a Talking- cricket.
" I wish to know from you gentlemen," said the Fairy, turning to the three doctors who were assembled round Pinocchio's bed — " I wish to know from you gentlemen, if this unfortunate puppet is alive or dead ! . . ."
At this request the Crow, advancing first, felt Pinocchio's pulse ; he then felt his nose, and then the little toe of his foot : and having done this carefully, he pronounced solemnly the following words :
" To my belief the puppet is already quite dead ; but if unfortunately he should not be dead, then it would be a sign that he is still alive ! "
" I regret," said the Owl, "to be obliged to con- tradict the Crow, my illustrious friend and colleague ; but in my opinion the puppet is still alive : but if unfortunately he should not be alive, then it would be a sign that he is dead indeed ! "
" And you — have you nothing to say ? " asked the Fairy of the Talking-cricket.
" In my opinion the wisest thing a prudent doctor can do, when he does not know what he is talking about, is to be silent. For the rest, that puppet there has a face that is not new to me. I have known him for some time ! . . ."
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 91
Pinocchio, who up to that moment had lain immovable, like a real piece of wood, was seized with a fit of convulsive trembling that shook the whole bed.
'' That puppet there," continued the Talking- cricket, " is a confirmed rogue. . . ."
Pinocchio opened his eyes, but shut them again immediately.
" He is a ragamuffin, a do-nothing, a vagabond. . . ."
Pinocchio hid his face beneath the clothes.
" That puppet there is a disobedient son who will make his poor father die of a broken heart ! . . ."
At that instant a suffocated sound of sobs and crying was heard in the room. Imagine everybody's astonishment when, having raised the sheets a little, it was discovered that the sounds came from Pinocchio.
" When the dead person cries, it is a sign that he is on the road to get well," said the Crow solemnly.
" I grieve to contradict my illustrious friend and colleague," added the Owl ; " but for me, when the dead person cries, it is a sign that he is sorry to die."
XVIT
Pinocchio eats the sugar, but will not take his medicine : when^ however, he sees the grave-diggers, who have arrived to carry him away, he takes it. He then tells a lie, and as a punishment his nose grows longer.
As soon as the three doctors had left the room the Fairy approached Pinocchio, and having touched his forehead she perceived that he was in a high fever that was not to be trifled with.
She therefore dissolved a certain white powder in half a tumbler of water, and oflFering it to the puppet she said to him lovingly :
" Drink it, and in a few days you will be cured."
Pinocchio looked at the tumbler, made a wry face, and then asked in a plaintive voice :
"Is it sweet or bitter?"
" It is bitter, but it will do you good,"
"If it is bitter, I will not take it."
"Listen to me: drink it."
93
<)4 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
"I don't like anything bitter."
"Drink it, and when you have drunk it I will give you a lump of sugar to take away the taste."
" Where is the lump of sugar? "
" Here it is," said the Fairy, taking a piece from a gold sugar-basin.
" Give me first the lump of sugar, and then I will drink that bad bitter water. . . ."
" Do you promise me ? "
"Yes. . . ."
The Fairy gave him the sugar, and Pinocchio, having crunched it up and swallowed it in a second, said, licking his lips :
" It would be a fine thing if sugar was medicine ! ... 1 would take it every day."
" Now keep your promise and drink these few drops of water, which will restore you to health."
Pinocchio took the tumbler unwillingly in his hand and put the point of his nose to it : he then approached it to his lips : he then again put his nose to it, and at last said :
" It is too bitter ! too bitter! I cannot drink it."
"How can you tell that, when you have not even tasted it ? "'
" I can imagine it ! I know it from the smell. I want first another lump of sugar . . . and then I will drink it! . . ."
The Fairy then, with all the patience of a good
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 95
mamma, put another lump of sugar in his mouth, and then again presented the tumbler to him.
" I cannot drink it so ! " said the puppet, making a thousand grimaces.
" Why ? "
"Because that pillow that is down there on my I feet bothers me."
The Fairy removed the pillow.
" It is useless. Even so I cannot drink it. . . ."
"What is the matter now.^"'
" The door of the room, which is halt open, bothers me."
The Fairy went and closed the door.
" In short," cried Pinocchio, bursting into tears, " I will not drink that bitter water — no, no, no! . . ."
"My boy, you will repent it. . . ."
" I don't care. . . ."
" Your illness is serious. . . ."
" I don't care. . . ."
"The fever in a few hours will carry you into the other world. . . ."
"I don't care. . . ."
" Are you not afraid of death ? "
" I am not in the least afraid ! . . . I would rather die than drink that bitter medicine."
At that moment the door of the room flew open, and four rabbits as black as ink entered carrying on their shoulders a little bier.
96 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
" What do vou want with me ? cried Pinocchio, sitting up in bed in a great fright.
" We are come to take you," said the biggest rabbit.
" To take me ? . . . But I am not yet dead ! . . ."
" No, not yet : but you have only a few minutes to live, as you have refused the medicine that would have cured you of the fever."
" Oh, Fairy, Fairy ! " the puppet then began to scream, " give me the tumbler at once ... be quick, for pity's sake, for I will not die — no . . . I will not die. . . ."
And taking the tumbler in both hands he emptied it at a draught.
" We must have patience ! " said the rabbits ; "this time we have made our journey in vain." And taking the little bier again on their shoulders they left the room, grumbling and murmuring between their teeth.
In fact, a few minutes afterwards Pinocchio jumped down from the bed quite well : because you must know that wooden puppets have the privilege of being seldom ill and of being cured very quickly.
The Fairy, seeing him running and rushing about the room as gay and as lively as a young cock, said to him :
" Then my medicine has really done you good ? '*
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 97
" Good, I should think so ! It has restored me to life I . . ."
"Then why on earth did you require so much persuasion to take it?"
" Because you see that we boys are all like that! We are more afraid of medicine than of the illness."
" Disgraceful I Boys ought to know that a good remedy taken in time may save them from a serious illness, and perhaps even from death. ..."
Oh ! but another time I shall not require so much persuasion, I shall remember those black rabbits with the bier on their shoulders . . . and then I shall immediately take the tumbler in my hand, and down it will go I . . ."
" Now come here to me, and tell me how it came about that you fell into the hands of those assassins."
"It came about that the showman Fire-eater gave me some gold pieces and said to me : ' Go, and take them to your father!' and instead I met on the road a Fox and a Cat, two very respectable persons, who said to me: 'Would you like those pieces of gold to become a thousand or two? Come with us and we will take you to the Field of miracles,' and I said: 'Let us go.' And they said : ' Let us stop at the inn of the Red Craw-fish,' and after midnight they left. And wht n I awoke I found that they were no longer there, because they had gone away. Then
G
98 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
I began to travel by night, for you cannot imagine how dark it was ; and on that account I met on the road two assassins in charcoal sacks who said to me : ' Out with your money,' and I said to them : ' I have got none,' because I had hidden the four gold pieces in my mouth, and one of the assassins tried to put his hand in my mouth, and I bit his hand off and spat it out, but instead of a hand I spat out a cat's paw. And the assassins ran after me, and I ran, and ran, until at last they caught me, and tied me by the neck to a tree in this wood, and said to me : ' To-morrow we shall return here, and then you will be dead with your mouth open, and we shall be able to carry off the pieces of gold that you have hidden under your tongue.' "
" And the four pieces — v/here have you put them ? " asked the Fairy.
"I have lost them! " said Pinocchio ; but he was telling a lie, for he had them in his pocket.
He had scarcely told the lie when his nose, which was already long, grew at once two fingers longer.
" And where did you lose them ? "
" In the wood near here."
At this second lie his nose went on growing.
"If you have lost them in the wood near here," said the Fairy, " we will look for them, and we shall find them : because everything that is lost in that wood is always found."
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 99
"Ah! now I remember all about it," replied the puppet, getting quite confused ; " I didn't lose the four gold pieces, I swallowed them inadvertently whilst I was drinking your medicine."
At this third lie his nose grew to such an extra-
His nose had increased so much.
ordinary length that poor Pinocchio could not move in any direction. If he turned to one side he struck his nose against th^ bed or the window-panes, if he turned to the other he struck it against the walls or the door, if he raised his head a little he ran the risk of sticking it into one of the Fairy's eyes. And the Fairy looked at him and laughed.
loo THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
" What are you laaghing at ? " asked the puppet, very confused and anxious at finding his nose growing so prodigiously.
" I am laughing at the lie you have told.
" And how can you possibly know that I have told a lie ? "
" Lies, my dear boy, are found out immediately, because they are of two sorts. There are lies that have short legs, and lies that have long noses. Your lie, as it happens, is one of those that have a long nose."
Pinocchio, not knowing where to hide himself for shame, tried to run out of the room ; but he did not succeed, for his nose had increased so much that it could no longer pass through the door.
XVIII
Pinocchio meets again the Fox and the Cat, and goes with them to bury his money in the Field of miracles.
The Fairy, as you can imagine, allowed the puppet to cry and to roar for a good half-hour over his nose, which could no longer pass through the door of the room. This she did to give him a severe lesson, and to correct him of the disgraceful fault of telling lies — the most disgraceful fault that a boy can have. But when she saw him quite disfigured, and his eyes swollen out of his head from weeping, she felt full of compassion for him. She therefore beat her hands together, and at that signal a thousand large birds called Woodpeckers flew in at the window. They immediately perched on Pinocchio's nose, and began to peck at it with such zeal that
102 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
in a few minutes his enormous and ridiculous nose was reduced to its usual dimensions.
"What a good Fairy you are," said the puppet, drying his eyes, " and how much I love you ! "
"I love you also," answered the Fairy; "and if yoQ will remain with me, you shall be my little brother and I will be your good little sister. . . ."
" I would remain willingly . . . but my poor papa ? "
" I have thought of everything. I have already let your father know, and he will be here to-night."
"Really?" shouted Pinocchio, jumping for joy. "Then, little Fairy, if you consent, I should like to go and meet him. I am so anxious to give a kiss to that poor old man, who has suffered so much on my account, that I am counting the minutes."
" Go, then, but be careful not to lose yourself. Take the road through the wood and I am sure that you will meet him,"
Pinocchio set out ; and as soon as he was in the wood he began to run like a kid. But when he had reached a certain spot, almost in front of the Big Oak, he stopped, because he thought that he heard people amongst the bushes. In fact, two persons came out on to the road. Can you guess who they were.? . . . His two travelling com- panions, the Fox and the Cat, with whom he had supped at the inn of the Red Craw-fish.
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 103
"Why, here is our dear Pinocchio ! " cried the Fox, kissing and embracing him. " How come you to be here ? "
" How come you to be here ? " repeated the Cat.
" It is a long story," answered the puppet, " which I will tell you when I have time. But do
"ak.
'mn.
hP0
" Why, here is our dear Pinocchio ! " cried the Fox.
you know that the other night, when you left me alone at the inn, I met with assassins on the road. ..."
"Assassins! . . • Oh, poor Pinocchio! And what did they want ? "
"They wanted to rob me of my gold pieces."
" Villains I . . ." said the Fox.
I04 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
"Infamous villains! " repeated the Cat.
" But I ran away from them," continued the puppet, " and they followed me : and at last they overtook me and hung me to a branch of that oak-tree. ..."
And Pinocchio pointed to the Big Oak, which was two steps from them.
" Is it possible to hear of anything more dreadful ? " said the Fox. " In what a world we are condemned to live ! Where can respectable people like us find a safe refuge ^ "
Whilst they were thus talking Pinocchio observed that the Cat was lame of her front right leg, for in fact she had lost her paw with all its claws. He therefore asked her :
" What have you done with your paw .?"
The Cat tried to answer but became confused. Therefore the Fox said immediately :
" My friend is too modest, and that is why she doesn't speak. I will answer for her. I must tell you that an hour ago we met an old wolf on the road, almost fainting from want of food, who asked alms of us. Not having so much as a fish- bone to give him, what did my friend, who has really the heart of a Csesar, do f She bit off one of her fore paws, and threw it to that poor beast that he might appease his hunger."
And the Fox, in relating this, dried a tear.
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 105
Pinocchio was also touched, and approaching the Cat he whispered into her ear :
"If all cats resembled you, how fortunate the mice would be ! "
" And now, what are you doing here ? " asked the Fox of the puppet.
" I am waiting for my papa, whom I expect to arrive every moment."
''And your gold pieces.'"'
" I have got them in my pocket, all but one that I spent at the inn of the Red Craw-fish."
" And to think that, instead of four pieces, by to-morrow they might become one or two thousand ! Why do you not listen to my advice ? why will you not go and bury them in the Field of miracles ? "
"To-day it is impossible : I will go another day."
" Another day it will be too late ! . . ." said the Fox.
"Why.?"
" Because the field has been bought by a gentleman, and after to-morrow no one will be allowed to bury money there."
" How far off is the Field of miracles ? "
"Not two miles. Will you come with us.'* In half an hour you will be there. You can bury your money at once, and in a few minutes you will collect two thousand, and this evening you will return with your pockets full. Will you come with us."*"
io6 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
Pinocchio thought of the good Fairy, old Geppetto, and the warnings of the Talking-cricket, and he hesitated a little before answering. He ended, however, by doing as all boys do who have not a grain of sense and who have no heart — he ended by giving his head a little shake, and saying to the Fox and the Cat :
" Let us go : I will come with you."
And they went.
After having walked half the day they reached a town that was called " Trap for blockheads." As soon as Pinocchio entered this town, he saw that the streets were crowded with dogs who had lost their coats and who were yawning from hunger, shorn sheep trembling with cold, cocks without combs or crests who were begging for a grain of Indian corn, large butterflies who could no longer fly because they had sold their beautiful coloured wings, peacocks who had no tails and were ashamed to be seen, and pheasants who went scratching about in a subdued fashion, mourning for their brilliant gold and silver feathers gone for ever.
In the midst of this crowd of beggars and shame- faced creatures, some lordly carriage passed from time to time containing a Fox, or a thieving Magpie, or some other ravenous bird of prey.
" And where is the Field of miracles ? " asked Pinocchio.
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 107
"It is here, not two steps from us."
They crossed the town, and having gone beyond the walls they came to a solitary field which to look at resembled all other fields.
"We are arrived," said the Fox to the puppet. "Now stoop down and dig with your hands a little hole in the ground and put your gold pieces into it."
Pinocchio obeyed. He dug a hole, -put into it the four gold pieces that he had left, and then filled up the hole with a little earth.
"Now, then," said the Fox, go to that canal close to us, fetch a can of water, and water the ground where you have sowed them."
Pinocchio went to the canal, and as he had no can he took off one of his old shoes, and filling it with water he watered the ground over the hole.
He then asked :
"Is there anything else to be done.'"'
" Nothing else," answered the Fox. " We can now go away. You can return in about twenty minutes, and you will find a shrub already pushing through the ground, with its branches quite loaded with money."
The poor puppet, beside himself with joy, thanked the Fox and the Cat a thousand times, and promised them a beautiful present.
" We wish for no presents," answered the two rascals. " It is enough for us to have taught you
io8 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
the way to enrich yourself without undergoing hard work, and we are as happy as folk out for a holiday."
Thus saying they took leave of Pinocchio, and, wishing him a good harvest, went about their business.
yilE^
XIX
Finocchio is robbed of his money ^ and as a punishment he is sent to prison for four months.
The puppet returned to the town and began to count the minutes one by one ; and when he thought that it must be time he took the road leading to the Field of miracles.
And as he walked along with hurried steps his heart beat fast tic, tac, tic, tac, like a drawing-room clock when it is really going well. Meanwhile he was thinking to himself:
" And if instead of a thousand gold pieces, I was
to find on the branches of the tree two thousand ?
. . . And instead of two thousand supposing I
found five thousand ? and instead of five thousand
that I found a hundred thousand ? Oh ! what a
fine gentleman I should then become I ... I would
109
no THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
have a beautiful palace, a thousand little wooden horses and a thousand stables to amuse myself with, a cellar full of currant-wine and sweet syrups, and a library quite full of candies, tarts, plum-cakes, macaroons, and biscuits with cream."
Whilst he was building these castles in the air he had arrived in the neighbourhood of the field, and he stopped to look if by chance he could perceive a tree with its branches laden with money : but he saw nothing. He advanced another hundred steps — nothing : he entered the field ... he went right up to the little hole where he had buried his sovereigns — and nothing. He then became very thoughtful, and forgetting the rules of society and good manners he took his hands out of his pocket and gave his head a long scratch.
At that moment he heard an explosion of laughter close to him, and looking up he saw a large Parrot perched on a tree, who was pruning the few feathers he had left.
"Why are you laughing?" asked Pinocchio in an angry voice.
"I am laughing because in pruning my feathers I tickled myself under my wings."
The puppet did not answer, but went to the canal and, filling the same old shoe full of water, he proceeded to water the earth afresh that covered his gold pieces.
"You ill-educated Parrot."
112 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
Whilst he was thus occupied another laugh, and still more impertinent than the first, rang out in the silence of that solitary place.
"Once for all," shouted Pinocchio in a rage, " may I know, you ill-educated Parrot, what you are laughing at ? "
"I am laughing at those simpletons who believe in all the foolish things that are told them, and who allow themselves to be entrapped by those who are more cunning than they are."
" Are you perhaps speaking of me? " j
" Yes, I am speaking of you, poor Pinocchio — of you who are simple enough to believe that money , can be sown and gathered in fields in the same way "j as beans and gourds. I also believed it once, and to-day I am suffering for it. To-day — but it is too late — I have at last learnt that to put a few pennies honestly together it is necessary to know how to earn them, either by the work of our own hands or by the cleverness of our own brains."
" I don't understand you," said the puppet, who was already trembling with fear.
"Have patience! I will explain myself better," rejoined the Parrot. "You must know, then, that whilst you were in the town the Fox and the Cat returned to the field : they took the buried money and then fled like the wind. And now he that catches them will be clever."
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 113
Pinocchio remained with his mouth open, and not choosing to believe the Parrot's words he began with his hands and nails to dig up the earth that he had watered. And he dug, and dug, and dug, and made such a deep hole that a rick of straw might have stood upright in it : but the money was no longer there.
He rushed back to the town in a state of desperation, and went at once to the Courts of Justice to denounce the two knaves who had robbed him to the judge.
The judge was a big ape of the gorilla tribe — an old ape respectable for his age, his white beard, but especially for his gold spectacles without glasses that he was always obliged to wear, on account of an inflammation of the eyes that had tormented him for many years.
Pinocchio related in the presence of the judge all the particulars of the infamous fraud of which he had been the victim. He gave the names, the surnames, and other details, of the two rascals, and ended by demanding justice.
The judge listened with great benignity ; took a lively interest in the story ; was much touched and moved ; and when the puppet had nothing further to say he stretched out his hand and rang a bell.
At this summons two mastiffs immediately appeared dressed as gendarmes. The judge then, pointing to Pinocchio, said to them :
H
114 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
"That poor devil has been robbed of four gold pieces ; take him up, and put him immediately into prison."
The puppet was petrified on hearing this un- expected sentence, and tried to protest; but the gendarmes, to avoid losing time, stopped his mouth, and carried him off to the lock-up.
And there he remained for four months — four long months — and he would have remained longer still if a fortunate chance had not released him. For I must tell you that the young Emperor who reigned over the town of "Trap for blockheads," having j won a splendid victory over his enemies, ordered great public rejoicings. There were illuminations, fire-works, horse races, and velocipede races, and as a further sign of triumph he commanded that the prisons should be opened and all the prisoners liberated.
"If the others are to be let out of prison, I will go also," said Pinocchio to the jailor.
"No, not you," said the jailor, "because you do not belong to the fortunate class."
" I beg your pardon," replied Pinocchio, " I am also a criminal." j
"In that case you are perfectly right," said the ' jailor ; and taking off his hat and bowing to him respectfully he opened the prison doors and let him j escape.
XX
Liberated from prison^ he starts to return to the Fairy's house ; but on the road he meets with a horrible serpent^ and afterwards he is caught in a trap.
You can imagine Pinocchio's joy when he found himself free. Without stopping to take breath he immediately left the town and took the road that led to the Fairy's house.
On account of the rainy weather the road had become a marsh into which he sank knee-deep. But the puppet would not give in. Tormented by the desire of seeing his father and his little sister with blue hair again he ran and leapt like a grey- hound, and as he ran he was splashed with mud from head to foot. And he said to himself as he went along: "How many misfortunes have happened to me . . . and I deserved them ! for I am an obstinate, passionate puppet. ... I am always bent upon having my own way, without listening to those ■who wish me well, and who have a thousand times
ii6 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
more sense than I have! . . . But from this thne forth I am determined to change and to become orderly and obedient. . . . For at last I have seen that disobedient boys come to no good and gain nothing. And will my papa have waited for me ? Shall I find him at the Fairy's house ! Poor man, it is so long since I last saw him : I am dying to em- brace him, and to cover him with kisses ! And will the Fairy forgive me my bad conduct to her.? . . . To think of all the kindness and loving care I received from her ... to think that if I am now alive I owe it to her ! . . . Would it be possible to find a more ungrateful boy, or one with less heart than I have ! . . ."
Whilst he was saying this he stopped suddenly, frightened to death, and made four steps backwards.
AVhat had he seen ? . . .
He had seen an immense Serpent stretched across the road. Its skin was green, it had red eyes, and a pointed tail that was smoking like a chimney.
It would be impossible to imagine the puppet's terror. He walked away to a safe distance, and sitting down on a heap of stones waited until the Serpent should have gone about its business and had left the road clear.
He waited an hour ; two hours ; three hours ; but the Serpent was always there, and even from a distance he could see the red light of his fiery eyes
The poor puppet had been taken in a trap.
ii8 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
and the column of smoke that ascended from ihe end of his tail.
At last Pinocchio, trying to feel courageous, approached to within a few steps, and said to the Serpent in a little, soft, insinuating voice;
" Excuse me, Sir Serpent, but would you be so good as to move a little to one side, just enough to allow me to pass ? "
He might as well have spoken to the wall. No- body moved.
He began again in the same soft voice :
" You must know, Sir Serpent, that I am on my way home, where my father is waiting for me, and it is such a long time since I saw him last I . . . Will you therefore allow me to continue my road .? "
He waited for a sign in answer to this request, but there was none : in fact the Serpent, who up to that moment had been sprightly and full of life, became motionless and almost rigid. He shut his eyes and his tail ceased smoking.
" Can he really be dead ? " said Pinocchio, rubbing his hands with delight ; and he determined to jump over him and reach the other side of the road. But just as he was going to leap the Serpent raised him- self suddenly on end, like a spring set in motion ; and the puppet, drawing back, in his terror caught his feet and fell to the ground.
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 119
And he fell so awkwardly that his head stuck in the mud and his legs went into the air.
At the sight of the puppet kicking violently with his head in the mud the Serpent went into convul- sions of laughter, and he laughed, and laughed, and laughed, until from the violence of his laughter he broke a blood-vessel in his chest and died. And that time he was really dead.
Pinocchio then set off running in hopes that he should reach the Fairy's house before dark. But before long he began to suffer so dreadfully from hunger that he could not bear it, and he jumped in- to a field by the way-side intending to pick some bunches of muscatel grapes. Oh, that he had never done it!
He had scarcely reached the vines when crac . . . his legs were caught between two cutting iron bars, and he became so giddy with pain that stars of every colour danced before his eyes.
The poor puppet had been taken in a trap put there to capture some big polecats who were the scourge of the poultry-yards in the neighbourhood.
{s?
XXI
Pinocchio is taken by a peasant^ who obliges him to Jill the place of his ivatch-dog in the poultry-yard.
Pinocchio, as you can imagine, began to cry and scream : but his tears and groans were useless, for there was not a house to be seen, and not a living soul passed down the road.
At last night came on.
Partly from the pain of the trap that cut his legs, and a little from fear at finding himself alone in the dark in the midst of the fields, the puppet was on the point of fainting. Just at that moment he saw a Firefly flitting over his head. He called to it and said :
"Oh, little Firefly, will you have pity on me and liberate me from this torture ? "
" Poor boy ! " said the Firefly, stopping and look- ing at him with compassion, " but how could your legs have been caught by those sharp irons ? "
"I came into the field to pick two bunches of these muscatel grapes, and . . ."
122 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
"But were the grapes yours ?"
"No. . . ."
" Then who taught you to carry off other people's property ? "
" I was so hungry. ..."
" Hunger, my boy, is not a good reason for appropriating what does not belong to us. . . ."
" That is true, that is true ! " said Pinocchio, crying. " I will never do it again."
At this moment their conversation was interrupted by a slight sound of approaching footsteps. It was the owner of the field coming on tiptoe to see if one of the polecats that ate his chickens during the night had been caught in his trap.
His astonishment was great when, having brought out his lantern from under his coat, he perceived that instead of a polecat a boy had been taken.
" Ah, little thief ! " said the angry peasant, " then it is you who carry off my chickens f"
" No, it is not I ; indeed it is not ! " cried Pinocchio, sobbing. " I only came into the field to take two bunches of grapes ! . . ."
"He who steals grapes is quite capable of stealing chickens. Leave it to me, I will give you a lesson that you will not forget in a hurry."
Opening the trap he seized the puppet by the collar, and carried him to his house as if he had been a young lamb.
" You shall be my watch-dog."
124 THE ADEVNTURES OF PINOCCHIO
When he reached the yard in front of the house he threw him roughly on the ground, and putting his foot on his neck he said to him :
" It is late, and I want to go to bed ; we will settle our accounts to-morrow. In the meanwhile, as the dog who kept guard at night died to-day, you shall take his place at once. You shall be my watch-dog."
And taking a great collar covered with brass knobs he strapped it tightly round his throat that he might not be able to draw his head out of it. A heavy chain attached to the collar was fastened to the wall.
" If it should rain to-night," he then said to him " you can go and lie down in the kennel ; the straw that has served as a bed for my poor dog for the last four years is still there. If unfortunately robbers should come, remember to keep your ears pricked and to bark."
After giving him this last injunction the man went into the house, shut the door, and put up the chain.
Poor Pinocchio remained lying on the ground more dead than alive from the effects of cold, hunger, and fear. From time to time he put his hands angrily to the collar that tightened his throat and said, crying :
" It serves me right I . . . Decidedly it serves
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 125
me right ! I was determined to be a vagabond and a good-for-nothing. ... I would listen to bad companions, and that is why I always meet with misfortunes. If I had been a good little boy as so many are ; if I had been willing to learn and to work ; if I had remained at home with my poor papa, I should not now be in the midst of the fields and obliged to be the watch-dog to a peasant's house. Oh, if I could be born again ! But now it is too late, and I must have patience ! "
Relieved by this little outburst, which came straight from his heart, he went into the dog-kennel and fell asleep.
i.
XXII
Pinocchio discovers the robbers^ and as a reward for his fidelity is set at liberty.
He had been sleeping heavily for about two hours when, towards midnight, he was roused by a whispering of strange voices that seemed to come from the courtyard. Putting the point of his nose out of the kennel he saw four little beasts with dark fur, that looked like cats, standing consulting together. But they were not cats ; they were polecats — carnivorous little animals, especially greedy for eggs and young chickens. One of the pole- cats, leaving his companions, came to the opening of the kennel and said in a low voice :
"Good evening, Melampo."
" My name is not Melampo," answered the puppet.
" Oh ! then who are you ? "
" I am Pinocchio."
" And what are you doing here ? "
"I am acting as watch-dog."
t28 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
"Then where is Melampo? Where is the old dog who lived in this kennel ? "
"He died this morning."
" Is he dead ? Poor beast ! He was so good. But judging you by your face I should say that you were also a good dog."
"I beg your pardon, I am not a dog."
"Not a dog? Then what are you.f*"
" I am a puppet."
" And you are acting as watch-dog ? "
" That is only too true — as a punishment."
"Well, then, I will offer you the same conditions that we made with the deceased Melampo, and I am sure you will be satisfied with them."
" What are these conditions ? "
" One night in every week you are to permit us to visit this poultry-yard as we have hitherto done, and to carry off eight chickens. Of these chickens seven are to be eaten by us, and one we will give , to you, on the express understanding, however, that] you pretend to be asleep, and that it never enters your head to bark and to wake the peasant."
" Did Melampo act in this manner ? " asked Pinocchio.
" Certainly, and we were always on the best terms with him. Sleep quietly, and rest assured that before we go we will leave by the kennel a beautiful chicken ready plucked for your breakfast
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 129
to-morrow. Have we understood each other clearly?"
"Only too clearly! , . ." answered Pinocchio, and he shook his head threateningly as much as to say : " You shall hear of this shortly ! "
The four polecats thinking themselves safe
He barked exactly like a dog. Bow-wow-wow.
repaired to the poultry-yard, which was close to the kennel, and having opened the wooden gate with their teeth and claws, they slipped in one by one. But they had only just passed through when they heard the gate shut behind them with great violence.
It was Pinocchio who had shut it ; and for I
130 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
greater security he put a large stone against it to keep it closed.
He then began to bark, and he barked exactly like a watch-dog : bow-wow, bow-wow.
Hearing the barking the peasant jumped out of bed, and taking his gun he came to the window and asked :
"What is the matter?"
" There are robbers ! " answered Pinocchio.
^' Where are they ? "
"In the poultry-yard."
"I will come down directly."
In fact, in less time than it takes to say Amen, the peasant came down. He rushed into the poultry-yard, caught the polecats, and having put them into a sack, he said to them in a tone of great satisfaction :
" At last you have fallen into my hands ! I might punish you, but I am not so cruel. I will content my- self instead by carrying you in the morning to the innkeeper of the neighbouring village, who will skin and cook you as hares with a sweet and sour sauce. It is an honour that you don't deserve, but generous people like me don't consider such trifles ! . . ."
He then approached Pinocchio and began to caress him, and amongst other things he asked him :
"How did you manage to discover the four thieves? To think that Melampo, my faithful Melampo, never found out anything ! . . ."
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 131
The puppet might then have told him the whole story; he might have informed him of the dis- graceful conditions that had been made between the dog and the polecats ; but he remembered that the dog was dead, and he thought to himself:
"What is the good of accusing the dead? . . . The dead are dead, and the best thing to be done is to leave them in peace ! . . ."
"When the thieves got into the yard were you asleep or awake?" the peasant went on to ask him.
"I was asleep," answered Pinocchio, "but the polecats woke me with their chatter, and one of them came to the kennel and said to me : ' If you promise not to bark, and not to wake the master, we will make you a present of a fine chicken ready plucked! . . .' To think that they should have had the audacity to make such a proposal to me ! For although I am a puppet, possessing perhaps nearly all the faults in the world, there is one that I certainly will never be guilty of, that of making terms with, and sharing in the gains of, dishonest people ! "
"Well said, my boy ! " cried the peasant, slapping him on the shoulder. "Such sentiments do you honour : and as a proof of my gratitude I will at once set you at liberty, and you may return home."
And he removed the dog's collar.
XXIII
Pinocchio mourns the death of the beautiful Child with the blue hair. He then meets with a pigeon who flies with him to the seashore.^ and there he throws himself into the water to go to the assistance of his father Geppetto.
As soon as Pinocchio was released from the heavy and humiliating weight of the dog-collar he started off across the fields, and never stopped until he had reached the high road that led to the Fairy's house. There he turned and looked down into the plain beneath. He could see distinctly with his naked eye the wood where he had been so unfortunate as to meet with the Fox and the Cat ; he could see amongst the trees the top of the Big Oak to which he had been hung ; but although he looked in every direction the little house belonging to the beautiful Child with the blue hair was nowhere visible.
Seized with a sad presentiment he began to run with all the strength he had left, and in a few
134 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
minutes he reached the field where the Httle white house had once stood. But the little white house was no longer there. He saw instead a marble stone, on which were engraved these sad words :
HERE LIES
THE CHILD WITH THE BLUE HAIR
WHO DIED FROM SORROW
BECAUSE SHE WAS ABANDONED BY HER
LITTLE BROTHER PINOCCHIO.
I leave you to imagine the puppet's feelings when he had with difficulty spelt out this epitaph. He fell with his face on the ground and, covering the tombstone with a thousand kisses, burst into an agony of tears. He cried all night, and when morning came he was still crying although he had no tears left, and his sobs and lamentations were so acute and heart-breaking that they roused the echoes in the surrounding hills.
And as he wept he said :
" Oh, little Fairy, why did you die ? Why did not I die instead of you, I who am so wicked, whilst you were so good ? . . . And my papa ? Where can he hef Oh, little Fairy, tell me where I can find him, for I want to remain with him always and never to leave him again, never again ! . . . Oh, little Fairy, tell me that it is not true that
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 135
you are dead I . . . If you really love me . . . if you really love your little brother, come to life again . . . come to life as you were before ! . . . Does it not grieve you to see me alone and abandoned by everybody ? ... If assassins come they will hang me again to the branch of a tree . . . and then I should die indeed. What do you imagine that I can do here alone in the world ? Now that I have lost you and my papa, who will give me food ? Where shall I go to sleep at night? Who will make me a new jacket.^ Oh, it would be better, a hundred times better, that I should die also ! Yes, I want to die . . . ih ! ih! ih!"
And in his despair he tried to tear his hair ; but his hair, being made of wood, he could not even have the satisfaction of sticking his fingers into it.
Just then a large Pigeon flew over his head, and stopping with distended wings called down to him from a great height :
" Tell me, child, what are you doing there ? "
"Don't you see.'* I am crying! " said Pinocchio, raising his head towards the voice and rubbing his eyes with his jacket.
"Tell me," continued the Pigeon, "amongst your companions, do you happen to know a puppet who is called Pinocchio ? "
"Pinocchio.'' . . . Did you say Pinocchio?"
136 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
repeated the puppet, jumping quickly to his feet. "I am Pinocchio! "
The Pigeon at this answer descended rapidly to the ground. He was larger than a turkey.
" Do you also know Geppetto ? " he asked.
" If I know him ! He is my poor papa ! Has he perhaps spoken to you of me ? Will you take me to him ? Is he still alive ? Answer me for pity's sake : is he still alive ? "
" I left him three days ago on the sea-shore."
"What was he doing .^ "
" He was building a little boat for himself, to cross the ocean. For more than three months that poor man has been going all round the world looking for you. Not having succeeded in finding you he has now taken it into his head to go to the distant countries of the new world in search of you."
" How far is it from here to the shore ? " asked Pinocchio breathlessly.
" More than six hundred miles."
" Six hundred miles ? Oh, beautiful Pigeon, what a fine thing it would be to have your wings ! . . ."
"If you wish to go, I will carry you there."
"How?"
" Astride on my back. Do you weigh much .?
" I weigh next to nothing. I am as light as a feather."
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 137
And without waiting for more Pinocchio jumped at once on the Pigeon's back, and putting a leg on each side of him as men do on horseback, he exclaimed joyfully :
" Gallop, gallop, my little horse, for I am anxious to arrive quickly ! . . ."
The Pigeon took flight, and in a few minutes had soared so high that they almost touched the clouds. Finding himself at such an immense height the puppet had the curiosity to turn and look down ; but his head spun round, and he became so frightened, that to save himself from the danger of falling he wound his arms tightly round the neck of his feathered steed.
They flew all day. Towards evening the Pigeon said :
" I am very thirsty ! "
" And I am very hungry ! " rejoined Pinocchio.
" Let us stop at that dovecot for a few minutes ; and then we will continue our journey that we may reach the seashore by dawn to-morrow."
They went into a deserted dovecot, where they found nothing but a basin full of water and a basket full of vetch.
The puppet had never in his life been able to eat vetch : according to him it made him sick and re- volted him. That evening, however, he ate to repletion, and when he had nearly emptied the
138 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
basket he turned to the Pigeon and said to him :
"I never could have believed that vetch was so good!"
"Be assured, my boy," replied the Pigeon, "that •when hunger is real, and there is nothing else to eat, even vetch becomes delicious. Hunger knows neither caprice nor greediness."
Having quickly finished their little meal they recommenced their journey and flew away. The following morning they reached the seashore.
The Pigeon placed Pinocchio on the ground, and not wishing to be troubled with thanks for having done a good action, flew quickly away and disappeared.
The shore was crowded with people who were looking out to sea, shouting and gesticulating.
"What has happened .f"' asked Pinocchio of an old woman.
" A poor father who has lost his son has gone away in a boat to search for him on the other side of the water, and to-day the sea is tempestuous and the little boat is in danger of sinking."
"Where is the little boat?"
"It is out there in a line with my finger," said the old woman, pointing to a little boat which, seen at that distance, looked like a nutshell with a very little man in it.
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 139
Pinocchio fixed his eyes on it, and after looking attentively he gave a piercing scream, crying:
" It is my papa ! it is my papa ! "
The boat meanwhile, beaten by the fury of the waves, at one moment disappeared in the trough
Standing on a high rock, kept calling to his father.
of the sea, and the next came again to the surface. Pinocchio, standing on the top of a high rock, kept calling to his father by name, and making every kind of signal to him with his hands, his handker- chief, and his cap.
And although he was so far off, Geppetto
I40 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
appeared to recognise his son, for he also took off his cap and waved it, and tried by gestures to make him understand that he would have returned if it had been possible, but that the sea was so tempestuous that he could not use his oars or approach the shore.
Suddenly a tremendous wave rose and the boat disappeared. They waited, hoping it would come again to the surface, but it was seen no more.
" Poor man ! " said the fishermen who were assembled on the shore, and murmuring a prayer they turned to go home.
Just then they heard a desperate cry, and looking back they saw a little boy who exclaimed, as he jumped from a rock into the sea:
" I will save my papa ! "
PInocchio, being made of wood, floated easily and he swam like a fish. At one moment they saw him disappear under the water, carried down by the fury of the waves ; and next he reappeared struggling with a leg or an arm. At last they lost sight of him, and he was seen no more.
"Poor boy!" said the fishermen who were collected on the shore, and murmuring a prayer they returned home.
XXIV
Pinocchio arrives at the island of the " Industrious Bees^'' and finds the Fairy again.
Pinocchio, hoping to be in time to help his father, swam the whole night.
And what a horrible night it was! The rain came down in torrents, it hailed, the thunder was frightful, and the flashes of lightning made it as light as day.
Towards morning he saw a long strip of land not far off. It was an island in the midst of the sea.
He tried his utmost to reach the shore: but it was all in vain. The waves, racing and tumbling over each other, knocked him about as if he had been a stick or a wisp of straw. At last, fortunately for him, a billow rolled up with such fury and impetuosity that he was lifted up and thrown violently far on to the sands.
He fell with such force that, as he struck the ground, his ribs and all his joints cracked, but he comforted himself, saying:
142 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
" This time also I have made a wonderful escape ! "
Little by little the sky cleared, the sun shone out in all his splendour, and the sea became as quiet and smooth as oil.
The puppet put his clothes in the sun to dry, and began to look in every direction in hopes of seeing on the vast expanse of water a little boat with a little man in it. But although he looked and looked, he could see nothing but the sky, and the sea, and the sail of some ship, but so far away that it seemed no bigger than a fly.
" If I only knew what this island was called ! " he said to himself. " If I only knew whether it was inhabited by civilised people — I mean by people who have not got the bad habit of hanging boys to the branches of the trees. But who can I ask ? who, if there is nobody .'' . . ."
This idea of finding himself alone, alone, all alone, in the midst of this great uninhabited country, made him so melancholy that he was just beginning to cry. But at that moment, at a short distance from the shore, he saw a big fish swimming by ; it was going quietly on its own business with its head out of the water.
Not knowing its name the puppet called to it in a loud voice to make himself heard :
" Eh, Sir fish, will you permit me a word with you?"
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 143
" Two if you like," answered the fish, who was a Dolphin, and so polite that few similar are to be found in any sea in the world.
" Will you be kind enough to tell me if there are villages in this island where it would be possible to- obtain something to eat, without running the danger of being eaten ? "
"Certainly there are," replied the Dolphin. " Indeed you will find one at a short distance from here."
" And what road must I take to go there ? "
" You must take that path to your left and follow your nose. You cannot make a mistake."
" Will you tell me another thing ? You who" swim about the sea all day and all night, have you by chance met a little boat with my papa in it? "
" And who is your papa ? "
" He is the best papa in the world, whilst it would be difficult to find a worse son than I am."
" During the terrible storm last night," answered the Dolphin, " the little boat must have gone to the bottom."
" And my papa? "
"• He must have been swallowed by the terrible Dog-fish who for some days past has been spreading devastation and ruin in our waters."
" Is this Dog-fish very big ? " asked Pinocchio^ who was already beginning to quake with fear.
144 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
" Big ! . . ." replied the Dolphin. " That you may form some idea of his size, I need only tell you that he is bigger than a five-storied house, and that his mouth is so enormous and so deep that a railway train with its smoking engine could pass easily down his throat."
" Mercy upon us ! " exclaimed the terrified puppet; and putting on his clothes with the greatest haste he said to the Dolphin :
"Good-bye, Sir fish: excuse the trouble I have given you, and many thanks for your politeness."
He then took the path that had been pointed out to him and began to walk fast — so fast, indeed, that he was almost running. And at the slightest noise he turned to look behind him, fearing that he might see the terrible Dog-fish with a railway train in its mouth following him.
After a walk of half an hour he reached a little village called "The village of the Industrious Bees." The road was alive with people running here and there to attend to their business : all were at work, all had something to do. You could not have found an idler or a vagabond, not even if you had searched for him with a lighted lamp.
" Ah ! " said that lazy Pinocchio at once, " I see that this village will never suit me ! I wasn't born to work ! "
In the meanwhile he was tormented by hunger,
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 145
for he had eaten nothing for twenty-four hours — not even vetch. What was he to do ?
There were only two ways by which he could obtain food — either by asking for a little work, or by begging for a halfpenny or for a mouthful of bread.
He was ashamed to beg, for his father had always preached to him that no one had a light to beg except the aged and the infirm. The really poor in this world, deserving of compassion and assistance, are only those who from age or sickness are no longer able to earn their own bread with the labour of their hands. It is the duty of every one else to work ; and if they will not work, so much the worse for them if they suffer from hunger.
At that moment a man came down the road, tired and panting for breath. He was dragging alone, with fatigue and difficulty, two carts full of charcoal.
Pinocchio, judging by his face that he was a kind man, approached him, and casting down his eyes with shame he said to him in a low voice :
" Would you have the charity to give me a halfpenny, for I am dying of hunger?"
" You shall have not only a halfpenny," said the man, "but I will give you twopence, provided that you help me to drag home these two carts of charcoal."
K
146 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
" I am surprised at you ! " answered the puppet in a tone of offence. "Let me tell you that I am not accustomed to do the work of a donkey : I have never drawn a cart ! . . ."
"So much the better for you," answered the man. " Then, my boy, if you are really dying of hunger, eat two fine slices of your pride, and be careful not to get an indigestion."
A few minutes afterwards a mason passed down the road carrying on his shoulders a basket of lime,
" Would you have the charity, good man, to give a halfpenny to a poor boy who is yawning for want of food?"
" Willingly," answered the man. " Come with me and carry the lime, and instead of a halfpenny [ will give you five."
"But the lime is heavy," objected Pinocchio, " and I don't want to tire myself."'
" If you don't want to tire yourself, then, my boy, amuse yourself with yawning, and much good may it do you."
In less than half an hour twenty other people went by ; and Pinocchio asked charity of them all, but they all answered :
"Are you not ashamed to beg? Instead of idling about the roads, go and look for a little work and learn to earn your bread."
Amuse yourself with yawning, and much good may it do you.
148 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
At last a nice little woman carrying two cans of water came by.
'' Will you let me drink a little water out of your can ? " asked Pinocchio, who was burning with thirst.
"Drink, my boy, if you wish it! " said the little woman, setting down the two cans.
Pinocchio drank like a fish, and as he dried his mouth he mumbled:
" I have quenched my thirst. If I could only appease my hunger ! . ."
The good woman hearing these words said at once :
" If you will help me to carry home these two cans of water, 1 will give you a fine piece of bread."
Pinocchio looked at the can and answered neither yes nor no.
"And besides the bread you shall have a nice dish of cauliflower dressed with oil and vinegar," added the good woman.
Pinocchio gave another look at the can, and answered neither yes nor no.
"And after the cauliflower I will give you a beautiful bonbon full of syrup."
The temptation of this hist dainty was so great that Pinocchio could resist no longer, and with an air of decision he said :
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 149
"I must have patience! I will carry the can to your house."
The can was heavy, and the puppet not being strong enough to carry it in his hand, had to resign himself to carry it on his head.
When they reached the house the good little woman made Pinocchio sit down at a small table already laid, and she placed before him the bread, the cauliflower, and the bonbon.
Pinocchio did not 3at, he devoured. His stomach was like an apartment that had been left empty and uninhabited for five months.
When his ravenous hunger was somewhat appeased he raised his head to thank his benefactress ; but he had no sooner looked at her than he gave a prolonged Oh-h-h ! of astonishment, and continued staring at her, with wide open eyes, his fork in the air, and his mouth full of bread and cauliflower, as if he had been bewitched.
"What has surprised you so much?" asked the good woman, laughing.
" It is . . ." answered the puppet,. " it is . . . it is . . . that you are like . . . that you remind me . . . yes, yes, yes, the same voice . . , the same eyes . . . the same hair . . . yes, yes, yes , . . you also have blue hair ... as she had . . . Oh, little Fairy ! . . . tell me that it is you, really you ! . . . Do not make me cry any more ! If you
I50 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
. I have cried so much, I have suffered so
knew much,
And throwing himself at her feet on the floor, Pinocchio embraced the knees of the mysterious little woman and began to cry bitterly.
XXV
Pinocchio promises the Fairy to be good and studious^ for he is quite sick of being a puppet and wishes to become an exemplary boy.
At first the good little woman maintained that she was not the little Fairy with blue hair; but seeing that she was found out, and not wishing to continue the comedy any longer, she ended by making herself known, and she said to Pinocchio:
"You little rogue! how did you ever discover who I was ? "
" It was my great affection for you that told me."
"Do you remember? You left me a child, and now that you have found me again I am a woman — a woman almost old enough to be your mamma."
"I am delighted at that, for now, instead of call- ing you little sister, I will call you mamma. I have wished for such a long time to have a mamma like other boys ! . . . But how did you manage to grow so fast .? ''
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152 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
"That is a secret."
" Teach it to me, for I should also like to grow. Don't you see.^ I always remain no bigger than a ninepin,"
"But you cannot grow," replied the Fairy.
"Why?"
" Because puppets never grow. They are born puppets, live puppets, and die puppets."
" Oh, I am sick of being a puppet ! " cried Pinocchio, giving himself a slap. "It is time that I became a man. ..."
" And you will become one, if you know how to deserve it. . . ."
"Not really? And what can I do to deserve it?"
"A very easy thing: by learning to be a good boy."
" And you think I am not ? "
"You are quite the contrary. Good boys are obedient, and you. . . ."
" And I never obey."
" Good boys like to learn and to work, and you. . . .
"And I instead lead an idle vagabond life the year through."
" Good boys always speak the truth. . . ."
" And I always tell lies."
" Good boys go willingly to school. . . ."
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 153
"And school gives me pain all over my body. But from to-day I will change my life."
'• Do you promise me ? "
" I promise you, I will become a good little boy, and I will be the consolation of my papa. . . . Where is my poor papa at this moment ^ "
" I do not know."
" Shall I ever have the happiness of seeing him again and kissing him ? "
" I think so; indeed I am sure of it."
At this answer Pinocchio was so delighted that he took the Fairy's hands and began to kiss them with such fervour that he seemed beside himself Then raising his face and looking at her lovingly, he asked :
"Tell me, little mamma: then it was not true that you were dead ? "
"It seems not," said the Fairy, smiling.
"If you only knew the sorrow I felt and the tightening of my throat when I re4d, ' here lies. . . .'"
" I know it, and it is on that account that I have forgiven you. I saw from the sincerity of your grief that you had a good heart ; and when boys have good hearts, even if they are scamps and have got bad habits, there is always something to hope for: that is, there is always hope that they will
154 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
turn to better ways. That is why I came to look for you here. I will be your mamma. . . ."
"Oh, how delightful!" shouted Pinocchio, jump- ing for joy.
"You must obey me and do everything that I bid you."
" Willingly, willingly, willingly ! "
" To-morrow," rejoined the Fairy, " you will begin to go to school."
Pinocchio became at once a little less joyful.
" Then you must choose an art, or a trade, accord- ing to your own wishes."
Pinocchio became very grave.
" What are you muttering between your teeth ? " asked the Fairy in an angry voice.
"I was saying," moaned the puppet in a low voice, " that it seemed to me too late for me to go to school now. . . ."
" No, sir. Keep it in mind that it is never too late to learn and to instruct ourselves."
" But I do not wish to follow either an art or a trade."
"Why?"
"Because it tires me to work."
"My boy," said the Fairy, "those who talk in that way end almost always either in prison or in the hospital. Let me tell you that every man, whether he is born rich or poor, is obliged to do
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 155
something in this world — to occupy himself, to work. Woe to those who lead slothful lives. Sloth is a dreadful illness and must be cured at once, in childhood. If not, when we are old it can never be cured."
Pinocchio was touched by these words, and lifting his head quickly he said to the Fairy :
''I will study, I will work, 1 will do all that you tell me, for indeed I have become weary of being a puppet, and I wish at any price to become a boy. You promised me that I should, did you not ? "
" I did promise you, and it now depends upon yourself."
XXVI
Pinoccbio accompanies his schoolfellows to the seashore to see the terrible Dog-fish.
The following day Pinocchio went to the govern- ment school.
Imagine the delight of all the little rogues when they saw a puppet walk into their school ! They set up a roar of laughter that never ended. They played him all sorts of tricks. One boy carried off his cap, another pulled his jacket behind ; one tried to give him a pair of inky mustachios just under his nose, and another attempted to tie strings to his feet and hands to make him dance.
For a short time Pinocchio pretended not to care and got on as well as he could ; but at last, losing all patience, he turned to those who were teasing him most and making game of him, and said to them, looking very angry :
" Beware, boys : I am not come here to be your
»S7
158 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
buffoon. I respect others, and I intend to be respected."
" Well said, boaster ! You have spoken like a book I " howled the young rascals, convulsed with mad laughter ; and one of them, more impertinent than the others, stretched out his hand intending to seize the puppet by the end of his nose.
They played him all sorts of tricks.
But he was not in time, for Pinocchio stuck his leg out from under the table and gave him a great kick on his shins.
" Oh, what hard feet ! " roared the boy, rubbing the bruise that the puppet had given him.
" And what elbows I . . . even harder than his feet ! . . ." said another, who for his rude tricks had received a blow in the stomach.
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 159
But nevertheless the kick and the blow acquired at once for Pinocchio the sympathy and the esteem of all the boys in the school. They all made friends with him and liked him heartily.
And even the master praised him, for he found him attentive, studious, and intelligent — always the first to come to school, and the last to leave when school was over.
But he had one fault : he made too many friends ; and amongst them were several young rascals well known for their dislike to study and love of mischief.
The master warned him every day, and even the good Fairy never failed to tell him, and to repeat constantly :
" Take care, Pinocchio I Those bad schoolfellows of yours will end sooner or later by making you lose all love of study, and perhaps even they may bring upon you some great misfortune."
" There is no fear of that ! " answered the puppet^ shrugging his shoulders and touching his forehead as much as to say : " There is so much sense here ! "
Now it happened that one fine day, as he was on his way to school, he met several of his usual com- panions who, coming up to him, asked :
" Have you heard the great news ? "
" No."
" In the sea near here a Dog-fish has appeared as big as a mountain."
i6o THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
"Not really ? Can it be the same Dog-fish that was there when my poor papa was drowned ? "
" We are going to the shore to see him. Will you come with us ? "
" No ; I am going to school."
" What matters school ^ We can go to school to- morrow. Whether we have a lesson more or a lesson less, we shall always remain the same donkeys."
"But what will the master say-f*"
" The master may say what he likes. He is paid on purpose to grumble all day."
"And my mamma? . . ."
" Mammas know nothing," answered those bad little boys.
" Do you know what I will do ? " said Pinocchio. *'I have reasons for wishing to see the Dog-fish, but I will go and see him when school is over."
" Poor donkey ! " exclaimed one of the number. *'Do you suppose that a fish of that size will wait your convenience ? As soon as he is tired of being here he will start for another place, and then it will be too late."
" How long does it take from here to the shore .? " asked the puppet.
"We can be there and back in an hour."
"Then away! " shouted Pinocchio, "and he who runs fastest is the best ! "
Having thus given the signal to start, the boys,
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 16 1
with their books and copy-books under their arms, rushed off across the fields, and Pinocchio was always the first — he seemed to have wings to his feet.
From time to time he turned to jeer at his companions, who were some distance behind, and seeing them panting for breath, covered with dust and their tongues hanging out of their mouths, he laughed heartily. The unfortunate boy little knew what terrors and horrible disasters he was going to meet with ! . . .
XXVII
Great fight between Finocchio and his companions. One of them is wounded, and Finocchio is arrested by the gendarmes.
When he arrived on the shore Finocchio looked out to sea ; but he saw no Dog-fish. The sea was as smooth as a great crystal mirror.
"Where is the Dog-fish.'*" he asked, turning to his companions.
"He must have gone to have his breakfast,'^ said one of them, laughing.
" Or he has thrown himseh on to his bed to have a little nap," added another, laughing still louder.
From their absurd answers and silly laughter Finocchio perceived that his companions had been-
making a fool of him, in inducing him to believe-
163
wmm
164 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
a tale with no truth in it. Taking it very badly he said to them angrily :
" And now may I ask what fun you could find in deceiving me with the story of the Dog-fish ? "
"Oh, it was great fun!" answered the little rascals in chorus.
"And in what did it consist?"
In making you miss school, and persuading you to come with us. Are you not ashamed of being always so punctual and so diligent with your lessons? Are you not ashamed of studying so hard ? "
" And if I study hard what concern is it of yours ? "
"It concerns us excessively, because it makes us appear in a bad light to the master."
"Why?"
" Because boys who study make those who, like us, have no wish to learn seem worse by comparison. And that is too bad. We too have our pride ! . . ."
"Then what must I do to please you?"
" You must follow our example and hate school, lessons, and the master — our three greatest enemies."
" And if I wish to continue my studies ? "
" In that case we will have nothing more to do with you, and at the fu-st opportunity we will make you pay for it."
"Really," said the puppet, shaking his head, ^' you make me inclined to laugh."
" Eh, Pinocchio ! " shouted the biggest of the
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 165
boys, confronting him. " None ot your superior airs : don't come here to crow over us ! . . . for if you are not afraid of us, we are not afraid of you. Remember that you are one against seven of us."
" Seven, Hke the seven deadly sins," said Pinocchio with a shout of laughter, p "Listen to him I He has insulted us all! He called us the seven deadly sins! . . ."
" Pinocchio ! beg pardon ... or it will be the worse for you !...'" I "Cuckoo!" sang the puppet, putting his fore- finger to the end of his nose scoffingly.
''Pinocchio! it will end badly ! . . ."
"Cuckoo!"
" You will get as many blows as a donkey ! . . ."
"Cuckoo!"
" You will return home with a broken nose ! . . ."
" Cuckoo ! "
" Ah, you shall have the cuckoo from me I " said the most courageous of the boys. "Take that to begin with, and keep it for your supper to-night."
And so saying he gave him a blow on the head with his fist.
But it was give and take ; for the puppet, as was to be expected, immediately returned the blow, and the fight in a moment became general and desperate.
Pinocchio, although he was one alone, defended himself like a hero. He used his feet, which were
1 66 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
of the hardest wood, to such purpose that he kept
his enemies at a respectful distance. Wherever
they touched they left a bruise by way of reminder.
The boys, becoming furious at not being able to
Gave him a blow on the head with his fist.
measure themselves hand to hand with the puppet, had recourse to other weapons. Loosening their satchels they commenced throwing their school- books at him — grammars, dictionaries, spelling- books, geography books, and other scholastic works.
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 167
But Pinocchio was quick and had sharp eyes, and always managed to duck in time, so that the books passed over his head and all fell into the sea.
Imagine the astonishment of the fish ! Thinking that the books were something to eat they all arrived in shoals, but having tasted a page or two, or a frontispiece, they spat it quickly out and made a wry face that seemed to say : " It isn't food for us ; we are accustomed to something much better 1 "
The battle meantime had become fiercer than ever, when a big crab, who had come out of the water and had climbed slowly up on to the shore, called out in a hoarse voice that sounded like a trumpet with a bad cold :
"Have done with that, you young ruffians, for you are nothing else ! These hand-to-hand fights between boys seldom finish well. Some disaster is sure to happen ! . . ."
Poor crab ! He might as well have preached to the wind. Even that young rascal Pinocchio, turning round, looked at him mockingly and said rudely :
" Hold your tongue, you tiresome crab ! You had better suck some liquorice lozenges to cure that cold in your throat. Or better still, go to bed and try to get a reaction ! "
Just then the boys, who had no more books of their own to throw, spied at a little distance the
1 68 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
satchel that belonged to Pinocchio, and took possession of it in less time than it takes to tell.
Amongst the books there was one bound in strong cardboard with the back and points of parch- ment. It was a Treatise on Arithmetic. I leave you to imagine if it was big or not !
One of the boys seized this volume, and aiming at Pinocchio's head threw it at him with all the force he could muster. But instead of hitting the puppet it struck one of his companions on the temple, who, turning as white as a sheet, said only:
" Oh, mother, help ... I am dying ! . . ." and fell his whole length on the sand. Thinking he was dead the terrified boys ran off as hard as their legs could carry them, and in a few minutes they were out of sight.
But Pinocchio remained. Although from grief and fright he was more dead than alive, nevertheless he ran and soaked his handkerchief in the sea and began to bathe the temples of his poor schoolfellow. Crying bitterly in his despair he kept calling him by name and saying to him :
" Eugene ! . . . my poor Eugene ! . . . open your eyes and look at me ! . . . why do you not answer ^ I did not do it, indeed it was not I that hurt you so ! believe me, it was not ! Open your eyes, Eugene. ... If you keep your eyes shut I
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 169
shall die too. . . . Oh ! what shall I do ? how shall I ever return home? How can I ever have the courage to go back to my good mamma? What will become of me ? . . . Where can I fly to ? . . . Oh ! how much better it would have been, a thousand times better, if I had only gone to school ! . . . Why did I listen to my companions ? they have been my ruin. The master said to me, and my mamma repeated it often : "Beware of bad companions ! " But I am obstinate ... a wilful fool. ... I let them talk and then I always take my own way ! and I have to sufler for it. . . . And so, ever since I have been in the world, I have never had a happy quarter of an hour. Oh dear! what will become of me, what will become of me, what will become of me ? . . ."
And Pinocchio began to cry and sob, and to strike his head with his fists, and to call poor Eugene by his name. Suddenly he heard the sound of approaching footsteps.
He turned and saw two carabineers.
" What are you doing there lying on the ground ? " they asked Pinocchio.
" I am helping my schoolfellow."
" Has he been hurt ? "
" So it seems."
" Hurt indeed ! " said one of the carabineers, stooping down and examining Eugene closely.
ijo THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
"This boy has been wounded in the temple. Who wounded him ? "
" Not I," stammered the puppet breathlessly.
"If it was not you, who then did it?"
"Not I," repeated Pinocchio.
" And with what was he wounded ? "
" With this book." And the puppet picked up from the ground the Treatise on Arithmetic, bound in cardboard and parchment, and showed it to the carabineer.
"And to whom does this book belong? "
" To me."
"That is enough: nothing more is wanted. Get up and come with us at once."
" But I . . ."
" Come along with us ! . . ."
"But I am innocent. . . ."
" Come along with us ! "
Before they left, the carabineers called some fishermen, who were passing at that moment near the shore in their boat, and said to them :
"We give this boy who has been wounded in the head into your charge. Carry him to your house and nurse him. To-morrow we will come and see him."
They then turned to Pinocchio, and having placed him between them they said to him in a commanding voice :
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 171
"Forward! and walk quickly! or it will be the worse for you."
Without requiring it to be repeated, the puppet set out along the road leading to the village. But the poor little devil hardly knew where he was. He thought he must be dreaming, and what a dreadful dream ! He was beside himself. He saw double : his legs shook : his tongue clung to the roof of his mouth, and he could not utter a word. And yet in the midst of his stupefaction and apathy his heart was pierced by a cruel thorn — the thouglit that he would have to pass under the windows of the good Fairy's house between the carabineers. He would rather have died.
They had already reached the village when a gust of wind blew Pinocchio's cap off his head and carried it ten yards off.
" Will you permit me," said the puppet to the carbineers, " to go and get my cap .? "
" Go, then ; but be quick about it."
The puppet went and picked up his cap . . but instead of putting it on his head he took it between his teeth and began to run as hard as he could towards the seashore.
The carabineers, thinking it would be difficult to overtake him, sent after him a large mastiff who had won the first prizes at all the dog-races. Pinocchio ran, but the dog ran faster. The people came to their
172 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
windows and crowded into the street in their anxiety to see the end of the desperate race. But they could not satisfy their curiosity, for Pinocchio and the dog raised such clouds of dust that in a few minutes nothing could be seen of either of them.
XXVIII
Pinocchio is in danger of being fried in a frying-pan like a fish.
There came a moment in this desperate race — a terrible moment when Pinocchio thought himself lost : for you must know that Alidoro — for so the mastiff was called — had run so swiftly that he had nearly come up with him.
The puppet could hear the panting of the dreadful beast close behind him ; there was not a hand's breadth between them, he could even feel the dog's hot breath.
Fortunately the shore was close and the sea but a few steps off.
As soon as he reached the sands the puppet made a wonderful leap — a frog could have done no better — and plunged into the water.
Alidoro, on the contrary, wished to stop himself; but carried away by the impetus of the race he also went into the sea. The unfortunate dog could
174 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
not swim, but he made great efforts to keep himself afloat with his paws ; but the more he struggled the farther he sank head downwards under the water.
When he rose to the surface again his eyes were rolling with terror, and he barked out :
" I am drowning ! I am drowning ! "
" Drown ! " shouted Pinocchio from a distance, seeing himself safe from all danger.
" Help me, dear Pinocchio ! . . . save me from death! ..."
At that agonising cry the puppet, who had in reality an excellent heart, was moved with com- passion, and turning to the dog he said :
" But if I save your life, will you promise to give me no further annoyance, and not to run after me ? "
" I promise ! I promise ! Be quick, for pity's sake, for if you delay another half-minute I shall be dead."
Pinocchio hesitated : but remembering that his father had often told him that a good action is never lost, he swam to Alidoro, and taking hold of his tail with both hands brought him safe and sound on to the dry sand of the beach.
The poor dog could not stand. He had drunk, against his will, so much salt water that he was hke a balloon. The puppet, however, not wishing to trust him too far, thought it more prudent to j ump
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 175
again into the water. When he had swum some distance from the shore he called out to the friend he had rescued :
" Good-bye, Alidoro ; a good journey to you, and take my compliments to all at home."
" Good-bye, Pinocchio," answered the dog ; " a thousand thanks for having saved my life. You have done me a great service, and in this world what is given is returned. If an occasion offers I shall not forget it."
Pinocchio swam on, keeping always near the hind. At last he thought that he had reached a safe place. Giving a look along the shore he saw amongst the rocks a kind of cave from which a cloud of smoke was ascending.
" In that cave," he said to himself, " there must be a fire. So much the better. I will go and dry and warm myself, and then? . . . and then we shall see."
Having taken this resolution he approached the rocks ; but as he was going to climb up, he felt something under the water that rose higher and higher and carried him into the air. He tried to escape, but it was too late, for to his extreme surprise he found himself enclosed in a great net, together with a swarm of fish of every size and shape, who were flapping and struggling like so many despairing souls.
At the same moment a fisherman came out of the
176 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
cave; he was so ugly, so horribly ugly, that he looked like a sea monster. Instead of hair his head was covered with a thick bush of green grass, his skin was green, his eyes were green, his long beard that came down to the ground was also green. He had the appearance of an immense lizard standing on its hind-paws.
When the fisherman had drawn his net out of the 5ea, he exclaimed with great satisfaction :
" Thank Heaven ! Again to-day I shall have a splendid feast of fish ! "
" What a mercy that I am not a fish ! " said Pinocchio to himself, regaining a little courage.
The net full of fish was carried into the cave, which was dark and smoky. In the middle of the cave a large frying-pan full of oil was frying, and sending out a smell of mushrooms that was suffocating.
" Now we will see what fish we have taken!" said the green fisherman ; and putting into the net an enormous hand, so out of all proportion that it looked like a baker's shovel, he pulled out a handful of mullet.
"These mullet are good!" he said, looking at them and smelling them complacently. And after he had smelt them he threw them into a pan with- out water.
He repeated the same operation many times ; and
What species of fish is this ? "
M
178 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
as he drew out the fish, his mouth watered and he said, chuckling to himself:
"What good whiting! ..."
"What exquisite sardines ! . . ."
"These soles are delicious! . . "
" And these crabs excellent ! . . ."
" What dear little anchovies ! . . ."
I need not tell you that the whiting, the sardines, the soles, the crabs, and the anchovies were all thrown promiscuously into the pan to keep company with the mullet.
The last to remain in the net was Pinocchio.
No sooner had the fisherman taken him out than he opened his big green eyes with astonishment, and cried, half-frightened :
"What species of fish is this.'' Fish of this kind 1 never remember to have eaten ! "
And he looked at him again attentively, and having examined him well all over, he ended by saying :
" I know : he must be a craw-fish."
Pinocchio, mortified at being mistaken for a craw- fish, said in an angry voice :
" A craw-fish indeed ! do you take me for a craw-fish ? what treatment ! Let me tell you that I am a puppet."
"A puppet.'"' replied the fisherman. "To tell the truth, a puppet is quite a new fish for me.
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 179
All the better ! I shall eat you with greater pleasure."
" Eat me ! but will you understand that I am not a fish ? Do you hear that I talk and reason as you do?"
" That is quite true," said the fisherman ; " and as I see that you are a fish possessed of the talent of talking and reasoning as I do, I will treat you with all the attention that is your due."
"And this attention.'' . . ."
"In token of my friendship and particular regard, I will leave you the choice of how you would like to be cooked. Would you like to be fried in the frying-pan, or would you prefer to be stewed with tomato sauce ? "
"To tell the truth," answered Pinocchio, "if I am to choose, I should prefer to be set at liberty and to return home."
"You are joking! Do you imagine that I would lose the opportunity of tasting such a rare fish .'* It is not every day, I assure you, that a puppet fish is caught in these waters. Leave it to me. I will fry you in the frying-pan with the other fish, and you will be quite satisfied. It is always consolation to be fried in company."
At this speech the unhappy Pinocchio began to cry and scream and to implore for mercy ; and he said, sobbing : " How much better it would have
i8o THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
been if I had gone to school ! . . . I would listen to my companions and now I am paying for it ! Ih ! , . . Ih ! . . . Ih ! . . ."
And he wriggled like an eel, and made indescrib- able efforts to slip out of the clutches of the green fisherman. But it was useless : the fisherman took a long strip of rush, and having bound his hands and feet as if he had been a sausage, he threw him into the pan with the other fish.
He then fetched a wooden bowl full of flour and began to flour them each in turn, and as soon as they were ready he threw them into the frying-pan.
The first to dance in the boiling oil were the poor whiting ; the crabs followed, then the sardines, then the soles, then the anchovies, and at last it was Pinocchio's turn. Seeing himself so near death, and such a horrible death, he was so frightened, and trembled so violently, that he had neither voice nor breath left for further entreaties.
But the poor boy implored with his eyes ! The green fisherman, however, without caring in the least, plunged him five or six times in the flour, until he was white from head to foot, and looked like a puppet made of plaster.
He then took him by the head, and. . . .
XXIX
He returns to the Fairy's house. She promises him that the following day he shall cease to be a puppet and shall become a boy. Grand breakfast of coffee and milk to celebrate this great event.
Just as the fisherman was on the point of throwing Pinocchio into the frying-pan a large dog entered the cave, enticed there by the strung and savoury odour of fried fish.
" Get out ! " shouted the fisherman threateningly, holding the floured puppet in his hand.
But the poor dog, who was as hungry as a wolf, whined and wagged his tail as much as to say :
" Give me a mouthful of fish and I will leave you in peace."
"Get out, I tell you.'"' repeated the fisherman, and he stretched out his leg to give him a kick.
But the dog, who, when he was really hungry,
1 82 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
would not stand trifling, turned upon him, growling and showing his terrible tusks.
At that moment a little feeble voice was heard in the cave saying entreatingly :
" Save me, Alidoro ! If you do not save me I shall be fried ! . . ."
The dog recognised Pinocchio's voice, and to his extreme surprise perceived that it proceeded from the floured bundle that the fisherman held in his hand.
So what do you think he did ? He made a spring, seized the bundle in his mouth, and holding it gently between his teeth he rushed out of the cave and was gone like a flash of lightning.
The fisherman, furious at seeing a fish he was so anxious to eat snatched from him, ran after the dog ; but he had not gone many steps when he was taken with a fit of coughing and had to give it up.
Alidoro, when he had reached the path that led to the village, stopped, and put his friend Pinocchio gently on the ground.
" How much I have to thank you for ! " said the puppet.
" There is no necessity," replied the dog, " You saved me and I have now returned it. You know that we must all help each other in this world."
" But how came you to come to the cave ^ "
" I was lying on the shore more dead than alive
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 183
when the wind brought to me the smell of fried fish. The smell excited my appetite, and I followed it up. If I had arrived a second later. . . ."
" Do not mention it ! " groaned Pinocchio, who
Seized the bundle in his mouth.
was still trembling with fright. " Do not mention it ! If you had arrived a second later I should by this time have been fried, eaten, and digested. Brrr ! ... it makes me shudder only to think of
It
Alidoro, laughing, extended his right paw to the
i84 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
puppet, who shook it heartily in token of great friendship, and they then separated.
The dog took the road home ; and Pinocchio, left alone, went to a cottage not far off, and said to a little old man who was warming himself in the sun :
" Tell me, good man, do you know anything of a poor boy called Eugene who was wounded in the head! . . ."
"The boy was brought by some fishermen to this cottage, and now. . , ."
" And now he is dead ! . . ." interrupted Pin- occhio with great sorrow.
" No, he is alive, and has returned to his home."
" Not really ? not really ? " cried the puppet, dancing with delight. " Then the wound was not serious ."^ . . ."
" It might have been very serious and even fatal," answered the little old man, " for they threw a thick book bound in cardboard at his head."
"And who threw it at him.''"
" One of his schoolfellows, a certain Pin- occhio. ..."
"And who is this Pinocchio.^" asked the puppet, pretending ignorance.
" They say that he is a bad boy, a vagabond, a regular good-for-nothing. ..."
" Calumnies ! all calumnies ! "
" Do you know this Pinocchio ? "
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 185
" By sight ! " answered the puppet.
" And what is your opinion of him ? " asked the little man.
" He seems to me to be a very good boy, anxious to learn, and obedient and affectionate to his father and family. . . ."
Whilst the puppet was firing off all these lies, he touched his nose and perceived that it had lengthened more than a hand. Very much alarmed he began to cry out :
"Don't believe, good man, what I have been telling you. I know Pinocchio very well, and 1 can assure you that he is really a very bad boy, disobedient and idle, who instead of going to school runs off with his companions to amuse himself."
He had hardly finished speaking when his nose became shorter and returned to the same size that it was before.
"And why are you all covered with white.'"* asked the old man suddenly.
"I will tell you. . . . Without observing it I rubbed myself against a wall which had been freshly whitewashed," answered the puppet, ashamed to confess that he had been floured like a fish prepared for the frying-pan.
"And what have you done with your jacket, your trousers, and your cap ? '
" I met with robbers who took them from me.
1 86 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
Tell me, good old man, could you perhaps give me some clothes to return home in ? "
" My boy, as to clothes, I have nothing but a little sack in which I keep beans. If you wish for it, take it ; there it is."
Pinocchio did not wait to be told twice. He took the sack at once, and with a pair of scissors he cut a hole at the end and at each side, and put it on like a shirt. And with this slight clothing he set off for the village.
But as he went he did not feel at all comfortable — so little so, indeed, that for a step forward he took another backwards, and he said, talking to himself:
"How shall I ever present myself to my good little Fairy ? What will she say when she sees me ? . . . Will she forgive me this second escapade ? ... I bet that she will not forgive me I Oh, I am sure that she will not forgive me ! . . . And it serves me right, for I am a rascal. I am always promising to correct myself, and I never keep my word! . . ."
When he reached the village it was night and very dark. A storm had come on, and as the rain was coming down in torrents he went straight to the Fairy's house, resolved to knock at the door, and hoping to be let in.
But when he was there his courage failed him,
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO 187
and instead of knocking he ran away some twenty paces. He returned to the door a second time, but could not make up his mind ; he came back a third time, still he dared not ; the fourth time he laid hold of the knocker and, trembling, gave a little knock.
He waited and waited. At last, after half an hour had passed, a window on the top floor was opened — the house was four stories high — -and Pinocchio saw a big Snail with a lighted candle on her head looking out. She called to him :
" Who is there at this hour.?"
"Is the Fairy at home.'"' asked the puppet.
"The Fairy is asleep and must not be awakened; but who are you ? "
"It is II"
" Who is I .? "
"Pinocchio."
" And who is Pinocchio ? "
" The puppet who lives in the Fairy's house."
"Ah, I understand!" said the Snail. "Wait for me there. I will come down and open the door directly."
" Be quick, for pity's sake, for I am dying of kold."
'' My boy, I am a snail, and snails are never in
hurry."
An hour passed, and then two, and the door
i88 THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
was not opened. Pinocchio, who was wet through, and trembling from cold and fear, at last took courage and knocked again, and this time he knocked louder.
At this second knock a window on the lower story opened, and the same Snail appeared at it.
"Beautiful little Snail," cried Pinocchio from the street, " I have been waiting for two