Как заниматься по этому тексту
Короткий ответ
Сказка Карло Коллоди — Pinocchio (Пиноккио) на английском языке. Текст «Сказка Карло Коллоди — Pinocchio (Пиноккио) на английском языке». Сначала смысл целиком, затем 8–12 ключевых слов, без пословного перевода.
Здесь вы сможете бесплатно прочитать сказку: Карло Коллоди/ Carlo Collodi «Pinocchio»/ «Пиноккио».
CHAPTER I
THE PIECE OF WOOD THAT LAUGHED AND CRIED LIKE A CHILD
There was once upon a time a piece of wood in the shop of an old
carpenter named Master Antonio. Everybody, however, called him 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.»
He immediately took a sharp axe with which to remove the bark and the
rough surface, but just as he was going to give the first stroke he
heard a very small voice say imploringly, «Do not strike me so hard!»
He turned his terrified eyes all around 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 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!’? Is it possible that this piece of wood can have learned to cry and
to lament like a child? I cannot believe it. This piece of wood is
nothing but 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 anyone
be hidden inside it? If anyone is hidden inside, so much the worse for
him. I will settle him at once.»
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
imagination! Let us set to work again.»
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:
«Stop! 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 changed, even the end of his nose, instead of being
crimson, as it was nearly always, had become blue from fright.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER II
MASTER CHERRY GIVES THE WOOD AWAY
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 neighborhood wished to make him angry
they called him Pudding, because his yellow wig greatly resembled a
pudding made of Indian corn.
Geppetto was very fiery. Woe to him who called him Pudding! He became
furious and there was no holding him.
«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, neighbor Geppetto?»
«My legs. But to tell the truth. Master Antonio, I came to ask a favor
of you.»
«Here I am, ready to serve you,» replied the carpenter, getting on his
knees.
«This morning an idea came into my head.»
«Let us hear it.»
«I thought I would make a beautiful wooden puppet; one that could dance,
fence, and leap like an acrobat. With this puppet I would travel about
the world to earn a piece of bread and a glass of wine. What do you
think of it?»
«Bravo, Pudding!» exclaimed the same little voice, and it was impossible
to say where it came from.
Hearing himself called Pudding, 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 Pudding!»
«It was not I!»
«Do you think I called myself Pudding? It was you, I say!»
«No!»
«Yes!»
«No!»
«Yes!»
And, becoming more and more angry, from words they came to blows, and,
flying at each other, they bit and fought, and scratched.
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 remained between his teeth.
«Give me back my wig,» screamed Master Antonio.
«And you, return me mine, and let us be friends again.»
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, neighbor Geppetto,» said the carpenter, to prove that peace
was made, «what is the favor 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 immediately 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 of 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 Pudding!»
«Knave!»
«Pudding!»
«Donkey!»
«Pudding!»
«Baboon!»
«Pudding!»
On hearing himself called Pudding for the third time Geppetto, mad 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 lost two buttons off 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.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER III
GEPPETTO NAMES HIS PUPPET PINOCCHIO
Geppetto lived in a small ground-floor room that was only lighted from
the staircase. The furniture could not have been simpler—a rickety
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.
[Illustration: A Little Chicken Popped Out, Very Gay and Polite]
«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.»
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 perceived that
they moved and looked fixedly at him.
Geppetto, seeing himself stared at by those two wooden eyes, 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 not to see and continued
his labors. 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! 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 behavior 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, my 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!»
He then took the puppet under the arms and placed him on the floor to
teach him to walk.
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 limber Pinocchio began to walk by himself and to
run about the room, until, 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 leaped 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 race-horse, stood still in
astonishment to look at it, and laughed and laughed.
At last, as good luck would have it, a soldier 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 soldier barricading the
whole street, he endeavored to take him by surprise and to pass between
his legs. But he failed entirely.
The soldier without disturbing himself in the least caught him cleverly
by the nose and gave 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? In his
hurry to model him he had forgotten to make any ears.
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 settle our
accounts, never doubt it.»
At this information 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 around 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 soldier at last set
Pinocchio at liberty and led 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 labored to make him a well-conducted
puppet! But it serves me right! I should have thought of it sooner!»
[Illustration]
CHAPTER IV
THE TALKING-CRICKET SCOLDS PINOCCHIO
While poor Geppetto was being taken to prison for no fault of his, that
imp Pinocchio, finding himself free from the clutches of the soldier,
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.
Arriving at the house he found the street door ajar. He pushed it open,
went in, and having fastened the latch, threw himself on the floor and
gave a great sigh of satisfaction.
But soon he heard some one in the room who was saying:
«Cri-cri-cri!»
«Who calls me?» said Pinocchio in a fright.
«It is I!»
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
or 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 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 tomorrow 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! But do you not know that in that way you will grow
up a perfect donkey, and that every one will make fun of you?»
«Hold your tongue, you wicked, ill-omened croaker!» shouted Pinocchio.
But the Cricket, who was patient and philosophical, 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!»
«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, «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 unfortunately 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.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER V
THE FLYING EGG
Night was coming on and Pinocchio, remembering that he had eaten nothing
all day, began to feel a gnawing in his stomach that very much resembled
appetite.
After a few minutes his appetite had become hunger and in no time his
hunger became ravenous.
Poor Pinocchio ran quickly to the fireplace, where a saucepan was
boiling, and was going to take off 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
inches.
He then began to run about the room, searching in the drawers and in
every imaginable place, in 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 moldy
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. 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 were 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 were 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 was beyond description. 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 an omelet? No, it would be
better to cook it in a saucer! Or would it not be more savory to fry it
in the frying-pan? Or shall I simply boil 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 and let the contents 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, however, from
his first stupefaction, he began to cry and scream, and to stamp his
feet on the floor in desperation, 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 were here, I should not now be dying of hunger! Oh!
what a dreadful illness hunger is!»
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 neighborhood in hopes of finding some charitable person who would
give him a piece of bread.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER VI
PINOCCHIO’S FEET BURN TO CINDERS
It was a wild and stormy night. The thunder was tremendous and the
lightning so vivid that the sky seemed on fire.
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, took hold of the bell of a
house and began to ring it with all his might, saying to himself:
«That will bring somebody.»
And so it did. A little old man appeared at a window with a night-cap on
his head and called to him angrily:
«What do you want at such an hour?»
«Would you be kind enough to give me a little bread?»
«Wait there, I will be back directly,» said the little old man, thinking
it was 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 little old man shouted to Pinocchio:
«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, soaking 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 Pinocchio recognized Geppetto’s voice.
CHAPTER VII
GEPPETTO GIVES HIS OWN BREAKFAST TO PINOCCHIO
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 can’t you?»
«Because my feet have been eaten.»
«And who has eaten your feet?»
«The cat,» said Pinocchio, seeing the cat, who 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!»
«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 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
overcome. 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 it has been such a dreadful night that I shall
remember it 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 night-cap, opening the window, said to
me: ‘Come underneath and hold out your hat,’ and poured a 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! Oh! oh! oh! oh!» 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 breakfast, 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?» 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.»
So good Geppetto 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
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!»
[Illustration]
CHAPTER VIII
GEPPETTO MAKES PINOCCHIO NEW FEET
No sooner had the puppet satisfied 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 bring
home a good report.»
«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 that
I will be the consolation and the staff of your old age.»
Geppetto’s eyes filled with tears and his heart was sad 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.»
«Good boy.»
«But to go to school I shall want some clothes.»
Geppetto, who was poor and who had not so much as a penny 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 crock of water, and he
was so pleased with his appearance that he said, strutting about like 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?»
«It is quite easy. We have only to go to the bookseller’s and buy it.»
«And the money?»
«I have got none.»
«Neither 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 corduroy coat, all patched and darned, he ran out
of the house.
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 around
Geppetto’s neck, he began kissing him again and again.
CHAPTER IX
PINOCCHIO GOES TO SEE A PUPPET-SHOW
As soon as it stopped snowing Pinocchio set out for school with his fine
spelling-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:
«Today at school I will learn to read at once; then tomorrow I will
begin to write, and the day after tomorrow to figure. Then, with my
acquirements, I will earn a great deal of money, and with the first
money I have in my pocket I will immediately 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 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-fie-fi, fi-fi-fi; zum, zum, zum.
He stopped and listened. The sounds came from the end of a cross street
that led 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?
«Today I will go and hear the fifes, and tomorrow 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 crowded round a building made of wood and canvas, and
painted a thousand colors.
«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.»
«I would read it willingly, but it so happens that today I don’t know
how to read.»
«Bravo, blockhead! Then I will read it to you. The writing on that
placard in those letters red as fire is:
«THE GREAT PUPPET THEATER.»
«Has the play begun long?»
«It is beginning now.»
«How much does it cost to go in?»
«A dime.»
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 a dime until tomorrow?»
«I would lend it to you willingly,» said the other, «but it so happens
that today I cannot give it to you.»
«I will sell you my jacket for a dime,» the puppet then said to him.
«What do you think that I could do with a jacket of flowered paper? If
there were 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?»
«That would be a wonderful acquisition indeed! A cap of bread crumb!
There would be a risk 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 courage. He hesitated, felt irresolute and
remorseful. At last he said:
«Will you give me a dime 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 a dime,» 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 in order
that his son should have a spelling-book.
CHAPTER X
THE PUPPETS RECOGNIZE THEIR BROTHER PINOCCHIO
When Pinocchio came into the little puppet theater, an incident occurred
that almost produced a revolution.
The curtain had gone up and the play had already begun.
On the stage Harlequin and Punch were as usual quarrelling with each
other and threatening every moment to come to blows.
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 Punch.
«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 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 are beyond
description.
The sight was doubtless a moving one, but the public in the pit, finding
that the play was stopped, 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 theater?» asked the
showman of Pinocchio, in the gruff voice of a hobgoblin suffering from a
severe cold in the head.
«Believe me, honored sir, it was not my fault!»
«That is enough! Tonight 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 Punch, and said to them:
«Bring that puppet here: you will find him hanging on a nail. It seems
to me that he is made of very dry wood and I am sure that if he were
thrown on the fire he would make a beautiful blaze for the roast.»
At first Harlequin and Punch 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!»
[Illustration]
CHAPTER XI
FIRE-EATER SNEEZES AND PARDONS PINOCCHIO
The showman, Fire-Eater—for that was his name—looked like a wicked
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!» 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 affliction 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 and that is a sign that he
pities you, and consequently you are saved.»
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—Etchoo! etchoo!» 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
were to have you thrown amongst those burning coals! Poor old man! I
pity him! Etchoo! etchoo! etchoo!» 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 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 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 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 agonizing 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 showman began to smile and
became at once kinder and more tractable. Turning to Pinocchio, he
asked:
«Well, what do you want from me?»
«I 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!
Bind me and throw me amongst the flames. No, it is not just that poor
Harlequin, my true friend, should die for me!»
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 little 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! Tonight I shall have to resign myself to eat the
mutton half raw; but another time, woe to him who displeases me!»
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.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER XII
PINOCCHIO RECEIVES A PRESENT OF FIVE GOLD PIECES
The following day Fire-Eater called Pinocchio to one side and asked him:
«What is your father’s name?»
«Geppetto.»
«And what 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, in
order to buy a spelling-book so that I could go to school he was obliged
to sell the 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.»
Pinocchio was overjoyed and thanked the showman a thousand times. He
embraced all the puppets of the company one by one, even to the
gendarmes, and 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, and they 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, greeting 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 future he shall shiver no more!»
«Why?»
«Because I have 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.
[Illustration: Splash! Splash! They fell Into the Very Middle of the
Ditch]
«There is little to laugh at,» cried Pinocchio angrily. «I am really
sorry to make your mouth water, but if you know anything about it, you
can see that these are five gold pieces.»
And he pulled out the money that Fire-Eater had given him.
At the jingling of the money the Fox, with an involuntary movement,
stretched out the paw that seemed crippled, and the Cat opened wide two
eyes that looked like two 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.»
«Look at me!» said the Fox. «Through my foolish 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?»
«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:
‘Disobedient boys never come to any good in the world.’ I have found it
to be true, 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 today and tomorrow your five sovereigns would have become two
thousand.»
«Two thousand!» repeated the Cat.
«But how is it possible that they could 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
gold 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 bewildered, «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. Every
sovereign will give 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.»
«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 indignation 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 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 off at once. I will go with you.»
[Illustration: A LITTLE CHICKEN POPPED OUT, VERY GAY AND POLITE]
[Illustration]
CHAPTER XIII
THE INN OF THE RED CRAW-FISH
They walked, and walked, and walked, until at last, towards evening,
they arrived, all tired out, 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
midnight, so as to arrive at the Field of Miracles by dawn tomorrow
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 fish with tomato sauce and four
portions of tripe with Parmesan cheese; and because she 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 little, 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 cared so little for 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’s
thoughts were continually fixed on the Field of Miracles.
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!»
No sooner had Pinocchio got into bed than he fell asleep at once and
began to dream. And he dreamed that he was in the middle of a field, and
the field was full of shrubs covered with clusters of gold 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 just as Pinocchio was
stretching out his hand to pick handfuls of those beautiful gold pieces
and to put them in his pocket, he was suddenly awakened by three violent
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 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, tomorrow 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. Some
night-birds flying across the road from one hedge to 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?»
As he was walking along he saw a little insect shining dimly on the
trunk of a tree, like 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?» 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 not returned to him.»
«By tomorrow my papa will be a gentleman, for these four sovereigns will
have become two thousand.»
«Don’t trust 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, my boy.»
«On the contrary, I am determined to go on.»
«The hour is late!»
«I am determined to go on.»
«The night is dark!»
«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.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER XIV
PINOCCHIO FALLS AMONGST ASSASSINS
«Really,» said the puppet to himself, as he resumed his journey, «how
unfortunate we poor boys are. Everybody scolds us and gives us good
advice. 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! I am even to meet with assassins! That is, however, 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 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 they would run away like 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 sacks, understand that he was a poor puppet,
and that he had not as much as a counterfeit nickel in his pocket.
«Come, now! Less nonsense and out with the money!» cried the two
brigands threateningly.
And the puppet made a gesture with his hands to signify: «I have 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!»
«No, no, no, not my poor papa!» cried Pinocchio in a despairing voice,
and as he said it the sovereigns clinked in his mouth.
«Ah! you rascal! Then you have hidden your money under your tongue! Spit
it out at once!»
Pinocchio was obstinate.
«Ah! you pretend to be deaf, do you? Wait a moment, leave it to us to
find a means to make you give it up.»
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 force 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 put 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
clear off and spat it out. Imagine his astonishment when instead of a
hand he perceived that a cat’s paw lay on the ground.
Encouraged by this first victory he used his nails to such purpose that
he succeeded in liberating himself from his assailants, and, jumping the
hedge by the roadside, he began to fly across the country. The assassins
ran after him like two dogs chasing a hare, 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 go no more. Giving himself
up for lost, he climbed the trunk of a very high pine tree and seated
himself in the topmost branches. The assassins attempted to climb after
him, but when they had reached half-way up 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 vineyards. The assassins followed
him, and kept behind him without once giving up.
The day began to break and they were still pursuing him. Suddenly
Pinocchio found his way barred by a wide, deep ditch full of stagnant
water the color of coffee. What was he to do? «One! two! three!» cried
the puppet, and, making a rush, he sprang to the other side. The
assassins also jumped, but not having measured the distance
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.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER XV
THE ASSASSINS HANG PINOCCHIO TO 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,
a small house as white as snow.
«If only I had 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.
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
beautiful Child appeared at it. She had blue hair and a face as white as
a waxen image; her eyes were 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.»
«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 of very hard wood; the knives
therefore broke into a 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 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 tomorrow. Let us hope that when we return you will be
polite enough to allow yourself to be found quite dead, and with your
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 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 although he felt that
death was near he still continued 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!»
[Illustration: Four Rabbits as Black as Ink Entered Carrying a Little
Bier]
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.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER XVI
THE BEAUTIFUL CHILD RESCUES THE PUPPET
While poor Pinocchio, suspended to a branch of the Big Oak, was
apparently more dead than alive, the beautiful Child with blue hair came
again to the window. When she saw the unhappy puppet hanging by his
throat, and dancing up and down in the gusts of the north wind, she was
moved by compassion. Striking her hands together, she gave 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.
«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 struck her hands together twice 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-colored 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 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 harnessed, 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. Do you
understand?»
The Poodle, to show that he had understood, shook the case of blue
satin three or four times and ran off like a race-horse.
Shortly afterwards a beautiful little carriage came out of the
coach-house. The cushions were stuffed with canary feathers and it was
lined on the inside with whipped cream, custard and vanilla wafers. 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.
Scarcely had a quarter of an hour 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
wainscoted with mother-of-pearl. She sent at once to summon the most
famous doctors in the neighborhood.
They 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, «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 contradict 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!»
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 a 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.»
[Illustration]
CHAPTER XVII
PINOCCHIO WILL NOT TAKE HIS MEDICINE
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.
She therefore dissolved a certain white powder in half a tumbler of
water and, offering 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.»
«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 were medicine! I 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 mamma, put another lump
of sugar in his mouth, and 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 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 half 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.
«What do you want with me?» cried Pinocchio, sitting up in bed in a
great fright.
«We have 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 gulp.
«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 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?»
«Good? I should think so! It has restored me to life!»
«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! 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!»
«Now, come here to me and tell me how it came about that you fell into
the hands of those assassins.»
«You see, 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, 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 when I
awoke I found that they were no longer there, because they had gone
away. Then 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 it was 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: ‘Tomorrow 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—where 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 inches 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.»
«Ah! now I remember all about it,» replied the puppet, getting quite
confused; «I didn’t lose the four gold pieces, I swallowed them whilst I
was drinking your medicine.»
At this lie his nose grew to such an extraordinary length that poor
Pinocchio could not move in any direction. If he turned to one side he
struck his nose against the 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.
«What are you laughing 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.
[Illustration: SPLASH! SPLASH! THEY FELL INTO THE VERY MIDDLE OF THE
DITCH]
[Illustration]
CHAPTER XVIII
PINOCCHIO AGAIN MEETS THE FOX AND THE CAT
The Fairy allowed the puppet to cry 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 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 you will remain with me
you shall be my little brother and I will be your good little sister.»
«I would remain willingly if it were not for my poor papa.»
«I have thought of everything. I have already let your father know, and
he will be here tonight.»
«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 he heard people amongst the
bushes. In fact, two persons came out on to the road. Can you guess who
they were? His two traveling companions, the Fox and the Cat, with whom
he had supped at the inn of The Red Craw-Fish.
«Why, here is our dear Pinocchio!» cried the Fox, kissing and embracing
him. «How came 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 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!» said the Fox.
«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 Cжsar, do? 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.
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 tomorrow 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?»
«Today 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 tomorrow 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?»
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 were yawning from hunger,
shorn sheep trembling with cold, cocks without combs begging for a grain
of Indian corn, large butterflies that could no longer fly because they
had sold their beautiful colored wings, peacocks which had no tails and
were ashamed to be seen, and pheasants that went scratching about in a
subdued fashion, mourning for their brilliant gold and silver feathers
gone forever.
In the midst of this crowd of beggars and shamefaced 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.
«It is here, not two steps from us.»
They crossed the town and, having gone beyond the walls, they came to a
solitary field.
«Here we are,» 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 the way to enrich yourself without undergoing hard
work, and we are as happy as people out for a holiday.»
Thus saying, they took leave of Pinocchio, and, wishing him a good
harvest, went about their business.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER XIX
PINOCCHIO IS ROBBED OF HIS MONEY
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 were 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 would 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
neighborhood of the field, and he stopped to look about for a tree with
its branches laden with money, but he saw nothing. He advanced another
hundred steps—nothing; he entered the field and 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.
While he was thus occupied another laugh, 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?»
«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 as beans and gourds. I also believed it once and today I am
suffering for it. Today—but it is too late—I have at last learned 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 while 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.»
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:
«That poor devil has been robbed of four gold pieces; take him away and
put him immediately into prison.»
The puppet was petrified on hearing this unexpected sentence and tried
to protest; but the gendarmes, to avoid losing time, stopped his mouth
and carried him off to the lockup.
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.
The young Emperor who reigned over the town of «Trap for Blockheads,»
having won a splendid victory over his enemies, ordered great public
rejoicings. There were illuminations, fireworks, horse races and
velocipede races, and as a further sign of triumph he commanded that the
prisons should be opened and all the prisoners freed.
«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.»
«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 escape.
Дополнительные материалы по теме
Частые вопросы
Короткие ответы по теме, чтобы быстрее сориентироваться.
Как читать, если много незнакомых слов?
Сначала целиком без словаря, затем 8–12 ключевых слов. Остальное по контексту.
Нужно ли переводить каждое предложение?
Нет. Важны сюжет и выражения, которые вы реально скажете сами.