The Adventures of Pinocchio by C. Collodi

The Adventures of Pinocchio
by C. Collodi
[Pseudonym of Carlo Lorenzini]
Translated from the Italian by Carol Della Chiesa
CHAPTER 1
How it happened that Mastro Cherry, carpenter,
found a piece of wood that wept and laughed like a child
Centuries ago there lived--
"A king!" my little readers will say immediately.
No, children, you are mistaken. Once upon a time
there was a piece of wood. It was not an expensive piece
of wood. Far from it. Just a common block of firewood,
one of those thick, solid logs that are put on the fire in
winter to make cold rooms cozy and warm.
I do not know how this really happened, yet the fact
remains that one fine day this piece of wood found itself
in the shop of an old carpenter. His real name was
Mastro Antonio, but everyone called him Mastro Cherry,
for the tip of his nose was so round and red and shiny
that it looked like a ripe cherry.
As soon as he saw that piece of wood, Mastro Cherry
was filled with joy. Rubbing his hands together happily,
he mumbled half to himself:
"This has come in the nick of time. I shall use it to
make the leg of a table."
He grasped the hatchet quickly to peel off the bark and
shape the wood. But as he was about to give it the first
blow, he stood still with arm uplifted, for he had heard a
wee, little voice say in a beseeching tone: "Please be careful!
Do not hit me so hard!"
What a look of surprise shone on Mastro Cherry's
face! His funny face became still funnier.
He turned frightened eyes about the room to find out
where that wee, little voice had come from and he saw
no one! He looked under the bench--no one! He peeped
inside the closet--no one! He searched among the shavings--
no one! He opened the door to look up and down
the street--and still no one!
"Oh, I see!" he then said, laughing and scratching his Wig.
"It can easily be seen that I only thought I heard the tiny
voice say the words! Well, well--to work once more."
He struck a most solemn blow upon the piece of wood.
"Oh, oh! You hurt!" cried the same far-away little voice.
Mastro Cherry grew dumb, his eyes popped out of his
head, his mouth opened wide, and his tongue hung down
on his chin.
As soon as he regained the use of his senses, he said,
trembling and stuttering from fright:
"Where did that voice come from, when there is no
one around? Might it be that this piece of wood has
learned to weep and cry like a child? I can hardly
believe it. Here it is--a piece of common firewood, good
only to burn in the stove, the same as any other. Yet--
might someone be hidden in it? If so, the worse for him.
I'll fix him!"
With these words, he grabbed the log with both hands
and started to knock it about unmercifully. He threw it
to the floor, against the walls of the room, and even up
to the ceiling.
He listened for the tiny voice to moan and cry.
He waited two minutes--nothing; five minutes--nothing;
ten minutes--nothing.
"Oh, I see," he said, trying bravely to laugh and
ruffling up his wig with his hand. "It can easily be seen
I only imagined I heard the tiny voice! Well, well--to
work once more!"
The poor fellow was scared half to death, so he tried
to sing a gay song in order to gain courage.
He set aside the hatchet and picked up the plane to
make the wood smooth and even, but as he drew it to
and fro, he heard the same tiny voice. This time it giggled
as it spoke:
"Stop it! Oh, stop it! Ha, ha, ha! You tickle my stomach."
This time poor Mastro Cherry fell as if shot. When
he opened his eyes, he found himself sitting on the floor.
His face had changed; fright had turned even the tip of
his nose from red to deepest purple.
CHAPTER 2
Mastro Cherry gives the piece of wood to his friend Geppetto,
who takes it to make himself a Marionette that will dance,
fence, and turn somersaults
In that very instant, a loud knock sounded on the door.
"Come in," said the carpenter, not having an atom of
strength left with which to stand up.
At the words, the door opened and a dapper little old
man came in. His name was Geppetto, but to the boys of
the neighborhood he was Polendina,[1] on account of the
wig he always wore which was just the color of yellow corn.
[1] Cornmeal mush
Geppetto had a very bad temper. Woe to the one who
called him Polendina! He became as wild as a beast and
no one could soothe him.
"Good day, Mastro Antonio," said Geppetto. "What
are you doing on the floor?"
"I am teaching the ants their A B C's."
"Good luck to you!"
"What brought you here, friend Geppetto?"
"My legs. And it may flatter you to know, Mastro
Antonio, that I have come to you to beg for a favor."
"Here I am, at your service," answered the carpenter,
raising himself on to his knees.
"This morning a fine idea came to me."
"Let's hear it."
"I thought of making myself a beautiful wooden
Marionette. It must be wonderful, one that will be able to
dance, fence, and turn somersaults. With it I intend to go
around the world, to earn my crust of bread and cup of
wine. What do you think of it?"
"Bravo, Polendina!" cried the same tiny voice which
came from no one knew where.
On hearing himself called Polendina, Mastro Geppetto
turned the color of a red pepper and, facing the carpenter,
said to him angrily:
"Why do you insult me?"
"Who is insulting you?"
"You called me Polendina."
"I did not."
"I suppose you think _I_ did! Yet I KNOW it was you."
"No!"
"Yes!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
And growing angrier each moment, they went from
words to blows, and finally began to scratch and bite and
slap each other.
When the fight was over, Mastro Antonio had Geppetto's
yellow wig in his hands and Geppetto found the carpenter's
curly wig in his mouth.
"Give me back my wig!" shouted Mastro Antonio in a surly voice.
"You return mine and we'll be friends."
The two little old men, each with his own wig back on
his own head, shook hands and swore to be good friends
for the rest of their lives.
"Well then, Mastro Geppetto," said the carpenter, to
show he bore him no ill will, "what is it you want?"
"I want a piece of wood to make a Marionette. Will you give it to me?"
Mastro Antonio, very glad indeed, went immediately
to his bench to get the piece of wood which had frightened
him so much. But as he was about to give it to his friend,
with a violent jerk it slipped out of his hands and hit
against poor Geppetto's thin legs.
"Ah! Is this the gentle way, Mastro Antonio, in which
you make your gifts? You have made me almost lame!"
"I swear to you I did not do it!"
"It was _I_, of course!"
"It's the fault of this piece of wood."
"You're right; but remember you were the one to throw it at my legs."
"I did not throw it!"
"Liar!"
"Geppetto, do not insult me or I shall call you Polendina."
"Idiot."
"Polendina!"
"Donkey!"
"Polendina!"
"Ugly monkey!"
"Polendina!"
On hearing himself called Polendina for the third time,
Geppetto lost his head with rage and threw himself upon
the carpenter. Then and there they gave each other a
sound thrashing.
After this fight, Mastro Antonio had two more scratches
on his nose, and Geppetto had two buttons missing from
his coat. Thus having settled their accounts, they shook
hands and swore to be good friends for the rest of their lives.
Then Geppetto took the fine piece of wood,
thanked Mastro Antonio, and limped away toward home.
CHAPTER 3
As soon as he gets home, Geppetto fashions the Marionette
and calls it Pinocchio. The first pranks of the Marionette
Little as Geppetto's house was, it was neat and
comfortable. It was a small room on the ground floor, with a
tiny window under the stairway. The furniture could not
have been much simpler: a very old chair, a rickety old
bed, and a tumble-down table. A fireplace full of burning
logs was painted on the wall opposite the door. Over the
fire, there was painted a pot full of something which kept
boiling happily away and sending up clouds of what looked
like real steam.
As soon as he reached home, Geppetto took his tools
and began to cut and shape the wood into a Marionette.
"What shall I call him?" he said to himself. "I think
I'll call him PINOCCHIO. This name will make his fortune.
I knew a whole family of Pinocchi once--Pinocchio the
father, Pinocchia the mother, and Pinocchi the children--
and they were all lucky. The richest of them begged for
his living."
After choosing the name for his Marionette, Geppetto
set seriously to work to make the hair, the forehead, the
eyes. Fancy his surprise when he noticed that these eyes
moved and then stared fixedly at him. Geppetto, seeing
this, felt insulted and said in a grieved tone:
"Ugly wooden eyes, why do you stare so?"
There was no answer.
After the eyes, Geppetto made the nose, which began
to stretch as soon as finished. It stretched and stretched
and stretched till it became so long, it seemed endless.
Poor Geppetto kept cutting it and cutting it, but the
more he cut, the longer grew that impertinent nose. In
despair he let it alone.
Next he made the mouth.
No sooner was it finished than it began to laugh and
poke fun at him.
"Stop laughing!" said Geppetto angrily; but he might
as well have spoken to the wall.
"Stop laughing, I say!" he roared in a voice of thunder.
The mouth stopped laughing, but it stuck out a long tongue.
Not wishing to start an argument, Geppetto made
believe he saw nothing and went on with his work.
After the mouth, he made the chin, then the neck, the
shoulders, the stomach, the arms, and the hands.
As he was about to put the last touches on the finger
tips, Geppetto felt his wig being pulled off. He glanced
up and what did he see? His yellow wig was in the Marionette's
hand. "Pinocchio, give me my wig!"
But instead of giving it back, Pinocchio put it on his
own head, which was half swallowed up in it.
At that unexpected trick, Geppetto became very sad
and downcast, more so than he had ever been before.
"Pinocchio, you wicked boy!" he cried out. "You are
not yet finished, and you start out by being impudent to
your poor old father. Very bad, my son, very bad!"
And he wiped away a tear.
The legs and feet still had to be made. As soon as they
were done, Geppetto felt a sharp kick on the tip of his nose.
"I deserve it!" he said to himself. "I should have thought
of this before I made him. Now it's too late!"
He took hold of the Marionette under the arms and put
him on the floor to teach him to walk.
Pinocchio's legs were so stiff that he could not move
them, and Geppetto held his hand and showed him how to
put out one foot after the other.
When his legs were limbered up, Pinocchio started
walking by himself and ran all around the room. He came
to the open door, and with one leap he was out into the
street. Away he flew!
Poor Geppetto ran after him but was unable to catch
him, for Pinocchio ran in leaps and bounds, his two
wooden feet, as they beat on the stones of the street,
making as much noise as twenty peasants in wooden shoes.
"Catch him! Catch him!" Geppetto kept shouting.
But the people in the street, seeing a wooden Marionette
running like the wind, stood still to stare and to laugh
until they cried.
At last, by sheer luck, a Carabineer[2] happened
along, who, hearing all that noise, thought that it might
be a runaway colt, and stood bravely in the middle of the
street, with legs wide apart, firmly resolved to stop it and
prevent any trouble.
[2] A military policeman
Pinocchio saw the Carabineer from afar and tried his
best to escape between the legs of the big fellow, but
without success.
The Carabineer grabbed him by the nose (it was an
extremely long one and seemed made on purpose for that
very thing) and returned him to Mastro Geppetto.
The little old man wanted to pull Pinocchio's ears.
Think how he felt when, upon searching for them, he
discovered that he had forgotten to make them!
All he could do was to seize Pinocchio by the back of
the neck and take him home. As he was doing so, he shook
him two or three times and said to him angrily:
"We're going home now. When we get home,
then we'll settle this matter!"
Pinocchio, on hearing this, threw himself on the ground
and refused to take another step. One person after another
gathered around the two.
Some said one thing, some another.
"Poor Marionette," called out a man. "I am not
surprised he doesn't want to go home. Geppetto, no doubt,
will beat him unmercifully, he is so mean and cruel!"
"Geppetto looks like a good man," added another, "but
with boys he's a real tyrant. If we leave that poor
Marionette in his hands he may tear him to pieces!"
They said so much that, finally, the Carabineer ended
matters by setting Pinocchio at liberty and dragging
Geppetto to prison. The poor old fellow did not know how to
defend himself, but wept and wailed like a child and said
between his sobs:
"Ungrateful boy! To think I tried so hard to make you
a well-behaved Marionette! I deserve it, however! I should
have given the matter more thought."
What happened after this is an almost unbelievable
story, but you may read it, dear children, in the chapters
that follow.
CHAPTER 4
The story of Pinocchio and the Talking Cricket,
in which one sees that bad children do not like
to be corrected by those who know more than they do
Very little time did it take to get poor old Geppetto to
prison. In the meantime that rascal, Pinocchio, free now
from the clutches of the Carabineer, was running wildly
across fields and meadows, taking one short cut after
another toward home. In his wild flight, he leaped over
brambles and bushes, and across brooks and ponds, as if
he were a goat or a hare chased by hounds.
On reaching home, he found the house door half open.
He slipped into the room, locked the door, and threw
himself on the floor, happy at his escape.
But his happiness lasted only a short time, for just then
he heard someone saying:
"Cri-cri-cri!"
"Who is calling me?" asked Pinocchio, greatly frightened.
"I am!"
Pinocchio turned and saw a large cricket crawling
slowly up the wall.
"Tell me, Cricket, who are you?"
"I am the Talking Cricket and I have been living in this
room for more than one hundred years."
"Today, however, this room is mine," said the Marionette,
"and if you wish to do me a favor, get out now, and don't
turn around even once."
"I refuse to leave this spot," answered the Cricket,
"until I have told you a great truth."
"Tell it, then, and hurry."
"Woe to boys who refuse to obey their parents and run
away from home! They will never be happy in this world,
and when they are older they will be very sorry for it."
"Sing on, Cricket mine, as you please. What I know is,
that tomorrow, at dawn, I leave this place forever. If I
stay here the same thing will happen to me which happens
to all other boys and girls. They are sent to school, and
whether they want to or not, they must study. As for me,
let me tell you, I hate to study! It's much more fun, I think,
to chase after butterflies, climb trees, and steal birds' nests."
"Poor little silly! Don't you know that if you go on like
that, you will grow into a perfect donkey and that you'll
be the laughingstock of everyone?"
"Keep still, you ugly Cricket!" cried Pinocchio.
But the Cricket, who was a wise old philosopher,
instead of being offended at Pinocchio's impudence,
continued in the same tone:
"If you do not like going to school, why don't you at
least learn a trade, so that you can earn an honest living?"
"Shall I tell you something?" asked Pinocchio, who was
beginning to lose patience. "Of all the trades in the world,
there is only one that really suits me."
"And what can that be?"
"That of eating, drinking, sleeping, playing, and
wandering around from morning till night."
"Let me tell you, for your own good, Pinocchio," said
the Talking Cricket in his calm voice, "that those who
follow that trade always end up in the hospital or in prison."
"Careful, ugly Cricket! If you make me angry, you'll be sorry!"
"Poor Pinocchio, I am sorry for you."
"Why?"
"Because you are a Marionette and, what is much worse,
you have a wooden head."
At these last words, Pinocchio jumped up in a fury, took
a hammer from the bench, and threw it with all his
strength at the Talking Cricket.
Perhaps he did not think he would strike it. But, sad
to relate, my dear children, he did hit the Cricket, straight
on its head.
With a last weak "cri-cri-cri" the poor Cricket fell from
the wall, dead!
CHAPTER 5
Pinocchio is hungry and looks for an egg to cook himself an omelet;
but, to his surprise, the omelet flies out of the window
If the Cricket's death scared Pinocchio at all, it was only
for a very few moments. For, as night came on, a queer,
empty feeling at the pit of his stomach reminded the
Marionette that he had eaten nothing as yet.
A boy's appetite grows very fast, and in a few moments
the queer, empty feeling had become hunger, and the
hunger grew bigger and bigger, until soon he was as
ravenous as a bear.
Poor Pinocchio ran to the fireplace where the pot was
boiling and stretched out his hand to take the cover off,
but to his amazement the pot was only painted! Think how
he felt! His long nose became at least two inches longer.
He ran about the room, dug in all the boxes and drawers,
and even looked under the bed in search of a piece of bread,
hard though it might be, or a cookie, or perhaps a bit of fish.
A bone left by a dog would have tasted good to him!
But he found nothing.
And meanwhile his hunger grew and grew. The only
relief poor Pinocchio had was to yawn; and he certainly
did yawn, such a big yawn that his mouth stretched
out to the tips of his ears. Soon he became dizzy and faint.
He wept and wailed to himself: "The Talking Cricket
was right. It was wrong of me to disobey Father and to
run away from home. If he were here now, I wouldn't be
so hungry! Oh, how horrible it is to be hungry!"
Suddenly, he saw, among the sweepings in a corner,
something round and white that looked very much like a
hen's egg. In a jiffy he pounced upon it. It was an egg.
The Marionette's joy knew no bounds. It is impossible
to describe it, you must picture it to yourself. Certain that
he was dreaming, he turned the egg over and over in his
hands, fondled it, kissed it, and talked to it:
"And now, how shall I cook you? Shall I make an
omelet? No, it is better to fry you in a pan!
Or shall I drink you? No, the best way is to
fry you in the pan. You will taste better."
No sooner said than done. He placed a little pan over a
foot warmer full of hot coals. In the pan, instead of oil or
butter, he poured a little water. As soon as the water
started to boil--tac!--he broke the eggshell. But in place
of the white and the yolk of the egg, a little yellow Chick,
fluffy and gay and smiling, escaped from it. Bowing
politely to Pinocchio, he said to him:
"Many, many thanks, indeed, Mr. Pinocchio, for having
saved me the trouble of breaking my shell! Good-by
and good luck to you and remember me to the family!"
With these words he spread out his wings and, darting
to the open window, he flew away into space till he was
out of sight.
The poor Marionette stood as if turned to stone, with
wide eyes, open mouth, and the empty halves of the eggshell
in his hands. When he came to himself, he began to
cry and shriek at the top of his lungs, stamping his feet on
the ground and wailing all the while:
"The Talking Cricket was right! If I had not run away
from home and if Father were here now, I should not be
dying of hunger. Oh, how horrible it is to be hungry!"
And as his stomach kept grumbling more than ever and
he had nothing to quiet it with, he thought of going out
for a walk to the near-by village, in the hope of finding
some charitable person who might give him a bit of bread.
CHAPTER 6
Pinocchio falls asleep with his feet on a foot warmer,
and awakens the next day with his feet all burned off
Pinocchio hated the dark street, but he was so hungry
that, in spite of it, he ran out of the house. The night was
pitch black. It thundered, and bright flashes of lightning
now and again shot across the sky, turning it into a sea of
fire. An angry wind blew cold and raised dense clouds of
dust, while the trees shook and moaned in a weird way.
Pinocchio was greatly afraid of thunder and lightning,
but the hunger he felt was far greater than his fear. In a
dozen leaps and bounds, he came to the village, tired out,
puffing like a whale, and with tongue hanging.
The whole village was dark and deserted. The stores
were closed, the doors, the windows. In the streets, not
even a dog could be seen. It seemed the Village of the
Dead.
Pinocchio, in desperation, ran up to a doorway, threw
himself upon the bell, and pulled it wildly, saying to himself:
"Someone will surely answer that!"
He was right. An old man in a nightcap opened the
window and looked out. He called down angrily:
"What do you want at this hour of night?"
"Will you be good enough to give me a bit of bread?
I am hungry."
"Wait a minute and I'll come right back," answered the
old fellow, thinking he had to deal with one of those boys
who love to roam around at night ringing people's bells
while they are peacefully asleep.
After a minute or two, the same voice cried:
"Get under the window and hold out your hat!"
Pinocchio had no hat, but he managed to get under the
window just in time to feel a shower of ice-cold water
pour down on his poor wooden head, his shoulders, and
over his whole body.
He returned home as wet as a rag, and tired out from
weariness and hunger.
As he no longer had any strength left with which to
stand, he sat down on a little stool and put his two feet on
the stove to dry them.
There he fell asleep, and while he slept, his wooden
feet began to burn. Slowly, very slowly, they blackened
and turned to ashes.
Pinocchio snored away happily as if his feet were not
his own. At dawn he opened his eyes just as a loud knocking
sounded at the door.
"Who is it?" he called, yawning and rubbing his eyes.
"It is I," answered a voice.
It was the voice of Geppetto.
CHAPTER 7
Geppetto returns home and gives
his own breakfast to the Marionette
The poor Marionette, who was still half asleep, had not
yet found out that his two feet were burned and gone. As
soon as he heard his Father's voice, he jumped up from his
seat to open the door, but, as he did so, he staggered and
fell headlong to the floor.
In falling, he made as much noise as a sack of wood
falling from the fifth story of a house.
"Open the door for me!" Geppetto shouted from the street.
"Father, dear Father, I can't," answered the Marionette
in despair, crying and rolling on the floor.
"Why can't you?"
"Because someone has eaten my feet."
"And who has eaten them?"
"The cat," answered Pinocchio, seeing that little animal
busily playing with some shavings in the corner of the room.
"Open! I say," repeated Geppetto, "or I'll give you a
sound whipping when I get in."
"Father, believe me, I can't stand up. Oh, dear!
Oh, dear! I shall have to walk on my knees all my life."
Geppetto, thinking that all these tears and cries were
only other pranks of the Marionette, climbed up the side
of the house and went in through the window.
At first he was very angry, but on seeing Pinocchio
stretched out on the floor and really without feet, he felt
very sad and sorrowful. Picking him up from the floor, he
fondled and caressed him, talking to him while the tears
ran down his cheeks:
"My little Pinocchio, my dear little Pinocchio!
How did you burn your feet?"
"I don't know, Father, but believe me, the night has
been a terrible one and I shall remember it as long as I live.
The thunder was so noisy and the lightning so bright--
and I was hungry. And then the Talking Cricket said to
me, `You deserve it; you were bad;' and I said to him,
`Careful, Cricket;' and he said to me, `You are a Marionette
and you have a wooden head;' and I threw the hammer at
him and killed him. It was his own fault, for I didn't want
to kill him. And I put the pan on the coals, but the Chick
flew away and said, `I'll see you again! Remember me to
the family.' And my hunger grew, and I went out, and the
old man with a nightcap looked out of the window and
threw water on me, and I came home and put my feet on
the stove to dry them because I was still hungry, and I fell
asleep and now my feet are gone but my hunger isn't!
Oh!--Oh!--Oh!" And poor Pinocchio began to scream
and cry so loudly that he could be heard for miles around.
Geppetto, who had understood nothing of all that
jumbled talk, except that the Marionette was hungry, felt sorry
for him, and pulling three pears out of his pocket, offered
them to him, saying:
"These three pears were for my breakfast, but I give
them to you gladly. Eat them and stop weeping."
"If you want me to eat them, please peel them for me."
"Peel them?" asked Geppetto, very much surprised. "I
should never have thought, dear boy of mine, that you
were so dainty and fussy about your food. Bad, very bad!
In this world, even as children, we must accustom ourselves
to eat of everything, for we never know what life may
hold in store for us!"
"You may be right," answered Pinocchio, "but I will not
eat the pears if they are not peeled. I don't like them."
And good old Geppetto took out a knife, peeled the
three pears, and put the skins in a row on the table.
Pinocchio ate one pear in a twinkling and started to
throw the core away, but Geppetto held his arm.
"Oh, no, don't throw it away! Everything in this world
may be of some use!"
"But the core I will not eat!" cried Pinocchio in an angry tone.
"Who knows?" repeated Geppetto calmly.
And later the three cores were placed on the table next
to the skins.
Pinocchio had eaten the three pears, or rather devoured them.
Then he yawned deeply, and wailed:
"I'm still hungry."
"But I have no more to give you."
"Really, nothing--nothing?"
"I have only these three cores and these skins."
"Very well, then," said Pinocchio, "if there is nothing
else I'll eat them."
At first he made a wry face, but, one after another, the
skins and the cores disappeared.
"Ah! Now I feel fine!" he said after eating the last one.
"You see," observed Geppetto, "that I was right when
I told you that one must not be too fussy and too dainty
about food. My dear, we never know what life may have
in store for us!"
CHAPTER 8
Geppetto makes Pinocchio a new pair of feet,
and sells his coat to buy him an A-B-C book
The Marionette, as soon as his hunger was appeased,
started to grumble and cry that he wanted a new pair of feet.
But Mastro Geppetto, in order to punish him for his
mischief, let him alone the whole morning. After dinner
he said to him:
"Why should I make your feet over again? To see you
run away from home once more?"
"I promise you," answered the Marionette, sobbing,
"that from now on I'll be good--"
"Boys always promise that when they want something,"
said Geppetto.
"I promise to go to school every day, to study, and to succeed--"
"Boys always sing that song when they want their own will."
"But I am not like other boys! I am better than all of
them and I always tell the truth. I promise you, Father,
that I'll learn a trade, and I'll be the comfort and staff of
your old age."
Geppetto, though trying to look very stern, felt his eyes
fill with tears and his heart soften when he saw Pinocchio
so unhappy. He said no more, but taking his tools and two
pieces of wood, he set to work diligently.
In less than an hour the feet were finished, two slender,
nimble little feet, strong and quick, modeled as if by an
artist's hands.
"Close your eyes and sleep!" Geppetto then said to the Marionette.
Pinocchio closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep,
while Geppetto stuck on the two feet with a bit of glue
melted in an eggshell, doing his work so well that the joint
could hardly be seen.
As soon as the Marionette felt his new feet, he gave one
leap from the table and started to skip and jump around,
as if he had lost his head from very joy.
"To show you how grateful I am to you, Father, I'll go
to school now. But to go to school I need a suit of clothes."
Geppetto did not have a penny in his pocket, so he
made his son a little suit of flowered paper, a pair of shoes
from the bark of a tree, and a tiny cap from a bit of dough.
Pinocchio ran to look at himself in a bowl of water, and
he felt so happy that he said proudly:
"Now I look like a gentleman."
"Truly," answered Geppetto. "But remember that fine
clothes do not make the man unless they be neat and clean."
"Very true," answered Pinocchio, "but, in order to go
to school, I still need something very important."
"What is it?"
"An A-B-C book."
"To be sure! But how shall we get it?"
"That's easy. We'll go to a bookstore and buy it."
"And the money?"
"I have none."
"Neither have I," said the old man sadly.
Pinocchio, although a happy boy always, became sad
and downcast at these words. When poverty shows itself,
even mischievous boys understand what it means.
"What does it matter, after all?" cried Geppetto all at
once, as he jumped up from his chair. Putting on his old
coat, full of darns and patches, he ran out of the house
without another word.
After a while he returned. In his hands he had the
A-B-C book for his son, but the old coat was gone. The
poor fellow was in his shirt sleeves and the day was cold.
"Where's your coat, Father?"
"I have sold it."
"Why did you sell your coat?"
"It was too warm."
Pinocchio understood the answer in a twinkling, and,
unable to restrain his tears, he jumped on his father's neck
and kissed him over and over.
CHAPTER 9
Pinocchio sells his A-B-C book to
pay his way into the Marionette Theater
See Pinocchio hurrying off to school with his new A-B-C
book under his arm! As he walked along, his brain was busy
planning hundreds of wonderful things, building hundreds
of castles in the air. Talking to himself, he said:
"In school today, I'll learn to read, tomorrow to write,
and the day after tomorrow I'll do arithmetic. Then, clever
as I am, I can earn a lot of money. With the very first
pennies I make, I'll buy Father a new cloth coat. Cloth,
did I say? No, it shall be of gold and silver with diamond
buttons. That poor man certainly deserves it; for, after all,
isn't he in his shirt sleeves because he was good enough to
buy a book for me? On this cold day, too! Fathers are
indeed good to their children!"
As he talked to himself, he thought he heard sounds of
pipes and drums coming from a distance: pi-pi-pi,
pi-pi-pi. . .zum, zum, zum, zum.
He stopped to listen. Those sounds came from a little
street that led to a small village along the shore.
"What can that noise be? What a nuisance that I have
to go to school! Otherwise. . ."
There he stopped, very much puzzled. He felt he had
to make up his mind for either one thing or another.
Should he go to school, or should he follow the pipes?
"Today I'll follow the pipes, and tomorrow I'll go to
school. There's always plenty of time to go to school,"
decided the little rascal at last, shrugging his shoulders.
No sooner said than done. He started down the street,
going like the wind. On he ran, and louder grew the
sounds of pipe and drum: pi-pi-pi, pi-pi-pi, pi-pi-pi
. . .zum, zum, zum, zum.
Suddenly, he found himself in a large square, full of
people standing in front of a little wooden building painted
in brilliant colors.
"What is that house?" Pinocchio asked a little boy near him.
"Read the sign and you'll know."
"I'd like to read, but somehow I can't today."
"Oh, really? Then I'll read it to you. Know, then,
that written in letters of fire I see the words:
GREAT MARIONETTE THEATER.
"When did the show start?"
"It is starting now."
"And how much does one pay to get in?"
"Four pennies."
Pinocchio, who was wild with curiosity to know what
was going on inside, lost all his pride and said to the boy
shamelessly:
"Will you give me four pennies until tomorrow?"
"I'd give them to you gladly," answered the other,
poking fun at him, "but just now I can't give them to you."
"For the price of four pennies, I'll sell you my coat."
"If it rains, what shall I do with a coat of flowered
paper? I could not take it off again."
"Do you want to buy my shoes?"
"They are only good enough to light a fire with."
"What about my hat?"
"Fine bargain, indeed! A cap of dough! The mice might
come and eat it from my head!"
Pinocchio was almost in tears. He was just about to
make one last offer, but he lacked the courage to do so.
He hesitated, he wondered, he could not make up his mind.
At last he said:
"Will you give me four pennies for the book?"
"I am a boy and I buy nothing from boys," said the
little fellow with far more common sense than the Marionette.
"I'll give you four pennies for your A-B-C book," said
a ragpicker who stood by.
Then and there, the book changed hands. And to think
that poor old Geppetto sat at home in his shirt sleeves,
shivering with cold, having sold his coat to buy that little
book for his son!
CHAPTER 10
The Marionettes recognize their brother Pinocchio,
and greet him with loud cheers; but the Director, Fire Eater,
happens along and poor Pinocchio almost loses his life
Quick as a flash, Pinocchio disappeared into the
Marionette Theater. And then something happened which
almost caused a riot.
The curtain was up and the performance had started.
Harlequin and Pulcinella were reciting on the stage and,
as usual, they were threatening each other with sticks and blows.
The theater was full of people, enjoying the spectacle
and laughing till they cried at the antics of the two Marionettes.
The play continued for a few minutes, and then suddenly,
without any warning, Harlequin stopped talking.
Turning toward the audience, he pointed to the rear of
the orchestra, yelling wildly at the same time:
"Look, look! Am I asleep or awake? Or do I really see
Pinocchio there?"
"Yes, yes! It is Pinocchio!" screamed Pulcinella.
"It is! It is!" shrieked Signora Rosaura, peeking in from
the side of the stage.
"It is Pinocchio! It is Pinocchio!" yelled all the Marionettes,
pouring out of the wings. "It is Pinocchio. It is our brother
Pinocchio! Hurrah for Pinocchio!"
"Pinocchio, come up to me!" shouted Harlequin. "Come
to the arms of your wooden brothers!"
At such a loving invitation, Pinocchio, with one leap
from the back of the orchestra, found himself in the front
rows. With another leap, he was on the orchestra leader's
head. With a third, he landed on the stage.
It is impossible to describe the shrieks of joy, the warm
embraces, the knocks, and the friendly greetings with
which that strange company of dramatic actors and
actresses received Pinocchio.
It was a heart-rending spectacle, but the audience,
seeing that the play had stopped, became angry and began
to yell:
"The play, the play, we want the play!"
The yelling was of no use, for the Marionettes, instead
of going on with their act, made twice as much racket as
before, and, lifting up Pinocchio on their shoulders, carried
him around the stage in triumph.
At that very moment, the Director came out of his
room. He had such a fearful appearance that one look
at him would fill you with horror. His beard was as
black as pitch, and so long that it reached from his chin
down to his feet. His mouth was as wide as an oven, his
teeth like yellow fangs, and his eyes, two glowing red
coals. In his huge, hairy hands, a long whip, made of
green snakes and black cats' tails twisted together, swished
through the air in a dangerous way.
At the unexpected apparition, no one dared even to
breathe. One could almost hear a fly go by. Those poor
Marionettes, one and all, trembled like leaves in a storm.
"Why have you brought such excitement into my
theater;" the huge fellow asked Pinocchio with the voice
of an ogre suffering with a cold.
"Believe me, your Honor, the fault was not mine."
"Enough! Be quiet! I'll take care of you later."
As soon as the play was over, the Director went to
the kitchen, where a fine big lamb was slowly turning
on the spit. More wood was needed to finish cooking it.
He called Harlequin and Pulcinella and said to them:
"Bring that Marionette to me! He looks as if he were
made of well-seasoned wood. He'll make a fine fire for
this spit."
Harlequin and Pulcinella hesitated a bit. Then,
frightened by a look from their master, they left the
kitchen to obey him. A few minutes later they returned,
carrying poor Pinocchio, who was wriggling and squirming
like an eel and crying pitifully:
"Father, save me! I don't want to die! I don't want to die!"
CHAPTER 11
Fire Eater sneezes and forgives Pinocchio,
who saves his friend, Harlequin, from death
In the theater, great excitement reigned.
Fire Eater (this was really his name) was very ugly,
but he was far from being as bad as he looked. Proof of
this is that, when he saw the poor Marionette being
brought in to him, struggling with fear and crying, "I
don't want to die! I don't want to die!" he felt sorry for
him and began first to waver and then to weaken. Finally,
he could control himself no longer and gave a loud sneeze.
At that sneeze, Harlequin, who until then had been
as sad as a weeping willow, smiled happily and leaning
toward the Marionette, whispered to him:
"Good news, brother mine! Fire Eater has sneezed
and this is a sign that he feels sorry for you.
You are saved!"
For be it known, that, while other people, when sad
and sorrowful, weep and wipe their eyes, Fire Eater, on
the other hand, had the strange habit of sneezing each
time he felt unhappy. The way was just as good as any
other to show the kindness of his heart.
After sneezing, Fire Eater, ugly as ever, cried to Pinocchio:
"Stop crying! Your wails give me a funny feeling
down here in my stomach and--E--tchee!--E--tchee!"
Two loud sneezes finished his speech.
"God bless you!" said Pinocchio.
"Thanks! Are your father and mother still living?"
demanded Fire Eater.
"My father, yes. My mother I have never known."
"Your poor father would suffer terribly if I were to
use you as firewood. Poor old man! I feel sorry for
him! E--tchee! E--tchee! E--tchee!" Three more sneezes
sounded, louder than ever.
"God bless you!" said Pinocchio.
"Thanks! However, I ought to be sorry for myself,
too, just now. My good dinner is spoiled. I have no
more wood for the fire, and the lamb is only half cooked.
Never mind! In your place I'll burn some other Marionette.
Hey there! Officers!"
At the call, two wooden officers appeared, long and
thin as a yard of rope, with queer hats on their heads
and swords in their hands.
Fire Eater yelled at them in a hoarse voice:
"Take Harlequin, tie him, and throw him on the fire.
I want my lamb well done!"
Think how poor Harlequin felt! He was so scared
that his legs doubled up under him and he fell to the floor.
Pinocchio, at that heartbreaking sight, threw himself
at the feet of Fire Eater and, weeping bitterly, asked
in a pitiful voice which could scarcely be heard:
"Have pity, I beg of you, signore!"
"There are no signori here!"
"Have pity, kind sir!"
"There are no sirs here!"
"Have pity, your Excellency!"
On hearing himself addressed as your Excellency, the
Director of the Marionette Theater sat up very straight
in his chair, stroked his long beard, and becoming suddenly
kind and compassionate, smiled proudly as he said to Pinocchio:
"Well, what do you want from me now, Marionette?"
"I beg for mercy for my poor friend, Harlequin, who
has never done the least harm in his life."
"There is no mercy here, Pinocchio. I have spared
you. Harlequin must burn in your place. I am hungry
and my dinner must be cooked."
"In that case," said Pinocchio proudly, as he stood
up and flung away his cap of dough, "in that case, my
duty is clear. Come, officers! Tie me up and throw me
on those flames. No, it is not fair for poor Harlequin,
the best friend that I have in the world, to die in my place!"
These brave words, said in a piercing voice, made all
the other Marionettes cry. Even the officers, who were
made of wood also, cried like two babies.
Fire Eater at first remained hard and cold as a piece
of ice; but then, little by little, he softened and began to
sneeze. And after four or five sneezes, he opened wide
his arms and said to Pinocchio:
"You are a brave boy! Come to my arms and kiss me!"
Pinocchio ran to him and scurrying like a squirrel up the
long black beard, he gave Fire Eater a loving kiss on the
tip of his nose.
"Has pardon been granted to me?" asked poor
Harlequin with a voice that was hardly a breath.
"Pardon is yours!" answered Fire Eater; and sighing
and wagging his head, he added: "Well, tonight I shall
have to eat my lamb only half cooked, but beware the
next time, Marionettes."
At the news that pardon had been given, the
Marionettes ran to the stage and, turning on all the lights,
they danced and sang till dawn.
CHAPTER 12
Fire Eater gives Pinocchio five gold pieces for his father, Geppetto;
but the Marionette meets a Fox and a Cat and follows them
The next day Fire Eater called Pinocchio aside and asked him:
"What is your father's name?"
"Geppetto."
"And what is his trade?"
"He's a wood carver."
"Does he earn much?"
"He earns so much that he never has a penny in his
pockets. Just think that, in order to buy me an A-B-C
book for school, he had to sell the only coat he owned, a
coat so full of darns and patches that it was a pity."
"Poor fellow! I feel sorry for him. Here, take these
five gold pieces. Go, give them to him with my kindest regards."
Pinocchio, as may easily be imagined, thanked him
a thousand times. He kissed each Marionette in turn,
even the officers, and, beside himself with joy, set out on
his homeward journey.
He had gone barely half a mile when he met a lame
Fox and a blind Cat, walking together like two good
friends. The lame Fox leaned on the Cat, and the blind
Cat let the Fox lead him along.
"Good morning, Pinocchio," said the Fox, greeting him
courteously.
"How do you know my name?" asked the Marionette.
"I know your father well."
"Where have you seen him?"
"I saw him yesterday standing at the door of his house."
"And what was he doing?"
"He was in his shirt sleeves trembling with cold."
"Poor Father! But, after today, God willing, he will
suffer no longer."
"Why?"
"Because I have become a rich man."
"You, a rich man?" said the Fox, and he began to laugh
out loud. The Cat was laughing also, but tried to hide it
by stroking his long whiskers.
"There is nothing to laugh at," cried Pinocchio angrily.
"I am very sorry to make your mouth water, but these,
as you know, are five new gold pieces."
And he pulled out the gold pieces which Fire Eater
had given him.
At the cheerful tinkle of the gold, the Fox unconsciously
held out his paw that was supposed to be lame, and the
Cat opened wide his two eyes till they looked like live
coals, but he closed them again so quickly that Pinocchio
did not notice.
"And may I ask," inquired the Fox, "what you are
going to do with all that money?"
"First of all," answered the Marionette, "I want to
buy a fine new coat for my father, a coat of gold and
silver with diamond buttons; after that, I'll buy an A-B-C
book for myself."
"For yourself?"
"For myself. I want to go to school and study hard."
"Look at me," said the Fox. "For the silly reason of
wanting to study, I have lost a paw."
"Look at me," said the Cat. "For the same foolish reason,
I have lost the sight of both eyes."
At that moment, a Blackbird, perched on the fence
along the road, called out sharp and clear:
"Pinocchio, do not listen to bad advice. If you do,
you'll be sorry!"
Poor little Blackbird! If he had only kept his words
to himself! In the twinkling of an eyelid, the Cat leaped
on him, and ate him, feathers and all.
After eating the bird, he cleaned his whiskers, closed
his eyes, and became blind once more.
"Poor Blackbird!" said Pinocchio to the Cat.
"Why did you kill him?"
"I killed him to teach him a lesson. He talks too much.
Next time he will keep his words to himself."
By this time the three companions had walked a long
distance. Suddenly, the Fox stopped in his tracks and,
turning to the Marionette, said to him:
"Do you want to double your gold pieces?"
"What do you mean?"
"Do you want one hundred, a thousand, two thousand
gold pieces for your miserable five?"
"Yes, but how?"
"The way is very easy. Instead of returning home,
come with us."
"And where will you take me?"
"To the City of Simple Simons."
Pinocchio thought a while and then said firmly:
"No, I don't want to go. Home is near, and I'm going
where Father is waiting for me. How unhappy he must
be that I have not yet returned! I have been a bad son,
and the Talking Cricket was right when he said that a
disobedient boy cannot be happy in this world. I have
learned this at my own expense. Even last night in
the theater, when Fire Eater. . . Brrrr!!!!! . . .
The shivers run up and down my back at the mere thought of it."
"Well, then," said the Fox, "if you really want to go home,
go ahead, but you'll be sorry."
"You'll be sorry," repeated the Cat.
"Think well, Pinocchio, you are turning your back on Dame Fortune."
"On Dame Fortune," repeated the Cat.
"Tomorrow your five gold pieces will be two thousand!"
"Two thousand!" repeated the Cat.
"But how can they possibly become so many?" asked
Pinocchio wonderingly.
"I'll explain," said the Fox. "You must know that,
just outside the City of Simple Simons, there is a blessed
field called the Field of Wonders. In this field you dig
a hole and in the hole you bury a gold piece. After covering
up the hole with earth you water it well, sprinkle
a bit of salt on it, and go to bed. During the night, the
gold piece sprouts, grows, blossoms, and next morning
you find a beautiful tree, that is loaded with gold pieces."
"So that if I were to bury my five gold pieces," cried
Pinocchio with growing wonder, "next morning I should
find--how many?"
"It is very simple to figure out," answered the Fox.
"Why, you can figure it on your fingers! Granted that
each piece gives you five hundred, multiply five hundred
by five. Next morning you will find twenty-five hundred
new, sparkling gold pieces."
"Fine! Fine!" cried Pinocchio, dancing about with joy.
"And as soon as I have them, I shall keep two thousand
for myself and the other five hundred I'll give to you two."
"A gift for us?" cried the Fox, pretending to be insulted.
"Why, of course not!"
"Of course not!" repeated the Cat.
"We do not work for gain," answered the Fox.
"We work only to enrich others."
"To enrich others!" repeated the Cat.
"What good people," thought Pinocchio to himself.
And forgetting his father, the new coat, the A-B-C book,
and all his good resolutions, he said to the Fox and to the Cat:
"Let us go. I am with you."
CHAPTER 13
The Inn of the Red Lobster
Cat and Fox and Marionette walked and walked and walked.
At last, toward evening, dead tired, they came to the
Inn of the Red Lobster.
"Let us stop here a while," said the Fox, "to eat a bite
and rest for a few hours. At midnight we'll start out again,
for at dawn tomorrow we must be at the Field of Wonders."
They went into the Inn and all three sat down at the
same table. However, not one of them was very hungry.
The poor Cat felt very weak, and he was able to
eat only thirty-five mullets with tomato sauce and four
portions of tripe with cheese. Moreover, as he was so
in need of strength, he had to have four more helpings of
butter and cheese.
The Fox, after a great deal of coaxing, tried his best
to eat a little. The doctor had put him on a diet, and he
had to be satisfied with a small hare dressed with a dozen
young and tender spring chickens. After the hare, he
ordered some partridges, a few pheasants, a couple of
rabbits, and a dozen frogs and lizards. That was all.
He felt ill, he said, and could not eat another bite.
Pinocchio ate least of all. He asked for a bite of bread
and a few nuts and then hardly touched them. The poor
fellow, with his mind on the Field of Wonders, was
suffering from a gold-piece indigestion.
Supper over, the Fox said to the Innkeeper:
"Give us two good rooms, one for Mr. Pinocchio and
the other for me and my friend. Before starting out,
we'll take a little nap. Remember to call us at midnight
sharp, for we must continue on our journey."
"Yes, sir," answered the Innkeeper, winking in a knowing way
at the Fox and the Cat, as if to say, "I understand."
As soon as Pinocchio was in bed, he fell fast asleep
and began to dream. He dreamed he was in the middle
of a field. The field was full of vines heavy with grapes.
The grapes were no other than gold coins which tinkled
merrily as they swayed in the wind. They seemed to
say, "Let him who wants us take us!"
Just as Pinocchio stretched out his hand to take a
handful of them, he was awakened by three loud knocks at
the door. It was the Innkeeper who had come to tell him
that midnight had struck.
"Are my friends ready?" the Marionette asked him.
"Indeed, yes! They went two hours ago."
"Why in such a hurry?"
"Unfortunately the Cat received a telegram which
said that his first-born was suffering from chilblains
and was on the point of death. He could not even wait
to say good-by to you."
"Did they pay for the supper?"
"How could they do such a thing? Being people of
great refinement, they did not want to offend you so
deeply as not to allow you the honor of paying the bill."
"Too bad! That offense would have been more than
pleasing to me," said Pinocchio, scratching his head.
"Where did my good friends say they would wait for me?" he added.
"At the Field of Wonders, at sunrise tomorrow morning."
Pinocchio paid a gold piece for the three suppers and
started on his way toward the field that was to make
him a rich man.
He walked on, not knowing where he was going, for
it was dark, so dark that not a thing was visible. Round
about him, not a leaf stirred. A few bats skimmed his
nose now and again and scared him half to death. Once
or twice he shouted, "Who goes there?" and the far-away
hills echoed back to him, "Who goes there? Who goes
there? Who goes. . . ?"
As he walked, Pinocchio noticed a tiny insect
glimmering on the trunk of a tree, a small being that glowed
with a pale, soft light.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"I am the ghost of the Talking Cricket," answered the
little being in a faint voice that sounded as if it came from
a far-away world.
"What do you want?" asked the Marionette.
"I want to give you a few words of good advice.
Return home and give the four gold pieces you have
left to your poor old father who is weeping because he
has not seen you for many a day."
"Tomorrow my father will be a rich man, for these
four gold pieces will become two thousand."
"Don't listen to those who promise you wealth overnight,
my boy. As a rule they are either fools or swindlers!
Listen to me and go home."
"But I want to go on!"
"The hour is late!"
"I want to go on."
"The night is very dark."
"I want to go on."
"The road is dangerous."
"I want to go on."
"Remember that boys who insist on having their own way,
sooner or later come to grief."
"The same nonsense. Good-by, Cricket."
"Good night, Pinocchio, and may Heaven preserve you
from the Assassins."
There was silence for a minute and the light of the
Talking Cricket disappeared suddenly, just as if someone
had snuffed it out. Once again the road was plunged
in darkness.
CHAPTER 14
Pinocchio, not having listened to the good advice
of the Talking Cricket, falls into the hands of the Assassins
"Dear, oh, dear! When I come to think of it," said the
Marionette to himself, as he once more set out on his
journey, "we boys are really very unlucky. Everybody
scolds us, everybody gives us advice, everybody warns us.
If we were to allow it, everyone would try to be father
and mother to us; everyone, even the Talking Cricket.
Take me, for example. Just because I would not listen to
that bothersome Cricket, who knows how many misfortunes
may be awaiting me! Assassins indeed! At least
I have never believed in them, nor ever will. To speak
sensibly, I think assassins have been invented by fathers
and mothers to frighten children who want to run away
at night. And then, even if I were to meet them on
the road, what matter? I'll just run up to them, and say,
`Well, signori, what do you want? Remember that you
can't fool with me! Run along and mind your business.'
At such a speech, I can almost see those poor fellows
running like the wind. But in case they don't run away,
I can always run myself. . ."
Pinocchio was not given time to argue any longer, for he thought
he heard a slight rustle among the leaves behind him.
He turned to look and behold, there in the darkness
stood two big black shadows, wrapped from head to foot
in black sacks. The two figures leaped toward him as
softly as if they were ghosts.
"Here they come!" Pinocchio said to himself, and,
not knowing where to hide the gold pieces, he stuck all
four of them under his tongue.
He tried to run away, but hardly had he taken a step,
when he felt his arms grasped and heard two horrible,
deep voices say to him: "Your money or your life!"
On account of the gold pieces in his mouth, Pinocchio
could not say a word, so he tried with head and hands
and body to show, as best he could, that he was only a
poor Marionette without a penny in his pocket.
"Come, come, less nonsense, and out with your money!"
cried the two thieves in threatening voices.
Once more, Pinocchio's head and hands said, "I haven't
a penny."
"Out with that money or you're a dead man," said the
taller of the two Assassins.
"Dead man," repeated the other.
"And after having killed you, we will kill your father also."
"Your father also!"
"No, no, no, not my Father!" cried Pinocchio, wild with terror;
but as he screamed, the gold pieces tinkled together in his mouth.
"Ah, you rascal! So that's the game! You have the
money hidden under your tongue. Out with it!"
But Pinocchio was as stubborn as ever.
"Are you deaf? Wait, young man, we'll get it from
you in a twinkling!"
One of them grabbed the Marionette by the nose and
the other by the chin, and they pulled him unmercifully
from side to side in order to make him open his mouth.
All was of no use. The Marionette's lips might have
been nailed together. They would not open.
In desperation the smaller of the two Assassins pulled
out a long knife from his pocket, and tried to pry Pinocchio's
mouth open with it.
Quick as a flash, the Marionette sank his teeth deep
into the Assassin's hand, bit it off and spat it out. Fancy
his surprise when he saw that it was not a hand, but a
cat's paw.
Encouraged by this first victory, he freed himself from
the claws of his assailers and, leaping over the bushes
along the road, ran swiftly across the fields. His pursuers
were after him at once, like two dogs chasing a hare.
After running seven miles or so, Pinocchio was wellnigh
exhausted. Seeing himself lost, he climbed up a
giant pine tree and sat there to see what he could see.
The Assassins tried to climb also, but they slipped and fell.
Far from giving up the chase, this only spurred them on.
They gathered a bundle of wood, piled it up at the
foot of the pine, and set fire to it. In a twinkling the
tree began to sputter and burn like a candle blown by
the wind. Pinocchio saw the flames climb higher and
higher. Not wishing to end his days as a roasted
Marionette, he jumped quickly to the ground and off he went,
the Assassins close to him, as before.
Dawn was breaking when, without any warning whatsoever,
Pinocchio found his path barred by a deep pool full
of water the color of muddy coffee.
What was there to do? With a "One, two, three!"
he jumped clear across it. The Assassins jumped also,
but not having measured their distance well--splash!!!--
they fell right into the middle of the pool. Pinocchio
who heard the splash and felt it, too, cried out, laughing,
but never stopping in his race:
"A pleasant bath to you, signori!"
He thought they must surely be drowned and turned
his head to see. But there were the two somber figures
still following him, though their black sacks were drenched
and dripping with water.
CHAPTER 15
The Assassins chase Pinocchio, catch him,
and hang him to the branch of a giant oak tree
As he ran, the Marionette felt more and more certain that
he would have to give himself up into the hands of his
pursuers. Suddenly he saw a little cottage gleaming white
as the snow among the trees of the forest.
"If I have enough breath left with which to reach that
little house, I may be saved," he said to himself.
Not waiting another moment, he darted swiftly through
the woods, the Assassins still after him.
After a hard race of almost an hour, tired and out of
breath, Pinocchio finally reached the door of the cottage
and knocked. No one answered.
He knocked again, harder than before, for behind him
he heard the steps and the labored breathing of his
persecutors. The same silence followed.
As knocking was of no use, Pinocchio, in despair,
began to kick and bang against the door, as if he wanted
to break it. At the noise, a window opened and a lovely
maiden looked out. She had azure hair and a face white
as wax. Her eyes were closed and her hands crossed on
her breast. With a voice so weak that it hardly could be
heard, she whispered:
"No one lives in this house. Everyone is dead."
"Won't you, at least, open the door for me?"
cried Pinocchio in a beseeching voice.
"I also am dead."
"Dead? What are you doing at the window, then?"
"I am waiting for the coffin to take me away."
After these words, the little girl disappeared and the
window closed without a sound.
"Oh, Lovely Maiden with Azure Hair," cried
Pinocchio, "open, I beg of you. Take pity on a poor boy who
is being chased by two Assass--"
He did not finish, for two powerful hands grasped him
by the neck and the same two horrible voices growled
threateningly: "Now we have you!"
The Marionette, seeing death dancing before him,
trembled so hard that the joints of his legs rattled and
the coins tinkled under his tongue.
"Well," the Assassins asked, "will you open your
mouth now or not? Ah! You do not answer? Very well,
this time you shall open it."
Taking out two long, sharp knives, they struck two
heavy blows on the Marionette's back.
Happily for him, Pinocchio was made of very hard
wood and the knives broke into a thousand pieces. The
Assassins looked at each other in dismay, holding the
handles of the knives in their hands.
"I understand," said one of them to the other, "there
is nothing left to do now but to hang him."
"To hang him," repeated the other.
They tied Pinocchio's hands behind his shoulders and
slipped the noose around his neck. Throwing the rope
over the high limb of a giant oak tree, they pulled till
the poor Marionette hung far up in space.
Satisfied with their work, they sat on the grass waiting
for Pinocchio to give his last gasp. But after three hours
the Marionette's eyes were still open, his mouth still shut
and his legs kicked harder than ever.
Tired of waiting, the Assassins called to him mockingly:
"Good-by till tomorrow. When we return in the morning,
we hope you'll be polite enough to let us find you
dead and gone and with your mouth wide open."
With these words they went.
A few minutes went by and then a wild wind started
to blow. As it shrieked and moaned, the poor little
sufferer was blown to and fro like the hammer of a bell.
The rocking made him seasick and the noose, becoming
tighter and tighter, choked him. Little by little a film
covered his eyes.
Death was creeping nearer and nearer, and the Marionette
still hoped for some good soul to come to his rescue,
but no one appeared. As he was about to die, he thought
of his poor old father, and hardly conscious of what he
was saying, murmured to himself:
"Oh, Father, dear Father! If you were only here!"
These were his last words. He closed his eyes, opened
his mouth, stretched out his legs, and hung there, as if
he were dead.
CHAPTER 16
The Lovely Maiden with Azure Hair sends for the poor Marionette,
puts him to bed, and calls three Doctors to tell her if Pinocchio
is dead or alive
If the poor Marionette had dangled there much longer,
all hope would have been lost. Luckily for him, the
Lovely Maiden with Azure Hair once again looked out of
her window. Filled with pity at the sight of the poor little
fellow being knocked helplessly about by the wind, she
clapped her hands sharply together three times.
At the signal, a loud whirr of wings in quick flight was
heard and a large Falcon came and settled itself on the
window ledge.
"What do you command, my charming Fairy?" asked the Falcon,
bending his beak in deep reverence (for it must
be known that, after all, the Lovely Maiden with Azure
Hair was none other than a very kind Fairy who had lived,
for more than a thousand years, in the vicinity of the forest).
"Do you see that Marionette hanging from the limb
of that giant oak tree?"
"I see him."
"Very well. Fly immediately to him. With your
strong beak, break the knot which holds him tied,
take him down, and lay him softly on the grass
at the foot of the oak."
The Falcon flew away and after two minutes returned,
saying, "I have done what you have commanded."
"How did you find him? Alive or dead?"
"At first glance, I thought he was dead. But I found
I was wrong, for as soon as I loosened the knot around
his neck, he gave a long sigh and mumbled with a faint
voice, `Now I feel better!'"
The Fairy clapped her hands twice. A magnificent
Poodle appeared, walking on his hind legs just like a
man. He was dressed in court livery. A tricorn trimmed
with gold lace was set at a rakish angle over a wig of white
curls that dropped down to his waist. He wore a jaunty
coat of chocolate-colored velvet, with diamond buttons,
and with two huge pockets which were always filled with
bones, dropped there at dinner by his loving mistress.
Breeches of crimson velvet, silk stockings, and low,
silver-buckled slippers completed his costume. His tail
was encased in a blue silk covering, which was to protect
it from the rain.
"Come, Medoro," said the Fairy to him. "Get my
best coach ready and set out toward the forest. On
reaching the oak tree, you will find a poor, half-dead
Marionette stretched out on the grass. Lift him up
tenderly, place him on the silken cushions of the coach,
and bring him here to me."
The Poodle, to show that he understood, wagged his silk-covered tail
two or three times and set off at a quick pace.
In a few minutes, a lovely little coach, made of glass,
with lining as soft as whipped cream and chocolate pudding,
and stuffed with canary feathers, pulled out of the
stable. It was drawn by one hundred pairs of white mice,
and the Poodle sat on the coachman's seat and snapped
his whip gayly in the air, as if he were a real coachman
in a hurry to get to his destination.
In a quarter of an hour the coach was back. The
Fairy, who was waiting at the door of the house, lifted
the poor little Marionette in her arms, took him to a
dainty room with mother-of-pearl walls, put him to bed,
and sent immediately for the most famous doctors of the
neighborhood to come to her.
One after another the doctors came, a Crow, and Owl,
and a Talking Cricket.
"I should like to know, signori," said the Fairy, turning
to the three doctors gathered about Pinocchio's bed,
"I should like to know if this poor Marionette is dead or alive."
At this invitation, the Crow stepped out and felt
Pinocchio's pulse, his nose, his little toe.
Then he solemnly pronounced the following words:
"To my mind this Marionette is dead and gone; but if,
by any evil chance, he were not, then that would be a
sure sign that he is still alive!"
"I am sorry," said the Owl, "to have to contradict
the Crow, my famous friend and colleague. To my mind
this Marionette is alive; but if, by any evil chance, he
were not, then that would be a sure sign that he is wholly dead!"
"And do you hold any opinion?" the Fairy asked the Talking Cricket.
"I say that a wise doctor, when he does not know what he
is talking about, should know enough to keep his mouth shut.
However, that Marionette is not a stranger to me.
I have known him a long time!"
Pinocchio, who until then had been very quiet,
shuddered so hard that the bed shook.
"That Marionette," continued the Talking Cricket,
"is a rascal of the worst kind."
Pinocchio opened his eyes and closed them again.
"He is rude, lazy, a runaway."
Pinocchio hid his face under the sheets.
"That Marionette is a disobedient son who is breaking
his father's heart!"
Long shuddering sobs were heard, cries, and deep sighs.
Think how surprised everyone was when, on raising the sheets,
they discovered Pinocchio half melted in tears!
"When the dead weep, they are beginning to recover,"
said the Crow solemnly.
"I am sorry to contradict my famous friend and colleague,"
said the Owl, "but as far as I'm concerned, I think that
when the dead weep, it means they do not want to die."
CHAPTER 17
Pinocchio eats sugar, but refuses to take medicine.
When the undertakers come for him, he drinks the medicine and feels better.
Afterwards he tells a lie and, in punishment, his nose grows longer and longer
As soon as the three doctors had left the room, the Fairy
went to Pinocchio's bed and, touching him on the forehead,
noticed that he was burning with fever.
She took a glass of water, put a white powder into
it, and, handing it to the Marionette, said lovingly to him:
"Drink this, and in a few days you'll be up and well."
Pinocchio looked at the glass, made a wry face, and
asked in a whining voice: "Is it sweet or bitter?"
"It is bitter, but it is good for you."
"If it is bitter, I don't want it."
"Drink it!"
"I don't like anything bitter."
"Drink it and I'll give you a lump of sugar to take the
bitter taste from your mouth."
"Where's the sugar?"
"Here it is," said the Fairy, taking a lump from a golden
sugar bowl.
"I want the sugar first, then I'll drink the bitter water."
"Do you promise?"
"Yes."
The Fairy gave him the sugar and Pinocchio, after chewing
and swallowing it in a twinkling, said, smacking his lips:
"If only sugar were medicine! I should take it every day."
"Now keep your promise and drink these few drops
of water. They'll be good for you."
Pinocchio took the glass in both hands and stuck his
nose into it. He lifted it to his mouth and once more
stuck his nose into it.
"It is too bitter, much too bitter! I can't drink it."
"How do you know, when you haven't even tasted it?"
"I can imagine it. I smell it. I want another lump of
sugar, then I'll drink it."
The Fairy, with all the patience of a good mother, gave
him more sugar and again handed him the glass.
"I can't drink it like that," the Marionette said, making
more wry faces.
"Why?"
"Because that feather pillow on my feet bothers me."
The Fairy took away the pillow.
"It's no use. I can't drink it even now."
"What's the matter now?"
"I don't like the way that door looks. It's half open."
The Fairy closed the door.
"I won't drink it," cried Pinocchio, bursting out crying.
"I won't drink this awful water. I won't. I won't!
No, no, no, no!"
"My boy, you'll be sorry."
"I don't care."
"You are very sick."
"I don't care."
"In a few hours the fever will take you far away to another world."
"I don't care."
"Aren't you afraid of death?"
"Not a bit. I'd rather die than drink that awful medicine."
At that moment, the door of the room flew open and in
came four Rabbits as black as ink, carrying a small black
coffin on their shoulders.
"What do you want from me?" asked Pinocchio.
"We have come for you," said the largest Rabbit.
"For me? But I'm not dead yet!"
"No, not dead yet; but you will be in a few moments
since you have refused to take the medicine which would
have made you well."
"Oh, Fairy, my Fairy," the Marionette cried out, "give me
that glass! Quick, please! I don't want to die!
No, no, not yet--not yet!"
And holding the glass with his two hands, he swallowed
the medicine at one gulp.
"Well," said the four Rabbits, "this time we have made
the trip for nothing."
And turning on their heels, they marched solemnly out
of the room, carrying their little black coffin and muttering
and grumbling between their teeth.
In a twinkling, Pinocchio felt fine. With one leap he
was out of bed and into his clothes.
The Fairy, seeing him run and jump around the room
gay as a bird on wing, said to him:
"My medicine was good for you, after all, wasn't it?"
"Good indeed! It has given me new life."
"Why, then, did I have to beg you so hard to make
you drink it?"
"I'm a boy, you see, and all boys hate medicine more
than they do sickness."
"What a shame! Boys ought to know, after all, that
medicine, taken in time, can save them from much pain
and even from death."
"Next time I won't have to be begged so hard. I'll
remember those black Rabbits with the black coffin on
their shoulders and I'll take the glass and pouf!--down it
will go!"
"Come here now and tell me how it came about that
you found yourself in the hands of the Assassins."
"It happened that Fire Eater gave me five gold pieces
to give to my Father, but on the way, I met a Fox and a
Cat, who asked me, `Do you want the five pieces to become
two thousand?' And I said, `Yes.' And they said,
`Come with us to the Field of Wonders.' And I said,
`Let's go.' Then they said, `Let us stop at the Inn of the
Red Lobster for dinner and after midnight we'll set out
again.' We ate and went to sleep. When I awoke they
were gone and I started out in the darkness all alone. On
the road I met two Assassins dressed in black coal sacks,
who said to me, `Your money or your life!' and I said,
`I haven't any money'; for, you see, I had put the money
under my tongue. One of them tried to put his hand in
my mouth and I bit it off and spat it out; but it wasn't a
hand, it was a cat's paw. And they ran after me and I
ran and ran, till at last they caught me and tied my neck
with a rope and hanged me to a tree, saying, `Tomorrow
we'll come back for you and you'll be dead and your
mouth will be open, and then we'll take the gold pieces
that you have hidden under your tongue.'"
"Where are the gold pieces now?" the Fairy asked.
"I lost them," answered Pinocchio, but he told a lie,
for he had them in his pocket.
As he spoke, his nose, long though it was, became at
least two inches longer.
"And where did you lose them?"
"In the wood near by."
At this second lie, his nose grew a few more inches.
"If you lost them in the near-by wood," said the Fairy,
"we'll look for them and find them, for everything that is
lost there is always found."
"Ah, now I remember," replied the Marionette,
becoming more and more confused. "I did not lose the gold
pieces, but I swallowed them when I drank the medicine."
At this third lie, his nose became longer than ever,
so long that he could not even turn around. If he turned
to the right, he knocked it against the bed or into the
windowpanes; if he turned to the left, he struck the walls
or the door; if he raised it a bit, he almost put the Fairy's
eyes out.
The Fairy sat looking at him and laughing.
"Why do you laugh?" the Marionette asked her,
worried now at the sight of his growing nose.
"I am laughing at your lies."
"How do you know I am lying?"
"Lies, my boy, are known in a moment. There are two
kinds of lies, lies with short legs and lies with long noses.
Yours, just now, happen to have long noses."
Pinocchio, not knowing where to hide his shame, tried
to escape from the room, but his nose had become so long
that he could not get it out of the door.
CHAPTER 18
Pinocchio finds the Fox and the Cat again, and goes with them
to sow the gold pieces in the Field of Wonders
Crying as if his heart would break, the Marionette
mourned for hours over the length of his nose. No matter
how he tried, it would not go through the door. The
Fairy showed no pity toward him, as she was trying to
teach him a good lesson, so that he would stop telling lies,
the worst habit any boy may acquire. But when she saw
him, pale with fright and with his eyes half out of his
head from terror, she began to feel sorry for him and
clapped her hands together. A thousand woodpeckers
flew in through the window and settled themselves on
Pinocchio's nose. They pecked and pecked so hard at
that enormous nose that in a few moments, it was the
same size as before.
"How good you are, my Fairy," said Pinocchio, drying
his eyes, "and how much I love you!"
"I love you, too," answered the Fairy, "and if you wish
to stay with me, you may be my little brother and I'll be
your good little sister."
"I should like to stay--but what about my poor father?"
"I have thought of everything. Your father has been
sent for and before night he will be here."
"Really?" cried Pinocchio joyfully. "Then, my good
Fairy, if you are willing, I should like to go to meet him.
I cannot wait to kiss that dear old man, who has suffered
so much for my sake."
"Surely; go ahead, but be careful not to lose your way.
Take the wood path and you'll surely meet him."
Pinocchio set out, and as soon as he found himself in the
wood, he ran like a hare. When he reached the giant oak
tree he stopped, for he thought he heard a rustle in the
brush. He was right. There stood the Fox and the Cat,
the two traveling companions with whom he had eaten at
the Inn of the Red Lobster.
"Here comes our dear Pinocchio!" cried the Fox,
hugging and kissing him. "How did you happen here?"
"How did you happen here?" repeated the Cat.
"It is a long story," said the Marionette. "Let me tell
it to you. The other night, when you left me alone at the
Inn, I met the Assassins on the road--"
"The Assassins? Oh, my poor friend! And what did they want?"
"They wanted my gold pieces."
"Rascals!" said the Fox.
"The worst sort of rascals!" added the Cat.
"But I began to run," continued the Marionette, "and
they after me, until they overtook me and hanged me to
the limb of that oak."
Pinocchio pointed to the giant oak near by.
"Could anything be worse?" said the Fox.
"What an awful world to live in! Where shall we
find a safe place for gentlemen like ourselves?"
As the Fox talked thus, Pinocchio noticed that the Cat
carried his right paw in a sling.
"What happened to your paw?" he asked.
The Cat tried to answer, but he became so terribly
twisted in his speech that the Fox had to help him out.
"My friend is too modest to answer. I'll answer for
him. About an hour ago, we met an old wolf on the road.
He was half starved and begged for help. Having nothing
to give him, what do you think my friend did out of the
kindness of his heart? With his teeth, he bit off the paw
of his front foot and threw it at that poor beast, so that
he might have something to eat."
As he spoke, the Fox wiped off a tear.
Pinocchio, almost in tears himself, whispered in the Cat's ear:
"If all the cats were like you, how lucky the mice would be!"
"And what are you doing here?" the Fox asked the Marionette.
"I am waiting for my father, who will be here at any moment now."
"And your gold pieces?"
"I still have them in my pocket, except one which I
spent at the Inn of the Red Lobster."
"To think that those four gold pieces might become
two thousand tomorrow. Why don't you listen to me?
Why don't you sow them in the Field of Wonders?"
"Today it is impossible. I'll go with you some other time."
"Another day will be too late," said the Fox.
"Why?"
"Because that field has been bought by a very rich man,
and today is the last day that it will be open to the public."
"How far is this Field of Wonders?"
"Only two miles away. Will you come with us? We'll
be there in half an hour. You can sow the money, and,
after a few minutes, you will gather your two thousand
coins and return home rich. Are you coming?"
Pinocchio hesitated a moment before answering, for he
remembered the good Fairy, old Geppetto, and the advice
of the Talking Cricket. Then he ended by doing what
all boys do, when they have no heart and little brain.
He shrugged his shoulders and said to the Fox and the Cat:
"Let us go! I am with you."
And they went.
They walked and walked for a half a day at least and
at last they came to the town called the City of Simple
Simons. As soon as they entered the town, Pinocchio
noticed that all the streets were filled with hairless dogs,
yawning from hunger; with sheared sheep, trembling with
cold; with combless chickens, begging for a grain of
wheat; with large butterflies, unable to use their wings
because they had sold all their lovely colors; with tailless
peacocks, ashamed to show themselves; and with bedraggled
pheasants, scuttling away hurriedly, grieving for their
bright feathers of gold and silver, lost to them forever.
Through this crowd of paupers and beggars, a beautiful
coach passed now and again. Within it sat either a Fox,
a Hawk, or a Vulture.
"Where is the Field of Wonders?" asked Pinocchio,
growing tired of waiting.
"Be patient. It is only a few more steps away."
They passed through the city and, just outside the walls,
they stepped into a lonely field, which looked more
or less like any other field.
"Here we are," said the Fox to the Marionette.
"Dig a hole here and put the gold pieces into it."
The Marionette obeyed. He dug the hole, put the
four gold pieces into it, and covered them up very carefully.
"Now," said the Fox, "go to that near-by brook, bring
back a pail full of water, and sprinkle it over the spot."
Pinocchio followed the directions closely, but, as he
had no pail, he pulled off his shoe, filled it with water,
and sprinkled the earth which covered the gold. Then
he asked:
"Anything else?"
"Nothing else," answered the Fox. "Now we can go.
Return here within twenty minutes and you will find the
vine grown and the branches filled with gold pieces."
Pinocchio, beside himself with joy, thanked the Fox
and the Cat many times and promised them each a beautiful gift.
"We don't want any of your gifts," answered the two
rogues. "It is enough for us that we have helped you to
become rich with little or no trouble. For this we are
as happy as kings."
They said good-by to Pinocchio and, wishing him good
luck, went on their way.
CHAPTER 19
Pinocchio is robbed of his gold pieces and,
in punishment, is sentenced to four months in prison
If the Marionette had been told to wait a day instead of
twenty minutes, the time could not have seemed longer
to him. He walked impatiently to and fro and finally
turned his nose toward the Field of Wonders.
And as he walked with hurried steps, his heart beat
with an excited tic, tac, tic, tac, just as if it were a wall
clock, and his busy brain kept thinking:
"What if, instead of a thousand, I should find two
thousand? Or if, instead of two thousand, I should find five
thousand--or one hundred thousand? I'll build myself a
beautiful palace, with a thousand stables filled with a
thousand wooden horses to play with, a cellar overflowing
with lemonade and ice cream soda, and a library of candies
and fruits, cakes and cookies."
Thus amusing himself with fancies, he came to the field.
There he stopped to see if, by any chance, a vine filled
with gold coins was in sight. But he saw nothing! He
took a few steps forward, and still nothing! He stepped
into the field. He went up to the place where he had
dug the hole and buried the gold pieces. Again nothing!
Pinocchio became very thoughtful and, forgetting his good
manners altogether, he pulled a hand out of his pocket and
gave his head a thorough scratching.
As he did so, he heard a hearty burst of laughter close
to his head. He turned sharply, and there, just above him
on the branch of a tree, sat a large Parrot, busily preening
his feathers.
"What are you laughing at?" Pinocchio asked peevishly.
"I am laughing because, in preening my feathers, I
tickled myself under the wings."
The Marionette did not answer. He walked to the
brook, filled his shoe with water, and once more sprinkled
the ground which covered the gold pieces.
Another burst of laughter, even more impertinent than
the first, was heard in the quiet field.
"Well," cried the Marionette, angrily this time,
"may I know, Mr. Parrot, what amuses you so?"
"I am laughing at those simpletons who believe
everything they hear and who allow themselves to be caught so
easily in the traps set for them."
"Do you, perhaps, mean me?"
"I certainly do mean you, poor Pinocchio--you who
are such a little silly as to believe that gold can be sown
in a field just like beans or squash. I, too, believed that
once and today I am very sorry for it. Today (but too late!)
I have reached the conclusion that, in order to come
by money honestly, one must work and know how to earn
it with hand or brain."
"I don't know what you are talking about," said the
Marionette, who was beginning to tremble with fear.
"Too bad! I'll explain myself better," said the Parrot.
"While you were away in the city the Fox and the Cat
returned here in a great hurry. They took the four gold
pieces which you have buried and ran away as fast as the wind.
If you can catch them, you're a brave one!"
Pinocchio's mouth opened wide. He would not believe
the Parrot's words and began to dig away furiously at the
earth. He dug and he dug till the hole was as big as himself,
but no money was there. Every penny was gone.
In desperation, he ran to the city and went straight to
the courthouse to report the robbery to the magistrate.
The Judge was a Monkey, a large Gorilla venerable
with age. A flowing white beard covered his chest and he
wore gold-rimmed spectacles from which the glasses had
dropped out. The reason for wearing these, he said, was
that his eyes had been weakened by the work of many years.
Pinocchio, standing before him, told his pitiful tale,
word by word. He gave the names and the descriptions
of the robbers and begged for justice.
The Judge listened to him with great patience. A kind
look shone in his eyes. He became very much interested
in the story; he felt moved; he almost wept. When the
Marionette had no more to say, the Judge put out his
hand and rang a bell.
At the sound, two large Mastiffs appeared, dressed in
Carabineers' uniforms.
Then the magistrate, pointing to Pinocchio, said in a
very solemn voice:
"This poor simpleton has been robbed of four gold pieces.
Take him, therefore, and throw him into prison."
The Marionette, on hearing this sentence passed upon
him, was thoroughly stunned. He tried to protest, but
the two officers clapped their paws on his mouth and
hustled him away to jail.
There he had to remain for four long, weary months.
And if it had not been for a very lucky chance, he probably
would have had to stay there longer. For, my dear
children, you must know that it happened just then that
the young emperor who ruled over the City of Simple
Simons had gained a great victory over his enemy, and in
celebration thereof, he had ordered illuminations, fireworks,
shows of all kinds, and, best of all, the opening of all prison doors.
"If the others go, I go, too," said Pinocchio to the Jailer.
"Not you," answered the Jailer. "You are one of those--"
"I beg your pardon," interrupted Pinocchio, "I, too, am a thief."
"In that case you also are free," said the Jailer. Taking
off his cap, he bowed low and opened the door of the prison,
and Pinocchio ran out and away, with never a look backward.
CHAPTER 20
Freed from prison, Pinocchio sets out to return to the Fairy;
but on the way he meets a Serpent and later is caught in a trap
Fancy the happiness of Pinocchio on finding himself free!
Without saying yes or no, he fled from the city and set
out on the road that was to take him back to the house of
the lovely Fairy.
It had rained for many days, and the road was so muddy
that, at times, Pinocchio sank down almost to his knees.
But he kept on bravely.
Tormented by the wish to see his father and his fairy
sister with azure hair, he raced like a greyhound. As he
ran, he was splashed with mud even up to his cap.
"How unhappy I have been," he said to himself. "And
yet I deserve everything, for I am certainly very stubborn
and stupid! I will always have my own way. I won't
listen to those who love me and who have more brains
than I. But from now on, I'll be different and I'll try to
become a most obedient boy. I have found out, beyond
any doubt whatever, that disobedient boys are certainly
far from happy, and that, in the long run, they always
lose out. I wonder if Father is waiting for me. Will I
find him at the Fairy's house? It is so long, poor man,
since I have seen him, and I do so want his love and his
kisses. And will the Fairy ever forgive me for all I have
done? She who has been so good to me and to whom I
owe my life! Can there be a worse or more heartless
boy than I am anywhere?"
As he spoke, he stopped suddenly, frozen with terror.
What was the matter? An immense Serpent lay stretched
across the road--a Serpent with a bright green skin,
fiery eyes which glowed and burned, and a pointed tail
that smoked like a chimney.
How frightened was poor Pinocchio! He ran back
wildly for half a mile, and at last settled himself atop a
heap of stones to wait for the Serpent to go on his way
and leave the road clear for him.
He waited an hour; two hours; three hours; but the
Serpent was always there, and even from afar one could
see the flash of his red eyes and the column of smoke
which rose from his long, pointed tail.
Pinocchio, trying to feel very brave, walked straight up
to him and said in a sweet, soothing voice:
"I beg your pardon, Mr. Serpent, would you be so
kind as to step aside to let me pass?"
He might as well have talked to a wall. The Serpent
never moved.
Once more, in the same sweet voice, he spoke:
"You must know, Mr. Serpent, that I am going home
where my father is waiting for me. It is so long since I
have seen him! Would you mind very much if I passed?"
He waited for some sign of an answer to his questions,
but the answer did not come. On the contrary, the green
Serpent, who had seemed, until then, wide awake and full
of life, became suddenly very quiet and still. His eyes
closed and his tail stopped smoking.
"Is he dead, I wonder?" said Pinocchio, rubbing his
hands together happily. Without a moment's hesitation,
he started to step over him, but he had just raised one leg
when the Serpent shot up like a spring and the Marionette
fell head over heels backward. He fell so awkwardly
that his head stuck in the mud, and there he stood with
his legs straight up in the air.
At the sight of the Marionette kicking and squirming
like a young whirlwind, the Serpent laughed so heartily
and so long that at last he burst an artery and died on the spot.
Pinocchio freed himself from his awkward position and
once more began to run in order to reach the Fairy's
house before dark. As he went, the pangs of hunger grew
so strong that, unable to withstand them, he jumped into
a field to pick a few grapes that tempted him. Woe to him!
No sooner had he reached the grapevine than--crack!
went his legs.
The poor Marionette was caught in a trap set there by
a Farmer for some Weasels which came every night to
steal his chickens.
CHAPTER 21
Pinocchio is caught by a Farmer,
who uses him as a watchdog for his chicken coop
Pinocchio, as you may well imagine, began to scream
and weep and beg; but all was of no use, for no houses
were to be seen and not a soul passed by on the road.
Night came on.
A little because of the sharp pain in his legs, a little
because of fright at finding himself alone in the darkness
of the field, the Marionette was about to faint, when he
saw a tiny Glowworm flickering by. He called to her
and said:
"Dear little Glowworm, will you set me free?"
"Poor little fellow!" replied the Glowworm, stopping
to look at him with pity. "How came you to be caught
in this trap?"
"I stepped into this lonely field to take a few grapes and--"
"Are the grapes yours?"
"No."
"Who has taught you to take things that do not belong to you?"
"I was hungry."
"Hunger, my boy, is no reason for taking something
which belongs to another."
"It's true, it's true!" cried Pinocchio in tears. "I won't
do it again."
Just then, the conversation was interrupted by
approaching footsteps. It was the owner of the field,
who was coming on tiptoes to see if, by chance, he had caught
the Weasels which had been eating his chickens.
Great was his surprise when, on holding up his lantern,
he saw that, instead of a Weasel, he had caught a boy!
"Ah, you little thief!" said the Farmer in an angry
voice. "So you are the one who steals my chickens!"
"Not I! No, no!" cried Pinocchio, sobbing bitterly.
"I came here only to take a very few grapes."
"He who steals grapes may very easily steal chickens also.
Take my word for it, I'll give you a lesson that you'll remember
for a long while."
He opened the trap, grabbed the Marionette by the
collar, and carried him to the house as if he were a puppy.
When he reached the yard in front of the house, he
flung him to the ground, put a foot on his neck, and said
to him roughly: "It is late now and it's time for bed.
Tomorrow we'll settle matters. In the meantime, since my
watchdog died today, you may take his place and guard
my henhouse."
No sooner said than done. He slipped a dog collar
around Pinocchio's neck and tightened it so that it would
not come off. A long iron chain was tied to the collar.
The other end of the chain was nailed to the wall.
"If tonight it should happen to rain," said the Farmer,
"you can sleep in that little doghouse near-by, where you
will find plenty of straw for a soft bed. It has been
Melampo's bed for three years, and it will be good enough
for you. And if, by any chance, any thieves should come,
be sure to bark!"
After this last warning, the Farmer went into the house
and closed the door and barred it.
Poor Pinocchio huddled close to the doghouse more
dead than alive from cold, hunger, and fright. Now and
again he pulled and tugged at the collar which nearly
choked him and cried out in a weak voice:
"I deserve it! Yes, I deserve it! I have been nothing
but a truant and a vagabond. I have never obeyed anyone
and I have always done as I pleased. If I were only like
so many others and had studied and worked and stayed
with my poor old father, I should not find myself here now,
in this field and in the darkness, taking the place of a
farmer's watchdog. Oh, if I could start all over again!
But what is done can't be undone, and I must be patient!"
After this little sermon to himself, which came from the very
depths of his heart, Pinocchio went into the doghouse and fell asleep.
CHAPTER 22
Pinocchio discovers the thieves and,
as a reward for faithfulness, he regains his liberty
Even though a boy may be very unhappy, he very seldom
loses sleep over his worries. The Marionette, being no
exception to this rule, slept on peacefully for a few hours
till well along toward midnight, when he was awakened
by strange whisperings and stealthy sounds coming from
the yard. He stuck his nose out of the doghouse and saw
four slender, hairy animals. They were Weasels, small
animals very fond of both eggs and chickens. One of
them left her companions and, going to the door of the
doghouse, said in a sweet voice:
"Good evening, Melampo."
"My name is not Melampo," answered Pinocchio.
"Who are you, then?"
"I am Pinocchio."
"What are you doing here?"
"I'm the watchdog."
"But where is Melampo? Where is the old dog
who used to live in this house?"
"He died this morning."
"Died? Poor beast! He was so good! Still, judging
by your face, I think you, too, are a good-natured dog."
"I beg your pardon, I am not a dog!"
"What are you, then?"
"I am a Marionette."
"Are you taking the place of the watchdog?"
"I'm sorry to say that I am. I'm being punished."
"Well, I shall make the same terms with you that we had with
the dead Melampo. I am sure you will be glad to hear them."
"And what are the terms?"
"This is our plan: We'll come once in a while, as in
the past, to pay a visit to this henhouse, and we'll take
away eight chickens. Of these, seven are for us, and one
for you, provided, of course, that you will make believe
you are sleeping and will not bark for the Farmer."
"Did Melampo really do that?" asked Pinocchio.
"Indeed he did, and because of that we were the best of
friends. Sleep away peacefully, and remember that before
we go we shall leave you a nice fat chicken all ready
for your breakfast in the morning. Is that understood?"
"Even too well," answered Pinocchio. And shaking
his head in a threatening manner, he seemed to say, "We'll
talk this over in a few minutes, my friends."
As soon as the four Weasels had talked things over,
they went straight to the chicken coop which stood close
to the doghouse. Digging busily with teeth and claws,
they opened the little door and slipped in. But they were
no sooner in than they heard the door close with a sharp bang.
The one who had done the trick was Pinocchio, who,
not satisfied with that, dragged a heavy stone in front
of it. That done, he started to bark. And he barked as
if he were a real watchdog: "Bow, wow, wow! Bow, wow!"
The Farmer heard the loud barks and jumped out of bed.
Taking his gun, he leaped to the window and shouted:
"What's the matter?"
"The thieves are here," answered Pinocchio.
"Where are they?"
"In the chicken coop."
"I'll come down in a second."
And, in fact, he was down in the yard in a twinkling
and running toward the chicken coop.
He opened the door, pulled out the Weasels one by one, and,
after tying them in a bag, said to them in a happy voice:
"You're in my hands at last! I could punish you now,
but I'll wait! In the morning you may come with me
to the inn and there you'll make a fine dinner for some
hungry mortal. It is really too great an honor for you,
one you do not deserve; but, as you see, I am really a
very kind and generous man and I am going to do this
for you!"
Then he went up to Pinocchio and began to pet and caress him.
"How did you ever find them out so quickly? And to think
that Melampo, my faithful Melampo, never saw them
in all these years!"
The Marionette could have told, then and there, all he
knew about the shameful contract between the dog and
the Weasels, but thinking of the dead dog, he said to
himself: "Melampo is dead. What is the use of accusing him?
The dead are gone and they cannot defend themselves.
The best thing to do is to leave them in peace!"
"Were you awake or asleep when they came?" continued the Farmer.
"I was asleep," answered Pinocchio, "but they
awakened me with their whisperings. One of them even came
to the door of the doghouse and said to me, `If you promise
not to bark, we will make you a present of one of the
chickens for your breakfast.' Did you hear that? They
had the audacity to make such a proposition as that to me!
For you must know that, though I am a very wicked Marionette
full of faults, still I never have been, nor ever shall be, bribed."
"Fine boy!" cried the Farmer, slapping him on the
shoulder in a friendly way. "You ought to be proud of
yourself. And to show you what I think of you, you
are free from this instant!"
And he slipped the dog collar from his neck.
CHAPTER 23
Pinocchio weeps upon learning that the Lovely Maiden
with Azure Hair is dead. He meets a Pigeon,
who carries him to the seashore. He throws himself
into the sea to go to the aid of his father
As soon as Pinocchio no longer felt the shameful weight
of the dog collar around his neck, he started to run across
the fields and meadows, and never stopped till he came to
the main road that was to take him to the Fairy's house.
When he reached it, he looked into the valley far below
him and there he saw the wood where unluckily he had
met the Fox and the Cat, and the tall oak tree where he
had been hanged; but though he searched far and near, he
could not see the house where the Fairy with the Azure
Hair lived.
He became terribly frightened and, running as fast as he
could, he finally came to the spot where it had once stood.
The little house was no longer there. In its place lay a
small marble slab, which bore this sad inscription:
HERE LIES
THE LOVELY FAIRY WITH AZURE HAIR
WHO DIED OF GRIEF
WHEN ABANDONED BY
HER LITTLE BROTHER PINOCCHIO
The poor Marionette was heartbroken at reading these
words. He fell to the ground and, covering the cold marble
with kisses, burst into bitter tears. He cried all night, and
dawn found him still there, though his tears had dried
and only hard, dry sobs shook his wooden frame. But
these were so loud that they could be heard by the
faraway hills.
As he sobbed he said to himself:
"Oh, my Fairy, my dear, dear Fairy, why did you die?
Why did I not die, who am so bad, instead of you, who
are so good? And my father--where can he be? Please
dear Fairy, tell me where he is and I shall never, never
leave him again! You are not really dead, are you? If you
love me, you will come back, alive as before. Don't you
feel sorry for me? I'm so lonely. If the two Assassins come,
they'll hang me again from the giant oak tree and I will
really die, this time. What shall I do alone in the world?
Now that you are dead and my father is lost, where shall
I eat? Where shall I sleep? Who will make my new
clothes? Oh, I want to die! Yes, I want to die! Oh, oh, oh!"
Poor Pinocchio! He even tried to tear his hair, but as it
was only painted on his wooden head, he could not even pull it.
Just then a large Pigeon flew far above him. Seeing the
Marionette, he cried to him:
"Tell me, little boy, what are you doing there?"
"Can't you see? I'm crying," cried Pinocchio, lifting his
head toward the voice and rubbing his eyes with his sleeve.
"Tell me," asked the Pigeon, "do you by chance know
of a Marionette, Pinocchio by name?"
"Pinocchio! Did you say Pinocchio?" replied the
Marionette, jumping to his feet. "Why, I am Pinocchio!"
At this answer, the Pigeon flew swiftly down to the earth.
He was much larger than a turkey.
"Then you know Geppetto also?"
"Do I know him? He's my father, my poor, dear father!
Has he, perhaps, spoken to you of me? Will you take me to him?
Is he still alive? Answer me, please! Is he still alive?"
"I left him three days ago on the shore of a large sea."
"What was he doing?"
"He was building a little boat with which to cross the ocean.
For the last four months, that poor man has been wandering
around Europe, looking for you. Not having found you yet,
he has made up his mind to look for you in the New World,
far across the ocean."
"How far is it from here to the shore?" asked Pinocchio anxiously.
"More than fifty miles."
"Fifty miles? Oh, dear Pigeon, how I wish I had your wings!"
"If you want to come, I'll take you with me."
"How?"
"Astride my back. Are you very heavy?"
"Heavy? Not at all. I'm only a feather."
"Very well."
Saying nothing more, Pinocchio jumped on the Pigeon's
back and, as he settled himself, he cried out gayly:
"Gallop on, gallop on, my pretty steed! I'm in a great hurry."
The Pigeon flew away, and in a few minutes he had
reached the clouds. The Marionette looked to see what
was below them. His head swam and he was so frightened
that he clutched wildly at the Pigeon's neck to keep
himself from falling.
They flew all day. Toward evening the Pigeon said:
"I'm very thirsty!"
"And I'm very hungry!" said Pinocchio.
"Let us stop a few minutes at that pigeon coop down there.
Then we can go on and be at the seashore in the morning."
They went into the empty coop and there they found nothing but
a bowl of water and a small basket filled with chick-peas.
The Marionette had always hated chick-peas. According
to him, they had always made him sick; but that night
he ate them with a relish. As he finished them, he turned
to the Pigeon and said:
"I never should have thought that chick-peas could be so good!"
"You must remember, my boy," answered the Pigeon,
"that hunger is the best sauce!"
After resting a few minutes longer, they set out again.
The next morning they were at the seashore.
Pinocchio jumped off the Pigeon's back, and the Pigeon,
not wanting any thanks for a kind deed, flew away swiftly
and disappeared.
The shore was full of people, shrieking and tearing their
hair as they looked toward the sea.
"What has happened?" asked Pinocchio of a little old woman.
"A poor old father lost his only son some time ago and
today he built a tiny boat for himself in order to go in
search of him across the ocean. The water is very rough
and we're afraid he will be drowned."
"Where is the little boat?"
"There. Straight down there," answered the little old woman,
pointing to a tiny shadow, no bigger than a nutshell,
floating on the sea.
Pinocchio looked closely for a few minutes and then gave a sharp cry:
"It's my father! It's my father!"
Meanwhile, the little boat, tossed about by the angry
waters, appeared and disappeared in the waves. And Pinocchio,
standing on a high rock, tired out with searching,
waved to him with hand and cap and even with his nose.
It looked as if Geppetto, though far away from the
shore, recognized his son, for he took off his cap and
waved also. He seemed to be trying to make everyone
understand that he would come back if he were able, but
the sea was so heavy that he could do nothing with his oars.
Suddenly a huge wave came and the boat disappeared.
They waited and waited for it, but it was gone.
"Poor man!" said the fisher folk on the shore, whispering
a prayer as they turned to go home.
Just then a desperate cry was heard. Turning around,
the fisher folk saw Pinocchio dive into the sea and heard
him cry out:
"I'll save him! I'll save my father!"
The Marionette, being made of wood, floated easily
along and swam like a fish in the rough water. Now and
again he disappeared only to reappear once more. In a
twinkling, he was far away from land. At last he was
completely lost to view.
"Poor boy!" cried the fisher folk on the shore, and again
they mumbled a few prayers, as they returned home.
CHAPTER 24
Pinocchio reaches the Island of the Busy Bees
and finds the Fairy once more
Pinocchio, spurred on by the hope of finding his father
and of being in time to save him, swam all night long.
And what a horrible night it was! It poured rain, it
hailed, it thundered, and the lightning was so bright that it
turned the night into day.
At dawn, he saw, not far away from him, a long stretch
of sand. It was an island in the middle of the sea.
Pinocchio tried his best to get there, but he couldn't.
The waves played with him and tossed him about as if he
were a twig or a bit of straw. At last, and luckily for him,
a tremendous wave tossed him to the very spot where he
wanted to be. The blow from the wave was so strong that,
as he fell to the ground, his joints cracked and almost broke.
But, nothing daunted, he jumped to his feet and cried:
"Once more I have escaped with my life!"
Little by little the sky cleared. The sun came out in full
splendor and the sea became as calm as a lake.
Then the Marionette took off his clothes and laid them
on the sand to dry. He looked over the waters to see
whether he might catch sight of a boat with a little man in
it. He searched and he searched, but he saw nothing except
sea and sky and far away a few sails, so small that they
might have been birds.
"If only I knew the name of this island!" he said to himself.
"If I even knew what kind of people I would find here!
But whom shall I ask? There is no one here."
The idea of finding himself in so lonesome a spot made him
so sad that he was about to cry, but just then he saw a big
Fish swimming near-by, with his head far out of the water.
Not knowing what to call him, the Marionette said to him:
"Hey there, Mr. Fish, may I have a word with you?"
"Even two, if you want," answered the fish,
who happened to be a very polite Dolphin.
"Will you please tell me if, on this island, there are
places where one may eat without necessarily being eaten?"
"Surely, there are," answered the Dolphin. "In fact
you'll find one not far from this spot."
"And how shall I get there?"
"Take that path on your left and follow your nose. You
can't go wrong."
"Tell me another thing. You who travel day and night
through the sea, did you not perhaps meet a little boat with
my father in it?"
"And who is you father?"
"He is the best father in the world, even as I am the
worst son that can be found."
"In the storm of last night," answered the Dolphin, "the
little boat must have been swamped."
"And my father?"
"By this time, he must have been swallowed by the
Terrible Shark, which, for the last few days, has been
bringing terror to these waters."
"Is this Shark very big?" asked Pinocchio, who was
beginning to tremble with fright.
"Is he big?" replied the Dolphin. "Just to give you an idea
of his size, let me tell you that he is larger than a five
story building and that he has a mouth so big and so deep,
that a whole train and engine could easily get into it."
"Mother mine!" cried the Marionette, scared to death;
and dressing himself as fast as he could, he turned to the
Dolphin and said:
"Farewell, Mr. Fish. Pardon the bother, and many thanks
for your kindness."
This said, he took the path at so swift a gait that he
seemed to fly, and at every small sound he heard,
he turned in fear to see whether the Terrible Shark,
five stories high and with a train in his mouth,
was following him.
After walking a half hour, he came to a small country
called the Land of the Busy Bees. The streets were filled
with people running to and fro about their tasks. Everyone
worked, everyone had something to do. Even if one were
to search with a lantern, not one idle man or one tramp
could have been found.
"I understand," said Pinocchio at once wearily,
"this is no place for me! I was not born for work."
But in the meantime, he began to feel hungry, for it
was twenty-four hours since he had eaten.
What was to be done?
There were only two means left to him in order to get a
bite to eat. He had either to work or to beg.
He was ashamed to beg, because his father had always
preached to him that begging should be done only by the
sick or the old. He had said that the real poor in this world,
deserving of our pity and help, were only those who, either
through age or sickness, had lost the means of earning their
bread with their own hands. All others should work, and
if they didn't, and went hungry, so much the worse for them.
Just then a man passed by, worn out and wet with perspiration,
pulling, with difficulty, two heavy carts filled with coal.
Pinocchio looked at him and, judging him by his looks
to be a kind man, said to him with eyes downcast in shame:
"Will you be so good as to give me a penny,
for I am faint with hunger?"
"Not only one penny," answered the Coal Man. "I'll give
you four if you will help me pull these two wagons."
"I am surprised!" answered the Marionette, very much offended.
"I wish you to know that I never have been a donkey,
nor have I ever pulled a wagon."
"So much the better for you!" answered the Coal Man.
"Then, my boy, if you are really faint with hunger,
eat two slices of your pride; and I hope they don't
give you indigestion."
A few minutes after, a Bricklayer passed by, carrying
a pail full of plaster on his shoulder.
"Good man, will you be kind enough to give a penny to
a poor boy who is yawning from hunger?"
"Gladly," answered the Bricklayer. "Come with me and carry
some plaster, and instead of one penny, I'll give you five."
"But the plaster is heavy," answered Pinocchio, "and the
work too hard for me."
"If the work is too hard for you, my boy, enjoy your yawns
and may they bring you luck!"
In less than a half hour, at least twenty people passed
and Pinocchio begged of each one, but they all answered:
"Aren't you ashamed? Instead of being a beggar in the streets,
why don't you look for work and earn your own bread?"
Finally a little woman went by carrying two water jugs.
"Good woman, will you allow me to have a drink from
one of your jugs?" asked Pinocchio, who was burning up
with thirst.
"With pleasure, my boy!" she answered, setting the
two jugs on the ground before him.
When Pinocchio had had his fill, he grumbled,
as he wiped his mouth:
"My thirst is gone. If I could only as easily get rid of my hunger!"
On hearing these words, the good little woman immediately said:
"If you help me to carry these jugs home, I'll give you a
slice of bread."
Pinocchio looked at the jug and said neither yes nor no.
"And with the bread, I'll give you a nice dish of
cauliflower with white sauce on it."
Pinocchio gave the jug another look and said neither yes nor no.
"And after the cauliflower, some cake and jam."
At this last bribery, Pinocchio could no longer resist and said firmly:
"Very well. I'll take the jug home for you."
The jug was very heavy, and the Marionette, not being
strong enough to carry it with his hands, had to put it
on his head.
When they arrived home, the little woman made Pinocchio
sit down at a small table and placed before him the
bread, the cauliflower, and the cake. Pinocchio did not eat;
he devoured. His stomach seemed a bottomless pit.
His hunger finally appeased, he raised his head to thank
his kind benefactress. But he had not looked at her long
when he gave a cry of surprise and sat there with his eyes
wide open, his fork in the air, and his mouth filled with
bread and cauliflower.
"Why all this surprise?" asked the good woman, laughing.
"Because--" answered Pinocchio, stammering and stuttering,
"because--you look like--you remind me of--yes, yes,
the same voice, the same eyes, the same hair--yes, yes,
yes, you also have the same azure hair she had--Oh, my
little Fairy, my little Fairy! Tell me that it is you!
Don't make me cry any longer! If you only knew! I have
cried so much, I have suffered so!"
And Pinocchio threw himself on the floor and clasped
the knees of the mysterious little woman.
CHAPTER 25
Pinocchio promises the Fairy to be good and to study,
as he is growing tired of being a Marionette,
and wishes to become a real boy
If Pinocchio cried much longer, the little woman thought
he would melt away, so she finally admitted that she was
the little Fairy with Azure Hair.
"You rascal of a Marionette! How did you know it was I?"
she asked, laughing.
"My love for you told me who you were."
"Do you remember? You left me when I was a little girl
and now you find me a grown woman. I am so old, I could
almost be your mother!"
"I am very glad of that, for then I can call you mother
instead of sister. For a long time I have wanted a mother,
just like other boys. But how did you grow so quickly?"
"That's a secret!"
"Tell it to me. I also want to grow a little. Look at me!
I have never grown higher than a penny's worth of cheese."
"But you can't grow," answered the Fairy.
"Why not?"
"Because Marionettes never grow. They are born Marionettes,
they live Marionettes, and they die Marionettes."
"Oh, I'm tired of always being a Marionette!" cried Pinocchio disgustedly.
"It's about time for me to grow into a man as everyone else does."
"And you will if you deserve it--"
"Really? What can I do to deserve it?"
"It's a very simple matter. Try to act like a well-behaved child."
"Don't you think I do?"
"Far from it! Good boys are obedient, and you, on the contrary--"
"And I never obey."
"Good boys love study and work, but you--"
"And I, on the contrary, am a lazy fellow and a tramp all year round."
"Good boys always tell the truth."
"And I always tell lies."
"Good boys go gladly to school."
"And I get sick if I go to school. From now on I'll be different."
"Do you promise?"
"I promise. I want to become a good boy and be a comfort to my father.
Where is my poor father now?"
"I do not know."
"Will I ever be lucky enough to find him and embrace him once more?"
"I think so. Indeed, I am sure of it."
At this answer, Pinocchio's happiness was very great.
He grasped the Fairy's hands and kissed them so hard that
it looked as if he had lost his head. Then lifting his face,
he looked at her lovingly and asked: "Tell me, little Mother,
it isn't true that you are dead, is it?"
"It doesn't seem so," answered the Fairy, smiling.
"If you only knew how I suffered and how I wept when I read `Here lies--'"
"I know it, and for that I have forgiven you. The depth
of your sorrow made me see that you have a kind heart.
There is always hope for boys with hearts such as yours,
though they may often be very mischievous. This is the
reason why I have come so far to look for you. From now
on, I'll be your own little mother."
"Oh! How lovely!" cried Pinocchio, jumping with joy.
"You will obey me always and do as I wish?"
"Gladly, very gladly, more than gladly!"
"Beginning tomorrow," said the Fairy, "you'll go to school every day."
Pinocchio's face fell a little.
"Then you will choose the trade you like best."
Pinocchio became more serious.
"What are you mumbling to yourself?" asked the Fairy.
"I was just saying," whined the Marionette in a whisper,
"that it seems too late for me to go to school now."
"No, indeed. Remember it is never too late to learn."
"But I don't want either trade or profession."
"Why?"
"Because work wearies me!"
"My dear boy," said the Fairy, "people who speak as
you do usually end their days either in a prison or in a
hospital. A man, remember, whether rich or poor, should
do something in this world. No one can find happiness
without work. Woe betide the lazy fellow! Laziness is a
serious illness and one must cure it immediately; yes, even
from early childhood. If not, it will kill you in the end."
These words touched Pinocchio's heart. He lifted
his eyes to his Fairy and said seriously:
"I'll work; I'll study; I'll do all you tell me.
After all, the life of a Marionette has grown very tiresome
to me and I want to become a boy, no matter how hard it is.
You promise that, do you not?"
"Yes, I promise, and now it is up to you."
CHAPTER 26
Pinocchio goes to the seashore with his friends
to see the Terrible Shark
In the morning, bright and early, Pinocchio started for school.
Imagine what the boys said when they saw a Marionette
enter the classroom! They laughed until they cried. Everyone
played tricks on him. One pulled his hat off, another
tugged at his coat, a third tried to paint a mustache under
his nose. One even attempted to tie strings to his feet and
his hands to make him dance.
For a while Pinocchio was very calm and quiet. Finally,
however, he lost all patience and turning to his tormentors,
he said to them threateningly:
"Careful, boys, I haven't come here to be made fun of.
I'll respect you and I want you to respect me."
"Hurrah for Dr. Know-all! You have spoken like a
printed book!" howled the boys, bursting with laughter.
One of them, more impudent than the rest, put out his
hand to pull the Marionette's nose.
But he was not quick enough, for Pinocchio stretched
his leg under the table and kicked him hard on the shin.
"Oh, what hard feet!" cried the boy, rubbing the spot
where the Marionette had kicked him.
"And what elbows! They are even harder than the feet!"
shouted another one, who, because of some other trick,
had received a blow in the stomach.
With that kick and that blow Pinocchio gained everybody's favor.
Everyone admired him, danced attendance upon him, petted and caressed him.
As the days passed into weeks, even the teacher praised him,
for he saw him attentive, hard working, and wide awake,
always the first to come in the morning, and the last
to leave when school was over.
Pinocchio's only fault was that he had too many friends.
Among these were many well-known rascals, who cared
not a jot for study or for success.
The teacher warned him each day, and even the good
Fairy repeated to him many times:
"Take care, Pinocchio! Those bad companions will
sooner or later make you lose your love for study.
Some day they will lead you astray."
"There's no such danger," answered the Marionette,
shrugging his shoulders and pointing to his forehead as if
to say, "I'm too wise."
So it happened that one day, as he was walking to school,
he met some boys who ran up to him and said:
"Have you heard the news?"
"No!"
"A Shark as big as a mountain has been seen near the shore."
"Really? I wonder if it could be the same one I heard
of when my father was drowned?"
"We are going to see it. Are you coming?"
"No, not I. I must go to school."
"What do you care about school? You can go there tomorrow.
With a lesson more or less, we are always the same donkeys."
"And what will the teacher say?"
"Let him talk. He is paid to grumble all day long."
"And my mother?"
"Mothers don't know anything," answered those scamps.
"Do you know what I'll do?" said Pinocchio.
"For certain reasons of mine, I, too, want to see that Shark;
but I'll go after school. I can see him then as well as now."
"Poor simpleton!" cried one of the boys. "Do you think
that a fish of that size will stand there waiting for you?
He turns and off he goes, and no one will ever be the wiser."
"How long does it take from here to the shore?" asked the Marionette.
"One hour there and back."
"Very well, then. Let's see who gets there first!" cried Pinocchio.
At the signal, the little troop, with books under their arms,
dashed across the fields. Pinocchio led the way, running
as if on wings, the others following as fast as they could.
Now and again, he looked back and, seeing his followers
hot and tired, and with tongues hanging out, he laughed
out heartily. Unhappy boy! If he had only known then
the dreadful things that were to happen to him on account
of his disobedience!
CHAPTER 27
The great battle between Pinocchio and his playmates.
One is wounded. Pinocchio is arrested
Going like the wind, Pinocchio took but a very short time
to reach the shore. He glanced all about him, but there was
no sign of a Shark. The sea was as smooth as glass.
"Hey there, boys! Where's that Shark?" he asked,
turning to his playmates.
"He may have gone for his breakfast," said one of them, laughing.
"Or, perhaps, he went to bed for a little nap,"
said another, laughing also.
From the answers and the laughter which followed them,
Pinocchio understood that the boys had played a trick on him.
"What now?" he said angrily to them. "What's the joke?"
"Oh, the joke's on you!" cried his tormentors, laughing
more heartily than ever, and dancing gayly around the Marionette.
"And that is--?"
"That we have made you stay out of school to come
with us. Aren't you ashamed of being such a goody-goody,
and of studying so hard? You never have a bit of enjoyment."
"And what is it to you, if I do study?"
"What does the teacher think of us, you mean?"
"Why?"
"Don't you see? If you study and we don't, we pay for
it. After all, it's only fair to look out for ourselves."
"What do you want me to do?"
"Hate school and books and teachers, as we all do. They
are your worst enemies, you know, and they like to make
you as unhappy as they can."
"And if I go on studying, what will you do to me?"
"You'll pay for it!"
"Really, you amuse me," answered the Marionette, nodding his head.
"Hey, Pinocchio," cried the tallest of them all, "that will do.
We are tired of hearing you bragging about yourself,
you little turkey cock! You may not be afraid of us,
but remember we are not afraid of you, either!
You are alone, you know, and we are seven."
"Like the seven sins," said Pinocchio, still laughing.
"Did you hear that? He has insulted us all. He has called us sins."
"Pinocchio, apologize for that, or look out!"
"Cuck--oo!" said the Marionette, mocking them with his thumb to his nose.
"You'll be sorry!"
"Cuck--oo!"
"We'll whip you soundly!"
"Cuck--oo!"
"You'll go home with a broken nose!"
"Cuck--oo!"
"Very well, then! Take that, and keep it for your supper,"
called out the boldest of his tormentors.
And with the words, he gave Pinocchio a terrible blow on the head.
Pinocchio answered with another blow, and that was
the signal for the beginning of the fray. In a few moments,
the fight raged hot and heavy on both sides.
Pinocchio, although alone, defended himself bravely.
With those two wooden feet of his, he worked so fast
that his opponents kept at a respectful distance.
Wherever they landed, they left their painful mark
and the boys could only run away and howl.
Enraged at not being able to fight the Marionette at close
quarters, they started to throw all kinds of books at him.
Readers, geographies, histories, grammars flew in all directions.
But Pinocchio was keen of eye and swift of movement, and the books
only passed over his head, landed in the sea, and disappeared.
The fish, thinking they might be good to eat, came to
the top of the water in great numbers. Some took a nibble,
some took a bite, but no sooner had they tasted a page or two,
than they spat them out with a wry face, as if to say:
"What a horrid taste! Our own food is so much better!"
Meanwhile, the battle waxed more and more furious.
At the noise, a large Crab crawled slowly out of the water
and, with a voice that sounded like a trombone suffering
from a cold, he cried out:
"Stop fighting, you rascals! These battles between boys
rarely end well. Trouble is sure to come to you!"
Poor Crab! He might as well have spoken to the wind.
Instead of listening to his good advice, Pinocchio turned
to him and said as roughly as he knew how:
"Keep quiet, ugly Gab! It would be better for you to
chew a few cough drops to get rid of that cold you have.
Go to bed and sleep! You will feel better in the morning."
In the meantime, the boys, having used all their books,
looked around for new ammunition. Seeing Pinocchio's
bundle lying idle near-by, they somehow managed to get
hold of it.
One of the books was a very large volume, an arithmetic text,
heavily bound in leather. It was Pinocchio's pride.
Among all his books, he liked that one the best.
Thinking it would make a fine missile, one of the boys took
hold of it and threw it with all his strength at Pinocchio's head.
But instead of hitting the Marionette, the book struck one of the
other boys, who, as pale as a ghost, cried out faintly:
"Oh, Mother, help! I'm dying!" and fell senseless to the ground.
At the sight of that pale little corpse, the boys were so
frightened that they turned tail and ran. In a few moments,
all had disappeared.
All except Pinocchio. Although scared to death by the
horror of what had been done, he ran to the sea and soaked
his handkerchief in the cool water and with it bathed the
head of his poor little schoolmate. Sobbing bitterly, he
called to him, saying:
"Eugene! My poor Eugene! Open your eyes and look at me!
Why don't you answer? I was not the one who hit you,
you know. Believe me, I didn't do it. Open your eyes,
Eugene? If you keep them shut, I'll die, too. Oh, dear me,
how shall I ever go home now? How shall I ever look at
my little mother again? What will happen to me? Where
shall I go? Where shall I hide? Oh, how much better it
would have been, a thousand times better, if only I had
gone to school! Why did I listen to those boys? They
always were a bad influence! And to think that the teacher
had told me--and my mother, too!--`Beware of bad
company!' That's what she said. But I'm stubborn and
proud. I listen, but always I do as I wish. And then I pay.
I've never had a moment's peace since I've been born! Oh,
dear! What will become of me? What will become of me?"
Pinocchio went on crying and moaning and beating his
head. Again and again he called to his little friend, when
suddenly he heard heavy steps approaching.
He looked up and saw two tall Carabineers near him.
"What are you doing stretched out on the ground?"
they asked Pinocchio.
"I'm helping this schoolfellow of mine."
"Has he fainted?"
"I should say so," said one of the Carabineers, bending
to look at Eugene. "This boy has been wounded on the
temple. Who has hurt him?"
"Not I," stammered the Marionette, who had hardly
a breath left in his whole body.
"If it wasn't you, who was it, then?"
"Not I," repeated Pinocchio.
"And with what was he wounded?"
"With this book," and the Marionette picked up the
arithmetic text to show it to the officer.
"And whose book is this?"
"Mine."
"Enough."
"Not another word! Get up as quickly as you can and come along with us."
"But I--"
"Come with us!"
"But I am innocent."
"Come with us!"
Before starting out, the officers called out to several
fishermen passing by in a boat and said to them:
"Take care of this little fellow who has been hurt.
Take him home and bind his wounds. Tomorrow we'll come after him."
They then took hold of Pinocchio and, putting him
between them, said to him in a rough voice: "March!
And go quickly, or it will be the worse for you!"
They did not have to repeat their words. The Marionette
walked swiftly along the road to the village. But the
poor fellow hardly knew what he was about. He thought
he had a nightmare. He felt ill. His eyes saw everything
double, his legs trembled, his tongue was dry, and, try as
he might, he could not utter a single word. Yet, in spite
of this numbness of feeling, he suffered keenly at the
thought of passing under the windows of his good little
Fairy's house. What would she say on seeing him between
two Carabineers?
They had just reached the village, when a sudden gust
of wind blew off Pinocchio's cap and made it go sailing far
down the street.
"Would you allow me," the Marionette asked the
Carabineers, "to run after my cap?"
"Very well, go; but hurry."
The Marionette went, picked up his cap--but instead
of putting it on his head, he stuck it between his teeth
and then raced toward the sea.
He went like a bullet out of a gun.
The Carabineers, judging that it would be very difficult
to catch him, sent a large Mastiff after him, one that had
won first prize in all the dog races. Pinocchio ran fast and
the Dog ran faster. At so much noise, the people hung out
of the windows or gathered in the street, anxious to see
the end of the contest. But they were disappointed,
for the Dog and Pinocchio raised so much dust on the road that,
after a few moments, it was impossible to see them.
CHAPTER 28
Pinocchio runs the danger of being fried in a pan like a fish
During that wild chase, Pinocchio lived through a
terrible moment when he almost gave himself up as lost.
This was when Alidoro (that was the Mastiff's name),
in a frenzy of running, came so near that he was on the
very point of reaching him.
The Marionette heard, close behind him, the labored
breathing of the beast who was fast on his trail, and now
and again even felt his hot breath blow over him.
Luckily, by this time, he was very near the shore, and
the sea was in sight; in fact, only a few short steps away.
As soon as he set foot on the beach, Pinocchio gave a
leap and fell into the water. Alidoro tried to stop, but
as he was running very fast, he couldn't, and he, too,
landed far out in the sea. Strange though it may seem,
the Dog could not swim. He beat the water with his paws to
hold himself up, but the harder he tried, the deeper he sank.
As he stuck his head out once more, the poor fellow's eyes
were bulging and he barked out wildly, "I drown! I drown!"
"Drown!" answered Pinocchio from afar, happy at his escape.
"Help, Pinocchio, dear little Pinocchio! Save me from death!"
At those cries of suffering, the Marionette, who after
all had a very kind heart, was moved to compassion.
He turned toward the poor animal and said to him:
"But if I help you, will you promise not to bother me
again by running after me?"
"I promise! I promise! Only hurry, for if you wait
another second, I'll be dead and gone!"
Pinocchio hesitated still another minute. Then, remembering
how his father had often told him that a kind deed is never lost,
he swam to Alidoro and, catching hold of his tail, dragged him to the shore.
The poor Dog was so weak he could not stand. He had
swallowed so much salt water that he was swollen like a
balloon. However, Pinocchio, not wishing to trust him
too much, threw himself once again into the sea. As he
swam away, he called out:
"Good-by, Alidoro, good luck and remember me to the family!"
"Good-by, little Pinocchio," answered the Dog.
"A thousand thanks for having saved me from death.
You did me a good turn, and, in this world, what is given
is always returned. If the chance comes, I shall be there."
Pinocchio went on swimming close to shore. At last
he thought he had reached a safe place. Glancing up and
down the beach, he saw the opening of a cave out of which
rose a spiral of smoke.
"In that cave," he said to himself, "there must be a fire.
So much the better. I'll dry my clothes and warm myself,
and then--well--"
His mind made up, Pinocchio swam to the rocks, but
as he started to climb, he felt something under him lifting
him up higher and higher. He tried to escape, but he was
too late. To his great surprise, he found himself in a huge
net, amid a crowd of fish of all kinds and sizes, who were
fighting and struggling desperately to free themselves.
At the same time, he saw a Fisherman come out of the
cave, a Fisherman so ugly that Pinocchio thought he was a
sea monster. In place of hair, his head was covered by a
thick bush of green grass. Green was the skin of his body,
green were his eyes, green was the long, long beard that
reached down to his feet. He looked like a giant lizard
with legs and arms.
When the Fisherman pulled the net out of the sea,
he cried out joyfully:
"Blessed Providence! Once more I'll have a fine meal of fish!"
"Thank Heaven, I'm not a fish!" said Pinocchio to himself,
trying with these words to find a little courage.
The Fisherman took the net and the fish to the cave,
a dark, gloomy, smoky place. In the middle of it, a pan
full of oil sizzled over a smoky fire, sending out a repelling
odor of tallow that took away one's breath.
"Now, let's see what kind of fish we have caught
today," said the Green Fisherman. He put a hand as big
as a spade into the net and pulled out a handful of mullets.
"Fine mullets, these!" he said, after looking at them and
smelling them with pleasure. After that, he threw them
into a large, empty tub.
Many times he repeated this performance. As he pulled
each fish out of the net, his mouth watered with the
thought of the good dinner coming, and he said:
"Fine fish, these bass!"
"Very tasty, these whitefish!"
"Delicious flounders, these!"
"What splendid crabs!"
"And these dear little anchovies, with their heads still on!"
As you can well imagine, the bass, the flounders, the
whitefish, and even the little anchovies all went together
into the tub to keep the mullets company. The last to come
out of the net was Pinocchio.
As soon as the Fisherman pulled him out, his green eyes
opened wide with surprise, and he cried out in fear:
"What kind of fish is this? I don't remember ever
eating anything like it."
He looked at him closely and after turning him over and
over, he said at last:
"I understand. He must be a crab!"
Pinocchio, mortified at being taken for a crab, said resentfully:
"What nonsense! A crab indeed! I am no such thing.
Beware how you deal with me! I am a Marionette,
I want you to know."
"A Marionette?" asked the Fisherman. "I must admit that
a Marionette fish is, for me, an entirely new kind of fish.
So much the better. I'll eat you with greater relish."
"Eat me? But can't you understand that I'm not a fish?
Can't you hear that I speak and think as you do?"
"It's true," answered the Fisherman; "but since I see
that you are a fish, well able to talk and think as I do,
I'll treat you with all due respect."
"And that is--"
"That, as a sign of my particular esteem, I'll leave to
you the choice of the manner in which you are to be
cooked. Do you wish to be fried in a pan, or do you prefer
to be cooked with tomato sauce?"
"To tell you the truth," answered Pinocchio, "if I must choose,
I should much rather go free so I may return home!"
"Are you fooling? Do you think that I want to lose
the opportunity to taste such a rare fish? A Marionette
fish does not come very often to these seas. Leave it to me.
I'll fry you in the pan with the others. I know you'll like it.
It's always a comfort to find oneself in good company."
The unlucky Marionette, hearing this, began to cry and
wail and beg. With tears streaming down his cheeks, he said:
"How much better it would have been for me to go to school!
I did listen to my playmates and now I am paying for it!
Oh! Oh! Oh!"
And as he struggled and squirmed like an eel to escape from him,
the Green Fisherman took a stout cord and tied him hand and foot,
and threw him into the bottom of the tub with the others.
Then he pulled a wooden bowl full of flour out of a
cupboard and started to roll the fish into it, one by one.
When they were white with it, he threw them into the pan.
The first to dance in the hot oil were the mullets,
the bass followed, then the whitefish, the flounders, and
the anchovies. Pinocchio's turn came last. Seeing himself
so near to death (and such a horrible death!) he began
to tremble so with fright that he had no voice left with
which to beg for his life.
The poor boy beseeched only with his eyes. But the
Green Fisherman, not even noticing that it was he, turned
him over and over in the flour until he looked like a
Marionette made of chalk.
Then he took him by the head and--
CHAPTER 29
Pinocchio returns to the Fairy's house
and she promises him that, on the morrow,
he will cease to be a Marionette and become a boy.
A wonderful party of coffee-and-milk to celebrate
the great event
Mindful of what the Fisherman had said, Pinocchio knew
that all hope of being saved had gone. He closed his eyes
and waited for the final moment.
Suddenly, a large Dog, attracted by the odor of the
boiling oil, came running into the cave.
"Get out!" cried the Fisherman threateningly and still
holding onto the Marionette, who was all covered with flour.
But the poor Dog was very hungry, and whining and
wagging his tail, he tried to say:
"Give me a bite of the fish and I'll go in peace."
"Get out, I say!" repeated the Fisherman.
And he drew back his foot to give the Dog a kick.
Then the Dog, who, being really hungry, would take
no refusal, turned in a rage toward the Fisherman and
bared his terrible fangs. And at that moment, a pitiful
little voice was heard saying: "Save me, Alidoro; if you
don't, I fry!"
The Dog immediately recognized Pinocchio's voice.
Great was his surprise to find that the voice came from
the little flour-covered bundle that the Fisherman held
in his hand.
Then what did he do? With one great leap, he grasped
that bundle in his mouth and, holding it lightly between
his teeth, ran through the door and disappeared like a flash!
The Fisherman, angry at seeing his meal snatched from
under his nose, ran after the Dog, but a bad fit of coughing
made him stop and turn back.
Meanwhile, Alidoro, as soon as he had found the road
which led to the village, stopped and dropped Pinocchio
softly to the ground.
"How much I do thank you!" said the Marionette.
"It is not necessary," answered the Dog. "You saved me once,
and what is given is always returned. We are in this world
to help one another."
"But how did you get in that cave?"
"I was lying here on the sand more dead than alive,
when an appetizing odor of fried fish came to me. That
odor tickled my hunger and I followed it. Oh, if I had
come a moment later!"
"Don't speak about it," wailed Pinocchio, still
trembling with fright. "Don't say a word. If you had come
a moment later, I would be fried, eaten, and digested by
this time. Brrrrrr! I shiver at the mere thought of it."
Alidoro laughingly held out his paw to the Marionette,
who shook it heartily, feeling that now he and the Dog
were good friends. Then they bid each other good-by
and the Dog went home.
Pinocchio, left alone, walked toward a little hut near
by, where an old man sat at the door sunning himself,
and asked:
"Tell me, good man, have you heard anything of a
poor boy with a wounded head, whose name was Eugene?"
"The boy was brought to this hut and now--"
"Now he is dead?" Pinocchio interrupted sorrowfully.
"No, he is now alive and he has already returned home."
"Really? Really?" cried the Marionette, jumping
around with joy. "Then the wound was not serious?"
"But it might have been--and even mortal," answered
the old man, "for a heavy book was thrown at his head."
"And who threw it?"
"A schoolmate of his, a certain Pinocchio."
"And who is this Pinocchio?" asked the Marionette,
feigning ignorance.
"They say he is a mischief-maker, a tramp, a street urchin--"
"Calumnies! All calumnies!"
"Do you know this Pinocchio?"
"By sight!" answered the Marionette.
"And what do you think of him?" asked the old man.
"I think he's a very good boy, fond of study, obedient,
kind to his Father, and to his whole family--"
As he was telling all these enormous lies about himself,
Pinocchio touched his nose and found it twice as long
as it should be. Scared out of his wits, he cried out:
"Don't listen to me, good man! All the wonderful
things I have said are not true at all. I know Pinocchio
well and he is indeed a very wicked fellow, lazy and
disobedient, who instead of going to school, runs away with
his playmates to have a good time."
At this speech, his nose returned to its natural size.
"Why are you so pale?" the old man asked suddenly.
"Let me tell you. Without knowing it, I rubbed myself
against a newly painted wall," he lied, ashamed to
say that he had been made ready for the frying pan.
"What have you done with your coat and your hat
and your breeches?"
"I met thieves and they robbed me. Tell me, my good
man, have you not, perhaps, a little suit to give me, so
that I may go home?"
"My boy, as for clothes, I have only a bag in which I
keep hops. If you want it, take it. There it is."
Pinocchio did not wait for him to repeat his words.
He took the bag, which happened to be empty, and after
cutting a big hole at the top and two at the sides, he
slipped into it as if it were a shirt. Lightly clad as he was,
he started out toward the village.
Along the way he felt very uneasy. In fact he was so
unhappy that he went along taking two steps forward
and one back, and as he went he said to himself:
"How shall I ever face my good little Fairy? What
will she say when she sees me? Will she forgive this last
trick of mine? I am sure she won't. Oh, no, she won't.
And I deserve it, as usual! For I am a rascal, fine on
promises which I never keep!"
He came to the village late at night. It was so dark he
could see nothing and it was raining pitchforks.
Pinocchio went straight to the Fairy's house, firmly
resolved to knock at the door.
When he found himself there, he lost courage and ran
back a few steps. A second time he came to the door and
again he ran back. A third time he repeated his
performance. The fourth time, before he had time to lose
his courage, he grasped the knocker and made a faint sound
with it.
He waited and waited and waited. Finally, after a full
half hour, a top-floor window (the house had four stories)
opened and Pinocchio saw a large Snail look out. A tiny
light glowed on top of her head. "Who knocks at this
late hour?" she called.
"Is the Fairy home?" asked the Marionette.
"The Fairy is asleep and does not wish to be disturbed.
Who are you?"
"It is I."
"Who's I?"
"Pinocchio."
"Who is Pinocchio?"
"The Marionette; the one who lives in the Fairy's house."
"Oh, I understand," said the Snail. "Wait for me there.
I'll come down to open the door for you."
"Hurry, I beg of you, for I am dying of cold."
"My boy, I am a snail and snails are never in a hurry."
An hour passed, two hours; and the door was still closed.
Pinocchio, who was trembling with fear and shivering
from the cold rain on his back, knocked a second time,
this time louder than before.
At that second knock, a window on the third floor
opened and the same Snail looked out.
"Dear little Snail," cried Pinocchio from the street.
"I have been waiting two hours for you! And two hours
on a dreadful night like this are as long as two years.
Hurry, please!"
"My boy," answered the Snail in a calm, peaceful
voice, "my dear boy, I am a snail and snails are never in
a hurry." And the window closed.
A few minutes later midnight struck; then one o'clock
--two o'clock. And the door still remained closed!
Then Pinocchio, losing all patience, grabbed the
knocker with both hands, fully determined to awaken the
whole house and street with it. As soon as he touched the
knocker, however, it became an eel and wiggled away into
the darkness.
"Really?" cried Pinocchio, blind with rage. "If the
knocker is gone, I can still use my feet."
He stepped back and gave the door a most solemn kick.
He kicked so hard that his foot went straight through the
door and his leg followed almost to the knee. No matter
how he pulled and tugged, he could not pull it out. There
he stayed as if nailed to the door.
Poor Pinocchio! The rest of the night he had to spend
with one foot through the door and the other one in the air.
As dawn was breaking, the door finally opened. That brave
little animal, the Snail, had taken exactly nine hours to go
from the fourth floor to the street. How she must have raced!
"What are you doing with your foot through the door?"
she asked the Marionette, laughing.
"It was a misfortune. Won't you try, pretty little Snail,
to free me from this terrible torture?"
"My boy, we need a carpenter here and I have never been one."
"Ask the Fairy to help me!"
"The Fairy is asleep and does not want to be disturbed."
"But what do you want me to do, nailed to the door like this?"
"Enjoy yourself counting the ants which are passing by."
"Bring me something to eat, at least, for I am faint with hunger."
"Immediately!"
In fact, after three hours and a half, Pinocchio saw her
return with a silver tray on her head. On the tray there
was bread, roast chicken, fruit.
"Here is the breakfast the Fairy sends to you," said the Snail.
At the sight of all these good things, the Marionette felt much better.
What was his disgust, however, when on tasting the food,
he found the bread to be made of chalk, the chicken
of cardboard, and the brilliant fruit of colored alabaster!
He wanted to cry, he wanted to give himself up to
despair, he wanted to throw away the tray and all that
was on it. Instead, either from pain or weakness, he fell
to the floor in a dead faint.
When he regained his senses, he found himself stretched
out on a sofa and the Fairy was seated near him.
"This time also I forgive you," said the Fairy to him.
"But be careful not to get into mischief again."
Pinocchio promised to study and to behave himself.
And he kept his word for the remainder of the year. At
the end of it, he passed first in all his examinations, and
his report was so good that the Fairy said to him happily:
"Tomorrow your wish will come true."
"And what is it?"
"Tomorrow you will cease to be a Marionette and will become a real boy."
Pinocchio was beside himself with joy. All his friends
and schoolmates must be invited to celebrate the great
event! The Fairy promised to prepare two hundred cups
of coffee-and-milk and four hundred slices of toast
buttered on both sides.
The day promised to be a very gay and happy one, but--
Unluckily, in a Marionette's life there's always a BUT
which is apt to spoil everything.
CHAPTER 30
Pinocchio, instead of becoming a boy, runs away
to the Land of Toys with his friend, Lamp-Wick
Coming at last out of the surprise into which the Fairy's
words had thrown him, Pinocchio asked for permission to
give out the invitations.
"Indeed, you may invite your friends to tomorrow's party.
Only remember to return home before dark. Do you understand?"
"I'll be back in one hour without fail," answered the Marionette.
"Take care, Pinocchio! Boys give promises very easily,
but they as easily forget them."
"But I am not like those others. When I give my word I keep it."
"We shall see. In case you do disobey, you will be the one
to suffer, not anyone else."
"Why?"
"Because boys who do not listen to their elders always come to grief."
"I certainly have," said Pinocchio, "but from now on, I obey."
"We shall see if you are telling the truth."
Without adding another word, the Marionette bade the good
Fairy good-by, and singing and dancing, he left the house.
In a little more than an hour, all his friends were
invited. Some accepted quickly and gladly. Others had to
be coaxed, but when they heard that the toast was to be
buttered on both sides, they all ended by accepting
the invitation with the words, "We'll come to please you."
Now it must be known that, among all his friends,
Pinocchio had one whom he loved most of all.
The boy's real name was Romeo, but everyone called him
Lamp-Wick, for he was long and thin and had a woebegone
look about him.
Lamp-Wick was the laziest boy in the school and the
biggest mischief-maker, but Pinocchio loved him dearly.
That day, he went straight to his friend's house to invite him
to the party, but Lamp-Wick was not at home. He went a second time,
and again a third, but still without success.
Where could he be? Pinocchio searched here and there and everywhere,
and finally discovered him hiding near a farmer's wagon.
"What are you doing there?" asked Pinocchio, running up to him.
"I am waiting for midnight to strike to go--"
"Where?"
"Far, far away!"
"And I have gone to your house three times to look for you!"
"What did you want from me?"
"Haven't you heard the news? Don't you know what good luck is mine?"
"What is it?"
"Tomorrow I end my days as a Marionette and become a boy,
like you and all my other friends."
"May it bring you luck!"
"Shall I see you at my party tomorrow?"
"But I'm telling you that I go tonight."
"At what time?"
"At midnight."
"And where are you going?"
"To a real country--the best in the world--a wonderful place!"
"What is it called?"
"It is called the Land of Toys. Why don't you come, too?"
"I? Oh, no!"
"You are making a big mistake, Pinocchio. Believe me,
if you don't come, you'll be sorry. Where can you find
a place that will agree better with you and me? No schools,
no teachers, no books! In that blessed place there is no
such thing as study. Here, it is only on Saturdays that
we have no school. In the Land of Toys, every day, except
Sunday, is a Saturday. Vacation begins on the first
of January and ends on the last day of December. That
is the place for me! All countries should be like it!
How happy we should all be!"
"But how does one spend the day in the Land of Toys?"
"Days are spent in play and enjoyment from morn till
night. At night one goes to bed, and next morning, the
good times begin all over again. What do you think of it?"
"H'm--!" said Pinocchio, nodding his wooden head, as if to say,
"It's the kind of life which would agree with me perfectly."
"Do you want to go with me, then? Yes or no? You
must make up your mind."
"No, no, and again no! I have promised my kind Fairy
to become a good boy, and I want to keep my word. Just
see: The sun is setting and I must leave you and run.
Good-by and good luck to you!"
"Where are you going in such a hurry?"
"Home. My good Fairy wants me to return home before night."
"Wait two minutes more."
"It's too late!"
"Only two minutes."
"And if the Fairy scolds me?"
"Let her scold. After she gets tired, she will stop," said Lamp-Wick.
"Are you going alone or with others?"
"Alone? There will be more than a hundred of us!"
"Will you walk?"
"At midnight the wagon passes here that is to take us
within the boundaries of that marvelous country."
"How I wish midnight would strike!"
"Why?"
"To see you all set out together."
"Stay here a while longer and you will see us!"
"No, no. I want to return home."
"Wait two more minutes."
"I have waited too long as it is. The Fairy will be worried."
"Poor Fairy! Is she afraid the bats will eat you up?"
"Listen, Lamp-Wick," said the Marionette, "are you
really sure that there are no schools in the Land of Toys?"
"Not even the shadow of one."
"Not even one teacher?"
"Not one."
"And one does not have to study?"
"Never, never, never!"
"What a great land!" said Pinocchio, feeling his mouth water.
"What a beautiful land! I have never been there,
but I can well imagine it."
"Why don't you come, too?"
"It is useless for you to tempt me! I told you I promised
my good Fairy to behave myself, and I am going to
keep my word."
"Good-by, then, and remember me to the grammar
schools, to the high schools, and even to the colleges if
you meet them on the way."
"Good-by, Lamp-Wick. Have a pleasant trip, enjoy
yourself, and remember your friends once in a while."
With these words, the Marionette started on his way
home. Turning once more to his friend, he asked him:
"But are you sure that, in that country, each week is
composed of six Saturdays and one Sunday?"
"Very sure!"
"And that vacation begins on the first of January and
ends on the thirty-first of December?"
"Very, very sure!"
"What a great country!" repeated Pinocchio, puzzled
as to what to do.
Then, in sudden determination, he said hurriedly:
"Good-by for the last time, and good luck."
"Good-by."
"How soon will you go?"
"Within two hours."
"What a pity! If it were only one hour, I might wait for you."
"And the Fairy?"
"By this time I'm late, and one hour more or less makes
very little difference."
"Poor Pinocchio! And if the Fairy scolds you?"
"Oh, I'll let her scold. After she gets tired, she will stop."
In the meantime, the night became darker and darker.
All at once in the distance a small light flickered. A
queer sound could be heard, soft as a little bell, and faint
and muffled like the buzz of a far-away mosquito.
"There it is!" cried Lamp-Wick, jumping to his feet.
"What?" whispered Pinocchio.
"The wagon which is coming to get me. For the last
time, are you coming or not?"
"But is it really true that in that country boys never
have to study?"
"Never, never, never!"
"What a wonderful, beautiful, marvelous country! Oh--h--h!!"
CHAPTER 31
After five months of play, Pinocchio wakes up one fine morning
and finds a great surprise awaiting him
Finally the wagon arrived. It made no noise, for its
wheels were bound with straw and rags.
It was drawn by twelve pair of donkeys, all of the same
size, but all of different color. Some were gray, others
white, and still others a mixture of brown and black.
Here and there were a few with large yellow and blue stripes.
The strangest thing of all was that those twenty-four
donkeys, instead of being iron-shod like any other beast
of burden, had on their feet laced shoes made of leather,
just like the ones boys wear.
And the driver of the wagon?
Imagine to yourselves a little, fat man, much wider
than he was long, round and shiny as a ball of butter, with
a face beaming like an apple, a little mouth that always
smiled, and a voice small and wheedling like that of a cat
begging for food.
No sooner did any boy see him than he fell in love with
him, and nothing satisfied him but to be allowed to ride
in his wagon to that lovely place called the Land of Toys.
In fact the wagon was so closely packed with boys of
all ages that it looked like a box of sardines. They were
uncomfortable, they were piled one on top of the other,
they could hardly breathe; yet not one word of complaint
was heard. The thought that in a few hours they would
reach a country where there were no schools, no books,
no teachers, made these boys so happy that they felt
neither hunger, nor thirst, nor sleep, nor discomfort.
No sooner had the wagon stopped than the little fat
man turned to Lamp-Wick. With bows and smiles, he
asked in a wheedling tone:
"Tell me, my fine boy, do you also want to come to
my wonderful country?"
"Indeed I do."
"But I warn you, my little dear, there's no more room
in the wagon. It is full."
"Never mind," answered Lamp-Wick. "If there's no
room inside, I can sit on the top of the coach."
And with one leap, he perched himself there.
"What about you, my love?" asked the Little Man,
turning politely to Pinocchio. "What are you going to do?
Will you come with us, or do you stay here?"
"I stay here," answered Pinocchio. "I want to return
home, as I prefer to study and to succeed in life."
"May that bring you luck!"
"Pinocchio!" Lamp-Wick called out. "Listen to me.
Come with us and we'll always be happy."
"No, no, no!"
"Come with us and we'll always be happy," cried four
other voices from the wagon.
"Come with us and we'll always be happy," shouted the
one hundred and more boys in the wagon, all together.
"And if I go with you, what will my good Fairy say?"
asked the Marionette, who was beginning to waver and
weaken in his good resolutions.
"Don't worry so much. Only think that we are going
to a land where we shall be allowed to make all the racket
we like from morning till night."
Pinocchio did not answer, but sighed deeply once--
twice--a third time. Finally, he said:
"Make room for me. I want to go, too!"
"The seats are all filled," answered the Little Man,
"but to show you how much I think of you, take my place
as coachman."
"And you?"
"I'll walk."
"No, indeed. I could not permit such a thing. I much
prefer riding one of these donkeys," cried Pinocchio.
No sooner said than done. He approached the first
donkey and tried to mount it. But the little animal turned
suddenly and gave him such a terrible kick in the stomach
that Pinocchio was thrown to the ground and fell with
his legs in the air.
At this unlooked-for entertainment, the whole company
of runaways laughed uproariously.
The little fat man did not laugh. He went up to the
rebellious animal, and, still smiling, bent over him lovingly
and bit off half of his right ear.
In the meantime, Pinocchio lifted himself up from the
ground, and with one leap landed on the donkey's back.
The leap was so well taken that all the boys shouted,
"Hurrah for Pinocchio!" and clapped their hands in hearty applause.
Suddenly the little donkey gave a kick with his two
hind feet and, at this unexpected move, the poor Marionette
found himself once again sprawling right in the
middle of the road.
Again the boys shouted with laughter. But the Little
Man, instead of laughing, became so loving toward the
little animal that, with another kiss, he bit off half of
his left ear.
"You can mount now, my boy," he then said to Pinocchio.
"Have no fear. That donkey was worried about something,
but I have spoken to him and now he seems quiet and reasonable."
Pinocchio mounted and the wagon started on its way.
While the donkeys galloped along the stony road, the
Marionette fancied he heard a very quiet voice whispering to him:
"Poor silly! You have done as you wished. But you
are going to be a sorry boy before very long."
Pinocchio, greatly frightened, looked about him to see
whence the words had come, but he saw no one. The
donkeys galloped, the wagon rolled on smoothly, the
boys slept (Lamp-Wick snored like a dormouse) and the
little, fat driver sang sleepily between his teeth.
After a mile or so, Pinocchio again heard the same
faint voice whispering: "Remember, little simpleton!
Boys who stop studying and turn their backs upon books
and schools and teachers in order to give all their time
to nonsense and pleasure, sooner or later come to grief.
Oh, how well I know this! How well I can prove it to you!
A day will come when you will weep bitterly, even as I
am weeping now--but it will be too late!"
At these whispered words, the Marionette grew more
and more frightened. He jumped to the ground, ran up
to the donkey on whose back he had been riding, and
taking his nose in his hands, looked at him. Think how
great was his surprise when he saw that the donkey was
weeping--weeping just like a boy!
"Hey, Mr. Driver!" cried the Marionette. "Do you know what
strange thing is happening here! This donkey weeps."
"Let him weep. When he gets married, he will have time to laugh."
"Have you perhaps taught him to speak?"
"No, he learned to mumble a few words when he lived
for three years with a band of trained dogs."
"Poor beast!"
"Come, come," said the Little Man, "do not lose time over
a donkey that can weep. Mount quickly and let us go.
The night is cool and the road is long."
Pinocchio obeyed without another word. The wagon
started again. Toward dawn the next morning they finally
reached that much-longed-for country, the Land of Toys.
This great land was entirely different from any other
place in the world. Its population, large though it was,
was composed wholly of boys. The oldest were about
fourteen years of age, the youngest, eight. In the street,
there was such a racket, such shouting, such blowing of
trumpets, that it was deafening. Everywhere groups of
boys were gathered together. Some played at marbles, at
hopscotch, at ball. Others rode on bicycles or on wooden
horses. Some played at blindman's buff, others at tag.
Here a group played circus, there another sang and recited.
A few turned somersaults, others walked on their hands
with their feet in the air. Generals in full uniform leading
regiments of cardboard soldiers passed by. Laughter,
shrieks, howls, catcalls, hand-clapping followed this
parade. One boy made a noise like a hen, another like
a rooster, and a third imitated a lion in his den. All
together they created such a pandemonium that it would
have been necessary for you to put cotton in your ears.
The squares were filled with small wooden theaters,
overflowing with boys from morning till night, and on the
walls of the houses, written with charcoal, were words
like these: HURRAH FOR THE LAND OF TOYS! DOWN WITH
ARITHMETIC! NO MORE SCHOOL!
As soon as they had set foot in that land, Pinocchio,
Lamp-Wick, and all the other boys who had traveled with
them started out on a tour of investigation. They
wandered everywhere, they looked into every nook and
corner, house and theater. They became everybody's friend.
Who could be happier than they?
What with entertainments and parties, the hours, the days,
the weeks passed like lightning.
"Oh, what a beautiful life this is!" said Pinocchio each
time that, by chance, he met his friend Lamp-Wick.
"Was I right or wrong?" answered Lamp-Wick. "And
to think you did not want to come! To think that even
yesterday the idea came into your head to return home
to see your Fairy and to start studying again! If today
you are free from pencils and books and school, you owe
it to me, to my advice, to my care. Do you admit it? Only
true friends count, after all."
"It's true, Lamp-Wick, it's true. If today I am a really
happy boy, it is all because of you. And to think that the
teacher, when speaking of you, used to say, `Do not go
with that Lamp-Wick! He is a bad companion and some
day he will lead you astray.'"
"Poor teacher!" answered the other, nodding his head.
"Indeed I know how much he disliked me and how he
enjoyed speaking ill of me. But I am of a generous nature,
and I gladly forgive him."
"Great soul!" said Pinocchio, fondly embracing his friend.
Five months passed and the boys continued playing and
enjoying themselves from morn till night, without ever
seeing a book, or a desk, or a school. But, my children,
there came a morning when Pinocchio awoke and found
a great surprise awaiting him, a surprise which made him
feel very unhappy, as you shall see.
CHAPTER 32
Pinocchio's ears become like those of a Donkey.
In a little while he changes into a real Donkey and begins to bray
Everyone, at one time or another, has found some surprise
awaiting him. Of the kind which Pinocchio had on that
eventful morning of his life, there are but few.
What was it? I will tell you, my dear little readers.
On awakening, Pinocchio put his hand up to his head and
there he found--
Guess!
He found that, during the night, his ears had grown
at least ten full inches!
You must know that the Marionette, even from his
birth, had very small ears, so small indeed that to the
naked eye they could hardly be seen. Fancy how he felt
when he noticed that overnight those two dainty organs
had become as long as shoe brushes!
He went in search of a mirror, but not finding any,
he just filled a basin with water and looked at himself.
There he saw what he never could have wished to see.
His manly figure was adorned and enriched by a beautiful
pair of donkey's ears.
I leave you to think of the terrible grief, the shame,
the despair of the poor Marionette.
He began to cry, to scream, to knock his head against
the wall, but the more he shrieked, the longer and the
more hairy grew his ears.
At those piercing shrieks, a Dormouse came into the
room, a fat little Dormouse, who lived upstairs. Seeing
Pinocchio so grief-stricken, she asked him anxiously:
"What is the matter, dear little neighbor?"
"I am sick, my little Dormouse, very, very sick--and
from an illness which frightens me! Do you understand
how to feel the pulse?"
"A little."
"Feel mine then and tell me if I have a fever."
The Dormouse took Pinocchio's wrist between her paws and,
after a few minutes, looked up at him sorrowfully and said:
"My friend, I am sorry, but I must give you some very sad news."
"What is it?"
"You have a very bad fever."
"But what fever is it?"
"The donkey fever."
"I don't know anything about that fever," answered the Marionette,
beginning to understand even too well what was happening to him.
"Then I will tell you all about it," said the Dormouse.
"Know then that, within two or three hours, you will no
longer be a Marionette, nor a boy."
"What shall I be?"
"Within two or three hours you will become a real donkey,
just like the ones that pull the fruit carts to market."
"Oh, what have I done? What have I done?" cried Pinocchio,
grasping his two long ears in his hands and pulling and tugging
at them angrily, just as if they belonged to another.
"My dear boy," answered the Dormouse to cheer him up a bit,
"why worry now? What is done cannot be undone, you know.
Fate has decreed that all lazy boys who come to hate books
and schools and teachers and spend all their days with toys
and games must sooner or later turn into donkeys."
"But is it really so?" asked the Marionette, sobbing bitterly.
"I am sorry to say it is. And tears now are useless.
You should have thought of all this before."
"But the fault is not mine. Believe me, little Dormouse,
the fault is all Lamp-Wick's."
"And who is this Lamp-Wick?"
"A classmate of mine. I wanted to return home. I wanted
to be obedient. I wanted to study and to succeed
in school, but Lamp-Wick said to me, `Why do you want
to waste your time studying? Why do you want to go
to school? Come with me to the Land of Toys.
There we'll never study again. There we can enjoy
ourselves and be happy from morn till night.'"
"And why did you follow the advice of that false friend?"
"Why? Because, my dear little Dormouse, I am a heedless
Marionette--heedless and heartless. Oh! If I had only
had a bit of heart, I should never have abandoned
that good Fairy, who loved me so well and who has been
so kind to me! And by this time, I should no longer be a
Marionette. I should have become a real boy, like all these
friends of mine! Oh, if I meet Lamp-Wick I am going
to tell him what I think of him--and more, too!"
After this long speech, Pinocchio walked to the door
of the room. But when he reached it, remembering his
donkey ears, he felt ashamed to show them to the public
and turned back. He took a large cotton bag from a shelf,
put it on his head, and pulled it far down to his very nose.
Thus adorned, he went out. He looked for Lamp-Wick everywhere,
along the streets, in the squares, inside the theatres,
everywhere; but he was not to be found. He asked everyone
whom he met about him, but no one had seen him. In desperation,
he returned home and knocked at the door.
"Who is it?" asked Lamp-Wick from within.
"It is I!" answered the Marionette.
"Wait a minute."
After a full half hour the door opened. Another surprise
awaited Pinocchio! There in the room stood his friend,
with a large cotton bag on his head, pulled far down to his very nose.
At the sight of that bag, Pinocchio felt slightly happier
and thought to himself:
"My friend must be suffering from the same sickness
that I am! I wonder if he, too, has donkey fever?"
But pretending he had seen nothing, he asked with a smile:
"How are you, my dear Lamp-Wick?"
"Very well. Like a mouse in a Parmesan cheese."
"Is that really true?"
"Why should I lie to you?"
"I beg your pardon, my friend, but why then are you
wearing that cotton bag over your ears?"
"The doctor has ordered it because one of my knees hurts.
And you, dear Marionette, why are you wearing that cotton bag
down to your nose?"
"The doctor has ordered it because I have bruised my foot."
"Oh, my poor Pinocchio!"
"Oh, my poor Lamp-Wick!"
An embarrassingly long silence followed these words,
during which time the two friends looked at each other
in a mocking way.
Finally the Marionette, in a voice sweet as honey and
soft as a flute, said to his companion:
"Tell me, Lamp-Wick, dear friend, have you ever
suffered from an earache?"
"Never! And you?"
"Never! Still, since this morning my ear has been torturing me."
"So has mine."
"Yours, too? And which ear is it?"
"Both of them. And yours?"
"Both of them, too. I wonder if it could be the same sickness."
"I'm afraid it is."
"Will you do me a favor, Lamp-Wick?"
"Gladly! With my whole heart."
"Will you let me see your ears?"
"Why not? But before I show you mine, I want to see yours,
dear Pinocchio."
"No. You must show yours first."
"No, my dear! Yours first, then mine."
"Well, then," said the Marionette, "let us make a contract."
"Let's hear the contract!"
"Let us take off our caps together. All right?"
"All right."
"Ready then!"
Pinocchio began to count, "One! Two! Three!"
At the word "Three!" the two boys pulled off their
caps and threw them high in air.
And then a scene took place which is hard to believe,
but it is all too true. The Marionette and his friend,
Lamp-Wick, when they saw each other both stricken by the
same misfortune, instead of feeling sorrowful and ashamed,
began to poke fun at each other, and after much nonsense,
they ended by bursting out into hearty laughter.
They laughed and laughed, and laughed again--laughed
till they ached--laughed till they cried.
But all of a sudden Lamp-Wick stopped laughing. He tottered
and almost fell. Pale as a ghost, he turned to Pinocchio and said:
"Help, help, Pinocchio!"
"What is the matter?"
"Oh, help me! I can no longer stand up."
"I can't either," cried Pinocchio; and his laughter
turned to tears as he stumbled about helplessly.
They had hardly finished speaking, when both of them fell
on all fours and began running and jumping around the room.
As they ran, their arms turned into legs, their faces lengthened
into snouts and their backs became covered with long gray hairs.
This was humiliation enough, but the most horrible
moment was the one in which the two poor creatures felt
their tails appear. Overcome with shame and grief,
they tried to cry and bemoan their fate.
But what is done can't be undone! Instead of moans
and cries, they burst forth into loud donkey brays, which
sounded very much like, "Haw! Haw! Haw!"
At that moment, a loud knocking was heard at the door
and a voice called to them:
"Open! I am the Little Man, the driver of the wagon
which brought you here. Open, I say, or beware!"
CHAPTER 33
Pinocchio, having become a Donkey,
is bought by the owner of a Circus,
who wants to teach him to do tricks.
The Donkey becomes lame and is sold
to a man who wants to use his skin
for a drumhead
Very sad and downcast were the two poor little fellows
as they stood and looked at each other. Outside the room,
the Little Man grew more and more impatient, and finally
gave the door such a violent kick that it flew open. With
his usual sweet smile on his lips, he looked at Pinocchio
and Lamp-Wick and said to them:
"Fine work, boys! You have brayed well, so well that
I recognized your voices immediately, and here I am."
On hearing this, the two Donkeys bowed their heads in shame,
dropped their ears, and put their tails between their legs.
At first, the Little Man petted and caressed them and
smoothed down their hairy coats. Then he took out a
currycomb and worked over them till they shone like glass.
Satisfied with the looks of the two little animals,
he bridled them and took them to a market place far away
from the Land of Toys, in the hope of selling them at a
good price.
In fact, he did not have to wait very long for an offer.
Lamp-Wick was bought by a farmer whose donkey had died
the day before. Pinocchio went to the owner of a circus,
who wanted to teach him to do tricks for his audiences.
And now do you understand what the Little Man's
profession was? This horrid little being, whose face shone
with kindness, went about the world looking for boys.
Lazy boys, boys who hated books, boys who wanted to
run away from home, boys who were tired of school--all
these were his joy and his fortune. He took them with
him to the Land of Toys and let them enjoy themselves
to their heart's content. When, after months of all play
and no work, they became little donkeys, he sold them on
the market place. In a few years, he had become a millionaire.
What happened to Lamp-Wick? My dear children, I do not know.
Pinocchio, I can tell you, met with great hardships
even from the first day.
After putting him in a stable, his new master filled his
manger with straw, but Pinocchio, after tasting a mouthful,
spat it out.
Then the man filled the manger with hay.
But Pinocchio did not like that any better.
"Ah, you don't like hay either?" he cried angrily.
"Wait, my pretty Donkey, I'll teach you not to be so particular."
Without more ado, he took a whip and gave the Donkey
a hearty blow across the legs.
Pinocchio screamed with pain and as he screamed he brayed:
"Haw! Haw! Haw! I can't digest straw!"
"Then eat the hay!" answered his master, who understood
the Donkey perfectly.
"Haw! Haw! Haw! Hay gives me a headache!"
"Do you pretend, by any chance, that I should feed you duck
or chicken?" asked the man again, and, angrier than ever,
he gave poor Pinocchio another lashing.
At that second beating, Pinocchio became very quiet and said no more.
After that, the door of the stable was closed and he
was left alone. It was many hours since he had eaten
anything and he started to yawn from hunger. As he
yawned, he opened a mouth as big as an oven.
Finally, not finding anything else in the manger,
he tasted the hay. After tasting it, he chewed it well,
closed his eyes, and swallowed it.
"This hay is not bad," he said to himself. "But how
much happier I should be if I had studied! Just now,
instead of hay, I should be eating some good bread
and butter. Patience!"
Next morning, when he awoke, Pinocchio looked in
the manger for more hay, but it was all gone. He had
eaten it all during the night.
He tried the straw, but, as he chewed away at it, he
noticed to his great disappointment that it tasted neither
like rice nor like macaroni.
"Patience!" he repeated as he chewed. "If only my
misfortune might serve as a lesson to disobedient boys
who refuse to study! Patience! Have patience!"
"Patience indeed!" shouted his master just then, as he
came into the stable. "Do you think, perhaps, my little
Donkey, that I have brought you here only to give you
food and drink? Oh, no! You are to help me earn some
fine gold pieces, do you hear? Come along, now. I am
going to teach you to jump and bow, to dance a waltz and
a polka, and even to stand on your head."
Poor Pinocchio, whether he liked it or not, had to learn
all these wonderful things; but it took him three long
months and cost him many, many lashings before he was
pronounced perfect.
The day came at last when Pinocchio's master was
able to announce an extraordinary performance. The
announcements, posted all around the town, and written
in large letters, read thus:
GREAT SPECTACLE TONIGHT
LEAPS AND EXERCISES BY THE GREAT ARTISTS
AND THE FAMOUS HORSES
of the
COMPANY
First Public Appearance
of the
FAMOUS DONKEY
called
PINOCCHIO
THE STAR OF THE DANCE
----
The Theater will be as Light as Day
That night, as you can well imagine, the theater was filled
to overflowing one hour before the show was scheduled to start.
Not an orchestra chair could be had, not a balcony seat,
nor a gallery seat; not even for their weight in gold.
The place swarmed with boys and girls of all ages and
sizes, wriggling and dancing about in a fever of impatience
to see the famous Donkey dance.
When the first part of the performance was over, the
Owner and Manager of the circus, in a black coat, white
knee breeches, and patent leather boots, presented himself
to the public and in a loud, pompous voice made the
following announcement:
"Most honored friends, Gentlemen and Ladies!
"Your humble servant, the Manager of this theater,
presents himself before you tonight in order to introduce
to you the greatest, the most famous Donkey in the world,
a Donkey that has had the great honor in his short life of
performing before the kings and queens and emperors of
all the great courts of Europe.
"We thank you for your attention!"
This speech was greeted by much laughter and
applause. And the applause grew to a roar when Pinocchio,
the famous Donkey, appeared in the circus ring. He was
handsomely arrayed. A new bridle of shining leather with
buckles of polished brass was on his back; two white
camellias were tied to his ears; ribbons and tassels of red
silk adorned his mane, which was divided into many
curls. A great sash of gold and silver was fastened around
his waist and his tail was decorated with ribbons of many
brilliant colors. He was a handsome Donkey indeed!
The Manager, when introducing him to the public,
added these words:
"Most honored audience! I shall not take your time
tonight to tell you of the great difficulties which I have
encountered while trying to tame this animal, since I
found him in the wilds of Africa. Observe, I beg of you,
the savage look of his eye. All the means used by
centuries of civilization in subduing wild beasts failed in this
case. I had finally to resort to the gentle language of the
whip in order to bring him to my will. With all my
kindness, however, I never succeeded in gaining my Donkey's
love. He is still today as savage as the day I found
him. He still fears and hates me. But I have found in
him one great redeeming feature. Do you see this little
bump on his forehead? It is this bump which gives him
his great talent of dancing and using his feet as nimbly
as a human being. Admire him, O signori, and enjoy
yourselves. I let you, now, be the judges of my success as a
teacher of animals. Before I leave you, I wish to state
that there will be another performance tomorrow night.
If the weather threatens rain, the great spectacle will take
place at eleven o'clock in the morning."
The Manager bowed and then turned to Pinocchio and said:
"Ready, Pinocchio! Before starting your performance,
salute your audience!"
Pinocchio obediently bent his two knees to the ground
and remained kneeling until the Manager, with the crack
of the whip, cried sharply: "Walk!"
The Donkey lifted himself on his four feet and walked
around the ring. A few minutes passed and again the
voice of the Manager called:
"Quickstep!" and Pinocchio obediently changed his step.
"Gallop!" and Pinocchio galloped.
"Full speed!" and Pinocchio ran as fast as he could.
As he ran the master raised his arm and a pistol shot rang
in the air.
At the shot, the little Donkey fell to the ground as if
he were really dead.
A shower of applause greeted the Donkey as he arose to his feet.
Cries and shouts and handclappings were heard on all sides.
At all that noise, Pinocchio lifted his head and raised
his eyes. There, in front of him, in a box sat a beautiful
woman. Around her neck she wore a long gold chain,
from which hung a large medallion. On the medallion
was painted the picture of a Marionette.
"That picture is of me! That beautiful lady is my Fairy!"
said Pinocchio to himself, recognizing her. He felt so happy
that he tried his best to cry out:
"Oh, my Fairy! My own Fairy!"
But instead of words, a loud braying was heard in the theater,
so loud and so long that all the spectators--men, women,
and children, but especially the children--burst out laughing.
Then, in order to teach the Donkey that it was not
good manners to bray before the public, the Manager
hit him on the nose with the handle of the whip.
The poor little Donkey stuck out a long tongue and licked
his nose for a long time in an effort to take away the pain.
And what was his grief when on looking up toward the boxes,
he saw that the Fairy had disappeared!
He felt himself fainting, his eyes filled with tears,
and he wept bitterly. No one knew it, however,
least of all the Manager, who, cracking his whip, cried out:
"Bravo, Pinocchio! Now show us how gracefully you can
jump through the rings."
Pinocchio tried two or three times, but each time he
came near the ring, he found it more to his taste to go
under it. The fourth time, at a look from his master he
leaped through it, but as he did so his hind legs caught
in the ring and he fell to the floor in a heap.
When he got up, he was lame and could hardly limp as
far as the stable.
"Pinocchio! We want Pinocchio! We want the little Donkey!"
cried the boys from the orchestra, saddened by the accident.
No one saw Pinocchio again that evening.
The next morning the veterinary--that is, the animal doctor--
declared that he would be lame for the rest of his life.
"What do I want with a lame donkey?" said the Manager
to the stableboy. "Take him to the market and sell him."
When they reached the square, a buyer was soon found.
"How much do you ask for that little lame Donkey?" he asked.
"Four dollars."
"I'll give you four cents. Don't think I'm buying him
for work. I want only his skin. It looks very tough and
I can use it to make myself a drumhead. I belong to a
musical band in my village and I need a drum."
I leave it to you, my dear children, to picture to
yourself the great pleasure with which Pinocchio heard that
he was to become a drumhead!
As soon as the buyer had paid the four cents, the
Donkey changed hands. His new owner took him to a high
cliff overlooking the sea, put a stone around his neck,
tied a rope to one of his hind feet, gave him a push, and
threw him into the water.
Pinocchio sank immediately. And his new master sat
on the cliff waiting for him to drown, so as to skin him
and make himself a drumhead.
CHAPTER 34
Pinocchio is thrown into the sea, eaten by fishes,
and becomes a Marionette once more. As he swims to land,
he is swallowed by the Terrible Shark
Down into the sea, deeper and deeper, sank Pinocchio, and
finally, after fifty minutes of waiting, the man on the cliff
said to himself:
"By this time my poor little lame Donkey must be
drowned. Up with him and then I can get to work on my
beautiful drum."
He pulled the rope which he had tied to Pinocchio's
leg--pulled and pulled and pulled and, at last, he saw
appear on the surface of the water--Can you guess what?
Instead of a dead donkey, he saw a very much alive
Marionette, wriggling and squirming like an eel.
Seeing that wooden Marionette, the poor man thought
he was dreaming and sat there with his mouth wide open
and his eyes popping out of his head.
Gathering his wits together, he said:
"And the Donkey I threw into the sea?"
"I am that Donkey," answered the Marionette laughing.
"You?"
"I."
"Ah, you little cheat! Are you poking fun at me?"
"Poking fun at you? Not at all, dear Master.
I am talking seriously."
"But, then, how is it that you, who a few minutes ago
were a donkey, are now standing before me a wooden Marionette?"
"It may be the effect of salt water. The sea is fond of
playing these tricks."
"Be careful, Marionette, be careful! Don't laugh at me!
Woe be to you, if I lose my patience!"
"Well, then, my Master, do you want to know my whole story?
Untie my leg and I can tell it to you better."
The old fellow, curious to know the true story of the
Marionette's life, immediately untied the rope which held his foot.
Pinocchio, feeling free as a bird of the air, began his tale:
"Know, then, that, once upon a time, I was a wooden
Marionette, just as I am today. One day I was about to
become a boy, a real boy, but on account of my laziness
and my hatred of books, and because I listened to bad
companions, I ran away from home. One beautiful morning,
I awoke to find myself changed into a donkey--long
ears, gray coat, even a tail! What a shameful day for me!
I hope you will never experience one like it, dear Master.
I was taken to the fair and sold to a Circus Owner, who
tried to make me dance and jump through the rings. One
night, during a performance, I had a bad fall and became
lame. Not knowing what to do with a lame donkey, the Circus
Owner sent me to the market place and you bought me."
"Indeed I did! And I paid four cents for you.
Now who will return my money to me?"
"But why did you buy me? You bought me to do me
harm--to kill me--to make a drumhead out of me!"
"Indeed I did! And now where shall I find another skin?"
"Never mind, dear Master. There are so many donkeys
in this world."
"Tell me, impudent little rogue, does your story end here?"
"One more word," answered the Marionette, "and I am through.
After buying me, you brought me here to kill me. But feeling
sorry for me, you tied a stone to my neck and threw me
to the bottom of the sea. That was very good and kind
of you to want me to suffer as little as possible
and I shall remember you always. And now my Fairy
will take care of me, even if you--"
"Your Fairy? Who is she?"
"She is my mother, and, like all other mothers who
love their children, she never loses sight of me, even
though I do not deserve it. And today this good Fairy
of mine, as soon as she saw me in danger of drowning,
sent a thousand fishes to the spot where I lay. They
thought I was really a dead donkey and began to eat me.
What great bites they took! One ate my ears, another my
nose, a third my neck and my mane. Some went at my
legs and some at my back, and among the others, there
was one tiny fish so gentle and polite that he did me
the great favor of eating even my tail."
"From now on," said the man, horrified, "I swear I shall
never again taste fish. How I should enjoy opening a mullet
or a whitefish just to find there the tail of a dead donkey!"
"I think as you do," answered the Marionette,
laughing. "Still, you must know that when the fish finished
eating my donkey coat, which covered me from head to
foot, they naturally came to the bones--or rather, in my
case, to the wood, for as you know, I am made of very
hard wood. After the first few bites, those greedy fish
found out that the wood was not good for their teeth, and,
afraid of indigestion, they turned and ran here and there
without saying good-by or even as much as thank you to
me. Here, dear Master, you have my story. You know
now why you found a Marionette and not a dead donkey
when you pulled me out of the water."
"I laugh at your story!" cried the man angrily. "I know
that I spent four cents to get you and I want my money back.
Do you know what I can do; I am going to take you to the market
once more and sell you as dry firewood."
"Very well, sell me. I am satisfied," said Pinocchio.
But as he spoke, he gave a quick leap and dived into the
sea. Swimming away as fast as he could, he cried out, laughing:
"Good-by, Master. If you ever need a skin for your drum, remember me."
He swam on and on. After a while, he turned around again
and called louder than before:
"Good-by, Master. If you ever need a piece of good dry firewood, remember me."
In a few seconds he had gone so far he could hardly be seen.
All that could be seen of him was a very small black dot moving
swiftly on the blue surface of the water, a little black dot
which now and then lifted a leg or an arm in the air.
One would have thought that Pinocchio had turned into
a porpoise playing in the sun.
After swimming for a long time, Pinocchio saw a large
rock in the middle of the sea, a rock as white as marble.
High on the rock stood a little Goat bleating and calling
and beckoning to the Marionette to come to her.
There was something very strange about that little
Goat. Her coat was not white or black or brown as that
of any other goat, but azure, a deep brilliant color that
reminded one of the hair of the lovely maiden.
Pinocchio's heart beat fast, and then faster and faster.
He redoubled his efforts and swam as hard as he could
toward the white rock. He was almost halfway over,
when suddenly a horrible sea monster stuck its head out
of the water, an enormous head with a huge mouth, wide
open, showing three rows of gleaming teeth, the mere
sight of which would have filled you with fear.
Do you know what it was?
That sea monster was no other than the enormous Shark,
which has often been mentioned in this story and which,
on account of its cruelty, had been nicknamed
"The Attila of the Sea" by both fish and fishermen.
Poor Pinocchio! The sight of that monster frightened
him almost to death! He tried to swim away from him,
to change his path, to escape, but that immense mouth
kept coming nearer and nearer.
"Hasten, Pinocchio, I beg you!" bleated the little Goat on the high rock.
And Pinocchio swam desperately with his arms, his body, his legs, his feet.
"Quick, Pinocchio, the monster is coming nearer!"
Pinocchio swam faster and faster, and harder and harder.
"Faster, Pinocchio! The monster will get you! There he is!
There he is! Quick, quick, or you are lost!"
Pinocchio went through the water like a shot--swifter and swifter.
He came close to the rock. The Goat leaned over and gave him one
of her hoofs to help him up out of the water.
Alas! It was too late. The monster overtook him and
the Marionette found himself in between the rows of
gleaming white teeth. Only for a moment, however,
for the Shark took a deep breath and, as he breathed,
he drank in the Marionette as easily as he would have
sucked an egg. Then he swallowed him so fast that Pinocchio,
falling down into the body of the fish, lay stunned for a half hour.
When he recovered his senses the Marionette could not
remember where he was. Around him all was darkness,
a darkness so deep and so black that for a moment he
thought he had put his head into an inkwell. He listened
for a few moments and heard nothing. Once in a while a
cold wind blew on his face. At first he could not understand
where that wind was coming from, but after a while
he understood that it came from the lungs of the monster.
I forgot to tell you that the Shark was suffering from asthma,
so that whenever he breathed a storm seemed to blow.
Pinocchio at first tried to be brave, but as soon as he
became convinced that he was really and truly in the
Shark's stomach, he burst into sobs and tears. "Help!
Help!" he cried. "Oh, poor me! Won't someone come
to save me?"
"Who is there to help you, unhappy boy?" said a rough
voice, like a guitar out of tune.
"Who is talking?" asked Pinocchio, frozen with terror.
"It is I, a poor Tunny swallowed by the Shark at the
same time as you. And what kind of a fish are you?"
"I have nothing to do with fishes. I am a Marionette."
"If you are not a fish, why did you let this monster swallow you?"
"I didn't let him. He chased me and swallowed me
without even a `by your leave'! And now what are we
to do here in the dark?"
"Wait until the Shark has digested us both, I suppose."
"But I don't want to be digested," shouted Pinocchio,
starting to sob.
"Neither do I," said the Tunny, "but I am wise enough
to think that if one is born a fish, it is more dignified to die
under the water than in the frying pan."
"What nonsense!" cried Pinocchio.
"Mine is an opinion," replied the Tunny, "and opinions
should be respected."
"But I want to get out of this place. I want to escape."
"Go, if you can!"
"Is this Shark that has swallowed us very long?" asked
the Marionette.
"His body, not counting the tail, is almost a mile long."
While talking in the darkness, Pinocchio thought he
saw a faint light in the distance.
"What can that be?" he said to the Tunny.
"Some other poor fish, waiting as patiently as we to
be digested by the Shark."
"I want to see him. He may be an old fish and may
know some way of escape."
"I wish you all good luck, dear Marionette."
"Good-by, Tunny."
"Good-by, Marionette, and good luck."
"When shall I see you again?"
"Who knows? It is better not to think about it."
CHAPTER 35
In the Shark's body Pinocchio finds whom?
Read this chapter, my children, and you will know
Pinocchio, as soon as he had said good-by to his good
friend, the Tunny, tottered away in the darkness and
began to walk as well as he could toward the faint light
which glowed in the distance.
As he walked his feet splashed in a pool of greasy and
slippery water, which had such a heavy smell of fish fried
in oil that Pinocchio thought it was Lent.
The farther on he went, the brighter and clearer grew
the tiny light. On and on he walked till finally he found
--I give you a thousand guesses, my dear children! He
found a little table set for dinner and lighted by a candle
stuck in a glass bottle; and near the table sat a little old
man, white as the snow, eating live fish. They wriggled
so that, now and again, one of them slipped out of the old
man's mouth and escaped into the darkness under the table.
At this sight, the poor Marionette was filled with such
great and sudden happiness that he almost dropped in a
faint. He wanted to laugh, he wanted to cry, he wanted
to say a thousand and one things, but all he could do was
to stand still, stuttering and stammering brokenly. At
last, with a great effort, he was able to let out a scream of
joy and, opening wide his arms he threw them around the
old man's neck.
"Oh, Father, dear Father! Have I found you at last?
Now I shall never, never leave you again!"
"Are my eyes really telling me the truth?" answered
the old man, rubbing his eyes. "Are you really my own
dear Pinocchio?"
"Yes, yes, yes! It is I! Look at me! And you have
forgiven me, haven't you? Oh, my dear Father, how
good you are! And to think that I--Oh, but if you
only knew how many misfortunes have fallen on my head
and how many troubles I have had! Just think that on
the day you sold your old coat to buy me my A-B-C
book so that I could go to school, I ran away to the
Marionette Theater and the proprietor caught me and
wanted to burn me to cook his roast lamb! He was the
one who gave me the five gold pieces for you, but I met
the Fox and the Cat, who took me to the Inn of the Red
Lobster. There they ate like wolves and I left the Inn
alone and I met the Assassins in the wood. I ran and they
ran after me, always after me, till they hanged me to the
branch of a giant oak tree. Then the Fairy of the Azure
Hair sent the coach to rescue me and the doctors, after
looking at me, said, `If he is not dead, then he is surely
alive,' and then I told a lie and my nose began to grow.
It grew and it grew, till I couldn't get it through the
door of the room. And then I went with the Fox and the
Cat to the Field of Wonders to bury the gold pieces. The
Parrot laughed at me and, instead of two thousand gold
pieces, I found none. When the Judge heard I had been
robbed, he sent me to jail to make the thieves happy; and
when I came away I saw a fine bunch of grapes hanging on
a vine. The trap caught me and the Farmer put a collar on
me and made me a watchdog. He found out I was innocent
when I caught the Weasels and he let me go. The Serpent
with the tail that smoked started to laugh and a vein in his
chest broke and so I went back to the Fairy's house. She
was dead, and the Pigeon, seeing me crying, said to me, `I
have seen your father building a boat to look for you in
America,' and I said to him, `Oh, if I only had wings!' and
he said to me, `Do you want to go to your father?' and I
said, `Perhaps, but how?' and he said, `Get on my back. I'll
take you there.' We flew all night long, and next morning
the fishermen were looking toward the sea, crying, `There
is a poor little man drowning,' and I knew it was you,
because my heart told me so and I waved to you from the shore--"
"I knew you also," put in Geppetto, "and I wanted to
go to you; but how could I? The sea was rough and the
whitecaps overturned the boat. Then a Terrible Shark
came up out of the sea and, as soon as he saw me in the
water, swam quickly toward me, put out his tongue, and
swallowed me as easily as if I had been a chocolate peppermint."
"And how long have you been shut away in here?"
"From that day to this, two long weary years--two
years, my Pinocchio, which have been like two centuries."
"And how have you lived? Where did you find the
candle? And the matches with which to light it--where
did you get them?"
"You must know that, in the storm which swamped my
boat, a large ship also suffered the same fate. The sailors
were all saved, but the ship went right to the bottom of
the sea, and the same Terrible Shark that swallowed me,
swallowed most of it."
"What! Swallowed a ship?" asked Pinocchio in astonishment.
"At one gulp. The only thing he spat out was the mainmast,
for it stuck in his teeth. To my own good luck, that
ship was loaded with meat, preserved foods, crackers,
bread, bottles of wine, raisins, cheese, coffee, sugar, wax
candles, and boxes of matches. With all these blessings, I
have been able to live happily on for two whole years, but
now I am at the very last crumbs. Today there is nothing
left in the cupboard, and this candle you see here is the
last one I have."
"And then?"
"And then, my dear, we'll find ourselves in darkness."
"Then, my dear Father," said Pinocchio, "there is no
time to lose. We must try to escape."
"Escape! How?"
"We can run out of the Shark's mouth and dive into the sea."
"You speak well, but I cannot swim, my dear Pinocchio."
"Why should that matter? You can climb on my shoulders
and I, who am a fine swimmer, will carry you safely
to the shore."
"Dreams, my boy!" answered Geppetto, shaking his
head and smiling sadly. "Do you think it possible for a
Marionette, a yard high, to have the strength to carry me
on his shoulders and swim?"
"Try it and see! And in any case, if it is written that we
must die, we shall at least die together."
Not adding another word, Pinocchio took the candle in his hand
and going ahead to light the way, he said to his father:
"Follow me and have no fear."
They walked a long distance through the stomach and
the whole body of the Shark. When they reached the
throat of the monster, they stopped for a while to wait for
the right moment in which to make their escape.
I want you to know that the Shark, being very old and
suffering from asthma and heart trouble, was obliged to
sleep with his mouth open. Because of this, Pinocchio was
able to catch a glimpse of the sky filled with stars, as he
looked up through the open jaws of his new home.
"The time has come for us to escape," he whispered,
turning to his father. "The Shark is fast asleep. The sea
is calm and the night is as bright as day. Follow me closely,
dear Father, and we shall soon be saved."
No sooner said than done. They climbed up the throat
of the monster till they came to that immense open mouth.
There they had to walk on tiptoes, for if they tickled the
Shark's long tongue he might awaken--and where would
they be then? The tongue was so wide and so long that
it looked like a country road. The two fugitives were just
about to dive into the sea when the Shark sneezed very
suddenly and, as he sneezed, he gave Pinocchio and
Geppetto such a jolt that they found themselves thrown on
their backs and dashed once more and very unceremoniously
into the stomach of the monster.
To make matters worse, the candle went out and father
and son were left in the dark.
"And now?" asked Pinocchio with a serious face.
"Now we are lost."
"Why lost? Give me your hand, dear Father, and be
careful not to slip!"
"Where will you take me?"
"We must try again. Come with me and don't be afraid."
With these words Pinocchio took his father by the hand
and, always walking on tiptoes, they climbed up the monster's
throat for a second time. They then crossed the
whole tongue and jumped over three rows of teeth. But
before they took the last great leap, the Marionette said
to his father:
"Climb on my back and hold on tightly to my neck.
I'll take care of everything else."
As soon as Geppetto was comfortably seated on his
shoulders, Pinocchio, very sure of what he was doing,
dived into the water and started to swim. The sea was like
oil, the moon shone in all splendor, and the Shark continued
to sleep so soundly that not even a cannon shot would
have awakened him.
CHAPTER 36
Pinocchio finally ceases to be
a Marionette and becomes a boy
"My dear Father, we are saved!" cried the Marionette.
"All we have to do now is to get to the shore, and that is easy."
Without another word, he swam swiftly away in an
effort to reach land as soon as possible. All at once he
noticed that Geppetto was shivering and shaking as if with
a high fever.
Was he shivering from fear or from cold? Who knows?
Perhaps a little of both. But Pinocchio, thinking his father
was frightened, tried to comfort him by saying:
"Courage, Father! In a few moments we shall be safe on land."
"But where is that blessed shore?" asked the little old man,
more and more worried as he tried to pierce the faraway shadows.
"Here I am searching on all sides and I see nothing but sea and sky."
"I see the shore," said the Marionette. "Remember, Father,
that I am like a cat. I see better at night than by day."
Poor Pinocchio pretended to be peaceful and contented,
but he was far from that. He was beginning to feel
discouraged, his strength was leaving him, and his breathing
was becoming more and more labored. He felt he could
not go on much longer, and the shore was still far away.
He swam a few more strokes. Then he turned to Geppetto
and cried out weakly:
"Help me, Father! Help, for I am dying!"
Father and son were really about to drown when they
heard a voice like a guitar out of tune call from the sea:
"What is the trouble?"
"It is I and my poor father."
"I know the voice. You are Pinocchio."
"Exactly. And you?"
"I am the Tunny, your companion in the Shark's stomach."
"And how did you escape?"
"I imitated your example. You are the one who showed
me the way and after you went, I followed."
"Tunny, you arrived at the right moment! I implore you,
for the love you bear your children, the little Tunnies,
to help us, or we are lost!"
"With great pleasure indeed. Hang onto my tail, both
of you, and let me lead you. In a twinkling you will be
safe on land."
Geppetto and Pinocchio, as you can easily imagine, did not
refuse the invitation; indeed, instead of hanging onto
the tail, they thought it better to climb on the Tunny's back.
"Are we too heavy?" asked Pinocchio.
"Heavy? Not in the least. You are as light as sea-shells,"
answered the Tunny, who was as large as a two-year-old horse.
As soon as they reached the shore, Pinocchio was the
first to jump to the ground to help his old father.
Then he turned to the fish and said to him:
"Dear friend, you have saved my father, and I have not
enough words with which to thank you! Allow me to
embrace you as a sign of my eternal gratitude."
The Tunny stuck his nose out of the water and Pinocchio
knelt on the sand and kissed him most affectionately
on his cheek. At this warm greeting, the poor Tunny,
who was not used to such tenderness, wept like a child.
He felt so embarrassed and ashamed that he turned quickly,
plunged into the sea, and disappeared.
In the meantime day had dawned.
Pinocchio offered his arm to Geppetto, who was so
weak he could hardly stand, and said to him:
"Lean on my arm, dear Father, and let us go. We will
walk very, very slowly, and if we feel tired we can rest
by the wayside."
"And where are we going?" asked Geppetto.
"To look for a house or a hut, where they will be kind enough
to give us a bite of bread and a bit of straw to sleep on."
They had not taken a hundred steps when they saw two
rough-looking individuals sitting on a stone begging for alms.
It was the Fox and the Cat, but one could hardly recognize
them, they looked so miserable. The Cat, after pretending
to be blind for so many years had really lost the sight
of both eyes. And the Fox, old, thin, and almost hairless,
had even lost his tail. That sly thief had fallen into
deepest poverty, and one day he had been forced to sell his
beautiful tail for a bite to eat.
"Oh, Pinocchio," he cried in a tearful voice. "Give us
some alms, we beg of you! We are old, tired, and sick."
"Sick!" repeated the Cat.
"Addio, false friends!" answered the Marionette.
"You cheated me once, but you will never catch me again."
"Believe us! Today we are truly poor and starving."
"Starving!" repeated the Cat.
"If you are poor; you deserve it! Remember the old
proverb which says: `Stolen money never bears fruit.'
Addio, false friends."
"Have mercy on us!"
"On us."
"Addio, false friends. Remember the old proverb which says:
`Bad wheat always makes poor bread!'"
"Do not abandon us."
"Abandon us," repeated the Cat.
"Addio, false friends. Remember the old proverb:
`Whoever steals his neighbor's shirt, usually dies without
his own.'"
Waving good-by to them, Pinocchio and Geppetto
calmly went on their way. After a few more steps,
they saw, at the end of a long road near a clump of trees,
a tiny cottage built of straw.
"Someone must live in that little hut," said Pinocchio.
"Let us see for ourselves."
They went and knocked at the door.
"Who is it?" said a little voice from within.
"A poor father and a poorer son, without food and with
no roof to cover them," answered the Marionette.
"Turn the key and the door will open," said the same
little voice.
Pinocchio turned the key and the door opened. As soon
as they went in, they looked here and there and everywhere
but saw no one.
"Oh--ho, where is the owner of the hut?" cried Pinocchio,
very much surprised.
"Here I am, up here!"
Father and son looked up to the ceiling, and there on a
beam sat the Talking Cricket.
"Oh, my dear Cricket," said Pinocchio, bowing politely.
"Oh, now you call me your dear Cricket, but do you
remember when you threw your hammer at me to kill me?"
"You are right, dear Cricket. Throw a hammer at me now.
I deserve it! But spare my poor old father."
"I am going to spare both the father and the son. I have
only wanted to remind you of the trick you long ago
played upon me, to teach you that in this world of ours
we must be kind and courteous to others, if we want to
find kindness and courtesy in our own days of trouble."
"You are right, little Cricket, you are more than right,
and I shall remember the lesson you have taught me. But
will you tell how you succeeded in buying this pretty
little cottage?"
"This cottage was given to me yesterday by a little Goat
with blue hair."
"And where did the Goat go?" asked Pinocchio.
"I don't know."
"And when will she come back?"
"She will never come back. Yesterday she went away
bleating sadly, and it seemed to me she said: `Poor Pinocchio,
I shall never see him again. . .the Shark must have
eaten him by this time.'"
"Were those her real words? Then it was she--it was--
my dear little Fairy," cried out Pinocchio, sobbing bitterly.
After he had cried a long time, he wiped his eyes and
then he made a bed of straw for old Geppetto. He laid him
on it and said to the Talking Cricket:
"Tell me, little Cricket, where shall I find a glass of milk
for my poor Father?"
"Three fields away from here lives Farmer John. He has
some cows. Go there and he will give you what you want."
Pinocchio ran all the way to Farmer John's house. The
Farmer said to him:
"How much milk do you want?"
"I want a full glass."
"A full glass costs a penny. First give me the penny."
"I have no penny," answered Pinocchio, sad and ashamed.
"Very bad, my Marionette," answered the Farmer,
"very bad. If you have no penny, I have no milk."
"Too bad," said Pinocchio and started to go.
"Wait a moment," said Farmer John. "Perhaps we can come to terms.
Do you know how to draw water from a well?"
"I can try."
"Then go to that well you see yonder and draw one
hundred bucketfuls of water."
"Very well."
"After you have finished, I shall give you a glass of
warm sweet milk."
"I am satisfied."
Farmer John took the Marionette to the well and showed
him how to draw the water. Pinocchio set to work as well
as he knew how, but long before he had pulled up the one
hundred buckets, he was tired out and dripping with
perspiration. He had never worked so hard in his life.
"Until today," said the Farmer, "my donkey has drawn
the water for me, but now that poor animal is dying."
"Will you take me to see him?" said Pinocchio.
"Gladly."
As soon as Pinocchio went into the stable, he spied a
little Donkey lying on a bed of straw in the corner of the
stable. He was worn out from hunger and too much work.
After looking at him a long time, he said to himself:
"I know that Donkey! I have seen him before."
And bending low over him, he asked: "Who are you?"
At this question, the Donkey opened weary, dying eyes
and answered in the same tongue: "I am Lamp-Wick."
Then he closed his eyes and died.
"Oh, my poor Lamp-Wick," said Pinocchio in a faint voice,
as he wiped his eyes with some straw he had picked up from the ground.
"Do you feel so sorry for a little donkey that has cost you nothing?"
said the Farmer. "What should I do--I, who have paid my good money for him?"
"But, you see, he was my friend."
"Your friend?"
"A classmate of mine."
"What," shouted Farmer John, bursting out laughing.
"What! You had donkeys in your school? How you must
have studied!"
The Marionette, ashamed and hurt by those words, did not answer,
but taking his glass of milk returned to his father.
From that day on, for more than five months, Pinocchio
got up every morning just as dawn was breaking and went
to the farm to draw water. And every day he was given
a glass of warm milk for his poor old father, who grew
stronger and better day by day. But he was not satisfied
with this. He learned to make baskets of reeds and sold
them. With the money he received, he and his father were
able to keep from starving.
Among other things, he built a rolling chair, strong and
comfortable, to take his old father out for an airing on
bright, sunny days.
In the evening the Marionette studied by lamplight.
With some of the money he had earned, he bought himself
a secondhand volume that had a few pages missing, and
with that he learned to read in a very short time. As far as
writing was concerned, he used a long stick at one end of
which he had whittled a long, fine point. Ink he had none,
so he used the juice of blackberries or cherries.
Little by little his diligence was rewarded. He
succeeded, not only in his studies, but also in his work, and a
day came when he put enough money together to keep his
old father comfortable and happy. Besides this, he was
able to save the great amount of fifty pennies. With it he
wanted to buy himself a new suit.
One day he said to his father:
"I am going to the market place to buy myself a coat, a
cap, and a pair of shoes. When I come back I'll be so
dressed up, you will think I am a rich man."
He ran out of the house and up the road to the village,
laughing and singing. Suddenly he heard his name called,
and looking around to see whence the voice came, he
noticed a large snail crawling out of some bushes.
"Don't you recognize me?" said the Snail.
"Yes and no."
"Do you remember the Snail that lived with the Fairy
with Azure Hair? Do you not remember how she opened
the door for you one night and gave you something to eat?"
"I remember everything," cried Pinocchio. "Answer
me quickly, pretty Snail, where have you left my Fairy?
What is she doing? Has she forgiven me? Does she
remember me? Does she still love me? Is she very far away
from here? May I see her?"
At all these questions, tumbling out one after another,
the Snail answered, calm as ever:
"My dear Pinocchio, the Fairy is lying ill in a hospital."
"In a hospital?"
"Yes, indeed. She has been stricken with trouble and illness,
and she hasn't a penny left with which to buy a bite of bread."
"Really? Oh, how sorry I am! My poor, dear little Fairy!
If I had a million I should run to her with it! But I
have only fifty pennies. Here they are. I was just going to
buy some clothes. Here, take them, little Snail, and give
them to my good Fairy."
"What about the new clothes?"
"What does that matter? I should like to sell these rags
I have on to help her more. Go, and hurry. Come back
here within a couple of days and I hope to have more
money for you! Until today I have worked for my father.
Now I shall have to work for my mother also. Good-by,
and I hope to see you soon."
The Snail, much against her usual habit, began to run
like a lizard under a summer sun.
When Pinocchio returned home, his father asked him:
"And where is the new suit?"
"I couldn't find one to fit me. I shall have to look again
some other day."
That night, Pinocchio, instead of going to bed at ten
o'clock waited until midnight, and instead of making
eight baskets, he made sixteen.
After that he went to bed and fell asleep. As he slept,
he dreamed of his Fairy, beautiful, smiling, and happy,
who kissed him and said to him, "Bravo, Pinocchio! In
reward for your kind heart, I forgive you for all your
old mischief. Boys who love and take good care of their
parents when they are old and sick, deserve praise even
though they may not be held up as models of obedience
and good behavior. Keep on doing so well, and you will be happy."
At that very moment, Pinocchio awoke and opened wide his eyes.
What was his surprise and his joy when, on looking
himself over, he saw that he was no longer a Marionette,
but that he had become a real live boy! He looked all
about him and instead of the usual walls of straw,
he found himself in a beautifully furnished little room,
the prettiest he had ever seen. In a twinkling, he jumped
down from his bed to look on the chair standing near.
There, he found a new suit, a new hat, and a pair of shoes.
As soon as he was dressed, he put his hands in his
pockets and pulled out a little leather purse on which were
written the following words:
The Fairy with Azure Hair returns
fifty pennies to her dear Pinocchio
with many thanks for his kind heart.
The Marionette opened the purse to find the money,
and behold--there were fifty gold coins!
Pinocchio ran to the mirror. He hardly recognized himself.
The bright face of a tall boy looked at him with wide-awake blue eyes,
dark brown hair and happy, smiling lips.
Surrounded by so much splendor, the Marionette hardly
knew what he was doing. He rubbed his eyes two or three times,
wondering if he were still asleep or awake and decided he must be awake.
"And where is Father?" he cried suddenly. He ran
into the next room, and there stood Geppetto, grown years
younger overnight, spick and span in his new clothes and
gay as a lark in the morning. He was once more Mastro
Geppetto, the wood carver, hard at work on a lovely
picture frame, decorating it with flowers and leaves, and
heads of animals.
"Father, Father, what has happened? Tell me if you can,"
cried Pinocchio, as he ran and jumped on his Father's neck.
"This sudden change in our house is all your doing,
my dear Pinocchio," answered Geppetto.
"What have I to do with it?"
"Just this. When bad boys become good and kind,
they have the power of making their homes gay and new
with happiness."
"I wonder where the old Pinocchio of wood has hidden himself?"
"There he is," answered Geppetto. And he pointed
to a large Marionette leaning against a chair, head turned
to one side, arms hanging limp, and legs twisted under him.
After a long, long look, Pinocchio said to himself with
great content:
"How ridiculous I was as a Marionette! And how
happy I am, now that I have become a real boy!"