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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...
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,* on account of the wig he always wore which was just the color of yellow corn. * Cornmeal mushGeppetto 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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Chapter 7
Geppetto returns home and gives his own breakfast to the MarionetteThe 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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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;...
Chapter 13
The Inn of the Red LobsterCat 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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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 PINOCCHIOThe 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!...
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...
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,”...
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...
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...
Chapter 28
Pinocchio runs the danger of being fried in a pan like a fishDuring 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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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....
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...
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...
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...
