The Dog Seizes Pinocchio and Escapes
Just as the fisherman was on the point of throwing Pinocchio into the frying-pan a large dog entered the cave, enticed there by the strong and savory odor of fried fish.
"Get out!" shouted the fisherman, threateningly, holding the floured puppet in his hand.
But the poor dog, who was as hungry as a wolf, whined and wagged his tail as much as to say:
"Give me a mouthful of fish and I will leave you in peace."
"Get out, I tell you!" repeated the fisherman and he stretched out his leg to give him a kick.
But the dog, who, when he was really hungry, would not stand trifling, turned upon him, growling and showing his terrible tusks.
At that moment a little feeble voice was heard in the cave, saying entreatingly:
"Save me, Alidoro! If you do not save me I shall be fried!"
The dog recognized Pinocchio's voice and, to his extreme surprise, perceived that it proceeded from the floured bundle that the fisherman held in his hand.
So what do you think he did? He made a spring, seized the bundle in his mouth, and, holding it gently between his teeth, he rushed out of the cave and was gone like a flash of lightning.
The fisherman, furious at seeing a fish he was so anxious to eat snatched from him, ran after the dog, but he had not gone many steps when he was taken with a fit of coughing and had to give it up.
Alidoro, when he had reached the path that led to the village, stopped and put his friend Pinocchio gently on the ground.
"How much I have to thank you for!" said the puppet.
"There is no necessity," replied the dog. "You saved me and I have now returned it. You know that we must all help each other in this world."
"But how came you to come to the cave?"
"I was lying on the shore more dead than alive when the wind brought to me the smell of fried fish. The smell excited my appetite and I followed it up. If I had arrived a second later—"
"Do not mention it!" groaned Pinocchio, who was still trembling with fright. "Do not mention it! If you had arrived a second later I should by this time have been fried, eaten and digested. Brrr! It makes me shudder only to think of it!"
Alidoro, laughing, extended his right paw to the puppet, who shook it heartily in token of great friendship, and they then separated.
The dog took the road home, and Pinocchio, left alone, went to a cottage not far off and said to a little old man who was warming himself in the sun:
"Tell me, good man, do you know anything of a poor boy called Eugene who was wounded in the head?"
"The boy was brought by some fishermen to this cottage, and now—"
"And now he is dead!" interrupted Pinocchio with great sorrow.
"No, he is alive and has returned to his home."
"Not really? not really?" cried the puppet, dancing with delight. "Then the wound was not serious?"
"It might have been very serious and even fatal," answered the little old man, "for they threw a thick book bound in cardboard at his head."
"And who threw it at him?"
"One of his school-fellows, a certain Pinocchio."
"And who is this Pinocchio?" asked the puppet, pretending ignorance.
"They say that he is a bad boy, a vagabond, a regular good-for-nothing."
"Calumnies! all calumnies!"
"Do you know this Pinocchio?"
"By sight!" answered the puppet.
"And what is your opinion of him?" asked the little man.
"He seems to me to be a very good boy, anxious to learn, and obedient and affectionate to his father and family."
Whilst the puppet was firing off all these lies, he touched his nose and perceived that it had lengthened more than a hand. Very much alarmed he began to cry out:
"Don't believe, good man, what I have been telling you. I know Pinocchio very well and I can assure you that he is a very bad boy, disobedient and idle, who, instead of going to school, runs off with his companions to amuse himself."
He had hardly finished speaking when his nose became shorter and returned to the same size that it was before.
"And why are you all covered with white?" asked the old man suddenly.
"I will tell you. Without observing it I rubbed myself against a wall which had been freshly whitewashed," answered the puppet, ashamed to confess that he had been floured like a fish prepared for the frying-pan.
"And what have you done with your jacket, your trousers, and your cap?"
"I met with robbers, who took them from me. Tell me, good old man, could you perhaps give me some clothes to return home in?"
"My boy, as to clothes, I have nothing but a little sack in which I keep beans. If you wish for it, take it; there it is."
Pinocchio did not wait to be told twice. He took the sack at once and with a pair of scissors he cut a hole at the end and at each side, and put it on like a shirt. And with this slight clothing he set off for the village.
But as he went he did not feel at all comfortable—so little so, indeed, that for a step forward he took another backwards, and he said, talking to himself:
"How shall I ever present myself to my good little Fairy? What will she say when she sees me? Will she forgive me this second escapade? Oh, I am sure that she will not forgive me! And it serves me right, for I am a rascal. I am always promising to correct myself and I never keep my word!"
When he reached the village it was night and very dark. A storm had come on and as the rain was coming down in torrents he went straight to the Fairy's house, resolved to knock at the door.
But when he was there his courage failed him and instead of knocking he ran away some twenty paces. He returned to the door a second time and laid hold of the knocker, and, trembling, gave a little knock.
He waited and waited. At last, after half an hour had passed, a window on the top floor was opened—the house was four stories high—and Pinocchio saw a big Snail with a lighted candle on her head looking out. She called to him:
"Who is there at this hour?"
"Is the Fairy at home?" asked the puppet.
"The Fairy is asleep and must not be awakened; but who are you?"
"It is I."
"Who is I?"
"Pinocchio."
"And who is Pinocchio?"
"The puppet who lives in the Fairy's house."
"Ah, I understand!" said the Snail. "Wait for me there. I will come down and open the door directly."
"Be quick, for pity's sake, for I am dying of cold."
"My boy, I am a snail, and snails are never in a hurry."
An hour passed, and then two, and the door was not opened. Pinocchio, who was wet through and through, and trembling from cold and fear, at last took courage and knocked again, and this time he knocked louder.
At this second knock a window on the lower story opened and the same Snail appeared at it.
"Beautiful little Snail," cried Pinocchio from the street, "I have been waiting for two hours! And two hours on such a bad night seem longer than two years. Be quick, for pity's sake."
"My boy," answered the calm little animal—"my boy, I am a snail, and snails are never in a hurry."
And the window was shut again.
Shortly afterwards midnight struck; then one o'clock, then two o'clock, and the door remained still closed.
Pinocchio at last, losing all patience, seized the knocker in a rage, intending to give a blow that would resound through the house. But the knocker, which was iron, turned suddenly into an eel and, slipping out of his hands, disappeared in the stream of water that ran down the middle of the street.
"Ah! is that it?" shouted Pinocchio, blind with rage. "Since the knocker has disappeared, I will kick instead with all my might."
And, drawing a little back, he gave a tremendous kick against the house door. The blow was indeed so violent that his foot went through the wood and stuck; and when he tried to draw it back again it was trouble thrown away, for it remained fixed like a nail that has been hammered down.
Think of poor Pinocchio! He was obliged to spend the remainder of the night with one foot on the ground and the other in the air.
The following morning at daybreak the door was at last opened. The clever little Snail had taken only nine hours to come down from the fourth story to the house-door. It is evident that her exertions must have been great.
"What are you doing with your foot stuck in the door?" she asked the puppet.
"It was an accident. Do try, beautiful little Snail, if you cannot release me from this torture."
"My boy, that is the work of a carpenter, and I have never been a carpenter."
"Beg the Fairy from me!"
"The Fairy is asleep and must not be awakened."
"But what do you suppose that I can do all day nailed to this door?"
"Amuse yourself by counting the ants that pass down the street."
"Bring me at least something to eat, for I am quite exhausted."
"At once," said the Snail.
In fact, after three hours and a half she returned to Pinocchio carrying a silver tray on her head. The tray contained a loaf of bread, a roast chicken, and four ripe apricots.
"Here is the breakfast that the Fairy has sent you," said the Snail.
The puppet felt very much comforted at the sight of these good things. But when he began to eat them, what was his disgust at making the discovery that the bread was plaster, the chicken cardboard, and the four apricots painted alabaster.
He wanted to cry. In his desperation he tried to throw away the tray and all that was on it; but instead, either from grief or exhaustion, he fainted away.
When he came to himself he found that he was lying on a sofa, and the Fairy was beside him.
"I will pardon you once more," the Fairy said, "but woe to you if you behave badly a third time!"
Pinocchio promised and swore that he would study, and that for the future he would always conduct himself well.
And he kept his word for the remainder of the year. Indeed, at the examinations before the holidays, he had the honor of being the first in the school, and his behavior in general was so satisfactory and praiseworthy that the Fairy was very much pleased, and said to him:
"Tomorrow your wish shall be gratified."
"And that is?"
"Tomorrow you shall cease to be a wooden puppet and you shall become a boy."
No one who had not witnessed it could ever imagine Pinocchio's joy at this long-sighed-for good fortune. All his school-fellows were to be invited for the following day to a grand breakfast at the Fairy's house, that they might celebrate together the great event. The Fairy had prepared two hundred cups of coffee and milk, and four hundred rolls cut and buttered on each side. The day promised to be most happy and delightful, but—
Unfortunately in the lives of puppets there is always a "but" that spoils everything.
"Here Is the Coach!" Shouted Candlewick
Pinocchio, as was natural, asked the Fairy's permission to go round the town to give out the invitations, and the Fairy said to him:
"Go, if you like, and invite your companions for the breakfast tomorrow, but remember to return home before dark. Have you understood?"
"I promise to be back in an hour," answered the puppet.
"Take care, Pinocchio! Boys are always very ready to promise, but generally they are little given to keep their word."
"But I am not like other boys. When I say a thing, I do it."
"We shall see. If you are disobedient, so much the worse for you."
"Why?"
"Because boys who do not listen to the advice of those who know more than they do always meet with some misfortune or other."
"I have experienced that," said Pinocchio, "but I shall never make that mistake again."
"We shall see if that is true."
Without saying more the puppet took leave of his good Fairy, who was like a mamma to him, and went out of the house singing and dancing.
In less than an hour all his friends were invited. Some accepted at once heartily; others at first required pressing; but when they heard that the rolls to be eaten with the coffee were to be buttered on both sides they ended by saying:
"We will come also, to do you a pleasure."
Now I must tell you that amongst Pinocchio's friends and school-fellows there was one that he greatly preferred and was very fond of. This boy's name was Romeo, but he always went by the nickname of Candlewick, because he was so thin, straight and bright, like the new wick of a little nightlight.
Candlewick was the laziest and the naughtiest boy in the school, but Pinocchio was devoted to him. He had indeed gone at once to his house to invite him to the breakfast, but he had not found him. He returned a second time, but Candlewick was not there. He went a third time, but it was in vain. Where could he search for him? He looked here, there, and everywhere, and at last he saw him hiding on the porch of a peasant's cottage.
"What are you doing there?" asked Pinocchio, coming up to him.
"I am waiting for midnight, to start away."
"And where are you going?"
"I am going to live in a country—the most delightful country in the world: a real land of sweetmeats!"
"And what is it called?"
"It is called the 'Land of Boobies.' Why do you not come, too?"
"I? No, never!"
"You are wrong, Pinocchio. If you do not come you will repent it. Where could you find a better country for us boys? There are no schools there; there are no masters; there are no books. In that delightful land nobody ever studies. On Saturday there is never school, and every week consists of six Saturdays and one Sunday. Only think, the autumn holidays begin on the first of January and finish on the last day of December. That is the country for me! That is what all civilized countries should be like!"
"But how are the days spent in the 'Land of Boobies'?"
They are spent in play and amusement from morning till night. When night comes you go to bed, and recommence the same life in the morning. What do you think of it?"
"Hum!" said Pinocchio, and he shook his head slightly, as much as to say, "That is a life that I also would willingly lead."
"Well, will you go with me? Yes or no? Resolve quickly."
"No, no, no, and again no. I promised my good Fairy to become a well conducted boy, and I will keep my word. And as I see that the sun is setting I must leave you at once and run away. Good-bye, and a pleasant journey to you."
"Where are you rushing off to in such a hurry?"
"Home. My good Fairy wishes me to be back before dark."
"Wait another two minutes."
"It will make me too late."
"Only two minutes."
"And if the Fairy scolds me?"
"Let her scold. When she has scolded well she will hold her tongue," said that rascal Candlewick.
"And what are you going to do? Are you going alone or with companions?"
"Alone? Indeed not, there will be more than a hundred boys."
"And do you make the journey on foot?"
"A coach will pass by shortly which is to take me to that happy country."
"What would I not give for the coach to pass by now!"
"Why?"
"That I might see you all start together."
"Stay here a little longer and you will see us."
"No, no, I must go home."
"Wait another two minutes."
"I have already delayed too long. The Fairy will be anxious about me."
"Poor Fairy! Is she afraid that the bats will eat you?"
"But now," continued Pinocchio, "are you really certain that there are no schools in that country?"
"Not even the shadow of one."
"And no masters either?"
"Not one."
"And no one is ever made to study?"
"Never, never, never!"
"What a delightful country!" said Pinocchio, his mouth watering. "What a delightful country! I have never been there, but I can quite imagine it."
"Why will you not come also?"
"It is useless to tempt me. I promised my good Fairy to become a sensible boy, and I will not break my word."
"Good-bye, then, and give my compliments to all the boys at school, if you meet them in the street."
"Good-bye, Candlewick; a pleasant journey to you; amuse yourself, and think sometimes of your friends."
Thus saying, the puppet made two steps to go, but then stopped, and, turning to his friend, he inquired:
"But are you quite certain that in that country all the weeks consist of six Saturdays and one Sunday?"
"Most certainly."
"But do you know for certain that the holidays begin on the first of January and finish on the last day of December?"
"Assuredly."
"What a delightful country!" repeated Pinocchio, looking enchanted. Then, with a resolute air, he added in a great hurry:
"This time really good-bye, and a pleasant journey to you."
"Good-bye."
"When do you start?"
"Shortly."
"What a pity! If really it wanted only an hour to the time of your start, I should almost be tempted to wait."
"And the Fairy?"
"It is already late. If I return home an hour sooner or later it will be all the same."
"Poor Pinocchio! And if the Fairy scolds you?"
"I must have patience! I will let her scold. When she has scolded well she will hold her tongue."
In the meantime night had come on and it was quite dark. Suddenly they saw in the distance a small light moving and they heard a noise of talking, and the sound of a trumpet, but so small and feeble that it resembled the hum of a mosquito.
"Here it is!" shouted Candlewick, jumping to his feet.
"What is it?" asked Pinocchio in a whisper.
"It is the coach coming to take me. Now will you come, yes or no?"
"But is it really true," asked the puppet, "that in that country boys are never obliged to study?"
"Never, never, never!"
"What a delightful country! What a delightful country! What a delightful country!"
IT WOULD BE MORE COMFORTABLE ON THE TUNNY'S BACK
They Arrive in the "Land of the Boobies"
At last the coach arrived, and it arrived without making the slightest noise, for its wheels were bound round with flax and rags.
It was drawn by twelve pairs of donkeys, all the same size but of different colors.
Some were gray, some white, some brindled like pepper and salt, and others had large stripes of yellow and blue.
But the most extraordinary thing was this: the twelve pairs, that is, the twenty-four donkeys, instead of being shod like other beasts of burden, had on their feet men's boots made of white kid.
And the coachman?
Picture to yourself a little man broader than he was long, flabby and greasy like a lump of butter, with a small round face like an orange, a little mouth that was always laughing, and a soft, caressing voice like a cat when she is trying to insinuate herself into the good graces of the mistress of the house.
All the boys vied with each other in taking places in his coach, to be conducted to the "Land of Boobies."
The coach was, in fact, quite full of boys between eight and fourteen years old, heaped one upon another like herrings in a barrel. They were uncomfortable, packed closely together and could hardly breathe; but nobody said "Oh!"—nobody grumbled. The consolation of knowing that in a few hours they would reach a country where there were no books, no schools, and no masters, made them so happy and resigned that they felt neither fatigue nor inconvenience, neither hunger, nor thirst, nor want of sleep.
As soon as the coach had drawn up the little man turned to Candlewick and with a thousand smirks and grimaces said to him, smiling:
"Tell me, my fine boy, would you also like to go to that fortunate country?"
"I certainly wish to go."
"But I must warn you, my dear child, that there is not a place left in the coach. You can see for yourself that it is quite full."
"No matter," replied Candlewick, "if there is no place inside, I will manage to sit on the springs."
And, giving a leap, he seated himself astride on the springs.
"And you, my love!" said the little man, turning in a flattering manner to Pinocchio, "what do you intend to do? Are you coming with us or are you going to remain behind?"
"I remain behind," answered Pinocchio. "I am going home. I intend to study, as all well conducted boys do."
"Much good may it do you!"
"Pinocchio!" called out Candlewick, "listen to me: come with us and we shall have such fun."
"No, no, no!"
"Come with us and we shall have such fun," shouted in chorus a hundred voices from the inside of the coach.
"But if I come with you, what will my good Fairy say?" said the puppet, who was beginning to yield.
"Do not trouble your head with melancholy thoughts. Consider only that we are going to a country where we shall be at liberty to run riot from morning till night."
Pinocchio did not answer, but he sighed; he sighed again; he sighed for the third time, and he said finally:
"Make a little room for me, for I am coming, too."
"The places are all full," replied the little man; "but, to show you how welcome you are, you shall have my seat on the box."
"And you?"
"Oh, I will go on foot."
"No, indeed, I could not allow that. I would rather mount one of these donkeys," cried Pinocchio.
Approaching the right-hand donkey of the first pair, he attempted to mount him, but the animal turned on him and, giving him a great blow in the stomach, rolled him over with his legs in the air.
You can imagine the impertinent and immoderate laughter of all the boys who witnessed this scene.
But the little man did not laugh. He approached the rebellious donkey and, pretending to give him a kiss, bit off half of his ear.
Pinocchio in the meantime had gotten up from the ground in a fury and, with a spring, he seated himself on the poor animal's back. And he sprang so well that the boys stopped laughing and began to shout: "Hurrah, Pinocchio!" and they clapped their hands and applauded him as if they would never finish.
Now that Pinocchio was mounted, the coach started. Whilst the donkeys were galloping and the coach was rattling over the stones of the high road, the puppet thought that he heard a low voice that was scarcely audible saying to him:
"Poor fool! you would follow your own way, but you will repent it!"
Pinocchio, feeling almost frightened, looked from side to side to try and discover where these words could come from, but he saw nobody. The donkeys galloped, the coach rattled, the boys inside slept, Candlewick snored like a dormouse, and the little man seated on the box sang between his teeth:
"During the night all sleep,But I sleep never."
"During the night all sleep,But I sleep never."
After they had gone another mile, Pinocchio heard the same little low voice saying to him:
"Bear it in mind, simpleton! Boys who refuse to study and turn their backs upon books, schools and masters, to pass their time in play and amusement, sooner or later come to a bad end. I know it by experience, and I can tell you. A day will come when you will weep as I am weeping now, but then it will be too late!"
On hearing these words whispered very softly, the puppet, more frightened than ever, sprang down from the back of his donkey and went and took hold of his mouth.
Imagine his surprise when he found that the donkey was crying—crying like a boy!
"Eh! Sir Coachman," cried Pinocchio to the little man, "here is an extraordinary thing! This donkey is crying."
"Let him cry; he will laugh when he is a bridegroom."
"But have you by chance taught him to talk?"
"No; but he spent three years in a company of learned dogs, and he learned to mutter a few words."
"Poor beast!"
"Come, come," said the little man, "don't let us waste time in seeing a donkey cry. Mount him and let us go on: the night is cold and the road is long."
Pinocchio obeyed without another word. In the morning about daybreak they arrived safely in the "Land of Boobies."
It was a country unlike any other country in the world. The population was composed entirely of boys. The oldest were fourteen, and the youngest scarcely eight years old. In the streets there was such merriment, noise and shouting that it was enough to turn anybody's head. There were troops of boys everywhere. Some were playing with nuts, some with battledores, some with balls. Some rode velocipedes, others wooden horses. A party were playing at hide and seek, a few were chasing each other. Some were reciting, some singing, some leaping. Some were amusing themselves with walking on their hands with their feet in the air; others were trundling hoops or strutting about dressed as generals, wearing leaf helmets and commanding a squadron of cardboard soldiers. Some were laughing, some shouting, some were calling out; others clapped their hands, or whistled, or clucked like a hen who has just laid an egg.
In every square, canvas theaters had been erected and they were crowded with boys from morning till evening. On the walls of the houses there were inscriptions written in charcoal: "Long live playthings, we will have no more schools; down with arithmetic," and similar other fine sentiments, all in bad spelling.
Pinocchio, Candlewick and the other boys who had made the journey with the little man, had scarcely set foot in the town before they were in the thick of the tumult, and I need not tell you that in a few minutes they had made acquaintance with everybody. Where could happier or more contented boys be found?
In the midst of continual games and every variety of amusement, the hours, the days and the weeks passed like lightning.
"Oh, what a delightful life!" said Pinocchio, whenever by chance he met Candlewick.
"See, then, if I was not right?" replied the other. "And to think that you did not want to come! To think that you had taken it into your head to return home to your Fairy, and to lose your time in studying! If you are this moment free from the bother of books and school, you must acknowledge that you owe it to me, to my advice, and to my persuasions. It is only friends who know how to render such great services."
"It is true, Candlewick! If I am now a really happy boy, it is all your doing. But do you know what the master used to say when he talked to me of you? He always said to me: 'Do not associate with that rascal Candlewick, for he is a bad companion, and will only lead you into mischief!'"
"Poor master!" replied the other, shaking his head. "I know only too well that he disliked me, and amused himself by calumniating me; but I am generous and I forgive him!"
"Noble soul!" said Pinocchio, embracing his friend affectionately and kissing him between the eyes.
This delightful life had gone on for five months. The days had been entirely spent in play and amusement, without a thought of books or school, when one morning Pinocchio awoke to a most disagreeable surprise that put him into a very bad humor.
The Boys Are Turned into Donkeys
The surprise was that Pinocchio, when he awoke, scratched his head, and in scratching his head he discovered, to his great astonishment, that his ears had grown more than a hand.
You know that the puppet from his birth had always had very small ears—so small that they were not visible to the naked eye. You can imagine then what he felt when he found that during the night his ears had become so long that they seemed like two brooms.
He went at once in search of a glass that he might look at himself, but, not being able to find one, he filled the basin of his washing-stand with water, and he saw reflected what he certainly would never have wished to see. He saw his head embellished with a magnificent pair of donkey's ears!
Only think of poor Pinocchio's sorrow, shame and despair!
He began to cry and roar, and he beat his head against the wall, but the more he cried the longer his ears grew; they grew, and grew, and became hairy towards the points.
At the sound of his loud outcries a beautiful little Marmot that lived on the first floor came into the room. Seeing the puppet in such grief she asked earnestly:
"What has happened to you, my dear fellow-lodger?"
"I am ill, my dear little Marmot, very ill, and my illness frightens me. Do you understand counting a pulse?"
"A little."
"Then feel and see if by chance I have got fever."
The little Marmot raised her right fore-paw, and, after having felt Pinocchio's pulse, she said to him, sighing:
"My friend, I am grieved to be obliged to give you bad news!"
"What is it?"
"You have got a very bad fever!"
"What fever is it?"
"It is donkey fever."
"That is a fever that I do not understand," said the puppet, but he understood it only too well.
"Then I will explain it to you," said the Marmot. "You must know that in two or three hours you will be no longer a puppet, or a boy."
"Then what shall I be?"
"In two or three hours you will become really and truly a little donkey, like those that draw carts and carry cabbages and salad to market."
"Oh, unfortunate that I am! unfortunate that I am!" cried Pinocchio, seizing his two ears with his hands and pulling them and tearing them furiously as if they had been some one else's ears.
"My dear boy," said the Marmot, by way of consoling him, "you can do nothing. It is destiny. It is written in the decrees of wisdom that all boys who are lazy, and who take a dislike to books, to schools, and to masters, and who pass their time in amusement, games, and diversions, must end sooner or later by becoming transformed into so many little donkeys."
"But is it really so?" asked the puppet, sobbing.
"It is indeed only too true! And tears are now useless. You should have thought of it sooner!"
"But it was not my fault; believe me, little Marmot, the fault was all Candlewick's!"
"And who is this Candlewick?"
"One of my school-fellows. I wanted to return home; I wanted to be obedient. I wished to study, but Candlewick said to me: 'Why should you bother yourself by studying? Why should you go to school? Come with us instead to the "Land of Boobies"; there we shall none of us have to learn; there we shall amuse ourselves from morning to night, and we shall always be merry'."
"And why did you follow the advice of that false friend? of that bad companion?"
"Why? Because, my dear little Marmot, I am a puppet with no sense, and with no heart. Ah! if I had had the least heart I should never have left that good Fairy who loved me like a mamma, and who had done so much for me! And I would be no longer a puppet, for I would by this time have become a little boy like so many others: But if I meet Candlewick, woe to him! He shall hear what I think of him!"
And he turned to go out. But when he reached the door he remembered his donkey's ears, and, feeling ashamed to show them in public, what do you think he did? He took a big cotton cap and, putting it on his head, he pulled it well down over the point of his nose.
He then set out and went everywhere in search of Candlewick. He looked for him in the streets, in the squares, in the little theaters, in every possible place, but he could not find him. He inquired for him of everybody he met, but no one had seen him.
He then went to seek him at his house and, having reached the door, he knocked.
"Who is there?" asked Candlewick from within.
"It is I!" answered the puppet.
"Wait a moment and I will let you in."
After half an hour the door was opened and imagine Pinocchio's feelings when, upon going into the room, he saw his friend Candlewick with a big cotton cap on his head which came down over his nose.
At the sight of the cap Pinocchio felt almost consoled and thought to himself:
"Has my friend got the same illness that I have? Is he also suffering from donkey fever?"
And, pretending to have observed nothing, he asked him, smiling:
"How are you, my dear Candlewick?"
"Very well; as well as a mouse in a Parmesan cheese."
"Are you saying that seriously?"
"Why should I tell you a lie?"
"Excuse me; but why, then, do you keep that cotton cap on your head which covers up your ears?"
"The doctor ordered me to wear it because I have hurt this knee. And you, dear puppet, why have you got on that cotton cap pulled down over your nose?"
"The doctor prescribed it because I have grazed my foot."
"Oh, poor Pinocchio!"
"Oh, poor Candlewick!"
After these words a long silence followed, during which the two friends did nothing but look mockingly at each other.
At last the puppet said in a soft voice to his companion:
"Satisfy my curiosity, my dear Candlewick: have you ever suffered from disease of the ears?"
"Never! And you?"
"Never. Only since this morning one of my ears aches."
"Mine is also paining me."
"You also? And which of your ears hurts you?"
"Both of them. And you?"
"Both of them. Can we have got the same illness?"
"I fear so."
"Will you do me a kindness, Candlewick?"
"Willingly! With all my heart."
"Will you let me see your ears?"
"Why not? But first, my dear Pinocchio, I should like to see yours."
"No: you must be first."
"No, dear. First you and then I!"
"Well," said the puppet, "let us come to an agreement like good friends."
"Let us hear it."
"We will both take off our caps at the same moment. Do you agree?"
"I agree."
"Then, attention!"
And Pinocchio began to count in a loud voice:
"One, two, three!"
At the word "Three!" the two boys took off their caps and threw them into the air.
And then a scene followed that would seem incredible if it were not true. That is, that when Pinocchio and Candlewick discovered that they were both struck with the same misfortune, instead of feeling full of mortification and grief, they began to prick their ungainly ears and to make a thousand antics, and they ended by going into bursts of laughter.
And they laughed, and laughed, and laughed, until they had to hold themselves together. But in the midst of their merriment Candlewick suddenly stopped, staggered, and, changing color, said to his friend:
"Help, help, Pinocchio!"
"What is the matter with you?"
"Alas, I cannot any longer stand upright."
"Neither can I," exclaimed Pinocchio, tottering and beginning to cry.
And whilst they were talking, they both doubled up and began to run round the room on their hands and feet. And as they ran, their hands became hoofs, their faces lengthened into muzzles, and their backs became covered with a light gray hairy coat sprinkled with black.
But do you know what was the worst moment for these two wretched boys? The worst and the most humiliating moment was when their tails grew. Vanquished by shame and sorrow, they wept and lamented their fate.
Oh, if they had but been wiser! But instead of sighs and lamentations they could only bray like asses; and they brayed loudly and said in chorus: "Hee-haw!"
Whilst this was going on some one knocked at the door and a voice on the outside said:
"Open the door! I am the little man, I am the coachman who brought you to this country. Open at once, or it will be the worse for you!"
The Little Donkeys Are Sold
Finding that the door remained shut the little man burst it open with a violent kick and, coming into the room, he said to Pinocchio and Candlewick with his usual little laugh:
"Well done, boys! You brayed well, and I recognized you by your voices. That is why I am here."
At these words the two little donkeys were quite stupefied and stood with their heads down, their ears lowered, and their tails between their legs.
At first the little man stroked and caressed them; then, taking out a currycomb, he currycombed them well. And when by this process he had polished them till they shone like two mirrors, he put a halter round their necks and led them to the market-place, in hopes of selling them and making a good profit.
And indeed buyers were not wanting. Candlewick was bought by a peasant whose donkey had died the previous day. Pinocchio was sold to the director of a company of buffoons and tight-rope dancers, who bought him that he might teach him to leap and to dance with the other animals belonging to the company.
And now, my little readers, you will have understood the fine trade that little man pursued. The wicked little monster, who had a face all milk and honey, made frequent journeys round the world with his coach. As he went along he collected, with promises and flattery, all the idle boys who had taken a dislike to books and school. As soon as his coach was full he conducted them to the "Land of Boobies," that they might pass their time in games, in uproar, and in amusement. When these poor, deluded boys, from continual play and no study, had become so many little donkeys, he took possession of them with great delight and satisfaction, and carried them off to the fairs and markets to be sold. And in this way he had in a few years made heaps of money and had become a millionaire.
What became of Candlewick I do not know, but I do know that Pinocchio from the very first day had to endure a very hard, laborious life.
When he was put into his stall his master filled the manger with straw; but Pinocchio, having tried a mouthful, spat it out again.
Then his master, grumbling, filled the manger with hay; but neither did the hay please him.
"Ah!" exclaimed his master in a passion. "Does not hay please you either? Leave it to me, my fine donkey; if you are so full of caprices I will find a way to cure you!"
And by way of correcting him he struck his legs with his whip.
Pinocchio began to cry and to bray with pain, and he said, braying:
"Hee-haw! I cannot digest straw!"
"Then eat hay!" said his master, who understood perfectly the asinine dialect.
"Hee-haw! hay gives me a pain in my stomach."
"Do you mean to pretend that a little donkey like you must be kept on breasts of chickens, and capons in jelly?" asked his master, getting more and more angry, and whipping him again.
At this second whipping Pinocchio prudently held his tongue and said nothing more.
The stable was then shut and Pinocchio was left alone. He had not eaten for many hours and he began to yawn from hunger. And when he yawned he opened a mouth that seemed as wide as an oven.
At last, finding nothing else in the manger, he resigned himself and chewed a little hay; and after he had chewed it well, he shut his eyes and swallowed it.
"This hay is not bad," he said to himself; "but how much better it would have been if I had gone on with my studies! Instead of hay I might now be eating a hunch of new bread and a fine slice of sausage. But I must have patience!"
The next morning when he woke he looked in the manger for a little more hay; but he found none, for he had eaten it all during the night.
Then he took a mouthful of chopped straw, but whilst he was chewing it he had to acknowledge that the taste of chopped straw did not in the least resemble a savory dish of macaroni or pie.
"But I must have patience!" he repeated as he went on chewing. "May my example serve at least as a warning to all disobedient boys who do not want to study. Patience!"
"Patience indeed!" shouted his master, coming at that moment into the stable. "Do you think, my little donkey, that I bought you only to give you food and drink? I bought you to make you work, and that you might earn money for me. Up, then, at once! you must come with me into the circus, and there I will teach you to jump through hoops, to go through frames of paper head foremost, to dance waltzes and polkas, and to stand upright on your hind legs."
Poor Pinocchio, either by love or by force, had to learn all these fine things. But it took him three months before he had learned them, and he got many a whipping that nearly took off his skin.
At last a day came when his master was able to announce that he would give a really extraordinary representation. The many colored placards stuck on the street corners were thus worded:
Great Full Dress Representation
TONIGHTWill Take Place the Usual Feats and SurprisingPerformances Executed by All the Artistsand by all the horses of the companyand moreoverThe FamousLITTLE DONKEY PINOCCHIOcalledTHE STAR OF THE DANCEWill Make His First Appearance
the theater will be brilliantly illuminated