CHAPTER VIII
Down—down—Pinocchio sank, straight to the bottom of the sea.
And here we must remember that we are to think of Pinocchio as a real boy of flesh and blood. Only the shell was of wood. Otherwise he would have floated away on the surface of the water.
When he finally touched sand he felt half dead. It was not a very pleasant experience to fall through so much water.
After a while, feeling better, he got up and looked around. He was in a strange place, a place he had never seen before. Of Globicephalous there was no sign.
The poor boy was frightened almost to death. He thought a trick had been played upon him. But if he had had his wits about him, he would not have been so puzzled.
Poor thoughtless marionette! He did not remember how he had walked around in his explorations. He had fallen into the sea on the eastern side of the island, and Globicephalous was waiting for him on the southern side. But Pinocchio’s wooden mind knew nothing of east or south.
“Oh! poor me,” he could not help crying, “and now what shall I do? I cannot climb this steep rock. If I remain here, I shall be eaten in no time by some of these fish I see swimming around.”
In fact, immense tunnies were passing near him. Enormous rays, looking like giant fans, dashed by. Over him glided horrible uranoscopes, or stargazers.
These fish, like the halibut, have both eyes on the tops of their heads, and so can only see above them. Luckily, Pinocchio was under them, otherwise—
“I am afraid I am not very safe here,” observed Pinocchio, whose knees were beginning to feel weak. “If these fish notice me, I shall disappear. I do wish I could find dear old Globicephalous.”
Thoroughly frightened, he started to runmadly along. Of course he ran in the wrong direction.
“I wonder what this is,” he grumbled. He had stepped on something large and hard.
He pushed the thick seaweeds aside. In their midst he found a large turtle. For a wonder Pinocchio knew what it was.
“How fortunate you are!” sighed the marionette. “At least you have a house. In that armor of yours you are safe from anybody.”
But such did not seem to be the case. The harmless reptile was lying quietly in the weeds trying to sleep. But even though Pinocchio was in such a plight as to be lostin the sea, still the love of mischief had not left him. Taking the poor animal by its hind legs he turned it over on its back.
The poor thing struggled and tried to right itself, but all in vain. When a turtle is on its back, it has to stay there.
This is so well known that when fishermen catch them they turn them over, sure of finding them in the same position even a day later.
Seeing another shell near by, Pinocchio was about to treat it in the same manner. But as it felt very light he examined it closely. It was empty. The animal had probably been dead a long time, and the shell alone was left. It was almost a yard long.
As he was looking at it, he chanced to turn his head upward. Horrors! What did he see? An enormous animal was about to throw itself upon him!
No one had ever told Pinocchio what this fish was. Still, even he could easily guess its name. Its strange shape is so much like that of a large hammer that it is unmistakable. It was the terrible hammer that Tursio had spoken about.
“I am lost,” breathed Pinocchio, closing his eyes and throwing himself flat amongst the seaweed.
Who could have blamed the poor boy for being frightened? He had seen that large gray mass coming nearer and nearer with wide-open mouth. He hadseen the large black and gold eyes at the ends of the head, gleaming brightly with thinking of the coming feast. Poor fellow!
But just as he was imagining himself in the shark’s mouth Pinocchio realized that the minutes were passing and that he was still alive.
“He may have changed his mind about committing a marionetticide,” he reflected with eyes still closed.
Time passed, and thinking that the shark had not courage enough to attack him, Pinocchio had the courage to—open his eyes. He could hardly believe what he saw. The shark was moving away. Still, he could see that the fish was going because he had to, not because he wanted to. Looking more carefully then, he saw a strange sight. Three small fish were sticking to the sides of the hammerhead, and were pullinghim away. Our hero had never seen such strange-looking animals as those three fishes. They were small and narrow, and on their heads each had a large flat object, which looked just like a dish.
If the dolphins had been there, they would have told Pinocchio that these dark-colored fish are called remora. With the flat disk they can attach themselves to other fish. Sometimes they let themselves be carried. At other times, when they feel in the mood for mischief, they pull others along wherever they wish. This is what happened to the shark.
“Those fish certainly saved my life,” thought Pinocchio. “But I hope the shark won’t do to them what he wanted to do to me.”
Feeling in need of a place of safety, he tried to hide himself in a large hole in a rock.But he had hardly put one foot in, when he felt his shoe being pulled off by a large claw. Two eyes at the ends of two long sticks glared ferociously at him. It was a large lobster. Pinocchio had disturbed Mr. Lobster while he was looking for dinner, and so had been punished. Happily for Pinocchio the lobster was satisfied with the shoe! If the claw had taken hold of the foot also, it might even have gone through the wood, and then, poor Pinocchio!
In disturbing the lobster our hero must certainly have offended its whole family. Before he could realize it, the sand before him was full of horrible crustaceans. Frightened out of his wits, he could just look and wonder when they would stop coming. From every hole in the rock they came, little ones, big ones, flat ones, round ones.
And ready to fight they certainly were!With claws in the air and eyes roving madly they approached. Very carefully they looked the boy over. A lobster or a crab never begins to fight unless he knows what he has to deal with.
And still they kept coming! Wherever Pinocchio turned, there was a horrible creature. To the right the large mouth of a common lobster threatened him. To the left an ugly spiny lobster shook his claws at him. Behind and before him the sand was covered with them, large green crabs, common crabs, porcelain crabs, common lobster, spider crabs, glass crabs, tiny fiddlers, and others.
As if these were not enough, out of a hole came a crab larger than any of the others. He was rapidly coming nearer, but before long one of his claws was grasped by one lobster, the other by another. Without the least movement to fight, the crab just pulled off his claws, and quickly went back to his hole.
Pinocchio was thunderstruck. How could the crab do this so calmly? For the simple reason that the crab preferred losing his claws to being killed and eaten up. In a few months he would grow another set of claws as good as those he had lost. Yes, a crab can do that, children. Think of it!
“Oh, dear me!” thought Pinocchio, who was getting rather nervous by this time. “What is going to become of me? If only I had a shell as has a turtle I could hide away and be safe.”
“Oh! what a splendid idea!” he suddenly burst out. “Why didn’t I think of it before? I shall have a shell to hide in!”
And without another word he slipped into the shell he had been looking at. In a moment nothing could be seen of him, not even his nose.
The crustaceans did not understand with what kind of a being they had to deal. So after examining the shell all over, they slowly disappeared into their holes.
With a great sigh of relief Pinocchio dared to stick his head out of the shell. Seeing his shoe lying on the ground, he quickly put his foot in it. It was not very pleasant to walk on the sand without a shoe.
“If I do not hurry and find Globicephalous, this house of safety may become a house of death,” Pinocchio began to think after lying still a long time. “Perhaps if I try Imay be able to walk around like a hermit crab. Let me see.”
Slowly the marionette stuck out first one leg, then another; then his arms came out, and lastly his head appeared. Holding the shell with both hands he tried to walk around.... Impossible. After a few steps he was exhausted.
“Too bad! It is so comfortable here! If only I had a horse! ’Twould be like riding in a carriage!”
While he was thinking thus, he saw not far away four fish like the ones he had seen under the hammerhead. An idea flashed through his head.
“Oh, if I only could!... The horses!...” he whispered.
Trying very hard, he succeeded in dragging himself near them. The fish were very busy. They were looking for small crabs to eat,and paid no attention to him. Trembling in every limb, Pinocchio went on.
As soon as he was near them, he bent over slowly. How kind the little fish were! As soon as they felt the shell on their heads they stuck to it. Just what Pinocchio wanted! In a moment he felt himself rising in the air, or rather in the water. The remoras were strong and pulled him along swiftly.
“Hurrah! Here I am in a flying machine!” screamed Pinocchio, clapping his hands. “I feel like a prince, and not even a king has a carriage like mine! Hurrah!”