Pinocchio in Africa
Page 4
Lions, elephants, tigers, panthers,beautiful women dressed in silk and mounted on butterflies as large aseagles, men, in large boots, armed with knives and guns, palaces ofsilver and gold! All these and a great many more strange sights floatedbefore his dreaming eyes, while he could hear animals roaring, howling,and whistling to the sound of trumpets and drums.
At length the night ended and Pinocchio arose. First of all he went tobid farewell to his friends in the circus, but they were no longer tobe found. During the night the director had quietly stolen away withhis company.
"A pleasant journey to you!" said Pinocchio, and he began to search theground for a forgotten piece of gold, or some precious stone whichmight have fallen from a lady's diadem; but he found nothing.
"What shall I do now? Shall I go to Africa or to school? It might bebetter to go to school, for the teacher says that I am a little behindin reading, writing, composition, history, geography, and arithmetic.In other subjects I am not so dull. Yes, yes; it will certainly do memore good to go to school. Then I shall be a dunce no longer."
Having made this sensible decision, the marionette started for homewith the idea of studying his lessons and of going to school.
CHAPTER IXPINOCCHIO EATS DATES
Soon he met a man in a paper hat and a white apron. He was pushing acart filled with a kind of fruit that Pinocchio had never seen before.
"Dates! dates! fresh dates! sweet dates! real African dates!" came thecry.
"Even he speaks of Africa!" thought Pinocchio. "Africa seems to followme. But what has Africa to do with dates, and what are these dates? Ihave never heard of them." The man stopped; Pinocchio stopped also. Alady bought some of the dates, and it happened that one of them fell onthe ground. The marionette picked it up and handed it to her.
"Thank you," she said with a smile. "Keep it yourself; you have earnedit."
The man with the cart went on, "Dates! dates! fresh dates! sweet dates!real African dates!"
Pinocchio looked after him for a time and then put the date into hismouth. Great Caesar! How delicious! Never before had he tasted anythingso sweet. The orange peel was nothing compared with this! What thecircus people had told him, then, was really true!
"To Africa I go," he said, "even if I break a leg. What do I care aboutthe Red Sea, the Yellow Sea, the Green, or any other sea? I will go!"
And the rascal, forgetting his home and his father, who at that verymoment was waiting to give him his breakfast, set out toward the sea.
As he neared the water he heard a voice call, "Pinocchio! Pinocchio!"
The marionette stopped and looked around, but seeing no one, he wenton.
"Pinocchio! Pinocchio! Be careful! You know not what you do!"
"Farewell and many thanks," answered the stubborn marionette, andforthwith stepped into the sea.
"The water is like ice this morning. No wonder it makes me feel cold;but I know how to get rid of a chill. A good swim, and I am as warm asever." Out shot his arms and he plunged into the water. The journey toAfrica had begun.
At noon he still swam on. It grew dark and on he swam. Later the moonarose and grinned at him. He kept on swimming, without a sign offatigue, of hunger, or of sleepiness. A marionette can do things thatwould tire a real boy, and to Pinocchio swimming was no task at all.
CHAPTER XPINOCCHIO LANDS ON A ROCK
The moon grinned again and disappeared behind a cloud. The night grewdark. Pinocchio continued to swim through the black waters. He couldsee nothing ahead. He swam, swam, swam into the dark. Suddenly he feltsomething scrape his body, and he gave a start.
"Who goes there?" he cried. No one answered. "Perhaps it is my oldfriend the shark, who has recognized me," thought he; and he rapidlyswam on to get away from the spot which reminded him of that terriblemonster.
He had not gone more than fifty yards when his head ran againstsomething rough and hard. "Oh!" cried the marionette, and he raised hishand to the injured part.
Then, as he noticed a large rock standing out of the water, he criedjoyously; "I have arrived! I am in Africa!"
He got up on his feet and began to feel of himself all over,--his ribs,his stomach, his legs. Everything was in order.
"Nothing broken!" he said. "The rocks on the way have been very kind.However, I hope that day will break soon, for I have no matches, and itseems to me that I am very hungry."
Then he began to move on carefully. First he put down one foot and thenthe other, and thus crept along till he found a comfortable spot. "Iseem to be very tired and sleepy also," he said.
With that, he lay down and went off in to a deep slumber.
When he awoke it was daylight. The sun shone red and hot. There wasnothing to be seen but rocks and water.
"Is this Africa?" said the marionette, greatly troubled. "Even at dawnit seems to be very warm. When the sun gets a little higher I am likelyto be baked." And he wiped the sweat from his brow on his coat sleeve.Presently clouds began to rise out of the water. They grew darker anddarker, and the day, instead of being bright, gradually became gloomyand overcast.
The sun disappeared.
"This is funny!" said Pinocchio. "What jokes the sun plays in theseparts! It shines for a while and then disappears."
Poor marionette! It did not occur to him at first that he had slept thewhole day, and that instead of the rising he saw the setting of thesun.
CHAPTER XITHE FIRST NIGHT IN AFRICA
"And now I must pass another night here alone on these bare rocks!" hethought.
The unhappy marionette began to tremble. He tried to walk, but thenight was so dark that it was impossible to see where to go. The tearsrolled down his wooden cheeks. He thought of his disobedience and ofhis stubbornness. He remembered the warnings his father had given him,the advice of his teacher, and the kindly words of the good Fairy. Heremembered the promises he had made to be good, obedient, and studious.How happy he had been! He recalled the day when his father's facebeamed with pleasure at his progress. He saw the happy smile with whichhis protecting Fairy greeted him. His tears fell fast, and sobs renthis heart.
"If I should die, here in this gloomy place! If I should die ofweariness, of hunger, of fear! To die a marionette without having hadthe happiness of becoming a real boy!"
He wept bitterly, and yet his troubles had scarcely begun. Even whilehis tears were flowing down his cheeks and into the dark water, heheard prolonged howls. At the same time he saw lights moving to andfro, as if driven by the wind.
"What in the world is this? Who is carrying those lanterns?" askedPinocchio, continuing to sob.
As if in answer to his questions, two lights came down the rocky coastand drew nearer to him.
Along with the lights came the howls, which sounded like those he hadheard at the circus, only more natural and terrible.
"I hope this will end well," the marionette said to himself, "but Ihave some doubt about it."
He threw himself on the ground and tried to hide between the rocks. Aminute later and he felt a warm breath on his face. There stood theshadowy form of a hyena, its open mouth ready to devour the marionetteat one gulp.
"I am done for!" and Pinocchio shut his eyes and gave a last thought tohis dear father and his beloved Fatina. But the beast, after sniffingat him once or twice from head to foot, burst into a loud, howlinglaugh and walked away. He had no appetite for wooden boys.
"May you never return!" said Pinocchio, raising his head a little andstraining his eyes to pierce the darkness about him. "Oh, if there wereonly a tree, or a wall, or anything to climb up on!"
The marionette was right in wishing for something to keep him far abovethe ground. During the whole night these visitors were coming andgoing. They came around him howling, sniffing, laughing, mocking. Aseach one ran off, Pinocchio would say, "May you never return!" He laythere shivering in the agony of his terror. If the night had continuedmuch longer, the poor fellow would have died of fright. But the dawncame at last. All these strange night visitors disappeared. Pinocchiotried to g
et up. He could not move. His legs and arms were stiff. Aterrible weakness had seized him, and the world swam around him. Hungeroverpowered him. The poor marionette felt that he should surely die."How terrible," he thought, "to die of hunger! What would I not eat!Dry beans and cherry stems would be delicious." He looked eagerlyaround, but there was not even a cricket or a snail in sight. There wasnothing, nothing but rocks.
Suddenly, however, a faint cry came from his parched throat. Was itpossible? A few feet from him there was something between the rockswhich looked like food. The marionette did not know what it was. Hedragged himself along on hands and knees, and commenced to eat it. Hisnose wished to have nothing to do with it, and would even have drawnback, but the marionette said; "It is necessary to accustom yourself toall things, my friends. One must have patience.