“You rascal of a Marionette! How did you know it was I?” she asked, laughing.
“My love for you told me who you were.”
“Do you remember? You left me when I was a little girl and now you find me a grown woman. I am so old, I could almost be your mother!”
“I am very glad of that, for then I can call you mother instead of sister. For a long time I have wanted a mother, just like other boys. But how did you grow so quickly?”
“That’s a secret!”
“Tell it to me. I also want to grow a little. Look at me! I have never grown higher than a penny’s worth of cheese.”
“But you can’t grow,” answered the Fairy.
“Why not?”
“Because Marionettes never grow. They are born Marionettes, they live Marionettes, and they die Marionettes.”
“Oh, I’m tired of always being a Marionette!” cried Pinocchio disgustedly. “It’s about time for me to grow into a man as everyone else does.”
“And you will if you deserve it—”
“Really? What can I do to deserve it?”
“It’s a very simple matter. Try to act like a well-behaved child.”
“Don’t you think I do?”
“Far from it! Good boys are obedient, and you, on the contrary—”
“And I never obey.”
“Good boys love study and work, but you—”
“And I, on the contrary, am a lazy fellow and a tramp all year round.”
“Good boys always tell the truth.”
“And I always tell lies.”
“Good boys go gladly to school.”
“And I get sick if I go to school. From now on I’ll be different.”
“Do you promise?”
“I promise. I want to become a good boy and be a comfort to my father. Where is my poor father now?”
“I do not know.”
“Will I ever be lucky enough to find him and embrace him once more?”
“I think so. Indeed, I am sure of it.”
At this answer, Pinocchio’s happiness was very great. He grasped the Fairy’s hands and kissed them so hard that it looked as if he had lost his head. Then lifting his face, he looked at her lovingly and asked: “Tell me, little Mother, it isn’t true that you are dead, is it?”
“It doesn’t seem so,” answered the Fairy, smiling.
“If you only knew how I suffered and how I wept when I read ‘Here lies—’”
“I know it, and for that I have forgiven you. The depth of your sorrow made me see that you have a kind heart. There is always hope for boys with hearts such as yours, though they may often be very mischievous. This is the reason why I have come so far to look for you. From now on, I’ll be your own little mother.”
“Oh! How lovely!” cried Pinocchio, jumping with joy.
“You will obey me always and do as I wish?”
“Gladly, very gladly, more than gladly!”
“Beginning tomorrow,” said the Fairy, “you’ll go to school every day.”
Pinocchio’s face fell a little.
“Then you will choose the trade you like best.”
Pinocchio became more serious.
“What are you mumbling to yourself?” asked the Fairy.
“I was just saying,” whined the Marionette in a whisper, “that it seems too late for me to go to school now.”
“No, indeed. Remember it is never too late to learn.”
“But I don’t want either trade or profession.”
“Why?”
“Because work wearies me!”
“My dear boy,” said the Fairy, “people who speak as you do usually end their days either in a prison or in a hospital. A man, remember, whether rich or poor, should do something in this world. No one can find happiness without work. Woe betide the lazy fellow! Laziness is a serious illness and one must cure it immediately; yes, even from early childhood. If not, it will kill you in the end.”
These words touched Pinocchio’s heart. He lifted his eyes to his Fairy and said seriously: “I’ll work; I’ll study; I’ll do all you tell me. After all, the life of a Marionette has grown very tiresome to me and I want to become a boy, no matter how hard it is. You promise that, do you not?”
“Yes, I promise, and now it is up to you.”
CHAPTER 26
Pinocchio goes to the seashore with his friends to see the Terrible Shark.
In the morning, bright and early, Pinocchio started for school.
Imagine what the boys said when they saw a Marionette enter the classroom! They laughed until they cried. Everyone played tricks on him. One pulled his hat off, another tugged at his coat, a third tried to paint a mustache under his nose. One even attempted to tie strings to his feet and his hands to make him dance.
For a while Pinocchio was very calm and quiet. Finally, however, he lost all patience and turning to his tormentors, he said to them threateningly:
“Careful, boys, I haven’t come here to be made fun of. I’ll respect you and I want you to respect me.”
“Hurrah for Dr. Know-all! You have spoken like a printed book!” howled the boys, bursting with laughter. One of them, more impudent than the rest, put out his hand to pull the Marionette’s nose.
But he was not quick enough, for Pinocchio stretched his leg under the table and kicked him hard on the shin.
“Oh, what hard feet!” cried the boy, rubbing the spot where the Marionette had kicked him.
“And what elbows! They are even harder than the feet!” shouted another one, who, because of some other trick, had received a blow in the stomach.
With that kick and that blow Pinocchio gained everybody’s favor. Everyone admired him, danced attendance upon him, petted and caressed him.
As the days passed into weeks, even the teacher praised him, for he saw him attentive, hard working, and wide awake, always the first to come in the morning, and the last to leave when school was over.
Pinocchio’s only fault was that he had too many friends. Among these were many well-known rascals, who cared not a jot for study or for success.
The teacher warned him each day, and even the good Fairy repeated to him many times:
“Take care, Pinocchio! Those bad companions will sooner or later make you lose your love for study. Some day they will lead you astray.”
“There’s no such danger,” answered the Marionette, shrugging his shoulders and pointing to his forehead as if to say, “I’m too wise.”
So it happened that one day, as he was walking to school, he met some boys who ran up to him and said:
“Have you heard the news?”
“No!”
“A Shark as big as a mountain has been seen near the shore.”
“Really? I wonder if it could be the same one I heard of when my father was drowned?”
“We are going to see it. Are you coming?”
“No, not I. I must go to school.”
“What do you care about school? You can go there tomorrow. With a lesson more or less, we are always the same donkeys.”
“And what will the teacher say?”
“Let him talk. He is paid to grumble all day long.”
“And my mother?”
“Mothers don’t know anything,” answered those scamps.
“Do you know what I’ll do?” said Pinocchio. “For certain reasons of mine, I, too, want to see that Shark; but I’ll go after school. I can see him then as well as now.”
“Poor simpleton!” cried one of the boys. “Do you think that a fish of that size will stand there waiting for you? He turns and off he goes, and no one will ever be the wiser.”
“How long does it take from here to the shore?” asked the
Marionette. “One hour there and back.”
“Very well, then. Let’s see who gets there first!” cried Pinocchio.
At the signal, the little troop, with books under their arms, dashed across the fields. Pinocchio led the way, running as if on wings, the others following as fast as they could.
Now and again, he looked back and, seeing his followers hot and tired, and with tongues hanging out, he laughed out heartily. Unhappy boy! If he had only known then the dreadful things that were to happen to him on account of his disobedience!
CHAPTER 27
The great battle between Pinocchio and his playmates. One is wounded. Pinocchio is arrested.
Going like the wind, Pinocchio took but a very short time to reach the shore. He glanced all about him, but there was no sign of a Shark. The sea was as smooth as glass.
“Hey there, boys! Where’s that Shark?” he asked, turning to his playmates.
“He may have gone for his breakfast,” said one of them, laughing.
“Or, perhaps, he went to bed for a little nap,” said another, laughing also.
From the answers and the laughter which followed them, Pinocchio understood that the boys had played a trick on him.
“What now?” he said angrily to them. “What’s the joke?”
“Oh, the joke’s on you!” cried his tormentors, laughing more heartily than ever, and dancing gayly around the Marionette.
“And that is—?”
“That we have made you stay out of school to come with us. Aren’t you ashamed of being such a goody-goody, and of studying so hard? You never have a bit of enjoyment.”
“And what is it to you, if I do study?”
“What does the teacher think of us, you mean?”
“Why?”
“Don’t you see? If you study and we don’t, we pay for it. After all, it’s only fair to look out for ourselves.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Hate school and books and teachers, as we all do. They are your worst enemies, you know, and they like to make you as unhappy as they can.”
“And if I go on studying, what will you do to me?”
“You’ll pay for it!”
“Really, you amuse me,” answered the Marionette, nodding his head.
“Hey, Pinocchio,” cried the tallest of them all, “that will do. We are tired of hearing you bragging about yourself, you little turkey cock! You may not be afraid of us, but remember we are not afraid of you, either! You are alone, you know, and we are seven.”
“Like the seven sins,” said Pinocchio, still laughing.
“Did you hear that? He has insulted us all. He has called us sins.”
“Pinocchio, apologize for that, or look out!”
“Cuck—oo!” said the Marionette, mocking them with his thumb to his nose.
“You’ll be sorry!”
“Cuck—oo!”
“We’ll whip you soundly!”
“Cuck—oo!”
“You’ll go home with a broken nose!”
“Cuck—oo!”
“Very well, then! Take that, and keep it for your supper,” called out the boldest of his tormentors.
And with the words, he gave Pinocchio a terrible blow on the head.
Pinocchio answered with another blow, and that was the signal for the beginning of the fray. In a few moments, the fight raged hot and heavy on both sides.
Pinocchio, although alone, defended himself bravely. With those two wooden feet of his, he worked so fast that his opponents kept at a respectful distance. Wherever they landed, they left their painful mark and the boys could only run away and howl.
Enraged at not being able to fight the Marionette at close quarters, they started to throw all kinds of books at him. Readers, geographies, histories, grammars flew in all directions. But Pinocchio was keen of eye and swift of movement, and the books only passed over his head, landed in the sea, and disappeared.
The fish, thinking they might be good to eat, came to the top of the water in great numbers. Some took a nibble, some took a bite, but no sooner had they tasted a page or two, than they spat them out with a wry face, as if to say:
“What a horrid taste! Our own food is so much better!”
Meanwhile, the battle waxed more and more furious. At the noise, a large Crab crawled slowly out of the water and, with a voice that sounded like a trombone suffering from a cold, he cried out:
“Stop fighting, you rascals! These battles between boys rarely end well. Trouble is sure to come to you!”
Poor Crab! He might as well have spoken to the wind. Instead of listening to his good advice, Pinocchio turned to him and said as roughly as he knew how:
“Keep quiet, ugly Gab! It would be better for you to chew a few cough drops to get rid of that cold you have. Go to bed and sleep! You will feel better in the morning.”
In the meantime, the boys, having used all their books, looked around for new ammunition. Seeing Pinocchio’s bundle lying idle near-by, they somehow managed to get hold of it.
One of the books was a very large volume, an arithmetic text, heavily bound in leather. It was Pinocchio’s pride. Among all his books, he liked that one the best.
Thinking it would make a fine missile, one of the boys took hold of it and threw it with all his strength at Pinocchio’s head. But instead of hitting the Marionette, the book struck one of the other boys, who, as pale as a ghost, cried out faintly: “Oh, Mother, help! I’m dying!” and fell senseless to the ground.
At the sight of that pale little corpse, the boys were so frightened that they turned tail and ran. In a few moments, all had disappeared.
All except Pinocchio. Although scared to death by the horror of what had been done, he ran to the sea and soaked his handkerchief in the cool water and with it bathed the head of his poor little schoolmate. Sobbing bitterly, he called to him, saying:
“Eugene! My poor Eugene! Open your eyes and look at me! Why don’t you answer? I was not the one who hit you, you know. Believe me, I didn’t do it. Open your eyes, Eugene? If you keep them shut, I’ll die, too. Oh, dear me, how shall I ever go home now? How shall I ever look at my little mother again? What will happen to me? Where shall I go? Where shall I hide? Oh, how much better it would have been, a thousand times better, if only I had gone to school! Why did I listen to those boys? They always were a bad influence! And to think that the teacher had told me—and my mother, too!—‘Beware of bad company!’ That’s what she said. But I’m stubborn and proud. I listen, but always I do as I wish. And then I pay. I’ve never had a moment’s peace since I’ve been born! Oh, dear! What will become of me? What will become of me?”
Pinocchio went on crying and moaning and beating his head. Again and again he called to his little friend, when suddenly he heard heavy steps approaching.
He looked up and saw two tall Carabineers near him.
“What are you doing stretched out on the ground?” they asked Pinocchio.
“I’m helping this schoolfellow of mine.”
“Has he fainted?”
“I should say so,” said one of the Carabineers, bending to look at Eugene. “This boy has been wounded on the temple. Who has hurt him?”
“Not I,” stammered the Marionette, who had hardly a breath left in his whole body.
“If it wasn’t you, who was it, then?”
“Not I,” repeated Pinocchio.
“And with what was he wounded?”
“With this book,” and the Marionette picked up the arithmetic text to show it to the officer.
“And whose book is this?”
“Mine.”
“Enough.”
“Not another word! Get up as quickly as you can and come along with us.”
“B
ut I—”
“Come with us!”
“But I am innocent.”
“Come with us!”
Before starting out, the officers called out to several fishermen passing by in a boat and said to them:
“Take care of this little fellow who has been hurt. Take him home and bind his wounds. Tomorrow we’ll come after him.”
They then took hold of Pinocchio and, putting him between them, said to him in a rough voice: “March! And go quickly, or it will be the worse for you!”
They did not have to repeat their words. The Marionette walked swiftly along the road to the village. But the poor fellow hardly knew what he was about. He thought he had a nightmare. He felt ill. His eyes saw everything double, his legs trembled, his tongue was dry, and, try as he might, he could not utter a single word. Yet, in spite of this numbness of feeling, he suffered keenly at the thought of passing under the windows of his good little Fairy’s house. What would she say on seeing him between two Carabineers?
They had just reached the village, when a sudden gust of wind blew off Pinocchio’s cap and made it go sailing far down the street.
“Would you allow me,” the Marionette asked the Carabineers, “to run after my cap?”
“Very well, go; but hurry.”
The Marionette went, picked up his cap—but instead of putting it on his head, he stuck it between his teeth and then raced toward the sea.
He went like a bullet out of a gun.
The Carabineers, judging that it would be very difficult to catch him, sent a large Mastiff after him, one that had won first prize in all the dog races. Pinocchio ran fast and the Dog ran faster. At so much noise, the people hung out of the windows or gathered in the street, anxious to see the end of the contest. But they were disappointed, for the Dog and Pinocchio raised so much dust on the road that, after a few moments, it was impossible to see them.
CHAPTER 28
Pinocchio runs the danger of being fried in a pan like a fish
During that wild chase, Pinocchio lived through a terrible moment when he almost gave himself up as lost. This was when Alidoro (that was the Mastiff’s name), in a frenzy of running, came so near that he was on the very point of reaching him.
The Pinocchio Megapack: 4 Classic Puppet Tales Page 8