“The night is very dark.”
“I want to go on.”
“The road is dangerous. There are many robbers in the dark.”
“I want to go on. The same nonsense. Good-bye, Cricket.”
“Good night, Pinocchio.”
There was silence for a minute and the ghost of the Cricket disappeared. Once again the road was dark.
Chapter 14
Pinocchio and the Robbers
“We boys are really very unlucky,” said the Marionette to himself, “Everybody scolds us, everybody gives us advice, everybody warns us. Everyone tries to be father and mother to us; everyone, even the Cricket. Robbers indeed! I think that fathers and mothers invented robbers to frighten children. Even if I meet them on the road, I’ll say, ‘Well, signori, what do you want? Run along and mind your business[17].’ If they don’t run away, I can always run myself.”
Suddenly Pinocchio heard a slight rustle among the leaves behind him. He turned to look and saw two big black shadows. The two figures in black coal sacks leaped toward him softly.
“Here they come!” Pinocchio said to himself, and hid the gold pieces under his tongue. He tried to run away, but deep voices said to him:
“Your money or your life!”
Pinocchio could not say a word, because the gold pieces were in his mouth. Pinocchio’s head and hands said,
“I haven’t a coin.”
“Give us your money or you’re a dead man,” said the taller of the two Robbers.
“Dead man,” repeated the other.
“And we will kill your father also.”
“Your father also!”
“No, no, no, not my Father!” cried Pinocchio. And the gold pieces tinkled together in his mouth.
“Ah, you rascal! You have the money under your tongue!”
But Pinocchio was silent again.
“Are you deaf? Wait, young man, we’ll get it from you!”
One of them grabbed the Marionette by the nose and the other by the chin, and they pulled him unmercifully from side to side in order to open his mouth.
But they couldn’t do it. In desperation the smaller of the two Robbers pulled out a long knife from his pocket, and tried to open Pinocchio’s mouth with it.
The Marionette sank his teeth deep into the Robber’s hand, and bit it off. Suddenly he saw that it was not a hand, but a cat’s paw!
Pinocchio freed himself from the claws of his assailers and ran swiftly across the fields. He climbed up a giant pine tree and sat there. The Robbers tried to climb also, but they slipped and fell.
They gathered a bundle of wood, and set fire to it[18]. The tree began to sputter and burn. The flames climbed higher and higher. Pinocchio jumped quickly to the ground and ran away.
But soon Pinocchio saw a deep pool full of dirty water. With a “One, two, three!” he jumped clear across it. The Robbers jumped also, but-splash! – they fell right into the middle of the pool.
“A pleasant bath to you, signori!” Pinocchio cried.
Chapter 15
The Robbers chase Pinocchio and catch him
Suddenly the Marionette saw a little cottage among the trees of the forest. He darted swiftly through the woods, the Robbers still after him.
Finally Pinocchio reached the door of the cottage and knocked. No one answered. He knocked again. The same silence followed.
Pinocchio, in despair, began to kick and bang against the door. At the noise, a window opened and a lovely maiden looked out. She had azure hair and a face white as wax. She whispered:
“No one lives in this house. Everyone is dead.”
“Won’t you open the door for me?” cried Pinocchio.
“I also am dead.”
“Dead? What do you do here, then?”
“I wait for the coffin.”
After these words, the little girl disappeared and the window closed.
“Oh, Lovely Maiden with Azure Hair,” cried Pinocchio, “please, open the door! I’m just a poor boy and two Rob-”
He did not finish, for two powerful hands grasped him by the neck and the same two horrible voices growled:
“Now we have you!”
The Marionette trembled and the coins tinkled under his tongue.
“Well,” the Robbers asked, “will you open your mouth now or not? Ah! You do not answer? Very well, this time you will open it. We’ll hang you.”
They tied Pinocchio’s hands behind his shoulders and slipped the noose around his neck. Then they sat on the grass. But after three hours the Marionette’s eyes were still open, his mouth still shut.
The Robbers told him mockingly:
“Good-bye till tomorrow. When we return in the morning, we hope you’ll be polite enough to open your mouth.”
With these words they went. A few minutes went by and then a wild wind started to blow. As it shrieked and moaned, the poor little sufferer went to and fro. The Marionette murmured to himself:
“Oh, Father, dear Father! Where are you?”
These were his last words. He closed his eyes, opened his mouth, and stretched out his legs.
Chapter 16
The Lovely Maiden with Azure Hair puts the poor Marionette to bed
Luckily for the poor Marionette, the Lovely Maiden with Azure Hair once again looked out of her window. She saw him and clapped her hands sharply together three times. At the signal, a large Falcon came and settled itself on the window ledge.
“What do you command, my charming Fairy?” asked the Falcon (for the Lovely Maiden with Azure Hair was a very kind Fairy who lived in the forest).
“Do you see that Marionette?”
“I see him.”
“Very well. Fly immediately to him. With your strong beak, break the knot which holds him, take him down, and lay him softly on the grass.”
The Falcon flew away and after two minutes returned,
“Ready.”
“How did you find him? Alive or dead?”
“I thought he was dead. But he mumbled with a faint voice, ‘Now I feel better!’”
The Fairy clapped her hands twice. A magnificent Poodle appeared. He was dressed in court livery. He wore a jaunty coat of velvet, with diamond buttons, and his huge pockets were always full of bones.
“Come, Medoro,” said the Fairy to him. “Take my best coach and go to the forest. Near the oak tree, you will find a poor Marionette on the grass. Lift him up tenderly, place him on the silken cushions of the coach, and bring him here to me.”
In a few minutes, a lovely little coach pulled out of the stable. One hundred pairs of white mice drew it. The Poodle sat on the coachman’s seat.
In a quarter of an hour the coach was back. The Fairy lifted the poor little Marionette in her arms, put him to bed, and sent immediately for the most famous doctors. They were a Crow, and Owl, and a Cricket.
“I want to know, signori,” said the Fairy, “if this poor Marionette is dead or alive.”
The Crow stepped out and felt Pinocchio’s pulse, his nose, his little toe. Then he solemnly pronounced the following words:
“To my mind this Marionette is dead and gone. But if he, by any evil chance, is not dead, then that will be a sign that he is still alive!”
“I am sorry,” said the Owl, “to contradict the Crow, my famous friend and colleague. I think that this Marionette is alive. But if he, by any evil chance, is not alive, then that will be a sign that he is dead!”
“And what is your opinion?” the Fairy asked the Cricket.
“This Marionette is not a stranger to me. I know him well!”
Pinocchio shuddered so hard that the bed shook.
“That Marionette,” continued the Cricket, “is a rascal.”
Pinocchio opened his eyes and closed them again.
“He is rude, lazy, a runaway.”
Pinocchio hid his face under the sheets.
“That Marionette is a disobedient son!”
They heard long sobs, cries, and deep sighs. Then they raised the sheets and discovered Pinocchio in tears!
“When the dead weep, they recover,” said the Crow solemnly.
“I am sorry to contradict my famous friend and colleague,” said the Owl, “but I think that when the dead weep, it means they do not want to die.”
Chapter 17
Pinocchio eats sugar, but refuses to take medicine
The doctors left the room. The Fairy went to Pinocchio’s bed and touched him on the forehead. A fever!
She took a glass of water, put a white powder into it, and handed it to the Marionette:
“Drink this, and in a few days you’ll be well.”
Pinocchio looked at the glass, made a wry face, and asked:
“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.”
“Where’s the sugar?”
“Here it is,” said the Fairy, and took 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 swallowed it. Then he took the glass in both hands and stuck his nose into it.
“It is too bitter, much too bitter! I can’t drink it. I want another lump of sugar, then I’ll drink it.”
The Fairy gave him more sugar.
“I can’t drink it like that,” the Marionette said.
“Why?”
“Because that feather pillow on my feet bothers me.”
The Fairy took away the pillow.
“I can’t drink it even now.”
“What’s the matter now?”
“I don’t like that door. It’s half open.”
The Fairy closed the door.
“I won’t drink it,” cried Pinocchio. “I won’t drink this awful water. I won’t. I won’t! No, no, no, no!”
“My boy, you are very sick.”
“I don’t care.”
“In a few hours you’ll die.”
“I don’t care.”
“Aren’t you afraid of death?”
“Not a bit. Better to die than drink that awful medicine.”
At that moment, the door of the room opened and four Rabbits as black as ink, brought a small black coffin on their shoulders.
“What do you want from me?” asked Pinocchio.
“We want you,” said the largest Rabbit.
“Me? But I’m not dead yet!”
“No, not dead yet; but you will be in a few moments.”
“Oh, Fairy, my Fairy,” the Marionette cried, “give me that glass! Quick, please! I don’t want to die! No, no, not yet-not yet!”
And he swallowed the medicine at one gulp. The four Rabbits turned on their heels and marched solemnly out of the room.
With one leap Pinocchio was out of bed. The Fairy said to him:
“My medicine was good for you, after all, wasn’t it?”
“Good indeed!”
“But you didn’t want to drink it.”
“I’m a boy, you see, and all boys hate medicine.”
“What a shame! Medicine can save them from much pain and even from death.”
“Next time I’ll remember those black Rabbits with the black coffin on their shoulders and I’ll take the glass easily!”
“Come here now and tell me about yourself.”
“Well, the Director gave me five gold pieces to give to my Father. On the way, I met a Fox and a Cat, who asked me, ‘Do you want the five pieces to become two thousand?’ And I said, ‘Yes.’ And they said, ‘Come with us to the Field of Wonders.’ And I said, ‘Let’s go.’ Then they said, ‘Let us stop at the Inn of the Red Lobster for dinner.’ We ate and went to sleep. When I awoke they were absent and I walked alone. On the road I met two Robbers in black coal sacks, who said to me, ‘Your money or your life!’ and I said, ‘I haven’t any money’. You see, the money was under my tongue. One of them tried to put his hand in my mouth and I bit it off. But it wasn’t a hand, it was a cat’s paw. And they ran after me and I ran and ran, till at last they caught me and tied my neck with a rope and hanged me to a tree.”
“Where are the gold pieces now?” the Fairy asked.
“I lost them,” answered Pinocchio, but he told a lie, for he had them in his pocket.
As he spoke, his nose became at least two inches longer.
“And where did you lose them?”
“In the wood.”
At this second lie, his nose grew a few more inches.
“If you lost them in the wood,” said the Fairy, “we’ll look for them and find them.”
“Ah, now I remember,” replied the Marionette. “I did not lose the gold pieces, but I swallowed them when I drank the medicine.”
At this third lie, his nose became longer than ever. The Fairy laughed.
“Why do you laugh?” the Marionette asked her.
“I laugh at your lies.”
“How do you know?”
“My boy, there are two kinds of lies, lies with short legs and lies with long noses. Your lies have long noses.”
Pinocchio tried to escape from the room, but his nose was very long.
Chapter 18
Pinocchio finds the Fox and the Cat again
The Marionette mourned for hours over the length of his nose. But it did not go through the door. The Fairy 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, “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 want to stay-but what about my poor father?”
“Before night your father will be here.”
“Really?” cried Pinocchio joyfully. “Then, my good Fairy, I’ll go to meet him. I cannot wait to kiss the dear old man.”
“Surely; go ahead, but be careful! Take the wood path and you’ll surely meet him.”
Pinocchio went out. As soon as he found himself in the wood, he ran like a hare. When he reached the giant oak tree he stopped. He heard a rustle in the brush. He was right. There stood the Fox and the Cat.
“Here comes our dear Pinocchio!” cried the Fox. “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. When you left me alone at the Inn, I met the Robbers on the road-”
“The Robbers? Oh, my poor friend! And what did they want?”
“They wanted my gold pieces.”
“Rascals!” said the Fox.
“Yes, rascals!” added the Cat.
“But I began to run,” continued the Marionette, “and they caught me and hanged me to the limb of that oak.”
Pinocchio pointed to the giant oak.
“What an awful world!” said the Fox. “Where shall we find a safe place for gentlemen like ourselves?”
Pinocchio noticed that the Cat carried his right paw in a sling.
“What happened to your paw?” he asked.
The Cat tried to answer, but the Fox helped him,
“My friend is too modest to answer. I’ll answer for him. About an hour ago, we met an old wolf on the road. He was hungry and begged for help. What do you think my friend did kindly? With his teeth, he bit off the paw of his front foot and threw it at that poor beast. So the wolf ate that.”
The Fox wiped off a tear. Pinocchio was almost in tears himself.
“And what do you do here?” the Fox asked the Marionette.
“I want to meet my father, who will be here soon.”
“And your gold pieces?”
“I still have them in my pocket, except one which I spent at the Inn of the Red Lobster.”
“Think that those four gold pieces may become two thousand tomorrow. Why don’t you listen to me? Why don’t you sow them in the Field of Wonders?”
“Today it is impossible. I’ll go with you some other time.”
“Another day will be too late,” said the Fox.
Примечания
1
found itself in the shop – оказался в мастерской
2
to peel off the bark – чтобы очистить кору
3
picked up the plane – взял рубанок
4
to and fro – туда-сюда
5
Polendina (Cornmeal mush) – кукурузная лепёшка
6
beg for a favor – попросить об одолжении
7
turn somersaults – кувыркаться
8
get out – убирайся
9
keep still – замолчи
10
a foot warmer – жаровня
11
hold out your hat – подставь свою шляпу
12
ABC book = букварь
13
Never mind! – Не беда!
14
in your place – вместо тебя
15
In order to buy – чтобы купить
16
five gold pieces – пять золотых (монет)
17
mind your business – занимайтесь своим делом
18
set fire to it – подожгли