The Adventures of Pinocchio
ring. He was handsomely arrayed. A new bridle of shining leather with
buckles of polished brass was on his back; two white camellias were tied
to his ears; ribbons and tassels of red silk adorned his mane, which was
divided into many curls. A great sash of gold and silver was fastened
around his waist and his tail was decorated with ribbons of many
brilliant colors. He was a handsome Donkey indeed!
The Manager, when introducing him to the public, added these words:
“Most honored audience! I shall not take your time tonight to tell you
of the great difficulties which I have encountered while trying to tame
this animal, since I found him in the wilds of Africa. Observe, I beg
of you, the savage look of his eye. All the means used by centuries of
civilization in subduing wild beasts failed in this case. I had finally
to resort to the gentle language of the whip in order to bring him to
my will. With all my kindness, however, I never succeeded in gaining my
Donkey’s love. He is still today as savage as the day I found him. He
still fears and hates me. But I have found in him one great redeeming
feature. Do you see this little bump on his forehead? It is this bump
which gives him his great talent of dancing and using his feet as nimbly
as a human being. Admire him, O signori, and enjoy yourselves. I let
you, now, be the judges of my success as a teacher of animals. Before
I leave you, I wish to state that there will be another performance
tomorrow night. If the weather threatens rain, the great spectacle will
take place at eleven o’clock in the morning.”
The Manager bowed and then turned to Pinocchio and said: “Ready,
Pinocchio! Before starting your performance, salute your audience!”
Pinocchio obediently bent his two knees to the ground and remained
kneeling until the Manager, with the crack of the whip, cried sharply:
“Walk!”
The Donkey lifted himself on his four feet and walked around the ring. A
few minutes passed and again the voice of the Manager called:
“Quickstep!” and Pinocchio obediently changed his step.
“Gallop!” and Pinocchio galloped.
“Full speed!” and Pinocchio ran as fast as he could. As he ran the
master raised his arm and a pistol shot rang in the air.
At the shot, the little Donkey fell to the ground as if he were really
dead.
A shower of applause greeted the Donkey as he arose to his feet. Cries
and shouts and handclappings were heard on all sides.
At all that noise, Pinocchio lifted his head and raised his eyes. There,
in front of him, in a box sat a beautiful woman. Around her neck she
wore a long gold chain, from which hung a large medallion. On the
medallion was painted the picture of a Marionette.
“That picture is of me! That beautiful lady is my Fairy!” said Pinocchio
to himself, recognizing her. He felt so happy that he tried his best to
cry out:
“Oh, my Fairy! My own Fairy!”
But instead of words, a loud braying was heard in the theater, so loud
and so long that all the spectators--men, women, and children, but
especially the children--burst out laughing.
Then, in order to teach the Donkey that it was not good manners to bray
before the public, the Manager hit him on the nose with the handle of
the whip.
The poor little Donkey stuck out a long tongue and licked his nose for a
long time in an effort to take away the pain.
And what was his grief when on looking up toward the boxes, he saw that
the Fairy had disappeared!
He felt himself fainting, his eyes filled with tears, and he wept
bitterly. No one knew it, however, least of all the Manager, who,
cracking his whip, cried out:
“Bravo, Pinocchio! Now show us how gracefully you can jump through the
rings.”
Pinocchio tried two or three times, but each time he came near the ring,
he found it more to his taste to go under it. The fourth time, at a look
from his master he leaped through it, but as he did so his hind legs
caught in the ring and he fell to the floor in a heap.
When he got up, he was lame and could hardly limp as far as the stable.
“Pinocchio! We want Pinocchio! We want the little Donkey!” cried the
boys from the orchestra, saddened by the accident.
No one saw Pinocchio again that evening.
The next morning the veterinary--that is, the animal doctor--declared
that he would be lame for the rest of his life.
“What do I want with a lame donkey?” said the Manager to the stableboy.
“Take him to the market and sell him.”
When they reached the square, a buyer was soon found.
“How much do you ask for that little lame Donkey?” he asked.
“Four dollars.”
“I’ll give you four cents. Don’t think I’m buying him for work. I want
only his skin. It looks very tough and I can use it to make myself a
drumhead. I belong to a musical band in my village and I need a drum.”
I leave it to you, my dear children, to picture to yourself the great
pleasure with which Pinocchio heard that he was to become a drumhead!
As soon as the buyer had paid the four cents, the Donkey changed hands.
His new owner took him to a high cliff overlooking the sea, put a stone
around his neck, tied a rope to one of his hind feet, gave him a push,
and threw him into the water.
Pinocchio sank immediately. And his new master sat on the cliff waiting
for him to drown, so as to skin him and make himself a drumhead.
CHAPTER 34
Pinocchio is thrown into the sea, eaten by fishes, and becomes a
Marionette once more. As he swims to land, he is swallowed by the
Terrible Shark.
Down into the sea, deeper and deeper, sank Pinocchio, and finally, after
fifty minutes of waiting, the man on the cliff said to himself:
“By this time my poor little lame Donkey must be drowned. Up with him
and then I can get to work on my beautiful drum.”
He pulled the rope which he had tied to Pinocchio’s leg--pulled and
pulled and pulled and, at last, he saw appear on the surface of the
water--Can you guess what? Instead of a dead donkey, he saw a very much
alive Marionette, wriggling and squirming like an eel.
Seeing that wooden Marionette, the poor man thought he was dreaming and
sat there with his mouth wide open and his eyes popping out of his head.
Gathering his wits together, he said:
“And the Donkey I threw into the sea?”
“I am that Donkey,” answered the Marionette laughing.
“You?”
“I.”
“Ah, you little cheat! Are you poking fun at me?”
“Poking fun at you? Not at all, dear Master. I am talking seriously.”
“But, then, how is it that you, who a few minutes ago were a donkey, are
now standing before me a wooden Marionette?”
“It may be the effect of salt water. The sea is fond of playing these
tricks.”
“Be careful, Marionette, be careful! Don’t laugh at me! Woe be to you,
if I lose my patience!”
“Well, then, my Master, do you want to know my whole story? Untie my leg
and I can tell it to you better.”
The old fellow, curious to know the true story of the Marionette’s life,
immediately untied the rope which held his foot. Pinocchio, feeling free
as a bird of the air, began his tale:
“Know, then, that, once upon a time, I was a wooden Marionette, just
as I am today. One day I was about to become a boy, a real boy, but on
account of my laziness and my hatred of books, and because I listened to
bad companions, I ran away from home. One beautiful morning, I awoke to
find myself changed into a donkey--long ears, gray coat, even a tail!
What a shameful day for me! I hope you will never experience one like
it, dear Master. I was taken to the fair and sold to a Circus Owner, who
tried to make me dance and jump through the rings. One night, during a
performance, I had a bad fall and became lame. Not knowing what to do
with a lame donkey, the Circus Owner sent me to the market place and you
bought me.”
“Indeed I did! And I paid four cents for you. Now who will return my
money to me?”
“But why did you buy me? You bought me to do me harm--to kill me--to
make a drumhead out of me!”
“Indeed I did! And now where shall I find another skin?”
“Never mind, dear Master. There are so many donkeys in this world.”
“Tell me, impudent little rogue, does your story end here?”
“One more word,” answered the Marionette, “and I am through. After
buying me, you brought me here to kill me. But feeling sorry for me, you
tied a stone to my neck and threw me to the bottom of the sea. That was
very good and kind of you to want me to suffer as little as possible and
I shall remember you always. And now my Fairy will take care of me, even
if you--”
“Your Fairy? Who is she?”
“She is my mother, and, like all other mothers who love their children,
she never loses sight of me, even though I do not deserve it. And today
this good Fairy of mine, as soon as she saw me in danger of drowning,
sent a thousand fishes to the spot where I lay. They thought I was
really a dead donkey and began to eat me. What great bites they took!
One ate my ears, another my nose, a third my neck and my mane. Some went
at my legs and some at my back, and among the others, there was one tiny
fish so gentle and polite that he did me the great favor of eating even
my tail.”
“From now on,” said the man, horrified, “I swear I shall never again
taste fish. How I should enjoy opening a mullet or a whitefish just to
find there the tail of a dead donkey!”
“I think as you do,” answered the Marionette, laughing. “Still, you must
know that when the fish finished eating my donkey coat, which covered
me from head to foot, they naturally came to the bones--or rather, in my
case, to the wood, for as you know, I am made of very hard wood. After
the first few bites, those greedy fish found out that the wood was not
good for their teeth, and, afraid of indigestion, they turned and ran
here and there without saying good-by or even as much as thank you to
me. Here, dear Master, you have my story. You know now why you found a
Marionette and not a dead donkey when you pulled me out of the water.”
“I laugh at your story!” cried the man angrily. “I know that I spent
four cents to get you and I want my money back. Do you know what I can
do; I am going to take you to the market once more and sell you as dry
firewood.”
“Very well, sell me. I am satisfied,” said Pinocchio. But as he spoke,
he gave a quick leap and dived into the sea. Swimming away as fast as he
could, he cried out, laughing:
“Good-by, Master. If you ever need a skin for your drum, remember me.”
He swam on and on. After a while, he turned around again and called
louder than before:
“Good-by, Master. If you ever need a piece of good dry firewood,
remember me.”
In a few seconds he had gone so far he could hardly be seen. All that
could be seen of him was a very small black dot moving swiftly on the
blue surface of the water, a little black dot which now and then lifted
a leg or an arm in the air. One would have thought that Pinocchio had
turned into a porpoise playing in the sun.
After swimming for a long time, Pinocchio saw a large rock in the middle
of the sea, a rock as white as marble. High on the rock stood a little
Goat bleating and calling and beckoning to the Marionette to come to
her.
There was something very strange about that little Goat. Her coat was
not white or black or brown as that of any other goat, but azure, a deep
brilliant color that reminded one of the hair of the lovely maiden.
Pinocchio’s heart beat fast, and then faster and faster. He redoubled
his efforts and swam as hard as he could toward the white rock. He was
almost halfway over, when suddenly a horrible sea monster stuck its head
out of the water, an enormous head with a huge mouth, wide open, showing
three rows of gleaming teeth, the mere sight of which would have filled
you with fear.
Do you know what it was?
That sea monster was no other than the enormous Shark, which has often