章节正文
The poor Cat felt very weak, and he was able to
eat only thirty-five mullets with tomato sauce and four
portions of tripe with cheese. Moreover, as he was so
in need of strength, he had to have four more helpings of
butter and cheese.
The Fox, after a great deal of coaxing, tried his best
to eat a little. The doctor had put him on a diet, and he
had to be satisfied with a small hare dressed with a dozen
young and tender spring chickens. After the hare, he
ordered some partridges, a few pheasants, a couple of
rabbits, and a dozen frogs and lizards. That was all.
He felt ill, he said, and could not eat another bite.
Pinocchio ate least of all. He asked for a bite of bread
and a few nuts and then hardly touched them. The poor
fellow, with his mind on the Field of Wonders, was
suffering from a gold-piece indigestion.
Supper over, the Fox said to the Innkeeper:
"Give us two good rooms, one for Mr. Pinocchio and
the other for me and my friend. Before starting out,
we'll take a little nap. Remember to call us at midnight
sharp, for we must continue on our journey."
"Yes, sir," answered the Innkeeper, winking in a knowing way
at the Fox and the Cat, as if to say, "I understand."
As soon as Pinocchio was in bed, he fell fast asleep
and began to dream. He dreamed he was in the middle
of a field. The field was full of vines heavy with grapes.
The grapes were no other than gold coins which tinkled
merrily as they swayed in the wind. They seemed to
say, "Let him who wants us take us!"
Just as Pinocchio stretched out his hand to take a
handful of them, he was awakened by three loud knocks at
the door. It was the Innkeeper who had come to tell him
that midnight had struck.
"Are my friends ready?" the Marionette asked him.
"Indeed, yes! They went two hours ago."
"Why in such a hurry?"
"Unfortunately the Cat received a telegram which
said that his first-born was suffering from chilblains
and was on the point of death. He could not even wait
to say good-by to you."
"Did they pay for the supper?"
"How could they do such a thing? Being people of
great refinement, they did not want to offend you so
deeply as not to allow you the honor of paying the bill."
"Too bad! That offense would have been more than
pleasing to me," said Pinocchio, scratching his head.
"Where did my good friends say they would wait for me?" he added.
"At the Field of Wonders, at sunrise tomorrow morning."
Pinocchio paid a gold piece for the three suppers and
started on his way toward the field that was to make
him a rich man.
He walked on, not knowing where he was going, for
it was dark, so dark that not a thing was visible. Round
about him, not a leaf stirred. A few bats skimmed his
nose now and again and scared him half to death. Once
or twice he shouted, "Who goes there?" and the far-away
hills echoed back to him, "Who goes there? Who goes
there? Who goes. . . ?"
As he walked, Pinocchio noticed a tiny insect
glimmering on the trunk of a tree, a small being that glowed
with a pale, soft light.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"I am the ghost of the Talking Cricket," answered the
little being in a faint voice that sounded as if it came from
a far-away world.
"What do you want?" asked the Marionette.
"I want to give you a few words of good advice.
Return home and give the four gold pieces you have
left to your poor old father who is weeping because he
has not seen you for many a day."
"Tomorrow my father will be a rich man, for these
four gold pieces will become two thousand."
"Don't listen to those who promise you wealth overnight,
my boy. As a rule they are either fools or swindlers!
Listen to me and go home."
"But I want to go on!"
"The hour is late!"
"I want to go on."
"The night is very dark."
"I want to go on."
"The road is dangerous."
"I want to go on."
"Remember that boys who insist on having their own way,
sooner or later come to grief."
"The same nonsense. Good-by, Cricket."
"Good night, Pinocchio, and may Heaven preserve you
from the Assassins."
There was silence for a minute and the light of the
Talking Cricket disappeared suddenly, just as if someone
had snuffed it out. Once again the road was plunged
in darkness.
CHAPTER 14
Pinocchio, not having listened to the good advice
of the Talking Cricket, falls into the hands of the Assassins
"Dear, oh, dear! When I come to think of it," said the
Marionette to himself, as he once more set out on his
journey, "we boys are really very unlucky. Everybody
scolds us, everybody gives us advice, everybody warns us.
If we were to allow it, everyone would try to be father
and mother to us; everyone, even the Talking Cricket.
Take me, for example. Just because I would not listen to
that bothersome Cricket, who knows how many misfortunes
may be awaiting me! Assassins indeed! At least
I have never believed in them, nor ever will. To speak
sensibly, I think assassins have been invented by fathers
and mothers to frighten children who want to run away
at night. And then, even if I were to meet them on
the road, what matter? I'll just run up to them, and say,
`Well, signori, what do you want? Remember that you
can't fool with me! Run along and mind your business.'
At such a speech, I can almost see those poor fellows
running like the wind. But in case they don't run away,
I can always run myself. . ."
Pinocchio was not given time to argue any longer, for he thought
he heard a slight rustle among the leaves behind him.
He turned to look and behold, there in the darkness
stood two big black shadows, wrapped from head to foot
in black sacks. The two figures leaped toward him as
softly as if they were ghosts.
"Here they come!" Pinocchio said to himself, and,
not knowing where to hide the gold pieces, he stuck all
four of them under his tongue.
He tried to run away, but hardly had he taken a step,
when he felt his arms grasped and heard two horrible,
deep voices say to him: "Your money or your life!"
On account of the gold pieces in his mouth, Pinocchio
could not say a word, so he tried with head and hands
and body to show, as best he could, that he was only a
poor Marionette without a penny in his pocket.
"Come, come, less nonsense, and out with your money!"
cried the two thieves in threatening voices.
Once more, Pinocchio's head and hands said, "I haven't
a penny."
"Out with that money or you're a dead man," said the
taller of the two Assassins.
"Dead man," repeated the other.
"And after having killed you, we will kill your father also."
"Your father also!"
"No, no, no, not my Father!" cried Pinocchio, wild with terror;
but as he screamed, the gold pieces tinkled together in his mouth.
"Ah, you rascal! So that's the game! You have the
money hidden under your tongue. Out with it!"
But Pinocchio was as stubborn as ever.
"Are you deaf? Wait, young man, we'll get it from
you in a twinkling!"
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 make him open his mouth.
All was of no use. The Marionette's lips might have
been nailed together. They would not open.
In desperation the smaller of the two Assassins pulled
out a long knife from his pocket, and tried to pry Pinocchio's
mouth open with it.
Quick as a flash, the Marionette sank his teeth deep
into the Assassin's hand, bit it off and spat it out. Fancy
his surprise when he saw that it was not a hand, but a
cat's paw.
Encouraged by this first victory, he freed himself from
the claws of his assailers and, leaping over the bushes
along the road, ran swiftly across the fields. His pursuers
were after him at once, like two dogs chasing a hare.
After running seven miles or so, Pinocchio was well-
nigh exhausted. Seeing himself lost, he climbed up a
giant pine tree and sat there to see what he could see.
The Assassins tried to climb also, but they slipped and fell.
Far from giving up the chase, this only spurred them on.
They gathered a bundle of wood, piled it up at the
foot of the pine, and set fire to it. In a twinkling the
tree began to sputter and burn like a candle blown by
the wind. Pinocchio saw the flames climb higher and
higher. Not wishing to end his days as a roasted
Marionette, he jumped quickly to the ground and off he went,
the Assassins close to him, as before.
Dawn was breaking when, without any warning whatsoever,
Pinocchio found his path barred by a deep pool full
of water the color of muddy coffee.
What was there to do? With a "One, two, three!"
he jumped clear across it. The Assassins jumped also,
but not having measured their distance well--splash!!!--
they fell right into the middle of the pool. Pinocchio
who heard the splash and felt it, too, cried out, laughing,
but never stopping in his race:
"A pleasant bath to you, signori!"
He thought they must surely be drowned and turned
his head to see. But there were the two somber figures
still following him, though their black sacks were drenched
and dripping with water.
CHAPTER 15
The Assassins chase Pinocchio, catch him,
and hang him to the branch of a giant oak tree
As he ran, the Marionette felt more and more certain that
he would have to give himself up into the hands of his
pursuers. Suddenly he saw a little cottage gleaming white
as the snow among the trees of the forest.
"If I have enough breath left with which to reach that
little house, I may be saved," he said to himself.
Not waiting another moment, he darted swiftly through
the woods, the Assassins still after him.
After a hard race of almost an hour, tired and out of
breath, Pinocchio finally reached the door of the cottage
and knocked. No one answered.
eat only thirty-five mullets with tomato sauce and four
portions of tripe with cheese. Moreover, as he was so
in need of strength, he had to have four more helpings of
butter and cheese.
The Fox, after a great deal of coaxing, tried his best
to eat a little. The doctor had put him on a diet, and he
had to be satisfied with a small hare dressed with a dozen
young and tender spring chickens. After the hare, he
ordered some partridges, a few pheasants, a couple of
rabbits, and a dozen frogs and lizards. That was all.
He felt ill, he said, and could not eat another bite.
Pinocchio ate least of all. He asked for a bite of bread
and a few nuts and then hardly touched them. The poor
fellow, with his mind on the Field of Wonders, was
suffering from a gold-piece indigestion.
Supper over, the Fox said to the Innkeeper:
"Give us two good rooms, one for Mr. Pinocchio and
the other for me and my friend. Before starting out,
we'll take a little nap. Remember to call us at midnight
sharp, for we must continue on our journey."
"Yes, sir," answered the Innkeeper, winking in a knowing way
at the Fox and the Cat, as if to say, "I understand."
As soon as Pinocchio was in bed, he fell fast asleep
and began to dream. He dreamed he was in the middle
of a field. The field was full of vines heavy with grapes.
The grapes were no other than gold coins which tinkled
merrily as they swayed in the wind. They seemed to
say, "Let him who wants us take us!"
Just as Pinocchio stretched out his hand to take a
handful of them, he was awakened by three loud knocks at
the door. It was the Innkeeper who had come to tell him
that midnight had struck.
"Are my friends ready?" the Marionette asked him.
"Indeed, yes! They went two hours ago."
"Why in such a hurry?"
"Unfortunately the Cat received a telegram which
said that his first-born was suffering from chilblains
and was on the point of death. He could not even wait
to say good-by to you."
"Did they pay for the supper?"
"How could they do such a thing? Being people of
great refinement, they did not want to offend you so
deeply as not to allow you the honor of paying the bill."
"Too bad! That offense would have been more than
pleasing to me," said Pinocchio, scratching his head.
"Where did my good friends say they would wait for me?" he added.
"At the Field of Wonders, at sunrise tomorrow morning."
Pinocchio paid a gold piece for the three suppers and
started on his way toward the field that was to make
him a rich man.
He walked on, not knowing where he was going, for
it was dark, so dark that not a thing was visible. Round
about him, not a leaf stirred. A few bats skimmed his
nose now and again and scared him half to death. Once
or twice he shouted, "Who goes there?" and the far-away
hills echoed back to him, "Who goes there? Who goes
there? Who goes. . . ?"
As he walked, Pinocchio noticed a tiny insect
glimmering on the trunk of a tree, a small being that glowed
with a pale, soft light.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"I am the ghost of the Talking Cricket," answered the
little being in a faint voice that sounded as if it came from
a far-away world.
"What do you want?" asked the Marionette.
"I want to give you a few words of good advice.
Return home and give the four gold pieces you have
left to your poor old father who is weeping because he
has not seen you for many a day."
"Tomorrow my father will be a rich man, for these
four gold pieces will become two thousand."
"Don't listen to those who promise you wealth overnight,
my boy. As a rule they are either fools or swindlers!
Listen to me and go home."
"But I want to go on!"
"The hour is late!"
"I want to go on."
"The night is very dark."
"I want to go on."
"The road is dangerous."
"I want to go on."
"Remember that boys who insist on having their own way,
sooner or later come to grief."
"The same nonsense. Good-by, Cricket."
"Good night, Pinocchio, and may Heaven preserve you
from the Assassins."
There was silence for a minute and the light of the
Talking Cricket disappeared suddenly, just as if someone
had snuffed it out. Once again the road was plunged
in darkness.
CHAPTER 14
Pinocchio, not having listened to the good advice
of the Talking Cricket, falls into the hands of the Assassins
"Dear, oh, dear! When I come to think of it," said the
Marionette to himself, as he once more set out on his
journey, "we boys are really very unlucky. Everybody
scolds us, everybody gives us advice, everybody warns us.
If we were to allow it, everyone would try to be father
and mother to us; everyone, even the Talking Cricket.
Take me, for example. Just because I would not listen to
that bothersome Cricket, who knows how many misfortunes
may be awaiting me! Assassins indeed! At least
I have never believed in them, nor ever will. To speak
sensibly, I think assassins have been invented by fathers
and mothers to frighten children who want to run away
at night. And then, even if I were to meet them on
the road, what matter? I'll just run up to them, and say,
`Well, signori, what do you want? Remember that you
can't fool with me! Run along and mind your business.'
At such a speech, I can almost see those poor fellows
running like the wind. But in case they don't run away,
I can always run myself. . ."
Pinocchio was not given time to argue any longer, for he thought
he heard a slight rustle among the leaves behind him.
He turned to look and behold, there in the darkness
stood two big black shadows, wrapped from head to foot
in black sacks. The two figures leaped toward him as
softly as if they were ghosts.
"Here they come!" Pinocchio said to himself, and,
not knowing where to hide the gold pieces, he stuck all
four of them under his tongue.
He tried to run away, but hardly had he taken a step,
when he felt his arms grasped and heard two horrible,
deep voices say to him: "Your money or your life!"
On account of the gold pieces in his mouth, Pinocchio
could not say a word, so he tried with head and hands
and body to show, as best he could, that he was only a
poor Marionette without a penny in his pocket.
"Come, come, less nonsense, and out with your money!"
cried the two thieves in threatening voices.
Once more, Pinocchio's head and hands said, "I haven't
a penny."
"Out with that money or you're a dead man," said the
taller of the two Assassins.
"Dead man," repeated the other.
"And after having killed you, we will kill your father also."
"Your father also!"
"No, no, no, not my Father!" cried Pinocchio, wild with terror;
but as he screamed, the gold pieces tinkled together in his mouth.
"Ah, you rascal! So that's the game! You have the
money hidden under your tongue. Out with it!"
But Pinocchio was as stubborn as ever.
"Are you deaf? Wait, young man, we'll get it from
you in a twinkling!"
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 make him open his mouth.
All was of no use. The Marionette's lips might have
been nailed together. They would not open.
In desperation the smaller of the two Assassins pulled
out a long knife from his pocket, and tried to pry Pinocchio's
mouth open with it.
Quick as a flash, the Marionette sank his teeth deep
into the Assassin's hand, bit it off and spat it out. Fancy
his surprise when he saw that it was not a hand, but a
cat's paw.
Encouraged by this first victory, he freed himself from
the claws of his assailers and, leaping over the bushes
along the road, ran swiftly across the fields. His pursuers
were after him at once, like two dogs chasing a hare.
After running seven miles or so, Pinocchio was well-
nigh exhausted. Seeing himself lost, he climbed up a
giant pine tree and sat there to see what he could see.
The Assassins tried to climb also, but they slipped and fell.
Far from giving up the chase, this only spurred them on.
They gathered a bundle of wood, piled it up at the
foot of the pine, and set fire to it. In a twinkling the
tree began to sputter and burn like a candle blown by
the wind. Pinocchio saw the flames climb higher and
higher. Not wishing to end his days as a roasted
Marionette, he jumped quickly to the ground and off he went,
the Assassins close to him, as before.
Dawn was breaking when, without any warning whatsoever,
Pinocchio found his path barred by a deep pool full
of water the color of muddy coffee.
What was there to do? With a "One, two, three!"
he jumped clear across it. The Assassins jumped also,
but not having measured their distance well--splash!!!--
they fell right into the middle of the pool. Pinocchio
who heard the splash and felt it, too, cried out, laughing,
but never stopping in his race:
"A pleasant bath to you, signori!"
He thought they must surely be drowned and turned
his head to see. But there were the two somber figures
still following him, though their black sacks were drenched
and dripping with water.
CHAPTER 15
The Assassins chase Pinocchio, catch him,
and hang him to the branch of a giant oak tree
As he ran, the Marionette felt more and more certain that
he would have to give himself up into the hands of his
pursuers. Suddenly he saw a little cottage gleaming white
as the snow among the trees of the forest.
"If I have enough breath left with which to reach that
little house, I may be saved," he said to himself.
Not waiting another moment, he darted swiftly through
the woods, the Assassins still after him.
After a hard race of almost an hour, tired and out of
breath, Pinocchio finally reached the door of the cottage
and knocked. No one answered.
- cheese [tʃi:z]
n.干酪，乳酪 (初中英语单词) - moreover [mɔ:´rəuvə] ad.再者，此外，而且 (初中英语单词)
- knowing [´nəuiŋ] a.会意的，心照不宣的 (初中英语单词)
- midnight [´midnait] n.午夜；漆黑 (初中英语单词)
- telegram [´teligræm] n.电报 (初中英语单词)
- suffering [´sʌfəriŋ] n.痛苦；灾害 (初中英语单词)
- offend [ə´fend] v.犯错误；违犯；犯罪 (初中英语单词)
- offense [ə´fens] n.冒犯；触怒；犯法 (初中英语单词)
- visible [´vizəbəl] a.可见的；明显的 (初中英语单词)
- wealth [welθ] n.财富，财产 (初中英语单词)
- preserve [pri´zə:v] v.保藏 n.保藏物 (初中英语单词)
- everyone [´evriwʌn] pron.=everybody 每人 (初中英语单词)
- frighten [´fraitn] vt.吓唬，使惊惧 (初中英语单词)
- rustle [´rʌsl] v.&n.(使)沙沙作响 (初中英语单词)
- account [ə´kaunt] vi.说明 vt.认为 n.帐目 (初中英语单词)
- hidden [´hid(ə)n] hide 的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
- victory [´viktəri] n.胜利，战胜 (初中英语单词)
- swiftly [´swiftli] ad.迅速地，敏捷地 (初中英语单词)
- running [´rʌniŋ] a.奔跑的；流动的 (初中英语单词)
- bundle [´bʌndl] n.包，捆；包袱(裹) (初中英语单词)
- splash [splæʃ] v.&n.溅水声；涉水而进 (初中英语单词)
- cottage [´kɔtidʒ] n.村舍；小屋；小别墅 (初中英语单词)
- breath [breθ] n.呼吸；气息 (初中英语单词)
- waiting [´weitiŋ] n.等候；伺候 (初中英语单词)
- tomato [tə´mɑ:təu] n.西红柿，蕃茄 (高中英语单词)
- sunrise [´sʌnraiz] n.日出，黎明 (高中英语单词)
- nonsense [´nɔnsəns] n.胡说 int.胡说!废话 (高中英语单词)
- cricket [´krikit] n.蟋蟀；板球 (高中英语单词)
- repeated [ri´pi:tid] a.反复的；重复的 (高中英语单词)
- stubborn [´stʌbən] a.顽固的；坚持的 (高中英语单词)
- seeing [si:iŋ] see的现在分词 n.视觉 (高中英语单词)
- refinement [ri´fainmənt] n.精炼；精制；文雅 (英语四级单词)
- unlucky [ʌn´lʌki] a.倒霉的，不幸的 (英语四级单词)
- thieves [θi:vz] thief的复数 (英语四级单词)
- desperation [,despə´reiʃən] n.铤而走险，拼命 (英语四级单词)
- warning [´wɔ:niŋ] n.警告；前兆 a.预告的 (英语四级单词)
- somber [´sɔmbə] a.昏暗的；忧郁的 (英语四级单词)
- weeping [´wi:piŋ] a.&n.哭泣(的) (英语六级单词)
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章节正文
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