At this unlooked-for
entertainment, the whole company
of runaways laughed uproariously.
The little fat man did not laugh. He went up to the
rebellious animal, and, still smiling, bent over him
lovingly
and bit off half of his right ear.
In the
meantime, Pinocchio lifted himself up from the
ground, and with one leap landed on the
donkey's back.
The leap was so well taken that all the boys shouted,
"Hurrah for Pinocchio!" and clapped their hands in
hearty applause.
Suddenly the little
donkey gave a kick with his two
hind feet and, at this
unexpected move, the poor Marionette
found himself once again sprawling right in the
middle of the road.
Again the boys shouted with
laughter. But the Little
Man, instead of laughing, became so
loving toward the
little animal that, with another kiss, he bit off half of
his left ear.
"You can mount now, my boy," he then said to Pinocchio.
"Have no fear. That
donkey was worried about something,
but I have
spoken to him and now he seems quiet and reasonable."
Pinocchio mounted and the wagon started on its way.
While the
donkeys galloped along the stony road, the
Marionette fancied he heard a very quiet voice whispering to him:
"Poor silly! You have done as you wished. But you
are going to be a sorry boy before very long."
Pinocchio, greatly frightened, looked about him to see
whence the words had come, but he saw no one. The
donkeys galloped, the wagon rolled on
smoothly, the
boys slept (Lamp-Wick snored like a dormouse) and the
little, fat driver sang
sleepily between his teeth.
After a mile or so, Pinocchio again heard the same
faint voice whispering: "Remember, little simpleton!
Boys who stop studying and turn their backs upon books
and schools and teachers in order to give all their time
to
nonsense and pleasure, sooner or later come to grief.
Oh, how well I know this! How well I can prove it to you!
A day will come when you will weep
bitterly, even as I
am
weeping now--but it will be too late!"
At these whispered words, the Marionette grew more
and more frightened. He jumped to the ground, ran up
to the
donkey on whose back he had been riding, and
taking his nose in his hands, looked at him. Think how
great was his surprise when he saw that the
donkey was
weeping--
weeping just like a boy!
"Hey, Mr. Driver!" cried the Marionette. "Do you know what
strange thing is
happening here! This
donkey weeps."
"Let him weep. When he gets married, he will have time to laugh."
"Have you perhaps taught him to speak?"
"No, he
learned to
mumble a few words when he lived
for three years with a band of trained dogs."
"Poor beast!"
"Come, come," said the Little Man, "do not lose time over
a
donkey that can weep. Mount quickly and let us go.
The night is cool and the road is long."
Pinocchio obeyed without another word. The wagon
started again. Toward dawn the next morning they finally
reached that much-longed-for country, the Land of Toys.
This great land was entirely different from any other
place in the world. Its population, large though it was,
was
composedwholly of boys. The oldest were about
fourteen years of age, the youngest, eight. In the street,
there was such a
racket, such shouting, such blowing of
trumpets, that it was deafening. Everywhere groups of
boys were gathered together. Some played at marbles, at
hopscotch, at ball. Others rode on bicycles or on
woodenhorses. Some played at blindman's buff, others at tag.
Here a group played
circus, there another sang and recited.
A few turned somersaults, others walked on their hands
with their feet in the air. Generals in full uniform leading
regiments of
cardboard soldiers passed by. Laughter,
shrieks, howls, catcalls, hand-clapping followed this
parade. One boy made a noise like a hen, another like
a
rooster, and a third imitated a lion in his den. All
together they created such a pandemonium that it would
have been necessary for you to put cotton in your ears.
The squares were filled with small
wooden theaters,
overflowing with boys from morning till night, and on the
walls of the houses, written with
charcoal, were words
like these: HURRAH FOR THE LAND OF TOYS! DOWN WITH
ARITHMETIC! NO MORE SCHOOL!
As soon as they had set foot in that land, Pinocchio,
Lamp-Wick, and all the other boys who had
traveled with
them started out on a tour of
investigation. They
wandered everywhere, they looked into every nook and
corner, house and theater. They became everybody's friend.
Who could be happier than they?
What with
entertainments and parties, the hours, the days,
the weeks passed like lightning.
"Oh, what a beautiful life this is!" said Pinocchio each
time that, by chance, he met his friend Lamp-Wick.
"Was I right or wrong?" answered Lamp-Wick. "And
to think you did not want to come! To think that even
yesterday the idea came into your head to return home
to see your Fairy and to start studying again! If today
you are free from pencils and books and school, you owe
it to me, to my advice, to my care. Do you admit it? Only
true friends count, after all."
"It's true, Lamp-Wick, it's true. If today I am a really
happy boy, it is all because of you. And to think that the
teacher, when
speaking of you, used to say, `Do not go
with that Lamp-Wick! He is a bad
companion and some
day he will lead you astray.'"
"Poor teacher!" answered the other, nodding his head.
"Indeed I know how much he disliked me and how he
enjoyed
speaking ill of me. But I am of a
generous nature,
and I
gladlyforgive him."
"Great soul!" said Pinocchio,
fondly embracing his friend.
Five months passed and the boys continued playing and
enjoying themselves from morn till night, without ever
seeing a book, or a desk, or a school. But, my children,
there came a morning when Pinocchio awoke and found
a great surprise awaiting him, a surprise which made him
feel very
unhappy, as you shall see.
CHAPTER 32
Pinocchio's ears become like those of a Donkey.
In a little while he changes into a real Donkey and begins to bray
Everyone, at one time or another, has found some surprise
awaiting him. Of the kind which Pinocchio had on that
eventful morning of his life, there are but few.
What was it? I will tell you, my dear little readers.
On
awakening, Pinocchio put his hand up to his head and
there he found--
Guess!
He found that, during the night, his ears had grown
at least ten full inches!
You must know that the Marionette, even from his
birth, had very small ears, so small indeed that to the
naked eye they could hardly be seen. Fancy how he felt
when he noticed that
overnight those two
dainty organs
had become as long as shoe brushes!
He went in search of a mirror, but not
finding any,
he just filled a basin with water and looked at himself.
There he saw what he never could have wished to see.
His manly figure was adorned and enriched by a beautiful
pair of
donkey's ears.
I leave you to think of the terrible grief, the shame,
the
despair of the poor Marionette.
He began to cry, to
scream, to knock his head against
the wall, but the more he shrieked, the longer and the
more hairy grew his ears.
At those
piercing shrieks, a Dormouse came into the
room, a fat little Dormouse, who lived
upstairs. Seeing
Pinocchio so grief-stricken, she asked him anxiously:
"What is the matter, dear little neighbor?"
"I am sick, my little Dormouse, very, very sick--and
from an
illness which frightens me! Do you understand
how to feel the pulse?"
"A little."
"Feel mine then and tell me if I have a fever."
The Dormouse took Pinocchio's wrist between her paws and,
after a few minutes, looked up at him sorrowfully and said:
"My friend, I am sorry, but I must give you some very sad news."
"What is it?"
"You have a very bad fever."
"But what fever is it?"
"The
donkey fever."
"I don't know anything about that fever," answered the Marionette,
beginning to understand even too well what was
happening to him.
"Then I will tell you all about it," said the Dormouse.
"Know then that, within two or three hours, you will no
longer be a Marionette, nor a boy."
"What shall I be?"
"Within two or three hours you will become a real
donkey,
just like the ones that pull the fruit carts to market."
"Oh, what have I done? What have I done?" cried Pinocchio,
grasping his two long ears in his hands and pulling and tugging
at them
angrily, just as if they belonged to another.
"My dear boy," answered the Dormouse to cheer him up a bit,
"why worry now? What is done cannot be
undone, you know.
Fate has decreed that all lazy boys who come to hate books
and schools and teachers and spend all their days with toys
and games must sooner or later turn into
donkeys."
"But is it really so?" asked the Marionette, sobbing
bitterly.
"I am sorry to say it is. And tears now are useless.
You should have thought of all this before."
"But the fault is not mine. Believe me, little Dormouse,
the fault is all Lamp-Wick's."
"And who is this Lamp-Wick?"
"A classmate of mine. I wanted to return home. I wanted
to be
obedient. I wanted to study and to succeed
in school, but Lamp-Wick said to me, `Why do you want
to waste your time studying? Why do you want to go
to school? Come with me to the Land of Toys.
There we'll never study again. There we can enjoy
ourselves and be happy from morn till night.'"
"And why did you follow the advice of that false friend?"
"Why? Because, my dear little Dormouse, I am a heedless
Marionette--heedless and heartless. Oh! If I had only
had a bit of heart, I should never have abandoned
that good Fairy, who loved me so well and who has been
so kind to me! And by this time, I should no longer be a
Marionette. I should have become a real boy, like all these
friends of mine! Oh, if I meet Lamp-Wick I am going
to tell him what I think of him--and more, too!"
After this long speech, Pinocchio walked to the door
of the room. But when he reached it, remembering his
donkey ears, he felt
ashamed to show them to the public
and turned back. He took a large cotton bag from a shelf,
put it on his head, and pulled it far down to his very nose.
Thus adorned, he went out. He looked for Lamp-Wick everywhere,
along the streets, in the squares, inside the theatres,