pinocchio finds the fox and the cat again, and goes with themto sow the gold pieces in the field of wonders crying as if his heart would break, the marionettemourned for hours over the length of his nose. no matterhow he tried, it would not go through the door. thefairy showed no pity toward him, as she was trying toteach him a good lesson, so that he would stop telling lies,the worst habit any boy may acquire. but when she sawhim, pale with fright and with his eyes half out of hishead from terror, she began to feel sorry for him andclapped her hands together. a thousand woodpeckersflew in through the window and settled themselves onpinocchio's nose. they pecked and pecked so hard atthat enormous nose that in a few moments, it was thesame size as before.
"how good you are, my fairy," said pinocchio, dryinghis eyes, "and how much i love you!""i love you, too," answered the fairy, "and if you wishto stay with me, you may be my little brother and i'll beyour good little sister.""i should like to stay--but what about my poor father?""i have thought of everything. your father has beensent for and before night he will be here.""really?" cried pinocchio joyfully. "then, my goodfairy, if you are willing, i should like to go to meet him.
i cannot wait to kiss that dear old man, who has sufferedso much for my sake.""surely; go ahead, but be careful not to lose your way.
take the wood path and you'll surely meet him."pinocchio set out, and as soon as he found himself in thewood, he ran like a hare. when he reached the giant oaktree he stopped, for he thought he heard a rustle in thebrush. he was right. there stood the fox and the cat,the two traveling companions with whom he had eaten atthe inn of the red lobster.
"here comes our dear pinocchio!" cried the fox,hugging and kissing him. "how did you happen here?""how did you happen here?" repeated the cat.
"it is a long story," said the marionette. "let me tellit to you. the other night, when you left me alone at theinn, i met the assassins on the road--""the assassins? oh, my poor friend! and what did they want?""they wanted my gold pieces.""rascals!" said the fox.
"the worst sort of rascals!" added the cat.
"but i began to run," continued the marionette, "andthey after me, until they overtook me and hanged me tothe limb of that oak."pinocchio pointed to the giant oak near by.
"could anything be worse?" said the fox.
"what an awful world to live in! where shall wefind a safe place for gentlemen like ourselves?"as the fox talked thus, pinocchio noticed that the catcarried his right paw in a sling.
"what happened to your paw?" he asked.
the cat tried to answer, but he became so terriblytwisted in his speech that the fox had to help him out.
"my friend is too modest to answer. i'll answer forhim. about an hour ago, we met an old wolf on the road.
he was half starved and begged for help. having nothingto give him, what do you think my friend did out of thekindness of his heart? with his teeth, he bit off the pawof his front foot and threw it at that poor beast, so thathe might have something to eat."as he spoke, the fox wiped off a tear.
pinocchio, almost in tears himself, whispered in the cat's ear:
"if all the cats were like you, how lucky the mice would be!""and what are you doing here?" the fox asked the marionette.
"i am waiting for my father, who will be here at any moment now.""and your gold pieces?""i still have them in my pocket, except one which ispent at the inn of the red lobster.""to think that those four gold pieces might becometwo 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.
"why?""because that field has been bought by a very rich man,and today is the last day that it will be open to the public.""how far is this field of wonders?""only two miles away. will you come with us? we'llbe there in half an hour. you can sow the money, and,after a few minutes, you will gather your two thousandcoins and return home rich. are you coming?"pinocchio hesitated a moment before answering, for heremembered the good fairy, old geppetto, and the adviceof the talking cricket. then he ended by doing whatall boys do, when they have no heart and little brain.
he shrugged his shoulders and said to the fox and the cat:
"let us go! i am with you."and they went.
they walked and walked for a half a day at least andat last they came to the town called the city of simplesimons. as soon as they entered the town, pinocchionoticed that all the streets were filled with hairless dogs,yawning from hunger; with sheared sheep, trembling withcold; with combless chickens, begging for a grain of wheat; with large butterflies, unable to use their wingsbecause they had sold all their lovely colors; with taillesspeacocks, ashamed to show themselves; and with bedraggledpheasants, scuttling away hurriedly, grieving for theirbright feathers of gold and silver, lost to them forever.
through this crowd of paupers and beggars, a beautifulcoach passed now and again. within it sat either a fox,a hawk, or a vulture.
"where is the field of wonders?" asked pinocchio,growing tired of waiting.
"be patient. it is only a few more steps away."they passed through the city and, just outside the walls,they stepped into a lonely field, which looked moreor less like any other field.
"here we are," said the fox to the marionette.
"dig a hole here and put the gold pieces into it."the marionette obeyed. he dug the hole, put thefour gold pieces into it, and covered them up very carefully.
"now," said the fox, "go to that near-by brook, bringback a pail full of water, and sprinkle it over the spot."pinocchio followed the directions closely, but, as hehad no pail, he pulled off his shoe, filled it with water,and sprinkled the earth which covered the gold. thenhe asked:
"anything else?""nothing else," answered the fox. "now we can go.
return here within twenty minutes and you will find thevine grown and the branches filled with gold pieces."pinocchio, beside himself with joy, thanked the foxand the cat many times and promised them each a beautiful gift.
"we don't want any of your gifts," answered the tworogues. "it is enough for us that we have helped you tobecome rich with little or no trouble. for this we areas happy as kings."they said good-by to pinocchio and, wishing him goodluck, went on their way.
正像诸位可以想像到的，仙女让木偶由于鼻子长得出不了门，哭叫了整整半个钟头，不去理他。这是为了好好给他一个教训，让他改正撒谎这种极坏的毛病。这种毛病小孩子最容易有。可等她看到木偶脸也变了，绝望得眼睛都要突出来时，很可怜他，拍了拍手掌。一听到拍手掌，成千只叫啄木鸟的大鸟打窗子飞到屋里来。它们都聚在皮诺乔的鼻子上，开始笃笃笃笃，狠狠地啄他的鼻子，几分钟工夫，这个长过了头的鼻子就恢复了原状。
“您多好啊，我的仙女，”木偶擦干眼泪说，“我多么爱您啊！”
“我也爱你，”仙女回答说，“你如果想留在我这儿，你就做我的弟弟，我做你的姐姐……”
“我很想留在这儿……可我那可怜的爸爸呢？”
“我都想到了。已经派人去通知你爸爸，天黑前他就要来到这儿。”
“真的？”皮诺乔高兴得跳起来，叫着说，“那么，我的好仙女，如果您答应的话，我想去接他！我急着要拥抱这位可怜的老人家，他为我吃了那么多苦！”
“那你就去吧，可小心别走失了。你走林子里的那条路吧，我断定你会碰到他的。”
皮诺乔走了。他一走进树林子，马上就像小鹿一样跑起来。可他到了大橡树那儿，就停下了，因为好像听到树枝树叶之间有人声。他果真看见路上有人。诸位猜得出是谁吗？……就是狐狸和猫这两个伙伴。皮诺乔曾经同它们一起在红虾旅馆吃过一顿晚饭。
“是我们的好朋友皮诺乔！”狐狸叫着，把他又抱又亲，“你怎么在这儿？”
“你怎么在这儿？”猫跟着又说了一遍。
“说来话长了，”木偶说，“我趁便跟你们讲讲。可记得那个夜里，你们丢下我一个人在旅馆里吗？我走出来，在路上遇见了两个杀人强盗……”
“两个杀人强盗？……噢，可怜的朋友！他们想要什么。”
“他们想抢我的金币。”
“真该死！……”狐狸说。
“该死极了！……”猫跟着又说了一遍。
“可我撒腿就逃，”木偶往下说，“他们跟着就追。最后他们追上了我，把我吊在这棵橡树的树枝上面……”
皮诺乔说道，指指离开两步远的大橡树。
“还有比这更悲惨的事吗？”狐狸说，“我们是活在怎么一个世界上啊，我们这些正派人，在什么地方可以找到安全可靠的地方呢？”
皮诺乔正这么说着，忽然发现猫的右前腿受了伤，连爪子带指甲都没有了，就问它说：
“你的爪子怎么啦？”
猫想回答，可窘住了。狐狸马上说：
“我的朋友太谦虚了，因此不愿回答，我来替他回答吧。要知道，一个钟头以前，我们在路上碰到一只老狼，都快饿死了，它求我们施舍点什么给它。可我们没有什么好给它的，连一根鱼骨头也没有。我这朋友真正慷慨大方，它做出什么事情来啦？……它竟从自己前腿上咬下一只爪子，扔给这只可怜的野兽吃。”
狐狸一面说着一面擦眼泪。
皮诺乔也感动得走到猫身边，在它耳边轻轻地说：
“如果所有的猫都像你，耗子可多幸运啊！”
“可你这会儿在这里干吗呢，”狐狸问木偶说。
“我在等我爸爸，他早晚要到这儿来的。”
“那你的金币呢？”
“都在口袋里，就少一个，付给红灯旅馆的老板了。”
“想想吧，四个金币到明天就能变一两千个，你为什么不听我的话？你为什么不到‘奇迹宝地’，把它们种下去呢。”
“今天不行，我改天去。”
“改一天就晚了。”狐狸说。
“为什么？”
“因为这块地给一位大好佬买去了，从明天起，再不准任何人在那儿种金币。”
“‘奇迹宝地’离这儿远吗？’”
“不到两公里。你要跟我们去吗，半个钟头就到，你马上种下四个金币，过几分钟就可以收到两千个，今晚回来，口袋里就装满金币啦，要跟我们去吗？”
皮诺乔没马上回答，因为他想到了善良的仙女，想到了年老的杰佩托，还想到了会说话的蟋蟀给他的劝告。可是最后，他就像一个全没脑筋、全没心肝的孩子所做的那样，也就是说，他点点头，对狐狸和猫说：
“那咱们走吧，我跟你们去。”
于是他们上路了。
他们走了半天，来到一个城市，叫做“捉傻瓜城”。皮诺乔一进城就看见，满街都是饿得张嘴打哈欠的癞皮狗，给剪了毛、冷得直打哆嗦的绵羊，乞讨一颗玉米、也没鸡冠也没垂肉的公鸡，卖掉了漂亮的五彩翅膀、再也飞不起来的大蝴蝶，没有了尾巴、不好意思再见人的孔雀，悄悄地走来走去、痛惜永远失去了闪闪发光的金色银色羽毛的山鸡。
在这许多畏畏缩缩的叫化子和穷人中间，不时走过一些高贵马车，里面或者坐着，狐狸，或者坐着偷东西的喜鹊，或者坐着捕食小生物的猛禽。
“‘奇迹宝地’在哪儿，”皮诺乔问道。
“再走两步就到了。”
说到就到，他们穿过城，出了城门就来到一块僻静的田地。这块田地跟其他田地完全没什么两样。
“咱们总算到了，”狐狸对木偶说，“现在你弯下腰，在泥地上挖一个小窟窿，把金币放进去吧。”
皮诺乔照狐狸说的办。他挖了一个窟窿，把剩下的四个金币放进去，然后用点土把窟窿重新盖起米。
“现在，”狐狸说，“你到附近水沟那里打桶水来，浇在你种下金币的地方。”．
皮诺乔走到水沟那儿，因为没有桶，就从脚上脱下一只鞋子，装来了水，浇在盖住窟窿的土上，然后他问：“还有什么事要做吗？”
“没有了，”狐狸回答说。“现在咱们可以走开了，你过二十分钟回到这儿，就可以看到一棵矮矮的树从地里长出来，所有的树上都挂满了金币。”
可怜的木偶高兴得忘乎所以，对狐狸和猫千谢万谢，答应送给它们最好的礼物。
“我们不要礼物，”两个坏蛋回答说，“我们只要能教会你不劳而获，发财致富，就像过节一样高兴！”
他们这么说着，向皮诺乔鞠了个躬，祝他得到好收成，就干它们的事去了。
