pinocchio is robbed of his gold pieces and,in punishment, is sentenced to four months in prisonif the marionette had been told to wait a day instead oftwenty minutes, the time could not have seemed longerto him. he walked impatiently to and fro and finallyturned his nose toward the field of wonders.
and as he walked with hurried steps, his heart beatwith an excited tic, tac, tic, tac, just as if it were a wallclock, and his busy brain kept thinking:
"what if, instead of a thousand, i should find twothousand? or if, instead of two thousand, i should find fivethousand--or one hundred thousand? i'll build myself abeautiful palace, with a thousand stables filled with athousand wooden horses to play with, a cellar overflowingwith lemonade and ice cream soda, and a library of candiesand fruits, cakes and cookies."thus amusing himself with fancies, he came to the field.
there he stopped to see if, by any chance, a vine filledwith gold coins was in sight. but he saw nothing! hetook a few steps forward, and still nothing! he steppedinto the field. he went up to the place where he haddug the hole and buried the gold pieces. again nothing!
pinocchio became very thoughtful and, forgetting his goodmanners altogether, he pulled a hand out of his pocket andgave his head a thorough scratching.
as he did so, he heard a hearty burst of laughter closeto his head. he turned sharply, and there, just above himon the branch of a tree, sat a large parrot, busily preeninghis feathers.
"what are you laughing at?" pinocchio asked peevishly.
"i am laughing because, in preening my feathers, itickled myself under the wings."the marionette did not answer. he walked to thebrook, filled his shoe with water, and once more sprinkledthe ground which covered the gold pieces.
another burst of laughter, even more impertinent thanthe first, was heard in the quiet field.
"well," cried the marionette, angrily this time,"may i know, mr. parrot, what amuses you so?""i am laughing at those simpletons who believeeverything they hear and who allow themselves to be caught soeasily in the traps set for them.""do you, perhaps, mean me?""i certainly do mean you, poor pinocchio--you whoare such a little silly as to believe that gold can be sownin a field just like beans or squash. i, too, believed thatonce and today i am very sorry for it. today (but too late!)i have reached the conclusion that, in order to comeby money honestly, one must work and know how to earnit with hand or brain.""i don't know what you are talking about," said themarionette, who was beginning to tremble with fear.
"too bad! i'll explain myself better," said the parrot.
"while you were away in the city the fox and the catreturned here in a great hurry. they took the four goldpieces which you have buried and ran away as fast as the wind.
if you can catch them, you're a brave one!"pinocchio's mouth opened wide. he would not believethe parrot's words and began to dig away furiously at theearth. he dug and he dug till the hole was as big as himself,but no money was there. every penny was gone.
in desperation, he ran to the city and went straight to the courthouse to report the robbery to the magistrate.
the judge was a monkey, a large gorilla venerablewith age. a flowing white beard covered his chest and hewore gold-rimmed spectacles from which the glasses haddropped out. the reason for wearing these, he said, wasthat his eyes had been weakened by the work of many years.
pinocchio, standing before him, told his pitiful tale,word by word. he gave the names and the descriptionsof the robbers and begged for justice.
the judge listened to him with great patience. a kindlook shone in his eyes. he became very much interestedin the story; he felt moved; he almost wept. when themarionette had no more to say, the judge put out hishand and rang a bell.
at the sound, two large mastiffs appeared, dressed incarabineers' uniforms.
then the magistrate, pointing to pinocchio, said in avery solemn voice:
"this poor simpleton has been robbed of four gold pieces.
take him, therefore, and throw him into prison."the marionette, on hearing this sentence passed uponhim, was thoroughly stunned. he tried to protest, butthe two officers clapped their paws on his mouth andhustled him away to jail.
there he had to remain for four long, weary months.
and if it had not been for a very lucky chance, he probablywould have had to stay there longer. for, my dearchildren, you must know that it happened just then that the young emperor who ruled over the city of simplesimons had gained a great victory over his enemy, and incelebration thereof, he had ordered illuminations, fireworks,shows of all kinds, and, best of all, the opening of all prison doors.
"if the others go, i go, too," said pinocchio to the jailer.
"not you," answered the jailer. "you are one of those--""i beg your pardon," interrupted pinocchio, "i, too, am a thief.""in that case you also are free," said the jailer. takingoff his cap, he bowed low and opened the door of the prison,and pinocchio ran out and away, with never a look backward.
木偶回到城里，开始一分钟一分钟地数着时间，等他觉得时候到了，马上走原路回“奇迹宝地”去。
他走得很急，一路只听见他那题心很响地的嗒的嗒跳，就像一个走着的挂钟。他一想：
“树上如果不是一千，而是两千呢？树上如果不是两千，而是五千呢，树上如果不是五千，而是一万呢，噢，到那时，我将变成一个多体面的先生啊！……我要有一个美丽的宫殿，我要有一千只小木马和一千个马厩，这是为了玩玩。我还要有一个酒窖，里面放满甘露酒和健胃酒。我还要有一个图书室，摆满了糖果、蛋糕、葡萄干小面包、杏仁饼、奶酪夹心饼干。”
他这么幻想着，走近了那块地。他停下来就张望，看能不能见到那么一棵树，枝头挂满金币的。可他什么也没看见。他往前又走了一百步，还是没看见。他一直走到那块地上……一直走到种下金币的那个小窟窿那里，可还是没看见。于是他就拼命动脑筋，也顾不得行什么礼貌规矩，打口袋里伸出——只手来，把头搔了半天。
正在这时候，他耳朵里好像听到了大笑声。他抬头一看，只见一棵树上有只大鹦鹉，正在理它身上稀稀拉拉的羽毛。
“你笑什么？”皮诺乔生气地问它。
“我笑，因为我理羽毛，把羽毛底下的胳肢窝弄痒了。”
木偶没答话。他走到水沟那里，还是用那只鞋子打来一鞋子水，重新浇在盖着金币的那片土上。
这时候田野上静悄悄的，他又听见了笑声，这一次笑得比上次更放肆。
“不管怎么说，”皮诺乔发疯似在大叫，“你告诉我，没教养的鹦鹉，你笑什么？”
“我笑傻瓜，他们竟会什么胡涂话都相信，上最犹猾的人的当。”
“你说我吗？”
“对，我说你，可怜的皮诺乔，我说你是个大胡涂虫，竟相信金币可以像豆子南瓜那样在田野上播种收获。我曾经也相信过一次，到如今都觉得后悔。如今（可惜太晚了！）我确信，要正直地挣到一点钱，必须懂得用自己的手劳动，或者用自己的头脑思索。”
“我不懂你说些什么，”木偶说，这时他已经吓得发起抖来了。
“没法子！我只好说得更明白些，”鹦鹉往下说。“你要知道，当你在城里的时候，狐狸和猫回到这块地里来，挖走了金币，像阵风似地溜掉了。如今要追上它们，已经办不到啦！”
皮诺乔就那么张大了嘴闭不拢来。他不愿意相信鹦鹉的话，开始用手指甲挖浇过水的土。他挖啊，挖啊，挖了很深很深的一个大坑，连一个稻草堆都可以放进去了，可就是找不到金币。
木偶于是绝望了，回到城里，马上到法庭去向法官告状，说两个贼偷走了他的钱。
法官是只大猩猩。这老猩猩受到大家尊敬，因为它年纪大，胡子白，特别是因为它戴一副金丝边眼镜。他这副金丝边眼镜连玻璃片也没有，可它不得不一直戴着。它戴上这副眼镜，是因为多年以前有一次眼睛充了血。
皮诺乔在法官面前，一五一十地诉说了使他上当的恶意欺诈经过，说出了两个贼的姓名和特征，最后请求主持公道。
法官极其和气地听着，对他讲的话十分关心，听得又感动，又同情。等到木偶讲得没话要讲了，他伸出一只手，拿起一个铃来摇了一下。
听到铃声，马上来了两条猛狗，穿的是警察制服。
法官指着皮诺乔对两个狗警察说：
“这个可怜小鬼给人偷了四个金币，把他抓起来，马上送到监牢里去。”
木偶听到竟不幸对他这么宣判，呆住了，想要提了抗议，可是两个狗警察为了不白白浪费时间，堵住他的嘴，把他送到监牢里去了。
木偶整整坐了四个月牢。好长的四个月哪：他本来还要坐下去，幸亏出了一件极其运气的事。原来统治这个“捉傻瓜城”的年轻皇帝打了个大胜仗，下令普天同庆，张灯结彩，大放焰火，赛自行车。为了表示欢庆，还打开监狱，放掉所有的盗贼。
“别人出狱，我也要出狱。”皮诺乔对狱卒说。
“您不行，”狱卒回答说，“因为您不属于这一类。”
“对不起，”皮诺乔回答说，“我也是个贼。”
“既然这样，您就完全有理由出狱，”狱卒说着，恭恭敬敬地脱帽行礼，打开牢门，放他跑了。
