the great battle between pinocchio and his playmates.

one is wounded. pinocchio is arrestedgoing like the wind, pinocchio took but a very short timeto reach the shore. he glanced all about him, but there wasno sign of a shark. the sea was as smooth as glass.

"hey there, boys! where's that shark?" he asked,turning to his playmates.

"he may have gone for his breakfast," said one of them, laughing.

"or, perhaps, he went to bed for a little nap,"said another, laughing also.

from the answers and the laughter which followed them,pinocchio understood that the boys had played a trick on him.

"what now?" he said angrily to them. "what's the joke?""oh, the joke's on you!" cried his tormentors, laughingmore heartily than ever, and dancing gayly around the marionette.

"and that is--?""that we have made you stay out of school to comewith us. aren't you ashamed of being such a goody-goody,and of studying so hard? you never have a bit of enjoyment.""and what is it to you, if i do study?""what does the teacher think of us, you mean?""why?""don't you see? if you study and we don't, we pay forit. after all, it's only fair to look out for ourselves.""what do you want me to do?""hate school and books and teachers, as we all do. theyare your worst enemies, you know, and they like to makeyou as unhappy as they can.""and if i go on studying, what will you do to me?""you'll pay for it!""really, you amuse me," answered the marionette, nodding his head.

"hey, pinocchio," cried the tallest of them all, "that will do.

we are tired of hearing you bragging about yourself,you little turkey cock! you may not be afraid of us,but remember we are not afraid of you, either!

you are alone, you know, and we are seven.""like the seven sins," said pinocchio, still laughing.

"did you hear that? he has insulted us all. he has called us sins.""pinocchio, apologize for that, or look out!""cuck--oo!" said the marionette, mocking them with his thumb to his nose.

"you'll be sorry!""cuck--oo!""we'll whip you soundly!""cuck--oo!""you'll go home with a broken nose!""cuck--oo!""very well, then! take that, and keep it for your supper,"called out the boldest of his tormentors.

and with the words, he gave pinocchio a terrible blow on the head.

pinocchio answered with another blow, and that wasthe signal for the beginning of the fray. in a few moments,the fight raged hot and heavy on both sides.

pinocchio, although alone, defended himself bravely.

with those two wooden feet of his, he worked so fastthat his opponents kept at a respectful distance.

wherever they landed, they left their painful markand the boys could only run away and howl.

enraged at not being able to fight the marionette at closequarters, they started to throw all kinds of books at him.

readers, geographies, histories, grammars flew in all directions.

but pinocchio was keen of eye and swift of movement, and the booksonly passed over his head, landed in the sea, and disappeared.

the fish, thinking they might be good to eat, came tothe top of the water in great numbers. some took a nibble,some took a bite, but no sooner had they tasted a page or two,than they spat them out with a wry face, as if to say:

"what a horrid taste! our own food is so much better!"meanwhile, the battle waxed more and more furious.

at the noise, a large crab crawled slowly out of the waterand, with a voice that sounded like a trombone sufferingfrom a cold, he cried out:

"stop fighting, you rascals! these battles between boysrarely end well. trouble is sure to come to you!"poor crab! he might as well have spoken to the wind.

instead of listening to his good advice, pinocchio turnedto him and said as roughly as he knew how:

"keep quiet, ugly gab! it would be better for you tochew a few cough drops to get rid of that cold you have.

go to bed and sleep! you will feel better in the morning."in the meantime, the boys, having used all their books,looked around for new ammunition. seeing pinocchio'sbundle lying idle near-by, they somehow managed to gethold of it.

one of the books was a very large volume, an arithmetic text,heavily bound in leather. it was pinocchio's pride.

among all his books, he liked that one the best.

thinking it would make a fine missile, one of the boys tookhold of it and threw it with all his strength at pinocchio's head.

but instead of hitting the marionette, the book struck one of theother boys, who, as pale as a ghost, cried out faintly:

"oh, mother, help! i'm dying!" and fell senseless to the ground.

at the sight of that pale little corpse, the boys were sofrightened that they turned tail and ran. in a few moments,all had disappeared.

all except pinocchio. although scared to death by thehorror of what had been done, he ran to the sea and soakedhis handkerchief in the cool water and with it bathed thehead of his poor little schoolmate. sobbing bitterly, hecalled to him, saying:

"eugene! my poor eugene! open your eyes and look at me!

why don't you answer? i was not the one who hit you,you know. believe me, i didn't do it. open your eyes,eugene? if you keep them shut, i'll die, too. oh, dear me,how shall i ever go home now? how shall i ever look atmy little mother again? what will happen to me? whereshall i go? where shall i hide? oh, how much better itwould have been, a thousand times better, if only i hadgone to school! why did i listen to those boys? theyalways were a bad influence! and to think that the teacherhad told me--and my mother, too!--`beware of badcompany!' that's what she said. but i'm stubborn andproud. i listen, but always i do as i wish. and then i pay.

i've never had a moment's peace since i've been born! oh,dear! what will become of me? what will become of me?"pinocchio went on crying and moaning and beating hishead. again and again he called to his little friend, whensuddenly he heard heavy steps approaching.

he looked up and saw two tall carabineers near him.

"what are you doing stretched out on the ground?"they asked pinocchio.

"i'm helping this schoolfellow of mine.""has he fainted?""i should say so," said one of the carabineers, bendingto look at eugene. "this boy has been wounded on thetemple. who has hurt him?""not i," stammered the marionette, who had hardlya breath left in his whole body.

"if it wasn't you, who was it, then?""not i," repeated pinocchio.

"and with what was he wounded?""with this book," and the marionette picked up thearithmetic text to show it to the officer.

"and whose book is this?""mine.""enough.""not another word! get up as quickly as you can and come along with us.""but i--""come with us!""but i am innocent.""come with us!"before starting out, the officers called out to severalfishermen passing by in a boat and said to them:

"take care of this little fellow who has been hurt.

take him home and bind his wounds. tomorrow we'll come after him."they then took hold of pinocchio and, putting himbetween them, said to him in a rough voice: "march!

and go quickly, or it will be the worse for you!"they did not have to repeat their words. the marionettewalked swiftly along the road to the village. but thepoor fellow hardly knew what he was about. he thoughthe had a nightmare. he felt ill. his eyes saw everythingdouble, his legs trembled, his tongue was dry, and, try ashe might, he could not utter a single word. yet, in spiteof this numbness of feeling, he suffered keenly at thethought of passing under the windows of his good littlefairy's house. what would she say on seeing him betweentwo carabineers?

they had just reached the village, when a sudden gustof wind blew off pinocchio's cap and made it go sailing fardown the street.

"would you allow me," the marionette asked thecarabineers, "to run after my cap?""very well, go; but hurry."the marionette went, picked up his cap--but insteadof putting it on his head, he stuck it between his teethand then raced toward the sea.

he went like a bullet out of a gun.

the carabineers, judging that it would be very difficultto catch him, sent a large mastiff after him, one that hadwon first prize in all the dog races. pinocchio ran fast andthe dog ran faster. at so much noise, the people hung outof the windows or gathered in the street, anxious to seethe end of the contest. but they were disappointed,for the dog and pinocchio raised so much dust on the road that,after a few moments, it was impossible to see them.

皮诺乔一到海边，马上放眼向海上眺望，可是什么鲨鱼也没看见。大海平静得像一面水晶的镜子。

“喂，鲨鱼在哪儿？”他转脸问同学，

“吃早饭去了，”一个同学笑着回答说。

“要不就是上床去睡一会儿了，”另一个同学接上一句，笑得前仰后合。

皮诺乔听了这些乱七八糟的回答和莫名其妙的狂笑，知道是他那些同学跟他开了个大玩笑，骗他上了当。他十分恼火，气乎乎地说：

“怎么？拿鲨鱼的鬼话来骗我，这是什么道理？”

“当然有道理！……”那些小坏蛋异口同声说，

“什么道理？……”

“让你不去上学，让你跟我们走。你天天上课那么认真，那么用功，你不害臊吗？像你那么学习，你不害臊吗？”

“我学我的，跟你们有什么关系？”

“跟我们关系大极了。这一来，老师就觉得我们不好……”

“为什么？”

“有人爱读书，就使我们这种不愿意读书的人丢脸，可我们不想丢脸！我们也有我们的自尊心！”

“那我该怎么办，你们才高兴呢？”

“你也应该讨厌学校，讨厌功课，讨厌老师。这是我们的三大敌人。”

“如果我想要继续学习呢？”

“那我们就对你不客气了，一有机会就要跟你算账！……”

“你们简直叫我好笑。”木偶摇摇头说。

“哼，皮诺乔！”孩子当中最大的一个走到他面前叫道，“别到这儿来夸口，别到这儿来斗嘴！……你要是不怕我们，我们也不怕你！记好了，你只有一个，我们有七个。”

“七个什么，七个大罪1，”皮诺乔大笑着说。

“你们听见了吗，他侮辱我们大伙儿，他管我们叫七个大罪！……”

“皮诺乔！你侮辱了我们，要你向我们道歉……要不你就倒霉！……”

“咕咕！”木偶叫着，用食指刮刮鼻尖，表示讥笑他们。

“皮诺乔，你没有好结果！……”

“咕咕！”

“我们要像揍驴子那么揍你！……”

“咕咕！”

“你要带着个打扁的鼻子回家！……”

“咕咕！”

“我们这就来揍你一个咕咕！”这帮小坏蛋当中最凶的一个叫道。“受用受用这个吧，今天晚上就不用吃晚饭了。”

他说着就给了木偶脑袋上一拳头。

老话说，一报还一报，因此可以想象到，木偶马上就回敬他一拳头。这么你一拳来我一拳去，这场架就越打越大，越打越厉害了。

皮诺乔虽然只有一个，可自卫得像个英雄似的。他用两只硬绷绷的木头脚踢得那么利索，叫他那些敌人离得远远的不敢走近。凡是他的脚所碰到之处，马上就留下纪念品——一大块乌青。

孩子们眼看不能同木偶肉搏，气得要命，心想最好还是扔东西，就打开书包，开始向他扔语文课本、文法书、小戒尺、小零碎、图瓦尔的故事书、巴契尼的《小鸡》以及其他教科书。可是木偶眼疾手快，全都及时躲开，因此书一本本地打他头上飞过去，全落到海里去了。

诸位想象一下那些鱼吧！鱼以为扔到水里来的这些书是好吃的东西，赶紧成群游到水面上来。它们咬咬纸张，咬咬封面，马上就吐出来，撇撇嘴，像是要说：“不配我们的口味。我们吃惯了更好吃的东西！”

这时候，架越打越厉害了。一只大螃蟹打水里出来，慢慢地、慢慢地爬到岸上，用漏风大喇叭似的难听声音叫道：

“停手吧，你们真是些小淘气！孩子们这样打架难得有好结果。总归要闯祸的！……”

可怜的螃蟹！它等于是对风在叫。皮诺乔这小鬼反而回过头，狠狠地看着它，蛮横地叫：

“讨厌的螃蟹，闭上你的嘴！你最好还是去吃两片地衣药片，把你的伤风给治治。趁早上床，想办法出身大汗吧！”

这时候，那帮孩子已经把自己的书扔完，猛看见木偶的书包就在不远的地方。说时迟那时快，他们一下子把它抢了过来。

在木偶的书当中，有一本书用厚板纸装帧，书脊书角都包着漆皮纸。这是一本算术书，请诸位想想，这本书该有多沉！

一个小坏蛋抓住这本书，瞄准皮诺乔的脑袋，用足力气扔过来。可是他没扔中木偶，却扔在一个同学的头上了。这个同学的脸登时白得像切开的面包，只叫出了两声：

“噢，我的妈，救救我……我要死了！”

接着他就直挺挺倒在沙滩上。

孩子们看见闹出了人命，这一惊非同小可，马上撒腿就逃，一转眼就没影了。

这时候只剩下皮诺乔一个人。他虽然又难过又害怕，吓了个半死，可还是跑到海边，把手帕浸透了海水，回来敷在他这位可怜同学的太阳穴上。他一面绝望地大哭，一面叫他这位同学的名字说：

“埃乌杰尼奥！……我可怜的埃乌杰尼奥！……张开你的眼睛看看我！……你为什么不回答我呀？你知道，不是我弄得你这样的！相信我，不是我干的！……张开你的眼睛吧，埃乌杰尼奥……你要是老闭着眼睛，我也要死了……噢，我的老天爷！这会儿我怎么回家呢？……我怎么有勇气去见我的好妈妈呀，我将会怎么样呢？……我该逃到什么地方去啊，我上什么地方才躲得开呢？……噢！要是我去上学，那就好多了，那就要好上千倍了！……这些同学是我的冤家对头，我为什么听他们的话呢？……老师曾经跟我说过！……我妈妈也翻来覆去对我说：‘小心坏同学！’可我总是不听……我固执极了……他们讲他们的，我干我的！如今报应来了……打我出世起，就因为我该死的脾气，我压根儿连一刻钟的好日子都没过过，我的天！我将会怎么样呢？我将会怎么样呢？我将会怎么样呢？……”

皮诺乔一个劲地哭着，喊着，敲着脑袋，叫着可怜的埃乌杰尼奥的名字，直到猛听见沉重的脚步声走过来。

他转脸一看，是两个警察，

“你干吗这么趴在地上？”他们问皮诺乔。

“我在救护我这同学。”

“他病了？”

“好像是的！……”

“只是生病吗？”一个警察靠近埃乌杰尼奥，低下头来把他好好看了看，“这孩子一边太阳穴受伤了，谁打伤他的？”

“不是我。”木偶结结巴巴地说，他气都透不过来了。

“不是你又是谁？”

“不是我。”皮诺乔再说一遍。

“他是给什么东西打伤的？”

“给这本书。”他拿起自己的算术书，给警察看。

“这本书是谁的？”

“是我的。”

“这就够了，再不用别的什么了。马上起来，跟我们走。”

“可我……”

“跟我们走！”

“可我是无辜的……”

“跟我们走！”

在走以前，两个警察叫来几个渔民。这几个渔民这时候正好坐船从岸边经过。警察对他们说：

“这孩子头部受了伤，现在交给你们。你们把他带回去救护。明天我们再来看。”

然后他们回到皮诺乔身边，把他夹在中间，用军人口气命令说：

“开步走！走快点！不然要你够受的！”

不等他们说第二遍，木偶就走起来了。他们走的这条小道是进村的，这可怜小鬼简直不知道自己是不是还活着。他只觉得像在做梦，而做的是多可怕的恶梦啊！他完全吓得魂不附体。他的眼睛发花，两腿发抖，舌头贴着上腭，连一个字也说不出来。不过他尽管这样昏昏迷迷，还是感到心里像针扎似地痛，因为他想到，他要夹在两个警察中间经过他那好仙女的窗下。他真情愿死了拉倒。

他们已经来到村边，正在进村，忽然刮来一阵狂风，把皮诺乔头上的帽子吹起来，吹了有十步远。

“答应我好吗？”木偶对两个警察说，“让我去把我的帽子捡起来。”

“去吧，可得快点。”

木偶走过去捡起帽子……可没戴到头上，却放在嘴里，用牙咬着，撒腿就向海边飞跑。他快得像一颗出膛的子弹。

两个警察眼看很难追上，就放出一条凶猛的大狗去追他。这条狗在赛狗中还得过冠军。皮诺乔拼命跑，可狗跑得比他快。所有的人或者把头探出窗子，或者挤在路当中，急于要看这场激烈赛跑的结果如何。可是他们这个希望落了空，因为那条猛犬和皮诺乔一路上搞得灰尘滚滚，几分钟以后就什么也看不见了。

1根据天主教的戒律，七大罪是傲慢、淫欲、嫉妒、激怒、吝啬，贪吃、怠惰。