pinocchio returns to the fairy's houseand she promises him that, on the morrow,he will cease to be a marionette and become a boy.

a wonderful party of coffee-and-milk to celebratethe great eventmindful of what the fisherman had said, pinocchio knewthat all hope of being saved had gone. he closed his eyesand waited for the final moment.

suddenly, a large dog, attracted by the odor of theboiling oil, came running into the cave.

"get out!" cried the fisherman threateningly and stillholding onto the marionette, who was all covered with flour.

but the poor dog was very hungry, and whining andwagging his tail, he tried to say:

"give me a bite of the fish and i'll go in peace.""get out, i say!" repeated the fisherman.

and he drew back his foot to give the dog a kick.

then the dog, who, being really hungry, would takeno refusal, turned in a rage toward the fisherman andbared his terrible fangs. and at that moment, a pitifullittle voice was heard saying: "save me, alidoro; if youdon't, i fry!"the dog immediately recognized pinocchio's voice.

great was his surprise to find that the voice came fromthe little flour-covered bundle that the fisherman heldin his hand.

then what did he do? with one great leap, he graspedthat bundle in his mouth and, holding it lightly betweenhis teeth, ran through the door and disappeared like a flash!

the fisherman, angry at seeing his meal snatched fromunder his nose, ran after the dog, but a bad fit of coughingmade him stop and turn back.

meanwhile, alidoro, as soon as he had found the roadwhich led to the village, stopped and dropped pinocchiosoftly to the ground.

"how much i do thank you!" said the marionette.

"it is not necessary," answered the dog. "you saved me once,and what is given is always returned. we are in this worldto help one another.""but how did you get in that cave?""i was lying here on the sand more dead than alive,when an appetizing odor of fried fish came to me. thatodor tickled my hunger and i followed it. oh, if i hadcome a moment later!""don't speak about it," wailed pinocchio, stilltrembling with fright. "don't say a word. if you had comea moment later, i would be fried, eaten, and digested bythis time. brrrrrr! i shiver at the mere thought of it."alidoro laughingly held out his paw to the marionette,who shook it heartily, feeling that now he and the dogwere good friends. then they bid each other good-byand the dog went home.

pinocchio, left alone, walked toward a little hut nearby, where an old man sat at the door sunning himself,and asked:

"tell me, good man, have you heard anything of apoor boy with a wounded head, whose name was eugene?""the boy was brought to this hut and now--""now he is dead?" pinocchio interrupted sorrowfully.

"no, he is now alive and he has already returned home.""really? really?" cried the marionette, jumpingaround with joy. "then the wound was not serious?""but it might have been--and even mortal," answeredthe old man, "for a heavy book was thrown at his head.""and who threw it?""a schoolmate of his, a certain pinocchio.""and who is this pinocchio?" asked the marionette,feigning ignorance.

"they say he is a mischief-maker, a tramp, a street urchin--""calumnies! all calumnies!""do you know this pinocchio?""by sight!" answered the marionette.

"and what do you think of him?" asked the old man.

"i think he's a very good boy, fond of study, obedient,kind to his father, and to his whole family--"as he was telling all these enormous lies about himself,pinocchio touched his nose and found it twice as longas it should be. scared out of his wits, he cried out:

"don't listen to me, good man! all the wonderfulthings i have said are not true at all. i know pinocchiowell and he is indeed a very wicked fellow, lazy anddisobedient, who instead of going to school, runs away withhis playmates to have a good time."at this speech, his nose returned to its natural size.

"why are you so pale?" the old man asked suddenly.

"let me tell you. without knowing it, i rubbed myselfagainst a newly painted wall," he lied, ashamed tosay that he had been made ready for the frying pan.

"what have you done with your coat and your hatand your breeches?""i met thieves and they robbed me. tell me, my goodman, have you not, perhaps, a little suit to give me, sothat i may go home?""my boy, as for clothes, i have only a bag in which ikeep hops. if you want it, take it. there it is."pinocchio did not wait for him to repeat his words.

he took the bag, which happened to be empty, and aftercutting a big hole at the top and two at the sides, heslipped into it as if it were a shirt. lightly clad as he was,he started out toward the village.

along the way he felt very uneasy. in fact he was sounhappy that he went along taking two steps forwardand one back, and as he went he said to himself:

"how shall i ever face my good little fairy? whatwill she say when she sees me? will she forgive this lasttrick of mine? i am sure she won't. oh, no, she won't.

and i deserve it, as usual! for i am a rascal, fine onpromises which i never keep!"he came to the village late at night. it was so dark hecould see nothing and it was raining pitchforks.

pinocchio went straight to the fairy's house, firmlyresolved to knock at the door.

when he found himself there, he lost courage and ranback a few steps. a second time he came to the door andagain he ran back. a third time he repeated hisperformance. the fourth time, before he had time to losehis courage, he grasped the knocker and made a faint soundwith it.

he waited and waited and waited. finally, after a fullhalf hour, a top-floor window (the house had four stories)opened and pinocchio saw a large snail look out. a tinylight glowed on top of her head. "who knocks at thislate hour?" she called.

"is the fairy home?" asked the marionette.

"the fairy is asleep and does not wish to be disturbed.

who are you?""it is i.""who's i?""pinocchio.""who is pinocchio?""the marionette; the one who lives in the fairy's house.""oh, i understand," said the snail. "wait for me there.

i'll come down to open the door for you.""hurry, i beg of you, for i am dying of cold.""my boy, i am a snail and snails are never in a hurry."an hour passed, two hours; and the door was still closed.

pinocchio, who was trembling with fear and shiveringfrom the cold rain on his back, knocked a second time,this time louder than before.

at that second knock, a window on the third flooropened and the same snail looked out.

"dear little snail," cried pinocchio from the street.

"i have been waiting two hours for you! and two hourson a dreadful night like this are as long as two years.

hurry, please!""my boy," answered the snail in a calm, peacefulvoice, "my dear boy, i am a snail and snails are never ina hurry." and the window closed.

a few minutes later midnight struck; then one o'clock--two o'clock. and the door still remained closed!

then pinocchio, losing all patience, grabbed theknocker with both hands, fully determined to awaken thewhole house and street with it. as soon as he touched theknocker, however, it became an eel and wiggled away intothe darkness.

"really?" cried pinocchio, blind with rage. "if theknocker is gone, i can still use my feet."he stepped back and gave the door a most solemn kick.

he kicked so hard that his foot went straight through thedoor and his leg followed almost to the knee. no matterhow he pulled and tugged, he could not pull it out. therehe stayed as if nailed to the door.

poor pinocchio! the rest of the night he had to spendwith one foot through the door and the other one in the air.

as dawn was breaking, the door finally opened. that bravelittle animal, the snail, had taken exactly nine hours to gofrom the fourth floor to the street. how she must have raced!

"what are you doing with your foot through the door?"she asked the marionette, laughing.

"it was a misfortune. won't you try, pretty little snail,to free me from this terrible torture?""my boy, we need a carpenter here and i have never been one.""ask the fairy to help me!""the fairy is asleep and does not want to be disturbed.""but what do you want me to do, nailed to the door like this?""enjoy yourself counting the ants which are passing by.""bring me something to eat, at least, for i am faint with hunger.""immediately!"in fact, after three hours and a half, pinocchio saw herreturn with a silver tray on her head. on the tray therewas bread, roast chicken, fruit.

"here is the breakfast the fairy sends to you," said the snail.

at the sight of all these good things, the marionette felt much better.

what was his disgust, however, when on tasting the food,he found the bread to be made of chalk, the chickenof cardboard, and the brilliant fruit of colored alabaster!

he wanted to cry, he wanted to give himself up todespair, he wanted to throw away the tray and all thatwas on it. instead, either from pain or weakness, he fellto the floor in a dead faint.

when he regained his senses, he found himself stretchedout on a sofa and the fairy was seated near him.

"this time also i forgive you," said the fairy to him.

"but be careful not to get into mischief again."pinocchio promised to study and to behave himself.

and he kept his word for the remainder of the year. atthe end of it, he passed first in all his examinations, andhis report was so good that the fairy said to him happily:

"tomorrow your wish will come true.""and what is it?""tomorrow you will cease to be a marionette and will become a real boy."pinocchio was beside himself with joy. all his friendsand schoolmates must be invited to celebrate the greatevent! the fairy promised to prepare two hundred cupsof coffee-and-milk and four hundred slices of toastbuttered on both sides.

the day promised to be a very gay and happy one, but--unluckily, in a marionette's life there's always a butwhich is apt to spoil everything.

渔夫一举手就要把皮诺乔扔进油锅，可正在这节骨眼上，一条大狗跑进山洞来。它是给炸鱼的浓烈香味招引来的。

“出去！”渔夫吓唬着对狗吆喝，手里仍旧拎着满身是面粉的木偶。

可怜的狗实在太饿了，它摇晃着尾巴汪汪地叫，像是说：

“给我点油炸鱼，我就不打扰你了。”

“我对你说，出去！”渔夫再说一遍，伸出腿来就给它一脚。

狗到当真饿了的时候，是不习惯于让人这样对待它的。它向渔夫转过脸来，呲起两排可怕的牙齿。

正在这时候，它听见山洞里发出一个很微弱很微弱的声音，说：

“救救我，阿利多罗！你不救我，我就要给油炸了！……”

狗马上听出了皮诺乔的声音。它觉得最奇怪的是，这微弱声音是渔夫手里那团沾满面粉的东西发出来的。

这时候它做了件什么事呢？这狗从地上猛地跳得半尺高，咬住那团沾满面粉的东西，用牙轻轻地叼着，就冲出山洞，像闪电似地溜掉了。

渔夫一心想吃这条鱼，眼看它打手里给抢走了，气得发疯，就想去追那条狗。可走了几步，忽然咳嗽得没办法，只好回来，

这时候阿利多罗又来到通村子的小道，停下脚步，把它的朋友皮诺乔小心翼翼地放在地上。

“我该怎么谢你呀！”木偶说。

“不用谢，”狗回答说，“你救过我的命，善有善报。要知道，在这个世界上大家应该互相帮助。”

“可你怎么会到这山洞来的？”

“我一直在海边直挺挺地躺着，半死不活的，忽然一阵风打远处吹来了炸鱼的香味。这股香味引起了我的食欲，我就跟着它走。要是来晚一分钟就糟了！……”

“别说了，别说了！”皮诺乔又吓得浑身发抖，叫着说，“你别说了！你要是晚来一分钟，这会儿我已经给炸熟，被吃掉，消化了。啊！……一想到这个我就发抖啦！……”

阿利多罗笑着向木偶伸出右爪子，木偶使劲紧紧地握住它，表示极其友好的感情。接着他们就分手了。

狗重新取道回家。皮诺乔一个人留下来，向不远的一间小茅屋走去。小茅屋门口坐着一位老人，正在晒太阳。木偶问他说：

“请您告诉我，好心的老人家，您知道一个可怜孩子，叫埃乌杰尼奥的，脑袋给打伤了吗？……”

“一些打鱼人把他送到这茅屋里来了。现在他……”

“现在他死了！……”皮诺乔极其伤心地打断他的话。

“没有，他现在活着，已经回家去了。”

“真的吗，真的吗？”木偶高兴得跳起来，叫道，“这么说，伤不重，……”

“它有可能造成严重后果，甚至死人，”老年人回答，“因为他是给一本厚板纸封面的大书打中了脑袋。”

“谁打伤他了，”

“一个同学，叫皮诺乔的……”

“这皮诺乔是谁，”木偶假装不知道，问道。

“他们说是个小坏蛋，是个小流氓，是个真正的小无赖……”

“造谣！完全是造谣！”

“你认识这皮诺乔？”

“见过！”木偶回答说。

“你看他怎么样，”老年人问他。

“依我说，他是个好极了的孩子，一心想读书，又听话，又爱他的爸爸，又爱他的一家人……”

木偶正这样一口气地撒着谎，摸摸鼻子，发觉鼻子已经长了一个多手掌。他害怕得叫起来：

“好心的老人家，我扯了一通关于他的好话，您可全都别信。因为我熟悉皮诺乔，可以保证他真正是个小坏蛋，不听话，不学好，不去上学，却跟着一帮子同学去东游西荡！”

这番话一说完，他的鼻子就缩小，恢复了原来的样子。

“为什么你整个人白成这样？”老年人忽然问他。

“我告诉你……我没留神，在一堵新刷白的墙上擦了一下，”木偶回答说。他不好意思承认他被当作鱼拌上面粉，预备扔进油锅里去炸。

“噢，你的上衣，你的短裤，还有你的帽子，你都怎么啦？”

“我遇到了强盗，把我给剥了。您说吧，好心的老人家，您没有一点什么可以给我穿穿，让我好回家去吗？”

“我的孩子，说到可以穿的东西，我只有那么个小口袋，装扁豆的。你要就拿去吧。就在那儿。”

皮诺乔不等他说第二遍，马上拿起这个装扁豆的空口袋，用剪刀在袋底开了一个洞，在两边开了两个小洞，就当衬衫穿。他一下子把脑袋和双手钻过那些洞，穿好了，就动身上村里去。

可他一路上感到心里不踏实。老实说，他是进一步又退一步。他一边走一边自言自语说：

“我有什么脸去见我那好心的仙女呢？我见了她说什么好呢？……我又做出这桩坏事，她会原谅我一次吗？……可以打赌，她不会原谅了！……唉！她准不会原谅我……这是我活该，因为我是个小坏蛋，答应好了改过，结果又违背了诺言！……”

他来到村里，天已经黑了。天气很坏，下着瓢泼大雨。他径直上仙女家，决定敲敲门，自己就开门进去。

可是一到那里，他觉得勇气没有了，不是去敲门，却是往回跑了二十来步。他第二次走到门口，还是不敢敲门。他第三次走到门口，依然不敢敲门。第四次他才算发着抖，拿起铁门锤，轻轻地把门敲了敲。

他等啊，等啊，最后过了半个钟头，最高一层（这是座四层楼房）才打开窗子，皮诺乔看见一只大蜗牛探出头来，头上有盏点亮的小灯。这蜗牛说：

“这么晚了，是谁呀？”

“仙女在家吗？”木偶问它。

“仙女睡了，不要人叫醒她。你倒是谁？”

“是我！”

“这个我是谁？”

“皮诺乔。”

“皮诺乔是谁？”

“是木偶，原先跟仙女住在一起的。”

“啊，我明白了，”蜗牛说，“你等等我，我这就下来给你开门。”

“谢谢你快一点，我都要冷死了。”

“我的孩子，我是一只蜗牛，蜗牛永远快不了的。”

过了一个钟头，过了两个钟头，可门还没有开。皮诺乔又是冷，又是害怕，又是浑身水淋淋，因此直打哆嗦。于是他拿定主意再敲一次门，这回敲得比上一回响。

听见这第二次敲门声，第四层下面一层的窗子打开了，还是那只蜗牛探出头来。

“我的好蜗牛，”皮诺乔打下面街上叫，“我已经等了两个钟头了！这么可怕的夜，两个钟头比这两年还长。帮帮忙，请您快一点。”

“我的孩子，”这小生物不急不忙，十分平静，在窗口回答说：“我的孩子，我是一只蜗牛，蜗牛都是快不起来的。”

窗子又关上了。

不多一会儿就敲半夜十二点，接着半夜一点，接着是半夜两点，门还是关着。

皮诺乔可忍不住了。他气得抓住门锤，就要用力撞门，让整座房子给撞得摇晃起来。可铁门锤一下子变了活鳗鱼，打他手里滑出来，钻到路当中的水坑里不见了。

“啊！是这样？”皮诺乔越发气昏了，叫道，“门锤没有了，我就用脚狠狠地踢。”

他退后两步，然后冲过去在门上狠狠一脚。这一脚踢得可厉害，半条脚都插到门里去了。木偶想拔出腿，可用尽了力气也拔不出来。这半条腿像敲弯的钉子似的，牢牢钉在那里了。

请诸位想象一下这可怜的皮诺乔吧！整个下半夜他就这么一条腿站在地上，一条腿翘着。

等到天亮，门终于开了。蜗牛这要命的小生物整整花了九个钟头，才下完四层楼，来到临街的大门口。得说句老实话，它已经走得满身大汗了！

“你干吗把一条腿插在门里？”它笑着问木偶。

“真倒霉。您倒瞧瞧，好蜗牛，看有什么办法让我不受这份罪。”

“我的孩子，这件事得找木匠，我可从来没当过木匠。”

“替我求求仙女吧！……”

“仙女睡了，不要人叫醒她，”

“我整天钉在这门上，您叫我干什么呢？”

“您就自得其乐，数数路上走过的蚂蚁吗。”

“您至少给我点什么吃吃，我都要饿死了。”

“马上拿来！”蜗牛说。

实际上又整整过了三个半钟头，皮诺乔才看见它顶着个银托盘回来。托盘上有一个面包、一只炸鸡和四个长熟了的杏子。

“这是仙女给您送来的早饭，”蜗牛说。

木偶看到这顿大餐，感到浑身来劲了。可等到他一吃，马上就倒胃口，原来面包是白垩做的，炸鸡是厚板纸做的，四个杏子是石膏做好，涂上颜色的！

他失望得想哭，想把托盘连同上面的东西一起甩掉，可不知是由于太伤心呢还是太饿，一下子昏倒了。

等到他醒来，他已经直挺挺躺在一张沙发床上，仙女就在他身边。

“这一回我也原谅了你，”仙女对他说，“可你再给我来这么一次，就没你好的！……”

皮诺乔赌咒发誓，说他要用功读书，做个很好很好的孩子。这一年下来，他都守住他的诺言。的确，他大考光荣地得了全校第一名，品行总的说来也得到好评，令人满意。因此仙女十分高兴，对他说：

“你的愿望明天终于要实现了！”

“你说什么？”

“到明天你就不再是一个木偶，而要变成一个真的孩子了。”

诸位没看到皮诺乔那份乐劲！他一直盼望着这个消息，如今听了，他那份高兴简直是无法想象的。为了庆祝这件大喜事，明天仙女家要举行盛大的早宴，把他所有的朋友和同学都请来参加。仙女答应准备两百杯牛奶咖啡和四百片面包，每片面包都两面涂上黄油。没问题，这准是个极其快活，极其美好的日子，可是……

真不幸，木偶一生中老这么可是，可是的，这一来，就把什么事情都给毁了。