pinocchio is hungry and looks for an egg to cook himself an omelet;but, to his surprise, the omelet flies out of the windowif the cricket's death scared pinocchio at all, it was onlyfor a very few moments. for, as night came on, a queer,empty feeling at the pit of his stomach reminded the marionette that he had eaten nothing as yet.
a boy's appetite grows very fast, and in a few momentsthe queer, empty feeling had become hunger, and thehunger grew bigger and bigger, until soon he was asravenous as a bear.
poor pinocchio ran to the fireplace where the pot wasboiling and stretched out his hand to take the cover off,but to his amazement the pot was only painted! think howhe felt! his long nose became at least two inches longer.
he ran about the room, dug in all the boxes and drawers,and even looked under the bed in search of a piece of bread,hard though it might be, or a cookie, or perhaps a bit of fish.
a bone left by a dog would have tasted good to him!
but he found nothing.
and meanwhile his hunger grew and grew. the onlyrelief poor pinocchio had was to yawn; and he certainlydid yawn, such a big yawn that his mouth stretchedout to the tips of his ears. soon he became dizzy and faint.
he wept and wailed to himself: "the talking cricketwas right. it was wrong of me to disobey father and torun away from home. if he were here now, i wouldn't beso hungry! oh, how horrible it is to be hungry!"suddenly, he saw, among the sweepings in a corner,something round and white that looked very much like ahen's egg. in a jiffy he pounced upon it. it was an egg.
the marionette's joy knew no bounds. it is impossibleto describe it, you must picture it to yourself. certain that he was dreaming, he turned the egg over and over in hishands, fondled it, kissed it, and talked to it:
"and now, how shall i cook you? shall i make anomelet? no, it is better to fry you in a pan!
or shall i drink you? no, the best way is tofry you in the pan. you will taste better."no sooner said than done. he placed a little pan over afoot warmer full of hot coals. in the pan, instead of oil orbutter, he poured a little water. as soon as the waterstarted to boil--tac!--he broke the eggshell. but in placeof the white and the yolk of the egg, a little yellow chick,fluffy and gay and smiling, escaped from it. bowingpolitely to pinocchio, he said to him:
"many, many thanks, indeed, mr. pinocchio, for havingsaved me the trouble of breaking my shell! good-byand good luck to you and remember me to the family!"with these words he spread out his wings and, dartingto the open window, he flew away into space till he wasout of sight.
the poor marionette stood as if turned to stone, withwide eyes, open mouth, and the empty halves of the egg-shell in his hands. when he came to himself, he began tocry and shriek at the top of his lungs, stamping his feet onthe ground and wailing all the while:
"the talking cricket was right! if i had not run awayfrom home and if father were here now, i should not bedying of hunger. oh, how horrible it is to be hungry!"and as his stomach kept grumbling more than ever andhe had nothing to quiet it with, he thought of going outfor a walk to the near-by village, in the hope of findingsome charitable person who might give him a bit of bread.
