THE ASSASSINS HANG PINOCCHIO TO THE BIG OAK
At this sight the puppet's courage failed him and he was on the point of
throwing himself on the ground and giving himself over for lost.
Turning, however, his eyes in every direction, he saw, at some distance,
a small house as white as snow.
"If only I had breath to reach that house," he said to himself, "perhaps
I should be saved."
And, without delaying an instant, he recommenced running for his life
through the wood, and the assassins after him.
At last, after a desperate race of nearly two hours, he arrived quite
breathless at the door of the house, and knocked.
No one answered.
He knocked again with great violence, for he heard the sound of steps
approaching him and the heavy panting of his persecutors. The same
silence.
Seeing that knocking was useless, he began in desperation to kick and
pommel the door with all his might. The window then opened and a
beautiful Child appeared at it. She had blue hair and a face as white as
a waxen image; her eyes were closed and her hands were crossed on her
breast. Without moving her lips in the least, she said, in a voice that
seemed to come from the other world:
"In this house there is no one. They are all dead."
"Then at least open the door for me yourself," shouted Pinocchio, crying
and imploring.
"I am dead also."
"Dead? Then what are you doing there at the window?"
"I am waiting for the bier to come to carry me away."
Having said this she immediately disappeared and the window was closed
again without the slightest noise.
"Oh! beautiful Child with blue hair," cried Pinocchio, "open the door,
for pity's sake! Have compassion on a poor boy pursued by assas--"
But he could not finish the word, for he felt himself seized by the
collar and the same two horrible voices said to him threateningly:
"You shall not escape from us again!"
The puppet, seeing death staring him in the face, was taken with such a
violent fit of trembling that the joints of his wooden legs began to
creak, and the sovereigns hidden under his tongue to clink.
"Now, then," demanded the assassins, "will you open your mouth--yes or
no? Ah! no answer? Leave it to us: this time we will force you to open
it!"
And, drawing out two long, horrid knives as sharp as razors,
clash!--they attempted to stab him twice.
But the puppet, luckily for him, was made of very hard wood; the knives
therefore broke into a thousand pieces and the assassins were left with
the handles in their hands, staring at each other.
"I see what we must do," said one of them. "He must be hung! let us hang
him!"
"Let us hang him!" repeated the other.
Without loss of time they tied his arms behind him, passed a running
noose round his throat, and hung him to the branch of a tree called the
Big Oak.
They then sat down on the grass and waited for his last struggle. But at
the end of three hours the puppet's eyes were still open, his mouth
closed, and he was kicking more than ever.
Losing patience, they turned to Pinocchio and said in a bantering tone:
"Good-bye till tomorrow. Let us hope that when we return you will be
polite enough to allow yourself to be found quite dead, and with your
mouth wide open."
And they walked off.
In the meantime a tempestuous northerly wind began to blow and roar
angrily, and it beat the poor puppet from side to side, making him swing
violently, like the clatter of a bell ringing for a wedding. And the
swinging gave him atrocious spasms, and the running noose, becoming
still tighter round his throat, took away his breath.
Little by little his eyes began to grow dim, but although he felt that
death was near he still continued to hope that some charitable person
would come to his assistance before it was too late. But when, after
waiting and waiting, he found that no one came, absolutely no one, then
he remembered his poor father, and, thinking he was dying, he stammered
out:
"Oh, papa! papa! if only you were here!"
[Illustration: Four Rabbits as Black as Ink Entered Carrying a Little
Bier]
His breath failed him and he could say no more. He shut his eyes, opened
his mouth, stretched his legs, gave a long shudder, and hung stiff and
insensible.
[Illustration]