PINOCCHIO IS ROBBED OF HIS MONEY
The puppet returned to the town and began to count the minutes one by
one, and when he thought that it must be time he took the road leading
to the Field of Miracles.
And as he walked along with hurried steps his heart beat fast--tic, tac,
tic, tac--like a drawing-room clock when it is really going well.
Meanwhile he was thinking to himself:
"And if, instead of a thousand gold pieces, I were to find on the
branches of the tree two thousand? And instead of two thousand,
supposing I found five thousand? and instead of five thousand, that I
found a hundred thousand? Oh! what a fine gentleman I should then
become! I would have a beautiful palace, a thousand little wooden horses
and a thousand stables to amuse myself with, a cellar full of currant
wine and sweet syrups, and a library quite full of candies, tarts,
plum-cakes, macaroons, and biscuits with cream."
Whilst he was building these castles in the air he had arrived in the
neighborhood of the field, and he stopped to look about for a tree with
its branches laden with money, but he saw nothing. He advanced another
hundred steps--nothing; he entered the field and went right up to the
little hole where he had buried his sovereigns--and nothing. He then
became very thoughtful and, forgetting the rules of society and good
manners, he took his hands out of his pocket and gave his head a long
scratch.
At that moment he heard an explosion of laughter close to him and,
looking up, he saw a large Parrot perched on a tree, who was pruning the
few feathers he had left.
"Why are you laughing?" asked Pinocchio in an angry voice.
"I am laughing because in pruning my feathers I tickled myself under my
wings."
The puppet did not answer, but went to the canal and, filling the same
old shoe full of water, he proceeded to water the earth afresh that
covered his gold pieces.
While he was thus occupied another laugh, still more impertinent than
the first, rang out in the silence of that solitary place.
"Once for all," shouted Pinocchio in a rage, "may I know, you
ill-educated Parrot, what you are laughing at?"
"I am laughing at those simpletons who believe in all the foolish things
that are told them, and who allow themselves to be entrapped by those
who are more cunning than they are."
"Are you perhaps speaking of me?"
"Yes, I am speaking of you, poor Pinocchio--of you who are simple
enough to believe that money can be sown and gathered in fields in the
same way as beans and gourds. I also believed it once and today I am
suffering for it. Today--but it is too late--I have at last learned that
to put a few pennies honestly together it is necessary to know how to
earn them, either by the work of our own hands or by the cleverness of
our own brains."
"I don't understand you," said the puppet, who was already trembling
with fear.
"Have patience! I will explain myself better," rejoined the Parrot. "You
must know, then, that while you were in the town the Fox and the Cat
returned to the field; they took the buried money and then fled like the
wind. And now he that catches them will be clever."
Pinocchio remained with his mouth open and, not choosing to believe the
Parrot's words, he began with his hands and nails to dig up the earth
that he had watered. And he dug, and dug, and dug, and made such a deep
hole that a rick of straw might have stood upright in it, but the money
was no longer there.
He rushed back to the town in a state of desperation and went at once to
the Courts of Justice to denounce the two knaves who had robbed him to
the judge.
The judge was a big ape of the gorilla tribe, an old ape respectable for
his age, his white beard, but especially for his gold spectacles without
glasses that he was always obliged to wear, on account of an
inflammation of the eyes that had tormented him for many years.
Pinocchio related in the presence of the judge all the particulars of
the infamous fraud of which he had been the victim. He gave the names,
the surnames, and other details, of the two rascals, and ended by
demanding justice.
The judge listened with great benignity; took a lively interest in the
story; was much touched and moved; and when the puppet had nothing
further to say he stretched out his hand and rang a bell.
At this summons two mastiffs immediately appeared dressed as gendarmes.
The judge then, pointing to Pinocchio, said to them:
"That poor devil has been robbed of four gold pieces; take him away and
put him immediately into prison."
The puppet was petrified on hearing this unexpected sentence and tried
to protest; but the gendarmes, to avoid losing time, stopped his mouth
and carried him off to the lockup.
And there he remained for four months--four long months--and he would
have remained longer still if a fortunate chance had not released him.
The young Emperor who reigned over the town of "Trap for Blockheads,"
having won a splendid victory over his enemies, ordered great public
rejoicings. There were illuminations, fireworks, horse races and
velocipede races, and as a further sign of triumph he commanded that the
prisons should be opened and all the prisoners freed.
"If the others are to be let out of prison, I will go also," said
Pinocchio to the jailor.
"No, not you," said the jailor, "because you do not belong to the
fortunate class."
"I beg your pardon," replied Pinocchio, "I am also a criminal."
"In that case you are perfectly right," said the jailor, and, taking off
his hat and bowing to him respectfully, he opened the prison doors and
let him escape.