PINOCCHIO STARTS BACK TO THE FAIRY'S HOUSE
You can imagine Pinocchio's joy when he found himself free. Without
stopping to take breath he immediately left the town and took the road
that led to the Fairy's house.
On account of the rainy weather the road had become a marsh into which
he sank knee-deep. But the puppet would not give in. Tormented by the
desire of seeing his father and his little sister with blue hair again,
he ran on like a greyhound, and as he ran he was splashed with mud from
head to foot. And he said to himself as he went along: "How many
misfortunes have happened to me. But I deserved them, for I am an
obstinate, passionate puppet. I am always bent upon having my own way,
without listening to those who wish me well, and who have a thousand
times more sense than I have! But from this time forth I am determined
to change and to become orderly and obedient. For at last I have seen
that disobedient boys come to no good and gain nothing. And has my papa
waited for me? Shall I find him at the Fairy's house? Poor man, it is so
long since I last saw him: I am dying to embrace him and to cover him
with kisses! And will the Fairy forgive me my bad conduct to her? To
think of all the kindness and loving care I received from her, to think
that if I am now alive I owe it to her! Would it be possible to find a
more ungrateful boy, or one with less heart than I have?"
Whilst he was saying this he stopped suddenly, frightened to death, and
made four steps backwards.
What had he seen?
He had seen an immense Serpent stretched across the road. Its skin was
green, it had red eyes, and a pointed tail that was smoking like a
chimney.
It would be impossible to imagine the puppet's terror. He walked away to
a safe distance and, sitting down on a heap of stones, waited until the
Serpent should have gone about its business and left the road clear.
He waited an hour; two hours; three hours; but the Serpent was always
there, and even from a distance he could see the red light of his fiery
eyes and the column of smoke that ascended from the end of his tail.
At last Pinocchio, trying to feel courageous, approached to within a few
steps, and said to the Serpent in a little soft, insinuating voice:
"Excuse me. Sir Serpent, but would you be so good as to move a little to
one side--just enough to allow me to pass?"
He might as well have spoken to the wall. Nobody moved.
He began again in the same soft voice:
"You must know. Sir Serpent, that I am on my way home, where my father
is waiting for me, and it is such a long time since I saw him last! Will
you, therefore, allow me to continue my road?"
He waited for a sign in answer to this request, but there was none; in
fact, the Serpent, who up to that moment had been sprightly and full of
life, became motionless and almost rigid. He shut his eyes and his tail
ceased smoking.
"Can he really be dead?" said Pinocchio, rubbing his hands with delight.
He determined to jump over him and reach the other side of the road.
But, just as he was going to leap, the Serpent raised himself suddenly
on end, like a spring set in motion; and the puppet, drawing back, in
his terror caught his feet and fell to the ground.
And he fell so awkwardly that his head stuck in the mud and his legs
went into the air.
At the sight of the puppet kicking violently with his head in the mud,
the Serpent went into convulsions of laughter, and laughed, and laughed,
until he broke a blood-vessel in his chest and died. And that time he
was really dead.
Pinocchio then set off running, in hopes that he should reach the
Fairy's house before dark. But before long he began to suffer so
dreadfully from hunger that he could not bear it, and he jumped into a
field by the wayside, intending to pick some bunches of Muscatel grapes.
Oh, that he had never done it!
He had scarcely reached the vines when crack--his legs were caught
between two cutting iron bars and he became so giddy with pain that
stars of every color danced before his eyes.
The poor puppet had been taken in a trap put there to capture some big
polecats which were the scourge of the poultry-yards in the
neighborhood.
[Illustration]