PINOCCHIO TURNS INTO A DONKEY
The surprise was that Pinocchio, when he awoke, scratched his head, and
in scratching his head he discovered, to his great astonishment, that
his ears had grown more than a hand.
You know that the puppet from his birth had always had very small
ears--so small that they were not visible to the naked eye. You can
imagine then what he felt when he found that during the night his ears
had become so long that they seemed like two brooms.
He went at once in search of a glass that he might look at himself, but,
not being able to find one, he filled the basin of his washing-stand
with water, and he saw reflected what he certainly would never have
wished to see. He saw his head embellished with a magnificent pair of
donkey's ears!
Only think of poor Pinocchio's sorrow, shame and despair!
He began to cry and roar, and he beat his head against the wall, but the
more he cried the longer his ears grew; they grew, and grew, and became
hairy towards the points.
At the sound of his loud outcries a beautiful little Marmot that lived
on the first floor came into the room. Seeing the puppet in such grief
she asked earnestly:
"What has happened to you, my dear fellow-lodger?"
"I am ill, my dear little Marmot, very ill, and my illness frightens me.
Do you understand counting a pulse?"
"A little."
"Then feel and see if by chance I have got fever."
The little Marmot raised her right fore-paw, and, after having felt
Pinocchio's pulse, she said to him, sighing:
"My friend, I am grieved to be obliged to give you bad news!"
"What is it?"
"You have got a very bad fever!"
"What fever is it?"
"It is donkey fever."
"That is a fever that I do not understand," said the puppet, but he
understood it only too well.
"Then I will explain it to you," said the Marmot. "You must know that in
two or three hours you will be no longer a puppet, or a boy."
"Then what shall I be?"
"In two or three hours you will become really and truly a little donkey,
like those that draw carts and carry cabbages and salad to market."
"Oh, unfortunate that I am! unfortunate that I am!" cried Pinocchio,
seizing his two ears with his hands and pulling them and tearing them
furiously as if they had been some one else's ears.
"My dear boy," said the Marmot, by way of consoling him, "you can do
nothing. It is destiny. It is written in the decrees of wisdom that all
boys who are lazy, and who take a dislike to books, to schools, and to
masters, and who pass their time in amusement, games, and diversions,
must end sooner or later by becoming transformed into so many little
donkeys."
"But is it really so?" asked the puppet, sobbing.
"It is indeed only too true! And tears are now useless. You should have
thought of it sooner!"
"But it was not my fault; believe me, little Marmot, the fault was all
Candlewick's!"
"And who is this Candlewick?"
"One of my school-fellows. I wanted to return home; I wanted to be
obedient. I wished to study, but Candlewick said to me: 'Why should you
bother yourself by studying? Why should you go to school? Come with us
instead to the "Land of Boobies"; there we shall none of us have to
learn; there we shall amuse ourselves from morning to night, and we
shall always be merry'."
"And why did you follow the advice of that false friend? of that bad
companion?"
"Why? Because, my dear little Marmot, I am a puppet with no sense, and
with no heart. Ah! if I had had the least heart I should never have left
that good Fairy who loved me like a mamma, and who had done so much for
me! And I would be no longer a puppet, for I would by this time have
become a little boy like so many others: But if I meet Candlewick, woe
to him! He shall hear what I think of him!"
And he turned to go out. But when he reached the door he remembered his
donkey's ears, and, feeling ashamed to show them in public, what do you
think he did? He took a big cotton cap and, putting it on his head, he
pulled it well down over the point of his nose.
He then set out and went everywhere in search of Candlewick. He looked
for him in the streets, in the squares, in the little theaters, in every
possible place, but he could not find him. He inquired for him of
everybody he met, but no one had seen him.
He then went to seek him at his house and, having reached the door, he
knocked.
"Who is there?" asked Candlewick from within.
"It is I!" answered the puppet.
"Wait a moment and I will let you in."
After half an hour the door was opened and imagine Pinocchio's feelings
when, upon going into the room, he saw his friend Candlewick with a big
cotton cap on his head which came down over his nose.
At the sight of the cap Pinocchio felt almost consoled and thought to
himself:
"Has my friend got the same illness that I have? Is he also suffering
from donkey fever?"
And, pretending to have observed nothing, he asked him, smiling:
"How are you, my dear Candlewick?"
"Very well; as well as a mouse in a Parmesan cheese."
"Are you saying that seriously?"
"Why should I tell you a lie?"
"Excuse me; but why, then, do you keep that cotton cap on your head
which covers up your ears?"
"The doctor ordered me to wear it because I have hurt this knee. And
you, dear puppet, why have you got on that cotton cap pulled down over
your nose?"
"The doctor prescribed it because I have grazed my foot."
"Oh, poor Pinocchio!"
"Oh, poor Candlewick!"
After these words a long silence followed, during which the two friends
did nothing but look mockingly at each other.
At last the puppet said in a soft voice to his companion:
"Satisfy my curiosity, my dear Candlewick: have you ever suffered from
disease of the ears?"
"Never! And you?"
"Never. Only since this morning one of my ears aches."
"Mine is also paining me."
"You also? And which of your ears hurts you?"
"Both of them. And you?"
"Both of them. Can we have got the same illness?"
"I fear so."
"Will you do me a kindness, Candlewick?"
"Willingly! With all my heart."
"Will you let me see your ears?"
"Why not? But first, my dear Pinocchio, I should like to see yours."
"No: you must be first."
"No, dear. First you and then I!"
"Well," said the puppet, "let us come to an agreement like good
friends."
"Let us hear it."
"We will both take off our caps at the same moment. Do you agree?"
"I agree."
"Then, attention!"
And Pinocchio began to count in a loud voice:
"One, two, three!"
At the word "Three!" the two boys took off their caps and threw them
into the air.
And then a scene followed that would seem incredible if it were not
true. That is, that when Pinocchio and Candlewick discovered that they
were both struck with the same misfortune, instead of feeling full of
mortification and grief, they began to prick their ungainly ears and to
make a thousand antics, and they ended by going into bursts of laughter.
And they laughed, and laughed, and laughed, until they had to hold
themselves together. But in the midst of their merriment Candlewick
suddenly stopped, staggered, and, changing color, said to his friend:
"Help, help, Pinocchio!"
"What is the matter with you?"
"Alas, I cannot any longer stand upright."
"Neither can I," exclaimed Pinocchio, tottering and beginning to cry.
And whilst they were talking, they both doubled up and began to run
round the room on their hands and feet. And as they ran, their hands
became hoofs, their faces lengthened into muzzles, and their backs
became covered with a light gray hairy coat sprinkled with black.
But do you know what was the worst moment for these two wretched boys?
The worst and the most humiliating moment was when their tails grew.
Vanquished by shame and sorrow, they wept and lamented their fate.
Oh, if they had but been wiser! But instead of sighs and lamentations
they could only bray like asses; and they brayed loudly and said in
chorus: "Hee-haw!"
Whilst this was going on some one knocked at the door and a voice on the
outside said:
"Open the door! I am the little man, I am the coachman who brought you
to this country. Open at once, or it will be the worse for you!"
[Illustration]