The following day Fire-eater called Pinocchio to one side and asked
him:
"What is your father's name?"
"Geppetto."
"And what trade does he follow?"
"He is a beggar."
"Does he gain much?"
"Gain much? Why, he has never a penny in his pocket. Only think, to
buy a spelling-book for me to go to school, he was obliged to sell the
only coat he had to wear--a coat that between patches and darns was
not fit to be seen."
"Poor devil! I feel almost sorry for him! Here are five gold pieces.
Go at once and take them to him with my compliments."
You can easily understand that Pinocchio thanked the showman a
thousand times. He embraced all the puppets of the company one by
one, even to the gendarmes, and beside himself with delight set out to
return home.
But he had not gone far when he met on the road a Fox lame in one
foot, and a Cat blind in both eyes, who were going along helping each
other like good companions in misfortune. The Fox who was lame walked
leaning on the Cat, and the Cat who was blind was guided by the Fox.
"Good day, Pinocchio," said the Fox, accosting him politely.
"How do you come to know my name?" asked the puppet.
"I know your father well."
"Where did you see him?"
"I saw him yesterday at the door of his house."
"And what was he doing?"
"He was in his shirt sleeves and shivering with cold."
"Poor papa! But that is over; for the future he shall shiver no more."
"Why?"
"Because I am become a gentleman."
"A gentleman--you!" said the Fox, and he began to laugh rudely and
scornfully. The Cat also began to laugh, but to conceal it she combed
her whiskers with her forepaws.
"There is little to laugh at," cried Pinocchio angrily. "I am really
sorry to make your mouths water, but if you know anything about it,
you can see that here are five gold pieces."
And he pulled out the money that Fire-eater had made him a present of.
At the sympathetic ring of the money the Fox with an involuntary
movement stretched out the paw that had seemed crippled, and the cat
opened wide two eyes that looked like two green lanterns. It is true
that she shut them again, and so quickly that Pinocchio observed
nothing.
"And now," asked the Fox, "what are you going to do with all that
money?"
"First of all," answered the Puppet, "I intend to buy a new coat for
my papa, made of gold and silver, and with diamond buttons, and then I
will buy a spelling-book for myself."
"For yourself?"
"Yes, indeed, for I wish to go to school to study in earnest."
"Look at me!" said the Fox. "Through my foolish passion for study I
have lost a leg."
"Look at me!" said the Cat. "Through my foolish passion for study I
have lost the sight of both my eyes."
At that moment a white Blackbird, that was perched on the hedge by the
road, began his usual song, and said:
"Pinocchio, don't listen to the advice of bad companions; if you do
you will repent it!"
Poor Blackbird! If only he had not spoken! The Cat with a great leap
sprang upon him and without even giving him time to say "Oh!" ate him
in a mouthful, feathers and all.
Having eaten him and cleaned her mouth she shut her eyes again and
feigned blindness as before.
"Poor Blackbird!" said Pinocchio to the Cat. "Why did you treat him so
badly?"
"I did it to give him a lesson. He will learn another time not to
meddle in other people's conversation."
They had gone almost half-way when the Fox, halting suddenly, said to
the puppet:
"Would you like to double your money?"
"In what way?"
"Would you like to make out of your five miserable gold pieces, a
hundred, a thousand, two thousand?"
"I should think so! But in what way?"
"The way is easy enough. Instead of returning home you must go with
us."
"And where do you wish to take me?"
"To the Land of the Owls."
Pinocchio reflected a moment, and then he said resolutely:
"No, I will not go. I am already close to the house, and I will return
home to my papa who is waiting for me. Who can tell how often the poor
old man must have sighed yesterday when I did not come back! I have
been a bad son, indeed, and the Talking-cricket was right when he said
'Disobedient boys never come to any good in the world.' I have
found it to my cost, for many misfortunes have happened to me. Even
yesterday in Fire-eater's house I ran the risk.... Oh! it makes me
shudder only to think of it."
"Well, then," said the Fox, "you are quite decided to go home? Go,
then, and so much the worse for you."
"So much the worse for you!" repeated the Cat.
"Think well of it, Pinocchio, for you are giving a kick to fortune."
"To fortune!" repeated the Cat.
"Between to-day and to-morrow your five gold pieces would have become
two thousand."
"Two thousand!" repeated the Cat.
"But how is it possible that they could have become so many?" asked
Pinocchio, remaining with his mouth open from astonishment.
"I will explain it to you at once," said the Fox. "You must know that
in the Land of the Owls there is a sacred field called by everybody
the Field of Miracles. In this field you must dig a little hole, and
you put into it, we will say one gold piece. Then you cover up the
hole with a little earth; you water it with two pails of water from
the fountain, then sprinkle it with two pinches of salt, and when
night comes you can go quietly to bed. In the meanwhile, during the
night, the gold piece will grow and flower, and in the morning when
you return to the field, what do you find? You find a beautiful tree
laden with as many gold pieces as an ear of corn has grains in the
month of June."
"So that," said Pinocchio, more and more bewildered, "supposing I
buried my five gold pieces in that field, how many should I find there
the following morning?"
"That is exceedingly easy calculation," replied the Fox, "a
calculation that you can make on the ends of your fingers. Suppose
that every gold piece gives you an increase of five hundred; multiply
five hundred by five, and the following morning will find you with two
thousand five hundred shining gold pieces in your pocket."
"Oh! how delightful!" cried Pinocchio, dancing for joy, "As soon as
ever I have obtained those gold pieces, I will keep two thousand for
myself, and the other five hundred I will make a present of to you
two."
"A present to us?" cried the Fox with indignation, and appearing much
offended. "What are you dreaming of?"
"What are you dreaming of?" repeated the Cat.
"We do not work," said the Fox, "for dirty interest, we work solely to
enrich others."
"Others!" repeated the Cat.
"What good people!" thought Pinocchio to himself; and forgetting there
and then his papa, the new coat, the spelling-book, and all his good
resolutions, he said to the Fox and the Cat:
"Let us be off at once. I will go with you."