PINOCCHIO DREAMS AGAIN
If these people are such cowards that they run at the sound of my
voice, in a few days I shall be master of all Africa. I shall be a
great man. However, this is a country of hunger and thirst and fatigue.
I must find a place where I can rest a little before I begin my career
of conquest.
Fortune now seemed to favor Pinocchio. Not far off he thought he saw a
group of huts at the foot of a hill. He felt that besides getting rest
and shelter, he might also find something to eat. Greedy marionette!
As he approached he was struck by the strangeness of these buildings.
They looked like little towers topped with domes. He went along
wondering what race of people lived in houses built without windows or
doors. He saw no one, and he was filled with a sort of fear.
Shall I go on or not? he mused. Perhaps it would be best to call
out, Some one will show me where to go for food and shelter.
Hello there! he said in a low voice. No one answered.
Hello there! repeated the marionette a little louder. But there was
no answer.
They are deaf, or asleep, or dead! concluded the marionette, after
calling out at the top of his voice again and again.
Then he thought it might be a deserted village, and he entered bravely
between the towers. There was no one to be seen. As he stretched out
his tired limbs on the ground he murmured. Since it is useless to
think of eating, I may at least rest. And in a few minutes he was
sound asleep.
He dreamed that he was being pulled along by an army of small insects
that resembled ants. It seemed to him that he was making every effort
to stop them, but he could not succeed. They dragged and rolled him
down a slope toward a frightful precipice, over which he must fall. It
even seemed as if they had entered his mouth by hundreds, busying
themselves in tearing out his tongue. It served him right, too, because
his tongue had made many false promises and caused everybody much
suffering.
You will never tell any more lies! the ants seemed to say.
Then the marionette awoke with a struggle and a cry of fear. His dream
was a reality. He was covered with ants. He brushed them off his face,
his arms, his legs,in short, his whole body. They had tortured him for
four or five hours, and only the fact that he was made of very hard
wood had saved his life.
Thanks to my strong constitution. thought the marionette, I am as
good as new.