mastro cherry gives the piece of wood to his friend geppetto,who takes it to make himself a marionette that will dance,fence, and turn somersaultsin that very instant, a loud knock sounded on the door.

"come in," said the carpenter, not having an atom ofstrength left with which to stand up.

at the words, the door opened and a dapper little oldman came in. his name was geppetto, but to the boys ofthe neighborhood he was polendina,[1] on account of thewig he always wore which was just the color of yellow corn.

[1] cornmeal mush geppetto had a very bad temper. woe to the one whocalled him polendina! he became as wild as a beast andno one could soothe him.

"good day, mastro antonio," said geppetto. "whatare you doing on the floor?""i am teaching the ants their a b c's.""good luck to you!""what brought you here, friend geppetto?""my legs. and it may flatter you to know, mastroantonio, that i have come to you to beg for a favor.""here i am, at your service," answered the carpenter,raising himself on to his knees.

"this morning a fine idea came to me.""let's hear it.""i thought of making myself a beautiful woodenmarionette. it must be wonderful, one that will be able todance, fence, and turn somersaults. with it i intend to goaround the world, to earn my crust of bread and cup ofwine. what do you think of it?""bravo, polendina!" cried the same tiny voice whichcame from no one knew where.

on hearing himself called polendina, mastro geppettoturned the color of a red pepper and, facing the carpenter,said to him angrily:

"why do you insult me?""who is insulting you?""you called me polendina.""i did not.""i suppose you think _i_ did! yet i know it was you.""no!""yes!""no!""yes!"and growing angrier each moment, they went fromwords to blows, and finally began to scratch and bite andslap each other.

when the fight was over, mastro antonio had geppetto'syellow wig in his hands and geppetto found the carpenter'scurly wig in his mouth.

"give me back my wig!" shouted mastro antonio in a surly voice.

"you return mine and we'll be friends."the two little old men, each with his own wig back onhis own head, shook hands and swore to be good friendsfor the rest of their lives.

"well then, mastro geppetto," said the carpenter, toshow he bore him no ill will, "what is it you want?""i want a piece of wood to make a marionette. will you give it to me?"mastro antonio, very glad indeed, went immediatelyto his bench to get the piece of wood which had frightenedhim so much. but as he was about to give it to his friend,with a violent jerk it slipped out of his hands and hitagainst poor geppetto's thin legs.

"ah! is this the gentle way, mastro antonio, in whichyou make your gifts? you have made me almost lame!""i swear to you i did not do it!""it was _i_, of course!""it's the fault of this piece of wood.""you're right; but remember you were the one to throw it at my legs.""i did not throw it!""liar!""geppetto, do not insult me or i shall call you polendina.""idiot.""polendina!""donkey!""polendina!""ugly monkey!""polendina!"on hearing himself called polendina for the third time,geppetto lost his head with rage and threw himself uponthe carpenter. then and there they gave each other asound thrashing.

after this fight, mastro antonio had two more scratcheson his nose, and geppetto had two buttons missing fromhis coat. thus having settled their accounts, they shookhands and swore to be good friends for the rest of their lives.

then geppetto took the fine piece of wood,thanked mastro antonio, and limped away toward home.

正在这节骨眼，有人笃笃笃敲门。

“进来”，老木匠说，他连重新站起来的力气也没有了，

于是木匠铺里进来了一个小老头，他老是老，可老得精神，他的名字叫做杰佩托，可街坊邻居的孩子要想逗他发顿脾气，就叫他的外号“老玉米糊”，他有这么个外号，因为他那头黄色假发活像玉米糊。

杰佩托脾气挺坏，谁叫他“老玉米糊”就得倒大霉！他一下子凶得像只野兽，谁也没法对付他。

“您好，安东尼奥师傅。”杰佩托说，“您坐在地上干吗呀？”

“我吗，我在教蚂蚁做算术哪。”

“祝您成功！”

“倒是什么把您给带到我这儿来啦，杰佩托老朋友。”

“是我的腿把我带来了呗，您知道，安东尼奥师傅，我是来求您给我帮个忙的。”

“随时乐意为您效劳。”老木匠回答说，跪了起来。

“今天早晨，我脑子里忽然想出了一个主意。”

“咱们倒来听听看。”

“我想亲手给自己做个漂亮的木偶，不是个普通木偶，是个呱呱叫的木偶，会跳舞，会耍剑，还会翻跟头。我要带着这么个木偶周游世界，挣块面包吃吃，混杯酒喝喝。您看怎么样。”

“好极了，老玉米糊！”还是那个很细很细的声音不却从哪儿叫起来。

杰佩托这位老朋友一听人家叫他老玉米糊，脸登时气红了，红得像个红辣椒。他向老木匠一下子转过脸来，气呼呼地说：

“您干吗得罪我，”

“谁得罪您了，”

“您叫我老玉米糊！……”

“我没叫过您老玉米糊。”

“难道是我叫了吗？我说是您叫了。”

“我没叫！”

“您叫了！”

“我没叫！”

“您叫了！”

他们越来越激动，结果从动口到动手，两个打了起来，又抓又咬，像两只猴子似的。

等到一架打完，杰佩托那头黄色假发到了安东尼奥师傅的手上，老木匠那头花白假发却在杰佩托的嘴里。

“你把我的假发还我，”安东尼奥师傅说。

“你也把我的假发还我。咱俩讲和吧，”

两位小老头各自收回了自己的假发以后，互相紧紧拉手，赌咒发誓说以后要一辈子做好朋友。

“那么，杰佩托老朋友”，老木匠表示和解说，“您要我给您效什么劳呢？”

“我想要段木头做我的那个木偶，您肯给吗？”

安东尼奥师傅听了这话真是喜出望外，马上过去拿起工作台上那段把他吓了个半死的木头，可他正要把木头交给朋友，木头猛地一扭，打他手里使劲滑了出来，在可怜的杰佩托那很细的小腿骨上，狠狠地就是一下。

“唉哟！安东尼奥师傅，您送东西给人家是这么客气的吗？我的脚几乎都给你打瘸了，”

“我发誓我没打您的脚。”

“难道是我打我自己的脚不成！……”

“全怪这木头，是它打你的……”

“我知道是木头，可把木头扔在我脚上的是您，”

“我没扔您！”

“您说谎！”

“杰佩托，您别得罪我，要不我就叫您老玉米糊！……”

“蠢驴！”

“老玉米糊！”

“蠢猴！”

“老玉米糊！”

“蠢猪！”

“老玉米糊！”

杰佩托听到这第三声老玉米糊，眼睛都气黑了，向老木匠猛扑过去。于是他们又打了一场大架。

等到这一架打完，安东尼奥师傅的鼻子多了两道抓伤，另一位的背心却少了两颗钮子，两个人这样算清账以后，又紧紧拉手，赌咒发誓说发后要一辈子做好朋友。

接着杰佩托拿起他那段呱呱叫的木头，谢过安东尼奥师傅，一瘸一拐地回家去了。