pinocchio is hungry and looks for an egg to cook himself an omelet;but, to his surprise, the omelet flies out of the windowif the cricket's death scared pinocchio at all, it was onlyfor a very few moments. for, as night came on, a queer,empty feeling at the pit of his stomach reminded the marionette that he had eaten nothing as yet.

a boy's appetite grows very fast, and in a few momentsthe queer, empty feeling had become hunger, and thehunger grew bigger and bigger, until soon he was asravenous as a bear.

poor pinocchio ran to the fireplace where the pot wasboiling and stretched out his hand to take the cover off,but to his amazement the pot was only painted! think howhe felt! his long nose became at least two inches longer.

he ran about the room, dug in all the boxes and drawers,and even looked under the bed in search of a piece of bread,hard though it might be, or a cookie, or perhaps a bit of fish.

a bone left by a dog would have tasted good to him!

but he found nothing.

and meanwhile his hunger grew and grew. the onlyrelief poor pinocchio had was to yawn; and he certainlydid yawn, such a big yawn that his mouth stretchedout to the tips of his ears. soon he became dizzy and faint.

he wept and wailed to himself: "the talking cricketwas right. it was wrong of me to disobey father and torun away from home. if he were here now, i wouldn't beso hungry! oh, how horrible it is to be hungry!"suddenly, he saw, among the sweepings in a corner,something round and white that looked very much like ahen's egg. in a jiffy he pounced upon it. it was an egg.

the marionette's joy knew no bounds. it is impossibleto describe it, you must picture it to yourself. certain that he was dreaming, he turned the egg over and over in hishands, fondled it, kissed it, and talked to it:

"and now, how shall i cook you? shall i make anomelet? no, it is better to fry you in a pan!

or shall i drink you? no, the best way is tofry you in the pan. you will taste better."no sooner said than done. he placed a little pan over afoot warmer full of hot coals. in the pan, instead of oil orbutter, he poured a little water. as soon as the waterstarted to boil--tac!--he broke the eggshell. but in placeof the white and the yolk of the egg, a little yellow chick,fluffy and gay and smiling, escaped from it. bowingpolitely to pinocchio, he said to him:

"many, many thanks, indeed, mr. pinocchio, for havingsaved me the trouble of breaking my shell! good-byand good luck to you and remember me to the family!"with these words he spread out his wings and, dartingto the open window, he flew away into space till he wasout of sight.

the poor marionette stood as if turned to stone, withwide eyes, open mouth, and the empty halves of the egg-shell in his hands. when he came to himself, he began tocry and shriek at the top of his lungs, stamping his feet onthe ground and wailing all the while:

"the talking cricket was right! if i had not run awayfrom home and if father were here now, i should not bedying of hunger. oh, how horrible it is to be hungry!"and as his stomach kept grumbling more than ever andhe had nothing to quiet it with, he thought of going outfor a walk to the near-by village, in the hope of findingsome charitable person who might give him a bit of bread.

这时候天开始黑了，皮诺乔猛想起他还没吃过点东西，就觉得肚子在咕噜咕噜叫，真想吃。

孩子是这样，一想到吃就越来越想吃，说真个的，几分钟工夫，想吃就变成了肚子饿，肚子越来越饿，饿得他像只饿狼，饿得他肚子像刀绞。

可怜的皮诺乔马上向壁炉扑过去，那儿有个锅子在冒热气，他打算揭开锅盖，看看里面在煮什么，谁知那锅子是画在墙上的，诸位想象一下吧，他是多么失望啊，他那个本来已经很长的鼻子，马上又至少长了四指。

于是他满屋子乱跑，搜遍了所有的抽屉、所有的角落，只想找到点面包，哪怕是一丁点儿干面包，只想找到点硬面包皮、狗啃过的骨头、发霉的玉米糊、鱼骨头、樱桃核，总而言之，随便找到什么可以进口的东西都好，可他什么也没找到，一丁点儿东西也没找到。

这时他肚子越来越饿，越来越饿，可怜的皮诺乔，他除了打哈欠，就毫无办法可以让肚子好过一点儿。他的哈欠打得那么长，每一回嘴巴都一直咧到耳朵边。打完一个哈欠他就吐口水，只觉得胃也要吐出来了。

最后他绝望了，哭着说：

“会说话的蟋蟀说得对，我错就错在不听爸爸的话，逃出了屋子……我爸爸要是在这儿，这会儿我就不会一个劲儿打哈欠，人都要打死了！唉哟！肚子饿多难受啊！”

正在这时候，他看到一堆垃圾里好像有一样东西，圆滚滚的、白花花的，完全像个鸡蛋。他一蹦就跳了过去，扑到它上面，的的确确是个鸡蛋。

木偶这份高兴是只可意会，无法形容的，他简直像在做梦，一个劲儿把鸡蛋捧在手上，转过来转过去，又摸又吻，一面吻还一面说：

“这会儿我该怎么吃这个蛋呢，煎来吃不好吗？……不，放在盘子里煮更好！……噢，用煎锅煎最好，还有比煎鸡蛋更好吃的吗？噢，不弄熟怎么样，就生着吃？不，还是放在盘子里煮，或者用煎锅煎好，我想吃得要命啦！”

说干就干，他把煎锅放在一个烧炭的火盆上，在煎锅里他放的不是素油不是牛油，而是水。等到水一冒气，卡嗒！……他敲破鸡蛋壳，就要把蛋倒进去。

可蛋壳里倒出来的不是蛋白和蛋黄，而是一只小鸡。小鸡又快活又有礼貌，姿势优美地鞠个躬说：

“多谢您，皮诺乔先生，您让我省了力气，不用去弄破蛋壳啦！再见，祝您好，请代我问候您一家人！”

它说着拍拍翅膀，从打开的窗子飞出去，不见了。

可怜的木偶站在那里发呆，眼睛瞪大，嘴巴张开，手里拿着两瓣鸡蛋壳。他这么愣了一阵，等到最后清醒过来，就哇哇地又哭又叫，绝望得跺脚，一面哭一面说：

“还是会说话的蟋蟀说得对！如果我不从家里进出去，如果我爸爸在这儿，这会儿我就不会饿得要命了！噢，肚子饿多难受啊！”

肚子继续咕噜咕噜响，越响越厉害，他又不知道该怎么办才叫它不响，他觉得还是离开屋子，到隔壁村子去看看，巴望能碰到个好心人，会施舍点面包给他吃吃。