the marionettes recognize their brother pinocchio,and greet him with loud cheers; but the director, fire eater,happens along and poor pinocchio almost loses his lifequick as a flash, pinocchio disappeared into themarionette theater. and then something happened whichalmost caused a riot.

the curtain was up and the performance had started.

harlequin and pulcinella were reciting on the stage and,as usual, they were threatening each other with sticks and blows.

the theater was full of people, enjoying the spectacleand laughing till they cried at the antics of the two marionettes.

the play continued for a few minutes, and then suddenly,without any warning, harlequin stopped talking.

turning toward the audience, he pointed to the rear ofthe orchestra, yelling wildly at the same time:

"look, look! am i asleep or awake? or do i really seepinocchio there?""yes, yes! it is pinocchio!" screamed pulcinella.

"it is! it is!" shrieked signora rosaura, peeking in fromthe side of the stage.

"it is pinocchio! it is pinocchio!" yelled all the marionettes,pouring out of the wings. "it is pinocchio. it is our brotherpinocchio! hurrah for pinocchio!""pinocchio, come up to me!" shouted harlequin. "cometo the arms of your wooden brothers!"at such a loving invitation, pinocchio, with one leapfrom the back of the orchestra, found himself in the frontrows. with another leap, he was on the orchestra leader'shead. with a third, he landed on the stage.

it is impossible to describe the shrieks of joy, the warmembraces, the knocks, and the friendly greetings withwhich that strange company of dramatic actors andactresses received pinocchio.

it was a heart-rending spectacle, but the audience,seeing that the play had stopped, became angry and beganto yell:

"the play, the play, we want the play!"the yelling was of no use, for the marionettes, insteadof going on with their act, made twice as much racket asbefore, and, lifting up pinocchio on their shoulders, carriedhim around the stage in triumph.

at that very moment, the director came out of hisroom. he had such a fearful appearance that one lookat him would fill you with horror. his beard was asblack as pitch, and so long that it reached from his chindown to his feet. his mouth was as wide as an oven, histeeth like yellow fangs, and his eyes, two glowing redcoals. in his huge, hairy hands, a long whip, made ofgreen snakes and black cats' tails twisted together, swishedthrough the air in a dangerous way.

at the unexpected apparition, no one dared even tobreathe. one could almost hear a fly go by. those poormarionettes, one and all, trembled like leaves in a storm.

"why have you brought such excitement into mytheater;" the huge fellow asked pinocchio with the voiceof an ogre suffering with a cold.

"believe me, your honor, the fault was not mine.""enough! be quiet! i'll take care of you later."as soon as the play was over, the director went tothe kitchen, where a fine big lamb was slowly turningon the spit. more wood was needed to finish cooking it.

he called harlequin and pulcinella and said to them:

"bring that marionette to me! he looks as if he weremade of well-seasoned wood. he'll make a fine fire forthis spit."harlequin and pulcinella hesitated a bit. then,frightened by a look from their master, they left thekitchen to obey him. a few minutes later they returned,carrying poor pinocchio, who was wriggling and squirminglike an eel and crying pitifully:

"father, save me! i don't want to die! i don't want to die!"

皮诺乔一进木偶戏院，就出了件事，这件事几乎闹了个大乱子。

要知道，这时戏幕已经升起，滑稽戏已经开场了。

台上站着花衣小丑和驼背小丑，正吵得不可开交，接着就是那老一套，他们不断地你威吓我我威吓你，说要请对方吃耳光和吃棍子。

台下的观众聚精会神，听着这两个木偶吵架，哈哈大笑，两个木偶做着手势，互相辱骂，活灵活现，就像两个有理性的动物，咱们这世界的两个人。

忽然之间，花衣小丑停止了表演，向观众转过身来，用手指着观众席后排，用演戏的腔调大叫起来：

“天上的诸神啊！我是做梦还是醒着呢？那下边的人不是皮诺乔吗？……”

“正是皮诺乔！”驼背小丑叫道，

“一点不错就是他！”罗萨乌拉太太打台后伸出头来尖声叫道。

“是皮诺乔！是皮诺乔！”所有的木偶同声大叫，跳到外面台上来，“皮诺乔！是咱们的兄弟皮诺乔！皮诺乔万岁！”

“皮诺乔，上来，到我这儿来，”花衣小丑叫道，“上来，投到你的木头弟兄们的怀抱里来吧！”

他们这么热请地邀请，皮诺乔一跳就从观众席后座跳到前座，再一跳就从前座跳上乐队指挥的头顶，又从乐队指挥的头顶蹦上戏台。

皮诺乔受到木偶戏班男女演员的狂热欢迎，他们拥抱、搂他的脖子，友好地撮弄他，跟他像真诚兄弟那样头碰头，这个场面是无法想象的。

不用说，这个场面十分动人，不过观众看见戏老不演下去，不耐烦，开始大叫：

“我们要看戏，我们要看戏！”

可他们是白费力气，因为木偶们不是把戏演下去，而是加倍大叫大喊。他们把皮诺乔放在肩膀上，狂欢着抬到脚灯前面。

这时木偶戏班班主出来了，他个子大，样子凶，叫人看一眼就要害怕，他有把黑色大胡子，就像一大摊墨水迹，老长老长的，从下巴一直拖到地上，只说一点就够了，他走起路来脚都要踩着这把大胡子，他那张嘴大得像驴口，—双眼睛好似两盏点着火的红玻璃灯，他手里劈啪劈啪抽着根大鞭子，是用蛇和狼尾巴编起来的。

没想到忽然出来了班主，大伙儿一下子吓得连气都不敢透，连苍蝇飞过都听得见，这些可怜的木偶，男男女女个个哆嗦得像树叶子。

“你干吗到我的戏院里来捣乱？”班主问皮诺乔说，那大嗓门听着就像阎王爷害了重伤风的声音。

“请您相信，先生，这都不怪我！……”

“够了够了！晚上咱们再算账。”

事实就是如此，戏演完以后，木偶戏班班主走进厨房，厨房里正在烤一只肥羊做晚饭，叉子叉着，在火上慢慢地转动，他为了弄来木柴最后把羊烤熟烤焦，就把花衣小丑和驼背小丑叫来、对他们说：

“钉子上挂着的那个木偶，你们去给我带来，我看这木偶的木头很干，把他扔到火里，准能把火烧旺，烤熟这一只羊，”

花衣小丑和驼背小丑先还犹豫着不走，可班主生气地瞪了他们一眼，他们吓得只好服从。一转眼工夫他们就回到厨房，架来了可怜的皮诺乔，皮诺乔扭来扭去，像条出水鳗鱼，拼命大叫：

“我的爸爸，快救救我！我不要死，我不要死！……”