fire eater gives pinocchio five gold pieces for his father, geppetto;but the marionette meets a fox and a cat and follows themthe next day fire eater called pinocchio aside and asked him:
"what is your father's name?""geppetto.""and what is his trade?""he's a wood carver.""does he earn much?""he earns so much that he never has a penny in hispockets. just think that, in order to buy me an a-b-cbook for school, he had to sell the only coat he owned, acoat so full of darns and patches that it was a pity.""poor fellow! i feel sorry for him. here, take thesefive gold pieces. go, give them to him with my kindest regards."pinocchio, as may easily be imagined, thanked hima thousand times. he kissed each marionette in turn,even the officers, and, beside himself with joy, set out onhis homeward journey.
he had gone barely half a mile when he met a lamefox and a blind cat, walking together like two goodfriends. the lame fox leaned on the cat, and the blindcat let the fox lead him along.
"good morning, pinocchio," said the fox, greeting himcourteously.
"how do you know my name?" asked the marionette.
"i know your father well.""where have you seen him?""i saw him yesterday standing at the door of his house.""and what was he doing?""he was in his shirt sleeves trembling with cold.""poor father! but, after today, god willing, he willsuffer no longer.""why?""because i have become a rich man.""you, a rich man?" said the fox, and he began to laughout loud. the cat was laughing also, but tried to hide itby stroking his long whiskers.
"there is nothing to laugh at," cried pinocchio angrily.
"i am very sorry to make your mouth water, but these,as you know, are five new gold pieces."and he pulled out the gold pieces which fire eaterhad given him.
at the cheerful tinkle of the gold, the fox unconsciouslyheld out his paw that was supposed to be lame, and thecat opened wide his two eyes till they looked like livecoals, but he closed them again so quickly that pinocchiodid not notice.
"and may i ask," inquired the fox, "what you aregoing to do with all that money?""first of all," answered the marionette, "i want tobuy a fine new coat for my father, a coat of gold andsilver with diamond buttons; after that, i'll buy an a-b-c book for myself.""for yourself?""for myself. i want to go to school and study hard.""look at me," said the fox. "for the silly reason ofwanting to study, i have lost a paw.""look at me," said the cat. "for the same foolish reason,i have lost the sight of both eyes."at that moment, a blackbird, perched on the fencealong the road, called out sharp and clear:
"pinocchio, do not listen to bad advice. if you do,you'll be sorry!"poor little blackbird! if he had only kept his wordsto himself! in the twinkling of an eyelid, the cat leapedon him, and ate him, feathers and all.
after eating the bird, he cleaned his whiskers, closedhis eyes, and became blind once more.
"poor blackbird!" said pinocchio to the cat.
"why did you kill him?""i killed him to teach him a lesson. he talks too much.
next time he will keep his words to himself."by this time the three companions had walked a longdistance. suddenly, the fox stopped in his tracks and,turning to the marionette, said to him:
"do you want to double your gold pieces?""what do you mean?""do you want one hundred, a thousand, two thousandgold pieces for your miserable five?""yes, but how?""the way is very easy. instead of returning home,come with us.""and where will you take me?""to the city of simple simons."pinocchio thought a while and then said firmly:
"no, i don't want to go. home is near, and i'm goingwhere father is waiting for me. how unhappy he mustbe that i have not yet returned! i have been a bad son,and the talking cricket was right when he said that adisobedient boy cannot be happy in this world. i havelearned this at my own expense. even last night inthe theater, when fire eater. . . brrrr!!!!! . . .
the shivers run up and down my back at the mere thought of it.""well, then," said the fox, "if you really want to go home,go ahead, but you'll be sorry.""you'll be sorry," repeated the cat.
"think well, pinocchio, you are turning your back on dame fortune.""on dame fortune," repeated the cat.
"tomorrow your five gold pieces will be two thousand!""two thousand!" repeated the cat.
"but how can they possibly become so many?" askedpinocchio wonderingly.
"i'll explain," said the fox. "you must know that,just outside the city of simple simons, there is a blessedfield called the field of wonders. in this field you diga hole and in the hole you bury a gold piece. after coveringup the hole with earth you water it well, sprinklea bit of salt on it, and go to bed. during the night, thegold piece sprouts, grows, blossoms, and next morningyou find a beautiful tree, that is loaded with gold pieces.""so that if i were to bury my five gold pieces," criedpinocchio with growing wonder, "next morning i shouldfind--how many?""it is very simple to figure out," answered the fox.
"why, you can figure it on your fingers! granted thateach piece gives you five hundred, multiply five hundredby five. next morning you will find twenty-five hundrednew, sparkling gold pieces.""fine! fine!" cried pinocchio, dancing about with joy.
"and as soon as i have them, i shall keep two thousandfor myself and the other five hundred i'll give to you two.""a gift for us?" cried the fox, pretending to be insulted.
"why, of course not!""of course not!" repeated the cat.
"we do not work for gain," answered the fox.
"we work only to enrich others.""to enrich others!" repeated the cat.
"what good people," thought pinocchio to himself.
and forgetting his father, the new coat, the a-b-c book,and all his good resolutions, he said to the fox and to the cat:
"let us go. i am with you."
第二天早晨，吃火人把皮诺乔叫到一旁，问他说：
“你父亲叫什么名字？”
“叫杰佩托。”
“他是干什么的，”
“他很穷。”
“他赚的钱多吗？”
“要问他赚的钱，从不见他口袋里有一个子儿。请想象一下吧，为了买一本识字课本给我上学，他得卖掉身上仅有的一件短上衣。这件短上衣完全是补丁，没一处好的。”
“可怜的人！我很同情他。这里是五个金币。马上带回去给他，并且替我问他好。”
不用说，皮诺乔向木偶戏班班主千谢万谢，他把戏班里所有的木偶一个个拥抱过，包括两个守卫，然后欢天喜地回家去了。
可还没有走上半公里路，他就在路上碰到一只瘸腿狐狸和一只瞎眼猫。它俩一路上相互搀扶，似是两个患难朋友。瘸腿狐狸靠在猫身上，瞎眼猫由狐狸领着路。
“早上好，皮诺乔，”狐狸向他恭恭敬敬问好说。
“你怎么知道我的名字？”木偶问它。
“我跟你爸爸挺熟。”
“你在哪儿见过他？”
“昨天在他家门口见过。”
“他在干什么？”
“他穿着一件衬衫，冷得直打哆嗦。”
“可怜的爸爸！可是谢谢老天爷，从今往后，他就不用再打哆嗦了！……”
“为什么？”
“因为我变成个体面先生啦。”
“你是个体面先生？”狐狸说着，放肆地大笑，猫也跟着笑，可为了不让皮诺乔看见，用两个前爪子假装在理着胡子。
“没什么可笑的，”皮诺乔生气地叫道，“我真不想叫你们流口水，可这儿，要是你们想知道的话，这儿有五个呱呱叫的金币。”
他说着掏出吃火人送他的钱。
一听到金币丁丁当当响，狐狸不由自主地伸出了它那只好像瘸了的爪子，猫也张大了它那两只眼睛。这两只眼睛绿幽幽的像两盏灯，不过它们马上又闭上了，皮诺乔当然一点没看见。
“现在，”狐狸问他，“你拿这些钱想干什么呢？”
“第一，”皮诺乔回答说，“我要给我爸爸买一件漂亮的新上衣，金丝银线织的，钮扣是宝石做的，第二、我要给自己买一本识字课本。”
“给你自己？”
“还用说，我要去上学好好读书嘛。”
“你瞧瞧我吧，”狐狸说，“我就为了愚蠢得竟想去读书，结果把一条腿都弄瘸了。”
“你瞧瞧我吧，”猫说了，“我就为了愚蠢得竟想去读书，把两只眼睛都搞瞎了。”
正在这时候，一只白椋鸟蹲在路边树丛上唱起它的老调，说：
“皮诺乔，别听坏朋友的话，要不，你要后悔的！”
可怜的椋鸟没来得及把话说完！猫猛地一跳，跳得半天高，一把抓住椋鸟，椋鸟连叫一声“唉哟”的工夫也没有，就已经连毛一起进入了猫的大嘴巴，
猫吃掉椋鸟，擦过嘴巴，重新闭上两只眼睛，又照旧装瞎子。
“可怜的椋鸟！”皮诺乔对猫说，“你为什么对它这么狠呢？”
“我这样做是为了教训教训它，这样一来，下次它可就学乖，别人说话不会插嘴了。”
他们走到半路，狐狸忽然停下，对木偶说：
“你想让你的金币加个倍吗？”
“你这话什么意思？”
“你只有那么五个金币，你想让它们变成一百个，一千个，两千个吗？”
“那还用说！可怎么变呢？”
“简单极了。你先别回家，跟我们走。”
“你们带我上哪儿去？”
“到傻瓜城去。”
皮诺乔想了想，接着拿定主意说：
“不要，我不去，这会儿就到家了，我要回家，我爸爸在等着，可怜的老人家昨儿没见我回去，谁知道他有多么焦急呀！真倒霉，我是这么个坏孩子，还是会说话的蟋蟀说得对：‘不听话的孩子在这个世界上没有好结果。’我从自己的教训懂得了这一点，因为我遭了许多殃，昨儿晚上在吃火人那里，我差点儿连命都送掉了……啊！我一想起都要发抖！”
“这么说，”狐狸说道，“你真想回家？那你就回家吧、反正是你自己吃亏！”
“是你自已吃亏！”猫跟着又说了一遍。
“你好好想想，皮诺乔，因为你有福不享。”
“有福不享！”猫跟着又说了一遍。
“你的五个金币到明天要变成两千个了。”
“两千个了！”猫跟着又说一遍。
“可怎么会变那么多呢？”皮诺乔问道，惊奇得嘴都合不拢了。
“我这就告诉你，”狐狸说，“你要知道，傻瓜城有块福地，大家叫它‘奇迹宝地’。你在这块地上挖一个小窟窿，然后放进去，比方说吧，放进去一个金币。然后你在窟窿上撒点土，重新盖起来，浇上两锅泉水，再撒上一撮盐，晚上你安安稳稳上床睡大觉好了，一夜工夫，这个金币生长开花。第二天早晨你起床回到地里一看，你想你会看到什么呢，你会看到一棵漂亮的树，长满了金币，多得就像六月里一串丰满的麦穗上的麦粒。”
“这么说，”皮诺乔完全入迷了，说道：“要是我把我那五个金币种在那块地上，第二天早晨我可以有多少个金币呢？”
“容易算极了，”狐狸回答说，“用指头尖一算就算得出来，比方说，每个金币长出五百个，五百乘五，第二天早晨你口袋里就可以有两千五百个闪闪发光、丁丁当当响的金币。”
“噢，那多美呀！”皮诺乔大叫，高兴得跳起来，“等我把这些金币都采下来，我拿两千，还有五百个我送给你们俩。”
“送给我们？”狐狸像给得罪了，生气地叫道，“上帝免了你这份礼吧！”
“免了你这份礼！”猫跟着又说了一遍。
“我们这么起劲，可不是为了卑鄙的利益，”狐狸回答说，“我们起劲只是为了让别人发财致富。”
“让别人发财致富。”猫跟着又说了一遍，
“多好的人啊！”皮诺乔心里说，他一下子忘掉了他的爸爸，忘掉了新上衣，忘掉了识字课本，忘掉了一切好的打算，却对狐狸和猫说：
“那咱们走吧。我跟你们去。”