pinocchio, not having listened to the good adviceof the talking cricket, falls into the hands of the assassins "dear, oh, dear! when i come to think of it," said themarionette to himself, as he once more set out on hisjourney, "we boys are really very unlucky. everybodyscolds us, everybody gives us advice, everybody warns us.

if we were to allow it, everyone would try to be fatherand mother to us; everyone, even the talking cricket.

take me, for example. just because i would not listen tothat bothersome cricket, who knows how many misfortunesmay be awaiting me! assassins indeed! at leasti have never believed in them, nor ever will. to speaksensibly, i think assassins have been invented by fathersand mothers to frighten children who want to run awayat night. and then, even if i were to meet them onthe road, what matter? i'll just run up to them, and say,`well, signori, what do you want? remember that youcan't fool with me! run along and mind your business.'

at such a speech, i can almost see those poor fellowsrunning like the wind. but in case they don't run away,i can always run myself. . ."pinocchio was not given time to argue any longer, for he thoughthe heard a slight rustle among the leaves behind him.

he turned to look and behold, there in the darknessstood two big black shadows, wrapped from head to footin black sacks. the two figures leaped toward him assoftly as if they were ghosts.

"here they come!" pinocchio said to himself, and,not knowing where to hide the gold pieces, he stuck allfour of them under his tongue.

he tried to run away, but hardly had he taken a step,when he felt his arms grasped and heard two horrible,deep voices say to him: "your money or your life!"on account of the gold pieces in his mouth, pinocchiocould not say a word, so he tried with head and handsand body to show, as best he could, that he was only apoor marionette without a penny in his pocket.

"come, come, less nonsense, and out with your money!"cried the two thieves in threatening voices.

once more, pinocchio's head and hands said, "i haven'ta penny.""out with that money or you're a dead man," said thetaller of the two assassins.

"dead man," repeated the other.

"and after having killed you, we will kill your father also.""your father also!""no, no, no, not my father!" cried pinocchio, wild with terror;but as he screamed, the gold pieces tinkled together in his mouth.

"ah, you rascal! so that's the game! you have themoney hidden under your tongue. out with it!"but pinocchio was as stubborn as ever.

"are you deaf? wait, young man, we'll get it fromyou in a twinkling!"one of them grabbed the marionette by the nose andthe other by the chin, and they pulled him unmercifullyfrom side to side in order to make him open his mouth.

all was of no use. the marionette's lips might havebeen nailed together. they would not open.

in desperation the smaller of the two assassins pulledout a long knife from his pocket, and tried to pry pinocchio'smouth open with it.

quick as a flash, the marionette sank his teeth deepinto the assassin's hand, bit it off and spat it out. fancyhis surprise when he saw that it was not a hand, but acat's paw.

encouraged by this first victory, he freed himself fromthe claws of his assailers and, leaping over the bushesalong the road, ran swiftly across the fields. his pursuerswere after him at once, like two dogs chasing a hare.

after running seven miles or so, pinocchio was well-nigh exhausted. seeing himself lost, he climbed up agiant pine tree and sat there to see what he could see.

the assassins tried to climb also, but they slipped and fell.

far from giving up the chase, this only spurred them on.

they gathered a bundle of wood, piled it up at thefoot of the pine, and set fire to it. in a twinkling thetree began to sputter and burn like a candle blown bythe wind. pinocchio saw the flames climb higher andhigher. not wishing to end his days as a roasted marionette, he jumped quickly to the ground and off he went,the assassins close to him, as before.

dawn was breaking when, without any warning whatsoever,pinocchio found his path barred by a deep pool fullof water the color of muddy coffee.

what was there to do? with a "one, two, three!"he jumped clear across it. the assassins jumped also,but not having measured their distance well--splash!!!--they fell right into the middle of the pool. pinocchiowho heard the splash and felt it, too, cried out, laughing,but never stopping in his race:

"a pleasant bath to you, signori!"he thought they must surely be drowned and turnedhis head to see. but there were the two somber figuresstill following him, though their black sacks were drenchedand dripping with water.

“说真个的，”木偶一面重新上路，一面自言自语说，“我们这种可怜孩子多倒霉！人人都骂我们，人人都教训我们，人人都要我们这样做那样做。人人都一开口就自以为是我们的爸爸，自以为是我们的老师。人人都这样，连那样会说话的蟋蟀也这样。看这会儿，就因为我没听这只讨厌蟋蟀的啰哩啰嗦，它就说我不知道要遇到多少灾难！我还要遇到杀人的强盗呢！还好我不相信有什么杀人强盗，从来就不相信。依我看，杀人强盗全是那些做爸爸的想出来，吓唬吓唬夜里想出去的孩子的，就算我真在路上碰到他们，难道我会害怕他们吗，我根本不怕，我要走到他们面前，对他们叫着说：‘杀人强盗先生，你们要把我怎么样？记住吧，可别跟我开玩笑！去你们的吧，别开口了！’我这番话说得那么绝，那些倒霉的杀人强盗啊，我好像已经看见他们了，他们像阵风似地逃走啦。万一他们凶神恶煞，偏不逃走呢？那有什么，我逃走就是了，事情不就结了吗……”

可皮诺乔没能把他那套大道理说完，因为就在这时候，他好像听见后面树叶子沙沙响，很轻很轻的，

他回头一看，就看见黑地里有两个难看的黑影，这是两个人，全身用装炭的口袋套着，踮起脚尖一跳一跳地紧紧追来，活像两个鬼怪。

“他们真在这里！”皮诺乔心里说了一声。他不知把四个金币藏到哪儿好，一下子把它们藏到了嘴里，正好塞在舌头底下。

接着他想逃走。可是刚迈腿，就觉得胳膊给抓住，听到两个瓮声瓮气的可怕声音对他说：

“要钱还是要命！”

皮诺乔没法回答，因为嘴里塞着金币。他做了成千个怪脸、成千个手势，要让对方——他们从口袋上眼睛的地方那两个小窟窿里望出来——明白，他是个穷木偶，口袋里连一个铜子儿也没有。

“拿出来拿出来！别装傻了，把钱拿出来！”两个强盗且威吓的口气大叫。

木偶用头和手表示：“没钱。”

“不把钱拿出来就要你的命，”高的那个杀人强盗说。

“要你的命！”另一个跟着又说了一遍。

“要了你的命，还要你父亲的命！”

“还要你父亲的命！”

“别别别，别要我可怜爸爸的命！”皮诺乔发急地大叫，可他这么一叫，嘴里的金币就丁丁当当响起来了。

“哈哈，骗子！原来你把钱藏在舌头底下？马上吐出来！”

皮诺乔硬挺住！

“哈哈，你装聋子？你等着吧，我们这就想办法让你吐出来！”

真的，他们一个抓住他的鼻子尖，一个揿他的下巴，动手粗暴地又扳又弄，一个扳这里，一个弄那里，要逼他把嘴张开。可是没用。木偶的嘴像黏在一块，钉在一起。

于是矮的那个拔出一把很大的刀子，想用它做杠杆或者凿子，插到他的上下嘴唇之间，可皮诺乔快得像闪电，一口把它的手咬断了，接着把咬下来的手吐出来。诸位想象一下他有多么惊奇吧，因为他吐在地上的不是人的手，而是一只猫的爪子。

皮诺乔旗开得胜，胆子大了。他挣脱杀人强盗的爪子，跳过路旁的树丛，开始在田野上逃走。那两名杀人强盗紧紧追来，像两条猫追一只野兔。其中一名杀人强盗因为失去了一只爪子，就用独脚追，天知道他是怎么跑的。

跑了十五公里左右，皮诺乔跑不动了。这时他眼看自己没救了，就顺着最高的一棵松树的树干爬上去，坐在一个枝头上。两个杀人强盗也打算跟着爬上树，可是爬到一半，叭哒就掉在地上，手脚的皮都擦破了。

可它们还不死心，捡来一小捆干柴，堆在松树脚下，点着了。说时迟那时快，松树开始熊熊烧起来，像风吹着的蜡烛。皮诺乔看见火焰越烧越高，不想最后变成一只烤鸽子，于是猛地一跳，打枝头上跳下来，重新又跑，穿过田野和葡萄园。两个杀入强盗在后面紧追，一步也不拉下。

这时天已经开始亮，他们还是追个不停。皮诺乔一下子给一条沟挡住了去路。这条沟又宽又深，满是脏水，颜色像牛奶咖啡。怎么办？“一，二，三！”木偶叫着，猛跑两步，一跳就跳到了沟那一边。两个杀人强盗跟着也跳，可是没算准距离，卜龙通！……落到沟里去了。皮诺乔听到他们落水和水溅起来的声音，哈哈大笑，一面跑一面叫：

“祝你们痛痛快快洗个澡，杀人的先生们！”

他料想他们一准淹死了，可回头一看，只见他们两个依然在他后面追，身上还是套着他们的麻袋，哗哗地淌着水，活像两个漏了底的筐子。