pinocchio eats sugar, but refuses to take medicine.

when the undertakers come for him, he drinks the medicine and feels better.

afterwards he tells a lie and, in punishment, his nose grows longer and longeras soon as the three doctors had left the room, the fairywent to pinocchio's bed and, touching him on the forehead,noticed that he was burning with fever.

she took a glass of water, put a white powder intoit, and, handing it to the marionette, said lovingly to him:

"drink this, and in a few days you'll be up and well."pinocchio looked at the glass, made a wry face, andasked in a whining voice: "is it sweet or bitter?""it is bitter, but it is good for you.""if it is bitter, i don't want it.""drink it!""i don't like anything bitter.""drink it and i'll give you a lump of sugar to take thebitter taste from your mouth.""where's the sugar?""here it is," said the fairy, taking a lump from a goldensugar bowl.

"i want the sugar first, then i'll drink the bitter water.""do you promise?""yes."the fairy gave him the sugar and pinocchio, after chewingand swallowing it in a twinkling, said, smacking his lips:

"if only sugar were medicine! i should take it every day.""now keep your promise and drink these few dropsof water. they'll be good for you."pinocchio took the glass in both hands and stuck hisnose into it. he lifted it to his mouth and once morestuck his nose into it.

"it is too bitter, much too bitter! i can't drink it.""how do you know, when you haven't even tasted it?""i can imagine it. i smell it. i want another lump ofsugar, then i'll drink it."the fairy, with all the patience of a good mother, gavehim more sugar and again handed him the glass.

"i can't drink it like that," the marionette said, makingmore wry faces.

"why?""because that feather pillow on my feet bothers me."the fairy took away the pillow.

"it's no use. i can't drink it even now.""what's the matter now?""i don't like the way that door looks. it's half open."the fairy closed the door.

"i won't drink it," cried pinocchio, bursting out crying.

"i won't drink this awful water. i won't. i won't!

no, no, no, no!""my boy, you'll be sorry.""i don't care.""you are very sick.""i don't care.""in a few hours the fever will take you far away to another world.""i don't care.""aren't you afraid of death?""not a bit. i'd rather die than drink that awful medicine."at that moment, the door of the room flew open and incame four rabbits as black as ink, carrying a small blackcoffin on their shoulders.

"what do you want from me?" asked pinocchio.

"we have come for you," said the largest rabbit.

"for me? but i'm not dead yet!""no, not dead yet; but you will be in a few momentssince you have refused to take the medicine which wouldhave made you well.""oh, fairy, my fairy," the marionette cried out, "give methat glass! quick, please! i don't want to die!

no, no, not yet--not yet!"and holding the glass with his two hands, he swallowedthe medicine at one gulp.

"well," said the four rabbits, "this time we have madethe trip for nothing."and turning on their heels, they marched solemnly outof the room, carrying their little black coffin and mutteringand grumbling between their teeth.

in a twinkling, pinocchio felt fine. with one leap hewas out of bed and into his clothes.

the fairy, seeing him run and jump around the roomgay as a bird on wing, said to him:

"my medicine was good for you, after all, wasn't it?""good indeed! it has given me new life.""why, then, did i have to beg you so hard to makeyou drink it?""i'm a boy, you see, and all boys hate medicine morethan they do sickness.""what a shame! boys ought to know, after all, thatmedicine, taken in time, can save them from much painand even from death.""next time i won't have to be begged so hard. i'llremember those black rabbits with the black coffin ontheir shoulders and i'll take the glass and pouf!--down itwill go!""come here now and tell me how it came about thatyou found yourself in the hands of the assassins.""it happened that fire eater gave me five gold piecesto give to my father, but on the way, i met a fox and acat, who asked me, `do you want the five pieces to becometwo thousand?' and i said, `yes.' and they said,`come with us to the field of wonders.' and i said,`let's go.' then they said, `let us stop at the inn of thered lobster for dinner and after midnight we'll set outagain.' we ate and went to sleep. when i awoke theywere gone and i started out in the darkness all alone. on the road i met two assassins dressed in black coal sacks,who said to me, `your money or your life!' and i said,`i haven't any money'; for, you see, i had put the moneyunder my tongue. one of them tried to put his hand inmy mouth and i bit it off and spat it out; but it wasn't ahand, it was a cat's paw. and they ran after me and iran and ran, till at last they caught me and tied my neckwith a rope and hanged me to a tree, saying, `tomorrowwe'll come back for you and you'll be dead and yourmouth will be open, and then we'll take the gold piecesthat you have hidden under your tongue.'""where are the gold pieces now?" the fairy asked.

"i lost them," answered pinocchio, but he told a lie,for he had them in his pocket.

as he spoke, his nose, long though it was, became atleast two inches longer.

"and where did you lose them?""in the wood near by."at this second lie, his nose grew a few more inches.

"if you lost them in the near-by wood," said the fairy,"we'll look for them and find them, for everything that islost there is always found.""ah, now i remember," replied the marionette,becoming more and more confused. "i did not lose the goldpieces, but i swallowed them when i drank the medicine."at this third lie, his nose became longer than ever,so long that he could not even turn around. if he turnedto the right, he knocked it against the bed or into thewindowpanes; if he turned to the left, he struck the wallsor the door; if he raised it a bit, he almost put the fairy'seyes out.

the fairy sat looking at him and laughing.

"why do you laugh?" the marionette asked her,worried now at the sight of his growing nose.

"i am laughing at your lies.""how do you know i am lying?""lies, my boy, are known in a moment. there are twokinds of lies, lies with short legs and lies with long noses.

yours, just now, happen to have long noses."pinocchio, not knowing where to hide his shame, triedto escape from the room, but his nose had become so longthat he could not get it out of the door.

三位大夫一走出屋子，仙女就到皮诺乔身边，摸摸他的脑门，发现一点不假，他在发高烧。

于是她把一点白色粉末溶在半杯水里，拿来给木偶，温柔地对他说：

“喝了它，过几天就好了。”

皮诺乔看着杯子，歪歪嘴，哭也似地问道：

“甜的还是苦的？”

“苦的，可它能医好你的病。”

“苦的我不喝。”

“听我的话，喝了它。”

“苦的我不要喝。”

“喝了它，喝了就给你一颗弹子糖，让你甜甜嘴。”

“弹子糖呢？”

“在这儿，”仙女说着，从放糖的金盒子里拿出一颗来。

“我要先吃弹子糖，再喝这种该死的苦水……”

“讲定啦？”

“讲定了……”

仙女给他弹子糖，皮诺乔一转眼就喀嚓喀嚓地咬碎吃掉了，舔着嘴唇说：

“糖是药就好了！……我就天天吃药。”

“现在你照讲定的办，喝了这点药水，它会医好你的病。”

皮诺乔不情愿地拿过杯子，把鼻子插进去，然后凑到嘴边，然后又把鼻子插进去，最后说：

“太苦了！太苦了！我不能喝。”

“你尝都没尝，怎么说太苦呢？”

“我想得出来！我闻到了气味。我要先再吃一颗弹子糖……然后喝药水！……”

仙女像一个好妈妈那样耐心，又给他放了一题糖在嘴里，然后重新给他杯子。

“这样我不能喝药水！”木偶说着，做了成千个鬼脸，

“为什么？”

“因为脚上的枕头碍着我。”

仙女给他把枕头拿开了。

“不行！这样我还是不能喝……”

“又是什么东西碍着你啦？”

“房门半开着，把我碍着了。”

仙女去把房门关上。

“不管怎么说，”皮诺乔大哭大叫，“这该死的药水是苦的，我不要喝，不喝，不喝，不喝……”

“我的孩子，你要后悔的……”

“我才不在乎呐……”

“你的病很重……”

“我才不地乎呐……”

“你发高烧，几个钟头就会死的……”

“我才不在乎呐……”

“你不怕死？”

“怕死？……我宁愿死也不喝这种倒霉药水。”

正在这时候，房门开了，进来了四只兔子，黑得像墨汁，肩膀上抬着一个小棺材。

“你们到我这儿来干吗？”皮诺乔叫道，害怕得在床上坐了起来。

“我们来抬你，”最大的一只兔子说。

“抬我？……可我还没死！……”

“现在还没死，可你不肯喝退烧药水，就只有几分钟好活了！……”

“噢，我的仙女！噢，噢，我的仙女！”木偶于是大声叫起来“快把杯子给我……做做好事，快点快点，因为我不想死，不不不……不想死……”

他两只手捧着杯子，一口就把药水喝了。

“没法子！”兔子们说，“我们这回白跑一趟。”

它们重新抬起小棺材，打牙缝里叽哗咕噜地说着走出了屋子。

真的，过了几分钟，皮诺乔已经跳下床，好了。因为要知道，木偶福气好，难得生病，好起来也特别快。

仙女看见他满屋子又跑又跳，又利落又高兴，活像一只刚会啼的小公鸡，就对他说：

“瞧，我的药水可不是真把你治好了？”

“还有说的！它让我活下来了！……”

“可为什么刚才让你喝药水，要那么左求右求呢，”

“我们孩子都这样！我们比怕生病更怕喝药水。”

“真不害臊！……孩子们应该知道，及时吃进良药可以治好大病，甚至可以不死……”

“噢！下回我就不要那么左求右求了！我要记住那些抬棺材的黑兔……那我就马上抓过杯子喝下去！……”

“现在你过来，告诉我你是怎么落到那些杀人强盗手里的。”

“是这么回事。木偶戏班班主吃火人给了我几个金币，对我说：‘来，把它们带回去给你爸爸！’可我在路上碰到一只狐狸和一只猫，它们两个很好，对我说：‘你想让这几个金币变成一两千个吗，跟我们来，我们带你上“奇迹宝地”去’。我说：‘咱们走吧。’他们说：‘咱们在红虾旅馆歇会儿，过了半夜再走。’等我醒来，他们已经不在了，他们走了。于是我一个人走。夜黑得要命。路上我碰到两个杀人强盗，身上套着装炭的口袋。他们对我说：‘把钱拿出来。’我说：‘我没钱。’因为我把那四个金币藏在嘴里。一个杀人强盗想把手伸进我的嘴巴。我一口咬下他的手，把它吐出来。可吐出来的不是手，是一只猫爪子。两个杀人强盗就追我。我拼命地逃。最后它们把我捉住，套着脖子给吊在这林子里的一棵树上，说：‘我们明天再来，到那时你就死了，嘴巴张开了，我们就把你藏在舌头底下的金币拿出来。’”

“你这四个金币，现在搁哪儿啦？”仙女问他。

“我丢了！”皮诺乔回答说，他这是说谎，因为钱在他口袋里。

他一说谎，本来已经够长的鼻子又长了两指。

“你在哪儿丢了？”

“就在这儿附近的树林子里。”

这第二句谎话一说，鼻子更长了。

“你要是在附近那树林子里丢了，”仙女说，“咱们去把它们找回来。因为东西丢在附近那树林子里，完全可以找回来。”

“啊，现在我记清楚了，”木偶心里慌了，回答说，“这四个金币我没丢掉，是刚才喝您那杯药水的时候不小心，吞下肚子里去了。”

这第三句谎话一说，鼻子呼地一下长成这副样子，可怜的皮诺乔连头都没法转了。头往这边转，鼻子就碰到床，碰到窗玻璃；头往那边转，鼻子就碰到墙，碰到房门；头一抬，鼻子就有插到仙女一只眼睛里去的危险。

仙女看着他笑起来。

“您干吗笑？”木偶问她。眼看鼻子变得那么长，他完全呆住了，急得要命。

“我笑你说谎。”

“您怎么知道我说谎了？”

“我的孩子，谎话一下子就可以看出来，因为说了谎话有两种变化，一种是腿变短，一种是鼻子变长，你的一种正是鼻子变长。”

皮诺乔羞得无地自容，想溜出房间。可是办不到，他那个鼻子已经长得连门都出不去了。