pinocchio is caught by a farmer,who uses him as a watchdog for his chicken cooppinocchio, as you may well imagine, began to screamand weep and beg; but all was of no use, for no houseswere to be seen and not a soul passed by on the road.

night came on.

a little because of the sharp pain in his legs, a littlebecause of fright at finding himself alone in the darknessof the field, the marionette was about to faint, when hesaw a tiny glowworm flickering by. he called to her and said:

"dear little glowworm, will you set me free?""poor little fellow!" replied the glowworm, stoppingto look at him with pity. "how came you to be caughtin this trap?""i stepped into this lonely field to take a few grapes and--""are the grapes yours?""no.""who has taught you to take things that do not belong to you?""i was hungry.""hunger, my boy, is no reason for taking somethingwhich belongs to another.""it's true, it's true!" cried pinocchio in tears. "i won'tdo it again."just then, the conversation was interrupted byapproaching footsteps. it was the owner of the field,who was coming on tiptoes to see if, by chance, he had caughtthe weasels which had been eating his chickens.

great was his surprise when, on holding up his lantern,he saw that, instead of a weasel, he had caught a boy!

"ah, you little thief!" said the farmer in an angryvoice. "so you are the one who steals my chickens!""not i! no, no!" cried pinocchio, sobbing bitterly.

"i came here only to take a very few grapes.""he who steals grapes may very easily steal chickens also.

take my word for it, i'll give you a lesson that you'll rememberfor a long while."he opened the trap, grabbed the marionette by thecollar, and carried him to the house as if he were a puppy.

when he reached the yard in front of the house, heflung him to the ground, put a foot on his neck, and saidto him roughly: "it is late now and it's time for bed.

tomorrow we'll settle matters. in the meantime, since mywatchdog died today, you may take his place and guardmy henhouse."no sooner said than done. he slipped a dog collararound pinocchio's neck and tightened it so that it wouldnot come off. a long iron chain was tied to the collar.

the other end of the chain was nailed to the wall.

"if tonight it should happen to rain," said the farmer,"you can sleep in that little doghouse near-by, where youwill find plenty of straw for a soft bed. it has beenmelampo's bed for three years, and it will be good enoughfor you. and if, by any chance, any thieves should come,be sure to bark!"after this last warning, the farmer went into the houseand closed the door and barred it.

poor pinocchio huddled close to the doghouse more dead than alive from cold, hunger, and fright. now andagain he pulled and tugged at the collar which nearlychoked him and cried out in a weak voice:

"i deserve it! yes, i deserve it! i have been nothingbut a truant and a vagabond. i have never obeyed anyoneand i have always done as i pleased. if i were only likeso many others and had studied and worked and stayedwith my poor old father, i should not find myself here now,in this field and in the darkness, taking the place of afarmer's watchdog. oh, if i could start all over again!

but what is done can't be undone, and i must be patient!"after this little sermon to himself, which came from the verydepths of his heart, pinocchio went into the doghouse and fell asleep.

诸位可以想象，皮诺乔当然大哭大叫，大叫饶命。可是哭也好叫也好，全都没用，因为这儿周围看不见房子，路上一个走过的人也没有。

这时候天黑了。

半是由于捕兽夹夹得他小腿骨太痛，半是由于周围漆黑一片，他一个人在这葡萄地里怕得要死，木偶眼看就要昏过去了。正在这时候，他忽然看见一只萤火虫在头上飞过。他马上叫住萤火虫，对它说：

“噢，萤火虫，做做好事，把我从这刑具里放出来好吗？……”

“可怜的孩子！”萤火虫停下来，同情地看着他，

回答说。“你的脚怎么会夹在这些锋利的铁片里的？”

“我走进这块葡萄地，想采两串麝香葡萄吃吃，结果就……”

“葡萄是你的吗？”

“不是……”

“那么，是谁教你拿别人东西的？……”

“我饿了……”

“我的孩子，饿不能作为占有别人东西的充分理由……”

“这是真的，这是真的！”皮诺乔大哭大叫，“下回我再不干了。”

他们话正说到这里，给走近的一阵很轻很轻的脚步声打断了。来的是这块地的主人。他踮起脚尖走来看看，有没有鸡貂夜里来吃鸡，给捕兽夹夹住了。

等他打外套底下掏出灯来，看见捉到的不是鸡貂，而是个孩子，他惊奇极了。

“哈哈，小偷！”农民生气地说，“这么说，我的鸡都是你偷的？”

“我没偷，我没偷！”皮诺乔抽抽嗒嗒地说，“我本来只想采两串葡萄！……”

“会偷葡萄就会偷鸡。让我来给你个教训，叫你一辈子忘不了。”

他打开捕兽夹，抓住木偶的领子，像拎一只吃奶羊羔似地把他拎回家。

到了家门口，他把木偶扔在空场上，用一只脚踏住他的脖子，对他说：

“现在太晚了，我要去睡觉。明天再跟你算账。我那只守夜的狗正好今天死了，你这就来代替它。你给我当守夜的狗。”

说到做到，他在木偶脖子上套上一狗颈圈，上面全是铜钉。他把颈圈收紧，叫木偶的头钻不出来。颈圈上系着一根很长的铁链，铁链一头拴在墙上。

“要是今夜下雨，”农民说，“你可以到这木板狗屋里去，那里头有很多干草，可以当床睡。我那可怜的狗在那里都睡了四年啦。如果不幸有小偷来，你记住了，要竖起耳朵听着，汪汪地叫。”

农民吩咐完，就进屋把门关上，还用粗链子拴好，于是空场上就剩可怜的皮诺乔一个人趴着，又冷，又饿，又怕，半死不活的。他不断生气地把手插到勒住他喉咙的颈圈里，哭着说：

“我这是活该！……真倒霉，我这是活该！我任性，只想闲逛……我只想听坏朋友的话，因此总是失去幸福。如果我是个好孩子，像别的孩子一样，如果我想读书想劳动，如果我同我的可怜爸爸一起在家，那我这会儿就不会在这儿田野当中，做一只狗给一个农民看门了。噢，我能重新做人就好了！……可现在迟了，没法子，我只好忍耐！”

他发泄了真正出自内心的一口怨气以后，走进狗屋，躺下就睡着了。