pinocchio discovers the thieves and,as a reward for faithfulness, he regains his libertyeven though a boy may be very unhappy, he very seldomloses sleep over his worries. the marionette, being noexception to this rule, slept on peacefully for a few hourstill well along toward midnight, when he was awakenedby strange whisperings and stealthy sounds coming fromthe yard. he stuck his nose out of the doghouse and sawfour slender, hairy animals. they were weasels, smallanimals very fond of both eggs and chickens. one ofthem left her companions and, going to the door of the doghouse, said in a sweet voice:

"good evening, melampo.""my name is not melampo," answered pinocchio.

"who are you, then?""i am pinocchio.""what are you doing here?""i'm the watchdog.""but where is melampo? where is the old dogwho used to live in this house?""he died this morning.""died? poor beast! he was so good! still, judgingby your face, i think you, too, are a good-natured dog.""i beg your pardon, i am not a dog!""what are you, then?""i am a marionette.""are you taking the place of the watchdog?""i'm sorry to say that i am. i'm being punished.""well, i shall make the same terms with you that we had withthe dead melampo. i am sure you will be glad to hear them.""and what are the terms?""this is our plan: we'll come once in a while, as inthe past, to pay a visit to this henhouse, and we'll takeaway eight chickens. of these, seven are for us, and onefor you, provided, of course, that you will make believeyou are sleeping and will not bark for the farmer.""did melampo really do that?" asked pinocchio.

"indeed he did, and because of that we were the best offriends. sleep away peacefully, and remember that beforewe go we shall leave you a nice fat chicken all readyfor your breakfast in the morning. is that understood?""even too well," answered pinocchio. and shakinghis head in a threatening manner, he seemed to say, "we'lltalk this over in a few minutes, my friends."as soon as the four weasels had talked things over,they went straight to the chicken coop which stood closeto the doghouse. digging busily with teeth and claws,they opened the little door and slipped in. but they wereno sooner in than they heard the door close with a sharp bang.

the one who had done the trick was pinocchio, who,not satisfied with that, dragged a heavy stone in frontof it. that done, he started to bark. and he barked asif he were a real watchdog: "bow, wow, wow! bow, wow!"the farmer heard the loud barks and jumped out of bed.

taking his gun, he leaped to the window and shouted:

"what's the matter?""the thieves are here," answered pinocchio.

"where are they?""in the chicken coop.""i'll come down in a second."and, in fact, he was down in the yard in a twinklingand running toward the chicken coop.

he opened the door, pulled out the weasels one by one, and,after tying them in a bag, said to them in a happy voice:

"you're in my hands at last! i could punish you now,but i'll wait! in the morning you may come with meto the inn and there you'll make a fine dinner for somehungry mortal. it is really too great an honor for you,one you do not deserve; but, as you see, i am really avery kind and generous man and i am going to do thisfor you!"then he went up to pinocchio and began to pet and caress him.

"how did you ever find them out so quickly? and to thinkthat melampo, my faithful melampo, never saw themin all these years!"the marionette could have told, then and there, all heknew about the shameful contract between the dog andthe weasels, but thinking of the dead dog, he said tohimself: "melampo is dead. what is the use of accusing him?

the dead are gone and they cannot defend themselves.

the best thing to do is to leave them in peace!""were you awake or asleep when they came?" continued the farmer.

"i was asleep," answered pinocchio, "but theyawakened me with their whisperings. one of them even cameto the door of the doghouse and said to me, `if you promisenot to bark, we will make you a present of one of thechickens for your breakfast.' did you hear that? theyhad the audacity to make such a proposition as that to me!

for you must know that, though i am a very wicked marionettefull of faults, still i never have been, nor ever shall be, bribed.""fine boy!" cried the farmer, slapping him on theshoulder in a friendly way. "you ought to be proud ofyourself. and to show you what i think of you, youare free from this instant!"and he slipped the dog collar from his neck.

皮诺乔呼呼睡了两个多钟头，到了半夜，突然给一阵嘁嘁喳喳的古怪声音惊醒了。听起来，这声音像是打门口空场上传来的。他把鼻尖伸出木板狗屋的门洞，看见四只小野兽聚在一起商量什么。它们毛色黑乎乎的，样子像猫。可它们不是猫，是鸡貂，鸡貂是贪吃的肉食野兽，特别爱吃鸡和小鸡。—只鸡貂离开同伴，走到木板狗屋的旁边来，低声说：

“晚上好，梅拉姆波。”

“我不叫梅拉姆波。”木偶回答说。

“噢，那你叫什么？”

“我叫皮诺乔。”

“你在这儿干吗？”

“我在这儿当看夜狗。”

“那么，梅拉姆波呢？这老狗一直住在这狗屋里，它上哪儿啦？”

“他今天早晨死了。”

“死了，可怜的狗！它那么好！……可看你的脸，我觉得你也是一只客气的狗。”

“对不起，我不是狗！……”

“噢，那你是什么，”

“我是一个木偶。”

“你当看夜狗，”

“真倒霉，为了处罚我！……”

“好，那我自我提出个协议，同我早先跟已故的梅拉姆波订立的完全一样，你会满意的。”

“什么协议？”

“我们照旧一星期一次，夜里来拜访这个鸡埘，拉出来八只鸡。八只鸡当中，我们吃七只，—只给你。条件是，你听明白了，你假装睡着，千万别出来叫醒农民。”

“梅拉姆波就这么干的吗？”皮诺乔问。

“就这么干的。我们和它合作得很好。你安静地睡你的觉吧，我们走以前，保证在狗屋上留下一只拔掉毛的肥鸡，给你明天当早饭吃。咱们讲明白啦？”

“简直太明白了！……”皮诺乔答道。同时他恫吓似地摇摇头，好像想说：“咱们走着瞧吧！”

四只鸡貂觉得它们的事情稳当了，就很快地溜到就在狗屋旁边的鸡埘那里。它们用牙用爪子使劲弄开关住的小木门，一只接一只地溜了进去。它们刚进去，就听见小门啪嗒一下，又猛地关上了。

把门又给关上的正是皮诺乔。他关上门不算，为了保险起见，还在门前放了块大石头顶住它。

接着他叫起来，叫得就象一只看门狗：“汪，汪，汪，汪。”

农民一听见汪汪叫，马上跳下床，拿起枪，把头探出窗子问道：

“什么事？”

“来小偷了！”皮诺乔回答。

“在哪儿？”

“在鸡埘里。”

“我马上下来。”

真的，就说一声“阿门”那么点工夫，农民已经下来了。他赶紧走进鸡埘，把四只鸡貂全给捉住，塞进布口袋，心花怒放地对它们说：

“你们终于落到我手里了！我本可以处罚你们，可我还不高兴动手呐！我宁可明天把你们带到附近一家酒店，那里会剥掉你们的皮，把你们像烤野兔那样烤得又香又焦的。你们原不配有这份光荣，可这点小意思，像我这样大方的人却不在乎！……”

接着他走到皮诺乔身边，拼命抚摸着他，并且问：

“这四个该死的小偷勾当，你是怎么发现的，梅拉姆波，我忠实的梅拉姆波，它却一直什么也没发现！……”

木偶本来可以把他知道的事情都说出来，本来可以讲出狗和鸡貂之间的可耻协议。可他想起狗已经死了，心里马上说：“何必告发死者呢？……死者已经死了，还是让它安宁为好！……”

“鸡貂来到空场上的时候，你醒着还是睡了，”农民继续问他。

“我睡着，”皮诺乔回答说，“可给它们的嘁嘁喳喳声吵醒了。其中一只走到狗屋旁边来对我说：‘只要你答应不叫醒主人，我们给你一只拔掉毛的肥鸡！……’明白吗，啊，它竟无耻到对我提出这种建议！因为要知道，我虽然是一个木偶，有这个世界的一切缺点，可我从来不是那种贪污受贿、靠不诚实的人来装肥自己腰包的家伙！”

“好样儿的孩子！”农民拍着他的肩膀，叫了一声，“这种想法使你受人敬重。为了证明我极其满意，我这就放你回家。”

农民说着，给他脱掉了狗颈圈。