pinocchio weeps upon learning that the lovely maidenwith azure hair is dead. he meets a pigeon,who carries him to the seashore. he throws himselfinto the sea to go to the aid of his fatheras soon as pinocchio no longer felt the shameful weightof the dog collar around his neck, he started to run acrossthe fields and meadows, and never stopped till he came tothe main road that was to take him to the fairy's house.
when he reached it, he looked into the valley far belowhim and there he saw the wood where unluckily he hadmet the fox and the cat, and the tall oak tree where hehad been hanged; but though he searched far and near, hecould not see the house where the fairy with the azurehair lived.
he became terribly frightened and, running as fast as hecould, he finally came to the spot where it had once stood.
the little house was no longer there. in its place lay asmall marble slab, which bore this sad inscription:
here liesthe lovely fairy with azure hairwho died of griefwhen abandoned byher little brother pinocchiothe poor marionette was heartbroken at reading thesewords. he fell to the ground and, covering the cold marblewith kisses, burst into bitter tears. he cried all night, anddawn found him still there, though his tears had driedand only hard, dry sobs shook his wooden frame. butthese were so loud that they could be heard by thefaraway hills.
as he sobbed he said to himself:
"oh, my fairy, my dear, dear fairy, why did you die?
why did i not die, who am so bad, instead of you, whoare so good? and my father--where can he be? please dear fairy, tell me where he is and i shall never, neverleave him again! you are not really dead, are you? if youlove me, you will come back, alive as before. don't youfeel sorry for me? i'm so lonely. if the two assassins come,they'll hang me again from the giant oak tree and i willreally die, this time. what shall i do alone in the world?
now that you are dead and my father is lost, where shalli eat? where shall i sleep? who will make my newclothes? oh, i want to die! yes, i want to die! oh, oh, oh!"poor pinocchio! he even tried to tear his hair, but as itwas only painted on his wooden head, he could not even pull it.
just then a large pigeon flew far above him. seeing themarionette, he cried to him:
"tell me, little boy, what are you doing there?""can't you see? i'm crying," cried pinocchio, lifting hishead toward the voice and rubbing his eyes with his sleeve.
"tell me," asked the pigeon, "do you by chance knowof a marionette, pinocchio by name?""pinocchio! did you say pinocchio?" replied themarionette, jumping to his feet. "why, i am pinocchio!"at this answer, the pigeon flew swiftly down to the earth.
he was much larger than a turkey.
"then you know geppetto also?""do i know him? he's my father, my poor, dear father!
has he, perhaps, spoken to you of me? will you take me to him? is he still alive? answer me, please! is he still alive?""i left him three days ago on the shore of a large sea.""what was he doing?""he was building a little boat with which to cross the ocean.
for the last four months, that poor man has been wanderingaround europe, looking for you. not having found you yet,he has made up his mind to look for you in the new world,far across the ocean.""how far is it from here to the shore?" asked pinocchio anxiously.
"more than fifty miles.""fifty miles? oh, dear pigeon, how i wish i had your wings!""if you want to come, i'll take you with me.""how?""astride my back. are you very heavy?""heavy? not at all. i'm only a feather.""very well."saying nothing more, pinocchio jumped on the pigeon'sback and, as he settled himself, he cried out gayly:
"gallop on, gallop on, my pretty steed! i'm in a great hurry."the pigeon flew away, and in a few minutes he had reached the clouds. the marionette looked to see whatwas below them. his head swam and he was so frightenedthat he clutched wildly at the pigeon's neck to keephimself from falling.
they flew all day. toward evening the pigeon said:
"i'm very thirsty!""and i'm very hungry!" said pinocchio.
"let us stop a few minutes at that pigeon coop down there.
then we can go on and be at the seashore in the morning."they went into the empty coop and there they found nothing buta bowl of water and a small basket filled with chick-peas.
the marionette had always hated chick-peas. accordingto him, they had always made him sick; but that nighthe ate them with a relish. as he finished them, he turnedto the pigeon and said:
"i never should have thought that chick-peas could be so good!""you must remember, my boy," answered the pigeon,"that hunger is the best sauce!"after resting a few minutes longer, they set out again.
the next morning they were at the seashore.
pinocchio jumped off the pigeon's back, and the pigeon,not wanting any thanks for a kind deed, flew away swiftlyand disappeared.
the shore was full of people, shrieking and tearing theirhair as they looked toward the sea.
"what has happened?" asked pinocchio of a little old woman.
"a poor old father lost his only son some time ago andtoday he built a tiny boat for himself in order to go insearch of him across the ocean. the water is very roughand we're afraid he will be drowned.""where is the little boat?""there. straight down there," answered the little old woman,pointing to a tiny shadow, no bigger than a nutshell,floating on the sea.
pinocchio looked closely for a few minutes and then gave a sharp cry:
"it's my father! it's my father!"meanwhile, the little boat, tossed about by the angrywaters, appeared and disappeared in the waves. and pinocchio,standing on a high rock, tired out with searching,waved to him with hand and cap and even with his nose.
it looked as if geppetto, though far away from theshore, recognized his son, for he took off his cap andwaved also. he seemed to be trying to make everyoneunderstand that he would come back if he were able, butthe sea was so heavy that he could do nothing with his oars.
suddenly a huge wave came and the boat disappeared.
they waited and waited for it, but it was gone.
"poor man!" said the fisher folk on the shore, whisperinga prayer as they turned to go home.
just then a desperate cry was heard. turning around,the fisher folk saw pinocchio dive into the sea and heardhim cry out:
"i'll save him! i'll save my father!"the marionette, being made of wood, floated easilyalong and swam like a fish in the rough water. now andagain he disappeared only to reappear once more. in atwinkling, he was far away from land. at last he wascompletely lost to view.
"poor boy!" cried the fisher folk on the shore, and againthey mumbled a few prayers, as they returned home.
皮诺乔一觉得脖子上那个丢脸的、硬绷绷的颈圈没有了，就撒腿穿过田野，一分钟也不停，一直来到通往仙女家的那条大道。
到了大道上，他低下头来看下面的草原。他极目远望，清楚地看到那座树林子，他当初就不幸在那里遇见了狐狸和猫；他清楚在看到兀立在许多树木之间的大橡树树梢，他当初就给套着脖子吊在那里摇来晃去。可他这里看，那里看，就是看不到天蓝色头发的美丽仙女的那座小房子。
这时候他感到不妙，马上使出最后的脚劲拼命跑起来，几分钟工夫就来到曾经有一座白房子的草地上，现在白房子没有了，原来是白房子的地方只有一小块大理石碑，石碑上用印刷体刻着如下几行字：
这里安眠着
天蓝色头发的仙女
由于她的弟弟皮诺乔
将她遗弃，
她因悲伤而溘然长逝。
木偶伤心地读完这几行字以后，该是怎么一种心情，就请诸位自己去想象了。他趴倒在地上，把那块大理石碑吻了成千遍，嚎啕大哭起来。他哭了整整一夜，到第二天早晨，到大白天还在哭，虽然眼泪早已哭干了。他哭得这样伤心这样响，周围所有的土岗子都接连发出了回声。
他哭着说：
“噢，我的好仙女，你怎么死了，……为什么是你死而不是我死，我是这么坏，你是那么好！……我的爸爸，你在哪儿啊！我的好仙女，请你告诉我，我到哪儿能够找到他呢？我要永远跟他在一起，不再，不再，不再离开他！……噢，我的好仙女，请你对我说一声，你不是真的死了！……如果你真的爱我……如果你真的爱你的弟弟，那你就复活吧……活过来跟当初一样吧！……你看见我孤零零一个，被所有的人遗弃了，你不觉得难过吗？……要是那两个杀人强盗又到这儿来，重新把我吊在树枝上……那么这一回我就真要永远死了。我孤零零地在这个世界上，叫我怎么办呢，现在你也没有了，我爸爸也没有了，谁给我东西吃呢？夜里叫我到哪儿去睡呢？谁给我做新衣服呢，噢！我还不如死掉好，要好上成千倍！真的，我要死！……哟！哟！哟！……”
他这时候绝望得要把头发拉掉，可他的头发是木头的，连手指也插不进。
这时候一只大鸽子在空中飞过。它张开翅膀停下来，在高空对木偶叫道：
“告诉我，孩子，你在下面干吗呀？”
“你没看见吗？我在哭！”皮诺乔向传来声音的地方抬起头，用上衣袖子擦着眼睛。
“告诉我，”鸽子又说，“你的朋友中间，你知道有一个木偶叫皮诺乔的吗？”
“皮诺乔？……你说皮诺乔？”木偶再说一遍，马上站起来。“皮诺乔就是我！”
鸽子听了这回答，很快地飞下来，到了地上。它比一只火鸡还大。
“那你认识杰佩托？”它问木偶。
“认识杰佩托！他是我可怜的爸爸！他跟你说起我了，你带我上他那儿去好吗？可他还活着不？谢谢你告诉我，他还活着不？”
“三天以前我在海边跟他分手的。”
“他在那里干什么，”
“他在造一只小船要飘洋过海。这可怜人到处找你，整整找了四个多月。可他哪儿也找不到你，现在想到新大陆那些遥远的国家去找。”
“从这里到海边有多远？”皮诺乔焦急不安地问道，
“一千多公里。”
“一千多公里？噢，我的鸽子，你有翅膀真是太美了！……”
“你要去，我带你去，”
“怎么带法呢？”
“你坐在我背上。你重吗？”
“重，没的事！我轻得像张树叶子。”
皮诺乔二话不说，就跳上鸽子的背，一只脚放在这边，一只脚放在那边，就像骑马似的，然后兴高采烈地大叫：
“快跑，快跑，小马，让我快点到！……”
鸽子飞起来，几分钟就飞得高入云霄。木偶到了这么高的地方，十分好奇，就低头朝下看。可他一看，登时吓得要命，头都晕了。为了别摔下去，他紧紧抱住他那匹长羽毛的飞马的脖子。
他们飞了一整天。天黑了，鸽子说：
“我很渴！”
“我很饿！”皮诺乔跟着说。
“咱们下去，到那鸽子窠呆上几分钟。然后咱们再飞，赶明儿天亮前到海边。”
他们落到一个空了的鸽子窠里。那儿只有一盆水和一篮野豌豆。
木偶有生以来最讨厌野豌豆，一听到野豌豆就作呕，就反胃。可这晚上他大吃特吃，都快吃光了，他才转脸对鸽子说：
“我从没想到，野豌豆这么好吃！”
“你得记住，我的孩子，”鸽子回答说，“一个人到真的饿了，又没别的东西吃的时候，就连野豌豆都好吃了！饥不择食嘛！”
他们在旅途中很快地吃了点东西，歇了一会儿，就动身了！第二天早晨他们来到海边。
鸽子让皮诺乔下来。它做了好事不要听人家说谢谢，马上飞走了。
海边都是人。他们看着大海，又叫又做手势。
“出什么事了？”皮诺乔问旁边一位老大娘。
“是这么回事。一位可怜的爸爸丢了他的儿子，想坐小船到海那边去找。可今天海上风浪大，小船要沉了……”
“小船呢？”
“在那边，我指头指着的地方，”老大娘指着一只小船说。这只小船离得老远，像半个核桃壳，里面有个很小很小的人。
皮诺乔尖起眼睛朝那边仔细一看，登时大吃一惊，尖声高叫：
“那是我爸爸！那是我爸爸！”
这时小船被急浪拍打着，一会儿在汹涌的波浪中消失不见，一会儿又浮了上来。皮诺乔站到一块很高的礁石顶上，不断叫唤他爸爸的名字，一个劲儿挥手，挥手帕，直到摘下头上的帽子来挥，拼命打招呼。
杰佩托虽然离岸很远，好像也认出了孩子，因为他也举起帽子向孩子打招呼，竭力要让孩子知道，他就要回来了，可是海上风浪太大，船桨不顶用，他没法划回岸边来。
忽然一个可怕的大浪打来，船不见了，
大家等着船重新浮出水面，可船再也不见上来。
“可怜的人！”聚集在岸边的渔民们说。然后他们低声祈祷着，准备各自回家了。
正在这时候，只听见一声绝望的哀叫。他们回过头来，看见一个孩子从礁石顶上跳进大海，嘴里叫着：
“我要救我的爸爸！”
皮诺乔不过是一块木头，因此很容易就浮到水面上，像条鱼似地游起来。只见他一会儿被波浪一冲，落到水下面不见了，一会儿又在离岸很远的地万重新出现，伸出一条腿或者一条胳膊。最后再也看不见他了。
“可怜的孩子！”聚集在岸边的渔民们说。他们又低声祈祷着，各自回家去了。