pinocchio goes to the seashore with his friendsto see the terrible sharkin the morning, bright and early, pinocchio started for school.

imagine what the boys said when they saw a marionetteenter the classroom! they laughed until they cried. everyoneplayed tricks on him. one pulled his hat off, anothertugged at his coat, a third tried to paint a mustache underhis nose. one even attempted to tie strings to his feet andhis hands to make him dance.

for a while pinocchio was very calm and quiet. finally,however, he lost all patience and turning to his tormentors,he said to them threateningly:

"careful, boys, i haven't come here to be made fun of.

i'll respect you and i want you to respect me.""hurrah for dr. know-all! you have spoken like aprinted book!" howled the boys, bursting with laughter.

one of them, more impudent than the rest, put out hishand to pull the marionette's nose.

but he was not quick enough, for pinocchio stretchedhis leg under the table and kicked him hard on the shin.

"oh, what hard feet!" cried the boy, rubbing the spotwhere the marionette had kicked him.

"and what elbows! they are even harder than the feet!"shouted another one, who, because of some other trick,had received a blow in the stomach.

with that kick and that blow pinocchio gained everybody's favor.

everyone admired him, danced attendance upon him, petted and caressed him.

as the days passed into weeks, even the teacher praised him,for he saw him attentive, hard working, and wide awake,always the first to come in the morning, and the lastto leave when school was over.

pinocchio's only fault was that he had too many friends.

among these were many well-known rascals, who carednot a jot for study or for success.

the teacher warned him each day, and even the goodfairy repeated to him many times:

"take care, pinocchio! those bad companions willsooner or later make you lose your love for study.

some day they will lead you astray.""there's no such danger," answered the marionette,shrugging his shoulders and pointing to his forehead as ifto say, "i'm too wise."so it happened that one day, as he was walking to school,he met some boys who ran up to him and said:

"have you heard the news?""no!""a shark as big as a mountain has been seen near the shore.""really? i wonder if it could be the same one i heardof when my father was drowned?""we are going to see it. are you coming?""no, not i. i must go to school.""what do you care about school? you can go there tomorrow.

with a lesson more or less, we are always the same donkeys.""and what will the teacher say?""let him talk. he is paid to grumble all day long.""and my mother?""mothers don't know anything," answered those scamps.

"do you know what i'll do?" said pinocchio.

"for certain reasons of mine, i, too, want to see that shark;but i'll go after school. i can see him then as well as now.""poor simpleton!" cried one of the boys. "do you thinkthat a fish of that size will stand there waiting for you?

he turns and off he goes, and no one will ever be the wiser.""how long does it take from here to the shore?" asked the marionette.

"one hour there and back.""very well, then. let's see who gets there first!" cried pinocchio.

at the signal, the little troop, with books under their arms,dashed across the fields. pinocchio led the way, runningas if on wings, the others following as fast as they could.

now and again, he looked back and, seeing his followershot and tired, and with tongues hanging out, he laughedout heartily. unhappy boy! if he had only known thenthe dreadful things that were to happen to him on accountof his disobedience!

第二天皮诺乔就上了公立学校。

诸位想象一下，孩子们看见一个木偶进他们的学校，会怎么样捉弄他！他们哈哈大笑，笑个没完没了。有人开这种玩笑，有人开那种玩笑。有人摘他的帽子，有人打后面拉他的小背心。有人想用墨水在他鼻子下面画两撇大胡子，有人想用线绑在他的脚上和手上，好牵着线让他跳舞。

起初皮诺乔很镇静，不去理睬他们。可后来忍不住了，他向把他缠得最厉害、捉弄得最凶的人转过身去，板起脸说：

“小心点，孩子们。我上这儿来可不是给你们当小丑的。我尊重大家，希望大家也尊重我。”

“好一个小鬼！你说出话来像一本印出来的书！”那些顽皮孩子大叫，哈哈笑得跳起来。一个最大胆妄为的孩子伸手要抓木偶的鼻尖。

可他没来得及抓住，因为皮诺乔在桌子下面伸出脚来，在他小腿骨上狠狠踢了一下。

“唉哟！多硬的脚啊！”那孩子大叫，拼命搓给木偶踢出来的乌青。

“还有胳膊肘！……它比脚还硬！”另外一个说。他因为开无礼的玩笑，肚子给木偶的胳膊顶了一下。

经过脚这么一踢，胳膊这么一顶，皮诺乔马上得到全校学生的尊重和同情。他们都很喜欢他。

老师看见他上课专心，读书用功，肯动脑筋，总是第一个进学校，放学最后一个走，也很称赞他。

他唯一的缺点就是结交的同学太多。其中有不少是鼎鼎大名的小坏蛋，一点不想读书，一点不想有出息。

老师天天要他小心，善良的仙女也不断翻来覆去对他说：

“小心啊，皮诺乔！迟早有一天，你这种同学会使你不爱学习的，说不定有一天还会使你闯大祸。”

“不要紧！”木偶耸耸肩膀回答说，还用食指敲敲脑门，表示：“这里面有脑筋的！”

于是有一天，他在上学的时候，忽然遇到那一帮同学迎面走来，对他说：

“有一个重要的新闻你知道吗？”

“不知道。”

“这儿海边来了一条鲨鱼，大得像座山？”

“真的？……是那条鲨鱼吗，当时吃掉我可怜的爸爸的？”

“我们到海边去看。你也去吗？”

“我吗？不去。我要上学校去。”

“学校有什么要紧？咱们明天再上学吧。多上一课少上一课都一祥，反正不懂，还是驴子。”

“老师会怎么说呢？”

“让老师去说吧。他天天咕噜，也该给他点报应了。”

“那我妈妈呢？……”

“咱们的妈妈什么都不会知道的。”这些顽皮孩子说。

“你们知道我怎么办吗？”皮诺乔说，“我因为某种理由，也要去看看这条鲨鱼……可我下了课去。”

“可怜的糊涂虫！”有一个孩子大叫，“这么大一条鱼，你以为它会呆在那儿等着，随便你什么时候去看吗？它给人一搞烦，转过身子就上别处去了，要看也看不到啦。”

“打这儿到海边要走多久，”木偶问道。

“来回一个钟头。”

“那就去吧！谁跑得最快谁就最有种！”皮诺乔叫道，

这声起步信号一响，一帮顽皮孩子就把他们的书刊、练习本啊夹在胳肢窝里，抢着向田野奔去了。皮诺乔跑在最前面，只觉得脚上长了翅膀。

他不时回过脸去，笑话那些落在他后面有好一段路的同学。他看见他们气喘咻咻，上气不接下气，浑身是尘土，吐出了舌头，不由得衷心大笑起来。这时候，这可怜的家伙还不知道他正在走向什么样的可怕事情，走向什么样的可怕灾难呢！……