pinocchio is thrown into the sea, eaten by fishes,and becomes a marionette once more. as he swims to land,he is swallowed by the terrible sharkdown into the sea, deeper and deeper, sank pinocchio, andfinally, after fifty minutes of waiting, the man on the cliffsaid to himself:
"by this time my poor little lame donkey must bedrowned. up with him and then i can get to work on mybeautiful drum."he pulled the rope which he had tied to pinocchio'sleg--pulled and pulled and pulled and, at last, he sawappear on the surface of the water--can you guess what?
instead of a dead donkey, he saw a very much alivemarionette, wriggling and squirming like an eel.
seeing that wooden marionette, the poor man thoughthe was dreaming and sat there with his mouth wide openand his eyes popping out of his head.
gathering his wits together, he said:
"and the donkey i threw into the sea?""i am that donkey," answered the marionette laughing.
"you?""i.""ah, you little cheat! are you poking fun at me?""poking fun at you? not at all, dear master.
i am talking seriously.""but, then, how is it that you, who a few minutes agowere a donkey, are now standing before me a wooden marionette?""it may be the effect of salt water. the sea is fond ofplaying these tricks.""be careful, marionette, be careful! don't laugh at me!
woe be to you, if i lose my patience!""well, then, my master, do you want to know my whole story?
untie my leg and i can tell it to you better."the old fellow, curious to know the true story of themarionette's life, immediately untied the rope which held his foot.
pinocchio, feeling free as a bird of the air, began his tale:
"know, then, that, once upon a time, i was a woodenmarionette, just as i am today. one day i was about tobecome a boy, a real boy, but on account of my lazinessand my hatred of books, and because i listened to badcompanions, i ran away from home. one beautiful morning,i awoke to find myself changed into a donkey--longears, gray coat, even a tail! what a shameful day for me!
i hope you will never experience one like it, dear master.
i was taken to the fair and sold to a circus owner, whotried to make me dance and jump through the rings. onenight, during a performance, i had a bad fall and becamelame. not knowing what to do with a lame donkey, the circusowner sent me to the market place and you bought me.""indeed i did! and i paid four cents for you.
now who will return my money to me?""but why did you buy me? you bought me to do meharm--to kill me--to make a drumhead out of me!""indeed i did! and now where shall i find another skin?""never mind, dear master. there are so many donkeysin this world.""tell me, impudent little rogue, does your story end here?""one more word," answered the marionette, "and i am through.
after buying me, you brought me here to kill me. but feelingsorry for me, you tied a stone to my neck and threw meto the bottom of the sea. that was very good and kindof you to want me to suffer as little as possibleand i shall remember you always. and now my fairywill take care of me, even if you--""your fairy? who is she?""she is my mother, and, like all other mothers wholove their children, she never loses sight of me, eventhough i do not deserve it. and today this good fairyof mine, as soon as she saw me in danger of drowning,sent a thousand fishes to the spot where i lay. theythought i was really a dead donkey and began to eat me.
what great bites they took! one ate my ears, another mynose, a third my neck and my mane. some went at mylegs and some at my back, and among the others, therewas one tiny fish so gentle and polite that he did methe great favor of eating even my tail.""from now on," said the man, horrified, "i swear i shallnever again taste fish. how i should enjoy opening a mulletor a whitefish just to find there the tail of a dead donkey!""i think as you do," answered the marionette,laughing. "still, you must know that when the fish finishedeating my donkey coat, which covered me from head tofoot, they naturally came to the bones--or rather, in mycase, to the wood, for as you know, i am made of veryhard wood. after the first few bites, those greedy fishfound out that the wood was not good for their teeth, and,afraid of indigestion, they turned and ran here and therewithout saying good-by or even as much as thank you tome. here, dear master, you have my story. you knownow why you found a marionette and not a dead donkeywhen you pulled me out of the water.""i laugh at your story!" cried the man angrily. "i knowthat i spent four cents to get you and i want my money back.
do you know what i can do; i am going to take you to the marketonce more and sell you as dry firewood.""very well, sell me. i am satisfied," said pinocchio.
but as he spoke, he gave a quick leap and dived into thesea. swimming away as fast as he could, he cried out, laughing:
"good-by, master. if you ever need a skin for your drum, remember me."he swam on and on. after a while, he turned around againand called louder than before:
"good-by, master. if you ever need a piece of good dry firewood, remember me."in a few seconds he had gone so far he could hardly be seen.
all that could be seen of him was a very small black dot movingswiftly on the blue surface of the water, a little black dotwhich now and then lifted a leg or an arm in the air.
one would have thought that pinocchio had turned intoa porpoise playing in the sun.
after swimming for a long time, pinocchio saw a largerock in the middle of the sea, a rock as white as marble.
high on the rock stood a little goat bleating and callingand beckoning to the marionette to come to her.
there was something very strange about that littlegoat. her coat was not white or black or brown as thatof any other goat, but azure, a deep brilliant color thatreminded one of the hair of the lovely maiden.
pinocchio's heart beat fast, and then faster and faster.
he redoubled his efforts and swam as hard as he couldtoward the white rock. he was almost halfway over,when suddenly a horrible sea monster stuck its head outof the water, an enormous head with a huge mouth, wideopen, showing three rows of gleaming teeth, the meresight of which would have filled you with fear.
do you know what it was?
that sea monster was no other than the enormous shark,which has often been mentioned in this story and which,on account of its cruelty, had been nicknamed"the attila of the sea" by both fish and fishermen.
poor pinocchio! the sight of that monster frightenedhim almost to death! he tried to swim away from him,to change his path, to escape, but that immense mouthkept coming nearer and nearer.
"hasten, pinocchio, i beg you!" bleated the little goat on the high rock.
and pinocchio swam desperately with his arms, his body, his legs, his feet.
"quick, pinocchio, the monster is coming nearer!"pinocchio swam faster and faster, and harder and harder.
"faster, pinocchio! the monster will get you! there he is!
there he is! quick, quick, or you are lost!"pinocchio went through the water like a shot--swifter and swifter.
he came close to the rock. the goat leaned over and gave him oneof her hoofs to help him up out of the water.
alas! it was too late. the monster overtook him andthe marionette found himself in between the rows ofgleaming white teeth. only for a moment, however,for the shark took a deep breath and, as he breathed,he drank in the marionette as easily as he would havesucked an egg. then he swallowed him so fast that pinocchio,falling down into the body of the fish, lay stunned for a half hour.
when he recovered his senses the marionette could notremember where he was. around him all was darkness,a darkness so deep and so black that for a moment hethought he had put his head into an inkwell. he listenedfor a few moments and heard nothing. once in a while acold wind blew on his face. at first he could not understandwhere that wind was coming from, but after a whilehe understood that it came from the lungs of the monster.
i forgot to tell you that the shark was suffering from asthma,so that whenever he breathed a storm seemed to blow.
pinocchio at first tried to be brave, but as soon as hebecame convinced that he was really and truly in theshark's stomach, he burst into sobs and tears. "help!
help!" he cried. "oh, poor me! won't someone cometo save me?""who is there to help you, unhappy boy?" said a roughvoice, like a guitar out of tune.
"who is talking?" asked pinocchio, frozen with terror.
"it is i, a poor tunny swallowed by the shark at thesame time as you. and what kind of a fish are you?""i have nothing to do with fishes. i am a marionette.""if you are not a fish, why did you let this monster swallow you?""i didn't let him. he chased me and swallowed mewithout even a `by your leave'! and now what are weto do here in the dark?""wait until the shark has digested us both, i suppose.""but i don't want to be digested," shouted pinocchio,starting to sob.
"neither do i," said the tunny, "but i am wise enoughto think that if one is born a fish, it is more dignified to dieunder the water than in the frying pan.""what nonsense!" cried pinocchio.
"mine is an opinion," replied the tunny, "and opinionsshould be respected.""but i want to get out of this place. i want to escape.""go, if you can!""is this shark that has swallowed us very long?" askedthe marionette.
"his body, not counting the tail, is almost a mile long."while talking in the darkness, pinocchio thought hesaw a faint light in the distance.
"what can that be?" he said to the tunny.
"some other poor fish, waiting as patiently as we tobe digested by the shark.""i want to see him. he may be an old fish and mayknow some way of escape.""i wish you all good luck, dear marionette.""good-by, tunny.""good-by, marionette, and good luck.""when shall i see you again?""who knows? it is better not to think about it."
驴子落到水里以后过了五十分钟，买主自言自语说：
“这会儿我那可怜的瘸腿驴子准已经淹死了。我用他重新拉上来，好拿他的皮做个出色大鼓。”
于是他动手拉绑住驴子一条腿的绳子，他拉啊，拉啊，拉啊，最后看见从水里出来了……请诸位猜猜看，拉出来的是什么？他看见从水里拉上来的不是一头死驴，而是一个活木偶，以为是在做梦，呆住了，嘴张得老大，眼睛都突了出来。
等到他从原先的惊讶中清醒一点，结结巴巴地哭看说：
“我推到海里的驴子上哪儿去啦？……”
“这头驴子就是我！”木偶笑着回答说，
“是你？”
“是我。”
“啊！你这个骗子！你想开我的玩笑吗？”
“开您的玩笑，一点不是，亲爱的主人，我跟您说的是真话。”
“可你怎么不久前还是头驴子，到水里去了一会，现在变成了一个木偶呢？”
“这大概是海水的作用，是大海开的一个玩笑。”
“你当心点，木偶，你当心点！……可别暗地里取笑我。要是我忍不住发起火来，你可就倒霉啦！”
“我说，我的主人，您想知道全部真相吗？，您解开我这只脚上的绳子，我就都告诉您。”
买主是个好事的人，很想知道事情的真相，马上就解开了拴住皮诺乔的绳结。皮诺乔登时自由得像天空中的小鸟，于是对他说：
“您知道，我本来就是个木偶，跟现在一模一样，我几乎就要变成一个孩子，跟世界上所有的孩子一样的孩子，要不是我不大想读书，并且听信坏同学的话，离开了家……于是有—天我醒过来，发现我变了一头驴子，有那么—对耳朵……还有那么—条尾巴！……这叫我多么害臊啊！……亲爱的主人，但愿仁慈的圣安东尼奥永远不会使您这么害臊！我被牵到驴子市场去卖。一个马戏班班主把我买了。他竟想让我成为一个伟大的舞蹈家，一个出色的跳圈演员。一天晚上，我在马戏场里演出，狠狠地摔了一跤，两条腿都瘸了。班主不知道拿一头瘸腿驴子怎么好，吩咐把我再卖掉。您就把我给买来了！”
“太糟糕啦！我为你花了二十个子儿。现在问谁去要回这倒霉的二十个子儿呢？”
“您买我干什么，您买我是为了用我的皮去做一个大鼓！……一个大鼓！……”
“太糟糕了！现在上哪儿再找一张皮呢？……”
“别泄气，主人。在这个世界上驴子多的是！”
“告诉我，没规矩的小鬼，你的故事讲完了没有？”
“没有，”木偶回答说，“还有两句话才完。您买了我，把我带到这儿来要杀死我。可后来您出于人道主义的同情心，改为用一块大石头系在我的脖子上，把我推下海底。这种美好的感情给您极大荣誉，我将永远记住您。真的，亲爱的主人，这一回您的计划要成功了，要不是仙女……”
“什么仙女？”
“仙女是我的妈妈，她跟所有的好妈妈一样。妈妈都是极其爱护自己子女的，始终看住他们，一有什么不幸，就疼爱地帮助他们，即使由于他们冒失、品行不好，应该把他们抛弃，任从他们去。比方说，好仙女一看见我快淹死，就马上派了一大群不计其数的鱼到我那儿。它们以为我真是一头死驴子，就动口吃我！它们是怎样大口大口的咬我啊！我从来没想到鱼比孩子还馋！有的吃我的耳朵，有的吃我的嘴，有的吃我的脖子，有的吃我的鬃毛，有的吃我腿上的皮，有的吃我背上的皮……甚至有一条小鱼是那么客气，它照顾我的尾巴，把它吃了个精光。”
“从今以后，”买主嫌恶地说，“我发誓不再吃鱼了。剖开一条火鱼或者一条炸鳕鱼，结果在肚子里发现了条驴子尾巴，那太恶心了！”
“我的想法跟您一样，”木偶笑着回答，“我再给您说，等到这些鱼吃光我身上从头到脚的皮和肉，自然就吃到我的骨头……或者说是正确点，吃到我的木头，因为您知道，我是很硬很硬的木头做的。可是咬了几口，这些馋嘴鱼马上发觉木头咬不动，对这种不消化的东西感到恶心，它们连一句谢谢也没跟我说，就各走各的了……您抓住绳子拉上来的为什么是个活木偶而不是一头死驴子，我算是都给您讲了。”
“我才不要听你的故事呢？”买主气得狂叫。“我只知道我买你花了二十个子儿，现在要把钱弄回来。你知道我怎么办吗？我要重新把你牵到市场，当—块生炉子的干木头卖掉。”
“您就卖吧，我很高兴，”皮诺乔说，
可他说着猛地一跳，跳到水里去了。他飞快地游离海岸，对可怜的买主叫道：
“再见了，主人！如果您要张皮做大鼓，您记住我吧。”
接着他一面笑一面游，游了一阵又回过身来，叫得更响：
“再见了，主人！如果您要点干木头生炉子，您记住我吧。”
一转眼工夫他已经游得老远，几乎看不见了，也就是说，只看见海面上有一个黑点子，这个黑点子不时把脚从水里伸出来，翻个跟头，像条欢蹦乱跳的海豚似的。
皮诺乔正拼命地游，看见大海当中有一块礁石，很像一块雪白的大理石。礁石顶上站着一只漂亮的小山羊，亲热地叫着，招呼他过去。
更奇怪的是，小山羊的毛不是白的，也不是黑的，也不是带黑白斑点的，像其他的山羊那样，而是天蓝色的，这种闪闪发亮的天蓝色使他一下子想起了那美丽仙女的头发。
可怜的皮诺乔，他的心开始跳动得更厉害了，这一点请诸位去想象吧！他加了把劲向那块雪白的礁石游去。已经游完一半路，忽然水里钻出一个海怪的可怕脑袋，冲着他游过来。它的嘴张得老大，活像一个深渊，还露出三排长牙齿，叫人一见就心惊胆战。
诸位知道这海怪是什么东西吗？
这海怪不是别的，正是一条大鲨鱼，这鲨鱼在咱们这故事里已经一再提到过。由于它老是为害，贪吃无厌，外号叫“鱼和渔人的魔王。”
诸位想象一下，可怜的皮诺乔看见这怪物时有多么害怕！他千方百计要躲开它，换条路游，他千方百计要逃走。可是这条鱼张开的大嘴巴像箭一样直冲着他过来。
“皮诺乔，千万快一点！”那漂亮的小山羊咩咩叫着说。
皮诺乔于是用手、用胸口、用腿、用脚拼命地游。
“快点，皮诺乔，怪物已经靠近了！……”
皮诺乔使出浑身的力气加紧游，
“小心，皮诺乔！……怪物要追上你了！……看吧！……它到了！……千万快一点，要不就完了！
皮诺乔尽力游得更快，更快，更快，更快，像一颗出膛子弹。
他已经游到礁石那儿，小山羊已经向大海俯下身子，伸出前腿要帮他离开水面！……
可是太迟了！怪物已经追上他，怪物深深地一吸，就像吸鸡蛋似的，把可怜的木偶吸到嘴里。它狼吞虎咽地把皮诺乔吞下去，皮诺乔一下子到了鲨鱼肚子里，狠狠撞了一下，整整有一刻钟昏昏迷迷的不省人事。
等到他从这种昏迷状态中醒来，连自己也弄不清是在哪一个世界。他周围漆黑一片，黑得像把头钻到一瓶墨水里。他侧着耳朵听，什么声音也没听到。他只是不时觉得有一阵大风吹在脸上。起先他闹不清风是哪儿来的，可后来明白了，风是从怪物的肺里来的。原来，鲨鱼的气喘病很厉害，它一呼吸就像刮北风似的。
皮诺乔起先一个劲儿要鼓起勇气，可后来反复证实他是禁闭在海怪的肚子里，就开始大哭大叫，流着泪说：
“救命啊！救命啊！噢，我真苦命啊！这儿没人能救我吗？”
“谁能来救你呢？不幸的孩子……”在黑暗中有一个很轻的嘶哑声音说，这声音像是不协调的六弦琴发出来的。
“说这话的是谁？”皮诺乔问，他只觉得人都吓惊了。
“是我！是一条可怜的金枪鱼，跟你一起被鲨鱼吞进来的。你是什么鱼？”
“我跟鱼毫无关系。我是一个木偶。”
“你不是鱼，怎么让这怪物吞了？”
“不是我让它吞，是我被它吞了！咱们这会儿黑咕隆咚的怎么办？……”
“咱们只好静静地等鲨鱼把咱俩给消化掉！……”
“我可不情愿让它给消化掉！”皮诺乔叫起来，又开始哭了。
“我也不情愿它给消化掉，”金枪鱼接下去说，“可我地地道道是个哲学家，我想到我既然生下来是金枪鱼，那么死在水里总比死在油里更体面些，这么一想，我心里就感到舒坦些了……”
“蠢话！”皮诺乔叫道。
“我这是一种意见，”金抢鱼回答说，“既然是意见，正如金枪鱼政治家说的, 就应当受到尊重！”
“不管怎么说……我要离开这儿……我要逃走……”
“只要办得到，你就逃走吧！……”
“吞下咱们的这条鲨鱼很大很大吗？”木偶问道。
“你想象一下吧，他的身体有一公里长，尾巴还不算在内。”
他们在黑暗中正这么说着，皮诺乔觉得远远好像看见一点微弱的亮光。
“远远那点光是怎么回事?”皮诺乔问，
“是咱们的一位患难伙伴，也像咱俩一样，在等着被消化！……”
“我想去找找他，他会不会是一条老鱼，能指点我怎么逃出去呢？”
“我衷心祝你成功，亲爱的木偶。”
“再见，金枪鱼。”
“再见，木偶，祝你幸运，”
“咱们在哪儿再见？……”
“谁知道？……最好还是别想这个吧！”