Pinocchio

it is so long since I last saw him: I am dying to embrace him and to cover him with kisses! And will the Fairy forgive me my bad conduct to her? To think of all the kindness and loving care I received from her, to think that if I am now alive I owe it to her! Would it be possible to find a more ungrateful boy, or one with less heart than I have?”
Whilst he was saying this he stopped suddenly, frightened to death, and made four steps backwards.
What had he seen?
He had seen an immense Serpent stretched across the road. Its skin was green, it had red eyes, and a pointed tail that was smoking like a chimney.
It would be impossible to imagine the puppet`s terror. He walked away to a safe distance and, sitting down on a heap of stones, waited until the Serpent should have gone about its business and left the road clear.
He waited an hour; two hours; three hours; but the Serpent was always there, and even from a distance he could see the red light of his fiery eyes and the column of smoke that ascended from the end of his tail.
At last Pinocchio, trying to feel courageous, approached to within a few steps, and said to the Serpent in a little soft, insinuating voice:
“Excuse me. Sir Serpent, but would you be so good as to move a little to one side-just enough to allow me to pass?”
He might as well have spoken to the wall. Nobody moved.
He began again in the same soft voice:
“You must know. Sir Serpent, that I am on my way home, where my father is waiting for me, and it is such a long time since I saw him last! Will you, therefore, allow me to continue my road?”
He waited for a sign in answer to this request, but there was none; in fact, the Serpent, who up to that moment had been sprightly and full of life, became motionless and almost rigid. He shut his eyes and his tail ceased smoking.
“Can he really be dead?” said Pinocchio, rubbing his hands with delight. He determined to jump over him and reach the other side of the road. But, just as he was going to leap, the Serpent raised himself suddenly on end, like a spring set in motion; and the puppet, drawing back, in his terror caught his feet and fell to the ground.
And he fell so awkwardly that his head stuck in the mud and his legs went into the air.
At the sight of the puppet kicking violently with his head in the mud, the Serpent went into convulsions of laughter, and laughed, and laughed, until he broke a blood-vessel in his chest and died. And that time he was really dead.
Pinocchio then set off running, in hopes that he should reach the Fairy`s house before dark. But before long he began to suffer so dreadfully from hunger that he could not bear it, and he jumped into a field by the wayside, intending to pick some bunches of Muscatel grapes. Oh, that he had never done it!
He had scarcely reached the vines when crack-his legs were caught between two cutting iron bars and he became so giddy with pain that stars of every color danced before his eyes.
The poor puppet had been taken in a trap put there to capture some big polecats which were the scourge of the poultry-yards in the neighborhood.
CHAPTER XXI
PINOCCHIO ACTS AS WATCH-DOG
Pinocchio began to cry and scream, but his tears and groans were useless, for there was not a house to be seen, and not a living soul passed down the road.
At last night came on.
Partly from the pain of the trap, that cut his legs, and a little from fear at finding himself alone in the dark in the midst of the fields, the puppet was on the point of fainting. Just at that moment he saw a Firefly flitting over his head. He called to it and said:
“Oh, little Firefly, will you have pity on me and liberate me from this torture?”
“Poor boy!” said the Firefly, stopping and looking at him with compassion; “but how could your legs have been caught by those sharp irons?”
“I came into the field to pick two bunches of these Muscatel grapes, and-“
“But were the grapes yours?”
“No.”
“Then who taught you to carry off other people`s property?”
“I was so hungry.”
“Hunger, my boy, is not a good reason for appropriating what does not belong to us.”
“That is true, that is true!” said Pinocchio, crying. “I will never do it again.”
At this moment their conversation was interrupted by a slight sound of approaching footsteps. It was the owner of the field coming on tiptoe to see if one of the polecats that ate his chickens during the night had been caught in his trap.
His astonishment was great when, having brought out his lantern from under his coat, he perceived that instead of a polecat a boy had been taken.
“Ah, little thief,” said the angry peasant, “then it is you who carries off my chickens?”
“No, it is not I; indeed it is not!” cried Pinocchio, sobbing. “I only came into the field to take two bunches of grapes!”
“He who steals grapes is quite capable of stealing chickens. Leave it to me, I will give you a lesson that you will not forget in a hurry.”
Opening the trap, he seized the puppet by the collar and carried him to his house as if he had been a young lamb.
When he reached the yard in front of the house he threw him roughly on the ground and, putting his foot on his neck, he said to him:
“It is late and I want to go to bed; we will settle our accounts tomorrow. In the meanwhile, as the dog who kept guard at night died today, you shall take his place at once. You shall be my watch-dog.”
And, taking a great collar covered with brass knobs, he strapped it so tightly round his throat that he was not able to draw his head out of it. A heavy chain attached to the collar was fastened to the wall.
“If it should rain tonight,” he then said to him, “you can go and lie down in the kennel; the straw that has served as a bed for my poor dog for the last four years is still there. If unfortunately robbers should come, remember to keep your ears pricked and to bark.”
After giving him this last injunction the man went into the house, shut the door, and put up the chain.
Poor Pinocchio remained lying on the ground more dead than alive from the effects of cold, hunger and fear. From time to time he put his hands angrily to the collar that tightened his throat and said, crying:
“It serves me right! Decidedly, it serves me right! I was determined to be a vagabond and a good-for-nothing. I would listen to bad companions, and that is why I always meet with misfortunes. If I had been a good little boy, as so many are; if I had remained at home with my poor papa, I should not now be in the midst of the fields and obliged to be the watch-dog to a peasant`s house. Oh, if I could be born again! But now it is too late and I must have patience!”
Relieved by this little outburst, which came straight from his heart, he went into the dog-kennel and fell asleep.
CHAPTER XXII
PINOCCHIO DISCOVERS THE ROBBERS
He had been sleeping heavily for about two hours when, towards midnight, he was aroused by a whispering of strange voices that seemed to come from the courtyard. Putting the point of his nose out of the kennel, he saw four little beasts with dark fur, that looked like cats, standing consulting together. But they were not cats; they were polecats-carnivorous little animals, especially greedy for eggs and young chickens. One of the polecats, leaving his companions, came to the opening of the kennel and said in a low voice:
“Good evening, Melampo.”
“My name is not Melampo,” answered the puppet.
“Oh! then who are you?”
“I am Pinocchio.”
“And what are you doing here?”
“I am acting as watch-dog.”
“Then where is Melampo? Where is the old dog who lived in this kennel?”
“He died this morning.”
“Is he dead? Poor beast! He was so good. But, judging you by your face, I should say that you were also a good dog.”
“I beg your pardon, I am not a dog.”
“Not a dog? Then what are you?”
“I am a puppet.”
“And you are acting as watch-dog?”
“That is only too true-as a punishment.”
“Well, then, I will offer you the same conditions that we made with the deceased Melampo, and I am sure you will be satisfied with them.”
“What are these conditions?”
“One night in every week you are to permit us to visit this poultry-yard as we have hitherto done, and to carry off eight chickens. Of these chickens seven are to be eaten by us, and one we will give to you, on the express understanding, however, that you pretend to be asleep, and that it never enters your head to bark and to waken the peasant.”
“Did Melampo act in this manner?” asked Pinocchio.
“Certainly, and we were always on the best terms with him. Sleep quietly, and rest assured that before we go we will leave by the kennel a beautiful chicken ready plucked for your breakfast tomorrow. Have we understood each other clearly?”
“Only too clearly!” answered Pinocchio, and he shook his head threateningly, as much as to say: “You shall hear of this shortly!”
The four polecats, thinking themselves safe, repaired to the poultry-yard, which was close to the kennel, and, having opened the wooden gate with their teeth and claws, they slipped in one by one. But they had only just passed through when they heard the gate shut behind them with great violence.
It was Pinocchio who had shut it, and for greater security he put a large stone against it to keep it closed.
He then began to bark, and he barked exactly like a watch-dog: “Bow-wow, bow-wow.”
Hearing the barking, the peasant jumped out of bed and, taking his gun, he came to the window and asked:
“What is the matter?”
“There are robbers!” answered Pinocchio.
“Where are they?”
“In the poultry-yard.”
“I will come down directly.”
In fact, in less time than it takes to say “Amen!” the peasant came down. He rushed into the poultry-yard, caught the polecats, and, having put them into a sack, he said to them in a tone of great satisfaction:
“At last you have fallen into my hands! I might punish you, but I am not so cruel. I will content myself instead by carrying you in the morning to the innkeeper of the neighboring village, who will skin and…