CHAPTER 36

Pinocchio finally ceases to be a Marionette and becomes a boy

“My dear Father, we are saved!” cried the Marionette. “All we have to do

now is to get to the shore, and that is easy.”

Without another word, he swam swiftly away in an effort to reach land as

soon as possible. All at once he noticed that Geppetto was shivering and

shaking as if with a high fever.

Was he shivering from fear or from cold? Who knows? Perhaps a little

of both. But Pinocchio, thinking his father was frightened, tried to

comfort him by saying:

“Courage, Father! In a few moments we shall be safe on land.”

“But where is that blessed shore?” asked the little old man, more and

more worried as he tried to pierce the faraway shadows. “Here I am

searching on all sides and I see nothing but sea and sky.”

“I see the shore,” said the Marionette. “Remember, Father, that I am

like a cat. I see better at night than by day.”

Poor Pinocchio pretended to be peaceful and contented, but he was

far from that. He was beginning to feel discouraged, his strength was

leaving him, and his breathing was becoming more and more labored. He

felt he could not go on much longer, and the shore was still far away.

He swam a few more strokes. Then he turned to Geppetto and cried out

weakly:

“Help me, Father! Help, for I am dying!”

Father and son were really about to drown when they heard a voice like a

guitar out of tune call from the sea:

“What is the trouble?”

“It is I and my poor father.”

“I know the voice. You are Pinocchio.”

“Exactly. And you?”

“I am the Tunny, your companion in the Shark’s stomach.”

“And how did you escape?”

“I imitated your example. You are the one who showed me the way and

after you went, I followed.”

“Tunny, you arrived at the right moment! I implore you, for the love you

bear your children, the little Tunnies, to help us, or we are lost!”

“With great pleasure indeed. Hang onto my tail, both of you, and let me

lead you. In a twinkling you will be safe on land.”

Geppetto and Pinocchio, as you can easily imagine, did not refuse the

invitation; indeed, instead of hanging onto the tail, they thought it

better to climb on the Tunny’s back.

“Are we too heavy?” asked Pinocchio.

“Heavy? Not in the least. You are as light as sea-shells,” answered the

Tunny, who was as large as a two-year-old horse.

As soon as they reached the shore, Pinocchio was the first to jump to

the ground to help his old father. Then he turned to the fish and said

to him:

“Dear friend, you have saved my father, and I have not enough words

with which to thank you! Allow me to embrace you as a sign of my eternal

gratitude.”

The Tunny stuck his nose out of the water and Pinocchio knelt on the

sand and kissed him most affectionately on his cheek. At this warm

greeting, the poor Tunny, who was not used to such tenderness, wept

like a child. He felt so embarrassed and ashamed that he turned quickly,

plunged into the sea, and disappeared.

In the meantime day had dawned.

Pinocchio offered his arm to Geppetto, who was so weak he could hardly

stand, and said to him:

“Lean on my arm, dear Father, and let us go. We will walk very, very

slowly, and if we feel tired we can rest by the wayside.”

“And where are we going?” asked Geppetto.

“To look for a house or a hut, where they will be kind enough to give us

a bite of bread and a bit of straw to sleep on.”

They had not taken a hundred steps when they saw two rough-looking

individuals sitting on a stone begging for alms.

It was the Fox and the Cat, but one could hardly recognize them, they

looked so miserable. The Cat, after pretending to be blind for so many

years had really lost the sight of both eyes. And the Fox, old, thin,

and almost hairless, had even lost his tail. That sly thief had fallen

into deepest poverty, and one day he had been forced to sell his

beautiful tail for a bite to eat.

“Oh, Pinocchio,” he cried in a tearful voice. “Give us some alms, we beg

of you! We are old, tired, and sick.”

“Sick!” repeated the Cat.

“Addio, false friends!” answered the Marionette. “You cheated me once,

but you will never catch me again.”

“Believe us! Today we are truly poor and starving.”

“Starving!” repeated the Cat.

“If you are poor; you deserve it! Remember the old proverb which says:

‘Stolen money never bears fruit.’ Addio, false friends.”

“Have mercy on us!”

“On us.”

“Addio, false friends. Remember the old proverb which says: ‘Bad wheat

always makes poor bread!’”

“Do not abandon us.”

“Abandon us,” repeated the Cat.

“Addio, false friends. Remember the old proverb: ‘Whoever steals his

neighbor’s shirt, usually dies without his own.’”

Waving good-by to them, Pinocchio and Geppetto calmly went on their way.

After a few more steps, they saw, at the end of a long road near a clump

of trees, a tiny cottage built of straw.

“Someone must live in that little hut,” said Pinocchio. “Let us see for

ourselves.”

They went and knocked at the door.

“Who is it?” said a little voice from within.

“A poor father and a poorer son, without food and with no roof to cover

them,” answered the Marionette.

“Turn the key and the door will open,” said the same little voice.

Pinocchio turned the key and the door opened. As soon as they went in,

they looked here and there and everywhere but saw no one.

“Oh--ho, where is the owner of the hut?” cried Pinocchio, very much

surprised.

“Here I am, up here!”

Father and son looked up to the ceiling, and there on a beam sat the

Talking Cricket.

“Oh, my dear Cricket,” said Pinocchio, bowing politely.

“Oh, now you call me your dear Cricket, but do you remember when you

threw your hammer at me to kill me?”

“You are right, dear Cricket. Throw a hammer at me now. I deserve it!

But spare my poor old father.”

“I am going to spare both the father and the son. I have only wanted to

remind you of the trick you long ago played upon me, to teach you that

in this world of ours we must be kind and courteous to others, if we

want to find kindness and courtesy in our own days of trouble.”

“You are right, little Cricket, you are more than right, and I shall

remember the lesson you have taught me. But will you tell how you

succeeded in buying this pretty little cottage?”

“This cottage was given to me yesterday by a little Goat with blue

hair.”

“And where did the Goat go?” asked Pinocchio.

“I don’t know.”

“And when will she come back?”

“She will never come back. Yesterday she went away bleating sadly, and

it seemed to me she said: ‘Poor Pinocchio, I shall never see him again.

. .the Shark must have eaten him by this time.’”

“Were those her real words? Then it was she--it was--my dear little

Fairy,” cried out Pinocchio, sobbing bitterly. After he had cried a

long time, he wiped his eyes and then he made a bed of straw for old

Geppetto. He laid him on it and said to the Talking Cricket:

“Tell me, little Cricket, where shall I find a glass of milk for my poor

Father?”

“Three fields away from here lives Farmer John. He has some cows. Go

there and he will give you what you want.”

Pinocchio ran all the way to Farmer John’s house. The Farmer said to

him:

“How much milk do you want?”

“I want a full glass.”

“A full glass costs a penny. First give me the penny.”

“I have no penny,” answered Pinocchio, sad and ashamed.

“Very bad, my Marionette,” answered the Farmer, “very bad. If you have

no penny, I have no milk.”

“Too bad,” said Pinocchio and started to go.

“Wait a moment,” said Farmer John. “Perhaps we can come to terms. Do you

know how to draw water from a well?”

“I can try.”

“Then go to that well you see yonder and draw one hundred bucketfuls of

water.”

“Very well.”

“After you have finished, I shall give you a glass of warm sweet milk.”

“I am satisfied.”

Farmer John took the Marionette to the well and showed him how to draw

the water. Pinocchio set to work as well as he knew how, but long before

he had pulled up the one hundred buckets, he was tired out and dripping

with perspiration. He had never worked so hard in his life.

“Until today,” said the Farmer, “my donkey has drawn the water for me,

but now that poor animal is dying.”

“Will you take me to see him?” said Pinocchio.

“Gladly.”

As soon as Pinocchio went into the stable, he spied a little Donkey

lying on a bed of straw in the corner of the stable. He was worn out

from hunger and too much work. After looking at him a long time, he said

to himself: “I know that Donkey! I have seen him before.”

And bending low over him, he asked: “Who are you?”

At this question, the Donkey opened weary, dying eyes and answered in

the same tongue: “I am Lamp-Wick.”

Then he closed his eyes and died.

“Oh, my poor Lamp-Wick,” said Pinocchio in a faint voice, as he wiped

his eyes with some straw he had picked up from the ground.

“Do you feel so sorry for a little donkey that has cost you nothing?”

said the Farmer. “What should I do--I, who have paid my good money for

him?”

“But, you see, he was my friend.”

“Your friend?”

“A classmate of mine.”

“What,” shouted Farmer John, bursting out laughing. “What! You had

donkeys in your school? How you must have studied!”

The Marionette, ashamed and hurt by those words, did not answer, but

taking his glass of milk returned to his father.

From that day on, for more than five months, Pinocchio got up every

morning just as dawn was breaking and went to the farm to draw water.

And every day he was given a glass of warm milk for his poor old father,

who grew stronger and better day by day. But he was not satisfied with

this. He learned to make baskets of reeds and sold them. With the money

he received, he and his father were able to keep from starving.

Among other things, he built a rolling chair, strong and comfortable, to

take his old father out for an airing on bright, sunny days.

In the evening the Marionette studied by lamplight. With some of the

money he had earned, he bought himself a secondhand volume that had

a few pages missing, and with that he learned to read in a very short

time. As far as writing was concerned, he used a long stick at one end

of which he had whittled a long, fine point. Ink he had none, so he used

the juice of blackberries or cherries. Little by little his diligence

was rewarded. He succeeded, not only in his studies, but also in his

work, and a day came when he put enough money together to keep his old

father comfortable and happy. Besides this, he was able to save the

great amount of fifty pennies. With it he wanted to buy himself a new

suit.

One day he said to his father:

“I am going to the market place to buy myself a coat, a cap, and a pair

of shoes. When I come back I’ll be so dressed up, you will think I am a

rich man.”

He ran out of the house and up the road to the village, laughing and

singing. Suddenly he heard his name called, and looking around to see

whence the voice came, he noticed a large snail crawling out of some

bushes.

“Don’t you recognize me?” said the Snail.

“Yes and no.”

“Do you remember the Snail that lived with the Fairy with Azure Hair? Do

you not remember how she opened the door for you one night and gave you

something to eat?”

“I remember everything,” cried Pinocchio. “Answer me quickly, pretty

Snail, where have you left my Fairy? What is she doing? Has she forgiven

me? Does she remember me? Does she still love me? Is she very far away

from here? May I see her?”

At all these questions, tumbling out one after another, the Snail

answered, calm as ever:

“My dear Pinocchio, the Fairy is lying ill in a hospital.”

“In a hospital?”

“Yes, indeed. She has been stricken with trouble and illness, and she

hasn’t a penny left with which to buy a bite of bread.”

“Really? Oh, how sorry I am! My poor, dear little Fairy! If I had a

million I should run to her with it! But I have only fifty pennies. Here

they are. I was just going to buy some clothes. Here, take them, little

Snail, and give them to my good Fairy.”

“What about the new clothes?”

“What does that matter? I should like to sell these rags I have on to

help her more. Go, and hurry. Come back here within a couple of days

and I hope to have more money for you! Until today I have worked for my

father. Now I shall have to work for my mother also. Good-by, and I hope

to see you soon.”

The Snail, much against her usual habit, began to run like a lizard

under a summer sun.

When Pinocchio returned home, his father asked him:

“And where is the new suit?”

“I couldn’t find one to fit me. I shall have to look again some other

day.”

That night, Pinocchio, instead of going to bed at ten o’clock waited

until midnight, and instead of making eight baskets, he made sixteen.

After that he went to bed and fell asleep. As he slept, he dreamed of

his Fairy, beautiful, smiling, and happy, who kissed him and said to

him, “Bravo, Pinocchio! In reward for your kind heart, I forgive you for

all your old mischief. Boys who love and take good care of their parents

when they are old and sick, deserve praise even though they may not be

held up as models of obedience and good behavior. Keep on doing so well,

and you will be happy.”

At that very moment, Pinocchio awoke and opened wide his eyes.

What was his surprise and his joy when, on looking himself over, he saw

that he was no longer a Marionette, but that he had become a real live

boy! He looked all about him and instead of the usual walls of straw, he

found himself in a beautifully furnished little room, the prettiest he

had ever seen. In a twinkling, he jumped down from his bed to look on

the chair standing near. There, he found a new suit, a new hat, and a

pair of shoes.

As soon as he was dressed, he put his hands in his pockets and pulled

out a little leather purse on which were written the following words:

The Fairy with Azure Hair returns

fifty pennies to her dear Pinocchio

with many thanks for his kind heart.

The Marionette opened the purse to find the money, and behold--there

were fifty gold coins!

Pinocchio ran to the mirror. He hardly recognized himself. The bright

face of a tall boy looked at him with wide-awake blue eyes, dark brown

hair and happy, smiling lips.

Surrounded by so much splendor, the Marionette hardly knew what he was

doing. He rubbed his eyes two or three times, wondering if he were still

asleep or awake and decided he must be awake.

“And where is Father?” he cried suddenly. He ran into the next room, and

there stood Geppetto, grown years younger overnight, spick and span

in his new clothes and gay as a lark in the morning. He was once more

Mastro Geppetto, the wood carver, hard at work on a lovely picture

frame, decorating it with flowers and leaves, and heads of animals.

“Father, Father, what has happened? Tell me if you can,” cried

Pinocchio, as he ran and jumped on his Father’s neck.

“This sudden change in our house is all your doing, my dear Pinocchio,”

answered Geppetto.

“What have I to do with it?”

“Just this. When bad boys become good and kind, they have the power of

making their homes gay and new with happiness.”

“I wonder where the old Pinocchio of wood has hidden himself?”

“There he is,” answered Geppetto. And he pointed to a large Marionette

leaning against a chair, head turned to one side, arms hanging limp, and

legs twisted under him.

After a long, long look, Pinocchio said to himself with great content:

“How ridiculous I was as a Marionette! And how happy I am, now that I

have become a real boy!”