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The boat, meanwhile, beaten by the fury of the waves, at one moment disappeared in the trough of the sea, and the next came again to the surface. Pinocchio, standing on the top of a high rock, kept calling to his father by name, and making every kind of signal to him with his hands, his handkerchief, and his cap.
He was dragging, alone, with fatigue and difficulty, two carts full of charcoal. Pinocchio, judging by his face that he was a kind man, approached him and, casting down his eyes with shame, he said to him in a low voice: "Would you have the charity to give me a nickel, for I am dying of hunger?"
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."
But I am of a generous nature, and I gladly forgive him." "Great soul!" said Pinocchio, fondly embracing his friend. Five months passed and the boys continued playing and enjoying themselves from morn till night, without ever seeing a book, or a desk, or a school.
He looked at him closely and after turning him over and over, he said at last: "I understand. He must be a crab!" Pinocchio, mortified at being taken for a crab, said resentfully: "What nonsense! A crab indeed! I am no such thing. Beware how you deal with me! I am a Marionette, I want you to know." "A Marionette?" asked the Fisherman.
On the contrary, the green Serpent, who had seemed, until then, wide awake and full of life, became suddenly very quiet and still. His eyes closed and his tail stopped smoking. "Is he dead, I wonder?" said Pinocchio, rubbing his hands together happily.
Pinocchio, seeing that the flames were mounting higher every instant, and not wishing to end his life like a roasted pigeon, made a stupendous leap from the top of the tree and started afresh across the fields and vineyards. The assassins followed him, and kept behind him without once giving up. The day began to break and they were still pursuing him.
Suddenly Pinocchio found his way barred by a wide, deep ditch full of stagnant water the color of coffee. What was he to do? "One! two! three!" cried the puppet, and, making a rush, he sprang to the other side. The assassins also jumped, but not having measured the distance properly splash! splash! they fell into the very middle of the ditch.
After a race of some miles Pinocchio could go no more. Giving himself up for lost, he climbed the trunk of a very high pine tree and seated himself in the topmost branches. The assassins attempted to climb after him, but when they had reached half-way up they slid down again and arrived on the ground with the skin grazed from their hands and knees.
He then became very thoughtful and, forgetting the rules of society and good manners, he took his hands out of his pocket and gave his head a long scratch. At that moment he heard an explosion of laughter close to him and, looking up, he saw a large Parrot perched on a tree, who was pruning the few feathers he had left. "Why are you laughing?" asked Pinocchio in an angry voice.
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