Chapter 18 Chapter Eighteen: The Adventures of Pinocchio

As you may imagine, the fairy made the puppet cry for a full half-hour, because his nose couldn't get through the door, and ignore him.This is to teach him a good lesson and let him correct his bad habit of lying. Children are most likely to have this problem.But when she saw that the face of the puppet had also changed, and her eyes were protruding from despair, she felt sorry for him and clapped her hands.At the clapping of hands, thousands of large birds called woodpeckers beat the windows and flew into the house.They all gathered on Pinocchio's nose, and began to peck him hard, and in a few minutes the overgrown nose returned to its original shape.

"How sweet you are, my Fairy," said the Marionette, wiping away his tears, "how much I love you!" "I love you too," replied the Fairy, "and if you wish to stay with me, you will be my brother and I will be your sister..." "I'd love to stay here...but where's my poor papa?" "I've thought of it. Someone has been sent to inform your father that he will be here before dark." "Really?" cried Pinocchio, jumping up with joy, "then, my good Fairy, if you will allow me to fetch him! I am anxious to embrace the poor old man, who has done so for me." I have suffered so much!"

"Go, then, and be careful not to get lost. Take the road in the woods, and I'm sure you'll meet him." Pinocchio is gone.As soon as he entered the woods, he ran like a fawn.But when he reached the great oak tree, he stopped, because he thought he heard voices among the branches and leaves.He did see someone on the road.Can you guess who it is? ...the two companions, the fox and the cat.Pinocchio dined with them once at the Red Shrimp Hotel. "It's our good friend Pinocchio!" cried the Fox, hugging and kissing him. "Why are you here?" "Why are you here?" the cat repeated.

"It's a long story," said the puppet, "and I'll tell you by the way. Do you remember that night when you left me alone in the hotel? When I came out, I met two murderous robbers on the way... " "Two murderous robbers? . . . Oh, poor friend! What do they want?" "They want to steal my gold coins." "Damn it! . . . " said the fox. "Damn it! . . . " repeated the cat. "But I ran away," continued the Puppet, "and they chased after them. At last they caught up with me, and hung me from the branches of this oak tree..."

said Pinocchio, pointing to the great oak tree two steps away. "Is there anything more miserable than that?" said the Fox. "What a world we live in, and where can we decent people find safety and security?" As he was talking, Pinocchio suddenly noticed that the cat's right foreleg was injured, and that there was no claw or nail, so he asked it, "What's the matter with your claw?" The cat wanted to answer, but was embarrassed.The fox said at once: "My friend is too modest to answer, so I will answer for him. You know, an hour ago we met an old wolf on the road, who was dying of hunger, and he begged us for alms." Give it something. But we have nothing to give it, not even a fish bone. My friend is really generous, what has he done?... He bit a fish off his front leg paws, to the poor beast."

The fox wiped his tears while talking. Pinocchio was so moved that he went up to the cat, and whispered in its ear, "If all the cats were like you, how lucky the mice would be!" "But what are you doing here now," said the fox to the puppet. "I'm waiting for my father. He's coming here sooner or later." "What about your gold coins?" "It's all in my pocket, only one is missing, and I paid it to the owner of the Red Light Hotel." "Think about it, four gold coins can turn into one or two thousand tomorrow, why don't you listen to me? Why don't you go to the 'Miracle Land' and plant them."

"Not today, I'll go another day." "One day later it will be too late," said the fox. "why?" "Because this land was bought by a good old man, and from tomorrow on, no one is allowed to plant gold coins there." "Is 'Wonderland' far from here?'" "Less than two kilometers. Do you want to go with us? It will be there in half an hour. You will plant four gold coins immediately, and you will receive two thousand in a few minutes. When you come back tonight, your pocket will be full of gold coins. Want to go with us?"

Pinocchio did not answer right away, for he was thinking of the good Fairy, of old Geppetto, and of the advice given to him by the Talking Cricket.But in the end he did what a child who has no brains and no heart does, that is to say, he nodded and said to the fox and the cat: "Let's go then, and I'll go with you." So they hit the road. They walked for a long time and came to a city called "Catching Fools City".As soon as Pinocchio entered the city, he saw that the streets were full of cancerous dogs yawning with their mouths open, sheared sheep shivering with cold, and roosters begging for a corn without comb or wattle. , the big butterfly that has sold its beautiful multicolored wings and can no longer fly, the peacock that has lost its tail and is embarrassed to see people again, the pheasant that walks around quietly, lamenting the loss of its gleaming golden and silver feathers forever.

Among these cowardly beggars and poor people, some noble carriages passed by from time to time, in which there were either sitting foxes, or magpies stealing things, or birds of prey that preyed on small creatures. "Where is the 'Land of Miracles'?" asked Pinocchio. "Two more steps and we'll be there." As soon as they talked, they walked through the city, and when they left the city gate, they came to a secluded field.This field is like no other field. "We have arrived at last," said the fox to the puppet. "Now you bend down and dig a small hole in the mud, and put the gold coin in it."

Pinocchio did as the Fox said.He dug a hole, put the remaining four gold coins in it, and covered the hole again with some soil. "Now," said the fox, "get a bucket of water from the nearby ditch, and water it where you planted the gold coins." ．Pinocchio went to the gutter, and as there was no bucket, he took off a shoe from his foot, filled it with water, poured it over the earth that covered the hole, and asked: "Is there anything else to do? " "No more," replied the fox. "Now we can go away. When you come back here in twenty minutes, you can see a dwarf tree growing out of the ground, and all the trees are covered with gold coins."

The poor puppet was overjoyed, thanked the fox and the cat, and promised to give them the best presents. "We don't want gifts," replied the two rascals, "we just want to teach you to get rich for nothing, and be happy like a holiday!" So saying, they bowed to Pinocchio, wished him a good harvest, and went about their business.