Carlo Collodi: Приключения Пиноккио / The adventures of Pinocchio. Уровень 1

He sat down on a little stool and put his two feet on the stove to dry them.

There he fell asleep, and while he slept, his wooden feet began to burn. Slowly, very slowly, they blackened and turned to ashes.

At dawn Pinocchio opened his eyes. He heard a loud knocking at the door.

“Who is it?” he called.

“It is I,” answered a voice.

It was the voice of Geppetto.

The poor Marionette did not noticed that he had no legs anymore. As soon as he heard his Father’s voice, he jumped up from his seat to open the door, but staggered and fell headlong to the floor.

“Open the door for me!” Geppetto shouted from the street.

“Father, dear Father, I can’t,” answered the Marionette in despair.

“Why can’t you?”

“Because someone ate my feet.”

“And who ate them?”

“The cat,” answered Pinocchio. He saw that little animal in the corner of the room.

“Open! I say,” repeated Geppetto.

“Father, believe me, I can’t stand up. Oh, dear! Oh, dear! I shall walk on my knees all my life.”

Geppetto thought that all these tears and cries were only other pranks of the Marionette. So he climbed up the side of the house and went in through the window.

At first he was very angry, but then he saw Pinocchio on the floor and really without feet. Geppetto felt very sad and sorrowful. He picked Pinocchio up from the floor, fondled and caressed him:

“My little Pinocchio, my dear little Pinocchio! How did you burn your feet?”

“I don’t know, Father, but believe me, is was a terrible night. The thunder was so noisy and the lightning so bright-and I was hungry. And then the Cricket said to me, ‘You deserve it; you were bad;’ and I said to him, ‘Careful, Cricket.’ Then he said to me, ‘You are a Marionette and you have a wooden head;’ and I threw the hammer at him and killed him. It was his own fault, for I didn’t want to kill him. And I put the pan on the coals, but the Chick flew away. I went out, very hungry, and the old man with a nightcap looked out of the window and threw water on me. I came home and put my feet on the stove to dry them. Now I have no legs and I’m still hungry. Oh! – Oh!-Oh!”

And poor Pinocchio began to scream and cry loudly. Geppetto understood nothing of all that talk, except that the Marionette was hungry. He took three pears out of his pocket and offered them to Pinocchio:

“These three pears were for my breakfast, but I give them to you gladly. Eat them and don’t cry.”

“If you want me to eat them, please peel them for me.”

“Peel them?” asked Geppetto, very much surprised. “My dear boy, you are dainty and fussy. Bad, very bad! In this world, even children must eat everything.”

“You may be right,” answered Pinocchio, “but I will not eat the pears if they are not peeled. I don’t like them.”

And good old Geppetto took out a knife, peeled the three pears, and put the skins on the table. Pinocchio ate one pear and started to throw the core away, but Geppetto held his arm.

“Oh, no, don’t throw it away! Everything in this world may be useful!”

“But the core I will not eat!” cried Pinocchio angrily.

“Who knows?” repeated Geppetto calmly.

And later the three cores were placed on the table next to the skins.

Pinocchio devoured the three pears. Then he yawned deeply, and wailed:

“I’m still hungry.”

“But I have no more to give you.”

“Really, nothing-nothing?”

“I have only these three cores and these skins.”

“Very well, then,” said Pinocchio, “if there is nothing else I’ll eat them.”

At first he made a wry face, but then ate the skins and the cores.

“Ah! Now I feel fine!” he said.

“You see,” observed Geppetto, “I was right. Don’t be too fussy and too dainty!”

Soon the Marionette started to grumble and cry that he wanted a new pair of feet. After dinner Master Geppetto said to him:

“What for? To run away from home once more?”

“I promise you,” answered the Marionette, “that I’ll be good.”

“Boys always promise that when they want something,” said Geppetto.

“I promise to go to school every day, to study.”

“Boys always sing that song when they want something.”

“But I am not like other boys! I am better than all of them. I always tell the truth. I promise you, Father, that I’ll learn a trade, and I’ll help you in your old age.”

Geppetto’s eyes filled with tears and his heart softened. He said no more, but took his tools and two pieces of wood.

In less than an hour the feet were ready, two slender, nimble little feet, strong and quick. The Marionette jumped from the table.

“I am grateful to you, Father, I’ll go to school now. But I need some clothes.”

Geppetto did not have a penny in his pocket, so he made him a little suit of flowered paper, a pair of shoes from the bark of a tree, and a tiny cap from a bit of dough.

Pinocchio ran to look at himself in a bowl of water, and he felt so happy that he said proudly:

“Now I look like a gentleman.”

“Truly,” answered Geppetto.

“But, in order to go to school,” answered Pinocchio, “I still need something very important.”

“What is it?”

“An ABC book.”

“You’re right. But how shall we get it?”

“That’s easy. We’ll go to a bookstore and buy it.”

“And the money?”

“I have none.”

“Neither have I,” said the old man sadly.

Pinocchio became sad and downcast.

Suddenly Geppetto ran out of the house without another word. After a while he returned. In his hands he had the ABC book for his son. But he did not have his old coat anymore. The poor fellow was in his shirt and the day was cold.

“Where’s your coat, Father?”

“I sold it.”

“Why did you sell your coat?”

“It was too warm.”

Pinocchio understood the answer, and he jumped on his father’s neck and kissed him.

Pinocchio hurried off to school with his new ABC book under his arm. He said:

“In school today, I’ll learn to read, tomorrow to write, and the day after tomorrow I’ll do arithmetic. I’ll become clever and earn a lot of money. I’ll buy Father a new coat. It will be of gold and silver with diamond buttons. That poor man certainly deserves it. He sold his coat and bought a book for me! On this cold day, too! Fathers are indeed good to their children!”

Then he heard sounds of pipes and drums:

“Pi-pi-pi, pi-pi-pi! Zum, zum, zum, zum!”

He stopped to listen. Those sounds came from a little street that led to a small village.

“What is that noise?”

He was very much puzzled.

“Today I’ll follow the pipes, and tomorrow I’ll go to school,” decided the little rascal.

He went down the street. Soon, he found himself in a large square. There was a little wooden building in brilliant colors.

“What is that house?” Pinocchio asked a little boy near him.

“Read the sign and you’ll know.”

“I can’t read.”

“Oh, really? Listen. It says: Great Marionette Theater.

“When will the show start?”

“Now.”

“And how much is it?”

“Four pennies.”

Pinocchio lost all his pride and said to the boy shamelessly:

“Will you give me four pennies until tomorrow?”

“Gladly,” answered the other, “but not now.”