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

“Look at me,” said the Fox. “I wanted to study and I lost a paw.”

“Look at me,” said the Cat. “For the same foolish reason, I lost the sight of both eyes.”

At that moment, a Blackbird on the fence along the road said:

“Pinocchio, do not listen to bad advice! You’ll be sorry!”

Poor little Blackbird! The Cat leaped on him, and ate him. Then he cleaned his whiskers, closed his eyes, and became blind once more.

“Poor Blackbird!” said Pinocchio to the Cat. “Why did you kill him?”

“I killed him to teach him a lesson. He talks too much. Next time he will be silent.”

Suddenly, the Fox turned to the Marionette and said to him:

“Do you want to double your gold pieces?”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you want one hundred, a thousand, two thousand gold pieces?”

“Yes, but how?”

“It is very easy. Just come with us.”

“And where will you take me?”

“To the City of Sillies.”

Pinocchio thought a while and then said firmly:

“No, I don’t want to go. Home is near. The Cricket was right when he said that a disobedient boy could not be happy in this world. Even last night in the theater, when The Director… Brrrr!”

“Well, then,” said the Fox, “if you really want to go home, go ahead, but you’ll be sorry.”

“You’ll be sorry,” repeated the Cat.

“Think well, Pinocchio. Tomorrow your five gold pieces will be two thousand!” said the Fox.

“Two thousand!” repeated the Cat.

“But how can they possibly become so many?” asked Pinocchio wonderingly.

“I’ll explain,” said the Fox. “You must know that, just outside the City of Simple Sillies, there is a blessed field called the Field of Wonders. In this field you dig a hole and in the hole you bury a gold piece. Then cover up the hole with earth and water it well, sprinkle a bit of salt on it, and go to bed. During the night, the gold piece sprouts, grows, blossoms. Next morning you find a beautiful tree with gold pieces.”

“Really? Fine! Fine!” cried Pinocchio. “If it’s true, I’ll give you a gift.”

“A gift for us?” cried the Fox. “Why, of course not!”

“Of course not!” repeated the Cat.

“We work absolutely unselfishly,” answered the Fox. “We work only to enrich others.”

“To enrich others!” repeated the Cat.

“What good people,” thought Pinocchio. And he said to the Fox and to the Cat:

“Let us go. I am with you.”

Cat and Fox and Marionette walked and walked and walked. At last, toward evening, tired, they came to the Inn of the Red Lobster.

“Let us stop here a while,” said the Fox, “to eat and rest. At midnight we’ll start out again, for at dawn tomorrow we must be at the Field of Wonders.”

They went into the Inn and all three sat down at the table. The poor Cat felt very weak, and he was able to eat only thirty-five mullets with tomato sauce and four portions of tripe with cheese and butter.

The Fox ate a little: a small hare with a dozen young chickens. After that, the Fox ordered some partridges, a few pheasants, a couple of rabbits, and a dozen frogs and lizards. That was all.

Pinocchio asked for a piece of bread and a few nuts.

Then the Fox said to the Innkeeper:

“Give us two good rooms, one for Signor Pinocchio and the other for me and my friend. Wake us at midnight, for we must continue our journey.”

“Yes,” answered the Innkeeper, “I understand.”

As soon as Pinocchio was in bed, he began to dream. He dreamed he was in the middle of a field. The field was full of vines with grapes. The grapes were gold coins which tinkled merrily as they swayed in the wind.

Just as Pinocchio stretched out his hand to take a handful of them, three loud knocks at the door awakened him. It was the Innkeeper.

“Are my friends ready?” the Marionette asked him.

“Indeed, yes! They went two hours ago.”

“Why in such a hurry?”

“Unfortunately the Cat received a telegram which said that his kitten was ill. He could not even wait to say good-bye to you.”

“Did they pay for the supper?”

“How could they do it? They did not want to offend you as not to allow you to pay the bill.”

“Too bad!” said Pinocchio and scratched his head.

“Where will my good friends wait for me?” he added.

“At the Field of Wonders, at sunrise tomorrow morning.”

Pinocchio paid a gold piece for the three suppers and went toward the wonderful field.

It was dark, nothing was visible. A few bats skimmed his nose and scared him. Once or twice he shouted, “Who goes there? Who goes there? Who goes…?”

As he walked, Pinocchio noticed a tiny insect on the trunk of a tree. It glowed with a pale, soft light.

“Who are you?” he asked.

“I am the ghost of the Cricket,” answered it.

“What do you want?” asked the Marionette.

“I want to give you some good advice. Return home and give the four gold pieces to your poor old father.”

“Tomorrow my father will be a rich man, for these four gold pieces will become two thousand.”

“Don’t listen to those who promise you wealth overnight, my boy. As a rule they are either fools or swindlers! Listen to me and go home.”

“But I want to go on!”

“The hour is late!”

“I want to go on.”

“The night is very dark.”

“I want to go on.”

“The road is dangerous. There are many robbers in the dark.”

“I want to go on. The same nonsense. Good-bye, Cricket.”

“Good night, Pinocchio.”

There was silence for a minute and the ghost of the Cricket disappeared. Once again the road was dark.

“We boys are really very unlucky,” said the Marionette to himself, “Everybody scolds us, everybody gives us advice, everybody warns us. Everyone tries to be father and mother to us; everyone, even the Cricket. Robbers indeed! I think that fathers and mothers invented robbers to frighten children. Even if I meet them on the road, I’ll say, ‘Well, signori, what do you want? Run along and mind your business [17]   mind your business – занимайтесь своим делом .’ If they don’t run away, I can always run myself.”

Suddenly Pinocchio heard a slight rustle among the leaves behind him. He turned to look and saw two big black shadows. The two figures in black coal sacks leaped toward him softly.

“Here they come!” Pinocchio said to himself, and hid the gold pieces under his tongue. He tried to run away, but deep voices said to him:

“Your money or your life!”

Pinocchio could not say a word, because the gold pieces were in his mouth. Pinocchio’s head and hands said,

“I haven’t a coin.”

“Give us your money or you’re a dead man,” said the taller of the two Robbers.

“Dead man,” repeated the other.

“And we will kill your father also.”

“Your father also!”

“No, no, no, not my Father!” cried Pinocchio. And the gold pieces tinkled together in his mouth.

“Ah, you rascal! You have the money under your tongue!”

But Pinocchio was silent again.

“Are you deaf? Wait, young man, we’ll get it from you!”

One of them grabbed the Marionette by the nose and the other by the chin, and they pulled him unmercifully from side to side in order to open his mouth.

But they couldn’t do it. In desperation the smaller of the two Robbers pulled out a long knife from his pocket, and tried to open Pinocchio’s mouth with it.

The Marionette sank his teeth deep into the Robber’s hand, and bit it off. Suddenly he saw that it was not a hand, but a cat’s paw!