Stranica 46 [46]
36 PINOCCHIO
" TI cannot stand up, believe me. Oh, poor
me! poor me! I shall have to walk on my knees
for the rest of my life! .. .”
Geppetto, believing that all this lamenta¬
tion was only another of the puppet’s tricks,
thought of a means of putting an end to it,
and climbing up the wall he got in at the
window.
He was very angry, and at first he did
nothing but scold; but when he saw his Pinoc¬
chio lying on the ground and really without
feet he was quite overcome. He took him in
his arms and began to kiss and caress him and
to say a thousand endearing things to him, and
as the big tears ran down his cheeks, he said,
sobbing:
“ My little Pmocchio! how did you manage
to burn your feet? "
“TI don’t know, papa, but believe me it has
been an infernal night that I shall remember
as long as I live. It thundered and lightened,
and I was very hungry, and then the Talking
cricket said to me: ‘It serves you right; you
have been wicked and you deserve it,’ and I
said to him: ‘ Take care, Cricket!’ . . . and he
said: ‘ You are a puppet and you have a wooden
head,’ and I threw the handle of a hammer at
him, and he died, but the fault was his, for I
didn’t wish to kill him, and the proof of it is