Stranica 58 [58]
X
THE PUPPEYS RECOGNISE THEIR BROTHER PINOC¬
CHIO, AND RECEIVE HIM WITH DELIGHT; BUT
AT THAT MOMENT THEIR MASTER FIRE¬
EATER MAKES HIS APPEARANCE AND PINOC¬
CHIO IS IN DANGER OF COMING TO A BAD END
HEN Pinocchio came into the little
\ \ puppet theatre, an incident occurred
that almost produced a revolution.
I must tell you that the curtain was drawn
up, and the play had already begun.
On the stage Harlequin and Punchinello
were as usual quarrelling with each other, and
threatening every moment to come to blows.
The audience, all attention, laughed till they
were ill as they listened to the bickerings of
these two puppets, who gesticulated and abused
each other so naturally that they might have
been two reasonable beings, and two persons
of the world.
All at once Harlequin stopped short, and
turning to the public he pointed with his hand
to some one far down in the pit, and exclaimed
in a dramatic tone:
“Gods of the firmament! do I dream, or
am I awake? But surely that is Pinocchio!...”
“It is indeed Pinocchio!” cried Punchinello.
$8