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50 PINOCCHIO He was very big, and so ugly that the sight of him was enough to frighten anyone. His beard was as black as ink, and so long that it reached from his chin to the ground. I need only say that he trod upon it when he walked. His mouth was as big as an oven, and his eyes were like two lanterns of red glass with lights burning inside them. He carried a large whip made of snakes and foxes’ tails twisted together, which he cracked constantly. At his unexpected appearance there was a profound silence: no one dared to breathe. A fly might have been heard in the stillness. ‘The poor puppets of both sexes trembled like so many leaves. “Why have you come to raise a disturbance in my theatre?” asked the showman of Pinocchio, in the gruff voice of a hob-goblin suffering from a severe cold in the head. “ Believe me, sir, it was not my fault!.. .” “That is enough! ‘To-night we will settle our accounts.” As soon as the play was over the showman went into the kitchen where a fine sheep, preparing for his supper, was turning slowly on the spit in front of the fire. As there was not enough wood to finish roasting and browning it, he called Harlequin and Punchinello, and said to them:
