Stranica 88 [88]
76 PINOCCHIO
c Now then,” demanded the assassins, " will
you open your mouth, yes or not Ah! no an¬
swer?... Leave it to us: this time we will force
you to open it!...”
And drawing out two long knives as sharp
as razors, Clash... they attempted to stab him.
But the puppet, luckily for him, was made
of very hard wood; the knives therefore broke
into a thousand pieces, and the assassins were
left with the handles in their hands staring at
each other.
‘I see what we must do," said one of them.
‘He must be hung! let us hang him!”
“Let us hang him!” repeated the other.
Without loss of time they tied his arms be¬
hind lim, passed a running noose round his
throat, and then hung him to the branch of a
tree called the Big Oak.
They then sat down on the grass and waited
for his last struggle. But at the end of three
hours the puppet’s eyes were open, his mouth
closed, and he was kicking more than ever.
Losing patience they turned to Pinocchio
and said in a bantering tone:
‘Good-bye till to-morrow. Let us hope
that when we return you will be polite enough
to allow yourself to be found quite dead, and
with your mouth wide open.”
And they walked off.