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76 PINOCCHIO c Now then,” demanded the assassins, " will you open your mouth, yes or not Ah! no answer?... 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 behind 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.
