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PINOCCHIO 107
3)
" I was so hungry. . . .
" Hunger, my boy, is not a good reason for
appropriating what does not belong to us... .”
‘That 1s true, that is true! " said Pinocchio,
crying. " I will never do it again.”
At this moment their conversation was in¬
terrupted by a slight sound of approaching
footsteps. It was the owner of the field coming
on tiptoe to see if one of the polecats that ate
his chickens during the night had been caught
in his trap.
His astonishment was great when, having
brought out his lantern from under his coat,
he perceived that instead of a polecat a boy
had been taken.
Ah, little thief!” said the angry peasant,
“then it is you who carry off my chickens? "
‘“ No, 1t is not [; indeed it is not!” cried
Pinocchio, sobbing. “I only came into the
field to take two bunches of grapes!...”
" He who steals grapes is quite capable of
stealing chickens. Leave it to me, I will give
you a lesson that you will not forget in a hurry.”
Opening the trap he seized the puppet by
the collar, and carried him to his house as if he
had been a young lamb.
When he reached the yard in front of the
house he threw him roughly on the ground, and
putting his foot on his necx he said to him: