Oldal 129 [129]
PINOCCHIO 113
bouring village, who will skin and cook you as
hares with a sweet and sour sauce. It is an
honour that you don’t deserve, but generous
people like me don’t consider such trifles! .. .”
He then approached Pinocchio and began
to caress him, and amongst other things he
asked him:
" How did you manage to discover the four
thieves? ‘To think that Melampo, my faithful
Melampo, never found out anything! .. .”
The puppet might then have told him the
whole story; he might have informed him of
the disgraceful conditions that had been made
between the dog and the polecats; but he
remembered that the dog was dead, and he
thought to himself:
“What is the good of accusing the dead?
. . . The dead are dead, and the best thing to
be done is to leave them in peace! . , ."
‘When the thieves got into the yard were
you asleep or awake?” the peasant went on to
ask him.
" I was asleep,” answered Pinocchio, “ but
the polecats woke me with their chatter, and
one of them came to the kennel and said to me:
‘If you promise not to bark, and not to wake
the master, we will make you a present of a
fine chicken ready plucked! ...’ ‘To think that
they should have had the audacity to make such
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