Stranica 163 [163]
PINOCCHIO 145
for you are nothing else! These hand-to-hand
fights between boys seldom finish well. Some .
disaster is sure to happen! . . ."
Poor crab! He might as well have preached
to the wind. Even that young rascal Pinoc¬
chio, turning round, looked at him mockingly
and said rudely:
. Hold your tongue, you tiresome crab!
You had better suck some liquorice lozenges
to cure that cold in your throat. Or better
still, go to bed and try to get a reaction!”
Just then the boys, who had no more books
of their own to throw, spied at a little distance
the satchel that belonged to Pinocchio, and
took possession of it in less time than it takes
to tell.
Amongst the books there was one bound in
strong cardboard with the back and points of
parchment. It was a Treatise on Arithmetic.
I leave you to imagine if it was big or not!
One of the boys seized this volume, and
aiming at Pinocchio’s head threw it at him
with all the force he could muster. But in¬
stead of hitting the puppet it struck one of
his companions on the temple, who, turning
as white as a sheet, said only:
7; sob; mother, "hel 1 ám dying! ;..,.
and fell his whole length on the sand. Think¬
10
3)