Stranica 226 [226]
XXXIV
PINOCCHIO, HAVING BEEN THROWN INTO THE
SEA, IS EATEN BY THE FISH AND BECOMES A
PUPPET AS HE WAS BEFORE. WHILST HE IS
SWIMMING AWAY TO SAVE HIS LIFE HE IS
SWALLOWED BY THE TERRIBLE DOG-FISH
A FTER Pinocchio had been fifty minutes
under the water, his purchaser said
aloud to himself:
‘My poor little lame donkey must by this
time be quite drowned. I will therefore pull
him out of the water, and I will make a fine
drum of his skin.”
And he began to haul in the rope that he
had tied to the donkey’s leg; and he hauled,
and hauled, and hauled, until at last... what
do you think appeared above the water? In¬
stead of a little dead donkey he saw a live pup¬
pet, who was wriggling like an eel.
Seeing this wooden puppet the poor man
thought he was dreaming, and, struck dumb
with astonishment, he remained with his mouth
open and his eyes starting out of his head.
Having somewhat recovered from his first
stupefaction, he asked in a quavering voice:
‘And the little donkey that I threw into
the sea? What has become of him? ”’
204