Stranica 229 [229]
PINOCCHIO 207
another two words to say and then I shall have
finished. After you had bought me you brought
me to this place to kill me; but then, yielding
to a feeling of compassion, you preferred to
tie a stone round my neck and to throw me into
the sea. This humane feeling does you great
honour, and I shall always be grateful to you
for it. But nevertheless, dear master, this time
you made your calculations without considering
he ary |", 23.”
" And who is this Fairy?”
" She is my mamma, and she resembles all
other good mammas who care for their chil¬
dren, and who never lose sight of them, but
help them lovingly, even when, on account of
their foolishness and evil conduct, they deserve
to be abandoned and left to themselves. Well,
then, the good Fairy, as soon as she saw that
I was in danger of drowning, sent immedi¬
ately an immense shoal of fish, who, believing
me really to be a little dead donkey, began to
eat me. And what mouthfuls they took! I
should never have thought that fish were
greedier than boys! . . . Some ate my ears, some
my muzzle, others my neck and mane, some the
skin of my legs, some my coat... and amongst
them there was a little fish so polite that he
even condescended to eat my tail.”
“ From this time forth,” said his purchaser,