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208 PINOCCHIO horrified, " I swear that I will never touch fish. It would be too dreadful to open a mullet, or a fried whiting, and to find inside a donkey’s tail!” " I agree with you,” said the puppet, laughing. “ However, I must tell you that when the fish had finished eating the donkey’s hide that covered me from head to foot, they naturally reached the bone . . . or rather the wood, for as you see I am made of the hardest wood. But after giving a few bites they soon discovered that I was not a morsel for their teeth, and, disgusted with such indigestible food, they went off, some In one direction and some in another, without so much as saying thank you tome. And now, at last, I have told you how it was that when you pulled up the rope you found a live puppet instead of a dead donkey.” " I laugh at your story,” cried the man in a rage. “ I know only that I spent twenty pence to buy you, and I will have my money back. Shall I tell you what I will do? I will take you back to the market and I will sell you by weight as seasoned wood for lighting fires." “Sell me if you like; I am content,” said Pinocchio. But as he said it he made a spring and plunged into the water. Swimming gaily away from the shore he called to his poor owner:
