Stranica 241 [241]
PINOCCHIO 217
and he said to me, ‘ I will take you,’ and I said
to him, ‘ How?’ and he said to me, " Get on
my back,’ and so we flew all night, and then
in the morning all the fishermen who were look¬
ing out to sea said to me, " There is a poor man
in a boat who is on the point of being drowned,’
and I recognised you at once, even at that dis¬
tance, for my heart told me, and I made signs
to you to return to land . . ."
" I also recognised you,” said Geppetto,
“and I would willingly have returned to the
shore: but what was I todo! The sea was tre¬
mendous, and a great wave upset my boat.
Then a horrible Dog-fish who was near, as soon
as he saw me in the water, came towards me,
and putting out his tongue took hold of me,
and swallowed me as if I had been a little
Bologna tart.”
" And how long have you been shut up
here? " asked Pinocchio.
" Since that day—it must be nearly two
years ago: two years, my dear Pinocchio, that
have seemed to me like two centuries! "
" And how have you managed to live? And
where did you get the candle? And the matches
to light it? Who gave them to you?”
* Stop, and I will tell you everything. You
must know, then, that in the same storm in
which my boat was upset a merchant vessel