Stranica 241 [241]
OCR
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 looking 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 distance, 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 tremendous, 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
