Oldal 245 [245]
XXXVI
PINOCCHIO AT LAST CEASES TO BE A PUPPET
AND BECOMES A BOY
HILST Pinocchio was swimming
\ \ quickly towards the shore he discov¬
ered that his father, who was on his
shoulders with his legs in the water, was trem¬
bling as violently as if the poor man had got
an attack of ague fever.
Was he trembling from cold or from fear?
. . . Perhaps a little from both the one and the
other. But Pinocchio, thinking that it was
from fear, said to comfort him:
“Courage, papa! In a few minutes we
shall be safely on shore.”
" But where is this blessed shore?” asked
the little old man, becoming still more fright¬
ened, and screwing up his eyes as tailors do
when they wish to thread a needle. "I have
been looking in every direction and I see noth¬
ing but the sky and the sea.”
" But I see the shore as well,” said the
puppet. “ You must know that I am like a
cat: I see better by night than by day."
Poor Pinocchio was making a pretence of
being in good spirits, but m reality . .. in
reality he was beginning to feel discouraged:
his strength was failing, he was gasping and
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