Stranica 248 [248]
OCR
224 PINOCCHIO They had not gone a hundred yards when they saw by the roadside two villainous-looking individuals begging. They were the Cat and the Fox, but they were scarcely recognisable. Fancy! the Cat had so long feigned blindness that she had become blind in reality; and the Fox, old, mangy, and with one side paralysed, had not even his tail left. That sneaking thief, having fallen into the most squalid misery, one fine day had found himself obliged to sell his beautiful tail to a travelling pedlar, who bought it to drive away flies. “Oh, Pinocchio!” cried the Fox, “ give a little in charity to two poor infirm people.” " Infirm people,” repeated the Cat. " Begone, impostors!” answered the puppet. " You took me in once, but you will never catch me again.” " Believe me, Pinocchio, we are now poor and unfortunate indeed! ”’ " If you are poor, you deserve it. Recollect the proverb: ‘Stolen money never fructifies.’ Begone, impostors! ” And thus saying Pinocchio and Geppetto went their way in peace. When they had gone another hundred yards they saw, at the end of a path in the middle of the fields, a nice little straw hut with a roof of tiles and bricks.
