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28 - The Adventures of Pinocchio - Carlo Collodi · Adventure Books Library

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  Chapter twenty eight, Pinocchio runs the danger of being fried in a pan like
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  a fish. During that wild chase, Pinocchio lived through a terrible moment when
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  he almost gave himself up as lost. This was when Alidoro, that was
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  the mastiff's name, in a frenzy of running, came so near that he
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  was on the very point of reaching him. The marionette heard close behind him
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  the labored breathing of the beast who was fast on his trail, and now
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  and again even felt his hot breath blow over him. Luckily, by this
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  time he was very near the shore, and the sea was in sight,
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  in fact, only a few short steps away. As soon as he set
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  foot on the beach, Pinocchio gave a leap and fell into the water.
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  Elidoro tried to stop, but as he was running very fast, he couldn't,
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  and he too, landed far out in the sea. Strange though it
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  may seem, the dog could not swim. He beat the water with his
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  paws to hold himself up, but the harder he tried, the deeper he
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  sank. As he stuck his head out once more, the poor fellow's eyes
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  were bulging, and he barked out wildly, I drown, I drown drown,
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  answered Pinocchio from afar, happy at his escape, how Pinocchio, dear
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  little Pinocchio, saved me from death. At those cries of suffering, the
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  marionette, who after all had a very kind heart, was moved to compassion.
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  He turned toward the poor animal and said to him, but if I
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  help you, will you promise not to bother me again by running after me.
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  I promise. I promise, only hurry, for if you wait another
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  second, I'll be dead and gone. Pinocchio hesitated still another minute, Then,
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  remembering how his father had often told him that a kind deed is never
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  lost, he swam to Elidoro, and, catching hold of his tail,
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  dragged him to the shore. The poor dog was so weak he could not
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  stand. He had swallowed so much salt water that he was swollen like a
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  balloon. However, Pinocchio, not wishing to trust him too much, threw
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  himself once again into the sea. As he swam away, he called out,
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  good bye Eledoro, good luck, and remember me to the family.
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  Good Bye, Little Pinocchio answered the dog, a thousand thanks for having saved
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  me from death. You did me a good turn, and In this world,
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  what is given is always returned. If the chance comes, I shall
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  be there. Pinocchio went on swimming close to shore. At last he thought
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  he had reached a safe place. Glancing up and down the beach, he
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  saw the opening of a cave, out of which rose a spiral of smoke.
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  In that cave, he said to himself, there must be a fire,
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  so much the better. I'll dry my clothes and warm myself, and
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  then well, his mind made up. Pinocchio swam to the rocks, but
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  as he started to climb, he felt something under him, lifting him up
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  higher and high. He tried to escape, but he was too late.
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  To his great surprise, he found himself in a huge net amid a crowd
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  of fish of all kinds and sizes, who were fighting and struggling desperately to
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  free themselves. At the same time, he saw a fisherman come out of
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  the cave, a fisherman so ugly that Pinocchio thought he was a sea monster.
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  In place of hair, his head was covered by a thick bush of
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  green grass. Green was the skin of his body, green were his eyes,
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  green was the long, long beard that reached to his feet. He
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  looked like a giant lizard with legs and arms. When the fisherman pulled the
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  net out of the sea, he cried out, joyfully, blessed Providence once
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  more, I'll have a fine meal of fish. Thank Heaven, I'm not
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  a fish, said Pinocchio to himself, trying with these words to find a
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  little courage. The fisherman took the net and the fish to the cave,
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  a dark, gloomy, smoky place. In the middle of it, a
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  panful of oil sizzled over a smoky fire, sending out a repelling odor of
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  tallow that took away one's breath. Now let's see what kind of fish we
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  have got to day, said the green fisherman. He put a hand as
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  big as a spade into the net and pulled out a handful of mullets.
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  Fine mullets, these, he said, after looking at them and smelling them
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  with pleasure. After that he threw them into a large empty tub. Many
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  times. He repeated this performance. As he pulled each fish out of the
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  net. His mouth watered with the thought of the good dinner coming, and
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  he said, fine fish, these bass, very tasty, These whitefish,
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  delicious flounders, These what splendid crabs, and these dear little anchovies with their
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  heads still on. As you can well imagine, the bass, the flounders,
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  the whitefish, and even the little anchovies all went together into the tub
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  to keep the mullets company. The last to come out of the net was
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  Pinocchio. As soon as the fisherman pulled him out, his green eyes opened
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  wide with surprise, and he cried out in fear. What kind of fish
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  is this? I don't remember eating anything like it. He looked at him
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  closely, and after turning him over and over, he said, at last
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  I understand he must be a crab. Pinocchio, mortified at being taken for
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  a crab, said, resentfully, what nonsense a crab? Indeed, I
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  am no such thing. Beware how you deal with me. I am a
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  marionette. I want you to know a marionette, asked the fisherman. I
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  must admit that a marionette fish is for me an entirely new kind of fish.
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  So much the better. I'll eat you with greater relish eat me.
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  But can't you understand that I'm not a fish? Can't you hear that I
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  speak and think as you do? It's true, answered the fisherman. But
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  since I see that you are a fish, well able to talk and think
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  as I do, I'll treat you with all due respect, and that is
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  that as a sign of my particular esteem. I'll leave to you the choice
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  of manner in which you are to be cooked. Do you wish to be
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  fried in a pan? Or do you prefer to be cooked with tomato sauce?
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  To tell you the truth, answered Pinocchio. If I must choose,
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  I should much rather go free so I may return home. Are you fooling?
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  Do you think that I want to lose the opportunity to taste such a
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  rare fish, A marionette fish does not come very often to these seas.
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  Leave it to me. I'll fry you in the pan with the others.
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  I know you'll like it. It's always a comfort to find one's self in
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  good company. The unlucky marionette, hearing this, began to cry and wail
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  and beg with tears streaming down his cheeks. He said, how much better
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  it would have been for me to go to school. I did listen to
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  my playmates, and now I am paying for it. Oh oh, oh,
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  And as he struggled and squirmed, like an eel. To escape from
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  him, the green fisherman took a stout cord and tied him hand and foot,
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  and threw him into the bottom of the tub with the others. Then
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  he pulled a wooden bowl full of flour out of a cupboard and started to
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  roll the fish into it one by one. When they were white with it,
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  he threw them into the pan. The first to dance in the hot
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  oil were the mullets. The bass followed, then the whitefish, the flounders,
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  and the anchovies. Pinocchio's turn came last. Seeing himself so near to
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  death, and such a horrible death, he began to tremble so with fright
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  that he had no voice left with which to beg for his life. The
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  poor boy beseeched only with his eyes, but the green fisherman, not even
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  noticing that it was he turned him over and over in the flower until he
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  looked like a Marianne made of chalk. Then he took him by the head
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  and end of chapter twenty eight