Latest / Classic Adventure Books - Daily / 15 - The Adventures of Pinocchio - Carlo Collodi

Transcript

15 - The Adventures of Pinocchio - Carlo Collodi · Classic Adventure Books - Daily

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Chapter fifteen. The assassins chase Pinocchio, catch him, and hang
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: him to the branch of a giant oak tree. As
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: he ran, the marionette felt more and more certain that
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: he would have to give himself up into the hands
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: of his pursuers. Suddenly he saw a little cottage gleaming
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: white as the snow, among the trees of the forest.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: If I have enough breath left with which to reach
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: that little house, I may be saved, he said to himself.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Not waiting another moment, he darted swiftly through the woods,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: the assassins still after him. After a hard race of
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: almost an hour, tired and out of breath, Pinocchio finally
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: reached the door of the cottage and knocked. No one answered.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: He knocked again, harder than before, for behind him he
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: heard the steps and the labored breathing of his persecutors.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: The same silence followed. As knocking was of no use. Pinocchio,
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: in despair, began to kick and bang against the doors
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: if he wanted to break it. At the noise, a
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: window opened, and a lovely maiden looked out. She had
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: as your hair and a face white as wax. Her
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: eyes were closed and her hands crossed upon her breast.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: With a voice so weak it could hardly be heard,
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: she whispered, No one lives in this house. Every one
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: is dead. Won't you at least open the door for me?
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: Cried Pinocchio in a beseeching voice. I am also dead dead?
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: What are you doing at the window? Then? I am
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: waiting for the coffin to take me away. After these words,
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: the little girl disappeared and the window closed without a sound. O,
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: lovely maiden with azure hair, cried Pinocchio. Open. I beg
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: of you. Take pity on a poor boy who was
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: being chased by to us as he did not finish,
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: for two powerful hands gripped him by the neck, and
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: the same two horrible voices growled threateningly. Now we have you.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: The marionette, seeing death dancing before him, trembled so hard
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: that the joints of his legs rattled and the coins
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: tinkled under his tongue. Well, the assassins asked, will you
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: open your mouth now or not? Ah, you do not
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: answer very well, This time you shall open it. Taking
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: out two long, sharp knives, they struck two heavy blows
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: on the Marionette's back, haply for him. Pinocchio was made
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: of very hard wood, and the knives broke into a
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: thousand pieces. The assassins looked at each other in dismay,
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: holding the handles of their knives in their hands. I understand,
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: said one of them to the other. There is nothing
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: left to do now but to hang him. To hang him,
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: repeated the other. They tied Pinocchio's hands behind his shoulders
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: and slipped the noose around his neck. Throwing the rope
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: over the high limb of a giant oak tree, they
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: pulled until the poor marionette hung far up in space.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: Satisfied with their work, they sat on the grass, waiting
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: for Pinocchio to give his last gasp. But after three hours,
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: the marionette's eyes were still open, his mouth still shut,
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: and his legs kicked harder than ever. Tired of waiting,
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: the assassins called to him mockingly, good bye till tomorrow.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: When we return in the morning, we hope you'll be
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: polite enough to let us find you dead and gone
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: with your mouth wide open. With these words they went
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: a few minutes went by, and then a while wild
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: wind started to blow. As it shrieked and moaned, The
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: poor little Supper was blown to and fro like the
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: hammer of the bell. The rocking made him seasick, and
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: the noose, becoming tighter and tighter, choked him. Little by little.
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: A film covered his eyes. Death was creeping nearer and nearer,
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: and the marionette still hoped for some good soul to
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: come to his rescue, but no one appeared. As he
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: was about to die, he thought of his poor old father, and,
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: hardly conscious of what he was saying, murmured to himself,
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: Oh father, dear father, if you were only here, These
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: were his last words. He closed his eyes, opened his mouth,
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: stretched out his legs, and hung there as if he
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: were dead. So ends Chapter fifteen of Pinocchio.