Part 31 (1/2)

”Mine is also paining me.”

”You also? And which of your ears hurts you?”

”Both of them. And you?”

”Both of them. Can we have got the same illness?”

”I fear so.”

”Will you do me a kindness, Candlewick?”

”Willingly! With all my heart.”

”Will you let me see your ears?”

”Why not? But first, my dear Pinocchio, I should like to see yours.”

”No: you must be first.”

”No, dear. First you and then I!”

”Well,” said the puppet, ”let us come to an agreement like good friends.”

”Let us hear it.”

”We will both take off our caps at the same moment. Do you agree?”

”I agree.”

”Then, attention!”

And Pinocchio began to count in a loud voice:

”One, two, three!”

At the word ”Three!” the two boys took off their caps and threw them into the air.

And then a scene followed that would seem incredible if it were not true. That is, that when Pinocchio and Candlewick discovered that they were both struck with the same misfortune, instead of feeling full of mortification and grief, they began to p.r.i.c.k their ungainly ears and to make a thousand antics, and they ended by going into bursts of laughter.

And they laughed, and laughed, and laughed, until they had to hold themselves together. But in the midst of their merriment Candlewick suddenly stopped, staggered, and, changing color, said to his friend:

”Help, help, Pinocchio!”

”What is the matter with you?”

”Alas, I cannot any longer stand upright.”

”Neither can I,” exclaimed Pinocchio, tottering and beginning to cry.

And whilst they were talking, they both doubled up and began to run round the room on their hands and feet. And as they ran, their hands became hoofs, their faces lengthened into muzzles, and their backs became covered with a light gray hairy coat sprinkled with black.