Part 5 (1/2)

Daas breaking when, without any warning whatsoever, Pinocchio found his path barred by a deep pool full of water the color of muddy coffee

What was there to do? With a ”One, two, three!” he jumped clear across it The assassins ju ht into the middle of the pool Pinocchio who heard the splash and felt it, too, cried out, laughing, but never stopping in his race: ”A pleasant bath to you, signori!”

He thought they must surely be drowned and turned his head to see But there were the two soh their black sacks were drenched and dripping ater

CHAPTER 15

The assassins chase Pinocchio, catch hiiant oak tree

As he ran, the Marionette felt ive himself up into the hands of his pursuers Suddenly he saw a little cottage glea the trees of the forest

”If I have enough breath left hich to reach that little house, Ianother h the woods, the assassins still after him

After a hard race of almost an hour, tired and out of breath, Pinocchio finally reached the door of the cottage and knocked No one answered

He knocked again, harder than before, for behind hi of his persecutors The sa was of no use, Pinocchio, in despair, began to kick and bang against the door, as if he wanted to break it At the noise, aopened and a lovely maiden looked out She had azure hair and a face white as wax Her eyes were closed and her hands crossed on her breast With a voice so weak that it hardly could be heard, she whispered: ”No one lives in this house Everyone is dead”

”Won't you, at least, open the door forvoice

”I also a at the , then?”

”I a for the coffin to take irl disappeared and theclosed without a sound

”Oh, Lovely Maiden with Azure Hair,” cried Pinocchio, ”open, I beg of you Take pity on a poor boy who is being chased by two assass--”

He did not finish, for terful hands grasped hirowled threateningly: ”Noe have you!”

The Marionette, seeing death dancing before his rattled and the coins tinkled under his tongue

”Well,” the assassins asked, ”will you open your mouth now or not? Ah! You do not answer? Very well, this ti, sharp knives, they struck two heavy blows on the Marionette's back

Happily for him, Pinocchio was made of very hard wood and the knives broke into a thousand pieces The assassins looked at each other in dis the handles of the knives in their hands

”I understand,” said one of the hi him,” repeated the other

They tied Pinocchio's hands behind his shoulders and slipped the noose around his neck Throwing the rope over the high liiant oak tree, they pulled till the poor Marionette hung far up in space

Satisfied with their work, they sat on the grass waiting for Pinocchio to give his last gasp But after three hours the Marionette's eyes were still open, his s kicked harder than ever

Tired of waiting, the assassins called to hily: ”Good-by till to, we hope you'll be polite enough to let us find you dead and gone and with your mouth wide open” With these words they went

A few minutes went by and then a ind started to blow As it shrieked and moaned, the poor little sufferer was blown to and fro like the ha hter, choked him Little by little a fil nearer and nearer, and the Marionette still hoped for soood soul to come to his rescue, but no one appeared As he was about to die, he thought of his poor old father, and hardly conscious of what he was saying, murmured to himself: ”Oh, Father, dear Father! If you were only here!”

These were his last words He closed his eyes, opened histhere, as if he were dead

CHAPTER 16

The Lovely Maiden with Azure Hair sends for the poor Marionette, puts him to bed, and calls three Doctors to tell her if Pinocchio is dead or alive

If the poor Marionette had dangled there er, all hope would have been lost Luckily for hiain looked out of herFilled with pity at the sight of the poor little fellow being knocked helplessly about by the wind, she clapped her hands sharply together three tiht was heard and a large Falcon cae

”What do you co his beak in deep reverence (for it must be known that, after all, the Lovely Maiden with Azure Hair was none other than a very kind Fairy who had lived, for more than a thousand years, in the vicinity of the forest)

”Do you see that Marionette hanging froiant oak tree?”

”I see hi beak, break the knot which holds hirass at the foot of the oak”

The Falcon fleay and after two , ”I have done what you have commanded”

”How did you find hiht he was dead But I found I rong, for as soon as I loosened the knot around his neck, he gave a long sigh and mumbled with a faint voice, 'Now I feel better!'”

The Fairy clapped her hands twice A s just like a old lace was set at a rakish angle over a wig of white curls that dropped down to his waist He wore a jaunty coat of chocolate-colored velvet, with diae pockets which were always filled with bones, dropped there at dinner by his loving s, and low, silver-buckled slippers completed his costu, which was to protect it from the rain

”Come, Medoro,” said the Fairy to him ”Getthe oak tree, you will find a poor, half-dead Marionette stretched out on the grass Lift him up tenderly, place hi him here to ed his silk-covered tail two or three times and set off at a quick pace

In a fewas soft as whipped crea, and stuffed with canary feathers, pulled out of the stable It was drawn by one hundred pairs of white mice, and the Poodle sat on the coachayly in the air, as if he were a real coachet to his destination

In a quarter of an hour the coach was back The Fairy, aiting at the door of the house, lifted the poor little Marionette in her arms, took him to a dainty room with mother-of-pearl walls, put him to bed, and sent ihborhood to come to her

One after another the doctors ca Cricket