第36章

"How shall I ever face my good little Fairy? What will she say when she sees me? Will she forgive this last trick of mine? I am sure she won't.Oh, no, she won't.

And I deserve it, as usual! For I am a rascal, fine on promises which I never keep!"He came to the village late at night.It was so dark he could see nothing and it was raining pitchforks.

Pinocchio went straight to the Fairy's house, firmly resolved to knock at the door.

When he found himself there, he lost courage and ran back a few steps.A second time he came to the door and again he ran back.A third time he repeated his performance.The fourth time, before he had time to lose his courage, he grasped the knocker and made a faint sound with it.

He waited and waited and waited.Finally, after a full half hour, a top-floor window (the house had four stories)opened and Pinocchio saw a large Snail look out.A tiny light glowed on top of her head."Who knocks at this late hour?" she called.

"Is the Fairy home?" asked the Marionette.

"The Fairy is asleep and does not wish to be disturbed.

Who are you?"

"It is I."

"Who's I?"

"Pinocchio."

"Who is Pinocchio?"

"The Marionette; the one who lives in the Fairy's house.""Oh, I understand," said the Snail."Wait for me there.

I'll come down to open the door for you.""Hurry, I beg of you, for I am dying of cold.""My boy, I am a snail and snails are never in a hurry."An hour passed, two hours; and the door was still closed.

Pinocchio, who was trembling with fear and shivering from the cold rain on his back, knocked a second time, this time louder than before.

At that second knock, a window on the third floor opened and the same Snail looked out.

"Dear little Snail," cried Pinocchio from the street.

"I have been waiting two hours for you! And two hours on a dreadful night like this are as long as two years.

Hurry, please!"

"My boy," answered the Snail in a calm, peaceful voice, "my dear boy, I am a snail and snails are never in a hurry." And the window closed.

A few minutes later midnight struck; then one o'clock --two o'clock.And the door still remained closed!

Then Pinocchio, losing all patience, grabbed the knocker with both hands, fully determined to awaken the whole house and street with it.As soon as he touched the knocker, however, it became an eel and wiggled away into the darkness.

"Really?" cried Pinocchio, blind with rage."If the knocker is gone, I can still use my feet."He stepped back and gave the door a most solemn kick.

He kicked so hard that his foot went straight through the door and his leg followed almost to the knee.No matter how he pulled and tugged, he could not pull it out.There he stayed as if nailed to the door.

Poor Pinocchio! The rest of the night he had to spend with one foot through the door and the other one in the air.

As dawn was breaking, the door finally opened.That brave little animal, the Snail, had taken exactly nine hours to go from the fourth floor to the street.How she must have raced!

"What are you doing with your foot through the door?"she asked the Marionette, laughing.

"It was a misfortune.Won't you try, pretty little Snail, to free me from this terrible torture?""My boy, we need a carpenter here and I have never been one.""Ask the Fairy to help me!"

"The Fairy is asleep and does not want to be disturbed.""But what do you want me to do, nailed to the door like this?""Enjoy yourself counting the ants which are passing by.""Bring me something to eat, at least, for I am faint with hunger.""Immediately!"

In fact, after three hours and a half, Pinocchio saw her return with a silver tray on her head.On the tray there was bread, roast chicken, fruit.

"Here is the breakfast the Fairy sends to you," said the Snail.

At the sight of all these good things, the Marionette felt much better.

What was his disgust, however, when on tasting the food, he found the bread to be made of chalk, the chicken of cardboard, and the brilliant fruit of colored alabaster!

He wanted to cry, he wanted to give himself up to despair, he wanted to throw away the tray and all that was on it.Instead, either from pain or weakness, he fell to the floor in a dead faint.

When he regained his senses, he found himself stretched out on a sofa and the Fairy was seated near him.

"This time also I forgive you," said the Fairy to him.

"But be careful not to get into mischief again."Pinocchio promised to study and to behave himself.

And he kept his word for the remainder of the year.At the end of it, he passed first in all his examinations, and his report was so good that the Fairy said to him happily:

"Tomorrow your wish will come true."

"And what is it?"

"Tomorrow you will cease to be a Marionette and will become a real boy."Pinocchio was beside himself with joy.All his friends and schoolmates must be invited to celebrate the great event! The Fairy promised to prepare two hundred cups of coffee-and-milk and four hundred slices of toast buttered on both sides.

The day promised to be a very gay and happy one, but--Unluckily, in a Marionette's life there's always a BUTwhich is apt to spoil everything.