"And may I ask," inquired the Fox, "what you are going to do with all that money?"
"First of all," answered the Marionette, "I want to buy a fine new coat for my father, a coat of gold and silver with diamond buttons;
after that, I'll buy an A-B-C book for myself." "For yourself ?"
"For myself. I want to go to school and study hard."
"Look at me," said the Fox. "For the silly reason of wanting to study, I have lost a paw." "Look at me," said the Cat. "For the same foolish reason, I have lost the sight of both eyes." At that moment, a Blackbird, perched on the fence along the road, called out sharp and clear: "Pinocchio, do not listen to bad advice. If you do, you'll be sorry!"
Poor little Blackbird! If he had only kept his words to himself ! In the twinkling of an eyelid, the Cat leaped on him, and ate him, feathers and all.
After eating the bird, he cleaned his whiskers, closed his eyes, and became blind once more. "Poor Blackbird!" said Pinocchio to the Cat. "Why did you kill him?"
"I killed him to teach him a lesson. He talks too much. Next time he will keep his words to himself."
By this time the three companions had walked a long distance. Suddenly, the Fox stopped in his tracks and, turning to the Marionette, said to him:
"Do you want to double your gold pieces?"
18
"What do you mean?"
"Do you want one hundred, a thousand, two thousand gold pieces for your miserable five?"
"Yes, but how?"
"The way is very easy. Instead of returning home, come with us." "And where will you take me?"
"To the City of Simple Simons."
Pinocchio thought a while and then said firmly:
"No, I don't want to go. Home is near, and I'm going where Father is waiting for me. How unhappy he must be that I have not yet returned! I have been a bad son, and the Talking Cricket was right when he said that a disobedient boy cannot be happy in this world. I have learned this at my own expense. Even last night in the theater, when Fire Eater. . . Brrrr!!!!! . . . The shivers run up and down my back at the mere thought of it."
"Well, then," said the Fox, "if you really want to go home, go ahead, but you'll be sorry." "You'll be sorry," repeated the Cat.
"Think well, Pinocchio, you are turning your back on Dame Fortune." "On Dame Fortune," repeated the Cat.
"Tomorrow your five gold pieces will be two thousand!"
"Two thousand!" repeated the Cat.
"But how can they possibly become so many?" asked Pinocchio wonderingly.
"I'll explain," said the Fox. "You must know that, just outside the City of Simple Simons, there is a blessed field called the Field of Wonders. In this field you dig a hole and in the hole you bury a gold piece. After covering up the hole with earth you water it well, sprinkle a bit of salt on it, and go to bed. During the night, the gold piece sprouts, grows, blossoms, and next morning you find a beautiful tree, that is loaded with gold pieces."
"So that if I were to bury my five gold pieces," cried Pinocchio with growing wonder, "next morning I should find--how many?" "It is very simple to figure out," answered the Fox. "Why, you can figure it on your fingers! Granted that each piece gives you five
hundred, multiply five hundred by five. Next morning you will find twenty-five hundred new, sparkling gold pieces."
"Fine! Fine!" cried Pinocchio, dancing about with joy. "And as soon as I have them, I shall keep two thousand for myself and the other five hundred I'll give to you two."
"A gift for us?" cried the Fox, pretending to be insulted. "Why, of course not!" "Of course not!" repeated the Cat.
"We do not work for gain," answered the Fox. "We work only to enrich others." "To enrich others!" repeated the Cat.
"What good people," thought Pinocchio to himself. And forgetting his father, the new coat, the A-B-C book, and all his good resolutions, he said to the Fox and to the Cat:
"Let us go. I am with you."
19
CHAPTER 13
The Inn of the Red Lobster
Cat and Fox and Marionette walked and walked and walked. At last, toward evening, dead tired, they came to the Inn of the Red
Lobster.
"Let us stop here a while," said the Fox, "to eat a bite and rest for a few hours. At midnight we'll start out again, for at dawn tomorrow we must be at the Field of Wonders."
They went into the Inn and all three sat down at the same table. However, not one of them was very hungry.
The poor Cat felt very weak, and he was able to eat only thirty-five mullets with tomato sauce and four portions of tripe with cheese.
Moreover, as he was so in need of strength, he had to have four more helpings of butter and cheese.
The Fox, after a great deal of coaxing, tried his best to eat a little. The doctor had put him on a diet, and he had to be satisfied with a small hare dressed with a dozen young and tender spring chickens. After the hare, he ordered some partridges, a few pheasants, a couple of rabbits, and a dozen frogs and lizards. That was all. He felt ill, he said, and could not eat another bite.
Pinocchio ate least of all. He asked for a bite of bread and a few nuts and then hardly touched them. The poor fellow, with his mind on the Field of Wonders, was suffering from a gold-piece indigestion.
Supper over, the Fox said to the Innkeeper:
"Give us two good rooms, one for Mr. Pinocchio and the other for me and my friend. Before starting out, we'll take a little nap.
Remember to call us at midnight sharp, for we must continue on our journey."
"Yes, sir," answered the Innkeeper, winking in a knowing way at the Fox and the Cat, as if to say, "I understand."
As soon as Pinocchio was in bed, he fell fast asleep and began to dream. He dreamed he was in the middle of a field. The field was full of vines heavy with grapes. The grapes were no other than gold coins which tinkled merrily as they swayed in the wind. They seemed to say, "Let him who wants us take us!"
Just as Pinocchio stretched out his hand to take a handful of them, he was awakened by three loud knocks at the door. It was the
Innkeeper who had come to tell him that midnight had struck. "Are my friends ready?" the Marionette asked him.
"Indeed, yes! They went two hours ago." "Why in such a hurry?"
"Unfortunately the Cat received a telegram which said that his first-born was suffering from chilblains and was on the point of
death. He could not even wait to say good-by to you." "Did they pay for the supper?"
"How could they do such a thing? Being people of great refinement, they did not want to offend you so deeply as not to allow you
the honor of paying the bill."
"Too bad! That offense would have been more than pleasing to me," said Pinocchio, scratching his head. "Where did my good friends say they would wait for me?" he added.
20
"At the Field of Wonders, at sunrise tomorrow morning."
Pinocchio paid a gold piece for the three suppers and started on his way toward the field that was to make him a rich man.
He walked on, not knowing where he was going, for it was dark, so dark that not a thing was visible. Round about him, not a leaf stirred. A few bats skimmed his nose now and again and scared him half to death. Once or twice he shouted, "Who goes there?" and the faraway hills echoed back to him, "Who goes there? Who goes there? Who goes. . . ?"