It was dark, nothing was visible. A few bats skimmed his nose and scared him. Once or twice he shouted, “Who goes there? Who goes there? Who goes…?”
As he walked, Pinocchio noticed a tiny insect on the trunk of a tree. It glowed with a pale, soft light.
“Who are you?” he asked.
“I am the ghost of the Cricket,” answered it.
“What do you want?” asked the Marionette.
“I want to give you some good advice. Return home and give the four gold pieces to your poor old father.”
“Tomorrow my father will be a rich man, for these four gold pieces will become two thousand.”
“Don’t listen to those who promise you wealth overnight, my boy. As a rule they are either fools or swindlers! Listen to me and go home.”
“But I want to go on!”
“The hour is late!”
“I want to go on.”
“The night is very dark.”
“I want to go on.”
“The road is dangerous. There are many robbers in the dark.”
“I want to go on. The same nonsense. Good-bye, Cricket.”
“Good night, Pinocchio.”
There was silence for a minute and the ghost of the Cricket disappeared. Once again the road was dark.
Chapter 14
Pinocchio and the Robbers
“We boys are really very unlucky,” said the Marionette to himself, “Everybody scolds us, everybody gives us advice, everybody warns us. Everyone tries to be father and mother to us; everyone, even the Cricket. Robbers indeed! I think that fathers and mothers invented robbers to frighten children. Even if I meet them on the road, I’ll say, ‘Well, signori, what do you want? Run along and mind your business[17].’ If they don’t run away, I can always run myself.”
Suddenly Pinocchio heard a slight rustle among the leaves behind him. He turned to look and saw two big black shadows. The two figures in black coal sacks leaped toward him softly.
“Here they come!” Pinocchio said to himself, and hid the gold pieces under his tongue. He tried to run away, but deep voices said to him:
“Your money or your life!”
Pinocchio could not say a word, because the gold pieces were in his mouth. Pinocchio’s head and hands said,
“I haven’t a coin.”
“Give us your money or you’re a dead man,” said the taller of the two Robbers.
“Dead man,” repeated the other.
“And we will kill your father also.”
“Your father also!”
“No, no, no, not my Father!” cried Pinocchio. And the gold pieces tinkled together in his mouth.
“Ah, you rascal! You have the money under your tongue!”
But Pinocchio was silent again.
“Are you deaf? Wait, young man, we’ll get it from you!”
One of them grabbed the Marionette by the nose and the other by the chin, and they pulled him unmercifully from side to side in order to open his mouth.
But they couldn’t do it. In desperation the smaller of the two Robbers pulled out a long knife from his pocket, and tried to open Pinocchio’s mouth with it.
The Marionette sank his teeth deep into the Robber’s hand, and bit it off. Suddenly he saw that it was not a hand, but a cat’s paw!
Pinocchio freed himself from the claws of his assailers and ran swiftly across the fields. He climbed up a giant pine tree and sat there. The Robbers tried to climb also, but they slipped and fell.
They gathered a bundle of wood, and set fire to it[18]. The tree began to sputter and burn. The flames climbed higher and higher. Pinocchio jumped quickly to the ground and ran away.
But soon Pinocchio saw a deep pool full of dirty water. With a “One, two, three!” he jumped clear across it. The Robbers jumped also, but-splash! – they fell right into the middle of the pool.
“A pleasant bath to you, signori!” Pinocchio cried.
Chapter 15
The Robbers chase Pinocchio and catch him
Suddenly the Marionette saw a little cottage among the trees of the forest. He darted swiftly through the woods, the Robbers still after him.
Finally Pinocchio reached the door of the cottage and knocked. No one answered. He knocked again. The same silence followed.
Pinocchio, in despair, began to kick and bang against the door. At the noise, a window opened and a lovely maiden looked out. She had azure hair and a face white as wax. She whispered:
“No one lives in this house. Everyone is dead.”
“Won’t you open the door for me?” cried Pinocchio.
“I also am dead.”
“Dead? What do you do here, then?”
“I wait for the coffin.”
After these words, the little girl disappeared and the window closed.
“Oh, Lovely Maiden with Azure Hair,” cried Pinocchio, “please, open the door! I’m just a poor boy and two Rob-”
He did not finish, for two powerful hands grasped him by the neck and the same two horrible voices growled:
“Now we have you!”
The Marionette trembled and the coins tinkled under his tongue.
“Well,” the Robbers asked, “will you open your mouth now or not? Ah! You do not answer? Very well, this time you will open it. We’ll hang you.”
They tied Pinocchio’s hands behind his shoulders and slipped the noose around his neck. Then they sat on the grass. But after three hours the Marionette’s eyes were still open, his mouth still shut.
The Robbers told him mockingly:
“Good-bye till tomorrow. When we return in the morning, we hope you’ll be polite enough to open your mouth.”
With these words they went. A few minutes went by and then a wild wind started to blow. As it shrieked and moaned, the poor little sufferer went to and fro. The Marionette murmured to himself:
“Oh, Father, dear Father! Where are you?”
These were his last words. He closed his eyes, opened his mouth, and stretched out his legs.
Chapter 16
The Lovely Maiden with Azure Hair puts the poor Marionette to bed
Luckily for the poor Marionette, the Lovely Maiden with Azure Hair once again looked out of her window. She saw him and clapped her hands sharply together three times. At the signal, a large Falcon came and settled itself on the window ledge.
“What do you command, my charming Fairy?” asked the Falcon (for the Lovely Maiden with Azure Hair was a very kind Fairy who lived in the forest).
“Do you see that Marionette?”
“I see him.”
“Very well. Fly immediately to him. With your strong beak, break the knot which holds him, take him down, and lay him softly on the grass.”
The Falcon flew away and after two minutes returned,
“Ready.”
“How did you find him? Alive or dead?”
“I