The Assassins chase Pinocchio,catch him,and hang him to the branch of a giant oak tree.
As he ran,the Marionette felt more and more certain that he would have to give himself up into the hands of his pursuers.Suddenly he saw a little cottage gleaming white as the snow among the trees of the forest.
“If I have enough breath left with which to reach that little house,I may be saved,” he said to himself.
Not waiting another moment,he darted swiftly through 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 him he heard the steps and the labored breathing of his persecutors.The same silence followed.
As knocking 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,a window opened 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 for me?” cried Pinocchio in a beseeching voice.
“I also am dead.”
“Dead?What are you doing at the window,then?”
“I am waiting for the coffin to take me away.”
After these words,the little girl disappeared and the window closed 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 two powerful hands grasped him by the neck and the same two horrible voices growled threateningly:“Now we have you!”
The Marionette,seeing death dancing before him,trembled so hard that the joints of his legs 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 time you shall open it.”
Taking out two long,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 dismay,holding the handles of the knives in their hands.
“I understand,” said one of them to the other,“there is nothing left to do now but to hang him.”
“To hang 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 limb of a giant 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 mouth still shut and his legs kicked harder than ever.
Tired of waiting,the Assassins called to him mockingly:“Good-by till tomorrow.When we return in the morning,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 wild wind started to blow.As it shrieked and moaned,the poor little sufferer was blown to and fro like the hammer of a bell.The rocking made him seasick and the noose,becoming tighter and tighter,choked him.Little by little a film covered his eyes.
Death was creeping nearer and nearer,and the Marionette still hoped for some good 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,F(xiàn)ather,dear Father!If you were only here!”
These were his last words.He closed his eyes,opened his mouth,stretched out his legs,and hung there,as if he were dead.
刺客們追逐匹諾曹,抓住了他,把他吊在一棵大橡樹(shù)的樹(shù)枝上。
木偶一邊跑,一邊越來(lái)越確信他肯定得落到那兩個(gè)刺客的手里了。突然,他看到森林里有一座雪白的小房子在隱約閃現(xiàn)。
“我要是有足夠的力氣跑到那座小房子那里,就可能有救了。”他自言自語(yǔ)道。
他一刻不停飛快地跑過(guò)了森林。兩個(gè)刺客依然在后面追。他拼命跑了差不多一個(gè)小時(shí)后,疲憊不堪,氣喘吁吁,終于來(lái)到了那個(gè)小屋門(mén)口,連忙敲起了門(mén)??墒菦](méi)有人開(kāi)門(mén)。
他又敲了敲門(mén),比先前敲得更猛了,因?yàn)樗?tīng)到身后傳來(lái)了刺客的腳步聲和吃力的喘息聲。可小屋的門(mén)還是悄無(wú)聲息。
因?yàn)榍瞄T(mén)毫無(wú)用處,無(wú)奈之際,匹諾曹開(kāi)始踢門(mén)撞門(mén),要把門(mén)砸開(kāi)。這時(shí)一扇窗戶打開(kāi)了,一位美麗的少女探出頭來(lái),她天藍(lán)色的頭發(fā),臉白似蠟,眼睛閉合,雙手交叉放在胸前。她用幾乎聽(tīng)不見(jiàn)的聲音說(shuō)道:“沒(méi)有人在這座房子里住,所有的人都死了?!?/p>
“你至少給我開(kāi)開(kāi)門(mén),好嗎?”匹諾曹用哀求的聲音哭道。
“我也死了?!?/p>
“死了?那你現(xiàn)在在窗口干什么?”
“我在等棺材把我運(yùn)走?!?/p>
說(shuō)完這些話,小女孩就不見(jiàn)了蹤影。窗戶也無(wú)聲地關(guān)上了。
“噢,天藍(lán)色頭發(fā)的可愛(ài)少女,”匹諾曹喊道,“開(kāi)開(kāi)門(mén)吧,我求你了,可憐可憐一個(gè)可憐的男孩子吧,他正被兩個(gè)刺——”
他沒(méi)有說(shuō)完,因?yàn)閮芍挥辛Φ氖肿プ×怂牟弊樱€聽(tīng)到那兩個(gè)可怕的聲音威脅著吼道:“現(xiàn)在我們抓住你了!”
木偶看到死神在他眼前跳舞,禁不住渾身顫抖,腿關(guān)節(jié)咔嗒作響,金幣在舌頭底下叮叮當(dāng)當(dāng)響起來(lái)了。
“好了,”兩個(gè)刺客問(wèn),“你現(xiàn)在開(kāi)不開(kāi)口?啊!你不回答?很好,這次你一定會(huì)張口的?!?/p>
它們拔出兩把像剃刀一樣鋒利的長(zhǎng)刀,在木偶的背上狠狠地砍了兩下。
幸虧,木偶是用很硬的木頭做的,刀斷成了好多片。兩個(gè)刺客手里握著刀柄,沮喪地面面相覷。
“我明白了,”其中一個(gè)對(duì)另一個(gè)說(shuō),“現(xiàn)在只有吊死他。”
“吊死他?!绷硪粋€(gè)隨聲附和道。
它們把匹諾曹的雙手反綁到肩后,在他的脖子上套了個(gè)繩索,將繩索拋到一棵大橡樹(shù)的大高枝上,然后拉動(dòng)繩索,直到可憐的木偶被高高地吊到了空中。
它們對(duì)自己的做法感到滿意,就坐在草地上,等著匹諾曹斷氣。但是,過(guò)了三個(gè)小時(shí)后,木偶的眼睛還睜著,嘴巴還閉著,兩腿比先前踢得更猛了。
兩個(gè)刺客等得不耐煩了,就取笑他道:“明天見(jiàn),等明天早上回到這兒時(shí),我們希望你會(huì)禮貌地讓我們發(fā)現(xiàn)你張著大嘴死去?!闭f(shuō)完,它們就揚(yáng)長(zhǎng)而去。
過(guò)了幾分鐘之后,一陣狂風(fēng)開(kāi)始刮了起來(lái)。呼嘯嗚咽的大風(fēng)把可憐的小匹諾曹吹得像鐘擺一樣擺來(lái)擺去。這樣搖啊搖,搖得他像暈了船一樣痛苦。繩索越收越緊,讓他喘不過(guò)氣來(lái)。漸漸地,一層薄霧蒙上了他的眼睛。
死神越爬越近了,木偶仍然希望有一個(gè)好人過(guò)來(lái)救他,但一個(gè)人也沒(méi)有出現(xiàn)。正當(dāng)他準(zhǔn)備送命時(shí),他又想起了可憐的老爸爸,就喃喃自語(yǔ),幾乎沒(méi)有意識(shí)到自己在說(shuō)話:“噢,爸爸,親愛(ài)的爸爸!你要是在這兒多好??!”
這是他最后說(shuō)的話。他合上眼,張開(kāi)嘴,伸展兩腿,吊在那兒,好像已經(jīng)死了。
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