Приключения Пиноккио / The adventures of Pinocchio. Уровень 1

He ran about the room, dug in all the boxes and drawers, and even looked under the bed. No piece of bread, or a cookie, or perhaps a bit of fish! He found nothing.

And meanwhile his hunger grew and grew. Pinocchio began to yawn. Soon he became dizzy and faint. He wept and wailed to himself:

“The Cricket was right. It was wrong of me to disobey Father and to run away from home. Oh, how horrible it is to be hungry!”

Suddenly, he saw in a corner something round and white that looked like a hen’s egg. It was an egg! The Marionette turned the egg over and over in his hands, fondled it, kissed it, and talked to it:

“And now, how shall I cook you? Shall I make an omelet? No, it is better to fry you in a pan! Or shall I drink you? No, the best way is to fry you in the pan.”

He placed a little pan over a foot warmer[10 - a foot warmer – жаровня]. In the pan, instead of oil or butter, he poured a little water. As soon as the water started to boil-tac! – he broke the eggshell. But in place of the white and the yolk of the egg, a little yellow chicken escaped from it. The chicken bowed politely to Pinocchio and said to him:

“Many, many thanks, indeed, Signor Pinocchio. Now I’m free! Good-bye!”

With these words he darted to the open window and flew away.

Pinocchio began to cry and shriek:

“The Cricket was right! Oh, how horrible it is to be hungry!”

He decided to go to the nearby village to find some charitable person who might give him a bit of bread.

Chapter 6

Pinocchio sleeps with his feet on a foot warmer

Pinocchio hated the dark street, but he was very hungry and he ran out of the house. The night was black. It thundered. An angry wind blew cold, while the trees shook and moaned in a weird way.

Pinocchio was greatly afraid of thunder and lightning, but the hunger was greater than his fear. He came to the village. The village was dark and deserted. The stores, the doors, the windows were closed. It seemed the Village of the Dead.

Pinocchio, in desperation, ran up to a doorway and pulled the bell wildly. He said to himself: “Someone will surely answer that!”

He was right. An old man in a nightcap opened the window and looked out angrily:

“What do you want at this hour of night?”

“Will you give me a bit of bread? I am hungry.”

“Wait a minute,” answered the old man.

After a minute or two, the same voice cried:

“Get under the window and hold out your hat[11 - hold out your hat – подставь свою шляпу]!”

Pinocchio had no hat. When he got under the window, he felt a shower of ice-cold water on his poor wooden head, his shoulders, and over his whole body. He returned home as wet as a rag.

He sat down on a little stool and put his two feet on the stove to dry them.

There he fell asleep, and while he slept, his wooden feet began to burn. Slowly, very slowly, they blackened and turned to ashes.

At dawn Pinocchio opened his eyes. He heard a loud knocking at the door.

“Who is it?” he called.

“It is I,” answered a voice.

It was the voice of Geppetto.

Chapter 7

Geppetto returns home

The poor Marionette did not noticed that he had no legs anymore. As soon as he heard his Father’s voice, he jumped up from his seat to open the door, but staggered and fell headlong to the floor.

“Open the door for me!” Geppetto shouted from the street.

“Father, dear Father, I can’t,” answered the Marionette in despair.

“Why can’t you?”

“Because someone ate my feet.”

“And who ate them?”

“The cat,” answered Pinocchio. He saw that little animal in the corner of the room.

“Open! I say,” repeated Geppetto.

“Father, believe me, I can’t stand up. Oh, dear! Oh, dear! I shall walk on my knees all my life.”

Geppetto thought that all these tears and cries were only other pranks of the Marionette. So he climbed up the side of the house and went in through the window.

At first he was very angry, but then he saw Pinocchio on the floor and really without feet. Geppetto felt very sad and sorrowful. He picked Pinocchio up from the floor, fondled and caressed him:

“My little Pinocchio, my dear little Pinocchio! How did you burn your feet?”

“I don’t know, Father, but believe me, is was a terrible night. The thunder was so noisy and the lightning so bright-and I was hungry. And then the Cricket said to me, ‘You deserve it; you were bad;’ and I said to him, ‘Careful, Cricket.’ Then he said to me, ‘You are a Marionette and you have a wooden head;’ and I threw the hammer at him and killed him. It was his own fault, for I didn’t want to kill him. And I put the pan on the coals, but the Chick flew away. I went out, very hungry, and the old man with a nightcap looked out of the window and threw water on me. I came home and put my feet on the stove to dry them. Now I have no legs and I’m still hungry. Oh! – Oh!-Oh!”

And poor Pinocchio began to scream and cry loudly. Geppetto understood nothing of all that talk, except that the Marionette was hungry. He took three pears out of his pocket and offered them to Pinocchio:

“These three pears were for my breakfast, but I give them to you gladly. Eat them and don’t cry.”

“If you want me to eat them, please peel them for me.”

“Peel them?” asked Geppetto, very much surprised. “My dear boy, you are dainty and fussy. Bad, very bad! In this world, even children must eat everything.”

“You may be right,” answered Pinocchio, “but I will not eat the pears if they are not peeled. I don’t like them.”

And good old Geppetto took out a knife, peeled the three pears, and put the skins on the table. Pinocchio ate one pear and started to throw the core away, but Geppetto held his arm.