CHAPTER 35

In the Shark's body Pinocchio finds whom?

Read this chapter, my children, and you will know





Pinocchio, as soon as he had said good-by to his good

friend, the Tunny, tottered away in the darkness and

began to walk as well as he could toward the faint light

which glowed in the distance.



As he walked his feet splashed in a pool of greasy and

slippery water, which had such a heavy smell of fish fried

in oil that Pinocchio thought it was Lent.



The farther on he went, the brighter and clearer grew

the tiny light. On and on he walked till finally he found

--I give you a thousand guesses, my dear children! He

found a little table set for dinner and lighted by a candle

stuck in a glass bottle; and near the table sat a little old

man, white as the snow, eating live fish. They wriggled

so that, now and again, one of them slipped out of the old

man's mouth and escaped into the darkness under the table.



At this sight, the poor Marionette was filled with such

great and sudden happiness that he almost dropped in a

faint. He wanted to laugh, he wanted to cry, he wanted

to say a thousand and one things, but all he could do was

to stand still, stuttering and stammering brokenly. At

last, with a great effort, he was able to let out a scream of

joy and, opening wide his arms he threw them around the

old man's neck.



"Oh, Father, dear Father! Have I found you at last?

Now I shall never, never leave you again!"



"Are my eyes really telling me the truth?" answered

the old man, rubbing his eyes. "Are you really my own

dear Pinocchio?"



"Yes, yes, yes! It is I! Look at me! And you have

forgiven me, haven't you? Oh, my dear Father, how

good you are! And to think that I--Oh, but if you

only knew how many misfortunes have fallen on my head

and how many troubles I have had! Just think that on

the day you sold your old coat to buy me my A-B-C

book so that I could go to school, I ran away to the

Marionette Theater and the proprietor caught me and

wanted to burn me to cook his roast lamb! He was the

one who gave me the five gold pieces for you, but I met

the Fox and the Cat, who took me to the Inn of the Red

Lobster. There they ate like wolves and I left the Inn

alone and I met the Assassins in the wood. I ran and they

ran after me, always after me, till they hanged me to the

branch of a giant oak tree. Then the Fairy of the Azure

Hair sent the coach to rescue me and the doctors, after

looking at me, said, `If he is not dead, then he is surely

alive,' and then I told a lie and my nose began to grow.

It grew and it grew, till I couldn't get it through the

door of the room. And then I went with the Fox and the

Cat to the Field of Wonders to bury the gold pieces. The

Parrot laughed at me and, instead of two thousand gold

pieces, I found none. When the Judge heard I had been

robbed, he sent me to jail to make the thieves happy; and

when I came away I saw a fine bunch of grapes hanging on

a vine. The trap caught me and the Farmer put a collar on

me and made me a watchdog. He found out I was innocent

when I caught the Weasels and he let me go. The Serpent

with the tail that smoked started to laugh and a vein in his

chest broke and so I went back to the Fairy's house. She

was dead, and the Pigeon, seeing me crying, said to me, `I

have seen your father building a boat to look for you in

America,' and I said to him, `Oh, if I only had wings!' and

he said to me, `Do you want to go to your father?' and I

said, `Perhaps, but how?' and he said, `Get on my back. I'll

take you there.' We flew all night long, and next morning

the fishermen were looking toward the sea, crying, `There

is a poor little man drowning,' and I knew it was you,

because my heart told me so and I waved to you from the shore--"



"I knew you also," put in Geppetto, "and I wanted to

go to you; but how could I? The sea was rough and the

whitecaps overturned the boat. Then a Terrible Shark

came up out of the sea and, as soon as he saw me in the

water, swam quickly toward me, put out his tongue, and

swallowed me as easily as if I had been a chocolate peppermint."



"And how long have you been shut away in here?"



"From that day to this, two long weary years--two

years, my Pinocchio, which have been like two centuries."



"And how have you lived? Where did you find the

candle? And the matches with which to light it--where

did you get them?"



"You must know that, in the storm which swamped my

boat, a large ship also suffered the same fate. The sailors

were all saved, but the ship went right to the bottom of

the sea, and the same Terrible Shark that swallowed me,

swallowed most of it."



"What! Swallowed a ship?" asked Pinocchio in astonishment.



"At one gulp. The only thing he spat out was the main-

mast, for it stuck in his teeth. To my own good luck, that

ship was loaded with meat, preserved foods, crackers,

bread, bottles of wine, raisins, cheese, coffee, sugar, wax

candles, and boxes of matches. With all these blessings, I

have been able to live happily on for two whole years, but

now I am at the very last crumbs. Today there is nothing

left in the cupboard, and this candle you see here is the

last one I have."



"And then?"



"And then, my dear, we'll find ourselves in darkness."



"Then, my dear Father," said Pinocchio, "there is no

time to lose. We must try to escape."



"Escape! How?"



"We can run out of the Shark's mouth and dive into the sea."



"You speak well, but I cannot swim, my dear Pinocchio."



"Why should that matter? You can climb on my shoulders

and I, who am a fine swimmer, will carry you safely

to the shore."



"Dreams, my boy!" answered Geppetto, shaking his

head and smiling sadly. "Do you think it possible for a

Marionette, a yard high, to have the strength to carry me

on his shoulders and swim?"



"Try it and see! And in any case, if it is written that we

must die, we shall at least die together."



Not adding another word, Pinocchio took the candle in his hand

and going ahead to light the way, he said to his father:



"Follow me and have no fear."



They walked a long distance through the stomach and

the whole body of the Shark. When they reached the

throat of the monster, they stopped for a while to wait for

the right moment in which to make their escape.



I want you to know that the Shark, being very old and

suffering from asthma and heart trouble, was obliged to

sleep with his mouth open. Because of this, Pinocchio was

able to catch a glimpse of the sky filled with stars, as he

looked up through the open jaws of his new home.



"The time has come for us to escape," he whispered,

turning to his father. "The Shark is fast asleep. The sea

is calm and the night is as bright as day. Follow me closely,

dear Father, and we shall soon be saved."



No sooner said than done. They climbed up the throat

of the monster till they came to that immense open mouth.

There they had to walk on tiptoes, for if they tickled the

Shark's long tongue he might awaken--and where would

they be then? The tongue was so wide and so long that

it looked like a country road. The two fugitives were just

about to dive into the sea when the Shark sneezed very

suddenly and, as he sneezed, he gave Pinocchio and

Geppetto such a jolt that they found themselves thrown on

their backs and dashed once more and very unceremoniously

into the stomach of the monster.



To make matters worse, the candle went out and father

and son were left in the dark.



"And now?" asked Pinocchio with a serious face.



"Now we are lost."



"Why lost? Give me your hand, dear Father, and be

careful not to slip!"



"Where will you take me?"



"We must try again. Come with me and don't be afraid."



With these words Pinocchio took his father by the hand

and, always walking on tiptoes, they climbed up the monster's

throat for a second time. They then crossed the

whole tongue and jumped over three rows of teeth. But

before they took the last great leap, the Marionette said

to his father:



"Climb on my back and hold on tightly to my neck.

I'll take care of everything else."



As soon as Geppetto was comfortably seated on his

shoulders, Pinocchio, very sure of what he was doing,

dived into the water and started to swim. The sea was like

oil, the moon shone in all splendor, and the Shark continued

to sleep so soundly that not even a cannon shot would

have awakened him.

****

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