When the first part of the performance was over, the director of the company, dressed in a black coat, white breeches, and big leather boots that came above his knees, presented himself to the public, and, after making a profound bow, he began with much solemnity the following ridiculous speech:
“Respectable public, ladies and gentlemen! The humble undersigned being a passerby in this illustrious city, I have wished to procure for myself the honor, not to say the pleasure, of presenting to this intelligent and distinguished audience a celebrated little donkey, who has already had the honor of dancing in the presence of His Majesty the Emperor of all the principal courts of Europe.
“And, thanking you, I beg of you to help us with your inspiring presence and to be indulgent to us.”
This speech was received with much laughter and applause, but the applause redoubled and became tumultuous when the little donkey Pinocchio made his appearance in the middle of the circus. He was decked out for the occasion. He had a new bridle of polished leather with brass buckles and studs, and two white camelias in his ears. His mane was divided and curled, and each curl was tied with bows of colored ribbon. He had a girth of gold and silver round his body, and his tail was plaited with amaranth and blue velvet ribbons. He was, in fact, a little donkey to fall in love with!
The director, in presenting him to the public, added these few words:
“My respectable auditors! I am not here to tell you falsehoods of the great difficulties that I have overcome in understanding and subjugating this mammifer, whilst he was grazing at liberty amongst the mountains in the plains of the torrid zone. I beg you will observe the wild rolling of his eyes. Every means having been tried in vain to tame him, and to accustom him to the life of domestic quadrupeds, I was often forced to have recourse to the convincing argument of the whip. But all my goodness to him, instead of gaining his affections, has, on the contrary, increased his viciousness. However, following the system of Gall, I discovered in his cranium a bony cartilage that the Faculty of Medicine of Paris has itself recognized as the regenerating bulb of the hair, and of dance. For this reason I have not only taught him to dance, but also to jump through hoops and through frames covered with paper. Admire him, and then pass your opinion on him! But before taking my leave of you, permit me, ladies and gentlemen, to invite you to the daily performance that will take place tomorrow evening; but in case the weather should threaten rain, the performance will be postponed till tomorrow morning at 11 antemeridian of postmeridian.”
Here the director made another profound bow, and, then turning to Pinocchio, he said:
“Courage, Pinocchio! before you begin your feats make your bow to this distinguished audience—ladies, gentlemen, and children.”
Pinocchio obeyed, and bent both his knees till they touched the ground, and remained kneeling until the director, cracking his whip, shouted to him:
“At a foot’s pace!”
Then the little donkey raised himself on his four legs and began to walk round the theater, keeping at a foot’s pace.
After a little the director cried:
“Trot!” and Pinocchio, obeying the order, changed to a trot.
“Gallop!” and Pinocchio broke into a gallop.
“Full gallop!” and Pinocchio went full gallop. But whilst he was going full speed like a race horse the director, raising his arm in the air, fired off a pistol.
At the shot the little donkey, pretending to be wounded, fell his whole length in the circus, as if he were really dying.
As he got up from the ground amidst an outburst of applause, shouts and clapping of hands, he naturally raised his head and looked up, and he saw in one of the boxes a beautiful lady who wore round her neck a thick gold chain from which hung a medallion. On the medallion was painted the portrait of a puppet.
“That is my portrait! That lady is the Fairy!” said Pinocchio to himself, recognizing her immediately; and, overcome with delight, he tried to cry:
“Oh, my little Fairy! Oh, my little Fairy!”
But instead of these words a bray came from his throat, so sonorous and so prolonged that all the spectators laughed, and more especially all the children who were in the theater.
Then the director, to give him a lesson, and to make him understand that it is not good manners to bray before the public, gave him a blow on his nose with the handle of his whip.
The poor little donkey put his tongue out an inch and licked his nose for at least five minutes, thinking perhaps that it would ease the pain he felt.
But what was his despair when, looking up a second time, he saw that the box was empty and that the Fairy had disappeared!
He thought he was going to die; his eyes filled with tears and he began to weep. Nobody, however, noticed it, and least of all the director who, cracking his whip, shouted:
“Courage, Pinocchio! Now let the audience see how gracefully you can jump through the hoops.”
Pinocchio tried two or three times, but each time that he came in front of the hoop, instead of going through it, he found it easier to go under it. At last he made a leap and went through it, but his right leg unfortunately caught in the hoop, and that caused him to fall to the ground doubled up in a heap on the other side.
When he got up he was lame and it was only with great difficulty that he managed to return to the stable.
“Bring out Pinocchio! We want the little donkey! Bring out the little donkey!” shouted all the boys in the theater, touched and sorry for the sad accident.
But the
