The following morning the veterinary, that is, the doctor of animals, paid him a visit, and declared that he would remain lame for life.
The director then said to the stableboy:
“What do you suppose I can do with a lame donkey? He would eat food without earning it. Take him to the market and sell him.”
When they reached the market a purchaser was found at once. He asked the stableboy:
“How much do you want for that lame donkey?”
“Twenty dollars.”
“I will give you two dollars. Don’t suppose that I am buying him to make use of; I am buying him solely for his skin. I see that his skin is very hard and I intend to make a drum with it for the band of my village.”
Imagine poor Pinocchio’s feelings when he heard that he was destined to become a drum!
As soon as the purchaser had paid his two dollars he conducted the little donkey to the seashore. He then put a stone round his neck and, tying a rope, the end of which he held in his hand, round his leg, he gave him a sudden push and threw him into the water.
Pinocchio, weighted down by the stone, went at once to the bottom, and his owner, keeping tight hold of the cord, sat down quietly on a piece of rock to wait until the little donkey was drowned, intending then to skin him.
XXXIV
Pinocchio Is Swallowed by the Dog Fish
After Pinocchio had been fifty minutes under the water, his purchaser said aloud to himself:
“My poor little lame donkey must by this time be quite drowned. I will therefore pull him out of the water, and I will make a fine drum of his skin.”
And he began to haul in the rope that he had tied to the donkey’s leg, and he hauled, and hauled, and hauled, until at last—what do you think appeared above the water? Instead of a little dead donkey he saw a live puppet, who was wriggling like an eel.
Seeing this wooden puppet, the poor man thought he was dreaming, and, struck dumb with astonishment, he remained with his mouth open and his eyes starting out of his head.
Having somewhat recovered from his first stupefaction, he asked in a quavering voice:
“And the little donkey that I threw into the sea? What has become of him?”
“I am the little donkey!” said Pinocchio, laughing.
“You?”
“I.”
“Ah, you young scamp!! Do you dare to make game of me?”
“To make game of you? Quite the contrary, my dear master? I am speaking seriously.”
“But how can you, who but a short time ago were a little donkey, have become a wooden puppet, only from having been left in the water?”
“It must have been the effect of sea water. The sea makes extraordinary changes.”
“Beware, puppet, beware! Don’t imagine that you can amuse yourself at my expense. Woe to you if I lose patience!”
“Well, master, do you wish to know the true story? If you will set my leg free I will tell it you.”
The good man, who was curious to hear the true story, immediately untied the knot that kept him bound; and Pinocchio, finding himself free as a bird in the air, commenced as follows:
“You must know that I was once a puppet as I am now, and I was on the point of becoming a boy like the many who are in the world. But instead, induced by my dislike for study and the advice of bad companions, I ran away from home. One fine day when I awoke I found myself changed into a donkey with long ears, and a long tail. What a disgrace it was to me!—a disgrace, dear master, that even your worst enemy would not inflict upon you! Taken to the market to be sold I was bought by the director of an equestrian company, who took it into his head to make a famous dancer of me, and a famous leaper through hoops. But one night during a performance I had a bad fall in the circus and lamed both my legs. Then the director, not knowing what to do with a lame donkey, sent me to be sold, and you were the purchaser!”
“Only too true. And I paid two dollars for you. And now, who will give me back my good money?”
“And why did you buy me? You bought me to make a drum of my skin!”
“Only too true! And now, where shall I find another skin?”
“Don’t despair, master. There are such a number of little donkeys in the world!”
“Tell me, you impertinent rascal, does your story end here?”
“No,” answered the puppet; “I have another two words to say and then I shall have finished. After you had bought me you brought me to this place to kill me; but then, yielding to a feeling of compassion, you preferred to tie a stone round my neck and to throw me into the sea. This humane feeling does you great honor and I shall always be grateful to you for it. But, nevertheless, dear master, this time you made your calculations without considering the Fairy!”
“And who is the Fairy?”
“She is my mamma and she resembles all other good mammas who care for their children, and who never lose sight of them, but help them lovingly, even when, on account of their foolishness and evil conduct, they deserve to be abandoned and left to themselves. Well, then, the good Fairy, as soon as she saw that I was in danger of drowning, sent immediately an immense shoal of fish, who, believing me really to be a little dead donkey, began to eat me. And what mouthfuls they took; I should never have thought that fish were greedier than boys! Some ate my ears, some my muzzle, others my neck and mane, some the skin of my legs, some my coat. Amongst them there was a little fish so polite that he even condescended to eat
