How it happened that Mastro Cherry, carpenter,found a piece of wood that wept and laughed like a childCenturies ago there lived--"A king!" my little readers will say immediately.
No, children, you are mistaken. Once upon a timethere was a piece of wood. It was not an expensive pieceof wood. Far from it. Just a common block of firewood,one of those thick, solid logs that are put on the fire inwinter to make cold rooms cozy and warm.
I do not know how this really happened, yet the factremains that one fine day this piece of wood found itselfin the shop of an old carpenter. His real name wasMastro Antonio, but everyone called him Mastro Cherry,for the tip of his nose was so round and red and shinythat it looked like a ripe cherry.
As soon as he saw that piece of wood, Mastro Cherrywas filled with joy. Rubbing his hands together happily,he mumbled half to himself:
"This has come in the nick of time. I shall use it tomake the leg of a table."He grasped the hatchet quickly to peel off the bark andshape the wood. But as he was about to give it the firstblow, he stood still with arm uplifted, for he had heard awee, little voice say in a beseeching tone: "Please be careful!
Do not hit me so hard!"What a look of surprise shone on Mastro Cherry'sface! His funny face became still funnier.
He turned frightened eyes about the room to find outwhere that wee, little voice had come from and he sawno one! He looked under the bench--no one! He peepedinside the closet--no one! He searched among the shavings--no one! He opened the door to look up and downthe street--and still no one!
"Oh, I see!" he then said, laughing and scratching his Wig.
"It can easily be seen that I only thought I heard the tinyvoice say the words! Well, well--to work once more."He struck a most solemn blow upon the piece of wood.
"Oh, oh! You hurt!" cried the same far-away little voice.
Mastro Cherry grew dumb, his eyes popped out of hishead, his mouth opened wide, and his tongue hung downon his chin.
As soon as he regained the use of his senses, he said,trembling and stuttering from fright:
"Where did that voice come from, when there is noone around? Might it be that this piece of wood haslearned to weep and cry like a child? I can hardlybelieve it. Here it is--a piece of common firewood, goodonly to burn in the stove, the same as any other. Yet--might someone be hidden in it? If so, the worse for him.
I'll fix him!"With these words, he grabbed the log with both handsand started to knock it about unmercifully. He threw itto the floor, against the walls of the room, and even upto the ceiling.
He listened for the tiny voice to moan and cry.
He waited two minutes--nothing; five minutes--nothing;ten minutes--nothing.
"Oh, I see," he said, trying bravely to laugh andruffling up his wig with his hand. "It can easily be seenI only imagined I heard the tiny voice! Well, well--towork once more!"The poor fellow was scared half to death, so he triedto sing a gay song in order to gain courage.
He set aside the hatchet and picked up the plane tomake the wood smooth and even, but as he drew it toand fro, he heard the same tiny voice. This time it giggledas it spoke:
"Stop it! Oh, stop it! Ha, ha, ha! You tickle my stomach."This time poor Mastro Cherry fell as if shot. Whenhe opened his eyes, he found himself sitting on the floor.
His face had changed; fright had turned even the tip ofhis nose from red to deepest purple.
从前有……
“有一个国王！”我的小读者马上要说。
不对，小朋友，你们错了，从前有一段木头。
这段木头并不是什么贵重木头，就是柴堆里那种普通木头，扔进炉子和壁炉生火和取暖用的。
我也不知道是怎么回事，总之有一天，这段木头碰巧到了一位老木匠的铺子里，这位老木匠名叫安东尼奥，大伙儿却管他叫樱桃师傅，叫他樱桃师傅，因为他的鼻尖红得发紫，再加上亮光光的，活像一个熟透了的樱桃。
樱桃师傅看见这段木头，高兴极了，他满意得一个劲儿搓着手，低声嘟嚷说：
“这段木头来得正好，我要拿它做条桌子腿。”
说干就干，他马上拿起一把锋利的斧子，动手就要削掉树皮，先大致砍出条桌子腿的样子。可他第一斧正要砍下去，手举在头顶上却一下子停住不动了，因为他听见一个很细很细的声音央求他说：
“可别把我砍得太重了！”
诸位想象一下吧，樱桃师傅这位善良的老头儿该是多么惊讶啊！
他一双眼睛吓傻了，满屋子骨碌碌转了一圈，要看看这个声音是打哪儿来的，可他一个人也没有看见！他往工作台底下看看，没有人，他打开一直关着的柜子看看，没有人；他往一篓刨花和碎木片里面看看，也没有人；他甚至打开铺子门往街上看看，还是没有人！那么……？
“我明白了，”他于是抓抓头上的假发，笑着说，“这声音一准是我听错了。我还是干我的活吧，”
他重新拿起斧子，在那段木头上狠狠地一斧砍下去。
“唉哟！你把我砍痛了！”还是那很细的声音埋怨着叫起来。
这一回樱桃师傅当真愣住了，眼睛吓得鼓了出来，嘴巴张得老大，舌头拖到下巴，活像喷水池里一个妖怪的石头像。
等到他重新能够说话，他吓得哆哆嗦嗦、结结巴巴地说了起来：
“这个细声细气叫‘唉哟’的声音，它到底是打哪儿来的呢？……屋子里可是一个人也没有。难道是这段木头，是它学会了像小娃娃那样又哭又叫吗？这我可怎么也不相信。瞧，就是这么一段木头。它跟别的木头一模一样，拿来生炉子的。扔到火里，倒可以烧开一锅豆子……那么，不是木头又是什么呢，难道是木头里躲着个人吗，要真躲着人，那他就活该倒霉，我这就来跟他算账！”
他这么说着，双手抓住这段可怜的木头，一点不客气，就把它往墙上撞。
撞了一会儿，他停下来竖起耳朵细细地听，看有什么哭声没有，他听了两分钟，没有，听了五分钟，没有，听了十分钟，也没有！
“我明白了，”他一面苦笑着说，一面抓头上的假发，“那细声细气地叫‘唉哟’的声音，一准是我自己听错了！我还是干我的活吧，”
可他心里仍然挺害怕，于是试着伊伊唔唔地哼支小调壮壮胆。
这一回他放下斧子，拿起刨子，要把木头刨刨平，可他一来一去地刚那么一刨，又听见那个很小很小的声音嘻嘻地笑着对他说了：
“快住手！你弄得我浑身怪痒痒的！”
可怜的樱桃师傅这一回活像着了雷打，扑通一声倒了下来。等他重新张开眼睛，只见自己坐在地上。
他脸都变了色，一向红得发紫的鼻尖，这会儿都吓得发青了。
Mastro Cherry gives the piece of wood to his friend Geppetto,who takes it to make himself a Marionette that will dance,fence, and turn somersaultsIn that very instant, a loud knock sounded on the door.
"Come in," said the carpenter, not having an atom ofstrength left with which to stand up.
At the words, the door opened and a dapper little oldman came in. His name was Geppetto, but to the boys ofthe neighborhood he was Polendina,[1] on account of thewig he always wore which was just the color of yellow corn.
[1] Cornmeal mush Geppetto had a very bad temper. Woe to the one whocalled him Polendina! He became as wild as a beast andno one could soothe him.
"Good day, Mastro Antonio," said Geppetto. "Whatare you doing on the floor?""I am teaching the ants their A B C's.""Good luck to you!""What brought you here, friend Geppetto?""My legs. And it may flatter you to know, MastroAntonio, that I have come to you to beg for a favor.""Here I am, at your service," answered the carpenter,raising himself on to his knees.
"This morning a fine idea came to me.""Let's hear it.""I thought of making myself a beautiful woodenMarionette. It must be wonderful, one that will be able todance, fence, and turn somersaults. With it I intend to goaround the world, to earn my crust of bread and cup ofwine. What do you think of it?""Bravo, Polendina!" cried the same tiny voice whichcame from no one knew where.
On hearing himself called Polendina, Mastro Geppettoturned the color of a red pepper and, facing the carpenter,said to him angrily:
"Why do you insult me?""Who is insulting you?""You called me Polendina.""I did not.""I suppose you think _I_ did! Yet I KNOW it was you.""No!""Yes!""No!""Yes!"And growing angrier each moment, they went fromwords to blows, and finally began to scratch and bite andslap each other.
When the fight was over, Mastro Antonio had Geppetto'syellow wig in his hands and Geppetto found the carpenter'scurly wig in his mouth.
"Give me back my wig!" shouted Mastro Antonio in a surly voice.
"You return mine and we'll be friends."The two little old men, each with his own wig back onhis own head, shook hands and swore to be good friendsfor the rest of their lives.
"Well then, Mastro Geppetto," said the carpenter, toshow he bore him no ill will, "what is it you want?""I want a piece of wood to make a Marionette. Will you give it to me?"Mastro Antonio, very glad indeed, went immediatelyto his bench to get the piece of wood which had frightenedhim so much. But as he was about to give it to his friend,with a violent jerk it slipped out of his hands and hitagainst poor Geppetto's thin legs.
"Ah! Is this the gentle way, Mastro Antonio, in whichyou make your gifts? You have made me almost lame!""I swear to you I did not do it!""It was _I_, of course!""It's the fault of this piece of wood.""You're right; but remember you were the one to throw it at my legs.""I did not throw it!""Liar!""Geppetto, do not insult me or I shall call you Polendina.""Idiot.""Polendina!""Donkey!""Polendina!""Ugly monkey!""Polendina!"On hearing himself called Polendina for the third time,Geppetto lost his head with rage and threw himself uponthe carpenter. Then and there they gave each other asound thrashing.
After this fight, Mastro Antonio had two more scratcheson his nose, and Geppetto had two buttons missing fromhis coat. Thus having settled their accounts, they shookhands and swore to be good friends for the rest of their lives.
Then Geppetto took the fine piece of wood,thanked Mastro Antonio, and limped away toward home.
正在这节骨眼，有人笃笃笃敲门。
“进来”，老木匠说，他连重新站起来的力气也没有了，
于是木匠铺里进来了一个小老头，他老是老，可老得精神，他的名字叫做杰佩托，可街坊邻居的孩子要想逗他发顿脾气，就叫他的外号“老玉米糊”，他有这么个外号，因为他那头黄色假发活像玉米糊。
杰佩托脾气挺坏，谁叫他“老玉米糊”就得倒大霉！他一下子凶得像只野兽，谁也没法对付他。
“您好，安东尼奥师傅。”杰佩托说，“您坐在地上干吗呀？”
“我吗，我在教蚂蚁做算术哪。”
“祝您成功！”
“倒是什么把您给带到我这儿来啦，杰佩托老朋友。”
“是我的腿把我带来了呗，您知道，安东尼奥师傅，我是来求您给我帮个忙的。”
“随时乐意为您效劳。”老木匠回答说，跪了起来。
“今天早晨，我脑子里忽然想出了一个主意。”
“咱们倒来听听看。”
“我想亲手给自己做个漂亮的木偶，不是个普通木偶，是个呱呱叫的木偶，会跳舞，会耍剑，还会翻跟头。我要带着这么个木偶周游世界，挣块面包吃吃，混杯酒喝喝。您看怎么样。”
“好极了，老玉米糊！”还是那个很细很细的声音不却从哪儿叫起来。
杰佩托这位老朋友一听人家叫他老玉米糊，脸登时气红了，红得像个红辣椒。他向老木匠一下子转过脸来，气呼呼地说：
“您干吗得罪我，”
“谁得罪您了，”
“您叫我老玉米糊！……”
“我没叫过您老玉米糊。”
“难道是我叫了吗？我说是您叫了。”
“我没叫！”
“您叫了！”
“我没叫！”
“您叫了！”
他们越来越激动，结果从动口到动手，两个打了起来，又抓又咬，像两只猴子似的。
等到一架打完，杰佩托那头黄色假发到了安东尼奥师傅的手上，老木匠那头花白假发却在杰佩托的嘴里。
“你把我的假发还我，”安东尼奥师傅说。
“你也把我的假发还我。咱俩讲和吧，”
两位小老头各自收回了自己的假发以后，互相紧紧拉手，赌咒发誓说以后要一辈子做好朋友。
“那么，杰佩托老朋友”，老木匠表示和解说，“您要我给您效什么劳呢？”
“我想要段木头做我的那个木偶，您肯给吗？”
安东尼奥师傅听了这话真是喜出望外，马上过去拿起工作台上那段把他吓了个半死的木头，可他正要把木头交给朋友，木头猛地一扭，打他手里使劲滑了出来，在可怜的杰佩托那很细的小腿骨上，狠狠地就是一下。
“唉哟！安东尼奥师傅，您送东西给人家是这么客气的吗？我的脚几乎都给你打瘸了，”
“我发誓我没打您的脚。”
“难道是我打我自己的脚不成！……”
“全怪这木头，是它打你的……”
“我知道是木头，可把木头扔在我脚上的是您，”
“我没扔您！”
“您说谎！”
“杰佩托，您别得罪我，要不我就叫您老玉米糊！……”
“蠢驴！”
“老玉米糊！”
“蠢猴！”
“老玉米糊！”
“蠢猪！”
“老玉米糊！”
杰佩托听到这第三声老玉米糊，眼睛都气黑了，向老木匠猛扑过去。于是他们又打了一场大架。
等到这一架打完，安东尼奥师傅的鼻子多了两道抓伤，另一位的背心却少了两颗钮子，两个人这样算清账以后，又紧紧拉手，赌咒发誓说发后要一辈子做好朋友。
接着杰佩托拿起他那段呱呱叫的木头，谢过安东尼奥师傅，一瘸一拐地回家去了。
As soon as he gets home, Geppetto fashions the Marionetteand calls it Pinocchio. The first pranks of the MarionetteLittle as Geppetto's house was, it was neat andcomfortable. It was a small room on the ground floor, with a tiny window under the stairway. The furniture could nothave been much simpler: a very old chair, a rickety oldbed, and a tumble-down table. A fireplace full of burninglogs was painted on the wall opposite the door. Over thefire, there was painted a pot full of something which keptboiling happily away and sending up clouds of what lookedlike real steam.
As soon as he reached home, Geppetto took his toolsand began to cut and shape the wood into a Marionette.
"What shall I call him?" he said to himself. "I thinkI'll call him PINOCCHIO. This name will make his fortune.
I knew a whole family of Pinocchi once--Pinocchio thefather, Pinocchia the mother, and Pinocchi the children--and they were all lucky. The richest of them begged forhis living."After choosing the name for his Marionette, Geppettoset seriously to work to make the hair, the forehead, theeyes. Fancy his surprise when he noticed that these eyesmoved and then stared fixedly at him. Geppetto, seeingthis, felt insulted and said in a grieved tone:
"Ugly wooden eyes, why do you stare so?"There was no answer.
After the eyes, Geppetto made the nose, which beganto stretch as soon as finished. It stretched and stretchedand stretched till it became so long, it seemed endless.
Poor Geppetto kept cutting it and cutting it, but the more he cut, the longer grew that impertinent nose. Indespair he let it alone.
Next he made the mouth.
No sooner was it finished than it began to laugh andpoke fun at him.
"Stop laughing!" said Geppetto angrily; but he mightas well have spoken to the wall.
"Stop laughing, I say!" he roared in a voice of thunder.
The mouth stopped laughing, but it stuck out a long tongue.
Not wishing to start an argument, Geppetto madebelieve he saw nothing and went on with his work.
After the mouth, he made the chin, then the neck, theshoulders, the stomach, the arms, and the hands.
As he was about to put the last touches on the fingertips, Geppetto felt his wig being pulled off. He glancedup and what did he see? His yellow wig was in the Marionette'shand. "Pinocchio, give me my wig!"But instead of giving it back, Pinocchio put it on hisown head, which was half swallowed up in it.
At that unexpected trick, Geppetto became very sadand downcast, more so than he had ever been before.
"Pinocchio, you wicked boy!" he cried out. "You arenot yet finished, and you start out by being impudent toyour poor old father. Very bad, my son, very bad!"And he wiped away a tear.
The legs and feet still had to be made. As soon as theywere done, Geppetto felt a sharp kick on the tip of his nose.
"I deserve it!" he said to himself. "I should have thoughtof this before I made him. Now it's too late!"He took hold of the Marionette under the arms and puthim on the floor to teach him to walk.
Pinocchio's legs were so stiff that he could not movethem, and Geppetto held his hand and showed him how toput out one foot after the other.
When his legs were limbered up, Pinocchio startedwalking by himself and ran all around the room. He cameto the open door, and with one leap he was out into thestreet. Away he flew!
Poor Geppetto ran after him but was unable to catchhim, for Pinocchio ran in leaps and bounds, his twowooden feet, as they beat on the stones of the street,making as much noise as twenty peasants in wooden shoes.
"Catch him! Catch him!" Geppetto kept shouting.
But the people in the street, seeing a wooden Marionetterunning like the wind, stood still to stare and to laughuntil they cried.
At last, by sheer luck, a Carabineer[2] happenedalong, who, hearing all that noise, thought that it mightbe a runaway colt, and stood bravely in the middle of the street, with legs wide apart, firmly resolved to stop it andprevent any trouble.
[2] A military policemanPinocchio saw the Carabineer from afar and tried hisbest to escape between the legs of the big fellow, butwithout success.
The Carabineer grabbed him by the nose (it was anextremely long one and seemed made on purpose for thatvery thing) and returned him to Mastro Geppetto.
The little old man wanted to pull Pinocchio's ears.
Think how he felt when, upon searching for them, hediscovered that he had forgotten to make them!
All he could do was to seize Pinocchio by the back ofthe neck and take him home. As he was doing so, he shookhim two or three times and said to him angrily:
"We're going home now. When we get home,then we'll settle this matter!"Pinocchio, on hearing this, threw himself on the groundand refused to take another step. One person after anothergathered around the two.
Some said one thing, some another.
"Poor Marionette," called out a man. "I am notsurprised he doesn't want to go home. Geppetto, no doubt,will beat him unmercifully, he is so mean and cruel!""Geppetto looks like a good man," added another, "butwith boys he's a real tyrant. If we leave that poorMarionette in his hands he may tear him to pieces!"They said so much that, finally, the Carabineer endedmatters by setting Pinocchio at liberty and draggingGeppetto to prison. The poor old fellow did not know how todefend himself, but wept and wailed like a child and saidbetween his sobs:
"Ungrateful boy! To think I tried so hard to make youa well-behaved Marionette! I deserve it, however! I shouldhave given the matter more thought."What happened after this is an almost unbelievablestory, but you may read it, dear children, in the chaptersthat follow.
杰佩托住在一间很小的地下室，只有楼梯底行道进来一点儿光。用具简单得不能再简单，只有破破烂烂的一把椅子、一张床、一张小桌子。里面墙上有个小壁炉，生着火，可火是画出来的，火上面有个锅子，锅子也是画出来的，锅子在滚得热气腾腾，热气同样是画出来的，可画得跟真的一模一样。
杰佩托一回家，马上拿起工具，动手就刻他的木偶。
“给他取个什么名字呢？”杰佩托自言自语说，“我就叫他皮诺乔吧。这个名字会给他带来幸福。我认识一家人，都叫皮诺乔：皮诺乔爸爸，皮诺乔妈妈，皮诺乔老大、老二、老三……他们一家都过得很好，其中最富的一个讨饭吃。”
杰佩托给木偶取好了名字，就埋头干起活来，一下子就给他刻出了头发，刻出了脑门，刻出了眼睛。
眼睛刚刻好，请诸位想象一下杰佩托有多么惊奇吧，他发觉这两只眼睛自己骨碌碌动起来，接着一眨也不眨地瞪着他看。杰佩托给这双木头眼睛瞪得受不住了，生气地说：
“木头傻眼睛，干吗瞪着我？”
没有回答。
做完眼睛，又做鼻子。鼻子刚做好，它就开始长起来，长啊，长啊，长啊，才几分钟，已经变成一个很长很长的长鼻子，还没完没了地长下去。
可怜的杰佩托拼命要把鼻子截短，可他越是截，这个鼻子就毫不客气地变得越是长。
做完了鼻子做嘴巴。
嘴巴还没做完，就马上张开来笑了，
“别笑！”杰佩托生气地说。可他这句话像是对着墙说的，说了也是白搭。
“我再说一遍，别笑！”他用吓唬他的口气大叫。
嘴巴于是停了笑，可整条舌头都伸出来了，
杰佩托为了不耽误工作，假装没看见，继续干他的活。
做完嘴巴做下巴，接着做脖子，做肩膀，做肚子，做胳膊，做手。
手刚做好，杰佩托就觉得头上的假发套给拉掉了。他抬头一看，可是看见什么啦？只见他那头黄色假发拿在木偶的手里。
“皮诺乔！……马上把头发还我！”
可皮诺乔不但不把假发还他，反把它戴到自己头上。假发把他整个头套住，几乎把他闷了个半死。
木偶这么没规没矩，杰佩托觉得有生以来还没有这样悲伤难受过。他转脸向皮诺乔说：
“你这个小坏蛋！还没把你做完，你已经这样不尊敬父亲了！真坏，我的孩子，你真坏！”
他擦掉眼泪。
接下来只剩下做腿，做脚了。
杰佩托把脚一做好，就感到鼻尖上给踢了一脚。
“我这是自作自受！”杰佩托自言自语，“一开头就该想到这一点！现在已经来不及了！”
他抱住木偶的肢窝，把他放在地板上，要教他走路。
皮诺乔的腿僵硬着，不会动。杰佩托搀着他的手，教他一步一步地走。
等到腿一会动，皮诺乔就开始自己走了，接着他满屋子乱跳，最后跑出大门，蹦到街上，溜走了。
可怜的杰佩托在他后面追，可是追不上，因为皮诺乔这小坏蛋蹦蹦跳跳，像只野兔。他那双木脚却在路面上劈劈啪啪，活像二十双农民的木头鞋在响。
“抓住他！抓住他！”杰佩托大叫。可街上的人看见木偶跑得像匹小马驹，只是停下来望着他出神，哈哈地笑啊笑啊，笑得无法形容。
幸亏最后碰到一个警察，他听到人们吵吵闹闹，以为是一匹马驹从主人手里逃走了，于是大胆地站在路当中，跨开一双粗腿，决心要把马拦住，免得闯大祸。
皮诺乔远远看见警察把整条街拦住，就想在他两腿之间一下子冲过去，可是没成功，
警察动也不用动，一把就抓住了他的鼻子（这个鼻子真长、像是特地做出来给警察抓的），把他交还到杰佩托手里，杰佩托为了教训他，马上想狠狠拉他的耳朵，可诸位想象一下他是多么惊讶吧：他找来找去竟找不到耳朵，诸位知道为什么吗？因为他一个劲儿地刻啊刻啊，竟忘了给他做一对耳朵。
杰佩托没有耳朵可抓，就抓住木偶的颈背，他要把他带回家，同时摇着头吓唬他说：
“咱们现在回家，到了家，一定要算清咱们这笔账！”
皮诺乔听了这句吓唬的话，马上就倒在地上，赖在那里不肯再走了。爱看热闹和无所事事的人一下子就过来，围成了一大堆，
大家七嘴八舌舌的。
“可怜的木偶！”有人说，“他不肯回家是有道理的！谁知道杰佩托这坏蛋会怎么揍他呢！……”
又有人不怀好意地接上去说：
“杰佩托这家伙，看着挺老实，对孩子可真凶！让这个可怜木偶落到他手里，他准把木偶剁成碎木片！……”
一句话，他们这么东一锤西一棒的，那位警察竟把皮诺乔放开，反倒把可怜的杰佩托送到监狱里去了。”他一路上监狱，一路结结巴巴地哭着说：
“该死的小鬼！我辛辛苦苦本想做出个好木偶！可结果是自讨苦吃！我本该先想到这一点！……，
接下来发生的事情简直叫人没法相信，我在以下各章里，将一一讲给诸位听，
