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.”