with his mouth open and his eyes nearly out of his head. When he found words he said, “Where is the little donkey that I threw overboard?”
“I am that little donkey,” replied the marionette, laughing.
“You?”
“I.”
“Ah! You cheat! Do you think that you can make fun of me?”
“Make fun of you? On the contrary, I speak to you seriously.”
“But how is it that a little while ago you were a donkey and now, after you have been in the water for an hour, you are a wooden marionette?”
“It is the effect of the sea water. The sea never tells its secrets, and this is one of its little tricks.”
“Take care, marionette, take care! Do not think that you can pull wool over my eyes. Woe to you if I lose my patience!”
“Very well. Do you wish to know the true story? Untie my legs and I will tell you.”
The buyer, curious to know the true story, untied the knots that bound the marionette; and then Pinocchio, finding himself as free as a bird in the air, said: “Know, then, that I was at first a wooden marionette as I am to-day. But I was
