One of the assassins tried to force my mouth open with a knife, but I seized his hand and bit it off and spat it out, when, instead of a hand, I found it was the paw of a Cat. The assassins ran after me until they caught me. They hanged me to a tree, saying, ‘To-morrow we will come back, and then you will be dead and your mouth will be opened; and thus we shall be able to get the gold that is hidden under your tongue.’”
“And where have you put the four pieces of gold now?” asked the Fairy.
“I have lost them,” replied Pinocchio. But he told a story; for he had them in his pocket.
Scarcely had he told the story when his nose, which was already long, grew two fingers longer.
“And where did you lose them?”
“In the forest.”
At this second story his nose grew still longer.
“If you have lost them in the forest, we will look for them and find them, because all that is lost in my forest is always found again.”
