The Adventures of Pinocchio (1904)/Chapter 17
Scarcely had the three doctors left the room when the Fairy approached Pinocchio, and after touching his forehead perceived that he had taken a fever of not saying anything.
Then she put a little bit of white powder in a glass of water and, handing it to the marionette, said to him sweetly, “Drink, and in a few days you will be cured.” Pinocchio looked at the glass, made a mouth, then with a voice full of sobs said, “Is it sweet or bitter?”
“It is bitter, but it will do you good.”
“If it is bitter, I do not want it.”
“Listen to me; drink it.”
“I do not like bitter things.”
“Drink it; and when you have drunk it I will give you a little ball of sugar to take the taste out of your mouth.”
“Where is the ball of sugar?”
“Here it is,” said the Fairy, taking out a ball of sugar.
“First I want the ball of sugar; then I will drink the bitter water.”
“You promise me?”
“Yes.”
The Fairy gave him the sugar, and Pinocchio, after having crushed it to atoms, said, licking his lips, “How nice! If sugar could only be medicine, I would take it all day long.”
“Now keep your promise and drink these few bitter drops. They will cure you.”
Pinocchio unwillingly took the glass in his hand and put it under his nose; then he put it to his lips; then he put it under his nose again. Finally he said: “It is too bitter! It is too bitter! I cannot drink it.”
“How can you say that when you have not tasted it?”
“I know. I smell it. I want another ball of sugar first; then I will drink it.”
So the Fairy, with the patience of an indulgent mamma, placed in his mouth another ball of sugar and then gave him the glass again. “I cannot drink it,” said the marionette, making numerous grimaces.
“Why?”
“Because that pillow on my feet annoys me.”
The Fairy took the pillow away.
“It is useless, I cannot drink it even now.”
“What troubles you now?”
“That door is half open.”
The Fairy went and closed the door.
“Really,” cried Pinocchio, breaking forth into tears, “I cannot drink that bitter water! No, no, no!”
“My child, you will be sorry.”
“I do not care.”
“Your fever is bad.”
“I do not care.”
“The fever will carry you in a few hours to another world.”
“I do not care.”
“Have you no fear of death?”
“No. I have no fear. I would rather die than take that bad medicine.”
Just at that moment the door of the room opened and four Rabbits, black as ink, entered, carrying on their shoulders a coffin. “What do you want with
“We have come to take you away,” replied the largest Rabbit.
“To take me away? But I am not dead!”
“Not now, no; but you have only a few more moments of life, having refused to drink the medicine that would cure your fever.”
“Oh, my Fairy! oh, my Fairy!” screamed the marionette; “give me the glass quickly. Send them away; for I do not wish to die.” And he took the glass in both hands and swallowed the medicine at one gulp.
“Oh, pshaw!” said the Rabbit; “we have made this trip for nothing.” And placing the coffin on their shoulders again, the Rabbits went out of the room grumbling and muttering between their teeth.
The fact was that a few moments later Pinocchio jumped down from the bed well and strong; for you must know that wooden marionettes have the advantage of rarely being sick, and when they are they get well quickly. The Fairy, seeing him run through the room as lively and bright as a little chicken just out of its shell, said to him, “Then my medicine has cured you?”
“Yes, indeed! It has brought me back to this world.”
“Then why was it that you begged me not to make you drink it?”
“We boys are always that way. We have more fear of the medicine than of the sickness.”
“Shame on you! Boys ought to know that a good medicine taken in time may save them from serious trouble and perhaps from death.”
“Oh! another time I will not behave so badly. I will remember the black Rabbits with the coffin on their shoulders and then I will take the medicine quickly.”
“Now come here and tell me how it happened that you fell into the hands of assassins.”
“Well, it happened in this way. The manager of the marionettes, Fire Eater, gave me five pieces of gold and said to me, ‘Take these to your poor papa.’ I met on the road a Fox and a Cat, two very nice persons, who said to me: ‘Do you wish those pieces to become two thousand? Come with us and we will take you to the Field of Miracles.’ I said, ‘Let us go’; and they said, ‘Let us stop at the Red Lobster Inn, and after midnight we will continue our journey.’ When I awoke I found that they had gone. I then began to walk alone in the dark and I met two coal sacks with assassins inside who said to me, ‘Give us your money.’ I said, ‘I have none’; I hid the gold pieces in my mouth. 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.”
“Oh, now I remember well,” replied Pinocchio; “the four pieces of money were swallowed when I took that medicine.”
At this third story the nose grew so long that poor Pinocchio could not turn himself round in the room. If he turned to one side, it struck the bed or the glass in the window; if he turned to the other side, it struck the walls or the door of the room; if he raised his head, he ran the risk of putting out one of the Fairy’s eyes.
And the Fairy looked and laughed.
“Why do you laugh?” asked the marionette, quite confused and surprised because his nose had grown so long.
“I laugh at the stories you have told.”
“How do you know that I have told stories?”
“Stories, my boy, are recognized immediately, because there are two kinds: there are stories that have short legs and stories that have long noses. Yours are the kind that have a long nose.”
Pinocchio, not knowing where to hide himself for shame, tried to get out of the room, but he did not succeed. His nose had grown so large that he could not go through the door.