CHAPTER 23

As soon as Pinocchio was relieved from the weight of the hard and humiliating collar he started to run across the fields; and he did not stop one minute until he had reached the road that led to the house of the Fairy.

When he reached the road he looked down on the forest where he had unfortunately met the Fox and the Cat, and there in the middle he saw the great oak to which they had hanged him. He looked in the direction of the little white house where the Fairy with the Blue Hair lived, but he could not find it at all.

Then a feeling of sadness came over him. Nevertheless he ran as fast as his legs would take him and in a few minutes he reached the field where the little white house had stood. But the white house was there no more. There was instead a little marble slab on which were cut the follow. ing words:

 As he could not read he did not know what to do. The Talking Cricket happened to be near and read it for him. I leave you to imagine how the marionette felt when he understood the meaning of those words. He fell to the ground and, covering the marble slab with kisses, cried as if his heart would break. He cried all night and all the next morning, until he had no more tears left. His cries and sobs were so loud that all the hills round about repeated them.

"Oh, my little Fairy, why are you dead?" he cried. "Why, instead of you, am I not dead? Oh, my dear little Fairy, tell me where I can find my papa. I wish to be with him and never leave him any more. Oh, tell me that it is not true that you are dead. If you truly love me, if you like your little brother, come back! return to life! Does it not make you unhappy to see me left all alone by everybody? If the assassins come and hang me to a tree again, I shall die this time for sure. What can I do alone in this world, now that I have lost my papa and you? Who will give me anything to eat? Where shall I sleep at night? Who will make my clothes? Oh, it would be better, a hundred times better, that I should die! Yes, I wish to die! 1h! ih! ih!"

While he despaired in this manner he wished to pull out his hair; but his hair being of wood he was not able to raise even a lock.

A large Dove who was flying around, seeing the little marionette leaning on the marble slab, stopped, and, hovering in the air, said, "Tell me, my little boy, what are you doing down there?"

"Do you not see that I am crying?" said Pinocchio, raising his head toward the voice and drying his eyes with the sleeve of his jacket.

"Tell me," added the Dove, "do you not know among your companions a marionette who is called Pinocchio?"

"Pinocchio? Did you say Pinocchio?" cried the marionette, jumping to his feet; "I am Pinocchio."

When the Dove heard this he flew down to the ground. He was as large as a turkey cock.

"'Do you also know Geppetto?" asked the Dove.

"Do I know him? He is my poor papa. Has he asked you about me? Can you take me to him? Is he alive? Tell me, is he alive?"

"I left him three days ago on the seashore."

"What was he doing?"

"He was making a little boat in order to cross the ocean. For four months the poor man has been looking for you, and not being able to find you he began to build a boat and now he is going to look for you in another country."

"How far is it to the shore?" asked Pinocchio. "A thousand miles."

"A thousand miles! Oh, Dove! Oh, if only I had a pair of wings!"

"If you wish to go, I will carry you."

"How?"

"On my back. Are you heavy?"

"No, indeed. I am as light as a feather."

And then without saying anything further, Pinocchio jumped on the back of the Dove and put a leg back of each wing just like a man on horseback. He then cried to the Dove, "All ready, go!" The Dove spread his wings and in a few moments they almost touched the clouds. Arriving at that extraordinary height, the marionette had the curiosity to turn around and look down. He was so scared when he took a view of the country below that he was obliged to put his arms around the Dove's neck.

They flew all day long. Toward evening the Dove said, "I am very thirsty."

"I am very hungry," added Pinocchio.

"Let us stop at this dove house a few minutes, and afterward we will start on our way again, so as to be at the shore to-morrow morning."

They entered a dove house which they found deserted except that there was a little basin of water and also a small basket of chick peas placed near the door.

In all his life the marionette had never been able to eat chick peas; to hear the name always made him sick. But that night he ate them ravenously, and when he had nearly finished he turned to the Dove and said, "I would never have believed that chick peas could taste so good."

"It is well to know, my boy," replied the Dove, "that when you are truly hungry even the chick pea seems delicious. Hunger has no whims or fancies."

Having eaten their lunch quickly, they started on their journey. The next morning they arrived on the seashore.

The Dove placed Pinocchio on the ground, and, not wishing the annoyance of hearing himself thanked for his good action, flew suddenly away and disappeared.

The shore was crowded with people who were crying and gesticulating, looking toward the sea.

"What has happened?" asked Pinocchio of an old woman.

"There is an old man, who, having lost his little boy, ventured to go to sea to-day in search of him, and the water is so rough that we are afraid he will sink."

"Where is the boat?"

"There it is; follow my finger," said the old lady, pointing to a little boat that from where they stood looked like a walnut shell with a very small man inside.

"It is my papa! It is my papa!"

Meanwhile the little boat, tossed around by the waves, now disappeared between the billows, now floated on top. Pinocchio, standing on a point of a high reef, called his papa by name and made many signals with his arms and finally with the cap on his head. It appeared that Geppetto, although very far away from the shore, recognized him, because he also raised his cap and made it clearly understood that he would come to shore were it not that he was prevented by the heavy seas.

All of a sudden there came a terrible wave and the boat disappeared. They waited on shore to see it rise but it was never seen again.

"Poor man!" said the fishermen; but they could not help him so they turned away.

Then they heard a cry. Looking around, they saw a little boy on the top of a reef throw himself into the water.

"I want to save my papa," he said.

Pinocchio, being made of wood, floated easily, and he could swim like a fish. Now he was seen to disappear under the water, carried by the current; now he appeared again, striking out against the waves. The fishermen watched him until he was so far from shore that they could not see him any longer.

"Poor boy!" they said; and, as they could do nothing for him, they went home.