Читать книгу Приключения Пиноккио / The adventures of Pinocchio. Уровень 1 - Карло Коллоди - Страница 17

Luckily for the poor Marionette, the Lovely Maiden with Azure Hair once again looked out of her window. She saw him and clapped her hands sharply together three times. At the signal, a large Falcon came and settled itself on the window ledge.

“What do you command, my charming Fairy?” asked the Falcon (for the Lovely Maiden with Azure Hair was a very kind Fairy who lived in the forest).

“Do you see that Marionette?”

“I see him.”

“Very well. Fly immediately to him. With your strong beak, break the knot which holds him, take him down, and lay him softly on the grass.”

The Falcon flew away and after two minutes returned,

“Ready.”

“How did you find him? Alive or dead?”

“I thought he was dead. But he mumbled with a faint voice, ‘Now I feel better!’”

The Fairy clapped her hands twice. A magnificent Poodle appeared. He was dressed in court livery. He wore a jaunty coat of velvet, with diamond buttons, and his huge pockets were always full of bones.

“Come, Medoro,” said the Fairy to him. “Take my best coach and go to the forest. Near the oak tree, you will find a poor Marionette on the grass. Lift him up tenderly, place him on the silken cushions of the coach, and bring him here to me.”

In a few minutes, a lovely little coach pulled out of the stable. One hundred pairs of white mice drew it. The Poodle sat on the coachman’s seat.

In a quarter of an hour the coach was back. The Fairy lifted the poor little Marionette in her arms, put him to bed, and sent immediately for the most famous doctors. They were a Crow, and Owl, and a Cricket.

“I want to know, signori,” said the Fairy, “if this poor Marionette is dead or alive.”

The Crow stepped out and felt Pinocchio’s pulse, his nose, his little toe. Then he solemnly pronounced the following words:

“To my mind this Marionette is dead and gone. But if he, by any evil chance, is not dead, then that will be a sign that he is still alive!”

“I am sorry,” said the Owl, “to contradict the Crow, my famous friend and colleague. I think that this Marionette is alive. But if he, by any evil chance, is not alive, then that will be a sign that he is dead!”

“And what is your opinion?” the Fairy asked the Cricket.

“This Marionette is not a stranger to me. I know him well!”

Pinocchio shuddered so hard that the bed shook.

“That Marionette,” continued the Cricket, “is a rascal.”

Pinocchio opened his eyes and closed them again.

“He is rude, lazy, a runaway.”

Pinocchio hid his face under the sheets.

“That Marionette is a disobedient son!”

They heard long sobs, cries, and deep sighs. Then they raised the sheets and discovered Pinocchio in tears!

“When the dead weep, they recover,” said the Crow solemnly.

“I am sorry to contradict my famous friend and colleague,” said the Owl, “but I think that when the dead weep, it means they do not want to die.”