Читать книгу Приключения Пиноккио / The adventures of Pinocchio. Уровень 1 - Карло Коллоди - Страница 7

Pinocchio hated the dark street, but he was very hungry and he ran out of the house. The night was black. It thundered. An angry wind blew cold, while the trees shook and moaned in a weird way.

Pinocchio was greatly afraid of thunder and lightning, but the hunger was greater than his fear. He came to the village. The village was dark and deserted. The stores, the doors, the windows were closed. It seemed the Village of the Dead.

Pinocchio, in desperation, ran up to a doorway and pulled the bell wildly. He said to himself: “Someone will surely answer that!”

He was right. An old man in a nightcap opened the window and looked out angrily:

“What do you want at this hour of night?”

“Will you give me a bit of bread? I am hungry.”

“Wait a minute,” answered the old man.

After a minute or two, the same voice cried:

“Get under the window and hold out your hat[11]!”

Pinocchio had no hat. When he got under the window, he felt a shower of ice-cold water on his poor wooden head, his shoulders, and over his whole body. He returned home as wet as a rag.

He sat down on a little stool and put his two feet on the stove to dry them.

There he fell asleep, and while he slept, his wooden feet began to burn. Slowly, very slowly, they blackened and turned to ashes.

At dawn Pinocchio opened his eyes. He heard a loud knocking at the door.

“Who is it?” he called.

“It is I,” answered a voice.

It was the voice of Geppetto.