Pinocchio in Africa Part 7

21. Pinocchio Travels With The Caravan

THE camels, refreshed by the large amount of water they had taken, stood up, proud of their loads. Even the donkey brayed. Yes, there was a donkey! And this fact displeased Pinocchio. He had for a long time felt a great dislike for these animals. In fact, he had once been a donkey, and his dislike was a natural one.

The donkey did not carry any load, and for that reason the marionette was asked to ride on its back. He hesitated. It was stupid to ride a donkey, and he would have preferred to walk, but he did not like to seem rude to the good people, and up he mounted.

They traveled all day along the narrow road which gradually wound around the slope of a mountain. The old man rode by the side of Pinocchio, asking him many questions about the studies he had taken up to prepare himself for this trip to Africa.

The marionette talked a great deal, and as might have been expected, made many blunders. He began to think that his companions were very simple, and that in Africa one could tell any kind of lie without being discovered. He even went so far as to a.s.sure the old man that he knew the very spot where they could find gold and diamonds, and ended by saying that within a week they should all be men of great wealth.

"You must walk straight ahead," the saucy marionette was saying, "then to the right, and you will arrive at the bottom of a valley, through which flows a beautiful brook of yellow water. By the side of this brook is a tree, and beneath the tree there is gold in plenty."

The old man was amazed to hear the tales he told. Pinocchio himself felt ashamed of all these lies. He was afraid his nose would grow as it had done one day at home. But no, it was still its natural size!

"Well!" he thought, "if it has not grown longer this time, it will never grow again, no matter how many lies I tell."

22. He Is Offered For Sale

THEY went on until they met a second caravan resting at a well.

Every one admired Pinocchio, and the old man who had him in charge treated him as if he were his own son.

Pinocchio was greatly pleased. Yet to tell the truth he was worried.

Suppose they discovered that he had lied, and that he knew nothing about Africa, or the gold, or the diamonds! What would happen then?

The old man was talking to three or four men of the new caravan.

Pinocchio did not like their faces. Now and then they looked toward the marionette with open eyes of astonishment.

Pinocchio p.r.i.c.ked up his ears to listen to the good things the old man was saying about him. He felt highly flattered on hearing himself praised for his character, his intelligence, and his ability to eat and drink.

Then the men lowered their voices, and the marionette only now and then caught some stray words.

"How much do you want?"

"Come!" replied the good old man, "between us there should not be so much talk. I cannot give him to you unless you give me twenty yards of English calico, thirty yards of iron wire, and four strings of gla.s.s beads."

"It is too much. It is too much," replied one.

"They are bargaining for the donkey," said Pinocchio, and he felt sorry for the poor beast.

"I am sorry for you," he went on, addressing the donkey, "because you have made me quite comfortable. Now I must give you up and walk."

"It is too much. It is too much," the men were saying.

"Yes, yes, all you say is very true," spoke one in a high voice, "but, after all, he is made of wood."

"Of wood? Who is made of wood? The donkey?" thought Pinocchio, looking at the animal, which stood still, its ears erect as if it also were listening.

"Here!" put in one of the men, "the bargain is made if you will give him up for an elephant's tooth; if not, let us talk no more of it."

The old man was silent. He looked at the marionette, and then with a sigh which came from his heart he said: "You drive a hard bargain! Add at least the horn of a rhinoceros and let us be done with it."

"Put in the horn!" replied the man, and they shook hands. "You have done well, my friends," the old man said. "That fellow there," - and this time pointed directly at Pinocchio, "that fellow there has some great ideas in his head. He knows a thing or two! He says he knows the exact spot where one may find gold and diamonds."

Pinocchio was thunderstruck! It was he and not the donkey that had been sold.

"Dogs!" he cried, "farewell. I go from you forever." And away he leaped as fast as the north wind. They did not even try to follow him.

Who could have caught him

23. The Bird In The Forest

AFTER two hours of hard running, Pinocchio, still angry at the treatment he had received, came to a forest. "It's better to be a bird in the bushes than a bird in a cage!" he thought.

Although the walk in the forest was refres.h.i.+ng, he began, as usual, to be hungry. The place was very beautiful, but beauty could not satisfy a marionette's appet.i.te. He looked here and there in the hope that he might see trees loaded with the fruit about which the elephant man had spoken. He saw nothing but branches and leaves, leaves and branches. On he walked. Both the forest and his hunger seemed without end.

Fortunately Pinocchio was very strong. Being made of wood, he could endure a great many hards.h.i.+ps. He was sure that his good Fairy would come to help him, so he kept on bravely. He had walked a long way before he saw a large tree, bearing fruit that resembled oranges.

"At last!" he cried aloud. The birds flew away at the sound.

Pinocchio climbed over the rocks and up the tree as fast as he could.

"I will eat enough to last for a week!" he said, as he thought of the orange peel his father Geppetto had given him for supper.

He picked the largest of the fruit and put it into his mouth. It was as hard as ivory. He pulled out his penknife, with which he used to sharpen his pencil at school. With great difficulty he cut the fruit in two, to find within only a soft, bitter pulp. Then he tried another and another. All were like the first one, and he gave up trying because he was at length convinced that none of the fruit was fit to eat.

Tired and unhappy, with bowed head and dangling arms, he pushed on slowly, stumbling over rocks, and becoming entangled again and again in the briers. He thought sadly of the disappointments he had met with in Africa.

"It is settled. I am to die of hunger. Where are the delicious fruits and the precious stones? Should I not do better to go home and leave the gold and silver to those who want them?"

As he went along, thinking over these things, he noticed ahead of him a bird about the size of a canary, which looked at him as if it longed to console him in his misery.It went on before Pinocchio, flying from one branch to another, stopping when the marionette stopped, and moving every time the marionette moved. Pinocchio said to himself: "Does his dear little bird wish to be eaten? I'll pluck its feathers, stick a twig through it, put it in the sun, and in half an hour it will be cooked and ready to eat."

While the hungry marionette was giving himself up to this thought, the bird began to sing,"Pinocchio, my dear,

If you would honey eat,

Come closer to me here,

And you will find a treat."Imagine Pinocchio's surprise! He approached the little songster and looked up. Sure enough, there on a branch of a great tree was a beehive.

One would think that Pinocchio would at least stop to thank the bird, but not he! Up the tree he went like a squirrel, while the bees buzzed about him angrily. The marionette laughed.

"Sting away! sting away, brave bees! I am a marionette and made of wood. You may sting me as much as you please." He thrust his hand into the hive and drew out a handful of sweet honey.

"This time at least I shall not die of hunger."

24. His Adventure With A Lion