-------------------------------------------------------
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
PART 1 CHAPTER 10
-------------------------------------------------------
The puppet actors see Pinocchio. They greet him happily. Then Fire Eater comes, and poor Pinocchio almost loses his life.
QUICK AS LIGHTNING, Pinocchio paid his four pennies at the door of the puppet theatre, and ran inside.
And then something very strange happened.
The curtain was up and the play had started. Two well-known puppet actors, Harlequin and Pulcinella, were on the stage. They were doing their fight. They were pretending to hit each other with sticks.
Everyone knows that the fight between Harlequin and Pulcinella can be exciting, and very funny. The theatre was full of people watching. They laughed and shouted as the two puppets moved about, this way and that, playing tricks on each other. Everyone was having a good time.
Then suddenly Harlequin stopped. He turned towards the people who were watching. He pointed to the back of the theatre, and, at the same time, shouted out: "Look, look! Am I dreaming? Isn't that Pinocchio over there?"
Did he say, 'Pinocchio?'
Pulcinella put down his stick. He stood next to Harlequin and also stared towards the back of the theatre. "Yes, yes!" he yelled in excitement. "You're right. It is Pinocchio!"
"I can see him, too!" shouted another puppet called Signora Rosaura, looking in from the side of the stage.
"It is Pinocchio! It's Pinocchio!" all the other puppets started shouting, and they came running out onto the stage from the sides. "It's Pinocchio. It's our little brother Pinocchio!" Then they began cheering loudly: "Hurrah for Pinocchio! Hurrah for Pinocchio!"
"Pinocchio, come up here!" called Harlequin. "Come and say 'hello' to your wooden brothers and sisters!"
Pinocchio, who had never seen any other puppets in his life until then, could not stop himself. With one great jump from the back of the theatre, he reached the middle seats. With another great jump, he was at the front. And with a third, he was up on the stage.
I cannot describe the shouts of happiness, all the warm, loving hugs and handshakes with which those wooden actors and actresses greeted Pinocchio. They were so friendly. It was enough to make tears of happiness run down anyone's cheeks.
But the people in the theatre, seeing that the play had stopped, became angry. They began to call out: "The play, the play, we want the play!"
Their shouting was of no use, for the puppets, instead of going on with the play, started cheering Pinocchio twice as loudly as before. They lifted him up on their shoulders. They carried him around the stage, shouting and singing at the tops of their voices.
And just at that moment, the Director came out of his office.
'Fire Eater!" shouted one of the puppets.
The Director was big.
The Director's face was the colour of fire.
The great beard on the Director's face was black and long. It was so long it reached from his chin to his feet.
His mouth was as wide as a cupboard door. His teeth were a dirty yellow colour, and ended in sharp points. His eyes shone like two bright red lights.
In his large hands, the Director held a whip made of green snakes and black cats' tails all joined together. He waved it about dangerously.
All the puppets stopped what they were doing. They stood still and quiet. No one said a word. If a fly had gone by, you would have heard it. Those poor puppets, every one of them, were all too frightened to make even the smallest noise. They trembled like leaves on a tree being shaken about in a storm.
The big man looked at Pinocchio.
"What do you think you are you doing?" he asked. His voice was like the voice of a hungry giant who had caught a bad cold. "Why are you making so much trouble in my theatre."
"Oh, believe me, Your Honour," Pinocchio answered, most politely, "it was not my fault. I just came in here to watch the play and . . . ."
"Enough! Be quiet! I'll think about what to do with you later. Now," he held up his whip, and stared from one puppet actor to another angrily, "back to the play --all of you!"
The fight between Harlequin and Pulcinella started all over again. All the other puppets ran as quickly as they could to the sides of the stage.
As soon as the play was over, the Director went to the kitchen. A fine fat lamb was being cooked there for the Director's dinner. The fire under the lamb was going out. More wood was needed to finish the cooking.
The Director called Harlequin and Pulcinella to him.
"Bring that new puppet here!" he said. "He looks as if he is made of good firewood. He can help me finish cooking this lamb."
Harlequin and Pulcinella knew what that meant. They did not want to go and get Pinocchio. Then, frightened by a look from the Director, they obeyed him and left the kitchen.
A few minutes later they returned. With them they brought poor Pinocchio, who was kicking and screaming and crying out loudly: "Father, save me! I don't want to die! I don't want to die!"