Page 1 of 7

A long time ago, in a town on the Mediterranean coast, there lived an old carpenter, Giuseppe, nicknamed Gray Nose.

One day he came across a log, an ordinary log for a hearth in winter.

Not a bad thing, - Giuseppe said to himself, - you can make something like a table leg out of it ...

Giuseppe put on spectacles wrapped in twine—for the spectacles were also old—turned the log in his hand and began to hew it with a hatchet.

But as soon as he began to hew, someone's unusually thin voice squeaked:

Ooh, be quiet, please!

Giuseppe moved his glasses to the tip of his nose, began to look around the workshop, no one ...

He looked under the workbench - no one ...

He looked in the basket with shavings - no one ...

He stuck his head out the door - no one on the street ...

"Is it really my imagination?" thought Giuseppe. "Who could squeak it?.."

He again took the hatchet and again - only hit the log ...

Oh, it hurts, I say! howled a thin voice.

This time, Giuseppe was seriously frightened, his glasses even sweated ... He examined all the corners in the room, even climbed into the hearth and, turning his head, looked into the chimney for a long time.

There is no one...

"Maybe I drank something inappropriate and my ears are ringing?" Giuseppe thought to himself...

No, today he didn’t drink anything unsuitable ... Having calmed down a little, Giuseppe took a planer, hit the back of it with a hammer so that the blade would come out in moderation - not too much and not too little, put the log on the workbench and only led the chips .. .

Oh, oh, oh, oh, listen, what are you pinching? - desperately squeaked a thin voice ...

Giuseppe dropped the planer, backed away, backed away and sat down straight on the floor: he guessed that the thin voice was coming from inside the log.

GIUSEPPE GIVES A TALKING LOG TO HIS FRIEND CARLO

At this time, Giuseppe was visited by his old friend, an organ grinder named Carlo.

Once upon a time, Carlo, in a wide-brimmed hat, walked around the cities with a beautiful hurdy-gurdy and earned his bread by singing and music.

Now Carlo was already old and ill, and his hurdy-gurdy had long since broken.

Hello, Giuseppe, - he said, entering the studio. - Why are you sitting on the floor?

And I, you see, lost a small screw ... Come on! - answered Giuseppe and squinted at the log. - Well, how do you live, old man?

Not good, said Carlo. - I keep thinking - how would I earn a living ... If only you could help me, would you advise me, or something ...

What is easier, - said Giuseppe cheerfully and thought to himself: "I'll get rid of this damned log now." - What is easier: you see an excellent log lying on the workbench, take this log, Carlo, and take it home ...

E-he-he, - Carlo answered dejectedly, - what's next? I'll bring home a log, but I don't even have a hearth in the closet.

I'm talking to you, Carlo ... Take a knife, cut a doll out of this log, teach her to say all sorts of funny words, sing and dance, and carry it around the yards. Earn a piece of bread and a glass of wine.

At this time, on the workbench where the log lay, a cheerful voice squeaked:

Bravo, well thought out, Gray Nose!

Giuseppe shook with fear again, and Carlo only looked around in surprise - where did the voice come from?

Well, thanks, Giuseppe, for the tip. Come on, perhaps your log.

Then Giuseppe grabbed a piece of wood and quickly handed it to his friend. But either he awkwardly pushed it, or it jumped up and hit Carlo on the head.

Ah, here are your gifts! - offended shouted Carlo.

I'm sorry, buddy, I didn't hit you.

So I hit myself in the head?

No, my friend, it must have been the log itself that hit you.

You're lying, you hit...

No, not me...

I knew you were a drunkard, Blue Nose," Carlo said, "and you're also a liar.

Oh, you swear! Giuseppe called out. - Come on, come closer!

Come closer yourself, I'll grab you by the nose! ..

Both old men pouted and began to jump on each other. Carlo grabbed Giuseppe by the bluish nose. Giuseppe grabbed Carlo by the gray hair that grew around his ears.

After that, they began to hit each other cool under the mikitki. A shrill voice on the workbench at that time squeaked and teased:

Wali, roll well!

Finally, the old people were tired and out of breath. Giuseppe said:

Let's make up, shall we...

Carlo replied:

Well, let's make peace...

The old people kissed. Carlo took the log under his arm and went home.

CARLO MAKES A WOODEN DOLL AND CALLS IT BURATINO

Carlo lived in a closet under the stairs, where he had nothing but a beautiful hearth in the wall opposite the door.

But the beautiful hearth, and the fire in the hearth, and the cauldron boiling on the fire, were not real - they were painted on a piece of old canvas.

Carlo entered the closet, sat down on the only chair by the legless table, and turning the log this way and that, began to carve a doll out of it with a knife.

“What should I call her?” thought Carlo. “I’ll call her Pinocchio. This name will bring me happiness. I knew one family - they were all called Pinocchio: father - Pinocchio, mother - Pinocchio, children - also Pinocchio ... They all lived happily and carelessly ... "

First of all, he cut out the hair on the log, then the forehead, then the eyes ...

Suddenly his eyes opened and stared at him...

Carlo did not show that he was frightened, only affectionately asked:

Wooden eyes, why are you looking at me so strangely?

But the doll was silent, probably because it did not yet have a mouth. Carlo shaved his cheeks, then shaved his nose - an ordinary one ...

Suddenly, the nose itself began to stretch, grow, and it turned out such a long, sharp nose that Carlo even grunted:

Not good, long...

And he began to cut off the tip of the nose. It wasn't there!

The nose twisted, twisted, and remained so - a long, long, curious, sharp nose.

Carlo took to his mouth. But as soon as he cut out his lips, his mouth immediately opened:

Hee hee hee, ha ha ha!

And poked out of it, teasingly, a narrow red tongue.

Carlo, no longer paying attention to these tricks, continued to plan, cut, pick. I made the doll's chin, neck, shoulders, torso, arms...

But as soon as he finished carving out the last finger, Pinocchio began to beat Carlo's bald head with his fists, pinching and tickling.

Listen,” said Carlo sternly, “after all, I haven’t finished making you yet, and you have already begun to play around ... What will happen next ... Huh? ..

And he looked sternly at Pinocchio. And Pinocchio, with round eyes, like a mouse, looked at Papa Carlo.

Carlo made him long legs with big feet out of splinters. On this, having finished the work, he put the wooden boy on the floor to teach him how to walk.

Pinocchio swayed, swayed on his thin legs, took one step, took another, hop, hop - straight to the door, through the threshold and out into the street.

Carlo, worried, followed him:

Hey bastard, come back!

Where there! Pinocchio ran down the street like a hare, only his wooden soles - knock-knock, knock-knock - tapped on the stones ...

Hold it! shouted Carlo.

Passers-by laughed, pointing fingers at the running Pinocchio. At the crossroads stood a huge policeman with a twisted mustache and a three-cornered hat.

Seeing a running wooden man, he spread his legs wide, blocking the whole street with them. Pinocchio wanted to slip between his legs, but the policeman grabbed his nose and held him until Papa Carlo arrived ...

Well, you wait, I'll deal with you already, - Carlo said pushing away and wanted to put Pinocchio in his jacket pocket ...

Pinocchio did not want to stick his feet up out of his jacket pocket on such a merry day in front of all the people - he deftly wriggled out, plopped down on the pavement and pretended to be dead ...

Ay, ay, - said the policeman, - it seems to be a bad thing!

Passers-by began to gather. Looking at the lying Pinocchio, they shook their heads.

Poor thing, - said some, - must be from hunger ...

Carlo beat him to death, - said others, - this old organ grinder only pretends to be a good person, he is bad, he is an evil person ...

Hearing all this, the mustachioed policeman grabbed the unfortunate Carlo by the collar and dragged him to the police station.

Carlo dusted his boots and groaned loudly:

Oh, oh, in my grief I made a wooden boy!

When the street was empty, Pinocchio raised his nose, looked around and ran home skipping...

Running to the closet under the stairs, Pinocchio plopped down on the floor near the leg of the chair.

What else could you come up with?

We must not forget that Pinocchio was only the first day of his birth. His thoughts were small, small, short, short, trifling, trifling.

At this time I heard:

Cree Cree, Cree Cree, Cree Cree...

Pinocchio shook his head, looking around the closet.

Hey, who's here?

Here I am, kri-kri...

Pinocchio saw a creature that looked a bit like a cockroach, but with a head like a grasshopper. It sat on the wall above the hearth and crackled softly, kri-kri, looked with iridescent eyes that bulged like glass, moved its antennae.

Hey, who are you?

I am the Talking Cricket, - the creature answered, - I have been living in this room for more than a hundred years.

I'm the boss here, get out of here.

Well, I will leave, although I am sad to leave the room where I have lived for a hundred years, - said the Talking Cricket, - but before I leave, listen to useful advice.

I really need advice from an old cricket...

Oh, Pinocchio, Pinocchio, - said the cricket, - quit pampering, obey Carlo, do not run away from home without work and start going to school tomorrow. Here's my advice. Otherwise, terrible dangers and terrible adventures await you. For your life, I will not give even a dead dry fly.

Why? - Pinocchio asked.

But you will see - why, - said the Talking Cricket.

Oh, you hundred-year-old insect-cockroach! - Buratino shouted. - More than anything, I love scary adventures. Tomorrow, at dawn, I’ll run away from home - climb fences, destroy bird nests, tease boys, drag dogs and cats by the tails ... I can’t think of something else yet! ..

I feel sorry for you, sorry, Pinocchio, you will shed bitter tears.

Why? - Pinocchio asked again.

Because you have a stupid wooden head.

Then Pinocchio jumped on a chair, from a chair to the table, grabbed a hammer and launched it into the head of the Talking Cricket.

The smart old cricket sighed heavily, wiggled its whiskers, and crawled away behind the hearth - forever out of this room.

Page 1 of 7

A long time ago, in a town on the Mediterranean coast, there lived an old carpenter, Giuseppe, nicknamed Gray Nose.

One day he came across a log, an ordinary log for a hearth in winter.

“Not a bad thing,” Giuseppe said to himself, “you can make something like a table leg out of it ...

Giuseppe put on spectacles wrapped in twine—for the spectacles were also old—turned the log in his hand and began to hew it with a hatchet.

But as soon as he began to hew, someone's unusually thin voice squeaked:

- Oh, be quiet, please!

Giuseppe moved his glasses to the tip of his nose, began to look around the workshop, no one ...

He looked under the workbench - no one ...

He looked in the basket with shavings - no one ...

He stuck his head out the door, no one in the street...

“Did I imagine? thought Giuseppe. “Who could squeak it?”

He again took the ax and again, - only hit the log ...

- Oh, it hurts, I say! howled a thin voice.

This time, Giuseppe was seriously frightened, his glasses even sweated ... He examined all the corners in the room, even climbed into the hearth and, turning his head, looked into the chimney for a long time.

- There is no one ...

“Maybe I drank something inappropriate and my ears are ringing?” Giuseppe thought to himself...

No, today he didn’t drink anything unsuitable ... Having calmed down a little, Giuseppe took a planer, hit the back of it with a hammer so that the blade came out in moderation - not too much and not too little, put the log on the workbench and only led the chips ...

- Oh, oh, oh, oh, listen, what are you pinching? - a thin voice squeaked desperately ...

Giuseppe dropped the planer, backed away, backed away and sat down straight on the floor: he guessed that the thin voice was coming from inside the log.

GIUSEPPE GIVES A TALKING LOG TO HIS FRIEND CARLO

At this time, Giuseppe was visited by his old friend, an organ grinder named Carlo.

Once upon a time, Carlo, in a wide-brimmed hat, walked around the cities with a beautiful hurdy-gurdy and earned his bread by singing and music.

Now Carlo was already old and ill, and his hurdy-gurdy had long since broken.

“Hello, Giuseppe,” he said, entering the studio. - Why are you sitting on the floor?

- And I, you see, lost a small screw ... Come on! Giuseppe answered and looked sideways at the log. “Well, how are you, old man?”

"Bad," said Carlo. - I keep thinking - how can I earn a living ... If only you could help me, would you advise me, or something ...

- What is easier, - said Giuseppe cheerfully and thought to himself: "I'll get rid of this damned log now." - What is easier: you see an excellent log lying on the workbench, take this log, Carlo, and take it home ...

“Heh heh,” Carlo replied despondently, “what next?” I'll bring home a log, but I don't even have a hearth in the closet.

“I’m talking to you, Carlo ... Take a knife, cut a doll out of this log, teach her to say all sorts of funny words, sing and dance, and carry it around the yards. Earn a piece of bread and a glass of wine.

At this time, on the workbench where the log lay, a cheerful voice squeaked:

“Bravo, well thought out, Gray Nose!”

Giuseppe shook with fear again, and Carlo only looked around in surprise - where did the voice come from?

“Well, thank you, Giuseppe, for your advice. Come on, perhaps your log.

Then Giuseppe grabbed a piece of wood and quickly handed it to his friend. But either he awkwardly pushed it, or it jumped up and hit Carlo on the head.

Ah, here are your gifts! Carlo shouted indignantly.

"I'm sorry, buddy, I didn't hit you."

"So I hit myself in the head?"

“No, my friend, the log itself must have hit you.”

- You're lying, you hit ...

- No, not me…

“I knew you were a drunkard, Blue Nose,” said Carlo, “and you are also a liar.

- Oh, you swear! Giuseppe called out. - Come on, come closer!

“Come closer yourself, I’ll grab you by the nose!”

Both old men pouted and began to jump on each other. Carlo grabbed Giuseppe by the bluish nose. Giuseppe grabbed Carlo by the gray hair that grew around his ears.

After that, they began to hit each other cool under the mikitki. A shrill voice on the workbench at that time squeaked and teased:

"Walie, wail well!"

Finally, the old people were tired and out of breath. Giuseppe said:

"Let's make up, shall we?"

Carlo replied:

- Well, let's make peace ...

The old people kissed. Carlo took the log under his arm and went home.

CARLO MAKES A WOODEN DOLL AND CALLS IT BURATINO

Carlo lived in a closet under the stairs, where he had nothing but a beautiful hearth in the wall opposite the door.

But the beautiful hearth, and the fire in the hearth, and the cauldron boiling on the fire, were not real - they were painted on a piece of old canvas.

Carlo entered the closet, sat down on the only chair by the legless table, and turning the log this way and that, began to carve a doll out of it with a knife.

“What should I call her? thought Carlo. - I'll call her Pinocchio. This name will bring me happiness. I knew one family - they were all called Pinocchio: father - Pinocchio, mother - Pinocchio, children - also Pinocchio ... They all lived cheerfully and carelessly ... "

First of all, he cut out the hair on the log, then the forehead, then the eyes ...

Suddenly his eyes opened and stared at him...

Carlo did not show that he was frightened, only affectionately asked:

— Wooden eyes, why are you looking at me so strangely?

But the doll was silent, probably because it did not yet have a mouth. Carlo chiseled his cheeks, then chiseled his nose—an ordinary one...

Suddenly, the nose itself began to stretch, grow, and it turned out such a long, sharp nose that Carlo even grunted:

- Not good, long ...

And he began to cut off the tip of the nose. It wasn't there!

The nose twirled, twisted, and remained so - a long, long, curious, sharp nose.

Carlo took to his mouth. But as soon as he cut out his lips, his mouth immediately opened:

- Hee hee hee, ha ha ha!

And poked out of it, teasingly, a narrow red tongue.

Carlo, no longer paying attention to these tricks, continued to plan, cut, pick. I made the doll a chin, neck, shoulders, torso, arms ...

But as soon as he finished carving out the last finger, Pinocchio began to beat Carlo's bald head with his fists, pinching and tickling.

“Listen,” said Carlo sternly, “after all, I haven’t finished making you yet, and you have already begun to play around ... What will happen next ... Huh? ..

And he looked sternly at Pinocchio. And Pinocchio, with round eyes, like a mouse, looked at Papa Carlo.

Carlo made him long legs with big feet out of splinters. On this, having finished the work, he put the wooden boy on the floor to teach him how to walk.

Pinocchio swayed, swayed on his thin legs, took one step, took another, hop, hop, straight to the door, across the threshold and out into the street.

Carlo, worried, followed him:

- Hey, rascal, come back! ..

Where there! Pinocchio ran down the street like a hare, only his wooden soles - knock-knock, knock-knock - tapped on the stones ...

- Hold him! shouted Carlo.

Passers-by laughed, pointing fingers at the running Pinocchio. At the crossroads stood a huge policeman with a twisted mustache and a three-cornered hat.

Seeing a running wooden man, he spread his legs wide, blocking the whole street with them. Pinocchio wanted to slip between his legs, but the policeman grabbed his nose and held him until Papa Carlo arrived ...

“Well, wait a minute, I’ll deal with you already,” Carlo said, shoving himself away and wanted to put Pinocchio in his jacket pocket ...

Pinocchio did not want to stick his feet up out of his jacket pocket on such a merry day in front of all the people - he deftly wriggled out, plopped down on the pavement and pretended to be dead ...

“Hey, hey,” said the policeman, “this seems to be a bad thing!”

Passers-by began to gather. Looking at the lying Pinocchio, they shook their heads.

“Poor thing,” some said, “it must be from hunger ...

“Carlo beat him to death,” others said, “this old organ-grinder only pretends to be a good man, he is bad, he is an evil man ...

Hearing all this, the mustachioed policeman grabbed the unfortunate Carlo by the collar and dragged him to the police station.

Carlo dusted his boots and groaned loudly:

“Oh, oh, in my grief I made a wooden boy!”

When the street was empty, Pinocchio raised his nose, looked around and ran home skipping ...

TALKING CRICKET GIVES BURATINO WISE ADVICE

Running to the closet under the stairs, Pinocchio plopped down on the floor near the leg of the chair.

- What else could you come up with?

We must not forget that Pinocchio was only the first day of his birth. His thoughts were small, small, short, short, trifling, trifling.

At this time I heard:

"Krree-cree, cree-cree, cree-cree..."

Pinocchio shook his head, looking around the closet.

- Hey, who's here?

- Here I am, - krri-kri ...

Pinocchio saw a creature that looked a bit like a cockroach, but with a head like a grasshopper. It sat on the wall above the hearth and crackled softly, kri-kri, looked with bulging iridescent eyes as if made of glass, moved its antennae.

- Hey, who are you?

“I am Talking Cricket,” the creature replied, “I have been living in this room for over a hundred years.

"I'm the boss here, get out of here."

- Well, I will leave, although I am sad to leave the room where I lived for a hundred years, - said the Talking Cricket, - but before I leave, listen to useful advice.

“I really need some old cricket’s advice…”

“Ah, Pinocchio, Pinocchio,” said the cricket, “quit pampering, obey Carlo, do not run away from home without work, and tomorrow start going to school. Here's my advice. Otherwise, terrible dangers and terrible adventures await you. For your life, I will not give even a dead dry fly.

— What for? Pinocchio asked.

- But you will see - why, - said the Talking Cricket.

- Oh, you, a hundred-year-old insect-cockroach! shouted Pinocchio. — More than anything, I love scary adventures. Tomorrow, at dawn, I’ll run away from home - climb fences, destroy bird nests, tease boys, drag dogs and cats by the tails ... I can’t think of something else yet! ..

- I'm sorry for you, sorry, Pinocchio, you will shed bitter tears.

— What for? Pinocchio asked again.

“Because you have a stupid wooden head.

Then Pinocchio jumped on a chair, from a chair to the table, grabbed a hammer and launched it into the head of the Talking Cricket.

The smart old cricket sighed heavily, wiggled its whiskers, and crawled away behind the hearth—out of this room forever.

Alexey Tolstoy

THE JOINER GIUSEPPE HAD A LOG THAT SQUEAKED WITH A HUMAN VOICE

A long time ago, in a town on the Mediterranean coast, there lived an old carpenter, Giuseppe, nicknamed Gray Nose.

One day he came across a log, an ordinary log for a hearth in winter.

“Not a bad thing,” Giuseppe said to himself, “you can make something like a table leg out of it ...

Giuseppe put on spectacles wrapped in twine—for the spectacles were also old—turned the log in his hand and began to hew it with a hatchet.

But as soon as he began to hew, someone's unusually thin voice squeaked:

- Oh, oh, be quiet, please!

Giuseppe moved his glasses to the tip of his nose, began to look around the workshop - no one ...

He looked under the workbench - no one ...

He looked in the basket with shavings - no one ...

He stuck his head out the door, no one on the street...

“Is it really my imagination?” thought Giuseppe. “Who could squeak it?..”

He again took the hatchet and again - only hit the log ...

- Oh, it hurts, I say! howled a thin voice.
This time, Giuseppe was seriously frightened, his glasses even sweated ... He examined all the corners in the room, even climbed into the hearth and, turning his head, looked into the chimney for a long time.

- There is no one...

"Maybe I drank something inappropriate and my ears are ringing?" Giuseppe thought to himself...

No, today he didn’t drink anything unsuitable ... Having calmed down a little, Giuseppe took a planer, hit the back of it with a hammer so that the blade came out in moderation - not too much and not too little, put the log on the workbench and only led the chips .. .

- Oh, oh, oh, oh, listen, what are you pinching? – desperately squealed a thin voice...

Giuseppe dropped the planer, backed away, backed away and sat down straight on the floor: he guessed that the thin voice was coming from inside the log.

GIUSEPPE GIVES A TALKING LOG TO HIS FRIEND CARLO

At this time, Giuseppe was visited by his old friend, an organ grinder named Carlo.

Once upon a time, Carlo, in a wide-brimmed hat, walked around the cities with a beautiful hurdy-gurdy and earned his bread by singing and music.

Now Carlo was already old and ill, and his hurdy-gurdy had long since broken.

“Hello, Giuseppe,” he said, entering the workshop. - Why are you sitting on the floor?

- And, you see, I lost a small screw ... Come on, him! - answered Giuseppe and squinted at the log. “Well, how are you, old man?”

“Bad,” said Carlo. - I keep thinking - how can I earn a living ... If only you could help me, would you advise me, or something ...

- What is easier, - said Giuseppe cheerfully and thought to himself: "I'll get rid of this damned log now." - What is easier: you see - there is an excellent log lying on the workbench, take this log, Carlo, and take it home ...

“Heh heh heh,” Carlo replied dejectedly, “what next?” I'll bring home a log, but I don't even have a hearth in the closet.

“I’m talking to you, Carlo ... Take a knife, cut a doll out of this log, teach her to say all sorts of funny words, sing and dance, and carry it around the yards. Earn a piece of bread and a glass of wine.

At this time, on the workbench where the log lay, a cheerful voice squeaked:

“Bravo, well thought out, Gray Nose!”

Giuseppe shook with fear again, and Carlo only looked around in surprise - where did the voice come from?

“Well, thank you, Giuseppe, for your advice. Come on, perhaps your log.

Then Giuseppe grabbed a piece of wood and quickly handed it to his friend. But either he awkwardly pushed it, or it jumped up and hit Carlo on the head.

“Ah, here are your gifts!” – offended shouted Carlo.

"I'm sorry, buddy, I didn't hit you."

“So I hit myself in the head?”

“No, buddy—the log itself must have hit you.”

- You're lying, you hit...

- No, not me...

“I knew you were a drunkard, Blue Nose,” Carlo said, “and you are also a liar.

- Oh, you swear! Giuseppe called out. - Come on, come closer!

“Come closer yourself, I’ll grab you by the nose!”

Both old men pouted and began to jump on each other. Carlo grabbed Giuseppe by the bluish nose. Giuseppe grabbed Carlo by the gray hair that grew around his ears.

After that, they began to hit each other cool under the mikitki. A shrill voice on the workbench at that time squeaked and teased:

- Get it right, get it right!

Finally, the old people were tired and out of breath. Giuseppe said:

Let's make up, shall we...

Carlo replied:

- Well, let's make peace ...

The old people kissed. Carlo took the log under his arm and went home.

KALOR MAKES A WOODEN DOLL AND CALLS IT BURATINO

Carlo lived in a closet under the stairs, where he had nothing but a beautiful hearth in the wall opposite the door.

But the beautiful hearth, and the fire in the hearth, and the cauldron boiling on the fire, were not real - they were painted on a piece of old canvas.

Carlo entered the closet, sat down on the only chair by the legless table, and turning the log this way and that, began to carve a doll out of it with a knife.

“What should I call her?” thought Carlo. “I’ll call her Pinocchio. This name will bring me happiness. I knew one family - they were all called Pinocchio: father - Pinocchio, mother - Pinocchio, children - also Pinocchio ... They all lived happily and carelessly ... "

First of all, he cut out the hair on the log, then the forehead, then the eyes ...

Suddenly his eyes opened and stared at him...

Carlo did not show that he was frightened, only affectionately asked:

- Wooden eyes, why are you looking at me so strangely?

But the doll was silent, probably because it did not yet have a mouth. Carlo shaved his cheeks, then shaved his nose - an ordinary one ...

Suddenly, the nose itself began to stretch, grow, and it turned out such a long, sharp nose that Carlo even grunted:

- It's not good, it's long...

And he began to cut off the tip of the nose. It wasn't there!

The nose twisted, twisted, and remained so - a long, long, curious, sharp nose.

Carlo took to his mouth. But as soon as he cut out his lips, his mouth immediately opened:

- Hee hee hee, ha ha ha!

And poked out of it, teasingly, a narrow red tongue.

Carlo, no longer paying attention to these tricks, continued to plan, cut, pick. I made the doll's chin, neck, shoulders, torso, arms...

But as soon as he finished carving out the last finger, Pinocchio began to beat Carlo's bald head with his fists, pinching and tickling.

“Listen,” said Carlo sternly, “after all, I haven’t finished making you yet, and you have already begun to play around ... What will happen next ... Huh? ..

And he looked sternly at Pinocchio. And Pinocchio, with round eyes, like a mouse, looked at Papa Carlo.

Carlo made him long legs with big feet out of splinters. On this, having finished the work, he put the wooden boy on the floor to teach him how to walk.

Pinocchio swayed, swayed on his thin legs, took one step, took another, hop, hop - straight to the door, through the threshold and out into the street.

Carlo, worried, followed him:

- Hey, rascal, come back! ..

Where there! Pinocchio ran down the street like a hare, only his wooden soles - knock-knock, knock-knock - tapped on the stones ...

- Hold him! shouted Carlo.

Passers-by laughed, pointing fingers at the running Pinocchio. At the crossroads stood a huge policeman with a twisted mustache and a three-cornered hat.

Seeing a running wooden man, he spread his legs wide, blocking the whole street with them. Pinocchio wanted to slip between his legs, but the policeman grabbed his nose and held him until Papa Carlo arrived ...

“Well, wait a minute, I’ll deal with you already,” Carlo said pushing away and wanted to put Pinocchio in his jacket pocket ...

Pinocchio did not want to stick his feet up out of his jacket pocket on such a merry day in front of all the people - he deftly wriggled out, plopped down on the pavement and pretended to be dead ...

“Ay, ah,” said the policeman, “this seems to be a bad thing!”

Passers-by began to gather. Looking at the lying Pinocchio, they shook their heads.

“Poor thing,” some said, “it must be from hunger ...

“Carlo beat him to death,” others said, “this old organ grinder only pretends to be a good person, he is bad, he is an evil person ...

Hearing all this, the mustachioed policeman grabbed the unfortunate Carlo by the collar and dragged him to the police station.

Carlo dusted his boots and groaned loudly:

- Oh, oh, on my own grief, I made a wooden boy!

When the street was empty, Pinocchio raised his nose, looked around and ran home skipping...

TALKING CRICKET GIVES BURATINO WISE ADVICE

Running to the closet under the stairs, Pinocchio plopped down on the floor near the leg of the chair.

- What else could you come up with?

We must not forget that Pinocchio was only the first day of his birth. His thoughts were small, small, short, short, trifling, trifling.

At this time I heard:

- Cree-cree, Cree-cree, Cree-cree...

Pinocchio shook his head, looking around the closet.

- Hey, who's here?

- Here I am, - kri-kri ...

Pinocchio saw a creature that looked a bit like a cockroach, but with a head like a grasshopper. It sat on the wall above the hearth and crackled softly—cree-cree—looked with bulging iridescent eyes as if made of glass, and wiggled its antennae.

- Hey, who are you?

“I am Talking Cricket,” the creature replied, “I have been living in this room for over a hundred years.

"I'm the boss here, get out of here."

- Well, I'll go, although I'm sad to leave the room where I lived for a hundred years, - said the Talking Cricket, - but before I leave, listen to useful advice.

“I really need some old cricket’s advice…”

“Ah, Pinocchio, Pinocchio,” said the cricket, “quit pampering, obey Carlo, do not run away from home without work, and tomorrow start going to school. Here's my advice. Otherwise, terrible dangers and terrible adventures await you. For your life, I will not give even a dead dry fly.

- What for? Pinocchio asked.

- But you will see - why, - said the Talking Cricket.

- Oh, you, a hundred-year-old insect-cockroach! shouted Buratino. “Most of all, I love scary adventures. Tomorrow at dawn I will run away from home - climbing fences, destroying bird nests, teasing boys, dragging dogs and cats by the tails ... I can’t think of anything else yet! ..

- I'm sorry for you, sorry, Pinocchio, you will shed bitter tears.

- What for? Pinocchio asked again.

“Because you have a stupid wooden head.

Then Pinocchio jumped on a chair, from a chair to the table, grabbed a hammer and launched it into the head of the Talking Cricket.

The smart old cricket sighed heavily, wiggled its whiskers, and crawled away behind the hearth—out of this room forever.

BURATINO NEARLY DIES BY HIS OWN LIGHTNESS

PAD CARLO GLUES HIM CLOTHES FROM COLORED PAPER AND BUYS ABC

After the incident with the Talking Cricket in the closet under the stairs, it became completely boring. The day dragged on and on. Pinocchio's stomach was also boring.

He closed his eyes and suddenly saw fried chicken on a plate.

He quickly opened his eyes - the chicken on the plate disappeared.

He closed his eyes again - he saw a plate of semolina porridge in half with raspberry jam.

He opened his eyes - there is no plate with semolina porridge in half with raspberry jam.

Then Pinocchio realized that he was terribly hungry.

He ran to the hearth and stuck his nose into a pot boiling over the fire, but Pinocchio's long nose pierced the pot through, because, as we know, the hearth, the fire, the smoke, and the pot were painted by poor Carlo on a piece of old canvas.

Pinocchio pulled out his nose and looked through the hole - behind the canvas in the wall there was something that looked like a small door, but it was so covered with cobwebs that it was impossible to make out anything.

Pinocchio went to rummage in all corners - if there was a crust of bread or a chicken bone gnawed by a cat.

Oh, nothing, nothing poor Carlo had in store for supper!

Suddenly he saw a chicken egg in a basket with shavings. He grabbed it, put it on the windowsill and with his nose - bale-bale - broke the shell.

Thank you, wooden man!

A chick with fluff instead of a tail and with cheerful eyes crawled out of a broken shell.

- Goodbye! Mama Kura has been waiting for me in the yard for a long time.

And the chicken jumped out the window - they only saw him.

- Oh, oh, - Buratino shouted, - I want to eat! ..

The day is finally over. The room became dark.

Pinocchio sat near the painted fire and slowly hiccupped from hunger.

He saw - from under the stairs, from under the floor, a fat head appeared. A gray animal on low paws leaned out, sniffed and crawled out.

Slowly, it went to the basket with chips, climbed in, sniffing and rummaging - angrily rustled with chips. It must have been looking for the egg that Pinocchio broke.

Then it got out of the basket and went up to Pinocchio. She sniffed it, twisting her black nose with four long hairs on each side. Pinocchio did not smell of food, - it went past, dragging a long thin tail.

Well, how could he not be grabbed by the tail! Pinocchio immediately grabbed it.

It turned out to be the old evil rat Shushara.

In fright, she, like a shadow, rushed under the stairs, dragging Pinocchio, but she saw that it was only a wooden boy, turned around and, with furious anger, pounced to cut his throat.

Now Pinocchio was frightened, let go of the cold rat's tail and jumped onto a chair. The rat is behind him.

He jumped from his chair to the windowsill. The rat is behind him.

From the windowsill, he flew across the entire closet onto the table. The rat follows him... And then, on the table, she grabbed Pinocchio by the throat, knocked him down, holding him in her teeth, jumped to the floor and dragged him under the stairs, into the underground.

Papa Carlo! – only had time to squeak Pinocchio.

The door opened and Papa Carlo entered. He pulled off a wooden shoe from his foot and threw it at the rat.

Shushara, releasing the wooden boy, gritted her teeth and disappeared.

- That's what pampering leads to! grumbled Papa Carlo, picking up Pinocchio from the floor. He looked to see if everything was intact. He put him on his knees, took an onion out of his pocket, peeled it. - Come on, eat!

Pinocchio sunk his hungry teeth into the onion and ate it, crunching and smacking his lips. After that, he began to rub his head against Papa Carlo's bristly cheek.

- I'll be smart, prudent, Papa Carlo ... Talking Cricket told me to go to school.

"Good idea, baby...

- Papa Carlo, but I'm naked, wooden, - the boys at school will laugh at me.

“Hey,” said Carlo, scratching his bristly chin. - You're right, baby!

He lit a lamp, took scissors, glue and scraps of colored paper. I cut and glued a brown paper jacket and bright green pants. He made shoes from an old top and a hat - a cap with a tassel - from an old sock. He put all this on Pinocchio:

- Wear it in good health!

“Papa Carlo,” said Pinocchio, “but how can I go to school without the alphabet?”

- Hey, you're right, baby...

Papa Carlo scratched his head. He threw his only old jacket over his shoulders and went outside.

He soon returned, but without a jacket. In his hand he held a book with large letters and entertaining pictures.

Here's the alphabet for you. Learn for health.

– Papa Carlo, where is your jacket?

I sold my jacket. Nothing, I'll get by and so ... Only you live on your health.

Pinocchio buried his nose in the good hands of Pope Carlo.

- I will study, grow up, buy you a thousand new jackets ...

Pinocchio wanted with all his might to live this first evening in his life without pampering, as the Talking Cricket had taught him.

BURATINO SELLS THE ALPHABET AND BUYS A TICKET TO THE PUPPET THEATER

Early in the morning Pinocchio put the alphabet in his purse and skipped to school.

On the way, he did not even look at the sweets displayed in the shops - triangles of poppy seeds on honey, sweet cakes and lollipops in the form of roosters impaled on a stick.

He didn't want to look at the boys flying kites...

The street was crossed by a striped cat, Basilio, who could be grabbed by the tail. But Pinocchio refrained from doing so.

The closer he got to the school, the louder nearby, on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, cheerful music played.

“Pee-pee-pee,” the flute squeaked.

“La-la-la-la,” the violin sang.

“Ding-ding,” the brass cymbals tinkled.

– Boom! - beat the drum.

You need to turn right to school, the music was heard to the left. Pinocchio began to stumble. The legs themselves turned to the sea, where:

- Pee, pee...

Jin-lala, jin-la-la...

“The school won’t go anywhere,” Pinocchio said loudly to himself, “I’ll just look, listen, and run to school.”

What is the spirit, he started to run to the sea. He saw a linen booth adorned with colorful flags flapping in the sea wind.

At the top of the booth, four musicians were dancing.

Downstairs, a plump smiling aunt was selling tickets.

A large crowd stood near the entrance - boys and girls, soldiers, lemonade sellers, wet nurses with babies, firemen, postmen - everyone, everyone was reading a big poster:
PUPPET SHOW
ONLY
ONE
PERFORMANCE
HURRY!
HURRY!
HURRY!

Pinocchio pulled the sleeve of one boy:

– Can you tell me how much the entrance ticket costs?

The boy answered through his teeth, slowly:

“Four soldos, little wooden man.

“You see, boy, I forgot my purse at home... Can you lend me four soldi?...

The boy whistled contemptuously:

- I found a fool! ..

“I really want to see the puppet theater!” Pinocchio said through tears. “Buy me for four soldi my wonderful jacket ...

“A paper jacket for four soldos?” Looking for a fool

“Well then, my pretty cap…”

- Use your cap only to catch tadpoles ... Look for a fool.

Pinocchio even got a cold nose - he so wanted to get into the theater.

- Boy, in that case, take my new alphabet for four soldi ...

- With pictures?

“With chhhhh pictures and big letters.

“Come on, perhaps,” the boy said, took the alphabet and reluctantly counted out four soldi.

Pinocchio ran up to a full smiling aunt and squeaked:

“Listen, give me a ticket in the front row for the only puppet show.

DURING THE PRESENTATION OF THE COMEDY, THE DOLLS RECOGNIZE BURATINO

Pinocchio sat down in the front row and looked with delight at the lowered curtain.

Dancing little men, girls in black masks, scary bearded people in caps with stars, a sun that looked like a pancake with a nose and eyes, and other entertaining pictures were painted on the curtain.

The bell was struck three times and the curtain went up.

There were cardboard trees on the small stage to the right and left. Above them hung a lantern in the form of a moon and was reflected in a piece of mirror on which floated two swans made of cotton wool with golden noses.

A small man wearing a long white long-sleeved shirt appeared from behind the cardboard tree.

His face was sprinkled with powder as white as tooth powder.

He bowed to the most respectable audience and said sadly:

- Hello, my name is Piero ... Now we will play a comedy in front of you called; "Girl with blue hair, or Thirty-three cuffs." I will be beaten with a stick, slapped and slapped on the back of the head. It's a very funny comedy...

Another man jumped out from behind another cardboard tree, all checkered as a chessboard.

He bowed to the honorable audience:

Hello, I'm Harlequin!

After that, he turned to Piero and gave him two slaps in the face, so sonorous that powder fell from his cheeks.

“What are you whining about, fool?

“I am sad because I want to get married,” Piero replied.

- Why didn't you get married?

Because my fiancee ran away from me...

“Ha-ha-ha,” Harlequin rolled with laughter, “we saw the fool! ..

He grabbed a stick and beat Pierrot off.

- What is your fiancee's name?

"Aren't you going to fight again?"

No, I've only just begun.

- In that case, her name is Malvina, or the girl with blue hair.

– Ha-ha-ha! - Harlequin rolled again and released Pierrot three slaps on the back of the head. “Listen, most respectable audience... Are there really girls with blue hair?

But then, turning to the audience, he suddenly saw on the front bench a wooden boy with a mouth to his ears, with a long nose, in a cap with a brush ...

- Look, it's Pinocchio! shouted the Harlequin, pointing his finger at him.

- Alive Pinocchio! yelled Pierrot, waving his long sleeves.

Many dolls jumped out from behind cardboard trees - girls in black masks, scary bearded men in caps, furry dogs with buttons instead of eyes, hunchbacks with noses like cucumbers ...

They all ran up to the candles that stood along the ramp, and, peering, chattered:

- This is Pinocchio! This is Pinocchio! To us, to us, cheerful rascal Pinocchio!

Then he jumped from the bench to the prompter booth, and from it to the stage.

The puppets grabbed him, started hugging, kissing, pinching... Then all the puppets sang "Polka Bird":

Polka bird dancing
On the lawn at an early hour.
Nose to the left, tail to the right,
This is the polka Karabas.
Two beetles - on the drum,
The toad blows into the double bass.
Nose to the left, tail to the right,
This is the Polka Barabas.
The bird danced the polka
Because it's fun.
Nose to the left, tail to the right,
That's how the field was.

The audience was moved. One nurse even shed a tear. One firefighter wept uncontrollably.

Only the boys on the back benches got angry and stamped their feet:

- Enough licking, not small, continue the show!

Hearing all this noise, a man leaned out from behind the stage, so terrible in appearance that one could freeze with horror at the mere sight of him.

His thick, uncombed beard dragged along the floor, his bulging eyes rolled, his huge mouth clanged his teeth, as if it were not a man, but a crocodile. In his hand he held a seven-tailed whip.

It was the owner of the puppet theatre, doctor of puppet science signor Karabas Barabas.

– Ha-ha-ha, goo-goo-goo! he roared at Pinocchio. “So it was you who interfered with the performance of my beautiful comedy?”

He grabbed Pinocchio, took it to the storeroom of the theater and hung it on a nail. Returning, he threatened the puppets with a seven-tailed whip so that they continued the performance.

The puppets somehow finished the comedy, the curtain closed, the audience dispersed.

The doctor of puppet science, signor Karabas Barabas, went to the kitchen to have supper.

Putting the lower part of his beard in his pocket to keep it out of the way, he sat down in front of the hearth, where a whole rabbit and two chickens were roasting on a spit.

After hesitating his fingers, he touched the roast, and it seemed to him raw.

There was little wood in the hearth. Then he clapped his hands three times.

Harlequin and Pierrot ran in.

“Bring me this loafer Pinocchio,” said Signor Karabas Barabas. “It’s made of dry wood, I’ll throw it on the fire, my roast will roast alive.”

Harlequin and Pierrot fell to their knees, begging to spare the unfortunate Pinocchio.

- Where's my whip? shouted Karabas Barabas.

Then they, sobbing, went into the pantry, removed Pinocchio from the nail and dragged it into the kitchen.

SIGNOR CARABAS BARABAS, INSTEAD OF BURNING BURATINO, GIVES HIM FIVE GOLD COINS AND LETS HIM HOME

When the dolls dragged Pinocchio and threw them on the floor by the grate of the hearth, Signor Karabas Barabas, terribly snuffling through his nose, stirred the coals with a poker.

Suddenly his eyes were filled with blood, his nose, then his whole face gathered transverse wrinkles. There must have been a piece of coal in his nostrils.

- Aap... aap... aap... - howled Karabas Barabas, rolling his eyes, - aap-chi!..

And he sneezed so that the ashes rose in a column in the hearth.

When the doctor of puppet sciences began to sneeze, he could no longer stop and sneezed fifty, and sometimes a hundred times in a row.

From such an unusual sneeze, he weakened and became kinder.

Pierrot furtively whispered to Pinocchio:

“Try talking to him between sneezes…”

- Aap-chi! Aap-chi! - Karabas Barabas gasped for air with his gaping mouth and sneezed with a crack, shaking his head and stamping his feet.

Everything in the kitchen was shaking, glass rattled, pans and pots on nails swayed.

Between these sneezes Pinocchio began to howl in a plaintive thin voice:

“Poor me, unfortunate, no one feels sorry for me!”

- Stop crying! shouted Karabas Barabas. - You're bothering me... Aap-chi!

“Be healthy, signor,” Pinocchio sobbed.

– Thank you... Are your parents still alive? Aap-chi!

“I never, never had a mother, signor. Oh, I'm unhappy! - And Pinocchio screamed so piercingly that in the ears of Karabas Barabas it began to prick like a needle.

He stamped his feet.

- Stop squealing, I tell you! .. Aap-chi! What about your father is alive?

“My poor father is still alive, signor.

“I can imagine how it would be for your father to know that I fried a rabbit and two chickens on you ... Aap-chie!

“My poor father will soon die of hunger and cold anyway. I am his only support in old age. Have pity, let me go, sir.

“Ten thousand devils!” yelled Karabas Barabas. - There can be no question of any pity. Rabbit and chicken must be fried. Get into the hearth.

Signor, I can't do this.

- Why? - Asked Karabas Barabas only to ensure that Pinocchio continued to talk, and not squeal in his ears.

- Signor, I already tried once to stick my nose into the hearth and only pierced a hole.

- What nonsense! Karabas Barabas was surprised. “How could you poke a hole in the hearth with your nose?”

“Because, signor, the hearth and the cauldron over the fire were painted on a piece of old canvas.

- Aap-chi! Karabas Barabas sneezed with such a noise that Pierrot flew off to the left. Harlequin - to the right, and Pinocchio spun around.

- Where did you see the hearth, and the fire, and the pot painted on a piece of canvas?

“In my daddy Carlo’s closet.

Your father is Carlo! - Karabas Barabas jumped up from his chair, waved his arms, his beard flew apart. - So, it means that in old Carlo's closet there is a secret ...

But here Karabas Barabas, apparently not wanting to let a secret out, shut his mouth with both fists. And so he sat for some time, looking with bulging eyes at the dying fire.

"All right," he said at last, "I'll dine on undercooked rabbit and raw chicken." I give you life, Pinocchio. Little of...

He reached under his beard into his vest pocket, pulled out five gold coins and handed them to Pinocchio:

– Not only that... Take this money and take it to Carlo. Bow and say that I ask him not to die of hunger and cold in any case, and most importantly, not to leave his closet, where there is a hearth painted on a piece of old canvas. Go, sleep, and run home early in the morning.

Pinocchio put five gold coins in his pocket and answered with a polite bow:

- Thank you, sir. You couldn't have put your money in safer hands...

Harlequin and Pierrot took Pinocchio to the doll's bedroom, where the dolls again began to hug, kiss, push, pinch and again hug Pinocchio, who so incomprehensibly escaped a terrible death in the hearth.

He whispered to the dolls:

“There is some mystery here.

ON THE WAY HOME, BURATINO MEETS TWO BEGGERS - THE CAT BASILIO AND THE FOX ALICE

Early in the morning Pinocchio counted the money - there were as many gold coins as there were fingers on the hand - five.

Clutching the golden ones in his fist, he hopped home and sang:

“I’ll buy Papa Carlo a new jacket, I’ll buy a lot of poppy triangles, candy roosters on sticks.

When the puppet theater booth and the waving flags disappeared from his eyes, he saw two beggars walking dejectedly along the dusty road: the fox Alice, hobbled on three legs, and the blind cat Basilio.

It was not the cat that Pinocchio met yesterday on the street, but another - also Basilio and also striped. Pinocchio wanted to pass by, but the fox Alice said to him touchingly:

- Hello, kind Pinocchio! Where are you in such a hurry?

- Home, to Papa Carlo.

Lisa sighed even more tenderly:

- I don’t know if you will find poor Carlo alive, he is completely ill from hunger and cold ...

– Did you see it? Pinocchio opened his fist and showed five gold coins.

Seeing the money, the fox involuntarily reached for it with its paw, and the cat suddenly opened its blind eyes wide, and they sparkled in him like two green lanterns.

But Pinocchio did not notice any of this.

- Kind, pretty Pinocchio, what are you going to do with this money?

– I will buy a jacket for Papa Carlo... I will buy a new alphabet...

- ABC, oh, oh! said the fox Alice, shaking her head. - This teaching will not bring you to good ... So I studied, studied, and - look - I walk on three paws.

- ABC! Basilio the cat grumbled and snorted angrily through his whiskers. - Through this damned teaching, I lost my eyes ...

An elderly crow sat on a dry branch near the road. Listened, listened and croaked:

- Lie, lie!

The cat Basilio immediately jumped high, knocked the crow off the branch with its paw, tore out half of its tail, as soon as it flew away. Again, he pretended to be blind.

- Why are you so her, cat Basilio? Pinocchio asked in surprise.

- The eyes are blind, - the cat answered, - it seemed - this is a dog on a tree ... The three of them went along the dusty road. Lisa said:

- Clever, prudent Pinocchio, would you like to have ten times more money?

- Of course I want! And how is it done?

- As easy as pie. Go with us.

- To the Land of Fools.

Pinocchio thought a little.

- No, I think I'll go home now.

“Please, we don’t pull you by the rope,” said the fox, “so much the worse for you.”

"So much the worse for you," grumbled the cat.

“You are your own enemy,” said the fox.

“You are your own enemy,” the cat grumbled.

“Otherwise your five gold pieces would turn into a pile of money…”

Pinocchio stopped, opened his mouth...

The fox sat on its tail, licked its lips:

- I'll explain to you now. There is a magical field in the Land of Fools, it is called the Field of Miracles... Dig a hole in this field, say three times: "Crex, fex, pex", put gold in the hole, fill it with earth, sprinkle salt on top, fill it well and go to sleep. In the morning, a small tree will grow out of the hole, instead of leaves, gold coins will hang on it. It's clear?

Pinocchio even jumped:

“Let’s go, Basilio,” the fox said, turning her nose offendedly, “they don’t believe us - and don’t ...

- No, no, - Pinocchio shouted, - I believe, I believe! .. Let's go to the Land of Fools as soon as possible! ..

IN THE TANK "THREE GINGERS"

Pinocchio, the fox Alice and the cat Basilio went downhill and walked, walked - through fields, vineyards, through a pine grove, went out to the sea and again turned away from the sea, through the same grove, vineyards ...

The town on the hill and the sun above it could be seen now to the right, now to the left...

Fox Alice said with a sigh:

“Ah, it’s not so easy to get into the Land of Fools, you’ll wipe off all your paws ...

Towards evening they saw an old flat-roofed house on the side of the road with a sign over the entrance: THREE GINGERS' TANNER.

The host jumped out to meet the guests, tore off his cap from his bald head and bowed low, asking them to come in.

- It would not hurt us to have a bite to eat at least a dry crust, - said the fox.

“At least they would have treated him with a crust of bread,” repeated the cat.

We went into the tavern, sat down near the hearth, where all sorts of things were fried on skewers and frying pans.

The fox constantly licked his lips, the cat Basilio put his paws on the table, his mustachioed muzzle on his paws, and stared at the food.

“Hey, master,” Pinocchio said importantly, “give us three crusts of bread ...

The host almost fell back in surprise that such honorable guests asked so little.

“Cheerful, witty Pinocchio is joking with you, master,” the fox giggled.

"He's joking," the cat muttered.

- Give me three crusts of bread and to them - that wonderfully fried lamb, - said the fox, - and also that caterpillar, and a couple of pigeons on a skewer, and, perhaps, more liver ...

“Six pieces of the fattest crucian carp,” ordered the cat, “and small raw fish for a snack.

In short, they took everything that was on the hearth: there was only one crust of bread left for Pinocchio.

The fox Alice and the cat Basilio ate everything together with the bones. Their bellies were swollen, their muzzles were glossy.

“Let’s rest for an hour,” said the fox, “and we’ll leave exactly at midnight.” Don't forget to wake us up, master...

The fox and the cat collapsed on two soft beds, snoring and whistling. Pinocchio crouched in a corner on a dog bed...

He dreamed of a tree with round golden leaves... As soon as he extended his hand...

- Hey, signor Pinocchio, it's time, it's already midnight ...

They knocked on the door. Pinocchio jumped up and rubbed his eyes. On the bed - no cat, no fox - empty.

The owner explained to him:

- Your respectable friends deigned to get up earlier, refreshed themselves with a cold pie and left ...

"Didn't they tell me to deliver anything?"

- They even ordered you, signor Pinocchio, without wasting a minute, to run along the road to the forest ...

Pinocchio rushed to the door, but the owner stood on the threshold, narrowed his eyes, put his hands on his hips:

Who will pay for dinner?

- Oh, - Pinocchio squeaked, - how much?

Exactly one gold...

Pinocchio immediately wanted to sneak past his feet, but the owner grabbed the skewer - his bristly mustache, even the hair above his ears stood on end.

“Pay, you scoundrel, or I’ll stab you like a beetle!”

I had to pay one gold out of five. Sniffing in frustration, Pinocchio left the accursed tavern.

The night was dark—not enough—black as soot. Everything around was asleep. Only above Pinocchio's head the night bird Splyushka flew inaudibly.

Touching his nose with a soft wing, Splyushka repeated:

Don't believe, don't believe, don't believe!

He stopped in annoyance.

- What do you want?

- Don't trust the cat and the fox...

- Beware of robbers on this road...

ROBBERS ATTACK BURATINO

A greenish light appeared at the edge of the sky - the moon was rising.

A black forest was visible ahead.

Pinocchio went faster. Someone behind him also moved faster.

He started running. Someone ran after him in silent gallops.

He turned around.

Two men were chasing him, wearing bags on their heads with holes cut into them for the eyes.

One, shorter, brandished a knife, the other, taller, held a pistol, whose muzzle expanded like a funnel ...

- Ai-ai! squealed Pinocchio and, like a hare, ran towards the black forest.

- Stop, stop! the robbers shouted.

Pinocchio, although he was desperately frightened, nevertheless guessed - he put four gold coins in his mouth and turned off the road to a hedge overgrown with blackberries ... But then two robbers grabbed him ...

- Trick or Treat!

Pinocchio, as if not understanding what they want from him, only often, often breathed through his nose. The robbers were shaking him by the collar, one was threatening him with a pistol, the other was rummaging through his pockets.

- Where is your money? the tall one growled.

“Money, you brat!” the short one hissed.

- I'll tear it to shreds!

- Take your head off!

Here Pinocchio shook with fear so that the gold coins rang in his mouth.

- That's where his money is! howled the robbers. He has money in his mouth...

One grabbed Pinocchio by the head, the other by the legs. They started throwing it up. But he only clenched his teeth tighter.

Turning him upside down, the robbers banged his head on the ground. But that didn't matter to him either.

The robber, the shorter one, began to unclench his teeth with his wide toe. Just about already, he unclenched ... Pinocchio contrived - with all his strength he bit him on the hand ... But it turned out to be not a hand, but a cat's paw. The robber howled wildly. Pinocchio at this time wriggled out like a lizard, rushed to the fence, dived into the prickly brambles, leaving shreds of pants and jackets on the thorns, climbed over to the other side and rushed to the forest.

At the edge of the forest, the robbers overtook him again. He jumped up, grabbed a swinging branch and climbed up a tree. The robbers are behind him. But bags on their heads prevented them.

Climbing to the top, Pinocchio swayed and jumped to a nearby tree. Robbers are behind him...

But both immediately broke and flopped to the ground.

While they were groaning and scratching, Pinocchio slid off the tree and began to run, moving his legs so quickly that they were not even visible.

The trees cast long shadows from the moon. The whole forest was striped...

Pinocchio either disappeared into the shadows, or his white cap flickered in the moonlight.

So he got to the lake. The moon hung over the mirror water, like in a puppet theater.

Pinocchio rushed to the right - muddy. To the left - swampy ... And behind again the branches crackled ...

- Hold it, hold it!

The robbers were already running up, they were jumping high from the wet grass to see Pinocchio.

- Here he is!

All he had to do was jump into the water. At this time, he saw a white swan sleeping near the shore, with its head under its wing. Pinocchio rushed into the lake, dived and grabbed the swan by the paws.

- Go-go, - the swan cackled, waking up, - what kind of indecent jokes! Leave my paws alone!

The swan opened its huge wings, and at the time when the robbers were already grabbing Pinocchio by the legs sticking out of the water, the swan flew importantly across the lake.

On the other side, Pinocchio released his paws, plopped down, jumped up and over the moss bumps, through the reeds, he started to run straight to the big moon - over the hills.

ROBBERS HANG BURATINO ON A TREE

From fatigue, Pinocchio could hardly move his legs, like a fly on the windowsill in autumn.

Suddenly, through the hazel branches, he saw a beautiful lawn and in the middle of it - a small, moonlit house with four windows. The sun, moon and stars are painted on the shutters. Large azure flowers grew all around.

The paths are strewn with clean sand. A thin jet of water spouted from the fountain, and a striped ball danced in it.

Pinocchio climbed onto the porch on all fours. Knocked in the door. The house was quiet. He knocked harder - they must have been sound asleep there.

At this time, the robbers jumped out of the forest again. They swam across the lake, the water poured from them in streams. Seeing Pinocchio, the short robber hissed vilely like a cat, the tall one yelped like a fox ...

Pinocchio pounded on the door with his hands and feet:

Help, help, good people!

Then a pretty curly-haired girl with a pretty upturned nose leaned out of the window.

Her eyes were closed.

- Girl, open the door, the robbers are chasing me!

- Oh, what nonsense! said the girl, yawning with her pretty mouth. I want to sleep, I can't open my eyes...

She raised her hands, stretched sleepily, and disappeared through the window.

Pinocchio fell in despair with his nose into the sand and pretended to be dead.

The robbers jumped

“Yeah, you can’t leave us now!”

It is hard to imagine what they just did not do to make Pinocchio open his mouth. If during the chase they had not dropped a knife and a pistol, it would have been possible to end the story about the unfortunate Pinocchio at this place.

Finally, the robbers decided to hang him upside down, tied a rope to his legs, and Pinocchio hung on an oak branch ... They sat under the oak, stretching out their wet tails, and waited for the golden ones to fall out of his mouth ...

At dawn, the wind picked up, the leaves rustled on the oak. Pinocchio swayed like a piece of wood. Robbers are tired of sitting on wet tails...

“Hang up, my friend, until the evening,” they said ominously and went to look for some roadside tavern.

GIRL WITH BLUE HAIR RETURNS BURATINO TO LIFE

Behind the branches of the oak, where Pinocchio hung, the dawn spread. The grass in the clearing turned gray, the azure flowers were covered with dew drops.

The girl with curly blue hair leaned out the window again, wiped her sleepy pretty eyes and opened them wide.

This girl was the most beautiful puppet in the puppet theater of Signor Carabas Barabas.

Unable to endure the rude antics of the owner, she ran away from the theater and settled in a secluded house in a gray meadow.

Animals, birds, and some of the insects were very fond of her, probably because she was a well-mannered and meek girl.

The animals supplied her with everything necessary for life.

The mole brought nutritious roots.

Mice - sugar, cheese and pieces of sausage.

The noble poodle dog Artemon brought rolls.

Magpie stole chocolates in silver papers for her at the market.

The frogs brought lemonade in nutshells.

Hawk - fried game.

May beetles are different berries.

Butterflies - pollen from flowers - powdered.

The caterpillars squirted out toothpaste to lubricate creaking doors.

Swallows destroyed wasps and mosquitoes near the house ...

So, opening her eyes, the girl with blue hair immediately saw Pinocchio, hanging upside down.

She put her hands to her cheeks and cried out:

- Ah, ah, ah!

Under the window, fluttering his ears, appeared the noble poodle Artemon. He had just cut his back half of his torso, which he did every day. The curly hair on the front half of the body was combed, the tassel at the end of the tail was tied with a black bow. On the front paw is a silver watch.

- I'm ready!

Artemon turned his nose to the side and lifted his upper lip above his white teeth.

“Call someone, Artemon!” – said the girl. - We need to remove poor Pinocchio, take it to the house and invite a doctor ...

Artemon was ready to spin so that wet sand flew from his hind legs ... He rushed to the anthill, woke up the entire population with barking and sent four hundred ants to gnaw through the rope on which Pinocchio was hanging.

Four hundred serious ants crawled in single file along a narrow path, climbed an oak tree and gnawed through the rope.

Artemon picked up the falling Pinocchio with his front paws and carried him into the house ... Putting Pinocchio on the bed, he rushed at a dog gallop into the thicket and immediately brought from there the famous doctor Owl, the paramedic Zhaba and the folk healer Mantis, who looked like a dry twig.

The owl put her ear to Pinocchio's chest.

“The patient is more dead than alive,” she whispered, and turned her head back one hundred and eighty degrees.

The toad kneaded Pinocchio with a wet paw for a long time. Thinking, she looked with bulging eyes at once in different directions. Splashed with a big mouth:

The patient is more alive than dead...

The folk healer Praying Mantis, with his hands as dry as blades of grass, began to touch Pinocchio.
“One of two things,” he whispered, “either the patient is alive or he is dead. If he is alive, he will remain alive or he will not remain alive. If he is dead, he can be revived or not revived.

“Shsssssssss,” said the Owl, flapping its soft wings and flying away into the dark attic.

All of Toad's warts swelled with anger.

What disgusting ignorance! - she croaked and, slapping her stomach, jumped into the damp basement.

The healer Mantis, just in case, pretended to be a dried-up twig and fell out of the window.

The girl threw up her pretty hands.

- Well, how can I treat him, citizens?

“Castor oil,” Toad croaked from underground.

- Castor oil! laughed the Owl in the attic contemptuously.

“Either castor oil or not castor oil,” Mantis rasped outside the window.

Then, skinned and bruised, the unfortunate Pinocchio groaned:

- No need for castor oil, I feel very good!

The blue-haired girl leaned over him thoughtfully.

- Pinocchio, I beg you - close your eyes, hold your nose and drink.

“I don’t want, I don’t want, I don’t want!”

I'll give you a piece of sugar...

Immediately, a white mouse climbed up the blanket onto the bed, it was holding a piece of sugar.

“You will get it if you obey me,” said the girl.

- Give me one saaaaahar ...

- Yes, understand, - if you do not drink the medicine, you can die ...

"I'd rather die than drink castor oil..."

- Hold your nose and look at the ceiling ... One, two, three.

She poured castor oil into Pinocchio's mouth, immediately slipped him a piece of sugar and kissed him.

- That's all...

The noble Artemon, who loved everything prosperous, grabbed his tail with his teeth, spun under the window, like a whirlwind of a thousand paws, a thousand ears, a thousand shining eyes.

GIRL WITH BLUE HAIR WANTS TO EDUCATE BURATINO

The next morning Pinocchio woke up cheerful and healthy as if nothing had happened.

A girl with blue hair was waiting for him in the garden, sitting at a small table covered with doll dishes,

Her face was freshly washed, her upturned nose and cheeks covered in pollen.

While waiting for Pinocchio, she angrily brushed off the annoying butterflies:

- Yes, well, you, in fact ...

She looked at the wooden boy from head to toe and grimaced. She told him to sit down at the table and poured cocoa into a tiny cup.

Pinocchio sat down at the table, twisted his leg under him. He stuffed almond cakes whole into his mouth and swallowed without chewing.

He climbed right into the vase of jam with his fingers and sucked them with pleasure.

When the girl turned away to toss a few crumbs at the elderly ground beetle, he grabbed the coffee pot and drank all the cocoa from the spout. He choked and spilled cocoa on the tablecloth.

Then the girl said to him sternly:

- Pull your leg out from under you and lower it under the table. Do not eat with your hands, there are spoons and forks for this.

She fluttered her eyelashes in outrage.

- Who is raising you, please tell me?

- When dad Carlo brings up, and when no one.

“Now I will take care of your upbringing, be calm.

"That's so stuck!" thought Pinocchio.

On the grass around the house, the poodle Artemon was rushing after small birds. When they perched on the trees, he lifted his head, jumped up and barked with a howl.

"He's good at chasing birds," Pinocchio thought enviously.

From a decent sitting at the table, goosebumps crawled all over his body.

At last the painful breakfast was over. The girl told him to wipe the cocoa from his nose. She straightened the folds and bows on the dress, took Pinocchio by the hand and led her into the house - to educate.

And the merry poodle Artemon rushed about the grass and barked; the birds, not in the least afraid of him, whistled merrily; the breeze flew merrily over the trees.

“Take off your rags, they will give you a decent jacket and pants,” said the girl.

Four tailors - a single master, a gloomy crayfish Sheptallo, a gray woodpecker with a tuft, a large stag beetle and a mouse Lisetta - sewed a beautiful boyish costume from old girls' dresses. Sheptallo cut, the Woodpecker poked holes and sewed with its beak. The stag twisted the threads with its hind legs, Lisette gnawed through them.

Pinocchio was ashamed to put on girlish rags, but I still had to change clothes. Sniffling, he slipped four gold coins into the pocket of his new jacket.

Now sit down with your hands in front of you. Do not stoop, - said the girl and took a piece of chalk. - We will do arithmetic ... You have two apples in your pocket ...

Pinocchio winked slyly:

- You're lying, not a single one ...

“I say,” the girl repeated patiently, “suppose you have two apples in your pocket. Someone took one apple from you. How many apples do you have left?

- Think carefully.

Pinocchio frowned, thought so well.

- Why?

“I won’t give Nekt an apple, even if he fights!”

“You don’t have any talent for mathematics,” the girl said chagrinedly. Let's take a dictation.

She raised her pretty eyes to the ceiling.

- Write: "And the rose fell on the paw of Azor." Have you written? Now read this magic phrase in reverse.

We already know that Pinocchio never even saw a pen and an inkwell.

The girl said: “Write,” and he immediately stuck his nose into the inkwell and was terribly frightened when an ink blot fell from his nose onto the paper.

The girl threw up her hands, she even burst into tears.

- You nasty rascal, you should be punished!

She leaned out the window.

- Artemon, take Pinocchio to a dark closet!

The noble Artemon appeared at the door, showing white teeth. He grabbed Pinocchio by the jacket and, backing away, dragged him into the closet, where large spiders hung in the corners in the cobwebs. He locked him there, growled to give him a good scare, and again rushed off after the birds.

The girl, throwing herself on the doll's lace bed, wept because she had to act so cruelly to the wooden boy. But if you have already taken up education, you need to bring the matter to the end.

Pinocchio grumbled in a dark closet:

- What a fool girl ... A teacher was found, you think ... She herself has a porcelain head, a torso stuffed with cotton ...

A thin creak was heard in the closet, as if someone were gnashing small teeth:

- Listen, listen...

He lifted his ink-stained nose and in the darkness he could make out a bat hanging upside down from the ceiling.

- What do you need?

- Wait for the night, Pinocchio.

“Hush, hush,” the spiders rustled in the corners, “do not shake our nets, do not scare away our flies ...

Pinocchio sat down on the broken pot, resting his cheek. He was in trouble and worse than this, but he resented the injustice.

“Is this how they bring up children? .. This is torment, not education ... So don’t sit and eat like that ... The child, maybe he hasn’t mastered the primer yet,” she immediately grabs the inkwell birds - nothing to him ...

The bat squeaked again:

- Wait for the night, Pinocchio, I will take you to the Land of Fools, where your friends are waiting for you - a cat and a fox, happiness and fun. Wait for the night

BURATINO FINDS IN THE LAND OF FOOLS

A girl with blue hair walked up to the closet door.

- Pinocchio, my friend, are you repenting at last?

He was very angry, besides, he had something else on his mind.

- I really need to repent! Don't wait...

“Then you will have to sit in the closet until the morning ...

The girl sighed bitterly and left.

The night has come. The owl laughed in the attic. The toad crawled out of the underground to slap its belly on the reflections of the moon in the puddles.

The girl lay down to sleep in a lace bed and sobbed for a long time in distress, falling asleep.

Artemon, with his nose under his tail, was sleeping at the door of her bedroom.

In the house, the pendulum clock struck midnight.

The bat flew off the ceiling.

- It's time, Pinocchio, run! squeaked in his ear. - In the corner of the closet there is a rat passage to the underground ... I'm waiting for you on the lawn.

She flew out the dormer window. Pinocchio rushed to the corner of the closet, getting tangled in cobwebs. The spiders hissed angrily after him.

He crawled through the rat passage into the underground. The move was getting narrower and narrower. Pinocchio was now barely squeezing underground ... And suddenly he flew headfirst into the underground.

There he almost fell into a rat trap, stepped on the tail of a snake that had just drunk milk from a jug in the dining room, and jumped out through the cat's hole onto the lawn.

A mouse flew noiselessly over the azure flowers.

- Follow me, Pinocchio, to the Land of Fools!

Bats do not have a tail, so the mouse does not fly straight, like birds, but up and down - on membranous wings, up and down, like a devil; her mouth is always open, so as not to waste time, along the way she catches, bites, swallows alive mosquitoes and night butterflies.

Pinocchio ran after her up to her neck in the grass; wet gruel lashed his cheeks.

Suddenly the mouse darted high to the round moon and from there shouted to someone:

- I brought it!

Pinocchio immediately flew head over heels down a steep cliff. Rolled, rolled and plopped into mugs.

Scratched, mouth full of sand, sat up with bulging eyes.

- Wow!..

In front of him stood Basilio the cat and Alice the fox.

“The brave, brave Pinocchio must have fallen from the moon,” said the fox.

“It’s strange how he survived,” the cat said grimly.

Pinocchio was delighted with his old acquaintances, although it seemed suspicious to him that the cat's right paw was tied with a rag, and the fox's entire tail was stained with swamp mud.

- There is no silver lining, - said the fox, - but you ended up in the Land of Fools ...

And she pointed with her paw at the broken bridge over the dry stream. On the other side of the stream, among the heaps of garbage, dilapidated houses, stunted trees with broken branches and bell towers slanting in different directions were visible ...

“The famous hare-fur jackets for Papa Carlo are sold in this city,” the fox sang, licking his lips, “abcs with colored pictures ... Oh, what sweet pies and lollipop cockerels are sold on sticks! You haven't lost your money yet, chubby Pinocchio, have you?

Fox Alice helped him to his feet; thinking paw, cleaned his jacket and led him across the broken bridge. Basilio the cat hobbled grimly behind.

It was already the middle of the night, but no one slept in the City of Fools.

Skinny dogs in burrs roamed along the crooked, dirty street, yawning from hunger:

- Heh heh...

Goats with torn hair on their sides nibbled on the dusty grass by the sidewalk, shaking their stubs of tails.

- B-e-e-e-e-yes...

Hanging her head, a cow stood; her bones stuck through her skin.

“Muuuchenie…” she repeated thoughtfully.

Plucked sparrows sat on the hummocks of mud - they did not fly away - at least crush them with your feet ...

Chickens with torn tails staggered from exhaustion ...

But at the crossroads, ferocious police bulldogs in three-cornered hats and prickly collars stood at attention.

They shouted at the hungry and mangy inhabitants:

- Come on! Keep right! Don't delay!..

The fat Fox, the governor of this city, was walking, importantly lifting his nose, and with him was a haughty fox, holding a night violet flower in its paw.

Fox Alice whispered:

– Those who sowed money on the Field of Miracles walk around... Today is the last night when you can sow. By morning you will have collected a lot of money and bought all sorts of things ... Let's go quickly.

The fox and the cat led Pinocchio to a wasteland, where broken pots, torn shoes, holey galoshes and rags were scattered ... Interrupting each other, they chattered:

- Dig a hole.

- Put gold.

- Sprinkle with salt.

- Scoop up from a puddle, fields well.

Don't forget to say "crex, fex, pex"...

Pinocchio scratched his ink-stained nose.

“My God, we don’t even want to look where you bury the money!” - said the fox.

- God save! - said the cat.

They moved a little and hid behind a pile of rubbish.

Pinocchio dug a hole. He said three times in a whisper: "Crex, fex, pex", put four gold coins in the hole, fell asleep, took a pinch of salt from his pocket, sprinkled it on top. He took a handful of water from a puddle and poured it.

And sat down to wait for the tree to grow...

THE POLICE GRAB BURATINO AND DO NOT ALLOW HIM TO SAY A SINGLE WORD IN HIS EXCUSE

Fox Alice thought that Pinocchio would go to bed, but he was still sitting on the garbage heap, patiently stretching his nose.

Then Alice ordered the cat to stay on guard, and she ran to the nearest police station.

There, in a smoky room, at a table covered in ink, the bulldog on duty was snoring thickly.

- Mr. courageous duty officer, is it possible to detain one homeless thief? A terrible danger threatens all the rich and respectable citizens of this city.

The bulldog on duty barked so awake that a puddle appeared under the fox with fear.

- Worrishka! Gum!

The fox explained that a dangerous thief-Pinocchio was found in a wasteland.

The attendant, still growling, called. Two Doberman Pinschers burst in, detectives who never slept, did not trust anyone, and even suspected themselves of criminal intent.

The duty officer ordered them to deliver a dangerous criminal alive or dead to the department.

The detectives answered shortly:

And they rushed to the wasteland with a special cunning gallop, bringing their hind legs to the side.

For the last hundred steps they crawled on their stomachs and at once rushed at Pinocchio, grabbed him under the armpits and dragged him to the department. Pinocchio dangled his legs, begged to be told - for what? for what? The detectives replied:

- They'll figure it out...

The fox and the cat wasted no time digging out four gold coins. The fox began to divide the money so deftly that the cat had one coin, she had three.

The cat silently dug its claws into her face.

The fox hugged him tightly. And for a while they both rolled around in a ball in the wasteland. Cat and fox hair flew in tufts in the moonlight.

Having peeled off each other's sides, they divided the coins equally and disappeared from the city that same night.

Meanwhile, the detectives brought Pinocchio to the department.

The duty bulldog got out from behind the table and searched his pockets himself.

Finding nothing but a piece of sugar and crumbs of almond cake, the duty officer sniffed bloodthirstyly at Pinocchio:

“You committed three crimes, scoundrel: you are homeless, without a passport and unemployed. Take him outside the city and drown him in a pond.

The detectives replied:

Pinocchio tried to tell about Papa Carlo, about his adventures. All in vain! The detectives picked him up, dragged him at a gallop outside the city, and threw him off the bridge into a deep, dirty pond full of frogs, leeches, and water beetle larvae.

Pinocchio plopped into the water, and the green duckweed closed over him.

BURATINO MEETS THE RESIDENTS OF THE POND, LEARNS ABOUT THE MISSING OF FOUR GOLD COINS AND RECEIVES A GOLD KEY FROM THE TURTLE TORTILA

We must not forget that Pinocchio was wooden and therefore could not drown. Nevertheless, he was so frightened that he lay on the water for a long time, all covered with green duckweed.

The inhabitants of the pond gathered around him: black-bellied tadpoles, known for their stupidity, water beetles with oar-like hind legs, leeches, larvae that ate everything that came across, right up to themselves, and, finally, various small ciliates.

The tadpoles tickled him with hard lips and munched on the tassel on his cap with pleasure. The leeches crawled into the pocket of the jacket. One water beetle climbed several times on his nose, sticking high out of the water, and from there threw himself into the water - like a swallow.

Small ciliates, wriggling and hastily trembling with the hairs that replaced their arms and legs, tried to pick up something edible, but they themselves fell into the mouth of the larvae of the water beetle.

Pinocchio was finally tired of this, he slapped his heels on the water:

– Let's go away! I'm not your dead cat.

The inhabitants shied away in all directions. He rolled over onto his stomach and swam.

Large-mouthed frogs sat on the round leaves of water lilies under the moonlight, staring at Pinocchio with bulging eyes.

“Some kind of cuttlefish is swimming,” one croaked.

“Nose like a stork,” croaked another.

"It's a sea frog," croaked a third.

Pinocchio, in order to rest, climbed onto a large leaf of a water lily. He sat down on it, tightly clasped his knees and said, chattering his teeth:

- All the boys and girls drank milk, sleep in warm beds, I alone sit on a wet leaf ... Give me something to eat, frogs.

Frogs are known to be very cold-blooded. But it is vain to think that they have no heart. When Pinocchio, chattering his teeth, began to talk about his unfortunate adventures, the frogs jumped up one after another, flashed their hind legs and dived to the bottom of the pond.

They brought back a dead beetle, a dragonfly wing, a piece of mud, a grain of crustacean caviar, and a few rotten roots.

Putting all these edible things in front of Pinocchio, the frogs again jumped onto the leaves of water lilies and sat like stone, raising their large-mouthed heads with bulging eyes.

Pinocchio sniffed, tried the frog treat.

“I was sick,” he said, “what disgusting! ..

Then the frogs again all at once - flopped into the water ...

The green duckweed on the surface of the pond hesitated, and a large, terrible snake head appeared. She swam to the leaf where Pinocchio was sitting.

The tassel on his cap stood on end. He almost fell into the water from fear.

But it wasn't a snake. It was not afraid of anyone, an elderly turtle Tortila with blind eyes.

- Oh, you brainless, gullible boy with short thoughts! Tortila said. - You should sit at home and study hard! Has brought you to the Land of Fools!

- So I wanted to get more gold coins for Papa Carlo ... I'm a very good and prudent boy ...

“The cat and the fox stole your money,” said the turtle. - They ran past the pond, stopped to drink, and I heard how they boasted that they dug up your money, and how they fought over it ... Oh, you brainless, gullible fool with short thoughts! ..

“You don’t need to swear,” Pinocchio grumbled, “here you need to help a person ... What am I going to do now? Oh-oh-oh!.. How can I get back to Papa Carlo? Ah ah ah!..

He rubbed his eyes with his fists and whimpered so plaintively that the frogs suddenly sighed all at once:

– Uh-uh... Tortila, help the man.

The turtle gazed at the moon for a long time, remembering something...

“Once I helped one person in the same way, and then he made tortoiseshell combs out of my grandmother and my grandfather,” she said. And again she gazed at the moon for a long time. - Well, sit here, little man, and I will crawl along the bottom - maybe I will find one useful little thing.

She sucked in the snake's head and slowly sank under the water.

The frogs whispered:

- Turtle Tortila knows a great secret.

It's been a long, long time.

The moon was already leaning behind the hills...

The green duckweed hesitated again, the tortoise appeared, holding a small golden key in its mouth.

She put it on a leaf at Pinocchio's feet.

- Brainless, gullible fool with short thoughts, - said Tortila, - do not grieve that the fox and the cat stole gold coins from you. I give you this key. It was dropped to the bottom of the pond by a man with a beard so long that he put it in his pocket so that it would not interfere with his walking. Oh, how he asked me to find this key at the bottom! ..

Tortila sighed, was silent, and sighed again so that bubbles came out of the water ...

“But I didn’t help him, I was very angry at the time with people for my grandmother and my grandfather, who were made into tortoiseshell combs. The bearded man talked a lot about this key, but I forgot everything. I only remember that I need to open some kind of door for them and this will bring happiness ...

Pinocchio's heart began to beat, his eyes lit up. He immediately forgot all his misfortunes. He pulled leeches out of his jacket pocket, put the key there, politely thanked the turtle Tortila and the frogs, rushed into the water and swam to the shore.

When he appeared like a black shadow on the edge of the shore, the frogs hooted after him:

- Pinocchio, don't lose the key!

BURATINO RUNS FROM THE COUNTRY OF FOOLS AND MEETS A FRIEND IN UNFORTUNATE

Turtle Tortila did not show the way from the Land of Fools.

Pinocchio ran wherever his eyes looked. Stars glittered behind the black trees. Rocks hung over the road. A cloud of fog lay in the gorge.

Suddenly, a gray lump jumped ahead of Pinocchio. Now I heard the barking of dogs.

Pinocchio clung to the rock. Two police bulldogs from the City of Fools rushed past him, snuffling furiously.

A gray lump darted sideways from the road - onto a slope. Bulldogs are behind him.

When the stomping and barking had gone far, Pinocchio began to run so fast that the stars quickly swam behind the black branches.

Suddenly a gray lump again jumped the road. Pinocchio managed to see that it was a hare, and on top of it, holding him by the ears, a pale little man was sitting.

Pebbles fell from the slope - the bulldogs after the hare jumped the road, and again everything was quiet.

Pinocchio ran so fast that the stars were now rushing like crazy behind the black branches.

For the third time, the gray hare jumped over the road. The little man, hitting his head on a branch, fell off his back and plopped right under Pinocchio's feet.

- Rrr-gaff! Hold it! - the police bulldogs galloped after the hare: their eyes were so filled with anger that they did not notice either Pinocchio or the pale little man.

- Farewell, Malvina, farewell forever! - the little man squeaked in a whining voice.

Pinocchio leaned over him and was surprised to see that it was Pierrot in a white shirt with long sleeves.

He was lying head down in the wheel furrow and, obviously, considered himself already dead and squeaked out a mysterious phrase: "Farewell, Malvina, farewell forever!", parting with his life.

Pinocchio began to shake him, pulled him by the leg, - Pierrot did not move. Then Pinocchio found a leech that had fallen into his pocket and put it to the nose of a lifeless little man.

The leech without thinking twice bit him by the nose. Pierrot quickly sat up, shook his head, tore off the leech and groaned:

- Oh, I'm still alive, it turns out!

Pinocchio grabbed his cheeks, white as tooth powder, kissed him, asked:

- How did you get here? Why did you ride the gray hare?

“Pinocchio, Pinocchio,” replied Pierrot, looking around fearfully, “hide me as soon as possible ... After all, the dogs were not chasing a gray hare, they were chasing me ... Signor Karabas Barabas pursues me day and night. He hired police dogs in the City of Fools and vowed to take me dead or alive.

In the distance, the dogs barked again. Pinocchio grabbed Piero by the sleeve and dragged him into a thicket of mimosa, covered with flowers in the form of round yellow fragrant pimples.

There, lying on the rotting leaves. Pierrot began to tell him in a whisper:

- You see, Pinocchio, one night the wind was noisy, it was raining like a bucket ...

PIERO TELLS HOW HE, RIDING A HARE, HAS BEEN INTO THE LAND OF FOOLS

- You see, Pinocchio, one night the wind was noisy, it was raining like a bucket. Signor Karabas Barabas sat near the hearth and smoked a pipe. All the dolls are already asleep. I didn't sleep alone. I was thinking about a girl with blue hair...

- Found someone to think about, you fool! interrupted Pinocchio. - I ran away from this girl last night - from a closet with spiders ...

- How? Have you seen the girl with blue hair? Have you seen my Malvina?

- Think - unseen! Crybaby and pestered ...

Pierrot jumped up, waving his arms.

- Lead me to her... If you help me find Malvina, I will reveal the secret of the golden key to you...

- How! Buratino shouted joyfully. Do you know the secret of the golden key?

- I know where the key is, how to get it, I know that they need to open one door ... I overheard the secret, and therefore Signor Karabas Barabas is looking for me with police dogs.

Pinocchio was terribly tempted to boast right away that the mysterious key was in his pocket. In order not to let it slip, he pulled off the cap from his head and stuffed it into his mouth.

Piero begged to be taken to Malvina. Pinocchio, using his fingers, explained to this fool that it was now dark and dangerous, but when it dawned, they would run to the girl.

Having forced Pierrot to hide again under the mimosa bushes, Pinocchio spoke in a woolly voice, as his mouth was covered with a cap:

- Check...

- So, - one night the wind roared ...

- You've already been talking about this...

“So,” continued Pierrot, “you understand, I’m awake and suddenly I hear: someone knocked loudly on the window.

Signor Karabas Barabas grumbled:

“Who did it bring in this dog-like weather?”

- It's me - Duremar, - they answered outside the window, - a seller of medicinal leeches. "Let me dry myself by the fire."

You know, I really wanted to see what kind of sellers of medicinal leeches are. I slowly pushed back the corner of the curtain and poked my head into the room. And I see:

Signor Karabas Barabas got up from his chair, stepped on his beard as usual, cursed and opened the door.

A long, wet, wet man entered with a small, small face, as wrinkled as a morel mushroom. He was wearing an old green overcoat, with tongs, hooks, and hairpins dangling from his belt. In his hands he held a tin can and a net.

“If your stomach hurts,” he said, bowing as if his back was broken in the middle, “if you have a severe headache or a pounding in your ears, I can put half a dozen excellent leeches behind your ears.

Signor Karabas Barabas grumbled:

“To hell with the devil, no leeches!” You can dry by the fire as much as you like.

Duremar stood with his back to the hearth.

Immediately, steam began to rise from his green coat and smell of mud.

“The leech trade is going badly,” he said again. - For a piece of cold pork and a glass of wine, I'm ready to put a dozen of the most beautiful leeches to your thigh, if you have chunks in your bones ...

“To hell with the devil, no leeches!” shouted Karabas Barabas. - Eat pork and drink wine.

Duremar began to eat pork, his face contracted and stretched like rubber. After eating and drinking, he asked for a pinch of tobacco.

“Signor, I am full and warm,” he said. “To repay your hospitality, I will tell you a secret.

Signor Karabas Barabas snorted on his pipe and answered:

There is only one secret in the world that I want to know. Everything else I spit and sneezed.

“Signor,” Duremar said again, “I know a great secret, it was told to me by the tortoise Tortila.

At these words Karabas Barabas bulged his eyes, jumped up, got tangled in his beard, flew straight at the frightened Duremar, pressed him to his stomach and roared like a bull:

- Dearest Duremar, most precious Duremar, speak, speak quickly, what the turtle Tortila has told you!

Then Duremar told him the following story:

"I caught leeches in a dirty pond near the City of Fools. For four soldi a day I hired one poor man - he undressed, entered the pond up to his neck and stood there until the leeches were sucked on his naked body.

Then he went ashore, I collected leeches from him and again sent him into the pond.

When we had fished out a sufficient amount in this way, a snake's head suddenly appeared from the water.

“Listen, Duremar,” said the head, “you frightened the entire population of our beautiful pond, you muddy the water, you don’t let me rest in peace after breakfast... When will this disgrace end?..

I saw that it was an ordinary tortoise, and, not at all afraid, answered:

Until I catch all the leeches in your dirty puddle...

“I am ready to pay you off, Duremar, so that you leave our pond alone and never come back.”

"Then I began to mock the turtle:

- Oh, you old floating suitcase, stupid aunt Tortila, how can you buy me off? Is it with your bone lid where you hide your paws and head ... I would sell your lid for scallops ...

The turtle turned green with anger and said to me:

“There is a magic key at the bottom of the pond... I know one person – he is ready to do everything in the world to get this key...”

Before Duremar had time to utter these words, Karabas Barabas yelled at the top of his lungs:

This person is me! I! I! Dear Duremar, why didn't you take the key from the Turtle?

- Here's another! - answered Duremar and collected wrinkles all over his face, so that it looked like a boiled morel. - Here's another! - to exchange the most excellent leeches for some kind of key ... In short, we quarreled with the turtle, and she, raising her paw from the water, said:

“I swear, neither you nor anyone else will receive the magic key. I swear - only the person who makes the entire population of the pond to ask me for it will receive it ...

With its paw raised, the turtle plunged into the water.

- Without wasting a second, run to the Land of Fools! shouted Karabas Barabas, hurriedly stuffing the end of his beard into his pocket, grabbing his hat and lantern. - I'll sit on the bank of the pond. I will smile sweetly. I will beg frogs, tadpoles, water bugs to ask for a turtle... I promise them one and a half million of the fattest flies... I will weep like a lonely cow, moan like a sick chicken, cry like a crocodile. I will kneel before the smallest frog... I must have the key! I will go into the city, I will enter a certain house, I will penetrate into a room under the stairs ... I will find a small door - everyone walks past it, and no one notices it. I put the key in the keyhole...

“At this time, you see, Pinocchio,” Pierrot said, sitting under a mimosa on rotten leaves, “I became so interested that I leaned all out from behind the curtain.

Signor Karabas Barabas saw me.

"You're eavesdropping, you scoundrel!" - And he rushed to grab me and throw me into the fire, but again he got tangled in his beard and with a terrible roar, overturning chairs, stretched out on the floor.

I do not remember how I found myself outside the window, how I climbed over the fence. In the darkness the wind roared and the rain whipped.

Above my head, a black cloud lit up with lightning, and ten paces behind me I saw Karabas Barabas and a leech seller running... I thought: "I'm dead", I stumbled, fell on something soft and warm, grabbed someone's ears .. .

It was a gray hare. He squealed with fear, jumped high, but I held him tightly by the ears, and we galloped in the dark through fields, vineyards, orchards.

When the hare got tired and sat down, resentfully chewing his split lip, I kissed him on the forehead.

- Well, please, let's ride a little more, gray ...

The hare sighed, and again we raced unknown somewhere to the right, then to the left ...

When the clouds were blown away and the moon rose, I saw a town under the mountain with bell towers leaning in different directions.

On the way to the city, Karabas Barabas and a seller of leeches ran.

Hare said:

- Ehe-he, here it is, hare happiness! They go to the City of Fools to hire police dogs. Done, we're gone!

The hare lost heart. He buried his nose in his paws and hung his ears.

I begged, I cried, I even bowed at his feet. The hare did not move.

But when two snub-nosed bulldogs with black bandages on their right paws jumped out of the city at a gallop, the hare trembled finely with all his skin - I barely had time to jump on him, and he gave a desperate rattle through the forest ...

You yourself saw the rest, Pinocchio.

Pierrot finished the story, and Pinocchio asked him carefully:

- And in what house, in what room under the stairs is there a door that opens with a key?

– Karabas Barabas didn’t have time to tell about it... Ah, do we care, – the key is at the bottom of the lake... We will never see happiness...

– Did you see this? - Buratino shouted into his ear. And, pulling a key out of his pocket, he turned it over in front of Pierrot's nose. - Here he is!

BURATINO AND PIERO COME TO MALVINA, BUT THEY NOW HAVE TO RUN TOGETHER WITH MALVINA AND ARTEMON THE Poodle

When the sun rose over the rocky mountain peak, Pinocchio and Pierrot crawled out from under the bush and ran across the field, through which the bat had taken Pinocchio away from the house of the girl with blue hair to the Land of Fools the previous night.

It was funny to look at Pierrot - he was in such a hurry to see Malvina as soon as possible.

“Listen,” he asked every fifteen seconds, “Pinocchio, will she be happy with me?”

- How do I know...

Fifteen seconds later:

- Listen, Pinocchio, what if she is not happy?

- How do I know...

Finally they saw a white house with sun, moon and stars painted on the shutters.

Smoke rose from the chimney. Above it floated a small cloud that looked like a cat's head.

The poodle Artemon sat on the porch and from time to time growled at this cloud.

Pinocchio did not really want to return to the girl with blue hair. But he was hungry and even from afar sniffed the smell of boiled milk through his nose.

“If the girl decides to educate us again, we’ll drink milk, and I won’t stay here for no reason.

At this time, Malvina left the house. In one hand she held a china coffee pot, in the other a basket of biscuits.

Her eyes were still tear-stained - she was sure that the rats dragged Pinocchio out of the closet and ate it.

As soon as she sat down at the doll table on the sandy path, the azure flowers wavered, the butterflies rose above them like white and yellow leaves, and Pinocchio and Pierrot appeared.

Malvina opened her eyes so wide that both wooden boys could freely jump there.

Pierrot, at the sight of Malvina, began to mutter words - so incoherent and stupid that we do not give them here.

Pinocchio said as if nothing had happened:

- So I brought him - educate ...

Malvina finally realized that this was not a dream.

– Ah, what happiness! she whispered, but immediately added in an adult voice: “Boys, go immediately to wash and brush your teeth.” Artemon, take the boys to the well.

“You saw,” Pinocchio grumbled, “she has a quirk in her head - to wash, brush her teeth!” Anyone from the world will live clean ...

Yet they washed. Artemon cleaned his jackets with a brush at the end of his tail...

We sat at the table. Pinocchio stuffed food on both cheeks. Pierrot didn't even take a bite of the cake; he looked at Malvina as if she were made of almond paste. She finally got tired of it.

“Well,” she said to him, “what did you see on my face? Have breakfast, please.

- Malvina, - Piero answered, - I haven’t eaten anything for a long time, I compose poetry ...

Pinocchio shook with laughter.

Malvina was surprised and opened her eyes wide again.

- In that case, read your poems.

With a pretty hand she propped her cheek and raised her pretty eyes to a cloud that looked like a cat's head.

Malvina fled to foreign lands,
Malvina is gone, my fiancee...
I'm crying, I don't know where to go...
Wouldn't it be better to part with the puppet life?

Her eyes bulging terribly, she said:

- Tonight, the turtle Tortila, who has come out of her mind, told Karabas Barabas everything about the golden key ...

Malvina screamed in fright, although she did not understand anything. Pierrot, absent-minded, like all poets, uttered a few senseless exclamations, which we do not reproduce here. But Pinocchio immediately jumped up and began to stuff cookies, sugar and sweets into his pockets.

- Let's run as soon as possible. If police dogs bring Karabas Barabas here, we are dead.

Malvina turned as pale as the wing of a white butterfly. Pierrot, thinking that she was dying, knocked over a coffee pot on her, and Malvina's pretty dress turned out to be covered in cocoa.

Artemon jumped up with a loud bark—and he had to wash Malvina’s dresses—grabbed Pierrot by the scruff of the neck and began shaking him until Pierrot stuttered:

- Enough, please...

The toad looked with bulging eyes at this fuss and again said:

- Karabas Barabas with police dogs will be here in a quarter of an hour.

Malvina ran to change clothes. Pierrot was desperately wringing his hands and even tried to throw himself backwards onto the sandy path. Artemon was dragging bundles with household items. Doors slammed. The sparrows chattered frantically on the bush. Swallows swept over the very earth. The owl laughed wildly in the attic to increase the panic.

Pinocchio alone did not lose his head. He loaded Artemon with two bundles with the most necessary things. They put Malvina on the knots, dressed in a pretty traveling dress. He told Pierrot to hold on to the dog's tail. He took the lead:

– No panic! Let's run!

When they - that is, Pinocchio, courageously striding ahead of the dog, Malvina, bouncing on the knots, and behind Pierrot, stuffed instead of common sense with stupid verses - when they came out of the thick grass onto a smooth field, - the disheveled beard of Karabas Barabas poked out of the forest . He shielded his eyes from the sun with his palm and looked around.

A TERRIBLE FIGHT AT THE EDGE OF THE FOREST

Signor Carabas kept two police dogs on a leash. Seeing the fugitives on a flat field, he gaped his toothy mouth.

– Aha! he shouted and released the dogs.

The ferocious dogs first began to throw the ground with their hind legs. They didn't even growl, they even looked in the other direction, and not at the fugitives - they were so proud of their strength.

Then the dogs slowly went to the place where Pinocchio, Artemon, Piero and Malvina stopped in horror.

Everything seemed to be dead. Karabas Barabas walked clubfoot after the police dogs. Every minute his beard slipped out of his jacket pocket and tangled under his feet.

Artemon tucked his tail and growled angrily. Malvina shook her hands.

- I'm afraid, I'm afraid!

Piero lowered his sleeves and looked at Malvina, confident that it was all over.

Pinocchio was the first to come to his senses.

“Pierrot,” he shouted, “take the girl by the hand, run to the lake, where the swans are! .. Artemon, throw off the bales, take off your watch, you will fight!”

Malvina, as soon as she heard this courageous order, jumped off Artemon and, picking up her dress, ran to the lake. Pierrot is behind her.

Artemon dropped the bundles, took off his watch and the bow from the tip of his tail. He bared his white teeth and jumped to the left, jumped to the right, straightening his muscles, and also began throwing the ground with his hind legs with a pull.

Pinocchio climbed up the resinous trunk to the top of an Italian pine tree that stood alone on the field, and from there he shouted, howled, squealed at the top of his lungs:

- Animals, birds, insects! Ours are being beaten! Save the innocent little wooden men!..

The police bulldogs seemed to have just now seen Artemon and rushed at him at once. The nimble poodle dodged and with his teeth bit one dog by the stub of the tail, the other by the thigh.

The bulldogs turned clumsily and charged at the poodle again. He jumped high, letting them pass under him, and again managed to peel one side, the other - the back.

For the third time, the bulldogs rushed at him. Then Artemon, dropping his tail on the grass, rushed around in circles across the field, now letting the police dogs close, then throwing himself aside in front of their very noses ...

The snub-nosed bulldogs were now really angry, snuffling, running after Artemon slowly, stubbornly, ready to die better, but to get to the fussy poodle's throat.

Meanwhile, Karabas Barabas approached the Italian pine, grabbed the trunk and began to shake:

- Get down, get down!

Pinocchio clung to a branch with his hands, feet, teeth. Karabas Barabas shook the tree so that all the cones on the branches swayed.

On the Italian pine, the cones are prickly and heavy, the size of a small melon. To fix such a bump on the head - so oh-oh!

Pinocchio barely kept on the swinging branch. He saw that Artemon had already stuck out his tongue with a red rag and was jumping more and more slowly.

- Give me the key! yelled Karabas Barabas, opening his mouth.

Pinocchio crawled along the branch, got to a hefty cone and began to bite the stem on which it hung. Karabas Barabas shook harder, and the heavy lump flew down, bang! - straight into his toothy mouth.

Karabas Barabas even sat down.

Pinocchio tore off the second bump, and she - bang! - Karabas Barabas right in the crown, like a drum.

- They beat us! Buratino shouted again. - To the aid of innocent wooden men!

Swifts were the first to come to the rescue - they began to cut the air in front of the noses of the bulldogs with a strafing flight.

The dogs clicked their teeth in vain - a swift is not a fly: like a gray lightning - w-zhik past the nose!

From a cloud that looked like a cat's head fell a black kite - the one that usually brought game to Malvina; he dug his claws into the back of the police dog, soared on magnificent wings, picked up the dog and released him ...

The dog, squealing, flopped up with its paws.

Artemon ran into another dog from the side, hit him with his chest, knocked him down, bit him, bounced off ...

And again Artemon rushed across the field around the lone pine tree and after him the battered and bitten police dogs.

Toads came to help Artemon. They dragged two snakes, blind from old age. The snakes still had to die - either under a rotten stump, or in the stomach of a heron. The toads persuaded them to die a heroic death.

The noble Artemon now decided to engage in open battle.

He sat on his tail, bared his fangs.

The bulldogs pounced on him, and the three of them rolled into a ball.

Artemon snapped his jaws, pulled with his claws. The bulldogs, ignoring the bites and scratches, were waiting for one thing: to get to Artemon's throat - with a stranglehold. Screeching and howling were all over the field.

A family of hedgehogs went to help Artemon: the hedgehog himself, the hedgehog, the mother-in-law of the hedgehog, two unmarried aunts of the hedgehog, and little hedgehogs.

Fat black-velvet bumblebees in golden cloaks flew, buzzed, ferocious hornets hissed their wings. Ground beetles and biting beetles with long whiskers crawled.

All animals, birds and insects selflessly attacked the hated police dogs.

The hedgehog, the hedgehog, the mother-in-law, the two unmarried aunts and the little hens curled up in a ball and, with the speed of a croquet ball, hit the bulldogs in the muzzle with their needles.

Bumblebees, hornets from the raid stung them with poisoned stings. Serious ants slowly climbed into the nostrils and let out poisonous formic acid there.

Ground beetles and beetles bit at the navel.

The kite pecked first one dog, then another with a crooked beak in the skull.

Butterflies and flies crowded in a dense cloud before their eyes, blotting out the light.

The toads held at the ready two snakes, ready to die a heroic death.

And so, when one of the bulldogs opened its mouth wide to expel the poisonous formic acid, the old blind man threw himself head first into his throat and screwed through his esophagus. The same thing happened to another bulldog: the second blind man already rushed into his mouth. Both dogs, punctured, stung, scratched, panting, began to roll helplessly on the ground. The noble Artemon emerged victorious from the battle.

Meanwhile, Karabas Barabas finally pulled out a prickly bump from his huge mouth.

His eyes bulged from a blow to the crown of his head. Staggering, he again grabbed the trunk of the Italian pine. The wind blew his beard.

Pinocchio noticed, sitting at the very top, that the end of the beard of Karabas Barabas, lifted by the wind, stuck to the resinous trunk.

Pinocchio hung on a branch and, teasingly, squeaked:

- Uncle, you won’t catch up, uncle, you won’t catch up! ..
He jumped to the ground and began to run around the pines. Karabas-Barabas, stretching out his arms to grab the boy, ran after him, staggering around the tree.

He ran once, just about, it seems, and grabbed the fleeing boy with his crooked fingers, ran another, running around for the third time ... His beard was wrapped around the trunk, tightly glued to the resin.

When the beard ended and Karabas Barabas rested his nose against a tree, Pinocchio showed him a long tongue and ran to Swan Lake - to look for Malvina and Pierrot. A battered Artemon on three legs, his fourth tucked in, hobbled after him at a lame dog trot.

Two police dogs remained on the field, in whose life, apparently, it was impossible to give even a dead dry fly, and the bewildered doctor of puppet science, Signor Karabas Barabas, his beard tightly glued to an Italian pine.

Malvina and Pierrot were sitting on a damp warm tussock in the reeds. From above they were covered with a web, littered with dragonfly wings and sucked mosquitoes.

Little blue birds, flying from reed to reed, looked with cheerful amazement at the bitterly weeping girl.

Desperate screams and squeals were heard from afar - this was Artemon and Pinocchio, obviously, selling their lives dearly.

- I'm afraid, I'm afraid! repeated Malvina, and in desperation she covered her wet face with a burdock leaf.

Pierrot tried to console her with verses:

We are sitting on the couch
Where flowers grow
yellow, pleasant,
Very fragrant.
Let's live all summer
We are on this bump
Ah, in solitude
To everyone's surprise...

Malvina stamped her feet on him:

“I'm tired of you, tired of you, boy! Pick a fresh burdock - you see - this one is all wet and full of holes.

Suddenly, the noise and screeching in the distance subsided. Malvina slowly clasped her hands:

- Artemon and Pinocchio died...

And she threw herself on the bump, into the green moss.

Pierrot stumbled senselessly around her. The wind whistled softly through the reeds. Finally, steps were heard. Undoubtedly, it was Karabas Barabas who was coming to rudely seize and thrust Malvina and Piero into their bottomless pockets. The reeds parted, and Pinocchio appeared: his nose was upright, his mouth was up to his ears. A skinned Artemon limped behind him, laden with two bales...

- Also - they wanted to fight with me! - said Pinocchio, not paying attention to the joy of Malvina and Piero. “What is a cat to me, what is a fox to me, what police dogs are to me, what Karabas Barabas himself is to me - pah! Girl, get on the dog, boy, hold on to the tail. Went...

And he courageously walked over the bumps, pushing the reeds with his elbows, around the lake to the other side ...

Malvina and Piero did not even dare to ask him how the fight with police dogs ended and why Karabas Barabas was not chasing them.

When they reached the other side of the lake, the noble Artemon began to whine and limp on all his paws. We had to make a halt to bandage his wounds. Under the huge roots of a pine tree growing on a rocky hillock, they saw a cave. Bales were dragged there, and Artemon crawled in there. The noble dog first licked each paw, then held it out to Malvina. Pinocchio tore Malvinin's old shirt into bandages, Pierrot held them, Malvina bandaged her paws.

After bandaging Artemon put a thermometer, and the dog calmly fell asleep.

Pinocchio said:

- Pierrot, roll to the lake, bring water.

Piero obediently trudged along, muttering verses and stumbling along the way, he lost the lid, barely bringing water at the bottom of the kettle.

Pinocchio said:

- Malvina, fly off, pick up branches for the fire.

Malvina looked reproachfully at Pinocchio, shrugged her shoulders, and brought a few dry stalks.

Pinocchio said:

- Here is the punishment with these well-bred ...

He himself brought water, he himself collected branches and pine cones, he himself lit a fire at the entrance to the cave, so noisy that the branches on a tall pine swayed ... He himself boiled cocoa on the water.

- Live! Sit down for breakfast...

Malvina was silent all this time, pursing her lips. But now she said very firmly, in an adult voice:

- Do not think, Pinocchio, that if you fought with dogs and won, saved us from Karabas Barabas and behaved courageously in the future, then this saves you from having to wash your hands and brush your teeth before eating ...

Pinocchio sat down like that: - Here you go! - bulging eyes at the girl with an iron character.

Malvina came out of the cave and clapped her hands:

Butterflies, caterpillars, beetles, toads...

In less than a minute, large butterflies flew in, stained with pollen. Caterpillars and sullen dung beetles crawled up. Toads slapped on their stomachs...

Butterflies, sighing with their wings, sat on the walls of the cave so that it would be beautiful inside and the crumbling earth would not fall into the food.

The dung beetles rolled all the garbage on the floor of the cave into balls and threw them away.

A fat white caterpillar crawled onto Pinocchio's head and, hanging from his nose, squeezed some paste onto his teeth. Like it or not, I had to clean them.

Another caterpillar brushed Pierrot's teeth.

A sleepy badger appeared, looking like a shaggy pig... He took brown caterpillars with his paw, squeezed brown paste out of them onto his shoes, and with his tail perfectly cleaned all three pairs of shoes - from Malvina, Pinocchio and Piero. Cleaned up, yawned:

- Ahaha. - and walked away.

A bustling, motley, cheerful hoopoe with a red tuft flew in, which stood on end when he was surprised at something.

- Whom to brush?

“Me,” said Malvina. - Curl and comb, I'm disheveled ...

- Where is the mirror? Listen, darling...

Then the bug-eyed toads said:

We will bring...

Ten toads splashed their stomachs towards the lake. Instead of a mirror, they dragged a mirror carp, so fat and sleepy that it did not care where they dragged it under the fins. Karp was put on the tail in front of Malvina. To prevent him from suffocating, water was poured into his mouth from a kettle. The fussy hoopoe curled and combed Malvina. He carefully took one of the butterflies from the wall and powdered the girl's nose with it.

- Done, darling...

I-ffrr! - flew out of the cave in a motley ball.

The toads dragged the mirror carp back into the lake. Pinocchio and Pierrot - like it or not - washed their hands and even their necks. Malvina allowed me to sit down to have breakfast.

After breakfast, brushing the crumbs off her knees, she said:

- Pinocchio, my friend, last time we stopped at the dictation. Let's continue the lesson...

Pinocchio wanted to jump out of the cave - wherever his eyes looked. But it was impossible to leave helpless comrades and a sick dog! He grumbled:

“They didn’t take writing materials…”

“It’s not true, they took it,” Artemon groaned. He crawled to the knot, untied it with his teeth, and pulled out a vial of ink, a pencil case, a notebook, and even a small globe.

“Do not hold the insert frantically and too close to the pen, otherwise you will stain your fingers in ink,” said Malvina. She raised her pretty eyes to the ceiling of the cave at the butterflies and...

At this time, the crunch of branches, rough voices were heard - a seller of medicinal leeches Duremar and dragging Karabas Barabas passed by the cave.

On the forehead of the director of the puppet theater there was a huge lump, his nose was swollen, his beard was in tatters and smeared with tar.

Groaning and spitting, he said:

They couldn't run far. They are somewhere here in the forest.

DESPITE OTHERS, BURATINO DECIDES TO FIND THE SECRET OF THE GOLDEN KEY FROM KARABAS BARABAS

Karabas Barabas and Duremar slowly walked past the cave.

During the battle on the plain, the seller of medicinal leeches sat behind a bush in fear. When it was all over, he waited until Artemon and Pinocchio had hidden in the thick grass, and only then, with great difficulty, tore off the beard of Karabas Barabas from the trunk of an Italian pine.

- Well, the boy finished you! Duremar said. - You will have to put two dozen of the best leeches to the back of your head ...

Karabas Barabas roared:

- One hundred thousand devils! Live in pursuit of the villains! ..

Karabas Barabas and Duremar followed in the footsteps of the fugitives. They parted the grass with their hands, examined every bush, ransacked every bump.

They saw the smoke of a fire at the roots of an old pine tree, but it never occurred to them that wooden men were hiding in this cave and even lit a fire.

“I’ll cut this scoundrel Pinocchio into pieces with a penknife!” grumbled Karabas Barabas.

The fugitives hid in a cave.

So what's now? Run? But Artemon, all bandaged, was sound asleep. The dog had to sleep twenty-four hours for the wounds to heal.

Is it possible to leave a noble dog alone in a cave?

No, no, to be saved - so all together, to die - so all together ...

Pinocchio, Piero and Malvina in the depths of the cave, buried their noses, conferred for a long time. We decided: to wait here until the morning, to mask the entrance to the cave with branches, and to make Artemon's speedy recovery a nourishing enema. Pinocchio said:

- I still want to find out from Karabas Barabas at all costs where this door is, which opens the golden key. Something wonderful, amazing is kept behind the door ... And it should bring us happiness.

“I’m afraid to stay without you, I’m afraid,” Malvina groaned.

- What do you want Pierrot for?

“Oh, he only reads poetry…

“I will protect Malvina like a lion,” Pierrot said in a hoarse voice, with which large predators speak, “you don’t know me yet ...

- Well done Pierrot, long ago it would be like that!

And Pinocchio set off to run in the footsteps of Karabas Barabas and Duremar.

He soon saw them. The director of the puppet theater was sitting on the bank of the stream, Duremar put a compress of horse sorrel leaves on his bump. From afar, one could hear the ferocious rumbling in the empty stomach of Karabas Barabas and the boring squeaking in the empty stomach of the seller of medicinal leeches.

- Signor, we need to refresh ourselves, - said Duremar, - the search for villains can drag on until late at night.

“I would eat a whole piglet and a couple of ducks now,” Karabas Barabas answered gloomily.

Friends wandered to the tavern "Three minnows" - its sign was visible on the hillock. But sooner than Karabas Barabas and Duremar, Pinocchio rushed there, bending down to the grass so that he would not be noticed.

Near the door of the tavern, Pinocchio crept up to a large rooster, who, having found a grain or a piece of chicken gut, proudly shook his red comb, shuffled his claws and anxiously called the hens for a treat:

- Ko-ko-ko!

Pinocchio handed him crumbs of almond cake in the palm of his hand:

“Help yourself, Signor Commander-in-Chief.

The rooster looked sternly at the wooden boy, but could not resist and pecked at his palm.

- Ko-ko-ko! ..

- Signor commander-in-chief, I should go to the tavern, but so that the owner does not notice me. I will hide behind your magnificent multi-colored tail, and you will lead me to the very hearth. OK?

- Ko-ko! - even more proudly said the rooster.

He did not understand anything, but, in order not to show that he did not understand anything, he solemnly went to the open door of the tavern. Pinocchio grabbed him by the wings under the wings, covered himself with his tail and squatted his way into the kitchen, to the very hearth, where the bald owner of the tavern was bustling about, spinning skewers and frying pans on the fire.

“Go away, you old bouillon meat!” - the owner shouted at the rooster and kicked so hard that the rooster - ku-dah-tah-tah! - with a desperate cry flew out into the street to the frightened chickens.

Pinocchio, unnoticed, darted past the feet of the owner and sat down behind a large earthenware jug.

The owner, bowing low, went out to meet them.

Pinocchio climbed inside the earthenware jug and hid there.

BURATINO LEARNS THE SECRET OF THE GOLDEN KEY

Karabas Barabas and Duremar were supported by a roasted piglet. The owner poured wine into glasses.

Karabas Barabas, sucking on the pig's leg, said to the owner:

- Rubbish you have wine, pour me out of that jug! - And he pointed with a bone to the jug where Pinocchio was sitting.

- Signor, this jug is empty, - the owner answered.

- You lie, show me.

Then the owner picked up the jug and turned it over. Pinocchio with all his strength rested his elbows on the sides of the jug so as not to fall out.

“Something is turning black there,” croaked Karabas Barabas.

“Something is turning white there,” Duremar confirmed.

- Signors, boil on my tongue, shoot me in the lower back - the jug is empty!

- In that case, put it on the table - we will throw bones there.

The jug, where Pinocchio was sitting, was placed between the director of the puppet theater and the seller of medicinal leeches. Gnawed bones and crusts fell on Pinocchio's head.

Karabas Barabas, having drunk a lot of wine, stretched out his beard to the fire of the hearth so that adhering resin would drip from it.

“I’ll put Pinocchio on the palm of my hand,” he said boastfully, “I’ll slap it with the other hand, and it will leave a wet spot.”

“The scoundrel deserves it,” Duremar confirmed, “but first, it would be good to put leeches on him so that they suck out all the blood ...

- No! - pounded Karabas Barabas with his fist. “First, I’ll take the golden key from him…

The owner intervened in the conversation - he already knew about the flight of the wooden men.

- Signor, you have nothing to tire yourself with searches. Now I will call two quick guys - while you are refreshed with wine, they will quickly search the whole forest and drag Pinocchio here.

- OK. Send the guys, - said Karabas Barabas, putting huge soles to the fire. And since he was already drunk, he sang a song at the top of his lungs:

My people are strange
Silly wood.
puppet lord,
That's who I am, come on...
Grozny Karabas,
Glorious Barabas...
Dolls in front of me
They lay grass.
Even if you are pretty
I have a whip
Whip in seven tails,
Whip in seven tails.
I will only threaten with a whip -
My people are meek
sings songs,
Collects money
In my big pocket
In my big pocket...

- Reveal the secret, unfortunate, reveal the secret! ..

Karabas Barabas suddenly snapped his jaws loudly and bulged out at Duremar.

- It's you?

- No, it's not me...

Who told me to reveal the secret?

Duremar was superstitious; besides, he also drank a lot of wine. His face turned blue and wrinkled with fear, like a morel mushroom. Looking at him, and Karabas Barabas chattered his teeth.

“Reveal the secret,” the mysterious voice howled again from the depths of the jug, “otherwise you won’t leave this chair, unfortunate one!”

Karabas Barabas tried to jump up, but he couldn't even get up.

- What-what-what ta-ta-secret? he stammered.

- The secret of the turtle Tortila.

In horror, Duremar slowly crawled under the table. Karabas Barabas's jaw fell off.

Where is the door, where is the door? - like a wind in a chimney on an autumn night, a voice howled ...

- I will answer, I will answer, shut up, shut up! whispered Karabas Barabas. - The door is in old Carlo's closet, behind the painted hearth ...

As soon as he uttered these words, the owner entered from the yard.

- Here are reliable guys, for money they will bring you, signor, even the devil himself ...

And he pointed to the fox Alice and the cat Basilio standing on the threshold. The fox respectfully took off her old hat:

- Signor Karabas Barabas will give us ten gold coins for poverty, and we will give you into the hands of the scoundrel Pinocchio without leaving this place.

Karabas Barabas reached under his beard into his vest pocket and took out ten gold coins.

- Here is the money, but where is Pinocchio?

The fox counted the coins several times, sighed, giving half to the cat, and pointed with her paw:

- It's in this jar, signor, under your nose...

Karabas Barabas grabbed a jug from the table and flung it frantically on the stone floor. Buratino jumped out of the fragments and a pile of gnawed bones. While everyone stood with their mouths open, he, like an arrow, rushed out of the tavern into the yard - right to the rooster, which proudly examined one dead worm with one eye, then the other.

“It was you who betrayed me, you old minced meat!” - Pinocchio said to him, savagely sticking out his nose. - Well, now beat what your spirit has ...

And he tightly clung to his general's tail. The rooster, not understanding anything, spread its wings and started running on its ankle-legged legs. Pinocchio - in a whirlwind - behind him - downhill, across the road, across the field, to the forest.

Karabas Barabas, Duremar and the owner of the tavern finally came to their senses from surprise and ran out after Pinocchio. But no matter how much they looked around, he was nowhere to be seen, only in the distance across the field a rooster was beating with all his might. But since everyone knew that he was a fool, no one paid attention to this rooster.

BURATINO FOR THE FIRST TIME IN LIFE COMES TO DESPAIR, BUT EVERYTHING ENDS SAFELY

The stupid rooster was exhausted, barely running, its beak gaping. Pinocchio finally let go of his crumpled tail.

- Go, General, to your chickens ...

And one went to where Swan Lake shone brightly through the foliage.

Here is a pine tree on a rocky hillock, here is a cave. Broken branches scattered around. The grass is crushed by wheel tracks.

Pinocchio's heart was beating wildly. He jumped off the hillock, looked under the gnarled roots...

The cave was empty!!!

Neither Malvina, nor Pierrot, nor Artemon.

Only two rags were lying around. He picked them up - they were torn sleeves from Piero's shirt.

Friends have been kidnapped! They died! Pinocchio fell face down - his nose stuck deep into the ground.

He only now realized how dear his friends were to him. Let Malvina educate, let Pierrot read poetry at least a thousand times in a row - Pinocchio would even give a golden key to see friends again.

A loose mound of earth silently rose near his head, a velvet mole with pink palms crawled out, squeaky sneezed three times and said:

I am blind, but I can hear perfectly. A cart pulled by sheep pulled up here. In it sat the Fox, the governor of the City of Fools, and the detectives. The governor ordered:

“Take the bastards who beat up my best cops in the line of duty!” Take! The detectives replied:

They rushed into the cave, and there began a desperate fuss. Your friends were tied up, thrown into a cart along with bundles and left.

What good was it to lie with one's nose in the ground! Pinocchio jumped up and ran in the tracks of the wheels. He rounded the lake, went out into a field with thick grass. He walked, walked... He didn't have any plan in his head. We must save our comrades, that's all. He reached a cliff, from where the night before last he fell into mugs. Below I saw a dirty pond where the turtle Tortila lived. On the way to the pond a cart descended; she was dragged by two skeletal-thin sheep with tattered wool.

On the goat sat a fat cat, with puffed out cheeks, wearing golden glasses, he served under the governor as a secret whisperer in his ear. Behind him is the important Fox, the governor... Malvina, Pierrot, and the whole bandaged Artemon lay on the knots, his tail, always so combed, dragged with a brush over the dust.

Behind the cart were two detectives - a Doberman Pinscher.

Suddenly, the detectives raised their dog muzzles and saw Pinocchio's white cap on the top of the cliff.

With strong jumps, the pinschers began to climb the steep slope. But before they reached the top, Pinocchio - and he can’t hide anywhere, can’t run away - folded his arms above his head and - like a swallow - rushed down from the steepest place, into a dirty pond covered with green duckweed.

He described a curve in the air and, of course, would have landed in the pond under the protection of Aunt Tortila, if not for a strong gust of wind.

The wind picked up the light wooden Pinocchio, whirled it around, twisted it with a "double corkscrew", threw it to the side, and falling, it fell right into the cart, on the head of Governor Fox.

A fat cat in golden glasses fell off the goat in surprise, and since he was a scoundrel and a coward, he pretended to have fainted.

Governor Fox, also a desperate coward, with a squeal rushed to run away along the slope and immediately climbed into a badger hole. There he had a hard time: badgers severely crack down on such guests.

The sheep shied away, the cart overturned, Malvina, Pierrot and Artemon, together with the bundles, rolled into the mugs.

All this happened so quickly that you, dear readers, would not have had time to count all the fingers on your hand.

Doberman pinschers rushed down the cliff in huge leaps. Jumping up to the overturned cart, they saw a fat cat in a swoon. We saw little wooden men lying in mugs and a bandaged poodle.

But Governor Fox was nowhere to be seen.

He disappeared, as if the one whom the detectives should protect, like the apple of an eye, fell through the ground.

The first detective raised his muzzle and let out a dog-like cry of despair.

The second investigator did the same:

- Ai, ai, ai, ai-u-u-u! ..

They rushed and searched the entire hillside. They howled again drearily, because they were already imagining a whip and an iron grate.

Wagging their backs in humiliation, they ran to the City of Fools to lie at the police station like a governor; was taken up to heaven alive, - so on the way they came up with their justification. Pinocchio slowly felt himself - legs, arms were intact. He crawled into the mugs and freed Malvina and Piero from the ropes.

Malvina, without saying a word, grabbed Pinocchio by the neck, but she could not kiss - his long nose interfered.

Piero's sleeves were torn off to the elbow, white powder fell off his cheeks, and it turned out that his cheeks were ordinary - ruddy, despite his love of poetry.

Malvina confirmed: “He fought like a lion.

She put her arms round Pierrot's neck and kissed him on both cheeks.

“Enough, enough licking,” grumbled Pinocchio, “run. Let's drag Artemon by the tail.

They all three seized the unfortunate dog's tail and dragged it up the hillside.
“Let me go, I’ll go myself, it’s so humiliating for me,” the bandaged poodle groaned.

No, no, you are too weak.

But as soon as they climbed halfway up the slope, Karabas Barabas and Duremar appeared at the top. The fox Alice pointed with her paw at the fugitives, the cat Basilio bristled his mustache and hissed disgustingly.

"Ha ha ha, that's so clever!" laughed Karabas Barabas. - The golden key itself goes into my hands!

Pinocchio hastily figured out how to get out of a new trouble. Pierrot pressed Malvina close to him, intending to sell his life dearly. This time there was no hope of salvation.

Duremar chuckled at the top of the slope.

- The sick poodle dog, signor Karabas Barabas, you give me, I will throw it into the pond for leeches so that my leeches get fat ...

Fat Karabas Barabas was too lazy to go downstairs, he beckoned the fugitives with a finger that looked like a sausage:

- Come, come to me, little ones...

- Don `t move! - ordered Pinocchio. - Dying is so much fun! Pierrot, say some of your most vile rhymes. Malvina, laugh at the top of your lungs...

Malvina, despite some shortcomings, was a good friend. She wiped away her tears and laughed very hurtfully for those who stood at the top of the slope.

Pierrot immediately composed poetry and howled in an unpleasant voice:

Fox Alice sorry -
A stick is crying over her.
Cat Basilio beggar -
Thief, vile cat.
Duremar, our fool, -
Ugliest wrinkle.
Karabas you are Barabas,
We are not afraid of you...

At the same time Pinocchio grimaced and teased:

- Hey you, the director of the puppet theater, an old beer keg, a fat bag full of stupidity, come down, come down to us - I will spit in your tattered beard!

In response, Karabas Barabas growled terribly, Duremar raised his skinny arms to the sky.

Fox Alice smiled wryly.

- Permission to turn the necks of these impudent ones?

Another minute, and it would all be over ... Suddenly, swifts rushed with a whistle:

- Here, here, here!

A magpie flew over the head of Karabas Barabas, chattering loudly:

- Hurry, hurry, hurry!

And at the top of the slope appeared the old father Carlo. His sleeves were rolled up, a gnarled stick was in his hand, his eyebrows were furrowed...

He pushed Karabas Barabas with his shoulder, Duremar with his elbow, pulled the fox Alice along the back with a club, threw his boot towards the cat Basilio ...

After that, bending down and looking down from the hillside where the little wooden men stood, he said joyfully:
- My son, Pinocchio, rogue, you are alive and well - come to me as soon as possible!

BURATINO FINALLY RETURNS HOME TOGETHER WITH PAD CARDO, MALVINA, PIERO AND ARTEMON

The unexpected appearance of Carlo, his club and furrowed eyebrows terrified the villains.

Fox Alice crawled into the thick grass and there gave a screech, sometimes only stopping to shiver after being hit with a club. Basilio the cat, flying ten paces away, hissed with anger like a punctured bicycle tire.

Duremar picked up the skirts of his green coat and climbed down the slope, repeating:

- I have nothing to do with it, I have nothing to do with it...

But on a steep place it fell off, rolled, and with a terrible noise and splash plopped into the pond.

Karabas Barabas remained where he was. He only pulled his whole head up to the top of his shoulders; his beard hung down like tow.

Pinocchio, Piero and Malvina climbed up. Papa Carlo took them one by one in his arms, shaking his finger:

“Here I am, you bastards!”

And he put it in his bosom.

Then he went down a few steps from the slope and sat down over the unfortunate dog. Faithful Artemon raised his muzzle and licked Carlo's nose. Pinocchio immediately leaned out from behind his bosom:

– Papa Carlo, we won’t go home without a dog.

“E-he-he,” replied Carlo, “it will be hard, well, yes, I’ll somehow inform your dog.”

He put Artemon on his shoulder and, puffing from the heavy load, climbed upstairs, where Karabas Barabas stood with his head still drawn in and his eyes bulging.

“My dolls…” he grumbled.

Papa Carlo answered him sternly:

- Oh you! With whom in his old age he contacted - with swindlers known to the whole world, with Duremar, with a cat, with a fox. You hate little ones! Shame on you doctor!

And Carlo went on the road to the city. Karabas Barabas, with his head drawn in, followed him.

- My dolls, give me back! ..

- Don't give it up! yelled Pinocchio, leaning out from behind his bosom.

So they went, they went. We passed the tavern "Three minnows", where, in the doorway, the bald owner was bowing, pointing with both hands at the sizzling frying pans.

Near the door, back and forth, back and forth, a rooster with its tail torn out was pacing up and down and indignantly talked about the hooligan act of Pinocchio. The chickens sympathetically agreed:

“Ah-ah, what fear! Wow, our rooster!

Carlo climbed the hill, from where he could see the sea, in some places covered with matte stripes from the wind, near the coast - the old sand-colored town under the hot sun and the linen roof of the puppet theater.

Karabas Barabas, standing three paces behind Carlo, grumbled:

- I'll give you a hundred gold coins for the doll, sell it.

Pinocchio, Malvina and Piero stopped breathing - they were waiting for what Carlo would say.

He replied:

- No! If you were a kind, good director of the theater, I would give you the little men, so be it. And you are worse than any crocodile. I will not give or sell, get out.

Carlo went down the hill and, no longer paying attention to Karabas Barabas, entered the town.

There, in an empty square, a policeman stood motionless.

From the heat and boredom, his mustache drooped, his eyelids stuck together, flies swirled over his three-cornered hat.

Karabas Barabas suddenly stuffed his beard into his pocket, grabbed Carlo by the back of his shirt and yelled to the whole square:

- Stop the thief, he stole dolls from me! ..

But the policeman, who was hot and bored, did not even move. Karabas Barabas jumped up to him, demanding to arrest Carlo.

- And who are you? the policeman asked lazily.

- I am a doctor of puppet sciences, director of the famous theater, holder of the highest orders, the closest friend of the Tarabar king, signor Karabas Barabas ...

“Don’t yell at me,” the policeman replied.

While Karabas Barabas was arguing with him, Papa Carlo, hurriedly banging his stick on the pavement slabs, went up to the house where he lived. He unlocked the door to the dark closet under the stairs, took Artemon off his shoulder, laid him on the bunk, took Pinocchio, Malvina, and Piero out of his bosom, and seated them side by side on the table.

Malvina immediately said:

“Papa Carlo, take care of the sick dog first. Boys, bathe immediately...

Suddenly she threw up her hands in despair.

And my dresses! My brand new shoes, my pretty ribbons were left at the bottom of the ravine, in burdocks! ..

“It’s okay, don’t worry,” said Carlo, “I’ll go down in the evening and bring your bundles.

He carefully unbandaged Artemon's paws. It turned out that the wounds had almost healed and the dog could not move just because it was hungry.

“A plate of oatmeal and a bone with a brain,” Artemon groaned, “and I’m ready to fight all the dogs in the city.”

“Ai-ai-ai,” Carlo lamented, “but I don’t have a crumb at home, and I don’t have a soldo in my pocket ...

Malvina sighed piteously. Pierrot rubbed his forehead with his fist, thinking.

Carlo shook his head.

- And you will spend the night, son, for vagrancy in the police department.

Everyone, except Pinocchio, became despondent. He smiled slyly, spun around as if he was sitting not on the table, but on an upside down button.

- Guys, enough whining! He jumped to the floor and pulled something out of his pocket. - Papa Carlo, take a hammer, separate the holey canvas from the wall.

And he pointed with his nose turned up at the hearth, and at the pot over the hearth, and at the smoke painted on a piece of old canvas.

Carlo was surprised:

“Why, son, do you want to rip off such a beautiful picture from the wall?” In the winter, I look at it and imagine that it is a real fire and there is real lamb stew with garlic in the pot, and it makes me a little warmer.

- Papa Carlo, I give you my word of honor as a doll - you will have a real fire in the hearth, a real cast-iron pot and hot stew. Rip off the canvas.

Pinocchio said this so confidently that Papa Carlo scratched his head, shook his head, grunted, grunted, took pliers and a hammer and began to tear off the canvas. Behind him, as we already know, everything was covered with cobwebs and dead spiders hung.

Carlo swept the web carefully. Then a small door of darkened oak became visible. Laughing faces were carved on the four corners, and a dancing man with a long nose in the middle.

When the dust was brushed off him, Malvina, Piero, Papa Carlo, even the hungry Artemon exclaimed with one voice:

- This is a portrait of Buratino himself!

“I thought so,” said Pinocchio, although he did not think anything of the kind and was surprised himself. “Here is the key to the door. Papa Carlo, open...

“This door and this golden key,” Carlo said, “were made a long time ago by some skilled craftsman. Let's see what is hidden behind the door.

He put the key in the keyhole and turned it... Quiet, very pleasant music rang out, as if an organ was playing in a music box...

Papa Carlo pushed open the door. With a creak, it began to open.

At this time, hurried steps were heard outside the window, and the voice of Karabas Barabas roared:

“In the name of the Tarabar King, arrest the old rogue Carlo!”

KARABASS BARABAS BURSTS INTO THE CLUTTER UNDER THE STAIRS

Karabas Barabas, as we know, tried in vain to persuade the sleepy policeman to arrest Carlo. Having achieved nothing, Karabas Barabas ran down the street.

His flowing beard clung to the buttons and umbrellas of passers-by.

He pushed and gnashed his teeth. Boys whistled piercingly after him, throwing rotten apples at his back.

Karabas Barabas ran to the head of the city. In this hot hour, the boss was sitting in the garden, near the fountain, in his shorts and drinking lemonade.

The chief had six chins, his nose sunk into rosy cheeks. Behind him, under a linden tree, four gloomy policemen kept uncorking bottles of lemonade.

Karabas Barabas threw himself on his knees in front of the chief, and, smearing tears down his face with his beard, yelled:

- I am an unfortunate orphan, I was offended, robbed, beaten ...

- Who offended you, an orphan? – puffing, asked the chief.

- Worst enemy, the old organ grinder Carlo. He stole my three best dolls, he wants to burn my famous theater, he will set fire to and rob the whole city if he is not immediately arrested.

To reinforce his words, Karabas Barabas pulled out a handful of gold coins and put them in the chief's shoe.

In short, he spun and lied so that the frightened boss ordered the four policemen under the linden tree:

“Go after the venerable orphan and do whatever is right in the name of the law.

Karabas Barabas ran with four policemen to Carlo's closet and shouted:

- In the name of the Tarabar King - arrest the thief and scoundrel!

But the doors were closed. No one answered in the closet. Karabas Barabas ordered:

- In the name of the Tarabar King - break the door!

The policemen pressed, the rotten halves of the doors fell off their hinges, and four brave policemen, rattling their sabers, fell with a crash into the closet under the stairs.

It was at the very moment when Carlo, bending down, was leaving through the secret door in the wall.

He was the last to escape. The door - Ding! .. - slammed shut. The soft music stopped playing. In the closet under the stairs lay only dirty bandages and a torn canvas with a painted hearth...

Karabas Barabas ran up to the secret door and pounded on it with his fists and heels:

Tra-ta-ta-ta!

But the door was solid.

Karabas Barabas ran up and hit the door with his back.

The door didn't budge.

He stomped on the police:

“Break down the cursed door in the name of the Gibberish King!”

The policemen felt each other - one for a blotch on his nose, one for a bump on his head.

“No, the work here is very hard,” they answered and went to the head of the city to say that they had done everything according to the law, but the devil himself was apparently helping the old organ grinder, because he had gone through the wall.

Karabas Barabas pulled his beard, fell to the floor and began to roar, howl and roll like a madman along the empty closet under the stairs.

WHAT THEY FOUND BEHIND THE SECRET DOOR

While Karabas Barabas rode like crazy and tore his beard, Pinocchio was in front, followed by Malvina, Pierrot, Artemon and - last - Papa Carlo descended the steep stone stairs to the dungeon.

Papa Carlo was holding a candle end. Its flickering light cast great shadows from Artemon's shaggy head or from Piero's outstretched hand, but it could not illuminate the darkness into which the staircase descended.

Malvina, in order not to roar with fear, pinched her ears.

Pierrot, as always, out of the blue, muttered verses:

Dancing shadows on the wall -
Nothing scares me.
Let the stairs be steep
Let the darkness be dangerous,
Still underground
Will take you somewhere...

Pinocchio was ahead of his comrades - his white cap was barely visible deep below.

Suddenly something hissed there, fell, rolled, and his plaintive voice was heard:

- Help me!

Instantly, Artemon, forgetting his wounds and hunger, overturned Malvina and Pierrot, rushed down the steps in a black whirlwind.

His teeth snapped. Some creature squealed vilely.

Everything was quiet. Only Malvina's heart was beating loudly, like in an alarm clock.

A wide beam of light from below hit the stairs. The flame of the candle that Papa Carlo was holding turned yellow.

- Look, look quickly! called Pinocchio loudly.

Malvina hurriedly began to climb backwards from step to step, Pierrot jumped up after her. Carlo was the last to leave, stooping down, losing his wooden shoes every now and then.

Below, where the steep staircase ended, Artemon sat on a stone platform. He licked his lips. At his feet lay the strangled rat Shushara.

With both hands, Pinocchio lifted the decayed felt - a hole in the stone wall was covered with it. There was a blue light coming from there.

The first thing they saw when they crawled through the hole was the diverging rays of the sun. They fell from the vaulted ceiling through a round window.

Wide beams with dust particles dancing in them illuminated a round room of yellowish marble. In the middle of it stood a puppet theater of marvelous beauty. A golden zigzag of lightning shone on its curtain.

From the sides of the curtain rose two square towers, painted as if they were made of small bricks. The high roofs of green tin shone brightly.

On the left tower there was a clock with bronze hands. On the dial, against each number, the laughing faces of a boy and a girl are drawn.

On the right tower there is a round window made of colored glass.

Above this window, on a roof of green tin, sat Talking Cricket. When everyone, with their mouths open, stopped in front of the wonderful theater, the cricket spoke slowly and clearly:

“I warned you that terrible dangers and terrible adventures await you, Pinocchio. It's good that everything ended happily, but it could have ended unsuccessfully ... So something ...

The voice of the cricket was old and slightly offended, because the Talking Cricket had at one time been hit on the head with a hammer and, despite his hundred years of age and natural kindness, he could not forget the undeserved insult. Therefore, he did not add anything else, - he twitched his antennae, as if brushing off dust from them, and slowly crawled away somewhere into a lonely crack - away from the bustle.

Then Papa Carlo said:

“I thought we’d at least find a bunch of gold and silver around here, but what we found was just an old toy.”

He went up to the clock built into the turret, tapped the dial with his fingernail, and since there was a key hanging on a copper stud on the side of the clock, he took it and started the clock ...

There was a loud ticking sound. The arrows moved. The big hand went to twelve, the small one to six. The inside of the tower hummed and hissed. The clock chimed six...

Immediately, a window of multicolored glass opened on the right tower, a clockwork motley bird jumped out and, fluttering its wings, sang six times:

- To us - to us, to us - to us, to us - to us ...

The bird disappeared, the window slammed shut, hurdy-gurdy music began to play. And the curtain went up...

No one, not even Papa Carlo, had ever seen such a beautiful scenery.

There was a garden on the stage. Fingernail-sized clockwork starlings sang in small trees with golden and silver leaves. On one tree hung apples, each no bigger than a grain of buckwheat. Peacocks walked under the trees and, rising on tiptoe, pecked at the apples. Two goats jumped and butted on the lawn, and butterflies flew in the air, barely visible to the eye.

So a minute passed. The starlings fell silent, the peacocks and kids moved back behind the side wings. The trees fell into secret hatches under the floor of the stage.

The tulle clouds began to part on the back decoration. The red sun appeared over the sandy desert. To the right and to the left, from the side curtains, branches of lianas, similar to snakes, were thrown out - a snake-boa constrictor actually hung on one. On the other, a family of monkeys swayed, clutching their tails.

It was Africa.

Animals walked across the desert sand under the red sun.

A maned lion rushed by in three leaps - although he was no bigger than a kitten, he was terrible.

Waddling, hobbled on its hind legs a teddy bear with an umbrella.

A disgusting crocodile crawled along, its small crappy eyes pretending to be kind. Still, Artemon did not believe and growled at him.

A rhinoceros galloped up, for safety, a rubber ball was put on its sharp horn.

A giraffe ran past, resembling a striped, horned camel, stretching out its neck with all its might.

Then came an elephant, a friend of the children - smart, good-natured - waving his trunk, in which he held a soy candy.

The last to trotted sideways was a terribly dirty wild jackal dog. Barking, Artemon rushed at her - Papa Carlo managed with difficulty to drag him away from the stage by the tail.

The animals are gone. The sun suddenly went out. In the darkness, some things fell from above, some things moved in from the sides. There was a sound as if a bow had been drawn across the strings.

Frosted street lamps flashed. The stage was a city square. The doors in the houses opened, little people ran out, climbed into a toy tram. The conductor rang, the driver turned the handle, the boy quickly clung to the sausage, the policeman whistled, - the tram rolled away into a side street between high houses.
A cyclist on wheels drove past - no more than a saucer for jam. A newsboy ran past, folded sheets of a tear-off calendar in four - that's how big his newspapers were.

The ice cream man rolled an ice cream cart across the platform. The girls ran out onto the balconies of the houses and waved to him, and the ice-cream man spread his arms and said:

- We ate everything, come back another time.

Then the curtain fell, and the golden zigzag of lightning shone again.

Papa Carlo, Malvina, Piero could not recover from admiration. Pinocchio, thrusting his hands into his pockets, turned up his nose, said boastfully:

- What did you see? So, it was not for nothing that I got wet in the swamp at Aunt Tortila's ... In this theater we will put on a comedy - you know what? - "The Golden Key, or the Extraordinary Adventures of Pinocchio and His Friends." Karabas Barabas will burst with vexation.

Pierrot rubbed his wrinkled forehead with his fists.

“I will write this comedy in sumptuous verse.

“I will sell ice cream and tickets,” said Malvina. - If you find talent in me, I will try to play the roles of pretty girls ...

- Wait, guys, and when to study? asked Papa Carlo.

They all answered at once:

- We will study in the morning ... And in the evening we will play in the theater ...

“Well, that’s it, little children,” said Papa Carlo, “and I, little children, will play the hurdy-gurdy to amuse the respectable audience, and if we start traveling around Italy from city to city, I will drive a horse and cook lamb stew with garlic.” ...

Artemon listened with his ear up, turned his head around, looked at his friends with shining eyes, and asked: what should he do?

Pinocchio said:

“Artemon will be in charge of props and theatrical costumes, we will give him the keys to the pantry. During the performance, he can imitate the roar of a lion, the tramp of a rhinoceros, the grinding of crocodile teeth, the howl of the wind - through the rapid rolling of the tail and other necessary sounds backstage.

- Well, what about you, what about you, Pinocchio? everyone asked. What do you want to be in the theatre?

- Eccentrics, in a comedy I will play myself and become famous all over the world!

NEW PUPPET THEATER GIVES FIRST PERFORMANCE

Karabas Barabas was sitting in front of the hearth in a disgusting mood. Damp firewood barely smoldered. It was raining outside. The leaky roof of the puppet theater was leaking. The dolls' hands and feet were damp, no one wanted to work at rehearsals, even under the threat of a seven-tail whip. The dolls hadn't eaten anything for three days now and were whispering ominously in the pantry, hanging on nails.

Not a single theater ticket has been sold since morning. And who would go to see boring plays and hungry, ragged actors at Karabas Barabas's!

The clock on the city tower struck six. Karabas Barabas wandered gloomily into the auditorium - empty.

“Damn all the honorable spectators,” he grumbled and went out into the street. Coming out, he looked, blinked and opened his mouth so that a crow could easily fly in there.

Across from his theater, a crowd stood in front of a large new linen tent, ignoring the damp wind from the sea.

A long-nosed little man in a cap stood on a platform above the entrance to the tent, blew a hoarse trumpet and shouted something.

The audience laughed, clapped their hands, and many went inside the tent.

Duremar approached Karabas Barabas; from him, as never before, smelled of mud.

“E-he-he,” he said, gathering his whole face into sour wrinkles, “nothing to do with medicinal leeches. So I want to go to them, - Duremar pointed to a new tent, - I want to ask them to light candles or sweep the floor.

Whose damn theater is this? Where did he come from? growled Karabas Barabas.

- It was the puppets themselves who opened the Lightning puppet theater, they themselves write plays in verse, they play themselves.

Karabas Barabas gritted his teeth, tugged at his beard and strode off to the new linen tent. Over the entrance to it Pinocchio shouted:

- The first performance of an entertaining, exciting comedy from the life of wooden men. A true story about how we defeated all our enemies with wit, courage and presence of mind...

At the entrance to the puppet theater, Malvina was sitting in a glass booth with a beautiful bow in her blue hair and was not in time to distribute tickets to those who wanted to watch a funny comedy from puppet life.

Papa Carlo, in a new velvet jacket, twirled a barrel organ and winked merrily at the most respectable audience.

Artemon dragged the fox Alice out of the tent by the tail, who passed without a ticket.

Basilio the cat, also stowaway, managed to get away and sat in the rain on a tree, looking down with angry eyes.

Pinocchio, puffing out his cheeks, blew a hoarse trumpet:

- The show starts.

And he ran down the stairs to play the first scene of the comedy, which depicted how poor Papa Carlo was carving a wooden man out of a log, not assuming that this would bring him happiness.

The turtle Tortila was the last to crawl into the theater, holding in his mouth a ticket of honor on parchment paper with golden corners.

The show has begun. Karabas Barabas gloomily returned to his empty theater. I took a whip in seven tails. He unlocked the closet door.

- I'll wean you bastards from being lazy! he growled fiercely. “I’ll teach you how to lure an audience to me!”

He snapped his whip. But no one answered. The pantry was empty. Only pieces of string hung from the nails.

All the dolls - the Harlequin, and the girls in black masks, and the sorcerers in pointed hats with stars, and the hunchbacks with their noses like cucumbers, and the araps, and the dogs - everything, everything, all the dolls ran away from Karabas Barabas.

With a terrible howl, he jumped out of the theater into the street. He saw how the last of his actors fled through the puddles to the new theater, where music played merrily, laughter and clapping were heard.

Karabas Barabas only had time to grab a bumazeen dog with buttons instead of eyes. But, out of nowhere, Artemon flew at him, knocked him down, grabbed the dog and rushed off with it to the tent, where hot lamb stew with garlic was prepared for the hungry actors backstage.

Karabas Barabas remained sitting in a puddle in the rain.

The Golden Key or the Adventures of Pinocchio

THE WORKER GIUSEPPE HANDLED A LOG, WHICH SQUEAKED WITH A HUMAN VOICE.

A long time ago, in a town on the Mediterranean coast, there lived an old carpenter, Giuseppe, nicknamed Gray Nose.
One day he came across a log, an ordinary log for a hearth in winter.
- Not a bad thing, - Giuseppe said to himself, - you can make something like a table leg out of it ...
Giuseppe put on spectacles wrapped in twine—for the spectacles were also old—turned the log in his hand and began to hew it with a hatchet.
But as soon as he began to hew, someone's unusually thin voice squeaked:
- Oh-oh, be quiet, please!
Giuseppe moved his glasses to the tip of his nose, began to look around the workshop, no one ...
He looked under the workbench - no one ...
He looked in the basket with shavings - no one ...
He stuck his head out the door - no one on the street ...
"Is it really my imagination?" thought Giuseppe. "Who could squeak it?.."
He again took the hatchet and again - only hit the log ...
- Oh, it hurts, I say! howled a thin voice.
This time, Giuseppe was seriously frightened, his glasses even sweated ... He examined all the corners in the room, even climbed into the hearth and, turning his head, looked into the chimney for a long time.
- There's no one...
"Maybe I drank something inappropriate and my ears are ringing?" Giuseppe thought to himself...
No, today he didn’t drink anything unsuitable ... Having calmed down a little, Giuseppe took a planer, hit the back of it with a hammer so that the blade would come out in moderation - not too much and not too little, put the log on the workbench and only led the chips .. .
- Oh, oh, oh, oh, listen, what are you pinching? - desperately squeaked a thin voice ...
Giuseppe dropped the planer, backed away, backed away and sat down straight on the floor: he guessed that the thin voice was coming from inside the log.

GIUSEPPE GIVES A TALKING LOG TO HIS FRIEND CARLO

At this time, Giuseppe was visited by his old friend, an organ grinder named Carlo.
Once upon a time, Carlo, in a wide-brimmed hat, walked around the cities with a beautiful hurdy-gurdy and earned his bread by singing and music.
Now Carlo was already old and ill, and his hurdy-gurdy had long since broken.
“Hello, Giuseppe,” he said, entering the workshop. - Why are you sitting on the floor?
- And I, you see, lost a small screw ... Come on! - answered Giuseppe and squinted at the log. - Well, how do you live, old man?
"Bad," said Carlo. - I keep thinking - how would I earn a living ... If only you could help me, would you advise me, or something ...
- What is easier, - said Giuseppe cheerfully and thought to himself: "I'll get rid of this damned log now." - What is easier: you see an excellent log lying on the workbench, take this log, Carlo, and take it home ...
- E-he-he, - Carlo answered dejectedly, - what's next? I'll bring home a log, but I don't even have a hearth in the closet.
- I'm talking to you, Carlo ... Take a knife, cut a doll out of this log, teach her to say all sorts of funny words, sing and dance, and carry it around the yards. Earn a piece of bread and a glass of wine.
At this time, on the workbench where the log lay, a cheerful voice squeaked:
- Bravo, well thought out, Gray Nose!
Giuseppe shook with fear again, and Carlo only looked around in surprise - where did the voice come from?
- Well, thank you, Giuseppe, for your advice. Come on, perhaps your log.
Then Giuseppe grabbed a piece of wood and quickly handed it to his friend. But either he awkwardly pushed it, or it jumped up and hit Carlo on the head.
- Ah, here are your gifts! - offended shouted Carlo.
“Sorry, buddy, I didn’t hit you.”
"So I hit myself in the head?"
- No, my friend, - the log itself must have hit you.
- You're lying, you hit...
- No, not me...
“I knew you were a drunkard, Gray Nose,” said Carlo, “and you are also a liar.
- Oh, you swear! Giuseppe called out. - Come on, come closer!
- Come closer, I'll grab you by the nose! ..
Both old men pouted and began to jump on each other. Carlo grabbed Giuseppe by the bluish nose. Giuseppe grabbed Carlo by the gray hair that grew around his ears.
After that, they began to hit each other cool under the mikitki. A shrill voice on the workbench at that time squeaked and teased:
- Vali, vali well!
Finally, the old people were tired and out of breath. Giuseppe said:
Let's make up, shall we...
Carlo replied:
- Well, let's make peace...
The old people kissed. Carlo took the log under his arm and went home.

Current page: 1 (total book has 6 pages) [accessible reading passage: 2 pages]

Alexey Nikolaevich Tolstoy
The Golden Key, or the Adventures of Pinocchio

© Tolstoy A.N., heirs, 2016

© Kanevsky A.M., illustrations, heirs, 2016

© Ivan Shagin / RIA Novosti, 2016

© AST Publishing House LLC, 2016

I dedicate this book

Lyudmila Ilyinichna Tolstoy

Foreword

When I was little - a very, very long time ago - I read one book: it was called "Pinocchio, or the Adventures of a Wooden Doll" (wooden doll in Italian - Pinocchio).

I often told my comrades, girls and boys, the entertaining adventures of Pinocchio. But since the book was lost, I told each time in a different way, inventing such adventures that were not in the book at all.

Now, after many, many years, I remembered my old friend Pinocchio and decided to tell you, girls and boys, an extraordinary story about this wooden man.

Alexey Tolstoy

The carpenter Giuseppe came across a log that squeaked with a human voice

A long time ago, in a town on the Mediterranean coast, there lived an old carpenter, Giuseppe, nicknamed Gray Nose.

One day he came across a log, an ordinary log for a hearth in winter.

“Not a bad thing,” Giuseppe said to himself, “you can make something like a table leg out of it ...

Giuseppe put on spectacles wrapped in twine—for the spectacles were also old—turned the log in his hand and began to hew it with a hatchet.

But as soon as he began to hew, someone's unusually thin voice squeaked:

- Oh, oh, be quiet, please!

Giuseppe moved his glasses to the tip of his nose, began to look around the workshop - no one ...

He looked under the workbench - no one ...

He looked in the basket with shavings - no one ...

He stuck his head out the door, no one on the street...

“Did I imagine? thought Giuseppe. “Who could squeak it?”

He again took the hatchet and again - only hit the log ...

- Oh, it hurts, I say! howled a thin voice.

This time, Giuseppe was seriously frightened, his glasses even sweated ... He examined all the corners in the room, even climbed into the hearth and, turning his head, looked into the chimney for a long time.

- There is no one ...

“Maybe I drank something inappropriate and my ears are ringing?” Giuseppe thought to himself...

No, today he didn’t drink anything unsuitable ... Having calmed down a bit, Giuseppe took a planer, hit the back of it with a hammer so that the blade would come out in moderation - not too much and not too little, put the log on the workbench - and only led the chips ...

- Oh, oh, oh, oh, listen, what are you pinching? – desperately squealed a thin voice…

Giuseppe dropped the planer, backed away, backed away and sat right on the floor: he guessed that the thin voice was coming from inside the log.

Giuseppe gives a talking log to his friend Carlo

At this time, Giuseppe was visited by his old friend, an organ grinder named Carlo.

Once upon a time, Carlo, in a wide-brimmed hat, walked around the cities with a beautiful hurdy-gurdy and earned his bread by singing and music.

Now Carlo was already old and ill, and his hurdy-gurdy had long since broken.

“Hello, Giuseppe,” he said, entering the workshop. - Why are you sitting on the floor?

- And I, you see, lost a small screw ... Come on, him! - answered Giuseppe and squinted at the log. “Well, how are you, old man?”

“Bad,” said Carlo. - I keep thinking - how can I earn a living ... If only you could help me, would you advise me, or something ...

- What is easier, - said Giuseppe cheerfully and thought to himself: "I'll get rid of this damned log now." - What is easier: you see - there is an excellent log lying on the workbench, take this log, Carlo, and take it home ...

“Heh heh heh,” Carlo replied dejectedly, “what next?” I'll bring home a log, but I don't even have a hearth in the closet.

“I’m talking to you, Carlo ... Take a knife, cut a doll out of this log, teach her to say all sorts of funny words, sing and dance, and carry it around the yards. Earn a piece of bread and a glass of wine.

At this time, on the workbench where the log lay, a cheerful voice squeaked:

“Bravo, well thought out, Gray Nose!”

Giuseppe shook with fear again, and Carlo only looked around in surprise - where did the voice come from?

“Well, thank you, Giuseppe, for your advice. Come on, perhaps your log.

Then Giuseppe grabbed a piece of wood and quickly handed it to his friend. But either he awkwardly pushed it, or it jumped up and hit Carlo on the head.

- Oh, here are your gifts! – offended shouted Carlo.

"I'm sorry, buddy, I didn't hit you."

“So I hit myself in the head?”

“No, buddy—the log itself must have hit you.”

- You're lying, you hit ...

- No, not me…

“I knew you were a drunkard, Gray Nose,” said Carlo, “and you are also a liar.

- Oh, you - swear! Giuseppe called out. - Come on, come closer!

“Come closer yourself, I’ll grab you by the nose!”

Both old men pouted and began to jump on each other. Carlo grabbed Giuseppe by the bluish nose. Giuseppe grabbed Carlo by the gray hair that grew around his ears.

After that, they began to hit each other cool under the mikitki. A shrill voice on the workbench at that time squeaked and teased:

- Get it right, get it right!

Finally, the old people were tired and out of breath. Giuseppe said:

"Let's make peace, shall we?"

Carlo replied:

- Well, let's make peace ...

The old people kissed. Carlo took the log under his arm and went home.

Carlo makes a wooden doll and calls her Pinocchio

Carlo lived in a closet under the stairs, where he had nothing but a beautiful hearth in the wall opposite the door.

But the beautiful hearth, and the fire in the hearth, and the cauldron boiling on the fire, were not real - they were painted on a piece of old canvas.

Carlo entered the closet, sat down on the only chair by the legless table, and turning the log this way and that, began to cut a doll out of it with a knife.

“What should I call her? thought Carlo. - I'll call her Pinocchio. This name will bring me happiness. I knew one family - they were all called Pinocchio: father - Pinocchio, mother - Pinocchio, children - also Pinocchio ... They all lived cheerfully and carelessly ... "

First of all, he cut out the hair on the log, then the forehead, then the eyes ...

Suddenly his eyes opened and stared at him...

Carlo did not show that he was frightened, only affectionately asked:

- Wooden eyes, why are you looking at me so strangely?

But the doll was silent, probably because it didn't have a mouth yet. Carlo chiseled his cheeks, then chiseled his nose—an ordinary one…

Suddenly, the nose itself began to stretch, grow, and it turned out such a long, sharp nose that Carlo even grunted:

- Not good, long ...

And he began to cut the tip of his nose. It wasn't there!

The nose twisted, twisted, and remained so - a long, long, curious, sharp nose.

Carlo took to his mouth. But as soon as he cut out his lips, his mouth immediately opened:

- Hee hee hee, ha ha ha!

And poked out of it, teasingly, a narrow red tongue.

Carlo, no longer paying attention to these tricks, continued to plan, cut, pick. I made the doll a chin, neck, shoulders, torso, arms ...

But as soon as he finished carving out the last finger, Pinocchio began to beat Carlo's bald head with his fists, pinching and tickling.

“Listen,” said Carlo sternly, “after all, I haven’t finished making you yet, and you have already begun to indulge ... What will happen next ... Huh?

And he looked sternly at Pinocchio. And Pinocchio, with round eyes, like a mouse, looked at Papa Carlo.

Carlo made him long legs with big feet out of splinters. On this, having finished the work, he put the wooden boy on the floor to teach him how to walk.

Pinocchio swayed, swayed on his thin legs, took one step, took another, hop, hop - straight to the door, through the threshold and out into the street.

Carlo, worried, followed him:

- Hey, rascal, come back! ..

Where there! Pinocchio ran down the street like a hare, only his wooden soles - knock-knock, knock-knock - tapped on the stones ...

- Hold him! shouted Carlo.

Passers-by laughed, pointing fingers at the running Pinocchio. At the crossroads stood a huge policeman with a twisted mustache and a three-cornered hat.

Seeing a running wooden man, he spread his legs wide, blocking the whole street with them. Pinocchio wanted to slip between his legs, but the policeman grabbed his nose and held him until Papa Carlo arrived ...

“Well, you wait, I’ll deal with you already,” Carlo said, panting, and wanted to put Pinocchio in his jacket pocket ...

Pinocchio didn’t want to stick his feet up out of his jacket pocket on such a fun day with all the people - he deftly wriggled out, plopped down on the pavement and pretended to be dead ...

“Ay, ah,” said the policeman, “this seems to be a bad thing!”

Passers-by began to gather. Looking at the lying Pinocchio, they shook their heads.

“Poor thing,” they said, “probably from hunger ...

“Carlo beat him to death,” others said, “this old organ grinder only pretends to be a good person, he is bad, he is an evil person ...

Hearing all this, the mustachioed policeman grabbed the unfortunate Carlo by the collar and dragged him to the police station.

Carlo dusted his boots and groaned loudly:

- Oh, oh, on my own grief, I made a wooden boy!

When the street was empty, Pinocchio raised his nose, looked around and ran home skipping ...

Running to the closet under the stairs, Pinocchio plopped down on the floor near the leg of the chair.

- What else could you come up with?

We must not forget that Pinocchio was only the first day from birth. His thoughts were small, small, short, short, trifling, trifling.

At this time I heard:

“Krree-cree, cree-cree, cree-cree.”

Pinocchio shook his head, looking around the closet.

- Hey, who's here?

- Here I am, kri-kri...

Pinocchio saw a creature that looked a bit like a cockroach, but with a head like a grasshopper. It sat on the wall above the hearth and crackled softly—cree-cree—looked with bulging iridescent eyes as if made of glass, and wiggled its antennae.

- Hey, who are you?

“I am Talking Cricket,” the creature replied, “I have been living in this room for over a hundred years.

"I'm the boss here, get out of here."

- Well, I'll go, although I'm sad to leave the room where I lived for a hundred years, - said the Talking Cricket, - but before I leave, listen to useful advice.

“I really need some old cricket’s advice…”

“Ah, Pinocchio, Pinocchio,” said the cricket, “quit pampering, obey Carlo, do not run away from home without work, and tomorrow start going to school. Here's my advice. Otherwise, terrible dangers and terrible adventures await you. For your life, I will not give even a dead dry fly.

- What for? Pinocchio asked.

- But you will see - why, - said the Talking Cricket.

- Oh, you, a hundred-year-old insect-cockroach! shouted Buratino. “Most of all, I love scary adventures. Tomorrow at dawn I will run away from home - climb fences, destroy bird nests, tease boys, drag dogs and cats by the tails ... I can’t think of anything else! ..

- I feel sorry for you, sorry, Pinocchio, you will shed bitter tears.

- What for? Pinocchio asked again.

“Because you have a stupid wooden head.

Then Pinocchio jumped on a chair, from a chair to the table, grabbed a hammer and launched it into the head of the Talking Cricket.

The smart old cricket sighed heavily, wiggled its whiskers, and crawled away behind the hearth—out of this room forever.

Pinocchio almost dies due to his own frivolity. Papa Carlo glues him clothes from colored paper and buys the alphabet

After the incident with the Talking Cricket in the closet under the stairs, it became completely boring. The day dragged on and on. Pinocchio's stomach was also boring.

He closed his eyes and suddenly saw fried chicken on a plate.

He quickly opened his eyes - the chicken on the plate had disappeared.

He closed his eyes again - he saw a plate of semolina porridge in half with raspberry jam.

He opened his eyes - there is no plate with semolina porridge in half with raspberry jam. Then Pinocchio realized that he was terribly hungry.

He ran to the hearth and stuck his nose into a pot boiling over the fire, but Pinocchio's long nose pierced the pot through, because, as we know, the hearth, the fire, the smoke, and the pot were painted by poor Carlo on a piece of old canvas.

Pinocchio pulled out his nose and looked through the hole - behind the canvas in the wall there was something that looked like a small door, but it was so covered with cobwebs that it was impossible to make out anything.

Pinocchio went to rummage in all corners - if there was a crust of bread or a chicken bone gnawed by a cat.

Oh, nothing, nothing poor Carlo had in store for supper!

Suddenly he saw a chicken egg in a basket with shavings. He grabbed it, put it on the windowsill and with his nose - bale-bale - broke the shell.

Thank you, wooden man!

A chicken came out of a broken shell with fluff instead of a tail and with cheerful eyes.

- Goodbye! Mama Kura has been waiting for me in the yard for a long time.

And the chicken jumped out the window - they only saw him.

- Oh, oh, - Buratino shouted, - I want to eat! ..

The day is finally over. The room became dark.

Pinocchio sat near the painted fire and slowly hiccupped from hunger.

He saw - from under the stairs, from under the floor, a fat head appeared. A gray animal on low paws leaned out, sniffed and crawled out.

Slowly, it went to the basket with chips, climbed in, sniffing and rummaging - angrily rustled with chips. It must have been looking for the egg that Pinocchio broke.

Then it got out of the basket and went up to Pinocchio. She sniffed it, twisting her black nose with four long hairs on each side. Pinocchio did not smell of food - it went past, dragging a long thin tail.

Well, how could he not be grabbed by the tail! Pinocchio immediately grabbed it.

It turned out to be the old evil rat Shushara.

With fright, she, like a shadow, rushed under the stairs, dragging Pinocchio, but she saw that it was only a wooden boy, turned around and, with furious anger, pounced to cut his throat.

Now Pinocchio was frightened, let go of the cold rat's tail and jumped onto a chair. The rat is behind him.

He jumped from his chair to the windowsill. The rat is behind him.

From the windowsill, he flew across the entire closet onto the table. The rat follows him... And then, on the table, she grabbed Pinocchio by the throat, knocked him down, holding him in her teeth, jumped to the floor and dragged him under the stairs, into the underground.

Papa Carlo! – only had time to squeak Pinocchio.

The door opened and Papa Carlo walked in. He pulled off a wooden shoe from his foot and threw it at the rat.

Shushara, releasing the wooden boy, gritted her teeth and disappeared.

- That's what pampering leads to! grumbled Papa Carlo, picking up Pinocchio from the floor. He looked to see if he was all right. He put him on his knees, took an onion out of his pocket, peeled it.

- Come on, eat!

Pinocchio sunk his hungry teeth into the onion and ate it, crunching and smacking his lips. After that, he began to rub his head against the bristly cheek of Papa Carlo.

- I'll be smart, prudent, Papa Carlo ... Talking Cricket told me to go to school.

"Good idea, kid...

- Papa Carlo, but I'm naked, wooden, - the boys at school will laugh at me.

“Hey,” said Carlo, scratching his bristly chin. - You're right, baby!

He lit a lamp, took scissors, glue and scraps of colored paper. I cut and glued a brown paper jacket and bright green pants. He made shoes from an old top and a hat - a cap with a tassel - from an old sock.

I put all this on Pinocchio:

- Wear it in good health!

“Papa Carlo,” said Pinocchio, “but how can I go to school without the alphabet?”

"Hey, you're right baby...

Papa Carlo scratched his head. He threw his only old jacket over his shoulders and went outside.

He soon returned, but without a jacket. In his hand he held a book with large letters and entertaining pictures.

Here's the alphabet for you. Learn for health.

– Papa Carlo, where is your jacket?

- I sold the jacket ... It's okay, I'll get by and so ... Only you live on your health.

Pinocchio buried his nose in the good hands of Pope Carlo.

“I’ll learn, I’ll grow up, I’ll buy you a thousand new jackets…

Pinocchio wanted with all his might to live this first evening in his life without pampering, as the Talking Cricket had taught him.

Pinocchio sells the alphabet and buys a ticket to the puppet theater

Early in the morning Pinocchio put the alphabet in his purse and skipped to school.

On the way, he did not even look at the sweets displayed in the shops - triangles of poppy seeds on honey, sweet cakes and lollipops in the form of roosters impaled on a stick.

He did not want to look at the boys flying a kite ...

The street was crossed by a striped cat, Basilio, who could be grabbed by the tail. But Pinocchio refrained from doing so.

The closer he got to the school, the louder nearby, on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, cheerful music played.

“Pee-pee-pee,” the flute squeaked.

“La-la-la-la,” the violin sang.

“Ding-ding,” the brass cymbals tinkled.

– Boom! - beat the drum.

You need to turn right to school, the music was heard to the left. Pinocchio began to stumble. The legs themselves turned to the sea, where:

- Wee-wee, weeeeee...

Jin-lala, jin-la-la...

“The school won’t go anywhere,” Pinocchio began to say loudly to himself, “I just look, listen, and run to school.”

What is the spirit, he started to run to the sea. He saw a linen booth adorned with colorful flags flapping in the sea wind.

At the top of the booth, four musicians were dancing.

Downstairs, a plump smiling aunt was selling tickets.

A large crowd stood near the entrance - boys and girls, soldiers, lemonade sellers, wet nurses with babies, firemen, postmen - everyone, everyone was reading a big poster:

Pinocchio pulled the sleeve of one boy:

– Can you tell me how much the entrance ticket costs?

The boy answered through his teeth, slowly:

“Four soldos, little wooden man.

“You see, boy, I forgot my wallet at home ... Can you lend me four soldi? ..

The boy whistled contemptuously:

- I found a fool! ..

“I really want to see the puppet theater!” Pinocchio said through tears. “Buy me for four soldi my wonderful jacket ...

“A paper jacket for four soldos?” Looking for a fool...

“Well then, my pretty cap…”

- Use your cap only to catch tadpoles ... Look for a fool.

Pinocchio even got a cold nose - he so wanted to get into the theater.

- Boy, in that case, take my new alphabet for four soldi ...

- With pictures?

“With chhhhh pictures and big letters.

“Come on, perhaps,” the boy said, took the alphabet and reluctantly counted out four soldi.

Pinocchio ran up to a full smiling aunt and squeaked:

“Listen, give me a ticket in the front row for the only puppet show.

During the performance of the comedy, the dolls recognize Pinocchio

Pinocchio sat down in the front row and looked with delight at the lowered curtain.

Dancing little men, girls in black masks, scary bearded people in caps with stars, a sun that looked like a pancake with a nose and eyes, and other entertaining pictures were painted on the curtain.

The bell was struck three times and the curtain went up.

There were cardboard trees on the small stage to the right and left. Above them hung a lantern in the form of a moon and was reflected in a piece of mirror on which floated two swans made of cotton wool with golden noses.

A small man wearing a long white long-sleeved shirt appeared from behind the cardboard tree.

His face was sprinkled with powder as white as tooth powder.

He bowed to the most respectable audience and said sadly:

- Hello, my name is Piero ... Now we will play a comedy in front of you called "Girl with blue hair, or Thirty-three cuffs." I will be beaten with a stick, slapped and slapped on the back of the head. This is a very funny comedy...

Another little man jumped out from behind another cardboard tree, all checkered like a chessboard. He bowed to the honorable audience.

Hello, I'm Harlequin!

After that, he turned to Piero and let go two slaps in the face, so sonorous that powder fell from his cheeks.

“What are you whining about, fool?

“I am sad because I want to get married,” Piero replied.

- Why didn't you get married?

“Because my fiancee ran away from me…

“Ha-ha-ha,” Harlequin rolled with laughter, “we saw the fool! ..

He grabbed a stick and beat Pierrot off.

- What is your fiancee's name?

"Aren't you going to fight again?"

No, I've only just begun.

- In that case, her name is Malvina, or the girl with blue hair.

– Ha-ha-ha! - Harlequin rolled again and released Pierrot three slaps on the back of the head. “Listen, most respectable audience… Are there really girls with blue hair?

But then, turning to the audience, he suddenly saw on the front bench a wooden boy with a mouth to his ears, with a long nose, in a cap with a brush ...

- Look, it's Pinocchio! shouted the Harlequin, pointing his finger at him.

- Alive Pinocchio! yelled Pierrot, waving his long sleeves.

A lot of dolls jumped out from behind cardboard trees - girls in black masks, scary bearded men in caps, furry dogs with buttons instead of eyes, hunchbacks with noses like cucumbers ...

They all ran up to the candles that stood along the ramp, and, peering, chattered:

- This is Pinocchio! This is Pinocchio! To us, to us, cheerful rascal Pinocchio!

Then he jumped from the bench to the prompter booth, and from it to the stage.

The puppets grabbed him, started hugging, kissing, pinching... Then all the puppets sang "Polka Bird":

Polka bird dancing
On the lawn at an early hour.
Nose to the left, tail to the right, -
This is the Polka Barabas.

Two beetles - on the drum,
The toad blows into the double bass.
Nose to the left, tail to the right, -
This is the polka Karabas.

The bird danced the polka
Because it's fun.
Nose to the left, tail to the right, -
This is how the field was ...

The audience was moved. One nurse even shed a tear. One firefighter wept uncontrollably.

Only the boys on the back benches got angry and stamped their feet:

- Enough licking, not small, continue the show!

Hearing all this noise, a man leaned out from behind the stage, so terrible in appearance that one could freeze with horror at the mere sight of him.

His thick, unkempt beard dragged along the floor, his bulging eyes rolled, his huge mouth clanged his teeth, as if it were not a man, but a crocodile. In his hand he held a seven-tailed whip.

It was the owner of the puppet theatre, doctor of puppet science signor Karabas Barabas.

– Ha-ha-ha, goo-goo-goo! he roared at Pinocchio. “So it was you who interfered with the performance of my beautiful comedy?”

He grabbed Pinocchio, took it to the storeroom of the theater and hung it on a nail. Returning, he threatened the puppets with a seven-tailed whip so that they continued the performance.

The puppets somehow finished the comedy, the curtain closed, the audience dispersed.

The doctor of puppet science, Signor Karabas Barabas, went to the kitchen to have supper.

Putting the lower part of his beard in his pocket so as not to interfere, he sat down in front of the hearth, where a whole rabbit and two chickens were roasting on a spit.

After hesitating his fingers, he touched the roast, and it seemed to him raw.

There was little wood in the hearth. Then he clapped his hands three times. Harlequin and Pierrot ran in.

“Bring me this loafer Pinocchio,” said Signor Karabas Barabas. “It’s made of dry wood, I’ll throw it on the fire, my roast will roast alive.”

Harlequin and Pierrot fell to their knees, begging to spare the unfortunate Pinocchio.

- Where's my whip? shouted Karabas Barabas.

Then they, sobbing, went into the pantry, removed Pinocchio from the nail and dragged it into the kitchen.