PINOCCHIO GOES WITH THE FOX AND THE CAT

The Fox was lame, but he ran up to Pinocchio.
The Cat was blind, but he opened two large eyes.
They looked like two green lamps. He shut them
quickly again, so quickly that Pinocchio understood nothing.

And now,” asked the Fox, “what do you want
to do with all that money?”

“First,” answered Pinocchio, “I want to buy
a new coat for my Papa. Then I’ll buy a schoolbook.”

“What for?”

“I want to go to school.”

“Look at me!” said the Fox. “I dost my leg because I learned at school.”

“Look at me!” said the Cat. “I lost my eyes because I learned at school.”

Suddenly a little bird began to sing. It said:

“Pinocchio, don’t listen to them—they are
bad friends!”

Poor little bird! The Cat jumped at it and ate
it up. Then he shut his eyes again.

“Poor bird!” said Pinocchio to the Cat. “Why
did you eat it up?”

“Because it listened to our talk.”

Suddenly the Fox said to Pinocchio:

“Do you want to have a lot of money?”

“Oh, yes, but how?”

“Don’t go home. Come with us and we’ll show
you how."

“Where shall we go?”

“You’ll, see,” answered the Fox.

Pinocchio thought a little and then he said:

“No, I won’t go with you. I’ll go home to my
Papa. He wants to see me.”

“Well, then,” said the Fox, “go home with
your five gold pieces. But if you want to have two
hundred gold pieces, come with us.”

“But how can I get them?”

“I’ll tell you,” said the Fox. “We’ll go to a field.
In the field you must make a little hole and put one
gold piece in it. Then you must throw some earth
into the hole and make a little hill. After that throw
some water on the hill. At night you can go to bed.
And the gold piece will grow. In the morning you
will get up and come back; and what will you find?
You’ll find a beautiful tree with many gold pieces
on it.”

“Oh! How nice!” cried Pinocchio.

He forgot his Papa, the new coat, and the
school-book. He said to the Fox and the Cat:

“I’ll go with you.”