Pinocchio had had his fill, he grumbled, as he wiped his mouth:
"My thirst is gone. If I could only as easily get rid of my hunger!"
On hearing these words, the good little woman immediately said:
"If you help me to carry these jugs home, I'll give you a slice of
bread."
Pinocchio looked at the jug and said neither yes nor no.
"And with the bread, I'll give you a nice dish of cauliflower with white
sauce on it."
Pinocchio gave the jug another look and said neither yes nor no.
"And after the cauliflower, some cake and jam."
At this last bribery, Pinocchio could no longer resist and said firmly:
"Very well. I'll take the jug home for you."
The jug was very heavy, and the Marionette, not being strong enough to
carry it with his hands, had to put it on his head.
When they arrived home, the little woman made Pinocchio sit down at a
small table and placed before him the bread, the cauliflower, and
the cake. Pinocchio did not eat; he devoured. His stomach seemed a
bottomless pit.
His hunger finally appeased, he raised his head to thank his kind
benefactress. But he had not looked at her long when he gave a cry of
surprise and sat there with his eyes wide open, his fork in the air, and
his mouth filled with bread and cauliflower.
"Why all this surprise?" asked the good woman, laughing.
"Because--" answered Pinocchio, stammering and stuttering, "because--you
look like--you remind me of--yes, yes, the same voice, the same eyes,
the same hair--yes, yes, yes, you also have the same azure hair she
had--Oh, my little Fairy, my little Fairy! Tell me that it is you! Don't
make me cry any longer! If you only knew! I have cried so much, I have
suffered so!"
And Pinocchio threw himself on the floor and clasped the knees of the
mysterious little woman.
CHAPTER 25
Pinocchio promises the Fairy to be good and to study, as he is growing
tired of being a Marionette, and wishes to become a real boy.
If Pinocchio cried much longer, the little woman thought he would melt
away, so she finally admitted that she was the little Fairy with Azure
Hair.
"You rascal of a Marionette! How did you know it was I?" she asked,
laughing.
"My love for you told me who you were."
"Do you remember? You left me when I was a little girl and now you find
me a grown woman. I am so old, I could almost be your mother!"
"I am very glad of that, for then I can call you mother instead of
sister. For a long time I have w
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