ht today," said the Green
Fisherman. He put a hand as big as a spade into the net and pulled out a
handful of mullets.

"Fine mullets, these!" he said, after looking at them and smelling them
with pleasure. After that, he threw them into a large, empty tub.

Many times he repeated this performance. As he pulled each fish out of
the net, his mouth watered with the thought of the good dinner coming,
and he said:

"Fine fish, these bass!"

"Very tasty, these whitefish!"

"Delicious flounders, these!"

"What splendid crabs!"

"And these dear little anchovies, with their heads still on!"

As you can well imagine, the bass, the flounders, the whitefish, and
even the little anchovies all went together into the tub to keep the
mullets company. The last to come out of the net was Pinocchio.

As soon as the Fisherman pulled him out, his green eyes opened wide with
surprise, and he cried out in fear:

"What kind of fish is this? I don't remember ever eating anything like
it."

He looked at him closely and after turning him over and over, he said at
last:

"I understand. He must be a crab!"

Pinocchio, mortified at being taken for a crab, said resentfully:

"What nonsense! A crab indeed! I am no such thing. Beware how you deal
with me! I am a Marionette, I want you to know."

"A Marionette?" asked the Fisherman. "I must admit that a Marionette
fish is, for me, an entirely new kind of fish. So much the better. I'll
eat you with greater relish."

"Eat me? But can't you understand that I'm not a fish? Can't you hear
that I speak and think as you do?"

"It's true," answered the Fisherman; "but since I see that you are a
fish, well able to talk and think as I do, I'll treat you with all due
respect."

"And that is--"

"That, as a sign of my particular esteem, I'll leave to you the choice
of the manner in which you are to be cooked. Do you wish to be fried in
a pan, or do you prefer to be cooked with tomato sauce?"

"To tell you the truth," answered Pinocchio, "if I must choose, I should
much rather go free so I may return home!"

"Are you fooling? Do you think that I want to lose the opportunity to
taste such a rare fish? A Marionette fish does not come very often to
these seas. Leave it to me. I'll fry you in the pan with the others.
I know you'll like it. It's always a comfort to find oneself in good
company."

The unlucky Marionette, hearing this, began to cry and wail and beg.
With tears streaming down