his cheeks, he said:

"How much better it would have been for me to go to school! I did listen
to my playmates and now I am paying for it! Oh! Oh! Oh!"

And as he struggled and squirmed like an eel to escape from him, the
Green Fisherman took a stout cord and tied him hand and foot, and threw
him into the bottom of the tub with the others.

Then he pulled a wooden bowl full of flour out of a cupboard and started
to roll the fish into it, one by one. When they were white with it,
he threw them into the pan. The first to dance in the hot oil were the
mullets, the bass followed, then the whitefish, the flounders, and the
anchovies. Pinocchio's turn came last. Seeing himself so near to death
(and such a horrible death!) he began to tremble so with fright that he
had no voice left with which to beg for his life.

The poor boy beseeched only with his eyes. But the Green Fisherman,
not even noticing that it was he, turned him over and over in the flour
until he looked like a Marionette made of chalk.

Then he took him by the head and . . .

CHAPTER 29

Pinocchio returns to the Fairy's house and she promises him that, on the
morrow, he will cease to be a Marionette and become a boy. A wonderful
party of coffee-and-milk to celebrate the great event.

Mindful of what the Fisherman had said, Pinocchio knew that all hope
of being saved had gone. He closed his eyes and waited for the final
moment.

Suddenly, a large Dog, attracted by the odor of the boiling oil, came
running into the cave.

"Get out!" cried the Fisherman threateningly and still holding onto the
Marionette, who was all covered with flour.

But the poor Dog was very hungry, and whining and wagging his tail, he
tried to say:

"Give me a bite of the fish and I'll go in peace."

"Get out, I say!" repeated the Fisherman.

And he drew back his foot to give the Dog a kick.

Then the Dog, who, being really hungry, would take no refusal, turned
in a rage toward the Fisherman and bared his terrible fangs. And at that
moment, a pitiful little voice was heard saying: "Save me, Alidoro; if
you don't, I fry!"

The Dog immediately recognized Pinocchio's voice. Great was his surprise
to find that the voice came from the little flour-covered bundle that
the Fisherman held in his hand.

Then what did he do? With one great leap, he grasped that bundle in his
mouth and, holding it lightly between his teeth, ran through the door
and disappeared like a flash!