had the appearance of an immense lizard standing on its
hind-paws.

When the fisherman had drawn his net out of the sea, he exclaimed with
great satisfaction:

"Thank Heaven! Again today I shall have a splendid feast of fish!"

"What a mercy that I am not a fish!" said Pinocchio to himself,
regaining a little courage.

The netful of fish was carried into the cave, which was dark and smoky.
In the middle of the cave a large frying-pan full of oil was frying and
sending out a smell of mushrooms that was suffocating.

"Now we will see what fish we have taken!" said the green fisherman,
and, putting into the net an enormous hand, so out of all proportion
that it looked like a baker's shovel, he pulled out a handful of fish.

"These fish are good!" he said, looking at them and smelling them
complacently. And after he had smelled them he threw them into a pan
without water.

He repeated the same operation many times, and as he drew out the fish
his mouth watered and he said, chuckling to himself:

"What good whiting!"

"What exquisite sardines!"

"These soles are delicious!"

"And these crabs excellent!"

"What dear little anchovies!"

The last to remain in the net was Pinocchio.

No sooner had the fisherman taken him out than he opened his big green
eyes with astonishment and cried, half frightened:

"What species of fish is this? Fish of this kind I never remember to
have eaten."

And he looked at him again attentively and, having examined him well all
over, he ended by saying:

"I know: he must be a craw-fish."

Pinocchio, mortified at being mistaken for a craw-fish, said in an angry
voice:

"A craw-fish indeed! Do you take me for a craw-fish? what treatment! Let
me tell you that I am a puppet."

"A puppet?" replied the fisherman. "To tell the truth, a puppet is
quite a new fish for me. All the better! I shall eat you with greater
pleasure."

"Eat me! but will you understand that I am not a fish? Do you hear that
I talk and reason as you do?"

"That is quite true," said the fisherman; "and as I see that you are a
fish possessed of the talent of talking and reasoning as I do, I will
treat you with all the attention that is your due."

"And this attention?"

"In token of my friendship and particular regard, I will leave you the
choice of how you would like to be cooked. Would you like to be fried in
the frying-pan, or would you prefer to be stewed with tomato sauce?"

"To tell the truth,"