at
he pities you, and consequently you are saved."

For you must know that whilst most men when they feel compassion
for somebody either weep, or at least pretend to dry their eyes,
Fire-eater, on the contrary, had the habit of sneezing.

After he had sneezed, the showman, still acting the ruffian, shouted
to Pinocchio:

"Have done crying! Your lamentations have given me a pain in my
stomach ... I feel a spasm, that almost.... Etci! etci!" and he
sneezed again twice.

"Bless you!" said Pinocchio.

"Thank you! And your papa and your mamma, are they still alive?" asked
Fire-eater.

"Papa, yes: my mamma I have never known."

"Who can say what a sorrow it would be to your poor old father if I
was to have you thrown amongst those burning coals! Poor old man! I
compassionate him!... Etci! etci! etci!" and he sneezed three times.

"Bless you!" said Pinocchio.

"Thank you! All the same, some compassion is due to me, for you see I
have no more wood with which to finish roasting my mutton, and to tell
you the truth, under the circumstances you would have been of great
use to me! However, I have had pity on you, so I must have patience.
Instead of you I will burn under the spit one of the puppets belonging
to my company. Ho there, gendarmes!"

At this call two wooden gendarmes immediately appeared. They were very
long and very thin and had on cocked hats, and held unsheathed swords
in their hands.

The showman said to them in a hoarse voice:

"Take Harlequin, bind him securely, and then throw him on the fire to
burn. I am determined that my mutton shall be well roasted."

Only imagine that poor Harlequin! His terror was so great that his
legs bent under him, and he fell with his face on the ground.

At this agonizing sight Pinocchio, weeping bitterly, threw himself at
the showman's feet, and bathing his long beard with his tears he began
to say in a supplicating voice:

"Have pity, Sir Fire-eater!"

"Here there are no sirs," the showman answered severely.

"Have pity, Sir Knight!"

"Here there are no knights!"

"Have pity, Commander!"

"Here there are no commanders!"

"Have pity, Excellence!"

Upon hearing himself called Excellence the showman began to smile,
and became at once kinder and more tractable. Turning to Pinocchio he
asked:

"Well, what do you want from me?"

"I implore you to pardon poor Harlequin."

"For him there can be no pardon. As I have spared you he must be
put on the fire, fo