Page:Collodi - The Story of a Puppet, translation Murray, 1892.djvu/173

 stream of water that ran down the middle of the street.

'Ah! is that it?' shouted Pinocchio, blind with rage. 'Since the knocker has disappeared, I will kick instead with all my might.'

And drawing a little back he gave a tremendous kick against the house door. The blow was indeed so violent that his foot went through the wood and stuck; and when he tried to draw it back again it was trouble thrown away, for it remained fixed like a nail that has been hammered down.

Think of poor Pinocchio! He was obliged to spend the remainder of the night with one foot on the ground and the other in the air.

The following morning at daybreak the door was at last opened. That clever little Snail had taken only nine hours to come down from the fourth story to the house door. It is evident that her exertions must have been great.

'What are you doing with your foot stuck in the door?' she asked the puppet, laughing.

'It was an accident. Do try, beautiful little Snail, if you cannot release me from this torture.'

'My boy, that is the work of a carpenter, and I have never been a carpenter.'

'Beg the Fairy from me! . . .'