Page:Collodi - The Story of a Puppet, translation Murray, 1892.djvu/213

 purchaser was found at once. He asked the stable-boy:

'How much do you want for that lame donkey?'

'Twenty francs.'

'I will give you twenty pence. Don't suppose that I am buying him to make use of; I am buying him solely for his skin. I see that his skin is very hard, and I intend to make a drum with it for the band of my village.'

I leave it to my readers to imagine poor Pinocchio's feelings when he heard that he was destined to become a drum!

As soon as the purchaser had paid his twenty pence he conducted the little donkey to the sea-shore. He then put a stone round his neck, and tying a rope, the end of which he held in his hand, round his leg he gave him a sudden push and threw him into the water.

Pinocchio, weighed down by the stone, went at once to the bottom; and his owner, keeping tight hold of the cord, sat down quietly on a piece of rock to wait until the little donkey was drowned, intending then to skin him.