Page:The adventures of Pinocchio (Cramp 1904).djvu/144

 arithmetics and began hurling them at him. But the marionette was very quick and dodged every one, so that the books went over him and fell into the sea.

What do you think the fishes did? Thinking that the books might be something to eat, they swam to the edge of the sea and looked at the pictures; but after swallowing several pages and frontispieces, they spat them out and made wry faces, as if to say: “This is no food for us. We are accustomed to eat much better stuff.”

Meanwhile the combat grew fiercer until a big old Crab came out of the water and, slowly walking up the beach, cried with the voice of a trombone that has caught a cold, “Stop it! stop it! These battles between boys always end badly. Some misfortune is sure to happen.”

Poor Crab! It was as if he had spoken to the wind. That scoundrel, Pinocchio, turned around and said most impolitely: “Oh, hush! ugly Crab. You would do better to eat some seaweed and cure that cold of yours. Go home to bed and take a good sweat.”

In the meantime the boys, who had used up all their own books, looked around and spied Pinocchio’s, which they seized sooner than it takes to tell it. Among his books there was a volume