Page:The adventures of Pinocchio (Cramp 1904).djvu/207

 know what to do. He finally murmured some joyous sounds, for words stuck in his throat. Giving a cry of pleasure, he rushed to the old man, threw his arms around his neck, and cried: “Oh, my dear father! At last I have found you! Now I will never leave you again, never, never, never!”

“Do my eyes tell me truly?” asked the old man, rubbing them. “Do I really see my dear Pinocchio?”

“Yes, yes; it is I, truly, Pinocchio! And you have already forgiven me, have you not? Oh, my papa! How good you are! And to think that I—Oh, but if you only knew how many things have happened to me,—how many troubles and trials! Just imagine, the day you sold your coat for my A B C card I ran away from school and met some marionettes, and the manager wished to put me on the fire so that I could cook some mutton that he wanted to eat. He gave me some pieces of gold for you; but when I went toward home I met a Fox and a Cat, who led me to an inn called the Red Lobster, where they ate like wolves. I left the inn at night and met assassins who began to run after me and finally caught me and hanged me to a large oak. Then a beautiful Baby with Blue Hair sent a carriage to take me to her house, where there were doctors who said if I was not dead