4 Pinocchio Meets Fox and Cat

CHAPTER 4 Pinocchio Meets Fox and Cat The next morning, the director sent Pinocchio off with well wishes and five pieces of gold. He had given Pinocchio the gold after the puppet had described how poor Geppetto had sold his only coat. "Good-bye, fellow puppets," Pinocchio cried, and set off for home. A few steps down the road, he met a lame fox and a blind cat walking arm in arm. "Good morning, Pinocchio," Fox said. "How do you know my name?" the puppet asked.

"We know your father as well. We saw him just yesterday, shivering in his shirt sleeves." "Oh, poor Father!" Pinocchio cried. "Well, after today, he will shiver no longer. I have become a rich man." Thinking Pinocchio a poor, silly puppet, Cat and Fox just laughed. "Stop laughing at me!" Pinocchio said angrily. "I can prove it!" And with that, he took the gold pieces out of his pocket and revealed them. At the sight of the gold, two interesting things happened. First, the supposedly lame fox reached out his paw. Then the supposedly blind cat opened his eyes wide with excitement and greed. The paw and the eyes returned so quickly to their original conditions, however, that Pinocchio did not notice.

"So, what do you plan to do with your money?" Fox asked casually. "I am going to buy a new coat for my father, and a new workbook for myself," Pinocchio said. "Then I can study!" "Are you sure you want to do that?" Fox asked grimly. "Studying made me lame." "Studying made me blind," Cat added. A blackbird perched on a fence nearby started to say something that sounded like a warning, but in the blink of a not-so-blind eye, the cat leaped up and ate him, feathers and feet and all. "Why did you do that?" Pinocchio asked, alarmed. "That bird talked too much," Cat said. Not unlike a certain cricket, Pinocchio thought. "And how did you do that, if you are blind?" Pinocchio asked. "Oh, just lucky," Cat replied.

"You can be lucky, too," Fox told the puppet. "You can turn your five gold pieces into two thousand." "How?" Pinocchio breathed. "Come with us to the City of Simpletons," Fox replied. Pinocchio's face fell. "I can't," he said. "Father has been waiting for me. Cricket was right. Children who do not listen cannot be happy in this world." "Nonsense," Fox said. Pinocchio hesitated. He had to ask. "How can five gold pieces possibly become two thousand?" And so Cat and Fox explained that just outside the City of Simpletons, there was a magical field called the Field of Wonders. If you went there at dawn, dug a hole and buried a gold piece, and then watered it well and sprinkled it with a pinch of salt, the gold

piece would grow into a beautiful tree whose leaves and flowers were glittering gold pieces. Pinocchio was filled with hope. Forgetting his father, the new coat, the workbook, and all his good resolutions, he told his new friends, "Let's go!" Cat and Fox and puppet walked a long time, but the Field of Wonders was far away and night was setting in. When they came to an inn called the Inn of the Red Shrimp, Fox suggested they stop to eat and rest. "At midnight we'll start out again, for at dawn tomorrow we must be at the field." Cat felt very weak and was able to eat only thirty-five sardines with tomato sauce, and four helpings of spaghetti with butter and cheese. Fox was fat, and his doctor had put him on a diet, so he had to be satisfied with a sweet

and-sour rabbit and a dozen young and tender spring chickens. And a few partridges. And some pheasants. And a dozen frogs and lizards. But that was all. When supper was over, Fox asked the innkeeper for two rooms so that the group could take a nap. "And give us a wakeup call at midnight," Fox said. "Yes, sir!" the innkeeper said. Once in his room, Pinocchio immediately fell into a deep sleep, full of fantastic dreams of magical, gold-filled fields. Just as Pinocchio was about to reach out to grab the gold in his dream, he was awaked by three loud knocks at the door. It was the innkeeper. "Cat and Fox left two hours ago," he said, "Cat was called home on an emergency. "They said you agreed to pay for supper,"