Приключения Пиноккио / The adventures of Pinocchio. Уровень 1

Pinocchio began to cry and shriek:

“The Cricket was right! Oh, how horrible it is to be hungry!”

He decided to go to the nearby village to find some charitable person who might give him a bit of bread.

Chapter 6

Pinocchio sleeps with his feet on a foot warmer

Pinocchio hated the dark street, but he was very hungry and he ran out of the house. The night was black. It thundered. An angry wind blew cold, while the trees shook and moaned in a weird way.

Pinocchio was greatly afraid of thunder and lightning, but the hunger was greater than his fear.

Pinocchio, in desperation, ran up to a doorway and pulled the bell wildly. He said to himself: “Someone will surely answer that!”

He was right. An old man in a nightcap opened the window and looked out angrily:

“What do you want at this hour of night?”

“Will you give me a bit of bread? I am hungry.

“Wait a minute,” answered the old man.

After a minute or two, the same voice cried:

“Get under the window and hold out your hat[11 - hold out your hat – подставь свою шляпу]!”

Pinocchio had no hat. When he got under the window, he felt a shower of ice-cold water on his poor wooden head, his shoulders, and over his whole body. He returned home as wet as a rag.

He sat down on a little stool and put his two feet on the stove to dry them.

There he fell asleep, and while he slept, his wooden feet began to burn. Slowly, very slowly, they blackened and turned to ashes.

At dawn Pinocchio opened his eyes. He heard a loud knocking at the door.

“Who is it?” he called.

“It is I,” answered a voice.

It was the voice of Geppetto.

Chapter 7

Geppetto returns home

The poor Marionette did not noticed that he had no legs anymore. As soon as he heard his Father’s voice, he jumped up from his seat to open the door, but staggered and fell headlong to the floor.

“Open the door for me!” Geppetto shouted from the street.

“Father, dear Father, I can’t,” answered the Marionette in despair.

“Why can’t you?”

“Because someone ate my feet.”

“And who ate them?”

“The cat,” answered Pinocchio. He saw that little animal in the corner of the room.

“Open! I say,” repeated Geppetto.

“Father, believe me, I can’t stand up.