“Were you awake or asleep when they came?” continued the Farmer.

“I was asleep,” answered Pinocchio, “but they awakened me with their whisperings.  One of them even came to the door of the doghouse and said to me, ’If you promise not to bark, we will make you a present of one of the chickens for your breakfast.’  Did you hear that?  They had the audacity to make such a proposition as that to me!  For you must know that, though I am a very wicked Marionette full of faults, still I never have been, nor ever shall be, bribed.”

“Fine boy!” cried the Farmer, slapping him on the shoulder in a friendly way.  “You ought to be proud of yourself.  And to show you what I think of you, you are free from this instant!”

And he slipped the dog collar from his neck.

CHAPTER 23

Pinocchio weeps upon learning that the Lovely Maiden with Azure Hair is dead.  He meets a Pigeon, who carries him to the seashore.  He throws himself into the sea to go to the aid of his father.

As soon as Pinocchio no longer felt the shameful weight of the dog collar around his neck, he started to run across the fields and meadows, and never stopped till he came to the main road that was to take him to the Fairy’s house.

When he reached it, he looked into the valley far below him and there he saw the wood where unluckily he had met the Fox and the Cat, and the tall oak tree where he had been hanged; but though he searched far and near, he could not see the house where the Fairy with the Azure Hair lived.

He became terribly frightened and, running as fast as he could, he finally came to the spot where it had once stood.  The little house was no longer there.  In its place lay a small marble slab, which bore this sad inscription: 

     Here lies
     the lovely fairy with azure hair
     who died of grief
     when abandoned by
     her little brother Pinocchio

The poor Marionette was heartbroken at reading these words.  He fell to the ground and, covering the cold marble with kisses, burst into bitter tears.  He cried all night, and dawn found him still there, though his tears had dried and only hard, dry sobs shook his wooden frame.  But these were so loud that they could be heard by the faraway hills.

As he sobbed he said to himself: 

“Oh, my Fairy, my dear, dear Fairy, why did you die?  Why did I not die, who am so bad, instead of you, who are so good?  And my father—­where can he be?  Please dear Fairy, tell me where he is and I shall never, never leave him again!  You are not really dead, are you?  If you love me, you will come back, alive as before.  Don’t you feel sorry for me?  I’m so lonely.  If the two Assassins come, they’ll hang me again from the giant oak tree and I will really die, this time.  What shall I do alone in the world?  Now that you are dead and my father is lost, where shall I eat?  Where shall I sleep?  Who will make my new clothes?  Oh, I want to die!  Yes, I want to die!  Oh, oh, oh!”