CHAPTER 28

[Pinocchio runs the danger of being fried in a pan like a fish] [Pinóquio corre o risco de ser frito na frigideira como um peixe]

During that wild chase, Pinocchio lived through a terrible moment when he almost gave himself up as lost. This was when Alidoro (that was the Mastiff's name), in a frenzy of running, came so near that he was on the very point of reaching him. Foi quando Alidoro (assim se chamava o Mastiff), num frenesi de corrida, chegou tão perto que esteve a ponto de alcançá-lo. The Marionette heard, close behind him, the labored breathing of the beast who was fast on his trail, and now and again even felt his hot breath blow over him. A marionete ouvia, logo atrás dele, a respiração ofegante da besta que vinha rapidamente em seu encalço, e de vez em quando até sentia seu hálito quente soprar sobre ele.

Luckily, by this time, he was very near the shore, and the sea was in sight; in fact, only a few short steps away.

As soon as he set foot on the beach, Pinocchio gave a leap and fell into the water. Assim que pôs os pés na praia, Pinóquio deu um salto e caiu na água. Alidoro tried to stop, but as he was running very fast, he couldn't, and he, too, landed far out in the sea. Alidoro tentou parar, mas como corria muito rápido, não conseguiu e também caiu longe no mar. Strange though it may seem, the Dog could not swim. Por mais estranho que pareça, o Cão não sabia nadar. He beat the water with his paws to hold himself up, but the harder he tried, the deeper he sank. Ele batia na água com as patas para se manter de pé, mas quanto mais tentava, mais afundava. As he stuck his head out once more, the poor fellow's eyes were bulging and he barked out wildly, "I drown! Quando ele colocou a cabeça para fora mais uma vez, os olhos do pobre homem estavam esbugalhados e ele gritou descontroladamente: "Eu me afoguei! I drown!" "Drown!" answered Pinocchio from afar, happy at his escape.

"Help, Pinocchio, dear little Pinocchio! Save me from death!" At those cries of suffering, the Marionette, who after all had a very kind heart, was moved to compassion. Diante daqueles gritos de sofrimento, a Marionete, que afinal tinha um coração muito bondoso, foi tocada pela compaixão. He turned toward the poor animal and said to him:

"But if I help you, will you promise not to bother me again by running after me?" "I promise! I promise! Only hurry, for if you wait another second, I'll be dead and gone!" Pinocchio hesitated still another minute. Then, remembering how his father had often told him that a kind deed is never lost, he swam to Alidoro and, catching hold of his tail, dragged him to the shore. Então, lembrando-se de como seu pai sempre lhe dissera que uma boa ação nunca é perdida, ele nadou até Alidoro e, agarrando-o pelo rabo, arrastou-o até a margem.

The poor Dog was so weak he could not stand. He had swallowed so much salt water that he was swollen like a balloon. Ele havia engolido tanta água salgada que estava inchado como um balão. However, Pinocchio, not wishing to trust him too much, threw himself once again into the sea. As he swam away, he called out:

"Good-by, Alidoro, good luck and remember me to the family!" "Good-by, little Pinocchio," answered the Dog. "A thousand thanks for having saved me from death. You did me a good turn, and, in this world, what is given is always returned. If the chance comes, I shall be there." Pinocchio went on swimming close to shore. At last he thought he had reached a safe place. Glancing up and down the beach, he saw the opening of a cave out of which rose a spiral of smoke. Olhando para cima e para baixo na praia, ele viu a abertura de uma caverna da qual subia uma espiral de fumaça.

"In that cave," he said to himself, "there must be a fire. So much the better. I'll dry my clothes and warm myself, and then--well--" His mind made up, Pinocchio swam to the rocks, but as he started to climb, he felt something under him lifting him up higher and higher. He tried to escape, but he was too late. To his great surprise, he found himself in a huge net, amid a crowd of fish of all kinds and sizes, who were fighting and struggling desperately to free themselves. Para sua grande surpresa, ele se viu em uma enorme rede, em meio a uma multidão de peixes de todos os tipos e tamanhos, que lutavam e lutavam desesperadamente para se libertar.

At the same time, he saw a Fisherman come out of the cave, a Fisherman so ugly that Pinocchio thought he was a sea monster. Ao mesmo tempo, viu sair da caverna um Pescador, um Pescador tão feio que Pinóquio pensou que fosse um monstro marinho. In place of hair, his head was covered by a thick bush of green grass. No lugar do cabelo, sua cabeça estava coberta por um espesso arbusto de grama verde. Green was the skin of his body, green were his eyes, green was the long, long beard that reached down to his feet. He looked like a giant lizard with legs and arms. Ele parecia um lagarto gigante com pernas e braços.

When the Fisherman pulled the net out of the sea, he cried out joyfully:

"Blessed Providence! Once more I'll have a fine meal of fish!" Mais uma vez eu vou ter uma boa refeição de peixe!" "Thank Heaven, I'm not a fish!" said Pinocchio to himself, trying with these words to find a little courage.

The Fisherman took the net and the fish to the cave, a dark, gloomy, smoky place. O Pescador levou a rede e os peixes para a gruta, um lugar escuro, sombrio e enfumaçado. In the middle of it, a pan full of oil sizzled over a smoky fire, sending out a repelling odor of tallow that took away one's breath. No meio dela, uma panela cheia de óleo chiava sobre um fogo fumegante, exalando um cheiro repelente de sebo de tirar o fôlego. "Now, let's see what kind of fish we have caught today," said the Green Fisherman. He put a hand as big as a spade into the net and pulled out a handful of mullets. Ele enfiou a mão do tamanho de uma pá na rede e puxou um punhado de tainhas.

"Fine mullets, these!" he said, after looking at them and smelling them with pleasure. disse ele, depois de olhá-los e cheirá-los com prazer. After that, he threw them into a large, empty tub. Depois disso, ele os jogou em uma grande banheira vazia.

Many times he repeated this performance. As he pulled each fish out of the net, his mouth watered with the thought of the good dinner coming, and he said:

"Fine fish, these bass!" "Peixe fino, esses robalos!" "Very tasty, these whitefish!" "Muito saborosos, estes peixes brancos!" "Delicious flounders, these!" "Deliciosos linguados, esses!" "What splendid crabs!" "Que caranguejos esplêndidos!" "And these dear little anchovies, with their heads still on!" "E essas queridas anchovas, ainda com a cabeça no lugar!" As you can well imagine, the bass, the flounders, the whitefish, and even the little anchovies all went together into the tub to keep the mullets company. The last to come out of the net was Pinocchio.

As soon as the Fisherman pulled him out, his green eyes opened wide with surprise, and he cried out in fear:

"What kind of fish is this? I don't remember ever eating anything like it." He looked at him closely and after turning him over and over, he said at last:

"I understand. He must be a crab!" Pinocchio, mortified at being taken for a crab, said resentfully: Pinóquio, mortificado por ser confundido com um caranguejo, disse ressentido:

"What nonsense! A crab indeed! I am no such thing. Beware how you deal with me! I am a Marionette, I want you to know." "A Marionette?" asked the Fisherman. "I must admit that a Marionette fish is, for me, an entirely new kind of fish. So much the better. I'll eat you with greater relish." "Eat me? But can't you understand that I'm not a fish? Can't you hear that I speak and think as you do?" "It's true," answered the Fisherman; "but since I see that you are a fish, well able to talk and think as I do, I'll treat you with all due respect." "É verdade", respondeu o Pescador; "mas como vejo que você é um peixe, bem capaz de falar e pensar como eu, vou tratá-lo com todo o respeito." "And that is--" "That, as a sign of my particular esteem, I'll leave to you the choice of the manner in which you are to be cooked. "Que, em sinal de minha particular estima, deixo a vocês a escolha da maneira como serão cozinhados. Do you wish to be fried in a pan, or do you prefer to be cooked with tomato sauce?" Quer ser frito na frigideira ou prefere ser cozido com molho de tomate? "To tell you the truth," answered Pinocchio, "if I must choose, I should much rather go free so I may return home!" "Are you fooling? "Você está enganando? Do you think that I want to lose the opportunity to taste such a rare fish? A Marionette fish does not come very often to these seas. Leave it to me. I'll fry you in the pan with the others. I know you'll like it. It's always a comfort to find oneself in good company." The unlucky Marionette, hearing this, began to cry and wail and beg. A infeliz Marionete, ouvindo isso, começou a chorar, lamentar e implorar. With tears streaming down his cheeks, he said: Com lágrimas escorrendo pelo rosto, ele disse:

"How much better it would have been for me to go to school! I did listen to my playmates and now I am paying for it! Oh! Oh! Oh!" And as he struggled and squirmed like an eel to escape from him, the Green Fisherman took a stout cord and tied him hand and foot, and threw him into the bottom of the tub with the others. E enquanto ele lutava e se contorcia como uma enguia para escapar dele, o Pescador Verde pegou uma corda forte e amarrou-lhe pés e mãos, e jogou-o no fundo da banheira com os outros.

Then he pulled a wooden bowl full of flour out of a cupboard and started to roll the fish into it, one by one. Então ele puxou uma tigela de madeira cheia de farinha de um armário e começou a enrolar os peixes, um por um. When they were white with it, he threw them into the pan. The first to dance in the hot oil were the mullets, the bass followed, then the whitefish, the flounders, and the anchovies. Pinocchio's turn came last. Seeing himself so near to death (and such a horrible death!) he began to tremble so with fright that he had no voice left with which to beg for his life.

The poor boy beseeched only with his eyes. O pobre menino implorou apenas com os olhos. But the Green Fisherman, not even noticing that it was he, turned him over and over in the flour until he looked like a Marionette made of chalk. Mas o Pescador Verde, nem mesmo percebendo que era ele, revirou-o na farinha até ficar parecido com uma marionete de giz.

Then he took him by the head and--