Chapter 17

Pinocchio eats sugar, but refuses to take medicine.

When the undertakers come for him, he drinks the medicine and feels better.

Afterwards he tells a lie and, in punishment, his nose grows longer and longerAs soon as the three doctors had left the room, the Fairywent to Pinocchio's bed and, touching him on the forehead,noticed that he was burning with fever.

She took a glass of water, put a white powder intoit, and, handing it to the Marionette, said lovingly to him:

"Drink this, and in a few days you'll be up and well."Pinocchio looked at the glass, made a wry face, andasked in a whining voice: "Is it sweet or bitter?""It is bitter, but it is good for you.""If it is bitter, I don't want it.""Drink it!""I don't like anything bitter.""Drink it and I'll give you a lump of sugar to take thebitter taste from your mouth.""Where's the sugar?""Here it is," said the Fairy, taking a lump from a goldensugar bowl.

"I want the sugar first, then I'll drink the bitter water.""Do you promise?""Yes."The Fairy gave him the sugar and Pinocchio, after chewingand swallowing it in a twinkling, said, smacking his lips:

"If only sugar were medicine! I should take it every day.""Now keep your promise and drink these few dropsof water. They'll be good for you."Pinocchio took the glass in both hands and stuck hisnose into it. He lifted it to his mouth and once morestuck his nose into it.

"It is too bitter, much too bitter! I can't drink it.""How do you know, when you haven't even tasted it?""I can imagine it. I smell it. I want another lump ofsugar, then I'll drink it."The Fairy, with all the patience of a good mother, gavehim more sugar and again handed him the glass.

"I can't drink it like that," the Marionette said, makingmore wry faces.

"Why?""Because that feather pillow on my feet bothers me."The Fairy took away the pillow.

"It's no use. I can't drink it even now.""What's the matter now?""I don't like the way that door looks. It's half open."The Fairy closed the door.

"I won't drink it," cried Pinocchio, bursting out crying.

"I won't drink this awful water. I won't. I won't!

No, no, no, no!""My boy, you'll be sorry.""I don't care.""You are very sick.""I don't care.""In a few hours the fever will take you far away to another world.""I don't care.""Aren't you afraid of death?""Not a bit. I'd rather die than drink that awful medicine."At that moment, the door of the room flew open and incame four Rabbits as black as ink, carrying a small blackcoffin on their shoulders.

"What do you want from me?" asked Pinocchio.

"We have come for you," said the largest Rabbit.

"For me? But I'm not dead yet!""No, not dead yet; but you will be in a few momentssince you have refused to take the medicine which wouldhave made you well.""Oh, Fairy, my Fairy," the Marionette cried out, "give methat glass! Quick, please! I don't want to die!

No, no, not yet--not yet!"And holding the glass with his two hands, he swallowedthe medicine at one gulp.

"Well," said the four Rabbits, "this time we have madethe trip for nothing."And turning on their heels, they marched solemnly outof the room, carrying their little black coffin and mutteringand grumbling between their teeth.

In a twinkling, Pinocchio felt fine. With one leap hewas out of bed and into his clothes.

The Fairy, seeing him run and jump around the roomgay as a bird on wing, said to him:

"My medicine was good for you, after all, wasn't it?""Good indeed! It has given me new life.""Why, then, did I have to beg you so hard to makeyou drink it?""I'm a boy, you see, and all boys hate medicine morethan they do sickness.""What a shame! Boys ought to know, after all, thatmedicine, taken in time, can save them from much painand even from death.""Next time I won't have to be begged so hard. I'llremember those black Rabbits with the black coffin ontheir shoulders and I'll take the glass and pouf!--down itwill go!""Come here now and tell me how it came about thatyou found yourself in the hands of the Assassins.""It happened that Fire Eater gave me five gold piecesto give to my Father, but on the way, I met a Fox and aCat, who asked me, `Do you want the five pieces to becometwo thousand?' And I said, `Yes.' And they said,`Come with us to the Field of Wonders.' And I said,`Let's go.' Then they said, `Let us stop at the Inn of theRed Lobster for dinner and after midnight we'll set outagain.' We ate and went to sleep. When I awoke theywere gone and I started out in the darkness all alone. On the road I met two Assassins dressed in black coal sacks,who said to me, `Your money or your life!' and I said,`I haven't any money'; for, you see, I had put the moneyunder my tongue. One of them tried to put his hand inmy mouth and I bit it off and spat it out; but it wasn't ahand, it was a cat's paw. And they ran after me and Iran and ran, till at last they caught me and tied my neckwith a rope and hanged me to a tree, saying, `Tomorrowwe'll come back for you and you'll be dead and yourmouth will be open, and then we'll take the gold piecesthat you have hidden under your tongue.'""Where are the gold pieces now?" the Fairy asked.

"I lost them," answered Pinocchio, but he told a lie,for he had them in his pocket.

As he spoke, his nose, long though it was, became atleast two inches longer.

"And where did you lose them?""In the wood near by."At this second lie, his nose grew a few more inches.

"If you lost them in the near-by wood," said the Fairy,"we'll look for them and find them, for everything that islost there is always found.""Ah, now I remember," replied the Marionette,becoming more and more confused. "I did not lose the goldpieces, but I swallowed them when I drank the medicine."At this third lie, his nose became longer than ever,so long that he could not even turn around. If he turnedto the right, he knocked it against the bed or into thewindowpanes; if he turned to the left, he struck the wallsor the door; if he raised it a bit, he almost put the Fairy'seyes out.

The Fairy sat looking at him and laughing.

"Why do you laugh?" the Marionette asked her,worried now at the sight of his growing nose.

"I am laughing at your lies.""How do you know I am lying?""Lies, my boy, are known in a moment. There are twokinds of lies, lies with short legs and lies with long noses.

Yours, just now, happen to have long noses."Pinocchio, not knowing where to hide his shame, triedto escape from the room, but his nose had become so longthat he could not get it out of the door.