you."

[Illustration: A LITTLE CHICKEN POPPED OUT, VERY GAY AND POLITE]

[Illustration]

CHAPTER XIII

THE INN OF THE RED CRAW-FISH

They walked, and walked, and walked, until at last, towards evening,
they arrived, all tired out, at the inn of The Red Craw-Fish.

"Let us stop here a little," said the Fox, "that we may have something
to eat, and rest ourselves for an hour or two. We will start again at
midnight, so as to arrive at the Field of Miracles by dawn tomorrow
morning."

Having gone into the inn they all three sat down to table, but none of
them had any appetite.

The Cat, who was suffering from indigestion and feeling seriously
indisposed, could only eat thirty-five fish with tomato sauce and four
portions of tripe with Parmesan cheese; and because she thought the
tripe was not seasoned enough, she asked three times for the butter and
grated cheese!

The Fox would also willingly have picked a little, but as his doctor had
ordered him a strict diet, he was forced to content himself simply with
a hare dressed with a sweet and sour sauce, and garnished lightly with
fat chickens and early pullets. After the hare he sent for a made dish
of partridges, rabbits, frogs, lizards and other delicacies; he could
not touch anything else. He cared so little for food, he said, that he
could put nothing to his lips.

The one who ate the least was Pinocchio. He asked for some walnuts and a
hunch of bread, and left everything on his plate. The poor boy's
thoughts were continually fixed on the Field of Miracles.

When they had supped, the Fox said to the host:

"Give us two good rooms, one for Mr. Pinocchio, and the other for me and
my companion. We will snatch a little sleep before we leave. Remember,
however, that at midnight we wish to be called to continue our journey."

"Yes, gentlemen," answered the host, and he winked at the Fox and the
Cat, as much as to say: "I know what you are up to. We understand one
another!"

No sooner had Pinocchio got into bed than he fell asleep at once and
began to dream. And he dreamed that he was in the middle of a field, and
the field was full of shrubs covered with clusters of gold sovereigns,
and as they swung in the wind they went zin, zin, zin, almost as if they
would say: "Let who will, come and take us." But just as Pinocchio was
stretching out his hand to pick handfuls of those beautiful gold pieces
and to put them in his pocket, he was suddenly awakened by t