howman, Fire-Eater, gave me some gold pieces and said to
me: 'Go, and take them to your father!' and instead I met on the road a
Fox and a Cat, who said to me: 'Would you like those pieces of gold to
become a thousand or two? Come with us and we will take you to the Field
of Miracles,' and I said: 'Let us go.' And they said: 'Let us stop at
the inn of The Red Craw-Fish,' and after midnight they left. And when I
awoke I found that they were no longer there, because they had gone
away. Then I began to travel by night, for you cannot imagine how dark
it was; and on that account I met on the road two assassins in charcoal
sacks who said to me: 'Out with your money,' and I said to them: 'I have
got none,' because I had hidden the four gold pieces in my mouth, and
one of the assassins tried to put his hand in my mouth, and I bit his
hand off and spat it out, but instead of a hand it was a cat's paw. And
the assassins ran after me, and I ran, and ran, until at last they
caught me and tied me by the neck to a tree in this wood, and said to
me: 'Tomorrow we shall return here and then you will be dead with your
mouth open and we shall be able to carry off the pieces of gold that you
have hidden under your tongue."

"And the four pieces--where have you put them?" asked the Fairy.

"I have lost them!" said Pinocchio, but he was telling a lie, for he had
them in his pocket.

He had scarcely told the lie when his nose, which was already long, grew
at once two inches longer.

"And where did you lose them?"

"In the wood near here."

At this second lie his nose went on growing.

"If you have lost them in the wood near here," said the Fairy, "we will
look for them and we shall find them: because everything that is lost in
that wood is always found."

"Ah! now I remember all about it," replied the puppet, getting quite
confused; "I didn't lose the four gold pieces, I swallowed them whilst I
was drinking your medicine."

At this lie his nose grew to such an extraordinary length that poor
Pinocchio could not move in any direction. If he turned to one side he
struck his nose against the bed or the window-panes, if he turned to the
other he struck it against the walls or the door, if he raised his head
a little he ran the risk of sticking it into one of the Fairy's eyes.

And the Fairy looked at him and laughed.

"What are you laughing at?" asked the puppet, very confused and anxious
at finding his nose growing so prodigiously.