“Assassins!  Oh, poor Pinocchio!  And what did they want?”

“They wanted to rob me of my gold pieces.”

“Villains!” said the Fox.

“Infamous villains!” repeated the Cat.

“But I ran away from them,” continued the puppet, “and they followed me, and at last they overtook me and hung me to a branch of that oak tree.”

And Pinocchio pointed to the Big Oak, which was two steps from them.

“Is it possible to hear of anything more dreadful?” said the Fox.  “In what a world we are condemned to live!  Where can respectable people like us find a safe refuge?”

Whilst they were thus talking Pinocchio observed that the Cat was lame of her front right leg, for in fact she had lost her paw with all its claws.  He therefore asked her: 

“What have you done with your paw?”

The Cat tried to answer, but became confused.  Therefore the Fox said immediately: 

“My friend is too modest, and that is why she doesn’t speak.  I will answer for her.  I must tell you that an hour ago we met an old wolf on the road, almost fainting from want of food, who asked alms of us.  Not having so much as a fish-bone to give him, what did my friend, who has really the heart of a Caesar, do?  She bit off one of her fore paws and threw it to that poor beast that he might appease his hunger.”

And the Fox, in relating this, dried a tear.

Pinocchio was also touched and, approaching the Cat, he whispered into her ear: 

“If all cats resembled you, how fortunate the mice would be!”

“And now, what are you doing here?” asked the Fox of the puppet.

“I am waiting for my papa, whom I expect to arrive every moment.”

“And your gold pieces?”

“I have got them in my pocket, all but one that I spent at the inn of The Red Craw-Fish.”

“And to think that, instead of four pieces, by tomorrow they might become one or two thousand!  Why do you not listen to my advice?  Why will you not go and bury them in the Field of Miracles?”

“Today it is impossible; I will go another day.”

“Another day it will be too late!” said the Fox.

“Why?”

“Because the field has been bought by a gentleman and after tomorrow no one will be allowed to bury money there.”

“How far off is the Field of Miracles?”

“Not two miles.  Will you come with us?  In half an hour you will be there.  You can bury your money at once, and in a few minutes you will collect two thousand, and this evening you will return with your pockets full.  Will you come with us?”

Pinocchio thought of the good Fairy, old Geppetto, and the warnings of the Talking-Cricket, and he hesitated a little before answering.  He ended, however, by doing as all boys do who have not a grain of sense and who have no heart—­he ended by giving his head a little shake and saying to the Fox and the Cat: