“Let us go:  I will come with you.”

And they went.

After having walked half the day they reached a town that was called “Trap for Blockheads.”  As soon as Pinocchio entered this town he saw that the streets were crowded with dogs who were yawning from hunger, shorn sheep trembling with cold, cocks without combs begging for a grain of Indian corn, large butterflies that could no longer fly because they had sold their beautiful colored wings, peacocks which had no tails and were ashamed to be seen, and pheasants that went scratching about in a subdued fashion, mourning for their brilliant gold and silver feathers gone forever.

In the midst of this crowd of beggars and shamefaced creatures some lordly carriage passed from time to time containing a Fox, or a thieving Magpie, or some other ravenous bird of prey.

“And where is the Field of Miracles?” asked Pinocchio.

“It is here, not two steps from us.”

They crossed the town and, having gone beyond the walls, they came to a solitary field.

“Here we are,” said the Fox to the puppet.  “Now stoop down and dig with your hands a little hole in the ground and put your gold pieces into it.”

Pinocchio obeyed.  He dug a hole, put into it the four gold pieces that he had left, and then filled up the hole with a little earth.

“Now, then,” said the Fox, “go to that canal close to us, fetch a can of water, and water the ground where you have sowed them.”

Pinocchio went to the canal, and, as he had no can, he took off one of his old shoes and filling it with water he watered the ground over the hole.

He then asked: 

“Is there anything else to be done?”

“Nothing else,” answered the Fox.  “We can now go away.  You can return in about twenty minutes and you will find a shrub already pushing through the ground, with its branches quite loaded with money.”

The poor puppet, beside himself with joy, thanked the Fox and the Cat a thousand times, and promised them a beautiful present.

“We wish for no presents,” answered the two rascals.  “It is enough for us to have taught you the way to enrich yourself without undergoing hard work, and we are as happy as people out for a holiday.”

Thus saying, they took leave of Pinocchio, and, wishing him a good harvest, went about their business.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER XIX

PINOCCHIO IS ROBBED OF HIS MONEY

The puppet returned to the town and began to count the minutes one by one, and when he thought that it must be time he took the road leading to the Field of Miracles.

And as he walked along with hurried steps his heart beat fast—­tic, tac, tic, tac—­like a drawing-room clock when it is really going well.  Meanwhile he was thinking to himself: