“I hope this will end well,” the marionette said to himself, “but I have some doubt about it.”

He threw himself on the ground and tried to hide between the rocks.  A minute later and he felt a warm breath on his face.  There stood the shadowy form of a hyena, its open mouth ready to devour the marionette at one gulp.

“I am done for!” and Pinocchio shut his eyes and gave a last thought to his dear father and his beloved Fatina.  But the beast, after sniffing at him once or twice from head to foot, burst into aloud, howling laugh and walked away.  He had no appetite for wooden boys.

“May you never return! said Pinocchio, raising his head a little and straining his eyes to pierce the darkness about him.  “Oh, if there were only a tree, or a wall, or anything to climb up on!"The marionette was right in wishing for something to keep him far above the ground.  During the whole night these visitors were coming and going.  They came around him howling, sniffing, laughing, mocking.  As each one ran off, Pinocchio would say, “May you never return!” He lay there shivering in the agony of his terror.  If the night had continued much longer, the poor fellow would have died of fright.  But the dawn came at last.  All these strange night visitors disappeared.  Pinocchio tried to get up.  He could not move.  His legs and arms were stiff.  A terrible weakness had seized him, and the world swam around him.  Hunger overpowered him.  The poor marionette felt that he should surely die.  “How terrible,” he though, “to die of hunger!  What would I not eat!  Dry beans and cherry stems would be delicious.”  He looked eagerly around, but there was not even a cricket or a snail in sight.  There was nothing, nothing but rocks.

Suddenly, however, a faint cry came from his parched throat.  Was it possible?  A few feet from him there was something between the rocks which looked like food.  The marionette did not know what it was.  He dragged himself along on hands and knees, and commenced to eat it.  His nose wished to have nothing to do with it, and would even have drawn back, but the marionette said; “It is necessary to accustom yourself to all things, my friends.  One must have patience.  Don’t be afraid; if I find any roses, I promise to gather them for you.”

The nose became quiet, the mouth ate, the hunger was satisfied, and when the meal was finished Pinocchio jumped to his feet and shouted joyously; “I have had my first meal in Africa.  Now I must begin my search for wealth.”  He forgot the night, his father, and Fatina.  His only thought was to get farther away from home.

   What an easy thing life is to a wooden marionette!

13.  Pinocchio Is Well Received

“First of all,” he said, “I must go to the nearest castle I can find.  The master will not refuse me shelter and food.  Some soup, a leg of roast chicken, and a glass of milk will put me in fine spirits.”