“Either on my head or on my feet I shall surely arrive somewhere!  I do not believe that all those people will walk on air forever.  Sometime or other they will stop to eat.  I shall be there to help them.”

   As he spoke the marionette started forward, walking rapidly in the
   hot sun.

20.  The Baby Pulls His Nose

In half an hour he had caught up with the topsy-turvy caravan.  It had stopped at a large well, which was filled with clear, cool water.  The people were laughing and talking as if they were at home.  They were all as happy as they could be.

Pinocchio could not understand it.  Had these people really stood on their heads?  What had happened to them?  There was something wrong.  He had certainly seen them traveling in that strange fashion.  However, a marionette who is hungry and thirsty does not worry long about things he cannot explain.  He was there, and the people were eating and drinking.

“What a fool I am!  If their heads were upside down, they could neither eat nor drink.  Surely they will not refuse me a little water, and perhaps as they are familiar with Africa, I may discover in talking with them where the mines of gold and precious stones are to be found.”

So saying, Pinocchio moved toward an old man who was sitting with a pipe in his mouth.  He had finished his meal and was enjoying a smoke.  The marionette took off his hat and said, “Pardon me, sir; what time is it?”

   The old man’s answer came in a volume of smoke.

   “Ask the sun, my boy.  He will tell you.”

“Thank you!” said Pinocchio, a little taken aback by this reception, and he moved on toward a woman with a baby on her shoulders.

   “Madam, will you please tell me if I am on the right road to — "

   “The world is wide,” broke in the woman.

   “And long too,” thought the marionette.  “How polite these Africans
   are!”

Of course, the marionette was a stupid fellow.  He was a little ashamed to beg for food, and had only asked these questions so that the people might notice him and perhaps offer him food and water.  An ordinary boy would have asked for what he wanted, but the blockhead was too proud.

He was about to go on when the baby began to wave its arms, and to shout, “I want it!  I want it!”

Can you guess what it wanted?  Pinocchio’s nose!  The child reached out its hands, and cried and kicked in trying to get hold of it.

The whole caravan looked toward the spot.  A group of children gathered about them.  Even the camels lifted their heads to see what was the matter.  The mother was distressed because the child’s screams and kicks continued.  She asked Pinocchio to let it touch his nose.  His pride was hurt, but thinking it best to humor the child, he went closer and allowed his nose to be touched and squeezed and pulled until the baby was perfectly happy and satisfied.  The good woman laughed, and thanked Pinocchio by offering him some bread and milk.