The Heart of Pinocchio

Face to Face with

number of small rope ends, and in his hand he carried a splendid stick with an iron point. Captain Teschisso was a gentleman and wanted his new orderly to be magnificently equipped. That odd creature of a mountaineer amused himself thoroughly with the rascal Pinocchio. It didn't seem real to see him struggling to conquer the mountain peaks and ready to fight those dogs of Austrians who were up there and with whom he had so ma

is my c

nsor!], at nine tho

l w

st a

ches, where

got them o

ith the first supply divis

f snow and a

inding that dog who cut my be

s of you than of y

as a wooden leg and i

th a shy glance convinced himself that in a wink of t

something to eat I'll go ahead; i

dee

you understand

hing more to gi

stop

nd buried in snow and will be froz

. I'm h

ead, a box of conserved beef, nea

e told me before we left. Now I know why you are always saying that you would like to eat

oming or a

much fa

that cloud

y one not

tain called Spaccata; we must cross that and we a

ds? Really i

tain

really seem to you as m

now,

e clouds by yourself; I'll tu

ipped under his feet and he fell, sitting down, and, sliding on the white su

p! H

ur staff in!" yelled Teschisso

ddenly he stopped as if he were nailed to the snow. That was to be expected, you say, with that air of superior beings you assume every

you h

N

u feel

but I suffered terribl

n't you

of sliding

e help

ugh his leather belt, fastened the other end round his body, and, after planting his feet firmly, said: "

ave such a vigorous pull on the rope tied to the boy's belt that he jerked him up, swung him through the air for several feet, and flung him face downward on a heap of snow as downy as a feather-bed. A piece of gray cloth left behind showed the spot where Pinocchio had been mir

your trousers. Hah, hah, hah! Don't you understand yet what has happened to you? You were caught in a wolf-trap w

T TO GET ON HIS FEET,

of his trousers that still hung on the teeth of the trap and his hands were rubbing the frozen surface left uncovered.

's no sense in your staying there like a macaw, weeping for the seat of your breeches. When we arrive up there

it's imp

live! How

ot pres

hy

see me with my trousers in such a state,

er turns its rear to the en

t .

ur spine that's another matter. If that

ed it over four times, and stuck it into the hole of the trousers. And he did it so well th

are. Are yo

the captain didn't give him the time. He started off with a quick stride, pulling the

while the lungs are so full of oxygen that the heart beats more rapidly; then fatigue is followed by a condition of strange torpor. Nevertheless, you continue to climb without effort, as if the legs moved automatically. If you speak, the voice reaches the ears faintly as if it came from a distance. Sometimes you have a certain discomfort ca

e, he really imagined himself to have entered a new world, and was seized by such a terror that he began to scream as if his throat were being cut. But, seeing that

to know what need there is to climb 'way up here to fight when there is plenty of room down below. Anyway, I don't believe that we'll find a single Austrian up here in the clouds; it's just a fancy of the captain, who must be a trifle crazy. Once I heard a country p

pin! patapum ... pum! Here there's nothing but snow and ice, not a living person to be seen. I should just like to know with whom we can fight. In any case, if the Austrians are up there it seems to me it'll be hard to get close enough to bother them.... But it's easy to see that the air up there isn't for me; I can scarcely go on, but if I slip I'd have to fall all the way, as I did this morning. If I hadn't been so frightene

ather. Although he knew the rocks inch by inch, it was not easy to find the way in the whiteness of the snow nor to judge how much more of the road there still remained to cover, on account of the fog which hid the

ad. Here

a horn whistle, he blew several short, shrill blasts.

goes

ien

squ

ner

l. Who a

in Tes

n't beli

og! I tell y

lled. Too bad. I saw him

u, Sergeant

if it isn't he;

es; they came nearer, growing more distin

flesh and b

for our

hat he is re

tenant, come here

how many s

are suffocating me with y

Austr

ing about? I came up here for the expr

We must transport our artillery up to M

ia [aerial railway] in work

have been working o

he com

in the hut on Mount X

four good hour

ore, Ca

g this lump of a Pinocchio who is

occh

re i

ake him off my back;

to him that something slipped down his throat which burned and made him cough and sneeze ... then he thought he was stretched out on a bed that was rather h

the abyss which separates two of our giant Alps. Below him was a sea of clouds, above the beautiful blue sky, all about him the gleam of white snow, and on the snow here and there a group of little gray points, like grains of sand lost in all this immensity. T

were weary of being up there and eager to set about its job. All about was the gleam of the snow, even though the light was growing paler every moment. I bet you a soldo against a lira what hour it was. But Pinocchio guessed it from the odor of cooking which sweetened the air all about, an odor which would ha

sauce? Because I know I am not mistaken ... the odor I smell is just that. If I had only a piece of bread, by mean

y got to his feet when a strange thing happened-from the very spot where he had been lying a puff of

rape it away with his hands on the spot where his body, covered by the latest issue of the newspaper, had left an impression. The smell of caramel sauce kept growing more fragrant, and Pinocchio's tongue licked the end of his nose so solemnly that he would have made the inventor of handkerchiefs blus

tempt to enter through the dugout's little window cut through the snow into the officers' mess, and they intended giving him a fine welcome. A corporal with a reddish beard which hung down to his stomach stood two paces away, ready to give him a bayone

at foolish gallows-bird of an emperor; but they are not all well educated, and for this reason Corporal Scoti

clad peaks where our soldiers were fighting for a greater Italy. So this editorial, which contained the news of the miraculous conquest of t

because as a civilian he had been a clerk in Cuneo. But Draghetta, who could see the Austrians a mile off and when he saw them never fai

nose tickle him he began to kick

We've taken the Col di Lan

all

it t

. don't be afraid ...

ack and squeezed him with his knees

ts, by means of a brilliant attack gained the highest summit of th

h for

for th

lumed hats up into the air, waving their guns above their heads. Suddenly, just as

t is

has ha

di Lana

h for

old yo

id you h

st news of t

ou cer

id you f

believe it,

nt Sfrizzoli couldn't let it pass without giving vent to one of his usual fits of rage. Red as a radish, he rushed toward Draghe

, who have set the ca

it is the C

What?

taken i

told

d it m

he

.. on

el

ct, sir, to my superior officer, no

l me where y

ok without words belonging t

tween him and the lieutenant with a lightning-like rapidity ... and he felt a

uring. He told you what he thought was so, but I beg to convince you of the contrary. But the news about the Col di Lana is true, as true as can be. Here is the Corriere which was on the frontispiece ... of my book with

f the company who never stopped asking him questions about how the war was going down in the plains. With his mouth

my clad in white shirts moving across the snow; he had hurried to the dugout to give the alarm and, taking command of th

ne troops had performed prodigious deeds of valor. The captain came back with two prisoners, one a Hungarian and

nded him, rejoicing. "But, boys, I won't let them sleep to-night. We

o ordered four mountain guns which had just arrived by the filovia to be mounted on the gun-carriages, assembled his men, and ran to take up his position in an excavation nearly a mile away whence it was possible to observe the

LA, THE C