杰佩托这小老头马上想狠狠拉皮诺乔的耳朵。

Think how he felt when, upon searching for them, he discovered that he had forgotten to make them!

可诸位想象一下他是多么惊讶吧：他找来找去，发现自己竟忘了给他做一对耳朵。

All he could do was to seize Pinocchio by the back of the neck and take him home.

杰佩托就抓住木偶的颈背，他要把他带回家。

As he was doing so, he shook him two or three times and said to him angrily:

在决定这么做的同时，他摇了他几下，吓唬他说：

"We're going home now. When we get home, then we'll settle this matter!"

“咱们现在回家，到了家，一定要算清咱们这笔账！”

Pinocchio, on hearing this, threw himself on the ground and refused to take another step.

皮诺乔听了这句吓唬的话，马上就倒在地上，赖在那里不肯再走了。

One person after another gathered around the two. Some said one thing, some another.

爱看热闹和无所事事的人一下子就过来，围成了一大堆，大家七嘴八舌舌的。

"Poor Marionette," called out a man. "I am not surprised he doesn't want to go home.

“可怜的木偶！”有人说，“他不肯回家，我并不感到奇怪！

Geppetto, no doubt, will beat him unmercifully, he is so mean and cruel!"

毫无疑问，杰佩托会毫不留情地揍他呢！，他是那么的卑鄙残忍……”

"Geppetto looks like a good man," added another, "but with boys he's a real tyrant.

又有人不怀好意地接上去说：“杰佩托这家伙，看着挺老实，对孩子可真凶！

If we leave that poor Marionette in his hands he may tear him to pieces!"

让这个可怜木偶落到他手里，他准把木偶剁成碎木片！……”

They said so much that, finally, the Carabineer ended matters by setting Pinocchio at liberty and dragging Geppetto to prison.

一句话，他们这么东一锤西一棒的，那位马枪骑兵竟把皮诺乔放开，反倒把杰佩托拖到监狱里去了。

The poor old fellow did not know how to defend himself, but wept and wailed like a child and said between his sobs:

”这个可怜的老人不知如何为自己辩解，只是一路结结巴巴地哭着说：

"Ungrateful boy! To think I tried so hard to make you a well-behaved Marionette! I deserve it, however!

“忘恩负义的小鬼！我辛辛苦苦本想做出个好木偶！可结果是自讨苦吃！

I should have given the matter more thought."

我本该先想到这一点！”

What happened after this is an almost unbelievable story, but you may read it, dear children, in the chapters that follow.

接下来发生的事情简直叫人没法相信，但是孩子们，你们将在在以下各章里看到。