Chapter 55

　　"Is he dead, I wonder?" said Pinocchio, rubbing hishandstogether happily. Without a moment's hesitation,he started to step over him,but he had just raised one legwhen the Serpent shot up like a spring and theMarionettefell head over heels backward. He fell so awkwardlythat his headstuck in the mud, and there he stood withhis legs straight up in the air.

　　At the sight of the Marionette kicking and squirminglike a youngwhirlwind, the Serpent laughed so heartily and so long that at last he burst anartery and died on the spot.

　　Pinocchio freed himself from his awkward position and once morebegan to run in order to reach the Fairy'shouse before dark. As he went, thepangs of hunger grewso strong that, unable to withstand them, he jumped intoafield to pick a few grapes that tempted him. Woe to him!

　　No sooner had he reached the grapevine than--crack!

　　went his legs.

　　The poor Marionette was caught in a trap set there bya Farmer forsome Weasels which came every night tosteal his chickens.

　　“它真的死了吗？……”皮诺乔说着，高兴得搓了搓手。他一点不耽搁，就要打它身上跳过去，跳到路的那一边。可他脚还没举起，蛇忽然像迸起来的弹簧似地跳了起来。木偶大吃一惊，赶紧往后退，绊了一下，跌倒在地上。
　　跌得也真不巧，他的脑袋插在路上的泥浆里，只剩两条腿倒竖着。
　　蛇看见木偶头朝下，两脚用难以想象的速度踢来踢去，就扭啊扭地狂笑起来，笑啊，笑啊，笑啊，最后笑得太厉害，肚子上一根静脉竟断掉了：这回它真的死啦。
　　于是皮诺乔重新跑起来，要在天黑之前赶到仙女的家。可路很长，肚子饿得慌。他再也忍耐不住，就跳进一块葡萄地，想采两串麝香葡萄吃。唉，真不该跳进去的！
　　他一到葡萄藤底下，卡嗒……只觉得两脚给两块很锋利的铁片一下夹住，痛得他眼冒金星。
　　可怜的木偶是给一个捕兽夹夹住了。这种捕兽夹是农民装在那里捕捉大鸡貂的。要知道，鸡貂是附近所有鸡埘的大灾星。