"No, indeed, I could not allow that. I would rather mount one of these donkeys," cried Pinocchio.
Approaching the right-hand donkey of the first pair, he attempted to mount him, but the animal turned on him and, giving him a great blow in the stomach, rolled him over with his legs in the air.
You can imagine the impertinent and immoderate laughter of all the boys who witnessed this scene.
But the little man did not laugh. He approached the rebellious donkey and, pretending to give him a kiss, bit off half of his ear.
Pinocchio in the meantime had gotten up from the ground in a fury and, with a spring, he seated himself on the poor animal's back. And he sprang so well that the boys stopped laughing and began to shout: "Hurrah, Pinocchio!" and they clapped their hands and applauded him as if they would never finish.
Now that Pinocchio was mounted, the coach started. Whilst the donkeys were galloping and the coach was rattling over the stones of the high road, the puppet thought that he heard a low voice that was scarcely audible saying to him:
"Poor fool! you would follow your own way, but you will repent it!"
Pinocchio, feeling almost frightened, looked from side to side to try and discover where these words could come from, but he saw nobody. The donkeys galloped, the coach rattled, the boys inside slept, Candlewick snored like a dormouse, and the little man seated on the box sang between his teeth:
"During the night all sleep,
But I sleep never."
After they had gone another mile, Pinocchio heard the same little low voice saying to him: