One morning he said to his father:
"I am going to the neighboring market to buy myself a jacket, a cap, and a pair of shoes. When I return," he added, laughing, "I shall be so well dressed that you will take me for a fine gentleman."
And, leaving the house, he began to run merrily and happily along. All at once he heard himself called by name and, turning around, he saw a big Snail crawling out from the hedge.
"Do you not know me?" asked the Snail.
"It seems to me—and yet I am not sure—"
"Do you not remember the Snail who was lady's-maid to the Fairy with blue hair? Do you not remember the time when I came downstairs to let you in, and you were caught by your foot, which you had stuck through the house-door?"
"I remember it all" shouted Pinocchio. "Tell me quickly, my beautiful little Snail, where have you left my good Fairy? What is she doing? Has she forgiven me? Does she still remember me? Does she still wish me well? Is she far from here? Can I go and see her?"
To all these rapid, breathless questions the Snail replied in her usual phlegmatic manner:
"My dear Pinocchio, the poor Fairy is lying in bed at the hospital!"
"At the hospital?"