“Yes, I am an African, and all my companions are African.”
“How interesting! but pardon me, is Africa a beautiful country?”
“I should say so! A country, my dear boy, full of plenty, where everything is given away free! A country in which at any moment the strangest things may happen. A servant may become a master; a plain citizen may become a king. There are trees, taller than church steeples, with branches touching the ground, so that one may gather sweet fruit without the least trouble. My boy, Africa is a country full of enchanted forests, where the game allows itself to be killed, quartered, and hung; where riches—”
No one knows how far this description would have gone, if at that moment the voice of the director had not been heard. The music had stopped, and the director was talking to the people, who did not seem very willing to part with their money.
CHAPTER V
PINOCCHIO DETERMINES TO GO TO AFRICA
Pinocchio had already resolved to go to Africa to eat of the fruit and to gather riches. He was eager to learn more, and impatient of interruption.
“And the director is an African also?”