Our wooden hero was so awe-struck at first that he could only stand and gaze at it. Finally he gathered courage, and went nearer and nearer the water. And when a wave touched his feet, he jumped back for fear of being burned. But he found the water was just as cool as before.
“Why, this fire does not burn! How queer! What can it be?”
In his ignorance he could not answer, but I shall answer for him.
The phosphorescence of the sea is produced by millions of very tiny zoöphytes, so small that they cannot be seen with the naked eye. These minute zoöphytes have a sheen like fireflies. When they light up all together, they make the ocean look like a sea of molten gold.
While Pinocchio was still gazing, the fire went out just as quickly as it had come. The night was again as dark as ink. This was not much to the marionette’s taste, so he started back to his cave. Glancing toward the sea again, it seemed to him that the dolphins were not in the same place.
“I hope I’ll be able to sleep now,” he thought. “I am so tired.”
But he had hardly reached the mouth of the cave when, with a shriek, he turned and fled. Why?
An awful, a horrible monster was hanging at the mouth of the cave. It was more than a yard long, and with a mouth like an oven. On its head were two long horns; and its body was shining in the night, frightful in its shape and color. Can you imagine Pinocchio’s fright?
“A dragon!” he shrieked. “A dragon in my cave! Help! Help!”
Running madly toward the sea, he never stopped until he reached the dolphins.