After a short trip around the island they came to a beautiful little nook in the rocks. Here lived Beluga, the white whale.
Dinner was ready, and all sat down around the table. And what do you think the table was? An immense flounder! Yes, don’t laugh; it is true.
The flounder is of the same family as the sole. All these fish have a thin flat body.
As they have to lie on the mud most of the time, they can only look upwards. So they have both eyes on the upper side of the head.
On Beluga’s table were all kinds of fish: large ones, small ones, flat ones, and round ones.
Pinocchio ate of everything. When he had finished, nothing was left on his plate but a couple of eyes and a few tails. Afterward, noticing that his plate was also a fish, he thought it would be a good idea to eat that too. He had eaten so much, though, that he couldn’t; so he put it into his pocket. “It will do for my breakfast,” he thought.
Poor Tursio was much ashamed of the marionette, and Marsovino was not less so. If they had only known that Pinocchio was so rude as to take things from the table and put them into his pocket, they would never have invited him to dinner. Still they did not say a word.
“Run along, now, children. Mr. Beluga and I must talk about business, and we cannot have you around.”
