old man must have sighed yesterday when I did not come back! I have
indeed been a bad son, and the Talking-Cricket was right when he said:
'Disobedient boys never come to any good in the world.' I have found it
to be true, for many misfortunes have happened to me. Even yesterday in
Fire-Eater's house I ran the risk--Oh! it makes me shudder only to think
of it!"

"Well, then," said the Fox, "you are quite decided to go home? Go, then,
and so much the worse for you."

"So much the worse for you!" repeated the Cat.

"Think well of it, Pinocchio, for you are giving a kick to fortune."

"To fortune!" repeated the Cat.

"Between today and tomorrow your five sovereigns would have become two
thousand."

"Two thousand!" repeated the Cat.

"But how is it possible that they could become so many?" asked
Pinocchio, remaining with his mouth open from astonishment.

"I will explain it to you at once," said the Fox. "You must know that in
the land of the Owls there is a sacred field called by everybody the
Field of Miracles. In this field you must dig a little hole, and you put
into it, we will say, one gold sovereign. You then cover up the hole
with a little earth; you must water it with two pails of water from the
fountain, then sprinkle it with two pinches of salt, and when night