CHAPTER 24

Pinocchio reaches the Island of the Busy Bees and finds the Fairy once
more.


Pinocchio, spurred on by the hope of finding his father and of being in
time to save him, swam all night long.

And what a horrible night it was! It poured rain, it hailed, it
thundered, and the lightning was so bright that it turned the night into
day.

At dawn, he saw, not far away from him, a long stretch of sand. It was
an island in the middle of the sea.

Pinocchio tried his best to get there, but he couldn't. The waves played
with him and tossed him about as if he were a twig or a bit of straw. At
last, and luckily for him, a tremendous wave tossed him to the very spot
where he wanted to be. The blow from the wave was so strong that, as he
fell to the ground, his joints cracked and almost broke. But, nothing
daunted, he jumped to his feet and cried:

"Once more I have escaped with my life!"

Little by little the sky cleared. The sun came out in full splendor and
the sea became as calm as a lake.

Then the Marionette took off his clothes and laid them on the sand to