Pinocchio

Pinocchio - Caught in the stomach of an enormous whale

Gepetto the woodcarver carved a puppet out of a speaking log and called it Pinocchio. The puppet came alive and survived some exciting adventures. But every time Pinocchio lied, his wooden nose would grow a bit longer.  

Pinocchio was once swimming in the sea when the wide jaws of a giant whale appeared before him. At the sight of the three powerful rows of teeth Pinocchio tried to escape, but the whale quickly caught him up and swallowed him whole. When Pinocchio landed in the whale everything around him was as black as an inkwell. The air from the whale's lungs swept like a storm and blew in Pinocchio's face. That was because the whale had asthma. Pinocchio cried out for help and out of the dark he heard the voice of a swallowed-up tuna fish that was waiting to be digested. But Pinocchio really wanted to escape.

Then he saw a shimmer of light in the distance and went towards it. The light came from a candle in a glass bottle that stood on a set table. An old man was sitting in front of it. Pinocchio let out a cry of joy because it was his father, Gepetto. He had survived in the stomach of the whale for two years because, on the same day as he got swallowed up, a whole trading ship got swallowed up with it with tinned meat, rusks, wine, candles and matches on board. Pinocchio decided to escape – and to do this the same way as he had got in, through the jaws of the whale.

Pinocchio went first, with the candle in his hand. After a while they both reached the enormous throat of the whale. Looking from its lower end, Pinocchio could see the stars in the sky through its open jaws. Because the whale suffered from heart trouble, it slept with its mouth open. Pinocchio and Gepetto climbed up through the throat of the whale and crossed its tongue on the tips of their toes, so as not to wake it. They climbed over the three rows of teeth and jumped into the sea. Soon the tuna fish appeared that had been following them. The three of them swam away and were saved.