HOT TOPIC: Putin Drops “Fɪɴᴀɴᴄɪᴀʟ Nᴜᴄʟᴇᴀʀ Bᴏᴍʙ” on America ✦ 11/17/23

Disturbing news about the Ukraine war [Investing Trends Today]( Dear Reader, There’s some disturbing news about the Ukraine war. In retaliation for our support for Ukraine… Russia and China just made [this major financial move]( that could ruin the retirement of millions of Americans. The corrupt mainstream media is not reporting this. But make no mistake… According to a former VP of a major investment bank, our enemies just detonated a “financial nuclear bomb” that could wipe out millions of unprepared Americans. [Click here to see the details and learn how to prepare.]( Regards, Chaka Ferguson Editorial Director, Palm Beach Research Group CHAPTER 34 Pinocchio is thrown into the sea, eaten by fishes, and becomes a Marionette once more. As he swims to land, he is swallowed by the Terrible Shark. Down into the sea, deeper and deeper, sank Pinocchio, and finally, after fifty minutes of waiting, the man on the cliff said to himself: “By this time my poor little lame Donkey must be drowned. Up with him and then I can get to work on my beautiful drum.” He pulled the rope which he had tied to Pinocchio’s leg—pulled and pulled and pulled and, at last, he saw appear on the surface of the water—Can you guess what? Instead of a dead donkey, he saw a very much alive Marionette, wriggling and squirming like an eel. Seeing that wooden Marionette, the poor man thought he was dreaming and sat there with his mouth wide open and his eyes popping out of his head. Gathering his wits together, he said: “And the Donkey I threw into the sea?” “I am that Donkey,” answered the Marionette laughing. “You?” “I.” “Ah, you little cheat! Are you poking fun at me?” “Poking fun at you? Not at all, dear Master. I am talking seriously.” “But, then, how is it that you, who a few minutes ago were a donkey, are now standing before me a wooden Marionette?” “It may be the effect of salt water. The sea is fond of playing these tricks.” “Be careful, Marionette, be careful! Don’t laugh at me! Woe be to you, if I lose my patience!” “Well, then, my Master, do you want to know my whole story? Untie my leg and I can tell it to you better.” The old fellow, curious to know the true story of the Marionette’s life, immediately untied the rope which held his foot. Pinocchio, feeling free as a bird of the air, began his tale: “Know, then, that, once upon a time, I was a wooden Marionette, just as I am today. One day I was about to become a boy, a real boy, but on account of my laziness and my hatred of books, and because I listened to bad companions, I ran away from home. One beautiful morning, I awoke to find myself changed into a donkey—long ears, gray coat, even a tail! What a shameful day for me! I hope you will never experience one like it, dear Master. I was taken to the fair and sold to a Circus Owner, who tried to make me dance and jump through the rings. One night, during a performance, I had a bad fall and became lame. Not knowing what to do with a lame donkey, the Circus Owner sent me to the market place and you bought me.” “Indeed I did! And I paid four cents for you. Now who will return my money to me?” “But why did you buy me? You bought me to do me harm—to kill me—to make a drumhead out of me!” “Indeed I did! And now where shall I find another skin?” “Never mind, dear Master. There are so many donkeys in this world.” “Tell me, impudent little rogue, does your story end here?” “One more word,” answered the Marionette, “and I am through. After buying me, you brought me here to kill me. But feeling sorry for me, you tied a stone to my neck and threw me to the bottom of the sea. That was very good and kind of you to want me to suffer as little as possible and I shall remember you always. And now my Fairy will take care of me, even if you—” “Your Fairy? Who is she?” “She is my mother, and, like all other mothers who love their children, she never loses sight of me, even though I do not deserve it. And today this good Fairy of mine, as soon as she saw me in danger of drowning, sent a thousand fishes to the spot where I lay. They thought I was really a dead donkey and began to eat me. What great bites they took! One ate my ears, another my nose, a third my neck and my mane. Some went at my legs and some at my back, and among the others, there was one tiny fish so gentle and polite that he did me the great favor of eating even my tail.” “From now on,” said the man, horrified, “I swear I shall never again taste fish. How I should enjoy opening a mullet or a whitefish just to find there the tail of a dead donkey!” “I think as you do,” answered the Marionette, laughing. “Still, you must know that when the fish finished eating my donkey coat, which covered me from head to foot, they naturally came to the bones—or rather, in my case, to the wood, for as you know, I am made of very hard wood. After the first few bites, those greedy fish found out that the wood was not good for their teeth, and, afraid of indigestion, they turned and ran here and there without saying good-by or even as much as thank you to me. Here, dear Master, you have my story. You know now why you found a Marionette and not a dead donkey when you pulled me out of the water.” “I laugh at your story!” cried the man angrily. “I know that I spent four cents to get you and I want my money back. Do you know what I can do; I am going to take you to the market once more and sell you as dry firewood.” “Very well, sell me. I am satisfied,” said Pinocchio. But as he spoke, he gave a quick leap and dived into the sea. Swimming away as fast as he could, he cried out, laughing: “Good-by, Master. If you ever need a skin for your drum, remember me.” He swam on and on. After a while, he turned around again and called louder than before: “Good-by, Master. If you ever need a piece of good dry firewood, remember me.” In a few seconds he had gone so far he could hardly be seen. All that could be seen of him was a very small black dot moving swiftly on the blue surface of the water, a little black dot which now and then lifted a leg or an arm in the air. One would have thought that Pinocchio had turned into a porpoise playing in the sun. After swimming for a long time, Pinocchio saw a large rock in the middle of the sea, a rock as white as marble. High on the rock stood a little Goat bleating and calling and beckoning to the Marionette to come to her. There was something very strange about that little Goat. Her coat was not white or black or brown as that of any other goat, but azure, a deep brilliant color that reminded one of the hair of the lovely maiden. Pinocchio’s heart beat fast, and then faster and faster. He redoubled his efforts and swam as hard as he could toward the white rock. He was almost halfway over, when suddenly a horrible sea monster stuck its head out of the water, an enormous head with a huge mouth, wide open, showing three rows of gleaming teeth, the mere sight of which would have filled you with fear. Do you know what it was? That sea monster was no other than the enormous Shark, which has often been mentioned in this story and which, on account of its cruelty, had been nicknamed “The Attila of the Sea” by both fish and fishermen. Poor Pinocchio! The sight of that monster frightened him almost to death! He tried to swim away from him, to change his path, to escape, but that immense mouth kept coming nearer and nearer. “Hasten, Pinocchio, I beg you!” bleated the little Goat on the high rock. And Pinocchio swam desperately with his arms, his body, his legs, his feet. “Quick, Pinocchio, the monster is coming nearer!” Pinocchio swam faster and faster, and harder and harder. “Faster, Pinocchio! The monster will get you! There he is! There he is! Quick, quick, or you are lost!” Pinocchio went through the water like a shot—swifter and swifter. He came close to the rock. The Goat leaned over and gave him one of her hoofs to help him up out of the water. Alas! It was too late. The monster overtook him and the Marionette found himself in between the rows of gleaming white teeth. Only for a moment, however, for the Shark took a deep breath and, as he breathed, he drank in the Marionette as easily as he would have sucked an egg. Then he swallowed him so fast that Pinocchio, falling down into the body of the fish, lay stunned for a half hour. When he recovered his senses the Marionette could not remember where he was. Around him all was darkness, a darkness so deep and so black that for a moment he thought he had put his head into an inkwell. He listened for a few moments and heard nothing. Once in a while a cold wind blew on his face. At first he could not understand where that wind was coming from, but after a while he understood that it came from the lungs of the monster. I forgot to tell you that the Shark was suffering from asthma, so that whenever he breathed a storm seemed to blow. Pinocchio at first tried to be brave, but as soon as he became convinced that he was really and truly in the Shark’s stomach, he burst into sobs and tears. “Help! Help!” he cried. “Oh, poor me! Won’t someone come to save me?” “Who is there to help you, unhappy boy?” said a rough voice, like a guitar out of tune. “Who is talking?” asked Pinocchio, frozen with terror. “It is I, a poor Tunny swallowed by the Shark at the same time as you. And what kind of a fish are you?” “I have nothing to do with fishes. I am a Marionette.” “If you are not a fish, why did you let this monster swallow you?” “I didn’t let him. He chased me and swallowed me without even a ‘by your leave’! And now what are we to do here in the dark?” “Wait until the Shark has digested us both, I suppose.” “But I don’t want to be digested,” shouted Pinocchio, starting to sob. “Neither do I,” said the Tunny, “but I am wise enough to think that if one is born a fish, it is more dignified to die under the water than in the frying pan.” “What nonsense!” cried Pinocchio. “Mine is an opinion,” replied the Tunny, “and opinions should be respected.” “But I want to get out of this place. I want to escape.” “Go, if you can!” “Is this Shark that has swallowed us very long?” asked the Marionette. “His body, not counting the tail, is almost a mile long.” While talking in the darkness, Pinocchio thought he saw a faint light in the distance. “What can that be?” he said to the Tunny. “Some other poor fish, waiting as patiently as we to be digested by the Shark.” “I want to see him. He may be an old fish and may know some way of escape.” “I wish you all good luck, dear Marionette.” “Good-by, Tunny.” “Good-by, Marionette, and good luck.” “When shall I see you again?” “Who knows? It is better not to think about it.” CHAPTER 35 In the Shark’s body Pinocchio finds whom? Read this chapter, my children, and you will know. Pinocchio, as soon as he had said good-by to his good friend, the Tunny, tottered away in the darkness and began to walk as well as he could toward the faint light which glowed in the distance. As he walked his feet splashed in a pool of greasy and slippery water, which had such a heavy smell of fish fried in oil that Pinocchio thought it was Lent. The farther on he went, the brighter and clearer grew the tiny light. On and on he walked till finally he found—I give you a thousand guesses, my dear children! He found a little table set for dinner and lighted by a candle stuck in a glass bottle; and near the table sat a little old man, white as the snow, eating live fish. They wriggled so that, now and again, one of them slipped out of the old man’s mouth and escaped into the darkness under the table. At this sight, the poor Marionette was filled with such great and sudden happiness that he almost dropped in a faint. He wanted to laugh, he wanted to cry, he wanted to say a thousand and one things, but all he could do was to stand still, stuttering and stammering brokenly. At last, with a great effort, he was able to let out a scream of joy and, opening wide his arms he threw them around the old man’s neck. “Oh, Father, dear Father! Have I found you at last? Now I shall never, never leave you again!” “Are my eyes really telling me the truth?” answered the old man, rubbing his eyes. “Are you really my own dear Pinocchio?” “Yes, yes, yes! It is I! Look at me! And you have forgiven me, haven’t you? Oh, my dear Father, how good you are! And to think that I—Oh, but if you only knew how many misfortunes have fallen on my head and how many troubles I have had! Just think that on the day you sold your old coat to buy me my A-B-C book so that I could go to school, I ran away to the Marionette Theater and the proprietor caught me and wanted to burn me to cook his roast lamb! He was the one who gave me the five gold pieces for you, but I met the Fox and the Cat, who took me to the Inn of the Red Lobster. There they ate like wolves and I left the Inn alone and I met the Assassins in the wood. I ran and they ran after me, always after me, till they hanged me to the branch of a giant oak tree. Then the Fairy of the Azure Hair sent the coach to rescue me and the doctors, after looking at me, said, ‘If he is not dead, then he is surely alive,’ and then I told a lie and my nose began to grow. It grew and it grew, till I couldn’t get it through the door of the room. And then I went with the Fox and the Cat to the Field of Wonders to bury the gold pieces. The Parrot laughed at me and, instead of two thousand gold pieces, I found none. When the Judge heard I had been robbed, he sent me to jail to make the thieves happy; and when I came away I saw a fine bunch of grapes hanging on a vine. The trap caught me and the Farmer put a collar on me and made me a watchdog. He found out I was innocent when I caught the Weasels and he let me go. The Serpent with the tail that smoked started to laugh and a vein in his chest broke and so I went back to the Fairy’s house. She was dead, and the Pigeon, seeing me crying, said to me, ‘I have seen your father building a boat to look for you in America,’ and I said to him, ‘Oh, if I only had wings!’ and he said to me, ‘Do you want to go to your father?’ and I said, ‘Perhaps, but how?’ and he said, ‘Get on my back. I’ll take you there.’ We flew all night long, and next morning the fishermen were looking toward the sea, crying, ‘There is a poor little man drowning,’ and I knew it was you, because my heart told me so and I waved to you from the shore—” “I knew you also,” put in Geppetto, “and I wanted to go to you; but how could I? The sea was rough and the whitecaps overturned the boat. Then a Terrible Shark came up out of the sea and, as soon as he saw me in the water, swam quickly toward me, put out his tongue, and swallowed me as easily as if I had been a chocolate peppermint.” “And how long have you been shut away in here?” “From that day to this, two long weary years—two years, my Pinocchio, which have been like two centuries.” “And how have you lived? Where did you find the candle? And the matches with which to light it—where did you get them?” “You must know that, in the storm which swamped my boat, a large ship also suffered the same fate. The sailors were all saved, but the ship went right to the bottom of the sea, and the same Terrible Shark that swallowed me, swallowed most of it.” “What! Swallowed a ship?” asked Pinocchio in astonishment. “At one gulp. The only thing he spat out was the main-mast, for it stuck in his teeth. To my own good luck, that ship was loaded with meat, preserved foods, crackers, bread, bottles of wine, raisins, cheese, coffee, sugar, wax candles, and boxes of matches. With all these blessings, I have been able to live happily on for two whole years, but now I am at the very last crumbs. Today there is nothing left in the cupboard, and this candle you see here is the last one I have.” “And then?” “And then, my dear, we’ll find ourselves in darkness.” “Then, my dear Father,” said Pinocchio, “there is no time to lose. We must try to escape.” “Escape! How?” “We can run out of the Shark’s mouth and dive into the sea.” “You speak well, but I cannot swim, my dear Pinocchio.” “Why should that matter? You can climb on my shoulders and I, who am a fine swimmer, will carry you safely to the shore.” “Dreams, my boy!” answered Geppetto, shaking his head and smiling sadly. “Do you think it possible for a Marionette, a yard high, to have the strength to carry me on his shoulders and swim?” “Try it and see! And in any case, if it is written that we must die, we shall at least die together.” Not adding another word, Pinocchio took the candle in his hand and going ahead to light the way, he said to his father: “Follow me and have no fear.” They walked a long distance through the stomach and the whole body of the Shark. When they reached the throat of the monster, they stopped for a while to wait for the right moment in which to make their escape. I want you to know that the Shark, being very old and suffering from asthma and heart trouble, was obliged to sleep with his mouth open. Because of this, Pinocchio was able to catch a glimpse of the sky filled with stars, as he looked up through the open jaws of his new home. “The time has come for us to escape,” he whispered, turning to his father. “The Shark is fast asleep. The sea is calm and the night is as bright as day. Follow me closely, dear Father, and we shall soon be saved.” No sooner said than done. They climbed up the throat of the monster till they came to that immense open mouth. There they had to walk on tiptoes, for if they tickled the Shark’s long tongue he might awaken—and where would they be then? The tongue was so wide and so long that it looked like a country road. The two fugitives were just about to dive into the sea when the Shark sneezed very suddenly and, as he sneezed, he gave Pinocchio and Geppetto such a jolt that they found themselves thrown on their backs and dashed once more and very unceremoniously into the stomach of the monster. To make matters worse, the candle went out and father and son were left in the dark. “And now?” asked Pinocchio with a serious face. “Now we are lost.” “Why lost? Give me your hand, dear Father, and be careful not to slip!” “Where will you take me?” “We must try again. Come with me and don’t be afraid.” With these words Pinocchio took his father by the hand and, always walking on tiptoes, they climbed up the monster’s throat for a second time. They then crossed the whole tongue and jumped over three rows of teeth. But before they took the last great leap, the Marionette said to his father: “Climb on my back and hold on tightly to my neck. I’ll take care of everything else.” As soon as Geppetto was comfortably seated on his shoulders, Pinocchio, very sure of what he was doing, dived into the water and started to swim. The sea was like oil, the moon shone in all splendor, and the Shark continued to sleep so soundly that not even a cannon shot would have awakened him.   Scott Campbell Redactor and Co-founder   [Investing Trends Today] Email is compliments of Finance and Investing Traffic, LLC, owner and operator of Investing Trends Today. Don't hesitate to get in touch with our team of professionals for effective solutions and customized support. If you have any questions regarding security, please feel free to email us at abuse@investingtrendstoday.com. Copyright © 2023. Investing Trends Today [ITT] All Rights Reserved. 221 W 9th St # Wilmington, DE 19801 Sometimes, colleagues of Investing Trends Today share special offers with us that we think our readers should be made aware of. Above is one such special opportunity that we believe deserves your attention. 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