Fourteen - Lies and Confessions to The Fairy
Back in the streets, the caravan kept on rolling by as the rain kept falling from the sky, and thunder and lightning clashed together. Gepetto was wandering the streets while carrying a lantern, calling for Pinocchio and Maria to come home. Trouble was, every time he shouted, thunder rumbled, making it impossible for the children to hear him. Stromboli's caravan passed by him while the gypsy commanded to the horse in Italian; Gepetto called for Maria and Pinocchio once more, but another sound of thunder rumbled. The old woodcarver then shook his head and walked sadly away, still desperate to find the two children.
Inside the wagon, Pinocchio, Maria, and Jiminy Cricket were all feeling very sad and ashamed for what happened that day. "A fine conscience I turned out to be!" Jiminy lamented as he sat on Pinocchio's knee in the birdcage.
"I should've listened to you, Jiminy!" Pinocchio sadly said as a few tears escaped his eyes.
"And I shouldn't have gave in to those animals!" Maria added with a lump in her throat.
"No, it was my fault!" Jiminy said, "I shouldn't have walked out on you!"
Pinocchio sniffed and said, "Guess I'll never see my father again!"
"And I'll never see my real father again, either!" Maria added between sniffs and tears; she wiped a few tears away with her left hand.
"Oh, buck up, you two!" Jiminy told the children, trying to sound optimistic, "It could be worse! Be cheerful, like me!" The cricket couldn't be cheerful, because he was overcome with guilt and shame. Pinocchio cried and shed a few tears; one tear splashed onto Jiminy's head. Jiminy looked up at Pinocchio and coaxed, "Oh, take it easy, son." He took out a handkerchief from his coat and said, "Come on. Blow!" Jiminy held the cloth up to Pinocchio's nose, and the wooden boy blew into the handkerchief. "Atta boy!" said Jiminy before he blew his own nose into the cloth.
Down below, Maria sniffed and shed one last tear as she looked up at Jiminy with a sad smile. "At least I don't hear anymore thunder," she said with a little bit of happiness.
"Oh yes," said Jiminy as he looked out the window, "It stopped raining, anyway."
Outside, up in the sky, a bright light floated down from the sky and towards the wagon window! Jiminy saw the light coming and cried, "Hey! That star again! The lady, the…" His sentence was cut off when Pinocchio fell backward in surprise, and the cricket landed on a cage rail before finishing, "The fairy!"
"Oh my goodness!" Maria gasped when she also saw the light.
Pinocchio desperately paced around his cage and wondered with shock, "What'll she say? What'll I tell her?"
"You might tell her the truth!" Jiminy said before he hid in a little hiding place in the cage.
Maria covered her eyes with her left hand while Pinocchio bent over away from the light, before the light transformed into a familiar fairy.
The Blue Fairy looked around and then saw Maria chained to the wall. "Oh, Maria," she said with surprise, "What has happened to you?"
Surprised and frightened, Maria stammered to the Fairy, "Umm… m-maybe you should ask Pinocchio? H-he's in that birdcage!"
The Blue Fairy looked at the birdcage and saw Pinocchio as she said, "Why, Pinocchio!"
"Uh, hello!" Pinocchio said nervously as he lifted his hat from upside down.
"Sir Jiminy!" the Blue Fairy said when she saw Jiminy hiding.
Jiminy got up and chuckled nervously as he removed his hat, making tiny things come out, and stated, "Well, this is a pleasant surprise!"
The cricket's smile faded as the Fairy asked the puppet, "Pinocchio, why didn't you and Maria go to school?"
"School?" Pinocchio asked nervously, "Well, I… uh?" He looked down at Maria, who urged him to say something, and then at Jiminy.
"Go ahead – tell her!" Jiminy told Pinocchio softly.
"We were going to school, till we met somebody!" Pinocchio explained to the Fairy.
"Met somebody?" the Fairy inquired.
Jiminy nodded until Pinocchio lied, "Yeah, two big monsters – with big, green eyes!" At his last word, Pinocchio's nose grew about one or two inches longer.
As the puppet wondered what had happened to his nose, the Blue Fairy asked, "Monsters? Weren't you afraid?"
"No, ma'am!" continued Pinocchio, "But they tied me and Maria in a big sack!" At his last word, the puppet's nose grew longer again; this time, it had a few tiny leaves and a blossom bud at the end. Down below, Maria did a face palm.
"You don't say!" the Blue Fairy said, "And where was Sir Jiminy?"
"Oh, Jiminy?" asked Pinocchio.
The cricket jumped down in front of Pinocchio and whispered, "Psst! Leave me out of this!"
"They put him in a little sack!" the puppet lied to the Fairy. His nose grew even longer and had more leaves and buds at the end; poor Jiminy was seated at the very tip of the nose.
"No!" gasped the Blue Fairy as she listened to Pinocchio's story.
"Yes!" lied Pinocchio. The buds on his nose turned into blossoms.
"Pinocchio!" Maria muttered softly with frustration.
"How did you and Maria escape?" the Blue Fairy asked the puppet.
"I didn't!" Pinocchio lied with a grin, "They chopped me into firewood, and turned Maria into a toad!" His nose grew even longer, and then produced a couple of branches holding a nest full of two bird eggs; Jiminy was inside the nest, much to his dismay, for the eggs hatched and produced little baby birds.
"Um, Pinocchio!" Maria softly called to him, "Your nose! And if I was turned into a toad, how come I don't look green and bumpy right now?"
Pinocchio saw his nose and gasped, "Oh, look! My nose!" As he moved his nose, the baby birds and Jiminy bumped up and down. "What's happened?" Pinocchio asked the Blue Fairy.
"Perhaps you haven't been telling the truth, Pinocchio?" the Blue Fairy stated. Maria nodded in agreement with a frown.
Jiminy looked at the puppet and said, "Perhaps?!"
"Oh, but I have!" Pinocchio lied, "Every single word!" At his last word, the leaves on his nose turned red and brown, and the baby birds flew away.
"She's right, Pinocchio," Maria told him sternly, "You have been lying this whole time – now look at your nose! Shouldn't you be ashamed of yourself?"
"What about you, Maria?" the Fairy asked the girl. Maria put her hand over her mouth and remembered that she hadn't been a very good sister figure for Pinocchio earlier.
Pinocchio looked at the Blue Fairy and pleaded, "Oh, please help me and Maria! I'm awful sorry!"
"You see, Pinocchio," said the Blue Fairy, "A lie keeps growing and growing, until it's as plain as the nose on your face."
Jiminy ran across Pinocchio's nose and said, "She's right, Pinoke, you'd better come clean."
Pinocchio looked the Fairy with misty eyes and said, "I'll never lie again – honest I won't!"
Jiminy ran across the nose again and asked the Fairy with pleading eyes, "Please, your honor, uh… I mean, uh, Miss Fairy? Give him another chance! For my sake. Will ya? Huh?"
"I'd better see about Maria first," the Blue Fairy told him. She walked over to Maria and asked her, "Maria, do you think you could explain what happened today?"
Maria looked up at the fairy, but then her lips trembled and she broke down in tears again. She took a deep breath and said, "I know you don't want me to say this… but I wasn't a good sister figure. Pinocchio and I were going to school when we met a fox and a cat. The fox told us about going to the theater to become actors and singers, and Pinocchio thought it was a good idea." She paused to sniff and continued, "I wanted to make my family proud, and I decided to go along with being a singer. Pinocchio and I thought we were going somewhere with Stromboli, but then he chained us up, and told us he was going to push us in everyone's eyes, and then…" She took another deep breath and finished, "He was going to make me a lovable lady and turn Pinocchio into firewood." Then she started crying again.
The Blue Fairy looked at her and said softly, "Oh, Maria. I am disappointed in you for going down the wrong path with Pinocchio, but I'm also proud of you for conquering some of your shyness in front of all the people. I saw you down below from the sky, and I can see that you really try to make your father and your late mother proud. But you must listen to your conscience and focus on more important things first. Things will work out, though. I promise." Maria shed a few more tears as the Fairy sang:
Be brave, little one
Make a wish for each sad little tear
Hold your head up, though no one is near
Someone's waiting for you
Maria wiped her eyes. The Blue Fairy produced a cloth with her magic wand and handed it to Maria as she continued singing:
Don't cry little one
There'll be a smile where a frown used to be
You'll be part of the love that you see
Someone's waiting for you.
Maria blew her nose into the cloth and placed it in her pocket for later use before the Fairy used her magic wand to undo the chain that held the girl's right wrist to the wall.
Always keep a little prayer in your pocket
And you're sure to see the light
Soon there'll be joy and happiness
And your little world will be bright
Maria felt her wrist and smiled at the Blue Fairy, silently thanking her.
Have faith, little one
Till your hopes and your wishes come true
You must try to be brave, little one
Someone's waiting to love you.
The Blue Fairy and Maria walked over to Jiminy and Pinocchio and then told them, "Very well. I'll forgive all of you this once. But remember, a little boy who won't be good just might as well be made of wood. But a young girl who will stay true can help others through and through."
"We'll be good, won't we?" Pinocchio, Maria and Jiminy all said in unison with promising smiles.
"Very well," said the Blue Fairy, "But this is the last time I can help you." She tapped her wand onto Pinocchio's nose and disappeared in a blue flash of lights.
After the Fairy disappeared, Pinocchio's nose was back at its original length, and the birdcage door was opened! Pinocchio rubbed his eyes and happily exclaimed, "Gee, look, Jiminy and Maria! My nose!"
"And you're free, too!" Maria added as she pointed out the open birdcage.
"Hey! We're free!" said Jiminy, "Come on, you two!" He led the two children to the door of the wagon, and then they all snuck out quietly while Stromboli kept singing his song.
The three friends hid behind a rock, and Jiminy softly said, "Toodle-loo, Stromboli!"
Pinocchio waved and yelled, "Goodbye, Mr. Stromb…"
"Shhhh!" Jiminy shushed, "Quiet! Let's get outta here, before something else happens!"
"Yeah!" whispered Maria as she, Jiminy, and Pinocchio dashed away towards the village.
Author's Note: The song "Someone's Waiting For You" is from The Rescuers. ((c) Disney)