As soon as the Fisherman pulled him out, his green eyes opened wide with surprise, and he cried out in fear:
What kind of fish is this? I don't remember ever eating anything like it.
He looked at him closely and after turning him over and over, he said at last: I understand. He must be a crab!
Pinocchio, mortified at being taken for a crab, said resentfully: What nonsense! A crab indeed! I am no such thing.
Beware how you deal with me! I am a Marionette, I want you to know.
A Marionette? asked the Fisherman. I must admit that a Marionette fish is, for me, an entirely new kind of fish. So much the better. I'll eat you with greater relish.
Eat me? But can't you understand that I'm not a fish? Can't you hear that I speak and think as you do?
It's true, answered the Fisherman; but since I see that you are a fish, well able to talk and think as I do, I'll treat you with all due respect.
And that is--
That, as a sign of my particular esteem, I'll leave to you the choice of the manner in which you are to be cooked.