The axe lifts
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Detto fatto, prese subito l' ascia arrotata per cominciare a levargli la scorza e a digrossarlo; ma quando fu lì per lasciare andare la prima asciata, rimase col braccio sospeso in aria, perchè sentì una vocina sottile sottile, che disse raccomandandosi:
No sooner said than done: he snatched up the newly sharpened axe to start stripping off the bark and hewing it down; but just as he was about to bring down the first stroke, his arm stopped, held in mid-air, for he heard a thin little voice that begged:
He raises the sharpened axe — and freezes at a tiny voice.
The whole sentence is built to stop on a single word — the arm frozen <i>sospeso in aria</i>, suspended in the air. Notice how many of the carpenter’s tools and actions are aimed at the wood as if it were merely material: the sharpened axe, the bark to be stripped, the first blow. Collodi lets the violence gather its full weight, then interrupts it with the smallest possible thing, <i>una vocina sottile sottile</i> — a voice so thin the adjective has to be said twice.
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