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 The Adventures of Pinocchio 



                                 C. Collodi 


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                                                                   The Adventures of Pinocchio 



                                                             Table of Contents 



The Adventures of Pinocchio.............................................................................................................................1 

              C. Collodi.................................................................................................................................................1 

              CHAPTER 1............................................................................................................................................2 

              CHAPTER 2............................................................................................................................................3 

              CHAPTER 3............................................................................................................................................5 

              CHAPTER 4............................................................................................................................................8 

              CHAPTER 5............................................................................................................................................9 

              CHAPTER 6..........................................................................................................................................10 

              CHAPTER 7..........................................................................................................................................11 

              CHAPTER 8..........................................................................................................................................13 

              CHAPTER 9..........................................................................................................................................15 

              CHAPTER 10........................................................................................................................................16 

              CHAPTER 11........................................................................................................................................18 

              CHAPTER 12........................................................................................................................................20 

              CHAPTER 13........................................................................................................................................23 

              CHAPTER 14........................................................................................................................................25 

              CHAPTER 15........................................................................................................................................27 

              CHAPTER 16........................................................................................................................................28 

              CHAPTER 17........................................................................................................................................30 

              CHAPTER 18........................................................................................................................................33 

              CHAPTER 19........................................................................................................................................36 

              CHAPTER 20........................................................................................................................................38 

              CHAPTER 21........................................................................................................................................39 

              CHAPTER 22........................................................................................................................................41 

              CHAPTER 23........................................................................................................................................43 

              CHAPTER 24........................................................................................................................................46 

              CHAPTER 25........................................................................................................................................49 

              CHAPTER 26........................................................................................................................................51 

              CHAPTER 27........................................................................................................................................53 

              CHAPTER 28........................................................................................................................................57 

              CHAPTER 29........................................................................................................................................60 

              CHAPTER 30........................................................................................................................................64 

              CHAPTER 31........................................................................................................................................68 

              CHAPTER 32........................................................................................................................................72 

              CHAPTER 33........................................................................................................................................76 

              CHAPTER 34........................................................................................................................................80 

              CHAPTER 35........................................................................................................................................84 

              CHAPTER 36........................................................................................................................................87 



                                                                                                                                                                                           i 


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                      The Adventures of Pinocchio 



                                            C. Collodi 



Translated from the Italian by Carol Della Chiesa 



This page copyright (C) 2001 Blackmask Online. 



http://www.blackmask.com 



 
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                                            The Adventures of Pinocchio 



                                                   CHAPTER 1 



How it happened that Mastro Cherry, carpenter,  found a piece of  wood that wept and laughed like a child 



Centuries ago there lived-- 



"A king!" my little readers will say immediately. 



No, children, you are mistaken.  Once upon a time  there was a  piece of wood.  It was not an expensive piece  of 

wood.  Far from it.  Just a common block of firewood,  one of those thick, solid logs that  are put on the fire in 

winter to make cold rooms cozy and warm. 



I do not know how this really happened, yet the fact  remains that  one fine day this piece of wood found itself 

in the shop of an old  carpenter.  His real name was  Mastro Antonio, but everyone called him  Mastro Cherry, 

for the tip of his nose was so round and red and shiny  that it looked like a ripe cherry. 



As soon as he saw that piece of wood, Mastro Cherry  was filled  with joy.  Rubbing his hands together 

happily,  he mumbled half to     himself: 



"This has come in the nick of time.  I shall use it to  make the  leg of a table." 



He grasped the hatchet quickly to peel off the bark and  shape the  wood.  But as he was about to give it the 

first  blow, he stood still  with arm uplifted, for he had heard a  wee, little voice say in a  beseeching tone: 

"Please be careful!  Do not hit me so hard!" 



What a look of surprise shone on Mastro Cherry's  face!  His funny  face became still funnier. 



He turned frightened eyes about the room to find out  where that  wee, little voice had come from and he saw 

no one! He looked under the  bench--no one! He peeped            inside the closet--no one! He searched among  the 

shavings--  no one! He opened the door to look up and down  the  street--and still no one! 



"Oh, I see!" he then said, laughing and scratching his Wig.  "It  can easily be seen that I only thought I heard 

the tiny  voice say the  words! Well, well--to work once more." 



He struck a most solemn blow upon the piece of wood. 



"Oh, oh!  You hurt!" cried the same far-away little voice. 



Mastro Cherry grew dumb, his eyes popped out of his  head, his  mouth opened wide, and his tongue hung 

down  on his chin. 



As soon as he regained the use of his senses, he said,  trembling  and stuttering from fright: 



"Where did that voice come from, when there is no  one around?  Might it be that this piece of wood has 

learned to weep and cry like  a child?  I can hardly  believe it.  Here it is--a piece of common  firewood, good 

only to burn in the stove, the same as any other.  Yet--  might someone be hidden in it?  If so, the worse for 

him.  I'll  fix him!" 



With these words, he grabbed the log with both hands  and started  to knock it about unmercifully.  He threw it 

to the floor, against the  walls of the room, and even up  to the ceiling. 



CHAPTER 1                                                                                                                2 


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                                            The Adventures of Pinocchio 



He listened for the tiny voice to moan and cry.  He waited two  minutes--nothing; five minutes--nothing;  ten 

minutes--nothing. 



"Oh, I see," he said, trying bravely to laugh and  ruffling up his  wig with his hand.  "It can easily be seen  I only 

imagined I heard the  tiny voice!  Well, well--to  work once more!" 



The poor fellow was scared half to death, so he tried  to sing a  gay song in order to gain courage. 



He set aside the hatchet and picked up the plane to  make the wood  smooth and even, but as he drew it to  and 

fro, he heard the same tiny  voice.  This time it giggled  as it spoke: 



"Stop it!  Oh, stop it!  Ha, ha, ha! You tickle my stomach." 



This time poor Mastro Cherry fell as if shot.  When  he opened his  eyes, he found himself sitting on the floor. 



His face had changed; fright had turned even the tip of  his nose  from red to deepest purple. 



                                                    CHAPTER 2 



Mastro Cherry gives the piece of wood to his friend Geppetto,  who  takes it to make himself a Marionette that 

will dance,  fence, and turn  somersaults 



In that very instant, a loud knock sounded on the door.  "Come in,"  said the carpenter, not having an atom of 

strength left with which to  stand up. 



At the words, the door opened and a dapper little old  man came in.  His name was Geppetto, but to the boys of 

the neighborhood he was  Polendina,[1] on account of the  wig he always wore which was just the  color of 

yellow corn. 



[1] Cornmeal mush 



Geppetto had a very bad temper.  Woe to the one who  called him  Polendina!  He became as wild as a beast and 

no one could soothe him. 



"Good day, Mastro Antonio," said Geppetto.  "What  are you doing on  the floor?" 



"I am teaching the ants their A B C's." 



"Good luck to you!" 



"What brought you here, friend Geppetto?" 



"My legs.  And it may flatter you to know, Mastro  Antonio, that I  have come to you to beg for a favor." 



"Here I am, at your service," answered the carpenter,  raising  himself on to his knees. 



"This morning a fine idea came to me." 



"Let's hear it." 



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                                             The Adventures of Pinocchio 



"I thought of making myself a beautiful wooden  Marionette.  It  must be wonderful, one that will be able to 

dance, fence, and turn  somersaults.  With it I intend to go       around the world, to earn my  crust of bread and cup 

of  wine.  What do you think of it?" 



"Bravo, Polendina!" cried the same tiny voice which  came from no  one knew where. 



On hearing himself called Polendina, Mastro Geppetto  turned the  color of a red pepper and, facing the 

carpenter,  said to him angrily: 



"Why do you insult me?" 



"Who is insulting you?" 



"You called me Polendina." 



"I did not." 



"I suppose you think _I_ did!  Yet I KNOW it was you." 



"No!" 



"Yes!" 



"No!" 



"Yes!" 



And growing angrier each moment, they went from  words to blows,  and finally began to scratch and bite and 

slap each other. 



When the fight was over, Mastro Antonio had Geppetto's            yellow wig  in his hands and Geppetto found the 

carpenter's  curly wig in his  mouth. 



"Give me back my wig!" shouted Mastro Antonio in a surly voice. 



"You return mine and we'll be friends." 



The two little old men, each with his own wig back on  his own  head, shook hands and swore to be good 

friends  for the rest of their  lives. 



"Well then, Mastro Geppetto," said the carpenter, to  show he bore  him no ill will, "what is it you want?" 



"I want a piece of wood to make a Marionette.  Will you give it to  me?" 



Mastro Antonio, very glad indeed, went immediately  to his bench to  get the piece of wood which had 

frightened  him so much.  But as he was  about to give it to his friend,  with a violent jerk it slipped out of  his 

hands and hit  against poor Geppetto's thin legs. 



"Ah!  Is this the gentle way, Mastro Antonio, in which  you make  your gifts?  You have made me almost 

lame!" 



CHAPTER 2                                                                                                                  4 


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"I swear to you I did not do it!" 



"It was _I_, of course!" 



"It's the fault of this piece of wood." 



"You're right; but remember you were the one to throw it at my  legs." 



"I did not throw it!" 



"Liar!" 



"Geppetto, do not insult me or I shall call you Polendina." 



"Idiot." 



"Polendina!" 



"Donkey!" 



"Polendina!" 



"Ugly monkey!" 



"Polendina!" 



On hearing himself called Polendina for the third time,  Geppetto  lost his head with rage and threw himself 

upon  the carpenter.  Then  and there they gave each other a  sound thrashing. 



After this fight, Mastro Antonio had two more scratches  on his  nose, and Geppetto had two buttons missing 

from  his coat.  Thus having  settled their accounts, they shook  hands and swore to be good friends  for the rest 

of their lives. 



Then Geppetto took the fine piece of wood,  thanked Mastro Antonio,  and limped away toward home. 



                                                    CHAPTER 3 



As soon as he gets home, Geppetto fashions the Marionette  and  calls it Pinocchio.  The first pranks of the 

Marionette 



Little as Geppetto's house was, it was neat and  comfortable.  It  was a small room on the ground floor, with a 

tiny window under the  stairway.  The furniture could not  have been much simpler:  a very old  chair, a rickety 

old  bed, and a tumble-down table.  A fireplace full  of burning  logs was painted on the wall opposite the door. 

Over the  fire, there was painted a pot full of something which kept  boiling  happily away and sending up 

clouds of what looked  like real steam. 



As soon as he reached home, Geppetto took his tools  and began to  cut and shape the wood into a Marionette. 



"What shall I call him?" he said to himself.  "I think  I'll call  him PINOCCHIO.  This name will make his 

fortune.  I knew a whole family  of Pinocchi once--Pinocchio the  father, Pinocchia the mother, and  Pinocchi 



CHAPTER 3                                                                                                                  5 


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                                           The Adventures of Pinocchio 



the children--  and they were all lucky.  The richest of them  begged for  his living." 



After choosing the name for his Marionette, Geppetto  set seriously  to work to make the hair, the forehead, the 

eyes.  Fancy his surprise  when he noticed that these eyes  moved and then stared fixedly at him.  Geppetto, 

seeing  this, felt insulted and said in a grieved tone: 



"Ugly wooden eyes, why do you stare so?" 



There was no answer. 



After the eyes, Geppetto made the nose, which began  to stretch as  soon as finished.  It stretched and stretched 

and stretched till it  became so long, it seemed endless. 



Poor Geppetto kept cutting it and cutting it, but the  more he cut,  the longer grew that impertinent nose.  In 

despair he let it alone. 



Next he made the mouth. 



No sooner was it finished than it began to laugh and  poke fun at  him. 



"Stop laughing!" said Geppetto angrily; but he might  as well have  spoken to the wall. 



"Stop laughing, I say!" he roared in a voice of thunder. 



The mouth stopped laughing, but it stuck out a long tongue. 



Not wishing to start an argument, Geppetto made  believe he saw  nothing and went on with his work.  After 

the mouth, he made the chin,  then the neck, the  shoulders, the stomach, the arms, and the hands. 



As he was about to put the last touches on the finger  tips,  Geppetto felt his wig being pulled off.  He glanced 

up and what did he  see?  His yellow wig was in the Marionette's  hand.  "Pinocchio, give  me my wig!" 



But instead of giving it back, Pinocchio put it on his  own head,  which was half swallowed up in it. 



At that unexpected trick, Geppetto became very sad  and downcast,  more so than he had ever been before. 



"Pinocchio, you wicked boy!" he cried out.  "You are  not yet  finished, and you start out by being impudent to 

your poor old father.  Very bad, my son, very bad!" 



And he wiped away a tear. 



The legs and feet still had to be made.  As soon as they  were  done, Geppetto felt a sharp kick on the tip of his 



nose. 



"I deserve it!" he said to himself.  "I should have thought  of  this before I made him.  Now it's too late!" 



He took hold of the Marionette under the arms and put  him on the  floor to teach him to walk. 



Pinocchio's legs were so stiff that he could not move  them, and  Geppetto held his hand and showed him how 

to  put out one foot after  the other. 



CHAPTER 3                                                                                                              6 


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When his legs were limbered up, Pinocchio started  walking by  himself and ran all around the room.  He came 

to the open door, and  with one leap he was out into the  street.  Away he flew! 



Poor Geppetto ran after him but was unable to catch  him, for  Pinocchio ran in leaps and bounds, his two 

wooden feet, as they beat  on the stones of the street,  making as much noise as twenty peasants  in wooden 

shoes. 



"Catch him!  Catch him!" Geppetto kept shouting.  But the people in  the street, seeing a wooden Marionette 

running like the wind, stood  still to stare and to laugh  until they cried. 



At last, by sheer luck, a Carabineer[2] happened  along, who,  hearing all that noise, thought that it might  be a 

runaway colt, and  stood bravely in the middle of the  street, with legs wide apart,  firmly resolved to stop it and 

prevent any trouble. 



[2] A military policeman 



Pinocchio saw the Carabineer from afar and tried his  best to  escape between the legs of the big fellow, but 

without success. 



The Carabineer grabbed him by the nose (it was an  extremely long  one and seemed made on purpose for that 

very thing) and returned him  to Mastro Geppetto. 



The little old man wanted to pull Pinocchio's ears.  Think how he  felt when, upon searching for them, he 

discovered that he had  forgotten to make them! 



All he could do was to seize Pinocchio by the back of  the neck and  take him home.  As he was doing so, he 

shook  him two or three times  and said to him angrily: 



"We're going home now.  When we get home,  then we'll settle this  matter!" 



Pinocchio, on hearing this, threw himself on the ground  and  refused to take another step.  One person after 

another  gathered  around the two. 



Some said one thing, some another. 



"Poor Marionette," called out a man.  "I am not  surprised he  doesn't want to go home.  Geppetto, no doubt,  will 

beat him  unmercifully, he is so mean and cruel!" 



"Geppetto looks like a good man," added another, "but  with boys  he's a real tyrant.  If we leave that poor 

Marionette in his hands he  may tear him to pieces!" 



They said so much that, finally, the Carabineer ended  matters by  setting Pinocchio at liberty and dragging 

Geppetto to prison.  The  poor old fellow did not know how to  defend himself, but wept and  wailed like a child 

and said  between his sobs: 



"Ungrateful boy!  To think I tried so hard to make you  a  well-behaved Marionette!  I deserve it, however!  I 

should  have given  the matter more thought." 



What happened after this is an almost unbelievable  story, but you  may read it, dear children, in the chapters 

that follow. 



CHAPTER 3                                                                                                            7 


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                                                   CHAPTER 4 



The story of Pinocchio and the Talking Cricket,  in which one sees  that bad children do not like  to be 

corrected by those who know more  than they do 



Very little time did it take to get poor old Geppetto to  prison.  In the meantime that rascal, Pinocchio, free 

now  from the clutches of  the Carabineer, was running wildly  across fields and meadows, taking  one short cut 

after  another toward home.  In his wild flight, he  leaped over  brambles and bushes, and across brooks and 

ponds, as if  he were a goat or a hare chased by hounds. 



On reaching home, he found the house door half open.  He slipped  into the room, locked the door, and threw 

himself on the floor, happy  at his escape. 



But his happiness lasted only a short time, for just then  he heard  someone saying: 



"Cri-cri-cri!" 



"Who is calling me?" asked Pinocchio, greatly frightened. 



"I am!" 



Pinocchio turned and saw a large cricket crawling  slowly up the  wall. 



"Tell me, Cricket, who are you?" 



"I am the Talking Cricket and I have been living in this  room for  more than one hundred years." 



"Today, however, this room is mine," said the Marionette,  "and if  you wish to do me a favor, get out now, 

and don't  turn around even  once." 



"I refuse to leave this spot," answered the Cricket,  "until I have  told you a great truth." 



"Tell it, then, and hurry." 



"Woe to boys who refuse to obey their parents and run  away from  home!  They will never be happy in this 

world,  and when they are older  they will be very sorry for it." 



"Sing on, Cricket mine, as you please.  What I know is,  that  tomorrow, at dawn, I leave this place forever.  If I 

stay here the  same thing will happen to me which happens  to all other boys and  girls.  They are sent to school, 

and  whether they want to or not, they  must study.  As for me,  let me tell you, I hate to study!  It's much  more 

fun, I think,  to chase after butterflies, climb trees, and steal  birds' nests." 



"Poor little silly!  Don't you know that if you go on like  that,  you will grow into a perfect donkey and that 

you'll  be the  laughingstock of everyone?" 



"Keep still, you ugly Cricket!" cried Pinocchio. 



But the Cricket, who was a wise old philosopher,  instead of being  offended at Pinocchio's impudence, 

continued in the same tone: 



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"If you do not like going to school, why don't you at  least learn  a trade, so that you can earn an honest 

living?" 



"Shall I tell you something?" asked Pinocchio, who was  beginning  to lose patience.  "Of all the trades in the 

world,  there is only one  that really suits me." 



"And what can that be?" 



"That of eating, drinking, sleeping, playing, and  wandering around  from morning till night." 



"Let me tell you, for your own good, Pinocchio," said  the Talking  Cricket in his calm voice, "that those who 

follow that trade always  end up in the hospital or in prison." 



"Careful, ugly Cricket!  If you make me angry, you'll be sorry!" 



"Poor Pinocchio, I am sorry for you." 



"Why?" 



"Because you are a Marionette and, what is much worse,  you have a  wooden head." 



At these last words, Pinocchio jumped up in a fury, took  a hammer  from the bench, and threw it with all his 

strength at the Talking  Cricket. 



Perhaps he did not think he would strike it.  But, sad  to relate,  my dear children, he did hit the Cricket, straight 

on its head. 



With a last weak "cri-cri-cri" the poor Cricket fell from  the  wall, dead! 



                                                 CHAPTER 5 



Pinocchio is hungry and looks for an egg to cook himself an omelet;  but, to his surprise, the omelet flies out 

of the window 



If the Cricket's death scared Pinocchio at all, it was only  for a  very few moments.  For, as night came on, a 

queer,  empty feeling at  the pit of his stomach reminded the  Marionette that he had eaten  nothing as yet. 



A boy's appetite grows very fast, and in a few moments  the queer,  empty feeling had become hunger, and the 

hunger grew bigger and  bigger, until soon he was as  ravenous as a bear. 



Poor Pinocchio ran to the fireplace where the pot was  boiling and  stretched out his hand to take the cover off, 

but to his amazement the  pot was only painted!  Think how  he felt!  His long nose became at  least two inches 

longer. 



He ran about the room, dug in all the boxes and drawers,  and even  looked under the bed in search of a piece 

of bread,  hard though it  might be, or a cookie, or perhaps a bit of fish.  A bone left by a dog  would have tasted 

good to him!  But he found nothing. 



And meanwhile his hunger grew and grew.  The only  relief poor  Pinocchio had was to yawn; and he certainly 

did yawn, such a big yawn  that his mouth stretched  out to the tips of his ears.  Soon he became  dizzy and 



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faint.  He wept and wailed to himself:  "The Talking Cricket  was right.  It was wrong of me to disobey Father 

and to  run away from  home.  If he were here now, I wouldn't be  so hungry!  Oh, how horrible  it is to be 

hungry!" 



Suddenly, he saw, among the sweepings in a corner,  something round  and white that looked very much like a 

hen's egg.  In a jiffy he  pounced upon it.  It was an egg. 



The Marionette's joy knew no bounds.  It is impossible  to describe  it, you must picture it to yourself.  Certain 

that  he was dreaming, he  turned the egg over and over in his  hands, fondled it, kissed it, and  talked to it: 



"And now, how shall I cook you?  Shall I make an  omelet?  No, it  is better to fry you in a pan!  Or shall I drink 

you?  No, the best way  is to  fry you in the pan.  You will taste better." 



No sooner said than done.  He placed a little pan over a  foot  warmer full of hot coals.  In the pan, instead of oil 

or  butter, he  poured a little water.  As soon as the water  started to boil--tac!--he  broke the eggshell.  But in 

place  of the white and the yolk of the  egg, a little yellow Chick,  fluffy and gay and smiling, escaped from  it. 

Bowing  politely to Pinocchio, he said to him: 



"Many, many thanks, indeed, Mr. Pinocchio, for having  saved me the  trouble of breaking my shell!  Good-by 

and good luck to you and  remember me to the family!" 



With these words he spread out his wings and, darting  to the open  window, he flew away into space till he 

was  out of sight. 



The poor Marionette stood as if turned to stone, with  wide eyes,  open mouth, and the empty halves of the 

egg-  shell in his hands.  When  he came to himself, he began to  cry and shriek at the top of his  lungs, stamping 

his feet on  the ground and wailing all the while: 



"The Talking Cricket was right!  If I had not run away  from home  and if Father were here now, I should not 

be  dying of hunger.  Oh, how  horrible it is to be hungry!" 



And as his stomach kept grumbling more than ever and  he had  nothing to quiet it with, he thought of going 

out  for a walk to the  near-by village, in the hope of finding  some charitable person who  might give him a bit 

of bread. 



                                                 CHAPTER 6 



Pinocchio falls asleep with his feet on a foot warmer,  and awakens  the next day with his feet all burned off 



Pinocchio hated the dark street, but he was so hungry  that, in  spite of it, he ran out of the house.  The night 

was  pitch black.  It  thundered, and bright flashes of lightning  now and again shot across  the sky, turning it into 

a sea of  fire.  An angry wind blew cold and  raised dense clouds of  dust, while the trees shook and moaned in a 

weird way. 



Pinocchio was greatly afraid of thunder and lightning,  but the  hunger he felt was far greater than his fear.  In a 

dozen leaps and  bounds, he came to the village, tired out,  puffing like a whale, and  with tongue hanging. 



The whole village was dark and deserted.     The stores  were closed,  the doors, the windows.  In the streets, not 

even a dog could be seen.  It seemed the Village of the  Dead. 



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Pinocchio, in desperation, ran up to a doorway, threw  himself upon  the bell, and pulled it wildly, saying to 

himself:  "Someone will  surely answer that!" 



He was right.  An old man in a nightcap opened the  window and  looked out.  He called down angrily: 



"What do you want at this hour of night?" 



"Will you be good enough to give me a bit of bread?  I am hungry." 



"Wait a minute and I'll come right back," answered the  old fellow,  thinking he had to deal with one of those 

boys  who love to roam around  at night ringing people's bells  while they are peacefully asleep. 



After a minute or two, the same voice cried: 



"Get under the window and hold out your hat!" 



Pinocchio had no hat, but he managed to get under the  window just  in time to feel a shower of ice-cold water 

pour down on his poor  wooden head, his shoulders, and  over his whole body. 



He returned home as wet as a rag, and tired out from  weariness and  hunger. 



As he no longer had any strength left with which to  stand, he sat  down on a little stool and put his two feet on 

the stove to dry them. 



There he fell asleep, and while he slept, his wooden  feet began to  burn.  Slowly, very slowly, they blackened 

and turned to ashes. 



Pinocchio snored away happily as if his feet were not  his own.  At  dawn he opened his eyes just as a loud 

knocking  sounded at the door. 



"Who is it?" he called, yawning and rubbing his eyes. 



"It is I," answered a voice. 



It was the voice of Geppetto. 



                                                 CHAPTER 7 



Geppetto returns home and gives  his own breakfast to the  Marionette 



The poor Marionette, who was still half asleep, had not  yet found  out that his two feet were burned and gone. 

As  soon as he heard his  Father's voice, he jumped up from his  seat to open the door, but, as  he did so, he 

staggered and   fell headlong to the floor. 



In falling, he made as much noise as a sack of wood  falling from  the fifth story of a house. 



"Open the door for me!" Geppetto shouted from the street. 



"Father, dear Father, I can't," answered the Marionette  in  despair, crying and rolling on the floor. 



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"Why can't you?" 



"Because someone has eaten my feet." 



"And who has eaten them?" 



"The cat," answered Pinocchio, seeing that little animal  busily  playing with some shavings in the corner of 

the room. 



"Open!  I say," repeated Geppetto, "or I'll give you a  sound  whipping when I get in." 



"Father, believe me, I can't stand up.  Oh, dear!  Oh, dear!  I  shall have to walk on my knees all my life." 



Geppetto, thinking that all these tears and cries were  only other  pranks of the Marionette, climbed up the side 

of the house and went in  through the window. 



At first he was very angry, but on seeing Pinocchio  stretched out  on the floor and really without feet, he felt 

very sad and sorrowful.  Picking him up from the floor, he  fondled and caressed him, talking  to him while the 

tears  ran down his cheeks: 



"My little Pinocchio, my dear little Pinocchio!  How did you burn  your feet?" 



"I don't know, Father, but believe me, the night has  been a  terrible one and I shall remember it as long as I 

live.  The thunder  was so noisy and the lightning so bright--  and I was hungry.  And then  the Talking Cricket 

said to me, `You deserve it; you were bad;' and I  said to him,  `Careful, Cricket;' and he said to me, `You are a 

Marionette  and you have a wooden head;' and I threw the hammer at  him  and killed him.  It was his own fault, 

for I didn't want  to kill him.  And I put the pan on the coals, but the Chick  flew away and said,  `I'll see you 

again!  Remember me to  the family.' And my hunger grew,  and I went out, and the  old man with a nightcap 

looked out of the  window and  threw water on me, and I came home and put my feet on  the  stove to dry them 

because I was still hungry, and I fell  asleep and  now my feet are gone but my hunger isn't!  Oh!--Oh!--Oh!" 

And poor  Pinocchio began to scream  and cry so loudly that he could be heard for  miles around. 



Geppetto, who had understood nothing of all that  jumbled talk,  except that the Marionette was hungry, felt 

sorry  for him, and pulling  three pears out of his pocket, offered  them to him, saying: 



"These three pears were for my breakfast, but I give  them to you  gladly.  Eat them and stop weeping." 



"If you want me to eat them, please peel them for me." 



"Peel them?" asked Geppetto, very much surprised.  "I  should never  have thought, dear boy of mine, that you 

were so dainty and fussy  about your food.  Bad, very bad!  In this world, even as children, we  must accustom 

ourselves  to eat of everything, for we never know what  life may  hold in store for us!" 



"You may be right," answered Pinocchio, "but I will not  eat the  pears if they are not peeled.  I don't like 

them." 



And good old Geppetto took out a knife, peeled the  three pears,  and put the skins in a row on the table. 



Pinocchio ate one pear in a twinkling and started to  throw the  core away, but Geppetto held his arm. 



"Oh, no, don't throw it away!  Everything in this world  may be of  some use!" 



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                                             The Adventures of Pinocchio 



"But the core I will not eat!" cried Pinocchio in an angry tone. 



"Who knows?" repeated Geppetto calmly. 



And later the three cores were placed on the table next  to the  skins. 



Pinocchio had eaten the three pears, or rather devoured them.  Then  he yawned deeply, and wailed: 



"I'm still hungry." 



"But I have no more to give you." 



"Really, nothing--nothing?" 



"I have only these three cores and these skins." 



"Very well, then," said Pinocchio, "if there is nothing  else I'll  eat them." 



At first he made a wry face, but, one after another, the  skins and  the cores disappeared. 



"Ah!  Now I feel fine!" he said after eating the last one. 



"You see," observed Geppetto, "that I was right when  I told you  that one must not be too fussy and too dainty 

about food.  My dear, we  never know what life may have  in store for us!" 



                                                     CHAPTER 8 



Geppetto makes Pinocchio a new pair of feet,  and sells his coat to  buy him an A-B-C book 



The Marionette, as soon as his hunger was appeased,  started to  grumble and cry that he wanted a new pair of 

feet. 



But Mastro Geppetto, in order to punish him for his  mischief, let  him alone the whole morning.  After dinner 

he said to him: 



"Why should I make your feet over again?  To see you  run away from  home once more?" 



"I promise you," answered the Marionette, sobbing,  "that from now  on I'll be good--" 



"Boys always promise that when they want something,"  said  Geppetto. 



"I promise to go to school every day, to study, and to succeed--" 



"Boys always sing that song when they want their own will." 



"But I am not like other boys!  I am better than all of  them and I  always tell the truth.  I promise you, Father, 

that I'll learn a  trade, and I'll be the comfort and staff of  your old age." 



Geppetto, though trying to look very stern, felt his eyes  fill  with tears and his heart soften when he saw 

Pinocchio  so unhappy.  He  said no more, but taking his tools and two  pieces of wood, he set to  work 



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                                            The Adventures of Pinocchio 



diligently. 



In less than an hour the feet were finished, two slender,  nimble  little feet, strong and quick, modeled as if by 

an  artist's hands. 



"Close your eyes and sleep!" Geppetto then said to the Marionette. 



Pinocchio closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep,  while  Geppetto stuck on the two feet with a bit of glue 

melted in an  eggshell, doing his work so well that the joint  could hardly be seen. 



As soon as the Marionette felt his new feet, he gave one  leap from  the table and started to skip and jump 

around,  as if he had lost his  head from very joy. 



"To show you how grateful I am to you, Father, I'll go  to school  now.  But to go to school I need a suit of 

clothes." 



Geppetto did not have a penny in his pocket, so he  made his son a  little suit of flowered paper, a pair of shoes 

from the bark of a  tree, and a tiny cap from a bit of dough. 



Pinocchio ran to look at himself in a bowl of water, and  he felt  so happy that he said proudly: 



"Now I look like a gentleman." 



"Truly," answered Geppetto.  "But remember that fine  clothes do  not make the man unless they be neat and 

clean." 



"Very true," answered Pinocchio, "but, in order to go  to school, I  still need something very important." 



"What is it?" 



"An A-B-C book." 



"To be sure!  But how shall we get it?" 



"That's easy.  We'll go to a bookstore and buy it." 



"And the money?" 



"I have none." 



"Neither have I," said the old man sadly. 



Pinocchio, although a happy boy always, became sad  and downcast at  these words.  When poverty shows 

itself,  even mischievous boys  understand what it means. 



"What does it matter, after all?" cried Geppetto all at  once, as  he jumped up from his chair.  Putting on his old 

coat, full of darns  and patches, he ran out of the house  without another word. 



After a while he returned.  In his hands he had the  A-B-C book for  his son, but the old coat was gone.  The 

poor fellow was in his shirt  sleeves and the day was cold. 



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                                            The Adventures of Pinocchio 



"Where's your coat, Father?" 



"I have sold it." 



"Why did you sell your coat?" 



"It was too warm." 



Pinocchio understood the answer in a twinkling, and,  unable to  restrain his tears, he jumped on his father's 

neck  and kissed him over  and over. 



                                                   CHAPTER 9 



Pinocchio sells his A-B-C book to  pay his way into the Marionette  Theater 



See Pinocchio hurrying off to school with his new A-B-C  book under  his arm!  As he walked along, his brain 

was busy  planning hundreds of  wonderful things, building hundreds  of castles in the air.  Talking to  himself, 

he said: 



"In school today, I'll learn to read, tomorrow to write,  and the  day after tomorrow I'll do arithmetic.  Then, 

clever  as I am, I can  earn a lot of money.  With the very first  pennies I make, I'll buy  Father a new cloth coat. 

Cloth,  did I say?  No, it shall be of gold  and silver with diamond  buttons.  That poor man certainly deserves it; 

for, after all,  isn't he in his shirt sleeves because he was good  enough to  buy a book for me?  On this cold day, 

too!  Fathers are  indeed good to their children!" 



As he talked to himself, he thought he heard sounds of  pipes and  drums coming from a distance:  pi-pi-pi, 

pi-pi-pi. . .zum, zum, zum,  zum. 



He stopped to listen.  Those sounds came from a little  street that  led to a small village along the shore. 



"What can that noise be?  What a nuisance that I have  to go to  school!  Otherwise. . ." 



There he stopped, very much puzzled.  He felt he had  to make up  his mind for either one thing or another. 

Should he go to school, or  should he follow the pipes? 



"Today I'll follow the pipes, and tomorrow I'll go to  school.  There's always plenty of time to go to school," 

decided the little  rascal at last, shrugging his shoulders. 



No sooner said than done.  He started down the street,  going like  the wind.  On he ran, and louder grew the 

sounds of pipe and drum:  pi-pi-pi, pi-pi-pi, pi-pi-pi  . . .zum, zum, zum, zum. 



Suddenly, he found himself in a large square, full of  people  standing in front of a little wooden building 

painted  in brilliant  colors. 



"What is that house?" Pinocchio asked a little boy near him. 



"Read the sign and you'll know." 



"I'd like to read, but somehow I can't today." 



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                                           The Adventures of Pinocchio 



"Oh, really?  Then I'll read it to you.  Know, then,  that written  in letters of fire I see the words:  GREAT 

MARIONETTE THEATER. 



"When did the show start?" 



"It is starting now." 



"And how much does one pay to get in?" 



"Four pennies." 



Pinocchio, who was wild with curiosity to know what  was going on  inside, lost all his pride and said to the 

boy  shamelessly: 



"Will you give me four pennies until tomorrow?" 



"I'd give them to you gladly," answered the other,  poking fun at  him, "but just now I can't give them to you." 



"For the price of four pennies, I'll sell you my coat." 



"If it rains, what shall I do with a coat of flowered  paper?  I  could not take it off again." 



"Do you want to buy my shoes?" 



"They are only good enough to light a fire with." 



"What about my hat?" 



"Fine bargain, indeed!  A cap of dough!  The mice might        come and  eat it from my head!" 



Pinocchio was almost in tears.  He was just about to  make one last  offer, but he lacked the courage to do so. 

He hesitated, he wondered,  he could not make up his mind.  At last he said: 



"Will you give me four pennies for the book?" 



"I am a boy and I buy nothing from boys," said the  little fellow  with far more common sense than the 

Marionette. 



"I'll give you four pennies for your A-B-C book," said  a ragpicker  who stood by. 



Then and there, the book changed hands.  And to think  that poor  old Geppetto sat at home in his shirt sleeves, 

shivering with cold,  having sold his coat to buy that little  book for his son! 



                                                 CHAPTER 10 



The Marionettes recognize their brother Pinocchio,  and greet him  with loud cheers; but the Director, Fire 

Eater,  happens along and poor  Pinocchio almost loses his life 



Quick as a flash, Pinocchio disappeared into the  Marionette  Theater.  And then something happened which 

almost caused a riot. 



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                                             The Adventures of Pinocchio 



The curtain was up and the performance had started. 



Harlequin and Pulcinella were reciting on the stage and,  as usual,  they were threatening each other with sticks 

and blows. 



The theater was full of people, enjoying the spectacle  and  laughing till they cried at the antics of the two 

Marionettes. 



The play continued for a few minutes, and then suddenly,  without  any warning, Harlequin stopped talking. 

Turning toward the audience,  he pointed to the rear of  the orchestra, yelling wildly at the same  time: 



"Look, look!  Am I asleep or awake?  Or do I really see  Pinocchio  there?" 



"Yes, yes!  It is Pinocchio!" screamed Pulcinella. 



"It is!  It is!" shrieked Signora Rosaura, peeking in from  the  side of the stage. 



"It is Pinocchio!  It is Pinocchio!" yelled all the Marionettes,  pouring out of the wings.  "It is Pinocchio.  It is 

our brother  Pinocchio!  Hurrah for Pinocchio!" 



"Pinocchio, come up to me!" shouted Harlequin.  "Come  to the arms  of your wooden brothers!" 



At such a loving invitation, Pinocchio, with one leap  from the  back of the orchestra, found himself in the 

front  rows.  With another  leap, he was on the orchestra leader's  head.  With a third, he landed  on the stage. 



It is impossible to describe the shrieks of joy, the warm  embraces, the knocks, and the friendly greetings with 

which that  strange company of dramatic actors and  actresses received Pinocchio. 



It was a heart-rending spectacle, but the audience,  seeing that  the play had stopped, became angry and began 

to yell: 



"The play, the play, we want the play!" 



The yelling was of no use, for the Marionettes, instead  of going  on with their act, made twice as much racket 

as  before, and, lifting  up Pinocchio on their shoulders, carried  him around the stage in  triumph. 



At that very moment, the Director came out of his  room.  He had  such a fearful appearance that one look  at 

him would fill you with  horror.  His beard was as  black as pitch, and so long that it reached  from his chin 

down to his feet.  His mouth was as wide as an oven, his  teeth like yellow fangs, and his eyes, two glowing 

red  coals.  In his  huge, hairy hands, a long whip, made of  green snakes and black cats'  tails twisted together, 

swished  through the air in a dangerous way. 



At the unexpected apparition, no one dared even to  breathe.  One  could almost hear a fly go by.  Those poor 

Marionettes, one and all,  trembled like leaves in a storm. 



"Why have you brought such excitement into my  theater;" the huge  fellow asked Pinocchio with the voice  of 

an ogre suffering with a  cold. 



"Believe me, your Honor, the fault was not mine." 



"Enough!  Be quiet!  I'll take care of you later." 



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                                              The Adventures of Pinocchio 



As soon as the play was over, the Director went to  the kitchen,  where a fine big lamb was slowly turning  on 

the spit.  More wood was  needed to finish cooking it.  He called Harlequin and Pulcinella and  said to them: 



"Bring that Marionette to me!  He looks as if he were  made of  well-seasoned wood.  He'll make a fine fire for 

this spit." 



Harlequin and Pulcinella hesitated a bit.  Then,  frightened by a  look from their master, they left the  kitchen to 

obey him.  A few  minutes later they returned,  carrying poor Pinocchio, who was  wriggling and squirming  like 

an eel and crying pitifully: 



"Father, save me!  I don't want to die!  I don't want to die!" 



                                                     CHAPTER 11 



Fire Eater sneezes and forgives Pinocchio,  who saves his friend,  Harlequin, from death 



In the theater, great excitement reigned. 



Fire Eater (this was really his name) was very ugly,  but he was  far from being as bad as he looked.                Proof of 

this is that, when he  saw the poor Marionette being  brought in to him, struggling with fear  and crying, "I  don't 

want to die!  I don't want to die!" he felt sorry  for  him and began first to waver and then to weaken.  Finally,  he 

could control himself no longer and gave a loud sneeze. 



At that sneeze, Harlequin, who until then had been  as sad as a  weeping willow, smiled happily and leaning 

toward the Marionette,  whispered to him: 



"Good news, brother mine!  Fire Eater has sneezed  and this is a  sign that he feels sorry for you.  You are 

saved!" 



For be it known, that, while other people, when sad  and sorrowful,  weep and wipe their eyes, Fire Eater, on 

the other hand, had the  strange habit of sneezing each  time he felt unhappy.  The way was just  as good as any 

other to show the kindness of his heart. 



After sneezing, Fire Eater, ugly as ever, cried to Pinocchio: 



"Stop crying!  Your wails give me a funny feeling  down here in my  stomach and--E--tchee!--E--tchee!" 

Two loud sneezes finished his  speech. 



"God bless you!" said Pinocchio. 



"Thanks!  Are your father and mother still living?"  demanded Fire  Eater. 



"My father, yes.  My mother I have never known." 



"Your poor father would suffer terribly if I were to  use you as  firewood.  Poor old man!  I feel sorry for  him! 

E--tchee!  E--tchee!  E--tchee!" Three more sneezes  sounded, louder than ever. 



"God bless you!" said Pinocchio. 



"Thanks!  However, I ought to be sorry for myself,  too, just now.  My good dinner is spoiled.  I have no  more 



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wood for the fire, and the  lamb is only half cooked.  Never mind!  In your place I'll burn some  other 

Marionette.  Hey there! Officers!" 



At the call, two wooden officers appeared, long and  thin as a yard  of rope, with queer hats on their heads  and 

swords in their hands. 



Fire Eater yelled at them in a hoarse voice: 



"Take Harlequin, tie him, and throw him on the fire.  I want my  lamb well done!" 



Think how poor Harlequin felt!  He was so scared  that his legs  doubled up under him and he fell to the floor. 



Pinocchio, at that heartbreaking sight, threw himself  at the feet  of Fire Eater and, weeping bitterly, asked  in a 

pitiful voice which  could scarcely be heard: 



"Have pity, I beg of you, signore!" 



"There are no signori here!" 



"Have pity, kind sir!" 



"There are no sirs here!" 



"Have pity, your Excellency!" 



On hearing himself addressed as your Excellency, the  Director of  the Marionette Theater sat up very straight 

in his chair, stroked his  long beard, and becoming suddenly  kind and compassionate, smiled  proudly as he 

said to Pinocchio: 



"Well, what do you want from me now, Marionette?" 



"I beg for mercy for my poor friend, Harlequin, who  has never done  the least harm in his life." 



"There is no mercy here, Pinocchio.  I have spared  you.  Harlequin  must burn in your place.  I am hungry  and 

my dinner must be cooked." 



"In that case," said Pinocchio proudly, as he stood  up and flung  away his cap of dough, "in that case, my  duty 

is clear.  Come,  officers!  Tie me up and throw me  on those flames.  No, it is not fair  for poor Harlequin,  the 

best friend that I have in the world, to die  in my place!" 



These brave words, said in a piercing voice, made all  the other  Marionettes cry.  Even the officers, who were 

made of wood also, cried  like two babies. 



Fire Eater at first remained hard and cold as a piece  of ice; but  then, little by little, he softened and began to 

sneeze.  And after  four or five sneezes, he opened wide  his arms and said to Pinocchio: 



"You are a brave boy!  Come to my arms and kiss me!" 



Pinocchio ran to him and scurrying like a squirrel up the  long  black beard, he gave Fire Eater a loving kiss on 

the  tip of his nose. 



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                                          The Adventures of Pinocchio 



"Has pardon been granted to me?" asked poor  Harlequin with a voice  that was hardly a breath. 



"Pardon is yours!" answered Fire Eater; and sighing  and wagging  his head, he added:  "Well, tonight I shall 

have to eat my lamb only  half cooked, but beware the  next time, Marionettes." 



At the news that pardon had been given, the  Marionettes ran to the  stage and, turning on all the lights,  they 

danced and sang till dawn. 



                                               CHAPTER 12 



Fire Eater gives Pinocchio five gold pieces for his father,  Geppetto;  but the Marionette meets a Fox and a Cat 

and follows them 



The next day Fire Eater called Pinocchio aside and asked him: 



"What is your father's name?" 



"Geppetto." 



"And what is his trade?" 



"He's a wood carver." 



"Does he earn much?" 



"He earns so much that he never has a penny in his  pockets.  Just  think that, in order to buy me an A-B-C 

book for school, he had to  sell the only coat he owned, a  coat so full of darns and patches that  it was a pity." 



"Poor fellow!  I feel sorry for him.  Here, take these  five gold  pieces.  Go, give them to him with my kindest 

regards." 



Pinocchio, as may easily be imagined, thanked him  a thousand  times.  He kissed each Marionette in turn,  even 

the officers, and,  beside himself with joy, set out on  his homeward journey. 



He had gone barely half a mile when he met a lame  Fox and a blind  Cat, walking together like two good 

friends.  The lame Fox leaned on  the Cat, and the blind  Cat let the Fox lead him along. 



"Good morning, Pinocchio," said the Fox, greeting him  courteously. 



"How do you know my name?" asked the Marionette. 



"I know your father well." 



"Where have you seen him?" 



"I saw him yesterday standing at the door of his house." 



"And what was he doing?" 



"He was in his shirt sleeves trembling with cold." 



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                                          The Adventures of Pinocchio 



"Poor Father!  But, after today, God willing, he will  suffer no  longer." 



"Why?" 



"Because I have become a rich man." 



"You, a rich man?" said the Fox, and he began to laugh  out loud.  The Cat was laughing also, but tried to hide 

it  by stroking his long  whiskers. 



"There is nothing to laugh at," cried Pinocchio angrily.  "I am  very sorry to make your mouth water, but these, 

as you know, are five  new gold pieces." 



And he pulled out the gold pieces which Fire Eater  had given him. 



At the cheerful tinkle of the gold, the Fox unconsciously  held out  his paw that was supposed to be lame, and 

the  Cat opened wide his two  eyes till they looked like live  coals, but he closed them again so  quickly that 

Pinocchio  did not notice. 



"And may I ask," inquired the Fox, "what you are  going to do with  all that money?" 



"First of all," answered the Marionette, "I want to  buy a fine new  coat for my father, a coat of gold and  silver 

with diamond buttons;  after that, I'll buy an A-B-C  book for myself." 



"For yourself?" 



"For myself.  I want to go to school and study hard." 



"Look at me," said the Fox.  "For the silly reason of  wanting to  study, I have lost a paw." 



"Look at me," said the Cat.  "For the same foolish reason,  I have  lost the sight of both eyes." 



At that moment, a Blackbird, perched on the fence  along the road,  called out sharp and clear: 



"Pinocchio, do not listen to bad advice.  If you do,  you'll be  sorry!" 



Poor little Blackbird!  If he had only kept his words  to himself!  In the twinkling of an eyelid, the Cat leaped 

on him, and ate him,  feathers and all. 



After eating the bird, he cleaned his whiskers, closed  his eyes,  and became blind once more. 



"Poor Blackbird!" said Pinocchio to the Cat.  "Why did you kill  him?" 



"I killed him to teach him a lesson.  He talks too much.  Next time  he will keep his words to himself." 



By this time the three companions had walked a long  distance.  Suddenly, the Fox stopped in his tracks and, 

turning to the  Marionette, said to him: 



"Do you want to double your gold pieces?" 



"What do you mean?" 



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                                          The Adventures of Pinocchio 



"Do you want one hundred, a thousand, two thousand  gold pieces for  your miserable five?" 



"Yes, but how?" 



"The way is very easy.  Instead of returning home,  come with us." 



"And where will you take me?" 



"To the City of Simple Simons." 



Pinocchio thought a while and then said firmly: 



"No, I don't want to go.  Home is near, and I'm going  where Father  is waiting for me.  How unhappy he must 

be that I have not yet  returned!  I have been a bad son,  and the Talking Cricket was right  when he said that a 

disobedient boy cannot be happy in this world.  I  have  learned this at my own expense.  Even last night in  the 

theater,  when Fire Eater. . . Brrrr!!!!! . . .  The shivers run up and down my  back at the mere thought of it." 



"Well, then," said the Fox, "if you really want to go home,  go  ahead, but you'll be sorry." 



"You'll be sorry," repeated the Cat. 



"Think well, Pinocchio, you are turning your back on Dame Fortune." 



"On Dame Fortune," repeated the Cat. 



"Tomorrow your five gold pieces will be two thousand!" 



"Two thousand!" repeated the Cat. 



"But how can they possibly become so many?" asked  Pinocchio  wonderingly. 



"I'll explain," said the Fox.  "You must know that,  just outside  the City of Simple Simons, there is a blessed 

field called the Field  of Wonders.  In this field you dig  a hole and in the hole you bury a  gold piece.  After 

covering  up the hole with earth you water it well,  sprinkle  a bit of salt on it, and go to bed.  During the night, 

the  gold piece sprouts, grows, blossoms, and next morning  you find a  beautiful tree, that is loaded with gold 

pieces." 



"So that if I were to bury my five gold pieces," cried  Pinocchio  with growing wonder, "next morning I should 

find--how many?" 



"It is very simple to figure out," answered the Fox.  "Why, you can  figure it on your fingers!  Granted that  each 

piece gives you five  hundred, multiply five hundred  by five.  Next morning you will find  twenty-five hundred 

new, sparkling gold pieces." 



"Fine!  Fine!" cried Pinocchio, dancing about with joy.  "And as  soon as I have them, I shall keep two 

thousand  for myself and the  other five hundred I'll give to you two." 



"A gift for us?" cried the Fox, pretending to be insulted.  "Why,  of course not!" 



"Of course not!" repeated the Cat. 



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                                           The Adventures of Pinocchio 



"We do not work for gain," answered the Fox.  "We work only to  enrich others." 



"To enrich others!" repeated the Cat. 



"What good people," thought Pinocchio to himself.  And forgetting  his father, the new coat, the A-B-C book, 

and all his good  resolutions, he said to the Fox and to the Cat: 



"Let us go.  I am with you." 



                                                 CHAPTER 13 



The Inn of the Red Lobster 



Cat and Fox and Marionette walked and walked and walked.  At last,  toward evening, dead tired, they came to 

the  Inn of the Red Lobster. 



"Let us stop here a while," said the Fox, "to eat a bite  and rest  for a few hours.  At midnight we'll start out 

again,  for at dawn  tomorrow we must be at the Field of Wonders." 



They went into the Inn and all three sat down at the  same table.  However, not one of them was very hungry. 



The poor Cat felt very weak, and he was able to  eat only  thirty-five mullets with tomato sauce and four 

portions of tripe with  cheese.  Moreover, as he was so  in need of strength, he had to have  four more helpings 

of  butter and cheese. 



The Fox, after a great deal of coaxing, tried his best  to eat a  little.  The doctor had put him on a diet, and he 

had to be satisfied  with a small hare dressed with a dozen    young and tender spring  chickens.  After the hare, 

he  ordered some partridges, a few  pheasants, a couple of  rabbits, and a dozen frogs and lizards.  That  was all. 

He felt ill, he said, and could not eat another bite. 



Pinocchio ate least of all.  He asked for a bite of bread  and a  few nuts and then hardly touched them.  The poor 

fellow, with his mind  on the Field of Wonders, was  suffering from a gold-piece indigestion. 



Supper over, the Fox said to the Innkeeper: 



"Give us two good rooms, one for Mr. Pinocchio and  the other for  me and my friend.  Before starting out, 

we'll take a little nap.  Remember to call us at midnight  sharp, for we must continue on our  journey." 



"Yes, sir," answered the Innkeeper, winking in a knowing way  at  the Fox and the Cat, as if to say, "I 

understand." 



As soon as Pinocchio was in bed, he fell fast asleep  and began to  dream.  He dreamed he was in the middle  of 

a field.  The field was  full of vines heavy with grapes.  The grapes were no other than gold  coins which tinkled 

merrily as they swayed in the wind.  They seemed  to  say, "Let him who wants us take us!" 



Just as Pinocchio stretched out his hand to take a  handful of  them, he was awakened by three loud knocks at 

the door.  It was the  Innkeeper who had come to tell him  that midnight had struck. 



"Are my friends ready?" the Marionette asked him. 



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                                            The Adventures of Pinocchio 



"Indeed, yes!  They went two hours ago." 



"Why in such a hurry?" 



"Unfortunately the Cat received a telegram which  said that his  first-born was suffering from chilblains  and 

was on the point of  death.  He could not even wait  to say good-by to you." 



"Did they pay for the supper?" 



"How could they do such a thing?  Being people of  great  refinement, they did not want to offend you so 

deeply as not to allow  you the honor of paying the bill." 



"Too bad!  That offense would have been more than  pleasing to me,"  said Pinocchio, scratching his head. 



"Where did my good friends say they would wait for me?" he added. 



"At the Field of Wonders, at sunrise tomorrow morning." 



Pinocchio paid a gold piece for the three suppers and  started on  his way toward the field that was to make 

him a rich man. 



He walked on, not knowing where he was going, for  it was dark, so  dark that not a thing was visible.  Round 

about him, not a leaf  stirred.  A few bats skimmed his  nose now and again and scared him  half to death.  Once 

or twice he shouted, "Who goes there?" and the  far-away  hills echoed back to him, "Who goes there?  Who 

goes  there?  Who goes. . . ?" 



As he walked, Pinocchio noticed a tiny insect  glimmering on the  trunk of a tree, a small being that glowed 

with a pale, soft light. 



"Who are you?" he asked. 



"I am the ghost of the Talking Cricket," answered the  little being  in a faint voice that sounded as if it came 

from  a far-away world. 



"What do you want?" asked the Marionette. 



"I want to give you a few words of good advice.  Return home and  give the four gold pieces you have  left to 

your poor old father who is  weeping because he  has not seen you for many a day." 



"Tomorrow my father will be a rich man, for these  four gold pieces  will become two thousand." 



"Don't listen to those who promise you wealth overnight,        my boy.  As a rule they are either fools or swindlers! 

Listen to me and go  home." 



"But I want to go on!" 



"The hour is late!" 



"I want to go on." 



"The night is very dark." 



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                                         The Adventures of Pinocchio 



"I want to go on." 



"The road is dangerous." 



"I want to go on." 



"Remember that boys who insist on having their own way,  sooner or  later come to grief." 



"The same nonsense.  Good-by, Cricket." 



"Good night, Pinocchio, and may Heaven preserve you  from the  Assassins." 



There was silence for a minute and the light of the  Talking  Cricket disappeared suddenly, just as if someone 

had snuffed it out.  Once again the road was plunged  in darkness. 



                                               CHAPTER 14 



Pinocchio, not having listened to the good advice  of the Talking  Cricket, falls into the hands of the Assassins 



"Dear, oh, dear!  When I come to think of it," said the  Marionette  to himself, as he once more set out on his 

journey, "we boys are  really very unlucky.  Everybody  scolds us, everybody gives us advice,  everybody warns 

us.  If we were to allow it, everyone would try to be  father  and mother to us; everyone, even the Talking 

Cricket.  Take me,  for example.  Just because I would not listen to  that bothersome  Cricket, who knows how 

many misfortunes  may be awaiting me!  Assassins  indeed!  At least  I have never believed in them, nor ever 

will.  To  speak  sensibly, I think assassins have been invented by fathers  and  mothers to frighten children who 

want to run away  at night.  And then,  even if I were to meet them on  the road, what matter?  I'll just run  up to 

them, and say,  `Well, signori, what do you want?  Remember that  you  can't fool with me!  Run along and mind 

your business.'  At such a  speech, I can almost see those poor fellows  running like the wind.  But in case they 

don't run away,  I can always run myself. . ." 



Pinocchio was not given time to argue any longer, for he thought  he heard a slight rustle among the leaves 

behind him. 



He turned to look and behold, there in the darkness  stood two big  black shadows, wrapped from head to foot 

in black sacks.  The two  figures leaped toward him as  softly as if they were ghosts. 



"Here they come!" Pinocchio said to himself, and,  not knowing  where to hide the gold pieces, he stuck all 

four of them under his  tongue. 



He tried to run away, but hardly had he taken a step,  when he felt  his arms grasped and heard two horrible, 

deep voices say to him:  "Your money or your life!" 



On account of the gold pieces in his mouth, Pinocchio  could not  say a word, so he tried with head and hands 

and body to show, as best  he could, that he was only a  poor Marionette without a penny in his  pocket. 



"Come, come, less nonsense, and out with your money!"  cried the  two thieves in threatening voices. 



Once more, Pinocchio's head and hands said, "I haven't  a penny." 



"Out with that money or you're a dead man," said the  taller of the  two Assassins. 



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                                                The Adventures of Pinocchio 



"Dead man," repeated the other. 



"And after having killed you, we will kill your father also." 



"Your father also!" 



"No, no, no, not my Father!" cried Pinocchio, wild with terror;  but as he screamed, the gold pieces tinkled 

together in his mouth. 



"Ah, you rascal!  So that's the game!  You have the  money hidden  under your tongue.  Out with it!" 



But Pinocchio was as stubborn as ever. 



"Are you deaf?  Wait, young man, we'll get it from  you in a  twinkling!" 



One of them grabbed the Marionette by the nose and  the other by  the chin, and they pulled him unmercifully 

from side to side in order  to make him open his mouth. 



All was of no use.  The Marionette's lips might have  been nailed  together.  They would not open. 



In desperation the smaller of the two Assassins pulled  out a long  knife from his pocket, and tried to pry 

Pinocchio's  mouth open with  it. 



Quick as a flash, the Marionette sank his teeth deep  into the  Assassin's hand, bit it off and spat it out.  Fancy 

his surprise when  he saw that it was not a hand, but a  cat's paw. 



Encouraged by this first victory, he freed himself from  the claws  of his assailers and, leaping over the bushes 

along the road, ran  swiftly across the fields.  His pursuers  were after him at once, like  two dogs chasing a 

hare. 



After running seven miles or so, Pinocchio was well-  nigh  exhausted.  Seeing himself lost, he climbed up a 

giant pine tree and  sat there to see what he could see.  The Assassins tried to climb also,  but they slipped and 

fell. 



Far from giving up the chase, this only spurred them on.  They  gathered a bundle of wood, piled it up at the 

foot of the pine, and  set fire to it.  In a twinkling the  tree began to sputter and burn  like a candle blown by  the 

wind.  Pinocchio saw the flames climb  higher and  higher.  Not wishing to end his days as a roasted  Marionette, 

he jumped quickly to the ground and off he went,  the  Assassins close to him, as before. 



Dawn was breaking when, without any warning whatsoever,  Pinocchio  found his path barred by a deep pool 

full  of water the color of muddy  coffee. 



What was there to do?  With a "One, two, three!"  he jumped clear  across it.  The Assassins jumped also,  but 

not having measured their  distance well--splash!!!--  they fell right into the middle of the  pool.  Pinocchio 

who heard the splash and felt it, too, cried out,  laughing,  but never stopping in his race: 



"A pleasant bath to you, signori!" 



He thought they must surely be drowned and turned  his head to see.  But there were the two somber figures 

still following him, though  their black sacks were drenched  and dripping with water. 



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                                          The Adventures of Pinocchio 



                                               CHAPTER 15 



The Assassins chase Pinocchio, catch him,  and hang him to the  branch of a giant oak tree 



As he ran, the Marionette felt more and more certain that  he would  have to give himself up into the hands of 

his pursuers.  Suddenly he  saw a little cottage gleaming white  as the snow among the trees of the  forest. 



"If I have enough breath left with which to reach that  little  house, I may be saved," he said to himself. 



Not waiting another moment, he darted swiftly through  the woods,  the Assassins still after him. 



After a hard race of almost an hour, tired and out of  breath,  Pinocchio finally reached the door of the cottage 

and knocked.  No one  answered. 



He knocked again, harder than before, for behind him  he heard the  steps and the labored breathing of his 

persecutors.  The same silence  followed. 



As knocking was of no use, Pinocchio, in despair,  began to kick  and bang against the door, as if he wanted  to 

break it.  At the noise,  a window opened and a lovely  maiden looked out.  She had azure hair  and a face white 

as wax.  Her eyes were closed and her hands crossed  on  her breast.  With a voice so weak that it hardly could 

be  heard,  she whispered: 



"No one lives in this house.  Everyone is dead." 



"Won't you, at least, open the door for me?"  cried Pinocchio in a  beseeching voice. 



"I also am dead." 



"Dead?  What are you doing at the window, then?" 



"I am waiting for the coffin to take me away." 



After these words, the little girl disappeared and the  window  closed without a sound. 



"Oh, Lovely Maiden with Azure Hair," cried  Pinocchio, "open, I beg  of you.  Take pity on a poor boy who  is 

being chased by two Assass--" 



He did not finish, for two powerful hands grasped him  by the neck  and the same two horrible voices growled 

threateningly: "Now we have  you!" 



The Marionette, seeing death dancing before him,  trembled so hard  that the joints of his legs rattled and  the 

coins tinkled under his  tongue. 



"Well," the Assassins asked, "will you open your  mouth now or not?  Ah!  You do not answer?  Very well,  this 

time you shall open it." 



Taking out two long, sharp knives, they struck two  heavy blows on  the Marionette's back. 



Happily for him, Pinocchio was made of very hard  wood and the  knives broke into a thousand pieces.  The 

Assassins looked at each  other in dismay, holding the  handles of the knives in their hands. 



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                                           The Adventures of Pinocchio 



"I understand," said one of them to the other, "there  is nothing  left to do now but to hang him." 



"To hang him," repeated the other. 



They tied Pinocchio's hands behind his shoulders and  slipped the  noose around his neck.  Throwing the rope 

over the high limb of a  giant oak tree, they pulled till  the poor Marionette hung far up in  space. 



Satisfied with their work, they sat on the grass waiting  for  Pinocchio to give his last gasp.  But after three 

hours  the  Marionette's eyes were still open, his mouth still shut  and his legs  kicked harder than ever. 



Tired of waiting, the Assassins called to him mockingly:  "Good-by  till tomorrow.  When we return in the 

morning,  we hope you'll be  polite enough to let us find you  dead and gone and with your mouth  wide open." 

With these words they went. 



A few minutes went by and then a wild wind started  to blow.  As it  shrieked and moaned, the poor little 

sufferer was blown to and fro  like the hammer of a bell.  The rocking made him seasick and the noose, 

becoming  tighter and tighter, choked him.  Little by little a film  covered his eyes. 



Death was creeping nearer and nearer, and the Marionette  still  hoped for some good soul to come to his 

rescue,  but no one appeared.  As he was about to die, he thought  of his poor old father, and hardly  conscious 

of what he  was saying, murmured to himself: 



"Oh, Father, dear Father!  If you were only here!" 



These were his last words.  He closed his eyes, opened  his mouth,  stretched out his legs, and hung there, as if 

he were dead. 



                                                 CHAPTER 16 



The Lovely Maiden with Azure Hair sends for the poor Marionette,  puts him to bed, and calls three Doctors 

to tell her if Pinocchio  is  dead or alive 



If the poor Marionette had dangled there much longer,  all hope  would have been lost.  Luckily for him, the 

Lovely Maiden with Azure  Hair once again looked out of  her window.  Filled with pity at the  sight of the poor 

little  fellow being knocked helplessly about by the  wind, she  clapped her hands sharply together three times. 



At the signal, a loud whirr of wings in quick flight was  heard and  a large Falcon came and settled itself on the 

window ledge. 



"What do you command, my charming Fairy?" asked the Falcon,  bending his beak in deep reverence (for it 

must  be known that, after  all, the Lovely Maiden with Azure  Hair was none other than a very kind  Fairy who 

had lived,  for more than a thousand years, in the vicinity  of the forest). 



"Do you see that Marionette hanging from the limb  of that giant  oak tree?" 



"I see him." 



"Very well.  Fly immediately to him.  With your  strong beak, break  the knot which holds him tied,  take him 

down, and lay him softly on  the grass  at the foot of the oak." 



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                                             The Adventures of Pinocchio 



The Falcon flew away and after two minutes returned,  saying, "I  have done what you have commanded." 



"How did you find him?  Alive or dead?" 



"At first glance, I thought he was dead.  But I found  I was wrong,  for as soon as I loosened the knot around  his 

neck, he gave a long  sigh and mumbled with a faint  voice, `Now I feel better!'" 



The Fairy clapped her hands twice.  A magnificent  Poodle appeared,  walking on his hind legs just like a  man. 

He was dressed in court  livery.  A tricorn trimmed  with gold lace was set at a rakish angle  over a wig of white 

curls that dropped down to his waist.  He wore a  jaunty  coat of chocolate-colored velvet, with diamond 

buttons,  and  with two huge pockets which were always filled with  bones, dropped  there at dinner by his 

loving mistress.  Breeches of crimson velvet,  silk stockings, and low,  silver-buckled slippers completed his 

costume.  His tail  was encased in a blue silk covering, which was to  protect  it from the rain. 



"Come, Medoro," said the Fairy to him.  "Get my  best coach ready  and set out toward the forest.  On  reaching 

the oak tree, you will  find a poor, half-dead  Marionette stretched out on the grass.  Lift  him up  tenderly, place 

him on the silken cushions of the coach,  and  bring him here to me." 



The Poodle, to show that he understood, wagged his silk-covered  tail  two or three times and set off at a quick 

pace. 



In a few minutes, a lovely little coach, made of glass,  with  lining as soft as whipped cream and chocolate 

pudding,  and stuffed  with canary feathers, pulled out of the  stable.  It was drawn by one  hundred pairs of 

white mice,  and the Poodle sat on the coachman's seat  and snapped  his whip gayly in the air, as if he were a 

real coachman  in a hurry to get to his destination. 



In a quarter of an hour the coach was back.  The  Fairy, who was  waiting at the door of the house, lifted  the 

poor little Marionette in  her arms, took him to a  dainty room with mother-of-pearl walls, put  him to bed,  and 

sent immediately for the most famous doctors of the  neighborhood to come to her. 



One after another the doctors came, a Crow, and Owl,  and a Talking  Cricket. 



"I should like to know, signori," said the Fairy, turning  to the  three doctors gathered about Pinocchio's bed,  "I 

should like to know  if this poor Marionette is dead or alive." 



At this invitation, the Crow stepped out and felt  Pinocchio's  pulse, his nose, his little toe.  Then he solemnly 

pronounced the  following words: 



"To my mind this Marionette is dead and gone; but if,  by any evil  chance, he were not, then that would be a 

sure sign that he is still  alive!" 



"I am sorry," said the Owl, "to have to contradict  the Crow, my  famous friend and colleague.  To my mind 

this Marionette is alive; but  if, by any evil chance, he  were not, then that would be a sure sign  that he is 

wholly dead!" 



"And do you hold any opinion?" the Fairy asked the Talking Cricket. 



"I say that a wise doctor, when he does not know what he  is  talking about, should know enough to keep his 

mouth shut.  However,  that Marionette is not a stranger to me.  I have known him a long  time!" 



Pinocchio, who until then had been very quiet,  shuddered so hard  that the bed shook. 



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                                               The Adventures of Pinocchio 



"That Marionette," continued the Talking Cricket,  "is a rascal of  the worst kind." 



Pinocchio opened his eyes and closed them again. 



"He is rude, lazy, a runaway." 



Pinocchio hid his face under the sheets. 



"That Marionette is a disobedient son who is breaking  his father's  heart!" 



Long shuddering sobs were heard, cries, and deep sighs.  Think how  surprised everyone was when, on raising 

the sheets,  they discovered  Pinocchio half melted in tears! 



"When the dead weep, they are beginning to recover,"  said the Crow  solemnly. 



"I am sorry to contradict my famous friend and colleague,"  said  the Owl, "but as far as I'm concerned, I think 

that  when the dead  weep, it means they do not want to die." 



                                                     CHAPTER 17 



Pinocchio eats sugar, but refuses to take medicine.  When the  undertakers come for him, he drinks the 

medicine and feels better.  Afterwards he tells a lie and, in punishment, his nose grows longer  and longer 



As soon as the three doctors had left the room, the Fairy  went to  Pinocchio's bed and, touching him on the 

forehead,  noticed that he was  burning with fever. 



She took a glass of water, put a white powder into  it, and,  handing it to the Marionette, said lovingly to him: 



"Drink this, and in a few days you'll be up and well." 



Pinocchio looked at the glass, made a wry face, and  asked in a  whining voice:  "Is it sweet or bitter?" 



"It is bitter, but it is good for you." 



"If it is bitter, I don't want it." 



"Drink it!" 



"I don't like anything bitter." 



"Drink it and I'll give you a lump of sugar to take the  bitter  taste from your mouth." 



"Where's the sugar?" 



"Here it is," said the Fairy, taking a lump from a golden  sugar  bowl. 



"I want the sugar first, then I'll drink the bitter water." 



"Do you promise?" 



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                                              The Adventures of Pinocchio 



"Yes." 



The Fairy gave him the sugar and Pinocchio, after chewing  and  swallowing it in a twinkling, said, smacking 

his lips: 



"If only sugar were medicine!  I should take it every day." 



"Now keep your promise and drink these few drops  of water.  They'll be good for you." 



Pinocchio took the glass in both hands and stuck his  nose into it.  He lifted it to his mouth and once more 

stuck his nose into it. 



"It is too bitter, much too bitter!  I can't drink it." 



"How do you know, when you haven't even tasted it?" 



"I can imagine it.  I smell it.   I want another lump of  sugar,  then I'll drink it." 



The Fairy, with all the patience of a good mother, gave  him more  sugar and again handed him the glass. 



"I can't drink it like that," the Marionette said, making  more wry  faces. 



"Why?" 



"Because that feather pillow on my feet bothers me." 



The Fairy took away the pillow. 



"It's no use.  I can't drink it even now." 



"What's the matter now?" 



"I don't like the way that door looks.  It's half open." 



The Fairy closed the door. 



"I won't drink it," cried Pinocchio, bursting out crying.  "I won't  drink this awful water.  I won't.  I won't!  No, 

no, no, no!" 



"My boy, you'll be sorry." 



"I don't care." 



"You are very sick." 



"I don't care." 



"In a few hours the fever will take you far away to another world." 



"I don't care." 



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                                          The Adventures of Pinocchio 



"Aren't you afraid of death?" 



"Not a bit.  I'd rather die than drink that awful medicine." 



At that moment, the door of the room flew open and in  came four  Rabbits as black as ink, carrying a small 

black  coffin on their  shoulders. 



"What do you want from me?" asked Pinocchio. 



"We have come for you," said the largest Rabbit. 



"For me?  But I'm not dead yet!" 



"No, not dead yet; but you will be in a few moments  since you have  refused to take the medicine which 

would   have made you well." 



"Oh, Fairy, my Fairy," the Marionette cried out, "give me  that  glass!  Quick, please!  I don't want to die!  No, 

no, not yet--not  yet!" 



And holding the glass with his two hands, he swallowed  the  medicine at one gulp. 



"Well," said the four Rabbits, "this time we have made  the trip  for nothing." 



And turning on their heels, they marched solemnly out  of the room,  carrying their little black coffin and 

muttering  and grumbling between  their teeth. 



In a twinkling, Pinocchio felt fine.  With one leap he  was out of  bed and into his clothes. 



The Fairy, seeing him run and jump around the room  gay as a bird  on wing, said to him: 



"My medicine was good for you, after all, wasn't it?" 



"Good indeed!  It has given me new life." 



"Why, then, did I have to beg you so hard to make  you drink it?" 



"I'm a boy, you see, and all boys hate medicine more  than they do  sickness." 



"What a shame!  Boys ought to know, after all, that  medicine,  taken in time, can save them from much pain 

and even from death." 



"Next time I won't have to be begged so hard.  I'll  remember those  black Rabbits with the black coffin on  their 

shoulders and I'll take  the glass and pouf!--down it  will go!" 



"Come here now and tell me how it came about that  you found  yourself in the hands of the Assassins." 



"It happened that Fire Eater gave me five gold pieces  to give to  my Father, but on the way, I met a Fox and a 

Cat, who asked me, `Do  you want the five pieces to become  two thousand?'  And I said, `Yes.'  And they said, 

`Come with us to the Field of Wonders.' And I said,  `Let's go.' Then they said, `Let us stop at the Inn of the 

Red  Lobster for dinner and after midnight we'll set out  again.' We ate and  went to sleep.  When I awoke they 

were gone and I started out in the  darkness all alone.  On  the road I met two Assassins dressed in black  coal 



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                                           The Adventures of Pinocchio 



sacks,  who said to me, `Your money or your life!' and I said,  `I  haven't any money'; for, you see, I had put the 

money  under my tongue.  One of them tried to put his hand in  my mouth and I bit it off and  spat it out; but it 

wasn't a  hand, it was a cat's paw.  And they ran  after me and I  ran and ran, till at last they caught me and tied 

my  neck  with a rope and hanged me to a tree, saying, `Tomorrow  we'll  come back for you and you'll be dead 

and your  mouth will be open, and  then we'll take the gold pieces  that you have hidden under your  tongue.'" 



"Where are the gold pieces now?" the Fairy asked. 



"I lost them," answered Pinocchio, but he told a lie,  for he had  them in his pocket. 



As he spoke, his nose, long though it was, became at  least two  inches longer. 



"And where did you lose them?" 



"In the wood near by." 



At this second lie, his nose grew a few more inches. 



"If you lost them in the near-by wood," said the Fairy,  "we'll  look for them and find them, for everything that 

is  lost there is  always found." 



"Ah, now I remember," replied the Marionette,  becoming more and  more confused.  "I did not lose the gold 

pieces, but I swallowed them  when I drank the medicine." 



At this third lie, his nose became longer than ever,  so long that  he could not even turn around.  If he turned  to 

the right, he knocked  it against the bed or into the  windowpanes; if he turned to the left,  he struck the walls  or 

the door; if he raised it a bit, he almost put  the Fairy's  eyes out. 



The Fairy sat looking at him and laughing. 



"Why do you laugh?" the Marionette asked her,  worried now at the  sight of his growing nose. 



"I am laughing at your lies." 



"How do you know I am lying?" 



"Lies, my boy, are known in a moment.  There are two  kinds of  lies, lies with short legs and lies with long 

noses.  Yours, just now,  happen to have long noses." 



Pinocchio, not knowing where to hide his shame, tried  to escape  from the room, but his nose had become so 

long  that he could not get  it out of the door. 



                                                  CHAPTER 18 



Pinocchio finds the Fox and the Cat again, and goes with them  to  sow the gold pieces in the Field of Wonders 



Crying as if his heart would break, the Marionette  mourned for  hours over the length of his nose.  No matter 

how he tried, it would  not go through the door.  The  Fairy showed no pity toward him, as she  was trying to 

teach him a good lesson, so that he would stop telling  lies,  the worst habit any boy may acquire.  But when 

she saw  him,   pale with fright and with his eyes half out of his  head from terror,  she began to feel sorry for 



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                                            The Adventures of Pinocchio 



him and  clapped her hands together.  A  thousand woodpeckers  flew in through the window and settled 

themselves  on  Pinocchio's nose.  They pecked and pecked so hard at  that enormous  nose that in a few 

moments, it was the  same size as before. 



"How good you are, my Fairy," said Pinocchio, drying  his eyes,  "and how much I love you!" 



"I love you, too," answered the Fairy, "and if you wish  to stay  with me, you may be my little brother and I'll 

be  your good little  sister." 



"I should like to stay--but what about my poor father?" 



"I have thought of everything.  Your father has been  sent for and  before night he will be here." 



"Really?" cried Pinocchio joyfully.  "Then, my good  Fairy, if you  are willing, I should like to go to meet him. 

I cannot wait to kiss  that dear old man, who has suffered  so much for my sake." 



"Surely; go ahead, but be careful not to lose your way.  Take the  wood path and you'll surely meet him." 



Pinocchio set out, and as soon as he found himself in the  wood, he  ran like a hare.  When he reached the giant 

oak  tree he stopped, for  he thought he heard a rustle in the  brush.  He was right.  There stood  the Fox and the 

Cat,  the two traveling companions with whom he had  eaten at  the Inn of the Red Lobster. 



"Here comes our dear Pinocchio!" cried the Fox,  hugging and  kissing him.  "How did you happen here?" 



"How did you happen here?" repeated the Cat. 



"It is a long story," said the Marionette.  "Let me tell  it to  you.  The other night, when you left me alone at the 

Inn, I met the  Assassins on the road--" 



"The Assassins?  Oh, my poor friend!  And what did they want?" 



"They wanted my gold pieces." 



"Rascals!" said the Fox. 



"The worst sort of rascals!" added the Cat. 



"But I began to run," continued the Marionette, "and  they after  me, until they overtook me and hanged me to 

the limb of that oak." 



Pinocchio pointed to the giant oak near by. 



"Could anything be worse?" said the Fox. 



"What an awful world to live in!  Where shall we  find a safe place  for gentlemen like ourselves?" 



As the Fox talked thus, Pinocchio noticed that the Cat  carried his  right paw in a sling. 



"What happened to your paw?" he asked. 



The Cat tried to answer, but he became so terribly  twisted in his  speech that the Fox had to help him out. 



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"My friend is too modest to answer.  I'll answer for  him.  About  an hour ago, we met an old wolf on the road. 

He was half starved and  begged for help.     Having nothing  to give him, what do you think my  friend did out of 

the  kindness of his heart?  With his teeth, he bit  off the paw  of his front foot and threw it at that poor beast, so 

that  he might have something to eat." 



As he spoke, the Fox wiped off a tear. 



Pinocchio, almost in tears himself, whispered in the Cat's ear: 



"If all the cats were like you, how lucky the mice would be!" 



"And what are you doing here?" the Fox asked the Marionette. 



"I am waiting for my father, who will be here at any moment now." 



"And your gold pieces?" 



"I still have them in my pocket, except one which I  spent at the  Inn of the Red Lobster." 



"To think that those four gold pieces might become  two thousand  tomorrow.  Why don't you listen to me? 

Why don't you sow them in the  Field of Wonders?" 



"Today it is impossible.  I'll go with you some other time." 



"Another day will be too late," said the Fox. 



"Why?" 



"Because that field has been bought by a very rich man,  and today  is the last day that it will be open to the 

public." 



"How far is this Field of Wonders?" 



"Only two miles away.  Will you come with us?  We'll  be there in  half an hour.  You can sow the money, and, 

after a few minutes, you  will gather your two thousand  coins and return home rich.  Are you  coming?" 



Pinocchio hesitated a moment before answering, for he  remembered  the good Fairy, old Geppetto, and the 

advice  of the Talking Cricket.  Then he ended by doing what  all boys do, when they have no heart and  little 

brain.  He shrugged his shoulders and said to the Fox and the  Cat: 



"Let us go!  I am with you." 



And they went. 



They walked and walked for a half a day at least and  at last they  came to the town called the City of Simple 

Simons.  As soon as they  entered the town, Pinocchio  noticed that all the streets were filled  with hairless dogs, 

yawning from hunger; with sheared sheep, trembling  with  cold; with combless chickens, begging for a grain 

of  wheat; with  large butterflies, unable to use their wings  because they had sold all  their lovely colors; with 

tailless  peacocks, ashamed to show  themselves; and with bedraggled  pheasants, scuttling away hurriedly, 

grieving for their  bright feathers of gold and silver, lost to them  forever. 



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Through this crowd of paupers and beggars, a beautiful  coach  passed now and again.  Within it sat either a 

Fox,  a Hawk, or a  Vulture. 



"Where is the Field of Wonders?" asked Pinocchio,  growing tired of  waiting. 



"Be patient.  It is only a few more steps away." 



They passed through the city and, just outside the walls,  they  stepped into a lonely field, which looked more 

or less like any other  field. 



"Here we are," said the Fox to the Marionette.  "Dig a hole here  and put the gold pieces into it." 



The Marionette obeyed.  He dug the hole, put the  four gold pieces  into it, and covered them up very carefully. 

"Now," said the Fox, "go  to that near-by brook, bring  back a pail full of water, and sprinkle  it over the spot." 



Pinocchio followed the directions closely, but, as he  had no pail,  he pulled off his shoe, filled it with water, 

and sprinkled the earth  which covered the gold.  Then  he asked: 



"Anything else?" 



"Nothing else," answered the Fox.  "Now we can go.  Return here  within twenty minutes and you will find the 

vine grown and the  branches filled with gold pieces." 



Pinocchio, beside himself with joy, thanked the Fox  and the Cat  many times and promised them each a 

beautiful gift. 



"We don't want any of your gifts," answered the two  rogues.  "It  is enough for us that we have helped you to 

become rich with little or  no trouble.  For this we are  as happy as kings." 



They said good-by to Pinocchio and, wishing him good  luck, went on  their way. 



                                                  CHAPTER 19 



Pinocchio is robbed of his gold pieces and,  in punishment, is  sentenced to four months in prison 



If the Marionette had been told to wait a day instead of  twenty  minutes, the time could not have seemed 

longer  to him.  He walked  impatiently to and fro and finally  turned his nose toward the Field of  Wonders. 



And as he walked with hurried steps, his heart beat  with an  excited tic, tac, tic, tac, just as if it were a wall 

clock, and his  busy brain kept thinking: 



"What if, instead of a thousand, I should find two  thousand?  Or  if, instead of two thousand, I should find five 

thousand--or one  hundred thousand?  I'll build myself a  beautiful palace, with a  thousand stables filled with a 

thousand wooden horses to play with, a  cellar overflowing  with lemonade and ice cream soda, and a library 

of  candies  and fruits, cakes and cookies." 



Thus amusing himself with fancies, he came to the field.  There he  stopped to see if, by any chance, a vine 

filled  with gold coins was in  sight.  But he saw nothing!  He  took a few steps forward, and still  nothing!  He 

stepped  into the field.  He went up to the place where he  had  dug the hole and buried the gold pieces.  Again 

nothing!  Pinocchio became very thoughtful and, forgetting his good  manners  altogether, he pulled a hand out 



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of his pocket and  gave his head a  thorough scratching. 



As he did so, he heard a hearty burst of laughter close  to his  head.  He turned sharply, and there, just above 

him  on the branch of a  tree, sat a large Parrot, busily preening  his feathers. 



"What are you laughing at?" Pinocchio asked peevishly. 



"I am laughing because, in preening my feathers, I  tickled myself  under the wings." 



The Marionette did not answer.  He walked to the  brook, filled his  shoe with water, and once more sprinkled 

the ground which covered the  gold pieces. 



Another burst of laughter, even more impertinent than  the first,  was heard in the quiet field. 



"Well," cried the Marionette, angrily this time,  "may I know, Mr.  Parrot, what amuses you so?" 



"I am laughing at those simpletons who believe  everything they  hear and who allow themselves to be caught 

so  easily in the traps set  for them." 



"Do you, perhaps, mean me?" 



"I certainly do mean you, poor Pinocchio--you who  are such a  little silly as to believe that gold can be sown 

in a field just like  beans or squash.  I, too, believed that  once and today I am very sorry  for it.  Today (but too 

late!)  I have reached the conclusion that, in  order to come  by money honestly, one must work and know how 

to earn  it with hand or brain." 



"I don't know what you are talking about," said the  Marionette,  who was beginning to tremble with fear. 



"Too bad!  I'll explain myself better," said the Parrot.  "While  you were away in the city the Fox and the Cat 

returned here in a great  hurry.  They took the four gold  pieces which you have buried and ran  away as fast as 

the wind.  If you can catch them, you're a brave one!" 



Pinocchio's mouth opened wide.  He would not believe  the Parrot's  words and began to dig away furiously at 

the  earth.  He dug and he dug  till the hole was as big as himself,  but no money was there.  Every  penny was 

gone. 



In desperation, he ran to the city and went straight to  the  courthouse to report the robbery to the magistrate. 

The Judge was a  Monkey, a large Gorilla venerable  with age.  A flowing white beard  covered his chest and he 

wore gold-rimmed spectacles from which the  glasses had  dropped out.  The reason for wearing these, he said, 

was  that his eyes had been weakened by the work of many years. 



Pinocchio, standing before him, told his pitiful tale,  word by  word.  He gave the names and the descriptions  of 

the robbers and  begged for justice. 



The Judge listened to him with great patience.  A kind  look shone  in his eyes.  He became very much 

interested  in the story; he felt  moved; he almost wept.  When the  Marionette had no more to say, the  Judge put 

out his  hand and rang a bell. 



At the sound, two large Mastiffs appeared, dressed in  Carabineers'  uniforms. 



Then the magistrate, pointing to Pinocchio, said in a  very solemn  voice: 



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"This poor simpleton has been robbed of four gold pieces.  Take  him, therefore, and throw him into prison." 

The Marionette, on hearing  this sentence passed upon  him, was thoroughly stunned.  He tried to  protest, but 

the two officers clapped their paws on his mouth and  hustled him away to jail. 



There he had to remain for four long, weary months.  And if it had  not been for a very lucky chance, he 

probably  would have had to stay  there longer.  For, my dear  children, you must know that it happened  just 

then that  the young emperor who ruled over the City of Simple  Simons had gained a great victory over his 

enemy, and in  celebration  thereof, he had ordered illuminations, fireworks,  shows of all kinds,  and, best of 

all, the opening of all prison doors. 



"If the others go, I go, too," said Pinocchio to the Jailer. 



"Not you," answered the Jailer.  "You are one of those--" 



"I beg your pardon," interrupted Pinocchio, "I, too, am a thief." 



"In that case you also are free," said the Jailer.  Taking  off his  cap, he bowed low and opened the door of the 

prison,  and Pinocchio ran  out and away, with never a look backward. 



                                                 CHAPTER 20 



Freed from prison, Pinocchio sets out to return to the Fairy;  but  on the way he meets a Serpent and later is 

caught in a trap 



Fancy the happiness of Pinocchio on finding himself free!       Without  saying yes or no, he fled from the city and 

set  out on the road that  was to take him back to the house of  the lovely Fairy. 



It had rained for many days, and the road was so muddy  that, at  times, Pinocchio sank down almost to his 

knees. 



But he kept on bravely. 



Tormented by the wish to see his father and his fairy  sister with  azure hair, he raced like a greyhound.  As he 

ran, he was splashed  with mud even up to his cap. 



"How unhappy I have been," he said to himself.  "And  yet I deserve  everything, for I am certainly very 

stubborn  and stupid!  I will  always have my own way.  I won't  listen to those who love me and who  have more 

brains  than I.  But from now on, I'll be different and I'll  try to  become a most obedient boy.  I have found out, 

beyond  any  doubt whatever, that disobedient boys are certainly  far from happy,  and that, in the long run, they 

always  lose out.  I wonder if Father  is waiting for me.  Will I  find him at the Fairy's house?  It is so  long, poor 

man,  since I have seen him, and I do so want his love and  his  kisses.  And will the Fairy ever forgive me for 

all I have  done?  She who has been so good to me and to whom I  owe my life!  Can there  be a worse or more 

heartless  boy than I am anywhere?" 



As he spoke, he stopped suddenly, frozen with terror. 



What was the matter?  An immense Serpent lay stretched         across the  road--a Serpent with a bright green skin, 

fiery eyes which glowed and  burned, and a pointed tail  that smoked like a chimney. 



How frightened was poor Pinocchio!  He ran back  wildly for half a  mile, and at last settled himself atop a 



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heap of stones to wait for  the Serpent to go on his way  and leave the road clear for him. 



He waited an hour; two hours; three hours; but the  Serpent was  always there, and even from afar one could 

see the flash of his red  eyes and the column of smoke  which rose from his long, pointed tail. 



Pinocchio, trying to feel very brave, walked straight up  to him  and said in a sweet, soothing voice: 



"I beg your pardon, Mr. Serpent, would you be so  kind as to step  aside to let me pass?" 



He might as well have talked to a wall.  The Serpent  never moved. 



Once more, in the same sweet voice, he spoke: 



"You must know, Mr. Serpent, that I am going home  where my father  is waiting for me.  It is so long since I 

have seen him!  Would you  mind very much if I passed?" 



He waited for some sign of an answer to his questions,  but the  answer did not come.  On the contrary, the 

green  Serpent, who had  seemed, until then, wide awake and full  of life, became suddenly very  quiet and still. 

His eyes  closed and his tail stopped smoking. 



"Is he dead, I wonder?" said Pinocchio, rubbing his  hands together  happily.  Without a moment's hesitation, 

he started to step over him,  but he had just raised one leg    when the Serpent shot up like a spring  and the 

Marionette  fell head over heels backward.  He fell so  awkwardly  that his head stuck in the mud, and there he 

stood with  his  legs straight up in the air. 



At the sight of the Marionette kicking and squirming  like a young  whirlwind, the Serpent laughed so heartily 

and so long that at last he  burst an artery and died on the spot. 



Pinocchio freed himself from his awkward position and  once more  began to run in order to reach the Fairy's 

house before dark.  As he  went, the pangs of hunger grew  so strong that, unable to withstand  them, he jumped 

into  a field to pick a few grapes that tempted him.  Woe to him! 



No sooner had he reached the grapevine than--crack!  went his legs. 



The poor Marionette was caught in a trap set there by  a Farmer for  some Weasels which came every night to 

steal his chickens. 



                                                 CHAPTER 21 



Pinocchio is caught by a Farmer,  who uses him as a watchdog for  his chicken coop 



Pinocchio, as you may well imagine, began to scream  and weep and  beg; but all was of no use, for no houses 

were to be seen and not a  soul passed by on the road. 



Night came on. 



A little because of the sharp pain in his legs, a little  because  of fright at finding himself alone in the darkness 

of the field, the  Marionette was about to faint, when he  saw a tiny Glowworm flickering  by.  He called to her 

and said: 



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"Dear little Glowworm, will you set me free?" 



"Poor little fellow!" replied the Glowworm, stopping  to look at  him with pity.  "How came you to be caught  in 

this trap?" 



"I stepped into this lonely field to take a few grapes and--" 



"Are the grapes yours?" 



"No." 



"Who has taught you to take things that do not belong to you?" 



"I was hungry." 



"Hunger, my boy, is no reason for taking something  which belongs  to another." 



"It's true, it's true!" cried Pinocchio in tears.  "I won't  do it  again." 



Just then, the conversation was interrupted by  approaching  footsteps.  It was the owner of the field,  who was 

coming on tiptoes  to see if, by chance, he had caught  the Weasels which had been eating  his chickens. 



Great was his surprise when, on holding up his lantern,  he saw  that, instead of a Weasel, he had caught a boy! 



"Ah, you little thief!" said the Farmer in an angry  voice.  "So  you are the one who steals my chickens!" 



"Not I!  No, no!" cried Pinocchio, sobbing bitterly.  "I came here  only to take a very few grapes." 



"He who steals grapes may very easily steal chickens also.  Take my  word for it, I'll give you a lesson that 

you'll remember  for a long  while." 



He opened the trap, grabbed the Marionette by the  collar, and  carried him to the house as if he were a puppy. 

When he reached the  yard in front of the house, he  flung him to the ground, put a foot on  his neck, and said  to 

him roughly:  "It is late now and it's time for  bed.  Tomorrow we'll settle matters.  In the meantime, since my 

watchdog died today, you may take his place and guard  my henhouse." 



No sooner said than done.  He slipped a dog collar  around  Pinocchio's neck and tightened it so that it would 

not come off.  A  long iron chain was tied to the collar.  The other end of the chain was  nailed to the wall. 



"If tonight it should happen to rain," said the Farmer,  "you can  sleep in that little doghouse near-by, where 

you  will find plenty of  straw for a soft bed.  It has been  Melampo's bed for three years, and  it will be good 

enough  for you.  And if, by any chance, any thieves  should come,  be sure to bark!" 



After this last warning, the Farmer went into the house  and closed  the door and barred it. 



Poor Pinocchio huddled close to the doghouse more  dead than alive  from cold, hunger, and fright.  Now and 

again he pulled and tugged at  the collar which nearly  choked him and cried out in a weak voice: 



"I deserve it!  Yes, I deserve it!  I have been nothing  but a  truant and a vagabond.  I have never obeyed anyone 

and I have always  done as I pleased.  If I were only like  so many others and had studied  and worked and 

stayed  with my poor old father, I should not find  myself here now,  in this field and in the darkness, taking the 



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                                          The Adventures of Pinocchio 



place  of a  farmer's watchdog.  Oh, if I could start all over again!  But  what is done can't be undone, and I must 

be patient!" 



After this little sermon to himself, which came from the very  depths of his heart, Pinocchio went into the 

doghouse and fell asleep. 



                                                CHAPTER 22 



Pinocchio discovers the thieves and,  as a reward for faithfulness,  he regains his liberty 



Even though a boy may be very unhappy, he very seldom  loses sleep  over his worries.  The Marionette, being 

no  exception to this rule,  slept on peacefully for a few hours  till well along toward midnight,  when he was 

awakened  by strange whisperings and stealthy sounds coming  from  the yard.  He stuck his nose out of the 

doghouse and saw  four  slender, hairy animals.  They were Weasels, small  animals very fond of  both eggs and 

chickens.  One of  them left her companions and, going to  the door of the  doghouse, said in a sweet voice: 



"Good evening, Melampo." 



"My name is not Melampo," answered Pinocchio. 



"Who are you, then?" 



"I am Pinocchio." 



"What are you doing here?" 



"I'm the watchdog." 



"But where is Melampo?  Where is the old dog  who used to live in  this house?" 



"He died this morning." 



"Died?  Poor beast!  He was so good!  Still, judging  by your face,  I think you, too, are a good-natured dog." 



"I beg your pardon, I am not a dog!" 



"What are you, then?" 



"I am a Marionette." 



"Are you taking the place of the watchdog?" 



"I'm sorry to say that I am.  I'm being punished." 



"Well, I shall make the same terms with you that we had with  the  dead Melampo.  I am sure you will be glad 

to hear them." 



"And what are the terms?" 



"This is our plan:  We'll come once in a while, as in  the past, to  pay a visit to this henhouse, and we'll take 



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away eight chickens.  Of  these, seven are for us, and one  for you, provided, of course, that  you will make 

believe  you are sleeping and will not bark for the  Farmer." 



"Did Melampo really do that?" asked Pinocchio. 



"Indeed he did, and because of that we were the best of  friends.  Sleep away peacefully, and remember that 

before  we go we shall leave   you a nice fat chicken all ready  for your breakfast in the morning.  Is that 

understood?" 



"Even too well," answered Pinocchio.  And shaking  his head in a  threatening manner, he seemed to say, 

"We'll  talk this over in a few  minutes, my friends." 



As soon as the four Weasels had talked things over,  they went  straight to the chicken coop which stood close 

to the doghouse.  Digging busily with teeth and claws,  they opened the little door and  slipped in.  But they 

were  no sooner in than they heard the door close  with a sharp bang. 



The one who had done the trick was Pinocchio, who,  not satisfied  with that, dragged a heavy stone in front  of 

it.  That done, he  started to bark.  And he barked as  if he were a real watchdog:  "Bow,  wow, wow!  Bow, 

wow!" 



The Farmer heard the loud barks and jumped out of bed.  Taking his  gun, he leaped to the window and 

shouted:  "What's the matter?" 



"The thieves are here," answered Pinocchio. 



"Where are they?" 



"In the chicken coop." 



"I'll come down in a second." 



And, in fact, he was down in the yard in a twinkling  and running  toward the chicken coop. 



He opened the door, pulled out the Weasels one by one, and,  after  tying them in a bag, said to them in a 

happy voice:  "You're in my  hands at last!  I could punish you now,  but I'll wait!  In the morning  you may come 

with me  to the inn and there you'll make a fine dinner  for some  hungry mortal.  It is really too great an honor 

for you,  one  you do not deserve; but, as you see, I am really a  very kind and  generous man and I am going to 

do this  for you!" 



Then he went up to Pinocchio and began to pet and caress him. 



"How did you ever find them out so quickly?  And to think  that  Melampo, my faithful Melampo, never saw 

them  in all these years!" 



The Marionette could have told, then and there, all he  knew about  the shameful contract between the dog and 

the Weasels, but thinking of  the dead dog, he said to  himself:  "Melampo is dead.  What is the use  of accusing 

him?  The dead are gone and they cannot defend themselves.  The best thing to do is to leave them in peace!" 



"Were you awake or asleep when they came?" continued the Farmer. 



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"I was asleep," answered Pinocchio, "but they  awakened me with  their whisperings.  One of them even came 

to the door of the doghouse  and said to me, `If you promise  not to bark, we will make you a  present of one of 

the  chickens for your breakfast.' Did you hear that?  They  had the audacity to make such a proposition as that 

to me!  For  you must know that, though I am a very wicked Marionette  full of  faults, still I never have been, 

nor ever shall be, bribed." 



"Fine boy!" cried the Farmer, slapping him on the  shoulder in a  friendly way.  "You ought to be proud of 

yourself.  And to show you  what I think of you, you  are free from this instant!" 



And he slipped the dog collar from his neck. 



                                                  CHAPTER 23 



Pinocchio weeps upon learning that the Lovely Maiden  with Azure  Hair is dead.  He meets a Pigeon,  who 

carries him to the seashore.  He  throws himself  into the sea to go to the aid of his father 



As soon as Pinocchio no longer felt the shameful weight  of the dog  collar around his neck, he started to run 

across  the fields and  meadows, and never stopped till he came to  the main road that was to  take him to the 

Fairy's house. 



When he reached it, he looked into the valley far below  him and  there he saw the wood where unluckily he 

had  met the Fox and the Cat,  and the tall oak tree where he  had been hanged; but though he searched  far and 

near, he  could not see the house where the Fairy with the  Azure  Hair lived. 



He became terribly frightened and, running as fast as he  could, he  finally came to the spot where it had once 

stood.  The little house was  no longer there.  In its place lay a  small marble slab, which bore  this sad 

inscription: 



HERE LIES  THE LOVELY FAIRY WITH AZURE HAIR  WHO DIED OF GRIEF  WHEN ABANDONED 

BY  HER LITTLE BROTHER PINOCCHIO 



The poor Marionette was heartbroken at reading these  words.  He  fell to the ground and, covering the cold 

marble  with kisses, burst  into bitter tears.  He cried all night, and  dawn found him still  there, though his tears 

had dried  and only hard, dry sobs shook his  wooden frame.  But  these were so loud that they could be heard 

by the  faraway hills. 



As he sobbed he said to himself: 



"Oh, my Fairy, my dear, dear Fairy, why did you die?  Why did I not  die, who am so bad, instead of you, who 

are so good?  And my  father--where can he be?  Please  dear Fairy, tell me where he is and I  shall never, never 

leave him again!  You are not really dead, are you?  If you  love me, you will come back, alive as before.  Don't 

you  feel  sorry for me?  I'm so lonely.  If the two Assassins come,  they'll hang  me again from the giant oak tree 

and I will  really die, this time.  What shall I do alone in the world?  Now that you are dead and my  father is 

lost, where shall  I eat?  Where shall I sleep?  Who will  make my new  clothes?  Oh, I want to die!          Yes, I want to 

die! Oh, oh,  oh!" 



Poor Pinocchio! He even tried to tear his hair, but as it  was only  painted on his wooden head, he could not 

even pull it. 



Just then a large Pigeon flew far above him.  Seeing the  Marionette, he cried to him: 



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                                          The Adventures of Pinocchio 



"Tell me, little boy, what are you doing there?" 



"Can't you see?  I'm crying," cried Pinocchio, lifting his  head  toward the voice and rubbing his eyes with his 

sleeve. 



"Tell me," asked the Pigeon, "do you by chance know  of a  Marionette, Pinocchio by name?" 



"Pinocchio!  Did you say Pinocchio?" replied the  Marionette,  jumping to his feet.  "Why, I am Pinocchio!" 



At this answer, the Pigeon flew swiftly down to the earth.  He was  much larger than a turkey. 



"Then you know Geppetto also?" 



"Do I know him?  He's my father, my poor, dear father!  Has he,  perhaps, spoken to you of me?  Will you take 

me to him?  Is he still  alive? Answer me, please! Is he still alive?" 



"I left him three days ago on the shore of a large sea." 



"What was he doing?" 



"He was building a little boat with which to cross the ocean.  For  the last four months, that poor man has been 

wandering  around Europe,  looking for you.  Not having found you yet,  he has made up his mind to  look for 

you in the New World,  far across the ocean." 



"How far is it from here to the shore?" asked Pinocchio anxiously. 



"More than fifty miles." 



"Fifty miles?  Oh, dear Pigeon, how I wish I had your wings!" 



"If you want to come, I'll take you with me." 



"How?" 



"Astride my back.  Are you very heavy?" 



"Heavy?  Not at all.  I'm only a feather." 



"Very well." 



Saying nothing more, Pinocchio jumped on the Pigeon's  back and, as  he settled himself, he cried out gayly: 



"Gallop on, gallop on, my pretty steed!  I'm in a great hurry." 



The Pigeon flew away, and in a few minutes he had  reached the  clouds.  The Marionette looked to see what 

was below them.  His head  swam and he was so frightened  that he clutched wildly at the Pigeon's  neck to 

keep  himself from falling. 



They flew all day.  Toward evening the Pigeon said: 



"I'm very thirsty!" 



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"And I'm very hungry!" said Pinocchio. 



"Let us stop a few minutes at that pigeon coop down there.  Then we  can go on and be at the seashore in the 

morning." 



They went into the empty coop and there they found nothing but  a  bowl of water and a small basket filled 

with chick-peas. 



The Marionette had always hated chick-peas.  According  to him,  they had always made him sick; but that 

night  he ate them with a  relish.  As he finished them, he turned  to the Pigeon and said: 



"I never should have thought that chick-peas could be so good!" 



"You must remember, my boy," answered the Pigeon,  "that hunger is  the best sauce!" 



After resting a few minutes longer, they set out again.  The next  morning they were at the seashore. 



Pinocchio jumped off the Pigeon's back, and the Pigeon,  not  wanting any thanks for a kind deed, flew away 

swiftly  and disappeared. 



The shore was full of people, shrieking and tearing their  hair as  they looked toward the sea. 



"What has happened?" asked Pinocchio of a little old woman. 



"A poor old father lost his only son some time ago and  today he  built a tiny boat for himself in order to go in 

search of him across  the ocean.  The water is very rough  and we're afraid he will be  drowned." 



"Where is the little boat?" 



"There.  Straight down there," answered the little old woman,  pointing to a tiny shadow, no bigger than a 

nutshell,  floating on the  sea. 



Pinocchio looked closely for a few minutes and then gave a sharp  cry: 



"It's my father!  It's my father!" 



Meanwhile, the little boat, tossed about by the angry  waters,  appeared and disappeared in the waves.  And 

Pinocchio,  standing on a  high rock, tired out with searching,  waved to him with hand and cap  and even with 

his nose. 



It looked as if Geppetto, though far away from the  shore,  recognized his son, for he took off his cap and 

waved also.   He seemed  to be trying to make everyone  understand that he would come back if he  were able, 

but  the sea was so heavy that he could do nothing with his  oars.  Suddenly a huge wave came and the boat 

disappeared. 



They waited and waited for it, but it was gone. 



"Poor man!" said the fisher folk on the shore, whispering  a prayer  as they turned to go home. 



Just then a desperate cry was heard.  Turning around,  the fisher  folk saw Pinocchio dive into the sea and heard 

him cry out: 



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"I'll save him!  I'll save my father!" 



The Marionette, being made of wood, floated easily  along and swam  like a fish in the rough water.  Now and 

again he disappeared only to    reappear once more.  In a  twinkling, he was far away from land.  At  last he was 

completely lost to view. 



"Poor boy!" cried the fisher folk on the shore, and again  they  mumbled a few prayers, as they returned home. 



                                                 CHAPTER 24 



Pinocchio reaches the Island of the Busy Bees  and finds the Fairy  once more 



Pinocchio, spurred on by the hope of finding his father  and of  being in time to save him, swam all night long. 



And what a horrible night it was!  It poured rain, it  hailed, it  thundered, and the lightning was so bright that it 

turned the night  into day. 



At dawn, he saw, not far away from him, a long stretch  of sand.  It was an island in the middle of the sea. 



Pinocchio tried his best to get there, but he couldn't.  The waves  played with him and tossed him about as if he 

were a twig or a bit of  straw.  At last, and luckily for him,  a tremendous wave tossed him to  the very spot 

where he  wanted to be.  The blow from the wave was so  strong that,  as he fell to the ground, his joints cracked 

and almost  broke.  But, nothing daunted, he jumped to his feet and cried: 



"Once more I have escaped with my life!" 



Little by little the sky cleared.  The sun came out in full  splendor and the sea became as calm as a lake. 



Then the Marionette took off his clothes and laid them  on the sand  to dry.  He looked over the waters to see 

whether he might catch sight  of a boat with a little man in  it.  He searched and he searched, but  he saw 

nothing except  sea and sky and far away a few sails, so small  that they  might have been birds. 



"If only I knew the name of this island!" he said to himself.  "If  I even knew what kind of people I would find 

here!  But whom shall I  ask?  There is no one here." 



The idea of finding himself in so lonesome a spot made him  so sad  that he was about to cry, but just then he 

saw a big  Fish swimming  near-by, with his head far out of the water. 



Not knowing what to call him, the Marionette said to him: 



"Hey there, Mr. Fish, may I have a word with you?" 



"Even two, if you want," answered the fish,  who happened to be a  very polite Dolphin. 



"Will you please tell me if, on this island, there are  places  where one may eat without necessarily being 

eaten?" 



"Surely, there are," answered the Dolphin.  "In fact  you'll find  one not far from this spot." 



"And how shall I get there?" 



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"Take that path on your left and follow your nose.  You  can't go  wrong." 



"Tell me another thing.  You who travel day and night  through the  sea, did you not perhaps meet a little boat 

with  my father in it?" 



"And who is you father?" 



"He is the best father in the world, even as I am the  worst son  that can be found." 



"In the storm of last night," answered the Dolphin, "the  little  boat must have been swamped." 



"And my father?" 



"By this time, he must have been swallowed by the  Terrible Shark,  which, for the last few days, has been 

bringing terror to these  waters." 



"Is this Shark very big?" asked Pinocchio, who was  beginning to  tremble with fright. 



"Is he big?" replied the Dolphin.  "Just to give you an idea  of  his size, let me tell you that he is larger than a 

five  story building  and that he has a mouth so big and so deep,  that a whole train and  engine could easily get 

into it." 



"Mother mine!" cried the Marionette, scared to death;  and dressing  himself as fast as he could, he turned to 

the  Dolphin and said: 



"Farewell, Mr. Fish.  Pardon the bother, and many thanks              for your  kindness." 



This said, he took the path at so swift a gait that he  seemed to  fly, and at every small sound he heard,  he 

turned in fear to see  whether the Terrible Shark,  five stories high and with a train in his  mouth,  was following 

him. 



After walking a half hour, he came to a small country  called the  Land of the Busy Bees.  The streets were 

filled  with people running to  and fro about their tasks.  Everyone  worked, everyone had something to  do. 

Even if one were  to search with a lantern, not one idle man or  one tramp  could have been found. 



"I understand," said Pinocchio at once wearily,  "this is no place  for me!  I was not born for work." 



But in the meantime, he began to feel hungry, for it  was  twenty-four hours since he had eaten. 



What was to be done? 



There were only two means left to him in order to get a  bite to  eat.  He had either to work or to beg. 



He was ashamed to beg, because his father had always  preached to  him that begging should be done only by 

the  sick or the old.  He had  said that the real poor in this world,  deserving of our pity and help,  were only 

those who, either  through age or sickness, had lost the  means of earning their  bread with their own hands.  All 

others should  work, and  if they didn't, and went hungry, so much the worse for them. 



Just then a man passed by, worn out and wet with perspiration,  pulling, with difficulty, two heavy carts filled 

with coal. 



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Pinocchio looked at him and, judging him by his looks  to be a kind  man, said to him with eyes downcast in 

shame: 



"Will you be so good as to give me a penny,  for I am faint with  hunger?" 



"Not only one penny," answered the Coal Man.  "I'll give  you four  if you will help me pull these two wagons." 



"I am surprised!" answered the Marionette, very much offended.  "I  wish you to know that I never have been a 

donkey,  nor have I ever  pulled a wagon." 



"So much the better for you!" answered the Coal Man.  "Then, my  boy, if you are really faint with hunger,  eat 

two slices of your  pride; and I hope they don't  give you indigestion." 



A few minutes after, a Bricklayer passed by, carrying  a pail full  of plaster on his shoulder. 



"Good man, will you be kind enough to give a penny to  a poor boy  who is yawning from hunger?" 



"Gladly," answered the Bricklayer.  "Come with me and carry  some  plaster, and instead of one penny, I'll give 

you five." 



"But the plaster is heavy," answered Pinocchio, "and the  work too  hard for me." 



"If the work is too hard for you, my boy, enjoy your yawns  and may  they bring you luck!" 



In less than a half hour, at least twenty people passed  and  Pinocchio begged of each one, but they all 

answered: 



"Aren't you ashamed?  Instead of being a beggar in the streets,  why don't you look for work and earn your 

own bread?" 



Finally a little woman went by carrying two water jugs. 



"Good woman, will you allow me to have a drink from  one of your  jugs?" asked Pinocchio, who was burning 

up  with thirst. 



"With pleasure, my boy!" she answered, setting the  two jugs on the  ground before him. 



When Pinocchio had had his fill, he grumbled,  as he wiped his  mouth: 



"My thirst is gone.  If I could only as easily get rid of my    hunger!" 



On hearing these words, the good little woman immediately said: 



"If you help me to carry these jugs home, I'll give you a  slice of  bread." 



Pinocchio looked at the jug and said neither yes nor no. 



"And with the bread, I'll give you a nice dish of  cauliflower with  white sauce on it." 



Pinocchio gave the jug another look and said neither yes nor no. 



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"And after the cauliflower, some cake and jam." 



At this last bribery, Pinocchio could no longer resist and said  firmly: 



"Very well.   I'll take the jug home for you." 



The jug was very heavy, and the Marionette, not being  strong  enough to carry it with his hands, had to put it 

on his head. 



When they arrived home, the little woman made Pinocchio  sit down  at a small table and placed before him 

the  bread, the cauliflower, and  the cake.  Pinocchio did not eat;  he devoured.  His stomach seemed a 

bottomless pit. 



His hunger finally appeased, he raised his head to thank  his kind  benefactress.  But he had not looked at her 

long  when he gave a cry of  surprise and sat there with his eyes  wide open, his fork in the air,  and his mouth 

filled with  bread and cauliflower. 



"Why all this surprise?" asked the good woman, laughing. 



"Because--" answered Pinocchio, stammering and stuttering,  "because--you look like--you remind me 

of--yes, yes,  the same voice,  the same eyes, the same hair--yes, yes,  yes, you also have the same  azure hair 

she had--Oh, my  little Fairy, my little Fairy!  Tell me  that it is you!  Don't make me cry any longer!  If you 

only knew!  I  have  cried so much, I have suffered so!" 



And Pinocchio threw himself on the floor and clasped  the knees of  the mysterious little woman. 



                                                CHAPTER 25 



Pinocchio promises the Fairy to be good and to study,  as he is  growing tired of being a Marionette,  and 

wishes to become a real boy 



If Pinocchio cried much longer, the little woman thought  he would  melt away, so she finally admitted that she 

was  the little Fairy with  Azure Hair. 



"You rascal of a Marionette!  How did you know it was I?"  she  asked, laughing. 



"My love for you told me who you were." 



"Do you remember?  You left me when I was a little girl  and now  you find me a grown woman.  I am so old, I 

could  almost be your  mother!" 



"I am very glad of that, for then I can call you mother  instead of  sister.  For a long time I have wanted a 

mother,  just like other boys.  But how did you grow so quickly?" 



"That's a secret!" 



"Tell it to me.  I also want to grow a little.  Look at me!  I have  never grown higher than a penny's worth of 

cheese." 



"But you can't grow," answered the Fairy. 



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"Why not?" 



"Because Marionettes never grow.  They are born Marionettes,  they  live Marionettes, and they die 

Marionettes." 



"Oh, I'm tired of always being a Marionette!" cried Pinocchio  disgustedly.  "It's about time for me to grow 

into a man as everyone  else does." 



"And you will if you deserve it--" 



"Really?  What can I do to deserve it?" 



"It's a very simple matter.  Try to act like a well-behaved child." 



"Don't you think I do?" 



"Far from it!  Good boys are obedient, and you, on the contrary--" 



"And I never obey." 



"Good boys love study and work, but you--" 



"And I, on the contrary, am a lazy fellow and a tramp all year  round." 



"Good boys always tell the truth." 



"And I always tell lies." 



"Good boys go gladly to school." 



"And I get sick if I go to school.  From now on I'll be different." 



"Do you promise?" 



"I promise.  I want to become a good boy and be a comfort to my  father.  Where is my poor father now?" 



"I do not know." 



"Will I ever be lucky enough to find him and embrace him once  more?" 



"I think so.  Indeed, I am sure of it." 



At this answer, Pinocchio's happiness was very great.  He grasped  the Fairy's hands and kissed them so hard 

that  it looked as if he had  lost his head.  Then lifting his face,  he looked at her lovingly and  asked:  "Tell me, 

little Mother,  it isn't true that you are dead, is  it?" 



"It doesn't seem so," answered the Fairy, smiling. 



"If you only knew how I suffered and how I wept when I read `Here  lies--'" 



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"I know it, and for that I have forgiven you.  The depth  of your  sorrow made me see that you have a kind 

heart.  There is always hope  for boys with hearts such as yours,  though they may often be very  mischievous. 

This is the  reason why I have come so far to look for  you.  From now  on, I'll be your own little mother." 



"Oh!  How lovely!" cried Pinocchio, jumping with joy. 



"You will obey me always and do as I wish?" 



"Gladly, very gladly, more than gladly!" 



"Beginning tomorrow," said the Fairy, "you'll go to school every  day." 



Pinocchio's face fell a little. 



"Then you will choose the trade you like best." 



Pinocchio became more serious. 



"What are you mumbling to yourself?" asked the Fairy. 



"I was just saying," whined the Marionette in a whisper,  "that it  seems too late for me to go to school now." 



"No, indeed.  Remember it is never too late to learn." 



"But I don't want either trade or profession." 



"Why?" 



"Because work wearies me!" 



"My dear boy," said the Fairy, "people who speak as  you do usually  end their days either in a prison or in a 

hospital.  A man, remember,  whether rich or poor, should  do something in this world.  No one can  find 

happiness  without work.  Woe betide the lazy fellow!  Laziness is  a  serious illness and one must cure it 

immediately; yes, even  from  early childhood.  If not, it will kill you in the end." 



These words touched Pinocchio's heart.  He lifted  his eyes to his  Fairy and said seriously:  "I'll work; I'll study; 

I'll do all you tell  me.  After all, the life of a Marionette has grown very tiresome  to me  and I want to become 

a boy, no matter how hard it is.  You promise  that, do you not?" 



"Yes, I promise, and now it is up to you." 



                                                   CHAPTER 26 



Pinocchio goes to the seashore with his friends  to see the  Terrible Shark 



In the morning, bright and early, Pinocchio started for school. 



Imagine what the boys said when they saw a Marionette  enter the  classroom!  They laughed until they cried. 

Everyone  played tricks on  him.  One pulled his hat off, another  tugged at his coat, a third  tried to paint a 

mustache under  his nose.  One even attempted to tie  strings to his feet and  his hands to make him dance. 



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For a while Pinocchio was very calm and quiet.  Finally,  however,  he lost all patience and turning to his 

tormentors,   he said to them  threateningly: 



"Careful, boys, I haven't come here to be made fun of.  I'll    respect you and I want you to respect me." 



"Hurrah for Dr. Know-all!  You have spoken like a  printed book!"  howled the boys, bursting with laughter. 

One of them, more impudent      than the rest, put out his  hand to pull the Marionette's nose. 



But he was not quick enough, for Pinocchio stretched  his leg under  the table and kicked him hard on the shin. 



"Oh, what hard feet!" cried the boy, rubbing the spot  where the  Marionette had kicked him. 



"And what elbows!  They are even harder than the feet!"  shouted  another one, who, because of some other 

trick,  had received a blow in  the stomach. 



With that kick and that blow Pinocchio gained everybody's favor.  Everyone admired him, danced attendance 

upon him, petted and caressed  him. 



As the days passed into weeks, even the teacher praised him,  for  he saw him attentive, hard working, and 

wide awake,  always the first  to come in the morning, and the last  to leave when school was over. 



Pinocchio's only fault was that he had too many friends.  Among  these were many well-known rascals, who 

cared  not a jot for study or  for success. 



The teacher warned him each day, and even the good  Fairy repeated  to him many times: 



"Take care, Pinocchio!  Those bad companions will  sooner or later  make you lose your love for study.  Some 

day they will lead you  astray." 



"There's no such danger," answered the Marionette,  shrugging his  shoulders and pointing to his forehead as if 

to say, "I'm too wise." 



So it happened that one day, as he was walking to school,  he met  some boys who ran up to him and said: 



"Have you heard the news?" 



"No!" 



"A Shark as big as a mountain has been seen near the shore." 



"Really?  I wonder if it could be the same one I heard  of when my  father was drowned?" 



"We are going to see it.  Are you coming?" 



"No, not I.  I must go to school." 



"What do you care about school?  You can go there tomorrow.  With a  lesson more or less, we are always the 

same donkeys." 



"And what will the teacher say?" 



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"Let him talk.  He is paid to grumble all day long." 



"And my mother?" 



"Mothers don't know anything," answered those scamps. 



"Do you know what I'll do?" said Pinocchio.  "For certain reasons  of mine, I, too, want to see that Shark;  but 

I'll go after school.  I  can see him then as well as now." 



"Poor simpleton!" cried one of the boys.  "Do you think  that a  fish of that size will stand there waiting for 

you?  He turns and off  he goes, and no one will ever be the wiser." 



"How long does it take from here to the shore?" asked the     Marionette.  "One hour there and back." 



"Very well, then.  Let's see who gets there first!" cried  Pinocchio. 



At the signal, the little troop, with books under their arms, dashed across the fields.  Pinocchio led the way, 

running  as if on  wings, the others following as fast as they could. 



Now and again, he looked back and, seeing his followers  hot and  tired, and with tongues hanging out, he 

laughed  out heartily.  Unhappy  boy!  If he had only known then  the dreadful things that were to  happen to him 

on account  of his disobedience! 



                                                CHAPTER 27 



The great battle between Pinocchio and his playmates.  One is  wounded.  Pinocchio is arrested 



Going like the wind, Pinocchio took but a very short time  to reach  the shore.  He glanced all about him, but 

there was  no sign of a  Shark.  The sea was as smooth as glass. 



"Hey there, boys!  Where's that Shark?" he asked,  turning to his  playmates. 



"He may have gone for his breakfast," said one of them, laughing. 



"Or, perhaps, he went to bed for a little nap,"  said another,  laughing also. 



From the answers and the laughter which followed them,       Pinocchio  understood that the boys had played a 

trick on him. 



"What now?" he said angrily to them.  "What's the joke?" 



"Oh, the joke's on you!" cried his tormentors, laughing  more  heartily than ever, and dancing gayly around the 

Marionette. 



"And that is--?" 



"That we have made you stay out of school to come  with us.  Aren't  you ashamed of being such a 

goody-goody,  and of studying so hard?  You  never have a bit of enjoyment." 



"And what is it to you, if I do study?" 



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"What does the teacher think of us, you mean?" 



"Why?" 



"Don't you see?  If you study and we don't, we pay for  it.  After  all, it's only fair to look out for ourselves." 



"What do you want me to do?" 



"Hate school and books and teachers, as we all do.  They  are your  worst enemies, you know, and they like to 

make  you as unhappy as they  can." 



"And if I go on studying, what will you do to me?" 



"You'll pay for it!" 



"Really, you amuse me," answered the Marionette, nodding his head. 



"Hey, Pinocchio," cried the tallest of them all, "that will do.  We  are tired of hearing you bragging about 

yourself,  you little turkey  cock!  You may not be afraid of us,  but remember we are not afraid of  you, either! 

You are alone, you know, and we are seven." 



"Like the seven sins," said Pinocchio, still laughing. 



"Did you hear that?  He has insulted us all.  He has called us  sins." 



"Pinocchio, apologize for that, or look out!" 



"Cuck--oo!" said the Marionette, mocking them with his thumb to his  nose. 



"You'll be sorry!" 



"Cuck--oo!" 



"We'll whip you soundly!" 



"Cuck--oo!" 



"You'll go home with a broken nose!" 



"Cuck--oo!" 



"Very well, then!  Take that, and keep it for your supper,"  called  out the boldest of his tormentors. 



And with the words, he gave Pinocchio a terrible blow on the head. 



Pinocchio answered with another blow, and that was  the signal for  the beginning of the fray.  In a few 

moments,  the fight raged hot and  heavy on both sides. 



Pinocchio, although alone, defended himself bravely.  With those  two wooden feet of his, he worked so fast 

that his opponents kept at a  respectful distance.  Wherever they landed, they left their painful  mark  and the 

boys could only run away and howl. 



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Enraged at not being able to fight the Marionette at close        quarters, they started to throw all kinds of books at 

him.  Readers,  geographies, histories, grammars flew in all directions.  But Pinocchio  was keen of eye and 

swift of movement, and the books  only passed over  his head, landed in the sea, and disappeared. 



The fish, thinking they might be good to eat, came to  the top of  the water in great numbers.  Some took a 

nibble,  some took a bite, but    no sooner had they tasted a page or two,  than they spat them out with  a wry face, 

as if to say: 



"What a horrid taste!  Our own food is so much better!" 



Meanwhile, the battle waxed more and more furious.  At the noise, a  large Crab crawled slowly out of the 

water  and, with a voice that  sounded like a trombone suffering  from a cold, he cried out: 



"Stop fighting, you rascals!  These battles between boys  rarely  end well.  Trouble is sure to come to you!" 



Poor Crab!  He might as well have spoken to the wind.  Instead of  listening to his good advice, Pinocchio 

turned  to him and said as  roughly as he knew how: 



"Keep quiet, ugly Gab!  It would be better for you to  chew a few  cough drops to get rid of that cold you have. 

Go to bed and sleep!  You will feel better in the morning." 



In the meantime, the boys, having used all their books,  looked  around for new ammunition.  Seeing 

Pinocchio's  bundle lying idle  near-by, they somehow managed to get  hold of it. 



One of the books was a very large volume, an arithmetic text,  heavily bound in leather.  It was Pinocchio's 

pride.  Among all his  books, he liked that one the best. 



Thinking it would make a fine missile, one of the boys took  hold  of it and threw it with all his strength at 

Pinocchio's head.  But  instead of hitting the Marionette, the book struck one of the  other  boys, who, as pale as 

a ghost, cried out faintly:  "Oh, Mother, help!  I'm dying!" and fell senseless to the ground. 



At the sight of that pale little corpse, the boys were so  frightened that they turned tail and ran.  In a few 

moments,  all had  disappeared. 



All except Pinocchio.  Although scared to death by the  horror of  what had been done, he ran to the sea and 

soaked  his handkerchief in  the cool water and with it bathed the  head of his poor little  schoolmate.  Sobbing 

bitterly, he  called to him, saying: 



"Eugene!  My poor Eugene!        Open your eyes and look at me!  Why  don't you answer?  I was not the one who 

hit you,  you know.  Believe  me, I didn't do it.  Open your eyes,  Eugene?  If you keep them shut,  I'll die, too. 

Oh, dear me,  how shall I ever go home now?  How shall            I ever look at  my little mother again?  What will 

happen to me?  Where  shall I go?  Where shall I hide?  Oh, how much better it  would have  been, a thousand 

times better, if only I had  gone to school!  Why did  I listen to those boys?  They  always were a bad influence! 

And to  think that the teacher  had told me--and my mother, too!--`Beware of  bad  company!' That's what she 

said.  But I'm stubborn and  proud.  I  listen, but always I do as I wish.  And then I pay.  I've never had a 

moment's peace since I've been born! Oh,  dear! What will become of me?  What will become of me?" 



Pinocchio went on crying and moaning and beating his  head.  Again  and again he called to his little friend, 

when  suddenly he heard heavy  steps approaching. 



He looked up and saw two tall Carabineers near him. 



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"What are you doing stretched out on the ground?"  they asked  Pinocchio. 



"I'm helping this schoolfellow of mine." 



"Has he fainted?" 



"I should say so," said one of the Carabineers, bending  to look at  Eugene.  "This boy has been wounded on the 

temple.  Who has hurt him?" 



"Not I," stammered the Marionette, who had hardly  a breath left in  his whole body. 



"If it wasn't you, who was it, then?" 



"Not I," repeated Pinocchio. 



"And with what was he wounded?" 



"With this book," and the Marionette picked up the  arithmetic text  to show it to the officer. 



"And whose book is this?" 



"Mine." 



"Enough." 



"Not another word!  Get up as quickly as you can and come along  with us." 



"But I--" 



"Come with us!" 



"But I am innocent." 



"Come with us!" 



Before starting out, the officers called out to several  fishermen  passing by in a boat and said to them: 



"Take care of this little fellow who has been hurt.  Take him home  and bind his wounds.  Tomorrow we'll 

come after him." 



They then took hold of Pinocchio and, putting him  between them,  said to him in a rough voice:  "March!  And 

go quickly, or it will be  the worse for you!" 



They did not have to repeat their words.  The Marionette  walked  swiftly along the road to the village.  But the 

poor fellow hardly  knew what he was about.  He thought  he had a nightmare.  He felt ill.  His eyes saw 

everything  double, his legs trembled, his tongue was  dry, and, try as  he might, he could not utter a single 

word.  Yet, in  spite  of this numbness of feeling, he suffered keenly at the  thought  of passing under the 

windows of his good little  Fairy's house.  What  would she say on seeing him between  two Carabineers? 



They had just reached the village, when a sudden gust  of wind blew  off Pinocchio's cap and made it go 

sailing far  down the street. 



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"Would you allow me," the Marionette asked the  Carabineers, "to  run after my cap?" 



"Very well, go; but hurry." 



The Marionette went, picked up his cap--but instead  of putting it  on his head, he stuck it between his teeth 

and then raced toward the  sea. 



He went like a bullet out of a gun. 



The Carabineers, judging that it would be very difficult  to catch  him, sent a large Mastiff after him, one that 

had  won first prize in  all the dog races.  Pinocchio ran fast and  the Dog ran faster.  At so  much noise, the 

people hung out  of the windows or gathered in the  street, anxious to see  the end of the contest.  But they were 

disappointed,  for the Dog and Pinocchio raised so much dust on the  road that,  after a few moments, it was 

impossible to see them. 



                                                CHAPTER 28 



Pinocchio runs the danger of being fried in a pan like a fish 



During that wild chase, Pinocchio lived through a  terrible moment  when he almost gave himself up as lost. 

This was when Alidoro (that  was the Mastiff's name),  in a frenzy of running, came so near that he       was on the 

very point of reaching him. 



The Marionette heard, close behind him, the labored  breathing of  the beast who was fast on his trail, and now 

and again even felt his  hot breath blow over him. 



Luckily, by this time, he was very near the shore, and  the sea was  in sight; in fact, only a few short steps 

away. 



As soon as he set foot on the beach, Pinocchio gave a  leap and  fell into the water.  Alidoro tried to stop, but  as 

he was running  very fast, he couldn't, and he, too,  landed far out in the sea.  Strange though it may seem,  the 

Dog could not swim.  He beat the  water with his paws to  hold himself up, but the harder he tried, the  deeper 

he sank.  As he stuck his head out once more, the poor fellow's  eyes  were bulging and he barked out wildly, "I 

drown!  I drown!" 



"Drown!" answered Pinocchio from afar, happy at his escape. 



"Help, Pinocchio, dear little Pinocchio!  Save me from death!" 



At those cries of suffering, the Marionette, who after  all had a  very kind heart, was moved to compassion.  He 

turned toward the poor  animal and said to him: 



"But if I help you, will you promise not to bother me  again by  running after me?" 



"I promise!  I promise!  Only hurry, for if you wait  another  second, I'll be dead and gone!" 



Pinocchio hesitated still another minute.  Then, remembering  how  his father had often told him that a kind 

deed is never lost,  he swam  to Alidoro and, catching hold of his tail, dragged him to the shore. 



The poor Dog was so weak he could not stand.  He had  swallowed so  much salt water that he was swollen like 



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a  balloon.  However,  Pinocchio, not wishing to trust him  too much, threw himself once again  into the sea.  As 

he  swam away, he called out: 



"Good-by, Alidoro, good luck and remember me to the family!" 



"Good-by, little Pinocchio," answered the Dog.  "A thousand thanks  for having saved me from death.  You did 

me a good turn, and, in this  world, what is given  is always returned.  If the chance comes, I shall  be there." 



Pinocchio went on swimming close to shore.  At last  he thought he  had reached a safe place.  Glancing up and 

down the beach, he saw the  opening of a cave out of which  rose a spiral of smoke. 



"In that cave," he said to himself, "there must be a fire.  So much  the better.  I'll dry my clothes and warm 

myself,  and then--well--" 



His mind made up, Pinocchio swam to the rocks, but  as he started  to climb, he felt something under him 

lifting  him up higher and  higher.  He tried to escape, but he was  too late.  To his great  surprise, he found 

himself in a huge  net, amid a crowd of fish of all  kinds and sizes, who were  fighting and struggling 

desperately to free  themselves. 



At the same time, he saw a Fisherman come out of the  cave, a  Fisherman so ugly that Pinocchio thought he 

was a  sea monster.  In  place of hair, his head was covered by a  thick bush of green grass.  Green was the skin 

of his body,  green were his eyes, green was the  long, long beard that  reached down to his feet.  He looked like 

a  giant lizard  with legs and arms. 



When the Fisherman pulled the net out of the sea,  he cried out  joyfully: 



"Blessed Providence!  Once more I'll have a fine meal of fish!" 



"Thank Heaven, I'm not a fish!" said Pinocchio to himself,  trying  with these words to find a little courage. 



The Fisherman took the net and the fish to the cave,  a dark,  gloomy, smoky place.  In the middle of it, a pan 

full of oil sizzled  over a smoky fire, sending out a repelling  odor of tallow that took  away one's breath. 



"Now, let's see what kind of fish we have caught  today," said the  Green Fisherman.  He put a hand as big  as a 

spade into the net and  pulled out a handful of mullets. 



"Fine mullets, these!" he said, after looking at them and  smelling  them with pleasure.  After that, he threw 

them  into a large, empty  tub. 



Many times he repeated this performance.  As he pulled  each fish  out of the net, his mouth watered with the 

thought of the good dinner  coming, and he said: 



"Fine fish, these bass!" 



"Very tasty, these whitefish!" 



"Delicious flounders, these!" 



"What splendid crabs!" 



"And these dear little anchovies, with their heads still on!" 



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As you can well imagine, the bass, the flounders, the  whitefish,  and even the little anchovies all went together 

into the tub to keep  the mullets company.  The last to come  out of the net was Pinocchio. 



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.  Do you wish to be  fried in a pan, or do you prefer  to be cooked with tomato sauce?" 



"To tell you the truth," answered Pinocchio, "if I must choose,  I  should much rather go free so I may return 

home!" 



"Are you fooling?  Do you think that I want to lose  the  opportunity to taste such a rare fish?  A Marionette  fish 

does not  come very often to these seas.  Leave it to me.  I'll fry you in the  pan with the others.  I know you'll 

like it.  It's always a comfort to  find oneself in good company." 



The unlucky Marionette, hearing this, began to cry and  wail and  beg.  With tears streaming down his cheeks, 

he said: 



"How much better it would have been for me to go to school!  I did  listen to my playmates and now I am 

paying for it!  Oh!  Oh!  Oh!" 



And as he struggled and squirmed like an eel to escape from him,  the Green Fisherman took a stout cord and 

tied him hand and foot,  and    threw him into the bottom of the tub with the others. 



Then he pulled a wooden bowl full of flour out of a  cupboard and  started to roll the fish into it, one by one. 

When they were white  with it, he threw them into the pan.  The first to dance in the hot oil  were the mullets, 

the bass followed, then the whitefish, the  flounders, and  the anchovies.  Pinocchio's turn came last.  Seeing 

himself  so near to death (and such a horrible death!) he began  to  tremble so with fright that he had no voice 

left with  which to beg for  his life. 



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The poor boy beseeched only with his eyes.  But the  Green  Fisherman, not even noticing that it was he, turned 

him over and over  in the flour until he looked like a  Marionette made of chalk. 



Then he took him by the head and-- 



                                                   CHAPTER 29 



Pinocchio returns to the Fairy's house  and she promises him that,  on the morrow,  he will cease to be a 

Marionette and become a boy.  A  wonderful party of coffee-and-milk to celebrate  the great event 



Mindful of what the Fisherman had said, Pinocchio knew  that all  hope of being saved had gone.  He closed his 

eyes  and waited for the  final moment. 



Suddenly, a large Dog, attracted by the odor of the  boiling oil,  came running into the cave. 



"Get out!" cried the Fisherman threateningly and still  holding  onto the Marionette, who was all covered with 

flour. 



But the poor Dog was very hungry, and whining and  wagging his  tail, he tried to say: 



"Give me a bite of the fish and I'll go in peace." 



"Get out, I say!" repeated the Fisherman. 



And he drew back his foot to give the Dog a kick. 



Then the Dog, who, being really hungry, would take  no refusal,  turned in a rage toward the Fisherman and 

bared his terrible fangs.  And at that moment, a pitiful  little voice was heard saying:  "Save  me, Alidoro; if you 

don't, I fry!" 



The Dog immediately recognized Pinocchio's voice.  Great was his  surprise to find that the voice came from 

the little flour-covered  bundle that the Fisherman held  in his hand. 



Then what did he do?  With one great leap, he grasped  that bundle  in his mouth and, holding it lightly 

between  his teeth, ran through  the door and disappeared like a flash! 



The Fisherman, angry at seeing his meal snatched from  under his  nose, ran after the Dog, but a bad fit of 

coughing  made him stop and  turn back. 



Meanwhile, Alidoro, as soon as he had found the road  which led to  the village, stopped and dropped 

Pinocchio  softly to the ground. 



"How much I do thank you!" said the Marionette. 



"It is not necessary," answered the Dog.  "You saved me once,  and  what is given is always returned.  We are in 

this world  to help one  another." 



"But how did you get in that cave?" 



"I was lying here on the sand more dead than alive,  when an  appetizing odor of fried fish came to me.  That 



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odor tickled my hunger  and I followed it.  Oh, if I had  come a moment later!" 



"Don't speak about it," wailed Pinocchio, still  trembling with  fright.  "Don't say a word.  If you had come  a 

moment later, I would  be fried, eaten, and digested by  this time.  Brrrrrr!  I shiver at the  mere thought of it." 



Alidoro laughingly held out his paw to the Marionette,  who shook  it heartily, feeling that now he and the Dog 

were good friends.  Then  they bid each other good-by  and the Dog went home. 



Pinocchio, left alone, walked toward a little hut near  by, where  an old man sat at the door sunning himself, 

and asked: 



"Tell me, good man, have you heard anything of a  poor boy with a  wounded head, whose name was 

Eugene?" 



"The boy was brought to this hut and now--" 



"Now he is dead?" Pinocchio interrupted sorrowfully. 



"No, he is now alive and he has already returned home." 



"Really?  Really?" cried the Marionette, jumping  around with joy.  "Then the wound was not serious?" 



"But it might have been--and even mortal," answered  the old man,  "for a heavy book was thrown at his 

head." 



"And who threw it?" 



"A schoolmate of his, a certain Pinocchio." 



"And who is this Pinocchio?" asked the Marionette,  feigning  ignorance. 



"They say he is a mischief-maker, a tramp, a street urchin--" 



"Calumnies!  All calumnies!" 



"Do you know this Pinocchio?" 



"By sight!" answered the Marionette. 



"And what do you think of him?" asked the old man. 



"I think he's a very good boy, fond of study, obedient,  kind to  his Father, and to his whole family--" 



As he was telling all these enormous lies about himself,  Pinocchio  touched his nose and found it twice as 

long  as it should be.  Scared  out of his wits, he cried out: 



"Don't listen to me, good man!  All the wonderful  things I have  said are not true at all.  I know Pinocchio  well 

and he is indeed a  very wicked fellow, lazy and  disobedient, who instead of going to  school, runs away with 

his playmates to have a good time." 



At this speech, his nose returned to its natural size. 



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"Why are you so pale?" the old man asked suddenly. 



"Let me tell you.  Without knowing it, I rubbed myself  against a  newly painted wall," he lied, ashamed to  say 

that he had been made  ready for the frying pan. 



"What have you done with your coat and your hat  and your  breeches?" 



"I met thieves and they robbed me.  Tell me, my good  man, have you  not, perhaps, a little suit to give me, so 

that I may go home?" 



"My boy, as for clothes, I have only a bag in which I  keep hops.  If you want it, take it.  There it is." 



Pinocchio did not wait for him to repeat his words.  He took the  bag, which happened to be empty, and after 

cutting a big hole at the  top and two at the sides, he  slipped into it as if it were a shirt.  Lightly clad as he was, 

he started out toward the village. 



Along the way he felt very uneasy.  In fact he was so  unhappy that  he went along taking two steps forward 

and one back, and as he went he  said to himself: 



"How shall I ever face my good little Fairy?  What  will she say  when she sees me?  Will she forgive this last 

trick of mine?    I am  sure she won't.  Oh, no, she won't.  And I deserve it, as usual!  For I  am a rascal, fine on 

promises which I never keep!" 



He came to the village late at night.  It was so dark he  could see  nothing and it was raining pitchforks. 



Pinocchio went straight to the Fairy's house, firmly  resolved to  knock at the door. 



When he found himself there, he lost courage and ran  back a few  steps.  A second time he came to the door 

and  again he ran back.  A  third time he repeated his  performance.  The fourth time, before he  had time to lose 

his courage, he grasped the knocker and made a faint  sound  with it. 



He waited and waited and waited.  Finally, after a full  half hour,  a top-floor window (the house had four 

stories)  opened and Pinocchio  saw a large Snail look out.  A tiny  light glowed on top of her head.                  "Who 

knocks at this  late hour?" she called. 



"Is the Fairy home?" asked the Marionette. 



"The Fairy is asleep and does not wish to be disturbed.  Who are  you?" 



"It is I." 



"Who's I?" 



"Pinocchio." 



"Who is Pinocchio?" 



"The Marionette; the one who lives in the Fairy's house." 



"Oh, I understand," said the Snail.  "Wait for me there.  I'll come  down to open the door for you." 



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"Hurry, I beg of you, for I am dying of cold." 



"My boy, I am a snail and snails are never in a hurry." 



An hour passed, two hours; and the door was still closed.  Pinocchio, who was trembling with fear and 

shivering  from the cold  rain on his back, knocked a second time,  this time louder than before. 



At that second knock, a window on the third floor  opened and the  same Snail looked out. 



"Dear little Snail," cried Pinocchio from the street.  "I have been  waiting two hours for you!  And two hours  on 

a dreadful night like  this are as long as two years.  Hurry, please!" 



"My boy," answered the Snail in a calm, peaceful  voice, "my dear  boy, I am a snail and snails are never in  a 

hurry."  And the window  closed. 



A few minutes later midnight struck; then one o'clock  --two  o'clock.  And the door still remained closed! 



Then Pinocchio, losing all patience, grabbed the  knocker with both  hands, fully determined to awaken the 

whole house and street with it.  As soon as he touched the  knocker, however, it became an eel and  wiggled 

away into  the darkness. 



"Really?" cried Pinocchio, blind with rage.  "If the  knocker is  gone, I can still use my feet." 



He stepped back and gave the door a most solemn kick.  He kicked so  hard that his foot went straight through 

the  door and his leg followed  almost to the knee.  No matter  how he pulled and tugged, he could not  pull it 

out.  There  he stayed as if nailed to the door. 



Poor Pinocchio!  The rest of the night he had to spend  with one  foot through the door and the other one in the 

air. 



As dawn was breaking, the door finally opened.  That brave  little  animal, the Snail, had taken exactly nine 

hours to go  from the fourth  floor to the street.  How she must have raced! 



"What are you doing with your foot through the door?"  she asked  the Marionette, laughing. 



"It was a misfortune.  Won't you try, pretty little Snail,  to free  me from this terrible torture?" 



"My boy, we need a carpenter here and I have never been one." 



"Ask the Fairy to help me!" 



"The Fairy is asleep and does not want to be disturbed." 



"But what do you want me to do, nailed to the door like this?" 



"Enjoy yourself counting the ants which are passing by." 



"Bring me something to eat, at least, for I am faint with hunger." 



"Immediately!" 



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In fact, after three hours and a half, Pinocchio saw her  return  with a silver tray on her head.  On the tray there 

was bread, roast  chicken, fruit. 



"Here is the breakfast the Fairy sends to you," said the Snail. 



At the sight of all these good things, the Marionette felt much  better. 



What was his disgust, however, when on tasting the food,  he found  the bread to be made of chalk, the chicken 

of cardboard, and the  brilliant fruit of colored alabaster! 



He wanted to cry, he wanted to give himself up to  despair, he  wanted to throw away the tray and all that  was 

on it.  Instead, either  from pain or weakness, he fell  to the floor in a dead faint. 



When he regained his senses, he found himself stretched  out on a  sofa and the Fairy was seated near him. 



"This time also I forgive you," said the Fairy to him.  "But be  careful not to get into mischief again." 



Pinocchio promised to study and to behave himself.  And he kept his  word for the remainder of the year.  At 

the end of it, he passed first  in all his examinations, and  his report was so good that the Fairy  said to him 

happily: 



"Tomorrow your wish will come true." 



"And what is it?" 



"Tomorrow you will cease to be a Marionette and will become a real  boy." 



Pinocchio was beside himself with joy.  All his friends  and  schoolmates must be invited to celebrate the great 

event!  The Fairy  promised to prepare two hundred cups       of coffee-and-milk and four  hundred slices of toast 

buttered on both sides. 



The day promised to be a very gay and happy one, but-- 



Unluckily, in a Marionette's life there's always a BUT  which is  apt to spoil everything. 



                                                 CHAPTER 30 



Pinocchio, instead of becoming a boy, runs away  to the Land of  Toys with his friend, Lamp-Wick 



Coming at last out of the surprise into which the Fairy's  words  had thrown him, Pinocchio asked for 

permission to  give out the  invitations. 



"Indeed, you may invite your friends to tomorrow's party.      Only  remember to return home before dark.  Do 

you understand?" 



"I'll be back in one hour without fail," answered the Marionette. 



"Take care, Pinocchio!  Boys give promises very easily,  but they  as easily forget them." 



"But I am not like those others.  When I give my word I keep it." 



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"We shall see.  In case you do disobey, you will be the one  to  suffer, not anyone else." 



"Why?" 



"Because boys who do not listen to their elders always come to  grief." 



"I certainly have," said Pinocchio, "but from now on, I obey." 



"We shall see if you are telling the truth." 



Without adding another word, the Marionette bade the good  Fairy  good-by, and singing and dancing, he left 

the house. 



In a little more than an hour, all his friends were  invited.  Some  accepted quickly and gladly.  Others had to  be 

coaxed, but when they  heard that the toast was to be  buttered on both sides, they all ended  by accepting  the 

invitation with the words, "We'll come to please  you." 



Now it must be known that, among all his friends,  Pinocchio had  one whom he loved most of all.  The boy's 

real name was Romeo, but  everyone called him  Lamp-Wick, for he was long and thin and had a  woebegone 

look about him. 



Lamp-Wick was the laziest boy in the school and the  biggest  mischief-maker, but Pinocchio loved him 

dearly. 



That day, he went straight to his friend's house to invite him  to  the party, but Lamp-Wick was not at home. 

He went a second time,  and    again a third, but still without success. 



Where could he be?  Pinocchio searched here and there and  everywhere,  and finally discovered him hiding 

near a farmer's wagon. 



"What are you doing there?" asked Pinocchio, running up to him. 



"I am waiting for midnight to strike to go--" 



"Where?" 



"Far, far away!" 



"And I have gone to your house three times to look for you!" 



"What did you want from me?" 



"Haven't you heard the news?  Don't you know what good luck is  mine?" 



"What is it?" 



"Tomorrow I end my days as a Marionette and become a boy,  like you  and all my other friends." 



"May it bring you luck!" 



"Shall I see you at my party tomorrow?" 



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"But I'm telling you that I go tonight." 



"At what time?" 



"At midnight." 



"And where are you going?" 



"To a real country--the best in the world--a wonderful place!" 



"What is it called?" 



"It is called the Land of Toys.  Why don't you come, too?" 



"I?  Oh, no!" 



"You are making a big mistake, Pinocchio.  Believe me,  if you  don't come, you'll be sorry.  Where can you 

find  a place that will  agree better with you and me?  No schools,  no teachers, no books!  In  that blessed place 

there is no  such thing as study.  Here, it is only  on Saturdays that  we have no school.  In the Land of Toys, 

every day,  except  Sunday, is a Saturday.  Vacation begins on the first  of  January and ends on the last day of 

December.  That  is the place for  me!  All countries should be like it!  How happy we should all be!" 



"But how does one spend the day in the Land of Toys?" 



"Days are spent in play and enjoyment from morn till  night.  At  night one goes to bed, and next morning, the 

good times begin all over  again.  What do you think of it?" 



"H'm--!" said Pinocchio, nodding his wooden head, as if to say,  "It's the kind of life which would agree with 

me perfectly." 



"Do you want to go with me, then?  Yes or no?  You  must make up  your mind." 



"No, no, and again no!  I have promised my kind Fairy  to become a  good boy, and I want to keep my word. 

Just  see:  The sun is setting  and I must leave you and run.  Good-by and good luck to you!" 



"Where are you going in such a hurry?" 



"Home.  My good Fairy wants me to return home before night." 



"Wait two minutes more." 



"It's too late!" 



"Only two minutes." 



"And if the Fairy scolds me?" 



"Let her scold.  After she gets tired, she will stop," said  Lamp-Wick. 



"Are you going alone or with others?" 



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"Alone?  There will be more than a hundred of us!" 



"Will you walk?" 



"At midnight the wagon passes here that is to take us  within the  boundaries of that marvelous country." 



"How I wish midnight would strike!" 



"Why?" 



"To see you all set out together." 



"Stay here a while longer and you will see us!" 



"No, no.  I want to return home." 



"Wait two more minutes." 



"I have waited too long as it is.  The Fairy will be worried." 



"Poor Fairy!  Is she afraid the bats will eat you up?" 



"Listen, Lamp-Wick," said the Marionette, "are you  really sure  that there are no schools in the Land of 

Toys?"  "Not even the shadow  of one." 



"Not even one teacher?" 



"Not one." 



"And one does not have to study?" 



"Never, never, never!" 



"What a great land!" said Pinocchio, feeling his mouth water.  "What a beautiful land!  I have never been there, 

but I can well  imagine it." 



"Why don't you come, too?" 



"It is useless for you to tempt me!  I told you I promised  my good  Fairy to behave myself, and I am going to 

keep my word." 



"Good-by, then, and remember me to the grammar  schools, to the  high schools, and even to the colleges if 

you meet them on the way." 



"Good-by, Lamp-Wick.  Have a pleasant trip, enjoy  yourself, and  remember your friends once in a while." 



With these words, the Marionette started on his way  home.  Turning  once more to his friend, he asked him: 



"But are you sure that, in that country, each week is  composed of  six Saturdays and one Sunday?" 



"Very sure!" 



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"And that vacation begins on the first of January and  ends on the  thirty-first of December?" 



"Very, very sure!" 



"What a great country!" repeated Pinocchio, puzzled  as to what to  do. 



Then, in sudden determination, he said hurriedly: 



"Good-by for the last time, and good luck." 



"Good-by." 



"How soon will you go?" 



"Within two hours." 



"What a pity! If it were only one hour, I might wait for you." 



"And the Fairy?" 



"By this time I'm late, and one hour more or less makes  very  little difference." 



"Poor Pinocchio!  And if the Fairy scolds you?" 



"Oh, I'll let her scold.  After she gets tired, she will stop." 



In the meantime, the night became darker and darker.  All at once  in the distance a small light flickered.  A 

queer sound could be  heard, soft as a little bell, and faint  and muffled like the buzz of a  far-away mosquito. 



"There it is!" cried Lamp-Wick, jumping to his feet. 



"What?" whispered Pinocchio. 



"The wagon which is coming to get me.  For the last  time, are you  coming or not?" 



"But is it really true that in that country boys never  have to  study?" 



"Never, never, never!" 



"What a wonderful, beautiful, marvelous country!  Oh--h--h!!" 



                                                   CHAPTER 31 



After five months of play, Pinocchio wakes up one fine morning  and  finds a great surprise awaiting him 



Finally the wagon arrived.  It made no noise, for its  wheels were  bound with straw and rags. 



It was drawn by twelve pair of donkeys, all of the same  size, but  all of different color.  Some were gray, others 

white, and still  others a mixture of brown and black.  Here and there were a few with  large yellow and blue 

stripes. 



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The strangest thing of all was that those twenty-four  donkeys,  instead of being iron-shod like any other beast 

of burden, had on  their feet laced shoes made of leather,  just like the ones boys wear. 



And the driver of the wagon? 



Imagine to yourselves a little, fat man, much wider  than he was  long, round and shiny as a ball of butter, with 

a face beaming like an  apple, a little mouth that always  smiled, and a voice small and  wheedling like that of a 

cat  begging for food. 



No sooner did any boy see him than he fell in love with  him, and  nothing satisfied him but to be allowed to 

ride  in his wagon to that  lovely place called the Land of Toys. 



In fact the wagon was so closely packed with boys of  all ages that  it looked like a box of sardines.   They were 

uncomfortable, they were  piled one on top of the other,  they could hardly breathe; yet not one  word of 

complaint  was heard.  The thought that in a few hours they  would  reach a country where there were no 

schools, no books,  no  teachers, made these boys so happy that they felt  neither hunger, nor  thirst, nor sleep, 

nor discomfort. 



No sooner had the wagon stopped than the little fat  man turned to  Lamp-Wick.  With bows and smiles, he 

asked in a wheedling tone: 



"Tell me, my fine boy, do you also want to come to  my wonderful  country?" 



"Indeed I do." 



"But I warn you, my little dear, there's no more room  in the  wagon.  It is full." 



"Never mind," answered Lamp-Wick.  "If there's no  room inside, I  can sit on the top of the coach." 



And with one leap, he perched himself there. 



"What about you, my love?" asked the Little Man,  turning politely  to Pinocchio.  "What are you going to do? 

Will you come with us, or do  you stay here?" 



"I stay here," answered Pinocchio.  "I want to return  home, as I  prefer to study and to succeed in life." 



"May that bring you luck!" 



"Pinocchio!" Lamp-Wick called out.  "Listen to me.  Come with us  and we'll always be happy." 



"No, no, no!" 



"Come with us and we'll always be happy," cried four  other voices  from the wagon. 



"Come with us and we'll always be happy," shouted the  one hundred  and more boys in the wagon, all 

together.  "And if I go with you, what  will my good Fairy say?"  asked the Marionette, who was beginning to 

waver and  weaken in his good resolutions. 



"Don't worry so much.  Only think that we are going  to a land  where we shall be allowed to make all the 

racket  we like from morning  till night." 



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Pinocchio did not answer, but sighed deeply once--  twice--a third  time.  Finally, he said: 



"Make room for me.  I want to go, too!" 



"The seats are all filled," answered the Little Man,  "but to show  you how much I think of you, take my place 

as coachman." 



"And you?" 



"I'll walk." 



"No, indeed.  I could not permit such a thing.  I much  prefer  riding one of these donkeys," cried Pinocchio. 



No sooner said than done.  He approached the first  donkey and  tried to mount it.  But the little animal turned 

suddenly and gave him  such a terrible kick in the stomach  that Pinocchio was thrown to the  ground and fell 

with  his legs in the air. 



At this unlooked-for entertainment, the whole company  of runaways  laughed uproariously. 



The little fat man did not laugh.  He went up to the  rebellious  animal, and, still smiling, bent over him 

lovingly  and bit off half of  his right ear. 



In the meantime, Pinocchio lifted himself up from the  ground, and  with one leap landed on the donkey's back. 

The leap was so well taken  that all the boys shouted, 



"Hurrah for Pinocchio!" and clapped their hands in hearty applause. 



Suddenly the little donkey gave a kick with his two  hind feet and,  at this unexpected move, the poor 

Marionette  found himself once again  sprawling right in the  middle of the road. 



Again the boys shouted with laughter.  But the Little  Man, instead  of laughing, became so loving toward the 

little animal that, with  another kiss, he bit off half of  his left ear. 



"You can mount now, my boy," he then said to Pinocchio.  "Have no  fear.  That donkey was worried about 

something,  but I have spoken to  him and now he seems quiet and reasonable." 



Pinocchio mounted and the wagon started on its way.  While the  donkeys galloped along the stony road, the 

Marionette fancied he heard      a very quiet voice whispering to him: 



"Poor silly!  You have done as you wished.  But you  are going to  be a sorry boy before very long." 



Pinocchio, greatly frightened, looked about him to see  whence the  words had come, but he saw no one.  The 

donkeys galloped, the wagon  rolled on smoothly, the  boys slept (Lamp-Wick snored like a dormouse)  and 

the  little, fat driver sang sleepily between his teeth. 



After a mile or so, Pinocchio again heard the same  faint voice  whispering:  "Remember, little simpleton!  Boys 

who stop studying and  turn their backs upon books  and schools and teachers in order to give  all their time  to 

nonsense and pleasure, sooner or later come to  grief.  Oh, how well I know this!  How well I can prove it to 

you!  A  day will come when you will weep bitterly, even as I  am weeping  now--but it will be too late!" 



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At these whispered words, the Marionette grew more  and more  frightened.  He jumped to the ground, ran up 

to the donkey on whose  back he had been riding, and  taking his nose in his hands, looked at  him.  Think how 

great was his surprise when he saw that the donkey was  weeping--weeping just like a boy! 



"Hey, Mr. Driver!" cried the Marionette.  "Do you know what  strange thing is happening here!  This donkey 

weeps." 



"Let him weep.  When he gets married, he will have time to laugh." 



"Have you perhaps taught him to speak?" 



"No, he learned to mumble a few words when he lived  for three  years with a band of trained dogs." 



"Poor beast!" 



"Come, come," said the Little Man, "do not lose time over  a donkey  that can weep.  Mount quickly and let us 

go.  The night is cool and the  road is long." 



Pinocchio obeyed without another word.  The wagon  started again.  Toward dawn the next morning they 

finally reached that  much-longed-for country, the Land of Toys. 



This great land was entirely different from any other  place in the  world.  Its population, large though it was, 

was composed wholly of  boys.  The oldest were about  fourteen years of age, the youngest,  eight.  In the street, 

there was such a racket, such shouting, such  blowing of  trumpets, that it was deafening.  Everywhere groups 

of  boys were gathered together.  Some played at marbles, at  hopscotch,  at ball.  Others rode on bicycles or on 

wooden  horses.  Some played at  blindman's buff, others at tag.  Here a group played circus, there  another sang 

and recited.  A few turned somersaults, others walked on  their hands  with their feet in the air.  Generals in full 

uniform  leading  regiments of cardboard soldiers passed by.  Laughter,  shrieks, howls, catcalls, hand-clapping 

followed this  parade.  One  boy made a noise like a hen, another like  a rooster, and a third  imitated a lion in his 

den.  All  together they created such a  pandemonium that it would  have been necessary for you to put cotton in 

your ears.  The squares were filled with small wooden theaters,  overflowing with boys from morning till 

night, and on the  walls of  the houses, written with charcoal, were words  like these:  HURRAH FOR  THE 

LAND OF TOYS!  DOWN WITH  ARITHMETIC!  NO MORE SCHOOL! 



As soon as they had set foot in that land, Pinocchio,  Lamp-Wick,  and all the other boys who had traveled 

with  them started out on a  tour of investigation.  They  wandered everywhere, they looked into  every nook and 

corner, house and theater.  They became everybody's  friend.  Who could be happier than they? 



What with entertainments and parties, the hours, the days,      the  weeks passed like lightning. 



"Oh, what a beautiful life this is!" said Pinocchio each  time  that, by chance, he met his friend Lamp-Wick. 



"Was I right or wrong?" answered Lamp-Wick.  "And  to think you did  not want to come!  To think that even 

yesterday the idea came into  your head to return home  to see your Fairy and to start studying  again!  If today 

you are free from pencils and books and school, you  owe  it to me, to my advice, to my care.  Do you admit it? 

Only  true  friends count, after all." 



"It's true, Lamp-Wick, it's true.  If today I am a really  happy  boy, it is all because of you.  And to think that the 

teacher, when  speaking of you, used to say, `Do not go  with that Lamp-Wick!  He is a  bad companion and 

some  day he will lead you astray.'" 



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"Poor teacher!" answered the other, nodding his head.  "Indeed I  know how much he disliked me and how he 

enjoyed speaking ill of me.  But I am of a generous nature,  and I gladly forgive him." 



"Great soul!" said Pinocchio, fondly embracing his friend. 



Five months passed and the boys continued playing and  enjoying  themselves from morn till night, without 

ever  seeing a book, or a  desk, or a school.  But, my children,  there came a morning when  Pinocchio awoke 

and found  a great surprise awaiting him, a surprise  which made him  feel very unhappy, as you shall see. 



                                                    CHAPTER 32 



Pinocchio's ears become like those of a Donkey.  In a little while  he changes into a real Donkey and begins to 

bray 



Everyone, at one time or another, has found some surprise  awaiting  him.  Of the kind which Pinocchio had on 

that  eventful morning of his  life, there are but few. 



What was it?  I will tell you, my dear little readers.  On  awakening, Pinocchio put his hand up to his head and 

there he found-- 



Guess! 



He found that, during the night, his ears had grown  at least ten  full inches! 



You must know that the Marionette, even from his  birth, had very  small ears, so small indeed that to the 

naked eye they could hardly be  seen.  Fancy how he felt  when he noticed that overnight those two  dainty 

organs  had become as long as shoe brushes! 



He went in search of a mirror, but not finding any,  he just filled  a basin with water and looked at himself. 

There he saw what he never  could have wished to see.  His manly figure was adorned and enriched by  a 

beautiful  pair of donkey's ears. 



I leave you to think of the terrible grief, the shame,  the despair  of the poor Marionette. 



He began to cry, to scream, to knock his head against  the wall,  but the more he shrieked, the longer and the 

more hairy grew his ears. 



At those piercing shrieks, a Dormouse came into the  room, a fat  little Dormouse, who lived upstairs.  Seeing 

Pinocchio so  grief-stricken, she asked him anxiously: 



"What is the matter, dear little neighbor?" 



"I am sick, my little Dormouse, very, very sick--and  from an  illness which frightens me!  Do you understand 

how to feel the pulse?" 



"A little." 



"Feel mine then and tell me if I have a fever." 



The Dormouse took Pinocchio's wrist between her paws and,  after a  few minutes, looked up at him 



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sorrowfully and said:  "My friend, I am  sorry, but I must give you some very sad news." 



"What is it?" 



"You have a very bad fever." 



"But what fever is it?" 



"The donkey fever." 



"I don't know anything about that fever," answered the Marionette,  beginning to understand even too well 

what was happening to him. 



"Then I will tell you all about it," said the Dormouse.  "Know then  that, within two or three hours, you will no 

longer be a Marionette,  nor a boy." 



"What shall I be?" 



"Within two or three hours you will become a real donkey,  just  like the ones that pull the fruit carts to 

market." 



"Oh, what have I done?  What have I done?" cried Pinocchio,  grasping his two long ears in his hands and 

pulling and tugging  at  them angrily, just as if they belonged to another. 



"My dear boy," answered the Dormouse to cheer him up a bit,  "why  worry now?  What is done cannot be 

undone, you know.  Fate has decreed  that all lazy boys who come to hate books  and schools and teachers and 

spend all their days with toys  and games must sooner or later turn  into donkeys." 



"But is it really so?" asked the Marionette, sobbing bitterly. 



"I am sorry to say it is.  And tears now are useless.  You should  have thought of all this before." 



"But the fault is not mine.  Believe me, little Dormouse,  the  fault is all Lamp-Wick's." 



"And who is this Lamp-Wick?" 



"A classmate of mine.  I wanted to return home.  I wanted  to be  obedient.  I wanted to study and to succeed  in 

school, but Lamp-Wick  said to me, `Why do you want  to waste your time studying?  Why do you            want to go 

to school?  Come with me to the Land of Toys.  There we'll  never study again.  There we can enjoy  ourselves 

and be happy from  morn till night.'" 



"And why did you follow the advice of that false friend?" 



"Why?  Because, my dear little Dormouse, I am a heedless  Marionette--heedless and heartless.  Oh!  If I had 

only  had a bit of  heart, I should never have abandoned  that good Fairy, who loved me so  well and who has 

been  so kind to me!  And by this time, I should no  longer be a  Marionette.  I should have become a real boy, 

like all  these  friends of mine!  Oh, if I meet Lamp-Wick I am going  to tell  him what I think of him--and 

more, too!" 



After this long speech, Pinocchio walked to the door  of the room.  But when he reached it, remembering his 

donkey ears, he felt ashamed  to show them to the public  and turned back.  He took a large cotton  bag from a 



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shelf,  put it on his head, and pulled it far down to his  very nose. 



Thus adorned, he went out.  He looked for Lamp-Wick everywhere,  along the streets, in the squares, inside 

the theatres,  everywhere;  but he was not to be found.  He asked everyone  whom he met about him,  but no one 

had seen him.  In desperation,  he returned home and knocked  at the door. 



"Who is it?" asked Lamp-Wick from within. 



"It is I!" answered the Marionette. 



"Wait a minute." 



After a full half hour the door opened.  Another surprise  awaited  Pinocchio!  There in the room stood his 

friend,  with a large cotton  bag on his head, pulled far down to his very nose. 



At the sight of that bag, Pinocchio felt slightly happier  and  thought to himself: 



"My friend must be suffering from the same sickness  that I am!  I  wonder if he, too, has donkey fever?" 



But pretending he had seen nothing, he asked with a smile: 



"How are you, my dear Lamp-Wick?" 



"Very well.   Like a mouse in a Parmesan cheese." 



"Is that really true?" 



"Why should I lie to you?" 



"I beg your pardon, my friend, but why then are you  wearing that  cotton bag over your ears?" 



"The doctor has ordered it because one of my knees hurts.  And you,  dear Marionette, why are you wearing 

that cotton bag  down to your  nose?" 



"The doctor has ordered it because I have bruised my foot." 



"Oh, my poor Pinocchio!" 



"Oh, my poor Lamp-Wick!" 



An embarrassingly long silence followed these words,  during which  time the two friends looked at each other 

in a mocking way. 



Finally the Marionette, in a voice sweet as honey and  soft as a  flute, said to his companion: 



"Tell me, Lamp-Wick, dear friend, have you ever  suffered from an  earache?" 



"Never!  And you?" 



"Never!  Still, since this morning my ear has been torturing me." 



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"So has mine." 



"Yours, too?  And which ear is it?" 



"Both of them.  And yours?" 



"Both of them, too.  I wonder if it could be the same sickness." 



"I'm afraid it is." 



"Will you do me a favor, Lamp-Wick?" 



"Gladly!  With my whole heart." 



"Will you let me see your ears?" 



"Why not?  But before I show you mine, I want to see yours,  dear  Pinocchio." 



"No.  You must show yours first." 



"No, my dear!  Yours first, then mine." 



"Well, then," said the Marionette, "let us make a contract." 



"Let's hear the contract!" 



"Let us take off our caps together.  All right?" 



"All right." 



"Ready then!" 



Pinocchio began to count, "One!  Two!  Three!" 



At the word "Three!" the two boys pulled off their  caps and threw  them high in air. 



And then a scene took place which is hard to believe,  but it is  all too true.  The Marionette and his friend, 

Lamp-Wick, when they saw  each other both stricken by the  same misfortune, instead of feeling  sorrowful 

and ashamed,     began to poke fun at each other, and after much  nonsense,  they ended by bursting out into 

hearty laughter. 



They laughed and laughed, and laughed again--laughed  till they  ached--laughed till they cried. 



But all of a sudden Lamp-Wick stopped laughing.  He tottered  and  almost fell.  Pale as a ghost, he turned to 

Pinocchio and said: 



"Help, help, Pinocchio!" 



"What is the matter?" 



"Oh, help me!  I can no longer stand up." 



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"I can't either," cried Pinocchio; and his laughter  turned to  tears as he stumbled about helplessly. 



They had hardly finished speaking, when both of them fell  on all  fours and began running and jumping 

around the room.  As they ran,  their arms turned into legs, their faces lengthened  into snouts and  their backs 

became covered with long gray hairs. 



This was humiliation enough, but the most horrible  moment was the  one in which the two poor creatures felt 

their tails appear.  Overcome  with shame and grief,  they tried to cry and bemoan their fate. 



But what is done can't be undone!  Instead of moans  and cries,  they burst forth into loud donkey brays, which 

sounded very much like,  "Haw!  Haw!  Haw!" 



At that moment, a loud knocking was heard at the door  and a voice  called to them: 



"Open!  I am the Little Man, the driver of the wagon  which brought  you here.  Open, I say, or beware!" 



                                                   CHAPTER 33 



Pinocchio, having become a Donkey,  is bought by the owner of a  Circus,  who wants to teach him to do tricks. 

The Donkey becomes lame  and is sold  to a man who wants to use his skin  for a drumhead 



Very sad and downcast were the two poor little fellows  as they  stood and looked at each other.  Outside the 

room,  the Little Man grew  more and more impatient, and finally  gave the door such a violent kick  that it flew 

open.  With  his usual sweet smile on his lips, he looked  at Pinocchio  and Lamp-Wick and said to them: 



"Fine work, boys!  You have brayed well, so well that  I recognized  your voices immediately, and here I am." 



On hearing this, the two Donkeys bowed their heads in shame,  dropped their ears, and put their tails between 

their legs. 



At first, the Little Man petted and caressed them and  smoothed  down their hairy coats.  Then he took out a 

currycomb and worked over  them till they shone like glass.  Satisfied with the looks of the two  little animals, 

he bridled them and took them to a market place far  away  from the Land of Toys, in the hope of selling them 

at a  good  price. 



In fact, he did not have to wait very long for an offer.  Lamp-Wick  was bought by a farmer whose donkey 

had died  the day before.  Pinocchio went to the owner of a circus,  who wanted to teach him to  do tricks for his 

audiences. 



And now do you understand what the Little Man's  profession was?  This horrid little being, whose face shone 

with kindness, went about  the world looking for boys.  Lazy boys, boys who hated books, boys who  wanted to 

run away from home, boys who were tired of school--all  these were his joy and his fortune.  He took them 

with  him to the  Land of Toys and let them enjoy themselves  to their heart's content.  When, after months of all 

play  and no work, they became little  donkeys, he sold them on  the market place.  In a few years, he had 

become a millionaire. 



What happened to Lamp-Wick?  My dear children, I do not know.  Pinocchio, I can tell you, met with great 

hardships  even from the  first day. 



After putting him in a stable, his new master filled his  manger  with straw, but Pinocchio, after tasting a 



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mouthful,  spat it out. 



Then the man filled the manger with hay.      But Pinocchio did not  like that any better. 



"Ah, you don't like hay either?" he cried angrily.  "Wait, my  pretty Donkey, I'll teach you not to be so 

particular." 



Without more ado, he took a whip and gave the Donkey  a hearty blow  across the legs. 



Pinocchio screamed with pain and as he screamed he brayed: 



"Haw!    Haw!  Haw!  I can't digest straw!" 



"Then eat the hay!" answered his master, who understood  the Donkey  perfectly. 



"Haw!    Haw!  Haw!  Hay gives me a headache!" 



"Do you pretend, by any chance, that I should feed you duck  or  chicken?" asked the man again, and, angrier 

than ever,  he gave poor  Pinocchio another lashing. 



At that second beating, Pinocchio became very quiet and said no  more. 



After that, the door of the stable was closed and he  was left  alone.  It was many hours since he had eaten 

anything and he started  to yawn from hunger.  As he  yawned, he opened a mouth as big as an  oven. 



Finally, not finding anything else in the manger,  he tasted the  hay.  After tasting it, he chewed it well,  closed 

his eyes, and  swallowed it. 



"This hay is not bad," he said to himself.   "But how  much happier  I should be if I had studied!  Just now, 

instead of hay, I should be  eating some good bread  and butter.  Patience!" 



Next morning, when he awoke, Pinocchio looked in  the manger for  more hay, but it was all gone.  He had 

eaten it all during the night. 



He tried the straw, but, as he chewed away at it, he  noticed to  his great disappointment that it tasted neither 

like rice nor like  macaroni. 



"Patience!" he repeated as he chewed.  "If only my  misfortune  might serve as a lesson to disobedient boys 

who refuse to study!  Patience!  Have patience!" 



"Patience indeed!" shouted his master just then, as he  came into  the stable.  "Do you think, perhaps, my little 

Donkey, that I have  brought you here only to give you  food and drink?  Oh, no!  You are to  help me earn some 

fine gold pieces, do you hear?  Come along, now.  I  am  going to teach you to jump and bow, to dance a waltz 

and  a polka,  and even to stand on your head." 



Poor Pinocchio, whether he liked it or not, had to learn  all these  wonderful things; but it took him three long 

months and cost him many,  many lashings before he was  pronounced perfect. 



The day came at last when Pinocchio's master was  able to announce  an extraordinary performance.  The 

announcements, posted all around  the town, and written  in large letters, read thus: 



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GREAT SPECTACLE TONIGHT  LEAPS AND EXERCISES BY THE GREAT ARTISTS  AND THE 

FAMOUS HORSES  of the  COMPANY 



First Public Appearance 



of the 



FAMOUS DONKEY 



called 



PINOCCHIO 



THE STAR OF THE DANCE  ----  The Theater will be as Light as Day 



That night, as you can well imagine, the theater was filled   to  overflowing one hour before the show was 

scheduled to start. 



Not an orchestra chair could be had, not a balcony seat,  nor a  gallery seat; not even for their weight in gold. 



The place swarmed with boys and girls of all ages and  sizes,  wriggling and dancing about in a fever of 

impatience  to see the famous  Donkey dance. 



When the first part of the performance was over, the  Owner and  Manager of the circus, in a black coat, white 

knee breeches, and  patent leather boots, presented himself  to the public and in a loud,  pompous voice made 

the  following announcement: 



"Most honored friends, Gentlemen and Ladies! 



"Your humble servant, the Manager of this theater,  presents  himself before you tonight in order to introduce 

to you the greatest,  the most famous Donkey in the world,  a Donkey that has had the great  honor in his short 

life of  performing before the kings and queens and  emperors of  all the great courts of Europe. 



"We thank you for your attention!" 



This speech was greeted by much laughter and  applause.       And the  applause grew to a roar when Pinocchio, 

the famous Donkey, appeared in  the circus ring.  He was  handsomely arrayed.  A new bridle of shining  leather 

with  buckles of polished brass was on his back; two white  camellias were tied to his ears; ribbons and tassels 

of red  silk  adorned his mane, which was divided into many  curls.  A great sash of  gold and silver was fastened 

around  his waist and his tail was  decorated with ribbons of many  brilliant colors.  He was a handsome  Donkey 

indeed! 



The Manager, when introducing him to the public,  added these  words: 



"Most honored audience!  I shall not take your time  tonight to  tell you of the great difficulties which I have 

encountered while  trying to tame this animal, since I  found him in the wilds of Africa.  Observe, I beg of you, 

the savage look of his eye.  All the means  used by  centuries of civilization in subduing wild beasts failed in 

this  case.  I had finally to resort to the gentle language of the  whip in order to bring him to my will.  With all 

my  kindness,  however, I never succeeded in gaining my Donkey's  love.  He is still  today as savage as the day 

I found  him.  He still fears and hates me.  But I have found in  him one great redeeming feature.  Do you see this 

little  bump on his forehead?  It is this bump which gives him  his  great talent of dancing and using his feet as 



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nimbly  as a human being.  Admire him, O signori, and enjoy  yourselves.  I let you, now, be the  judges of my 

success as a  teacher of animals.  Before I leave you, I  wish to state  that there will be another performance 

tomorrow night.  If the weather threatens rain, the great spectacle will take  place at  eleven o'clock in the 

morning." 



The Manager bowed and then turned to Pinocchio and said:  "Ready,  Pinocchio!  Before starting your 

performance,  salute your audience!" 



Pinocchio obediently bent his two knees to the ground  and remained  kneeling until the Manager, with the 

crack  of the whip, cried sharply:  "Walk!" 



The Donkey lifted himself on his four feet and walked  around the  ring.  A few minutes passed and again the 

voice of the Manager called: 



"Quickstep!" and Pinocchio obediently changed his step. 



"Gallop!" and Pinocchio galloped. 



"Full speed!" and Pinocchio ran as fast as he could.  As he ran the  master raised his arm and a pistol shot rang 

in the air. 



At the shot, the little Donkey fell to the ground as if  he were  really dead. 



A shower of applause greeted the Donkey as he arose to his feet.  Cries and shouts and handclappings were 

heard on all sides. 



At all that noise, Pinocchio lifted his head and raised  his eyes.  There, in front of him, in a box sat a beautiful 

woman.  Around her  neck she wore a long gold chain,  from which hung a large medallion.  On the medallion 

was painted the picture of a Marionette. 



"That picture is of me!  That beautiful lady is my Fairy!"  said  Pinocchio to himself, recognizing her.  He felt so 

happy  that he tried  his best to cry out: 



"Oh, my Fairy!  My own Fairy!" 



But instead of words, a loud braying was heard in the theater,  so  loud and so long that all the 

spectators--men, women,  and children,  but especially the children--burst out laughing. 



Then, in order to teach the Donkey that it was not  good manners to  bray before the public, the Manager  hit 

him on the nose with the  handle of the whip. 



The poor little Donkey stuck out a long tongue and licked           his nose  for a long time in an effort to take away 

the pain. 



And what was his grief when on looking up toward the boxes,  he saw  that the Fairy had disappeared! 



He felt himself fainting, his eyes filled with tears,  and he wept  bitterly.  No one knew it, however,  least of all 

the Manager, who,  cracking his whip, cried out: 



"Bravo, Pinocchio!  Now show us how gracefully you can  jump  through the rings." 



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Pinocchio tried two or three times, but each time he  came near the  ring, he found it more to his taste to go 

under it.  The fourth time,  at a look from his master he  leaped through it, but as he did so his  hind legs caught 

in the ring and he fell to the floor in a heap. 



When he got up, he was lame and could hardly limp as  far as the  stable. 



"Pinocchio!  We want Pinocchio!  We want the little Donkey!"  cried  the boys from the orchestra, saddened by 

the accident. 



No one saw Pinocchio again that evening. 



The next morning the veterinary--that is, the animal doctor--  declared that he would be lame for the rest of 

his life. 



"What do I want with a lame donkey?" said the Manager  to the  stableboy.  "Take him to the market and sell 

him." 



When they reached the square, a buyer was soon found. 



"How much do you ask for that little lame Donkey?" he asked. 



"Four dollars." 



"I'll give you four cents.  Don't think I'm buying him  for work.  I want only his skin.  It looks very tough and  I 

can use it to make  myself a drumhead.  I belong to a  musical band in my village and I  need a drum." 



I leave it to you, my dear children, to picture to  yourself the  great pleasure with which Pinocchio heard that 

he was to become a  drumhead! 



As soon as the buyer had paid the four cents, the  Donkey changed  hands.  His new owner took him to a high 

cliff overlooking the sea,  put a stone around his neck,  tied a rope to one of his hind feet, gave  him a push, and 

threw him into the water. 



Pinocchio sank immediately.  And his new master sat  on the cliff  waiting for him to drown, so as to skin him 

and make himself a  drumhead. 



                                                     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. 



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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--" 



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"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? 



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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. 



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"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 



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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. 



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"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. 



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"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. 



                                                 CHAPTER 36 



Pinocchio finally ceases to be  a Marionette and becomes a boy 



"My dear Father, we are saved!" cried the Marionette.  "All we have  to do now is to get to the shore, and that 

is easy." 



Without another word, he swam swiftly away in an  effort to reach  land as soon as possible.  All at once he 

noticed that Geppetto was  shivering and shaking as if with  a high fever. 



Was he shivering from fear or from cold?      Who knows?  Perhaps a  little of both.  But Pinocchio, thinking his 

father  was frightened,  tried to comfort him by saying: 



"Courage, Father!  In a few moments we shall be safe on land." 



"But where is that blessed shore?" asked the little old man,  more  and more worried as he tried to pierce the 

faraway shadows.  "Here I am  searching on all sides and I see nothing but sea and sky." 



"I see the shore," said the Marionette.  "Remember, Father,  that I  am like a cat.  I see better at night than by 

day." 



Poor Pinocchio pretended to be peaceful and contented,  but he was  far from that.  He was beginning to feel 

discouraged, his strength was  leaving him, and his breathing  was becoming more and more labored.  He  felt 

he could  not go on much longer, and the shore was still far away. 



He swam a few more strokes.  Then he turned to Geppetto  and cried  out weakly: 



"Help me, Father!  Help, for I am dying!" 



Father and son were really about to drown when they  heard a voice  like a guitar out of tune call from the sea: 



"What is the trouble?" 



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"It is I and my poor father." 



"I know the voice.  You are Pinocchio." 



"Exactly.  And you?" 



"I am the Tunny, your companion in the Shark's stomach." 



"And how did you escape?" 



"I imitated your example.  You are the one who showed  me the way  and after you went, I followed." 



"Tunny, you arrived at the right moment!     I implore you,  for the  love you bear your children, the little 

Tunnies,  to help us, or we are  lost!" 



"With great pleasure indeed.  Hang onto my tail, both  of you, and  let me lead you.  In a twinkling you will be 

safe on land." 



Geppetto and Pinocchio, as you can easily imagine, did not  refuse  the invitation; indeed, instead of hanging 

onto  the tail, they thought  it better to climb on the Tunny's back. 



"Are we too heavy?" asked Pinocchio. 



"Heavy?  Not in the least.  You are as light as sea-shells,"  answered the Tunny, who was as large as a 

two-year-old horse. 



As soon as they reached the shore, Pinocchio was the  first to jump  to the ground to help his old father.  Then 

he turned to the fish and  said to him: 



"Dear friend, you have saved my father, and I have not  enough  words with which to thank you!  Allow me to 

embrace you as a sign of  my eternal gratitude." 



The Tunny stuck his nose out of the water and Pinocchio       knelt on  the sand and kissed him most 

affectionately  on his cheek.  At this  warm greeting, the poor Tunny,  who was not used to such tenderness, 

wept like a child.  He felt so embarrassed and ashamed that he turned  quickly,  plunged into the sea, and 

disappeared. 



In the meantime day had dawned. 



Pinocchio offered his arm to Geppetto, who was so  weak he could  hardly stand, and said to him: 



"Lean on my arm, dear Father, and let us go.  We will  walk very,  very slowly, and if we feel tired we can rest 

by the wayside." 



"And where are we going?" asked Geppetto. 



"To look for a house or a hut, where they will be kind enough  to  give us a bite of bread and a bit of straw to 

sleep on." 



They had not taken a hundred steps when they saw two  rough-looking  individuals sitting on a stone begging 

for alms. 



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It was the Fox and the Cat, but one could hardly recognize  them,  they looked so miserable.  The Cat, after 

pretending  to be blind for  so many years had really lost the sight  of both eyes.  And the Fox,  old, thin, and 

almost hairless,  had even lost his tail.  That sly  thief had fallen into  deepest poverty, and one day he had been 

forced  to sell his  beautiful tail for a bite to eat. 



"Oh, Pinocchio," he cried in a tearful voice.  "Give us  some alms,  we beg of you!  We are old, tired, and sick." 



"Sick!" repeated the Cat. 



"Addio, false friends!" answered the Marionette.  "You cheated me  once, but you will never catch me again." 



"Believe us!  Today we are truly poor and starving." 



"Starving!" repeated the Cat. 



"If you are poor; you deserve it!  Remember the old  proverb which  says:  `Stolen money never bears fruit.' 

Addio, false friends." 



"Have mercy on us!" 



"On us." 



"Addio, false friends.  Remember the old proverb which says:  `Bad  wheat always makes poor bread!'" 



"Do not abandon us." 



"Abandon us," repeated the Cat. 



"Addio, false friends.  Remember the old proverb:  `Whoever steals  his neighbor's shirt, usually dies without 

his own.'" 



Waving good-by to them, Pinocchio and Geppetto  calmly went on  their way.  After a few more steps,  they 

saw, at the end of a long  road near a clump of trees,  a tiny cottage built of straw. 



"Someone must live in that little hut," said Pinocchio.  "Let us  see for ourselves." 



They went and knocked at the door. 



"Who is it?" said a little voice from within. 



"A poor father and a poorer son, without food and with  no roof to  cover them," answered the Marionette. 



"Turn the key and the door will open," said the same  little voice. 



Pinocchio turned the key and the door opened.  As soon  as they  went in, they looked here and there and 

everywhere  but saw no one. 



"Oh--ho, where is the owner of the hut?" cried Pinocchio,  very  much surprised. 



"Here I am, up here!" 



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Father and son looked up to the ceiling, and there on a  beam sat  the Talking Cricket. 



"Oh, my dear Cricket," said Pinocchio, bowing politely. 



"Oh, now you call me your dear Cricket, but do you  remember when  you threw your hammer at me to kill 

me?" 



"You are right, dear Cricket.  Throw a hammer at me now.  I deserve  it!  But spare my poor old father." 



"I am going to spare both the father and the son.  I have  only  wanted to remind you of the trick you long ago 

played upon me, to  teach you that in this world of ours  we must be kind and courteous to  others, if we want 

to  find kindness and courtesy in our own days of  trouble." 



"You are right, little Cricket, you are more than right,  and I  shall remember the lesson you have taught me. 

But  will you tell how  you succeeded in buying this pretty  little cottage?" 



"This cottage was given to me yesterday by a little Goat  with blue  hair." 



"And where did the Goat go?" asked Pinocchio. 



"I don't know." 



"And when will she come back?" 



"She will never come back.  Yesterday she went away  bleating  sadly, and it seemed to me she said:  `Poor 

Pinocchio,  I shall never  see him again. . .the Shark must have  eaten him by this time.'" 



"Were those her real words?     Then it was she--it was--  my dear  little Fairy," cried out Pinocchio, sobbing 

bitterly.  After he had  cried a long time, he wiped his eyes and  then he made a bed of straw  for old Geppetto. 

He laid him  on it and said to the Talking Cricket: 



"Tell me, little Cricket, where shall I find a glass of milk  for  my poor Father?" 



"Three fields away from here lives Farmer John.  He has  some cows.  Go there and he will give you what you 

want." 



Pinocchio ran all the way to Farmer John's house.  The  Farmer said  to him: 



"How much milk do you want?" 



"I want a full glass." 



"A full glass costs a penny.  First give me the penny." 



"I have no penny," answered Pinocchio, sad and ashamed. 



"Very bad, my Marionette," answered the Farmer,  "very bad.  If you  have no penny, I have no milk." 



"Too bad," said Pinocchio and started to go. 



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"Wait a moment," said Farmer John.  "Perhaps we can come to terms.  Do you know how to draw water from a 

well?" 



"I can try." 



"Then go to that well you see yonder and draw one  hundred  bucketfuls of water." 



"Very well." 



"After you have finished, I shall give you a glass of  warm sweet  milk." 



"I am satisfied." 



Farmer John took the Marionette to the well and showed  him how to  draw the water.  Pinocchio set to work as 

well  as he knew how, but  long before he had pulled up the one  hundred buckets, he was tired out  and 

dripping with   perspiration.  He had never worked so hard in his  life. 



"Until today," said the Farmer, "my donkey has drawn  the water for  me, but now that poor animal is dying." 



"Will you take me to see him?" said Pinocchio. 



"Gladly." 



As soon as Pinocchio went into the stable, he spied a  little  Donkey lying on a bed of straw in the corner of the 

stable.  He was  worn out from hunger and too much work.  After looking at him a long  time, he said to 

himself:  "I know that Donkey!  I have seen him  before." 



And bending low over him, he asked:  "Who are you?" 



At this question, the Donkey opened weary, dying eyes  and answered  in the same tongue:  "I am 

Lamp-Wick." 



Then he closed his eyes and died. 



"Oh, my poor Lamp-Wick," said Pinocchio in a faint voice,  as he  wiped his eyes with some straw he had 

picked up from the ground. 



"Do you feel so sorry for a little donkey that has cost you  nothing?"  said the Farmer.  "What should I do--I, 

who have paid my  good money for him?" 



"But, you see, he was my friend." 



"Your friend?" 



"A classmate of mine." 



"What," shouted Farmer John, bursting out laughing.  "What!  You  had donkeys in your school?  How you 

must  have studied!" 



The Marionette, ashamed and hurt by those words, did not answer,  but taking his glass of milk returned to his 

father. 



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From that day on, for more than five months, Pinocchio  got up  every morning just as dawn was breaking and 

went  to the farm to draw  water.  And every day he was given  a glass of warm milk for his poor  old father, 

who grew  stronger and better day by day.  But he was not  satisfied  with this.  He learned to make baskets of 

reeds and sold  them.  With the money he received, he and his father were  able to  keep from starving. 



Among other things, he built a rolling chair, strong and  comfortable, to take his old father out for an airing on 

bright,  sunny days. 



In the evening the Marionette studied by lamplight.  With some of  the money he had earned, he bought 

himself  a secondhand volume that  had a few pages missing, and  with that he learned to read in a very  short 

time.  As far as  writing was concerned, he used a long stick at  one end of  which he had whittled a long, fine 

point.  Ink he had none,  so he used the juice of blackberries or cherries.  Little by little  his diligence was 

rewarded.  He  succeeded, not only in his studies,  but also in his work, and a  day came when he put enough 

money together  to keep his  old father comfortable and happy.  Besides this, he was  able to save the great 

amount of fifty pennies.  With it he  wanted to  buy himself a new suit. 



One day he said to his father: 



"I am going to the market place to buy myself a coat, a  cap, and a  pair of shoes.  When I come back I'll be so 

dressed up, you will think  I am a rich man." 



He ran out of the house and up the road to the village,  laughing  and singing.  Suddenly he heard his name 

called,  and looking around to  see whence the voice came, he  noticed a large snail crawling out of      some 

bushes. 



"Don't you recognize me?" said the Snail. 



"Yes and no." 



"Do you remember the Snail that lived with the Fairy  with Azure  Hair?  Do you not remember how she 

opened  the door for you one night  and gave you something to eat?" 



"I remember everything," cried Pinocchio.  "Answer  me quickly,  pretty Snail, where have you left my Fairy? 

What is she doing?  Has  she forgiven me?  Does she  remember me?  Does she still love me?  Is  she very far 

away  from here?  May I see her?" 



At all these questions, tumbling out one after another,  the Snail  answered, calm as ever: 



"My dear Pinocchio, the Fairy is lying ill in a hospital." 



"In a hospital?" 



"Yes, indeed.  She has been stricken with trouble and illness,  and  she hasn't a penny left with which to buy a 

bite of bread." 



"Really?  Oh, how sorry I am!  My poor, dear little Fairy!    If I  had a million I should run to her with it!  But I 

have only fifty  pennies.  Here they are.  I was just going to  buy some clothes.  Here,  take them, little Snail, and 

give  them to my good Fairy." 



"What about the new clothes?" 



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"What does that matter?  I should like to sell these rags  I have  on to help her more.  Go, and hurry.   Come back 

here within a couple  of days and I hope to have more  money for you!  Until today I have  worked for my 

father. Now I shall have to work for my mother also.  Good-by,  and I hope to see you soon." 



The Snail, much against her usual habit, began to run  like a  lizard under a summer sun. 



When Pinocchio returned home, his father asked him: 



"And where is the new suit?" 



"I couldn't find one to fit me.  I shall have to look again  some  other day." 



That night, Pinocchio, instead of going to bed at ten  o'clock  waited until midnight, and instead of making 

eight baskets, he made  sixteen. 



After that he went to bed and fell asleep.  As he slept,  he  dreamed of his Fairy, beautiful, smiling, and happy, 

who kissed him  and said to him, "Bravo, Pinocchio!  In  reward for your kind heart, I  forgive you for all your 

old mischief.  Boys who love and take good  care of their  parents when they are old and sick, deserve praise 

even  though they may not be held up as models of obedience  and good  behavior.  Keep on doing so well, and 

you will be happy." 



At that very moment, Pinocchio awoke and opened wide his eyes. 



What was his surprise and his joy when, on looking  himself over,  he saw that he was no longer a Marionette, 

but that he had become a  real live boy!  He looked all  about him and instead of the usual walls  of straw,  he 

found himself in a beautifully furnished little room,  the prettiest he had ever seen.  In a twinkling, he jumped 

down from  his bed to look on the chair standing near.  There, he found a new  suit, a new hat, and a pair of 

shoes. 



As soon as he was dressed, he put his hands in his  pockets and  pulled out a little leather purse on which were 

written the following  words: 



      The Fairy with Azure Hair returns 

      fifty pennies to her dear Pinocchio 

      with many thanks for his kind heart. 



The Marionette opened the purse to find the money,  and  behold--there were fifty gold coins! 



Pinocchio ran to the mirror.  He hardly recognized himself.  The  bright face of a tall boy looked at him with 

wide-awake blue eyes,  dark brown hair and happy, smiling lips. 



Surrounded by so much splendor, the Marionette hardly  knew what he  was doing.  He rubbed his eyes two or 

three times,  wondering if he  were still asleep or awake and decided he must be awake. 



"And where is Father?" he cried suddenly.  He ran  into the next  room, and there stood Geppetto, grown years 

younger overnight, spick  and span in his new clothes and     gay as a lark in the morning.  He was  once more 

Mastro  Geppetto, the wood carver, hard at work on a lovely  picture frame, decorating it with flowers and 

leaves, and  heads of  animals. 



"Father, Father, what has happened?  Tell me if you can,"  cried  Pinocchio, as he ran and jumped on his 

Father's neck. 



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"This sudden change in our house is all your doing,  my dear  Pinocchio," answered Geppetto. 



"What have I to do with it?" 



"Just this.  When bad boys become good and kind,  they have the  power of making their homes gay and new 

with happiness." 



"I wonder where the old Pinocchio of wood has hidden himself?" 



"There he is," answered Geppetto.  And he pointed  to a large  Marionette leaning against a chair, head turned 

to one side, arms  hanging limp, and legs twisted under him. 



After a long, long look, Pinocchio said to himself with  great  content: 



"How ridiculous I was as a Marionette!  And how  happy I am, now  that I have become a real boy!" 



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