Pinocchio: The Tale of a Puppet

by Carlo Collodi

  Geppetto, who was poor and who had not so much as a penny in his pocket,then made him a little dress of flowered paper, a pair of shoes from thebark of a tree, and a cap of the crumb of bread.

  Pinocchio ran immediately to look at himself in a crock of water, and hewas so pleased with his appearance that he said, strutting about like apeacock:

  "I look quite like a gentleman!"

  "Yes, indeed," answered Geppetto, "for bear in mind that it is not fineclothes that make the gentleman, but rather clean clothes."

  "By the bye," added the puppet, "to go to school I am still inwant--indeed, I am without the best thing, and the most important."

  "And what is it?"

  "I have no spelling-book."

  "You are right: but what shall we do to get one?"

  "It is quite easy. We have only to go to the bookseller's and buy it."

  "And the money?"

  "I have got none."

  "Neither have I," added the good old man, very sadly.

  And Pinocchio, although he was a very merry boy, became sad also,because poverty, when it is real poverty, is understood byeverybody--even by boys.

  "Well, patience!" exclaimed Geppetto, all at once rising to his feet,and putting on his old corduroy coat, all patched and darned, he ran outof the house.

  He returned shortly, holding in his hand a spelling-book for Pinocchio,but the old coat was gone. The poor man was in his shirt-sleeves and outof doors it was snowing.

  "And the coat, papa?"

  "I have sold it."

  "Why did you sell it?"

  "Because I found it too hot."

  Pinocchio understood this answer in an instant, and unable to restrainthe impulse of his good heart he sprang up and, throwing his arms aroundGeppetto's neck, he began kissing him again and again.

  CHAPTER IX

  PINOCCHIO GOES TO SEE A PUPPET-SHOW

  As soon as it stopped snowing Pinocchio set out for school with his finespelling-book under his arm. As he went along he began to imagine athousand things in his little brain and to build a thousand castles inthe air, one more beautiful than the other.

  And, talking to himself, he said:

  "Today at school I will learn to read at once; then tomorrow I willbegin to write, and the day after tomorrow to figure. Then, with myacquirements, I will earn a great deal of money, and with the firstmoney I have in my pocket I will immediately buy for my papa a beautifulnew cloth coat. But what am I saying? Cloth, indeed! It shall be allmade of gold and silver, and it shall have diamond buttons. That poorman really deserves it, for to buy me books and have me taught he hasremained in his shirt-sleeves. And in this cold! It is only fathers whoare capable of such sacrifices!"

  Whilst he was saying this with great emotion, he thought that he heardmusic in the distance that sounded like fifes and the beating of a bigdrum: Fi-fie-fi, fi-fi-fi; zum, zum, zum.

  He stopped and listened. The sounds came from the end of a cross streetthat led to a little village on the seashore.

  "What can that music be? What a pity that I have to go to school, orelse--"

  And he remained irresolute. It was, however, necessary to come to adecision. Should he go to school? or should he go after the fifes?

  "Today I will go and hear the fifes, and tomorrow I will go to school,"finally decided the young scapegrace, shrugging his shoulders.

  The more he ran the nearer came the sounds of the fifes and the beatingof the big drum: Fi-fi-fi; zum, zum, zum, zum.

  At last he found himself in the middle of a square quite full of people,who were all crowded round a building made of wood and canvas, andpainted a thousand colors.

  "What is that building?" asked Pinocchio, turning to a little boy whobelonged to the place.

  "Read the placard--it is all written--and then you will know."

  "I would read it willingly, but it so happens that today I don't knowhow to read."

  "Bravo, blockhead! Then I will read it to you. The writing on thatplacard in those letters red as fire is:

  "THE GREAT PUPPET THEATER."

  "Has the play begun long?"

  "It is beginning now."

  "How much does it cost to go in?"

  "A dime."

  Pinocchio, who was in a fever of curiosity, lost all control of himself,and without any shame he said to the little boy to whom he was talking:

  "Would you lend me a dime until tomorrow?"

  "I would lend it to you willingly," said the other, "but it so happensthat today I cannot give it to you."

  "I will sell you my jacket for a dime," the puppet then said to him.

  "What do you think that I could do with a jacket of flowered paper? Ifthere were rain and it got wet, it would be impossible to get it off myback."

  "Will you buy my shoes?"

  "They would only be of use to light the fire."

  "How much will you give me for my cap?"

  "That would be a wonderful acquisition indeed! A cap of bread crumb!There would be a risk of the mice coming to eat it whilst it was on myhead."

  Pinocchio was on thorns. He was on the point of making another offer,but he had not the courage. He hesitated, felt irresolute andremorseful. At last he said:

  "Will you give me a dime for this new spelling-book?"

  "I am a boy and I don't buy from boys," replied his little interlocutor,who had much more sense than he had.

  "I will buy the spelling-book for a dime," called out a hawker of oldclothes, who had been listening to the conversation.

  And the book was sold there and then. And to think that poor Geppettohad remained at home trembling with cold in his shirt-sleeves in orderthat his son should have a spelling-book.

  CHAPTER X

  THE PUPPETS RECOGNIZE THEIR BROTHER PINOCCHIO

  When Pinocchio came into the little puppet theater, an incident occurredthat almost produced a revolution.

  The curtain had gone up and the play had already begun.

  On the stage Harlequin and Punch were as usual quarrelling with eachother and threatening every moment to come to blows.

  All at once Harlequin stopped short and, turning to the public, hepointed with his hand to some one far down in the pit and exclaimed in adramatic tone:

  "Gods of the firmament! Do I dream or am I awake? But surely that isPinocchio!"

  "It is indeed Pinocchio!" cried Punch.

  "It is indeed himself!" screamed Miss Rose, peeping from behind thescenes.

  "It is Pinocchio! it is Pinocchio!" shouted all the puppets in chorus,leaping from all sides on to the stage. "It is Pinocchio! It is ourbrother Pinocchio! Long live Pinocchio!"

  "Pinocchio, come up here to me," cried Harlequin, "and throw yourselfinto the arms of your wooden brothers!"

  At this affectionate invitation Pinocchio made a leap from the end ofthe pit into the reserved seats; another leap landed him on the head ofthe leader of the orchestra, and he then sprang upon the stage.

  The embraces, the friendly pinches, and the demonstrations of warmbrotherly affection that Pinocchio received from the excited crowd ofactors and actresses of the puppet dramatic company are beyonddescription.

  The sight was doubtless a moving one, but the public in the pit, findingthat the play was stopped, became impatient and began to shout: "We willhave the play--go on with the play!"

  It was all breath thrown away. The puppets, instead of continuing therecital, redoubled their noise and outcries, and, putting Pinocchio ontheir shoulders, they carried him in triumph before the footlights.

  At that moment out came the showman. He was very big, and so ugly thatthe sight of him was enough to frighten anyone. His beard was as blackas ink, and so long that it reached from his chin to the ground. I needonly say that he trod upon it when he walked. His mouth was as big as anoven, and his eyes were like two lanterns of red glass with lightsburning inside them. He carried a large whip made of snakes and foxes'tails twisted together, which he cracked constantly.

  At his unexpected a
ppearance there was a profound silence: no one daredto breathe. A fly might have been heard in the stillness. The poorpuppets of both sexes trembled like so many leaves.

  "Why have you come to raise a disturbance in my theater?" asked theshowman of Pinocchio, in the gruff voice of a hobgoblin suffering from asevere cold in the head.

  "Believe me, honored sir, it was not my fault!"

  "That is enough! Tonight we will settle our accounts."

  As soon as the play was over the showman went into the kitchen, where afine sheep, preparing for his supper, was turning slowly on the spit infront of the fire. As there was not enough wood to finish roasting andbrowning it, he called Harlequin and Punch, and said to them:

  "Bring that puppet here: you will find him hanging on a nail. It seemsto me that he is made of very dry wood and I am sure that if he werethrown on the fire he would make a beautiful blaze for the roast."

  At first Harlequin and Punch hesitated; but, appalled by a severe glancefrom their master, they obeyed. In a short time they returned to thekitchen carrying poor Pinocchio, who was wriggling like an eel taken outof water and screaming desperately: "Papa! papa! save me! I will notdie, I will not die!"

  CHAPTER XI

  FIRE-EATER SNEEZES AND PARDONS PINOCCHIO

  The showman, Fire-Eater--for that was his name--looked like a wickedman, especially with his black beard that covered his chest and legslike an apron. On the whole, however, he had not a bad heart. In proofof this, when he saw poor Pinocchio brought before him, struggling andscreaming "I will not die, I will not die!" he was quite moved and feltvery sorry for him. He tried to hold out, but after a little he couldstand it no longer and he sneezed violently. When he heard the sneeze,Harlequin, who up to that moment had been in the deepest affliction andbowed down like a weeping willow, became quite cheerful and, leaningtowards Pinocchio, he whispered to him softly:

  "Good news, brother. The showman has sneezed and that is a sign that hepities you, and consequently you are saved."

  Most men, when they feel compassion for somebody, either weep or atleast pretend to dry their eyes. Fire-Eater, on the contrary, wheneverhe was really overcome, had the habit of sneezing.

  After he had sneezed, the showman, still acting the ruffian, shouted toPinocchio:

  "Have done crying! Your lamentations have given me a pain in my stomach.I feel a spasm that almost--Etchoo! etchoo!" and he sneezed again twice.

  "Bless you!" said Pinocchio.

  "Thank you! And your papa and your mamma, are they still alive?" askedFire-Eater.

  "Papa, yes; my mamma I have never known."

  "Who can say what a sorrow it would be for your poor old father if Iwere to have you thrown amongst those burning coals! Poor old man! Ipity him! Etchoo! etchoo! etchoo!" and he sneezed again three times.

  "Bless you" said Pinocchio.

  "Thank you! All the same, some compassion is due to me, for as you see Ihave no more wood with which to finish roasting my mutton, and, to tellyou the truth, under the circumstances you would have been of great useto me! However, I have had pity on you, so I must have patience. Insteadof you I will burn under the spit one of the puppets belonging to mycompany. Ho there, gendarmes!"

  At this call two wooden gendarmes immediately appeared. They were verylong and very thin, and had on cocked hats, and held unsheathed swordsin their hands.

  The showman said to them in a hoarse voice:

  "Take Harlequin, bind him securely, and then throw him on the fire toburn. I am determined that my mutton shall be well roasted."

  Only imagine that poor Harlequin! His terror was so great that his legsbent under him, and he fell with his face on the ground.

  At this agonizing sight Pinocchio, weeping bitterly, threw himself atthe showman's feet and, bathing his long beard with his tears, he beganto say, in a supplicating voice:

  "Have pity, Sir Fire-Eater!"

  "Here there are no sirs," the showman answered severely.

  "Have pity, Sir Knight!"

  "Here there are no knights!"

  "Have pity, Commander!"

  "Here there are no commanders!"

  "Have pity, Excellence!"

  Upon hearing himself called Excellence the showman began to smile andbecame at once kinder and more tractable. Turning to Pinocchio, heasked:

  "Well, what do you want from me?"

  "I implore you to pardon poor Harlequin."

  "For him there can be no pardon. As I have spared you he must be put onthe fire, for I am determined that my mutton shall be well roasted."

  "In that case," cried Pinocchio proudly, rising and throwing away hiscap of bread crumb--"in that case I know my duty. Come on, gendarmes!Bind me and throw me amongst the flames. No, it is not just that poorHarlequin, my true friend, should die for me!"

  These words, pronounced in a loud, heroic voice, made all the puppetswho were present cry. Even the gendarmes, although they were made ofwood, wept like two newly born lambs.

  Fire-Eater at first remained as hard and unmoved as ice, but little bylittle he began to melt and to sneeze. And, having sneezed four or fivetimes, he opened his arms affectionately and said to Pinocchio:

  "You are a good, brave boy! Come here and give me a kiss."

  Pinocchio ran at once and, climbing like a squirrel up the showman'sbeard, he deposited a hearty kiss on the point of his nose.

  "Then the pardon is granted?" asked poor Harlequin in a faint voice thatwas scarcely audible.

  "The pardon is granted!" answered Fire-Eater; he then added, sighing andshaking his head:

  "I must have patience! Tonight I shall have to resign myself to eat themutton half raw; but another time, woe to him who displeases me!"

  At the news of the pardon the puppets all ran to the stage and, havinglighted the lamps and chandeliers as if for a full-dress performance,they began to leap and to dance merrily. At dawn they were stilldancing.

  CHAPTER XII

  PINOCCHIO RECEIVES A PRESENT OF FIVE GOLD PIECES

  The following day Fire-Eater called Pinocchio to one side and asked him:

  "What is your father's name?"

  "Geppetto."

  "And what trade does he follow?"

  "He is a beggar."

  "Does he gain much?"

  "Gain much? Why, he has never a penny in his pocket. Only think, inorder to buy a spelling-book so that I could go to school he was obligedto sell the only coat he had to wear--a coat that, between patches anddarns, was not fit to be seen."

  "Poor devil! I feel almost sorry for him! Here are five gold pieces. Goat once and take them to him with my compliments."

  Pinocchio was overjoyed and thanked the showman a thousand times. Heembraced all the puppets of the company one by one, even to thegendarmes, and set out to return home.

  But he had not gone far when he met on the road a Fox lame of one foot,and a Cat blind of both eyes, and they were going along helping eachother like good companions in misfortune. The Fox, who was lame, walkedleaning on the Cat; and the Cat, who was blind, was guided by the Fox.

  "Good-day, Pinocchio," said the Fox, greeting him politely.

  "How do you come to know my name?" asked the puppet.

  "I know your father well."

  "Where did you see him?"

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

  "And what was he doing?"

  "He was in his shirt-sleeves and shivering with cold."

  "Poor papa! But that is over; for the future he shall shiver no more!"

  "Why?"

  "Because I have become a gentleman."

  "A gentleman--you!" said the Fox, and he began to laugh rudely andscornfully. The Cat also began to laugh, but to conceal it she combedher whiskers with her forepaws.

  Splash! Splash! They fell Into the Very Middle of theDitch]

  "There is little to laugh at," cried Pinocchio angrily. "I am reallysorry to make your mouth water, but if you know anything about it, youcan see that these are five gold pieces."
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  And he pulled out the money that Fire-Eater had given him.

  At the jingling of the money the Fox, with an involuntary movement,stretched out the paw that seemed crippled, and the Cat opened wide twoeyes that looked like two green lanterns. It is true that she shut themagain, and so quickly that Pinocchio observed nothing.

  "And now," asked the Fox, "what are you going to do with all thatmoney?"

  "First of all," answered the puppet, "I intend to buy a new coat for mypapa, made of gold and silver, and with diamond buttons; and then I willbuy a spelling-book for myself."

  "For yourself?"

  "Yes indeed, for I wish to go to school to study in earnest."

  "Look at me!" said the Fox. "Through my foolish passion for study I havelost a leg."

  "Look at me!" said the Cat. "Through my foolish passion for study I havelost the sight of both my eyes."

  At that moment a white Blackbird, that was perched on the hedge by theroad, began his usual song, and said:

  "Pinocchio, don't listen to the advice of bad companions; if you do youwill repent it!"

  Poor Blackbird! If only he had not spoken! The Cat, with a great leap,sprang upon him, and without even giving him time to say "Oh!" ate himin a mouthful, feathers and all.

  Having eaten him and cleaned her mouth she shut her eyes again andfeigned blindness as before.