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Pinocchio
by Collodi First
Three Chapters 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 actually came to happen, 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 Master Antonio, but everyone called him Master 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, Master 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 Master 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. Master
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.
"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 Master 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. 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, or cornmeal mush, on account of the wig he always wore which
was just the color of yellow corn. 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, Master 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?"
"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." "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, Master Geppetto turned the color of a
red pepper and, facing the carpenter, said to him angrily: "Why
do you insult me?"
"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 minute, they went from words to blows, and finally
began to scratch and bite and slap each other.
"Give
me back my wig!" shouted Master 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, Master 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?" Master
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, Master Antonio, in which you make your
gifts? You have made me
almost lame!" "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, Master 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 Master Antonio, and limped
away toward home. 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 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:
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.
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!"
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.
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 Carabiniere,
an Italian policeman, 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.
The
Carabiniere grabbed him by the
nose (it was an extremely long one and seemed made on purpose for that
very thing) and returned him to Master 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 Carabiniere
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.
(Click here,
to go to my page where I describe the free, illustrated, PDF e-book of
Pinocchio, and how to download it.) Visit my Angels in Italian Art Page Classic
Poetry and Stories for Children - The Best Things in Life are Free
CHAPTER
1 How it happened that Master Cherry, carpenter, found a
piece of wood that wept and laughed like a child
He listened for the tiny voice to moan and cry. He waited
two minutes…nothing; five minutes…nothing; ten minutes…nothing.
CHAPTER
2 Master 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
"My legs. And
it may flatter you to know, Master Antonio, that I have come to you to
beg for a favor."
"Who is insulting you?"
When the fight was over, Master Antonio had Geppetto's
yellow wig in his hands and Geppetto found the carpenter's curly wig in
his mouth.
CHAPTER
3 As soon as he gets home, Geppetto fashions the
Marionette and calls it Pinocchio.
The first pranks of the Marionette
"Ugly wooden eyes, why do you stare so?"
The mouth stopped laughing, but it stuck out a long
tongue.
And he wiped away a tear.
Pinocchio saw the Carabiniere
from afar and tried his best to escape between the legs of the big
fellow, but without success.
