by C. Collodi [Pseudonym of Carlo Lorenzini] Translated from the Italian by Carol Della Chiesa CHAPTER 1 How it 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 ...Read More

CHAPTER 2 Mastro Cherry gives the piece of wood to his friend Geppetto, who takes it to make himself 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,* on account of the wig he always wore which was just the color of yellow corn. ...Read More

CHAPTER 3 As soon as he gets home, Geppetto fashions the Marionette and calls it Pinocchio. The first pranks 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 ...Read More

CHAPTER 4 The story of Pinocchio and the Talking Cricket, in which one sees that bad children do not 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. ...Read More

CHAPTER 5 Pinocchio is hungry and looks for an egg to cook himself an omelet; but, to his surprise, 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 ...Read More

CHAPTER 6 Pinocchio falls asleep with his feet on a foot warmer, and awakens the next day with his 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 ...Read More

CHAPTER 7 Geppetto returns home and gives his own breakfast to the Marionette The poor Marionette, who was still 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,” ...Read More

CHAPTER 8 Geppetto makes Pinocchio a new pair of feet, and sells his coat to buy him an A-B-C 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 ...Read More

CHAPTER 9 Pinocchio sells his A-B-C book to pay his way into the Marionette Theater. See Pinocchio hurrying off 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 ...Read More

CHAPTER 10 The Marionettes recognize their brother Pinocchio, and greet him with loud cheers; but the Director, Fire Eater, 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. 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 ...Read More

CHAPTER 11 Fire Eater sneezes and forgives Pinocchio, who saves his friend, Harlequin, from death. In the theater, great 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 ...Read More

CHAPTER 12 Fire Eater gives Pinocchio five gold pieces for his father, Geppetto; but the Marionette meets a Fox 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 ...Read More

CHAPTER 13 The Inn of the Red Lobster Cat and Fox and Marionette walked and walked and walked. At 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 ...Read More

CHAPTER 14 Pinocchio, not having listened to the good advice of the Talking Cricket, falls into the hands of 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 ...Read More

CHAPTER 15 The Assassins chase Pinocchio, catch him, and hang him to the branch of a giant oak tree. 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 ...Read More

CHAPTER 16 The Lovely Maiden with Azure Hair sends for the poor Marionette, puts him to bed, and calls 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 ...Read More

CHAPTER 17 Pinocchio eats sugar, but refuses to take medicine. When the undertakers come for him, he drinks the 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.” ...Read More

CHAPTER 18 Pinocchio finds the Fox and the Cat again, and goes with them to sow the gold pieces 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 ...Read More

CHAPTER 19 Pinocchio is robbed of his gold pieces and, in punishment, is sentenced to four months in prison. 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? ...Read More

CHAPTER 20 Freed from prison, Pinocchio sets out to return to the Fairy; but on the way he meets 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 ...Read More

CHAPTER 21 Pinocchio is caught by a Farmer, who uses him as a watchdog for his chicken coop. Pinocchio, 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 ...Read More

CHAPTER 22 Pinocchio discovers the thieves and, as a reward for faithfulness, he regains his liberty. Even though a 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 ...Read More

CHAPTER 23 Pinocchio weeps upon learning that the Lovely Maiden with Azure Hair is dead. He meets a Pigeon, 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 ...Read More

CHAPTER 24 Pinocchio reaches the Island of the Busy Bees and finds the Fairy once more. Pinocchio, spurred on 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 ...Read More

CHAPTER 25 Pinocchio promises the Fairy to be good and to study, as he is growing tired of being 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 ...Read More

CHAPTER 26 Pinocchio goes to the seashore with his friends to see the Terrible Shark. In the morning, bright 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. For a while Pinocchio was very calm and quiet. Finally, however, he lost all patience and ...Read More

CHAPTER 27 The great battle between Pinocchio and his playmates. One is wounded. Pinocchio is arrested. Going like the 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 ...Read More

CHAPTER 28 Pinocchio runs the danger of being fried in a pan like a fish During that wild chase, 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, ...Read More

CHAPTER 29 Pinocchio returns to the Fairy’s house and she promises him that, on the morrow, he will cease 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 ...Read More

CHAPTER 30 Pinocchio, instead of becoming a boy, runs away to the Land of Toys with his friend, Lamp-Wick. 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 ...Read More

CHAPTER 31 After five months of play, Pinocchio wakes up one fine morning and finds a great surprise awaiting 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. The strangest thing of all was that those twenty-four donkeys, instead of being iron-shod like any other beast of ...Read More

CHAPTER 32 Pinocchio’s ears become like those of a Donkey. In a little while he changes into a real 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, ...Read More

CHAPTER 33 Pinocchio, having become a Donkey, is bought by the owner of a Circus, who wants to teach 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 ...Read More

CHAPTER 34 Pinocchio is thrown into the sea, eaten by fishes, and becomes a Marionette once more. As he 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 ...Read More

CHAPTER 35 In the Shark’s body Pinocchio finds whom? Read this chapter, my children, and you will know. Pinocchio, 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 ...Read More

CHAPTER 36 Pinocchio finally ceases to be a Marionette and becomes a boy “My dear Father, we are saved!” 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: ...Read More