The Velveteen Rabbit & Other Stories - Margery Williams [9]
The next morning, Pinocchio was on his way to school when he heard the laughter of a crowd and the beating of drums. He turned from the path to school and followed the noise to a puppet theater. Pinocchio wanted to see the show, but admission was ten cents! And although he promised Geppetto that he would be a good boy, Pinocchio traded his schoolbook for ten cents and went inside! The showman of the theater heard Pinocchio’s story about Geppetto’s sacrifice and said, “Here are five gold pieces. Go at once and take them to him with my compliments.” Pinocchio was overjoyed and thanked the showman a thousand times. On his way back home, the puppet made the mistake of mentioning his newfound riches to Fox and Cat, an unscrupulous pair he met along the path. They chased Pinocchio through the woods, intent on robbing him, until he came to a house where a lovely Fairy with blue hair lived. There he rested in safety, and presently the Fairy came to visit with him. Pinocchio told her his story.
“Where are the gold pieces now?” she asked.
“I lost them!” the puppet lied. Suddenly, his nose grew two inches longer!
The Fairy asked, “Where did you lose them?”
“In the woods,” he answered. At this second lie, his nose grew even more.
“Then we shall find them,” the Fairy said. Pinocchio became afraid and stammered, “I mean that I swallowed them!” And his nose grew so long that the Fairy laughed at the sight. Pinocchio was so ashamed that he began to cry. After a while, the Fairy clapped her hands and one thousand woodpeckers came through the window and landed on his nose. They pecked at it until his nose was reduced to a normal size. Pinocchio was overjoyed! He thanked the Fairy and once more started on the path back to Geppetto’s house. Again, he was interrupted on his journey, but this time a kind pigeon told him that Geppetto had gone to the seashore to sail to distant lands and find Pinocchio.
Hearing this, Pinocchio felt saddened and guilty. He resolved again to behave and set out for the seashore. However, his lazy and idle nature got him into trouble yet again. He met a boy named Candlewick, who told him of a wonderful land just for boys. “There are no schools, no books, and the week consists of six Saturdays and one Sunday. The boys play from morning to night. That is the country for me! Why don’t you come, too?”
Pinocchio said no again and again, but when the coach arrived to take Candlewick to the wonderful land, he could not resist jumping on. Once there, he forgot about Geppetto and the Fairy and spent months playing and making mischief. One day, he woke up and looked in the mirror to find that he had grown donkey ears! He had caught donkey fever because he had been so idle, and soon he would become a whole donkey. The coachman who brought the boys to the land waited for each one to become a donkey, and then he sold them off to be used for work. He lured new boys with the promise of idleness and fun and now was rich from his evil scheme.
Within hours, Pinocchio was a full donkey and could only bray his sadness. He was quickly sold to a man who brought him to his home close to the seashore. Once there, Pinocchio ran away into the ocean and found that the water transformed him back into a puppet! Delighted, he swam away from his angry owner, farther into the sea.
Suddenly, he was swallowed by a giant fish! Pinocchio was not hurt, but it was dark and frightening inside the fish. Far away, he spied a light. He went toward it and was surprised to find Geppetto, sitting at a candlelit table, eating a small fish! He, too, had been swallowed by the giant fish but could not escape because he didn’t know how to swim. They