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325 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1882





Once upon a time there was a piece of wood. It was not fine wood, but a simple piece of wood from the wood yard, – the kind we put in the stoves and fireplaces so as to make a fire and heat the rooms.
I do not know how it happened, but one beautiful day a certain old woodcutter found a piece of this kind of wood in his shop. The name of the old man was Antonio, but everybody called him Master Cherry on account of the point of his nose, which was always shiny and purplish, just like a ripe cherry.
“…among the trades of the world there is only one that suits my genius.”
‘‘And what trade may that be?”
“That of eating, drinking, sleeping, and amusing myself, and of living, from morning to night, an easy life.”
“Those who live that way,” said the Talking Cricket with his usual calmness, “always end in the hospital or in prison.”
“Take care, bad Cricket of ill omen! If you make me angry I pity you.”
“Poor Pinocchio! you make me pity you.”
“Why do I make you pity me?”
“Because you are a marionette; and, what is worse, you have a wooden head”
At these words Pinocchio jumped up enraged, and taking a hammer from a bench flung it at the Talking Cricket.
“You must know that in the Country of the Owl there is a blessed field called ‘The Field of Miracles.’ You make a little hole in the ground and you put inside, for example, one piece of gold. Then you cover over the hole with a little earth, water it with a few drops of water from a fountain, put on a little salt, and go to bed and sleep quietly. In the meantime, during the night, the gold piece begins to grow and blossom; and the next morning, returning to the field, guess what you find? Why, you find a tree loaded with gold pieces!”
“Bear in mind, simpleton, that boys who stop studying and throw away their books and do nothing but play and amuse themselves will always come to a bad end. I know it, for I have tried it, but I cannot say any more. You will cry some day as I do now, but then it will be too late.”
