Once in a Small village there lived a loney woodcutter named Geppetto--who always dreamed of having a little boy of his own. So one day he carved a pupper from a piece of wood and named him Pinocchio.When the little puppet magically comes to life it’s a dream come true. Except Pinocchio turns out to be not such a nice little boy after all! In fact, Pinocchio enjoys playing tricks on people and getting into mischief and telling lies. For Pinocchio playing and loafing is much more fun than working or studying or going to school.
But as Pinocchio discovers, boys who spend all their time having fun earn nothing but trouble!
Originally written as a serial, the thirty-six chapters in Pinocchio are each an individual adventure in the life of a good-hearted but misguided puppet. Author Carlo Collodi is able to take liberties with a character carved from wood that he perhaps would not in a story about a real boy and his father. But astory about a well-intentioned, if easily influenced, puppet leaves us far enough removed from the action to be able to laugh at Pinocchio’s antics, yet sympathize with his all-too-real feelings. The author invokes universal truths, making it easy for us to identify our own failings in Pinoechio’s actions. Far from being the story popularized in animated film and illustrated books for young children, the original Pinocchio, as translated from the Italian, opens with a carpenter about to make a table leg from a piece of ordinary wood. When he approaches the wood with an axe, the wood cries out to him. Geppetto, a destitute puppet maker, calls on the carpenter about this time, seeking a piece of wood from which to carve a new puppet. Fueled by wisecracks from the innocuous-looking piece of wood, the two end up in a terrible fight. The carpenter gives the haunted piece of wood to Geppetto, who takes it home and begins to carve the puppet he fancies will make him rich and famous. It is the strangest carving experience he’s ever had...
