How it happened that Mastro Cherry, carpenter,found a piece of wood that wept and laughed like a childCenturies ago there lived--"A king!" my little readers will say immediately.

No, children, you are mistaken. Once upon a timethere was a piece of wood. It was not an expensive pieceof wood. Far from it. Just a common block of firewood,one of those thick, solid logs that are put on the fire inwinter to make cold rooms cozy and warm.

I do not know how this really happened, yet the factremains that one fine day this piece of wood found itselfin the shop of an old carpenter. His real name wasMastro Antonio, but everyone called him Mastro Cherry,for the tip of his nose was so round and red and shinythat it looked like a ripe cherry.

As soon as he saw that piece of wood, Mastro Cherrywas 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 tomake the leg of a table."He grasped the hatchet quickly to peel off the bark andshape the wood. But as he was about to give it the firstblow, he stood still with arm uplifted, for he had heard awee, little voice say in a beseeching tone: "Please be careful!

Do not hit me so hard!"What a look of surprise shone on Mastro Cherry'sface! His funny face became still funnier.

He turned frightened eyes about the room to find outwhere that wee, little voice had come from and he sawno one! He looked under the bench--no one! He peepedinside the closet--no one! He searched among the shavings--no one! He opened the door to look up and downthe 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 tinyvoice 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.

Mastro Cherry grew dumb, his eyes popped out of hishead, his mouth opened wide, and his tongue hung downon 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 noone around? Might it be that this piece of wood haslearned to weep and cry like a child? I can hardlybelieve it. Here it is--a piece of common firewood, goodonly 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 handsand started to knock it about unmercifully. He threw itto the floor, against the walls of the room, and even upto the ceiling.

He listened for the tiny voice to moan and cry.

He waited two minutes--nothing; five minutes--nothing;ten minutes--nothing.

"Oh, I see," he said, trying bravely to laugh andruffling up his wig with his hand. "It can easily be seenI only imagined I heard the tiny voice! Well, well--towork once more!"The poor fellow was scared half to death, so he triedto sing a gay song in order to gain courage.

He set aside the hatchet and picked up the plane tomake the wood smooth and even, but as he drew it toand fro, he heard the same tiny voice. This time it giggledas it spoke:

"Stop it! Oh, stop it! Ha, ha, ha! You tickle my stomach."This time poor Mastro Cherry fell as if shot. Whenhe opened his eyes, he found himself sitting on the floor.

His face had changed; fright had turned even the tip ofhis nose from red to deepest purple.

Mastro Cherry gives the piece of wood to his friend Geppetto,who takes it to make himself a Marionette that will dance,fence, and turn somersaultsIn that very instant, a loud knock sounded on the door.

"Come in," said the carpenter, not having an atom ofstrength left with which to stand up.

At the words, the door opened and a dapper little oldman came in. His name was Geppetto, but to the boys ofthe neighborhood he was Polendina,[1] on account of thewig he always wore which was just the color of yellow corn.

[1] Cornmeal mush Geppetto had a very bad temper. Woe to the one whocalled him Polendina! He became as wild as a beast andno one could soothe him.

"Good day, Mastro Antonio," said Geppetto. "Whatare 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?""My legs. And it may flatter you to know, MastroAntonio, that I have come to you to beg for a favor.""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 woodenMarionette. It must be wonderful, one that will be able todance, fence, and turn somersaults. With it I intend to goaround the world, to earn my crust of bread and cup ofwine. What do you think of it?""Bravo, Polendina!" cried the same tiny voice whichcame from no one knew where.

On hearing himself called Polendina, Mastro Geppettoturned the color of a red pepper and, facing the carpenter,said to him angrily:

"Why do you insult me?""Who is insulting you?""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 moment, they went fromwords to blows, and finally began to scratch and bite andslap each other.

When the fight was over, Mastro Antonio had Geppetto'syellow wig in his hands and Geppetto found the carpenter'scurly wig in his mouth.

"Give me back my wig!" shouted Mastro Antonio in a surly voice.

"You return mine and we'll be friends."The two little old men, each with his own wig back onhis own head, shook hands and swore to be good friendsfor the rest of their lives.

"Well then, Mastro Geppetto," said the carpenter, toshow 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?"Mastro Antonio, very glad indeed, went immediatelyto his bench to get the piece of wood which had frightenedhim so much. But as he was about to give it to his friend,with a violent jerk it slipped out of his hands and hitagainst poor Geppetto's thin legs.

"Ah! Is this the gentle way, Mastro Antonio, in whichyou 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 uponthe carpenter. Then and there they gave each other asound thrashing.

After this fight, Mastro Antonio had two more scratcheson his nose, and Geppetto had two buttons missing fromhis coat. Thus having settled their accounts, they shookhands and swore to be good friends for the rest of their lives.

Then Geppetto took the fine piece of wood,thanked Mastro Antonio, and limped away toward home.

As soon as he gets home, Geppetto fashions the Marionetteand calls it Pinocchio. The first pranks of the MarionetteLittle as Geppetto's house was, it was neat andcomfortable. It was a small room on the ground floor, with a tiny window under the stairway. The furniture could nothave been much simpler: a very old chair, a rickety oldbed, and a tumble-down table. A fireplace full of burninglogs was painted on the wall opposite the door. Over thefire, there was painted a pot full of something which keptboiling happily away and sending up clouds of what lookedlike real steam.

As soon as he reached home, Geppetto took his toolsand began to cut and shape the wood into a Marionette.

"What shall I call him?" he said to himself. "I thinkI'll call him PINOCCHIO. This name will make his fortune.

I knew a whole family of Pinocchi once--Pinocchio thefather, Pinocchia the mother, and Pinocchi the children--and they were all lucky. The richest of them begged forhis living."After choosing the name for his Marionette, Geppettoset seriously to work to make the hair, the forehead, theeyes. Fancy his surprise when he noticed that these eyesmoved and then stared fixedly at him. Geppetto, seeingthis, felt insulted and said in a grieved tone:

"Ugly wooden eyes, why do you stare so?"There was no answer.

After the eyes, Geppetto made the nose, which beganto stretch as soon as finished. It stretched and stretchedand 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. Indespair he let it alone.

Next he made the mouth.

No sooner was it finished than it began to laugh andpoke fun at him.

"Stop laughing!" said Geppetto angrily; but he mightas well have spoken to the wall.

"Stop laughing, I say!" he roared in a voice of thunder.

The mouth stopped laughing, but it stuck out a long tongue.

Not wishing to start an argument, Geppetto madebelieve he saw nothing and went on with his work.

After the mouth, he made the chin, then the neck, theshoulders, the stomach, the arms, and the hands.

As he was about to put the last touches on the fingertips, Geppetto felt his wig being pulled off. He glancedup and what did he see? His yellow wig was in the Marionette'shand. "Pinocchio, give me my wig!"But instead of giving it back, Pinocchio put it on hisown head, which was half swallowed up in it.

At that unexpected trick, Geppetto became very sadand downcast, more so than he had ever been before.

"Pinocchio, you wicked boy!" he cried out. "You arenot yet finished, and you start out by being impudent toyour poor old father. Very bad, my son, very bad!"And he wiped away a tear.

The legs and feet still had to be made. As soon as theywere done, Geppetto felt a sharp kick on the tip of his nose.

"I deserve it!" he said to himself. "I should have thoughtof this before I made him. Now it's too late!"He took hold of the Marionette under the arms and puthim on the floor to teach him to walk.

Pinocchio's legs were so stiff that he could not movethem, and Geppetto held his hand and showed him how toput out one foot after the other.

When his legs were limbered up, Pinocchio startedwalking by himself and ran all around the room. He cameto the open door, and with one leap he was out into thestreet. Away he flew!

Poor Geppetto ran after him but was unable to catchhim, for Pinocchio ran in leaps and bounds, his twowooden 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 Marionetterunning like the wind, stood still to stare and to laughuntil they cried.

At last, by sheer luck, a Carabineer[2] happenedalong, who, hearing all that noise, thought that it mightbe a runaway colt, and stood bravely in the middle of the street, with legs wide apart, firmly resolved to stop it andprevent any trouble.

[2] A military policemanPinocchio saw the Carabineer from afar and tried hisbest to escape between the legs of the big fellow, butwithout success.

The Carabineer grabbed him by the nose (it was anextremely long one and seemed made on purpose for thatvery thing) and returned him to Mastro Geppetto.

The little old man wanted to pull Pinocchio's ears.

Think how he felt when, upon searching for them, hediscovered that he had forgotten to make them!

All he could do was to seize Pinocchio by the back ofthe neck and take him home. As he was doing so, he shookhim 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 groundand refused to take another step. One person after anothergathered around the two.

Some said one thing, some another.

"Poor Marionette," called out a man. "I am notsurprised 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, "butwith boys he's a real tyrant. If we leave that poorMarionette in his hands he may tear him to pieces!"They said so much that, finally, the Carabineer endedmatters by setting Pinocchio at liberty and draggingGeppetto to prison. The poor old fellow did not know how todefend himself, but wept and wailed like a child and saidbetween his sobs:

"Ungrateful boy! To think I tried so hard to make youa well-behaved Marionette! I deserve it, however! I shouldhave given the matter more thought."What happened after this is an almost unbelievablestory, but you may read it, dear children, in the chaptersthat follow.