Pinocchio

Once upon a time, therev was a piece of wood which was found by Gepetto, a carpenter. Gepetto thought that it was not an ordinary piece of wood, so he decided to make a beautiful puppet that ould walk, talk, dance, and leap like an acrobat. He rushed home and begun to carve it. As he carved it, the wood seemed to change by itself and in no time there was a puppet-looking wooden boy that could move, talk and even run away like a naughty boy. Gepetto named it pinocchio.

Pinocchio was very michievous. He teased Gepetto by hiding his tools, spilling his glue, mixing paints with his porridge. One day a large cricket appeared who lived on the walland introduced himself as the Talking Cricket. He asked Pinocchio to be good and behave himself or he would be in great trouble. Pinocchio did not want to listen to his advise and threw a hammer at him. When the cricket had left, Pinocchio thought about the advise he had given.

Pinocchio decided to be like a real boyand he told Gepetto that he wanted to go to school. Gepetto was
very poor. He sold his only coat to buy a book for Pinocchio. Pinocchio
set off for the school. He had only gone a short distance when he saw a puppet theatre. He sold his books to buy a ticket for the show. Inside the theatre he was surprised to see that the actors, like him, were made of wood, although they were moved by strings.

Pinocchio was very excited and climbed onto the stage. The audience shouted for him to join the show. The owner of the theatre was amazed at the way Pinocchio was able to amuse the audience. He threatened to chop Pinocchio up for firewood, for causing a disturbance, but Pinocchio begged for mercy and told how he had come to buy back the book. Pinocchio thanked the owner  and set off for his home.

On the way, he met an injured Fox and a blind Cat. Knowing that Pinocchio had Gold coins, they pretended to be his friends. They had dinner with Pinocchio and went to bed. While Pinocchio slept, the Fox and the Cat, who are not really blind or injured, worked out a plan to rob his coins. But he held the coins in his mouth between his tightly clenched teeth. They tried again and again to take out the coins from his mouth, but in vain. So, they hung Pinoocchio from a high branch and left him there to die.

The tree was an old one and soon the branch broke under Pinocchio's struggle and he fell to the ground with a bump. When he awoke, Pinocchio found himself in a soft bed, at the end of which was sitting a lovely fairy. The fairy said "Pinocchio, take the gold coins to your father."
"I lost them," lied Pinocchio and his nose grew longer. The Fairy begun to laugh. "Why are you laughing?" asked Pinocchio.
"I am laughing at the lie that you dare to tell me." He was ashamed and he told the truth, his nose went back to its normal size. Pinocchio promised not to tell a lie and started for home to find Gepetto.

Pinocchio had only walked a short way when once again he met the Fox and Cat. Since there previous plan had failed, they urged him to plant his gold coins in a field.
"Pinocchio, would you like to make a thousand coins from your gold coins? There is a magic field, at the end of  the Ninnies. If you plant your coins there, you will find a tree laden with thousands of coins," explained the Fox. "Let's go there immediately!" exclaimed the greedy Pinocchio. While he slept, they dug up the gold coins and disappeared.

Penniless and alone, Pinocchio started for home again, but he could not find Gepetto. He thought of returning to the Fairy's house. He came to grave and on the headstone he read that it was the Fairy who was buried there. "Why do the good and kind have to die, while I, who is so wicked do not?" When the Fairy heard his cries, she came out from her hiding place and called him. The Fairy was not really dead, but was only listening to Pinocchio to see if he had changed his ways.

"Pinocchio, do you know how your naughtiness hurt the people who love you?" "Oh, I do," Pinocchio surprised asked. "I promise you that I shall never again be so wicked. One day I may be a real boy." He had made up his mind to change his ways. So he started to go to school and for a while he worked hard and well. He stayed at his desk while other boys went to play outside. He always thought of the most exiting things to do.

One day, Pinocchio met someone naughty boys who persuaded him to go to the land of play where they could enjoy themselves as much as they wanted. What neither he nor the boys realized was that without rules or work without discipline or helping others, we all become stupid and selfish - and this is what happened to Pinocchio and the boys. Pinocchio had become a donkey and was sold to a circus. He was thrown into the sea because he could not jump through a hoop. As he hit the cold water, he felt himself turning back from a donkey into a wooden puppet.

Pinocchio ran away from there and frantically began to swim towards a rock. "Sweet Fairy, save me again!" he whispered. Suddenly the fairy appeared and said, "Pinocchio, I have just seen Gepetto. He is building a boat to travel across the sea, in reach of you." The Fairy changed herself into a bird. Pinocchio sat on the back of the bird and they flew towards the boat. Gepetto had already reached the open sea, and Pinocchio watched in horror as a wave larger than any of the others, tipped the frail little boat on its side. The boat sank and Gepetto did not reappear.

"I fear that your father has been swallowed by a whale," said that bird. Frightened by these words, Pinocchio lost his balance and fell into the sea. The terrible whale headed straight for Pinocchio and swallowed him. At the end of a tunnel, he found his father sitting there exhausted. Hugging Pinocchio and laughing through his tears Gepetto told how he had built the boat in order to search for him. 

Now we must try to escape. Let us wait until the whale dozes on the surface in the afternoon sun - for he is old and snores with his mouth open," said Gepetto.

Pinocchio caught Gepetto's arm and while the whale slept and snored near the shore with his mouth open, Pinocchio led Gepetto's up the whale's throat, climbed through his terrible teeth and jumped into the sea. Pinocchio took Gepetto on his back and swan strongly to the land, to their freedom. They began the long journey for home. Once again, on the way, the Cat and Fox met again, but Pinocchio and Gepetto passed by without paying attention to them. Now, they were truly blind and injured.

Now, Pinocchio had become more considerate he spent his days studying, cooking meals and cleaning the house. He looked after Gepetto tenderly as good son should. He was  never rude or thoughtless. One night, Pinocchio dreamt that the lovely fairy with the blue hair was nearby and the cricket came to visit him. The fairy spoke to him, "Well done, Pinocchio. You are now ready for your reward, "the cricket reminded him that boys who behave himself and tell the truth and their parents become wise. He was no longer a puppet, but a real boy.

The End