Pinocchio's Nose

Old carpenter Geppetto carved a puppet out of wood and named him Pinocchio. The puppet came to life! He ran, he talked, he got up to mischief. Geppetto loved him very much and wanted to send him to school. He sold his coat and bought him a spelling book.

But Pinocchio did not go to school. He sold the book and went to the puppet theater. Then he was taken in by the Fox and the Cat; they said, "Plant your gold coins in the Field of Miracles, and they'll grow into a tree." Pinocchio planted them, and the coins were stolen. He got into trouble and was left in the forest.

The Blue Fairy found him, took him home and put him to bed. "Where are the gold coins?" she asked. Pinocchio said, "I lost them." His nose grew a hand's length. "Where did you lose them?" "In the forest... I mean, I swallowed them!" His nose grew another hand's length. "You swallowed them?" "Yes, by accident!" His nose grew so long that he could not turn around in the room; it went out of the window.

Pinocchio cried: "My nose! What's happening?" The Blue Fairy smiled: "There are lies with short legs, and there are lies with long noses. Yours is the second kind."

Pinocchio cried and cried, and at last he said, "The Fox and the Cat stole the coins, and I lied to you." The Fairy called the woodpeckers; the birds pecked his nose back to its old size.

Did Pinocchio never lie again after that day? He did; children sometimes do. But every time he touched his nose and checked: "Has it grown?" And in the end he became a real boy. How? That is a tale for another night.