Pinocchio's First Day

Long ago, in a small village in Italy, there was a piece of firewood. It was nothing special, just an ordinary log of the sort you put on the fire in winter. One morning the log ended up in the workshop of a carpenter called Master Antonio. Everyone called him Master Cherry, because the tip of his nose was round and red and shiny as a ripe cherry. ”This one is just right for a table leg,” he said, lifting the hatchet. But just as he was about to strike, he heard a tiny little voice plead, ”Please be careful! Do not hit me so hard!”

Master Cherry looked everywhere. Under the bench? No one. In the cupboard? No one. Among the shavings? No one. He shook his head and began to plane the wood. Then the same voice giggled, ”Stop! You tickle my stomach!” Master Cherry sat down hard on the floor, half scared to death. At that very moment someone knocked at the door. It was his old friend Geppetto, who had come to ask for a piece of wood. He wanted to carve himself a marionette that could dance and fence and turn somersaults, and travel the world with it. Master Cherry gave him the strange log right away, and was only glad to be rid of it.

Geppetto lived in a tiny room on the ground floor, with one old chair, a rickety bed, and a wobbly table. On the wall opposite the door, a fireplace had been painted, and above it a pot, so that the painted steam almost looked real. But there was no real fire, and no real food either. Geppetto took out his tools and at once began to carve. ”What shall I call you?” he murmured. ”I think I shall call you Pinocchio. That name will bring you luck.” Then he carved the hair, the forehead, and the eyes. As soon as the eyes were finished, they moved and stared straight at him.

Then Geppetto carved the nose. No sooner was it finished than it started to grow. It stretched and stretched and stretched until it was so long that it seemed to have no end. Geppetto kept cutting and cutting, but the more he cut, the longer the nose became. At last he gave up. Then he carved the mouth, and the mouth began at once to laugh at him and stick out its tongue. Geppetto sighed and went on: the chin, the neck, the shoulders, the stomach, the arms, the hands. And just as he was putting the last touches on the fingertips, he felt someone snatch the wig from his head. Pinocchio held it up in the air, triumphant.