Pinocchio

Listen to the story while you read along!

Part 1: The Clockmaker

LONG AGO IN ITALY there lived on old clock-maker named Geppetto. Tick-tick-TOCK! Tick-tick-TOCK! went all the clocks in his shop. When he worked, Geppetto felt happy.

But when he rested, a sad feeling rushed over him. “Ah!” he would think, “all my life and no child to call my own!” 

One day, Geppetto carved a puppet from wood in the shape of a boy.  He connected the arms and legs with string so they could easily move. He cut and sewed a nice outfit for the puppet, as if it were a real boy. "I will call you Pinocchio," said Geppetto.  That night, Geppetto gently lay the wooden puppet onto a bed.  He even gave it a quick kiss to the wooden forehead.

From out of the window, a big star twinkled brightly.  Geppetto leaned out the window and said, looking up, “Bright star, if I could make one wish, it would be for a real boy of my own.” Then he sighed.  Of course he knew that was not possible.

 

Part 2: The Fairy

Later that night, that same big star swooshed right into Geppetto’s room. In a flash, it changed into a Blue Fairy and flew over to the bed.

Gepetto slept, and the Blue Fairy tapped the puppet with her wand.  “Little wooden puppet,” said she, “open your eyes."  The puppet opened its eyes and stared at her.  "Listen," said the Blue Fairy.  "In the morning, you will be able to walk and talk like a real boy.  And if someday you can prove that you are brave and true, you may become a real boy.”

A cricket suddenly appeared, and dressed mighty fine he was, at that.  “One more thing,” said the Blue Fairy, “this fine Cricket will stay with you.  He will help you to make wise choices.”

With that, the Blue Fairy swooshed back out the window and up into the night sky.

When Geppetto woke up the next morning he said, “I will go take my puppet out of bed.” But the bed was empty!

“Here I am, Father!” said Pinocchio from the other side of the room.

But the bed was empty!

Geppetto swung around. “What? You can talk?”

“Yep! I am Pinocchio, your boy!”

“How can this be?” said Geppetto, in shock. Then he thought, “But who cares?” He rushed over and swept the wooden puppet into his arms. “Pinocchio, my son!” he said in great happiness.

 

Part 3: Going to School

One day Pinocchio said, “I want to go to school like the other boys.”

“Of course you do,” said Geppetto gently. He knew he did not have enough money to buy schoolbooks.

Later that day, Geppetto came back home with a stack of schoolbooks. “Now you can go to school,” he said proudly.

“But Father, where is your warm coat?” said Pinocchio.

"Do not worry about that," Geppetto said with a wave of his hand. "What matters is that tomorrow you will go to school.” He did not want Pinocchio to know that he had traded his warm coat to buy the schoolbooks.

The next morning, Pinocchio said good-bye to Geppetto.  He skipped along the path to school, humming as he went. The Cricket rode on his shoulder, happy, too.  Coming up to them on the path was a Fox and a Cat.

“And where are you going on this fine day?” said the Fox.

“I am going to school!” said Pinocchio.

“On such a nice day as this?” said the Fox. “It is too nice to be stuck inside a dark, dreary school! You should come with us, to the fair.”

“Listen to me,” said the Fox, putting his arm around Pinocchio’s shoulder. “Anything you want to learn, you can learn at the fair.”

“Really?” said Pinocchio.

“Take it from me,” said the Fox.

“Pinocchio!" said the Cricket.  "Do not listen to this fox.  He doesn't know what he's talking about!” 

The Fox covered the Cricket with his hat. No one could hear the little fellow's muffled voice as he called out in vain, “Pinocchio, do not listen to him!”

“Okay!” said Pinocchio. "Let's go to the fair!" And off they went. 

 

Part 4: The Fair

The fair inside the gate seemed to be bustling with excitement. In front of the gate stood a man dressed in white. He called out: “Right this way! Get your tickets here!”

With a sad look Pinocchio said to the Fox and Cat, “I do not have a ticket.”

At a table near the gate sat a man would called out, “Hey, you! Sell me those new schoolbooks of yours! They're not worth much, but I can give you enough for a ticket.”

The next thing Pinocchio knew, he had sold his schoolbooks for a ticket.

“Hey, you!  Sell me those new schoolbooks of yours."

“No, Pinocchio, stop!” called the Cricket, who had finally crawled out from under the Fox’s hat. But Pinocchio, the Fox and the Cat did not hear him. The noise was too loud as they were already inside the fair.

On an outdoor stage was a puppet show. “Why, I'm a puppet!" said Pinocchio, "I can dance like that, too!” He jumped right onto the stage and started to dance with the other puppets.

“Look at that new puppet!” someone called. “It has no strings!”

“No strings?” said another. “Amazing!”

Everyone laughed and threw coins onto the stage.

The man who ran the fair saw coins fly onto the stage. “Well, now!” he said, rubbing his chin. “This puppet with no strings will make me rich!”

The next thing Pinocchio knew, he was carted off, thrown in a birdcage, and in the next moment the door to the birdcage was locked shut.

“Well now," he said, rubbing his chin.  "This puppet with no strings will make me rich!"

“Hey, get me out!” called Pinocchio, banging on the birdcage door. But the person who had locked him in rushed out of the room. Only the Cricket could hear Pinocchio's wailing calls. The Cricket could run in and out of the birdcage, but he could not free the lock, no matter how hard he tried.

“I am stuck in here!” cried Pinocchio. "How did this happen to me?"

All of a sudden, poof! There was the Blue Fairy.

“Blue Fairy, please!” said Pinocchio. “Can you help me?”

All of a sudden, poof!  There was the Blue Fairy.

“Maybe,” said the Blue Fairy. “First, tell me something. How did you get inside that cage?”

“Tell her what happened,” said the Cricket.

But could Pinocchio really tell the Blue Fairy what had happened? What would she think of him?

“Um, I was robbed?” said Pinocchio.

“Is that true?” said the Blue Fairy with a frown. Pinocchio’s nose began to grow.

“Yes, robbed!” said Pinocchio. “By two mean men – no, it was four of them!”

His nose grew more.  “They took my books," he continued, getting more excited.  "They made me come here.  And then they threw me into this cage!”  His nose grew longer and longer, until Pinocchio could see nothing in front of his face but one big giant nose.  “Why did my nose grow so long?” Pinocchio cried out.

“Pinocchio!” said the Blue Fairy in a stern voice. “You must know what the truth really is.”

“I guess I just wanted to come to the fair," said Pinocchio.  "I came here with Fox and Cat.”  His nose grew shorter.  “I had to sell my books to get a ticket.”

“Had to?” said the Blue Fairy.

“Had to?" said the Blue Fairy.

“I mean, I wanted to sell my books to get a ticket,” he said.

The nose got shorter still.

“Then someone put me in this cage,” he said.  "I don't know why."

His nose was back to normal. 

“Well done,” said the Blue Fairy. “Now I will get you out of here.”

With one wave of her wand, Pinocchio was out of the cage.

“Here are your books.” The next thing he knew, Pinocchio was holding the same new schoolbooks in his hands again.

“You get a second chance,” said the Blue Fairy. “But know this - you are on your own from now on. Make sure you do the right thing the next time.” And she vanished.

 

Part 5: The Coachman

Pinocchio was back on the road to school.  A Coachman drove up. “Hey kid, how about a ride?”

“No, thank you,” said Pinocchio. “I am going to school.”

“You will ride faster with me,” said the Coachman, thinking, “He'll ride faster all right, but not where he thinks he's going.”

"Alright," said Pinocchio. "I need to get to school right away." 

When Pinocchio was inside the coach, the Coachman said, “Say kid, why do you think boys like you go to school?”

“To learn things,” said Pinocchio. “And to grow up, I guess.  So we can do what we want.”

“What if I told you,” said the Coachman, “that could do what you wanted, right now?”

“What if I told you," said the Coachman, "that you could do what you wanted, right now?"

“Right now?”

“Yep! Think of it. Skip the books. Skip the school. How would you like to have all the candy you can eat!"

"All the candy?"

"Yep.  Ice cream, too.  Every flavor. All this and more, at Pleasure Island.”

“Pleasure Island?”

“Best place in the world for boys!”

“Don’t listen to him, Pinocchio!” shouted the Cricket.

“Why wait?” said the Coachman. “I can take you there.  This is your lucky day, kid. What do you say?”

“Let’s go!” said Pinocchio. “I’m going to Pleasure Island!”

“Augh!” said the Cricket, waving his arms in the air.

 

Part 6: The Island?

After a while, the coach stopped.  A dark stranger walked up to the coach and said in a low voice, “You got a boy in there with you?”

“Yep.” The Coachman grabbed Pinocchio and threw him onto the ground. “He’s all yours. Pay up.”

The Coachman took something (was it money?) from the dark stranger. Then he drove off, piles of dust behind him.

What could this mean? Yet when Pinocchio looked around, he no longer cared. For everything the Coachman had told him was true! Heaps of candy piled about. Tubs of ice cream beckoning him in every flavor. Why, he could eat and eat, and play all day.  None of the boys at Pleasure Island had to work or clean up. There were even cigars if they wanted one, and pool tables to play.

Why, he could eat and eat, and play all day.

Yet after a few days, Pinocchio noticed something was odd. “What happened to all the boys?” he asked the Cricket.  "Where did they go?  And what's with all the donkeys?" 

“I must say, there are a lot of donkeys all of a sudden," agreed the Cricket.

Just then, one of Pinocchio's ears popped into a donkey ear.  His other ear popped into a donkey ear.

“Pinocchio!” cried the Cricket. “What's happening?”

“I don’t know - HONK!” Pinocchio brayed.

Pinocchio and the Cricket saw a line of donkeys led by a dark stranger onto a truck. “Oh, no!” said the Cricket. “I get it! Somehow boys get turned into donkeys here. Then the donkeys get sold off, who knows where! Pinocchio, we have to get you out of here, fast - while we still can!”

“Let’s go – HONK!” Pinocchio said in a very hoarse voice. His two feet popped into four donkey feet.

“Run, quick!” said the Cricket. One good thing about Pinocchio’s new four legs is he could run much faster! Quickly, they ran out of Pleasure Island. Soon they were at a dock by the ocean.

“Please sir!” Pinocchio called out to a man by the dock. “I am looking for an old man named Geppetto. Do you know him? – HONK!”

“Run, quick!" said the Cricket.

“Sounds like you are getting a bad cold,” said the man. “Hmm, Geppetto. Isn't that the old man whose son left one morning and didn't come back? I'm pretty sure he went out on a boat to look for him. Yep, sure I am about it,.  No one's seen the poor fellow since.”

“Oh no! This is all my fault – HONK!” said Pinocchio. “I must look for my father!” Pinocchio jumped off the dock into the ocean. The Cricket jumped in, too, close behind.

Most of Pinocchio was still made of wood, so he could float on the ocean. “Father!” he called out, paddling the water with his arms. “Father!” No answer.

“Father!" he called out, paddling the water with his arms.  

All Pinocchio could see around him was blue water, everywhere. Until – what was that, far away? Something was rushing up toward him. Something very big, and very fast!

In a moment, a giant whale was upon them. It opened its giant jaws and with one gulp, swallowed Pinocchio and the Cricket!

When Pinocchio and the Cricket tumbled to a stop, they saw that they were in the dark belly of the whale.

 

Part 7: The Whale

“Hello?” said a voice of an old man.

“Wait a minute,” said Pinocchio. “Father, is that you?”

"Pinocchio?" said the clock-maker in disbelief.

“Father, Father, it’s me!” said Pinocchio, full of wonder.

“My son!” said Geppetto. “I thought I was dreaming!”

They hugged in joy.

They hugged in joy.

“Look!” said Geppetto as three fish swam by. “There goes our dinner!”

“Father, I have an idea!" said Pinocchio.  "Let’s make a fire.”

“Grilled fish?” said Geppetto.

“No, I mean a way for us to get out!” said Pinocchio. He gathered driftwood and started a flame. “This is how we can make the whale sneeze!” he said. Pinocchio waved his arms over the flame to make a lot of smoke. Soon, clouds of black smoke were billowing up.

The whale gave a cough. “Hang on!” said Pinocchio. And then… WHAM!! In one big sneeze, Pinocchio, Geppetto and the Cricket flew out of the whale’s mouth. Rolling over and over in the sea water, at last they rolled up onto the shore.

“Hang on!" said Pinocchio.  And then... WHAM!!

Geppetto rose to his feet. "Pinocchio?"  The Cricket was there on the sand.  But where was Pinocchio?

Then they found him. Pinocchio was face down, his head in a puddle.

“Pinocchio!!”

They were too late! Geppetto and the Cricket wept over Pinocchio, the boy puppet, who lay motionless in the water.

Then in a flash, who was there but the Blue Fairy!

“Pinocchio,” she said gently. “You saved your father. You proved that you are both brave and true.” She tapped his head with her wand. “And now you will be a real boy.”

Pinocchio woke up.  He looked at his soft arms and soft legs and touched them.

“Father!” he cried out. “Look! I am not made of wood anymore.  I'm a real boy!”

“That you are!” cried Geppetto.

The Blue Fairy turned to the Cricket. “Our work is done,” she said. In a flash, the two of them had vanished.

And so Geppetto and Pinocchio lived many long and happy years together.

 

end

Posted in Bedtime Stories, STORIES FOR KIDS.

40 Comments

  6. Me and my son Finley-Eric read this wonderful story on 13/5/2020. We really enjoyed it and we’re going read a lot more. Thank you.

  8. My 3 year old is in LOVE with how she tells the stories and is intrigued to know what happens next when they show the art. I have to tell her to be patient and we will find out.. She usually falls asleep before the end.

  15. The story is about a fathers love for his miracle Son. I have a 3 week old Son and he is a real life miracle… his mother had little chance of conceiving. And he is a healthy happy baby. Im 35 and began to doubt on fathers day last year if Id ever become a father myself… little did I know his mother was 4 weeks pregnant. I just read this to my nephew for bedtime and I have always loved this story. It means so much more now ?

  20. I liked this story because when he was in trouble the fairy and the cricket would be there for him and also because he saved his father.

  27. I feel the story is telling us that if we hope and believe that we can be what we want to be.we learn that our parents have faith in us and forgive us for wrong doings. That they would do anything for us. By being honest and true to ourselfs we can reap the rewards. As saying goes tell the truth and shame the devil. Oh and how he saved his father he saved himself also.

  28. Everyone makes mistakes. And everyone has their own choices changing their life that they can learn and grow from. But they can realize how lucky they are when they have that chance. It totally belongs to how brave and true they are… In my opinion, the story is trying to show that first, we should listen to what our parents who love us unconditionally tell and teach us everyday which we always skip. Second, just to be honest, kind and brave. And what goes around, comes around :)

    Thanks much for reading. Hope you have a happy day ^^

  31. I read this to my brother for a bed time story but he didn’t want to fall asleep he told me to keep on reading! This was an amazing story.

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