You may invite your friends to tomorrow’s party. Only remember to return home before dark.”
”I’ll be back in one hour without fail,” answered Pinocchio.
”Take care! Boys give promises very easily, but they as easily forget them.”
”But I am not like those others. When I give my word I keep it.”
”We shall see. If you disobey, you will be the one to suffer.”
”Why?”
”Because boys who do not listen to their elders always come to grief.”
Pinocchio bid farewell to the good Fairy and left the house. In a little more than an hour, all his friends were invited. Some accepted quickly and gladly. Others had to be coaxed, but they all ended by accepting the invitation with the words, ”We’ll come to please you.”
Among all his friends, Pinocchio had one whom he loved most of all. The boy’s real name was Romeo, but everyone called him Lamp-Wick, for he was long and thin. Lamp-Wick was the laziest boy in the school and the biggest mischief-maker, but Pinocchio loved him dearly. He went to his friend’s house to invite him to the party, but Lamp-Wick was not at home. He went a second time and a third, but still without success.
Pinocchio searched everywhere, and finally discovered him hiding near a farmer’s wagon.
”What are you doing there?” asked Pinocchio, running up to him.
”I am waiting for midnight to strike to go…”
”Where?”
”Far, far away!”
”And I went to your house three times to look for you!”
”What did you want from me?”
”Tomorrow I end my days as a marionette and become a boy, like you and all my other friends.”
”May it bring you luck!”
”Shall I see you at my party tomorrow?”
”But I’m telling you that I go tonight.”
”And where are you going?”
”To a real country — the best in the world — a wonderful place!”
”What is it called?”
”It is called the Land of Toys. Why don’t you come, too?”
”I? Oh, no!”
”Believe me, if you don’t come, you’ll be sorry. Where can you find a place that will agree better with you and me? No schools, no teachers, no books! There is no such thing as study. In the Land of Toys, vacation begins on the first of January and ends on the last day of December. That is the place for me! All countries should be like it! How happy we should all be!”
”But how does one spend the day in the Land of Toys?”
”Days are spent in play and enjoyment from morn till night. At night one goes to bed, and next morning, the good times begin all over again. What do you think of it?”
”Hmm…!” said Pinocchio, nodding his wooden head, as if to say, ”It’s the kind of life which would agree with me perfectly.”
”Do you want to go with me, then?”
”No, no and again no! I have promised my kind Fairy to become a good boy, and I want to keep my word. Goodbye and good luck to you!”
”Where are you going in such a hurry?”
”Home. My good Fairy wants me to return home before night.”
”Wait two minutes more.”
”It’s too late!”
”Only two minutes.”
”And if the Fairy scolds me?”
”Let her scold. After she gets tired, she will stop,” said Lamp-Wick.
”Are you going alone or with others?”
”There will be more than a hundred of us! At midnight the wagon passes here that is to take us within the boundaries of that marvellous country.”
”How I wish midnight would strike!”
”Why?”
”To see you all set out together.”
”Stay here a while longer and you will see us!”
”I have waited too long as it is. The Fairy will be worried.”
”Poor Fairy! Is she afraid the bats will eat you up?”
”Listen, Lamp-Wick,” said Pinocchio, ”are you really sure that there are no schools in the Land of Toys?”
”Not even the shadow of one.”
”Not even one teacher?”
”Not one.”
”And one does not have to study?”
”Never, never, never!”
”What a great land!” said Pinocchio, feeling his mouth water. ”I have never been there, but I can well imagine it.”
”Why don’t you come, too?”
”I told you I promised my good Fairy to behave myself, and I am going to keep my word.”
”Goodbye, then, and remember me to the high schools and to the colleges if you meet them on the way.”
”Goodbye, Lamp-Wick. Have a pleasant trip, enjoy yourself, and remember your friends once in a while.”
Pinocchio started on his way home. Turning once more to his friend, he asked: ”Are you sure that, in that country, vacation begins on the first of January and ends on the thirty-first of December?”
”Very, very sure!”
”What a great country!” repeated Pinocchio, puzzled as to what to do. Then, in sudden determination, he said hurriedly: ”Goodbye for the last time, and good luck.”
”Goodbye.”
”How soon will you go?”
”Within two hours.”
”What a pity! If it were only one hour, I might wait for you.”
”And the Fairy?”
”By this time I’m late, and one hour more or less makes very little difference.”
”Poor Pinocchio! And if the Fairy scolds you?”
”Oh, I’ll let her scold. After she gets tired, she will stop.”
In the meantime, the night became darker and darker. All at once in the distance a small light flickered. A queer sound could be heard, soft as a little bell, and faint and muffled.
”There it is!” cried Lamp-Wick, jumping to his feet.
”What?” whispered Pinocchio.
”The wagon which is coming to get me. Are you coming or not?”
”But is it really true that in that country boys never have to study?”
”Never, never, never!”
”What a wonderful, beautiful, marvellous country!”
Finally the wagon arrived. It made no noise, for its wheels were bound with straw and rags.
It was drawn by twelve pairs of donkeys, all of the same size, but all of different colour. Some were gray, others white, and still others a mixture of brown and black. Here and there were a few with large yellow and blue stripes. But the strangest thing was that the donkeys had on their feet laced shoes made of leather.
And the driver of the wagon? Imagine a little, fat man, round and shiny, with a face beaming like an apple, a little mouth that always smiled, and a voice small and wheedling like that of a cat begging for food.
No sooner did any boy see him than he fell in love with him, and nothing satisfied him but to be allowed to ride in his wagon to that lovely place called the Land of Toys.
In fact the wagon was so closely packed with boys of all ages that it looked like a box of sardines. They were uncomfortable, they were piled one on top of the other, they could hardly breathe; yet not one word of complaint was heard. The thought that in a few hours they would reach a country where there were no schools, no books, no teachers, made these boys so happy that they felt neither hunger, nor thirst, nor sleep, nor discomfort.
The little fat man turned to Lamp-Wick and with bows and smiles, he asked in a wheedling tone: ”Do you also want to come to my wonderful country?”
”Indeed I do.”
”But I warn you, there’s no more room in the wagon.”
”Never mind,” answered Lamp-Wick. ”I can sit on the top of the coach.” And with one leap, he perched himself there.
”What about you?” asked the Little Man, turning to Pinocchio. ”What are you going to do? Will you come with us, or do you stay here?”
”I stay here,” answered Pinocchio. ”I want to return home, as I prefer to study and to succeed in life.”
”May that bring you luck!”
”Pinocchio!” Lamp-Wick called out. ”Come with us and we’ll always be happy.”
”No, no, no!”
”Come with us and we’ll always be happy,” shouted the one hundred and more boys in the wagon, all together.
”And if I go with you, what will my good Fairy say?” asked Pinocchio, who was beginning to waver and weaken in his good resolutions.
”Don’t worry so much. Only think that we are going to a land where we shall be allowed to make all the noise we like from morning till night.” Pinocchio did not answer. Finally, he said: ”Make room for me. I want to go, too!”
”The seats are all filled,” answered the Little Man, ”but to show you how much I think of you, take my place as coachman.”
”And you?”
”I’ll walk.”
”No. I much prefer riding one of these donkeys,” cried Pinocchio.
He approached the first donkey and tried to mount it. But the little animal gave him such a terrible kick in the stomach that Pinocchio was thrown to the ground and fell with his legs in the air.
The whole company of runaways laughed uproariously. The little fat man did not laugh. He went up to the rebellious animal, and, still smiling, bent over him lovingly and bit off half of his right ear!
Pinocchio picked himself up and with one leap landed on the donkey’s back. The leap was so well taken that all the boys shouted, ”Hurrah for Pinocchio!” and clapped their hands heartily.
Suddenly the little donkey gave a kick with his two hind feet and poor Pinocchio found himself once again sprawled right in the middle of the road. Again the boys shouted with laughter. But the Little Man became so loving toward the little animal that, with another kiss, he bit off half of his left ear!
”You can mount now,” he said to Pinocchio. ”That donkey was worried about something, but I have spoken to him and now he seems quiet and reasonable.”
Pinocchio mounted and the wagon started on its way. While the donkeys galloped along the stony road, Pinocchio heard a quiet voice whispering to him: ”Poor silly! You have done as you wished. But you are going to be a sorry boy before very long.”
Pinocchio, frightened, looked around but saw no one. After a mile or so, Pinocchio again heard the same faint voice whispering: ”Remember, little simpleton! Boys who stop studying and turn their backs on books and schools and teachers in order to give all their time to nonsense and pleasure, sooner or later come to grief. A day will come when you will weep bitterly, even as I am weeping now, but it will be too late!”
Pinocchio grew more and more frightened. He jumped to the ground, ran up to the donkey on whose back he had been riding, and looked at him. He was shocked to find the donkey weeping — weeping just like a boy!

(TO BE CONTINUED)