PINOCCHIO RECEIVES A PRESENT OF FIVE GOLD PIECES
The following day Fire-Eater called Pinocchio to one side and asked him:
"What is your father's name?"
"Geppetto."
"And what trade does he follow?"
"He is a beggar."
"Does he gain much?"
"Gain much? Why, he has never a penny in his pocket. Only think, in order to buy a spelling-book so that I could go to school he was obliged to sell the only coat he had to wear—a coat that, between patches and darns, was not fit to be seen."
"Poor devil! I feel almost sorry for him! Here are five gold pieces. Go at once and take them to him with my compliments."
Pinocchio was overjoyed and thanked the showman a thousand times. He embraced all the puppets of the company one by one, even to the gendarmes, and set out to return home.
But he had not g
