Story of Pinocchio
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Story of Pinocchio Overview
The story of Pinocchio, was originally written as “The Adventures of Pinocchio” by Carlo Collodi, an Italian author, back in 1883. It narrates the story of a clever puppet named Pinocchio, that is carved by a carpenter Geppetto and treats the puppet like his own son.
But Pinocchio is determined to become a real boy and in the process, he learns a great many lessons. Every time he gets stuck in a difficult situation, he lies and lies, but mysteriously, he finds his nose growing longer with each lie he speaks. He also decides never to give in to his temptations again and again but his resolutions last only till the next available opportunity. But finally, he learns his lessons and proves himself to be worthy of being a real boy.
This Pinocchio Story is retold from the original book, with some editing, to suit the taste of our young audience and listeners. This entire short story of Pinnochio is also available as a podcast from Chimes Radio on all major audio streaming services.
The Complete Story of Pinocchio
Ch 1: The Piece of Wood That Laughed
Once upon a time, a carpenter named Master Antonio was making a wooden table. He took a piece of wood to build the leg of his little table. As soon as he was going to remove the bark of the wood with his sharp axe, he heard a small voice say imploringly “Do not strike me so hard”. Every time Antonio chopped the wood, a faint voice was heard but he had no idea where was it coming from.
The next day, Geppetto, an old little man came to visit the carpenter with a request. He wanted to build a beautiful wooden puppet – one that would be able to dance, fence, and do somersaults. Again, an unknown voice was heard that addressed Geppetto as, “Polendina”. On hearing himself called Polendina, Mastro Geppetto lost his head with rage and threw himself upon Mastro Antonio.
After the fight, they settled their accounts, shook hands, and swore to be good friends for the rest of their lives. Geppetto took the fine piece of wood to build his puppet, thanked Mastro Antonio, and limped away toward his home.
Ch 2: Geppetto names the puppet
On reaching home, Geppetto began to cut and shape the wood into a Puppet. He decided to call his puppet, “Pinocchio”. Every time he made Pinocchio’s nose, it would stretch out long. The eyes of the puppet seemed to stare at him, his mouth seemed to laugh and poke fun at Geppetto.
As he was about to put the last touches on the puppet, Pinocchio snatched Geppetto’s wig and put it on his head. He continued doing several other mischiefs that ended up poor Geppetto in prison. Geppetto wept like a child and regretted making a puppet without thinking about the consequences.
Ch 3: Talking Cricket’s Words of Wisdom
While poor Geppetto was in the prison, Pinocchio was free in the outside world – running wildly across fields and meadows. He jumped over bushes, across brooks and ponds, as if he was a goat or a hare chased by hounds. When he reached home he found a large cricket crawling slowly up the wall.
Pinocchio asked the cricket to get out of his room and not to return again. But instead, the cricket kept nagging about the fact that he disliked studying. The wise old cricket did not shut up even when Pinocchio lashed out at him with anger and called him “ugly”. At night when he was hungry, he found nothing in the room to eat. That is when he realized he has disobeyed his father Geppetto.
Ch 4: Pinocchio Burns His Feet
Pinocchio went out in the dark to look for some food. The weather was getting worse. Lightning and thunderstorm shot across the sky. Trees were swaying because of the strong breeze. Pinocchio reached the village and asked for some bread from an old man but was denied.
Tired, Pinocchio came back home and slept near a stove. While he slept, his wooden feet began to burn and turned into ashes. In the morning when he heard Geppetto’s voice, he jumped up from his seat to open the door. But, as he did so, he stumbled and fell headlong to the floor. Geppetto climbed up the windows to enter the house and when he saw Pinocchio without a leg, he felt really sad. Like a father, he picked him up and hugged him but Pinocchio began to scream and cry.
Ch 5: Pinocchio Gets New Feet
Geppetto shared whatever food he had with him with Pinocchio. But as soon as Pinocchio’s hunger was satisfied, he started crying for new legs. But Gepetto decided to punish Pinocchio for his bad behavior which made Pinocchio promise to be a good boy. He also promised Gepetto that he would take care of him.
Geppetto decided to let go of his anger and create a new pair of legs for Pinocchio. But as soon as Pinocchio felt his new feet, he got off the table and started to skip and jump around. He was very happy to see his new legs. Poor Gepetto also made Pinocchio a uniform for his school and for Pinocchio’s school books, he sold his only woolen coat on a chilly winter day.
Ch 6: Pinocchio Goes To Puppet Show
On the first day of Pinocchio’s school, he promised Gepetto to be a good boy. On his way to school, he thought of learning arithmetic and earn a lot of money so that he could buy a new coat for his father, Gepetto. But while on his way to school, he heard a noise and started to follow it down the street where he found himself in a large square, full of people.
In the square, a Puppet show was going on called as “The Great Puppet Theater”. Interested in the show, Pinocchio started to bargain for a dime to watch the show. He even decided to give away the new book that Gepetto has got for him by selling his only woolen coat.
Ch 7: Puppets Recognize Pinocchio
Pinocchio went inside the ‘The Great Puppet Theater’. The performance was already going on. Harlequin and Punch were reciting on the stage and were threatening each other with sticks and blows. People were enjoying the spectacle and at the antics of the two puppets.
Suddenly Harlequin stopped in the middle of the show, turned towards the crowd, and enquired about Pinocchio. All the puppets started shouting “Yes, it is Pinocchio. It is our brother Pinocchio”. Harlequin invited him on stage. Pinocchio was surprised at such a loving invitation by his brothers. He jumped and landed on the stage.
Suddenly the Showman, known as Fire Eater, came out and decided to punish Pinocchio for disturbing his show by using his wooden legs to cook his meal. But on hearing about Pinocchio’s poor father Gepetto and seeing Pinocchio’s dedication and bravery to save his other puppet friends even at the expense of his own life, the showman decided to let him go and invited him back the next day to receive a prize.
Ch 8: Present Of Five Gold Coins
Pinocchio went to meet the Showman, Fire-Eater the next day. Pinocchio told him about his father Geppetto and their poor financial condition. The Fire-Eater gave Pinocchio five gold coins to help them out a bit and asked him to take them straight to his father.
But on his way back home, Pinocchio met a lame fox and a blind cat. He told them how rich he is with the five gold coins and how wisely we want to spend them. But the fox and cat started to give him bad advice. A blackbird perched on the fence along the road and advised Pinocchio to ignore the fox and cat but the bird was removed from the scene by the cat with a single jump. The fox and the cat finally managed to trap Pinocchio to head to ‘The Land of The Owls’ with them and multiple his five gold coins into two thousand coins in a day by planting them in the”Field of Miracles”.
Ch 9: Gang Of Thieves
Pinocchio, the lame fox, and the blind cat walked a long way towards the Field of Miracles which the fox and cat have said is located in The Land of The Owls. Finally, they stopped at the Inn of the Red Craw-Fish for some rest in the evening. They had a delicious supper and went to their respective rooms for a nap.
After a while, the innkeeper came to wake Pinocchio up and informed him that his friends have already left. Pinocchio quickly gave him a gold join for the supper & stay and left alone for the Field of Miracles. He was passing through a dense dark forest when a Cricket warned him of thieves and dangers that lay ahead. Just then, out of the forest came two cloaked figures. Both wore a mask and one of them was taller. They asked Pinocchio to part with his gold coins and threatened to kill him.
Pinocchio escaped by biting off the hand of the smaller one and hid the gold coins in his teeth. He tried to run away from the thieves and reached a cottage. There he asked the girl with beautiful blue hair to help him out. But before anything could be done, the two thieves caught hold of Pinocchio. But when they were unable to make him part with his coins, they decided to hang him from a tree for the night and left.
Ch 10: Beautiful Fairy To The Rescue
The girl with the beautiful blue hair was actually a fairy and she used her magic to rescue Pinocchio from the tree. She asked a large falcon to brought him from the tree and into her cottage. The fairy brought Pinocchio some bitter medicines to help him get better and sat down beside him to hear his story. He then told her everything about the Fire-Eater, thieves, and the gold coins.
When the fairy asked him about the coins, Pinocchio thought that she was also after her money. So he lied to her and suddenly his nose grew two inches longer. Whenever Pinocchio lied, his nose grew two inches longer. The fairy laughed at him and informed him that if he lies any more, he won’t be able to get out of the door. He ran towards the door to escape but his nose was too long that he could not reach the door handle.
Ch 11: Pinocchio Meets Fox & Cat Again
Pinocchio cried for hours over the length of his nose but the Fairy showed no pity toward him, as she was trying to teach him a good lesson about not lying to anyone else. After a while, when she started to feel sorry for him, she called upon woodpeckers who pecked at his nose to return it back to normal.
Fairy told him that she has called for Geppetto too and eager to meet him, Pinocchio left the cottage to meet him on the way. When he reached the big oak tree, he saw the fox and the cat again. They started to again lure Pinocchio to visit the Field of Miracles with them to multiply his fortune. Pinocchio hesitated for a moment but then decided to accompany them.
When they reached The Field of the Miracles, the fox asked Pinocchio to dig a hole and bury his gold coins. Pinocchio followed the instructions and placed the four gold coins into the hole and covered them very carefully. He sprinkled water over the soil that covered his wealth and waited for the coins to get doubled up. Pinocchio thanked the Fox and the Cat and promised them to give each a beautiful gift but instead, they said good-bye to Pinocchio, wished him good luck, and then they went about their own way.
Ch 12: Pinocchio Is Cheated Off His Money
The Fox and The Cat have told Pinocchio to wait for twenty minutes over there but he walked impatiently in the town to pass the time. When the time was over he went back to get his coins but saw nothing. He was shocked to see the empty field with no bushes or trees. Over there, he met a Parrot who mocked Pinocchio for being so silly and falling into this trap. The Parrot informed him that the fox & the cat had come back as soon as he left, dug out coins from the hole, and escaped.
Pinocchio immediately ran to the city and went straight to the courthouse to report the robbery to the magistrate. But instead, he was put in prison for being so stupid and lazy. He spent the next four months in prison until he was freed along with all other prisoners on a festive occasion.
Ch 13: Start Back To Fairy’s House
Freed from prison, Pinocchio realized all the mistakes he had made till then. So he sets out to return to his father and his blue-haired fairy sister. On the way, he met a terrible monster, a green snake, who was blocking the way. Pinocchio was scared to see the snake so he decided to wait in the hope that it will move out of its way, leaving the road clear. But the snake did not move and hours passed by.
Pinnochio stood there wondering if it was dead. As he raised one leg to move over the snake, the serpent shot up like a spring. Pinocchio fell head over heels backward. He fell so awkwardly, that his head stuck in the mud with his legs straight up in the air. It was so funny to watch that the serpent laughed so hard, it lost its breath and fell flat on the road.
With the serpent now dead, Pinocchio ran towards the fairy’s house as hard as he could. When he started to feel hungry, he spotted a vineyard and decided to get some grapes from it but got caught in a vicious trap that was set there by the field farmer. A Glowworm came around and made Pinocchio realize that he was actually stealing the grapes. When the field farmer came around, he took Pinocchio to be a thief and put him into a doghouse at his yard.
Ch 14: Pinocchio Discovers The Thieves
While staying in the doghouse as a watch dog, Pinocchio woke in the middle of the night when he heard some strange whispering sounds coming from the yard. He stuck his nose out of the doghouse and saw four small, hairy animals. They were the weasels. They offered a deal to Pinocchio for not making noise while they stole the chickens and in return he will be rewarded with one chicken for himself. It was the same deal that they had cut out with the previous guard dog.
But Pinocchio made a loud bark as soon as they went in and helped farmer to catch the weasels. Impressed, the farmer set Pinocchio free to return back to his home.
Ch 15: Pinocchio Rides A Pigeon
Pinocchio was looking for the fairy’s house but was not able to locate it. Finally, he reached the place where the house once stood but there he found a plaque stating, “Here once lived a child with blue hair who was abandoned by her brother Pinocchio” and he started to weep profusely.
Just then a pigeon came and informed Pinocchio that he left Geppetto, his father, on the shore of a large sea three days ago. Geppetto was building a boat to cross the ocean to look for his son Pinocchio. The Pigeon took Pinocchio to the seashore where his father was supposed to be. Upon reaching there, Pinocchio spotted his father in the middle of the ocean in a small boat battling high waves. Suddenly Geppetto’s boat was struck by a huge wave and the boat sank. Pinocchio dived into the water and started swimming to save his father.
Ch 16: Pinocchio Finds The Fairy Again
Pinocchio swam all night in search of his father but was unable to locate him. The next morning, he landed on an island in the middle of the sea and also met a Dolphin who informed Pinocchio that a terrible shark must have swallowed Geppetto in the last night’s storm. He again left to look for his father in fear.
After walking for half an hour, he came to a small country called The Village of the Industrious Bees. He was very hungry, so either he had to work and earn some money or beg it from someone else. Lazy Pinocchio decided to ask for some money but he was not willing to do any hard work. A lady finally offered him some delicious cuisine only if Pinocchio carry two cans back to her home. As soon as they reached her home, she brought delicious food as she had promised Pinocchio. Later he realized that this woman was his sister – the fairy with blue hair.
Ch 17: Pinocchio Again Promises To Be Good
The woman tried to maintain initially that she was not the fairy but seeing Pinocchio cry for too long, melted her heart and she finally admitted that she was indeed the little fairy with blue hair. Pinocchio felt very happy. Since the fairy has grown a lot while Pinocchio was away, enough to be his mother, he decided to call her his mother.
The fairy asked Pinocchio to be a good boy. She defined good boys as the ones who are obedient, love studies and work, always tell the truth, goes to school happily but Pinocchio was the exact opposite, yet he promised the fairy to be a good boy. The fairy also warned him against laziness and asked him to be more hardworking. From the next day, Pinocchio started going to school as he had promised to his fairy mother.
Ch 18: The Big Shark On The Beach
On the first day of his school, other students started making fun of him because he was a puppet. But when Pinocchio demanded everyone to respect him and give him space, it helped calm things down. And Pinocchio started to focus on his school diligently. But one day on his way to school, he met a group of seven of his schoolmates. They told Pinocchio that a big shark has shown up on the beach and they are all going to see it. Curious Pinocchio thought he might get to know something about his father from the big shark, so he decided to join them.
Unfortunately, it was a trap set by the boys to make Pinocchio miss school. This led to a fight between Pinocchio and the boys. Eugene, one of the boys accidentally got hurt when other boys threw Pinocchio’s book at him and lost his consciousness. All the other boys immediately ran away but Pinocchio bent down to help Eugene. Soon Gendarme arrived and in the misunderstanding, they arrested Pinocchio and took him along to the village.
On their way, Pinocchio managed to escape and ran towards the sea. But gendarme set a trained dog, Alidoro, after him. Pinocchio jumped into the water and started swimming but soon realized Alidoro was also in the water and drowning. So he went back to save him and dropped him at the shore.
Then Pinocchio started swimming again but was soon caught in a net of a green-eyed fisherman. The fisherman took Pinocchio to be a fancy fish and brought him to his cave to cook for dinner. But soon enough, there was a loud bark and Alidoro, the trained dog snatched Pinocchio from the fisherman and ran out of the cave. Having been rescued, Pinocchio decided to go back to his fairy mother’s house.
Ch 19: The Return To Fairy’s House
Pinocchio walked towards the fairy’s house and once he reached there, he pressed the doorbell. He waited for about an hours and finally, a snail looked down from the top window. Pinocchio asked the snail for help but the snail asked him to wait while it comes down to open the main door and shut the window at Pinocchio. After a while, Pinocchio lost his patience and gave a tremendous kick against the house door and stuck his foot there.
The next morning, the snail got Pinocchio a silver tray with the bread of plaster, chicken cardboard, and four painted apricots. But Pinocchio was so exhausted that he fainted away. When he regained his consciousness, he found himself on a sofa with the fairy beside him. Pinocchio once again promised the fairy to be a good boy. He kept his promise for a year and in fact, he had the honor of being the first in the school, and his behavior, in general, was so satisfactory and praiseworthy that the Fairy was very much pleased.
Ch 20: The Land Of Toys
Pinocchio’s joy knew no bound when Fairy asked him to invite all his school friends for a grand breakfast at the Fairy’s house. Everyone welcomed him except his friend, Candlewick who was probably the laziest of all his friends. Candlewick had now made plans to go to the Land of Toys, where all days are spent in play and amusement from morning till night. This place apparently had no schools and hence no one had to study. Pinocchio was once again under bad influence and was getting tempted to visit the Land of Toys.
Ch 21: Five Months Of Happiness
Pinocchio decided to join Candlewick on his expedition to the Land Of Toys. As the wagon was full, Candlewick decided to sit on top of the wagon and the coachmen offered Pinocchio his own seat. But Pinocchio decided to ride one of the donkeys which was pulling the wagon. While the donkeys galloped along the stony road, Pinocchio kept hearing a quite voice warning him to be a good boy and to go back to his fairy mother but he decided to ignore it.
Finally, the wagon reached the Land of Toys and it was full of vagabond boys like them. Pinocchio thanked profusely his friend Candlewick for having brought him there. For five months passed, the boys continued playing and enjoying themselves from morning till night, without seeing a book, or a desk, or a school. Until one fine day, Pinocchio and his friend Candlewick caught the dreaded donkey fever and were transformed into one.
Ch 22: Pinocchio Escapes The Life Of A Donkey
Pinocchio and Candlewick were feeling extremely bad for having been bad boys and have not listened to good advice from their well-wishers. The coachmen who had brought them there took them to the market and sold them there to a life of hard work as laborers. Candlewick was sold to a peasant to help in the fields and Pinocchio was sold to a circus director who wanted to add a new show of a trained donkey to his theatre.
Pinocchio so wished to have listened to the fairy mother’s advice. On the day of the performance, he had to jump through the hoops. On instruction, Pinocchio took the leap but his right leg got stuck in the hoop and he had a massive tumble. He was so badly hurt that he was declared lame for the rest of his life. Later he was sold off to a drum maker. The drum maker tied his hands and legs and put him into the sea to drown but was surprised to see a puppet when he pulled the donkey out of the sea.
Then Pinocchio told him the entire story and how a pool of fishes nibbled away the donkey’s body off him when he was in the water. While drum maker was making sense of it all, Pinocchio said his goodbyes and jumped into the water, and started swimming. He saw a blue goat standing on a rock in the middle of the sea and started to swim towards it when suddenly a big shark swallowed him whole.
Ch 23: Pinocchio Finds Geppetto
Pinocchio was inside the body of big shark and it was very dark around him. He met a tuna fish, called Tunny, who told Pinocchio that the fish is two miles long without counting the tail. Pinocchio called out his plans to escape from there before the big fish has digested him.
Suddenly, Pinocchio saw a light dimly shinning at a great distance. He followed the light and found a little table spread out. On it, a lighted candle stuck into a green glass bottle, and, seated at the table, was a little old man. It was his father, Geppetto. Seeing each other, their joy knew no limits. Geppetto explained how he was swallowed by the big fish too and he found a ship wreck inside the body with tons of human food which was about to run out now.
Pinocchio and Geppetto decided to escape from the stomach of the fish. They climbed up the throat of the sea-monster, and finding the right moment jumped into the water, and began to swim away from the fish while it slept profoundly.
Ch 24: Pinocchio Finally Becomes A Boy
Pinocchio had Geppetto on his shoulders and the two continue to swim until Pinocchio ran out of breadth and started to drown. Suddenly the tuna fish, who Pinocchio has met inside the big fish, came around. Tuna has followed them both to escape and to express her gratitude, tuna took them both to the shore in no time. The father and the son started walking in search of a house or cottage to seek help. They saw the Cat and the Fox.
The Cat for so long having feigned blindness had become blind in reality; and the Fox, had his one side paralyzed and lost his tail. At the end of a path in the middle of the fields, they found a nice little straw hut where a Talking Cricket lived. The Cricket told them that he got the house from a goat with blue wool. Pinocchio knew this would be his fairy mother.
To help his father with some milk to drink and regain his strength, Pinocchio started working in Giangio’s house to manually run the pumping machine. He worked there for five months and also learnt other trades like making hampers and baskets. He put his new skills to good use and managed to save five dollars. When he was going to market to spend his five dollars, he met the snail who informed him that the fairy mother was in hospital. Pinocchio gave his money to the snail and promised to bring more.
That night the fairy visited Pinocchio in his dreams, thanked him for his generosity. On waking up, Pinocchio was no longer a puppet but had transformed into a real boy.
The main moral lessons from "The Story of Pinocchio" are:
- The Story of Pinocchio teaches that a simple lie can turn into a major issue. As a result, we must strive to live a truthful life and refrain from lying.
- Love has the ability to change a person. It’s also capable of transforming a wooden puppet into a human being.
- Disobedience to parents and guardians may lead to consequences as we have seen in the story of Pinocchio. Therefore, we should appreciate and follow our parents’ advice.
- Another important moral lesson that we learn is that one can live a happier life only by helping others. Trying to get more for ourselves would only lead to disappointment and dissatisfaction.
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FAQ on the Story of Pinocchio
Who wrote the story of Pinocchio?
Carlo Lorenzini, better known by the pen name Carlo Collodi
What is the moral of Pinocchio story?
- The Story of Pinocchio teaches that a simple lie can turn into a major issue. As a result, we must strive to live a truthful life and refrain from lying.
What Pinocchio wants to be when he grows up?
He wished to be a real little boy after he learns to care for his “father” Gepetto.
Why is Pinocchio nose so long?
Pinocchio’s nose grows longer and longer whenever he tells a lie as a punishment. The purpose of his nose growing is, to establish an intent.
How did Pinocchio's nose become normal?
The Good fairy called a bird to peck his nose. As soon as the bird did its job, Pinocchio’s nose was back to normal
