Tuesday, March 30, 2021 Pinocchio

I decided to re-read Pinocchio, a book given to me by my parents as a Christmas gift when I was eight years old before Disney made it into a movie. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen the Disney movie, but it had a whole different feel to it than the book. Here are a few items of interest from the book.

1. Geppetto starts off by having a knock-down drag-out fight with Mastro Cherry, the original owner of the block of wood that was to become Pinocchio.

2. Even as a block of wood, Pinocchio was rebellious. As soon as his mouth was carved out, he was smarting off. As soon as his foot was carved, he kicked Geppetto.

3. Remember Jiminy Cricket, the cheerful singing cricket from the movie? He was supposed to be Pinocchio’s conscience. In the book, he doesn’t get a name other than “Talking Cricket.” The first time he tries to dole out advice to young Pinocchio (freshly carved), Pinocchio throws a block of wood at him and kills him. Disney left that part out.

4. Pinocchio’s famous nose only grows twice throughout the entire book – hardly worth mentioning!

5. A lot of terrible things happen to Pinocchio as a result of him being a bad boy making bad decisions. He is cheated out of money, attacked by assassins, hung from a tree until he’s almost dead (which is tricky for a block of wood), thrown into jail for being stolen from, kept as a watchdog, turned into a donkey because of his laziness, sold to a circus, thrown in the ocean to drown, and swallowed by a giant shark. It’s like reading a novel-length Grimm’s fairy tale.

6. At some point when Pinocchio is starving, a pigeon tells him “Hunger is the best sauce.” What?!!!?!! I used to say that to my kids all the time! Is this where I got it?

I got a late start on this and now it’s time for bed. Next I plan to revisit the book “Bambi,” which I also read before Disney got ahold of it. I’ll give you my report.

Good night, friends!

I’ll probably…zzzzzzz