Pinocchio

Meet the voices

• Narrator · 旁白 — Tells the tale of a puppet who couldn't stay out of trouble, and of the old man who never stopped loving him.
• Pinocchio · 匹诺曹 — A runaway wooden puppet with a quick tongue, a huge appetite for fun, and a nose that grows every time he lies.
• Geppetto · 杰佩托 — A poor old woodcarver in a yellow wig who carves Pinocchio and loves him like a son, whatever he does.
• Master Cherry · 樱桃师傅 — A carpenter whose round red nose looks like a ripe cherry, and the first to hear the log talk.
• The Policeman · 警察 — A policeman who catches a runaway puppet by the nose.
• The Talking Cricket · 蟋蟀 — A tiny cricket who has lived in Geppetto's room for more than a hundred years and always tells Pinocchio the truth.
• the Chick · 小鸡 — A polite little chick that hops out of the egg Pinocchio was about to cook.
• the Old Man at the Window · 老人 — A grumpy old man at a window, woken in the night by a hungry puppet.
• Harlequin · 阿莱基诺 — A puppet in Fire-Eater's theater who greets Pinocchio as a long-lost brother.
• Fire-Eater · 吃火人 — A giant puppet master with a black beard down to the floor, a terrible roar, and a soft heart that makes him sneeze.
• The Fox · 狐狸 — A smooth-talking fox who pretends to be lame and knows exactly how to make a fool dream of gold.
• The Cat · 猫 — The Fox's partner, who pretends to be blind and repeats the end of everything the Fox says.
• the White Blackbird · 小白鸟 — A little white blackbird who tries to give Pinocchio some good advice.
• the Innkeeper · 旅馆老板 — The smiling innkeeper of the Red Crawfish Inn.
• the Big Robber · 大强盗 — The bigger of two robbers who wear black coal sacks over their heads.
• the Small Robber · 小强盗 — The smaller of the two robbers, who repeats whatever the big one says.
• The Fairy with Turquoise Hair · 仙女 — A kind fairy with turquoise hair who watches over Pinocchio and promises he can become a real boy.
• the Crow · 乌鸦 — A crow who comes to Pinocchio's bedside as a doctor.
• the Owl · 猫头鹰 — An owl doctor who always says the opposite of the Crow.
• the Black Rabbit · 兔子 — The leader of four black rabbits who arrive with a little black box.
• The Parrot · 鹦鹉 — An old parrot who can't stop laughing at Pinocchio.
• the Judge · 大猩猩法官 — An old gorilla, the judge in the town of Catchfools.
• the Farmer · 农夫 — A farmer who takes Pinocchio for the thief who has been stealing his chickens.
• the Weasel · 黄鼠狼 — The leader of four weasels who come for the farmer's chickens at night.
• the Pigeon · 鸽子 — A big pigeon who gives Pinocchio a ride through the sky.
• the Dolphin · 海豚 — A kind dolphin who tells Pinocchio about the Terrible Dogfish.
• the Schoolboy · 同学 — The ringleader of a gang of lazy schoolboys.
• Alidoro · 阿利多罗 — A big police dog, a mastiff, who chases Pinocchio all the way to the sea.
• the Green Fisherman · 绿渔夫 — A strange green fisherman who lives in a cave by the sea.
• the Snail · 蜗牛 — The Fairy's servant, a snail who takes a very long time to open the door.
• Candlewick · 小灯芯 — Pinocchio's best friend and the laziest boy in school, who knows a land where nobody has to study.
• the Little Man · 小个子 — A round little man with a sweet smile, who drives a wagon full of boys to the Land of Toys.
• the Little Gray Donkey · 小灰驴 — A little gray donkey pulling the wagon to the Land of Toys, who is crying.
• the Marmot · 土拨鼠 — A little marmot who lives upstairs from Pinocchio in the Land of Toys.
• the Circus Owner · 马戏团老板 — The owner of a traveling circus, always looking for a new star.
• The Buyer · 买主 — A grumpy man at the market, looking to buy a donkey.
• the Tunny · 金枪鱼 — A big, calm tunny fish who takes bad luck like a philosopher.

25 chapters in 5 parts

Part 1: The Wooden Boy 木头男孩

Part 2: Five Gold Coins 五个金币

Part 3: The Fairy with Turquoise Hair 蓝头发的仙女

Part 4: A Real Boy Tomorrow 明天变成真孩子

Part 5: The Terrible Dogfish 可怕的大鲨鱼

Key words in Pinocchio

• 爸爸 bà ba: dad
• 木头 mù tou: wood
• 大衣 dà yī: coat
• 鼻子 bí zi: nose
• 帽子 mào zi: hat
• 书 shū: book
• 妈妈 mā ma: mom
• 孩子 hái zi: child
• 面包 miàn bāo: bread
• 口袋 kǒu dai: pocket; sack

Behind the story

This book retells The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi, the pen name of the Florentine writer Carlo Lorenzini. The story first appeared in installments in a children's magazine in Rome from 1881 and came out as a book in 1883. This graded adaptation follows Collodi's thirty-six chapters closely over 25, and everyone you meet here is his own: the Talking Cricket, the puppet master Fire-Eater, the Fox and the Cat, the Fairy with Turquoise Hair, Candlewick and the Terrible Dogfish.

In Chinese the novel is called 木偶奇遇记, “the wonderful adventures of a wooden puppet,” and Pinocchio's name has been written in several ways; this book uses 匹诺曹. His nose is the part everyone remembers, and Chinese children know the warning too: 说谎鼻子会变长, “tell a lie and your nose will grow.”

Did you know?

• When the story first ran in the magazine, Collodi ended it after what is now chapter 15, with Pinocchio in terrible trouble. Readers wanted more, and a few months later he picked the story up again.
• In the novel, Pinocchio's nose first grows while Geppetto is carving it, before the puppet has told a single lie.
• Toyland in the novel has no schools at all. Every week there has six Thursdays and one Sunday, and the autumn holidays start on the first of January and end on the last day of December.