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IX
PINOCCHIO SELLS HIS SPELLING-BOOK THAT HE
MAY GO AND SEE A PUPPET-SHOW
S soon as it had done snowing Pinocchio
set out for school with his fine S pelling¬
book under his arm. As he went along
he began to imagine a thousand things in his
little brain, and to build a thousand castles in
the air, one more beautiful than the other.
And talking to himself he said:
‘To-day at school I will learn to read at
once; then to-morrow I will begin to write, and
the day after to-morrow to cipher. ‘Then with
my acquirements I will earn a great deal of
money, and with the first money I have in
my pocket I will immediately buy for my papa
a beautiful new cloth coat. But what am I
saying? Cloth, indeed! It shall be all made
of gold and silver, and it shall have diamond
buttons. That poor man really deserves it;
for to buy me books and have me taught he
has remained in his shirt sleeves. . . . And in
this cold! It is only fathers who are capable
of such sacrifices! .. .”
Whilst he was saying this with great emo¬
tion he thought that he heard music in the dis¬
tance that sounded like fifes and the beating
of a big drum; fi-fi-fi, fi-fi-fi, zum, zum, zum,
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