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OCR
PINOCCHIO 127 In the meanwhile he was tormented by hunger, for he had eaten nothing for twentyfour hours—not even vetch. What was he to do? There were only two ways by which he could obtain food—either by asking for a little work, or by begging for a halfpenny or for a mouthful of bread. He was ashamed to beg, for his father had always preached to him that no one had a right to beg except the aged and the infirm. The really poor in this world, deserving of compassion and assistance, are only those who from age or sickness are no longer able to earn their own bread with the labour of their hands. It is the duty of every one else to work; and if they will not work, so much the worse for them if they suffer from hunger. At that moment a man came down the road, tired and panting for breath. He was dragging alone, with fatigue and difficulty, two carts full of charcoal. Pinocchio, judging by his face that he was a kind man, approached him, and casting down his eyes with shame he said in a low voice: - Would you have the charity to give me e halfpenny, for I am dying of hunger?” “You shall have not only a halfpenny,”
