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196 PINOCCHIO I will teach you to jump through the hoops, to go through frames of paper head foremost, to dance waltzes and polkas, and to stand upright on your hind legs.” Poor ‘Pinocchio, either by love or by force, had to learn all these fine things. But it took him three months before he had learnt them, and he got many a whipping that nearly took off his skin. At last a day came when his master was able to announce that he would give a really extraordinary representation. The many-coloured placards stuck on the street corners were thus worded: GREAT FULL DRESS REPRESENTATION TO-NIGHT WILL TAKE PLACE THE USUAL FEATS AND SURPRISING PERFORMANCES EXECUTED BY ALL THE ARTISTES AND BY ALL THE HORSES OF THE COMPANY, AND MOREOVER THE FAMOUS LITTLE DONKEY PINOCCHIO, CALLED THE STAR OF THE DANCE, WILL MAKE HIS FIRST APPEARANCE. Ture THEATRE WILL BE BRILLIANTLY ILLUMINATED.
