Pinocchio mounted and the carriage started. While the donkeys galloped along the marionette fancied that he heard a strange voice saying: “Poor simpleton! You wish to do as you please. You will be sorry.”
The frightened Pinocchio looked first on one side of the road and then on the other to see whence these words came; but he saw no one. The donkeys galloped, the carriage rolled along, the boys inside slept, Lamp Wick snored like a dormouse, and the driver sang between his teeth:
All the night they sleep,
And I never . . .
They made another mile. Again Pinocchio heard the voice. This time it said: “Bear in mind, simpleton, that boys who stop studying and throw away their books and do nothing but play and amuse themselves will always come to a bad end. I know it, for I have tried it, but I cannot say any more. You will cry some day as I do now, but then it will be too late.”
At these whispered words the marionette was more frightened than ever. He jumped down to the ground and put his ear to the donkey’s nose. Imagine how surprised he was when he perceived that the donkey wept just like a little boy! “Mr.
