was going to give it to his friend the piece of wood gave a shake
and, wriggling violently out of his hands, struck with all of its force
against the dried-up shins of poor Geppetto.

"Ah! is that the courteous way in which you make your presents, Master
Antonio? You have almost lamed me!"

"I swear to you that it was not I!"

"Then you would have it that it was I?"

"The wood is entirely to blame!"

"I know that it was the wood; but it was you that hit my legs with it!"

"I did not hit you with it!"

"Liar!"

"Geppetto, don't insult me or I will call you Pudding!"

"Knave!"

"Pudding!"

"Donkey!"

"Pudding!"

"Baboon!"

"Pudding!"

On hearing himself called Pudding for the third time Geppetto, mad with
rage, fell upon the carpenter and they fought desperately.

When the battle was over, Master Antonio had two more scratches on his
nose, and his adversary had lost two buttons off his waistcoat. Their
accounts being thus squared, they shook hands and swore to remain good
friends for the rest of their lives.

Geppetto carried off his fine piece of wood and, thanking Master
Antonio, returned limping to his house.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER III

GEPPETTO NAMES HIS PUPPET PINOCCHIO

Geppetto lived in a small ground-floor room that was only lighted from
the staircase. The furniture could not have been simpler--a rickety
chair, a poor bed, and a broken-down table. At the end of the room there
was a fireplace with a lighted fire; but the fire was painted, and by
the fire was a painted saucepan that was boiling cheerfully and sending
out a cloud of smoke that looked exactly like real smoke.

As soon as he reached home Geppetto took his tools and set to work to
cut out and model his puppet.

[Illustration: A Little Chicken Popped Out, Very Gay and Polite]

"What name shall I give him?" he said to himself; "I think I will call
him Pinocchio. It is a name that will bring him luck. I once knew a
whole family so called. There was Pinocchio the father, Pinocchia the
mother, and Pinocchi the children, and all of them did well. The
richest of them was a beggar."

Having found a name for his puppet he began to work in good earnest, and
he first made his hair, then his forehead, and then his eyes.

The eyes being finished, imagine his astonishment when he perceived that
they moved and looked fixedly at him.

Geppetto, seeing himself stared at by those two wooden eyes, said in an
angry voice: