bad values to impinge upon my good ones.”

But it happened that one day, as he was walking to school, one of these boys ran up to him and said, “Have you heard the news?”

“No!”

“A shark as big as a mountain has been seen near the shore.”

The simile struck a chord deep within the puppet and he felt his wooden heart skip a beat. He gazed thoughtfully at the boy, then mumbled meditatively, “Hmm…I wonder if it could be the same shark I heard about when my father was drowned.”

“I'm going to see it. Are you coming?”

“I can't. I have to go to school.”

“So go to school tomorrow. What difference does one lesson more or less make?” the boy rationalized.

“But I thought that attending class every day was obligatory. What will our teacher say?”

“Let him say whatever he wants. He's paid to complain all day.”

“And my mother?”

“Mothers don't know everything.”

“Do you know what I'll do?” said Pinocchio. “For certain reasons of my own, I, too, want to see that shark. But I'll go after school. I can see him then as well as now.”

“You fool!” cried the boy. “Do you think that a fish of that magnitude will stand there waiting for you?”

The puppet was in a quandary. On the one hand, he knew he should go to school. On the other, he couldn't pass up an opportunity to find his father.

“How long does it take to get from here to the shore?” he asked.

“An hour there and back.”

“All right, then. Let's see who gets there first!” cried Pinocchio.

Chapter 23 “The Fight”

Running like the wind, Pinocchio reached the shore in a very short time. He put down his schoolbooks and then glanced all around. But there was no sign of a shark. The sea was as smooth as glass.

“Hey, where's that shark?” he asked, turning to his schoolmate.

“He may have gone for breakfast,” he answered, putting down his books. “Or perhaps he went to bed for a little nap.”

From the silly banter, Pinocchio knew that the boy had played a trick on him.

“What's the idea?” he said angrily to him. “What's the joke?”

“Oh, the joke's on you!” cried the rascal, dancing about.

“And that is—?”

“That I've made you stay out of school to come with me! Ha, ha!”

“But—”

“Don't you know that everyone thinks you've officially defected from our fun-loving, mischief-making gang? Tell me, why don't you join us anymore when we go on our afternoon escapades—it's to study, isn't it? You should be ashamed of yourself for being such a goody-goody. If you spent half as much time and energy on having fun as you now expend on studying, you'd be much happier. Can't you see that?”

“Gee, thanks for that wonderfully incisive critique,” said the puppet sarcastically.