it, for we never know what tomorrow may bring!”

“You may be right,” answered Pinocchio, “but I won't eat the pears if they're not peeled. I don't like them.”

And kind, patient Geppetto took out a knife and began to peel the pears. Though he worked quickly around their spherical bases, the tapered tops proved troublesome, and he worked more slowly. Finally finished, he placed the three peeled pears before his son and put the peels in a row at the side of the table. Pinocchio ate one pear in an instant and started to throw the core away—but Geppetto held his arm.

“Oh, no, don't throw it away! Everything in this world may be of some use!”

“Do you think I would ever eat that core?” cried Pinocchio angrily.

“Who knows?” replied Geppetto calmly.

And later the three cores were placed on the table next to the peels.

Pinocchio had eaten the three pears, or rather devoured them. Then he yawned deeply, and cried, “I'm still hungry!”

“But I have nothing more to give you.”

“Really? Nothing?”

“I have only these cores and these peels.”

“The fruit was sweet and succulent,” said Pinocchio, “but these cores and peels are dry and bitter.” Then, feeling a sharp pang of hunger, he said, “Oh, very well. If there's nothing else, I'll eat them.”

At first he made a face, but, one after another, the peels and the cores disappeared. “Ah! Now I feel fine!” he said after eating the last one.

“You see,” observed Geppetto, “that I was right when I told you that one must not be too fussy about food. We never know what life may have in store for us!”

Chapter 4 “New Feet and a New Schoolbook”

As soon as his hunger was satisfied, Pinocchio started to grumble and cry that he wanted a new pair of feet. But Geppetto, in order to punish him for his mischief, let him alone the whole morning. In the afternoon, too, Geppetto ignored his son's relentless badgering. Then, after dinner, he said to him, “Why should I make your feet over again? To see you run away from home again?”

“I promise you,” answered the puppet, sobbing, “that from now on I'll be good.”

“Boys always promise that when they want something,” said Geppetto.

“I promise to go to school every day and to study hard.”

“Those sound like noble aspirations, but boys always say that when they want their own way.”

“But I'm not like other boys! I'm better than all of them, and I always tell the truth. I promise you, Father, that I'll learn a trade, and I'll take care of you in your old age.”

Geppetto, though trying to look stern, felt his eyes fill with tears and his heart soften. He said no more, but, taking his tools and two