ys.

This great land was entirely different from any other place in the
world. Its population, large though it was, was composed wholly of boys.
The oldest were about fourteen years of age, the youngest, eight. In
the street, there was such a racket, such shouting, such blowing of
trumpets, that it was deafening. Everywhere groups of boys were gathered
together. Some played at marbles, at hopscotch, at ball. Others rode on
bicycles or on wooden horses. Some played at blindman's buff, others at
tag. Here a group played circus, there another sang and recited. A few
turned somersaults, others walked on their hands with their feet in the
air. Generals in full uniform leading regiments of cardboard soldiers
passed by. Laughter, shrieks, howls, catcalls, hand-clapping followed
this parade. One boy made a noise like a hen, another like a rooster,
and a third imitated a lion in his den. All together they created such
a pandemonium that it would have been necessary for you to put cotton
in your ears. The squares were filled with small wooden theaters,
overflowing with boys from morning till night, and on the walls of the
houses, written with charcoal, were words like these: HURRAH FOR THE
LAND OF TOYS! DOWN WITH ARITHMETIC! NO MORE SCHOOL!

As soon as they had set foot in that land, Pinocchio, Lamp-Wick, and
all the other boys who had traveled with them started out on a tour of
investigation. They wandered everywhere, they looked into every nook and
corner, house and theater. They became everybody's friend. Who could be
happier than they?

What with entertainments and parties, the hours, the days, the weeks
passed like lightning.

"Oh, what a beautiful life this is!" said Pinocchio each time that, by
chance, he met his friend Lamp-Wick.

"Was I right or wrong?" answered Lamp-Wick. "And to think you did not
want to come! To think that even yesterday the idea came into your head
to return home to see your Fairy and to start studying again! If today
you are free from pencils and books and school, you owe it to me, to
my advice, to my care. Do you admit it? Only true friends count, after
all."

"It's true, Lamp-Wick, it's true. If today I am a really happy boy, it
is all because of you. And to think that the teacher, when speaking of
you, used to say, 'Do not go with that Lamp-Wick! He is a bad companion
and some day he will lead you astray.'"

"Poor teacher!" answered the other, nodding his head. "Indeed I know how
much he