feet?"

"I don't know, Father, but believe me, the night has been a terrible one
and I shall remember it as long as I live. The thunder was so noisy and
the lightning so bright--and I was hungry. And then the Talking Cricket
said to me, 'You deserve it; you were bad;' and I said to him, 'Careful,
Cricket;' and he said to me, 'You are a Marionette and you have a wooden
head;' and I threw the hammer at him and killed him. It was his own
fault, for I didn't want to kill him. And I put the pan on the coals,
but the Chick flew away and said, 'I'll see you again! Remember me to
the family.' And my hunger grew, and I went out, and the old man with a
nightcap looked out of the window and threw water on me, and I came home
and put my feet on the stove to dry them because I was still hungry,
and I fell asleep and now my feet are gone but my hunger isn't!
Oh!--Oh!--Oh!" And poor Pinocchio began to scream and cry so loudly that
he could be heard for miles around.

Geppetto, who had understood nothing of all that jumbled talk, except
that the Marionette was hungry, felt sorry for him, and pulling three
pears out of his pocket, offered them to him, saying:

"These three pears were for my breakfast, but I give them to you gladly.
Eat them and stop weeping."

"If you want me to eat them, please peel them for me."

"Peel them?" asked Geppetto, very much surprised. "I should never have
thought, dear boy of mine, that you were so dainty and fussy about your
food. Bad, very bad! In this world, even as children, we must accustom
ourselves to eat of everything, for we never know what life may hold in
store for us!"

"You may be right," answered Pinocchio, "but I will not eat the pears if
they are not peeled. I don't like them."

And good old Geppetto took out a knife, peeled the three pears, and put
the skins in a row on the table.

Pinocchio ate one pear in a twinkling 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!"

"But the core I will not eat!" cried Pinocchio in an angry tone.

"Who knows?" repeated Geppetto calmly.

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

Pinocchio had eaten the three pears, or rather devoured them. Then he
yawned deeply, and wailed:

"I'm still hungry."

"But I have no more to give you."

"Really, nothing--nothing?"

"I have only these three cores and these skins."

"Very w