ell, then," said Pinocchio, "if there is nothing else I'll eat
them."

At first he made a wry face, but, one after another, the skins 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 and too dainty about food. My dear, we never know
what life may have in store for us!"

CHAPTER 8

Geppetto makes Pinocchio a new pair of feet, and sells his coat to buy
him an A-B-C book.

The Marionette, as soon as his hunger was appeased, started to grumble
and cry that he wanted a new pair of feet.

But Mastro Geppetto, in order to punish him for his mischief, let him
alone the whole morning. After dinner he said to him:

"Why should I make your feet over again? To see you run away from home
once more?"

"I promise you," answered the Marionette, 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, to study, and to succeed--"

"Boys always sing that song when they want their own will."

"But I am not like other boys! I am better than all of them and I always
tell the truth. I promise you, Father, that I'll learn a trade, and I'll
be the comfort and staff of your old age."

Geppetto, though trying to look very stern, felt his eyes fill with
tears and his heart soften when he saw Pinocchio so unhappy. He said
no more, but taking his tools and two pieces of wood, he set to work
diligently.

In less than an hour the feet were finished, two slender, nimble little
feet, strong and quick, modeled as if by an artist's hands.

"Close your eyes and sleep!" Geppetto then said to the Marionette.

Pinocchio closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep, while Geppetto
stuck on the two feet with a bit of glue melted in an eggshell, doing
his work so well that the joint could hardly be seen.

As soon as the Marionette felt his new feet, he gave one leap from the
table and started to skip and jump around, as if he had lost his head
from very joy.

"To show you how grateful I am to you, Father, I'll go to school now.
But to go to school I need a suit of clothes."

Geppetto did not have a penny in his pocket, so he made his son a little
suit of flowered paper, a pair of shoes from the bark of a tree, and a
tiny cap from a bit of dough.

Pinocchio ran to look at himself in a bowl of water, and he fel