They had hardly finished speaking, when both of them fell on all fours and began running and jumping around the room.  As they ran, their arms turned into legs, their faces lengthened into snouts and their backs became covered with long gray hairs.

This was humiliation enough, but the most horrible moment was the one in which the two poor creatures felt their tails appear.  Overcome with shame and grief, they tried to cry and bemoan their fate.

But what is done can’t be undone!  Instead of moans and cries, they burst forth into loud donkey brays, which sounded very much like, “Haw!  Haw!  Haw!”

At that moment, a loud knocking was heard at the door and a voice called to them: 

“Open!  I am the Little Man, the driver of the wagon which brought you here.  Open, I say, or beware!”

CHAPTER 33

Pinocchio, having become a Donkey, is bought by the owner of a Circus, who wants to teach him to do tricks.  The Donkey becomes lame and is sold to a man who wants to use his skin for a drumhead.

Very sad and downcast were the two poor little fellows as they stood and looked at each other.  Outside the room, the Little Man grew more and more impatient, and finally gave the door such a violent kick that it flew open.  With his usual sweet smile on his lips, he looked at Pinocchio and Lamp-Wick and said to them: 

“Fine work, boys!  You have brayed well, so well that I recognized your voices immediately, and here I am.”

On hearing this, the two Donkeys bowed their heads in shame, dropped their ears, and put their tails between their legs.

At first, the Little Man petted and caressed them and smoothed down their hairy coats.  Then he took out a currycomb and worked over them till they shone like glass.  Satisfied with the looks of the two little animals, he bridled them and took them to a market place far away from the Land of Toys, in the hope of selling them at a good price.

In fact, he did not have to wait very long for an offer.  Lamp-Wick was bought by a farmer whose donkey had died the day before.  Pinocchio went to the owner of a circus, who wanted to teach him to do tricks for his audiences.

And now do you understand what the Little Man’s profession was?  This horrid little being, whose face shone with kindness, went about the world looking for boys.  Lazy boys, boys who hated books, boys who wanted to run away from home, boys who were tired of school—­all these were his joy and his fortune.  He took them with him to the Land of Toys and let them enjoy themselves to their heart’s content.  When, after months of all play and no work, they became little donkeys, he sold them on the market place.  In a few years, he had become a millionaire.

What happened to Lamp-Wick?  My dear children, I do not know.  Pinocchio, I can tell you, met with great hardships even from the first day.