meal, went over to his sleeping father and kissed him as a reward for
the fish and the orange peel. Pinocchio, to say the least, had a good
heart, and would have done anything for his father except study and
work.

That night he slept little. Lions, elephants, tigers, panthers,
beautiful women dressed in silk and mounted on butterflies as large as
eagles, men, in large boots, armed with knives and guns, palaces of
silver and gold! All these and a great many more strange sights floated
before his dreaming eyes, while he could hear animals roaring, howling,
and whistling to the sound of trumpets and drums.

At length the night needed and Pinocchio arose. First of all he went
to bid farewell to his friends in the circus, but they were no longer
to be found. During the night the director had quietly stolen away
with his company.

"A pleasant journey to you!" said Pinocchio, and he began to search
the ground for a forgotten piece of gold, or some precious stone which
might have fallen from a lady's diadem; but he found nothing.

"What shall I do now? Shall I go to Africa or to school? It might be
better to go to school, for the teacher says that I am a little behind
in reading, writing, composition, history, geography, and arithmetic.
In other subjects I am not so dull. Yes, yes; it will certainly do me
more good to go to school. Then I shall be a dunce no longer."

Having made this sensible decision, the marionette started for home
with the idea of studying his lessons and of going to school.