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When Carlo Lorenzini wrote “L’Avventure di Pinocchi,” a tale of the adventures of a wooden puppet, he could scarcely have foreseen the long life and popularity that was to crown his work, first in his native country and later in other lands far afield.
But in choosing a marionette for his hero Lorenzini struck the chord of popular appeal, for the love of play is inherent in all peoples.
Carlo Lorenzini, born in 1826 or 1827—accounts seem to differ—and living until 1890, made his home in Florence for many years, employed in the Ministry of the Interior, and in journalistic work. When he retired from public life he devoted himself to writing for children, under the pen name of Collodi, his native town.
No doubt Lorenzini meant this book to teach a moral. The story is like a sugar-coated pill, so thickly covered with the sweet spice of fun, adventure, and mystery that any mischievous little boy or girl will snap at it eagerly, and, once having penetrated the alluring exterior, gain permanent benefit by the moral dose within. For here we find a wealth of concrete examples of the wisdom of doing right and shunning wrong.
We are told, with much sprightly humor in the telling, how poorly paid, in the long run, are laziness, deceit, envy, selfishness, disobedience and all the rest of the roll call of childish sins. The moral is neatly and clearly outlined: “Be good and you will be happy. If you want to be happy you must be good.”
