Mr Cherry gives the piece of wood to his friend.
AT THAT MOMENT, there was a loud knock at the door.
"Come in," said the carpenter, still lying on the floor. After his fright he was not strong enough to get up.
The door opened. A little old man came in. He was poorly dressed, but he looked neat.
His name was Geppetto, but the naughty boys of the town had another name for him. They called him 'Polendina', because his wig was the colour of yellow corn.
His wig? Yes. In those days, boys and girls, people in Italy cut their own hair short, and wore wigs on their head instead. Geppetto wore a large yellow-coloured wig. He thought it was the best wig in the world, but I can tell you he looked rather silly in it!
Geppetto was a kind old man, but if anyone called him 'Polendina' he got really angry! He became as dangerous as a lion with a bad tooth. Once that happened no one could do anything with him. He would go on shouting angrily for hours and hours. At least, people said it felt like that.
"Hello, Mr Antonio," said Geppetto. "What are you doing down there on the floor?"
"I am teaching the ants to add up."
"Well, I hope they are good students, and listen to you carefully!"
Both old men like saying silly things, and they both thought they were very funny.
"What can I do for you Geppetto, my friend?"
"Mr Antonio, I have come to ask for something."
"Well, here I am, happy to help you in any way I can," answered the old carpenter, slowly getting to his feet.
"This morning I had an idea."
"What was that?"
"I thought I must make a puppet."
"A puppet? One of those wooden dancing dolls, you mean?"
"Yes. It would be wonderful to have something like that --a puppet that can really walk around and dance and fight and stand on its hands, and jump over things, and do all sorts of tricks. If I had one of those, people would pay me to show it to them. I would soon be rich. With a really good puppet I could go anywhere in the world, and live well. After a while I would have so much money I wouldn't know what to do with it all. What do you think?"
"Wonderful, Polendina!"
The same tiny voice which came from no one knew where had spoken --but Geppetto thought it was Mr Cherry.
When he heard someone calling him 'Polendina', Geppetto's face turned red. Looking the carpenter straight in the eyes, he said to him with a dangerously quiet voice: "You are trying to make me angry, aren't you?"
"Who is making you angry?"
"You are! You called me 'Polendina'."
"I did not."
"Oh, so you think I called myself Polendina, do you! I KNOW it was you."
"It wasn't!"
"It was!"
"Wasn't!"
"Was!"
With every word, both old men grew angrier. Soon they went from speaking to shouting, then from shouting to pushing, and before long they were scratching and biting and kicking at each other. Then each started trying to knock the other down.
They were old men. They were soon out of breath. Before long they were both sitting on the floor, looking at each other angrily. In the fight their wigs had come off. Now Geppetto had Mr Cherry's old brown wig in his hands; Mr Cherry had Geppetto's fine big yellow wig in his.
They stared at each other. Mr Cherry's eyes looked straight into the eyes of Geppetto. Geppetto's eyes look straight back into the eyes of Mr Cherry. And the more they looked at each other, the funnier they looked.
Slowly -- very slowly-- their stares became small smiles; the small smiles became big smiles, the big smiles became laughs. It was just too silly to be angry and to fight like that.
Before long both old men were laughing loudly. Each one gave the wig he was holding back to the other. They shook hands and promised to be good friends for the rest of their lives.
You may not be surprised to learn this sort of thing happened a lot when Mr Geppetto and Mr Cherry were together.
"Well then, Mr Geppetto," said the carpenter, when he had got his breath back, "what is it you want?"
"A piece of wood to make that puppet. Do you have something that I can use?"
Mr Cherry thought for just one second; and then he smiled. He went to get the piece of wood that had frightened him so badly. He picked it up, and turned round to give it to his friend. But as he turned, the piece of wood seemed to jump right out of his hands. It hit poor Geppetto's thin old legs.
"Ah! How polite of you, Mr Cherry. You don't give gifts to people; you throw them at them! Oh, that does hurt. I don't think I can walk properly!"
"I promise you, I did not do it!"
"You think I did it myself, eh? Yes, yes! I must have kicked myself: that's what happened --I don't think!"
"It's the fault of this piece of wood."
"Oh, of course, you're quite right; but remember you were the one who threw it at my legs."
"I did not throw it!"
"You are telling lies!"
"Geppetto, if you talk to me like that I shall call you 'Polendina'."
"Take care, now!"
"Polendina!"
"Donkey!"
"Polendina!"
"Ugly monkey!"
"Polendina!"
When he heard himself called 'Polendina' for the third time, Geppetto became so angry his face went white. He threw himself upon the carpenter. Then another fight started.
After this fight, Mr Cherry had two more scratches on his nose, and Geppetto had two buttons missing from his coat. And after that, because they were old men and could not be angry with each other for long, they shook hands and promised they would never fight again.
Then Geppetto picked up the fine piece of wood, thanked Mr Cherry, and walked slowly home.