"And what is your opinion of him?" asked the little man.
"He seems to me to be a very good boy, anxious to learn, and obedient and affectionate to his father and family."
Whilst the puppet was firing off all these lies, he touched his nose and perceived that it had lengthened more than a hand. Very much alarmed he began to cry out:
"Don't believe, good man, what I have been telling you. I know Pinocchio very well and I can assure you that he is a very bad boy, disobedient and idle, who, instead of going to school, runs off with his companions to amuse himself."
He had hardly finished speaking when his nose became shorter and returned to the same size that it was before.
"And why are you all covered with white?" asked the old man suddenly.
"I will tell you. Without observing it I rubbed myself against a wall which had been freshly whitewashed," answered the puppet, ashamed to confess that he had been floured like a fish prepared for the frying-pan.
"And what have you done with your jacket, your trousers, and your cap?"
"I met with robbers, who took them from me. Tell me, good old man, could you perhaps give me some clothes to return home in?"
"My boy, as to clothes, I have nothing but a little sack in which I keep beans. If you wish for it, take it; there it is."