“Excellent marionette, you will become famous.”
“What agreeable people!” thought Pinocchio. “I am sorry to leave them.”
“So you really will not come in?”
“No, I have said so before. I must go to school first, and then—”
“But it seems to me rather late for school,” said the crocodile man.
“That is true; it is too late for school,” replied Pinocchio.
“Well, then, stay a little longer with us, and later you can go home to your father.”
Pinocchio thrust his head through the hole and leaped into the tent. The naughty marionette had not the least desire to go to school, and was only too glad of an excuse to watch these strange people.