The carriage passed a number of country people walking toward the city carrying baskets full of things to sell—jewelry and flowers and fruit. Two small boys carried strings of onions over their shoulders. They hurried happily along, as if they expected to make their fortune selling those onions. They called a merry "Buon giorno" to the little American girls as the carriage rolled past them.
Two small boys carried strings of onions over their shoulders
Soon the road led through a village where the people seemed very poor indeed. The little children were ragged and dirty and hungry, and there were, oh, so many of them! Most of the children were too small to earn money, but they were not too small to beg for it.
"Oh, I never, never saw such poor little children!" cried May. "Where do you suppose they all come from? See, they are running after our carriage and begging for un soldo. Let's give them some pennies, Molly."
Molly and May opened their bags and began throwing pennies
So Molly and May opened their bags and began throwing pennies into the crowd of eager little children, who kept up with the carriage even though the horses were trotting fast.
It was great fun for everybody. The children caught the flying pennies in their mouths, in their caps, and in their hands, scrambling for them on the dusty road. But soon the horses trotted too fast for them, and they were left far behind. Molly and May could see them dividing the pennies so each child should have at least one.
After a while Pietro looked down from his high seat and said that he would like to take them to a very wonderful place if they would not ask him any questions about it until they got there.