The Adventures of Pinocchio — Chapter 29

About This Passage

This passage is the chapter's most precise lesson about lying. Pinocchio has just told the old man flattering things about himself — that he wants to go to school and obey his parents — and his nose grows. The moment he tells the truth, that he is a bad boy and a vagabond, his nose returns to normal. The chapter is teaching that any untrue story about yourself is still a lie, and that the truth is what makes the nose stay the right size.

Narration Prompt

Retell Chapter 29 with attention to the way it is built around debts being paid. Begin with Aladdin paying back the rescue Pinocchio gave him, then describe Pinocchio's encounter with the old man and the lie that grew his nose, and end with the long wait at the Fairy's door and the chalk-and-cardboard breakfast.

Discussion Questions

1. Examine Aladdin's words to Pinocchio after the rescue: 'You have saved me and now I save you. In this world all ought to help one another.' What does the chapter teach about how good actions move forward in time and return to the person who did them?
2. Examine the moment Pinocchio's nose grows because he is saying flattering things about himself ('a good boy, a boy that wants to go to school, to study, and to obey his parents'). What does the chapter argue about the difference between humble truth and flattering lies?

+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide