Geppetto went to prison very quickly. In the meantime, that rascal (a person who is naughty) Pinocchio was free. He ran across fields and meadows. He took every short path to get home. Pinocchio jumped over brambles (wild bushes with sharp thorns) and bushes. He jumped across small rivers. He ran like a goat or a rabbit.
Pinocchio reached the house and found the door open. He slipped into the room and locked the door. He threw himself on the floor. Pinocchio was happy because he was safe.
But his happiness did not last long. Suddenly, he heard a sound:
“Cri-cri-cri!”
“Who is calling me?” Pinocchio asked. He was very afraid.
“I am!”
Pinocchio turned around. He saw a large cricket. It was walking slowly up the wall.
“Tell me, Cricket, who are you?” Pinocchio asked.
“I am the Talking Cricket. I lived in this room for more than one hundred years,” the cricket said.
“Today this room is mine,” the marionette (a wooden doll that moves with strings) said. “Please go away now. Do not look back.”
“I will not leave,” the Cricket answered. “First, I must tell you a great truth.”
“Tell it then. But hurry,” Pinocchio said.
“Bad things happen to boys who do not obey their parents. Bad things happen to boys who run away from home. They will never be happy. When they are old, they will be very sorry,” the Cricket said.
“Sing your song, Cricket,” Pinocchio said. “I know one thing. Tomorrow I will leave this place. If I stay here, I must go to school. I must study. But I hate to study! I like to catch butterflies. I like to climb trees and take birds' eggs.”
“Poor little fool!” the Cricket said. “If you do that, you will become a donkey. Everyone will laugh at you.”
“Be quiet, you ugly Cricket!” Pinocchio shouted.
The Cricket was very wise. He was not angry with Pinocchio. He spoke in a calm voice.
“If you do not like school, why do you not learn a trade (a job that needs special skills)? Then you can earn money for food,” the Cricket said.
“I will tell you something,” Pinocchio said. He was losing his patience. “There is only one job that I like.”
“What job is that?” the Cricket asked.
“My job is eating, drinking, and sleeping. I want to play and walk around all day,” Pinocchio said.
“I will tell you something for your own good,” the Talking Cricket said. “People with that job always end up in a hospital (a place for sick people) or in prison.”
“Be careful, ugly Cricket! If I get angry, you will be sorry!” Pinocchio said.
“Poor Pinocchio, I feel sorry for you,” the Cricket said.
“Why?” Pinocchio asked.
“Because you are a doll. And you have a wooden head,” the Cricket said.
Pinocchio became very angry. He jumped up and took a hammer from the bench. He threw the hammer at the Talking Cricket with all his strength.
Pinocchio did not think he would hit the Cricket. But the hammer hit the Cricket exactly on the head.
The poor Cricket made one last sound: “cri-cri-cri.” Then it fell from the wall. The Talking Cricket was dead.