Now and again he pulled and tugged at the collar which nearly choked him and cried out in a weak voice: "I deserve it! Yes, I deserve it! I have been nothing but a truant and a vagabond.

I have never obeyed anyone and I have always done as I pleased.

If I were only like so many others and had studied and worked and stayed with my poor old father, I should not find myself here now, in this field and in the darkness, taking the place of a farmer's watchdog.

Oh, if I could start all over again! But what is done can't be undone, and I must be patient!" After this little sermon to himself, which came from the very depths of his heart, Pinocchio went into the doghouse and fell asleep..