Edmondo De Amicis · 1886 · road

The October story from Cuore. A peasant boy near Padua is sold by his own family to a troupe of acrobats, who take him round Europe and beat and starve him. He runs, gets himself home by sea, and on the boat is given money by three foreigners who feel sorry for him - and then hears what they think of Italy.

1. 1
   Padua

   A labourer's son of eleven, sold outright to a company of travelling acrobats because the family cannot feed him - which De Amicis states in one sentence and does not soften, in a book written for children.

2. 2
   Barcelona

   Years of France and Spain, beaten and half-starved and shown to crowds - and at Barcelona he finally runs, and gets himself to the Italian consul, who puts him on a steamer home.

3. 3
   The steamer

   Three passengers take pity on the ragged boy in third class and give him coins, and he goes below delighted - and then, half asleep in his bunk, hears them talking about Italy: a country of thieves and beggars and worse.

4. 4
   Padua

   He gets up and throws the money back at them through the curtain, saying he takes nothing from people who speak that way about his country - which is the whole moral, delivered by a starving child with nothing else to give up.