The Coachman
| The Coachman | |
|---|---|
| The Adventures of Pinocchio character | |
 Il conduttiere del carro, as illustrated by Enrico Mazzanti | |
| First appearance | The Adventures of Pinocchio |
| Created by | Carlo Collodi |
| Information | |
| Species | Human |
| Gender | Male |
| Nationality | Italian |
The Coachman (Italian: Il Conduttore del Carro), also known as The Little Man (L'Omino), is a fictional character who appears in Carlo Collodi's 1883 book The Adventures of Pinocchio (Le avventure di Pinocchio).
Role
The Coachman is introduced in chapter XXXI, and is described as thus:
| “ | Picture for yourselves a little man, broader than he is tall, tender and greasy like a ball of butter, with a rosy face, a small, constantly laughing mouth and a thin, adorable voice of a cat wishing all the best to its master. | ” |
The coachman’s name is never revealed, though he identifies himself in Chapter XXXII as merely “The Little Man” (L’Omino). He drives to Busy Bee Island (Isola delle Api Industriose) on a coach pulled by twenty-four donkeys which mysteriously wear white shoes on their hooves. By the time he arrives to take Pinocchio and Candlewick to the Land of Toys (Il Paese dei Balocchi), his carriage is completely packed, leaving Candlewick to sit in front with him and Pinocchio to ride one of the donkeys. The donkey throws Pinocchio off and is reproached by the coachman, who comes to it and acts as if he's going to give it a kiss, but then bites half its right ear off. When Pinocchio remounts the donkey, the animal begins to weep like a human and warns Pinocchio of the impending danger he faces. The coachman again reproaches the animal by biting off half its other ear. The coachman proceeds to kidnap the delinquent children and take them to the Land of Toys, whilst singing to himself:
“All night they sleep And I never sleep…”
In Chapter XXXII, the coachman visits Pinocchio and Candlewick five months later, when they have themselves become donkeys due to their idleness. He violently breaks into their house, meticulously waxes their fur, and puts them on sale. Candlewick is bought by a farmer, while Pinocchio is bought by a circus ringmaster. He has become a millionaire by selling children for the donkey trade.
Disney version
The Coachman appears in the 1940 adaptation of the book by Walt Disney Productions. His voice is provided by Charles Judels, who also provides the voice of Stromboli in the film.
As opposed to the original character, he is large and physically imposing, and speaks with a harsh Cockney accent, though he does not bite his donkeys' ears. He meets Foulfellow and Gideon in a bar and hires them to round up naughty boys for him, promising to pay them lots of money but specifically warning them not to double-cross him. He intimidates Foulfellow and Gideon with a frightening grin, presenting himself as a sort of demonic figure as well as an antithesis to the Blue Fairy.
The Coachman takes the boys to Pleasure Island aboard a steamboat, where he encourages them to act like "jackasses" and misbehave, turning into actual donkeys as they do so. He sorts donkeys who can talk from those who cannot, the latter being sold to salt mines and circuses and used to pull his coach. Donkeys who can still talk are taken back to Pleasure Island and presumably forced to misbehave until they lose their humanity. The Coachman is assisted by numerous silent black figures, who lock Pleasure Island's doors for him and handle the crates used to transport donkeys with.
The Coachman's ultimate fate is never revealed in the film, though he presumably claims Lampwick after he becomes a donkey. He appears as a boss in the film's video game adaptation, where he fights Pinocchio on a cliff and attacks using a donkey as well as his own whip. At the end of the battle, Pinocchio knocks him over the cliff.
In the Descendants novel "The Isle of the Lost," the Coachman is among the villains imprisoned on the Isle of the Lost. Here, he operates a taxi cab that is pulled by normal donkeys. It is mentioned that prior to being imprisoned, the Coachman had to spend a year having to round up all the boys that were turned into donkeys.
Other appearances
- In Giuliano Cenci's 1972 animated film Un burattino di nome Pinocchio, the Coachman, voiced by Gianni Bonagura, is portrayed much more closely to the book than his Disney counterpart. He works alone and is portrayed as an effeminate and alluring character with a high pitched voice, who easily tricks Pinocchio and Candlewick to come to the Land of Toys. However, he is not portrayed as violently as in the book.
- In Pinocchio's Christmas, a sleigh driver working for a rich duke is based on the Coachman.
- In the 1992 GoodTimes Entertainment film, he is portrayed as large and very harsh, like the Disney character. He gives the boys a ride to Dunceland, where they transform into donkeys.
- In The Adventures of Pinocchio, the character's role is fused with that of Mangiafuoco and The Terrible Dogfish into the villainous Lorenzini (played by Udo Kier). Pinocchio accidentally sets the villain Lorenzini's theater on fire, causing Lorenzini to change career and begin luring unruly children to Terra Magica, where the children inevitably drink cursed water which turns them into donkeys. Lorenzini, during a struggle with Pinocchio, falls into the water and turns into a sea monster, which swims out to the ocean.
References
Bibliography
- Collodi, Le Avventure di Pinocchio 1883, Biblioteca Universale Rizzoli