From Introduction:
Long long ago a friendly toy maker named Geppeto used to live on the outskirts of a fairly large town. He was a toymaker by trade, and although he was a well liked and friendly man he never did get married nor have any children. Which is a shame because Geppeto was a man who loved children.
Despite the fact that he was one of the greatest toymakers within a hundred miles he was always poor, this is because he often gave away he toys for free to homeless children. When he did make people pay it was only enough to got more materials and food. Time passed and as those children grew up Geppeto grew older, eventually he grew too old to work. That was alright because the grateful people who he gave toys to when they were little gave him everything he needed, so that he could live out his old age in a manner that was much more comfortable than most of the rest of his life. His wits started to slip like old people's wits tend to do, and one day he went through the town proclaiming that one of his toys had come to life, he named him Pinocchio.
The towns people smiled at the old man and let him live on in his delusion. He had been alone for so long, it seemed nice that he was finally happy.
Weeks passed and more of his creations came alive, and children started to vanish. It was just the homeless kids at first but then others who were late for dinner...never came at all. A couple of the new comers to the city instantly blamed Geppeto, but most of the town still remembered his kindness towards them when they were children and the newcomers were ignored.
Time kept passing and children kept disappearing, again the newcomers spoke and this time people started to listen. A mob formed, they stormed to Geppeto's house both praying he was innocent but afraid of what they would find. What they did find was a scene of horror beyond compare.
They found the missing children.
Some of them had screws put into all their joints with rope attached so they were like a horrible puppet. Some of the children had their skin flayed off then painted over, some now had marbles for eyes, and almost none of them had tongues.
Geppeto couldn't handle the crying.
As for Geppeto there was no trace of him anywhere. The children that could be saved were, and the rest were given mercy. As for Geppeto he was no where to be found.
Over the next few years children from that particular town and many others would mysteriously vanish never to be seen again. The country side lived in fear, stories were told of the insane toy maker who roamed the country side for decades, the belief magic took hold...and you can figure the rest.