page_title: Candlewick (character)
section_title: Role
hierarchical_section_title: Candlewick (character) / Role
caption_attribution_description: Illustrations from "Le avventure di Pinocchio, storia di un burattino", Carlo Collodi, Bemporad &amp; figlio, Firenze 1902 (Drawings and engravings by Carlo Chiostri, and A. Bongini)
context_page_description: Candlewick is a fictional character who appears in Carlo Collodi's 1883 book The Adventures of Pinocchio.
context_section_description: Candlewick is introduced in chapter 30 of The Adventures of Pinocchio. His real name is Romeo, though he is given his nickname on account of his slender, polished build. He is described as the most unruly of Pinocchio’s class, though he is the puppet’s best friend. He refuses Pinocchio’s invitation to a party celebrating his upcoming transformation into a real boy, and persuades the puppet to instead come with him to the Land of Toys (Paese dei Balocchi), a place where the boys spend their days having fun, education and study are nonexistent. The holidays start on the first day of January and end on the last of December.   
  The two are transported to the Land of Toys by the Coachman, and spend their days indulging in play and idleness. After five months, both of them awake with donkey ears, which they conceal with tall caps. The two are reluctant to admit their condition to each other, but after some coaxing, they simultaneously remove their caps and laugh at each other. Their laughter soon turns to animal brayings and the two transform into a pair of donkeys.
  While Pinocchio is sold to a circus ringleader, Candlewick is sold to a farmer who makes him work at a water mill. In a later chapter, Pinocchio is sold to a drummer who attempts to drown the donkey in order to skin his hide and use it to make his drum. The man is then surprised that instead of finding a dead donkey, he sees Pinocchio who says the fish ate away at all his donkey skin.
  Pinocchio and Candlewick meet again in chapter XXXVI, where it is revealed that Candlewick is dying from exhaustion. Pinocchio, now returned to normal, temporarily takes on Candlewick's job of doing farm work, and is laughed at when he reveals to Candlewick's owner that he went to school with the animal. Candlewick dies from exhaustion not long after.
caption: The wagon that leads the boys in the Land of Toys
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