According to Tolstoy, he had read Pinocchio as a child, but, having lost the book, he started re-imagining it many years later in an attempt to come up with a series of bedside stories for his own children. The resulting story turned out to be so original and became so loved by the writer's children, that he decided to put it to paper and publish it. The explanation, however, is highly unlikely to be true, since no Russian translation of the book is known to have existed during Tolstoy's childhood or even teen years.
Plot
Like Pinocchio, Buratino is a long-nosed wooden puppet. According to the story, he is carved by Papa Carlo from a log, and suddenly comes to life. Upon creation, Buratino comes out long-nosed due to Papa Carlo's sloppy woodworking. Papa Carlo tries to shorten it, but Buratino resists. Papa Carlo then sells his only good jacket in order to buy textbooks for Buratino and sends him to school. However, the boy becomes distracted by an advertisement for a local puppet theater show, and sells his textbooks to buy a ticket to the show. There he befriends other puppets, but the evil puppetmaster Karabas Barabas wants to destroy him because Buratino disrupted the show. Karabas Barabas releases Buratino after he learns that Papa Carlo's home contains a secret door for which Karabas has been searching. A Golden Key that Karabas once possessed, but later lost, opens this secret door. Karabas releases Buratino and even gives him five gold coins, asking only that Buratino watch after his father's home and make sure they do not move. The story proceeds to tell of Buratino and his friends' hunt for the Golden Key, and their struggle against the evil Karabas, his loyal friend Duremar, as well as a couple of crooks: Alice the Fox and Basilio the Cat, who are after Buratino's coins. Many of Buratino's further adventures are, however, derived from Collodi's Pinocchio, but are reworked to fit into Tolstoy's story.
Deviations from Collodi's story
The Fairy with Turquoise Hair is in Tolstoy's version another puppet from Karabas's theatre, named Malvina. She retains the blue colour of her hair, her poodle servant and her function of saving Buratino from the Fox and the Cat who hanged him on a tree. To explain her presence in the forest, it is stated that she had escaped from the theatre earlier. She is represented as somewhat overprotective and less likable than Collodi's Fairy, yet finally befriends Buratino.
The character of Pierrot is introduced. He is in love with Malvina. Pierrot is represented as an archetypal poet.
Tolstoy omits most details which in the 20th century would be considered too gruesome or too moralistic, such as: Pinocchio having burned his feet; black rabbits pretending to be about to bury him; the whole Land of Toys subplot; the shark swallowing Pinocchio and his father etc.
Unlike Pinocchio in the original story, Buratino never shifts to right behaviour and does not become a real human. Quite the contrary, he is rewarded for not following the rules of what is assumed to be right behaviour and being nonconformist. In the finale, we see him playing in a new puppet theatre of Carlo's.
Buratino's nose does not grow when he lies.
Characters
Buratino is a wooden puppet with a long nose.
Papa Carlo is a barrel organ player of little means, who created Buratino.
Giuseppe, nicknamed "Giuseppe the Blue Nose" for always being drunk, is a woodworker and a friend of Carlo. He wanted to make a table leg from the talking log, but got scared and finally gave the log as a present to Papa Carlo.
Karabas Barabas is an evil puppeteer. He owns a puppet theater with many marionettes, including Malvina, Pierrot, and Harlequin.
Malvina is a beautiful female puppet with blue hair.
Artemon is Malvina's loyal poodle.
Pierrot is a sad puppet and a poet who is deeply in love with Malvina.
Harlequin is Pierrot's scene partner in Karabas's theatre. He usually mocks and beats Pierrot.
The name Buratino has and continues to be used as branding for a variety of products and stores marketed to children in the ex-Soviet Union and Russia — most notable of these are the brand soft drink, of caramel taste and the "Golden Key" toffee. Buratino is also the nickname of the TOS-1multiple launch rocket system, due to the big "nose" of the launcher. A location in the story, Поле чудес , literally "The Field of Wonders " is used for the Russian adaptation of the Wheel of Fortune game show.
