Luz, Terra and Adrian walked for about half a day; the puppet found herself having a lively conversation with her two new friends, discovering that they were really very interesting people. Terra behaved like a loving grandmother who absolutely wanted to spoil her granddaughter and Adrian seemed like a distant uncle who, although clumsy, wanted to talk to her about any topic that came to mind. She was really happy to have met such people: she hoped that even after that day was over they would decide to stay with her. She was sure they could get along very well with her mother or Eda, especially Terra; they were too sweet and kind not to arouse sympathy.

Eventually they reached a small town located in the middle of the countryside, which seemed strangely divided in half: in the center of it there were beautiful buildings that aroused great wealth, exactly what Luz expected to find in a place whose inhabitants could make money grow from the earth; but around these buildings the houses were instead very poor, dirty and dilapidated, some even built with nothing more than rubbish and sheet metal. In the middle of the streets there were countless beggars asking for alms; extremely malnourished dogs and cats roamed everywhere and devoured anything in their path, even the smallest piece of meat. The only creatures that seemed to thrive were mice and crows, which infested the sidewalks and rooftops like a plague. From time to time carriages passed along the street with extremely richly dressed people on them, and everyone moved aside as they passed.

Luz thought this was strange. "I don't understand. Why don't these poor people go to the Field of Miracles, like us?"

But Adrian and Terra turned up their noses. "Don't fall for it" the woman told her. "These people are as rich as or even more than those who live in the buildings in the center of the city and who travel around in carriages, but unlike them they are hypocrites. They know very well that if they flaunted their wealth they would be forced to pay taxes and duties, and then all those who need money would go to them, and an infinite number of other problems that they don't want to deal with. And so they pretend to be poor to deceive others and make sure that no one bothers them, when in reality the in the evening they dine with caviar and silverware"

"Really? Damn, what assholes" Luz grumbled. "So in reality all these people who beg on the streets are rich, while those who travel around in carriages..."

"... they are rich themselves, but unlike them they take responsibility and don't hide, they pay taxes regularly and always have the doors of their buildings open to the needy" Terra explained to her. "Always remember, Luz: the richer people are, the more greedy they become. Rare are those who can maintain a good heart with a large amount of wealth in their hands. And so people become stingy and cruel, and even if they have a infinite source of earnings like the Field of Miracles, they still doesn't want to part with even the smallest change, and therefore does everything to avoid having to spend even a little of it"

Luz glared at the people on the street; they must have been really selfish if they went to this length to not spend a single cent. She promised herself that when she became rich she wouldn't become like that, but on the contrary she would always give others all the money they needed. She didn't want to become a misanthrope willing to pretend to be poor in order to avoid having to part with her money.

After crossing the city and passing the walls, the trio continued for a while until they reached an overgrown and lonely field that perfectly matched the one previously described by Adrian and Terra. "Here we are" the latter said taking a purse and taking out some copper coins. "Adrian and I will sow ours in this spot; Luz, you can sow yours in that corner over there. If we put them too close together they would end up growing poorly because each would steal the other's nutrients and block sunlight; this way instead the shoots will be far enough apart and won't risk hindering each other"

"You're right! Damn, you're really good at gardening!" Luz complimented her.

"Well, I told you, it's my passion" Terra replied with a hint of pride in her voice.

And so while Adrian and Terra buried their coins, Luz did the same with hers: she dug a small hole and put her five gold sequins in it, and then covered them with earth. Then, following the directions of her two new friends, she went to a nearby spring and got some water with which she watered them. "Is there anything else to do?" she asked when the job was completed.

"No, not at all" Adrian answered. "Now all we have to do is wait. In an hour or so there will be some magnificent money trees here"

Luz rubbed her hands together; she couldn't contain the anticipation, and suddenly every second seemed like a century long. "Shall we wait here?"

"No, we have to go see my cousin. I promised him I would come and say hello; I owe him after all after he told me this wonderful secret" Adrian replied. "I would take you with us, but my cousin is not very hospitable to strangers, so I fear that here we must part ways. Go and take a walk in the town, and in an hour come back here to collect your coins"

"Yeah. As fate will want it, we'll arrive here at the same time to get ours" Terra added. "But I learned firsthand how talkative Adrian's cousin can be, so it's likely that we won't be able to leave his house before evening... in case our paths never cross again, I want that you know that it was a pleasure get to know you, Luz. And please, if we never meet again, don't go back to the woods alone: since you will have a thousand or two thousand gold coins, hire a guard or even ten, so the assassins won't bother you anymore! And maybe even hire some mercenaries to find those scoundrels, so you can bring them to justice and they'll rot in prison as they deserve!"

Luz was a little sad that her friends had to leave, but she couldn't force them to stay; after all they had been too kind towards her. And she couldn't even follow them to Adrian's cousin's house against their will; after all, he doubted that they would have discarded that option out of hand if the latter hadn't been truly hostile to strangers. And she didn't want Adrian to end up fighting with his family because of her. "In this case, it was a pleasure for me to meet you two too. And I promise you that if we don't meet here I will look for you, and when I'll find you I will give you a nice gift!"

Terra and Adrian shook their heads: "Luz, we already told you that we don't want..."

"It's my choice, not yours! Just like it was your choice to stay with me!" Luz answered them with a smile. "So, expect a gift from me, and don't compliment me when I bring it to you!"

Terra and Adrian rubbed her hair. "Luz, you truly have a heart of gold. Don't ever change" they told her, and then they went on their way. Luz watched them go for a while, feeling a sense of sadness in her heart, and then she headed towards the town to go for a walk as they had recommended.

In the original book, the town that Pinocchio, the Fox and the Cat reach is called Fools-Catcher (it's better in Italian) and is described in an even poorer way, but Pinocchio still doesn't ask any questions; furthermore Pinocchio is the only one who sows the coins and again doesn't ask questions when the Cat and the Fox go off on their own. Here the scene is a little different: Luz, despite trusting her two companions, questions herself about what is happening around her because she is by no means completely stupid, but Adrian and Terra are clever and invent very intelligent excuses every time. So you can't even blame Luz for being too naive, since she tries not to fall for it after all.

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