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The Land of Toys ((イタリア語:Paese dei balocchi)) is a fictional location in the Italian novel ''The Adventures of Pinocchio'' (1883). It is disguised as a haven of freedom and anarchy for boys and occasionally girls. In the Disney film adaptation of the novel, the land is renamed as Pleasure Island. The size and nature of such location is unclear (the Disney adaptation depicts it as an amusement park, whereas the novel implies it is at least as large as a township); the ambiguity in the original name (''paese'' can mean ''country'' or ''land'', but also ''town'' or ''village'') adds to the confusion. to its unsuspecting visitors it appears to be a fantastic place where boys and girls can do whatever they want with no consequences or law. However, Its real use is for a slave trade. Located in the fictional land of Cocagne, Pleasure Island serves as a haven for wayward boys and girls, allowing them to act as they please without recrimination. However, the truer and more sinister purpose of Pleasure Island is eventually revealed as it begins to physically transform the boys and girls into donkeys, apparently by means of a curse. ==The Land of Toys in the novel== The original take to the Land of Toys mixes the aspects of a morality tale with those of social critique. Children (depending upon the translation of the original Italian, the novel has included both boys and girls or only boys) are lured there by the promise of never having to go to school again and being able to spend their whole time having fun. In the novel, the ages of the boys and girls that are there are defined clearly as between the years eight to fourteen. Boys and girls there play hide-and-seek, whistle, watch puppets in canvas theatres, play shuttlecock, bounce on balls, trundle hoops and ride wooden horses, dress as characters, eat candy all day, and put on plays. They never have to do any work or learn anything, and the graffiti on all the walls is proof of that. Finally, after months of reckless abandonment, the true purpose of the land is revealed. As a result of their immodest behavior, and what is treated almost as a natural consequence, they become donkeys (in Italian culture, the donkey is symbolic of ignorance and stupidity). The transformation is not instantaneous, but usually happens in the span of a single day. First the boys and girl's ears sprout out into long donkey ears. This first change seems to be an early symptom, for it is always several hours before the complete asinine change begins. Then, in a process which the book seems to describe as painful, the boys and girls are forced to the ground in a bipedal stance; unable to stand upright any longer. It is at this point of animalistic behavior that the boys and girl's minds seem to transform into that of unthinking beasts as they begin to loose speech and run around chaotically braying and kicking and as such always violently ripping off their human clothes until naked and fully transformed; usually in such a violent manner as to seem crazed. However, a piece of their human minds seems to remain in the fact that they are aware that they are being humiliated. Then, as they lash out in asinine instincts, the boys and girl's hands and feet become hooves, their faces transform into equine muzzles, and they grow hair all over their bodies. The last thing that happens to them is the boys and girl's growth of donkey tails; this is considered the most humiliating segment of the transformation in the fact that it signals their absolute and irreversible transformation into donkeys. Some commentators have sighted that the sudden, yet completely clean, (no graphic, obscene, or overtly scary descriptions are used) transformation can seem terrifying to younger children, but framed in context with the novel's time period of release this is just not so. Nevertheless, adaptations of the scene continue to be hailed as too frightening for certain age groups. When framed in the context of the late 19th century, the chapters set in the Land of Toys also serve as social commentary: abandoning school means securing oneself a future with no other chance to make a living but hard labor, and there are plenty of people (like the ruthless coachman) who will try and take advantage of that. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Land of Toys」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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