The Land of Toys () is a fictional location in the Italian novel The Adventures of Pinocchio (1883) that is disguised as a haven of freedom and anarchy for children, but is eventually discovered to be far more sinister.
Described as a "land of Cocagne", the size and nature of the location is unclear: the Disney adaptation depicts it as a large amusement park on an island whereas the novel implies that it is at least as large as a township. Also, in Italian, paese can mean 'country' or 'land', but also 'town' or 'village'.
To its unsuspecting visitors (like Pinocchio and Candlewick), the Land of Toys appears to be a fantastic haven for wayward children to do whatever they want with no consequences or law; to act as they please without recrimination. However, the truer and more sinister purpose of the Land of Toys is eventually revealed: by means of a disease called "donkey fever" that affects children who never study or work, the children turn physically into donkeys (in Italian culture, the donkey is symbolic of ignorance, stupidity, goofiness and labor). Subsequently, they get sold by The Coachman to different places.
Along with Land of Toys, other names for the land include: Pleasure Island (Disney film adaptation, 1940, Geppetto, 2000, and Disney live-action remake, 2022), Land Where Dreams Come True (Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night, 1987),Terra Magica (The Adventures of Pinocchio, 1996), Fun Forever Land (Pinocchio, 2002), Fantastic Island (Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child, 1997), and Luilekkerland.
The Land of Toys in the original novel
The original representation of 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 Coachman with the promise of never having to go to school or work again and being able to spend their whole time having fun, and the graffiti on all the walls is proof of that.
The children there were described as playing with nuts, playing with battledores, playing with balls, riding velocipedes, riding wooden horses, playing hide and seek and chasing each other. Some were dressed in straw while eating lighted tow. Some were doing some reciting. Some were singing. Some were walking on their hands. Some were trundling hoops. Some were dressed as generals commanding others dressed as soldiers. Some were laughing. Some were shouting. Some were calling out. Some clapped their hands. Some whistled. Some clucked as if they were pretending to be hens laying eggs. In other words, it was pandemonium here.
There were also canvas theaters erected which was crowded by children from morning to evening. The walls of some house had messages on them that said, "Long live playthings! We will have no more schools! Down with arithmetic!” There was also fine sentiments in bad spelling.
Finally, after months of reckless abandonment, the true purpose of the land is revealed. As a result of their immodest behavior and ignorance, and what is treated almost as a natural consequence, they become donkeys (in Italian culture, the donkey is symbolic of ignorance, stupidity, goofiness and labor). Pinocchio learned of the "donkey fever" from a marmot.
The transformation is not instantaneous, but usually happens in the span of a single day:
First the children's ears sprout out into those of a donkey. 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 children are forced to the ground in a quadrupedal stance, unable to stand upright any longer. It is at this point of animalistic behavior that the children's minds seem to transform into that of unthinking beasts; they begin to lose speech and run around chaotically, braying, kicking, and violently rolling until 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, children'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 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.