The Coachman, also known as The Little Man (l'Omino, or more precisely ), is a fictional character and a major antagonist from Carlo Collodi's 1883 book The Adventures of Pinocchio (Le avventure di Pinocchio), in which he appears in chapters XXXI and XXXIII.

Description

The Coachman, thanks to his mellifluous manners and his convincing and reassuring voice, lures lazy boys onto his coach. The coach is pulled by a team of twenty-four donkeys, to take the boys to the Land of Toys. It is a place where every child can have fun, without having to listen to adults. The coach has wrapped wheels so as not to make noise (and therefore not to be discovered) and the donkeys, instead of being shod, have white boots on their feet. He is described by Collodi as: "a little man, broader than he is tall, tender and greasy like a ball of butter, with a rosy face, a small, constantly laughing mouth and a thin, adorable voice of a cat wishing all the best to its master". He is a diabolical, perverse and sometimes even sadistic character: to punish his donkeys he bites off their ears. While the coach speeds towards the Land of Toys the coachman sings: "All night they sleep / and I never sleep...". After five months of plentiful toys and entertainment, the boys (including Pinocchio and Candlewick) are transformed into donkeys. Subsequently Collodi explains that the Coachman's job is to take children to the Land of Toys, await their transformation into donkeys and sell them at fairs and markets, a job that has made him a millionaire in just a few years.

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