The Stupid Little Boys are characters in Pinocchio.
Role in the film
They are carried on The Coachman's Stagecoach to visit Pleasure Island, a place where they can do what they care for without adults telling them to do anything. The boys are all aged between 5-9 years (Lampwick, however, seems to be between 10-12 years of age, so he may be the oldest of them all). On the Island, the boys can have as much junk food as they desire; engage in violent brawls, drink unhealthy amounts of alcohol, gamble, and generally abuse their privileges; and no adults are on the island to stop them. However, what they do not know is that while they are having fun, they are converted slowly into donkeys after having acted as such. First, the boys' laughs became the brays of a donkey. Then, the boys would grow donkey ears, followed by a tail. Then, the boys' faces would turn into that of a donkey, complete with a muzzle. Then, the boys' hands and feet would become hooves, with their entire bodies being covered in fur at the same time. Finally, the boys would fall to all fours and their voices would be replaced by full braying. Then the boys would go mad and they would be braying and kicking wildly, some throwing their clothes off. Only a very small handful of boys were fortunate enough to still retain their voices for unexplained reasons. They were then all rounded up by the Coachman's minions to be taken to the dockyards for inspection.
After becoming donkeys, the boys are asked their name by the Coachman going one after another as they are called, and if that answer is a bray, he removes their remaining clothes, usually by tearing them off their bodies and puts them into boxes for sale. The Coachmen usually deal with anywhere donkeys are put to work, and the boxes are marked accordingly by labels saying "Sold to...."
If they answer with their name (as happens to Alexander), he holds them to work for him and to ensure they can't ever rat out the Coachman's evil schemes to the authorities back home. The boys could only watch sadly as they were forced to work like the donkeys they had become.
During Pinocchio's trip to the island, most of the boys had been transformed and rounded up while he and Lampwick were left as the only two not yet turned, and remained unseen in the island's pool hall. Before long however Lampwick himself fell victim to the island's curse and turned into a donkey, and he ran away from the hall in a panic. Whether he evaded the Coachman's minions is unknown, but he was likely caught and sold along with the rest of them. Pinocchio narrowly avoided the same fate due to Jiminy's intervention, with the knowledge of the island's evil curse.
Most of the transformed boys were sold to the salt mines and the circuses, among other clients, all doomed to a life of intensive labor. It is unknown if any of them ever found a way to become human again, or whatever happened to the talking donkeys forced to stay on the island.
Disney Parks
- At least two of the Stupid Little Boys as donkeys still wearing some human clothing have been seen in the Celebrate A Dreams Come True Parade at the Magic Kingdom park for Walt Disney World, marching along with Honest John and Gideon, also one has been seen with Lampwick in human form, except for donkey ears and tail, on the Disneyland Main Street Electrical Parade; other than that they have not been exactly meetable characters.
Trivia
- The boys originally had a song written for them to sing about Pleasure Island, but it was cut.
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