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CHAPTER 1

High in the Italian Alps lived a little boy called 'Poverino' That means 'Poor little thing' in English, and a poor little thing he was. Mainly because he was born to the greediest, most selfish parents ever. No one would wish for parents like these. He, unfortunately was the thirteenth boy and by that stage his most awful of parents could not even be bothered to think of a name for him. Twelve times of that nonsense according to them was enough for anyone. The thirteenth child would have been sent to the Italian equivalent of the workhouse if it hadn't have been for his lovely old grandmother. She and other villagers named him 'Poverino'. Some people would say any name was better than no name.

All his most awful of parents did was to sit in bed all day eating away and watching their sons working in the fields in the hot Italian sun. They would watch them from their balcony doorway. Needless to say they became fatter and fatter and fatter.

It was not long before little 'Poverino' was out there in the fields doing his share of the work. When he was four years old to be exact. His poor old grandmother would cry and cry, seeing him move the hay, pick the grapes and drive the tractor round the fields until night fell. As you can see Poverino was a very unusual child for four years of age.

His favourite task was to gather up the eggs each morning in the old barn. The chickens adored him and would make his tasks in the barn as easy as possible.

As he grew older it became even more apparent why he had been given the name 'Poverino'. Some things in life just don't happen by chance. Not only was he thin and scraggy compared to his twelve strapping brothers, he also had a carrot crop of hair on his head, which Just stuck up in the air and would not grow downwards.

He couldn't even lay his hair flat however hard he tried. When he was five, it was a sorry sight to see him sitting on the veranda with a pile of books on his head. At six he began to wear woolly caps even on boiling hot days. But to no avail - his hair would just spring light up again.