 It was originally published in a serial form as "The Story of a Puppet" () in the "Giornale per i bambini", one of the earliest Italian weekly magazines for children, starting from 7 July 1881.The story stopped after nearly 4 months and 8 episodes at Chapter 15, but by popular demand from readers, the episodes were resumed on 16 February 1882.In February 1883, the story was published in a single book.