The Coachman (Italian: il Conduttore del Carro), also known as The Little Man (l'Omino, or more precisely l'Omino di Burro, 'the Buttery Man'), 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.
The Coachman, thanks to his mellifluous manners and his convincing and reassuring voice, lures lazy boys onto his coach.
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".
After five months of plentiful toys and entertainment, the boys (including Pinocchio and Candlewick) are transformed into donkeys.