by
L. FRANK BAUM
"Royal historian of Oz"
This Book
is dedicated
to the son of
my son
Frank Alden Baum
I know that some of you have been waiting for this
story of the Tin Woodman, because many of my
correspondents have asked me, time and again what ever
became of the "pretty Munchkin girl" whom Nick Chopper
was engaged to marry before the Wicked Witch enchanted
his axe and he traded his flesh for tin. I, too, have
wondered what became of her, but until Woot the
Wanderer interested himself in the matter the Tin
Woodman knew no more than we did. However, he found
her, after many thrilling adventures, as you will
discover when you have read this story.
I am delighted at the continued interest of both
young and old in the Oz stories. A learned college
professor recently wrote me to ask: "For readers of
what age are your books intended?" It puzzled me to
answer that properly, until I had looked over some of
the letters I have received. One says: "I'm a little
boy 5 years old, and I Just love your Oz stories. My
sister, who is writing this for me, reads me the Oz
books, but I wish I could read them myself." Another
letter says: "I'm a great girl 13 years old, so you'll
be surprised when I tell you I am not too old yet for
the Oz stories." Here's another letter: "Since I was a
young girl I've never missed getting a Baum book for
Christmas. I'm married, now, but am as eager to get and
read the Oz stories as ever." And still another writes:
"My good wife and I, both more than 70 years of age,
believe that we find more real enjoyment in your Oz
books than in any other books we read." Considering
these statements, I wrote the college professor that my
books are intended for all those whose hearts are
young, no matter what their ages may be.
I think I am justified in promising that there will
be some astonishing revelations about The Magic of Oz
in my book for 1919. Always your loving and grateful
friend,
L. FRANK BAUM.
Royal Historian of Oz.
"OZCOT"
at HOLLYWOOD
in CALIFORNIA
1918.
CHAPTER 1
WOOT THE WANDERER
The Tin Woodman sat on his glittering tin throne in the handsome
tin hall of his splendid tin castle in the Winkie Country of the Land of
Oz. Beside him in a chair of woven straw sat his best friend, the
Scarecrow of Oz. At times they spoke to one another of curious things
they had seen and strange adventures they had known since first they two
had met and become comrades. But at times they were silent, for these
things had been talked over many times between them, and they found
themselves contented in merely being together, speaking now and then a
brief sentence to prove they were wide awake and attentive. But then,
these two quaint persons never slept. Why should they sleep when they
never tired?
And now, as the brilliant sun sank low over the Winkie Country of
Oz, tinting the glistening tin towers and tin minarets of the tin castle
with glorious sunset hues, there approached along a winding pathway Woot
the Wanderer, who met at the castle entrance a Winkie servant.
The servants of the Tin Woodman all wore tin helmets and tin
breastplates and uniforms covered with tiny tin discs sewed closely
together on silver cloth, so that their bodies sparkled as beautifully as
did the tin castle and almost as beautifully as did the Tin Woodman
himself. Woot the Wanderer looked at the manservant, all bright and
glittering; and at the magnificent castle, all bright and glittering; and
as he looked, his eyes grew big with wonder. For Woot was not very big
and not very old, and wanderer as he was, this proved the most gorgeous
sight that had ever met his boyish gaze.
"Who lives here?" he asked.
"The Emperor of the Winkies, who is the famous Tin Woodman of
Oz," replied the servant, who had been trained to treat all strangers
with courtesy..
"A Tin Woodman? How queer!" exclaimed the little wanderer.
"Well, perhaps our Emperor IS queer," admitted the servant, "but
he is a kind master and as honest and true as good tin can make him; so
we, who gladly serve him, are apt to forget that he is not like other
people."
"May I see him?" asked Woot the Wanderer after a moment's
thought.
"If it please you to wait a moment, I will go and ask him," said
the servant, and then he went into the hall where the Tin Woodman sat
with his friend the Scarecrow. Both were glad to learn that a stranger
had arrived at the castle, for this would give them something new to talk
about, so the servant was asked to admit the boy at once.
By the time Woot the Wanderer had passed through the grand
corridors--all lined with ornamental tin--and under stately tin archways
and through the many tin rooms all set with beautiful tin furniture, his
eyes had grown bigger than ever, and his whole little body thrilled with
amazement. But astonished though he was, he was able to make a polite
bow before the throne and to say in a respectful voice, "I salute your
Illustrious Majesty and offer you my humble services."
"Very good!" answered the Tin Woodman in his accustomed cheerful
manner. "Tell me who you are and whence you come."
"I am known as Woot the Wanderer," answered the boy, "and I have
come, through many travels and by roundabout ways, from my former home in
a far corner of the Gillikin Country of Oz."
"To wander from one's home," remarked the Scarecrow, "is to
encounter dangers and hardships, especially if one is made of meat and
bone. Had you no friends in that corner of the Gillikin Country? Was it
not homelike and comfortable?"
To hear a man stuffed with straw speak, and speak so well, quite
startled Woot, and perhaps he stared a bit rudely at the Scarecrow. But
after a moment he replied, "I had home and friends, your Honorable
Strawness, but they were so quiet and happy and comfortable that I found
them dismally stupid. Nothing in that corner of Oz interested me, but I
believed that in other parts of the country I would find strange people
and see new sights, and so I set out upon my wandering journey. I have
been a wanderer for nearly a full year, and now my wanderings have
brought me to this splendid castle."
"I suppose," said the Tin Woodman, "that in this year you have
seen so much that you have become very wise."
"No," replied Woot thoughtfully, "I am not at all wise, I beg to
assure your Majesty. The more I wander, the less I find that I know, for
in the Land of Oz much wisdom and many things may be learned."
"To learn is simple. Don't you ask questions?" inquired the
Scarecrow.
"Yes, I ask as many questions as I dare, but some people refuse
to answer questions."
"That is not kind of them," declared the Tin Woodman. "If one
does not ask for information, he seldom receives it; so I, for my part,
make it a rule to answer any civil question that is asked me."
"So do I," added the Scarecrow, nodding.
"I am glad to hear this," said the Wanderer, "for it makes me
bold to ask for something to eat."
"Bless the boy!" cried the Emperor of the Winkies. "How careless
of me not to remember that wanderers are usually hungry. I will have
food brought you at once."
Saying this, he blew upon a tin whistle that was suspended from
his tin neck, and at the summons a servant appeared and bowed low. The
Tin Woodman ordered food for the stranger, and in a few minutes the
servant brought in a tin tray heaped with a choice array of good things
to eat, all neatly displayed on tin dishes that were polished till they
shone like mirrors. The tray was set upon a tin table drawn before the
throne, and the servant placed a tin chair before the table for the boy
to seat himself.
"Eat, friend Wanderer," said the Emperor cordially, "and I trust
the feast will be to your liking. I, myself, do not eat, being made in
such manner that I require no food to keep me alive. Neither does my
friend the Scarecrow. But all my Winkie people eat, being formed of
flesh as you are, and so my tin cupboard is never bare, and strangers are
always welcome to whatever it contains."
The boy ate in silence for a time, being really hungry, but after
his appetite was somewhat satisfied, he said, "How happened your Majesty
to be made of tin and still be alive?"
"That," replied the tin man, "is a long story."
"The longer the better," said the boy. "Won't you please tell me
the story?"
"If you desire it," promised the Tin Woodman, leaning back in his
tin throne and crossing his tin legs. "I haven't related my history in a
long while, because everyone knows it nearly as well as I do. But you,
being a stranger, are no doubt curious to learn how I became so beautiful
and prosperous, so I will recite for your benefit my strange adventures."
"Thank you," said Woot the Wanderer, still eating.
"I was not always made of tin," began the Emperor, "for in the
beginning I was a man of flesh and bone and blood and lived in the
Munchkin Country of Oz. There I was, by trade, a woodchopper and
contributed my share to the comfort of the Oz people by chopping up the
trees of the forest to make firewood, with which the women would cook
their meals while the children warmed themselves about the fires. For my
home I had a little hut by the edge of the forest, and my life was one of
much content until I fell in love with a beautiful Munchkin girl who
lived not far away."
"What was the Munchkin girl's name?" asked Woot.
"Nimmie Amee. This girl, so fair that the sunsets blushed when
their rays fell upon her, lived with a powerful witch who wore silver
shoes and who had made the poor child her slave. Nimmie Amee was obliged
to work from morning till night for the old Witch of the East, scrubbing
and sweeping her hut and cooking her meals and washing her dishes. She
had to cut firewood, too, until I found her one day in the forest and
fell in love with her. After that, I always brought plenty of firewood
to Nimmie Amee, and we became very friendly. Finally, I asked her to
marry me, and she agreed to do so, but the Witch happened to overhear our
conversation, and it made her very angry, for she did not wish her slave
to be taken away from her. The Witch commanded me never to come near
Nimmie Amee again, but I told her I was my own master and would do as I
pleased, not realizing that this was a careless way to speak to a Witch.
The next day, as I was cutting wood in the forest, the cruel Witch
enchanted my axe so that it slipped and cut off my right leg."
"How dreadful!" cried Woot the Wanderer.
"Yes, it was a seeming misfortune," agreed the Tin Man, "for a
one-legged woodchopper is of little use in his trade. But I would not
allow the Witch to conquer me so easily. I knew a very skillful mechanic
at the other side of the forest, who was my friend, so I hopped on one
leg to him and asked him to help me. He soon made me a new leg out of
tin and fastened it cleverly to my meat body. It had joints at the knee
and at the ankle and was almost as comfortable as the leg I had lost."
"Your friend must have been a wonderful workman!" exclaimed Woot.
"He was indeed," admitted the Emperor. "He was a tinsmith by
trade and could make anything out of tin. When I returned to Nimmie
Amee, the girl was delighted and threw her arms around my neck and kissed
me, declaring she was proud of me. The Witch saw the kiss, and was more
angry than before. When I went to work in the forest next day, my axe,
still being enchanted, slipped and cut off my other leg. Again I
hopped--on my tin leg--to my friend the tinsmith, who kindly made me
another tin leg and fastened it to my body. So I returned joyfully to
Nimmie Amee, who was much pleased with my glittering legs and promised
that when we were wed she would always keep them oiled and polished. But
the Witch was more furious than ever, and as soon as I raised my axe to
chop, it twisted around and cut off one of my arms. The tinsmith made me
a tin arm, and I was not much worried, because Nimmie Amee declared she
still loved me."
CHAPTER 2
THE HEART OF THE TIN WOODMAN
The Emperor of the Winkies paused in his story to reach for an oil
can, with which he carefully oiled the joints in his tin throat, for his
voice had begun to squeak a little. Woot the Wanderer, having satisfied
his hunger, watched this oiling process with much curiosity, but begged
the Tin Man to go on with his tale.
"The Witch with the Silver Shoes hated me for having defied her,"
resumed the Emperor, his voice now sounding clear as a bell, "and she
insisted that Nimmie Amee should never marry me. Therefore she made the
enchanted axe cut off my other arm, and the tinsmith also replaced that
member that you see me using. But alas! After that, the axe, still
enchanted by the cruel Witch, cut my body in two, so that I fell to the
ground. Then the Witch, who was watching from a nearby bush, rushed up
and seized the axe and chopped my body into several small pieces, after
which, thinking that at last she had destroyed me, she ran away laughing
in wicked glee.
"But Nimmie Amee found me. She picked up my arms and legs and
head and made a bundle of them and carried them to the tinsmith, who set
to work and made me a fine body of pure tin. When he had joined the arms
and legs to the body and set my head in the tin collar, I was a much
better man than ever, for my body could not ache or pain me, and I was so
beautiful and bright that I had no need of clothing. Clothing is always
a nuisance, because it soils and tears and has to be replaced, but my tin
body only needs to be oiled and polished.
"Nimmie Amee still declared she would marry me, as she still
loved me in spite of the Witch's evil deeds. The girl declared I would
make the brightest husband in all the world, which was quite true.
However, the Wicked Witch was not yet defeated. When I returned to my
work, the axe slipped and cut off my head, which was the only meat part
of me then remaining. Moreover, the old woman grabbed up my severed head
and carried it away with her and hid it. But Nimmie Amee came into the
forest and found me wandering around helplessly, because I could not see
where to go, and she led me to my friend the tinsmith. The faithful fellow
at once set to work to make me a tin head, and he had just completed it
when Nimmie Amee came running up with my old head, which she had stolen
from the Witch. But on reflection, I considered the tin head far
superior to the meat one--I am wearing it yet, so you can see its beauty
and grace of outline--and the girl agreed with me that a man all made of
tin was far more perfect than one formed of different materials. The
tinsmith was as proud of his workmanship as I was, and for three whole
days all admired me and praised my beauty. Being now completely formed
of tin, I had no more fear of the Wicked Witch, for she was powerless to
injure me. Nimmie Amee said we must be married at once, for then she
could come to my cottage and live with me and keep me bright and sparkling.
"'I am sure, my dear Nick,' said the brave and beautiful girl--my
name was then Nick Chopper, you should be told--that you will make the
best husband any girl could have. I shall not be obliged to cook for
you, for now you do not eat; I shall not have to make your bed, for tin
does not tire or require sleep; when we go to a dance, you will not get
weary before the music stops and say you want to go home. All day long,
while you are chopping wood in the forest, I shall be able to amuse
myself in my own way, a privilege few wives enjoy. There is no temper in
your new head, so you will not get angry with me. Finally, I shall take
pride in being the wife of the only live Tin Woodman in all the world!'
Which shows that Nimmie Amee was as wise as she was brave and beautiful."
"I think she was a very nice girl," said Woot the Wanderer. "But
tell me, please, why were you not killed when you were chopped to
pieces?"
"In the Land of Oz," replied the Emperor, "no one can ever be
killed. A man with a wooden leg or a tin leg is still the same man, and
as I lost parts of my meat body by degrees, I always remained the same
person as in the beginning, even though in the end I was all tin and no
meat."
"I see," said the boy thoughtfully. "And did you marry Nimmie
Amee?"
"No," answered the Tin Woodman, "I did not. She said she still
loved me, but I found that I no longer loved her. My tin body contained
no heart, and without a heart no one can love. So the Wicked Witch
conquered in the end, and when I left the Munchkin Country of Oz, the
poor girl was still the slave of the Witch and had to do her bidding day
and night."
"Where did you go?" asked Woot.
"Well, I first started out to find a heart, so I could love
Nimmie Amee again, but hearts are more scarce than one would think. One
day, in a big forest that was strange to me, my joints suddenly became
rusted because I had forgotten to oil them. There I stood, unable to move
hand or foot. And there I continued to stand while days came and went
until Dorothy and the Scarecrow came along and rescued me. They oiled my
joints and set me free, and I've taken good care never to rust again."
"Who was this Dorothy?" questioned the Wanderer.
"A little girl who happened to be in a house when it was carried
by a cyclone all the way from Kansas to the Land of Oz. When the house
fell in the Munchkin Country, it fortunately landed on the Wicked Witch
and smashed her flat. It was a big house, and I think the Witch is under
it yet."
"No," said the Scarecrow, correcting him. "Dorothy says the
Witch turned to dust, and the wind scattered the dust in every
direction."
"Well," continued the Tin Woodman, "after meeting the Scarecrow
and Dorothy, I went with them to the Emerald City, where the Wizard of Oz
gave me a heart. But the Wizard's stock of hearts was low, and he gave
me a Kind Heart instead of a Loving Heart, so that I could not love
Nimmie Amee any more than I did when I was heartless."
"Couldn't the Wizard give you a heart that was both Kind and
Loving?" asked the boy.
"No. That was what I asked for, but he said he was so short on
hearts just then that there was but one in stock, and I could take that
or none at all. So I accepted it, and I must say that for its kind it is
a very good heart indeed."
"It seems to me," said Woot musingly, "that the Wizard fooled
you. It can't be a very Kind Heart, you know."
"Why not?" demanded the Emperor.
"Because it was unkind of you to desert the girl who loved you
and who had been faithful and true to you when you were in trouble. Had
the heart the Wizard gave you been a Kind Heart, you would have gone back
home and made the beautiful Munchkin girl your wife and then brought her
here to be an Empress and live in your splendid tin castle."
The Tin Woodman was so surprised at this frank speech that for a
time he did nothing but stare hard at the boy Wanderer. But the
Scarecrow wagged his stuffed head and said in a positive tone, "This boy
is right. I've often wondered, myself, why you didn't go back and find
that poor Munchkin girl."
Then the Tin Woodman stared hard at the Scarecrow. But finally
he said in a serious tone of voice, "I must admit that never before have
I thought of such a thing as finding Nimmie Amee and making her Empress
of the Winkies. But it is surely not too late, even now, to do this, for
the girl must still be living in the Munchkin Country. And since this
strange Wanderer has reminded me of Nimmie Amee, I believe it is my duty
to set out and find her. Surely it is not the girl's fault that I no
longer love her, and so, if I can make her happy, it is proper that I
should do so, and in this way reward her for her faithfulness."
"Quite right, my friend!" agreed the Scarecrow.
"Will you accompany me on this errand?" asked the Tin Emperor.
"Of course," said the Scarecrow.
"And will you take me along?" pleaded Woot the Wanderer in an
eager voice.
"To be sure," said the Tin Woodman, "if you care to join our
party. It was you who first told me it was my duty to find and marry
Nimmie Amee, and I'd like you to know that Nick Chopper, the Tin Emperor
of the Winkies, is a man who never shirks his duty once it is pointed out
to him."
"It ought to be a pleasure as well as a duty if the girl is so
beautiful," said Woot, well pleased with the idea of the adventure.
"Beautiful things may be admired, if not loved," asserted the Tin
Man. "Flowers are beautiful, for instance, but we are not inclined to
marry them. Duty, on the contrary, is a bugle call to action, whether
you are inclined to act or not. In this case, I obey the bugle call of
duty."
"When shall we start?" inquired the Scarecrow, who was always
glad to embark upon a new adventure. "I don't hear any bugle, but when
do we go?"
"As soon as we can get ready," answered the Emperor. "I'll call
my servants at once and order them to make preparations for our journey."
CHAPTER 3
ROUNDABOUT
Woot the Wanderer slept that night in the tin castle of the
Emperor of the Winkies and found his tin bed quite comfortable. Early
the next morning, he rose and took a walk through the gardens, where
there were tin fountains and beds of curious tin flowers and where tin
birds perched upon the branches of tin trees and sang songs that sounded
like the notes of tin whistles. All these wonders had been made by the
clever Winkie tinsmiths, who wound the birds up every morning so that
they would move about and sing. After breakfast, the boy went into the
throne room, where the Emperor was having his tin joints carefully oiled
by a servant, while other servants were stuffing sweet, fresh hay into
the body of the Scarecrow.
Woot watched this operation with much interest, for the
Scarecrow's body was only a suit of clothes filled with straw. The coat
was buttoned tight to keep the packed straw from sagging down. The
Scarecrow's head was a gunny sack filled with bran, on which the eyes,
nose and mouth had been painted. His hands were white cotton gloves
stuffed with fine straw. Woot noticed that even when carefully stuffed
and patted into shape, the straw man was awkward in his movements and
decidedly wobbly on his feet, so the boy wondered if the Scarecrow would
be able to travel with them all the way to the forests of the Munchkin
Country of Oz.
The preparations made for this important journey were very
simple. A knapsack was filled with food and given Woot the Wanderer to
carry upon his back, for the food was for his use alone. The Tin Woodman
shouldered an axe which was sharp and brightly polished, and the
Scarecrow put the Emperor's oil-can in his pocket that he might oil his
friend's joints should they need it.
"Who will govern the Winkie Country during your absence?" asked
the boy.
"Why, the Country will run itself," answered the Emperor. "As a
matter of fact, my people do not need an Emperor, for Ozma of Oz watches
over the welfare of all her subjects, including the Winkies. Like a good
many kings and emperors, I have a grand title but very little real power,
which allows me time to amuse myself in my own way. The people of Oz have
but one law to obey, which is: 'Behave Yourself,' so it is easy for them
to abide by this Law, and you'll notice they behave very well. But it is
time for us to be off, and I am eager to start because I suppose that
that poor Munchkin girl is anxiously awaiting my coming."
"She's waited a long time already, it seems to me," remarked the
Scarecrow as they left the grounds of the castle and followed a path that
led eastward.
"True," replied the Tin Woodman, "but I've noticed that the last
end of a wait, however long it has been, is the hardest to endure, so I
must try to make Nimmie Amee happy as soon as possible."
"Ah, that proves you have a Kind Heart," remarked the Scarecrow
approvingly.
"It's too bad he hasn't a Loving Heart," said Woot. "This Tin Man
is going to marry a nice girl through kindness and not because he loves
her, and somehow that doesn't seem quite right."
"Even so, I am not sure it isn't best for the girl," said the
Scarecrow, who seemed very intelligent for a straw man. "For a loving
husband is not always kind, while a kind husband is sure to make any girl
content."
"Nimmie Amee will become an Empress!" announced the Tin Woodman
proudly. "I shall have a tin gown made for her, with tin ruffles and
tucks on it, and she shall have tin slippers and tin earrings and
bracelets and wear a tin crown on her head. I am sure that will delight
Nimmie Amee, for all girls are fond of finery."
"Are we going to the Munchkin Country by way of the Emerald
City?" inquired the Scarecrow, who looked upon the Tin Woodman as the
leader of the party.
"I think not," was the reply. "We are engaged upon a rather
delicate adventure, for we are seeking a girl who fears her former lover
has forgotten her. It will be rather hard for me, you must admit, when I
confess to Nimmie Amee that I have come to marry her because it is my
duty to do so, and therefore the fewer witnesses there are to our
meeting, the better for both of us. After I have found Nimmie Amee and
she has managed to control her joy at our reunion, I shall take her to
the Emerald City and introduce her to Ozma and Dorothy and to Betsy
Bobbin and Tiny Trot, and all our other friends; but if I remember
rightly, poor Nimmie Amee has a sharp tongue when angry, and she may be a
trifle angry with me at first because I have been so long in coming to
her."
"I can understand that," said Woot gravely. "But how can we get
to that part of the Munchkin Country where you once lived without passing
through the Emerald City?"
"Why, that is easy," the Tin Man assured him.
"I have a map of Oz in my pocket," persisted the boy, "and it
shows that the Winkie Country, where we are now, is at the west of Oz,
and the Munchkin Country at the east, while directly between them lies
the Emerald City."
"True enough. But we shall go toward the north first of all,
into the Gillikin Country, and so pass around the Emerald City,"
explained the Tin Woodman.
"That may prove a dangerous journey," replied the boy. "I used
to live in one of the top corners of the Gillikin Country, near to
Oogaboo, and I have been told that in this northland country are many
people whom it is not pleasant to meet. I was very careful to avoid them
during my journey south."
"A Wanderer should have no fear," observed the Scarecrow, who was
wabbling (sic) along in a funny, haphazard manner but keeping pace with
his friends.
"Fear does not make a coward," returned Woot, growing a little
red in the face, "but I believe it is more easy to avoid danger than to
overcome it. The safest way is the best way, even for one who is brave
and determined."
"Do not worry, for we shall not go far to the north," said the
Emperor. "My one idea is to avoid the Emerald City without going out of
our way more than is necessary. Once around the Emerald City, we will
turn south into the Munchkin Country, where the Scarecrow and I are well
acquainted and have many friends."
"I have traveled some in the Gillikin Country," remarked the
Scarecrow, "and while I must say I have met some strange people there at
times, I have never yet been harmed by them."
"Well, it's all the same to me," said Woot with assumed
carelessness. "Dangers, when they cannot be avoided, are often quite
interesting, and I am willing to go wherever you two venture to go."
So they left the path they had been following and began to travel
toward the northeast, and all that day they were in the pleasant Winkie
Country, and all the people they met saluted the Emperor with great
respect and wished him good luck on his journey. At night they stopped
at a house where they were well entertained and where Woot was given a
comfortable bed to sleep in. "Were the Scarecrow and I alone," said the
Tin Woodman, "we would travel by night as well as by day, but with a meat
person in our party, we must halt at night to permit him to rest."
"Meat tires after a day's travel," added the Scarecrow, "while
straw and tin never tire at all. Which proves," said he, "that we are
somewhat superior to people made in the common way."
Woot could not deny that he was tired, and he slept soundly until
morning, when he was given a good breakfast, smoking hot. "You two miss
a great deal by not eating," he said to his companions.
"It is true," responded the Scarecrow. "We miss suffering from
hunger when food cannot be had, and we miss a stomach ache now and then."
As he said this, the Scarecrow glanced at the Tin Woodman, who nodded his
assent.
All that second day they traveled steadily, entertaining one
another the while with stories of adventures they had formerly met and
listening to the Scarecrow recite poetry. He had learned a great many
poems from Professor Wogglebug and loved to repeat them whenever anybody
would listen to him. Of course Woot and the Tin Woodman now listened
because they could not do otherwise--unless they rudely ran away from
their stuffed comrade.
One of the Scarecrow's recitations was like this:
"What sound is so sweet
As the straw from the wheat
When it crunkles so tender and low?
It is yellow and bright,
So it gives me delight
To crunkle wherever I go.
Sweet, fresh, golden Straw!
There is surely no flaw
In a stuffing so clean and compact.
It creaks when I walk,
And it thrills when I talk,
And its fragrance is fine, for a fact.
To cut me don't hurt,
For I've no blood to squirt,
And I therefore can suffer no pain;
The straw that I use
Doesn't lump up or bruise,
Though it's pounded again and again!
I know it is said
That my beautiful head
Has brains of mixed wheat-straw and bran,
But my thoughts are so good
I'd not change if I could,
For the brains of a common meat man.
Content with my lot
I'm glad that I'm not
Like others I meet day by day;
If my insides get musty,
Or mussed-up or dusty,
I get newly stuffed right away."
CHAPTER 4
THE LOONS OF LOONVILLE
Toward evening, the travelers found there was no longer a path to
guide them, and the purple hues of the grass and trees warned them that
they were now in the Country of the Gillikins, where strange peoples
dwelt in places that were quite unknown to the other inhabitants of Oz.
The fields were wild and uncultivated, and there were no houses of any
sort to be seen. But our friends kept on walking even after the sun went
down, hoping to find a good place for Woot the Wanderer to sleep. But
when it grew quite dark and the boy was weary with his long walk, they
halted right in the middle of a field and allowed Woot to get his supper
from the food he carried in his knapsack. Then the Scarecrow laid
himself down so that Woot could use his stuffed body as a pillow, and the
Tin Woodman stood up beside them all night so the dampness of the ground
might not rust his joints or dull his brilliant polish. Whenever the dew
settled on his body, he carefully wiped it off with a cloth, and so in
the morning the Emperor shone as brightly as ever in the rays of the
rising sun.
They wakened the boy at daybreak, the Scarecrow saying to him,
"We have discovered something queer, and therefore we must counsel
together what to do about it."
"What have you discovered?" asked Woot, rubbing the sleep from
his eyes with his knuckles and giving three wide yawns to prove he was
fully awake.
"A Sign," said the Tin Woodman. "A Sign and another path."
"What does the Sign say?" inquired the boy.
"It says that 'All Strangers are Warned not to Follow this Path
to Loonville,'" answered the Scarecrow, who could read very well when his
eyes had been freshly painted.
"In that case," said the boy, opening his knapsack to get some
breakfast, "let us travel in some other direction."
But this did not seem to please either of his companions. "I'd
like to see what Loonville looks like," remarked the Tin Woodman.
"When one travels, it is foolish to miss any interesting sight,"
added the Scarecrow.
"But a warning means danger," protested Woot the Wanderer, "and I
believe it sensible to keep out of danger whenever we can."
They made no reply to this speech for a while. Then said the
Scarecrow, "I have escaped so many dangers during my lifetime that I am
not much afraid of anything that can happen."
"Nor am I!" exclaimed the Tin Woodman, swinging his glittering
axe around his tin head in a series of circles. "Few things can injure
tin, and my axe is a powerful weapon to use against a foe. But our boy
friend," he continued, looking solemnly at Woot, "might perhaps be
injured if the people of Loonville are really dangerous, so I propose he
waits here while you and I, Friend Scarecrow, visit the forbidden City of
Loonville."
"Don't worry about me," advised Woot calmly. "Wherever you wish
to go, I will go and share your dangers. During my wanderings I have
found it more wise to keep out of danger than to venture in, but at that
time I was alone, and now I have two powerful friends to protect me."
So when he had finished his breakfast, they all set out along the
path that led to Loonville. "It is a place I have never heard of
before," remarked the Scarecrow as they approached a dense forest. "The
inhabitants may be people of some sort, or they may be animals, but
whatever they prove to be we will have an interesting story to relate to
Dorothy and Ozma on our return."
The path led into the forest, but the big trees grew so closely
together and the vines and underbrush were so thick and matted that they
had to clear a path at each step in order to proceed. In one or two
places the Tin Man, who went first to clear the way, cut the branches
with a blow of his axe. Woot followed next, and last of the three came
the Scarecrow, who could not have kept the path at all had not his
comrades broken the way for his straw-stuffed body. Presently the Tin
Woodman pushed his way through some heavy underbrush and almost tumbled
headlong into a vast cleared space in the forest. The clearing was
circular, big and roomy, yet the top branches of the tall trees reached
over and formed a complete dome or roof for it. Strangely enough,
it was not dark in this immense natural chamber in the woodland, for the
place glowed with a soft, white light that seemed to come from some
unseen source.
In the chamber were grouped dozens of queer creatures, and these
so astonished the Tin Man that Woot had to push his metal body aside that
he might see, too. And the Scarecrow pushed Woot aside, so that the
three travelers stood in a row, staring with all their eyes.
The creatures they beheld were round and ball-like, round in
body, round in legs and arms, round in hands and feet, and round of head.
The only exception to the roundness was a slight hollow on the top of
each head, making it saucer-shaped instead of dome-shaped. They wore no
clothes on their puffy bodies, nor had they any hair. Their skins were
all of a light gray color, and their eyes were mere purple spots. Their
noses were as puffy as the rest of them. "Are they rubber, do you
think?" asked the Scarecrow, who noticed that the creatures bounded as
they moved and seemed almost as light as air.
"It is difficult to tell what they are," answered Woot. "They
seem to be covered with warts."
The Loons--for so these folks were called--had been doing many
things, some playing together, some working at tasks, and some gathered
in groups to talk; but at the sound of strange voices, which echoed
rather loudly through the clearing, all turned in the direction of the
intruders. Then, in a body, they all rushed forward, running and
bounding with tremendous speed. The Tin Woodman was so surprised by this
sudden dash that he had no time to raise his axe before the Loons were
upon them. The creatures swung their puffy hands, which looked like
boxing gloves, and pounded the three travelers as hard as they could on
all sides. The blows were quite soft and did not hurt our friends at
all, but the onslaught quite bewildered them, so that in a brief period
all three were knocked over and fell flat upon the ground. Once down,
many of the Loons held them to prevent their getting up again, while
others wound long tendrils of vines about them, binding their arms and
legs to their bodies and so rendering them helpless.
"Aha!" cried the biggest Loon of all. "We've got 'em safe, so
let's carry 'em to King Bal and have 'em tried and condemned and
perforated!"
They had to drag their captives to the center of the domed
chamber, for their weight as compared with that of the Loons prevented
their being carried. Even the Scarecrow was much heavier than the puffy
Loons. But finally the party halted before a raised platform on which
stood a sort of throne consisting of a big, wide chair with a string tied
to one arm of it. This string led upward to the roof of the dome.
Arranged before the throne, the prisoners were allowed to sit up facing
the empty throne.
"Good!" said the big Loon who had commanded the party. "Now to
get King Bal to judge these terrible creatures we have so bravely
captured." As he spoke, he took hold of the string and began to pull as
hard as he could. One or two of the others helped him, and pretty soon,
as they drew in the cord, the leaves above them parted and a Loon
appeared at the other end of the string. It didn't take long to draw him
down to the throne, where he seated himself and was tied in so he
wouldn't float upward again.
"Hello," said the King, blinking his purple eyes at his
followers. "What's up now?"
"Strangers, your Majesty, strangers and captives," replied the
big Loon pompously.
"Dear me! I see 'em. I see 'em very plainly," exclaimed the
King, his purple eyes bulging out as he looked at the three prisoners.
"What curious animals! Are they dangerous, do you think, my good Panta?"
"I'm 'fraid so, your Majesty. Of course, they may NOT be
dangerous, but we musn't take chances. Enough accidents happen to us
poor Loons as it is, and my advice is to condemn and perforate 'em as
quickly as possible."
"Keep your advice to yourself," said the monarch in a peeved
tone. "Who's King here, anyhow? You or Me?"
"We made you our King because you have less common sense than the
rest of us," answered Panta Loon indignantly. "I could have been King
myself had I wanted to, but I didn't care for the hard work and
responsibility."
As he said this, the big Loon strutted back and forth in the
space between the throne of King Bal and the prisoners, and the other
Loons seemed much impressed by his defiance. But suddenly there was a
sharp report and Panta Loon instantly disappeared, to the great
astonishment of the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and Woot the Wanderer, who
saw on the spot where the big fellow had stood a little heap of flabby,
wrinkled skin that looked like a collapsed rubber balloon.
"There!" exclaimed the King. "I expected that would happen. The
conceited rascal wanted to puff himself up until he was bigger than the
rest of you, and this is the result of his folly. Get the pump working,
some of you, and blow him up again."
"We will have to mend the puncture first, your Majesty,"
suggested one of the Loons, and the prisoners noticed that none of them
seemed surprised or shocked at the sad accident to Panta.
"All right," grumbled the King. "Fetch Til to mend him."
One or two ran away and presently returned followed by a lady
Loon wearing huge, puffed-up rubber skirts. Also, she had a purple
feather fastened to a wart on the top of her head, and around her waist
was a sash of fiber-like vines, dried and tough, that looked like
strings. "Get to work, Til," commanded King Bal. "Panta has just
exploded."
The lady Loon picked up the bunch of skin and examined it
carefully until she discovered a hole in one foot. Then she pulled a
strand of string from her sash, and drawing the edges of the hole
together, she tied them fast with the string, thus making one of those
curious warts which the strangers had noticed on so many Loons. Having
done this, Til Loon tossed the bit of skin to the other Loons and was
about to go away when she noticed the prisoners and stopped to inspect
them.
"Dear me!" said Til. "What dreadful creatures. Where did they
come from?"
"We captured them," replied one of the Loons.
"And what are we going to do with them?" inquired the girl Loon.
"Perhaps we'll condemn 'em and puncture 'em," answered the King.
"Well," said she, still eyeing the captives, "I'm not sure they'll
puncture. Let's try it, and see."
One of the Loons ran to the forest's edge and quickly returned
with a long, sharp thorn. He glanced at the King, who nodded his head in
assent, and then he rushed forward and stuck the thorn into the leg of
the Scarecrow. The Scarecrow merely smiled and said nothing, for the
thorn didn't hurt him at all. Then the Loon tried to prick the Tin
Woodman's leg, but the tin only blunted the point of the thorn.
"Just as I thought," said Til, blinking her purple eyes and
shaking her puffy head. But just then the Loon stuck the thorn into the
leg of Woot and Wanderer, and while it had been blunted somewhat, it was
still sharp enough to hurt.
"Ouch!" yelled Woot, and kicked out his leg with so much energy
that the frail bonds that tied him burst apart. His foot caught the
Loon--who was leaning over him--full on his puffy stomach and sent him
shooting up into the air. When he was high over their heads, he exploded
with a loud "pop," and his skin fell to the ground.
"I really believe," said the King, rolling his spot-like eyes in
a frightened way, "that Panta was right in claiming these prisoners are
dangerous. Is the pump ready?"
Some of the Loons had wheeled a big machine in front of the
throne and now took Panta's skin and began to pump air into it. Slowly
it swelled out until the King cried "Stop!"
"No, no!" yelled Panta. "I'm not big enough yet."
"You're as big as you're going to be," declared the King.
"Before you exploded you were bigger than the rest of us, and that caused
you to be proud and overbearing. Now you're a little smaller than the
rest, and you will last longer and be more humble."
"Pump me up, pump me up!" wailed Panta. "If you don't, you'll
break my heart."
"If we do, we'll break your skin," replied the King.
So the Loons stopped pumping air into Panta and pushed him away
from the pump. He was certainly more humble than before his accident,
for he crept into the background and said nothing more. "Now pump up the
other one," ordered the King. Til had already mended him, and the Loons
set to work to pump him full of air.
During these last few moments, none had paid much attention to
the prisoners, so Woot, finding his legs free, crept over to the Tin
Woodman and rubbed the bonds that were still around his arms and body
against the sharp edge of the axe, which quickly cut them. The boy was
now free, and the thorn which the Loon had stuck into his leg was lying
unnoticed on the ground where the creature had dropped it when he
exploded. Woot leaned forward and picked up the thorn, and while the
Loons were busy watching the pump, the boy sprang to his feet and
suddenly rushed upon the group.
"Pop, pop, pop!" went three of the Loons when the Wanderer
pricked them with his thorn, and at the sounds the others looked around
and saw their danger. With yells of fear they bounded away in all
directions, scattering about the clearing with Woot the Wanderer in full
chase. While they could run much faster than the boy, they often
stumbled and fell or got in one another's way, so he managed to catch
several and prick them with his thorn.
It astonished him to see how easily the Loons exploded. When the
air was let out of them, they were quite helpless. Til Loon was one of
those who ran against his thorn, and many others suffered the same fate.
The creatures could not escape from the enclosure, but in their fright
many bounded upward and caught branches of the trees, and then climbed
out of reach of the dreaded thorn. Woot was getting pretty tired chasing
them, so he stopped and came over, panting, to where his friends were
sitting, still bound.
"Very well done, my Wanderer," said the Tin Woodman. "It is
evident that we need fear these puffed-up creatures no longer, so be kind
enough to unfasten our bonds, and we will proceed upon our journey."
Woot untied the bonds of the Scarecrow and helped him to his
feet. Then he freed the Tin Woodman, who got up without help. Looking
around them, they saw that the only Loon now remaining within reach was
Bal Loon, the King, who had remained seated in his throne, watching the
punishment of his people with a bewildered look in his purple eyes.
"Shall I puncture the King?" the boy asked his companions. King
Bal must have overheard the question, for he fumbled with the cord that
fastened him to the throne and managed to release it. Then he floated
upward until he reached the leafy dome, and parting the branches he
disappeared from sight. But the string that was tied to his body was
still connected with the arm of the throne, and they knew that they could
pull his Majesty down again if they wanted to.
"Let him alone," suggested the Scarecrow. "He seems a good
enough king for his peculiar people, and after we are gone, the Loons
will have something of a job to pump up all those whom Woot has
punctured."
"Every one of them ought to be exploded," declared Woot, who was
angry because his leg still hurt him.
"No," said the Tin Woodman. "That would not be just or fair.
They were quite right to capture us, because we had no business to
intrude here, having been warned to keep away from Loonville. This is
their country, not ours, and since the poor things can't get out of the
clearing, they can harm no one save those who venture here out of
curiosity, as we did."
"Well said, my friend," agreed the Scarecrow. "We really had no
right to disturb their peace and comfort, so let us go away."
They easily found the place where they had forced their way into
the enclosure, so the Tin Woodman pushed aside the underbrush and started
first along the path. The Scarecrow followed next, and last came Woot,
who looked back and saw that the Loons were still clinging to their
perches on the trees and watching their former captives with frightened
eyes. "I guess they're glad to see the last of us," remarked the boy,
and laughing at the happy ending of the adventure, he followed his
comrades along the path.
CHAPTER 5
MRS. YOOP, THE GIANTESS
When they had reached the end of the path, where they had first
seen the warning sign, they set off across the country in an easterly
direction. Before long they reached Rolling Lands, which were a
succession of hills and valleys where constant climbing and descents were
required, and their journey now became tedious, because on climbing each
hill they found before them nothing in the valley below it except grass
or weeds or stones. Up and down they went for hours, with nothing to
relieve the monotony of the landscape until finally, when they had topped
a higher hill than usual, they discovered a cup-shaped valley before them
in the center of which stood an enormous castle, built of purple stone.
The castle was high and broad and long, but had no turrets or towers. So
far as they could see, there was but one small window and one big door on
each side of the great building.
"This is strange!" mused the Scarecrow. "I'd no idea such a big
castle existed in this Gillikin Country. I wonder who lives here?"
"It seems to me, from this distance," remarked the Tin Woodman,
"that's it's the biggest castle I ever saw. It is really too big for any
use, and no one could open or shut those big doors without a stepladder."
"Perhaps if we go nearer, we shall find out whether anybody lives
there or not," suggested Woot. "Looks to me as if nobody lived there."
On they went, and when they reached the center of the valley
where the great stone castle stood, it was beginning to grow dark, so
they hesitated as to what to do. "If friendly people happen to live
here," said Woot, "I shall be glad of a bed; but should enemies occupy
the place, I prefer to sleep upon the ground."
"And if no one at all lives here," added the Scarecrow, "we can
enter and take possession and make ourselves at home."
While speaking, he went nearer to one of the great doors, which
was three times as high and broad as any he had ever seen in a house
before, and then he discovered, engraved in big letters upon a stone over
the doorway, the words "YOOP CASTLE." "Oho!" he exclaimed. "I know the
place now. This was probably the home of Mr. Yoop, a terrible giant whom
I have seen confined in a cage a long way from here. Therefore this
castle is likely to be empty and we may use it in any way we please."
"Yes, yes," said the Tin Emperor, nodding. "I also remember Mr.
Yoop. But how are we to get into his deserted castle? The latch of the
door is so far above our heads that none of us can reach it."
They considered this problem for a while, and then Woot said to
the Tin Man, "If I stand upon your shoulders, I think I can unlatch the
door."
"Climb up, then," was the reply, and when the boy was perched
upon the tin shoulders of Nick Chopper, he was just able to reach the
latch and raise it.
At once the door swung open, its great hinges making a groaning
sound as if in protest, so Woot leaped down and followed his companions
into a big, bare hallway. Scarcely were the three inside, however, when
they heard the door slam shut behind them, and this astonished them
because no one had touched it. It had closed of its own accord, as if by
magic. Moreover, the latch was on the outside, and the thought occurred
to each one of them that they were now prisoners in this unknown castle.
"However," mumbled the Scarecrow, "we are not to blame for what cannot be
helped, so let us push bravely ahead and see what may be seen."
It was quite dark in the hallway now that the outside door was
shut, so as they stumbled along a stone passage, they kept close
together, not knowing what danger was likely to befall them. Suddenly a
soft glow enveloped them. It grew brighter until they could see their
surroundings distinctly. They had reached the end of the passage, and
before them was another huge door. This noiselessly swung open before
them without the help of anyone, and through the doorway they observed a
big chamber, the walls of which were lined with plates of pure gold,
highly polished.
This room was also lighted, although they could discover no
lamps, and in the center of it was a great table at which sat an immense
woman. She was clad in silver robes embroidered with gay floral designs
and wore over this splendid rainment a short apron of elaborate lacework.
Such an apron was no protection, and was not in keeping with the handsome
gown, but the huge woman wore it, nevertheless. The table at which she
sat was spread with a white cloth and had golden dishes upon it, so the
travelers saw that they had surprised the Giantess while she was eating
her supper.
She had her back toward them and did not even turn around, but
taking a biscuit from a dish, she began to butter it and said in a voice
that was big and deep but not especially unpleasant, "Why don't you come
in and allow the door to shut? You're causing a draught, and I shall
catch cold and sneeze. When I sneeze, I get cross, and when I get cross,
I'm liable to do something wicked. Come in, you foolish strangers, come
in!"
Being thus urged, they entered the room and approached the table
until they stood where they faced the great Giantess. She continued
eating, but smiled in a curious way as she looked at them. Woot noticed
that the door had closed silently after they had entered, and that didn't
please him at all.
"Well," said the Giantess, "what excuse have you to offer?"
"We didn't know anyone lived here, Madam," explained the
Scarecrow, "so being travelers and strangers in these parts and wishing
to find a place for our boy friend to sleep, we ventured to enter your
castle."
"You knew it was private property, I suppose?" said she,
buttering another biscuit.
"We saw the words, 'Yoop Castle,' over the door, but we knew that
Mr. Yoop is a prisoner in a cage in a far-off part of the land of Oz, so
we decided there was no one now at home and that we might use the castle
for the night."
"I see," remarked the Giantess, nodding her head and smiling
again in that curious way--a way that made Woot shudder. "You didn't
know that Mr. Yoop was married or that after he was cruelly captured his
wife still lived in his castle and ran it to suit herself."
"Who captured Mr. Yoop?" asked Woot, looking gravely at the big
woman.
"Wicked enemies. People who selfishly objected to Yoop's taking
their cows and sheep for his food. I must admit, however, that Yoop had
a bad temper and had the habit of knocking over a few houses now and then
when he was angry. So one day the little folks came in a great crowd and
captured Mr. Yoop and carried him away to a cage somewhere in the
mountains. I don't know where it is, and I don't care, for my husband
treated me badly at times, forgetting the respect a giant owes to a
giantess. Often he kicked me on my shins, when I wouldn't wait on him.
So I'm glad he is gone."
"It's a wonder the people didn't capture you, too," remarked
Woot.
"Well, I was too clever for them," said she, giving a sudden
laugh that caused such a breeze that the wobbly Scarecrow was almost
blown off his feet and had to grab his friend Nick Chopper to steady
himself. "I saw the people coming," continued Mrs. Yoop, "and knowing
they meant mischief I transformed myself into a mouse and hid in a
cupboard. After they had gone away, carrying my shin-kicking husband
with them, I transformed myself back to my former shape again, and here
I've lived in peace and comfort ever since."
"Are you a Witch, then?" inquired Woot.
"Well, not exactly a Witch," she replied, "but I'm an Artist in
Transformations. In other words, I'm more of a Yookoohoo than a Witch,
and of course you know that the Yookoohoos are the cleverest
magic-workers in the world."
The travelers were silent for a time, uneasily considering this
statement and the effect it might have on their future. No doubt the
Giantess had wilfully made them her prisoners, yet she spoke so
cheerfully in her big voice that until now they had not been alarmed in
the least. By and by the Scarecrow, whose mixed brains had been working
steadily, asked the woman, "Are we to consider you our friend, Mrs. Yoop,
or do you intend to be our enemy?"
"I never have friends," she said in a matter-of-fact tone,
"because friends get too familiar and always forget to mind their own
business. But I am not your enemy; not yet, anyhow. Indeed, I'm glad
you've come, for my life here is rather lonely. I've had no one to talk
to since I transformed Polychrome, the Daughter of the Rainbow, into a
canary bird."
"How did you manage to do that?" asked the Tin Woodman in
amazement. "Polychrome is a powerful fairy!"
"She WAS," said the Giantess, "but now she's a canary bird. One
day after a rain, Polychrome danced off the Rainbow and fell asleep on a
little mound in this valley not far from my castle. The sun came out and
drove the Rainbow away, and before Poly wakened I stole out and
transformed her into a canary bird in a gold cage studded with diamonds.
The cage was so she couldn't fly away. I expected she'd sing and talk
and we'd have good times together; but she has proved no company for me
at all. Ever since the moment of her transformation, she has refused to
speak a single word."
"Where is she now?" inquired Woot, who had heard tales of lovely
Polychrome and was much interested in her.
"The cage is hanging up in my bedroom," said the Giantess, eating
another biscuit.
The travelers were now more uneasy and suspicious of the Giantess
than before. If Polychrome, the Rainbow's Daughter, who was a real
fairy, had been transformed and enslaved by this huge woman who claimed
to be a Yookoohoo, what was liable to happen to THEM? Said the
Scarecrow, twisting his stuffed head around in Mrs. Yoop's direction, "Do
you know, Ma'am, who we are?"
"Of course," said she, "a straw man, a tin man, and a boy."
"We are very important people," declared the Tin Woodman.
"All the better," she replied. "I shall enjoy your society the
more on that account. For I mean to keep you here as long as I live to
amuse me when I get lonely. And," she added slowly, "in this Valley no
one ever dies."
They didn't like this speech at all, so the Scarecrow frowned in
a way that made Mrs. Yoop smile, while the Tin Woodman looked so fierce
that Mrs. Yoop laughed. The Scarecrow suspected she was going to laugh,
so he slipped behind his friends to escape the wind from her breath.
From this safe position he said warningly, "We have powerful friends who
will soon come to rescue us."
"Let them come," she returned with an accent of scorn. "When
they get here, they will find neither a boy, nor a tin man, nor a
scarecrow, for tomorrow morning I intend to transform you all into other
shapes so that you cannot be recognized."
This threat filled them with dismay. The good-natured Giantess
was more terrible than they had imagined. She could smile and wear
pretty clothes and at the same time be even more cruel than her wicked
husband had been. Both the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman tried to think
of some way to escape from the castle before morning, but she seemed to
read their thoughts and shook her head. "Don't worry your poor brains,"
said she. "You can't escape me, however hard you try. But why should you
wish to escape? I shall give you new forms that are much better than the
ones you have. Be contented with your fate, for discontent leads to
unhappiness, and unhappiness in any form is the greatest evil that can
befall you."
"What forms do you intend to give us?" asked Woot earnestly.
"I haven't decided as yet. I'll dream over it tonight, so in the
morning I shall have made up my mind how to transform you. Perhaps you'd
prefer to choose your own transformations?"
"No," said Woot. "I prefer to remain as I am."
"That's funny," she retorted. "You are little, and you're weak.
As you are, you're not much account, anyhow. The best thing about you is
that you're alive, for I shall be able to make of you some sort of live
creature which will be a great improvement on your present form." She
took another biscuit from a plate and dipped it in a pot of honey and
calmly began eating it.
The Scarecrow watched her thoughtfully. "There are no fields of
grain in your Valley," said he. "Where, then, did you get the flour to
make your biscuits?"
"Mercy me! Do you think I'd bother to make biscuits out of
flour?" she replied. "That is altogether too tedious a process for a
Yookoohoo. I set some traps this afternoon and caught a lot of
field-mice, but as I do not like to eat mice, I transformed them into hot
biscuits for my supper. The honey in this pot was once a wasp's nest,
but since being transformed it has become sweet and delicious. All I need
do when I wish to eat is to take something I don't care to keep and
transform it into any sort of food I like, and eat it. Are you hungry?"
"I don't eat, thank you," said the Scarecrow.
"Nor do I," said the Tin Woodman.
"I have still a little natural food in my knapsack," said Woot
the Wanderer, "and I'd rather eat that than any wasp's nest."
"Everyone to his own taste," said the Giantess carelessly, and
having now finished her supper, she rose to her feet, clapped her hands
together, and the supper table at once disappeared.
CHAPTER 6
THE MAGIC OF A YOOKOOHOO
Woot had seen very little of magic during his wanderings, while
the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman had seen a great deal of many sorts in
their lives, yet all three were greatly impressed by Mrs. Yoop's powers.
She did not affect any mysterious airs or indulge in chants or mystic
rites as most witches do, nor was the Giantess old and ugly or
disagreeable in face or manner. Nevertheless, she frightened her
prisoners more than any witch could have done. "Please be seated," she
said to them as she sat herself down in a great armchair and spread her
beautiful embroidered skirts for them to admire. But all the chairs in
the room were so high that our friends could not climb to the seats of
them. Mrs. Yoop observed this and waved her hand, when instantly a
golden ladder appeared leaning against a chair opposite her own.
"Climb up," said she, and they obeyed, the Tin Man and the boy
assisting the more clumsy Scarecrow. When they were all seated in a row
on the cushion of the chair, the Giantess continued, "Now tell me how you
happened to travel in this direction and where you came from and what your
errand is."
So the Tin Woodman told her all about Nimmie Amee and how he had
decided to find her and marry her, although he had no Loving Heart. The
story seemed to amuse the big woman, who then began to ask the Scarecrow
questions and for the first time in her life heard of Ozma of Oz, and of
Dorothy and Jack Pumpkinhead and Dr. Pipt and Tik-tok and many other Oz
people who are well known in the Emerald City. Also, Woot had to tell his
story, which was very simple and did not take long. The Giantess laughed
heartily when the boy related their adventures at Loonville, but said she
knew nothing of the Loons because she never left her Valley. "There are
wicked people who would like to capture me as they did my giant husband,
Mr. Yoop," said she. "So I stay at home and mind my own business."
"If Ozma knew that you dared to work magic without her consent,
she would punish you severely," declared the Scarecrow, "for this castle
is in the Land of Oz, and no persons in the Land of Oz are permitted to
work magic except Glinda the Good and the little Wizard who lives with
Ozma in the Emerald City."
"THAT for your Ozma!" exclaimed the Giantess, snapping her
fingers in derision. "What do I care for a girl whom I have never seen
and who has never seen me?"
"But Ozma is a fairy," said the Tin Woodman, "and therefore she
is very powerful. Also, we are under Ozma's protection, and to injure us
in any way would make her extremely angry."
"What I do here in my own private castle in this secluded
Valley--where no one comes but fools like you--can never be known to your
fairy Ozma," returned the Giantess. "Do not seek to frighten me from my
purpose, and do not allow yourselves to be frightened, for it is best to
meet bravely what cannot be avoided. I am now going to bed, and in the
morning I will give you all new forms such as will be more interesting to
me than the ones you now wear. Good night, and pleasant dreams."
Saying this, Mrs. Yoop rose from her chair and walked through a
doorway into another room. So heavy was the tread of the Giantess that
even the walls of the big stone castle trembled as she stepped. She
closed the door of her bedroom behind her, and then suddenly the light
went out and the three prisoners found themselves in total darkness. The
Tin Woodman and the Scarecrow didn't mind the dark at all, but Woot the
Wanderer felt worried to be left in this strange place in this strange
manner without being able to see any danger that might threaten.
"The big woman might have given me a bed, anyhow," he said to his
companions, and scarcely had he spoken when he felt something press
against his legs, which were then dangling from the seat of the chair.
Leaning down, he put out his hand and found that a bedstead had appeared,
with mattress, sheets and covers all complete. He lost no time in
slipping down upon the bed and was soon fast asleep. During the night
the Scarecrow and the Emperor talked in low tones together, and they got
out of the chair and moved all about the room, feeling for some hidden
spring that might open a door or window and permit them to escape.
Morning found them still unsuccessful in the quest, and as soon
as it was daylight Woot's bed suddenly disappeared, and he dropped to the
floor with a thump that quickly wakened him. And after a time, the
Giantess came from her bedroom wearing another dress that was quite as
elaborate as the one in which she had been attired the evening before,
and also wearing the pretty lace apron. Having seated herself in a
chair, she said, "I'm hungry, so I'll have breakfast at once."
She clapped her hands together, and instantly the table appeared
before her, spread with snowy linen and laden with golden dishes. But
there was no food upon the table, nor anything else except a pitcher of
water, a bundle of weeds and a handful of pebbles. But the Giantess
poured some water into her coffee pot, patted it once or twice with her
hand, and then poured out a cupful of steaming hot coffee. "Would you
like some?" she asked Woot.
He was suspicious of magic coffee, but it smelled so good that he
could not resist it, so he answered, "If you please, Madam."
The Giantess poured out another cup and set it on the floor for
Woot. It was as big as a tub, and the golden spoon in the saucer beside
the cup was so heavy that the boy could scarcely lift it. But Woot
managed to get a sip of the coffee and found it delicious. Mrs. Yoop
next transformed the weeds into a dish of oatmeal, which she ate with
good appetite. "Now then," said she, picking up the pebbles, "I'm
wondering whether I shall have fish-balls or lamb chops to complete my
meal. Which would you prefer, Woot the Wanderer?"
"If you please, I'll eat the food in my knapsack," answered the
boy. "Your magic food might taste good, but I'm afraid of it."
The woman laughed at his fears and transformed the pebbles into
fish-balls. "I suppose you think that after you had eaten this food, it
would turn to stones again and make you sick," she remarked, "but that
would be impossible. Nothing I transform ever gets back to its former
shape again, so these fish-balls can never more be pebbles. That is why I
have to be careful of my transformations," she added, busily eating while
she talked, "for while I can change forms at will, I can never change
them back again--which proves that even the powers of a clever Yookoohoo
are limited. When I have transformed you three people, you must always
wear the shapes that I have given you."
"Then please don't transform us," begged Woot, "for we are quite
satisfied to remain as we are."
"I am not expecting to satisfy you, but intend to please myself,"
she declared, "and my pleasure is to give you new shapes. For if by
chance your friends came in search of you, not one of them would be able
to recognize you." Her tone was so positive that they knew it would be
useless to protest. The woman was not unpleasant to look at, her face
was not cruel, her voice was big but gracious in tone; but her words
showed that she possessed a merciless heart and no pleadings would alter
her wicked purpose.
Mrs. Yoop took ample time to finish her breakfast, and the
prisoners had no desire to hurry her, but finally the meal was finished
and she folded her napkin and made the table disappear by clapping her
hands together. Then she turned to her captives and said, "The next
thing on the program is to change your forms."
"Have you decided what forms to give us?" asked the Scarecrow
uneasily.
"Yes, I dreamed it all out while I was asleep. This Tin Man
seems a very solemn person"--indeed, the Tin Woodman WAS looking solemn
just then, for he was greatly disturbed--"so I shall change him into an
Owl."
All she did was to point one finger at him as she spoke, but
immediately the form of the Tin Woodman began to change, and in a few
seconds Nick Chopper, the Emperor of the Winkies, had been transformed
into an Owl with eyes as big as saucers and a hooked beak and strong
claws. But he was still tin. He was a Tin Owl with tin legs and beak
and eyes and feathers. When he flew to the back of a chair and perched
upon it, his tin feathers rattled against one another with a tinny
clatter. The Giantess seemed much amused by the Tin Owl's appearance,
for her laugh was big and jolly. "You're not liable to get lost," said
she, "for your wings and feathers will make a racket wherever you go.
And on my word, a Tin Owl is so rare and pretty that it is an improvement
on the ordinary bird. I did not intend to make you tin, but I forgot to
wish you to be meat. However, tin you were and tin you are, and as it's
too late to change you, that settles it."
Until now the Scarecrow had rather doubted the possibility of
Mrs. Yoop's being able to transform him or his friend the Tin Woodman,
for they were not made as ordinary people are. He had worried more over
what might happen to Woot than to himself, but now he began to worry
about himself. "Madam," he said hastily, "I consider this action very
impolite. It may even be called rude, considering we are your guests."
"You are not guests, for I did not invite you here," she replied.
"Perhaps not, but we craved hospitality. We threw ourselves upon
your mercy, so to speak, and we now find you have no mercy. Therefore,
if you will excuse the expression, I must say it is downright wicked to
take our proper forms away from us and give us others that we do not care
for."
"Are you trying to make me angry?" she asked, frowning.
"By no means," said the Scarecrow. "I'm just trying to make you
act more ladylike."
"Oh indeed! In MY opinion, Mr. Scarecrow, you are now acting
like a bear--so a Bear you shall be!"
Again the dreadful finger pointed, this time in the Scarecrow's
direction, and at once his form began to change. In a few seconds, he
had become a small Brown Bear, but he was stuffed with straw as he had
been before, and when the little Brown Bear shuffled across the floor, he
was just as wobbly as the Scarecrow had been and moved just as awkwardly.
Woot was amazed, but he was also thoroughly frightened. "Did it
hurt?" he asked the little Brown Bear.
"No, of course not," growled the Scarecrow in the Bear's form,
"but I don't like walking on four legs. It's undignified."
"Consider MY humiliation!" chirped the Tin Owl, trying to settle
its tin feathers smoothly with its tin beak. "And I can't see very well,
either. The light seems to hurt my eyes."
"That's because you are an Owl," said Woot. "I think you will
see better in the dark."
"Well," remarked the Giantess, "I'm very well pleased with these
new forms, for my part, and I'm sure you will like them better when you
get used to them. So now," she added, turning to the boy, "it is YOUR
turn."
"Don't you think you'd better leave me as I am?" asked Woot in a
trembling voice.
"No," she replied, "I'm going to make a Monkey of you. I love
monkeys--they're so cute!--and I think a Green Monkey will be lots of fun
and amuse me when I am sad."
Woot shivered, for again the terrible finger pointed, and pointed
directly his way. He felt himself changing; not so very much, however,
and it didn't hurt him a bit. He looked down at his limbs and body and
found that his clothes were gone and his skin covered with a fine,
silk-like, green fur. His hands and feet were now those of a monkey. He
realized he really WAS a monkey, and his first feeling was one of anger.
He began to chatter as monkeys do. He bounded to the seat of a giant
chair, and then to its back and with a wild leap sprang upon the laughing
Giantess. His idea was to seize her hair and pull it out by the roots,
and so have revenge for her wicked transformations. But she raised her
hand and said, "Gently, my dear Monkey, gently! You're not angry, you're
happy as can be!"
Woot stopped short. No, he wasn't a bit angry now; he felt as
good-humored and gay as ever he did when a boy. Instead of pulling Mrs.
Yoop's hair, he perched on her shoulder and smoothed her soft cheek with
his hairy paw. In return, she smiled at the funny green animal and
patted his head. "Very good," said the Giantess. "Let us all become
friends and be happy together. How is my Tin Owl feeling?"
"Quite comfortable," said the Owl. "I don't like it, to be sure,
but I'm not going to allow my new form to make me unhappy. But tell me,
please, what is a Tin Owl good for?"
"You are only good to make me laugh," replied the Giantess.
"Will a stuffed Bear also make you laugh?" inquired the
Scarecrow, sitting back on his haunches to look up at her.
"Of course," declared the Giantess, "and I have added a little
magic to your transformations to make you all contented with wearing your
new forms. I'm sorry I didn't think to do that when I transformed
Polychrome into a Canary Bird. But perhaps when she sees how cheerful
you are, she will cease to be silent and sullen and take to singing. I
will go get the bird and let you see her."
With this, Mrs. Yoop went into the next room and soon returned
bearing a golden cage in which sat upon a swinging perch a lovely yellow
Canary. "Polychrome," said the Giantess, "permit me to introduce to you
a Green Monkey which used to be a boy called Woot the Wanderer, and a Tin
Owl which used to be a Tin Woodman named Nick Chopper, and a
straw-stuffed little Brown Bear which used to be a live Scarecrow."
"We already know one another," declared the Scarecrow. "The bird
is Polychrome, the Rainbow's Daughter, and she and I used to be good
friends."
"Are you really my old friend, the Scarecrow?" asked the bird in
a sweet, low voice.
"There!" cried Mrs. Yoop. "That's the first time she has spoken
since she was transformed."
"I am really your old friend," answered the Scarecrow, "but you
must pardon me for appearing just now in this brutal form."
"I am a bird as you are, my dear Poly," said the Tin
Woodman, "but alas! A Tin Owl is not as beautiful as a Canary Bird."
"How dreadful it all is!" sighed the Canary. "Couldn't you
manage to escape from this terrible Yookoohoo?"
"No," answered the Scarecrow. "We tried to escape, but failed.
She first made us her prisoners and then transformed us. But how did she
manage to get YOU, Polychrome?"
"I was asleep, and she took unfair advantage of me," answered the
bird sadly. "Had I been awake, I could easily have protected myself."
"Tell me," said the Green Monkey earnestly as he came close to
the cage, "what must we do, Daughter of the Rainbow, to escape from these
transformations? Can't you help us, being a Fairy?"
"At present I am powerless to help even myself," replied the
Canary.
"That's the exact truth!" exclaimed the Giantess, who seemed
pleased to hear the bird talk, even though it complained. "You are all
helpless and in my power, so you may as well make up your minds to accept
your fate and be content. Remember that you are transformed for good,
since no magic on earth can break your enchantments. I am now going out
for my morning walk, for each day after breakfast I walk sixteen times
around my castle for exercise. Amuse yourselves while I am gone, and
when I return I hope to find you all reconciled and happy."
So the Giantess walked to the door by which our friends had
entered the great hall and spoke one word, "Open!" Then the door swung
open, and after Mrs. Yoop had passed out, it closed again with a snap as
its powerful bolts shot into place. The Green Monkey had rushed toward
the opening, hoping to escape, but he was too late and only got a bump on
his nose as the door slammed shut.
CHAPTER 7
THE LACE APRON
"Now," said the Canary in a tone more brisk than before, "we may
talk together more freely, as Mrs. Yoop cannot hear us. Perhaps we can
figure out a way to escape."
"Open!" said Woot the Monkey, still facing the door. But his
command had no effect, and he slowly rejoined the others.
"You cannot open any door or window in this enchanted castle
unless you are wearing the Magic Apron," said the Canary.
"What Magic Apron do you mean?" asked the Tin Owl in a curious
voice.
"The lace one which the Giantess always wears. I have been her
prisoner in this cage for several weeks, and she hangs my cage in her
bedroom every night so that she can keep her eye on me," explained
Polychrome the Canary. "Therefore I have discovered that it is the Magic
Apron that opens the doors and windows, and nothing else can move them.
When she goes to bed, Mrs. Yoop hangs her apron on the bedpost, and one
morning she forgot to put it on when she commanded the door to open, and
the door would not move. So then she put on the apron, and the door
obeyed her. That was how I learned the magic power of the apron."
"I see, I see!" said the little Brown Bear, wagging his stuffed
head. "Then if we could get the apron from Mrs. Yoop, we could open the
doors and escape from our prison."
"That is true, and it is the plan I was about to suggest,"
replied Polychrome the Canary Bird. "However, I don't believe the Owl
could steal the apron, or even the Bear, but perhaps the Monkey could
hide in her room at night and get the apron while she is asleep."
"I'll try it!" cried Woot the Monkey. "I'll try it this very
night if I can manage to steal into her bedroom."
"You mustn't think about it, though," warned the bird, "for she
can read your thoughts whenever she cares to do so. And do not forget,
before you escape, to take me with you. Once I am out of the power of
the Giantess, I may discover a way to save us all."
"We won't forget our fairy friend," promised the boy, "but
perhaps you can tell me how to get into the bedroom."
"No," declared Polychrome, "I cannot advise you as to that. You
must watch for a chance and slip in when Mrs. Yoop isn't looking."
They talked it over for a while longer, and then Mrs. Yoop
returned. When she entered, the door opened suddenly at her command, and
closed as soon as her huge form had passed through the doorway. During
that day she entered her bedroom several times on one errand or another,
but always she commanded the door to close behind her, and her prisoners
found not the slightest chance to leave the big hall in which they were
confined.
The Green Monkey thought it would be wise to make a friend of the
big woman, so as to gain her confidence, so he sat on the back of her
chair and chattered to her while she mended her stockings and sewed
silver buttons on some golden shoes that were as big as rowboats. This
pleased the Giantess, and she would pause at times to pat the Monkey's
head. The little Brown Bear curled up in a corner and lay still all day.
The Owl and the Canary found they could converse together in the bird
language, which neither the Giantess nor the Bear nor the Monkey could
understand, so at times they twittered away to each other and passed the
long, dreary day quite cheerfully.
After dinner Mrs. Yoop took a big fiddle from a big cupboard and
played such loud and dreadful music that her prisoners were all thankful
when at last she stopped and said she was going to bed. After cautioning
the Monkey and Bear and Owl to behave themselves during the night, she
picked up the cage containing the Canary and, going to the door of her
bedroom, commanded it to open. Just then, however, she remembered she
had left her fiddle lying upon a table, so she went back for it and put
it away in the cupboard, and while her back was turned, the Green Monkey
slipped through the open door into her bedroom and hid underneath the
bed. The Giantess, being sleepy, did not notice this, and entering her
room she made the door close behind her and then hung the bird cage on a
peg by the window. Then she began to undress, first taking off the lace
apron and laying it over the bedpost where it was within easy reach of
her hand.
As soon as Mrs. Yoop was in bed, the lights went out, and Woot
the Monkey crouched under the bed and waited patiently until he heard the
Giantess snoring. Then he crept out and in the dark felt around until he
got hold of the apron, which he at once tied around his own waist. Next,
Woot tried to find the Canary, and there was just enough moonlight
showing through the window to enable him to see where the cage hung, but
it was out of his reach. At first, he was tempted to leave Polychrome
and escape with his other friends, but remembering his promise to the
Rainbow's Daughter, Woot tried to think how to save her. A chair stood
near the window, and this, showing dimly in the moonlight, gave him an
idea. By pushing against it with all his might, he found he could move
the giant chair a few inches at a time. So he pushed and pushed until the
chair was beneath the bird cage, and then he sprang noiselessly upon the
seat--for his monkey form enabled him to jump higher than he could do as
a boy--and from there to the back of the chair, and so managed to reach
the cage and take it off the peg. Then down he sprang to the floor and
made his way to the door.
"Open!" he commanded, and at once the door obeyed and swung open.
But his voice wakened Mrs. Yoop, who gave a wild cry and sprang out of
bed with one bound. The Green Monkey dashed through the doorway carrying
the cage with him, and before the Giantess could reach the door, it
slammed shut and imprisoned her in her own bedchamber!
The noise she made pounding upon the door and her yells of anger
and dreadful threats of vengeance filled our friends with terror, and
Woot the Monkey was so excited that in the dark he could not find the
outer door of the hall. But the Tin Owl could see very nicely in the
dark, so he guided his friends to the right place, and when all were
grouped before the door, Woot commanded it to open. The Magic Apron
proved as powerful as when it had been worn by the Giantess, so a moment
later they had rushed through the passage and were standing in the fresh
night air outside the castle, free to go wherever they willed.
CHAPTER 8
THE MENACE OF THE FOREST
"Quick!" cried Polychrome the Canary. "We must hurry, or Mrs.
Yoop may find some way to recapture us, even now. Let us get out of her
Valley as soon as possible." So they set off toward the east, moving as
swiftly as they could, and for a long time they could hear the yells and
struggles of the imprisoned Giantess. The Green Monkey could run over
the ground very swiftly, and he carried with him the bird cage containing
Polychrome the Rainbow's Daughter. Also, the Tin Owl could skip and fly
along at a good rate of speed, his feathers rattling as he moved. But
the little Brown Bear, being stuffed with straw, was a clumsy traveler,
and the others had to wait for him to follow. However, they were not
very long in reaching the ridge that led out of Mrs. Yoop's Valley, and
when they had passed this ridge and descended into the next valley, they
stopped to rest, for the Green Monkey was tired.
"I believe we are safe now," said Polychrome when her cage was
set down and the others had all gathered around it, "for Mrs. Yoop dares
not go outside of her own Valley for fear of being captured by her
enemies. So we may take our time to consider what to do next."
"I'm afraid poor Mrs. Yoop will starve to death if no one lets
her out of her bedroom," said Woot, who had a heart as kind as that of
the Tin Woodman. "We've taken her Magic Apron away, and now the doors
will never open."
"Don't worry about that," advised Polychrome. "Mrs. Yoop has
plenty of magic left to console her."
"Are you sure of that?" asked the Green Monkey.
"Yes, for I've been watching her for weeks," said the Canary.
"She has six magic hairpins which she wears in her hair, and a magic ring
which she wears on her thumb and which is invisible to all eyes except
those of a fairy, and magic bracelets on both her ankles. So I am
positive that she will manage to find a way out of her prison."
"She might transform the door into an archway," suggested the
little Brown Bear.
"That would be easy for her," said the Tin Owl, "but I'm glad she
was too angry to think of that before we got out of her Valley."
"Well, we have escaped the big woman, to be sure," remarked the
Green Monkey, "but we still wear the awful forms the cruel Yookoohoo gave
us. How are we going to get rid of these shapes and become ourselves
again?"
None could answer that question. They sat around the cage
brooding over the problem until the Monkey fell asleep. Seeing this, the
Canary tucked her head under her wing and also slept, and the Tin Owl and
the Brown Bear did not disturb them until morning came and it was broad
daylight. "I'm hungry," said Woot when he wakened, for his knapsack of
food had been left behind at the castle.
"Then let us travel on until we can find something for you to
eat," returned the Scarecrow Bear.
"There is no use in your lugging my cage any farther," declared
the Canary. "Let me out, and throw the cage away. Then I can fly with
you and find my own breakfast of seeds. Also, I can search for water,
and tell you where to find it."
So the Green Monkey unfastened the door of the golden cage, and
the Canary hopped out. At first, she flew high in the air and made great
circles overhead, but after a time she returned and perched beside them.
"At the east, in the direction we were following," announced the Canary,
"there is a fine forest with a brook running through it. In the forest
there may be fruits or nuts growing or berry bushes at its edge, so let
us go that way."
They agreed to this and promptly set off, this time moving more
deliberately. The Tin Owl, which had guided their way during the night,
now found the sunshine very trying to his big eyes, so he shut them tight
and perched upon the back of the little Brown Bear, which carried the
Owl's weight with ease. The Canary sometimes perched upon the Green
Monkey's shoulder and sometimes fluttered on ahead of the party, and in
this manner they traveled in good spirits across that valley and into the
next one to the east of it. This they found to be an immense hollow
shaped like a saucer, and on its farther edge appeared the forest which
Polychrome had seen from the sky. "Come to think of it," said the Tin
Owl, waking up and blinking comically at his friends, "there's no object
now in our traveling to the Munchkin Country. My idea in going was to
marry Nimmie Amee, but however much the Munchkin girl may have loved a
Tin Woodman, I cannot reasonably expect her to marry a Tin Owl."
"There is some truth in that, my friend," remarked the Brown
Bear. "And to think that I, who was considered the handsomest Scarecrow
in the world, am now condemned to be a scrubby, no-account beast whose
only redeeming feature is that he is stuffed with straw!"
"Consider MY case, please," said Woot. "The cruel Giantess had
made a Monkey of a Boy, and that is the most dreadful deed of all!"
"Your color is rather pretty," said the Brown Bear, eyeing Woot
critically. "I have never seen a pea-green monkey before, and it strikes
me you are quite gorgeous."
"It isn't so bad to be a bird," asserted the Canary, fluttering
from one to another with a free and graceful motion, "but I long to enjoy
my own shape again."
"As Polychrome, you were the loveliest maiden I have ever
seen--except, of course, Ozma," said the Tin Owl, "so the Giantess did
well to transform you into the loveliest of all birds, if you were to be
transformed at all. But tell me, since you are a fairy and have a fairy
wisdom, do you think we shall be able to break these enchantments?"
"Queer things happen in the Land of Oz," replied the Canary,
again perching on the Green Monkey's shoulder and turning one bright eye
thoughtfully toward her questioner. "Mrs. Yoop has declared that none of
her transformations can ever be changed, even by herself, but I believe
that if we could get to Glinda, the Good Sorceress, she might find a way
to restore us to our natural shapes. Glinda, as you know, is the most
powerful Sorceress in the world, and there are few things she cannot do
if she tries."
"In that case," said the Little Brown Bear, "let us return
southward and try to get to Glinda's castle. It lies in the Quadling
Country, you know, so it is a good way from here."
"First, however, let us visit the forest and search for something
to eat," pleaded Woot. So they continued on to the edge of the forest,
which consisted of many tall and beautiful trees. They discovered no
fruit trees at first, so the Green Monkey pushed on into the forest
depths and the others followed close behind him. They were traveling
quietly along under the shade of the trees, when suddenly an enormous
jaguar leaped upon them from a limb and with one blow of his paw sent the
little Brown Bear tumbling over and over until he was stopped by a tree
trunk. Instantly, they all took alarm. The Tin Owl shrieked "Hoot!
Hoot!" and flew straight up to the branch of a tall tree, although he
could scarcely see where he was going. The Canary swiftly darted to a
place beside the Owl, and the Green Monkey sprang up, caught a limb, and
soon scrambled to a high perch of safety.
The Jaguar crouched low and with hungry eyes regarded the little
Brown Bear, which slowly got upon its feet and asked reproachfully, "For
goodness sake, Beast, what were you trying to do?"
"Trying to get my breakfast," answered the Jaguar with a snarl,
"and I believe I've succeeded. You ought to make a delicious meal,
unless you happen to be old and tough."
"I'm worse than that, considered as a breakfast," said the Bear,
"for I'm only a skin stuffed with straw, and therefore not fit to eat."
"Indeed!" cried the Jaguar in a disappointed voice. "Then you
must be a magic Bear or enchanted, and I must seek my breakfast from
among your companions."
With this, he raised his lean head to look up at the Tin Owl and
the Canary and the Monkey, and he lashed his tail upon the ground and
growled as fiercely as any jaguar could.
"My friends are enchanted also," said the little Brown Bear.
"All of them?" asked the Jaguar.
"Yes. The Owl is tin, so you couldn't possibly eat him. The
Canary is a fairy--Polychrome, the Daughter of the Rainbow--and you never
could catch her because she can easily fly out of your reach."
"There still remains the Green Monkey," remarked the Jaguar
hungrily. "He is neither made of tin nor stuffed with straw nor can he
fly. I'm pretty good at climbing trees myself, so I think I'll capture
the Monkey and eat him for my breakfast."
Woot the Monkey, hearing this speech from his perch on the tree,
became much frightened, for he knew the nature of Jaguars and realized
they could climb trees and leap from limb to limb with the agility of
cats. So he at once began to scamper through the forest as fast as he
could go, catching at a branch with his long monkey arms and swinging his
green body through space to grasp another branch in a neighboring tree,
and so on, while the Jaguar followed him from below, his eyes fixed
steadfastly on his prey. But presently Woot got his feet tangled in the
Lace Apron, which he was still wearing, and that tripped him in his
flight and made him fall to the ground, where the Jaguar placed one huge
paw upon him and said, "I've got you now!"
The fact that the Apron had tripped him made Woot remember its
magic powers, and in his terror he cried out, "Open!" without stopping to
consider how this command might save him. But at the word, the earth
opened at the exact spot where he lay under the Jaguar's paw, and his
body sank downward, the earth closing over it again. The last thing Woot
the Monkey saw as he glanced upward was the Jaguar peering into the hole
in astonishment. "He's gone!" cried the beast with a long-drawn sigh of
disappointment. "He's gone, and now I shall have no breakfast."
The clatter of the Tin Owl's wings sounded above him, and the
little Brown Bear came trotting up and asked, "Where is the monkey? Have
you eaten him so quickly?"
"No indeed," answered the Jaguar. "He disappeared into the earth
before I could take one bite of him!"
And now the Canary perched upon a stump a little way from the
forest beast and said, "I am glad our friend has escaped you, but as it
is natural for a hungry beast to wish his breakfast, I will try to give
you one."
"Thank you," replied the Jaguar. "You're rather small for a full
meal, but it's kind of you to sacrifice yourself to my appetite."
"Oh, I don't intend to be eaten, I assure you," said the Canary,
"but as I am a fairy, I know something of magic, and though I am now
transformed into a bird's shape, I am sure I can conjure up a breakfast
that will satisfy you."
"If you can work magic, why don't you break the enchantment you
are under and return to your proper form?" inquired the beast doubtingly.
"I haven't the power to do that," answered the Canary, "for Mrs.
Yoop, the Giantess who transformed me, used a peculiar form of Yookoohoo
magic that is unknown to me. However, she could not deprive me of my own
fairy knowledge, so I will try to get you a breakfast."
"Do you think a magic breakfast would taste good or relieve the
pangs of hunger I now suffer?" asked the Jaguar.
"I am sure it would. What would you like to eat?"
"Give me a couple of fat rabbits," said the beast.
"Rabbits! No indeed. I'll not allow you to eat the dear little
things," declared Polychrome the Canary.
"Well, three or four squirrels, then," pleaded the Jaguar.
"Do you think me so cruel?" demanded the Canary indignantly.
"The squirrels are my especial friends."
"How about a plump owl?" asked the beast. "Not a tin one, you
know, but a real meat owl."
"Neither beast nor bird shall you have," said Polychrome in a
positive voice.
"Give me a fish, then. There's a river a little way off,"
proposed the Jaguar.
"No living thing shall be sacrificed to feed you," returned the
Canary.
"Then what in the world do you expect me to eat?" said the Jaguar
in a scornful tone.
"How would mush and milk do?" asked the Canary.
The Jaguar snarled in derision and lashed his tail against the
ground angrily.
"Give him some scrambled eggs on toast, Poly," suggested the Bear
Scarecrow. "He ought to like that."
"I will," responded the Canary, and fluttering her wings she made
a flight of three circles around the stump. Then she flew up to a tree
and the Bear and the Owl and the Jaguar saw that upon the stump had
appeared a great green leaf upon which was a large portion of scrambled
eggs on toast, smoking hot.
"There!" said the Bear. "Eat your breakfast, friend Jaguar, and
be content."
The Jaguar crept to the stump and sniffed the fragrance of the
scrambled eggs. They smelled so good that he tasted them, and they
tasted so good that he ate the strange meal in a hurry, proving he had
been really hungry. "I prefer rabbits," he muttered, licking his chops,
"but I must admit the magic breakfast has filled my stomach full, and
brought me comfort. So I'm much obliged for the kindness, little Fairy,
and I'll now leave you in peace."
Saying this, he plunged into the thick undergrowth and soon
disappeared, although they could hear his great body crashing through the
bushes until he was far distant. "That was a good way to get rid of the
savage beast, Poly," said the Tin Woodman to the Canary, "but I'm
surprised that you didn't give our friend Woot a magic breakfast when you
knew he was hungry."
"The reason for that," answered Polychrome, "was that my mind was
so intent on other things that I quite forgot my power to produce food by
magic. But where IS the monkey boy?'
"Gone!" said the Scarecrow Bear solemnly. "The earth has
swallowed him up."
CHAPTER 9
THE QUARRELSOME DRAGONS
The Green Monkey sank gently into the earth for a little way and
then tumbled swiftly though space, landing on a rocky floor with a thump
that astonished him. Then he sat up, found that no bones were broken,
and gazed around him. He seemed to be in a big underground cave, which
was dimly lighted by dozens of big, round discs that looked like moons.
They were not moons, however, as Woot discovered when he had examined the
place more carefully. They were eyes. The eyes were in the heads of
enormous beasts whose bodies trailed far behind them. Each beast was
bigger than an elephant, and three times as long, and there were a dozen
or more of the creatures scattered here and there about the cavern. On
their bodies were big scales as round as pie plates, which were
beautifully tinted in shades of green, purple and orange. On the ends of
their long tails were clusters of jewels. Around the great moon-like eyes
were circles of diamonds which sparkled in the subdued light that glowed
from the eyes.
Woot saw that the creatures had wide mouths and rows of terrible
teeth, and from tales he had heard of such beings he knew he had fallen
into a cavern inhabited by the great Dragons that had been driven from
the surface of the earth and were only allowed to come out once in a
hundred years to search for food. Of course, he had never seen Dragons
before, yet there was no mistaking them, for they were unlike any other
living creatures. Woot sat upon the floor where he had fallen, staring
around, and the owners of the big eyes returned his look silently and
motionless. Finally, one of the Dragons which was farthest away from him
asked in a deep, grave voice, "What was that?"
And the greatest Dragon of all, who was just in front of the
Green Monkey, answered in a still deeper voice, "It is some foolish
animal from Outside."
"Is it good to eat?" inquired a smaller Dragon beside the great
one. "I'm hungry."
"Hungry!" exclaimed all the Dragons in a reproachful chorus, and
then the great one said chidingly, "Tut tut, my son. You've no reason to
be hungry at THIS time."
"Why not?" asked the little Dragon. "I haven't eaten anything in
eleven years."
"Eleven years is nothing," remarked another Dragon, sleepily
opening and closing his eyes. "I haven't feasted for eighty-seven years,
and I dare not get hungry for a dozen or so years to come. Children who
eat between meals should be broken of the habit."
"All I had eleven years ago was a rhinoceros, and that's not a
full meal at all," grumbled the young one. "And before that, I had
waited sixty-two years to be fed, so it's no wonder I'm hungry."
"How old are you now?" asked Woot, forgetting his own dangerous
position in his interest in the conversation.
"Why, I'm--I'm--How old am I, Father?" asked the little Dragon.
"Goodness gracious! What a child to ask questions. Do you want
to keep me thinking all the time? Don't you know that thinking is very
bad for Dragons?" returned the big one impatiently.
"How old am I, Father?" persisted the small Dragon.
"About six hundred and thirty, I beliee. Ask your mother."
"No, don't!" said an old Dragon in the background. "Haven't I
enough worries what with being wakened in the middle of a nap without
being obliged to keep track of my childrens' ages?"
"You've been fast asleep for over sixty years, Mother," said the
child Dragon. "How long a nap do you wish?"
"I should have slept forty years longer. And this strange little
green beast should be punished for falling into our cavern and disturbing
us."
"I didn't know you were here, and I didn't know I was going to
fall in," explained Woot.
"Nevertheless, here you are," said the great Dragon, "and you
have carelessly wakened our entire tribe, so it stands to reason you must
be punished."
"In what way?" inquired the Green Monkey, trembling a little.
"Give me time and I'll think of a way. You're in no hurry, are
you?" asked the great Dragon.
"No indeed," cried Woot. "Take your time. I'd much rather you'd
all go to sleep again, and punish me when you wake up in a hundred years
or so."
"Let me eat him!" pleaded the littlest Dragon.
"He is too small," said the father. "To eat this one Green
Monkey would only serve to make you hungry for more, and there ARE no
more."
"Quit this chatter and let me get to sleep," protested another
Dragon, yawning in a fearful manner, for when he opened his mouth a sheet
of flame leaped forth from it and made Woot jump back to get out of its
way. In his jump, he bumped against the nose of a Dragon behind him,
which opened its mouth to growl and shot another sheet of flame at him.
The flame was bright, but not very hot, yet Woot screamed with terror and
sprang forward with a great bound. This time he landed on the paw of the
great Chief Dragon, who angrily raised his other front paw and struck the
Green Monkey a fierce blow. Woot went sailing through the air and fell
sprawling upon the rocky floor far beyond the place where the Dragon
Tribe was grouped.
All the great beasts were now thoroughly wakened and aroused, and
they blamed the monkey for disturbing their quiet. The littlest Dragon
darted after Woot, and the others turned their unwieldy bodies in his
direction and followed, flashing from their eyes and mouths flames which
lighted up the entire cavern. Woot almost gave himself up for lost at
that moment, but he scrambled to his feet and dashed away to the farthest
end of the cave, the Dragons following more leisurely because they were
too clumsy to move fast. Perhaps they thought there was no need of
haste, as the monkey could not escape from the cave. But away up at the
end of the place, the cavern floor was heaped with tumbled rocks, so
Woot, with an agility born of fear, climbed from rock to rock until he
found himself crouched against the cavern roof. There he waited, for he
could go no farther, while on over the tumbled rocks slowly crept the
Dragons, the littlest one coming first because he was hungry as well as
angry.
The beasts had almost reached him when Woot, remembering his lace
apron, now sadly torn and soiled, recovered his wits and shouted, "Open!"
At the cry, a hole appeared in the roof of the cavern just over his head,
and through it the sunlight streamed full upon the Green Monkey. The
Dragons paused, astonished at the magic and blinking at the sunlight, and
this gave Woot time to climb through the opening. As soon as he reached
the surface of the earth, the hole closed again, and the boy monkey
realized with a thrill of joy that he had seen the last of the dangerous
Dragon family.
He sat upon the ground, still panting hard from his exertions,
when the bushes before him parted and his former enemy, the Jaguar,
appeared. "Don't run," said the woodland beast as Woot sprang up. "You
are perfectly safe so far as I am concerned, for since you so
mysteriously disappeared I have had my breakfast. I am now on my way
home to sleep the rest of the day."
"Oh indeed!" returned the Green Monkey in a tone both sorry and
startled. "Which of my friends did you manage to eat?"
"None of them," returned the Jaguar with a sly grin. "I had a
dish of magic scrambled eggs on toast, and it wasn't a bad feast at all.
There isn't room in me for even you, and I don't regret it because I
judge from your green color that you are not ripe and would make an
indifferent meal. We jaguars have to be careful of our digestions.
Farewell, Friend Monkey. Follow the path I made through the bushes and
you will find your friends."
With this, the Jaguar marched on his way and Woot took his advice
and followed the trail he had made until he came to the place where the
little Brown Bear and the Tin Owl and the Canary were conferring together
and wondering what had become of their comrade, the Green Monkey.
CHAPTER 10
TOMMY KWIKSTEP
"Our best plan," said the Scarecrow Bear when the Green Monkey had
related the story of his adventure with the Dragons, "is to get out of
this Gillikin Country as soon as we can and try to find our way to the
castle of Glinda, the Good Sorceress. There are too many dangers lurking
here to suit me, and Glinda may be able to restore us to our proper
forms."
"If we turn south now," the Tin Owl replied, "we might go
straight into the Emerald City. That's a place I wish to avoid, for I'd
hate to have my friends see me in this sad plight," and he blinked his
eyes and fluttered his tin wings mournfully.
"But I am certain we have passed BEYOND Emerald City," the Canary
assured him, sailing lightly around their heads. "So should we turn
south from here, we would pass into the Munchkin Country, and continuing
south we would reach the Quadling Country where Glinda's castle is
located."
"Well, since you're sure of that, let's start right away,"
proposed the Bear. "It's a long journey at the best, and I'm getting
tired of walking on four legs."
"I thought you never tired, being stuffed with straw," said Woot.
"I mean that it annoys me to be obliged to go on all fours when
two legs are my proper walking equipment," replied the Scarecrow. "I
consider it beneath my dignity. In other words, my remarkable brains can
tire through humiliation, although my body cannot tire."
"That is one of the penalties of having brains," remarked the Tin
Owl with a sigh. "I have had no brains since I was a man of meat, and so
I never worry. Nevertheless, I prefer my former manly form to this owl's
shape and would be glad to break Mrs. Yoop's enchantment as soon as
possible. I am so noisy just now that I disturb myself," and he
fluttered his wings with a clatter that echoed throughout the forest.
So being all of one mind, they turned southward, traveling
steadily on until the woods were left behind and the landscape turned
from purple tints to blue tints, which assured them they had entered the
Country of the Munchkins. "Now I feel myself more safe," said the
Scarecrow Bear. "I know this country pretty well, having been made here
by a Munchkin farmer and having wandered over these lovely blue lands
many times. Seems to me, indeed, that I even remember that group of
three tall trees ahead of us, and if I do, we are not far from the home
of my friend Jinjur."
"Who is Jinjur?" asked Woot, the Green Monkey.
"Haven't you heard of Jinjur?" exclaimed the Scarecrow in
surprise.
"No," said Woot. "Is Jinjur a man, a woman, a beast or a bird?"
"Jinjur is a girl," explained the Scarecrow Bear. "She's a fine
girl, too, although a bit restless and liable to get excited. Once, a
long time ago, she raised an army of girls and called herself 'General
Jinjur.' With her army she captured the Emerald City and drove me out of
it because I insisted that an army in Oz was highly improper. But Ozma
punished the rash girl, and afterward Jinjur and I became fast friends.
Now Jinjur lives peacefully on a farm near here and raises fields of
creampuffs, chocolate caramels and macaroons. They say she's a pretty
good farmer, and in addition to that she's an artist and paints pictures
so perfect that one can scarcely tell them from nature. She often
repaints my face for me when it gets worn or mussy, and the lovely
expression I wore when the Giantess transformed me was painted by Jinjur
only a month ago."
"It was certainly a pleasant expression," agreed Woot.
"Jinjur can paint anything," continued the Scarecrow Bear with
enthusiasm as they walked along together. "Once, when I came to her
house, my straw was old and crumpled so that my body sagged dreadfully.
I needed new straw to replace the old, but Jinjur had no straw on all her
ranch, and I was really unable to travel farther until I had been
restuffed. When I explained this to Jinjur, the girl at once painted a
strawstack which was so natural that I went to it and secured enough
straw to fill all my body. It was a good quality of straw, too, and
lasted me a long time."
This seemed very wonderful to Woot, who knew that such a thing
could never happen in any place but a fairy country like Oz.
The Munchkin Country was much nicer than the Gillikin Country,
and all the fields were separated by blue fences with grass lanes and
paths of blue ground, and the land seemed well cultivated. They were on
a little hill looking down upon this favored country, but had not quite
reached the settled parts, when on turning a bend in the path they were
halted by a form that barred their way. A more curious creature they had
seldom seen, even in the Land of Oz, where curious creatures abound. It
had the head of a young man--evidently a Munchkin--with a pleasant face
and hair neatly combed. But the body was very long, for it had twenty
legs--ten legs on each side--and this caused the body to stretch out and
lie in a horizontal position so that all the legs could touch the ground
and stand firm. From the shoulders extended two small arms; at least,
they seemed small beside so many legs.
This odd creature was dressed in the regulation clothing of the
Munchkin people, a dark blue coat neatly fitting the long body and each
pair of legs having a pair of sky-blue trousers with blue-tinted
stockings and blue leather shoes turned up at the pointed toes. "I
wonder who you are," said Polychrome the Canary, fluttering above the
strange creature, who had probably been asleep on the path.
"I sometimes wonder myself who I am," replied the many-legged
young man, "but in reality I am Tommy Kwikstep, and I live in a hollow
tree that fell to the ground with age. I have polished the inside of it
and made a door at each end, and that's a very comfortable residence for
me because it just fits my shape."
"How did you happen to have such a shape?" asked the Scarecrow
Bear, sitting on his haunches and regarding Tommy Kwikstep with a serious
look. "Is the shape natural?"
"No, it was wished on me," replied Tommy with a sigh. "I used to
be very active and loved to run errands for anyone who needed my
services. That was how I got my name of Tommy Kwikstep. I could run an
errand more quickly than any other boy, and so I was very proud of
myself. One day, however, I met an old lady who was a fairy or a witch
or something of the sort, and she said if I would run an errand for her
to carry some magic medicine to another old woman, she would grant me
just one Wish, whatever the Wish happened to be. Of course, I consented,
and taking the medicine I hurried away. It was a long distance, mostly
uphill, and my legs began to grow weary. Without thinking what I was
doing, I said aloud, "Dear me. I wish I had twenty legs!" And in an
instant I became the unusual creature you see beside you. Twenty
legs! Twenty on one man! You can count them, if you doubt my word."
"You've got 'em, all right," said Woot the Monkey, who had
already counted them.
"After I had delivered the magic medicine to the old woman, I
returned and tried to find the witch, or fairy, or whatever she was, who
had given me the unlucky wish so she could take it away again. I've been
searching for her ever since, but never can I find her," continued poor
Tommy Kwikstep sadly.
"I suppose," said the Tin Owl, blinking at him, "you can travel
very fast with those twenty legs."
"At first I was able to," was the reply, "but I traveled so much
searching for the fairy, or witch, or whatever she was, that I soon got
corns on my toes. Now a corn on one toe is not so bad, but when you have
a hundred toes as I have and get corns on most of them, it is far from
pleasant. Instead of running, I now painfully crawl, and although I try
not to be discouraged, I do hope I shall find that witch, or fairy, or
whatever she was, before long."
"I hope so, too," said the Scarecrow. "But after all, you have
the pleasure of knowing that you are unusual and therefore remarkable
among the people of Oz. To be just like other persons is small credit to
one, while to be unlike others is a mark of distinction."
"That SOUNDS very pretty," returned Tommy Kwikstep, "but if you
had to put on ten pairs of trousers every morning, and tie up twenty
shoes, you would prefer not to be so distinguished."
"Was the witch, or fairy, or whatever she was an old person with
wrinkled skin and half her teeth gone?" inquired the Tin Owl.
"No," said Tommy Kwikstep.
"Then she wasn't old Mombi," remarked the transformed Emperor.
"I'm not interested in who it WASN'T so much as I am in who it
WAS," said the twenty-legged young man. "And whatever or whomsoever she
was, she has managed to keep out of my way."
"If you found her, do you suppose she'd change you back into a
two-legged boy?" asked Woot.
"Perhaps so, if I could run another errand for her and so earn
another wish."
"Would you really like to be as you were before?" asked
Polychrome the Canary, perching upon the Green Monkey's shoulder to
observe Tommy Kwikstep more attentively.
"I would indeed," was the earnest reply.
"Then I will see what I can do for you," promised the Rainbow's
Daughter, and flying to the ground, she took a small twig in her bill and
with it made several mystic figures on each side of Tommy Kwikstep.
"Are YOU a witch, or fairy, or something of the sort?" he asked
as he watched her wonderingly.
The Canary made no answer, for she was busy, but the Scarecrow
Bear replied, "Yes, she's something of the sort, and a bird of a
magician."
The twenty-legged boy's transformation happened so queerly that
they were all surprised at its method. First, Tommy Kwikstep's last two
legs disappeared, then the next two legs, and the next, and as each pair
of legs vanished, his body shortened. All this while Polychrome was
running around him and chirping mystical words, and when all the young
man's legs had disappeared but two, he noticed that the Canary was still
busy and cried out in alarm, "Stop! Stop! Leave me TWO of my legs, or I
shall be worse off than before."
"I know," said the Canary. "I'm only removing with my magic the
corns from your last ten toes."
"Thank you for being so thoughtful," he said gratefully, and now
they noticed that Tommy Kwikstep was quite a nice-looking young fellow.
"What will you do now?" asked Woot the Monkey.
"First," he answered, "I must deliver a note which I've carried
in my pocket ever since the witch, or fairy, or whatever she was granted
my foolish wish. And I am resolved never to speak again without taking
time to think carefully on what I am going to say, for I realize that
speech without thought is dangerous. And after I've delivered the note,
I shall run errands again for anyone who needs my services." So he
thanked Polychrome again and started away in a different direction than
their own, and that was the last they saw of Tommy Kwikstep.
CHAPTER 11
JINJUR'S RANCH
As they followed a path down the bluegrass hillside, the first
house that met the view of the travelers was joyously recognized by the
Scarecrow Bear as the one inhabited by his friend Jinjur, so they
increased their speed and hurried toward it. On reaching the place,
however, they found the house deserted. The front door stood open, but
no one was inside. In the garden surrounding the house were neat rows of
bushes bearing creampuffs and macaroons, some of which were still green,
but others ripe and ready to eat. Farther back were fields of caramels,
and all the land seemed well cultivated and carefully tended. They
looked through the fields for the girl farmer, but she was nowhere to be
seen.
"Well," finally remarked the little Brown Bear, "let us go into
the house and make ourselves at home. That will be sure to please my
friend Jinjur, who happens to be away from home just now. When she
returns, she will be greatly surprised."
"Would she care if I ate some of those ripe creampuffs?" asked
the Green Monkey.
"No indeed. Jinjur is very generous. Help yourself to all you
want," said the Scarecrow Bear.
So Woot gathered a lot of the creampuffs that were golden yellow
and filled with a sweet, creamy substance, and ate until his hunger was
satisfied. Then he entered the house with his friends and sat in a
rocking chair just as he was accustomed to do when a boy. The Canary
perched herself upon the mantel and daintily plumed her feathers. The
Tin Owl sat on the back of another chair. The Scarecrow squatted on his
hairy haunches in the middle of the room. "I believe I remember the girl
Jinjur," remarked the Canary in her sweet voice. "She cannot help us
very much, except to direct us on our way to Glinda's castle, for she
does not understand magic. But she's a good girl, honest and sensible,
and I'll be glad to see her."
"All our troubles," said the Owl with a deep sigh, "arose from my
foolish resolve to seek Nimmie Amee and make her Empress of the Winkies,
and while I wish to reproach no one, I must say that it was Woot the
Wanderer who put the notion into my head."
"Well, for my part, I am glad he did," responded the Canary.
"Your journey resulted in saving me from the Giantess, and had you not
traveled to the Yoop Valley, I would still be Mrs. Yoop's prisoner. It is
much nicer to be free, even though I still bear the enchanted form of a
Canary Bird."
"Do you think we shall ever be able to get our proper forms back
again?" asked the Green Monkey earnestly.
Polychrome did not make reply at once to this important question,
but after a period of thoughtfulness she said, "I have been taught to
believe that there is an antidote for every magic charm, yet Mrs. Yoop
insists that no power can alter her transformations. I realize that my
own fairy magic cannot do it, although I have thought that we Sky Fairies
have more power than is accorded to Earth Fairies. The Yookoohoo magic
is admitted to be very strange in its workings and different from the
magic usually practiced, but perhaps Glinda or Ozma may understand it
better than I. In them lies our only hope. Unless they can help us, we
must remain forever as we are."
"A Canary Bird on a Rainbow wouldn't be so bad," asserted the Tin
Owl, winking and blinking with his round tin eyes, "so if you can manage
to find your Rainbow again, you need have little to worry about."
"That's nonsense, Friend Chopper," exclaimed Woot. "I know just
how Polychrome feels. A beautiful girl is much superior to a little
yellow bird, and a boy such as I was far better than a Green Monkey.
Neither of us can be happy again unless we recover our rightful forms."
"I feel the same way," announced the stuffed Bear. "What do you
suppose my friend the Patchwork Girl would think of me if she saw me
wearing this beastly shape?"
"She'd laugh till she cried," admitted the Tin Owl. "For my
part, I'll have to give up the notion of marrying Nimmie Amee, but I'll
try not to let that make me unhappy. If it's my duty, I'd like to do my
duty, but if magic prevents my getting married, I'll flutter along all by
myself and be just as contented."
Their serious misfortunes made them all silent for a time, and as
their thoughts were busy in dwelling upon the evils with which fate had
burdened them, none noticed that Jinjur had suddenly appeared in the
doorway and was looking at them in astonishment. The next moment her
astonishment changed to anger, for there, in her best rocking chair, sat
a Green Monkey. A great shiny Owl perched upon another chair, and a
Brown Bear squatted upon her parlor rug. Jinjur did not notice the
Canary, but she caught up a broomstick and dashed into the room, shouting
as she came, "Get out of here, you wild creatures! How dare you enter my
house?"
With a blow of her broom, she knocked the Brown Bear over, and
the Tin Owl tried to fly out of her reach and made a great clatter with
his tin wings. The Green Monkey was so startled by the sudden attack
that he sprang into the fireplace--where there was fortunately no
fire--and tried to escape by climbing up the chimney. But he found the
opening too small, and so was forced to drop down again. Then he
crouched trembling in the fireplace, his pretty green hair all blackened
with soot and covered with ashes. From this position Woot watched to see
what would happen next.
"Stop, Jinjur, stop!" cried the Brown Bear when the broom again
threatened them. "Don't you know me? I'm your old friend the
Scarecrow!"
"You're trying to deceive me, you naughty beast! I can see
plainly that you are a bear, and a mighty poor specimen of a bear, too,"
retorted the girl.
"That's because I'm not properly stuffed," he assured her. "When
Mrs. Yoop transformed me, she didn't realize I should have more
stuffing."
"Who is Mrs. Yoop?" inquired Jinjur, pausing with the broom still
upraised.
"A Giantess in the Gillikin Country."
"Oh, I begin to understand. And Mrs. Yoop transformed you? You
are really the famous Scarecrow of Oz?"
"I WAS, Jinjur. Just now I'm as you see me, a miserable little
Brown Bear with a poor quality of stuffing. That Tin Owl is none other
than our dear Tin Woodman, Nick Chopper, the Emperor of the Winkies,
while this Green Monkey is a nice little boy we recently became
acquainted with, Woot the Wanderer."
"And I," said the Canary, flying close to Jinjur, "am Polychrome,
the Daughter of the Rainbow, in the form of a bird."
"Goodness me!" cried Jinjur, amazed. "That Giantess must be a
powerful Sorceress, and as wicked as she is powerful."
"She's a Yookoohoo," said Polychrome. "Fortunately, we managed
to escape from her castle, and we are now on our way to Glinda the Good
to see if she possesses the power to restore us to our former shapes."
"Then I must beg your pardons, all of you must forgive me," said
Jinjur, putting away the broom. "I took you to be a lot of wild,
unmannerly animals, as was quite natural. You are very welcome to my
home, and I'm sorry I haven't the power to help you out of your troubles.
Please use my house and all that I have as if they were your own."
At this declaration of peace, the Bear got upon his feet and the
Owl resumed his perch upon the chair and the Monkey crept out of the
fireplace. Jinjur looked at Woot critically and scowled. "For a Green
Monkey," said she, "you are the blackest creature I ever saw. And you'll
get my nice clean room all dirty with soot and ashes. Whatever possessed
you to jump up the chimney?"
"I--I was scared," explained Woot, somewhat ashamed.
"Well, you need renovating, and that's what will happen to you
right away. Come with me!" she commanded.
"What are you going to do?" asked Woot.
"Give you a good scrubbing," said Jinjur.
Now neither boys nor monkeys relish being scrubbed, so Woot
shrank away from the energetic girl, trembling fearfully. But Jinjur
grabbed him by his paw and dragged him out to the back yard, where, in
spite of his whines and struggles, she plunged him into a tub of cold
water and began to scrub him with a stuff brush and a cake of yellow
soap. This was the hardest trial that Woot had endured since he became a
monkey, but no protest had any influence with Jinjur, who lathered and
scrubbed him in a businesslike manner and afterward dried him with a
coarse towel.
The Bear and the Owl gravely watched this operation and nodded
approval when Woot's silky green fur shone clear and bright in the
afternoon sun. The canary seemed much amused and laughed a silvery
ripple of laughter as she said, "Very well done, my good Jinjur. I
admire your energy and judgment. but I had no idea a monkey could look so
comical as this monkey did while he was being bathed."
"I'm NOT a monkey!" declared Woot resentfully. "I'm just a boy
in a monkey's shape, that's all."
"If you can explain to me the difference," said Jinjur, "I'll
agree not to wash you again, that is unless you foolishly get into the
fireplace. All persons are usually judged by the shapes in which they
appear to the eyes of others. Look at ME, Woot, what am I?"
Woot looked at her. "You're as pretty a girl as I've ever seen,"
he replied.
Jinjur frowned. That is, she tried hard to frown. "Come out
into the garden with me," she said, "and I'll give you some of the most
delicious caramels you ever ate. They're a new variety that no one can
grow but me, and they have a heliotrope flavor."
CHAPTER 12
OZMA AND DOROTHY
In her magnificent palace in the Emerald City, the beautiful girl
Ruler of all the wonderful Land of Oz sat in her dainty boudoir with her
friend Princess Dorothy beside her. Ozma was studying a roll of
manuscript which she had taken from the Royal Library, while Dorothy
worked at her embroidery and at times stopped to pat a shaggy little
black dog that lay at her feet. The little dog's name was Toto, and he
was Dorothy's faithful companion. To judge Ozma of Oz by the standards
of our world, you would think her very young--perhaps fourteen or fifteen
years of age--yet for years she had ruled the Land of Oz and had never
seemed a bit older. Dorothy appeared much younger than Ozma. She had
been a little girl when first she came to the Land of Oz, and she was a
little girl still and would never seem to be a day older while she lived
in this wonderful fairyland.
Oz was not always a fairyland, I am told. Once it was much like
other lands except it was shut in by a dreadful desert of sandy wastes
that lay all around it, thus preventing its people from all contact with
the rest of the world. Seeing this isolation, the fairy band of Queen
Lurline, passing over Oz while on a journey, enchanted the country and so
made it a Fairyland. And Queen Lurline left one of her fairies to rule
this enchanted Land of Oz and then passed on and forgot all about it.
From that moment no one in Oz ever died. Those who were old remained
old; those who were young and strong did not change as years passed them
by; the children remained children always, and played and romped to their
hearts' content, while all the babies lived in their cradles and were
tenderly cared for and never grew up. So people in Oz stopped counting
how old they were in years, for years made no difference in their
appearance and could not alter their station. They did not get sick, so
there were no doctors among them. Accidents might happen to some, on
rare occasions, it is true; and while no one could die naturally as other
people do, it was possible that one might be totally destroyed. Such
incidents, however, were very unusual, and so seldom was there anything
to worry over that the Oz people were as happy and contented as can be.
Another strange thing about this fairy Land of Oz was that
whoever managed to enter it from the outside world came under the magic
spell of the place and did not change in appearance as long as they lived
there. So Dorothy, who now lived with Ozma, seemed just the same sweet
little girl she had been when first she came to this delightful
fairyland. Perhaps all parts of Oz might not be called truly delightful,
but it was surely delightful in the neighborhood of the Emerald City,
where Ozma reigned. Her loving influence was felt for many miles around,
but there were places in the mountains of the Gillikin Country and the
forests of the Quadling Country and perhaps in faraway places of the
Munchkin and Winkie Countries where the inhabitants were somewhat rude
and uncivilized and had not yet come under the spell of Ozma's wise and
kindly rule. Also, when Oz first became a fairyland, it harbored several
witches and magicians and sorcerers and necromancers who were scattered
in various places, but most of those had been deprived of their magic
powers, and Ozma had passed a royal edict forbidding anyone in her
dominions to work magic except Glinda the Good and the Wizard of Oz.
Ozma herself, being a real fairy, knew a lot of magic, but she only used
it to benefit her subjects.
This little explanation will help you to understand better the
story you are reading, but most of it is already known to those who are
familiar with the Oz people whose adventures they have followed in other
Oz books. Ozma and Dorothy were fast friends and were much together.
Everyone in Oz loved Dorothy almost as well as they did their lovely
Ruler, for the little Kansas girl's good fortune had not spoiled her or
rendered her at all vain. She was just the same brave and true and
adventurous child as before she lived in a royal palace and became the
chum of the fairy Ozma.
In the room in which the two sat--which was one of Ozma's private
suite of apartments--hung the famous Magic Picture. This was the source
of constant interest to little Dorothy. One had but to stand before it
and wish to see what any person was doing, and at once a scene would
flash upon the magic canvas which showed exactly where that person was,
and like our own moving pictures would reproduce the actions of that
person as long as you cared to watch them. So today, when Dorothy tired
of her embroidery, she drew the curtains from before the Magic Picture
and wished to see what her friend Button Br