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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41667 ***
+
+Transcriber's notes: Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. Chapter
+headings were parts of illustrations.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: This Book Belongs to]
+
+[Illustration: THE EMERALD CITY OF OZ]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+    TO
+    HER ROYAL HIGHNESS
+    CYNTHIA II
+    OF SYRACUSE;
+    AND TO EACH AND EVERY ONE
+    Of THE CHILDREN WHOSE LOYAL
+    APPRECIATION HAS ENCOURAGED
+    ME TO WRITE THE OZ BOOKS
+    THIS VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY
+    DEDICATED.
+
+[Illustration: He led them into his queer mansion--
+
+(_See page 259_)]
+
+
+
+
+    THE EMERALD CITY
+    OF OZ
+
+    BY
+
+    L. FRANK BAUM
+
+    AUTHOR OF THE ROAD TO OZ, DOROTHY AND THE WIZARD IN OZ,
+    THE LAND OF OZ, ETC.
+
+    [Illustration]
+
+    ILLUSTRATED BY
+    JOHN R. NEILL
+
+    The Reilly & Lee Co.
+    Chicago
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+    COPYRIGHT
+    1910
+    BY L. FRANK BAUM
+
+    ALL
+    RIGHTS RESERVED
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+Perhaps I should admit on the title page that this book is "By L. Frank
+Baum and his correspondents," for I have used many suggestions conveyed
+to me in letters from children. Once on a time I really imagined myself
+"an author of fairy tales," but now I am merely an editor or private
+secretary for a host of youngsters whose ideas I am requested to weave
+into the thread of my stories.
+
+These ideas are often clever. They are also logical and interesting. So
+I have used them whenever I could find an opportunity, and it is but
+just that I acknowledge my indebtedness to my little friends.
+
+My, what imaginations these children have developed! Sometimes I am
+fairly astounded by their daring and genius. There will be no lack of
+fairy-tale authors in the future, I am sure. My readers have told me
+what to do with Dorothy, and Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, and I have obeyed
+their mandates. They have also given me a variety of subjects to write
+about in the future: enough, in fact, to keep me busy for some time. I
+am very proud of this alliance. Children love these stories because
+children have helped to create them. My readers know what they want and
+realize that I try to please them. The result is very satisfactory to
+the publishers, to me, and (I am quite sure) to the children.
+
+I hope, my dears, it will be a long time before we are obliged to
+dissolve partnership.
+
+    _Coronado, 1910_        L. FRANK BAUM.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+[Illustration: HUM BUG]
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF CHAPTERS
+
+
+        CHAPTER                                           PAGE
+
+         1 HOW THE NOME KING BECAME ANGRY                   11
+
+         2 HOW UNCLE HENRY GOT INTO TROUBLE                 21
+
+         3 HOW OZMA GRANTED DOROTHY'S REQUEST               29
+
+         4 HOW THE NOME KING PLANNED REVENGE                39
+
+         5 HOW DOROTHY BECAME A PRINCESS                    48
+
+         6 HOW GUPH VISITED THE WHIMSIES                    59
+
+         7 HOW AUNT EM CONQUERED THE LION                   66
+
+         8 HOW THE GRAND GALLIPOOT JOINED THE NOMES         78
+
+         9 HOW THE WOGGLEBUG TAUGHT ATHLETICS               87
+
+        10 HOW THE CUTTENCLIPS LIVED                       100
+
+        11 HOW THE GENERAL MET THE FIRST AND FOREMOST      114
+
+        12 HOW THEY MATCHED THE FUDDLES                    127
+
+        13 HOW THE GENERAL TALKED TO THE KING              141
+
+        14 HOW THE WIZARD PRACTICED SORCERY                147
+
+        15 HOW DOROTHY HAPPENED TO GET LOST                158
+
+        16 HOW DOROTHY VISITED UTENSIA                     169
+
+        17 HOW THEY CAME TO BUNBURY                        180
+
+        18 HOW OZMA LOOKED INTO THE MAGIC PICTURE          192
+
+        19 HOW BUNNYBURY WELCOMED THE STRANGERS            196
+
+        20 HOW DOROTHY LUNCHED WITH A KING                 205
+
+        21 HOW THE KING CHANGED HIS MIND                   216
+
+        22 HOW THE WIZARD FOUND DOROTHY                    226
+
+        23 HOW THEY ENCOUNTERED THE FLUTTERBUDGETS         237
+
+        24 HOW THE TIN WOODMAN TOLD THE SAD NEWS           247
+
+        25 HOW THE SCARECROW DISPLAYED HIS WISDOM          255
+
+        26 HOW OZMA REFUSED TO FIGHT FOR HER KINGDOM       263
+
+        27 HOW THE FIERCE WARRIORS INVADED OZ              275
+
+        28 HOW THEY DRANK AT THE FORBIDDEN FOUNTAIN        280
+
+        29 HOW GLINDA WORKED A MAGIC SPELL                 289
+
+        30 HOW THE STORY OF OZ CAME TO AN END              295
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+_How_ THE NOME KING BECAME ANGRY
+
+CHAPTER ONE
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+The Nome King was in an angry mood, and at such times he was very
+disagreeable. Every one kept away from him, even his Chief Steward
+Kaliko.
+
+Therefore the King stormed and raved all by himself, walking up and down
+in his jewel-studded cavern and getting angrier all the time. Then he
+remembered that it was no fun being angry unless he had some one to
+frighten and make miserable, and he rushed to his big gong and made it
+clatter as loud as he could.
+
+In came the Chief Steward, trying not to show the Nome King how
+frightened he was.
+
+"Send the Chief Counselor here!" shouted the angry monarch.
+
+Kaliko ran out as fast as his spindle legs could carry his fat round
+body, and soon the Chief Counselor entered the cavern. The King scowled
+and said to him:
+
+"I'm in great trouble over the loss of my Magic Belt. Every little while
+I want to do something magical, and find I can't because the Belt is
+gone. That makes me angry, and when I'm angry I can't have a good time.
+Now, what do you advise?"
+
+"Some people," said the Chief Counselor, "enjoy getting angry."
+
+"But not all the time," declared the King. "To be angry once in a while
+is really good fun, because it makes others so miserable. But to be
+angry morning, noon and night, as I am, grows monotonous and prevents my
+gaining any other pleasure in life. Now, what do you advise?"
+
+"Why, if you are angry because you want to do magical things and can't,
+and if you don't want to get angry at all, my advice is not to want to
+do magical things."
+
+Hearing this, the King glared at his Counselor with a furious expression
+and tugged at his own long white whiskers until he pulled them so hard
+that he yelled with pain.
+
+"You are a fool!" he exclaimed.
+
+"I share that honor with your Majesty," said the Chief Counselor.
+
+The King roared with rage and stamped his foot.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Ho, there, my guards!" he cried. "Ho" is a royal way of saying, "Come
+here." So, when the guards had hoed, the King said to them:
+
+"Take this Chief Counselor and throw him away."
+
+Then the guards took the Chief Counselor, and bound him with chains to
+prevent his struggling, and threw him away. And the King paced up and
+down his cavern more angry than before.
+
+Finally he rushed to his big gong and made it clatter like a fire-alarm.
+Kaliko appeared again, trembling and white with fear.
+
+"Fetch my pipe!" yelled the King.
+
+"Your pipe is already here, your Majesty," replied Kaliko.
+
+"Then get my tobacco!" roared the King.
+
+"The tobacco is in your pipe, your Majesty," returned the Steward.
+
+"Then bring a live coal from the furnace!" commanded the King.
+
+"The tobacco is lighted, and your Majesty is already smoking your pipe,"
+answered the Steward.
+
+"Why, so I am!" said the King, who had forgotten this fact; "but you are
+very rude to remind me of it."
+
+"I am a lowborn, miserable villain," declared the Chief Steward,
+humbly.
+
+The Nome King could think of nothing to say next, so he puffed away at
+his pipe and paced up and down the room. Finally he remembered how angry
+he was, and cried out:
+
+"What do you mean, Kaliko, by being so contented when your monarch is
+unhappy?"
+
+"What makes you unhappy?" asked the Steward.
+
+"I've lost my Magic Belt. A little girl named Dorothy, who was here with
+Ozma of Oz, stole my Belt and carried it away with her," said the King,
+grinding his teeth with rage.
+
+"She captured it in a fair fight," Kaliko ventured to say.
+
+"But I want it! I must have it! Half my power is gone with that Belt!"
+roared the King.
+
+"You will have to go to the Land of Oz to recover it, and your Majesty
+can't get to the Land of Oz in any possible way," said the Steward,
+yawning because he had been on duty ninety-six hours, and was sleepy.
+
+"Why not?" asked the King.
+
+"Because there is a deadly desert all around that fairy country, which
+no one is able to cross. You know that fact as well as I do, your
+Majesty. Never mind the lost Belt. You have plenty of power left, for
+you rule this underground kingdom like a tyrant, and thousands of Nomes
+obey your commands. I advise you to drink a glass of melted silver, to
+quiet your nerves, and then go to bed."
+
+The King grabbed a big ruby and threw it at Kaliko's head. The Steward
+ducked to escape the heavy jewel, which crashed against the door just
+over his left ear.
+
+"Get out of my sight! Vanish! Go away--and send General Blug here,"
+screamed the Nome King.
+
+Kaliko hastily withdrew, and the Nome King stamped up and down until the
+General of his armies appeared.
+
+This Nome was known far and wide as a terrible fighter and a cruel,
+desperate commander. He had fifty thousand Nome soldiers, all well
+drilled, who feared nothing but their stern master. Yet General Blug was
+a trifle uneasy when he arrived and saw how angry the Nome King was.
+
+"Ha! So you're here!" cried the King.
+
+"So I am," said the General.
+
+"March your army at once to the Land of Oz, capture and destroy the
+Emerald City, and bring back to me my Magic Belt!" roared the King.
+
+"You're crazy," calmly remarked the General.
+
+"What's that? What's that? What's that?" And the Nome King danced around
+on his pointed toes, he was so enraged.
+
+"You don't know what you're talking about," continued the General,
+seating himself upon a large cut diamond. "I advise you to stand in a
+corner and count sixty before you speak again. By that time you may be
+more sensible."
+
+The King looked around for something to throw at General Blug, but as
+nothing was handy he began to consider that perhaps the man was right
+and he had been talking foolishly. So he merely threw himself into his
+glittering throne and tipped his crown over his ear and curled his feet
+up under him and glared wickedly at Blug.
+
+"In the first place," said the General, "we cannot march across the
+deadly desert to the Land of Oz; and, if we could, the Ruler of that
+country, Princess Ozma, has certain fairy powers that would render my
+army helpless. Had you not lost your Magic Belt we might have some
+chance of defeating Ozma; but the Belt is gone."
+
+"I want it!" screamed the King. "I must have it."
+
+"Well, then, let us try in a sensible way to get it," replied the
+General. "The Belt was captured by a little girl named Dorothy, who
+lives in Kansas, in the United States of America."
+
+"But she left it in the Emerald City, with Ozma," declared the King.
+
+"How do you know that?" asked the General.
+
+"One of my spies, who is a Blackbird, flew over the desert to the Land
+of Oz, and saw the Magic Belt in Ozma's palace," replied the King with a
+groan.
+
+"Now, that gives me an idea," said General Blug, thoughtfully. "There
+are two ways to get to the Land of Oz without traveling across the sandy
+desert."
+
+"What are they?" demanded the King, eagerly.
+
+"One way is _over_ the desert, through the air; and the other way is
+_under_ the desert, through the earth."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Hearing this the Nome King uttered a yell of joy and leaped from his
+throne, to resume his wild walk up and down the cavern.
+
+"That's it, Blug!" he shouted. "That's the idea, General! I'm King of
+the Under World, and my subjects are all miners. I'll make a secret
+tunnel under the desert to the Land of Oz--yes! right up to the Emerald
+City--and you will march your armies there and capture the whole
+country!"
+
+"Softly, softly, your Majesty. Don't go too fast," warned the General.
+"My Nomes are good fighters, but they are not strong enough to conquer
+the Emerald City."
+
+"Are you sure?" asked the King.
+
+"Absolutely certain, your Majesty."
+
+"Then what am I to do?"
+
+"Give up the idea and mind your own business," advised the General. "You
+have plenty to do trying to rule your underground kingdom."
+
+"But I want that Magic Belt--and I'm going to have it!" roared the Nome
+King.
+
+"I'd like to see you get it," replied the General, laughing maliciously.
+
+The King was by this time so exasperated that he picked up his scepter,
+which had a heavy ball, made from a sapphire, at the end of it, and
+threw it with all his force at General Blug. The sapphire hit the
+General upon his forehead and knocked him flat upon the ground, where he
+lay motionless. Then the King rang his gong and told his guards to drag
+out the General and throw him away; which they did.
+
+This Nome King was named Roquat the Red, and no one loved him. He was a
+bad man and a powerful monarch, and he had resolved to destroy the Land
+of Oz and its magnificent Emerald City, to enslave Princess Ozma and
+little Dorothy and all the Oz people, and recover his Magic Belt. This
+same Belt had once enabled Roquat the Red to carry out many wicked
+plans; but that was before Ozma and her people marched to the
+underground cavern and captured it. The Nome King could not forgive
+Dorothy or Princess Ozma, and he had determined to be revenged upon
+them.
+
+But they, for their part, did not know they had so dangerous an enemy.
+Indeed, Ozma and Dorothy had both almost forgotten that such a person as
+the Nome King yet lived under the mountains of the Land of Ev--which lay
+just across the deadly desert to the south of the Land of Oz.
+
+An unsuspected enemy is doubly dangerous.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+_How_ UNCLE HENRY GOT INTO TROUBLE
+
+CHAPTER TWO
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+Dorothy Gale lived on a farm in Kansas, with her Aunt Em and her Uncle
+Henry. It was not a big farm, nor a very good one, because sometimes the
+rain did not come when the crops needed it, and then everything withered
+and dried up. Once a cyclone had carried away Uncle Henry's house, so
+that he was obliged to build another; and as he was a poor man he had to
+mortgage his farm to get the money to pay for the new house. Then his
+health became bad and he was too feeble to work. The doctor ordered him
+to take a sea voyage and he went to Australia and took Dorothy with him.
+That cost a lot of money, too.
+
+Uncle Henry grew poorer every year, and the crops raised on the farm
+only bought food for the family. Therefore the mortgage could not be
+paid. At last the banker who had loaned him the money said that if he
+did not pay on a certain day, his farm would be taken away from him.
+
+This worried Uncle Henry a good deal, for without the farm he would have
+no way to earn a living. He was a good man, and worked in the fields as
+hard as he could; and Aunt Em did all the housework, with Dorothy's
+help. Yet they did not seem to get along.
+
+This little girl, Dorothy, was like dozens of little girls you know. She
+was loving and usually sweet-tempered, and had a round rosy face and
+earnest eyes. Life was a serious thing to Dorothy, and a wonderful
+thing, too, for she had encountered more strange adventures in her short
+life than many other girls of her age.
+
+Aunt Em once said she thought the fairies must have marked Dorothy at
+her birth, because she had wandered into strange places and had always
+been protected by some unseen power. As for Uncle Henry, he thought his
+little niece merely a dreamer, as her dead mother had been, for he could
+not quite believe all the curious stories Dorothy told them of the Land
+of Oz, which she had several times visited. He did not think that she
+tried to deceive her uncle and aunt, but he imagined that she had
+dreamed all of those astonishing adventures, and that the dreams had
+been so real to her that she had come to believe them true.
+
+Whatever the explanation might be, it was certain that Dorothy had been
+absent from her Kansas home for several long periods, always
+disappearing unexpectedly, yet always coming back safe and sound, with
+amazing tales of where she had been and the unusual people she had met.
+Her uncle and aunt listened to her stories eagerly and in spite of their
+doubts began to feel that the little girl had gained a lot of experience
+and wisdom that were unaccountable in this age, when fairies are
+supposed no longer to exist.
+
+Most of Dorothy's stories were about the Land of Oz, with its beautiful
+Emerald City and a lovely girl Ruler named Ozma, who was the most
+faithful friend of the little Kansas girl. When Dorothy told about the
+riches of this fairy country Uncle Henry would sigh, for he knew that a
+single one of the great emeralds that were so common there would pay all
+his debts and leave his farm free. But Dorothy never brought any jewels
+home with her, so their poverty became greater every year.
+
+When the banker told Uncle Henry that he must pay the money in thirty
+days or leave the farm, the poor man was in despair, as he knew he could
+not possibly get the money. So he told his wife, Aunt Em, of his
+trouble, and she first cried a little and then said that they must be
+brave and do the best they could, and go away somewhere and try to earn
+an honest living. But they were getting old and feeble and she feared
+that they could not take care of Dorothy as well as they had formerly
+done. Probably the little girl would also be obliged to go to work.
+
+They did not tell their niece the sad news for several days, not wishing
+to make her unhappy; but one morning the little girl found Aunt Em
+softly crying while Uncle Henry tried to comfort her. Then Dorothy asked
+them to tell her what was the matter.
+
+"We must give up the farm, my dear," replied her uncle, sadly, "and
+wander away into the world to work for our living."
+
+The girl listened quite seriously, for she had not known before how
+desperately poor they were.
+
+"We don't mind for ourselves," said her aunt, stroking the little girl's
+head tenderly; "but we love you as if you were our own child, and we are
+heart-broken to think that you must also endure poverty, and work for a
+living before you have grown big and strong."
+
+"What could I do to earn money?" asked Dorothy.
+
+"You might do housework for some one, dear, you are so handy; or perhaps
+you could be a nurse-maid to little children. I'm sure I don't know
+exactly what you _can_ do to earn money, but if your uncle and I are
+able to support you we will do it willingly, and send you to school. We
+fear, though, that we shall have much trouble in earning a living for
+ourselves. No one wants to employ old people who are broken down in
+health, as we are."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Dorothy smiled.
+
+"Wouldn't it be funny," she said, "for me to do housework in Kansas,
+when I'm a Princess in the Land of Oz?"
+
+"A Princess!" they both exclaimed, astonished.
+
+"Yes; Ozma made me a Princess some time ago, and she has often begged me
+to come and live always in the Emerald City," said the child.
+
+Her uncle and aunt looked at each other in amazement. Then the man said:
+
+"Do you suppose you could manage to return to your fairyland, my dear?"
+
+"Oh, yes," replied Dorothy; "I could do that easily."
+
+"How?" asked Aunt Em.
+
+"Ozma sees me every day at four o'clock, in her Magic Picture. She can
+see me wherever I am, no matter what I am doing. And at that time, if I
+make a certain secret sign, she will send for me by means of the Magic
+Belt, which I once captured from the Nome King. Then, in the wink of an
+eye, I shall be with Ozma in her palace."
+
+The elder people remained silent for some time after Dorothy had spoken.
+Finally Aunt Em said, with another sigh of regret:
+
+"If that is the case, Dorothy, perhaps you'd better go and live in the
+Emerald City. It will break our hearts to lose you from our lives, but
+you will be so much better off with your fairy friends that it seems
+wisest and best for you to go."
+
+"I'm not so sure about that," remarked Uncle Henry, shaking his gray
+head doubtfully. "These things all seem real to Dorothy, I know; but I'm
+afraid our little girl won't find her fairyland just what she has
+dreamed it to be. It would make me very unhappy to think that she was
+wandering among strangers who might be unkind to her."
+
+Dorothy laughed merrily at this speech, and then she became very sober
+again, for she could see how all this trouble was worrying her aunt and
+uncle, and knew that unless she found a way to help them their future
+lives would be quite miserable and unhappy. She knew that she _could_
+help them. She had thought of a way already. Yet she did not tell them
+at once what it was, because she must ask Ozma's consent before she
+would be able to carry out her plans.
+
+So she only said:
+
+"If you will promise not to worry a bit about me, I'll go to the Land of
+Oz this very afternoon. And I'll make a promise, too; that you shall
+both see me again before the day comes when you must leave this farm."
+
+"The day isn't far away, now," her uncle sadly replied. "I did not tell
+you of our trouble until I was obliged to, dear Dorothy, so the evil
+time is near at hand. But if you are quite sure your fairy friends will
+give you a home, it will be best for you to go to them, as your aunt
+says."
+
+That was why Dorothy went to her little room in the attic that
+afternoon, taking with her a small dog named Toto. The dog had curly
+black hair and big brown eyes and loved Dorothy very dearly.
+
+The child had kissed her uncle and aunt affectionately before she went
+upstairs, and now she looked around her little room rather wistfully,
+gazing at the simple trinkets and worn calico and gingham dresses, as if
+they were old friends. She was tempted at first to make a bundle of
+them, yet she knew very well that they would be of no use to her in her
+future life.
+
+She sat down upon a broken-backed chair--the only one the room
+contained--and holding Toto in her arms waited patiently until the clock
+struck four.
+
+Then she made the secret signal that had been agreed upon between her
+and Ozma.
+
+Uncle Henry and Aunt Em waited downstairs. They were uneasy and a good
+deal excited, for this is a practical humdrum world, and it seemed to
+them quite impossible that their little niece could vanish from her home
+and travel instantly to fairyland.
+
+So they watched the stairs, which seemed to be the only way that Dorothy
+could get out of the farmhouse, and they watched them a long time. They
+heard the clock strike four, but there was no sound from above.
+
+Half-past four came, and now they were too impatient to wait any longer.
+Softly they crept up the stairs to the door of the little girl's room.
+
+"Dorothy! Dorothy!" they called.
+
+There was no answer.
+
+They opened the door and looked in.
+
+The room was empty.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+_How_ OZMA GRANTED DOROTHY'S REQUEST
+
+CHAPTER THREE
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+I suppose you have read so much about the magnificent Emerald City that
+there is little need for me to describe it here. It is the Capital City
+of the Land of Oz, which is justly considered the most attractive and
+delightful fairyland in all the world.
+
+The Emerald City is built all of beautiful marbles in which are set a
+profusion of emeralds, every one exquisitely cut and of very great size.
+There are other jewels used in the decorations inside the houses and
+palaces, such as rubies, diamonds, sapphires, amethysts and turquoises.
+But in the streets and upon the outside of the buildings only emeralds
+appear, from which circumstance the place is named the Emerald City of
+Oz. It has nine thousand, six hundred and fifty-four buildings, in which
+lived fifty-seven thousand three hundred and eighteen people, up to the
+time my story opens.
+
+All the surrounding country, extending to the borders of the desert
+which enclosed it upon every side, was full of pretty and comfortable
+farmhouses, in which resided those inhabitants of Oz who preferred
+country to city life.
+
+Altogether there were more than half a million people in the Land of
+Oz--although some of them, as you will soon learn, were not made of
+flesh and blood as we are--and every inhabitant of that favored country
+was happy and prosperous.
+
+No disease of any sort was ever known among the Ozites, and so no one
+ever died unless he met with an accident that prevented him from living.
+This happened very seldom, indeed. There were no poor people in the Land
+of Oz, because there was no such thing as money, and all property of
+every sort belonged to the Ruler. The people were her children, and she
+cared for them. Each person was given freely by his neighbors whatever
+he required for his use, which is as much as any one may reasonably
+desire. Some tilled the lands and raised great crops of grain, which was
+divided equally among the entire population, so that all had enough.
+There were many tailors and dressmakers and shoemakers and the like, who
+made things that any who desired them might wear. Likewise there were
+jewelers who made ornaments for the person, which pleased and beautified
+the people, and these ornaments also were free to those who asked for
+them. Each man and woman, no matter what he or she produced for the
+good of the community, was supplied by the neighbors with food and
+clothing and a house and furniture and ornaments and games. If by chance
+the supply ever ran short, more was taken from the great storehouses of
+the Ruler, which were afterward filled up again when there was more of
+any article than the people needed.
+
+Every one worked half the time and played half the time, and the people
+enjoyed the work as much as they did the play, because it is good to be
+occupied and to have something to do. There were no cruel overseers set
+to watch them, and no one to rebuke them or to find fault with them. So
+each one was proud to do all he could for his friends and neighbors, and
+was glad when they would accept the things he produced.
+
+You will know, by what I have here told you, that the Land of Oz was a
+remarkable country. I do not suppose such an arrangement would be
+practical with us, but Dorothy assures me that it works finely with the
+Oz people.
+
+Oz being a fairy country, the people were, of course, fairy people; but
+that does not mean that all of them were very unlike the people of our
+own world. There were all sorts of queer characters among them, but not
+a single one who was evil, or who possessed a selfish or violent nature.
+They were peaceful, kind-hearted, loving and merry, and every
+inhabitant adored the beautiful girl who ruled them, and delighted to
+obey her every command.
+
+In spite of all I have said in a general way, there were some parts of
+the Land of Oz not quite so pleasant as the farming country and the
+Emerald City which was its center. Far away in the South Country there
+lived in the mountains a band of strange people called Hammer-Heads,
+because they had no arms and used their flat heads to pound any one who
+came near them. Their necks were like rubber, so that they could shoot
+out their heads to quite a distance, and afterward draw them back again
+to their shoulders. The Hammer-Heads were called the "Wild People," but
+never harmed any but those who disturbed them in the mountains where
+they lived.
+
+In some of the dense forests there lived great beasts of every sort; yet
+these were for the most part harmless and even sociable, and conversed
+agreeably with those who visited their haunts. The Kalidahs--beasts with
+bodies like bears and heads like tigers--had once been fierce and
+bloodthirsty, but even they were now nearly all tamed, although at times
+one or another of them would get cross and disagreeable.
+
+Not so tame were the Fighting Trees, which had a forest of their own. If
+any one approached them these curious trees would bend down their
+branches, twine them around the intruders, and hurl them away.
+
+But these unpleasant things existed only in a few remote parts of the
+Land of Oz. I suppose every country has some drawbacks, so even this
+almost perfect fairyland could not be quite perfect. Once there had been
+wicked witches in the land, too; but now these had all been destroyed;
+so, as I said, only peace and happiness reigned in Oz.
+
+For some time Ozma has ruled over this fair country, and never was Ruler
+more popular or beloved. She is said to be the most beautiful girl the
+world has ever known, and her heart and mind are as lovely as her
+person.
+
+Dorothy Gale had several times visited the Emerald City and experienced
+adventures in the Land of Oz, so that she and Ozma had now become firm
+friends. The girl Ruler had even made Dorothy a Princess of Oz, and had
+often implored her to come to Ozma's stately palace and live there
+always; but Dorothy had been loyal to her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, who
+had cared for her since she was a baby, and she had refused to leave
+them because she knew they would be lonely without her.
+
+However, Dorothy now realized that things were going to be different
+with her uncle and aunt from this time forth, so after giving the matter
+deep thought she decided to ask Ozma to grant her a very great favor.
+
+A few seconds after she had made the secret signal in her little
+bedchamber, the Kansas girl was seated in a lovely room in Ozma's
+palace in the Emerald City of Oz. When the first loving kisses and
+embraces had been exchanged, the fair Ruler inquired:
+
+"What is the matter, dear? I know something unpleasant has happened to
+you, for your face was very sober when I saw it in my Magic Picture. And
+whenever you signal me to transport you to this safe place, where you
+are always welcome, I know you are in danger or in trouble."
+
+Dorothy sighed.
+
+"This time, Ozma, it isn't I," she replied. "But it's worse, I guess,
+for Uncle Henry and Aunt Em are in a heap of trouble, and there seems no
+way for them to get out of it--anyhow, not while they live in Kansas."
+
+"Tell me about it, Dorothy," said Ozma, with ready sympathy.
+
+"Why, you see Uncle Henry is poor; for the farm in Kansas doesn't 'mount
+to much, as farms go. So one day Uncle Henry borrowed some money, and
+wrote a letter saying that if he didn't pay the money back they could
+take his farm for pay. Course he 'spected to pay by making money from
+the farm; but he just couldn't. An' so they're going to take the farm,
+and Uncle Henry and Aunt Em won't have any place to live. They're pretty
+old to do much hard work, Ozma; so I'll have to work for them,
+unless--"
+
+Ozma had been thoughtful during the story, but now she smiled and
+pressed her little friend's hand.
+
+"Unless what, dear?" she asked.
+
+Dorothy hesitated, because her request meant so much to them all.
+
+"Well," said she, "I'd like to live here in the Land of Oz, where you've
+often 'vited me to live. But I can't, you know, unless Uncle Henry and
+Aunt Em could live here too."
+
+"Of course not," exclaimed the Ruler of Oz, laughing gaily. "So, in
+order to get you, little friend, we must invite your Uncle and Aunt to
+live in Oz, also."
+
+"Oh, will you, Ozma?" cried Dorothy, clasping her chubby little hands
+eagerly. "Will you bring them here with the Magic Belt, and give them a
+nice little farm in the Munchkin Country, or the Winkie Country--or some
+other place?"
+
+"To be sure," answered Ozma, full of joy at the chance to please her
+little friend. "I have long been thinking of this very thing, Dorothy
+dear, and often I have had it in my mind to propose it to you. I am sure
+your uncle and aunt must be good and worthy people, or you would not
+love them so much; and for _your_ friends, Princess, there is always
+room in the Land of Oz."
+
+Dorothy was delighted, yet not altogether surprised, for she had clung
+to the hope that Ozma would be kind enough to grant her request. When,
+indeed, had her powerful and faithful friend refused her anything?
+
+"But you must not call me 'Princess,'" she said; "for after this I shall
+live on the little farm with Uncle Henry and Aunt Em, and princesses
+ought not to live on farms."
+
+"Princess Dorothy will not," replied Ozma, with her sweet smile. "You
+are going to live in your own rooms in this palace, and be my constant
+companion."
+
+"But Uncle Henry--" began Dorothy.
+
+"Oh, he is old, and has worked enough in his lifetime," interrupted the
+girl Ruler; "so we must find a place for your uncle and aunt where they
+will be comfortable and happy and need not work more than they care to.
+When shall we transport them here, Dorothy?"
+
+"I promised to go and see them again before they were turned out of the
+farmhouse," answered Dorothy; "so--perhaps next Saturday--"
+
+"But why wait so long?" asked Ozma. "And why make the journey back to
+Kansas again? Let us surprise them, and bring them here without any
+warning."
+
+"I'm not sure that they believe in the Land of Oz," said Dorothy,
+"though I've told 'em 'bout it lots of times."
+
+"They'll believe when they see it," declared Ozma; "and if they are told
+they are to make a magical journey to our fairyland, it may make them
+nervous. I think the best way will be to use the Magic Belt without
+warning them, and when they have arrived you can explain to them
+whatever they do not understand."
+
+"Perhaps that's best," decided Dorothy. "There isn't much use in their
+staying at the farm until they are put out, 'cause it's much nicer
+here."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Then to-morrow morning they shall come here," said Princess Ozma. "I
+will order Jellia Jamb, who is the palace housekeeper, to have rooms all
+prepared for them, and after breakfast we will get the Magic Belt and by
+its aid transport your uncle and aunt to the Emerald City."
+
+"Thank you, Ozma!" cried Dorothy, kissing her friend gratefully.
+
+"And now," Ozma proposed, "let us take a walk in the gardens before we
+dress for dinner. Come, Dorothy dear!"
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+_How_ THE NOME KING PLANNED REVENGE
+
+CHAPTER FOUR
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+The reason most people are bad is because they do not try to be good.
+Now, the Nome King had never tried to be good, so he was very bad
+indeed. Having decided to conquer the Land of Oz and to destroy the
+Emerald City and enslave all its people, King Roquat the Red kept
+planning ways to do this dreadful thing, and the more he planned the
+more he believed he would be able to accomplish it.
+
+About the time Dorothy went to Ozma the Nome King called his Chief
+Steward to him and said:
+
+"Kaliko, I think I shall make you the General of my armies."
+
+"I think you won't," replied Kaliko, positively.
+
+"Why not?" inquired the King, reaching for his scepter with the big
+sapphire.
+
+"Because I'm your Chief Steward, and know nothing of warfare," said
+Kaliko, preparing to dodge if anything were thrown at him. "I manage all
+the affairs of your kingdom better than you could yourself, and you'll
+never find another Steward as good as I am. But there are a hundred
+Nomes better fitted to command your army, and your Generals get thrown
+away so often that I have no desire to be one of them."
+
+"Ah, there is some truth in your remarks, Kaliko," remarked the King,
+deciding not to throw the scepter. "Summon my army to assemble in the
+Great Cavern."
+
+Kaliko bowed and retired, and in a few minutes returned to say that the
+army was assembled. So the King went out upon a balcony that overlooked
+the Great Cavern, where fifty thousand Nomes, all armed with swords and
+pikes, stood marshaled in military array.
+
+When they were not required as soldiers all these Nomes were metal
+workers and miners, and they had hammered so much at the forges and dug
+so hard with pick and shovel that they had acquired great muscular
+strength. They were strangely formed creatures, rather round and not
+very tall. Their toes were curly and their ears broad and flat.
+
+In time of war every Nome left his forge or mine and became part of the
+great army of King Roquat. The soldiers wore rock-colored uniforms and
+were excellently drilled.
+
+The King looked upon this tremendous army, which stood silently arrayed
+before him, and a cruel smile curled the corners of his mouth, for he
+saw that his legions were very powerful. Then he addressed them from the
+balcony, saying:
+
+"I have thrown away General Blug, because he did not please me. So I
+want another General to command this army. Who is next in command?"
+
+"I am," replied Colonel Crinkle, a dapper-looking Nome, as he stepped
+forward to salute his monarch.
+
+The King looked at him carefully and said:
+
+"I want you to march this army through an underground tunnel, which I am
+going to bore, to the Emerald City of Oz. When you get there I want you
+to conquer the Oz people, destroy them and their city, and bring all
+their gold and silver and precious stones back to my cavern. Also you
+are to recapture my Magic Belt and return it to me. Will you do this,
+General Crinkle?"
+
+"No, your Majesty," replied the Nome; "for it can't be done."
+
+"Oh, indeed!" exclaimed the King. Then he turned to his servants and
+said: "Please take General Crinkle to the torture chamber. There you
+will kindly slice him into thin slices. Afterward you may feed him to
+the seven-headed dogs."
+
+"Anything to oblige your Majesty," replied the servants, politely, and
+led the condemned man away.
+
+When they had gone the King addressed the army again.
+
+"Listen!" said he. "The General who is to command my armies must promise
+to carry out my orders. If he fails he will share the fate of poor
+Crinkle. Now, then, who will volunteer to lead my hosts to the Emerald
+City?"
+
+For a time no one moved and all were silent. Then an old Nome with white
+whiskers so long that they were tied around his waist to prevent their
+tripping him up, stepped out of the ranks and saluted the King.
+
+"I'd like to ask a few questions, your Majesty," he said.
+
+"Go ahead," replied the King.
+
+"These Oz people are quite good, are they not?"
+
+"As good as apple pie," said the King.
+
+"And they are happy, I suppose?" continued the old Nome.
+
+"Happy as the day is long," said the King.
+
+"And contented and prosperous?" inquired the Nome.
+
+"Very much so," said the King.
+
+"Well, your Majesty," remarked he of the white whiskers, "I think I
+should like to undertake the job, so I'll be your General. I hate good
+people; I detest happy people; I'm opposed to any one who is contented
+and prosperous. That is why I am so fond of your Majesty. Make me your
+General and I'll promise to conquer and destroy the Oz people. If I fail
+I'm ready to be sliced thin and fed to the seven-headed dogs."
+
+"Very good! Very good, indeed! That's the way to talk!" cried Roquat the
+Red, who was greatly pleased. "What is your name, General?"
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"I'm called Guph, your Majesty."
+
+"Well, Guph, come with me to my private cave and we'll talk it over."
+Then he turned to the army. "Nomes and soldiers," said he, "you are to
+obey the commands of General Guph until he becomes dog-feed. Any man who
+fails to obey his new General will be promptly thrown away. You are now
+dismissed."
+
+Guph went to the King's private cave and sat down upon an amethyst chair
+and put his feet on the arm of the King's ruby throne. Then he lighted
+his pipe and threw the live coal he had taken from his pocket upon the
+King's left foot and puffed the smoke into the King's eyes and made
+himself comfortable. For he was a wise old Nome, and he knew that the
+best way to get along with Roquat the Red was to show that he was not
+afraid of him.
+
+"I'm ready for the talk, your Majesty," he said.
+
+The King coughed and looked at his new General fiercely.
+
+"Do you not tremble to take such liberties with your monarch?" he asked.
+
+"Oh, no," said Guph, calmly, and he blew a wreath of smoke that curled
+around the King's nose and made him sneeze. "You want to conquer the
+Emerald City, and I'm the only Nome in all your dominions who can
+conquer it. So you will be very careful not to hurt me until I have
+carried out your wishes. After that--"
+
+"Well, what then?" inquired the King.
+
+"Then you will be so grateful to me that you won't care to hurt me,"
+replied the General.
+
+"That is a very good argument," said Roquat. "But suppose you fail?"
+
+"Then it's the slicing machine. I agree to that," announced Guph. "But
+if you do as I tell you there will be no failure. The trouble with you,
+Roquat, is that you don't think carefully enough. I do. You would go
+ahead and march through your tunnel into Oz, and get defeated and driven
+back. I won't. And the reason I won't is because when I march I'll have
+all my plans made, and a host of allies to assist my Nomes."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"What do you mean by that?" asked the King.
+
+"I'll explain, King Roquat. You're going to attack a fairy country, and
+a mighty fairy country, too. They haven't much of an army in Oz, but the
+Princess who rules them has a fairy wand; and the little girl Dorothy
+has your Magic Belt; and at the North of the Emerald City lives a clever
+sorceress called Glinda the Good, who commands the spirits of the air.
+Also I have heard that there is a wonderful Wizard in Ozma's palace, who
+is so skillful that people used to pay him money in America to see him
+perform. So you see it will be no easy thing to overcome all this
+magic."
+
+"We have fifty thousand soldiers!" cried the King, proudly.
+
+"Yes; but they are Nomes," remarked Guph, taking a silk handkerchief
+from the King's pocket and wiping his own pointed shoes with it. "Nomes
+are immortals, but they are not strong on magic. When you lost your
+famous Belt the greater part of your own power was gone from you.
+Against Ozma you and your Nomes would have no show at all."
+
+Roquat's eyes flashed angrily.
+
+"Then away you go to the slicing machine!" he cried.
+
+"Not yet," said the General, filling his pipe from the King's private
+tobacco pouch.
+
+"What do you propose to do?" asked the monarch.
+
+"I propose to obtain the power we need," answered Guph. "There are a
+good many evil creatures who have magic powers sufficient to destroy and
+conquer the Land of Oz. We will get them on our side, band them all
+together, and then take Ozma and her people by surprise. It's all very
+simple and easy when you know how. Alone we should be helpless to
+injure the Ruler of Oz, but with the aid of the evil powers we can
+summon we shall easily succeed."
+
+King Roquat was delighted with this idea, for he realized how clever it
+was.
+
+"Surely, Guph, you are the greatest General I have ever had!" he
+exclaimed, his eyes sparkling with joy. "You must go at once and make
+arrangements with the evil powers to assist us, and meantime I'll begin
+to dig the tunnel."
+
+"I thought you'd agree with me, Roquat," replied the new General. "I'll
+start this very afternoon to visit the Chief of the Whimsies."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+_How_ DOROTHY BECAME A PRINCESS
+
+CHAPTER FIVE
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+When the people of the Emerald City heard that Dorothy had returned to
+them every one was eager to see her, for the little girl was a general
+favorite in the Land of Oz. From time to time some of the folk from the
+great outside world had found their way into this fairyland, but all
+except one had been companions of Dorothy and had turned out to be very
+agreeable people. The exception I speak of was the wonderful Wizard of
+Oz, a sleight-of-hand performer from Omaha who went up in a balloon and
+was carried by a current of air to the Emerald City. His queer and
+puzzling tricks made the people of Oz believe him a great wizard for
+a time, and he ruled over them until Dorothy arrived on her first
+visit and showed the Wizard to be a mere humbug. He was a gentle,
+kindly-hearted little man, and Dorothy grew to like him afterward. When,
+after an absence, the Wizard returned to the Land of Oz, Ozma received
+him graciously and gave him a home in a part of the palace.
+
+In addition to the Wizard two other personages from the outside world
+had been allowed to make their home in the Emerald City. The first was a
+quaint Shaggy Man, whom Ozma had made the Governor of the Royal
+Storehouses, and the second a Yellow Hen named Billina, who had a fine
+house in the gardens back of the palace, where she looked after a large
+family. Both these had been old comrades of Dorothy, so you see the
+little girl was quite an important personage in Oz, and the people
+thought she had brought them good luck, and loved her next best to Ozma.
+During her several visits this little girl had been the means of
+destroying two wicked witches who oppressed the people, and she had
+discovered a live scarecrow who was now one of the most popular
+personages in all the fairy country. With the Scarecrow's help she had
+rescued Nick Chopper, a Tin Woodman, who had rusted in a lonely forest,
+and the tin man was now the Emperor of the Country of the Winkies and
+much beloved because of his kind heart. No wonder the people thought
+Dorothy had brought them good luck! Yet, strange as it may seem, she had
+accomplished all these wonders not because she was a fairy or had any
+magical powers whatever, but because she was a simple, sweet and true
+little girl who was honest to herself and to all whom she met. In this
+world in which we live simplicity and kindness are the only magic wands
+that work wonders, and in the Land of Oz Dorothy found these same
+qualities had won for her the love and admiration of the people. Indeed,
+the little girl had made many warm friends in the fairy country, and the
+only real grief the Ozites had ever experienced was when Dorothy left
+them and returned to her Kansas home.
+
+Now she received a joyful welcome, although no one except Ozma knew at
+first that she had finally come to stay for good and all.
+
+That evening Dorothy had many callers, and among them were such
+important people as Tiktok, a machine man who thought and spoke and
+moved by clockwork; her old companion the genial Shaggy Man; Jack
+Pumpkinhead, whose body was brush-wood and whose head was a ripe pumpkin
+with a face carved upon it; the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger, two
+great beasts from the forest, who served Princess Ozma, and Professor H.
+M. Wogglebug, T. E. This wogglebug was a remarkable creature. He had
+once been a tiny little bug, crawling around in a school-room, but he
+was discovered and highly magnified so that he could be seen more
+plainly, and while in this magnified condition he had escaped. He had
+always remained big, and he dressed like a dandy and was so full of
+knowledge and information (which are distinct acquirements), that he
+had been made a Professor and the head of the Royal College.
+
+Dorothy had a nice visit with these old friends, and also talked a long
+time with the Wizard, who was little and old and withered and dried up,
+but as merry and active as a child. Afterward she went to see Billina's
+fast growing family of chicks.
+
+Toto, Dorothy's little black dog, also met with a cordial reception.
+Toto was an especial friend of the Shaggy Man, and he knew every one
+else. Being the only dog in the Land of Oz, he was highly respected by
+the people, who believed animals entitled to every consideration if they
+behaved themselves properly.
+
+Dorothy had four lovely rooms in the palace, which were always reserved
+for her use and were called "Dorothy's rooms." These consisted of a
+beautiful sitting room, a dressing room, a dainty bedchamber and a big
+marble bathroom. And in these rooms were everything that heart could
+desire, placed there with loving thoughtfulness by Ozma for her little
+friend's use. The royal dressmakers had the little girl's measure, so
+they kept the closets in her dressing room filled with lovely dresses of
+every description and suitable for every occasion. No wonder Dorothy had
+refrained from bringing with her her old calico and gingham dresses!
+Here everything that was dear to a little girl's heart was supplied in
+profusion, and nothing so rich and beautiful could ever have been found
+in the biggest department stores in America. Of course Dorothy enjoyed
+all these luxuries, and the only reason she had heretofore preferred to
+live in Kansas was because her uncle and aunt loved her and needed her
+with them.
+
+Now, however, all was to be changed, and Dorothy was really more
+delighted to know that her dear relatives were to share in her good
+fortune and enjoy the delights of the Land of Oz, than she was to
+possess such luxury for herself.
+
+Next morning, at Ozma's request, Dorothy dressed herself in a pretty
+sky-blue gown of rich silk, trimmed with real pearls. The buckles of her
+shoes were set with pearls, too, and more of these priceless gems were
+on a lovely coronet which she wore upon her forehead.
+
+"For," said her friend Ozma, "from this time forth, my dear, you must
+assume your rightful rank as a Princess of Oz, and being my chosen
+companion you must dress in a way befitting the dignity of your
+position."
+
+Dorothy agreed to this, although she knew that neither gowns nor jewels
+could make her anything else than the simple, unaffected little girl she
+had always been.
+
+As soon as they had breakfasted--the girls eating together in Ozma's
+pretty boudoir--the Ruler of Oz said:
+
+"Now, dear friend, we will use the Magic Belt to transport your uncle
+and aunt from Kansas to the Emerald City. But I think it would be
+fitting, in receiving such distinguished guests, for us to sit in my
+Throne Room."
+
+"Oh, they're not very 'stinguished, Ozma," said Dorothy. "They're just
+plain people, like me."
+
+"Being your friends and relatives, Princess Dorothy, they are certainly
+distinguished," replied the Ruler, with a smile.
+
+"They--they won't hardly know what to make of all your splendid
+furniture and things," protested Dorothy, gravely. "It may scare 'em to
+see your grand Throne Room, an' p'raps we'd better go into the back
+yard, Ozma, where the cabbages grow an' the chickens are playing. Then
+it would seem more natural to Uncle Henry and Aunt Em."
+
+"No; they shall first see me in my Throne Room," replied Ozma,
+decidedly; and when she spoke in that tone Dorothy knew it was not wise
+to oppose her, for Ozma was accustomed to having her own way.
+
+So together they went to the Throne Room, an immense domed chamber in
+the center of the palace. Here stood the royal throne, made of solid
+gold and encrusted with enough precious stones to stock a dozen jewelry
+stores in our country.
+
+Ozma, who was wearing the Magic Belt, seated herself in the throne, and
+Dorothy sat at her feet. In the room were assembled many ladies and
+gentlemen of the court, clothed in rich apparel and wearing fine
+jewelry. Two immense animals squatted, one on each side of the
+throne--the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger. In a balcony high up in
+the dome an orchestra played sweet music, and beneath the dome two
+electric fountains sent sprays of colored perfumed water shooting up
+nearly as high as the arched ceiling.
+
+"Are you ready, Dorothy?" asked the Ruler.
+
+"I am," replied Dorothy; "but I don't know whether Aunt Em and Uncle
+Henry are ready."
+
+"That won't matter," declared Ozma. "The old life can have very little
+to interest them, and the sooner they begin the new life here the
+happier they will be. Here they come, my dear!"
+
+As she spoke, there before the throne appeared Uncle Henry and Aunt Em,
+who for a moment stood motionless, glaring with white and startled faces
+at the scene that confronted them. If the ladies and gentlemen present
+had not been so polite I am sure they would have laughed at the two
+strangers.
+
+Aunt Em had her calico dress skirt "tucked up," and she wore a faded
+blue-checked apron. Her hair was rather straggly and she had on a pair
+of Uncle Henry's old slippers. In one hand she held a dish-towel and in
+the other a cracked earthenware plate, which she had been engaged in
+wiping when so suddenly transported to the Land of Oz.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Uncle Henry, when the summons came, had been out in the barn "doin'
+chores." He wore a ragged and much soiled straw hat, a checked shirt
+without any collar and blue overalls tucked into the tops of his old
+cowhide boots.
+
+"By gum!" gasped Uncle Henry, looking around as if bewildered.
+
+"Well, I swan!" gurgled Aunt Em, in a hoarse, frightened voice. Then her
+eyes fell upon Dorothy, and she said: "D-d-d-don't that look like our
+little girl--our Dorothy, Henry?"
+
+"Hi, there--look out, Em!" exclaimed the old man, as Aunt Em advanced a
+step; "take care o' the wild beastses, or you're a goner!"
+
+But now Dorothy sprang forward and embraced and kissed her aunt and
+uncle affectionately, afterward taking their hands in her own.
+
+"Don't be afraid," she said to them. "You are now in the Land of Oz,
+where you are to live always, and be comfer'ble an' happy. You'll never
+have to worry over anything again, 'cause there won't be anything to
+worry about. And you owe it all to the kindness of my friend Princess
+Ozma."
+
+Here she led them before the throne and continued:
+
+"Your Highness, this is Uncle Henry. And this is Aunt Em. They want to
+thank you for bringing them here from Kansas."
+
+Aunt Em tried to "slick" her hair, and she hid the dish-towel and dish
+under her apron while she bowed to the lovely Ozma. Uncle Henry took off
+his straw hat and held it awkwardly in his hands.
+
+But the Ruler of Oz rose and came from her throne to greet her newly
+arrived guests, and she smiled as sweetly upon them as if they had been
+a king and a queen.
+
+"You are very welcome here, where I have brought you for Princess
+Dorothy's sake," she said, graciously, "and I hope you will be quite
+happy in your new home." Then she turned to her courtiers, who were
+silently and gravely regarding the scene, and added: "I present to my
+people our Princess Dorothy's beloved Uncle Henry and Aunt Em, who will
+hereafter be subjects of our kingdom. It will please me to have you show
+them every kindness and honor in your power, and to join me in making
+them happy and contented."
+
+Hearing this, all those assembled bowed low and respectfully to the old
+farmer and his wife, who bobbed their own heads in return.
+
+"And now," said Ozma to them, "Dorothy will show you the rooms prepared
+for you. I hope you will like them, and shall expect you to join me at
+luncheon."
+
+So Dorothy led her relatives away, and as soon as they were out of the
+Throne Room and alone in the corridor Aunt Em squeezed Dorothy's hand
+and said:
+
+"Child, child! How in the world did we ever get here so quick? And is it
+all real? And are we to stay here, as she says? And what does it all
+mean, anyhow?"
+
+Dorothy laughed.
+
+"Why didn't you tell us what you were goin' to do?" inquired Uncle
+Henry, reproachfully. "If I'd known about it I'd 'a put on my Sunday
+clothes."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"I'll 'splain ever'thing as soon as we get to your rooms," promised
+Dorothy. "You're in great luck, Uncle Henry and Aunt Em; an' so am I!
+And oh! I'm so happy to have got you here, at last!"
+
+As he walked by the little girl's side Uncle Henry stroked his whiskers
+thoughtfully.
+
+"'Pears to me, Dorothy, we won't make bang-up fairies," he remarked.
+
+"An' my back hair looks like a fright!" wailed Aunt Em.
+
+"Never mind," returned the little girl, reassuringly. "You won't have
+anything to do now but to look pretty, Aunt Em; an' Uncle Henry won't
+have to work till his back aches, that's certain."
+
+"Sure?" they asked, wonderingly, and in the same breath.
+
+"Course I'm sure," said Dorothy. "You're in the Fairyland of Oz, now;
+an' what's more, you belong to it!"
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+_How_ GUPH VISITED THE WHIMSIES
+
+CHAPTER SIX
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+The new General of the Nome King's army knew perfectly well that to fail
+in his plans meant death for him. Yet he was not at all anxious or
+worried. He hated every one who was good and longed to make all who were
+happy unhappy. Therefore he had accepted this dangerous position as
+General quite willingly, feeling sure in his evil mind that he would be
+able to do a lot of mischief and finally conquer the Land of Oz.
+
+Yet Guph determined to be careful, and to lay his plans well, so as not
+to fail. He argued that only careless people fail in what they attempt
+to do.
+
+The mountains underneath which the Nome King's extensive caverns were
+located lay grouped just north of the Land of Ev, which lay directly
+across the deadly desert to the east of the Land of Oz. As the mountains
+were also on the edge of the desert the Nome King found that he had
+only to tunnel underneath the desert to reach Ozma's dominions. He did
+not wish his armies to appear above ground in the Country of the
+Winkies, which was the part of the Land of Oz nearest to King Roquat's
+own country, as then the people would give the alarm and enable Ozma to
+fortify the Emerald City and assemble an army. He wanted to take all the
+Oz people by surprise; so he decided to run the tunnel clear through to
+the Emerald City, where he and his hosts could break through the ground
+without warning and conquer the people before they had time to defend
+themselves.
+
+Roquat the Red began work at once upon his tunnel, setting a thousand
+miners at the task and building it high and broad enough for his armies
+to march through it with ease. The Nomes were used to making tunnels, as
+all the kingdom in which they lived was under ground; so they made rapid
+progress.
+
+While this work was going on General Guph started out alone to visit the
+Chief of the Whimsies.
+
+These Whimsies were curious people who lived in a retired country of
+their own. They had large, strong bodies, but heads so small that they
+were no bigger than door-knobs. Of course, such tiny heads could not
+contain any great amount of brains, and the Whimsies were so ashamed of
+their personal appearance and lack of commonsense that they wore big
+heads, made of pasteboard, which they fastened over their own little
+heads. On these pasteboard heads they sewed sheep's wool for hair, and
+the wool was colored many tints--pink, green and lavender being the
+favorite colors.
+
+The faces of these false heads were painted in many ridiculous ways,
+according to the whims of the owners, and these big, burly creatures
+looked so whimsical and absurd in their queer masks that they were
+called "Whimsies." They foolishly imagined that no one would suspect the
+little heads that were inside the imitation ones, not knowing that it is
+folly to try to appear otherwise than as nature has made us.
+
+The Chief of the Whimsies had as little wisdom as the others, and had
+been chosen chief merely because none among them was any wiser or more
+capable of ruling. The Whimsies were evil spirits and could not be
+killed. They were hated and feared by every one and were known as
+terrible fighters because they were so strong and muscular and had not
+sense enough to know when they were defeated.
+
+General Guph thought the Whimsies would be a great help to the Nomes in
+the conquest of Oz, for under his leadership they could be induced to
+fight as long so they could stand up. So he traveled to their country
+and asked to see the Chief, who lived in a house that had a picture of
+his grotesque false head painted over the doorway.
+
+The Chief's false head had blue hair, a turned-up nose, and a mouth that
+stretched half across the face. Big green eyes had been painted upon it,
+but in the center of the chin were two small holes made in the
+pasteboard, so that the Chief could see through them with his own tiny
+eyes; for when the big head was fastened upon his shoulders the eyes in
+his own natural head were on a level with the false chin.
+
+Said General Guph to the Chief of the Whimsies:
+
+"We Nomes are going to conquer the Land of Oz and capture our King's
+Magic Belt, which the Oz people stole from him. Then we are going to
+plunder and destroy the whole country. And we want the Whimsies to help
+us."
+
+"Will there be any fighting?" asked the Chief.
+
+"Plenty," replied Guph.
+
+That must have pleased the Chief, for he got up and danced around the
+room three times. Then he seated himself again, adjusted his false head,
+and said:
+
+"We have no quarrel with Ozma of Oz."
+
+"But you Whimsies love to fight, and here is a splendid chance to do
+so," urged Guph.
+
+"Wait till I sing a song," said the Chief. Then he lay back in his chair
+and sang a foolish song that did not seem to the General to mean
+anything, although he listened carefully. When he had finished, the
+Chief Whimsie looked at him through the holes in his chin and asked:
+
+"What reward will you give us if we help you?"
+
+The General was prepared for this question, for he had been thinking the
+matter over on his journey. People often do a good deed without hope of
+reward, but for an evil deed they always demand payment.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"When we get our Magic Belt," he made reply, "our King, Roquat the Red,
+will use its power to give every Whimsie a natural head as big and fine
+as the false head he now wears. Then you will no longer be ashamed
+because your big strong bodies have such teenty-weenty heads."
+
+"Oh! Will you do that?" asked the Chief, eagerly.
+
+"We surely will," promised the General.
+
+"I'll talk to my people," said the Chief.
+
+So he called a meeting of all the Whimsies and told them of the offer
+made by the Nomes. The creatures were delighted with the bargain, and at
+once agreed to fight for the Nome King and help him to conquer Oz.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+One Whimsie alone seemed to have a glimmer of sense, for he asked:
+
+"Suppose we fail to capture the Magic Belt? What will happen then, and
+what good will all our fighting do?"
+
+But they threw him into the river for asking foolish questions, and
+laughed when the water ruined his pasteboard head before he could swim
+out again.
+
+So the compact was made and General Guph was delighted with his success
+in gaining such powerful allies.
+
+But there were other people, too, just as important as the Whimsies,
+whom the clever old Nome had determined to win to his side.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+_How_ AUNT EM CONQUERED THE LION
+
+CHAPTER SEVEN
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+"These are your rooms," said Dorothy, opening a door.
+
+Aunt Em drew back at sight of the splendid furniture and draperies.
+
+"Ain't there any place to wipe my feet?" she asked.
+
+"You will soon change your slippers for new shoes," replied Dorothy.
+"Don't be afraid, Aunt Em. Here is where you are to live, so walk right
+in and make yourself at home."
+
+Aunt Em advanced hesitatingly.
+
+"It beats the Topeka Hotel!" she cried, admiringly. "But this place is
+too grand for us, child. Can't we have some back room in the attic,
+that's more in our class?"
+
+"No," said Dorothy. "You've got to live here, 'cause Ozma says so. And
+all the rooms in this palace are just as fine as these, and some are
+better. It won't do any good to fuss, Aunt Em. You've got to be swell
+and high-toned in the Land of Oz, whether you want to or not; so you
+may as well make up your mind to it."
+
+"It's hard luck," replied her aunt, looking around with an awed
+expression; "but folks can get used to anything, if they try. Eh,
+Henry?"
+
+"Why, as to that," said Uncle Henry, slowly, "I b'lieve in takin' what's
+pervided us, an' askin' no questions. I've traveled some, Em, in my
+time, and you hain't; an' that makes a difference atween us."
+
+Then Dorothy showed them through the rooms. The first was a handsome
+sitting-room, with windows opening upon the rose gardens. Then came
+separate bedrooms for Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, with a fine bathroom
+between them. Aunt Em had a pretty dressing room, besides, and Dorothy
+opened the closets and showed several exquisite costumes that had been
+provided for her aunt by the royal dressmakers, who had worked all night
+to get them ready. Everything that Aunt Em could possibly need was in
+the drawers and closets, and her dressing-table was covered with
+engraved gold toilet articles.
+
+Uncle Henry had nine suits of clothes, cut in the popular Munchkin
+fashion, with knee-breeches, silk stockings and low shoes with jeweled
+buckles. The hats to match these costumes had pointed tops and wide
+brims with small gold bells around the edges. His shirts were of fine
+linen with frilled bosoms, and his vests were richly embroidered with
+colored silks.
+
+Uncle Henry decided that he would first take a bath and then dress
+himself in a blue satin suit that had caught his fancy. He accepted his
+good fortune with calm composure and refused to have a servant to assist
+him. But Aunt Em was "all of a flutter," as she said, and it took
+Dorothy and Jellia Jamb, the housekeeper, and two maids a long time to
+dress her and do up her hair and get her "rigged like a popinjay," as
+she quaintly expressed it. She wanted to stop and admire everything that
+caught her eye, and she sighed continually and declared that such finery
+was too good for an old country woman, and that she never thought she
+would have to "put on airs" at her time of life.
+
+Finally she was dressed, and when they went into the sitting-room there
+was Uncle Henry in his blue satin, walking gravely up and down the room.
+He had trimmed his beard and mustache and looked very dignified and
+respectable.
+
+"Tell me, Dorothy," he said; "do all the men here wear duds like these?"
+
+"Yes," she replied; "all 'cept the Scarecrow and the Shaggy Man--and of
+course the Tin Woodman and Tiktok, who are made of metal. You'll find
+all the men at Ozma's court dressed just as you are--only perhaps a
+little finer."
+
+"Henry, you look like a play-actor," announced Aunt Em, looking at her
+husband critically.
+
+"An' you, Em, look more highfalutin' than a peacock," he replied.
+
+"I guess you're right," she said, regretfully; "but we're helpless
+victims of high-toned royalty."
+
+Dorothy was much amused.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Come with me," she said, "and I'll show you 'round the palace."
+
+She took them through the beautiful rooms and introduced them to all the
+people they chanced to meet. Also she showed them her own pretty rooms,
+which were not far from their own.
+
+"So it's all true," said Aunt Em, wide-eyed with amazement, "and what
+Dorothy told us of this fairy country was plain facts instead of dreams!
+But where are all the strange creatures you used to know here?"
+
+"Yes; where's the Scarecrow?" inquired Uncle Henry.
+
+"Why, he's just now away on a visit to the Tin Woodman, who is Emp'ror
+of the Winkie Country," answered the little girl. "You'll see him when
+he comes back, and you're sure to like him."
+
+"And where's the Wonderful Wizard?" asked Aunt Em.
+
+"You'll see him at Ozma's luncheon, for he lives in this palace," was
+the reply.
+
+"And Jack Pumpkinhead?"
+
+"Oh, he lives a little way out of town, in his own pumpkin field. We'll
+go there some time and see him, and we'll call on Professor Wogglebug,
+too. The Shaggy Man will be at the luncheon, I guess, and Tiktok. And
+now I'll take you out to see Billina, who has a house of her own."
+
+So they went into the back yard, and after walking along winding paths
+some distance through the beautiful gardens they came to an attractive
+little house where the Yellow Hen sat on the front porch sunning
+herself.
+
+"Good morning, my dear Mistress," called Billina, fluttering down to
+meet them. "I was expecting you to call, for I heard you had come back
+and brought your uncle and aunt with you."
+
+"We're here for good and all, this time, Billina," cried Dorothy,
+joyfully. "Uncle Henry and Aunt Em belong in Oz now as much as I do!"
+
+"Then they are very lucky people," declared Billina; "for there couldn't
+be a nicer place to live. But come, my dear; I must show you all my
+Dorothys. Nine are living and have grown up to be very respectable hens;
+but one took cold at Ozma's birthday party and died of the pip, and the
+other two turned out to be horrid roosters, so I had to change their
+names from Dorothy to Daniel. They all had the letter 'D' engraved upon
+their gold lockets, you remember, with your picture inside, and 'D'
+stands for Daniel as well as for Dorothy."
+
+"Did you call both the roosters Daniel?" asked Uncle Henry.
+
+"Yes, indeed. I've nine Dorothys and two Daniels; and the nine
+Dorothys have eighty-six sons and daughters and over three hundred
+grandchildren," said Billina, proudly.
+
+"What names do you give 'em all, dear?" inquired the little girl.
+
+"Oh, they are all Dorothys and Daniels, some being Juniors and some
+Double-Juniors. Dorothy and Daniel are two good names, and I see no
+object in hunting for others," declared the Yellow Hen. "But just think,
+Dorothy, what a big chicken family we've grown to be, and our numbers
+increase nearly every day! Ozma doesn't know what to do with all the
+eggs we lay, and we are never eaten or harmed in any way, as chickens
+are in your country. They give us everything to make us contented and
+happy, and I, my dear, am the acknowledged Queen and Governor of every
+chicken in Oz, because I'm the eldest and started the whole colony."
+
+"You ought to be very proud, ma'am," said Uncle Henry, who was
+astonished to hear a hen talk so sensibly.
+
+"Oh, I am," she replied. "I've the loveliest pearl necklace you ever
+saw. Come in the house and I'll show it to you. And I've nine leg
+bracelets and a diamond pin for each wing. But I only wear them on state
+occasions."
+
+They followed the Yellow Hen into the house, which Aunt Em declared was
+neat as a pin. They could not sit down, because all Billina's chairs
+were roosting-poles made of silver; so they had to stand while the hen
+fussily showed them her treasures.
+
+Then they had to go into the back rooms occupied by Billina's nine
+Dorothys and two Daniels, who were all plump yellow chickens and greeted
+the visitors very politely. It was easy to see that they were well bred
+and that Billina had looked after their education.
+
+In the yards were all the children and grandchildren of these eleven
+elders and they were of all sizes, from well-grown hens to tiny chickens
+just out of the shell. About fifty fluffy yellow youngsters were at
+school, being taught good manners and good grammar by a young hen who
+wore spectacles. They sang in chorus a patriotic song of the Land of Oz,
+in honor of their visitors, and Aunt Em was much impressed by these
+talking chickens.
+
+Dorothy wanted to stay and play with the young chickens for awhile, but
+Uncle Henry and Aunt Em had not seen the palace grounds and gardens yet
+and were eager to get better acquainted with the marvelous and
+delightful land in which they were to live.
+
+"I'll stay here, and you can go for a walk," said Dorothy. "You'll be
+perfec'ly safe anywhere, and may do whatever you want to. When you get
+tired, go back to the palace and find your rooms, and I'll come to you
+before luncheon is ready."
+
+So Uncle Henry and Aunt Em started out alone to explore the grounds, and
+Dorothy knew that they couldn't get lost, because all the palace grounds
+were enclosed by a high wall of green marble set with emeralds.
+
+It was a rare treat to these simple folk, who had lived in the country
+all their lives and known little enjoyment of any sort, to wear
+beautiful clothes and live in a palace and be treated with respect and
+consideration by all around them. They were very happy indeed as they
+strolled up the shady walks and looked upon the gorgeous flowers and
+shrubs, feeling that their new home was more beautiful than any tongue
+could describe.
+
+Suddenly, as they turned a corner and walked through a gap in a high
+hedge, they came face to face with an enormous Lion, which crouched upon
+the green lawn and seemed surprised by their appearance.
+
+They stopped short, Uncle Henry trembling with horror and Aunt Em too
+terrified to scream. Next moment the poor woman clasped her husband
+around the neck and cried:
+
+"Save me, Henry, save me!"
+
+"Can't even save myself, Em," he returned, in a husky voice, "for the
+animile looks as if it could eat both of us, an' lick its chops for
+more! If I only had a gun--"
+
+"Haven't you, Henry? Haven't you?" she asked anxiously.
+
+"Nary gun, Em. So let's die as brave an' graceful as we can. I knew our
+luck couldn't last!"
+
+"I won't die. I won't be eaten by a lion!" wailed Aunt Em, glaring upon
+the huge beast. Then a thought struck her, and she whispered: "Henry,
+I've heard as savage beastses can be conquered by the human eye. I'll
+eye that lion out o' countenance an' save our lives."
+
+"Try it, Em," he returned, also in a whisper. "Look at him as you do at
+me when I'm late to dinner."
+
+Aunt Em turned upon the Lion a determined countenance and a wild
+dilated eye. She glared at the immense beast steadily, and the Lion, who
+had been quietly blinking at them, began to appear uneasy and disturbed.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Is anything the matter, ma'am?" he asked, in a mild voice.
+
+At this speech from the terrible beast Aunt Em and Uncle Henry both were
+startled, and then Uncle Henry remembered that this must be the Lion
+they had seen in Ozma's Throne Room.
+
+"Hold on, Em!" he exclaimed. "Quit the eagle eye conquest an' take
+courage. I guess this is the same Cowardly Lion Dorothy has told us
+about."
+
+"Oh, is it?" she asked, much relieved.
+
+"When he spoke, I got the idea; and when he looked so 'shamed like, I
+was sure of it," Uncle Henry continued.
+
+Aunt Em regarded the animal with new interest.
+
+"Are you the Cowardly Lion?" she inquired. "Are you Dorothy's friend?"
+
+"Yes'm," answered the Lion, meekly. "Dorothy and I are old chums and are
+very fond of each other. I'm the King of Beasts, you know, and the
+Hungry Tiger and I serve Princess Ozma as her body guards."
+
+"To be sure," said Aunt Em, nodding. "But the King of Beasts shouldn't
+be cowardly."
+
+"I've heard that said before," remarked the Lion, yawning till he
+showed his two great rows of sharp white teeth; "but that does not keep
+me from being frightened whenever I go into battle."
+
+"What do you do, run?" asked Uncle Henry.
+
+"No; that would be foolish, for the enemy would run after me," declared
+the Lion. "So I tremble with fear and pitch in as hard as I can; and so
+far I have always won my fight."
+
+"Ah, I begin to understand," said Uncle Henry.
+
+"Were you scared when I looked at you just now?" inquired Aunt Em.
+
+"Terribly scared, madam," answered the Lion, "for at first I thought you
+were going to have a fit. Then I noticed you were trying to overcome me
+by the power of your eye, and your glance was so fierce and penetrating
+that I shook with fear."
+
+This greatly pleased the lady, and she said quite cheerfully:
+
+"Well, I won't hurt you, so don't be scared any more. I just wanted to
+see what the human eye was good for."
+
+"The human eye is a fearful weapon," remarked the Lion, scratching his
+nose softly with his paw to hide a smile. "Had I not known you were
+Dorothy's friends I might have torn you both into shreds in order to
+escape your terrible gaze."
+
+Aunt Em shuddered at hearing this, and Uncle Henry said hastily:
+
+"I'm glad you knew us. Good morning, Mr. Lion; we'll hope to see you
+again--by and by--some time in the future."
+
+"Good morning," replied the Lion, squatting down upon the lawn again.
+"You are likely to see a good deal of me, if you live in the Land of
+Oz."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+_How_ THE GRAND GALLIPOOT JOINED THE NOMES
+
+CHAPTER EIGHT
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+After leaving the Whimsies, Guph continued on his journey and penetrated
+far into the Northwest. He wanted to get to the Country of the
+Growleywogs, and in order to do that he must cross the Ripple Land,
+which was a hard thing to do. For the Ripple Land was a succession of
+hills and valleys, all very steep and rocky, and they changed places
+constantly by rippling. While Guph was climbing a hill it sank down
+under him and became a valley, and while he was descending into a valley
+it rose up and carried him to the top of a hill. This was very
+perplexing to the traveler, and a stranger might have thought he could
+never cross the Ripple Land at all. But Guph knew that if he kept
+steadily on he would get to the end at last; so he paid no attention to
+the changing hills and valleys and plodded along as calmly as if walking
+upon the level ground.
+
+The result of this wise persistence was that the General finally reached
+firmer soil and, after penetrating a dense forest, came to the Dominion
+of the Growleywogs.
+
+No sooner had he crossed the border of this domain when two guards
+seized him and carried him before the Grand Gallipoot of the
+Growleywogs, who scowled upon him ferociously and asked him why he dared
+intrude upon his territory.
+
+"I'm the Lord High General of the Invincible Army of the Nomes, and my
+name is Guph," was the reply. "All the world trembles when that name is
+mentioned."
+
+The Growleywogs gave a shout of jeering laughter at this, and one of
+them caught the Nome in his strong arms and tossed him high into the
+air. Guph was considerably shaken when he fell upon the hard ground, but
+he appeared to take no notice of the impertinence and composed himself
+to speak again to the Grand Gallipoot.
+
+"My master, King Roquat the Red, has sent me here to confer with you. He
+wishes your assistance to conquer the Land of Oz."
+
+Here the General paused, and the Grand Gallipoot scowled upon him more
+terribly than ever and said:
+
+"Go on!"
+
+The voice of the Grand Gallipoot was partly a roar and partly a growl.
+He mumbled his words badly and Guph had to listen carefully in order to
+understand him.
+
+These Growleywogs were certainly remarkable creatures. They were of
+gigantic size, yet were all bone and skin and muscle, there being no
+meat or fat upon their bodies at all. Their powerful muscles lay just
+underneath their skins, like bunches of tough rope, and the weakest
+Growleywog was so strong that he could pick up an elephant and toss it
+seven miles away.
+
+It seems unfortunate that strong people are usually so disagreeable and
+overbearing that no one cares for them. In fact, to be different from
+your fellow creatures is always a misfortune. The Growleywogs knew
+that they were disliked and avoided by every one, so they had become
+surly and unsociable even among themselves. Guph knew that they hated
+all people, including the Nomes; but he hoped to win them over,
+nevertheless, and knew that if he succeeded they would afford him very
+powerful assistance.
+
+"The Land of Oz is ruled by a namby-pamby girl who is disgustingly kind
+and good," he continued. "Her people are all happy and contented and
+have no care or worries whatever."
+
+"Go on!" growled the Grand Gallipoot.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Once the Nome King enslaved the Royal Family of Ev--another goody-goody
+lot that we detest," said the General. "But Ozma interfered, although it
+was none of her business, and marched her army against us. With her was
+a Kansas girl named Dorothy, and a Yellow Hen, and they marched
+directly into the Nome King's cavern. There they liberated our slaves
+from Ev and stole King Roquat's Magic Belt, which they carried away with
+them. So now our King is making a tunnel under the deadly desert, so we
+can march through it to the Emerald City. When we get there we mean to
+conquer and destroy all the land and recapture the Magic Belt."
+
+Again he paused, and again the Grand Gallipoot growled:
+
+"Go on!"
+
+Guph tried to think what to say next, and a happy thought soon occurred
+to him.
+
+"We want you to help us in this conquest," he announced, "for we need
+the mighty aid of the Growleywogs in order to make sure that we shall
+not be defeated. You are the strongest people in all the world, and you
+hate good and happy creatures as much as we Nomes do. I am sure it will
+be a real pleasure to you to tear down the beautiful Emerald City, and
+in return for your valuable assistance we will allow you to bring back
+to your country ten thousand people of Oz, to be your slaves."
+
+"Twenty thousand!" growled the Grand Gallipoot.
+
+"All right, we promise you twenty thousand," agreed the General.
+
+The Gallipoot made a signal and at once his attendants picked up General
+Guph and carried him away to a prison, where the jailor amused himself
+by sticking pins in the round fat body of the old Nome, to see him jump
+and hear him yell.
+
+But while this was going on the Grand Gallipoot was talking with his
+counselors, who were the most important officials of the Growleywogs.
+When he had stated to them the proposition of the Nome King he said:
+
+"My advice is to offer to help them. Then, when we have conquered the
+Land of Oz, we will take not only our twenty thousand prisoners but all
+the gold and jewels we want."
+
+"Let us take the Magic Belt, too," suggested one counselor.
+
+"And rob the Nome King and make him our slave," said another.
+
+"That is a good idea," declared the Grand Gallipoot. "I'd like King
+Roquat for my own slave. He could black my boots and bring me my
+porridge every morning while I am in bed."
+
+"There is a famous Scarecrow in Oz. I'll take him for my slave," said a
+counselor.
+
+"I'll take Tiktok, the machine man," said another.
+
+"Give me the Tin Woodman," said a third.
+
+They went on for some time, dividing up the people and the treasure of
+Oz in advance of the conquest. For they had no doubt at all that they
+would be able to destroy Ozma's domain. Were they not the strongest
+people in all the world?
+
+"The deadly desert has kept us out of Oz before," remarked the Grand
+Gallipoot, "but now that the Nome King is building a tunnel we shall get
+into the Emerald City very easily. So let us send the little fat General
+back to his King with our promise to assist him. We will not say that we
+intend to conquer the Nomes after we have conquered Oz, but we will do
+so, just the same."
+
+This plan being agreed upon, they all went home to dinner, leaving
+General Guph still in prison. The Nome had no idea that he had succeeded
+in his mission, for finding himself in prison he feared the Growleywogs
+intended to put him to death.
+
+By this time the jailor had tired of sticking pins in the General, and
+was amusing himself by carefully pulling the Nome's whiskers out by the
+roots, one at a time. This enjoyment was interrupted by the Grand
+Gallipoot sending for the prisoner.
+
+"Wait a few hours," begged the jailor. "I haven't pulled out a quarter
+of his whiskers yet."
+
+"If you keep the Grand Gallipoot waiting he'll break your back,"
+declared the messenger.
+
+"Perhaps you're right," sighed the jailor. "Take the prisoner away, if
+you will, but I advise you to kick him at every step he takes. It will
+be good fun, for he is as soft as a ripe peach."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+So Guph was led away to the royal castle, where the Grand Gallipoot told
+him that the Growleywogs had decided to assist the Nomes in conquering
+the Land of Oz.
+
+"Whenever you are ready," he added, "send me word and I will march with
+eighteen thousand of my most powerful warriors to your aid."
+
+Guph was so delighted that he forgot all the smarting caused by the pins
+and the pulling of whiskers. He did not even complain of the treatment
+he had received, but thanked the Grand Gallipoot and hurried away upon
+his journey.
+
+He had now secured the assistance of the Whimsies and the Growleywogs;
+but his success made him long for still more allies. His own life
+depended upon his conquering Oz, and he said to himself:
+
+"I'll take no chances. I'll be certain of success. Then, when Oz is
+destroyed, perhaps I shall be a greater man than old Roquat, and I can
+throw him away and be King of the Nomes myself. Why not? The Whimsies
+are stronger than the Nomes, and they are my friends. The Growleywogs
+are stronger than the Whimsies, and they also are my friends. There are
+some people still stronger than the Growleywogs, and if I can but induce
+them to aid me I shall have nothing more to fear."
+
+
+
+
+_How_ THE WOGGLEBUG TAUGHT ATHLETICS
+
+CHAPTER NINE
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+It did not take Dorothy long to establish herself in her new home, for
+she knew the people and the manners and customs of the Emerald City just
+as well as she knew the old Kansas farm.
+
+But Uncle Henry and Aunt Em had some trouble in getting used to the
+finery and pomp and ceremony of Ozma's palace, and felt uneasy because
+they were obliged to be "dressed up" all the time. Yet every one was
+very courteous and kind to them and endeavored to make them happy. Ozma,
+especially, made much of Dorothy's relatives, for her little friend's
+sake, and she well knew that the awkwardness and strangeness of their
+new mode of life would all wear off in time.
+
+The old people were chiefly troubled by the fact that there was no work
+for them to do.
+
+"Ev'ry day is like Sunday, now," declared Aunt Em, solemnly, "and I
+can't say I like it. If they'd only let me do up the dishes after meals,
+or even sweep an' dust my own rooms, I'd be a deal happier. Henry don't
+know what to do with himself either, and once when he stole out an' fed
+the chickens Billina scolded him for letting 'em eat between meals. I
+never knew before what a hardship it is to be rich and have everything
+you want."
+
+These complaints began to worry Dorothy; so she had a long talk with
+Ozma upon the subject.
+
+"I see I must find them something to do," said the girlish Ruler of Oz,
+seriously. "I have been watching your uncle and aunt, and I believe they
+will be more contented if occupied with some light tasks. While I am
+considering this matter, Dorothy, you might make a trip with them
+through the Land of Oz, visiting some of the odd corners and introducing
+your relatives to some of our curious people."
+
+"Oh, that would be fine!" exclaimed Dorothy, eagerly.
+
+"I will give you an escort befitting your rank as a Princess," continued
+Ozma; "and you may go to some of the places you have not yet visited
+yourself, as well as some others that you know. I will mark out a plan
+of the trip for you and have everything in readiness for you to start
+to-morrow morning. Take your time, dear, and be gone as long as you
+wish. By the time you return I shall have found some occupation for
+Uncle Henry and Aunt Em that will keep them from being restless and
+dissatisfied."
+
+Dorothy thanked her good friend and kissed the lovely Ruler gratefully.
+Then she ran to tell the joyful news to her uncle and aunt.
+
+Next morning, after breakfast, everything was found ready for their
+departure.
+
+The escort included Omby Amby, the Captain General of Ozma's army, which
+consisted merely of twenty-seven officers besides the Captain General.
+Once Omby Amby had been a private soldier--the only private in the
+army--but as there was never any fighting to do Ozma saw no need of a
+private, so she made Omby Amby the highest officer of them all. He was
+very tall and slim and wore a gay uniform and a fierce mustache. Yet the
+mustache was the only fierce thing about Omby Amby, whose nature was as
+gentle as that of a child.
+
+The wonderful Wizard had asked to join the party, and with him came his
+friend the Shaggy Man, who was shaggy but not ragged, being dressed in
+fine silks with satin shags and bobtails. The Shaggy Man had shaggy
+whiskers and hair, but a sweet disposition and a soft, pleasant voice.
+
+There was an open wagon, with three seats for the passengers, and the
+wagon was drawn by the famous wooden Sawhorse which had once been
+brought to life by Ozma by means of a magic powder. The Sawhorse wore
+golden shoes to keep his wooden legs from wearing away, and he was
+strong and swift. As this curious creature was Ozma's own favorite
+steed, and very popular with all the people of the Emerald City, Dorothy
+knew that she had been highly favored by being permitted to use the
+Sawhorse on her journey.
+
+In the front seat of the wagon sat Dorothy and the Wizard. Uncle Henry
+and Aunt Em sat in the next seat and the Shaggy Man and Omby Amby in the
+third seat. Of course Toto was with the party, curled up at Dorothy's
+feet, and just as they were about to start Billina came fluttering along
+the path and begged to be taken with them. Dorothy readily agreed, so
+the Yellow Hen flew up and perched herself upon the dashboard. She wore
+her pearl necklace and three bracelets upon each leg, in honor of the
+occasion.
+
+Dorothy kissed Ozma good-bye, and all the people standing around waved
+their handkerchiefs, and the band in an upper balcony struck up a
+military march. Then the Wizard clucked to the Sawhorse and said:
+"Gid-dap!" and the wooden animal pranced away and drew behind him the
+big red wagon and all the passengers, without any effort at all. A
+servant threw open a gate of the palace enclosure, that they might pass
+out; and so, with music and shouts following them, the journey was
+begun.
+
+"It's almost like a circus," said Aunt Em, proudly. "I can't help
+feelin' high an' mighty in this kind of a turn-out."
+
+Indeed, as they passed down the street, all the people cheered them
+lustily, and the Shaggy Man and the Wizard and the Captain General all
+took off their hats and bowed politely in acknowledgment.
+
+When they came to the great wall of the Emerald City the gates were
+opened by the Guardian who always tended them. Over the gateway hung a
+dull-colored metal magnet shaped like a horse-shoe, placed against a
+shield of polished gold.
+
+"That," said the Shaggy Man, impressively, "is the wonderful Love
+Magnet. I brought it to the Emerald City myself, and all who pass
+beneath this gateway are both loving and beloved."
+
+"It's a fine thing," declared Aunt Em, admiringly. "If we'd had it in
+Kansas I guess the man who held a mortgage on the farm wouldn't have
+turned us out."
+
+"Then I'm glad we didn't have it," returned Uncle Henry. "I like Oz
+better than Kansas, even; an' this little wood Sawhorse beats all the
+critters I ever saw. He don't have to be curried, or fed, or watered,
+an' he's strong as an ox. Can he talk, Dorothy?"
+
+"Yes, Uncle," replied the child. "But the Sawhorse never says much. He
+told me once that he can't talk and think at the same time, so he
+prefers to think."
+
+"Which is very sensible," declared the Wizard, nodding approvingly.
+"Which way do we go, Dorothy?"
+
+"Straight ahead into the Quadling Country," she answered. "I've got a
+letter of interduction to Miss Cuttenclip."
+
+"Oh!" exclaimed the Wizard, much interested. "Are we going there? Then
+I'm glad I came, for I've always wanted to meet the Cuttenclips."
+
+"Who are they?" inquired Aunt Em.
+
+"Wait till we get there," replied Dorothy, with a laugh; "then you'll
+see for yourself. I've never seen the Cuttenclips, you know, so I can't
+'zactly 'splain 'em to you."
+
+Once free of the Emerald City the Sawhorse dashed away at tremendous
+speed. Indeed, he went so fast that Aunt Em had hard work to catch her
+breath, and Uncle Henry held fast to the seat of the red wagon.
+
+"Gently--gently, my boy!" called the Wizard, and at this the Sawhorse
+slackened his speed.
+
+"What's wrong?" asked the animal, slightly turning his wooden head to
+look at the party with one eye, which was a knot of wood.
+
+"Why, we wish to admire the scenery, that's all," answered the Wizard.
+
+"Some of your passengers," added the Shaggy Man, "have never been out
+of the Emerald City before, and the country is all new to them."
+
+"If you go too fast you'll spoil all the fun," said Dorothy. "There's no
+hurry."
+
+"Very well; it is all the same to me," observed the Sawhorse; and after
+that he went at a more moderate pace.
+
+Uncle Henry was astonished.
+
+"How can a wooden thing be so intelligent?" he asked.
+
+"Why, I gave him some sawdust brains the last time I fitted his head
+with new ears," explained the Wizard. "The sawdust was made from hard
+knots, and now the Sawhorse is able to think out any knotty problem he
+meets with."
+
+"I see," said Uncle Henry.
+
+"I don't," remarked Aunt Em; but no one paid any attention to this
+statement.
+
+Before long they came to a stately building that stood upon a green
+plain with handsome shade trees grouped here and there.
+
+"What is that?" asked Uncle Henry.
+
+"That," replied the Wizard, "is the Royal Athletic College of Oz, which
+is directed by Professor H. M. Wogglebug, T. E.
+
+"Let's stop and make a call," suggested Dorothy.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+So the Sawhorse drew up in front of the great building and they were met
+at the door by the learned Wogglebug himself. He seemed fully as tall
+as the Wizard, and was dressed in a red and white checked vest and a
+blue swallow-tailed coat, and had yellow knee breeches and purple silk
+stockings upon his slender legs. A tall hat was jauntily set upon his
+head and he wore spectacles over his big bright eyes.
+
+"Welcome, Dorothy," said the Wogglebug; "and welcome to all your
+friends. We are indeed pleased to receive you at this great Temple of
+Learning."
+
+"I thought it was an Athletic College," said the Shaggy Man.
+
+"It is, my dear sir," answered the Wogglebug, proudly. "Here it is that
+we teach the youth of our great land scientific College Athletics--in
+all their purity."
+
+"Don't you teach them anything else?" asked Dorothy. "Don't they get any
+reading, writing and 'rithmetic?"
+
+"Oh, yes; of course. They get all those, and more," returned the
+Professor. "But such things occupy little of their time. Please follow
+me and I will show you how my scholars are usually occupied. This is a
+class hour and they are all busy."
+
+They followed him to a big field back of the college building, where
+several hundred young Ozites were at their classes. In one place they
+played football, in another baseball. Some played tennis, some golf;
+some were swimming in a big pool. Upon a river which wound through the
+grounds several crews in racing boats were rowing with great enthusiasm.
+Other groups of students played basketball and cricket, while in one
+place a ring was roped in to permit boxing and wrestling by the
+energetic youths. All the collegians seemed busy and there was much
+laughter and shouting.
+
+"This college," said Professor Wogglebug, complacently, "is a great
+success. It's educational value is undisputed, and we are turning out
+many great and valuable citizens every year."
+
+"But when do they study?" asked Dorothy.
+
+"Study?" said the Wogglebug, looking perplexed at the question.
+
+"Yes; when do they get their 'rithmetic, and jogerfy, and such things?"
+
+"Oh, they take doses of those every night and morning," was the reply.
+
+"What do you mean by doses?" Dorothy inquired, wonderingly.
+
+"Why, we use the newly invented School Pills, made by your friend the
+Wizard. These pills we have found to be very effective, and they save a
+lot of time. Please step this way and I will show you our Laboratory of
+Learning."
+
+He led them to a room in the building where many large bottles were
+standing in rows upon shelves.
+
+"These are the Algebra Pills," said the Professor, taking down one of
+the bottles. "One at night, on retiring, is equal to four hours of
+study. Here are the Geography Pills--one at night and one in the
+morning. In this next bottle are the Latin Pills--one three times a day.
+Then we have the Grammar Pills--one before each meal--and the Spelling
+Pills, which are taken whenever needed."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Your scholars must have to take a lot of pills," remarked Dorothy,
+thoughtfully. "How do they take 'em, in applesauce?"
+
+"No, my dear. They are sugar-coated and are quickly and easily
+swallowed. I believe the students would rather take the pills than
+study, and certainly the pills are a more effective method. You see,
+until these School Pills were invented we wasted a lot of time in study
+that may now be better employed in practising athletics."
+
+"Seems to me the pills are a good thing," said Omby Amby, who remembered
+how it used to make his head ache as a boy to study arithmetic.
+
+"They are, sir," declared the Wogglebug, earnestly. "They give us an
+advantage over all other colleges, because at no loss of time our boys
+become thoroughly conversant with Greek and Latin, Mathematics and
+Geography, Grammar and Literature. You see they are never obliged to
+interrupt their games to acquire the lesser branches of learning."
+
+"It's a great invention, I'm sure," said Dorothy, looking admiringly at
+the Wizard, who blushed modestly at this praise.
+
+"We live in an age of progress," announced Professor Wogglebug,
+pompously. "It is easier to swallow knowledge than to acquire it
+laboriously from books. Is it not so, my friends?"
+
+"Some folks can swallow anything," said Aunt Em, "but to me this seems
+too much like taking medicine."
+
+"Young men in college always have to take their medicine, one way or
+another," observed the Wizard, with a smile; "and, as our Professor
+says, these School Pills have proved to be a great success. One day
+while I was making them I happened to drop one of them, and one of
+Billina's chickens gobbled it up. A few minutes afterward this chick got
+upon a roost and recited 'The Boy Stood on the Burning Deck' without
+making a single mistake. Then it recited 'The Charge of the Light
+Brigade' and afterwards 'Excelsior.' You see, the chicken had eaten an
+Elocution Pill."
+
+They now bade good bye to the Professor, and thanking him for his kind
+reception mounted again into the red wagon and continued their journey.
+
+
+
+
+_How_ THE CUTTENCLIPS LIVED
+
+CHAPTER TEN
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+The travelers had taken no provisions with them because they knew that
+they would be welcomed wherever they might go in the Land of Oz, and
+that the people would feed and lodge them with genuine hospitality. So
+about noon they stopped at a farm-house and were given a delicious
+luncheon of bread and milk, fruits and wheat cakes with maple syrup.
+After resting a while and strolling through the orchards with their
+host--a round, jolly farmer--they got into the wagon and again started
+the Sawhorse along the pretty, winding road.
+
+There were sign-posts at all the corners, and finally they came to one
+which read:
+
+[Illustration: (hand pointing right)] TAKE THIS ROAD TO THE CUTTENCLIPS
+
+There was also a hand pointing in the right direction, so they turned
+the Sawhorse that way and found it a very good road, but seemingly
+little traveled.
+
+"I've never been to see the Cuttenclips before," remarked Dorothy.
+
+"Nor I," said the Captain General.
+
+"Nor I," said the Wizard.
+
+"Nor I," said Billina.
+
+"I've hardly been out of the Emerald City since I arrived in this
+country," added the Shaggy Man.
+
+"Why, none of us has been there, then," exclaimed the little girl. "I
+wonder what the Cuttenclips are like."
+
+"We shall soon find out," said the Wizard, with a sly laugh. "I've heard
+they are rather flimsy things."
+
+The farm-houses became fewer as they proceeded, and the path was at
+times so faint that the Sawhorse had hard work to keep in the road. The
+wagon began to jounce, too; so they were obliged to go slowly.
+
+After a somewhat wearisome journey they came in sight of a high wall,
+painted blue with pink ornaments. This wall was circular, and seemed to
+enclose a large space. It was so high that only the tops of the trees
+could be seen above it.
+
+The path led up to a small door in the wall, which was closed and
+latched. Upon the door was a sign in gold letters reading as follows:
+
+_VISITORS are requested to MOVE SLOWLY and CAREFULLY, and to avoid
+COUGHING or making any BREEZE or DRAUGHT_
+
+"That's strange," said the Shaggy Man, reading the sign aloud. "Who
+_are_ the Cuttenclips, anyhow?"
+
+"Why, they're paper dolls," answered Dorothy. "Didn't you know that?"
+
+"Paper dolls! Then let's go somewhere else," said Uncle Henry. "We're
+all too old to play with dolls, Dorothy."
+
+"But these are different," declared the girl. "They're alive."
+
+"Alive!" gasped Aunt Em, in amazement.
+
+"Yes. Let's go in," said Dorothy.
+
+So they all got out of the wagon, since the door in the wall was not big
+enough for them to drive the Sawhorse and wagon through it.
+
+"You stay here, Toto!" commanded Dorothy, shaking her finger at the
+little dog. "You 're so careless that you might make a breeze if I let
+you inside."
+
+Toto wagged his tail as if disappointed at being left behind; but he
+made no effort to follow them. The Wizard unlatched the door, which
+opened outward, and they all looked eagerly inside.
+
+Just before the entrance was drawn up a line of tiny soldiers, with
+uniforms brightly painted and paper guns upon their shoulders. They were
+exactly alike, from one end of the line to the other, and all were cut
+out of paper and joined together in the centers of their bodies.
+
+As the visitors entered the enclosure the Wizard let the door swing back
+into place, and at once the line of soldiers tumbled over, fell flat
+upon their backs, and lay fluttering upon the ground.
+
+"Hi, there!" called one of them; "what do you mean by slamming the door
+and blowing us over?"
+
+"I beg your pardon, I'm sure," said the Wizard, regretfully. "I didn't
+know you were so delicate."
+
+"We're not delicate!" retorted another soldier, raising his head from
+the ground. "We are strong and healthy; but we can't stand draughts."
+
+"May I help you up?" asked Dorothy.
+
+"If you please," replied the end soldier. "But do it gently, little
+girl."
+
+Dorothy carefully stood up the line of soldiers, who first dusted their
+painted clothes and then saluted the visitors with their paper muskets.
+From the end it was easy to see that the entire line had been cut out of
+paper, although from the front the soldiers looked rather solid and
+imposing.
+
+"I've a letter of introduction from Princess Ozma to Miss Cuttenclip,"
+announced Dorothy.
+
+"Very well," said the end soldier, and blew upon a paper whistle that
+hung around his neck. At once a paper soldier in a Captain's uniform
+came out of a paper house near by and approached the group at the
+entrance. He was not very big, and he walked rather stiffly and
+uncertainly on his paper legs; but he had a pleasant face, with very red
+cheeks and very blue eyes, and he bowed so low to the strangers that
+Dorothy laughed, and the breeze from her mouth nearly blew the Captain
+over. He wavered and struggled and finally managed to remain upon his
+feet.
+
+"Take care, Miss!" he said, warningly. "You're breaking the rules, you
+know, by laughing."
+
+"Oh, I didn't know that," she replied.
+
+"To laugh in this place is nearly as dangerous as to cough," said the
+Captain. "You'll have to breathe very quietly, I assure you."
+
+"We'll try to," promised the girl. "May we see Miss Cuttenclip, please?"
+
+"You may," promptly returned the Captain. "This is one of her reception
+days. Be good enough to follow me."
+
+He turned and led the way up a path, and as they followed slowly,
+because the paper Captain did not move very swiftly, they took the
+opportunity to gaze around them at this strange paper country.
+
+Beside the path were paper trees, all cut out very neatly and painted a
+brilliant green color. And back of the trees were rows of cardboard
+houses, painted in various colors but most of them having green blinds.
+Some were large and some small, and in the front yards were beds of
+paper flowers quite natural in appearance. Over some of the porches
+paper vines were twined, giving them a cosy and shady look.
+
+As the visitors passed along the street a good many paper dolls came to
+the doors and windows of their houses to look at them curiously. These
+dolls were nearly all the same height, but were cut into various shapes,
+some being fat and some lean. The girl dolls wore many beautiful
+costumes of tissue paper, making them quite fluffy; but their heads and
+hands were no thicker than the paper of which they were made.
+
+Some of the paper people were on the street, walking along or
+congregated in groups and talking together; but as soon as they saw the
+strangers they all fluttered into the houses as fast as they could go,
+so as to be out of danger.
+
+"Excuse me if I go edgewise," remarked the Captain, as they came to a
+slight hill. "I can get along faster that way and not flutter so much."
+
+"That's all right," said Dorothy. "We don't mind how you go, I'm sure."
+
+At one side of the street was a paper pump, and a paper boy was pumping
+paper water into a paper pail. The Yellow Hen happened to brush against
+this boy with her wing, and he flew into the air and fell into a paper
+tree, where he stuck until the Wizard gently pulled him out. At the same
+time the pail went soaring into the air, spilling the paper water, while
+the paper pump bent nearly double.
+
+"Goodness me!" said the Hen. "If I should flop my wings I believe I'd
+knock over the whole village!"
+
+"Then don't flop them--please don't!" entreated the Captain. "Miss
+Cuttenclip would be very much distressed if her village was spoiled."
+
+"Oh, I'll be careful," promised Billina.
+
+"Are not all these paper girls and women named Miss Cuttenclips?"
+inquired Omby Amby.
+
+"No, indeed," answered the Captain, who was walking better since he
+began to move edgewise. "There is but one Miss Cuttenclip, who is our
+Queen, because she made us all. These girls are Cuttenclips, to be sure,
+but their names are Emily and Polly and Sue and Betty and such things.
+Only the Queen is called Miss Cuttenclip."
+
+"I must say that this place beats anything I ever heard of," observed
+Aunt Em. "I used to play with paper dolls myself, an' cut 'em out; but
+I never thought I'd ever see such things alive."
+
+"I don't see as it's any more curious than hearing hens talk," returned
+Uncle Henry.
+
+"You're likely to see many queer things in the Land of Oz, sir," said
+the Wizard. "But a fairy country is extremely interesting when you get
+used to being surprised."
+
+"Here we are!" called the Captain, stopping before a cottage.
+
+This house was made of wood, and was remarkably pretty in design. In the
+Emerald City it would have been considered a tiny dwelling, indeed; but
+in the midst of this paper village it seemed immense. Real flowers were
+in the garden and real trees grew beside it. Upon the front door was a
+sign reading:
+
+MISS CUTTENCLIP.
+
+Just as they reached the porch the front door opened and a little girl
+stood before them. She appeared to be about the same age as Dorothy, and
+smiling upon her visitors she said, sweetly:
+
+"You are welcome."
+
+All the party seemed relieved to find that here was a real girl, of
+flesh and blood. She was very dainty and pretty as she stood there
+welcoming them. Her hair was a golden blonde and her eyes turquoise
+blue. She had rosy cheeks and lovely white teeth. Over her simple white
+lawn dress she wore an apron with pink and white checks, and in one hand
+she held a pair of scissors.
+
+"May we see Miss Cuttenclip, please?" asked Dorothy.
+
+"I am Miss Cuttenclip," was the reply. "Won't you come in?"
+
+She held the door open while they all entered a pretty sitting-room that
+was littered with all sorts of paper--some stiff, some thin, and some
+tissue. The sheets and scraps were of all colors. Upon a table were
+paints and brushes, while several pair of scissors, of different sizes,
+were lying about.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Sit down, please," said Miss Cuttenclip, clearing the paper scraps off
+some of the chairs. "It is so long since I have had any visitors that I
+am not properly prepared to receive them. But I'm sure you will pardon
+my untidy room, for this is my workshop."
+
+"Do you make all the paper dolls?" inquired Dorothy.
+
+"Yes; I cut them out with my scissors, and paint the faces and some of
+the costumes. It is very pleasant work, and I am happy making my paper
+village grow."
+
+"But how do the paper dolls happen to be alive?" asked Aunt Em.
+
+"The first dolls I made were not alive," said Miss Cuttenclip. "I used
+to live near the castle of a great Sorceress named Glinda the Good,
+and she saw my dolls and said they were very pretty. I told her I
+thought I would like them better if they were alive, and the next day
+the Sorceress brought me a lot of magic paper. 'This is live paper,' she
+said, 'and all the dolls you cut out of it will be alive, and able to
+think and to talk. When you have used it all up, come to me and I will
+give you more.'
+
+"Of course I was delighted with this present," continued Miss
+Cuttenclip, "and at once set to work and made several paper dolls,
+which, as soon as they were cut out, began to walk around and talk to
+me. But they were so thin that I found that any breeze would blow them
+over and scatter them dreadfully; so Glinda found this lonely place for
+me, where few people ever come. She built the wall to keep any wind from
+blowing away my people, and told me I could build a paper village here
+and be its Queen. That is why I came here and settled down to work and
+started the village you now see. It was many years ago that I built the
+first houses, and I've kept pretty busy and made my village grow finely;
+and I need not tell you that I am very happy in my work."
+
+"Many years ago!" exclaimed Aunt Em. "Why, how old are you, child?"
+
+"I never keep track of the years," said Miss Cuttenclip, laughing. "You
+see, I don't grow up at all, but stay just the same as I was when first
+I came here. Perhaps I'm older even than you are, madam; but I couldn't
+say for sure."
+
+They looked at the lovely little girl wonderingly, and the Wizard asked:
+
+"What happens to your paper village when it rains?"
+
+"It does not rain here," replied Miss Cuttenclip. "Glinda keeps all the
+rain storms away; so I never worry about my dolls getting wet. But now,
+if you will come with me, it will give me pleasure to show you over my
+paper kingdom. Of course you must go slowly and carefully, and avoid
+making any breeze."
+
+They left the cottage and followed their guide through the various
+streets of the village. It was indeed an amazing place, when one
+considered that it was all made with scissors, and the visitors were not
+only greatly interested but full of admiration for the skill of little
+Miss Cuttenclip.
+
+In one place a large group of especially nice paper dolls assembled to
+greet their Queen, whom it was easy to see they loved dearly. These
+dolls marched and danced before the visitors, and then they all waved
+their paper handkerchiefs and sang in a sweet chorus a song called "The
+Flag of Our Native Land."
+
+At the conclusion of the song they ran up a handsome paper flag on a
+tall flagpole, and all of the people of the village gathered around to
+cheer as loudly as they could--although, of course, their voices were
+not especially strong.
+
+Miss Cuttenclip was about to make her subjects a speech in reply to this
+patriotic song, when the Shaggy Man happened to sneeze.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+He was a very loud and powerful sneezer at any time, and he had tried so
+hard to hold in this sneeze that when it suddenly exploded the result
+was terrible.
+
+The paper dolls were mowed down by dozens, and flew and fluttered in
+wild confusion in every direction, tumbling this way and that and
+getting more or less wrinkled and bent.
+
+A wail of terror and grief came from the scattered throng, and Miss
+Cuttenclip exclaimed:
+
+"Dear me! dear me!" and hurried at once to the rescue of her overturned
+people.
+
+"Oh, Shaggy Man! How could you?" asked Dorothy, reproachfully.
+
+"I couldn't help it--really I couldn't," protested the Shaggy Man,
+looking quite ashamed. "And I had no idea it took so little to upset
+these paper dolls."
+
+"So little!" said Dorothy. "Why, it was 'most as bad as a Kansas
+cyclone." And then she helped Miss Cuttenclip rescue the paper folk and
+stand them on their feet again. Two of the cardboard houses had also
+tumbled over, and the little Queen said she would have to repair them
+and paste them together before they could be lived in again.
+
+And now, fearing they might do more damage to the flimsy paper people,
+they decided to go away. But first they thanked Miss Cuttenclip very
+warmly for her courtesy and kindness to them.
+
+"Any friend of Princess Ozma is always welcome here--unless he sneezes,"
+said the Queen, with a rather severe look at the Shaggy Man, who hung
+his head. "I like to have visitors admire my wonderful village, and I
+hope you will call again."
+
+Miss Cuttenclip herself led them to the door in the wall, and as they
+passed along the street the paper dolls peeped at them half fearfully
+from the doors and windows. Perhaps they will never forget the Shaggy
+Man's awful sneeze, and I am sure they were all glad to see the meat
+people go away.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+_How_ THE GENERAL MET THE FIRST AND FOREMOST
+
+CHAPTER ELEVEN
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+On leaving the Growleywogs General Guph had to recross the Ripple Lands,
+and he did not find it a pleasant thing to do. Perhaps having his
+whiskers pulled out one by one and being used as a pin-cushion for the
+innocent amusement of a good natured jailor had not improved the quality
+of Guph's temper, for the old Nome raved and raged at the recollection
+of the wrongs he had suffered, and vowed to take vengeance upon the
+Growleywogs after he had used them for his purposes and Oz had been
+conquered. He went on in this furious way until he was half across the
+Ripple Land. Then he became seasick, and the rest of the way this
+naughty Nome was almost as miserable as he deserved to be.
+
+But when he reached the plains again and the ground was firm under his
+feet he began to feel better, and instead of going back home he turned
+directly west. A squirrel, perched in a tree, saw him take this road
+and called to him warningly: "Look out!" But he paid no attention. An
+eagle paused in its flight through the air to look at him wonderingly
+and say: "Look out!" But on he went.
+
+No one can say that Guph was not brave, for he had determined to visit
+those dangerous creatures the Phanfasms, who resided upon the very top
+of the dread Mountain of Phantastico. The Phanfasms were Erbs, and so
+dreaded by mortals and immortals alike that no one had been near their
+mountain home for several thousand years. Yet General Guph hoped to
+induce them to join in his proposed warfare against the good and happy
+Oz people.
+
+Guph knew very well that the Phanfasms would be almost as dangerous to
+the Nomes as they would to the Ozites, but he thought himself so clever
+that he believed that he could manage these strange creatures and make
+them obey him. And there was no doubt at all that if he could enlist the
+services of the Phanfasms their tremendous power, united to the strength
+of the Growleywogs and the cunning of the Whimsies would doom the Land
+of Oz to absolute destruction.
+
+So the old Nome climbed the foothills and trudged along the wild
+mountain paths until he came to a big gully that encircled the Mountain
+of Phantastico and marked the boundary line of the dominion of the
+Phanfasms. This gully was about a third of the way up the mountain, and
+it was filled to the brim with red-hot molten lava, in which swam
+fire-serpents and poisonous salamanders. The heat from this mass and its
+poisonous smell were both so unbearable that even birds hesitated to fly
+over the gully, but circled around it. All living things kept away from
+the mountain.
+
+Now Guph had heard, during his long lifetime, many tales of these
+dreaded Phanfasms; so he had heard of this barrier of melted lava, and
+also he had been told that there was a narrow bridge that spanned it in
+one place. So he walked along the edge until he found the bridge. It was
+a single arch of gray stone, and lying flat upon this bridge was a
+scarlet alligator, seemingly fast asleep.
+
+When Guph stumbled over the rocks in approaching the bridge the creature
+opened its eyes, from which tiny flames shot in all directions, and
+after looking at the intruder very wickedly the scarlet alligator closed
+its eyelids again and lay still.
+
+Guph saw there was no room for him to pass the alligator on the narrow
+bridge, so he called out to it:
+
+"Good morning, friend. I don't wish to hurry you, but please tell me if
+you are coming down, or going up?"
+
+"Neither," snapped the alligator, clicking its cruel jaws together.
+
+The General hesitated.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Are you likely to stay there long?" he asked.
+
+"A few hundred years or so," said the alligator.
+
+Guph softly rubbed the end of his nose and tried to think what to do.
+
+"Do you know whether the First and Foremost Phanfasm of Phantastico is
+at home or not?" he presently inquired.
+
+"I expect he is, seeing he is always at home," replied the alligator.
+
+"Ah; who is that coming down the mountain?" asked the Nome, gazing
+upward.
+
+The alligator turned to look over its shoulder, and at once Guph ran to
+the bridge and leaped over the sentinel's back before it could turn back
+again. The scarlet monster made a snap at the Nome's left foot, but
+missed it by fully an inch.
+
+"Ah ha!" laughed the General, who was now on the mountain path. "I
+fooled you that time."
+
+"So you did; and perhaps you fooled yourself," retorted the alligator.
+"Go up the mountain, if you dare, and find out what the First and
+Foremost will do to you!"
+
+"I will," declared Guph, boldly; and on he went up the path.
+
+At first the scene was wild enough, but gradually it grew more and more
+awful in appearance. All the rocks had the shapes of frightful beings
+and even the tree trunks were gnarled and twisted like serpents.
+
+Suddenly there appeared before the Nome a man with the head of an owl.
+His body was hairy, like that of an ape, and his only clothing was a
+scarlet scarf twisted around his waist. He bore a huge club in his hand
+and his round owl eyes blinked fiercely upon the intruder.
+
+"What are you doing here?" he demanded, threatening Guph with his club.
+
+"I've come to see the First and Foremost Phanfasm of Phantastico,"
+replied the General, who did not like the way this creature looked at
+him, but still was not afraid.
+
+"Ah; you shall see him!" the man said, with a sneering laugh. "The First
+and Foremost shall decide upon the best way to punish you."
+
+"He will not punish me," returned Guph, calmly, "for I have come here to
+do him and his people a rare favor. Lead on, fellow, and take me
+directly to your master."
+
+The owl-man raised his club with a threatening gesture.
+
+"If you try to escape," he said, "beware--"
+
+But here the General interrupted him.
+
+"Spare your threats," said he, "and do not be impertinent, or I will
+have you severely punished. Lead on, and keep silent!"
+
+This Guph was really a clever rascal, and it seems a pity he was so bad,
+for in a good cause he might have accomplished much. He realized that he
+had put himself into a dangerous position by coming to this dreadful
+mountain, but he also knew that if he showed fear he was lost. So he
+adopted a bold manner as his best defense. The wisdom of this plan was
+soon evident, for the Phanfasm with the owl's head turned and led the
+way up the mountain.
+
+At the very top was a level plain, upon which were heaps of rock that at
+first glance seemed solid. But on looking closer Guph discovered that
+these rock heaps were dwellings, for each had an opening.
+
+Not a person was to be seen outside the rock huts. All was silent.
+
+The owl-man led the way among the groups of dwellings to one standing in
+the center. It seemed no better and no worse than any of the others.
+Outside the entrance to this rock heap the guide gave a low wail that
+sounded like "Lee-ow-ah!"
+
+Suddenly there bounded from the opening another hairy man. This one wore
+the head of a bear. In his hand he bore a brass hoop. He glared at the
+stranger in evident surprise.
+
+"Why have you captured this foolish wanderer and brought him here?" he
+demanded, addressing the owl-man.
+
+"I did not capture him," was the answer. "He passed the scarlet
+alligator and came here of his own free will and accord."
+
+The First and Foremost looked at the General.
+
+
+"Have you tired of life, then?" he asked.
+
+"No, indeed," answered Guph. "I am a Nome, and the Chief General of King
+Roquat the Red's great army of Nomes. I come of a long-lived race, and I
+may say that I expect to live a long time yet. Sit down, you
+Phanfasms--if you can find a seat in this wild haunt--and listen to what
+I have to say."
+
+With all his knowledge and bravery General Guph did not know that the
+steady glare from the bear eyes was reading his inmost thoughts as
+surely as if they had been put into words. He did not know that these
+despised rock heaps of the Phanfasms were merely deceptions to his own
+eyes, nor could he guess that he was standing in the midst of one of the
+most splendid and luxurious cities ever built by magic power. All that
+he saw was a barren waste of rock heaps, a hairy man with an owl's head
+and another with a bear's head. The sorcery of the Phanfasms permitted
+him to see no more.
+
+Suddenly the First and Foremost swung his brass hoop and caught Guph
+around the neck with it. The next instant, before the General could
+think what had happened to him, he was dragged inside the rock hut.
+Here, his eyes still blinded to realities, he perceived only a dim
+light, by which the hut seemed as rough and rude inside as it was
+outside. Yet he had a strange feeling that many bright eyes were
+fastened upon him and that he stood in a vast and extensive hall.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The First and Foremost now laughed grimly and released his prisoner.
+
+"If you have anything to say that is interesting," he remarked, "speak
+out, before I strangle you."
+
+So Guph spoke out. He tried not to pay any attention to a strange
+rustling sound that he heard, as of an unseen multitude drawing near to
+listen to his words. His eyes could see only the fierce bear-man, and to
+him he addressed his speech. First he told of his plan to conquer the
+Land of Oz and plunder the country of its riches and enslave its people,
+who, being fairies, could not be killed. After relating all this, and
+telling of the tunnel the Nome King was building, he said he had come to
+ask the First and Foremost to join the Nomes, with his band of terrible
+warriors, and help them to defeat the Oz people.
+
+The General spoke very earnestly and impressively, but when he had
+finished the bear-man began to laugh as if much amused, and his laughter
+seemed to be echoed by a chorus of merriment from an unseen multitude.
+Then, for the first time, Guph began to feel a trifle worried.
+
+"Who else has promised to help you?" finally asked the First and
+Foremost.
+
+"The Whimsies," replied the General.
+
+Again the bear-headed Phanfasm laughed.
+
+"Any others?" he inquired.
+
+"Only the Growleywogs," said Guph.
+
+This answer set the First and Foremost laughing anew.
+
+"What share of the spoils am I to have?" was the next question.
+
+"Anything you like, except King Roquat's Magic Belt," replied Guph.
+
+At this the Phanfasm set up a roar of laughter, which had its echo in
+the unseen chorus, and the bear-man seemed so amused that he actually
+rolled upon the ground and shouted with merriment.
+
+"Oh, these blind and foolish Nomes!" he said. "How big they seem to
+themselves and how small they really are!"
+
+Suddenly he arose and seized Guph's neck with one hairy paw, dragging
+him out of the hut into the open.
+
+Here he gave a curious wailing cry, and, as if in answer, from all the
+rocky huts on the mountain-top came flocking a horde of Phanfasms, all
+with hairy bodies, but wearing heads of various animals, birds and
+reptiles. All were ferocious and repulsive-looking to the deceived eyes
+of the Nome, and Guph could not repress a shudder of disgust as he
+looked upon them.
+
+The First and Foremost slowly raised his arms, and in a twinkling his
+hairy skin fell from him and he appeared before the astonished Nome as a
+beautiful woman, clothed in a flowing gown of pink gauze. In her dark
+hair flowers were entwined, and her face was noble and calm.
+
+At the same instant the entire band of Phanfasms was transformed into a
+pack of howling wolves, running here and there as they snarled and
+showed their ugly yellow fangs.
+
+The woman now raised her arms, even as the man-bear had done, and in a
+twinkling the wolves became crawling lizards, while she herself changed
+into a huge butterfly.
+
+Guph had only time to cry out in fear and take a step backward to avoid
+the lizards when another transformation occurred, and all returned
+instantly to the forms they had originally worn.
+
+Then the First and Foremost, who had resumed his hairy body and bear
+head, turned to the Nome and asked:
+
+"Do you still demand our assistance?"
+
+"More than ever," answered the General, firmly.
+
+"Then tell me: what can you offer the Phanfasms that they have not
+already?" inquired the First and Foremost.
+
+Guph hesitated. He really did not know what to say. The Nome King's
+vaunted Magic Belt seemed a poor thing compared to the astonishing
+magical powers of these people. Gold, jewels and slaves they might
+secure in any quantity without especial effort. He felt that he was
+dealing with powers greatly beyond him. There was but one argument that
+might influence the Phanfasms, who were creatures of evil.
+
+"Permit me to call your attention to the exquisite joy of making the
+happy unhappy," said he at last. "Consider the pleasure of destroying
+innocent and harmless people."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Ah! you have answered me," cried the First and Foremost. "For that
+reason alone we will aid you. Go home, and tell your bandy-legged king
+that as soon as his tunnel is finished the Phanfasms will be with him
+and lead his legions to the conquest of Oz. The deadly desert alone has
+kept us from destroying Oz long ago, and your underground tunnel is a
+clever thought. Go home, and prepare for our coming!"
+
+Guph was very glad to be permitted to go with this promise. The owl-man
+led him back down the mountain path and ordered the scarlet alligator to
+crawl away and allow the Nome to cross the bridge in safety.
+
+After the visitor had gone a brilliant and gorgeous city appeared upon
+the mountain top, clearly visible to the eyes of the gaily dressed
+multitude of Phanfasms that lived there. And the First and Foremost,
+beautifully arrayed, addressed the others in these words:
+
+"It is time we went into the world and brought sorrow and dismay to its
+people. Too long have we remained by ourselves upon this mountain top,
+for while we are thus secluded many nations have grown happy and
+prosperous, and the chief joy of the race of Phanfasms is to destroy
+happiness. So I think it is lucky that this messenger from the Nomes
+arrived among us just now, to remind us that the opportunity has come
+for us to make trouble. We will use King Roquat's tunnel to conquer the
+Land of Oz. Then we will destroy the Whimsies, the Growleywogs and the
+Nomes, and afterward go out to ravage and annoy and grieve the whole
+world."
+
+The multitude of evil Phanfasms eagerly applauded this plan, which they
+fully approved.
+
+I am told that the Erbs are the most powerful and merciless of all the
+evil spirits, and the Phanfasms of Phantastico belong to the race of
+Erbs.
+
+
+
+
+_How_ THEY MATCHED THE FUDDLES
+
+CHAPTER TWELVE
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+Dorothy and her fellow travelers rode away from the Cuttenclip village
+and followed the indistinct path as far as the sign-post. Here they took
+the main road again and proceeded pleasantly through the pretty farming
+country. When evening came they stopped at a dwelling and were joyfully
+welcomed and given plenty to eat and good beds for the night.
+
+Early next morning, however, they were up and eager to start, and after
+a good breakfast they bade their host good-bye and climbed into the red
+wagon, to which the Sawhorse had been hitched all night. Being made of
+wood, this horse never got tired nor cared to lie down. Dorothy was not
+quite sure whether he ever slept or not, but it was certain that he
+never did when anybody was around.
+
+The weather is always beautiful in Oz, and this morning the air was
+cool and refreshing and the sunshine brilliant and delightful.
+
+In about an hour they came to a place where another road branched off.
+There was a sign-post here which read:
+
+[Illustration: (hand pointing right)] THIS WAY TO FUDDLECUMJIG
+
+"Oh, here is where we turn," said Dorothy, observing the sign.
+
+"What! Are we going to Fuddlecumjig?" asked the Captain General.
+
+"Yes; Ozma thought we would enjoy the Fuddles. They are said to be very
+interesting," she replied.
+
+"No one would suspect it from their name," said Aunt Em. "Who are they,
+anyhow? More paper things?"
+
+"I think not," answered Dorothy, laughing; "but I can't say 'zactly,
+Aunt Em, what they are. We'll find out when we get there."
+
+"Perhaps the Wizard knows," suggested Uncle Henry.
+
+"No; I've never been there before," said the Wizard. "But I've often
+heard of Fuddlecumjig and the Fuddles, who are said to be the most
+peculiar people in all the Land of Oz."
+
+"In what way?" asked the Shaggy Man.
+
+"I don't know, I'm sure," said the Wizard.
+
+Just then, as they rode along the pretty green lane toward
+Fuddlecumjig, they espied a kangaroo sitting by the roadside. The poor
+animal had its face covered with both its front paws and was crying so
+bitterly that the tears coursed down its cheeks in two tiny streams and
+trickled across the road, where they formed a pool in a small hollow.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The Sawhorse stopped short at this pitiful sight, and Dorothy cried out,
+with ready sympathy:
+
+"What's the matter, Kangaroo?"
+
+"Boo-hoo! Boo-hoo!" wailed the kangaroo; "I've lost my mi--mi--mi--Oh,
+boo-hoo! Boo-hoo!"--
+
+"Poor thing," said the Wizard, "she's lost her mister. It's probably her
+husband, and he's dead."
+
+"No, no, no!" sobbed the kangaroo. "It--it isn't that. I've lost my
+mi--mi--Oh, boo, boo-hoo!"
+
+"I know," said the Shaggy Man; "she's lost her mirror."
+
+"No; it's my mi--mi--mi--Boo-hoo! My mi--Oh, Boo-hoo!" and the kangaroo
+cried harder than ever.
+
+"It must be her mince-pie," suggested Aunt Em.
+
+"Or her milk-toast," proposed Uncle Henry.
+
+"I've lost my mi--mi--mittens!" said the kangaroo, getting it out at
+last.
+
+"Oh!" cried the Yellow Hen, with a cackle of relief. "Why didn't you say
+so before?"
+
+"Boo-hoo! I--I--couldn't," answered the kangaroo.
+
+"But, see here," said Dorothy, "you don't need mittens in this warm
+weather."
+
+"Yes, indeed I do," replied the animal, stopping her sobs and removing
+her paws from her face to look at the little girl reproachfully. "My
+hands will get all sunburned and tanned without my mittens, and I've
+worn them so long that I'll probably catch cold without them."
+
+"Nonsense!" said Dorothy. "I never heard before of any kangaroo wearing
+mittens."
+
+"Didn't you?" asked the animal, as if surprised.
+
+"Never!" repeated the girl. "And you'll probably make yourself sick if
+you don't stop crying. Where do you live?"
+
+"About two miles beyond Fuddlecumjig," was the answer. "Grandmother Gnit
+made me the mittens, and she's one of the Fuddles."
+
+"Well, you'd better go home now, and perhaps the old lady will make you
+another pair," suggested Dorothy. "We're on our way to Fuddlecumjig, and
+you may hop along beside us."
+
+So they rode on, and the kangaroo hopped beside the red wagon and seemed
+quickly to have forgotten her loss. By and by the Wizard said to the
+animal:
+
+"Are the Fuddles nice people?"
+
+"Oh, very nice," answered the kangaroo; "that is, when they're properly
+put together. But they get dreadfully scattered and mixed up, at times,
+and then you can't do anything with them."
+
+"What do you mean by their getting scattered?" inquired Dorothy.
+
+"Why, they're made in a good many small pieces," explained the kangaroo;
+"and whenever any stranger comes near them they have a habit of falling
+apart and scattering themselves around. That's when they get so
+dreadfully mixed, and its a hard puzzle to put them together again."
+
+"Who usually puts them together?" asked Omby Amby.
+
+"Any one who is able to match the pieces. I sometimes put Grandmother
+Gnit together myself, because I know her so well I can tell every piece
+that belongs to her. Then, when she's all matched, she knits for me, and
+that's how she made my mittens. But it took a good many days hard
+knitting, and I had to put Grandmother together a good many times,
+because every time I came near she'd scatter herself."
+
+"I should think she would get used to your coming, and not be afraid,"
+said Dorothy.
+
+"It isn't that," replied the kangaroo. "They're not a bit afraid, when
+they're put together, and usually they're very jolly and pleasant. It's
+just a habit they have, to scatter themselves, and if they didn't do it
+they wouldn't be Fuddles."
+
+The travelers thought upon this quite seriously for a time, while the
+Sawhorse continued to carry them rapidly forward. Then Aunt Em remarked:
+
+"I don't see much use our visitin' these Fuddles. If we find them
+scattered, all we can do is to sweep 'em up, and then go about our
+business."
+
+"Oh, I b'lieve we'd better go on," replied Dorothy. "I'm getting hungry,
+and we must try to get some luncheon at Fuddlecumjig. Perhaps the food
+won't be scattered as badly as the people."
+
+"You'll find plenty to eat there," declared the kangaroo, hopping along
+in big bounds because the Sawhorse was going so fast; "and they have a
+fine cook, too, if you can manage to put him together. There's the town
+now--just ahead of us!"
+
+They looked ahead and saw a group of very pretty houses standing in a
+green field a little apart from the main road.
+
+"Some Munchkins came here a few days ago and matched a lot of people
+together," said the kangaroo. "I think they are together yet, and if you
+go softly, without making any noise, perhaps they won't scatter."
+
+"Let's try it," suggested the Wizard.
+
+So they stopped the Sawhorse and got out of the wagon, and, after
+bidding good bye to the kangaroo, who hopped away home, they entered the
+field and very cautiously approached the group of houses.
+
+So silently did they move that soon they saw through the windows of the
+houses, people moving around, while others were passing to and fro in
+the yards between the buildings. They seemed much like other people,
+from a distance, and apparently they did not notice the little party so
+quietly approaching.
+
+They had almost reached the nearest house when Toto saw a large beetle
+crossing the path and barked loudly at it. Instantly a wild clatter was
+heard from the houses and yards. Dorothy thought it sounded like a
+sudden hailstorm, and the visitors, knowing that caution was no longer
+necessary, hurried forward to see what had happened.
+
+After the clatter an intense stillness reigned in the town. The
+strangers entered the first house they came to, which was also the
+largest, and found the floor strewn with pieces of the people who lived
+there. They looked much like fragments of wood neatly painted, and were
+of all sorts of curious and fantastic shapes, no two pieces being in any
+way alike.
+
+They picked up some of these pieces and looked at them carefully. On one
+which Dorothy held was an eye, which looked at her pleasantly but with
+an interested expression, as if it wondered what she was going to do
+with it. Quite near by she discovered and picked up a nose, and by
+matching the two pieces together found that they were part of a face.
+
+"If I could find the mouth," she said, "this Fuddle might be able to
+talk, and tell us what to do next."
+
+"Then let us find it," replied the Wizard, and so all got down on their
+hands and knees and began examining the scattered pieces.
+
+"I've found it!" cried the Shaggy Man, and ran to Dorothy with a
+queer-shaped piece that had a mouth on it. But when they tried to fit it
+to the eye and nose they found the parts wouldn't match together.
+
+"That mouth belongs to some other person," said Dorothy. "You see we
+need a curve here and a point there, to make it fit the face."
+
+"Well, it must be here some place," declared the Wizard; "so if we
+search long enough we shall find it."
+
+Dorothy fitted an ear on next, and the ear had a little patch of red
+hair above it. So while the others were searching for the mouth she
+hunted for pieces with red hair, and found several of them which, when
+matched to the other pieces, formed the top of a man's head. She had
+also found the other eye and the ear by the time Omby Amby in a far
+corner discovered the mouth. When the face was thus completed all the
+parts joined together with a nicety that was astonishing.
+
+"Why, it's like a picture puzzle!" exclaimed the little girl. "Let's
+find the rest of him, and get him all together."
+
+"What's the rest of him like?" asked the Wizard. "Here are some pieces
+of blue legs and green arms, but I don't know whether they are his or
+not."
+
+"Look for a white shirt and a white apron," said the head which had been
+put together, speaking in a rather faint voice. "I'm the cook."
+
+[Illustration: "I'M THE COOK".]
+
+"Oh, thank you," said Dorothy. "It's lucky we started you first, for I'm
+hungry, and you can be cooking something for us to eat while we match
+the other folks together."
+
+It was not so very difficult, now that they had a hint as to how the man
+was dressed, to find the other pieces belonging to him, and as all of
+them now worked on the cook, trying piece after piece to see if it would
+fit, they finally had the cook set up complete.
+
+When he was finished he made them a low bow and said:
+
+"I will go at once to the kitchen and prepare your dinner. You will find
+it something of a job to get all the Fuddles together, so I advise you
+to begin on the Lord High Chigglewitz, whose first name is Larry. He's a
+bald-headed fat man and is dressed in a blue coat with brass buttons, a
+pink vest and drab breeches. A piece of his left knee is missing, having
+been lost years ago when he scattered himself too carelessly. That makes
+him limp a little, but he gets along very well with half a knee. As he
+is the chief personage in this town of Fuddlecumjig, he will be able to
+welcome you and assist you with the others. So it will be best to work
+on him while I'm getting your dinner."
+
+"We will," said the Wizard; "and thank you very much, Cook, for the
+suggestion."
+
+Aunt Em was the first to discover a piece of the Lord High Chigglewitz.
+
+"It seems to me like a fool business, this matching folks together," she
+remarked; "but as we haven't anything to do till dinner's ready we may
+as well get rid of some of this rubbish. Here, Henry, get busy and
+look for Larry's bald head. I've got his pink vest, all right."
+
+They worked with eager interest, and Billina proved a great help to
+them. The Yellow Hen had sharp eyes and could put her head close to the
+various pieces that lay scattered around. She would examine the Lord
+High Chigglewitz and see which piece of him was next needed, and then
+hunt around until she found it. So before an hour had passed old Larry
+was standing complete before them.
+
+"I congratulate you, my friends," he said, speaking in a cheerful voice.
+"You are certainly the cleverest people who ever visited us. I was never
+matched together so quickly in my life. I'm considered a great puzzle,
+usually."
+
+"Well," said Dorothy, "there used to be a picture puzzle craze in
+Kansas, and so I've had some 'sperience matching puzzles. But the
+pictures were flat, while you are round, and that makes you harder to
+figure out."
+
+"Thank you, my dear," replied old Larry, greatly pleased. "I feel highly
+complimented. Were I not a really good puzzle there would be no object
+in my scattering myself."
+
+"Why do you do it?" asked Aunt Em, severely. "Why don't you behave
+yourself, and stay put together?"
+
+The Lord High Chigglewitz seemed annoyed by this speech; but he replied,
+politely:
+
+"Madam, you have perhaps noticed that every person has some
+peculiarity. Mine is to scatter myself. What your own peculiarity is I
+will not venture to say; but I shall never find fault with you, whatever
+you do."
+
+"Now, you've got your diploma, Em," said Uncle Henry, with a laugh, "and
+I'm glad of it. This is a queer country, and we may as well take people
+as we find them."
+
+"If we did, we'd leave these folks scattered," she returned, and this
+retort made everybody laugh good-naturedly.
+
+Just then Omby Amby found a hand with a knitting needle in it, and they
+decided to put Grandmother Gnit together. She proved an easier puzzle
+than old Larry, and when she was completed they found her a pleasant old
+lady who welcomed them cordially. Dorothy told her how the kangaroo had
+lost her mittens, and Grandmother Gnit promised to set to work at once
+and make the poor animal another pair.
+
+Then the cook came to call them to dinner, and they found an inviting
+meal prepared for them. The Lord High Chigglewitz sat at the head of the
+table and Grandmother Gnit at the foot, and the guests had a merry time
+and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
+
+After dinner they went out into the yard and matched several other
+people together, and this work was so interesting that they might have
+spent the entire day at Fuddlecumjig had not the Wizard suggested that
+they resume their journey.
+
+"But I don't like to leave all these poor people scattered," said
+Dorothy, undecided what to do.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Oh, don't mind us, my dear," returned old Larry. "Every day or so some
+of the Gillikins, or Munchkins, or Winkies come here to amuse themselves
+by matching us together, so there will be no harm in leaving these
+pieces where they are for a time. But I hope you will visit us again,
+and if you do you will always be welcome, I assure you."
+
+"Don't you ever match each other?" she inquired.
+
+"Never; for we are no puzzles to ourselves, and so there wouldn't be any
+fun in it."
+
+They now said goodbye to the queer Fuddles and got into their wagon to
+continue their journey.
+
+"Those are certainly strange people," remarked Aunt Em, thoughtfully, as
+they drove away from Fuddlecumjig, "but I really can't see what use they
+are, at all."
+
+"Why, they amused us all for several hours," replied the Wizard. "That
+is being of use to us, I'm sure."
+
+"I think they're more fun than playing solitaire or mumbletypeg,"
+declared Uncle Henry, soberly. "For my part, I'm glad we visited the
+Fuddles."
+
+
+
+
+_How_ THE GENERAL TALKED TO THE KING
+
+CHAPTER THIRTEEN
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+When General Guph returned to the cavern of the Nome King his Majesty
+asked:
+
+"Well, what luck? Will the Whimsies join us?"
+
+"They will," answered the General. "They will fight for us with all
+their strength and cunning."
+
+"Good!" exclaimed the King. "What reward did you promise them?"
+
+"Your Majesty is to use the Magic Belt to give each Whimsie a large,
+fine head, in place of the small one he is now obliged to wear."
+
+"I agree to that," said the King. "This is good news, Guph, and it makes
+me feel more certain of the conquest of Oz."
+
+"But I have other news for you," announced the General.
+
+"Good or bad?"
+
+"Good, your Majesty."
+
+"Then I will hear it," said the King, with interest.
+
+"The Growleywogs will join us."
+
+"No!" cried the astonished King.
+
+"Yes, indeed," said the General. "I have their promise."
+
+"But what reward do they demand?" inquired the King, suspiciously, for
+he knew how greedy the Growleywogs were.
+
+"They are to take a few of the Oz people for their slaves," replied
+Guph. He did not think it necessary to tell Roquat that the Growleywogs
+demanded twenty thousand slaves. It would be time enough for that when
+Oz was conquered.
+
+"A very reasonable request, I'm sure," remarked the King. "I must
+congratulate you, Guph, upon the wonderful success of your journey."
+
+"But that is not all," said the General, proudly.
+
+The King seemed astonished.
+
+"Speak out, sir!" he commanded.
+
+"I have seen the First and Foremost Phanfasm of the Mountain of
+Phantastico, and he will bring his people to assist us."
+
+"What!" cried the King. "The Phanfasms! You don't mean it, Guph!"
+
+"It is true," declared the General, proudly.
+
+The King became thoughtful, and his brows wrinkled.
+
+"I'm afraid, Guph," he said rather anxiously, "that the First and
+Foremost may prove as dangerous to us as to the Oz people. If he and his
+terrible band come down from the mountain they may take the notion to
+conquer the Nomes!"
+
+"Pah! That is a foolish idea," retorted Guph, irritably, but he knew in
+his heart that the King was right. "The First and Foremost is a
+particular friend of mine, and will do us no harm. Why, when I was
+there, he even invited me into his house."
+
+The General neglected to tell the King how he had been jerked into the
+hut of the First and Foremost by means of the brass hoop. So Roquat the
+Red looked at his General admiringly and said:
+
+"You are a wonderful Nome, Guph. I'm sorry I did not make you my General
+before. But what reward did the First and Foremost demand?"
+
+"Nothing at all," answered Guph. "Even the Magic Belt itself could not
+add to his powers of sorcery. All the Phanfasms wish is to destroy the
+Oz people, who are good and happy. This pleasure will amply repay them
+for assisting us."
+
+"When will they come?" asked Roquat, half fearfully.
+
+"When the tunnel is completed," said the General.
+
+"We are nearly half way under the desert now," announced the King; "and
+that is fast work, because the tunnel has to be drilled through solid
+rock. But after we have passed the desert it will not take us long to
+extend the tunnel to the walls of the Emerald City."
+
+"Well, whenever you are ready, we shall be joined by the Whimsies, the
+Growleywogs and the Phanfasms," said Guph; "so the conquest of Oz is
+assured without a doubt."
+
+Again the King seemed thoughtful.
+
+"I'm almost sorry we did not undertake the conquest alone," said he.
+"All of these allies are dangerous people, and they may demand more than
+you have promised them. It might have been better to have conquered Oz
+without any outside assistance."
+
+"We could not do it," said the General, positively.
+
+"Why not, Guph?"
+
+"You know very well. You have had one experience with the Oz people, and
+they defeated you."
+
+"That was because they rolled eggs at us," replied the King, with a
+shudder. "My Nomes cannot stand eggs, any more than I can myself. They
+are poison to all who live underground."
+
+"That is true enough," agreed Guph.
+
+"But we might have taken the Oz people by surprise, and conquered them
+before they had a chance to get any eggs. Our former defeat was due to
+the fact that the girl Dorothy had a Yellow Hen with her. I do not know
+what ever became of that hen, but I believe there are no hens at all in
+the Land of Oz, and so there could be no eggs there."
+
+"On the contrary," said Guph, "there are now hundreds of chickens in Oz,
+and they lay heaps of those dangerous eggs. I met a goshawk on my way
+home, and the bird informed me that he had lately been to Oz to capture
+and devour some of the young chickens. But they are protected by magic,
+so the hawk did not get a single one of them."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"That is a very bad report," said the King, nervously. "Very bad,
+indeed. My Nomes are willing to fight, but they simply can't face hen's
+eggs--and I don't blame them."
+
+"They won't need to face them," replied Guph. "I'm afraid of eggs
+myself, and don't propose to take any chances of being poisoned by them.
+My plan is to send the Whimsies through the tunnel first, and then the
+Growleywogs and the Phanfasms. By the time we Nomes get there the eggs
+will all be used up, and we may then pursue and capture the inhabitants
+at our leisure."
+
+"Perhaps you are right," returned the King, with a dismal sigh. "But I
+want it distinctly understood that I claim Ozma and Dorothy as my own
+prisoners. They are rather nice girls, and I do not intend to let any of
+those dreadful creatures hurt them, or make them their slaves. When I
+have captured them I will bring them here and transform them into china
+ornaments to stand on my mantle. They will look very pretty--Dorothy on
+one end of the mantle and Ozma on the other--and I shall take great care
+to see they are not broken when the maids dust them."
+
+"Very well, your Majesty. Do what you will with the girls, for all I
+care. Now that our plans are arranged, and we have the three most
+powerful bands of evil spirits in the world to assist us, let us make
+haste to get the tunnel finished as soon as possible."
+
+"It will be ready in three days," promised the King, and hurried away to
+inspect the work and see that the Nomes kept busy.
+
+
+
+
+_How_ THE WIZARD PRACTICED SORCERY
+
+CHAPTER FOURTEEN
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+"Where next?" asked the Wizard, when they had left the town of
+Fuddlecumjig and the Sawhorse had started back along the road.
+
+"Why, Ozma laid out this trip," replied Dorothy, "and she 'vised us to
+see the Rigmaroles next, and then visit the Tin Woodman."
+
+"That sounds good," said the Wizard. "But what road do we take to get to
+the Rigmaroles?"
+
+"I don't know, 'zactly," returned the little girl; "but it must be
+somewhere just southwest from here."
+
+"Then why need we go way back to the crossroads?" asked the Shaggy Man.
+"We might save a lot of time by branching off here."
+
+"There isn't any path," asserted Uncle Henry.
+
+"Then we'd better go back to the signposts, and make sure of our way,"
+decided Dorothy.
+
+But after they had gone a short distance farther the Sawhorse, who had
+overheard their conversation, stopped and said:
+
+"Here is a path."
+
+Sure enough, a dim path seemed to branch off from the road they were on,
+and it led across pretty green meadows and past leafy groves, straight
+toward the southwest.
+
+"That looks like a good path," said Omby Amby. "Why not try it?"
+
+"All right," answered Dorothy. "I'm anxious to see what the Rigmaroles
+are like, and this path ought to take us there the quickest way."
+
+No one made any objection to the plan, so the Sawhorse turned into the
+path, which proved to be nearly as good as the one they had taken to get
+to the Fuddles.
+
+At first they passed a few retired farm houses, but soon these scattered
+dwellings were left behind and only the meadows and the trees were
+before them. But they rode along in cheerful contentment, and Aunt Em
+got into an argument with Billina about the proper way to raise
+chickens.
+
+"I do not care to contradict you," said the Yellow Hen, with dignity,
+"but I have an idea I know more about chickens than human beings do."
+
+"Pshaw!" replied Aunt Em, "I've raised chickens for nearly forty years,
+Billina, and I know you've got to starve 'em to make 'em lay lots of
+eggs, and stuff 'em if you want good broilers."
+
+"Broilers!" exclaimed Billina, in horror. "Broil my chickens!"
+
+"Why, that's what they're for, ain't it?" asked Aunt Em, astonished.
+
+"No, Aunt, not in Oz," said Dorothy. "People do not eat chickens here.
+You see, Billina was the first hen that was ever seen in this country,
+and I brought her here myself. Everybody liked her an' respected her, so
+the Oz people wouldn't any more eat her chickens than they would eat
+Billina."
+
+"Well, I declare," gasped Aunt Em. "How about the eggs?"
+
+"Oh, if we have more eggs than we want to hatch, we allow people to eat
+them," said Billina. "Indeed, I am very glad the Oz folks like our eggs,
+for otherwise they would spoil."
+
+"This certainly is a queer country," sighed Aunt Em.
+
+"Excuse me," called the Sawhorse, "the path has ended and I'd like to
+know which way to go."
+
+They looked around and, sure enough, there was no path to be seen.
+
+"Well," said Dorothy, "we're going southwest, and it seems just as easy
+to follow that direction without a path as with one."
+
+"Certainly," answered the Sawhorse. "It is not hard to draw the wagon
+over the meadow. I only want to know where to go."
+
+"There's a forest over there across the prairie," said the Wizard, "and
+it lies in the direction we are going. Make straight for the forest,
+Sawhorse, and you're bound to go right."
+
+So the wooden animal trotted on again and the meadow grass was so soft
+under the wheels that it made easy riding. But Dorothy was a little
+uneasy at losing the path, because now there was nothing to guide them.
+
+No houses were to be seen at all, so they could not ask their way of any
+farmer; and although the Land of Oz was always beautiful, wherever one
+might go, this part of the country was strange to all the party.
+
+"Perhaps we're lost," suggested Aunt Em, after they had proceeded quite
+a way in silence.
+
+"Never mind," said the Shaggy Man; "I've been lost many a time--and so
+has Dorothy--and we've always been found again."
+
+"But we may get hungry," remarked Omby Amby. "That is the worst of
+getting lost in a place where there are no houses near."
+
+"We had a good dinner at the Fuddle town," said Uncle Henry, "and that
+will keep us from starving to death for a long time."
+
+"No one ever starved to death in Oz," declared Dorothy, positively; "but
+people may get pretty hungry sometimes."
+
+The Wizard said nothing, and he did not seem especially anxious. The
+Sawhorse was trotting along briskly, yet the forest seemed farther away
+than they had thought when they first saw it. So it was nearly sundown
+when they finally came to the trees; but now they found themselves in a
+most beautiful spot, the wide-spreading trees being covered with
+flowering vines and having soft mosses underneath them.
+
+"This will be a good place to camp," said the Wizard, as the Sawhorse
+stopped for further instructions.
+
+"Camp!" they all echoed.
+
+"Certainly," asserted the Wizard. "It will be dark before very long and
+we cannot travel through this forest at night. So let us make a camp
+here, and have some supper, and sleep until daylight comes again."
+
+They all looked at the little man in astonishment, and Aunt Em said,
+with a sniff:
+
+"A pretty camp we'll have, I must say! I suppose you intend us to sleep
+under the wagon."
+
+"And chew grass for our supper," added the Shaggy Man, laughing.
+
+But Dorothy seemed to have no doubts and was quite cheerful.
+
+"It's lucky we have the wonderful Wizard with us," she said; "because he
+can do 'most anything he wants to."
+
+"Oh, yes; I forgot we had a Wizard," said Uncle Henry, looking at the
+little man curiously.
+
+"I didn't," chirped Billina, contentedly.
+
+The Wizard smiled and climbed out of the wagon, and all the others
+followed him.
+
+"In order to camp," said he, "the first thing we need is tents. Will
+some one please lend me a handkerchief?"
+
+The Shaggy Man offered him one, and Aunt Em another. He took them both
+and laid them carefully upon the grass near to the edge of the forest.
+Then he laid his own handkerchief down, too, and standing a little back
+from them he waved his left hand toward the handkerchiefs and said:
+
+        "Tents of canvas, white as snow,
+        Let me see how fast you grow!"
+
+Then, lo and behold! the handkerchiefs became tiny tents, and as the
+travelers looked at them the tents grew bigger and bigger until in a few
+minutes each one was large enough to contain the entire party.
+
+"This," said the Wizard, pointing to the first tent, "is for the
+accommodation of the ladies. Dorothy, you and your Aunt may step inside
+and take off your things."
+
+Every one ran to look inside the tent, and they saw two pretty white
+beds, all ready for Dorothy and Aunt Em, and a silver roost for Billina.
+Rugs were spread upon the grassy floor and some camp chairs and a table
+completed the furniture.
+
+"Well, well, well! This beats anything I ever saw or heard of!"
+exclaimed Aunt Em, and she glanced at the Wizard almost fearfully, as if
+he might be dangerous because of his great powers.
+
+"Oh, Mr. Wizard! How did you manage to do it?" asked Dorothy.
+
+"It's a trick Glinda the Sorceress taught me, and it is much better
+magic than I used to practise in Omaha, or when I first came to Oz," he
+answered. "When the Good Glinda found I was to live in the Emerald City
+always, she promised to help me, because she said the Wizard of Oz ought
+really to be a clever Wizard, and not a humbug. So we have been much
+together and I am learning so fast that I expect to be able to
+accomplish some really wonderful things in time."
+
+"You've done it now!" declared Dorothy. "These tents are just
+wonderful!"
+
+"But come and see the men's tent," said the Wizard. So they went to the
+second tent, which had shaggy edges because it had been made from the
+Shaggy Man's handkerchief, and found that completely furnished also. It
+contained four neat beds for Uncle Henry, Omby Amby, the Shaggy Man and
+the Wizard. Also there was a soft rug for Toto to lie upon.
+
+"The third tent," explained the Wizard, "is our dining room and
+kitchen."
+
+They visited that next, and found a table and dishes in the dining tent,
+with plenty of those things necessary to use in cooking. The Wizard
+carried out a big kettle and set it swinging on a crossbar before the
+tent. While he was doing this Omby Amby and the Shaggy Man brought a
+supply of twigs from the forest and then they built a fire underneath
+the kettle.
+
+"Now, Dorothy," said the Wizard, smiling, "I expect you to cook our
+supper."
+
+"But there is nothing in the kettle," she cried.
+
+"Are you sure?" inquired the Wizard.
+
+"I didn't see anything put in, and I'm almost sure it was empty when you
+brought it out," she replied.
+
+"Nevertheless," said the little man, winking slyly at Uncle Henry, "you
+will do well to watch our supper, my dear, and see that it doesn't boil
+over."
+
+Then the men took some pails and went into the forest to search for a
+spring of water, and while they were gone Aunt Em said to Dorothy:
+
+"I believe the Wizard is fooling us. I saw the kettle myself, and when
+he hung it over the fire there wasn't a thing in it but air."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Don't worry," remarked Billina, confidently, as she nestled in the
+grass before the fire. "You'll find something in the kettle when it's
+taken off--and it won't be poor, innocent chickens, either."
+
+"Your hen has very bad manners, Dorothy," said Aunt Em, looking somewhat
+disdainfully at Billina. "It seems too bad she ever learned how to
+talk."
+
+There might have been another unpleasant quarrel between Aunt Em and
+Billina had not the men returned just then with their pails filled with
+clear, sparkling water. The Wizard told Dorothy that she was a good cook
+and he believed their supper was ready.
+
+So Uncle Henry lifted the kettle from the fire and poured its contents
+into a big platter which the Wizard held for him. The platter was fairly
+heaped with a fine stew, smoking hot, with many kinds of vegetables and
+dumplings and a rich, delicious gravy.
+
+The Wizard triumphantly placed the platter upon the table in the dining
+tent and then they all sat down in camp chairs to the feast.
+
+There were several other dishes on the table, all carefully covered, and
+when the time came to remove these covers they found bread and butter,
+cakes, cheese, pickles and fruits--including some of the luscious
+strawberries of Oz.
+
+No one ventured to ask a question as to how these things came there.
+They contented themselves by eating heartily the good things provided,
+and Toto and Billina had their full share, you may be sure. After the
+meal was over Aunt Em whispered to Dorothy:
+
+"That may have been magic food, my dear, and for that reason perhaps it
+won't be very nourishing; but I'm willing to say it tasted as good as
+anything I ever et." Then she added, in a louder tone: "Who's going to
+do the dishes?"
+
+"No one, madam," answered the Wizard. "The dishes have 'done'
+themselves."
+
+"La sakes!" ejaculated the good lady, holding up her hands in amazement.
+For, sure enough, when she looked at the dishes they had a moment before
+left upon the table, she found them all washed and dried and piled up
+into neat stacks.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+_How_ DOROTHY HAPPENED TO GET LOST
+
+CHAPTER FIFTEEN
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+It was a beautiful evening, so they drew their camp chairs in a circle
+before one of the tents and began to tell stories to amuse themselves
+and pass away the time before they went to bed.
+
+Pretty soon a zebra was seen coming out of the forest, and he trotted
+straight up to them and said politely:
+
+"Good evening, people."
+
+The zebra was a sleek little animal and had a slender head, a stubby
+mane and a paint-brush tail--very like a donkey's. His neatly shaped
+white body was covered with regular bars of dark brown, and his hoofs
+were delicate as those of a deer.
+
+"Good evening, friend Zebra," said Omby Amby, in reply to the creature's
+greeting. "Can we do anything for you?"
+
+"Yes," answered the zebra. "I should like you to settle a dispute that
+has long been a bother to me, as to whether there is more water or land
+in the world."
+
+"Who are you disputing with?" asked the Wizard.
+
+"With a soft-shell crab," said the zebra. "He lives in a pool where I go
+to drink every day, and he is a very impertinent crab, I assure you. I
+have told him many times that the land is much greater in extent than
+the water, but he will not be convinced. Even this very evening, when I
+told him he was an insignificant creature who lived in a small pool, he
+asserted that the water was greater and more important than the land.
+So, seeing your camp, I decided to ask you to settle the dispute for
+once and all, that I may not be further annoyed by this ignorant crab."
+
+When they had listened to this explanation Dorothy inquired:
+
+"Where is the soft-shell crab?"
+
+"Not far away," replied the zebra. "If you will agree to judge between
+us I will run and get him."
+
+"Run along, then," said the little girl.
+
+So the animal pranced into the forest and soon came trotting back to
+them. When he drew near they found a soft-shell crab clinging fast to
+the stiff hair of the zebra's head, where it held on by one claw.
+
+"Now then, Mr. Crab," said the zebra, "here are the people I told you
+about; and they know more than you do, who live in a pool, and more than
+I do, who live in a forest. For they have been travelers all over the
+world, and know every part of it."
+
+"There's more of the world than Oz," declared the crab, in a stubborn
+voice.
+
+"That is true," said Dorothy; "but I used to live in Kansas, in the
+United States, and I've been to California and to Australia--and so has
+Uncle Henry."
+
+"For my part," added the Shaggy Man, "I've been to Mexico and Boston and
+many other foreign countries."
+
+"And I," said the Wizard, "have been to Europe and Ireland."
+
+"So you see," continued the zebra, addressing the crab, "here are people
+of real consequence, who know what they are talking about."
+
+"Then they know there's more water in the world than there is land,"
+asserted the crab, in a shrill, petulant voice.
+
+"They know you are wrong to make such an absurd statement, and they will
+probably think you are a lobster instead of a crab," retorted the
+animal.
+
+At this taunt the crab reached out its other claw and seized the zebra's
+ear, and the creature gave a cry of pain and began prancing up and down,
+trying to shake off the crab, which clung fast.
+
+"Stop pinching!" cried the zebra. "You promised not to pinch if I would
+carry you here!"
+
+"And you promised to treat me respectfully," said the crab, letting go
+the ear.
+
+"Well, haven't I?" demanded the zebra.
+
+"No; you called me a lobster," said the crab.
+
+"Ladies and gentlemen," continued the zebra, "please pardon my poor
+friend, because he is ignorant and stupid, and does not understand. Also
+the pinch of his claw is very annoying. So pray tell him that the world
+contains more land than water, and when he has heard your judgment I
+will carry him back and dump him into his pool, where I hope he will be
+more modest in the future."
+
+"But we cannot tell him that," said Dorothy, gravely, "because it would
+not be true."
+
+"What!" exclaimed the zebra, in astonishment; "do I hear you aright?"
+
+"The soft-shell crab is correct," declared the Wizard. "There is
+considerably more water than there is land in the world."
+
+"Impossible!" protested the zebra. "Why, I can run for days upon the
+land, and find but little water."
+
+"Did you ever see an ocean?" asked Dorothy.
+
+"Never," admitted the zebra. "There is no such thing as an ocean in the
+Land of Oz."
+
+
+"Well, there are several oceans in the world," said Dorothy, "and people
+sail in ships upon these oceans for weeks and weeks, and never see a bit
+of land at all. And the joggerfys will tell you that all the oceans put
+together are bigger than all the land put together."
+
+At this the crab began laughing in queer chuckles that reminded Dorothy
+of the way Billina sometimes cackled.
+
+"_Now_ will you give up, Mr. Zebra?" it cried, jeeringly; "now will you
+give up?"
+
+The zebra seemed much humbled.
+
+"Of course I cannot read geographys," he said.
+
+"You could take one of the Wizard's School Pills," suggested Billina,
+"and that would make you learned and wise without studying."
+
+The crab began laughing again, which so provoked the zebra that he tried
+to shake the little creature off. This resulted in more ear-pinching,
+and finally Dorothy told them that if they could not behave they must go
+back to the forest.
+
+"I'm sorry I asked you to decide this question," said the zebra,
+crossly. "So long as neither of us could prove we were right we quite
+enjoyed the dispute; but now I can never drink at that pool again
+without the soft-shell crab laughing at me. So I must find another
+drinking place."
+
+"Do! Do, you ignoramus!" shouted the crab, as loudly as his little
+voice would carry. "Rile some other pool with your clumsy hoofs, and let
+your betters alone after this!"
+
+Then the zebra trotted back to the forest, bearing the crab with him,
+and disappeared amid the gloom of the trees. And as it was now getting
+dark the travelers said good night to one another and went to bed.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Dorothy awoke just as the light was beginning to get strong next
+morning, and not caring to sleep any later she quietly got out of bed,
+dressed herself, and left the tent where Aunt Em was yet peacefully
+slumbering.
+
+Outside she noticed Billina busily pecking around to secure bugs or
+other food for breakfast, but none of the men in the other tent seemed
+awake. So the little girl decided to take a walk in the woods and try to
+discover some path or road that they might follow when they again
+started upon their journey.
+
+She had reached the edge of the forest when the Yellow Hen came
+fluttering along and asked where she was going.
+
+"Just to take a walk, Billina; and maybe I'll find some path," said
+Dorothy.
+
+"Then I'll go along," decided Billina, and scarcely had she spoken when
+Toto ran up and joined them.
+
+Toto and the Yellow Hen had become quite friendly by this time, although
+at first they did not get along well together. Billina had been rather
+suspicious of dogs, and Toto had had an idea that it was every dog's
+duty to chase a hen on sight. But Dorothy had talked to them and scolded
+them for not being agreeable to one another until they grew better
+acquainted and became friends.
+
+I won't say they loved each other dearly, but at least they had stopped
+quarreling and now managed to get on together very well.
+
+The day was growing lighter every minute and driving the black shadows
+out of the forest; so Dorothy found it very pleasant walking under the
+trees. She went some distance in one direction, but not finding a path,
+presently turned in a different direction. There was no path here,
+either, although she advanced quite a way into the forest, winding here
+and there among the trees and peering through the bushes in an endeavor
+to find some beaten track.
+
+"I think we'd better go back," suggested the Yellow Hen, after a time.
+"The people will all be up by this time and breakfast will be ready."
+
+"Very well," agreed Dorothy. "Let's see--the camp must be over this
+way."
+
+She had probably made a mistake about that, for after they had gone far
+enough to have reached the camp they still found themselves in the thick
+of the woods. So the little girl stopped short and looked around her,
+and Toto glanced up into her face with his bright little eyes and wagged
+his tail as if he knew something was wrong. He couldn't tell much about
+direction himself, because he had spent his time prowling among the
+bushes and running here and there; nor had Billina paid much attention
+to where they were going, being interested in picking bugs from the moss
+as they passed along. The Yellow Hen now turned one eye up toward the
+little girl and asked:
+
+"Have you forgotten where the camp is, Dorothy?"
+
+"Yes," she admitted; "have you, Billina?"
+
+"I didn't try to remember," returned Billina. "I'd no idea you would get
+lost, Dorothy."
+
+"It's the thing we don't expect, Billina, that usually happens,"
+observed the girl, thoughtfully. "But it's no use standing here. Let's
+go in that direction," pointing a finger at random. "It may be we'll get
+out of the forest over there."
+
+So on they went again, but this way the trees were closer together, and
+the vines were so tangled that often they tripped Dorothy up.
+
+Suddenly a voice cried sharply:
+
+"Halt!"
+
+[Illustration: "HALT!"]
+
+At first Dorothy could see nothing, although she looked around very
+carefully. But Billina exclaimed:
+
+"Well, I declare!"
+
+"What is it?" asked the little girl: for Toto began barking at
+something, and following his gaze she discovered what it was.
+
+A row of spoons had surrounded the three, and these spoons stood
+straight up on their handles and carried swords and muskets. Their faces
+were outlined in the polished bowls and they looked very stern and
+severe.
+
+Dorothy laughed at the queer things.
+
+"Who are you?" she asked.
+
+"We're the Spoon Brigade," said one.
+
+"In the service of his Majesty King Kleaver," said another.
+
+"And you are our prisoners," said a third.
+
+Dorothy sat down on an old stump and looked at them, her eyes twinkling
+with amusement.
+
+"What would happen," she inquired, "if I should set my dog on your
+Brigade?"
+
+"He would die," replied one of the spoons, sharply. "One shot from our
+deadly muskets would kill him, big as he is."
+
+"Don't risk it, Dorothy," advised the Yellow Hen. "Remember this is a
+fairy country, yet none of us three happens to be a fairy."
+
+Dorothy grew sober at this.
+
+"P'raps you're right, Billina," she answered. "But how funny it is, to
+be captured by a lot of spoons!"
+
+"I do not see anything very funny about it," declared a spoon. "We're
+the regular military brigade of the kingdom."
+
+"What kingdom?" she asked.
+
+"Utensia," said he.
+
+"I never heard of it before," asserted Dorothy. Then she added,
+thoughtfully, "I don't believe Ozma ever heard of Utensia, either. Tell
+me, are you not subjects of Ozma of Oz?"
+
+"We never have heard of her," retorted a spoon. "We are subjects of King
+Kleaver, and obey only his orders, which are to bring all prisoners to
+him as soon as they are captured. So step lively, my girl, and march
+with us, or we may be tempted to cut off a few of your toes with our
+swords."
+
+This threat made Dorothy laugh again. She did not believe she was in any
+danger; but here was a new and interesting adventure, so she was willing
+to be taken to Utensia that she might see what King Kleaver's kingdom
+was like.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+_How_ DOROTHY VISITED UTENSIA
+
+CHAPTER SIXTEEN
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+There must have been from six to eight dozen spoons in the Brigade, and
+they marched away in the shape of a hollow square, with Dorothy, Billina
+and Toto in the center of the square. Before they had gone very far Toto
+knocked over one of the spoons by wagging his tail, and then the Captain
+of the Spoons told the little dog to be more careful, or he would be
+punished. So Toto was careful, and the Spoon Brigade moved along with
+astonishing swiftness, while Dorothy really had to walk fast to keep up
+with it.
+
+By and by they left the woods and entered a big clearing, in which was
+the Kingdom of Utensia.
+
+Standing all around the clearing were a good many cookstoves, ranges and
+grills, of all sizes and shapes, and besides these there were several
+kitchen cabinets and cupboards and a few kitchen tables. These things
+were crowded with utensils of all sorts: frying pans, sauce pans,
+kettles, forks, knives, basting and soup spoons, nutmeg graters,
+sifters, colenders, meat saws, flat irons, rolling pins and many other
+things of a like nature.
+
+When the Spoon Brigade appeared with the prisoners a wild shout arose
+and many of the utensils hopped off their stoves or their benches and
+ran crowding around Dorothy and the hen and the dog.
+
+"Stand back!" cried the Captain, sternly, and he led his captives
+through the curious throng until they came before a big range that stood
+in the center of the clearing. Beside this range was a butcher's block
+upon which lay a great cleaver with a keen edge. It rested upon the flat
+of its back, its legs were crossed and it was smoking a long pipe.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Wake up, your Majesty," said the Captain. "Here are prisoners."
+
+Hearing this, King Kleaver sat up and looked at Dorothy sharply.
+
+"Gristle and fat!" he cried. "Where did this girl come from?"
+
+"I found her in the forest and brought her here a prisoner," replied the
+Captain.
+
+"Why did you do that?" inquired the King, puffing his pipe lazily.
+
+"To create some excitement," the Captain answered. "It is so quiet
+here that we are all getting rusty for want of amusement. For my part, I
+prefer to see stirring times."
+
+"Naturally," returned the cleaver, with a nod. "I have always said,
+Captain, without a bit of irony, that you are a sterling officer and a
+solid citizen, bowled and polished to a degree. But what do you expect
+me to do with these prisoners?"
+
+"That is for you to decide," declared the Captain. "You are the King."
+
+"To be sure; to be sure," muttered the cleaver, musingly. "As you say,
+we have had dull times since the steel and grindstone eloped and left
+us. Command my Counselors and the Royal Courtiers to attend me, as well
+as the High Priest and the Judge. We'll then decide what can be done."
+
+The Captain saluted and retired and Dorothy sat down on an overturned
+kettle and asked:
+
+"Have you anything to eat in your kingdom?"
+
+"Here! Get up! Get off from me!" cried a faint voice, at which his
+Majesty the cleaver said:
+
+"Excuse me, but you're sitting on my friend the Ten-quart Kettle."
+
+Dorothy at once arose, and the kettle turned right side up and looked at
+her reproachfully.
+
+"I'm a friend of the King, so no one dares sit on me," said he.
+
+"I'd prefer a chair, anyway," she replied.
+
+"Sit on that hearth," commanded the King.
+
+So Dorothy sat on the hearth-shelf of the big range, and the subjects of
+Utensia began to gather around in a large and inquisitive throng. Toto
+lay at Dorothy's feet and Billina flew upon the range, which had no fire
+in it, and perched there as comfortably as she could.
+
+When all the Counselors and Courtiers had assembled--and these seemed to
+include most of the inhabitants of the kingdom--the King rapped on the
+block for order and said:
+
+"Friends and Fellow Utensils! Our worthy Commander of the Spoon Brigade,
+Captain Dipp, has captured the three prisoners you see before you and
+brought them here for--for--I don't know what for. So I ask your advice
+how to act in this matter, and what fate I should mete out to these
+captives. Judge Sifter, stand on my right. It is your business to sift
+this affair to the bottom. High Priest Colender, stand on my left and
+see that no one testifies falsely in this matter."
+
+As these two officials took their places Dorothy asked:
+
+"Why is the colender the High Priest?"
+
+"He's the holiest thing we have in the kingdom," replied King Kleaver.
+
+"Except me," said a sieve. "I'm the whole thing when it comes to
+holes."
+
+"What we need," remarked the King, rebukingly, "is a wireless sieve. I
+must speak to Marconi about it. These old fashioned sieves talk too
+much. Now, it is the duty of the King's Counselors to counsel the King
+at all times of emergency, so I beg you to speak out and advise me what
+to do with these prisoners."
+
+"I demand that they be killed several times, until they are dead!"
+shouted a pepperbox, hopping around very excitedly.
+
+"Compose yourself, Mr. Paprica," advised the King. "Your remarks are
+piquant and highly-seasoned, but you need a scattering of commonsense.
+It is only necessary to kill a person once to make him dead; but I do
+not see that it is necessary to kill this little girl at all."
+
+"I don't, either," said Dorothy.
+
+"Pardon me, but you are not expected to advise me in this matter,"
+replied King Kleaver.
+
+"Why not?" asked Dorothy.
+
+"You might be prejudiced in your own favor, and so mislead us," he said.
+"Now then, good subjects, who speaks next?"
+
+"I'd like to smooth this thing over, in some way," said a flatiron,
+earnestly. "We are supposed to be useful to mankind, you know."
+
+"But the girl isn't mankind! She's womankind!" yelled a corkscrew.
+
+"What do you know about it?" inquired the King.
+
+"I'm a lawyer," said the corkscrew, proudly. "I am accustomed to appear
+at the bar."
+
+"But you're crooked," retorted the King, "and that debars you. You may
+be a corking good lawyer, Mr. Popp, but I must ask you to withdraw your
+remarks."
+
+"Very well," said the corkscrew, sadly; "I see I haven't any pull at
+this court."
+
+"Permit me," continued the flatiron, "to press my suit, your Majesty. I
+do not wish to gloss over any fault the prisoner may have committed, if
+such a fault exists; but we owe her some consideration, and that's
+flat!"
+
+"I'd like to hear from Prince Karver," said the King.
+
+At this a stately carvingknife stepped forward and bowed.
+
+"The Captain was wrong to bring this girl here, and she was wrong to
+come," he said. "But now that the foolish deed is done let us all prove
+our mettle and have a slashing good time."
+
+"That's it! that's it!" screamed a fat choppingknife. "We'll make
+mincemeat of the girl and hash of the chicken and sausage of the dog!"
+
+There was a shout of approval at this and the King had to rap again for
+order.
+
+"Gentlemen, gentlemen!" he said, "your remarks are somewhat cutting and
+rather disjointed, as might be expected from such acute intellects. But
+you give no reasons for your demands."
+
+"See here, Kleaver; you make me tired," exclaimed a saucepan, strutting
+before the King very impudently. "You're about the worst King that ever
+reigned in Utensia, and that's saying a good deal. Why don't you run
+things yourself, instead of asking everybody's advice, like the big,
+clumsy idiot you are?"
+
+The King sighed.
+
+"I wish there wasn't a saucepan in my kingdom," he said. "You fellows
+are always stewing, over something, and every once in a while you slop
+over and make a mess of it. Go hang yourself, sir--by the handle--and
+don't let me hear from you again."
+
+Dorothy was much shocked by the dreadful language the utensils employed,
+and she thought that they must have had very little proper training. So
+she said, addressing the King, who seemed very unfit to rule his
+turbulent subjects:
+
+"I wish you'd decide my fate right away. I can't stay here all day,
+trying to find out what you're going to do with me."
+
+"This thing is becoming a regular broil, and it's time I took part in
+it," observed a big gridiron, coming forward.
+
+"What I'd like to know," said a can-opener, in a shrill voice, "is why
+the girl came to our forest, anyhow, and why she intruded upon Captain
+Dipp--who ought to be called Dippy--and who she is, and where she came
+from, and where she is going, and why and wherefore and therefore and
+when."
+
+"I'm sorry to see, Sir Jabber," remarked the King to the can-opener,
+"that you have such a prying disposition. As a matter of fact, all the
+things you mention are none of our business."
+
+Having said this the King relighted his pipe, which had gone out.
+
+"Tell me, please, what _is_ our business?" inquired a potato-masher,
+winking at Dorothy somewhat impertinently. "I'm fond of little girls,
+myself, and it seems to me she has as much right to wander in the forest
+as we have."
+
+"Who accuses the little girl, anyway?" inquired a rolling-pin. "What has
+she done?"
+
+"I don't know," said the King. "What has she done, Captain Dipp?"
+
+"That's the trouble, your Majesty. She hasn't done anything," replied
+the Captain.
+
+"What do you want me to do?" asked Dorothy.
+
+This question seemed to puzzle them all. Finally a chafingdish,
+exclaimed, irritably:
+
+"If no one can throw any light on this subject you must excuse me if I
+go out."
+
+At this a big kitchen fork pricked up its ears and said in a tiny voice:
+
+"Let's hear from Judge Sifter."
+
+"That's proper," returned the King.
+
+So Judge Sifter turned around slowly several times and then said:
+
+"We have nothing against the girl except the stove-hearth upon which she
+sits. Therefore I order her instantly discharged."
+
+"Discharged!" cried Dorothy. "Why, I never was discharged in my life,
+and I don't intend to be. If its all the same to you, I'll resign."
+
+"It's all the same," declared the King. "You are free--you and your
+companions--and may go wherever you like."
+
+"Thank you," said the little girl. "But haven't you anything to eat in
+your kingdom? I'm hungry."
+
+"Go into the woods and pick blackberries," advised the King, lying down
+upon his back again and preparing to go to sleep. "There isn't a morsel
+to eat in all Utensia, that I know of."
+
+So Dorothy jumped up and said:
+
+"Come on, Toto and Billina. If we can't find the camp we may find some
+blackberries."
+
+The utensils drew back and allowed them to pass without protest,
+although Captain Dipp marched the Spoon Brigade in close order after
+them until they had reached the edge of the clearing.
+
+There the spoons halted; but Dorothy and her companions entered the
+forest again and began searching diligently for a way back to the camp,
+that they might rejoin their party.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+_How_ THEY CAME TO BUNBURY
+
+CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+Wandering through the woods, without knowing where you are going or what
+adventure you are about to meet next, is not as pleasant as one might
+think. The woods are always beautiful and impressive, and if you are not
+worried or hungry you may enjoy them immensely; but Dorothy was worried
+and hungry that morning, so she paid little attention to the beauties of
+the forest, and hurried along as fast as she could go. She tried to keep
+in one direction and not circle around, but she was not at all sure that
+the direction she had chosen would lead her to the camp.
+
+By and by, to her great joy, she came upon a path. It ran to the right
+and to the left, being lost in the trees in both directions, and just
+before her, upon a big oak, were fastened two signs, with arms pointing
+both ways. One sign read:
+
+[Illustration: (hand pointing right)] TAKE THE OTHER ROAD TO BUNBURY
+
+and the second sign read:
+
+[Illustration: (hand pointing right)] TAKE THE OTHER ROAD TO BUNNYBURY
+
+"Well!" exclaimed Billina, eyeing the signs, "this looks as if we were
+getting back to civilization again."
+
+"I'm not sure about the civil'zation, dear," replied the little girl;
+"but it looks as if we might get _somewhere_, and that's a big relief,
+anyhow."
+
+"Which path shall we take?" inquired the Yellow Hen.
+
+Dorothy stared at the signs thoughtfully.
+
+"Bunbury sounds like something to eat," she said. "Let's go there."
+
+"It's all the same to me," replied Billina. She had picked up enough
+bugs and insects from the moss as she went along to satisfy her own
+hunger, but the hen knew Dorothy could not eat bugs; nor could Toto.
+
+The path to Bunbury seemed little traveled, but it was distinct enough
+and ran through the trees in a zigzag course until it finally led them
+to an open space filled with the queerest houses Dorothy had ever seen.
+They were all made of crackers, laid out in tiny squares, and were of
+many pretty and ornamental shapes, having balconies and porches with
+posts of bread-sticks and roofs shingled with wafer-crackers.
+
+There were walks of bread-crusts leading from house to house and
+forming streets, and the place seemed to have many inhabitants.
+
+When Dorothy, followed by Billina and Toto, entered the place, they
+found people walking the streets or assembled in groups talking
+together, or sitting upon the porches and balconies.
+
+And what funny people they were!
+
+Men, women, and children were all made of buns and bread. Some were thin
+and others fat; some were white, some light brown and some very dark of
+complexion. A few of the buns, which seemed to form the more important
+class of the people, were neatly frosted. Some had raisins for eyes and
+currant buttons on their clothes; others had eyes of cloves and legs of
+stick cinnamon, and many wore hats and bonnets frosted pink and green.
+
+There was something of a commotion in Bunbury when the strangers
+suddenly appeared among them. Women caught up their children and hurried
+into their houses, shutting the cracker doors carefully behind them.
+Some men ran so hastily that they tumbled over one another, while
+others, more brave, assembled in a group and faced the intruders
+defiantly.
+
+Dorothy at once realized that she must act with caution in order not to
+frighten these shy people, who were evidently unused to the presence of
+strangers. There was a delightful fragrant odor of fresh bread in the
+town, and this made the little girl more hungry than ever. She told Toto
+and Billina to stay back while she slowly advanced toward the group that
+stood silently awaiting her.
+
+"You must 'scuse me for coming unexpected," she said, softly, "but I
+really didn't know I was coming here until I arrived. I was lost in the
+woods, you know, and I'm as hungry as anything."
+
+"Hungry!" they murmured, in a horrified chorus.
+
+"Yes; I haven't had anything to eat since last night's supper," she
+explained. "Are there any eatables in Bunbury?"
+
+They looked at one another undecidedly, and then one portly bun man, who
+seemed a person of consequence, stepped forward and said:
+
+"Little girl, to be frank with you, we are all eatables. Everything in
+Bunbury is eatable to ravenous human creatures like you. But it is to
+escape being eaten and destroyed that we have secluded ourselves in this
+out-of-the-way place, and there is neither right nor justice in your
+coming here to feed upon us."
+
+Dorothy looked at him longingly.
+
+"You're bread, aren't you?" she asked.
+
+"Yes; bread and butter. The butter is inside me, so it won't melt and
+run. I do the running myself."
+
+At this joke all the others burst into a chorus of laughter, and Dorothy
+thought they couldn't be much afraid if they could laugh like that.
+
+"Couldn't I eat something besides people?" she asked. "Couldn't I eat
+just one house, or a side-walk, or something? I wouldn't mind much what
+it was, you know."
+
+"This is not a public bakery, child," replied the man, sternly. "It's
+private property."
+
+"I know Mr.--Mr.--"
+
+"My name is C. Bunn, Esquire," said the man. "C stands for Cinnamon, and
+this place is called after my family, which is the most aristocratic in
+the town."
+
+"Oh, I don't know about that," objected another of the queer people.
+"The Grahams and the Browns and Whites are all excellent families, and
+there are none better of their kind. I'm a Boston Brown, myself."
+
+"I admit you are all desirable citizens," said Mr. Bunn, rather stiffly;
+"but the fact remains that our town is called Bunbury."
+
+"'Scuse me," interrupted Dorothy; "but I'm getting hungrier every
+minute. Now, if you're polite and kind, as I'm sure you ought to be,
+you'll let me eat _something_. There's so much to eat here that you
+never will miss it."
+
+Then a big, puffed-up man, of a delicate brown color, stepped forward
+and said:
+
+"I think it would be a shame to send this child away hungry, especially
+as she agrees to eat whatever we can spare and not touch our people."
+
+"So do I, Pop," replied a Roll who stood near.
+
+"What, then, do you suggest, Mr. Over?" inquired Mr. Bunn.
+
+"Why, I'll let her eat my back fence, if she wants to. It's made of
+waffles, and they're very crisp and nice."
+
+"She may also eat my wheelbarrow," added a pleasant looking Muffin.
+"It's made of nabiscos with a zuzu wheel."
+
+"Very good; very good," remarked Mr. Bunn. "That is certainly very kind
+of you. Go with Pop Over and Mr. Muffin, little girl, and they will feed
+you."
+
+"Thank you very much," said Dorothy, gratefully. "May I bring my dog
+Toto, and the Yellow Hen? They're hungry, too."
+
+"Will you make them behave?" asked the Muffin.
+
+"Of course," promised Dorothy.
+
+"Then come along," said Pop Over.
+
+So Dorothy and Billina and Toto walked up the street and the people
+seemed no longer to be at all afraid of them. Mr. Muffin's house came
+first, and as his wheelbarrow stood in the front yard the little girl
+ate that first. It didn't seem very fresh, but she was so hungry that
+she was not particular. Toto ate some, too, while Billina picked up the
+crumbs.
+
+While the strangers were engaged in eating, many of the people came and
+stood in the street curiously watching them. Dorothy noticed six roguish
+looking brown children standing all in a row, and she asked:
+
+"Who are you, little ones?"
+
+"We're the Graham Gems," replied one; "and we're all twins."
+
+"I wonder if your mother could spare one or two of you?" asked Billina,
+who decided that they were fresh baked; but at this dangerous question
+the six little gems ran away as fast as they could go.
+
+"You mustn't say such things, Billina," said Dorothy, reprovingly. "Now
+let's go into Pop Over's back yard and get the waffles."
+
+"I sort of hate to let that fence go," remarked Mr. Over, nervously, as
+they walked toward his house. "The neighbors back of us are Soda
+Biscuits, and I don't care to mix with them."
+
+"But I'm hungry yet," declared the girl. "That wheelbarrow wasn't very
+big."
+
+"I've got a shortcake piano, but none of my family can play on it," he
+said, reflectively. "Suppose you eat that."
+
+"All right," said Dorothy; "I don't mind. Anything to be accomodating."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+So Mr. Over led her into the house, where she ate the piano, which was
+of an excellent flavor.
+
+"Is there anything to drink here?" she asked.
+
+"Yes; I've a milk pump and a water pump; which will you have?" he asked.
+
+"I guess I'll try 'em both," said Dorothy.
+
+So Mr. Over called to his wife, who brought into the yard a pail made of
+some kind of baked dough, and Dorothy pumped the pail full of cool,
+sweet milk and drank it eagerly.
+
+The wife of Pop Over was several shades darker than her husband.
+
+"Aren't you overdone?" the little girl asked her.
+
+"No indeed," answered the woman. "I'm neither overdone nor done over;
+I'm just Mrs. Over, and I'm the President of the Bunbury Breakfast
+Band."
+
+Dorothy thanked them for their hospitality and went away. At the gate
+Mr. Cinnamon Bunn met her and said he would show her around the town.
+
+"We have some very interesting inhabitants," he remarked, walking
+stiffly beside her on his stick-cinnamon legs; "and all of us who are in
+good health are well bred. If you are no longer hungry we will call upon
+a few of the most important citizens."
+
+Toto and Billina followed behind them, behaving very well, and a little
+way down the street they came to a handsome residence where Aunt Sally
+Lunn lived. The old lady was glad to meet the little girl and gave her a
+slice of white bread and butter which had been used as a door-mat. It
+was almost fresh and tasted better than anything Dorothy had eaten in
+the town.
+
+"Where do you get the butter?" she inquired.
+
+"We dig it out of the ground, which, as you may have observed, is all
+flour and meal," replied Mr. Bunn. "There is a butter mine just at the
+opposite side of the village. The trees which you see here are all
+doughleanders and doughderas, and in the season we get quite a crop of
+dough-nuts off them."
+
+"I should think the flour would blow around and get into your eyes,"
+said Dorothy.
+
+"No," said he; "we are bothered with cracker dust sometimes, but never
+with flour."
+
+Then he took her to see Johnny Cake, a cheerful old gentleman who lived
+near by.
+
+"I suppose you've heard of me," said old Johnny, with an air of pride.
+"I'm a great favorite all over the world."
+
+"Aren't you rather yellow?" asked Dorothy, looking at him critically.
+
+"Maybe, child. But don't think I'm bilious, for I was never in better
+health in my life," replied the old gentleman. "If anything ailed me,
+I'd willingly acknowledge the corn."
+
+"Johnny's a trifle stale," said Mr. Bunn, as they went away; "but he's a
+good mixer and never gets cross-grained. I will now take you to call
+upon some of my own relatives."
+
+They visited the Sugar Bunns, the Currant Bunns and the Spanish Bunns,
+the latter having a decidedly foreign appearance. Then they saw the
+French Rolls, who were very polite to them, and made a brief call upon
+the Parker H. Rolls, who seemed a bit proud and overbearing.
+
+"But they're not as stuck up as the Frosted Jumbles," declared Mr. Bunn,
+"who are people I really can't abide. I don't like to be suspicious or
+talk scandal, but sometimes I think the Jumbles have too much baking
+powder in them."
+
+Just then a dreadful scream was heard, and Dorothy turned hastily around
+to find a scene of great excitement a little way down the street. The
+people were crowding around Toto and throwing at him everything they
+could find at hand. They pelted the little dog with hard-tack, crackers,
+and even articles of furniture which were hard baked and heavy enough
+for missiles.
+
+Toto howled a little as the assortment of bake stuff struck him; but he
+stood still, with head bowed and tail between his legs, until Dorothy
+ran up and inquired what the matter was.
+
+"Matter!" cried a rye loafer, indignantly, "why the horrid beast has
+eaten three of our dear Crumpets, and is now devouring a Salt-rising
+Biscuit!"
+
+"Oh, Toto! How could you?" exclaimed Dorothy, much distressed.
+
+Toto's mouth was full of his salt-rising victim; so he only whined and
+wagged his tail. But Billina, who had flown to the top of a cracker
+house to be in a safe place, called out:
+
+"Don't blame him, Dorothy; the Crumpets dared him to do it."
+
+"Yes, and you pecked out the eyes of a Raisin Bunn--one of our best
+citizens!" shouted a bread pudding, shaking its fist at the Yellow Hen.
+
+"What's that! What's that?" wailed Mr. Cinnamon Bunn, who had now joined
+them. "Oh, what a misfortune--what a terrible misfortune!"
+
+"See here," said Dorothy, determined to defend her pets, "I think we've
+treated you all pretty well, seeing you're eatables, an' reg'lar food
+for us. I've been kind to you, and eaten your old wheelbarrows and
+pianos and rubbish, an' not said a word. But Toto and Billina can't be
+'spected to go hungry when the town's full of good things they like to
+eat, 'cause they can't understand your stingy ways as I do."
+
+"You must leave here at once!" said Mr. Bunn, sternly.
+
+"Suppose we won't go?" asked Dorothy, who was now much provoked.
+
+"Then," said he, "we will put you into the great ovens where we are
+made, and bake you."
+
+Dorothy gazed around and saw threatening looks upon the faces of all.
+She had not noticed any ovens in the town, but they might be there,
+nevertheless, for some of the inhabitants seemed very fresh. So she
+decided to go, and calling to Toto and Billina to follow her she marched
+up the street with as much dignity as possible, considering that she was
+followed by the hoots and cries of the buns and biscuits and other bake
+stuff.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+_How_ OZMA LOOKED INTO THE MAGIC PICTURE
+
+CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+Princess Ozma was a very busy little ruler, for she looked carefully
+after the comfort and welfare of her people and tried to make them
+happy. If any quarrels arose she decided them justly; if any one needed
+counsel or advice she was ready and willing to listen to them.
+
+For a day or two after Dorothy and her companions had started on their
+trip, Ozma was occupied with the affairs of her kingdom. Then she began
+to think of some manner of occupation for Uncle Henry and Aunt Em that
+would be light and easy and yet give the old people something to do.
+
+She soon decided to make Uncle Henry the Keeper of the Jewels, for some
+one really was needed to count and look after the bins and barrels of
+emeralds, diamonds, rubies and other precious stones that were in the
+Royal Storehouses. That would keep Uncle Henry busy enough, but it was
+harder to find something for Aunt Em to do. The palace was full of
+servants, so there was no detail of housework that Aunt Em could look
+after.
+
+While Ozma sat in her pretty room engaged in thought she happened to
+glance at her Magic Picture.
+
+This was one of the most important treasures in all the Land of Oz. It
+was a large picture, set in a beautiful gold frame, and it hung in a
+prominent place upon a wall of Ozma's private room.
+
+Usually this picture seemed merely a country scene, but whenever Ozma
+looked at it and wished to know what any of her friends or acquaintances
+were doing, the magic of this wonderful picture was straightway
+disclosed. For the country scene would gradually fade away and in its
+place would appear the likeness of the person or persons Ozma might wish
+to see, surrounded by the actual scenes in which they were then placed.
+In this way the Princess could view any part of the world she wished,
+and watch the actions of any one in whom she was interested.
+
+Ozma had often seen Dorothy in her Kansas home by this means, and now,
+having a little leisure, she expressed a desire to see her little friend
+again. It was while the travelers were at Fuddlecumjig, and Ozma laughed
+merrily as she watched in the picture her friends trying to match the
+pieces of Grandmother Gnit.
+
+"They seem happy and are doubtless having a good time," the girl Ruler
+said to herself; and then she began to think of the many adventures she
+herself had encountered with Dorothy.
+
+The images of her friends now faded from the Magic Picture and the old
+landscape slowly reappeared.
+
+Ozma was thinking of the time when with Dorothy and her army she marched
+to the Nome King's underground cavern, beyond the Land of Ev, and forced
+the old monarch to liberate his captives, who belonged to the Royal
+Family of Ev. That was the time when the Scarecrow nearly frightened the
+Nome King into fits by throwing one of Billina's eggs at him, and
+Dorothy had captured King Roquat's Magic Belt and brought it away with
+her to the Land of Oz.
+
+The pretty Princess smiled at the recollection of this adventure, and
+then she wondered what had become of the Nome King since then. Merely
+because she was curious and had nothing better to do, Ozma glanced at
+the Magic Picture and wished to see in it the King of the Nomes.
+
+Roquat the Red went every day into his tunnel to see how the work was
+getting along and to hurry his workmen as much as possible. He was there
+now, and Ozma saw him plainly in the Magic Picture.
+
+She saw the underground tunnel, reaching far underneath the Deadly
+Desert which separated the Land of Oz from the mountains beneath which
+the Nome King had his extensive caverns. She saw that the tunnel was
+being made in the direction of the Emerald City, and knew at once it was
+being dug so that the army of Nomes could march through it and attack
+her own beautiful and peaceful country.
+
+"I suppose King Roquat is planning revenge against us," she said,
+musingly, "and thinks he can surprise us and make us his captives and
+slaves. How sad it is that any one can have such wicked thoughts! But I
+must not blame King Roquat too severely, for he is a Nome, and his
+nature is not so gentle as my own."
+
+Then she dismissed from her mind further thought of the tunnel, for that
+time, and began to wonder if Aunt Em would not be happy as Royal Mender
+of the Stockings of the Ruler of Oz. Ozma wore few holes in her
+stockings; still, they sometimes needed mending. Aunt Em ought to be
+able to do that very nicely.
+
+Next day the Princess watched the tunnel again in her Magic Picture, and
+every day afterward she devoted a few minutes to inspecting the work. It
+was not especially interesting, but she felt that it was her duty.
+
+Slowly but surely the big arched hole crept through the rocks underneath
+the deadly desert, and day by day it drew nearer and nearer to the
+Emerald City.
+
+
+
+
+_How_ BUNNYBURY WELCOMED THE STRANGERS
+
+CHAPTER NINETEEN
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+Dorothy left Bunbury the same way she had entered it and when they were
+in the forest again she said to Billina:
+
+"I never thought that things good to eat could be so dis'gree'ble."
+
+"Often I've eaten things that tasted good but were disagreeable
+afterward," returned the Yellow Hen. "I think, Dorothy, if eatables are
+going to act badly, it's better before than after you eat them."
+
+"P'raps you're right," said the little girl, with a sigh. "But what
+shall we do now?"
+
+"Let us follow the path back to the signpost," suggested Billina. "That
+will be better than getting lost again."
+
+"Why, we're lost anyhow," declared Dorothy; "but I guess you're right
+about going back to that signpost, Billina."
+
+They returned along the path to the place where they had first found it,
+and at once took "the other road" to Bunnybury. This road was a mere
+narrow strip, worn hard and smooth but not wide enough for Dorothy's
+feet to tread. Still it was a guide, and the walking through the forest
+was not at all difficult.
+
+Before long they reached a high wall of solid white marble, and the path
+came to an end at this wall.
+
+At first Dorothy thought there was no opening at all in the marble, but
+on looking closely she discovered a small square door about on a level
+with her head, and underneath this closed door was a bell-push. Near the
+bell-push a sign was painted in neat letters upon the marble, and the
+sign read:
+
+    _No Admittance
+    Except on Business_
+
+This did not discourage Dorothy, however, and she rang the bell.
+
+Pretty soon a bolt was cautiously withdrawn and the marble door swung
+slowly open. Then she saw it was not really a door, but a window, for
+several brass bars were placed across it, being set fast in the marble
+and so close together that the little girl's fingers might barely go
+between them. Back of the bars appeared the face of a white rabbit--a
+very sober and sedate face--with an eye-glass held in his left eye and
+attached to a cord in his button-hole.
+
+"Well! what is it?" asked the rabbit, sharply.
+
+"I'm Dorothy," said the girl, "and I'm lost, and--"
+
+"State your business, please," interrupted the rabbit.
+
+"My business," she replied, "is to find out where I am, and to--"
+
+"No one is allowed in Bunnybury without an order or a letter of
+introduction from either Ozma of Oz or Glinda the Good," announced the
+rabbit; "so that that settles the matter," and he started to close the
+window.
+
+"Wait a minute!" cried Dorothy. "I've got a letter from Ozma."
+
+"From the Ruler of Oz?" asked the rabbit, doubtingly.
+
+"Of course. Ozma's my best friend, you know; and I'm a Princess myself,"
+she announced, earnestly.
+
+"Hum--ha! Let me see your letter," returned the rabbit, as if he still
+doubted her.
+
+So she hunted in her pocket and found the letter Ozma had given her.
+Then she handed it through the bars to the rabbit, who took it in his
+paws and opened it. He read it aloud in a pompous voice, as if to let
+Dorothy and Billina see that he was educated and could read writing. The
+letter was as follows:
+
+"It will please me to have my subjects greet Princess Dorothy, the
+bearer of this royal missive, with the same courtesy and consideration
+they would extend to me."
+
+"Ha--hum! It is signed 'Ozma of Oz,'" continued the rabbit, "and is
+sealed with the Great Seal of the Emerald City. Well, well, well! How
+strange! How remarkable!"
+
+"What are you going to do about it?" inquired Dorothy, impatiently.
+
+"We must obey the royal mandate," replied the rabbit. "We are subjects
+of Ozma of Oz, and we live in her country. Also we are under the
+protection of the great Sorceress Glinda the Good, who made us promise
+to respect Ozma's commands."
+
+"Then may I come in?" she asked.
+
+"I'll open the door," said the rabbit. He shut the window and
+disappeared, but a moment afterward a big door in the wall opened and
+admitted Dorothy to a small room, which seemed to be a part of the wall
+and built into it.
+
+Here stood the rabbit she had been talking with, and now that she could
+see all of him she gazed at the creature in surprise. He was a good
+sized white rabbit with pink eyes, much like all other white rabbits.
+But the astonishing thing about him was the manner in which he was
+dressed. He wore a white satin jacket embroidered with gold, and having
+diamond buttons. His vest was rose-colored satin, with tourmaline
+buttons. His trousers were white, to correspond with the jacket, and
+they were baggy at the knees--like those of a zouave--being tied with
+knots of rose ribbons. His shoes were of white plush with diamond
+buckles, and his stockings were rose silk.
+
+The richness and even magnificence of the rabbit's clothing made Dorothy
+stare at the little creature wonderingly. Toto and Billina had followed
+her into the room and when he saw them the rabbit ran to a table and
+sprang upon it nimbly. Then he looked at the three through his monocle
+and said:
+
+"These companions, Princess, cannot enter Bunnybury with you."
+
+"Why not?" asked Dorothy.
+
+"In the first place they would frighten our people, who dislike dogs
+above all things on earth; and, secondly, the letter of the Royal Ozma
+does not mention them."
+
+"But they're my friends," persisted Dorothy, "and go wherever I go."
+
+"Not this time," said the rabbit, decidedly. "You, yourself, Princess,
+are a welcome visitor, since you come so highly recommended; but unless
+you consent to leave the dog and the hen in this room I cannot permit
+you to enter the town."
+
+"Never mind us, Dorothy," said Billina. "Go inside and see what the
+place is like. You can tell us about it afterward, and Toto and I will
+rest comfortably here until you return."
+
+This seemed the best thing to do, for Dorothy was curious to see how the
+rabbit people lived and she was aware of the fact that her friends might
+frighten the timid little creatures. She had not forgotten how Toto and
+Billina had misbehaved in Bunbury, and perhaps the rabbit was wise to
+insist on their staying outside the town.
+
+"Very well," she said, "I'll go in alone. I s'pose you're the King of
+this town, aren't you?"
+
+"No," answered the rabbit, "I'm merely the Keeper of the Wicket, and a
+person of little importance, although I try to do my duty. I must now
+inform you, Princess, that before you enter our town you must consent to
+reduce."
+
+"Reduce what?" asked Dorothy.
+
+"Your size. You must become the size of the rabbits, although you may
+retain your own form."
+
+"Wouldn't my clothes be too big for me?" she inquired.
+
+"No; they will reduce when your body does."
+
+"Can _you_ make me smaller?" asked the girl.
+
+"Easily," returned the rabbit.
+
+"And will you make me big again, when I'm ready to go away?"
+
+"I will," said he.
+
+"All right, then; I'm willing," she announced.
+
+The rabbit jumped from the table and ran--or rather hopped--to the
+further wall, where he opened a door so tiny that even Toto could
+scarcely have crawled through it.
+
+"Follow me," he said.
+
+Now, almost any other little girl would have declared that she could not
+get through so small a door; but Dorothy had already encountered so many
+fairy adventures that she believed nothing was impossible in the Land of
+Oz. So she quietly walked toward the door, and at every step she grew
+smaller and smaller until, by the time the opening was reached, she
+could pass through it with ease. Indeed, as she stood beside the rabbit,
+who sat upon his hind legs and used his paws as hands, her head was just
+about as high as his own.
+
+Then the Keeper of the Wicket passed through and she followed, after
+which the door swung shut and locked itself with a sharp click.
+
+Dorothy now found herself in a city so strange and beautiful that she
+gave a gasp of surprise. The high marble wall extended all around the
+place and shut out all the rest of the world. And here were marble
+houses of curious forms, most of them resembling overturned kettles but
+with delicate slender spires and minarets running far up into the sky.
+The streets were paved with white marble and in front of each house was
+a lawn of rich green clover. Everything was as neat as wax, the green
+and white contrasting prettily together.
+
+But the rabbit people were, after all, the most amazing things Dorothy
+saw. The streets were full of them, and their costumes were so splendid
+that the rich dress of the Keeper of the Wicket was commonplace when
+compared with the others. Silks and satins of delicate hues seemed
+always used for material, and nearly every costume sparkled with
+exquisite gems.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+But the lady rabbits outshone the gentlemen rabbits in splendor, and
+the cut of their gowns was really wonderful. They wore bonnets, too,
+with feathers and jewels in them, and some wheeled baby carriages in
+which the girl could see wee bunnies. Some were lying asleep while
+others lay sucking their paws and looking around them with big pink
+eyes.
+
+As Dorothy was no bigger in size than the grown-up rabbits she had a
+chance to observe them closely before they noticed her presence. Then
+they did not seem at all alarmed, although the little girl naturally
+became the center of attraction and all regarded her with great
+curiosity.
+
+"Make way!" cried the Keeper of the Wicket, in a pompous voice; "make
+way for Princess Dorothy, who comes from Ozma of Oz."
+
+Hearing this announcement, the throng of rabbits gave place to them on
+the walks, and as Dorothy passed along they all bowed their heads
+respectfully.
+
+Walking thus through several handsome streets they came to a square in
+the center of the City. In this square were some pretty trees and a
+statue in bronze of Glinda the Good, while beyond it were the portals of
+the Royal Palace--an extensive and imposing building of white marble
+covered with a filigree of frosted gold.
+
+
+
+
+_How_ DOROTHY LUNCHED WITH A KING
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+A line of rabbit soldiers was drawn up before the palace entrance, and
+they wore green and gold uniforms with high shakos upon their heads and
+held tiny spears in their hands. The Captain had a sword and a white
+plume in his shako.
+
+"Salute!" cried the Keeper of the Wicket. "Salute Princess Dorothy, who
+comes from Ozma of Oz!"
+
+"Salute!" yelled the Captain, and all the soldiers promptly saluted.
+
+They now entered the great hall of the palace, where they met a gaily
+dressed attendant, from whom the Keeper of the Wicket inquired if the
+King were at leisure.
+
+"I think so," was the reply. "I heard his Majesty blubbering and wailing
+as usual only a few minutes ago. If he doesn't stop acting like a
+cry-baby I'm going to resign my position here and go to work."
+
+"What's the matter with your King?" asked Dorothy, surprised to hear the
+rabbit attendant speak so disrespectfully of his monarch.
+
+"Oh, he doesn't want to be King, that's all; and he simply _has_ to,"
+was the reply.
+
+"Come!" said the Keeper of the Wicket, sternly; "lead us to his Majesty;
+and do not air our troubles before strangers, I beg of you."
+
+"Why, if this girl is going to see the King, he'll air his own
+troubles," returned the attendant.
+
+"That is his royal privilege," declared the Keeper.
+
+So the attendant led them into a room all draped with cloth-of-gold and
+furnished with satin-covered gold furniture. There was a throne in this
+room, set on a dais and having a big cushioned seat, and on this seat
+reclined the Rabbit King. He was lying on his back, with his paws in the
+air, and whining very like a puppy-dog.
+
+"Your Majesty! your Majesty! Get up. Here's a visitor," called out the
+attendant.
+
+The King rolled over and looked at Dorothy with one watery pink eye.
+Then he sat up and wiped his eyes carefully with a silk handkerchief and
+put on his jeweled crown, which had fallen off.
+
+"Excuse my grief, fair stranger," he said, in a sad voice. "You behold
+in me the most miserable monarch in all the world. What time is it,
+Blinkem?"
+
+"One o'clock, your Majesty," replied the attendant to whom the question
+was addressed.
+
+"Serve luncheon at once!" commanded the King. "Luncheon for two--that's
+for my visitor and me--and see that the human has some sort of food
+she's accustomed to."
+
+"Yes, your Majesty," answered the attendant, and went away.
+
+"Tie my shoe, Bristle," said the King to the Keeper of the Wicket. "Ah,
+me! how unhappy I am!"
+
+"What seems to be worrying your Majesty?" asked Dorothy.
+
+"Why, it's this king business, of course," he returned, while the Keeper
+tied his shoe. "I didn't want to be King of Bunnybury at all, and the
+rabbits all knew it. So they elected me--to save themselves from such a
+dreadful fate, I suppose--and here I am, shut up in a palace, when I
+might be free and happy."
+
+"Seems to me," said Dorothy, "it's a great thing to be a King."
+
+"Were you ever a King?" inquired the monarch.
+
+"No," she answered, laughing.
+
+"Then you know nothing about it," he said. "I haven't inquired who you
+are, but it doesn't matter. While we're at luncheon, I'll tell you all
+my troubles. They're a great deal more interesting than anything you can
+say about yourself."
+
+"Perhaps they are, to you," replied Dorothy.
+
+"Luncheon is served!" cried Blinkem, throwing open the door, and in came
+a dozen rabbits in livery, all bearing trays which they placed upon the
+table, where they arranged the dishes in an orderly manner.
+
+"Now clear out--all of you!" exclaimed the King. "Bristle, you may wait
+outside, in case I want you."
+
+When they had gone and the King was alone with Dorothy he came down from
+his throne, tossed his crown into a corner and kicked his ermine robe
+under the table.
+
+"Sit down," he said, "and try to be happy. It's useless for me to try,
+because I'm always wretched and miserable. But I'm hungry, and I hope
+you are."
+
+"I am," said Dorothy. "I've only eaten a wheelbarrow and a piano
+to-day--oh, yes! and a slice of bread and butter that used to be a
+door-mat."
+
+"That sounds like a square meal," remarked the King, seating himself
+opposite her; "but perhaps it wasn't a square piano. Eh?"
+
+Dorothy laughed.
+
+"You don't seem so very unhappy now," she said.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"But I am," protested the King, fresh tears gathering in his eyes. "Even
+my jokes are miserable. I'm wretched, woeful, afflicted, distressed and
+dismal as an individual can be. Are you not sorry for me?"
+
+"No," answered Dorothy, honestly, "I can't say I am. Seems to me that
+for a rabbit you 're right in clover. This is the prettiest little city
+I ever saw."
+
+"Oh, the city is good enough," he admitted. "Glinda, the Good Sorceress,
+made it for us because she was fond of rabbits. I don't mind the City so
+much, although I wouldn't live here if I had my choice. It is being King
+that has absolutely ruined my happiness."
+
+"Why wouldn't you live here by choice?" she asked.
+
+"Because it is all unnatural, my dear. Rabbits are out of place in such
+luxury. When I was young I lived in a burrow in the forest. I was
+surrounded by enemies and often had to run for my life. It was hard
+getting enough to eat, at times, and when I found a bunch of clover I
+had to listen and look for danger while I ate it. Wolves prowled around
+the hole in which I lived and sometimes I didn't dare stir out for days
+at a time. Oh, how happy and contented I was then! I was a real rabbit,
+as nature made me--wild and free!--and I even enjoyed listening to the
+startled throbbing of my own heart!"
+
+"I've often thought," said Dorothy, who was busily eating, "that it
+would be fun to be a rabbit."
+
+"It _is_ fun--when you're the genuine article," agreed his Majesty. "But
+look at me now! I live in a marble palace instead of a hole in the
+ground. I have all I want to eat, without the joy of hunting for it.
+Every day I must dress in fine clothes and wear that horrible crown till
+it makes my head ache. Rabbits come to me with all sorts of troubles,
+when my own troubles are the only ones I care about. When I walk out I
+can't hop and run; I must strut on my rear legs and wear an ermine robe!
+And the soldiers salute me and the band plays and the other rabbits
+laugh and clap their paws and cry out: 'Hail to the King!' Now let me
+ask you, as a friend and a young lady of good judgment: isn't all this
+pomp and foolishness enough to make a decent rabbit miserable?"
+
+"Once," said Dorothy, reflectively, "men were wild and unclothed and
+lived in caves and hunted for food as wild beasts do. But they got
+civ'lized, in time, and now they'd hate to go back to the old days."
+
+"That is an entirely different case," replied the King. "None of you
+Humans were civilized in one lifetime. It came to you by degrees. But I
+have known the forest and the free life, and that is why I resent being
+civilized all at once, against my will, and being made a King with a
+crown and an ermine robe. Pah!"
+
+"If you don't like it, why don't you resign?" she asked.
+
+"Impossible!" wailed the Rabbit, wiping his eyes again with his
+handkerchief. "There's a beastly law in this town that forbids it. When
+one is elected a King there's no getting out of it."
+
+"Who made the laws?" inquired Dorothy.
+
+"The same Sorceress who made the town--Glinda the Good. She built the
+wall, and fixed up the City, and gave us several valuable enchantments,
+and made the laws. Then she invited all the pink-eyed white rabbits of
+the forest to come here, after which she left us to our fate."
+
+"What made you 'cept the invitation, and come here?" asked the child.
+
+"I didn't know how dreadful city life was, and I'd no idea I would be
+elected King," said he, sobbing bitterly. "And--and--now I'm It--with a
+capital I--and can't escape!"
+
+"I know Glinda," remarked Dorothy, eating for dessert a dish of
+charlotte russe, "and when I see her again I'll ask her to put another
+King in your place."
+
+"Will you? Will you, indeed?" asked the King, joyfully.
+
+"I will if you want me to," she replied.
+
+"Hurroo--hurray!" shouted the King; and then he jumped up from the table
+and danced wildly about the room, waving his napkin like a flag and
+laughing with glee.
+
+After a time he managed to control his delight and returned to the
+table.
+
+"When are you likely to see Glinda?" he inquired.
+
+"Oh, p'raps in a few days," said Dorothy.
+
+"And you won't forget to ask her?"
+
+"Of course not."
+
+"Princess," said the Rabbit King, earnestly, "you have relieved me of a
+great unhappiness, and I am very grateful. Therefore I propose to
+entertain you, since you are my guest and I am the King, as a slight
+mark of my appreciation. Come with me to my reception hall."
+
+He then summoned Bristle and said to him: "Assemble all the nobility in
+the great reception hall, and also tell Blinkem that I want him
+immediately."
+
+The Keeper of the Wicket bowed and hurried away, and his Majesty turned
+to Dorothy and continued: "We'll have time for a walk in the gardens
+before the people get here."
+
+The gardens were back of the palace and were filled with beautiful
+flowers and fragrant shrubs, with many shade and fruit trees and marble
+paved walks running in every direction. As they entered this place
+Blinkem came running to the King, who gave him several orders in a low
+voice. Then his Majesty rejoined Dorothy and led her through the
+gardens, which she admired very much.
+
+"What lovely clothes your Majesty wears!" she said, glancing at the rich
+blue satin costume, embroidered with pearls, in which the King was
+dressed.
+
+"Yes," he returned, with an air of pride, "this is one of my favorite
+suits; but I have a good many that are even more elaborate. We have
+excellent tailors in Bunnybury, and Glinda supplies all the material. By
+the way, you might ask the Sorceress, when you see her, to permit me to
+keep my wardrobe."
+
+"But if you go back to the forest you will not need clothes," she said.
+
+"N--o!" he faltered; "that may be so. But I've dressed up so long that
+I'm used to it, and I don't imagine I'd care to run around naked again.
+So perhaps the Good Glinda will let me keep the costumes."
+
+"I'll ask her," agreed Dorothy.
+
+Then they left the gardens and went into a fine big reception hall,
+where rich rugs were spread upon the tiled floors and the furniture was
+exquisitely carved and studded with jewels. The King's chair was an
+especially pretty piece of furniture, being in the shape of a silver
+lily with one leaf bent over to form the seat. The silver was
+everywhere thickly encrusted with diamonds and the seat was upholstered
+in white satin.
+
+"Oh, what a splendid chair!" cried Dorothy, clasping her hands
+admiringly.
+
+"Isn't it?" answered the King, proudly. "It is my favorite seat, and I
+think it especially becoming to my complexion. While I think of it, I
+wish you'd ask Glinda to let me keep this lily chair when I go away."
+
+"It wouldn't look very well in a hole in the ground, would it?" she
+suggested.
+
+"Maybe not; but I'm used to sitting in it and I'd like to take it with
+me," he answered. "But here come the ladies and gentlemen of the court;
+so please sit beside me and be presented."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+_How_ THE KING CHANGED HIS MIND
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+Just then a rabbit band of nearly fifty pieces marched in, playing upon
+golden instruments and dressed in neat uniforms. Following the band came
+the nobility of Bunnybury, all richly dressed and hopping along on their
+rear legs. Both the ladies and the gentlemen wore white gloves upon
+their paws, with their rings on the outside of the gloves, as this
+seemed to be the fashion here. Some of the lady rabbits carried
+lorgnettes, while many of the gentlemen rabbits wore monocles in their
+left eyes.
+
+The courtiers and their ladies paraded past the King, who introduced
+Princess Dorothy to each couple in a very graceful manner. Then the
+company seated themselves in chairs and on sofas and looked expectantly
+at their monarch.
+
+"It is our royal duty, as well as our royal pleasure," he said, "to
+provide fitting entertainment for our distinguished guest. We will now
+present the Royal Band of Whiskered Friskers."
+
+As he spoke the musicians, who had arranged themselves in a corner,
+struck up a dance melody while into the room pranced the Whiskered
+Friskers. They were eight pretty rabbits dressed only in gauzy purple
+skirts fastened around their waists with diamond bands. Their whiskers
+were colored a rich purple, but otherwise they were pure white.
+
+After bowing before the King and Dorothy the Friskers began their
+pranks, and these were so comical that Dorothy laughed with real
+enjoyment. They not only danced together, whirling and gyrating around
+the room, but they leaped over one another, stood upon their heads and
+hopped and skipped here and there so nimbly that it was hard work to
+keep track of them. Finally they all made double somersaults and turned
+handsprings out of the room.
+
+The nobility enthusiastically applauded, and Dorothy applauded with
+them.
+
+"They're fine!" she said to the King.
+
+"Yes, the Whiskered Friskers are really very clever," he replied. "I
+shall hate to part with them when I go away, for they have often amused
+me when I was very miserable. I wonder if you would ask Glinda--"
+
+"No, it wouldn't do at all," declared Dorothy, positively. "There
+wouldn't be room in your hole in the ground for so many rabbits,
+'spec'ly when you get the lily chair and your clothes there. Don't think
+of such a thing, your Majesty."
+
+The King sighed. Then he stood up and announced to the company:
+
+"We will now behold a military drill by my picked Bodyguard of Royal
+Pikemen."
+
+Now the band played a march and a company of rabbit soldiers came in.
+They wore green and gold uniforms and marched very stiffly but in
+perfect time. Their spears, or pikes, had slender shafts of polished
+silver with golden heads, and during the drill they handled these
+weapons with wonderful dexterity.
+
+"I should think you'd feel pretty safe with such a fine Bodyguard,"
+remarked Dorothy.
+
+"I do," said the King. "They protect me from every harm. I suppose
+Glinda wouldn't--"
+
+"No," interrupted the girl; "I'm sure she wouldn't. It's the King's own
+Bodyguard, and when you are no longer King you can't have 'em."
+
+The King did not reply, but he looked rather sorrowful for a time.
+
+When the soldiers had marched out he said to the company:
+
+"The Royal Jugglers will now appear."
+
+Dorothy had seen many jugglers in her lifetime, but never any so
+interesting as these. There were six of them, dressed in black satin
+embroidered with queer symbols in silver--a costume which contrasted
+strongly with their snow-white fur.
+
+First they pushed in a big red ball and three of the rabbit jugglers
+stood upon its top and made it roll. Then two of them caught up a third
+and tossed him into the air, all vanishing, until only the two were
+left. Then one of these tossed the other upward and remained alone of
+all his fellows. This last juggler now touched the red ball, which fell
+apart, being hollow, and the five rabbits who had disappeared in the air
+scrambled out of the hollow ball.
+
+Next they all clung together and rolled swiftly upon the floor. When
+they came to a stop only one fat rabbit juggler was seen, the others
+seeming to be inside him. This one leaped lightly into the air and when
+he came down he exploded and separated into the original six. Then four
+of them rolled themselves into round balls and the other two tossed them
+around and played ball with them.
+
+These were but a few of the tricks the rabbit jugglers performed, and
+they were so skillful that all the nobility and even the King applauded
+as loudly as did Dorothy.
+
+"I suppose there are no rabbit jugglers in all the world to compare with
+these," remarked the King. "And since I may not have the Whiskered
+Friskers or my Bodyguard, you might ask Glinda to let me take away just
+two or three of these jugglers. Will you?"
+
+"I'll ask her," replied Dorothy, doubtfully.
+
+"Thank you," said the King; "thank you very much. And now you shall
+listen to the Winsome Waggish Warblers, who have often cheered me in my
+moments of anguish."
+
+The Winsome Waggish Warblers proved to be a quartette of rabbit singers,
+two gentlemen and two lady rabbits. The gentlemen Warblers wore
+full-dress swallow-tailed suits of white satin, with pearls for buttons,
+while the lady Warblers were gowned in white satin dresses with long
+trails.
+
+The first song they sang began in this way:
+
+        "When a rabbit gets a habit
+          Of living in a city
+        And wearing clothes and furbelows
+          And jewels rare and pretty,
+        He scorns the Bun who has to run
+          And burrow in the ground
+        And pities those whose watchful foes
+          Are man and gun and hound."
+
+Dorothy looked at the King when she heard this song and noticed that he
+seemed disturbed and ill at ease.
+
+"I don't like that song," he said to the Warblers. "Give us something
+jolly and rollicking."
+
+So they sang to a joyous, tinkling melody as follows:
+
+            "Bunnies gay
+            Delight to play
+        In their fairy town secure;
+            Ev'ry frisker
+            Flirts his whisker
+        At a pink-eyed girl demure.
+            Ev'ry maid
+            In silk arrayed
+        At her partner shyly glances,
+            Paws are grasped,
+            Waists are clasped
+        As they whirl in giddy dances.
+            Then together
+            Through the heather
+        'Neath the moonlight soft they stroll;
+            Each is very
+            Blithe and merry,
+        Gamboling with laughter droll.
+            Life is fun
+            To ev'ry one
+        Guarded by our magic charm
+            For to dangers
+            We are strangers,
+        Safe from any thought of harm."
+
+"You see," said Dorothy to the King, when the song ended, "the rabbits
+all seem to like Bunnybury except you. And I guess you're the only one
+that ever has cried or was unhappy and wanted to get back to your muddy
+hole in the ground."
+
+His Majesty seemed thoughtful, and while the servants passed around
+glasses of nectar and plates of frosted cakes their King was silent and
+a bit nervous.
+
+[Illustration: HIS MAJESTY WAS THOUGHTFUL]
+
+When the refreshments had been enjoyed by all and the servants had
+retired Dorothy said:
+
+"I must go now, for it's getting late and I'm lost. I've got to find the
+Wizard and Aunt Em and Uncle Henry and all the rest sometime before
+night comes, if I poss'bly can."
+
+"Won't you stay with us?" asked the King. "You will be very welcome."
+
+"No, thank you," she replied. "I must get back to my friends. And I want
+to see Glinda just as soon as I can, you know."
+
+So the King dismissed his court and said he would himself walk with
+Dorothy to the gate. He did not weep nor groan any more, but his long
+face was quite solemn and his big ears hung dejectedly on each side of
+it. He still wore his crown and his ermine and walked with a handsome
+gold-headed cane.
+
+When they arrived at the room in the wall the little girl found Toto and
+Billina waiting for her very patiently. They had been liberally fed by
+some of the attendants and were in no hurry to leave such comfortable
+quarters.
+
+The Keeper of the Wicket was by this time back in his old place, but he
+kept a safe distance from Toto. Dorothy bade good bye to the King as
+they stood just inside the wall.
+
+"You've been good to me," she said, "and I thank you ever so much. As
+soon as poss'ble I'll see Glinda and ask her to put another King in your
+place and send you back into the wild forest. And I'll ask her to let
+you keep some of your clothes and the lily chair and one or two jugglers
+to amuse you. I'm sure she will do it, 'cause she's so kind she doesn't
+like any one to be unhappy."
+
+"Ahem!" said the King, looking rather downcast. "I don't like to trouble
+you with my misery; so you needn't see Glinda."
+
+"Oh, yes I will," she replied. "It won't be any trouble at all."
+
+"But, my dear," continued the King, in an embarrassed way, "I've been
+thinking the subject over carefully, and I find there are a lot of
+pleasant things here in Bunnybury that I would miss if I went away. So
+perhaps I'd better stay."
+
+Dorothy laughed. Then she looked grave.
+
+"It won't do for you to be a King and a cry-baby at the same time," she
+said. "You've been making all the other rabbits unhappy and discontented
+with your howls about being so miserable. So I guess it's better to have
+another King."
+
+"Oh, no indeed!" exclaimed the King, earnestly. "If you won't say
+anything to Glinda I'll promise to be merry and gay all the time, and
+never cry or wail again."
+
+"Honor bright?" she asked.
+
+"On the royal word of a King I promise it!" he answered.
+
+"All right," said Dorothy. "You'd be a reg'lar lunatic to want to leave
+Bunnybury for a wild life in the forest, and I'm sure any rabbit outside
+the city would be glad to take your place."
+
+"Forget it, my dear; forget all my foolishness," pleaded the King,
+earnestly. "Hereafter I'll try to enjoy myself and do my duty by my
+subjects."
+
+So then she left him and entered through the little door into the room
+in the wall, where she grew gradually bigger and bigger until she had
+resumed her natural size.
+
+The Keeper of the Wicket let them out into the forest and told Dorothy
+that she had been of great service to Bunnybury because she had brought
+their dismal King to a realization of the pleasure of ruling so
+beautiful a city.
+
+"I shall start a petition to have your statue erected beside Glinda's in
+the public square," said the Keeper. "I hope you will come again, some
+day, and see it."
+
+"Perhaps I shall," she replied.
+
+Then, followed by Toto and Billina, she walked away from the high marble
+wall and started back along the narrow path toward the sign-post.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+_How_ THE WIZARD FOUND DOROTHY
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+When they came to the signpost, there, to their joy, were the tents of
+the Wizard pitched beside the path and the kettle bubbling merrily over
+a fire. The Shaggy Man and Omby Amby were gathering firewood while Uncle
+Henry and Aunt Em sat in their camp chairs talking with the Wizard.
+
+They all ran forward to greet Dorothy, as she approached, and Aunt Em
+exclaimed: "Goodness gracious, child! Where have you been?"
+
+"You've played hookey the whole day," added the Shaggy Man,
+reproachfully.
+
+"Well, you see, I've been lost," explained the little girl, "and I've
+tried awful hard to find the way back to you, but just couldn't do it."
+
+"Did you wander in the forest all day?" asked Uncle Henry.
+
+"You must be a'most starved!" said Aunt Em.
+
+"No," said Dorothy, "I'm not hungry. I had a wheelbarrow and a piano for
+breakfast, and lunched with a King."
+
+"Ah!" exclaimed the Wizard, nodding with a bright smile. "So you've been
+having adventures again."
+
+"She's stark crazy!" cried Aunt Em. "Whoever heard of eating a
+wheelbarrow?"
+
+"It wasn't very big," said Dorothy; "and it had a zuzu wheel."
+
+"And I ate the crumbs," added Billina, soberly.
+
+"Sit down and tell us about it," begged the Wizard. "We've hunted for
+you all day, and at last I noticed your footsteps in this path--and the
+tracks of Billina. We found the path by accident, and seeing it only led
+to two places I decided you were at either one or the other of those
+places. So we made camp and waited for you to return. And now, Dorothy,
+tell us where you have been--to Bunbury or to Bunnybury?"
+
+"Why, I've been to both," she replied; "but first I went to Utensia,
+which isn't on any path at all."
+
+She then sat down and related the day's adventures, and you may be sure
+Aunt Em and Uncle Henry were much astonished at the story.
+
+"But after seeing the Cuttenclips and the Fuddles," remarked her uncle,
+"we ought not to wonder at anything in this strange country."
+
+"Seems like the only common and ordinary folks here are ourselves,"
+rejoined Aunt Em, diffidently.
+
+"Now that we're together again, and one reunited party," observed the
+Shaggy Man, "what are we to do next?"
+
+"Have some supper and a night's rest," answered the Wizard promptly,
+"and then proceed upon our journey."
+
+"Where to?" asked the Captain General.
+
+"We haven't visited the Rigmaroles or the Flutterbudgets yet," said
+Dorothy. "I'd like to see them--wouldn't you?"
+
+"They don't sound very interesting," objected Aunt Em. "But perhaps they
+are."
+
+"And then," continued the little Wizard, "we will call upon the Tin
+Woodman and Jack Pumpkinhead and our old friend the Scarecrow, on our
+way home."
+
+"That will be nice!" cried Dorothy, eagerly.
+
+"Can't say _they_ sound very interesting, either," remarked Aunt Em.
+
+"Why, they're the best friends I have!" asserted the little girl, "and
+you're sure to like them, Aunt Em, 'cause _ever_'body likes them."
+
+By this time twilight was approaching, so they ate the fine supper
+which the Wizard magically produced from the kettle and then went to bed
+in the cosy tents.
+
+They were all up bright and early next morning, but Dorothy didn't
+venture to wander from the camp again for fear of more accidents.
+
+"Do you know where there's a road?" she asked the little man.
+
+"No, my dear," replied the Wizard; "but I'll find one."
+
+After breakfast he waved his hand toward the tents and they became
+handkerchiefs again, which were at once returned to the pockets of their
+owners. Then they all climbed into the red wagon and the Sawhorse
+inquired:
+
+"Which way?"
+
+"Never mind which way," replied the Wizard. "Just go as you please and
+you're sure to be right. I've enchanted the wheels of the wagon, and
+they will roll in the right direction, never fear."
+
+As the Sawhorse started away through the trees Dorothy said:
+
+"If we had one of those new-fashioned airships we could float away over
+the top of the forest, and look down and find just the places we want.
+
+"Airship? Pah!" retorted the little man, scornfully. "I hate those
+things, Dorothy, although they are nothing new to either you or me. I
+was a balloonist for many years, and once my balloon carried me to the
+Land of Oz, and once to the Vegetable Kingdom. And once Ozma had a Gump
+that flew all over this kingdom and had sense enough to go where it was
+told to--which airships won't do. The house which the cyclone brought to
+Oz all the way from Kansas, with you and Toto in it--was a real airship
+at the time; so you see we've had plenty of experience flying with the
+birds."
+
+"Airships are not so bad, after all," declared Dorothy. "Some day
+they'll fly all over the world, and perhaps bring people even to the
+Land of Oz."
+
+"I must speak to Ozma about that," said the Wizard, with a slight frown.
+"It wouldn't do at all, you know, for the Emerald City to become a
+way-station on an airship line."
+
+"No," said Dorothy, "I don't s'pose it would. But what can we do to
+prevent it?"
+
+"I'm working out a magic recipe to fuddle men's brains, so they'll never
+make an airship that will go where they want it to go," the Wizard
+confided to her. "That won't keep the things from flying, now and then,
+but it'll keep them from flying to the Land of Oz."
+
+Just then the Sawhorse drew the wagon out of the forest and a beautiful
+landscape lay spread before the travelers' eyes. Moreover, right before
+them was a good road that wound away through the hills and valleys.
+
+"Now," said the Wizard, with evident delight, "we are on the right
+track again, and there is nothing more to worry about."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"It's a foolish thing to take chances in a strange country," observed
+the Shaggy Man. "Had we kept to the roads we never would have been lost.
+Roads always leads to some place, else they wouldn't be roads."
+
+"This road," added the Wizard, "leads to Rigmarole Town. I'm sure of
+that because I enchanted the wagon wheels."
+
+Sure enough, after riding along the road for an hour or two they entered
+a pretty valley where a village was nestled among the hills. The houses
+were Munchkin shaped, for they were all domes, with windows wider than
+they were high, and pretty balconies over the front doors.
+
+Aunt Em was greatly relieved to find this town "neither paper nor
+patch-work," and the only surprising thing about it was that it was so
+far distant from all other towns.
+
+As the Sawhorse drew the wagon into the main street the travelers
+noticed that the place was filled with people, standing in groups and
+seeming to be engaged in earnest conversation. So occupied with
+themselves were the inhabitants that they scarcely noticed the strangers
+at all. So the Wizard stopped a boy and asked:
+
+"Is this Rigmarole Town?"
+
+"Sir," replied the boy, "if you have traveled very much you will have
+noticed that every town differs from every other town in one way or
+another and so by observing the methods of the people and the way they
+live as well as the style of their dwelling places it ought not to be a
+difficult thing to make up your mind without the trouble of asking
+questions whether the town bears the appearance of the one you intended
+to visit or whether perhaps having taken a different road from the one
+you should have taken you have made an error in your way and arrived at
+some point where--"
+
+[Illustration: SO AND SO, AND SO AND SO, OH YES, I DON'T KNOW IT MIGHT
+BE SO I CALCULATE BUT I DON'T KNOW, INTRE MINTRY CUTEYCORN APPLE SEEDS
+AND FLY AWAY JACK. SIX SIXES ARE NOT SIXTY-SIX? AND WE STILL HOLD TO
+FOLDEROL DE DOODLE ALL DAY, IF I HAD A DONKEY THAT WOULDN'T GO I'D BUY A
+FIDDLE FOR FIFTY CENTS AND RATTLE HIS BONES OVER THE STONES IT'S ONLY A
+BEGGAR WHOM NOBODY OWNS, LISTEN??]
+
+"Land sakes!" cried Aunt Em, impatiently; "what's all this rigmarole
+about?"
+
+"That's it!" said the Wizard, laughing merrily. "It's a rigmarole
+because the boy is a Rigmarole and we've come to Rigmarole Town."
+
+"Do they all talk like that?" asked Dorothy, wonderingly.
+
+"He might have said 'yes' or 'no' and settled the question," observed
+Uncle Henry.
+
+"Not here," said Omby Amby. "I don't believe the Rigmaroles know what
+'yes' or 'no' means."
+
+While the boy had been talking several other people had approached the
+wagon and listened intently to his speech. Then they began talking to
+one another in long, deliberate speeches, where many words were used but
+little was said. But when the strangers criticised them so frankly one
+of the women, who had no one else to talk to, began an address to them,
+saying:
+
+"It is the easiest thing in the world for a person to say 'yes' or 'no'
+when a question that is asked for the purpose of gaining information or
+satisfying the curiosity of the one who has given expression to the
+inquiry has attracted the attention of an individual who may be
+competent either from personal experience or the experience of others to
+answer it with more or less correctness or at least an attempt to
+satisfy the desire for information on the part of the one who has made
+the inquiry by--"
+
+"Dear me!" exclaimed Dorothy, interrupting the speech. "I've lost all
+track of what you are saying."
+
+"Don't let her begin over again, for goodness sake!" cried Aunt Em.
+
+But the woman did not begin again. She did not even stop talking, but
+went right on as she had begun, the words flowing from her mouth in a
+stream.
+
+"I'm quite sure that if we waited long enough and listened carefully,
+some of these people might be able to tell us something, in time," said
+the Wizard.
+
+"Don't let's wait," returned Dorothy. "I've heard of the Rigmaroles, and
+wondered what they were like; but now I know, and I'm ready to move on."
+
+"So am I," declared Uncle Henry; "we're wasting time here."
+
+"Why, we're all ready to go," added the Shaggy Man, putting his fingers
+to his ears to shut out the monotonous babble of those around the wagon.
+
+So the Wizard spoke to the Sawhorse, who trotted nimbly through the
+village and soon gained the open country on the other side of it.
+Dorothy looked back, as they rode away, and noticed that the woman had
+not yet finished her speech but was talking as glibly as ever, although
+no one was near to hear her.
+
+"If those people wrote books," Omby Amby remarked with a smile, "it
+would take a whole library to say the cow jumped over the moon."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Perhaps some of 'em do write books," asserted the little Wizard. "I've
+read a few rigmaroles that might have come from this very town."
+
+"Some of the college lecturers and ministers are certainly related to
+these people," observed the Shaggy Man; "and it seems to me the Land of
+Oz is a little ahead of the United States in some of its laws. For
+here, if one can't talk clearly, and straight to the point, they send
+him to Rigmarole Town; while Uncle Sam lets him roam around wild and
+free, to torture innocent people."
+
+Dorothy was thoughtful. The Rigmaroles had made a strong impression upon
+her. She decided that whenever she spoke, after this, she would use only
+enough words to express what she wanted to say.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+_How_ THEY ENCOUNTERED THE FLUTTERBUDGETS
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+They were soon among the pretty hills and valleys again, and the
+Sawhorse sped up hill and down at a fast and easy pace, the roads being
+hard and smooth. Mile after mile was speedily covered, and before the
+ride had grown at all tiresome they sighted another village. The place
+seemed even larger than Rigmarole Town, but was not so attractive in
+appearance.
+
+"This must be Flutterbudget Center," declared the Wizard. "You see, it's
+no trouble at all to find places if you keep to the right road."
+
+"What are the Flutterbudgets like?" inquired Dorothy.
+
+"I do not know, my dear. But Ozma has given them a town all their own,
+and I've heard that whenever one of the people becomes a Flutterbudget
+he is sent to this place to live."
+
+"That is true," Omby Amby added; "Flutterbudget Center and Rigmarole
+Town are called 'the Defensive Settlements of Oz.'"
+
+The village they now approached was not built in a valley, but on top of
+a hill, and the road they followed wound around the hill like a
+corkscrew, ascending the hill easily until it came to the town.
+
+"Look out!" screamed a voice. "Look out, or you'll run over my child!"
+
+They gazed around and saw a woman standing upon the sidewalk nervously
+wringing her hands as she gazed at them appealingly.
+
+"Where is your child?" asked the Sawhorse.
+
+"In the house," said the woman, bursting into tears; "but if it should
+happen to be in the road, and you ran over it, those great wheels would
+crush my darling to jelly. Oh, dear! oh dear! Think of my darling child
+being crushed to jelly by those great wheels!"
+
+"Gid-dap!" said the Wizard, sharply, and the Sawhorse started on.
+
+They had not gone far before a man ran out of a house shouting wildly:
+"Help! Help!"
+
+The Sawhorse stopped short and the Wizard and Uncle Henry and the Shaggy
+Man and Omby Amby jumped out of the wagon and ran to the poor man's
+assistance. Dorothy followed them as quickly as she could.
+
+"What's the matter?" asked the Wizard.
+
+"Help! help!" screamed the man; "my wife has cut her finger off and
+she's bleeding to death!"
+
+Then he turned and rushed back to the house, and all the party went with
+him. They found a woman in the front dooryard moaning and groaning as if
+in great pain.
+
+"Be brave, madam!" said the Wizard, consolingly. "You won't die just
+because you have cut off a finger, you may be sure."
+
+"But I haven't cut off a finger!" she sobbed.
+
+[Illustration: "BUT I HAVEN'T CUT OFF A FINGER," SHE SOBBED.]
+
+"Then what _has_ happened?" asked Dorothy.
+
+"I--I pricked my finger with a needle while I was sewing, and--and the
+blood came!" she replied. "And now I'll have blood-poisoning, and the
+doctors will cut off my finger, and that will give me a fever and I
+shall die!"
+
+"Pshaw!" said Dorothy; "I've pricked my finger many a time, and nothing
+happened."
+
+"Really?" asked the woman, brightening and wiping her eyes upon her
+apron.
+
+"Why, it's nothing at all," declared the girl. "You're more scared than
+hurt."
+
+"Ah, that's because she's a Flutterbudget," said the Wizard, nodding
+wisely. "I think I know now what these people are like."
+
+"So do I," announced Dorothy.
+
+"Oh, boo-hoo-hoo!" sobbed the woman, giving way to a fresh burst of
+grief.
+
+"What's wrong now?" asked the Shaggy Man.
+
+"Oh, suppose I had pricked my foot!" she wailed. "Then the doctors would
+have cut my foot off, and I'd be lamed for life!"
+
+"Surely, ma'am," replied the Wizard, "and if you'd pricked your nose
+they might cut your head off. But you see you didn't."
+
+"But I might have!" she exclaimed, and began to cry again. So they left
+her and drove away in their wagon. And her husband came out and began
+calling "Help!" as he had before; but no one seemed to pay any attention
+to him.
+
+As the travelers turned into another street they found a man walking
+excitedly up and down the pavement. He appeared to be in a very nervous
+condition and the Wizard stopped him to ask:
+
+"Is anything wrong, sir?"
+
+"Everything is wrong," answered the man, dismally. "I can't sleep."
+
+"Why not?" inquired Omby Amby.
+
+"If I go to sleep I'll have to shut my eyes," he explained; "and if I
+shut my eyes they may grow together, and then I'd be blind for life!"
+
+"Did you ever hear of any one's eyes growing together?" asked Dorothy.
+
+"No," said the man, "I never did. But it would be a dreadful thing,
+wouldn't it? And the thought of it makes me so nervous I'm afraid to go
+to sleep."
+
+"There's no help for this case," declared the Wizard; and they went on.
+
+At the next street corner a woman rushed up to them crying:
+
+"Save my baby! Oh, good, kind people, save my baby!"
+
+"Is it in danger?" asked Dorothy, noticing that the child was clasped in
+her arms and seemed sleeping peacefully.
+
+"Yes, indeed," said the woman, nervously. "If I should go into the house
+and throw my child out of the window, it would roll way down to the
+bottom of the hill; and then if there were a lot of tigers and bears
+down there, they would tear my darling babe to pieces and eat it up!"
+
+"Are there any tigers and bears in this neighborhood?" the Wizard asked.
+
+"I've never heard of any," admitted the woman; "but if there were--"
+
+"Have you any idea of throwing your baby out of the window?" questioned
+the little man.
+
+"None at all," she said; "but if--"
+
+"All your troubles are due to those 'ifs'," declared the Wizard. "If you
+were not a Flutterbudget you wouldn't worry."
+
+"There's another 'if'," replied the woman. "Are you a Flutterbudget,
+too?"
+
+"I will be, if I stay here long," exclaimed the Wizard, nervously.
+
+"Another 'if'!" cried the woman.
+
+But the Wizard did not stop to argue with her. He made the Sawhorse
+canter all the way down the hill, and only breathed easily when they
+were miles away from the village.
+
+After they had ridden in silence for a while Dorothy turned to the
+little man and asked:
+
+"Do 'ifs' really make Flutterbudgets?"
+
+"I think the 'ifs' help," he answered seriously. "Foolish fears, and
+worries over nothing, with a mixture of nerves and ifs, will soon make a
+Flutterbudget of any one."
+
+Then there was another long silence, for all the travelers were thinking
+over this statement, and nearly all decided it must be true.
+
+The country they were now passing through was everywhere tinted purple,
+the prevailing color of the Gillikin Country; but as the Sawhorse
+ascended a hill they found that upon the other side everything was of a
+rich yellow hue.
+
+"Aha!" cried the Captain General; "here is the Country of the Winkies.
+We are just crossing the boundary line."
+
+"Then we may be able to lunch with the Tin Woodman," announced the
+Wizard, joyfully.
+
+"Must we lunch on tin?" asked Aunt Em.
+
+"Oh, no;" replied Dorothy. "Nick Chopper knows how to feed meat people,
+and he will give us plenty of good things to eat, never fear. I've been
+to his castle before."
+
+"Is Nick Chopper the Tin Woodman's name?" asked Uncle Henry.
+
+"Yes; that's one of his names," answered the little girl; "and another
+of his names is 'Emp'ror of the Winkies.' He's the King of this country,
+you know, but Ozma rules over all the countries of Oz."
+
+"Does the Tin Woodman keep any Flutterbudgets or Rigmaroles at his
+castle?" inquired Aunt Em, uneasily.
+
+"No, indeed," said Dorothy, positively. "He lives in a new tin castle,
+all full of lovely things."
+
+"I should think it would rust," said Uncle Henry.
+
+"He has thousands of Winkies to keep it polished for him," explained the
+Wizard. "His people love to do anything in their power for their beloved
+Emperor, so there isn't a particle of rust on all the big castle."
+
+"I suppose they polish their Emperor, too," said Aunt Em.
+
+"Why, some time ago he had himself nickel-plated," the Wizard answered;
+"so he only needs rubbing up once in a while. He's the brightest man in
+all the world, is dear Nick Chopper; and the kindest-hearted."
+
+"I helped find him," said Dorothy, reflectively. "Once the Scarecrow and
+I found the Tin Woodman in the woods, and he was just rusted still, that
+time, an' no mistake. But we oiled his joints, an' got 'em good and
+slippery, and after that he went with us to visit the Wizard at the
+Em'rald City."
+
+"Was that the time the Wizard scared you?" asked Aunt Em.
+
+"He didn't treat us well, at first," acknowledged Dorothy; "for he made
+us go away and destroy the Wicked Witch. But after we found out he was
+only a humbug wizard we were not afraid of him."
+
+The Wizard sighed and looked a little ashamed.
+
+"When we try to deceive people we always make mistakes," he said. "But
+I'm getting to be a real wizard now, and Glinda the Good's magic, that I
+am trying to practice, can never harm any one."
+
+"You were always a good man," declared Dorothy, "even when you were a
+bad wizard."
+
+"He's a good wizard now," asserted Aunt Em, looking at the little man
+admiringly. "The way he made those tents grow out of handkerchiefs was
+just wonderful! And didn't he enchant the wagon wheels so they'd find
+the road?"
+
+"All the people of Oz," said the Captain General, "are very proud of
+their Wizard. He once made some soap-bubbles that astonished the world."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The Wizard blushed at this praise, yet it pleased him. He no longer
+looked sad, but seemed to have recovered his usual good humor.
+
+The country through which they now rode was thickly dotted with
+farmhouses, and yellow grain waved in all the fields. Many of the
+Winkies could be seen working on their farms and the wild and unsettled
+parts of Oz were by this time left far behind.
+
+These Winkies appeared to be happy, light-hearted folk, and all removed
+their caps and bowed low when the red wagon with its load of travelers
+passed by.
+
+It was not long before they saw something glittering in the sunshine far
+ahead.
+
+"See!" cried Dorothy; "that's the Tin Castle, Aunt Em!"
+
+And the Sawhorse, knowing his passengers were eager to arrive, broke
+into a swift trot that soon brought them to their destination.
+
+
+
+
+_How_ THE TIN WOODMAN TOLD THE SAD NEWS
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+The Tin Woodman received Princess Dorothy's party with much grace and
+cordiality, yet the little girl decided that something must be worrying
+her old friend, because he was not so merry as usual.
+
+But at first she said nothing about this, for Uncle Henry and Aunt Em
+were fairly bubbling over with admiration for the beautiful tin castle
+and its polished tin owner. So her suspicion that something unpleasant
+had happened was for a time forgotten.
+
+"Where is the Scarecrow?" she asked, when they had all been ushered into
+the big tin drawing-room of the castle, the Sawhorse being led around to
+the tin stable in the rear.
+
+"Why, our old friend has just moved into his new mansion," explained the
+Tin Woodman. "It has been a long time in building, although my Winkies
+and many other people from all parts of the country have been busily
+working upon it. At last, however, it is completed, and the Scarecrow
+took possession of his new home just two days ago."
+
+"I hadn't heard that he wanted a home of his own," said Dorothy. "Why
+doesn't he live with Ozma in the Emerald City? He used to, you know; and
+I thought he was happy there."
+
+"It seems," said the Tin Woodman, "that our dear Scarecrow cannot be
+contented with city life, however beautiful his surroundings might be.
+Originally he was a farmer, for he passed his early life in a cornfield,
+where he was supposed to frighten away the crows."
+
+"I know," said Dorothy, nodding. "I found him, and lifted him down from
+his pole."
+
+"So now, after a long residence in the Emerald City, his tastes have
+turned to farm life again," continued the Tin Man. "He feels that he
+cannot be happy without a farm of his own, so Ozma gave him some land
+and every one helped him build his mansion, and now he is settled there
+for good."
+
+"Who designed his house?" asked the Shaggy Man.
+
+"I believe it was Jack Pumpkinhead, who is also a farmer," was the
+reply.
+
+They were now invited to enter the tin dining room, where luncheon was
+served.
+
+Aunt Em found, to her satisfaction, that Dorothy's promise was more
+than fulfilled; for, although the Tin Woodman had no appetite of his
+own, he respected the appetites of his guests and saw that they were
+bountifully fed.
+
+They passed the afternoon in wandering through the beautiful gardens and
+grounds of the palace. The walks were all paved with sheets of tin,
+brightly polished, and there were tin fountains and tin statues here and
+there among the trees. The flowers were mostly natural flowers and grew
+in the regular way; but their host showed them one flower bed which was
+his especial pride.
+
+"You see, all common flowers fade and die in time," he explained, "and
+so there are seasons when the pretty blooms are scarce. Therefore I
+decided to make one tin flower bed all of tin flowers, and my workmen
+have created them with rare skill. Here you see tin camelias, tin
+marigolds, tin carnations, tin poppies and tin hollyhocks growing as
+naturally as if they were real."
+
+Indeed, they were a pretty sight, and glistened under the sunlight like
+spun silver.
+
+"Isn't this tin hollyhock going to seed?" asked the Wizard, bending over
+the flowers.
+
+"Why, I believe it is!" exclaimed the Tin Woodman, as if surprised. "I
+hadn't noticed that before. But I shall plant the tin seeds and raise
+another bed of tin hollyhocks."
+
+In one corner of the gardens Nick Chopper had established a fish-pond,
+in which they saw swimming and disporting themselves many pretty tin
+fishes.
+
+"Would they bite on hooks?" asked Aunt Em, curiously.
+
+The Tin Woodman seemed hurt at this question.
+
+"Madam," said he, "do you suppose I would allow anyone to catch my
+beautiful fishes, even if they were foolish enough to bite on hooks? No,
+indeed! Every created thing is safe from harm in my domain, and I would
+as soon think of killing my little friend Dorothy as killing one of my
+tin fishes."
+
+"The Emperor is very kind-hearted, ma'am," explained the Wizard. "If a
+fly happens to light upon his tin body he doesn't rudely brush it off,
+as some people might do; he asks it politely to find some other resting
+place."
+
+"What does the fly do then?" enquired Aunt Em.
+
+"Usually it begs his pardon and goes away," said the Wizard, gravely.
+"Flies like to be treated politely as well as other creatures, and here
+in Oz they understand what we say to them, and behave very nicely."
+
+"Well," said Aunt Em, "the flies in Kansas, where I came from, don't
+understand anything but a swat. You have to smash 'em to make 'em
+behave; and it's the same way with 'skeeters. Do you have 'skeeters in
+Oz?"
+
+"We have some very large mosquitoes here, which sing as beautifully as
+song birds," replied the Tin Woodman. "But they never bite or annoy our
+people, because they are well fed and taken care of. The reason they
+bite people in your country is because they are hungry--poor things!"
+
+"Yes," agreed Aunt Em; "they're hungry, all right. An' they ain't very
+particular who they feed on. I'm glad you've got the 'skeeters educated
+in Oz."
+
+That evening after dinner they were entertained by the Emperor's Tin
+Cornet Band, which played for them several sweet melodies. Also the
+Wizard did a few sleight-of-hand tricks to amuse the company; after
+which they all retired to their cosy tin bedrooms and slept soundly
+until morning.
+
+After breakfast Dorothy said to the Tin Woodman:
+
+"If you'll tell us which way to go we'll visit the Scarecrow on our way
+home."
+
+"I will go with you, and show you the way," replied the Emperor; "for I
+must journey to-day to the Emerald City."
+
+He looked so anxious, as he said this, that the little girl asked:
+
+"There isn't anything wrong with Ozma, is there?"
+
+He shook his tin head.
+
+"Not yet," said he; "but I'm afraid the time has come when I must tell
+you some very bad news, little friend."
+
+"Oh, what is it?" cried Dorothy.
+
+"Do you remember the Nome King?" asked the Tin Woodman.
+
+"I remember him very well," she replied.
+
+"The Nome King has not a kind heart," said the Emperor, sadly, "and he
+has been harboring wicked thoughts of revenge, because we once defeated
+him and liberated his slaves and you took away his Magic Belt. So he has
+ordered his Nomes to dig a long tunnel underneath the deadly desert, so
+that he may march his hosts right into the Emerald City. When he gets
+there he intends to destroy our beautiful country."
+
+Dorothy was much surprised to hear this.
+
+"How did Ozma find out about the tunnel?" she asked.
+
+"She saw it in her Magic Picture."
+
+"Of course," said Dorothy; "I might have known that. And what is she
+going to do?"
+
+"I cannot tell," was the reply.
+
+"Pooh!" cried the Yellow Hen. "We're not afraid of the Nomes. If we roll
+a few of our eggs down the tunnel they'll run away back home as fast as
+they can go."
+
+"Why, that's true enough!" exclaimed Dorothy. "The Scarecrow once
+conquered all the Nome King's army with some of Billina's eggs."
+
+"But you do not understand all of the dreadful plot," continued the Tin
+Woodman. "The Nome King is clever, and he knows his Nomes would run from
+eggs; so he has bargained with many terrible creatures to help him.
+These evil spirits are not afraid of eggs or anything else, and they
+are very powerful. So the Nome King will send them through the tunnel
+first, to conquer and destroy, and then the Nomes will follow after to
+get their share of the plunder and slaves."
+
+They were all startled to hear this, and every face wore a troubled
+look.
+
+"Is the tunnel all ready?" asked Dorothy.
+
+"Ozma sent me word yesterday that the tunnel was all completed except
+for a thin crust of earth at the end. When our enemies break through
+this crust they will be in the gardens of the royal palace, in the heart
+of the Emerald City. I offered to arm all my Winkies and march to Ozma's
+assistance; but she said no."
+
+"I wonder why?" asked Dorothy.
+
+"She answered that all the inhabitants of Oz, gathered together, were
+not powerful enough to fight and overcome the evil forces of the Nome
+King. Therefore she refuses to fight at all."
+
+"But they will capture and enslave us, and plunder and ruin all our
+lovely land!" exclaimed the Wizard, greatly disturbed by this statement.
+
+"I fear they will," said the Tin Woodman, sorrowfully. "And I also fear
+that those who are not fairies, such as the Wizard, and Dorothy, and her
+uncle and aunt, as well as Toto and Billina, will be speedily put to
+death by the conquerors."
+
+"What can be done?" asked Dorothy, shuddering a little at the prospect
+of this awful fate.
+
+"Nothing can be done!" gloomily replied the Emperor of the Winkies. "But
+since Ozma refuses my army I will go myself to the Emerald City. The
+least I may do is to perish beside my beloved Ruler."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+_How_ THE SCARECROW DISPLAYED HIS WISDOM
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
+
+[Illustration: Probably The Wisest Man in All OZ.]
+
+
+This amazing news had saddened every heart and all were now anxious to
+return to the Emerald City and share Ozma's fate. So they started
+without loss of time, and as the road led past the Scarecrow's new
+mansion they determined to make a brief halt there and confer with him.
+
+"The Scarecrow is probably the wisest man in all Oz," remarked the Tin
+Woodman, when they had started upon their journey. "His brains are
+plentiful and of excellent quality, and often he has told me things I
+might never have thought of myself. I must say I rely a good deal upon
+the Scarecrow's brains in this emergency."
+
+The Tin Woodman rode on the front seat of the wagon, where Dorothy sat
+between him and the Wizard.
+
+"Has the Scarecrow heard of Ozma's trouble?" asked the Captain General.
+
+"I do not know, sir," was the reply.
+
+"When I was a private," said Omby Amby, "I was an excellent army, as I
+fully proved in our war against the Nomes. But now there is not a single
+private left in our army, since Ozma made me the Captain General, so
+there is no one to fight and defend our lovely Ruler."
+
+"True," said the Wizard. "The present army is composed only of officers,
+and the business of an officer is to order his men to fight. Since there
+are no men there can be no fighting."
+
+"Poor Ozma!" whispered Dorothy, with tears in her sweet eyes. "It's
+dreadful to think of all her lovely fairy country being destroyed. I
+wonder if we couldn't manage to escape and get back to Kansas by means
+of the Magic Belt? And we might take Ozma with us and all work hard to
+get money for her, so she wouldn't be so _very_ lonely and unhappy about
+the loss of her fairyland."
+
+"Do you think there would be any work for _me_ in Kansas?" asked the Tin
+Woodman.
+
+"If you are hollow, they might use you in a canning factory," suggested
+Uncle Henry. "But I can't see the use of your working for a living. You
+never eat or sleep or need a new suit of clothes."
+
+"I was not thinking of myself," replied the Emperor, with dignity. "I
+merely wondered if I could not help to support Dorothy and Ozma."
+
+As they indulged in these sad plans for the future they journeyed in
+sight of the Scarecrow's new mansion, and even though filled with care
+and worry over the impending fate of Oz, Dorothy could not help a
+feeling of wonder at the sight she saw.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The Scarecrow's new house was shaped like an immense ear of corn. The
+rows of kernels were made of solid gold, and the green upon which the
+ear stood upright was a mass of sparkling emeralds. Upon the very top of
+the structure was perched a figure representing the Scarecrow himself,
+and upon his extended arms, as well as upon his head, were several crows
+carved out of ebony and having ruby eyes. You may imagine how big this
+ear of corn was when I tell you that a single gold kernel formed a
+window, swinging outward upon hinges, while a row of four kernels opened
+to make the front entrance. Inside there were five stories, each story
+being a single room.
+
+The gardens around the mansion consisted of cornfields, and Dorothy
+acknowledged that the place was in all respects a very appropriate home
+for her good friend the Scarecrow.
+
+"He would have been very happy here, I'm sure," she said, "if only the
+Nome King had left us alone. But if Oz is destroyed of course this place
+will be destroyed too."
+
+"Yes," replied the Tin Woodman, "and also my beautiful tin castle, that
+has been my joy and pride."
+
+"Jack Pumpkinhead's house will go too," remarked the Wizard, "as well as
+Professor Wogglebug's Athletic College, and Ozma's royal palace, and all
+our other handsome buildings."
+
+"Yes, Oz will indeed become a desert when the Nome King gets through
+with it," sighed Omby Amby.
+
+The Scarecrow came out to meet them and gave them all a hearty welcome.
+
+"I hear you have decided always to live in the Land of Oz, after this,"
+he said to Dorothy; "and that will delight my heart, for I have greatly
+disliked our frequent partings. But why are you all so downcast?"
+
+"Have you heard the news?" asked the Tin Woodman.
+
+"No news to make me sad," replied the Scarecrow.
+
+Then Nick Chopper told his friend of the Nome King's tunnel, and how the
+evil creatures of the North had allied themselves with the underground
+monarch for the purpose of conquering and destroying Oz. "Well," said
+the Scarecrow, "it certainly looks bad for Ozma, and all of us. But I
+believe it is wrong to worry over anything before it happens. It is
+surely time enough to be sad when our country is despoiled and our
+people made slaves. So let us not deprive ourselves of the few happy
+hours remaining to us."
+
+"Ah! that is real wisdom," declared the Shaggy Man, approvingly. "After
+we become really unhappy we shall regret these few hours that are left
+to us, unless we enjoy them to the utmost."
+
+"Nevertheless," said the Scarecrow, "I shall go with you to the Emerald
+City and offer Ozma my services."
+
+"She says we can do nothing to oppose our enemies," announced the Tin
+Woodman.
+
+"And doubtless she is right, sir," answered the Scarecrow. "Still, she
+will appreciate our sympathy, and it is the duty of Ozma's friends to
+stand by her side when the final disaster occurs."
+
+He then led them into his queer mansion and showed them the beautiful
+rooms in all the five stories. The lower room was a grand reception
+hall, with a hand-organ in one corner. This instrument the Scarecrow,
+when alone, could turn to amuse himself, as he was very fond of music.
+The walls were hung with white silk, upon which flocks of black crows
+were embroidered in black diamonds. Some of the chairs were made in the
+shape of big crows and upholstered with cushions of corn-colored silk.
+
+The second story contained a fine banquet room, where the Scarecrow
+might entertain his guests, and the three stories above that were
+bed-chambers exquisitely furnished and decorated.
+
+"From these rooms," said the Scarecrow, proudly, "one may obtain fine
+views of the surrounding cornfields. The corn I grow is always husky,
+and I call the ears my regiments, because they have so many kernels. Of
+course I cannot ride my cobs, but I really don't care shucks about that.
+Taken altogether, my farm will stack up with any in the neighborhood."
+
+The visitors partook of some light refreshment and then hurried away to
+resume the road to the Emerald City. The Scarecrow found a seat in the
+wagon between Omby Amby and the Shaggy Man, and his weight did not add
+much to the load because he was stuffed with straw.
+
+"You will notice I have one oat-field on my property," he remarked, as
+they drove away. "Oat-straw is, I have found, the best of all straws to
+re-stuff myself with when my interior gets musty or out of shape."
+
+"Are you able to re-stuff yourself without help?" asked Aunt Em. "I
+should think that after the straw was taken out of you there wouldn't be
+anything left but your clothes."
+
+"You are almost correct, madam," he answered. "My servants do the
+stuffing, under my direction. For my head, in which are my excellent
+brains, is a bag tied at the bottom. My face is neatly painted upon one
+side of the bag, as you may see. My head does not need re-stuffing, as
+my body does, for all that it requires is to have the face touched up
+with fresh paint occasionally."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+It was not far from the Scarecrow's mansion to the farm of Jack
+Pumpkinhead, and when they arrived there both Uncle Henry and Aunt Em
+were much impressed. The farm was one vast pumpkin field, and some of
+the pumpkins were of enormous size. In one of them, which had been
+neatly hollowed out, Jack himself lived, and he declared that it was a
+very comfortable residence. The reason he grew so many pumpkins was in
+order that he might change his head as often as it became wrinkled or
+threatened to spoil.
+
+The pumpkin-headed man welcomed his visitors joyfully and offered them
+several delicious pumpkin pies to eat.
+
+"I don't indulge in pumpkin pies myself, for two reasons," he said. "One
+reason is that were I to eat pumpkins I would become a cannibal, and the
+other reason is that I never eat, not being hollow inside."
+
+"Very good reasons," agreed the Scarecrow.
+
+They told Jack Pumpkinhead the dreadful news about the Nome King, and he
+decided to go with them to the Emerald City and help comfort Ozma.
+
+"I had expected to live here in ease and comfort for many centuries,"
+said Jack, dolefully; "but of course if the Nome King destroys
+everything in Oz I shall be destroyed too. Really, it seems too bad,
+doesn't it?"
+
+They were soon on their journey again, and so swiftly did the Sawhorse
+draw the wagon over the smooth roads that before twilight fell that had
+reached the royal palace in the Emerald City, and were at their
+journey's end.
+
+
+
+
+_How_ OZMA REFUSED TO FIGHT FOR HER KINGDOM
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+Ozma was in her rose garden picking a bouquet when the party arrived,
+and she greeted all her old and new friends as smilingly and sweetly as
+ever.
+
+Dorothy's eyes were full of tears as she kissed the lovely Ruler of Oz,
+and she whispered to her:
+
+"Oh, Ozma, Ozma! I'm _so_ sorry!"
+
+Ozma seemed surprised.
+
+"Sorry for what, Dorothy?" she asked.
+
+"For all your trouble about the Nome King," was the reply.
+
+Ozma laughed with genuine amusement.
+
+"Why, that has not troubled me a bit, dear Princess," she replied. Then,
+looking around at the sad faces of her friends, she added: "Have you all
+been worrying about this tunnel?"
+
+"We have!" they exclaimed in a chorus.
+
+"Well, perhaps it is more serious than I imagined," admitted the fair
+Ruler; "but I haven't given the matter much thought. After dinner we
+will all meet together and talk it over."
+
+So they went to their rooms and prepared for dinner, and Dorothy dressed
+herself in her prettiest gown and put on her coronet, for she thought
+that this might be the last time she would ever appear as a Princess of
+Oz.
+
+The Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and Jack Pumpkinhead all sat at the
+dinner table, although none of them was made so he could eat. Usually
+they served to enliven the meal with their merry talk, but to-night all
+seemed strangely silent and uneasy.
+
+As soon as the dinner was finished Ozma led the company to her own
+private room in which hung the Magic Picture. When they had seated
+themselves the Scarecrow was the first to speak.
+
+"Is the Nome King's tunnel finished, Ozma?" he asked.
+
+"It was completed to-day," she replied. "They have built it right under
+my palace grounds, and it ends in front of the Forbidden Fountain.
+Nothing but a crust of earth remains to separate our enemies from us,
+and when they march here they will easily break through this crust and
+rush upon us."
+
+"Who will assist the Nome King?" inquired the Scarecrow.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"The Whimsies, the Growleywogs and the Phanfasms," she replied. "I
+watched to-day in my Magic Picture the messengers whom the Nome King
+sent to all these people to summon them to assemble in his great
+caverns."
+
+"Let us see what they are doing now," suggested the Tin Woodman.
+
+So Ozma wished to see the Nome King's cavern, and at once the landscape
+faded from the Magic Picture and was replaced by the scene then being
+enacted in the jeweled cavern of King Roquat.
+
+A wild and startling scene it was which the Oz people beheld.
+
+Before the Nome King stood the Chief of the Whimsies and the Grand
+Gallipoot of the Groweywogs, surrounded by their most skillful generals.
+Very fierce and powerful they looked, so that even the Nome King and
+General Guph, who stood beside his master, seemed a bit fearful in the
+presence of their allies.
+
+Now a still more formidable creature entered the cavern. It was the
+First and Foremost of the Phanfasms and he proudly sat down in King
+Roquat's own throne and demanded the right to lead his forces through
+the tunnel in advance of all the others. The First and Foremost now
+appeared to all eyes in his hairy skin and the bear's head. What his
+real form was even Roquat did not know.
+
+Through the arches leading into the vast series of caverns that lay
+beyond the throne room of King Roquat, could be seen ranks upon ranks of
+the invaders--thousands of Phanfasms, Growleywogs and Whimsies standing
+in serried lines, while behind them were massed the thousands upon
+thousands of General Guph's own army of Nomes.
+
+"Listen!" whispered Ozma. "I think we can hear what they are saying."
+
+So they kept still and listened.
+
+"Is all ready?" demanded the First and Foremost, haughtily.
+
+"The tunnel is finally completed," replied General Guph.
+
+"How long will it take us to march to the Emerald City?" asked the Grand
+Gallipoot of the Growleywogs.
+
+"If we start at midnight," replied the Nome King, "we shall arrive at
+the Emerald City by daybreak. Then, while all the Oz people are
+sleeping, we will capture them and make them our slaves. After that we
+will destroy the city itself and march through the Land of Oz, burning
+and devastating as we go."
+
+"Good!" cried the First and Foremost. "When we get through with Oz it
+will be a desert wilderness. Ozma shall be my slave."
+
+"She shall be _my_ slave!" shouted the Grand Gallipoot, angrily.
+
+"We'll decide that by and by," said King Roquat, hastily. "Don't let us
+quarrel now, friends. First let us conquer Oz, and then we will divide
+the spoils of war in a satisfactory manner."
+
+The First and Foremost smiled wickedly; but he only said:
+
+"I and my Phanfasms go first, for nothing on earth can oppose our
+power."
+
+They all agreed to that, knowing the Phanfasms to be the mightiest of
+the combined forces. King Roquat now invited them to attend a banquet he
+had prepared, where they might occupy themselves in eating and drinking
+until midnight arrived.
+
+As they had now seen and heard all of the plot against them that they
+cared to, Ozma allowed her Magic Picture to fade away. Then she turned
+to her friends and said:
+
+"Our enemies will be here sooner than I expected. What do you advise me
+to do?"
+
+"It is now too late to assemble our people," said the Tin Woodman,
+despondently. "If you had allowed me to arm and drill my Winkies we
+might have put up a good fight and destroyed many of our enemies before
+we were conquered."
+
+"The Munchkins are good fighters, too," said Omby Amby; "and so are the
+Gillikins."
+
+"But I do not wish to fight," declared Ozma, firmly. "No one has the
+right to destroy any living creatures, however evil they may be, or to
+hurt them or make them unhappy. I will not fight--even to save my
+kingdom."
+
+"The Nome King is not so particular," remarked the Scarecrow. "He
+intends to destroy us all and ruin our beautiful country."
+
+"Because the Nome King intends to do evil is no excuse for my doing the
+same," replied Ozma.
+
+"Self-preservation is the first law of nature," quoted the Shaggy Man.
+
+"True," she said, readily. "I would like to discover a plan to save
+ourselves without fighting."
+
+That seemed a hopeless task to them, but realizing that Ozma was
+determined not to fight, they tried to think of some means that might
+promise escape.
+
+"Couldn't we bribe our enemies, by giving them a lot of emeralds and
+gold?" asked Jack Pumpkinhead.
+
+"No, because they believe they are able to take everything we have,"
+replied the Ruler.
+
+"I have thought of something," said Dorothy.
+
+"What is it, dear?" asked Ozma.
+
+"Let us use the Magic Belt to wish all of us in Kansas. We will put some
+emeralds in our pockets, and can sell them in Topeka for enough to pay
+off the mortgage on Uncle Henry's farm. Then we can all live together
+and be happy."
+
+"A clever idea!" exclaimed the Scarecrow.
+
+"Kansas is a very good country. I've been there," said the Shaggy Man.
+
+"That seems to me an excellent plan," approved the Tin Woodman.
+
+"No!" said Ozma, decidedly. "Never will I desert my people and leave
+them to so cruel a fate. I will use the Magic Belt to send the rest of
+you to Kansas, if you wish, but if my beloved country must be destroyed
+and my people enslaved I will remain and share their fate."
+
+"Quite right," asserted the Scarecrow, sighing. "I will remain with
+you."
+
+"And so will I," declared the Tin Woodman and the Shaggy Man and Jack
+Pumpkinhead, in turn. Tiktok, the machine man, also said he intended to
+stand by Ozma. "For," said he, "I should be of no use at all in Kansas."
+
+"For my part," announced Dorothy, gravely, "if the Ruler of Oz must not
+desert her people, a Princess of Oz has no right to run away, either.
+I'm willing to become a slave with the rest of you; so all we can do
+with the Magic Belt is to use it to send Uncle Henry and Aunt Em back to
+Kansas."
+
+"I've been a slave all my life," Aunt Em replied, with considerable
+cheerfulness, "and so has Henry. I guess we won't go back to Kansas,
+anyway. I'd rather take my chances with the rest of you."
+
+Ozma smiled upon them all gratefully.
+
+"There is no need to despair just yet," she said. "I'll get up early
+to-morrow morning and be at the Forbidden Fountain when the fierce
+warriors break through the crust of earth. I will speak to them
+pleasantly and perhaps they won't be so very bad, after all."
+
+"Why do they call it the Forbidden Fountain?" asked Dorothy,
+thoughtfully.
+
+"Don't you know, dear?" returned Ozma, surprised.
+
+"No," said Dorothy. "Of course I've seen the fountain in the palace
+grounds, ever since I first came to Oz; and I've read the sign which
+says: 'All Persons are Forbidden to Drink at this Fountain.' But I never
+knew _why_ they were forbidden. The water seems clear and sparkling and
+it bubbles up in a golden basin all the time."
+
+"That water," declared Ozma, gravely, "is the most dangerous thing in
+all the Land of Oz. It is the Water of Oblivion."
+
+"What does that mean?" asked Dorothy.
+
+"Whoever drinks at the Forbidden Fountain at once forgets everything he
+has ever known," Ozma asserted.
+
+"It wouldn't be a bad way to forget our troubles," suggested Uncle
+Henry.
+
+"That is true; but you would forget everything else, and become as
+ignorant as a baby," returned Ozma.
+
+"Does it make one crazy?" asked Dorothy.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"No; it only makes one forget," replied the girl Ruler. "It is said that
+once--long, long ago--a wicked King ruled Oz, and made himself and all
+his people very miserable and unhappy. So Glinda, the Good Sorceress,
+placed this fountain here, and the King drank of its water and forgot
+all his wickedness. His mind became innocent and vacant, and when he
+learned the things of life again they were all good things. But the
+people remembered how wicked their King had been, and were still afraid
+of him. Therefore he made them all drink of the Water of Oblivion and
+forget everything they had known, so that they became as simple and
+innocent as their King. After that they all grew wise together, and
+their wisdom was good, so that peace and happiness reigned in the land.
+But for fear some one might drink of the water again, and in an instant
+forget all he had learned, the King put that sign upon the fountain,
+where it has remained for many centuries up to this very day."
+
+They had all listened intently to Ozma's story, and when she finished
+speaking there was a long period of silence while all thought upon the
+curious magical power of the Water of Oblivion.
+
+Finally the Scarecrow's painted face took on a broad smile that
+stretched the cloth as far as it would go.
+
+"How thankful I am," he said, "that I have such an excellent assortment
+of brains!"
+
+"I gave you the best brains I ever mixed," declared the Wizard, with an
+air of pride.
+
+"You did, indeed!" agreed the Scarecrow, "and they work so splendidly
+that they have found a way to save Oz--to save us all!"
+
+"I'm glad to hear that," said the Wizard. "We never needed saving more
+than we do just now."
+
+"Do you mean to say you can save us from those awful Phanfasms, and
+Growleywogs and Whimsies?" asked Dorothy eagerly.
+
+"I'm sure of it, my dear," asserted the Scarecrow, still smiling
+genially.
+
+"Tell us how!" cried the Tin Woodman.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Not now," said the Scarecrow. "You may all go to bed, and I advise you
+to forget your worries just as completely as if you had drunk of the
+Water of Oblivion in the Forbidden Fountain. I'm going to stay here and
+tell my plan to Ozma alone, but if you will all be at the Forbidden
+Fountain at daybreak, you'll see how easily we will save the kingdom
+when our enemies break through the crust of earth and come from the
+tunnel."
+
+So they went away and left the Scarecrow and Ozma alone; but Dorothy
+could not sleep a wink all night.
+
+"He is only a Scarecrow," she said to herself, "and I'm not sure that
+his mixed brains are as clever as he thinks they are."
+
+But she knew that if the Scarecrow's plan failed they were all lost; so
+she tried to have faith in him.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+_How_ THE FIERCE WARRIORS INVADED OZ
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+The Nome King and his terrible allies sat at the banquet table until
+midnight. There was much quarreling between the Growleywogs and
+Phanfasms, and one of the wee-headed Whimsies got angry at General Guph
+and choked him until he nearly stopped breathing. Yet no one was
+seriously hurt, and the Nome King felt much relieved when the clock
+struck twelve and they all sprang up and seized their weapons.
+
+"Aha!" shouted the First and Foremost. "Now to conquer the Land of Oz!"
+
+He marshaled his Phanfasms in battle array and at his word of command
+they marched into the tunnel and began the long journey through it to
+the Emerald City. The First and Foremost intended to take all the
+treasures in Oz for himself; to kill all who could be killed and enslave
+the rest; to destroy and lay waste the whole country, and afterward to
+conquer and enslave the Nomes, the Growleywogs and the Whimsies. And he
+knew his power was sufficient to enable him to do all these things
+easily.
+
+Next marched into the tunnel the army of gigantic Growleywogs, with
+their Grand Gallipoot at their head. They were dreadful beings, indeed,
+and longed to get to Oz that they might begin to pilfer and destroy. The
+Grand Gallipoot was a little afraid of the First and Foremost, but had a
+cunning plan to murder or destroy that powerful being and secure the
+wealth of Oz for himself. Mighty little of the plunder would the Nome
+King get, thought the Grand Gallipoot.
+
+The Chief of the Whimsies now marched his false-headed forces into the
+tunnel. In his wicked little head was a plot to destroy both the First
+and Foremost and the Grand Gallipoot. He intended to let them conquer
+Oz, since they insisted on going first; but he would afterward
+treacherously destroy them, as well as King Roquat, and keep all the
+slaves and treasure of Ozma's kingdom for himself.
+
+After all his dangerous allies had marched into the tunnel the Nome King
+and General Guph started to follow them, at the head of fifty thousand
+Nomes, all fully armed.
+
+"Guph," said the King, "those creatures ahead of us mean mischief. They
+intend to get everything for themselves and leave us nothing."
+
+"I know," replied the General; "but they are not as clever as they think
+they are. When you get the Magic Belt you must at once wish the Whimsies
+and Growleywogs and Phanfasms all back into their own countries--and the
+Belt will surely take them there."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Good!" cried the King. "An excellent plan, Guph. I'll do it. While they
+are conquering Oz I'll get the Magic Belt, and then only the Nomes will
+remain to ravage the country."
+
+So you see there was only one thing that all were agreed upon--that Oz
+should be destroyed.
+
+On, on, on the vast ranks of invaders marched, filling the tunnel from
+side to side. With a steady tramp, tramp, they advanced, every step
+taking them nearer to the beautiful Emerald City.
+
+"Nothing can save the Land of Oz!" thought the First and Foremost,
+scowling until his bear face was as black as the tunnel.
+
+"The Emerald City is as good as destroyed already!" muttered the Grand
+Gallipoot, shaking his war club fiercely.
+
+"In a few hours Oz will be a desert!" said the Chief of the Whimsies,
+with an evil laugh.
+
+"My dear Guph," remarked the Nome King to his General, "at last my
+vengeance upon Ozma of Oz and her people is about to be accomplished."
+
+"You are right!" declared the General. "Ozma is surely lost."
+
+And now the First and Foremost, who was in advance and nearing the
+Emerald City, began to cough and to sneeze.
+
+"This tunnel is terribly dusty," he growled, angrily. "I'll punish that
+Nome King for not having it swept clean. My throat and eyes are getting
+full of dust and I'm as thirsty as a fish!"
+
+The Grand Gallipoot was coughing too, and his throat was parched and
+dry.
+
+"What a dusty place!" he cried. "I'll be glad when we reach Oz, where we
+can get a drink."
+
+"Who has any water?" asked the Whimsie Chief, gasping and choking. But
+none of his followers carried a drop of water, so he hastened on to get
+through the dusty tunnel to the Land of Oz.
+
+"Where did all this dust come from?" demanded General Guph, trying hard
+to swallow but finding his throat so dry he couldn't.
+
+"I don't know," answered the Nome King. "I've been in the tunnel every
+day while it was being built, but I never noticed any dust before."
+
+"Let's hurry!" cried the General. "I'd give half the gold in Oz for a
+drink of water."
+
+The dust grew thicker and thicker, and the throats and eyes and noses of
+the invaders were filled with it. But not one halted or turned back.
+They hurried forward more fierce and vengeful than ever.
+
+
+
+
+_How_ THEY DRANK AT THE FORBIDDEN FOUNTAIN
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+The Scarecrow had no need to sleep; neither had the Tin Woodman or
+Tiktok or Jack Pumpkinhead. So they all wandered out into the palace
+grounds and stood beside the sparkling water of the Forbidden Fountain
+until daybreak. During this time they indulged in occasional
+conversation.
+
+"Nothing could make me forget what I know," remarked the Scarecrow,
+gazing into the fountain, "for I cannot drink the Water of Oblivion or
+water of any kind. And I am glad that this is so, for I consider my
+wisdom unexcelled."
+
+"You are cer-tain-ly- ve-ry wise," agreed Tiktok. "For my part, I can
+on-ly think by ma-chin-er-y, so I do not pre-tend to know as much as you
+do."
+
+"My tin brains are very bright, but that is all I claim for them," said
+Nick Chopper, modestly. "Yet I do not aspire to being very wise, for I
+have noticed that the happiest people are those who do not let their
+brains oppress them."
+
+"Mine never worry me," Jack Pumpkinhead acknowledged. "There are many
+seeds of thought in my head, but they do not sprout easily. I am glad
+that it is so, for if I occupied my days in thinking I should have no
+time for anything else."
+
+In this cheery mood they passed the hours until the first golden streaks
+of dawn appeared in the sky. Then Ozma joined them, as fresh and lovely
+as ever and robed in one of her prettiest gowns.
+
+"Our enemies have not yet arrived," said the Scarecrow, after greeting
+affectionately the sweet and girlish Ruler.
+
+"They will soon be here," she said, "for I have just glanced at my Magic
+Picture, and have seen them coughing and choking with the dust in the
+tunnel."
+
+"Oh, is there dust in the tunnel?" asked the Tin Woodman.
+
+"Yes; Ozma placed it there by means of the Magic Belt," explained the
+Scarecrow, with one of his broad smiles.
+
+Then Dorothy came to them, Uncle Henry and Aunt Em following close after
+her. The little girl's eyes were heavy because she had had a sleepless
+and anxious night. Toto walked by her side, but the little dog's spirits
+were very much subdued. Billina, who was always up by daybreak, was not
+long in joining the group by the fountain.
+
+The Wizard and the Shaggy Man next arrived, and soon after appeared Omby
+Amby, dressed in his best uniform.
+
+"There lies the tunnel," said Ozma, pointing to a part of the ground
+just before the Forbidden Fountain, "and in a few moments the dreadful
+invaders will break through the earth and swarm over the land. Let us
+all stand on the other side of the Fountain and watch to see what
+happens."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+At once they followed her suggestion and moved around the fountain of
+the Water of Oblivion. There they stood silent and expectant until the
+earth beyond gave way with a sudden crash and up leaped the powerful
+form of the First and Foremost, followed by all his grim warriors.
+
+As the leader sprang forward his gleaming eyes caught the play of the
+fountain and he rushed toward it and drank eagerly of the sparkling
+water. Many of the other Phanfasms drank, too, in order to clear their
+dry and dusty throats. Then they stood around and looked at one another
+with simple, wondering smiles.
+
+The First and Foremost saw Ozma and her companions beyond the fountain,
+but instead of making an effort to capture her he merely stared at her
+in pleased admiration of her beauty--for he had forgotten where he was
+and why he had come there.
+
+But now the Grand Gallipoot arrived, rushing from the tunnel with a
+hoarse cry of mingled rage and thirst. He too saw the fountain and
+hastened to drink of its forbidden waters. The other Growleywogs were
+not slow to follow suit, and even before they had finished drinking the
+Chief of the Whimsies and his people came to push them away, while they
+one and all cast off their false heads that they might slake their
+thirst at the fountain.
+
+When the Nome King and General Guph arrived they both made a dash to
+drink, but the General was so mad with thirst that he knocked his King
+over, and while Roquat lay sprawling upon the ground the General drank
+heartily of the Water of Oblivion.
+
+This rude act of his General made the Nome King so angry that for a
+moment he forgot he was thirsty and rose to his feet to glare upon the
+group of terrible warriors he had brought here to assist him. He saw
+Ozma and her people, too, and yelled out:
+
+"Why don't you capture them? Why don't you conquer Oz, you idiots? Why
+do you stand there like a lot of dummies?"
+
+But the great warriors had become like little children. They had
+forgotten all their enmity against Ozma and against Oz. They had even
+forgotten who they themselves were, or why they were in this strange and
+beautiful country. As for the Nome King, they did not recognize him,
+and wondered who he was.
+
+The sun came up and sent its flood of silver rays to light the faces of
+the invaders. The frowns and scowls and evil looks were all gone. Even
+the most monstrous of the creatures there assembled smiled innocently
+and seemed light-hearted and content merely to be alive.
+
+Not so with Roquat, the Nome King. He had not drunk from the Forbidden
+Fountain and all his former rage against Ozma and Dorothy now inflamed
+him as fiercely as ever. The sight of General Guph babbling like a happy
+child and playing with his hands in the cool waters of the fountain
+astonished and maddened Red Roquat. Seeing that his terrible allies and
+his own General refused to act, the Nome King turned to order his great
+army of Nomes to advance from the tunnel and seize the helpless Oz
+people.
+
+But the Scarecrow suspected what was in the King's mind and spoke a word
+to the Tin Woodman. Together they ran at Roquat and grabbing him up
+tossed him into the great basin of the fountain.
+
+The Nome King's body was round as a ball, and it bobbed up and down in
+the Water of Oblivion while he spluttered and screamed with fear lest he
+should drown. And when he cried out his mouth filled with water, which
+ran down his throat, so that straightway he forgot all he had formerly
+known just as completely as had all the other invaders.
+
+Ozma and Dorothy could not refrain from laughing to see their dreaded
+enemies become as harmless as babes. There was no danger now that Oz
+would be destroyed. The only question remaining to solve was how to get
+rid of this horde of intruders.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The Shaggy Man kindly pulled the Nome King out of the fountain and set
+him upon his thin legs. Roquat was dripping wet, but he chattered and
+laughed and wanted to drink more of the water. No thought of injuring
+any person was now in his mind.
+
+Before he left the tunnel he had commanded his fifty thousand Nomes to
+remain there until he ordered them to advance, as he wished to give his
+allies time to conquer Oz before he appeared with his own army. Ozma did
+not wish all these Nomes to overrun her land, so she advanced to King
+Roquat and taking his hand in her own said gently:
+
+"Who are you? What is your name?"
+
+"I don't know," he replied, smiling at her. "Who are you, my dear?"
+
+"My name is Ozma," she said; "and your name is Roquat."
+
+"Oh, is it?" he replied, seeming pleased.
+
+"Yes; you are King of the Nomes," she said.
+
+"Ah; I wonder what the Nomes are!" returned the King, as if puzzled.
+
+"They are underground elves, and that tunnel over there is full of
+them," she answered. "You have a beautiful cavern at the other end of
+the tunnel, so you must go to your Nomes and say: 'March home!' Then
+follow after them and in time you will reach the pretty cavern where you
+live."
+
+The Nome King was much pleased to learn this, for he had forgotten he
+had a cavern. So he went to the tunnel and said to his army: "March
+home!" At once the Nomes turned and marched back through the tunnel, and
+the King followed after them, laughing with delight to find his orders
+so readily obeyed.
+
+The Wizard went to General Guph, who was trying to count his fingers,
+and told him to follow the Nome King, who was his master. Guph meekly
+obeyed, and so all the Nomes quitted the Land of Oz forever.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+But there were still the Phanfasms and Whimsies and Growleywogs standing
+around in groups, and they were so many that they filled the gardens and
+trampled upon the flowers and grass because they did not know that the
+tender plants would be injured by their clumsy feet. But in all other
+respects they were perfectly harmless and played together like children
+or gazed with pleasure upon the pretty sights of the royal gardens.
+
+After counseling with the Scarecrow Ozma sent Omby Amby to the palace
+for the Magic Belt, and when the Captain General returned with it the
+Ruler of Oz at once clasped the precious Belt around her waist.
+
+"I wish all these strange people--the Whimsies and the Growleywogs and
+the Phanfasms--safe back in their own homes!" she said.
+
+It all happened in a twinkling, for of course the wish was no sooner
+spoken than it was granted.
+
+All the hosts of the invaders were gone, and only the trampled grass
+showed that they had ever been in the Land of Oz.
+
+
+
+
+_How_ GLINDA WORKED A MAGIC SPELL
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+"That was better than fighting," said Ozma, when all our friends were
+assembled in the palace after the exciting events of the morning; and
+each and every one agreed with her.
+
+"No one was hurt," said the Wizard, delightedly.
+
+"And no one hurt us," added Aunt Em.
+
+"But, best of all," said Dorothy, "the wicked people have all forgotten
+their wickedness, and will not wish to hurt any one after this."
+
+"True, Princess," declared the Shaggy Man. "It seems to me that to have
+reformed all those evil characters is more important than to have saved
+Oz."
+
+"Nevertheless," remarked the Scarecrow, "I am glad Oz is saved. I can
+now go back to my new mansion and live happily."
+
+"And I am glad and grateful that my pumpkin farm is saved," said Jack.
+
+"For my part," added the Tin Woodman, "I cannot express my joy that my
+lovely tin castle is not to be demolished by wicked enemies."
+
+"Still," said Tiktok, "o-ther en-e-mies may come to Oz some day."
+
+"Why do you allow your clock-work brains to interrupt our joy?" asked
+Omby Amby, frowning at the machine man.
+
+"I say what I am wound up to say," answered Tiktok.
+
+"And you are right," declared Ozma. "I myself have been thinking of this
+very idea, and it seems to me there are entirely too many ways for
+people to get to the Land of Oz. We used to think the deadly desert that
+surrounds us was enough protection; but that is no longer the case. The
+Wizard and Dorothy have both come here through the air, and I am told
+the earth people have invented airships that can fly anywhere they wish
+them to go."
+
+"Why, sometimes they do, and sometimes they don't," asserted Dorothy.
+
+"But in time the airships may cause us trouble," continued Ozma, "for if
+the earth folk learn how to manage them we would be overrun with
+visitors who would ruin our lovely, secluded fairyland."
+
+"That is true enough," agreed the Wizard.
+
+"Also the desert fails to protect us in other ways," Ozma went on,
+thoughtfully. "Johnny Dooit once made a sandboat that sailed across it,
+and the Nome King made a tunnel under it. So I believe something ought
+to be done to cut us off from the rest of the world entirely, so that no
+one in the future will ever be able to intrude upon us."
+
+"How will you do that?" asked the Scarecrow.
+
+"I do not know; but in some way I am sure it can be accomplished.
+To-morrow I will make a journey to the castle of Glinda the Good, and
+ask her advice."
+
+"May I go with you?" asked Dorothy, eagerly.
+
+"Of course, my dear Princess; and also I invite any of our friends here
+who would like to undertake the journey."
+
+They all declared they wished to accompany their girl Ruler, for this
+was indeed an important mission, since the future of the Land of Oz to a
+great extent depended upon it. So Ozma gave orders to her servants to
+prepare for the journey on the morrow.
+
+That day she watched her Magic Picture, and when it showed her that all
+the Nomes had returned through the tunnel to their underground caverns,
+Ozma used the Magic Belt to close up the tunnel, so that the earth
+underneath the desert sands became as solid as it was before the Nomes
+began to dig.
+
+Early the following morning a gay cavalcade set out to visit the famous
+Sorceress, Glinda the Good. Ozma and Dorothy rode in a chariot drawn by
+the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger, while the Sawhorse drew the red
+wagon in which rode the rest of the party.
+
+With hearts light and free from care they traveled merrily along through
+the lovely and fascinating Land of Oz, and in good season reached the
+stately castle in which resided the Sorceress.
+
+Glinda knew that they were coming.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"I have been reading about you in my Magic Book," she said, as she
+greeted them in her gracious way.
+
+"What is your Magic Book like?" inquired Aunt Em, curiously.
+
+"It is a record of everything that happens," replied the Sorceress. "As
+soon as an event takes place, anywhere in the world, it is immediately
+found printed in my Magic Book. So when I read its pages I am well
+informed."
+
+"Did it tell how our enemies drank the Water of 'Blivion?" asked
+Dorothy.
+
+"Yes, my dear; it told all about it. And also it told me you were all
+coming to my castle, and why."
+
+"Then," said Ozma, "I suppose you know what is in my mind, and that I am
+seeking a way to prevent any one in the future from discovering the Land
+of Oz."
+
+"Yes; I know that. And while you were on your journey I have thought
+of a way to accomplish your desire. For it seems to me unwise to allow
+too many outside people to come here. Dorothy, with her uncle and aunt,
+has now returned to Oz to live always, and there is no reason why we
+should leave any way open for others to travel uninvited to our
+fairyland. Let us make it impossible for any one ever to communicate
+with us in any way, after this. Then we may live peacefully and
+contentedly."
+
+"Your advice is wise," returned Ozma. "I thank you, Glinda, for your
+promise to assist me."
+
+"But how can you do it?" asked Dorothy. "How can you keep every one from
+ever finding Oz?"
+
+"By making our country invisible to all eyes but our own," replied the
+Sorceress, smiling. "I have a magic charm powerful enough to accomplish
+that wonderful feat, and now that we have been warned of our danger by
+the Nome King's invasion, I believe we must not hesitate to separate
+ourselves forever from all the rest of the world."
+
+"I agree with you," said the Ruler of Oz.
+
+"Won't it make any difference to us?" asked Dorothy, doubtfully.
+
+"No, my dear," Glinda answered, assuringly. "We shall still be able to
+see each other and everything in the Land of Oz. It won't affect us at
+all; but those who fly through the air over our country will look down
+and see nothing at all. Those who come to the edge of the desert, or
+try to cross it, will catch no glimpse of Oz, or know in what direction
+it lies. No one will try to tunnel to us again because we cannot be seen
+and therefore cannot be found. In other words, the Land of Oz will
+entirely disappear from the knowledge of the rest of the world."
+
+"That's all right," said Dorothy, cheerfully. "You may make Oz invis'ble
+as soon as you please, for all I care."
+
+"It is already invisible," Glinda stated. "I knew Ozma's wishes, and
+performed the Magic Spell before you arrived."
+
+Ozma seized the hand of the Sorceress and pressed it gratefully.
+
+"Thank you!" she said.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+_How_ THE STORY OF OZ CAME TO AN END
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+The writer of these Oz stories has received a little note from Princess
+Dorothy of Oz which, for a time, has made him feel rather discontented.
+The note was written on a broad white feather from a stork's wing, and
+it said:
+
+    _"You will never hear anything more about Oz, because we are now
+    cut off forever from all the rest of the world. But Toto and I
+    will always love you and all the other children who love us._
+
+        "DOROTHY GALE."
+
+This seemed to me too bad, at first, for Oz is a very interesting
+fairyland. Still, we have no right to feel grieved, for we have had
+enough of the history of the Land of Oz to fill six story books, and
+from its quaint people and their strange adventures we have been able to
+learn many useful and amusing things.
+
+So good luck to little Dorothy and her companions. May they live long in
+their invisible country and be very happy!
+
+
+
+THE END
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Transcriber's notes:
+
+Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant
+preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.
+
+Simple typographical errors were corrected.
+
+Chapter names are parts of their illustrations. In this eBook, they
+precede the indications of where those illustrations occur.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Emerald City of Oz, by L. Frank Baum
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41667 ***