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@@ -0,0 +1,7341 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Emerald City of Oz, by L. Frank Baum + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Emerald City of Oz + +Author: L. Frank Baum + +Posting Date: July 30, 2008 [EBook #517] +Release Date: May, 1996 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EMERALD CITY OF OZ *** + + + + +Produced by Warren Baldwin and Dennis Amundson + + + + + + + + +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. + + + + +Contents + + --Author's Note-- + 1. How the Nome King Became Angry + 2. How Uncle Henry Got Into Trouble + 3. How Ozma Granted Dorothy's Request + 4. How The Nome King Planned Revenge + 5. How Dorothy Became a Princess + 6. How Guph Visited the Whimsies + 7. How Aunt Em Conquered the Lion + 8. How the Grand Gallipoot Joined The Nomes + 9. How the Wogglebug Taught Athletics + 10. How the Cuttenclips Lived + 11. How the General Met the First and Foremost + 12. How they Matched the Fuddles + 13. How the General Talked to the King + 14. How the Wizard Practiced Sorcery + 15. How Dorothy Happened to Get Lost + 16. How Dorothy Visited Utensia + 17. How They Came to Bunbury + 18. How Ozma Looked into the Magic Picture + 19. How Bunnybury Welcomed the Strangers + 20. How Dorothy Lunched With a King + 21. How the King Changed His Mind + 22. How the Wizard Found Dorothy + 23. How They Encountered the Flutterbudgets + 24. How the Tin Woodman Told the Sad News + 25. How the Scarecrow Displayed His Wisdom + 26. How Ozma Refused to Fight for Her Kingdom + 27. How the Fierce Warriors Invaded Oz + 28. How They Drank at the Forbidden Fountain + 29. How Glinda Worked a Magic Spell + 30. How the Story of Oz Came to an End + + + + +Author's Note + + +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 +requestsed 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. + + +L. FRANK BAUM. + +Coronado, 1910 + + + +1. How the Nome King Became Angry + +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. + +"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." + +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 the 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. + + + +2. How Uncle Henry Got Into Trouble + +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 +field 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." + +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 her 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 had +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. + + + +3. How Ozma Granted Dorothy's Request + +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 had 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." + +"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!" + + + +4. How The Nome King Planned Revenge + +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?" + +"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," replied 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." + +"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 ruled 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." + + + +5. How Dorothy Became a Princess + +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, kind-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. + +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 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." + +"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!" + + + +6. How Guph Visited the Whimsies + +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. + +"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. + +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. + + + +7. How Aunt Em Conquered the Lion + +"These are your rooms," said Dorothy, opening a door. + +Aunt Em drew back at the 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 she 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. + +"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 here 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 to 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. + +"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 cried, 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 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." + + + +8. How the Grand Gallipoot Joined The Nomes + +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. + +"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 jailer 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 jailer 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 jailer. "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 jailer. "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." + +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 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." + + + +9. How the Wogglebug Taught Athletics + +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 +wooden 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. + +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. Its 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." + +"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 practicing 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. + + + +10. How the Cuttenclips Lived + +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 signposts at all the corners, and finally they came to one +which read: + + +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 seen 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 cozy 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 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. + +"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 early. 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. + +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. + + + +11. How the General Met the First and Foremost + +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 jailer 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 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 the 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. + +"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. + +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." + +"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 for 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. + + + +12. How they Matched the Fuddles + +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: + + +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 might 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. + +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 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 it's 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." + +"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 to 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. + +"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." + + + +13. How the General Talked to the King + +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 halfway 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." + +"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. + + + +14. How the Wizard Practiced Sorcery + +"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 this 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. As 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 practice 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 has 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." + +"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 voice: "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. + + + +15. How Dorothy Happened to Get Lost + +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 lives in a pool, and more +than I do, who lives in a forest. For they have been travelers all +over the world, and know every part of it." + +"There is 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. + +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!" + +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 have never 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. + + + +16. How Dorothy Visited Utensia + +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, colanders, 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 +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. + +"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 colander 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 me no reasons for your demands." + +"See here, Kleaver; you make me tired," said 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 little 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 it's 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. + + + +17. How They Came to Bunbury + +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: + + +TAKE THE OTHER ROAD TO BUNBURY + + +and the second sign read: + + +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 +exclaimed. "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 is 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 will +never 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 musn'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 +accommodating." + +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 howeled 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?" said 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. + + + +18. How Ozma Looked into the Magic Picture + +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 image 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. + + + +19. How Bunnybury Welcomed the Strangers + +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 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. + +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 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. + + + +20. How Dorothy Lunched With a King + +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!" called 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. + +"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--huray!" 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." + + + +21. How the King Changed His Mind + +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 hold 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 Whiskers +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. + +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. + + + +22. How the Wizard Found Dorothy + +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 +the 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," said 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 cozy 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 got 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." + +"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 lead 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--" + +"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 criticized 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. + +"Let's don't 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," said 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." + +"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. + + + +23. How They Encountered the Flutterbudgets + +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 into 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. + +"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." + +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. + + + +24. How the Tin Woodman Told the Sad News + +The Tin Woodman received Princess Dorothy's party with much grace and +cordiality, yet the little girl decided that something must be worrying +with 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 cozy 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?" + +"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." + + + +25. How the Scarecrow Displayed His Wisdom + +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 great 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 couldn't help a +feeling of wonder at the sight she saw. + +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." + +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 of 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 they had +reached the royal palace in the Emerald City, and were at their +journey's end. + + + +26. How Ozma Refused to Fight for Her Kingdom + +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. + +"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 Growleywogs, 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 +Kan-sas." + +"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 the 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. + +"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. + +"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 let 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. + + + +27. How the Fierce Warriors Invaded Oz + +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 of 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." + +"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. + + + +28. How They Drank at the Forbidden Fountain + +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." + +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 babies. 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. + +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. + +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. + + + +29. How Glinda Worked a Magic Spell + +"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 sand-boat 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 I also 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. + +"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 you 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. + + + +30. How the Story of Oz Came to an End + +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 disconcerted. +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! + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Emerald City of Oz, by L. 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