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diff --git a/old/11woz11h.htm b/old/11woz11h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cb1fea9 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11woz11h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6241 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?> +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> + <title>The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lost Princess of Oz, by Baum </title> + <style type="text/css"> + <!-- + body { margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; } + p { margin-top: .75em; + font-size: 100%; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + h1 { text-align: center; + margin-top: 4em; } + h1.pg { text-align: center; + margin-top: 0em; } + h2 { text-align: center; + margin-top: 2em; } + + h3, h4, h5, h6 { text-align: center; } + hr { width: 50%; } + hr.full { width: 100%; + height: 5px; } + .ctr {text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 85%; } + .poem { margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left; } + .poem .stanza { margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em; } + .poem p { margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em; } + .poem p.i2 { margin-left: 1em; } + .poem p.i4 { margin-left: 2em; } + .poem p.i6 { margin-left: 3em; } + .poem p.i8 { margin-left: 4em; } + .poem p.i10 { margin-left: 5em; } + .toc { margin-left: 15%; font-size: 80%; margin-bottom: 0em;} + center { padding: 0.8em;} + a:link {color:blue; text-decoration:none} + link {color:blue; text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:blue; text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:red} + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + // --> + </style> + </head> +<body> +<pre> + +*Project Gutenberg's Etext of The Lost Princess of Oz, by Baum* +#11 in the L. 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If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Association/Carnegie-Mellon + University" within the 60 days following each + date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare) + your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time, +scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty +free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution +you can think of. Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg +Association / Carnegie-Mellon University". + +*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + +</pre> + +<hr /> + +<h1>THE LOST PRINCESS OF OZ</h1> + +<h3>by L. FRANK BAUM</h3> + + +<h4>This Book is Dedicated To My Granddaughter OZMA BAUM</h4> + + +<hr /> +<h2 id="ref_1">To My Readers</h2> + +<p>Some of my youthful readers are developing wonderful +imaginations. This pleases me. Imagination has brought mankind +through the Dark Ages to its present state of civilization. +Imagination led Columbus to discover America. Imagination led +Franklin to discover electricity. Imagination has given us the +steam engine, the telephone, the talking-machine and the +automobile, for these things had to be dreamed of before they +became realities. So I believe that dreams — day dreams, you +know, with your eyes wide open and your brain-machinery whizzing +— are likely to lead to the betterment of the world. The +imaginative child will become the imaginative man or woman most +apt to create, to invent, and therefore to foster civilization. A +prominent educator tells me that fairy tales are of untold value +in developing imagination in the young. I believe it. </p> + +<p>Among the letters I receive from children are many containing +suggestions of "what to write about in the next Oz Book." Some of +the ideas advanced are mighty interesting, while others are too +extravagant to be seriously considered — even in a fairy tale. +Yet I like them all, and I must admit that the main idea in "The +Lost Princess of Oz" was suggested to me by a sweet little girl +of eleven who called to see me and to talk about the Land of Oz. +Said she: "I s'pose if Ozma ever got lost, or stolen, ev'rybody +in Oz would be dreadful sorry."</p> + +<p>That was all, but quite enough foundation to build this present +story on. If you happen to like the story, give credit to my +little friend's clever hint. </p> + +<p>L. Frank Baum Royal Historian of Oz</p> + +<p>THE LOST PRINCESS</p> +<p>BY L. FRANK BAUM</p> + +<hr /> + +<h1><a name="Contents">Contents</a> </h1> +<div class="ctr"> + <table border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" summary=""> + <tr><td>CHAPTER</td><td></td></tr> + <tr><td align="right">1 </td><td> <a href="#ref_2"> A Terrible Loss</a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="right">2 </td><td> <a href="#ref_3"> The Troubles of Glinda the Good</a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="right">3 </td><td> <a href="#ref_4"> The Robbery of Cayke the Cookie Cook</a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="right">4 </td><td> <a href="#ref_5"> Among the Winkies</a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="right">5 </td><td> <a href="#ref_6"> Ozma's Friends Are Perplexed</a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="right">6 </td><td> <a href="#ref_7"> The Search Party</a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="right">7 </td><td> <a href="#ref_8"> The Merry-Go-Round Mountains</a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="right">8 </td><td> <a href="#ref_9"> The Mysterious City</a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="right">9 </td><td> <a href="#ref_10"> The High Coco-Lorum of Thi</a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="right">10 </td><td> <a href="#ref_11"> Toto Loses Something</a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="right">11 </td><td> <a href="#ref_12"> Button-Bright Loses Himself</a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="right">12 </td><td> <a href="#ref_13"> The Czarover of Herku</a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="right">13 </td><td> <a href="#ref_14"> The Truth Pond</a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="right">14 </td><td> <a href="#ref_15"> The Unhappy Ferryman</a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="right">15 </td><td> <a href="#ref_16"> The Big Lavender Bear</a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="right">16 </td><td> <a href="#ref_17"> The Little Pink Bear</a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="right">17 </td><td> <a href="#ref_18"> The Meeting</a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="right">18 </td><td> <a href="#ref_19"> The Conference</a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="right">19 </td><td> <a href="#ref_20"> Ugu the Shoemaker</a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="right">20 </td><td> <a href="#ref_21"> More Surprises</a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="right">21 </td><td> <a href="#ref_22"> Magic Against Magic</a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="right">22 </td><td> <a href="#ref_23"> In the Wicker Castle</a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="right">23 </td><td> <a href="#ref_24"> The Defiance of Ugu the Shoemaker</a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="right">24 </td><td> <a href="#ref_25"> The Little Pink Bear Speaks Truly</a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="right">25 </td><td> <a href="#ref_26"> Ozma of Oz</a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="right">26 </td><td> <a href="#ref_27"> Dorothy Forgives</a></td></tr> + </table> +</div> + +<hr /> + +<h2 id="ref_2">CHAPTER 1</h2> + +<h3>A TERRIBLE LOSS</h3> + +<p>There could be no doubt of the fact: Princess Ozma, the lovely +girl ruler of the Fairyland of Oz, was lost. She had completely +disappeared.Not one of her subjects—not even her closest +friends—knew what had become of her. It was Dorothy who first +discovered it. Dorothy was a little Kansas girl who had come to +the Land of Oz to live and had been given a delightful suite of +rooms in Ozma's royal palace just because Ozma loved Dorothy and +wanted her to live as near her as possible so the two girls might +be much together. </p> + +<p>Dorothy was not the only girl from the outside world who had +been welcomed to Oz and lived in the royal palace. There was +another named Betsy Bobbin, whose adventures had led her to seek +refuge with Ozma, and still another named Trot, who had been +invited, together with her faithful companion Cap'n Bill, to make +her home in this wonderful fairyland. The three girls all had +rooms in the palace and were great chums; but Dorothy was the +dearest friend of their gracious Ruler and only she at any hour +dared to seek Ozma in her royal apartments. For Dorothy had lived +in Oz much longer than the other girls and had been made a +Princess of the realm.</p> + +<p>Betsy was a year older than Dorothy and Trot was a year younger, +yet the three were near enough of an age to become great +playmates and to have nice times together. It was while the three +were talking together one morning in Dorothy's room that Betsy +proposed they make a journey into the Munchkin Country, which was +one of the four great countries of the Land of Oz ruled by Ozma. +"I've never been there yet," said Betsy Bobbin, "but the +Scarecrow once told me it is the prettiest country in all Oz."</p> + +<p>"I'd like to go, too," added Trot.</p> + +<p>"All right," said Dorothy. "I'll go and ask Ozma. Perhaps she +will let us take the Sawhorse and the Red Wagon, which would be +much nicer for us than having to walk all the way. This Land of +Oz is a pretty big place when you get to all the edges of it."</p> + +<p>So she jumped up and went along the halls of the splendid +palace until she came to the royal suite, which filled all the +front of the second floor. In a little waiting room sat Ozma's +maid, Jellia Jamb, who was busily sewing. "Is Ozma up yet?" +inquired Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"I don't know, my dear," replied Jellia. "I haven't heard a word +from her this morning. She hasn't even called for her bath or her +breakfast, and it is far past her usual time for them." </p> + +<p>"That's strange!" exclaimed the little girl.</p> + +<p>"Yes," agreed the maid, "but of course no harm could have +happened to her. No one can die or be killed in the Land of Oz, +and Ozma is herself a powerful fairy, and she has no enemies so +far as we know. Therefore I am not at all worried about her, +though I must admit her silence is unusual." </p> + +<p>"Perhaps," said Dorothy thoughtfully, "she has overslept. Or +she may be reading or working out some new sort of magic to do +good to her people."</p> + +<p>"Any of these things may be true," replied Jellia Jamb, "so I +haven't dared disturb our royal mistress. You, however, are a +privileged character, Princess, and I am sure that Ozma wouldn't +mind at all if you went in to see her." </p> + +<p>"Of course not," said Dorothy, and opening the door of the +outer chamber, she went in. All was still here. She walked into +another room, which was Ozma's boudoir, and then, pushing back a +heavy drapery richly broidered with threads of pure gold, the +girl entered the sleeping-room of the fairy Ruler of Oz. The bed +of ivory and gold was vacant; the room was vacant; not a trace of +Ozma was to be found. Very much surprised, yet still with no fear +that anything had happened to her friend, Dorothy returned +through the boudoir to the other rooms of the suite. the bath, +the wardrobe, and even into the great throne room, which adjoined +the royal suite, but in none of these places could she find +Ozma.</p> + +<p>So she returned to the anteroom where she had left the maid, +Jellia Jamb, and said, "She isn't in her rooms now, so she must +have gone out." </p> + +<p>"I don't understand how she could do that without my seeing +her," replied Jellia, "unless she made herself invisible."</p> + +<p>"She isn't there, anyhow," declared Dorothy. </p> + +<p>"Then let us go find her," suggested the maid, who appeared to +be a little uneasy. So they went into the corridors, and there +Dorothy almost stumbled over a queer girl who was dancing lightly +along the passage.</p> + +<p>"Stop a minute, Scraps!" she called, "Have you seen Ozma this +morning?" </p> + +<p>"Not I!" replied the queer girl, dancing nearer."I lost both +my eyes in a tussle with the Woozy last night, for the creature +scraped 'em both off my face with his square paws. So I put the +eyes in my pocket, and this morning Button-Bright led me to Aunt +Em, who sewed 'em on again. So I've seen nothing at all today, +except during the last five minutes. So of course I haven't seen +Ozma."</p> + +<p>"Very well, Scraps," said Dorothy, looking curiously at the eyes, +which were merely two round, black buttons sewed upon the girl's +face. </p> + +<p>There were other things about Scraps that would have seemed +curious to one seeing her for the first time. She was commonly +called "the Patchwork Girl" because her body and limbs were made +from a gay-colored patchwork quilt which had been cut into shape +and stuffed with cotton. Her head was a round ball stuffed in the +same manner and fastened to her shoulders. For hair, she had a +mass of brown yarn, and to make a nose for her a part of the +cloth had been pulled out into the shape of a knob and tied with +a string to hold it in place. Her mouth had been carefully made +by cutting a slit in the proper place and lining it with red +silk, adding two rows of pearls for teeth and a bit of red +flannel for a tongue.</p> + +<p>In spite of this queer make-up, the Patchwork Girl was magically +alive and had proved herself not the least jolly and agreeable of +the many quaint characters who inhabit the astonishing Fairyland +of Oz. Indeed, Scraps was a general favorite, although she was +rather flighty and erratic and did and said many things that +surprised her friends. She was seldom still, but loved to dance, +to turn handsprings and somersaults, to climb trees and to +indulge in many other active sports. </p> + +<p>"I'm going to search for Ozma," remarked Dorothy, "for she +isn't in her rooms, and I want to ask her a question."</p> + +<p>"I'll go with you," said Scraps, "for my eyes are brighter than +yours, and they can see farther." </p> + +<p>"I'm not sure of that," returned Dorothy. "But come along, if +you like."</p> + +<p>Together they searched all through the great palace and even to +the farthest limits of the palace grounds, which were quite +extensive, but nowhere could they find a trace of Ozma. When +Dorothy returned to where Betsy and Trot awaited her, the little +girl's face was rather solemn and troubled, for never before had +Ozma gone away without telling her friends where she was going, +or without an escort that befitted her royal state. She was gone, +however, and none had seen her go. Dorothy had met and questioned +the Scarecrow, Tik-Tok, the Shaggy Man, Button-Bright, Cap'n +Bill, and even the wise and powerful Wizard of Oz, but not one of +them had seen Ozma since she parted with her friends the evening +before and had gone to her own rooms. </p> + +<p>"She didn't say anything las' night about going anywhere," +observed little Trot.</p> + +<p>"No, and that's the strange part of it," replied Dorothy. +"Usually Ozma lets us know of everything she does." </p> + +<p>"Why not look in the Magic Picture?" suggested Betsy Bobbin. +"That will tell us where she is in just one second."</p> + +<p>"Of course!" cried Dorothy. "Why didn't I think of that before?" +And at once the three girls hurried away to Ozma's boudoir, where +the Magic Picture always hung. This wonderful Magic Picture was +one of the royal Ozma's greatest treasures. There was a large +gold frame in the center of which was a bluish-gray canvas on +which various scenes constantly appeared and disappeared. If one +who stood before it wished to see what any person anywhere in the +world was doing, it was only necessary to make the wish and the +scene in the Magic Picture would shift to the scene where that +person was and show exactly what he or she was then engaged in +doing. So the girls knew it would be easy for them to wish to see +Ozma, and from the picture they could quickly learn where she +was. </p> + +<p>Dorothy advanced to the place where the picture was usually +protected by thick satin curtains and pulled the draperies aside. +Then she stared in amazement, while her two friends uttered +exclamations of disappointment.</p> + +<p>The Magic Picture was gone. Only a blank space on the wall behind +the curtains showed where it had formerly hung.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2 id="ref_3">CHAPTER 2</h2> + +<h3>THE TROUBLES OF GLINDA THE GOOD</h3> + +<p>That same morning there was great excitement in the castle of the +powerful Sorceress of Oz, Glinda the Good. This castle, situated +in the Quadling Country, far south of the Emerald City where Ozma +ruled, was a splendid structure of exquisite marbles and silver +grilles. Here the Sorceress lived, surrounded by a bevy of the +most beautiful maidens of Oz, gathered from all the four +countries of that fairyland as well as from the magnificent +Emerald City itself, which stood in the place where the four +countries cornered. It was considered a great honor to be allowed +to serve the good Sorceress, whose arts of magic were used only +to benefit the Oz people. Glinda was Ozma's most valued servant, +for her knowledge of sorcery was wonderful, and she could +accomplish almost anything that her mistress, the lovely girl +Ruler of Oz, wished her to. </p> + +<p>Of all the magical things which surrounded Glinda in her +castle, there was none more marvelous than her Great Book of +Records. On the pages of this Record Book were constantly being +inscribed, day by day and hour by hour, all the important events +that happened anywhere in the known world, and they were +inscribed in the book at exactly the moment the events happened. +Every adventure in the Land of Oz and in the big outside world, +and even in places that you and I have never heard of, were +recorded accurately in the Great Book, which never made a mistake +and stated only the exact truth. For that reason, nothing could +be concealed from Glinda the Good, who had only to look at the +pages of the Great Book of Records to know everything that had +taken place. That was one reason she was such a great Sorceress, +for the records made her wiser than any other living person.</p> + +<p>This wonderful book was placed upon a big gold table that stood +in the middle of Glinda's drawing room. The legs of the table, +which were incrusted with precious gems, were firmly fastened to +the tiled floor, and the book itself was chained to the table and +locked with six stout golden padlocks, the keys to which Glinda +carried on a chain that was secured around her own neck. The +pages of the Great Book were larger in size than those of an +American newspaper, and although they were exceedingly thin, +there were so many of them that they made an enormous, bulky +volume. With its gold cover and gold clasps, the book was so +heavy that three men could scarcely have lifted it. Yet this +morning when Glinda entered her drawing room after breakfast, the +good Sorceress was amazed to discover that her Great Book of +Records had mysteriously disappeared. </p> + +<p>Advancing to the table, she found the chains had been cut with +some sharp instrument, and this must have been done while all in +the castle slept. Glinda was shocked and grieved. Who could have +done this wicked, bold thing? And who could wish to deprive her +of her Great Book of Records?</p> + +<p>The Sorceress was thoughtful for a time, considering the +consequences of her loss. Then she went to her Room of Magic to +prepare a charm that would tell her who had stolen the Record +Book. But when she unlocked her cupboard and threw open the +doors, all of her magical instruments and rare chemical compounds +had been removed from the shelves. The Sorceress has now both +angry and alarmed. She sat down in a chair and tried to think how +this extraordinary robbery could have taken place. It was evident +that the thief was some person of very great power, or the theft +could not have been accomplished without her knowledge. But who, +in all the Land of Oz, was powerful and skillful enough to do +this awful thing? And who, having the power, could also have an +object in defying the wisest and most talented Sorceress the +world has ever known? </p> + +<p>Glinda thought over the perplexing matter for a full hour, at +the end of which time she was still puzzled how to explain it. +But although her instruments and chemicals were gone, her +KNOWLEDGE of magic had not been stolen, by any means, since no +thief, however skillful, can rob one of knowledge, and that is +why knowledge is the best and safest treasure to acquire. Glinda +believed that when she had time to gather more magical herbs and +elixirs and to manufacture more magical instruments, she would be +able to discover who the robber was and what had become of her +precious Book of Records.</p> + +<p>"Whoever has done this," she said to her maidens, "is a very +foolish person, for in time he is sure to be found out and will +then be severely punished."</p> + +<p>She now made a list of the things she needed and dispatched +messengers to every part of Oz with instructions to obtain them +and bring them to her as soon as possible. And one of her +messengers met the little Wizard of Oz, who was seated on the +back of the famous live Sawhorse and was clinging to its neck +with both his arms, for the Sawhorse was speeding to Glinda's +castle with the velocity of the wind, bearing the news that Royal +Ozma, Ruler of all the great Land of Oz, had suddenly disappeared +and no one in the Emerald City knew what had become of her.</p> + +<p>"Also," said the Wizard as he stood before the astonished +Sorceress, "Ozma's Magic Picture is gone, so we cannot consult it +to discover where she is. So I came to you for assistance as soon +as we realized our loss. Let us look in the Great Book of +Records." </p> + +<p>"Alas," returned the Sorceress sorrowfully, "we cannot do +that, for the Great Book of Records has also disappeared!"</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2 id="ref_4">CHAPTER 3</h2> + +<h3>OF CAYKE THE COOKIE COOK</h3> + +<p>One more important theft was reported in the Land of Oz that +eventful morning, but it took place so far from either the +Emerald City or the castle of Glinda the Good that none of those +persons we have mentioned learned of the robbery until long +afterward.</p> + +<p>In the far southwestern corner of the Winkie Country is a broad +tableland that can be reached only by climbing a steep hill, +whichever side one approaches it. On the hillside surrounding +this tableland are no paths at all, but there are quantities of +bramble bushes with sharp prickers on them, which prevent any of +the Oz people who live down below from climbing up to see what is +on top. But on top live the Yips, and although the space they +occupy is not great in extent, the wee country is all their own. +The Yips had never—up to the time this story begins—left their +broad tableland to go down into the Land of Oz, nor had the Oz +people ever climbed up to the country of the Yips. </p> + +<p>Living all alone as they did, the Yips had queer ways and +notions of their own and did not resemble any other people of the +Land of Oz. Their houses were scattered all over the flat +surface; not like a city, grouped together, but set wherever +their owners' fancy dictated, with fields here, trees there, and +odd little paths connecting the houses one with another. It was +here, on the morning when Ozma so strangely disappeared from the +Emerald City, that Cayke the Cookie Cook discovered that her +diamond-studded gold dishpan had been stolen, and she raised such +a hue and cry over her loss and wailed and shrieked so loudly +that many of the Yips gathered around her house to inquire what +was the matter.</p> + +<p>It was a serious thing in any part of the Land of Oz to accuse +one of stealing, so when the Yips heard Cayke the Cookie Cook +declare that her jeweled dishpan had been stolen, they were both +humiliated and disturbed and forced Cayke to go with them to the +Frogman to see what could be done about it. I do not suppose you +have ever before heard of the Frogman, for like all other +dwellers on that tableland, he had never been away from it, nor +had anyone come up there to see him. The Frogman was in truth +descended from the common frogs of Oz, and when he was first born +he lived in a pool in the Winkie Country and was much like any +other frog. Being of an adventurous nature, however, he soon +hopped out of his pool and began to travel, when a big bird came +along and seized him in its beak and started to fly away with him +to its nest. When high in the air, the frog wriggled so +frantically that he got loose and fell down, down, down into a +small hidden pool on the tableland of the Yips. Now that pool, it +seems, was unknown to the Yips because it was surrounded by thick +bushes and was not near to any dwelling, and it proved to be an +enchanted pool, for the frog grew very fast and very big, feeding +on the magic skosh which is found nowhere else on earth except in +that one pool. And the skosh not only made the frog very big so +that when he stood on his hind legs he was as tall as any Yip in +the country, but it made him unusually intelligent, so that he +soon knew more than the Yips did and was able to reason and to +argue very well indeed.</p> + +<p>No one could expect a frog with these talents to remain in a +hidden pool, so he finally got out of it and mingled with the +people of the tableland, who were amazed at his appearance and +greatly impressed by his learning. They had never seen a frog +before, and the frog had never seen a Yip before, but as there +were plenty of Yips and only one frog, the frog became the most +important. He did not hop any more, but stood upright on his hind +legs and dressed himself in fine clothes and sat in chairs and +did all the things that people do, so he soon came to be called +the Frogman, and that is the only name he has ever had. After +some years had passed, the people came to regard the Frogman as +their adviser in all matters that puzzled them. They brought all +their difficulties to him, and when he did not know anything, he +pretended to know it, which seemed to answer just as well. +Indeed, the Yips thought the Frogman was much wiser than he +really was, and he allowed them to think so, being very proud of +his position of authority.</p> + +<p>There was another pool on the tableland which was not enchanted +but contained good, clear water and was located close to the +dwellings. Here the people built the Frogman a house of his own, +close to the edge of the pool so that he could take a bath or a +swim whenever he wished. He usually swam in the pool in the early +morning before anyone else was up, and during the day he dressed +himself in his beautiful clothes and sat in his house and +received the visits of all the Yips who came to him to ask his +advice. The Frogman's usual costume consisted of knee-breeches +made of yellow satin plush, with trimmings of gold braid and +jeweled knee-buckles; a white satin vest with silver buttons in +which were set solitaire rubies; a swallow-tailed coat of bright +yellow; green stockings and red leather shoes turned up at the +toes and having diamond buckles. He wore, when he walked out, a +purple silk hat and carried a gold-headed cane. Over his eyes he +wore great spectacles with gold rims, not because his eyes were +bad, but because the spectacles made him look wise, and so +distinguished and gorgeous was his appearance that all the Yips +were very proud of him.</p> + +<p>There was no King or Queen in the Yip Country, so the simple +inhabitants naturally came to look upon the Frogman as their +leader as well as their counselor in all times of emergency. In +his heart the big frog knew he was no wiser than the Yips, but +for a frog to know as much as a person was quite remarkable, and +the Frogman was shrewd enough to make the people believe he was +far more wise than he really was. They never suspected he was a +humbug, but listened to his words with great respect and did just +what he advised them to do.</p> + +<p>Now when Cayke the Cookie Cook raised such an outcry over the +theft of her diamond-studded dishpan, the first thought of the +people was to take her to the Frogman and inform him of the loss, +thinking that of course he would tell her where to find it. He +listened to the story with his big eyes wide open behind his +spectacles, and said in his deep, croaking voice, "If the dishpan +is stolen, somebody must have taken it."</p> + +<p>"But who?"asked Cayke anxiously. "Who is the thief?"</p> + +<p>"The one who took the dishpan, of course," replied the Frogman, +and hearing this all the Yips nodded their heads gravely and said +to one another, "It is absolutely true!"</p> + +<p>"But I want my dishpan!" cried Cayke.</p> + +<p>"No one can blame you for that wish," remarked the Frogman.</p> + +<p>"Then tell me where I may find it," she urged.</p> + +<p>The look the Frogman gave her was a very wise look, and he rose +from his chair and strutted up and down the room with his hands +under his coattails in a very pompous and imposing manner. This +was the first time so difficult a matter had been brought to him, +and he wanted time to think. It would never do to let them +suspect his ignorance, and so he thought very, very hard how best +to answer the woman without betraying himself. "I beg to inform +you," said he, "that nothing in the Yip Country has ever been +stolen before."</p> + +<p>"We know that already," answered Cayke the Cookie Cook +impatiently.</p> + +<p>"Therefore," continued the Frogman, "this theft becomes a very +important matter.""Therefore," continued the Frogman, "this theft +becomes a very important matter."</p> + +<p>"Well, where is my dishpan?" demanded the woman.</p> + +<p>"It is lost, but it must be found. Unfortunately, we have no +policemen or detectives to unravel the mystery, so we must employ +other means to regain the lost article. Cayke must first write a +Proclamation and tack it to the door of her house, and the +Proclamation must read that whoever stole the jeweled dishpan +must return it at once."</p> + +<p>"But suppose no one returns it," suggested Cayke.</p> + +<p>"Then," said the Frogman, "that very fact will be proof that no +one has stolen it."</p> + +<p>Cayke was not satisfied, but the other Yips seemed to approve +the plan highly. They all advised her to do as the Frogman had +told her to, so she posted the sign on her door and waited +patiently for someone to return the dishpan—which no one ever +did. Again she went, accompanied by a group of her neighbors, to +the Frogman, who by this time had given the matter considerable +thought. Said he to Cayke, "I am now convinced that no Yip has +taken your dishpan, and since it is gone from the Yip Country, I +suspect that some stranger came from the world down below us in +the darkness of night when all of us were asleep and took away +your treasure. There can be no other explanation of its +disappearance. So if you wish to recover that golden, +diamond-studded dishpan, you must go into the lower world after +it."</p> + +<p>This was indeed a startling proposition. Cayke and her friends +went to the edge of the flat tableland and looked down the steep +hillside to the plains below. It was so far to the bottom of the +hill that nothing there could be seen very distinctly, and it +seemed to the Yips very venturesome, if not dangerous, to go so +far from home into an unknown land. However, Cayke wanted her +dishpan very badly, so she turned to her friends and asked, "Who +will go with me?"</p> + +<p>No one answered the question, but after a period of silence +one of the Yips said, "We know what is here on the top of this +flat hill, and it seems to us a very pleasant place, but what is +down below we do not know. The chances are it is not so pleasant, +so we had best stay where we are."</p> + +<p>"It may be a far better country than this is," suggested the +Cookie Cook.</p> + +<p>"Maybe, maybe," responded another Yip, "but why take chances? +Contentment with one's lot is true wisdom.</p> + +<p>Perhaps in some other country there are better cookies than you +cook, but as we have always eaten your cookies and liked +them—except when they are burned on the bottom—we do not long +for any better ones."</p> + +<p>Cayke might have agreed to this argument had she not been so +anxious to find her precious dishpan, but now she exclaimed +impatiently, "You are cowards, all of you! If none of you are +willing to explore with me the great world beyond this small +hill, I will surely go alone."</p> + +<p>"That is a wise resolve," declared the Yips, much relieved. "It +is your dishpan that is lost, not ours. And if you are willing to +risk your life and liberty to regain it, no one can deny you the +privilege."</p> + +<p>While they were thus conversing, the Frogman joined them and +looked down at the plain with his big eyes and seemed unusually +thoughtful. In fact, the Frogman was thinking that he'd like to +see more of the world. Here in the Yip Country he had become the +most important creature of them all, and his importance was +getting to be a little tame. It would be nice to have other +people defer to him and ask his advice, and there seemed no +reason so far as he could see why his fame should not spread +throughout all Oz. He knew nothing of the rest of the world, but +it was reasonable to believe that there were more people beyond +the mountain where he now lived than there were Yips, and if he +went among them he could surprise them with his display of wisdom +and make them bow down to him as the Yips did. In other words, +the Frogman was ambitious to become still greater than he was, +which was impossible if he always remained upon this mountain. He +wanted others to see his gorgeous clothes and listen to his +solemn sayings, and here was an excuse for him to get away from +the Yip Country. So he said to Cayke the Cookie Cook, "I will go +with you, my good woman," which greatly pleased Cayke because she +felt the Frogman could be of much assistance to her in her +search.</p> + +<p>But now, since the mighty Frogman had decided to undertake the +journey, several of the Yips who were young and daring at once +made up their minds to go along, so the next morning after +breakfast the Frogman and Cayke the Cookie Cook and nine of the +Yips started to slide down the side of the mountain. The bramble +bushes and cactus plants were very prickly and uncomfortable to +the touch, so the Frogman quickly commanded the Yips to go first +and break a path, so that when he followed them he would not tear +his splendid clothes. Cayke, too, was wearing her best dress and +was likewise afraid of the thorns and prickers, so she kept +behind the Frogman.</p> + +<p>They made rather slow progress and night overtook them before +they were halfway down the mountainside, so they found a cave in +which they sought shelter until morning. Cayke had brought along +a basket full of her famous cookies, so they all had plenty to +eat. On the second day the Yips began to wish they had not +embarked on this adventure. They grumbled a good deal at having +to cut away the thorns to make the path for the Frogman and the +Cookie Cook, for their own clothing suffered many tears, while +Cayke and the Frogman traveled safely and in comfort.</p> + +<p>"If it is true that anyone came to our country to steal your +diamond dishpan," said one of the Yips to Cayke, "it must have +been a bird, for no person in the form of a man, woman or child +could have climbed through these bushes and back again."</p> + +<p>"And, allowing he could have done so," said another Yip, "the +diamond-studded gold dishpan would not have repaid him for his +troubles and his tribulations."</p> + +<p>"For my part," remarked a third Yip, "I would rather go back home +and dig and polish some more diamonds and mine some more gold and +make you another dishpan than be scratched from head to heel by +these dreadful bushes. Even now, if my mother saw me, she would +not know I am her son."</p> + +<p>Cayke paid no heed to these mutterings, nor did the Frogman. +Although their journey was slow, it was being made easy for them +by the Yips, so they had nothing to complain of and no desire to +turn back. Quite near to the bottom of the great hill they came +upon a great gulf, the sides of which were as smooth as glass. +The gulf extended a long distance—as far as they could see in +either direction—and although it was not very wide, it was far +too wide for the Yips to leap across it. And should they fall +into it, it was likely they might never get out again. "Here our +journey ends," said the Yips. "We must go back again."</p> + +<p>Cayke the Cookie Cook began to weep.</p> + +<p>"I shall never find my pretty dishpan again, and my heart will +be broken!" she sobbed.</p> + +<p>The Frogman went to the edge of the gulf and with his eye +carefully measured the distance to the other side. "Being a +frog," said he, "I can leap, as all frogs do, and being so big +and strong, I am sure I can leap across this gulf with ease. But +the rest of you, not being frogs, must return the way you came."</p> + +<p>"We will do that with pleasure," cried the Yips, and at once +they turned and began to climb up the steep mountain, feeling +they had had quite enough of this unsatisfactory adventure. Cayke +the Cookie Cook did not go with them, however. She sat on a rock +and wept and wailed and was very miserable.</p> + +<p>"Well," said the Frogman to her, "I will now bid you goodbye. If +I find your diamond-decorated gold dishpan, I will promise to see +that it is safely returned to you." </p> + +<p>"But I prefer to find it myself!" she said. "See here, +Frogman, why can't you carry me across the gulf when you leap it? +You are big and strong, while I am small and thin."</p> + +<p>The Frogman gravely thought over this suggestion. It was a fact +that Cayke the Cookie Cook was not a heavy person. Perhaps he +could leap the gulf with her on his back. "If you are willing to +risk a fall," said he, "I will make the attempt."</p> + +<p>At once she sprang up and grabbed him around his neck with +both her arms. That is, she grabbed him where his neck ought to +be, for the Frogman had no neck at all. Then he squatted down, as +frogs do when they leap, and with his powerful rear legs he made +a tremendous jump. Over the gulf they sailed, with the Cookie +Cook on his back, and he had leaped so hard—to make sure of not +falling in—that he sailed over a lot of bramble bushes that grew +on the other side and landed in a clear space which was so far +beyond the gulf that when they looked back they could not see it +at all.</p> + +<p>Cayke now got off the Frogman's back and he stood erect again and +carefully brushed the dust from his velvet coat and rearranged +his white satin necktie.</p> + +<p>"I had no idea I could leap so far," he said wonderingly. +"Leaping is one more accomplishment I can now add to the long +list of deeds I am able to perform."</p> + +<p>"You are certainly fine at leap-frog," said the Cookie Cook +admiringly, "but, as you say, you are wonderful in many ways. If +we meet with any people down here, I am sure they will consider +you the greatest and grandest of all living creatures."</p> + +<p>"Yes," he replied, "I shall probably astonish strangers, +because they have never before had the pleasure of seeing me. +Also, they will marvel at my great learning. Every time I open my +mouth, Cayke, I am liable to say something important."</p> + +<p>"That is true," she agreed, "and it is fortunate your mouth is so +very wide and opens so far, for otherwise all the wisdom might +not be able to get out of it." "Perhaps nature made it wide for +that very reason," said the Frogman. "But come, let us now go on, +for it is getting late and we must find some sort of shelter +before night overtakes us."</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2 id="ref_5">CHAPTER 4</h2> + +<h3>AMONG THE WINKIES</h3> + +<p>The settled parts of the Winkie Country are full of happy and +contented people who are ruled by a tin Emperor named Nick +Chopper, who in turn is a subject of the beautiful girl Ruler, +Ozma of Oz. But not all of the Winkie Country is fully settled. +At the east, which part lies nearest the Emerald City, there are +beautiful farmhouses and roads, but as you travel west, you first +come to a branch of the Winkie River, beyond which there is a +rough country where few people live, and some of these are quite +unknown to the rest of the world. After passing through this rude +section of territory, which no one ever visits, you would come to +still another branch of the Winkie River, after crossing which +you would find another well-settled part of the Winkie Country +extending westward quite to the Deadly Desert that surrounds all +the Land of Oz and separates that favored fairyland from the more +common outside world. The Winkies who live in this west section +have many tin mines, from which metal they make a great deal of +rich jewelry and other articles, all of which are highly esteemed +in the Land of Oz because tin is so bright and pretty and there +is not so much of it as there is of gold and silver.</p> + +<p>Not all the Winkies are miners, however, for some till the fields +and grow grains for food, and it was at one of these far-west +Winkie farms that the Frogman and Cayke the Cookie Cook first +arrived after they had descended from the mountain of the Yips. +"Goodness me!" cried Nellary the Winkie wife when she saw the +strange couple approaching her house. "I have seen many queer +creatures in the Land of Oz, but none more queer than this giant +frog who dresses like a man and walks on his hind legs. Come +here, Wiljon," she called to her husband, who was eating his +breakfast, "and take a look at this astonishing freak."</p> + +<p>Wiljon the Winkie came to the door and looked out. He was +still standing in the doorway when the Frogman approached and +said with a haughty croak, "Tell me, my good man, have you seen a +diamond-studded gold dishpan?"</p> + +<p>"No, nor have I seen a copper-plated lobster," replied Wiljon in +an equally haughty tone.</p> + +<p>The Frogman stared at him and said, "Do not be insolent, +fellow!"</p> + +<p>"No," added Cayke the Cookie Cook hastily, "you must be very +polite to the great Frogman, for he is the wisest creature in all +the world."</p> + +<p>"Who says that?" inquired Wiljon.</p> + +<p>"He says so himself," replied Cayke, and the Frogman nodded and +strutted up and down, twirling his gold-headed cane very +gracefully.</p> + +<p>"Does the Scarecrow admit that this overgrown frog is the +wisest creature in the world?" asked Wiljon.</p> + +<p>"I do not know who the Scarecrow is," answered Cayke the Cookie +Cook.</p> + +<p>"Well, he lives at the Emerald City, and he is supposed to +have the finest brains in all Oz. The Wizard gave them to him, +you know."</p> + +<p>"Mine grew in my head," said the Frogman pompously, "so I think +they must be better than any wizard brains. I am so wise that +sometimes my wisdom makes my head ache. I know so much that often +I have to forget part of it, since no one creature, however +great, is able to contain so much knowledge."</p> + +<p>"It must be dreadful to be stuffed full of wisdom," remarked +Wiljon reflectively and eyeing the Frogman with a doubtful look. +"It is my good fortune to know very little."</p> + +<p>"I hope, however, you know where my jeweled dishpan is," said the +Cookie Cook anxiously.</p> + +<p>"I do not know even that," returned the Winkie."We have +trouble enough in keeping track of our own dishpans without +meddling with the dishpans of strangers."</p> + +<p>Finding him so ignorant, the Frogman proposed that they walk on +and seek Cayke's dishpan elsewhere. Wiljon the Winkie did not +seem greatly impressed by the great Frogman, which seemed to that +personage as strange as it was disappointing. But others in this +unknown land might prove more respectful.</p> + +<p>"I'd like to meet that Wizard of Oz," remarked Cayke as they +walked along a path. "If he could give a Scarecrow brains, he +might be able to find my dishpan."</p> + +<p>"Poof!" grunted the Frogman scornfully. "I am greater than any +wizard. Depend on ME. If your dishpan is anywhere in the world, I +am sure to find it."</p> + +<p>"If you do not, my heart will be broken," declared the Cookie +Cook in a sorrowful voice.</p> + +<p>For a while the Frogman walked on in silence. Then he asked, "Why +do you attach so much importance to a dishpan?"</p> + +<p>"It is the greatest treasure I possess," replied the woman. +"It belonged to my mother and to all my grandmothers since the +beginning of time. It is, I believe, the very oldest thing in all +the Yip Country—or was while it was there—and," she added, +dropping her voice to an awed whisper, "it has magic powers!"</p> + +<p>"In what way?" inquired the Frogman, seeming to be surprised at +this statement.</p> + +<p>"Whoever has owned that dishpan has been a good cook, for one +thing. No one else is able to make such good cookies as I have +cooked, as you and all the Yips know. Yet the very morning after +my dishpan was stolen, I tried to make a batch of cookies and +they burned up in the oven! I made another batch that proved too +tough to eat, and I was so ashamed of them that I buried them in +the ground. Even the third batch of cookies, which I brought with +me in my basket, were pretty poor stuff and no better than any +woman could make who does not own my diamond-studded gold +dishpan. In fact, my good Frogman, Cayke the Cookie Cook will +never be able to cook good cookies again until her magic dishpan +is restored to her."</p> + +<p>"In that case," said the Frogman with a sigh, "I suppose we must +manage to find it."</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2 id="ref_6">CHAPTER 5</h2> + +<h3>OZMA'S FRIENDS ARE PERPLEXED</h3> + +<p>"Really," said Dorothy, looking solemn, "this is very +s'prising. We can't even find a shadow of Ozma anywhere in the +Em'rald City, and wherever she's gone, she's taken her Magic +Picture with her." She was standing in the courtyard of the +palace with Betsy and Trot, while Scraps, the Patchwork Girl, +danced around the group, her hair flying in the wind.</p> + +<p>"P'raps," said Scraps, still dancing, "someone has stolen Ozma."</p> + +<p>"Oh, they'd never dare do that!" exclaimed tiny Trot.</p> + +<p>"And stolen the Magic Picture, too, so the thing can't tell where +she is," added the Patchwork Girl. </p> + +<p>"That's nonsense," said Dorothy. "Why, ev'ryone loves Ozma. +There isn't a person in the Land of Oz who would steal a single +thing she owns."</p> + +<p>"Huh!" replied the Patchwork Girl. "You don't know ev'ry person +in the Land of Oz."</p> + +<p>"Why don't I?"</p> + +<p>"It's a big country," said Scraps. "There are cracks and corners +in it that even Ozma doesn't know of."</p> + +<p>"The Patchwork Girl's just daffy," declared Betsy.</p> + +<p>"No, she's right about that," replied Dorothy thoughtfully. +"There are lots of queer people in this fairyland who never come +near Ozma or the Em'rald City. I've seen some of 'em myself, +girls. But I haven't seen all, of course, and there MIGHT be some +wicked persons left in Oz yet, though I think the wicked witches +have all been destroyed."</p> + +<p>Just then the Wooden Sawhorse dashed into the courtyard with +the Wizard of Oz on his back. "Have you found Ozma?"cried the +Wizard when the Sawhorse stopped beside them.</p> + +<p>"Not yet," said Dorothy. "Doesn't Glinda the Good know where she +is?"</p> + +<p>"No. Glinda's Book of Records and all her magic instruments +are gone. Someone must have stolen them."</p> + +<p>"Goodness me!"exclaimed Dorothy in alarm. "This is the biggest +steal I ever heard of. Who do you think did it, Wizard?" </p> + +<p>"I've no idea," he answered.</p> + +<p>"But I have come to get my own bag of magic tools and carry them +to Glinda. She is so much more powerful than I that she may be +able to discover the truth by means of my magic quicker and +better than I could myself."</p> + +<p>"Hurry, then," said Dorothy, "for we've all gotten terr'bly +worried."</p> + +<p>The Wizard rushed away to his rooms but presently came back with +a long, sad face. "It's gone!" he said.</p> + +<p>"What's gone?" asked Scraps.</p> + +<p>"My black bag of magic tools. Someone must have stolen it!"</p> + +<p>They looked at one another in amazement.</p> + +<p>"This thing is getting desperate," continued the Wizard. "All the +magic that belongs to Ozma or to Glinda or to me has been +stolen."</p> + +<p>"Do you suppose Ozma could have taken them, herself, for some +purpose?" asked Betsy.</p> + +<p>"No indeed," declared the Wizard. "I suspect some enemy has +stolen Ozma and for fear we would follow and recapture her has +taken all our magic away from us."</p> + +<p>"How dreadful!" cried Dorothy. "The idea of anyone wanting to +injure our dear Ozma! Can't we do ANYthing to find her, +Wizard?"</p> + +<p>"I'll ask Glinda. I must go straight back to her and tell her +that my magic tools have also disappeared. The good Sorceress +will be greatly shocked, I know." </p> + +<p>With this, he jumped upon the back of the Sawhorse again, and +the quaint steed, which never tired, dashed away at full speed. +The three girls were very much disturbed in mind. Even the +Patchwork Girl seemed to realize that a great calamity had +overtaken them all. Ozma was a fairy of considerable power, and +all the creatures in Oz as well as the three mortal girls from +the outside world looked upon her as their protector and friend. +The idea of their beautiful girl Ruler's being overpowered by an +enemy and dragged from her splendid palace a captive was too +astonishing for them to comprehend at first. Yet what other +explanation of the mystery could there be?</p> + +<p>"Ozma wouldn't go away willingly, without letting us know about +it," asserted Dorothy, "and she wouldn't steal Glinda's Great +Book of Records or the Wizard's magic, 'cause she could get them +any time just by asking for 'em. I'm sure some wicked person has +done all this."</p> + +<p>"Someone in the Land of Oz?" asked Trot.</p> + +<p>"Of course.</p> + +<p>No one could get across the Deadly Desert, you know, and no +one but an Oz person could know about the Magic Picture and the +Book of Records and the Wizard's magic or where they were kept, +and so be able to steal the whole outfit before we could stop +'em. It MUST be someone who lives in the Land of Oz."</p> + +<p>"But who—who—who?" asked Scraps. "That's the question. Who?"</p> + +<p>"If we knew," replied Dorothy severely, "we wouldn't be +standing here doing nothing."</p> + +<p>Just then two boys entered the courtyard and approached the group +of girls. One boy was dressed in the fantastic Munchkin +costume—a blue jacket and knickerbockers, blue leather shoes and +a blue hat with a high peak and tiny silver bells dangling from +its rim—and this was Ojo the Lucky, who had once come from the +Munchkin Country of Oz and now lived in the Emerald City. The +other boy was an American from Philadelphia and had lately found +his way to Oz in the company of Trot and Cap'n Bill. His name was +Button-Bright; that is, everyone called him by that name and knew +no other. Button-Bright was not quite as big as the Munchkin boy, +but he wore the same kind of clothes, only they were of different +colors. As the two came up to the girls, arm in arm, +Button-Bright remarked, "Hello, Dorothy. They say Ozma is lost."</p> + +<p>"WHO says so?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Ev'rybody's talking about it in the City," he replied.</p> + +<p>"I wonder how the people found it out," Dorothy asked.</p> + +<p>"I know," said Ojo. "Jellia Jamb told them. She has been asking +everywhere if anyone has seen Ozma."</p> + +<p>"That's too bad," observed Dorothy, frowning.</p> + +<p>"Why?" asked Button-Bright.</p> + +<p>"There wasn't any use making all our people unhappy till we +were dead certain that Ozma can't be found."</p> + +<p>"Pshaw," said Button-Bright, "it's nothing to get lost. I've been +lost lots of times."</p> + +<p>"That's true," admitted Trot, who knew that the boy had a +habit of getting lost and then finding himself again, "but it's +diff'rent with Ozma. She's the Ruler of all this big fairyland, +and we're 'fraid that the reason she's lost is because somebody +has stolen her away."</p> + +<p>"Only wicked people steal," said Ojo. "Do you know of any wicked +people in Oz, Dorothy?"</p> + +<p>"No," she replied.</p> + +<p>"They're here, though," cried Scraps, dancing up to them and then +circling around the group. "Ozma's stolen; someone in Oz stole +her; only wicked people steal; so someone in Oz is wicked!"</p> + +<p>There was no denying the truth of this statement. The faces of +all of them were now solemn and sorrowful. "One thing is sure," +said Button-Bright after a time, "if Ozma has been stolen, +someone ought to find her and punish the thief."</p> + +<p>"There may be a lot of thieves," suggested Trot gravely, "and in +this fairy country they don't seem to have any soldiers or +policemen."</p> + +<p>"There is one soldier," claimed Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"He has green whiskers and a gun and is a Major-General, but no +one is afraid of either his gun or his whiskers, 'cause he's so +tender-hearted that he wouldn't hurt a fly."</p> + +<p>"Well, a soldier is a soldier," said Betsy, "and perhaps he'd +hurt a wicked thief if he wouldn't hurt a fly. Where is he?"</p> + +<p>"He went fishing about two months ago and hasn't come back yet," +explained Button-Bright.</p> + +<p>"Then I can't see that he will be of much use to us in this +trouble," sighed little Trot. "But p'raps Ozma, who is a fairy, +can get away from the thieves without any help from anyone."</p> + +<p>"She MIGHT be able to," answered Dorothy reflectively, "but if +she had the power to do that, it isn't likely she'd have let +herself be stolen. So the thieves must have been even more +powerful in magic than our Ozma."</p> + +<p>There was no denying this argument, and although they talked +the matter over all the rest of that day, they were unable to +decide how Ozma had been stolen against her will or who had +committed the dreadful deed. Toward evening the Wizard came back, +riding slowly upon the Sawhorse because he felt discouraged and +perplexed. Glinda came later in her aerial chariot drawn by +twenty milk-white swans, and she also seemed worried and unhappy. +More of Ozma's friends joined them, and that evening they all had +a big talk together. "I think," said Dorothy, "we ought to start +out right away in search of our dear Ozma. It seems cruel for us +to live comf'tably in her palace while she is a pris'ner in the +power of some wicked enemy."</p> + +<p>"Yes," agreed Glinda the Sorceress, "someone ought to search for +her. I cannot go myself, because I must work hard in order to +create some new instruments of sorcery by means of which I may +rescue our fair Ruler. But if you can find her in the meantime +and let me know who has stolen her, it will enable me to rescue +her much more quickly."</p> + +<p>"Then we'll start tomorrow morning," decided Dorothy. "Betsy +and Trot and I won't waste another minute."</p> + +<p>"I'm not sure you girls will make good detectives," remarked the +Wizard, "but I'll go with you to protect you from harm and to +give you my advice. All my wizardry, alas, is stolen, so I am now +really no more a wizard than any of you, but I will try to +protect you from any enemies you may meet."</p> + +<p>"What harm could happen to us in Oz?" inquired Trot.</p> + +<p>"What harm happened to Ozma?" returned the Wizard.</p> + +<p>"If there is an Evil Power abroad in our fairyland, which is +able to steal not only Ozma and her Magic Picture, but Glinda's +Book of Records and all her magic, and my black bag containing +all my tricks of wizardry, then that Evil Power may yet cause us +considerable injury. Ozma is a fairy, and so is Glinda, so no +power can kill or destroy them, but you girls are all mortals and +so are Button-Bright and I, so we must watch out for +ourselves."</p> + +<p>"Nothing can kill me," said Ojo the Munchkin boy.</p> + +<p>"That is true," replied the Sorceress, "and I think it may be +well to divide the searchers into several parties, that they may +cover all the land of Oz more quickly. So I will send Ojo and Unc +Nunkie and Dr. Pipt into the Munchkin Country, which they are +well acquainted with; and I will send the Scarecrow and the Tin +Woodman into the Quadling Country, for they are fearless and +brave and never tire; and to the Gillikin Country, where many +dangers lurk, I will send the Shaggy Man and his brother, with +Tik-Tok and Jack Pumpkinhead. Dorothy may make up her own party +and travel into the Winkie Country. All of you must inquire +everywhere for Ozma and try to discover where she is hidden."</p> + +<p>They thought this a very wise plan and adopted it without +question. In Ozma's absence, Glinda the Good was the most +important person in Oz, and all were glad to serve under her +direction.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2 id="ref_7">CHAPTER 6</h2> + +<h3>THE SEARCH PARTY</h3> + +<p>Next morning as soon as the sun was up, Glinda flew back to +her castle, stopping on the way to instruct the Scarecrow and the +Tin Woodman, who were at that time staying at the college of +Professor H. M. Wogglebug, T.E., and taking a course of his +Patent Educational Pills.</p> + +<p>On hearing of Ozma's loss, they started at once for the Quadling +Country to search for her. As soon as Glinda had left the Emerald +City, Tik-Tok and the Shaggy Man and Jack Pumpkinhead, who had +been present at the conference, began their journey into the +Gillikin Country, and an hour later Ojo and Unc Nunkie joined Dr. +Pipt and together they traveled toward the Munchkin Country. When +all these searchers were gone, Dorothy and the Wizard completed +their own preparations.</p> + +<p>The Wizard hitched the Sawhorse to the Red Wagon, which would +seat four very comfortably. He wanted Dorothy, Betsy, Trot and +the Patchwork Girl to ride in the wagon, but Scraps came up to +them mounted upon the Woozy, and the Woozy said he would like to +join the party. Now this Woozy was a most peculiar animal, having +a square head, square body, square legs and square tail. His skin +was very tough and hard, resembling leather, and while his +movements were somewhat clumsy, the beast could travel with +remarkable swiftness. His square eyes were mild and gentle in +expression, and he was not especially foolish. The Woozy and the +Patchwork Girl were great friends, and so the Wizard agreed to +let the Woozy go with them.</p> + +<p>Another great beast now appeared and asked to go along. This was +none other than the famous Cowardly Lion, one of the most +interesting creatures in all Oz. No lion that roamed the jungles +or plains could compare in size or intelligence with this +Cowardly Lion, who—like all animals living in Oz—could talk and +who talked with more shrewdness and wisdom than many of the +people did. He said he was cowardly because he always trembled +when he faced danger, but he had faced danger many times and +never refused to fight when it was necessary. This Lion was a +great favorite with Ozma and always guarded her throne on state +occasions. He was also an old companion and friend of the +Princess Dorothy, so the girl was delighted to have him join the +party.</p> + +<p>"I'm so nervous over our dear Ozma," said the Cowardly Lion in +his deep, rumbling voice, "that it would make me unhappy to +remain behind while you are trying to find her. But do not get +into any danger, I beg of you, for danger frightens me +terribly."</p> + +<p>"We'll not get into danger if we can poss'bly help it," promised +Dorothy, "but we shall do anything to find Ozma, danger or no +danger."</p> + +<p>The addition of the Woozy and the Cowardly Lion to the party +gave Betsy Bobbin an idea, and she ran to the marble stables at +the rear of the palace and brought out her mule, Hank by name. +Perhaps no mule you ever saw was so lean and bony and altogether +plain looking as this Hank, but Betsy loved him dearly because he +was faithful and steady and not nearly so stupid as most mules +are considered to be. Betsy had a saddle for Hank, and he +declared she would ride on his back, an arrangement approved by +the Wizard because it left only four of the party to ride on the +seats of the Red Wagon—Dorothy and Button-Bright and Trot and +himself.</p> + +<p>An old sailor man who had one wooden leg came to see them off and +suggested that they put a supply of food and blankets in the Red +Wagon inasmuch as they were uncertain how long they would be +gone. This sailor man was called Cap'n Bill. He was a former +friend and comrade of Trot and had encountered many adventures in +company with the little girl. I think he was sorry he could not +go with her on this trip, but Glinda the Sorceress had asked +Cap'n Bill to remain in the Emerald City and take charge of the +royal palace while everyone else was away, and the one-legged +sailor had agreed to do so.</p> + +<p>They loaded the back end of the Red Wagon with everything they +thought they might need, and then they formed a procession and +marched from the palace through the Emerald City to the great +gates of the wall that surrounded this beautiful capital of the +Land of Oz. Crowds of citizens lined the streets to see them pass +and to cheer them and wish them success, for all were grieved +over Ozma's loss and anxious that she be found again. First came +the Cowardly Lion, then the Patchwork Girl riding upon the Woozy, +then Betsy Bobbin on her mule Hank, and finally the Sawhorse +drawing the Red Wagon, in which were seated the Wizard and +Dorothy and Button-Bright and Trot. No one was obliged to drive +the Sawhorse, so there were no reins to his harness; one had only +to tell him which way to go, fast or slow, and he understood +perfectly.</p> + +<p>It was about this time that a shaggy little black dog who had +been lying asleep in Dorothy's room in the palace woke up and +discovered he was lonesome. Everything seemed very still +throughout the great building, and Toto—that was the little +dog's name—missed the customary chatter of the three girls. He +never paid much attention to what was going on around him, and +although he could speak, he seldom said anything, so the little +dog did not know about Ozma's loss or that everyone had gone in +search of her. But he liked to be with people, and especially +with his own mistress, Dorothy, and having yawned and stretched +himself and found the door of the room ajar, he trotted out into +the corridor and went down the stately marble stairs to the hall +of the palace, where he met Jellia Jamb.</p> + +<p>"Where's Dorothy?" asked Toto.</p> + +<p>"She's gone to the Winkie Country," answered the maid.</p> + +<p>"When?"</p> + +<p>"A little while ago," replied Jellia.</p> + +<p>Toto turned and trotted out into the palace garden and down +the long driveway until he came to the streets of the Emerald +City. Here he paused to listen, and hearing sounds of cheering, +he ran swiftly along until he came in sight of the Red Wagon and +the Woozy and the Lion and the Mule and all the others. Being a +wise little dog, he decided not to show himself to Dorothy just +then, lest he be sent back home, but he never lost sight of the +party of travelers, all of whom were so eager to get ahead that +they never thought to look behind them. When they came to the +gates in the city wall, the Guardian of the Gates came out to +throw wide the golden portals and let them pass through.</p> + +<p>"Did any strange person come in or out of the city on the night +before last when Ozma was stolen?" asked Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"No indeed, Princess," answered the Guardian of the Gates.</p> + +<p>"Of course not," said the Wizard. "Anyone clever enough to steal +all the things we have lost would not mind the barrier of a wall +like this in the least. I think the thief must have flown through +the air, for otherwise he could not have stolen from Ozma's royal +palace and Glinda's faraway castle in the same night. Moreover, +as there are no airships in Oz and no way for airships from the +outside world to get into this country, I believe the thief must +have flown from place to place by means of magic arts which +neither Glinda nor I understand."</p> + +<p>On they went, and before the gates closed behind them, Toto +managed to dodge through them. The country surrounding the +Emerald City was thickly settled, and for a while our friends +rode over nicely paved roads which wound through a fertile +country dotted with beautiful houses, all built in the quaint Oz +fashion. In the course of a few hours, however, they had left the +tilled fields and entered the Country of the Winkies, which +occupies a quarter of all the territory in the Land of Oz but is +not so well known as many other parts of Ozma's fairyland. Long +before night the travelers had crossed the Winkie River near to +the Scarecrow's Tower (which was now vacant) and had entered the +Rolling Prairie where few people live. They asked everyone they +met for news of Ozma, but none in this district had seen her or +even knew that she had been stolen. And by nightfall they had +passed all the farmhouses and were obliged to stop and ask for +shelter at the hut of a lonely shepherd. When they halted, Toto +was not far behind. The little dog halted, too, and stealing +softly around the party, he hid himself behind the hut.</p> + +<p>The shepherd was a kindly old man and treated the travelers with +much courtesy. He slept out of doors that night, giving up his +hut to the three girls, who made their beds on the floor with the +blankets they had brought in the Red Wagon. The Wizard and +Button-Bright also slept out of doors, and so did the Cowardly +Lion and Hank the Mule. But Scraps and the Sawhorse did not sleep +at all, and the Woozy could stay awake for a month at a time if +he wished to, so these three sat in a little group by themselves +and talked together all through the night.</p> + +<p>In the darkness, the Cowardly Lion felt a shaggy little form +nestling beside his own, and he said sleepily, "Where did you +come from, Toto?"</p> + +<p>"From home," said the dog. "If you roll over, roll the other way +so you won't smash me."</p> + +<p>"Does Dorothy know you are here?" asked the Lion.</p> + +<p>"I believe not," admitted Toto, and he added a little anxiously, +"Do you think, friend Lion, we are now far enough from the +Emerald City for me to risk showing myself, or will Dorothy send +me back because I wasn't invited?"</p> + +<p>"Only Dorothy can answer that question," said the Lion. "For +my part, Toto, I consider this affair none of my business, so you +must act as you think best." Then the huge beast went to sleep +again, and Toto snuggled closer to the warm, hairy body and also +slept. He was a wise little dog in his way, and didn't intend to +worry when there was something much better to do.</p> + +<p>In the morning the Wizard built a fire, over which the girls +cooked a very good breakfast. Suddenly Dorothy discovered Toto +sitting quietly before the fire, and the little girl exclaimed, +"Goodness me, Toto! Where did YOU come from?"</p> + +<p>"From the place you cruelly left me," replied the dog in a +reproachful tone.</p> + +<p>"I forgot all about you," admitted Dorothy, "and if I hadn't, I'd +prob'ly left you with Jellia Jamb, seeing this isn't a pleasure +trip but stric'ly business. But now that you're here, Toto, I +s'pose you'll have to stay with us, unless you'd rather go back +again. We may get ourselves into trouble before we're done, +Toto."</p> + +<p>"Never mind that," said Toto, wagging his tail."I'm hungry, +Dorothy."</p> + +<p>"Breakfas'll soon be ready, and then you shall have your share," +promised his little mistress, who was really glad to have her dog +with her. She and Toto had traveled together before, and she knew +he was a good and faithful comrade.</p> + +<p>When the food was cooked and served, the girls invited the old +shepherd to join them in the morning meal. He willingly +consented, and while they ate he said to them, "You are now about +to pass through a very dangerous country, unless you turn to the +north or to the south to escape its perils."</p> + +<p>"In that case," said the Cowardly Lion, "let us turn, by all +means, for I dread to face dangers of any sort."</p> + +<p>"What's the matter with the country ahead of us?" inquired +Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"Beyond this Rolling Prairie," explained the shepherd, "are the +Merry-Go-Round Mountains, set close together and surrounded by +deep gulfs so that no one is able to get past them. Beyond the +Merry-Go-Round Mountains it is said the Thistle-Eaters and the +Herkus live."</p> + +<p>"What are they like?" demanded Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"No one knows, for no one has ever passed the Merry-Go-Round +Mountains," was the reply, "but it is said that the +Thistle-Eaters hitch dragons to their chariots and that the +Herkus are waited upon by giants whom they have conquered and +made their slaves."</p> + +<p>"Who says all that?" asked Betsy.</p> + +<p>"It is common report," declared the shepherd. "Everyone believes +it."</p> + +<p>"I don't see how they know," remarked little Trot, "if no one +has been there."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps the birds who fly over that country brought the news," +suggested Betsy.</p> + +<p>"If you escaped those dangers," continued the shepherd, "you +might encounter others still more serious before you came to the +next branch of the Winkie River. It is true that beyond that +river there lies a fine country inhabited by good people, and if +you reached there, you would have no further trouble. It is +between here and the west branch of the Winkie River that all +dangers lie, for that is the unknown territory that is inhabited +by terrible, lawless people."</p> + +<p>"It may be, and it may not be," said the Wizard. "We shall know +when we get there."</p> + +<p>"Well," persisted the shepherd, "in a fairy country such as +ours, every undiscovered place is likely to harbor wicked +creatures. If they were not wicked, they would discover +themselves and by coming among us submit to Ozma's rule and be +good and considerate, as are all the Oz people whom we know."</p> + +<p>"That argument," stated the little Wizard, "convinces me that it +is our duty to go straight to those unknown places, however +dangerous they may be, for it is surely some cruel and wicked +person who has stolen our Ozma, and we know it would be folly to +search among good people for the culprit. Ozma may not be hidden +in the secret places of the Winkie Country, it is true, but it is +our duty to travel to every spot, however dangerous, where our +beloved Ruler is likely to be imprisoned."</p> + +<p>"You're right about that," said Button-Bright approvingly. +"Dangers don't hurt us. Only things that happen ever hurt anyone, +and a danger is a thing that might happen and might not happen, +and sometimes don't amount to shucks.</p> + +<p>I vote we go ahead and take our chances."</p> + +<p>They were all of the same opinion, so they packed up and said +goodbye to the friendly shepherd and proceeded on their way.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2 id="ref_8">CHAPTER 7</h2> + +<h3>THE MERRY-GO-ROUND MOUNTAINS</h3> + +<p>The Rolling Prairie was not difficult to travel over, although +it was all uphill and downhill, so for a while they made good +progress. Not even a shepherd was to be met with now, and the +farther they advanced the more dreary the landscape became. At +noon they stopped for a "picnic luncheon," as Betsy called it, +and then they again resumed their journey. All the animals were +swift and tireless, and even the Cowardly Lion and the Mule found +they could keep up with the pace of the Woozy and the +Sawhorse.</p> + +<p>It was the middle of the afternoon when first they came in sight +of a cluster of low mountains. These were cone-shaped, rising +from broad bases to sharp peaks at the tops. From a distance the +mountains appeared indistinct and seemed rather small—more like +hills than mountains—but as the travelers drew nearer, they +noted a most unusual circumstance: the hills were all whirling +around, some in one direction and some the opposite way.</p> + +<p>"I guess these are the Merry-Go-Round Mountains, all right," +said Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"They must be," said the Wizard.</p> + +<p>"They go 'round, sure enough," agreed Trot, "but they don't +seem very merry."</p> + +<p>There were several rows of these mountains, extending both to the +right and to the left for miles and miles. How many rows there +might be none could tell, but between the first row of peaks +could be seen other peaks, all steadily whirling around one way +or another. Continuing to ride nearer, our friends watched these +hills attentively, until at last, coming close up, they +discovered there was a deep but narrow gulf around the edge of +each mountain, and that the mountains were set so close together +that the outer gulf was continuous and barred farther advance. At +the edge of the gulf they all dismounted and peered over into its +depths. There was no telling where the bottom was, if indeed +there was any bottom at all. From where they stood it seemed as +if the mountains had been set in one great hole in the ground, +just close enough together so they would not touch, and that each +mountain was supported by a rocky column beneath its base which +extended far down in the black pit below. From the land side it +seemed impossible to get across the gulf or, succeeding in that, +to gain a foothold on any of the whirling mountains.</p> + +<p>"This ditch is too wide to jump across," remarked +Button-Bright.</p> + +<p>"P'raps the Lion could do it," suggested Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"What, jump from here to that whirling hill?" cried the Lion +indignantly. "I should say not! Even if I landed there and could +hold on, what good would it do? There's another spinning mountain +beyond it, and perhaps still another beyond that. I don't believe +any living creature could jump from one mountain to another when +both are whirling like tops and in different directions."</p> + +<p>"I propose we turn back," said the Wooden Sawhorse with a yawn of +his chopped-out mouth as he stared with his knot eyes at the +Merry-Go-Round Mountains.</p> + +<p>"I agree with you," said the Woozy, wagging his square +head.</p> + +<p>"We should have taken the shepherd's advice," added Hank the +Mule.</p> + +<p>The others of the party, however they might be puzzled by the +serious problem that confronted them, would not allow themselves +to despair. "If we once get over these mountains," said +Button-Bright, "we could probably get along all right."</p> + +<p>"True enough," agreed Dorothy. "So we must find some way, of +course, to get past these whirligig hills. But how?"</p> + +<p>"I wish the Ork was with us," sighed Trot.</p> + +<p>"But the Ork isn't here," said the Wizard, "and we must depend +upon ourselves to conquer this difficulty. Unfortunately, all my +magic has been stolen, otherwise I am sure I could easily get +over the mountains."</p> + +<p>"Unfortunately," observed the Woozy, "none of us has wings. +And we're in a magic country without any magic."</p> + +<p>"What is that around your waist, Dorothy?" asked the Wizard.</p> + +<p>"That? Oh, that's just the Magic Belt I once captured from the +Nome King," she replied.</p> + +<p>"A Magic Belt! Why, that's fine. I'm sure a Magic Belt would take +you over these hills."</p> + +<p>"It might if I knew how to work it," said the little girl. +"Ozma knows a lot of its magic, but I've never found out about +it. All I know is that while I am wearing it, nothing can hurt +me."</p> + +<p>"Try wishing yourself across and see if it will obey you," +suggested the Wizard.</p> + +<p>"But what good would that do?" asked Dorothy. "If I got +across, it wouldn't help the rest of you, and I couldn't go alone +among all those giants and dragons while you stayed here."</p> + +<p>"True enough," agreed the Wizard sadly. And then, after looking +around the group, he inquired, "What is that on your finger, +Trot?"</p> + +<p>"A ring. The Mermaids gave it to me," she explained, "and if +ever I'm in trouble when I'm on the water, I can call the +Mermaids and they'll come and help me. But the Mermaids can't +help me on the land, you know, 'cause they swim, and—and—they +haven't any legs."</p> + +<p>"True enough," repeated the Wizard, more sadly.</p> + +<p>There was a big, broad, spreading tree near the edge of the +gulf, and as the sun was hot above them, they all gathered under +the shade of the tree to study the problem of what to do next. +"If we had a long rope," said Betsy, "we could fasten it to this +tree and let the other end of it down into the gulf and all slide +down it."</p> + +<p>"Well, what then?" asked the Wizard.</p> + +<p>"Then, if we could manage to throw the rope up the other +side," explained the girl, "we could all climb it and be on the +other side of the gulf."</p> + +<p>"There are too many 'if's' in that suggestion," remarked the +little Wizard. "And you must remember that the other side is +nothing but spinning mountains, so we couldn't possibly fasten a +rope to them, even if we had one."</p> + +<p>"That rope idea isn't half bad, though," said the Patchwork +Girl, who had been dancing dangerously near to the edge of the +gulf.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?" asked Dorothy.</p> + +<p>The Patchwork Girl suddenly stood still and cast her button +eyes around the group. "Ha, I have it!" she exclaimed. "Unharness +the Sawhorse, somebody. My fingers are too clumsy."</p> + +<p>"Shall we?" asked Button-Bright doubtfully, turning to the +others.</p> + +<p>"Well, Scraps has a lot of brains, even if she IS stuffed with +cotton," asserted the Wizard. "If her brains can help us out of +this trouble, we ought to use them."</p> + +<p>So he began unharnessing the Sawhorse, and Button-Bright and +Dorothy helped him. When they had removed the harness, the +Patchwork Girl told them to take it all apart and buckle the +straps together, end to end. And after they had done this, they +found they had one very long strap that was stronger than any +rope. "It would reach across the gulf easily," said the Lion, who +with the other animals had sat on his haunches and watched this +proceeding. "But I don't see how it could be fastened to one of +those dizzy mountains."</p> + +<p>Scraps had no such notion as that in her baggy head. She told +them to fasten one end of the strap to a stout limb of the tree, +pointing to one which extended quite to the edge of the gulf. +Button-Bright did that, climbing the tree and then crawling out +upon the limb until he was nearly over the gulf. There he managed +to fasten the strap, which reached to the ground below, and then +he slid down it and was caught by the Wizard, who feared he might +fall into the chasm. Scraps was delighted. She seized the lower +end of the strap, and telling them all to get out of her way, she +went back as far as the strap would reach and then made a sudden +run toward the gulf. Over the edge she swung, clinging to the +strap until it had gone as far as its length permitted, when she +let go and sailed gracefully through the air until she alighted +upon the mountain just in front of them.</p> + +<p>Almost instantly, as the great cone continued to whirl, she was +sent flying against the next mountain in the rear, and that one +had only turned halfway around when Scraps was sent flying to the +next mountain behind it. Then her patchwork form disappeared from +view entirely, and the amazed watchers under the tree wondered +what had become of her. "She's gone, and she can't get back," +said the Woozy.</p> + +<p>"My, how she bounded from one mountain to another!" exclaimed +the Lion.</p> + +<p>"That was because they whirl so fast," the Wizard explained. +"Scraps had nothing to hold on to, and so of course she was +tossed from one hill to another. I'm afraid we shall never see +the poor Patchwork Girl again."</p> + +<p>"I shall see her," declared the Woozy. "Scraps is an old +friend of mine, and if there are really Thistle-Eaters and Giants +on the other side of those tops, she will need someone to protect +her. So here I go!" He seized the dangling strap firmly in his +square mouth, and in the same way that Scraps had done swung +himself over the gulf. He let go the strap at the right moment +and fell upon the first whirling mountain. Then he bounded to the +next one back of it—not on his feet, but "all mixed up," as Trot +said—and then he shot across to another mountain, disappearing +from view just as the Patchwork Girl had done.</p> + +<p>"It seems to work, all right," remarked Button-Bright. "I guess +I'll try it."</p> + +<p>"Wait a minute," urged the Wizard. "Before any more of us make +this desperate leap into the beyond, we must decide whether all +will go or if some of us will remain behind."</p> + +<p>"Do you s'pose it hurt them much to bump against those +mountains?" asked Trot.</p> + +<p>"I don't s'pose anything could hurt Scraps or the Woozy," said +Dorothy, "and nothing can hurt ME, because I wear the Magic Belt. +So as I'm anxious to find Ozma, I mean to swing myself across +too."</p> + +<p>"I'll take my chances," decided Button-Bright.</p> + +<p>"I'm sure it will hurt dreadfully, and I'm afraid to do it," +said the Lion, who was already trembling, "but I shall do it if +Dorothy does."</p> + +<p>"Well, that will leave Betsy and the Mule and Trot," said the +Wizard, "for of course I shall go that I may look after Dorothy. +Do you two girls think you can find your way back home again?" he +asked, addressing Trot and Betsy.</p> + +<p>"I'm not afraid. Not much, that is," said Trot. "It looks +risky, I know, but I'm sure I can stand it if the others +can."</p> + +<p>"If it wasn't for leaving Hank," began Betsy in a hesitating +voice.</p> + +<p>But the Mule interrupted her by saying, "Go ahead if you want +to, and I'll come after you. A mule is as brave as a lion any +day."</p> + +<p>"Braver," said the Lion, "for I'm a coward, friend Hank, and you +are not. But of course the Sawhorse—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, nothing ever hurts ME," asserted the Sawhorse calmly. +"There's never been any question about my going. I can't take the +Red Wagon, though."</p> + +<p>"No, we must leave the wagon," said the wizard, "and also we must +leave our food and blankets, I fear. But if we can defy these +Merry-Go-Round Mountains to stop us, we won't mind the sacrifice +of some of our comforts."</p> + +<p>"No one knows where we're going to land!" remarked the Lion in +a voice that sounded as if he were going to cry.</p> + +<p>"We may not land at all," replied Hank, "but the best way to find +out what will happen to us is to swing across as Scraps and the +Woozy have done."</p> + +<p>"I think I shall go last," said the Wizard, "so who wants to +go first?"</p> + +<p>"I'll go," decided Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"No, it's my turn first," said Button-Bright. "Watch me!"</p> + +<p>Even as he spoke, the boy seized the strap, and after making a +run swung himself across the gulf. Away he went, bumping from +hill to hill until he disappeared. They listened intently, but +the boy uttered no cry until he had been gone some moments, when +they heard a faint Hullo-a!" as if called from a great distance. +The sound gave them courage, however, and Dorothy picked up Toto +and held him fast under one arm while with the other hand she +seized the strap and bravely followed after Button-Bright.</p> + +<p>When she struck the first whirling mountain, she fell upon it +quite softly, but before she had time to think, she flew through +the air and lit with a jar on the side of the next mountain. +Again she flew and alighted, and again and still again, until +after five successive bumps she fell sprawling upon a green +meadow and was so dazed and bewildered by her bumpy journey +across the Merry-Go-Round Mountains that she lay quite still for +a time to collect her thoughts. Toto had escaped from her arms +just as she fell, and he now sat beside her panting with +excitement. Then Dorothy realized that someone was helping her to +her feet, and here was Button-Bright on one side of her and +Scraps on the other, both seeming to be unhurt. The next object +her eyes fell upon was the Woozy, squatting upon his square back +end and looking at her reflectively, while Toto barked joyously +to find his mistress unhurt after her whirlwind trip.</p> + +<p>"Good!"said the Woozy. "Here's another and a dog, both safe and +sound. But my word, Dorothy, you flew some! If you could have +seen yourself, you'd have been absolutely astonished."</p> + +<p>"They say 'Time flies,'20" laughed Button-Bright, "but Time +never made a quicker journey than that."</p> + +<p>Just then, as Dorothy turned around to look at the whirling +mountains, she was in time to see tiny Trot come flying from the +nearest hill to fall upon the soft grass not a yard away from +where she stood. Trot was so dizzy she couldn't stand at first, +but she wasn't at all hurt, and presently Betsy came flying to +them and would have bumped into the others had they not retreated +in time to avoid her. Then, in quick succession, came the Lion, +Hank and the Sawhorse, bounding from mountain to mountain to fall +safely upon the greensward. Only the Wizard was now left behind, +and they waited so long for him that Dorothy began to be worried.</p> + +<p>But suddenly he came flying from the nearest mountain and +tumbled heels over head beside them. Then they saw that he had +wound two of their blankets around his body to keep the bumps +from hurting him and had fastened the blankets with some of the +spare straps from the harness of the Sawhorse.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2 id="ref_9">CHAPTER 8</h2> + +<h3>THE MYSTERIOUS CITY</h3> + +<p>There they sat upon the grass, their heads still swimming from +their dizzy flights, and looked at one another in silent +bewilderment. But presently, when assured that no one was +injured, they grew more calm and collected, and the Lion said +with a sigh of relief, "Who would have thought those +Merry-Go-Round Mountains were made of rubber?"</p> + +<p>"Are they really rubber?" asked Trot.</p> + +<p>"They must be," replied the Lion, "for otherwise we would not +have bounded so swiftly from one to another without getting +hurt."</p> + +<p>"That is all guesswork," declared the Wizard, unwinding the +blankets from his body, "for none of us stayed long enough on the +mountains to discover what they are made of. But where are we?"</p> + + +<p>"That's guesswork," said Scraps. "The shepherd said the +Thistle-Eaters live this side of the mountains and are waited on +by giants."</p> + +<p>"Oh no," said Dorothy, "it's the Herkus who have giant slaves, +and the Thistle-Eaters hitch dragons to their chariots."</p> + +<p>"How could they do that?" asked the Woozy. "Dragons have long +tails, which would get in the way of the chariot wheels."</p> + +<p>"And if the Herkus have conquered the giants," said Trot, "they +must be at least twice the size of giants. P'raps the Herkus are +the biggest people in all the world!"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps they are," assented the Wizard in a thoughtful tone +of voice. "And perhaps the shepherd didn't know what he was +talking about. Let us travel on toward the west and discover for +ourselves what the people of this country are like."</p> + +<p>It seemed a pleasant enough country, and it was quite still and +peaceful when they turned their eyes away from the silently +whirling mountains. There were trees here and there and green +bushes, while throughout the thick grass were scattered +brilliantly colored flowers. About a mile away was a low hill +that hid from them all the country beyond it, so they realized +they could not tell much about the country until they had crossed +the hill. The Red Wagon having been left behind, it was now +necessary to make other arrangements for traveling. The Lion told +Dorothy she could ride upon his back as she had often done +before, and the Woozy said he could easily carry both Trot and +the Patchwork Girl. Betsy still had her mule, Hank, and +Button-Bright and the Wizard could sit together upon the long, +thin back of the Sawhorse, but they took care to soften their +seat with a pad of blankets before they started. Thus mounted, +the adventurers started for the hill, which was reached after a +brief journey.</p> + +<p>As they mounted the crest and gazed beyond the hill, they +discovered not far away a walled city, from the towers and spires +of which gay banners were flying. It was not a very big city, +indeed, but its walls were very high and thick, and it appeared +that the people who lived there must have feared attack by a +powerful enemy, else they would not have surrounded their +dwellings with so strong a barrier. There was no path leading +from the mountains to the city, and this proved that the people +seldom or never visited the whirling hills, but our friends found +the grass soft and agreeable to travel over, and with the city +before them they could not well lose their way. When they drew +nearer to the walls, the breeze carried to their ears the sound +of music—dim at first, but growing louder as they advanced.</p> + +<p>"That doesn't seem like a very terr'ble place," remarked Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"Well, it LOOKS all right," replied Trot from her seat on the +Woozy, "but looks can't always be trusted."</p> + +<p>"MY looks can," said Scraps. "I LOOK patchwork, and I AM +patchwork, and no one but a blind owl could ever doubt that I'm +the Patchwork Girl." Saying which, she turned a somersault off +the Woozy and, alighting on her feet, began wildly dancing about.</p> + +<p>"Are owls ever blind?" asked Trot.</p> + +<p>"Always, in the daytime," said Button-Bright. "But Scraps can see +with her button eyes both day and night. Isn't it queer?"</p> + +<p>"It's queer that buttons can see at all," answered Trot. "But +good gracious! What's become of the city?"</p> + +<p>"I was going to ask that myself," said Dorothy. "It's gone!"</p> + +<p>"It's gone!"</p> + +<p>The animals came to a sudden halt, for the city had really +disappeared, walls and all, and before them lay the clear, +unbroken sweep of the country. "Dear me!" exclaimed the Wizard. +"This is rather disagreeable. It is annoying to travel almost to +a place and then find it is not there."</p> + +<p>"Where can it be, then?" asked Dorothy. "It cert'nly was there +a minute ago."</p> + +<p>"I can hear the music yet," declared Button-Bright, and when they +all listened, the strains of music could plainly be heard.</p> + +<p>"Oh! There's the city over at the left," called Scraps, and +turning their eyes, they saw the walls and towers and fluttering +banners far to the left of them.</p> + +<p>"We must have lost our way," suggested Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"Nonsense," said the Lion.</p> + +<p>"I, and all the other animals, have been tramping straight toward +the city ever since we first saw it."</p> + +<p>"Then how does it happen—"</p> + +<p>"Never mind," interrupted the Wizard, "we are no farther from it +than we were before. It is in a different direction, that's all, +so let us hurry and get there before it again escapes us."</p> + +<p>So on they went directly toward the city, which seemed only a +couple of miles distant. But when they had traveled less than a +mile, it suddenly disappeared again. Once more they paused, +somewhat discouraged, but in a moment the button eyes of Scraps +again discovered the city, only this time it was just behind them +in the direction from which they had come. "Goodness gracious!" +cried Dorothy. "There's surely something wrong with that city. Do +you s'pose it's on wheels, Wizard?"</p> + +<p>"It may not be a city at all," he replied, looking toward it with +a speculative glance.</p> + +<p>"What COULD it be, then?"</p> + +<p>"Just an illusion."</p> + +<p>"What's that?" asked Trot.</p> + +<p>"Something you think you see and don't see."</p> + +<p>"I can't believe that," said Button-Bright. "If we only saw +it, we might be mistaken, but if we can see it and hear it, too, +it must be there."</p> + +<p>"Where?" asked the Patchwork Girl.</p> + +<p>"Somewhere near us," he insisted.</p> + +<p>We will have to go back, I suppose," said the Woozy with a sigh.</p> + +<p>So back they turned and headed for the walled city until it +disappeared again, only to reappear at the right of them. They +were constantly getting nearer to it, however, so they kept their +faces turned toward it as it flitted here and there to all points +of the compass. Presently the Lion, who was leading the +procession, halted abruptly and cried out, "Ouch!"</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" asked Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"Ouch — Ouch!~ repeated the Lion, and leaped backward so +suddenly that Dorothy nearly tumbled from his back. At the same +time Hank the Mule yelled "Ouch!""Ouch! Ouch!" repeated the Lion +and leaped backward so suddenly that Dorothy nearly tumbled from +his back. At the same time, Hank the Mule yelled "Ouch!" almost +as loudly as the Lion had done, and he also pranced backward a +few paces.</p> + +<p>"It's the thistles," said Betsy.</p> + +<p>"They prick their legs."</p> + +<p>Hearing this, all looked down, and sure enough the ground was +thick with thistles, which covered the plain from the point where +they stood way up to the walls of the mysterious city. No +pathways through them could be seen at all; here the soft grass +ended and the growth of thistles began. "They're the prickliest +thistles I ever felt," grumbled the Lion. "My legs smart yet from +their stings, though I jumped out of them as quickly as I could."</p> + +<p>"Here is a new difficulty," remarked the Wizard in a grieved +tone. "The city has stopped hopping around, it is true, but how +are we to get to it over this mass of prickers?"</p> + +<p>"They can't hurt ME," said the thick-skinned Woozy, advancing +fearlessly and trampling among the thistles.</p> + +<p>"Nor me," said the Wooden Sawhorse.</p> + +<p>"But the Lion and the Mule cannot stand the prickers," asserted +Dorothy, "and we can't leave them behind."</p> + +<p>"Must we all go back?" asked Trot.</p> + +<p>"Course not!" replied Button-Bright scornfully. "Always when +there's trouble, there's a way out of it if you can find it."</p> + +<p>"I wish the Scarecrow was here," said Scraps, standing on her +head on the Woozy's square back. "His splendid brains would soon +show us how to conquer this field of thistles."</p> + +<p>"What's the matter with YOUR brains?" asked the boy.</p> + +<p>"Nothing," she said, making a flip-flop into the thistles and +dancing among them without feeling their sharp points. "I could +tell you in half a minute how to get over the thistles if I +wanted to."</p> + +<p>"Tell us, Scraps!" begged Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"I don't want to wear my brains out with overwork," replied +the Patchwork Girl.</p> + +<p>"Don't you love Ozma? And don't you want to find her?" asked +Betsy reproachfully.</p> + +<p>"Yes indeed," said Scraps, walking on her hands as an acrobat +does at the circus.</p> + +<p>"Well, we can't find Ozma unless we get past these thistles," +declared Dorothy.</p> + +<p>Scraps danced around them two or three times without reply. +Then she said, "Don't look at me, you stupid folks. Look at those +blankets."</p> + +<p>The Wizard's face brightened at once.</p> + +<p>"Why didn't we think of those blankets before?"</p> + +<p>"Because you haven't magic brains," laughed Scraps. "Such brains +as you have are of the common sort that grow in your heads, like +weeds in a garden. I'm sorry for you people who have to be born +in order to be alive."</p> + +<p>But the Wizard was not listening to her. He quickly removed +the blankets from the back of the Sawhorse and spread one of them +upon the thistles, just next the grass. The thick cloth rendered +the prickers harmless, so the Wizard walked over this first +blanket and spread the second one farther on, in the direction of +the phantom city. "These blankets," said he, "are for the Lion +and the Mule to walk upon. The Sawhorse and the Woozy can walk on +the thistles."</p> + +<p>So the Lion and the Mule walked over the first blanket and stood +upon the second one until the Wizard had picked up the one they +had passed over and spread it in front of them, when they +advanced to that one and waited while the one behind them was +again spread in front. "This is slow work," said the Wizard, "but +it will get us to the city after a while."</p> + +<p>"The city is a good half mile away yet," announced +Button-Bright.</p> + +<p>"And this is awful hard work for the Wizard," added Trot.</p> + +<p>"Why couldn't the Lion ride on the Woozy's back?" asked +Dorothy."it's a big, flat back, and the Woozy's mighty strong. +Perhaps the Lion wouldn't fall off."</p> + +<p>"You may try it if you like," said the Woozy to the Lion. "I can +take you to the city in a jiffy and then come back for Hank."</p> + +<p>"I'm—I'm afraid," said the Cowardly Lion. He was twice as big +as the Woozy.</p> + +<p>"Try it," pleaded Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"And take a tumble among the thistles?"asked the Lion +reproachfully. But when the Woozy came close to him, the big +beast suddenly bounded upon its back and managed to balance +himself there, although forced to hold his four legs so close +together that he was in danger of toppling over. The great weight +of the monster Lion did not seem to affect the Woozy, who called +to his rider, "Hold on tight!" and ran swiftly over the thistles +toward the city. The others stood on the blanket and watched the +strange sight anxiously. Of course, the Lion couldn't "hold on +tight" because there was nothing to hold to, and he swayed from +side to side as if likely to fall off any moment. Still, he +managed to stick to the Woozy's back until they were close to the +walls of the city, when he leaped to the ground. Next moment the +Woozy came dashing back at full speed.</p> + +<p>"There's a little strip of ground next the wall where there are +no thistles," he told them when he had reached the adventurers +once more. "Now then, friend Hank, see if you can ride as well as +the Lion did."</p> + +<p>"Take the others first," proposed the Mule. So the Sawhorse +and the Woozy made a couple of trips over the thistles to the +city walls and carried all the people in safety, Dorothy holding +little Toto in her arms. The travelers then sat in a group on a +little hillock just outside the wall and looked at the great +blocks of gray stone and waited for the Woozy to bring Hank to +them. The Mule was very awkward, and his legs trembled so badly +that more than once they thought he would tumble off, but finally +he reached them in safety, and the entire party was now reunited. +More than that, they had reached the city that had eluded them +for so long and in so strange a manner.</p> + +<p>"The gates must be around the other side," said the Wizard. "Let +us follow the curve of the wall until we reach an opening in it."</p> + +<p>"Which way?" asked Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"We must guess that," he replied. "Suppose we go to the left. One +direction is as good as another." They formed in marching order +and went around the city wall to the left. It wasn't a big city, +as I have said, but to go way around it outside the high wall was +quite a walk, as they became aware. But around it our adventurers +went without finding any sign of a gateway or other opening. When +they had returned to the little mound from which they had +started, they dismounted from the animals and again seated +themselves on the grassy mound.</p> + +<p>"It's mighty queer, isn't it?" asked Button-Bright.</p> + +<p>"There must be SOME way for the people to get out and in," +declared Dorothy. "Do you s'pose they have flying machines, +Wizard?"</p> + +<p>"No," he replied, "for in that case they would be flying all +over the Land of Oz, and we know they have not done that. Flying +machines are unknown here. I think it more likely that the people +use ladders to get over the walls."</p> + +<p>"It would be an awful climb over that high stone wall," said +Betsy.</p> + +<p>"Stone, is it?" Scraps, who was again dancing wildly around, +for she never tired and could never keep still for long.</p> + +<p>"Course it's stone," answered Betsy scornfully. "Can't you see?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Scraps, going closer. "I can SEE the wall, but I +can't FEEL it." And then, with her arms outstretched, she did a +very queer thing. She walked right into the wall and +disappeared.</p> + +<p>"For goodness sake!" Dorothy, amazed, as indeed they all were.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2 id="ref_10">CHAPTER 9</h2> + +<h3>THE HIGH COCO-LORUM OF THI</h3> + +<p>And now the Patchwork Girl came dancing out of the wall again. +"Come on!" she called. "It isn't there.</p> + +<p>There isn't any wall at all."</p> + +<p>"What? No wall?" exclaimed the Wizard.</p> + +<p>"Nothing like it," said Scraps. "It's a make-believe. You see it, +but it isn't. Come on into the city; we've been wasting our +time." With this, she danced into the wall again and once more +disappeared. Button-Bright, who was rather venture-some, dashed +away after her and also became invisible to them. The others +followed more cautiously, stretching out their hands to feel the +wall and finding, to their astonishment, that they could feel +nothing because nothing opposed them. They walked on a few steps +and found themselves in the streets of a very beautiful city. +Behind them they again saw the wall, grim and forbidding as ever, +but now they knew it was merely an illusion prepared to keep +strangers from entering the city.</p> + +<p>But the wall was soon forgotten, for in front of them were a +number of quaint people who stared at them in amazement as if +wondering where they had come from. Our friends forgot their good +manners for a time and returned the stares with interest, for so +remarkable a people had never before been discovered in all the +remarkable Land of Oz. Their heads were shaped like diamonds, and +their bodies like hearts. All the hair they had was a little +bunch at the tip top of their diamond-shaped heads, and their +eyes were very large and round, and their noses and mouths very +small. Their clothing was tight fitting and of brilliant colors, +being handsomely embroidered in quaint designs with gold or +silver threads; but on their feet they wore sandals with no +stockings whatever. The expression of their faces was pleasant +enough, although they now showed surprise at the appearance of +strangers so unlike themselves, and our friends thought they +seemed quite harmless.</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon," said the Wizard, speaking for his party, +"for intruding upon you uninvited, but we are traveling on +important business and find it necessary to visit your city. Will +you kindly tell us by what name your city is called?"</p> + +<p>They looked at one another uncertainly, each expecting some +other to answer. Finally, a short one whose heart-shaped body was +very broad replied, "We have no occasion to call our city +anything. It is where we live, that is all."</p> + +<p>"But by what name do others call your city?"asked the Wizard.</p> + +<p>"We know of no others except yourselves," said the man. And +then he inquired, "Were you born with those queer forms you have, +or has some cruel magician transformed you to them from your +natural shapes?"</p> + +<p>"These are our natural shapes," declared the Wizard, "and we +consider them very good shapes, too."</p> + +<p>The group of inhabitants was constantly being enlarged by +others who joined it. All were evidently startled and uneasy at +the arrival of strangers. "Have you a King?"asked Dorothy, who +knew it was better to speak with someone in authority.</p> + +<p>But the man shook his diamond-like head. "What is a King?" he +asked.</p> + +<p>"Isn't there anyone who rules over you?"inquired the +Wizard.</p> + +<p>"No," was the reply, "each of us rules himself, or at least tries +to do so. It is not an easy thing to do, as you probably know."</p> + +<p>The Wizard reflected.</p> + +<p>"If you have disputes among you," said he after a little thought, +"who settles them?"</p> + +<p>"The High Coco-Lorum," they answered in a chorus.</p> + +<p>"And who is he?"</p> + +<p>"The judge who enforces the laws," said the man who had first +spoken.</p> + +<p>"Then he is the principal person here?"continued the Wizard.</p> + +<p>"Well, I would not say that," returned the man in a puzzled +way. "The High Coco-Lorum is a public servant. However, he +represents the laws, which we must all obey."</p> + +<p>"I think," said the Wizard, "we ought to see your High Coco-Lorum +and talk with him. Our mission here requires us to consult one +high in authority, and the High Coco-Lorum ought to be high, +whatever else he is."</p> + +<p>The inhabitants seemed to consider this proposition +reasonable, for they nodded their diamond-shaped heads in +approval. So the broad one who had been their spokesman said, +"Follow me," and turning led the way along one of the streets. +The entire party followed him, the natives falling in behind. The +dwellings they passed were quite nicely planned and seemed +comfortable and convenient. After leading them a few blocks, +their conductor stopped before a house which was neither better +nor worse than the others. The doorway was shaped to admit the +strangely formed bodies of these people, being narrow at the top, +broad in the middle and tapering at the bottom. The windows were +made in much the same way, giving the house a most peculiar +appearance. When their guide opened the gate, a music box +concealed in the gatepost began to play, and the sound attracted +the attention of the High Coco-Lorum, who appeared at an open +window and inquired, "What has happened now?"</p> + +<p>But in the same moment his eyes fell upon the strangers and he +hastened to open the door and admit them—all but the animals, +which were left outside with the throng of natives that had now +gathered. For a small city there seemed to be a large number of +inhabitants, but they did not try to enter the house and +contented themselves with staring curiously at the strange +animals. Toto followed Dorothy.</p> + +<p>Our friends entered a large room at the front of the house, +where the High Coco-Lorum asked them to be seated. "I hope your +mission here is a peaceful one," he said, looking a little +worried, "for the Thists are not very good fighters and object to +being conquered."</p> + +<p>"Are your people called Thists?" asked Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"Yes. I thought you knew that. And we call our city Thi."</p> + +<p>"Oh!"</p> + +<p>"We are Thists because we eat thistles, you know," continued +the High Coco-Lorum.</p> + +<p>"Do you really eat those prickly things?"inquired Button-Bright +wonderingly.</p> + +<p>"Why not?" replied the other. "The sharp points of the +thistles cannot hurt us, because all our insides are +gold-lined."</p> + +<p>"Gold-lined!"</p> + +<p>"To be sure. Our throats and stomachs are lined with solid +gold, and we find the thistles nourishing and good to eat. As a +matter of fact, there is nothing else in our country that is fit +for food. All around the City of Thi grow countless thistles, and +all we need do is to go and gather them. If we wanted anything +else to eat, we would have to plant it, and grow it, and harvest +it, and that would be a lot of trouble and make us work, which is +an occupation we detest."</p> + +<p>"But tell me, please," said the Wizard, "how does it happen that +your city jumps around so, from one part of the country to +another?"</p> + +<p>"The city doesn't jump. It doesn't move at all," declared the +High Coco-Lorum. "However, I will admit that the land that +surrounds it has a trick of turning this way or that, and so if +one is standing upon the plain and facing north, he is likely to +find himself suddenly facing west or east or south. But once you +reach the thistle fields, you are on solid ground."</p> + +<p>"Ah, I begin to understand," said the Wizard, nodding his head. +"But I have another question to ask: How does it happen that the +Thists have no King to rule over them?"</p> + +<p>"Hush!"whispered the High Coco-Lorum, looking uneasily around +to make sure they were not overheard. "In reality, I am the King, +but the people don't know it. They think they rule themselves, +but the fact is I have everything my own way. No one else knows +anything about our laws, and so I make the laws to suit myself. +If any oppose me or question my acts, I tell them it's the law +and that settles it. If I called myself King, however, and wore a +crown and lived in royal style, the people would not like me and +might do me harm. As the High Coco-Lorum of Thi, I am considered +a very agreeable person."</p> + +<p>"It seems a very clever arrangement," said the Wizard. "And now, +as you are the principal person in Thi, I beg you to tell us if +the Royal Ozma is a captive in your city."</p> + +<p>"No," answered the diamond-headed man. "We have no captives. +No strangers but yourselves are here, and we have never before +heard of the Royal Ozma."</p> + +<p>"She rules over all of Oz," said Dorothy, "and so she rules your +city and you, because you are in the Winkie Country, which is a +part of the Land of Oz."</p> + +<p>"It may be," returned the High Coco-Lorum, "for we do not +study geography and have never inquired whether we live in the +Land of Oz or not. And any Ruler who rules us from a distance and +unknown to us is welcome to the job. But what has happened to +your Royal Ozma?"</p> + +<p>"Someone has stolen her," said the Wizard. "Do you happen to have +any talented magician among your people, one who is especially +clever, you know?"</p> + +<p>"No, none especially clever. We do some magic, of course, but +it is all of the ordinary kind. I do not think any of us has yet +aspired to stealing Rulers, either by magic or otherwise."</p> + +<p>"Then we've come a long way for nothing!"exclaimed Trot +regretfully.</p> + +<p>"But we are going farther than this," asserted the Patchwork +Girl, bending her stuffed body backward until her yarn hair +touched the floor and then walking around on her hands with her +feet in the air.</p> + +<p>The High Coco-Lorum watched Scraps admiringly.</p> + +<p>"You may go farther on, of course," said he, "but I advise you +not to. The Herkus live back of us, beyond the thistles and the +twisting lands, and they are not very nice people to meet, I +assure you."</p> + +<p>"Are they giants?" asked Betsy.</p> + +<p>"They are worse than that," was the reply. "They have giants +for their slaves and they are so much stronger than giants that +the poor slaves dare not rebel for fear of being torn to +pieces."</p> + +<p>"How do you know?" asked Scraps.</p> + +<p>"Everyone says so," answered the High Coco-Lorum.</p> + +<p>"Have you seen the Herkus yourself?"inquired Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"No, but what everyone says must be true, otherwise what would +be the use of their saying it?"</p> + +<p>"We were told before we got here that you people hitch dragons to +your chariots," said the little girl.</p> + +<p>"So we do," declared the High Coco-Lorum. "And that reminds me +that I ought to entertain you as strangers and my guests by +taking you for a ride around our splendid City of Thi." He +touched a button, and a band began to play. At least, they heard +the music of a band, but couldn't tell where it came from. "That +tune is the order to my charioteer to bring around my +dragon-chariot," said the High Coco-Lorum. "Every time I give an +order, it is in music, which is a much more pleasant way to +address servants than in cold, stern words."</p> + +<p>"Does this dragon of yours bite?" asked Button-Bright.</p> + +<p>"Mercy no! Do you think I'd risk the safety of my innocent +people by using a biting dragon to draw my chariot? I'm proud to +say that my dragon is harmless, unless his steering gear breaks, +and he was manufactured at the famous dragon factory in this City +of Thi. Here he comes, and you may examine him for +yourselves."</p> + +<p>They heard a low rumble and a shrill squeaking sound, and going +out to the front of the house, they saw coming around the corner +a car drawn by a gorgeous jeweled dragon, which moved its head to +right and left and flashed its eyes like headlights of an +automobile and uttered a growling noise as it slowly moved toward +them. When it stopped before the High Coco-Lorum's house, Toto +barked sharply at the sprawling beast, but even tiny Trot could +see that the dragon was not alive. Its scales were of gold, and +each one was set with sparkling jewels, while it walked in such a +stiff, regular manner that it could be nothing else than a +machine. The chariot that trailed behind it was likewise of gold +and jewels, and when they entered it, they found there were no +seats. Everyone was supposed to stand up while riding. The +charioteer was a little, diamond-headed fellow who straddled the +neck of the dragon and moved the levers that made it go.</p> + +<p>"This," said the High Coco-Lorum pompously, "is a wonderful +invention. We are all very proud of our auto-dragons, many of +which are in use by our wealthy inhabitants. Start the thing +going, charioteer!"</p> + +<p>The charioteer did not move.</p> + +<p>"You forgot to order him in music," suggested Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"Ah, so I did."</p> + +<p>He touched a button and a music box in the dragon's head began +to play a tune. At once the little charioteer pulled over a +lever, and the dragon began to move, very slowly and groaning +dismally as it drew the clumsy chariot after it. Toto trotted +between the wheels. The Sawhorse, the Mule, the Lion and the +Woozy followed after and had no trouble in keeping up with the +machine. Indeed, they had to go slow to keep from running into +it. When the wheels turned, another music box concealed somewhere +under the chariot played a lively march tune which was in +striking contrast with the dragging movement of the strange +vehicle, and Button-Bright decided that the music he had heard +when they first sighted this city was nothing else than a chariot +plodding its weary way through the streets.</p> + +<p>All the travelers from the Emerald City thought this ride the +most uninteresting and dreary they had ever experienced, but the +High Coco-Lorum seemed to think it was grand. He pointed out the +different buildings and parks and fountains in much the same way +that the conductor does on an American "sightseeing wagon" does, +and being guests they were obliged to submit to the ordeal. But +they became a little worried when their host told them he had +ordered a banquet prepared for them in the City Hall. "What are +we going to eat?"asked Button-Bright suspiciously.</p> + +<p>"Thistles," was the reply. "Fine, fresh thistles, gathered +this very day."</p> + +<p>Scraps laughed, for she never ate anything, but Dorothy said in a +protesting voice, "OUR insides are not lined with gold, you +know."</p> + +<p>"How sad!"exclaimed the High Coco-Lorum, and then he added as +an afterthought, "but we can have the thistles boiled, if you +prefer."</p> + +<p>I'm 'fraid they wouldn't taste good even then," said little Trot. +"Haven't you anything else to eat?"</p> + +<p>The High Coco-Lorum shook his diamond-shaped head.</p> + +<p>"Nothing that I know of," said he. "But why should we have +anything else when we have so many thistles? However, if you +can't eat what we eat, don't eat anything. We shall not be +offended, and the banquet will be just as merry and delightful."</p> + +<p>Knowing his companions were all hungry, the Wizard said, "I +trust you will excuse us from the banquet, sir, which will be +merry enough without us, although it is given in our honor. For, +as Ozma is not in your city, we must leave here at once and seek +her elsewhere."</p> + +<p>"Sure we must!" Dorothy, and she whispered to Betsy and Trot, +"I'd rather starve somewhere else than in this city, and who +knows, we may run across somebody who eats reg'lar food and will +give us some."</p> + +<p>So when the ride was finished, in spite of the protests of the +High Coco-Lorum, they insisted on continuing their journey. "It +will soon be dark," he objected.</p> + +<p>"We don't mind the darkness," replied the Wizard.</p> + +<p>"Some wandering Herku may get you."</p> + +<p>"Do you think the Herkus would hurt us?"asked Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"I cannot say, not having had the honor of their acquaintance. +But they are said to be so strong that if they had any other +place to stand upon they could lift the world."</p> + +<p>"All of them together?"asked Button-Bright wonderingly.</p> + +<p>"Any one of them could do it," said the High Coco-Lorum.</p> + +<p>"Have you heard of any magicians being among them?" asked the +Wizard, knowing that only a magician could have stolen Ozma in +the way she had been stolen.</p> + +<p>"I am told it is quite a magical country," declared the High +Coco-Lorum, "and magic is usually performed by magicians. But I +have never heard that they have any invention or sorcery to equal +our wonderful auto-dragons."</p> + +<p>They thanked him for his courtesy, and mounting their own animals +rode to the farther side of the city and right through the Wall +of Illusion out into the open country. "I'm glad we got away so +easily," said Betsy. "I didn't like those queer-shaped people."</p> + + +<p>"Nor did I," agreed Dorothy. "It seems dreadful to be lined +with sheets of pure gold and have nothing to eat but +thistles."</p> + +<p>"They seemed happy and contented, though," remarked the Wizard, +"and those who are contented have nothing to regret and nothing +more to wish for."</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2 id="ref_11">CHAPTER 10</h2> + +<h3>TOTO LOSES SOMETHING</h3> + +<p>For a while the travelers were constantly losing their direction, +for beyond the thistle fields they again found themselves upon +the turning-lands, which swung them around one way and then +another. But by keeping the City of Thi constantly behind them, +the adventurers finally passed the treacherous turning-lands and +came upon a stony country where no grass grew at all. There were +plenty of bushes, however, and although it was now almost dark, +the girls discovered some delicious yellow berries growing upon +the bushes, one taste of which set them all to picking as many as +they could find. The berries relieved their pangs of hunger for a +time, and as it now became too dark to see anything, they camped +where they were.</p> + +<p>The three girls lay down upon one of the blankets—all in a +row—and the Wizard covered them with the other blanket and +tucked them in. Button-Bright crawled under the shelter of some +bushes and was asleep.</p> + +<p>The Wizard sat down with his back to a big stone and looked at +the stars in the sky and thought gravely upon the dangerous +adventure they had undertaken, wondering if they would ever be +able to find their beloved Ozma again. The animals lay in a group +by themselves, a little distance from the others. "I've lost my +growl!" said Toto, who had been very silent and sober all that +day. "What do you suppose has become of it?"</p> + +<p>"If you had asked me to keep track of your growl, I might be +able to tell you," remarked the Lion sleepily. "But frankly, +Toto, I supposed you were taking care of it yourself."</p> + +<p>"It's an awful thing to lose one's growl," said Toto, wagging his +tail disconsolately. "What if you lost your roar, Lion? Wouldn't +you feel terrible?"</p> + +<p>"My roar,"replied the Lion, "is the fiercest thing about me. I +depend on it to frighten my enemies so badly that they won't dare +to fight me."</p> + +<p>"Once," said the Mule, "I lost my bray so that I couldn't call to +Betsy to let her know I was hungry. That was before I could talk, +you know, for I had not yet come into the Land of Oz, and I found +it was certainly very uncomfortable not to be able to make a +noise."</p> + +<p>"You make enough noise now," declared Toto. "But none of you +have answered my question: Where is my growl?"</p> + +<p>"You may search ME," said the Woozy. "I don't care for such +things, myself."</p> + +<p>"You snore terribly," asserted Toto.</p> + +<p>"It may be," said the Woozy. "What one does when asleep one is +not accountable for. I wish you would wake me up sometime when +I'm snoring and let me hear the sound. Then I can judge whether +it is terrible or delightful."</p> + +<p>"It isn't pleasant, I assure you," said the Lion, yawning.</p> + +<p>"To me it seems wholly unnecessary," declared Hank the Mule.</p> + +<p>"You ought to break yourself of the habit," said the Sawhorse. +"You never hear me snore, because I never sleep. I don't even +whinny as those puffy meat horses do. I wish that whoever stole +Toto's growl had taken the Mule's bray and the Lion's roar and +the Woozy's snore at the same time."</p> + +<p>"Do you think, then, that my growl was stolen?"</p> + +<p>"You have never lost it before, have you?" inquired inquired +the Sawhorse.</p> + +<p>"Only once, when I had a sore throat from barking too long at the +moon."</p> + +<p>"Is your throat sore now?" asked the Woozy.</p> + +<p>"No," replied the dog.</p> + +<p>"I can't understand," said Hank, "why dogs bark at the moon. +They can't scare the moon, and the moon doesn't pay any attention +to the bark. So why do dogs do it?"</p> + +<p>"Were you ever a dog?" asked Toto.</p> + +<p>"No indeed," replied Hank. "I am thankful to say I was created +a mule—the most beautiful of all beasts—and have always +remained one."</p> + +<p>The Woozy sat upon his square haunches to examine Hank with care. +"Beauty," he said, "must be a matter of taste. I don't say your +judgment is bad, friend Hank, or that you are so vulgar as to be +conceited. But if you admire big, waggy ears and a tail like a +paintbrush and hoofs big enough for an elephant and a long neck +and a body so skinny that one can count the ribs with one eye +shut—if that's your idea of beauty, Hank, then either you or I +must be much mistaken."</p> + +<p>"You're full of edges," sneered the Mule. "If I were square as +you are, I suppose you'd think me lovely."</p> + +<p>"Outwardly, dear Hank, I would," replied the Woozy. "But to be +really lovely, one must be beautiful without and within."</p> + +<p>The Mule couldn't deny this statement, so he gave a disgusted +grunt and rolled over so that his back was toward the Woozy. But +the Lion, regarding the two calmly with his great, yellow eyes, +said to the dog, "My dear Toto, our friends have taught us a +lesson in humility. If the Woozy and the Mule are indeed +beautiful creatures as they seem to think, you and I must be +decidedly ugly."</p> + +<p>"Not to ourselves," protested Toto, who was a shrewd little dog. +"You and I, Lion, are fine specimens of our own races. I am a +fine dog, and you are a fine lion. Only in point of comparison, +one with another, can we be properly judged, so I will leave it +to the poor old Sawhorse to decide which is the most beautiful +animal among us all. The Sawhorse is wood, so he won't be +prejudiced and will speak the truth."</p> + +<p>"I surely will," responded the Sawhorse, wagging his ears, +which were chips set in his wooden head. "Are you all agreed to +accept my judgment?"</p> + +<p>"We are!" they declared, each one hopeful.</p> + +<p>"Then," said the Sawhorse, "I must point out to you the fact +that you are all meat creatures, who tire unless they sleep and +starve unless they eat and suffer from thirst unless they drink. +Such animals must be very imperfect, and imperfect creatures +cannot be beautiful. Now, I am made of wood."</p> + +<p>"You surely have a wooden head," said the Mule.</p> + +<p>"Yes, and a wooden body and wooden legs, which are as swift as +the wind and as tireless. I've heard Dorothy say that 'handsome +is as handsome does,' and I surely perform my duties in a +handsome manner. Therefore, if you wish my honest judgment, I +will confess that among us all I am the most beautiful."</p> + +<p>The Mule snorted, and the Woozy laughed; Toto had lost his growl +and could only look scornfully at the Sawhorse, who stood in his +place unmoved. But the Lion stretched himself and yawned, saying +quietly, "Were we all like the Sawhorse, we would all be +Sawhorses, which would be too many of the kind. Were we all like +Hank, we would be a herd of mules; if like Toto, we would be a +pack of dogs; should we all become the shape of the Woozy, he +would no longer be remarkable for his unusual appearance. +Finally, were you all like me, I would consider you so common +that I would not care to associate with you. To be individual, my +friends, to be different from others, is the only way to become +distinguished from the common herd. Let us be glad, therefore, +that we differ from one another in form and in disposition. +Variety is the spice of life, and we are various enough to enjoy +one another's society; so let us be content."</p> + +<p>"There is some truth in that speech," remarked Toto +reflectively. "But how about my lost growl?"</p> + +<p>"The growl is of importance only to you," responded the Lion, "so +it is your business to worry over the loss, not ours. If you love +us, do not afflict your burdens on us; be unhappy all by +yourself."</p> + +<p>"If the same person stole my growl who stole Ozma," said the +little dog, "I hope we shall find him very soon and punish him as +he deserves. He must be the most cruel person in all the world, +for to prevent a dog from growling when it is his nature to growl +is just as wicked, in my opinion, as stealing all the magic in +Oz."</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2 id="ref_12">CHAPTER 11</h2> + +<h3>BUTTON-BRIGHT LOSES HIMSELF</h3> + +<p>The Patchwork Girl, who never slept and who could see very well +in the dark, had wandered among the rocks and bushes all night +long, with the result that she was able to tell some good news +the next morning. "Over the crest of the hill before us," she +said, "is a big grove of trees of many kinds on which all sorts +of fruits grow. If you will go there, you will find a nice +breakfast awaiting you." This made them eager to start, so as +soon as the blankets were folded and strapped to the back of the +Sawhorse, they all took their places on the animals and set out +for the big grove Scraps had told them of.</p> + +<p>As soon as they got over the brow of the hill, they discovered +it to be a really immense orchard, extending for miles to the +right and left of them. As their way led straight through the +trees, they hurried forward as fast as possible. The first trees +they came to bore quinces, which they did not like. Then there +were rows of citron trees and then crab apples and afterward +limes and lemons. But beyond these they found a grove of big, +golden oranges, juicy and sweet, and the fruit hung low on the +branches so they could pluck it easily.</p> + +<p>They helped themselves freely and all ate oranges as they +continued on their way. Then, a little farther along, they came +to some trees bearing fine, red apples, which they also feasted +on, and the Wizard stopped here long enough to tie a lot of the +apples in one end of a blanket.</p> + +<p>"We do not know what will happen to us after we leave this +delightful orchard," he said, "so I think it wise to carry a +supply of apples with us. We can't starve as long as we have +apples, you know."</p> + +<p>Scraps wasn't riding the Woozy just now. She loved to climb the +trees and swing herself by the branches from one tree to another. +Some of the choicest fruit was gathered by the Patchwork Girl +from the very highest limbs and tossed down to the others. +Suddenly, Trot asked, "Where's Button-Bright?" and when the +others looked for him, they found the boy had disappeared.</p> +<p>"Dear me!" cried Dorothy. "I guess he's lost again, and that +will mean our waiting here until we can find him."</p> + +<p>"It's a good place to wait," suggested Betsy, who had found a +plum tree and was eating some of its fruit.</p> + +<p>"How can you wait here and find Button-Bright at one and the +same time?" inquired the Patchwork Girl, hanging by her toes on a +limb just over the heads of the three mortal girls.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps he'll come back here," answered Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"If he tries that, he'll prob'ly lose his way," said Trot. +"I've known him to do that lots of times. It's losing his way +that gets him lost."</p> + +<p>"Very true," said the Wizard. "So all the rest of you must stay +here while I go look for the boy."</p> + +<p>"Won't YOU get lost, too?" asked Betsy.</p> + +<p>"I hope not, my dear."</p> + +<p>"Let ME go," said Scraps, dropping lightly to the ground. "I +can't get lost, and I'm more likely to find Button-Bright than +any of you." Without waiting for permission, she darted away +through the trees and soon disappeared from their view.</p> + +<p>"Dorothy," said Toto, squatting beside his little mistress, "I've +lost my growl."</p> + +<p>"How did that happen?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"I don't know," replied Toto. "Yesterday morning the Woozy nearly +stepped on me, and I tried to growl at him and found I couldn't +growl a bit."</p> + +<p>"Can you bark?" inquired Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes indeed."</p> + +<p>"Then never mind the growl," said she.</p> + +<p>"But what will I do when I get home to the Glass Cat and the Pink +Kitten?" asked the little dog in an anxious tone.</p> + +<p>"They won't mind if you can't growl at them, I'm sure," said +Dorothy. "I'm sorry for you, of course, Toto, for it's just those +things we can't do that we want to do most of all; but before we +get back, you may find your growl again."</p> + +<p>"Do you think the person who stole Ozma stole my growl?"</p> + +<p>Dorothy smiled.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps, Toto."</p> + +<p>"Then he's a scoundrel!" cried the little dog.</p> + +<p>"Anyone who would steal Ozma is as bad as bad can be," agreed +Dorothy, "and when we remember that our dear friend, the lovely +Ruler of Oz, is lost, we ought not to worry over just a growl."</p> + +<p>Toto was not entirely satisfied with this remark, for the more +he thought upon his lost growl, the more important his misfortune +became. When no one was looking, he went away among the trees and +tried his best to growl—even a little bit—but could not manage +to do so. All he could do was bark, and a bark cannot take the +place of a growl, so he sadly returned to the others.</p> + +<p>Now Button-Bright had no idea that he was lost at first. He had +merely wandered from tree to tree seeking the finest fruit until +he discovered he was alone in the great orchard. But that didn't +worry him just then, and seeing some apricot trees farther on, he +went to them. Then he discovered some cherry trees; just beyond +these were some tangerines. "We've found 'most ev'ry kind of +fruit but peaches," he said to himself, "so I guess there are +peaches here, too, if I can find the trees."</p> + +<p>He searched here and there, paying no attention to his way, +until he found that the trees surrounding him bore only nuts. He +put some walnuts in his pockets and kept on searching, and at +last—right among the nut trees—he came upon one solitary peach +tree. It was a graceful, beautiful tree, but although it was +thickly leaved, it bore no fruit except one large, splendid +peach, rosy-cheeked and fuzzy and just right to eat.</p> + +<p>In his heart he doubted this statement, for this was a solitary +peach tree, while all the other fruits grew upon many trees set +close to one another; but that one luscious bite made him unable +to resist eating the rest of it, and soon the peach was all gone +except the pit. Button-Bright was about to throw this peach pit +away when he noticed that it was of pure gold. Of course, this +surprised him, but so many things in the Land of Oz were +surprising that he did not give much thought to the golden peach +pit. He put it in his pocket, however, to show to the girls, and +five minutes afterward had forgotten all about it.</p> + +<p>For now he realized that he was far separated from his +companions, and knowing that this would worry them and delay +their journey, he began to shout as loud as he could. His voice +did not penetrate very far among all those trees, and after +shouting a dozen times and getting no answer, he sat down on the +ground and said, "Well, I'm lost again. It's too bad, but I don't +see how it can be helped."</p> + +<p>As he leaned his back against a tree, he looked up and saw a +Bluefinch fly down from the sky and alight upon a branch just +before him. The bird looked and looked at him. First it looked +with one bright eye and then turned its head and looked at him +with the other eye. Then, fluttering its wings a little, it said, +"Oho! So you've eaten the enchanted peach, have you?"</p> + +<p>"Was it enchanted?" asked Button-Bright.</p> + +<p>"Of course," replied the Bluefinch."Ugu the Shoemaker did that."</p> + +<p>"But why? And how was it enchanted? And what will happen to +one who eats it?" questioned the boy.</p> + +<p>"Ask Ugu the Shoemaker. He knows," said the bird, preening its +feathers with its bill.</p> + +<p>"And who is Ugu the Shoemaker?"</p> + +<p>"The one who enchanted the peach and placed it here—in the exact +center of the Great Orchard—so no one would ever find it. We +birds didn't dare to eat it; we are too wise for that. But you +are Button-Bright from the Emerald City, and you, YOU, YOU ate +the enchanted peach!</p> + +<p>You must explain to Ugu the Shoemaker why you did that." And +then, before the boy could ask any more questions, the bird flew +away and left him alone.</p> + +<p>Button-Bright was not much worried to find that the peach he had +eaten was enchanted. It certainly had tasted very good, and his +stomach didn't ache a bit. So again he began to reflect upon the +best way to rejoin his friends. "Whichever direction I follow is +likely to be the wrong one," he said to himself, "so I'd better +stay just where I am and let THEM find ME—if they can."</p> + +<p>A White Rabbit came hopping through the orchard and paused a +little way off to look at him. "Don't be afraid," said +Button-Bright. "I won't hurt you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm not afraid for myself," returned the White Rabbit. "It's +you I'm worried about."</p> + +<p>."Yes, I'm lost,' said the boy.</p> + +<p>"I fear you are, indeed," answered the Rabbit. "Why on earth did +you eat the enchanted peach?"</p> + +<p>The boy looked at the excited little animal thoughtfully. +"There were two reasons," he explained. "One reason was that I +like peaches, and the other reason was that I didn't know it was +enchanted."</p> + +<p>"That won't save you from Ugu the Shoemaker," declared the White +Rabbit, and it scurried away before the boy could ask any more +questions.</p> + +<p>"Rabbits and birds," he thought, "are timid creatures and seem +afraid of this shoemaker, whoever he may be. If there was another +peach half as good as that other, I'd eat it in spite of a dozen +enchantments or a hundred shoemakers!"</p> + +<p>Just then, Scraps came dancing along and saw him sitting at the +foot of the tree. "Oh, here you are!" she said. "Up to your old +tricks, eh? Don't you know it's impolite to get lost and keep +everybody waiting for you? Come along, and I'll lead you back to +Dorothy and the others."</p> + +<p>Button-Bright rose slowly to accompany her.</p> + +<p>"That wasn't much of a loss," he said cheerfully. "I haven't been +gone half a day, so there's no harm done."</p> + +<p>Dorothy, however, when the boy rejoined the party, gave him a +good scolding. "When we're doing such an important thing as +searching for Ozma," said she, "it's naughty for you to wander +away and keep us from getting on. S'pose she's a pris'ner in a +dungeon cell! Do you want to keep our dear Ozma there any longer +than we can help?"</p> + +<p>"If she's in a dungeon cell, how are you going to get her out?" +inquired the boy.</p> + +<p>"Never you mind. We'll leave that to the Wizard. He's sure to +find a way."</p> + +<p>The Wizard said nothing, for he realized that without his magic +tools he could do no more than any other person. But there was no +use reminding his companions of that fact; it might discourage +them. "The important thing just now," he remarked, "is to find +Ozma, and as our party is again happily reunited, I propose we +move on."</p> + +<p>As they came to the edge of the Great Orchard, the sun was +setting and they knew it would soon be dark. So it was decided to +camp under the trees, as another broad plain was before them. The +Wizard spread the blankets on a bed of soft leaves, and presently +all of them except Scraps and the Sawhorse were fast asleep. Toto +snuggled close to his friend the Lion, and the Woozy snored so +loudly that the Patchwork Girl covered his square head with her +apron to deaden the sound.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2 id="ref_13">CHAPTER 12</h2> + +<h3>CZAROVER OF HERKU</h3> + +<p>Trot wakened just as the sun rose, and slipping out of the +blankets, went to the edge of the Great Orchard and looked across +the plain. Something glittered in the far distance. "That looks +like another city," she said half aloud. </p> + +<p>"And another city it is," declared Scraps, who had crept to +Trot's side unheard, for her stuffed feet made no sound. "The +Sawhorse and I made a journey in the dark while you were all +asleep, and we found over there a bigger city than Thi. There's a +wall around it, too, but it has gates and plenty of +pathways."</p> + +<p>"Did you get in?" asked Trot.</p> + +<p>"No, for the gates were locked and the wall was a real wall. +So we came back here again. It isn't far to the city. We can +reach it in two hours after you've had your breakfasts."</p> + +<p>Trot went back, and finding the other girls now awake, told them +what Scraps had said. So they hurriedly ate some fruit—there +were plenty of plums and fijoas in this part of the orchard—and +then they mounted the animals and set out upon the journey to the +strange city. Hank the Mule had breakfasted on grass, and the +Lion had stolen away and found a breakfast to his liking; he +never told what it was, but Dorothy hoped the little rabbits and +the field mice had kept out of his way. She warned Toto not to +chase birds and gave the dog some apple, with which he was quite +content. The Woozy was as fond of fruit as of any other food +except honey, and the Sawhorse never ate at all.</p> + +<p>Except for their worry over Ozma, they were all in good +spirits as they proceeded swiftly over the plain. Toto still +worried over his lost growl, but like a wise little dog kept his +worry to himself. Before long, the city grew nearer and they +could examine it with interest.</p> + +<p>In outward appearance the place was more imposing than Thi, and +it was a square city, with a square, four-sided wall around it, +and on each side was a square gate of burnished copper. +Everything about the city looked solid and substantial; there +were no banners flying, and the towers that rose above the city +wall seemed bare of any ornament whatever.</p> + +<p>A path led from the fruit orchard directly to one of the city +gates, showing that the inhabitants preferred fruit to thistles. +Our friends followed this path to the gate, which they found fast +shut. But the Wizard advanced and pounded upon it with his fist, +saying in a loud voice, "Open!"</p> + +<p>At once there rose above the great wall a row of immense heads, +all of which looked down at them as if to see who was intruding. +The size of these heads was astonishing, and our friends at once +realized that they belonged to giants who were standing within +the city. All had thick, bushy hair and whiskers, on some the +hair being white and on others black or red or yellow, while the +hair of a few was just turning gray, showing that the giants were +of all ages. However fierce the heads might seem, the eyes were +mild in expression, as if the creatures had been long subdued, +and their faces expressed patience rather than ferocity.</p> + +<p>"What's wanted?" asked one old giant in a low, grumbling +voice.</p> + +<p>"We are strangers, and we wish to enter the city," replied the +Wizard.</p> + +<p>"Do you come in war or peace?" asked another.</p> + +<p>"In peace, of course," retorted the Wizard, and he added +impatiently, "Do we look like an army of conquest?"</p> + +<p>"No," said the first giant who had spoken, "you look like +innocent tramps; but you never can tell by appearances. Wait here +until we report to our masters. No one can enter here without the +permission of Vig, the Czarover."</p> + +<p>"Who's that?" inquired Dorothy.</p> + +<p>But the heads had all bobbed down and disappeared behind the +walls, so there was no answer. They waited a long time before the +gate rolled back with a rumbling sound, and a loud voice cried, +"Enter!" But they lost no time in taking advantage of the +invitation.</p> + +<p>On either side of the broad street that led into the city from +the gate stood a row of huge giants, twenty of them on a side and +all standing so close together that their elbows touched. They +wore uniforms of blue and yellow and were armed with clubs as big +around as treetrunks. Each giant had around his neck a broad band +of gold, riveted on, to show he was a slave.</p> + +<p>As our friends entered riding upon the Lion, the Woozy, the +Sawhorse and the Mule, the giants half turned and walked in two +files on either side of them, as if escorting them on their way. +It looked to Dorothy as if all her party had been made prisoners, +for even mounted on their animals their heads scarcely reached to +the knees of the marching giants. The girls and Button-Bright +were anxious to know what sort of a city they had entered, and +what the people were like who had made these powerful creatures +their slaves. Through the legs of the giants as they walked, +Dorothy could see rows of houses on each side of the street and +throngs of people standing on the sidewalks, but the people were +of ordinary size and the only remarkable thing about them was the +fact that they were dreadfully lean and thin. Between their skin +and their bones there seemed to be little or no flesh, and they +were mostly stoop-shouldered and weary looking, even to the +little children.</p> + +<p>More and more, Dorothy wondered how and why the great giants had +ever submitted to become slaves of such skinny, languid masters, +but there was no chance to question anyone until they arrived at +a big palace located in the heart of the city. Here the giants +formed lines to the entrance and stood still while our friends +rode into the courtyard of the palace. Then the gates closed +behind them, and before them was a skinny little man who bowed +low and said in a sad voice, "If you will be so obliging as to +dismount, it will give me pleasure to lead you into the presence +of the World's Most Mighty Ruler, Vig the Czarover."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe it!" said Dorothy indignantly.</p> + +<p>"What don't you believe?" asked the man.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe your Czarover can hold a candle to our +Ozma."</p> + +<p>"He wouldn't hold a candle under any circumstances, or to any +living person," replied the man very seriously, "for he has +slaves to do such things and the Mighty Vig is too dignified to +do anything that others can do for him. He even obliges a slave +to sneeze for him, if ever he catches cold. However, if you dare +to face our powerful ruler, follow me."</p> + +<p>"We dare anything," said the Wizard, "so go ahead."</p> + +<p>Through several marble corridors having lofty ceilings they +passed, finding each corridor and doorway guarded by servants. +But these servants of the palace were of the people and not +giants, and they were so thin that they almost resembled +skeletons. Finally, they entered a great circular room with a +high, domed ceiling, where the Czarover sat on a throne cut from +a solid block of white marble and decorated with purple silk +hangings and gold tassels.</p> + +<p>The ruler of these people was combing his eyebrows when our +friends entered the throne room and stood before him, but he put +the comb in his pocket and examined the strangers with evident +curiosity. Then he said, "Dear me, what a surprise! You have +really shocked me. For no outsider has ever before come to our +City of Herku, and I cannot imagine why you have ventured to do +so."</p> + +<p>"We are looking for Ozma, the Supreme Ruler of the Land of Oz," +replied the Wizard.</p> + +<p>"Do you see her anywhere around here?" asked the Czarover.</p> + +<p>"Not yet, Your Majesty, but perhaps you may tell us where she +is."</p> + +<p>"No, I have my hands full keeping track of my own people. I +find them hard to manage because they are so tremendously +strong."</p> + +<p>"They don't look very strong," said Dorothy. "It seems as if a +good wind would blow 'em way out of the city if it wasn't for the +wall."</p> + +<p>"Just so, just so," admitted the Czarover. "They really look +that way, don't they? But you must never trust to appearances, +which have a way of fooling one. Perhaps you noticed that I +prevented you from meeting any of my people. I protected you with +my giants while you were on the way from the gates to my palace +so that not a Herku got near you."</p> + +<p>"Are your people so dangerous, then?"asked the Wizard.</p> + +<p>"To strangers, yes. But only because they are so friendly. For +if they shake hands with you, they are likely to break your arms +or crush your fingers to a jelly."</p> + +<p>"Why?" asked Button-Bright.</p> + +<p>"Because we are the strongest people in all the world."</p> + +<p>"Pshaw!"exclaimed the boy. "That's bragging. You prob'ly don't +know how strong other people are. Why, once I knew a man in +Philadelphi' who could bend iron bars with just his hands!"</p> + +<p>"But mercy me, it's no trick to bend iron bars," said His +Majesty. "Tell me, could this man crush a block of stone with his +bare hands?"</p> + +<p>"No one could do that," declared the boy.</p> + +<p>"If I had a block of stone, I'd show you," said the Czarover, +looking around the room. "Ah, here is my throne. The back is too +high, anyhow, so I'll just break off a piece of that." He rose to +his feet and tottered in an uncertain way around the throne. Then +he took hold of the back and broke off a piece of marble over a +foot thick. "This," said he, coming back to his seat, "is very +solid marble and much harder than ordinary stone. Yet I can +crumble it easily with my fingers, a proof that I am very +strong."</p> + +<p>Even as he spoke, he began breaking off chunks of marble and +crumbling them as one would a bit of earth. The Wizard was so +astonished that he took a piece in his own hands and tested it, +finding it very hard indeed.</p> + +<p>Just then one of the giant servants entered and exclaimed, +"Oh, Your Majesty, the cook has burned the soup! What shall we +do?"</p> + +<p>"How dare you interrupt me?".</p> + +<p>"asked the Czarover, and grasping the immense giant by one of +his legs, he raised him in the air and threw him headfirst out of +an open window. "Now, tell me," he said, turning to +Button-Bright, "could your man in Philadelphia crumble marble in +his fingers?"</p> + +<p>"I guess not," said Button-Bright, much impressed by the skinny +monarch's strength.</p> + +<p>"What makes you so strong?" inquired Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"It's the zosozo," he explained, "which is an invention of my +own. I and all my people eat zosozo, and it gives us tremendous +strength. Would you like to eat some?"</p> + +<p>"No thank you," replied the girl. "I—I don't want to get so +thin."</p> + +<p>"Well, of course one can't have strength and flesh at the same +time," said the Czarover. "Zosozo is pure energy, and it's the +only compound of its sort in existence. I never allow our giants +to have it, you know, or they would soon become our masters, +since they are bigger that we; so I keep all the stuff locked up +in my private laboratory. Once a year I feed a teaspoonful of it +to each of my people—men, women and children—so every one of +them is nearly as strong as I am. Wouldn't YOU like a dose, sir?" +he asked, turning to the Wizard.</p> + +<p>"Well," said the Wizard, "if you would give me a little zosozo +in a bottle, I'd like to take it with me on my travels. It might +come in handy on occasion."</p> + +<p>"To be sure. I'll give you enough for six doses," promised the +Czarover.</p> + +<p>"But don't take more than a teaspoonful at a time. Once Ugu +the Shoemaker took two teaspoonsful, and it made him so strong +that when he leaned against the city wall, he pushed it over, and +we had to build it up again."</p> + +<p>"Who is Ugu the Shoemaker?"</p> + +<p>Button-Bright curiously, for he now remembered that the bird +and the rabbit had claimed Ugu the Shoemaker had enchanted the +peach he had eaten.</p> + +<p>"Why, Ugu is a great magician who used to live here. But he's +gone away now," replied the Czarover.</p> + +<p>"Where has he gone?" asked the Wizard quickly.</p> + +<p>"I am told he lives in a wickerwork castle in the mountains to +the west of here. You see, Ugu became such a powerful magician +that he didn't care to live in our city any longer for fear we +would discover some of his secrets. So he went to the mountains +and built him a splendid wicker castle which is so strong that +even I and my people could not batter it down, and there he lives +all by himself."</p> + +<p>"This is good news," declared the Wizard, "for I think this is +just the magician we are searching for. But why is he called Ugu +the Shoemaker?"</p> + +<p>"Once he was a very common citizen here and made shoes for a +living," replied the monarch of Herku. "But he was descended from +the greatest wizard and sorcerer who ever lived in this or in any +other country, and one day Ugu the Shoemaker discovered all the +magical books and recipes of his famous great-grandfather, which +had been hidden away in the attic of his house. So he began to +study the papers and books and to practice magic, and in time he +became so skillful that, as I said, he scorned our city and built +a solitary castle for himself."</p> + +<p>"Do you think" asked Dorothy anxiously, "that Ugu the +Shoemaker would be wicked enough to steal our Ozma of Oz?"</p> + +<p>"And the Magic Picture?" asked Trot.</p> + +<p>"And the Great Book of Records of Glinda the Good?" asked +Betsy.</p> + +<p>"And my own magic tools?" asked the Wizard.</p> + +<p>" replied the Czarover, "I won't say that Ugu is wicked, +exactly, but he is very ambitious to become the most powerful +magician in the world, and so I suppose he would not be too proud +to steal any magic things that belonged to anybody else—if he +could manage to do so."</p> + +<p>"But how about Ozma? Why would he wish to steal HER?"questioned +Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"Don't ask me, my dear. Ugu doesn't tell me why he does +things, I assure you."</p> + +<p>Then we must go and ask him ourselves," declared the little girl.</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't do that if I were you," advised the Czarover, +looking first at the three girls and then at the boy and the +little Wizard and finally at the stuffed Patchwork Girl. "If Ugu +has really stolen your Ozma, he will probably keep her a +prisoner, in spite of all your threats or entreaties. And with +all his magical knowledge he would be a dangerous person to +attack. Therefore, if you are wise, you will go home again and +find a new Ruler for the Emerald City and the Land of Oz. But +perhaps it isn't Ugu the Shoemaker who has stolen your Ozma."</p> + +<p>"The only way to settle that question," replied the Wizard, "is +to go to Ugu's castle and see if Ozma is there. If she is, we +will report the matter to the great Sorceress Glinda the Good, +and I'm pretty sure she will find a way to rescue our darling +ruler from the Shoemaker."</p> + +<p>"Well, do as you please," said the Czarover, "but if you are +all transformed into hummingbirds or caterpillars, don't blame me +for not warning you."</p> + +<p>They stayed the rest of that day in the City of Herku and were +fed at the royal table of the Czarover and given sleeping rooms +in his palace. The strong monarch treated them very nicely and +gave the Wizard a little golden vial of zosozo to use if ever he +or any of his.</p> + +<p>Even at the last, the Czarover tried to persuade them not to +go near Ugu the Shoemaker, but they were resolved on the venture, +and the next morning bade the friendly monarch a cordial goodbye +and, mounting upon their animals, left the Herkus and the City of +Herku and headed for the mountains that lay to the west.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2 id="ref_14">CHAPTER 13</h2> + +<h3>TRUTH POND</h3> + +<p>It seems a long time since we have heard anything of the Frogman +and Cayke the Cookie Cook, who had left the Yip Country in search +of the diamond-studded dishpan which had been mysteriously stolen +the same night that Ozma had disappeared from the Emerald City. +But you must remember that while the Frogman and the Cookie Cook +were preparing to descend from their mountaintop, and even while +on their way to the farmhouse of Wiljon the Winkie, Dorothy and +the Wizard and their friends were encountering the adventures we +have just related.</p> + +<p>So it was that on the very morning when the travelers from the +Emerald City bade farewell to the Czarover of the City of Herku, +Cayke and the Frogman awoke in a grove in which they had passed +the night sleeping on beds of leaves. There were plenty of +farmhouses in the neighborhood, but no one seemed to welcome the +puffy, haughty Frogman or the little dried-up Cookie Cook, and so +they slept comfortably enough underneath the trees of the grove. +The Frogman wakened first on this morning, and after going to the +tree where Cayke slept and finding her still wrapped in slumber, +he decided to take a little walk and seek some breakfast. Coming +to the edge of the grove, he observed half a mile away a pretty +yellow house that was surrounded by a yellow picket fence, so he +walked toward this house and on entering the yard found a Winkie +woman picking up sticks with which to build a fire to cook her +morning meal.</p> + +<p>"For goodness sake!" she exclaimed on seeing the Frogman. "What +are you doing out of your frog-pond?"</p> + +<p>"I am traveling in search of a jeweled gold dishpan, my good +woman," he replied with an air of great dignity.</p> + +<p>"You won't find it here, then," said she."Our dishpans are tin, +and they're good enough for anybody. So go back to your pond and +leave me alone." She spoke rather crossly and with a lack of +respect that greatly annoyed the Frogman.</p> + +<p>"Allow me to tell you, madam," said he, "that although I am a +frog, I am the Greatest and Wisest Frog in all the world. I may +add that I possess much more wisdom than any Winkie—man or +woman—in this land. Wherever I go, people fall on their knees +before me and render homage to the Great Frogman! No one else +knows so much as I; no one else is so grand, so magnificent!"</p> + +<p>"If you know so much," she retorted, "why don't you know where +your dishpan is instead of chasing around the country after it?"</p> + +<p>"Presently," he answered, "I am going where it is, but just +now I am traveling and have had no breakfast. Therefore I honor +you by asking you for something to eat."</p> + +<p>"Oho! The Great Frogman is hungry as any tramp, is he? Then pick +up these sticks and help me to build the fire," said the woman +contemptuously.</p> + +<p>"Me! The Great Frogman pick up sticks?" he exclaimed in +horror. "In the Yip Country where I am more honored and powerful +than any King could be, people weep with joy when I ask them to +feed me."</p> + +<p>"Then that's the place to go for your breakfast," declared the +woman.</p> + +<p>"I fear you do not realize my importance," urged the Frogman. +"Exceeding wisdom renders me superior to menial duties."</p> + +<p>"It's a great wonder to me," remarked the woman, carrying her +sticks to the house, "that your wisdom doesn't inform you that +you'll get no breakfast here." And she went in and slammed the +door behind her.</p> + +<p>The Frogman felt he had been insulted, so he gave a loud croak +of indignation and turned away. After going a short distance, he +came upon a faint path which led across a meadow in the direction +of a grove of pretty trees, and thinking this circle of +evergreens must surround a house where perhaps he would be kindly +received, he decided to follow the path. And by and by he came to +the trees, which were set close together, and pushing aside some +branches he found no house inside the circle, but instead a very +beautiful pond of clear water.</p> + +<p>Now the Frogman, although he was so big and well educated and now +aped the ways and customs of human beings, was still a frog. As +he gazed at this solitary, deserted pond, his love for water +returned to him with irresistible force. "If I cannot get a +breakfast, I may at least have a fine swim," said he, and pushing +his way between the trees, he reached the bank. There he took off +his fine clothing, laying his shiny purple hat and his +gold-headed cane beside it. A moment later, he sprang with one +leap into the water and dived to the very bottom of the pond.</p> + +<p>The water was deliciously cool and grateful to his thick, +rough skin, and the Frogman swam around the pond several times +before he stopped to rest. Then he floated upon the surface and +examined the pond with The bottom and sides were all lined with +glossy tiles of a light pink color; just one place in the bottom +where the water bubbled up from a hidden spring had been left +free. On the banks, the green grass grew to the edge of the pink +tiling. And now, as the Frogman examined the place, he found that +on one side of the pool, just above the water line, had been set +a golden plate on which some words were deeply engraved. He swam +toward this plate, and on reaching it read the following +inscription:</p> + +<p>This is <br /> +THE TRUTH POND<br /> +$$Whoever bathes in this<br /> +water must always afterward tell<br /> +THE TRUTH.<br /></p> + +<p>This statement startled the Frogman. It even worried him, so +that he leaped upon the bank and hurriedly began to dress +himself. "A great misfortune has befallen me," he told himself, +"for hereafter I cannot tell people I am wise, since it is not +the truth. The truth is that my boasted wisdom is all a sham, +assumed by me to deceive people and make them defer to me. In +truth, no living creature can know much more than his fellows, +for one may know one thing, and another know another thing, so +that wisdom is evenly scattered throughout the world. But—ah +me!—what a terrible fate will now be mine. Even Cayke the Cookie +Cook will soon discover that my knowledge is no greater than her +own, for having bathed in the enchanted water of the Truth Pond, +I can no longer deceive her or tell a lie."</p> + +<p>More humbled than he had been for many years, the Frogman went +back to the grove where he had left Cayke and found the woman now +awake and washing her face in a tiny brook. "Where has Your Honor +been?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"To a farmhouse to ask for something to eat," said he, "but +the woman refused me."</p> + +<p>"How dreadful!" she exclaimed. "But never mind, there are other +houses where the people will be glad to feed the Wisest Creature +in all the World."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean yourself?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"No, I mean you."</p> + +<p>The Frogman felt strongly impelled to tell the truth, but +struggled hard against it. His reason told him there was no use +in letting Cayke know he was not wise, for then she would lose +much respect for him, but each time he opened his mouth to speak, +he realized he was about to tell the truth and shut it again as +quickly as possible. He tried to talk about something else, but +the words necessary to undeceive the woman would force themselves +to his lips in spite of all his struggles. Finally, knowing that +he must either remain dumb or let the truth prevail, he gave a +low groan of despair and said, "Cayke, I am NOT the Wisest +Creature in all the World; I am not wise at all."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you must be!" she protested. "You told me so yourself, only +last evening."</p> + +<p>"Then last evening I failed to tell you the truth," he +admitted, looking very shamefaced for a frog. "I am sorry I told +you this lie, my good Cayke, but if you must know the truth, the +whole truth and nothing but the truth, I am not really as wise as +you are."</p> + +<p>The Cookie Cook was greatly shocked to hear this, for it +shattered one of her most pleasing illusions. She looked at the +gorgeously dressed Frogman in amazement. "What has caused you to +change your mind so suddenly?" she inquired.</p> + +<p>"I have bathed in the Truth Pond," he said, "and whoever +bathes in that water is ever afterward obliged to tell the +truth."</p> + +<p>"You were foolish to do that," declared the woman.</p> + +<p>"It is often very embarrassing to tell the truth. I'm glad I +didn't bathe in that dreadful water!"</p> + +<p>The Frogman looked at his companion thoughtfully. "Cayke," said +he, "I want you to go to the Truth Pond and take a bath in its +water. For if we are to travel together and encounter unknown +adventures, it would not be fair that I alone must always tell +you the truth, while you could tell me whatever you pleased. If +we both dip in the enchanted water, there will be no chance in +the future of our deceiving one another."</p> + +<p>"No," she asserted, shaking her head positively, "I won't do +it, Your Honor. For if I told you the truth, I'm sure you +wouldn't like me. No Truth Pond for me.</p> + +<p>I'll be just as I am, an honest woman who can say what she wants +to without hurting anyone's feelings."</p> + +<p>With this decision the Frogman was forced to be content, +although he was sorry the Cookie Cook would not listen to his +advice.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2 id="ref_15">CHAPTER 14</h2> + +<h3>THE UNHAPPY FERRYMAN</h3> + +<p>Leaving the grove where they had slept, the Frogman and the +Cookie Cook turned to the east to seek another house, and after a +short walk came to one where the people received them very +politely. The children stared rather hard at the big, pompous +Frogman, but the woman of the house, when Cayke asked for +something to eat, at once brought them food and said they were +welcome to it. "Few people in need of help pass this way," she +remarked, "for the Winkies are all prosperous and love to stay in +their own homes. But perhaps you are not a Winkie," she +added.</p> + +<p>"No," said Cayke, "I am a Yip, and my home is on a high mountain +at the southeast of your country."</p> + +<p>"And the Frogman, is he also a Yip?"</p> + +<p>"I do not know what he is, other than a very remarkable and +highly educated creature," replied the Cookie Cook. "But he has +lived many years among the Yips, who have found him so wise and +intelligent that they always go to him for advice." </p> + +<p>"May I ask why you have left your home and where you are +going?" said the Winkie woman.</p> + +<p>Then Cayke told her of the diamond-studded gold dishpan and how +it had been mysteriously stolen from her house, after which she +had discovered that she could no longer cook good cookies. So she +had resolved to search until she found her dishpan again, because +a Cookie cook who cannot cook good cookies is not of much use. +The Frogman, who had wanted to see more of the world, had +accompanied her to assist in the search. When the woman had +listened to this story, she asked, "Then you have no idea as yet +who has stolen your dishpan?"</p> + +<p>"I only know it must have been some mischievous fairy, or a +magician, or some such powerful person, because none other could +have climbed the steep mountain to the Yip Country. And who else +could have carried away my beautiful magic dishpan without being +seen?"</p> + +<p>The woman thought about this during the time that Cayke and the +Frogman ate their breakfast. When they had finished, she said, +"Where are you going next?"</p> + +<p>"We have not decided," answered the Cookie cook.</p> + +<p>"Our plan," explained the Frogman in his important way, "is to +travel from place to place until we learn where the thief is +located and then to force him to return the dishpan to its proper +owner."</p> + +<p>"The plan is all right," agreed the woman, "but it may take +you a long time before you succeed, your method being sort of +haphazard and indefinite. However, I advise you to travel toward +the east."</p> + +<p>"Why?" asked the Frogman.</p> + +<p>"Because if you went west, you would soon come to the desert, +and also because in this part of the Winkie Country no one +steals, so your time here would be wasted. But toward the east, +beyond the river, live many strange people whose honesty I would +not vouch for. Moreover, if you journey far enough east and cross +the river for a second time, you will come to the Emerald City, +where there is much magic and sorcery. The Emerald City is ruled +by a dear little girl called Ozma, who also rules the Emperor of +the Winkies and all the Land of Oz. So, as Ozma is a fairy, she +may be able to tell you just who has taken your precious dishpan. +Provided, of course, you do not find it before you reach +her."</p> + +<p>"This seems to be to be excellent advice," said the Frogman, and +Cayke agreed with him.</p> + +<p>"The most sensible thing for you to do," continued the woman, +"would be to return to your home and use another dishpan, learn +to cook cookies as other people cook cookies, without the aid of +magic. But if you cannot be happy without the magic dishpan you +have lost, you are likely to learn more about it in the Emerald +City than at any other place in Oz."</p> + +<p>They thanked the good woman, and on leaving her house faced the +east and continued in that direction all the way. Toward evening +they came to the west branch of the Winkie River and there, on +the riverbank, found a ferryman who lived all alone in a little +yellow house. This ferryman was a Winkie with a very small head +and a very large body. He was sitting in his doorway as the +travelers approached him and did not even turn his head to look +at them.</p> + +<p>"Good evening," said the Frogman.</p> + +<p>The ferryman made no reply.</p> + +<p>"We would like some supper and the privilege of sleeping in +your house until morning," continued the Frogman. "At daybreak, +we would like some breakfast, and then we would like to have you +row us across the river."</p> + +<p>The ferryman neither moved nor spoke. He sat in his doorway and +looked straight ahead. "I think he must be deaf and dumb," Cayke +whispered to her companion. Then she stood directly in front of +the ferryman, and putting her mouth close to his ear, she yelled +as loudly as she could, "Good evening!"</p> + +<p>The ferryman scowled.</p> + +<p>"Why do you yell at me, woman?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Can you hear what I say?" asked in her ordinary tone of +voice.</p> + +<p>"Of course," replied the man.</p> + +<p>"Then why didn't you answer the Frogman?" "Because," said the +ferryman, "I don't understand the frog language."</p> + +<p>"He speaks the same words that I do and in the same way," +declared Cayke.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," replied the ferryman, "but to me his voice sounded +like a frog's croak. I know that in the Land of Oz animals can +speak our language, and so can the birds and bugs and fishes; but +in MY ears, they sound merely like growls and chirps and +croaks."</p> + +<p>"Why is that?" asked the Cookie Cook in surprise.</p> + +<p>"Once, many years ago, I cut the tail off a fox which had +taunted me, and I stole some birds' eggs from a nest to make an +omelet with, and also I pulled a fish from the river and left it +lying on the bank to gasp for lack of water until it died. I +don't know why I did those wicked things, but I did them. So the +Emperor of the Winkies—who is the Tin Woodman and has a very +tender tin heart—punished me by denying me any communication +with beasts, birds or fishes. I cannot understand them when they +speak to me, although I know that other people can do so, nor can +the creatures understand a word I say to them. Every time I meet +one of them, I am reminded of my former cruelty, and it makes me +very unhappy."</p> + +<p>"Really," said Cayke, "I'm sorry for you, although the Tin +Woodman is not to blame for punishing you."</p> + +<p>"What is he mumbling about?" asked the Frogman.</p> + +<p>"He is talking to me, but you don't understand him," she replied. +And then she told him of the ferryman's punishment and afterward +explained to the ferryman that they wanted to stay all night with +him and be fed. He gave them some fruit and bread, which was the +only sort of food he had, and he allowed Cayke to sleep in a room +of his cottage. But the Frogman he refused to admit to his house, +saying that the frog's presence made him miserable and unhappy. +At no time would he directly at the Frogman, or even toward him, +fearing he would shed tears if he did so; so the big frog slept +on the riverbank where he could hear little frogs croaking in the +river all the night through. But that did not keep him awake; it +merely soothed him to slumber, for he realized how much superior +he was to them.</p> + +<p>Just as the sun was rising on a new day, the ferryman rowed +the two travelers across the river—keeping his back to the +Frogman all the way—and then Cayke thanked him and bade him +goodbye and the ferryman rowed home again.</p> + +<p>On this side of the river, there were no paths at all, so it was +evident they had reached a part of the country little frequented +by travelers. There was a marsh at the south of them, sandhills +at the north, and a growth of scrubby underbrush leading toward a +forest at the east. So the east was really the least difficult +way to go, and that direction was the one they had determined to +follow.</p> + +<p>Now the Frogman, although he wore green patent-leather shoes +with ruby buttons, had very large and flat feet, and when he +tramped through the scrub, his weight crushed down the underbrush +and made a path for Cayke to follow him. Therefore they soon +reached the forest, where the tall trees were set far apart but +were so leafy that they shaded all the spaces between them with +their branches. "There are no bushes here," said Cayke, much +pleased, "so we can now travel faster and with more comfort."</p> + + +<hr /> + +<h2 id="ref_16">CHAPTER 15</h2> + +<h3>THE BIG LAVENDER BEAR</h3> + +<p>It was a pleasant place to wander, and the two travelers were +proceeding at a brisk pace when suddenly a voice shouted, "Halt!"</p> + +<p>They looked around in surprise, seeing at first no one at all. +Then from behind a tree there stepped a brown, fuzzy bear whose +head came about as high as Cayke's waist—and Cayke was a small +woman. The bear was chubby as well as fuzzy; his body was even +puffy, while his legs and arms seemed jointed at the knees and +elbows and fastened to his body by pins or rivets. His ears were +round in shape and stuck out in a comical way, while his round, +black eyes were bright and sparkling as beads. Over his shoulder +the little brown bear bore a gun with a tin barrel. The barrel +had a cork in the end of it, and a string was attached to the +cork and to the handle of the gun. Both the Frogman and Cayke +gazed hard at this curious bear, standing silent for some time. +But finally the Frogman recovered from his surprise and remarked, +"It seems to me that you are stuffed with sawdust and ought not +to be alive."</p> + +<p>"That's all you know about it," answered the little Brown Bear in +a squeaky voice. "I am stuffed with a very good quality of curled +hair, and my skin is the best plush that was ever made. As for my +being alive, that is my own affair and cannot concern you at all, +except that it gives me the privilege to say you are my +prisoners."</p> + +<p>"Prisoners! Why do you speak such nonsense?" the Frogman +angrily. "Do you think we are afraid of a toy bear with a toy +gun?"</p> + +<p>"You ought to be," was the confident reply, "for I am merely the +sentry guarding the way to Bear Center, which is a city +containing hundreds of my race, who are ruled by a very powerful +sorcerer known as the Lavender Bear. He ought to be a purple +color, you know, seeing he is a King, but he's only light +lavender, which is, of course, second cousin to royal purple. So +unless you come with me peaceably as my prisoners, I shall fire +my gun and bring a hundred bears of all sizes and colors to +capture you."</p> + +<p>"Why do you wish to capture us?" inquired the Frogman, who had +listened to his speech with much astonishment.</p> + +<p>"I don't wish to, as a matter of fact," replied the little Brown +Bear, "but it is my duty to, because you are now trespassing on +the domain of His Majesty, the King of Bear Center. Also, I will +admit that things are rather quiet in our city just now, and the +excitement of your capture, followed by your trial and execution, +should afford us much entertainment."</p> + +<p>"We defy you!" said the Frogman.</p> + +<p>"Oh no, don't do that," pleaded Cayke, speaking to her companion. +"He says his King is a sorcerer, so perhaps it is he or one of +his bears who ventured to steal my jeweled dishpan. Let us go to +the City of the Bears and discover if my dishpan is there."</p> + +<p>"I must now register one more charge against you," remarked +the little Brown Bear with evident satisfaction. "You have just +accused us of stealing, and that is such a dreadful thing to say +that I am quite sure our noble King will command you to be +executed."</p> + +<p>"But how could you execute us?" inquired the Cookie Cook. </p> + +<p>"I've no idea. But our King is a wonderful inventor, and there +is no doubt he can find a proper way to destroy you. So tell me, +are you going to struggle, or will you go peaceably to meet your +doom?"</p> + +<p>It was all so ridiculous that Cayke laughed aloud, and even the +Frogman's wide mouth curled in a smile. Neither was a bit afraid +to go to the Bear City, and it seemed to both that there was a +possibility they might discover the missing dishpan. So the +Frogman said, "Lead the way, little Bear, and we will follow +without a struggle."</p> + +<p>"That's very sensible of you, very sensible indeed," declared +the Brown Bear. "So for-ward, MARCH!" And with the command he +turned around and began to waddle along a path that led between +the trees.</p> + +<p>Cayke and the Frogman, as they followed their conductor, could +scarce forbear laughing at his stiff, awkward manner of walking, +and although he moved his stuffy legs fast, his steps were so +short that they had to go slowly in order not to run into him. +But after a time they reached a large, circular space in the +center of the forest, which was clear of any stumps or +underbrush. The ground was covered by a soft, gray moss, pleasant +to tread upon. All the trees surrounding this space seemed to be +hollow and had round holes in their trunks, set a little way +above the ground, but otherwise there was nothing unusual about +the place and nothing, in the opinion of the prisoners, to +indicate a settlement. But the little Brown Bear said in a proud +and impressive voice (although it still squeaked), "This is the +wonderful city known to fame as Bear Center!"</p> + +<p>"But there are no houses, there are no bears living here at +all!" exclaimed Cayke.</p> + +<p>"Oh indeed!" retorted their captor, and raising his gun he pulled +the trigger. The cork flew out of the tin barrel with a loud +"pop!" and at once from every hole in every tree within view of +the clearing appeared the head of a bear. They were of many +colors and of many sizes, but all were made in the same manner as +the bear who had met and captured them.</p> + +<p>At first a chorus of growls arose, and then a sharp voice +cried, "What has happened, Corporal Waddle?"</p> + +<p>"Captives, Your Majesty!" answered the Brown Bear. "Intruders +upon our domain and slanderers of our good name."</p> + +<p>"Ah, that's important," answered the voice.</p> + +<p>Then from out the hollow trees tumbled a whole regiment of +stuffed bears, some carrying tin swords, some popguns and others +long spears with gay ribbons tied to the handles. There were +hundreds of them, altogether, and they quietly formed a circle +around the Frogman and the Cookie Cook, but kept at a distance +and left a large space for the prisoners to stand in. Presently, +this circle parted, and into the center of it stalked a huge toy +bear of a lovely lavender color. He walked upon his hind legs, as +did all the others, and on his head he wore a tin crown set with +diamonds and amethysts, while in one paw he carried a short wand +of some glittering metal that resembled silver but wasn't.</p> + +<p>"His Majesty the King!" Corporal Waddle, and all the bears +bowed low. Some bowed so low that they lost their balance and +toppled over, but they soon scrambled up again, and the Lavender +King squatted on his haunches before the prisoners and gazed at +them steadily with his bright, pink eyes.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2 id="ref_17">CHAPTER 16</h2> + +<h3>THE LITTLE PINK BEAR</h3> + +<p>"One Person and one Freak," said the big Lavender Bear when he +had carefully examined the strangers.</p> + +<p>"I am sorry to hear you call poor Cayke the Cookie Cook a +Freak," remonstrated the Frogman.</p> + +<p>"She is the Person," asserted the King. "Unless I am mistaken, it +is you who are the Freak."</p> + +<p>The Frogman was silent, for he could not truthfully deny +it.</p> + +<p>"Why have you dared intrude in my forest?" demanded demanded the +Bear King.</p> + +<p>"We didn't know it was your forest," said Cayke, "and we are +on our way to the far east, where the Emerald City is."</p> + +<p>"Ah, it's a long way from here to the Emerald City," remarked the +King. "It is so far away, indeed, that no bear among us has even +been there. But what errand requires you to travel such a +distance?"</p> + +<p>"Someone has stolen my diamond-studded gold dishpan," +explained Cayke, "and as I cannot be happy without it, I have +decided to search the world over until I find it again. The +Frogman, who is very learned and wonderfully wise, has come with +me to give me his assistance. Isn't it kind of him?"</p> + +<p>The King looked at the Frogman.</p> + +<p>"What makes you so wonderfully wise?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"I'm not," was the candid reply."The Cookie Cook and some others +in the Yip Country think because I am a big frog and talk and act +like a man that I must be very wise. I have learned more than a +frog usually knows, it is true, but I am not yet so wise as I +hope to become at some future time."</p> + +<p>The King nodded, and when he did so, something squeaked in his +chest. "Did Your Majesty speak?" asked Cayke.</p> + +<p>"Not just then," answered the Lavender Bear, seeming to be +somewhat embarrassed. "I am so built, you must know, that when +anything pushes against my chest, as my chin accidentally did +just then, I make that silly noise. In this city it isn't +considered good manners to notice. But I like your Frogman.</p> + +<p>He is honest and truthful, which is more than can be said of +many others. As for your late lamented dishpan, I'll show it to +you." With this he waved three times the metal wand which he held +in his paw, and instantly there appeared upon the ground midway +between the King and Cayke a big, round pan made of beaten gold. +Around the top edge was a row of small diamonds; around the +center of the pan was another row of larger diamonds; and at the +bottom was a row of exceedingly large and brilliant diamonds. In +fact, they all sparkled magnificently, and the pan was so big and +broad that it took a lot of diamonds to go around it three +times.</p> + +<p>Cayke stared so hard that her eyes seemed about to pop out of her +head. "O-o-o-h!" she exclaimed, drawing a deep breath of delight.</p> + +<p>"Is this your dishpan?" inquired the King.</p> + +<p>"It is, it is!" cried the Cookie Cook, and rushing forward, she +fell on her knees and threw her arms around the precious pan. But +her arms came together without meeting any resistance at all. +Cayke tried to seize the edge, but found nothing to grasp. The +pan was surely there, she thought, for she could see it plainly; +but it was not solid; she could not feel it at all. With a moan +of astonishment and despair, she raised her head to look at the +Bear King, who was watching her actions curiously. Then she +turned to the pan again, only to find it had completely +disappeared.</p> + +<p>"Poor creature!" murmured the King pityingly. "You must have +thought, for the moment, that you had actually recovered your +dishpan. But what you saw was merely the image of it, conjured up +by means of my magic. It is a pretty dishpan, indeed, though +rather big and awkward to handle. I hope you will some day find +it."</p> + +<p>Cayke was grievously disappointed. She began to cry, wiping her +eyes on her apron. The King turned to the throng of toy bears +surrounding him and asked, "Has any of you ever seen this golden +dishpan before?"</p> + +<p>"No," they answered in a chorus.</p> + +<p>The King seemed to reflect. Presently he inquired, "Where is the +Little Pink Bear?"</p> + +<p>"At home, Your Majesty," was the reply.</p> + +<p>"Fetch him here," commanded the King.</p> + +<p>Several of the bears waddled over to one of the trees and +pulled from its hollow a tiny pink bear, smaller than any of the +others. A big, white bear carried the pink one in his arms and +set it down beside the King, arranging the joints of its legs so +that it would stand upright.</p> + +<p>This Pink Bear seemed lifeless until the King turned a crank +which protruded from its side, when the little creature turned +its head stiffly from side to side and said in a small, shrill +voice, "Hurrah for the King of Bear Center!"</p> + +<p>"Very good," said the big Lavender Bear. "He seems to be +working very well today. Tell me, my Pink Pinkerton, what has +become of this lady's jeweled dishpan?"</p> + +<p>"U-u-u," said the Pink Bear, and then stopped short.</p> + +<p>The King turned the crank again.</p> + +<p>"U-g-u the Shoemaker has it," said the Pink Bear.</p> + +<p>"Who is Ugu the Shoemaker?" demanded the King, again turning +the crank.</p> + +<p>"A magician who lives on a mountain in a wickerwork castle," was +the reply.</p> + +<p>"Where is the mountain?" was the next question.</p> + +<p>"Nineteen miles and three furlongs from Bear Center to the +northeast."</p> + +<p>"And is the dishpan still at the castle of Ugu the Shoemaker?" +asked the King.</p> + +<p>"It is."</p> + +<p>The King turned to Cayke.</p> + +<p>"You may rely on this information," said he. "The Pink Bear can +tell us anything we wish to know, and his words are always words +of truth."</p> + +<p>"Is he alive?" asked the Frogman, much interested in the Pink +Bear.</p> + +<p>"Something animates him when you turn his crank," replied the +King. "I do not know if it is life or what it is or how it +happens that the Little Pink Bear can answer correctly every +question put to him. We discovered his talent a long time ago, +and whenever we wish to know anything—which is not very +often—we ask the Pink Bear. There is no doubt whatever, madam, +that Ugu the Magician has your dishpan, and if you dare to go to +him, you may be able to recover it. But of that I am not +certain."</p> + +<p>"Can't the Pink Bear tell?" asked Cayke anxiously.</p> + +<p>"No, for that is in the future. He can tell anything that HAS +happened, but nothing that is going to happen. Don't ask me why, +for I don't know."</p> + +<p>"Well," said the Cookie Cook after a little thought, "I mean +to go to this magician, anyhow, and tell him I want my dishpan. I +wish I knew what Ugu the Shoemaker is like."</p> + +<p>"Then I'll show him to you," promised the King. "But do not be +frightened. It won't be Ugu, remember, but only his image." With +this, he waved his metal wand, and in the circle suddenly +appeared a thin little man, very old and skinny, who was seated +on a wicker stool before a wicker table. On the table lay a Great +Book with gold clasps. The Book was open, and the man was reading +in it. He wore great spectacles which were fastened before his +eyes by means of a ribbon that passed around his head and was +tied in a bow at the neck. His hair was very thin and white; his +skin, which clung fast to his bones, was brown and seared with +furrows; he had a big, fat nose and little eyes set close +together.</p> + +<p>On no account was Ugu the Shoemaker a pleasant person to gaze +at. As his image appeared before the, all were silent and intent +until Corporal Waddle, the Brown Bear, became nervous and pulled +the trigger of his gun. Instantly, the cork flew out of the tin +barrel with a loud "pop!" that made them all jump. And at this +sound, the image of the magician vanished. "So THAT'S the thief, +is it?" said Cayke in an angry voice. "I should think he'd be +ashamed of himself for stealing a poor woman's diamond dishpan! +But I mean to face him in his wicker castle and force him to +return my property."</p> + +<p>"To me," said the Bear King reflectively, "he looked like a +dangerous person. I hope he won't be so unkind as to argue the +matter with you."</p> + +<p>The Frogman was much disturbed by the vision of Ugu the +Shoemaker, and Cayke's determination to go to the magician filled +her companion with misgivings. But he would not break his pledged +word to assist the Cookie Cook, and after breathing a deep sigh +of resignation, he asked the King, "Will Your Majesty lend us +this Pink Bear who answers questions that we may take him with us +on our journey? He would be very useful to us, and we will +promise to bring him safely back to you."</p> + +<p>The King did not reply at once. He seemed to be thinking.</p> + +<p>"PLEASE let us take the Pink Bear," begged Cayke. "I'm sure he +would be a great help to us."</p> + +<p>"The Pink Bear," said the King, "is the best bit of magic I +possess, and there is not another like him in the world. I do not +care to let him out of my sight, nor do I wish to disappoint you; +so I believe I will make the journey in your company and carry my +Pink Bear with me. He can walk when you wind the other side of +him, but so slowly and awkwardly that he would delay you. But if +I go along, I can carry him in my arms, so I will join your +party. Whenever you are ready to start, let me know."</p> + +<p>"But Your Majesty!" exclaimed Corporal Waddle in protest, "I +hope you do not intend to let these prisoners escape without +punishment."</p> + +<p>"Of what crime do you accuse them?" inquired the King.</p> + +<p>"Why, they trespassed on your domain, for one thing," said the +Brown Bear.</p> + +<p>"We didn't know it was private property, Your Majesty," said the +Cookie Cook. "And they asked if any of us had stolen the +dishpan!" continued Corporal Waddle indignantly. "That is the +same thing as calling us thieves and robbers and bandits and +brigands, is it not?"</p> + +<p>"Every person has the right to ask questions," said the +Frogman.</p> + +<p>"But the Corporal is quite correct," declared the Lavender Bear. +"I condemn you both to death, the execution to take place ten +years from this hour."</p> + +<p>"But we belong in the Land of Oz, where no one ever dies," +Cayke reminded him.</p> + +<p>"Very true," said the King. "I condemn you to death merely as a +matter of form. It sounds quite terrible, and in ten years we +shall have forgotten all about it. Are you ready to start for the +wicker castle of Ugu the Shoemaker?"</p> + +<p>"Quite ready, Your Majesty."</p> + +<p>"But who will rule in your place while you are gone?" asked a big +Yellow Bear.</p> + +<p>"I myself will rule while I am gone," was the reply.</p> + +<p>"A King isn't required to stay at home forever, and if he takes a +notion to travel, whose business is it but his own? All I ask is +that you bears behave yourselves while I am away. If any of you +is naughty, I'll send him to some girl or boy in America to play +with."</p> + +<p>This dreadful threat made all the toy bears look solemn. They +assured the King in a chorus of growls that they would be good. +Then the big Lavender Bear picked up the little Pink Bear, and +after tucking it carefully under one arm, he said, "Goodbye till +I come back!" and waddled along the path that led through the +forest. The Frogman and Cayke the Cookie Cook also said goodbye +to the bears and then followed after the King, much to the regret +of the little Brown Bear, who pulled the trigger of his gun and +popped the cork as a parting salute.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2 id="ref_18">CHAPTER 17</h2> + +<h3>THE MEETING</h3> + +<p>While the Frogman and his party were advancing from the west, +Dorothy and her party were advancing from the east, and so it +happened that on the following night they all camped at a little +hill that was only a few miles from the wicker castle of Ugu the +Shoemaker. But the two parties did not see one another that +night, for one camped on one side of the hill while the other +camped on the opposite side. But the next morning, the Frogman +thought he would climb the hill and see what was on top of it, +and at the same time Scraps, the Patchwork Girl, also decided to +climb the hill to find if the wicker castle was visible from its +top. So she stuck her head over an edge just as the Frogman's +head appeared over another edge, and both, being surprised, kept +still while they took a good look at one another.</p> + +<p>Scraps recovered from her astonishment first, and bounding +upward, she turned a somersault and landed sitting down and +facing the big Frogman, who slowly advanced and sat opposite her. +"Well met, Stranger!" cried the Patchwork Girl with a whoop of +laughter. "You are quite the funniest individual I have seen in +all my travels."</p> + +<p>"Do you suppose I can be any funnier than you?" asked the +Frogman, gazing at her in wonder.</p> + +<p>"I'm not funny to myself, you know," returned Scraps. "I wish +I were. And perhaps you are so used to your own absurd shape that +you do not laugh whenever you see your reflection in a pool or in +a mirror."</p> + +<p>"No," said the Frogman gravely, "I do not. I used to be proud of +my great size and vain of my culture and education, but since I +bathed in the Truth Pond, I sometimes think it is not right that +I should be different from all other frogs."</p> + +<p>"Right or wrong," said the Patchwork Girl, "to be different is +to be distinguished. Now in my case, I'm just like all other +Patchwork Girls because I'm the only one there is. But tell me, +where did you come from?"</p> + +<p>"The Yip Country," said he.</p> + +<p>"Is that in the Land of Oz?"</p> + +<p>"Of course," replied the Frogman.</p> + +<p>"And do you know that your Ruler, Ozma of Oz, has been +stolen?"</p> + +<p>"I was not aware that I had a Ruler, so of course I couldn't know +that she was stolen."</p> + +<p>"Well, you have. All the people of Oz," explained Scraps, "are +ruled by Ozma, whether they know it or not. And she has been +stolen. Aren't you angry? Aren't you indignant? Your Ruler, whom +you didn't know you had, has positively been stolen!"</p> + +<p>"That is queer," remarked the Frogman thoughtfully. "Stealing is +a thing practically unknown in Oz, yet this Ozma has been taken, +and a friend of mine has also had her dishpan stolen. With her I +have traveled all the way from the Yip Country in order to +recover it."</p> + +<p>"I don't see any connection between a Royal Ruler of Oz and a +dishpan!" declared Scraps.</p> + +<p>"They've both been stolen, haven't they?"</p> + +<p>"True. But why can't your friend wash her dishes in another +dishpan?" asked Scraps.</p> + +<p>"Why can't you use another Royal Ruler? I suppose you prefer the +one who is lost, and my friend wants her own dishpan, which is +made of gold and studded with diamonds and has magic powers."</p> + +<p>"Magic, eh?" exclaimed Scraps. "THERE is a link that connects +the two steals, anyhow, for it seems that all the magic in the +Land of Oz was stolen at the same time, whether it was in the +Emerald City of in Glinda's castle or in the Yip Country. Seems +mighty strange and mysterious, doesn't it?"</p> + +<p>"It used to seem that way to me," admitted the Frogman, "but we +have now discovered who took our dishpan. It was Ugu the +Shoemaker."</p> + +<p>"Ugu? Good gracious! That's the same magician we think has +stolen Ozma. We are now on our way to the castle of this +Shoemaker."</p> + +<p>"So are we," said the Frogman.</p> + +<p>"Then follow me, quick! And let me introduce you to Dorothy +and the other girls and to the Wizard of Oz and all the rest of +us."</p> + +<p>She sprang up and seized his coatsleeve, dragging him off the +hilltop and down the other side from that whence he had come. And +at the foot of the hill, the Frogman was astonished to find the +three girls and the Wizard and Button-Bright, who were surrounded +by a wooden Sawhorse, a lean Mule, a square Woozy, and a Cowardly +Lion. A little black dog ran up and smelled at the Frogman, but +couldn't growl at him.</p> + +<p>"I've discovered another party that has been robbed," shouted +Scraps as she joined them. "This is their leader, and they're all +going to Ugu's castle to fight the wicked Shoemaker!"</p> + +<p>They regarded the Frogman with much curiosity and interest, and +finding all eyes fixed upon him, the newcomer arranged his +necktie and smoothed his beautiful vest and swung his gold-headed +cane like a regular dandy. The big spectacles over his eyes quite +altered his froglike countenance and gave him a learned and +impressive look. Used as she was to seeing strange creatures in +the Land of Oz, Dorothy was amazed at discovering the Frogman. So +were all her companions. Toto wanted to growl at him, but +couldn't, and he didn't dare bark. The Sawhorse snorted rather +contemptuously, but the Lion whispered to the wooden steed, "Bear +with this strange creature, my friend, and remember he is no more +extraordinary than you are. Indeed, it is more natural for a frog +to be big than for a Sawhorse to be alive."</p> + +<p>On being questioned, the Frogman told them the whole story of +the loss of Cayke's highly prized dishpan and their adventures in +search of it. When he came to tell of the Lavender Bear King and +of the Little Pink Bear who could tell anything you wanted to +know, his hearers became eager to see such interesting animals. +"It will be best," said the Wizard, "to unite our two parties and +share our fortunes together, for we are all bound on the same +errand, and as one band we may more easily defy this shoemaker +magician than if separate. Let us be allies."</p> + +<p>"I will ask my friends about that," replied the Frogman, and he +climbed over the hill to find Cayke and the toy bears. The +Patchwork Girl accompanied him, and when they came upon the +Cookie Cook and the Lavender Bear and the Pink Bear, it was hard +to tell which of the lot was the most surprised.</p> + +<p>"Mercy me!" cried Cayke, addressing the Patchwork Girl. +"However did you come alive?"</p> + +<p>Scraps stared at the bears.</p> + +<p>"Mercy me!" she echoed, "You are stuffed, as I am, with +cotton, and you appear to be living. That makes me feel ashamed, +for I have prided myself on being the only live cotton-stuffed +person in Oz."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you are," returned the Lavender Bear, "for I am stuffed +with extra-quality curled hair, and so is the Little Pink Bear."</p> + +<p>"You have relieved my mind of a great anxiety," declared the +Patchwork Girl, now speaking more cheerfully. "The Scarecrow is +stuffed with straw and you with hair, so I am still the Original +and Only Cotton-Stuffed!"</p> + +<p>"I hope I am too polite to criticize cotton as compared with +curled hair," said the King, "especially as you seem satisfied +with it."</p> + +<p>Then the Frogman told of his interview with the party from the +Emerald City and added that the Wizard of Oz had invited the +bears and Cayke and himself to travel in company with them to the +castle of Ugu the Shoemaker. Cayke was much pleased, but the Bear +King looked solemn. He set the Little Pink Bear on his lap and +turned the crank in its side and asked, "Is it safe for us to +associate with those people from the Emerald City?"</p> + +<p>And the Pink Bear at once replied, "Safe for you and safe for me; +Perhaps no others safe will be."</p> + +<p>"That 'perhaps' need not worry us," said the King, "so let us +join the others and offer them our protection."</p> + +<p>Even the Lavender Bear was astonished, however, when on climbing +over the hill he found on the other side the group of queer +animals and the people from the Emerald City. The bears and Cayke +were received very cordially, although Button-Bright was cross +when they wouldn't let him play with the Little Pink Bear. The +three girls greatly admired the toy bears, and especially the +pink one, which they longed to hold.</p> + +<p>"You see," explained the Lavender King in denying them this +privilege, "he's a very valuable bear, because his magic is a +correct guide on all occasions, and especially if one is in +difficulties. It was the Pink Bear who told us that Ugu the +Shoemaker had stolen the Cookie Cook's dishpan."</p> + +<p>"And the King's magic is just as wonderful," added Cayke, +"because it showed us the Magician himself."</p> + +<p>"What did he look like?" inquired Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"He was dreadful!"</p> + +<p>"He was sitting at a table and examining an immense Book which +had three golden clasps," remarked the King.</p> + +<p>"Why, that must have been Glinda's Great Book of Records!" +exclaimed Dorothy. "If it is, it proves that Ugu the Shoemaker +stole Ozma, and with her all the magic in the Emerald City."</p> + +<p>"And my dishpan," said Cayke.</p> + +<p>And the Wizard added, "It also proves that he is following our +adventures in the Book of Records, and therefore knows that we +are seeking him and that we are determined to find him and reach +Ozma at all hazards."</p> + +<p>"If we can," added the Woozy, but everybody frowned at +him.</p> + +<p>The Wizard's statement was so true that the faces around him were +very serious until the Patchwork Girl broke into a peal of +laughter. "Wouldn't it be a rich joke if he made prisoners of us, +too?" she said.</p> + +<p>"No one but a crazy Patchwork Girl would consider that a +joke," grumbled Button-Bright.</p> + +<p>And then the Lavender Bear King asked, "Would you like to see +this magical shoemaker?"</p> + +<p>"Wouldn't he know it?" Dorothy inquired.</p> + +<p>"No, I think not."</p> + +<p>Then the King waved his metal wand and before them appeared a +room in the wicker castle of Ugu. On the wall of the room hung +Ozma's Magic Picture, and seated before it was the Magician. They +could see the Picture as well as he could, because it faced them, +and in the Picture was the hillside where they were not sitting, +all their forms being reproduced in miniature. And curiously +enough, within the scene of the Picture was the scene they were +now beholding, so they knew that the Magician was at this moment +watching them in the Picture, and also that he saw himself and +the room he was in become visible to the people on the hillside. +Therefore he knew very well that they were watching him while he +was watching them.</p> + +<p>In proof of this, Ugu sprang from his seat and turned a scowling +face in their direction; but now he could not see the travelers +who were seeking him, although they could still see him. His +actions were so distinct, indeed, that it seemed he was actually +before them. "It is only a ghost," said the Bear King. "It isn't +real at all except that it shows us Ugu just as he looks and +tells us truly just what he is doing."</p> + +<p>"I don't see anything of my lost growl, though," said Toto as +if to himself.</p> + +<p>Then the vision faded away, and they could see nothing but the +grass and trees and bushes around them.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2 id="ref_19">CHAPTER 18</h2> + +<h3>THE CONFERENCE</h3> + +<p>"Now then," said the Wizard, "let us talk this matter over and +decide what to do when we get to Ugu's wicker castle. There can +be no doubt that the Shoemaker is a powerful Magician, and his +powers have been increased a hundredfold since he secured the +Great Book of Records, the Magic Picture, all of Glinda's recipes +for sorcery, and my own black bag, which was full of tools of +wizardry. The man who could rob us of those things and the man +with all their powers at his command is one who may prove +somewhat difficult to conquer, therefore we should plan our +actions well before we venture too near to his castle."</p> + +<p>"I didn't see Ozma in the Magic Picture," said Trot. "What do you +suppose Ugu has done with her?"</p> + +<p>"Couldn't the Little Pink Bear tell us what he did with Ozma?" +asked Button-Bright.</p> + +<p>"To be sure," replied the Lavender King. "I'll ask him." So he +turned the crank in the Little Pink Bear's side and inquired, +"Did Ugu the Shoemaker steal Ozma of Oz?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered the Little Pink Bear.</p> + +<p>"Then what did he do with her?" asked the King.</p> + +<p>"Shut her up in a dark place," answered the Little Pink +Bear.</p> + +<p>"Oh, that must be a dungeon cell!" cried Dorothy, horrified. "How +dreadful!"</p> + +<p>"Well, we must get her out of it," said the Wizard. "That is +what we came for, and of course we must rescue Ozma. But +how?"</p> + +<p>Each one looked at some other one for an answer, and all shook +their heads in a grave and dismal manner. All but Scraps, who +danced around them gleefully. "You're afraid," said the Patchwork +Girl, "because so many things can hurt your meat bodies. Why +don't you give it up and go home? How can you fight a great +magician when you have nothing to fight with?"</p> + +<p>Dorothy looked at her reflectively.</p> + +<p>"Scraps," said she, "you know that Ugu couldn't hurt you a bit, +whatever he did, nor could he hurt ME, 'cause I wear the Gnome +King's Magic Belt. S'pose just we two go on together and leave +the others here to wait for us."</p> + +<p>"No, no!" said the Wizard positively. "That won't do at all. +Ozma is more powerful than either of you, yet she could not +defeat the wicked Ugu, who has shut her up in a dungeon. We must +go to the Shoemaker in one mighty band, for only in union is +there strength."</p> + +<p>"That is excellent advice," said the Lavender Bear approvingly.</p> + +<p>"But what can we do when we get to Ugu?" inquired the Cookie +Cook anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Do not expect a prompt answer to that important question," +replied the Wizard, "for we must first plan our line of conduct. +Ugu knows, of course, that we are after him, for he has seen our +approach in the Magic Picture, and he has read of all we have +done up to the present moment in the Great Book of Records. +Therefore we cannot expect to take him by surprise."</p> + +<p>"Don't you suppose Ugu would listen to reason?" asked Betsy. +"If we explained to him how wicked he has been, don't you think +he'd let poor Ozma go?"</p> + +<p>"And give me back my dishpan?" added the Cookie Cook eagerly.</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, won't he say he's sorry and get on his knees and +beg our pardon?" cried Scraps, turning a flip-flop to show her +scorn of the suggestion. "When Ugu the Shoemaker does that, +please knock at the front door and let me know."</p> + +<p>The Wizard sighed and rubbed his bald head with a puzzled air. +"I'm quite sure Ugu will not be polite to us," said he, "so we +must conquer this cruel magician by force, much as we dislike to +be rude to anyone. But none of you has yet suggested a way to do +that. Couldn't the Little Pink Bear tell us how?" he asked, +turning to the Bear King.</p> + +<p>"No, for that is something that is GOING to happen," replied +the Lavender Bear. "He can only tell us what already HAS +happened."</p> + +<p>Again, they were grave and thoughtful. But after a time, Betsy +said in a hesitating voice, "Hank is a great fighter. Perhaps HE +could conquer the magician."</p> + +<p>The Mule turned his head to look reproachfully at his old +friend, the young girl. "Who can fight against magic?" he +asked.</p> + +<p>"The Cowardly Lion could," said Dorothy.</p> + +<p>The Lion, who was lying with his front legs spread out, his +chin on his paws, raised his shaggy head. "I can fight when I'm +not afraid," said he calmly, "but the mere mention of a fight +sets me to trembling."</p> + +<p>"Ugu's magic couldn't hurt the Sawhorse," suggested tiny Trot.</p> + +<p>"And the Sawhorse couldn't hurt the Magician," declared that +wooden animal.</p> + +<p>"For my part," said Toto, "I am helpless, having lost my growl."</p> + +<p>"Then," said Cayke the Cookie Cook, "we must depend upon the +Frogman. His marvelous wisdom will surely inform him how to +conquer the wicked Magician and restore to me my dishpan."</p> + +<p>All eyes were now turned questioningly upon the Frogman. Finding +himself the center of observation, he swung his gold-headed cane, +adjusted his big spectacles, and after swelling out his chest, +sighed and said in a modest tone of voice, "Respect for truth +obliges me to confess that Cayke is mistaken in regard to my +superior wisdom. I am not very wise. Neither have I had any +practical experience in conquering magicians. But let us consider +this case. What is Ugu, and what is a magician? Ugu is a renegade +shoemaker, and a magician is an ordinary man who, having learned +how to do magical tricks, considers himself above his fellows. In +this case, the Shoemaker has been naughty enough to steal a lot +of magical tools and things that did not belong to him, and he is +more wicked to steal than to be a magician. Yet with all the arts +at his command, Ugu is still a man, and surely there are ways in +which a man may be conquered. How, do you say, how? Allow me to +state that I don't know. In my judgment, we cannot decide how +best to act until we get to Ugu's castle. So let us go to it and +take a look at it. After that, we may discover an idea that will +guide us to victory."</p> + +<p>"That may not be a wise speech, but it sounds good," said +Dorothy approvingly. "Ugu the Shoemaker is not only a common man, +but he's a wicked man and a cruel man and deserves to be +conquered. We musn't have any mercy on him till Ozma is set free. +So let's go to his castle as the Frogman says and see what the +place looks like."</p> + +<p>No one offered any objection to this plan, and so it was adopted. +They broke camp and were about to start on the journey to Ugu's +castle when they discovered that Button-Bright was lost again. +The girls and the Wizard shouted his name, and the Lion roared +and the Donkey brayed and the Frogman croaked and the Big +Lavender Bear growled (to the envy of Toto, who couldn't growl +but barked his loudest), yet none of them could make +Button-Bright hear. So after vainly searching for the boy a full +hour, they formed a procession and proceeded in the direction of +the wicker castle of Ugu the Shoemaker.</p> + +<p>"Button-Bright's always getting lost," said Dorothy. "And if +he wasn't always getting found again, I'd prob'ly worry. He may +have gone ahead of us, and he may have gone back, but wherever he +is, we'll find him sometime and somewhere, I'm almost sure."</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2 id="ref_20">CHAPTER 19</h2> + +<h3>UGU THE SHOEMAKER </h3> + +<p>A curious thing about Ugu the Shoemaker was that he didn't +suspect in the least that he was wicked. He wanted to be powerful +and great, and he hoped to make himself master of all the Land of +Oz that he might compel everyone in that fairy country to obey +him, His ambition blinded him to the rights of others, and he +imagined anyone else would act just as he did if anyone else +happened to be as clever as himself.</p> + +<p>When he inhabited his little shoemaking shop in the City of +Herku, he had been discontented, for a shoemaker is not looked +upon with high respect, and Ugu knew that his ancestors had been +famous magicians for many centuries past and therefore his family +was above the ordinary. Even his father practiced magic when Ugu +was a boy, but his father had wandered away from Herku and had +never come back again. So when Ugu grew up, he was forced to make +shoes for a living, knowing nothing of the magic of his +forefathers. But one day, in searching through the attic of his +house, he discovered all the books of magical recipes and many +magical instruments which had formerly been in use in his family. +From that day, he stopped making shoes and began to study magic. +Finally, he aspired to become the greatest magician in Oz, and +for days and weeks and months he thought on a plan to render all +the other sorcerers and wizards, as well as those with fairy +powers, helpless to oppose him.</p> + +<p>From the books of his ancestors, he learned the following facts:</p> + +<p>(1) That Ozma of Oz was the fairy ruler of the Emerald City +and the Land of Oz and that she could not be destroyed by any +magic ever devised. Also, by means of her Magic Picture she would +be able to discover anyone who approached her royal palace with +the idea of conquering it.</p> + +<p>(2) That Glinda the Good was the most powerful Sorceress in Oz, +among her other magical possessions being the Great Book of +Records, which told her all that happened anywhere in the world. +This Book of Records was very dangerous to Ugu's plans, and +Glinda was in the service of Ozma and would use her arts of +sorcery to protect the girl Ruler.</p> + +<p>(3) That the Wizard of Oz, who lived in Ozma's palace, had +been taught much powerful magic by Glinda and had a bag of magic +tools with which he might be able to conquer the Shoemaker.</p> + +<p>(4) That there existed in Oz—in the Yip Country—a jeweled +dishpan made of gold, which dishpan would grow large enough for a +man to sit inside it. Then, when he grasped both the golden +handles, the dishpan would transport him in an instant to any +place he wished to go within the borders of the Land of Oz.</p> + +<p>No one now living except Ugu knew of the powers of the Magic +Dishpan, so after long study, the shoemaker decided that if he +could manage to secure the dishpan, he could by its means rob +Ozma and Glinda and the Wizard of Oz of all their magic, thus +becoming himself the most powerful person in all the land. His +first act was to go away from the City of Herku and build for +himself the Wicker Castle in the hills. Here he carried his books +and instruments of magic, and here for a full year he diligently +practiced all the magical arts learned from his ancestors. At the +end of that time, he could do a good many wonderful things.</p> + +<p>Then, when all his preparations were made, he set out for the Yip +Country, and climbing the steep mountain at night he entered the +house of Cayke the Cookie Cook and stole her diamond-studded gold +dishpan while all the Yips were asleep, Taking his prize outside, +he set the pan upon the ground and uttered the required magic +word. Instantly, the dishpan grew as large as a big washtub, and +Ugu seated himself in it and grasped the two handles. Then he +wished himself in the great drawing room of Glinda the Good.</p> + +<p>He was there in a flash. First he took the Great Book of +Records and put it in the dishpan. Then he went to Glinda's +laboratory and took all her rare chemical compounds and her +instruments of sorcery, placing these also in the dishpan, which +he caused to grow large enough to hold them. Next he seated +himself amongst the treasures he had stolen and wished himself in +the room in Ozma's palace which the Wizard occupied and where he +kept his bag of magic tools. This bag Ugu added to his plunder +and then wished himself in the apartments of Ozma.</p> + +<p>Here he first took the Magic Picture from the wall and then +seized all the other magical things which Ozma possessed. Having +placed these in the dishpan, he was about to climb in himself +when he looked up and saw Ozma standing beside him. Her fairy +instinct had warned her that danger was threatening her, so the +beautiful girl Ruler rose from her couch and leaving her +bedchamber at once confronted the thief.</p> + +<p>Ugu had to think quickly, for he realized that if he permitted +Ozma to rouse the inmates of her palace, all his plans and his +present successes were likely to come to naught. So he threw a +scarf over the girl's head so she could not scream, and pushed +her into the dishpan and tied her fast so she could not move. +Then he climbed in beside her and wished himself in his own +wicker castle. The Magic Dishpan was there in an instant, with +all its contents, and Ugu rubbed his hands together in triumphant +joy as he realized that he now possessed all the important magic +in the Land of Oz and could force all the inhabitants of that +fairyland to do as he willed.</p> + +<p>So quickly had his journey been accomplished that before daylight +the robber magician had locked Ozma in a room, making her a +prisoner, and had unpacked and arranged all his stolen goods. The +next day he placed the Book of Records on his table and hung the +Magic Picture on his wall and put away in his cupboards and +drawers all the elixirs and magic compounds he had stolen. The +magical instruments he polished and arranged, and this was +fascinating work and made him very happy.</p> + +<p>By turns the imprisoned Ruler wept and scolded the Shoemaker, +haughtily threatening him with dire punishment for the wicked +deeds he had done. Ugu became somewhat afraid of his fairy +prisoner, in spite of the fact that he believed he had robbed her +of all her powers; so he performed an enchantment that quickly +disposed of her and placed her out of his sight and hearing. +After that, being occupied with other things, he soon forgot +her.</p> + +<p>But now, when he looked into the Magic Picture and read the Great +Book of Records, the Shoemaker learned that his wickedness was +not to go unchallenged. Two important expeditions had set out to +find him and force him to give up his stolen property. One was +the party headed by the Wizard and Dorothy, while the other +consisted of Cayke and the Frogman. Others were also searching, +but not in the right places. These two groups, however, were +headed straight for the wicker castle, and so Ugu began to plan +how best to meet them and to defeat their efforts to conquer him.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2 id="ref_21">CHAPTER 20</h2> + +<h3>MORE SURPRISES</h3> + +<p>All that first day after the union of the two parties, our +friends marched steadily toward the wicker castle of Ugu the +Shoemaker. When night came, they camped in a little grove and +passed a pleasant evening together, although some of them were +worried because Button-Bright was still lost.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," said Toto as the animals lay grouped together for the +night, "this Shoemaker who stole my growl and who stole Ozma has +also stolen Button-Bright."</p> + +<p>"How do you know that the Shoemaker stole your growl?" +demanded the Woozy.</p> + +<p>"He has stolen about everything else of value in Oz, hasn't he?" +replied the dog.</p> + +<p>"He has stolen everything he wants, perhaps," agreed the Lion, +"but what could anyone want with your growl?"</p> + +<p>"Well," said the dog, wagging his tail slowly, "my recollection +is that it was a wonderful growl, soft and low and—and—"</p> + +<p>"And ragged at the edges," said the Sawhorse.</p> + +<p>"So," continued Toto, "if that magician hadn't any growl of his +own, he might have wanted mine and stolen it."</p> + +<p>"And if he has, he will soon wish he hadn't," remarked the +Mule. "Also, if he has stolen Button-Bright, he will be +sorry."</p> + +<p>"Don't you like Button-Bright, then?" asked the Lion in surprise.</p> + +<p>"It isn't a question of liking him," replied the Mule. "It's a +question of watching him and looking after him. Any boy who +causes his friends so much worry isn't worth having around. I +never get lost."</p> + +<p>"If you did," said Toto, "no one would worry a bit. I think +Button-Bright is a very lucky boy because he always gets found."</p> + +<p>"See here," said the Lion, "this chatter is keeping us all +awake, and tomorrow is likely to be a busy day. Go to sleep and +forget your quarrels."</p> + +<p>"Friend Lion," retorted the dog, "if I hadn't lost my growl, you +would hear it now. I have as much right to talk as you have to +sleep."</p> + +<p>The Lion sighed.</p> + +<p>"If only you had lost your voice when you lost your growl," said +he, "you would be a more agreeable companion."</p> + +<p>But they quieted down after that, and soon the entire camp was +wrapped in slumber. Next morning they made an early start, but +had hardly proceeded on their way an hour when, on climbing a +slight elevation, they beheld in the distance a low mountain on +top of which stood Ugu's wicker castle. It was a good-sized +building and rather pretty because the sides, roofs and domes +were all of wicker, closely woven as it is in fine baskets.</p> + +<p>"I wonder if it is strong?"said Dorothy musingly as she eyed the +queer castle.</p> + +<p>"I suppose it is, since a magician built it," answered the +Wizard. "With magic to protect it, even a paper castle might be +as strong as if made of stone. This Ugu must be a man of ideas, +because he does things in a different way from other people."</p> + +<p>"Yes. No one else would steal our dear Ozma," sighed tiny Trot.</p> + +<p>"I wonder if Ozma is there?" said Betsy, indicating the castle +with a nod of her head.</p> + +<p>"Where else could she be?" asked Scraps.</p> + +<p>"Suppose we ask the Pink Bear," suggested Dorothy.</p> + +<p>That seemed a good idea, so they halted the procession, and the +Bear King held the little Pink Bear on his lap and turned the +crank in its side and asked, "Where is Ozma of Oz?"</p> + +<p>And the little Pink Bear answered, "She is in a hole in the +ground a half mile away at your left."</p> + +<p>"Good gracious!" cried Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"Then she is not in Ugu's castle at all."</p> + +<p>"It is lucky we asked that question," said the Wizard, "for if we +can find Ozma and rescue her, there will be no need for us to +fight that wicked and dangerous magician."</p> + +<p>"Indeed!" said Cayke. "Then what about my dishpan?"</p> + +<p>The Wizard looked puzzled at her tone of remonstrance, so she +added, "Didn't you people from the Emerald City promise that we +would all stick together, and that you would help me to get my +dishpan if I would help you to get your Ozma? And didn't I bring +to you the little Pink Bear, which has told you where Ozma is +hidden?"</p> + +<p>"She's right," said Dorothy to the Wizard.</p> + +<p>"We must do as we agreed."</p> + +<p>"Well, first of all, let us go and rescue Ozma," proposed the +Wizard. "Then our beloved Ruler may be able to advise us how to +conquer Ugu the Shoemaker." So they turned to the left and +marched for half a mile until they came to a small but deep hole +in the ground. At once, all rushed to the brim to peer into the +hole, but instead of finding there Princess Ozma of Oz, all that +they saw was Button-Bright, who was lying asleep on the +bottom.</p> + +<p>Their cries soon wakened the boy, who sat up and rubbed his eyes. +When he recognized his friends, he smiled sweetly, saying, "Found +again!"</p> + +<p>"Where is Ozma?" inquired Dorothy anxiously.</p> + +<p>"I don't know," answered Button-Bright from the depths of the +hole. "I got lost yesterday, as you may remember, and in the +night while I was wandering around in the moonlight trying to +find my way back to you, I suddenly fell into this hole."</p> + +<p>"And wasn't Ozma in it then?"</p> + +<p>"There was no one in it but me, and I was sorry it wasn't +entirely empty. The sides are so steep I can't climb out, so +there was nothing to be done but sleep until someone found me. +Thank you for coming. If you'll please let down a rope, I'll +empty this hole in a hurry."</p> + +<p>"How strange!" said Dorothy, greatly disappointed.</p> + +<p>"It's evident the Pink Bear didn't tell the truth."</p> + +<p>"He never makes a mistake," declared the Lavender Bear King in +a tone that showed his feelings were hurt. And then he turned the +crank of the little Pink Bear again and asked, "Is this the hole +that Ozma of Oz is in?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," answered the Pink Bear.</p> + +<p>"That settles it," said the King positively. "Your Ozma is in +this hole in the ground."</p> + +<p>"Don't be silly," returned Dorothy impatiently. "Even your beady +eyes can see there is no one in the hole but Button-Bright."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps Button-Bright is Ozma," suggested the King.</p> + +<p>"And perhaps he isn't!</p> + +<p>Ozma is a girl, and Button-Bright is a boy."</p> + +<p>"Your Pink Bear must be out of order," said the Wizard, "for, +this time at least, his machinery has caused him to make an +untrue statement."</p> + +<p>The Bear King was so angry at this remark that he turned away, +holding the Pink Bear in his paws, and refused to discuss the +matter in any further way.</p> + +<p>"At any rate," said the Frogman, "the Pink Bear has led us to +your boy friend and so enabled you to rescue him."</p> + +<p>Scraps was leaning so far over the hole trying to find Ozma in +it that suddenly she lost her balance and pitched in head +foremost. She fell upon Button-Bright and tumbled him over, but +he was not hurt by her soft, stuffed body and only laughed at the +mishap. The Wizard buckled some straps together and let one end +of them down into the hole, and soon both Scraps and the boy had +climbed up and were standing safely beside the others. They +looked once more for Ozma, but the hole was now absolutely +vacant. It was a round hole, so from the top they could plainly +see every part of it. Before they left the place, Dorothy went to +the Bear King and said, "I'm sorry we couldn't believe what the +little Pink Bear said, 'cause we don't want to make you feel bad +by doubting him. There must be a mistake, somewhere, and we +prob'ly don't understand just what the little Pink Bear said. +Will you let me ask him one more question?"</p> + +<p>The Lavender Bear King was a good-natured bear, considering how +he was made and stuffed and jointed, so he accepted Dorothy's +apology and turned the crank and allowed the little girl to +question his wee Pink Bear.</p> + +<p>"Is Ozma REALLY in this hole?" asked Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"No," said the little Pink Bear.</p> + +<p>This surprised everybody. Even the Bear King was now puzzled +by the contradictory statements of his oracle.</p> + +<p>"Where IS she?" asked the King.</p> + +<p>"Here, among you," answered the little Pink Bear.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Dorothy, "this beats me entirely! I guess the little +Pink Bear has gone crazy."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," called Scraps, who was rapidly turning "cartwheels" +all around the perplexed group, "Ozma is invisible."</p> + +<p>"Of course!" cried Betsy. That would account for it."</p> + +<p>"Well, I've noticed that people can speak, even when they've +been made invisible," said the Wizard. And then he looked all +around him and said in a solemn voice, "Ozma, are you here?"</p> + +<p>There was no reply. Dorothy asked the question, too, and so did +Button-Bright and Trot and Betsy, but none received any reply at +all.</p> + +<p>"It's strange, it's terrible strange!" muttered Cayke the +Cookie Cook. "I was sure that the little Pink Bear always tells +the truth."</p> + +<p>"I still believe in his honesty," said the Frogman, and this +tribute so pleased the Bear King that he gave these last speakers +grateful looks, but still gazed sourly on the others.</p> + +<p>"Come to think of it," remarked the Wizard, "Ozma couldn't be +invisible, for she is a fairy, and fairies cannot be made +invisible against their will. Of course, she could be imprisoned +by the magician or enchanted or transformed, in spite of her +fairy powers, but Ugu could not render her invisible by any magic +at his command."</p> + +<p>"I wonder if she's been transformed into Button-Bright?" said +Dorothy nervously. Then she looked steadily at the boy and asked, +"Are you Ozma? Tell me truly!"</p> + +<p>Button-Bright laughed.</p> + +<p>"You're getting rattled, Dorothy," he replied. "Nothing ever +enchants ME. If I were Ozma, do you think I'd have tumbled into +that hole?"</p> + +<p>"Anyhow," said the Wizard, "Ozma would never try to deceive +her friends or prevent them from recognizing her in whatever form +she happened to be. The puzzle is still a puzzle, so let us go on +to the wicker castle and question the magician himself. Since it +was he who stole our Ozma, Ugu is the one who must tell us where +to find her.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2 id="ref_22">CHAPTER 21</h2> + +<h3>MAGIC AGAINST MAGIC</h3> + +<p>The Wizard's advice was good, so again they started in the +direction of the low mountain on the crest of which the wicker +castle had been built. They had been gradually advancing uphill, +so now the elevation seemed to them more like a round knoll than +a mountaintop. However, the sides of the knoll were sloping and +covered with green grass, so there was a stiff climb before them +yet. Undaunted, they plodded on and had almost reached the knoll +when they suddenly observed that it was surrounded by a circle of +flame. At first, the flames barely rose above the ground, but +presently they grew higher and higher until a circle of flaming +tongues of fire taller than any of their heads quite surrounded +the hill on which the wicker castle stood. When they approached +the flames, the heat was so intense that it drove them back +again.</p> + +<p>"This will never do for me!" exclaimed the Patchwork Girl. "I +catch fire very easily."</p> + +<p>"It won't do for me either," grumbled the Sawhorse, prancing +to the rear.</p> + +<p>"I also strongly object to fire," said the Bear King, following +the Sawhorse to a safe distance and hugging the little Pink Bear +with his paws.</p> + +<p>"I suppose the foolish Shoemaker imagines these blazes will +stop us," remarked the Wizard with a smile of scorn for Ugu. "But +I am able to inform you that this is merely a simple magic trick +which the robber stole from Glinda the Good, and by good fortune +I know how to destroy these flames as well as how to produce +them. Will some one of you kindly give me a match?"</p> + +<p>You may be sure the girls carried no matches, nor did the Frogman +or any of the animals. But Button-Bright, after searching +carefully through his pockets, which contained all sorts of +useful and useless things, finally produced a match and handed it +to the Wizard, who tied it to the end of a branch which he tore +from a small tree growing near them. Then the little Wizard +carefully lighted the match, and running forward thrust it into +the nearest flame. Instantly, the circle of fire began to die +away, and soon vanished completely leaving the way clear for them +to proceed.</p> + +<p>"That was funny!" laughed Button-Bright.</p> + +<p>"Yes," agreed the Wizard, "it seems odd that a little match could +destroy such a great circle of fire, but when Glinda invented +this trick, she believed no one would ever think of a match being +a remedy for fire. I suppose even Ugu doesn't know how we managed +to quench the flames of his barrier, for only Glinda and I know +the secret. Glinda's Book of Magic which Ugu stole told how to +make the flames, but not how to put them out."</p> + +<p>They now formed in marching order and proceeded to advance up +the slope of the hill, but had not gone far when before them rose +a wall of steel, the surface of which was thickly covered with +sharp, gleaming points resembling daggers. The wall completely +surrounded the wicker castle, and its sharp points prevented +anyone from climbing it. Even the Patchwork Girl might be ripped +to pieces if she dared attempt it. "Ah!" exclaimed the Wizard +cheerfully, "Ugu is now using one of my own tricks against me. +But this is more serious than the Barrier of Fire, because the +only way to destroy the wall is to get on the other side of +it."</p> + +<p>"How can that be done?" asked Dorothy.</p> + +<p>The Wizard looked thoughtfully around his little party, and +his face grew troubled. "It's a pretty high wall," he sadly +remarked. "I'm pretty sure the Cowardly Lion could not leap over +it."</p> +<p> +"I'm sure of that, too!" said the Lion with a shudder of fear. +"If I foolishly tried such a leap, I would be caught on those +dreadful spikes."</p> + +<p>"I think I could do it, sir," said the Frogman with a bow to +the Wizard. "It is an uphill jump as well as being a high jump, +but I'm considered something of a jumper by my friends in the Yip +Country, and I believe a good, strong leap will carry me to the +other side."</p> + +<p>"I'm sure it would," agreed the Cookie Cook.</p> + +<p>"Leaping, you know, is a froglike accomplishment," continued +the Frogman modestly, "but please tell me what I am to do when I +reach the</p> + +<p>"You're a brave creature," said the Wizard admiringly. "Has +anyone a pin?"</p> + +<p>Betsy had one, which she gave him. "All you need do," said the +Wizard to the Frogman, giving him the pin, "is to stick this into +the other side of the wall."</p> + +<p>"But the wall is of steel!" exclaimed the big frog.</p> + +<p>"I know. At least, it SEEMS to be steel, but do as I tell you. +Stick the pin into the wall, and it will disappear."</p> + +<p>The Frogman took off his handsome coat and carefully folded it +and laid it on the grass. Then he removed his hat and laid it +together with his gold-headed cane beside the coat. He then went +back a way and made three powerful leaps in rapid succession. The +first two leaps took him to the wall, and the third leap carried +him well over it, to the amazement of all. For a short time, he +disappeared from their view, but when he had obeyed the Wizard's +injunction and had thrust the pin into the wall, the huge barrier +vanished and showed them the form of the Frogman, who now went to +where his coat lay and put it on again.</p> + +<p>"We thank you very much," said the delighted Wizard.</p> + +<p>"That was the most wonderful leap I ever saw, and it has saved us +from defeat by our enemy. Let us now hurry on to the castle +before Ugu the Shoemaker thinks up some other means to stop us."</p> + +<p>"We must have surprised him so far," declared Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"Yes indeed. The fellow knows a lot of magic—all of our tricks +and some of his own," replied the Wizard. "So if he is half as +clever as he ought to be, we shall have trouble with him yet."</p> + +<p>He had scarcely spoken these words when out from the gates of +the wicker castle marched a regiment of soldiers, clad in gay +uniforms and all bearing long, pointed spears and sharp battle +axes. These soldiers were girls, and the uniforms were short +skirts of yellow and black satin, golden shoes, bands of gold +across their foreheads and necklaces of glittering jewels. Their +jackets were scarlet, braided with silver cords. There were +hundreds of these girl-soldiers, and they were more terrible than +beautiful, being strong and fierce in appearance. They formed a +circle all around the castle and faced outward, their spears +pointed toward the invaders, and their battle axes held over +their shoulders, ready to strike. Of course, our friends halted +at once, for they had not expected this dreadful array of +soldiery. The Wizard seemed puzzled, and his companions exchanged +discouraged looks.</p> + +<p>"I'd no idea Ugu had such an army as that," said Dorothy. "The +castle doesn't look big enough to hold them all."</p> + +<p>"It isn't," declared the Wizard.</p> + +<p>"But they all marched out of it."</p> + +<p>"They seemed to, but I don't believe it is a real army at all. +If Ugu the Shoemaker had so many people living with him, I'm sure +the Czarover of Herku would have mentioned the fact to us."</p> + +<p>"They're only girls!" laughed Scraps.</p> + +<p>"Girls are the fiercest soldiers of all," declared the +Frogman. "They are more brave than men, and they have better +nerves. That is probably why the magician uses them for soldiers +and has sent them to oppose us."</p> + +<p>No one argued this statement, for all were staring hard at the +line of soldiers, which now, having taken a defiant position, +remained motionless.</p> + +<p>"Here is a trick of magic new to me," admitted the Wizard +after a time. "I do not believe the army is real, but the spears +may be sharp enough to prick us, nevertheless, so we must be +cautious. Let us take time to consider how to meet this +difficulty."</p> + +<p>While they were thinking it over, Scraps danced closer to the +line of girl soldiers. Her button eyes sometimes saw more than +did the natural eyes of her comrades, and so after staring hard +at the magician's army, she boldly advanced and danced right +through the threatening line! On the other side, she waved her +stuffed arms and called out, "Come on, folks. The spears can't +hurt you." said the Wizard gaily. "An optical illusion, as I +thought. Let us all follow the Patchwork Girl." The three little +girls were somewhat nervous in attempting to brave the spears and +battle axes, but after the others had safely passed the line, +they ventured to follow. And when all had passed through the +ranks of the girl army, the army itself magically disappeared +from view.</p> + +<p>All this time our friends had been getting farther up the hill +and nearer to the wicker castle. Now, continuing their advance, +they expected something else to oppose their way, but to their +astonishment nothing happened, and presently they arrived at the +wicker gates, which stood wide open, and boldly entered the +domain of Ugu the Shoemaker.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2 id="ref_23">CHAPTER 22</h2> + +<h3>In the Wicker Castle</h3> + +<p>No sooner were the Wizard of Oz and his followers well within +the castle entrance when the big gates swung to with a clang and +heavy bars dropped across them. They looked at one another +uneasily, but no one cared to speak of the incident. If they were +indeed prisoners in the wicker castle, it was evident they must +find a way to escape, but their first duty was to attend to the +errand on which they had come and seek the Royal Ozma, whom they +believed to be a prisoner of the magician, and rescue her.</p> + +<p>They found they had entered a square courtyard, from which an +entrance led into the main building of the castle. No person had +appeared to greet them so far, although a gaudy peacock perched +upon the wall cackled with laughter and said in its sharp, shrill +voice, "Poor fools! Poor fools!"</p> + +<p>"I hope the peacock is mistaken," remarked the Frogman, but no +one else paid any attention to the bird. They were a little awed +by the stillness and loneliness of the place. As they entered the +doors of the castle, which stood invitingly open, these also +closed behind them and huge bolts shot into place. The animals +had all accompanied the party into the castle because they felt +it would be dangerous for them to separate. They were forced to +follow a zigzag passage, turning this way and that, until finally +they entered a great central hall, circular in form and with a +high dome from which was suspended an enormous chandelier.</p> + +<p>The Wizard went first, and Dorothy, Betsy and Trot followed him, +Toto keeping at the heels of his little mistress. Then came the +Lion, the Woozy and the Sawhorse, then Cayke the Cookie Cook and +Button-Bright, then the Lavender Bear carrying the Pink Bear, and +finally the Frogman and the Patchwork Girl, with Hank the Mule +tagging behind. So it was the Wizard who caught the first glimpse +of the big, domed hall, but the others quickly followed and +gathered in a wondering group just within the entrance.</p> + +<p>Upon a raised platform at one side was a heavy table on which +lay Glinda's Great Book of Records, but the platform was firmly +fastened to the floor and the table was fastened to the platform +and the Book was chained fast to the table, just as it had been +when it was kept in Glinda's palace. On the wall over the table +hung Ozma's Magic Picture. On a row of shelves at the opposite +side of the hall stood all the chemicals and essences of magic +and all the magical instruments that had been stolen from Glinda +and Ozma and the Wizard, with glass doors covering the shelves so +that no one could get at them.</p> + +<p>And in a far corner sat Ugu the Shoemaker, his feet lazily +extended, his skinny hands clasped behind his head. He was +leaning back at his ease and calmly smoking a long pipe. Around +the magician was a sort of cage, seemingly made of golden bars +set wide apart, and at his feet, also within the cage, reposed +the long-sought diamond-studded dishpan of Cayke the Cookie Cook. +Princess Ozma of Oz was nowhere to be seen.</p> + +<p>"Well, well," said Ugu when the invaders had stood in silence +for a moment, staring about them. "This visit is an unexpected +pleasure, I assure you. I knew you were coming, and I know why +you are here. You are not welcome, for I cannot use any of you to +my advantage, but as you have insisted on coming, I hope you will +make the afternoon call as brief as possible. It won't take long +to transact your business with me. You will ask me for Ozma, and +my reply will be that you may find her—if you can."</p> + +<p>"Sir," answered the Wizard in a tone of rebuke, "you are a very +wicked and cruel person. I suppose you imagine, because you have +stolen this poor woman's dishpan and all the best magic in Oz, +that you are more powerful than we are and will be able to +triumph over us."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Ugu the Shoemaker, slowly filling his pipe with +fresh tobacco from a silver bowl that stood beside him, "that is +exactly what I imagine. It will do you no good to demand from me +the girl who was formerly the Ruler of Oz, because I will not +tell you where I have hidden her, and you can't guess in a +thousand years. Neither will I restore to you any of the magic I +have captured. I am not so foolish. But bear this in mind: I mean +to be the Ruler of Oz myself, hereafter, so I advise you to be +careful how you address your future Monarch."</p> + +<p>"Ozma is still Ruler of Oz, wherever you may have hidden her," +declared the Wizard. "And bear this in mind, miserable Shoemaker: +we intend to find her and to rescue her in time, but our first +duty and pleasure will be to conquer you and then punish you for +your misdeeds."</p> + +<p>"Very well, go ahead and conquer," said Ugu. "I'd really like +to see how you can do it."</p> + +<p>Now although the little Wizard had spoken so boldly, he had at +the moment no idea how they might conquer the magician. He had +that morning given the Frogman, at his request, a dose of zosozo +from his bottle, and the Frogman had promised to fight a good +fight if it was necessary, but the Wizard knew that strength +alone could not avail against magical arts. The toy Bear King +seemed to have some pretty good magic, however, and the Wizard +depended to an extent on that. But something ought to be done +right away, and the Wizard didn't know what it was.</p> + +<p>While he considered this perplexing question and the others +stood looking at him as their leader, a queer thing happened. The +floor of the great circular hall on which they were standing +suddenly began to tip. Instead of being flat and level, it became +a slant, and the slant grew steeper and steeper until none of the +party could manage to stand upon it. Presently they all slid down +to the wall, which was now under them, and then it became evident +that the whole vast room was slowly turning upside down! Only Ugu +the Shoemaker, kept in place by the bars of his golden cage, +remained in his former position, and the wicked magician seemed +to enjoy the surprise of his victims immensely.</p> + +<p>First they all slid down to the wall back of them, but as the +room continued to turn over, they next slid down the wall and +found themselves at the bottom of the great dome, bumping against +the big chandelier which, like everything else, was now upside +down. The turning movement now stopped, and the room became +stationary. Looking far up, they saw Ugu suspended in his cage at +the very top, which had once been the floor.</p> + +<p>"Ah," said he, grinning down at them, "the way to conquer is +to act, and he who acts promptly is sure to win. This makes a +very good prison, from which I am sure you cannot escape. Please +amuse yourselves in any way you like, but I must beg you to +excuse me, as I have business in another part of my castle."</p> + +<p>Saying this, he opened a trap door in the floor of his cage +(which was now over his head) and climbed through it and +disappeared from their view. The diamond dishpan still remained +in the cage, but the bars kept it from falling down on their +heads.</p> + +<p>"Well, I declare," said the Patchwork Girl, seizing one of the +bars of the chandelier and swinging from it, "we must peg one for +the Shoemaker, for he has trapped us very cleverly."</p> + +<p>"Get off my foot, please," said the Lion to the Sawhorse.</p> + +<p>"And oblige me, Mr. Mule," remarked the Woozy, "by taking your +tail out of my left eye."</p> + +<p>"It's rather crowded down here," explained Dorothy, "because the +dome is rounding and we have all slid into the middle of it. But +let us keep as quiet as possible until we can think what's best +to be done."</p> + +<p>"Dear, dear!"wailed Cayke, "I wish I had my darling dishpan," +and she held her arms longingly toward it.</p> + +<p>"I wish I had the magic on those shelves up there," sighed the +Wizard.</p> + +<p>"Don't you s'pose we could get to it?" asked Trot +anxiously.</p> + +<p>"We'd have to fly," laughed the Patchwork Girl.</p> + +<p>But the Wizard took the suggestion seriously, and so did the +Frogman. They talked it over and soon planned an attempt to reach +the shelves where the magical instruments were. First the Frogman +lay against the rounding dome and braced his foot on the stem of +the chandelier; then the Wizard climbed over him and lay on the +dome with his feet on the Frogman's shoulders; the Cookie Cook +came next; then Button-Bright climbed to the woman's shoulders; +then Dorothy climbed up and Betsy and Trot, and finally the +Patchwork Girl, and all their lengths made a long line that +reached far up the dome, but not far enough for Scraps to touch +the shelves.</p> + +<p>"Wait a minute. Perhaps I can reach the magic," called the Bear +King, and began scrambling up the bodies of the others. But when +he came to the Cookie Cook, his soft paws tickled her side so +that she squirmed and upset the whole line. Down they came, +tumbling in a heap against the animals, and although no one was +much hurt, it was a bad mix-up, and the Frogman, who was at the +bottom, almost lost his temper before he could get on his feet +again.</p> + +<p>Cayke positively refused to try what she called "the pyramid +act" again, and as the Wizard was now convinced they could not +reach the magic tools in that manner, the attempt was abandoned. +"But SOMETHING must be done," said the Wizard, and then he turned +to the Lavender Bear and asked, "Cannot Your Majesty's magic help +us to escape from here?"</p> + +<p>"My magic powers are limited," was the reply. "When I was +stuffed, the fairies stood by and slyly dropped some magic into +my stuffing. Therefore I can do any of the magic that's inside +me, but nothing else. You, however, are a wizard, and a wizard +should be able to do anything."</p> + +<p>"Your Majesty forgets that my tools of magic have been +stolen," said the Wizard sadly, "and a wizard without tools is as +helpless as a carpenter without a hammer or saw."</p> + +<p>"Don't give up," pleaded Button-Bright, "20'cause if we can't get +out of this queer prison, we'll all starve to death."</p> + +<p>"Not I!" laughed the Patchwork Girl, now standing on top of +the chandelier at the place that was meant to be the bottom of +it.</p> + +<p>"Don't talk of such dreadful things," said Trot, shuddering. "We +came here to capture the Shoemaker, didn't we?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and to save Ozma," said Betsy.</p> + +<p>"And here we are, captured ourselves, and my darling dishpan up +there in plain sight!" wailed the Cookie Cook, wiping her eyes on +the tail of the Frogman's coat.</p> + +<p>"Hush!" called the Lion with a low, deep growl. "Give the +Wizard time to think."</p> + +<p>"He has plenty of time," said Scraps. "What he needs is the +Scarecrow's brains."</p> + +<p>After all, it was little Dorothy who came to their rescue, and +her ability to save them was almost as much a surprise to the +girl as it was to her friends. Dorothy had been secretly testing +the powers of her Magic Belt, which she had once captured from +the Nome King, and experimenting with it in various ways ever +since she had started on this eventful journey. At different +times she had stolen away from the others of her party and in +solitude had tried to find out what the Magic Belt could do and +what it could not do. There were a lot of things it could not do, +she discovered, but she learned some things about the Belt which +even her girl friends did not suspect she knew.</p> + +<p>For one thing, she had remembered that when the Nome King owned +it, the Magic Belt used to perform transformations, and by +thinking hard she had finally recalled the way in which such +transformations had been accomplished. Better than this, however, +was the discovery that the Magic Belt would grant its wearer one +wish a day. All she need do was close her right eye and wiggle +her left toe and then draw a long breath and make her wish. +Yesterday she had wished in secret for a box of caramels, and +instantly found the box beside her. Today she had saved her daily +wish in case she might need it in an emergency, and the time had +now come when she must use the wish to enable her to escape with +her friends from the prison in which Ugu had caught them.</p> + +<p>So without telling anyone what she intended to do—for she had +only used the wish once and could not be certain how powerful the +Magic Belt might be—Dorothy closed her right eye and wiggled her +left big toe and drew a long breath and wished with all her +might. The next moment the room began to revolve again, as slowly +as before, and by degrees they all slid to the side wall and down +the wall to the floor—all but Scraps, who was so astonished that +she still clung to the chandelier. When the big hall was in its +proper position again and the others stood firmly upon the floor +of it, they looked far up the dome and saw the Patchwork girl +swinging from the chandelier.</p> + +<p>"Good gracious!" cried Dorothy."How ever will you get down?"</p> + +<p>"Won't the room keep turning?" asked Scraps.</p> + +<p>"I hope not. I believe it has stopped for good," said Princess +Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"Then stand from under, so you won't get hurt!" shouted the +PatchworkGirl, and as soon as they had obeyed this request, she +let go the chandelier and came tumbling down heels over head and +twisting and turning in a very exciting manner. Plump! She fell +on the tiled floor, and they ran to her and rolled her and patted +her into shape again.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2 id="ref_24">CHAPTER 23</h2> + +<h3>THE DEFIANCE OF UGU THE SHOEMAKER</h3> + +<p>The delay caused by Scraps had prevented anyone from running +to the shelves to secure the magic instruments so badly needed. +Even Cayke neglected to get her diamond-studded dishpan because +she was watching the Patchwork Girl. And now the magician had +opened his trap door and appeared in his golden cage again, +frowning angrily because his prisoners had been able to turn +their upside-down prison right side up. "Which of you has dared +defy my magic?" he shouted in a terrible voice.</p> + +<p>"It was I," answered Dorothy calmly.</p> + +<p>"Then I shall destroy you, for you are only an Earth girl and +no fairy," he said, and began to mumble some magic words.</p> + +<p>Dorothy now realized that Ugu must be treated as an enemy, so she +advanced toward the corner in which he sat, saying as she went, +"I am not afraid of you, Mr. Shoemaker, and I think you'll be +sorry, pretty soon, that you're such a bad man. You can't destroy +me, and I won't destroy you, but I'm going to punish you for your +wickedness."</p> + +<p>Ugu laughed, a laugh that was not nice to hear, and then he +waved his hand. Dorothy was halfway across the room when suddenly +a wall of glass rose before her and stopped her progress. Through +the glass she could see the magician sneering at her because she +was a weak little girl, and this provoked her. Although the glass +wall obliged her to halt, she instantly pressed both hands to her +Magic Belt and cried in a loud voice, "Ugu the Shoemaker, by the +magic virtues of the Magic Belt, I command you to become a +dove!"</p> + +<p>The magician instantly realized he was being enchanted, for he +could feel his form changing. He struggled desperately against +the enchantment, mumbling magic words and making magic passes +with his hands. And in one way he succeeded in defeating +Dorothy's purpose, for while his form soon changed to that of a +gray dove, the dove was of an enormous size, bigger even than Ugu +had been as a man, and this feat he had been able to accomplish +before his powers of magic wholly deserted him.</p> + +<p>And the dove was not gentle, as doves usually are, for Ugu was +terribly enraged at the little girl's success. His books had told +him nothing of the Nome King's Magic Belt, the Country of the +Nomes being outside the Land of Oz. He knew, however, that he was +likely to be conquered unless he made a fierce fight, so he +spread his wings and rose in the air and flew directly toward +Dorothy. The Wall of Glass had disappeared the instant Ugu became +transformed.</p> + +<p>Dorothy had meant to command the Belt to transform the magician +into a Dove of Peace, but in her excitement she forgot to say +more than "dove," and now Ugu was not a Dove of Peace by any +means, but rather a spiteful Dove of War. His size made his sharp +beak and claws very dangerous, but Dorothy was not afraid when he +came darting toward her with his talons outstretched and his +sword-like beak open. She knew the Magic Belt would protect its +wearer from harm.</p> + +<p>But the Frogman did not know that fact and became alarmed at +the little girl's seeming danger. So he gave a sudden leap and +leaped full upon the back of the great dove. Then began a +desperate struggle. The dove was as strong as Ugu had been, and +in size it was considerably bigger than the Frogman. But the +Frogman had eaten the zosozo, and it had made him fully as strong +as Ugu the Dove. At the first leap he bore the dove to the floor, +but the giant bird got free and began to bite and claw the +Frogman, beating him down with its great wings whenever he +attempted to rise. The thick, tough skin of the big frog was not +easily damaged, but Dorothy feared for her champion, and by again +using the transformation power of the Magic Belt, she made the +dove grow small until it was no larger than a canary bird. Ugu +had not lost his knowledge of magic when he lost his shape as a +man, and he now realized it was hopeless to oppose the power of +the Magic Belt and knew that his only hope of escape lay in +instant action. So he quickly flew into the golden jeweled +dishpan he had stolen from Cayke the Cookie Cook, and as birds +can talk as well as beasts or men in the Fairyland of Oz, he +muttered the magic word that was required and wished himself in +the Country of the Quadlings, which was as far away from the +wicker castle as he believed he could get.</p> + +<p>Our friends did not know, of course, what Ugu was about to do. +They saw the dishpan tremble an instant and then disappear, the +dove disappearing with it, and although they waited expectantly +for some minutes for the magician's return, Ugu did not come back +again. "Seems to me," said the Wizard in a cheerful voice, "that +we have conquered the wicked magician more quickly than we +expected to."</p> + +<p>"Don't say 'we.' Dorothy did it!" cried the Patchwork Girl, +turning three somersaults in succession and then walking around +on her hands. "Hurrah for Dorothy!"</p> + +<p>"I thought you said you did not know how to use the magic of the +Nome King's Belt," said the Wizard to Dorothy.</p> + +<p>"I didn't know at that time," she replied, "but afterward I +remembered how the Nome King once used the Magic Belt to enchant +people and transform 'em into ornaments and all sorts of things, +so I tried some enchantments in secret, and after a while I +transformed the Sawhorse into a potato masher and back again, and +the Cowardly Lion into a pussycat and back again, and then I knew +the thing would work all right."</p> + +<p>"When did you perform those enchantments?" asked the Wizard, much +surprised.</p> + +<p>"One night when all the rest of you were asleep but Scraps, +and she had gone chasing moonbeams."</p> + +<p>"Well," remarked the Wizard, "your discovery has certainly saved +us a lot of trouble, and we must all thank the Frogman, too, for +making such a good fight. The dove's shape had Ugu's evil +disposition inside it, and that made the monster bird dangerous."</p> + +<p>The Frogman was looking sad because the bird's talons had torn +his pretty clothes, but he bowed with much dignity at this +well-deserved praise. Cayke, however, had squatted on the floor +and was sobbing bitterly. "My precious dishpan is gone!" she +wailed. "Gone, just as I had found it again!"</p> + +<p>"Never mind," said Trot, trying to comfort her, "it's sure to be +SOMEWHERE, so we'll cert'nly run across it some day."</p> + +<p>"Yes indeed," added Betsy, "now that we have Ozma's Magic +Picture, we can tell just where the Dove went with your dishpan. +They all approached the Magic Picture, and Dorothy wished it to +show the enchanted form of Ugu the Shoemaker, wherever it might +be. At once there appeared in the frame of the Picture a scene in +the far Quadling Country, where the Dove was perched +disconsolately on the limb of a tree and the jeweled dishpan lay +on the ground just underneath the limb.</p> + +<p>"But where is the place? How far or how near?" asked Cayke +anxiously.</p> + +<p>"The Book of Records will tell us that," answered the Wizard. +So they looked in the Great Book and read the following:</p> + +<p>"Ugu the Magician, being transformed into a dove by Princess +Dorothy of Oz, has used the magic of the golden dishpan to carry +him instantly to the northeast corner of the Quadling Country."</p> + +<p>"Don't worry, Cayke, for the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman are +in that part of the country looking for Ozma, and they'll surely +find your dishpan."</p> + +<p>"Good gracious!" exclaimed Button-Bright. "We've forgot all about +Ozma. Let's find out where the magician hid her."</p> + +<p>Back to the Magic Picture they trooped, but when they wished +to see Ozma wherever she might be hidden, only a round black spot +appeared in the center of the canvas. "I don't see how THAT can +be Ozma!" said Dorothy, much puzzled.</p> + +<p>"It seems to be the best the Magic Picture can do, however," said +the Wizard, no less surprised. "If it's an enchantment, looks as +if the magician had transformed Ozma into a chunk of pitch."</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2 id="ref_25">CHAPTER 24</h2> + +<h3>THE LITTLE PINK BEAR SPEAKS TRULY</h3> + +<p>For several minutes they all stood staring at the black spot +on the canvas of the Magic Picture, wondering what it could mean. +"P'r'aps we'd better ask the little Pink Bear about Ozma," +suggested Trot.</p> + +<p>"Pshaw!" said Button-Bright. "HE don't know anything."</p> + +<p>"He never makes a mistake," declared the King.</p> + +<p>"He did once, surely," said Betsy. "But perhaps he wouldn't make +a mistake again."</p> + +<p>"He won't have the chance," grumbled the Bear King.</p> + +<p>"We might hear what he has to say," said Dorothy. "It won't do +any harm to ask the Pink Bear where Ozma is."</p> + +<p>"I will not have him questioned," declared the King in a surly +voice. "I do not intend to allow my little Pink Bear to be again +insulted by your foolish doubts. He never makes a mistake."</p> + +<p>"Didn't he say Ozma was in that hole in the ground?" asked Betsy.</p> + +<p>"He did, and I am certain she was there," replied the Lavender +Bear.</p> + +<p>Scraps laughed jeeringly, and the others saw there was no use +arguing with the stubborn Bear King, who seemed to have absolute +faith in his Pink Bear. The Wizard, who knew that magical things +can usually be depended upon and that the little Pink Bear was +able to answer questions by some remarkable power of magic, +thought it wise to apologize to the Lavender Bear for the +unbelief of his friends, at the same time urging the King to +consent to question the Pink Bear once more. Cayke and the +Frogman also pleaded with the big Bear, who finally agreed, +although rather ungraciously, to put the little Bear's wisdom to +the test once more. So he sat the little one on his knee and +turned the crank, and the Wizard himself asked the questions in a +very respectful tone of voice. "Where is Ozma?" was his first +query.</p> + +<p>"Here in this room," answered the little Pink Bear.</p> + +<p>They all looked around the room, but of course did not see her. +"In what part of the room is she?" was the Wizard's next +question.</p> + +<p>"In Button-Bright's pocket," said the little Pink Bear.</p> + +<p>This reply amazed them all, you may be sure, and although the +three girls smiled and Scraps yelled "Hoo-ray!" in derision, the +Wizard turned to consider the matter with grave thoughtfulness. +"In which one of Button-Bright's pockets is Ozma?" he presently +inquired.</p> + +<p>"In the left-hand jacket pocket," said the little Pink +Bear.</p> + +<p>"The pink one has gone crazy!" exclaimed Button-Bright, staring +hard at the little bear on the big bear's knee.</p> + +<p>"I am not so sure of that," declared the Wizard. "If Ozma +proves to be really in your pocket, then the little Pink Bear +spoke truly when he said Ozma was in that hole in the ground. For +at that time you were also in the hole, and after we had pulled +you out of it, the little Pink Bear said Ozma was not in the +hole."</p> + +<p>"He never makes a mistake," asserted the Bear King stoutly.</p> + +<p>"Empty that pocket, Button-Bright, and let's see what's in +it," requested Dorothy.</p> + +<p>So Button-Bright laid the contents of his left jacket pocket on +the table. These proved to be a peg top, a bunch of string, a +small rubber ball and a golden peach pit. "What's this?" asked +the Wizard, picking up the peach pit and examining it closely.</p> + +<p>"Oh," said the boy, "I saved that to show to the girls, and +then forgot all about it. It came out of a lonesome peach that I +found in the orchard back yonder, and which I ate while I was +lost. It looks like gold, and I never saw a peach pit like it +before."</p> + +<p>"Nor I," said the Wizard, "and that makes it seem suspicious."</p> + +<p>All heads were bent over the golden peach pit. The Wizard +turned it over several times and then took out his pocket knife +and pried the pit open. As the two halves fell apart, a pink, +cloud-like haze came pouring from the golden peach pit, almost +filling the big room, and from the haze a form took shape and +settled beside them. Then, as the haze faded away, a sweet voice +said, "Thank you, my friends!" and there before them stood their +lovely girl Ruler, Ozma of Oz.</p> + +<p>With a cry of delight, Dorothy rushed forward and embraced her. +Scraps turned gleeful flipflops all around the room. +Button-Bright gave a low whistle of astonishment. The Frogman +took off his tall hat and bowed low before the beautiful girl who +had been freed from her enchantment in so startling a manner. For +a time, no sound was heard beyond the low murmur of delight that +came from the amazed group, but presently the growl of the big +Lavender Bear grew louder, and he said in a tone of triumph, "He +never makes a mistake!"</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2 id="ref_26">CHAPTER 25</h2> + +<h3>OZMA OF OZ</h3> + +<p>"It's funny," said Toto, standing before his friend the Lion +and wagging his tail, "but I've found my growl at last! I am +positive now that it was the cruel magician who stole it."</p> + +<p>"Let's hear your growl," requested the Lion.</p> + +<p>"G-r-r-r-r-r!" said Toto.</p> + +<p>"That is fine," declared the big beast. "It isn't as loud or as +deep as the growl of the big Lavender Bear, but it is a very +respectable growl for a small dog. Where did you find it, Toto?"</p> + +<p>"I was smelling in the corner yonder," said Toto, "when +suddenly a mouse ran out—and I growled."</p> + +<p>The others were all busy congratulating Ozma, who was very happy +at being released from the confinement of the golden peach pit, +where the magician had placed her with the notion that she never +could be found or liberated.</p> + +<p>"And only to think," cried Dorothy, "that Button-Bright has +been carrying you in his pocket all this time, and we never knew +it!"</p> + +<p>"The little Pink Bear told you," said the Bear King, "but you +wouldn't believe him."</p> + +<p>"Never mind, my dears," said Ozma graciously, "all is well +that ends well, and you couldn't be expected to know I was inside +the peach pit. Indeed, I feared I would remain a captive much +longer than I did, for Ugu is a bold and clever magician, and he +had hidden me very securely."</p> + +<p>"You were in a fine peach," said Button-Bright, "the best I ever +ate."</p> + +<p>"The magician was foolish to make the peach so tempting," +remarked the Wizard, "but Ozma would lend beauty to any +transformation."</p> + +<p>"How did you manage to conquer Ugu the Shoemaker?" inquired the +girl Ruler of Oz.</p> + +<p>Dorothy started to tell the story, and Trot helped her, and +Button-Bright wanted to relate it in his own way, and the Wizard +tried to make it clear to Ozma, and Betsy had to remind them of +important things they left out, and all together there was such a +chatter that it was a wonder that Ozma understood any of it. But +she listened patiently, with a smile on her lovely face at their +eagerness, and presently had gleaned all the details of their +adventures.</p> + +<p>Ozma thanked the Frogman very earnestly for his assistance, and +she advised Cayke the Cookie Cook to dry her weeping eyes, for +she promised to take her to the Emerald City and see that her +cherished dishpan was restored to her. Then the beautiful Ruler +took a chain of emeralds from around her own neck and placed it +around the neck of the little Pink Bear.</p> + +<p>"Your wise answers to the questions of my friends," said she, +"helped them to rescue me. Therefore I am deeply grateful to you +and to your noble King."</p> + +<p>The bead eyes of the little Pink Bear stared unresponsive to this +praise until the Big Lavender Bear turned the crank in its side, +when it said in its squeaky voice, "I thank Your Majesty."</p> + +<p>"For my part," returned the Bear King, "I realize that you +were well worth saving, Miss Ozma, and so I am much pleased that +we could be of service to you. By means of my Magic Wand I have +been creating exact images of your Emerald City and your Royal +Palace, and I must confess that they are more attractive than any +places I have ever seen—not excepting Bear Center."</p> + +<p>"I would like to entertain you in my palace," returned Ozma +sweetly, "and you are welcome to return with me and to make me a +long visit, if your bear subjects can spare you from your own +kingdom."</p> + +<p>"As for that," answered the King, "my kingdom causes me little +worry, and I often find it somewhat tame and uninteresting. +Therefore I am glad to accept your kind invitation. Corporal +Waddle may be trusted to care for my bears in my absence."</p> + +<p>"And you'll bring the little Pink Bear?" asked Dorothy eagerly.</p> + +<p>"Of course, my dear. I would not willingly part with him."</p> + +<p>They remained in the wicker castle for three days, carefully +packing all the magical things that had been stolen by Ugu and +also taking whatever in the way of magic the shoemaker had +inherited from his ancestors. "For," said Ozma, "I have forbidden +any of my subjects except Glinda the Good and the Wizard of Oz to +practice magical arts, because they cannot be trusted to do good +and not harm. Therefore Ugu must never again be permitted to work +magic of any sort."</p> + +<p>"Well," remarked Dorothy cheerfully, "a dove can't do much in +the way of magic, anyhow, and I'm going to keep Ugu in the form +of a dove until he reforms and becomes a good and honest +shoemaker."</p> + +<p>When everything was packed and loaded on the backs of the +animals, they set out for the river, taking a more direct route +than that by which Cayke and the Frogman had come. In this way +they avoided the Cities of Thi and Herku and Bear Center and +after a pleasant journey reached the Winkie River and found a +jolly ferryman who had a fine, big boat and was willing to carry +the entire party by water to a place quite near to the Emerald +City.</p> + +<p>The river had many windings and many branches, and the journey +did not end in a day, but finally the boat floated into a pretty +lake which was but a short distance from Ozma's home. Here the +jolly ferryman was rewarded for his labors, and then the entire +party set out in a grand procession to march to the Emerald City. +News that the Royal Ozma had been found spread quickly throughout +the neighborhood, and both sides of the road soon became lined +with loyal subjects of the beautiful and beloved Ruler. Therefore +Ozma's ears heard little but cheers, and her eyes beheld little +else than waving handkerchiefs and banners during all the +triumphal march from the lake to the city's gates.</p> + +<p>And there she met a still greater concourse, for all the +inhabitants of the Emerald City turned out to welcome her return, +and all the houses were decorated with flags and bunting, and +never before were the people so joyous and happy as at this +moment when they welcomed home their girl Ruler. For she had been +lost and was now found again, and surely that was cause for +rejoicing. Glinda was at the royal palace to meet the returning +party, and the good Sorceress was indeed glad to have her Great +Book of Records returned to her, as well as all the precious +collection of magic instruments and elixirs and chemicals that +had been stolen from her castle. Cap'n Bill and the Wizard at +once hung the Magic Picture upon the wall of Ozma's boudoir, and +the Wizard was so light-hearted that he did several tricks with +the tools in his black bag to amuse his companions and prove that +once again he was a powerful wizard.</p> + +<p>For a whole week there was feasting and merriment and all +sorts of joyous festivities at the palace in honor of Ozma's safe +return. The Lavender Bear and the little Pink Bear received much +attention and were honored by all, much to the Bear King's +satisfaction. The Frogman speedily became a favorite at the +Emerald City, and the Shaggy Man and Tik-Tok and Jack +Pumpkinhead, who had now returned from their search, were very +polite to the big frog and made him feel quite at home. Even the +Cookie Cook, because she was quite a stranger and Ozma's guest, +was shown as much deference as if she had been a queen.</p> + +<p>"All the same, Your Majesty," said Cayke to Ozma, day after day +with tiresome repetition, "I hope you will soon find my jeweled +dishpan, for never can I be quite happy without it."</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2 id="ref_27">CHAPTER 26</h2> + +<h3>DOROTHY FORGIVES</h3> + +<p>The gray dove which had once been Ugu the Shoemaker sat on its +tree in the far Quadling Country and moped, chirping dismally and +brooding over its misfortunes. After a time, the Scarecrow and +the Tin Woodman came along and sat beneath the tree, paying no +heed to the mutterings of the gray dove. The Tin Woodman took a +small oilcan from his tin pocket and carefully oiled his tin +joints with it.</p> + +<p>While he was thus engaged, the Scarecrow remarked, "I feel much +better, dear comrade, since we found that heap of nice, clean +straw and you stuffed me anew with it."</p> + +<p>"And I feel much better now that my joints are oiled," +returned the Tin Woodman with a sigh of pleasure. "You and I, +friend Scarecrow, are much more easily cared for than those +clumsy meat people, who spend half their time dressing in fine +clothes and who must live in splendid dwellings in order to be +contented and happy. You and I do not eat, and so we are spared +the dreadful bother of getting three meals a day. Nor do we waste +half our lives in sleep, a condition that causes the meat people +to lose all consciousness and become as thoughtless and helpless +as logs of wood."</p> + +<p>"You speak truly," responded the Scarecrow, tucking some wisps of +straw into his breast with his padded fingers. "I often feel +sorry for the meat people, many of whom are my friends. Even the +beasts are happier than they, for they require less to make them +content. And the birds are the luckiest creatures of all, for +they can fly swiftly where they will and find a home at any place +they care to perch. Their food consists of seeds and grains they +gather from the fields, and their drink is a sip of water from +some running brook. If I could not be a Scarecrow or a Tin +Woodman, my next choice would be to live as a bird does."</p> + +<p>The gray dove had listened carefully to this speech and seemed +to find comfort in it, for it hushed its moaning. And just then +the Tin Woodman discovered Cayke's dishpan, which was on the +ground quite near to him. "Here is a rather pretty utensil," he +said, taking it in his tin hand to examine it, "but I would not +care to own it. Whoever fashioned it of gold and covered it with +diamonds did not add to its usefulness, nor do I consider it as +beautiful as the bright dishpans of tin one usually sees. No +yellow color is ever so handsome as the silver sheen of tin," and +he turned to look at his tin legs and body with approval.</p> + +<p>"I cannot quite agree with you there," replied the Scarecrow. "My +straw stuffing has a light yellow color, and it is not only +pretty to look at, but it crunkles most delightfully when I +move."</p> + +<p>"Let us admit that all colors are good in their proper +places," said the Tin Woodman, who was too kind-hearted to +quarrel, "but you must agree with me that a dishpan that is +yellow is unnatural. What shall we do with this one, which we +have just found?"</p> + +<p>"Let us carry it back to the Emerald City," suggested the +Scarecrow. "Some of our friends might like to have it for a +foot-bath, and in using it that way, its golden color and +sparkling ornaments would not injure its usefulness."</p> + +<p>So they went away and took the jeweled dishpan with them. And +after wandering through the country for a day or so longer, they +learned the news that Ozma had been found. Therefore they +straightway returned to the Emerald City and presented the +dishpan to Princess Ozma as a token of their joy that she had +been restored to them. Ozma promptly gave the diamond-studded +gold dishpan to Cayke the Cookie Cook, who was delighted at +regaining her lost treasure that she danced up and down in glee +and then threw her skinny arms around Ozma's neck and kissed her +gratefully. Cayke's mission was now successfully accomplished, +but she was having such a good time at the Emerald City that she +seemed in no hurry to go back to the Country of the Yips.</p> + +<p>It was several weeks after the dishpan had been restored to the +Cookie Cook when one day, as Dorothy was seated in the royal +gardens with Trot and Betsy beside her, a gray dove came flying +down and alighted at the girl's feet.</p> + +<p>"I am Ugu the Shoemaker," said the dove in a soft, mourning +voice, "and I have come to ask you to forgive me for the great +wrong I did in stealing Ozma and the magic that belonged to her +and to others."</p> + +<p>"Are you sorry, then?" asked Dorothy, looking hard at the bird.</p> + +<p>"I am VERY sorry," declared Ugu. "I've been thinking over my +misdeeds for a long time, for doves have little else to do but +think, and I'm surprised that I was such a wicked man and had so +little regard for the rights of others. I am now convinced that +even had I succeeded in making myself ruler of all Oz, I should +not have been happy, for many days of quiet thought have shown me +that only those things one acquires honestly are able to render +one content."</p> + +<p>"I guess that's so," said Trot.</p> + +<p>"Anyhow," said Betsy, "the bad man seems truly sorry, and if +he has now become a good and honest man, we ought to forgive +him."</p> + +<p>"I fear I cannot become a good MAN again," said Ugu, "for the +transformation I am under will always keep me in the form of a +dove. But with the kind forgiveness of my former enemies, I hope +to become a very good dove and highly respected."</p> + +<p>"Wait here till I run for my Magic Belt," said Dorothy, "and +I'll transform you back to your reg'lar shape in a jiffy."</p> + +<p>"No, don't do that!" pleaded the dove, fluttering its wings in an +excited way. "I only want your forgiveness. I don't want to be a +man again. As Ugu the Shoemaker I was skinny and old and +unlovely. As a dove I am quite pretty to look at. As a man I was +ambitious and cruel, while as a dove I can be content with my lot +and happy in my simple life. I have learned to love the free and +independent life of a bird, and I'd rather not change back."</p> + +<p>"Just as you like, Ugu," said Dorothy, resuming her seat. +"Perhaps you are right, for you're certainly a better dove than +you were a man, and if you should ever backslide an' feel wicked +again, you couldn't do much harm as a gray dove."</p> + +<p>"Then you forgive me for all the trouble I caused you?" he asked +earnestly.</p> + +<p>"Of course. Anyone who's sorry just has to be forgiven."</p> + +<p>"Thank you," said the gray dove, and flew away again.</p> + +<p>THE END</p> + + +<hr /> + + +<pre> + + + +The Wonderful Oz Books by L. Frank Baum + + The Wizard of Oz + The Land of Oz + Ozma of Oz + Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz + The Road to Oz + The Emerald City of Oz + The Patchwork Girl of Oz + Tik-Tok of Oz + The Scarecrow of Oz + Rinkitink in Oz + The Lost Princess of Oz + The Tin Woodman of Oz + The Magic of Oz + Glinda of Oz + + + + ***End of Project Gutenberg's Etext of The Lost Princess of Oz, by Baum *** + +</pre> +</body> +</html> + + |