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diff --git a/old/959.txt b/old/959.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5771d3b --- /dev/null +++ b/old/959.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5998 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lost Princess of Oz, by L. Frank Baum + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Lost Princess of Oz + +Author: L. Frank Baum + +Posting Date: March 23, 2009 [EBook #959] +Release Date: June, 1997 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LOST PRINCESS OF OZ *** + + + + +Produced by Anthony Matonac + + + + + + + + +THE LOST PRINCESS OF OZ + + +by + +L. FRANK BAUM + + + + This Book is Dedicated + To My Granddaughter + OZMA BAUM + + + + +To My Readers + +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. + +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." + +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. + +L. Frank Baum + Royal Historian of Oz + + + + +LIST OF CHAPTERS + + 1 A Terrible Loss + 2 The Troubles of Glinda the Good + 3 The Robbery of Cayke the Cookie Cook + 4 Among the Winkies + 5 Ozma's Friends Are Perplexed + 6 The Search Party + 7 The Merry-Go-Round Mountains + 8 The Mysterious City + 9 The High Coco-Lorum of Thi + 10 Toto Loses Something + 11 Button-Bright Loses Himself + 12 The Czarover of Herku + 13 The Truth Pond + 14 The Unhappy Ferryman + 15 The Big Lavender Bear + 16 The Little Pink Bear + 17 The Meeting + 18 The Conference + 19 Ugu the Shoemaker + 20 More Surprises + 21 Magic Against Magic + 22 In the Wicker Castle + 23 The Defiance of Ugu the Shoemaker + 24 The Little Pink Bear Speaks Truly + 25 Ozma of Oz + 26 Dorothy Forgives + + + + +THE LOST PRINCESS + +BY L. FRANK BAUM + + + +CHAPTER 1 + +A TERRIBLE LOSS + + +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. + +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. + +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." + +"I'd like to go, too," added Trot. + + +"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." + +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. + +"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." + +"That's strange!" exclaimed the little girl. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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. She went into the music room, the library, the +laboratory, 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. + +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." + +"I don't understand how she could do that without my seeing her," +replied Jellia, "unless she made herself invisible." + +"She isn't there, anyhow," declared Dorothy. + +"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. + +"Stop a minute, Scraps!" she called, "Have you seen Ozma this morning?" + +"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." + +"Very well, Scraps," said Dorothy, looking curiously at the eyes, which +were merely two round, black buttons sewed upon the girl's face. + +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. + +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. + +"I'm going to search for Ozma," remarked Dorothy, "for she isn't in her +rooms, and I want to ask her a question." + +"I'll go with you," said Scraps, "for my eyes are brighter than yours, +and they can see farther." + +"I'm not sure of that," returned Dorothy. "But come along, if you +like." + +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. + +"She didn't say anything las' night about going anywhere," observed +little Trot. + +"No, and that's the strange part of it," replied Dorothy. "Usually +Ozma lets us know of everything she does." + +"Why not look in the Magic Picture?" suggested Betsy Bobbin. "That +will tell us where she is in just one second." + +"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. + +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. + +The Magic Picture was gone. Only a blank space on the wall behind the +curtains showed where it had formerly hung. + + + + +CHAPTER 2 + +THE TROUBLES OF GLINDA THE GOOD + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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? + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +"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." + +"Alas," returned the Sorceress sorrowfully, "we cannot do that, for the +Great Book of Records has also disappeared!" + + + + +CHAPTER 3 + +THE ROBBERY OF CAYKE THE COOKIE COOK + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +"But who?" asked Cayke anxiously. "Who is the thief?" + +"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!" + +"But I want my dishpan!" cried Cayke. + +"No one can blame you for that wish," remarked the Frogman. + +"Then tell me where I may find it," she urged. + +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." + +"We know that already," answered Cayke the Cookie Cook impatiently. + +"Therefore," continued the Frogman, "this theft becomes a very +important matter." + +"Well, where is my dishpan?" demanded the woman. + +"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." + +"But suppose no one returns it," suggested Cayke. + +"Then," said the Frogman, "that very fact will be proof that no one has +stolen it." + +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." + +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?" + +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." + +"It may be a far better country than this is," suggested the Cookie +Cook. + +"Maybe, maybe," responded another Yip, "but why take chances? +Contentment with one's lot is true wisdom. 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." + +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." + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +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." + +Cayke the Cookie Cook began to weep. + +"I shall never find my pretty dishpan again, and my heart will be +broken!" she sobbed. + +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." + +"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. + +"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." + +"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." + +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." + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + + + + +CHAPTER 4 + +AMONG THE WINKIES + + +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. + +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." + +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?" + +"No, nor have I seen a copper-plated lobster," replied Wiljon in an +equally haughty tone. + +The Frogman stared at him and said, "Do not be insolent, fellow!" + +"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." + +"Who says that?" inquired Wiljon. + +"He says so himself," replied Cayke, and the Frogman nodded and +strutted up and down, twirling his gold-headed cane very gracefully. + +"Does the Scarecrow admit that this overgrown frog is the wisest +creature in the world?" asked Wiljon. + +"I do not know who the Scarecrow is," answered Cayke the Cookie Cook. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"I hope, however, you know where my jeweled dishpan is," said the +Cookie Cook anxiously. + +"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." + +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. + +"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." + +"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." + +"If you do not, my heart will be broken," declared the Cookie Cook in a +sorrowful voice. + +For a while the Frogman walked on in silence. Then he asked, "Why do +you attach so much importance to a dishpan?" + +"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!" + +"In what way?" inquired the Frogman, seeming to be surprised at this +statement. + +"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." + +"In that case," said the Frogman with a sigh, "I suppose we must manage +to find it." + + + + +CHAPTER 5 + +OZMA'S FRIENDS ARE PERPLEXED + + +"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'raps," said Scraps, still dancing, "someone has stolen Ozma." + +"Oh, they'd never dare do that!" exclaimed tiny Trot. + +"And stolen the Magic Picture, too, so the thing can't tell where she +is," added the Patchwork Girl. + +"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." + +"Huh!" replied the Patchwork Girl. "You don't know ev'ry person in the +Land of Oz." + +"Why don't I?" + +"It's a big country," said Scraps. "There are cracks and corners in it +that even Ozma doesn't know of." + +"The Patchwork Girl's just daffy," declared Betsy. + +"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." + +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. + +"Not yet," said Dorothy. "Doesn't Glinda the Good know where she is?" + +"No. Glinda's Book of Records and all her magic instruments are gone. +Someone must have stolen them." + +"Goodness me!" exclaimed Dorothy in alarm. "This is the biggest steal +I ever heard of. Who do you think did it, Wizard?" + +"I've no idea," he answered. "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." + +"Hurry, then," said Dorothy, "for we've all gotten terr'bly worried." + +The Wizard rushed away to his rooms but presently came back with a +long, sad face. "It's gone!" he said. + +"What's gone?" asked Scraps. + +"My black bag of magic tools. Someone must have stolen it!" + +They looked at one another in amazement. + +"This thing is getting desperate," continued the Wizard. "All the magic +that belongs to Ozma or to Glinda or to me has been stolen." + +"Do you suppose Ozma could have taken them, herself, for some purpose?" +asked Betsy. + +"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." + +"How dreadful!" cried Dorothy. "The idea of anyone wanting to injure +our dear Ozma! Can't we do ANYthing to find her, Wizard?" + +"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." + +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? + +"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." + +"Someone in the Land of Oz?" asked Trot. + +"Of course. 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." + +"But who--who--who?" asked Scraps. "That's the question. Who?" + +"If we knew," replied Dorothy severely, "we wouldn't be standing here +doing nothing." + +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." + +"WHO says so?" she asked. + +"Ev'rybody's talking about it in the City," he replied. + +"I wonder how the people found it out," Dorothy asked. + +"I know," said Ojo. "Jellia Jamb told them. She has been asking +everywhere if anyone has seen Ozma." + +"That's too bad," observed Dorothy, frowning. + +"Why?" asked Button-Bright. + +"There wasn't any use making all our people unhappy till we were dead +certain that Ozma can't be found." + +"Pshaw," said Button-Bright, "it's nothing to get lost. I've been lost +lots of times." + +"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." + +"Only wicked people steal," said Ojo. "Do you know of any wicked +people in Oz, Dorothy?" + +"No," she replied. + +"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!" + +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." + +"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." + +"There is one soldier," claimed Dorothy. + +"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." + + +"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?" + +"He went fishing about two months ago and hasn't come back yet," +explained Button-Bright. + +"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." + +"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." + +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." + +"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." + +"Then we'll start tomorrow morning," decided Dorothy. "Betsy and Trot +and I won't waste another minute." + +"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." + +"What harm could happen to us in Oz?" inquired Trot. + +"What harm happened to Ozma?" returned the Wizard. + +"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." + +"Nothing can kill me," said Ojo the Munchkin boy. + +"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." + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER 6 + +THE SEARCH PARTY + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"Where's Dorothy?" asked Toto. + +"She's gone to the Winkie Country," answered the maid. + +"When?" + +"A little while ago," replied Jellia. + +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. + +"Did any strange person come in or out of the city on the night before +last when Ozma was stolen?" asked Dorothy. + +"No indeed, Princess," answered the Guardian of the Gates. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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?" + +"From home," said the dog. "If you roll over, roll the other way so you +won't smash me." + +"Does Dorothy know you are here?" asked the Lion. + +"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?" + +"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. + +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?" + +"From the place you cruelly left me," replied the dog in a reproachful +tone. + +"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." + +"Never mind that," said Toto, wagging his tail. "I'm hungry, Dorothy." + +"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. + +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." + +"In that case," said the Cowardly Lion, "let us turn, by all means, for +I dread to face dangers of any sort." + +"What's the matter with the country ahead of us?" inquired Dorothy. + +"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." + +"What are they like?" demanded Dorothy. + +"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." + +"Who says all that?" asked Betsy. + +"It is common report," declared the shepherd. "Everyone believes it." + +"I don't see how they know," remarked little Trot, "if no one has been +there." + +"Perhaps the birds who fly over that country brought the news," +suggested Betsy. + +"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." + +"It may be, and it may not be," said the Wizard. "We shall know when +we get there." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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. I vote we go ahead and take our chances." + +They were all of the same opinion, so they packed up and said goodbye +to the friendly shepherd and proceeded on their way. + + + + +CHAPTER 7 + +THE MERRY-GO-ROUND MOUNTAINS + + +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. + +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. + +"I guess these are the Merry-Go-Round Mountains, all right," said +Dorothy. + +"They must be," said the Wizard. + +"They go 'round, sure enough," agreed Trot, "but they don't seem very +merry." + +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. + +"This ditch is too wide to jump across," remarked Button-Bright. + +"P'raps the Lion could do it," suggested Dorothy. + +"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." + +"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. + +"I agree with you," said the Woozy, wagging his square head. + +"We should have taken the shepherd's advice," added Hank the Mule. + +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." + +"True enough," agreed Dorothy. "So we must find some way, of course, +to get past these whirligig hills. But how?" + +"I wish the Ork was with us," sighed Trot. + +"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." + +"Unfortunately," observed the Woozy, "none of us has wings. And we're +in a magic country without any magic." + +"What is that around your waist, Dorothy?" asked the Wizard. + +"That? Oh, that's just the Magic Belt I once captured from the Nome +King," she replied. + +"A Magic Belt! Why, that's fine. I'm sure a Magic Belt would take +you over these hills." + +"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." + +"Try wishing yourself across and see if it will obey you," suggested +the Wizard. + +"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." + +"True enough," agreed the Wizard sadly. And then, after looking around +the group, he inquired, "What is that on your finger, Trot?" + +"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." + +"True enough," repeated the Wizard, more sadly. + +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." + +"Well, what then?" asked the Wizard. + +"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." + +"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." + +"That rope idea isn't half bad, though," said the Patchwork Girl, who +had been dancing dangerously near to the edge of the gulf. + +"What do you mean?" asked Dorothy. + +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." + +"Shall we?" asked Button-Bright doubtfully, turning to the others. + +"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." + +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." + +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. + +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. + +"My, how she bounded from one mountain to another!" exclaimed the Lion. + +"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." + +"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. + +"It seems to work, all right," remarked Button-Bright. "I guess I'll +try it." + +"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." + +"Do you s'pose it hurt them much to bump against those mountains?" +asked Trot. + +"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." + +"I'll take my chances," decided Button-Bright. + +"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." + +"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. + +"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." + +"If it wasn't for leaving Hank," began Betsy in a hesitating voice. + +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." + +"Braver," said the Lion, "for I'm a coward, friend Hank, and you are +not. But of course the Sawhorse--" + +"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." + +"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." + +"No one knows where we're going to land!" remarked the Lion in a voice +that sounded as if he were going to cry. + +"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." + +"I think I shall go last," said the Wizard, "so who wants to go first?" + +"I'll go," decided Dorothy. + +"No, it's my turn first," said Button-Bright. "Watch me!" + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +"They say 'Time flies,'" laughed Button-Bright, "but Time never made a +quicker journey than that." + +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. + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER 8 + +THE MYSTERIOUS CITY + + +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?" + +"Are they really rubber?" asked Trot. + +"They must be," replied the Lion, "for otherwise we would not have +bounded so swiftly from one to another without getting hurt." + +"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?" + +"That's guesswork," said Scraps. "The shepherd said the Thistle-Eaters +live this side of the mountains and are waited on by giants." + +"Oh no," said Dorothy, "it's the Herkus who have giant slaves, and the +Thistle-Eaters hitch dragons to their chariots." + +"How could they do that?" asked the Woozy. "Dragons have long tails, +which would get in the way of the chariot wheels." + +"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!" + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +"That doesn't seem like a very terr'ble place," remarked Dorothy. + +"Well, it LOOKS all right," replied Trot from her seat on the Woozy, +"but looks can't always be trusted." + +"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. + +"Are owls ever blind?" asked Trot. + +"Always, in the daytime," said Button-Bright. "But Scraps can see +with her button eyes both day and night. Isn't it queer?" + +"It's queer that buttons can see at all," answered Trot. "But good +gracious! What's become of the city?" + +"I was going to ask that myself," said Dorothy. "It's gone!" + +"It's gone!" + +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." + +"Where can it be, then?" asked Dorothy. "It cert'nly was there a +minute ago." + +"I can hear the music yet," declared Button-Bright, and when they all +listened, the strains of music could plainly be heard. + +"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. + +"We must have lost our way," suggested Dorothy. + +"Nonsense," said the Lion. + +"I, and all the other animals, have been tramping straight toward the +city ever since we first saw it." + +"Then how does it happen--" + +"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." + +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?" + +"It may not be a city at all," he replied, looking toward it with a +speculative glance. + +"What COULD it be, then?" + +"Just an illusion." + +"What's that?" asked Trot. + +"Something you think you see and don't see." + +"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." + +"Where?" asked the Patchwork Girl. + +"Somewhere near us," he insisted. + +"We will have to go back, I suppose," said the Woozy with a sigh. + +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!" + +"What's the matter?" asked Dorothy. + +"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. + +"It's the thistles," said Betsy. "They prick their legs." + +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." + +"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?" + +"They can't hurt ME," said the thick-skinned Woozy, advancing +fearlessly and trampling among the thistles. + +"Nor me," said the Wooden Sawhorse. + +"But the Lion and the Mule cannot stand the prickers," asserted +Dorothy, "and we can't leave them behind." + +"Must we all go back?" asked Trot. + +"Course not!" replied Button-Bright scornfully. "Always when there's +trouble, there's a way out of it if you can find it." + +"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." + +"What's the matter with YOUR brains?" asked the boy. + +"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." + +"Tell us, Scraps!" begged Dorothy. + +"I don't want to wear my brains out with overwork," replied the +Patchwork Girl. + +"Don't you love Ozma? And don't you want to find her?" asked Betsy +reproachfully. + +"Yes indeed," said Scraps, walking on her hands as an acrobat does at +the circus. + +"Well, we can't find Ozma unless we get past these thistles," declared +Dorothy. + +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." + +The Wizard's face brightened at once. + +"Why didn't we think of those blankets before?" + +"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." + +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." + +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." + +"The city is a good half mile away yet," announced Button-Bright. + +"And this is awful hard work for the Wizard," added Trot. + +"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." + +"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." + +"I'm--I'm afraid," said the Cowardly Lion. He was twice as big as the +Woozy. + +"Try it," pleaded Dorothy. + +"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. + +"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." + +"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. + +"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." + +"Which way?" asked Dorothy. + +"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. + +"It's mighty queer, isn't it?" asked Button-Bright. + +"There must be SOME way for the people to get out and in," declared +Dorothy. "Do you s'pose they have flying machines, Wizard?" + +"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." + +"It would be an awful climb over that high stone wall," said Betsy. + +"Stone, is it?" Scraps, who was again dancing wildly around, for she +never tired and could never keep still for long. + +"Course it's stone," answered Betsy scornfully. "Can't you see?" + +"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. + +"For goodness sake!" Dorothy, amazed, as indeed they all were. + + + + +CHAPTER 9 + +THE HIGH COCO-LORUM OF THI + + +And now the Patchwork Girl came dancing out of the wall again. + +"Come on!" she called. "It isn't there. There isn't any wall at all." + +"What? No wall?" exclaimed the Wizard. + +"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. + +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. + +"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?" + +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." + +"But by what name do others call your city?" asked the Wizard. + +"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?" + +"These are our natural shapes," declared the Wizard, "and we consider +them very good shapes, too." + +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. + +But the man shook his diamond-like head. "What is a King?" he asked. + +"Isn't there anyone who rules over you?" inquired the Wizard. + +"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." + +The Wizard reflected. + +"If you have disputes among you," said he after a little thought, "who +settles them?" + +"The High Coco-Lorum," they answered in a chorus. + +"And who is he?" + +"The judge who enforces the laws," said the man who had first spoken. + +"Then he is the principal person here?" continued the Wizard. + +"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." + +"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." + +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?" + +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. + +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." + +"Are your people called Thists?" asked Dorothy. + +"Yes. I thought you knew that. And we call our city Thi." + +"Oh!" + +"We are Thists because we eat thistles, you know," continued the High +Coco-Lorum. + +"Do you really eat those prickly things?" inquired Button-Bright +wonderingly. + +"Why not?" replied the other. "The sharp points of the thistles cannot +hurt us, because all our insides are gold-lined." + +"Gold-lined!" + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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?" + +"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." + +"Then we've come a long way for nothing!" exclaimed Trot regretfully. + +"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. + +The High Coco-Lorum watched Scraps admiringly. + +"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." + +"Are they giants?" asked Betsy. + +"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." + +"How do you know?" asked Scraps. + +"Everyone says so," answered the High Coco-Lorum. + +"Have you seen the Herkus yourself?" inquired Dorothy. + +"No, but what everyone says must be true, otherwise what would be the +use of their saying it?" + +"We were told before we got here that you people hitch dragons to your +chariots," said the little girl. + +"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." + +"Does this dragon of yours bite?" asked Button-Bright. + +"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." + +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. + +"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!" + +The charioteer did not move. + +"You forgot to order him in music," suggested Dorothy. + +"Ah, so I did." + +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. + +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. + +"Thistles," was the reply. "Fine, fresh thistles, gathered this very +day." + +Scraps laughed, for she never ate anything, but Dorothy said in a +protesting voice, "OUR insides are not lined with gold, you know." + +"How sad!" exclaimed the High Coco-Lorum, and then he added as an +afterthought, "but we can have the thistles boiled, if you prefer." + +"I'm 'fraid they wouldn't taste good even then," said little Trot. +"Haven't you anything else to eat?" + +The High Coco-Lorum shook his diamond-shaped head. + +"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." + +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." + +"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." + +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. + +"We don't mind the darkness," replied the Wizard. + +"Some wandering Herku may get you." + +"Do you think the Herkus would hurt us?" asked Dorothy. + +"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." + +"All of them together?" asked Button-Bright wonderingly. + +"Any one of them could do it," said the High Coco-Lorum. + +"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. + +"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." + +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." + +"Nor did I," agreed Dorothy. "It seems dreadful to be lined with sheets +of pure gold and have nothing to eat but thistles." + +"They seemed happy and contented, though," remarked the Wizard, "and +those who are contented have nothing to regret and nothing more to wish +for." + + + + +CHAPTER 10 + +TOTO LOSES SOMETHING + + +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. + +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 +in half a minute. 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?" + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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." + +"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." + +"You make enough noise now," declared Toto. "But none of you have +answered my question: Where is my growl?" + +"You may search ME," said the Woozy. "I don't care for such things, +myself." + +"You snore terribly," asserted Toto. + +"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." + +"It isn't pleasant, I assure you," said the Lion, yawning. + +"To me it seems wholly unnecessary," declared Hank the Mule. + +"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." + +"Do you think, then, that my growl was stolen?" + +"You have never lost it before, have you?" inquired inquired the +Sawhorse. + +"Only once, when I had a sore throat from barking too long at the moon." + +"Is your throat sore now?" asked the Woozy. + +"No," replied the dog. + +"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?" + +"Were you ever a dog?" asked Toto. + +"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." + +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." + +"You're full of edges," sneered the Mule. "If I were square as you are, +I suppose you'd think me lovely." + +"Outwardly, dear Hank, I would," replied the Woozy. "But to be really +lovely, one must be beautiful without and within." + +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." + +"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." + +"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?" + +"We are!" they declared, each one hopeful. + +"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." + +"You surely have a wooden head," said the Mule. + +"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." + +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." + +"There is some truth in that speech," remarked Toto reflectively. "But +how about my lost growl?" + +"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." + +"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." + + + + +CHAPTER 11 + +BUTTON-BRIGHT LOSES HIMSELF + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +"Dear me!" cried Dorothy. "I guess he's lost again, and that will mean +our waiting here until we can find him." + +"It's a good place to wait," suggested Betsy, who had found a plum tree +and was eating some of its fruit. + +"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. + +"Perhaps he'll come back here," answered Dorothy. + +"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." + +"Very true," said the Wizard. "So all the rest of you must stay here +while I go look for the boy." + +"Won't YOU get lost, too?" asked Betsy. + +"I hope not, my dear." + +"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. + +"Dorothy," said Toto, squatting beside his little mistress, "I've lost +my growl." + +"How did that happen?" she asked. + +"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." + +"Can you bark?" inquired Dorothy. + +"Oh, yes indeed." + +"Then never mind the growl," said she. + +"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. + +"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." + +"Do you think the person who stole Ozma stole my growl?" + +Dorothy smiled. + +"Perhaps, Toto." + +"Then he's a scoundrel!" cried the little dog. + +"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." + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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?" + +"Was it enchanted?" asked Button-Bright. + +"Of course," replied the Bluefinch. "Ugu the Shoemaker did that." + +"But why? And how was it enchanted? And what will happen to one who +eats it?" questioned the boy. + +"Ask Ugu the Shoemaker. He knows," said the bird, preening its +feathers with its bill. + +"And who is Ugu the Shoemaker?" + +"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! 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. + +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." + +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." + +"Oh, I'm not afraid for myself," returned the White Rabbit. "It's you +I'm worried about." + +"Yes, I'm lost," said the boy. + +"I fear you are, indeed," answered the Rabbit. "Why on earth did you +eat the enchanted peach?" + +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." + +"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. + +"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!" + +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." + +Button-Bright rose slowly to accompany her. + +"That wasn't much of a loss," he said cheerfully. "I haven't been gone +half a day, so there's no harm done." + +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?" + +"If she's in a dungeon cell, how are you going to get her out?" +inquired the boy. + +"Never you mind. We'll leave that to the Wizard. He's sure to find a +way." + +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." + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER 12 + +THE CZAROVER OF HERKU + + +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. + +"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." + +"Did you get in?" asked Trot. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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!" + +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. + +"What's wanted?" asked one old giant in a low, grumbling voice. + +"We are strangers, and we wish to enter the city," replied the Wizard. + +"Do you come in war or peace?" asked another. + +"In peace, of course," retorted the Wizard, and he added impatiently, +"Do we look like an army of conquest?" + +"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." + +"Who's that?" inquired Dorothy. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +"I don't believe it!" said Dorothy indignantly. + +"What don't you believe?" asked the man. + +"I don't believe your Czarover can hold a candle to our Ozma." + +"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." + +"We dare anything," said the Wizard, "so go ahead." + +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. + +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." + +"We are looking for Ozma, the Supreme Ruler of the Land of Oz," replied +the Wizard. + +"Do you see her anywhere around here?" asked the Czarover. + +"Not yet, Your Majesty, but perhaps you may tell us where she is." + +"No, I have my hands full keeping track of my own people. I find them +hard to manage because they are so tremendously strong." + +"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." + +"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." + +"Are your people so dangerous, then?" asked the Wizard. + +"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." + +"Why?" asked Button-Bright. + +"Because we are the strongest people in all the world." + +"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!" + +"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?" + +"No one could do that," declared the boy. + +"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." + +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. + +Just then one of the giant servants entered and exclaimed, "Oh, Your +Majesty, the cook has burned the soup! What shall we do?" + +"How dare you interrupt me?" 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?" + +"I guess not," said Button-Bright, much impressed by the skinny +monarch's strength. + +"What makes you so strong?" inquired Dorothy. + +"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?" + +"No thank you," replied the girl. "I--I don't want to get so thin." + +"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. + +"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." + +"To be sure. I'll give you enough for six doses," promised the +Czarover. + +"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." + +"Who is Ugu the Shoemaker?" + +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. + +"Why, Ugu is a great magician who used to live here. But he's gone +away now," replied the Czarover. + +"Where has he gone?" asked the Wizard quickly. + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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." + +"Do you think," asked Dorothy anxiously, "that Ugu the Shoemaker would +be wicked enough to steal our Ozma of Oz?" + +"And the Magic Picture?" asked Trot. + +"And the Great Book of Records of Glinda the Good?" asked Betsy. + +"And my own magic tools?" asked the Wizard. + +"Well," 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." + +"But how about Ozma? Why would he wish to steal HER?" questioned +Dorothy. + +"Don't ask me, my dear. Ugu doesn't tell me why he does things, I +assure you." + +"Then we must go and ask him ourselves," declared the little girl. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +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 party +wished to acquire great strength. + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER 13 + +THE TRUTH POND + + +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. + +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. + +"For goodness sake!" she exclaimed on seeing the Frogman. "What are +you doing out of your frog-pond?" + +"I am traveling in search of a jeweled gold dishpan, my good woman," he +replied with an air of great dignity. + +"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. + +"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!" + +"If you know so much," she retorted, "why don't you know where your +dishpan is instead of chasing around the country after it?" + +"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." + +"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. + +"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." + +"Then that's the place to go for your breakfast," declared the woman. + +"I fear you do not realize my importance," urged the Frogman. +"Exceeding wisdom renders me superior to menial duties." + +"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. + +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. + +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. + +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. 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: + + _This is_ + THE TRUTH POND + _Whoever bathes in this + water must always + afterward tell_ + THE TRUTH. + + +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." + +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. + +"To a farmhouse to ask for something to eat," said he, "but the woman +refused me." + +"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." + +"Do you mean yourself?" he asked. + +"No, I mean you." + +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." + +"Oh, you must be!" she protested. "You told me so yourself, only last +evening." + +"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." + +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. + +"I have bathed in the Truth Pond," he said, "and whoever bathes in that +water is ever afterward obliged to tell the truth." + +"You were foolish to do that," declared the woman. + +"It is often very embarrassing to tell the truth. I'm glad I didn't +bathe in that dreadful water!" + +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." + +"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. I'll be just as I am, an honest woman who can say +what she wants to without hurting anyone's feelings." + +With this decision the Frogman was forced to be content, although he +was sorry the Cookie Cook would not listen to his advice. + + + + +CHAPTER 14 + +THE UNHAPPY FERRYMAN + + +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. + +"No," said Cayke, "I am a Yip, and my home is on a high mountain at the +southeast of your country." + +"And the Frogman, is he also a Yip?" + +"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." + +"May I ask why you have left your home and where you are going?" said +the Winkie woman. + +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?" + +"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?" + +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?" + +"We have not decided," answered the Cookie cook. + +"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." + +"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." + +"Why?" asked the Frogman. + +"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." + +"This seems to be to be excellent advice," said the Frogman, and Cayke +agreed with him. + +"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." + +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. + +"Good evening," said the Frogman. + +The ferryman made no reply. + +"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." + +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!" + +The ferryman scowled. + +"Why do you yell at me, woman?" he asked. + +"Can you hear what I say?" asked in her ordinary tone of voice. + +"Of course," replied the man. + +"Then why didn't you answer the Frogman?" + +"Because," said the ferryman, "I don't understand the frog language." + +"He speaks the same words that I do and in the same way," declared +Cayke. + +"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." + +"Why is that?" asked the Cookie Cook in surprise. + +"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." + +"Really," said Cayke, "I'm sorry for you, although the Tin Woodman is +not to blame for punishing you." + +"What is he mumbling about?" asked the Frogman. + +"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 look +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + + + + +CHAPTER 15 + +THE BIG LAVENDER BEAR + + +It was a pleasant place to wander, and the two travelers were +proceeding at a brisk pace when suddenly a voice shouted, "Halt!" + +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." + +"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." + +"Prisoners! Why do you speak such nonsense?" the Frogman angrily. "Do +you think we are afraid of a toy bear with a toy gun?" + +"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." + +"Why do you wish to capture us?" inquired the Frogman, who had listened +to his speech with much astonishment. + +"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." + +"We defy you!" said the Frogman. + +"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." + +"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." + +"But how could you execute us?" inquired the Cookie Cook. + +"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?" + +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." + +"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. + +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!" + +"But there are no houses, there are no bears living here at all!" +exclaimed Cayke. + +"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. + +At first a chorus of growls arose, and then a sharp voice cried, "What +has happened, Corporal Waddle?" + +"Captives, Your Majesty!" answered the Brown Bear. "Intruders upon our +domain and slanderers of our good name." + +"Ah, that's important," answered the voice. + +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. + +"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. + + + + +CHAPTER 16 + +THE LITTLE PINK BEAR + + +"One Person and one Freak," said the big Lavender Bear when he had +carefully examined the strangers. + +"I am sorry to hear you call poor Cayke the Cookie Cook a Freak," +remonstrated the Frogman. + +"She is the Person," asserted the King. "Unless I am mistaken, it is +you who are the Freak." + +The Frogman was silent, for he could not truthfully deny it. + +"Why have you dared intrude in my forest?" demanded the Bear King. + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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?" + +The King looked at the Frogman. + +"What makes you so wonderfully wise?" he asked. + +"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." + +The King nodded, and when he did so, something squeaked in his chest. + +"Did Your Majesty speak?" asked Cayke. + +"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. 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. + +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. + +"Is this your dishpan?" inquired the King. + +"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. + +"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." + +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?" + +"No," they answered in a chorus. + +The King seemed to reflect. Presently he inquired, "Where is the +Little Pink Bear?" + +"At home, Your Majesty," was the reply. + +"Fetch him here," commanded the King. + +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. + +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!" + +"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?" + +"U-u-u," said the Pink Bear, and then stopped short. + +The King turned the crank again. + +"U-g-u the Shoemaker has it," said the Pink Bear. + +"Who is Ugu the Shoemaker?" demanded the King, again turning the crank. + +"A magician who lives on a mountain in a wickerwork castle," was the +reply. + +"Where is the mountain?" was the next question. + +"Nineteen miles and three furlongs from Bear Center to the northeast." + +"And is the dishpan still at the castle of Ugu the Shoemaker?" asked +the King. + +"It is." + +The King turned to Cayke. + +"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." + +"Is he alive?" asked the Frogman, much interested in the Pink Bear. + +"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." + +"Can't the Pink Bear tell?" asked Cayke anxiously. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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. + +On no account was Ugu the Shoemaker a pleasant person to gaze at. As +his image appeared before them, 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." + +"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." + +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." + +The King did not reply at once. He seemed to be thinking. + +"PLEASE let us take the Pink Bear," begged Cayke. "I'm sure he would +be a great help to us." + +"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." + +"But Your Majesty!" exclaimed Corporal Waddle in protest, "I hope you +do not intend to let these prisoners escape without punishment." + +"Of what crime do you accuse them?" inquired the King. + +"Why, they trespassed on your domain, for one thing," said the Brown +Bear. + +"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?" + +"Every person has the right to ask questions," said the Frogman. + +"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." + +"But we belong in the Land of Oz, where no one ever dies," Cayke +reminded him. + +"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?" + +"Quite ready, Your Majesty." + +"But who will rule in your place while you are gone?" asked a big +Yellow Bear. + +"I myself will rule while I am gone," was the reply. + +"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." + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER 17 + +THE MEETING + + +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. + +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." + +"Do you suppose I can be any funnier than you?" asked the Frogman, +gazing at her in wonder. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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?" + +"The Yip Country," said he. + +"Is that in the Land of Oz?" + +"Of course," replied the Frogman. + +"And do you know that your Ruler, Ozma of Oz, has been stolen?" + +"I was not aware that I had a Ruler, so of course I couldn't know that +she was stolen." + +"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!" + +"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." + +"I don't see any connection between a Royal Ruler of Oz and a dishpan!" +declared Scraps. + +"They've both been stolen, haven't they?" + +"True. But why can't your friend wash her dishes in another dishpan?" +asked Scraps. + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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." + +"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." + +"So are we," said the Frogman. + +"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." + +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. + +"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!" + +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." + +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." + +"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. + +"Mercy me!" cried Cayke, addressing the Patchwork Girl. "However did +you come alive?" + +Scraps stared at the bears. + +"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." + +"Perhaps you are," returned the Lavender Bear, "for I am stuffed with +extra-quality curled hair, and so is the Little Pink Bear." + +"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!" + +"I hope I am too polite to criticize cotton as compared with curled +hair," said the King, "especially as you seem satisfied with it." + +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?" + +And the Pink Bear at once replied, + + "Safe for you and safe for me; + Perhaps no others safe will be." + + +"That 'perhaps' need not worry us," said the King, "so let us join the +others and offer them our protection." + +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. + +"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." + +"And the King's magic is just as wonderful," added Cayke, "because it +showed us the Magician himself." + +"What did he look like?" inquired Dorothy. + +"He was dreadful!" + +"He was sitting at a table and examining an immense Book which had +three golden clasps," remarked the King. + +"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." + +"And my dishpan," said Cayke. + +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." + +"If we can," added the Woozy, but everybody frowned at him. + +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. + +"No one but a crazy Patchwork Girl would consider that a joke," +grumbled Button-Bright. + +And then the Lavender Bear King asked, "Would you like to see this +magical shoemaker?" + +"Wouldn't he know it?" Dorothy inquired. + +"No, I think not." + +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 now 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. + +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." + +"I don't see anything of my lost growl, though," said Toto as if to +himself. + +Then the vision faded away, and they could see nothing but the grass +and trees and bushes around them. + + + + +CHAPTER 18 + +THE CONFERENCE + + +"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." + +"I didn't see Ozma in the Magic Picture," said Trot. "What do you +suppose Ugu has done with her?" + +"Couldn't the Little Pink Bear tell us what he did with Ozma?" asked +Button-Bright. + +"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?" + +"Yes," answered the Little Pink Bear. + +"Then what did he do with her?" asked the King. + +"Shut her up in a dark place," answered the Little Pink Bear. + +"Oh, that must be a dungeon cell!" cried Dorothy, horrified. "How +dreadful!" + +"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?" + +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?" + +Dorothy looked at her reflectively. + +"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." + +"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." + +"That is excellent advice," said the Lavender Bear approvingly. + +"But what can we do when we get to Ugu?" inquired the Cookie Cook +anxiously. + +"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." + +"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?" + +"And give me back my dishpan?" added the Cookie Cook eagerly. + +"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." + +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. + +"No, for that is something that is GOING to happen," replied the +Lavender Bear. "He can only tell us what already HAS happened." + +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." + +The Mule turned his head to look reproachfully at his old friend, the +young girl. "Who can fight against magic?" he asked. + +"The Cowardly Lion could," said Dorothy. + +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." + +"Ugu's magic couldn't hurt the Sawhorse," suggested tiny Trot. + +"And the Sawhorse couldn't hurt the Magician," declared that wooden +animal. + +"For my part," said Toto, "I am helpless, having lost my growl." + +"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." + +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." + +"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 mustn'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." + +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. + +"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." + + + + +CHAPTER 19 + +UGU THE SHOEMAKER + + +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. + +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. + +From the books of his ancestors, he learned the following facts: + +(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. + +(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. + +(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. + +(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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER 20 + +MORE SURPRISES + + +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. + +"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." + +"How do you know that the Shoemaker stole your growl?" demanded the +Woozy. + +"He has stolen about everything else of value in Oz, hasn't he?" +replied the dog. + +"He has stolen everything he wants, perhaps," agreed the Lion, "but +what could anyone want with your growl?" + +"Well," said the dog, wagging his tail slowly, "my recollection is that +it was a wonderful growl, soft and low and--and--" + +"And ragged at the edges," said the Sawhorse. + +"So," continued Toto, "if that magician hadn't any growl of his own, he +might have wanted mine and stolen it." + +"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." + +"Don't you like Button-Bright, then?" asked the Lion in surprise. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +The Lion sighed. + +"If only you had lost your voice when you lost your growl," said he, +"you would be a more agreeable companion." + +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. + +"I wonder if it is strong?" said Dorothy musingly as she eyed the queer +castle. + +"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." + +"Yes. No one else would steal our dear Ozma," sighed tiny Trot. + +"I wonder if Ozma is there?" said Betsy, indicating the castle with a +nod of her head. + +"Where else could she be?" asked Scraps. + +"Suppose we ask the Pink Bear," suggested Dorothy. + +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?" + +And the little Pink Bear answered, "She is in a hole in the ground a +half mile away at your left." + +"Good gracious!" cried Dorothy. + +"Then she is not in Ugu's castle at all." + +"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." + +"Indeed!" said Cayke. "Then what about my dishpan?" + +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?" + +"She's right," said Dorothy to the Wizard. + +"We must do as we agreed." + +"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. + +Their cries soon wakened the boy, who sat up and rubbed his eyes. When +he recognized his friends, he smiled sweetly, saying, "Found again!" + +"Where is Ozma?" inquired Dorothy anxiously. + +"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." + +"And wasn't Ozma in it then?" + +"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." + +"How strange!" said Dorothy, greatly disappointed. + +"It's evident the Pink Bear didn't tell the truth." + +"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?" + +"Yes," answered the Pink Bear. + +"That settles it," said the King positively. "Your Ozma is in this +hole in the ground." + +"Don't be silly," returned Dorothy impatiently. "Even your beady eyes +can see there is no one in the hole but Button-Bright." + +"Perhaps Button-Bright is Ozma," suggested the King. + +"And perhaps he isn't! Ozma is a girl, and Button-Bright is a boy." + +"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." + +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. + +"At any rate," said the Frogman, "the Pink Bear has led us to your boy +friend and so enabled you to rescue him." + +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?" + +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. + +"Is Ozma REALLY in this hole?" asked Dorothy. + +"No," said the little Pink Bear. + +This surprised everybody. Even the Bear King was now puzzled by the +contradictory statements of his oracle. + +"Where IS she?" asked the King. + +"Here, among you," answered the little Pink Bear. + +"Well," said Dorothy, "this beats me entirely! I guess the little Pink +Bear has gone crazy." + +"Perhaps," called Scraps, who was rapidly turning "cartwheels" all +around the perplexed group, "Ozma is invisible." + +"Of course!" cried Betsy. "That would account for it." + +"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?" + +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. + +"It's strange, it's terrible strange!" muttered Cayke the Cookie Cook. +"I was sure that the little Pink Bear always tells the truth." + +"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. + +"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." + +"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!" + +Button-Bright laughed. + +"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?" + +"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." + + + + +CHAPTER 21 + +MAGIC AGAINST MAGIC + + +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. + +"This will never do for me!" exclaimed the Patchwork Girl. "I catch +fire very easily." + +"It won't do for me either," grumbled the Sawhorse, prancing to the +rear. + +"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. + +"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?" + +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. + +"That was funny!" laughed Button-Bright. + +"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." + +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." + +"How can that be done?" asked Dorothy. + +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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"I'm sure it would," agreed the Cookie Cook. + +"Leaping, you know, is a froglike accomplishment," continued the +Frogman modestly, "but please tell me what I am to do when I reach the +other side of the wall." + +"You're a brave creature," said the Wizard admiringly. "Has anyone a +pin?" + +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." + +"But the wall is of steel!" exclaimed the big frog. + +"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." + +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. + +"We thank you very much," said the delighted Wizard. + +"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." + +"We must have surprised him so far," declared Dorothy. + +"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." + +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. + +"I'd no idea Ugu had such an army as that," said Dorothy. "The castle +doesn't look big enough to hold them all." + +"It isn't," declared the Wizard. + +"But they all marched out of it." + +"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." + +"They're only girls!" laughed Scraps. + +"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." + +No one argued this statement, for all were staring hard at the line of +soldiers, which now, having taken a defiant position, remained +motionless. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER 22 + +IN THE WICKER CASTLE + + +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. + +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!" + +"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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"Very well, go ahead and conquer," said Ugu. "I'd really like to see +how you can do it." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +"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." + +"Get off my foot, please," said the Lion to the Sawhorse. + +"And oblige me, Mr. Mule," remarked the Woozy, "by taking your tail +out of my left eye." + +"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." + +"Dear, dear!" wailed Cayke, "I wish I had my darling dishpan," and she +held her arms longingly toward it. + +"I wish I had the magic on those shelves up there," sighed the Wizard. + +"Don't you s'pose we could get to it?" asked Trot anxiously. + +"We'd have to fly," laughed the Patchwork Girl. + +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. + +"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. + +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?" + +"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." + +"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." + +"Don't give up," pleaded Button-Bright, "'cause if we can't get out of +this queer prison, we'll all starve to death." + +"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. + +"Don't talk of such dreadful things," said Trot, shuddering. "We came +here to capture the Shoemaker, didn't we?" + +"Yes, and to save Ozma," said Betsy. + +"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. + +"Hush!" called the Lion with a low, deep growl. "Give the Wizard time +to think." + +"He has plenty of time," said Scraps. "What he needs is the Scarecrow's +brains." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"Good gracious!" cried Dorothy. "How ever will you get down?" + +"Won't the room keep turning?" asked Scraps. + +"I hope not. I believe it has stopped for good," said Princess Dorothy. + +"Then stand from under, so you won't get hurt!" shouted the Patchwork +Girl, 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. + + + + +CHAPTER 23 + +THE DEFIANCE OF UGU THE SHOEMAKER + + +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. + +"It was I," answered Dorothy calmly. + +"Then I shall destroy you, for you are only an Earth girl and no +fairy," he said, and began to mumble some magic words. + +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." + +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!" + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +"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!" + +"I thought you said you did not know how to use the magic of the Nome +King's Belt," said the Wizard to Dorothy. + +"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." + +"When did you perform those enchantments?" asked the Wizard, much +surprised. + +"One night when all the rest of you were asleep but Scraps, and she had +gone chasing moonbeams." + +"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." + +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!" + +"Never mind," said Trot, trying to comfort her, "it's sure to be +SOMEWHERE, so we'll cert'nly run across it some day." + +"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. + +"But where is the place? How far or how near?" asked Cayke anxiously. + +"The Book of Records will tell us that," answered the Wizard. So they +looked in the Great Book and read the following: + +"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." + +"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." + +"Good gracious!" exclaimed Button-Bright. "We've forgot all about +Ozma. Let's find out where the magician hid her." + +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. + +"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." + + + + +CHAPTER 24 + +THE LITTLE PINK BEAR SPEAKS TRULY + + +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. + +"Pshaw!" said Button-Bright. "HE don't know anything." + +"He never makes a mistake," declared the King. + +"He did once, surely," said Betsy. "But perhaps he wouldn't make a +mistake again." + +"He won't have the chance," grumbled the Bear King. + +"We might hear what he has to say," said Dorothy. "It won't do any +harm to ask the Pink Bear where Ozma is." + +"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." + +"Didn't he say Ozma was in that hole in the ground?" asked Betsy. + +"He did, and I am certain she was there," replied the Lavender Bear. + +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. + +"Here in this room," answered the little Pink Bear. + +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. + +"In Button-Bright's pocket," said the little Pink Bear. + +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. + +"In the left-hand jacket pocket," said the little Pink Bear. + +"The pink one has gone crazy!" exclaimed Button-Bright, staring hard at +the little bear on the big bear's knee. + +"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." + +"He never makes a mistake," asserted the Bear King stoutly. + +"Empty that pocket, Button-Bright, and let's see what's in it," +requested Dorothy. + +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. + +"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." + +"Nor I," said the Wizard, "and that makes it seem suspicious." + +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. + +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!" + + + + +CHAPTER 25 + +OZMA OF OZ + + +"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." + +"Let's hear your growl," requested the Lion. + +"G-r-r-r-r-r!" said Toto. + +"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?" + +"I was smelling in the corner yonder," said Toto, "when suddenly a +mouse ran out--and I growled." + +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. + +"And only to think," cried Dorothy, "that Button-Bright has been +carrying you in his pocket all this time, and we never knew it!" + +"The little Pink Bear told you," said the Bear King, "but you wouldn't +believe him." + +"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." + +"You were in a fine peach," said Button-Bright, "the best I ever ate." + +"The magician was foolish to make the peach so tempting," remarked the +Wizard, "but Ozma would lend beauty to any transformation." + +"How did you manage to conquer Ugu the Shoemaker?" inquired the girl +Ruler of Oz. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"And you'll bring the little Pink Bear?" asked Dorothy eagerly. + +"Of course, my dear. I would not willingly part with him." + +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." + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + + + + +CHAPTER 26 + +DOROTHY FORGIVES + + +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. + +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." + +"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." + +"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." + +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. + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +"Are you sorry, then?" asked Dorothy, looking hard at the bird. + +"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." + +"I guess that's so," said Trot. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"Then you forgive me for all the trouble I caused you?" he asked +earnestly. + +"Of course. Anyone who's sorry just has to be forgiven." + +"Thank you," said the gray dove, and flew away again. + + + +THE END + + + +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 The Lost Princess of Oz, by L. Frank Baum + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LOST PRINCESS OF OZ *** + +***** This file should be named 959.txt or 959.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/9/5/959/ + +Produced by Anthony Matonac + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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