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