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If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Association/Carnegie-Mellon + University" within the 60 days following each + date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare) + your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time, +scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty +free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution +you can think of. Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg +Association / Carnegie-Mellon University". + +*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + + THE TIN WOODMAN OF OZ + +A Faithful Story of the Astonishing Adventure + Undertaken by the Tin Woodman, assisted + by Woot the Wanderer, the Scarecrow + of Oz, and Polychrome, the + Rainbow's Daughter + + by + L. FRANK BAUM + "Royal historian of Oz" + + This Book + is dedicated + to the son of + my son + Frank Alden Baum + + + +TO MY READERS + +I know that some of you have been waiting for this +story of the Tin Woodman, because many of my +correspondents have asked me, time and again what ever +became of the "pretty Munchkin girl" whom Nick Chopper +was engaged to marry before the Wicked Witch enchanted +his axe and he traded his flesh for tin. I, too, have +wondered what became of her, but until Woot the +Wanderer interested himself in the matter the Tin +Woodman knew no more than we did. However, he found +her, after many thrilling adventures, as you will +discover when you have read this story. + +I am delighted at the continued interest of both +young and old in the Oz stories. A learned college +professor recently wrote me to ask: "For readers of +what age are your books intended?" It puzzled me to +answer that properly, until I had looked over some of +the letters I have received. One says: "I'm a little +boy 5 years old, and I Just love your Oz stories. My +sister, who is writing this for me, reads me the Oz +books, but I wish I could read them myself." Another +letter says: "I'm a great girl 13 years old, so you'll +be surprised when I tell you I am not too old yet for +the Oz stories." Here's another letter: "Since I was a +young girl I've never missed getting a Baum book for +Christmas. I'm married, now, but am as eager to get and +read the Oz stories as ever." And still another writes: +"My good wife and I, both more than 70 years of age, +believe that we find more real enjoyment in your Oz +books than in any other books we read." Considering +these statements, I wrote the college professor that my +books are intended for all those whose hearts are +young, no matter what their ages may be. + +I think I am justified in promising that there will +be some astonishing revelations about The Magic of Oz +in my book for 1919. Always your loving and grateful +friend, + + L. FRANK BAUM. + + Royal Historian of Oz. + + + "OZCOT" +at HOLLYWOOD +in CALIFORNIA + + 1918. + +LIST OF CHAPTERS + 1 Woot the Wanderer + 2 The Heart of the Tin Woodman + 3 Roundabout + 4 The Loons of Loonville + 5 Mrs. Yoop, the Giantess + 6 The Magic of a Yookoohoo + 7 The Lace Apron + 8 The Menace of the Forest + 9 The Quarrelsome Dragons +10 Tommy Kwikstep +11 Jinjur's Ranch +12 Ozma and Dorothy +13 The Restoration +14 The Green Monkey +15 The Man of Tin +16 Captain Fyter +17 The Workshop of Ku-Klip +18 The Tin Woodman Talks to Himself +19 The Invisible Country +20 Over Night +21 Polychrome's Magic +22 Nimmie Amee +23 Through the Tunnel +24 The Curtain Falls + + + + +Chapter One + +Woot the Wanderer + + +The Tin Woodman sat on his glittering tin throne in the +handsome tin hall of his splendid tin castle in the +Winkie Country of the Land of Oz. Beside him, in a +chair of woven straw, sat his best friend, the +Scarecrow of Oz. At times they spoke to one another of +curious things they had seen and strange adventures +they had known since first they two had met and become +comrades. But at times they were silent, for these +things had been talked over many times between them, +and they found themselves contented in merely being +together, speaking now and then a brief sentence to +prove they were wide awake and attentive. But then, +these two quaint persons never slept. Why should they +sleep, when they never tired? + +And now, as the brilliant sun sank low over the Winkie +Country of Oz, tinting the glistening tin towers and +tin minarets of the tin castle with glorious sunset +hues, there approached along a winding pathway Woot the +Wanderer, who met at the castle entrance a Winkie +servant. + +The servants of the Tin Woodman all wore tin helmets +and tin breastplates and uniforms covered with tiny tin +discs sewed closely together on silver cloth, so that +their bodies sparkled as beautifully as did the tin +castle -- and almost as beautifully as did the Tin +Woodman himself. + +Woot the Wanderer looked at the man servant --all +bright and glittering -- and at the magnificent castle +-- all bright and glittering -- and as he looked his +eyes grew big with wonder. For Woot was not very big +and not very old and, wanderer though he was, this +proved the most gorgeous sight that had ever met his +boyish gaze. + +"Who lives here?" he asked. + +"The Emperor of the Winkies, who is the famous Tin +Woodman of Oz," replied the servant, who had been +trained to treat all strangers with courtesy. + +"A Tin Woodman? How queer!" exclaimed the little +wanderer. + +"Well, perhaps our Emperor is queer," admitted the +servant; "but he is a kind master and as honest and +true as good tin can make him; so we, who gladly serve +him, are apt to forget that he is not like other +people." + +"May I see him?" asked Woot the Wanderer, after a +moment's thought. + +"If it please you to wait a moment, I will go and ask +him," said the servant, and then he went into the hall +where the Tin Woodman sat with his friend the +Scarecrow. Both were glad to learn that a stranger had +arrived at the castle, for this would give them +something new to talk about, so the servant was asked +to admit the boy at once. + +By the time Woot the Wanderer had passed through the +grand corridors -- all lined with ornamental tin -- and +under stately tin archways and through the many tin +rooms all set with beautiful tin furniture, his eyes +had grown bigger than ever and his whole little body +thrilled with amazement. But, astonished though he was, +he was able to make a polite bow before the throne and +to say in a respectful voice: "I salute your +Illustrious Majesty and offer you my humble services." + +"Very good!" answered the Tin Woodman in his +accustomed cheerful manner. "Tell me who you are, and +whence you come." + +"I am known as Woot the Wanderer," answered the boy, +"and I have come, through many travels and by +roundabout ways, from my former home in a far corner of +the Gillikin Country of Oz." + +"To wander from one's home," remarked the Scarecrow, +"is to encounter dangers and hardships, especially if +one is made of meat and bone. Had you no friends in +that corner of the Gillikin Country? Was it not +homelike and comfortable?" + +To hear a man stuffed with straw speak, and speak so +well, quite startled Woot, and perhaps he stared a bit +rudely at the Scarecrow. But after a moment he replied: + +"I had home and friends, your Honorable Strawness, +but they were so quiet and happy and comfortable that I +found them dismally stupid. Nothing in that corner of +Oz interested me, but I believed that in other parts of +the country I would find strange people and see new +sights, and so I set out upon my wandering journey. I +have been a wanderer for nearly a full year, and now my +wanderings have brought me to this splendid castle." + +"I suppose," said the Tin Woodman, "that in this year +you have seen so much that you have become very wise." + +"No," replied Woot, thoughtfully, "I am not at all +wise, I beg to assure your Majesty. The more I wander +the less I find that I know, for in the Land of Oz much +wisdom and many things may be learned." + +"To learn is simple. Don't you ask questions?" +inquired the Scarecrow. + +"Yes; I ask as many questions as I dare; but some +people refuse to answer questions." + +"That is not kind of them," declared the Tin Woodman. +"If one does not ask for information he seldom receives +it; so I, for my part, make it a rule to answer any +civil question that is asked me." + +"So do I," added the Scarecrow, nodding. + +"I am glad to hear this," said the Wanderer, "for it +makes me bold to ask for something to eat." + +"Bless the boy!" cried the Emperor of the Winkies; +"how careless of me not to remember that wanderers are +usually hungry. I will have food brought you at once." + +Saying this he blew upon a tin whistle that was +suspended from his tin neck, and at the summons a +servant appeared and bowed low. The Tin Woodman +ordered food for the stranger, and in a few minutes the +servant brought in a tin tray heaped with a choice +array of good things to eat, all neatly displayed on +tin dishes that were polished till they shone like +mirrors. The tray was set upon a tin table drawn +before the throne, and the servant placed a tin chair +before the table for the boy to seat himself. + +"Eat, friend Wanderer," said the Emperor cordially, +"and I trust the feast will be to your liking. I, +myself, do not eat, being made in such manner that I +require no food to keep me alive. Neither does my +friend the Scarecrow. But all my Winkie people eat, +being formed of flesh, as you are, and so my tin +cupboard is never bare, and strangers are always +welcome to whatever it contains." + +The boy ate in silence for a time, being really +hungry, but after his appetite was somewhat satisfied, +he said: + +"How happened your Majesty to be made of tin, and +still be alive?" + +"That," replied the tin man, "is a long story." + +"The longer the better," said the boy. "Won't you +please tell me the story?" + +"If you desire it," promised the Tin Woodman, leaning +back in his tin throne and crossing his tin legs. "I +haven't related my history in a long while, because +everyone here knows it nearly as well as I do. But you, +being a stranger, are no doubt curious to learn how I +became so beautiful and prosperous, so I will recite +for your benefit my strange adventures." + +"Thank you," said Woot the Wanderer, still eating. + +"I was not always made of tin," began the Emperor, +"for in the beginning I was a man of flesh and bone and +blood and lived in the Munchkin Country of Oz. There I +was, by trade, a woodchopper, and contributed my share +to the comfort of the Oz people by chopping up the +trees of the forest to make firewood, with which the +women would cook their meals while the children warmed +themselves about the fires. For my home I had a little +hut by the edge of the forest, and my life was one of +much content until I fell in love with a beautiful +Munchkin girl who lived not far away." + +"What was the Munchkin girl's name?" asked Woot. + +"Nimmie Amee. This girl, so fair that the sunsets +blushed when their rays fell upon her, lived with a +powerful witch who wore silver shoes and who had made +the poor child her slave. Nimmie Amee was obliged to +work from morning till night for the old Witch of the +East, scrubbing and sweeping her hut and cooking her +meals and washing her dishes. She had to cut firewood, +too, until I found her one day in the forest and fell +in love with her. After that, I always brought plenty +of firewood to Nimmie Amee and we became very friendly. +Finally I asked her to marry me, and she agreed to do +so, but the Witch happened to overhear our conversation +and it made her very angry, for she did not wish her +slave to be taken away from her. The Witch commanded me +never to come near Nimmie Amee again, but I told her I +was my own master and would do as I pleased, not +realizing that this was a careless way to speak to a +Witch. + +"The next day, as I was cutting wood in the forest, +the cruel Witch enchanted my axe, so that it slipped +and cut off my right leg." + +"How dreadful!" cried Woot the Wanderer. + +"Yes, it was a seeming misfortune," agreed the Tin +Man, "for a one-legged woodchopper is of little use in +his trade. But I would not allow the Witch to conquer +me so easily. I knew a very skillful mechanic at the +other side of the forest, who was my friend, so I +hopped on one leg to him and asked him to help me. He +soon made me a new leg out of tin and fastened it +cleverly to my meat body. It had joints at the knee and +at the ankle and was almost as comfortable as the leg I +had lost." + +"Your friend must have been a wonderful workman!" +exclaimed Woot. + +"He was, indeed," admitted the Emperor. "He was a +tinsmith by trade and could make anything out of tin. +When I returned to Nimmie Amee, the girl was delighted +and threw her arms around my neck and kissed me, +declaring she was proud of me. The Witch saw the kiss +and was more angry than before. When I went to work in +the forest, next day, my axe, being still enchanted, +slipped and cut off my other leg. Again I hopped -- on +my tin leg -- to my friend the tinsmith, who kindly +made me another tin leg and fastened it to my body. So +I returned joyfully to Nimmie Amee, who was much +pleased with my glittering legs and promised that when +we were wed she would always keep them oiled and +polished. But the Witch was more furious than ever, and +as soon as I raised my axe to chop, it twisted around +and cut off one of my arms. The tinsmith made me a tin +arm and I was not much worried, because Nimmie Amee +declared she still loved me." + + + + +Chapter Two + +The Heart of the Tin Woodman + + +The Emperor of the Winkies paused in his story to +reach for an oil-can, with which he carefully oiled the +joints in his tin throat, for his voice had begun to +squeak a little. Woot the Wanderer, having satisfied +his hunger, watched this oiling process with much +curiosity, but begged the Tin Man to go on with his +tale. + +"The Witch with the Silver Shoes hated me for having +defied her," resumed the Emperor, his voice now +sounding clear as a bell, "and she insisted that Nimmie +Amee should never marry me. Therefore she made the +enchanted axe cut off my other arm, and the tinsmith +also replaced that member with tin, including these +finely-jointed hands that you see me using. But, alas! +after that, the axe, still enchanted by the cruel +Witch, cut my body in two, so that I fell to the +ground. Then the Witch, who was watching from a near-by +bush, rushed up and seized the axe and chopped my body +into several small pieces, after which, thinking that +at last she had destroyed me, she ran away laughing in +wicked glee. + +"But Nimmie Amee found me. She picked up my arms and +legs and head, and made a bundle of them and carried +them to the tinsmith, who set to work and made me a +fine body of pure tin. When he had joined the arms and +legs to the body, and set my head in the tin collar, I +was a much better man than ever, for my body could not +ache or pain me, and I was so beautiful and bright that +I had no need of clothing. Clothing is always a +nuisance, because it soils and tears and has to be +replaced; but my tin body only needs to be oiled and +polished. + +"Nimmie Amee still declared she would marry me, as +she still loved me in spite of the Witch's evil deeds. +The girl declared I would make the brightest husband in +all the world, which was quite true. However, the +Wicked Witch was not yet defeated. When I returned to +my work the axe slipped and cut off my head, which was +the only meat part of me then remaining. Moreover, the +old woman grabbed up my severed head and carried it +away with her and hid it. But Nimmie Amee came into the +forest and found me wandering around helplessly, +because I could not see where to go, and she led me to +my friend the tinsmith. The faithful fellow at once set +to work to make me a tin head, and he had just +completed it when Nimmie Amee came running up with my +old head, which she had stolen from the Witch. But, on +reflection, I considered the tin head far superior to +the meat one -- I am wearing it yet, so you can see its +beauty and grace of outline -- and the girl agreed with +me that a man all made of tin was far more perfect than +one formed of different materials. The tinsmith was as +proud of his workmanship as I was, and for three whole +days, all admired me and praised my beauty. "Being now +completely formed of tin, I had no more fear of the +Wicked Witch, for she was powerless to injure me. +Nimmie Amee said we must be married at once, for then +she could come to my cottage and live with me and keep +me bright and sparkling. + +"'I am sure, my dear Nick,' said the brave and +beautiful girl -- my name was then Nick Chopper, you +should be told -- 'that you will make the best husband +any girl could have. I shall not be obliged to cook for +you, for now you do not eat; I shall not have to make +your bed, for tin does not tire or require sleep; when +we go to a dance, you will not get weary before the +music stops and say you want to go home. All day long, +while you are chopping wood in the forest, I shall be +able to amuse myself in my own way -- a privilege few +wives enjoy. There is no temper in your new head, so +you will not get angry with me. Finally, I shall take +pride in being the wife of the only live Tin Woodman in +all the world!' Which shows that Nimmie Amee was as +wise as she was brave and beautiful." + +"I think she was a very nice girl," said Woot the +Wanderer. "But, tell me, please, why were you not +killed when you were chopped to pieces?" + +"In the Land of Oz," replied the Emperor, "no one can +ever be killed. A man with a wooden leg or a tin leg is +still the same man; and, as I lost parts of my meat +body by degrees, I always remained the same person as +in the beginning, even though in the end I was all tin +and no meat." + +"I see," said the boy, thoughtfully. "And did you +marry Nimmie Amee?" + +"No," answered the Tin Woodman, "I did not. She said +she still loved me, but I found that I no longer loved +her. My tin body contained no heart, and without a +heart no one can love. So the Wicked Witch conquered in +the end, and when I left the Munchkin Country of Oz, +the poor girl was still the slave of the Witch and had +to do her bidding day and night." + +"Where did you go?" asked Woot. + +"Well, I first started out to find a heart, so I +could love Nimmie Amee again; but hearts are more +scarce than one would think. One day, in a big forest +that was strange to me, my joints suddenly became +rusted, because I had forgotten to oil them. There I +stood, unable to move hand or foot. And there I +continued to stand -- while days came and went -- until +Dorothy and the Scarecrow came along and rescued me. +They oiled my joints and set me free, and I've taken +good care never to rust again." + +"Who was this Dorothy?" questioned the Wanderer. + +"A little girl who happened to be in a house when it +was carried by a cyclone all the way from Kansas to the +Land of Oz. When the house fell, in the Munchkin +Country, it fortunately landed on the Wicked Witch and +smashed her flat. It was a big house, and I think the +Witch is under it yet." + +"No," said the Scarecrow, correcting him, "Dorothy +says the Witch turned to dust, and the wind scattered +the dust in every direction." + +"Well," continued the Tin Woodman, "after meeting the +Scarecrow and Dorothy, I went with them to the Emerald +City, where the Wizard of Oz gave me a heart. But the +Wizard's stock of hearts was low, and he gave me a Kind +Heart instead of a Loving Heart, so that I could not +love Nimmie Amee any more than I did when I was +heartless." + +"Couldn't the Wizard give you a heart that was both +Kind and Loving?" asked the boy. + +"No; that was what I asked for, but he said he was so +short on hearts, just then, that there was but one in +stock, and I could take that or none at all. So I +accepted it, and I must say that for its kind it is a +very good heart indeed." + +"It seems to me," said Woot, musingly, "that the +Wizard fooled you. It can't be a very Kind Heart, you +know." + +"Why not?" demanded the Emperor. + +"Because it was unkind of you to desert the girl who +loved you, and who had been faithful and true to you +when you were in trouble. Had the heart the Wizard gave +you been a Kind Heart, you would have gone back home +and made the beautiful Munchkin girl your wife, and +then brought her here to be an Empress and live in your +splendid tin castle." + +The Tin Woodman was so surprised at this frank speech +that for a time he did nothing but stare hard at the +boy Wanderer. But the Scarecrow wagged his stuffed head +and said in a positive tone: + +"This boy is right. I've often wondered, myself, why +you didn't go back and find that poor Munchkin girl." + +Then the Tin Woodman stared hard at his friend the +Scarecrow. But finally he said in a serious tone of +voice: + +"I must admit that never before have I thought of +such a thing as finding Nimmie Amee and making her +Empress of the Winkies. But it is surely not too late, +even now, to do this, for the girl must still be living +in the Munchkin Country. And, since this strange +Wanderer has reminded me of Nimmie Amee, I believe it +is my duty to set out and find her. Surely it is not +the girl's fault that I no longer love her, and so, if +I can make her happy, it is proper that I should do so, +and in this way reward her for her faithfulness." + +"Quite right, my friend!" agreed the Scarecrow. + +"Will you accompany me on this errand?" asked the Tin +Emperor. + +"Of course," said the Scarecrow. + +"And will you take me along?" pleaded Woot the +Wanderer in an eager voice. + +"To be sure," said the Tin Woodman, "if you care to +join our party. It was you who first told me it was my +duty to find and marry Nimmie Amee, and I'd like you to +know that Nick Chopper, the Tin Emperor of the Winkies, +is a man who never shirks his duty, once it is pointed +out to him." + +"It ought to be a pleasure, as well as a duty, if the +girl is so beautiful," said Woot, well pleased with the +idea of the adventure. + +"Beautiful things may be admired, if not loved," +asserted the Tin Man. "Flowers are beautiful, for +instance, but we are not inclined to marry them. Duty, +on the contrary, is a bugle call to action, whether you +are inclined to act, or not. In this case, I obey the +bugle call of duty." + +"When shall we start?" inquired the Scarecrow, who +was always glad to embark upon a new adventure. "I +don't hear any bugle, but when do we go?" + +"As soon as we can get ready," answered the Emperor. +"I'll call my servants at once and order them to make +preparations for our journey." + + + + +Chapter Three + +Roundabout + + +Woot the Wanderer slept that night in the tin castle of +the Emperor of the Winkies and found his tin bed quite +comfortable. Early the next morning he rose and took a +walk through the gardens, where there were tin +fountains and beds of curious tin flowers, and where +tin birds perched upon the branches of tin trees and +sang songs that sounded like the notes of tin whistles. +All these wonders had been made by the clever Winkie +tinsmiths, who wound the birds up every morning so that +they would move about and sing. + +After breakfast the boy went into the throne room, +where the Emperor was having his tin joints carefully +oiled by a servant, while other servants were stuffing +sweet, fresh straw into the body of the Scarecrow. + +Woot watched this operation with much interest, for +the Scarecrow's body was only a suit of clothes filled +with straw. The coat was buttoned tight to keep the +packed straw from falling out and a rope was tied +around the waist to hold it in shape and prevent the +straw from sagging down. The Scarecrow's head was a +gunnysack filled with bran, on which the eyes, nose and +mouth had been painted. His hands were white cotton +gloves stuffed with fine straw. Woot noticed that even +when carefully stuffed and patted into shape, the straw +man was awkward in his movements and decidedly wobbly +on his feet, so the boy wondered if the Scarecrow would +be able to travel with them all the way to the forests +of the Munchkin Country of Oz. + +The preparations made for this important journey were +very simple. A knapsack was filled with food and given +Woot the Wanderer to carry upon his back, for the food +was for his use alone. The Tin Woodman shouldered an +axe which was sharp and brightly polished, and the +Scarecrow put the Emperor's oil-can in his pocket, that +he might oil his friend's joints should they need it. + +"Who will govern the Winkie Country during your +absence?" asked the boy. + +"Why, the Country will run itself," answered the +Emperor. "As a matter of fact, my people do not need an +Emperor, for Ozma of Oz watches over the welfare of all +her subjects, including the Winkies. Like a good many +kings and emperors, I have a grand title, but very +little real power, which allows me time to amuse myself +in my own way. The people of Oz have but one law to +obey, which is: 'Behave Yourself,' so it is easy for +them to abide by this Law, and you'll notice they +behave very well. But it is time for us to be off, and +I am eager to start because I suppose that that poor +Munchkin girl is anxiously awaiting my coming." + +"She's waited a long time already, seems to me," +remarked the Scarecrow, as they left the grounds of the +castle and followed a path that led eastward. + +"True," replied the Tin Woodman; "but I've noticed +that the last end of a wait, however long it has been, +is the hardest to endure; so I must try to make Nimmie +Amee happy as soon as possible." + +"Ah; that proves you have a Kind heart," remarked the +Scarecrow, approvingly. + +"It's too bad he hasn't a Loving Heart," said Woot. +"This Tin Man is going to marry a nice girl through +kindness, and not because he loves her, and somehow +that doesn't seem quite right." + +"Even so, I am not sure it isn't best for the girl," +said the Scarecrow, who seemed very intelligent for a +straw man, "for a loving husband is not always kind, +while a kind husband is sure to make any girl content." + +"Nimmie Amee will become an Empress!" announced the +Tin Woodman, proudly. "I shall have a tin gown made for +her, with tin ruffles and tucks on it, and she shall +have tin slippers, and tin earrings and bracelets, and +wear a tin crown on her head. I am sure that will +delight Nimmie Amee, for all girls are fond of finery." + +"Are we going to the Munchkin Country by way of the +Emerald City?" inquired the Scarecrow, who looked upon +the Tin Woodman as the leader of the party. + +"I think not," was the reply. "We are engaged upon a +rather delicate adventure, for we are seeking a girl +who fears her former lover has forgotten her. It will +be rather hard for me, you must admit, when I confess +to Nimmie Amee that I have come to marry her because it +is my duty to do so, and therefore the fewer witnesses +there are to our meeting the better for both of us. +After I have found Nimmie Amee and she has managed to +control her joy at our reunion, I shall take her to the +Emerald City and introduce her to Ozma and Dorothy, and +to Betsy Bobbin and Tiny Trot, and all our other +friends; but, if I remember rightly, poor Nimmie Amee +has a sharp tongue when angry, and she may be a trifle +angry with me, at first, because I have been so long in +coming to her." + +"I can understand that," said Woot gravely. "But how +can we get to that part of the Munchkin Country where +you once lived without passing through the Emerald +City?" + +"Why, that is easy," the Tin Man assured him. + +"I have a map of Oz in my pocket," persisted the boy, +"and it shows that the Winkie Country, where we now +are, is at the west of Oz, and the Munchkin Country at +the east, while directly between them lies the Emerald +City." + +"True enough; but we shall go toward the north, first +of all, into the Gillikin Country, and so pass around +the Emerald City," explained the Tin Woodman. + +"That may prove a dangerous journey," replied the +boy. "I used to live in one of the top corners of the +Gillikin Country, near to Oogaboo, and I have been told +that in this northland country are many people whom it +is not pleasant to meet. I was very careful to avoid +them during my journey south." + +"A Wanderer should have no fear," observed the +Scarecrow, who was wobbling along in a funny, haphazard +manner, but keeping pace with his friends. + +"Fear does not make one a coward," returned Woot, +growing a little red in the face, "but I believe it is +more easy to avoid danger than to overcome it. The +safest way is the best way, even for one who is brave +and determined." + +"Do not worry, for we shall not go far to the north," +said the Emperor. "My one idea is to avoid the Emerald +City without going out of our way more than is +necessary. Once around the Emerald City we will turn +south into the Munchkin Country, where the Scarecrow +and I are well acquainted and have many friends." + +"I have traveled some in the Gillikin Country," +remarked the Scarecrow, "and while I must say I have +met some strange people there at times, I have never +yet been harmed by them." + +"Well, it's all the same to me," said Woot, with +assumed carelessness. "Dangers, when they cannot be +avoided, are often quite interesting, and I am willing +to go wherever you two venture to go." + +So they left the path they had been following and +began to travel toward the northeast, and all that day +they were in the pleasant Winkie Country, and all the +people they met saluted the Emperor with great respect +and wished him good luck on his journey. At night they +stopped at a house where they were well entertained and +where Woot was given a comfortable bed to sleep in. + +"Were the Scarecrow and I alone," said the Tin +Woodman, "we would travel by night as well as by day; +but with a meat person in our party, we must halt at +night to permit him to rest." + +"Meat tires, after a day's travel," added the +Scarecrow, "while straw and tin never tire at all. +Which proves," said he, "that we are somewhat superior +to people made in the common way." + +Woot could not deny that he was tired, and he slept +soundly until morning, when he was given a good +breakfast, smoking hot. + +"You two miss a great deal by not eating," he said to +his companions. + +"It is true," responded the Scarecrow. "We miss +suffering from hunger, when food cannot be had, and we +miss a stomachache, now and then." + +As he said this, the Scarecrow glanced at the Tin +Woodman, who nodded his assent. + +All that second day they traveled steadily, +entertaining one another the while with stories of +adventures they had formerly met and listening to the +Scarecrow recite poetry. He had learned a great many +poems from Professor Wogglebug and loved to repeat them +whenever anybody would listen to him. Of course Woot +and the Tin Woodman now listened, because they could +not do otherwise -- unless they rudely ran away from +their stuffed comrade. One of the Scarecrow's +recitations was like this: + + "What sound is so sweet + As the straw from the wheat +When it crunkles so tender and low? + It is yellow and bright, + So it gives me delight +To crunkle wherever I go. + + + "Sweet, fresh, golden Straw! + There is surely no flaw +In a stuffing so clean and compact. + It creaks when I walk, + And it thrills when I talk, +And its fragrance is fine, for a fact. + "To cut me don't hurt, + + For I've no blood to squirt, +And I therefore can suffer no pain; + The straw that I use + Doesn't lump up or bruise, +Though it's pounded again and again! + + + "I know it is said + That my beautiful head +Has brains of mixed wheat-straw and bran, + But my thoughts are so good + I'd not change, if I could, +For the brains of a common meat man. + + + "Content with my lot, + I'm glad that I'm not +Like others I meet day by day; + If my insides get musty, + Or mussed-up, or dusty, +I get newly stuffed right away." + + + + +Chapter Four + +The Loons of Loonville + + +Toward evening, the travelers found there was no longer +a path to guide them, and the purple hues of the grass +and trees warned them that they were now in the Country +of the Gillikins, where strange peoples dwelt in places +that were quite unknown to the other inhabitants of Oz. +The fields were wild and uncultivated and there were no +houses of any sort to be seen. But our friends kept on +walking even after the sun went down, hoping to find a +good place for Woot the Wanderer to sleep; but when it +grew quite dark and the boy was weary with his long +walk, they halted right in the middle of a field and +allowed Woot to get his supper from the food he carried +in his knapsack. Then the Scarecrow laid himself down, +so that Woot could use his stuffed body as a pillow, +and the Tin Woodman stood up beside them all night, so +the dampness of the ground might not rust his joints or +dull his brilliant polish. Whenever the dew settled on +his body he carefully wiped it off with a cloth, and so +in the morning the Emperor shone as brightly as ever in +the rays of the rising sun. + +They wakened the boy at daybreak, the Scarecrow +saying to him: + +"We have discovered something queer, and therefore we +must counsel together what to do about it." + +"What have you discovered?" asked Woot, rubbing the +sleep from his eyes with his knuckles and giving three +wide yawns to prove he was fully awake. + +"A Sign," said the Tin Woodman. "A Sign, and another path." + +"What does the Sign say?" inquired the boy. + +"It says that 'All Strangers are Warned not to Follow +this Path to Loonville,'" answered the Scarecrow, who +could read very well when his eyes had been freshly +painted. + +"In that case," said the boy, opening his knapsack to +get some breakfast, "let us travel in some other +direction." + +But this did not seem to please either of his +companions. + +"I'd like to see what Loonville looks like," remarked +the Tin Woodman. + +"When one travels, it is foolish to miss any +interesting sight," added the Scarecrow. + +"But a warning means danger," protested Woot the +Wanderer, "and I believe it sensible to keep out of +danger whenever we can." + +They made no reply to this speech for a while. Then +said the Scarecrow: + +"I have escaped so many dangers, during my lifetime, +that I am not much afraid of anything that can happen." + +"Nor am I!" exclaimed the Tin Woodman, swinging his +glittering axe around his tin head, in a series of +circles. "Few things can injure tin, and my axe is a +powerful weapon to use against a foe. But our boy +friend," he continued, looking solemnly at Woot, "might +perhaps be injured if the people of Loonville are +really dangerous; so I propose he waits here while you +and I, Friend Scarecrow, visit the forbidden City of +Loonville." + +"Don't worry about me," advised Woot, calmly. +"Wherever you wish to go, I will go, and share your +dangers. During my wanderings I have found it more wise +to keep out of danger than to venture in, but at that +time I was alone, and now I have two powerful friends +to protect me." + +So, when he had finished his breakfast, they all set +out along the path that led to Loonville. + +"It is a place I have never heard of before," +remarked the Scarecrow, as they approached a dense +forest. "The inhabitants may be people, of some sort, +or they may be animals, but whatever they prove to be, +we will have an interesting story to relate to Dorothy +and Ozma on our return." + +The path led into the forest, but the big trees grew +so closely together and the vines and underbrush were +so thick and matted that they had to clear a path at +each step in order to proceed. In one or two places the +Tin Man, who went first to clear the way, cut the +branches with a blow of his axe. Woot followed next, +and last of the three came the Scarecrow, who could not +have kept the path at all had not his comrades broken +the way for his straw-stuffed body. + +Presently the Tin Woodman pushed his way through some +heavy underbrush, and almost tumbled headlong into a +vast cleared space in the forest. The clearing was +circular, big and roomy, yet the top branches of the +tall trees reached over and formed a complete dome or +roof for it. Strangely enough, it was not dark in this +immense natural chamber in the woodland, for the place +glowed with a soft, white light that seemed to come +from some unseen source. + +In the chamber were grouped dozens of queer +creatures, and these so astonished the Tin Man that +Woot had to push his metal body aside, that he might +see, too. And the Scarecrow pushed Woot aside, so that +the three travelers stood in a row, staring with all +their eyes. + +The creatures they beheld were round and ball-like; +round in body, round in legs and arms, round in hands +and feet and round of head. The only exception to the +roundness was a slight hollow on the top of each head, +making it saucer-shaped instead of dome-shaped. They +wore no clothes on their puffy bodies, nor had they any +hair. Their skins were all of a light gray color, and +their eyes were mere purple spots. Their noses were as +puffy as the rest of them. + +"Are they rubber, do you think?" asked the Scarecrow, +who noticed that the creatures bounded, as they moved, +and seemed almost as light as air. + +"It is difficult to tell what they are," answered +Woot, "they seem to be covered with warts." + +The Loons -- for so these folks were called -- had +been doing many things, some playing together, some +working at tasks and some gathered in groups to talk; +but at the sound of strange voices, which echoed rather +loudly through the clearing, all turned in the +direction of the intruders. Then, in a body, they all +rushed forward, running and bounding with tremendous +speed. + +The Tin Woodman was so surprised by this sudden dash +that he had no time to raise his axe before the Loons +were on them. The creatures swung their puffy hands, +which looked like boxing-gloves, and pounded the three +travelers as hard as they could, on all sides. The +blows were quite soft and did not hurt our friends at +all, but the onslaught quite bewildered them, so that +in a brief period all three were knocked over and fell +flat upon the ground. Once down, many of the Loons +held them, to prevent their getting up again, while +others wound long tendrils of vines about them, binding +their arms and legs to their bodies and so rendering +them helpless. + +"Aha!" cried the biggest Loon of all; "we've got 'em +safe; so let's carry 'em to King Bal and have 'em +tried, and condemned and perforated!" They had to drag +their captives to the center of the domed chamber, for +their weight, as compared with that of the Loons, +prevented their being carried. Even the Scarecrow was +much heavier than the puffy Loons. But finally the +party halted before a raised platform, on which stood a +sort of throne, consisting of a big, wide chair with a +string tied to one arm of it. This string led upward to +the roof of the dome. + +Arranged before the platform, the prisoners were +allowed to sit up, facing the empty throne. + +"Good!" said the big Loon who had commanded the +party. "Now to get King Bal to judge these terrible +creatures we have so bravely captured." + +As he spoke he took hold of the string and began to +pull as hard as he could. One or two of the others +helped him and pretty soon, as they drew in the cord, +the leaves above them parted and a Loon appeared at the +other end of the string. It didn't take long to draw +him down to the throne, where he seated himself and was +tied in, so he wouldn't float upward again. + +"Hello," said the King, blinking his purple eyes at +his followers; "what's up now!" + +"Strangers, your Majesty -- strangers and captives," +replied the big Loon, pompously + +"Dear me! I see 'em. I see 'em very plainly," +exclaimed the King, his purple eyes bulging out as he +looked at the three prisoners. "What curious animals! +Are they dangerous, do you think, my good Panta?" + +"I'm 'fraid so, your Majesty. Of course, they may not +be dangerous, but we mustn't take chances. Enough +accidents happen to us poor Loons as it is, and my +advice is to condemn and perforate 'em as quickly as +possible." + +"Keep your advice to yourself," said the monarch, in +a peeved tone. "Who's King here, anyhow? You or Me?" + +"We made you our King because you have less common +sense than the rest of us," answered Panta Loon, +indignantly. "I could have been King myself, had I +wanted to, but I didn't care for the hard work and +responsibility." + +As he said this, the big Loon strutted back and forth +in the space between the throne of King Bal and the +prisoners, and the other Loons seemed much impressed by +his defiance. But suddenly there came a sharp report +and Panta Loon instantly disappeared, to the great +astonishment of the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and Woot +the Wanderer, who saw on the spot where the big fellow +had stood a little heap of flabby, wrinkled skin that +looked like a collapsed rubber balloon. + +"There!" exclaimed the King; "I expected that would +happen. The conceited rascal wanted to puff himself up +until he was bigger than the rest of you, and this is +the result of his folly. Get the pump working, some of +you, and blow him up again." + +"We will have to mend the puncture first, your +Majesty," suggested one of the Loons, and the prisoners +noticed that none of them seemed surprised or shocked +at the sad accident to Panta. + +"All right," grumbled the King. "Fetch Til to mend +him." + +One or two ran away and presently returned, followed +by a lady Loon wearing huge, puffed-up rubber skirts. +Also she had a purple feather fastened to a wart on the +top of her head, and around her waist was a sash of +fibre-like vines, dried and tough, that looked like +strings. + +"Get to work, Til," commanded King Bal. "Panta has +just exploded." + +The lady Loon picked up the bunch of skin and +examined it carefully until she discovered a hole in +one foot. Then she pulled a strand of string from her +sash, and drawing the edges of the hole together. she +tied them fast with the string, thus making one of +those curious warts which the strangers had noticed on +so many Loons. Having done this, Til Loon tossed the +bit of skin to the other Loons and was about to go away +when she noticed the prisoners and stopped to inspect +them. + +"Dear me!" said Til; "what dreadful creatures. Where +did they come from?" + +"We captured them," replied one of the Loons. + +"And what are we going to do with them?" inquired the +girl Loon. + +"Perhaps we'll condemn 'em and puncture 'em," +answered the King. + +"Well," said she, still eyeing the "I'm not sure +they'll puncture. Let's try it, and see." + +One of the Loons ran to the forest's edge and quickly +returned with a long, sharp thorn. He glanced at the +King, who nodded his head in assent, and then he rushed +forward and stuck the thorn into the leg of the +Scarecrow. The Scarecrow merely smiled and said +nothing, for the thorn didn't hurt him at all. + +Then the Loon tried to prick the Tin Woodman's leg, +but the tin only blunted the point of the thorn. + +"Just as I thought," said Til, blinking her purple +eyes and shaking her puffy head; but just then the Loon +stuck the thorn into the leg of Woot the Wanderer, and +while it had been blunted somewhat, it was still sharp +enough to hurt. + +"Ouch!" yelled Woot, and kicked out his leg with so +much energy that the frail bonds that tied him burst +apart. His foot caught the Loon -- who was leaning over +him -- full on his puffy stomach, and sent him shooting +up into the air. When he was high over their heads he +exploded with a loud "pop" and his skin fell to the +ground. + +"I really believe," said the King, rolling his +spotlike eyes in a frightened way, "that Panta was +right in claiming these prisoners are dangerous. Is +the pump ready?" + +Some of the Loons had wheeled a big machine in front +of the throne and now took Panta's skin and began to +pump air into it. Slowly it swelled out until the King +cried "Stop!" + +"No, no!" yelled Panta, "I'm not big enough yet." +"You're as big as you're going to be," declared the +King. "Before you exploded you were bigger than the +rest of us, and that caused you to be proud and +overbearing. Now you're a little smaller than the rest, +and you will last longer and be more humble." + +"Pump me up -- pump me up!" wailed Panta "If you +don't you'll break my heart." + +"If we do we'll break your skin," replied the King. + +So the Loons stopped pumping air into Panta, and +pushed him away from the pump. He was certainly more +humble than before his accident, for he crept into the +background and said nothing more. + +"Now pump up the other one," ordered the King. Til +had already mended him, and the Loons set to work to +pump him full of air. + +During these last few moments none had paid much +attention to the prisoners, so Woot, finding his legs +free, crept over to the Tin Woodman and rubbed the +bonds that were still around his arms and body against +the sharp edge of the axe, which quickly cut them. + +The boy was now free, and the thorn which the Loon +had stuck into his leg was lying unnoticed on the +ground, where the creature had dropped it when he +exploded. Woot leaned forward and picked up the thorn, +and while the Loons were busy watching the pump, the +boy sprang to his feet and suddenly rushed upon the +group. + +"Pop" -- "pop" -- "pop!" went three of the Loons, +when the Wanderer pricked them with his thorn, and at +the sounds the others looked around and saw their +danger. With yells of fear they bounded away in all +directions, scattering about the clearing, with Woot +the Wanderer in full chase. While they could run much +faster than the boy, they often stumbled and fell, or +got in one another's way, so he managed to catch +several and prick them with his thorn. + +It astonished him to see how easily the Loons +exploded. When the air was let out of them they were +quite helpless. Til Loon was one of those who ran +against his thorn and many others suffered the same +fate. The creatures could not escape from the +enclosure, but in their fright many bounded upward and +caught branches of the trees, and then climbed out of +reach of the dreaded thorn. + +Woot was getting pretty tired chasing them, so he +stopped and came over, panting, to where his friends +were sitting, still bound. + +"Very well done, my Wanderer," said the Tin Woodman. +"It is evident that we need fear these puffed-up +creatures no longer, so be kind enough to unfasten our +bonds and we will proceed upon our journey." + +Woot untied the bonds of the Scarecrow and helped him +to his feet. Then he freed the Tin Woodman, who got up +without help. Looking around them, they saw that the +only Loon now remaining within reach was Bal Loon, the +King, who had remained seated in his throne, watching +the punishment of his people with a bewildered look in +his purple eyes. + +"Shall I puncture the King?" the boy asked his +companions. + +King Bal must have overheard the question, for he +fumbled with the cord that fastened him to the throne +and managed to release it. Then he floated upward until +he reached the leafy dome, and parting the branches he +disappeared from sight. But the string that was tied to +his body was still connected with the arm of the +throne, and they knew they could pull his Majesty down +again, if they wanted to. + +"Let him alone," suggested the Scarecrow. "He seems a +good enough king for his peculiar people, and after we +are gone, the Loons will have something of a job to +pump up all those whom Woot has punctured." + +"Every one of them ought to be exploded," declared +Woot, who was angry because his leg still hurt him. + +"No," said the Tin Woodman, "that would not be just +fair. They were quite right to capture us, because we +had no business to intrude here, having been warned to +keep away from Loonville. This is their country, not +ours, and since the poor things can't get out of the +clearing, they can harm no one save those who venture +here out of curiosity, as we did." + +"Well said, my friend," agreed tile Scarecrow. "We +really had no right to disturb their peace and comfort; +so let us go away." + +They easily found the place where they had forced +their way into the enclosure, so the Tin Woodman pushed +aside the underbrush and started first along the path. +The Scarecrow followed next and last came Woot, who +looked back and saw that the Loons were still clinging +to their perches on the trees and watching their former +captives with frightened eyes. + +"I guess they're glad to see the last of us," +remarked the boy, and laughing at the happy ending of +the adventure, he followed his comrades along the path. + + + + +Chapter Five + +Mrs. Yoop, the Giantess + + +When they had reached the end of the path, where they +had first seen the warning sign, they set off across +the country in an easterly direction. Before long they +reached Rolling Lands, which were a succession of hills +and valleys where constant climbs and descents were +required, and their journey now became tedious, because +on climbing each hill, they found before them nothing +in the valley below it except grass, or weeds or +stones. + +Up and down they went for hours, with nothing to +relieve the monotony of the landscape, until finally, +when they had topped a higher hill than usual, they +discovered a cup-shaped valley before them in the +center of which stood an enormous castle, built of +purple stone. The castle was high and broad and +long, but had no turrets and towers. So far as they +could see, there was but one small window and one +big door on each side of the great building. + +"This is strange!" mused the Scarecrow. "I'd no idea +such a big castle existed in this Gillikin Country. I +wonder who lives here?" + +"It seems to me, from this distance," remarked the +Tin Woodman, "that it's the biggest castle I ever saw. +It is really too big for any use, and no one could open +or shut those big doors without a stepladder." + +"Perhaps, if we go nearer, we shall find out whether +anybody lives there or not," suggested Woot. "Looks to +me as if nobody lived there." + +On they went, and when they reached the center of the +valley, where the great stone castle stood, it was +beginning to grow dark. So they hesitated as to what to +do. + +"If friendly people happen to live here," said Woot. +I shall be glad of a bed; but should enemies occupy the +place, I prefer to sleep upon the ground." + +"And if no one at all lives here," added the +Scarecrow, "we can enter, and take possession, and +make ourselves at home." + +While speaking he went nearer to one of the great +doors, which was three times as high and broad as any +he had ever seen in a house before, and then he +discovered, engraved in big letters upon a stone over +the doorway, the words: + +"YOOP CASTLE" + +"Oho!" he exclaimed; "I know the place now. This was +probably the home of Mr. Yoop, a terrible giant whom I +have seen confined in a cage, a long way from here. +Therefore this castle is likely to be empty and we may +use it in any way we please." + +"Yes, yes," said the Tin Emperor, nodding; "I also +remember Mr. Yoop. But how are we to get into his +deserted castle? The latch of the door is so far above +our heads that none of us can reach it." + +They considered this problem for a while, and then +Woot said to the Tin Man: + +"If I stand upon your shoulders, I think I can +unlatch the door." + +"Climb up, then," was the reply, and when the boy was +perched upon the tin shoulders of Nick Chopper, he was +just able to reach the latch and raise it. + +At once the door swung open, its great hinges making +a groaning sound as if in protest, so Woot leaped down +and followed his companions into a big, bare hallway. +Scarcely were the three inside, however, when they +heard the door slam shut behind them, and this +astonished them because no one had touched it. It had +closed of its own accord, as if by magic. Moreover, +the latch was on the outside, and the thought occurred +to each one of them that they were now prisoners in +this unknown castle. + +"However," mumbled the Scarecrow, "we are not to +blame for what cannot be helped; so let us push bravely +ahead and see what may be seen." + +It was quite dark in the hallway, now that the +outside door was shut, so as they stumbled along a +stone passage they kept close together, not knowing +what danger was likely to befall them. + +Suddenly a soft glow enveloped them. It grew +brighter, until they could see their surroundings +distinctly. They had reached the end of the passage and +before them was another huge door. This noiselessly +swung open before them, without the help of anyone, and +through the doorway they observed a big chamber, the +walls of which were lined with plates of pure gold, +highly polished. + +This room was also lighted, although they could +discover no lamps, and in the center of it was a great +table at which sat an immense woman. She was clad in +silver robes embroidered with gay floral designs, and +wore over this splendid raiment a short apron of +elaborate lace-work. Such an apron was no protection, +and was not in keeping with the handsome gown, but the +huge woman wore it, nevertheless. The table at which +she sat was spread with a white cloth and had golden +dishes upon it, so the travelers saw that they had +surprised the Giantess while she was eating her supper. + +She had her back toward them and did not even turn +around, but taking a biscuit from a dish she began to +butter it and said in a voice that was big and deep but +not especially unpleasant: + +"Why don't you come in and allow the door to shut? +You're causing a draught, and I shall catch cold and +sneeze. When I sneeze, I get cross, and when I get +cross I'm liable to do something wicked. Come in, you +foolish strangers; come in!" + +Being thus urged, they entered the room and +approached the table, until they stood where they faced +the great Giantess. She continued eating, but smiled in +a curious way as she looked at them. Woot noticed that +the door had closed silently after they had entered, +and that didn't please him at all. + +"Well," said the Giantess, "what excuse have you to +offer?" + +"We didn't know anyone lived here, Madam," explained +the Scarecrow; "so, being travelers and strangers in +these parts, and wishing to find a place for our boy +friend to sleep, we ventured to enter your castle." + +"You knew it was private property, I suppose?" said +she, buttering another biscuit. + +"We saw the words, 'Yoop Castle,' over the door, but +we knew that Mr. Yoop is a prisoner in a cage in a far- +off part of the land of Oz, so we decided there was no +one now at home and that we might use the castle for +the night." + +"I see," remarked the Giantess, nodding her head and +smiling again in that curious way -- a way that made +Woot shudder. "You didn't know that Mr. Yoop was +married, or that after he was cruelly captured his wife +still lived in his castle and ran it to suit herself." + +"Who captured Mr. Yoop?" asked Woot, looking gravely +at the big woman. + +"Wicked enemies. People who selfishly objected to +Yoop's taking their cows and sheep for his food. I must +admit, however, that Yoop had a bad temper, and had the +habit of knocking over a few houses, now and then, when +he was angry. So one day the little folks came in a +great crowd and captured Mr. Yoop, and carried him away +to a cage somewhere in the mountains. I don't know +where it is, and I don't care, for my husband treated +me badly at times, forgetting the respect a giant owes +to a giantess. Often he kicked me on my shins, when I +wouldn't wait on him. So I'm glad he is gone." + +"It's a wonder the people didn't capture you, too," +remarked Woot. + +"Well, I was too clever for them," said she, giving a +sudden laugh that caused such a breeze that the wobbly +Scarecrow was almost blown off his feet and had to grab +his friend Nick Chopper to steady himself. "I saw the +people coining," continued Mrs. Yoop, "and knowing they +meant mischief I transformed myself into a mouse and +hid in a cupboard. After they had gone away, carrying +my shin-kicking husband with them, I transformed myself +back to my former shape again, and here I've lived in +peace and comfort ever since." + +"Are you a Witch, then? " inquired Woot. + +"Well, not exactly a Witch," she replied, "but I'm an +Artist in Transformations. In other words, I'm more of +a Yookoohoo than a Witch, and of course you know that +the Yookoohoos are the cleverest magic-workers in the +world." + +The travelers were silent for a time, uneasily +considering this statement and the effect it might have +on their future. No doubt the Giantess had wilfully +made them her prisoners; yet she spoke so cheerfully, +in her big voice, that until now they had not been +alarmed in the least. + +By and by the Scarecrow, whose mixed brains had been +working steadily, asked the woman: + +"Are we to consider you our friend, Mrs. Yoop, or do +you intend to be our enemy?" + +"I never have friends," she said in a matter-of-fact +tone, "because friends get too familiar and always +forget to mind their own business. But I am not your +enemy; not yet, anyhow. Indeed, I'm glad you've come, +for my life here is rather lonely. I've had no one to +talk to since I transformed Polychrome, the Daughter of +the Rainbow, into a canary-bird." + +"How did you manage to do that?" asked the Tin +Woodman, in amazement. "Polychrome is a powerful +fairy!" + +"She was," said the Giantess; "but now she's a +canary-bird. One day after a rain, Polychrome danced +off the Rainbow and fell asleep on a little mound in +this valley, not far from my castle. The sun came out +and drove the Rainbow away, and before Poly wakened, I +stole out and transformed her into a canary-bird in a +gold cage studded with diamonds. The cage was so she +couldn't fly away. I expected she'd sing and talk and +we'd have good times together; but she has proved no +company for me at all. Ever since the moment of her +transformation, she has refused to speak a single +word." + +"Where is she now?" inquired Woot, who had heard tales +of lovely Polychrome and was much interested in her. + +"The cage is hanging up in my bedroom," said the +Giantess, eating another biscuit. The travelers were +now more uneasy and suspicious of the Giantess than +before. If Polychrome, the Rainbow's Daughter, who was +a real fairy, had been transformed and enslaved by this +huge woman, who claimed to be a Yookoohoo, what was +liable to happen to them? Said the Scarecrow, twisting +his stuffed head around in Mrs. Yoop's direction: + +"Do you know, Ma'am, who we are?" + +"Of course," said she; "a straw man, a tin man and a boy." + +"We are very important people," declared the Tin Woodman. + +"All the better," she replied. "I shall enjoy your +society the more on that account. For I mean to keep +you here as long as I live, to amuse me when I get +lonely. And," she added slowly, "in this Valley no one +ever dies." + +They didn't like this speech at all, so the Scarecrow +frowned in a way that made Mrs. Yoop smile, while +the Tin Woodman looked so fierce that Mrs. Yoop +laughed. The Scarecrow suspected she was going to +laugh, so he slipped behind his friends to escape the +wind from her breath. From this safe position he +said warningly: + +"We have powerful friends who will soon come to +rescue us." + +"Let them come," she returned, with an accent of +scorn. "When they get here they will find neither a +boy, nor a tin man, nor a scarecrow, for tomorrow +morning I intend to transform you all into other +shapes, so that you cannot be recognized." + +This threat filled them with dismay. The good-natured +Giantess was more terrible than they had imagined. She +could smile and wear pretty clothes and at the same +time be even more cruel than her wicked husband had been. + +Both the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman tried to +think of some way to escape from the castle before +morning, but she seemed to read their thoughts and +shook her head. + +"Don't worry your poor brains," said she. "You can't +escape me, however hard you try. But why should you +wish to escape? I shall give you new forms that are +much better than the ones you now have. Be contented +with your fate, for discontent leads to unhappiness, +and unhappiness, in any form, is the greatest evil that +can befall you." + +"What forms do you intend to give us?" asked Woot +earnestly. + +"I haven't decided, as yet. I'll dream over it +tonight, so in the morning I shall have made up my mind +how to transform you. Perhaps you'd prefer to choose +your own transformations?" + +"No," said Woot, "I prefer to remain as I am." + +"That's funny," she retorted. "You are little, and +you're weak; as you are, you're not much account, +anyhow. The best thing about you is that you're alive, +for I shall be able to make of you some sort of live +creature which will be a great improvement on your +present form." + +She took another biscuit from a plate and dipped it +in a pot of honey and calmly began eating it. + +The Scarecrow watched her thoughtfully. + +"There are no fields of grain in your Valley," said he; +"where, then. did you get the flour to make your biscuits?" + +"Mercy me! do you think I'd bother to make biscuits +out of flour?" she replied. "That is altogether too +tedious a process for a Yookoohoo. I set some traps +this afternoon and caught a lot of field-mice, but as I +do not like to eat mice, I transformed them into hot +biscuits for my supper. The honey in this pot was once +a wasp's nest, but since being transformed it has +become sweet and delicious. All I need do, when I wish +to eat, is to take something I don't care to keep, and +transform it into any sort of food I like, and eat it. +Are you hungry?" + +"I don't eat, thank you," said the Scarecrow. + +"Nor do I," said the Tin Woodman. + +"I have still a little natural food in my knapsack," +said Woot the Wanderer, "and I'd rather eat that than +any wasp's nest." + +"Every one to his taste," said the Giantess +carelessly, and having now finished her supper she rose +to her feet, clapped her hands together, and the supper +table at once disappeared. + + + + +Chapter Six + +The Magic of a Yookoohoo + + +Woot had seen very little of magic during his +wanderings, while the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman had +seen a great deal of many sorts in their lives, yet all +three were greatly impressed by Mrs. Yoop's powers. She +did not affect any mysterious airs or indulge in chants +or mystic rites, as most witches do, nor was the +Giantess old and ugly or disagreeable in face or +manner. Nevertheless, she frightened her prisoners more +than any witch could have done. + +"Please be seated," she said to them, as she sat +herself down in a great arm-chair and spread her +beautiful embroidered skirts for them to admire. But +all the chairs in the room were so high that our +friends could not climb to the seats of them. Mrs. Yoop +observed this and waved her hand, when instantly a +golden ladder appeared leaning against a chair opposite +her own. + +"Climb up," said she, and they obeyed, the Tin Man +and the boy assisting the more clumsy Scarecrow. When +they were all seated in a row on the cushion of the +chair, the Giantess continued: "Now tell me how you +happened to travel in this direction, and where you +came from and what your errand is." + +So the Tin Woodman told her all about Nimmie Amee, +and how he had decided to find her and marry her, +although he had no Loving Heart. The story seemed to +amuse the big woman, who then began to ask the +Scarecrow questions and for the first time in her life +heard of Ozma of Oz, and of Dorothy and Jack +Pumpkinhead and Dr. Pipt and Tik-tok and many other Oz +people who are well known in the Emerald City. Also +Woot had to tell his story, which. was very simple and +did not take long. The Giantess laughed heartily when +the boy related their adventure at Loonville, but said +she knew nothing of the Loons because she never left +her Valley. + +"There are wicked people who would like to capture +me, as they did my giant husband, Mr. Yoop," said she; +"so I stay at home and mind my own business." + +"If Ozma knew that you dared to work magic without +her consent, she would punish you severely," declared +the Scarecrow, "for this castle is in the Land of Oz, +and no persons in the Land of Oz are permitted to work +magic except Glinda the Good and the little Wizard who +lives with Ozma in the Emerald City." + +"That for your Ozma!" exclaimed the Giantess, +snapping her fingers in derision. "What do I care for a +girl whom I have never seen and who has never seen me?" + +"But Ozma is a fairy," said the Tin Woodman, and +therefore she is very powerful. Also, we are under +Ozma's protection, and to injure us in any way would +make her extremely angry." + +"What I do here, in my own private castle in this +secluded Valley -- where no one comes but fools like +you -- can never be known to your fairy Ozma," returned +the Giantess. "Do not seek to frighten me from my +purpose, and do not allow yourselves to be frightened, +for it is best to meet bravely what cannot be avoided. +I am now going to bed, and in the morning I will give +you all new forms, such as will be more interesting to +me than the ones you now wear. Good night, and pleasant dreams." + +Saying this, Mrs. Yoop rose from her chair and walked +through a doorway into another room. So heavy was the +tread of the Giantess that even the walls of the big +stone castle trembled as she stepped. She closed the +door of her bedroom behind her, and then suddenly the +light went out and the three prisoners found themselves +in total darkness. + +The Tin Woodman and the Scarecrow didn't mind the +dark at all, but Woot the Wanderer felt worried to be +left in this strange place in this strange manner, +without being able to see any danger that might threaten. + +"The big woman might have given me a bed, anyhow," he +said to his companions, and scarcely had he spoken when +he felt something press against his legs, which were +then dangling from the seat of the chair. Leaning down, +he put out his hand and found that a bedstead had +appeared, with mattress, sheets and covers, all +complete. He lost no time in slipping down upon the bed +and was soon fast asleep. + +During the night the Scarecrow and the Emperor talked +in low tones together, and they got out of the chair +and moved all about the room, feeling for some hidden +spring that might open a door or window and permit them +to escape. + +Morning found them still unsuccessful in the quest +and as soon as it was daylight Woot's bed suddenly +disappeared, and he dropped to the floor with a thump +that quickly wakened him. And after a time the Giantess +came from her bedroom, wearing another dress that was +quite as elaborate as the one in which she had been +attired the evening before, and also wearing the pretty +lace apron. Having seated herself in a chair, she said: + +"I'm hungry; so I'll have breakfast at once." + +She clapped her hands together and instantly the +table appeared before her, spread with snowy linen +and laden with golden dishes. But there was no +food upon the table, nor anything else except a +pitcher of water, a bundle of weeds and a handful +of pebbles. But the Giantess poured some water into +her coffee-pot, patted it once or twice with her hand, +and then poured out a cupful of steaming hot coffee. + +"Would you like some?" she asked Woot. + +He was suspicious of magic coffee, but it smelled so +good that he could not resist it; so he answered: "If +you please, Madam." + +The Giantess poured out another cup and set it on the +floor for Woot. It was as big as a tub, and the golden +spoon in the saucer beside the cup was so heavy the boy +could scarcely lift it. But Woot managed to get a sip +of the coffee and found it delicious. + +Mrs. Yoop next transformed the weeds into a dish of +oatmeal, which she ate with good appetite. + +"Now, then," said she, picking up the pebbles. "I'm +wondering whether I shall have fish-balls or lamb-chops +to complete my meal. Which would you prefer, Woot the Wanderer?" + +"If you please, I'll eat the food in my knapsack," +answered the boy. "Your magic food might taste good, +but I'm afraid of it." + +The woman laughed at his fears and transformed the +pebbles into fish-balls. + +"I suppose you think that after you had eaten this +food it would turn to stones again and make you sick," +she remarked; "but that would be impossible. Nothing I +transform ever gets back to its former shape again, so +these fish-balls can never more be pebbles. That is why +I have to be careful of my transformations," she added, +busily eating while she talked, "for while I can change +forms at will I can never change them back again -- +which proves that even the powers of a clever Yookoohoo +are limited. When I have transformed you three people, +you must always wear the shapes that I have given you." + +"Then please don't transform us," begged Woot, "for +we are quite satisfied to remain as we are." + +"I am not expecting to satisfy you, but intend to +please myself," she declared, "and my pleasure is to +give you new shapes. For, if by chance your friends +came in search of you, not one of them would be able to +recognize you." + +Her tone was so positive that they knew it would be +useless to protest. The woman was not unpleasant to +look at; her face was not cruel; her voice was big but +gracious in tone; but her words showed that she +possessed a merciless heart and no pleadings would +alter her wicked purpose. + +Mrs. Yoop took ample time to finish her breakfast and +the prisoners had no desire to hurry her, but finally +the meal was concluded and she folded her napkin and +made the table disappear by clapping her hands +together. Then she turned to her captives and said: + +"The next thing on the programme is to change your +forms." + +"Have you decided what forms to give us?" asked the +Scarecrow, uneasily. + +"Yes; I dreamed it all out while I was asleep. This +Tin Man seems a very solemn person " -- indeed, the Tin +Woodman was looking solemn, just then, for he was +greatly disturbed -- "so I shall change him into an +Owl." + +All she did was to point one finger at him as she +spoke, but immediately the form of the Tin Woodman +began to change and in a few seconds Nick Chopper, the +Emperor of the Winkies, had been transformed into an +Owl, with eyes as big as saucers and a hooked beak and +strong claws. But he was still tin. He was a Tin Owl, +with tin legs and beak and eyes and feathers. When he +flew to the back of a chair and perched upon it, his +tin feathers rattled against one another with a tinny +clatter. The Giantess seemed much amused by the Tin +Owl's appearance, for her laugh was big and jolly. + +"You're not liable to get lost," said she, "for your +wings and feathers will make a racket wherever you go. +And, on my word, a Tin Owl is so rare and pretty that +it is an improvement on the ordinary bird. I did not +intend to make you tin, but I forgot to wish you to be +meat. However, tin you were, and tin you are, and as +it's too late to change you, that settles it." + +Until now the Scarecrow had rather doubted the +possibility of Mrs. Yoop's being able to transform him, +or his friend the Tin Woodman, for they were not made +as ordinary people are. He had worried more over what +might happen to Woot than to himself, but now he began +to worry about himself. + +"Madam," he said hastily, "I consider this action +very impolite. It may even be called rude, considering +we are your guests." + +"You are not guests, for I did not invite you here," +she replied. + +"Perhaps not; but we craved hospitality. We threw +ourselves upon your mercy, so to speak, and we now find +you have no mercy. Therefore, if you will excuse the +expression, I must say it is downright wicked to take +our proper forms away from us and give us others that +we do not care for." + +"Are you trying to make me angry?" she asked, +frowning. + +"By no means," said the Scarecrow; "I'm just trying +to make you act more ladylike." + +"Oh, indeed! In my opinion, Mr. Scarecrow, you are +now acting like a bear -- so a Bear you shall be!" + +Again the dreadful finger pointed, this time in the +Scarecrow's direction, and at once his form began to +change. In a few seconds he had become a small Brown +Bear, but he was stuffed with straw as he had been +before, and when the little Brown Bear shuffled across +the floor he was just as wobbly as the Scarecrow had +been and moved just as awkwardly. + +Woot was amazed, but he was also thoroughly +frightened. + +"Did it hurt?" he asked the little Brown Bear. + +"No, of course not," growled the Scarecrow in the +Bear's form; "but I don't like walking on four legs; +it's undignified." + +"Consider my humiliation!" chirped the Tin Owl, +trying to settle its tin feathers smoothly with its tin +beak. "And I can't see very well, either. The light +seems to hurt my eyes." + +"That's because you are an Owl," said Woot. "I think +you will see better in the dark." + +"Well," remarked the Giantess, "I'm very well pleased +with these new forms, for my part, and I'm sure you +will like them better when you get used to them. So +now," she added, turning to the boy, "it is your turn." + +"Don't you think you'd better leave me as I am?" +asked Woot in a trembling voice. + +"No," she replied, "I'm going to make a Monkey of +you. I love monkeys -- they're so cute! -- and I think +a Green Monkey will be lots of fun and amuse me when I +am sad." + +Woot shivered, for again the terrible magic finger +pointed, and pointed directly his way. He felt himself +changing; not so very much, however, and it didn't hurt +him a bit. He looked down at his limbs and body and +found that his clothes were gone and his skin covered +with a fine, silk-like green fur. His hands and feet +were now those of a monkey. He realized he really was a +monkey, and his first feeling was one of anger. He +began to chatter as monkeys do. He bounded to the seat +of a giant chair, and then to its back and with a wild +leap sprang upon the laughing Giantess. His idea was to +seize her hair and pull it out by the roots, and so +have revenge for her wicked transformations. But she +raised her hand and said: + +"Gently, my dear Monkey -- gently! You're not angry; +you're happy as can be!" + +Woot stopped short. No; he wasn't a bit angry now; he +felt as good-humored and gay as ever he did when a boy. +Instead of pulling Mrs. Yoop's hair, he perched on her +shoulder and smoothed her soft cheek with his hairy +paw. In return, she smiled at the funny green animal +and patted his head. + +"Very good," said the Giantess. "Let us all become +friends and be happy together. How is my Tin Owl +feeling?" + +"Quite comfortable," said the Owl. "I don't like it, +to be sure, but I'm not going to allow my new form to +make me unhappy. But, tell me, please: what is a Tin +Owl good for?" + +"You are only good to make me laugh," replied the +Giantess. + +"Will a stuffed Bear also make you laugh?" inquired +the Scarecrow, sitting back on his haunches to look up +at her. + +"Of course," declared the Giantess; "and I have added +a little magic to your transformations to make you all +contented with wearing your new forms. I'm sorry I +didn't think to do that when I transformed Polychrome +into a Canary-Bird. But perhaps, when she sees how +cheerful you are, she will cease to be silent and +sullen and take to singing. I will go get the bird and +let you see her." + +With this, Mrs. Yoop went into the next room and soon +returned bearing a golden cage in which sat upon a +swinging perch a lovely yellow Canary. "Polychrome," +said the Giantess, "permit me to introduce to you a +Green Monkey, which used to be a boy called Woot the +Wanderer, and a Tin Owl, which used to be a Tin Woodman +named Nick Chopper, and a straw-stuffed little Brown +Bear which used to be a live Scarecrow." + +"We already know one another," declared the +Scarecrow. "The bird is Polychrome, the Rainbow's +Daughter, and she and I used to be good friends." + +"Are you really my old friend, the Scarecrow?" asked; +the bird, in a sweet, low voice. + +"There!" cried Mrs. Yoop; "that's the first time she +has spoken since she was transformed." + +"I am really your old friend," answered the +Scarecrow; "but you must pardon me for appearing just +now in this brutal form." + +"I am a bird, as you are, dear Poly," said the Tin +Woodman; "but, alas! a Tin Owl is not as beautiful as a +Canary-Bird." + +"How dreadful it all is!" sighed the Canary. +"Couldn't you manage to escape from this terrible +Yookoohoo?" + +No," answered the Scarecrow, "we tried to escape, but +failed. She first made us her prisoners and then +transformed us. But how did she manage to get you, +Polychrome?"' + +"I was asleep, and she took unfair advantage of me," +answered the bird sadly. "Had I been awake, I could +easily have protected myself." + +"Tell me," said the Green Monkey earnestly, as he +came close to the cage, "what must we do, Daughter of +the Rainbow, to escape from these transformations? +Can't you help us, being a Fairy?" "At present I am +powerless to help even myself," replied the Canary. + +"That's the exact truth!" exclaimed the Giantess, who +seemed pleased to hear the bird talk, even though it +complained; "you are all helpless and in my power, so +you may as well make up your minds to accept your fate +and be content. Remember that you are transformed for +good, since no magic on earth can break your +enchantments. I am now going out for my morning walk, +for each day after breakfast I walk sixteen times +around my castle for exercise. Amuse yourselves while I +am gone, and when I return I hope to find you all +reconciled and happy." + +So the Giantess walked to the door by which our +friends had entered the great hall and spoke one word: +"Open!" Then the door swung open and after Mrs. Yoop +had passed out it closed again with a snap as its +powerful bolts shot into place. The Green Monkey had +rushed toward the opening, hoping to escape, but he was +too late and only got a bump on his nose as the door +slammed shut. + + + + +Chapter Seven + +The Lace Apron + + +"Now," said the Canary, in a tone more brisk than +before, "we may talk together more freely, as Mrs. Yoop +cannot hear us. Perhaps we can figure out a way to +escape." + +"Open!" said Woot the Monkey, still facing the door; +but his command had no effect and he slowly rejoined +the others. + +"You cannot open any door or window in this enchanted +castle unless you are wearing the Magic Apron," said +the Canary. + +"What Magic Apron do you mean?" asked the Tin Owl, in +a curious voice. + +"The lace one, which the Giantess always wears. I +have been her prisoner, in this cage, for several +weeks, and she hangs my cage in her bedroom every +night, so that she can keep her eye on me," explained +Polychrome the Canary. "Therefore I have discovered +that it is the Magic Apron that opens the doors and +windows, and nothing else can move them. when she goes +to bed, Mrs. Yoop hangs her apron on the bedpost, and +one morning she forgot to put it on when she commanded +the door to open, and the door would not move. So then +she put on the lace apron and the door obeyed her. That +was how I learned the magic power of the apron." + +"I see -- I see!" said the little Brown Bear, wagging +his stuffed head. "Then, if we could get the apron from +Mrs. Yoop, we could open the doors and escape from our +prison." + +"That is true, and it is the plan I was about to +suggest," replied Polychrome the Canary-Bird. +"However, I don't believe the Owl could steal the +apron, or even the Bear, but perhaps the Monkey could +hide in her room at night and get the apron while she +is asleep." + +"I'll try it!" cried Woot the Monkey. "I'll try it +this very night, if I can manage to steal into her +bedroom." + +"You mustn't think about it, though," warned the +bird, "for she can read your thoughts whenever she +cares to do so. And do not forget, before you escape, +to take me with you. Once I am out of the power of the +Giantess, I may discover a way to save us all." + +"We won't forget our fairy friend," promised the boy; +"but perhaps you can tell me how to get into the +bedroom." + +"No," declared Polychrome, "I cannot advise you as to +that. You must watch for a chance, and slip in when +Mrs. Yoop isn't looking." + +They talked it over for a while longer and then Mrs. +Yoop returned. When she entered, the door opened +suddenly, at her command, and closed as soon as her +huge form had passed through the doorway. During that +day she entered her bedroom several times, on one +errand or another, but always she commanded the door to +close behind her and her prisoners found not the +slightest chance to leave the big hall in which they +were confined. + +The Green Monkey thought it would be wise to make a +friend of the big woman, so as to gain her confidence, +so he sat on the back of her chair and chattered to her +while she mended her stockings and sewed silver buttons +on some golden shoes that were as big as row-boats. +This pleased the Giantess and she would pause at times +to pat the Monkey's head. The little Brown Bear curled +up in a corner and lay still all day. The Owl and the +Canary found they could converse together in the bird +language, which neither the Giantess nor the Bear nor +the Monkey could understand; so at times they twittered +away to each other and passed the long, dreary day +quite cheerfully. + +After dinner Mrs. Yoop took a big fiddle from a big +cupboard and played such loud and dreadful music that +her prisoners were all thankful when at last she +stopped and said she was going to bed. + +After cautioning the Monkey and Bear and Owl to +behave themselves during the night, she picked up the +cage containing the Canary and, going to the door of +her bedroom, commanded it to open. just then, however, +she remembered she had left her fiddle lying upon a +table, so she went back for it and put it away in the +cupboard, and while her back was turned the Green +Monkey slipped through the open door into her bedroom +and hid underneath the bed. The Giantess, being sleepy, +did not notice this, and entering her room she made the +door close behind her and then hung the bird-cage on a +peg by the window. Then she began to undress, first +taking off the lace apron and laying it over the +bedpost, where it was within easy reach of her hand. + +As soon as Mrs. Yoop was in bed the lights all went +out, and Woot the Monkey crouched under the bed and +waited patiently until he heard the Giantess snoring. +Then he crept out and in the dark felt around until he +got hold of the apron, which he at once tied around his +own waist. + +Next, Woot tried to find the Canary, and there was +just enough moonlight showing through the window to +enable him to see where the cage hung; but it was out +of his reach. At first he was tempted to leave +Polychrome and escape with his other friends, but +remembering his promise to the Rainbow's Daughter Woot +tried to think how to save her. + +A chair stood near the window, and this -- showing +dimly in the moonlight -- gave him an idea. By pushing +against it with all his might, he found he could move +the giant chair a few inches at a time. So he pushed +and pushed until the chair was beneath the bird-cage, +and then he sprang noiselessly upon the seat -- for his +monkey form enabled him to jump higher than he could do +as a boy -- and from there to the back of the chair, +and so managed to reach the cage and take it off the +peg. Then down he sprang to the floor and made his way +to the door. "Open!" he commanded, and at once the door +obeyed and swung open, But his voice wakened Mrs. Yoop, +who gave a wild cry and sprang out of bed with one +bound. The Green Monkey dashed through the doorway, +carrying the cage with him, and before the Giantess +could reach the door it slammed shut and imprisoned her +in her own bed-chamber! + +The noise she made, pounding upon the door, and her +yells of anger and dreadful threats of vengeance, +filled all our friends with terror, and Woot the Monkey +was so excited that in the dark he could not find the +outer door of the hall. But the Tin Owl could see very +nicely in the dark, so he guided his friends to the +right place and when all were grouped before the door +Woot commanded it to open. The Magic Apron proved as +powerful as when it had been worn by the Giantess, so a +moment later they had rushed through the passage and +were standing in the fresh night air outside the +castle, free to go wherever they willed. + + + + +Chapter Eight + +The Menace of the Forest + + +"Quick!" cried Polychrome the Canary; "we must hurry, +or Mrs. Yoop may find some way to recapture us, even +now. Let us get out of her Valley as soon as possible." + +So they set off toward the east, moving as swiftly as +they could, and for a long time they could hear the +yells and struggles of the imprisoned Giantess. The +Green Monkey could run over the ground very swiftly, +and he carried with him the bird-cage containing +Polychrome the Rain-bow's Daughter. Also the Tin Owl +could skip and fly along at a good rate of speed, his +feathers rattling against one another with a tinkling +sound as he moved. But the little Brown Bear, being +stuffed with straw, was a clumsy traveler and the +others had to wait for him to follow. + +However, they were not very long in reaching the +ridge that led out of Mrs. Yoop's Valley, and when they +had passed this ridge and descended into the next +valley they stopped to rest, for the Green Monkey was +tired. + +"I believe we are safe, now," said Polychrome, when +her cage was set down and the others had all gathered +around it, "for Mrs. Yoop dares not go outside of her +own Valley, for fear of being captured by her enemies. +So we may take our time to consider what to do next." + +"I'm afraid poor Mrs. Yoop will starve to death, if +no one lets her out of her bedroom," said Woot, who had +a heart as kind as that of the Tin Woodman. "We've +taken her Magic Apron away, and now the doors will +never open." + +"Don't worry about that," advised Polychrome. "Mrs. +Yoop has plenty of magic left to console her." + +"Are you sure of that?" asked the Green Monkey. + +"Yes, for I've been watching her for weeks," said the +Canary. "She has six magic hairpins, which she wears in +her hair, and a magic ring which she wears on her thumb +and which is invisible to all eyes except those of a +fairy, and magic bracelets on both her ankles. So I am +positive that she will manage to find a way out of her +prison." + +"She might transform the door into an archway," +suggested the little Brown Bear. + +"That would be easy for her," said the Tin Owl; "but +I'm glad she was too angry to think of that before we +got out of her Valley." + +"Well, we have escaped the big woman, to be sure," +remarked the Green Monkey, "but we still wear the +awful forms the cruel yookoohoo gave us. How are we +going to get rid of these shapes, and become ourselves +again?" + +None could answer that question. They sat around the +cage, brooding over the problem, until the Monkey fell +asleep. Seeing this, the Canary tucked her head under +her wing and also slept, and the Tin Owl and the Brown +Bear did not disturb them until morning came and it was +broad daylight. + +"I'm hungry," said Woot, when he wakened, for his +knapsack of food had been left behind at the castle. + +"Then let us travel on until we can find something +for you to eat," returned the Scarecrow Bear. + +"There is no use in your lugging my cage any +farther," declared the Canary. "Let me out, and throw +the cage away. Then I can fly with you and find my own +breakfast of seeds. Also I can search for water, and +tell you where to find it." + +So the Green Monkey unfastened the door of the golden +cage and the Canary hopped out. At first she flew high +in the air and made great circles overhead, but after a +time she returned and perched beside them. + +"At the east in the direction we were following," +announced the Canary, "there is a fine forest, with a +brook running through it. In the forest there may be +fruits or nuts growing, or berry bushes at its edge, so +let us go that way." + +They agreed to this and promptly set off, this time +moving more deliberately. The Tin Owl, which had guided +their way during the night, now found the sunshine very +trying to his big eyes, so he shut them tight and +perched upon the back of the little Brown Bear, which +carried the Owl's weight with ease. The Canary +sometimes perched upon the Green Monkey's shoulder and +sometimes fluttered on ahead of the party, and in this +manner they traveled in good spirits across that valley +and into the next one to the east of it. + +This they found to be an immense hollow, shaped like +a saucer, and on its farther edge appeared the forest +which Polychrome had seen from the sky. + +"Come to think of it," said the Tin Owl, waking up +and blinking comically at his friends, "there's no +object, now, in our traveling to the Munchkin Country. +My idea in going there was to marry Nimmie Amee, but +however much the Munchkin girl may have loved a Tin +Woodman, I cannot reasonably expect her to marry a Tin +Owl." + +"There is some truth in that, my friend," remarked +the Brown Bear. "And to think that I, who was +considered the handsomest Scarecrow in the world, am +now condemned to be a scrubby, no-account beast, whose +only redeeming feature is that he is stuffed with +straw!" + +"Consider my case, please," said Woot. "The cruel +Giantess has made a Monkey of a Boy, and that is the +most dreadful deed of all!" + +"Your color is rather pretty," said the Brown Bear, +eyeing Woot critically. "I have never seen a pea-green +monkey before, and it strikes me you are quite +gorgeous." + +"It isn't so bad to be a bird," asserted the Canary, +fluttering from one to another with a free and graceful +motion, "but I long to enjoy my own shape a gam." + +"As Polychrome, you were the loveliest maiden I have +ever seen -- except, of course, Ozma," said the Tin +Owl; "so the Giantess did well to transform you into +the loveliest of all birds, if you were to be +transformed at all. But tell me, since you are a fairy, +and have a fairy wisdom: do you think we shall be able +to break these enchantments?" + +"Queer things happen in the Land of Oz," replied the +Canary, again perching on the Green Monkey's shoulder +and turning one bright eye thoughtfully toward her +questioner. "Mrs. Yoop has declared that none of her +transformations can ever be changed, even by herself, +but I believe that if we could get to Glinda the Good +Sorceress, she might find a way to restore us to our +natural shapes. Glinda, as you know, is the most +powerful Sorceress in the world, and there are few +things she cannot do if she tries." + +"In that case," said the Little Brown Bear, "let us +return southward and try to get to Glinda's castle. It +lies in the Quadling Country, you know, so it is a good +way from here." + +"First, however, let us visit the forest and search +for something to eat," pleaded Woot. So they continued +on to the edge of the forest, which consisted of many +tall and beautiful trees. They discovered no fruit +trees, at first, so the Green Monkey pushed on into the +forest depths and the others followed close behind him. + +They were traveling quietly along, under the shade of +the trees, when suddenly an enormous jaguar leaped upon +them from a limb and with one blow of his paw sent the +little Brown Bear tumbling over and over until he was +stopped by a tree-trunk. Instantly they all took alarm. +The Tin Owl shrieked: "Hoot -- hoot!" and flew straight +up to the branch of a tall tree, although he could +scarcely see where he was going. The Canary swiftly +darted to a place beside the Owl, and the Green Monkey +sprang up, caught a limb, and soon scrambled to a high +perch of safety. + +The Jaguar crouched low and with hungry eyes regarded +the little Brown Bear, which slowly got upon its feet +and asked reproachfully: + +"For goodness' sake, Beast, what were you trying to +do?" + +"Trying to get my breakfast," answered the Jaguar +with a snarl, "and I believe I've succeeded. You ought +to make a delicious meal -- unless you happen to be old +and tough." + +"I'm worse than that, considered as a breakfast," +said the Bear, "for I'm only a skin stuffed with straw, +and therefore not fit to eat." + +"Indeed!" cried the Jaguar, in a disappointed voice; +"then you must be a magic Bear, or enchanted, and I +must seek my breakfast from among your companions." + +With this he raised his lean head to look up at the +Tin Owl and the Canary and the Monkey, and he lashed +his tail upon the ground and growled as fiercely as any +jaguar could. + +"My friends are enchanted, also," said the little +Brown Bear. + +"All of them?" asked the Jaguar. + +"Yes. The Owl is tin, so you couldn't possibly eat +him. The Canary is a fairy -- Polychrome, the Daughter +of the Rainbow -- and you never could catch her because +she can easily fly out of your reach." + +"There still remains the Green Monkey," remarked the +Jaguar hungrily. "He is neither made of tin nor stuffed +with straw, nor can he fly. I'm pretty good at climbing +trees, myself, so I think I'll capture the Monkey and +eat him for my breakfast." + +Woot the Monkey, hearing this speech from his perch +on the tree, became much frightened, for he knew the +nature of jaguars and realized they could climb trees +and leap from limb to limb with the agility of cats. So +he at once began to scamper through the forest as fast +as he could go, catching at a branch with his long +monkey arms and swinging his green body through space +to grasp another branch in a neighboring tree, and so +on, while the Jaguar followed him from below, his eyes +fixed steadfastly on his prey. But presently Woot got +his feet tangled in the Lace Apron, which he was still +wearing, and that tripped him in his flight and made +him fall to the ground, where the Jaguar placed one +huge paw upon him and said grimly: + I've got you, now!" +The fact that the Apron had tripped him made Woot +remember its magic powers, and in his terror he cried +out: "Open!" without stopping to consider how this +command might save him. But, at the word, the earth +opened at the exact spot where he lay under the +Jaguar's paw, and his body sank downward, the earth +closing over it again. The last thing Woot the Monkey +saw, as he glanced upward, was the Jaguar peering into +the hole in astonishment. + +"He's gone!" cried the beast, with a long-drawn sigh +of disappointment; "he's gone, and now I shall have no +breakfast." + +The clatter of the Tin Owl's wings sounded above him, +and the little Brown Bear came trotting up and asked: + +"Where is the monkey? Have you eaten him so quickly?" + +"No, indeed," answered the Jaguar. "He disappeared +into the earth before I could take one bite of him!" + +And now the Canary perched upon a stump, a little way +from the forest beast, and said: + +"I am glad our friend has escaped you; but, as it is +natural for a hungry beast to wish his breakfast, I +will try to give you one." + +"Thank you," replied the Jaguar. "You're rather small +for a full meal, but it's kind of you to sacrifice +yourself to my appetite." + +"Oh, I don't intend to be eaten, I assure you," said +the Canary, "but as I am a fairy I know something of +magic, and though I am now transformed into a bird's +shape, I am sure I can conjure up a breakfast that will +satisfy you." + +"If you can work magic, why don't you break the +enchantment you are under and return to your proper +form?" inquired the beast doubtingly. + +"I haven't the power to do that," answered the +Canary, "for Mrs. Yoop, the Giantess who transformed +me, used a peculiar form of yookoohoo magic that is +unknown to me. However, she could not deprive me of my +own fairy knowledge, so I will try to get you a +breakfast." + +"Do you think a magic breakfast would taste good, or +relieve the pangs of hunger I now suffer?" asked the +Jaguar. + +"I am sure it would. What would you like to eat?" + +"Give me a couple of fat rabbits," said the beast. + +"Rabbits! No, indeed. I'd not allow you to eat the +dear little things," declared Polychrome the Canary. + +"Well, three or four squirrels, then," pleaded the +Jaguar. + +"Do you think me so cruel?" demanded the Canary, +indignantly. "The squirrels are my especial friends." + +"How about a plump owl?" asked the beast. "Not a tin +one, you know, but a real meat owl." + +"Neither beast nor bird shall you have," said +Polychrome in a positive voice. + +"Give me a fish, then; there's a river a little way +off," proposed the Jaguar. + +"No living thing shall be sacrificed to feed you," +returned the Canary. + +"Then what in the world do you expect me to +eat?" said the Jaguar in a scornful tone. + +"How would mush-and-milk do?" asked the +Canary. + +The Jaguar snarled in derision and lashed his tail +against the ground angrily + +"Give him some scrambled eggs on toast, Poly," +suggested the Bear Scarecrow. "He ought to like that." + +"I will," responded the Canary, and fluttering her +wings she made a flight of three circles around the +stump. Then she flew up to a tree and the Bear and the +Owl and the Jaguar saw that upon the stump had appeared +a great green leaf upon which was a large portion of +scrambled eggs on toast, smoking hot. + +"There!" said the Bear; "eat your breakfast, friend +Jaguar, and be content." + +The Jaguar crept closer to the stump and sniffed the +fragrance of the scrambled eggs. They smelled so good +that he tasted them, and they tasted so good that he +ate the strange meal in a hurry, proving he had been +really hungry. + +"I prefer rabbits," he muttered, licking his chops, +"but I must admit the magic breakfast has filled my +stomach full, and brought me comfort. So I'm much +obliged for the kindness, little Fairy, and I'll now +leave you in peace." + +Saying this, he plunged into the thick underbrush and +soon disappeared, although they could hear his great +body crashing through the bushes until he was far +distant. + +"That was a good way to get rid of the savage beast, +Poly," said the Tin Woodman to the Canary; "but I'm +surprised that you didn't give our friend Woot a magic +breakfast, when you knew he was hungry." + +"The reason for that," answered Polychrome, "was +that my mind was so intent on other things that I quite +forgot my power to produce food by magic. But where is +the monkey boy?" + +"Gone!" said the Scarecrow Bear, solemnly. "The earth +has swallowed him up." + + + + +Chapter Nine + +The Quarrelsome Dragons + + +The Green Monkey sank gently into the earth for a +little way and then tumbled swiftly through space, +landing on a rocky floor with a thump that astonished +him. Then he sat up, found that no bones were broken, +and gazed around him. + +He seemed to be in a big underground cave, which was +dimly lighted by dozens of big round discs that looked +like moons. They were not moons, however, as Woot +discovered when he had examined the place more +carefully. They were eyes. The eyes were in the heads +of enormous beasts whose bodies trailed far behind +them. Each beast was bigger than an elephant, and three +times as long, and there were a dozen or more of the +creatures scattered here and there about the cavern. On +their bodies were big scales, as round as pie-plates, +which were beautifully tinted in shades of green, +purple and orange. On the ends of their long tails were +clusters of jewels. Around the great, moon-like eyes +were circles of diamonds which sparkled in the subdued +light that glowed from the eyes. + +Woot saw that the creatures had wide mouths and rows +of terrible teeth and, from tales he had heard of such +beings, he knew he had fallen into a cavern inhabited +by the great Dragons that had been driven from the +surface of the earth and were only allowed to come out +once in a hundred years to search for food. Of course +he had never seen Dragons before, yet there was no +mistaking them, for they were unlike any other living +creatures. + +Woot sat upon the floor where he had fallen, staring +around, and the owners of the big eyes returned his +look, silently and motionless. Finally one of the +Dragons which was farthest away from him asked, in a +deep, grave voice: + +"What was that?" + +And the greatest Dragon of all, who was just in front +of the Green Monkey, answered in a still deeper voice: + +"It is some foolish animal from Outside." + +"Is it good to eat?" inquired a smaller Dragon beside +the great one. "I'm hungry." + +"Hungry!" exclaimed all the Dragons, in a reproachful +chorus; and then the great one said chidingly: "Tut- +tut, my son! You've no reason to be hungry at this +time." + +"Why not?" asked the little Dragon. "I haven't eaten +anything in eleven years." + +"Eleven years is nothing," remarked another Dragon, +sleepily opening and closing his eyes; "I haven't +feasted for eighty-seven years, and I dare not get +hungry for a dozen or so years to come. Children who +eat between meals should be broken of the habit." + +"All I had, eleven years ago, was a rhinoceros, and +that's not a full meal at all," grumbled the young one. +"And, before that, I had waited sixty-two years to be +fed; so it's no wonder I'm hungry." + +"How old are you now?" asked Woot, forgetting his own +dangerous position in his interest in the conversation. + +"Why, I'm -- I'm -- How old am I, Father?" asked the +little Dragon. + +"Goodness gracious! what a child to ask questions. Do +you want to keep me thinking all the time? Don't you +know that thinking is very bad for Dragons?" returned +the big one, impatiently. + +"How old am I, Father?" persisted the small Dragon. + +"About six hundred and thirty, I believe. Ask your +mother." + +"No; don't!" said an old Dragon in the background; +"haven't I enough worries, what with being wakened in +the middle of a nap, without being obliged to keep +track of my children's ages?" + +"You've been fast asleep for over sixty years, +Mother," said the child Dragon. "How long a nap do you +wish?" + +"I should have slept forty years longer. And this +strange little green beast should be punished for +falling into our cavern and disturbing us." + +"I didn't know you were here, and I didn't know I was +going to fall in," explained Woot. + +"Nevertheless, here you are," said the great Dragon, +"and you have carelessly wakened our entire tribe; so +it stands to reason you must be punished." + +"In what way?" inquired the Green Monkey, trembling a +little. + +"Give me time and I'll think of a way. You're in no +hurry, are you?" asked the great Dragon. + +"No, indeed," cried Woot. "Take your time. I'd much +rather you'd all go to sleep again, and punish me when +you wake up in a hundred years or so." + +"Let me eat him!" pleaded the littlest Dragon. + +"He is too small," said the father. "To eat this one +Green Monkey would only serve to make you hungry for +more, and there are no more." + +"Quit this chatter and let me get to sleep," +protested another Dragon, yawning in a fearful manner, +for when he opened his mouth a sheet of flame leaped +forth from it and made Woot jump back to get out of its +way. + +In his jump he bumped against the nose of a Dragon +behind him, which opened its mouth to growl and shot +another sheet of flame at him. The flame was bright, +but not very hot, yet Woot screamed with terror and +sprang forward with a great bound. This time he landed +on the paw of the great Chief Dragon, who angrily +raised his other front paw and struck the Green Monkey +a fierce blow. Woot went sailing through the air and +fell sprawling upon the rocky floor far beyond the +place where the Dragon Tribe was grouped. + +All the great beasts were now thoroughly wakened and +aroused, and they blamed the monkey for disturbing +their quiet. The littlest Dragon darted after Woot and +the others turned their unwieldy bodies in his +direction and followed, flashing from their eyes and +mouths flames which lighted up the entire cavern. Woot +almost gave himself up for lost, at that moment, but he +scrambled to his feet and dashed away to the farthest +end of the cave, the Dragons following more leisurely +because they were too clumsy to move fast. Perhaps they +thought there was no need of haste, as the monkey could +not escape from the cave. But, away up at the end of +the place, the cavern floor was heaped with tumbled +rocks, so Woot, with an agility born of fear, climbed +from rock to rock until he found himself crouched +against the cavern roof. There he waited, for he could +go no farther, while on over the tumbled rocks slowly +crept the Dragons -- the littlest one coming first +because he was hungry as well as angry. + +The beasts had almost reached him when Woot, +remembering his lace apron -- now sadly torn and soiled +-- recovered his wits and shouted: "Open!" At the cry a +hole appeared in the roof of the cavern, just over his +head, and through it the sunlight streamed full upon +the Green Monkey + +The Dragons paused, astonished at the magic and +blinking at the sunlight, and this gave Woot time to +climb through the opening. As soon as he reached the +surface of the earth the hole closed again, and the boy +monkey realized, with a thrill of joy, that he had seen +the last of the dangerous Dragon family + +He sat upon the ground, still panting hard from his +exertions, when the bushes before him parted and his +former enemy, the Jaguar, appeared. + +"Don't run," said the woodland beast, as Woot sprang +up; "you are perfectly safe, so far as I am concerned, +for since you so mysteriously disappeared I have had my +breakfast. I am now on my way home to sleep the rest of +the day." + +"Oh, indeed!" returned the Green Monkey, in a tone +both sorry and startled. "Which of my friends did you +manage to eat?" + +"None of them," returned the Jaguar, with a sly grin +had a dish of magic scrambled eggs-on toast -- and it +wasn't a bad feast, at all. There isn't room in me for +even you, and I don't regret it because I judge, from +your green color, that you are not ripe, and would make +an indifferent meal. We jaguars have to be careful of +our digestions. Farewell, Friend Monkey. Follow the +path I made through the bushes and you will find your +friends." + +With this the Jaguar marched on his way and Woot took +his advice and followed the trail he had made until he +came to the place where the little Brown Bear, and the +Tin Owl, and the Canary were conferring together and +wondering what had become of their comrade, the Green +Monkey. + + + + +Chapter Ten + +Tommy Kwikstep + + +"Our best plan," said the Scarecrow Bear, when the +Green Monkey had related the story of his adventure +with the Dragons, "is to get out of this Gillikin +Country as soon as we can and try to find our way to +the castle of Glinda, the Good Sorceress. There are too +many dangers lurking here to suit me, and Glinda may be +able to restore us to our proper forms." + +"If we turn south now," the Tin Owl replied, "we +might go straight into the Emerald City. That's a place +I wish to avoid, for I'd hate to have my friends see me +in this sad plight," and he blinked his eyes and +fluttered his tin wings mournfully. + +"But I am certain we have passed beyond Emerald +City," the Canary assured him, sailing lightly around +their heads. "So, should we turn south from here, we +would pass into the Munchkin Country, and continuing +south we would reach the Quadling Country where +Glinda's castle is located." + +"Well, since you're sure of that, let's start right +away," proposed the Bear. "It's a long journey, at the +best, and I'm getting tired of walking on four legs." + +"I thought you never tired, being stuffed with +straw," said Woot. + +"I mean that it annoys me, to be obliged to go on all +fours, when two legs are my proper walking equipment," +replied the Scarecrow. "I consider it beneath my +dignity. In other words, my remarkable brains can tire, +through humiliation, although my body cannot tire." + +"That is one of the penalties of having brains," +remarked the Tin Owl with a sigh. "I have had no brains +since I was a man of meat, and so I never worry. +Nevertheless, I prefer my former manly form to this +owl's shape and would be glad to break Mrs. Yoop's +enchantment as soon as possible. I am so noisy, just +now, that I disturb myself," and he fluttered his wings +with a clatter that echoed throughout the forest. + +So, being all of one mind, they turned southward, +traveling steadily on until the woods were left behind +and the landscape turned from purple tints to blue +tints, which assured them they had entered the Country +of the Munchkins. + +"Now I feel myself more safe," said the Scarecrow +Bear. "I know this country pretty well, having been +made here by a Munchkin farmer and having wandered over +these lovely blue lands many times. Seems to me, +indeed, that I even remember that group of three tall +trees ahead of us; and, if I do, we are not far from +the home of my friend Jinjur." + +"Who is Jinjur?" asked Woot, the Green Monkey. + +"Haven't you heard of Jinjur?" exclaimed the +Scarecrow, in surprise. + +"No," said Woot. "Is Jinjur a man, a woman, a beast +or a bird?" + +"Jinjur is a girl," explained the Scarecrow Bear. +"She's a fine girl, too, although a bit restless and +liable to get excited. Once, a long time ago, she +raised an army of girls and called herself 'General +Jinjur.' With her army she captured the Emerald City, +and drove me out of it, because I insisted that an army +in Oz was highly improper. But Ozma punished the rash +girl, and afterward Jinjur and I became fast friends. +Now Jinjur lives peacefully on a farm, near here, and +raises fields of cream-puffs, chocolate-caramels and +macaroons. They say she's a pretty good farmer, and in +addition to that she's an artist, and paints pictures +so perfect that one can scarcely tell them from nature. +She often repaints my face for me, when it gets worn or +mussy, and the lovely expression I wore when the +Giantess transformed me was painted by Jinjur only a +month or so ago." + +"It was certainly a pleasant expression," agreed +Woot. + +"Jinjur can paint anything," continued the Scarecrow +Bear, with enthusiasm, as they walked along together. +"Once, when I came to her house, my straw was old and +crumpled, so that my body sagged dreadfully. I needed +new straw to replace the old, but Jinjur had no straw +on all her ranch and I was really unable to travel +farther until I had been restuffed. When I explained +this to Jinjur, the girl at once painted a straw-stack +which was so natural that I went to it and secured +enough straw to fill all my body. It was a good quality +of straw, too, and lasted me a long time." + +This seemed very wonderful to Woot, who knew that +such a thing could never happen in any place but a +fairy country like Oz. + +The Munchkin Country was much nicer than the Gillikin +Country, and all the fields were separated by blue +fences, with grassy lanes and paths of blue ground, and +the land seemed well cultivated. They were on a little +hill looking down upon this favored country, but had +not quite reached the settled parts, when on turning a +bend in the path they were halted by a form that barred +their way + +A more curious creature they had seldom seen, even in +the Land of Oz, where curious creatures abound. It had +the head of a young man -- evidently a Munchkin -- with +a pleasant face and hair neatly combed. But the body +was very long, for it had twenty legs -- ten legs on +each side -- and this caused the body to stretch out +and lie in a horizontal position, so that all the legs +could touch the ground and stand firm. From the +shoulders extended two small arms; at least, they +seemed small beside so many legs. + +This odd creature was dressed in the regulation +clothing of the Munchkin people, a dark blue coat neatly +fitting the long body and each pair of legs having a +pair of sky-blue trousers, with blue-tinted stockings +and blue leather shoes turned up at the pointed toes. + +"I wonder who you are?" said Polychrome the Canary, +fluttering above the strange creature, who had probably +been asleep on the path. + +"I sometimes wonder, myself, who I am," replied the +many-legged young man; "but, in reality, I am Tommy +Kwikstep, and I live in a hollow tree that fell to the +ground with age. I have polished the inside of it, and +made a door at each end, and that's a very comfortable +residence for me because it just fits my shape." + +"How did you happen to have such a shape?" asked the +Scarecrow Bear, sitting on his haunches and regarding +Tommy Kwikstep with a serious look. "Is the shape +natural?" + +"No; it was wished on me," replied Tommy, with a +sigh. "I used to be very active and loved to run +errands for anyone who needed my services. That was how +I got my name of Tommy Kwikstep. I could run an errand +more quickly than any other boy, and so I was very +proud of myself. One day, however, I met an old lady +who was a fairy, or a witch, or something of the sort, +and she said if I would run an errand for her -- to +carry some magic medicine to another old woman -- she +would grant me just one Wish, whatever the Wish +happened to be. Of course I consented and, taking the +medicine, I hurried away. It was a long distance, +mostly up hill, and my legs began to grow weary. +Without thinking what I was doing I said aloud: 'Dear +me; I wish I had twenty legs!' and in an instant I +became the unusual creature you see beside you. Twenty +legs! Twenty on one man! You may count them, if you +doubt my word." + +"You've got 'em, all right," said Woot the Monkey, +who had already counted them. + +"After I had delivered the magic medicine to the old +woman, I returned and tried to find the witch, or +fairy, or whatever she was, who had given me the +unlucky wish, so she could take it away again. I've +been searching for her ever since, but never can I find +her," continued poor Tommy Kwikstep, sadly "I suppose, +said the Tin Owl, blinking at him, "you can travel +very fast, with those twenty legs." + +"At first I was able to," was the reply; "but I +traveled so much, searching for the fairy, or witch, or +whatever she was, that I soon got corns on my toes. +Now, a corn on one toe is not so bad, but when you have +a hundred toes -- as I have -- and get corns on most of +them, it is far from pleasant. Instead of running, I +now painfully crawl, and although I try not to be +discouraged I do hope I shall find that witch or fairy, +or whatever she was, before long." + +"I hope so, too," said the Scarecrow. "But, after +all, you have the pleasure of knowing you are unusual, +and therefore remarkable among the people of Oz. To be +just like other persons is small credit to one, while +to be unlike others is a mark of distinction." + +"That sounds very pretty," returned Tommy Kwikstep, +"but if you had to put on ten pair of trousers every +morning, and tie up twenty shoes, you would prefer not +to be so distinguished." + +"Was the witch, or fairy, or whatever she was, an old +person, with wrinkled skin and half her teeth gone?" +inquired the Tin Owl. + +"No," said Tommy Kwikstep. + +"Then she wasn't Old Mombi," remarked the transformed +Emperor. + +"I'm not interested in who it wasn't, so much as I am +in who it was," said the twenty-legged young man. "And, +whatever or whomsoever she was, she has managed to keep +out of my way." + +"If you found her, do you suppose she'd change you +back into a two-legged boy?" asked Woot. + +"Perhaps so, if I could run another errand for her +and so earn another wish." + +"Would you really like to be as you were before?" +asked Polychrome the Canary, perching upon the Green +Monkey's shoulder to observe Tommy Kwikstep more +attentively. + +"I would, indeed," was the earnest reply. + +"Then I will see what I can do for you," promised the +Rainbow's Daughter, and flying to the ground she took a +small twig in her bill and with it made several mystic +figures on each side of Tommy Kwikstep. + +"Are you a witch, or fairy, or something of the +sort?" he asked as he watched her wonderingly. + +The Canary made no answer, for she was busy, but the +Scarecrow Bear replied: "Yes; she's something of the +sort, and a bird of a magician." + +The twenty-legged boy's transformation happened so +queerly that they were all surprised at its method. +First, Tommy Kwikstep's last two legs disappeared; then +the next two, and the next, and as each pair of legs +vanished his body shortened. All this while Polychrome +was running around him and chirping mystical words, and +when all the young man's legs had disappeared but two +he noticed that the Canary was still busy and cried out +in alarm: + +"Stop -- stop! Leave me two of my legs, or I shall be +worse off than before." + +"I know," said the Canary. "I'm only removing with my +magic the corns from your last ten toes." + +"Thank you for being so thoughtful," he said +gratefully, and now they noticed that Tommy Kwikstep +was quite a nice looking young fellow. + +"What will you do now~" asked Woot the Monkey. + +"First," he answered, "I must deliver a note which +I've carried in my pocket ever since the witch, or +fairy, or whatever she was, granted my foolish wish. +And I am resolved never to speak again without taking +time to think carefully on what I am going to say, for +I realize that speech without thought is dangerous. And +after I've delivered the note, I shall run errands +again for anyone who needs my services." + +So he thanked Polychrome again and started away in a +different direction from their own, and that was the +last they saw of Tommy Kwikstep. + + + + +Chapter Eleven + +Jinjur's Ranch + + +As they followed a path down the blue-grass hillside, +the first house that met the view of the travelers was +joyously recognized by the Scarecrow Bear as the one +inhabited by his friend Jinjur, so they increased their +speed and hurried toward it. + +On reaching the place, how ever, they found the house +deserted. The front door stood open, but no one was +inside. In the garden surrounding the house were neat +rows of bushes bearing cream-puffs and macaroons, some +of which were still green, but others ripe and ready to +eat. Farther back were fields of caramels, and all the +land seemed well cultivated and carefully tended. They +looked through the fields for the girl farmer, but she +was nowhere to be seen. + +"Well," finally remarked the little Brown Bear, "let +us go into the house and make ourselves at home. That +will be sure to please my friend Jinjur, who happens to +be away from home just now. When she returns, she will +be greatly surprised." + +"Would she care if I ate some of those ripe cream- +puffs?" asked the Green Monkey. + +"No, indeed; Jinjur is very generous. Help yourself +to all you want," said the Scarecrow Bear. + +So Woot gathered a lot of the cream-puffs that were +golden yellow and filled with a sweet, creamy +substance, and ate until his hunger was satisfied. Then +he entered the house with his friends and sat in a +rocking-chair -- just as he was accustomed to do when a +boy. The Canary perched herself upon the mantel and +daintily plumed her feathers; the Tin Owl sat on the +back of another chair; the Scarecrow squatted on his +hairy haunches in the middle of the room. + +"I believe I remember the girl Jinjur," remarked the +Canary, in her sweet voice. "She cannot help us very +much, except to direct us on our way to Glinda's +castle, for she does not understand magic. But she's a +good girl, honest and sensible, and I'll be glad to see +her." + +"All our troubles," said the Owl with a deep sigh, +"arose from my foolish resolve to seek Nimmie Amee and +make her Empress of the Winkies, and while I wish to +reproach no one, I must say that it was Woot the +Wanderer who put the notion into my head." + +"Well, for my part, I am glad he did," responded the +Canary. "Your journey resulted in saving me from the +Giantess, and had you not traveled to the Yoop Valley, +I would still be Mrs. Yoop's prisoner. It is much nicer +to be free, even though I still bear the enchanted form +of a Canary-Bird." + +"Do you think we shall ever be able to get our proper +forms back again?" asked the Green Monkey earnestly. + +Polychrome did not make reply at once to this +important question, but after a period of +thoughtfulness she said: + +"I have been taught to believe that there is an +antidote for every magic charm, yet Mrs. Yoop insists +that no power can alter her transformations. I realize +that my own fairy magic cannot do it, although I have +thought that we Sky Fairies have more power than is +accorded to Earth Fairies. The yookoohoo magic is +admitted to be very strange in its workings and +different from the magic usually practiced, but perhaps +Glinda or Ozma may understand it better than I. In them +lies our only hope. Unless they can help us, we must +remain forever as we are." + +"A Canary-Bird on a Rainbow wouldn't be so bad," +asserted the Tin Owl, winking and blinking with his +round tin eyes, "so if you can manage to find your +Rainbow again you need have little to worry about." + +"That's nonsense, Friend Chopper," exclaimed Woot. "I +know just how Polychrome feels. A beautiful girl is +much superior to a little yellow bird, and a boy -- +such as I was -- far better than a Green Monkey. +Neither of us can be happy again unless we recover our +rightful forms." + +"I feel the same way," announced the stuffed Bear. +"What do you suppose my friend the Patchwork Girl would +think of me, if she saw me wearing this beastly shape?" + +"She'd laugh till she cried," admitted the Tin Owl. +"For my part, I'll have to give up the notion of +marrying Nimmie Amee, but I'll try not to let that make +me unhappy. If it's my duty, I'd like to do my duty, +but if magic prevents my getting married I'll flutter +along all by myself and be just as contented." + +Their serious misfortunes made them all silent for a +time, and as their thoughts were busy in dwelling upon +the evils with which fate had burdened them, none +noticed that Jinjur had suddenly appeared in the +doorway and was looking at them in astonishment. The +next moment her astonishment changed to anger, for +there, in her best rocking-chair, sat a Green Monkey. A +great shiny Owl perched upon another chair and a Brown +Bear squatted upon her parlor rug. Jinjur did not +notice the Canary, but she caught up a broomstick and +dashed into the room, shouting as she came: + +"Get out of here, you wild creatures! How dare you +enter my house?" + +With a blow of her broom she knocked the Brown Bear +over, and the Tin Owl tried to fly out of her reach and +made a great clatter with his tin wings. The Green +Monkey was so startled by the sudden attack that he +sprang into the fireplace -- where there was +fortunately no fire -- and tried to escape by climbing +up the chimney. But he found the opening too small, and +so was forced to drop down again. Then he crouched +trembling in the fireplace, his pretty green hair all +blackened with soot and covered with ashes. From this +position Woot watched to see what would happen next. + +"Stop, Jinjur -- stop!" cried the Brown Bear, when +the broom again threatened him. "Don't you know me? I'm +your old friend the Scarecrow?" + +"You're trying to deceive me, you naughty beast! I +can see plainly that you are a bear, and a mighty poor +specimen of a bear, too," retorted the girl. + +"That's because I'm not properly stuffed," he assured +her. "When Mrs. Yoop transformed me, she didn't realize +I should have more stuffing." + +"Who is Mrs. Yoop?" inquired Jinjur, pausing with the +broom still upraised. + +"A Giantess in the Gillikin Country." + +"Oh; I begin to understand. And Mrs. Yoop transformed +you? You are really the famous Scarecrow of Oz." + +"I was, Jinjur. Just now I'm as you see me -- a +miserable little Brown Bear with a poor quality of +stuffing. That Tin Owl is none other than our dear Tin +Woodman -- Nick Chopper, the Emperor of the Winkies -- +while this Green Monkey is a nice little boy we +recently became acquainted with, Woot the Wanderer." + +"And I," said the Canary, flying close to Jinjur, "am +Polychrome, the Daughter of the Rainbow, in the form of +a bird." + +"Goodness me!" cried Jinjur, amazed; "that Giantess +must be a powerful Sorceress, and as wicked as she is +powerful." + +"She's a yookoohoo," said Polychrome. "Fortunately, +we managed to escape from her castle, and we are now on +our way to Glinda the Good to see if she possesses the +power to restore us to our former shapes." + +"Then I must beg your pardons; all of you must +forgive me," said Jinjur, putting away the broom. "I +took you to be a lot of wild, unmannerly animals, as +was quite natural. You are very welcome to my home and +I'm sorry I haven't the power to help you out of your +troubles. Please use my house and all that I have, as +if it were your own." + +At this declaration of peace, the Bear got upon his +feet and the Owl resumed his perch upon the chair and +the Monkey crept out of the fireplace. Jinjur looked at +Woot critically, and scowled. + +"For a Green Monkey," said she, "you're the blackest +creature I ever saw. And you'll get my nice clean room +all dirty with soot and ashes. Whatever possessed you +to jump up the chimney?" + +"I -- I was scared," explained Woot, somewhat +ashamed. + +"Well, you need renovating, and that's what will +happen to you, right away. Come with me!" she +commanded. + +"What are you going to do?" asked Woot. + +"Give you a good scrubbing," said Jinjur. + +Now, neither boys nor monkeys relish being scrubbed, +so Woot shrank away from the energetic girl, trembling +fearfully. But Jinjur grabbed him by his paw and +dragged him out to the back yard, where, in spite of +his whines and struggles, she plunged him into a tub of +cold water and began to scrub him with a stiff brush +and a cake of yellow soap. + +This was the hardest trial that Woot had endured +since he became a monkey, but no protest had any +influence with Jinjur, who lathered and scrubbed him in +a business-like manner and afterward dried him with a +coarse towel. + +The Bear and the Owl gravely watched this operation +and nodded approval when Woot's silky green fur shone +clear and bright in the afternoon sun. The Canary +seemed much amused and laughed a silvery ripple of +laughter as she said: + +"Very well done, my good Jinjur; I admire your energy +and judgment. But I had no idea a monkey could look so +comical as this monkey did while he was being bathed." + +"I'm not a monkey!" declared Woot, resentfully; "I'm +just a boy in a monkey's shape, that's all." + +"If you can explain to me the difference," said +Jinjur, "I'll agree not to wash you again -- that is, +unless you foolishly get into the fireplace. All +persons are usually judged by the shapes in which they +appear to the eyes of others. Look at me, Woot; what am +I?" + +Woot looked at her. + +"You're as pretty a girl as I've ever seen," he +replied. + +Jinjur frowned. That is, she tried hard to frown. + +"Come out into the garden with me," she said, "and +I'll give you some of the most delicious caramels you +ever ate. They're a new variety, that no one can grow +but me, and they have a heliotrope flavor." + + + + +Chapter Twelve + +Ozma and Dorothy + + +In her magnificent palace in the Emerald City, the +beautiful girl Ruler of all the wonderful Land of Oz +sat in her dainty boudoir with her friend Princess +Dorothy beside her. Ozma was studying a roll of +manuscript which she had taken from the Royal Library, +while Dorothy worked at her embroidery and at times +stooped to pat a shaggy little black dog that lay at +her feet. The little dog's name was Toto, and he was +Dorothy's faithful companion. + +To judge Ozma of Oz by the standards of our world, +you would think her very young -- perhaps fourteen or +fifteen years of age -- yet for years she had ruled the +Land of Oz and had never seemed a bit older. Dorothy +appeared much younger than Ozma. She had been a little +girl when first she came to the Land of Oz, and she was +a little girl still, and would never seem to be a day +older while she lived in this wonderful fairyland. + +Oz was not always a fairyland, I am told. Once it was +much like other lands, except it was shut in by a +dreadful desert of sandy wastes that lay all around it, +thus preventing its people from all contact with the +rest of the world. Seeing this isolation, the fairy +band of Queen Lurline, passing over Oz while on a +journey, enchanted the country and so made it a +Fairyland. And Queen Lurline left one of her fairies to +rule this enchanted Land of Oz, and then passed on and +forgot all about it. + +From that moment no one in Oz ever died. Those who +were old remained old; those who were young and strong +did not change as years passed them by; the children +remained children always, and played and romped to +their hearts' content, while all the babies lived in +their cradles and were tenderly cared for and never +grew up. So people in Oz stopped counting how old they +were in years, for years made no difference in their +appearance and could not alter their station. They did +not get sick, so there were no doctors among them. +Accidents might happen to some, on rare occasions, it +is true, and while no one could die naturally, as other +people do, it was possible that one might be totally +destroyed. Such incidents, however, were very unusual, +and so seldom was there anything to worry over that the +Oz people were as happy and contented as can be. + +Another strange thing about this fairy Land of Oz was +that whoever managed to enter it from the outside world +came under the magic spell of the place and did not +change in appearance as long as they lived there. So +Dorothy, who now lived with Ozma, seemed just the same +sweet little girl she had been when first she came to +this delightful fairyland. + +Perhaps all parts of Oz might not be called truly +delightful, but it was surely delightful in the +neighborhood of the Emerald City, where Ozma reigned. +Her loving influence was felt for many miles around, +but there were places in the mountains of the Gillikin +Country, and the forests of the Quadling Country, and +perhaps in far-away parts of the Munchkin and Winkie +Countries, where the inhabitants were somewhat rude and +uncivilized and had not yet come under the spell of +Ozma's wise and kindly rule. Also, when Oz first became +a fairyland, it harbored several witches and magicians +and sorcerers and necromancers, who were scattered in +various parts, but most of these had been deprived of +their magic powers, and Ozma had issued a royal edict +forbidding anyone in her dominions to work magic except +Glinda the Good and the Wizard of Oz. Ozma herself, +being a real fairy, knew a lot of magic, but she only +used it to benefit her subjects. + +This little explanation will help you to understand +better the story you are reaching, but most of it is +already known to those who are familiar with the Oz +people whose adventures they have followed in other Oz +books. + +Ozma and Dorothy were fast friends and were much +together. Everyone in Oz loved Dorothy almost as well +as they did their lovely Ruler, for the little Kansas +girl's good fortune had not spoiled her or rendered her +at all vain. She was just the same brave and true and +adventurous child as before she lived in a royal palace +and became the chum of the fairy Ozma. + +In the room in which the two sat -- which was one of +Ozma's private suite of apartments -- hung the famous +Magic Picture. This was the source of constant interest +to little Dorothy. One had but to stand before it and +wish to see what any person was doing, and at once a +scene would flash upon the magic canvas which showed +exactly where that person was, and like our own moving +pictures would reproduce the actions of that person as +long as you cared to watch them. So today, when Dorothy +tired of her embroidery, she drew the curtains from +before the Magic Picture and wished to see what her +friend Button Bright was doing. Button Bright, she saw, +was playing ball with Ojo, the Munchkin boy, so Dorothy +next wished to see what her Aunt Em was doing. The +picture showed Aunt Em quietly engaged in darning socks +for Uncle Henry, so Dorothy wished to see what her old +friend the Tin Woodman was doing. + +The Tin Woodman was then just leaving his tin castle +in the company of the Scarecrow and Woot the Wanderer. +Dorothy had never seen this boy before, so she wondered +who he was. Also she was curious to know where the +three were going, for she noticed Woot's knapsack and +guessed they had started on a long journey. She asked +Ozma about it, but Ozma did not know + +That afternoon Dorothy again saw the travelers in the +Magic Picture, but they were merely tramping through +the country and Dorothy was not much interested in +them. A couple of days later, however, the girl, being +again with Ozma, wished to see her friends, the +Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman in the Magic Picture, and +on this occasion found them in the great castle of Mrs. +Yoop, the Giantess, who was at the time about to +transform them. Both Dorothy and Ozma now became +greatly interested and watched the transformations with +indignation and horror. + +"What a wicked Giantess!" exclaimed Dorothy. + +"Yes," answered Ozma, "she must be punished for this +cruelty to our friends, and to the poor boy who is with +them." + +After this they followed the adventure of the little +Brown Bear and the Tin Owl and the Green Monkey with +breathless interest, and were delighted when they +escaped from Mrs. Yoop. They did not know, then, who +the Canary was, but realized it must be the +transformation of some person of consequence, whom the +Giantess had also enchanted. + +When, finally, the day came when the adventurers +headed south into the Munchkin Country, Dorothy asked +anxiously: + +"Can't something be done for them, Ozma? Can't you +change 'em back into their own shapes? They've suffered +enough from these dreadful transformations, seems to +me." + +"I've been studying ways to help them, ever since +they were transformed," replied Ozma. "Mrs. Yoop is now +the only yookoohoo in my dominions, and the yookoohoo +magic is very peculiar and hard for others to +understand, yet I am resolved to make the attempt to +break these enchantments. I may not succeed, but I +shall do the best I can. From the directions our +friends are taking, I believe they are going to pass by +Jinjur's Ranch, so if we start now we may meet them +there. Would you like to go with me, Dorothy?" + +"Of course," answered the little girl; "I wouldn't +miss it for anything." + +"Then order the Red Wagon," said Ozma of Oz, "and we +will start at once." + +Dorothy ran to do as she was bid, while Ozma went to +her Magic Room to make ready the things she believed +she would need. In half an hour the Red Wagon stood +before the grand entrance of the palace, and before it +was hitched the Wooden Sawhorse, which was Ozma's +favorite steed. + +This Sawhorse, while made of wood, was very much +alive and could travel swiftly and without tiring. To +keep the ends of his wooden legs from wearing down +short, Ozma had shod the Sawhorse with plates of pure +gold. His harness was studded with brilliant emeralds +and other jewels and so, while he himself was not at +all handsome, his outfit made a splendid appearance. + +Since the Sawhorse could understand her spoken words, +Ozma used no reins to guide him. She merely told him +where to go. When she came from the palace with +Dorothy, they both climbed into the Red Wagon and then +the little dog, Toto, ran up and asked: + +"Are you going to leave me behind, Dorothy?" Dorothy +looked at Ozma, who smiled in return and said: + +"Toto may go with us, if you wish him to." + +So Dorothy lifted the little dog into the wagon, for, +while he could run fast, he could not keep up with the +speed of the wonderful Sawhorse. + + +Away they went, over hills and through meadows, +covering the ground with astonishing speed. It is not +surprising, therefore, that the Red Wagon arrived +before Jinjur's house just as that energetic young lady +had finished scrubbing the Green Monkey and was about +to lead him to the caramel patch. + + + + +Chapter Thirteen + +The Restoration + + +The Tin Owl gave a hoot of delight when he saw the Red +Wagon draw up before Jinjur's house, and the Brown Bear +grunted and growled with glee and trotted toward Ozma +as fast as he could wobble. As for the Canary, it flew +swiftly to Dorothy's shoulder and perched there, saying +in her ear: + +"Thank goodness you have come to our rescue!" + +"But who are you?" asked Dorothy + +"Don't you know?" returned the Canary. + +"No; for the first time we noticed you in the Magic +Picture, you were just a bird, as you are now. But +we've guessed that the giant woman had transformed you, +as she did the others." + +"Yes; I'm Polychrome, the Rainbow's Daughter," +announced the Canary. + +"Goodness me!" cried Dorothy. "How dreadful." + +"Well, I make a rather pretty bird, I think," +returned Polychrome, "but of course I'm anxious to +resume my own shape and get back upon my rainbow." + +"Ozma will help you, I'm sure," said Dorothy. "How +does it feel, Scarecrow, to be a Bear?" she asked, +addressing her old friend. + +"I don't like it," declared the Scarecrow Bear. "This +brutal form is quite beneath the dignity of a wholesome +straw man." + +"And think of me," said the Owl, perching upon the +dashboard of the Red Wagon with much noisy clattering +of his tin feathers. "Don't I look horrid, Dorothy, +with eyes several sizes too big for my body, and so +weak that I ought to wear spectacles?" + +"Well," said Dorothy critically, as she looked him +over, "you're nothing to brag of, I must confess. But +Ozma will soon fix you up again." + +The Green Monkey had hung back, bashful at meeting +two lovely girls while in the form of a beast; but +Jinjur now took his hand and led him forward while she +introduced him to Ozma, and Woot managed to make a low +bow, not really ungraceful, before her girlish Majesty, +the Ruler of Oz. + +"You have all been forced to endure a sad +experience," said Ozma, "and so I am anxious to do all +in my power to break Mrs. Yoop's enchantments. But +first tell me how you happened to stray into that +lonely Valley where Yoop Castle stands." + +Between them they related the object of their +journey, the Scarecrow Bear telling of the Tin +Woodman's resolve to find Nimmie Amee and marry her, as +a just reward for her loyalty to him. Woot told of +their adventures with the Loons of Loonville, and the +Tin Owl described the manner in which they had been +captured and transformed by the Giantess. Then +Polychrome related her story, and when all had been +told, and Dorothy had several times reproved Toto for +growling at the Tin Owl, Ozma remained thoughtful for a +while, pondering upon what she had heard. Finally she +looked up, and with one of her delightful smiles, said +to the anxious group: + +"I am not sure my magic will be able to restore +every one of you, because your transformations are +of such a strange and unusual character. Indeed, +Mrs. Yoop was quite justified in believing no power +could alter her enchantments. However, I am sure +I can restore the Scarecrow to his original shape. +He was stuffed with straw from the beginning, and +even the yookoohoo magic could not alter that. The +Giantess was merely able to make a bear's shape of +a man's shape, but the bear is stuffed with straw, +just as the man was. So I feel confident I can make +a man of the bear again." + +"Hurrah!" cried the Brown Bear, and tried clumsily to +dance a jig of delight. + +"As for the Tin Woodman, his case is much the same," +resumed Ozma, still smiling. "The power of the Giantess +could not make him anything but a tin creature, +whatever shape she transformed him into, so it will not +be impossible to restore him to his manly form. Anyhow, +I shall test my magic at once, and see if it will do +what I have promised." + +She drew from her bosom a small silver Wand and, +making passes with the Wand over the head of the Bear, +she succeeded in the brief space of a moment in +breaking his enchantment. The original Scarecrow of Oz +again stood before them, well stuffed with straw and +with his features nicely painted upon the bag which +formed his head. + +The Scarecrow was greatly delighted, as you may +suppose, and he strutted proudly around while the +powerful fairy, Ozma of Oz, broke the enchantment that +had transformed the Tin Woodman and made a Tin Owl into +a Tin Man again. + +"Now, then," chirped the Canary, eagerly; "I'm +next, Ozma!" + +"But your case is different," replied Ozma, no +longer smiling but wearing a grave expression on +her sweet face. "I shall have to experiment on you, +Polychrome, and I may fail in all my attempts." + +She then tried two or three different methods of +magic, hoping one of them would succeed in breaking +Polychrome's enchantment, but still the Rainbow's +Daughter remained a Canary-Bird. Finally, however, she +experimented in another way. She transformed the Canary +into a Dove, and then transformed the Dove into a +Speckled Hen, and then changed the Speckled Hen into a +rabbit, and then the rabbit into a Fawn. And at the +last, after mixing several powders and sprinkling them +upon the Fawn, the yookoohoo enchantment was suddenly +broken and before them stood one of the daintiest and +loveliest creatures in any fairyland in the world. +Polychrome was as sweet and merry in disposition as she +was beautiful, and when she danced and capered around +in delight, her beautiful hair floated around her like +a golden mist and her many-hued raiment, as soft as +cobwebs, reminded one of drifting clouds in a summer +sky. + +Woot was so awed by the entrancing sight of this +exquisite Sky Fairy that he quite forgot his own sad +plight until be noticed Ozma gazing upon him with an +intent expression that denoted sympathy and sorrow. +Dorothy whispered in her friend's ear, but the Ruler of +Oz shook her head sadly. + +Jinjur, noticing this and understanding Ozma's looks, +took the paw of the Green Monkey in her own hand and +patted it softly. + +"Never mind," she said to him. "You are a very +beautiful color, and a monkey can climb better than a +boy and do a lot of other things no boy can ever do." + +"What's the matter?" asked Woot, a sinking feeling at +his heart. "Is Ozma's magic all used up?" + +Ozma herself answered him. + +"Your form of enchantment, my poor boy," she said +pityingly, "is different from that of the others. +Indeed, it is a form that is impossible to alter by any +magic known to fairies or yookoohoos. The wicked +Giantess was well aware, when she gave you the form of +a Green Monkey, that the Green Monkey must exist in the +Land of Oz for all future time." + +Woot drew a long sigh. + +"Well, that's pretty hard luck," he said bravely, +"but if it can't be helped I must endure it; that's +all. I don't like being a monkey, but what's the use of +kicking against my fate?" + +They were all very sorry for him, and Dorothy +anxiously asked Ozma: + +"Couldn't Glinda save him?" + +"No," was the reply. "Glinda's power in trans- +formations is no greater than my own. Before I left my +palace I went to my Magic Room and studied Woot's case +very carefully. I found that no power can do away with +the Green Monkey. He might transfer, or exchange his +form with some other person, it is true; but the Green +Monkey we cannot get rid of by any magic arts known to +science." + +"But -- see here," said the Scarecrow, who had +listened intently to this explanation, "why not put the +monkey's form on some one else?" + +"Who would agree to make the change?" asked Ozma. "If +by force we caused anyone else to become a Green +Monkey, we would be as cruel and wicked as Mrs. Yoop. +And what good would an exchange do?" she continued. +"Suppose, for instance, we worked the enchantment, and +made Toto into a Green Monkey. At the same moment Woot +would become a little dog." + +"Leave me out of your magic, please," said Toto, with +a reproachful growl. "I wouldn't become a Green Monkey +for anything." + +"And I wouldn't become a dog," said Woot. "A green +monkey is much better than a dog, it seems to me." + +"That is only a matter of opinion," answered Toto. + +"Now, here's another idea," said the Scarecrow. "My +brains are working finely today, you must admit. Why +not transform Toto into Woot the Wanderer, and then +have them exchange forms? The dog would become a green +monkey and the monkey would have his own natural shape +again." + +"To be sure!" cried Jinjur. "That's a fine idea." + +"Leave me out of it," said Toto. "I won't do it." + +"Wouldn't you be willing to become a green monkey -- +see what a pretty color it is -- so that this poor boy +could be restored to his own shape?" asked Jinjur, +pleadingly + +"No," said Toto. + +"I don't like that plan the least bit," declared +Dorothy, "for then I wouldn't have any little dog." + +"But you'd have a green monkey in his place," +persisted Jinjur, who liked Woot and wanted to help +him. + +"I don't want a green monkey," said Dorothy +positively. + +"Don't speak of this again, I beg of you," said Woot. +"This is my own misfortune and I would rather suffer it +alone than deprive Princess Dorothy of her dog, or +deprive the dog of his proper shape. And perhaps even +her Majesty, Ozma of Oz, might not be able to transform +anyone else into the shape of Woot the Wanderer." + +"Yes; I believe I might do that," Ozma returned; "but +Woot is quite right; we are not justified in inflicting +upon anyone -- man or dog -- the form of a green +monkey. Also it is certain that in order to relieve the +boy of the form he now wears, we must give it to +someone else, who would be forced to wear it always." + +"I wonder," said Dorothy, thoughtfully, "if we +couldn't find someone in the Land of Oz who would be +willing to become a green monkey? Seems to me a monkey +is active and spry, and he can climb trees and do a lot +of clever things, and green isn't a bad color for a +monkey -- it makes him unusual." + +"I wouldn't ask anyone to take this dreadful form," +said Woot; "it wouldn't be right, you know. I've been a +monkey for some time, now, and I don't like it. It +makes me ashamed to be a beast of this sort when by +right of birth I'm a boy; so I'm sure it would be +wicked to ask anyone else to take my place." + +They were all silent, for they knew he spoke the +truth. Dorothy was almost ready to cry with pity and +Ozma's sweet face was sad and disturbed. The Scarecrow +rubbed and patted his stuffed head to try to make it +think better, while the Tin Woodman went into the house +and began to oil his tin joints so that the sorrow of +his friends might not cause him to weep. Weeping is +liable to rust tin, and the Emperor prided himself upon +his highly polished body -- now doubly dear to him +because for a time he had been deprived of it. + +Polychrome had danced down the garden paths and back +again a dozen times, for she was seldom still a moment, +yet she had heard Ozma's speech and understood very +well Woot's unfortunate position. But the Rainbow's +Daughter, even while dancing, could think and reason +very clearly, and suddenly she solved the problem in +the nicest possible way. Coming close to Ozma, she +said: + +"Your Majesty, all this trouble was caused by the +wickedness of Mrs. Yoop, the Giantess. Yet even now +that cruel woman is living in her secluded castle, +enjoying the thought that she has put this terrible +enchantment on Woot the Wanderer. Even now she is +laughing at our despair because we can find no way to +get rid of the green monkey. Very well, we do not wish +to get rid of it. Let the woman who created the form +wear it herself, as a just punishment for her +wickedness. I am sure your fairy power can give to Mrs. +Yoop the form of Woot the Wanderer -- even at this +distance from her --and then it will be possible to +exchange the two forms. Mrs. Yoop will become the Green +Monkey, and Woot will recover his own form again." + +Ozma's face brightened as she listened to this clever +proposal. + +"Thank you, Polychrome," said she. "The task you +propose Is not so easy as you suppose, but I will make +the attempt, and perhaps I may succeed." + + + + +Chapter Fourteen + +The Green Monkey + + +They now entered the house, and as an interested group, +watched Jinjur, at Ozma's command, build a fire and put +a kettle of water over to boil. The Ruler of Oz stood +before the fire silent and grave, while the others, +realizing that an important ceremony of magic was about +to be performed, stood quietly in the background so as +not to interrupt Ozma's proceedings. Only Polychrome +kept going in and coming out, humming softly to herself +as she danced, for the Rainbow's Daughter could not +keep still for long, and the four walls of a room +always made her nervous and ill at ease. She moved so +noiselessly, however, that her movements were like the +shifting of sunbeams and did not annoy anyone. + +When the water in the kettle bubbled, Ozma drew from +her bosom two tiny packets containing powders. These +powders she threw into the kettle and after briskly +stirring the contents with a branch from a macaroon +bush, Ozma poured the mystic broth upon a broad platter +which Jinjur had placed upon the table. As the broth +cooled it became as silver, reflecting all objects from +its smooth surface like a mirror. + +While her companions gathered around the table, +eagerly attentive -- and Dorothy even held little Toto +in her arms that he might see -- Ozma waved her wand +over the mirror-like surface. At once it reflected the +interior of Yoop Castle, and in the big hall sat Mrs. +Yoop, in her best embroidered silken robes, engaged in +weaving a new lace apron to replace the one she had +lost. + +The Giantess seemed rather uneasy, as if she had a +faint idea that someone was spying upon her, for she +kept looking behind her and this way and that, as +though expecting danger from an unknown source. Perhaps +some yookoohoo instinct warned her. Woot saw that she +had escaped from her room by some of the magical means +at her disposal, after her prisoners had escaped her. +She was now occupying the big hall of her castle as she +used to do. Also Woot thought, from the cruel +expression on the face of the Giantess, that she was +planning revenge on them, as soon as her new magic +apron was finished + +But Ozma was now making passes over the platter with +her silver Wand, and presently the form of the Giantess +began to shrink in size and to change its shape. And +now, in her place sat the form of Woot the Wanderer, +and as if suddenly realizing her transformation Mrs. +Yoop threw down her work and rushed to a looking-glass +that stood against the wall of her room. When she saw +the boy's form reflected as her own, she grew violently +angry and dashed her head against the mirror, smashing +it to atoms. + +Just then Ozma was busy with her magic Wand, making +strange figures, and she had also placed her left hand +firmly upon the shoulder of the Green Monkey. So now, +as all eyes were turned upon the platter, the form of +Mrs. Yoop gradually changed again. She was slowly +transformed into the Green Monkey, and at the same time +Woot slowly regained his natural form. + +It was quite a surprise to them all when they raised +their eyes from the platter and saw Woot the Wanderer +standing beside Ozma. And, when they glanced at the +platter again, it reflected nothing more than the walls +of the room in Jinjur's house in which they stood. The +magic ceremonial was ended, and Ozma of Oz had +triumphed over the wicked Giantess. + +"What will become of her, I wonder?" said Dorothy, as +she drew a long breath. + +"She will always remain a Green Monkey," replied +Ozma, "and in that form she will be unable to perform +any magical arts whatsoever. She need not be unhappy, +however, and as she lives all alone in her castle she +probably won't mind the transformation very much after +she gets used to it." + +"Anyhow, it serves her right," declared Dorothy, and +all agreed with her. + +"But," said the kind hearted Tin Woodman, "I'm afraid +the Green Monkey will starve, for Mrs. Yoop used to get +her food by magic, and now that the magic is taken away +from her, what can she eat?" + +"Why, she'll eat what other monkeys do," returned the +Scarecrow. "Even in the form of a Green Monkey, she's a +very clever person, and I'm sure her wits will show her +how to get plenty to eat." + +"Don't worry about her," advised Dorothy. "She didn't +worry about you, and her condition is no worse than the +condition she imposed on poor Woot. She can't starve to +death in the Land of Oz, that's certain, and if she +gets hungry at times it's no more than the wicked thing +deserves. Let's forget Mrs. Yoop; for, in spite of her +being a yookoohoo, our fairy friends have broken all of +her transformations." + + + + +Chapter Fifteen + +The Man of Tin + + +Ozma and Dorothy were quite pleased with Woot the +Wanderer, whom they found modest and intelligent and +very well mannered. The boy was truly grateful for his +release from the cruel enchantment, and he promised to +love, revere and defend the girl Ruler of Oz forever +afterward, as a faithful subject. + +"You may visit me at my palace, if you wish," said +Ozma, "where I will be glad to introduce you to two +other nice boys, Ojo the Munchkin and Button-Bright." + +"Thank your Majesty," replied Woot, and then he +turned to the Tin Woodman and inquired: "What are your +further plans, Mr. Emperor? Will you still seek Nimmie +Amee and marry her, or will you abandon the quest and +return to the Emerald City and your own castle?" + +The Tin Woodman, now as highly polished and well- +oiled as ever, reflected a while on this question and +then answered: + +"Well, I see no reason why I should not find Nimmie +Amee. We are now in the Munchkin Country, where we are +perfectly safe, and if it was right for me, before our +enchantment, to marry Nimmie Amee and make her Empress +of the Winkies, it must be right now, when the +enchantment has been broken and I am once more myself. +Am I correct, friend Scarecrow?" + +"You are, indeed," answered the Scarecrow. "No one +can oppose such logic." + +"But I'm afraid you don't love Nimmie Amee," +suggested Dorothy. + +"That is just because I can't love anyone," replied +the Tin Woodman. "But, if I cannot love my wife, I can +at least be kind to her, and all husbands are not able +to do that." + +"Do you s'pose Nimmie Amee still loves you, after all +these years?" asked Dorothy + +"I'm quite sure of it, and that is why I am going to +her to make her happy. Woot the Wanderer thinks I ought +to reward her for being faithful to me after my meat +body was chopped to pieces and I became tin. What do +you think, Ozma?" + +Ozma smiled as she said: + +"I do not know your Nimmie Amee, and so I cannot tell +what she most needs to make her happy. But there is no +harm in your going to her and asking her if she still +wishes to marry you. If she does, we will give you a +grand wedding at the Emerald City and, afterward, as +Empress of the Winkies, Nimmie Amee would become one +of the most important ladies in all Oz." + +So it was decided that the Tin Woodman would continue +his journey, and that the Scarecrow and Woot the +Wanderer should accompany him, as before. Polychrome +also decided to join their party, somewhat to the +surprise of all. + +"I hate to be cooped up in a palace," she said to +Ozma, "and of course the first time I meet my Rainbow I +shall return to my own dear home in the skies, where my +fairy sisters are even now awaiting me and my father is +cross because I get lost so often. But I can find my +Rainbow just as quickly while traveling in the Munchkin +Country as I could if living in the Emerald City -- or +any other place in Oz -- so I shall go with the Tin +Woodman and help him woo Nimmie Amee." + +Dorothy wanted to go, too, but as the Tin Woodman did +not invite her to join his party, she felt she might be +intruding if she asked to be taken. she hinted, but she +found he didn't take the hint. It is quite a delicate +matter for one to ask a girl to marry him, however much +she loves him, and perhaps the Tin Woodman did not +desire to have too many looking on when he found his +old sweetheart, Nimmie Amee. So Dorothy contented +herself with the thought that she would help Ozma +prepare a splendid wedding feast, to be followed by a +round of parties and festivities when the Emperor of +the Winkies reached the Emerald City with his bride. + +Ozma offered to take them all in the Red Wagon to a +place as near to the great Munchkin forest as a wagon +could get. The Red Wagon was big enough to seat them +all, and so, bidding good-bye to Jinjur, who gave Woot +a basket of ripe cream-puffs and caramels to take with +him, Ozma commanded the Wooden Sawhorse to start, and +the strange creature moved swiftly over the lanes and +presently came to the Road of Yellow Bricks. This road +led straight to a dense forest, where the path was too +narrow for the Red Wagon to proceed farther, so here +the party separated. + +Ozma and Dorothy and Toto returned to the Emerald +City, after wishing their friends a safe and successful +journey, while the Tin Woodman, the Scarecrow, Woot the +Wanderer and Polychrome, the Rainbow's Daughter, +prepared to push their way through the thick forest. +However, these forest paths were well known to the Tin +Man and the Scarecrow, who felt quite at home among the +trees. + +"I was born in this grand forest," said Nick Chopper, +the tin Emperor, speaking proudly, "and it was here +that the Witch enchanted my axe and I lost different +parts of my meat body until I became all tin. Here, +also -- for it is a big forest -- Nimmie Amee lived +with the Wicked Witch, and at the other edge of the +trees stands the cottage of my friend Ku-Klip, the +famous tinsmith who made my present beautiful form." + +"He must be a clever workman," declared Woot, +admiringly. + +"He is simply wonderful," declared the Tin Woodman. + +"I shall be glad to make his acquaintance," said +Woot. + +"If you wish to meet with real cleverness," remarked +the Scarecrow, "you should visit the Munchkin farmer +who first made me. I won't say that my friend the +Emperor isn't all right for a tin man, but any judge of +beauty can understand that a Scarecrow is far more +artistic and refined." + +"You are too soft and flimsy," said the Tin Woodman. + +"You are too hard and stiff," said the Scarecrow, and +this was as near to quarreling as the two friends ever +came. Polychrome laughed at them both, as well she +might, and Woot hastened to change the subject. + +At night they all camped underneath the trees. The +boy ate cream-puffs for supper and offered Polychrome +some, but she preferred other food and at daybreak +sipped the dew that was clustered thick on the forest +flowers. Then they tramped onward again, and presently +the Scarecrow paused and said: + +"It was on this very spot that Dorothy and I first +met the Tin Woodman, who was rusted so badly that none +of his joints would move. But after we had oiled him +up, he was as good as new and accompanied us to the +Emerald City." + +"Ah, that was a sad experience," asserted the Tin +Woodman soberly. "I was caught in a rainstorm while +chopping down a tree for exercise, and before I +realized it, I was firmly rusted in every joint. There +I stood, axe in hand, but unable to move, for days and +weeks and months! Indeed, I have never known exactly +how long the time was; but finally along came Dorothy +and I was saved. See! This is the very tree I was +chopping at the time I rusted." + +"You cannot be far from your old home, in that case," +said Woot. + +"No; my little cabin stands not a great way off, but +there is no occasion for us to visit it. Our errand is +with Nimmie Amee, and her house is somewhat farther +away, to the left of us." + +"Didn't you say she lives with a Wicked Witch, who +makes her a slave?" asked the boy. + +"She did, but she doesn't," was the reply. "I am told +the Witch was destroyed when Dorothy's house fell on +her, so now Nimmie Amee must live all alone. I haven't +seen her, of course, since the Witch was crushed, for +at that time I was standing rusted in the forest and +had been there a long time, but the poor girl must have +felt very happy to be free from her cruel mistress." + +"Well," said the Scarecrow, "let's travel on and find +Nimmie Amee. Lead on, your Majesty, since you know the +way, and we will follow." + +So the Tin Woodman took a path that led through the +thickest part of the forest, and they followed it for +some time. The light was dim here, because vines and +bushes and leafy foliage were all about them, and often +the Tin Man had to push aside the branches that +obstructed their way, or cut them off with his axe. +After they had proceeded some distance, the Emperor +suddenly stopped short and exclaimed: "Good gracious!" + +The Scarecrow, who was next, first bumped into his +friend and then peered around his tin body, and said in +a tone of wonder: + +"Well, I declare!" + +Woot the Wanderer pushed forward to see what was the +matter, and cried out in astonishment: "For goodness' +sake!" + +Then the three stood motionless, staring hard, until +Polychrome's merry laughter rang out behind them and +aroused them from their stupor. + +In the path before them stood a tin man who was the +exact duplicate of the Tin Woodman. He was of the same +size, he was jointed in the same manner, and he was +made of shining tin from top to toe. But he stood +immovable, with his tin jaws half parted and his tin +eyes turned upward. In one of his hands was held a +long, gleaming sword. Yes, there was the difference, +the only thing that distinguished him from the Emperor +of the Winkies. This tin man bore a sword, while the +Tin Woodman bore an axe. + +"It's a dream; it must be a dream!" gasped Woot. + +"That's it, of course," said the Scarecrow; "there +couldn't be two Tin Woodmen." + +"No," agreed Polychrome, dancing nearer to the +stranger, "this one is a Tin Soldier. Don't you see his +sword?" + +The Tin Woodman cautiously put out one tin hand and +felt of his double's arm. Then he said in a voice that +trembled with emotion: + +"Who are you, friend?" + +There was no reply + +"Can't you see he's rusted, just as you were once?" +asked Polychrome, laughing again. "Here, Nick Chopper, +lend me your oil-can a minute!" + +The Tin Woodman silently handed her his oil-can, +without which he never traveled, and Polychrome +first oiled the stranger's tin jaws and then worked +them gently to and fro until the Tin Soldier said: + +"That's enough. Thank you. I can now talk. But please +oil my other joints." + +Woot seized the oil-can and did this, but all the +others helped wiggle the soldier's joints as soon as +they were oiled, until they moved freely. + +The Tin Soldier seemed highly pleased at his release. +He strutted up and down the path, saying in a high, +thin voice: + + +"The Soldier is a splendid man + When marching on parade, +And when he meets the enemy + He never is afraid. + +He rights the wrongs of nations, + His country's flag defends, +The foe he'll fight with great delight, + But seldom fights his friends." + + + + + +Chapter Sixteen + +Captain Fyter + + +"Are you really a soldier?" asked Woot, when they had +all watched this strange tin person parade up and down +the path and proudly flourish his sword. + +"I was a soldier," was the reply, "but I've been a +prisoner to Mr. Rust so long that I don't know exactly +what I am." + +"But -- dear me!" cried the Tin Woodman, sadly +perplexed; "how came you to be made of tin?" + +"That," answered the Soldier, "is a sad, sad story I +was in love with a beautiful Munchkin girl, who lived +with a Wicked Witch. The Witch did not wish me to marry +the girl, so she enchanted my sword, which began +hacking me to pieces. When I lost my legs I went to the +tinsmith, Ku-Klip, and he made me some tin legs. When I +lost my arms, Ku-Klip made me tin arms, and when I lost +my head he made me this fine one out of tin. It was the +same way with my body, and finally I was all tin. But I +was not unhappy, for Ku-Klip made a good job of me, +having had experience in making another tin man before +me." + +"Yes," observed the Tin Woodman, "it was Ku-Klip who +made me. But, tell me, what was the name of the +Munchkin girl you were in love with?" + +"She is called Nimmie Amee," said the Tin Soldier. + +Hearing this, they were all so astonished that they +were silent for a time, regarding the stranger with +wondering looks. Finally the Tin Woodman ventured to +ask: + +"And did Nimmie Amee return your love?" + +"Not at first," admitted the Soldier. "When first I +marched into the forest and met her, she was weeping +over the loss of her former sweetheart, a woodman whose +name was Nick Chopper." + +"That is me," said the Tin Woodman. + +"She told me he was nicer than a soldier, because he +was all made of tin and shone beautifully in the sun. +She said a tin man appealed to her artistic instincts +more than an ordinary meat man, as I was then. But I +did not despair, because her tin sweetheart had +disappeared, and could not be found. And finally Nimmie +Amee permitted me to call upon her and we became +friends. It was then that the Wicked Witch discovered +me and became furiously angry when I said I wanted to +marry the girl. She enchanted my sword, as I said, and +then my troubles began. When I got my tin legs, Nimmie +Amee began to take an interest in me; when I got my tin +arms, she began to like me better than ever, and when I +was all made of tin, she said I looked like her dear +Nick Chopper and she would be willing to marry me. + +"The day of our wedding was set, and it turned out to +be a rainy day. Nevertheless I started out to get +Nimmie Amee, because the Witch had been absent for some +time, and we meant to elope before she got back. As I +traveled the forest paths the rain wetted my joints, +but I paid no attention to this because my thoughts +were all on my wedding with beautiful Nimmie Amee and I +could think of nothing else until suddenly my legs +stopped moving. Then my arms rusted at the joints and I +became frightened and cried for help, for now I was +unable to oil myself. No one heard my calls and before +long my jaws rusted, and I was unable to utter another +sound. So I stood helpless in this spot, hoping some +wanderer would come my way and save me. But this forest +path is seldom used, and I have been standing here so +long that I have lost all track of time. In my mind I +composed poetry and sang songs, but not a sound have I +been able to utter. But this desperate condition has +now been relieved by your coming my way and I must +thank you for my rescue." + +"This is wonderful!" said the Scarecrow, heaving a +stuffy, long sigh. "I think Ku-Klip was wrong to make +two tin men, just alike, and the strangest thing of all +is that both you tin men fell in love with the same +girl." + +"As for that," returned the Soldier, seriously, "I +must admit I lost my ability to love when I lost my +meat heart. Ku-Klip gave me a tin heart, to be sure, +but it doesn't love anything, as far as I can discover, +and merely rattles against my tin ribs, which makes me +wish I had no heart at all." + +"Yet, in spite of this condition, you were going to +marry Nimmie Amee?" + +"Well, you see I had promised to marry her, and I am +an honest man and always try to keep my promises. I +didn't like to disappoint the poor girl, who had been +disappointed by one tin man already." + +"That was not my fault," declared the Emperor of the +Winkies, and then he related how he, also, had rusted +in the forest and after a long time had been rescued by +Dorothy and the Scarecrow and had traveled with them to +the Emerald City in search of a heart that could love. + +"If you have found such a heart, sir," said the +Soldier, "I will gladly allow you to marry Nimmie Amee +in my place." + +"If she loves you best, sir," answered the Woodman, +"I shall not interfere with your wedding her. For, to +be quite frank with you, I cannot yet love Nimmie Amee +as I did before I became tin." + +"Still, one of you ought to marry the poor girl," +remarked Woot; "and, if she likes tin men, there is not +much choice between you. Why don't you draw lots for +her?" + +"That wouldn't be right," said the Scarecrow. + +"The girl should be permitted to choose her own +husband," asserted Polychrome. "You should both go to +her and allow her to take her choice. Then she will +surely be happy." + +"That, to me, seems a very fair arrangement," said +the Tin Soldier. + +"I agree to it," said the Tin Woodman, shaking the +hand of his twin to show the matter was settled. "May I +ask your name, sir?" he continued. + +"Before I was so cut up," replied the other, "I was +known as Captain Fyter, but afterward I was merely +called 'The Tin Soldier.'" + +"Well, Captain, if you are agreeable, let us now go +to Nimmie Amee's house and let her choose between us." + +"Very well; and if we meet the Witch, we will both +fight her -- you with your axe and I with my sword." + +"The Witch is destroyed," announced the Scarecrow, +and as they walked away he told the Tin Soldier of much +that had happened in the Land of Oz since he had stood +rusted in the forest. + +"I must have stood there longer than I had imagined," +he said thoughtfully + + + + +Chapter Seventeen + +The Workshop of Ku-Klip + + +It was not more than a two hours' journey to the house +where Nimmie Amee had lived, but when our travelers +arrived there they found the place deserted. The door +was partly off its hinges, the roof had fallen in at +the rear and the interior of the cottage was thick with +dust. Not only was the place vacant, but it was evident +that no one had lived there for a long time. + +"I suppose," said the Scarecrow, as they all stood +looking wonderingly at the ruined house, "that after +the Wicked Witch was destroyed, Nimmie Amee became +lonely and went somewhere else to live." + +"One could scarcely expect a young girl to live all +alone in a forest," added Woot. "She would want +company, of course, and so I believe she has gone where +other people live." + +"And perhaps she is still crying her poor little +heart out because no tin man comes to marry her," +suggested Polychrome. + +"Well, in that case, it is the clear duty of you two +tin persons to seek Nimmie Amee until you find her," +declared the Scarecrow. + +"I do not know where to look for the girl," said the +Tin Soldier, "for I am almost a stranger to this part +of the country." + +"I was born here," said the Tin Woodman, "but the +forest has few inhabitants except the wild beasts. I +cannot think of anyone living near here with whom +Nimmie Amee might care to live." + +"Why not go to Ku-Klip and ask him what has become of +the girl?" proposed Polychrome. + +That struck them all as being a good suggestion, so +once more they started to tramp through the forest, +taking the direct path to Ku-Klip's house, for both the +tin twins knew the way, having followed it many times. + +Ku-Klip lived at the far edge of the great forest, +his house facing the broad plains of the Munchkin +Country that lay to the eastward. But, when they came +to this residence by the forest's edge, the tinsmith +was not at home. + +It was a pretty place, all painted dark blue with +trimmings of lighter blue. There was a neat blue fence +around the yard and several blue benches had been +placed underneath the shady blue trees which marked the +line between forest and plain. There was a blue lawn +before the house, which was a good sized building. Ku- +Klip lived in the front part of the house and had his +work-shop in the back part, where he had also built a +lean-to addition, in order to give him more room. + +Although they found the tinsmith absent on their +arrival, there was smoke coming out of his chimney, +which proved that he would soon return. + +"And perhaps Nimmie Amee will be with him," said the +Scarecrow in a cheerful voice. + +While they waited, the Tin Woodman went to the door +of the workshop and, finding it unlocked, entered and +looked curiously around the room where he had been +made. + +"It seems almost like home to me," hie told his +friends, who had followed him in. "The first time I +came here I had lost a leg, so I had to carry it in my +hand while I hopped on the other leg all the way from +the place in the forest where the enchanted axe cut me. +I remember that old Ku-Klip carefully put my meat leg +into a barrel -- I think that is the same barrel, still +standing in the corner yonder -- and then at once he +began to make a tin leg for me. He worked fast and with +skill, and I was much interested in the job." + +"My experience was much the same," said the Tin +Soldier. "I used to bring all the parts of me, which +the enchanted sword had cut away, here to the tinsmith, +and Ku-Klip would put them into the barrel." + +"I wonder," said Woot, "if those cast-off parts of you two +unfortunates are still in that barrel in the corner?" + +"I suppose so." replied the Tin Woodman. "In the Land +of Oz no part of a living creature can ever be destroyed." + +"If that is true, how was that Wicked Witch destroyed?" inquired Woot. + +"Why, she was very old and was all dried up and +withered before Oz became a fairyland," explained the +Scarecrow. "Only her magic arts had kept her alive so +long, and when Dorothy's house fell upon her she just +turned to dust, and was blown away and scattered by the +wind. I do not think, however, that the parts cut away +from these two young men could ever be entirely +destroyed and, if they are still in those barrels, +they are likely to be just the same as when the +enchanted axe or sword severed them." + +"It doesn't matter, however," said the Tin Woodman; +"our tin bodies are more brilliant and durable, and +quite satisfy us." + +"Yes, the tin bodies are best," agreed the Tin +Soldier. "Nothing can hurt them." + +"Unless they get dented or rusted," said Woot, but +both the tin men frowned on him. + +Scraps of tin, of all shapes and sizes, lay scattered +around the workshop. Also there were hammers and anvils +and soldering irons and a charcoal furnace and many +other tools such as a tinsmith works with. Against two +of the side walls had been built stout work-benches and +in the center of the room was a long table. At the end of +the shop, which adjoined the dwelling, were several cupboards. + +After examining the interior of the workshop until +his curiosity was satisfied, Woot said; + +"I think I will go outside until Ku-Klip comes. It +does not seem quite proper for us to take possession of +his house while he is absent." + +"That is true," agreed the Scarecrow, and they were +all about to leave the room when the Tin Woodman said: +"Wait a minute," and they halted in obedience to the +command. + + + + +Chapter Eighteen + +The Tin Woodman Talks to Himself + + +The Tin Woodman had just noticed the cupboards and was +curious to know what they contained, so he went to one +of them and opened the door. There were shelves inside, +and upon one of the shelves which was about on a level +with his tin chin the Emperor discovered a Head -- it +looked like a doll's head, only it was larger, and he +soon saw it was the Head of some person. It was facing +the Tin Woodman and as the cupboard door swung back, +the eyes of the Head slowly opened and looked at him. +The Tin Woodman was not at all surprised, for in the +Land of Oz one runs into magic at every turn. + +"Dear me!" said the Tin Woodman, staring hard. "It +seems as if I had met you, somewhere, before. Good +morning, sir!" + +"You have the advantage of me," replied the Head. "I +never saw you before in my life." + +"Still, your face is very familiar," persisted the +Tin Woodman. "Pardon me, but may I ask if you -- eh -- +eh -- if you ever had a Body?" + +"Yes, at one time," answered the Head, "but that is +so long ago I can't remember it. Did you think," with a +pleasant smile, "that I was born just as I am? That a +Head would be created without a Body?" + +"No, of course not," said the other. "But how came +you to lose your body?" + +"Well, I can't recollect the details; you'll have to +ask Ku-Klip about it," returned the Head. "For, curious +as it may seem to you, my memory is not good since my +separation from the rest of me. I still possess my +brains and my intellect is as good as ever, but my +memory of some of the events I formerly experienced is +quite hazy." + +"How long have you been in this cupboard?" asked the +Emperor. + +"I don't know." + +"Haven't you a name?" + +"Oh, yes," said the Head; "I used to be called Nick +Chopper, when I was a woodman and cut down trees for a +living." + +"Good gracious!" cried the Tin Woodman in +astonishment. "If you are Nick Chopper's Head, then you +are Me -- or I'm You -- or -- or -- What relation are +we, anyhow?" + +"Don't ask me," replied the Head. "For my part, I'm +not anxious to claim relationship with any common, +manufactured article, like you. You may be all right in +your class, but your class isn't my class. You're tin." + +The poor Emperor felt so bewildered that for a time he could +only stare at his old Head in silence. Then he said: + +"I must admit that I wasn't at all bad looking before +I became tin. You're almost handsome -- for meat. If +your hair was combed, you'd be quite attractive." + +"How do you expect me to comb my hair without help?" +demanded the Head, indignantly. "I used to keep it +smooth and neat, when I had arms, but after I was +removed from the rest of me, my hair got mussed, +and old Ku-Klip never has combed it for me." + +"I'll speak to him about it," said the Tin Woodman. +"Do you remember loving a pretty Munchkin girl named +Nimmie Amee?" + +"No," answered the Head. "That is a foolish question. +The heart in my body -- when I had a body -- might have +loved someone, for all I know, but a head isn't made to +love; it's made to think." + +"Oh; do you think, then?" + +"I used to think." + +"You must have been shut up in this cupboard for +years and years. What have you thought about, in all +that time?" + +"Nothing. That's another foolish question. A little +reflection will convince you that I have had nothing to +think about, except the boards on the inside of the +cupboard door, and it didn't take me long to think of +everything about those boards that could be thought of. +Then, of course, I quit thinking." + +"And are you happy?" + +"Happy? What's that?" + +"Don't you know what happiness is?" inquired the Tin +Woodman. + +"I haven't the faintest idea whether it's round or +square, or black or white, or what it is. And, if you +will pardon my lack of interest in it, I will say that +I don't care." + +The Tin Woodman was much puzzled by these answers. +His traveling companions had grouped themselves at his +back, and had fixed their eyes on the Head and listened +to the conversation with much interest, but until now, +they had not interrupted because they thought the Tin +Woodman had the best right to talk to his own head and +renew acquaintance with it. + +But now the Tin Soldier remarked: + +"I wonder if my old head happens to be in any of +these cupboards," and he proceeded to open all the +cupboard doors. But no other head was to be found on +any of the shelves. + +"Oh, well; never mind," said Woot the Wanderer; "I +can't imagine what anyone wants of a cast-off head, +anyhow." + +"I can understand the Soldier's interest," asserted +Polychrome, dancing around the grimy workshop until her +draperies formed a cloud around her dainty form. "For +sentimental reasons a man might like to see his old +head once more, just as one likes to revisit an old +home." + +"And then to kiss it good-bye," added the Scarecrow. + +"I hope that tin thing won't try to kiss me good- +bye!" exclaimed the Tin Woodman's former head. "And I +don't see what right you folks have to disturb my peace +and comfort, either." + +"You belong to me," the Tin Woodman declared. + +"I do not!" + +"You and I are one." + +"We've been parted," asserted the Head. "It would be +unnatural for me to have any interest in a man made of +tin. Please close the door and leave me alone." + +"I did not think that my old Head could be so +disagreeable," said the Emperor. "I -- I'm quite +ashamed of myself; meaning you." + +"You ought to be glad that I've enough sense to know +what my rights are," retorted the Head. "In this +cupboard I am leading a simple life, peaceful and +dignified, and when a mob of people in whom I am not +interested disturb me, they are the disagreeable ones; +not I." + +With a sigh the Tin Woodman closed and latched the +cupboard door and turned away. + +"Well," said the Tin Soldier, "if my old head would +have treated me as coldly and in so unfriendly a manner +as your old head has treated you, friend Chopper, I'm +glad I could not find it." + +"Yes; I'm rather surprised at my head, myself," +replied the Tin Woodman, thoughtfully. "I thought I had +a more pleasant disposition when I was made of meat." + +But just then old Ku-Klip the Tinsmith arrived, and +he seemed surprised to find so many visitors. Ku-Klip +was a stout man and a short man. He had his sleeves +rolled above his elbows, showing muscular arms, and he +wore a leathern apron that covered all the front of +him, and was so long that Woot was surprised he didn't +step on it and trip whenever he walked. And Ku-Klip had +a gray beard that was almost as long as his apron, and +his head was bald on top and his ears stuck out from +his head like two fans. Over his eyes, which were +bright and twinkling, he wore big spectacles. It was +easy to see that the tinsmith was a kind hearted man, +as well as a merry and agreeable one. "Oh-ho!" he cried +in a joyous bass voice; "here are both my tin men come +to visit me, and they and their friends are welcome +indeed. I'm very proud of you two characters, I assure +you, for you are so perfect that you are proof that I'm +a good workman. Sit down. Sit down, all of you -- if +you can find anything to sit on -- and tell me why you +are here." + +So they found seats and told him all of their +adventures that they thought he would like to know. Ku- +Klip was glad to learn that Nick Chopper, the Tin +Woodman, was now Emperor of the Winkies and a friend of +Ozma of Oz, and the tinsmith was also interested in the +Scarecrow and Polychrome. + +He turned the straw man around, examining him +curiously, and patted him on all sides, and then said: + +"You are certainly wonderful, but I think you would +be more durable and steady on your legs if you were +made of tin. Would you like me to --" + +"No, indeed!" interrupted the Scarecrow hastily; "I +like myself better as I am." + +But to Polychrome the tinsmith said: + +"Nothing could improve you, my dear, for you are the +most beautiful maiden I have ever seen. It is pure +happiness just to look at you." + +"That is praise, indeed, from so skillful a workman," +returned the Rainbow's Daughter, laughing and dancing +in and out the room. + +"Then it must be this boy you wish me to help," said +Ku-Klip, looking at Woot. + +"No," said Woot, "we are not here to seek your skill, +but have merely come to you for information." + +Then, between them, they related their search for +Nimmie Amee, whom the Tin Woodman explained he had +resolved to marry, yet who had promised to become the +bride of the Tin Soldier before he unfortunately became +rusted. And when the story was told, they asked Ku-Klip +if he knew what had become of Nimmie Amee. + +"Not exactly," replied the old man, "but I know that +she wept bitterly when the Tin Soldier did not come to +marry her, as he had promised to do. The old Witch was +so provoked at the girl's tears that she beat Nimmie +Amee with her crooked stick and then hobbled away to +gather some magic herbs, with which she intended to +transform the girl into an old hag, so that no one +would again love her or care to marry her. It was while +she was away on this errand that Dorothy's house fell +on the Wicked Witch, and she turned to dust and blew +away. When I heard this good news, I sent Nimmie Amee +to find the Silver Shoes which the Witch had worn, but +Dorothy had taken them with her to the Emerald City." + +"Yes, we know all about those Silver Shoes," said the +Scarecrow. + +"Well," continued Ku-Klip, "after that, Nimmie Amee +decided to go away from the forest and live with some +people she was acquainted with who had a house on Mount +Munch. I have never seen the girl since." + +"Do you know the name of the people on Mount Munch, +with whom she went to live?" asked the Tin Woodman. + +"No, Nimmie Amee did not mention her friend's name, +and I did not ask her. She took with her all that she +could carry of the goods that were in the Witch's +house, and she told me I could have the rest. But when +I went there I found nothing worth taking except some +magic powders that I did not know how to use, and a +bottle of Magic Glue." + +"What is Magic Glue?" asked Woot. + +"It is a magic preparation with which to mend people +when they cut themselves. One time, long ago, I cut off +one of my fingers by accident, and I carried it to the +Witch, who took down her bottle and glued it on again +for me. See!" showing them his finger, "it is as good +as ever it was. No one else that I ever heard of had +this Magic Glue, and of course when Nick Chopper cut +himself to pieces with his enchanted axe and Captain +Fyter cut himself to pieces with his enchanted sword, +the Witch would not mend them, or allow me to glue them +together, because she had herself wickedly enchanted +the axe and sword. Nothing remained but for me to make +them new parts out of tin; but, as you see, tin +answered the purpose very well, and I am sure their tin +bodies are a great improvement on their meat bodies." +"Very true," said the Tin Soldier. + +"I quite agree with you," said the Tin Woodman. "I +happened to find my old head in your cupboard, a while +ago, and certainly it is not as desirable a head as the +tin one I now wear." + +"By the way," said the Tin Soldier, "what ever became +of my old head, Ku-Klip?" + +"And of the different parts of our bodies?" added the +Tin Woodman. + +"Let me think a minute," replied Ku-Klip. "If I +remember right, you two boys used to bring me most of +your parts, when they were cut off, and I saved them in +that barrel in the corner. You must not have brought me +all the parts, for when I made Chopfyt I had hard work +finding enough pieces to complete the job. I finally +had to finish him with one arm." + +"Who is Chopfyt?"inquired Woot. + +"Oh, haven't I told you about Chopfyt?" exclaimed Ku- +Klip. "Of course not! And he's quite a curiosity, too. +You'll be interested in hearing about Chopfyt. This is +how he happened: + +"One day, after the Witch had been destroyed and +Nimmie Amee had gone to live with her friends on Mount +Munch, I was looking around the shop for something and +came upon the bottle of Magic Glue which I had brought +from the old Witch's house. It occurred to me to piece +together the odds and ends of you two people, which of +course were just as good as ever, and see if I couldn't +make a man out of them. If I succeeded, I would have an +assistant to help me with my work, and I thought it +would be a clever idea to put to some practical use the +scraps of Nick Chopper and Captain Fyter. There were +two perfectly good heads in my cupboard, and a lot of +feet and legs and parts of bodies in the barrel, so I +set to work to see what I could do. + +"First, I pieced together a body, gluing it with the +Witch's Magic Glue, which worked perfectly. That was +the hardest part of my job, however, because the bodies +didn't match up well and some parts were missing. But +by using a piece of Captain Fyter here and a piece of +Nick Chopper there, I finally got together a very +decent body, with heart and all the trimmings +complete." + +"Whose heart did you use in making asked the Tin. +Woodman anxiously. the body?" + +"I can't tell, for the parts had no tags on them and +one heart looks much like another. After the body was +completed, I glued two fine legs and feet onto it. One +leg was Nick Chopper's and one was Captain Fyter's and, +finding one leg longer than the other, I trimmed it +down to make them match. I was much disappointed to +find that I had but one arm. There was an extra leg in +the barrel, but I could find only one arm. Having glued +this onto the body, I was ready for the head, and I had +some difficulty in making up my mind which head to use. +Finally I shut my eyes and reached out my hand toward +the cupboard shelf, and the first head I touched I +glued upon my new man." + +"It was mine!" declared the Tin Soldier, gloomily. + +"No, it was mine," asserted Ku-Klip, "for I had given +you another in exchange for it -- the beautiful tin +head you now wear. When the glue had dried, my man was +quite an interesting fellow. I named him Chopfyt, using +a part of Nick Chopper's name and a part of Captain +Fyter's name, because he was a mixture of both your +cast-off parts. Chopfyt was interesting, as I said, +but he did not prove a very agreeable companion. He +complained bitterly because I had given him but one arm +-- as if it were my fault! -- and he grumbled because the +suit of blue Munchkin clothes, which I got for him from +a neighbor, did not fit him perfectly." + +"Ah, that was because he was wearing my old head," +remarked the Tin Soldier. "I remember that head used to +be very particular about its clothes." + +"As an assistant," the old tinsmith continued, +"Chopfyt was not a success. He was awkward with tools +and was always hungry. He demanded something to eat six +or eight times a day, so I wondered if I had fitted his +insides properly. Indeed, Chopfyt ate so much that +little food was left for myself; so, when he proposed, +one day, to go out into the world and seek adventures, +I was delighted to be rid of him. I even made him a tin +arm to take the place of the missing one, and that +pleased him very much, so that we parted good friends." + +"What became of Chopfyt after that?" the Scarecrow +inquired. + +"I never heard. He started off toward the east, into +the plains of the Munchkin Country, and that was the +last I ever saw of him." + +"It seems to me," said the Tin Woodman reflectively, +"that you did wrong in making a man out of our cast-off +parts. It is evident that Chopfyt could, with justice, +claim relationship with both of us." + +"Don't worry about that," advised Ku-Klip cheerfully; +"it is not likely that you will ever meet the fellow. +And, if you should meet him, he doesn't know who he is +made of, for I never told him the secret of his +manufacture. Indeed, you are the only ones who know of +it, and you may keep the secret to yourselves, if you +wish to." + +"Never mind Chopfyt," said the Scarecrow. "Our +business now is to find poor Nimmie Amee and let her +choose her tin husband. To do that, it seems, from the +information Ku-Klip has given us, we must travel to +Mount Munch." + +"If that's the programme, let us start at once," +suggested Woot. + +So they all went outside, where they found Polychrome +dancing about among the trees and talking with the +birds and laughing as merrily as if she had not lost +her Rainbow and so been separated from all her fairy +sisters. + +They told her they were going to Mount Munch, and she +replied: + +"Very well; I am as likely to find my Rainbow there +as here, and any other place is as likely as there. It +all depends on the weather. Do you think it looks like +rain?" + +They shook their heads, and Polychrome laughed again +and danced on after them when they resumed their +journey. + + + + +Chapter Nineteen + +The Invisible Country + + +They were proceeding so easily and comfortably on their +way to Mount Munch that Woot said in a serious tone of +voice: + +"I'm afraid something is going to happen." + +"Why?" asked Polychrome, dancing around the group of +travelers. + +"Because," said the boy, thoughtfully, "I've noticed +that when we have the least reason for getting into +trouble, something is sure to go wrong. Just now the +weather is delightful; the grass is beautifully blue +and quite soft to our feet; the mountain we are seeking +shows clearly in the distance and there is no reason +anything should happen to delay us in getting there. +Our troubles all seem to be over, and -- well, that's +why I'm afraid," he added, with a sigh. + +"Dear me!" remarked the Scarecrow, "what unhappy +thoughts you have, to be sure. This is proof that born +brains cannot equal manufactured brains, for my brains +dwell only on facts and never borrow trouble. When +there is occasion for my brains to think, they think, +but I would be ashamed of my brains if they kept +shooting out thoughts that were merely fears and +imaginings, such as do no good, but are likely to do +harm." + +"For my part," said the Tin Woodman, "I do not think +at all, but allow my velvet heart to guide me at all +times." + +"The tinsmith filled my hollow head with scraps and +clippings of tin," said the Soldier, "and he told me +they would do nicely for brains, but when I begin to +think, the tin scraps rattle around and get so mixed +that I'm soon bewildered. So I try not to think. My tin +heart is almost as useless to me, for it is hard and +cold, so I'm sure the red velvet heart of my friend +Nick Chopper is a better guide." + +"Thoughtless people are not unusual," observed the +Scarecrow, "but I consider them more fortunate than +those who have useless or wicked thoughts and do not +try to curb them. Your oil can, friend Woodman, is +filled with oil, but you only apply the oil to your +joints, drop by drop, as you need it, and do not keep +spilling it where it will do no good. Thoughts should +be restrained in the same way as your oil, and only +applied when necessary, and for a good purpose. If used +carefully, thoughts are good things to have." + +Polychrome laughed at him, for the Rainbow's Daughter +knew more about thoughts than the Scarecrow did. But +the others were solemn, feeling they had been rebuked, +and tramped on in silence. + +Suddenly Woot, who was in the lead, looked around and +found that all his comrades had mysteriously +disappeared. But where could they have gone to? The +broad plain was all about him and there were neither +trees nor bushes that could hide even a rabbit, nor any +hole for one to fall into. Yet there he stood, alone. + +Surprise had caused him to halt, and with a +thoughtful and puzzled expression on his face he looked +down at his feet. It startled him anew to discover that +he had no feet. He reached out his hands, but he could +not see them. He could feel his hands and arms and +body; he stamped his feet on the grass and knew they +were there, but in some strange way they had become +invisible. + +While Woot stood, wondering, a crash of metal sounded +in his ears and he heard two heavy bodies tumble to the +earth just beside him. + +"Good gracious!" exclaimed the voice of the Tin +Woodman. + +"Mercy me!" cried the voice of the Tin Soldier. + +"Why didn't you look where you were going?" asked the +Tin Woodman reproachfully. + +"I did, but I couldn't see you," said the Tin +Soldier. "Something has happened to my tin eyes. I +can't see you, even now, nor can I see anyone else!" + +"It's the same way with me," admitted the Tin +Woodman. + +Woot couldn't see either of them, although he heard +them plainly, and just then something smashed against +him unexpectedly and knocked him over; but it was only +the straw-stuffed body of the Scarecrow that fell upon +him and while he could not see the Scarecrow he managed +to push him off and rose to his feet just as Polychrome +whirled against him and made him tumble again. + +Sitting upon the ground, the boy asked: + +"Can you see us, Poly?" + +"No, indeed," answered the Rainbow's Daughter; "we've +all become invisible." + +"How did it happen, do you suppose?" inquired the +Scarecrow, lying where he had fallen. + +"We have met with no enemy," answered Poly-chrome, +"so it must be that this part of the country has the +magic quality of making people invisible --even fairies +falling under the charm. We can see the grass, and the +flowers, and the stretch of plain before us, and we can +still see Mount Munch in the distance; but we cannot +see ourselves or one another." + +"Well, what are we to do about it?" demanded Woot. + +"I think this magic affects only a small part of the +plain," replied Polychrome; "perhaps there is only a +streak of the country where an enchantment makes people +become invisible. So, if we get together and hold +hands, we can travel toward Mount Munch until the +enchanted streak is passed." + +"All right," said Woot, jumping up, "give me your +hand, Polychrome. Where are you?" + +"Here," she answered. "Whistle, Woot, and keep +whistling until I come to you." + +So Woot whistled, and presently Polychrome found him +and grasped his hand. + +"Someone must help me up," said the Scarecrow, lying +near them; so they found the straw man and sat him upon +his feet, after which he held fast to Polychrome's +other hand. + +Nick Chopper and the Tin Soldier had managed to +scramble up without assistance, but it was awkward for +them and the Tin Woodman said: + +"I don't seem to stand straight, somehow. But my +joints all work, so I guess I can walk." + +Guided by his voice, they reached his side, where +Woot grasped his tin fingers so they might keep +together. + +The Tin Soldier was standing near by and the +Scarecrow soon touched him and took hold of his arm. + +"I hope you're not wobbly," said the straw man, +"for if two of us walk unsteadily we will be sure +to fall." + +"I'm not wobbly," the Tin Soldier assured him, "but +I'm certain that one of my legs is shorter than the +other. I can't see it, to tell what's gone wrong, but +I'll limp on with the rest of you until we are out of +this enchanted territory." + +They now formed a line, holding hands, and turning +their faces toward Mount Munch resumed their journey. +They had not gone far, however, when a terrible growl +saluted their ears. The sound seemed to come from a +place just in front of them, so they halted abruptly +and remained silent, listening with all their ears. + +"I smell straw!" cried a hoarse, harsh voice, with +more growls and snarls. "I smell straw, and I'm a +Hip-po-gy-raf who loves straw and eats all he can find. +I want to eat this straw! Where is it? Where is it?" + +The Scarecrow, hearing this, trembled but kept +silent. All the others were silent, too, hoping that +the invisible beast would be unable to find them. But +the creature sniffed the odor of the straw and drew +nearer and nearer to them until he reached the Tin +Woodman, on one end of the line. It was a big beast and +it smelled of the Tin Woodman and grated two rows of +enormous teeth against the Emperor's tin body. + +"Bah! that's not straw," said the harsh voice, and +the beast advanced along the line to Woot. + +"Meat! Pooh, you're no good! I can't eat meat," +grumbled the beast, and passed on to Polychrome. + +"Sweetmeats and perfume -- cobwebs and dew! Nothing +to eat in a fairy like you," said the creature. + +Now, the Scarecrow was next to Polychrome in the +line, and he realized if the beast devoured his straw +he would be helpless for a long time, because the last +farmhouse was far behind them and only grass covered +the vast expanse of plain. So in his fright he let go +of Polychrome's hand and put the hand of the Tin +Soldier in that of the Rainbow's Daughter. Then he +slipped back of the line and went to the other end, +where he silently seized the Tin Woodman's hand. + +Meantime, the beast had smelled the Tin Soldier and +found he was the last of the line. + +"That's funny!" growled the Hip-po-gy-raf; "I can +smell straw, but I can't find it. Well, it's here, +somewhere, and I must hunt around until I do find it, +for I'm hungry." + +His voice was now at the left of them, so they +started on, hoping to avoid him, and traveled as fast +as they could in the direction of Mount Munch. + +"I don't like this invisible country," said Woot with +a shudder. "We can't tell how many dreadful, invisible +beasts are roaming around us, or what danger we'll come +to next." + +"Quit thinking about danger, please," said the +Scarecrow, warningly. + +"Why?" asked the boy. + +"If you think of some dreadful thing, it's liable to +happen, but if you don't think of it, and no one else +thinks of it, it just can't happen. Do you see?" + +"No," answered Woot. "I won't be able to see much of +anything until we escape from this enchantment." + +But they got out of the invisible strip of country +as suddenly as they had entered it, and the instant +they got out they stopped short, for just before them +was a deep ditch, running at right angles as far as +their eyes could see and stopping all further progress +toward Mount Munch. + +"It's not so very wide," said Woot, "but I'm sure +none of us can jump across it." + +Polychrome began to laugh, and the Scarecrow said: +"What's the matter?" + +"Look at the tin men!" she said, with another burst +of merry laughter. + +Woot and the Scarecrow looked, and the tin men looked +at themselves. + +"It was the collision," said the Tin Woodman +regretfully. "I knew something was wrong with me, and +now I can see that my side is dented in so that I lean +over toward the left. It was the Soldier's fault; he +shouldn't have been so careless." + +"It is your fault that my right leg is bent, making +it shorter than the other, so that I limp badly," +retorted the Soldier. "You shouldn't have stood where I +was walking." + +"You shouldn't have walked where I was standing," +replied the Tin Woodman. + +It was almost a quarrel, so Polychrome said +soothingly: + +"Never mind, friends; as soon as we have time I am +sure we can straighten the Soldier's leg and get the +dent out of the Woodman's body. The Scarecrow needs +patting into shape, too, for he had a bad tumble, but +our first task is to get over this ditch." + +"Yes, the ditch is the most important thing, just +now," added Woot + +They were standing in a row, looking hard at the +unexpected barrier, when a fierce growl from behind +them made them all turn quickly. Out of the invisible +country marched a huge beast with a thick, leathery +skin and a surprisingly long neck. The head on the top +of this neck was broad and flat and the eyes and mouth +were very big and the nose and ears very small. When +the head was drawn down toward the beast's shoulders, +the neck was all wrinkles, but the head could shoot up +very high indeed, if the creature wished it to. + +"Dear me!" exclaimed the Scarecrow, "this must be the +Hip-po-gy-raf." + +"Quite right," said the beast; "and you're the straw +which I'm to eat for my dinner. Oh, how I love straw! I +hope you don't resent my affectionate appetite?" + +With its four great legs it advanced straight toward +the Scarecrow, but the Tin Woodman and the Tin Soldier +both sprang in front of their friend and flourished +their weapons. + +"Keep off!" said the Tin Woodman, warningly, or I'll +chop you with my axe." + +"Keep off!" said the Tin Soldier, "or I'll cut you +with my sword." + +"Would you really do that?" asked the Hip-po-gy-raf, +in a disappointed voice. + +"We would," they both replied, and the Tin Woodman +added: "The Scarecrow is our friend, and he would be +useless without his straw stuffing. So, as we are +comrades, faithful and true, we will defend our +friend's stuffing against all enemies." + +The Hip-po-gy-raf sat down and looked at them +sorrowfully. + +"When one has made up his mind to have a meal of +delicious straw, and then finds he can't have it, it is +certainly hard luck," he said. "And what good is the +straw man to you, or to himself, when the ditch keeps +you from going any further?" + +"Well, we can go back again," suggested Woot. + +"True," said the Hip-po; "and if you do, you'll be as +disappointed as I am. That's some comfort, anyhow." + +The travelers looked at the beast, and then they +looked across the ditch at the level plain beyond. On +the other side the grass had grown tall, and the sun +had dried it, so there was a fine crop of hay that only +needed to be cut and stacked. + +"Why don't you cross over and eat hay?" the boy asked +the beast. + +"I'm not fond of hay," replied the Hip-po-gy-raf; +"straw is much more delicious, to my notion, and it's +more scarce in this neighborhood, too. Also I must +confess that I can't get across the ditch, for my body +is too heavy and clumsy for me to jump the distance. I +can stretch my neck across, though, and you will notice +that I've nibbled the hay on the farther edge -- not +because I liked it, but because one must eat, and if +one can't get the sort of food he desires, he must take +what is offered or go hungry." + +"Ah, I see you are a philosopher," remarked the +Scarecrow. + +"No, I'm just a Hip-po-gy-raf," was the reply. + +Polychrome was not afraid of the big beast. She +danced close to him and said: + +"If you can stretch your neck across the ditch, why +not help us over? We can sit on your big head, one at a +time, and then you can lift us across." + +"Yes; I can, it is true," answered the Hip-po; "but I +refuse to do it. Unless --" he added, and stopped +short. + +"Unless what?" asked Polychrome. + +"Unless you first allow me to eat the straw with +which the Scarecrow is stuffed." + +"No," said the Rainbow's Daughter, "that is too high +a price to pay. Our friend's straw is nice and fresh, +for he was restuffed only a little while ago." + +"I know," agreed the Hip-po-gy-raf. "That's why I +want it. If it was old, musty straw, I wouldn't care +for it." + +"Please lift us across," pleaded Polychrome. + +"No," replied the beast; "since you refuse my +generous offer, I can be as stubborn as you are." + +After that they were all silent for a time, but then +the Scarecrow said bravely: + +"Friends, let us agree to the beast's terms. Give him +my straw, and carry the rest of me with you across the +ditch. Once on the other side, the Tin Soldier can cut +some of the hay with his sharp sword, and you can stuff +me with that material until we reach a place where +there is straw. It is true I have been stuffed with +straw all my life and it will be somewhat humiliating +to be filled with common hay, but I am willing to +sacrifice my pride in a good cause. Moreover, to +abandon our errand and so deprive the great Emperor of +the Winkies -- or this noble Soldier -- of his bride, +would be equally humiliating, if not more so." + +"You're a very honest and clever man!" exclaimed the +Hip-po-gy-raf, admiringly. "When I have eaten your +head, perhaps I also will become clever." + +"You're not to eat my head, you know," returned the +Scarecrow hastily. "My head isn't stuffed with straw +and I cannot part with it. When one loses his head he +loses his brains." + +"Very well, then; you may keep your head," said the +beast. + +The Scarecrow's companions thanked him warmly for his +loyal sacrifice to their mutual good, and then he laid +down and permitted them to pull the straw from his +body. As fast as they did this, the Hip-po-gy-raf ate +up the straw, and when all was consumed Polychrome made +a neat bundle of the clothes and boots and gloves and +hat and said she would carry them, while Woot tucked +the Scarecrow's head under his arm and promised to +guard its safety. + +"Now, then," said the Tin Woodman, "keep your +promise, Beast, and lift us over the ditch." + +"M-m-m-mum, but that was a fine dinner!" said the +Hip-po, smacking his thick lips in satisfaction, "and +I'm as good as my word. Sit on my head, one at a time, +and I'll land you safely on the other side." + +He approached close to the edge of the ditch and +squatted down. Polychrome climbed over his big body and +sat herself lightly upon the flat head, holding the +bundle of the Scarecrow's raiment in her hand. Slowly +the elastic neck stretched out until it reached the far +side of the ditch, when the beast lowered his head and +permitted the beautiful fairy to leap to the ground. + +Woot made the queer journey next, and then the Tin +Soldier and the Tin Woodman went over, and all were +well pleased to have overcome this serious barrier to +their progress. + +"Now, Soldier, cut the hay," said the Scarecrow's +head, which was still held by Woot the Wanderer. + +"I'd like to, but I can't stoop over, with my bent +leg, without falling," replied Captain Fyter. + +"What can we do about that leg, anyhow?" asked Woot, +appealing to Polychrome. + +She danced around in a circle several times without +replying, and the boy feared she had not heard him; but +the Rainbow's Daughter was merely thinking upon the +problem, and presently she paused beside the Tin +Soldier and said: + +"I've been taught a little fairy magic, but I've +never before been asked to mend tin legs with it, so +I'm not sure I can help you. It all depends on the good +will of my unseen fairy guardians, so I'll try, and if +I fail, you will be no worse off than you are now." + +She danced around the circle again, and then laid +both hands upon the twisted tin leg and sang in her +sweet voice: + + +"Fairy Powers, come to my aid! + +This bent leg of tin is made; + +Make it straight and strong and true, + +And I'll render thanks to you." + + +"Ah!" murmured Captain Fyter in a glad voice, as she +withdrew her hands and danced away, and they saw he was +standing straight as ever, because his leg was as +shapely and strong as it had been before his accident. + +The Tin Woodman had watched Polychrome with much +interest, and he now said: + +"Please take the dent out of my side, Poly, for I am +more crippled than was the Soldier." + +So the Rainbow's Daughter touched his side lightly +and sang: + + +"Here's a dent by accident; +Such a thing was never meant. +Fairy Powers, so wondrous great, +Make our dear Tin Woodman straight!" + + +"Good!" cried the Emperor, again standing erect and +strutting around to show his fine figure. "Your fairy +magic may not be able to accomplish all things, sweet +Polychrome, but it works splendidly on tin. Thank you +very much." + +"The hay -- the hay!" pleaded the Scarecrow's head. + +"Oh, yes; the hay," said Woot. "What are you waiting +for, Captain Fyter?" + +At once the Tin Soldier set to work cutting hay with +his sword and in a few minutes there was quite enough +with which to stuff the Scarecrow's body. Woot and +Polychrome did this and it was no easy task because the +hay packed together more than straw and as they had +little experience in such work their job, when +completed, left the Scarecrow's arms and legs rather +bunchy. Also there was a hump on his back which made +Woot laugh and say it reminded him of a camel, but it +was the best they could do and when the head was fastened +on to the body they asked the Scarecrow how he felt. + +"A little heavy, and not quite natural," he +cheerfully replied; "but I'll get along somehow until +we reach a straw-stack. Don't laugh at me, please, +because I'm a little ashamed of myself and I don't want +to regret a good action." + +They started at once in the direction of Mount Munch, +and as the Scarecrow proved very clumsy in his +movements, Woot took one of his arms and the Tin +Woodman the other and so helped their friend to walk in +a straight line. + +And the Rainbow's Daughter, as before, danced ahead +of them and behind them and all around them, and they +never minded her odd ways, because to them she was like +a ray of sunshine. + + + + +Chapter Twenty + +Over Night + + +The Land of the Munchkins is full of surprises, as our +travelers had already learned, and although Mount Munch +was constantly growing larger as they advanced toward +it, they knew it was still a long way off and were not +certain, by any means, that they had escaped all danger +or encountered their last adventure. + +The plain was broad, and as far as the eye could see, +there seemed to be a level stretch of country between +them and the mountain, but toward evening they came +upon a hollow, in which stood a tiny blue Munchkin +dwelling with a garden around it and fields of grain +filling in all the rest of the hollow. + +They did not discover this place until they came +close to the edge of it, and they were astonished at +the sight that greeted them because they had imagined +that this part of the plain had no inhabitants. + +"It's a very small house," Woot declared. "I wonder +who lives there?" + +"The way to find out is to knock on the door and +ask," replied the Tin Woodman. "Perhaps it is the home +of Nimmie Amee." + +"Is she a dwarf?" asked the boy. + +"No, indeed; Nimmie Amee is a full sized woman." + +"Then I'm sure she couldn't live in that little house," said Woot. + +"Let's go down," suggested the Scarecrow. "I'm almost +sure I can see a straw-stack in the back yard." + +They descended the hollow, which was rather steep at +the sides, and soon came to the house, which was indeed +rather small. Woot knocked upon a door that was not +much higher than his waist, but got no reply. He +knocked again, but not a sound was heard. + +"Smoke is coming out of the chimney," announced +Polychrome, who was dancing lightly through the garden, +where cabbages and beets and turnips and the like were +growing finely + +"Then someone surely lives here," said Woot, and +knocked again. + +Now a window at the side of the house opened and a +queer head appeared. It was white and hairy and had a +long snout and little round eyes. The ears were hidden +by a blue sunbonnet tied under the chin. + +"Oh; it's a pig!" exclaimed Woot. + +"Pardon me; I am Mrs. Squealina Swyne, wife of +Professor Grunter Swyne, and this is our home," said +the one in the window. "What do you want?" + +"What sort of a Professor is your husband?" inquired +the Tin Woodman curiously. + +"He is Professor of Cabbage Culture and Corn +Perfection. He is very famous in his own family, and +would be the wonder of the world if he went abroad," +said Mrs. Swyne in a voice that was half proud and half +irritable. "I must also inform you intruders that the +Professor is a dangerous individual, for he files his +teeth every morning until they are sharp as needles. If +you are butchers, you'd better run away and avoid +trouble." + +"We are not butchers," the Tin Woodman assured her. + +"Then what are you doing with that axe? And why has +the other tin man a sword?" + +"They are the only weapons we have to defend our +friends from their enemies," explained the Emperor of +the Winkies, and Woot added: + +"Do not be afraid of us, Mrs. Swyne, for we are +harmless travelers. The tin men and the Scarecrow never +eat anything and Polychrome feasts only on dewdrops. As +for me, I'm rather hungry, but there is plenty of food +in your garden to satisfy me." + +Professor Swyne now joined his wife at the window, +looking rather scared in spite of the boy's assuring +speech. He wore a blue Munchkin hat, with pointed crown +and broad brim, and big spectacles covered his eyes. He +peeked around from behind his wife and after looking +hard at the strangers, he said: + +"My wisdom assures me that you are merely travelers, +as you say, and not butchers. Butchers have reason to +be afraid of me, but you are safe. We cannot invite you +in, for you are too big for our house, but the boy who +eats is welcome to all the carrots and turnips he +wants. Make yourselves at home in the garden and stay +all night, if you like; but in the morning you must go +away, for we are quiet people and do not care for company." + +"May I have some of your straw?" asked the Scarecrow. + +"Help yourself," replied Professor Swyne. + +"For pigs, they're quite respectable," remarked Woot, +as they all went toward the straw-stack. + +"I'm glad they didn't invite us in," said Captain +Fyter. "I hope I'm not too particular about my +associates, but I draw the line at pigs." + +The Scarecrow was glad to be rid of his hay, for +during the long walk it had sagged down and made him +fat and squatty and more bumpy than at first. + +"I'm not specially proud," he said, "but I love a +manly figure, such as only straw stuffing can create. +I've not felt like myself since that hungry Hip-po ate +my last straw." + +Polychrome and Woot set to work removing the hay and +then they selected the finest straw, crisp and golden, +and with it stuffed the Scarecrow anew. He certainly +looked better after the operation, and he was so +pleased at being reformed that he tried to dance a +little jig, and almost succeeded. + +"I shall sleep under the straw-stack tonight," Woot +decided, after he had eaten some of the vegetables from +the garden, and in fact he slept very well, with the +two tin men and the Scarecrow sitting silently beside +him and Polychrome away somewhere in the moonlight +dancing her fairy dances. + +At daybreak the Tin Woodman and the Tin Soldier took +occasion to polish their bodies and oil their joints, +for both were exceedingly careful of their personal +appearance. They had forgotten the quarrel due to their +accidental bumping of one another in the invisible +country, and being now good friends the Tin Woodman +polished the Tin Soldier's back for him and then the +Tin Soldier polished the Tin Woodman's back. + +For breakfast the Wanderer ate crisp lettuce and +radishes, and the Rainbow's Daughter, who had now +returned to her friends, sipped the dewdrops that had +formed on the petals of the wild-flowers. + +As they passed the little house to renew their +journey, Woot called out: + +"Good-bye, Mr. and Mrs. Swyne!" + +The window opened and the two pigs looked out. + +"A pleasant journey," said the Professor. + +"Have you any children?" asked the Scarecrow, who was +a great friend of children. + +"We have nine," answered the Professor; "but they do +not live with us, for when they were tiny piglets the +Wizard of Oz came here and offered to care for them and +to educate them. So we let him have our nine tiny +piglets, for he's a good Wizard and can be relied upon +to keep his promises." + +"I know the Nine Tiny Piglets," said the Tin Woodman. + +"So do I," said the Scarecrow. "They still live in +the Emerald City, and the Wizard takes good care of +them and teaches them to do all sorts of tricks." + +"Did they ever grow up?" inquired Mrs. Squealina +Swyne, in an anxious voice. + +"No," answered the Scarecrow; "like all other +children in the Land of Oz, they will always remain +children, and in the case of the tiny piglets that is a +good thing, because they would not be nearly so cute +and cunning if they were bigger." + +"But are they happy?" asked Mrs. Swyne. + +"Everyone in the Emerald City is happy," said the Tin +Woodman. "They can't help it." + +Then the travelers said good-bye, and climbed the +side of the basin that was toward Mount Munch. + + + + +Chapter Twenty-One + +Polychrome's Magic + + +On this morning, which ought to be the last of this +important journey, our friends started away as bright +and cheery as could be, and Woot whistled a merry tune +so that Polychrome could dance to the music. + +On reaching the top of the hill, the plain spread out +before them in all its beauty of blue grasses and +wildflowers, and Mount Munch seemed much nearer than it +had the previous evening. They trudged on at a brisk +pace, and by noon the mountain was so close that they +could admire its appearance. Its slopes were partly +clothed with pretty evergreens, and its foot-hills were +tufted with a slender waving bluegrass that had a +tassel on the end of every blade. And, for the first +time, they perceived, near the foot of the mountain, a +charming house, not of great size but neatly painted +and with many flowers surrounding it and vines climbing +over the doors and windows. + +It was toward this solitary house that our travelers +now directed their steps, thinking to inquire of the +people who lived there where Nimmie Amee might be +found. + +There were no paths, but the way was quite open and +clear, and they were drawing near to the dwelling when +Woot the Wanderer, who was then in the lead of the +little party, halted with such an abrupt jerk that he +stumbled over backward and lay flat on his back in the +meadow. The Scarecrow stopped to look at the boy. + +"Why did you do that?" he asked in surprise. + +Woot sat up and gazed around him in amazement. + +"I -- I don't know!" he replied. + +The two tin men, arm in arm, started to pass them +when both halted and tumbled, with a great clatter, +into a heap beside Woot. Polychrome, laughing at the +absurd sight, came dancing up and she, also, came to a +sudden stop, but managed to save herself from falling. + +Everyone of them was much astonished, and the +Scarecrow said with a puzzled look: + +"I don't see anything." + +"Nor I," said Woot; "but something hit me, just the +same." + +"Some invisible person struck me a heavy blow," +declared the Tin Woodman, struggling to separate +himself from the Tin Soldier, whose legs and arms were +mixed with his own. + +"I'm not sure it was a person," said Polychrome, +looking more grave than usual. "It seems to me that I +merely ran into some hard substance which barred my way. +In order to make sure of this, let me try another place." + +She ran back a way and then with much caution +advanced in a different place, but when she reached a +position on a line with the others she halted, her arms +outstretched before her. + +"I can feel something hard - something smooth as +glass," she said, "but I'm sure it is not glass." + +"Let me try," suggested Woot, getting up; but when he +tried to go forward, he discovered the same barrier +that Polychrome had encountered. + +"No," he said, "it isn't glass. But what is it?" + +"Air," replied a small voice beside him. "Solid air; +that's all." + +They all looked downward and found a sky-blue rabbit +had stuck his head out of a burrow in the ground. The +rabbit's eyes were a deeper blue than his fur, and the +pretty creature seemed friendly and unafraid. + +"Air!" exclaimed Woot, staring in astonishment into +the rabbit's blue eyes; "whoever heard of air so solid +that one cannot push it aside?" + +"You can't push this air aside," declared the rabbit, +"for it was made hard by powerful sorcery, and it forms +a wall that is intended to keep people from getting to +that house yonder." + +"Oh; it's a wall, is it?" said the Tin Woodman. + +"Yes, it is really a wall," answered the rabbit, "and +it is fully six feet thick." + +"How high is it?" inquired Captain Fyter, the Tin +Soldier. + +"Oh, ever so high; perhaps a mile," said the rabbit. + +"Couldn't we go around it?" asked Woot. + +"Of course, for the wall is a circle," explained the +rabbit. "In the center of the circle stands the house, +so you may walk around the Wall of Solid Air, but you +can't get to the house." + +"Who put the air wall around the house?" was the +Scarecrow's question. + +"Nimmie Amee did that." + +"Nimmie Amee!" they all exclaimed in surprise. + +"Yes," answered the rabbit. "She used to live with an +old Witch, who was suddenly destroyed, and when Nimmie +Amee ran away from the Witch's house, she took with her +just one magic formula --pure sorcery it was -- which +enabled her to build this air wall around her house -- +the house yonder. It was quite a clever idea, I think, +for it doesn't mar the beauty of the landscape, solid +air being invisible, and yet it keeps all strangers +away from the house." + +"Does Nimmie Amee live there now?" asked the Tin +Woodman anxiously. + +"Yes, indeed," said the rabbit. + +"And does she weep and wail from morning till night?" +continued the Emperor. + +"No; she seems quite happy," asserted the rabbit. + +The Tin Woodman seemed quite disappointed to hear +this report of his old sweetheart, but the Scarecrow +reassured his friend, saying: + +"Never mind, your Majesty; however happy Nimmie Amee +is now, I'm sure she will be much happier as Empress of +the Winkies." + +"Perhaps," said Captain Fyter, somewhat stiffly, "she +will be still more happy to become the bride of a Tin +Soldier." + +"She shall choose between us, as we have agreed," the +Tin Woodman promised; "but how shall we get to the poor +girl?" + +Polychrome, although dancing lightly back and forth, +had listened to every word of the conversation. Now she +came forward and sat herself down just in front of the +Blue Rabbit, her many-hued draperies giving her the +appearance of some beautiful flower. The rabbit didn't +back away an inch. Instead, he gazed at the Rainbow's +Daughter admiringly. + +"Does your burrow go underneath this Wall of Air?" +asked Polychrome. + +"To be sure," answered the Blue Rabbit; "I dug it +that way so I could roam in these broad fields, by +going out one way, or eat the cabbages in Nimmie Amee's +garden by leaving my burrow at the other end. I don't +think Nimmie Amee ought to mind the little I take from +her garden, or the hole I've made under her magic wall. +A rabbit may go and come as he pleases, but no one who +is bigger than I am could get through my burrow." + +"Will you allow us to pass through it, if we are able +to? " inquired Polychrome. + +"Yes, indeed," answered the Blue Rabbit. "I'm no +especial friend of Nimmie Amee, for once she threw +stones at me, just because I was nibbling some lettuce, +and only yesterday she yelled 'Shoo!' at me, which made +me nervous. You're welcome to use my burrow in any way +you choose." + +"But this is all nonsense!" declared Woot the +Wanderer. "We are every one too big to crawl through a +rabbit's burrow." + +"We are too big now," agreed the Scarecrow, "but you +must remember that Polychrome is a fairy, and fairies +have many magic powers." + +Woot's face brightened as he turned to the lovely +Daughter of the Rainbow. + +"Could you make us all as small as that rabbit?" he +asked eagerly. + +"I can try," answered Polychrome, with a smile. And +presently she did it -- so easily that Woot was not the +only one astonished. As the now tiny people grouped +themselves before the rabbit's burrow the hole appeared +to them like the entrance to a tunnel, which indeed it +was. + +"I'll go first," said wee Polychrome, who had made +herself grow as small as the others, and into the +tunnel she danced without hesitation. A tiny Scarecrow +went next and then the two funny little tin men. + +"Walk in; it's your turn," said the Blue Rabbit to +Woot the Wanderer. "I'm coming after, to see how you +get along. This will be a regular surprise party to +Nimmie Amee." + +So Woot entered the hole and felt his way along its +smooth sides in the dark until he finally saw the +glimmer of daylight ahead and knew the journey was +almost over. Had he remained his natural size, the +distance could have been covered in a few steps, but to +a thumb-high Woot it was quite a promenade. When he +emerged from the burrow he found himself but a short +distance from the house, in the center of the vegetable +garden, where the leaves of rhubarb waving above his +head seemed like trees. Outside the hole, and waiting +for him, he found all his friends. + +"So far, so good!" remarked the Scarecrow cheerfully. + +"Yes; so far, but no farther," returned the Tin +Woodman in a plaintive and disturbed tone of voice. "I +am now close to Nimmie Amee, whom I have come ever so +far to seek, but I cannot ask the girl to marry such a +little man as I am now." + +"I'm no bigger than a toy soldier!" said Captain +Fyter, sorrowfully. "Unless Polychrome can make us big +again, there is little use in our visiting Nimmie Amee +at all, for I'm sure she wouldn't care for a husband +she might carelessly step on and ruin." + +Polychrome laughed merrily. + +"If I make you big, you can't get out of here again," +said she, "and if you remain little Nimmie Amee will +laugh at you. So make your choice." + +"I think we'd better go back," said Woot seriously + +"No," said the Tin Woodman, stoutly, "I have decided +that it's my duty to make Nimmie Amee happy, in case +she wishes to marry me." + +"So have I," announced Captain Fyter. "A good soldier +never shrinks from doing his duty." + +"As for that," said the Scarecrow, "tin doesn't +shrink any to speak of, under any circumstances. But +Woot and I intend to stick to our comrades, whatever +they decide to do, so we will ask Polychrome to make us +as big as we were before." + +Polychrome agreed to this request and in half a +minute all of them, including herself, had been +enlarged again to their natural sizes. They then +thanked the Blue Rabbit for his kind assistance, and at +once approached the house of Nimme Amee. + + + + +Chapter Twenty-Two + +Nimmie Amee + + +We may be sure that at this moment our friends were all +anxious to see the end of the adventure that had caused +them so many trials and troubles. Perhaps the Tin +Woodman's heart did not beat any faster, because it was +made of red velvet and stuffed with sawdust, and the +Tin Soldier's heart was made of tin and reposed in his +tin bosom without a hint of emotion. However, there is +little doubt that they both knew that a critical moment +in their lives had arrived, and that Nimmie Amee's +decision was destined to influence the future of one or +the other. + +As they assumed their natural sizes and the rhubarb +leaves that had before towered above their heads now +barely covered their feet, they looked around the +garden and found that no person was visible save +themselves. No sound of activity came from the house, +either, but they walked to the front door, which had a +little porch built before it, and there the two tinmen +stood side by side while both knocked upon the door +with their tin knuckles. + +As no one seemed eager to answer the summons they +knocked again; and then again. Finally they heard a +stir from within and someone coughed. + +"Who's there?" called a girl's voice. + +"It's I!" cried the tin twins, together. + +"How did you get there?" asked the voice. + +They hesitated how to reply, so Woot answered for +them: + +"By means of magic." + +"Oh," said the unseen girl. "Are you friends, or +foes?" + +"Friends!" they all exclaimed. + +Then they heard footsteps approach the door, which +slowly opened and revealed a very pretty Munchkin girl +standing in the doorway. + +"Nimmie Amee!" cried the tin twins. + +"That's my name," replied the girl, looking at them +in cold surprise. "But who can you be?" + +"Don't you know me, Nimmie?" said the Tin Woodman. +"I'm your old sweetheart, Nick Chopper!" + +"Don't you know me, my dear?" said the Tin Soldier. +"I'm your old sweetheart, Captain Fyter!" + +Nimmie Amee smiled at them both. Then she looked +beyond them at the rest of the party and smiled again. +However, she seemed more amused than pleased. + +"Come in," she said, leading the way inside. "Even +sweethearts are forgotten after a time, but you and +your friends are welcome." + +The room they now entered was cosy and comfortable, +being neatly furnished and well swept and dusted. But +they found someone there besides Nimmie Amee. A man +dressed in the attractive Munchkin costume was lazily +reclining in an easy chair, and he sat up and turned +his eves on the visitors with a cold and indifferent +stare that was almost insolent. He did not even rise +from his seat to greet the strangers, but after glaring +at them he looked away with a scowl, as if they were of +too little importance to interest him. + +The tin men returned this man's stare with interest, +but they did not look away from him because neither of +them seemed able to take his eyes off this Munchkin, +who was remarkable in having one tin arm quite like +their own tin arms. + +"Seems to me," said Captain Fyter, in a voice that +sounded harsh and indignant, "that you, sir, are a vile +impostor!" + +"Gently -- gently!" cautioned the Scarecrow; "don't +be rude to strangers, Captain." + +"Rude?" shouted the Tin Soldier, now very much +provoked; "why, he's a scoundrel -- a thief! The +villain is wearing my own head!" + +"Yes," added the Tin Woodman, "and he's wearing my +right arm! I can recognize it by the two warts on the +little finger." + +"Good gracious!" exclaimed Woot. "Then this must be +the man whom old Ku-Klip patched together and named +Chopfyt." + +The man now turned toward them, still scowling. + +"Yes, that is my name," he said in a voice like a +growl, "and it is absurd for you tin creatures, or for +anyone else, to claim my head, or arm, or any part of +me, for they are my personal property." + +"You? You're a Nobody!" shouted Captain Fyter. + +"You're just a mix-up," declared the Emperor. + +"Now, now, gentlemen," interrupted Nimmie Amee, "I +must ask you to be more respectful to poor Chopfyt. +For, being my guests, it is not polite for you to +insult my husband." + +"Your husband!" the tin twins exclaimed in dismay. + +"Yes," said she. "I married Chopfyt a long time ago, +because my other two sweethearts had deserted me." + +This reproof embarrassed both Nick Chopper and +Captain Fyter. They looked down, shamefaced, for a +moment, and then the Tin Woodman explained in an +earnest voice: + +"I rusted." + +"So did I," said the Tin Soldier. + +"I could not know that, of course," asserted Nimmie +Amee. "All I knew was that neither of you came to marry +me, as you had promised to do. But men are not scarce +in the Land of Oz. After I came here to live, I met Mr. +Chopfyt, and he was the more interesting because he +reminded me strongly of both of you, as you were before +you became tin. He even had a tin arm, and that +reminded me of you the more. + +"No wonder!" remarked the Scarecrow. + +"But, listen, Nimmie Amee!" said the astonished Woot; +"he really is both of them, for he is made of their +cast-off parts." + +"Oh, you're quite wrong," declared Polychrome, +laughing, for she was greatly enjoying the confusion of +the others. "The tin men are still themselves, as they +will tell you, and so Chopfyt must be someone else." + +They looked at her bewildered, for the facts in the +case were too puzzling to be grasped at once. + +"It is all the fault of old Ku-Klip," muttered the +Tin Woodman. "He had no right to use our castoff parts +to make another man with." + +"It seems he did it, however," said Nimmie Amee +calmly, "and I married him because he resembled you +both. I won't say he is a husband to be proud of, +because he has a mixed nature and isn't always an +agreeable companion. There are times when I have to +chide him gently, both with my tongue and with my +broomstick. But he is my husband, and I must make the +best of him." + +"If you don't like him," suggested the Tin Woodman, +"Captain Fyter and I can chop him up with our axe and +sword, and each take such parts of the fellow as belong +to him. Then we are willing for you to select one of +us as your husband." + +"That is a good idea," approved Captain Fyter, +drawing his sword. + +"No," said Nimmie Amee; "I think I'll keep the +husband I now have. He is now trained to draw the water +and carry in the wood and hoe the cabbages and weed the +flower-beds and dust the furniture and perform many +tasks of a like character. A new husband would have to +be scolded -- and gently chided -- until he learns my +ways. So I think it will be better to keep my Chopfyt, +and I see no reason why you should object to him. You +two gentlemen threw him away when you became tin, +because you had no further use for him, so you cannot +justly claim him now. I advise you to go back to your +own homes and forget me, as I have forgotten you." + +"Good advice!" laughed Polychrome, dancing. + +"Are you happy?" asked the Tin Soldier. + +"Of course I am," said Nimmie Amee; "I'm the mistress +of all I survey -- the queen of my little domain." + +"Wouldn't you like to be the Empress of the Winkies?" +asked the Tin Woodman. + +"Mercy, no," she answered. "That would be a lot of +bother. I don't care for society, or pomp, or posing. +All I ask is to be left alone and not to be annoyed by +visitors." + +The Scarecrow nudged Woot the Wanderer. + +"That sounds to me like a hint," he said. + +"Looks as if we'd had our journey for nothing," +remarked Woot, who was a little ashamed and +disappointed because he had proposed the journey. + +"I am glad, however," said the Tin Woodman, "that I +have found Nimmie Amee, and discovered that she is +already married and happy. It will relieve me of any +further anxiety concerning her." + +"For my part," said the Tin Soldier, "I am not sorry +to be free. The only thing that really annoys me is +finding my head upon Chopfyt's body." + +"As for that, I'm pretty sure it is my body, or a +part of it, anyway," remarked the Emperor of the +Winkies. "But never mind, friend Soldier; let us be +willing to donate our cast-off members to insure the +happiness of Nimmie Amee, and be thankful it is not our +fate to hoe cabbages and draw water --and be chided -- +in the place of this creature Chopfyt." + +"Yes," agreed the Soldier, "we have much to be +thankful for." + +Polychrome, who had wandered outside, now poked her +pretty head through an open window and exclaimed in a +pleased voice: + +"It's getting cloudy. Perhaps it is going to rain!" + + + + +Chapter Twenty-Three + +Through the Tunnel + + +It didn't rain just then, although the clouds in the +sky grew thicker and more threatening. Polychrome hoped +for a thunder-storm, followed by her Rainbow, but the +two tin men did not relish the idea of getting wet. +They even preferred to remain in Nimmie Amee's house, +although they felt they were not welcome there, rather +than go out and face the coming storm. But the +Scarecrow, who was a very thoughtful person, said to +his friends: + +"If we remain here until after the storm, and +Polychrome goes away on her Rainbow, then we +will be prisoners inside the Wall of Solid Air; so +it seems best to start upon our return journey at +once. If I get wet, my straw stuffing will be ruined, +and if you two tin gentlemen get wet, you may +perhaps rust again, and become useless. But even +that is better than to stay here. Once we are free +of the barrier, we have Woot the Wanderer to help +us, and he can oil your joints and restuff my body, +if it becomes necessary, for the boy is made of meat, +which neither rusts nor gets soggy or moldy." + +"Come along, then!" cried Polychrome from the window, +and the others, realizing the wisdom of the Scarecrow's +speech, took leave of Nimmie Amee, who was glad to be +rid of them, and said good-bye to her husband, who +merely scowled and made no answer, and then they +hurried from the house. + +"Your old parts are not very polite, I must say," +remarked the Scarecrow, when they were in the garden. + +"No," said Woot, "Chopfyt is a regular grouch. He +might have wished us a pleasant journey, at the very +least." + +"I beg you not to hold us responsible for that +creature's actions," pleaded the Tin Woodman. "We are +through with Chopfyt and shall have nothing further to +do with him." + +Polychrome danced ahead of the party and led them +straight to the burrow of the Blue Rabbit, which they +might have had some difficulty in finding without her. +There she lost no time in making them all small again. +The Blue Rabbit was busy nibbling cabbage leaves in +Nimmie Amee's garden, so they did not ask his +permission but at once entered the burrow. + +Even now the raindrops were beginning to fall, but it +was quite dry inside the tunnel and by the time they +had reached the other end, outside the circular Wall of +Solid Air, the storm was at its height and the rain was +coming down in torrents. + +"Let us wait here," proposed Polychrome, peering out +of the hole and then quickly retreating. "The Rainbow +won't appear until after the storm and I can make you +big again in a jiffy, before I join my sisters on our +bow." + +"That's a good plan," said the Scarecrow approvingly. +"It will save me from getting soaked and soggy." + +"It will save me from rusting," said the Tin Soldier. + +"It will enable me to remain highly polished," said +the Tin Woodman. + +"Oh, as for that, I myself prefer not to get my +pretty clothes wet," laughed the Rainbow's daughter. + +"But while we wait I will bid you all adieu. I must +also thank you for saving me from that dreadful +Giantess, Mrs. Yoop. You have been good and patient +comrades and I have enjoyed our adventures together, +but I am never so happy as when on my dear Rainbow." + +"Will your father scold you for getting left on the +earth?" asked Woot. + +"I suppose so," said Polychrome gaily; "I'm always +getting scolded for my mad pranks, as they are called. +My sisters are so sweet and lovely and proper that they +never dance off our Rainbow, and so they never have any +adventures. Adventures to me are good fun, only I never +like to stay too long on earth, because I really don't +belong here. I shall tell my Father the Rainbow that +I'll try not to be so careless again, and he will +forgive me because in our sky mansions there is always +joy and happiness." + +They were indeed sorry to part with their dainty and +beautiful companion and assured her of their devotion +if they ever chanced to meet again. She shook hands +with the Scarecrow and the Tin Men and kissed Woot the +Wanderer lightly upon his forehead. + +And then the rain suddenly ceased, and as the tiny +people left the burrow of the Blue Rabbit, a glorious +big Rainbow appeared in the sky and the end of its arch +slowly descended and touched the ground just where they +stood. + +Woot was so busy watching a score of lovely maidens +-- sisters of Polychrome -- who were leaning over the +edge of the bow, and another score who danced gaily +amid the radiance of the splendid hues, that he did not +notice he was growing big again. But now Polychrome +joined her sisters on the Rainbow and the huge arch +lifted and slowly melted away as the sun burst from the +clouds and sent its own white beams dancing over the +meadows. + +"Why, she's gone!" exclaimed the boy, and turned to +see his companions still waving their hands in token of +adieu to the vanished Polychrome. + + + + +Chapter Twenty-Four + +The Curtain Falls + + +Well, the rest of the story is quickly told, for the +return Journey of our adventurers was without any +important incident. The Scarecrow was so afraid of +meeting the Hip-po-gy-raf, and having his straw eaten +again, that he urged his comrades to select another +route to the Emerald City, and they willingly +consented, so that the Invisible Country was wholly +avoided. + +Of course, when they reached the Emerald City their +first duty was to visit Ozma's palace, where they were +royally entertained. The Tin Soldier and Woot the +Wanderer were welcomed as warmly as any strangers might +be who had been the traveling companions of Ozma's dear +old friends, the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman. + +At the banquet table that evening they related the +manner in which they had discovered Nimmie Amee, and +told how they had found her happily married to Chopfyt, +whose relationship to Nick Chopper and Captain Fyter +was so bewildering that they asked Ozma's advice what +to do about it. + +"You need not consider Chopfyt at all," replied the +beautiful girl Ruler of Oz. "If Nimmie Amee is content +with that misfit man for a husband, we have not even +just cause to blame Ku-Klip for gluing him together." + +"I think it was a very good idea," added little +Dorothy, "for if Ku-Klip hadn't used up your castoff +parts, they would have been wasted. It's wicked to be +wasteful, isn't it?" + +"Well, anyhow," said Woot the Wanderer, "Chopfyt, +being kept a prisoner by his wife, is too far away from +anyone to bother either of you tin men in any way. If +you hadn't gone where he is and discovered him, you +would never have worried about him." + +"What do you care, anyhow," Betsy Bobbin asked the +Tin Woodman, "so long as Nimmie Amee is satisfied?" + +"And just to think," remarked Tiny Trot, "that any +girl would rather live with a mixture like Chopfyt, on +far-away Mount Munch, than to be the Empress of the +Winkies!" + +"It is her own choice," said the Tin Woodman +contentedly; "and, after all, I'm not sure the Winkies +would care to have an Empress." + +It puzzled Ozma, for a time, to decide what to do +with the Tin Soldier. If he went with the Tin Woodman +to the Emperor's castle, she felt that the two tin men +might not be able to live together in harmony, and +moreover the Emperor would not be so distinguished if +he had a double constantly beside him. So she asked +Captain Fyter if he was willing to serve her as a +soldier, and he promptly declared that nothing would +please him more. After he had been in her service for +some time, Ozma sent him into the Gillikin Country, +with instructions to keep order among the wild people +who inhabit some parts of that unknown country of Oz. + +As for Woot, being a Wanderer by profession, he was +allowed to wander wherever he desired, and Ozma +promised to keep watch over his future journeys and to +protect the boy as well as she was able, in case he +ever got into more trouble. + +All this having been happily arranged, the Tin +Woodman returned to his tin castle, and his chosen +comrade, the Scarecrow, accompanied him on the way. The +two friends were sure to pass many pleasant hours +together in talking over their recent adventures, for +as they neither ate nor slept they found their greatest +amusement in conversation. + + + + + + +THE FAMOUS 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 Tin Woodman of Oz, by Baum + |