"THE PATCHWORK GIRL OF OZ\n\n\nby\n\nL. FRANK BAUM\n\n\n\n\n  Affectionately Dedicated to my young friend\n  Sumner Hamilton Britton of Chicago\n\n\n\n\nPrologue\n\nThrough the kindness of Dorothy Gale of Kansas, afterward Princess\nDorothy of Oz, an humble writer in the United States of America was\nonce appointed Royal Historian of Oz, with the privilege of writing the\nchronicle of that wonderful fairyland. But after making six books about\nthe adventures of those interesting but queer people who live in the\nLand of Oz, the Historian learned with sorrow that by an edict of the\nSupreme Ruler, Ozma of Oz, her country would thereafter be rendered\ninvisible to all who lived outside its borders and that all\ncommunication with Oz would, in the future, be cut off.\n\nThe children who had learned to look for the books about Oz and who\nloved the stories about the gay and happy people inhabiting that\nfavored country, were as sorry as their Historian that there would be\nno more books of Oz stories. They wrote many letters asking if the\nHistorian did not know of some adventures to write about that had\nhappened before the Land of Oz was shut out from all the rest of the\nworld. But he did not know of any. Finally one of the children inquired\nwhy we couldn't hear from Princess Dorothy by wireless telegraph, which\nwould enable her to communicate to the Historian whatever happened in\nthe far-off Land of Oz without his seeing her, or even knowing just\nwhere Oz is.\n\nThat seemed a good idea; so the Historian rigged up a high tower in his\nback yard, and took lessons in wireless telegraphy until he understood\nit, and then began to call \"Princess Dorothy of Oz\" by sending messages\ninto the air.\n\nNow, it wasn't likely that Dorothy would be looking for wireless\nmessages or would heed the call; but one thing the Historian was sure\nof, and that was that the powerful Sorceress, Glinda, would know what\nhe was doing and that he desired to communicate with Dorothy. For\nGlinda has a big book in which is recorded every event that takes place\nanywhere in the world, just the moment that it happens, and so of\ncourse the book would tell her about the wireless message.\n\nAnd that was the way Dorothy heard that the Historian wanted to speak\nwith her, and there was a Shaggy Man in the Land of Oz who knew how to\ntelegraph a wireless reply. The result was that the Historian begged so\nhard to be told the latest news of Oz, so that he could write it down\nfor the children to read, that Dorothy asked permission of Ozma and\nOzma graciously consented.\n\nThat is why, after two long years of waiting, another Oz story is now\npresented to the children of America. This would not have been possible\nhad not some clever man invented the \"wireless\" and an equally clever\nchild suggested the idea of reaching the mysterious Land of Oz by its\nmeans.\n\nL. Frank Baum.\n\n\"OZCOT\"\n  at Hollywood\n    in California\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF CHAPTERS\n\n   1 - Ojo and Unc Nunkie\n   2 - The Crooked Magician\n   3 - The Patchwork Girl\n   4 - The Glass Cat\n   5 - A Terrible Accident\n   6 - The Journey\n   7 - The Troublesome Phonograph\n   8 - The Foolish Owl and the Wise Donkey\n   9 - They Meet the Woozy\n  10 - Shaggy Man to the Rescue\n  11 - A Good Friend\n  12 - The Giant Porcupine\n  13 - Scraps and the Scarecrow\n  14 - Ojo Breaks the Law\n  15 - Ozma's Prisoner\n  16 - Princess Dorothy\n  17 - Ozma and Her Friends\n  18 - Ojo is Forgiven\n  19 - Trouble with the Tottenhots\n  20 - The Captive Yoop\n  21 - Hip Hopper the Champion\n  22 - The Joking Horners\n  23 - Peace is Declared\n  24 - Ojo Finds the Dark Well\n  25 - They Bribe the Lazy Quadling\n  26 - The Trick River\n  27 - The Tin Woodman Objects\n  28 - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz\n\n\n\n\nThe Patchwork Girl of Oz\n\n\n\n\nChapter One\n\nOjo and Unc Nunkie\n\n\n\"Where's the butter, Unc Nunkie?\" asked Ojo.\n\nUnc looked out of the window and stroked his long beard. Then he turned\nto the Munchkin boy and shook his head.\n\n\"Isn't,\" said he.\n\n\"Isn't any butter? That's too bad, Unc. Where's the jam then?\" inquired\nOjo, standing on a stool so he could look through all the shelves of\nthe cupboard. But Unc Nunkie shook his head again.\n\n\"Gone,\" he said.\n\n\"No jam, either? And no cake--no jelly--no apples--nothing but bread?\"\n\n\"All,\" said Unc, again stroking his beard as he gazed from the window.\n\nThe little boy brought the stool and sat beside his uncle, munching the\ndry bread slowly and seeming in deep thought.\n\n\"Nothing grows in our yard but the bread tree,\" he mused, \"and there\nare only two more loaves on that tree; and they're not ripe yet. Tell\nme, Unc; why are we so poor?\"\n\nThe old Munchkin turned and looked at Ojo. He had kindly eyes, but he\nhadn't smiled or laughed in so long that the boy had forgotten that Unc\nNunkie could look any other way than solemn. And Unc never spoke any\nmore words than he was obliged to, so his little nephew, who lived\nalone with him, had learned to understand a great deal from one word.\n\n\"Why are we so poor, Unc?\" repeated the boy.\n\n\"Not,\" said the old Munchkin.\n\n\"I think we are,\" declared Ojo. \"What have we got?\"\n\n\"House,\" said Unc Nunkie.\n\n\"I know; but everyone in the Land of Oz has a place to live. What else,\nUnc?\"\n\n\"Bread.\"\n\n\"I'm eating the last loaf that's ripe. There; I've put aside your\nshare, Unc. It's on the table, so you can eat it when you get hungry.\nBut when that is gone, what shall we eat, Unc?\"\n\nThe old man shifted in his chair but merely shook his head.\n\n\"Of course,\" said Ojo, who was obliged to talk because his uncle would\nnot, \"no one starves in the Land of Oz, either. There is plenty for\neveryone, you know; only, if it isn't just where you happen to be, you\nmust go where it is.\"\n\nThe aged Munchkin wriggled again and stared at his small nephew as if\ndisturbed by his argument.\n\n\"By to-morrow morning,\" the boy went on, \"we must go where there is\nsomething to eat, or we shall grow very hungry and become very unhappy.\"\n\n\"Where?\" asked Unc.\n\n\"Where shall we go? I don't know, I'm sure,\" replied Ojo. \"But you must\nknow, Unc. You must have traveled, in your time, because you're so old.\nI don't remember it, because ever since I could remember anything we've\nlived right here in this lonesome, round house, with a little garden\nback of it and the thick woods all around. All I've ever seen of the\ngreat Land of Oz, Unc dear, is the view of that mountain over at the\nsouth, where they say the Hammerheads live--who won't let anybody go by\nthem--and that mountain at the north, where they say nobody lives.\"\n\n\"One,\" declared Unc, correcting him.\n\n\"Oh, yes; one family lives there, I've heard. That's the Crooked\nMagician, who is named Dr. Pipt, and his wife Margolotte. One year you\ntold me about them; I think it took you a whole year, Unc, to say as\nmuch as I've just said about the Crooked Magician and his wife. They\nlive high up on the mountain, and the good Munchkin Country, where the\nfruits and flowers grow, is just the other side. It's funny you and I\nshould live here all alone, in the middle of the forest, isn't it?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said Unc.\n\n\"Then let's go away and visit the Munchkin Country and its jolly,\ngood-natured people. I'd love to get a sight of something besides\nwoods, Unc Nunkie.\"\n\n\"Too little,\" said Unc.\n\n\"Why, I'm not so little as I used to be,\" answered the boy earnestly.\n\"I think I can walk as far and as fast through the woods as you can,\nUnc. And now that nothing grows in our back yard that is good to eat,\nwe must go where there is food.\"\n\nUnc Nunkie made no reply for a time. Then he shut down the window and\nturned his chair to face the room, for the sun was sinking behind the\ntree-tops and it was growing cool.\n\nBy and by Ojo lighted the fire and the logs blazed freely in the broad\nfireplace. The two sat in the firelight a long time--the old,\nwhite-bearded Munchkin and the little boy. Both were thinking. When it\ngrew quite dark outside, Ojo said:\n\n\"Eat your bread, Unc, and then we will go to bed.\"\n\nBut Unc Nunkie did not eat the bread; neither did he go directly to\nbed. Long after his little nephew was sound asleep in the corner of the\nroom the old man sat by the fire, thinking.\n\n\n\n\nChapter Two\n\nThe Crooked Magician\n\n\nJust at dawn next morning Unc Nunkie laid his hand tenderly on Ojo's\nhead and awakened him.\n\n\"Come,\" he said.\n\nOjo dressed. He wore blue silk stockings, blue knee pants with gold\nbuckles, a blue ruffled waist and a jacket of bright blue braided with\ngold. His shoes were of blue leather and turned up at the toes, which\nwere pointed. His hat had a peaked crown and a flat brim, and around\nthe brim was a row of tiny golden bells that tinkled when he moved.\nThis was the native costume of those who inhabited the Munchkin Country\nof the Land of Oz, so Unc Nunkie's dress was much like that of his\nnephew. Instead of shoes, the old man wore boots with turnover tops and\nhis blue coat had wide cuffs of gold braid.\n\nThe boy noticed that his uncle had not eaten the bread, and supposed\nthe old man had not been hungry. Ojo was hungry, though; so he divided\nthe piece of bread upon the table and ate his half for breakfast,\nwashing it down with fresh, cool water from the brook. Unc put the\nother piece of bread in his jacket pocket, after which he again said,\nas he walked out through the doorway: \"Come.\"\n\nOjo was well pleased. He was dreadfully tired of living all alone in\nthe woods and wanted to travel and see people. For a long time he had\nwished to explore the beautiful Land of Oz in which they lived. When\nthey were outside, Unc simply latched the door and started up the path.\nNo one would disturb their little house, even if anyone came so far\ninto the thick forest while they were gone.\n\nAt the foot of the mountain that separated the Country of the Munchkins\nfrom the Country of the Gillikins, the path divided. One way led to the\nleft and the other to the right--straight up the mountain. Unc Nunkie\ntook this right-hand path and Ojo followed without asking why. He knew\nit would take them to the house of the Crooked Magician, whom he had\nnever seen but who was their nearest neighbor.\n\nAll the morning they trudged up the mountain path and at noon Unc and\nOjo sat on a fallen tree-trunk and ate the last of the bread which the\nold Munchkin had placed in his pocket. Then they started on again and\ntwo hours later came in sight of the house of Dr. Pipt.\n\nIt was a big house, round, as were all the Munchkin houses, and painted\nblue, which is the distinctive color of the Munchkin Country of Oz.\nThere was a pretty garden around the house, where blue trees and blue\nflowers grew in abundance and in one place were beds of blue cabbages,\nblue carrots and blue lettuce, all of which were delicious to eat. In\nDr. Pipt's garden grew bun-trees, cake-trees, cream-puff bushes, blue\nbuttercups which yielded excellent blue butter and a row of\nchocolate-caramel plants. Paths of blue gravel divided the vegetable\nand flower beds and a wider path led up to the front door. The place\nwas in a clearing on the mountain, but a little way off was the grim\nforest, which completely surrounded it.\n\nUnc knocked at the door of the house and a chubby, pleasant-faced\nwoman, dressed all in blue, opened it and greeted the visitors with a\nsmile.\n\n\"Ah,\" said Ojo; \"you must be Dame Margolotte, the good wife of Dr.\nPipt.\"\n\n\"I am, my dear, and all strangers are welcome to my home.\"\n\n\"May we see the famous Magician, Madam?\"\n\n\"He is very busy just now,\" she said, shaking her head doubtfully. \"But\ncome in and let me give you something to eat, for you must have\ntraveled far in order to get our lonely place.\"\n\n\"We have,\" replied Ojo, as he and Unc entered the house. \"We have come\nfrom a far lonelier place than this.\"\n\n\"A lonelier place! And in the Munchkin Country?\" she exclaimed. \"Then\nit must be somewhere in the Blue Forest.\"\n\n\"It is, good Dame Margolotte.\"\n\n\"Dear me!\" she said, looking at the man, \"you must be Unc Nunkie, known\nas the Silent One.\" Then she looked at the boy. \"And you must be Ojo\nthe Unlucky,\" she added.\n\n\"Yes,\" said Unc.\n\n\"I never knew I was called the Unlucky,\" said Ojo, soberly; \"but it is\nreally a good name for me.\"\n\n\"Well,\" remarked the woman, as she bustled around the room and set the\ntable and brought food from the cupboard, \"you were unlucky to live all\nalone in that dismal forest, which is much worse than the forest around\nhere; but perhaps your luck will change, now you are away from it. If,\nduring your travels, you can manage to lose that 'Un' at the beginning\nof your name 'Unlucky,' you will then become Ojo the Lucky, which will\nbe a great improvement.\"\n\n\"How can I lose that 'Un,' Dame Margolotte?\"\n\n\"I do not know how, but you must keep the matter in mind and perhaps\nthe chance will come to you,\" she replied.\n\nOjo had never eaten such a fine meal in all his life. There was a\nsavory stew, smoking hot, a dish of blue peas, a bowl of sweet milk of\na delicate blue tint and a blue pudding with blue plums in it. When the\nvisitors had eaten heartily of this fare the woman said to them:\n\n\"Do you wish to see Dr. Pipt on business or for pleasure?\"\n\nUnc shook his head.\n\n\"We are traveling,\" replied Ojo, \"and we stopped at your house just to\nrest and refresh ourselves. I do not think Unc Nunkie cares very much\nto see the famous Crooked Magician; but for my part I am curious to\nlook at such a great man.\"\n\nThe woman seemed thoughtful.\n\n\"I remember that Unc Nunkie and my husband used to be friends, many\nyears ago,\" she said, \"so perhaps they will be glad to meet again. The\nMagician is very busy, as I said, but if you will promise not to\ndisturb him you may come into his workshop and watch him prepare a\nwonderful charm.\"\n\n\"Thank you,\" replied the boy, much pleased. \"I would like to do that.\"\n\nShe led the way to a great domed hall at the back of the house, which\nwas the Magician's workshop. There was a row of windows extending\nnearly around the sides of the circular room, which rendered the place\nvery light, and there was a back door in addition to the one leading to\nthe front part of the house. Before the row of windows a broad seat was\nbuilt and there were some chairs and benches in the room besides. At\none end stood a great fireplace, in which a blue log was blazing with a\nblue flame, and over the fire hung four kettles in a row, all bubbling\nand steaming at a great rate. The Magician was stirring all four of\nthese kettles at the same time, two with his hands and two with his\nfeet, to the latter, wooden ladles being strapped, for this man was so\nvery crooked that his legs were as handy as his arms.\n\nUnc Nunkie came forward to greet his old friend, but not being able to\nshake either his hands or his feet, which were all occupied in\nstirring, he patted the Magician's bald head and asked: \"What?\"\n\n\"Ah, it's the Silent One,\" remarked Dr. Pipt, without looking up, \"and\nhe wants to know what I'm making. Well, when it is quite finished this\ncompound will be the wonderful Powder of Life, which no one knows how\nto make but myself. Whenever it is sprinkled on anything, that thing\nwill at once come to life, no matter what it is. It takes me several\nyears to make this magic Powder, but at this moment I am pleased to say\nit is nearly done. You see, I am making it for my good wife Margolotte,\nwho wants to use some of it for a purpose of her own. Sit down and make\nyourself comfortable, Unc Nunkie, and after I've finished my task I\nwill talk to you.\"\n\n\"You must know,\" said Margolotte, when they were all seated together on\nthe broad window-seat, \"that my husband foolishly gave away all the\nPowder of Life he first made to old Mombi the Witch, who used to live\nin the Country of the Gillikins, to the north of here. Mombi gave to\nDr. Pipt a Powder of Perpetual Youth in exchange for his Powder of\nLife, but she cheated him wickedly, for the Powder of Youth was no good\nand could work no magic at all.\"\n\n\"Perhaps the Powder of Life couldn't either,\" said Ojo.\n\n\"Yes; it is perfection,\" she declared. \"The first lot we tested on our\nGlass Cat, which not only began to live but has lived ever since. She's\nsomewhere around the house now.\"\n\n\"A Glass Cat!\" exclaimed Ojo, astonished.\n\n\"Yes; she makes a very pleasant companion, but admires herself a little\nmore than is considered modest, and she positively refuses to catch\nmice,\" explained Margolotte. \"My husband made the cat some pink brains,\nbut they proved to be too high-bred and particular for a cat, so she\nthinks it is undignified in her to catch mice. Also she has a pretty\nblood-red heart, but it is made of stone--a ruby, I think--and so is\nrather hard and unfeeling. I think the next Glass Cat the Magician\nmakes will have neither brains nor heart, for then it will not object\nto catching mice and may prove of some use to us.\"\n\n\"What did old Mombi the Witch do with the Powder of Life your husband\ngave her?\" asked the boy.\n\n\"She brought Jack Pumpkinhead to life, for one thing,\" was the reply.\n\"I suppose you've heard of Jack Pumpkinhead. He is now living near the\nEmerald City and is a great favorite with the Princess Ozma, who rules\nall the Land of Oz.\"\n\n\"No; I've never heard of him,\" remarked Ojo. \"I'm afraid I don't know\nmuch about the Land of Oz. You see, I've lived all my life with Unc\nNunkie, the Silent One, and there was no one to tell me anything.\"\n\n\"That is one reason you are Ojo the Unlucky,\" said the woman, in a\nsympathetic tone. \"The more one knows, the luckier he is, for knowledge\nis the greatest gift in life.\"\n\n\"But tell me, please, what you intend to do with this new lot of the\nPowder of Life, which Dr. Pipt is making. He said his wife wanted it\nfor some especial purpose.\"\n\n\"So I do,\" she answered. \"I want it to bring my Patchwork Girl to life.\"\n\n\"Oh! A Patchwork Girl? What is that?\" Ojo asked, for this seemed even\nmore strange and unusual than a Glass Cat.\n\n\"I think I must show you my Patchwork Girl,\" said Margolotte, laughing\nat the boy's astonishment, \"for she is rather difficult to explain. But\nfirst I will tell you that for many years I have longed for a servant\nto help me with the housework and to cook the meals and wash the\ndishes. No servant will come here because the place is so lonely and\nout-of-the-way, so my clever husband, the Crooked Magician, proposed\nthat I make a girl out of some sort of material and he would make her\nlive by sprinkling over her the Powder of Life. This seemed an\nexcellent suggestion and at once Dr. Pipt set to work to make a new\nbatch of his magic powder. He has been at it a long, long while, and so\nI have had plenty of time to make the girl. Yet that task was not so\neasy as you may suppose. At first I couldn't think what to make her of,\nbut finally in searching through a chest I came across an old patchwork\nquilt, which my grandmother once made when she was young.\"\n\n\"What is a patchwork quilt?\" asked Ojo.\n\n\"A bed-quilt made of patches of different kinds and colors of cloth,\nall neatly sewed together. The patches are of all shapes and sizes, so\na patchwork quilt is a very pretty and gorgeous thing to look at.\nSometimes it is called a 'crazy-quilt,' because the patches and colors\nare so mixed up. We never have used my grandmother's many-colored\npatchwork quilt, handsome as it is, for we Munchkins do not care for\nany color other than blue, so it has been packed away in the chest for\nabout a hundred years. When I found it, I said to myself that it would\ndo nicely for my servant girl, for when she was brought to life she\nwould not be proud nor haughty, as the Glass Cat is, for such a\ndreadful mixture of colors would discourage her from trying to be as\ndignified as the blue Munchkins are.\"\n\n\"Is blue the only respectable color, then?\" inquired Ojo.\n\n\"Yes, for a Munchkin. All our country is blue, you know. But in other\nparts of Oz the people favor different colors. At the Emerald City,\nwhere our Princess Ozma lives, green is the popular color. But all\nMunchkins prefer blue to anything else and when my housework girl is\nbrought to life she will find herself to be of so many unpopular colors\nthat she'll never dare be rebellious or impudent, as servants are\nsometimes liable to be when they are made the same way their mistresses\nare.\"\n\nUnc Nunkie nodded approval.\n\n\"Good i-dea,\" he said; and that was a long speech for Unc Nunkie\nbecause it was two words.\n\n\"So I cut up the quilt,\" continued Margolotte, \"and made from it a very\nwell-shaped girl, which I stuffed with cotton-wadding. I will show you\nwhat a good job I did,\" and she went to a tall cupboard and threw open\nthe doors.\n\nThen back she came, lugging in her arms the Patchwork Girl, which she\nset upon the bench and propped up so that the figure would not tumble\nover.\n\n\n\n\nChapter Three\n\nThe Patchwork Girl\n\n\nOjo examined this curious contrivance with wonder. The Patchwork Girl\nwas taller than he, when she stood upright, and her body was plump and\nrounded because it had been so neatly stuffed with cotton. Margolotte\nhad first made the girl's form from the patchwork quilt and then she\nhad dressed it with a patchwork skirt and an apron with pockets in\nit--using the same gay material throughout. Upon the feet she had sewn\na pair of red leather shoes with pointed toes. All the fingers and\nthumbs of the girl's hands had been carefully formed and stuffed and\nstitched at the edges, with gold plates at the ends to serve as\nfinger-nails.\n\n\"She will have to work, when she comes to life,\" said Margolotte.\n\nThe head of the Patchwork Girl was the most curious part of her. While\nshe waited for her husband to finish making his Powder of Life the\nwoman had found ample time to complete the head as her fancy dictated,\nand she realized that a good servant's head must be properly\nconstructed. The hair was of brown yarn and hung down on her neck in\nseveral neat braids. Her eyes were two silver suspender-buttons cut\nfrom a pair of the Magician's old trousers, and they were sewed on with\nblack threads, which formed the pupils of the eyes. Margolotte had\npuzzled over the ears for some time, for these were important if the\nservant was to hear distinctly, but finally she had made them out of\nthin plates of gold and attached them in place by means of stitches\nthrough tiny holes bored in the metal. Gold is the most common metal in\nthe Land of Oz and is used for many purposes because it is soft and\npliable.\n\nThe woman had cut a slit for the Patchwork Girl's mouth and sewn two\nrows of white pearls in it for teeth, using a strip of scarlet plush\nfor a tongue. This mouth Ojo considered very artistic and lifelike, and\nMargolotte was pleased when the boy praised it. There were almost too\nmany patches on the face of the girl for her to be considered strictly\nbeautiful, for one cheek was yellow and the other red, her chin blue,\nher forehead purple and the center, where her nose had been formed and\npadded, a bright yellow.\n\n\"You ought to have had her face all pink,\" suggested the boy.\n\n\"I suppose so; but I had no pink cloth,\" replied the woman. \"Still, I\ncannot see as it matters much, for I wish my Patchwork Girl to be\nuseful rather than ornamental. If I get tired looking at her patched\nface I can whitewash it.\"\n\n\"Has she any brains?\" asked Ojo.\n\n\"No; I forgot all about the brains!\" exclaimed the woman. \"I am glad\nyou reminded me of them, for it is not too late to supply them, by any\nmeans. Until she is brought to life I can do anything I please with\nthis girl. But I must be careful not to give her too much brains, and\nthose she has must be such as are fitted to the station she is to\noccupy in life. In other words, her brains mustn't be very good.\"\n\n\"Wrong,\" said Unc Nunkie.\n\n\"No; I am sure I am right about that,\" returned the woman.\n\n\"He means,\" explained Ojo, \"that unless your servant has good brains\nshe won't know how to obey you properly, nor do the things you ask her\nto do.\"\n\n\"Well, that may be true,\" agreed Margolotte; \"but, on the contrary, a\nservant with too much brains is sure to become independent and\nhigh-and-mighty and feel above her work. This is a very delicate task,\nas I said, and I must take care to give the girl just the right\nquantity of the right sort of brains. I want her to know just enough,\nbut not too much.\"\n\nWith this she went to another cupboard which was filled with shelves.\nAll the shelves were lined with blue glass bottles, neatly labeled by\nthe Magician to show what they contained. One whole shelf was marked:\n\"Brain Furniture,\" and the bottles on this shelf were labeled as\nfollows: \"Obedience,\" \"Cleverness,\" \"Judgment,\" \"Courage,\" \"Ingenuity,\"\n\"Amiability,\" \"Learning,\" \"Truth,\" \"Poesy,\" \"Self Reliance.\"\n\n\"Let me see,\" said Margolotte; \"of those qualities she must have\n'Obedience' first of all,\" and she took down the bottle bearing that\nlabel and poured from it upon a dish several grains of the contents.\n\"'Amiability' is also good and 'Truth.'\" She poured into the dish a\nquantity from each of these bottles. \"I think that will do,\" she\ncontinued, \"for the other qualities are not needed in a servant.\"\n\nUnc Nunkie, who with Ojo stood beside her, touched the bottle marked\n\"Cleverness.\"\n\n\"Little,\" said he.\n\n\"A little 'Cleverness'? Well, perhaps you are right, sir,\" said she,\nand was about to take down the bottle when the Crooked Magician\nsuddenly called to her excitedly from the fireplace.\n\n\"Quick, Margolotte! Come and help me.\"\n\nShe ran to her husband's side at once and helped him lift the four\nkettles from the fire. Their contents had all boiled away, leaving in\nthe bottom of each kettle a few grains of fine white powder. Very\ncarefully the Magician removed this powder, placing it all together in\na golden dish, where he mixed it with a golden spoon. When the mixture\nwas complete there was scarcely a handful, all told.\n\n\"That,\" said Dr. Pipt, in a pleased and triumphant tone, \"is the\nwonderful Powder of Life, which I alone in the world know how to make.\nIt has taken me nearly six years to prepare these precious grains of\ndust, but the little heap on that dish is worth the price of a kingdom\nand many a king would give all he has to possess it. When it has become\ncooled I will place it in a small bottle; but meantime I must watch it\ncarefully, lest a gust of wind blow it away or scatter it.\"\n\nUnc Nunkie, Margolotte and the Magician all stood looking at the\nmarvelous Powder, but Ojo was more interested just then in the\nPatchwork Girl's brains. Thinking it both unfair and unkind to deprive\nher of any good qualities that were handy, the boy took down every\nbottle on the shelf and poured some of the contents in Margolotte's\ndish. No one saw him do this, for all were looking at the Powder of\nLife; but soon the woman remembered what she had been doing, and came\nback to the cupboard.\n\n\"Let's see,\" she remarked; \"I was about to give my girl a little\n'Cleverness,' which is the Doctor's substitute for 'Intelligence'--a\nquality he has not yet learned how to manufacture.\" Taking down the\nbottle of \"Cleverness\" she added some of the powder to the heap on the\ndish. Ojo became a bit uneasy at this, for he had already put quite a\nlot of the \"Cleverness\" powder in the dish; but he dared not interfere\nand so he comforted himself with the thought that one cannot have too\nmuch cleverness.\n\nMargolotte now carried the dish of brains to the bench. Ripping the\nseam of the patch on the girl's forehead, she placed the powder within\nthe head and then sewed up the seam as neatly and securely as before.\n\n\"My girl is all ready for your Powder of Life, my dear,\" she said to\nher husband. But the Magician replied:\n\n\"This powder must not be used before to-morrow morning; but I think it\nis now cool enough to be bottled.\"\n\nHe selected a small gold bottle with a pepper-box top, so that the\npowder might be sprinkled on any object through the small holes. Very\ncarefully he placed the Powder of Life in the gold bottle and then\nlocked it up in a drawer of his cabinet.\n\n\"At last,\" said he, rubbing his hands together gleefully, \"I have ample\nleisure for a good talk with my old friend Unc Nunkie. So let us sit\ndown cosily and enjoy ourselves. After stirring those four kettles for\nsix years I am glad to have a little rest.\"\n\n\"You will have to do most of the talking,\" said Ojo, \"for Unc is called\nthe Silent One and uses few words.\"\n\n\"I know; but that renders your uncle a most agreeable companion and\ngossip,\" declared Dr. Pipt. \"Most people talk too much, so it is a\nrelief to find one who talks too little.\"\n\nOjo looked at the Magician with much awe and curiosity.\n\n\"Don't you find it very annoying to be so crooked?\" he asked.\n\n\"No; I am quite proud of my person,\" was the reply. \"I suppose I am the\nonly Crooked Magician in all the world. Some others are accused of\nbeing crooked, but I am the only genuine.\"\n\nHe was really very crooked and Ojo wondered how he managed to do so\nmany things with such a twisted body. When he sat down upon a crooked\nchair that had been made to fit him, one knee was under his chin and\nthe other near the small of his back; but he was a cheerful man and his\nface bore a pleasant and agreeable expression.\n\n\"I am not allowed to perform magic, except for my own amusement,\" he\ntold his visitors, as he lighted a pipe with a crooked stem and began\nto smoke. \"Too many people were working magic in the Land of Oz, and so\nour lovely Princess Ozma put a stop to it. I think she was quite right.\nThere were several wicked Witches who caused a lot of trouble; but now\nthey are all out of business and only the great Sorceress, Glinda the\nGood, is permitted to practice her arts, which never harm anybody. The\nWizard of Oz, who used to be a humbug and knew no magic at all, has\nbeen taking lessons of Glinda, and I'm told he is getting to be a\npretty good Wizard; but he is merely the assistant of the great\nSorceress. I've the right to make a servant girl for my wife, you know,\nor a Glass Cat to catch our mice--which she refuses to do--but I am\nforbidden to work magic for others, or to use it as a profession.\"\n\n\"Magic must be a very interesting study,\" said Ojo.\n\n\"It truly is,\" asserted the Magician. \"In my time I've performed some\nmagical feats that were worthy of the skill of Glinda the Good. For\ninstance, there's the Powder of Life, and my Liquid of Petrifaction,\nwhich is contained in that bottle on the shelf yonder--over the window.\"\n\n\"What does the Liquid of Petrifaction do?\" inquired the boy.\n\n\"Turns everything it touches to solid marble. It's an invention of my\nown, and I find it very useful. Once two of those dreadful Kalidahs,\nwith bodies like bears and heads like tigers, came here from the forest\nto attack us; but I sprinkled some of that Liquid on them and instantly\nthey turned to marble. I now use them as ornamental statuary in my\ngarden. This table looks to you like wood, and once it really was wood;\nbut I sprinkled a few drops of the Liquid of Petrifaction on it and now\nit is marble. It will never break nor wear out.\"\n\n\"Fine!\" said Unc Nunkie, wagging his head and stroking his long gray\nbeard.\n\n\"Dear me; what a chatterbox you're getting to be, Unc,\" remarked the\nMagician, who was pleased with the compliment. But just then there came\na scratching at the back door and a shrill voice cried:\n\n\"Let me in! Hurry up, can't you? Let me in!\"\n\nMargolotte got up and went to the door.\n\n\"Ask like a good cat, then,\" she said.\n\n\"Mee-ee-ow-w-w! There; does that suit your royal highness?\" asked the\nvoice, in scornful accents.\n\n\"Yes; that's proper cat talk,\" declared the woman, and opened the door.\n\nAt once a cat entered, came to the center of the room and stopped short\nat the sight of strangers. Ojo and Unc Nunkie both stared at it with\nwide open eyes, for surely no such curious creature had ever existed\nbefore--even in the Land of Oz.\n\n\n\n\nChapter Four\n\nThe Glass Cat\n\n\nThe cat was made of glass, so clear and transparent that you could see\nthrough it as easily as through a window. In the top of its head,\nhowever, was a mass of delicate pink balls which looked like jewels,\nand it had a heart made of a blood-red ruby. The eyes were two large\nemeralds, but aside from these colors all the rest of the animal was\nclear glass, and it had a spun-glass tail that was really beautiful.\n\n\"Well, Doc Pipt, do you mean to introduce us, or not?\" demanded the\ncat, in a tone of annoyance. \"Seems to me you are forgetting your\nmanners.\"\n\n\"Excuse me,\" returned the Magician. \"This is Unc Nunkie, the descendant\nof the former kings of the Munchkins, before this country became a part\nof the Land of Oz.\"\n\n\"He needs a haircut,\" observed the cat, washing its face.\n\n\"True,\" replied Unc, with a low chuckle of amusement.\n\n\"But he has lived alone in the heart of the forest for many years,\" the\nMagician explained; \"and, although that is a barbarous country, there\nare no barbers there.\"\n\n\"Who is the dwarf?\" asked the cat.\n\n\"That is not a dwarf, but a boy,\" answered the Magician. \"You have\nnever seen a boy before. He is now small because he is young. With more\nyears he will grow big and become as tall as Unc Nunkie.\"\n\n\"Oh. Is that magic?\" the glass animal inquired.\n\n\"Yes; but it is Nature's magic, which is more wonderful than any art\nknown to man. For instance, my magic made you, and made you live; and\nit was a poor job because you are useless and a bother to me; but I\ncan't make you grow. You will always be the same size--and the same\nsaucy, inconsiderate Glass Cat, with pink brains and a hard ruby heart.\"\n\n\"No one can regret more than I the fact that you made me,\" asserted the\ncat, crouching upon the floor and slowly swaying its spun-glass tail\nfrom side to side. \"Your world is a very uninteresting place. I've\nwandered through your gardens and in the forest until I'm tired of it\nall, and when I come into the house the conversation of your fat wife\nand of yourself bores me dreadfully.\"\n\n\"That is because I gave you different brains from those we ourselves\npossess--and much too good for a cat,\" returned Dr. Pipt.\n\n\"Can't you take 'em out, then, and replace 'em with pebbles, so that I\nwon't feel above my station in life?\" asked the cat, pleadingly.\n\n\"Perhaps so. I'll try it, after I've brought the Patchwork Girl to\nlife,\" he said.\n\nThe cat walked up to the bench on which the Patchwork Girl reclined and\nlooked at her attentively.\n\n\"Are you going to make that dreadful thing live?\" she asked.\n\nThe Magician nodded.\n\n\"It is intended to be my wife's servant maid,\" he said. \"When she is\nalive she will do all our work and mind the house. But you are not to\norder her around, Bungle, as you do us. You must treat the Patchwork\nGirl respectfully.\"\n\n\"I won't. I couldn't respect such a bundle of scraps under any\ncircumstances.\"\n\n\"If you don't, there will be more scraps than you will like,\" cried\nMargolotte, angrily.\n\n\"Why didn't you make her pretty to look at?\" asked the cat. \"You made\nme pretty--very pretty, indeed--and I love to watch my pink brains roll\naround when they're working, and to see my precious red heart beat.\"\nShe went to a long mirror, as she said this, and stood before it,\nlooking at herself with an air of much pride. \"But that poor patched\nthing will hate herself, when she's once alive,\" continued the cat. \"If\nI were you I'd use her for a mop, and make another servant that is\nprettier.\"\n\n\"You have a perverted taste,\" snapped Margolotte, much annoyed at this\nfrank criticism. \"I think the Patchwork Girl is beautiful, considering\nwhat she's made of. Even the rainbow hasn't as many colors, and you\nmust admit that the rainbow is a pretty thing.\"\n\nThe Glass Cat yawned and stretched herself upon the floor.\n\n\"Have your own way,\" she said. \"I'm sorry for the Patchwork Girl,\nthat's all.\"\n\nOjo and Unc Nunkie slept that night in the Magician's house, and the\nboy was glad to stay because he was anxious to see the Patchwork Girl\nbrought to life. The Glass Cat was also a wonderful creature to little\nOjo, who had never seen or known anything of magic before, although he\nhad lived in the Fairyland of Oz ever since he was born. Back there in\nthe woods nothing unusual ever happened. Unc Nunkie, who might have\nbeen King of the Munchkins, had not his people united with all the\nother countries of Oz in acknowledging Ozma as their sole ruler, had\nretired into this forgotten forest nook with his baby nephew and they\nhad lived all alone there. Only that the neglected garden had failed to\ngrow food for them, they would always have lived in the solitary Blue\nForest; but now they had started out to mingle with other people, and\nthe first place they came to proved so interesting that Ojo could\nscarcely sleep a wink all night.\n\nMargolotte was an excellent cook and gave them a fine breakfast. While\nthey were all engaged in eating, the good woman said:\n\n\"This is the last meal I shall have to cook for some time, for right\nafter breakfast Dr. Pipt has promised to bring my new servant to life.\nI shall let her wash the breakfast dishes and sweep and dust the house.\nWhat a relief it will be!\"\n\n\"It will, indeed, relieve you of much drudgery,\" said the Magician. \"By\nthe way, Margolotte, I thought I saw you getting some brains from the\ncupboard, while I was busy with my kettles. What qualities have you\ngiven your new servant?\"\n\n\"Only those that an humble servant requires,\" she answered. \"I do not\nwish her to feel above her station, as the Glass Cat does. That would\nmake her discontented and unhappy, for of course she must always be a\nservant.\"\n\nOjo was somewhat disturbed as he listened to this, and the boy began to\nfear he had done wrong in adding all those different qualities of\nbrains to the lot Margolotte had prepared for the servant. But it was\ntoo late now for regret, since all the brains were securely sewn up\ninside the Patchwork Girl's head. He might have confessed what he had\ndone and thus allowed Margolotte and her husband to change the brains;\nbut he was afraid of incurring their anger. He believed that Unc had\nseen him add to the brains, and Unc had not said a word against it; but\nthen, Unc never did say anything unless it was absolutely necessary.\n\nAs soon as breakfast was over they all went into the Magician's big\nworkshop, where the Glass Cat was lying before the mirror and the\nPatchwork Girl lay limp and lifeless upon the bench.\n\n\"Now, then,\" said Dr. Pipt, in a brisk tone, \"we shall perform one of\nthe greatest feats of magic possible to man, even in this marvelous\nLand of Oz. In no other country could it be done at all. I think we\nought to have a little music while the Patchwork Girl comes to life. It\nis pleasant to reflect that the first sounds her golden ears will hear\nwill be delicious music.\"\n\nAs he spoke he went to a phonograph, which screwed fast to a small\ntable, and wound up the spring of the instrument and adjusted the big\ngold horn.\n\n\"The music my servant will usually hear,\" remarked Margolotte, \"will be\nmy orders to do her work. But I see no harm in allowing her to listen\nto this unseen band while she wakens to her first realization of life.\nMy orders will beat the band, afterward.\"\n\nThe phonograph was now playing a stirring march tune and the Magician\nunlocked his cabinet and took out the gold bottle containing the Powder\nof Life.\n\nThey all bent over the bench on which the Patchwork Girl reclined. Unc\nNunkie and Margolotte stood behind, near the windows, Ojo at one side\nand the Magician in front, where he would have freedom to sprinkle the\npowder. The Glass Cat came near, too, curious to watch the important\nscene.\n\n\"All ready?\" asked Dr. Pipt.\n\n\"All is ready,\" answered his wife.\n\nSo the Magician leaned over and shook from the bottle some grains of\nthe wonderful Powder, and they fell directly on the Patchwork Girl's\nhead and arms.\n\n\n\n\nChapter Five\n\nA Terrible Accident\n\n\n\"It will take a few minutes for this powder to do its work,\" remarked\nthe Magician, sprinkling the body up and down with much care.\n\nBut suddenly the Patchwork Girl threw up one arm, which knocked the\nbottle of powder from the crooked man's hand and sent it flying across\nthe room. Unc Nunkie and Margolotte were so startled that they both\nleaped backward and bumped together, and Unc's head joggled the shelf\nabove them and upset the bottle containing the Liquid of Petrifaction.\n\nThe Magician uttered such a wild cry that Ojo jumped away and the\nPatchwork Girl sprang after him and clasped her stuffed arms around him\nin terror. The Glass Cat snarled and hid under the table, and so it was\nthat when the powerful Liquid of Petrifaction was spilled it fell only\nupon the wife of the Magician and the uncle of Ojo. With these two the\ncharm worked promptly. They stood motionless and stiff as marble\nstatues, in exactly the positions they were in when the Liquid struck\nthem.\n\nOjo pushed the Patchwork Girl away and ran to Unc Nunkie, filled with a\nterrible fear for the only friend and protector he had ever known. When\nhe grasped Unc's hand it was cold and hard. Even the long gray beard\nwas solid marble. The Crooked Magician was dancing around the room in a\nfrenzy of despair, calling upon his wife to forgive him, to speak to\nhim, to come to life again!\n\nThe Patchwork Girl, quickly recovering from her fright, now came nearer\nand looked from one to another of the people with deep interest. Then\nshe looked at herself and laughed. Noticing the mirror, she stood\nbefore it and examined her extraordinary features with amazement--her\nbutton eyes, pearl bead teeth and puffy nose. Then, addressing her\nreflection in the glass, she exclaimed:\n\n    \"Whee, but there's a gaudy dame!\n    Makes a paint-box blush with shame.\n    Razzle-dazzle, fizzle-fazzle!\n    Howdy-do, Miss What's-your-name?\"\n\n\nShe bowed, and the reflection bowed. Then she laughed again, long and\nmerrily, and the Glass Cat crept out from under the table and said:\n\n\"I don't blame you for laughing at yourself. Aren't you horrid?\"\n\n\"Horrid?\" she replied. \"Why, I'm thoroughly delightful. I'm an\nOriginal, if you please, and therefore incomparable. Of all the comic,\nabsurd, rare and amusing creatures the world contains, I must be the\nsupreme freak. Who but poor Margolotte could have managed to invent\nsuch an unreasonable being as I? But I'm glad--I'm awfully glad!--that\nI'm just what I am, and nothing else.\"\n\n\"Be quiet, will you?\" cried the frantic Magician; \"be quiet and let me\nthink! If I don't think I shall go mad.\"\n\n\"Think ahead,\" said the Patchwork Girl, seating herself in a chair.\n\"Think all you want to. I don't mind.\"\n\n\"Gee! but I'm tired playing that tune,\" called the phonograph, speaking\nthrough its horn in a brazen, scratchy voice. \"If you don't mind, Pipt,\nold boy, I'll cut it out and take a rest.\"\n\nThe Magician looked gloomily at the music-machine.\n\n\"What dreadful luck!\" he wailed, despondently. \"The Powder of Life must\nhave fallen on the phonograph.\"\n\nHe went up to it and found that the gold bottle that contained the\nprecious powder had dropped upon the stand and scattered its\nlife-giving grains over the machine. The phonograph was very much\nalive, and began dancing a jig with the legs of the table to which it\nwas attached, and this dance so annoyed Dr. Pipt that he kicked the\nthing into a corner and pushed a bench against it, to hold it quiet.\n\n\"You were bad enough before,\" said the Magician, resentfully; \"but a\nlive phonograph is enough to drive every sane person in the Land of Oz\nstark crazy.\"\n\n\"No insults, please,\" answered the phonograph in a surly tone. \"You did\nit, my boy; don't blame me.\"\n\n\"You've bungled everything, Dr. Pipt,\" added the Glass Cat,\ncontemptuously.\n\n\"Except me,\" said the Patchwork Girl, jumping up to whirl merrily\naround the room.\n\n\"I think,\" said Ojo, almost ready to cry through grief over Unc\nNunkie's sad fate, \"it must all be my fault, in some way. I'm called\nOjo the Unlucky, you know.\"\n\n\"That's nonsense, kiddie,\" retorted the Patchwork Girl cheerfully. \"No\none can be unlucky who has the intelligence to direct his own actions.\nThe unlucky ones are those who beg for a chance to think, like poor Dr.\nPipt here. What's the row about, anyway, Mr. Magic-maker?\"\n\n\"The Liquid of Petrifaction has accidentally fallen upon my dear wife\nand Unc Nunkie and turned them into marble,\" he sadly replied.\n\n\"Well, why don't you sprinkle some of that powder on them and bring\nthem to life again?\" asked the Patchwork Girl.\n\nThe Magician gave a jump.\n\n\"Why, I hadn't thought of that!\" he joyfully cried, and grabbed up the\ngolden bottle, with which he ran to Margolotte.\n\nSaid the Patchwork Girl:\n\n    \"Higgledy, piggledy, dee--\n    What fools magicians be!\n    His head's so thick\n    He can't think quick,\n    So he takes advice from me.\"\n\n\nStanding upon the bench, for he was so crooked he could not reach the\ntop of his wife's head in any other way, Dr. Pipt began shaking the\nbottle. But not a grain of powder came out. He pulled off the cover,\nglanced within, and then threw the bottle from him with a wail of\ndespair.\n\n\"Gone--gone! Every bit gone,\" he cried. \"Wasted on that miserable\nphonograph when it might have saved my dear wife!\"\n\nThen the Magician bowed his head on his crooked arms and began to cry.\n\nOjo was sorry for him. He went up to the sorrowful man and said softly:\n\n\"You can make more Powder of Life, Dr. Pipt.\"\n\n\"Yes; but it will take me six years--six long, weary years of stirring\nfour kettles with both feet and both hands,\" was the agonized reply.\n\"Six years! while poor Margolotte stands watching me as a marble image.\"\n\n\"Can't anything else be done?\" asked the Patchwork Girl.\n\nThe Magician shook his head. Then he seemed to remember something and\nlooked up.\n\n\"There is one other compound that would destroy the magic spell of the\nLiquid of Petrifaction and restore my wife and Unc Nunkie to life,\"\nsaid he. \"It may be hard to find the things I need to make this magic\ncompound, but if they were found I could do in an instant what will\notherwise take six long, weary years of stirring kettles with both\nhands and both feet.\"\n\n\"All right; let's find the things, then,\" suggested the Patchwork Girl.\n\"That seems a lot more sensible than those stirring times with the\nkettles.\"\n\n\"That's the idea, Scraps,\" said the Glass Cat, approvingly. \"I'm glad\nto find you have decent brains. Mine are exceptionally good. You can\nsee 'em work; they're pink.\"\n\n\"Scraps?\" repeated the girl. \"Did you call me 'Scraps'? Is that my\nname?\"\n\n\"I--I believe my poor wife had intended to name you 'Angeline,'\" said\nthe Magician.\n\n\"But I like 'Scraps' best,\" she replied with a laugh. \"It fits me\nbetter, for my patchwork is all scraps, and nothing else. Thank you for\nnaming me, Miss Cat. Have you any name of your own?\"\n\n\"I have a foolish name that Margolotte once gave me, but which is quite\nundignified for one of my importance,\" answered the cat. \"She called me\n'Bungle.'\"\n\n\"Yes,\" sighed the Magician; \"you were a sad bungle, taken all in all. I\nwas wrong to make you as I did, for a more useless, conceited and\nbrittle thing never before existed.\"\n\n\"I'm not so brittle as you think,\" retorted the cat. \"I've been alive a\ngood many years, for Dr. Pipt experimented on me with the first magic\nPowder of Life he ever made, and so far I've never broken or cracked or\nchipped any part of me.\"\n\n\"You seem to have a chip on your shoulder,\" laughed the Patchwork Girl,\nand the cat went to the mirror to see.\n\n\"Tell me,\" pleaded Ojo, speaking to the Crooked Magician, \"what must we\nfind to make the compound that will save Unc Nunkie?\"\n\n\"First,\" was the reply, \"I must have a six-leaved clover. That can only\nbe found in the green country around the Emerald City, and six-leaved\nclovers are very scarce, even there.\"\n\n\"I'll find it for you,\" promised Ojo.\n\n\"The next thing,\" continued the Magician, \"is the left wing of a yellow\nbutterfly. That color can only be found in the yellow country of the\nWinkies, West of the Emerald City.\"\n\n\"I'll find it,\" declared Ojo. \"Is that all?\"\n\n\"Oh, no; I'll get my Book of Recipes and see what comes next.\"\n\nSaying this, the Magician unlocked a drawer of his cabinet and drew out\na small book covered with blue leather. Looking through the pages he\nfound the recipe he wanted and said: \"I must have a gill of water from\na dark well.\"\n\n\"What kind of a well is that, sir?\" asked the boy.\n\n\"One where the light of day never penetrates. The water must be put in\na gold bottle and brought to me without any light ever reaching it.\"\n\n\"I'll get the water from the dark well,\" said Ojo.\n\n\"Then I must have three hairs from the tip of a Woozy's tail, and a\ndrop of oil from a live man's body.\"\n\nOjo looked grave at this.\n\n\"What is a Woozy, please?\" he inquired.\n\n\"Some sort of an animal. I've never seen one, so I can't describe it,\"\nreplied the Magician.\n\n\"If I can find a Woozy, I'll get the hairs from its tail,\" said Ojo.\n\"But is there ever any oil in a man's body?\"\n\nThe Magician looked in the book again, to make sure.\n\n\"That's what the recipe calls for,\" he replied, \"and of course we must\nget everything that is called for, or the charm won't work. The book\ndoesn't say 'blood'; it says 'oil,' and there must be oil somewhere in\na live man's body or the book wouldn't ask for it.\"\n\n\"All right,\" returned Ojo, trying not to feel discouraged; \"I'll try to\nfind it.\"\n\nThe Magician looked at the little Munchkin boy in a doubtful way and\nsaid:\n\n\"All this will mean a long journey for you; perhaps several long\njourneys; for you must search through several of the different\ncountries of Oz in order to get the things I need.\"\n\n\"I know it, sir; but I must do my best to save Unc Nunkie.\"\n\n\"And also my poor wife Margolotte. If you save one you will save the\nother, for both stand there together and the same compound will restore\nthem both to life. Do the best you can, Ojo, and while you are gone I\nshall begin the six years job of making a new batch of the Powder of\nLife. Then, if you should unluckily fail to secure any one of the\nthings needed, I will have lost no time. But if you succeed you must\nreturn here as quickly as you can, and that will save me much tiresome\nstirring of four kettles with both feet and both hands.\"\n\n\"I will start on my journey at once, sir,\" said the boy.\n\n\"And I will go with you,\" declared the Patchwork Girl.\n\n\"No, no!\" exclaimed the Magician. \"You have no right to leave this\nhouse. You are only a servant and have not been discharged.\"\n\nScraps, who had been dancing up and down the room, stopped and looked\nat him.\n\n\"What is a servant?\" she asked.\n\n\"One who serves. A--a sort of slave,\" he explained.\n\n\"Very well,\" said the Patchwork Girl, \"I'm going to serve you and your\nwife by helping Ojo find the things you need. You need a lot, you know,\nsuch as are not easily found.\"\n\n\"It is true,\" sighed Dr. Pipt. \"I am well aware that Ojo has undertaken\na serious task.\"\n\nScraps laughed, and resuming her dance she said:\n\n    \"Here's a job for a boy of brains:\n    A drop of oil from a live man's veins;\n    A six-leaved clover; three nice hairs\n    From a Woozy's tail, the book declares\n    Are needed for the magic spell,\n    And water from a pitch-dark well.\n    The yellow wing of a butterfly\n    To find must Ojo also try,\n    And if he gets them without harm,\n    Doc Pipt will make the magic charm;\n    But if he doesn't get 'em, Unc\n    Will always stand a marble chunk.\"\n\n\nThe Magician looked at her thoughtfully.\n\n\"Poor Margolotte must have given you some of the quality of poesy, by\nmistake,\" he said. \"And, if that is true, I didn't make a very good\narticle when I prepared it, or else you got an overdose or an\nunderdose. However, I believe I shall let you go with Ojo, for my poor\nwife will not need your services until she is restored to life. Also I\nthink you may be able to help the boy, for your head seems to contain\nsome thoughts I did not expect to find in it. But be very careful of\nyourself, for you're a souvenir of my dear Margolotte. Try not to get\nripped, or your stuffing may fall out. One of your eyes seems loose,\nand you may have to sew it on tighter. If you talk too much you'll wear\nout your scarlet plush tongue, which ought to have been hemmed on the\nedges. And remember you belong to me and must return here as soon as\nyour mission is accomplished.\"\n\n\"I'm going with Scraps and Ojo,\" announced the Glass Cat.\n\n\"You can't,\" said the Magician.\n\n\"Why not?\"\n\n\"You'd get broken in no time, and you couldn't be a bit of use to the\nboy and the Patchwork Girl.\"\n\n\"I beg to differ with you,\" returned the cat, in a haughty tone. \"Three\nheads are better than two, and my pink brains are beautiful. You can\nsee 'em work.\"\n\n\"Well, go along,\" said the Magician, irritably. \"You're only an\nannoyance, anyhow, and I'm glad to get rid of you.\"\n\n\"Thank you for nothing, then,\" answered the cat, stiffly.\n\nDr. Pipt took a small basket from a cupboard and packed several things\nin it. Then he handed it to Ojo.\n\n\"Here is some food and a bundle of charms,\" he said. \"It is all I can\ngive you, but I am sure you will find friends on your journey who will\nassist you in your search. Take care of the Patchwork Girl and bring\nher safely back, for she ought to prove useful to my wife. As for the\nGlass Cat--properly named Bungle--if she bothers you I now give you my\npermission to break her in two, for she is not respectful and does not\nobey me. I made a mistake in giving her the pink brains, you see.\"\n\nThen Ojo went to Unc Nunkie and kissed the old man's marble face very\ntenderly.\n\n\"I'm going to try to save you, Unc,\" he said, just as if the marble\nimage could hear him; and then he shook the crooked hand of the Crooked\nMagician, who was already busy hanging the four kettles in the\nfireplace, and picking up his basket left the house.\n\nThe Patchwork Girl followed him, and after them came the Glass Cat.\n\n\n\n\nChapter Six\n\nThe Journey\n\n\nOjo had never traveled before and so he only knew that the path down\nthe mountainside led into the open Munchkin Country, where large\nnumbers of people dwelt. Scraps was quite new and not supposed to know\nanything of the Land of Oz, while the Glass Cat admitted she had never\nwandered very far away from the Magician's house. There was only one\npath before them, at the beginning, so they could not miss their way,\nand for a time they walked through the thick forest in silent thought,\neach one impressed with the importance of the adventure they had\nundertaken.\n\nSuddenly the Patchwork Girl laughed. It was funny to see her laugh,\nbecause her cheeks wrinkled up, her nose tipped, her silver button eyes\ntwinkled and her mouth curled at the corners in a comical way.\n\n\"Has something pleased you?\" asked Ojo, who was feeling solemn and\njoyless through thinking upon his uncle's sad fate.\n\n\"Yes,\" she answered. \"Your world pleases me, for it's a queer world,\nand life in it is queerer still. Here am I, made from an old bedquilt\nand intended to be a slave to Margolotte, rendered free as air by an\naccident that none of you could foresee. I am enjoying life and seeing\nthe world, while the woman who made me is standing helpless as a block\nof wood. If that isn't funny enough to laugh at, I don't know what is.\"\n\n\"You're not seeing much of the world yet, my poor, innocent Scraps,\"\nremarked the Cat. \"The world doesn't consist wholly of the trees that\nare on all sides of us.\"\n\n\"But they're part of it; and aren't they pretty trees?\" returned\nScraps, bobbing her head until her brown yarn curls fluttered in the\nbreeze. \"Growing between them I can see lovely ferns and wild-flowers,\nand soft green mosses. If the rest of your world is half as beautiful I\nshall be glad I'm alive.\"\n\n\"I don't know what the rest of the world is like, I'm sure,\" said the\ncat; \"but I mean to find out.\"\n\n\"I have never been out of the forest,\" Ojo added; \"but to me the trees\nare gloomy and sad and the wild-flowers seem lonesome. It must be nicer\nwhere there are no trees and there is room for lots of people to live\ntogether.\"\n\n\"I wonder if any of the people we shall meet will be as splendid as I\nam,\" said the Patchwork Girl. \"All I have seen, so far, have pale,\ncolorless skins and clothes as blue as the country they live in, while\nI am of many gorgeous colors--face and body and clothes. That is why I\nam bright and contented, Ojo, while you are blue and sad.\"\n\n\"I think I made a mistake in giving you so many sorts of brains,\"\nobserved the boy. \"Perhaps, as the Magician said, you have an overdose,\nand they may not agree with you.\"\n\n\"What had you to do with my brains?\" asked Scraps.\n\n\"A lot,\" replied Ojo. \"Old Margolotte meant to give you only a\nfew--just enough to keep you going--but when she wasn't looking I added\na good many more, of the best kinds I could find in the Magician's\ncupboard.\"\n\n\"Thanks,\" said the girl, dancing along the path ahead of Ojo and then\ndancing back to his side. \"If a few brains are good, many brains must\nbe better.\"\n\n\"But they ought to be evenly balanced,\" said the boy, \"and I had no\ntime to be careful. From the way you're acting, I guess the dose was\nbadly mixed.\"\n\n\"Scraps hasn't enough brains to hurt her, so don't worry,\" remarked the\ncat, which was trotting along in a very dainty and graceful manner.\n\"The only brains worth considering are mine, which are pink. You can\nsee 'em work.\"\n\nAfter walking a long time they came to a little brook that trickled\nacross the path, and here Ojo sat down to rest and eat something from\nhis basket. He found that the Magician had given him part of a loaf of\nbread and a slice of cheese. He broke off some of the bread and was\nsurprised to find the loaf just as large as it was before. It was the\nsame way with the cheese: however much he broke off from the slice, it\nremained exactly the same size.\n\n\"Ah,\" said he, nodding wisely; \"that's magic. Dr. Pipt has enchanted\nthe bread and the cheese, so it will last me all through my journey,\nhowever much I eat.\"\n\n\"Why do you put those things into your mouth?\" asked Scraps, gazing at\nhim in astonishment. \"Do you need more stuffing? Then why don't you use\ncotton, such as I am stuffed with?\"\n\n\"I don't need that kind,\" said Ojo.\n\n\"But a mouth is to talk with, isn't it?\"\n\n\"It is also to eat with,\" replied the boy. \"If I didn't put food into\nmy mouth, and eat it, I would get hungry and starve.\n\n\"Ah, I didn't know that,\" she said. \"Give me some.\"\n\nOjo handed her a bit of the bread and she put it in her mouth.\n\n\"What next?\" she asked, scarcely able to speak.\n\n\"Chew it and swallow it,\" said the boy.\n\nScraps tried that. Her pearl teeth were unable to chew the bread and\nbeyond her mouth there was no opening. Being unable to swallow she\nthrew away the bread and laughed.\n\n\"I must get hungry and starve, for I can't eat,\" she said.\n\n\"Neither can I,\" announced the cat; \"but I'm not fool enough to try.\nCan't you understand that you and I are superior people and not made\nlike these poor humans?\"\n\n\"Why should I understand that, or anything else?\" asked the girl.\n\"Don't bother my head by asking conundrums, I beg of you. Just let me\ndiscover myself in my own way.\"\n\nWith this she began amusing herself by leaping across the brook and\nback again.\n\n\"Be careful, or you'll fall in the water,\" warned Ojo.\n\n\"Never mind.\"\n\n\"You'd better. If you get wet you'll be soggy and can't walk. Your\ncolors might run, too,\" he said.\n\n\"Don't my colors run whenever I run?\" she asked.\n\n\"Not in the way I mean. If they get wet, the reds and greens and\nyellows and purples of your patches might run into each other and\nbecome just a blur--no color at all, you know.\"\n\n\"Then,\" said the Patchwork Girl, \"I'll be careful, for if I spoiled my\nsplendid colors I would cease to be beautiful.\"\n\n\"Pah!\" sneered the Glass Cat, \"such colors are not beautiful; they're\nugly, and in bad taste. Please notice that my body has no color at all.\nI'm transparent, except for my exquisite red heart and my lovely pink\nbrains--you can see 'em work.\"\n\n\"Shoo--shoo--shoo!\" cried Scraps, dancing around and laughing. \"And\nyour horrid green eyes, Miss Bungle! You can't see your eyes, but we\ncan, and I notice you're very proud of what little color you have.\nShoo, Miss Bungle, shoo--shoo--shoo! If you were all colors and many\ncolors, as I am, you'd be too stuck up for anything.\" She leaped over\nthe cat and back again, and the startled Bungle crept close to a tree\nto escape her. This made Scraps laugh more heartily than ever, and she\nsaid:\n\n    \"Whoop-te-doodle-doo!\n    The cat has lost her shoe.\n    Her tootsie's bare, but she don't care,\n    So what's the odds to you?\"\n\n\n\"Dear me, Ojo,\" said the cat; \"don't you think the creature is a little\nbit crazy?\"\n\n\"It may be,\" he answered, with a puzzled look.\n\n\"If she continues her insults I'll scratch off her suspender-button\neyes,\" declared the cat.\n\n\"Don't quarrel, please,\" pleaded the boy, rising to resume the journey.\n\"Let us be good comrades and as happy and cheerful as possible, for we\nare likely to meet with plenty of trouble on our way.\"\n\nIt was nearly sundown when they came to the edge of the forest and saw\nspread out before them a delightful landscape. There were broad blue\nfields stretching for miles over the valley, which was dotted\neverywhere with pretty, blue domed houses, none of which, however, was\nvery near to the place where they stood. Just at the point where the\npath left the forest stood a tiny house covered with leaves from the\ntrees, and before this stood a Munchkin man with an axe in his hand. He\nseemed very much surprised when Ojo and Scraps and the Glass Cat came\nout of the woods, but as the Patchwork Girl approached nearer he sat\ndown upon a bench and laughed so hard that he could not speak for a\nlong time.\n\nThis man was a woodchopper and lived all alone in the little house. He\nhad bushy blue whiskers and merry blue eyes and his blue clothes were\nquite old and worn.\n\n\"Mercy me!\" exclaimed the woodchopper, when at last he could stop\nlaughing. \"Who would think such a funny harlequin lived in the Land of\nOz? Where did you come from, Crazy-quilt?\"\n\n\"Do you mean me?\" asked the Patchwork Girl.\n\n\"Of course,\" he replied.\n\n\"You misjudge my ancestry. I'm not a crazy-quilt; I'm patchwork,\" she\nsaid.\n\n\"There's no difference,\" he replied, beginning to laugh again. \"When my\nold grandmother sews such things together she calls it a crazy-quilt;\nbut I never thought such a jumble could come to life.\"\n\n\"It was the Magic Powder that did it,\" explained Ojo.\n\n\"Oh, then you have come from the Crooked Magician on the mountain. I\nmight have known it, for--Well, I declare! here's a glass cat. But the\nMagician will get in trouble for this; it's against the law for anyone\nto work magic except Glinda the Good and the royal Wizard of Oz. If you\npeople--or things--or glass spectacles--or crazy-quilts--or whatever\nyou are, go near the Emerald City, you'll be arrested.\"\n\n\"We're going there, anyhow,\" declared Scraps, sitting upon the bench\nand swinging her stuffed legs.\n\n    \"If any of us takes a rest,\n    We'll be arrested sure,\n    And get no restitution\n    'Cause the rest we must endure.\"\n\n\n\"I see,\" said the woodchopper, nodding; \"you're as crazy as the\ncrazy-quilt you're made of.\"\n\n\"She really is crazy,\" remarked the Glass Cat. \"But that isn't to be\nwondered at when you remember how many different things she's made of.\nFor my part, I'm made of pure glass--except my jewel heart and my\npretty pink brains. Did you notice my brains, stranger? You can see 'em\nwork.\"\n\n\"So I can,\" replied the woodchopper; \"but I can't see that they\naccomplish much. A glass cat is a useless sort of thing, but a\nPatchwork Girl is really useful. She makes me laugh, and laughter is\nthe best thing in life. There was once a woodchopper, a friend of mine,\nwho was made all of tin, and I used to laugh every time I saw him.\"\n\n\"A tin woodchopper?\" said Ojo. \"That is strange.\"\n\n\"My friend wasn't always tin,\" said the man, \"but he was careless with\nhis axe, and used to chop himself very badly. Whenever he lost an arm\nor a leg he had it replaced with tin; so after a while he was all tin.\"\n\n\"And could he chop wood then?\" asked the boy.\n\n\"He could if he didn't rust his tin joints. But one day he met Dorothy\nin the forest and went with her to the Emerald City, where he made his\nfortune. He is now one of the favorites of Princess Ozma, and she has\nmade him the Emperor of the Winkies--the Country where all is yellow.\"\n\n\"Who is Dorothy?\" inquired the Patchwork Girl.\n\n\"A little maid who used to live in Kansas, but is now a Princess of Oz.\nShe's Ozma's best friend, they say, and lives with her in the royal\npalace.\"\n\n\"Is Dorothy made of tin?\" inquired Ojo.\n\n\"Is she patchwork, like me?\" inquired Scraps.\n\n\"No,\" said the man; \"Dorothy is flesh, just as I am. I know of only one\ntin person, and that is Nick Chopper, the Tin Woodman; and there will\nnever be but one Patchwork Girl, for any magician that sees you will\nrefuse to make another one like you.\"\n\n\"I suppose we shall see the Tin Woodman, for we are going to the\nCountry of the Winkies,\" said the boy.\n\n\"What for?\" asked the woodchopper.\n\n\"To get the left wing of a yellow butterfly.\"\n\n\"It is a long journey,\" declared the man, \"and you will go through\nlonely parts of Oz and cross rivers and traverse dark forests before\nyou get there.\"\n\n\"Suits me all right,\" said Scraps. \"I'll get a chance to see the\ncountry.\"\n\n\"You're crazy, girl. Better crawl into a rag-bag and hide there; or\ngive yourself to some little girl to play with. Those who travel are\nlikely to meet trouble; that's why I stay at home.\"\n\nThe woodchopper then invited them all to stay the night at his little\nhut, but they were anxious to get on and so left him and continued\nalong the path, which was broader, now, and more distinct.\n\nThey expected to reach some other house before it grew dark, but the\ntwilight was brief and Ojo soon began to fear they had made a mistake\nin leaving the woodchopper.\n\n\"I can scarcely see the path,\" he said at last. \"Can you see it,\nScraps?\"\n\n\"No,\" replied the Patchwork Girl, who was holding fast to the boy's arm\nso he could guide her.\n\n\"I can see,\" declared the Glass Cat. \"My eyes are better than yours,\nand my pink brains--\"\n\n\"Never mind your pink brains, please,\" said Ojo hastily; \"just run\nahead and show us the way. Wait a minute and I'll tie a string to you;\nfor then you can lead us.\"\n\nHe got a string from his pocket and tied it around the cat's neck, and\nafter that the creature guided them along the path. They had proceeded\nin this way for about an hour when a twinkling blue light appeared\nahead of them.\n\n\"Good! there's a house at last,\" cried Ojo. \"When we reach it the good\npeople will surely welcome us and give us a night's lodging.\" But\nhowever far they walked the light seemed to get no nearer, so by and by\nthe cat stopped short, saying:\n\n\"I think the light is traveling, too, and we shall never be able to\ncatch up with it. But here is a house by the roadside, so why go\nfarther?\"\n\n\"Where is the house, Bungle?\"\n\n\"Just here beside us, Scraps.\"\n\nOjo was now able to see a small house near the pathway. It was dark and\nsilent, but the boy was tired and wanted to rest, so he went up to the\ndoor and knocked.\n\n\"Who is there?\" cried a voice from within.\n\n\"I am Ojo the Unlucky, and with me are Miss Scraps Patchwork and the\nGlass Cat,\" he replied.\n\n\"What do you want?\" asked the Voice.\n\n\"A place to sleep,\" said Ojo.\n\n\"Come in, then; but don't make any noise, and you must go directly to\nbed,\" returned the Voice.\n\nOjo unlatched the door and entered. It was very dark inside and he\ncould see nothing at all. But the cat exclaimed: \"Why, there's no one\nhere!\"\n\n\"There must be,\" said the boy. \"Some one spoke to me.\"\n\n\"I can see everything in the room,\" replied the cat, \"and no one is\npresent but ourselves. But here are three beds, all made up, so we may\nas well go to sleep.\"\n\n\"What is sleep?\" inquired the Patchwork Girl.\n\n\"It's what you do when you go to bed,\" said Ojo.\n\n\"But why do you go to bed?\" persisted the Patchwork Girl.\n\n\"Here, here! You are making altogether too much noise,\" cried the Voice\nthey had heard before. \"Keep quiet, strangers, and go to bed.\"\n\nThe cat, which could see in the dark, looked sharply around for the\nowner of the Voice, but could discover no one, although the Voice had\nseemed close beside them. She arched her back a little and seemed\nafraid. Then she whispered to Ojo: \"Come!\" and led him to a bed.\n\nWith his hands the boy felt of the bed and found it was big and soft,\nwith feather pillows and plenty of blankets. So he took off his shoes\nand hat and crept into the bed. Then the cat led Scraps to another bed\nand the Patchwork Girl was puzzled to know what to do with it.\n\n\"Lie down and keep quiet,\" whispered the cat, warningly.\n\n\"Can't I sing?\" asked Scraps.\n\n\"No.\"\n\n\"Can't I whistle?\" asked Scraps.\n\n\"No.\"\n\n\"Can't I dance till morning, if I want to?\" asked Scraps.\n\n\"You must keep quiet,\" said the cat, in a soft voice.\n\n\"I don't want to,\" replied the Patchwork Girl, speaking as loudly as\nusual. \"What right have you to order me around? If I want to talk, or\nyell, or whistle--\"\n\nBefore she could say anything more an unseen hand seized her firmly and\nthrew her out of the door, which closed behind her with a sharp slam.\nShe found herself bumping and rolling in the road and when she got up\nand tried to open the door of the house again she found it locked.\n\n\"What has happened to Scraps?\" asked Ojo.\n\n\"Never mind. Let's go to sleep, or something will happen to us,\"\nanswered the Glass Cat.\n\nSo Ojo snuggled down in his bed and fell asleep, and he was so tired\nthat he never wakened until broad daylight.\n\n\n\n\nChapter Seven\n\nThe Troublesome Phonograph\n\n\nWhen the boy opened his eyes next morning he looked carefully around\nthe room. These small Munchkin houses seldom had more than one room in\nthem. That in which Ojo now found himself had three beds, set all in a\nrow on one side of it. The Glass Cat lay asleep on one bed, Ojo was in\nthe second, and the third was neatly made up and smoothed for the day.\nOn the other side of the room was a round table on which breakfast was\nalready placed, smoking hot. Only one chair was drawn up to the table,\nwhere a place was set for one person. No one seemed to be in the room\nexcept the boy and Bungle.\n\nOjo got up and put on his shoes. Finding a toilet stand at the head of\nhis bed he washed his face and hands and brushed his hair. Then he went\nto the table and said:\n\n\"I wonder if this is my breakfast?\"\n\n\"Eat it!\" commanded a Voice at his side, so near that Ojo jumped. But\nno person could he see.\n\nHe was hungry, and the breakfast looked good; so he sat down and ate\nall he wanted. Then, rising, he took his hat and wakened the Glass Cat.\n\n\"Come on, Bungle,\" said he; \"we must go.\"\n\nHe cast another glance about the room and, speaking to the air, he\nsaid: \"Whoever lives here has been kind to me, and I'm much obliged.\"\n\nThere was no answer, so he took his basket and went out the door, the\ncat following him. In the middle of the path sat the Patchwork Girl,\nplaying with pebbles she had picked up.\n\n\"Oh, there you are!\" she exclaimed cheerfully. \"I thought you were\nnever coming out. It has been daylight a long time.\"\n\n\"What did you do all night?\" asked the boy.\n\n\"Sat here and watched the stars and the moon,\" she replied. \"They're\ninteresting. I never saw them before, you know.\"\n\n\"Of course not,\" said Ojo.\n\n\"You were crazy to act so badly and get thrown outdoors,\" remarked\nBungle, as they renewed their journey.\n\n\"That's all right,\" said Scraps. \"If I hadn't been thrown out I\nwouldn't have seen the stars, nor the big gray wolf.\"\n\n\"What wolf?\" inquired Ojo.\n\n\"The one that came to the door of the house three times during the\nnight.\"\n\n\"I don't see why that should be,\" said the boy, thoughtfully; \"there\nwas plenty to eat in that house, for I had a fine breakfast, and I\nslept in a nice bed.\"\n\n\"Don't you feel tired?\" asked the Patchwork Girl, noticing that the boy\nyawned.\n\n\"Why, yes; I'm as tired as I was last night; and yet I slept very well.\"\n\n\"And aren't you hungry?\"\n\n\"It's strange,\" replied Ojo. \"I had a good breakfast, and yet I think\nI'll now eat some of my crackers and cheese.\"\n\nScraps danced up and down the path. Then she sang:\n\n    \"Kizzle-kazzle-kore;\n    The wolf is at the door,\n    There's nothing to eat but a bone without meat,\n    And a bill from the grocery store.\"\n\n\n\"What does that mean?\" asked Ojo.\n\n\"Don't ask me,\" replied Scraps. \"I say what comes into my head, but of\ncourse I know nothing of a grocery store or bones without meat or--very\nmuch else.\"\n\n\"No,\" said the cat; \"she's stark, staring, raving crazy, and her brains\ncan't be pink, for they don't work properly.\"\n\n\"Bother the brains!\" cried Scraps. \"Who cares for 'em, anyhow? Have you\nnoticed how beautiful my patches are in this sunlight?\"\n\nJust then they heard a sound as of footsteps pattering along the path\nbehind them and all three turned to see what was coming. To their\nastonishment they beheld a small round table running as fast as its\nfour spindle legs could carry it, and to the top was screwed fast a\nphonograph with a big gold horn.\n\n\"Hold on!\" shouted the phonograph. \"Wait for me!\"\n\n\"Goodness me; it's that music thing which the Crooked Magician\nscattered the Powder of Life over,\" said Ojo.\n\n\"So it is,\" returned Bungle, in a grumpy tone of voice; and then, as\nthe phonograph overtook them, the Glass Cat added sternly: \"What are\nyou doing here, anyhow?\"\n\n\"I've run away,\" said the music thing. \"After you left, old Dr. Pipt\nand I had a dreadful quarrel and he threatened to smash me to pieces if\nI didn't keep quiet. Of course I wouldn't do that, because a\ntalking-machine is supposed to talk and make a noise--and sometimes\nmusic. So I slipped out of the house while the Magician was stirring\nhis four kettles and I've been running after you all night. Now that\nI've found such pleasant company, I can talk and play tunes all I want\nto.\"\n\nOjo was greatly annoyed by this unwelcome addition to their party. At\nfirst he did not know what to say to the newcomer, but a little thought\ndecided him not to make friends.\n\n\"We are traveling on important business,\" he declared, \"and you'll\nexcuse me if I say we can't be bothered.\"\n\n\"How very impolite!\" exclaimed the phonograph.\n\n\"I'm sorry; but it's true,\" said the boy. \"You'll have to go somewhere\nelse.\"\n\n\"This is very unkind treatment, I must say,\" whined the phonograph, in\nan injured tone. \"Everyone seems to hate me, and yet I was intended to\namuse people.\"\n\n\"It isn't you we hate, especially,\" observed the Glass Cat; \"it's your\ndreadful music. When I lived in the same room with you I was much\nannoyed by your squeaky horn. It growls and grumbles and clicks and\nscratches so it spoils the music, and your machinery rumbles so that\nthe racket drowns every tune you attempt.\"\n\n\"That isn't my fault; it's the fault of my records. I must admit that I\nhaven't a clear record,\" answered the machine.\n\n\"Just the same, you'll have to go away,\" said Ojo.\n\n\"Wait a minute,\" cried Scraps. \"This music thing interests me. I\nremember to have heard music when I first came to life, and I would\nlike to hear it again. What is your name, my poor abused phonograph?\"\n\n\"Victor Columbia Edison,\" it answered.\n\n\"Well, I shall call you 'Vic' for short,\" said the Patchwork Girl. \"Go\nahead and play something.\"\n\n\"It'll drive you crazy,\" warned the cat.\n\n\"I'm crazy now, according to your statement. Loosen up and reel out the\nmusic, Vic.\"\n\n\"The only record I have with me,\" explained the phonograph, \"is one the\nMagician attached just before we had our quarrel. It's a highly\nclassical composition.\"\n\n\"A what?\" inquired Scraps.\n\n\"It is classical music, and is considered the best and most puzzling\never manufactured. You're supposed to like it, whether you do or not,\nand if you don't, the proper thing is to look as if you did.\nUnderstand?\"\n\n\"Not in the least,\" said Scraps.\n\n\"Then, listen!\"\n\nAt once the machine began to play and in a few minutes Ojo put his\nhands to his ears to shut out the sounds and the cat snarled and Scraps\nbegan to laugh.\n\n\"Cut it out, Vic,\" she said. \"That's enough.\"\n\nBut the phonograph continued playing the dreary tune, so Ojo seized the\ncrank, jerked it free and threw it into the road. However, the moment\nthe crank struck the ground it bounded back to the machine again and\nbegan winding it up. And still the music played.\n\n\"Let's run!\" cried Scraps, and they all started and ran down the path\nas fast as they could go. But the phonograph was right behind them and\ncould run and play at the same time. It called out, reproachfully:\n\n\"What's the matter? Don't you love classical music?\"\n\n\"No, Vic,\" said Scraps, halting. \"We will passical the classical and\npreserve what joy we have left. I haven't any nerves, thank goodness,\nbut your music makes my cotton shrink.\"\n\n\"Then turn over my record. There's a rag-time tune on the other side,\"\nsaid the machine.\n\n\"What's rag-time?\"\n\n\"The opposite of classical.\"\n\n\"All right,\" said Scraps, and turned over the record.\n\nThe phonograph now began to play a jerky jumble of sounds which proved\nso bewildering that after a moment Scraps stuffed her patchwork apron\ninto the gold horn and cried: \"Stop--stop! That's the other extreme.\nIt's extremely bad!\"\n\nMuffled as it was, the phonograph played on.\n\n\"If you don't shut off that music I'll smash your record,\" threatened\nOjo.\n\nThe music stopped, at that, and the machine turned its horn from one to\nanother and said with great indignation: \"What's the matter now? Is it\npossible you can't appreciate rag-time?\"\n\n\"Scraps ought to, being rags herself,\" said the cat; \"but I simply\ncan't stand it; it makes my whiskers curl.\"\n\n\"It is, indeed, dreadful!\" exclaimed Ojo, with a shudder.\n\n\"It's enough to drive a crazy lady mad,\" murmured the Patchwork Girl.\n\"I'll tell you what, Vic,\" she added as she smoothed out her apron and\nput it on again, \"for some reason or other you've missed your guess.\nYou're not a concert; you're a nuisance.\"\n\n\"Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast,\" asserted the\nphonograph sadly.\n\n\"Then we're not savages. I advise you to go home and beg the Magician's\npardon.\"\n\n\"Never! He'd smash me.\"\n\n\"That's what we shall do, if you stay here,\" Ojo declared.\n\n\"Run along, Vic, and bother some one else,\" advised Scraps. \"Find some\none who is real wicked, and stay with him till he repents. In that way\nyou can do some good in the world.\"\n\nThe music thing turned silently away and trotted down a side path,\ntoward a distant Munchkin village.\n\n\"Is that the way we go?\" asked Bungle anxiously.\n\n\"No,\" said Ojo; \"I think we shall keep straight ahead, for this path is\nthe widest and best. When we come to some house we will inquire the way\nto the Emerald City.\"\n\n\n\n\nChapter Eight\n\nThe Foolish Owl and the Wise Donkey\n\n\nOn they went, and half an hour's steady walking brought them to a house\nsomewhat better than the two they had already passed. It stood close to\nthe roadside and over the door was a sign that read: \"Miss Foolish Owl\nand Mr. Wise Donkey: Public Advisers.\"\n\nWhen Ojo read this sign aloud Scraps said laughingly: \"Well, here is a\nplace to get all the advice we want, maybe more than we need. Let's go\nin.\"\n\nThe boy knocked at the door.\n\n\"Come in!\" called a deep bass voice.\n\nSo they opened the door and entered the house, where a little\nlight-brown donkey, dressed in a blue apron and a blue cap, was engaged\nin dusting the furniture with a blue cloth. On a shelf over the window\nsat a great blue owl with a blue sunbonnet on her head, blinking her\nbig round eyes at the visitors.\n\n\"Good morning,\" said the donkey, in his deep voice, which seemed bigger\nthan he was. \"Did you come to us for advice?\"\n\n\"Why, we came, anyhow,\" replied Scraps, \"and now we are here we may as\nwell have some advice. It's free, isn't it?\"\n\n\"Certainly,\" said the donkey. \"Advice doesn't cost anything--unless you\nfollow it. Permit me to say, by the way, that you are the queerest lot\nof travelers that ever came to my shop. Judging you merely by\nappearances, I think you'd better talk to the Foolish Owl yonder.\"\n\nThey turned to look at the bird, which fluttered its wings and stared\nback at them with its big eyes.\n\n\"Hoot-ti-toot-ti-toot!\" cried the owl.\n\n    \"Fiddle-cum-foo,\n    Howdy-do?\n    Riddle-cum, tiddle-cum,\n    Too-ra-la-loo!\"\n\n\n\"That beats your poetry, Scraps,\" said Ojo.\n\n\"It's just nonsense!\" declared the Glass Cat.\n\n\"But it's good advice for the foolish,\" said the donkey, admiringly.\n\"Listen to my partner, and you can't go wrong.\"\n\nSaid the owl in a grumbling voice:\n\n    \"Patchwork Girl has come to life;\n    No one's sweetheart, no one's wife;\n    Lacking sense and loving fun,\n    She'll be snubbed by everyone.\"\n\n\n\"Quite a compliment! Quite a compliment, I declare,\" exclaimed the\ndonkey, turning to look at Scraps. \"You are certainly a wonder, my\ndear, and I fancy you'd make a splendid pincushion. If you belonged to\nme, I'd wear smoked glasses when I looked at you.\"\n\n\"Why?\" asked the Patchwork Girl.\n\n\"Because you are so gay and gaudy.\"\n\n\"It is my beauty that dazzles you,\" she asserted. \"You Munchkin people\nall strut around in your stupid blue color, while I--\"\n\n\"You are wrong in calling me a Munchkin,\" interrupted the donkey, \"for\nI was born in the Land of Mo and came to visit the Land of Oz on the\nday it was shut off from all the rest of the world. So here I am\nobliged to stay, and I confess it is a very pleasant country to live\nin.\"\n\n\"Hoot-ti-toot!\" cried the owl;\n\n    \"Ojo's searching for a charm,\n    'Cause Unc Nunkie's come to harm.\n    Charms are scarce; they're hard to get;\n    Ojo's got a job, you bet!\"\n\n\n\"Is the owl so very foolish?\" asked the boy.\n\n\"Extremely so,\" replied the donkey. \"Notice what vulgar expressions she\nuses. But I admire the owl for the reason that she is positively\nfoolish. Owls are supposed to be so very wise, generally, that a\nfoolish one is unusual, and you perhaps know that anything or anyone\nunusual is sure to be interesting to the wise.\"\n\nThe owl flapped its wings again, muttering these words:\n\n    \"It's hard to be a glassy cat--\n    No cat can be more hard than that;\n    She's so transparent, every act\n    Is clear to us, and that's a fact.\"\n\n\n\"Have you noticed my pink brains?\" inquired Bungle, proudly. \"You can\nsee 'em work.\"\n\n\"Not in the daytime,\" said the donkey. \"She can't see very well by day,\npoor thing. But her advice is excellent. I advise you all to follow it.\"\n\n\"The owl hasn't given us any advice, as yet,\" the boy declared.\n\n\"No? Then what do you call all those sweet poems?\"\n\n\"Just foolishness,\" replied Ojo. \"Scraps does the same thing.\"\n\n\"Foolishness! Of course! To be sure! The Foolish Owl must be foolish or\nshe wouldn't be the Foolish Owl. You are very complimentary to my\npartner, indeed,\" asserted the donkey, rubbing his front hoofs together\nas if highly pleased.\n\n\"The sign says that you are wise,\" remarked Scraps to the donkey. \"I\nwish you would prove it.\"\n\n\"With great pleasure,\" returned the beast. \"Put me to the test, my dear\nPatches, and I'll prove my wisdom in the wink of an eye.\"\n\n\"What is the best way to get to the Emerald City?\" asked Ojo.\n\n\"Walk,\" said the donkey.\n\n\"I know; but what road shall I take?\" was the boy's next question.\n\n\"The road of yellow bricks, of course. It leads directly to the Emerald\nCity.\"\n\n\"And how shall we find the road of yellow bricks?\"\n\n\"By keeping along the path you have been following. You'll come to the\nyellow bricks pretty soon, and you'll know them when you see them\nbecause they're the only yellow things in the blue country.\"\n\n\"Thank you,\" said the boy. \"At last you have told me something.\"\n\n\"Is that the extent of your wisdom?\" asked Scraps.\n\n\"No,\" replied the donkey; \"I know many other things, but they wouldn't\ninterest you. So I'll give you a last word of advice: move on, for the\nsooner you do that the sooner you'll get to the Emerald City of Oz.\"\n\n\"Hoot-ti-toot-ti-toot-ti-too!\" screeched the owl;\n\n    \"Off you go! fast or slow,\n    Where you're going you don't know.\n    Patches, Bungle, Munchkin lad,\n    Facing fortunes good and bad,\n    Meeting dangers grave and sad,\n    Sometimes worried, sometimes glad--\n    Where you're going you don't know,\n    Nor do I, but off you go!\"\n\n\n\"Sounds like a hint, to me,\" said the Patchwork Girl.\n\n\"Then let's take it and go,\" replied Ojo.\n\nThey said good-bye to the Wise Donkey and the Foolish Owl and at once\nresumed their journey.\n\n\n\n\nChapter Nine\n\nThey Meet the Woozy\n\n\n\"There seem to be very few houses around here, after all,\" remarked\nOjo, after they had walked for a time in silence.\n\n\"Never mind,\" said Scraps; \"we are not looking for houses, but rather\nthe road of yellow bricks. Won't it be funny to run across something\nyellow in this dismal blue country?\"\n\n\"There are worse colors than yellow in this country,\" asserted the\nGlass Cat, in a spiteful tone.\n\n\"Oh; do you mean the pink pebbles you call your brains, and your red\nheart and green eyes?\" asked the Patchwork Girl.\n\n\"No; I mean you, if you must know it,\" growled the cat.\n\n\"You're jealous!\" laughed Scraps. \"You'd give your whiskers for a\nlovely variegated complexion like mine.\"\n\n\"I wouldn't!\" retorted the cat. \"I've the clearest complexion in the\nworld, and I don't employ a beauty-doctor, either.\"\n\n\"I see you don't,\" said Scraps.\n\n\"Please don't quarrel,\" begged Ojo. \"This is an important journey, and\nquarreling makes me discouraged. To be brave, one must be cheerful, so\nI hope you will be as good-tempered as possible.\"\n\nThey had traveled some distance when suddenly they faced a high fence\nwhich barred any further progress straight ahead. It ran directly\nacross the road and enclosed a small forest of tall trees, set close\ntogether. When the group of adventurers peered through the bars of the\nfence they thought this forest looked more gloomy and forbidding than\nany they had ever seen before.\n\nThey soon discovered that the path they had been following now made a\nbend and passed around the enclosure, but what made Ojo stop and look\nthoughtful was a sign painted on the fence which read:\n\n    \"BEWARE OF THE WOOZY!\"\n\n\n\"That means,\" he said, \"that there's a Woozy inside that fence, and the\nWoozy must be a dangerous animal or they wouldn't tell people to beware\nof it.\"\n\n\"Let's keep out, then,\" replied Scraps. \"That path is outside the\nfence, and Mr. Woozy may have all his little forest to himself, for all\nwe care.\"\n\n\"But one of our errands is to find a Woozy,\" Ojo explained. \"The\nMagician wants me to get three hairs from the end of a Woozy's tail.\"\n\n\"Let's go on and find some other Woozy,\" suggested the cat. \"This one\nis ugly and dangerous, or they wouldn't cage him up. Maybe we shall\nfind another that is tame and gentle.\"\n\n\"Perhaps there isn't any other, at all,\" answered Ojo. \"The sign\ndoesn't say: 'Beware a Woozy'; it says: 'Beware the Woozy,' which may\nmean there's only one in all the Land of Oz.\"\n\n\"Then,\" said Scraps, \"suppose we go in and find him? Very likely if we\nask him politely to let us pull three hairs out of the tip of his tail\nhe won't hurt us.\"\n\n\"It would hurt him, I'm sure, and that would make him cross,\" said the\ncat.\n\n\"You needn't worry, Bungle,\" remarked the Patchwork Girl; \"for if there\nis danger you can climb a tree. Ojo and I are not afraid; are we, Ojo?\"\n\n\"I am, a little,\" the boy admitted; \"but this danger must be faced, if\nwe intend to save poor Unc Nunkie. How shall we get over the fence?\"\n\n\"Climb,\" answered Scraps, and at once she began climbing up the rows of\nbars. Ojo followed and found it more easy than he had expected. When\nthey got to the top of the fence they began to get down on the other\nside and soon were in the forest. The Glass Cat, being small, crept\nbetween the lower bars and joined them.\n\nHere there was no path of any sort, so they entered the woods, the boy\nleading the way, and wandered through the trees until they were nearly\nin the center of the forest. They now came upon a clear space in which\nstood a rocky cave.\n\nSo far they had met no living creature, but when Ojo saw the cave he\nknew it must be the den of the Woozy.\n\nIt is hard to face any savage beast without a sinking of the heart, but\nstill more terrifying is it to face an unknown beast, which you have\nnever seen even a picture of. So there is little wonder that the pulses\nof the Munchkin boy beat fast as he and his companions stood facing the\ncave. The opening was perfectly square, and about big enough to admit a\ngoat.\n\n\"I guess the Woozy is asleep,\" said Scraps. \"Shall I throw in a stone,\nto waken him?\"\n\n\"No; please don't,\" answered Ojo, his voice trembling a little. \"I'm in\nno hurry.\"\n\nBut he had not long to wait, for the Woozy heard the sound of voices\nand came trotting out of his cave. As this is the only Woozy that has\never lived, either in the Land of Oz or out of it, I must describe it\nto you.\n\nThe creature was all squares and flat surfaces and edges. Its head was\nan exact square, like one of the building-blocks a child plays with;\ntherefore it had no ears, but heard sounds through two openings in the\nupper corners. Its nose, being in the center of a square surface, was\nflat, while the mouth was formed by the opening of the lower edge of\nthe block. The body of the Woozy was much larger than its head, but was\nlikewise block-shaped--being twice as long as it was wide and high. The\ntail was square and stubby and perfectly straight, and the four legs\nwere made in the same way, each being four-sided. The animal was\ncovered with a thick, smooth skin and had no hair at all except at the\nextreme end of its tail, where there grew exactly three stiff, stubby\nhairs. The beast was dark blue in color and his face was not fierce nor\nferocious in expression, but rather good-humored and droll.\n\nSeeing the strangers, the Woozy folded his hind legs as if they had\nbeen hinged and sat down to look his visitors over.\n\n\"Well, well,\" he exclaimed; \"what a queer lot you are! At first I\nthought some of those miserable Munchkin farmers had come to annoy me,\nbut I am relieved to find you in their stead. It is plain to me that\nyou are a remarkable group--as remarkable in your way as I am in\nmine--and so you are welcome to my domain. Nice place, isn't it? But\nlonesome--dreadfully lonesome.\"\n\n\"Why did they shut you up here?\" asked Scraps, who was regarding the\nqueer, square creature with much curiosity.\n\n\"Because I eat up all the honey-bees which the Munchkin farmers who\nlive around here keep to make them honey.\"\n\n\"Are you fond of eating honey-bees?\" inquired the boy.\n\n\"Very. They are really delicious. But the farmers did not like to lose\ntheir bees and so they tried to destroy me. Of course they couldn't do\nthat.\"\n\n\"Why not?\"\n\n\"My skin is so thick and tough that nothing can get through it to hurt\nme. So, finding they could not destroy me, they drove me into this\nforest and built a fence around me. Unkind, wasn't it?\"\n\n\"But what do you eat now?\" asked Ojo.\n\n\"Nothing at all. I've tried the leaves from the trees and the mosses\nand creeping vines, but they don't seem to suit my taste. So, there\nbeing no honey-bees here, I've eaten nothing for years.\n\n\"You must be awfully hungry,\" said the boy. \"I've got some bread and\ncheese in my basket. Would you like that kind of food?\"\n\n\"Give me a nibble and I will try it; then I can tell you better whether\nit is grateful to my appetite,\" returned the Woozy.\n\nSo the boy opened his basket and broke a piece off the loaf of bread.\nHe tossed it toward the Woozy, who cleverly caught it in his mouth and\nate it in a twinkling.\n\n\"That's rather good,\" declared the animal. \"Any more?\"\n\n\"Try some cheese,\" said Ojo, and threw down a piece.\n\nThe Woozy ate that, too, and smacked its long, thin lips.\n\n\"That's mighty good!\" it exclaimed. \"Any more?\"\n\n\"Plenty,\" replied Ojo. So he sat down on a Stump and fed the Woozy\nbread and cheese for a long time; for, no matter how much the boy broke\noff, the loaf and the slice remained just as big.\n\n\"That'll do,\" said the Woozy, at last; \"I'm quite full. I hope the\nstrange food won't give me indigestion.\"\n\n\"I hope not,\" said Ojo. \"It's what I eat.\"\n\n\"Well, I must say I'm much obliged, and I'm glad you came,\" announced\nthe beast. \"Is there anything I can do in return for your kindness?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said Ojo earnestly, \"you have it in your power to do me a great\nfavor, if you will.\"\n\n\"What is it?\" asked the Woozy. \"Name the favor and I will grant it.\"\n\n\"I--I want three hairs from the tip of your tail,\" said Ojo, with some\nhesitation.\n\n\"Three hairs! Why, that's all I have--on my tail or anywhere else,\"\nexclaimed the beast.\n\n\"I know; but I want them very much.\"\n\n\"They are my sole ornaments, my prettiest feature,\" said the Woozy,\nuneasily. \"If I give up those three hairs I--I'm just a blockhead.\"\n\n\"Yet I must have them,\" insisted the boy, firmly, and he then told the\nWoozy all about the accident to Unc Nunkie and Margolotte, and how the\nthree hairs were to be a part of the magic charm that would restore\nthem to life. The beast listened with attention and when Ojo had\nfinished the recital it said, with a sigh:\n\n\"I always keep my word, for I pride myself on being square. So you may\nhave the three hairs, and welcome. I think, under such circumstances,\nit would be selfish in me to refuse you.\"\n\n\"Thank you! Thank you very much,\" cried the boy, joyfully. \"May I pull\nout the hairs now?\"\n\n\"Any time you like,\" answered the Woozy.\n\nSo Ojo went up to the queer creature and taking hold of one of the\nhairs began to pull. He pulled harder. He pulled with all his might;\nbut the hair remained fast.\n\n\"What's the trouble?\" asked the Woozy, which Ojo had dragged here and\nthere all around the clearing in his endeavor to pull out the hair.\n\n\"It won't come,\" said the boy, panting.\n\n\"I was afraid of that,\" declared the beast. \"You'll have to pull\nharder.\"\n\n\"I'll help you,\" exclaimed Scraps, coming to the boy's side. \"You pull\nthe hair, and I'll pull you, and together we ought to get it out\neasily.\"\n\n\"Wait a jiffy,\" called the Woozy, and then it went to a tree and hugged\nit with its front paws, so that its body couldn't be dragged around by\nthe pull. \"All ready, now. Go ahead!\"\n\nOjo grasped the hair with both hands and pulled with all his strength,\nwhile Scraps seized the boy around his waist and added her strength to\nhis. But the hair wouldn't budge. Instead, it slipped out of Ojo's\nhands and he and Scraps both rolled upon the ground in a heap and never\nstopped until they bumped against the rocky cave.\n\n\"Give it up,\" advised the Glass Cat, as the boy arose and assisted the\nPatchwork Girl to her feet. \"A dozen strong men couldn't pull out those\nhairs. I believe they're clinched on the under side of the Woozy's\nthick skin.\"\n\n\"Then what shall I do?\" asked the boy, despairingly. \"If on our return\nI fail to take these three hairs to the Crooked Magician, the other\nthings I have come to seek will be of no use at all, and we cannot\nrestore Unc Nunkie and Margolotte to life.\"\n\n\"They're goners, I guess,\" said the Patchwork Girl.\n\n\"Never mind,\" added the cat. \"I can't see that old Unc and Margolotte\nare worth all this trouble, anyhow.\"\n\nBut Ojo did not feel that way. He was so disheartened that he sat down\nupon a stump and began to cry.\n\nThe Woozy looked at the boy thoughtfully.\n\n\"Why don't you take me with you?\" asked the beast. \"Then, when at last\nyou get to the Magician's house, he can surely find some way to pull\nout those three hairs.\"\n\nOjo was overjoyed at this suggestion.\n\n\"That's it!\" he cried, wiping away the tears and springing to his feet\nwith a smile. \"If I take the three hairs to the Magician, it won't\nmatter if they are still in your body.\"\n\n\"It can't matter in the least,\" agreed the Woozy.\n\n\"Come on, then,\" said the boy, picking up his basket; \"let us start at\nonce. I have several other things to find, you know.\"\n\nBut the Glass Cat gave a little laugh and inquired in her scornful way:\n\n\"How do you intend to get the beast out of this forest?\"\n\nThat puzzled them all for a time.\n\n\"Let us go to the fence, and then we may find a way,\" suggested Scraps.\nSo they walked through the forest to the fence, reaching it at a point\nexactly opposite that where they had entered the enclosure.\n\n\"How did you get in?\" asked the Woozy.\n\n\"We climbed over,\" answered Ojo.\n\n\"I can't do that,\" said the beast. \"I'm a very swift runner, for I can\novertake a honey-bee as it flies; and I can jump very high, which is\nthe reason they made such a tall fence to keep me in. But I can't climb\nat all, and I'm too big to squeeze between the bars of the fence.\"\n\nOjo tried to think what to do.\n\n\"Can you dig?\" he asked.\n\n\"No,\" answered the Woozy, \"for I have no claws. My feet are quite flat\non the bottom of them. Nor can I gnaw away the boards, as I have no\nteeth.\"\n\n\"You're not such a terrible creature, after all,\" remarked Scraps.\n\n\"You haven't heard me growl, or you wouldn't say that,\" declared the\nWoozy. \"When I growl, the sound echoes like thunder all through the\nvalleys and woodlands, and children tremble with fear, and women cover\ntheir heads with their aprons, and big men run and hide. I suppose\nthere is nothing in the world so terrible to listen to as the growl of\na Woozy.\"\n\n\"Please don't growl, then,\" begged Ojo, earnestly.\n\n\"There is no danger of my growling, for I am not angry. Only when angry\ndo I utter my fearful, ear-splitting, soul-shuddering growl. Also, when\nI am angry, my eyes flash fire, whether I growl or not.\"\n\n\"Real fire?\" asked Ojo.\n\n\"Of course, real fire. Do you suppose they'd flash imitation fire?\"\ninquired the Woozy, in an injured tone.\n\n\"In that case, I've solved the riddle,\" cried Scraps, dancing with\nglee. \"Those fence-boards are made of wood, and if the Woozy stands\nclose to the fence and lets his eyes flash fire, they might set fire to\nthe fence and burn it up. Then he could walk away with us easily, being\nfree.\"\n\n\"Ah, I have never thought of that plan, or I would have been free long\nago,\" said the Woozy. \"But I cannot flash fire from my eyes unless I am\nvery angry.\"\n\n\"Can't you get angry 'bout something, please?\" asked Ojo.\n\n\"I'll try. You just say 'Krizzle-Kroo' to me.\"\n\n\"Will that make you angry?\" inquired the boy.\n\n\"Terribly angry.\"\n\n\"What does it mean?\" asked Scraps.\n\n\"I don't know; that's what makes me so angry,\" replied the Woozy.\n\nHe then stood close to the fence, with his head near one of the boards,\nand Scraps called out \"Krizzle-Kroo!\" Then Ojo said \"Krizzle-Kroo!\" and\nthe Glass Cat said \"Krizzle-Kroo!\" The Woozy began to tremble with\nanger and small sparks darted from his eyes. Seeing this, they all\ncried \"Krizzle-Kroo!\" together, and that made the beast's eyes flash\nfire so fiercely that the fence-board caught the sparks and began to\nsmoke. Then it burst into flame, and the Woozy stepped back and said\ntriumphantly:\n\n\"Aha! That did the business, all right. It was a happy thought for you\nto yell all together, for that made me as angry as I have ever been.\nFine sparks, weren't they?\"\n\n\"Reg'lar fireworks,\" replied Scraps, admiringly.\n\nIn a few moments the board had burned to a distance of several feet,\nleaving an opening big enough for them all to pass through. Ojo broke\nsome branches from a tree and with them whipped the fire until it was\nextinguished.\n\n\"We don't want to burn the whole fence down,\" said he, \"for the flames\nwould attract the attention of the Munchkin farmers, who would then\ncome and capture the Woozy again. I guess they'll be rather surprised\nwhen they find he's escaped.\"\n\n\"So they will,\" declared the Woozy, chuckling gleefully. \"When they\nfind I'm gone the farmers will be badly scared, for they'll expect me\nto eat up their honey-bees, as I did before.\"\n\n\"That reminds me,\" said the boy, \"that you must promise not to eat\nhoney-bees while you are in our company.\"\n\n\"None at all?\"\n\n\"Not a bee. You would get us all into trouble, and we can't afford to\nhave any more trouble than is necessary. I'll feed you all the bread\nand cheese you want, and that must satisfy you.\"\n\n\"All right; I'll promise,\" said the Woozy, cheerfully. \"And when I\npromise anything you can depend on it, 'cause I'm square.\"\n\n\"I don't see what difference that makes,\" observed the Patchwork Girl,\nas they found the path and continued their journey. \"The shape doesn't\nmake a thing honest, does it?\"\n\n\"Of course it does,\" returned the Woozy, very decidedly. \"No one could\ntrust that Crooked Magician, for instance, just because he is crooked;\nbut a square Woozy couldn't do anything crooked if he wanted to.\"\n\n\"I am neither square nor crooked,\" said Scraps, looking down at her\nplump body.\n\n\"No; you're round, so you're liable to do anything,\" asserted the\nWoozy. \"Do not blame me, Miss Gorgeous, if I regard you with suspicion.\nMany a satin ribbon has a cotton back.\"\n\nScraps didn't understand this, but she had an uneasy misgiving that she\nhad a cotton back herself. It would settle down, at times, and make her\nsquat and dumpy, and then she had to roll herself in the road until her\nbody stretched out again.\n\n\n\n\nChapter Ten\n\nShaggy Man to the Rescue\n\n\nThey had not gone very far before Bungle, who had run on ahead, came\nbounding back to say that the road of yellow bricks was just before\nthem. At once they hurried forward to see what this famous road looked\nlike.\n\nIt was a broad road, but not straight, for it wandered over hill and\ndale and picked out the easiest places to go. All its length and\nbreadth was paved with smooth bricks of a bright yellow color, so it\nwas smooth and level except in a few places where the bricks had\ncrumbled or been removed, leaving holes that might cause the unwary to\nstumble.\n\n\"I wonder,\" said Ojo, looking up and down the road, \"which way to go.\"\n\n\"Where are you bound for?\" asked the Woozy.\n\n\"The Emerald City,\" he replied.\n\n\"Then go west,\" said the Woozy. \"I know this road pretty well, for I've\nchased many a honey-bee over it.\"\n\n\"Have you ever been to the Emerald City?\" asked Scraps.\n\n\"No. I am very shy by nature, as you may have noticed, so I haven't\nmingled much in society.\"\n\n\"Are you afraid of men?\" inquired the Patchwork Girl.\n\n\"Me? With my heart-rending growl--my horrible, shudderful growl? I\nshould say not. I am not afraid of anything,\" declared the Woozy.\n\n\"I wish I could say the same,\" sighed Ojo. \"I don't think we need be\nafraid when we get to the Emerald City, for Unc Nunkie has told me that\nOzma, our girl Ruler, is very lovely and kind, and tries to help\neveryone who is in trouble. But they say there are many dangers lurking\non the road to the great Fairy City, and so we must be very careful.\"\n\n\"I hope nothing will break me,\" said the Glass Cat, in a nervous voice.\n\"I'm a little brittle, you know, and can't stand many hard knocks.\"\n\n\"If anything should fade the colors of my lovely patches it would break\nmy heart,\" said the Patchwork Girl.\n\n\"I'm not sure you have a heart,\" Ojo reminded her.\n\n\"Then it would break my cotton,\" persisted Scraps. \"Do you think they\nare all fast colors, Ojo?\" she asked anxiously.\n\n\"They seem fast enough when you run,\" he replied; and then, looking\nahead of them, he exclaimed: \"Oh, what lovely trees!\"\n\nThey were certainly pretty to look upon and the travelers hurried\nforward to observe them more closely.\n\n\"Why, they are not trees at all,\" said Scraps; \"they are just monstrous\nplants.\"\n\nThat is what they really were: masses of great broad leaves which rose\nfrom the ground far into the air, until they towered twice as high as\nthe top of the Patchwork Girl's head, who was a little taller than Ojo.\nThe plants formed rows on both sides of the road and from each plant\nrose a dozen or more of the big broad leaves, which swayed continually\nfrom side to side, although no wind was blowing. But the most curious\nthing about the swaying leaves was their color. They seemed to have a\ngeneral groundwork of blue, but here and there other colors glinted at\ntimes through the blue--gorgeous yellows, turning to pink, purple,\norange and scarlet, mingled with more sober browns and grays--each\nappearing as a blotch or stripe anywhere on a leaf and then\ndisappearing, to be replaced by some other color of a different shape.\nThe changeful coloring of the great leaves was very beautiful, but it\nwas bewildering, as well, and the novelty of the scene drew our\ntravelers close to the line of plants, where they stood watching them\nwith rapt interest.\n\nSuddenly a leaf bent lower than usual and touched the Patchwork Girl.\nSwiftly it enveloped her in its embrace, covering her completely in its\nthick folds, and then it swayed back upon its stem.\n\n\"Why, she's gone!\" gasped Ojo, in amazement, and listening carefully he\nthought he could hear the muffled screams of Scraps coming from the\ncenter of the folded leaf. But, before he could think what he ought to\ndo to save her, another leaf bent down and captured the Glass Cat,\nrolling around the little creature until she was completely hidden, and\nthen straightening up again upon its stem.\n\n\"Look out,\" cried the Woozy. \"Run! Run fast, or you are lost.\"\n\nOjo turned and saw the Woozy running swiftly up the road. But the last\nleaf of the row of plants seized the beast even as he ran and instantly\nhe disappeared from sight.\n\nThe boy had no chance to escape. Half a dozen of the great leaves were\nbending toward him from different directions and as he stood hesitating\none of them clutched him in its embrace. In a flash he was in the dark.\nThen he felt himself gently lifted until he was swaying in the air,\nwith the folds of the leaf hugging him on all sides.\n\nAt first he struggled hard to escape, crying out in anger: \"Let me go!\nLet me go!\" But neither struggles nor protests had any effect whatever.\nThe leaf held him firmly and he was a prisoner.\n\nThen Ojo quieted himself and tried to think. Despair fell upon him when\nhe remembered that all his little party had been captured, even as he\nwas, and there was none to save them.\n\n\"I might have expected it,\" he sobbed, miserably. \"I'm Ojo the Unlucky,\nand something dreadful was sure to happen to me.\"\n\nHe pushed against the leaf that held him and found it to be soft, but\nthick and firm. It was like a great bandage all around him and he found\nit difficult to move his body or limbs in order to change their\nposition.\n\nThe minutes passed and became hours. Ojo wondered how long one could\nlive in such a condition and if the leaf would gradually sap his\nstrength and even his life, in order to feed itself. The little\nMunchkin boy had never heard of any person dying in the Land of Oz, but\nhe knew one could suffer a great deal of pain. His greatest fear at\nthis time was that he would always remain imprisoned in the beautiful\nleaf and never see the light of day again.\n\nNo sound came to him through the leaf; all around was intense silence.\nOjo wondered if Scraps had stopped screaming, or if the folds of the\nleaf prevented his hearing her. By and by he thought he heard a\nwhistle, as of some one whistling a tune. Yes; it really must be some\none whistling, he decided, for he could follow the strains of a pretty\nMunchkin melody that Unc Nunkie used to sing to him. The sounds were\nlow and sweet and, although they reached Ojo's ears very faintly, they\nwere clear and harmonious.\n\nCould the leaf whistle, Ojo wondered? Nearer and nearer came the sounds\nand then they seemed to be just the other side of the leaf that was\nhugging him.\n\nSuddenly the whole leaf toppled and fell, carrying the boy with it, and\nwhile he sprawled at full length the folds slowly relaxed and set him\nfree. He scrambled quickly to his feet and found that a strange man was\nstanding before him--a man so curious in appearance that the boy stared\nwith round eyes.\n\nHe was a big man, with shaggy whiskers, shaggy eyebrows, shaggy\nhair--but kindly blue eyes that were gentle as those of a cow. On his\nhead was a green velvet hat with a jeweled band, which was all shaggy\naround the brim. Rich but shaggy laces were at his throat; a coat with\nshaggy edges was decorated with diamond buttons; the velvet breeches\nhad jeweled buckles at the knees and shags all around the bottoms. On\nhis breast hung a medallion bearing a picture of Princess Dorothy of\nOz, and in his hand, as he stood looking at Ojo, was a sharp knife\nshaped like a dagger.\n\n\"Oh!\" exclaimed Ojo, greatly astonished at the sight of this stranger;\nand then he added: \"Who has saved me, sir?\"\n\n\"Can't you see?\" replied the other, with a smile; \"I'm the Shaggy Man.\"\n\n\"Yes; I can see that,\" said the boy, nodding. \"Was it you who rescued\nme from the leaf?\"\n\n\"None other, you may be sure. But take care, or I shall have to rescue\nyou again.\"\n\nOjo gave a jump, for he saw several broad leaves leaning toward him;\nbut the Shaggy Man began to whistle again, and at the sound the leaves\nall straightened up on their stems and kept still.\n\nThe man now took Ojo's arm and led him up the road, past the last of\nthe great plants, and not till he was safely beyond their reach did he\ncease his whistling.\n\n\"You see, the music charms 'em,\" said he. \"Singing or whistling--it\ndoesn't matter which--makes 'em behave, and nothing else will. I always\nwhistle as I go by 'em and so they always let me alone. To-day as I\nwent by, whistling, I saw a leaf curled and knew there must be\nsomething inside it. I cut down the leaf with my knife and--out you\npopped. Lucky I passed by, wasn't it?\"\n\n\"You were very kind,\" said Ojo, \"and I thank you. Will you please\nrescue my companions, also?\"\n\n\"What companions?\" asked the Shaggy Man.\n\n\"The leaves grabbed them all,\" said the boy. \"There's a Patchwork Girl\nand--\"\n\n\"A what?\"\n\n\"A girl made of patchwork, you know. She's alive and her name is\nScraps. And there's a Glass Cat--\"\n\n\"Glass?\" asked the Shaggy Man.\n\n\"All glass.\"\n\n\"And alive?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said Ojo; \"she has pink brains. And there's a Woozy--\"\n\n\"What's a Woozy?\" inquired the Shaggy Man.\n\n\"Why, I--I--can't describe it,\" answered the boy, greatly perplexed.\n\"But it's a queer animal with three hairs on the tip of its tail that\nwon't come out and--\"\n\n\"What won't come out?\" asked the Shaggy Man; \"the tail?\"\n\n\"The hairs won't come out. But you'll see the Woozy, if you'll please\nrescue it, and then you'll know just what it is.\"\n\n\"Of course,\" said the Shaggy Man, nodding his shaggy head. And then he\nwalked back among the plants, still whistling, and found the three\nleaves which were curled around Ojo's traveling companions. The first\nleaf he cut down released Scraps, and on seeing her the Shaggy Man\nthrew back his shaggy head, opened wide his mouth and laughed so\nshaggily and yet so merrily that Scraps liked him at once. Then he took\noff his hat and made her a low bow, saying:\n\n\"My dear, you're a wonder. I must introduce you to my friend the\nScarecrow.\"\n\nWhen he cut down the second leaf he rescued the Glass Cat, and Bungle\nwas so frightened that she scampered away like a streak and soon had\njoined Ojo, when she sat beside him panting and trembling. The last\nplant of all the row had captured the Woozy, and a big bunch in the\ncenter of the curled leaf showed plainly where he was. With his sharp\nknife the Shaggy Man sliced off the stem of the leaf and as it fell and\nunfolded out trotted the Woozy and escaped beyond the reach of any more\nof the dangerous plants.\n\n\n\n\nChapter Eleven\n\nA Good Friend\n\n\nSoon the entire party was gathered on the road of yellow bricks, quite\nbeyond the reach of the beautiful but treacherous plants. The Shaggy\nMan, staring first at one and then at the other, seemed greatly pleased\nand interested.\n\n\"I've seen queer things since I came to the Land of Oz,\" said he, \"but\nnever anything queerer than this band of adventurers. Let us sit down a\nwhile, and have a talk and get acquainted.\"\n\n\"Haven't you always lived in the Land of Oz?\" asked the Munchkin boy.\n\n\"No; I used to live in the big, outside world. But I came here once\nwith Dorothy, and Ozma let me stay.\"\n\n\"How do you like Oz?\" asked Scraps. \"Isn't the country and the climate\ngrand?\"\n\n\"It's the finest country in all the world, even if it is a fairyland,\nand I'm happy every minute I live in it,\" said the Shaggy Man. \"But\ntell me something about yourselves.\"\n\nSo Ojo related the story of his visit to the house of the Crooked\nMagician, and how he met there the Glass Cat, and how the Patchwork\nGirl was brought to life and of the terrible accident to Unc Nunkie and\nMargolotte. Then he told how he had set out to find the five different\nthings which the Magician needed to make a charm that would restore the\nmarble figures to life, one requirement being three hairs from a\nWoozy's tail.\n\n\"We found the Woozy,\" explained the boy, \"and he agreed to give us the\nthree hairs; but we couldn't pull them out. So we had to bring the\nWoozy along with us.\"\n\n\"I see,\" returned the Shaggy Man, who had listened with interest to the\nstory. \"But perhaps I, who am big and strong, can pull those three\nhairs from the Woozy's tail.\"\n\n\"Try it, if you like,\" said the Woozy.\n\nSo the Shaggy Man tried it, but pull as hard as he could he failed to\nget the hairs out of the Woozy's tail. So he sat down again and wiped\nhis shaggy face with a shaggy silk handkerchief and said:\n\n\"It doesn't matter. If you can keep the Woozy until you get the rest of\nthe things you need, you can take the beast and his three hairs to the\nCrooked Magician and let him find a way to extract 'em. What are the\nother things you are to find?\"\n\n\"One,\" said Ojo, \"is a six-leaved clover.\"\n\n\"You ought to find that in the fields around the Emerald City,\" said\nthe Shaggy Man. \"There is a Law against picking six-leaved clovers, but\nI think I can get Ozma to let you have one.\"\n\n\"Thank you,\" replied Ojo. \"The next thing is the left wing of a yellow\nbutterfly.\"\n\n\"For that you must go to the Winkie Country,\" the Shaggy Man declared.\n\"I've never noticed any butterflies there, but that is the yellow\ncountry of Oz and it's ruled by a good friend of mine, the Tin Woodman.\"\n\n\"Oh, I've heard of him!\" exclaimed Ojo. \"He must be a wonderful man.\"\n\n\"So he is, and his heart is wonderfully kind. I'm sure the Tin Woodman\nwill do all in his power to help you to save your Unc Nunkie and poor\nMargolotte.\"\n\n\"The next thing I must find,\" said the Munchkin boy, \"is a gill of\nwater from a dark well.\"\n\n\"Indeed! Well, that is more difficult,\" said the Shaggy Man, scratching\nhis left ear in a puzzled way. \"I've never heard of a dark well; have\nyou?\"\n\n\"No,\" said Ojo.\n\n\"Do you know where one may be found?\" inquired the Shaggy Man.\n\n\"I can't imagine,\" said Ojo.\n\n\"Then we must ask the Scarecrow.\"\n\n\"The Scarecrow! But surely, sir, a scarecrow can't know anything.\"\n\n\"Most scarecrows don't, I admit,\" answered the Shaggy Man. \"But this\nScarecrow of whom I speak is very intelligent. He claims to possess the\nbest brains in all Oz.\"\n\n\"Better than mine?\" asked Scraps.\n\n\"Better than mine?\" echoed the Glass Cat. \"Mine are pink, and you can\nsee 'em work.\"\n\n\"Well, you can't see the Scarecrow's brains work, but they do a lot of\nclever thinking,\" asserted the Shaggy Man. \"If anyone knows where a\ndark well is, it's my friend the Scarecrow.\"\n\n\"Where does he live?\" inquired Ojo.\n\n\"He has a splendid castle in the Winkie Country, near to the palace of\nhis friend the Tin Woodman, and he is often to be found in the Emerald\nCity, where he visits Dorothy at the royal palace.\"\n\n\"Then we will ask him about the dark well,\" said Ojo.\n\n\"But what else does this Crooked Magician want?\" asked the Shaggy Man.\n\n\"A drop of oil from a live man's body.\"\n\n\"Oh; but there isn't such a thing.\"\n\n\"That is what I thought,\" replied Ojo; \"but the Crooked Magician said\nit wouldn't be called for by the recipe if it couldn't be found, and\ntherefore I must search until I find it.\"\n\n\"I wish you good luck,\" said the Shaggy Man, shaking his head\ndoubtfully; \"but I imagine you'll have a hard job getting a drop of oil\nfrom a live man's body. There's blood in a body, but no oil.\"\n\n\"There's cotton in mine,\" said Scraps, dancing a little jig.\n\n\"I don't doubt it,\" returned the Shaggy Man admiringly. \"You're a\nregular comforter and as sweet as patchwork can be. All you lack is\ndignity.\"\n\n\"I hate dignity,\" cried Scraps, kicking a pebble high in the air and\nthen trying to catch it as it fell. \"Half the fools and all the wise\nfolks are dignified, and I'm neither the one nor the other.\"\n\n\"She's just crazy,\" explained the Glass Cat.\n\nThe Shaggy Man laughed.\n\n\"She's delightful, in her way,\" he said. \"I'm sure Dorothy will be\npleased with her, and the Scarecrow will dote on her. Did you say you\nwere traveling toward the Emerald City?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" replied Ojo. \"I thought that the best place to go, at first,\nbecause the six-leaved clover may be found there.\"\n\n\"I'll go with you,\" said the Shaggy Man, \"and show you the way.\"\n\n\"Thank you,\" exclaimed Ojo. \"I hope it won't put you out any.\"\n\n\"No,\" said the other, \"I wasn't going anywhere in particular. I've been\na rover all my life, and although Ozma has given me a suite of\nbeautiful rooms in her palace I still get the wandering fever once in a\nwhile and start out to roam the country over. I've been away from the\nEmerald City several weeks, this time, and now that I've met you and\nyour friends I'm sure it will interest me to accompany you to the great\ncity of Oz and introduce you to my friends.\"\n\n\"That will be very nice,\" said the boy, gratefully.\n\n\"I hope your friends are not dignified,\" observed Scraps.\n\n\"Some are, and some are not,\" he answered; \"but I never criticise my\nfriends. If they are really true friends, they may be anything they\nlike, for all of me.\"\n\n\"There's some sense in that,\" said Scraps, nodding her queer head in\napproval. \"Come on, and let's get to the Emerald City as soon as\npossible.\" With this she ran up the path, skipping and dancing, and\nthen turned to await them.\n\n\"It is quite a distance from here to the Emerald City,\" remarked the\nShaggy Man, \"so we shall not get there to-day, nor to-morrow. Therefore\nlet us take the jaunt in an easy manner. I'm an old traveler and have\nfound that I never gain anything by being in a hurry. 'Take it easy' is\nmy motto. If you can't take it easy, take it as easy as you can.\"\n\nAfter walking some distance over the road of yellow bricks Ojo said he\nwas hungry and would stop to eat some bread and cheese. He offered a\nportion of the food to the Shaggy Man, who thanked him but refused it.\n\n\"When I start out on my travels,\" said he, \"I carry along enough square\nmeals to last me several weeks. Think I'll indulge in one now, as long\nas we're stopping anyway.\"\n\nSaying this, he took a bottle from his pocket and shook from it a\ntablet about the size of one of Ojo's finger-nails.\n\n\"That,\" announced the Shaggy Man, \"is a square meal, in condensed form.\nInvention of the great Professor Woggle-Bug, of the Royal College of\nAthletics. It contains soup, fish, roast meat, salad, apple-dumplings,\nice cream and chocolate-drops, all boiled down to this small size, so\nit can be conveniently carried and swallowed when you are hungry and\nneed a square meal.\"\n\n\"I'm square,\" said the Woozy. \"Give me one, please.\"\n\nSo the Shaggy Man gave the Woozy a tablet from his bottle and the beast\nate it in a twinkling.\n\n\"You have now had a six course dinner,\" declared the Shaggy Man.\n\n\"Pshaw!\" said the Woozy, ungratefully, \"I want to taste something.\nThere's no fun in that sort of eating.\"\n\n\"One should only eat to sustain life,\" replied the Shaggy Man, \"and\nthat tablet is equal to a peck of other food.\"\n\n\"I don't care for it. I want something I can chew and taste,\" grumbled\nthe Woozy.\n\n\"You are quite wrong, my poor beast,\" said the Shaggy Man in a tone of\npity. \"Think how tired your jaws would get chewing a square meal like\nthis, if it were not condensed to the size of a small tablet--which you\ncan swallow in a jiffy.\"\n\n\"Chewing isn't tiresome; it's fun,\" maintained the Woozy. \"I always\nchew the honey-bees when I catch them. Give me some bread and cheese,\nOjo.\"\n\n\"No, no! You've already eaten a big dinner!\" protested the Shaggy Man.\n\n\"May be,\" answered the Woozy; \"but I guess I'll fool myself by munching\nsome bread and cheese. I may not be hungry, having eaten all those\nthings you gave me, but I consider this eating business a matter of\ntaste, and I like to realize what's going into me.\"\n\nOjo gave the beast what he wanted, but the Shaggy Man shook his shaggy\nhead reproachfully and said there was no animal so obstinate or hard to\nconvince as a Woozy.\n\nAt this moment a patter of footsteps was heard, and looking up they saw\nthe live phonograph standing before them. It seemed to have passed\nthrough many adventures since Ojo and his comrades last saw the\nmachine, for the varnish of its wooden case was all marred and dented\nand scratched in a way that gave it an aged and disreputable appearance.\n\n\"Dear me!\" exclaimed Ojo, staring hard. \"What has happened to you?\"\n\n\"Nothing much,\" replied the phonograph in a sad and depressed voice.\n\"I've had enough things thrown at me, since I left you, to stock a\ndepartment store and furnish half a dozen bargain-counters.\"\n\n\"Are you so broken up that you can't play?\" asked Scraps.\n\n\"No; I still am able to grind out delicious music. Just now I've a\nrecord on tap that is really superb,\" said the phonograph, growing more\ncheerful.\n\n\"That is too bad,\" remarked Ojo. \"We've no objection to you as a\nmachine, you know; but as a music-maker we hate you.\"\n\n\"Then why was I ever invented?\" demanded the machine, in a tone of\nindignant protest.\n\nThey looked at one another inquiringly, but no one could answer such a\npuzzling question. Finally the Shaggy Man said:\n\n\"I'd like to hear the phonograph play.\"\n\nOjo sighed. \"We've been very happy since we met you, sir,\" he said.\n\n\"I know. But a little misery, at times, makes one appreciate happiness\nmore. Tell me, Phony, what is this record like, which you say you have\non tap?\"\n\n\"It's a popular song, sir. In all civilized lands the common people\nhave gone wild over it.\"\n\n\"Makes civilized folks wild folks, eh? Then it's dangerous.\"\n\n\"Wild with joy, I mean,\" explained the phonograph. \"Listen. This song\nwill prove a rare treat to you, I know. It made the author rich--for an\nauthor. It is called 'My Lulu.'\"\n\nThen the phonograph began to play. A strain of odd, jerky sounds was\nfollowed by these words, sung by a man through his nose with great\nvigor of expression:\n\n    \"Ah wants mah Lulu, mah coal-black Lulu;\n    Ah wants mah loo-loo, loo-loo, loo-loo, Lu!\n    Ah loves mah Lulu, mah coal-black Lulu,\n    There ain't nobody else loves loo-loo, Lu!\"\n\n\n\"Here--shut that off!\" cried the Shaggy Man, springing to his feet.\n\"What do you mean by such impertinence?\"\n\n\"It's the latest popular song,\" declared the phonograph, speaking in a\nsulky tone of voice.\n\n\"A popular song?\"\n\n\"Yes. One that the feeble-minded can remember the words of and those\nignorant of music can whistle or sing. That makes a popular song\npopular, and the time is coming when it will take the place of all\nother songs.\"\n\n\"That time won't come to us, just yet,\" said the Shaggy Man, sternly:\n\"I'm something of a singer myself, and I don't intend to be throttled\nby any Lulus like your coal-black one. I shall take you all apart, Mr.\nPhony, and scatter your pieces far and wide over the country, as a\nmatter of kindness to the people you might meet if allowed to run\naround loose. Having performed this painful duty I shall--\"\n\nBut before he could say more the phonograph turned and dashed up the\nroad as fast as its four table-legs could carry it, and soon it had\nentirely disappeared from their view.\n\nThe Shaggy Man sat down again and seemed well pleased. \"Some one else\nwill save me the trouble of scattering that phonograph,\" said he; \"for\nit is not possible that such a music-maker can last long in the Land of\nOz. When you are rested, friends, let us go on our way.\"\n\nDuring the afternoon the travelers found themselves in a lonely and\nuninhabited part of the country. Even the fields were no longer\ncultivated and the country began to resemble a wilderness. The road of\nyellow bricks seemed to have been neglected and became uneven and more\ndifficult to walk upon. Scrubby under-brush grew on either side of the\nway, while huge rocks were scattered around in abundance.\n\nBut this did not deter Ojo and his friends from trudging on, and they\nbeguiled the journey with jokes and cheerful conversation. Toward\nevening they reached a crystal spring which gushed from a tall rock by\nthe roadside and near this spring stood a deserted cabin. Said the\nShaggy Man, halting here:\n\n\"We may as well pass the night here, where there is shelter for our\nheads and good water to drink. Road beyond here is pretty bad; worst we\nshall have to travel; so let's wait until morning before we tackle it.\"\n\nThey agreed to this and Ojo found some brushwood in the cabin and made\na fire on the hearth. The fire delighted Scraps, who danced before it\nuntil Ojo warned her she might set fire to herself and burn up. After\nthat the Patchwork Girl kept at a respectful distance from the darting\nflames, but the Woozy lay down before the fire like a big dog and\nseemed to enjoy its warmth.\n\nFor supper the Shaggy Man ate one of his tablets, but Ojo stuck to his\nbread and cheese as the most satisfying food. He also gave a portion to\nthe Woozy.\n\nWhen darkness came on and they sat in a circle on the cabin floor,\nfacing the firelight--there being no furniture of any sort in the\nplace--Ojo said to the Shaggy Man:\n\n\"Won't you tell us a story?\"\n\n\"I'm not good at stories,\" was the reply; \"but I sing like a bird.\"\n\n\"Raven, or crow?\" asked the Glass Cat.\n\n\"Like a song bird. I'll prove it. I'll sing a song I composed myself.\nDon't tell anyone I'm a poet; they might want me to write a book. Don't\ntell 'em I can sing, or they'd want me to make records for that awful\nphonograph. Haven't time to be a public benefactor, so I'll just sing\nyou this little song for your own amusement.\"\n\nThey were glad enough to be entertained, and listened with interest\nwhile the Shaggy Man chanted the following verses to a tune that was\nnot unpleasant:\n\n    \"I'll sing a song of Ozland, where wondrous creatures dwell\n    And fruits and flowers and shady bowers abound in every dell,\n    Where magic is a science and where no one shows surprise\n    If some amazing thing takes place before his very eyes.\n\n    Our Ruler's a bewitching girl whom fairies love to please;\n    She's always kept her magic sceptre to enforce decrees\n    To make her people happy, for her heart is kind and true\n    And to aid the needy and distressed is what she longs to do.\n\n    And then there's Princess Dorothy, as sweet as any rose,\n    A lass from Kansas, where they don't grow fairies, I suppose;\n    And there's the brainy Scarecrow, with a body stuffed with straw,\n    Who utters words of wisdom rare that fill us all with awe.\n\n    I'll not forget Nick Chopper, the Woodman made of Tin,\n    Whose tender heart thinks killing time is quite a dreadful sin,\n    Nor old Professor Woggle-Bug, who's highly magnified\n    And looks so big to everyone that he is filled with pride.\n\n    Jack Pumpkinhead's a dear old chum who might be called a chump,\n    But won renown by riding round upon a magic Gump;\n    The Sawhorse is a splendid steed and though he's made of wood\n    He does as many thrilling stunts as any meat horse could.\n\n    And now I'll introduce a beast that ev'ryone adores--\n    The Cowardly Lion shakes with fear 'most ev'ry time he roars,\n    And yet he does the bravest things that any lion might,\n    Because he knows that cowardice is not considered right.\n\n    There's Tik-Tok--he's a clockwork man and quite a funny sight--\n    He talks and walks mechanically, when he's wound up tight;\n    And we've a Hungry Tiger who would babies love to eat\n    But never does because we feed him other kinds of meat.\n\n    It's hard to name all of the freaks this noble Land's acquired;\n    'Twould make my song so very long that you would soon be tired;\n    But give attention while I mention one wise Yellow Hen\n    And Nine fine Tiny Piglets living in a golden pen.\n\n    Just search the whole world over--sail the seas from coast to coast--\n    No other nation in creation queerer folk can boast;\n    And now our rare museum will include a Cat of Glass,\n    A Woozy, and--last but not least--a crazy Patchwork Lass.\"\n\n\nOjo was so pleased with this song that he applauded the singer by\nclapping his hands, and Scraps followed suit by clapping her padded\nfingers together, although they made no noise. The cat pounded on the\nfloor with her glass paws--gently, so as not to break them--and the\nWoozy, which had been asleep, woke up to ask what the row was about.\n\n\"I seldom sing in public, for fear they might want me to start an opera\ncompany,\" remarked the Shaggy Man, who was pleased to know his effort\nwas appreciated. \"Voice, just now, is a little out of training; rusty,\nperhaps.\"\n\n\"Tell me,\" said the Patchwork Girl earnestly, \"do all those queer\npeople you mention really live in the Land of Oz?\"\n\n\"Every one of 'em. I even forgot one thing: Dorothy's Pink Kitten.\"\n\n\"For goodness sake!\" exclaimed Bungle, sitting up and looking\ninterested. \"A Pink Kitten? How absurd! Is it glass?\"\n\n\"No; just ordinary kitten.\"\n\n\"Then it can't amount to much. I have pink brains, and you can see 'em\nwork.\"\n\n\"Dorothy's kitten is all pink--brains and all--except blue eyes. Name's\nEureka. Great favorite at the royal palace,\" said the Shaggy Man,\nyawning.\n\nThe Glass Cat seemed annoyed.\n\n\"Do you think a pink kitten--common meat--is as pretty as I am?\" she\nasked.\n\n\"Can't say. Tastes differ, you know,\" replied the Shaggy Man, yawning\nagain. \"But here's a pointer that may be of service to you: make\nfriends with Eureka and you'll be solid at the palace.\"\n\n\"I'm solid now; solid glass.\"\n\n\"You don't understand,\" rejoined the Shaggy Man, sleepily. \"Anyhow,\nmake friends with the Pink Kitten and you'll be all right. If the Pink\nKitten despises you, look out for breakers.\"\n\n\"Would anyone at the royal palace break a Glass Cat?\"\n\n\"Might. You never can tell. Advise you to purr soft and look humble--if\nyou can. And now I'm going to bed.\"\n\nBungle considered the Shaggy Man's advice so carefully that her pink\nbrains were busy long after the others of the party were fast asleep.\n\n\n\n\nChapter Twelve\n\nThe Giant Porcupine\n\n\nNext morning they started out bright and early to follow the road of\nyellow bricks toward the Emerald City. The little Munchkin boy was\nbeginning to feel tired from the long walk, and he had a great many\nthings to think of and consider besides the events of the journey. At\nthe wonderful Emerald City, which he would presently reach, were so\nmany strange and curious people that he was half afraid of meeting them\nand wondered if they would prove friendly and kind. Above all else, he\ncould not drive from his mind the important errand on which he had\ncome, and he was determined to devote every energy to finding the\nthings that were necessary to prepare the magic recipe. He believed\nthat until dear Unc Nunkie was restored to life he could feel no joy in\nanything, and often he wished that Unc could be with him, to see all\nthe astonishing things Ojo was seeing. But alas Unc Nunkie was now a\nmarble statue in the house of the Crooked Magician and Ojo must not\nfalter in his efforts to save him.\n\nThe country through which they were passing was still rocky and\ndeserted, with here and there a bush or a tree to break the dreary\nlandscape. Ojo noticed one tree, especially, because it had such long,\nsilky leaves and was so beautiful in shape. As he approached it he\nstudied the tree earnestly, wondering if any fruit grew on it or if it\nbore pretty flowers.\n\nSuddenly he became aware that he had been looking at that tree a long\ntime--at least for five minutes--and it had remained in the same\nposition, although the boy had continued to walk steadily on. So he\nstopped short, and when he stopped, the tree and all the landscape, as\nwell as his companions, moved on before him and left him far behind.\n\nOjo uttered such a cry of astonishment that it aroused the Shaggy Man,\nwho also halted. The others then stopped, too, and walked back to the\nboy.\n\n\"What's wrong?\" asked the Shaggy Man.\n\n\"Why, we're not moving forward a bit, no matter how fast we walk,\"\ndeclared Ojo. \"Now that we have stopped, we are moving backward! Can't\nyou see? Just notice that rock.\"\n\nScraps looked down at her feet and said: \"The yellow bricks are not\nmoving.\"\n\n\"But the whole road is,\" answered Ojo.\n\n\"True; quite true,\" agreed the Shaggy Man. \"I know all about the tricks\nof this road, but I have been thinking of something else and didn't\nrealize where we were.\"\n\n\"It will carry us back to where we started from,\" predicted Ojo,\nbeginning to be nervous.\n\n\"No,\" replied the Shaggy Man; \"it won't do that, for I know a trick to\nbeat this tricky road. I've traveled this way before, you know. Turn\naround, all of you, and walk backward.\"\n\n\"What good will that do?\" asked the cat.\n\n\"You'll find out, if you obey me,\" said the Shaggy Man.\n\nSo they all turned their backs to the direction in which they wished to\ngo and began walking backward. In an instant Ojo noticed they were\ngaining ground and as they proceeded in this curious way they soon\npassed the tree which had first attracted his attention to their\ndifficulty.\n\n\"How long must we keep this up, Shags?\" asked Scraps, who was\nconstantly tripping and tumbling down, only to get up again with a\nlaugh at her mishap.\n\n\"Just a little way farther,\" replied the Shaggy Man.\n\nA few minutes later he called to them to turn about quickly and step\nforward, and as they obeyed the order they found themselves treading\nsolid ground.\n\n\"That task is well over,\" observed the Shaggy Man. \"It's a little\ntiresome to walk backward, but that is the only way to pass this part\nof the road, which has a trick of sliding back and carrying with it\nanyone who is walking upon it.\"\n\nWith new courage and energy they now trudged forward and after a time\ncame to a place where the road cut through a low hill, leaving high\nbanks on either side of it. They were traveling along this cut, talking\ntogether, when the Shaggy Man seized Scraps with one arm and Ojo with\nanother and shouted: \"Stop!\"\n\n\"What's wrong now?\" asked the Patchwork Girl.\n\n\"See there!\" answered the Shaggy Man, pointing with his finger.\n\nDirectly in the center of the road lay a motionless object that\nbristled all over with sharp quills, which resembled arrows. The body\nwas as big as a ten-bushel-basket, but the projecting quills made it\nappear to be four times bigger.\n\n\"Well, what of it?\" asked Scraps.\n\n\"That is Chiss, who causes a lot of trouble along this road,\" was the\nreply.\n\n\"Chiss! What is Chiss?\n\n\"I think it is merely an overgrown porcupine, but here in Oz they\nconsider Chiss an evil spirit. He's different from a reg'lar porcupine,\nbecause he can throw his quills in any direction, which an American\nporcupine cannot do. That's what makes old Chiss so dangerous. If we\nget too near, he'll fire those quills at us and hurt us badly.\"\n\n\"Then we will be foolish to get too near,\" said Scraps.\n\n\"I'm not afraid,\" declared the Woozy. \"The Chiss is cowardly, I'm sure,\nand if it ever heard my awful, terrible, frightful growl, it would be\nscared stiff.\"\n\n\"Oh; can you growl?\" asked the Shaggy Man.\n\n\"That is the only ferocious thing about me,\" asserted the Woozy with\nevident pride. \"My growl makes an earthquake blush and the thunder\nashamed of itself. If I growled at that creature you call Chiss, it\nwould immediately think the world had cracked in two and bumped against\nthe sun and moon, and that would cause the monster to run as far and as\nfast as its legs could carry it.\"\n\n\"In that case,\" said the Shaggy Man, \"you are now able to do us all a\ngreat favor. Please growl.\"\n\n\"But you forget,\" returned the Woozy; \"my tremendous growl would also\nfrighten you, and if you happen to have heart disease you might expire.\"\n\n\"True; but we must take that risk,\" decided the Shaggy Man, bravely.\n\"Being warned of what is to occur we must try to bear the terrific\nnoise of your growl; but Chiss won't expect it, and it will scare him\naway.\"\n\nThe Woozy hesitated.\n\n\"I'm fond of you all, and I hate to shock you,\" it said.\n\n\"Never mind,\" said Ojo.\n\n\"You may be made deaf.\"\n\n\"If so, we will forgive you.\"\n\n\"Very well, then,\" said the Woozy in a determined voice, and advanced a\nfew steps toward the giant porcupine. Pausing to look back, it asked:\n\"All ready?\"\n\n\"All ready!\" they answered.\n\n\"Then cover up your ears and brace yourselves firmly. Now, then--look\nout!\"\n\nThe Woozy turned toward Chiss, opened wide its mouth and said:\n\n\"Quee-ee-ee-eek.\"\n\n\"Go ahead and growl,\" said Scraps.\n\n\"Why, I--I did growl!\" retorted the Woozy, who seemed much astonished.\n\n\"What, that little squeak?\" she cried.\n\n\"It is the most awful growl that ever was heard, on land or sea, in\ncaverns or in the sky,\" protested the Woozy. \"I wonder you stood the\nshock so well. Didn't you feel the ground tremble? I suppose Chiss is\nnow quite dead with fright.\"\n\nThe Shaggy Man laughed merrily.\n\n\"Poor Wooz!\" said he; \"your growl wouldn't scare a fly.\"\n\nThe Woozy seemed to be humiliated and surprised. It hung its head a\nmoment, as if in shame or sorrow, but then it said with renewed\nconfidence: \"Anyhow, my eyes can flash fire; and good fire, too; good\nenough to set fire to a fence!\"\n\n\"That is true,\" declared Scraps; \"I saw it done myself. But your\nferocious growl isn't as loud as the tick of a beetle--or one of Ojo's\nsnores when he's fast asleep.\"\n\n\"Perhaps,\" said the Woozy, humbly, \"I have been mistaken about my\ngrowl. It has always sounded very fearful to me, but that may have been\nbecause it was so close to my ears.\"\n\n\"Never mind,\" Ojo said soothingly; \"it is a great talent to be able to\nflash fire from your eyes. No one else can do that.\"\n\nAs they stood hesitating what to do Chiss stirred and suddenly a shower\nof quills came flying toward them, almost filling the air, they were so\nmany. Scraps realized in an instant that they had gone too near to\nChiss for safety, so she sprang in front of Ojo and shielded him from\nthe darts, which stuck their points into her own body until she\nresembled one of those targets they shoot arrows at in archery games.\nThe Shaggy Man dropped flat on his face to avoid the shower, but one\nquill struck him in the leg and went far in. As for the Glass Cat, the\nquills rattled off her body without making even a scratch, and the skin\nof the Woozy was so thick and tough that he was not hurt at all.\n\nWhen the attack was over they all ran to the Shaggy Man, who was\nmoaning and groaning, and Scraps promptly pulled the quill out of his\nleg. Then up he jumped and ran over to Chiss, putting his foot on the\nmonster's neck and holding it a prisoner. The body of the great\nporcupine was now as smooth as leather, except for the holes where the\nquills had been, for it had shot every single quill in that one wicked\nshower.\n\n\"Let me go!\" it shouted angrily. \"How dare you put your foot on Chiss?\"\n\n\"I'm going to do worse than that, old boy,\" replied the Shaggy Man.\n\"You have annoyed travelers on this road long enough, and now I shall\nput an end to you.\"\n\n\"You can't!\" returned Chiss. \"Nothing can kill me, as you know\nperfectly well.\"\n\n\"Perhaps that is true,\" said the Shaggy Man in a tone of\ndisappointment. \"Seems to me I've been told before that you can't be\nkilled. But if I let you go, what will you do?\"\n\n\"Pick up my quills again,\" said Chiss in a sulky voice.\n\n\"And then shoot them at more travelers? No; that won't do. You must\npromise me to stop throwing quills at people.\"\n\n\"I won't promise anything of the sort,\" declared Chiss.\n\n\"Why not?\"\n\n\"Because it is my nature to throw quills, and every animal must do what\nNature intends it to do. It isn't fair for you to blame me. If it were\nwrong for me to throw quills, then I wouldn't be made with quills to\nthrow. The proper thing for you to do is to keep out of my way.\"\n\n\"Why, there's some sense in that argument,\" admitted the Shaggy Man,\nthoughtfully; \"but people who are strangers, and don't know you are\nhere, won't be able to keep out of your way.\"\n\n\"Tell you what,\" said Scraps, who was trying to pull the quills out of\nher own body, \"let's gather up all the quills and take them away with\nus; then old Chiss won't have any left to throw at people.\"\n\n\"Ah, that's a clever idea. You and Ojo must gather up the quills while\nI hold Chiss a prisoner; for, if I let him go, he will get some of his\nquills and be able to throw them again.\"\n\nSo Scraps and Ojo picked up all the quills and tied them in a bundle so\nthey might easily be carried. After this the Shaggy Man released Chiss\nand let him go, knowing that he was harmless to injure anyone.\n\n\"It's the meanest trick I ever heard of,\" muttered the porcupine\ngloomily. \"How would you like it, Shaggy Man, if I took all your shags\naway from you?\"\n\n\"If I threw my shags and hurt people, you would be welcome to capture\nthem,\" was the reply.\n\nThen they walked on and left Chiss standing in the road sullen and\ndisconsolate. The Shaggy Man limped as he walked, for his wound still\nhurt him, and Scraps was much annoyed because the quills had left a\nnumber of small holes in her patches.\n\nWhen they came to a flat stone by the roadside the Shaggy Man sat down\nto rest, and then Ojo opened his basket and took out the bundle of\ncharms the Crooked Magician had given him.\n\n\"I am Ojo the Unlucky,\" he said, \"or we would never have met that\ndreadful porcupine. But I will see if I can find anything among these\ncharms which will cure your leg.\"\n\nSoon he discovered that one of the charms was labelled: \"For flesh\nwounds,\" and this the boy separated from the others. It was only a bit\nof dried root, taken from some unknown shrub, but the boy rubbed it\nupon the wound made by the quill and in a few moments the place was\nhealed entirely and the Shaggy Man's leg was as good as ever.\n\n\"Rub it on the holes in my patches,\" suggested Scraps, and Ojo tried\nit, but without any effect.\n\n\"The charm you need is a needle and thread,\" said the Shaggy Man. \"But\ndo not worry, my dear; those holes do not look badly, at all.\"\n\n\"They'll let in the air, and I don't want people to think I'm airy, or\nthat I've been stuck up,\" said the Patchwork Girl.\n\n\"You were certainly stuck up until we pulled out those quills,\"\nobserved Ojo, with a laugh.\n\nSo now they went on again and coming presently to a pond of muddy water\nthey tied a heavy stone to the bundle of quills and sunk it to the\nbottom of the pond, to avoid carrying it farther.\n\n\n\n\nChapter Thirteen\n\nScraps and the Scarecrow\n\n\nFrom here on the country improved and the desert places began to give\nway to fertile spots; still no houses were yet to be seen near the\nroad. There were some hills, with valleys between them, and on reaching\nthe top of one of these hills the travelers found before them a high\nwall, running to the right and the left as far as their eyes could\nreach. Immediately in front of them, where the wall crossed the\nroadway, stood a gate having stout iron bars that extended from top to\nbottom. They found, on coming nearer, that this gate was locked with a\ngreat padlock, rusty through lack of use.\n\n\"Well,\" said Scraps, \"I guess we'll stop here.\"\n\n\"It's a good guess,\" replied Ojo. \"Our way is barred by this great wall\nand gate. It looks as if no one had passed through in many years.\"\n\n\"Looks are deceiving,\" declared the Shaggy Man, laughing at their\ndisappointed faces, \"and this barrier is the most deceiving thing in\nall Oz.\"\n\n\"It prevents our going any farther, anyhow,\" said Scraps. \"There is no\none to mind the gate and let people through, and we've no key to the\npadlock.\"\n\n\"True,\" replied Ojo, going a little nearer to peep through the bars of\nthe gate. \"What shall we do, Shaggy Man? If we had wings we might fly\nover the wall, but we cannot climb it and unless we get to the Emerald\nCity I won't be able to find the things to restore Unc Nunkie to life.\"\n\n\"All very true,\" answered the Shaggy Man, quietly; \"but I know this\ngate, having passed through it many times.\"\n\n\"How?\" they all eagerly inquired.\n\n\"I'll show you how,\" said he. He stood Ojo in the middle of the road\nand placed Scraps just behind him, with her padded hands on his\nshoulders. After the Patchwork Girl came the Woozy, who held a part of\nher skirt in his mouth. Then, last of all, was the Glass Cat, holding\nfast to the Woozy's tail with her glass jaws.\n\n\"Now,\" said the Shaggy Man, \"you must all shut your eyes tight, and\nkeep them shut until I tell you to open them.\"\n\n\"I can't,\" objected Scraps. \"My eyes are buttons, and they won't shut.\"\n\nSo the Shaggy Man tied his red handkerchief over the Patchwork Girl's\neyes and examined all the others to make sure they had their eyes fast\nshut and could see nothing.\n\n\"What's the game, anyhow--blind-man's-buff?\" asked Scraps.\n\n\"Keep quiet!\" commanded the Shaggy Man, sternly. \"All ready? Then\nfollow me.\"\n\nHe took Ojo's hand and led him forward over the road of yellow bricks,\ntoward the gate. Holding fast to one another they all followed in a\nrow, expecting every minute to bump against the iron bars. The Shaggy\nMan also had his eyes closed, but marched straight ahead, nevertheless,\nand after he had taken one hundred steps, by actual count, he stopped\nand said:\n\n\"Now you may open your eyes.\"\n\nThey did so, and to their astonishment found the wall and the gateway\nfar behind them, while in front the former Blue Country of the\nMunchkins had given way to green fields, with pretty farm-houses\nscattered among them.\n\n\"That wall,\" explained the Shaggy Man, \"is what is called an optical\nillusion. It is quite real while you have your eyes open, but if you\nare not looking at it the barrier doesn't exist at all. It's the same\nway with many other evils in life; they seem to exist, and yet it's all\nseeming and not true. You will notice that the wall--or what we thought\nwas a wall--separates the Munchkin Country from the green country that\nsurrounds the Emerald City, which lies exactly in the center of Oz.\nThere are two roads of yellow bricks through the Munchkin Country, but\nthe one we followed is the best of the two. Dorothy once traveled the\nother way, and met with more dangers than we did. But all our troubles\nare over for the present, as another day's journey will bring us to the\ngreat Emerald City.\"\n\nThey were delighted to know this, and proceeded with new courage. In a\ncouple of hours they stopped at a farmhouse, where the people were very\nhospitable and invited them to dinner. The farm folk regarded Scraps\nwith much curiosity but no great astonishment, for they were accustomed\nto seeing extraordinary people in the Land of Oz.\n\nThe woman of this house got her needle and thread and sewed up the\nholes made by the porcupine quills in the Patchwork Girl's body, after\nwhich Scraps was assured she looked as beautiful as ever.\n\n\"You ought to have a hat to wear,\" remarked the woman, \"for that would\nkeep the sun from fading the colors of your face. I have some patches\nand scraps put away, and if you will wait two or three days I'll make\nyou a lovely hat that will match the rest of you.\"\n\n\"Never mind the hat,\" said Scraps, shaking her yarn braids; \"it's a\nkind offer, but we can't stop. I can't see that my colors have faded a\nparticle, as yet; can you?\"\n\n\"Not much,\" replied the woman. \"You are still very gorgeous, in spite\nof your long journey.\"\n\nThe children of the house wanted to keep the Glass Cat to play with, so\nBungle was offered a good home if she would remain; but the cat was too\nmuch interested in Ojo's adventures and refused to stop.\n\n\"Children are rough playmates,\" she remarked to the Shaggy Man, \"and\nalthough this home is more pleasant than that of the Crooked Magician I\nfear I would soon be smashed to pieces by the boys and girls.\"\n\nAfter they had rested themselves they renewed their journey, finding\nthe road now smooth and pleasant to walk upon and the country growing\nmore beautiful the nearer they drew to the Emerald City.\n\nBy and by Ojo began to walk on the green grass, looking carefully\naround him.\n\n\"What are you trying to find?\" asked Scraps.\n\n\"A six-leaved clover,\" said he.\n\n\"Don't do that!\" exclaimed the Shaggy Man, earnestly. \"It's against the\nLaw to pick a six-leaved clover. You must wait until you get Ozma's\nconsent.\"\n\n\"She wouldn't know it,\" declared the boy.\n\n\"Ozma knows many things,\" said the Shaggy Man. \"In her room is a Magic\nPicture that shows any scene in the Land of Oz where strangers or\ntravelers happen to be. She may be watching the picture of us even now,\nand noticing everything that we do.\"\n\n\"Does she always watch the Magic Picture?\" asked Ojo.\n\n\"Not always, for she has many other things to do; but, as I said, she\nmay be watching us this very minute.\"\n\n\"I don't care,\" said Ojo, in an obstinate tone of voice; \"Ozma's only a\ngirl.\"\n\nThe Shaggy Man looked at him in surprise.\n\n\"You ought to care for Ozma,\" said he, \"if you expect to save your\nuncle. For, if you displease our powerful Ruler, your journey will\nsurely prove a failure; whereas, if you make a friend of Ozma, she will\ngladly assist you. As for her being a girl, that is another reason why\nyou should obey her laws, if you are courteous and polite. Everyone in\nOz loves Ozma and hates her enemies, for she is as just as she is\npowerful.\"\n\nOjo sulked a while, but finally returned to the road and kept away from\nthe green clover. The boy was moody and bad tempered for an hour or two\nafterward, because he could really see no harm in picking a six-leaved\nclover, if he found one, and in spite of what the Shaggy Man had said\nhe considered Ozma's law to be unjust.\n\nThey presently came to a beautiful grove of tall and stately trees,\nthrough which the road wound in sharp curves--first one way and then\nanother. As they were walking through this grove they heard some one in\nthe distance singing, and the sounds grew nearer and nearer until they\ncould distinguish the words, although the bend in the road still hid\nthe singer. The song was something like this:\n\n    \"Here's to the hale old bale of straw\n    That's cut from the waving grain,\n    The sweetest sight man ever saw\n    In forest, dell or plain.\n    It fills me with a crunkling joy\n    A straw-stack to behold,\n    For then I pad this lucky boy\n    With strands of yellow gold.\"\n\n\n\"Ah!\" exclaimed the Shaggy Man; \"here comes my friend the Scarecrow.\"\n\n\"What, a live Scarecrow?\" asked Ojo.\n\n\"Yes; the one I told you of. He's a splendid fellow, and very\nintelligent. You'll like him, I'm sure.\"\n\nJust then the famous Scarecrow of Oz came around the bend in the road,\nriding astride a wooden Sawhorse which was so small that its rider's\nlegs nearly touched the ground.\n\nThe Scarecrow wore the blue dress of the Munchkins, in which country he\nwas made, and on his head was set a peaked hat with a flat brim trimmed\nwith tinkling bells. A rope was tied around his waist to hold him in\nshape, for he was stuffed with straw in every part of him except the\ntop of his head, where at one time the Wizard of Oz had placed sawdust,\nmixed with needles and pins, to sharpen his wits. The head itself was\nmerely a bag of cloth, fastened to the body at the neck, and on the\nfront of this bag was painted the face--ears, eyes, nose and mouth.\n\nThe Scarecrow's face was very interesting, for it bore a comical and\nyet winning expression, although one eye was a bit larger than the\nother and ears were not mates. The Munchkin farmer who had made the\nScarecrow had neglected to sew him together with close stitches and\ntherefore some of the straw with which he was stuffed was inclined to\nstick out between the seams. His hands consisted of padded white\ngloves, with the fingers long and rather limp, and on his feet he wore\nMunchkin boots of blue leather with broad turns at the tops of them.\n\nThe Sawhorse was almost as curious as its rider. It had been rudely\nmade, in the beginning, to saw logs upon, so that its body was a short\nlength of a log, and its legs were stout branches fitted into four\nholes made in the body. The tail was formed by a small branch that had\nbeen left on the log, while the head was a gnarled bump on one end of\nthe body. Two knots of wood formed the eyes, and the mouth was a gash\nchopped in the log. When the Sawhorse first came to life it had no ears\nat all, and so could not hear; but the boy who then owned him had\nwhittled two ears out of bark and stuck them in the head, after which\nthe Sawhorse heard very distinctly.\n\nThis queer wooden horse was a great favorite with Princess Ozma, who\nhad caused the bottoms of its legs to be shod with plates of gold, so\nthe wood would not wear away. Its saddle was made of cloth-of-gold\nrichly encrusted with precious gems. It had never worn a bridle.\n\nAs the Scarecrow came in sight of the party of travelers, he reined in\nhis wooden steed and dismounted, greeting the Shaggy Man with a smiling\nnod. Then he turned to stare at the Patchwork Girl in wonder, while she\nin turn stared at him.\n\n\"Shags,\" he whispered, drawing the Shaggy Man aside, \"pat me into\nshape, there's a good fellow!\"\n\nWhile his friend punched and patted the Scarecrow's body, to smooth out\nthe humps, Scraps turned to Ojo and whispered: \"Roll me out, please;\nI've sagged down dreadfully from walking so much and men like to see a\nstately figure.\"\n\nShe then fell upon the ground and the boy rolled her back and forth\nlike a rolling-pin, until the cotton had filled all the spaces in her\npatchwork covering and the body had lengthened to its fullest extent.\nScraps and the Scarecrow both finished their hasty toilets at the same\ntime, and again they faced each other.\n\n\"Allow me, Miss Patchwork,\" said the Shaggy Man, \"to present my friend,\nthe Right Royal Scarecrow of Oz. Scarecrow, this is Miss Scraps\nPatches; Scraps, this is the Scarecrow. Scarecrow--Scraps;\nScraps--Scarecrow.\"\n\nThey both bowed with much dignity.\n\n\"Forgive me for staring so rudely,\" said the Scarecrow, \"but you are\nthe most beautiful sight my eyes have ever beheld.\"\n\n\"That is a high compliment from one who is himself so beautiful,\"\nmurmured Scraps, casting down her suspender-button eyes by lowering her\nhead. \"But, tell me, good sir, are you not a trifle lumpy?\"\n\n\"Yes, of course; that's my straw, you know. It bunches up, sometimes,\nin spite of all my efforts to keep it even. Doesn't your straw ever\nbunch?\"\n\n\"Oh, I'm stuffed with cotton,\" said Scraps. \"It never bunches, but it's\ninclined to pack down and make me sag.\"\n\n\"But cotton is a high-grade stuffing. I may say it is even more\nstylish, not to say aristocratic, than straw,\" said the Scarecrow\npolitely. \"Still, it is but proper that one so entrancingly lovely\nshould have the best stuffing there is going. I--er--I'm so glad I've\nmet you, Miss Scraps! Introduce us again, Shaggy.\"\n\n\"Once is enough,\" replied the Shaggy Man, laughing at his friend's\nenthusiasm.\n\n\"Then tell me where you found her, and--Dear me, what a queer cat! What\nare you made of--gelatine?\"\n\n\"Pure glass,\" answered the cat, proud to have attracted the Scarecrow's\nattention. \"I am much more beautiful than the Patchwork Girl. I'm\ntransparent, and Scraps isn't; I've pink brains--you can see 'em work;\nand I've a ruby heart, finely polished, while Scraps hasn't any heart\nat all.\"\n\n\"No more have I,\" said the Scarecrow, shaking hands with Scraps, as if\nto congratulate her on the fact. \"I've a friend, the Tin Woodman, who\nhas a heart, but I find I get along pretty well without one. And\nso--Well, well! here's a little Munchkin boy, too. Shake hands, my\nlittle man. How are you?\"\n\nOjo placed his hand in the flabby stuffed glove that served the\nScarecrow for a hand, and the Scarecrow pressed it so cordially that\nthe straw in his glove crackled.\n\nMeantime, the Woozy had approached the Sawhorse and begun to sniff at\nit. The Sawhorse resented this familiarity and with a sudden kick\npounded the Woozy squarely on its head with one gold-shod foot.\n\n\"Take that, you monster!\" it cried angrily.\n\nThe Woozy never even winked.\n\n\"To be sure,\" he said; \"I'll take anything I have to. But don't make me\nangry, you wooden beast, or my eyes will flash fire and burn you up.\"\n\nThe Sawhorse rolled its knot eyes wickedly and kicked again, but the\nWoozy trotted away and said to the Scarecrow:\n\n\"What a sweet disposition that creature has! I advise you to chop it up\nfor kindling-wood and use me to ride upon. My back is flat and you\ncan't fall off.\"\n\n\"I think the trouble is that you haven't been properly introduced,\"\nsaid the Scarecrow, regarding the Woozy with much wonder, for he had\nnever seen such a queer animal before.\n\n\"The Sawhorse is the favorite steed of Princess Ozma, the Ruler of the\nLand of Oz, and he lives in a stable decorated with pearls and\nemeralds, at the rear of the royal palace. He is swift as the wind,\nuntiring, and is kind to his friends. All the people of Oz respect the\nSawhorse highly, and when I visit Ozma she sometimes allows me to ride\nhim--as I am doing to-day. Now you know what an important personage the\nSawhorse is, and if some one--perhaps yourself--will tell me your name,\nyour rank and station, and your history, it will give me pleasure to\nrelate them to the Sawhorse. This will lead to mutual respect and\nfriendship.\"\n\nThe Woozy was somewhat abashed by this speech and did not know how to\nreply. But Ojo said:\n\n\"This square beast is called the Woozy, and he isn't of much importance\nexcept that he has three hairs growing on the tip of his tail.\"\n\nThe Scarecrow looked and saw that this was true.\n\n\"But,\" said he, in a puzzled way, \"what makes those three hairs\nimportant? The Shaggy Man has thousands of hairs, but no one has ever\naccused him of being important.\"\n\nSo Ojo related the sad story of Unc Nunkie's transformation into a\nmarble statue, and told how he had set out to find the things the\nCrooked Magician wanted, in order to make a charm that would restore\nhis uncle to life. One of the requirements was three hairs from a\nWoozy's tail, but not being able to pull out the hairs they had been\nobliged to take the Woozy with them.\n\nThe Scarecrow looked grave as he listened and he shook his head several\ntimes, as if in disapproval.\n\n\"We must see Ozma about this matter,\" he said. \"That Crooked Magician\nis breaking the Law by practicing magic without a license, and I'm not\nsure Ozma will allow him to restore your uncle to life.\"\n\n\"Already I have warned the boy of that,\" declared the Shaggy Man.\n\nAt this Ojo began to cry. \"I want my Unc Nunkie!\" he exclaimed. \"I know\nhow he can be restored to life, and I'm going to do it--Ozma or no\nOzma! What right has this girl Ruler to keep my Unc Nunkie a statue\nforever?\"\n\n\"Don't worry about that just now,\" advised the Scarecrow. \"Go on to the\nEmerald City, and when you reach it have the Shaggy Man take you to see\nDorothy. Tell her your story and I'm sure she will help you. Dorothy is\nOzma's best friend, and if you can win her to your side your uncle is\npretty safe to live again.\" Then he turned to the Woozy and said: \"I'm\nafraid you are not important enough to be introduced to the Sawhorse,\nafter all.\"\n\n\"I'm a better beast than he is,\" retorted the Woozy, indignantly. \"My\neyes can flash fire, and his can't.\"\n\n\"Is this true?\" inquired the Scarecrow, turning to the Munchkin boy.\n\n\"Yes,\" said Ojo, and told how the Woozy had set fire to the fence.\n\n\"Have you any other accomplishments?\" asked the Scarecrow.\n\n\"I have a most terrible growl--that is, sometimes,\" said the Woozy, as\nScraps laughed merrily and the Shaggy Man smiled. But the Patchwork\nGirl's laugh made the Scarecrow forget all about the Woozy. He said to\nher:\n\n\"What an admirable young lady you are, and what jolly good company! We\nmust be better acquainted, for never before have I met a girl with such\nexquisite coloring or such natural, artless manners.\"\n\n\"No wonder they call you the Wise Scarecrow,\" replied Scraps.\n\n\"When you arrive at the Emerald City I will see you again,\" continued\nthe Scarecrow. \"Just now I am going to call upon an old friend--an\nordinary young lady named Jinjur--who has promised to repaint my left\near for me. You may have noticed that the paint on my left ear has\npeeled off and faded, which affects my hearing on that side. Jinjur\nalways fixes me up when I get weather-worn.\"\n\n\"When do you expect to return to the Emerald City?\" asked the Shaggy\nMan.\n\n\"I'll be there this evening, for I'm anxious to have a long talk with\nMiss Scraps. How is it, Sawhorse; are you equal to a swift run?\"\n\n\"Anything that suits you suits me,\" returned the wooden horse.\n\nSo the Scarecrow mounted to the jeweled saddle and waved his hat, when\nthe Sawhorse darted away so swiftly that they were out of sight in an\ninstant.\n\n\n\n\nChapter Fourteen\n\nOjo Breaks the Law\n\n\n\"What a queer man,\" remarked the Munchkin boy, when the party had\nresumed its journey.\n\n\"And so nice and polite,\" added Scraps, bobbing her head. \"I think he\nis the handsomest man I've seen since I came to life.\"\n\n\"Handsome is as handsome does,\" quoted the Shaggy Man; \"but we must\nadmit that no living scarecrow is handsomer. The chief merit of my\nfriend is that he is a great thinker, and in Oz it is considered good\npolicy to follow his advice.\"\n\n\"I didn't notice any brains in his head,\" observed the Glass Cat.\n\n\"You can't see 'em work, but they're there, all right,\" declared the\nShaggy Man. \"I hadn't much confidence in his brains myself, when first\nI came to Oz, for a humbug Wizard gave them to him; but I was soon\nconvinced that the Scarecrow is really wise; and, unless his brains\nmake him so, such wisdom is unaccountable.\"\n\n\"Is the Wizard of Oz a humbug?\" asked Ojo.\n\n\"Not now. He was once, but he has reformed and now assists Glinda the\nGood, who is the Royal Sorceress of Oz and the only one licensed to\npractice magic or sorcery. Glinda has taught our old Wizard a good many\nclever things, so he is no longer a humbug.\"\n\nThey walked a little while in silence and then Ojo said:\n\n\"If Ozma forbids the Crooked Magician to restore Unc Nunkie to life,\nwhat shall I do?\"\n\nThe Shaggy Man shook his head.\n\n\"In that case you can't do anything,\" he said. \"But don't be\ndiscouraged yet. We will go to Princess Dorothy and tell her your\ntroubles, and then we will let her talk to Ozma. Dorothy has the\nkindest little heart in the world, and she has been through so many\ntroubles herself that she is sure to sympathize with you.\"\n\n\"Is Dorothy the little girl who came here from Kansas?\" asked the boy.\n\n\"Yes. In Kansas she was Dorothy Gale. I used to know her there, and she\nbrought me to the Land of Oz. But now Ozma has made her a Princess, and\nDorothy's Aunt Em and Uncle Henry are here, too.\" Here the Shaggy Man\nuttered a long sigh, and then he continued: \"It's a queer country, this\nLand of Oz; but I like it, nevertheless.\"\n\n\"What is queer about it?\" asked Scraps.\n\n\"You, for instance,\" said he.\n\n\"Did you see no girls as beautiful as I am in your own country?\" she\ninquired.\n\n\"None with the same gorgeous, variegated beauty,\" he confessed. \"In\nAmerica a girl stuffed with cotton wouldn't be alive, nor would anyone\nthink of making a girl out of a patchwork quilt.\"\n\n\"What a queer country America must be!\" she exclaimed in great\nsurprise. \"The Scarecrow, whom you say is wise, told me I am the most\nbeautiful creature he has ever seen.\"\n\n\"I know; and perhaps you are--from a scarecrow point of view,\" replied\nthe Shaggy Man; but why he smiled as he said it Scraps could not\nimagine.\n\nAs they drew nearer to the Emerald City the travelers were filled with\nadmiration for the splendid scenery they beheld. Handsome houses stood\non both sides of the road and each had a green lawn before it as well\nas a pretty flower garden.\n\n\"In another hour,\" said the Shaggy Man, \"we shall come in sight of the\nwalls of the Royal City.\"\n\nHe was walking ahead, with Scraps, and behind them came the Woozy and\nthe Glass Cat. Ojo had lagged behind, for in spite of the warnings he\nhad received the boy's eyes were fastened on the clover that bordered\nthe road of yellow bricks and he was eager to discover if such a thing\nas a six-leaved clover really existed.\n\nSuddenly he stopped short and bent over to examine the ground more\nclosely. Yes; here at last was a clover with six spreading leaves. He\ncounted them carefully, to make sure. In an instant his heart leaped\nwith joy, for this was one of the important things he had come for--one\nof the things that would restore dear Unc Nunkie to life.\n\nHe glanced ahead and saw that none of his companions was looking back.\nNeither were any other people about, for it was midway between two\nhouses. The temptation was too strong to be resisted.\n\n\"I might search for weeks and weeks, and never find another six-leaved\nclover,\" he told himself, and quickly plucking the stem from the plant\nhe placed the prized clover in his basket, covering it with the other\nthings he carried there. Then, trying to look as if nothing had\nhappened, he hurried forward and overtook his comrades.\n\nThe Emerald City, which is the most splendid as well as the most\nbeautiful city in any fairyland, is surrounded by a high, thick wall of\ngreen marble, polished smooth and set with glistening emeralds. There\nare four gates, one facing the Munchkin Country, one facing the Country\nof the Winkies, one facing the Country of the Quadlings and one facing\nthe Country of the Gillikins. The Emerald City lies directly in the\ncenter of these four important countries of Oz. The gates had bars of\npure gold, and on either side of each gateway were built high towers,\nfrom which floated gay banners. Other towers were set at distances\nalong the walls, which were broad enough for four people to walk\nabreast upon.\n\nThis enclosure, all green and gold and glittering with precious gems,\nwas indeed a wonderful sight to greet our travelers, who first observed\nit from the top of a little hill; but beyond the wall was the vast city\nit surrounded, and hundreds of jeweled spires, domes and minarets,\nflaunting flags and banners, reared their crests far above the towers\nof the gateways. In the center of the city our friends could see the\ntops of many magnificent trees, some nearly as tall as the spires of\nthe buildings, and the Shaggy Man told them that these trees were in\nthe royal gardens of Princess Ozma.\n\nThey stood a long time on the hilltop, feasting their eyes on the\nsplendor of the Emerald City.\n\n\"Whee!\" exclaimed Scraps, clasping her padded hands in ecstacy,\n\"that'll do for me to live in, all right. No more of the Munchkin\nCountry for these patches--and no more of the Crooked Magician!\"\n\n\"Why, you belong to Dr. Pipt,\" replied Ojo, looking at her in\namazement. \"You were made for a servant, Scraps, so you are personal\nproperty and not your own mistress.\"\n\n\"Bother Dr. Pipt! If he wants me, let him come here and get me. I'll\nnot go back to his den of my own accord; that's certain. Only one place\nin the Land of Oz is fit to live in, and that's the Emerald City. It's\nlovely! It's almost as beautiful as I am, Ojo.\"\n\n\"In this country,\" remarked the Shaggy Man, \"people live wherever our\nRuler tells them to. It wouldn't do to have everyone live in the\nEmerald City, you know, for some must plow the land and raise grains\nand fruits and vegetables, while others chop wood in the forests, or\nfish in the rivers, or herd the sheep and the cattle.\"\n\n\"Poor things!\" said Scraps.\n\n\"I'm not sure they are not happier than the city people,\" replied the\nShaggy Man. \"There's a freedom and independence in country life that\nnot even the Emerald City can give one. I know that lots of the city\npeople would like to get back to the land. The Scarecrow lives in the\ncountry, and so do the Tin Woodman and Jack Pumpkinhead; yet all three\nwould be welcome to live in Ozma's palace if they cared to. Too much\nsplendor becomes tiresome, you know. But, if we're to reach the Emerald\nCity before sundown, we must hurry, for it is yet a long way off.\"\n\nThe entrancing sight of the city had put new energy into them all and\nthey hurried forward with lighter steps than before. There was much to\ninterest them along the roadway, for the houses were now set more\nclosely together and they met a good many people who were coming or\ngoing from one place or another. All these seemed happy-faced, pleasant\npeople, who nodded graciously to the strangers as they passed, and\nexchanged words of greeting.\n\nAt last they reached the great gateway, just as the sun was setting and\nadding its red glow to the glitter of the emeralds on the green walls\nand spires. Somewhere inside the city a band could be heard playing\nsweet music; a soft, subdued hum, as of many voices, reached their\nears; from the neighboring yards came the low mooing of cows waiting to\nbe milked.\n\nThey were almost at the gate when the golden bars slid back and a tall\nsoldier stepped out and faced them. Ojo thought he had never seen so\ntall a man before. The soldier wore a handsome green and gold uniform,\nwith a tall hat in which was a waving plume, and he had a belt thickly\nencrusted with jewels. But the most peculiar thing about him was his\nlong green beard, which fell far below his waist and perhaps made him\nseem taller than he really was.\n\n\"Halt!\" said the Soldier with the Green Whiskers, not in a stern voice\nbut rather in a friendly tone.\n\nThey halted before he spoke and stood looking at him.\n\n\"Good evening, Colonel,\" said the Shaggy Man. \"What's the news since I\nleft? Anything important?\"\n\n\"Billina has hatched out thirteen new chickens,\" replied the Soldier\nwith the Green Whiskers, \"and they're the cutest little fluffy yellow\nballs you ever saw. The Yellow Hen is mighty proud of those children, I\ncan tell you.\"\n\n\"She has a right to be,\" agreed the Shaggy Man. \"Let me see; that's\nabout seven thousand chicks she has hatched out; isn't it, General?\"\n\n\"That, at least,\" was the reply. \"You will have to visit Billina and\ncongratulate her.\"\n\n\"It will give me pleasure to do that,\" said the Shaggy Man. \"But you\nwill observe that I have brought some strangers home with me. I am\ngoing to take them to see Dorothy.\"\n\n\"One moment, please,\" said the soldier, barring their way as they\nstarted to enter the gate. \"I am on duty, and I have orders to execute.\nIs anyone in your party named Ojo the Unlucky?\"\n\n\"Why, that's me!\" cried Ojo, astonished at hearing his name on the lips\nof a stranger.\n\nThe Soldier with the Green Whiskers nodded. \"I thought so,\" said he,\n\"and I am sorry to announce that it is my painful duty to arrest you.\"\n\n\"Arrest me!\" exclaimed the boy. \"What for?\"\n\n\"I haven't looked to see,\" answered the soldier. Then he drew a paper\nfrom his breast pocket and glanced at it. \"Oh, yes; you are to be\narrested for willfully breaking one of the Laws of Oz.\"\n\n\"Breaking a law!\" said Scraps. \"Nonsense, Soldier; you're joking.\"\n\n\"Not this time,\" returned the soldier, with a sigh. \"My dear\nchild--what are you, a rummage sale or a guess-me-quick?--in me you\nbehold the Body-Guard of our gracious Ruler, Princess Ozma, as well as\nthe Royal Army of Oz and the Police Force of the Emerald City.\"\n\n\"And only one man!\" exclaimed the Patchwork Girl.\n\n\"Only one, and plenty enough. In my official positions I've had nothing\nto do for a good many years--so long that I began to fear I was\nabsolutely useless--until to-day. An hour ago I was called to the\npresence of her Highness, Ozma of Oz, and told to arrest a boy named\nOjo the Unlucky, who was journeying from the Munchkin Country to the\nEmerald City and would arrive in a short time. This command so\nastonished me that I nearly fainted, for it is the first time anyone\nhas merited arrest since I can remember. You are rightly named Ojo the\nUnlucky, my poor boy, since you have broken a Law of Oz.\n\n\"But you are wrong,\" said Scraps. \"Ozma is wrong--you are all\nwrong--for Ojo has broken no Law.\"\n\n\"Then he will soon be free again,\" replied the Soldier with the Green\nWhiskers. \"Anyone accused of crime is given a fair trial by our Ruler\nand has every chance to prove his innocence. But just now Ozma's orders\nmust be obeyed.\"\n\nWith this he took from his pocket a pair of handcuffs made of gold and\nset with rubies and diamonds, and these he snapped over Ojo's wrists.\n\n\n\n\nChapter Fifteen\n\nOzma's Prisoner\n\n\nThe boy was so bewildered by this calamity that he made no resistance\nat all. He knew very well he was guilty, but it surprised him that Ozma\nalso knew it. He wondered how she had found out so soon that he had\npicked the six-leaved clover. He handed his basket to Scraps and said:\n\n\"Keep that, until I get out of prison. If I never get out, take it to\nthe Crooked Magician, to whom it belongs.\"\n\nThe Shaggy Man had been gazing earnestly in the boy's face, uncertain\nwhether to defend him or not; but something he read in Ojo's expression\nmade him draw back and refuse to interfere to save him. The Shaggy Man\nwas greatly surprised and grieved, but he knew that Ozma never made\nmistakes and so Ojo must really have broken the Law of Oz.\n\nThe Soldier with the Green Whiskers now led them all through the gate\nand into a little room built in the wall. Here sat a jolly little man,\nrichly dressed in green and having around his neck a heavy gold chain\nto which a number of great golden keys were attached. This was the\nGuardian of the Gate and at the moment they entered his room he was\nplaying a tune upon a mouth-organ.\n\n\"Listen!\" he said, holding up his hand for silence. \"I've just composed\na tune called 'The Speckled Alligator.' It's in patch-time, which is\nmuch superior to rag-time, and I've composed it in honor of the\nPatchwork Girl, who has just arrived.\"\n\n\"How did you know I had arrived?\" asked Scraps, much interested.\n\n\"It's my business to know who's coming, for I'm the Guardian of the\nGate. Keep quiet while I play you 'The Speckled Alligator.'\"\n\nIt wasn't a very bad tune, nor a very good one, but all listened\nrespectfully while he shut his eyes and swayed his head from side to\nside and blew the notes from the little instrument. When it was all\nover the Soldier with the Green Whiskers said:\n\n\"Guardian, I have here a prisoner.\"\n\n\"Good gracious! A prisoner?\" cried the little man, jumping up from his\nchair. \"Which one? Not the Shaggy Man?\"\n\n\"No; this boy.\"\n\n\"Ah; I hope his fault is as small as himself,\" said the Guardian of the\nGate. \"But what can he have done, and what made him do it?\"\n\n\"Can't say,\" replied the soldier. \"All I know is that he has broken the\nLaw.\"\n\n\"But no one ever does that!\"\n\n\"Then he must be innocent, and soon will be released. I hope you are\nright, Guardian. Just now I am ordered to take him to prison. Get me a\nprisoner's robe from your Official Wardrobe.\"\n\nThe Guardian unlocked a closet and took from it a white robe, which the\nsoldier threw over Ojo. It covered him from head to foot, but had two\nholes just in front of his eyes, so he could see where to go. In this\nattire the boy presented a very quaint appearance.\n\nAs the Guardian unlocked a gate leading from his room into the streets\nof the Emerald City, the Shaggy Man said to Scraps:\n\n\"I think I shall take you directly to Dorothy, as the Scarecrow\nadvised, and the Glass Cat and the Woozy may come with us. Ojo must go\nto prison with the Soldier with the Green Whiskers, but he will be well\ntreated and you need not worry about him.\"\n\n\"What will they do with him?\" asked Scraps.\n\n\"That I cannot tell. Since I came to the Land of Oz no one has ever\nbeen arrested or imprisoned--until Ojo broke the Law.\"\n\n\"Seems to me that girl Ruler of yours is making a big fuss over\nnothing,\" remarked Scraps, tossing her yarn hair out of her eyes with a\njerk of her patched head. \"I don't know what Ojo has done, but it\ncouldn't be anything very bad, for you and I were with him all the\ntime.\"\n\nThe Shaggy Man made no reply to this speech and presently the Patchwork\nGirl forgot all about Ojo in her admiration of the wonderful city she\nhad entered.\n\nThey soon separated from the Munchkin boy, who was led by the Soldier\nwith the Green Whiskers down a side street toward the prison. Ojo felt\nvery miserable and greatly ashamed of himself, but he was beginning to\ngrow angry because he was treated in such a disgraceful manner. Instead\nof entering the splendid Emerald City as a respectable traveler who was\nentitled to a welcome and to hospitality, he was being brought in as a\ncriminal, handcuffed and in a robe that told all he met of his deep\ndisgrace.\n\nOjo was by nature gentle and affectionate and if he had disobeyed the\nLaw of Oz it was to restore his dear Unc Nunkie to life. His fault was\nmore thoughtless than wicked, but that did not alter the fact that he\nhad committed a fault. At first he had felt sorrow and remorse, but the\nmore he thought about the unjust treatment he had received--unjust\nmerely because he considered it so--the more he resented his arrest,\nblaming Ozma for making foolish laws and then punishing folks who broke\nthem. Only a six-leaved clover! A tiny green plant growing neglected\nand trampled under foot. What harm could there be in picking it? Ojo\nbegan to think Ozma must be a very bad and oppressive Ruler for such a\nlovely fairyland as Oz. The Shaggy Man said the people loved her; but\nhow could they?\n\nThe little Munchkin boy was so busy thinking these things--which many\nguilty prisoners have thought before him--that he scarcely noticed all\nthe splendor of the city streets through which they passed. Whenever\nthey met any of the happy, smiling people, the boy turned his head away\nin shame, although none knew who was beneath the robe.\n\nBy and by they reached a house built just beside the great city wall,\nbut in a quiet, retired place. It was a pretty house, neatly painted\nand with many windows. Before it was a garden filled with blooming\nflowers. The Soldier with the Green Whiskers led Ojo up the gravel path\nto the front door, on which he knocked.\n\nA woman opened the door and, seeing Ojo in his white robe, exclaimed:\n\n\"Goodness me! A prisoner at last. But what a small one, Soldier.\"\n\n\"The size doesn't matter, Tollydiggle, my dear. The fact remains that\nhe is a prisoner,\" said the soldier. \"And, this being the prison, and\nyou the jailer, it is my duty to place the prisoner in your charge.\"\n\n\"True. Come in, then, and I'll give you a receipt for him.\"\n\nThey entered the house and passed through a hall to a large circular\nroom, where the woman pulled the robe off from Ojo and looked at him\nwith kindly interest. The boy, on his part, was gazing around him in\namazement, for never had he dreamed of such a magnificent apartment as\nthis in which he stood. The roof of the dome was of colored glass,\nworked into beautiful designs. The walls were paneled with plates of\ngold decorated with gems of great size and many colors, and upon the\ntiled floor were soft rugs delightful to walk upon. The furniture was\nframed in gold and upholstered in satin brocade and it consisted of\neasy chairs, divans and stools in great variety. Also there were\nseveral tables with mirror tops and cabinets filled with rare and\ncurious things. In one place a case filled with books stood against the\nwall, and elsewhere Ojo saw a cupboard containing all sorts of games.\n\n\"May I stay here a little while before I go to prison?\" asked the boy,\npleadingly.\n\n\"Why, this is your prison,\" replied Tollydiggle, \"and in me behold your\njailor. Take off those handcuffs, Soldier, for it is impossible for\nanyone to escape from this house.\"\n\n\"I know that very well,\" replied the soldier and at once unlocked the\nhandcuffs and released the prisoner.\n\nThe woman touched a button on the wall and lighted a big chandelier\nthat hung suspended from the ceiling, for it was growing dark outside.\nThen she seated herself at a desk and asked:\n\n\"What name?\"\n\n\"Ojo the Unlucky,\" answered the Soldier with the Green Whiskers.\n\n\"Unlucky? Ah, that accounts for it,\" said she. \"What crime?\"\n\n\"Breaking a Law of Oz.\"\n\n\"All right. There's your receipt, Soldier; and now I'm responsible for\nthe prisoner. I'm glad of it, for this is the first time I've ever had\nanything to do, in my official capacity,\" remarked the jailer, in a\npleased tone.\n\n\"It's the same with me, Tollydiggle,\" laughed the soldier. \"But my task\nis finished and I must go and report to Ozma that I've done my duty\nlike a faithful Police Force, a loyal Army and an honest Body-Guard--as\nI hope I am.\"\n\nSaying this, he nodded farewell to Tollydiggle and Ojo and went away.\n\n\"Now, then,\" said the woman briskly, \"I must get you some supper, for\nyou are doubtless hungry. What would you prefer: planked whitefish,\nomelet with jelly or mutton-chops with gravy?\"\n\nOjo thought about it. Then he said: \"I'll take the chops, if you\nplease.\"\n\n\"Very well; amuse yourself while I'm gone; I won't be long,\" and then\nshe went out by a door and left the prisoner alone.\n\nOjo was much astonished, for not only was this unlike any prison he had\never heard of, but he was being treated more as a guest than a\ncriminal. There were many windows and they had no locks. There were\nthree doors to the room and none were bolted. He cautiously opened one\nof the doors and found it led into a hallway. But he had no intention\nof trying to escape. If his jailor was willing to trust him in this way\nhe would not betray her trust, and moreover a hot supper was being\nprepared for him and his prison was very pleasant and comfortable. So\nhe took a book from the case and sat down in a big chair to look at the\npictures.\n\nThis amused him until the woman came in with a large tray and spread a\ncloth on one of the tables. Then she arranged his supper, which proved\nthe most varied and delicious meal Ojo had ever eaten in his life.\n\nTollydiggle sat near him while he ate, sewing on some fancy work she\nheld in her lap. When he had finished she cleared the table and then\nread to him a story from one of the books.\n\n\"Is this really a prison?\" he asked, when she had finished reading.\n\n\"Indeed it is,\" she replied. \"It is the only prison in the Land of Oz.\"\n\n\"And am I a prisoner?\"\n\n\"Bless the child! Of course.\"\n\n\"Then why is the prison so fine, and why are you so kind to me?\" he\nearnestly asked.\n\nTollydiggle seemed surprised by the question, but she presently\nanswered:\n\n\"We consider a prisoner unfortunate. He is unfortunate in two\nways--because he has done something wrong and because he is deprived of\nhis liberty. Therefore we should treat him kindly, because of his\nmisfortune, for otherwise he would become hard and bitter and would not\nbe sorry he had done wrong. Ozma thinks that one who has committed a\nfault did so because he was not strong and brave; therefore she puts\nhim in prison to make him strong and brave. When that is accomplished\nhe is no longer a prisoner, but a good and loyal citizen and everyone\nis glad that he is now strong enough to resist doing wrong. You see, it\nis kindness that makes one strong and brave; and so we are kind to our\nprisoners.\"\n\nOjo thought this over very carefully. \"I had an idea,\" said he, \"that\nprisoners were always treated harshly, to punish them.\"\n\n\"That would be dreadful!\" cried Tollydiggle. \"Isn't one punished enough\nin knowing he has done wrong? Don't you wish, Ojo, with all your heart,\nthat you had not been disobedient and broken a Law of Oz?\"\n\n\"I--I hate to be different from other people,\" he admitted.\n\n\"Yes; one likes to be respected as highly as his neighbors are,\" said\nthe woman. \"When you are tried and found guilty, you will be obliged to\nmake amends, in some way. I don't know just what Ozma will do to you,\nbecause this is the first time one of us has broken a Law; but you may\nbe sure she will be just and merciful. Here in the Emerald City people\nare too happy and contented ever to do wrong; but perhaps you came from\nsome faraway corner of our land, and having no love for Ozma carelessly\nbroke one of her Laws.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said Ojo, \"I've lived all my life in the heart of a lonely\nforest, where I saw no one but dear Unc Nunkie.\"\n\n\"I thought so,\" said Tollydiggle. \"But now we have talked enough, so\nlet us play a game until bedtime.\"\n\n\n\n\nChapter Sixteen\n\nPrincess Dorothy\n\n\nDorothy Gale was sitting in one of her rooms in the royal palace, while\ncurled up at her feet was a little black dog with a shaggy coat and\nvery bright eyes. She wore a plain white frock, without any jewels or\nother ornaments except an emerald-green hair-ribbon, for Dorothy was a\nsimple little girl and had not been in the least spoiled by the\nmagnificence surrounding her. Once the child had lived on the Kansas\nprairies, but she seemed marked for adventure, for she had made several\ntrips to the Land of Oz before she came to live there for good. Her\nvery best friend was the beautiful Ozma of Oz, who loved Dorothy so\nwell that she kept her in her own palace, so as to be near her. The\ngirl's Uncle Henry and Aunt Em--the only relatives she had in the\nworld--had also been brought here by Ozma and given a pleasant home.\nDorothy knew almost everybody in Oz, and it was she who had discovered\nthe Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and the Cowardly Lion, as well as\nTik-Tok the Clockwork Man. Her life was very pleasant now, and although\nshe had been made a Princess of Oz by her friend Ozma she did not care\nmuch to be a Princess and remained as sweet as when she had been plain\nDorothy Gale of Kansas.\n\nDorothy was reading in a book this evening when Jellia Jamb, the\nfavorite servant-maid of the palace, came to say that the Shaggy Man\nwanted to see her.\n\n\"All right,\" said Dorothy; \"tell him to come right up.\"\n\n\"But he has some queer creatures with him--some of the queerest I've\never laid eyes on,\" reported Jellia.\n\n\"Never mind; let 'em all come up,\" replied Dorothy.\n\nBut when the door opened to admit not only the Shaggy Man, but Scraps,\nthe Woozy and the Glass Cat, Dorothy jumped up and looked at her\nstrange visitors in amazement. The Patchwork Girl was the most curious\nof all and Dorothy was uncertain at first whether Scraps was really\nalive or only a dream or a nightmare. Toto, her dog, slowly uncurled\nhimself and going to the Patchwork Girl sniffed at her inquiringly; but\nsoon he lay down again, as if to say he had no interest in such an\nirregular creation.\n\n\"You're a new one to me,\" Dorothy said reflectively, addressing the\nPatchwork Girl. \"I can't imagine where you've come from.\"\n\n\"Who, me?\" asked Scraps, looking around the pretty room instead of at\nthe girl. \"Oh, I came from a bed-quilt, I guess. That's what they say,\nanyhow. Some call it a crazy-quilt and some a patchwork quilt. But my\nname is Scraps--and now you know all about me.\"\n\n\"Not quite all,\" returned Dorothy with a smile. \"I wish you'd tell me\nhow you came to be alive.\"\n\n\"That's an easy job,\" said Scraps, sitting upon a big upholstered chair\nand making the springs bounce her up and down. \"Margolotte wanted a\nslave, so she made me out of an old bed-quilt she didn't use. Cotton\nstuffing, suspender-button eyes, red velvet tongue, pearl beads for\nteeth. The Crooked Magician made a Powder of Life, sprinkled me with it\nand--here I am. Perhaps you've noticed my different colors. A very\nrefined and educated gentleman named the Scarecrow, whom I met, told me\nI am the most beautiful creature in all Oz, and I believe it.\"\n\n\"Oh! Have you met our Scarecrow, then?\" asked Dorothy, a little puzzled\nto understand the brief history related.\n\n\"Yes; isn't he jolly?\"\n\n\"The Scarecrow has many good qualities,\" replied Dorothy. \"But I'm\nsorry to hear all this 'bout the Crooked Magician. Ozma'll be mad as\nhops when she hears he's been doing magic again. She told him not to.\"\n\n\"He only practices magic for the benefit of his own family,\" explained\nBungle, who was keeping at a respectful distance from the little black\ndog.\n\n\"Dear me,\" said Dorothy; \"I hadn't noticed you before. Are you glass,\nor what?\"\n\n\"I'm glass, and transparent, too, which is more than can be said of\nsome folks,\" answered the cat. \"Also I have some lovely pink brains;\nyou can see 'em work.\"\n\n\"Oh; is that so? Come over here and let me see.\"\n\nThe Glass Cat hesitated, eyeing the dog.\n\n\"Send that beast away and I will,\" she said.\n\n\"Beast! Why, that's my dog Toto, an' he's the kindest dog in all the\nworld. Toto knows a good many things, too; 'most as much as I do, I\nguess.\"\n\n\"Why doesn't he say anything?\" asked Bungle.\n\n\"He can't talk, not being a fairy dog,\" explained Dorothy. \"He's just a\ncommon United States dog; but that's a good deal; and I understand him,\nand he understands me, just as well as if he could talk.\"\n\nToto, at this, got up and rubbed his head softly against Dorothy's\nhand, which she held out to him, and he looked up into her face as if\nhe had understood every word she had said.\n\n\"This cat, Toto,\" she said to him, \"is made of glass, so you mustn't\nbother it, or chase it, any more than you do my Pink Kitten. It's\nprob'ly brittle and might break if it bumped against anything.\"\n\n\"Woof!\" said Toto, and that meant he understood.\n\nThe Glass Cat was so proud of her pink brains that she ventured to come\nclose to Dorothy, in order that the girl might \"see 'em work.\" This was\nreally interesting, but when Dorothy patted the cat she found the glass\ncold and hard and unresponsive, so she decided at once that Bungle\nwould never do for a pet.\n\n\"What do you know about the Crooked Magician who lives on the\nmountain?\" asked Dorothy.\n\n\"He made me,\" replied the cat; \"so I know all about him. The Patchwork\nGirl is new--three or four days old--but I've lived with Dr. Pipt for\nyears; and, though I don't much care for him, I will say that he has\nalways refused to work magic for any of the people who come to his\nhouse. He thinks there's no harm in doing magic things for his own\nfamily, and he made me out of glass because the meat cats drink too\nmuch milk. He also made Scraps come to life so she could do the\nhousework for his wife Margolotte.\"\n\n\"Then why did you both leave him?\" asked Dorothy.\n\n\"I think you'd better let me explain that,\" interrupted the Shaggy Man,\nand then he told Dorothy all of Ojo's story and how Unc Nunkie and\nMargolotte had accidentally been turned to marble by the Liquid of\nPetrifaction. Then he related how the boy had started out in search of\nthe things needed to make the magic charm, which would restore the\nunfortunates to life, and how he had found the Woozy and taken him\nalong because he could not pull the three hairs out of its tail.\nDorothy listened to all this with much interest, and thought that so\nfar Ojo had acted very well. But when the Shaggy Man told her of the\nMunchkin boy's arrest by the Soldier with the Green Whiskers, because\nhe was accused of wilfully breaking a Law of Oz, the little girl was\ngreatly shocked.\n\n\"What do you s'pose he's done?\" she asked.\n\n\"I fear he has picked a six-leaved clover,\" answered the Shaggy Man,\nsadly. \"I did not see him do it, and I warned him that to do so was\nagainst the Law; but perhaps that is what he did, nevertheless.\"\n\n\"I'm sorry 'bout that,\" said Dorothy gravely, \"for now there will be no\none to help his poor uncle and Margolotte 'cept this Patchwork Girl,\nthe Woozy and the Glass Cat.\"\n\n\"Don't mention it,\" said Scraps. \"That's no affair of mine. Margolotte\nand Unc Nunkie are perfect strangers to me, for the moment I came to\nlife they came to marble.\"\n\n\"I see,\" remarked Dorothy with a sigh of regret; \"the woman forgot to\ngive you a heart.\"\n\n\"I'm glad she did,\" retorted the Patchwork Girl. \"A heart must be a\ngreat annoyance to one. It makes a person feel sad or sorry or devoted\nor sympathetic--all of which sensations interfere with one's happiness.\"\n\n\"I have a heart,\" murmured the Glass Cat. \"It's made of a ruby; but I\ndon't imagine I shall let it bother me about helping Unc Nunkie and\nMargolotte.\"\n\n\"That's a pretty hard heart of yours,\" said Dorothy. \"And the Woozy, of\ncourse--\"\n\n\"Why, as for me,\" observed the Woozy, who was reclining on the floor\nwith his legs doubled under him, so that he looked much like a square\nbox, \"I have never seen those unfortunate people you are speaking of,\nand yet I am sorry for them, having at times been unfortunate myself.\nWhen I was shut up in that forest I longed for some one to help me, and\nby and by Ojo came and did help me. So I'm willing to help his uncle.\nI'm only a stupid beast, Dorothy, but I can't help that, and if you'll\ntell me what to do to help Ojo and his uncle, I'll gladly do it.\"\n\nDorothy walked over and patted the Woozy on his square head.\n\n\"You're not pretty,\" she said, \"but I like you. What are you able to\ndo; anything 'special?\"\n\n\"I can make my eyes flash fire--real fire--when I'm angry. When anyone\nsays: 'Krizzle-Kroo' to me I get angry, and then my eyes flash fire.\"\n\n\"I don't see as fireworks could help Ojo's uncle,\" remarked Dorothy.\n\"Can you do anything else?\"\n\n\"I--I thought I had a very terrifying growl,\" said the Woozy, with\nhesitation; \"but perhaps I was mistaken.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said the Shaggy Man, \"you were certainly wrong about that.\" Then\nhe turned to Dorothy and added: \"What will become of the Munchkin boy?\"\n\n\"I don't know,\" she said, shaking her head thoughtfully. \"Ozma will see\nhim 'bout it, of course, and then she'll punish him. But how, I don't\nknow, 'cause no one ever has been punished in Oz since I knew anything\nabout the place. Too bad, Shaggy Man, isn't it?\"\n\nWhile they were talking Scraps had been roaming around the room and\nlooking at all the pretty things it contained. She had carried Ojo's\nbasket in her hand, until now, when she decided to see what was inside\nit. She found the bread and cheese, which she had no use for, and the\nbundle of charms, which were curious but quite a mystery to her. Then,\nturning these over, she came upon the six-leaved clover which the boy\nhad plucked.\n\nScraps was quick-witted, and although she had no heart she recognized\nthe fact that Ojo was her first friend. She knew at once that because\nthe boy had taken the clover he had been imprisoned, and she understood\nthat Ojo had given her the basket so they would not find the clover in\nhis possession and have proof of his crime. So, turning her head to see\nthat no one noticed her, she took the clover from the basket and\ndropped it into a golden vase that stood on Dorothy's table. Then she\ncame forward and said to Dorothy:\n\n\"I wouldn't care to help Ojo's uncle, but I will help Ojo. He did not\nbreak the Law--no one can prove he did--and that green-whiskered\nsoldier had no right to arrest him.\"\n\n\"Ozma ordered the boy's arrest,\" said Dorothy, \"and of course she knew\nwhat she was doing. But if you can prove Ojo is innocent they will set\nhim free at once.\"\n\n\"They'll have to prove him guilty, won't they?'' asked Scraps.\n\n\"I s'pose so.\"\n\n\"Well, they can't do that,\" declared the Patchwork Girl.\n\nAs it was nearly time for Dorothy to dine with Ozma, which she did\nevery evening, she rang for a servant and ordered the Woozy taken to a\nnice room and given plenty of such food as he liked best.\n\n\"That's honey-bees,\" said the Woozy.\n\n\"You can't eat honey-bees, but you'll be given something just as nice,\"\nDorothy told him. Then she had the Glass Cat taken to another room for\nthe night and the Patchwork Girl she kept in one of her own rooms, for\nshe was much interested in the strange creature and wanted to talk with\nher again and try to understand her better.\n\n\n\n\nChapter Seventeen\n\nOzma and Her Friends\n\n\nThe Shaggy Man had a room of his own in the royal palace, so there he\nwent to change his shaggy suit of clothes for another just as shaggy\nbut not so dusty from travel. He selected a costume of pea-green and\npink satin and velvet, with embroidered shags on all the edges and\niridescent pearls for ornaments. Then he bathed in an alabaster pool\nand brushed his shaggy hair and whiskers the wrong way to make them\nstill more shaggy. This accomplished, and arrayed in his splendid\nshaggy garments, he went to Ozma's banquet hall and found the\nScarecrow, the Wizard and Dorothy already assembled there. The\nScarecrow had made a quick trip and returned to the Emerald City with\nhis left ear freshly painted.\n\nA moment later, while they all stood in waiting, a servant threw open a\ndoor, the orchestra struck up a tune and Ozma of Oz entered.\n\nMuch has been told and written concerning the beauty of person and\ncharacter of this sweet girl Ruler of the Land of Oz--the richest, the\nhappiest and most delightful fairyland of which we have any knowledge.\nYet with all her queenly qualities Ozma was a real girl and enjoyed the\nthings in life that other real girls enjoy. When she sat on her\nsplendid emerald throne in the great Throne Room of her palace and made\nlaws and settled disputes and tried to keep all her subjects happy and\ncontented, she was as dignified and demure as any queen might be; but\nwhen she had thrown aside her jeweled robe of state and her sceptre,\nand had retired to her private apartments, the girl--joyous,\nlight-hearted and free--replaced the sedate Ruler.\n\nIn the banquet hall to-night were gathered only old and trusted\nfriends, so here Ozma was herself--a mere girl. She greeted Dorothy\nwith a kiss, the Shaggy Man with a smile, the little old Wizard with a\nfriendly handshake and then she pressed the Scarecrow's stuffed arm and\ncried merrily:\n\n\"What a lovely left ear! Why, it's a hundred times better than the old\none.\"\n\n\"I'm glad you like it,\" replied the Scarecrow, well pleased. \"Jinjur\ndid a neat job, didn't she? And my hearing is now perfect. Isn't it\nwonderful what a little paint will do, if it's properly applied?\"\n\n\"It really is wonderful,\" she agreed, as they all took their seats;\n\"but the Sawhorse must have made his legs twinkle to have carried you\nso far in one day. I didn't expect you back before to-morrow, at the\nearliest.\"\n\n\"Well,\" said the Scarecrow, \"I met a charming girl on the road and\nwanted to see more of her, so I hurried back.\"\n\nOzma laughed.\n\n\"I know,\" she returned; \"it's the Patchwork Girl. She is certainly\nbewildering, if not strictly beautiful.\"\n\n\"Have you seen her, then?\" the straw man eagerly asked.\n\n\"Only in my Magic Picture, which shows me all scenes of interest in the\nLand of Oz.\"\n\n\"I fear the picture didn't do her justice,\" said the Scarecrow.\n\n\"It seemed to me that nothing could be more gorgeous,\" declared Ozma.\n\"Whoever made that patchwork quilt, from which Scraps was formed, must\nhave selected the gayest and brightest bits of cloth that ever were\nwoven.\"\n\n\"I am glad you like her,\" said the Scarecrow in a satisfied tone.\nAlthough the straw man did not eat, not being made so he could, he\noften dined with Ozma and her companions, merely for the pleasure of\ntalking with them. He sat at the table and had a napkin and plate, but\nthe servants knew better than to offer him food. After a little while\nhe asked: \"Where is the Patchwork Girl now?\"\n\n\"In my room,\" replied Dorothy. \"I've taken a fancy to her; she's so\nqueer and--and--uncommon.\"\n\n\"She's half crazy, I think,\" added the Shaggy Man.\n\n\"But she is so beautiful!\" exclaimed the Scarecrow, as if that fact\ndisarmed all criticism. They all laughed at his enthusiasm, but the\nScarecrow was quite serious. Seeing that he was interested in Scraps\nthey forbore to say anything against her. The little band of friends\nOzma had gathered around her was so quaintly assorted that much care\nmust be exercised to avoid hurting their feelings or making any one of\nthem unhappy. It was this considerate kindness that held them close\nfriends and enabled them to enjoy one another's society.\n\nAnother thing they avoided was conversing on unpleasant subjects, and\nfor that reason Ojo and his troubles were not mentioned during the\ndinner. The Shaggy Man, however, related his adventures with the\nmonstrous plants which had seized and enfolded the travelers, and told\nhow he had robbed Chiss, the giant porcupine, of the quills which it\nwas accustomed to throw at people. Both Dorothy and Ozma were pleased\nwith this exploit and thought it served Chiss right.\n\nThen they talked of the Woozy, which was the most remarkable animal any\nof them had ever before seen--except, perhaps, the live Sawhorse. Ozma\nhad never known that her dominions contained such a thing as a Woozy,\nthere being but one in existence and this being confined in his forest\nfor many years. Dorothy said she believed the Woozy was a good beast,\nhonest and faithful; but she added that she did not care much for the\nGlass Cat.\n\n\"Still,\" said the Shaggy Man, \"the Glass Cat is very pretty and if she\nwere not so conceited over her pink brains no one would object to her\nas a companion.\"\n\nThe Wizard had been eating silently until now, when he looked up and\nremarked:\n\n\"That Powder of Life which is made by the Crooked Magician is really a\nwonderful thing. But Dr. Pipt does not know its true value and he uses\nit in the most foolish ways.\"\n\n\"I must see about that,\" said Ozma, gravely. Then she smiled again and\ncontinued in a lighter tone: \"It was Dr. Pipt's famous Powder of Life\nthat enabled me to become the Ruler of Oz.\"\n\n\"I've never heard that story,\" said the Shaggy Man, looking at Ozma\nquestioningly.\n\n\"Well, when I was a baby girl I was stolen by an old Witch named Mombi\nand transformed into a boy,\" began the girl Ruler. \"I did not know who\nI was and when I grew big enough to work, the Witch made me wait upon\nher and carry wood for the fire and hoe in the garden. One day she came\nback from a journey bringing some of the Powder of Life, which Dr. Pipt\nhad given her. I had made a pumpkin-headed man and set it up in her\npath to frighten her, for I was fond of fun and hated the Witch. But\nshe knew what the figure was and to test her Powder of Life she\nsprinkled some of it on the man I had made. It came to life and is now\nour dear friend Jack Pumpkinhead. That night I ran away with Jack to\nescape punishment, and I took old Mombi's Powder of Life with me.\nDuring our journey we came upon a wooden Sawhorse standing by the road\nand I used the magic powder to bring it to life. The Sawhorse has been\nwith me ever since. When I got to the Emerald City the good Sorceress,\nGlinda, knew who I was and restored me to my proper person, when I\nbecame the rightful Ruler of this land. So you see had not old Mombi\nbrought home the Powder of Life I might never have run away from her\nand become Ozma of Oz, nor would we have had Jack Pumpkinhead and the\nSawhorse to comfort and amuse us.\"\n\nThat story interested the Shaggy Man very much, as well as the others,\nwho had often heard it before. The dinner being now concluded, they all\nwent to Ozma's drawing-room, where they passed a pleasant evening\nbefore it came time to retire.\n\n\n\n\nChapter Eighteen\n\nOjo is Forgiven\n\n\nThe next morning the Soldier with the Green Whiskers went to the prison\nand took Ojo away to the royal palace, where he was summoned to appear\nbefore the girl Ruler for judgment. Again the soldier put upon the boy\nthe jeweled handcuffs and white prisoner's robe with the peaked top and\nholes for the eyes. Ojo was so ashamed, both of his disgrace and the\nfault he had committed, that he was glad to be covered up in this way,\nso that people could not see him or know who he was. He followed the\nSoldier with the Green Whiskers very willingly, anxious that his fate\nmight be decided as soon as possible.\n\nThe inhabitants of the Emerald City were polite people and never jeered\nat the unfortunate; but it was so long since they had seen a prisoner\nthat they cast many curious looks toward the boy and many of them\nhurried away to the royal palace to be present during the trial.\n\nWhen Ojo was escorted into the great Throne Room of the palace he found\nhundreds of people assembled there. In the magnificent emerald throne,\nwhich sparkled with countless jewels, sat Ozma of Oz in her Robe of\nState, which was embroidered with emeralds and pearls. On her right,\nbut a little lower, was Dorothy, and on her left the Scarecrow. Still\nlower, but nearly in front of Ozma, sat the wonderful Wizard of Oz and\non a small table beside him was the golden vase from Dorothy's room,\ninto which Scraps had dropped the stolen clover.\n\nAt Ozma's feet crouched two enormous beasts, each the largest and most\npowerful of its kind. Although these beasts were quite free, no one\npresent was alarmed by them; for the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger\nwere well known and respected in the Emerald City and they always\nguarded the Ruler when she held high court in the Throne Room. There\nwas still another beast present, but this one Dorothy held in her arms,\nfor it was her constant companion, the little dog Toto. Toto knew the\nCowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger and often played and romped with\nthem, for they were good friends.\n\nSeated on ivory chairs before Ozma, with a clear space between them and\nthe throne, were many of the nobility of the Emerald City, lords and\nladies in beautiful costumes, and officials of the kingdom in the royal\nuniforms of Oz. Behind these courtiers were others of less importance,\nfilling the great hall to the very doors.\n\nAt the same moment that the Soldier with the Green Whiskers arrived\nwith Ojo, the Shaggy Man entered from a side door, escorting the\nPatchwork Girl, the Woozy and the Glass Cat. All these came to the\nvacant space before the throne and stood facing the Ruler.\n\n\"Hullo, Ojo,\" said Scraps; \"how are you?\"\n\n\"All right,\" he replied; but the scene awed the boy and his voice\ntrembled a little with fear. Nothing could awe the Patchwork Girl, and\nalthough the Woozy was somewhat uneasy in these splendid surroundings\nthe Glass Cat was delighted with the sumptuousness of the court and the\nimpressiveness of the occasion--pretty big words but quite expressive.\n\nAt a sign from Ozma the soldier removed Ojo's white robe and the boy\nstood face to face with the girl who was to decide his punishment. He\nsaw at a glance how lovely and sweet she was, and his heart gave a\nbound of joy, for he hoped she would be merciful.\n\nOzma sat looking at the prisoner a long time. Then she said gently:\n\n\"One of the Laws of Oz forbids anyone to pick a six-leaved clover. You\nare accused of having broken this Law, even after you had been warned\nnot to do so.\"\n\nOjo hung his head and while he hesitated how to reply the Patchwork\nGirl stepped forward and spoke for him.\n\n\"All this fuss is about nothing at all,\" she said, facing Ozma\nunabashed. \"You can't prove he picked the six-leaved clover, so you've\nno right to accuse him of it. Search him, if you like, but you won't\nfind the clover; look in his basket and you'll find it's not there. He\nhasn't got it, so I demand that you set this poor Munchkin boy free.\"\n\nThe people of Oz listened to this defiance in amazement and wondered at\nthe queer Patchwork Girl who dared talk so boldly to their Ruler. But\nOzma sat silent and motionless and it was the little Wizard who\nanswered Scraps.\n\n\"So the clover hasn't been picked, eh?\" he said. \"I think it has. I\nthink the boy hid it in his basket, and then gave the basket to you. I\nalso think you dropped the clover into this vase, which stood in\nPrincess Dorothy's room, hoping to get rid of it so it would not prove\nthe boy guilty. You're a stranger here, Miss Patches, and so you don't\nknow that nothing can be hidden from our powerful Ruler's Magic\nPicture--nor from the watchful eyes of the humble Wizard of Oz. Look,\nall of you!\" With these words he waved his hands toward the vase on the\ntable, which Scraps now noticed for the first time.\n\nFrom the mouth of the vase a plant sprouted, slowly growing before\ntheir eyes until it became a beautiful bush, and on the topmost branch\nappeared the six-leaved clover which Ojo had unfortunately picked.\n\nThe Patchwork Girl looked at the clover and said: \"Oh, so you've found\nit. Very well; prove he picked it, if you can.\"\n\nOzma turned to Ojo.\n\n\"Did you pick the six-leaved clover?\" she asked.\n\n\"Yes,\" he replied. \"I knew it was against the Law, but I wanted to save\nUnc Nunkie and I was afraid if I asked your consent to pick it you\nwould refuse me.\"\n\n\"What caused you to think that?\" asked the Ruler.\n\n\"Why, it seemed to me a foolish law, unjust and unreasonable. Even now\nI can see no harm in picking a six-leaved clover. And I--I had not seen\nthe Emerald City, then, nor you, and I thought a girl who would make\nsuch a silly Law would not be likely to help anyone in trouble.\"\n\nOzma regarded him musingly, her chin resting upon her hand; but she was\nnot angry. On the contrary she smiled a little at her thoughts and then\ngrew sober again.\n\n\"I suppose a good many laws seem foolish to those people who do not\nunderstand them,\" she said; \"but no law is ever made without some\npurpose, and that purpose is usually to protect all the people and\nguard their welfare. As you are a stranger, I will explain this Law\nwhich to you seems so foolish. Years ago there were many Witches and\nMagicians in the Land of Oz, and one of the things they often used in\nmaking their magic charms and transformations was a six-leaved clover.\nThese Witches and Magicians caused so much trouble among my people,\noften using their powers for evil rather than good, that I decided to\nforbid anyone to practice magic or sorcery except Glinda the Good and\nher assistant, the Wizard of Oz, both of whom I can trust to use their\narts only to benefit my people and to make them happier. Since I issued\nthat Law the Land of Oz has been far more peaceful and quiet; but I\nlearned that some of the Witches and Magicians were still practicing\nmagic on the sly and using the six-leaved clovers to make their potions\nand charms. Therefore I made another Law forbidding anyone from\nplucking a six-leaved clover or from gathering other plants and herbs\nwhich the Witches boil in their kettles to work magic with. That has\nalmost put an end to wicked sorcery in our land, so you see the Law was\nnot a foolish one, but wise and just; and, in any event, it is wrong to\ndisobey a Law.\"\n\nOjo knew she was right and felt greatly mortified to realize he had\nacted and spoken so ridiculously. But he raised his head and looked\nOzma in the face, saying:\n\n\"I am sorry I have acted wrongly and broken your Law. I did it to save\nUnc Nunkie, and thought I would not be found out. But I am guilty of\nthis act and whatever punishment you think I deserve I will suffer\nwillingly.\"\n\nOzma smiled more brightly, then, and nodded graciously.\n\n\"You are forgiven,\" she said. \"For, although you have committed a\nserious fault, you are now penitent and I think you have been punished\nenough. Soldier, release Ojo the Lucky and--\"\n\n\"I beg your pardon; I'm Ojo the Unlucky,\" said the boy.\n\n\"At this moment you are lucky,\" said she. \"Release him, Soldier, and\nlet him go free.\"\n\nThe people were glad to hear Ozma's decree and murmured their approval.\nAs the royal audience was now over, they began to leave the Throne Room\nand soon there were none remaining except Ojo and his friends and Ozma\nand her favorites.\n\nThe girl Ruler now asked Ojo to sit down and tell her all his story,\nwhich he did, beginning at the time he had left his home in the forest\nand ending with his arrival at the Emerald City and his arrest. Ozma\nlistened attentively and was thoughtful for some moments after the boy\nhad finished speaking. Then she said:\n\n\"The Crooked Magician was wrong to make the Glass Cat and the Patchwork\nGirl, for it was against the Law. And if he had not unlawfully kept the\nbottle of Liquid of Petrifaction standing on his shelf, the accident to\nhis wife Margolotte and to Unc Nunkie could not have occurred. I can\nunderstand, however, that Ojo, who loves his uncle, will be unhappy\nunless he can save him. Also I feel it is wrong to leave those two\nvictims standing as marble statues, when they ought to be alive. So I\npropose we allow Dr. Pipt to make the magic charm which will save them,\nand that we assist Ojo to find the things he is seeking. What do you\nthink, Wizard?\"\n\n\"That is perhaps the best thing to do,\" replied the Wizard. \"But after\nthe Crooked Magician has restored those poor people to life you must\ntake away his magic powers.\"\n\n\"I will,\" promised Ozma.\n\n\"Now tell me, please, what magic things must you find?\" continued the\nWizard, addressing Ojo.\n\n\"The three hairs from the Woozy's tail I have,\" said the boy. \"That is,\nI have the Woozy, and the hairs are in his tail. The six-leaved clover\nI--I--\"\n\n\"You may take it and keep it,\" said Ozma. \"That will not be breaking\nthe Law, for it is already picked, and the crime of picking it is\nforgiven.\"\n\n\"Thank you!\" cried Ojo gratefully. Then he continued: \"The next thing I\nmust find is a gill of water from a dark well.\"\n\nThe Wizard shook his head. \"That,\" said he, \"will be a hard task, but\nif you travel far enough you may discover it.\"\n\n\"I am willing to travel for years, if it will save Unc Nunkie,\"\ndeclared Ojo, earnestly.\n\n\"Then you'd better begin your journey at once,\" advised the Wizard.\n\nDorothy had been listening with interest to this conversation. Now she\nturned to Ozma and asked: \"May I go with Ojo, to help him?\"\n\n\"Would you like to?\" returned Ozma.\n\n\"Yes. I know Oz pretty well, but Ojo doesn't know it at all. I'm sorry\nfor his uncle and poor Margolotte and I'd like to help save them. May I\ngo?\"\n\n\"If you wish to,\" replied Ozma.\n\n\"If Dorothy goes, then I must go to take care of her,\" said the\nScarecrow, decidedly. \"A dark well can only be discovered in some\nout-of-the-way place, and there may be dangers there.\"\n\n\"You have my permission to accompany Dorothy,\" said Ozma. \"And while\nyou are gone I will take care of the Patchwork Girl.\"\n\n\"I'll take care of myself,\" announced Scraps, \"for I'm going with the\nScarecrow and Dorothy. I promised Ojo to help him find the things he\nwants and I'll stick to my promise.\"\n\n\"Very well,\" replied Ozma. \"But I see no need for Ojo to take the Glass\nCat and the Woozy.\"\n\n\"I prefer to remain here,\" said the cat. \"I've nearly been nicked half\na dozen times, already, and if they're going into dangers it's best for\nme to keep away from them.\"\n\n\"Let Jellia Jamb keep her till Ojo returns,\" suggested Dorothy. \"We\nwon't need to take the Woozy, either, but he ought to be saved because\nof the three hairs in his tail.\"\n\n\"Better take me along,\" said the Woozy. \"My eyes can flash fire, you\nknow, and I can growl--a little.\"\n\n\"I'm sure you'll be safer here,\" Ozma decided, and the Woozy made no\nfurther objection to the plan.\n\nAfter consulting together they decided that Ojo and his party should\nleave the very next day to search for the gill of water from a dark\nwell, so they now separated to make preparations for the journey.\n\nOzma gave the Munchkin boy a room in the palace for that night and the\nafternoon he passed with Dorothy--getting acquainted, as she said--and\nreceiving advice from the Shaggy Man as to where they must go. The\nShaggy Man had wandered in many parts of Oz, and so had Dorothy, for\nthat matter, yet neither of them knew where a dark well was to be found.\n\n\"If such a thing is anywhere in the settled parts of Oz,\" said Dorothy,\n\"we'd prob'ly have heard of it long ago. If it's in the wild parts of\nthe country, no one there would need a dark well. P'raps there isn't\nsuch a thing.\"\n\n\"Oh, there must be!\" returned Ojo, positively; \"or else the recipe of\nDr. Pipt wouldn't call for it.\"\n\n\"That's true,\" agreed Dorothy; \"and, if it's anywhere in the Land of\nOz, we're bound to find it.\"\n\n\"Well, we're bound to search for it, anyhow,\" said the Scarecrow. \"As\nfor finding it, we must trust to luck.\"\n\n\"Don't do that,\" begged Ojo, earnestly. \"I'm called Ojo the Unlucky,\nyou know.\"\n\n\n\n\nChapter Nineteen\n\nTrouble with the Tottenhots\n\n\nA day's journey from the Emerald City brought the little band of\nadventurers to the home of Jack Pumpkinhead, which was a house formed\nfrom the shell of an immense pumpkin. Jack had made it himself and was\nvery proud of it. There was a door, and several windows, and through\nthe top was stuck a stovepipe that led from a small stove inside. The\ndoor was reached by a flight of three steps and there was a good floor\non which was arranged some furniture that was quite comfortable.\n\nIt is certain that Jack Pumpkinhead might have had a much finer house\nto live in had he wanted it, for Ozma loved the stupid fellow, who had\nbeen her earliest companion; but Jack preferred his pumpkin house, as\nit matched himself very well, and in this he was not so stupid, after\nall.\n\nThe body of this remarkable person was made of wood, branches of trees\nof various sizes having been used for the purpose. This wooden\nframework was covered by a red shirt--with white spots in it--blue\ntrousers, a yellow vest, a jacket of green-and-gold and stout leather\nshoes. The neck was a sharpened stick on which the pumpkin head was\nset, and the eyes, ears, nose and mouth were carved on the skin of the\npumpkin, very like a child's jack-o'-lantern.\n\nThe house of this interesting creation stood in the center of a vast\npumpkin-field, where the vines grew in profusion and bore pumpkins of\nextraordinary size as well as those which were smaller. Some of the\npumpkins now ripening on the vines were almost as large as Jack's\nhouse, and he told Dorothy he intended to add another pumpkin to his\nmansion.\n\nThe travelers were cordially welcomed to this quaint domicile and\ninvited to pass the night there, which they had planned to do. The\nPatchwork Girl was greatly interested in Jack and examined him\nadmiringly.\n\n\"You are quite handsome,\" she said; \"but not as really beautiful as the\nScarecrow.\"\n\nJack turned, at this, to examine the Scarecrow critically, and his old\nfriend slyly winked one painted eye at him.\n\n\"There is no accounting for tastes,\" remarked the Pumpkinhead, with a\nsigh. \"An old crow once told me I was very fascinating, but of course\nthe bird might have been mistaken. Yet I have noticed that the crows\nusually avoid the Scarecrow, who is a very honest fellow, in his way,\nbut stuffed. I am not stuffed, you will observe; my body is good solid\nhickory.\"\n\n\"I adore stuffing,\" said the Patchwork Girl.\n\n\"Well, as for that, my head is stuffed with pumpkin-seeds,\" declared\nJack. \"I use them for brains, and when they are fresh I am\nintellectual. Just now, I regret to say, my seeds are rattling a bit,\nso I must soon get another head.\"\n\n\"Oh; do you change your head?\" asked Ojo.\n\n\"To be sure. Pumpkins are not permanent, more's the pity, and in time\nthey spoil. That is why I grow such a great field of pumpkins--that I\nmay select a new head whenever necessary.\"\n\n\"Who carves the faces on them?\" inquired the boy.\n\n\"I do that myself. I lift off my old head, place it on a table before\nme, and use the face for a pattern to go by. Sometimes the faces I\ncarve are better than others--more expressive and cheerful, you\nknow--but I think they average very well.\"\n\nBefore she had started on the journey Dorothy had packed a knapsack\nwith the things she might need, and this knapsack the Scarecrow carried\nstrapped to his back. The little girl wore a plain gingham dress and a\nchecked sunbonnet, as she knew they were best fitted for travel. Ojo\nalso had brought along his basket, to which Ozma had added a bottle of\n\"Square Meal Tablets\" and some fruit. But Jack Pumpkinhead grew a lot\nof things in his garden besides pumpkins, so he cooked for them a fine\nvegetable soup and gave Dorothy, Ojo and Toto, the only ones who found\nit necessary to eat, a pumpkin pie and some green cheese. For beds they\nmust use the sweet dried grasses which Jack had strewn along one side\nof the room, but that satisfied Dorothy and Ojo very well. Toto, of\ncourse, slept beside his little mistress.\n\nThe Scarecrow, Scraps and the Pumpkinhead were tireless and had no need\nto sleep, so they sat up and talked together all night; but they stayed\noutside the house, under the bright stars, and talked in low tones so\nas not to disturb the sleepers. During the conversation the Scarecrow\nexplained their quest for a dark well, and asked Jack's advice where to\nfind it.\n\nThe Pumpkinhead considered the matter gravely.\n\n\"That is going to be a difficult task,\" said he, \"and if I were you I'd\ntake any ordinary well and enclose it, so as to make it dark.\"\n\n\"I fear that wouldn't do,\" replied the Scarecrow. \"The well must be\nnaturally dark, and the water must never have seen the light of day,\nfor otherwise the magic charm might not work at all.\"\n\n\"How much of the water do you need?\" asked Jack.\n\n\"A gill.\"\n\n\"How much is a gill?\"\n\n\"Why--a gill is a gill, of course,\" answered the Scarecrow, who did not\nwish to display his ignorance.\n\n\"I know!\" cried Scraps. \"Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch--\"\n\n\"No, no; that's wrong,\" interrupted the Scarecrow. \"There are two kinds\nof gills, I think; one is a girl, and the other is--\"\n\n\"A gillyflower,\" said Jack.\n\n\"No; a measure.\"\n\n\"How big a measure?\"\n\n\"Well, I'll ask Dorothy.\"\n\nSo next morning they asked Dorothy, and she said:\n\n\"I don't just know how much a gill is, but I've brought along a gold\nflask that holds a pint. That's more than a gill, I'm sure, and the\nCrooked Magician may measure it to suit himself. But the thing that's\nbothering us most, Jack, is to find the well.\"\n\nJack gazed around the landscape, for he was standing in the doorway of\nhis house.\n\n\"This is a flat country, so you won't find any dark wells here,\" said\nhe. \"You must go into the mountains, where rocks and caverns are.\"\n\n\"And where is that?\" asked Ojo.\n\n\"In the Quadling Country, which lies south of here,\" replied the\nScarecrow. \"I've known all along that we must go to the mountains.\"\n\n\"So have I,\" said Dorothy.\n\n\"But--goodness me!--the Quadling Country is full of dangers,\" declared\nJack. \"I've never been there myself, but--\"\n\n\"I have,\" said the Scarecrow. \"I've faced the dreadful Hammerheads,\nwhich have no arms and butt you like a goat; and I've faced the\nFighting Trees, which bend down their branches to pound and whip you,\nand had many other adventures there.\"\n\n\"It's a wild country,\" remarked Dorothy, soberly, \"and if we go there\nwe're sure to have troubles of our own. But I guess we'll have to go,\nif we want that gill of water from the dark well.\"\n\nSo they said good-bye to the Pumpkinhead and resumed their travels,\nheading now directly toward the South Country, where mountains and\nrocks and caverns and forests of great trees abounded. This part of the\nLand of Oz, while it belonged to Ozma and owed her allegiance, was so\nwild and secluded that many queer peoples hid in its jungles and lived\nin their own way, without even a knowledge that they had a Ruler in the\nEmerald City. If they were left alone, these creatures never troubled\nthe inhabitants of the rest of Oz, but those who invaded their domains\nencountered many dangers from them.\n\nIt was a two days journey from Jack Pumkinhead's house to the edge of\nthe Quadling Country, for neither Dorothy nor Ojo could walk very fast\nand they often stopped by the wayside to rest. The first night they\nslept on the broad fields, among the buttercups and daisies, and the\nScarecrow covered the children with a gauze blanket taken from his\nknapsack, so they would not be chilled by the night air. Toward evening\nof the second day they reached a sandy plain where walking was\ndifficult; but some distance before them they saw a group of palm\ntrees, with many curious black dots under them; so they trudged bravely\non to reach that place by dark and spend the night under the shelter of\nthe trees.\n\nThe black dots grew larger as they advanced and although the light was\ndim Dorothy thought they looked like big kettles turned upside down.\nJust beyond this place a jumble of huge, jagged rocks lay scattered,\nrising to the mountains behind them.\n\nOur travelers preferred to attempt to climb these rocks by daylight,\nand they realized that for a time this would be their last night on the\nplains.\n\nTwilight had fallen by the time they came to the trees, beneath which\nwere the black, circular objects they had marked from a distance.\nDozens of them were scattered around and Dorothy bent near to one,\nwhich was about as tall as she was, to examine it more closely. As she\ndid so the top flew open and out popped a dusky creature, rising its\nlength into the air and then plumping down upon the ground just beside\nthe little girl. Another and another popped out of the circular,\npot-like dwelling, while from all the other black objects came popping\nmore creatures--very like jumping-jacks when their boxes are\nunhooked--until fully a hundred stood gathered around our little group\nof travelers.\n\nBy this time Dorothy had discovered they were people, tiny and\ncuriously formed, but still people. Their skins were dusky and their\nhair stood straight up, like wires, and was brilliant scarlet in color.\nTheir bodies were bare except for skins fastened around their waists\nand they wore bracelets on their ankles and wrists, and necklaces, and\ngreat pendant earrings.\n\nToto crouched beside his mistress and wailed as if he did not like\nthese strange creatures a bit. Scraps began to mutter something about\n\"hoppity, poppity, jumpity, dump!\" but no one paid any attention to\nher. Ojo kept close to the Scarecrow and the Scarecrow kept close to\nDorothy; but the little girl turned to the queer creatures and asked:\n\n\"Who are you?\"\n\nThey answered this question all together, in a sort of chanting chorus,\nthe words being as follows:\n\n    \"We're the jolly Tottenhots;\n    We do not like the day,\n    But in the night 'tis our delight\n    To gambol, skip and play.\n\n    \"We hate the sun and from it run,\n    The moon is cool and clear,\n    So on this spot each Tottenhot\n    Waits for it to appear.\n\n    \"We're ev'ry one chock full of fun,\n    And full of mischief, too;\n    But if you're gay and with us play\n    We'll do no harm to you.\n\n\n\"Glad to meet you, Tottenhots,\" said the Scarecrow solemnly. \"But you\nmustn't expect us to play with you all night, for we've traveled all\nday and some of us are tired.\"\n\n\"And we never gamble,\" added the Patchwork Girl. \"It's against the Law.\"\n\nThese remarks were greeted with shouts of laughter by the impish\ncreatures and one seized the Scarecrow's arm and was astonished to find\nthe straw man whirl around so easily. So the Tottenhot raised the\nScarecrow high in the air and tossed him over the heads of the crowd.\nSome one caught him and tossed him back, and so with shouts of glee\nthey continued throwing the Scarecrow here and there, as if he had been\na basket-ball.\n\nPresently another imp seized Scraps and began to throw her about, in\nthe same way. They found her a little heavier than the Scarecrow but\nstill light enough to be tossed like a sofa-cushion, and they were\nenjoying the sport immensely when Dorothy, angry and indignant at the\ntreatment her friends were receiving, rushed among the Tottenhots and\nbegan slapping and pushing them until she had rescued the Scarecrow and\nthe Patchwork Girl and held them close on either side of her. Perhaps\nshe would not have accomplished this victory so easily had not Toto\nhelped her, barking and snapping at the bare legs of the imps until\nthey were glad to flee from his attack. As for Ojo, some of the\ncreatures had attempted to toss him, also, but finding his body too\nheavy they threw him to the ground and a row of the imps sat on him and\nheld him from assisting Dorothy in her battle.\n\nThe little brown folks were much surprised at being attacked by the\ngirl and the dog, and one or two who had been slapped hardest began to\ncry. Then suddenly they gave a shout, all together, and disappeared in\na flash into their various houses, the tops of which closed with a\nseries of pops that sounded like a bunch of firecrackers being exploded.\n\nThe adventurers now found themselves alone, and Dorothy asked anxiously:\n\n\"Is anybody hurt?\"\n\n\"Not me,\" answered the Scarecrow. \"They have given my straw a good\nshaking up and taken all the lumps out of it. I am now in splendid\ncondition and am really obliged to the Tottenhots for their kind\ntreatment.\"\n\n\"I feel much the same way,\" said Scraps. \"My cotton stuffing had sagged\na good deal with the day's walking and they've loosened it up until I\nfeel as plump as a sausage. But the play was a little rough and I'd had\nquite enough of it when you interfered.\"\n\n\"Six of them sat on me,\" said Ojo, \"but as they are so little they\ndidn't hurt me much.\"\n\nJust then the roof of the house in front of them opened and a Tottenhot\nstuck his head out, very cautiously, and looked at the strangers.\n\n\"Can't you take a joke?\" he asked, reproachfully; \"haven't you any fun\nin you at all?\"\n\n\"If I had such a quality,\" replied the Scarecrow, \"your people would\nhave knocked it out of me. But I don't bear grudges. I forgive you.\"\n\n\"So do I,\" added Scraps. \"That is, if you behave yourselves after this.\"\n\n\"It was just a little rough-house, that's all,\" said the Tottenhot.\n\"But the question is not if we will behave, but if you will behave? We\ncan't be shut up here all night, because this is our time to play; nor\ndo we care to come out and be chewed up by a savage beast or slapped by\nan angry girl. That slapping hurts like sixty; some of my folks are\ncrying about it. So here's the proposition: you let us alone and we'll\nlet you alone.\"\n\n\"You began it,\" declared Dorothy.\n\n\"Well, you ended it, so we won't argue the matter. May we come out\nagain? Or are you still cruel and slappy?\"\n\n\"Tell you what we'll do,\" said Dorothy. \"We're all tired and want to\nsleep until morning. If you'll let us get into your house, and stay\nthere until daylight, you can play outside all you want to.\"\n\n\"That's a bargain!\" cried the Tottenhot eagerly, and he gave a queer\nwhistle that brought his people popping out of their houses on all\nsides. When the house before them was vacant, Dorothy and Ojo leaned\nover the hole and looked in, but could see nothing because it was so\ndark. But if the Tottenhots slept there all day the children thought\nthey could sleep there at night, so Ojo lowered himself down and found\nit was not very deep.\n\n\"There's a soft cushion all over,\" said he. \"Come on in.\"\n\nDorothy handed Toto to the boy and then climbed in herself. After her\ncame Scraps and the Scarecrow, who did not wish to sleep but preferred\nto keep out of the way of the mischievous Tottenhots.\n\nThere seemed no furniture in the round den, but soft cushions were\nstrewn about the floor and these they found made very comfortable beds.\nThey did not close the hole in the roof but left it open to admit air.\nIt also admitted the shouts and ceaseless laughter of the impish\nTottenhots as they played outside, but Dorothy and Ojo, being weary\nfrom their journey, were soon fast asleep.\n\nToto kept an eye open, however, and uttered low, threatening growls\nwhenever the racket made by the creatures outside became too\nboisterous; and the Scarecrow and the Patchwork Girl sat leaning\nagainst the wall and talked in whispers all night long. No one\ndisturbed the travelers until daylight, when in popped the Tottenhot\nwho owned the place and invited them to vacate his premises.\n\n\n\n\nChapter Twenty\n\nThe Captive Yoop\n\n\nAs they were preparing to leave, Dorothy asked: \"Can you tell us where\nthere is a dark well?\"\n\n\"Never heard of such a thing,\" said the Tottenhot. \"We live our lives\nin the dark, mostly, and sleep in the daytime; but we've never seen a\ndark well, or anything like one.\"\n\n\"Does anyone live on those mountains beyond here?\" asked the Scarecrow.\n\n\"Lots of people. But you'd better not visit them. We never go there,\"\nwas the reply.\n\n\"What are the people like?\" Dorothy inquired.\n\n\"Can't say. We've been told to keep away from the mountain paths, and\nso we obey. This sandy desert is good enough for us, and we're not\ndisturbed here,\" declared the Tottenhot.\n\nSo they left the man snuggling down to sleep in his dusky dwelling, and\nwent out into the sunshine, taking the path that led toward the rocky\nplaces. They soon found it hard climbing, for the rocks were uneven and\nfull of sharp points and edges, and now there was no path at all.\nClambering here and there among the boulders they kept steadily on,\ngradually rising higher and higher until finally they came to a great\nrift in a part of the mountain, where the rock seemed to have split in\ntwo and left high walls on either side.\n\n\"S'pose we go this way,\" suggested Dorothy; \"it's much easier walking\nthan to climb over the hills.\"\n\n\"How about that sign?\" asked Ojo.\n\n\"What sign?\" she inquired.\n\nThe Munchkin boy pointed to some words painted on the wall of rock\nbeside them, which Dorothy had not noticed. The words read:\n\n    \"LOOK OUT FOR YOOP.\"\n\n\nThe girl eyed this sign a moment and turned to the Scarecrow, asking:\n\n\"Who is Yoop; or what is Yoop?\"\n\nThe straw man shook his head. Then looked at Toto and the dog said\n\"Woof!\"\n\n\"Only way to find out is to go on,\" said Scraps.\n\nThis being quite true, they went on. As they proceeded, the walls of\nrock on either side grew higher and higher. Presently they came upon\nanother sign which read:\n\n    \"BEWARE THE CAPTIVE YOOP.\"\n\n\n\"Why, as for that,\" remarked Dorothy, \"if Yoop is a captive there's no\nneed to beware of him. Whatever Yoop happens to be, I'd much rather\nhave him a captive than running around loose.\"\n\n\"So had I,\" agreed the Scarecrow, with a nod of his painted head.\n\n\"Still,\" said Scraps, reflectively:\n\n    \"Yoop-te-hoop-te-loop-te-goop!\n    Who put noodles in the soup?\n    We may beware but we don't care,\n    And dare go where we scare the Yoop.\"\n\n\n\"Dear me! Aren't you feeling a little queer, just now?\" Dorothy asked\nthe Patchwork Girl.\n\n\"Not queer, but crazy,\" said Ojo. \"When she says those things I'm sure\nher brains get mixed somehow and work the wrong way.\n\n\"I don't see why we are told to beware the Yoop unless he is\ndangerous,\" observed the Scarecrow in a puzzled tone.\n\n\"Never mind; we'll find out all about him when we get to where he is,\"\nreplied the little girl.\n\nThe narrow canyon turned and twisted this way and that, and the rift\nwas so small that they were able to touch both walls at the same time\nby stretching out their arms. Toto had run on ahead, frisking\nplayfully, when suddenly he uttered a sharp bark of fear and came\nrunning back to them with his tail between his legs, as dogs do when\nthey are frightened.\n\n\"Ah,\" said the Scarecrow, who was leading the way, \"we must be near\nYoop.\"\n\nJust then, as he rounded a sharp turn, the Straw man stopped so\nsuddenly that all the others bumped against him.\n\n\"What is it?\" asked Dorothy, standing on tip-toes to look over his\nshoulder. But then she saw what it was and cried \"Oh!\" in a tone of\nastonishment.\n\nIn one of the rock walls--that at their left--was hollowed a great\ncavern, in front of which was a row of thick iron bars, the tops and\nbottoms being firmly fixed in the solid rock. Over this cavern was a\nbig sign, which Dorothy read with much curiosity, speaking the words\naloud that all might know what they said:\n\n    \"MISTER YOOP--HIS CAVE\n\n    The Largest Untamed Giant in Captivity.\n    Height, 21 Feet.--(And yet he has but 2 feet.)\n    Weight, 1640 Pounds.--(But he waits all the time.)\n    Age, 400 Years 'and Up' (as they say in the\n      Department Store advertisements).\n    Temper, Fierce and Ferocious.--(Except when asleep.)\n    Appetite, Ravenous.--(Prefers Meat People and\n      Orange Marmalade.)\n\n    STRANGERS APPROACHING THIS CAVE DO SO AT THEIR\n      OWN PERIL!\n\n    P.S.--Don't feed the Giant yourself.\"\n\n\n\"Very well,\" said Ojo, with a sigh; \"let's go back.\"\n\n\"It's a long way back,\" declared Dorothy.\n\n\"So it is,\" remarked the Scarecrow, \"and it means a tedious climb over\nthose sharp rocks if we can't use this passage. I think it will be best\nto run by the Giant's cave as fast as we can go. Mister Yoop seems to\nbe asleep just now.\"\n\nBut the Giant wasn't asleep. He suddenly appeared at the front of his\ncavern, seized the iron bars in his great hairy hands and shook them\nuntil they rattled in their sockets. Yoop was so tall that our friends\nhad to tip their heads way back to look into his face, and they noticed\nhe was dressed all in pink velvet, with silver buttons and braid. The\nGiant's boots were of pink leather and had tassels on them and his hat\nwas decorated with an enormous pink ostrich feather, carefully curled.\n\n\"Yo-ho!\" he said in a deep bass voice; \"I smell dinner.\"\n\n\"I think you are mistaken,\" replied the Scarecrow. \"There is no orange\nmarmalade around here.\"\n\n\"Ah, but I eat other things,\" asserted Mister Yoop. \"That is, I eat\nthem when I can get them. But this is a lonely place, and no good meat\nhas passed by my cave for many years; so I'm hungry.\"\n\n\"Haven't you eaten anything in many years?\" asked Dorothy.\n\n\"Nothing except six ants and a monkey. I thought the monkey would taste\nlike meat people, but the flavor was different. I hope you will taste\nbetter, for you seem plump and tender.\"\n\n\"Oh, I'm not going to be eaten,\" said Dorothy.\n\n\"Why not?\"\n\n\"I shall keep out of your way,\" she answered.\n\n\"How heartless!\" wailed the Giant, shaking the bars again. \"Consider\nhow many years it is since I've eaten a single plump little girl! They\ntell me meat is going up, but if I can manage to catch you I'm sure it\nwill soon be going down. And I'll catch you if I can.\"\n\nWith this the Giant pushed his big arms, which looked like tree-trunks\n(except that tree-trunks don't wear pink velvet) between the iron bars,\nand the arms were so long that they touched the opposite wall of the\nrock passage. Then he extended them as far as he could reach toward our\ntravelers and found he could almost touch the Scarecrow--but not quite.\n\n\"Come a little nearer, please,\" begged the Giant.\n\n\"I'm a Scarecrow.\"\n\n\"A Scarecrow? Ugh! I don't care a straw for a scarecrow. Who is that\nbright-colored delicacy behind you?\"\n\n\"Me?\" asked Scraps. \"I'm a Patchwork Girl, and I'm stuffed with cotton.\"\n\n\"Dear me,\" sighed the Giant in a disappointed tone; \"that reduces my\ndinner from four to two--and the dog. I'll save the dog for dessert.\"\n\nToto growled, keeping a good distance away.\n\n\"Back up,\" said the Scarecrow to those behind him. \"Let us go back a\nlittle way and talk this over.\"\n\nSo they turned and went around the bend in the passage, where they were\nout of sight of the cave and Mister Yoop could not hear them.\n\n\"My idea,\" began the Scarecrow, when they had halted, \"is to make a\ndash past the cave, going on a run.\"\n\n\"He'd grab us,\" said Dorothy.\n\n\"Well, he can't grab but one at a time, and I'll go first. As soon as\nhe grabs me the rest of you can slip past him, out of his reach, and he\nwill soon let me go because I am not fit to eat.\"\n\nThey decided to try this plan and Dorothy took Toto in her arms, so as\nto protect him. She followed just after the Scarecrow. Then came Ojo,\nwith Scraps the last of the four. Their hearts beat a little faster\nthan usual as they again approached the Giant's cave, this time moving\nswiftly forward.\n\nIt turned out about the way the Scarecrow had planned. Mister Yoop was\nquite astonished to see them come flying toward him, and thrusting his\narms between the bars he seized the Scarecrow in a firm grip. In the\nnext instant he realized, from the way the straw crunched between his\nfingers, that he had captured the non-eatable man, but during that\ninstant of delay Dorothy and Ojo had slipped by the Giant and were out\nof reach. Uttering a howl of rage the monster threw the Scarecrow after\nthem with one hand and grabbed Scraps with the other.\n\nThe poor Scarecrow went whirling through the air and so cleverly was he\naimed that he struck Ojo's back and sent the boy tumbling head over\nheels, and he tripped Dorothy and sent her, also, sprawling upon the\nground. Toto flew out of the little girl's arms and landed some\ndistance ahead, and all were so dazed that it was a moment before they\ncould scramble to their feet again. When they did so they turned to\nlook toward the Giant's cave, and at that moment the ferocious Mister\nYoop threw the Patchwork Girl at them.\n\nDown went all three again, in a heap, with Scraps on top. The Giant\nroared so terribly that for a time they were afraid he had broken\nloose; but he hadn't. So they sat in the road and looked at one another\nin a rather bewildered way, and then began to feel glad.\n\n\"We did it!\" exclaimed the Scarecrow, with satisfaction. \"And now we\nare free to go on our way.\"\n\n\"Mister Yoop is very impolite,\" declared Scraps. \"He jarred me\nterribly. It's lucky my stitches are so fine and strong, for otherwise\nsuch harsh treatment might rip me up the back.\"\n\n\"Allow me to apologize for the Giant,\" said the Scarecrow, raising the\nPatchwork Girl to her feet and dusting her skirt with his stuffed\nhands. \"Mister Yoop is a perfect stranger to me, but I fear, from the\nrude manner in which he has acted, that he is no gentleman.\"\n\nDorothy and Ojo laughed at this statement and Toto barked as if he\nunderstood the joke, after which they all felt better and resumed the\njourney in high spirits.\n\n\"Of course,\" said the little girl, when they had walked a way along the\npassage, \"it was lucky for us the Giant was caged; for, if he had\nhappened to be loose, he--he--\"\n\n\"Perhaps, in that case, he wouldn't be hungry any more,\" said Ojo\ngravely.\n\n\n\n\nChapter Twenty-One\n\nHip Hopper the Champion\n\n\nThey must have had good courage to climb all those rocks, for after\ngetting out of the canyon they encountered more rock hills to be\nsurmounted. Toto could jump from one rock to another quite easily, but\nthe others had to creep and climb with care, so that after a whole day\nof such work Dorothy and Ojo found themselves very tired.\n\nAs they gazed upward at the great mass of tumbled rocks that covered\nthe steep incline, Dorothy gave a little groan and said:\n\n\"That's going to be a ter'ble hard climb, Scarecrow. I wish we could\nfind the dark well without so much trouble.\"\n\n\"Suppose,\" said Ojo, \"you wait here and let me do the climbing, for\nit's on my account we're searching for the dark well. Then, if I don't\nfind anything, I'll come back and join you.\"\n\n\"No,\" replied the little girl, shaking her head positively, \"we'll all\ngo together, for that way we can help each other. If you went alone,\nsomething might happen to you, Ojo.\"\n\nSo they began the climb and found it indeed difficult, for a way. But\npresently, in creeping over the big crags, they found a path at their\nfeet which wound in and out among the masses of rock and was quite\nsmooth and easy to walk upon. As the path gradually ascended the\nmountain, although in a roundabout way, they decided to follow it.\n\n\"This must be the road to the Country of the Hoppers,\" said the\nScarecrow.\n\n\"Who are the Hoppers?\" asked Dorothy.\n\n\"Some people Jack Pumpkinhead told me about,\" he replied.\n\n\"I didn't hear him,\" replied the girl.\n\n\"No; you were asleep,\" explained the Scarecrow. \"But he told Scraps and\nme that the Hoppers and the Horners live on this mountain.\"\n\n\"He said in the mountain,\" declared Scraps; \"but of course he meant on\nit.\"\n\n\"Didn't he say what the Hoppers and Horners were like?\" inquired\nDorothy.\n\n\"No; he only said they were two separate nations, and that the Horners\nwere the most important.\"\n\n\"Well, if we go to their country we'll find out all about 'em,\" said\nthe girl. \"But I've never heard Ozma mention those people, so they\ncan't be very important.\"\n\n\"Is this mountain in the Land of Oz?\" asked Scraps.\n\n\"Course it is,\" answered Dorothy. \"It's in the South Country of the\nQuadlings. When one comes to the edge of Oz, in any direction, there is\nnothing more to be seen at all. Once you could see sandy desert all\naround Oz; but now it's diff'rent, and no other people can see us, any\nmore than we can see them.\"\n\n\"If the mountain is under Ozma's rule, why doesn't she know about the\nHoppers and the Horners?\" Ojo asked.\n\n\"Why, it's a fairyland,\" explained Dorothy, \"and lots of queer people\nlive in places so tucked away that those in the Emerald City never even\nhear of 'em. In the middle of the country it's diff'rent, but when you\nget around the edges you're sure to run into strange little corners\nthat surprise you. I know, for I've traveled in Oz a good deal, and so\nhas the Scarecrow.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" admitted the straw man, \"I've been considerable of a traveler,\nin my time, and I like to explore strange places. I find I learn much\nmore by traveling than by staying at home.\"\n\nDuring this conversation they had been walking up the steep pathway and\nnow found themselves well up on the mountain. They could see nothing\naround them, for the rocks beside their path were higher than their\nheads. Nor could they see far in front of them, because the path was so\ncrooked. But suddenly they stopped, because the path ended and there\nwas no place to go. Ahead was a big rock lying against the side of the\nmountain, and this blocked the way completely.\n\n\"There wouldn't be a path, though, if it didn't go somewhere,\" said the\nScarecrow, wrinkling his forehead in deep thought.\n\n\"This is somewhere, isn't it?\" asked the Patchwork Girl, laughing at\nthe bewildered looks of the others.\n\n    \"The path is locked, the way is blocked,\n    Yet here we've innocently flocked;\n    And now we're here it's rather queer\n    There's no front door that can be knocked.\"\n\n\n\"Please don't, Scraps,\" said Ojo. \"You make me nervous.\"\n\n\"Well,\" said Dorothy, \"I'm glad of a little rest, for that's a drea'ful\nsteep path.\"\n\nAs she spoke she leaned against the edge of the big rock that stood in\ntheir way. To her surprise it slowly swung backward and showed behind\nit a dark hole that looked like the mouth of a tunnel.\n\n\"Why, here's where the path goes to!\" she exclaimed.\n\n\"So it is,\" answered the Scarecrow. \"But the question is, do we want to\ngo where the path does?\"\n\n\"It's underground; right inside the mountain,\" said Ojo, peering into\nthe dark hole. \"Perhaps there's a well there; and, if there is, it's\nsure to be a dark one.\"\n\n\"Why, that's true enough!\" cried Dorothy with eagerness. \"Let's go in,\nScarecrow; 'cause, if others have gone, we're pretty safe to go, too.\"\n\nToto looked in and barked, but he did not venture to enter until the\nScarecrow had bravely gone first. Scraps followed closely after the\nstraw man and then Ojo and Dorothy timidly stepped inside the tunnel.\nAs soon as all of them had passed the big rock, it slowly turned and\nfilled up the opening again; but now they were no longer in the dark,\nfor a soft, rosy light enabled them to see around them quite distinctly.\n\nIt was only a passage, wide enough for two of them to walk\nabreast--with Toto in between them--and it had a high, arched roof.\nThey could not see where the light which flooded the place so\npleasantly came from, for there were no lamps anywhere visible. The\npassage ran straight for a little way and then made a bend to the right\nand another sharp turn to the left, after which it went straight again.\nBut there were no side passages, so they could not lose their way.\n\nAfter proceeding some distance, Toto, who had gone on ahead, began to\nbark loudly. They ran around a bend to see what was the matter and\nfound a man sitting on the floor of the passage and leaning his back\nagainst the wall. He had probably been asleep before Toto's barks\naroused him, for he was now rubbing his eyes and staring at the little\ndog with all his might.\n\nThere was something about this man that Toto objected to, and when he\nslowly rose to his foot they saw what it was. He had but one leg, set\njust below the middle of his round, fat body; but it was a stout leg\nand had a broad, flat foot at the bottom of it, on which the man seemed\nto stand very well. He had never had but this one leg, which looked\nsomething like a pedestal, and when Toto ran up and made a grab at the\nman's ankle he hopped first one way and then another in a very active\nmanner, looking so frightened that Scraps laughed aloud.\n\nToto was usually a well behaved dog, but this time he was angry and\nsnapped at the man's leg again and again. This filled the poor fellow\nwith fear, and in hopping out of Toto's reach he suddenly lost his\nbalance and tumbled heel over head upon the floor. When he sat up he\nkicked Toto on the nose and made the dog howl angrily, but Dorothy now\nran forward and caught Toto's collar, holding him back.\n\n\"Do you surrender?\" she asked the man.\n\n\"Who? Me?\" asked the Hopper.\n\n\"Yes; you,\" said the little girl.\n\n\"Am I captured?\" he inquired.\n\n\"Of course. My dog has captured you,\" she said.\n\n\"Well,\" replied the man, \"if I'm captured I must surrender, for it's\nthe proper thing to do. I like to do everything proper, for it saves\none a lot of trouble.\"\n\n\"It does, indeed,\" said Dorothy. \"Please tell us who you are.\"\n\n\"I'm Hip Hopper--Hip Hopper, the Champion.\"\n\n\"Champion what?\" she asked in surprise.\n\n\"Champion wrestler. I'm a very strong man, and that ferocious animal\nwhich you are so kindly holding is the first living thing that has ever\nconquered me.\"\n\n\"And you are a Hopper?\" she continued.\n\n\"Yes. My people live in a great city not far from here. Would you like\nto visit it?\"\n\n\"I'm not sure,\" she said with hesitation. \"Have you any dark wells in\nyour city?\"\n\n\"I think not. We have wells, you know, but they're all well lighted,\nand a well lighted well cannot well be a dark well. But there may be\nsuch a thing as a very dark well in the Horner Country, which is a\nblack spot on the face of the earth.\"\n\n\"Where is the Horner Country?\" Ojo inquired.\n\n\"The other side of the mountain. There's a fence between the Hopper\nCountry and the Horner Country, and a gate in the fence; but you can't\npass through just now, because we are at war with the Horners.\"\n\n\"That's too bad,\" said the Scarecrow. \"What seems to be the trouble?\"\n\n\"Why, one of them made a very insulting remark about my people. He said\nwe were lacking in understanding, because we had only one leg to a\nperson. I can't see that legs have anything to do with understanding\nthings. The Horners each have two legs, just as you have. That's one\nleg too many, it seems to me.\"\n\n\"No,\" declared Dorothy, \"it's just the right number.\"\n\n\"You don't need them,\" argued the Hopper, obstinately. \"You've only one\nhead, and one body, and one nose and mouth. Two legs are quite\nunnecessary, and they spoil one's shape.\"\n\n\"But how can you walk, with only one leg?\" asked Ojo.\n\n\"Walk! Who wants to walk?\" exclaimed the man. \"Walking is a terribly\nawkward way to travel. I hop, and so do all my people. It's so much\nmore graceful and agreeable than walking.\"\n\n\"I don't agree with you,\" said the Scarecrow. \"But tell me, is there\nany way to get to the Horner Country without going through the city of\nthe Hoppers?\"\n\n\"Yes; there is another path from the rocky lowlands, outside the\nmountain, that leads straight to the entrance of the Horner Country.\nBut it's a long way around, so you'd better come with me. Perhaps they\nwill allow you to go through the gate; but we expect to conquer them\nthis afternoon, if we get time, and then you may go and come as you\nplease.\"\n\nThey thought it best to take the Hopper's advice, and asked him to lead\nthe way. This he did in a series of hops, and he moved so swiftly in\nthis strange manner that those with two legs had to run to keep up with\nhim.\n\n\n\n\nChapter Twenty-Two\n\nThe Joking Horners\n\n\nIt was not long before they left the passage and came to a great cave,\nso high that it must have reached nearly to the top of the mountain\nwithin which it lay. It was a magnificent cave, illumined by the soft,\ninvisible light, so that everything in it could be plainly seen. The\nwalls were of polished marble, white with veins of delicate colors\nrunning through it, and the roof was arched and fantastic and beautiful.\n\nBuilt beneath this vast dome was a pretty village--not very large, for\nthere seemed not more than fifty houses altogether--and the dwellings\nwere of marble and artistically designed. No grass nor flowers nor\ntrees grew in this cave, so the yards surrounding the houses carved in\ndesigns both were smooth and bare and had low walls around them to mark\ntheir boundaries.\n\nIn the streets and the yards of the houses were many people all having\none leg growing below their bodies and all hopping here and there\nwhenever they moved. Even the children stood firmly upon their single\nlegs and never lost their balance.\n\n\"All hail, Champion!\" cried a man in the first group of Hoppers they\nmet; \"whom have you captured?\"\n\n\"No one,\" replied the Champion in a gloomy voice; \"these strangers have\ncaptured me.\"\n\n\"Then,\" said another, \"we will rescue you, and capture them, for we are\ngreater in number.\"\n\n\"No,\" answered the Champion, \"I can't allow it. I've surrendered, and\nit isn't polite to capture those you've surrendered to.\"\n\n\"Never mind that,\" said Dorothy. \"We will give you your liberty and set\nyou free.\"\n\n\"Really?\" asked the Champion in joyous tones.\n\n\"Yes,\" said the little girl; \"your people may need you to help conquer\nthe Horners.\"\n\nAt this all the Hoppers looked downcast and sad. Several more had\njoined the group by this time and quite a crowd of curious men, women\nand children surrounded the strangers.\n\n\"This war with our neighbors is a terrible thing,\" remarked one of the\nwomen. \"Some one is almost sure to get hurt.\"\n\n\"Why do you say that, madam?\" inquired the Scarecrow.\n\n\"Because the horns of our enemies are sharp, and in battle they will\ntry to stick those horns into our warriors,\" she replied.\n\n\"How many horns do the Horners have?\" asked Dorothy.\n\n\"Each has one horn in the center of his forehead,\" was the answer.\n\n\"Oh, then they're unicorns,\" declared the Scarecrow.\n\n\"No; they're Horners. We never go to war with them if we can help it,\non account of their dangerous horns; but this insult was so great and\nso unprovoked that our brave men decided to fight, in order to be\nrevenged,\" said the woman.\n\n\"What weapons do you fight with?\" the Scarecrow asked.\n\n\"We have no weapons,\" explained the Champion. \"Whenever we fight the\nHorners, our plan is to push them back, for our arms are longer than\ntheirs.\"\n\n\"Then you are better armed,\" said Scraps.\n\n\"Yes; but they have those terrible horns, and unless we are careful\nthey prick us with the points,\" returned the Champion with a shudder.\n\"That makes a war with them dangerous, and a dangerous war cannot be a\npleasant one.\"\n\n\"I see very clearly,\" remarked the Scarecrow, \"that you are going to\nhave trouble in conquering those Horners--unless we help you.\"\n\n\"Oh!\" cried the Hoppers in a chorus; \"can you help us? Please do! We\nwill be greatly obliged! It would please us very much!\" and by these\nexclamations the Scarecrow knew that his speech had met with favor.\n\n\"How far is it to the Horner Country?\" he asked.\n\n\"Why, it's just the other side of the fence,\" they answered, and the\nChampion added:\n\n\"Come with me, please, and I'll show you the Horners.\"\n\nSo they followed the Champion and several others through the streets\nand just beyond the village came to a very high picket fence, built all\nof marble, which seemed to divide the great cave into two equal parts.\n\nBut the part inhabited by the Horners was in no way as grand in\nappearance as that of the Hoppers. Instead of being marble, the walls\nand roof were of dull gray rock and the square houses were plainly made\nof the same material. But in extent the city was much larger than that\nof the Hoppers and the streets were thronged with numerous people who\nbusied themselves in various ways.\n\nLooking through the open pickets of the fence our friends watched the\nHorners, who did not know they were being watched by strangers, and\nfound them very unusual in appearance. They were little folks in size\nand had bodies round as balls and short legs and arms. Their heads were\nround, too, and they had long, pointed ears and a horn set in the\ncenter of the forehead. The horns did not seem very terrible, for they\nwere not more than six inches long; but they were ivory white and sharp\npointed, and no wonder the Hoppers feared them.\n\nThe skins of the Horners were light brown, but they wore snow-white\nrobes and were bare-footed. Dorothy thought the most striking thing\nabout them was their hair, which grew in three distinct colors on each\nand every head--red, yellow and green. The red was at the bottom and\nsometimes hung over their eyes; then came a broad circle of yellow and\nthe green was at the top and formed a brush-shaped top-knot.\n\nNone of the Horners was yet aware of the presence of strangers, who\nwatched the little brown people for a time and then went to the big\ngate in the center of the dividing fence. It was locked on both sides\nand over the latch was a sign reading:\n\n    \"WAR IS DECLARED\"\n\n\n\"Can't we go through?\" asked Dorothy.\n\n\"Not now,\" answered the Champion.\n\n\"I think,\" said the Scarecrow, \"that if I could talk with those Horners\nthey would apologize to you, and then there would be no need to fight.\"\n\n\"Can't you talk from this side?\" asked the Champion.\n\n\"Not so well,\" replied the Scarecrow. \"Do you suppose you could throw\nme over that fence? It is high, but I am very light.\"\n\n\"We can try it,\" said the Hopper. \"I am perhaps the strongest man in my\ncountry, so I'll undertake to do the throwing. But I won't promise you\nwill land on your feet.\"\n\n\"No matter about that,\" returned the Scarecrow. \"Just toss me over and\nI'll be satisfied.\"\n\nSo the Champion picked up the Scarecrow and balanced him a moment, to\nsee how much he weighed, and then with all his strength tossed him high\ninto the air.\n\nPerhaps if the Scarecrow had been a trifle heavier he would have been\neasier to throw and would have gone a greater distance; but, as it was,\ninstead of going over the fence he landed just on top of it, and one of\nthe sharp pickets caught him in the middle of his back and held him\nfast prisoner. Had he been face downward the Scarecrow might have\nmanaged to free himself, but lying on his back on the picket his hands\nwaved in the air of the Horner Country while his feet kicked the air of\nthe Hopper Country; so there he was.\n\n\"Are you hurt?\" called the Patchwork Girl anxiously.\n\n\"Course not,\" said Dorothy. \"But if he wiggles that way he may tear his\nclothes. How can we get him down, Mr. Champion?\"\n\nThe Champion shook his head.\n\n\"I don't know,\" he confessed. \"If he could scare Horners as well as he\ndoes crows, it might be a good idea to leave him there.\"\n\n\"This is terrible,\" said Ojo, almost ready to cry. \"I s'pose it's\nbecause I am Ojo the Unlucky that everyone who tries to help me gets\ninto trouble.\"\n\n\"You are lucky to have anyone to help you,\" declared Dorothy. \"But\ndon't worry. We'll rescue the Scarecrow somehow.\"\n\n\"I know how,\" announced Scraps. \"Here, Mr. Champion; just throw me up\nto the Scarecrow. I'm nearly as light as he is, and when I'm on top the\nfence I'll pull our friend off the picket and toss him down to you.\"\n\n\"All right,\" said the Champion, and he picked up the Patchwork Girl and\nthrew her in the same manner he had the Scarecrow. He must have used\nmore strength this time, however, for Scraps sailed far over the top of\nthe fence and, without being able to grab the Scarecrow at all, tumbled\nto the ground in the Horner Country, where her stuffed body knocked\nover two men and a woman and made a crowd that had collected there run\nlike rabbits to get away from her.\n\nSeeing the next moment that she was harmless, the people slowly\nreturned and gathered around the Patchwork Girl, regarding her with\nastonishment. One of them wore a jeweled star in his hair, just above\nhis horn, and this seemed a person of importance. He spoke for the rest\nof his people, who treated him with great respect.\n\n\"Who are you, Unknown Being?\" he asked.\n\n\"Scraps,\" she said, rising to her feet and patting her cotton wadding\nsmooth where it had bunched up.\n\n\"And where did you come from?\" he continued.\n\n\"Over the fence. Don't be silly. There's no other place I could have\ncome from,\" she replied.\n\nHe looked at her thoughtfully.\n\n\"You are not a Hopper,\" said he, \"for you have two legs. They're not\nvery well shaped, but they are two in number. And that strange creature\non top the fence--why doesn't he stop kicking?--must be your brother,\nor father, or son, for he also has two legs.\"\n\n\"You must have been to visit the Wise Donkey,\" said Scraps, laughing so\nmerrily that the crowd smiled with her, in sympathy. \"But that reminds\nme, Captain--or King--\"\n\n\"I am Chief of the Horners, and my name is Jak.\"\n\n\"Of course; Little Jack Horner; I might have known it. But the reason I\nvolplaned over the fence was so I could have a talk with you about the\nHoppers.\"\n\n\"What about the Hoppers?\" asked the Chief, frowning.\n\n\"You've insulted them, and you'd better beg their pardon,\" said Scraps.\n\"If you don't, they'll probably hop over here and conquer you.\"\n\n\"We're not afraid--as long as the gate is locked,\" declared the Chief.\n\"And we didn't insult them at all. One of us made a joke that the\nstupid Hoppers couldn't see.\"\n\nThe Chief smiled as he said this and the smile made his face look quite\njolly.\n\n\"What was the joke?\" asked Scraps.\n\n\"A Horner said they have less understanding than we, because they've\nonly one leg. Ha, ha! You see the point, don't you? If you stand on\nyour legs, and your legs are under you, then--ha, ha, ha!--then your\nlegs are your under-standing. Hee, hee, hee! Ho, ho! My, but that's a\nfine joke. And the stupid Hoppers couldn't see it! They couldn't see\nthat with only one leg they must have less under-standing than we who\nhave two legs. Ha, ha, ha! Hee, hee! Ho, ho!\" The Chief wiped the tears\nof laughter from his eyes with the bottom hem of his white robe, and\nall the other Horners wiped their eyes on their robes, for they had\nlaughed just as heartily as their Chief at the absurd joke.\n\n\"Then,\" said Scraps, \"their understanding of the understanding you\nmeant led to the misunderstanding.\"\n\n\"Exactly; and so there's no need for us to apologize,\" returned the\nChief.\n\n\"No need for an apology, perhaps, but much need for an explanation,\"\nsaid Scraps decidedly. \"You don't want war, do you?\"\n\n\"Not if we can help it,\" admitted Jak Horner. \"The question is, who's\ngoing to explain the joke to the Horners? You know it spoils any joke\nto be obliged to explain it, and this is the best joke I ever heard.\"\n\n\"Who made the joke?\" asked Scraps.\n\n\"Diksey Horner. He is working in the mines, just now, but he'll be home\nbefore long. Suppose we wait and talk with him about it? Maybe he'll be\nwilling to explain his joke to the Hoppers.\"\n\n\"All right,\" said Scraps. \"I'll wait, if Diksey isn't too long.\"\n\n\"No, he's short; he's shorter than I am. Ha, ha, ha! Say! that's a\nbetter joke than Diksey's. He won't be too long, because he's short.\nHee, hee, ho!\"\n\nThe other Horners who were standing by roared with laughter and seemed\nto like their Chief's joke as much as he did. Scraps thought it was odd\nthat they could be so easily amused, but decided there could be little\nharm in people who laughed so merrily.\n\n\n\n\nChapter Twenty-Three\n\nPeace Is Declared\n\n\n\"Come with me to my dwelling and I'll introduce you to my daughters,\"\nsaid the Chief. \"We're bringing them up according to a book of rules\nthat was written by one of our leading old bachelors, and everyone says\nthey're a remarkable lot of girls.\"\n\nSo Scraps accompanied him along the street to a house that seemed on\nthe outside exceptionally grimy and dingy. The streets of this city\nwere not paved nor had any attempt been made to beautify the houses or\ntheir surroundings, and having noticed this condition Scraps was\nastonished when the Chief ushered her into his home.\n\nHere was nothing grimy or faded, indeed. On the contrary, the room was\nof dazzling brilliance and beauty, for it was lined throughout with an\nexquisite metal that resembled translucent frosted silver. The surface\nof this metal was highly ornamented in raised designs representing men,\nanimals, flowers and trees, and from the metal itself was radiated the\nsoft light which flooded the room. All the furniture was made of the\nsame glorious metal, and Scraps asked what it was.\n\n\"That's radium,\" answered the Chief. \"We Horners spend all our time\ndigging radium from the mines under this mountain, and we use it to\ndecorate our homes and make them pretty and cosy. It is a medicine,\ntoo, and no one can ever be sick who lives near radium.\"\n\n\"Have you plenty of it?\" asked the Patchwork Girl.\n\n\"More than we can use. All the houses in this city are decorated with\nit, just the same as mine is.\"\n\n\"Why don't you use it on your streets, then, and the outside of your\nhouses, to make them as pretty as they are within?\" she inquired.\n\n\"Outside? Who cares for the outside of anything?\" asked the Chief. \"We\nHorners don't live on the outside of our homes; we live inside. Many\npeople are like those stupid Hoppers, who love to make an outside show.\nI suppose you strangers thought their city more beautiful than ours,\nbecause you judged from appearances and they have handsome marble\nhouses and marble streets; but if you entered one of their stiff\ndwellings you would find it bare and uncomfortable, as all their show\nis on the outside. They have an idea that what is not seen by others is\nnot important, but with us the rooms we live in are our chief delight\nand care, and we pay no attention to outside show.\"\n\n\"Seems to me,\" said Scraps, musingly, \"it would be better to make it\nall pretty--inside and out.\"\n\n\"Seems? Why, you're all seams, my girl!\" said the Chief; and then he\nlaughed heartily at his latest joke and a chorus of small voices echoed\nthe chorus with \"tee-hee-hee! ha, ha!\"\n\nScraps turned around and found a row of girls seated in radium chairs\nranged along one wall of the room. There were nineteen of them, by\nactual count, and they were of all sizes from a tiny child to one\nalmost a grown woman. All were neatly dressed in spotless white robes\nand had brown skins, horns on their foreheads and three-colored hair.\n\n\"These,\" said the Chief, \"are my sweet daughters. My dears, I introduce\nto you Miss Scraps Patchwork, a lady who is traveling in foreign parts\nto increase her store of wisdom.\"\n\nThe nineteen Horner girls all arose and made a polite curtsey, after\nwhich they resumed their seats and rearranged their robes properly.\n\n\"Why do they sit so still, and all in a row?\" asked Scraps.\n\n\"Because it is ladylike and proper,\" replied the Chief.\n\n\"But some are just children, poor things! Don't they ever run around\nand play and laugh, and have a good time?\"\n\n\"No, indeed,\" said the Chief. \"That would be improper in young ladies,\nas well as in those who will sometime become young ladies. My daughters\nare being brought up according to the rules and regulations laid down\nby a leading bachelor who has given the subject much study and is\nhimself a man of taste and culture. Politeness is his great hobby, and\nhe claims that if a child is allowed to do an impolite thing one cannot\nexpect the grown person to do anything better.\"\n\n\"Is it impolite to romp and shout and be jolly?\" asked Scraps.\n\n\"Well, sometimes it is, and sometimes it isn't,\" replied the Horner,\nafter considering the question. \"By curbing such inclinations in my\ndaughters we keep on the safe side. Once in a while I make a good joke,\nas you have heard, and then I permit my daughters to laugh decorously;\nbut they are never allowed to make a joke themselves.\"\n\n\"That old bachelor who made the rules ought to be skinned alive!\"\ndeclared Scraps, and would have said more on the subject had not the\ndoor opened to admit a little Horner man whom the Chief introduced as\nDiksey.\n\n\"What's up, Chief?\" asked Diksey, winking nineteen times at the\nnineteen girls, who demurely cast down their eyes because their father\nwas looking.\n\nThe Chief told the man that his joke had not been understood by the\ndull Hoppers, who had become so angry that they had declared war. So\nthe only way to avoid a terrible battle was to explain the joke so they\ncould understand it.\n\n\"All right,\" replied Diksey, who seemed a good-natured man; \"I'll go at\nonce to the fence and explain. I don't want any war with the Hoppers,\nfor wars between nations always cause hard feelings.\"\n\nSo the Chief and Diksey and Scraps left the house and went back to the\nmarble picket fence. The Scarecrow was still stuck on the top of his\npicket but had now ceased to struggle. On the other side of the fence\nwere Dorothy and Ojo, looking between the pickets; and there, also,\nwere the Champion and many other Hoppers.\n\nDiksey went close to the fence and said:\n\n\"My good Hoppers, I wish to explain that what I said about you was a\njoke. You have but one leg each, and we have two legs each. Our legs\nare under us, whether one or two, and we stand on them. So, when I said\nyou had less understanding than we, I did not mean that you had less\nunderstanding, you understand, but that you had less standundering, so\nto speak. Do you understand that?\"\n\nThe Hoppers thought it over carefully. Then one said:\n\n\"That is clear enough; but where does the joke come in?'\"\n\nDorothy laughed, for she couldn't help it, although all the others were\nsolemn enough.\n\n\"I'll tell you where the joke comes in,\" she said, and took the Hoppers\naway to a distance, where the Horners could not hear them. \"You know,\"\nshe then explained, \"those neighbors of yours are not very bright, poor\nthings, and what they think is a joke isn't a joke at all--it's true,\ndon't you see?\"\n\n\"True that we have less understanding?\" asked the Champion.\n\n\"Yes; it's true because you don't understand such a poor joke; if you\ndid, you'd be no wiser than they are.\"\n\n\"Ah, yes; of course,\" they answered, looking very wise.\n\n\"So I'll tell you what to do,\" continued Dorothy. \"Laugh at their poor\njoke and tell 'em it's pretty good for a Horner. Then they won't dare\nsay you have less understanding, because you understand as much as they\ndo.\"\n\nThe Hoppers looked at one another questioningly and blinked their eyes\nand tried to think what it all meant; but they couldn't figure it out.\n\n\"What do you think, Champion?\" asked one of them.\n\n\"I think it is dangerous to think of this thing any more than we can\nhelp,\" he replied. \"Let us do as this girl says and laugh with the\nHorners, so as to make them believe we see the joke. Then there will be\npeace again and no need to fight.\"\n\nThey readily agreed to this and returned to the fence laughing as loud\nand as hard as they could, although they didn't feel like laughing a\nbit. The Horners were much surprised.\n\n\"That's a fine joke--for a Horner--and we are much pleased with it,\"\nsaid the Champion, speaking between the pickets. \"But please don't do\nit again.\"\n\n\"I won't,\" promised Diksey. \"If I think of another such joke I'll try\nto forget it.\"\n\n\"Good!\" cried the Chief Horner. \"The war is over and peace is declared.\"\n\nThere was much joyful shouting on both sides of the fence and the gate\nwas unlocked and thrown wide open, so that Scraps was able to rejoin\nher friends.\n\n\"What about the Scarecrow?\" she asked Dorothy.\n\n\"We must get him down, somehow or other,\" was the reply.\n\n\"Perhaps the Horners can find a way,\" suggested Ojo. So they all went\nthrough the gate and Dorothy asked the Chief Horner how they could get\nthe Scarecrow off the fence. The Chief didn't know how, but Diksey said:\n\n\"A ladder's the thing.\"\n\n\"Have you one?\" asked Dorothy.\n\n\"To be sure. We use ladders in our mines,\" said he. Then he ran away to\nget the ladder, and while he was gone the Horners gathered around and\nwelcomed the strangers to their country, for through them a great war\nhad been avoided.\n\nIn a little while Diksey came back with a tall ladder which he placed\nagainst the fence. Ojo at once climbed to the top of the ladder and\nDorothy went about halfway up and Scraps stood at the foot of it. Toto\nran around it and barked. Then Ojo pulled the Scarecrow away from the\npicket and passed him down to Dorothy, who in turn lowered him to the\nPatchwork Girl.\n\nAs soon as he was on his feet and standing on solid ground the\nScarecrow said:\n\n\"Much obliged. I feel much better. I'm not stuck on that picket any\nmore.\"\n\nThe Horners began to laugh, thinking this was a joke, but the Scarecrow\nshook himself and patted his straw a little and said to Dorothy: \"Is\nthere much of a hole in my back?\"\n\nThe little girl examined him carefully.\n\n\"There's quite a hole,\" she said. \"But I've got a needle and thread in\nthe knapsack and I'll sew you up again.\"\n\n\"Do so,\" he begged earnestly, and again the Hoppers laughed, to the\nScarecrow's great annoyance.\n\nWhile Dorothy was sewing up the hole in the straw man's back Scraps\nexamined the other parts of him.\n\n\"One of his legs is ripped, too!\" she exclaimed.\n\n\"Oho!\" cried little Diksey; \"that's bad. Give him the needle and thread\nand let him mend his ways.\"\n\n\"Ha, ha, ha!\" laughed the Chief, and the other Horners at once roared\nwith laughter.\n\n\"What's funny?\" inquired the Scarecrow sternly.\n\n\"Don't you see?\" asked Diksey, who had laughed even harder than the\nothers. \"That's a joke. It's by odds the best joke I ever made. You\nwalk with your legs, and so that's the way you walk, and your legs are\nthe ways. See? So, when you mend your legs, you mend your ways. Ho, ho,\nho! hee, hee! I'd no idea I could make such a fine joke!\"\n\n\"Just wonderful!\" echoed the Chief. \"How do you manage to do it,\nDiksey?\"\n\n\"I don't know,\" said Diksey modestly. \"Perhaps it's the radium, but I\nrather think it's my splendid intellect.\"\n\n\"If you don't quit it,\" the Scarecrow told him, \"there'll be a worse\nwar than the one you've escaped from.\"\n\nOjo had been deep in thought, and now he asked the Chief: \"Is there a\ndark well in any part of your country?\"\n\n\"A dark well? None that ever I heard of,\" was the answer.\n\n\"Oh, yes,\" said Diksey, who overheard the boy's question. \"There's a\nvery dark well down in my radium mine.\"\n\n\"Is there any water in it?\" Ojo eagerly asked.\n\n\"Can't say; I've never looked to see. But we can find out.\"\n\nSo, as soon as the Scarecrow was mended, they decided to go with Diksey\nto the mine. When Dorothy had patted the straw man into shape again he\ndeclared he felt as good as new and equal to further adventures.\n\n\"Still,\" said he, \"I prefer not to do picket duty again. High life\ndoesn't seem to agree with my constitution.\" And then they hurried away\nto escape the laughter of the Horners, who thought this was another\njoke.\n\n\n\n\nChapter Twenty-Four\n\nOjo Finds the Dark Well\n\n\nThey now followed Diksey to the farther end of the great cave, beyond\nthe Horner city, where there were several round, dark holes leading\ninto the ground in a slanting direction. Diksey went to one of these\nholes and said:\n\n\"Here is the mine in which lies the dark well you are seeking. Follow\nme and step carefully and I'll lead you to the place.\"\n\nHe went in first and after him came Ojo, and then Dorothy, with the\nScarecrow behind her. The Patchwork Girl entered last of all, for Toto\nkept close beside his little mistress.\n\nA few steps beyond the mouth of the opening it was pitch dark. \"You\nwon't lose your way, though,\" said the Horner, \"for there's only one\nway to go. The mine's mine and I know every step of the way. How's that\nfor a joke, eh? The mine's mine.\" Then he chuckled gleefully as they\nfollowed him silently down the steep slant. The hole was just big\nenough to permit them to walk upright, although the Scarecrow, being\nmuch the taller of the party, often had to bend his head to keep from\nhitting the top.\n\nThe floor of the tunnel was difficult to walk upon because it had been\nworn smooth as glass, and pretty soon Scraps, who was some distance\nbehind the others, slipped and fell head foremost. At once she began to\nslide downward, so swiftly that when she came to the Scarecrow she\nknocked him off his feet and sent him tumbling against Dorothy, who\ntripped up Ojo. The boy fell against the Horner, so that all went\ntumbling down the slide in a regular mix-up, unable to see where they\nwere going because of the darkness.\n\nFortunately, when they reached the bottom the Scarecrow and Scraps were\nin front, and the others bumped against them, so that no one was hurt.\nThey found themselves in a vast cave which was dimly lighted by the\ntiny grains of radium that lay scattered among the loose rocks.\n\n\"Now,\" said Diksey, when they had all regained their feet, \"I will show\nyou where the dark well is. This is a big place, but if we hold fast to\neach other we won't get lost.\"\n\nThey took hold of hands and the Horner led them into a dark corner,\nwhere he halted.\n\n\"Be careful,\" said he warningly. \"The well is at your feet.\"\n\n\"All right,\" replied Ojo, and kneeling down he felt in the well with\nhis hand and found that it contained a quantity of water. \"Where's the\ngold flask, Dorothy?\" he asked, and the little girl handed him the\nflask, which she had brought with her.\n\nOjo knelt again and by feeling carefully in the dark managed to fill\nthe flask with the unseen water that was in the well. Then he screwed\nthe top of the flask firmly in place and put the precious water in his\npocket.\n\n\"All right!\" he said again, in a glad voice; \"now we can go back.\"\n\nThey returned to the mouth of the tunnel and began to creep cautiously\nup the incline. This time they made Scraps stay behind, for fear she\nwould slip again; but they all managed to get up in safety and the\nMunchkin boy was very happy when he stood in the Horner city and\nrealized that the water from the dark well, which he and his friends\nhad traveled so far to secure, was safe in his jacket pocket.\n\n\n\n\nChapter Twenty-Five\n\nThey Bribe the Lazy Quadling\n\n\n\"Now,\" said Dorothy, as they stood on the mountain path, having left\nbehind them the cave in which dwelt the Hoppers and the Horners, \"I\nthink we must find a road into the Country of the Winkies, for there is\nwhere Ojo wants to go next.\"\n\n\"Is there such a road?\" asked the Scarecrow.\n\n\"I don't know,\" she replied. \"I s'pose we can go back the way we came,\nto Jack Pumpkinhead's house, and then turn into the Winkie Country; but\nthat seems like running 'round a haystack, doesn't it?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said the Scarecrow. \"What is the next thing Ojo must get?\"\n\n\"A yellow butterfly,\" answered the boy.\n\n\"That means the Winkie Country, all right, for it's the yellow country\nof Oz,\" remarked Dorothy. \"I think, Scarecrow, we ought to take him to\nthe Tin Woodman, for he's the Emp'ror of the Winkies and will help us\nto find what Ojo wants.\"\n\n\"Of course,\" replied the Scarecrow, brightening at the suggestion. \"The\nTin Woodman will do anything we ask him, for he's one of my dearest\nfriends. I believe we can take a crosscut into his country and so get\nto his castle a day sooner than if we travel back the way we came.\"\n\n\"I think so, too,\" said the girl; \"and that means we must keep to the\nleft.\"\n\nThey were obliged to go down the mountain before they found any path\nthat led in the direction they wanted to go, but among the tumbled\nrocks at the foot of the mountain was a faint trail which they decided\nto follow. Two or three hours walk along this trail brought them to a\nclear, level country, where there were a few farms and some scattered\nhouses. But they knew they were still in the Country of the Quadlings,\nbecause everything had a bright red color. Not that the trees and\ngrasses were red, but the fences and houses were painted that color and\nall the wild-flowers that bloomed by the wayside had red blossoms. This\npart of the Quadling Country seemed peaceful and prosperous, if rather\nlonely, and the road was more distinct and easier to follow.\n\nBut just as they were congratulating themselves upon the progress they\nhad made they came upon a broad river which swept along between high\nbanks, and here the road ended and there was no bridge of any sort to\nallow them to cross.\n\n\"This is queer,\" mused Dorothy, looking at the water reflectively. \"Why\nshould there be any road, if the river stops everyone walking along it?\"\n\n\"Wow!\" said Toto, gazing earnestly into her face.\n\n\"That's the best answer you'll get,\" declared the Scarecrow, with his\ncomical smile, \"for no one knows any more than Toto about this road.\"\n\nSaid Scraps:\n\n    \"Ev'ry time I see a river,\n    I have chills that make me shiver,\n    For I never can forget\n    All the water's very wet.\n    If my patches get a soak\n    It will be a sorry joke;\n    So to swim I'll never try\n    Till I find the water dry.\"\n\n\n\"Try to control yourself, Scraps,\" said Ojo; \"you're getting crazy\nagain. No one intends to swim that river.\"\n\n\"No,\" decided Dorothy, \"we couldn't swim it if we tried. It's too big a\nriver, and the water moves awful fast.\"\n\n\"There ought to be a ferryman with a boat,\" said the Scarecrow; \"but I\ndon't see any.\"\n\n\"Couldn't we make a raft?\" suggested Ojo.\n\n\"There's nothing to make one of,\" answered Dorothy.\n\n\"Wow!\" said Toto again, and Dorothy saw he was looking along the bank\nof the river.\n\n\"Why, he sees a house over there!\" cried the little girl. \"I wonder we\ndidn't notice it ourselves. Let's go and ask the people how to get\n'cross the river.\"\n\nA quarter of a mile along the bank stood a small, round house, painted\nbright red, and as it was on their side of the river they hurried\ntoward it. A chubby little man, dressed all in red, came out to greet\nthem, and with him were two children, also in red costumes. The man's\neyes were big and staring as he examined the Scarecrow and the\nPatchwork Girl, and the children shyly hid behind him and peeked\ntimidly at Toto.\n\n\"Do you live here, my good man?\" asked the Scarecrow.\n\n\"I think I do, Most Mighty Magician,\" replied the Quadling, bowing low;\n\"but whether I'm awake or dreaming I can't be positive, so I'm not sure\nwhere I live. If you'll kindly pinch me I'll find out all about it!\"\n\n\"You're awake,\" said Dorothy, \"and this is no magician, but just the\nScarecrow.\"\n\n\"But he's alive,\" protested the man, \"and he oughtn't to be, you know.\nAnd that other dreadful person--the girl who is all patches--seems to\nbe alive, too.\"\n\n\"Very much so,\" declared Scraps, making a face at him. \"But that isn't\nyour affair, you know.\"\n\n\"I've a right to be surprised, haven't I?\" asked the man meekly.\n\n\"I'm not sure; but anyhow you've no right to say I'm dreadful. The\nScarecrow, who is a gentleman of great wisdom, thinks I'm beautiful,\"\nretorted Scraps.\n\n\"Never mind all that,\" said Dorothy. \"Tell us, good Quadling, how we\ncan get across the river.\"\n\n\"I don't know,\" replied the Quadling.\n\n\"Don't you ever cross it?\" asked the girl.\n\n\"Never.\"\n\n\"Don't travelers cross it?\"\n\n\"Not to my knowledge,\" said he.\n\nThey were much surprised to hear this, and the man added: \"It's a\npretty big river, and the current is strong. I know a man who lives on\nthe opposite bank, for I've seen him there a good many years; but we've\nnever spoken because neither of us has ever crossed over.\"\n\n\"That's queer,\" said the Scarecrow. \"Don't you own a boat?\"\n\nThe man shook his head.\n\n\"Nor a raft?\"\n\n\"Where does this river go to?\" asked Dorothy.\n\n\"That way,\" answered the man, pointing with one hand, \"it goes into the\nCountry of the Winkies, which is ruled by the Tin Emperor, who must be\na mighty magician because he's all made of tin, and yet he's alive. And\nthat way,\" pointing with the other hand, \"the river runs between two\nmountains where dangerous people dwell.\"\n\nThe Scarecrow looked at the water before them.\n\n\"The current flows toward the Winkie Country,\" said he; \"and so, if we\nhad a boat, or a raft, the river would float us there more quickly and\nmore easily than we could walk.\"\n\n\"That is true,\" agreed Dorothy; and then they all looked thoughtful and\nwondered what could be done.\n\n\"Why can't the man make us a raft?\" asked Ojo.\n\n\"Will you?\" inquired Dorothy, turning to the Quadling.\n\nThe chubby man shook his head.\n\n\"I'm too lazy,\" he said. \"My wife says I'm the laziest man in all Oz,\nand she is a truthful woman. I hate work of any kind, and making a raft\nis hard work.\"\n\n\"I'll give you my em'rald ring,\" promised the girl.\n\n\"No; I don't care for emeralds. If it were a ruby, which is the color I\nlike best, I might work a little while.\"\n\n\"I've got some Square Meal Tablets,\" said the Scarecrow. \"Each one is\nthe same as a dish of soup, a fried fish, a mutton pot-pie, lobster\nsalad, charlotte russe and lemon jelly--all made into one little tablet\nthat you can swallow without trouble.\"\n\n\"Without trouble!\" exclaimed the Quadling, much interested; \"then those\ntablets would be fine for a lazy man. It's such hard work to chew when\nyou eat.\"\n\n\"I'll give you six of those tablets if you'll help us make a raft,\"\npromised the Scarecrow. \"They're a combination of food which people who\neat are very fond of. I never eat, you know, being straw; but some of\nmy friends eat regularly. What do you say to my offer, Quadling?\"\n\n\"I'll do it,\" decided the man. \"I'll help, and you can do most of the\nwork. But my wife has gone fishing for red eels to-day, so some of you\nwill have to mind the children.\"\n\nScraps promised to do that, and the children were not so shy when the\nPatchwork Girl sat down to play with them. They grew to like Toto, too,\nand the little dog allowed them to pat him on his head, which gave the\nlittle ones much joy.\n\nThere were a number of fallen trees near the house and the Quadling got\nhis axe and chopped them into logs of equal length. He took his wife's\nclothesline to bind these logs together, so that they would form a\nraft, and Ojo found some strips of wood and nailed them along the tops\nof the logs, to render them more firm. The Scarecrow and Dorothy helped\nroll the logs together and carry the strips of wood, but it took so\nlong to make the raft that evening came just as it was finished, and\nwith evening the Quadling's wife returned from her fishing.\n\nThe woman proved to be cross and bad-tempered, perhaps because she had\nonly caught one red eel during all the day. When she found that her\nhusband had used her clothesline, and the logs she had wanted for\nfirewood, and the boards she had intended to mend the shed with, and a\nlot of gold nails, she became very angry. Scraps wanted to shake the\nwoman, to make her behave, but Dorothy talked to her in a gentle tone\nand told the Quadling's wife she was a Princess of Oz and a friend of\nOzma and that when she got back to the Emerald City she would send them\na lot of things to repay them for the raft, including a new\nclothesline. This promise pleased the woman and she soon became more\npleasant, saying they could stay the night at her house and begin their\nvoyage on the river next morning.\n\nThis they did, spending a pleasant evening with the Quadling family and\nbeing entertained with such hospitality as the poor people were able to\noffer them. The man groaned a good deal and said he had overworked\nhimself by chopping the logs, but the Scarecrow gave him two more\ntablets than he had promised, which seemed to comfort the lazy fellow.\n\n\n\n\nChapter Twenty-Six\n\nThe Trick River\n\n\nNext morning they pushed the raft into the water and all got aboard.\nThe Quadling man had to hold the log craft fast while they took their\nplaces, and the flow of the river was so powerful that it nearly tore\nthe raft from his hands. As soon as they were all seated upon the logs\nhe let go and away it floated and the adventurers had begun their\nvoyage toward the Winkie Country.\n\nThe little house of the Quadlings was out of sight almost before they\nhad cried their good-byes, and the Scarecrow said in a pleased voice:\n\"It won't take us long to get to the Winkie Country, at this rate.\"\n\nThey had floated several miles down the stream and were enjoying the\nride when suddenly the raft slowed up, stopped short, and then began to\nfloat back the way it had come.\n\n\"Why, what's wrong?\" asked Dorothy, in astonishment; but they were all\njust as bewildered as she was and at first no one could answer the\nquestion. Soon, however, they realized the truth: that the current of\nthe river had reversed and the water was now flowing in the opposite\ndirection--toward the mountains.\n\nThey began to recognize the scenes they had passed, and by and by they\ncame in sight of the little house of the Quadlings again. The man was\nstanding on the river bank and he called to them:\n\n\"How do you do? Glad to see you again. I forgot to tell you that the\nriver changes its direction every little while. Sometimes it flows one\nway, and sometimes the other.\"\n\nThey had no time to answer him, for the raft was swept past the house\nand a long distance on the other side of it.\n\n\"We're going just the way we don't want to go,\" said Dorothy, \"and I\nguess the best thing we can do is to get to land before we're carried\nany farther.\"\n\nBut they could not get to land. They had no oars, nor even a pole to\nguide the raft with. The logs which bore them floated in the middle of\nthe stream and were held fast in that position by the strong current.\n\nSo they sat still and waited and, even while they were wondering what\ncould be done, the raft slowed down, stopped, and began drifting the\nother way--in the direction it had first followed. After a time they\nrepassed the Quadling house and the man was still standing on the bank.\nHe cried out to them:\n\n\"Good day! Glad to see you again. I expect I shall see you a good many\ntimes, as you go by, unless you happen to swim ashore.\"\n\nBy that time they had left him behind and were headed once more\nstraight toward the Winkie Country.\n\n\"This is pretty hard luck,\" said Ojo in a discouraged voice. \"The Trick\nRiver keeps changing, it seems, and here we must float back and forward\nforever, unless we manage in some way to get ashore.\"\n\n\"Can you swim?\" asked Dorothy.\n\n\"No; I'm Ojo the Unlucky.\"\n\n\"Neither can I. Toto can swim a little, but that won't help us to get\nto shore.\"\n\n\"I don't know whether I could swim, or not,\" remarked Scraps; \"but if I\ntried it I'd surely ruin my lovely patches.\"\n\n\"My straw would get soggy in the water and I would sink,\" said the\nScarecrow.\n\nSo there seemed no way out of their dilemma and being helpless they\nsimply sat still. Ojo, who was on the front of the raft, looked over\ninto the water and thought he saw some large fishes swimming about. He\nfound a loose end of the clothesline which fastened the logs together,\nand taking a gold nail from his pocket he bent it nearly double, to\nform a hook, and tied it to the end of the line. Having baited the hook\nwith some bread which he broke from his loaf, he dropped the line into\nthe water and almost instantly it was seized by a great fish.\n\nThey knew it was a great fish, because it pulled so hard on the line\nthat it dragged the raft forward even faster than the current of the\nriver had carried it. The fish was frightened, and it was a strong\nswimmer. As the other end of the clothesline was bound around the logs\nhe could not get it away, and as he had greedily swallowed the gold\nhook at the first bite he could not get rid of that, either.\n\nWhen they reached the place where the current had before changed, the\nfish was still swimming ahead in its wild attempt to escape. The raft\nslowed down, yet it did not stop, because the fish would not let it. It\ncontinued to move in the same direction it had been going. As the\ncurrent reversed and rushed backward on its course it failed to drag\nthe raft with it. Slowly, inch by inch, they floated on, and the fish\ntugged and tugged and kept them going.\n\n\"I hope he won't give up,\" said Ojo anxiously. \"If the fish can hold\nout until the current changes again, we'll be all right.\"\n\nThe fish did not give up, but held the raft bravely on its course, till\nat last the water in the river shifted again and floated them the way\nthey wanted to go. But now the captive fish found its strength failing.\nSeeking a refuge, it began to drag the raft toward the shore. As they\ndid not wish to land in this place the boy cut the rope with his\npocket-knife and set the fish free, just in time to prevent the raft\nfrom grounding.\n\nThe next time the river backed up the Scarecrow managed to seize the\nbranch of a tree that overhung the water and they all assisted him to\nhold fast and prevent the raft from being carried backward. While they\nwaited here, Ojo spied a long broken branch lying upon the bank, so he\nleaped ashore and got it. When he had stripped off the side shoots he\nbelieved he could use the branch as a pole, to guide the raft in case\nof emergency.\n\nThey clung to the tree until they found the water flowing the right\nway, when they let go and permitted the raft to resume its voyage. In\nspite of these pauses they were really making good progress toward the\nWinkie Country and having found a way to conquer the adverse current\ntheir spirits rose considerably. They could see little of the country\nthrough which they were passing, because of the high banks, and they\nmet with no boats or other craft upon the surface of the river.\n\nOnce more the trick river reversed its current, but this time the\nScarecrow was on guard and used the pole to push the raft toward a big\nrock which lay in the water. He believed the rock would prevent their\nfloating backward with the current, and so it did. They clung to this\nanchorage until the water resumed its proper direction, when they\nallowed the raft to drift on.\n\nFloating around a bend they saw ahead a high bank of water, extending\nacross the entire river, and toward this they were being irresistibly\ncarried. There being no way to arrest the progress of the raft they\nclung fast to the logs and let the river sweep them on. Swiftly the\nraft climbed the bank of water and slid down on the other side,\nplunging its edge deep into the water and drenching them all with spray.\n\nAs again the raft righted and drifted on, Dorothy and Ojo laughed at\nthe ducking they had received; but Scraps was much dismayed and the\nScarecrow took out his handkerchief and wiped the water off the\nPatchwork Girl's patches as well as he was able to. The sun soon dried\nher and the colors of her patches proved good, for they did not run\ntogether nor did they fade.\n\nAfter passing the wall of water the current did not change or flow\nbackward any more but continued to sweep them steadily forward. The\nbanks of the river grew lower, too, permitting them to see more of the\ncountry, and presently they discovered yellow buttercups and dandelions\ngrowing amongst the grass, from which evidence they knew they had\nreached the Winkie Country.\n\n\"Don't you think we ought to land?\" Dorothy asked the Scarecrow.\n\n\"Pretty soon,\" he replied. \"The Tin Woodman's castle is in the southern\npart of the Winkie Country, and so it can't be a great way from here.\"\n\nFearing they might drift too far, Dorothy and Ojo now stood up and\nraised the Scarecrow in their arms, as high as they could, thus\nallowing him a good view of the country. For a time he saw nothing he\nrecognized, but finally he cried:\n\n\"There it is! There it is!\"\n\n\"What?\" asked Dorothy.\n\n\"The Tin Woodman's tin castle. I can see its turrets glittering in the\nsun. It's quite a way off, but we'd better land as quickly as we can.\"\n\nThey let him down and began to urge the raft toward the shore by means\nof the pole. It obeyed very well, for the current was more sluggish\nnow, and soon they had reached the bank and landed safely.\n\nThe Winkie Country was really beautiful, and across the fields they\ncould see afar the silvery sheen of the tin castle. With light hearts\nthey hurried toward it, being fully rested by their long ride on the\nriver.\n\nBy and by they began to cross an immense field of splendid yellow\nlilies, the delicate fragrance of which was very delightful.\n\n\"How beautiful they are!\" cried Dorothy, stopping to admire the\nperfection of these exquisite flowers.\n\n\"Yes,\" said the Scarecrow, reflectively, \"but we must be careful not to\ncrush or injure any of these lilies.\"\n\n\"Why not?\" asked Ojo.\n\n\"The Tin Woodman is very kind-hearted,\" was the reply, \"and he hates to\nsee any living thing hurt in any way.\"\n\n\"Are flowers alive?\" asked Scraps.\n\n\"Yes, of course. And these flowers belong to the Tin Woodman. So, in\norder not to offend him, we must not tread on a single blossom.\"\n\n\"Once,\" said Dorothy, \"the Tin Woodman stepped on a beetle and killed\nthe little creature. That made him very unhappy and he cried until his\ntears rusted his joints, so he couldn't move 'em.\"\n\n\"What did he do then?\" asked Ojo.\n\n\"Put oil on them, until the joints worked smooth again.\"\n\n\"Oh!\" exclaimed the boy, as if a great discovery had flashed across his\nmind. But he did not tell anybody what the discovery was and kept the\nidea to himself.\n\nIt was a long walk, but a pleasant one, and they did not mind it a bit.\nLate in the afternoon they drew near to the wonderful tin castle of the\nEmperor of the Winkies, and Ojo and Scraps, who had never seen it\nbefore, were filled with amazement.\n\nTin abounded in the Winkie Country and the Winkies were said to be the\nmost skillful tinsmiths in all the world. So the Tin Woodman had\nemployed them in building his magnificent castle, which was all of tin,\nfrom the ground to the tallest turret, and so brightly polished that it\nglittered in the sun's rays more gorgeously than silver. Around the\ngrounds of the castle ran a tin wall, with tin gates; but the gates\nstood wide open because the Emperor had no enemies to disturb him.\n\nWhen they entered the spacious grounds our travelers found more to\nadmire. Tin fountains sent sprays of clear water far into the air and\nthere were many beds of tin flowers, all as perfectly formed as any\nnatural flowers might be. There were tin trees, too, and here and there\nshady bowers of tin, with tin benches and chairs to sit upon. Also, on\nthe sides of the pathway leading up to the front door of the castle,\nwere rows of tin statuary, very cleverly executed. Among these Ojo\nrecognized statues of Dorothy, Toto, the Scarecrow, the Wizard, the\nShaggy Man, Jack Pumpkinhead and Ozma, all standing upon neat pedestals\nof tin.\n\nToto was well acquainted with the residence of the Tin Woodman and,\nbeing assured a joyful welcome, he ran ahead and barked so loudly at\nthe front door that the Tin Woodman heard him and came out in person to\nsee if it were really his old friend Toto. Next moment the tin man had\nclasped the Scarecrow in a warm embrace and then turned to hug Dorothy.\nBut now his eye was arrested by the strange sight of the Patchwork\nGirl, and he gazed upon her in mingled wonder and admiration.\n\n\n\n\nChapter Twenty-Seven\n\nThe Tin Woodman Objects\n\n\nThe Tin Woodman was one of the most important personages in all Oz.\nThough Emperor of the Winkies, he owed allegiance to Ozma, who ruled\nall the land, and the girl and the tin man were warm personal friends.\nHe was something of a dandy and kept his tin body brilliantly polished\nand his tin joints well oiled. Also he was very courteous in manner and\nso kind and gentle that everyone loved him. The Emperor greeted Ojo and\nScraps with cordial hospitality and ushered the entire party into his\nhandsome tin parlor, where all the furniture and pictures were made of\ntin. The walls were paneled with tin and from the tin ceiling hung tin\nchandeliers.\n\nThe Tin Woodman wanted to know, first of all, where Dorothy had found\nthe Patchwork Girl, so between them the visitors told the story of how\nScraps was made, as well as the accident to Margolotte and Unc Nunkie\nand how Ojo had set out upon a journey to procure the things needed for\nthe Crooked Magician's magic charm. Then Dorothy told of their\nadventures in the Quadling Country and how at last they succeeded in\ngetting the water from a dark well.\n\nWhile the little girl was relating these adventures the Tin Woodman sat\nin an easy chair listening with intense interest, while the others sat\ngrouped around him. Ojo, however, had kept his eyes fixed upon the body\nof the tin Emperor, and now he noticed that under the joint of his left\nknee a tiny drop of oil was forming. He watched this drop of oil with a\nfast-beating heart, and feeling in his pocket brought out a tiny vial\nof crystal, which he held secreted in his hand.\n\nPresently the Tin Woodman changed his position, and at once Ojo, to the\nastonishment of all, dropped to the floor and held his crystal vial\nunder the Emperor's knee joint. Just then the drop of oil fell, and the\nboy caught it in his bottle and immediately corked it tight. Then, with\na red face and embarrassed manner, he rose to confront the others.\n\n\"What in the world were you doing?\" asked the Tin Woodman.\n\n\"I caught a drop of oil that fell from your knee-joint,\" confessed Ojo.\n\n\"A drop of oil!\" exclaimed the Tin Woodman. \"Dear me, how careless my\nvalet must have been in oiling me this morning. I'm afraid I shall have\nto scold the fellow, for I can't be dropping oil wherever I go.\"\n\n\"Never mind,\" said Dorothy. \"Ojo seems glad to have the oil, for some\nreason.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" declared the Munchkin boy, \"I am glad. For one of the things the\nCrooked Magician sent me to get was a drop of oil from a live man's\nbody. I had no idea, at first, that there was such a thing; but it's\nnow safe in the little crystal vial.\"\n\n\"You are very welcome to it, indeed,\" said the Tin Woodman. \"Have you\nnow secured all the things you were in search of?\"\n\n\"Not quite all,\" answered Ojo. \"There were five things I had to get,\nand I have found four of them. I have the three hairs in the tip of a\nWoozy's tail, a six-leaved clover, a gill of water from a dark well and\na drop of oil from a live man's body. The last thing is the easiest of\nall to get, and I'm sure that my dear Unc Nunkie--and good Margolotte,\nas well--will soon be restored to life.\"\n\nThe Munchkin boy said this with much pride and pleasure.\n\n\"Good!\" exclaimed the Tin Woodman; \"I congratulate you. But what is the\nfifth and last thing you need, in order to complete the magic charm?\"\n\n\"The left wing of a yellow butterfly,\" said Ojo. \"In this yellow\ncountry, and with your kind assistance, that ought to be very easy to\nfind.\"\n\nThe Tin Woodman stared at him in amazement.\n\n\"Surely you are joking!\" he said.\n\n\"No,\" replied Ojo, much surprised; \"I am in earnest.\"\n\n\"But do you think for a moment that I would permit you, or anyone else,\nto pull the left wing from a yellow butterfly?\" demanded the Tin\nWoodman sternly.\n\n\"Why not, sir?\"\n\n\"Why not? You ask me why not? It would be cruel--one of the most cruel\nand heartless deeds I ever heard of,\" asserted the Tin Woodman. \"The\nbutterflies are among the prettiest of all created things, and they are\nvery sensitive to pain. To tear a wing from one would cause it\nexquisite torture and it would soon die in great agony. I would not\npermit such a wicked deed under any circumstances!\"\n\nOjo was astounded at hearing this. Dorothy, too, looked grave and\ndisconcerted, but she knew in her heart that the Tin Woodman was right.\nThe Scarecrow nodded his head in approval of his friend's speech, so it\nwas evident that he agreed with the Emperor's decision. Scraps looked\nfrom one to another in perplexity.\n\n\"Who cares for a butterfly?\" she asked.\n\n\"Don't you?\" inquired the Tin Woodman.\n\n\"Not the snap of a finger, for I have no heart,\" said the Patchwork\nGirl. \"But I want to help Ojo, who is my friend, to rescue the uncle\nwhom he loves, and I'd kill a dozen useless butterflies to enable him\nto do that.\"\n\nThe Tin Woodman sighed regretfully.\n\n\"You have kind instincts,\" he said, \"and with a heart you would indeed\nbe a fine creature. I cannot blame you for your heartless remark, as\nyou cannot understand the feelings of those who possess hearts. I, for\ninstance, have a very neat and responsive heart which the wonderful\nWizard of Oz once gave me, and so I shall never--never--never permit a\npoor yellow butterfly to be tortured by anyone.\"\n\n\"The yellow country of the Winkies,\" said Ojo sadly, \"is the only place\nin Oz where a yellow butterfly can be found.\"\n\n\"I'm glad of that,\" said the Tin Woodman. \"As I rule the Winkie\nCountry, I can protect my butterflies.\"\n\n\"Unless I get the wing--just one left wing--\" said Ojo miserably, \"I\ncan't save Unc Nunkie.\"\n\n\"Then he must remain a marble statue forever,\" declared the Tin\nEmperor, firmly.\n\nOjo wiped his eyes, for he could not hold back the tears.\n\n\"I'll tell you what to do,\" said Scraps. \"We'll take a whole yellow\nbutterfly, alive and well, to the Crooked Magician, and let him pull\nthe left wing off.\"\n\n\"No, you won't,\" said the Tin Woodman. \"You can't have one of my dear\nlittle butterflies to treat in that way.\"\n\n\"Then what in the world shall we do?\" asked Dorothy.\n\nThey all became silent and thoughtful. No one spoke for a long time.\nThen the Tin Woodman suddenly roused himself and said:\n\n\"We must all go back to the Emerald City and ask Ozma's advice. She's a\nwise little girl, our Ruler, and she may find a way to help Ojo save\nhis Unc Nunkie.\"\n\nSo the following morning the party started on the journey to the\nEmerald City, which they reached in due time without any important\nadventure. It was a sad journey for Ojo, for without the wing of the\nyellow butterfly he saw no way to save Unc Nunkie--unless he waited six\nyears for the Crooked Magician to make a new lot of the Powder of Life.\nThe boy was utterly discouraged, and as he walked along he groaned\naloud.\n\n\"Is anything hurting you?\" inquired the Tin Woodman in a kindly tone,\nfor the Emperor was with the party.\n\n\"I'm Ojo the Unlucky,\" replied the boy. \"I might have known I would\nfail in anything I tried to do.\"\n\n\"Why are you Ojo the Unlucky?\" asked the tin man.\n\n\"Because I was born on a Friday.\"\n\n\"Friday is not unlucky,\" declared the Emperor. \"It's just one of seven\ndays. Do you suppose all the world becomes unlucky one-seventh of the\ntime?\"\n\n\"It was the thirteenth day of the month,\" said Ojo.\n\n\"Thirteen! Ah, that is indeed a lucky number,\" replied the Tin Woodman.\n\"All my good luck seems to happen on the thirteenth. I suppose most\npeople never notice the good luck that comes to them with the number\n13, and yet if the least bit of bad luck falls on that day, they blame\nit to the number, and not to the proper cause.\"\n\n\"Thirteen's my lucky number, too,\" remarked the Scarecrow.\n\n\"And mine,\" said Scraps. \"I've just thirteen patches on my head.\"\n\n\"But,\" continued Ojo, \"I'm left-handed.\"\n\n\"Many of our greatest men are that way,\" asserted the Emperor. \"To be\nleft-handed is usually to be two-handed; the right-handed people are\nusually one-handed.\"\n\n\"And I've a wart under my right arm,\" said Ojo.\n\n\"How lucky!\" cried the Tin Woodman. \"If it were on the end of your nose\nit might be unlucky, but under your arm it is luckily out of the way.\"\n\n\"For all those reasons,\" said the Munchkin boy, \"I have been called Ojo\nthe Unlucky.\"\n\n\"Then we must turn over a new leaf and call you henceforth Ojo the\nLucky,\" declared the tin man. \"Every reason you have given is absurd.\nBut I have noticed that those who continually dread ill luck and fear\nit will overtake them, have no time to take advantage of any good\nfortune that comes their way. Make up your mind to be Ojo the Lucky.\"\n\n\"How can I?\" asked the boy, \"when all my attempts to save my dear uncle\nhave failed?\"\n\n\"Never give up, Ojo,\" advised Dorothy. \"No one ever knows what's going\nto happen next.\"\n\nOjo did not reply, but he was so dejected that even their arrival at\nthe Emerald City failed to interest him.\n\nThe people joyfully cheered the appearance of the Tin Woodman, the\nScarecrow and Dorothy, who were all three general favorites, and on\nentering the royal palace word came to them from Ozma that she would at\nonce grant them an audience.\n\nDorothy told the girl Ruler how successful they had been in their quest\nuntil they came to the item of the yellow butterfly, which the Tin\nWoodman positively refused to sacrifice to the magic potion.\n\n\"He is quite right,\" said Ozma, who did not seem a bit surprised. \"Had\nOjo told me that one of the things he sought was the wing of a yellow\nbutterfly I would have informed him, before he started out, that he\ncould never secure it. Then you would have been saved the troubles and\nannoyances of your long journey.\"\n\n\"I didn't mind the journey at all,\" said Dorothy; \"it was fun.\"\n\n\"As it has turned out,\" remarked Ojo, \"I can never get the things the\nCrooked Magician sent me for; and so, unless I wait the six years for\nhim to make the Powder of Life, Unc Nunkie cannot be saved.\"\n\nOzma smiled.\n\n\"Dr. Pipt will make no more Powder of Life, I promise you,\" said she.\n\"I have sent for him and had him brought to this palace, where he now\nis, and his four kettles have been destroyed and his book of recipes\nburned up. I have also had brought here the marble statues of your\nuncle and of Margolotte, which are standing in the next room.\"\n\nThey were all greatly astonished at this announcement.\n\n\"Oh, let me see Unc Nunkie! Let me see him at once, please!\" cried Ojo\neagerly.\n\n\"Wait a moment,\" replied Ozma, \"for I have something more to say.\nNothing that happens in the Land of Oz escapes the notice of our wise\nSorceress, Glinda the Good. She knew all about the magic-making of Dr.\nPipt, and how he had brought the Glass Cat and the Patchwork Girl to\nlife, and the accident to Unc Nunkie and Margolotte, and of Ojo's quest\nand his journey with Dorothy. Glinda also knew that Ojo would fail to\nfind all the things he sought, so she sent for our Wizard and\ninstructed him what to do. Something is going to happen in this palace,\npresently, and that 'something' will, I am sure, please you all. And\nnow,\" continued the girl Ruler, rising from her chair, \"you may follow\nme into the next room.\"\n\n\n\n\nChapter Twenty-Eight\n\nThe Wonderful Wizard of Oz\n\n\nWhen Ojo entered the room he ran quickly to the statue of Unc Nunkie\nand kissed the marble face affectionately.\n\n\"I did my best, Unc,\" he said, with a sob, \"but it was no use!\"\n\nThen he drew back and looked around the room, and the sight of the\nassembled company quite amazed him.\n\nAside from the marble statues of Unc Nunkie and Margolotte, the Glass\nCat was there, curled up on a rug; and the Woozy was there, sitting on\nits square hind legs and looking on the scene with solemn interest; and\nthere was the Shaggy Man, in a suit of shaggy pea-green satin, and at a\ntable sat the little Wizard, looking quite important and as if he knew\nmuch more than he cared to tell.\n\nLast of all, Dr. Pipt was there, and the Crooked Magician sat humped up\nin a chair, seeming very dejected but keeping his eyes fixed on the\nlifeless form of his wife Margolotte, whom he fondly loved but whom he\nnow feared was lost to him forever.\n\nOzma took a chair which Jellia Jamb wheeled forward for the Ruler, and\nback of her stood the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and Dorothy, as well\nas the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger. The Wizard now arose and\nmade a low bow to Ozma and another less deferent bow to the assembled\ncompany.\n\n\"Ladies and gentlemen and beasts,\" he said, \"I beg to announce that our\nGracious Ruler has permitted me to obey the commands of the great\nSorceress, Glinda the Good, whose humble Assistant I am proud to be. We\nhave discovered that the Crooked Magician has been indulging in his\nmagical arts contrary to Law, and therefore, by Royal Edict, I hereby\ndeprive him of all power to work magic in the future. He is no longer a\ncrooked magician, but a simple Munchkin; he is no longer even crooked,\nbut a man like other men.\"\n\nAs he pronounced these words the Wizard waved his hand toward Dr. Pipt\nand instantly every crooked limb straightened out and became perfect.\nThe former magician, with a cry of joy, sprang to his feet, looked at\nhimself in wonder, and then fell back in his chair and watched the\nWizard with fascinated interest.\n\n\"The Glass Cat, which Dr. Pipt lawlessly made,\" continued the Wizard,\n\"is a pretty cat, but its pink brains made it so conceited that it was\na disagreeable companion to everyone. So the other day I took away the\npink brains and replaced them with transparent ones, and now the Glass\nCat is so modest and well behaved that Ozma has decided to keep her in\nthe palace as a pet.\"\n\n\"I thank you,\" said the cat, in a soft voice.\n\n\"The Woozy has proved himself a good Woozy and a faithful friend,\" the\nWizard went on, \"so we will send him to the Royal Menagerie, where he\nwill have good care and plenty to eat all his life.\"\n\n\"Much obliged,\" said the Woozy. \"That beats being fenced up in a lonely\nforest and starved.\"\n\n\"As for the Patchwork Girl,\" resumed the Wizard, \"she is so remarkable\nin appearance, and so clever and good tempered, that our Gracious Ruler\nintends to preserve her carefully, as one of the curiosities of the\ncurious Land of Oz. Scraps may live in the palace, or wherever she\npleases, and be nobody's servant but her own.\"\n\n\"That's all right,\" said Scraps.\n\n\"We have all been interested in Ojo,\" the little Wizard continued,\n\"because his love for his unfortunate uncle has led him bravely to face\nall sorts of dangers, in order that he might rescue him. The Munchkin\nboy has a loyal and generous heart and has done his best to restore Unc\nNunkie to life. He has failed, but there are others more powerful than\nthe Crooked Magician, and there are more ways than Dr. Pipt knew of to\ndestroy the charm of the Liquid of Petrifaction. Glinda the Good has\ntold me of one way, and you shall now learn how great is the knowledge\nand power of our peerless Sorceress.\"\n\nAs he said this the Wizard advanced to the statue of Margolote and made\na magic pass, at the same time muttering a magic word that none could\nhear distinctly. At once the woman moved, turned her head wonderingly\nthis way and that, to note all who stood before her, and seeing Dr.\nPipt, ran forward and threw herself into her husband's outstretched\narms.\n\nThen the Wizard made the magic pass and spoke the magic word before the\nstatue of Unc Nunkie. The old Munchkin immediately came to life and\nwith a low bow to the Wizard said: \"Thanks.\"\n\nBut now Ojo rushed up and threw his arms joyfully about his uncle, and\nthe old man hugged his little nephew tenderly and stroked his hair and\nwiped away the boy's tears with a handkerchief, for Ojo was crying from\npure happiness.\n\nOzma came forward to congratulate them.\n\n\"I have given to you, my dear Ojo and Unc Nunkie, a nice house just\noutside the walls of the Emerald City,\" she said, \"and there you shall\nmake your future home and be under my protection.\"\n\n\"Didn't I say you were Ojo the Lucky?\" asked the Tin Woodman, as\neveryone crowded around to shake Ojo's hand.\n\n\"Yes; and it is true!\" replied Ojo, gratefully."