"'The Emerald City of Oz\n\n\nby\n\nL. Frank Baum\n\n\n\nAuthor of The Road to Oz, Dorothy and The Wizard in Oz, The Land of Oz,\netc.\n\n\n\n\nContents\n\n --Author\'s Note--\n 1. How the Nome King Became Angry\n 2. How Uncle Henry Got Into Trouble\n 3. How Ozma Granted Dorothy\'s Request\n 4. How The Nome King Planned Revenge\n 5. How Dorothy Became a Princess\n 6. How Guph Visited the Whimsies\n 7. How Aunt Em Conquered the Lion\n 8. How the Grand Gallipoot Joined The Nomes\n 9. How the Wogglebug Taught Athletics\n 10. How the Cuttenclips Lived\n 11. How the General Met the First and Foremost\n 12. How they Matched the Fuddles\n 13. How the General Talked to the King\n 14. How the Wizard Practiced Sorcery\n 15. How Dorothy Happened to Get Lost\n 16. How Dorothy Visited Utensia\n 17. How They Came to Bunbury\n 18. How Ozma Looked into the Magic Picture\n 19. How Bunnybury Welcomed the Strangers\n 20. How Dorothy Lunched With a King\n 21. How the King Changed His Mind\n 22. How the Wizard Found Dorothy\n 23. How They Encountered the Flutterbudgets\n 24. How the Tin Woodman Told the Sad News\n 25. How the Scarecrow Displayed His Wisdom\n 26. How Ozma Refused to Fight for Her Kingdom\n 27. How the Fierce Warriors Invaded Oz\n 28. How They Drank at the Forbidden Fountain\n 29. How Glinda Worked a Magic Spell\n 30. How the Story of Oz Came to an End\n\n\n\n\nAuthor\'s Note\n\n\nPerhaps I should admit on the title page that this book is \"By L.\nFrank Baum and his correspondents,\" for I have used many suggestions\nconveyed to me in letters from children. Once on a time I really\nimagined myself \"an author of fairy tales,\" but now I am merely an\neditor or private secretary for a host of youngsters whose ideas I am\nrequestsed to weave into the thread of my stories.\n\nThese ideas are often clever. They are also logical and interesting.\nSo I have used them whenever I could find an opportunity, and it is but\njust that I acknowledge my indebtedness to my little friends.\n\nMy, what imaginations these children have developed! Sometimes I am\nfairly astounded by their daring and genius. There will be no lack of\nfairy-tale authors in the future, I am sure. My readers have told me\nwhat to do with Dorothy, and Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, and I have obeyed\ntheir mandates. They have also given me a variety of subjects to write\nabout in the future: enough, in fact, to keep me busy for some time. I\nam very proud of this alliance. Children love these stories because\nchildren have helped to create them. My readers know what they want\nand realize that I try to please them. The result is very satisfactory\nto the publishers, to me, and (I am quite sure) to the children.\n\nI hope, my dears, it will be a long time before we are obliged to\ndissolve partnership.\n\n\nL. FRANK BAUM.\n\nCoronado, 1910\n\n\n\n1. How the Nome King Became Angry\n\nThe Nome King was in an angry mood, and at such times he was very\ndisagreeable. Every one kept away from him, even his Chief Steward\nKaliko.\n\nTherefore the King stormed and raved all by himself, walking up and\ndown in his jewel-studded cavern and getting angrier all the time.\nThen he remembered that it was no fun being angry unless he had some\none to frighten and make miserable, and he rushed to his big gong and\nmade it clatter as loud as he could.\n\nIn came the Chief Steward, trying not to show the Nome King how\nfrightened he was.\n\n\"Send the Chief Counselor here!\" shouted the angry monarch.\n\nKaliko ran out as fast as his spindle legs could carry his fat, round\nbody, and soon the Chief Counselor entered the cavern. The King\nscowled and said to him:\n\n\"I\'m in great trouble over the loss of my Magic Belt. Every little\nwhile I want to do something magical, and find I can\'t because the Belt\nis gone. That makes me angry, and when I\'m angry I can\'t have a good\ntime. Now, what do you advise?\"\n\n\"Some people,\" said the Chief Counselor, \"enjoy getting angry.\"\n\n\"But not all the time,\" declared the King. \"To be angry once in a\nwhile is really good fun, because it makes others so miserable. But to\nbe angry morning, noon and night, as I am, grows monotonous and\nprevents my gaining any other pleasure in life. Now what do you\nadvise?\"\n\n\"Why, if you are angry because you want to do magical things and can\'t,\nand if you don\'t want to get angry at all, my advice is not to want to\ndo magical things.\"\n\nHearing this, the King glared at his Counselor with a furious\nexpression and tugged at his own long white whiskers until he pulled\nthem so hard that he yelled with pain.\n\n\"You are a fool!\" he exclaimed.\n\n\"I share that honor with your Majesty,\" said the Chief Counselor.\n\nThe King roared with rage and stamped his foot.\n\n\"Ho, there, my guards!\" he cried. \"Ho\" is a royal way of saying, \"Come\nhere.\" So, when the guards had hoed, the King said to them:\n\n\"Take this Chief Counselor and throw him away.\"\n\nThen the guards took the Chief Counselor, and bound him with chains to\nprevent his struggling, and threw him away. And the King paced up and\ndown his cavern more angry than before.\n\nFinally he rushed to his big gong and made it clatter like a fire\nalarm. Kaliko appeared again, trembling and white with fear.\n\n\"Fetch my pipe!\" yelled the King.\n\n\"Your pipe is already here, your Majesty,\" replied Kaliko.\n\n\"Then get my tobacco!\" roared the King.\n\n\"The tobacco is in your pipe, your Majesty,\" returned the Steward.\n\n\"Then bring a live coal from the furnace!\" commanded the King.\n\n\"The tobacco is lighted, and your Majesty is already smoking your\npipe,\" answered the Steward.\n\n\"Why, so I am!\" said the King, who had forgotten this fact; \"but you\nare very rude to remind me of it.\"\n\n\"I am a lowborn, miserable villain,\" declared the Chief Steward, humbly.\n\nThe Nome King could think of nothing to say next, so he puffed away at\nhis pipe and paced up and down the room. Finally, he remembered how\nangry he was, and cried out:\n\n\"What do you mean, Kaliko, by being so contented when your monarch is\nunhappy?\"\n\n\"What makes you unhappy?\" asked the Steward.\n\n\"I\'ve lost my Magic Belt. A little girl named Dorothy, who was here\nwith Ozma of Oz, stole my Belt and carried it away with her,\" said the\nKing, grinding his teeth with rage.\n\n\"She captured it in a fair fight,\" Kaliko ventured to say.\n\n\"But I want it! I must have it! Half my power is gone with that\nBelt!\" roared the King.\n\n\"You will have to go to the Land of Oz to recover it, and your Majesty\ncan\'t get to the Land of Oz in any possible way,\" said the Steward,\nyawning because he had been on duty ninety-six hours, and was sleepy.\n\n\"Why not?\" asked the King.\n\n\"Because there is a deadly desert all around that fairy country, which\nno one is able to cross. You know that fact as well as I do, your\nMajesty. Never mind the lost Belt. You have plenty of power left, for\nyou rule this underground kingdom like a tyrant, and thousands of Nomes\nobey your commands. I advise you to drink a glass of melted silver, to\nquiet your nerves, and then go to bed.\"\n\nThe King grabbed a big ruby and threw it at Kaliko\'s head. The Steward\nducked to escape the heavy jewel, which crashed against the door just\nover his left ear.\n\n\"Get out of my sight! Vanish! Go away--and send General Blug here,\"\nscreamed the Nome King.\n\nKaliko hastily withdrew, and the Nome King stamped up and down until\nthe General of his armies appeared.\n\nThis Nome was known far and wide as a terrible fighter and a cruel,\ndesperate commander. He had fifty thousand Nome soldiers, all well\ndrilled, who feared nothing but their stern master. Yet General Blug\nwas a trifle uneasy when he arrived and saw how angry the Nome King was.\n\n\"Ha! So you\'re here!\" cried the King.\n\n\"So I am,\" said the General.\n\n\"March your army at once to the Land of Oz, capture and destroy the\nEmerald City, and bring back to me my Magic Belt!\" roared the King.\n\n\"You\'re crazy,\" calmly remarked the General.\n\n\"What\'s that? What\'s that? What\'s that?\" And the Nome King danced\naround on his pointed toes, he was so enraged.\n\n\"You don\'t know what you\'re talking about,\" continued the General,\nseating himself upon a large cut diamond. \"I advise you to stand in a\ncorner and count sixty before you speak again. By that time you may be\nmore sensible.\"\n\nThe King looked around for something to throw at General Blug, but as\nnothing was handy he began to consider that perhaps the man was right\nand he had been talking foolishly. So he merely threw himself into his\nglittering throne and tipped his crown over his ear and curled his feet\nup under him and glared wickedly at Blug.\n\n\"In the first place,\" said the General, \"we cannot march across the\ndeadly desert to the Land of Oz. And if we could, the Ruler of that\ncountry, Princess Ozma, has certain fairy powers that would render my\narmy helpless. Had you not lost your Magic Belt we might have some\nchance of defeating Ozma; but the Belt is gone.\"\n\n\"I want it!\" screamed the King. \"I must have it.\"\n\n\"Well, then, let us try in a sensible way to get it,\" replied the\nGeneral. \"The Belt was captured by a little girl named Dorothy, who\nlives in Kansas, in the United States of America.\"\n\n\"But she left it in the Emerald City, with Ozma,\" declared the King.\n\n\"How do you know that?\" asked the General.\n\n\"One of my spies, who is a Blackbird, flew over the desert to the Land\nof Oz, and saw the Magic Belt in Ozma\'s palace,\" replied the King with\na groan.\n\n\"Now that gives me an idea,\" said General Blug, thoughtfully. \"There\nare two ways to get to the Land of Oz without traveling across the\nsandy desert.\"\n\n\"What are they?\" demanded the King, eagerly.\n\n\"One way is OVER the desert, through the air; and the other way is\nUNDER the desert, through the earth.\"\n\nHearing this the Nome King uttered a yell of joy and leaped from his\nthrone, to resume his wild walk up and down the cavern.\n\n\"That\'s it, Blug!\" he shouted. \"That\'s the idea, General! I\'m King of\nthe Under World, and my subjects are all miners. I\'ll make a secret\ntunnel under the desert to the Land of Oz--yes! right up to the Emerald\nCity--and you will march your armies there and capture the whole\ncountry!\"\n\n\"Softly, softly, your Majesty. Don\'t go too fast,\" warned the General.\n\"My Nomes are good fighters, but they are not strong enough to conquer\nthe Emerald City.\"\n\n\"Are you sure?\" asked the King.\n\n\"Absolutely certain, your Majesty.\"\n\n\"Then what am I to do?\"\n\n\"Give up the idea and mind your own business,\" advised the General.\n\"You have plenty to do trying to rule your underground kingdom.\"\n\n\"But I want the Magic Belt--and I\'m going to have it!\" roared the Nome\nKing.\n\n\"I\'d like to see you get it,\" replied the General, laughing maliciously.\n\nThe King was by this time so exasperated that he picked up his scepter,\nwhich had a heavy ball, made from a sapphire, at the end of it, and\nthrew it with all his force at General Blug. The sapphire hit the\nGeneral upon his forehead and knocked him flat upon the ground, where\nhe lay motionless. Then the King rang his gong and told his guards to\ndrag out the General and throw him away; which they did.\n\nThis Nome King was named Roquat the Red, and no one loved him. He was\na bad man and a powerful monarch, and he had resolved to destroy the\nLand of Oz and its magnificent Emerald City, to enslave Princess Ozma\nand little Dorothy and all the Oz people, and recover his Magic Belt.\nThis same Belt had once enabled Roquat the Red to carry out many wicked\nplans; but that was before Ozma and her people marched to the\nunderground cavern and captured it. The Nome King could not forgive\nDorothy or Princess Ozma, and he had determined to be revenged upon\nthem.\n\nBut they, for their part, did not know they had so dangerous an enemy.\nIndeed, Ozma and Dorothy had both almost forgotten that such a person\nas the Nome King yet lived under the mountains of the Land of Ev--which\nlay just across the deadly desert to the south of the Land of Oz.\n\nAn unsuspected enemy is doubly dangerous.\n\n\n\n2. How Uncle Henry Got Into Trouble\n\nDorothy Gale lived on a farm in Kansas, with her Aunt Em and her Uncle\nHenry. It was not a big farm, nor a very good one, because sometimes\nthe rain did not come when the crops needed it, and then everything\nwithered and dried up. Once a cyclone had carried away Uncle Henry\'s\nhouse, so that he was obliged to build another; and as he was a poor\nman he had to mortgage his farm to get the money to pay for the new\nhouse. Then his health became bad and he was too feeble to work. The\ndoctor ordered him to take a sea voyage and he went to Australia and\ntook Dorothy with him. That cost a lot of money, too.\n\nUncle Henry grew poorer every year, and the crops raised on the farm\nonly bought food for the family. Therefore the mortgage could not be\npaid. At last the banker who had loaned him the money said that if he\ndid not pay on a certain day, his farm would be taken away from him.\n\nThis worried Uncle Henry a good deal, for without the farm he would\nhave no way to earn a living. He was a good man, and worked in the\nfield as hard as he could; and Aunt Em did all the housework, with\nDorothy\'s help. Yet they did not seem to get along.\n\nThis little girl, Dorothy, was like dozens of little girls you know.\nShe was loving and usually sweet-tempered, and had a round rosy face\nand earnest eyes. Life was a serious thing to Dorothy, and a wonderful\nthing, too, for she had encountered more strange adventures in her\nshort life than many other girls of her age.\n\nAunt Em once said she thought the fairies must have marked Dorothy at\nher birth, because she had wandered into strange places and had always\nbeen protected by some unseen power. As for Uncle Henry, he thought\nhis little niece merely a dreamer, as her dead mother had been, for he\ncould not quite believe all the curious stories Dorothy told them of\nthe Land of Oz, which she had several times visited. He did not think\nthat she tried to deceive her uncle and aunt, but he imagined that she\nhad dreamed all of those astonishing adventures, and that the dreams\nhad been so real to her that she had come to believe them true.\n\nWhatever the explanation might be, it was certain that Dorothy had been\nabsent from her Kansas home for several long periods, always\ndisappearing unexpectedly, yet always coming back safe and sound, with\namazing tales of where she had been and the unusual people she had met.\nHer uncle and aunt listened to her stories eagerly and in spite of\ntheir doubts began to feel that the little girl had gained a lot of\nexperience and wisdom that were unaccountable in this age, when fairies\nare supposed no longer to exist.\n\nMost of Dorothy\'s stories were about the Land of Oz, with its beautiful\nEmerald City and a lovely girl Ruler named Ozma, who was the most\nfaithful friend of the little Kansas girl. When Dorothy told about the\nriches of this fairy country Uncle Henry would sigh, for he knew that a\nsingle one of the great emeralds that were so common there would pay\nall his debts and leave his farm free. But Dorothy never brought any\njewels home with her, so their poverty became greater every year.\n\nWhen the banker told Uncle Henry that he must pay the money in thirty\ndays or leave the farm, the poor man was in despair, as he knew he\ncould not possibly get the money. So he told his wife, Aunt Em, of his\ntrouble, and she first cried a little and then said that they must be\nbrave and do the best they could, and go away somewhere and try to earn\nan honest living. But they were getting old and feeble and she feared\nthat they could not take care of Dorothy as well as they had formerly\ndone. Probably the little girl would also be obliged to go to work.\n\nThey did not tell their niece the sad news for several days, not\nwishing to make her unhappy; but one morning the little girl found Aunt\nEm softly crying while Uncle Henry tried to comfort her. Then Dorothy\nasked them to tell her what was the matter.\n\n\"We must give up the farm, my dear,\" replied her uncle sadly, \"and\nwander away into the world to work for our living.\"\n\nThe girl listened quite seriously, for she had not known before how\ndesperately poor they were.\n\n\"We don\'t mind for ourselves,\" said her aunt, stroking the little\ngirl\'s head tenderly; \"but we love you as if you were our own child,\nand we are heart-broken to think that you must also endure poverty, and\nwork for a living before you have grown big and strong.\"\n\n\"What could I do to earn money?\" asked Dorothy.\n\n\"You might do housework for some one, dear, you are so handy; or\nperhaps you could be a nurse-maid to little children. I\'m sure I don\'t\nknow exactly what you CAN do to earn money, but if your uncle and I are\nable to support you we will do it willingly, and send you to school.\nWe fear, though, that we shall have much trouble in earning a living\nfor ourselves. No one wants to employ old people who are broken down\nin health, as we are.\"\n\nDorothy smiled.\n\n\"Wouldn\'t it be funny,\" she said, \"for me to do housework in Kansas,\nwhen I\'m a Princess in the Land of Oz?\"\n\n\"A Princess!\" they both exclaimed, astonished.\n\n\"Yes; Ozma made me a Princess some time ago, and she has often begged\nme to come and live always in the Emerald City,\" said the child.\n\nHer uncle and aunt looked at her in amazement. Then the man said:\n\n\"Do you suppose you could manage to return to your fairyland, my dear?\"\n\n\"Oh yes,\" replied Dorothy; \"I could do that easily.\"\n\n\"How?\" asked Aunt Em.\n\n\"Ozma sees me every day at four o\'clock, in her Magic Picture. She can\nsee me wherever I am, no matter what I am doing. And at that time, if\nI make a certain secret sign, she will send for me by means of the\nMagic Belt, which I once captured from the Nome King. Then, in the\nwink of an eye, I shall be with Ozma in her palace.\"\n\nThe elder people remained silent for some time after Dorothy had\nspoken. Finally, Aunt Em said, with another sigh of regret:\n\n\"If that is the case, Dorothy, perhaps you\'d better go and live in the\nEmerald City. It will break our hearts to lose you from our lives, but\nyou will be so much better off with your fairy friends that it seems\nwisest and best for you to go.\"\n\n\"I\'m not so sure about that,\" remarked Uncle Henry, shaking his gray\nhead doubtfully. \"These things all seem real to Dorothy, I know; but\nI\'m afraid our little girl won\'t find her fairyland just what she had\ndreamed it to be. It would make me very unhappy to think that she was\nwandering among strangers who might be unkind to her.\"\n\nDorothy laughed merrily at this speech, and then she became very sober\nagain, for she could see how all this trouble was worrying her aunt and\nuncle, and knew that unless she found a way to help them their future\nlives would be quite miserable and unhappy. She knew that she COULD\nhelp them. She had thought of a way already. Yet she did not tell\nthem at once what it was, because she must ask Ozma\'s consent before\nshe would be able to carry out her plans.\n\nSo she only said:\n\n\"If you will promise not to worry a bit about me, I\'ll go to the Land\nof Oz this very afternoon. And I\'ll make a promise, too; that you\nshall both see me again before the day comes when you must leave this\nfarm.\"\n\n\"The day isn\'t far away, now,\" her uncle sadly replied. \"I did not\ntell you of our trouble until I was obliged to, dear Dorothy, so the\nevil time is near at hand. But if you are quite sure your fairy\nfriends will give you a home, it will be best for you to go to them, as\nyour aunt says.\"\n\nThat was why Dorothy went to her little room in the attic that\nafternoon, taking with her a small dog named Toto. The dog had curly\nblack hair and big brown eyes and loved Dorothy very dearly.\n\nThe child had kissed her uncle and aunt affectionately before she went\nupstairs, and now she looked around her little room rather wistfully,\ngazing at the simple trinkets and worn calico and gingham dresses, as\nif they were old friends. She was tempted at first to make a bundle of\nthem, yet she knew very well that they would be of no use to her in her\nfuture life.\n\nShe sat down upon a broken-backed chair--the only one the room\ncontained--and holding Toto in her arms waited patiently until the\nclock struck four.\n\nThen she made the secret signal that had been agreed upon between her\nand Ozma.\n\nUncle Henry and Aunt Em waited downstairs. They were uneasy and a good\ndeal excited, for this is a practical humdrum world, and it seemed to\nthem quite impossible that their little niece could vanish from her\nhome and travel instantly to fairyland.\n\nSo they watched the stairs, which seemed to be the only way that\nDorothy could get out of the farmhouse, and they watched them a long\ntime. They heard the clock strike four but there was no sound from\nabove.\n\nHalf-past four came, and now they were too impatient to wait any\nlonger. Softly, they crept up the stairs to the door of the little\ngirl\'s room.\n\n\"Dorothy! Dorothy!\" they called.\n\nThere was no answer.\n\nThey opened the door and looked in.\n\nThe room was empty.\n\n\n\n3. How Ozma Granted Dorothy\'s Request\n\nI suppose you have read so much about the magnificent Emerald City that\nthere is little need for me to describe it here. It is the Capital\nCity of the Land of Oz, which is justly considered the most attractive\nand delightful fairyland in all the world.\n\nThe Emerald City is built all of beautiful marbles in which are set a\nprofusion of emeralds, every one exquisitely cut and of very great\nsize. There are other jewels used in the decorations inside the houses\nand palaces, such as rubies, diamonds, sapphires, amethysts and\nturquoises. But in the streets and upon the outside of the buildings\nonly emeralds appear, from which circumstance the place is named the\nEmerald City of Oz. It has nine thousand, six hundred and fifty-four\nbuildings, in which lived fifty-seven thousand three hundred and\neighteen people, up to the time my story opens.\n\nAll the surrounding country, extending to the borders of the desert\nwhich enclosed it upon every side, was full of pretty and comfortable\nfarmhouses, in which resided those inhabitants of Oz who preferred\ncountry to city life.\n\nAltogether there were more than half a million people in the Land of\nOz--although some of them, as you will soon learn, were not made of\nflesh and blood as we are--and every inhabitant of that favored country\nwas happy and prosperous.\n\nNo disease of any sort was ever known among the Ozites, and so no one\never died unless he met with an accident that prevented him from\nliving. This happened very seldom, indeed. There were no poor people\nin the Land of Oz, because there was no such thing as money, and all\nproperty of every sort belonged to the Ruler. The people were her\nchildren, and she cared for them. Each person was given freely by his\nneighbors whatever he required for his use, which is as much as any one\nmay reasonably desire. Some tilled the lands and raised great crops of\ngrain, which was divided equally among the entire population, so that\nall had enough. There were many tailors and dressmakers and shoemakers\nand the like, who made things that any who desired them might wear.\nLikewise there were jewelers who made ornaments for the person, which\npleased and beautified the people, and these ornaments also were free\nto those who asked for them. Each man and woman, no matter what he or\nshe produced for the good of the community, was supplied by the\nneighbors with food and clothing and a house and furniture and\nornaments and games. If by chance the supply ever ran short, more was\ntaken from the great storehouses of the Ruler, which were afterward\nfilled up again when there was more of any article than the people\nneeded.\n\nEvery one worked half the time and played half the time, and the people\nenjoyed the work as much as they did the play, because it is good to be\noccupied and to have something to do. There were no cruel overseers\nset to watch them, and no one to rebuke them or to find fault with\nthem. So each one was proud to do all he could for his friends and\nneighbors, and was glad when they would accept the things he produced.\n\nYou will know by what I have here told you, that the Land of Oz was a\nremarkable country. I do not suppose such an arrangement would be\npractical with us, but Dorothy assures me that it works finely with the\nOz people.\n\nOz being a fairy country, the people were, of course, fairy people; but\nthat does not mean that all of them were very unlike the people of our\nown world. There were all sorts of queer characters among them, but\nnot a single one who was evil, or who possessed a selfish or violent\nnature. They were peaceful, kind hearted, loving and merry, and every\ninhabitant adored the beautiful girl who ruled them and delighted to\nobey her every command.\n\nIn spite of all I have said in a general way, there were some parts of\nthe Land of Oz not quite so pleasant as the farming country and the\nEmerald City which was its center. Far away in the South Country there\nlived in the mountains a band of strange people called Hammer-Heads,\nbecause they had no arms and used their flat heads to pound any one who\ncame near them. Their necks were like rubber, so that they could shoot\nout their heads to quite a distance, and afterward draw them back again\nto their shoulders. The Hammer-Heads were called the \"Wild People,\"\nbut never harmed any but those who disturbed them in the mountains\nwhere they lived.\n\nIn some of the dense forests there lived great beasts of every sort;\nyet these were for the most part harmless and even sociable, and\nconversed agreeably with those who visited their haunts. The\nKalidahs--beasts with bodies like bears and heads like tigers--had once\nbeen fierce and bloodthirsty, but even they were now nearly all tamed,\nalthough at times one or another of them would get cross and\ndisagreeable.\n\nNot so tame were the Fighting Trees, which had a forest of their own.\nIf any one approached them these curious trees would bend down their\nbranches, twine them around the intruders, and hurl them away.\n\nBut these unpleasant things existed only in a few remote parts of the\nLand of Oz. I suppose every country has some drawbacks, so even this\nalmost perfect fairyland could not be quite perfect. Once there had\nbeen wicked witches in the land, too; but now these had all been\ndestroyed; so, as I said, only peace and happiness reigned in Oz.\n\nFor some time Ozma had ruled over this fair country, and never was\nRuler more popular or beloved. She is said to be the most beautiful\ngirl the world has ever known, and her heart and mind are as lovely as\nher person.\n\nDorothy Gale had several times visited the Emerald City and experienced\nadventures in the Land of Oz, so that she and Ozma had now become firm\nfriends. The girl Ruler had even made Dorothy a Princess of Oz, and\nhad often implored her to come to Ozma\'s stately palace and live there\nalways; but Dorothy had been loyal to her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, who\nhad cared for her since she was a baby, and she had refused to leave\nthem because she knew they would be lonely without her.\n\nHowever, Dorothy now realized that things were going to be different\nwith her uncle and aunt from this time forth, so after giving the\nmatter deep thought she decided to ask Ozma to grant her a very great\nfavor.\n\nA few seconds after she had made the secret signal in her little\nbedchamber, the Kansas girl was seated in a lovely room in Ozma\'s\npalace in the Emerald City of Oz. When the first loving kisses and\nembraces had been exchanged, the fair Ruler inquired:\n\n\"What is the matter, dear? I know something unpleasant has happened to\nyou, for your face was very sober when I saw it in my Magic Picture.\nAnd whenever you signal me to transport you to this safe place, where\nyou are always welcome, I know you are in danger or in trouble.\"\n\nDorothy sighed.\n\n\"This time, Ozma, it isn\'t I,\" she replied. \"But it\'s worse, I guess,\nfor Uncle Henry and Aunt Em are in a heap of trouble, and there seems\nno way for them to get out of it--anyhow, not while they live in\nKansas.\"\n\n\"Tell me about it, Dorothy,\" said Ozma, with ready sympathy.\n\n\"Why, you see Uncle Henry is poor; for the farm in Kansas doesn\'t\n\'mount to much, as farms go. So one day Uncle Henry borrowed some\nmoney, and wrote a letter saying that if he didn\'t pay the money back\nthey could take his farm for pay. Course he \'spected to pay by making\nmoney from the farm; but he just couldn\'t. An\' so they\'re going to\ntake the farm, and Uncle Henry and Aunt Em won\'t have any place to\nlive. They\'re pretty old to do much hard work, Ozma; so I\'ll have to\nwork for them, unless--\"\n\nOzma had been thoughtful during the story, but now she smiled and\npressed her little friend\'s hand.\n\n\"Unless what, dear?\" she asked.\n\nDorothy hesitated, because her request meant so much to them all.\n\n\"Well,\" said she, \"I\'d like to live here in the Land of Oz, where\nyou\'ve often \'vited me to live. But I can\'t, you know, unless Uncle\nHenry and Aunt Em could live here too.\"\n\n\"Of course not,\" exclaimed the Ruler of Oz, laughing gaily. \"So, in\norder to get you, little friend, we must invite your Uncle and Aunt to\nlive in Oz, also.\"\n\n\"Oh, will you, Ozma?\" cried Dorothy, clasping her chubby little hands\neagerly. \"Will you bring them here with the Magic Belt, and give them\na nice little farm in the Munchkin Country, or the Winkie Country--or\nsome other place?\"\n\n\"To be sure,\" answered Ozma, full of joy at the chance to please her\nlittle friend. \"I have long been thinking of this very thing, Dorothy\ndear, and often I have had it in my mind to propose it to you. I am\nsure your uncle and aunt must be good and worthy people, or you would\nnot love them so much; and for YOUR friends, Princess, there is always\nroom in the Land of Oz.\"\n\nDorothy was delighted, yet not altogether surprised, for she had clung\nto the hope that Ozma would be kind enough to grant her request. When,\nindeed, had her powerful and faithful friend refused her anything?\n\n\"But you must not call me \'Princess\',\" she said; \"for after this I\nshall live on the little farm with Uncle Henry and Aunt Em, and\nprincesses ought not to live on farms.\"\n\n\"Princess Dorothy will not,\" replied Ozma with her sweet smile. \"You\nare going to live in your own rooms in this palace, and be my constant\ncompanion.\"\n\n\"But Uncle Henry--\" began Dorothy.\n\n\"Oh, he is old, and has worked enough in his lifetime,\" interrupted the\ngirl Ruler; \"so we must find a place for your uncle and aunt where they\nwill be comfortable and happy and need not work more than they care to.\nWhen shall we transport them here, Dorothy?\"\n\n\"I promised to go and see them again before they were turned out of the\nfarmhouse,\" answered Dorothy; \"so--perhaps next Saturday--\"\n\n\"But why wait so long?\" asked Ozma. \"And why make the journey back to\nKansas again? Let us surprise them, and bring them here without any\nwarning.\"\n\n\"I\'m not sure that they believe in the Land of Oz,\" said Dorothy,\n\"though I\'ve told \'em \'bout it lots of times.\"\n\n\"They\'ll believe when they see it,\" declared Ozma; \"and if they are\ntold they are to make a magical journey to our fairyland, it may make\nthem nervous. I think the best way will be to use the Magic Belt\nwithout warning them, and when they have arrived you can explain to\nthem whatever they do not understand.\"\n\n\"Perhaps that\'s best,\" decided Dorothy. \"There isn\'t much use in their\nstaying at the farm until they are put out, \'cause it\'s much nicer\nhere.\"\n\n\"Then to-morrow morning they shall come here,\" said Princess Ozma. \"I\nwill order Jellia Jamb, who is the palace housekeeper, to have rooms\nall prepared for them, and after breakfast we will get the Magic Belt\nand by its aid transport your uncle and aunt to the Emerald City.\"\n\n\"Thank you, Ozma!\" cried Dorothy, kissing her friend gratefully.\n\n\"And now,\" Ozma proposed, \"let us take a walk in the gardens before we\ndress for dinner. Come, Dorothy dear!\"\n\n\n\n4. How The Nome King Planned Revenge\n\nThe reason most people are bad is because they do not try to be good.\nNow, the Nome King had never tried to be good, so he was very bad\nindeed. Having decided to conquer the Land of Oz and to destroy the\nEmerald City and enslave all its people, King Roquat the Red kept\nplanning ways to do this dreadful thing, and the more he planned the\nmore he believed he would be able to accomplish it.\n\nAbout the time Dorothy went to Ozma the Nome King called his Chief\nSteward to him and said:\n\n\"Kaliko, I think I shall make you the General of my armies.\"\n\n\"I think you won\'t,\" replied Kaliko, positively.\n\n\"Why not?\" inquired the King, reaching for his scepter with the big\nsapphire.\n\n\"Because I\'m your Chief Steward and know nothing of warfare,\" said\nKaliko, preparing to dodge if anything were thrown at him. \"I manage\nall the affairs of your kingdom better than you could yourself, and\nyou\'ll never find another Steward as good as I am. But there are a\nhundred Nomes better fitted to command your army, and your Generals get\nthrown away so often that I have no desire to be one of them.\"\n\n\"Ah, there is some truth in your remarks, Kaliko,\" remarked the King,\ndeciding not to throw the scepter. \"Summon my army to assemble in the\nGreat Cavern.\"\n\nKaliko bowed and retired, and in a few minutes returned to say that the\narmy was assembled. So the King went out upon a balcony that\noverlooked the Great Cavern, where fifty thousand Nomes, all armed with\nswords and pikes, stood marshaled in military array.\n\nWhen they were not required as soldiers all these Nomes were metal\nworkers and miners, and they had hammered so much at the forges and dug\nso hard with pick and shovel that they had acquired great muscular\nstrength. They were strangely formed creatures, rather round and not\nvery tall. Their toes were curly and their ears broad and flat.\n\nIn time of war every Nome left his forge or mine and became part of the\ngreat army of King Roquat. The soldiers wore rock-colored uniforms and\nwere excellently drilled.\n\nThe King looked upon this tremendous army, which stood silently arrayed\nbefore him, and a cruel smile curled the corners of his mouth, for he\nsaw that his legions were very powerful. Then he addressed them from\nthe balcony, saying:\n\n\"I have thrown away General Blug, because he did not please me. So I\nwant another General to command this army. Who is next in command?\"\n\n\"I am,\" replied Colonel Crinkle, a dapper-looking Nome, as he stepped\nforward to salute his monarch.\n\nThe King looked at him carefully and said:\n\n\"I want you to march this army through an underground tunnel, which I\nam going to bore, to the Emerald City of Oz. When you get there I want\nyou to conquer the Oz people, destroy them and their city, and bring\nall their gold and silver and precious stones back to my cavern. Also\nyou are to recapture my Magic Belt and return it to me. Will you do\nthis, General Crinkle?\"\n\n\"No, your Majesty,\" replied the Nome; \"for it can\'t be done.\"\n\n\"Oh indeed!\" exclaimed the King. Then he turned to his servants and\nsaid: \"Please take General Crinkle to the torture chamber. There you\nwill kindly slice him into thin slices. Afterward you may feed him to\nthe seven-headed dogs.\"\n\n\"Anything to oblige your Majesty,\" replied the servants, politely, and\nled the condemned man away.\n\nWhen they had gone, the King addressed the army again.\n\n\"Listen!\" said he. \"The General who is to command my armies must\npromise to carry out my orders. If he fails he will share the fate of\npoor Crinkle. Now, then, who will volunteer to lead my hosts to the\nEmerald City?\"\n\nFor a time no one moved and all were silent. Then an old Nome with\nwhite whiskers so long that they were tied around his waist to prevent\ntheir tripping him up, stepped out of the ranks and saluted the King.\n\n\"I\'d like to ask a few questions, your Majesty,\" he said.\n\n\"Go ahead,\" replied the King.\n\n\"These Oz people are quite good, are they not?\"\n\n\"As good as apple pie,\" said the King.\n\n\"And they are happy, I suppose?\" continued the old Nome.\n\n\"Happy as the day is long,\" said the King.\n\n\"And contented and prosperous?\" inquired the Nome.\n\n\"Very much so,\" said the King.\n\n\"Well, your Majesty,\" remarked he of the white whiskers, \"I think I\nshould like to undertake the job, so I\'ll be your General. I hate good\npeople; I detest happy people; I\'m opposed to any one who is contented\nand prosperous. That is why I am so fond of your Majesty. Make me\nyour General and I\'ll promise to conquer and destroy the Oz people. If\nI fail I\'m ready to be sliced thin and fed to the seven-headed dogs.\"\n\n\"Very good! Very good, indeed! That\'s the way to talk!\" cried Roquat\nthe Red, who was greatly pleased. \"What is your name, General?\"\n\n\"I\'m called Guph, your Majesty.\"\n\n\"Well, Guph, come with me to my private cave, and we\'ll talk it over.\"\nThen he turned to the army. \"Nomes and soldiers,\" said he, \"you are to\nobey the commands of General Guph until he becomes dog-feed. Any man\nwho fails to obey his new General will be promptly thrown away. You\nare now dismissed.\"\n\nGuph went to the King\'s private cave and sat down upon an amethyst\nchair and put his feet on the arm of the King\'s ruby throne. Then he\nlighted his pipe and threw the live coal he had taken from his pocket\nupon the King\'s left foot and puffed the smoke into the King\'s eyes and\nmade himself comfortable. For he was a wise old Nome, and he knew that\nthe best way to get along with Roquat the Red was to show that he was\nnot afraid of him.\n\n\"I\'m ready for the talk, your Majesty,\" he said.\n\nThe King coughed and looked at his new General fiercely.\n\n\"Do you not tremble to take such liberties with your monarch?\" he asked.\n\n\"Oh no,\" replied Guph, calmly, and he blew a wreath of smoke that\ncurled around the King\'s nose and made him sneeze. \"You want to\nconquer the Emerald City, and I\'m the only Nome in all your dominions\nwho can conquer it. So you will be very careful not to hurt me until I\nhave carried out your wishes. After that--\"\n\n\"Well, what then?\" inquired the King.\n\n\"Then you will be so grateful to me that you won\'t care to hurt me,\"\nreplied the General.\n\n\"That is a very good argument,\" said Roquat. \"But suppose you fail?\"\n\n\"Then it\'s the slicing machine. I agree to that,\" announced Guph.\n\"But if you do as I tell you there will be no failure. The trouble\nwith you, Roquat, is that you don\'t think carefully enough. I do. You\nwould go ahead and march through your tunnel into Oz, and get defeated\nand driven back. I won\'t. And the reason I won\'t is because when I\nmarch I\'ll have all my plans made, and a host of allies to assist my\nNomes.\"\n\n\"What do you mean by that?\" asked the King.\n\n\"I\'ll explain, King Roquat. You\'re going to attack a fairy country,\nand a mighty fairy country, too. They haven\'t much of an army in Oz,\nbut the Princess who ruled them has a fairy wand; and the little girl\nDorothy has your Magic Belt; and at the North of the Emerald City lives\na clever sorceress called Glinda the Good, who commands the spirits of\nthe air. Also I have heard that there is a wonderful Wizard in Ozma\'s\npalace, who is so skillful that people used to pay him money in America\nto see him perform. So you see it will be no easy thing to overcome\nall this magic.\"\n\n\"We have fifty thousand soldiers!\" cried the King proudly.\n\n\"Yes; but they are Nomes,\" remarked Guph, taking a silk handkerchief\nfrom the King\'s pocket and wiping his own pointed shoes with it.\n\"Nomes are immortals, but they are not strong on magic. When you lost\nyour famous Belt the greater part of your own power was gone from you.\nAgainst Ozma you and your Nomes would have no show at all.\"\n\nRoquat\'s eyes flashed angrily.\n\n\"Then away you go to the slicing machine!\" he cried.\n\n\"Not yet,\" said the General, filling his pipe from the King\'s private\ntobacco pouch.\n\n\"What do you propose to do?\" asked the monarch.\n\n\"I propose to obtain the power we need,\" answered Guph. \"There are a\ngood many evil creatures who have magic powers sufficient to destroy\nand conquer the Land of Oz. We will get them on our side, band them\nall together, and then take Ozma and her people by surprise. It\'s all\nvery simple and easy when you know how. Alone, we should be helpless\nto injure the Ruler of Oz, but with the aid of the evil powers we can\nsummon we shall easily succeed.\"\n\nKing Roquat was delighted with this idea, for he realized how clever it\nwas.\n\n\"Surely, Guph, you are the greatest General I have ever had!\" he\nexclaimed, his eyes sparkling with joy. \"You must go at once and make\narrangements with the evil powers to assist us, and meantime I\'ll begin\nto dig the tunnel.\"\n\n\"I thought you\'d agree with me, Roquat,\" replied the new General.\n\"I\'ll start this very afternoon to visit the Chief of the Whimsies.\"\n\n\n\n5. How Dorothy Became a Princess\n\nWhen the people of the Emerald City heard that Dorothy had returned to\nthem every one was eager to see her, for the little girl was a general\nfavorite in the Land of Oz. From time to time some of the folk from\nthe great outside world had found their way into this fairyland, but\nall except one had been companions of Dorothy and had turned out to be\nvery agreeable people. The exception I speak of was the wonderful\nWizard of Oz, a sleight-of-hand performer from Omaha who went up in a\nballoon and was carried by a current of air to the Emerald City. His\nqueer and puzzling tricks made the people of Oz believe him a great\nwizard for a time, and he ruled over them until Dorothy arrived on her\nfirst visit and showed the Wizard to be a mere humbug. He was a\ngentle, kind-hearted little man, and Dorothy grew to like him\nafterward. When, after an absence, the Wizard returned to the Land of\nOz, Ozma received him graciously and gave him a home in a part of the\npalace.\n\nIn addition to the Wizard two other personages from the outside world\nhad been allowed to make their home in the Emerald City. The first was\na quaint Shaggy Man, whom Ozma had made the Governor of the Royal\nStorehouses, and the second a Yellow Hen named Billina, who had a fine\nhouse in the gardens back of the palace, where she looked after a large\nfamily. Both these had been old comrades of Dorothy, so you see the\nlittle girl was quite an important personage in Oz, and the people\nthought she had brought them good luck, and loved her next best to\nOzma. During her several visits this little girl had been the means of\ndestroying two wicked witches who oppressed the people, and she had\ndiscovered a live scarecrow who was now one of the most popular\npersonages in all the fairy country. With the Scarecrow\'s help she had\nrescued Nick Chopper, a Tin Woodman, who had rusted in a lonely forest,\nand the tin man was now the Emperor of the Country of the Winkies and\nmuch beloved because of his kind heart. No wonder the people thought\nDorothy had brought them good luck! Yet, strange as it may seem, she\nhad accomplished all these wonders not because she was a fairy or had\nany magical powers whatever, but because she was a simple, sweet and\ntrue little girl who was honest to herself and to all whom she met. In\nthis world in which we live simplicity and kindness are the only magic\nwands that work wonders, and in the Land of Oz Dorothy found these same\nqualities had won for her the love and admiration of the people.\nIndeed, the little girl had made many warm friends in the fairy\ncountry, and the only real grief the Ozites had ever experienced was\nwhen Dorothy left them and returned to her Kansas home.\n\nNow she received a joyful welcome, although no one except Ozma knew at\nfirst that she had finally come to stay for good and all.\n\nThat evening Dorothy had many callers, and among them were such\nimportant people as Tiktok, a machine man who thought and spoke and\nmoved by clockwork; her old companion the genial Shaggy Man; Jack\nPumpkinhead, whose body was brush-wood and whose head was a ripe\npumpkin with a face carved upon it; the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry\nTiger, two great beasts from the forest, who served Princess Ozma, and\nProfessor H. M. Wogglebug, T.E. This wogglebug was a remarkable\ncreature. He had once been a tiny little bug, crawling around in a\nschool-room, but he was discovered and highly magnified so that he\ncould be seen more plainly, and while in this magnified condition he\nhad escaped. He had always remained big, and he dressed like a dandy\nand was so full of knowledge and information (which are distinct\nacquirements) that he had been made a Professor and the head of the\nRoyal College.\n\nDorothy had a nice visit with these old friends, and also talked a long\ntime with the Wizard, who was little and old and withered and dried up,\nbut as merry and active as a child. Afterward, she went to see\nBillina\'s fast-growing family of chicks.\n\nToto, Dorothy\'s little black dog, also met with a cordial reception.\nToto was an especial friend of the Shaggy Man, and he knew every one\nelse. Being the only dog in the Land of Oz, he was highly respected by\nthe people, who believed animals entitled to every consideration if\nthey behaved themselves properly.\n\nDorothy had four lovely rooms in the palace, which were always reserved\nfor her use and were called \"Dorothy\'s rooms.\" These consisted of a\nbeautiful sitting room, a dressing room, a dainty bedchamber and a big\nmarble bathroom. And in these rooms were everything that heart could\ndesire, placed there with loving thoughtfulness by Ozma for her little\nfriend\'s use. The royal dressmakers had the little girl\'s measure, so\nthey kept the closets in her dressing room filled with lovely dresses\nof every description and suitable for every occasion. No wonder\nDorothy had refrained from bringing with her her old calico and gingham\ndresses! Here everything that was dear to a little girl\'s heart was\nsupplied in profusion, and nothing so rich and beautiful could ever\nhave been found in the biggest department stores in America. Of course\nDorothy enjoyed all these luxuries, and the only reason she had\nheretofore preferred to live in Kansas was because her uncle and aunt\nloved her and needed her with them.\n\nNow, however, all was to be changed, and Dorothy was really more\ndelighted to know that her dear relatives were to share in her good\nfortune and enjoy the delights of the Land of Oz, than she was to\npossess such luxury for herself.\n\nNext morning, at Ozma\'s request, Dorothy dressed herself in a pretty\nsky-blue gown of rich silk, trimmed with real pearls. The buckles of\nher shoes were set with pearls, too, and more of these priceless gems\nwere on a lovely coronet which she wore upon her forehead. \"For,\" said\nher friend Ozma, \"from this time forth, my dear, you must assume your\nrightful rank as a Princess of Oz, and being my chosen companion you\nmust dress in a way befitting the dignity of your position.\"\n\nDorothy agreed to this, although she knew that neither gowns nor jewels\ncould make her anything else than the simple, unaffected little girl\nshe had always been.\n\nAs soon as they had breakfasted--the girls eating together in Ozma\'s\npretty boudoir--the Ruler of Oz said:\n\n\"Now, dear friend, we will use the Magic Belt to transport your uncle\nand aunt from Kansas to the Emerald City. But I think it would be\nfitting, in receiving such distinguished guests, for us to sit in my\nThrone Room.\"\n\n\"Oh, they\'re not very \'stinguished, Ozma,\" said Dorothy. \"They\'re just\nplain people, like me.\"\n\n\"Being your friends and relatives, Princess Dorothy, they are certainly\ndistinguished,\" replied the Ruler, with a smile.\n\n\"They--they won\'t hardly know what to make of all your splendid\nfurniture and things,\" protested Dorothy, gravely. \"It may scare \'em\nto see your grand Throne Room, an\' p\'raps we\'d better go into the back\nyard, Ozma, where the cabbages grow an\' the chickens are playing. Then\nit would seem more natural to Uncle Henry and Aunt Em.\"\n\n\"No; they shall first see me in my Throne Room,\" replied Ozma,\ndecidedly; and when she spoke in that tone Dorothy knew it was not wise\nto oppose her, for Ozma was accustomed to having her own way.\n\nSo together they went to the Throne Room, an immense domed chamber in\nthe center of the palace. Here stood the royal throne, made of solid\ngold and encrusted with enough precious stones to stock a dozen jewelry\nstores in our country.\n\nOzma, who was wearing the Magic Belt, seated herself in the throne, and\nDorothy sat at her feet. In the room were assembled many ladies and\ngentlemen of the court, clothed in rich apparel and wearing fine\njewelry. Two immense animals squatted, one on each side of the\nthrone--the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger. In a balcony high up\nin the dome an orchestra played sweet music, and beneath the dome two\nelectric fountains sent sprays of colored perfumed water shooting up\nnearly as high as the arched ceiling.\n\n\"Are you ready, Dorothy?\" asked the Ruler.\n\n\"I am,\" replied Dorothy; \"but I don\'t know whether Aunt Em and Uncle\nHenry are ready.\"\n\n\"That won\'t matter,\" declared Ozma. \"The old life can have very little\nto interest them, and the sooner they begin the new life here the\nhappier they will be. Here they come, my dear!\"\n\nAs she spoke, there before the throne appeared Uncle Henry and Aunt Em,\nwho for a moment stood motionless, glaring with white and startled\nfaces at the scene that confronted them. If the ladies and gentlemen\npresent had not been so polite I am sure they would have laughed at the\ntwo strangers.\n\nAunt Em had her calico dress skirt \"tucked up,\" and she wore a faded,\nblue-checked apron. Her hair was rather straggly and she had on a pair\nof Uncle Henry\'s old slippers. In one hand she held a dish-towel and\nin the other a cracked earthenware plate, which she had been engaged in\nwiping when so suddenly transported to the Land of Oz.\n\nUncle Henry, when the summons came, had been out in the barn \"doin\'\nchores.\" He wore a ragged and much soiled straw hat, a checked shirt\nwithout any collar and blue overalls tucked into the tops of his old\ncowhide boots.\n\n\"By gum!\" gasped Uncle Henry, looking around as if bewildered.\n\n\"Well, I swan!\" gurgled Aunt Em in a hoarse, frightened voice. Then\nher eyes fell upon Dorothy, and she said: \"D-d-d-don\'t that look like\nour little girl--our Dorothy, Henry?\"\n\n\"Hi, there--look out, Em!\" exclaimed the old man, as Aunt Em advanced a\nstep; \"take care o\' the wild beastses, or you\'re a goner!\"\n\nBut now Dorothy sprang forward and embraced and kissed her aunt and\nuncle affectionately, afterward taking their hands in her own.\n\n\"Don\'t be afraid,\" she said to them. \"You are now in the Land of Oz,\nwhere you are to live always, and be comfer\'ble an\' happy. You\'ll\nnever have to worry over anything again, \'cause there won\'t be anything\nto worry about. And you owe it all to the kindness of my friend\nPrincess Ozma.\"\n\nHere she led them before the throne and continued:\n\n\"Your Highness, this is Uncle Henry. And this is Aunt Em. They want\nto thank you for bringing them here from Kansas.\"\n\nAunt Em tried to \"slick\" her hair, and she hid the dish-towel and dish\nunder her apron while she bowed to the lovely Ozma. Uncle Henry took\noff his straw hat and held it awkwardly in his hands.\n\nBut the Ruler of Oz rose and came from her throne to greet her newly\narrived guests, and she smiled as sweetly upon them as if they had been\na king and queen.\n\n\"You are very welcome here, where I have brought you for Princess\nDorothy\'s sake,\" she said, graciously, \"and I hope you will be quite\nhappy in your new home.\" Then she turned to her courtiers, who were\nsilently and gravely regarding the scene, and added: \"I present to my\npeople our Princess Dorothy\'s beloved Uncle Henry and Aunt Em, who will\nhereafter be subjects of our kingdom. It will please me to have you\nshow them every kindness and honor in your power, and to join me in\nmaking them happy and contented.\"\n\nHearing this, all those assembled bowed low and respectfully to the old\nfarmer and his wife, who bobbed their own heads in return.\n\n\"And now,\" said Ozma to them, \"Dorothy will show you the rooms prepared\nfor you. I hope you will like them, and shall expect you to join me at\nluncheon.\"\n\nSo Dorothy led her relatives away, and as soon as they were out of the\nThrone Room and alone in the corridor, Aunt Em squeezed Dorothy\'s hand\nand said:\n\n\"Child, child! How in the world did we ever get here so quick? And is\nit all real? And are we to stay here, as she says? And what does it\nall mean, anyhow?\"\n\nDorothy laughed.\n\n\"Why didn\'t you tell us what you were goin\' to do?\" inquired Uncle\nHenry, reproachfully. \"If I\'d known about it, I\'d \'a put on my Sunday\nclothes.\"\n\n\"I\'ll \'splain ever\'thing as soon as we get to your rooms,\" promised\nDorothy. \"You\'re in great luck, Uncle Henry and Aunt Em; an\' so am I!\nAnd oh! I\'m so happy to have got you here, at last!\"\n\nAs he walked by the little girl\'s side, Uncle Henry stroked his\nwhiskers thoughtfully. \"\'Pears to me, Dorothy, we won\'t make bang-up\nfairies,\" he remarked.\n\n\"An\' my back hair looks like a fright!\" wailed Aunt Em.\n\n\"Never mind,\" returned the little girl, reassuringly. \"You won\'t have\nanything to do now but to look pretty, Aunt Em; an\' Uncle Henry won\'t\nhave to work till his back aches, that\'s certain.\"\n\n\"Sure?\" they asked, wonderingly, and in the same breath.\n\n\"Course I\'m sure,\" said Dorothy. \"You\'re in the Fairyland of Oz, now;\nan\' what\'s more, you belong to it!\"\n\n\n\n6. How Guph Visited the Whimsies\n\nThe new General of the Nome King\'s army knew perfectly well that to\nfail in his plans meant death for him. Yet he was not at all anxious\nor worried. He hated every one who was good and longed to make all who\nwere happy unhappy. Therefore he had accepted this dangerous position\nas General quite willingly, feeling sure in his evil mind that he would\nbe able to do a lot of mischief and finally conquer the Land of Oz.\n\nYet Guph determined to be careful, and to lay his plans well, so as not\nto fail. He argued that only careless people fail in what they attempt\nto do.\n\nThe mountains underneath which the Nome King\'s extensive caverns were\nlocated lay grouped just north of the Land of Ev, which lay directly\nacross the deadly desert to the east of the Land of Oz. As the\nmountains were also on the edge of the desert the Nome King found that\nhe had only to tunnel underneath the desert to reach Ozma\'s dominions.\nHe did not wish his armies to appear above ground in the Country of the\nWinkies, which was the part of the Land of Oz nearest to King Roquat\'s\nown country, as then the people would give the alarm and enable Ozma to\nfortify the Emerald City and assemble an army. He wanted to take all\nthe Oz people by surprise; so he decided to run the tunnel clear\nthrough to the Emerald City, where he and his hosts could break through\nthe ground without warning and conquer the people before they had time\nto defend themselves.\n\nRoquat the Red began work at once upon his tunnel, setting a thousand\nminers at the task and building it high and broad enough for his armies\nto march through it with ease. The Nomes were used to making tunnels,\nas all the kingdom in which they lived was under ground; so they made\nrapid progress.\n\nWhile this work was going on General Guph started out alone to visit\nthe Chief of the Whimsies.\n\nThese Whimsies were curious people who lived in a retired country of\ntheir own. They had large, strong bodies, but heads so small that they\nwere no bigger than door-knobs. Of course, such tiny heads could not\ncontain any great amount of brains, and the Whimsies were so ashamed of\ntheir personal appearance and lack of commonsense that they wore big\nheads made of pasteboard, which they fastened over their own little\nheads. On these pasteboard heads they sewed sheep\'s wool for hair, and\nthe wool was colored many tints--pink, green and lavender being the\nfavorite colors. The faces of these false heads were painted in many\nridiculous ways, according to the whims of the owners, and these big,\nburly creatures looked so whimsical and absurd in their queer masks\nthat they were called \"Whimsies.\" They foolishly imagined that no one\nwould suspect the little heads that were inside the imitation ones, not\nknowing that it is folly to try to appear otherwise than as nature has\nmade us.\n\nThe Chief of the Whimsies had as little wisdom as the others, and had\nbeen chosen chief merely because none among them was any wiser or more\ncapable of ruling. The Whimsies were evil spirits and could not be\nkilled. They were hated and feared by every one and were known as\nterrible fighters because they were so strong and muscular and had not\nsense enough to know when they were defeated.\n\nGeneral Guph thought the Whimsies would be a great help to the Nomes in\nthe conquest of Oz, for under his leadership they could be induced to\nfight as long so they could stand up. So he traveled to their country\nand asked to see the Chief, who lived in a house that had a picture of\nhis grotesque false head painted over the doorway.\n\nThe Chief\'s false head had blue hair, a turned-up nose, and a mouth\nthat stretched half across the face. Big green eyes had been painted\nupon it, but in the center of the chin were two small holes made in the\npasteboard, so that the Chief could see through them with his own tiny\neyes; for when the big head was fastened upon his shoulders the eyes in\nhis own natural head were on a level with the false chin.\n\nSaid General Guph to the Chief of the Whimsies:\n\n\"We Nomes are going to conquer the Land of Oz and capture our King\'s\nMagic Belt, which the Oz people stole from him. Then we are going to\nplunder and destroy the whole country. And we want the Whimsies to\nhelp us.\"\n\n\"Will there be any fighting?\" asked the Chief.\n\n\"Plenty,\" replied Guph.\n\nThat must have pleased the Chief, for he got up and danced around the\nroom three times. Then he seated himself again, adjusted his false\nhead, and said:\n\n\"We have no quarrel with Ozma of Oz.\"\n\n\"But you Whimsies love to fight, and here is a splendid chance to do\nso,\" urged Guph.\n\n\"Wait till I sing a song,\" said the Chief. Then he lay back in his\nchair and sang a foolish song that did not seem to the General to mean\nanything, although he listened carefully. When he had finished, the\nChief Whimsie looked at him through the holes in his chin and asked:\n\n\"What reward will you give us if we help you?\"\n\nThe General was prepared for this question, for he had been thinking\nthe matter over on his journey. People often do a good deed without\nhope of reward, but for an evil deed they always demand payment.\n\n\"When we get our Magic Belt,\" he made reply, \"our King, Roquat the Red,\nwill use its power to give every Whimsie a natural head as big and fine\nas the false head he now wears. Then you will no longer be ashamed\nbecause your big strong bodies have such teenty-weenty heads.\"\n\n\"Oh! Will you do that?\" asked the Chief, eagerly.\n\n\"We surely will,\" promised the General.\n\n\"I\'ll talk to my people,\" said the Chief.\n\nSo he called a meeting of all the Whimsies and told them of the offer\nmade by the Nomes. The creatures were delighted with the bargain, and\nat once agreed to fight for the Nome King and help him to conquer Oz.\n\nOne Whimsie alone seemed to have a glimmer of sense, for he asked:\n\n\"Suppose we fail to capture the Magic Belt? What will happen then, and\nwhat good will all our fighting do?\"\n\nBut they threw him into the river for asking foolish questions, and\nlaughed when the water ruined his pasteboard head before he could swim\nout again.\n\nSo the compact was made and General Guph was delighted with his success\nin gaining such powerful allies.\n\nBut there were other people, too, just as important as the Whimsies,\nwhom the clever old Nome had determined to win to his side.\n\n\n\n7. How Aunt Em Conquered the Lion\n\n\"These are your rooms,\" said Dorothy, opening a door.\n\nAunt Em drew back at the sight of the splendid furniture and draperies.\n\n\"Ain\'t there any place to wipe my feet?\" she asked.\n\n\"You will soon change your slippers for new shoes,\" replied Dorothy.\n\"Don\'t be afraid, Aunt Em. Here is where you are to live, so walk\nright in and make yourself at home.\"\n\nAunt Em advanced hesitatingly.\n\n\"It beats the Topeka Hotel!\" she cried admiringly. \"But this place is\ntoo grand for us, child. Can\'t we have some back room in the attic,\nthat\'s more in our class?\"\n\n\"No,\" said Dorothy. \"You\'ve got to live here, \'cause Ozma says so.\nAnd all the rooms in this palace are just as fine as these, and some\nare better. It won\'t do any good to fuss, Aunt Em. You\'ve got to be\nswell and high-toned in the Land of Oz, whether you want to or not; so\nyou may as well make up your mind to it.\"\n\n\"It\'s hard luck,\" replied her aunt, looking around with an awed\nexpression; \"but folks can get used to anything, if they try. Eh,\nHenry?\"\n\n\"Why, as to that,\" said Uncle Henry, slowly, \"I b\'lieve in takin\'\nwhat\'s pervided us, an\' askin\' no questions. I\'ve traveled some, Em,\nin my time, and you hain\'t; an\' that makes a difference atween us.\"\n\nThen Dorothy showed them through the rooms. The first was a handsome\nsitting-room, with windows opening upon the rose gardens. Then came\nseparate bedrooms for Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, with a fine bathroom\nbetween them. Aunt Em had a pretty dressing room, besides, and Dorothy\nopened the closets and showed several exquisite costumes that had been\nprovided for her aunt by the royal dressmakers, who had worked all\nnight to get them ready. Everything that Aunt Em could possibly need\nwas in the drawers and closets, and her dressing-table was covered with\nengraved gold toilet articles.\n\nUncle Henry had nine suits of clothes, cut in the popular Munchkin\nfashion, with knee-breeches, silk stockings, and low shoes with jeweled\nbuckles. The hats to match these costumes had pointed tops and wide\nbrims with small gold bells around the edges. His shirts were of fine\nlinen with frilled bosoms, and his vests were richly embroidered with\ncolored silks.\n\nUncle Henry decided that he would first take a bath and then dress\nhimself in a blue satin suit that had caught his fancy. He accepted\nhis good fortune with calm composure and refused to have a servant to\nassist him. But Aunt Em was \"all of a flutter,\" as she said, and it\ntook Dorothy and Jellia Jamb, the housekeeper, and two maids a long\ntime to dress her and do up her hair and get her \"rigged like a\npopinjay,\" as she quaintly expressed it. She wanted to stop and admire\neverything that caught her eye, and she sighed continually and declared\nthat such finery was too good for an old country woman, and that she\nnever thought she would have to \"put on airs\" at her time of life.\n\nFinally she was dressed, and when she went into the sitting-room there\nwas Uncle Henry in his blue satin, walking gravely up and down the\nroom. He had trimmed his beard and mustache and looked very dignified\nand respectable.\n\n\"Tell me, Dorothy,\" he said; \"do all the men here wear duds like these?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" she replied; \"all \'cept the Scarecrow and the Shaggy Man--and of\ncourse the Tin Woodman and Tiktok, who are made of metal. You\'ll find\nall the men at Ozma\'s court dressed just as you are--only perhaps a\nlittle finer.\"\n\n\"Henry, you look like a play-actor,\" announced Aunt Em, looking at her\nhusband critically.\n\n\"An\' you, Em, look more highfalutin\' than a peacock,\" he replied.\n\n\"I guess you\'re right,\" she said regretfully; \"but we\'re helpless\nvictims of high-toned royalty.\"\n\nDorothy was much amused.\n\n\"Come with me,\" she said, \"and I\'ll show you \'round the palace.\"\n\nShe took them through the beautiful rooms and introduced them to all\nthe people they chanced to meet. Also she showed them her own pretty\nrooms, which were not far from their own.\n\n\"So it\'s all true,\" said Aunt Em, wide-eyed with amazement, \"and what\nDorothy told us of this fairy country was plain facts instead of\ndreams! But where are all the strange creatures you used to know here?\"\n\n\"Yes, where\'s the Scarecrow?\" inquired Uncle Henry.\n\n\"Why, he\'s just now away on a visit to the Tin Woodman, who is Emp\'ror\nof the Winkie Country,\" answered the little girl. \"You\'ll see him when\nhe comes back, and you\'re sure to like him.\"\n\n\"And where\'s the Wonderful Wizard?\" asked Aunt Em.\n\n\"You\'ll see him at Ozma\'s luncheon, for he lives here in this palace,\"\nwas the reply.\n\n\"And Jack Pumpkinhead?\"\n\n\"Oh, he lives a little way out of town, in his own pumpkin field.\nWe\'ll go there some time and see him, and we\'ll call on Professor\nWogglebug, too. The Shaggy Man will be at the luncheon, I guess, and\nTiktok. And now I\'ll take you out to see Billina, who has a house of\nher own.\"\n\nSo they went into the back yard, and after walking along winding paths\nsome distance through the beautiful gardens they came to an attractive\nlittle house where the Yellow Hen sat on the front porch sunning\nherself.\n\n\"Good morning, my dear Mistress,\" called Billina, fluttering down to\nmeet them. \"I was expecting you to call, for I heard you had come back\nand brought your uncle and aunt with you.\"\n\n\"We\'re here for good and all, this time, Billina,\" cried Dorothy,\njoyfully. \"Uncle Henry and Aunt Em belong to Oz now as much as I do!\"\n\n\"Then they are very lucky people,\" declared Billina; \"for there\ncouldn\'t be a nicer place to live. But come, my dear; I must show you\nall my Dorothys. Nine are living and have grown up to be very\nrespectable hens; but one took cold at Ozma\'s birthday party and died\nof the pip, and the other two turned out to be horrid roosters, so I\nhad to change their names from Dorothy to Daniel. They all had the\nletter \'D\' engraved upon their gold lockets, you remember, with your\npicture inside, and \'D\' stands for Daniel as well as for Dorothy.\"\n\n\"Did you call both the roosters Daniel?\" asked Uncle Henry.\n\n\"Yes, indeed. I\'ve nine Dorothys and two Daniels; and the nine\nDorothys have eighty-six sons and daughters and over three hundred\ngrandchildren,\" said Billina, proudly.\n\n\"What names do you give \'em all, dear?\" inquired the little girl.\n\n\"Oh, they are all Dorothys and Daniels, some being Juniors and some\nDouble-Juniors. Dorothy and Daniel are two good names, and I see no\nobject in hunting for others,\" declared the Yellow Hen. \"But just\nthink, Dorothy, what a big chicken family we\'ve grown to be, and our\nnumbers increase nearly every day! Ozma doesn\'t know what to do with\nall the eggs we lay, and we are never eaten or harmed in any way, as\nchickens are in your country. They give us everything to make us\ncontented and happy, and I, my dear, am the acknowledged Queen and\nGovernor of every chicken in Oz, because I\'m the eldest and started the\nwhole colony.\"\n\n\"You ought to be very proud, ma\'am,\" said Uncle Henry, who was\nastonished to hear a hen talk so sensibly.\n\n\"Oh, I am,\" she replied. \"I\'ve the loveliest pearl necklace you ever\nsaw. Come in the house and I\'ll show it to you. And I\'ve nine leg\nbracelets and a diamond pin for each wing. But I only wear them on\nstate occasions.\"\n\nThey followed the Yellow Hen into the house, which Aunt Em declared was\nneat as a pin. They could not sit down, because all Billina\'s chairs\nwere roosting-poles made of silver; so they had to stand while the hen\nfussily showed them her treasures.\n\nThen they had to go into the back rooms occupied by Billina\'s nine\nDorothys and two Daniels, who were all plump yellow chickens and\ngreeted the visitors very politely. It was easy to see that they were\nwell bred and that Billina had looked after their education.\n\nIn the yards were all the children and grandchildren of these eleven\nelders and they were of all sizes, from well-grown hens to tiny\nchickens just out of the shell. About fifty fluffy yellow youngsters\nwere at school, being taught good manners and good grammar by a young\nhen who wore spectacles. They sang in chorus a patriotic song of the\nLand of Oz, in honor of their visitors, and Aunt Em was much impressed\nby these talking chickens.\n\nDorothy wanted to stay and play with the young chickens for awhile, but\nUncle Henry and Aunt Em had not seen the palace grounds and gardens yet\nand were eager to get better acquainted with the marvelous and\ndelightful land in which they were to live.\n\n\"I\'ll stay here, and you can go for a walk,\" said Dorothy. \"You\'ll be\nperfec\'ly safe anywhere, and may do whatever you want to. When you get\ntired, go back to the palace and find your rooms, and I\'ll come to you\nbefore luncheon is ready.\"\n\nSo Uncle Henry and Aunt Em started out alone to explore the grounds,\nand Dorothy knew that they couldn\'t get lost, because all the palace\ngrounds were enclosed by a high wall of green marble set with emeralds.\n\nIt was a rare treat to these simple folk, who had lived in the country\nall their lives and known little enjoyment of any sort, to wear\nbeautiful clothes and live in a palace and be treated with respect and\nconsideration by all around them. They were very happy indeed as they\nstrolled up the shady walks and looked upon the gorgeous flowers and\nshrubs, feeling that their new home was more beautiful than any tongue\ncould describe.\n\nSuddenly, as they turned a corner and walked through a gap in a high\nhedge, they came face to face with an enormous Lion, which crouched\nupon the green lawn and seemed surprised by their appearance.\n\nThey stopped short, Uncle Henry trembling with horror and Aunt Em too\nterrified to scream. Next moment the poor woman clasped her husband\naround the neck and cried:\n\n\"Save me, Henry, save me!\"\n\n\"Can\'t even save myself, Em,\" he returned, in a husky voice, \"for the\nanimile looks as if it could eat both of us an\' lick its chops for\nmore! If I only had a gun--\"\n\n\"Haven\'t you, Henry? Haven\'t you?\" she asked anxiously.\n\n\"Nary gun, Em. So let\'s die as brave an\' graceful as we can. I knew\nour luck couldn\'t last!\"\n\n\"I won\'t die. I won\'t be eaten by a lion!\" wailed Aunt Em, glaring\nupon the huge beast. Then a thought struck her, and she whispered,\n\"Henry, I\'ve heard as savage beastses can be conquered by the human\neye. I\'ll eye that lion out o\' countenance an\' save our lives.\"\n\n\"Try it, Em,\" he returned, also in a whisper. \"Look at him as you do\nat me when I\'m late to dinner.\"\n\nAunt Em turned upon the Lion a determined countenance and a wild\ndilated eye. She glared at the immense beast steadily, and the Lion,\nwho had been quietly blinking at them, began to appear uneasy and\ndisturbed.\n\n\"Is anything the matter, ma\'am?\" he asked, in a mild voice.\n\nAt this speech from the terrible beast Aunt Em and Uncle Henry both\nwere startled, and then Uncle Henry remembered that this must be the\nLion they had seen in Ozma\'s Throne Room.\n\n\"Hold on, Em!\" he exclaimed. \"Quit the eagle eye conquest an\' take\ncourage. I guess this is the same Cowardly Lion Dorothy has told us\nabout.\"\n\n\"Oh, is it?\" she cried, much relieved.\n\n\"When he spoke, I got the idea; and when he looked so \'shamed like, I\nwas sure of it,\" Uncle Henry continued.\n\nAunt Em regarded the animal with new interest.\n\n\"Are you the Cowardly Lion?\" she inquired. \"Are you Dorothy\'s friend?\"\n\n\"Yes\'m,\" answered the Lion, meekly. \"Dorothy and I are old chums and\nare very fond of each other. I\'m the King of Beasts, you know, and the\nHungry Tiger and I serve Princess Ozma as her body guards.\"\n\n\"To be sure,\" said Aunt Em, nodding. \"But the King of Beasts shouldn\'t\nbe cowardly.\"\n\n\"I\'ve heard that said before,\" remarked the Lion, yawning till he\nshowed two great rows of sharp white teeth; \"but that does not keep me\nfrom being frightened whenever I go into battle.\"\n\n\"What do you do, run?\" asked Uncle Henry.\n\n\"No; that would be foolish, for the enemy would run after me,\" declared\nthe Lion. \"So I tremble with fear and pitch in as hard as I can; and\nso far I have always won my fight.\"\n\n\"Ah, I begin to understand,\" said Uncle Henry.\n\n\"Were you scared when I looked at you just now?\" inquired Aunt Em.\n\n\"Terribly scared, madam,\" answered the Lion, \"for at first I thought\nyou were going to have a fit. Then I noticed you were trying to\novercome me by the power of your eye, and your glance was so fierce and\npenetrating that I shook with fear.\"\n\nThis greatly pleased the lady, and she said quite cheerfully:\n\n\"Well, I won\'t hurt you, so don\'t be scared any more. I just wanted to\nsee what the human eye was good for.\"\n\n\"The human eye is a fearful weapon,\" remarked the Lion, scratching his\nnose softly with his paw to hide a smile. \"Had I not known you were\nDorothy\'s friends I might have torn you both into shreds in order to\nescape your terrible gaze.\"\n\nAunt Em shuddered at hearing this, and Uncle Henry said hastily:\n\n\"I\'m glad you knew us. Good morning, Mr. Lion; we\'ll hope to see you\nagain--by and by--some time in the future.\"\n\n\"Good morning,\" replied the Lion, squatting down upon the lawn again.\n\"You are likely to see a good deal of me, if you live in the Land of\nOz.\"\n\n\n\n8. How the Grand Gallipoot Joined The Nomes\n\nAfter leaving the Whimsies, Guph continued on his journey and\npenetrated far into the Northwest. He wanted to get to the Country of\nthe Growleywogs, and in order to do that he must cross the Ripple Land,\nwhich was a hard thing to do. For the Ripple Land was a succession of\nhills and valleys, all very steep and rocky, and they changed places\nconstantly by rippling. While Guph was climbing a hill it sank down\nunder him and became a valley, and while he was descending into a\nvalley it rose up and carried him to the top of a hill. This was very\nperplexing to the traveler, and a stranger might have thought he could\nnever cross the Ripple Land at all. But Guph knew that if he kept\nsteadily on he would get to the end at last; so he paid no attention to\nthe changing hills and valleys and plodded along as calmly as if\nwalking upon the level ground.\n\nThe result of this wise persistence was that the General finally\nreached firmer soil and, after penetrating a dense forest, came to the\nDominion of the Growleywogs.\n\nNo sooner had he crossed the border of this domain when two guards\nseized him and carried him before the Grand Gallipoot of the\nGrowleywogs, who scowled upon him ferociously and asked him why he\ndared intrude upon his territory.\n\n\"I\'m the Lord High General of the Invincible Army of the Nomes, and my\nname is Guph,\" was the reply. \"All the world trembles when that name\nis mentioned.\"\n\nThe Growleywogs gave a shout of jeering laughter at this, and one of\nthem caught the Nome in his strong arms and tossed him high into the\nair. Guph was considerably shaken when he fell upon the hard ground,\nbut he appeared to take no notice of the impertinence and composed\nhimself to speak again to the Grand Gallipoot.\n\n\"My master, King Roquat the Red, has sent me here to confer with you.\nHe wishes your assistance to conquer the Land of Oz.\"\n\nHere the General paused, and the Grand Gallipoot scowled upon him more\nterribly than ever and said:\n\n\"Go on!\"\n\nThe voice of the Grand Gallipoot was partly a roar and partly a growl.\nHe mumbled his words badly and Guph had to listen carefully in order to\nunderstand him.\n\nThese Growleywogs were certainly remarkable creatures. They were of\ngigantic size, yet were all bone and skin and muscle, there being no\nmeat or fat upon their bodies at all. Their powerful muscles lay just\nunderneath their skins, like bunches of tough rope, and the weakest\nGrowleywog was so strong that he could pick up an elephant and toss it\nseven miles away.\n\nIt seems unfortunate that strong people are usually so disagreeable and\noverbearing that no one cares for them. In fact, to be different from\nyour fellow creatures is always a misfortune. The Growleywogs knew\nthat they were disliked and avoided by every one, so they had become\nsurly and unsociable even among themselves. Guph knew that they hated\nall people, including the Nomes; but he hoped to win them over,\nnevertheless, and knew that if he succeeded they would afford him very\npowerful assistance.\n\n\"The Land of Oz is ruled by a namby-pamby girl who is disgustingly kind\nand good,\" he continued. \"Her people are all happy and contented and\nhave no care or worries whatever.\"\n\n\"Go on!\" growled the Grand Gallipoot.\n\n\"Once the Nome King enslaved the Royal Family of Ev--another\ngoody-goody lot that we detest,\" said the General. \"But Ozma\ninterfered, although it was none of her business, and marched her army\nagainst us. With her was a Kansas girl named Dorothy, and a Yellow\nHen, and they marched directly into the Nome King\'s cavern. There they\nliberated our slaves from Ev and stole King Roquat\'s Magic Belt, which\nthey carried away with them. So now our King is making a tunnel under\nthe deadly desert, so we can march through it to the Emerald City.\nWhen we get there we mean to conquer and destroy all the land and\nrecapture the Magic Belt.\"\n\nAgain he paused, and again the Grand Gallipoot growled:\n\n\"Go on!\"\n\nGuph tried to think what to say next, and a happy thought soon occurred\nto him.\n\n\"We want you to help us in this conquest,\" he announced, \"for we need\nthe mighty aid of the Growleywogs in order to make sure that we shall\nnot be defeated. You are the strongest people in all the world, and\nyou hate good and happy creatures as much as we Nomes do. I am sure it\nwill be a real pleasure to you to tear down the beautiful Emerald City,\nand in return for your valuable assistance we will allow you to bring\nback to your country ten thousand people of Oz, to be your slaves.\"\n\n\"Twenty thousand!\" growled the Grand Gallipoot.\n\n\"All right, we promise you twenty thousand,\" agreed the General.\n\nThe Gallipoot made a signal and at once his attendants picked up\nGeneral Guph and carried him away to a prison, where the jailer amused\nhimself by sticking pins in the round fat body of the old Nome, to see\nhim jump and hear him yell.\n\nBut while this was going on the Grand Gallipoot was talking with his\ncounselors, who were the most important officials of the Growleywogs.\nWhen he had stated to them the proposition of the Nome King, he said:\n\n\"My advice is to offer to help them. Then, when we have conquered the\nLand of Oz, we will take not only our twenty thousand prisoners but all\nthe gold and jewels we want.\"\n\n\"Let us take the Magic Belt, too,\" suggested one counselor.\n\n\"And rob the Nome King and make him our slave,\" said another.\n\n\"That is a good idea,\" declared the Grand Gallipoot. \"I\'d like King\nRoquat for my own slave. He could black my boots and bring me my\nporridge every morning while I am in bed.\"\n\n\"There is a famous Scarecrow in Oz. I\'ll take him for my slave,\" said\na counselor.\n\n\"I\'ll take Tiktok, the machine man,\" said another.\n\n\"Give me the Tin Woodman,\" said a third.\n\nThey went on for some time, dividing up the people and the treasure of\nOz in advance of the conquest. For they had no doubt at all that they\nwould be able to destroy Ozma\'s domain. Were they not the strongest\npeople in all the world?\n\n\"The deadly desert has kept us out of Oz before,\" remarked the Grand\nGallipoot, \"but now that the Nome King is building a tunnel we shall\nget into the Emerald City very easily. So let us send the little fat\nGeneral back to his King with our promise to assist him. We will not\nsay that we intend to conquer the Nomes after we have conquered Oz, but\nwe will do so, just the same.\"\n\nThis plan being agreed upon, they all went home to dinner, leaving\nGeneral Guph still in prison. The Nome had no idea that he had\nsucceeded in his mission, for finding himself in prison he feared the\nGrowleywogs intended to put him to death.\n\nBy this time the jailer had tired of sticking pins in the General, and\nwas amusing himself by carefully pulling the Nome\'s whiskers out by the\nroots, one at a time. This enjoyment was interrupted by the Grand\nGallipoot sending for the prisoner.\n\n\"Wait a few hours,\" begged the jailer. \"I haven\'t pulled out a quarter\nof his whiskers yet.\"\n\n\"If you keep the Grand Gallipoot waiting, he\'ll break your back,\"\ndeclared the messenger.\n\n\"Perhaps you\'re right,\" sighed the jailer. \"Take the prisoner away, if\nyou will, but I advise you to kick him at every step he takes. It will\nbe good fun, for he is as soft as a ripe peach.\"\n\nSo Guph was led away to the royal castle, where the Grand Gallipoot\ntold him that the Growleywogs had decided to assist the Nomes in\nconquering the Land of Oz.\n\n\"Whenever you are ready,\" he added, \"send me word and I will march with\neighteen thousand of my most powerful warriors to your aid.\"\n\nGuph was so delighted that he forgot all the smarting caused by the\npins and the pulling of whiskers. He did not even complain of the\ntreatment he had received, but thanked the Grand Gallipoot and hurried\naway upon his journey.\n\nHe had now secured the assistance of the Whimsies and the Growleywogs;\nbut his success made him long for still more allies. His own life\ndepended upon his conquering Oz, and he said to himself:\n\n\"I\'ll take no chances. I\'ll be certain of success. Then, when Oz is\ndestroyed, perhaps I shall be a greater man than old Roquat, and I can\nthrow him away and be King of the Nomes myself. Why not? The Whimsies\nare stronger than the Nomes, and they also are my friends. There are\nsome people still stronger than the Growleywogs, and if I can but\ninduce them to aid me I shall have nothing more to fear.\"\n\n\n\n9. How the Wogglebug Taught Athletics\n\nIt did not take Dorothy long to establish herself in her new home, for\nshe knew the people and the manners and customs of the Emerald City\njust as well as she knew the old Kansas farm.\n\nBut Uncle Henry and Aunt Em had some trouble in getting used to the\nfinery and pomp and ceremony of Ozma\'s palace, and felt uneasy because\nthey were obliged to be \"dressed up\" all the time. Yet every one was\nvery courteous and kind to them and endeavored to make them happy.\nOzma, especially, made much of Dorothy\'s relatives, for her little\nfriend\'s sake, and she well knew that the awkwardness and strangeness\nof their new mode of life would all wear off in time.\n\nThe old people were chiefly troubled by the fact that there was no work\nfor them to do.\n\n\"Ev\'ry day is like Sunday, now,\" declared Aunt Em, solemnly, \"and I\ncan\'t say I like it. If they\'d only let me do up the dishes after\nmeals, or even sweep an\' dust my own rooms, I\'d be a deal happier.\nHenry don\'t know what to do with himself either, and once when he stole\nout an\' fed the chickens Billina scolded him for letting \'em eat\nbetween meals. I never knew before what a hardship it is to be rich\nand have everything you want.\"\n\nThese complaints began to worry Dorothy; so she had a long talk with\nOzma upon the subject.\n\n\"I see I must find them something to do,\" said the girlish Ruler of Oz,\nseriously. \"I have been watching your uncle and aunt, and I believe\nthey will be more contented if occupied with some light tasks. While I\nam considering this matter, Dorothy, you might make a trip with them\nthrough the Land of Oz, visiting some of the odd corners and\nintroducing your relatives to some of our curious people.\"\n\n\"Oh, that would be fine!\" exclaimed Dorothy, eagerly.\n\n\"I will give you an escort befitting your rank as a Princess,\"\ncontinued Ozma; \"and you may go to some of the places you have not yet\nvisited yourself, as well as some others that you know. I will mark\nout a plan of the trip for you and have everything in readiness for you\nto start to-morrow morning. Take your time, dear, and be gone as long\nas you wish. By the time you return I shall have found some occupation\nfor Uncle Henry and Aunt Em that will keep them from being restless and\ndissatisfied.\"\n\nDorothy thanked her good friend and kissed the lovely Ruler gratefully.\nThen she ran to tell the joyful news to her uncle and aunt.\n\nNext morning, after breakfast, everything was found ready for their\ndeparture.\n\nThe escort included Omby Amby, the Captain General of Ozma\'s army,\nwhich consisted merely of twenty-seven officers besides the Captain\nGeneral. Once Omby Amby had been a private soldier--the only private\nin the army--but as there was never any fighting to do Ozma saw no need\nof a private, so she made Omby Amby the highest officer of them all.\nHe was very tall and slim and wore a gay uniform and a fierce mustache.\nYet the mustache was the only fierce thing about Omby Amby, whose\nnature was as gentle as that of a child.\n\nThe wonderful Wizard had asked to join the party, and with him came his\nfriend the Shaggy Man, who was shaggy but not ragged, being dressed in\nfine silks with satin shags and bobtails. The Shaggy Man had shaggy\nwhiskers and hair, but a sweet disposition and a soft, pleasant voice.\n\nThere was an open wagon, with three seats for the passengers, and the\nwagon was drawn by the famous wooden Sawhorse which had once been\nbrought to life by Ozma by means of a magic powder. The Sawhorse wore\nwooden shoes to keep his wooden legs from wearing away, and he was\nstrong and swift. As this curious creature was Ozma\'s own favorite\nsteed, and very popular with all the people of the Emerald City,\nDorothy knew that she had been highly favored by being permitted to use\nthe Sawhorse on her journey.\n\nIn the front seat of the wagon sat Dorothy and the Wizard. Uncle Henry\nand Aunt Em sat in the next seat and the Shaggy Man and Omby Amby in\nthe third seat. Of course Toto was with the party, curled up at\nDorothy\'s feet, and just as they were about to start, Billina came\nfluttering along the path and begged to be taken with them. Dorothy\nreadily agreed, so the Yellow Hen flew up and perched herself upon the\ndashboard. She wore her pearl necklace and three bracelets upon each\nleg, in honor of the occasion.\n\nDorothy kissed Ozma good-bye, and all the people standing around waved\ntheir handkerchiefs, and the band in an upper balcony struck up a\nmilitary march. Then the Wizard clucked to the Sawhorse and said:\n\"Gid-dap!\" and the wooden animal pranced away and drew behind him the\nbig red wagon and all the passengers, without any effort at all. A\nservant threw open a gate of the palace enclosure, that they might pass\nout; and so, with music and shouts following them, the journey was\nbegun.\n\n\"It\'s almost like a circus,\" said Aunt Em, proudly. \"I can\'t help\nfeelin\' high an\' mighty in this kind of a turn-out.\"\n\nIndeed, as they passed down the street, all the people cheered them\nlustily, and the Shaggy Man and the Wizard and the Captain General all\ntook off their hats and bowed politely in acknowledgment.\n\nWhen they came to the great wall of the Emerald City, the gates were\nopened by the Guardian who always tended them. Over the gateway hung a\ndull-colored metal magnet shaped like a horse-shoe, placed against a\nshield of polished gold.\n\n\"That,\" said the Shaggy Man, impressively, \"is the wonderful Love\nMagnet. I brought it to the Emerald City myself, and all who pass\nbeneath this gateway are both loving and beloved.\"\n\n\"It\'s a fine thing,\" declared Aunt Em, admiringly. \"If we\'d had it in\nKansas I guess the man who held a mortgage on the farm wouldn\'t have\nturned us out.\"\n\n\"Then I\'m glad we didn\'t have it,\" returned Uncle Henry. \"I like Oz\nbetter than Kansas, even; an\' this little wood Sawhorse beats all the\ncritters I ever saw. He don\'t have to be curried, or fed, or watered,\nan\' he\'s strong as an ox. Can he talk, Dorothy?\"\n\n\"Yes, Uncle,\" replied the child. \"But the Sawhorse never says much.\nHe told me once that he can\'t talk and think at the same time, so he\nprefers to think.\"\n\n\"Which is very sensible,\" declared the Wizard, nodding approvingly.\n\"Which way do we go, Dorothy?\"\n\n\"Straight ahead into the Quadling Country,\" she answered. \"I\'ve got a\nletter of interduction to Miss Cuttenclip.\"\n\n\"Oh!\" exclaimed the Wizard, much interested. \"Are we going there?\nThen I\'m glad I came, for I\'ve always wanted to meet the Cuttenclips.\"\n\n\"Who are they?\" inquired Aunt Em.\n\n\"Wait till we get there,\" replied Dorothy, with a laugh; \"then you\'ll\nsee for yourself. I\'ve never seen the Cuttenclips, you know, so I\ncan\'t \'zactly \'splain \'em to you.\"\n\nOnce free of the Emerald City the Sawhorse dashed away at tremendous\nspeed. Indeed, he went so fast that Aunt Em had hard work to catch her\nbreath, and Uncle Henry held fast to the seat of the red wagon.\n\n\"Gently--gently, my boy!\" called the Wizard, and at this the Sawhorse\nslackened his speed.\n\n\"What\'s wrong?\" asked the animal, slightly turning his wooden head to\nlook at the party with one eye, which was a knot of wood.\n\n\"Why, we wish to admire the scenery, that\'s all,\" answered the Wizard.\n\n\"Some of your passengers,\" added the Shaggy Man, \"have never been out\nof the Emerald City before, and the country is all new to them.\"\n\n\"If you go too fast you\'ll spoil all the fun,\" said Dorothy. \"There\'s\nno hurry.\"\n\n\"Very well; it is all the same to me,\" observed the Sawhorse; and after\nthat he went at a more moderate pace.\n\nUncle Henry was astonished.\n\n\"How can a wooden thing be so intelligent?\" he asked.\n\n\"Why, I gave him some sawdust brains the last time I fitted his head\nwith new ears,\" explained the Wizard. \"The sawdust was made from hard\nknots, and now the Sawhorse is able to think out any knotty problem he\nmeets with.\"\n\n\"I see,\" said Uncle Henry.\n\n\"I don\'t,\" remarked Aunt Em; but no one paid any attention to this\nstatement.\n\nBefore long they came to a stately building that stood upon a green\nplain with handsome shade trees grouped here and there.\n\n\"What is that?\" asked Uncle Henry.\n\n\"That,\" replied the Wizard, \"is the Royal Athletic College of Oz, which\nis directed by Professor H. M. Wogglebug, T.E.\"\n\n\"Let\'s stop and make a call,\" suggested Dorothy.\n\nSo the Sawhorse drew up in front of the great building and they were\nmet at the door by the learned Wogglebug himself. He seemed fully as\ntall as the Wizard, and was dressed in a red and white checked vest and\na blue swallow-tailed coat, and had yellow knee breeches and purple\nsilk stockings upon his slender legs. A tall hat was jauntily set upon\nhis head and he wore spectacles over his big bright eyes.\n\n\"Welcome, Dorothy,\" said the Wogglebug; \"and welcome to all your\nfriends. We are indeed pleased to receive you at this great Temple of\nLearning.\"\n\n\"I thought it was an Athletic College,\" said the Shaggy Man.\n\n\"It is, my dear sir,\" answered the Wogglebug, proudly. \"Here it is\nthat we teach the youth of our great land scientific College\nAthletics--in all their purity.\"\n\n\"Don\'t you teach them anything else?\" asked Dorothy. \"Don\'t they get\nany reading, writing and \'rithmetic?\"\n\n\"Oh, yes; of course. They get all those, and more,\" returned the\nProfessor. \"But such things occupy little of their time. Please\nfollow me and I will show you how my scholars are usually occupied.\nThis is a class hour and they are all busy.\"\n\nThey followed him to a big field back of the college building, where\nseveral hundred young Ozites were at their classes. In one place they\nplayed football, in another baseball. Some played tennis, some golf;\nsome were swimming in a big pool. Upon a river which wound through the\ngrounds several crews in racing boats were rowing with great\nenthusiasm. Other groups of students played basketball and cricket,\nwhile in one place a ring was roped in to permit boxing and wrestling\nby the energetic youths. All the collegians seemed busy and there was\nmuch laughter and shouting.\n\n\"This college,\" said Professor Wogglebug, complacently, \"is a great\nsuccess. Its educational value is undisputed, and we are turning out\nmany great and valuable citizens every year.\"\n\n\"But when do they study?\" asked Dorothy.\n\n\"Study?\" said the Wogglebug, looking perplexed at the question.\n\n\"Yes; when do they get their \'rithmetic, and jogerfy, and such things?\"\n\n\"Oh, they take doses of those every night and morning,\" was the reply.\n\n\"What do you mean by doses?\" Dorothy inquired, wonderingly.\n\n\"Why, we use the newly invented School Pills, made by your friend the\nWizard. These pills we have found to be very effective, and they save\na lot of time. Please step this way and I will show you our Laboratory\nof Learning.\"\n\nHe led them to a room in the building where many large bottles were\nstanding in rows upon shelves.\n\n\"These are the Algebra Pills,\" said the Professor, taking down one of\nthe bottles. \"One at night, on retiring, is equal to four hours of\nstudy. Here are the Geography Pills--one at night and one in the\nmorning. In this next bottle are the Latin Pills--one three times a\nday. Then we have the Grammar Pills--one before each meal--and the\nSpelling Pills, which are taken whenever needed.\"\n\n\"Your scholars must have to take a lot of pills,\" remarked Dorothy,\nthoughtfully. \"How do they take \'em, in applesauce?\"\n\n\"No, my dear. They are sugar-coated and are quickly and easily\nswallowed. I believe the students would rather take the pills than\nstudy, and certainly the pills are a more effective method. You see,\nuntil these School Pills were invented we wasted a lot of time in study\nthat may now be better employed in practicing athletics.\"\n\n\"Seems to me the pills are a good thing,\" said Omby Amby, who\nremembered how it used to make his head ache as a boy to study\narithmetic.\n\n\"They are, sir,\" declared the Wogglebug, earnestly. \"They give us an\nadvantage over all other colleges, because at no loss of time our boys\nbecome thoroughly conversant with Greek and Latin, Mathematics and\nGeography, Grammar and Literature. You see they are never obliged to\ninterrupt their games to acquire the lesser branches of learning.\"\n\n\"It\'s a great invention, I\'m sure,\" said Dorothy, looking admiringly at\nthe Wizard, who blushed modestly at this praise.\n\n\"We live in an age of progress,\" announced Professor Wogglebug,\npompously. \"It is easier to swallow knowledge than to acquire it\nlaboriously from books. Is it not so, my friends?\"\n\n\"Some folks can swallow anything,\" said Aunt Em, \"but to me this seems\ntoo much like taking medicine.\"\n\n\"Young men in college always have to take their medicine, one way or\nanother,\" observed the Wizard, with a smile; \"and, as our Professor\nsays, these School Pills have proved to be a great success. One day\nwhile I was making them I happened to drop one of them, and one of\nBillina\'s chickens gobbled it up. A few minutes afterward this chick\ngot upon a roost and recited \'The Boy Stood on the Burning Deck\'\nwithout making a single mistake. Then it recited \'The Charge of the\nLight Brigade\' and afterwards \'Excelsior.\' You see, the chicken had\neaten an Elocution Pill.\"\n\nThey now bade good-bye to the Professor, and thanking him for his kind\nreception mounted again into the red wagon and continued their journey.\n\n\n\n10. How the Cuttenclips Lived\n\nThe travelers had taken no provisions with them because they knew that\nthey would be welcomed wherever they might go in the Land of Oz, and\nthat the people would feed and lodge them with genuine hospitality. So\nabout noon they stopped at a farm-house and were given a delicious\nluncheon of bread and milk, fruits and wheat cakes with maple syrup.\nAfter resting a while and strolling through the orchards with their\nhost--a round, jolly farmer--they got into the wagon and again started\nthe Sawhorse along the pretty, winding road.\n\nThere were signposts at all the corners, and finally they came to one\nwhich read:\n\n\nTAKE THIS ROAD TO THE CUTTENCLIPS\n\n\nThere was also a hand pointing in the right direction, so they turned\nthe Sawhorse that way and found it a very good road, but seemingly\nlittle traveled.\n\n\"I\'ve never seen the Cuttenclips before,\" remarked Dorothy.\n\n\"Nor I,\" said the Captain General.\n\n\"Nor I,\" said the Wizard.\n\n\"Nor I,\" said Billina.\n\n\"I\'ve hardly been out of the Emerald City since I arrived in this\ncountry,\" added the Shaggy Man.\n\n\"Why, none of us has been there, then,\" exclaimed the little girl. \"I\nwonder what the Cuttenclips are like.\"\n\n\"We shall soon find out,\" said the Wizard, with a sly laugh. \"I\'ve\nheard they are rather flimsy things.\"\n\nThe farm-houses became fewer as they proceeded, and the path was at\ntimes so faint that the Sawhorse had hard work to keep in the road.\nThe wagon began to jounce, too; so they were obliged to go slowly.\n\nAfter a somewhat wearisome journey they came in sight of a high wall,\npainted blue with pink ornaments. This wall was circular, and seemed\nto enclose a large space. It was so high that only the tops of the\ntrees could be seen above it.\n\nThe path led up to a small door in the wall, which was closed and\nlatched. Upon the door was a sign in gold letters reading as follows:\n\n\nVISITORS are requested to MOVE SLOWLY and CAREFULLY, and to avoid\nCOUGHING or making any BREEZE or DRAUGHT.\n\n\n\"That\'s strange,\" said the Shaggy Man, reading the sign aloud. \"Who\nARE the Cuttenclips, anyhow?\"\n\n\"Why, they\'re paper dolls,\" answered Dorothy. \"Didn\'t you know that?\"\n\n\"Paper dolls! Then let\'s go somewhere else,\" said Uncle Henry. \"We\'re\nall too old to play with dolls, Dorothy.\"\n\n\"But these are different,\" declared the girl. \"They\'re alive.\"\n\n\"Alive!\" gasped Aunt Em, in amazement.\n\n\"Yes. Let\'s go in,\" said Dorothy.\n\nSo they all got out of the wagon, since the door in the wall was not\nbig enough for them to drive the Sawhorse and wagon through it.\n\n\"You stay here, Toto!\" commanded Dorothy, shaking her finger at the\nlittle dog. \"You\'re so careless that you might make a breeze if I let\nyou inside.\"\n\nToto wagged his tail as if disappointed at being left behind; but he\nmade no effort to follow them. The Wizard unlatched the door, which\nopened outward, and they all looked eagerly inside.\n\nJust before the entrance was drawn up a line of tiny soldiers, with\nuniforms brightly painted and paper guns upon their shoulders. They\nwere exactly alike, from one end of the line to the other, and all were\ncut out of paper and joined together in the centers of their bodies.\n\nAs the visitors entered the enclosure the Wizard let the door swing\nback into place, and at once the line of soldiers tumbled over, fell\nflat upon their backs, and lay fluttering upon the ground.\n\n\"Hi there!\" called one of them; \"what do you mean by slamming the door\nand blowing us over?\"\n\n\"I beg your pardon, I\'m sure,\" said the Wizard, regretfully. \"I didn\'t\nknow you were so delicate.\"\n\n\"We\'re not delicate!\" retorted another soldier, raising his head from\nthe ground. \"We are strong and healthy; but we can\'t stand draughts.\"\n\n\"May I help you up?\" asked Dorothy.\n\n\"If you please,\" replied the end soldier. \"But do it gently, little\ngirl.\"\n\nDorothy carefully stood up the line of soldiers, who first dusted their\npainted clothes and then saluted the visitors with their paper muskets.\nFrom the end it was easy to see that the entire line had been cut out\nof paper, although from the front the soldiers looked rather solid and\nimposing.\n\n\"I\'ve a letter of introduction from Princess Ozma to Miss Cuttenclip,\"\nannounced Dorothy.\n\n\"Very well,\" said the end soldier, and blew upon a paper whistle that\nhung around his neck. At once a paper soldier in a Captain\'s uniform\ncame out of a paper house near by and approached the group at the\nentrance. He was not very big, and he walked rather stiffly and\nuncertainly on his paper legs; but he had a pleasant face, with very\nred cheeks and very blue eyes, and he bowed so low to the strangers\nthat Dorothy laughed, and the breeze from her mouth nearly blew the\nCaptain over. He wavered and struggled and finally managed to remain\nupon his feet.\n\n\"Take care, Miss!\" he said, warningly. \"You\'re breaking the rules, you\nknow, by laughing.\"\n\n\"Oh, I didn\'t know that,\" she replied.\n\n\"To laugh in this place is nearly as dangerous as to cough,\" said the\nCaptain. \"You\'ll have to breathe very quietly, I assure you.\"\n\n\"We\'ll try to,\" promised the girl. \"May we see Miss Cuttenclip,\nplease?\"\n\n\"You may,\" promptly returned the Captain. \"This is one of her\nreception days. Be good enough to follow me.\"\n\nHe turned and led the way up a path, and as they followed slowly,\nbecause the paper Captain did not move very swiftly, they took the\nopportunity to gaze around them at this strange paper country.\n\nBeside the path were paper trees, all cut out very neatly and painted a\nbrilliant green color. And back of the trees were rows of cardboard\nhouses, painted in various colors but most of them having green blinds.\nSome were large and some small, and in the front yards were beds of\npaper flowers quite natural in appearance. Over some of the porches\npaper vines were twined, giving them a cozy and shady look.\n\nAs the visitors passed along the street a good many paper dolls came to\nthe doors and windows of their houses to look at them curiously. These\ndolls were nearly all the same height, but were cut into various\nshapes, some being fat and some lean. The girl dolls wore many\nbeautiful costumes of tissue paper, making them quite fluffy; but their\nheads and hands were no thicker than the paper of which they were made.\n\nSome of the paper people were on the street, walking along or\ncongregated in groups and talking together; but as soon as they saw the\nstrangers they all fluttered into the houses as fast as they could go,\nso as to be out of danger.\n\n\"Excuse me if I go edgewise,\" remarked the Captain as they came to a\nslight hill. \"I can get along faster that way and not flutter so much.\"\n\n\"That\'s all right,\" said Dorothy. \"We don\'t mind how you go, I\'m sure.\"\n\nAt one side of the street was a paper pump, and a paper boy was pumping\npaper water into a paper pail. The Yellow Hen happened to brush\nagainst this boy with her wing, and he flew into the air and fell into\na paper tree, where he stuck until the Wizard gently pulled him out.\nAt the same time, the pail went into the air, spilling the paper water,\nwhile the paper pump bent nearly double.\n\n\"Goodness me!\" said the Hen. \"If I should flop my wings I believe I\'d\nknock over the whole village!\"\n\n\"Then don\'t flop them--please don\'t!\" entreated the Captain. \"Miss\nCuttenclip would be very much distressed if her village was spoiled.\"\n\n\"Oh, I\'ll be careful,\" promised Billina.\n\n\"Are not all these paper girls and women named Miss Cuttenclips?\"\ninquired Omby Amby.\n\n\"No indeed,\" answered the Captain, who was walking better since he\nbegan to move edgewise. \"There is but one Miss Cuttenclip, who is our\nQueen, because she made us all. These girls are Cuttenclips, to be\nsure, but their names are Emily and Polly and Sue and Betty and such\nthings. Only the Queen is called Miss Cuttenclip.\"\n\n\"I must say that this place beats anything I ever heard of,\" observed\nAunt Em. \"I used to play with paper dolls myself, an\' cut \'em out; but\nI never thought I\'d ever see such things alive.\"\n\n\"I don\'t see as it\'s any more curious than hearing hens talk,\" returned\nUncle Henry.\n\n\"You\'re likely to see many queer things in the Land of Oz, sir,\" said\nthe Wizard. \"But a fairy country is extremely interesting when you get\nused to being surprised.\"\n\n\"Here we are!\" called the Captain, stopping before a cottage.\n\nThis house was made of wood, and was remarkably pretty in design. In\nthe Emerald City it would have been considered a tiny dwelling, indeed;\nbut in the midst of this paper village it seemed immense. Real flowers\nwere in the garden and real trees grew beside it. Upon the front door\nwas a sign reading:\n\n\nMISS CUTTENCLIP.\n\n\nJust as they reached the porch the front door opened and a little girl\nstood before them. She appeared to be about the same age as Dorothy,\nand smiling upon her visitors she said, sweetly:\n\n\"You are welcome.\"\n\nAll the party seemed relieved to find that here was a real girl, of\nflesh and blood. She was very dainty and pretty as she stood there\nwelcoming them. Her hair was a golden blonde and her eyes turquoise\nblue. She had rosy cheeks and lovely white teeth. Over her simple\nwhite lawn dress she wore an apron with pink and white checks, and in\none hand she held a pair of scissors.\n\n\"May we see Miss Cuttenclip, please?\" asked Dorothy.\n\n\"I am Miss Cuttenclip,\" was the reply. \"Won\'t you come in?\"\n\nShe held the door open while they all entered a pretty sitting-room\nthat was littered with all sorts of paper--some stiff, some thin, and\nsome tissue. The sheets and scraps were of all colors. Upon a table\nwere paints and brushes, while several pair of scissors, of different\nsizes, were lying about.\n\n\"Sit down, please,\" said Miss Cuttenclip, clearing the paper scraps off\nsome of the chairs. \"It is so long since I have had any visitors that\nI am not properly prepared to receive them. But I\'m sure you will\npardon my untidy room, for this is my workshop.\"\n\n\"Do you make all the paper dolls?\" inquired Dorothy.\n\n\"Yes; I cut them out with my scissors, and paint the faces and some of\nthe costumes. It is very pleasant work, and I am happy making my paper\nvillage grow.\"\n\n\"But how do the paper dolls happen to be alive?\" asked Aunt Em.\n\n\"The first dolls I made were not alive,\" said Miss Cuttenclip. \"I used\nto live near the castle of a great Sorceress named Glinda the Good, and\nshe saw my dolls and said they were very pretty. I told her I thought\nI would like them better if they were alive, and the next day the\nSorceress brought me a lot of magic paper. \'This is live paper,\' she\nsaid, \'and all the dolls you cut out of it will be alive, and able to\nthink and to talk. When you have used it all up, come to me and I will\ngive you more.\'\n\n\"Of course I was delighted with this present,\" continued Miss\nCuttenclip, \"and at once set to work and made several paper dolls,\nwhich, as soon as they were cut out, began to walk around and talk to\nme. But they were so thin that I found that any breeze would blow them\nover and scatter them dreadfully; so Glinda found this lonely place for\nme, where few people ever come. She built the wall to keep any wind\nfrom blowing away my people, and told me I could build a paper village\nhere and be its Queen. That is why I came here and settled down to\nwork and started the village you now see. It was many years ago that I\nbuilt the first houses, and I\'ve kept pretty busy and made my village\ngrow finely; and I need not tell you that I am very happy in my work.\"\n\n\"Many years ago!\" exclaimed Aunt Em. \"Why, how old are you, child?\"\n\n\"I never keep track of the years,\" said Miss Cuttenclip, laughing.\n\"You see, I don\'t grow up at all, but stay just the same as I was when\nfirst I came here. Perhaps I\'m older even than you are, madam; but I\ncouldn\'t say for sure.\"\n\nThey looked at the lovely little girl wonderingly, and the Wizard asked:\n\n\"What happens to your paper village when it rains?\"\n\n\"It does not rain here,\" replied Miss Cuttenclip. \"Glinda keeps all\nthe rain storms away; so I never worry about my dolls getting wet. But\nnow, if you will come with me, it will give me pleasure to show you\nover my paper kingdom. Of course you must go slowly and carefully, and\navoid making any breeze.\"\n\nThey left the cottage and followed their guide through the various\nstreets of the village. It was indeed an amazing place, when one\nconsidered that it was all made with scissors, and the visitors were\nnot only greatly interested but full of admiration for the skill of\nlittle Miss Cuttenclip.\n\nIn one place a large group of especially nice paper dolls assembled to\ngreet their Queen, whom it was easy to see they loved early. These\ndolls marched and danced before the visitors, and then they all waved\ntheir paper handkerchiefs and sang in a sweet chorus a song called \"The\nFlag of Our Native Land.\"\n\nAt the conclusion of the song they ran up a handsome paper flag on a\ntall flagpole, and all of the people of the village gathered around to\ncheer as loudly as they could--although, of course, their voices were\nnot especially strong.\n\nMiss Cuttenclip was about to make her subjects a speech in reply to\nthis patriotic song, when the Shaggy Man happened to sneeze.\n\nHe was a very loud and powerful sneezer at any time, and he had tried\nso hard to hold in this sneeze that when it suddenly exploded the\nresult was terrible.\n\nThe paper dolls were mowed down by dozens, and flew and fluttered in\nwild confusion in every direction, tumbling this way and that and\ngetting more or less wrinkled and bent.\n\nA wail of terror and grief came from the scattered throng, and Miss\nCuttenclip exclaimed:\n\n\"Dear me! dear me!\" and hurried at once to the rescue of her overturned\npeople.\n\n\"Oh, Shaggy Man! How could you?\" asked Dorothy, reproachfully.\n\n\"I couldn\'t help it--really I couldn\'t,\" protested the Shaggy Man,\nlooking quite ashamed. \"And I had no idea it took so little to upset\nthese paper dolls.\"\n\n\"So little!\" said Dorothy. \"Why, it was \'most as bad as a Kansas\ncyclone.\" And then she helped Miss Cuttenclip rescue the paper folk\nand stand them on their feet again. Two of the cardboard houses had\nalso tumbled over, and the little Queen said she would have to repair\nthem and paste them together before they could be lived in again.\n\nAnd now, fearing they might do more damage to the flimsy paper people,\nthey decided to go away. But first they thanked Miss Cuttenclip very\nwarmly for her courtesy and kindness to them.\n\n\"Any friend of Princess Ozma is always welcome here--unless he\nsneezes,\" said the Queen with a rather severe look at the Shaggy Man,\nwho hung his head. \"I like to have visitors admire my wonderful\nvillage, and I hope you will call again.\"\n\nMiss Cuttenclip herself led them to the door in the wall, and as they\npassed along the street the paper dolls peeped at them half fearfully\nfrom the doors and windows. Perhaps they will never forget the Shaggy\nMan\'s awful sneeze, and I am sure they were all glad to see the meat\npeople go away.\n\n\n\n11. How the General Met the First and Foremost\n\nOn leaving the Growleywogs General Guph had to recross the Ripple\nLands, and he did not find it a pleasant thing to do. Perhaps having\nhis whiskers pulled out one by one and being used as a pin-cushion for\nthe innocent amusement of a good natured jailer had not improved the\nquality of Guph\'s temper, for the old Nome raved and raged at the\nrecollection of the wrongs he had suffered, and vowed to take vengeance\nupon the Growleywogs after he had used them for his purposes and Oz had\nbeen conquered. He went on in this furious way until he was half\nacross the Ripple Land. Then he became seasick, and the rest of the\nway this naughty Nome was almost as miserable as he deserved to be.\n\nBut when he reached the plains again and the ground was firm under his\nfeet he began to feel better, and instead of going back home he turned\ndirectly west. A squirrel, perched in a tree, saw him take this road\nand called to him warningly: \"Look out!\" But he paid no attention. An\neagle paused in its flight through the air to look at him wonderingly\nand say: \"Look out!\" But on he went.\n\nNo one can say that Guph was not brave, for he had determined to visit\nthose dangerous creatures the Phanfasms, who resided upon the very top\nof the dread Mountain of Phantastico. The Phanfasms were Erbs, and so\ndreaded by mortals and immortals alike that no one had been near their\nmountain home for several thousand years. Yet General Guph hoped to\ninduce them to join in his proposed warfare against the good and happy\nOz people.\n\nGuph knew very well that the Phanfasms would be almost as dangerous to\nthe Nomes as they would to the Ozites, but he thought himself so clever\nthat he believed he could manage these strange creatures and make them\nobey him. And there was no doubt at all that if he could enlist the\nservices of the Phanfasms, their tremendous power, united to the\nstrength of the Growleywogs and the cunning of the Whimsies would doom\nthe Land of Oz to absolute destruction.\n\nSo the old Nome climbed the foothills and trudged along the wild\nmountain paths until he came to a big gully that encircled the Mountain\nof Phantastico and marked the boundary line of the dominion of the\nPhanfasms. This gully was about a third of the way up the mountain,\nand it was filled to the brim with red-hot molten lava in which swam\nfire-serpents and poisonous salamanders. The heat from this mass and\nits poisonous smell were both so unbearable that even birds hesitated\nto fly over the gully, but circled around it. All living things kept\naway from the mountain.\n\nNow Guph had heard, during his long lifetime, many tales of these\ndreaded Phanfasms; so he had heard of this barrier of melted lava, and\nalso he had been told that there was a narrow bridge that spanned it in\none place. So he walked along the edge until he found the bridge. It\nwas a single arch of gray stone, and lying flat upon the bridge was a\nscarlet alligator, seemingly fast asleep.\n\nWhen Guph stumbled over the rocks in approaching the bridge the\ncreature opened its eyes, from which tiny flames shot in all\ndirections, and after looking at the intruder very wickedly the scarlet\nalligator closed its eyelids again and lay still.\n\nGuph saw there was no room for him to pass the alligator on the narrow\nbridge, so he called out to it:\n\n\"Good morning, friend. I don\'t wish to hurry you, but please tell me\nif you are coming down, or going up?\"\n\n\"Neither,\" snapped the alligator, clicking its cruel jaws together.\n\nThe General hesitated.\n\n\"Are you likely to stay there long?\" he asked.\n\n\"A few hundred years or so,\" said the alligator.\n\nGuph softly rubbed the end of his nose and tried to think what to do.\n\n\"Do you know whether the First and Foremost Phanfasm of Phantastico is\nat home or not?\" he presently inquired.\n\n\"I expect he is, seeing he is always at home,\" replied the alligator.\n\n\"Ah; who is that coming down the mountain?\" asked the Nome, gazing\nupward.\n\nThe alligator turned to look over its shoulder, and at once Guph ran to\nthe bridge and leaped over the sentinel\'s back before it could turn\nback again. The scarlet monster made a snap at the Nome\'s left foot,\nbut missed it by fully an inch.\n\n\"Ah ha!\" laughed the General, who was now on the mountain path. \"I\nfooled you that time.\"\n\n\"So you did; and perhaps you fooled yourself,\" retorted the alligator.\n\"Go up the mountain, if you dare, and find out what the First and\nForemost will do to you!\"\n\n\"I will,\" declared Guph, boldly; and on he went up the path.\n\nAt first the scene was wild enough, but gradually it grew more and more\nawful in appearance. All the rocks had the shapes of frightful beings\nand even the tree trunks were gnarled and twisted like serpents.\n\nSuddenly there appeared before the Nome a man with the head of an owl.\nHis body was hairy like that of an ape, and his only clothing was a\nscarlet scarf twisted around his waist. He bore a huge club in his\nhand and his round owl eyes blinked fiercely upon the intruder.\n\n\"What are you doing here?\" he demanded, threatening Guph with his club.\n\n\"I\'ve come to see the First and Foremost Phanfasm of Phantastico,\"\nreplied the General, who did not like the way this creature looked at\nhim, but still was not afraid.\n\n\"Ah; you shall see him!\" the man said, with a sneering laugh. \"The\nFirst and Foremost shall decide upon the best way to punish you.\"\n\n\"He will not punish me,\" returned Guph, calmly, \"for I have come here\nto do him and his people a rare favor. Lead on, fellow, and take me\ndirectly to your master.\"\n\nThe owl-man raised his club with a threatening gesture.\n\n\"If you try to escape,\" he said, \"beware--\"\n\nBut here the General interrupted him.\n\n\"Spare your threats,\" said he, \"and do not be impertinent, or I will\nhave you severely punished. Lead on, and keep silent!\"\n\nThis Guph was really a clever rascal, and it seems a pity he was so\nbad, for in a good cause he might have accomplished much. He realized\nthat he had put himself into a dangerous position by coming to this\ndreadful mountain, but he also knew that if he showed fear he was lost.\nSo he adopted a bold manner as his best defense. The wisdom of this\nplan was soon evident, for the Phanfasm with the owl\'s head turned and\nled the way up the mountain.\n\nAt the very top was a level plain upon which were heaps of rock that at\nfirst glance seemed solid. But on looking closer Guph discovered that\nthese rock heaps were dwellings, for each had an opening.\n\nNot a person was to be seen outside the rock huts. All was silent.\n\nThe owl-man led the way among the groups of dwellings to one standing\nin the center. It seemed no better and no worse than any of the\nothers. Outside the entrance to this rock heap the guide gave a low\nwail that sounded like \"Lee-ow-ah!\"\n\nSuddenly there bounded from the opening another hairy man. This one\nwore the head of a bear. In his hand he bore a brass hoop. He glared\nat the stranger in evident surprise.\n\n\"Why have you captured this foolish wanderer and brought him here?\" he\ndemanded, addressing the owl-man.\n\n\"I did not capture him,\" was the answer. \"He passed the scarlet\nalligator and came here of his own free will and accord.\"\n\nThe First and Foremost looked at the General.\n\n\"Have you tired of life, then?\" he asked.\n\n\"No indeed,\" answered Guph. \"I am a Nome, and the Chief General of\nKing Roquat the Red\'s great army of Nomes. I come of a long-lived\nrace, and I may say that I expect to live a long time yet. Sit down,\nyou Phanfasms--if you can find a seat in this wild haunt--and listen to\nwhat I have to say.\"\n\nWith all his knowledge and bravery General Guph did not know that the\nsteady glare from the bear eyes was reading his inmost thoughts as\nsurely as if they had been put into words. He did not know that these\ndespised rock heaps of the Phanfasms were merely deceptions to his own\neyes, nor could he guess that he was standing in the midst of one of\nthe most splendid and luxurious cities ever built by magic power. All\nthat he saw was a barren waste of rock heaps, a hairy man with an owl\'s\nhead and another with a bear\'s head. The sorcery of the Phanfasms\npermitted him to see no more.\n\nSuddenly the First and Foremost swung his brass hoop and caught Guph\naround the neck with it. The next instant, before the General could\nthink what had happened to him, he was dragged inside the rock hut.\nHere, his eyes still blinded to realities, he perceived only a dim\nlight, by which the hut seemed as rough and rude inside as it was\noutside. Yet he had a strange feeling that many bright eyes were\nfastened upon him and that he stood in a vast and extensive hall.\n\nThe First and Foremost now laughed grimly and released his prisoner.\n\n\"If you have anything to say that is interesting,\" he remarked, \"speak\nout, before I strangle you.\"\n\nSo Guph spoke out. He tried not to pay any attention to a strange\nrustling sound that he heard, as of an unseen multitude drawing near to\nlisten to his words. His eyes could see only the fierce bear-man, and\nto him he addressed his speech. First he told of his plan to conquer\nthe Land of Oz and plunder the country of its riches and enslave its\npeople, who, being fairies, could not be killed. After relating all\nthis, and telling of the tunnel the Nome King was building, he said he\nhad come to ask the First and Foremost to join the Nomes, with his band\nof terrible warriors, and help them to defeat the Oz people.\n\nThe General spoke very earnestly and impressively, but when he had\nfinished the bear-man began to laugh as if much amused, and his\nlaughter seemed to be echoed by a chorus of merriment from an unseen\nmultitude. Then, for the first time, Guph began to feel a trifle\nworried.\n\n\"Who else has promised to help you?\" finally asked the First and\nForemost.\n\n\"The Whimsies,\" replied the General.\n\nAgain the bear-headed Phanfasm laughed.\n\n\"Any others?\" he inquired.\n\n\"Only the Growleywogs,\" said Guph.\n\nThis answer set the First and Foremost laughing anew.\n\n\"What share of the spoils am I to have?\" was the next question.\n\n\"Anything you like, except King Roquat\'s Magic Belt,\" replied Guph.\n\nAt this the Phanfasm set up a roar of laughter, which had its echo in\nthe unseen chorus, and the bear-man seemed so amused that he actually\nrolled upon the ground and shouted with merriment.\n\n\"Oh, these blind and foolish Nomes!\" he said. \"How big they seem to\nthemselves and how small they really are!\"\n\nSuddenly he arose and seized Guph\'s neck with one hairy paw, dragging\nhim out of the hut into the open.\n\nHere he gave a curious wailing cry, and, as if in answer, from all the\nrocky huts on the mountain-top came flocking a horde of Phanfasms, all\nwith hairy bodies, but wearing heads of various animals, birds and\nreptiles. All were ferocious and repulsive-looking to the deceived\neyes of the Nome, and Guph could not repress a shudder of disgust as he\nlooked upon them.\n\nThe First and Foremost slowly raised his arms, and in a twinkling his\nhairy skin fell from him and he appeared before the astonished Nome as\na beautiful woman, clothed in a flowing gown of pink gauze. In her\ndark hair flowers were entwined, and her face was noble and calm.\n\nAt the same instant the entire band of Phanfasms was transformed into a\npack of howling wolves, running here and there as they snarled and\nshowed their ugly yellow fangs.\n\nThe woman now raised her arms, even as the man-bear had done, and in a\ntwinkling the wolves became crawling lizards, while she herself changed\ninto a huge butterfly.\n\nGuph had only time to cry out in fear and take a step backward to avoid\nthe lizards when another transformation occurred, and all returned\ninstantly to the forms they had originally worn.\n\nThen the First and Foremost, who had resumed his hairy body and bear\nhead, turned to the Nome and asked:\n\n\"Do you still demand our assistance?\"\n\n\"More than ever,\" answered the General, firmly.\n\n\"Then tell me: what can you offer the Phanfasms that they have not\nalready?\" inquired the First and Foremost.\n\nGuph hesitated. He really did not know what to say. The Nome King\'s\nvaunted Magic Belt seemed a poor thing compared to the astonishing\nmagical powers of these people. Gold, jewels and slaves they might\nsecure in any quantity without especial effort. He felt that he was\ndealing with powers greatly beyond him. There was but one argument\nthat might influence the Phanfasms, who were creatures of evil.\n\n\"Permit me to call your attention to the exquisite joy of making the\nhappy unhappy,\" said he at last. \"Consider the pleasure of destroying\ninnocent and harmless people.\"\n\n\"Ah! you have answered me,\" cried the First and Foremost. \"For that\nreason alone we will aid you. Go home, and tell your bandy-legged king\nthat as soon as his tunnel is finished the Phanfasms will be with him\nand lead his legions to the conquest of Oz. The deadly desert alone\nhas kept us from destroying Oz long ago, and your underground tunnel is\na clever thought. Go home, and prepare for our coming!\"\n\nGuph was very glad to be permitted to go with this promise. The\nowl-man led him back down the mountain path and ordered the scarlet\nalligator to crawl away and allow the Nome to cross the bridge in\nsafety.\n\nAfter the visitor had gone a brilliant and gorgeous city appeared upon\nthe mountain top, clearly visible to the eyes of the gaily dressed\nmultitude of Phanfasms that lived there. And the First and Foremost,\nbeautifully arrayed, addressed the others in these words:\n\n\"It is time we went into the world and brought sorrow and dismay to its\npeople. Too long have we remained for ourselves upon this mountain\ntop, for while we are thus secluded many nations have grown happy and\nprosperous, and the chief joy of the race of Phanfasms is to destroy\nhappiness. So I think it is lucky that this messenger from the Nomes\narrived among us just now, to remind us that the opportunity has come\nfor us to make trouble. We will use King Roquat\'s tunnel to conquer\nthe Land of Oz. Then we will destroy the Whimsies, the Growleywogs and\nthe Nomes, and afterward go out to ravage and annoy and grieve the\nwhole world.\"\n\nThe multitude of evil Phanfasms eagerly applauded this plan, which they\nfully approved.\n\nI am told that the Erbs are the most powerful and merciless of all the\nevil spirits, and the Phanfasms of Phantastico belong to the race of\nErbs.\n\n\n\n12. How they Matched the Fuddles\n\nDorothy and her fellow travelers rode away from the Cuttenclip village\nand followed the indistinct path as far as the sign-post. Here they\ntook the main road again and proceeded pleasantly through the pretty\nfarming country. When evening came they stopped at a dwelling and were\njoyfully welcomed and given plenty to eat and good beds for the night.\n\nEarly next morning, however, they were up and eager to start, and after\na good breakfast they bade their host good-bye and climbed into the red\nwagon, to which the Sawhorse had been hitched all night. Being made of\nwood, this horse never got tired nor cared to lie down. Dorothy was\nnot quite sure whether he ever slept or not, but it was certain that he\nnever did when anybody was around.\n\nThe weather is always beautiful in Oz, and this morning the air was\ncool and refreshing and the sunshine brilliant and delightful.\n\nIn about an hour they came to a place where another road branched off.\nThere was a sign-post here which read:\n\n\nTHIS WAY TO FUDDLECUMJIG\n\n\n\"Oh, here is where we turn,\" said Dorothy, observing the sign.\n\n\"What! Are we going to Fuddlecumjig?\" asked the Captain General.\n\n\"Yes; Ozma thought we might enjoy the Fuddles. They are said to be\nvery interesting,\" she replied.\n\n\"No one would suspect it from their name,\" said Aunt Em. \"Who are\nthey, anyhow? More paper things?\"\n\n\"I think not,\" answered Dorothy, laughing; \"but I can\'t say \'zactly,\nAunt Em, what they are. We\'ll find out when we get there.\"\n\n\"Perhaps the Wizard knows,\" suggested Uncle Henry.\n\n\"No; I\'ve never been there before,\" said the Wizard. \"But I\'ve often\nheard of Fuddlecumjig and the Fuddles, who are said to be the most\npeculiar people in all the Land of Oz.\"\n\n\"In what way?\" asked the Shaggy Man.\n\n\"I don\'t know, I\'m sure,\" said the Wizard.\n\nJust then, as they rode along the pretty green lane toward\nFuddlecumjig, they espied a kangaroo sitting by the roadside. The poor\nanimal had its face covered with both its front paws and was crying so\nbitterly that the tears coursed down its cheeks in two tiny streams and\ntrickled across the road, where they formed a pool in a small hollow.\n\nThe Sawhorse stopped short at this pitiful sight, and Dorothy cried\nout, with ready sympathy:\n\n\"What\'s the matter, Kangaroo?\"\n\n\"Boo-hoo! Boo-hoo!\" wailed the Kangaroo; \"I\'ve lost my mi--mi--mi--Oh,\nboo-hoo! Boo-hoo!\"--\n\n\"Poor thing,\" said the Wizard, \"she\'s lost her mister. It\'s probably\nher husband, and he\'s dead.\"\n\n\"No, no, no!\" sobbed the kangaroo. \"It--it isn\'t that. I\'ve lost my\nmi--mi--Oh, boo, boo-hoo!\"\n\n\"I know,\" said the Shaggy Man; \"she\'s lost her mirror.\"\n\n\"No; it\'s my mi--mi--mi--Boo-hoo! My mi--Oh, Boo-hoo!\" and the\nkangaroo cried harder than ever.\n\n\"It must be her mince-pie,\" suggested Aunt Em.\n\n\"Or her milk-toast,\" proposed Uncle Henry.\n\n\"I\'ve lost my mi--mi--mittens!\" said the kangaroo, getting it out at\nlast.\n\n\"Oh!\" cried the Yellow Hen, with a cackle of relief. \"Why didn\'t you\nsay so before?\"\n\n\"Boo-hoo! I--I--couldn\'t,\" answered the kangaroo.\n\n\"But, see here,\" said Dorothy, \"you don\'t need mittens in this warm\nweather.\"\n\n\"Yes, indeed I do,\" replied the animal, stopping her sobs and removing\nher paws from her face to look at the little girl reproachfully. \"My\nhands will get all sunburned and tanned without my mittens, and I\'ve\nworn them so long that I\'ll probably catch cold without them.\"\n\n\"Nonsense!\" said Dorothy. \"I never heard of any kangaroo wearing\nmittens.\"\n\n\"Didn\'t you?\" asked the animal, as if surprised.\n\n\"Never!\" repeated the girl. \"And you\'ll probably make yourself sick if\nyou don\'t stop crying. Where do you live?\"\n\n\"About two miles beyond Fuddlecumjig,\" was the answer. \"Grandmother\nGnit made me the mittens, and she\'s one of the Fuddles.\"\n\n\"Well, you\'d better go home now, and perhaps the old lady will make you\nanother pair,\" suggested Dorothy. \"We\'re on our way to Fuddlecumjig,\nand you may hop along beside us.\"\n\nSo they rode on, and the kangaroo hopped beside the red wagon and\nseemed quickly to have forgotten her loss. By and by the Wizard said\nto the animal:\n\n\"Are the Fuddles nice people?\"\n\n\"Oh, very nice,\" answered the kangaroo; \"that is, when they\'re properly\nput together. But they get dreadfully scattered and mixed up, at\ntimes, and then you can\'t do anything with them.\"\n\n\"What do you mean by their getting scattered?\" inquired Dorothy.\n\n\"Why, they\'re made in a good many small pieces,\" explained the\nkangaroo; \"and whenever any stranger comes near them they have a habit\nof falling apart and scattering themselves around. That\'s when they\nget so dreadfully mixed, and it\'s a hard puzzle to put them together\nagain.\"\n\n\"Who usually puts them together?\" asked Omby Amby.\n\n\"Any one who is able to match the pieces. I sometimes put Grandmother\nGnit together myself, because I know her so well I can tell every piece\nthat belongs to her. Then, when she\'s all matched, she knits for me,\nand that\'s how she made my mittens. But it took a good many days hard\nknitting, and I had to put Grandmother together a good many times,\nbecause every time I came near, she\'d scatter herself.\"\n\n\"I should think she would get used to your coming, and not be afraid,\"\nsaid Dorothy.\n\n\"It isn\'t that,\" replied the kangaroo. \"They\'re not a bit afraid, when\nthey\'re put together, and usually they\'re very jolly and pleasant.\nIt\'s just a habit they have, to scatter themselves, and if they didn\'t\ndo it they wouldn\'t be Fuddles.\"\n\nThe travelers thought upon this quite seriously for a time, while the\nSawhorse continued to carry them rapidly forward. Then Aunt Em\nremarked:\n\n\"I don\'t see much use our visitin\' these Fuddles. If we find them\nscattered, all we can do is to sweep \'em up, and then go about our\nbusiness.\"\n\n\"Oh, I b\'lieve we\'d better go on,\" replied Dorothy. \"I\'m getting\nhungry, and we must try to get some luncheon at Fuddlecumjig. Perhaps\nthe food won\'t be scattered as badly as the people.\"\n\n\"You\'ll find plenty to eat there,\" declared the kangaroo, hopping along\nin big bounds because the Sawhorse was going so fast; \"and they have a\nfine cook, too, if you can manage to put him together. There\'s the\ntown now--just ahead of us!\"\n\nThey looked ahead and saw a group of very pretty houses standing in a\ngreen field a little apart from the main road.\n\n\"Some Munchkins came here a few days ago and matched a lot of people\ntogether,\" said the kangaroo. \"I think they are together yet, and if\nyou go softly, without making any noise, perhaps they won\'t scatter.\"\n\n\"Let\'s try it,\" suggested the Wizard.\n\nSo they stopped the Sawhorse and got out of the wagon, and, after\nbidding good bye to the kangaroo, who hopped away home, they entered\nthe field and very cautiously approached the group of houses.\n\nSo silently did they move that soon they saw through the windows of the\nhouses, people moving around, while others were passing to and fro in\nthe yards between the buildings. They seemed much like other people\nfrom a distance, and apparently they did not notice the little party so\nquietly approaching.\n\nThey had almost reached the nearest house when Toto saw a large beetle\ncrossing the path and barked loudly at it. Instantly a wild clatter\nwas heard from the houses and yards. Dorothy thought it sounded like a\nsudden hailstorm, and the visitors, knowing that caution was no longer\nnecessary, hurried forward to see what had happened.\n\nAfter the clatter an intense stillness reigned in the town. The\nstrangers entered the first house they came to, which was also the\nlargest, and found the floor strewn with pieces of the people who lived\nthere. They looked much like fragments of wood neatly painted, and\nwere of all sorts of curious and fantastic shapes, no two pieces being\nin any way alike.\n\nThey picked up some of these pieces and looked at them carefully. On\none which Dorothy held was an eye, which looked at her pleasantly but\nwith an interested expression, as if it wondered what she was going to\ndo with it. Quite near by she discovered and picked up a nose, and by\nmatching the two pieces together found that they were part of a face.\n\n\"If I could find the mouth,\" she said, \"this Fuddle might be able to\ntalk, and tell us what to do next.\"\n\n\"Then let us find it,\" replied the Wizard, and so all got down on their\nhands and knees and began examining the scattered pieces.\n\n\"I\'ve found it!\" cried the Shaggy Man, and ran to Dorothy with a\nqueer-shaped piece that had a mouth on it. But when they tried to fit\nit to the eye and nose they found the parts wouldn\'t match together.\n\n\"That mouth belongs to some other person,\" said Dorothy. \"You see we\nneed a curve here and a point there, to make it fit the face.\"\n\n\"Well, it must be here some place,\" declared the Wizard; \"so if we\nsearch long enough we shall find it.\"\n\nDorothy fitted an ear on next, and the ear had a little patch of red\nhair above it. So while the others were searching for the mouth she\nhunted for pieces with red hair, and found several of them which, when\nmatched to the other pieces, formed the top of a man\'s head. She had\nalso found the other eye and the ear by the time Omby Amby in a far\ncorner discovered the mouth. When the face was thus completed, all the\nparts joined together with a nicety that was astonishing.\n\n\"Why, it\'s like a picture puzzle!\" exclaimed the little girl. \"Let\'s\nfind the rest of him, and get him all together.\"\n\n\"What\'s the rest of him like?\" asked the Wizard. \"Here are some pieces\nof blue legs and green arms, but I don\'t know whether they are his or\nnot.\"\n\n\"Look for a white shirt and a white apron,\" said the head which had\nbeen put together, speaking in a rather faint voice. \"I\'m the cook.\"\n\n\"Oh, thank you,\" said Dorothy. \"It\'s lucky we started you first, for\nI\'m hungry, and you can be cooking something for us to eat while we\nmatch the other folks together.\"\n\nIt was not so very difficult, now that they had a hint as to how the\nman was dressed, to find the other pieces belonging to him, and as all\nof them now worked on the cook, trying piece after piece to see if it\nwould fit, they finally had the cook set up complete.\n\nWhen he was finished he made them a low bow and said:\n\n\"I will go at once to the kitchen to prepare your dinner. You will\nfind it something of a job to get all the Fuddles together, so I advise\nyou to begin on the Lord High Chigglewitz, whose first name is Larry.\nHe\'s a bald-headed fat man and is dressed in a blue coat with brass\nbuttons, a pink vest and drab breeches. A piece of his left knee is\nmissing, having been lost years ago when he scattered himself too\ncarelessly. That makes him limp a little, but he gets along very well\nwith half a knee. As he is the chief personage in this town of\nFuddlecumjig, he will be able to welcome you and assist you with the\nothers. So it will be best to work on him while I\'m getting your\ndinner.\"\n\n\"We will,\" said the Wizard; \"and thank you very much, Cook, for the\nsuggestion.\"\n\nAunt Em was the first to discover a piece of the Lord High Chigglewitz.\n\n\"It seems to me like a fool business, this matching folks together,\"\nshe remarked; \"but as we haven\'t anything to do till dinner\'s ready, we\nmay as well get rid of some of this rubbish. Here, Henry, get busy and\nlook for Larry\'s bald head. I\'ve got his pink vest, all right.\"\n\nThey worked with eager interest, and Billina proved a great help to\nthem. The Yellow Hen had sharp eyes and could put her head close to\nthe various pieces that lay scattered around. She would examine the\nLord High Chigglewitz and see which piece of him was next needed, and\nthen hunt around until she found it. So before an hour had passed old\nLarry was standing complete before them.\n\n\"I congratulate you, my friends,\" he said, speaking in a cheerful\nvoice. \"You are certainly the cleverest people who ever visited us. I\nwas never matched together so quickly in my life. I\'m considered a\ngreat puzzle, usually.\"\n\n\"Well,\" said Dorothy, \"there used to be a picture puzzle craze in\nKansas, and so I\'ve had some \'sperience matching puzzles. But the\npictures were flat, while you are round, and that makes you harder to\nfigure out.\"\n\n\"Thank you, my dear,\" replied old Larry, greatly pleased. \"I feel\nhighly complimented. Were I not a really good puzzle, there would be\nno object in my scattering myself.\"\n\n\"Why do you do it?\" asked Aunt Em, severely. \"Why don\'t you behave\nyourself, and stay put together?\"\n\nThe Lord High Chigglewitz seemed annoyed by this speech; but he\nreplied, politely:\n\n\"Madam, you have perhaps noticed that every person has some\npeculiarity. Mine is to scatter myself. What your own peculiarity is\nI will not venture to say; but I shall never find fault with you,\nwhatever you do.\"\n\n\"Now you\'ve got your diploma, Em,\" said Uncle Henry, with a laugh, \"and\nI\'m glad of it. This is a queer country, and we may as well take\npeople as we find them.\"\n\n\"If we did, we\'d leave these folks scattered,\" she returned, and this\nretort made everybody laugh good-naturedly.\n\nJust then Omby Amby found a hand with a knitting needle in it, and they\ndecided to put Grandmother Gnit together. She proved an easier puzzle\nthan old Larry, and when she was completed they found her a pleasant\nold lady who welcomed them cordially. Dorothy told her how the\nkangaroo had lost her mittens, and Grandmother Gnit promised to set to\nwork at once and make the poor animal another pair.\n\nThen the cook came to call them to dinner, and they found an inviting\nmeal prepared for them. The Lord High Chigglewitz sat at the head of\nthe table and Grandmother Gnit at the foot, and the guests had a merry\ntime and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.\n\nAfter dinner they went out into the yard and matched several other\npeople together, and this work was so interesting that they might have\nspent the entire day at Fuddlecumjig had not the Wizard suggested that\nthey resume their journey.\n\n\"But I don\'t like to leave all these poor people scattered,\" said\nDorothy, undecided what to do.\n\n\"Oh, don\'t mind us, my dear,\" returned old Larry. \"Every day or so\nsome of the Gillikins, or Munchkins, or Winkies come here to amuse\nthemselves by matching us together, so there will be no harm in leaving\nthese pieces where they are for a time. But I hope you will visit us\nagain, and if you do you will always be welcome, I assure you.\"\n\n\"Don\'t you ever match each other?\" she inquired.\n\n\"Never; for we are no puzzles to ourselves, and so there wouldn\'t be\nany fun in it.\"\n\nThey now said goodbye to the queer Fuddles and got into their wagon to\ncontinue their journey.\n\n\"Those are certainly strange people,\" remarked Aunt Em, thoughtfully,\nas they drove away from Fuddlecumjig, \"but I really can\'t see what use\nthey are, at all.\"\n\n\"Why, they amused us all for several hours,\" replied the Wizard. \"That\nis being of use to us, I\'m sure.\"\n\n\"I think they\'re more fun than playing solitaire or mumbletypeg,\"\ndeclared Uncle Henry, soberly. \"For my part, I\'m glad we visited the\nFuddles.\"\n\n\n\n13. How the General Talked to the King\n\nWhen General Guph returned to the cavern of the Nome King his Majesty\nasked:\n\n\"Well, what luck? Will the Whimsies join us?\"\n\n\"They will,\" answered the General. \"They will fight for us with all\ntheir strength and cunning.\"\n\n\"Good!\" exclaimed the King. \"What reward did you promise them?\"\n\n\"Your Majesty is to use the Magic Belt to give each Whimsie a large,\nfine head, in place of the small one he is now obliged to wear.\"\n\n\"I agree to that,\" said the King. \"This is good news, Guph, and it\nmakes me feel more certain of the conquest of Oz.\"\n\n\"But I have other news for you,\" announced the General.\n\n\"Good or bad?\"\n\n\"Good, your Majesty.\"\n\n\"Then I will hear it,\" said the King, with interest.\n\n\"The Growleywogs will join us.\"\n\n\"No!\" cried the astonished King.\n\n\"Yes, indeed,\" said the General. \"I have their promise.\"\n\n\"But what reward do they demand?\" inquired the King, suspiciously, for\nhe knew how greedy the Growleywogs were.\n\n\"They are to take a few of the Oz people for their slaves,\" replied\nGuph. He did not think it necessary to tell Roquat that the\nGrowleywogs demanded twenty thousand slaves. It would be time enough\nfor that when Oz was conquered.\n\n\"A very reasonable request, I\'m sure,\" remarked the King. \"I must\ncongratulate you, Guph, upon the wonderful success of your journey.\"\n\n\"But that is not all,\" said the General, proudly.\n\nThe King seemed astonished. \"Speak out, sir!\" he commanded.\n\n\"I have seen the First and Foremost Phanfasm of the Mountain of\nPhantastico, and he will bring his people to assist us.\"\n\n\"What!\" cried the King. \"The Phanfasms! You don\'t mean it, Guph!\"\n\n\"It is true,\" declared the General, proudly.\n\nThe King became thoughtful, and his brows wrinkled.\n\n\"I\'m afraid, Guph,\" he said rather anxiously, \"that the First and\nForemost may prove as dangerous to us as to the Oz people. If he and\nhis terrible band come down from the mountain they may take the notion\nto conquer the Nomes!\"\n\n\"Pah! That is a foolish idea,\" retorted Guph, irritably, but he knew\nin his heart that the King was right. \"The First and Foremost is a\nparticular friend of mine, and will do us no harm. Why, when I was\nthere, he even invited me into his house.\"\n\nThe General neglected to tell the King how he had been jerked into the\nhut of the First and Foremost by means of the brass hoop. So Roquat\nthe Red looked at his General admiringly and said:\n\n\"You are a wonderful Nome, Guph. I\'m sorry I did not make you my\nGeneral before. But what reward did the First and Foremost demand?\"\n\n\"Nothing at all,\" answered Guph. \"Even the Magic Belt itself could not\nadd to his powers of sorcery. All the Phanfasms wish is to destroy the\nOz people, who are good and happy. This pleasure will amply repay them\nfor assisting us.\"\n\n\"When will they come?\" asked Roquat, half fearfully.\n\n\"When the tunnel is completed,\" said the General.\n\n\"We are nearly halfway under the desert now,\" announced the King; \"and\nthat is fast work, because the tunnel has to be drilled through solid\nrock. But after we have passed the desert it will not take us long to\nextend the tunnel to the walls of the Emerald City.\"\n\n\"Well, whenever you are ready, we shall be joined by the Whimsies, the\nGrowleywogs and the Phanfasms,\" said Guph; \"so the conquest of Oz is\nassured without a doubt.\"\n\nAgain, the King seemed thoughtful.\n\n\"I\'m almost sorry we did not undertake the conquest alone,\" said he.\n\"All of these allies are dangerous people, and they may demand more\nthan you have promised them. It might have been better to have\nconquered Oz without any outside assistance.\"\n\n\"We could not do it,\" said the General, positively.\n\n\"Why not, Guph?\"\n\n\"You know very well. You have had one experience with the Oz people,\nand they defeated you.\"\n\n\"That was because they rolled eggs at us,\" replied the King, with a\nshudder. \"My Nomes cannot stand eggs, any more than I can myself.\nThey are poison to all who live underground.\"\n\n\"That is true enough,\" agreed Guph.\n\n\"But we might have taken the Oz people by surprise, and conquered them\nbefore they had a chance to get any eggs. Our former defeat was due to\nthe fact that the girl Dorothy had a Yellow Hen with her. I do not\nknow what ever became of that hen, but I believe there are no hens at\nall in the Land of Oz, and so there could be no eggs there.\"\n\n\"On the contrary,\" said Guph, \"there are now hundreds of chickens in\nOz, and they lay heaps of those dangerous eggs. I met a goshawk on my\nway home, and the bird informed me that he had lately been to Oz to\ncapture and devour some of the young chickens. But they are protected\nby magic, so the hawk did not get a single one of them.\"\n\n\"That is a very bad report,\" said the King, nervously. \"Very bad,\nindeed. My Nomes are willing to fight, but they simply can\'t face\nhen\'s eggs--and I don\'t blame them.\"\n\n\"They won\'t need to face them,\" replied Guph. \"I\'m afraid of eggs\nmyself, and don\'t propose to take any chances of being poisoned by\nthem. My plan is to send the Whimsies through the tunnel first, and\nthen the Growleywogs and the Phanfasms. By the time we Nomes get there\nthe eggs will all be used up, and we may then pursue and capture the\ninhabitants at our leisure.\"\n\n\"Perhaps you are right,\" returned the King, with a dismal sigh. \"But I\nwant it distinctly understood that I claim Ozma and Dorothy as my own\nprisoners. They are rather nice girls, and I do not intend to let any\nof those dreadful creatures hurt them, or make them their slaves. When\nI have captured them I will bring them here and transform them into\nchina ornaments to stand on my mantle. They will look very\npretty--Dorothy on one end of the mantle and Ozma on the other--and I\nshall take great care to see they are not broken when the maids dust\nthem.\"\n\n\"Very well, your Majesty. Do what you will with the girls for all I\ncare. Now that our plans are arranged, and we have the three most\npowerful bands of evil spirits in the world to assist us, let us make\nhaste to get the tunnel finished as soon as possible.\"\n\n\"It will be ready in three days,\" promised the King, and hurried away\nto inspect the work and see that the Nomes kept busy.\n\n\n\n14. How the Wizard Practiced Sorcery\n\n\"Where next?\" asked the Wizard when they had left the town of\nFuddlecumjig and the Sawhorse had started back along the road.\n\n\"Why, Ozma laid out this trip,\" replied Dorothy, \"and she \'vised us to\nsee the Rigmaroles next, and then visit the Tin Woodman.\"\n\n\"That sounds good,\" said the Wizard. \"But what road do we take to get\nto the Rigmaroles?\"\n\n\"I don\'t know, \'zactly,\" returned the little girl; \"but it must be\nsomewhere just southwest from here.\"\n\n\"Then why need we go way back to the crossroads?\" asked the Shaggy Man.\n\"We might save a lot of time by branching off here.\"\n\n\"There isn\'t any path,\" asserted Uncle Henry.\n\n\"Then we\'d better go back to the signposts, and make sure of our way,\"\ndecided Dorothy.\n\nBut after they had gone a short distance farther the Sawhorse, who had\noverheard their conversation, stopped and said:\n\n\"Here is a path.\"\n\nSure enough, a dim path seemed to branch off from the road they were\non, and it led across pretty green meadows and past leafy groves,\nstraight toward the southwest.\n\n\"That looks like a good path,\" said Omby Amby. \"Why not try it?\"\n\n\"All right,\" answered Dorothy. \"I\'m anxious to see what the Rigmaroles\nare like, and this path ought to take us there the quickest way.\"\n\nNo one made any objection to this plan, so the Sawhorse turned into the\npath, which proved to be nearly as good as the one they had taken to\nget to the Fuddles. As first they passed a few retired farm houses,\nbut soon these scattered dwellings were left behind and only the\nmeadows and the trees were before them. But they rode along in\ncheerful contentment, and Aunt Em got into an argument with Billina\nabout the proper way to raise chickens.\n\n\"I do not care to contradict you,\" said the Yellow Hen, with dignity,\n\"but I have an idea I know more about chickens than human beings do.\"\n\n\"Pshaw!\" replied Aunt Em. \"I\'ve raised chickens for nearly forty\nyears, Billina, and I know you\'ve got to starve \'em to make \'em lay\nlots of eggs, and stuff \'em if you want good broilers.\"\n\n\"Broilers!\" exclaimed Billina, in horror. \"Broil my chickens!\"\n\n\"Why, that\'s what they\'re for, ain\'t it?\" asked Aunt Em, astonished.\n\n\"No, Aunt, not in Oz,\" said Dorothy. \"People do not eat chickens here.\nYou see, Billina was the first hen that was ever seen in this country,\nand I brought her here myself. Everybody liked her an\' respected her,\nso the Oz people wouldn\'t any more eat her chickens than they would eat\nBillina.\"\n\n\"Well, I declare,\" gasped Aunt Em. \"How about the eggs?\"\n\n\"Oh, if we have more eggs than we want to hatch, we allow people to eat\nthem,\" said Billina. \"Indeed, I am very glad the Oz folks like our\neggs, for otherwise they would spoil.\"\n\n\"This certainly is a queer country,\" sighed Aunt Em.\n\n\"Excuse me,\" called the Sawhorse, \"the path has ended and I\'d like to\nknow which way to go.\"\n\nThey looked around and sure enough there was no path to be seen.\n\n\"Well,\" said Dorothy, \"we\'re going southwest, and it seems just as easy\nto follow that direction without a path as with one.\"\n\n\"Certainly,\" answered the Sawhorse. \"It is not hard to draw the wagon\nover the meadow. I only want to know where to go.\"\n\n\"There\'s a forest over there across the prairie,\" said the Wizard, \"and\nit lies in the direction we are going. Make straight for the forest,\nSawhorse, and you\'re bound to go right.\"\n\nSo the wooden animal trotted on again and the meadow grass was so soft\nunder the wheels that it made easy riding. But Dorothy was a little\nuneasy at losing the path, because now there was nothing to guide them.\n\nNo houses were to be seen at all, so they could not ask their way of\nany farmer; and although the Land of Oz was always beautiful, wherever\none might go, this part of the country was strange to all the party.\n\n\"Perhaps we\'re lost,\" suggested Aunt Em, after they had proceeded quite\na way in silence.\n\n\"Never mind,\" said the Shaggy Man; \"I\'ve been lost many a time--and so\nhas Dorothy--and we\'ve always been found again.\"\n\n\"But we may get hungry,\" remarked Omby Amby. \"That is the worst of\ngetting lost in a place where there are no houses near.\"\n\n\"We had a good dinner at the Fuddle town,\" said Uncle Henry, \"and that\nwill keep us from starving to death for a long time.\"\n\n\"No one ever starved to death in Oz,\" declared Dorothy, positively;\n\"but people may get pretty hungry sometimes.\"\n\nThe Wizard said nothing, and he did not seem especially anxious. The\nSawhorse was trotting along briskly, yet the forest seemed farther away\nthan they had thought when they first saw it. So it was nearly sundown\nwhen they finally came to the trees; but now they found themselves in a\nmost beautiful spot, the wide-spreading trees being covered with\nflowering vines and having soft mosses underneath them. \"This will be\na good place to camp,\" said the Wizard, as the Sawhorse stopped for\nfurther instructions.\n\n\"Camp!\" they all echoed.\n\n\"Certainly,\" asserted the Wizard. \"It will be dark before very long\nand we cannot travel through this forest at night. So let us make a\ncamp here, and have some supper, and sleep until daylight comes again.\"\n\nThey all looked at the little man in astonishment, and Aunt Em said,\nwith a sniff:\n\n\"A pretty camp we\'ll have, I must say! I suppose you intend us to\nsleep under the wagon.\"\n\n\"And chew grass for our supper,\" added the Shaggy Man, laughing.\n\nBut Dorothy seemed to have no doubts and was quite cheerful\n\n\"It\'s lucky we have the wonderful Wizard with us,\" she said; \"because\nhe can do \'most anything he wants to.\"\n\n\"Oh, yes; I forgot we had a Wizard,\" said Uncle Henry, looking at the\nlittle man curiously.\n\n\"I didn\'t,\" chirped Billina, contentedly.\n\nThe Wizard smiled and climbed out of the wagon, and all the others\nfollowed him.\n\n\"In order to camp,\" said he, \"the first thing we need is tents. Will\nsome one please lend me a handkerchief?\"\n\nThe Shaggy Man offered him one, and Aunt Em another. He took them both\nand laid them carefully upon the grass near to the edge of the forest.\nThen he laid his own handkerchief down, too, and standing a little back\nfrom them he waved his left hand toward the handkerchiefs and said:\n\n \"Tents of canvas, white as snow,\n Let me see how fast you grow!\"\n\n\nThen, lo and behold! the handkerchiefs became tiny tents, and as the\ntravelers looked at them the tents grew bigger and bigger until in a\nfew minutes each one was large enough to contain the entire party.\n\n\"This,\" said the Wizard, pointing to the first tent, \"is for the\naccommodation of the ladies. Dorothy, you and your Aunt may step\ninside and take off your things.\"\n\nEvery one ran to look inside the tent, and they saw two pretty white\nbeds, all ready for Dorothy and Aunt Em, and a silver roost for\nBillina. Rugs were spread upon the grassy floor and some camp chairs\nand a table completed the furniture.\n\n\"Well, well, well! This beats anything I ever saw or heard of!\"\nexclaimed Aunt Em, and she glanced at the Wizard almost fearfully, as\nif he might be dangerous because of his great powers.\n\n\"Oh, Mr. Wizard! How did you manage to do it?\" asked Dorothy.\n\n\"It\'s a trick Glinda the Sorceress taught me, and it is much better\nmagic than I used to practice in Omaha, or when I first came to Oz,\" he\nanswered. \"When the good Glinda found I was to live in the Emerald\nCity always, she promised to help me, because she said the Wizard of Oz\nought really to be a clever Wizard, and not a humbug. So we have been\nmuch together and I am learning so fast that I expect to be able to\naccomplish some really wonderful things in time.\"\n\n\"You\'ve done it now!\" declared Dorothy. \"These tents are just\nwonderful!\"\n\n\"But come and see the men\'s tent,\" said the Wizard. So they went to\nthe second tent, which had shaggy edges because it has been made from\nthe Shaggy Man\'s handkerchief, and found that completely furnished\nalso. It contained four neat beds for Uncle Henry, Omby Amby, the\nShaggy Man and the Wizard. Also there was a soft rug for Toto to lie\nupon.\n\n\"The third tent,\" explained the Wizard, \"is our dining room and\nkitchen.\"\n\nThey visited that next, and found a table and dishes in the dining\ntent, with plenty of those things necessary to use in cooking. The\nWizard carried out a big kettle and set it swinging on a crossbar\nbefore the tent. While he was doing this Omby Amby and the Shaggy Man\nbrought a supply of twigs from the forest and then they built a fire\nunderneath the kettle.\n\n\"Now, Dorothy,\" said the Wizard, smiling, \"I expect you to cook our\nsupper.\"\n\n\"But there is nothing in the kettle,\" she cried.\n\n\"Are you sure?\" inquired the Wizard.\n\n\"I didn\'t see anything put in, and I\'m almost sure it was empty when\nyou brought it out,\" she replied.\n\n\"Nevertheless,\" said the little man, winking slyly at Uncle Henry, \"you\nwill do well to watch our supper, my dear, and see that it doesn\'t boil\nover.\"\n\nThen the men took some pails and went into the forest to search for a\nspring of water, and while they were gone Aunt Em said to Dorothy:\n\n\"I believe the Wizard is fooling us. I saw the kettle myself, and when\nhe hung it over the fire there wasn\'t a thing in it but air.\"\n\n\"Don\'t worry,\" remarked Billina, confidently, as she nestled in the\ngrass before the fire. \"You\'ll find something in the kettle when it\'s\ntaken off--and it won\'t be poor, innocent chickens, either.\"\n\n\"Your hen has very bad manners, Dorothy,\" said Aunt Em, looking\nsomewhat disdainfully at Billina. \"It seems too bad she ever learned\nhow to talk.\"\n\nThere might have been another unpleasant quarrel between Aunt Em and\nBillina had not the men returned just then with their pails filled with\nclear, sparkling water. The Wizard told Dorothy that she was a good\ncook and he believed their supper was ready.\n\nSo Uncle Henry lifted the kettle from the fire and poured its contents\ninto a big platter which the Wizard held for him. The platter was\nfairly heaped with a fine stew, smoking hot, with many kinds of\nvegetables and dumplings and a rich, delicious gravy.\n\nThe Wizard triumphantly placed the platter upon the table in the dining\ntent and then they all sat down in camp chairs to the feast.\n\nThere were several other dishes on the table, all carefully covered,\nand when the time came to remove these covers they found bread and\nbutter, cakes, cheese, pickles and fruits--including some of the\nluscious strawberries of Oz.\n\nNo one ventured to ask a question as to how these things came there.\nThey contented themselves by eating heartily the good things provided,\nand Toto and Billina had their full share, you may be sure. After the\nmeal was over, Aunt Em whispered to Dorothy:\n\n\"That may have been magic food, my dear, and for that reason perhaps it\nwon\'t be very nourishing; but I\'m willing to say it tasted as good as\nanything I ever et.\" Then she added, in a louder voice: \"Who\'s going\nto do the dishes?\"\n\n\"No one, madam,\" answered the Wizard. \"The dishes have \'done\'\nthemselves.\"\n\n\"La sakes!\" ejaculated the good lady, holding up her hands in\namazement. For, sure enough, when she looked at the dishes they had a\nmoment before left upon the table, she found them all washed and dried\nand piled up into neat stacks.\n\n\n\n15. How Dorothy Happened to Get Lost\n\nIt was a beautiful evening, so they drew their camp chairs in a circle\nbefore one of the tents and began to tell stories to amuse themselves\nand pass away the time before they went to bed.\n\nPretty soon a zebra was seen coming out of the forest, and he trotted\nstraight up to them and said politely:\n\n\"Good evening, people.\"\n\nThe zebra was a sleek little animal and had a slender head, a stubby\nmane and a paint-brush tail--very like a donkey\'s. His neatly shaped\nwhite body was covered with regular bars of dark brown, and his hoofs\nwere delicate as those of a deer.\n\n\"Good evening, friend Zebra,\" said Omby Amby, in reply to the\ncreature\'s greeting. \"Can we do anything for you?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" answered the zebra. \"I should like you to settle a dispute that\nhas long been a bother to me, as to whether there is more water or land\nin the world.\"\n\n\"Who are you disputing with?\" asked the Wizard.\n\n\"With a soft-shell crab,\" said the zebra. \"He lives in a pool where I\ngo to drink every day, and he is a very impertinent crab, I assure you.\nI have told him many times that the land is much greater in extent than\nthe water, but he will not be convinced. Even this very evening, when\nI told him he was an insignificant creature who lived in a small pool,\nhe asserted that the water was greater and more important than the\nland. So, seeing your camp, I decided to ask you to settle the dispute\nfor once and all, that I may not be further annoyed by this ignorant\ncrab.\"\n\nWhen they had listened to this explanation Dorothy inquired:\n\n\"Where is the soft-shell crab?\"\n\n\"Not far away,\" replied the zebra. \"If you will agree to judge between\nus I will run and get him.\"\n\n\"Run along, then,\" said the little girl.\n\nSo the animal pranced into the forest and soon came trotting back to\nthem. When he drew near they found a soft-shell crab clinging fast to\nthe stiff hair of the zebra\'s head, where it held on by one claw.\n\n\"Now then, Mr. Crab,\" said the zebra, \"here are the people I told you\nabout; and they know more than you do, who lives in a pool, and more\nthan I do, who lives in a forest. For they have been travelers all\nover the world, and know every part of it.\"\n\n\"There is more of the world than Oz,\" declared the crab, in a stubborn\nvoice.\n\n\"That is true,\" said Dorothy; \"but I used to live in Kansas, in the\nUnited States, and I\'ve been to California and to Australia and so has\nUncle Henry.\"\n\n\"For my part,\" added the Shaggy Man, \"I\'ve been to Mexico and Boston\nand many other foreign countries.\"\n\n\"And I,\" said the Wizard, \"have been to Europe and Ireland.\"\n\n\"So you see,\" continued the zebra, addressing the crab, \"here are\npeople of real consequence, who know what they are talking about.\"\n\n\"Then they know there\'s more water in the world than there is land,\"\nasserted the crab, in a shrill, petulant voice.\n\n\"They know you are wrong to make such an absurd statement, and they\nwill probably think you are a lobster instead of a crab,\" retorted the\nanimal.\n\nAt this taunt the crab reached out its other claw and seized the\nzebra\'s ear, and the creature gave a cry of pain and began prancing up\nand down, trying to shake off the crab, which clung fast.\n\n\"Stop pinching!\" cried the zebra. \"You promised not to pinch if I\nwould carry you here!\"\n\n\"And you promised to treat me respectfully,\" said the crab, letting go\nthe ear.\n\n\"Well, haven\'t I?\" demanded the zebra.\n\n\"No; you called me a lobster,\" said the crab.\n\n\"Ladies and gentlemen,\" continued the zebra, \"please pardon my poor\nfriend, because he is ignorant and stupid, and does not understand.\nAlso the pinch of his claw is very annoying. So pray tell him that the\nworld contains more land than water, and when he has heard your\njudgment I will carry him back and dump him into his pool, where I hope\nhe will be more modest in the future.\"\n\n\"But we cannot tell him that,\" said Dorothy, gravely, \"because it would\nnot be true.\"\n\n\"What!\" exclaimed the zebra, in astonishment; \"do I hear you aright?\"\n\n\"The soft-shell crab is correct,\" declared the Wizard. \"There is\nconsiderably more water than there is land in the world.\"\n\n\"Impossible!\" protested the zebra. \"Why, I can run for days upon the\nland, and find but little water.\"\n\n\"Did you ever see an ocean?\" asked Dorothy.\n\n\"Never,\" admitted the zebra. \"There is no such thing as an ocean in\nthe Land of Oz.\"\n\n\"Well, there are several oceans in the world,\" said Dorothy, \"and\npeople sail in ships upon these oceans for weeks and weeks, and never\nsee a bit of land at all. And the joggerfys will tell you that all the\noceans put together are bigger than all the land put together.\"\n\nAt this the crab began laughing in queer chuckles that reminded Dorothy\nof the way Billina sometimes cackled.\n\n\"NOW will you give up, Mr. Zebra?\" it cried, jeeringly; \"now will you\ngive up?\"\n\nThe zebra seemed much humbled.\n\n\"Of course I cannot read geographys,\" he said.\n\n\"You could take one of the Wizard\'s School Pills,\" suggested Billina,\n\"and that would make you learned and wise without studying.\"\n\nThe crab began laughing again, which so provoked the zebra that he\ntried to shake the little creature off. This resulted in more\near-pinching, and finally Dorothy told them that if they could not\nbehave they must go back to the forest.\n\n\"I\'m sorry I asked you to decide this question,\" said the zebra,\ncrossly. \"So long as neither of us could prove we were right we quite\nenjoyed the dispute; but now I can never drink at that pool again\nwithout the soft-shell crab laughing at me. So I must find another\ndrinking place.\"\n\n\"Do! Do, you ignoramus!\" shouted the crab, as loudly as his little\nvoice would carry. \"Rile some other pool with your clumsy hoofs, and\nlet your betters alone after this!\"\n\nThen the zebra trotted back to the forest, bearing the crab with him,\nand disappeared amid the gloom of the trees. And as it was now getting\ndark the travelers said good night to one another and went to bed.\n\nDorothy awoke just as the light was beginning to get strong next\nmorning, and not caring to sleep any later she quietly got out of bed,\ndressed herself, and left the tent where Aunt Em was yet peacefully\nslumbering.\n\nOutside she noticed Billina busily pecking around to secure bugs or\nother food for breakfast, but none of the men in the other tent seemed\nawake. So the little girl decided to take a walk in the woods and try\nto discover some path or road that they might follow when they again\nstarted upon their journey.\n\nShe had reached the edge of the forest when the Yellow Hen came\nfluttering along and asked where she was going.\n\n\"Just to take a walk, Billina; and maybe I\'ll find some path,\" said\nDorothy.\n\n\"Then I\'ll go along,\" decided Billina, and scarcely had she spoken when\nToto ran up and joined them.\n\nToto and the Yellow Hen had become quite friendly by this time,\nalthough at first they did not get along well together. Billina had\nbeen rather suspicious of dogs, and Toto had had an idea that it was\nevery dog\'s duty to chase a hen on sight. But Dorothy had talked to\nthem and scolded them for not being agreeable to one another until they\ngrew better acquainted and became friends.\n\nI won\'t say they loved each other dearly, but at least they had stopped\nquarreling and now managed to get on together very well.\n\nThe day was growing lighter every minute and driving the black shadows\nout of the forest; so Dorothy found it very pleasant walking under the\ntrees. She went some distance in one direction, but not finding a\npath, presently turned in a different direction. There was no path\nhere, either, although she advanced quite a way into the forest,\nwinding here and there among the trees and peering through the bushes\nin an endeavor to find some beaten track.\n\n\"I think we\'d better go back,\" suggested the Yellow Hen, after a time.\n\"The people will all be up by this time and breakfast will be ready.\"\n\n\"Very well,\" agreed Dorothy. \"Let\'s see--the camp must be over this\nway.\"\n\nShe had probably made a mistake about that, for after they had gone far\nenough to have reached the camp they still found themselves in the\nthick of the woods. So the little girl stopped short and looked around\nher, and Toto glanced up into her face with his bright little eyes and\nwagged his tail as if he knew something was wrong. He couldn\'t tell\nmuch about direction himself, because he had spent his time prowling\namong the bushes and running here and there; nor had Billina paid much\nattention to where they were going, being interested in picking bugs\nfrom the moss as they passed along. The Yellow Hen now turned one eye\nup toward the little girl and asked:\n\n\"Have you forgotten where the camp is, Dorothy?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" she admitted; \"have you, Billina?\"\n\n\"I didn\'t try to remember,\" returned Billina. \"I\'d no idea you would\nget lost, Dorothy.\"\n\n\"It\'s the thing we don\'t expect, Billina, that usually happens,\"\nobserved the girl, thoughtfully. \"But it\'s no use standing here.\nLet\'s go in that direction,\" pointing a finger at random. \"It may be\nwe\'ll get out of the forest over there.\"\n\nSo on they went again, but this way the trees were closer together, and\nthe vines were so tangled that often they tripped Dorothy up.\n\nSuddenly a voice cried sharply:\n\n\"Halt!\"\n\nAt first, Dorothy could see nothing, although she looked around very\ncarefully. But Billina exclaimed:\n\n\"Well, I declare!\"\n\n\"What is it?\" asked the little girl: for Toto began barking at\nsomething, and following his gaze she discovered what it was.\n\nA row of spoons had surrounded the three, and these spoons stood\nstraight up on their handles and carried swords and muskets. Their\nfaces were outlined in the polished bowls and they looked very stern\nand severe.\n\nDorothy laughed at the queer things.\n\n\"Who are you?\" she asked.\n\n\"We\'re the Spoon Brigade,\" said one.\n\n\"In the service of his Majesty King Kleaver,\" said another.\n\n\"And you are our prisoners,\" said a third.\n\nDorothy sat down on an old stump and looked at them, her eyes twinkling\nwith amusement.\n\n\"What would happen,\" she inquired, \"if I should set my dog on your\nBrigade?\"\n\n\"He would die,\" replied one of the spoons, sharply. \"One shot from our\ndeadly muskets would kill him, big as he is.\"\n\n\"Don\'t risk it, Dorothy,\" advised the Yellow Hen. \"Remember this is a\nfairy country, yet none of us three happens to be a fairy.\"\n\nDorothy grew sober at this.\n\n\"P\'raps you\'re right, Billina,\" she answered. \"But how funny it is, to\nbe captured by a lot of spoons!\"\n\n\"I do not see anything very funny about it,\" declared a spoon. \"We\'re\nthe regular military brigade of the kingdom.\"\n\n\"What kingdom?\" she asked.\n\n\"Utensia,\" said he.\n\n\"I never heard of it before,\" asserted Dorothy. Then she added\nthoughtfully, \"I don\'t believe Ozma ever heard of Utensia, either.\nTell me, are you not subjects of Ozma of Oz?\"\n\n\"We have never heard of her,\" retorted a spoon. \"We are subjects of\nKing Kleaver, and obey only his orders, which are to bring all\nprisoners to him as soon as they are captured. So step lively, my\ngirl, and march with us, or we may be tempted to cut off a few of your\ntoes with our swords.\"\n\nThis threat made Dorothy laugh again. She did not believe she was in\nany danger; but here was a new and interesting adventure, so she was\nwilling to be taken to Utensia that she might see what King Kleaver\'s\nkingdom was like.\n\n\n\n16. How Dorothy Visited Utensia\n\nThere must have been from six to eight dozen spoons in the Brigade, and\nthey marched away in the shape of a hollow square, with Dorothy,\nBillina and Toto in the center of the square. Before they had gone\nvery far Toto knocked over one of the spoons by wagging his tail, and\nthen the Captain of the Spoons told the little dog to be more careful,\nor he would be punished. So Toto was careful, and the Spoon Brigade\nmoved along with astonishing swiftness, while Dorothy really had to\nwalk fast to keep up with it.\n\nBy and by they left the woods and entered a big clearing, in which was\nthe Kingdom of Utensia.\n\nStanding all around the clearing were a good many cookstoves, ranges\nand grills, of all sizes and shapes, and besides these there were\nseveral kitchen cabinets and cupboards and a few kitchen tables. These\nthings were crowded with utensils of all sorts: frying pans, sauce\npans, kettles, forks, knives, basting and soup spoons, nutmeg graters,\nsifters, colanders, meat saws, flat irons, rolling pins and many other\nthings of a like nature.\n\nWhen the Spoon Brigade appeared with the prisoners a wild shout arose\nand many of the utensils hopped off their stoves or their benches and\nran crowding around Dorothy and the hen and the dog.\n\n\"Stand back!\" cried the Captain, sternly, and he led his captives\nthrough the curious throng until they came before a big range that\nstood in the center of the clearing. Beside this range was a butcher\nblock upon which lay a great cleaver with a keen edge. It rested upon\nthe flat of its back, its legs were crossed and it was smoking a long\npipe.\n\n\"Wake up, your Majesty,\" said the Captain. \"Here are prisoners.\"\n\nHearing this, King Kleaver sat up and looked at Dorothy sharply.\n\n\"Gristle and fat!\" he cried. \"Where did this girl come from?\"\n\n\"I found her in the forest and brought her here a prisoner,\" replied\nthe Captain.\n\n\"Why did you do that?\" inquired the King, puffing his pipe lazily.\n\n\"To create some excitement,\" the Captain answered. \"It is so quiet\nhere that we are all getting rusty for want of amusement. For my part,\nI prefer to see stirring times.\"\n\n\"Naturally,\" returned the cleaver, with a nod. \"I have always said,\nCaptain, without a bit of irony, that you are a sterling officer and a\nsolid citizen, bowled and polished to a degree. But what do you expect\nme to do with these prisoners?\"\n\n\"That is for you to decide,\" declared the Captain. \"You are the King.\"\n\n\"To be sure; to be sure,\" muttered the cleaver, musingly. \"As you say,\nwe have had dull times since the steel and grindstone eloped and left\nus. Command my Counselors and the Royal Courtiers to attend me, as\nwell as the High Priest and the Judge. We\'ll then decide what can be\ndone.\"\n\nThe Captain saluted and retired and Dorothy sat down on an overturned\nkettle and asked:\n\n\"Have you anything to eat in your kingdom?\"\n\n\"Here! Get up! Get off from me!\" cried a faint voice, at which his\nMajesty the cleaver said:\n\n\"Excuse me, but you\'re sitting on my friend the Ten-quart Kettle.\"\n\nDorothy at once arose, and the kettle turned right side up and looked\nat her reproachfully.\n\n\"I\'m a friend of the King, so no one dares sit on me,\" said he.\n\n\"I\'d prefer a chair, anyway,\" she replied.\n\n\"Sit on that hearth,\" commanded the King.\n\nSo Dorothy sat on the hearth-shelf of the big range, and the subjects\nof Utensia began to gather around in a large and inquisitive throng.\nToto lay at Dorothy\'s feet and Billina flew upon the range, which had\nno fire in it, and perched there as comfortably as she could.\n\nWhen all the Counselors and Courtiers had assembled--and these seemed\nto include most of the inhabitants of the kingdom--the King rapped on\nthe block for order and said:\n\n\"Friends and Fellow Utensils! Our worthy Commander of the Spoon\nBrigade, Captain Dipp, has captured the three prisoners you see before\nyou and brought them here for--for--I don\'t know what for. So I ask\nyour advice how to act in this matter, and what fate I should mete out\nto these captives. Judge Sifter, stand on my right. It is your\nbusiness to sift this affair to the bottom. High Priest Colender,\nstand on my left and see that no one testifies falsely in this matter.\"\n\nAs these two officials took their places, Dorothy asked:\n\n\"Why is the colander the High Priest?\"\n\n\"He\'s the holiest thing we have in the kingdom,\" replied King Kleaver.\n\n\"Except me,\" said a sieve. \"I\'m the whole thing when it comes to\nholes.\"\n\n\"What we need,\" remarked the King, rebukingly, \"is a wireless sieve. I\nmust speak to Marconi about it. These old-fashioned sieves talk too\nmuch. Now, it is the duty of the King\'s Counselors to counsel the King\nat all times of emergency, so I beg you to speak out and advise me what\nto do with these prisoners.\"\n\n\"I demand that they be killed several times, until they are dead!\"\nshouted a pepperbox, hopping around very excitedly.\n\n\"Compose yourself, Mr. Paprica,\" advised the King. \"Your remarks are\npiquant and highly-seasoned, but you need a scattering of commonsense.\nIt is only necessary to kill a person once to make him dead; but I do\nnot see that it is necessary to kill this little girl at all.\"\n\n\"I don\'t, either,\" said Dorothy.\n\n\"Pardon me, but you are not expected to advise me in this matter,\"\nreplied King Kleaver.\n\n\"Why not?\" asked Dorothy.\n\n\"You might be prejudiced in your own favor, and so mislead us,\" he\nsaid. \"Now then, good subjects, who speaks next?\"\n\n\"I\'d like to smooth this thing over, in some way,\" said a flatiron,\nearnestly. \"We are supposed to be useful to mankind, you know.\"\n\n\"But the girl isn\'t mankind! She\'s womankind!\" yelled a corkscrew.\n\n\"What do you know about it?\" inquired the King.\n\n\"I\'m a lawyer,\" said the corkscrew, proudly. \"I am accustomed to\nappear at the bar.\"\n\n\"But you\'re crooked,\" retorted the King, \"and that debars you. You may\nbe a corking good lawyer, Mr. Popp, but I must ask you to withdraw your\nremarks.\"\n\n\"Very well,\" said the corkscrew, sadly; \"I see I haven\'t any pull at\nthis court.\"\n\n\"Permit me,\" continued the flatiron, \"to press my suit, your Majesty.\nI do not wish to gloss over any fault the prisoner may have committed,\nif such a fault exists; but we owe her some consideration, and that\'s\nflat!\"\n\n\"I\'d like to hear from Prince Karver,\" said the King.\n\nAt this a stately carvingknife stepped forward and bowed.\n\n\"The Captain was wrong to bring this girl here, and she was wrong to\ncome,\" he said. \"But now that the foolish deed is done let us all\nprove our mettle and have a slashing good time.\"\n\n\"That\'s it! that\'s it!\" screamed a fat choppingknife. \"We\'ll make\nmincemeat of the girl and hash of the chicken and sausage of the dog!\"\n\nThere was a shout of approval at this and the King had to rap again for\norder.\n\n\"Gentlemen, gentlemen!\" he said, \"your remarks are somewhat cutting and\nrather disjointed, as might be expected from such acute intellects.\nBut you give me no reasons for your demands.\"\n\n\"See here, Kleaver; you make me tired,\" said a saucepan, strutting\nbefore the King very impudently. \"You\'re about the worst King that\never reigned in Utensia, and that\'s saying a good deal. Why don\'t you\nrun things yourself, instead of asking everybody\'s advice, like the\nbig, clumsy idiot you are?\"\n\nThe King sighed.\n\n\"I wish there wasn\'t a saucepan in my kingdom,\" he said. \"You fellows\nare always stewing, over something, and every once in a while you slop\nover and make a mess of it. Go hang yourself, sir--by the handle--and\ndon\'t let me hear from you again.\"\n\nDorothy was much shocked by the dreadful language the utensils\nemployed, and she thought that they must have had very little proper\ntraining. So she said, addressing the King, who seemed very unfit to\nrule his turbulent subjects:\n\n\"I wish you\'d decide my fate right away. I can\'t stay here all day,\ntrying to find out what you\'re going to do with me.\"\n\n\"This thing is becoming a regular broil, and it\'s time I took part in\nit,\" observed a big gridiron, coming forward.\n\n\"What I\'d like to know,\" said a can-opener, in a shrill voice, \"is why\nthe little girl came to our forest anyhow and why she intruded upon\nCaptain Dipp--who ought to be called Dippy--and who she is, and where\nshe came from, and where she is going, and why and wherefore and\ntherefore and when.\"\n\n\"I\'m sorry to see, Sir Jabber,\" remarked the King to the can-opener,\n\"that you have such a prying disposition. As a matter of fact, all the\nthings you mention are none of our business.\"\n\nHaving said this the King relighted his pipe, which had gone out.\n\n\"Tell me, please, what IS our business?\" inquired a potato-masher,\nwinking at Dorothy somewhat impertinently. \"I\'m fond of little girls,\nmyself, and it seems to me she has as much right to wander in the\nforest as we have.\"\n\n\"Who accuses the little girl, anyway?\" inquired a rolling-pin. \"What\nhas she done?\"\n\n\"I don\'t know,\" said the King. \"What has she done, Captain Dipp?\"\n\n\"That\'s the trouble, your Majesty. She hasn\'t done anything,\" replied\nthe Captain.\n\n\"What do you want me to do?\" asked Dorothy.\n\nThis question seemed to puzzle them all. Finally, a chafingdish,\nexclaimed irritably:\n\n\"If no one can throw any light on this subject you must excuse me if I\ngo out.\"\n\nAt this, a big kitchen fork pricked up its ears and said in a tiny\nvoice:\n\n\"Let\'s hear from Judge Sifter.\"\n\n\"That\'s proper,\" returned the King.\n\nSo Judge Sifter turned around slowly several times and then said:\n\n\"We have nothing against the girl except the stove-hearth upon which\nshe sits. Therefore I order her instantly discharged.\"\n\n\"Discharged!\" cried Dorothy. \"Why, I never was discharged in my life,\nand I don\'t intend to be. If it\'s all the same to you, I\'ll resign.\"\n\n\"It\'s all the same,\" declared the King. \"You are free--you and your\ncompanions--and may go wherever you like.\"\n\n\"Thank you,\" said the little girl. \"But haven\'t you anything to eat in\nyour kingdom? I\'m hungry.\"\n\n\"Go into the woods and pick blackberries,\" advised the King, lying down\nupon his back again and preparing to go to sleep. \"There isn\'t a\nmorsel to eat in all Utensia, that I know of.\"\n\nSo Dorothy jumped up and said:\n\n\"Come on, Toto and Billina. If we can\'t find the camp, we may find\nsome blackberries.\"\n\nThe utensils drew back and allowed them to pass without protest,\nalthough Captain Dipp marched the Spoon Brigade in close order after\nthem until they had reached the edge of the clearing.\n\nThere the spoons halted; but Dorothy and her companions entered the\nforest again and began searching diligently for a way back to the camp,\nthat they might rejoin their party.\n\n\n\n17. How They Came to Bunbury\n\nWandering through the woods, without knowing where you are going or\nwhat adventure you are about to meet next, is not as pleasant as one\nmight think. The woods are always beautiful and impressive, and if you\nare not worried or hungry you may enjoy them immensely; but Dorothy was\nworried and hungry that morning, so she paid little attention to the\nbeauties of the forest, and hurried along as fast as she could go. She\ntried to keep in one direction and not circle around, but she was not\nat all sure that the direction she had chosen would lead her to the\ncamp.\n\nBy and by, to her great joy, she came upon a path. It ran to the right\nand to the left, being lost in the trees in both directions, and just\nbefore her, upon a big oak, were fastened two signs, with arms pointing\nboth ways. One sign read:\n\n\nTAKE THE OTHER ROAD TO BUNBURY\n\n\nand the second sign read:\n\n\nTAKE THE OTHER ROAD TO BUNNYBURY\n\n\n\"Well!\" exclaimed Billina, eyeing the signs, \"this looks as if we were\ngetting back to civilization again.\"\n\n\"I\'m not sure about the civil\'zation, dear,\" replied the little girl;\n\"but it looks as if we might get SOMEWHERE, and that\'s a big relief,\nanyhow.\"\n\n\"Which path shall we take?\" inquired the Yellow Hen.\n\nDorothy stared at the signs thoughtfully.\n\n\"Bunbury sounds like something to eat,\" she said. \"Let\'s go there.\"\n\n\"It\'s all the same to me,\" replied Billina. She had picked up enough\nbugs and insects from the moss as she went along to satisfy her own\nhunger, but the hen knew Dorothy could not eat bugs; nor could Toto.\n\nThe path to Bunbury seemed little traveled, but it was distinct enough\nand ran through the trees in a zigzag course until it finally led them\nto an open space filled with the queerest houses Dorothy had ever seen.\nThey were all made of crackers laid out in tiny squares, and were of\nmany pretty and ornamental shapes, having balconies and porches with\nposts of bread-sticks and roofs shingled with wafer-crackers.\n\nThere were walks of bread-crusts leading from house to house and\nforming streets, and the place seemed to have many inhabitants.\n\nWhen Dorothy, followed by Billina and Toto, entered the place, they\nfound people walking the streets or assembled in groups talking\ntogether, or sitting upon the porches and balconies.\n\nAnd what funny people they were!\n\nMen, women and children were all made of buns and bread. Some were\nthin and others fat; some were white, some light brown and some very\ndark of complexion. A few of the buns, which seemed to form the more\nimportant class of the people, were neatly frosted. Some had raisins\nfor eyes and currant buttons on their clothes; others had eyes of\ncloves and legs of stick cinnamon, and many wore hats and bonnets\nfrosted pink and green.\n\nThere was something of a commotion in Bunbury when the strangers\nsuddenly appeared among them. Women caught up their children and\nhurried into their houses, shutting the cracker doors carefully behind\nthem. Some men ran so hastily that they tumbled over one another,\nwhile others, more brave, assembled in a group and faced the intruders\ndefiantly.\n\nDorothy at once realized that she must act with caution in order not to\nfrighten these shy people, who were evidently unused to the presence of\nstrangers. There was a delightful fragrant odor of fresh bread in the\ntown, and this made the little girl more hungry than ever. She told\nToto and Billina to stay back while she slowly advanced toward the\ngroup that stood silently awaiting her.\n\n\"You must \'scuse me for coming unexpected,\" she said, softly, \"but I\nreally didn\'t know I was coming here until I arrived. I was lost in\nthe woods, you know, and I\'m as hungry as anything.\"\n\n\"Hungry!\" they murmured, in a horrified chorus.\n\n\"Yes; I haven\'t had anything to eat since last night\'s supper,\" she\nexclaimed. \"Are there any eatables in Bunbury?\"\n\nThey looked at one another undecidedly, and then one portly bun man,\nwho seemed a person of consequence, stepped forward and said:\n\n\"Little girl, to be frank with you, we are all eatables. Everything in\nBunbury is eatable to ravenous human creatures like you. But it is to\nescape being eaten and destroyed that we have secluded ourselves in\nthis out-of-the-way place, and there is neither right nor justice in\nyour coming here to feed upon us.\"\n\nDorothy looked at him longingly.\n\n\"You\'re bread, aren\'t you?\" she asked.\n\n\"Yes; bread and butter. The butter is inside me, so it won\'t melt and\nrun. I do the running myself.\"\n\nAt this joke all the others burst into a chorus of laughter, and\nDorothy thought they couldn\'t be much afraid if they could laugh like\nthat.\n\n\"Couldn\'t I eat something besides people?\" she asked. \"Couldn\'t I eat\njust one house, or a side-walk or something? I wouldn\'t mind much what\nit was, you know.\"\n\n\"This is not a public bakery, child,\" replied the man, sternly. \"It\'s\nprivate property.\"\n\n\"I know Mr.--Mr.--\"\n\n\"My name is C. Bunn, Esquire,\" said the man. \"\'C\' stands for Cinnamon,\nand this place is called after my family, which is the most\naristocratic in the town.\"\n\n\"Oh, I don\'t know about that,\" objected another of the queer people.\n\"The Grahams and the Browns and Whites are all excellent families, and\nthere is none better of their kind. I\'m a Boston Brown, myself.\"\n\n\"I admit you are all desirable citizens,\" said Mr. Bunn rather stiffly;\n\"but the fact remains that our town is called Bunbury.\"\n\n\"\'Scuse me,\" interrupted Dorothy; \"but I\'m getting hungrier every\nminute. Now, if you\'re polite and kind, as I\'m sure you ought to be,\nyou\'ll let me eat SOMETHING. There\'s so much to eat here that you will\nnever miss it.\"\n\nThen a big, puffed-up man, of a delicate brown color, stepped forward\nand said:\n\n\"I think it would be a shame to send this child away hungry, especially\nas she agrees to eat whatever we can spare and not touch our people.\"\n\n\"So do I, Pop,\" replied a Roll who stood near.\n\n\"What, then, do you suggest, Mr. Over?\" inquired Mr. Bunn.\n\n\"Why, I\'ll let her eat my back fence, if she wants to. It\'s made of\nwaffles, and they\'re very crisp and nice.\"\n\n\"She may also eat my wheelbarrow,\" added a pleasant looking Muffin.\n\"It\'s made of nabiscos with a zuzu wheel.\"\n\n\"Very good; very good,\" remarked Mr. Bunn. \"That is certainly very\nkind of you. Go with Pop Over and Mr. Muffin, little girl, and they\nwill feed you.\"\n\n\"Thank you very much,\" said Dorothy, gratefully. \"May I bring my dog\nToto, and the Yellow Hen? They\'re hungry, too.\"\n\n\"Will you make them behave?\" asked the Muffin.\n\n\"Of course,\" promised Dorothy.\n\n\"Then come along,\" said Pop Over.\n\nSo Dorothy and Billina and Toto walked up the street and the people\nseemed no longer to be at all afraid of them. Mr. Muffin\'s house came\nfirst, and as his wheelbarrow stood in the front yard the little girl\nate that first. It didn\'t seem very fresh, but she was so hungry that\nshe was not particular. Toto ate some, too, while Billina picked up\nthe crumbs.\n\nWhile the strangers were engaged in eating, many of the people came and\nstood in the street curiously watching them. Dorothy noticed six\nroguish looking brown children standing all in a row, and she asked:\n\n\"Who are you, little ones?\"\n\n\"We\'re the Graham Gems,\" replied one; \"and we\'re all twins.\"\n\n\"I wonder if your mother could spare one or two of you?\" asked Billina,\nwho decided that they were fresh baked; but at this dangerous question\nthe six little gems ran away as fast as they could go.\n\n\"You musn\'t say such things, Billina,\" said Dorothy, reprovingly. \"Now\nlet\'s go into Pop Over\'s back yard and get the waffles.\"\n\n\"I sort of hate to let that fence go,\" remarked Mr. Over, nervously, as\nthey walked toward his house. \"The neighbors back of us are Soda\nBiscuits, and I don\'t care to mix with them.\"\n\n\"But I\'m hungry yet,\" declared the girl. \"That wheelbarrow wasn\'t very\nbig.\"\n\n\"I\'ve got a shortcake piano, but none of my family can play on it,\" he\nsaid, reflectively. \"Suppose you eat that.\"\n\n\"All right,\" said Dorothy; \"I don\'t mind. Anything to be\naccommodating.\"\n\nSo Mr. Over led her into the house, where she ate the piano, which was\nof an excellent flavor.\n\n\"Is there anything to drink here?\" she asked.\n\n\"Yes; I\'ve a milk pump and a water pump; which will you have?\" he asked.\n\n\"I guess I\'ll try \'em both,\" said Dorothy.\n\nSo Mr. Over called to his wife, who brought into the yard a pail made\nof some kind of baked dough, and Dorothy pumped the pail full of cool,\nsweet milk and drank it eagerly.\n\nThe wife of Pop Over was several shades darker than her husband.\n\n\"Aren\'t you overdone?\" the little girl asked her.\n\n\"No indeed,\" answered the woman. \"I\'m neither overdone nor done over;\nI\'m just Mrs. Over, and I\'m the President of the Bunbury Breakfast\nBand.\"\n\nDorothy thanked them for their hospitality and went away. At the gate\nMr. Cinnamon Bunn met her and said he would show her around the town.\n\"We have some very interesting inhabitants,\" he remarked, walking\nstiffly beside her on his stick-cinnamon legs; \"and all of us who are\nin good health are well bred. If you are no longer hungry we will call\nupon a few of the most important citizens.\"\n\nToto and Billina followed behind them, behaving very well, and a little\nway down the street they came to a handsome residence where Aunt Sally\nLunn lived. The old lady was glad to meet the little girl and gave her\na slice of white bread and butter which had been used as a door-mat.\nIt was almost fresh and tasted better than anything Dorothy had eaten\nin the town.\n\n\"Where do you get the butter?\" she inquired.\n\n\"We dig it out of the ground, which, as you may have observed, is all\nflour and meal,\" replied Mr. Bunn. \"There is a butter mine just at the\nopposite side of the village. The trees which you see here are all\ndoughleanders and doughderas, and in the season we get quite a crop of\ndough-nuts off them.\"\n\n\"I should think the flour would blow around and get into your eyes,\"\nsaid Dorothy.\n\n\"No,\" said he; \"we are bothered with cracker dust sometimes, but never\nwith flour.\"\n\nThen he took her to see Johnny Cake, a cheerful old gentleman who lived\nnear by.\n\n\"I suppose you\'ve heard of me,\" said old Johnny, with an air of pride.\n\"I\'m a great favorite all over the world.\"\n\n\"Aren\'t you rather yellow?\" asked Dorothy, looking at him critically.\n\n\"Maybe, child. But don\'t think I\'m bilious, for I was never in better\nhealth in my life,\" replied the old gentleman. \"If anything ailed me,\nI\'d willingly acknowledge the corn.\"\n\n\"Johnny\'s a trifle stale,\" said Mr. Bunn, as they went away; \"but he\'s\na good mixer and never gets cross-grained. I will now take you to call\nupon some of my own relatives.\" They visited the Sugar Bunns, the\nCurrant Bunns and the Spanish Bunns, the latter having a decidedly\nforeign appearance. Then they saw the French Rolls, who were very\npolite to them, and made a brief call upon the Parker H. Rolls, who\nseemed a bit proud and overbearing.\n\n\"But they\'re not as stuck up as the Frosted Jumbles,\" declared Mr.\nBunn, \"who are people I really can\'t abide. I don\'t like to be\nsuspicious or talk scandal, but sometimes I think the Jumbles have too\nmuch baking powder in them.\"\n\nJust then a dreadful scream was heard, and Dorothy turned hastily\naround to find a scene of great excitement a little way down the\nstreet. The people were crowding around Toto and throwing at him\neverything they could find at hand. They pelted the little dog with\nhard-tack, crackers, and even articles of furniture which were hard\nbaked and heavy enough for missiles.\n\nToto howeled a little as the assortment of bake stuff struck him; but\nhe stood still, with head bowed and tail between his legs, until\nDorothy ran up and inquired what the matter was.\n\n\"Matter!\" cried a rye loafer, indignantly, \"why the horrid beast has\neaten three of our dear Crumpets, and is now devouring a Salt-rising\nBiscuit!\"\n\n\"Oh, Toto! How could you?\" exclaimed Dorothy, much distressed.\n\nToto\'s mouth was full of his salt-rising victim; so he only whined and\nwagged his tail. But Billina, who had flown to the top of a cracker\nhouse to be in a safe place, called out:\n\n\"Don\'t blame him, Dorothy; the Crumpets dared him to do it.\"\n\n\"Yes, and you pecked out the eyes of a Raisin Bunn--one of our best\ncitizens!\" shouted a bread pudding, shaking its fist at the Yellow Hen.\n\n\"What\'s that! What\'s that?\" wailed Mr. Cinnamon Bunn, who had now\njoined them. \"Oh, what a misfortune--what a terrible misfortune!\"\n\n\"See here,\" said Dorothy, determined to defend her pets, \"I think we\'ve\ntreated you all pretty well, seeing you\'re eatables an\' reg\'lar food\nfor us. I\'ve been kind to you and eaten your old wheelbarrows and\npianos and rubbish, an\' not said a word. But Toto and Billina can\'t be\n\'spected to go hungry when the town\'s full of good things they like to\neat, \'cause they can\'t understand your stingy ways as I do.\"\n\n\"You must leave here at once!\" said Mr. Bunn, sternly.\n\n\"Suppose we won\'t go?\" said Dorothy, who was now much provoked.\n\n\"Then,\" said he, \"we will put you into the great ovens where we are\nmade, and bake you.\"\n\nDorothy gazed around and saw threatening looks upon the faces of all.\nShe had not noticed any ovens in the town, but they might be there,\nnevertheless, for some of the inhabitants seemed very fresh. So she\ndecided to go, and calling to Toto and Billina to follow her she\nmarched up the street with as much dignity as possible, considering\nthat she was followed by the hoots and cries of the buns and biscuits\nand other bake stuff.\n\n\n\n18. How Ozma Looked into the Magic Picture\n\nPrincess Ozma was a very busy little ruler, for she looked carefully\nafter the comfort and welfare of her people and tried to make them\nhappy. If any quarrels arose she decided them justly; if any one\nneeded counsel or advice she was ready and willing to listen to them.\n\nFor a day or two after Dorothy and her companions had started on their\ntrip, Ozma was occupied with the affairs of her kingdom. Then she\nbegan to think of some manner of occupation for Uncle Henry and Aunt Em\nthat would be light and easy and yet give the old people something to\ndo.\n\nShe soon decided to make Uncle Henry the Keeper of the Jewels, for some\none really was needed to count and look after the bins and barrels of\nemeralds, diamonds, rubies and other precious stones that were in the\nRoyal Storehouses. That would keep Uncle Henry busy enough, but it was\nharder to find something for Aunt Em to do. The palace was full of\nservants, so there was no detail of housework that Aunt Em could look\nafter.\n\nWhile Ozma sat in her pretty room engaged in thought she happened to\nglance at her Magic Picture.\n\nThis was one of the most important treasures in all the Land of Oz. It\nwas a large picture, set in a beautiful gold frame, and it hung in a\nprominent place upon a wall of Ozma\'s private room.\n\nUsually this picture seemed merely a country scene, but whenever Ozma\nlooked at it and wished to know what any of her friends or\nacquaintances were doing, the magic of this wonderful picture was\nstraightway disclosed. For the country scene would gradually fade away\nand in its place would appear the likeness of the person or persons\nOzma might wish to see, surrounded by the actual scenes in which they\nwere then placed. In this way the Princess could view any part of the\nworld she wished, and watch the actions of any one in whom she was\ninterested.\n\nOzma had often seen Dorothy in her Kansas home by this means, and now,\nhaving a little leisure, she expressed a desire to see her little\nfriend again. It was while the travelers were at Fuddlecumjig, and\nOzma laughed merrily as she watched in the picture her friends trying\nto match the pieces of Grandmother Gnit.\n\n\"They seem happy and are doubtless having a good time,\" the girl Ruler\nsaid to herself; and then she began to think of the many adventures she\nherself had encountered with Dorothy.\n\nThe image of her friends now faded from the Magic Picture and the old\nlandscape slowly reappeared.\n\nOzma was thinking of the time when with Dorothy and her army she\nmarched to the Nome King\'s underground cavern, beyond the Land of Ev,\nand forced the old monarch to liberate his captives, who belonged to\nthe Royal Family of Ev. That was the time when the Scarecrow nearly\nfrightened the Nome King into fits by throwing one of Billina\'s eggs at\nhim, and Dorothy had captured King Roquat\'s Magic Belt and brought it\naway with her to the Land of Oz.\n\nThe pretty Princess smiled at the recollection of this adventure, and\nthen she wondered what had become of the Nome King since then. Merely\nbecause she was curious and had nothing better to do, Ozma glanced at\nthe Magic Picture and wished to see in it the King of the Nomes.\n\nRoquat the Red went every day into his tunnel to see how the work was\ngetting along and to hurry his workmen as much as possible. He was\nthere now, and Ozma saw him plainly in the Magic Picture.\n\nShe saw the underground tunnel, reaching far underneath the Deadly\nDesert which separated the Land of Oz from the mountains beneath which\nthe Nome King had his extensive caverns. She saw that the tunnel was\nbeing made in the direction of the Emerald City, and knew at once it\nwas being dug so that the army of Nomes could march through it and\nattack her own beautiful and peaceful country.\n\n\"I suppose King Roquat is planning revenge against us,\" she said,\nmusingly, \"and thinks he can surprise us and make us his captives and\nslaves. How sad it is that any one can have such wicked thoughts! But\nI must not blame King Roquat too severely, for he is a Nome, and his\nnature is not so gentle as my own.\"\n\nThen she dismissed from her mind further thought of the tunnel, for\nthat time, and began to wonder if Aunt Em would not be happy as Royal\nMender of the Stockings of the Ruler of Oz. Ozma wore few holes in her\nstockings; still, they sometimes needed mending. Aunt Em ought to be\nable to do that very nicely.\n\nNext day, the Princess watched the tunnel again in her Magic Picture,\nand every day afterward she devoted a few minutes to inspecting the\nwork. It was not especially interesting, but she felt that it was her\nduty.\n\nSlowly but surely the big, arched hole crept through the rocks\nunderneath the deadly desert, and day by day it drew nearer and nearer\nto the Emerald City.\n\n\n\n19. How Bunnybury Welcomed the Strangers\n\nDorothy left Bunbury the same way she had entered it and when they were\nin the forest again she said to Billina:\n\n\"I never thought that things good to eat could be so dis\'gree\'ble.\"\n\n\"Often I\'ve eaten things that tasted good but were disagreeable\nafterward,\" returned the Yellow Hen. \"I think, Dorothy, if eatables\nare going to act badly, it\'s better before than after you eat them.\"\n\n\"P\'raps you\'re right,\" said the little girl, with a sigh. \"But what\nshall we do now?\"\n\n\"Let us follow the path back to the signpost,\" suggested Billina.\n\"That will be better than getting lost again.\"\n\n\"Why, we\'re lost anyhow,\" declared Dorothy; \"but I guess you\'re right\nabout going back to that signpost, Billina.\"\n\nThey returned along the path to the place where they had first found\nit, and at once took \"the other road\" to Bunnybury. This road was a\nmere narrow strip, worn hard and smooth but not wide enough for\nDorothy\'s feet to tread. Still, it was a guide, and the walking\nthrough the forest was not at all difficult.\n\nBefore long they reached a high wall of solid white marble, and the\npath came to an end at this wall.\n\nAt first Dorothy thought there was no opening at all in the marble, but\non looking closely she discovered a small square door about on a level\nwith her head, and underneath this closed door was a bell-push. Near\nthe bell-push a sign was painted in neat letters upon the marble, and\nthe sign read:\n\n\nNO ADMITTANCE\n\nEXCEPT ON BUSINESS\n\n\nThis did not discourage Dorothy, however, and she rang the bell.\n\nPretty soon a bolt was cautiously withdrawn and the marble door swung\nslowly open. Then she saw it was not really a door, but a window, for\nseveral brass bars were placed across it, being set fast in the marble\nand so close together that the little girl\'s fingers might barely go\nbetween them. Back of the bars appeared the face of a white rabbit--a\nvery sober and sedate face--with an eye-glass held in his left eye and\nattached to a cord in his button-hole.\n\n\"Well! what is it?\" asked the rabbit, sharply.\n\n\"I\'m Dorothy,\" said the girl, \"and I\'m lost, and--\"\n\n\"State your business, please,\" interrupted the rabbit.\n\n\"My business,\" she replied, \"is to find out where I am, and to--\"\n\n\"No one is allowed in Bunnybury without an order or a letter of\nintroduction from either Ozma of Oz or Glinda the Good,\" announced the\nrabbit; \"so that settles the matter,\" and he started to close the\nwindow.\n\n\"Wait a minute!\" cried Dorothy. \"I\'ve got a letter from Ozma.\"\n\n\"From the Ruler of Oz?\" asked the rabbit, doubtingly.\n\n\"Of course. Ozma\'s my best friend, you know; and I\'m a Princess\nmyself,\" she announced, earnestly.\n\n\"Hum--ha! Let me see your letter,\" returned the rabbit, as if he still\ndoubted her.\n\nSo she hunted in her pocket and found the letter Ozma had given her.\nThen she handed it through the bars to the rabbit, who took it in his\npaws and opened it. He read it aloud in a pompous voice, as if to let\nDorothy and Billina see that he was educated and could read writing.\nThe letter was as follows:\n\n\n\"It will please me to have my subjects greet Princess Dorothy, the\nbearer of this royal missive, with the same courtesy and consideration\nthey would extend to me.\"\n\n\n\"Ha--hum! It is signed \'Ozma of Oz,\'\" continued the rabbit, \"and is\nsealed with the Great Seal of the Emerald City. Well, well, well! How\nstrange! How remarkable!\"\n\n\"What are you going to do about it?\" inquired Dorothy, impatiently.\n\n\"We must obey the royal mandate,\" replied the rabbit. \"We are subjects\nof Ozma of Oz, and we live in her country. Also we are under the\nprotection of the great Sorceress Glinda the Good, who made us promise\nto respect Ozma\'s commands.\"\n\n\"Then may I come in?\" she asked.\n\n\"I\'ll open the door,\" said the rabbit. He shut the window and\ndisappeared, but a moment afterward a big door in the wall opened and\nadmitted Dorothy to a small room, which seemed to be a part of the wall\nand built into it.\n\nHere stood the rabbit she had been talking with, and now that she could\nsee all of him, she gazed at the creature in surprise. He was a good\nsized white rabbit with pink eyes, much like all other white rabbits.\nBut the astonishing thing about him was the manner in which he was\ndressed. He wore a white satin jacket embroidered with gold, and\nhaving diamond buttons. His vest was rose-colored satin, with\ntourmaline buttons. His trousers were white, to correspond with the\njacket, and they were baggy at the knees--like those of a zouave--being\ntied with knots of rose ribbons. His shoes were of white plush with\ndiamond buckles, and his stockings were rose silk.\n\nThe richness and even magnificence of the rabbit\'s clothing made\nDorothy stare at the little creature wonderingly. Toto and Billina had\nfollowed her into the room and when he saw them the rabbit ran to a\ntable and sprang upon it nimbly. Then he looked at the three through\nhis monocle and said:\n\n\"These companions, Princess, cannot enter Bunnybury with you.\"\n\n\"Why not?\" asked Dorothy.\n\n\"In the first place they would frighten our people, who dislike dogs\nabove all things on earth; and, secondly, the letter of the Royal Ozma\ndoes not mention them.\"\n\n\"But they\'re my friends,\" persisted Dorothy, \"and go wherever I go.\"\n\n\"Not this time,\" said the rabbit, decidedly. \"You, yourself, Princess,\nare a welcome visitor, since you come so highly recommended; but unless\nyou consent to leave the dog and the hen in this room I cannot permit\nyou to enter the town.\"\n\n\"Never mind us, Dorothy,\" said Billina. \"Go inside and see what the\nplace is like. You can tell us about it afterward, and Toto and I will\nrest comfortably here until you return.\"\n\nThis seemed the best thing to do, for Dorothy was curious to see how\nthe rabbit people lived and she was aware of the fact that her friends\nmight frighten the timid little creatures. She had not forgotten how\nToto and Billina had misbehaved in Bunbury, and perhaps the rabbit was\nwise to insist on their staying outside the town.\n\n\"Very well,\" she said, \"I\'ll go in alone. I s\'pose you\'re the King of\nthis town, aren\'t you?\"\n\n\"No,\" answered the rabbit, \"I\'m merely the Keeper of the Wicket, and a\nperson of little importance, although I try to do my duty. I must now\ninform you, Princess, that before you enter our town you must consent\nto reduce.\"\n\n\"Reduce what?\" asked Dorothy.\n\n\"Your size. You must become the size of the rabbits, although you may\nretain your own form.\"\n\n\"Wouldn\'t my clothes be too big for me?\" she inquired.\n\n\"No; they will reduce when your body does.\"\n\n\"Can YOU make me smaller?\" asked the girl.\n\n\"Easily,\" returned the rabbit.\n\n\"And will you make me big again, when I\'m ready to go away?\"\n\n\"I will,\" said he.\n\n\"All right, then; I\'m willing,\" she announced.\n\nThe rabbit jumped from the table and ran--or rather hopped--to the\nfurther wall, where he opened a door so tiny that even Toto could\nscarcely have crawled through it.\n\n\"Follow me,\" he said.\n\nNow, almost any other little girl would have declared that she could\nnot get through so small a door; but Dorothy had already encountered so\nmany fairy adventures that she believed nothing was impossible in the\nLand of Oz. So she quietly walked toward the door, and at every step\nshe grew smaller and smaller until, by the time the opening was\nreached, she could pass through it with ease. Indeed, as she stood\nbeside the rabbit, who sat upon his hind legs and used his paws as\nhands, her head was just about as high as his own.\n\nThen the Keeper of the Wicket passed through and she followed, after\nwhich the door swung shut and locked itself with a sharp click.\n\nDorothy now found herself in a city so strange and beautiful that she\ngave a gasp of surprise. The high marble wall extended all around the\nplace and shut out all the rest of the world. And here were marble\nhouses of curious forms, most of them resembling overturned kettles but\nwith delicate slender spires and minarets running far up into the sky.\nThe streets were paved with white marble and in front of each house was\na lawn of rich green clover. Everything was as neat as wax, the green\nand white contrasting prettily together.\n\nBut the rabbit people were, after all, the most amazing things Dorothy\nsaw. The streets were full of them, and their costumes were so\nsplendid that the rich dress of the Keeper of the Wicket was\ncommonplace when compared with the others. Silks and satins of\ndelicate hues seemed always used for material, and nearly every costume\nsparkled with exquisite gems.\n\nBut the lady rabbits outshone the gentlemen rabbits in splendor, and\nthe cut of their gowns was really wonderful. They wore bonnets, too,\nwith feathers and jewels in them, and some wheeled baby carriages in\nwhich the girl could see wee bunnies. Some were lying asleep while\nothers lay sucking their paws and looking around them with big pink\neyes.\n\nAs Dorothy was no bigger in size than the grown-up rabbits she had a\nchance to observe them closely before they noticed her presence. Then\nthey did not seem at all alarmed, although the little girl naturally\nbecame the center of attraction and regarded her with great curiosity.\n\n\"Make way!\" cried the Keeper of the Wicket, in a pompous voice; \"make\nway for Princess Dorothy, who comes from Ozma of Oz.\"\n\nHearing this announcement, the throng of rabbits gave place to them on\nthe walks, and as Dorothy passed along they all bowed their heads\nrespectfully.\n\nWalking thus through several handsome streets they came to a square in\nthe center of the City. In this square were some pretty trees and a\nstatue in bronze of Glinda the Good, while beyond it were the portals\nof the Royal Palace--an extensive and imposing building of white marble\ncovered with a filigree of frosted gold.\n\n\n\n20. How Dorothy Lunched With a King\n\nA line of rabbit soldiers was drawn up before the palace entrance, and\nthey wore green and gold uniforms with high shakos upon their heads and\nheld tiny spears in their hands. The Captain had a sword and a white\nplume in his shako.\n\n\"Salute!\" called the Keeper of the Wicket. \"Salute Princess Dorothy,\nwho comes from Ozma of Oz!\"\n\n\"Salute!\" yelled the Captain, and all the soldiers promptly saluted.\n\nThey now entered the great hall of the palace, where they met a gaily\ndressed attendant, from whom the Keeper of the Wicket inquired if the\nKing were at leisure.\n\n\"I think so,\" was the reply. \"I heard his Majesty blubbering and\nwailing as usual only a few minutes ago. If he doesn\'t stop acting\nlike a cry-baby I\'m going to resign my position here and go to work.\"\n\n\"What\'s the matter with your King?\" asked Dorothy, surprised to hear\nthe rabbit attendant speak so disrespectfully of his monarch.\n\n\"Oh, he doesn\'t want to be King, that\'s all; and he simply HAS to,\" was\nthe reply.\n\n\"Come!\" said the Keeper of the Wicket, sternly; \"lead us to his\nMajesty; and do not air our troubles before strangers, I beg of you.\"\n\n\"Why, if this girl is going to see the King, he\'ll air his own\ntroubles,\" returned the attendant.\n\n\"That is his royal privilege,\" declared the Keeper.\n\nSo the attendant led them into a room all draped with cloth-of-gold and\nfurnished with satin-covered gold furniture. There was a throne in\nthis room, set on a dais and having a big, cushioned seat, and on this\nseat reclined the Rabbit King. He was lying on his back, with his paws\nin the air, and whining very like a puppy-dog.\n\n\"Your Majesty! your Majesty! Get up. Here\'s a visitor,\" called out\nthe attendant.\n\nThe King rolled over and looked at Dorothy with one watery pink eye.\nThen he sat up and wiped his eyes carefully with a silk handkerchief\nand put on his jeweled crown, which had fallen off.\n\n\"Excuse my grief, fair stranger,\" he said, in a sad voice. \"You behold\nin me the most miserable monarch in all the world. What time is it,\nBlinkem?\"\n\n\"One o\'clock, your Majesty,\" replied the attendant to whom the question\nwas addressed.\n\n\"Serve luncheon at once!\" commanded the King. \"Luncheon for\ntwo--that\'s for my visitor and me--and see that the human has some sort\nof food she\'s accustomed to.\"\n\n\"Yes, your Majesty,\" answered the attendant, and went away.\n\n\"Tie my shoe, Bristle,\" said the King to the Keeper of the Wicket. \"Ah\nme! how unhappy I am!\"\n\n\"What seems to be worrying your Majesty?\" asked Dorothy.\n\n\"Why, it\'s this king business, of course,\" he returned, while the\nKeeper tied his shoe. \"I didn\'t want to be King of Bunnybury at all,\nand the rabbits all knew it. So they elected me--to save themselves\nfrom such a dreadful fate, I suppose--and here I am, shut up in a\npalace, when I might be free and happy.\"\n\n\"Seems to me,\" said Dorothy, \"it\'s a great thing to be a King.\"\n\n\"Were you ever a King?\" inquired the monarch.\n\n\"No,\" she answered, laughing.\n\n\"Then you know nothing about it,\" he said. \"I haven\'t inquired who you\nare, but it doesn\'t matter. While we\'re at luncheon, I\'ll tell you all\nmy troubles. They\'re a great deal more interesting than anything you\ncan say about yourself.\"\n\n\"Perhaps they are, to you,\" replied Dorothy.\n\n\"Luncheon is served!\" cried Blinkem, throwing open the door, and in\ncame a dozen rabbits in livery, all bearing trays which they placed\nupon the table, where they arranged the dishes in an orderly manner.\n\n\"Now clear out--all of you!\" exclaimed the King. \"Bristle, you may\nwait outside, in case I want you.\"\n\nWhen they had gone and the King was alone with Dorothy he came down\nfrom his throne, tossed his crown into a corner and kicked his ermine\nrobe under the table.\n\n\"Sit down,\" he said, \"and try to be happy. It\'s useless for me to try,\nbecause I\'m always wretched and miserable. But I\'m hungry, and I hope\nyou are.\"\n\n\"I am,\" said Dorothy. \"I\'ve only eaten a wheelbarrow and a piano\nto-day--oh, yes! and a slice of bread and butter that used to be a\ndoor-mat.\"\n\n\"That sounds like a square meal,\" remarked the King, seating himself\nopposite her; \"but perhaps it wasn\'t a square piano. Eh?\"\n\nDorothy laughed.\n\n\"You don\'t seem so very unhappy now,\" she said.\n\n\"But I am,\" protested the King, fresh tears gathering in his eyes.\n\"Even my jokes are miserable. I\'m wretched, woeful, afflicted,\ndistressed and dismal as an individual can be. Are you not sorry for\nme?\"\n\n\"No,\" answered Dorothy, honestly, \"I can\'t say I am. Seems to me that\nfor a rabbit you\'re right in clover. This is the prettiest little city\nI ever saw.\"\n\n\"Oh, the city is good enough,\" he admitted. \"Glinda, the Good\nSorceress, made it for us because she was fond of rabbits. I don\'t\nmind the City so much, although I wouldn\'t live here if I had my\nchoice. It is being King that has absolutely ruined my happiness.\"\n\n\"Why wouldn\'t you live here by choice?\" she asked.\n\n\"Because it is all unnatural, my dear. Rabbits are out of place in\nsuch luxury. When I was young I lived in a burrow in the forest. I\nwas surrounded by enemies and often had to run for my life. It was\nhard getting enough to eat, at times, and when I found a bunch of\nclover I had to listen and look for danger while I ate it. Wolves\nprowled around the hole in which I lived and sometimes I didn\'t dare\nstir out for days at a time. Oh, how happy and contented I was then!\nI was a real rabbit, as nature made me--wild and free!--and I even\nenjoyed listening to the startled throbbing of my own heart!\"\n\n\"I\'ve often thought,\" said Dorothy, who was busily eating, \"that it\nwould be fun to be a rabbit.\"\n\n\"It IS fun--when you\'re the genuine article,\" agreed his Majesty. \"But\nlook at me now! I live in a marble palace instead of a hole in the\nground. I have all I want to eat, without the joy of hunting for it.\nEvery day I must dress in fine clothes and wear that horrible crown\ntill it makes my head ache. Rabbits come to me with all sorts of\ntroubles, when my own troubles are the only ones I care about. When I\nwalk out I can\'t hop and run; I must strut on my rear legs and wear an\nermine robe! And the soldiers salute me and the band plays and the\nother rabbits laugh and clap their paws and cry out: \'Hail to the\nKing!\' Now let me ask you, as a friend and a young lady of good\njudgment: isn\'t all this pomp and foolishness enough to make a decent\nrabbit miserable?\"\n\n\"Once,\" said Dorothy, reflectively, \"men were wild and unclothed and\nlived in caves and hunted for food as wild beasts do. But they got\nciv\'lized, in time, and now they\'d hate to go back to the old days.\"\n\n\"That is an entirely different case,\" replied the King. \"None of you\nHumans were civilized in one lifetime. It came to you by degrees. But\nI have known the forest and the free life, and that is why I resent\nbeing civilized all at once, against my will, and being made a King\nwith a crown and an ermine robe. Pah!\"\n\n\"If you don\'t like it, why don\'t you resign?\" she asked.\n\n\"Impossible!\" wailed the Rabbit, wiping his eyes again with his\nhandkerchief. \"There\'s a beastly law in this town that forbids it.\nWhen one is elected a King, there\'s no getting out of it.\"\n\n\"Who made the laws?\" inquired Dorothy.\n\n\"The same Sorceress who made the town--Glinda the Good. She built the\nwall, and fixed up the City, and gave us several valuable enchantments,\nand made the laws. Then she invited all the pink-eyed white rabbits of\nthe forest to come here, after which she left us to our fate.\"\n\n\"What made you \'cept the invitation, and come here?\" asked the child.\n\n\"I didn\'t know how dreadful city life was, and I\'d no idea I would be\nelected King,\" said he, sobbing bitterly. \"And--and--now I\'m It--with\na capital I--and can\'t escape!\"\n\n\"I know Glinda,\" remarked Dorothy, eating for dessert a dish of\ncharlotte russe, \"and when I see her again, I\'ll ask her to put another\nKing in your place.\"\n\n\"Will you? Will you, indeed?\" asked the King, joyfully.\n\n\"I will if you want me to,\" she replied.\n\n\"Hurroo--huray!\" shouted the King; and then he jumped up from the table\nand danced wildly about the room, waving his napkin like a flag and\nlaughing with glee.\n\nAfter a time he managed to control his delight and returned to the\ntable.\n\n\"When are you likely to see Glinda?\" he inquired.\n\n\"Oh, p\'raps in a few days,\" said Dorothy.\n\n\"And you won\'t forget to ask her?\"\n\n\"Of course not.\"\n\n\"Princess,\" said the Rabbit King, earnestly, \"you have relieved me of a\ngreat unhappiness, and I am very grateful. Therefore I propose to\nentertain you, since you are my guest and I am the King, as a slight\nmark of my appreciation. Come with me to my reception hall.\"\n\nHe then summoned Bristle and said to him: \"Assemble all the nobility in\nthe great reception hall, and also tell Blinkem that I want him\nimmediately.\"\n\nThe Keeper of the Wicket bowed and hurried away, and his Majesty turned\nto Dorothy and continued: \"We\'ll have time for a walk in the gardens\nbefore the people get here.\"\n\nThe gardens were back of the palace and were filled with beautiful\nflowers and fragrant shrubs, with many shade and fruit trees and\nmarble-paved walks running in every direction. As they entered this\nplace Blinkem came running to the King, who gave him several orders in\na low voice. Then his Majesty rejoined Dorothy and led her through the\ngardens, which she admired very much.\n\n\"What lovely clothes your Majesty wears!\" she said, glancing at the\nrich blue satin costume, embroidered, with pearls in which the King was\ndressed.\n\n\"Yes,\" he returned, with an air of pride, \"this is one of my favorite\nsuits; but I have a good many that are even more elaborate. We have\nexcellent tailors in Bunnybury, and Glinda supplies all the material.\nBy the way, you might ask the Sorceress, when you see her, to permit me\nto keep my wardrobe.\"\n\n\"But if you go back to the forest you will not need clothes,\" she said.\n\n\"N--o!\" he faltered; \"that may be so. But I\'ve dressed up so long that\nI\'m used to it, and I don\'t imagine I\'d care to run around naked again.\nSo perhaps the Good Glinda will let me keep the costumes.\"\n\n\"I\'ll ask her,\" agreed Dorothy.\n\nThen they left the gardens and went into a fine, big reception hall,\nwhere rich rugs were spread upon the tiled floors and the furniture was\nexquisitely carved and studded with jewels. The King\'s chair was an\nespecially pretty piece of furniture, being in the shape of a silver\nlily with one leaf bent over to form the seat. The silver was\neverywhere thickly encrusted with diamonds and the seat was upholstered\nin white satin.\n\n\"Oh, what a splendid chair!\" cried Dorothy, clasping her hands\nadmiringly.\n\n\"Isn\'t it?\" answered the King, proudly. \"It is my favorite seat, and I\nthink it especially becoming to my complexion. While I think of it, I\nwish you\'d ask Glinda to let me keep this lily chair when I go away.\"\n\n\"It wouldn\'t look very well in a hole in the ground, would it?\" she\nsuggested.\n\n\"Maybe not; but I\'m used to sitting in it and I\'d like to take it with\nme,\" he answered. \"But here come the ladies and gentlemen of the\ncourt; so please sit beside me and be presented.\"\n\n\n\n21. How the King Changed His Mind\n\nJust then a rabbit band of nearly fifty pieces marched in, playing upon\ngolden instruments and dressed in neat uniforms. Following the band\ncame the nobility of Bunnybury, all richly dressed and hopping along on\ntheir rear legs. Both the ladies and the gentlemen wore white gloves\nupon their paws, with their rings on the outside of the gloves, as this\nseemed to be the fashion here. Some of the lady rabbits carried\nlorgnettes, while many of the gentlemen rabbits wore monocles in their\nleft eyes.\n\nThe courtiers and their ladies paraded past the King, who introduced\nPrincess Dorothy to each couple in a very graceful manner. Then the\ncompany seated themselves in chairs and on sofas and looked expectantly\nat their monarch.\n\n\"It is our royal duty, as well as our royal pleasure,\" he said, \"to\nprovide fitting entertainment for our distinguished guest. We will now\npresent the Royal Band of Whiskered Friskers.\"\n\nAs he spoke the musicians, who had arranged themselves in a corner,\nstruck up a dance melody while into the room pranced the Whiskered\nFriskers. They were eight pretty rabbits dressed only in gauzy purple\nskirts fastened around their waists with diamond bands. Their whiskers\nwere colored a rich purple, but otherwise they were pure white.\n\nAfter bowing before the King and Dorothy the Friskers began their\npranks, and these were so comical that Dorothy laughed with real\nenjoyment. They not only danced together, whirling and gyrating around\nthe room, but they leaped over one another, stood upon their heads and\nhopped and skipped here and there so nimbly that it was hard work to\nkeep track of them. Finally, they all made double somersaults and\nturned handsprings out of the room.\n\nThe nobility enthusiastically applauded, and Dorothy applauded with\nthem.\n\n\"They\'re fine!\" she said to the King.\n\n\"Yes, the Whiskered Friskers are really very clever,\" he replied. \"I\nshall hate to part with them when I go away, for they have often amused\nme when I was very miserable. I wonder if you would ask Glinda--\"\n\n\"No, it wouldn\'t do at all,\" declared Dorothy, positively. \"There\nwouldn\'t be room in your hole in the ground for so many rabbits,\n\'spec\'ly when you get the lily chair and your clothes there. Don\'t\nthink of such a thing, your Majesty.\"\n\nThe King sighed. Then he stood up and announced to the company:\n\n\"We will now hold a military drill by my picked Bodyguard of Royal\nPikemen.\"\n\nNow the band played a march and a company of rabbit soldiers came in.\nThey wore green and gold uniforms and marched very stiffly but in\nperfect time. Their spears, or pikes, had slender shafts of polished\nsilver with golden heads, and during the drill they handled these\nweapons with wonderful dexterity.\n\n\"I should think you\'d feel pretty safe with such a fine Bodyguard,\"\nremarked Dorothy.\n\n\"I do,\" said the King. \"They protect me from every harm. I suppose\nGlinda wouldn\'t--\"\n\n\"No,\" interrupted the girl; \"I\'m sure she wouldn\'t. It\'s the King\'s\nown Bodyguard, and when you are no longer King you can\'t have \'em.\"\n\nThe King did not reply, but he looked rather sorrowful for a time.\n\nWhen the soldiers had marched out he said to the company:\n\n\"The Royal Jugglers will now appear.\"\n\nDorothy had seen many jugglers in her lifetime, but never any so\ninteresting as these. There were six of them, dressed in black satin\nembroidered with queer symbols in silver--a costume which contrasted\nstrongly with their snow-white fur.\n\nFirst, they pushed in a big red ball and three of the rabbit jugglers\nstood upon its top and made it roll. Then two of them caught up a\nthird and tossed him into the air, all vanishing, until only the two\nwere left. Then one of these tossed the other upward and remained\nalone of all his fellows. This last juggler now touched the red ball,\nwhich fell apart, being hollow, and the five rabbits who had\ndisappeared in the air scrambled out of the hollow ball.\n\nNext they all clung together and rolled swiftly upon the floor. When\nthey came to a stop only one fat rabbit juggler was seen, the others\nseeming to be inside him. This one leaped lightly into the air and\nwhen he came down he exploded and separated into the original six.\nThen four of them rolled themselves into round balls and the other two\ntossed them around and played ball with them.\n\nThese were but a few of the tricks the rabbit jugglers performed, and\nthey were so skillful that all the nobility and even the King applauded\nas loudly as did Dorothy.\n\n\"I suppose there are no rabbit jugglers in all the world to compare\nwith these,\" remarked the King. \"And since I may not have the Whiskers\nFriskers or my Bodyguard, you might ask Glinda to let me take away just\ntwo or three of these jugglers. Will you?\"\n\n\"I\'ll ask her,\" replied Dorothy, doubtfully.\n\n\"Thank you,\" said the King; \"thank you very much. And now you shall\nlisten to the Winsome Waggish Warblers, who have often cheered me in my\nmoments of anguish.\"\n\nThe Winsome Waggish Warblers proved to be a quartette of rabbit\nsingers, two gentlemen and two lady rabbits. The gentlemen Warblers\nwore full-dress swallow-tailed suits of white satin, with pearls for\nbuttons, while the lady Warblers were gowned in white satin dresses\nwith long trails.\n\nThe first song they sang began in this way:\n\n\n \"When a rabbit gets a habit\n Of living in a city\n And wearing clothes and furbelows\n And jewels rare and pretty,\n He scorns the Bun who has to run\n And burrow in the ground\n And pities those whose watchful foes\n Are man and gun and hound.\"\n\n\nDorothy looked at the King when she heard this song and noticed that he\nseemed disturbed and ill at ease.\n\n\"I don\'t like that song,\" he said to the Warblers. \"Give us something\njolly and rollicking.\"\n\nSo they sang to a joyous, tinkling melody as follows:\n\n\n \"Bunnies gay\n Delight to play\n In their fairy town secure;\n Ev\'ry frisker\n Flirts his whisker\n At a pink-eyed girl demure.\n Ev\'ry maid\n In silk arrayed\n At her partner shyly glances,\n Paws are grasped,\n Waists are clasped\n As they whirl in giddy dances.\n Then together\n Through the heather\n \'Neath the moonlight soft they stroll;\n Each is very\n Blithe and merry,\n Gamboling with laughter droll.\n Life is fun\n To ev\'ry one\n Guarded by our magic charm\n For to dangers\n We are strangers,\n Safe from any thought of harm.\"\n\n\n\"You see,\" said Dorothy to the King, when the song ended, \"the rabbits\nall seem to like Bunnybury except you. And I guess you\'re the only one\nthat ever has cried or was unhappy and wanted to get back to your muddy\nhole in the ground.\"\n\nHis Majesty seemed thoughtful, and while the servants passed around\nglasses of nectar and plates of frosted cakes their King was silent and\na bit nervous.\n\nWhen the refreshments had been enjoyed by all and the servants had\nretired Dorothy said:\n\n\"I must go now, for it\'s getting late and I\'m lost. I\'ve got to find\nthe Wizard and Aunt Em and Uncle Henry and all the rest sometime before\nnight comes, if I poss\'bly can.\"\n\n\"Won\'t you stay with us?\" asked the King. \"You will be very welcome.\"\n\n\"No, thank you,\" she replied. \"I must get back to my friends. And I\nwant to see Glinda just as soon as I can, you know.\"\n\nSo the King dismissed his court and said he would himself walk with\nDorothy to the gate. He did not weep nor groan any more, but his long\nface was quite solemn and his big ears hung dejectedly on each side of\nit. He still wore his crown and his ermine and walked with a handsome\ngold-headed cane.\n\nWhen they arrived at the room in the wall the little girl found Toto\nand Billina waiting for her very patiently. They had been liberally\nfed by some of the attendants and were in no hurry to leave such\ncomfortable quarters.\n\nThe Keeper of the Wicket was by this time back in his old place, but he\nkept a safe distance from Toto. Dorothy bade good bye to the King as\nthey stood just inside the wall.\n\n\"You\'ve been good to me,\" she said, \"and I thank you ever so much. As\nsoon as poss\'ble I\'ll see Glinda and ask her to put another King in\nyour place and send you back into the wild forest. And I\'ll ask her to\nlet you keep some of your clothes and the lily chair and one or two\njugglers to amuse you. I\'m sure she will do it, \'cause she\'s so kind\nshe doesn\'t like any one to be unhappy.\"\n\n\"Ahem!\" said the King, looking rather downcast. \"I don\'t like to\ntrouble you with my misery; so you needn\'t see Glinda.\"\n\n\"Oh, yes I will,\" she replied. \"It won\'t be any trouble at all.\"\n\n\"But, my dear,\" continued the King, in an embarrassed way, \"I\'ve been\nthinking the subject over carefully, and I find there are a lot of\npleasant things here in Bunnybury that I would miss if I went away. So\nperhaps I\'d better stay.\"\n\nDorothy laughed. Then she looked grave.\n\n\"It won\'t do for you to be a King and a cry-baby at the same time,\" she\nsaid. \"You\'ve been making all the other rabbits unhappy and\ndiscontented with your howls about being so miserable. So I guess it\'s\nbetter to have another King.\"\n\n\"Oh, no indeed!\" exclaimed the King, earnestly. \"If you won\'t say\nanything to Glinda I\'ll promise to be merry and gay all the time, and\nnever cry or wail again.\"\n\n\"Honor bright?\" she asked.\n\n\"On the royal word of a King I promise it!\" he answered.\n\n\"All right,\" said Dorothy. \"You\'d be a reg\'lar lunatic to want to\nleave Bunnybury for a wild life in the forest, and I\'m sure any rabbit\noutside the city would be glad to take your place.\"\n\n\"Forget it, my dear; forget all my foolishness,\" pleaded the King,\nearnestly. \"Hereafter I\'ll try to enjoy myself and do my duty by my\nsubjects.\"\n\nSo then she left him and entered through the little door into the room\nin the wall, where she grew gradually bigger and bigger until she had\nresumed her natural size.\n\nThe Keeper of the Wicket let them out into the forest and told Dorothy\nthat she had been of great service to Bunnybury because she had brought\ntheir dismal King to a realization of the pleasure of ruling so\nbeautiful a city.\n\n\"I shall start a petition to have your statue erected beside Glinda\'s\nin the public square,\" said the Keeper. \"I hope you will come again,\nsome day, and see it.\"\n\n\"Perhaps I shall,\" she replied.\n\nThen, followed by Toto and Billina, she walked away from the high\nmarble wall and started back along the narrow path toward the sign-post.\n\n\n\n22. How the Wizard Found Dorothy\n\nWhen they came to the signpost, there, to their joy, were the tents of\nthe Wizard pitched beside the path and the kettle bubbling merrily over\nthe fire. The Shaggy Man and Omby Amby were gathering firewood while\nUncle Henry and Aunt Em sat in their camp chairs talking with the\nWizard.\n\nThey all ran forward to greet Dorothy, as she approached, and Aunt Em\nexclaimed: \"Goodness gracious, child! Where have you been?\"\n\n\"You\'ve played hookey the whole day,\" added the Shaggy Man,\nreproachfully.\n\n\"Well, you see, I\'ve been lost,\" explained the little girl, \"and I\'ve\ntried awful hard to find the way back to you, but just couldn\'t do it.\"\n\n\"Did you wander in the forest all day?\" asked Uncle Henry.\n\n\"You must be a\'most starved!\" said Aunt Em.\n\n\"No,\" said Dorothy, \"I\'m not hungry. I had a wheelbarrow and a piano\nfor breakfast, and lunched with a King.\"\n\n\"Ah!\" exclaimed the Wizard, nodding with a bright smile. \"So you\'ve\nbeen having adventures again.\"\n\n\"She\'s stark crazy!\" cried Aunt Em. \"Whoever heard of eating a\nwheelbarrow?\"\n\n\"It wasn\'t very big,\" said Dorothy; \"and it had a zuzu wheel.\"\n\n\"And I ate the crumbs,\" said Billina, soberly.\n\n\"Sit down and tell us about it,\" begged the Wizard. \"We\'ve hunted for\nyou all day, and at last I noticed your footsteps in this path--and the\ntracks of Billina. We found the path by accident, and seeing it only\nled to two places I decided you were at either one or the other of\nthose places. So we made camp and waited for you to return. And now,\nDorothy, tell us where you have been--to Bunbury or to Bunnybury?\"\n\n\"Why, I\'ve been to both,\" she replied; \"but first I went to Utensia,\nwhich isn\'t on any path at all.\"\n\nShe then sat down and related the day\'s adventures, and you may be sure\nAunt Em and Uncle Henry were much astonished at the story.\n\n\"But after seeing the Cuttenclips and the Fuddles,\" remarked her uncle,\n\"we ought not to wonder at anything in this strange country.\"\n\n\"Seems like the only common and ordinary folks here are ourselves,\"\nrejoined Aunt Em, diffidently.\n\n\"Now that we\'re together again, and one reunited party,\" observed the\nShaggy Man, \"what are we to do next?\"\n\n\"Have some supper and a night\'s rest,\" answered the Wizard promptly,\n\"and then proceed upon our journey.\"\n\n\"Where to?\" asked the Captain General.\n\n\"We haven\'t visited the Rigmaroles or the Flutterbudgets yet,\" said\nDorothy. \"I\'d like to see them--wouldn\'t you?\"\n\n\"They don\'t sound very interesting,\" objected Aunt Em. \"But perhaps\nthey are.\"\n\n\"And then,\" continued the little Wizard, \"we will call upon the Tin\nWoodman and Jack Pumpkinhead and our old friend the Scarecrow, on our\nway home.\"\n\n\"That will be nice!\" cried Dorothy, eagerly.\n\n\"Can\'t say THEY sound very interesting, either,\" remarked Aunt Em.\n\n\"Why, they\'re the best friends I have!\" asserted the little girl, \"and\nyou\'re sure to like them, Aunt Em, \'cause EVER\'body likes them.\"\n\nBy this time twilight was approaching, so they ate the fine supper\nwhich the Wizard magically produced from the kettle and then went to\nbed in the cozy tents.\n\nThey were all up bright and early next morning, but Dorothy didn\'t\nventure to wander from the camp again for fear of more accidents.\n\n\"Do you know where there\'s a road?\" she asked the little man.\n\n\"No, my dear,\" replied the Wizard; \"but I\'ll find one.\"\n\nAfter breakfast he waved his hand toward the tents and they became\nhandkerchiefs again, which were at once returned to the pockets of\ntheir owners. Then they all climbed into the red wagon and the\nSawhorse inquired:\n\n\"Which way?\"\n\n\"Never mind which way,\" replied the Wizard. \"Just go as you please and\nyou\'re sure to be right. I\'ve enchanted the wheels of the wagon, and\nthey will roll in the right direction, never fear.\"\n\nAs the Sawhorse started away through the trees Dorothy said:\n\n\"If we had one of those new-fashioned airships we could float away over\nthe top of the forest, and look down and find just the places we want.\"\n\n\"Airship? Pah!\" retorted the little man, scornfully. \"I hate those\nthings, Dorothy, although they are nothing new to either you or me. I\nwas a balloonist for many years, and once my balloon carried me to the\nLand of Oz, and once to the Vegetable Kingdom. And once Ozma had a\nGump that flew all over this kingdom and had sense enough to go where\nit was told to--which airships won\'t do. The house which the cyclone\nbrought to Oz all the way from Kansas, with you and Toto in it--was a\nreal airship at the time; so you see we\'ve got plenty of experience\nflying with the birds.\"\n\n\"Airships are not so bad, after all,\" declared Dorothy. \"Some day\nthey\'ll fly all over the world, and perhaps bring people even to the\nLand of Oz.\"\n\n\"I must speak to Ozma about that,\" said the Wizard, with a slight\nfrown. \"It wouldn\'t do at all, you know, for the Emerald City to\nbecome a way-station on an airship line.\"\n\n\"No,\" said Dorothy, \"I don\'t s\'pose it would. But what can we do to\nprevent it?\"\n\n\"I\'m working out a magic recipe to fuddle men\'s brains, so they\'ll\nnever make an airship that will go where they want it to go,\" the\nWizard confided to her. \"That won\'t keep the things from flying, now\nand then, but it\'ll keep them from flying to the Land of Oz.\"\n\nJust then the Sawhorse drew the wagon out of the forest and a beautiful\nlandscape lay spread before the travelers\' eyes. Moreover, right\nbefore them was a good road that wound away through the hills and\nvalleys.\n\n\"Now,\" said the Wizard, with evident delight, \"we are on the right\ntrack again, and there is nothing more to worry about.\"\n\n\"It\'s a foolish thing to take chances in a strange country,\" observed\nthe Shaggy Man. \"Had we kept to the roads we never would have been\nlost. Roads always lead to some place, else they wouldn\'t be roads.\"\n\n\"This road,\" added the Wizard, \"leads to Rigmarole Town. I\'m sure of\nthat because I enchanted the wagon wheels.\"\n\nSure enough, after riding along the road for an hour or two they\nentered a pretty valley where a village was nestled among the hills.\nThe houses were Munchkin shaped, for they were all domes, with windows\nwider than they were high, and pretty balconies over the front doors.\n\nAunt Em was greatly relieved to find this town \"neither paper nor\npatch-work,\" and the only surprising thing about it was that it was so\nfar distant from all other towns.\n\nAs the Sawhorse drew the wagon into the main street the travelers\nnoticed that the place was filled with people, standing in groups and\nseeming to be engaged in earnest conversation. So occupied with\nthemselves were the inhabitants that they scarcely noticed the\nstrangers at all. So the Wizard stopped a boy and asked:\n\n\"Is this Rigmarole Town?\"\n\n\"Sir,\" replied the boy, \"if you have traveled very much you will have\nnoticed that every town differs from every other town in one way or\nanother and so by observing the methods of the people and the way they\nlive as well as the style of their dwelling places it ought not to be a\ndifficult thing to make up your mind without the trouble of asking\nquestions whether the town bears the appearance of the one you intended\nto visit or whether perhaps having taken a different road from the one\nyou should have taken you have made an error in your way and arrived at\nsome point where--\"\n\n\"Land sakes!\" cried Aunt Em, impatiently; \"what\'s all this rigmarole\nabout?\"\n\n\"That\'s it!\" said the Wizard, laughing merrily. \"It\'s a rigmarole\nbecause the boy is a Rigmarole and we\'ve come to Rigmarole Town.\"\n\n\"Do they all talk like that?\" asked Dorothy, wonderingly.\n\n\"He might have said \'yes\' or \'no\' and settled the question,\" observed\nUncle Henry.\n\n\"Not here,\" said Omby Amby. \"I don\'t believe the Rigmaroles know what\n\'yes\' or \'no\' means.\"\n\nWhile the boy had been talking several other people had approached the\nwagon and listened intently to his speech. Then they began talking to\none another in long, deliberate speeches, where many words were used\nbut little was said. But when the strangers criticized them so frankly\none of the women, who had no one else to talk to, began an address to\nthem, saying:\n\n\"It is the easiest thing in the world for a person to say \'yes\' or \'no\'\nwhen a question that is asked for the purpose of gaining information or\nsatisfying the curiosity of the one who has given expression to the\ninquiry has attracted the attention of an individual who may be\ncompetent either from personal experience or the experience of others\nto answer it with more or less correctness or at least an attempt to\nsatisfy the desire for information on the part of the one who has made\nthe inquiry by--\"\n\n\"Dear me!\" exclaimed Dorothy, interrupting the speech. \"I\'ve lost all\ntrack of what you are saying.\"\n\n\"Don\'t let her begin over again, for goodness sake!\" cried Aunt Em.\n\nBut the woman did not begin again. She did not even stop talking, but\nwent right on as she had begun, the words flowing from her mouth in a\nstream.\n\n\"I\'m quite sure that if we waited long enough and listened carefully,\nsome of these people might be able to tell us something, in time,\" said\nthe Wizard.\n\n\"Let\'s don\'t wait,\" returned Dorothy. \"I\'ve heard of the Rigmaroles,\nand wondered what they were like; but now I know, and I\'m ready to move\non.\"\n\n\"So am I,\" declared Uncle Henry; \"we\'re wasting time here.\"\n\n\"Why, we\'re all ready to go,\" said the Shaggy Man, putting his fingers\nto his ears to shut out the monotonous babble of those around the wagon.\n\nSo the Wizard spoke to the Sawhorse, who trotted nimbly through the\nvillage and soon gained the open country on the other side of it.\nDorothy looked back, as they rode away, and noticed that the woman had\nnot yet finished her speech but was talking as glibly as ever, although\nno one was near to hear her.\n\n\"If those people wrote books,\" Omby Amby remarked with a smile, \"it\nwould take a whole library to say the cow jumped over the moon.\"\n\n\"Perhaps some of \'em do write books,\" asserted the little Wizard.\n\"I\'ve read a few rigmaroles that might have come from this very town.\"\n\n\"Some of the college lecturers and ministers are certainly related to\nthese people,\" observed the Shaggy Man; \"and it seems to me the Land of\nOz is a little ahead of the United States in some of its laws. For\nhere, if one can\'t talk clearly, and straight to the point, they send\nhim to Rigmarole Town; while Uncle Sam lets him roam around wild and\nfree, to torture innocent people.\"\n\nDorothy was thoughtful. The Rigmaroles had made a strong impression\nupon her. She decided that whenever she spoke, after this, she would\nuse only enough words to express what she wanted to say.\n\n\n\n23. How They Encountered the Flutterbudgets\n\nThey were soon among the pretty hills and valleys again, and the\nSawhorse sped up hill and down at a fast and easy pace, the roads being\nhard and smooth. Mile after mile was speedily covered, and before the\nride had grown at all tiresome they sighted another village. The place\nseemed even larger than Rigmarole Town, but was not so attractive in\nappearance.\n\n\"This must be Flutterbudget Center,\" declared the Wizard. \"You see,\nit\'s no trouble at all to find places if you keep to the right road.\"\n\n\"What are the Flutterbudgets like?\" inquired Dorothy.\n\n\"I do not know, my dear. But Ozma has given them a town all their own,\nand I\'ve heard that whenever one of the people becomes a Flutterbudget\nhe is sent to this place to live.\"\n\n\"That is true,\" Omby Amby added; \"Flutterbudget Center and Rigmarole\nTown are called \'the Defensive Settlements of Oz.\'\"\n\nThe village they now approached was not built in a valley, but on top\nof a hill, and the road they followed wound around the hill, like a\ncorkscrew, ascending the hill easily until it came to the town.\n\n\"Look out!\" screamed a voice. \"Look out, or you\'ll run over my child!\"\n\nThey gazed around and saw a woman standing upon the sidewalk nervously\nwringing her hands as she gazed at them appealingly.\n\n\"Where is your child?\" asked the Sawhorse.\n\n\"In the house,\" said the woman, bursting into tears; \"but if it should\nhappen to be in the road, and you ran over it, those great wheels would\ncrush my darling to jelly. Oh dear! oh dear! Think of my darling\nchild being crushed into jelly by those great wheels!\"\n\n\"Gid-dap!\" said the Wizard sharply, and the Sawhorse started on.\n\nThey had not gone far before a man ran out of a house shouting wildly,\n\"Help! Help!\"\n\nThe Sawhorse stopped short and the Wizard and Uncle Henry and the\nShaggy Man and Omby Amby jumped out of the wagon and ran to the poor\nman\'s assistance. Dorothy followed them as quickly as she could.\n\n\"What\'s the matter?\" asked the Wizard.\n\n\"Help! help!\" screamed the man; \"my wife has cut her finger off and\nshe\'s bleeding to death!\"\n\nThen he turned and rushed back to the house, and all the party went\nwith him. They found a woman in the front dooryard moaning and\ngroaning as if in great pain.\n\n\"Be brave, madam!\" said the Wizard, consolingly. \"You won\'t die just\nbecause you have cut off a finger, you may be sure.\"\n\n\"But I haven\'t cut off a finger!\" she sobbed.\n\n\"Then what HAS happened?\" asked Dorothy.\n\n\"I--I pricked my finger with a needle while I was sewing, and--and the\nblood came!\" she replied. \"And now I\'ll have blood-poisoning, and the\ndoctors will cut off my finger, and that will give me a fever and I\nshall die!\"\n\n\"Pshaw!\" said Dorothy; \"I\'ve pricked my finger many a time, and nothing\nhappened.\"\n\n\"Really?\" asked the woman, brightening and wiping her eyes upon her\napron.\n\n\"Why, it\'s nothing at all,\" declared the girl. \"You\'re more scared\nthan hurt.\"\n\n\"Ah, that\'s because she\'s a Flutterbudget,\" said the Wizard, nodding\nwisely. \"I think I know now what these people are like.\"\n\n\"So do I,\" announced Dorothy.\n\n\"Oh, boo-hoo-hoo!\" sobbed the woman, giving way to a fresh burst of\ngrief.\n\n\"What\'s wrong now?\" asked the Shaggy Man.\n\n\"Oh, suppose I had pricked my foot!\" she wailed. \"Then the doctors\nwould have cut my foot off, and I\'d be lamed for life!\"\n\n\"Surely, ma\'am,\" replied the Wizard, \"and if you\'d pricked your nose\nthey might cut your head off. But you see you didn\'t.\"\n\n\"But I might have!\" she exclaimed, and began to cry again. So they\nleft her and drove away in their wagon. And her husband came out and\nbegan calling \"Help!\" as he had before; but no one seemed to pay any\nattention to him.\n\nAs the travelers turned into another street they found a man walking\nexcitedly up and down the pavement. He appeared to be in a very\nnervous condition and the Wizard stopped him to ask:\n\n\"Is anything wrong, sir?\"\n\n\"Everything is wrong,\" answered the man, dismally. \"I can\'t sleep.\"\n\n\"Why not?\" inquired Omby Amby.\n\n\"If I go to sleep I\'ll have to shut my eyes,\" he explained; \"and if I\nshut my eyes they may grow together, and then I\'d be blind for life!\"\n\n\"Did you ever hear of any one\'s eyes growing together?\" asked Dorothy.\n\n\"No,\" said the man, \"I never did. But it would be a dreadful thing,\nwouldn\'t it? And the thought of it makes me so nervous I\'m afraid to\ngo to sleep.\"\n\n\"There\'s no help for this case,\" declared the Wizard; and they went on.\n\nAt the next street corner a woman rushed up to them crying:\n\n\"Save my baby! Oh, good, kind people, save my baby!\"\n\n\"Is it in danger?\" asked Dorothy, noticing that the child was clasped\nin her arms and seemed sleeping peacefully.\n\n\"Yes, indeed,\" said the woman, nervously. \"If I should go into the\nhouse and throw my child out of the window, it would roll way down to\nthe bottom of the hill; and then if there were a lot of tigers and\nbears down there, they would tear my darling babe to pieces and eat it\nup!\"\n\n\"Are there any tigers and bears in this neighborhood?\" the Wizard asked.\n\n\"I\'ve never heard of any,\" admitted the woman, \"but if there were--\"\n\n\"Have you any idea of throwing your baby out of the window?\" questioned\nthe little man.\n\n\"None at all,\" she said; \"but if--\"\n\n\"All your troubles are due to those \'ifs\',\" declared the Wizard. \"If\nyou were not a Flutterbudget you wouldn\'t worry.\"\n\n\"There\'s another \'if\',\" replied the woman. \"Are you a Flutterbudget,\ntoo?\"\n\n\"I will be, if I stay here long,\" exclaimed the Wizard, nervously.\n\n\"Another \'if\'!\" cried the woman.\n\nBut the Wizard did not stop to argue with her. He made the Sawhorse\ncanter all the way down the hill, and only breathed easily when they\nwere miles away from the village.\n\nAfter they had ridden in silence for a while Dorothy turned to the\nlittle man and asked:\n\n\"Do \'ifs\' really make Flutterbudgets?\"\n\n\"I think the \'ifs\' help,\" he answered seriously. \"Foolish fears, and\nworries over nothing, with a mixture of nerves and ifs, will soon make\na Flutterbudget of any one.\"\n\nThen there was another long silence, for all the travelers were\nthinking over this statement, and nearly all decided it must be true.\n\nThe country they were now passing through was everywhere tinted purple,\nthe prevailing color of the Gillikin Country; but as the Sawhorse\nascended a hill they found that upon the other side everything was of a\nrich yellow hue.\n\n\"Aha!\" cried the Captain General; \"here is the Country of the Winkies.\nWe are just crossing the boundary line.\"\n\n\"Then we may be able to lunch with the Tin Woodman,\" announced the\nWizard, joyfully.\n\n\"Must we lunch on tin?\" asked Aunt Em.\n\n\"Oh, no;\" replied Dorothy. \"Nick Chopper knows how to feed meat\npeople, and he will give us plenty of good things to eat, never fear.\nI\'ve been to his castle before.\"\n\n\"Is Nick Chopper the Tin Woodman\'s name?\" asked Uncle Henry.\n\n\"Yes; that\'s one of his names,\" answered the little girl; \"and another\nof his names is \'Emp\'ror of the Winkies.\' He\'s the King of this\ncountry, you know, but Ozma rules over all the countries of Oz.\"\n\n\"Does the Tin Woodman keep any Flutterbudgets or Rigmaroles at his\ncastle?\" inquired Aunt Em, uneasily.\n\n\"No indeed,\" said Dorothy, positively. \"He lives in a new tin castle,\nall full of lovely things.\"\n\n\"I should think it would rust,\" said Uncle Henry.\n\n\"He has thousands of Winkies to keep it polished for him,\" explained\nthe Wizard. \"His people love to do anything in their power for their\nbeloved Emperor, so there isn\'t a particle of rust on all the big\ncastle.\"\n\n\"I suppose they polish their Emperor, too,\" said Aunt Em.\n\n\"Why, some time ago he had himself nickel-plated,\" the Wizard answered;\n\"so he only needs rubbing up once in a while. He\'s the brightest man\nin all the world, is dear Nick Chopper; and the kindest-hearted.\"\n\n\"I helped find him,\" said Dorothy, reflectively. \"Once the Scarecrow\nand I found the Tin Woodman in the woods, and he was just rusted still,\nthat time, an\' no mistake. But we oiled his joints an\' got \'em good\nand slippery, and after that he went with us to visit the Wizard at the\nEm\'rald City.\"\n\n\"Was that the time the Wizard scared you?\" asked Aunt Em.\n\n\"He didn\'t treat us well, at first,\" acknowledged Dorothy; \"for he made\nus go away and destroy the Wicked Witch. But after we found out he was\nonly a humbug wizard we were not afraid of him.\"\n\nThe Wizard sighed and looked a little ashamed.\n\n\"When we try to deceive people we always make mistakes,\" he said. \"But\nI\'m getting to be a real wizard now, and Glinda the Good\'s magic, that\nI am trying to practice, can never harm any one.\"\n\n\"You were always a good man,\" declared Dorothy, \"even when you were a\nbad wizard.\"\n\n\"He\'s a good wizard now,\" asserted Aunt Em, looking at the little man\nadmiringly. \"The way he made those tents grow out of handkerchiefs was\njust wonderful! And didn\'t he enchant the wagon wheels so they\'d find\nthe road?\"\n\n\"All the people of Oz,\" said the Captain General, \"are very proud of\ntheir Wizard. He once made some soap-bubbles that astonished the\nworld.\"\n\nThe Wizard blushed at this praise, yet it pleased him. He no longer\nlooked sad, but seemed to have recovered his usual good humor.\n\nThe country through which they now rode was thickly dotted with\nfarmhouses, and yellow grain waved in all the fields. Many of the\nWinkies could be seen working on their farms and the wild and unsettled\nparts of Oz were by this time left far behind.\n\nThese Winkies appeared to be happy, light-hearted folk, and all removed\ntheir caps and bowed low when the red wagon with its load of travelers\npassed by.\n\nIt was not long before they saw something glittering in the sunshine\nfar ahead.\n\n\"See!\" cried Dorothy; \"that\'s the Tin Castle, Aunt Em!\"\n\nAnd the Sawhorse, knowing his passengers were eager to arrive, broke\ninto a swift trot that soon brought them to their destination.\n\n\n\n24. How the Tin Woodman Told the Sad News\n\nThe Tin Woodman received Princess Dorothy\'s party with much grace and\ncordiality, yet the little girl decided that something must be worrying\nwith her old friend, because he was not so merry as usual.\n\nBut at first she said nothing about this, for Uncle Henry and Aunt Em\nwere fairly bubbling over with admiration for the beautiful tin castle\nand its polished tin owner. So her suspicion that something unpleasant\nhad happened was for a time forgotten.\n\n\"Where is the Scarecrow?\" she asked, when they had all been ushered\ninto the big tin drawing-room of the castle, the Sawhorse being led\naround to the tin stable in the rear.\n\n\"Why, our old friend has just moved into his new mansion,\" explained\nthe Tin Woodman. \"It has been a long time in building, although my\nWinkies and many other people from all parts of the country have been\nbusily working upon it. At last, however, it is completed, and the\nScarecrow took possession of his new home just two days ago.\"\n\n\"I hadn\'t heard that he wanted a home of his own,\" said Dorothy. \"Why\ndoesn\'t he live with Ozma in the Emerald City? He used to, you know;\nand I thought he was happy there.\"\n\n\"It seems,\" said the Tin Woodman, \"that our dear Scarecrow cannot be\ncontented with city life, however beautiful his surroundings might be.\nOriginally he was a farmer, for he passed his early life in a\ncornfield, where he was supposed to frighten away the crows.\"\n\n\"I know,\" said Dorothy, nodding. \"I found him, and lifted him down\nfrom his pole.\"\n\n\"So now, after a long residence in the Emerald City, his tastes have\nturned to farm life again,\" continued the Tin Man. \"He feels that he\ncannot be happy without a farm of his own, so Ozma gave him some land\nand every one helped him build his mansion, and now he is settled there\nfor good.\"\n\n\"Who designed his house?\" asked the Shaggy Man.\n\n\"I believe it was Jack Pumpkinhead, who is also a farmer,\" was the\nreply.\n\nThey were now invited to enter the tin dining room, where luncheon was\nserved.\n\nAunt Em found, to her satisfaction, that Dorothy\'s promise was more\nthan fulfilled; for, although the Tin Woodman had no appetite of his\nown, he respected the appetites of his guests and saw that they were\nbountifully fed.\n\nThey passed the afternoon in wandering through the beautiful gardens\nand grounds of the palace. The walks were all paved with sheets of\ntin, brightly polished, and there were tin fountains and tin statues\nhere and there among the trees. The flowers were mostly natural\nflowers and grew in the regular way; but their host showed them one\nflower bed which was his especial pride.\n\n\"You see, all common flowers fade and die in time,\" he explained, \"and\nso there are seasons when the pretty blooms are scarce. Therefore I\ndecided to make one tin flower bed all of tin flowers, and my workmen\nhave created them with rare skill. Here you see tin camelias, tin\nmarigolds, tin carnations, tin poppies and tin hollyhocks growing as\nnaturally as if they were real.\"\n\nIndeed, they were a pretty sight, and glistened under the sunlight like\nspun silver. \"Isn\'t this tin hollyhock going to seed?\" asked the\nWizard, bending over the flowers.\n\n\"Why, I believe it is!\" exclaimed the Tin Woodman, as if surprised. \"I\nhadn\'t noticed that before. But I shall plant the tin seeds and raise\nanother bed of tin hollyhocks.\"\n\nIn one corner of the gardens Nick Chopper had established a fish-pond\nin which they saw swimming and disporting themselves many pretty tin\nfishes.\n\n\"Would they bite on hooks?\" asked Aunt Em, curiously.\n\nThe Tin Woodman seemed hurt at this question.\n\n\"Madam,\" said he, \"do you suppose I would allow anyone to catch my\nbeautiful fishes, even if they were foolish enough to bite on hooks?\nNo, indeed! Every created thing is safe from harm in my domain, and I\nwould as soon think of killing my little friend Dorothy as killing one\nof my tin fishes.\"\n\n\"The Emperor is very kind-hearted, ma\'am,\" explained the Wizard. \"If a\nfly happens to light upon his tin body he doesn\'t rudely brush it off,\nas some people might do; he asks it politely to find some other resting\nplace.\"\n\n\"What does the fly do then?\" enquired Aunt Em.\n\n\"Usually it begs his pardon and goes away,\" said the Wizard, gravely.\n\"Flies like to be treated politely as well as other creatures, and here\nin Oz they understand what we say to them, and behave very nicely.\"\n\n\"Well,\" said Aunt Em, \"the flies in Kansas, where I came from, don\'t\nunderstand anything but a swat. You have to smash \'em to make \'em\nbehave; and it\'s the same way with \'skeeters. Do you have \'skeeters in\nOz?\"\n\n\"We have some very large mosquitoes here, which sing as beautifully as\nsong birds,\" replied the Tin Woodman. \"But they never bite or annoy\nour people, because they are well fed and taken care of. The reason\nthey bite people in your country is because they are hungry--poor\nthings!\"\n\n\"Yes,\" agreed Aunt Em; \"they\'re hungry, all right. An\' they ain\'t very\nparticular who they feed on. I\'m glad you\'ve got the \'skeeters\neducated in Oz.\"\n\nThat evening after dinner they were entertained by the Emperor\'s Tin\nCornet Band, which played for them several sweet melodies. Also the\nWizard did a few sleight-of-hand tricks to amuse the company; after\nwhich they all retired to their cozy tin bedrooms and slept soundly\nuntil morning.\n\nAfter breakfast Dorothy said to the Tin Woodman:\n\n\"If you\'ll tell us which way to go we\'ll visit the Scarecrow on our way\nhome.\"\n\n\"I will go with you, and show you the way,\" replied the Emperor; \"for I\nmust journey to-day to the Emerald City.\"\n\nHe looked so anxious, as he said this, that the little girl asked:\n\n\"There isn\'t anything wrong with Ozma, is there?\"\n\n\"Not yet,\" said he; \"but I\'m afraid the time has come when I must tell\nyou some very bad news, little friend.\"\n\n\"Oh, what is it?\" cried Dorothy.\n\n\"Do you remember the Nome King?\" asked the Tin Woodman.\n\n\"I remember him very well,\" she replied.\n\n\"The Nome King has not a kind heart,\" said the Emperor, sadly, \"and he\nhas been harboring wicked thoughts of revenge, because we once defeated\nhim and liberated his slaves and you took away his Magic Belt. So he\nhas ordered his Nomes to dig a long tunnel underneath the deadly\ndesert, so that he may march his hosts right into the Emerald City.\nWhen he gets there he intends to destroy our beautiful country.\"\n\nDorothy was much surprised to hear this.\n\n\"How did Ozma find out about the tunnel?\" she asked.\n\n\"She saw it in her Magic Picture.\"\n\n\"Of course,\" said Dorothy; \"I might have known that. And what is she\ngoing to do?\"\n\n\"I cannot tell,\" was the reply.\n\n\"Pooh!\" cried the Yellow Hen. \"We\'re not afraid of the Nomes. If we\nroll a few of our eggs down the tunnel they\'ll run away back home as\nfast as they can go.\"\n\n\"Why, that\'s true enough!\" exclaimed Dorothy. \"The Scarecrow once\nconquered all the Nome King\'s army with some of Billina\'s eggs.\"\n\n\"But you do not understand all of the dreadful plot,\" continued the Tin\nWoodman. \"The Nome King is clever, and he knows his Nomes would run\nfrom eggs; so he has bargained with many terrible creatures to help\nhim. These evil spirits are not afraid of eggs or anything else, and\nthey are very powerful. So the Nome King will send them through the\ntunnel first, to conquer and destroy, and then the Nomes will follow\nafter to get their share of the plunder and slaves.\"\n\nThey were all startled to hear this, and every face wore a troubled\nlook.\n\n\"Is the tunnel all ready?\" asked Dorothy.\n\n\"Ozma sent me word yesterday that the tunnel was all completed except\nfor a thin crust of earth at the end. When our enemies break through\nthis crust, they will be in the gardens of the royal palace, in the\nheart of the Emerald City. I offered to arm all my Winkies and march\nto Ozma\'s assistance; but she said no.\"\n\n\"I wonder why?\" asked Dorothy.\n\n\"She answered that all the inhabitants of Oz, gathered together, were\nnot powerful enough to fight and overcome the evil forces of the Nome\nKing. Therefore she refuses to fight at all.\"\n\n\"But they will capture and enslave us, and plunder and ruin all our\nlovely land!\" exclaimed the Wizard, greatly disturbed by this statement.\n\n\"I fear they will,\" said the Tin Woodman, sorrowfully. \"And I also\nfear that those who are not fairies, such as the Wizard, and Dorothy,\nand her uncle and aunt, as well as Toto and Billina, will be speedily\nput to death by the conquerors.\"\n\n\"What can be done?\" asked Dorothy, shuddering a little at the prospect\nof this awful fate.\n\n\"Nothing can be done!\" gloomily replied the Emperor of the Winkies.\n\"But since Ozma refuses my army I will go myself to the Emerald City.\nThe least I may do is to perish beside my beloved Ruler.\"\n\n\n\n25. How the Scarecrow Displayed His Wisdom\n\nThis amazing news had saddened every heart and all were now anxious to\nreturn to the Emerald City and share Ozma\'s fate. So they started\nwithout loss of time, and as the road led past the Scarecrow\'s new\nmansion they determined to make a brief halt there and confer with him.\n\n\"The Scarecrow is probably the wisest man in all Oz,\" remarked the Tin\nWoodman, when they had started upon their journey. \"His brains are\nplentiful and of excellent quality, and often he has told me things I\nmight never have thought of myself. I must say I rely a great deal\nupon the Scarecrow\'s brains in this emergency.\"\n\nThe Tin Woodman rode on the front seat of the wagon, where Dorothy sat\nbetween him and the Wizard.\n\n\"Has the Scarecrow heard of Ozma\'s trouble?\" asked the Captain General.\n\n\"I do not know, sir,\" was the reply.\n\n\"When I was a private,\" said Omby Amby, \"I was an excellent army, as I\nfully proved in our war against the Nomes. But now there is not a\nsingle private left in our army, since Ozma made me the Captain\nGeneral, so there is no one to fight and defend our lovely Ruler.\"\n\n\"True,\" said the Wizard. \"The present army is composed only of\nofficers, and the business of an officer is to order his men to fight.\nSince there are no men there can be no fighting.\"\n\n\"Poor Ozma!\" whispered Dorothy, with tears in her sweet eyes. \"It\'s\ndreadful to think of all her lovely fairy country being destroyed. I\nwonder if we couldn\'t manage to escape and get back to Kansas by means\nof the Magic Belt? And we might take Ozma with us and all work hard to\nget money for her, so she wouldn\'t be so VERY lonely and unhappy about\nthe loss of her fairyland.\"\n\n\"Do you think there would be any work for ME in Kansas?\" asked the Tin\nWoodman.\n\n\"If you are hollow, they might use you in a canning factory,\" suggested\nUncle Henry. \"But I can\'t see the use of your working for a living.\nYou never eat or sleep or need a new suit of clothes.\"\n\n\"I was not thinking of myself,\" replied the Emperor, with dignity. \"I\nmerely wondered if I could not help to support Dorothy and Ozma.\"\n\nAs they indulged in these sad plans for the future they journeyed in\nsight of the Scarecrow\'s new mansion, and even though filled with care\nand worry over the impending fate of Oz, Dorothy couldn\'t help a\nfeeling of wonder at the sight she saw.\n\nThe Scarecrow\'s new house was shaped like an immense ear of corn. The\nrows of kernels were made of solid gold, and the green upon which the\near stood upright was a mass of sparkling emeralds. Upon the very top\nof the structure was perched a figure representing the Scarecrow\nhimself, and upon his extended arms, as well as upon his head, were\nseveral crows carved out of ebony and having ruby eyes. You may\nimagine how big this ear of corn was when I tell you that a single gold\nkernel formed a window, swinging outward upon hinges, while a row of\nfour kernels opened to make the front entrance. Inside there were five\nstories, each story being a single room.\n\nThe gardens around the mansion consisted of cornfields, and Dorothy\nacknowledged that the place was in all respects a very appropriate home\nfor her good friend the Scarecrow.\n\n\"He would have been very happy here, I\'m sure,\" she said, \"if only the\nNome King had left us alone. But if Oz is destroyed of course this\nplace will be destroyed too.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" replied the Tin Woodman, \"and also my beautiful tin castle, that\nhas been my joy and pride.\"\n\n\"Jack Pumpkinhead\'s house will go too,\" remarked the Wizard, \"as well\nas Professor Wogglebug\'s Athletic College, and Ozma\'s royal palace, and\nall our other handsome buildings.\"\n\n\"Yes, Oz will indeed become a desert when the Nome King gets through\nwith it,\" sighed Omby Amby.\n\nThe Scarecrow came out to meet them and gave them all a hearty welcome.\n\n\"I hear you have decided always to live in the Land of Oz, after this,\"\nhe said to Dorothy; \"and that will delight my heart, for I have greatly\ndisliked our frequent partings. But why are you all so downcast?\"\n\n\"Have you heard the news?\" asked the Tin Woodman.\n\n\"No news to make me sad,\" replied the Scarecrow.\n\nThen Nick Chopper told his friend of the Nome King\'s tunnel, and how\nthe evil creatures of the North had allied themselves with the\nunderground monarch for the purpose of conquering and destroying Oz.\n\"Well,\" said the Scarecrow, \"it certainly looks bad for Ozma, and all\nof us. But I believe it is wrong to worry over anything before it\nhappens. It is surely time enough to be sad when our country is\ndespoiled and our people made slaves. So let us not deprive ourselves\nof the few happy hours remaining to us.\"\n\n\"Ah! that is real wisdom,\" declared the Shaggy Man, approvingly.\n\"After we become really unhappy we shall regret these few hours that\nare left to us, unless we enjoy them to the utmost.\"\n\n\"Nevertheless,\" said the Scarecrow, \"I shall go with you to the Emerald\nCity and offer Ozma my services.\"\n\n\"She says we can do nothing to oppose our enemies,\" announced the Tin\nWoodman.\n\n\"And doubtless she is right, sir,\" answered the Scarecrow. \"Still, she\nwill appreciate our sympathy, and it is the duty of Ozma\'s friends to\nstand by her side when the final disaster occurs.\"\n\nHe then led them into his queer mansion and showed them the beautiful\nrooms in all the five stories. The lower room was a grand reception\nhall, with a hand-organ in one corner. This instrument the Scarecrow,\nwhen alone, could turn to amuse himself, as he was very fond of music.\nThe walls were hung with white silk, upon which flocks of black crows\nwere embroidered in black diamonds. Some of the chairs were made in\nthe shape of big crows and upholstered with cushions of corn-colored\nsilk.\n\nThe second story contained a fine banquet room, where the Scarecrow\nmight entertain his guests, and the three stories above that were\nbed-chambers exquisitely furnished and decorated.\n\n\"From these rooms,\" said the Scarecrow, proudly, \"one may obtain fine\nviews of the surrounding cornfields. The corn I grow is always husky,\nand I call the ears my regiments, because they have so many kernels.\nOf course I cannot ride my cobs, but I really don\'t care shucks about\nthat. Taken altogether, my farm will stack up with any in the\nneighborhood.\"\n\nThe visitors partook of some light refreshment and then hurried away to\nresume the road to the Emerald City. The Scarecrow found a seat in the\nwagon between Omby Amby and the Shaggy Man, and his weight did not add\nmuch to the load because he was stuffed with straw.\n\n\"You will notice I have one oat-field on my property,\" he remarked, as\nthey drove away. \"Oat-straw is, I have found, the best of all straws\nto re-stuff myself with when my interior gets musty or out of shape.\"\n\n\"Are you able to re-stuff yourself without help?\" asked Aunt Em. \"I\nshould think that after the straw was taken out of you there wouldn\'t\nbe anything left but your clothes.\"\n\n\"You are almost correct, madam,\" he answered. \"My servants do the\nstuffing, under my direction. For my head, in which are my excellent\nbrains, is a bag tied at the bottom. My face is neatly painted upon\none side of the bag, as you may see. My head does not need\nre-stuffing, as my body does, for all that it requires is to have the\nface touched up with fresh paint occasionally.\"\n\nIt was not far from the Scarecrow\'s mansion to the farm of Jack\nPumpkinhead, and when they arrived there both Uncle Henry and Aunt Em\nwere much impressed. The farm was one vast pumpkin field, and some of\nthe pumpkins were of enormous size. In one of them, which had been\nneatly hollowed out, Jack himself lived, and he declared that it was a\nvery comfortable residence. The reason he grew so many pumpkins was in\norder that he might change his head as often as it became wrinkled or\nthreatened to spoil.\n\nThe pumpkin-headed man welcomed his visitors joyfully and offered them\nseveral delicious pumpkin pies to eat.\n\n\"I don\'t indulge in pumpkin pies myself, for two reasons,\" he said.\n\"One reason is that were I to eat pumpkins I would become a cannibal,\nand the other reason is that I never eat, not being hollow inside.\"\n\n\"Very good reasons,\" agreed the Scarecrow.\n\nThey told Jack Pumpkinhead of the dreadful news about the Nome King,\nand he decided to go with them to the Emerald City and help comfort\nOzma.\n\n\"I had expected to live here in ease and comfort for many centuries,\"\nsaid Jack, dolefully; \"but of course if the Nome King destroys\neverything in Oz I shall be destroyed too. Really, it seems too bad,\ndoesn\'t it?\"\n\nThey were soon on their journey again, and so swiftly did the Sawhorse\ndraw the wagon over the smooth roads that before twilight fell they had\nreached the royal palace in the Emerald City, and were at their\njourney\'s end.\n\n\n\n26. How Ozma Refused to Fight for Her Kingdom\n\nOzma was in her rose garden picking a bouquet when the party arrived,\nand she greeted all her old and new friends as smilingly and sweetly as\never.\n\nDorothy\'s eyes were full of tears as she kissed the lovely Ruler of Oz,\nand she whispered to her:\n\n\"Oh, Ozma, Ozma! I\'m SO sorry!\"\n\nOzma seemed surprised.\n\n\"Sorry for what, Dorothy?\" she asked.\n\n\"For all your trouble about the Nome King,\" was the reply.\n\nOzma laughed with genuine amusement.\n\n\"Why, that has not troubled me a bit, dear Princess,\" she replied.\nThen, looking around at the sad faces of her friends, she added: \"Have\nyou all been worrying about this tunnel?\"\n\n\"We have!\" they exclaimed in a chorus.\n\n\"Well, perhaps it is more serious than I imagined,\" admitted the fair\nRuler; \"but I haven\'t given the matter much thought. After dinner we\nwill all meet together and talk it over.\"\n\nSo they went to their rooms and prepared for dinner, and Dorothy\ndressed herself in her prettiest gown and put on her coronet, for she\nthought that this might be the last time she would ever appear as a\nPrincess of Oz.\n\nThe Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and Jack Pumpkinhead all sat at the\ndinner table, although none of them was made so he could eat. Usually\nthey served to enliven the meal with their merry talk, but to-night all\nseemed strangely silent and uneasy.\n\nAs soon as the dinner was finished Ozma led the company to her own\nprivate room in which hung the Magic Picture. When they had seated\nthemselves the Scarecrow was the first to speak.\n\n\"Is the Nome King\'s tunnel finished, Ozma?\" he asked.\n\n\"It was completed to-day,\" she replied. \"They have built it right\nunder my palace grounds, and it ends in front of the Forbidden\nFountain. Nothing but a crust of earth remains to separate our enemies\nfrom us, and when they march here, they will easily break through this\ncrust and rush upon us.\"\n\n\"Who will assist the Nome King?\" inquired the Scarecrow.\n\n\"The Whimsies, the Growleywogs and the Phanfasms,\" she replied. \"I\nwatched to-day in my Magic Picture the messengers whom the Nome King\nsent to all these people to summon them to assemble in his great\ncaverns.\"\n\n\"Let us see what they are doing now,\" suggested the Tin Woodman.\n\nSo Ozma wished to see the Nome King\'s cavern, and at once the landscape\nfaded from the Magic Picture and was replaced by the scene then being\nenacted in the jeweled cavern of King Roquat.\n\nA wild and startling scene it was which the Oz people beheld.\n\nBefore the Nome King stood the Chief of the Whimsies and the Grand\nGallipoot of the Growleywogs, surrounded by their most skillful\ngenerals. Very fierce and powerful they looked, so that even the Nome\nKing and General Guph, who stood beside his master, seemed a bit\nfearful in the presence of their allies.\n\nNow a still more formidable creature entered the cavern. It was the\nFirst and Foremost of the Phanfasms and he proudly sat down in King\nRoquat\'s own throne and demanded the right to lead his forces through\nthe tunnel in advance of all the others. The First and Foremost now\nappeared to all eyes in his hairy skin and the bear\'s head. What his\nreal form was even Roquat did not know.\n\nThrough the arches leading into the vast series of caverns that lay\nbeyond the throne room of King Roquat could be seen ranks upon ranks of\nthe invaders--thousands of Phanfasms, Growleywogs and Whimsies standing\nin serried lines, while behind them were massed the thousands upon\nthousands of General Guph\'s own army of Nomes.\n\n\"Listen!\" whispered Ozma. \"I think we can hear what they are saying.\"\n\nSo they kept still and listened.\n\n\"Is all ready?\" demanded the First and Foremost, haughtily.\n\n\"The tunnel is finally completed,\" replied General Guph.\n\n\"How long will it take us to march to the Emerald City?\" asked the\nGrand Gallipoot of the Growleywogs.\n\n\"If we start at midnight,\" replied the Nome King, \"we shall arrive at\nthe Emerald City by daybreak. Then, while all the Oz people are\nsleeping, we will capture them and make them our slaves. After that we\nwill destroy the city itself and march through the Land of Oz, burning\nand devastating as we go.\"\n\n\"Good!\" cried the First and Foremost. \"When we get through with Oz it\nwill be a desert wilderness. Ozma shall be my slave.\"\n\n\"She shall be MY slave!\" shouted the Grand Gallipoot, angrily.\n\n\"We\'ll decide that by and by,\" said King Roquat hastily. \"Don\'t let us\nquarrel now, friends. First let us conquer Oz, and then we will divide\nthe spoils of war in a satisfactory manner.\"\n\nThe First and Foremost smiled wickedly; but he only said:\n\n\"I and my Phanfasms go first, for nothing on earth can oppose our\npower.\"\n\nThey all agreed to that, knowing the Phanfasms to be the mightiest of\nthe combined forces. King Roquat now invited them to attend a banquet\nhe had prepared, where they might occupy themselves in eating and\ndrinking until midnight arrived.\n\nAs they had now seen and heard all of the plot against them that they\ncared to, Ozma allowed her Magic Picture to fade away. Then she turned\nto her friends and said:\n\n\"Our enemies will be here sooner than I expected. What do you advise\nme to do?\"\n\n\"It is now too late to assemble our people,\" said the Tin Woodman,\ndespondently. \"If you had allowed me to arm and drill my Winkies, we\nmight have put up a good fight and destroyed many of our enemies before\nwe were conquered.\"\n\n\"The Munchkins are good fighters, too,\" said Omby Amby; \"and so are the\nGillikins.\"\n\n\"But I do not wish to fight,\" declared Ozma, firmly. \"No one has the\nright to destroy any living creatures, however evil they may be, or to\nhurt them or make them unhappy. I will not fight, even to save my\nkingdom.\"\n\n\"The Nome King is not so particular,\" remarked the Scarecrow. \"He\nintends to destroy us all and ruin our beautiful country.\"\n\n\"Because the Nome King intends to do evil is no excuse for my doing the\nsame,\" replied Ozma.\n\n\"Self-preservation is the first law of nature,\" quoted the Shaggy Man.\n\n\"True,\" she said, readily. \"I would like to discover a plan to save\nourselves without fighting.\"\n\nThat seemed a hopeless task to them, but realizing that Ozma was\ndetermined not to fight, they tried to think of some means that might\npromise escape.\n\n\"Couldn\'t we bribe our enemies, by giving them a lot of emeralds and\ngold?\" asked Jack Pumpkinhead.\n\n\"No, because they believe they are able to take everything we have,\"\nreplied the Ruler.\n\n\"I have thought of something,\" said Dorothy.\n\n\"What is it, dear?\" asked Ozma.\n\n\"Let us use the Magic Belt to wish all of us in Kansas. We will put\nsome emeralds in our pockets, and can sell them in Topeka for enough to\npay off the mortgage on Uncle Henry\'s farm. Then we can all live\ntogether and be happy.\"\n\n\"A clever idea!\" exclaimed the Scarecrow.\n\n\"Kansas is a very good country. I\'ve been there,\" said the Shaggy Man.\n\n\"That seems to me an excellent plan,\" approved the Tin Woodman.\n\n\"No!\" said Ozma, decidedly. \"Never will I desert my people and leave\nthem to so cruel a fate. I will use the Magic Belt to send the rest of\nyou to Kansas, if you wish, but if my beloved country must be destroyed\nand my people enslaved I will remain and share their fate.\"\n\n\"Quite right,\" asserted the Scarecrow, sighing. \"I will remain with\nyou.\"\n\n\"And so will I,\" declared the Tin Woodman and the Shaggy Man and Jack\nPumpkinhead, in turn. Tiktok, the machine man, also said he intended\nto stand by Ozma. \"For,\" said he, \"I should be of no use at all in\nKan-sas.\"\n\n\"For my part,\" announced Dorothy, gravely, \"if the Ruler of Oz must not\ndesert her people, a Princess of Oz has no right to run away, either.\nI\'m willing to become a slave with the rest of you; so all we can do\nwith the Magic Belt is to use it to send Uncle Henry and Aunt Em back\nto Kansas.\"\n\n\"I\'ve been a slave all my life,\" Aunt Em replied, with considerable\ncheerfulness, \"and so has Henry. I guess we won\'t go back to Kansas,\nanyway. I\'d rather take my chances with the rest of you.\"\n\nOzma smiled upon them all gratefully.\n\n\"There is no need to despair just yet,\" she said. \"I\'ll get up early\nto-morrow morning and be at the Forbidden Fountain when the fierce\nwarriors break through the crust of the earth. I will speak to them\npleasantly and perhaps they won\'t be so very bad, after all.\"\n\n\"Why do they call it the Forbidden Fountain?\" asked Dorothy,\nthoughtfully.\n\n\"Don\'t you know, dear?\" returned Ozma, surprised.\n\n\"No,\" said Dorothy. \"Of course I\'ve seen the fountain in the palace\ngrounds, ever since I first came to Oz; and I\'ve read the sign which\nsays: \'All Persons are Forbidden to Drink at this Fountain.\' But I\nnever knew WHY they were forbidden. The water seems clear and\nsparkling and it bubbles up in a golden basin all the time.\"\n\n\"That water,\" declared Ozma, gravely, \"is the most dangerous thing in\nall the Land of Oz. It is the Water of Oblivion.\"\n\n\"What does that mean?\" asked Dorothy.\n\n\"Whoever drinks at the Forbidden Fountain at once forgets everything he\nhas ever known,\" Ozma asserted.\n\n\"It wouldn\'t be a bad way to forget our troubles,\" suggested Uncle\nHenry.\n\n\"That is true; but you would forget everything else, and become as\nignorant as a baby,\" returned Ozma.\n\n\"Does it make one crazy?\" asked Dorothy.\n\n\"No; it only makes one forget,\" replied the girl Ruler. \"It is said\nthat once--long, long ago--a wicked King ruled Oz, and made himself and\nall his people very miserable and unhappy. So Glinda, the Good\nSorceress, placed this fountain here, and the King drank of its water\nand forgot all his wickedness. His mind became innocent and vacant,\nand when he learned the things of life again they were all good things.\nBut the people remembered how wicked their King had been, and were\nstill afraid of him. Therefore, he made them all drink of the Water of\nOblivion and forget everything they had known, so that they became as\nsimple and innocent as their King. After that, they all grew wise\ntogether, and their wisdom was good, so that peace and happiness\nreigned in the land. But for fear some one might drink of the water\nagain, and in an instant forget all he had learned, the King put that\nsign upon the fountain, where it has remained for many centuries up to\nthis very day.\"\n\nThey had all listened intently to Ozma\'s story, and when she finished\nspeaking there was a long period of silence while all thought upon the\ncurious magical power of the Water of Oblivion.\n\nFinally the Scarecrow\'s painted face took on a broad smile that\nstretched the cloth as far as it would go.\n\n\"How thankful I am,\" he said, \"that I have such an excellent assortment\nof brains!\"\n\n\"I gave you the best brains I ever mixed,\" declared the Wizard, with an\nair of pride.\n\n\"You did, indeed!\" agreed the Scarecrow, \"and they work so splendidly\nthat they have found a way to save Oz--to save us all!\"\n\n\"I\'m glad to hear that,\" said the Wizard. \"We never needed saving more\nthan we do just now.\"\n\n\"Do you mean to say you can save us from those awful Phanfasms, and\nGrowleywogs and Whimsies?\" asked Dorothy eagerly.\n\n\"I\'m sure of it, my dear,\" asserted the Scarecrow, still smiling\ngenially.\n\n\"Tell us how!\" cried the Tin Woodman.\n\n\"Not now,\" said the Scarecrow. \"You may all go to bed, and I advise\nyou to forget your worries just as completely as if you had drunk of\nthe Water of Oblivion in the Forbidden Fountain. I\'m going to stay\nhere and tell my plan to Ozma alone, but if you will all be at the\nForbidden Fountain at daybreak, you\'ll see how easily we will save the\nkingdom when our enemies break through the crust of earth and come from\nthe tunnel.\"\n\nSo they went away and let the Scarecrow and Ozma alone; but Dorothy\ncould not sleep a wink all night.\n\n\"He is only a Scarecrow,\" she said to herself, \"and I\'m not sure that\nhis mixed brains are as clever as he thinks they are.\"\n\nBut she knew that if the Scarecrow\'s plan failed they were all lost; so\nshe tried to have faith in him.\n\n\n\n27. How the Fierce Warriors Invaded Oz\n\nThe Nome King and his terrible allies sat at the banquet table until\nmidnight. There was much quarreling between the Growleywogs and\nPhanfasms, and one of the wee-headed Whimsies got angry at General Guph\nand choked him until he nearly stopped breathing. Yet no one was\nseriously hurt, and the Nome King felt much relieved when the clock\nstruck twelve and they all sprang up and seized their weapons.\n\n\"Aha!\" shouted the First and Foremost. \"Now to conquer the Land of Oz!\"\n\nHe marshaled his Phanfasms in battle array and at his word of command\nthey marched into the tunnel and began the long journey through it to\nthe Emerald City. The First and Foremost intended to take all the\ntreasures of Oz for himself; to kill all who could be killed and\nenslave the rest; to destroy and lay waste the whole country, and\nafterward to conquer and enslave the Nomes, the Growleywogs and the\nWhimsies. And he knew his power was sufficient to enable him to do all\nthese things easily.\n\nNext marched into the tunnel the army of gigantic Growleywogs, with\ntheir Grand Gallipoot at their head. They were dreadful beings,\nindeed, and longed to get to Oz that they might begin to pilfer and\ndestroy. The Grand Gallipoot was a little afraid of the First and\nForemost, but had a cunning plan to murder or destroy that powerful\nbeing and secure the wealth of Oz for himself. Mighty little of the\nplunder would the Nome King get, thought the Grand Gallipoot.\n\nThe Chief of the Whimsies now marched his false-headed forces into the\ntunnel. In his wicked little head was a plot to destroy both the First\nand Foremost and the Grand Gallipoot. He intended to let them conquer\nOz, since they insisted on going first; but he would afterward\ntreacherously destroy them, as well as King Roquat, and keep all the\nslaves and treasure of Ozma\'s kingdom for himself.\n\nAfter all his dangerous allies had marched into the tunnel the Nome\nKing and General Guph started to follow them, at the head of fifty\nthousand Nomes, all fully armed.\n\n\"Guph,\" said the King, \"those creatures ahead of us mean mischief.\nThey intend to get everything for themselves and leave us nothing.\"\n\n\"I know,\" replied the General; \"but they are not as clever as they\nthink they are. When you get the Magic Belt you must at once wish the\nWhimsies and Growleywogs and Phanfasms all back into their own\ncountries--and the Belt will surely take them there.\"\n\n\"Good!\" cried the King. \"An excellent plan, Guph. I\'ll do it. While\nthey are conquering Oz I\'ll get the Magic Belt, and then only the Nomes\nwill remain to ravage the country.\"\n\nSo you see there was only one thing that all were agreed upon--that Oz\nshould be destroyed.\n\nOn, on, on the vast ranks of invaders marched, filling the tunnel from\nside to side. With a steady tramp, tramp, they advanced, every step\ntaking them nearer to the beautiful Emerald City.\n\n\"Nothing can save the Land of Oz!\" thought the First and Foremost,\nscowling until his bear face was as black as the tunnel.\n\n\"The Emerald City is as good as destroyed already!\" muttered the Grand\nGallipoot, shaking his war club fiercely.\n\n\"In a few hours Oz will be a desert!\" said the Chief of the Whimsies,\nwith an evil laugh.\n\n\"My dear Guph,\" remarked the Nome King to his General, \"at last my\nvengeance upon Ozma of Oz and her people is about to be accomplished.\"\n\n\"You are right!\" declared the General. \"Ozma is surely lost.\"\n\nAnd now the First and Foremost, who was in advance and nearing the\nEmerald City, began to cough and to sneeze.\n\n\"This tunnel is terribly dusty,\" he growled, angrily. \"I\'ll punish\nthat Nome King for not having it swept clean. My throat and eyes are\ngetting full of dust and I\'m as thirsty as a fish!\"\n\nThe Grand Gallipoot was coughing too, and his throat was parched and\ndry.\n\n\"What a dusty place!\" he cried. \"I\'ll be glad when we reach Oz, where\nwe can get a drink.\"\n\n\"Who has any water?\" asked the Whimsie Chief, gasping and choking. But\nnone of his followers carried a drop of water, so he hastened on to get\nthrough the dusty tunnel to the Land of Oz.\n\n\"Where did all this dust come from?\" demanded General Guph, trying hard\nto swallow but finding his throat so dry he couldn\'t.\n\n\"I don\'t know,\" answered the Nome King. \"I\'ve been in the tunnel every\nday while it was being built, but I never noticed any dust before.\"\n\n\"Let\'s hurry!\" cried the General. \"I\'d give half the gold in Oz for a\ndrink of water.\"\n\nThe dust grew thicker and thicker, and the throats and eyes and noses\nof the invaders were filled with it. But not one halted or turned\nback. They hurried forward more fierce and vengeful than ever.\n\n\n\n28. How They Drank at the Forbidden Fountain\n\nThe Scarecrow had no need to sleep; neither had the Tin Woodman or\nTiktok or Jack Pumpkinhead. So they all wandered out into the palace\ngrounds and stood beside the sparkling water of the Forbidden Fountain\nuntil daybreak. During this time they indulged in occasional\nconversation.\n\n\"Nothing could make me forget what I know,\" remarked the Scarecrow,\ngazing into the fountain, \"for I cannot drink the Water of Oblivion or\nwater of any kind. And I am glad that this is so, for I consider my\nwisdom unexcelled.\"\n\n\"You are cer-tain-ly ve-ry wise,\" agreed Tiktok. \"For my part, I can\non-ly think by ma-chin-er-y, so I do not pre-tend to know as much as\nyou do.\"\n\n\"My tin brains are very bright, but that is all I claim for them,\" said\nNick Chopper, modestly. \"Yet I do not aspire to being very wise, for I\nhave noticed that the happiest people are those who do not let their\nbrains oppress them.\"\n\n\"Mine never worry me,\" Jack Pumpkinhead acknowledged. \"There are many\nseeds of thought in my head, but they do not sprout easily. I am glad\nthat it is so, for if I occupied my days in thinking I should have no\ntime for anything else.\"\n\nIn this cheery mood they passed the hours until the first golden\nstreaks of dawn appeared in the sky. Then Ozma joined them, as fresh\nand lovely as ever and robed in one of her prettiest gowns.\n\n\"Our enemies have not yet arrived,\" said the Scarecrow, after greeting\naffectionately the sweet and girlish Ruler.\n\n\"They will soon be here,\" she said, \"for I have just glanced at my\nMagic Picture, and have seen them coughing and choking with the dust in\nthe tunnel.\"\n\n\"Oh, is there dust in the tunnel?\" asked the Tin Woodman.\n\n\"Yes; Ozma placed it there by means of the Magic Belt,\" explained the\nScarecrow, with one of his broad smiles.\n\nThen Dorothy came to them, Uncle Henry and Aunt Em following close\nafter her. The little girl\'s eyes were heavy because she had had a\nsleepless and anxious night. Toto walked by her side, but the little\ndog\'s spirits were very much subdued. Billina, who was always up by\ndaybreak, was not long in joining the group by the fountain.\n\nThe Wizard and the Shaggy Man next arrived, and soon after appeared\nOmby Amby, dressed in his best uniform.\n\n\"There lies the tunnel,\" said Ozma, pointing to a part of the ground\njust before the Forbidden Fountain, \"and in a few moments the dreadful\ninvaders will break through the earth and swarm over the land. Let us\nall stand on the other side of the Fountain and watch to see what\nhappens.\"\n\nAt once they followed her suggestion and moved around the fountain of\nthe Water of Oblivion. There they stood silent and expectant until the\nearth beyond gave way with a sudden crash and up leaped the powerful\nform of the First and Foremost, followed by all his grim warriors.\n\nAs the leader sprang forward his gleaming eyes caught the play of the\nfountain and he rushed toward it and drank eagerly of the sparkling\nwater. Many of the other Phanfasms drank, too, in order to clear their\ndry and dusty throats. Then they stood around and looked at one\nanother with simple, wondering smiles.\n\nThe First and Foremost saw Ozma and her companions beyond the fountain,\nbut instead of making an effort to capture her he merely stared at her\nin pleased admiration of her beauty--for he had forgotten where he was\nand why he had come there.\n\nBut now the Grand Gallipoot arrived, rushing from the tunnel with a\nhoarse cry of mingled rage and thirst. He too saw the fountain and\nhastened to drink of its forbidden waters. The other Growleywogs were\nnot slow to follow suit, and even before they had finished drinking the\nChief of the Whimsies and his people came to push them away, while they\none and all cast off their false heads that they might slake their\nthirst at the fountain.\n\nWhen the Nome King and General Guph arrived they both made a dash to\ndrink, but the General was so mad with thirst that he knocked his King\nover, and while Roquat lay sprawling upon the ground the General drank\nheartily of the Water of Oblivion.\n\nThis rude act of his General made the Nome King so angry that for a\nmoment he forgot he was thirsty and rose to his feet to glare upon the\ngroup of terrible warriors he had brought here to assist him. He saw\nOzma and her people, too, and yelled out:\n\n\"Why don\'t you capture them? Why don\'t you conquer Oz, you idiots?\nWhy do you stand there like a lot of dummies?\"\n\nBut the great warriors had become like little children. They had\nforgotten all their enmity against Ozma and against Oz. They had even\nforgotten who they themselves were, or why they were in this strange\nand beautiful country. As for the Nome King, they did not recognize\nhim, and wondered who he was.\n\nThe sun came up and sent its flood of silver rays to light the faces of\nthe invaders. The frowns and scowls and evil looks were all gone.\nEven the most monstrous of the creatures there assembled smiled\ninnocently and seemed light-hearted and content merely to be alive.\n\nNot so with Roquat, the Nome King. He had not drunk from the Forbidden\nFountain and all his former rage against Ozma and Dorothy now inflamed\nhim as fiercely as ever. The sight of General Guph babbling like a\nhappy child and playing with his hands in the cool waters of the\nfountain astonished and maddened Red Roquat. Seeing that his terrible\nallies and his own General refused to act, the Nome King turned to\norder his great army of Nomes to advance from the tunnel and seize the\nhelpless Oz people.\n\nBut the Scarecrow suspected what was in the King\'s mind and spoke a\nword to the Tin Woodman. Together they ran at Roquat and grabbing him\nup tossed him into the great basin of the fountain.\n\nThe Nome King\'s body was round as a ball, and it bobbed up and down in\nthe Water of Oblivion while he spluttered and screamed with fear lest\nhe should drown. And when he cried out, his mouth filled with water,\nwhich ran down his throat, so that straightway he forgot all he had\nformerly known just as completely as had all the other invaders.\n\nOzma and Dorothy could not refrain from laughing to see their dreaded\nenemies become as harmless as babies. There was no danger now that Oz\nwould be destroyed. The only question remaining to solve was how to\nget rid of this horde of intruders.\n\nThe Shaggy Man kindly pulled the Nome King out of the fountain and set\nhim upon his thin legs. Roquat was dripping wet, but he chattered and\nlaughed and wanted to drink more of the water. No thought of injuring\nany person was now in his mind.\n\nBefore he left the tunnel he had commanded his fifty thousand Nomes to\nremain there until he ordered them to advance, as he wished to give his\nallies time to conquer Oz before he appeared with his own army. Ozma\ndid not wish all these Nomes to overrun her land, so she advanced to\nKing Roquat and taking his hand in her own said gently:\n\n\"Who are you? What is your name?\"\n\n\"I don\'t know,\" he replied, smiling at her. \"Who are you, my dear?\"\n\n\"My name is Ozma,\" she said; \"and your name is Roquat.\"\n\n\"Oh, is it?\" he replied, seeming pleased.\n\n\"Yes; you are King of the Nomes,\" she said.\n\n\"Ah; I wonder what the Nomes are!\" returned the King, as if puzzled.\n\n\"They are underground elves, and that tunnel over there is full of\nthem,\" she answered. \"You have a beautiful cavern at the other end of\nthe tunnel, so you must go to your Nomes and say: \'March home!\' Then\nfollow after them and in time you will reach the pretty cavern where\nyou live.\"\n\nThe Nome King was much pleased to learn this, for he had forgotten he\nhad a cavern. So he went to the tunnel and said to his army: \'March\nhome!\' At once the Nomes turned and marched back through the tunnel,\nand the King followed after them, laughing with delight to find his\norders so readily obeyed.\n\nThe Wizard went to General Guph, who was trying to count his fingers,\nand told him to follow the Nome King, who was his master. Guph meekly\nobeyed, and so all the Nomes quitted the Land of Oz forever.\n\nBut there were still the Phanfasms and Whimsies and Growleywogs\nstanding around in groups, and they were so many that they filled the\ngardens and trampled upon the flowers and grass because they did not\nknow that the tender plants would be injured by their clumsy feet. But\nin all other respects they were perfectly harmless and played together\nlike children or gazed with pleasure upon the pretty sights of the\nroyal gardens.\n\nAfter counseling with the Scarecrow Ozma sent Omby Amby to the palace\nfor the Magic Belt, and when the Captain General returned with it the\nRuler of Oz at once clasped the precious Belt around her waist.\n\n\"I wish all these strange people--the Whimsies and the Growleywogs and\nthe Phanfasms--safe back in their own homes!\" she said.\n\nIt all happened in a twinkling, for of course the wish was no sooner\nspoken than it was granted.\n\nAll the hosts of the invaders were gone, and only the trampled grass\nshowed that they had ever been in the Land of Oz.\n\n\n\n29. How Glinda Worked a Magic Spell\n\n\"That was better than fighting,\" said Ozma, when all our friends were\nassembled in the palace after the exciting events of the morning; and\neach and every one agreed with her.\n\n\"No one was hurt,\" said the Wizard, delightedly.\n\n\"And no one hurt us,\" added Aunt Em.\n\n\"But, best of all,\" said Dorothy, \"the wicked people have all forgotten\ntheir wickedness, and will not wish to hurt any one after this.\"\n\n\"True, Princess,\" declared the Shaggy Man. \"It seems to me that to\nhave reformed all those evil characters is more important than to have\nsaved Oz.\"\n\n\"Nevertheless,\" remarked the Scarecrow, \"I am glad Oz is saved. I can\nnow go back to my new mansion and live happily.\"\n\n\"And I am glad and grateful that my pumpkin farm is saved,\" said Jack.\n\n\"For my part,\" added the Tin Woodman, \"I cannot express my joy that my\nlovely tin castle is not to be demolished by wicked enemies.\"\n\n\"Still,\" said Tiktok, \"o-ther en-e-mies may come to Oz some day.\"\n\n\"Why do you allow your clock-work brains to interrupt our joy?\" asked\nOmby Amby, frowning at the machine man.\n\n\"I say what I am wound up to say,\" answered Tiktok.\n\n\"And you are right,\" declared Ozma. \"I myself have been thinking of\nthis very idea, and it seems to me there are entirely too many ways for\npeople to get to the Land of Oz. We used to think the deadly desert\nthat surrounds us was enough protection; but that is no longer the\ncase. The Wizard and Dorothy have both come here through the air, and\nI am told the earth people have invented airships that can fly anywhere\nthey wish them to go.\"\n\n\"Why, sometimes they do, and sometimes they don\'t,\" asserted Dorothy.\n\n\"But in time the airships may cause us trouble,\" continued Ozma, \"for\nif the earth folk learn how to manage them we would be overrun with\nvisitors who would ruin our lovely, secluded fairyland.\"\n\n\"That is true enough,\" agreed the Wizard.\n\n\"Also the desert fails to protect us in other ways,\" Ozma went on,\nthoughtfully. \"Johnny Dooit once made a sand-boat that sailed across\nit, and the Nome King made a tunnel under it. So I believe something\nought to be done to cut us off from the rest of the world entirely, so\nthat no one in the future will ever be able to intrude upon us.\"\n\n\"How will you do that?\" asked the Scarecrow.\n\n\"I do not know; but in some way I am sure it can be accomplished.\nTo-morrow I will make a journey to the castle of Glinda the Good, and\nask her advice.\"\n\n\"May I go with you?\" asked Dorothy, eagerly.\n\n\"Of course, my dear Princess; and I also invite any of our friends here\nwho would like to undertake the journey.\"\n\nThey all declared they wished to accompany their girl Ruler, for this\nwas indeed an important mission, since the future of the Land of Oz to\na great extent depended upon it. So Ozma gave orders to her servants\nto prepare for the journey on the morrow.\n\nThat day she watched her Magic Picture, and when it showed her that all\nthe Nomes had returned through the tunnel to their underground caverns,\nOzma used the Magic Belt to close up the tunnel, so that the earth\nunderneath the desert sands became as solid as it was before the Nomes\nbegan to dig.\n\nEarly the following morning a gay cavalcade set out to visit the famous\nSorceress, Glinda the Good. Ozma and Dorothy rode in a chariot drawn\nby the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger, while the Sawhorse drew the\nred wagon in which rode the rest of the party.\n\nWith hearts light and free from care they traveled merrily along\nthrough the lovely and fascinating Land of Oz, and in good season\nreached the stately castle in which resided the Sorceress.\n\nGlinda knew that they were coming.\n\n\"I have been reading about you in my Magic Book,\" she said, as she\ngreeted them in her gracious way.\n\n\"What is your Magic Book like?\" inquired Aunt Em, curiously.\n\n\"It is a record of everything that happens,\" replied the Sorceress.\n\"As soon as an event takes place, anywhere in the world, it is\nimmediately found printed in my Magic Book. So when I read its pages I\nam well informed.\"\n\n\"Did it tell you how our enemies drank the Water of \'Blivion?\" asked\nDorothy.\n\n\"Yes, my dear; it told all about it. And also it told me you were all\ncoming to my castle, and why.\"\n\n\"Then,\" said Ozma, \"I suppose you know what is in my mind, and that I\nam seeking a way to prevent any one in the future from discovering the\nLand of Oz.\"\n\n\"Yes; I know that. And while you were on your journey I have thought\nof a way to accomplish your desire. For it seems to me unwise to allow\ntoo many outside people to come here. Dorothy, with her uncle and\naunt, has now returned to Oz to live always, and there is no reason why\nwe should leave any way open for others to travel uninvited to our\nfairyland. Let us make it impossible for any one ever to communicate\nwith us in any way, after this. Then we may live peacefully and\ncontentedly.\"\n\n\"Your advice is wise,\" returned Ozma. \"I thank you, Glinda, for your\npromise to assist me.\"\n\n\"But how can you do it?\" asked Dorothy. \"How can you keep every one\nfrom ever finding Oz?\"\n\n\"By making our country invisible to all eyes but our own,\" replied the\nSorceress, smiling. \"I have a magic charm powerful enough to\naccomplish that wonderful feat, and now that we have been warned of our\ndanger by the Nome King\'s invasion, I believe we must not hesitate to\nseparate ourselves forever from all the rest of the world.\"\n\n\"I agree with you,\" said the Ruler of Oz.\n\n\"Won\'t it make any difference to us?\" asked Dorothy, doubtfully.\n\n\"No, my dear,\" Glinda answered, assuringly. \"We shall still be able to\nsee each other and everything in the Land of Oz. It won\'t affect us at\nall; but those who fly through the air over our country will look down\nand see nothing at all. Those who come to the edge of the desert, or\ntry to cross it, will catch no glimpse of Oz, or know in what direction\nit lies. No one will try to tunnel to us again because we cannot be\nseen and therefore cannot be found. In other words, the Land of Oz\nwill entirely disappear from the knowledge of the rest of the world.\"\n\n\"That\'s all right,\" said Dorothy, cheerfully. \"You may make Oz\ninvis\'ble as soon as you please, for all I care.\"\n\n\"It is already invisible,\" Glinda stated. \"I knew Ozma\'s wishes, and\nperformed the Magic Spell before you arrived.\"\n\nOzma seized the hand of the Sorceress and pressed it gratefully.\n\n\"Thank you!\" she said.\n\n\n\n30. How the Story of Oz Came to an End\n\nThe writer of these Oz stories has received a little note from Princess\nDorothy of Oz which, for a time, has made him feel rather disconcerted.\nThe note was written on a broad, white feather from a stork\'s wing, and\nit said:\n\n\n\"YOU WILL NEVER HEAR ANYTHING MORE ABOUT OZ, BECAUSE WE ARE NOW CUT OFF\nFOREVER FROM ALL THE REST OF THE WORLD. BUT TOTO AND I WILL ALWAYS\nLOVE YOU AND ALL THE OTHER CHILDREN WHO LOVE US.\n\n\"DOROTHY GALE.\"\n\n\nThis seemed to me too bad, at first, for Oz is a very interesting\nfairyland. Still, we have no right to feel grieved, for we have had\nenough of the history of the Land of Oz to fill six story books, and\nfrom its quaint people and their strange adventures we have been able\nto learn many useful and amusing things.\n\nSo good luck to little Dorothy and her companions. May they live long\nin their invisible country and be very happy!'"