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: Earth's Dreamlands : Info on: RPG's, :(313)558-5024 : area code :
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The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Marvelous Land of Oz
|
||
|
||
by L. Frank Baum
|
||
|
||
|
||
The Marvelous
|
||
Land of Oz
|
||
|
||
Being an account of the
|
||
further adventures of the
|
||
|
||
Scarecrow
|
||
and Tin Woodman
|
||
|
||
and also the strange ex-
|
||
periences of the highly mag-
|
||
nified Woggle-Bug, Jack Pumpkin-
|
||
head, the Animated Saw-Horse
|
||
and the Gump;
|
||
the story being
|
||
|
||
A Sequel to The Wizard of Oz
|
||
|
||
By
|
||
|
||
L. Frank Baum
|
||
|
||
Author of Father Goose-His Book; The Wizard of Oz; The Magical Monarch
|
||
of Mo; The Enchanted Isle of Yew; The Life and Adventures of
|
||
Santa Claus; Dot and Tot of Merryland etc. etc.
|
||
|
||
PICTURED BY
|
||
|
||
John R. Neil
|
||
|
||
BOOKS OF WONDER
|
||
WILLIAM MORROW & COMPANY, INC.
|
||
NEW YORK
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
Copyright 1904
|
||
|
||
by
|
||
|
||
L. Frank Baum
|
||
|
||
All rights reserved
|
||
|
||
Published, July, 1904
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
Author's Note
|
||
|
||
AFTER the publication of "The Wonderful Wizard of OZ" I began to receive
|
||
letters from children, telling me of their pleasure in reading the story and
|
||
asking me to "write something more" about the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman.
|
||
At first I considered these little letters, frank and earnest though they
|
||
were, in the light of pretty compliments; but the letters continued to come
|
||
during succeeding months, and even years.
|
||
|
||
Finally I promised one little girl, who made a long journey to see me and
|
||
prefer her request, -- and she is a "Dorothy," by the way -- that when a
|
||
thousand little girls had written me a thousand little letters asking for
|
||
the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman I would write the book, Either little
|
||
Dorothy was a fairy in disguise, and waved her magic wand, or the success of
|
||
the stage production of "The Wizard of OZ" made new friends for the story,
|
||
For the thousand letters reached their destination long since -- and many
|
||
more followed them.
|
||
|
||
And now, although pleading guilty to long delay, I have kept my promise in
|
||
this book.
|
||
|
||
L. FRANK BAUM.
|
||
|
||
Chicago, June, 1904
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
To those excellent
|
||
good fellows
|
||
and
|
||
comedians
|
||
David C.
|
||
Montgomery
|
||
and
|
||
Frank A. Stone
|
||
whose clever
|
||
personations of
|
||
the
|
||
Tin Woodman
|
||
and the
|
||
Scarecrow
|
||
have delighted
|
||
thousands of
|
||
children
|
||
throughout the land,
|
||
this book is
|
||
gratefully dedicated
|
||
by
|
||
THE AUTHOR
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
LIST OF CHAPTERS
|
||
PAGE
|
||
Tip Manufactures Pumpkinhead 7
|
||
|
||
The Marvelous Powder of Life 15
|
||
|
||
The Flight of the Fugitives 29
|
||
|
||
Tip Makes an Experiment in Magic 39
|
||
|
||
The Awakening of the Saw-horse 47
|
||
|
||
Jack Pumpkinhead's Ride to the Emerald City 59
|
||
|
||
His Majesty the Scarecrow 71
|
||
|
||
Gen. Jinjur's Army of Revolt 83
|
||
|
||
The Scarecrow Plans an escape 97
|
||
|
||
The Journey to the Tin Woodman 109
|
||
|
||
A Nickel-Plated Emperor 121
|
||
|
||
Mr. H. M. Woggle-Bug, T. E. 135
|
||
|
||
A Highly Magnified History 147
|
||
|
||
Old Mombi indulges in Witchcraft 159
|
||
|
||
The Prisoners of the Queen 169
|
||
|
||
The Scarecrow Takes Time to Think 181
|
||
|
||
The Astonishing Flight of the Gump 191
|
||
|
||
In the Jackdaw's Nest 201
|
||
|
||
Dr. Nikidik's Famous Wishing Pills 219
|
||
|
||
The Scarecrow Appeals to Glenda the Good 231
|
||
|
||
The Tin-Woodman Plucks a Rose 247
|
||
|
||
The Transformation of Old Mombi 257
|
||
|
||
Princess Ozma of Oz 265
|
||
|
||
The Riches of Content 279
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
7 Tip Manufactures a Pumpkinhead
|
||
|
||
|
||
In the Country of the Gillikins, which is at the North of the Land of Oz,
|
||
lived a youth called Tip. There was more to his name than that, for old
|
||
Mombi often declared that his whole name was Tippetarius; but no one was
|
||
expected to say such a long word when "Tip" would do just as well.
|
||
|
||
This boy remembered nothing of his parents, for he had been brought when
|
||
quite young to be reared by the old woman known as Mombi, whose reputation,
|
||
I am sorry to say, was none of the best. For the Gillikin people had reason
|
||
to suspect her of indulging in magical arts, and therefore hesitated to
|
||
associate with her.
|
||
|
||
Mombi was not exactly a Witch, because the Good Witch who ruled that part of
|
||
the Land of Oz
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
8 Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
had forbidden any other Witch to exist in her dominions. So Tip's guardian,
|
||
however much she might aspire to working magic, realized it was unlawful to
|
||
be more than a Sorceress, or at most a Wizardess.
|
||
|
||
Tip was made to carry wood from the forest, that the old woman might boil
|
||
her pot. He also worked in the corn-fields, hoeing and husking; and he fed
|
||
the pigs and milked the four-horned cow that was Mombi's especial pride.
|
||
|
||
But you must not suppose he worked all the time, for he felt that would be
|
||
bad for him. When sent to the forest Tip often climbed trees for birds' eggs
|
||
or amused himself chasing the fleet white rabbits or fishing in the brooks
|
||
with bent pins. Then he would hastily gather his armful of wood and carry it
|
||
home. And when he was supposed to be working in the corn-fields, and the
|
||
tall stalks hid him from Mombi's view, Tip would often dig in the gopher
|
||
holes, or if the mood seized him --
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
9
|
||
lie upon his back between the rows of corn and take a nap. So, by taking
|
||
care not to exhaust his strength, he grew as strong and rugged as a boy may
|
||
be.
|
||
|
||
Mombi's curious magic often frightened her neighbors, and they treated her
|
||
shyly, yet respectfully, because of her weird powers. But Tip frankly hated
|
||
her, and took no pains to hide his feelings. Indeed, he sometimes showed
|
||
less respect for the old woman than he should have done, considering she was
|
||
his guardian.
|
||
|
||
There were pumpkins in Mombi's corn-fields, lying golden red among the rows
|
||
of green stalks; and these had been planted and carefully tended that the
|
||
four-horned cow might eat of them in the winter time. But one day, after the
|
||
corn had all been cut and stacked, and Tip was carrying the pumpkins to the
|
||
stable, he took a notion to make a "Jack Lantern" and try to give the old
|
||
woman a fright with it.
|
||
|
||
So he selected a fine, big pumpkin -- one with a lustrous, orange-red color
|
||
-- and began carving it. With the point of his knife he made two round eyes,
|
||
a three-cornered nose, and
|
||
|
||
Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
10
|
||
a mouth shaped like a new moon. The face, when completed, could not have
|
||
been considered strictly beautiful; but it wore a smile so big and broad,
|
||
and was so Jolly in expression, that even Tip laughed as he looked
|
||
admiringly at his work.
|
||
|
||
The child had no playmates, so he did not know that boys often dig out the
|
||
inside of a "pumpkin-jack," and in the space thus made put a lighted candle
|
||
to render the face more startling; but he conceived an idea of his own that
|
||
promised to be quite as effective. He decided to manufacture the form of a
|
||
man, who would wear this pumpkin head, and to stand it in a place where old
|
||
Mombi would meet it face to face.
|
||
|
||
"And then," said Tip to himself, with a laugh, "she'll squeal louder than
|
||
the brown pig does when I pull her tail, and shiver with fright worse than I
|
||
did last year when I had the ague!"
|
||
|
||
He had plenty of time to accomplish this task, for Mombi had gone to a
|
||
village -- to buy groceries, she said -- and it was a journey of at least
|
||
two days.
|
||
|
||
So he took his axe to the forest, and selected some stout, straight
|
||
saplings, which he cut down and trimmed of all their twigs and leaves. From
|
||
these he would make the arms, and legs, and feet of his man. For the body he
|
||
stripped a sheet of thick
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
11
|
||
bark from around a big tree, and with much labor fashioned it into a
|
||
cylinder of about the right size, pinning the edges together with wooden
|
||
pegs. Then, whistling happily as he worked, he carefully jointed the limbs
|
||
and fastened them to the body with pegs whittled into shape with his knife.
|
||
|
||
By the time this feat had been accomplished it began to grow dark, and Tip
|
||
remembered he must milk the cow and feed the pigs. So he picked up his
|
||
wooden man and carried it back to the house with him.
|
||
|
||
During the evening, by the light of the fire in the kitchen, Tip carefully
|
||
rounded all the edges of the joints and smoothed the rough places in a neat
|
||
and workmanlike manner. Then he stood the figure up against the wall and
|
||
admired it. It seemed remarkably tall, even for a full-grown man; but that
|
||
was a good point in a small boy's eyes, and Tip did not object at all to the
|
||
size of his creation.
|
||
|
||
Next morning, when he looked at his work again, Tip saw he had forgotten to
|
||
give the dummy a neck, by means of which he might fasten the pumpkinhead to
|
||
the body. So he went again to the forest, which was not far away, and
|
||
chopped from a tree several pieces of wood with which to complete his work.
|
||
When he returned he fastened a cross-piece
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
12
|
||
to the upper end of the body, making a hole through the center to hold
|
||
upright the neck. The bit of wood which formed this neck was also sharpened
|
||
at the upper end, and when all was ready Tip put on the pumpkin head,
|
||
pressing it well down onto the neck, and found that it fitted very well. The
|
||
head could be turned to one side or the other, as he pleased, and the hinges
|
||
of the arms and legs allowed him to place the dummy in any position he
|
||
desired.
|
||
|
||
"Now, that," declared Tip, proudly, "is really a very fine man, and it
|
||
ought to frighten several screeches out of old Mombi! But it would be much
|
||
more lifelike if it were properly dressed."
|
||
|
||
To find clothing seemed no easy task; but Tip boldly ransacked the great
|
||
chest in which Mombi kept all her keepsakes and treasures, and at the very
|
||
bottom he discovered some purple trousers, a red shirt and a pink vest which
|
||
was dotted with white spots. These he carried away to his man and succeeded,
|
||
although the garments did not fit very well, in dressing the creature in a
|
||
jaunty fashion. Some knit stockings belonging to Mombi and a much worn pair
|
||
of his own shoes completed the man's apparel, and Tip was so delighted that
|
||
he danced up and down and laughed aloud in boyish ecstacy.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
13
|
||
|
||
"I must give him a name!" he cried. "So good a man as this must surely have
|
||
a name. I believe," he added, after a moment's thought, "I will name the
|
||
fellow 'Jack Pumpkinhead!'"
|
||
|
||
Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
14 Full page line-art drawing.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
15 The Marvelous Powder of Life
|
||
|
||
|
||
After considering the matter carefully, Tip decided that the best place to
|
||
locate Jack would be at the bend in the road, a little way from the house.
|
||
So he started to carry his man there, but found him heavy and rather awkward
|
||
to handle. After dragging the creature a short distance Tip stood him on his
|
||
feet, and by first bending the joints of one leg, and then those of the
|
||
other, at the same time pushing from behind, the boy managed to induce Jack
|
||
to walk to the bend in the road. It was not accomplished without a few
|
||
tumbles, and Tip really worked harder than he ever had in the fields or
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
16
|
||
forest; but a love of mischief urged him on, and it pleased him to test the
|
||
cleverness of his workmanship.
|
||
|
||
"Jack's all right, and works fine!" he said to himself, panting with the
|
||
unusual exertion. But just then he discovered the man's left arm had fallen
|
||
off in the journey so he went back to find it, and afterward, by whittling a
|
||
new and stouter pin for the shoulder-joint, he repaired the injury so
|
||
successfully that the arm was stronger than before. Tip also noticed that
|
||
Jack's pumpkin head had twisted around until it faced his back; but this was
|
||
easily remedied. When, at last, the man was set up facing the turn in the
|
||
path where old Mombi was to appear, he looked natural enough to be a fair
|
||
imitation of a Gillikin farmer, -- and unnatural enough to startle anyone
|
||
that came on him unawares.
|
||
|
||
As it was yet too early in the day to expect the old woman to return home,
|
||
Tip went down into the valley below the farm-house and began to gather nuts
|
||
from the trees that grew there.
|
||
|
||
However, old Mombi returned earlier than usual. She had met a crooked
|
||
wizard who resided in a lonely cave in the mountains, and had traded
|
||
several important secrets of magic with him. Hav-
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
17
|
||
ing in this way secured three new recipes, four magical powders and a
|
||
selection of herbs of wonderful power and potency, she hobbled home as fast
|
||
as she could, in order to test her new sorceries.
|
||
|
||
So intent was Mombi on the treasures she had gained that when she turned the
|
||
bend in the road and caught a glimpse of the man, she merely nodded and
|
||
said:
|
||
|
||
"Good evening, sir."
|
||
|
||
But, a moment after, noting that the person did not move or reply, she cast
|
||
a shrewd glance into his face and discovered his pumpkin head elaborately
|
||
carved by Tip's jack-knife.
|
||
|
||
"Heh!" ejaculated Mombi, giving a sort of grunt; "that rascally boy has
|
||
been playing tricks again! Very good! ve -- ry good! I'll beat him black-
|
||
and-blue for trying to scare me in this fashion!"
|
||
|
||
Angrily she raised her stick to smash in the grinning pumpkin head of the
|
||
dummy; but a sudden thought made her pause, the uplifted stick left
|
||
motionless in the air.
|
||
|
||
"Why, here is a good chance to try my new powder!" said she, eagerly. "And
|
||
then I can tell whether that crooked wizard has fairly traded secrets, or
|
||
whether he has fooled me as wickedly as I fooled him."
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
18
|
||
|
||
So she set down her basket and began fumbling in it for one of the precious
|
||
powders she had obtained.
|
||
|
||
While Mombi was thus occupied Tip strolled back, with his pockets full of
|
||
nuts, and discovered the old woman standing beside his man and apparently
|
||
not the least bit frightened by it.
|
||
|
||
At first he was generally disappointed; but the next moment he became
|
||
curious to know what Mombi was going to do. So he hid behind a hedge, where
|
||
he could see without being seen, and prepared to watch.
|
||
|
||
After some search the woman drew from her basket an old pepper-box, upon the
|
||
faded label of which the wizard had written with a lead-pencil:
|
||
|
||
"Powder of Life."
|
||
|
||
"Ah -- here it is!" she cried, joyfully. "And now let us see if it is
|
||
potent. The stingy wizard didn't give me much of it, but I guess there's
|
||
enough for two or three doses."
|
||
|
||
Tip was much surprised when he overheard this speech. Then he saw old Mombi
|
||
raise her arm and sprinkle the powder from the box over the pumpkin head of
|
||
his man Jack. She did this in the same way one would pepper a baked potato,
|
||
and the powder sifted down from Jack's head and scattered
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
19 Full page line-art drawing.
|
||
|
||
"OLD MOMBI DANCED AROUND HIM"
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
20
|
||
over the red shirt and pink waistcoat and purple trousers Tip had dressed
|
||
him in, and a portion even fell upon the patched and worn shoes.
|
||
|
||
Then, putting the pepper-box back into the basket, Mombi lifted her left
|
||
hand, with its little finger pointed upward, and said:
|
||
|
||
"Weaugh!"
|
||
|
||
Then she lifted her right hand, with the thumb pointed upward, and said:
|
||
|
||
"Teaugh!"
|
||
|
||
Then she lifted both hands, with all the fingers and thumbs spread out, and
|
||
cried:
|
||
|
||
"Peaugh!"
|
||
|
||
Jack Pumpkinhead stepped back a pace, at this, and said in a reproachful
|
||
voice:
|
||
|
||
"Don't yell like that! Do you think I'm deaf?"
|
||
|
||
Old Mombi danced around him, frantic with delight.
|
||
|
||
"He lives!" she screamed: "He lives! he lives!"
|
||
|
||
Then she threw her stick into the air and caught it as it came down; and she
|
||
hugged herself with both arms, and tried to do a step of a jig; and all the
|
||
time she repeated, rapturously:
|
||
|
||
"He lives! -- he lives! -- he lives!"
|
||
|
||
Now you may well suppose that Tip observed all this with amazement.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
21
|
||
|
||
At first he was so frightened and horrified that he wanted to run away, but
|
||
his legs trembled and shook so badly that he couldn't. Then it struck him as
|
||
a very funny thing for Jack to come to life, especially as the expression on
|
||
his pumpkin face was so droll and comical it excited laughter on the
|
||
instant. So, recovering from his first fear, Tip began to laugh; and the
|
||
merry peals reached old Mombi's ears and made her hobble quickly to the
|
||
hedge, where she seized Tip's collar and dragged him back to where she had
|
||
left her basket and the pumpkinheaded man.
|
||
|
||
"You naughty, sneaking, wicked boy!" she exclaimed, furiously:" I'll teach
|
||
you to spy out my secrets and to make fun of me!"
|
||
|
||
"I wasn't making fun of you," protested Tip. "I was laughing at old
|
||
Pumpkinhead! Look at him! Isn't he a picture, though?"
|
||
|
||
"I hope you are not reflecting on my personal appearance," said Jack; and it
|
||
was so funny to hear his grave voice, while his face continued to wear its
|
||
jolly smile, that Tip again burst into a peal of laughter.
|
||
|
||
Even Mombi was not without a curious interest in the man her magic had
|
||
brought to life; for, after staring at him intently, she presently asked:
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
22 Full page line-art drawing.
|
||
|
||
OLD MOMBI PUTS JACK IN THE STABLE
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
23
|
||
|
||
"What do you know?"
|
||
|
||
"Well, that is hard to tell," replied Jack. "For although I feel that I
|
||
know a tremendous lot, I am not yet aware how much there is in the world to
|
||
find out about. It will take me a little time to discover whether I am very
|
||
wise or very foolish."
|
||
|
||
"To be sure," said Mombi, thoughtfully.
|
||
|
||
"But what are you going to do with him, now he is alive?" asked Tip,
|
||
wondering.
|
||
|
||
"I must think it over," answered Mombi. "But we must get home at once, for
|
||
it is growing dark. Help the Pumpkinhead to walk."
|
||
|
||
"Never mind me," said Jack; "I can walk as well as you can. Haven't I got
|
||
legs and feet, and aren't they jointed?"
|
||
|
||
"Are they?" asked the woman, turning to Tip.
|
||
|
||
"Of course they are; I made 'em myself," returned the boy, with pride.
|
||
|
||
So they started for the house, but when they reached the farm yard old
|
||
Mombi led the pumpkin man to the cow stable and shut him up in an empty
|
||
stall, fastening the door securely on the outside.
|
||
|
||
"I've got to attend to you, first," she said, nodding her head at Tip.
|
||
|
||
Hearing this, the boy became uneasy; for he
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
24
|
||
knew Mombi had a bad and revengeful heart, and would not hesitate to do any
|
||
evil thing.
|
||
|
||
They entered the house. It was a round, domeshaped structure, as are nearly
|
||
all the farm houses in the Land of Oz.
|
||
|
||
Mombi bade the boy light a candle, while she put her basket in a cupboard
|
||
and hung her cloak on a peg. Tip obeyed quickly, for he was afraid of her.
|
||
|
||
After the candle had been lighted Mombi ordered him to build a fire in the
|
||
hearth, and while Tip was thus engaged the old woman ate her supper. When
|
||
the flames began to crackle the boy came to her and asked a share of the
|
||
bread and cheese; but Mombi refused him.
|
||
|
||
"I'm hungry!" said Tip, in a sulky tone.
|
||
|
||
"You won't be hungry long," replied Mombi, with a grim look.
|
||
|
||
The boy didn't like this speech, for it sounded like a threat; but he
|
||
happened to remember he had nuts in his pocket, so he cracked some of those
|
||
and ate them while the woman rose, shook the crumbs from her apron, and hung
|
||
above the fire a small black kettle.
|
||
|
||
Then she measured out equal parts of milk and vinegar and poured them into
|
||
the kettle. Next she
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
25
|
||
produced several packets of herbs and powders and began adding a portion of
|
||
each to the contents of the kettle. Occasionally she would draw near the
|
||
candle and read from a yellow paper the recipe of the mess she was
|
||
concocting.
|
||
|
||
As Tip watched her his uneasiness increased.
|
||
|
||
"What is that for?" he asked.
|
||
|
||
"For you," returned Mombi, briefly.
|
||
|
||
Tip wriggled around upon his stool and stared awhile at the kettle, which
|
||
was beginning to bubble. Then he would glance at the stern and wrinkled
|
||
features of the witch and wish he were any place but in that dim and smoky
|
||
kitchen, where even the shadows cast by the candle upon the wall were enough
|
||
to give one the horrors. So an hour passed away, during which the silence
|
||
was only broken by the bubbling of the pot and the hissing of the flames.
|
||
|
||
Finally, Tip spoke again.
|
||
|
||
"Have I got to drink that stuff?" he asked, nodding toward the pot.
|
||
|
||
"Yes," said Mombi.
|
||
|
||
"What'll it do to me?" asked Tip.
|
||
|
||
"If it's properly made," replied Mombi, "it will change or transform you
|
||
into a marble statue."
|
||
|
||
Tip groaned, and wiped the perspiration from his forehead with his sleeve.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
26
|
||
|
||
"I don't want to be a marble statue!" he protested.
|
||
|
||
"That doesn't matter I want you to be one," said the old woman, looking at
|
||
him severely.
|
||
|
||
"What use'll I be then?" asked Tip. "There won't be any one to work for
|
||
you."
|
||
|
||
"I'll make the Pumpkinhead work for me," said Mombi.
|
||
|
||
Again Tip groaned.
|
||
|
||
"Why don't you change me into a goat, or a chicken?" he asked, anxiously.
|
||
"You can't do anything with a marble statue."
|
||
|
||
"Oh, yes, I can," returned Mombi. "I'm going to plant a flower garden, next
|
||
Spring, and I'll put you in the middle of it, for an ornament. I wonder I
|
||
haven't thought of that before; you've been a bother to me for years."
|
||
|
||
At this terrible speech Tip felt the beads of perspiration starting all
|
||
over his body. but he sat still and shivered and looked anxiously at the
|
||
kettle.
|
||
|
||
"Perhaps it won't work," he mutttered, in a voice that sounded weak and
|
||
discouraged.
|
||
|
||
"Oh, I think it will," answered Mombi, cheerfully. "I seldom make a
|
||
mistake."
|
||
|
||
Again there was a period of silence a silence so long and gloomy that when
|
||
Mombi finally lifted the kettle from the fire it was close to midnight.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
27 Full page line-art drawing.
|
||
|
||
"I DON'T WANT TO BE A MARBLE STATUE."
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
28
|
||
|
||
"You cannot drink it until it has become quite cold," announced the old
|
||
witch for in spite of the law she had acknowledged practising witchcraft.
|
||
"We must both go to bed now, and at daybreak I will call you and at once
|
||
complete your transformation into a marble statue."
|
||
|
||
With this she hobbled into her room, bearing the steaming kettle with her,
|
||
and Tip heard her close and lock the door.
|
||
|
||
The boy did not go to bed, as he had been commanded to do, but still sat
|
||
glaring at the embers of the dying fire.
|
||
|
||
Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
29 The Flight of the Fugitives
|
||
|
||
|
||
Tip reflected.
|
||
|
||
"It's a hard thing, to be a marble statue," he thought, rebelliously, "and
|
||
I'm not going to stand it. For years I've been a bother to her, she says; so
|
||
she's going to get rid of me. Well, there's an easier way than to become a
|
||
statue. No boy could have any fun forever standing in the middle of a flower
|
||
garden! I'll run away, that's what I'll do -- and I may as well go before
|
||
she makes me drink that nasty stuff in the kettle." He waited until the
|
||
snores of the old witch announced she was fast asleep, and then he arose
|
||
softly and went to the cupboard to find something to eat.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
30
|
||
|
||
"No use starting on a journey without food," he decided, searching upon the
|
||
narrow shelves.
|
||
|
||
He found some crusts of bread; but he had to look into Mombi's basket to
|
||
find the cheese she had brought from the village. While turning over the
|
||
contents of the basket he came upon the pepper-box which contained the
|
||
"Powder of Life."
|
||
|
||
"I may as well take this with me," he thought, "or Mombi'll be using it to
|
||
make more mischief with." So he put the box in his pocket, together with the
|
||
bread and cheese.
|
||
|
||
Then he cautiously left the house and latched the door behind him. Outside
|
||
both moon and stars shone brightly, and the night seemed peaceful and
|
||
inviting after the close and ill-smelling kitchen.
|
||
|
||
"I'll be glad to get away," said Tip, softly; "for I never did like that old
|
||
woman. I wonder how I ever came to live with her."
|
||
|
||
He was walking slowly toward the road when a thought made him pause.
|
||
|
||
"I don't like to leave Jack Pumpkinhead to the tender mercies of old Mombi,"
|
||
he muttered. "And Jack belongs to me, for I made him even if the old witch
|
||
did bring him to life."
|
||
|
||
He retraced his steps to the cow-stable and opened the door of the stall
|
||
where the pumpkin-
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
31 Full page line-art drawing.
|
||
|
||
"TIP LED HIM ALONG THE PATH."
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
32
|
||
headed man had been left.
|
||
|
||
Jack was standing in the middle of the stall, and by the moonlight Tip could
|
||
see he was smiling just as jovially as ever.
|
||
|
||
"Come on!" said the boy, beckoning."
|
||
|
||
"Where to?" asked Jack.
|
||
|
||
"You'll know as soon as I do," answered Tip, smiling sympathetically into
|
||
the pumpkin face.
|
||
|
||
"All we've got to do now is to tramp."
|
||
|
||
"Very well," returned Jack, and walked awkwardly out of the stable and into
|
||
the moonlight.
|
||
|
||
Tip turned toward the road and the man followed him. Jack walked with a sort
|
||
of limp, and occasionally one of the joints of his legs would turn backward,
|
||
instead of frontwise, almost causing him to tumble. But the Pumpkinhead was
|
||
quick to notice this, and began to take more pains to step carefully; so
|
||
that he met with few accidents.
|
||
|
||
Tip led him along the path without stopping an instant. They could not go
|
||
very fast, but they walked steadily; and by the time the moon sank away and
|
||
the sun peeped over the hills they had travelled so great a distance that
|
||
the boy had no reason to fear pursuit from the old witch. Moreover, he had
|
||
turned first into one path, and then into another, so that should anyone
|
||
follow them it
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
33
|
||
would prove very difficult to guess which way they had gone, or where to
|
||
seek them.
|
||
|
||
Fairly satisfied that he had escaped -- for a time, at least -- being turned
|
||
into a marble statue, the boy stopped his companion and seated himself upon
|
||
a rock by the roadside.
|
||
|
||
"Let's have some breakfast," he said.
|
||
|
||
Jack Pumpkinhead watched Tip curiously, but refused to join in the repast.
|
||
"I don't seem to be made the same way you are," he said.
|
||
|
||
"I know you are not," returned Tip; "for I made you."
|
||
|
||
"Oh! Did you?" asked Jack.
|
||
|
||
"Certainly. And put you together. And carved your eyes and nose and ears and
|
||
|
||
Line-Art Drawing along the right side of the page
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
34
|
||
mouth," said Tip proudly. "And dressed you."
|
||
|
||
Jack looked at his body and limbs critically.
|
||
|
||
"It strikes me you made a very good job of it," he remarked.
|
||
|
||
"Just so-so," replied Tip, modestly; for he began to see certain defects in
|
||
the construction of his man. "If I'd known we were going to travel together
|
||
I might have been a little more particular."
|
||
|
||
"Why, then," said the Pumpkinhead, in a tone that expressed surprise, "you
|
||
must be my creator my parent my father!"
|
||
|
||
"Or your inventor," replied the boy with a laugh. "Yes, my son; I really
|
||
believe I am!"
|
||
|
||
"Then I owe you obedience," continued the man, "and you owe me -- support."
|
||
|
||
"That's it, exactly", declared Tip, jumping up. "So let us be off."
|
||
|
||
"Where are we going?" asked Jack, when they had resumed their journey.
|
||
|
||
"I'm not exactly sure," said the boy; "but I believe we are headed South,
|
||
and that will bring us, sooner or later, to the Emerald City."
|
||
|
||
"What city is that?" enquired the Pumpkinhead.
|
||
|
||
"Why, it's the center of the Land of Oz, and the biggest town in all the
|
||
country. I've never been there, myself, but I've heard all about its
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
35
|
||
history. It was built by a mighty and wonderful Wizard named Oz, and
|
||
everything there is of a green color -- just as everything in this Country
|
||
of the Gillikins is of a purple color."
|
||
|
||
"Is everything here purple?" asked Jack.
|
||
|
||
"Of course it is. Can't you see?" returned the boy.
|
||
|
||
"I believe I must be color-blind," said the Pumpkinhead, after staring about
|
||
him.
|
||
|
||
"Well, the grass is purple, and the trees are purple, and the houses and
|
||
fences are purple," explained Tip. "Even the mud in the roads is purple. But
|
||
in the Emerald City everything is green that is purple here. And in the
|
||
Country of the Munchkins, over at the East, everything is blue; and in the
|
||
South country of the Quadlings everything is red; and in the West country of
|
||
the Winkies, where the Tin Woodman rules, everything is yellow."
|
||
|
||
"Oh!" said Jack. Then, after a pause, he asked: "Did you say a Tin Woodman
|
||
rules the Winkies?"
|
||
|
||
"Yes; he was one of those who helped Dorothy to destroy the Wicked Witch of
|
||
the West, and the Winkies were so grateful that they invited him to become
|
||
their ruler, -- just as the people of the Emerald City invited the Scarecrow
|
||
to rule them."
|
||
|
||
"Dear me!" said Jack. "I'm getting confused with all this history. Who is
|
||
the Scarecrow?"
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
36
|
||
|
||
"Another friend of Dorothy's," replied Tip.
|
||
|
||
"And who is Dorothy?"
|
||
|
||
"She was a girl that came here from Kansas, a place in the big, outside
|
||
World. She got blown to the Land of Oz by a cyclone, and while she was here
|
||
the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman accompanied her on her travels."
|
||
|
||
"And where is she now?" inquired the Pumpkinhead.
|
||
|
||
"Glinda the Good, who rules the Quadlings, sent her home again," said the
|
||
boy.
|
||
|
||
"Oh. And what became of the Scarecrow?"
|
||
|
||
"I told you. He rules the Emerald City," answered Tip.
|
||
|
||
"I thought you said it was ruled by a wonderful Wizard," objected Jack,
|
||
seeming more and more confused.
|
||
|
||
"Well, so I did. Now, pay attention, and I'll explain it," said Tip,
|
||
speaking slowly and looking the smiling Pumpkinhead squarely in the eye.
|
||
"Dorothy went to the Emerald City to ask the Wizard to send her back to
|
||
Kansas; and the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman went with her. But the Wizard
|
||
couldn't send her back, because he wasn't so much of a Wizard as he might
|
||
have been. And then they got angry at the Wizard, and threat-
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
37
|
||
ened to expose him; so the Wizard made a big balloon and escaped in it, and
|
||
no one has ever seen him since."
|
||
|
||
"Now, that is very interesting history," said Jack, well pleased; "and I
|
||
understand it perfectly all but the explanation."
|
||
|
||
"I'm glad you do," responded Tip. "After the Wizard was gone, the people of
|
||
the Emerald City made His Majesty, the Scarecrow, their King; "and I have
|
||
heard that he became a very popular ruler."
|
||
|
||
"Are we going to see this queer King?" asked Jack, with interest.
|
||
|
||
"I think we may as well," replied the boy; "unless you have something better
|
||
to do."
|
||
|
||
"Oh, no, dear father," said the Pumpkinhead. "I am quite willing to go
|
||
wherever you please."
|
||
|
||
Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
38 Full page line-art drawing.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
39 Tip Makes an Experiment in Magic
|
||
|
||
|
||
The boy, small and rather delicate in appearance seemed somewhat embarrassed
|
||
at being called "father" by the tall, awkward, pumpkinheaded man, but to
|
||
deny the relationship would involve another long and tedious explanation; so
|
||
he changed the subject by asking, abruptly:
|
||
|
||
"Are you tired?"
|
||
|
||
"Of course not!" replied the other. "But," he continued, after a pause, "it
|
||
is quite certain I shall wear out my wooden joints if I keep on walking."
|
||
|
||
Tip reflected, as they journeyed on, that this was true. He began to regret
|
||
that he had not constructed the wooden limbs more carefully and
|
||
substantially. Yet how could he ever have guessed
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
40
|
||
that the man he had made merely to scare old Mombi with would be brought to
|
||
life by means of a magical powder contained in an old pepper-box?
|
||
|
||
So he ceased to reproach himself, and began to think how he might yet remedy
|
||
the deficiencies of Jack's weak joints.
|
||
|
||
While thus engaged they came to the edge of a wood, and the boy sat down to
|
||
rest upon an old sawhorse that some woodcutter had left there.
|
||
|
||
"Why don't you sit down?" he asked the Pumpkinhead.
|
||
|
||
"Won't it strain my joints?" inquired the other.
|
||
|
||
"Of course not. It'll rest them," declared the boy.
|
||
|
||
So Jack tried to sit down; but as soon as he bent his joints farther than
|
||
usual they gave way altogether, and he came clattering to the ground with
|
||
such a crash that Tip feared he was entirely ruined.
|
||
|
||
Line-Art Drawing along right side of this page
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
41
|
||
|
||
He rushed to the man, lifted him to his feet, straightened his arms and
|
||
legs, and felt of his head to see if by chance it had become cracked. But
|
||
Jack seemed to be in pretty good shape, after all, and Tip said to him:
|
||
|
||
"I guess you'd better remain standing, hereafter. It seems the safest way."
|
||
|
||
"Very well, dear father." just as you say, replied the smiling Jack, who had
|
||
been in no wise confused by his tumble.
|
||
|
||
Tip sat down again. Presently the Pumpkinhead asked:
|
||
|
||
"What is that thing you are sitting on?"
|
||
|
||
"Oh, this is a horse," replied the boy, carelessly.
|
||
|
||
"What is a horse?" demanded Jack.
|
||
|
||
"A horse? Why, there are two kinds of horses," returned Tip, slightly
|
||
puzzled how to explain. "One kind of horse is alive, and has four legs and a
|
||
head and a tail. And people ride upon its back."
|
||
|
||
"I understand," said Jack, cheerfully "That's the kind of horse you are now
|
||
sitting on."
|
||
|
||
"No, it isn't," answered Tip, promptly.
|
||
|
||
"Why not? That one has four legs, and a head, and a tail." Tip looked at the
|
||
saw-horse more carefully, and found that the Pumpkinhead was right. The body
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
42
|
||
had been formed from a tree-trunk, and a branch had been left sticking up at
|
||
one end that looked very much like a tail. In the other end were two big
|
||
knots that resembled eyes, and a place had been chopped away that might
|
||
easily be mistaken for the horse's mouth. As for the legs, they were four
|
||
straight limbs cut from trees and stuck fast into the body, being spread
|
||
wide apart so that the saw-horse would stand firmly when a log was laid
|
||
across it to be sawed.
|
||
|
||
"This thing resembles a real horse more than I imagined," said Tip, trying
|
||
to explain. "But a real horse is alive, and trots and prances and eats oats,
|
||
while this is nothing more than a dead horse, made of wood, and used to saw
|
||
logs upon."
|
||
|
||
"If it were alive, wouldn't it trot, and prance, and eat oats?" inquired the
|
||
Pumpkinhead.
|
||
|
||
"It would trot and prance, perhaps; but it wouldn't eat oats," replied the
|
||
boy, laughing at the idea." And of course it can't ever be alive, because it
|
||
is made of wood."
|
||
|
||
"So am I," answered the man.
|
||
|
||
Tip looked at him in surprise.
|
||
|
||
"Why, so you are!" he exclaimed. "And the magic powder that brought you to
|
||
life is here in my pocket."
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
43 Full page line-art drawing.
|
||
|
||
THE MAGICAL POWDER OF LIFE
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
44
|
||
|
||
He brought out the pepper box, and eyed it curiously.
|
||
|
||
"I wonder," said he, musingly, "if it would bring the saw-horse to life."
|
||
|
||
"If it would," returned Jack, calmly for nothing seemed to surprise him" I
|
||
could ride on its back, and that would save my joints from wearing out."
|
||
|
||
"I'll try it!" cried the boy, jumping up. "But I wonder if I can remember
|
||
the words old Mombi said, and the way she held her hands up."
|
||
|
||
He thought it over for a minute, and as he had watched carefully from the
|
||
hedge every motion of the old witch, and listened to her words, he believed
|
||
he could repeat exactly what she had said and done.
|
||
|
||
So he began by sprinkling some of the magic Powder of Life from the pepper-
|
||
box upon the body of the saw-horse. Then he lifted his left hand, with the
|
||
little finger pointing upward, and said: "Weaugh!"
|
||
|
||
"What does that mean, dear father?" asked Jack, curiously.
|
||
|
||
"I don't know," answered Tip. Then he lifted his right hand, with the thumb
|
||
pointing upward and said: "Teaugh!"
|
||
|
||
"What's that, dear father?" inquired Jack.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
45
|
||
|
||
"It means you must keep quiet!" replied the boy, provoked at being
|
||
interrupted at so important a moment.
|
||
|
||
"How fast I am learning!" remarked the Pumpkinhead, with his eternal smile.
|
||
|
||
Tip now lifted both hands above his head, with all the fingers and thumbs
|
||
spread out, and cried in a loud voice: "Peaugh!"
|
||
|
||
Immediately the saw-horse moved, stretched its legs, yawned with its
|
||
chopped-out mouth, and shook a few grains of the powder off its back. The
|
||
rest of the powder seemed to have vanished into the body of the horse.
|
||
|
||
"Good!" called Jack, while the boy looked on in astonishment. "You are a
|
||
very clever sorcerer, dear father!"
|
||
|
||
Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
46 Full page line-art drawing.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
47 The Awakening of the Saw-horse
|
||
|
||
|
||
The Saw-Horse, finding himself alive, seemed even more astonished than Tip.
|
||
He rolled his knotty eyes from side to side, taking a first wondering view
|
||
of the world in which he had now so important an existence. Then he tried to
|
||
look at himself; but he had, indeed, no neck to turn; so that in the
|
||
endeavor to see his body he kept circling around and around, without
|
||
catching even a glimpse of it. His legs were stiff and awkward, for there
|
||
were no knee-joints in them; so that presently he bumped against Jack
|
||
Pumpkinhead and sent that personage tumbling upon the moss that lined the
|
||
roadside.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
48
|
||
|
||
Tip became alarmed at this accident, as well as at the persistence of the
|
||
Saw-Horse in prancing around in a circle; so he called out:
|
||
|
||
"Whoa! Whoa, there!"
|
||
|
||
The Saw-Horse paid no attention whatever to this command, and the next
|
||
instant brought one of his wooden legs down upon Tip's foot so forcibly that
|
||
the boy danced away in pain to a safer distance, from where he again yelled:
|
||
|
||
"Whoa! Whoa, I say!"
|
||
|
||
Jack had now managed to raise himself to a sitting position, and he looked
|
||
at the Saw-Horse with much interest.
|
||
|
||
"I don't believe the animal can hear you," he remarked.
|
||
|
||
"I shout loud enough, don't I?" answered Tip, angrily.
|
||
|
||
"Yes; but the horse has no ears," said the smiling Pumpkinhead.
|
||
|
||
"Sure enough!" exclaimed Tip, noting the fact for the first time. "How,
|
||
then, am I going to stop him?"
|
||
|
||
But at that instant the Saw-Horse stopped himself, having concluded it was
|
||
impossible to see his own body. He saw Tip, however, and came close to the
|
||
boy to observe him more fully.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
49
|
||
|
||
It was really comical to see the creature walk; for it moved the legs on its
|
||
right side together, and those on its left side together, as a pacing horse
|
||
does; and that made its body rock sidewise, like a cradle.
|
||
|
||
Tip patted it upon the head, and said "Good boy! Good Boy!" in a coaxing
|
||
tone; and the Saw-Horse pranced away to examine with its bulging eyes the
|
||
form of Jack Pumpkinhead.
|
||
|
||
"I must find a halter for him," said Tip; and having made a search in his
|
||
pocket he produced a roll of strong cord. Unwinding this, he approached the
|
||
Saw-Horse and tied the cord around its neck, afterward fastening the other
|
||
end to a large tree. The Saw-Horse, not understanding the action, stepped
|
||
backward and snapped the string easily; but it made no attempt to run away.
|
||
|
||
"He's stronger than I thought," said the boy, "and rather obstinate, too."
|
||
|
||
"Why don't you make him some ears?" asked Jack. "Then you can tell him what
|
||
to do."
|
||
|
||
"That's a splendid idea!" said Tip. "How did you happen to think of it?"
|
||
|
||
"Why, I didn't think of it," answered the Pumpkinhead; "I didn't need to,
|
||
for it's the simplest and easiest thing to do."
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
50
|
||
|
||
So Tip got out his knife and fashioned some ears out of the bark of a small
|
||
tree.
|
||
|
||
"I mustn't make them too big," he said, as he whittled, "or our horse would
|
||
become a donkey."
|
||
|
||
"How is that?" inquired Jack, from the roadside.
|
||
|
||
"Why, a horse has bigger ears than a man; and a donkey has bigger ears than
|
||
a horse," explained Tip.
|
||
|
||
"Then, if my ears were longer, would I be a horse?" asked Jack.
|
||
|
||
"My friend," said Tip, gravely, "you'll never be anything but a Pumpkinhead,
|
||
no matter how big your ears are."
|
||
|
||
"Oh," returned Jack, nodding; "I think I understand."
|
||
|
||
"If you do, you're a wonder," remarked the boy "but there's no harm in
|
||
thinking you understand. I guess these ears are ready now. Will you hold the
|
||
horse while I stick them on?"
|
||
|
||
"Certainly, if you'll help me up," said Jack.
|
||
|
||
So Tip raised him to his feet, and the Pumpkinhead went to the horse and
|
||
held its head while the boy bored two holes in it with his knife-blade and
|
||
inserted the ears.
|
||
|
||
"They make him look very handsome," said Jack, admiringly.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
51
|
||
|
||
But those words, spoken close to the Saw-Horse, and being the first sounds
|
||
he had ever heard, so startled the animal that he made a bound forward and
|
||
tumbled Tip on one side and Jack on the other. Then he continued to rush
|
||
forward as if frightened by the clatter of his own foot-steps.
|
||
|
||
"Whoa!" shouted Tip, picking himself up; "whoa! you idiot whoa!" The Saw-
|
||
Horse would probably have paid no attention to this, but just then it
|
||
stepped a leg into a gopher-hole and stumbled head-over-heels to the ground,
|
||
where it lay upon its back, frantically waving its four legs in the air.
|
||
|
||
Tip ran up to it.
|
||
|
||
"You're a nice sort of a horse, I must say!" he exclaimed. "Why didn't you
|
||
stop when I yelled 'whoa?'"
|
||
|
||
"Does 'whoa' mean to stop?" asked the Saw-Horse, in a surprised voice, as it
|
||
rolled its eyes upward to look at the boy.
|
||
|
||
"Of course it does," answered Tip.
|
||
|
||
"And a hole in the ground means to stop, also, doesn't it?" continued the
|
||
horse.
|
||
|
||
"To be sure; unless you step over it," said Tip.
|
||
|
||
"What a strange place this is," the creature exclaimed, as if amazed. "What
|
||
am I doing here, anyway?"
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
52 Full page line-art drawing.
|
||
|
||
"DO KEEP THOSE LEGS STILL."
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
53
|
||
|
||
"Why, I've brought you to life," answered the boy "but it won't hurt you
|
||
any, if you mind me and do as I tell you."
|
||
|
||
"Then I will do as you tell me," replied the Saw-Horse, humbly. "But what
|
||
happened to me, a moment ago? I don't seem to be just right, someway."
|
||
|
||
"You're upside down," explained Tip. "But just keep those legs still a
|
||
minute and I'll set you right side up again."
|
||
|
||
"How many sides have I?" asked the creature, wonderingly.
|
||
|
||
"Several," said Tip, briefly. "But do keep those legs still."
|
||
|
||
The Saw-Horse now became quiet, and held its legs rigid; so that Tip, after
|
||
several efforts, was able to roll him over and set him upright.
|
||
|
||
"Ah, I seem all right now," said the queer animal, with a sigh.
|
||
|
||
"One of your ears is broken," Tip announced, after a careful examination.
|
||
"I'll have to make a new one."
|
||
|
||
Then he led the Saw-Horse back to where Jack was vainly struggling to regain
|
||
his feet, and after assisting the Pumpkinhead to stand upright Tip whittled
|
||
out a new ear and fastened it to the horse's head.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
54
|
||
|
||
"Now," said he, addressing his steed, "pay attention to what I'm going to
|
||
tell you. 'Whoa!' means to stop; 'Get-Up!' means to walk forward; 'Trot!'
|
||
means to go as fast as you can. Understand?"
|
||
|
||
"I believe I do," returned the horse.
|
||
|
||
"Very good. We are all going on a journey to the Emerald City, to see His
|
||
Majesty, the Scarecrow; and Jack Pumpkinhead is going to ride on your back,
|
||
so he won't wear out his joints."
|
||
|
||
"I don't mind," said the Saw-Horse. "Anything that suits you suits me."
|
||
|
||
Then Tip assisted Jack to get upon the horse.
|
||
|
||
"Hold on tight," he cautioned, "or you may fall off and crack your pumpkin
|
||
head."
|
||
|
||
"That would be horrible!" said Jack, with a shudder. "What shall I hold on
|
||
to?"
|
||
|
||
"Why, hold on to his ears," replied Tip, after a moment's hesitation.
|
||
|
||
"Don't do that!" remonstrated the Saw-Horse; "for then I can't hear."
|
||
|
||
That seemed reasonable, so Tip tried to think of something else.
|
||
|
||
"I'll fix it!" said he, at length. He went into the wood and cut a short
|
||
length of limb from a young, stout tree. One end of this he sharpened to a
|
||
point, and then he dug a hole in the back of
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
55 Full page line-art drawing.
|
||
|
||
"DOES IT HURT?" ASKED THE BOY
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
56
|
||
the Saw-Horse, just behind its head. Next he brought a piece of rock from
|
||
the road and hammered the post firmly into the animal's back.
|
||
|
||
"Stop! Stop!" shouted the horse; "you're jarring me terribly."
|
||
|
||
"Does it hurt?" asked the boy.
|
||
|
||
"Not exactly hurt," answered the animal; "but it makes me quite nervous to
|
||
be jarred."
|
||
|
||
"Well, it's all over now" said Tip, encouragingly. "Now, Jack, be sure to
|
||
hold fast to this post and then you can't fall off and get smashed."
|
||
|
||
So Jack held on tight, and Tip said to the horse:
|
||
|
||
"Get up."
|
||
|
||
The obedient creature at once walked forward, rocking from side to side as
|
||
he raised his feet from the ground.
|
||
|
||
Tip walked beside the Saw-Horse, quite content with this addition to their
|
||
party. Presently he began to whistle.
|
||
|
||
"What does that sound mean?" asked the horse.
|
||
|
||
"Don't pay any attention to it," said Tip. "I'm just whistling, and that
|
||
only means I'm pretty well satisfied."
|
||
|
||
"I'd whistle myself, if I could push my lips together," remarked Jack. "I
|
||
fear, dear father, that in some respects I am sadly lacking."
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
57
|
||
|
||
After journeying on for some distance the narrow path they were following
|
||
turned into a broad roadway, paved with yellow brick. By the side of the
|
||
road Tip noticed a sign-post that read:
|
||
|
||
"NINE MILES TO THE EMERALD CITY."
|
||
|
||
|
||
But it was now growing dark, so he decided to camp for the night by the
|
||
roadside and to resume the journey next morning by daybreak. He led the Saw-
|
||
Horse to a grassy mound upon which grew several bushy trees, and carefully
|
||
assisted the Pumpkinhead to alight.
|
||
|
||
"I think I'll lay you upon the ground, overnight," said the boy. "You will
|
||
be safer that way."
|
||
|
||
"How about me?" asked the Saw-Horse.
|
||
|
||
"It won't hurt you to stand," replied Tip; "and, as you can't sleep, you may
|
||
as well watch out and see that no one comes near to disturb us."
|
||
|
||
Then the boy stretched himself upon the grass beside the Pumpkinhead, and
|
||
being greatly wearied by the journey was soon fast asleep.
|
||
|
||
Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
58 Full page line-art drawing.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
59 Jack Pumpkinhead's Ride to the Emerald City
|
||
|
||
|
||
At daybreak Tip was awakened by the Pumpkinhead. He rubbed the sleep from
|
||
his eyes, bathed in a little brook, and then ate a portion of his bread and
|
||
cheese. Having thus prepared for a new day the boy said:
|
||
|
||
"Let us start at once. Nine miles is quite a distance, but we ought to reach
|
||
the Emerald City by noon if no accidents happen." So the Pumpkinhead was
|
||
again perched upon the back of the Saw-Horse and the journey was resumed.
|
||
|
||
Tip noticed that the purple tint of the grass and trees had now faded to a
|
||
dull lavender, and before long this lavender appeared to take on a greenish
|
||
tinge that gradually brightened as they drew nearer to the great City where
|
||
the Scarecrow ruled.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
60
|
||
|
||
The little party had traveled but a short two miles upon their way when the
|
||
road of yellow brick was parted by a broad and swift river. Tip was puzzled
|
||
how to cross over; but after a time he discovered a man in a ferry-boat
|
||
approaching from the other side of the stream.
|
||
|
||
When the man reached the bank Tip asked:
|
||
|
||
"Will you row us to the other side?"
|
||
|
||
"Yes, if you have money," returned the ferryman, whose face looked cross and
|
||
disagreeable.
|
||
|
||
"But I have no money," said Tip.
|
||
|
||
"None at all?" inquired the man.
|
||
|
||
"None at all," answered the boy.
|
||
|
||
"Then I'll not break my back rowing you over," said the ferryman, decidedly.
|
||
|
||
"What a nice man!" remarked the Pumpkinhead, smilingly.
|
||
|
||
The ferryman stared at him, but made no reply. Tip was trying to think, for
|
||
it was a great disappointment to him to find his journey so suddenly brought
|
||
to an end.
|
||
|
||
"I must certainly get to the Emerald City," he said to the boatman; "but how
|
||
can I cross the river if you do not take me?"
|
||
|
||
The man laughed, and it was not a nice laugh.
|
||
|
||
"That wooden horse will float," said he; "and
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
61 Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
you can ride him across. As for the pumpkinheaded loon who accompanies you,
|
||
let him sink or swim it won't matter greatly which."
|
||
|
||
"Don't worry about me," said Jack, smiling pleasantly upon the crabbed
|
||
ferryman; "I'm sure I ought to float beautifully."
|
||
|
||
Tip thought the experiment was worth making, and the Saw-Horse, who did not
|
||
know what danger meant, offered no objections whatever. So the boy led it
|
||
down into the water and climbed upon its back. Jack also waded in up to his
|
||
knees and
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
62
|
||
grasped the tail of the horse so that he might keep his pumpkin head above
|
||
the water.
|
||
|
||
"Now," said Tip, instructing the Saw-Horse, "if you wiggle your legs you
|
||
will probably swim; and if you swim we shall probably reach the other side."
|
||
|
||
The Saw-Horse at once began to wiggle its legs, which acted as oars and
|
||
moved the adventurers slowly across the river to the opposite side. So
|
||
successful was the trip that presently they were climbing, wet and dripping,
|
||
up the grassy bank.
|
||
|
||
Tip's trouser-legs and shoes were thoroughly soaked; but the Saw-Horse had
|
||
floated so perfectly that from his knees up the boy was entirely dry. As for
|
||
the Pumpkinhead, every stitch of his gorgeous clothing dripped water.
|
||
|
||
"The sun will soon dry us," said Tip "and, anyhow, we are now safely across,
|
||
in spite of the ferryman, and can continue our journey.
|
||
|
||
"I didn't mind swimming, at all," remarked the horse.
|
||
|
||
"Nor did I," added Jack.
|
||
|
||
They soon regained the road of yellow brick, which proved to be a
|
||
continuation of the road they had left on the other side, and then Tip once
|
||
more mounted the Pumpkinhead upon the back of the Saw-Horse.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
63
|
||
|
||
"If you ride fast," said he, "the wind will help to dry your clothing. I
|
||
will hold on to the horse's tail and run after you. In this way we all will
|
||
become dry in a very short time."
|
||
|
||
"Then the horse must step lively," said Jack.
|
||
|
||
"I'll do my best," returned the Saw-Horse, cheerfully.
|
||
|
||
Tip grasped the end of the branch that served as tail to the Saw-Horse, and
|
||
called loudly: "Get-up!"
|
||
|
||
The horse started at a good pace, and Tip followed behind. Then he decided
|
||
they could go faster, so he shouted: "Trot!"
|
||
|
||
Now, the Saw-Horse remembered that this word was the command to go as fast
|
||
as he could; so he began rocking along the road at a tremendous pace,
|
||
|
||
Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
64
|
||
and Tip had hard work -- running faster than he ever had before in his life
|
||
-- to keep his feet.
|
||
|
||
Soon he was out of breath, and although he wanted to call "Whoa!" to the
|
||
horse, he found he could not get the word out of his throat. Then the end of
|
||
the tail he was clutching, being nothing more than a dead branch, suddenly
|
||
broke away, and the next minute the boy was rolling in the dust of the road,
|
||
while the horse and its pumpkin-headed rider dashed on and quickly
|
||
disappeared in the distance.
|
||
|
||
By the time Tip had picked himself up and cleared the dust from his throat
|
||
so he could say "Whoa!" there was no further need of saying it, for the
|
||
horse was long since out of sight.
|
||
|
||
So he did the only sensible thing he could do. He sat down and took a good
|
||
rest, and afterward began walking along the road.
|
||
|
||
"Some time I will surely overtake them," he reflected; "for the road will
|
||
end at the gates of the Emerald City, and they can go no further than that."
|
||
|
||
Meantime Jack was holding fast to the post and the Saw-Horse was tearing
|
||
along the road like a racer. Neither of them knew Tip was left behind, for
|
||
the Pumpkinhead did not look around and the Saw-Horse couldn't.
|
||
|
||
As he rode, Jack noticed that the grass and trees
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
65
|
||
had become a bright emerald-green in color, so he guessed they were nearing
|
||
the Emerald City even before the tall spires and domes came into sight.
|
||
|
||
At length a high wall of green stone, studded thick with emeralds, loomed up
|
||
before them; and fearing the Saw-Horse would not know enough to stop and so
|
||
might smash them both against this wall, Jack ventured to cry "Whoa!" as
|
||
loud as he could.
|
||
|
||
So suddenly did the horse obey that had it not been for his post Jack would
|
||
have been pitched off head foremost, and his beautiful face ruined.
|
||
|
||
"That was a fast ride, dear father!" he exclaimed; and then, hearing no
|
||
reply, he turned around and discovered for the first time that Tip was not
|
||
there.
|
||
|
||
This apparent desertion puzzled the Pumpkinhead, and made him uneasy. And
|
||
while he was wondering what had become of the boy, and what he ought to do
|
||
next under such trying circumstances, the gateway in the green wall opened
|
||
and a man came out.
|
||
|
||
This man was short and round, with a fat face that seemed remarkably good-
|
||
natured. He was clothed all in green and wore a high, peaked green hat upon
|
||
his head and green spectacles over his eyes. Bowing before the Pumpkinhead
|
||
he said:
|
||
|
||
"I am the Guardian of the Gates of the Emerald
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
66
|
||
City. May I inquire who you are, and what is your business?"
|
||
|
||
"My name is Jack Pumpkinhead," returned the other, smilingly; "but as to my
|
||
business, I haven't the least idea in the world what it is."
|
||
|
||
The Guardian of the Gates looked surprised, and shook his head as if
|
||
dissatisfied with the reply.
|
||
|
||
"What are you, a man or a pumpkin?" he asked, politely.
|
||
|
||
"Both, if you please," answered Jack.
|
||
|
||
"And this wooden horse -- is it alive?" questioned the Guardian.
|
||
|
||
The horse rolled one knotty eye upward and winked at Jack. Then it gave a
|
||
prance and brought one leg down on the Guardian's toes.
|
||
|
||
"Ouch!" cried the man; "I'm sorry I asked that question. But the answer is
|
||
most convincing. Have you any errand, sir, in the Emerald City?"
|
||
|
||
"It seems to me that I have," replied the Pumpkinhead, seriously; "but I
|
||
cannot think what it is. My father knows all about it, but he is not here."
|
||
|
||
"This is a strange affair very strange!" declared the Guardian. "But you
|
||
seem harmless. Folks do not smile so delightfully when they mean mischief."
|
||
|
||
"As for that," said Jack, "I cannot help my smile, for it is carved on my
|
||
face with a jack-knife."
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
67
|
||
|
||
"Well, come with me into my room," resumed the Guardian, "and I will see
|
||
what can be done for you."
|
||
|
||
So Jack rode the Saw-Horse through the gateway into a little room built into
|
||
the wall. The Guardian pulled a bell-cord, and presently a very tall soldier
|
||
-- clothed in a green uniform -- entered from the opposite door. This
|
||
soldier carried a long green gun over his shoulder and had lovely green
|
||
whiskers that fell quite to his knees. The Guardian at once addressed him,
|
||
saying:
|
||
|
||
"Here is a strange gentleman who doesn't know why he has come to the Emerald
|
||
City, or what he wants. Tell me, what shall we do with him?"
|
||
|
||
The Soldier with the Green Whiskers looked at Jack with much care and
|
||
curiosity. Finally he shook his head so positively that little waves rippled
|
||
down his whiskers, and then he said:
|
||
|
||
"I must take him to His Majesty, the Scarecrow."
|
||
|
||
But what will His Majesty, the Scarecrow, do with him?" asked the Guardian
|
||
of the Gates.
|
||
|
||
"That is His Majesty's business," returned the soldier. "I have troubles
|
||
enough of my own. All outside troubles must be turned over to His Majesty.
|
||
So put the spectacles on this fellow, and I'll take him to the royal
|
||
palace."
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
68
|
||
|
||
So the Guardian opened a big box of spectacles and tried to fit a pair to
|
||
Jack's great round eyes.
|
||
|
||
"I haven't a pair in stock that will really cover those eyes up," said the
|
||
little man, with a sigh; "and your head is so big that I shall be obliged to
|
||
tie the spectacles on."
|
||
|
||
"But why need I wear spectacles?" asked Jack.
|
||
|
||
"It's the fashion here," said the Soldier, "and they will keep you from
|
||
being blinded by the glitter and glare of the gorgeous Emerald City."
|
||
|
||
"Oh!" exclaimed Jack. "Tie them on, by all means. I don't wish to be
|
||
blinded."
|
||
|
||
"Nor I!" broke in the Saw-Horse; so a pair of green spectacles was quickly
|
||
fastened over the bulging knots that served it for eyes.
|
||
|
||
Then the Soldier with the Green Whiskers led them through the inner gate and
|
||
they at once found themselves in the main street of the magnificent Emerald
|
||
City.
|
||
|
||
Sparkling green gems ornamented the fronts of the beautiful houses and the
|
||
towers and turrets were all faced with emeralds. Even the green marble
|
||
pavement glittered with precious stones, and it was indeed a grand and
|
||
marvelous sight to one who beheld it for the first time.
|
||
|
||
However, the Pumpkinhead and the Saw-Horse,
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
69
|
||
knowing nothing of wealth and beauty, paid little attention to the wonderful
|
||
sights they saw through their green spectacles. They calmly followed after
|
||
the green soldier and scarcely noticed the crowds of green people who stared
|
||
at them in surprise. When a green dog ran out and barked at them the Saw-
|
||
Horse promptly kicked at it with its wooden leg and sent the little animal
|
||
howling into one of the houses; but nothing more serious than this happened
|
||
to interrupt their progress to the royal palace.
|
||
|
||
The Pumpkinhead wanted to ride up the green marble steps and straight into
|
||
the Scarecrow's presence; but the soldier would not permit that. So Jack
|
||
dismounted, with much difficulty, and a servant led the Saw-Horse around to
|
||
the rear while the Soldier with the Green Whiskers escorted the Pumpkinhead
|
||
into the palace, by the front entrance.
|
||
|
||
The stranger was left in a handsomely furnished waiting room while the
|
||
soldier went to announce him. It so happened that at this hour His Majesty
|
||
was at leisure and greatly bored for want of something to do, so he ordered
|
||
his visitor to be shown at once into his throne room.
|
||
|
||
Jack felt no fear or embarrassment at meeting the ruler of this magnificent
|
||
city, for he was entirely ignorant of all worldly customs. But when he en-
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
70
|
||
tered the room and saw for the first time His Majesty the Scarecrow seated
|
||
upon his glittering throne, he stopped short in amazement.
|
||
|
||
Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
71 His Majesty the Scarecrow
|
||
|
||
|
||
I suppose every reader of this book knows what a scarecrow is; but Jack
|
||
Pumpkinhead, never having seen such a creation, was more surprised at
|
||
meeting the remarkable King of the Emerald City than by any other one
|
||
experience of his brief life.
|
||
|
||
His Majesty the Scarecrow was dressed in a suit of faded blue clothes, and
|
||
his head was merely a small sack stuffed with straw, upon which eyes, ears,
|
||
a nose and a mouth had been rudely painted to represent a face. The clothes
|
||
were also stuffed with straw, and that so unevenly or carelessly that his
|
||
Majesty's legs and arms seemed more bumpy than was necessary. Upon his hands
|
||
were gloves with long fingers, and these were padded with cotton. Wisps of
|
||
straw stuck out from the monarch's
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
72
|
||
coat and also from his neck and boot-tops. Upon his head he wore a heavy
|
||
golden crown set thick with sparkling jewels, and the weight of this crown
|
||
caused his brow to sag in wrinkles, giving a thoughtful expression to the
|
||
painted face. Indeed, the crown alone betokened majesty; in all else the,
|
||
Scarecrow King was but a simple scarecrow -- flimsy, awkward, and
|
||
unsubstantial.
|
||
|
||
But if the strange appearance of his Majesty the Scarecrow seemed startling
|
||
to Jack, no less wonderful was the form of the Pumpkinhead to the Scarecrow.
|
||
The purple trousers and pink waistcoat and red shirt hung loosely over the
|
||
wooden joints Tip had manufactured, and the carved face on the pumpkin
|
||
grinned perpetually, as if its wearer considered life the jolliest thing
|
||
imaginable.
|
||
|
||
At first, indeed, His Majesty thought his queer visitor was laughing at him,
|
||
and was inclined to resent such a liberty; but it was not without reason
|
||
that the Scarecrow had attained the reputation of being the wisest personage
|
||
in the Land of Oz. He made a more careful examination of his visitor, and
|
||
soon discovered that Jack's features were carved into a smile and that he
|
||
could not look grave if he wished to.
|
||
|
||
The King was the first to speak. After regarding
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
73 Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
Jack for some minutes he said, in a tone of wonder:
|
||
|
||
"Where on earth did you come from, and how do you happen to be alive?"
|
||
|
||
"I beg your Majesty's pardon," returned the Pumpkinhead; "but I do not
|
||
understand you."
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
74
|
||
|
||
"What don't you understand?" asked the Scarecrow.
|
||
|
||
"Why, I don't understand your language. You see, I came from the Country of
|
||
the Gillikins, so that I am a foreigner."
|
||
|
||
"Ah, to be sure!" exclaimed the Scarecrow. "I myself speak the language of
|
||
the Munchkins, which is also the language of the Emerald City. But you, I
|
||
suppose, speak the language of the Pumpkinheads?"
|
||
|
||
"Exactly so, your Majesty" replied the other, bowing; "so it will be
|
||
impossible for us to understand one another."
|
||
|
||
"That is unfortunate, certainly," said the Scarecrow, thoughtfully. "We must
|
||
have an interpreter."
|
||
|
||
"What is an interpreter?" asked Jack.
|
||
|
||
"A person who understands both my language and your own. When I say
|
||
anything, the interpreter can tell you what I mean; and when you say
|
||
anything the interpreter can tell me what you mean. For the interpreter can
|
||
speak both languages as well as understand them."
|
||
|
||
"That is certainly clever," said Jack, greatly pleased at finding so simple
|
||
a way out of the difficulty.
|
||
|
||
So the Scarecrow commanded the Soldier with the Green Whiskers to search
|
||
among his people
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
75
|
||
until he found one who understood the language of the Gillikins as well as
|
||
the language of the Emerald City, and to bring that person to him at once.
|
||
|
||
When the Soldier had departed the Scarecrow said:
|
||
|
||
"Won't you take a chair while we are waiting?"
|
||
|
||
"Your Majesty forgets that I cannot understand you," replied the
|
||
Pumpkinhead. "If you wish me to sit down you must make a sign for me to do
|
||
so." The Scarecrow came down from his throne and rolled an armchair to a
|
||
position behind the Pumpkinhead. Then he gave Jack a sudden push that sent
|
||
him sprawling upon the cushions in so awkward a fashion that he doubled up
|
||
like a jackknife, and had hard work to untangle himself.
|
||
|
||
"Did you understand that sign?" asked His Majesty, politely.
|
||
|
||
"Perfectly," declared Jack, reaching up his arms to turn his head to the
|
||
front, the pumpkin having twisted around upon the stick that supported it.
|
||
|
||
"You seem hastily made," remarked the Scarecrow, watching Jack's efforts to
|
||
straighten himself.
|
||
|
||
"Not more so than your Majesty," was the frank reply.
|
||
|
||
"There is this difference between us," said the Scarecrow, "that whereas I
|
||
will bend, but not break, you will break, but not bend."
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
76 Full page line-art drawing.
|
||
|
||
"HE GAVE JACK A SUDDEN PUSH"
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
77
|
||
|
||
At this moment the soldier returned leading a young girl by the hand. She
|
||
seemed very sweet and modest, having a pretty face and beautiful green eyes
|
||
and hair. A dainty green silk skirt reached to her knees, showing silk
|
||
stockings embroidered with pea-pods, and green satin slippers with bunches
|
||
of lettuce for decorations instead of bows or buckles. Upon her silken waist
|
||
clover leaves were embroidered, and she wore a jaunty little jacket trimmed
|
||
with sparkling emeralds of a uniform size.
|
||
|
||
"Why, it's little Jellia Jamb!" exclaimed the Scarecrow, as the green maiden
|
||
bowed her pretty head before him. "Do you understand the language of the
|
||
Gillikins, my dear?"
|
||
|
||
"Yes, your Majesty, she answered, "for I was born in the North Country."
|
||
|
||
"Then you shall be our interpreter," said the Scarecrow, "and explain to
|
||
this Pumpkinhead all that I say, and also explain to me all that he says. Is
|
||
this arrangement satisfactory?" he asked, turning toward his guest.
|
||
|
||
"Very satisfactory indeed," was the reply.
|
||
|
||
"Then ask him, to begin with," resumed the Scarecrow, turning to Jellia,
|
||
"what brought him to the Emerald City"
|
||
|
||
But instead of this the girl, who had been staring at Jack, said to him:
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
78
|
||
|
||
"You are certainly a wonderful creature. Who made you?"
|
||
|
||
"A boy named Tip," answered Jack.
|
||
|
||
"What does he say?" inquired the Scarecrow. "My ears must have deceived me.
|
||
What did he say?"
|
||
|
||
"He says that your Majesty's brains seem to have come loose," replied the
|
||
girl, demurely.
|
||
|
||
The Scarecrow moved uneasily upon his throne, and felt of his head with his
|
||
left hand.
|
||
|
||
"What a fine thing it is to understand two different languages," he said,
|
||
with a perplexed sigh. "Ask him, my dear, if he has any objection to being
|
||
put in jail for insulting the ruler of the Emerald City."
|
||
|
||
"I didn't insult you!" protested Jack, indignantly.
|
||
|
||
"Tut -- tut!" cautioned the Scarecrow "wait, until Jellia translates my
|
||
speech. What have we got an interpreter for, if you break out in this rash
|
||
way?"
|
||
|
||
"All right, I'll wait," replied the Pumpkinhead, in a surly tone -- although
|
||
his face smiled as genially as ever. "Translate the speech, young woman."
|
||
|
||
"His Majesty inquires if you are hungry, said Jellia.
|
||
|
||
"Oh, not at all!" answered Jack, more pleasantly, "for it is impossible for
|
||
me to eat."
|
||
|
||
"It's the same way with me," remarked the Scarecrow. "What did he say,
|
||
Jellia, my dear?"
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
79
|
||
|
||
"He asked if you were aware that one of your eyes is painted larger than the
|
||
other," said the girl, mischievously.
|
||
|
||
"Don't you believe her, your Majesty, cried Jack.
|
||
|
||
"Oh, I don't," answered the Scarecrow, calmly. Then, casting a sharp look at
|
||
the girl, he asked:
|
||
|
||
"Are you quite certain you understand the languages of both the Gillikins
|
||
and the Munchkins?"
|
||
|
||
"Quite certain, your Majesty," said Jellia Jamb, trying hard not to laugh in
|
||
the face of royalty.
|
||
|
||
"Then how is it that I seem to understand them myself?" inquired the
|
||
Scarecrow.
|
||
|
||
"Because they are one and the same!" declared the girl, now laughing
|
||
merrily. "Does not your Majesty know that in all the land of Oz but one
|
||
language is spoken?"
|
||
|
||
"Is it indeed so?" cried the Scarecrow, much relieved to hear this; "then I
|
||
might easily have been my own interpreter!"
|
||
|
||
"It was all my fault, your Majesty," said Jack, looking rather foolish," I
|
||
thought we must surely speak different languages, since we came from
|
||
different countries."
|
||
|
||
"This should be a warning to you never to think," returned the Scarecrow,
|
||
severely. "For
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
80
|
||
unless one can think wisely it is better to remain a dummy -- which you most
|
||
certainly are."
|
||
|
||
"I am! -- I surely am!" agreed the Pumpkinhead.
|
||
|
||
"It seems to me," continued the Scarecrow, more mildly, "that your
|
||
manufacturer spoiled some good pies to create an indifferent man."
|
||
|
||
"I assure your Majesty that I did not ask to be created," answered Jack.
|
||
|
||
"Ah! It was the same in my case," said the King, pleasantly. And so, as we
|
||
differ from all ordinary people, let us become friends."
|
||
|
||
"With all my heart!" exclaimed Jack.
|
||
|
||
"What! Have you a heart?" asked the Scarecrow, surprised.
|
||
|
||
"No; that was only imaginative -- I might say, a figure of speech," said the
|
||
other.
|
||
|
||
"Well, your most prominent figure seems to be a figure of wood; so I must
|
||
beg you to restrain an imagination which, having no brains, you have no
|
||
right to exercise," suggested the Scarecrow, warningly.
|
||
|
||
"To be sure!" said Jack, without in the least comprehending.
|
||
|
||
His Majesty then dismissed Jellia Jamb and the Soldier with the Green
|
||
Whiskers, and when they were gone he took his new friend by the arm and led
|
||
him into the courtyard to play a game of quoits.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
81 Full page line-art drawing.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
82 Full page line-art drawing.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
83 Gen. Jinjur's Army of Revolt
|
||
|
||
|
||
Tip was so anxious to rejoin his man Jack and the Saw-Horse that he walked a
|
||
full half the distance to the Emerald City without stopping to rest. Then he
|
||
discovered that he was hungry and the crackers and cheese he had provided
|
||
for the Journey had all been eaten.
|
||
|
||
While wondering what he should do in this emergency he came upon a girl
|
||
sitting by the roadside. She wore a costume that struck the boy as being
|
||
remarkably brilliant: her silken waist being of emerald green and her skirt
|
||
of four distinct colors -- blue in front, yellow at the left side, red at
|
||
the back and purple at the right side. Fastening
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
84
|
||
the waist in front were four buttons -- the top one blue, the next yellow, a
|
||
third red and the last purple.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
The splendor of this dress was almost barbaric; so Tip was fully justified
|
||
in staring at the gown for some moments before his eyes were attracted by
|
||
the
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
85
|
||
pretty face above it. Yes, the face was pretty enough, he decided; but it
|
||
wore an expression of discontent coupled to a shade of defiance or audacity.
|
||
|
||
While the boy stared the girl looked upon him calmly. A lunch basket stood
|
||
beside her, and she held a dainty sandwich in one hand and a hard-boiled egg
|
||
in the other, eating with an evident appetite that aroused Tip's sympathy.
|
||
|
||
He was just about to ask a share of the luncheon when the girl stood up and
|
||
brushed the crumbs from her lap.
|
||
|
||
"There!" said she; "it is time for me to go. Carry that basket for me and
|
||
help yourself to its contents if you are hungry."
|
||
|
||
Tip seized the basket eagerly and began to eat, following for a time the
|
||
strange girl without bothering to ask questions. She walked along before him
|
||
with swift strides, and there was about her an air of decision and
|
||
importance that led him to suspect she was some great personage.
|
||
|
||
Finally, when he had satisfied his hunger, he ran up beside her and tried to
|
||
keep pace with her swift footsteps -- a very difficult feat, for she was
|
||
much taller than he, and evidently in a hurry.
|
||
|
||
"Thank you very much for the sandwiches," said Tip, as he trotted along.
|
||
"May I ask your name?"
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
86
|
||
|
||
"I am General Jinjur," was the brief reply.
|
||
|
||
"Oh!" said the boy surprised. "What sort of a General?"
|
||
|
||
"I command the Army of Revolt in this war," answered the General, with
|
||
unnecessary sharpness.
|
||
|
||
"Oh!" he again exclaimed. "I didn't know there was a war."
|
||
|
||
"You were not supposed to know it," she returned, "for we have kept it a
|
||
secret; and considering that our army is composed entirely of girls," she
|
||
added, with some pride, "it is surely a remarkable thing that our Revolt is
|
||
not yet discovered."
|
||
|
||
"It is, indeed," acknowledged Tip. "But where is your army?"
|
||
|
||
"About a mile from here," said General Jinjur. "The forces have assembled
|
||
from all parts of the Land of Oz, at my express command. For this is the day
|
||
we are to conquer His Majesty the Scarecrow, and wrest from him the throne.
|
||
The Army of Revolt only awaits my coming to march upon the Emerald City."
|
||
|
||
"Well!" declared Tip, drawing a long breath, "this is certainly a surprising
|
||
thing! May I ask why you wish to conquer His Majesty the Scarecrow?"
|
||
|
||
"Because the Emerald City has been ruled by men long enough, for one
|
||
reason," said the girl.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
87
|
||
"Moreover, the City glitters with beautiful gems, which might far better be
|
||
used for rings, bracelets and necklaces; and there is enough money in the
|
||
King's treasury to buy every girl in our Army a dozen new gowns. So we
|
||
intend to conquer the City and run the government to suit ourselves."
|
||
|
||
Jinjur spoke these words with an eagerness and decision that proved she was
|
||
in earnest.
|
||
|
||
"But war is a terrible thing," said Tip, thoughtfully.
|
||
|
||
"This war will be pleasant," replied the girl, cheerfully.
|
||
|
||
"Many of you will be slain!" continued the boy, in an awed voice.
|
||
|
||
"Oh, no", said Jinjur. "What man would oppose a girl, or dare to harm her?
|
||
And there is not an ugly face in my entire Army."
|
||
|
||
Tip laughed.
|
||
|
||
"Perhaps you are right," said he. "But the Guardian of the Gate is
|
||
considered a faithful Guardian, and the King's Army will not let the City be
|
||
conquered without a struggle."
|
||
|
||
"The Army is old and feeble," replied General Jinjur, scornfully. "His
|
||
strength has all been used to grow whiskers, and his wife has such a temper
|
||
that she has already pulled more than half of them
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
88
|
||
out by the roots. When the Wonderful Wizard reigned the Soldier with the
|
||
Green Whiskers was a very good Royal Army, for people feared the Wizard. But
|
||
no one is afraid of the Scarecrow, so his Royal Army don't count for much in
|
||
time of war."
|
||
|
||
After this conversation they proceeded some distance in silence, and before
|
||
long reached a large clearing in the forest where fully four hundred young
|
||
women were assembled. These were laughing and talking together as gaily as
|
||
if they had gathered for a picnic instead of a war of conquest.
|
||
|
||
They were divided into four companies, and Tip noticed that all were dressed
|
||
in costumes similar to that worn by General Jinjur. The only real difference
|
||
was that while those girls from the Munchkin country had the blue strip in
|
||
front of their skirts, those from the country of the Quadlings had the red
|
||
strip in front; and those from the country of the Winkies had the yellow
|
||
strip in front, and the Gillikin girls wore the purple strip in front. All
|
||
had green waists, representing the Emerald City they intended to conquer,
|
||
and the top button on each waist indicated by its color which country the
|
||
wearer came from. The uniforms were Jaunty and becoming, and quite effective
|
||
when massed together.
|
||
|
||
Tip thought this strange Army bore no weapons
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
89
|
||
whatever; but in this he was wrong. For each girl had stuck through the knot
|
||
of her back hair two long, glittering knitting-needles.
|
||
|
||
General Jinjur immediately mounted the stump of a tree and addressed her
|
||
army.
|
||
|
||
"Friends, fellow-citizens, and girls!" she said; "we are about to begin our
|
||
great Revolt against the men of Oz! We march to conquer the Emerald City --
|
||
to dethrone the Scarecrow King -- to acquire thousands of gorgeous gems --
|
||
to rifle the royal treasury -- and to obtain power over our former
|
||
oppressors!"
|
||
|
||
"Hurrah!" said those who had listened; but Tip thought most of the Army was
|
||
too much engaged in chattering to pay attention to the words of the General.
|
||
|
||
The command to march was now given, and the girls formed themselves into
|
||
four bands, or companies, and set off with eager strides toward the Emerald
|
||
City.
|
||
|
||
Line-Art Drawing on the right of this page.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
90 Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
|
||
The boy followed after them, carrying several baskets and wraps and packages
|
||
which various members of the Army of Revolt had placed in his care. It was
|
||
not long before they came to the green granite walls of the City and halted
|
||
before the gateway.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
91
|
||
|
||
The Guardian of the Gate at once came out and looked at them curiously, as
|
||
if a circus had come to town. He carried a bunch of keys swung round his
|
||
neck by a golden chain; his hands were thrust carelessly into his pockets,
|
||
and he seemed to have no idea at all that the City was threatened by rebels.
|
||
Speaking pleasantly to the girls, he said:
|
||
|
||
"Good morning, my dears! What can I do for you?"
|
||
|
||
|
||
Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
"Surrender instantly!" answered General Jinjur, standing before him and
|
||
frowning as terribly as her pretty face would allow her to.
|
||
|
||
"Surrender!" echoed the man, astounded. "Why, it's impossible. It's against
|
||
the law! I never heard of such a thing in my life."
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
92
|
||
|
||
"Still, you must surrender!" exclaimed the General, fiercely. "We are
|
||
revolting!"
|
||
|
||
"You don't look it," said the Guardian, gazing from one to another,
|
||
admiringly.
|
||
|
||
"But we are!" cried Jinjur, stamping her foot, impatiently; "and we mean to
|
||
conquer the Emerald City!"
|
||
|
||
"Good gracious!" returned the surprised Guardian of the Gates; "what a
|
||
nonsensical idea! Go home to your mothers, my good girls, and milk the cows
|
||
and bake the bread. Don't you know it's a dangerous thing to conquer a
|
||
city?"
|
||
|
||
"We are not afraid!" responded the General; and she looked so determined
|
||
that it made the Guardian uneasy.
|
||
|
||
So he rang the bell for the Soldier with the Green Whiskers, and the next
|
||
minute was sorry he had done so. For immediately he was surrounded by a
|
||
crowd of girls who drew the knitting-needles from their hair and began
|
||
Jabbing them at the Guardian with the sharp points dangerously near his fat
|
||
cheeks and blinking eyes.
|
||
|
||
The poor man howled loudly for mercy and made no resistance when Jinjur drew
|
||
the bunch of keys from around his neck.
|
||
|
||
Followed by her Army the General now rushed
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
93 Full page line-art drawing.
|
||
|
||
GENERAL JINJUR AND HER ARMY CAPTURE THE CITY.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
94
|
||
to the gateway, where she was confronted by the Royal Army of Oz -- which
|
||
was the other name for the Soldier with the Green Whiskers.
|
||
|
||
"Halt!" he cried, and pointed his long gun full in the face of the leader.
|
||
|
||
Some of the girls screamed and ran back, but General Jinjur bravely stood
|
||
her ground and said, reproachfully:
|
||
|
||
"Why, how now? Would you shoot a poor, defenceless girl?"
|
||
|
||
"No," replied the soldier. "for my gun isn't loaded."
|
||
|
||
"Not loaded?"
|
||
|
||
"No; for fear of accidents. And I've forgotten where I hid the powder and
|
||
shot to load it with. But if you'll wait a short time I'll try to hunt them
|
||
up."
|
||
|
||
"Don't trouble yourself," said Jinjur, cheerfully. Then she turned to her
|
||
Army and cried:
|
||
|
||
"Girls, the gun isn't loaded!"
|
||
|
||
"Hooray," shrieked the rebels, delighted at this good news, and they
|
||
proceeded to rush upon the Soldier with the Green Whiskers in such a crowd
|
||
that it was a wonder they didn't stick the knitting-needles into one
|
||
another.
|
||
|
||
But the Royal Army of Oz was too much afraid
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
95
|
||
of women to meet the onslaught. He simply turned about and ran with all his
|
||
might through the gate and toward the royal palace, while General Jinjur and
|
||
her mob flocked into the unprotected City.
|
||
|
||
In this way was the Emerald City captured without a drop of blood being
|
||
spilled. The Army of Revolt had become an Army of Conquerors!
|
||
|
||
|
||
Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
96 Full page line-art drawing.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
97 The Scarecrow Plans an escape
|
||
|
||
|
||
Tip slipped away from the girls and followed swiftly after the Soldier with
|
||
the Green Whiskers. The invading army entered the City more slowly, for they
|
||
stopped to dig emeralds out of the walls and paving-stones with the points
|
||
of their knitting-needles. So the Soldier and the boy reached the palace
|
||
before the news had spread that the City was conquered.
|
||
|
||
The Scarecrow and Jack Pumpkinhead were still playing at quoits in the
|
||
courtyard when the game was interrupted by the abrupt entrance of the Royal
|
||
Army of Oz, who came flying in without his hat or gun, his clothes in sad
|
||
disarray and his long beard floating a yard behind him as he ran.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
98
|
||
|
||
"Tally one for me," said the Scarecrow, calmly "What's wrong, my man?" he
|
||
added, addressing the Soldier.
|
||
|
||
"Oh! your Majesty -- your Majesty! The City is conquered!" gasped the Royal
|
||
Army, who was all out of breath.
|
||
|
||
"This is quite sudden," said the Scarecrow. "But please go and bar all the
|
||
doors and windows of the palace, while I show this Pumpkinhead how to throw
|
||
a quoit."
|
||
|
||
The Soldier hastened to do this, while Tip, who had arrived at his heels,
|
||
remained in the courtyard to look at the Scarecrow with wondering eyes.
|
||
|
||
His Majesty continued to throw the quoits as coolly as if no danger
|
||
threatened his throne, but the Pumpkinhead, having caught sight of Tip,
|
||
ambled toward the boy as fast as his wooden legs would go.
|
||
|
||
"Good afternoon, noble parent!" he cried, delightedly." I'm glad to see you
|
||
are here. That terrible Saw-Horse ran away with me."
|
||
|
||
"I suspected it," said Tip. "Did you get hurt? Are you cracked at all?"
|
||
|
||
"No, I arrived safely," answered Jack, "and his Majesty has been very kind
|
||
indeed to me.
|
||
|
||
At this moment the Soldier with the Green Whiskers returned, and the
|
||
Scarecrow asked:
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
99
|
||
|
||
"By the way, who has conquered me?"
|
||
|
||
"A regiment of girls, gathered from the four corners of the Land of Oz,"
|
||
replied the Soldier, still pale with fear.
|
||
|
||
"But where was my Standing Army at the time?" inquired his Majesty, looking
|
||
at the Soldier, gravely.
|
||
|
||
"Your Standing Army was running," answered the fellow, honestly; "for no man
|
||
could face the terrible weapons of the invaders."
|
||
|
||
"Well," said the Scarecrow, after a moment's thought, "I don't mind much the
|
||
loss of my throne, for it's a tiresome job to rule over the Emerald City.
|
||
And this crown is so heavy that it makes my head ache. But I hope the
|
||
Conquerors have no intention of injuring me, just because I happen to be the
|
||
King."
|
||
|
||
"I heard them, say" remarked Tip, with some hesitation, "that they intend to
|
||
make a rag carpet of your outside and stuff their sofa-cushions with your
|
||
inside."
|
||
|
||
"Then I am really in danger," declared his Majesty, positively, "and it will
|
||
be wise for me to consider a means to escape."
|
||
|
||
"Where can you go?" asked Jack Pumpkinhead.
|
||
|
||
"Why, to my friend the Tin Woodman, who
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
100 Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
|
||
rules over the Winkies, and calls himself their Emperor," was the answer. "I
|
||
am sure he will protect me."
|
||
|
||
Tip was looking out the window.
|
||
|
||
"The palace is surrounded by the enemy," said
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
101
|
||
he "It is too late to escape. They would soon tear you to pieces."
|
||
|
||
The Scarecrow sighed.
|
||
|
||
"In an emergency," he announced, "it is always a good thing to pause and
|
||
reflect. Please excuse me while I pause and reflect."
|
||
|
||
"But we also are in danger," said the Pumpkinhead, anxiously." If any of
|
||
these girls understand cooking, my end is not far off!"
|
||
|
||
"Nonsense!" exclaimed the Scarecrow. "they're too busy to cook, even if they
|
||
know how!"
|
||
|
||
"But should I remain here a prisoner for any length of time," protested
|
||
Jack," I'm liable to spoil."
|
||
|
||
"Ah! then you would not be fit to associate with," returned the Scarecrow.
|
||
"The matter is more serious than I suspected."
|
||
|
||
"You," said the Pumpkinhead, gloomily, "are liable to live for many years.
|
||
My life is necessarily short. So I must take advantage of the few days that
|
||
remain to me."
|
||
|
||
"There, there! Don't worry," answered the Scarecrow soothingly; "if you'll
|
||
keep quiet long enough for me to think, I'll try to find some way for us all
|
||
to escape."
|
||
|
||
So the others waited in patient silence while the Scarecrow walked to a
|
||
corner and stood with his
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
102
|
||
face to the wall for a good five minutes. At the end of that time he faced
|
||
them with a more cheerful expression upon his painted face.
|
||
|
||
"Where is the Saw-Horse you rode here?" he asked the Pumpkinhead.
|
||
|
||
"Why, I said he was a jewel, and so your man locked him up in the royal
|
||
treasury," said Jack.
|
||
|
||
"It was the only place I could think of your Majesty," added the Soldier,
|
||
fearing he had made a blunder.
|
||
|
||
"It pleases me very much," said the Scarecrow. "Has the animal been fed?"
|
||
|
||
"Oh, yes; I gave him a heaping peck of sawdust."
|
||
|
||
"Excellent!" cried the Scarecrow. "Bring the horse here at once."
|
||
|
||
The Soldier hastened away, and presently they heard the clattering of the
|
||
horse's wooden legs upon the pavement as he was led into the courtyard.
|
||
|
||
His Majesty regarded the steed critically. "He doesn't seem especially
|
||
graceful!" he remarked, musingly. "but I suppose he can run?"
|
||
|
||
"He can, indeed," said Tip, gazing upon the Saw-Horse admiringly.
|
||
|
||
"Then, bearing us upon his back, he must make a dash through the ranks of
|
||
the rebels and carry us to my friend the Tin Woodman," announced the
|
||
Scarecrow.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
103
|
||
|
||
"He can't carry four!" objected Tip.
|
||
|
||
"No, but he may be induced to carry three," said his Majesty. "I shall
|
||
therefore leave my Royal Army Behind. For, from the ease with which he was
|
||
conquered, I have little confidence in his powers."
|
||
|
||
"Still, he can run," declared Tip, laughing.
|
||
|
||
"I expected this blow" said the Soldier, sulkily; "but I can bear it. I
|
||
shall disguise myself by cutting off my lovely green whiskers. And, after
|
||
all, it is no more dangerous to face those reckless girls than to ride this
|
||
fiery, untamed wooden horse!"
|
||
|
||
"Perhaps you are right," observed his Majesty. "But, for my part, not being
|
||
a soldier, I am fond of danger. Now, my boy, you must mount first. And
|
||
please sit as close to the horse's neck as possible."
|
||
|
||
Tip climbed quickly to his place, and the Soldier and the Scarecrow managed
|
||
to hoist the Pumpkinhead to a seat just behind him. There remained so little
|
||
space for the King that he was liable to fall off as soon as the horse
|
||
started.
|
||
|
||
"Fetch a clothesline," said the King to his Army, "and tie us all together.
|
||
Then if one falls off we will all fall off."
|
||
|
||
And while the Soldier was gone for the clothesline his Majesty continued,
|
||
"it is well for me to be careful, for my very existence is in danger."
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
104
|
||
|
||
"I have to be as careful as you do," said Jack.
|
||
|
||
"Not exactly," replied the Scarecrow. "for if anything happened to me, that
|
||
would be the end of me. But if anything happened to you, they could use you
|
||
for seed."
|
||
|
||
The Soldier now returned with a long line and tied all three firmly
|
||
together, also lashing them to the body of the Saw-Horse; so there seemed
|
||
little danger of their tumbling off.
|
||
|
||
"Now throw open the gates," commanded the Scarecrow, "and we will make a
|
||
dash to liberty or to death."
|
||
|
||
The courtyard in which they were standing was located in the center of the
|
||
great palace, which surrounded it on all sides. But in one place a passage
|
||
led to an outer gateway, which the Soldier had barred by order of his
|
||
sovereign. It was through this gateway his Majesty proposed to escape, and
|
||
the Royal Army now led the Saw-Horse along the passage and unbarred the
|
||
gate, which swung backward with a loud crash.
|
||
|
||
"Now," said Tip to the horse, "you must save us all. Run as fast as you can
|
||
for the gate of the City, and don't let anything stop you."
|
||
|
||
"All right!" answered the Saw-Horse, gruffly, and dashed away so suddenly
|
||
that Tip had to gasp
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
105 Full page line-art drawing.
|
||
|
||
"WE WILL MAKE A DASH TO LIBERTY OR TO DEATH."
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
106
|
||
for breath and hold firmly to the post he had driven into the creature's
|
||
neck.
|
||
|
||
Several of the girls, who stood outside guarding the palace, were knocked
|
||
over by the Saw-Horse's mad rush. Others ran screaming out of the way, and
|
||
only one or two jabbed their knitting-needles frantically at the escaping
|
||
prisoners. Tip got one small prick in his left arm, which smarted for an
|
||
hour afterward; but the needles had no effect upon the Scarecrow or Jack
|
||
Pumpkinhead, who never even suspected they were being prodded.
|
||
|
||
As for the Saw-Horse, he made a wonderful record upsetting a fruit cart,
|
||
overturning several meek looking men, and finally bowling over the new
|
||
Guardian of the Gate -- a fussy little fat woman appointed by General
|
||
Jinjur.
|
||
|
||
Nor did the impetuous charger stop then. Once outside the walls of the
|
||
Emerald City he dashed along the road to the West with fast and violent
|
||
leaps that shook the breath out of the boy and filled the Scarecrow with
|
||
wonder.
|
||
|
||
Jack had ridden at this mad rate once before, so he devoted every effort to
|
||
holding, with both hands, his pumpkin head upon its stick, enduring meantime
|
||
the dreadful jolting with the courage of a philosopher.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
107 Full page line-art drawing.
|
||
|
||
THE WOODEN STEED GAVE ONE FINAL LEAP
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
108
|
||
|
||
"Slow him up! Slow him up!" shouted the Scarecrow. "My straw is all shaking
|
||
down into my legs."
|
||
|
||
But Tip had no breath to speak, so the Saw-Horse continued his wild career
|
||
unchecked and with unabated speed.
|
||
|
||
Presently they came to the banks of a wide river, and without a pause the
|
||
wooden steed gave one final leap and launched them all in mid-air.
|
||
|
||
A second later they were rolling, splashing and bobbing about in the water,
|
||
the horse struggling frantically to find a rest for its feet and its riders
|
||
being first plunged beneath the rapid current and then floating upon the
|
||
surface like corks.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
109 The Journey to the Tin Woodman
|
||
|
||
|
||
Tip was well soaked and dripping water from every angle of his body. But he
|
||
managed to lean forward and shout in the ear of the Saw-Horse:
|
||
|
||
"Keep still, you fool! Keep still!"
|
||
|
||
The horse at once ceased struggling and floated calmly upon the surface, its
|
||
wooden body being as buoyant as a raft.
|
||
|
||
"What does that word 'fool' mean?" enquired the horse.
|
||
|
||
"It is a term of reproach," answered Tip, somewhat ashamed of the
|
||
expression. "I only use it when I am angry."
|
||
|
||
"Then it pleases me to be able to call you a fool, in return," said the
|
||
horse. "For I did not make
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
110
|
||
the river, nor put it in our way; so only a term of, reproach is fit for one
|
||
who becomes angry with me for falling into the water."
|
||
|
||
"That is quite evident," replied Tip; "so I will acknowledge myself in the
|
||
wrong." Then he called out to the Pumpkinhead: "are you all right, Jack?"
|
||
|
||
There was no reply. So the boy called to the King "are you all right, your
|
||
majesty?"
|
||
|
||
The Scarecrow groaned.
|
||
|
||
"I'm all wrong, somehow," he said, in a weak voice. "How very wet this water
|
||
is!"
|
||
|
||
Tip was bound so tightly by the cord that he could not turn his head to look
|
||
at his companions; so he said to the Saw-Horse:
|
||
|
||
"Paddle with your legs toward the shore."
|
||
|
||
The horse obeyed, and although their progress was slow they finally reached
|
||
the opposite river bank at a place where it was low enough to enable the
|
||
creature to scramble upon dry land.
|
||
|
||
With some difficulty the boy managed to get his knife out of his pocket and
|
||
cut the cords that bound the riders to one another and to the wooden horse.
|
||
He heard the Scarecrow fall to the ground with a mushy sound, and then he
|
||
himself quickly dismounted and looked at his friend Jack.
|
||
|
||
The wooden body, with its gorgeous clothing,
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
111
|
||
still sat upright upon the horse's back; but the pumpkin head was gone, and
|
||
only the sharpened stick that served for a neck was visible. As for the
|
||
Scarecrow, the straw in his body had shaken down with the jolting and packed
|
||
itself into his legs and the lower part of his body -- which appeared very
|
||
plump and round while his upper half seemed like an empty sack. Upon his
|
||
head the Scarecrow still wore the heavy crown, which had been sewed on to
|
||
prevent his losing it; but the head was now so damp and limp that the weight
|
||
of the gold and jewels sagged forward and crushed the painted face into a
|
||
mass of wrinkles that made him look exactly like a Japanese pug dog.
|
||
|
||
Tip would have laughed -- had he not been so anxious about his man Jack. But
|
||
the Scarecrow, however damaged, was all there, while the pumpkin head that
|
||
was so necessary to Jack's existence was missing; so the boy seized a long
|
||
pole that fortunately lay near at hand and anxiously turned again toward the
|
||
river.
|
||
|
||
Far out upon the waters he sighted the golden hue of the pumpkin, which
|
||
gently bobbed up and down with the motion of the waves. At that moment it
|
||
was quite out of Tip's reach, but after a time it floated nearer and still
|
||
nearer until the boy
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
112 Full page line-art drawing.
|
||
|
||
TIP RESCUES JACK'S PUMPKIN HEAD
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
113
|
||
was able to reach it with his pole and draw it to the shore. Then he brought
|
||
it to the top of the bank, carefully wiped the water from its pumpkin face
|
||
with his handkerchief, and ran with it to Jack and replaced the head upon
|
||
the man's neck.
|
||
|
||
"Dear me!" were Jack's first words. "What a dreadful experience! I wonder if
|
||
water is liable to spoil pumpkins?"
|
||
|
||
Tip did not think a reply was necessary, for he knew that the Scarecrow also
|
||
stood in need of his help. So he carefully removed the straw from the King's
|
||
body and legs, and spread it out in the sun to dry. The wet clothing he hung
|
||
over the body of the Saw-Horse.
|
||
|
||
"If water spoils pumpkins," observed Jack, with a deep sigh, "then my days
|
||
are numbered."
|
||
|
||
"I've never noticed that water spoils pumpkins," returned Tip; "unless the
|
||
water happens to be boiling. If your head isn't cracked, my friend, you must
|
||
be in fairly good condition."
|
||
|
||
"Oh, my head isn't cracked in the least," declared Jack, more cheerfully.
|
||
|
||
"Then don't worry," retorted the boy. "Care once killed a cat."
|
||
|
||
"Then," said Jack, seriously, "I am very glad indeed that I am not a cat."
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
114
|
||
|
||
The sun was fast drying their clothing, and Tip stirred up his Majesty's
|
||
straw so that the warm rays might absorb the moisture and make it as crisp
|
||
and dry as ever. When this had been accomplished he stuffed the Scarecrow
|
||
into symmetrical shape and smoothed out his face so that he wore his usual
|
||
gay and charming expression.
|
||
|
||
"Thank you very much," said the monarch, brightly, as he walked about and
|
||
found himself to be well balanced. "There are several distinct advantages in
|
||
being a Scarecrow. For if one has friends near at hand to repair damages,
|
||
nothing very serious can happen to you."
|
||
|
||
"I wonder if hot sunshine is liable to crack pumpkins," said Jack, with an
|
||
anxious ring in his voice.
|
||
|
||
"Not at all -- not at all!" replied the Scarecrow, gaily." All you need
|
||
fear, my boy, is old age. When your golden youth has decayed we shall
|
||
quickly part company -- but you needn't look forward to it; we'll discover
|
||
the fact ourselves, and notify you. But come! Let us resume our journey. I
|
||
am anxious to greet my friend the Tin Woodman."
|
||
|
||
So they remounted the Saw-Horse, Tip holding to the post, the Pumpkinhead
|
||
clinging to Tip, and the Scarecrow with both arms around the wooden form of
|
||
Jack.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
115 Full page line-art drawing.
|
||
|
||
TIP STUFFS THE SCARECROW WITH DRY STRAW.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
116
|
||
|
||
"Go slowly, for now there is no danger of pursuit," said Tip to his steed.
|
||
|
||
"All right!" responded the creature, in a voice rather gruff.
|
||
|
||
"Aren't you a little hoarse?" asked the Pumpkinhead politely.
|
||
|
||
The Saw-Horse gave an angry prance and rolled one knotty eye backward toward
|
||
Tip.
|
||
|
||
"See here," he growled, "can't you protect me from insult?"
|
||
|
||
"To be sure!" answered Tip, soothingly. "I am sure Jack meant no harm. And
|
||
it will not do for us to quarrel, you know; we must all remain good
|
||
friends."
|
||
|
||
"I'll have nothing more to do with that Pumpkinhead," declared the Saw-
|
||
Horse, viciously. "he loses his head too easily to suit me."
|
||
|
||
There seemed no fitting reply to this speech, so for a time they rode along
|
||
in silence.
|
||
|
||
After a while the Scarecrow remarked:
|
||
|
||
"This reminds me of old times. It was upon this grassy knoll that I once
|
||
saved Dorothy from the Stinging Bees of the Wicked Witch of the West."
|
||
|
||
"Do Stinging Bees injure pumpkins?" asked Jack, glancing around fearfully.
|
||
|
||
"They are all dead, so it doesn't matter," replied
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
117
|
||
the Scarecrow." And here is where Nick Chopper destroyed the Wicked Witch's
|
||
Grey Wolves."
|
||
|
||
"Who was Nick Chopper?" asked Tip.
|
||
|
||
"That is the name of my friend the Tin Woodman, answered his Majesty. And
|
||
here is where the Winged Monkeys captured and bound us, and flew away with
|
||
little Dorothy," he continued, after they had traveled a little way farther.
|
||
|
||
"Do Winged Monkeys ever eat pumpkins?" asked Jack, with a shiver of fear.
|
||
|
||
"I do not know; but you have little cause to, worry, for the Winged Monkeys
|
||
are now the slaves of Glinda the Good, who owns the Golden Cap that commands
|
||
their services," said the Scarecrow, reflectively.
|
||
|
||
Then the stuffed monarch became lost in thought recalling the days of past
|
||
adventures. And the Saw-Horse rocked and rolled over the flower-strewn
|
||
fields and carried its riders swiftly upon their way.
|
||
|
||
* * * * * * * * *
|
||
|
||
|
||
Twilight fell, bye and bye, and then the dark shadows of night. So Tip
|
||
stopped the horse and they all proceeded to dismount.
|
||
|
||
"I'm tired out," said the boy, yawning wearily; "and the grass is soft and
|
||
cool. Let us lie down here and sleep until morning."
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
118
|
||
|
||
"I can't sleep," said Jack.
|
||
|
||
"I never do," said the Scarecrow.
|
||
|
||
"I do not even know what sleep is," said the Saw-Horse.
|
||
|
||
"Still, we must have consideration for this poor boy, who is made of flesh
|
||
and blood and bone, and gets tired," suggested the Scarecrow, in his usual
|
||
thoughtful manner. "I remember it was the same way with little Dorothy. We
|
||
always had to sit through the night while she slept."
|
||
|
||
"I'm sorry," said Tip, meekly, "but I can't help it. And I'm dreadfully
|
||
hungry, too!"
|
||
|
||
"Here is a new danger!" remarked Jack, gloomily. "I hope you are not fond of
|
||
eating pumpkins."
|
||
|
||
"Not unless they're stewed and made into pies," answered the boy, laughing.
|
||
"So have no fears of me, friend Jack."
|
||
|
||
"What a coward that Pumpkinhead is!" said the Saw-Horse, scornfully.
|
||
|
||
"You might be a coward yourself, if you knew you were liable to spoil!"
|
||
retorted Jack, angrily.
|
||
|
||
"There! -- there!" interrupted the Scarecrow; "don't let us quarrel. We all
|
||
have our weaknesses, dear friends; so we must strive to be considerate of
|
||
one another. And since this poor boy is hungry and has nothing whatever to
|
||
eat, let us all remain
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
119
|
||
quiet and allow him to sleep; for it is said that in sleep a mortal may
|
||
forget even hunger."
|
||
|
||
"Thank you!" exclaimed Tip, gratefully. "Your Majesty is fully as good as
|
||
you are wise -- and that is saying a good deal!"
|
||
|
||
He then stretched himself upon the grass and, using the stuffed form of the
|
||
Scarecrow for a pillow, was presently fast asleep.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
120 Full page line-art drawing.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
121 A Nickel-Plated Emperor
|
||
|
||
|
||
Tip awoke soon after dawn, but the Scarecrow had already risen and plucked,
|
||
with his clumsy fingers, a double-handful of ripe berries from some bushes
|
||
near by. These the boy ate greedily, finding them an ample breakfast, and
|
||
afterward the little party resumed its Journey.
|
||
|
||
After an hour's ride they reached the summit of a hill from whence they
|
||
espied the City of the Winkies and noted the tall domes of the Emperor's
|
||
palace rising from the clusters of more modest dwellings.
|
||
|
||
The Scarecrow became greatly animated at this sight, and exclaimed:
|
||
|
||
"How delighted I shall be to see my old friend the Tin Woodman again! I hope
|
||
that he rules his people more successfully than I have ruled mine!"
|
||
|
||
Is the Tin Woodman the Emperor of the Winkies?" asked the horse.
|
||
|
||
"Yes, indeed. They invited him to rule over
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
122
|
||
them soon after the Wicked Witch was destroyed; and as Nick Chopper has the
|
||
best heart in all the world I am sure he has proved an excellent and able
|
||
emperor."
|
||
|
||
"I thought that 'Emperor' was the title of a person who rules an empire,"
|
||
said Tip, "and the Country of the Winkies is only a Kingdom."
|
||
|
||
"Don't mention that to the Tin Woodman!" exclaimed the Scarecrow, earnestly.
|
||
"You would hurt his feelings terribly. He is a proud man, as he has every
|
||
reason to be, and it pleases him to be termed Emperor rather than King."
|
||
|
||
"I'm sure it makes no difference to me," replied the boy.
|
||
|
||
The Saw-Horse now ambled forward at a pace so fast that its riders had hard
|
||
work to stick upon its back; so there was little further conversation until
|
||
they drew up beside the palace steps.
|
||
|
||
An aged Winkie, dressed in a uniform of silver cloth, came forward to assist
|
||
them to alight. Said the Scarecrow to his personage:
|
||
|
||
"Show us at once to your master, the Emperor."
|
||
|
||
The man looked from one to another of the party in an embarrassed way, and
|
||
finally answered:
|
||
|
||
"I fear I must ask you to wait for a time. The Emperor is not receiving this
|
||
morning."
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
123
|
||
|
||
"How is that?" enquired the Scarecrow, anxiously." I hope nothing has
|
||
happened to him."
|
||
|
||
"Oh, no; nothing serious," returned the man. "But this is his Majesty's day
|
||
for being polished; and just now his august presence is thickly smeared with
|
||
putz-pomade."
|
||
|
||
"Oh, I see!" cried the Scarecrow, greatly reassured. "My friend was ever
|
||
inclined to be a dandy, and I suppose he is now more proud than ever of his
|
||
personal appearance."
|
||
|
||
"He is, indeed," said the man, with a polite bow. "Our mighty Emperor has
|
||
lately caused himself to be nickel-plated."
|
||
|
||
"Good Gracious!" the Scarecrow exclaimed at hearing this. "If his wit bears
|
||
the same polish, how sparkling it must be! But show us in -- I'm sure the
|
||
Emperor will receive us, even in his present state"
|
||
|
||
"The Emperor's state is always magnificent," said the man. "But I will
|
||
venture to tell him of your arrival, and will receive his commands
|
||
concerning you."
|
||
|
||
So the party followed the servant into a splendid ante-room, and the Saw-
|
||
Horse ambled awkwardly after them, having no knowledge that a horse might be
|
||
expected to remain outside.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
124
|
||
|
||
The travelers were at first somewhat awed by their surroundings, and even
|
||
the Scarecrow seemed impressed as he examined the rich hangings of silver
|
||
cloth caught up into knots and fastened with tiny silver axes. Upon a
|
||
handsome center-table stood a large silver oil-can, richly engraved with
|
||
scenes from the past adventures of the Tin Woodman, Dorothy, the Cowardly
|
||
Lion and the Scarecrow: the lines of the engraving being traced upon the
|
||
silver in yellow gold. On the walls hung several portraits, that of the
|
||
Scarecrow seeming to be the most prominent and carefully executed, while a
|
||
the large painting of the famous Wizard of Oz, in act of presenting the Tin
|
||
Woodman with a heart, covered almost one entire end of the room.
|
||
|
||
While the visitors gazed at these things in silent admiration they suddenly
|
||
heard a loud voice in the next room exclaim:
|
||
|
||
"Well! well! well! What a great surprise!"
|
||
|
||
And then the door burst open and Nick Chopper rushed into their midst and
|
||
caught the Scarecrow in a close and loving embrace that creased him into
|
||
many folds and wrinkles.
|
||
|
||
"My dear old friend! My noble comrade!" cried the Tin Woodman, joyfully.
|
||
"how delighted!," I am to meet you once again.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
125 Full page line-art drawing.
|
||
|
||
CAUGHT THE SCARECROW IN A CLOSE AND LOVING EMBRACE
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
126
|
||
|
||
And then he released the Scarecrow and held him at arms' length while he
|
||
surveyed the beloved, painted features.
|
||
|
||
But, alas! the face of the Scarecrow and many portions of his body bore
|
||
great blotches of putz-pomade; for the Tin Woodman, in his eagerness to
|
||
welcome his friend, had quite forgotten the condition of his toilet and had
|
||
rubbed the thick coating of paste from his own body to that of his comrade.
|
||
|
||
"Dear me!" said the Scarecrow dolefully. "What a mess I'm in!"
|
||
|
||
"Never mind, my friend," returned the Tin Woodman," I'll send you to my
|
||
Imperial Laundry, and you'll come out as good as new."
|
||
|
||
"Won't I be mangled?" asked the Scarecrow.
|
||
|
||
"No, indeed!" was the reply. "But tell me, how came your Majesty here? and
|
||
who are your companions?"
|
||
|
||
The Scarecrow, with great politeness, introduced Tip and Jack Pumpkinhead,
|
||
and the latter personage seemed to interest the Tin Woodman greatly.
|
||
|
||
"You are not very substantial, I must admit," said the Emperor. "but you are
|
||
certainly unusual, and therefore worthy to become a member of our select
|
||
society."
|
||
|
||
"I thank your Majesty, said Jack, humbly.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
127 Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
|
||
"I hope you are enjoying good health?" continued the Woodman.
|
||
|
||
"At present, yes;" replied the Pumpkinhead, with a sigh; "but I am in
|
||
constant terror of the day when I shall spoil."
|
||
|
||
"Nonsense!" said the Emperor -- but in a kindly, sympathetic tone. "Do not,
|
||
I beg of you, dampen today's sun with the showers of tomorrow. For before
|
||
your head has time to spoil you can have it canned, and in that way it may
|
||
be preserved indefinitely."
|
||
|
||
Tip, during this conversation, was looking at the Woodman with undisguised
|
||
amazement, and noticed that the celebrated Emperor of the Winkies was
|
||
composed entirely of pieces of tin, neatly soldered
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
128
|
||
and riveted together into the form of a man. He rattled and clanked a
|
||
little, as he moved, but in the main he seemed to be most cleverly
|
||
constructed, and his appearance was only marred by the thick coating of
|
||
polishing-paste that covered him from head to foot.
|
||
|
||
The boy's intent gaze caused the Tin Woodman to remember that he was not in
|
||
the most presentable condition, so he begged his friends to excuse him while
|
||
he retired to his private apartment and allowed his servants to polish him.
|
||
This was accomplished in a short time, and when the emperor returned his
|
||
nickel-plated body shone so magnificently that the Scarecrow heartily
|
||
congratulated him on his improved appearance.
|
||
|
||
"That nickel-plate was, I confess, a happy thought," said Nick; "and it was
|
||
the more necessary because I had become somewhat scratched during my
|
||
adventurous experiences. You will observe this engraved star upon my left
|
||
breast. It not only indicates where my excellent heart lies, but covers very
|
||
neatly the patch made by the Wonderful Wizard when he placed that valued
|
||
organ in my breast with his own skillful hands."
|
||
|
||
"Is your heart, then, a hand-organ?" asked the Pumpkinhead, curiously.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
129
|
||
|
||
"By no means," responded the emperor, with dignity. "It is, I am convinced,
|
||
a strictly orthodox heart, although somewhat larger and warmer than most
|
||
people possess."
|
||
|
||
Then he turned to the Scarecrow and asked:
|
||
|
||
"Are your subjects happy and contented, my dear friend?"
|
||
|
||
"I cannot, say" was the reply. "for the girls of Oz have risen in revolt and
|
||
driven me out of the emerald City."
|
||
|
||
"Great Goodness!" cried the Tin Woodman, "What a calamity! They surely do
|
||
not complain of your wise and gracious rule?"
|
||
|
||
"No; but they say it is a poor rule that don't work both ways," answered the
|
||
Scarecrow; "and these females are also of the opinion that men have ruled
|
||
the land long enough. So they have captured my city, robbed the treasury of
|
||
all its jewels, and are running things to suit themselves."
|
||
|
||
"Dear me! What an extraordinary idea!" cried the Emperor, who was both
|
||
shocked and surprised.
|
||
|
||
"And I heard some of them say," said Tip, "that they intend to march here
|
||
and capture the castle and city of the Tin Woodman."
|
||
|
||
"Ah! we must not give them time to do that," said the Emperor, quickly; "we
|
||
will go at once and
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
130 Full page line-art drawing.
|
||
|
||
RENOVATING HIS MAJESTY, THE SCARECROW.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
131
|
||
recapture the Emerald City and place the Scarecrow again upon his throne."
|
||
|
||
"I was sure you would help me," remarked the Scarecrow in a pleased voice.
|
||
"How large an army can you assemble?"
|
||
|
||
"We do not need an army," replied the Woodman. "We four, with the aid of my
|
||
gleaming axe, are enough to strike terror into the hearts of the rebels."
|
||
|
||
"We five," corrected the Pumpkinhead.
|
||
|
||
"Five?" repeated the Tin Woodman.
|
||
|
||
"Yes; the Saw-Horse is brave and fearless," answered Jack, forgetting his
|
||
recent quarrel with the quadruped.
|
||
|
||
The Tin Woodman looked around him in a puzzled way, for the Saw-Horse had
|
||
until now remained quietly standing in a corner, where the Emperor had not
|
||
noticed him. Tip immediately called the odd-looking creature to them, and it
|
||
approached so awkwardly that it nearly upset the beautiful center-table and
|
||
the engraved oil-can.
|
||
|
||
"I begin to think," remarked the Tin Woodman as he looked earnestly at the
|
||
Saw-Horse, "that wonders will never cease! How came this creature alive?"
|
||
|
||
"I did it with a magic powder," modestly asserted the boy. "and the Saw-
|
||
Horse has been very useful to us."
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
132
|
||
|
||
"He enabled us to escape the rebels," added the Scarecrow.
|
||
|
||
"Then we must surely accept him as a comrade," declared the emperor. "A live
|
||
Saw-Horse is a distinct novelty, and should prove an interesting study. Does
|
||
he know anything?"
|
||
|
||
"Well, I cannot claim any great experience in life," the Saw-Horse answered
|
||
for himself. "but I seem to learn very quickly, and often it occurs to me
|
||
that I know more than any of those around me."
|
||
|
||
"Perhaps you do," said the emperor; "for experience does not always mean
|
||
wisdom. But time is precious Just now, so let us quickly make preparations
|
||
to start upon our Journey.
|
||
|
||
The emperor called his Lord High Chancellor and instructed him how to run
|
||
the kingdom during his absence. Meanwhile the Scarecrow was taken apart and
|
||
the painted sack that served him for a head was carefully laundered and
|
||
restuffed with the brains originally given him by the great Wizard. His
|
||
clothes were also cleaned and pressed by the Imperial tailors, and his crown
|
||
polished and again sewed upon his head, for the Tin Woodman insisted he
|
||
should not renounce this badge of royalty. The Scarecrow now presented a
|
||
very respectable appearance, and although in no way addicted to vanity he
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
133
|
||
was quite pleased with himself and strutted a trifle as he walked. While
|
||
this was being done Tip mended the wooden limbs of Jack Pumpkinhead and made
|
||
them stronger than before, and the Saw-Horse was also inspected to see if he
|
||
was in good working order.
|
||
|
||
Then bright and early the next morning they set out upon the return Journey
|
||
to the emerald City, the Tin Woodman bearing upon his shoulder a gleaming
|
||
axe and leading the way, while the Pumpkinhead rode upon the Saw-Horse and
|
||
Tip and the Scarecrow walked upon either side to make sure that he didn't
|
||
fall off or become damaged.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
134 Full page line-art drawing.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
135 Mr. H. M. Woggle-Bug, T. E.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Now, General Jinjur -- who, you will remember, commanded the Army of Revolt
|
||
-- was rendered very uneasy by the escape of the Scarecrow from the Emerald
|
||
City. She feared, and with good reason, that if his Majesty and the Tin
|
||
Woodman Joined forces, it would mean danger to her and her entire army; for
|
||
the people of Oz had not yet forgotten the deeds of these famous heroes, who
|
||
had passed successfully through so many startling adventures.
|
||
|
||
So Jinjur sent post-haste for old Mombi, the witch, and promised her large
|
||
rewards if she would come to the assistance of the rebel army.
|
||
|
||
Mombi was furious at the trick Tip had played upon her as well as at his
|
||
escape and the theft of the precious Powder of Life; so she needed no urging
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
136
|
||
to induce her to travel to the Emerald City to assist Jinjur in defeating
|
||
the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, who had made Tip one of their friends.
|
||
|
||
Mombi had no sooner arrived at the royal palace than she discovered, by
|
||
means of her secret magic, that the adventurers were starting upon their
|
||
Journey to the Emerald City; so she retired to a small room high up in a
|
||
tower and locked herself in while she practised such arts as she could
|
||
command to prevent the return of the Scarecrow and his companions.
|
||
|
||
That was why the Tin Woodman presently stopped and said:
|
||
|
||
"Something very curious has happened. I ought to know by heart and every
|
||
step of this Journey, yet I fear we have already lost our way."
|
||
|
||
"That is quite impossible!" protested the Scarecrow. "Why do you think, my
|
||
dear friend, that we have gone astray?"
|
||
|
||
"Why, here before us is a great field of sunflowers -- and I never saw this
|
||
field before in all my life."
|
||
|
||
At these words they all looked around, only to find that they were indeed
|
||
surrounded by a field of tall stalks, every stalk bearing at its top a
|
||
gigantic sunflower. And not only were these flowers almost
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
137
|
||
blinding in their vivid hues of red and gold, but each one whirled around
|
||
upon its stalk like a miniature wind-mill, completely dazzling the vision of
|
||
the beholders and so mystifying them that they knew not which way to turn.
|
||
|
||
"It's witchcraft!" exclaimed Tip.
|
||
|
||
While they paused, hesitating and wondering, the Tin Woodman uttered a cry
|
||
of impatience and advanced with swinging axe to cut down the stalks before
|
||
him. But now the sunflowers suddenly stopped their rapid whirling, and the
|
||
travelers plainly saw a girl's face appear in the center of each flower.
|
||
These lovely faces looked upon the astonished band with mocking smiles, and
|
||
then burst into a chorus of merry laughter at the dismay their appearance
|
||
caused.
|
||
|
||
"Stop! stop!" cried Tip, seizing the Woodman's arm; "they're alive! they're
|
||
girls!"
|
||
|
||
At that moment the flowers began whirling again, and the faces faded away
|
||
and were lost in the rapid revolutions.
|
||
|
||
The Tin Woodman dropped his axe and sat down upon the ground.
|
||
|
||
"It would be heartless to chop down those pretty creatures," said he,
|
||
despondently. "and yet I do not know how else we can proceed upon our way"
|
||
|
||
"They looked to me strangely like the faces of
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
138
|
||
the Army of Revolt," mused the Scarecrow. "But I cannot conceive how the
|
||
girls could have followed us here so quickly."
|
||
|
||
"I believe it's magic," said Tip, positively, "and that someone is playing a
|
||
trick upon us. I've known old Mombi do things like that before. Probably
|
||
it's nothing more than an illusion, and there are no sunflowers here at
|
||
all."
|
||
|
||
"Then let us shut our eyes and walk forward," suggested the Woodman.
|
||
|
||
"Excuse me," replied the Scarecrow. "My eyes are not painted to shut.
|
||
Because you happen to have tin eyelids, you must not imagine we are all
|
||
built in the same way."
|
||
|
||
"And the eyes of the Saw-Horse are knot eyes," said Jack, leaning forward to
|
||
examine them.
|
||
|
||
"Nevertheless, you must ride quickly forward," commanded Tip, "and we will
|
||
follow after you and so try to escape. My eyes are already so dazzled that I
|
||
can scarcely see."
|
||
|
||
So the Pumpkinhead rode boldly forward, and Tip grasped the stub tail of the
|
||
Saw-Horse and followed with closed eyes. The Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman
|
||
brought up the rear, and before they had gone many yards a Joyful shout from
|
||
Jack announced that the way was clear before them.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
139
|
||
|
||
Then all paused to look backward, but not a trace of the field of sunflowers
|
||
remained.
|
||
|
||
More cheerfully, now they proceeded upon their Journey; but old Mombi had so
|
||
changed the appearance of the landscape that they would surely have been
|
||
lost had not the Scarecrow wisely concluded to take their direction from the
|
||
sun. For no witch-craft could change the course of the sun, and it was
|
||
therefore a safe guide.
|
||
|
||
However, other difficulties lay before them. The Saw-Horse stepped into a
|
||
rabbit hole and fell to the ground. The Pumpkinhead was pitched high into
|
||
the air, and his history would probably have ended at that exact moment had
|
||
not the Tin Woodman skillfully caught the pumpkin as it descended and saved
|
||
it from injury.
|
||
|
||
Tip soon had it fitted to the neck again and replaced Jack upon his feet.
|
||
But the Saw-Horse did not escape so easily. For when his leg was pulled from
|
||
the rabbit hole it was found to be broken short off, and must be replaced or
|
||
repaired before he could go a step farther.
|
||
|
||
"This is quite serious," said the Tin Woodman." If there were trees near by
|
||
I might soon manufacture another leg for this animal; but I cannot see even
|
||
a shrub for miles around."
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
140 Full page line-art drawing.
|
||
|
||
THE TIN WOODMAN SKILLFULLY CAUGHT THE PUMPKIN
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
141
|
||
|
||
"And there are neither fences nor houses in this part of the land of Oz,"
|
||
added the Scarecrow, disconsolately.
|
||
|
||
"Then what shall we do?" enquired the boy.
|
||
|
||
"I suppose I must start my brains working," replied his Majesty the
|
||
Scarecrow; "for experience has, taught me that I can do anything if I but
|
||
take time to think it out."
|
||
|
||
"Let us all think," said Tip; "and perhaps we shall find a way to repair the
|
||
Saw-Horse."
|
||
|
||
So they sat in a row upon the grass and began to think, while the Saw-Horse
|
||
occupied itself by gazing curiously upon its broken limb.
|
||
|
||
"Does it hurt?" asked the Tin Woodman, in a soft, sympathetic voice.
|
||
|
||
"Not in the least," returned the Saw-Horse; "but my pride is injured to find
|
||
that my anatomy is so brittle."
|
||
|
||
For a time the little group remained in silent thought. Presently the Tin
|
||
Woodman raised his head and looked over the fields.
|
||
|
||
"What sort of creature is that which approaches us?" he asked, wonderingly.
|
||
|
||
The others followed his gaze, and discovered coming toward them the most
|
||
extraordinary object they had ever beheld. It advanced quickly and
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
142
|
||
noiselessly over the soft grass and in a few minutes stood before the
|
||
adventurers and regarded them with an astonishment equal to their own.
|
||
|
||
The Scarecrow was calm under all circumstances.
|
||
|
||
"Good morning!" he said, politely.
|
||
|
||
The stranger removed his hat with a flourish, bowed very low, and then
|
||
responded:
|
||
|
||
|
||
Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
"Good morning, one and all. I hope you are, as an aggregation, enjoying
|
||
excellent health. Permit me to present my card."
|
||
|
||
With this courteous speech it extended a card toward the Scarecrow, who
|
||
accepted it, turned it over and over, and handed it with a shake of his head
|
||
to Tip.
|
||
|
||
The boy read aloud:
|
||
|
||
|
||
"MR. H. M. WOGGLE-BUG, T. E."
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
143
|
||
|
||
"Dear me!" ejaculated the Pumpkinhead, staring somewhat intently.
|
||
|
||
"How very peculiar!" said the Tin Woodman.
|
||
|
||
Tip's eyes were round and wondering, and the Saw-Horse uttered a sigh and
|
||
turned away its head.
|
||
|
||
"Are you really a Woggle-Bug?" enquired the Scarecrow.
|
||
|
||
"Most certainly, my dear sir!" answered the stranger, briskly. "Is not my
|
||
name upon the card?"
|
||
|
||
"It is," said the Scarecrow. "But may I ask what 'H. M.' stands for?"
|
||
|
||
"'H. M.' means Highly Magnified," returned the Woggle-Bug, proudly.
|
||
|
||
"Oh, I see." The Scarecrow viewed the stranger critically. "And are you, in
|
||
truth, highly magnified?"
|
||
|
||
"Sir," said the Woggle-Bug, "I take you for a gentleman of judgment and
|
||
discernment. Does it not occur to you that I am several thousand times
|
||
greater than any Woggle-Bug you ever saw before? Therefore it is plainly
|
||
evident that I am Highly Magnified, and there is no good reason why you
|
||
should doubt the fact."
|
||
|
||
"Pardon me," returned the Scarecrow. "My brains are slightly mixed since I
|
||
was last laundered. Would it be improper for me to ask, also, what the
|
||
'T.E.' at the end of your name stands for?"
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
144
|
||
|
||
"Those letters express my degree," answered the Woggle-Bug, with a
|
||
condescending smile. "To be more explicit, the initials mean that I am
|
||
Thoroughly Educated."
|
||
|
||
"Oh!" said the Scarecrow, much relieved.
|
||
|
||
Tip had not yet taken his eyes off this wonderful personage. What he saw was
|
||
a great, round, buglike body supported upon two slender legs which ended in
|
||
delicate feet -- the toes curling upward. The body of the Woggle-Bug was
|
||
rather flat, and judging from what could be seen of it was of a glistening
|
||
dark brown color upon the back, while the front was striped with alternate
|
||
bands of light brown and white, blending together at the edges. Its arms
|
||
were fully as slender as its legs, and upon a rather long neck was perched
|
||
its head -- not unlike the head of a man, except that its nose ended in a
|
||
curling antenna, or "feeler," and its ears from the upper points bore
|
||
antennae that decorated the sides of its head like two miniature, curling
|
||
pig tails. It must be admitted that the round, black eyes were rather
|
||
bulging in appearance; but the expression upon the Woggle-Bug's face was by
|
||
no means unpleasant.
|
||
|
||
For dress the insect wore a dark-blue swallowtail coat with a yellow silk
|
||
lining and a flower in the button-hole; a vest of white duck that stretched
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
145
|
||
tightly across the wide body; knickerbockers of fawn-colored plush, fastened
|
||
at the knees with gilt buckles; and, perched upon its small head, was
|
||
jauntily set a tall silk hat.
|
||
|
||
Standing upright before our amazed friends the Woggle-Bug appeared to be
|
||
fully as tall as the Tin Woodman; and surely no bug in all the Land of Oz
|
||
had ever before attained so enormous a size.
|
||
|
||
"I confess," said the Scarecrow, "that your abrupt appearance has caused me
|
||
surprise, and no doubt has startled my companions. I hope, however, that
|
||
this circumstance will not distress you. We shall probably get used to you
|
||
in time."
|
||
|
||
"Do not apologize, I beg of you!" returned the Woggle-Bug, earnestly. "It
|
||
affords me great pleasure to surprise people; for surely I cannot be classed
|
||
with ordinary insects and am entitled to both curiosity and admiration from
|
||
those I meet."
|
||
|
||
"You are, indeed," agreed his Majesty.
|
||
|
||
"If you will permit me to seat myself in your august company," continued the
|
||
stranger, "I will gladly relate my history, so that you will be better able
|
||
to comprehend my unusual -- may I say remarkable? -- appearance."
|
||
|
||
"You may say what you please," answered the Tin Woodman, briefly.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
146
|
||
|
||
So the Woggle-Bug sat down upon the grass, facing the little group of
|
||
wanderers, and told them the following story:
|
||
|
||
Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
147 A Highly Magnified History
|
||
|
||
|
||
"It is but honest that I should acknowledge at the beginning of my recital
|
||
that I was born an ordinary Woggle-Bug," began the creature, in a frank and
|
||
friendly tone. "Knowing no better, I used my arms as well as my legs for
|
||
walking, and crawled under the edges of stones or hid among the roots of
|
||
grasses with no thought beyond finding a few insects smaller than myself to
|
||
feed upon.
|
||
|
||
"The chill nights rendered me stiff and motionless, for I wore no clothing,
|
||
but each morning the warm rays of the sun gave me new life and restored me
|
||
to activity. A horrible existence is this, but you must remember it is the
|
||
regular ordained existence of Woggle-Bugs, as well as of many other tiny
|
||
creatures that inhabit the earth.
|
||
|
||
"But Destiny had singled me out, humble though I was, for a grander fate!
|
||
One day I crawled near
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
148
|
||
to a country school house, and my curiosity being excited by the monotonous
|
||
hum of the students within, I made bold to enter and creep along a crack
|
||
between two boards until I reached the far end, where, in front of a hearth
|
||
of glowing embers, sat the master at his desk.
|
||
|
||
"No one noticed so small a creature as a Woggle-Bug, and when I found that
|
||
the hearth was even warmer and more comfortable than the sunshine, I
|
||
resolved to establish my future home beside it. So I found a charming nest
|
||
between two bricks and hid myself therein for many, many months.
|
||
|
||
"Professor Nowitall is, doubtless, the most famous scholar in the land of
|
||
Oz, and after a few days I began to listen to the lectures and discourses he
|
||
gave his pupils. Not one of them was more attentive than the humble,
|
||
unnoticed Woggle-Bug, and I acquired in this way a fund of knowledge that I
|
||
will myself confess is simply marvelous. That is why I place 'T.E.'
|
||
Thoroughly Educated upon my cards; for my greatest pride lies in the fact
|
||
that the world cannot produce another Woggle-Bug with a tenth part of my own
|
||
culture and erudition."
|
||
|
||
"I do not blame you," said the Scarecrow. "Education is a thing to be proud
|
||
of. I'm educated myself. The mess of brains given me by the Great
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
149
|
||
Wizard is considered by my friends to be unexcelled."
|
||
|
||
"Nevertheless," interrupted the Tin Woodman, "a good heart is, I believe,
|
||
much more desirable than education or brains."
|
||
|
||
"To me," said the Saw-Horse, "a good leg is more desirable than either."
|
||
|
||
"Could seeds be considered in the light of brains?" enquired the
|
||
Pumpkinhead, abruptly.
|
||
|
||
"Keep quiet!" commanded Tip, sternly.
|
||
|
||
"Very well, dear father," answered the obedient Jack.
|
||
|
||
The Woggle-Bug listened patiently -- even respectfully -- to these remarks,
|
||
and then resumed his story.
|
||
|
||
"I must have lived fully three years in that secluded school-house hearth,"
|
||
said he, "drinking thirstily of the ever-flowing fount of limpid knowledge
|
||
before me."
|
||
|
||
"Quite poetical," commented the Scarecrow, nodding his head approvingly.
|
||
|
||
"But one, day" continued the Bug, "a marvelous circumstance occurred that
|
||
altered my very existence and brought me to my present pinnacle of
|
||
greatness. The
|
||
|
||
Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
150
|
||
Professor discovered me in the act of crawling across the hearth, and before
|
||
I could escape he had caught me between his thumb and forefinger.
|
||
|
||
"'My dear children,' said he, 'I have captured a Woggle-Bug -- a very rare
|
||
and interesting specimen. Do any of you know what a Woggle-Bug is?'
|
||
|
||
"'No!' yelled the scholars, in chorus.
|
||
|
||
"'Then,' said the Professor, 'I will get out my famous magnifying-glass and
|
||
throw the insect upon a screen in a highly-magnified condition, that you may
|
||
all study carefully its peculiar construction and become acquainted with its
|
||
habits and manner of life.'
|
||
|
||
"He then brought from a cupboard a most curious instrument, and before I
|
||
could realize what had happened I found myself thrown upon a screen in a
|
||
highly-magnified state -- even as you now behold me.
|
||
|
||
"The students stood up on their stools and craned their heads forward to get
|
||
a better view of me, and two little girls jumped upon the sill of an open
|
||
window where they could see more plainly.
|
||
|
||
"'Behold!' cried the Professor, in a loud voice, 'this highly-magnified
|
||
Woggle-Bug; one of the most curious insects in existence!'
|
||
|
||
"Being Thoroughly Educated, and knowing what is required of a cultured
|
||
gentleman, at this juncture I stood upright and, placing my hand upon my
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
151 Full page line-art drawing.
|
||
|
||
"THEE STUDENTS STOOD UP ON THEIR STOOLS."
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
152
|
||
bosom, made a very polite bow. My action, being unexpected, must have
|
||
startled them, for one of the little girls perched upon the window-sill gave
|
||
a scream and fell backward out the window, drawing her companion with her as
|
||
she disappeared.
|
||
|
||
"The Professor uttered a cry of horror and rushed away through the door to
|
||
see if the poor children were injured by the fall. The scholars followed
|
||
after him in a wild mob, and I was left alone in the school-room, still in a
|
||
Highly-Magnified state and free to do as I pleased.
|
||
|
||
"It immediately occurred to me that this was a good opportunity to escape. I
|
||
was proud of my great size, and realized that now I could safely travel
|
||
anywhere in the world, while my superior culture would make me a fit
|
||
associate for the most learned person I might chance to meet.
|
||
|
||
"So, while the Professor picked the little girls -- who were more frightened
|
||
than hurt -- off the ground, and the pupils clustered around him closely
|
||
grouped, I calmly walked out of the school-house, turned a corner, and
|
||
escaped unnoticed to a grove of trees that stood near"
|
||
|
||
"Wonderful!" exclaimed the Pumpkinhead, admiringly.
|
||
|
||
"It was, indeed," agreed the Woggle-Bug. "I
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
153
|
||
have never ceased to congratulate myself for escaping while I was Highly
|
||
Magnified; for even my excess-
|
||
|
||
|
||
Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
|
||
ive knowledge would have proved of little use to me had I remained a tiny,
|
||
insignificant insect."
|
||
|
||
"I didn't know before," said Tip, looking at the
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
154
|
||
Woggle-Bug with a puzzled expression, "that insects wore clothes."
|
||
|
||
"Nor do they, in their natural state," returned the stranger. "But in the
|
||
course of my wanderings I had the good fortune to save the ninth life of a
|
||
tailor -- tailors having, like cats, nine lives, as you probably know. The
|
||
fellow was exceedingly grateful, for had he lost that ninth life it would
|
||
have been the end of him; so he begged permission to furnish me with the
|
||
stylish costume I now wear. It fits very nicely, does it not?" and the
|
||
Woggle-Bug stood up and turned himself around slowly, that all might examine
|
||
his person.
|
||
|
||
"He must have been a good tailor," said the Scarecrow, somewhat enviously.
|
||
|
||
"He was a good-hearted tailor, at any rate," observed Nick Chopper.
|
||
|
||
"But where were you going, when you met us?" Tip asked the Woggle-Bug.
|
||
|
||
"Nowhere in particular," was the reply, "although it is my intention soon to
|
||
visit the Emerald City and arrange to give a course of lectures to select
|
||
audiences on the 'Advantages of Magnification.'"
|
||
|
||
"We are bound for the Emerald City now," said the Tin Woodman; "so, if it
|
||
pleases you to do so, you are welcome to travel in our company."
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
155
|
||
|
||
The Woggle-Bug bowed with profound grace.
|
||
|
||
"It will give me great pleasure," said he "to accept your kind invitation;
|
||
for nowhere in the Land of Oz could I hope to meet with so congenial a
|
||
company."
|
||
|
||
"That is true," acknowledged the Pumpkinhead. "We are quite as congenial as
|
||
flies and honey."
|
||
|
||
"But -- pardon me if I seem inquisitive -- are you not all rather -- ahem!
|
||
rather unusual?" asked the Woggle-Bug, looking from one to another with
|
||
unconcealed interest.
|
||
|
||
"Not more so than yourself," answered the Scarecrow. "Everything in life is
|
||
unusual until you get accustomed to it."
|
||
|
||
"What rare philosophy!" exclaimed the Woggle-Bug, admiringly.
|
||
|
||
"Yes; my brains are working well today," admitted the Scarecrow, an accent
|
||
of pride in his voice.
|
||
|
||
"Then, if you are sufficiently rested and refreshed, let us bend our steps
|
||
toward the Emerald City," suggested the magnified one.
|
||
|
||
"We can't," said Tip. "The Saw-Horse has broken a leg, so he can't bend his
|
||
steps. And there is no wood around to make him a new limb from. And we can't
|
||
leave the horse behind because the Pumpkinhead is so stiff in his Joints
|
||
that he has to ride."
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
156
|
||
|
||
"How very unfortunate!" cried the Woggle-Bug. Then he looked the party over
|
||
carefully and said:
|
||
|
||
"If the Pumpkinhead is to ride, why not use one of his legs to make a leg
|
||
for the horse that carries him? I judge that both are made of wood."
|
||
|
||
"Now, that is what I call real cleverness," said the Scarecrow, approvingly.
|
||
"I wonder my brains did not think of that long ago! Get to work, my dear
|
||
Nick, and fit the Pumpkinhead's leg to the Saw-Horse."
|
||
|
||
Jack was not especially pleased with this idea; but he submitted to having
|
||
his left leg amputated by the Tin Woodman and whittled down to fit the left
|
||
leg of the Saw-Horse. Nor was the Saw-Horse especially pleased with the
|
||
operation, either; for he growled a good deal about being "butchered," as he
|
||
called it, and afterward declared that the new leg was a disgrace to a
|
||
respectable Saw-Horse.
|
||
|
||
"I beg you to be more careful in your speech," said the Pumpkinhead,
|
||
sharply. "Remember, if you please, that it is my leg you are abusing."
|
||
|
||
"I cannot forget it," retorted the Saw-Horse, "for it is quite as flimsy as
|
||
the rest of your person."
|
||
|
||
"Flimsy! me flimsy!" cried Jack, in a rage. "How dare you call me flimsy?"
|
||
|
||
"Because you are built as absurdly as a jumping-
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
157
|
||
jack," sneered the horse, rolling his knotty eyes in a vicious manner. "Even
|
||
your head won't stay straight, and you never can tell whether you are
|
||
looking backwards or forwards!"
|
||
|
||
"Friends, I entreat you not to quarrel!" pleaded the Tin Woodman,
|
||
anxiously." As a matter of fact, we are none of us above criticism; so let
|
||
us bear with each others' faults."
|
||
|
||
"An excellent suggestion," said the Woggle-Bug, approvingly. "You must have
|
||
an excellent heart, my metallic friend."
|
||
|
||
"I have," returned Nick, well pleased. "My heart is quite the best part of
|
||
me. But now let us start upon our Journey.
|
||
|
||
They perched the one-legged Pumpkinhead upon the Saw-Horse, and tied him to
|
||
his seat with cords, so that he could not possibly fall off.
|
||
|
||
And then, following the lead of the Scarecrow, they all advanced in the
|
||
direction of the Emerald City.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
158 Full page line-art drawing.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
159 Old Mombi indulges in Witchcraft
|
||
|
||
|
||
They soon discovered that the Saw-Horse limped, for his new leg was a trifle
|
||
too long. So they were obliged to halt while the Tin Woodman chopped it down
|
||
with his axe, after which the wooden steed paced along more comfortably. But
|
||
the Saw-Horse was not entirely satisfied, even yet.
|
||
|
||
"It was a shame that I broke my other leg!" it growled.
|
||
|
||
"On the contrary," airily remarked the Woggle-Bug, who was walking
|
||
alongside, "you should consider the accident most fortunate. For a horse is
|
||
never of much use until he has been broken."
|
||
|
||
"I beg your pardon," said Tip, rather provoked, for he felt a warm interest
|
||
in both the Saw-Horse and his man Jack; "but permit me to say that your joke
|
||
is a poor one, and as old as it is poor."
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
160
|
||
|
||
"Still, it is a Joke," declared the Woggle-Bug; firmly, "and a Joke derived
|
||
from a play upon words is considered among educated people to be eminently
|
||
proper."
|
||
|
||
"What does that mean?" enquired the Pumpkinhead, stupidly.
|
||
|
||
"It means, my dear friend," explained the Woggle-Bug, "that our language
|
||
contains many words having a double meaning; and that to pronounce a joke
|
||
that allows both meanings of a certain word, proves the joker a person of
|
||
culture and refinement, who has, moreover, a thorough command of the
|
||
language."
|
||
|
||
"I don't believe that," said Tip, plainly; "anybody can make a pun."
|
||
|
||
"Not so," rejoined the Woggle-Bug, stiffly. "It requires education of a high
|
||
order. Are you educated, young sir?"
|
||
|
||
"Not especially," admitted Tip.
|
||
|
||
"Then you cannot judge the matter. I myself am Thoroughly Educated, and I
|
||
say that puns display genius. For instance, were I to ride upon this Saw-
|
||
Horse, he would not only be an animal he would become an equipage. For he
|
||
would then be a horse-and-buggy."
|
||
|
||
At this the Scarecrow gave a gasp and the Tin
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
161
|
||
Woodman stopped short and looked reproachfully at the Woggle-Bug. At the
|
||
same time the Saw-Horse loudly snorted his derision; and even the
|
||
Pumpkinhead put up his hand to hide the smile which, because it was carved
|
||
upon his face, he could not change to a frown.
|
||
|
||
But the Woggle-Bug strutted along as if he had made some brilliant remark,
|
||
and the Scarecrow was obliged to say:
|
||
|
||
"I have heard, my dear friend, that a person can become over-educated; and
|
||
although I have a high respect for brains, no matter how they may be
|
||
arranged or classified, I begin to suspect that yours are slightly tangled.
|
||
In any event, I must beg you to restrain your superior education while in
|
||
our society."
|
||
|
||
"We are not very particular," added the Tin Woodman; "and we are exceedingly
|
||
kind hearted. But if your superior culture gets leaky again -- " He did not
|
||
complete the sentence, but he twirled his gleaming axe so carelessly that
|
||
the Woggle-Bug looked frightened, and shrank away to a safe distance.
|
||
|
||
The others marched on in silence, and the Highly Magnified one, after a
|
||
period of deep thought, said in an humble voice:
|
||
|
||
"I will endeavor to restrain myself."
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
162
|
||
|
||
"That is all we can expect," returned the Scarecrow pleasantly; and good
|
||
nature being thus happily restored to the party, they proceeded upon their
|
||
way.
|
||
|
||
When they again stopped to allow Tip to rest -- the boy being the only one
|
||
that seemed to tire -- the Tin Woodman noticed many small, round holes in
|
||
the grassy meadow.
|
||
|
||
"This must be a village of the Field Mice," he said to the Scarecrow." I
|
||
wonder if my old friend, the Queen of the Mice, is in this neighborhood."
|
||
|
||
"If she is, she may be of great service to us," answered the Scarecrow, who
|
||
was impressed by a sudden thought. "See if you can call her, my dear Nick."
|
||
|
||
So the Tin Woodman blew a shrill note upon a silver whistle that hung around
|
||
his neck, and presently a tiny grey mouse popped from a near-by hole and
|
||
advanced fearlessly toward them. For the Tin Woodman had once saved her
|
||
life, and the Queen of the Field Mice knew he was to be trusted."
|
||
|
||
"Good day, your Majesty, said Nick, politely addressing the mouse; "I trust
|
||
you are enjoying good health?"
|
||
|
||
"Thank you, I am quite well," answered the Queen, demurely, as she sat up
|
||
and displayed the tiny golden crown upon her head. "Can I do anything to
|
||
assist my old friends?"
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
163
|
||
|
||
"You can, indeed," replied the Scarecrow, eagerly. "Let me, I intreat you,
|
||
take a dozen of your subjects with me to the Emerald City."
|
||
|
||
"Will they be injured in any way?" asked the Queen, doubtfully.
|
||
|
||
"I think not," replied the Scarecrow. "I will carry them hidden in the straw
|
||
which stuffs my body, and when I give them the signal by unbuttoning my
|
||
jacket, they have only to rush out and scamper home again as fast as they
|
||
can. By doing this they will assist me to regain my throne, which the Army
|
||
of Revolt has taken from me."
|
||
|
||
"In that case," said the Queen, "I will not refuse your request. Whenever
|
||
you are ready, I will call twelve of my most intelligent subjects."
|
||
|
||
"I am ready now" returned the Scarecrow. Then he lay flat upon the ground
|
||
and unbuttoned his jacket, displaying the mass of straw with which he was
|
||
stuffed.
|
||
|
||
The Queen uttered a little piping call, and in an instant a dozen pretty
|
||
field mice had emerged from their holes and stood before their ruler,
|
||
awaiting her orders.
|
||
|
||
What the Queen said to them none of our travelers could understand, for it
|
||
was in the mouse language; but the field mice obeyed without hesitation,
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
164
|
||
running one after the other to the Scarecrow and hiding themselves in the
|
||
straw of his breast.
|
||
|
||
When all of the twelve mice had thus concealed themselves, the Scarecrow
|
||
buttoned his Jacket securely and then arose and thanked the Queen for her
|
||
kindness.
|
||
|
||
"One thing more you might do to serve us," suggested the Tin Woodman; "and
|
||
that is to run ahead and show us the way to the Emerald City. For some enemy
|
||
is evidently trying to prevent us from reaching it."
|
||
|
||
"I will do that gladly," returned the Queen. "Are you ready?"
|
||
|
||
The Tin Woodman looked at Tip.
|
||
|
||
"I'm rested," said the boy. "Let us start."
|
||
|
||
Then they resumed their journey, the little grey Queen of the Field Mice
|
||
running swiftly ahead and then pausing until the travelers drew near, when
|
||
away she would dart again.
|
||
|
||
Without this unerring guide the Scarecrow and his comrades might never have
|
||
gained the Emerald City; for many were the obstacles thrown in their way by
|
||
the arts of old Mombi. Yet not one of the obstacles really existed -- all
|
||
were cleverly contrived deceptions. For when they came to the banks of a
|
||
rushing river that threatened to bar their way the
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
165
|
||
little Queen kept steadily on, passing through the seeming flood in safety;
|
||
and our travelers followed her without encountering a single drop of water.
|
||
|
||
Again, a high wall of granite towered high above their heads and opposed
|
||
their advance. But the grey Field Mouse walked straight through it, and the
|
||
others did the same, the wall melting into mist as they passed it.
|
||
|
||
Afterward, when they had stopped for a moment to allow Tip to rest, they saw
|
||
forty roads branching off from their feet in forty different directions; and
|
||
soon these forty roads began whirling around like a mighty wheel, first in
|
||
one direction and then in the other, completely bewildering their vision.
|
||
|
||
But the Queen called for them to follow her and darted off in a straight
|
||
line; and when they had gone a few paces the whirling pathways vanished and
|
||
were seen no more.
|
||
|
||
Mombi's last trick was the most fearful of all. She sent a sheet of
|
||
crackling flame rushing over the meadow to consume them; and for the first
|
||
time the Scarecrow became afraid and turned to fly.
|
||
|
||
"If that fire reaches me I will be gone in no time!" said he, trembling
|
||
until his straw rattled. "It's the most dangerous thing I ever encountered."
|
||
|
||
"I'm off, too!" cried the Saw-Horse, turning and
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
166
|
||
prancing with agitation; "for my wood is so dry it would burn like
|
||
kindlings."
|
||
|
||
"Is fire dangerous to pumpkins?" asked Jack, fearfully.
|
||
|
||
"You'll be baked like a tart -- and so will I!"
|
||
|
||
|
||
Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
|
||
answered the Woggle-Bug, getting down on all fours so he could run the
|
||
faster.
|
||
|
||
But the Tin Woodman, having no fear of fire, averted the stampede by a few
|
||
sensible words.
|
||
|
||
"Look at the Field Mouse!" he shouted. "The fire does not burn her in the
|
||
least. In fact, it is no fire at all, but only a deception."
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
167
|
||
|
||
Indeed, to watch the little Queen march calmly through the advancing flames
|
||
restored courage to every member of the party, and they followed her without
|
||
being even scorched.
|
||
|
||
"This is surely a most extraordinary adventure," said the Woggle-Bug, who
|
||
was greatly amazed; "for it upsets all the Natural Laws that I heard
|
||
Professor Nowitall teach in the school-house."
|
||
|
||
"Of course it does," said the Scarecrow, wisely. "All magic is unnatural,
|
||
and for that reason is to be feared and avoided. But I see before us the
|
||
gates of the Emerald City, so I imagine we have now overcome all the magical
|
||
obstacles that seemed to oppose us."
|
||
|
||
Indeed, the walls of the City were plainly visible, and the Queen of the
|
||
Field Mice, who had guided them so faithfully, came near to bid them good-
|
||
bye.
|
||
|
||
"We are very grateful to your Majesty for your kind assistance," said the
|
||
Tin Woodman, bowing before the pretty creature.
|
||
|
||
"I am always pleased to be of service to my friends," answered the Queen,
|
||
and in a flash she had darted away upon her journey home.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
168 Full page line-art drawing.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
169 The Prisoners of the Queen
|
||
|
||
|
||
Approaching the gateway of the Emerald City the travelers found it guarded
|
||
by two girls of the Army of Revolt, who opposed their entrance by drawing
|
||
the knitting-needles from their hair and threatening to prod the first that
|
||
came near.
|
||
|
||
But the Tin Woodman was not afraid."
|
||
|
||
At the worst they can but scratch my beautiful nickel-plate," he said. "But
|
||
there will be no 'worst,' for I think I can manage to frighten these absurd
|
||
soldiers very easily. Follow me closely, all of you!"
|
||
|
||
Then, swinging his axe in a great circle to right and left before him, he
|
||
advanced upon the gate, and the others followed him without hesitation.
|
||
|
||
The girls, who had expected no resistance whatever, were terrified by the
|
||
sweep of the glittering axe and fled screaming into the city; so that our
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
170
|
||
travelers passed the gates in safety and marched down the green marble
|
||
pavement of the wide street toward the royal palace.
|
||
|
||
"At this rate we will soon have your Majesty upon the throne again," said
|
||
the Tin Woodman, laughing at his easy conquest of the guards.
|
||
|
||
"Thank you, friend Nick," returned the Scarecrow, gratefully. "Nothing can
|
||
resist your kind heart and your sharp axe."
|
||
|
||
As they passed the rows of houses they saw through the open doors that men
|
||
were sweeping and dusting and washing dishes, while the women sat around in
|
||
groups, gossiping and laughing.
|
||
|
||
"What has happened?" the Scarecrow asked a sad-looking man with a bushy
|
||
beard, who wore an apron and was wheeling a baby-carriage along the
|
||
sidewalk.
|
||
|
||
"Why, we've had a revolution, your Majesty as you ought to know very well,"
|
||
replied the man; "and since you went away the women have been running things
|
||
to suit themselves. I'm glad you have decided to come back and restore
|
||
order, for doing housework and minding the children is wearing out the
|
||
strength of every man in the Emerald City."
|
||
|
||
"Hm!" said the Scarecrow, thoughtfully. "If it
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
171
|
||
is such hard work as you say, how did the women manage it so easily?"
|
||
|
||
"I really do not know" replied the man, with a deep sigh. "Perhaps the women
|
||
are made of castiron."
|
||
|
||
No movement was made, as they passed along the street, to oppose their
|
||
progress. Several of the women stopped their gossip long enough to cast
|
||
curious looks upon our friends, but immediately they would turn away with a
|
||
laugh or a sneer and resume their chatter. And when they met with several
|
||
girls belonging to the Army of Revolt, those soldiers, instead of being
|
||
alarmed or appearing surprised, merely stepped out of the way and allowed
|
||
them to advance without protest.
|
||
|
||
This action rendered the Scarecrow uneasy."
|
||
|
||
I'm afraid we are walking into a trap," said he.
|
||
|
||
"Nonsense!" returned Nick Chopper, confidently; "the silly creatures are
|
||
conquered already!"
|
||
|
||
But the Scarecrow shook his head in a way that expressed doubt, and Tip
|
||
said:
|
||
|
||
"It's too easy, altogether. Look out for trouble ahead."
|
||
|
||
"I will," returned his Majesty. Unopposed they reached the royal palace and
|
||
marched up the marble steps, which had once been
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
172 Full page line-art drawing.
|
||
|
||
"IT'S TOO EASY, ALTOGETHER."
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
173
|
||
thickly crusted with emeralds but were now filled with tiny holes where the
|
||
jewels had been ruthlessly torn from their settings by the Army of Revolt.
|
||
And so far not a rebel barred their way.
|
||
|
||
Through the arched hallways and into the magnificent throne room marched the
|
||
Tin Woodman and his followers, and here, when the green silken curtains fell
|
||
behind them, they saw a curious sight.
|
||
|
||
Seated within the glittering throne was General Jinjur, with the Scarecrow's
|
||
second-best crown upon her head, and the royal sceptre in her right hand. A
|
||
box of caramels, from which she was eating, rested in her lap, and the girl
|
||
seemed entirely at ease in her royal surroundings.
|
||
|
||
The Scarecrow stepped forward and confronted her, while the Tin Woodman
|
||
leaned upon his axe and the others formed a half-circle back of his
|
||
Majesty's person.
|
||
|
||
"How dare you sit in my throne?" demanded the Scarecrow, sternly eyeing the
|
||
intruder. "Don't you know you are guilty of treason, and that there is a law
|
||
against treason?"
|
||
|
||
"The throne belongs to whoever is able to take it," answered Jinjur, as she
|
||
slowly ate another caramel. "I have taken it, as you see; so just now I am
|
||
the Queen, and all who oppose me are guilty of
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
174
|
||
treason, and must be punished by the law you have just mentioned."
|
||
|
||
This view of the case puzzled the Scarecrow.
|
||
|
||
"How is it, friend Nick?" he asked, turning to the Tin Woodman.
|
||
|
||
"Why, when it comes to Law, I have nothing to, say" answered that personage.
|
||
"for laws were never meant to be understood, and it is foolish to make the
|
||
attempt."
|
||
|
||
"Then what shall we do?" asked the Scarecrow, in dismay.
|
||
|
||
"Why don't you marry the Queen? And then you can both rule," suggested the
|
||
Woggle-Bug.
|
||
|
||
Jinjur glared at the insect fiercely. "Why don't you send her back to her
|
||
mother, where she belongs?" asked Jack Pumpkinhead.
|
||
|
||
Jinjur frowned.
|
||
|
||
"Why don't you shut her up in a closet until she behaves herself, and
|
||
promises to be good?" enquired Tip. Jinjur's lip curled scornfully.
|
||
|
||
"Or give her a good shaking!" added the Saw-Horse.
|
||
|
||
"No," said the Tin Woodman, "we must treat the poor girl with gentleness.
|
||
Let us give her all the Jewels she can carry, and send her away happy and
|
||
contented."
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
175
|
||
|
||
At this Queen Jinjur laughed aloud, and the next minute clapped her pretty
|
||
hands together thrice, as if for a signal.
|
||
|
||
"You are very absurd creatures," said she; "but I am tired of your nonsense
|
||
and have no time to bother with you longer."
|
||
|
||
While the monarch and his friends listened in amazement to this impudent
|
||
speech, a startling thing happened. The Tin Woodman's axe was snatched from
|
||
his grasp by some person behind him, and he found himself disarmed and
|
||
helpless. At the same instant a shout of laughter rang in the ears of the
|
||
devoted band, and turning to see whence this came they found themselves
|
||
surrounded by the Army of Revolt, the girls bearing in either hand their
|
||
glistening knitting-needles. The entire throne room seemed to be filled with
|
||
the rebels, and the Scarecrow and his comrades realized that they were
|
||
prisoners.
|
||
|
||
"You see how foolish it is to oppose a woman's wit," said Jinjur, gaily;
|
||
"and this event only proves that I am more fit to rule the Emerald City than
|
||
a Scarecrow. I bear you no ill will, I assure you; but lest you should prove
|
||
troublesome to me in the future I shall order you all to be destroyed. That
|
||
is, all except the boy, who belongs to old Mombi and must be restored to her
|
||
keeping. The rest of
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
176
|
||
you are not human, and therefore it will not be wicked to demolish you. The
|
||
Saw-Horse and the Pumpkinhead's body I will have chopped up for kindling-
|
||
wood; and the pumpkin shall be made into tarts. The Scarecrow will do nicely
|
||
to start a bonfire, and the tin man can be cut into small pieces and fed to
|
||
the goats. As for this immense Woggle-Bug -- "
|
||
|
||
"Highly Magnified, if you please!" interrupted the insect.
|
||
|
||
"I think I will ask the cook to make green-turtle soup of you," continued
|
||
the Queen, reflectively.
|
||
|
||
The Woggle-Bug shuddered.
|
||
|
||
"Or, if that won't do, we might use you for a Hungarian goulash, stewed and
|
||
highly spiced," she added, cruelly.
|
||
|
||
This programme of extermination was so terrible that the prisoners looked
|
||
upon one another in a panic of fear. The Scarecrow alone did not give way to
|
||
despair. He stood quietly before the Queen and his brow was wrinkled in deep
|
||
thought as he strove to find some means to escape.
|
||
|
||
While thus engaged he felt the straw within his breast move gently. At once
|
||
his expression changed from sadness to joy, and raising his hand he quickly
|
||
unbuttoned the front of his jacket.
|
||
|
||
This action did not pass unnoticed by the crowd
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
177
|
||
of girls clustering about him, but none of them suspected what he was doing
|
||
until a tiny grey mouse leaped from his bosom to the floor and scampered
|
||
|
||
Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
away between the feet of the Army of Revolt. Another mouse quickly followed;
|
||
then another and another, in rapid succession. And suddenly such a
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
178
|
||
scream of terror went up from the Army that it might easily have filled the
|
||
stoutest heart with consternation. The flight that ensued turned to a
|
||
stampede, and the stampede to a panic.
|
||
|
||
For while the startled mice rushed wildly about the room the Scarecrow had
|
||
only time to note a whirl of skirts and a twinkling of feet as the girls
|
||
disappeared from the palace -- pushing and crowding one another in their mad
|
||
efforts to escape.
|
||
|
||
The Queen, at the first alarm, stood up on the cushions of the throne and
|
||
began to dance frantically upon her tiptoes. Then a mouse ran up the
|
||
cushions, and with a terrified leap poor Jinjur shot clear over the head of
|
||
the Scarecrow and escaped through an archway -- never pausing in her wild
|
||
career until she had reached the city gates.
|
||
|
||
So, in less time than I can explain, the throne room was deserted by all
|
||
save the Scarecrow and his friends, and the Woggle-Bug heaved a deep sigh of
|
||
relief as he exclaimed:
|
||
|
||
"Thank goodness, we are saved!"
|
||
|
||
"For a time, yes;" answered the Tin Woodman. "But the enemy will soon
|
||
return, I fear."
|
||
|
||
"Let us bar all the entrances to the palace!" said the Scarecrow. "Then we
|
||
shall have time to think what is best to be done."
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
179
|
||
|
||
So all except Jack Pumpkinhead, who was still tied fast to the Saw-Horse,
|
||
ran to the various entrances of the royal palace and closed the heavy doors,
|
||
bolting and locking them securely. Then, knowing that the Army of Revolt
|
||
could not batter down the barriers in several days, the adventurers gathered
|
||
once more in the throne room for a council of war.
|
||
|
||
Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
180 Full page line-art drawing.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
181 The Scarecrow Takes Time to Think
|
||
|
||
|
||
"It seems to me," began the Scarecrow, when all were again assembled in the
|
||
throne room, "that the girl Jinjur is quite right in claiming to be Queen.
|
||
And if she is right, then I am wrong, and we have no business to be
|
||
occupying her palace."
|
||
|
||
"But you were the King until she came," said the Woggle-Bug, strutting up
|
||
and down with his hands in his pockets; "so it appears to me that she is the
|
||
interloper instead of you."
|
||
|
||
"Especially as we have just conquered her and put her to flight," added the
|
||
Pumpkinhead, as he raised his hands to turn his face toward the Scarecrow.
|
||
|
||
"Have we really conquered her?" asked the Scarecrow, quietly. "Look out of
|
||
the window, and tell me what you see."
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
182
|
||
|
||
Tip ran to the window and looked out.
|
||
|
||
"The palace is surrounded by a double row of girl soldiers," he announced.
|
||
|
||
"I thought so," returned the Scarecrow. "We are as truly their prisoners as
|
||
we were before the mice frightened them from the palace."
|
||
|
||
"My friend is right," said Nick Chopper, who had been polishing his breast
|
||
with a bit of chamois-leather. "Jinjur is still the Queen, and we are her
|
||
prisoners."
|
||
|
||
"But I hope she cannot get at us," exclaimed the Pumpkinhead, with a shiver
|
||
of fear. "She threatened to make tarts of me, you know."
|
||
|
||
"Don't worry," said the Tin Woodman. "It cannot matter greatly. If you stay
|
||
shut up here you will spoil in time, anyway. A good tart is far more
|
||
admirable than a decayed intellect."
|
||
|
||
"Very true," agreed the Scarecrow.
|
||
|
||
"Oh, dear!" moaned Jack; "what an unhappy lot is mine! Why, dear father, did
|
||
you not make me out of tin -- or even out of straw -- so that I would keep
|
||
indefinitely."
|
||
|
||
"Shucks!" returned Tip, indignantly. "You ought to be glad that I made you
|
||
at all." Then he added, reflectively, "everything has to come to an end,
|
||
some time."
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
183
|
||
|
||
"But I beg to remind you," broke in the Woggle-Bug, who had a distressed
|
||
look in his bulging, round eyes, "that this terrible Queen Jinjur suggested
|
||
making a goulash of me -- Me! the only Highly Magnified and Thoroughly
|
||
Educated Woggle-Bug in the wide, wide world!"
|
||
|
||
"I think it was a brilliant idea," remarked the Scarecrow, approvingly.
|
||
|
||
"Don't you imagine he would make a better soup?" asked the Tin Woodman,
|
||
turning toward his friend.
|
||
|
||
"Well, perhaps," acknowledged the Scarecrow.
|
||
|
||
The Woggle-Bug groaned.
|
||
|
||
"I can see, in my mind's eye," said he, mournfully, "the goats eating small
|
||
pieces of my dear comrade, the Tin Woodman, while my soup is being cooked on
|
||
a bonfire built of the Saw-Horse and Jack Pumpkinhead's body, and Queen
|
||
Jinjur watches me boil while she feeds the flames with my friend the
|
||
Scarecrow!"
|
||
|
||
This morbid picture cast a gloom over the entire party, making them restless
|
||
and anxious.
|
||
|
||
"It can't happen for some time," said the Tin Woodman, trying to speak
|
||
cheerfully; "for we shall be able to keep Jinjur out of the palace until she
|
||
manages to break down the doors."
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
184
|
||
|
||
"And in the meantime I am liable to starve to death, and so is the Woggle-
|
||
Bug," announced Tip.
|
||
|
||
"As for me," said the Woggle-Bug, "I think that I could live for some time
|
||
on Jack Pumpkinhead. Not that I prefer pumpkins for food; but I believe they
|
||
are somewhat nutritious, and Jack's head is large and plump."
|
||
|
||
"How heartless!" exclaimed the Tin Woodman, greatly shocked. "Are we
|
||
cannibals, let me ask? Or are we faithful friends?"
|
||
|
||
"I see very clearly that we cannot stay shut up in this palace," said the
|
||
Scarecrow, with decision. "So let us end this mournful talk and try to
|
||
discover a means to escape."
|
||
|
||
At this suggestion they all gathered eagerly around the throne, wherein was
|
||
seated the Scarecrow, and as Tip sat down upon a stool there fell from his
|
||
pocket a pepper-box, which rolled upon the floor.
|
||
|
||
"What is this?" asked Nick Chopper, picking up the box.
|
||
|
||
"Be careful!" cried the boy. "That's my Powder of Life. Don't spill it, for
|
||
it is nearly gone."
|
||
|
||
"And what is the Powder of Life?" enquired the Scarecrow, as Tip replaced
|
||
the box carefully in his pocket.
|
||
|
||
"It's some magical stuff old Mombi got from a
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
185
|
||
crooked sorcerer," explained the boy. "She brought Jack to life with it, and
|
||
afterward I used it to bring the Saw-Horse to life. I guess it will make
|
||
anything live that is sprinkled with it; but there's only about one dose
|
||
left."
|
||
|
||
"Then it is very precious," said the Tin Woodman.
|
||
|
||
"Indeed it is," agreed the Scarecrow. "It may prove our best means of escape
|
||
from our difficulties. I believe I will think for a few minutes; so I will
|
||
thank you, friend Tip, to get out your knife and rip this heavy crown from
|
||
my forehead."
|
||
|
||
Tip soon cut the stitches that had fastened the crown to the Scarecrow's
|
||
head, and the former monarch of the Emerald City removed it with a sigh of
|
||
relief and hung it on a peg beside the throne.
|
||
|
||
"That is my last memento of royalty" said he; "and I'm glad to get rid of
|
||
it. The former King of this City,
|
||
|
||
Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
186
|
||
who was named Pastoria, lost the crown to the Wonderful Wizard, who passed
|
||
it on to me. Now the girl Jinjur claims it, and I sincerely hope it will not
|
||
give her a headache."
|
||
|
||
"A kindly thought, which I greatly admire," said the Tin Woodman, nodding
|
||
approvingly.
|
||
|
||
"And now I will indulge in a quiet think," continued the Scarecrow, lying
|
||
back in the throne.
|
||
|
||
The others remained as silent and still as possible, so as not to disturb
|
||
him; for all had great confidence in the extraordinary brains of the
|
||
Scarecrow.
|
||
|
||
And, after what seemed a very long time indeed to the anxious watchers, the
|
||
thinker sat up, looked upon his friends with his most whimsical expression,
|
||
and said:
|
||
|
||
"My brains work beautifully today. I'm quite proud of them. Now, listen! If
|
||
we attempt to escape through the doors of the palace we shall surely be
|
||
captured. And, as we can't escape through the ground, there is only one
|
||
other thing to be done. We must escape through the air!"
|
||
|
||
He paused to note the effect of these words; but all his hearers seemed
|
||
puzzled and unconvinced.
|
||
|
||
"The Wonderful Wizard escaped in a balloon," he continued. "We don't know
|
||
how to make a balloon, of course; but any sort of thing that can
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
187
|
||
fly through the air can carry us easily. So I suggest that my friend the Tin
|
||
Woodman, who is a skillful mechanic, shall build some sort of a machine,
|
||
with good strong wings, to carry us; and our friend Tip can then bring the
|
||
Thing to life with his magical powder."
|
||
|
||
"Bravo!" cried Nick Chopper.
|
||
|
||
"What splendid brains!" murmured Jack.
|
||
|
||
"Really quite clever!" said the Educated Woggle-Bug.
|
||
|
||
"I believe it can be done," declared Tip; "that is, if the Tin Woodman is
|
||
equal to making the Thing."
|
||
|
||
"I'll do my best," said Nick, cheerily; "and, as a matter of fact, I do not
|
||
often fail in what I attempt. But the Thing will have to be built on the
|
||
roof of the palace, so it can rise comfortably into the air."
|
||
|
||
Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
188
|
||
|
||
"To be sure," said the Scarecrow.
|
||
|
||
"Then let us search through the palace," continued the Tin Woodman, "and
|
||
carry all the material we can find to the roof, where I will begin my work."
|
||
|
||
"First, however," said the Pumpkinhead, "I beg you will release me from this
|
||
horse, and make me another leg to walk with. For in my present condition I
|
||
am of no use to myself or to anyone else."
|
||
|
||
So the Tin Woodman knocked a mahogany center-table to pieces with his axe
|
||
and fitted one of the legs, which was beautifully carved, on to the body of
|
||
Jack Pumpkinhead, who was very proud of the acquisition.
|
||
|
||
"It seems strange," said he, as he watched the Tin Woodman work, "that my
|
||
left leg should be the most elegant and substantial part of me."
|
||
|
||
"That proves you are unusual," returned the Scarecrow. "and I am convinced
|
||
that the only people worthy of consideration in this world are the unusual
|
||
ones. For the common folks are like the leaves of a tree, and live and die
|
||
unnoticed."
|
||
|
||
"Spoken like a philosopher!" cried the Woggle-Bug, as he assisted the Tin
|
||
Woodman to set Jack upon his feet.
|
||
|
||
"How do you feel now?" asked Tip, watching
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
189
|
||
the Pumpkinhead stump around to try his new leg."
|
||
|
||
As good as new" answered Jack, Joyfully, "and quite ready to assist you all
|
||
to escape."
|
||
|
||
"Then let us get to work," said the Scarecrow, in a business-like tone.
|
||
|
||
So, glad to be doing anything that might lead to the end of their captivity,
|
||
the friends separated to wander over the palace in search of fitting
|
||
material to use in the construction of their aerial machine.
|
||
|
||
Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
190 Full page line-art drawing.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
191 The Astonishing Flight of the Gump
|
||
|
||
|
||
When the adventurers reassembled upon the roof it was found that a
|
||
remarkably queer assortment of articles had been selected by the various
|
||
members of the party. No one seemed to have a very clear idea of what was
|
||
required, but all had brought something.
|
||
|
||
The Woggle-Bug had taken from its position over the mantle-piece in the
|
||
great hallway the head of a Gump, which was adorned with wide-spreading
|
||
antlers; and this, with great care and greater difficulty, the insect had
|
||
carried up the stairs to the roof. This Gump resembled an Elk's head, only
|
||
the nose turned upward in a saucy manner and there were whiskers
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
192
|
||
upon its chin, like those of a billy-goat. Why the Woggle-Bug selected this
|
||
article he could not have explained, except that it had aroused his
|
||
curiosity.
|
||
|
||
Tip, with the aid of the Saw-Horse, had brought a large, upholstered sofa to
|
||
the roof. It was an oldfashioned piece of furniture, with high back and
|
||
ends, and it was so heavy that even by resting the greatest weight upon the
|
||
back of the Saw-Horse, the boy found himself out of breath when at last the
|
||
clumsy sofa was dumped upon the roof.
|
||
|
||
The Pumpkinhead had brought a broom, which was the first thing he saw. The
|
||
Scarecrow arrived with a coil of clothes-lines and ropes which he had taken
|
||
from the courtyard, and in his trip up the stairs he had become so entangled
|
||
in the loose ends of the ropes that both he and his burden tumbled in a heap
|
||
upon the roof and might have rolled off if Tip had not rescued him.
|
||
|
||
The Tin Woodman appeared last. He also had been to the courtyard, where he
|
||
had cut four great, spreading leaves from a huge palm-tree that was the
|
||
pride of all the inhabitants of the Emerald City.
|
||
|
||
"My dear Nick!" exclaimed the Scarecrow, seeing what his friend had done;
|
||
"you have been guilty of the greatest crime any person can commit in the
|
||
Emerald City. If I remember rightly, the
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
193 Full page line-art drawing.
|
||
|
||
ALL BROUGHT SOMETHING TO THE ROOF.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
194
|
||
penalty for chopping leaves from the royal palm-tree is to be killed seven
|
||
times and afterward imprisoned for life."
|
||
|
||
"It cannot be helped now" answered the Tin Woodman, throwing down the big
|
||
leaves upon the roof. "But it may be one more reason why it is necessary for
|
||
us to escape. And now let us see what you have found for me to work with."
|
||
|
||
Many were the doubtful looks cast upon the heap of miscellaneous material
|
||
that now cluttered the roof, and finally the Scarecrow shook his head and
|
||
remarked:
|
||
|
||
"Well, if friend Nick can manufacture, from this mess of rubbish, a Thing
|
||
that will fly through the air and carry us to safety, then I will
|
||
acknowledge him to be a better mechanic than I suspected."
|
||
|
||
But the Tin Woodman seemed at first by no means sure of his powers, and only
|
||
after polishing his forehead vigorously with the chamois-leather did he
|
||
resolve to undertake the task.
|
||
|
||
"The first thing required for the machine," said he, "is a body big enough
|
||
to carry the entire party. This sofa is the biggest thing we have, and might
|
||
be used for a body. But, should the machine ever tip sideways, we would all
|
||
slide off and fall to the ground."
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
195
|
||
|
||
"Why not use two sofas?" asked Tip. "There's another one just like this down
|
||
stairs."
|
||
|
||
"That is a very sensible suggestion," exclaimed the Tin Woodman. "You must
|
||
fetch the other sofa at once."
|
||
|
||
So Tip and the Saw-Horse managed, with much labor, to get the second sofa to
|
||
the roof; and when the two were placed together, edge to edge, the backs and
|
||
ends formed a protecting rampart all around the seats.
|
||
|
||
"Excellent!" cried the Scarecrow. "We can ride within this snug nest quite
|
||
at our ease."
|
||
|
||
The two sofas were now bound firmly together with ropes and clothes-lines,
|
||
and then Nick Chopper fastened the Gump's head to one end.
|
||
|
||
"That will show which is the front end of the Thing," said he, greatly
|
||
pleased with the idea." And, really, if you examine it critically, the Gump
|
||
looks very well as a figure-head. These great palm-leaves, for which I have
|
||
endangered my life seven times, must serve us as wings."
|
||
|
||
"Are they strong enough?" asked the boy.
|
||
|
||
"They are as strong as anything we can get," answered the Woodman; "and
|
||
although they are not in proportion to the Thing's body, we are not in a
|
||
position to be very particular."
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
196
|
||
|
||
So he fastened the palm-leaves to the sofas, two on each side.
|
||
|
||
Said the Woggle-Bug, with considerable admiration:
|
||
|
||
"The Thing is now complete, and only needs to be brought to life."
|
||
|
||
"Stop a moment!" exclaimed Jack." Are you not going to use my broom?"
|
||
|
||
"What for?" asked the Scarecrow.
|
||
|
||
"Why, it can be fastened to the back end for a tail," answered the
|
||
Pumpkinhead. "Surely you would not call the Thing complete without a tail."
|
||
|
||
"Hm!" said the Tin Woodman, "I do not see the use of a tail. We are not
|
||
trying to copy a beast, or a fish, or a bird. All we ask of the Thing is to
|
||
carry us through the air.
|
||
|
||
"Perhaps, after the Thing is brought to life, it can use a tail to steer
|
||
with," suggested the Scarecrow. "For if it flies through the air it will not
|
||
be unlike a bird, and I've noticed that all birds have tails, which they use
|
||
for a rudder while flying."
|
||
|
||
"Very well," answered Nick, "the broom shall be used for a tail," and he
|
||
fastened it firmly to the back end of the sofa body.
|
||
|
||
Tip took the pepper-box from his pocket.
|
||
|
||
"The Thing looks very big," said he, anxiously;
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
197
|
||
"and I am not sure there is enough powder left to bring all of it to life.
|
||
But I'll make it go as far as possible."
|
||
|
||
"Put most on the wings," said Nick Chopper; "for they must be made as strong
|
||
as possible."
|
||
|
||
"And don't forget the head!" exclaimed the Woggle-Bug.
|
||
|
||
"Or the tail!" added Jack Pumpkinhead.
|
||
|
||
"Do be quiet," said Tip, nervously; "you must give me a chance to work the
|
||
magic charm in the proper manner."
|
||
|
||
Very carefully he began sprinkling the Thing with the precious powder. Each
|
||
of the four wings was first lightly covered with a layer. then the sofas
|
||
were sprinkled, and the broom given a slight coating.
|
||
|
||
"The head! The head! Don't, I beg of you, forget the head!" cried the
|
||
Woggle-Bug, excitedly.
|
||
|
||
"There's only a little of the powder left," announced Tip, looking within
|
||
the box." And it seems to me it is more important to bring the legs of the
|
||
sofas to life than the head."
|
||
|
||
"Not so," decided the Scarecrow. "Every thing must have a head to direct it;
|
||
and since this creature is to fly, and not walk, it is really unimportant
|
||
whether its legs are alive or not."
|
||
|
||
So Tip abided by this decision and sprinkled the Gump's head with the
|
||
remainder of the powder.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
198
|
||
|
||
"Now" said he, "keep silence while I work the, charm!"
|
||
|
||
Having heard old Mombi pronounce the magic words, and having also succeeded
|
||
in bringing the Saw-Horse to life, Tip did not hesitate an instant in
|
||
speaking the three cabalistic words, each accompanied by the peculiar
|
||
gesture of the hands.
|
||
|
||
It was a grave and impressive ceremony.
|
||
|
||
As he finished the incantation the Thing shuddered throughout its huge bulk,
|
||
the Gump gave the screeching cry that is familiar to those animals, and then
|
||
the four wings began flopping furiously.
|
||
|
||
Tip managed to grasp a chimney, else he would have been blown off the roof
|
||
by the terrible breeze raised by the wings. The Scarecrow, being light in
|
||
weight, was caught up bodily and borne through the air until Tip luckily
|
||
seized him by one leg and held him fast. The Woggle-Bug lay flat upon the
|
||
roof and so escaped harm,
|
||
|
||
Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
199
|
||
and the Tin Woodman, whose weight of tin anchored him firmly, threw both
|
||
arms around Jack Pumpkinhead and managed to save him. The Saw-Horse toppled
|
||
over upon his back and lay with his legs waving helplessly above him.
|
||
|
||
And now, while all were struggling to recover themselves, the Thing rose
|
||
slowly from the roof and mounted into the air.
|
||
|
||
"Here! Come back!" cried Tip, in a frightened voice, as he clung to the
|
||
chimney with one hand and the Scarecrow with the other. "Come back at once,
|
||
I command you!"
|
||
|
||
It was now that the wisdom of the Scarecrow, in bringing the head of the
|
||
Thing to life instead of the legs, was proved beyond a doubt. For the Gump,
|
||
already high in the air, turned its head at Tip's command and gradually
|
||
circled around until it could view the roof of the palace.
|
||
|
||
"Come back!" shouted the boy, again.
|
||
|
||
And the Gump obeyed, slowly and gracefully waving its four wings in the air
|
||
until the Thing had settled once more upon the roof and become still.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
200 Full page line-art drawing.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
201 In the Jackdaw's Nest
|
||
|
||
|
||
"This," said the Gump, in a squeaky voice not at all proportioned to the
|
||
size of its great body, "is the most novel experience I ever heard of. The
|
||
last thing I remember distinctly is walking through the forest and hearing a
|
||
loud noise. Something probably killed me then, and it certainly ought to
|
||
have been the end of me. Yet here I am, alive again, with four monstrous
|
||
wings and a body which I venture to say would make any respectable animal or
|
||
fowl weep with shame to own. What does it all mean? Am I a Gump, or am I a
|
||
juggernaut?" The creature, as it spoke, wiggled its chin whiskers in a very
|
||
comical manner.
|
||
|
||
"You're just a Thing," answered Tip, "with a Gump's head on it. And we have
|
||
made you and brought you to life so that you may carry us through the air
|
||
wherever we wish to go."
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
202
|
||
|
||
"Very good!" said the Thing. "As I am not a Gump, I cannot have a Gump's
|
||
pride or independent spirit. So I may as well become your servant as
|
||
anything else. My only satisfaction is that I do not seem to have a very
|
||
strong constitution, and am not likely to live long in a state of slavery."
|
||
|
||
"Don't say that, I beg of you!" cried the Tin Woodman, whose excellent heart
|
||
was strongly affected by this sad speech." Are you not feeling well today?"
|
||
|
||
"Oh, as for that," returned the Gump, "it is my first day of existence; so I
|
||
cannot Judge whether I am feeling well or ill." And it waved its broom tail
|
||
to and fro in a pensive manner.
|
||
|
||
"Come, come!" said the Scarecrow, kindly. "do try, to be more cheerful and
|
||
take life as you find it. We shall be kind masters, and will strive to
|
||
render your existence as pleasant as possible. Are you willing to carry us
|
||
through the air wherever we wish to go?"
|
||
|
||
"Certainly," answered the Gump. "I greatly prefer to navigate the air. For
|
||
should I travel on the earth and meet with one of my own species, my
|
||
embarrassment would be something awful!"
|
||
|
||
"I can appreciate that," said the Tin Woodman, sympathetically.
|
||
|
||
"And yet," continued the Thing, "when I carefully
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
203
|
||
look you over, my masters, none of you seems to be constructed much more
|
||
artistically than I am."
|
||
|
||
"Appearances are deceitful," said the Woggle-Bug, earnestly. "I am both
|
||
Highly Magnified and Thoroughly Educated."
|
||
|
||
"Indeed!" murmured the Gump, indifferently.
|
||
|
||
"And my brains are considered remarkably rare specimens," added the
|
||
Scarecrow, proudly.
|
||
|
||
"How strange!" remarked the Gump.
|
||
|
||
"Although I am of tin," said the Woodman, "I own a heart altogether the
|
||
warmest and most admirable in the whole world."
|
||
|
||
"I'm delighted to hear it," replied the Gump, with a slight cough.
|
||
|
||
"My smile," said Jack Pumpkinhead, "is worthy your best attention. It is
|
||
always the same."
|
||
|
||
"Semper idem," explained the Woggle-Bug, pompously; and the Gump turned to
|
||
stare at him.
|
||
|
||
"And I," declared the Saw-Horse, filling in an awkward pause, "am only
|
||
remarkable because I can't help it."
|
||
|
||
"I am proud, indeed, to meet with such exceptional masters," said the Gump,
|
||
in a careless tone. "If I could but secure so complete an introduction to
|
||
myself, I would be more than satisfied."
|
||
|
||
"That will come in time," remarked the Scare-
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
204
|
||
crow. "To 'Know Thyself' is considered quite an accomplishment, which it has
|
||
taken us, who are your elders, months to perfect. But now," he added,
|
||
turning to the others, "let us get aboard and start upon our journey."
|
||
|
||
"Where shall we go?" asked Tip, as he clambered to a seat on the sofas and
|
||
assisted the Pumpkinhead to follow him.
|
||
|
||
"In the South Country rules a very delightful Queen called Glinda the Good,
|
||
who I am sure will gladly receive us," said the Scarecrow, getting into the
|
||
Thing clumsily. "Let us go to her and ask her advice."
|
||
|
||
"That is cleverly thought of," declared Nick Chopper, giving the Woggle-Bug
|
||
a boost and then toppling the Saw-Horse into the rear end of the cushioned
|
||
seats." I know Glinda the Good, and believe she will prove a friend indeed."
|
||
|
||
"Are we all ready?" asked the boy.
|
||
|
||
"Yes," announced the Tin Woodman, seating himself beside the Scarecrow.
|
||
|
||
"Then," said Tip, addressing the Gump, "be kind enough to fly with us to the
|
||
Southward; and do not go higher than to escape the houses and trees, for it
|
||
makes me dizzy to be up so far."
|
||
|
||
"All right," answered the Gump, briefly.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
205
|
||
|
||
It flopped its four huge wings and rose slowly into the air; and then, while
|
||
our little band of adventurers clung to the backs and sides of the sofas for
|
||
support, the Gump turned toward the South and soared swiftly and
|
||
majestically away.
|
||
|
||
"The scenic effect, from this altitude, is marvelous," commented the
|
||
educated Woggle-Bug, as they rode along.
|
||
|
||
"Never mind the scenery," said the Scarecrow. "Hold on tight, or you may get
|
||
a tumble. The Thing seems to rock badly.'
|
||
|
||
"It will be dark soon," said Tip, observing that the sun was low on the
|
||
horizon. "Perhaps we should have waited until morning. I wonder if the Gump
|
||
can fly in the night."
|
||
|
||
"I've been wondering that myself," returned the Gump quietly. "You see, this
|
||
is a new experience to me. I used to have legs that carried me swiftly over
|
||
the ground. But now my legs feel as if they were asleep."
|
||
|
||
"They are," said Tip. "We didn't bring 'em to life."
|
||
|
||
"You're expected to fly," explained the Scarecrow. "not to walk."
|
||
|
||
"We can walk ourselves," said the Woggle-Bug."
|
||
|
||
I begin to understand what is required of me," remarked the Gump; "so I will
|
||
do my best to
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
206
|
||
please you," and he flew on for a time in silence.
|
||
|
||
Presently Jack Pumpkinhead became uneasy.
|
||
|
||
"I wonder if riding through the air is liable to spoil pumpkins," he said.
|
||
|
||
"Not unless you carelessly drop your head over the side," answered the
|
||
Woggle-Bug. "In that event your head would no longer be a pumpkin, for it
|
||
would become a squash."
|
||
|
||
"Have I not asked you to restrain these unfeeling jokes?" demanded Tip,
|
||
looking at the Woggle-Bug with a severe expression.
|
||
|
||
"You have; and I've restrained a good many of them," replied the insect.
|
||
"But there are opportunities for so many excellent puns in our language
|
||
that, to an educated person like myself, the temptation to express them is
|
||
almost irresistible."
|
||
|
||
"People with more or less education discovered those puns centuries ago,"
|
||
said Tip.
|
||
|
||
"Are you sure?" asked the Woggle-Bug, with a startled look.
|
||
|
||
"Of course I am," answered the boy. "An educated Woggle-Bug may be a new
|
||
thing; but a Woggle-Bug education is as old as the hills, judging from the
|
||
display you make of it."
|
||
|
||
The insect seemed much impressed by this remark, and for a time maintained a
|
||
meek silence.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
207
|
||
|
||
The Scarecrow, in shifting his seat, saw upon the cushions the pepper-box
|
||
which Tip had cast aside, and began to examine it.
|
||
|
||
"Throw it overboard," said the boy; "it's quite empty now, and there's no
|
||
use keeping it."
|
||
|
||
"Is it really empty?" asked the Scarecrow, looking curiously into the box.
|
||
|
||
"Of course it is," answered Tip. "I shook out every grain of the powder.
|
||
|
||
"Then the box has two bottoms," announced the Scarecrow, "for the bottom on
|
||
the inside is fully an inch away from the bottom on the outside."
|
||
|
||
"Let me see," said the Tin Woodman, taking the box from his friend. "Yes,"
|
||
he declared, after looking it over, "the thing certainly has a false bottom.
|
||
Now, I wonder what that is for?"
|
||
|
||
"Can't you get it apart, and find out?" enquired Tip, now quite interested
|
||
in the mystery.
|
||
|
||
"Why, yes; the lower bottom unscrews," said the Tin Woodman. "My fingers are
|
||
rather stiff; please see if you can open it."
|
||
|
||
He handed the pepper-box to Tip, who had no difficulty in unscrewing the
|
||
bottom. And in the cavity below were three silver pills, with a carefully
|
||
folded paper lying underneath them.
|
||
|
||
This paper the boy proceeded to unfold, taking
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
208
|
||
care not to spill the pills, and found several lines clearly written in red
|
||
ink.
|
||
|
||
"Read it aloud," said the Scarecrow. so Tip read, as follows:
|
||
|
||
"DR. NIKIDIK'S CELEBRATED WISHING PILLS.
|
||
|
||
"Directions for Use: Swallow one pill; count seventeen by twos; then make a
|
||
Wish.
|
||
-The Wish will immediately be granted.
|
||
CAUTION: Keep in a Dry and Dark Place."
|
||
|
||
|
||
"Why, this is a very valuable discovery!" cried the Scarecrow.
|
||
|
||
"It is, indeed," replied Tip, gravely. "These pills may be of great use to
|
||
us. I wonder if old Mombi knew they were in the bottom of the pepper-box. I
|
||
remember hearing her say that she got the Powder of Life from this same
|
||
Nikidik."
|
||
|
||
"He must be a powerful Sorcerer!" exclaimed the Tin Woodman; "and since the
|
||
powder proved a success we ought to have confidence in the pills."
|
||
|
||
"But how," asked the Scarecrow, "can anyone count seventeen by twos?
|
||
Seventeen is an odd number."
|
||
|
||
"That is true," replied Tip, greatly disappointed. "No one can possibly
|
||
count seventeen by twos."
|
||
|
||
"Then the pills are of no use to us," wailed the Pumpkinhead; "and this fact
|
||
overwhelms me with
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
209
|
||
grief. For I had intended wishing that my head would never spoil."
|
||
|
||
"Nonsense!" said the Scarecrow, sharply. "If we could use the pills at all
|
||
we would make far better wishes than that."
|
||
|
||
"I do not see how anything could be better," protested poor Jack. "If you
|
||
were liable to spoil at any time you could understand my anxiety."
|
||
|
||
"For my part," said the Tin Woodman, "I sympathize with you in every
|
||
respect. But since we cannot count seventeen by twos, sympathy is all you
|
||
are liable to get."
|
||
|
||
By this time it had become quite dark, and the voyagers found above them a
|
||
cloudy sky, through which the rays of the moon could not penetrate.
|
||
|
||
The Gump flew steadily on, and for some reason the huge sofa-body rocked
|
||
more and more dizzily every hour.
|
||
|
||
The Woggle-Bug declared he was sea-sick; and Tip was also pale and somewhat
|
||
distressed. But the others clung to the backs of the sofas and did not seem
|
||
to mind the motion as long as they were not tipped out.
|
||
|
||
Darker and darker grew the night, and on and on sped the Gump through the
|
||
black heavens. The
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
210
|
||
travelers could not even see one another, and an oppressive silence settled
|
||
down upon them.
|
||
|
||
After a long time Tip, who had been thinking deeply, spoke.
|
||
|
||
"How are we to know when we come to the pallace of Glinda the Good?" he
|
||
asked.
|
||
|
||
"It's a long way to Glinda's palace," answered the Woodman; "I've traveled
|
||
it."
|
||
|
||
"But how are we to know how fast the Gump is flying?" persisted the boy. "We
|
||
cannot see a single thing down on the earth, and before morning we may be
|
||
far beyond the place we want to reach."
|
||
|
||
"That is all true enough," the Scarecrow replied, a little uneasily. "But I
|
||
do not see how we can stop just now; for we might alight in a river, or on,
|
||
the top of a steeple; and that would be a great disaster."
|
||
|
||
So they permitted the Gump to fly on, with regular flops of its great wings,
|
||
and waited patiently for morning.
|
||
|
||
Then Tip's fears were proven to be well founded; for with the first streaks
|
||
of gray dawn they looked over the sides of the sofas and discovered rolling
|
||
plains dotted with queer villages, where the houses, instead of being dome-
|
||
shaped -- as they all are in the Land of Oz -- had slanting roofs that rose
|
||
to a peak
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
211
|
||
in the center. Odd looking animals were also moving about upon the open
|
||
plains, and the country was unfamiliar to both the Tin Woodman and the
|
||
Scarecrow, who had formerly visited Glinda the Good's domain and knew it
|
||
well.
|
||
|
||
"We are lost!" said the Scarecrow, dolefully. "The Gump must have carried us
|
||
entirely out of the Land of Oz and over the sandy deserts and into the
|
||
terrible outside world that Dorothy told us about."
|
||
|
||
"We must get back," exclaimed the Tin Woodman, earnestly. "we must get back
|
||
as soon as possible!"
|
||
|
||
"Turn around!" cried Tip to the Gump. "turn as quickly as you can!"
|
||
|
||
"If I do I shall upset," answered the Gump. "I'm not at all used to flying,
|
||
and the best plan would be for me to alight in some place, and then I can
|
||
turn around and take a fresh start."
|
||
|
||
Just then, however, there seemed to be no stopping-place that would answer
|
||
their purpose. They flew over a village so big that the Woggle-Bug declared
|
||
it was a city. and then they came to a range of high mountains with many
|
||
deep gorges and steep cliffs showing plainly.
|
||
|
||
"Now is our chance to stop," said the boy, finding
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
212
|
||
they were very close to the mountain tops. Then he turned to the Gump and
|
||
commanded: "Stop at the first level place you see!"
|
||
|
||
"Very well," answered the Gump, and settled down upon a table of rock that
|
||
stood between two cliffs.
|
||
|
||
But not being experienced in such matters, the Gump did not judge his speed
|
||
correctly; and instead of coming to a stop upon the flat rock he missed it
|
||
by half the width of his body, breaking off both his right wings against the
|
||
sharp edge of the rock and then tumbling over and over down the cliff.
|
||
|
||
Our friends held on to the sofas as long as they could, but when the Gump
|
||
caught on a proJecting rock the Thing stopped suddenly -- bottom side up --
|
||
and all were immediately dumped out.
|
||
|
||
By good fortune they fell only a few feet; for underneath them was a monster
|
||
nest, built by a colony of Jackdaws in a hollow ledge of rock; so none of
|
||
them -- not even the Pumpkinhead -- was injured by the fall. For Jack found
|
||
his precious head resting on the soft breast of the Scarecrow, which made an
|
||
excellent cushion; and Tip fell on a mass of leaves and papers, which saved
|
||
him from injury. The Woggle-Bug had bumped his round head against
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
213 Full page line-art drawing.
|
||
|
||
ALL WERE IMMEDIATELY DUMPED OUT.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
214
|
||
the Saw-Horse, but without causing him more than a moment's inconvenience.
|
||
|
||
The Tin Woodman was at first much alarmed; but finding he had escaped
|
||
without even a scratch upon his beautiful nickle-plate he at once regained
|
||
his accustomed cheerfulness and turned to address his comrades.
|
||
|
||
"Our Journey had ended rather suddenly," said he; "and we cannot justly
|
||
blame our friend the Gump for our accident, because he did the best he could
|
||
under the circumstances. But how we are ever to escape from this nest I must
|
||
leave to someone with better brains than I possess."
|
||
|
||
Here he gazed at the Scarecrow; who crawled to the edge of the nest and
|
||
looked over. Below them was a sheer precipice several hundred feet in depth.
|
||
Above them was a smooth cliff unbroken save by the point of rock where the
|
||
wrecked body of the Gump still hung suspended from the end of one of the
|
||
sofas. There really seemed to be no means of escape, and as they realized
|
||
their helpless plight the little band of adventurers gave way to their
|
||
bewilderment.
|
||
|
||
"This is a worse prison than the palace," sadly remarked the Woggle-Bug.
|
||
|
||
"I wish we had stayed there," moaned Jack.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
215
|
||
"I'm afraid the mountain air isn't good for pumpkins."
|
||
|
||
"It won't be when the Jackdaws come back," growled the Saw-Horse, which lay
|
||
waving its legs in a vain endeavor to get upon its feet again. "Jackdaws are
|
||
especially fond of pumpkins."
|
||
|
||
"Do you think the birds will come here?" asked Jack, much distressed.
|
||
|
||
"Of course they will," said Tip; "for this is their nest. And there must be
|
||
hundreds of them," he continued, "for see what a lot of things they have
|
||
brought here!"
|
||
|
||
Indeed, the nest was half filled with a most curious collection of small
|
||
articles for which the birds could have no use, but which the thieving
|
||
Jackdaws had stolen during many years from the homes of men. And as the nest
|
||
was safely hidden where no human being could reach it, this lost property
|
||
would never be recovered.
|
||
|
||
The Woggle-Bug, searching among the rubbish -- for the Jackdaws stole
|
||
useless things as well as valuable ones -- turned up with his foot a
|
||
beautiful diamond necklace. This was so greatly admired by the Tin Woodman
|
||
that the Woggle-Bug presented it to him with a graceful speech, after which
|
||
the Woodman hung it around his neck with much pride,
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
216 Full page line-art drawing.
|
||
|
||
TURNED UP A BEAUTIFUL DIAMOND NECKLACE.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
217
|
||
rejoicing exceedingly when the big diamonds glittered in the sun's rays.
|
||
|
||
But now they heard a great jabbering and flopping of wings, and as the sound
|
||
grew nearer to them Tip exclaimed:
|
||
|
||
"The Jackdaws are coming! And if they find us here they will surely kill us
|
||
in their anger."
|
||
|
||
"I was afraid of this!" moaned the Pumpkinhead. "My time has come!"
|
||
|
||
"And mine, also!" said the Woggle-Bug; "for Jackdaws are the greatest
|
||
enemies of my race."
|
||
|
||
The others were not at all afraid; but the Scarecrow at once decided to save
|
||
those of the party who were liable to be injured by the angry birds. So he
|
||
commanded Tip to take off Jack's head and lie down with it in the bottom of
|
||
the nest, and when this was done he ordered the Woggle-Bug to lie beside
|
||
Tip. Nick Chopper, who knew from past experience Just what to do, then took
|
||
the Scarecrow to pieces (all except his head) and scattered the straw over
|
||
Tip and the Woggle-Bug, completely covering their bodies.
|
||
|
||
Hardly had this been accomplished when the flock of Jackdaws reached them.
|
||
Perceiving the intruders in their nest the birds flew down upon them with
|
||
screams of rage.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
218 Full page line-art drawing.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
219 Dr. Nikidik's Famous Wishing Pills
|
||
|
||
|
||
The Tin Woodman was usually a peaceful man, but when occasion required he
|
||
could fight as fiercely as a Roman gladiator. So, when the Jackdaws nearly
|
||
knocked him down in their rush of wings, and their sharp beaks and claws
|
||
threatened to damage his brilliant plating, the Woodman picked up his axe
|
||
and made it whirl swiftly around his head.
|
||
|
||
But although many were beaten off in this way, the birds were so numerous
|
||
and so brave that they continued the attack as furiously as before. Some of
|
||
them pecked at the eyes of the Gump, which hung over the nest in a helpless
|
||
condition; but the Gump's eyes were of glass and could not be injured.
|
||
Others of the Jackdaws rushed at the Saw-Horse; but that animal, being still
|
||
upon his back, kicked out so viciously with his wooden legs that he beat off
|
||
as many assailants as did the Woodman's axe.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
220
|
||
|
||
Finding themselves thus opposed, the birds fell upon the Scarecrow's straw,
|
||
which lay at the center of the nest, covering Tip and the Woggle-Bug and
|
||
Jack's pumpkin head, and began tearing it away and flying off with it, only
|
||
to let it drop, straw by straw into the great gulf beneath.
|
||
|
||
The Scarecrow's head, noting with dismay this wanton destruction of his
|
||
interior, cried to the Tin Woodman to save him; and that good friend
|
||
responded with renewed energy. His axe fairly flashed among the Jackdaws,
|
||
and fortunately the Gump began wildly waving the two wings remaining on the
|
||
left side of its body. The flutter of these great wings filled the Jackdaws
|
||
with terror, and when the Gump by its exertions freed itself from the peg of
|
||
rock on which it hung, and sank flopping into the nest, the alarm of the
|
||
birds knew no bounds and they fled screaming over the mountains.
|
||
|
||
When the last foe had disappeared, Tip crawled from under the sofas and
|
||
assisted the Woggle-Bug to follow him.
|
||
|
||
"We are saved!" shouted the boy, delightedly.
|
||
|
||
"We are, indeed!" responded the Educated Insect, fairly hugging the stiff
|
||
head of the Gump in his joy. "and we owe it all to the flopping of the
|
||
Thing, and the good axe of the Woodman!"
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
221
|
||
|
||
"If I am saved, get me out of here!" called Jack; whose head was still
|
||
beneath the sofas; and Tip managed to roll the pumpkin out and place it upon
|
||
its neck again. He also set the Saw-Horse upright, and said to it:
|
||
|
||
"We owe you many thanks for the gallant fight you made."
|
||
|
||
"I really think we have escaped very nicely," remarked the Tin Woodman, in a
|
||
tone of pride.
|
||
|
||
"Not so!" exclaimed a hollow voice.
|
||
|
||
At this they all turned in surprise to look at the Scarecrow's head, which
|
||
lay at the back of the nest.
|
||
|
||
"I am completely ruined!" declared the Scarecrow, as he noted their
|
||
astonishment. "For where is the straw that stuffs my body?"
|
||
|
||
The awful question startled them all. They gazed around the nest with
|
||
horror, for not a vestige of straw remained. The
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
222
|
||
Jackdaws had stolen it to the last wisp and flung it all into the chasm that
|
||
yawned for hundreds of feet beneath the nest.
|
||
|
||
"My poor, poor friend!" said the Tin Woodman, taking up the Scarecrow's head
|
||
and caressing it tenderly; "whoever could imagine you would come to this
|
||
untimely end?"
|
||
|
||
"I did it to save my friends," returned the head; "and I am glad that I
|
||
perished in so noble and unselfish a manner."
|
||
|
||
"But why are you all so despondent?" inquired the Woggle-Bug. "The
|
||
Scarecrow's clothing is still safe."
|
||
|
||
"Yes," answered the Tin Woodman; "but our friend's clothes are useless
|
||
without stuffing."
|
||
|
||
"Why not stuff him with money?" asked Tip.
|
||
|
||
"Money!" they all cried, in an amazed chorus.
|
||
|
||
"To be sure," said the boy. "In the bottom of the nest are thousands of
|
||
dollar bills -- and two-dollar bills -- and five-dollar bills -- and tens,
|
||
and twenties, and fifties. There are enough of them to stuff a dozen
|
||
Scarecrows. Why not use the money?"
|
||
|
||
The Tin Woodman began to turn over the rubbish with the handle of his axe;
|
||
and, sure enough, what they had first thought only worthless papers were
|
||
found to be all bills of various denominations,
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
223
|
||
which the mischievous Jackdaws had for years been engaged in stealing from
|
||
the villages and cities they visited.
|
||
|
||
There was an immense fortune lying in that inaccessible nest; and Tip's
|
||
suggestion was, with the Scarecrow's consent, quickly acted upon.
|
||
|
||
They selected all the newest and cleanest bills and assorted them into
|
||
various piles. The Scarecrow's left leg and boot were stuffed with five-
|
||
dollar bills; his right leg was stuffed with ten-dollar bills, and his body
|
||
so closely filled with fifties, one-hundreds and one-thousands that he could
|
||
scarcely button his jacket with comfort.
|
||
|
||
"You are now" said the Woggle-Bug, impressively, when the task had been
|
||
completed, "the most valuable member of our party; and as you
|
||
|
||
Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
224
|
||
are among faithful friends there is little danger of your being spent."
|
||
|
||
"Thank you," returned the Scarecrow, gratefully. "I feel like a new man; and
|
||
although at first glance I might be mistaken for a Safety Deposit Vault, I
|
||
beg you to remember that my Brains are still composed of the same old
|
||
material. And these are the possessions that have always made me a person to
|
||
be depended upon in an emergency."
|
||
|
||
"Well, the emergency is here," observed Tip; "and unless your brains help us
|
||
out of it we shall be compelled to pass the remainder of our lives in this
|
||
nest."
|
||
|
||
"How about these wishing pills?" enquired the Scarecrow, taking the box from
|
||
his jacket pocket. "Can't we use them to escape?"
|
||
|
||
"Not unless we can count seventeen by twos," answered the Tin Woodman. "But
|
||
our friend the Woggle-Bug claims to be highly educated, so he ought easily
|
||
to figure out how that can be done."
|
||
|
||
"It isn't a question of education," returned the Insect; "it's merely a
|
||
question of mathematics. I've seen the professor work lots of sums on the
|
||
blackboard, and he claimed anything could be done with x's and y's and a's,
|
||
and such things, by mixing them up with plenty of plusses and minuses and
|
||
equals, and so forth. But he never said anything, so far as
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
225
|
||
I can remember, about counting up to the odd number of seventeen by the even
|
||
numbers of twos."
|
||
|
||
"Stop! stop!" cried the Pumpkinhead. "You're making my head ache."
|
||
|
||
"And mine," added the Scarecrow. "Your mathematics seem to me very like a
|
||
bottle of mixed pickles the more you fish for what you want the less chance
|
||
you have of getting it. I am certain that if the thing can be accomplished
|
||
at all, it is in a very simple manner."
|
||
|
||
"Yes," said Tip. "old Mombi couldn't use x's and minuses, for she never went
|
||
to school."
|
||
|
||
"Why not start counting at a half of one?" asked the Saw-Horse, abruptly.
|
||
"Then anyone can count up to seventeen by twos very easily."
|
||
|
||
They looked at each other in surprise, for the Saw-Horse was considered the
|
||
most stupid of the entire party.
|
||
|
||
"You make me quite ashamed of myself," said the Scarecrow, bowing low to the
|
||
Saw-Horse.
|
||
|
||
"Nevertheless, the creature is right," declared the Woggle-Bug; for twice
|
||
one-half is one, and if you get to one it is easy to count from one up to
|
||
seventeen by twos."
|
||
|
||
"I wonder I didn't think of that myself," said the Pumpkinhead.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
226
|
||
|
||
"I don't," returned the Scarecrow. "You're no wiser than the rest of us, are
|
||
you? But let us make a wish at once. Who will swallow the first pill?"
|
||
|
||
"Suppose you do it," suggested Tip.
|
||
|
||
"I can't," said the Scarecrow.
|
||
|
||
"Why not? You've a mouth, haven't you?" asked the boy.
|
||
|
||
"Yes; but my mouth is painted on, and there's no swallow connected with it,'
|
||
answered the Scarecrow. "In fact," he continued, looking from one to another
|
||
critically, "I believe the boy and the Woggle-Bug are the only ones in our
|
||
party that are able to swallow."
|
||
|
||
Observing the truth of this remark, Tip said:
|
||
|
||
"Then I will undertake to make the first wish. Give me one of the Silver
|
||
Pills."
|
||
|
||
This the Scarecrow tried to do; but his padded gloves were too clumsy to
|
||
clutch so small an object, and he held the box toward the boy while Tip
|
||
selected one of the pills and swallowed it.
|
||
|
||
"Count!" cried the Scarecrow.
|
||
|
||
"One-half, one, three, five, seven, nine, eleven,!" counted Tip. thirteen,
|
||
fifteen, seventeen.
|
||
|
||
"Now wish!" said the Tin Woodman anxiously:
|
||
|
||
But Just then the boy began to suffer such fearful pains that he became
|
||
alarmed.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
227
|
||
|
||
"The pill has poisoned me!" he gasped; "O -- h! O-o-o-o-o! Ouch! Murder!
|
||
Fire! O-o-h!" and here he rolled upon the bottom of the nest in such
|
||
contortions that he frightened them all.
|
||
|
||
"What can we do for you. Speak, I beg!" entreated the Tin Woodman, tears of
|
||
sympathy running down his nickel cheeks.
|
||
|
||
"I -- I don't know!" answered Tip. "O -- h! I wish I'd never swallowed that
|
||
pill!"
|
||
|
||
Then at once the pain stopped, and the boy rose to his feet again and found
|
||
the Scarecrow looking with amazement at the end of the pepper-box.
|
||
|
||
"What's happened?" asked the boy, a little ashamed of his recent exhibition.
|
||
|
||
"Why, the three pills are in the box again!" said the Scarecrow.
|
||
|
||
"Of course they are," the Woggle-Bug declared. "Didn't Tip wish that he'd
|
||
never swallowed one of them? Well, the wish came true, and he didn't swallow
|
||
one of them. So of course they are all three in the box."
|
||
|
||
"That may be; but the pill gave me a dreadful pain, just the same," said the
|
||
boy.
|
||
|
||
"Impossible!" declared the Woggle-
|
||
|
||
Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
228
|
||
Bug. "If you have never swallowed it, the pill can not have given you a
|
||
pain. And as your wish, being granted, proves you did not swallow the pill,
|
||
it is also plain that you suffered no pain."
|
||
|
||
"Then it was a splendid imitation of a pain," retorted Tip, angrily.
|
||
"Suppose you try the next pill yourself. We've wasted one wish already."
|
||
|
||
"Oh, no, we haven't!" protested the Scarecrow. "Here are still three pills
|
||
in the box, and each pill is good for a wish."
|
||
|
||
"Now you're making my head ache," said Tip. "I can't understand the thing at
|
||
all. But I won't take another pill, I promise you!" and with this remark he
|
||
retired sulkily to the back of the nest.
|
||
|
||
"Well," said the Woggle-Bug, "it remains for me to save us in my most Highly
|
||
Magnified and Thoroughly Educated manner; for I seem to be the only one able
|
||
and willing to make a wish. Let me have one of the pills."
|
||
|
||
He swallowed it without hesitation, and they all stood admiring his courage
|
||
while the Insect counted seventeen by twos in the same way that Tip had
|
||
done. And for some reason -- perhaps because Woggle-Bugs have stronger
|
||
stomachs than boys -- the silver pellet caused it no pain whatever.
|
||
|
||
"I wish the Gump's broken wings mended, and
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
229
|
||
as good as new!" said the Woggle-Bug, in a slow; impressive voice.
|
||
|
||
All turned to look at the Thing, and so quickly had the wish been granted
|
||
that the Gump lay before them in perfect repair, and as well able to fly
|
||
through the air as when it had first been brought to life on the roof of the
|
||
palace.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
230 Full page line-art drawing.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
231 The Scarecrow Appeals to Glenda the Good
|
||
|
||
|
||
"Hooray!" shouted the Scarecrow, gaily. "We can now leave this miserable
|
||
Jackdaws' nest whenever we please."
|
||
|
||
"But it is nearly dark," said the Tin Woodman; "and unless we wait until
|
||
morning to make our flight we may get into more trouble. I don't like these
|
||
night trips, for one never knows what will happen."
|
||
|
||
So it was decided to wait until daylight, and the adventurers amused
|
||
themselves in the twilight by searching the Jackdaws' nest for treasures.
|
||
|
||
The Woggle-Bug found two handsome bracelets of wrought gold, which fitted
|
||
his slender arms very well. The Scarecrow took a fancy for rings, of which
|
||
there were many in the nest. Before long he
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
232
|
||
had fitted a ring to each finger of his padded gloves, and not being content
|
||
with that display he added one more to each thumb. As he carefully chose
|
||
those rings set with sparkling stones, such as rubies, amethysts and
|
||
sapphires, the Scarecrow's hands now presented a most brilliant appearance.
|
||
|
||
"This nest would be a picnic for Queen Jinjur," said he, musingly. "for as
|
||
nearly as I can make out she and her girls conquered me merely to rob my
|
||
city of its emeralds."
|
||
|
||
The Tin Woodman was content with his diamond necklace and refused to accept
|
||
any additional decorations; but Tip secured a fine gold watch, which was
|
||
attached to a heavy fob, and placed it in his pocket with much pride. He
|
||
also pinned several jeweled brooches to Jack Pumpkinhead's red waistcoat,
|
||
and attached a lorgnette, by means of a fine chain, to the neck of the Saw-
|
||
Horse.
|
||
|
||
"It's very pretty," said the creature, regarding the lorgnette approvingly;
|
||
"but what is it for?"
|
||
|
||
None of them could answer that question, however; so the Saw-Horse decided
|
||
it was some rare decoration and became very fond of it.
|
||
|
||
That none of the party might be slighted, they ended by placing several
|
||
large seal rings upon the points of the Gump's antlers, although that odd
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
233
|
||
personage seemed by no means gratified by the attention.
|
||
|
||
Darkness soon fell upon them, and Tip and the Woggle-Bug went to sleep while
|
||
the others sat down to wait patiently for the day.
|
||
|
||
Next morning they had cause to congratulate themselves upon the useful
|
||
condition of the Gump; for with daylight a great flock of Jackdaws
|
||
approached to engage in one more battle for the possession of the nest.
|
||
|
||
But our adventurers did not wait for the assault. They tumbled into the
|
||
cushioned seats of the sofas as quickly as possible, and Tip gave the word
|
||
to the Gump to start.
|
||
|
||
At once it rose into the air, the great wings flopping strongly and with
|
||
regular motions, and in a few moments they were so far from the nest that
|
||
the chattering Jackdaws took possession without any attempt at pursuit.
|
||
|
||
The Thing flew due North, going in the same direction from whence it had
|
||
come. At least, that was the Scarecrow's opinion, and the others agreed that
|
||
the Scarecrow was the best judge of direction. After passing over several
|
||
cities and villages the Gump carried them high above a broad plain where
|
||
houses became more and more scattered until they
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
234
|
||
disappeared altogether. Next came the wide, sandy desert separating the rest
|
||
of the world from the Land of Oz, and before noon they saw the dome-shaped
|
||
houses that proved they were once more within the borders of their native
|
||
land.
|
||
|
||
"But the houses and fences are blue," said the Tin Woodman, "and that
|
||
indicates we are in the land of the Munchkins, and therefore a long distance
|
||
from Glinda the Good."
|
||
|
||
"What shall we do?" asked the boy, turning to their guide.
|
||
|
||
"I don't know" replied the Scarecrow, frankly. "If we were at the Emerald
|
||
City we could then move directly southward, and so reach our destination.
|
||
But we dare not go to the Emerald City, and the Gump is probably carrying us
|
||
further in the wrong direction with every flop of its wings."
|
||
|
||
"Then the Woggle-Bug must swallow another pill," said Tip, decidedly, "and
|
||
wish us headed in the right direction."
|
||
|
||
"Very well," returned the Highly Magnified one; "I'm willing."
|
||
|
||
But when the Scarecrow searched in his pocket for the pepper-box containing
|
||
the two silver Wishing Pills, it was not to be found. Filled with anxiety,
|
||
the voyagers hunted throughout every inch of the
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
235
|
||
Thing for the precious box; but it had disappeared entirely.
|
||
|
||
And still the Gump flew onward, carrying them they knew not where.
|
||
|
||
"I must have left the pepper-box in the Jackdaws' nest," said the Scarecrow,
|
||
at length.
|
||
|
||
"It is a great misfortune," the Tin Woodman declared. "But we are no worse
|
||
off than before we discovered the Wishing Pills."
|
||
|
||
"We are better off," replied Tip. "for the one pill we used has enabled us
|
||
to escape from that horrible nest."
|
||
|
||
"Yet the loss of the other two is serious, and I deserve a good scolding for
|
||
my carelessness," the Scarecrow rejoined, penitently. "For in such an
|
||
unusual party as this accidents are liable to happen any moment, and even
|
||
now we may be approaching a new danger."
|
||
|
||
No one dared contradict this, and a dismal silence ensued.
|
||
|
||
The Gump flew steadily on.
|
||
|
||
Suddenly Tip uttered an exclamation of surprise. "We must have reached the
|
||
South Country," he cried, "for below us everything is red!"
|
||
|
||
Immediately they all leaned over the backs of the sofas to look -- all
|
||
except Jack, who was too careful
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
236
|
||
of his pumpkin head to risk its slipping off his neck. Sure enough; the red
|
||
houses and fences and trees indicated they were within the domain of Glinda
|
||
the Good; and presently, as they glided rapidly on, the Tin Woodman
|
||
recognized the roads and buildings they passed, and altered slightly the
|
||
flight of
|
||
|
||
Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
237
|
||
the Gump so that they might reach the palace of the celebrated Sorceress.
|
||
|
||
"Good!" cried the Scarecrow, delightedly. "We do not need the lost Wishing
|
||
Pills now, for we have arrived at our destination."
|
||
|
||
Gradually the Thing sank lower and nearer to the ground until at length it
|
||
came to rest within the beautiful gardens of Glinda, settling upon a velvety
|
||
green lawn close by a fountain which sent sprays of flashing gems, instead
|
||
of water, high into the air, whence they fell with a soft, tinkling sound
|
||
into the carved marble basin placed to receive them.
|
||
|
||
Everything was very gorgeous in Glinda's gardens, and while our voyagers
|
||
gazed about with admiring eyes a company of soldiers silently appeared and
|
||
surrounded them. But these soldiers of the great Sorceress were entirely
|
||
different from those of Jinjur's Army of Revolt, although they were likewise
|
||
girls. For Glinda's soldiers wore neat uniforms and bore swords and spears;
|
||
and they marched with a skill and precision that proved them well trained in
|
||
the arts of war.
|
||
|
||
The Captain commanding this troop -- which was Glinda's private Body Guard -
|
||
- recognized the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman at once, and greeted them
|
||
with respectful salutations.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
238
|
||
|
||
"Good day!" said the Scarecrow, gallantly removing his hat, while the
|
||
Woodman gave a soldierly salute; "we have come to request an audience with
|
||
your fair Ruler."
|
||
|
||
"Glinda is now within her palace, awaiting you," returned the Captain; "for
|
||
she saw you coming long before you arrived."
|
||
|
||
"That is strange!" said Tip, wondering.
|
||
|
||
"Not at all," answered the Scarecrow, "for Glinda the Good is a mighty
|
||
Sorceress, and nothing that goes on in the Land of Oz escapes her notice. I
|
||
suppose she knows why we came as well as we do ourselves."
|
||
|
||
"Then what was the use of our coming?" asked Jack, stupidly.
|
||
|
||
"To prove you are a Pumpkinhead!" retorted the Scarecrow. "But, if the
|
||
Sorceress expects us, we must not keep her waiting."
|
||
|
||
Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
239
|
||
|
||
So they all clambered out of the sofas and followed the Captain toward the
|
||
palace -- even the Saw-Horse taking his place in the queer procession.
|
||
|
||
Upon her throne of finely wrought gold sat Glinda, and she could scarcely
|
||
repress a smile as her peculiar visitors entered and bowed before her. Both
|
||
the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman she knew and liked; but the awkward
|
||
Pumpkinhead and Highly Magnified Woggle-Bug were creatures she had never
|
||
seen before, and they seemed even more curious than the others. As for the
|
||
Saw-Horse, he looked to be nothing more than an animated chunk of wood; and
|
||
he bowed so stiffly that his head bumped against the floor, causing a ripple
|
||
of laughter among the soldiers, in which Glinda frankly joined.
|
||
|
||
"I beg to announce to your glorious highness," began the Scarecrow, in a
|
||
solemn voice, "that my Emerald City has been overrun by a crowd of impudent
|
||
girls with knitting-needles, who have enslaved all the men, robbed the
|
||
streets and public buildings of all their emerald jewels, and usurped my
|
||
throne."
|
||
|
||
"I know it," said Glinda.
|
||
|
||
"They also threatened to destroy me, as well as all the good friends and
|
||
allies you see before you," continued the Scarecrow. "and had we not managed
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
240
|
||
to escape their clutches our days would long since have ended."
|
||
|
||
"I know it," repeated Glinda.
|
||
|
||
"Therefore I have come to beg your assistance," resumed the Scarecrow, "for
|
||
I believe you are always glad to succor the unfortunate and oppressed."
|
||
|
||
"That is true," replied the Sorceress, slowly. "But the Emerald City is now
|
||
ruled by General Jinjur, who has caused herself to be proclaimed Queen. What
|
||
right have I to oppose her?"
|
||
|
||
"Why, she stole the throne from me," said the Scarecrow.
|
||
|
||
"And how came you to possess the throne?" asked Glinda.
|
||
|
||
"I got it from the Wizard of Oz, and by the choice of the people," returned
|
||
the Scarecrow, uneasy at such questioning.
|
||
|
||
"And where did the Wizard get it?" she continued gravely.
|
||
|
||
"I am told he took it from Pastoria, the former King," said the Scarecrow,
|
||
becoming confused under the intent look of the Sorceress.
|
||
|
||
"Then," declared Glinda, "the throne of the Emerald City belongs neither to
|
||
you nor to Jinjur, but to this Pastoria from whom the Wizard usurped it."
|
||
|
||
"That is true," acknowledged the Scarecrow,
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
241
|
||
humbly; "but Pastoria is now dead and gone, and some one must rule in his
|
||
place."
|
||
|
||
"Pastoria had a daughter, who is the rightful heir to the throne of the
|
||
Emerald City. Did you know that?" questioned the Sorceress.
|
||
|
||
"No," replied the Scarecrow. "But if the girl still lives I will not stand
|
||
in her way. It will satisfy me as well to have Jinjur turned out, as an
|
||
impostor, as to regain the throne myself. In fact, it isn't much fun to be
|
||
King, especially if one has good brains. I have known for some time that I
|
||
am fitted to occupy a far more exalted position. But where is the girl who
|
||
owns the throne, and what is her name?"
|
||
|
||
"Her name is Ozma," answered Glinda. "But where she is I have tried in vain
|
||
to discover. For the Wizard of Oz, when he stole the throne from Ozma's
|
||
father, hid the girl in some secret place; and by means of a magical trick
|
||
with which I am not familiar he also managed to prevent her being discovered
|
||
-- even by so experienced a Sorceress as myself."
|
||
|
||
"That is strange," interrupted the Woggle-Bug, pompously. "I have been
|
||
informed that the Wonderful Wizard of Oz was nothing more than a humbug!"
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
242
|
||
|
||
"Nonsense!" exclaimed the Scarecrow, much provoked by this speech. "Didn't
|
||
he give me a wonderful set of brains?"
|
||
|
||
"There's no humbug about my heart," announced the Tin Woodman, glaring
|
||
indignantly at the Woggle-Bug.
|
||
|
||
"Perhaps I was misinformed," stammered the Insect, shrinking back; "I never
|
||
knew the Wizard personally."
|
||
|
||
"Well, we did," retorted the Scarecrow, "and he was a very great Wizard, I
|
||
assure you. It is true he was guilty of some slight impostures, but unless
|
||
he was a great Wizard how -- let me ask -- could he have hidden this girl
|
||
Ozma so securely that no one can find her?"
|
||
|
||
"I -- I give it up!" replied the Woggle-Bug, meekly.
|
||
|
||
"That is the most sensible speech you've made," said the Tin Woodman.
|
||
|
||
"I must really make another effort to discover where this girl is hidden,"
|
||
resumed the Sorceress, thoughtfully. "I have in my library a book in which
|
||
is inscribed every action of the Wizard while he was in our land of Oz --
|
||
or, at least, every action that could be observed by my spies. This book I
|
||
will read carefully tonight, and try to single out the acts that may guide
|
||
us in discovering the lost Ozma. In
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
243
|
||
the meantime, pray amuse yourselves in my palace and command my servants as
|
||
if they were your own. I will grant you another audience tomorrow."
|
||
|
||
With this gracious speech Glinda dismissed the adventurers, and they
|
||
wandered away through the beautiful gardens, where they passed several hours
|
||
enjoying all the delightful things with which the Queen of the Southland had
|
||
surrounded her royal palace.
|
||
|
||
On the following morning they again appeared before Glinda, who said to
|
||
them:
|
||
|
||
"I have searched carefully through the records of the Wizard's actions, and
|
||
among them I can find but three that appear to have been suspicious. He ate
|
||
beans with a knife, made three secret visits to old Mombi, and limped
|
||
slightly on his left foot."
|
||
|
||
"Ah! that last is certainly suspicious!" exclaimed the Pumpkinhead.
|
||
|
||
"Not necessarily," said the Scarecrow. "he may, have had corns. Now, it
|
||
seems to me his eating beans with a knife is more suspicious."
|
||
|
||
"Perhaps it is a polite custom in Omaha, from which great country the Wizard
|
||
originally came," suggested the Tin Woodman.
|
||
|
||
"It may be," admitted the Scarecrow.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
244
|
||
|
||
"But why," asked Glinda, "did he make three secret visits to old Mombi?"
|
||
|
||
"Ah! Why, indeed!" echoed the Woggle-Bug, impressively.
|
||
|
||
"We know that the Wizard taught the old woman many of his tricks of magic,"
|
||
continued Glinda; "and this he would not have done had she not assisted him
|
||
in some way. So we may suspect with good reason that Mombi aided him to hide
|
||
the girl Ozma, who was the real heir to the throne of the Emerald City, and
|
||
a constant danger to the usurper. For, if the people knew that she lived,
|
||
they would quickly make her their Queen and restore her to her rightful
|
||
position."
|
||
|
||
"An able argument!" cried the Scarecrow. "I have no doubt that Mombi was
|
||
mixed up in this wicked business. But how does that knowledge help us?"
|
||
|
||
"We must find Mombi," replied Glinda, "and force her to tell where the girl
|
||
is hidden."
|
||
|
||
"Mombi is now with Queen Jinjur, in the Emerald, City" said Tip. "It was she
|
||
who threw so many obstacles in our pathway, and made Jinjur threaten to
|
||
destroy my friends and give me back into the old witch's power."
|
||
|
||
"Then," decided Glinda, "I will march with my
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
245
|
||
army to the Emerald City, and take Mombi prisoner. After that we can,
|
||
perhaps, force her to tell the truth about Ozma."
|
||
|
||
"She is a terrible old woman!" remarked Tip, with a shudder at the thought
|
||
of Mombi's black kettle; "and obstinate, too."
|
||
|
||
"I am quite obstinate myself," returned the Sorceress, with a sweet smile.
|
||
"so I do not fear Mombi in the least. Today I will make all necessary
|
||
preparations, and we will march upon the Emerald City at daybreak tomorrow."
|
||
|
||
Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
246 The Tin-Woodman Plucks a Rose
|
||
|
||
|
||
The Army of Glinda the Good looked very grand and imposing when it assembled
|
||
at daybreak before the palace gates. The uniforms of the girl soldiers were
|
||
pretty and of gay colors, and their silver-tipped spears were bright and
|
||
glistening, the long shafts being inlaid with mother-of-pearl. All the
|
||
officers wore sharp, gleaming swords, and shields edged with peacock-
|
||
feathers; and it really seemed that no foe could by any possibility defeat
|
||
such a brilliant army.
|
||
|
||
The Sorceress rode in a beautiful palanquin which was like the body of a
|
||
coach, having doors and
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
247
|
||
windows with silken curtains; but instead of wheels, which a coach has, the
|
||
palanquin rested upon two long, horizontal bars, which were borne upon the
|
||
shoulders of twelve servants.
|
||
|
||
The Scarecrow and his comrades decided to ride in the Gump, in order to keep
|
||
up with the swift march of the army; so, as soon as Glinda had started and
|
||
her soldiers had marched away to the inspiring strains of music played by
|
||
the royal band, our friends climbed into the sofas and followed. The Gump
|
||
flew along slowly at a point directly over the palanquin in which rode the
|
||
Sorceress.
|
||
|
||
"Be careful," said the
|
||
|
||
Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
248
|
||
Tin Woodman to the Scarecrow, who was leaning far over the side to look at
|
||
the army below. "You might fall."
|
||
|
||
"It wouldn't matter," remarked the educated Woggle-Bug. "he can't get broke
|
||
so long as he is stuffed with money."
|
||
|
||
"Didn't I ask you" began Tip, in a reproachful voice.
|
||
|
||
"You did!" said the Woggle-Bug, promptly. "And I beg your pardon. I will
|
||
really try to restrain myself."
|
||
|
||
"You'd better," declared the boy. "That is, if you wish to travel in our
|
||
company."
|
||
|
||
"Ah! I couldn't bear to part with you now," murmured the Insect, feelingly;
|
||
so Tip let the subject drop.
|
||
|
||
The army moved steadily on, but night had fallen before they came to the
|
||
walls of the Emerald City. By the dim light of the new moon, however,
|
||
Glinda's forces silently surrounded the city and pitched their tents of
|
||
scarlet silk upon the greensward. The tent of the Sorceress was larger than
|
||
the others, and was composed of pure white silk, with scarlet banners flying
|
||
above it. A tent was also pitched for the Scarecrow's party; and when these
|
||
preparations had been made, with military precision and quickness, the army
|
||
retired to rest.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
249
|
||
|
||
Great was the amazement of Queen Jinjur next morning when her soldiers came
|
||
running to inform her of the vast army surrounding them. She at once climbed
|
||
to a high tower of the royal palace and saw banners waving in every
|
||
direction and the great white tent of Glinda standing directly before the
|
||
gates.
|
||
|
||
"We are surely lost!" cried Jinjur, in despair; "for how can our knitting-
|
||
needles avail against the long spears and terrible swords of our foes?"
|
||
|
||
"The best thing we can do," said one of the girls, "is to surrender as
|
||
quickly as possible, before we get hurt."
|
||
|
||
"Not so," returned Jinjur, more bravely. "The enemy is still outside the
|
||
walls, so we must try to gain time by engaging them in parley. Go you with a
|
||
flag of truce to Glinda and ask her why she has dared to invade my
|
||
dominions, and what are her demands."
|
||
|
||
So the girl passed through the gates, bearing a white flag to show she was
|
||
on a mission of peace, and came to Glinda's tent. "Tell your Queen," said
|
||
the Sorceress to the girl, "that she must deliver up to me old Mombi, to be
|
||
my prisoner. If this is done I will not molest her farther."
|
||
|
||
Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
250
|
||
|
||
Now when this message was delivered to the Queen it filled her with dismay,
|
||
for Mombi was her chief counsellor, and Jinjur was terribly afraid of the
|
||
old hag. But she sent for Mombi, and told her what Glinda had said.
|
||
|
||
"I see trouble ahead for all of us," muttered the old witch, after glancing
|
||
into a magic mirror she carried in her pocket. "But we may even yet escape
|
||
by deceiving this sorceress, clever as she thinks herself."
|
||
|
||
"Don't you think it will be safer for me to deliver you into her hands?"
|
||
asked Jinjur, nervously.
|
||
|
||
"If you do, it will cost you the throne of the Emerald City!" answered the
|
||
witch, positively. "But if you will let me have my own way, I can save us
|
||
both very easily."
|
||
|
||
"Then do as you please," replied Jinjur, "for it is so aristocratic to be a
|
||
Queen that I do not wish to be obliged to return home again, to make beds
|
||
and wash dishes for my mother."
|
||
|
||
So Mombi called Jellia Jamb to her, and performed a certain magical rite
|
||
with which she was familiar. As a result of the enchantment Jellia took on
|
||
the form and features of Mombi, while the old witch grew to resemble the
|
||
girl so closely that it seemed impossible anyone could guess the deception.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
251
|
||
|
||
"Now," said old Mombi to the Queen, "let your soldiers deliver up this girl
|
||
to Glinda. She will think she has the real Mombi in her power, and so will
|
||
return immediately to her own country in the South."
|
||
|
||
Therefore Jellia, hobbling along like an aged
|
||
|
||
|
||
Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
|
||
woman, was led from the city gates and taken before Glinda.
|
||
|
||
"Here is the person you demanded," said one of the guards, "and our Queen
|
||
now begs you will go away, as you promised, and leave us in peace."
|
||
|
||
"That I will surely do," replied Glinda, much pleased; "if this is really
|
||
the person she seems to be."
|
||
|
||
"It is certainly old Mombi," said the guard, who believed she was speaking
|
||
the truth; and then Jinjur's soldiers returned within the city's gates.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
252
|
||
|
||
The Sorceress quickly summoned the Scarecrow and his friends to her tent,
|
||
and began to question the supposed Mombi about the lost girl Ozma. But
|
||
Jellia knew nothing at all of this affair, and presently she grew so nervous
|
||
under the questioning that she gave way and began to weep, to Glinda's great
|
||
astonishment.
|
||
|
||
"Here is some foolish trickery!" said the Sorceress, her eyes flashing with
|
||
anger. "This is not Mombi at all, but some other person who has been made to
|
||
resemble her! Tell me," she demanded, turning to the trembling girl, "what
|
||
is your name?"
|
||
|
||
This Jellia dared not tell, having been threatened with death by the witch
|
||
if she confessed the fraud. But Glinda, sweet and fair though she was,
|
||
understood magic better than any other person in the Land of Oz. So, by
|
||
uttering a few potent words and making a peculiar gesture, she quickly
|
||
transformed the girl into her proper shape, while at the same time old
|
||
Mombi, far away in Jinjur's palace, suddenly resumed her own crooked form
|
||
and evil features.
|
||
|
||
"Why, it's Jellia Jamb!" cried the Scarecrow, recognizing in the girl one of
|
||
his old friends.
|
||
|
||
"It's our interpreter!" said the Pumpkinhead, smiling pleasantly.
|
||
|
||
Then Jellia was forced to tell of the trick Mombi
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
253
|
||
Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
had played and she also begged Glinda's protection, which the Sorceress
|
||
readily granted. But Glinda was now really angry, and sent word to Jinjur
|
||
that the fraud was discovered and she must deliver up the real Mombi or
|
||
suffer terrible consequences. Jinjur was prepared for this message, for the
|
||
witch well understood, when her natural form was thrust upon her, that
|
||
Glinda had discovered her trickery. But the wicked old creature had already
|
||
thought up a new deception, and had made Jinjur promise to carry it out. So
|
||
the Queen said to Glinda's messenger:
|
||
|
||
"Tell your mistress that I cannot find Mombi anywhere, but that Glinda is
|
||
welcome to enter the
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
254
|
||
city and search herself for the old woman. She may also bring her friends
|
||
with her, if she likes; but if she does not find Mombi by sundown, the
|
||
Sorceress must promise to go away peaceably and bother us no more."
|
||
|
||
Glinda agreed to these terms, well knowing that Mombi was somewhere within
|
||
the city walls. So Jinjur caused the gates to be thrown open, and Glinda
|
||
marched in at the head of a company of soldiers, followed by the Scarecrow
|
||
and the Tin Woodman, while Jack Pumpkinhead rode astride the Saw-Horse, and
|
||
the Educated, Highly Magnified Woggle-Bug sauntered behind in a dignified
|
||
manner. Tip walked by the side of the Sorceress, for Glinda had conceived a
|
||
great liking for the boy.
|
||
|
||
Of course old Mombi had no intention of being found by Glinda; so, while her
|
||
enemies were marching up the street, the witch transformed herself into a
|
||
red rose growing upon a bush in the garden of the palace. It was a clever
|
||
idea, and a trick Glinda did not suspect; so several precious hours were
|
||
spent in a vain search for Mombi.
|
||
|
||
As sundown approached the Sorceress realized she had been defeated by the
|
||
superior cunning of the aged witch; so she gave the command to her people to
|
||
march out of the city and back to their tents.
|
||
|
||
The Scarecrow and his comrades happened to be
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
255
|
||
searching in the garden of the palace just then, and they turned with
|
||
disappointment to obey Glinda's command. But before they left the garden the
|
||
Tin Woodman, who was fond of flowers, chanced to espy a big red rose growing
|
||
upon a bush; so he plucked the flower and fastened it securely in the tin
|
||
buttonhole of his tin bosom.
|
||
|
||
As he did this he fancied he heard a low moan proceed from the rose; but he
|
||
paid no attention to the sound, and Mombi was thus carried out of the city
|
||
and into Glinda's camp without anyone having a suspicion that they had
|
||
succeeded in their quest.
|
||
|
||
|
||
Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
256 The Transformation of Old Mombi
|
||
|
||
|
||
The Witch was at first frightened at finding herself captured by the enemy;
|
||
but soon she decided that she was exactly as safe in the Tin Woodman's
|
||
button-hole as growing upon the bush. For no one knew the rose and Mombi to
|
||
be one, and now that she was without the gates of the City her chances of
|
||
escaping altogether from Glinda were much improved.
|
||
|
||
"But there is no hurry," thought Mombi. "I will wait awhile and enjoy the
|
||
humiliation of this Sorceress when she finds I have outwitted her." So
|
||
throughout the night the rose lay quietly on the Woodman's bosom, and in the
|
||
morning, when Glinda summoned our friends to a consultation, Nick Chopper
|
||
carried his pretty flower with him to the white silk tent.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
257 Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
|
||
"For some reason," said Glinda, "we have failed to find this cunning old
|
||
Mombi; so I fear our expedition will prove a failure. And for that I am
|
||
sorry, because without our assistance little Ozma will never be rescued and
|
||
restored to her rightful position as Queen of the Emerald City"
|
||
|
||
"Do not let us give up so easily," said the Pumpkinhead. "Let us do
|
||
something else."
|
||
|
||
"Something else must really be done," replied Glinda, with a smile. "yet I
|
||
cannot understand how I have been defeated so easily by an old Witch who
|
||
knows far less of magic than I do myself."
|
||
|
||
"While we are on the ground I believe it would be wise for us to conquer the
|
||
Emerald City for Princess Ozma, and find the girl afterward," said the
|
||
Scarecrow." And while the girl remains hidden I will gladly rule in her
|
||
place, for I understand the business of ruling much better than Jinjur
|
||
does."
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
258
|
||
|
||
"But I have promised not to molest Jinjur," objected Glinda.
|
||
|
||
"Suppose you all return with me to my kingdom -- or Empire, rather," said
|
||
the Tin Woodman, politely including the entire party in a royal wave of his
|
||
arm. "It will give me great pleasure to entertain you in my castle, where
|
||
there is room enough and to spare. And if any of you wish to be nickel-
|
||
plated, my valet will do it free of all expense."
|
||
|
||
While the Woodman was speaking Glinda's eyes had been noting the rose in his
|
||
button-hole, and now she imagined she saw the big red leaves of the flower
|
||
tremble slightly. This quickly aroused her suspicions, and in a moment more
|
||
the Sorceress had decided that the seeming rose was nothing else than a
|
||
transformation of old Mombi. At the same instant Mombi knew she was
|
||
discovered and must quickly plan an escape, and as transformations were easy
|
||
to her she immediately took the form of a Shadow and glided along the wall
|
||
of the tent toward the entrance, thinking thus to disappear.
|
||
|
||
But Glinda had not only equal cunning, but far more experience than the
|
||
Witch. So the Sorceress reached the opening of the tent before the Shadow,
|
||
and with a wave of her hand closed the entrance so securely that Mombi could
|
||
not find a crack big
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
259
|
||
enough to creep through. The Scarecrow and his friends were greatly
|
||
surprised at Glinda's actions; for none of them had noted the Shadow. But
|
||
the Sorceress said to them:
|
||
|
||
"Remain perfectly quiet, all of you! For the old Witch is even now with us
|
||
in this tent, and I hope to capture her."
|
||
|
||
These words so alarmed Mombi that she quickly transformed herself from a
|
||
shadow to a Black Ant, in which shape she crawled along the ground, seeking
|
||
a crack or crevice in which to hide her tiny body.
|
||
|
||
Fortunately, the ground where the tent had been pitched, being Just before
|
||
the city gates, was hard and smooth; and while the Ant still crawled about,
|
||
Glinda discovered it and ran quickly forward to effect its capture But, Just
|
||
as her hand was descending, the Witch, now fairly frantic with fear, made
|
||
her last transformation, and in the form of a huge Griffin sprang through
|
||
the wall of the tent -- tearing the silk asunder in her rush -- and in a
|
||
moment had darted away with the speed of a whirlwind.
|
||
|
||
Glinda did not hesitate to follow. She sprang upon the back of the Saw-Horse
|
||
and cried:
|
||
|
||
"Now you shall prove that you have a right to be alive! Run -- run -- run!"
|
||
|
||
The Saw-Horse ran. Like a flash he followed the
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
260
|
||
Griffin, his wooden legs moving so fast that they twinkled like the rays of
|
||
a star. Before our friends could recover from their surprise both the
|
||
Griffin and the Saw-Horse had dashed out of sight.
|
||
|
||
"Come! Let us follow!" cried the Scarecrow.
|
||
|
||
They ran to the place where the Gump was lying and quickly tumbled aboard.
|
||
|
||
"Fly!" commanded Tip, eagerly.
|
||
|
||
"Where to?" asked the Gump, in its calm voice.
|
||
|
||
"I don't know," returned Tip, who was very nervous at the delay; "but if you
|
||
will mount into the air I think we can discover which way Glinda has gone."
|
||
|
||
Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
261
|
||
|
||
"Very well," returned the Gump, quietly; and it spread its great wings and
|
||
mounted high into the air.
|
||
|
||
Far away, across the meadows, they could now see two tiny specks, speeding
|
||
one after the other; and they knew these specks must be the Griffin and the
|
||
Saw-Horse. So Tip called the Gump's attention to them and bade the creature
|
||
try to overtake the Witch and the Sorceress. But, swift as was the Gump's
|
||
flight, the pursued and pursuer moved more swiftly yet, and within a few
|
||
moments were blotted out against the dim horizon.
|
||
|
||
"Let us continue to follow them, nevertheless," said the Scarecrow. "for the
|
||
Land of Oz is of small extent, and sooner or later they must both come to a
|
||
halt."
|
||
|
||
Old Mombi had thought herself very wise to choose the form of a Griffin, for
|
||
its legs were exceedingly fleet and its strength more enduring than that of
|
||
other animals. But she had not reckoned on the untiring energy of the Saw-
|
||
Horse, whose wooden limbs could run for days without slacking their speed.
|
||
Therefore, after an hour's hard running, the Griffin's breath began to fail,
|
||
and it panted and gasped painfully, and moved more slowly than before. Then
|
||
it reached the edge of the desert and began racing across the deep sands.
|
||
But its tired feet sank far
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
262
|
||
into the sand, and in a few minutes the Griffin fell forward, completely
|
||
exhausted, and lay still upon the desert waste.
|
||
|
||
Glinda came up a moment later, riding the still vigorous Saw-Horse; and
|
||
having unwound a slender golden thread from her girdle the Sorceress threw
|
||
it over the head of the panting and helpless Griffin, and so destroyed the
|
||
magical power of Mombi's transformation.
|
||
|
||
For the animal, with one fierce shudder, disappeared from view, while in its
|
||
place was discovered the form of the old Witch, glaring savagely at the
|
||
serene and beautiful face of the Sorceress.
|
||
|
||
Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
263 Full page line-art drawing.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
264 Princess Ozma of Oz
|
||
|
||
|
||
"You are my prisoner, and it is useless for you to struggle any longer,"
|
||
said Glinda, in her soft, sweet voice. "Lie still a moment, and rest
|
||
yourself, and then I will carry you back to my tent."
|
||
|
||
"Why do you seek me?" asked Mombi, still scarce able to speak plainly for
|
||
lack of breath. "What have I done to you, to be so persecuted?"
|
||
|
||
"You have done nothing to me," answered the gentle Sorceress; "but I suspect
|
||
you have been guilty of several wicked actions; and if I find it is true
|
||
that you have so abused your knowledge of magic, I intend to punish you
|
||
severely."
|
||
|
||
"I defy you!" croaked the old hag. "You dare not harm me!"
|
||
|
||
Just then the Gump flew up to them and alighted upon the desert sands beside
|
||
Glinda. Our friends
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
265
|
||
were delighted to find that Mombi had finally been captured, and after a
|
||
hurried consultation it was decided they should all return to the camp in
|
||
the Gump. So the Saw-Horse was tossed aboard, and then Glinda still holding
|
||
an end of the golden thread that was around Mombi's neck, forced her
|
||
prisoner to climb into the sofas. The others now followed, and Tip gave the
|
||
word to the Gump to return.
|
||
|
||
The Journey was made in safety, Mombi sitting in her place with a grim and
|
||
sullen air; for the old hag was absolutely helpless so long as the magical
|
||
thread encircled her throat. The army hailed Glinda's return with loud
|
||
cheers, and the party of friends soon gathered again in the royal tent,
|
||
which had been neatly repaired during their absence.
|
||
|
||
"Now," said the Sorceress to Mombi, "I want you to tell us why the Wonderful
|
||
Wizard of Oz paid you three visits, and what became of the child, Ozma,
|
||
which so curiously disappeared."
|
||
|
||
The Witch looked at Glinda defiantly, but said not a word.
|
||
|
||
"Answer me!" cried the Sorceress.
|
||
|
||
But still Mombi remained silent.
|
||
|
||
"Perhaps she doesn't know," remarked Jack.
|
||
|
||
"I beg you will keep quiet," said Tip. "You might spoil everything with your
|
||
foolishness."
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
266
|
||
|
||
"Very well, dear father!" returned the Pumpkinhead, meekly.
|
||
|
||
"How glad I am to be a Woggle-Bug!" murmured the Highly Magnified Insect,
|
||
softly. "No one can expect wisdom to flow from a pumpkin."
|
||
|
||
"Well," said the Scarecrow, "what shall we do to make Mombi speak? Unless
|
||
she tells us what we wish to know her capture will do us no good at all."
|
||
|
||
"Suppose we try kindness," suggested the Tin Woodman. "I've heard that
|
||
anyone can be conquered with kindness, no matter how ugly they may be."
|
||
|
||
At this the Witch turned to glare upon him so horribly that the Tin Woodman
|
||
shrank back abashed.
|
||
|
||
Glinda had been carefully considering what to do, and now she turned to
|
||
Mombi and said:
|
||
|
||
"You will gain nothing, I assure you, by thus defying us. For I am
|
||
determined to learn the truth about the girl Ozma, and unless you tell me
|
||
all that you know, I will certainly put you to death."
|
||
|
||
"Oh, no! Don't do that!" exclaimed the Tin Woodman. "It would be an awful
|
||
thing to kill anyone -- even old Mombi!"
|
||
|
||
"But it is merely a threat," returned Glinda. "I shall not put Mombi to
|
||
death, because she will prefer to tell me the truth."
|
||
|
||
"Oh, I see!" said the tin man, much relieved.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
267
|
||
|
||
"Suppose I tell you all that you wish to know,". said Mombi, speaking so
|
||
suddenly that she startled them all. "What will you do with me then?"
|
||
|
||
"In that case," replied Glinda, "I shall merely ask you to drink a powerful
|
||
draught which will cause you to forget all the magic you have ever learned."
|
||
|
||
"Then I would become a helpless old woman!"
|
||
|
||
"But you would be alive," suggested the Pumpkinhead, consolingly.
|
||
|
||
"Do try to keep silent!" said Tip, nervously.
|
||
|
||
"I'll try," responded Jack; "but you will admit that it's a good thing to be
|
||
alive."
|
||
|
||
"Especially if one happens to be Thoroughly Educated," added the Woggle-Bug,
|
||
nodding approval.
|
||
|
||
"You may make your choice," Glinda said to old Mombi, "between death if you
|
||
remain silent, and the loss of your magical powers if you tell me the truth.
|
||
But I think you will prefer to live.
|
||
|
||
Mombi cast an uneasy glance at the Sorceress, and saw that she was in
|
||
earnest, and not to be trifled with. So she replied, slowly:
|
||
|
||
"I will answer your questions."
|
||
|
||
"That is what I expected," said Glinda, pleasantly. "You have chosen wisely,
|
||
I assure you."
|
||
|
||
She then motioned to one of her Captains, who brought her a beautiful golden
|
||
casket. From this
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
268
|
||
the Sorceress drew an immense white pearl, attached to a slender chain which
|
||
she placed around her neck in such a way that the pearl rested upon her
|
||
bosom, directly over her heart.
|
||
|
||
"Now," said she, "I will ask my first question: Why did the Wizard pay you
|
||
three visits?"
|
||
|
||
"Because I would not come to him," answered Mombi.
|
||
|
||
"That is no answer," said Glinda, sternly. "Tell me the truth."
|
||
|
||
"Well," returned Mombi, with downcast eyes, "he visited me to learn the way
|
||
I make tea-biscuits."
|
||
|
||
"Look up!" commanded the Sorceress.
|
||
|
||
Mombi obeyed.
|
||
|
||
"What is the color of my pearl?" demanded Glinda.
|
||
|
||
"Why -- it is black!" replied the old Witch, in a tone of wonder.
|
||
|
||
"Then you have told me a falsehood!" cried Glinda, angrily. "Only when the
|
||
truth is spoken will my magic pearl remain a pure white in color."
|
||
|
||
Mombi now saw how useless it was to try to deceive the Sorceress; so she
|
||
said, meanwhile scowling at her defeat:
|
||
|
||
"The Wizard brought to me the girl Ozma, who was then no more than a baby,
|
||
and begged me to conceal the child."
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
269
|
||
|
||
"That is what I thought," declared Glinda, calmly. "What did he give you for
|
||
thus serving him?"
|
||
|
||
"He taught me all the magical tricks he knew. Some were good tricks, and
|
||
some were only frauds; but I have remained faithful to my promise."
|
||
|
||
"What did you do with the girl?" asked Glinda; and at this question everyone
|
||
bent forward and listened eagerly for the reply.
|
||
|
||
"I enchanted her," answered Mombi.
|
||
|
||
"In what way?"
|
||
|
||
"I transformed her into -- into -- "
|
||
|
||
"Into what?" demanded Glinda, as the Witch hesitated.
|
||
|
||
"Into a boy!" said Mombi, in a low tone."
|
||
|
||
A boy!" echoed every voice; and then, because they knew that this old woman
|
||
had reared Tip from childhood, all eyes were turned to where the boy stood.
|
||
|
||
"Yes," said the old Witch, nodding her head; "that is the Princess Ozma --
|
||
the child brought to me by the Wizard who stole her father's throne. That is
|
||
the rightful ruler of the Emerald City!" and she pointed her long bony
|
||
finger straight at the boy.
|
||
|
||
"I!" cried Tip, in amazement. "Why, I'm no Princess Ozma -- I'm not a girl!"
|
||
|
||
Glinda smiled, and going to Tip she took his small brown hand within her
|
||
dainty white one.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
270 Full page line-art drawing.
|
||
|
||
MOMBI POINTED HER LONG, BONY FINGER AT THE BOY
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
271
|
||
|
||
"You are not a girl just now" said she, gently, "because Mombi transformed
|
||
you into a boy. But you were born a girl, and also a Princess; so you must
|
||
resume your proper form, that you may become Queen of the Emerald City."
|
||
|
||
"Oh, let Jinjur be the Queen!" exclaimed Tip, ready to cry. "I want to stay
|
||
a boy, and travel with the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, and the Woggle-
|
||
Bug, and Jack -- yes! and my friend the Saw-Horse -- and the Gump! I don't
|
||
want to be a girl!"
|
||
|
||
"Never mind, old chap," said the Tin Woodman, soothingly; "it don't hurt to
|
||
be a girl, I'm told; and we will all remain your faithful friends just the
|
||
same. And, to be honest with you, I've always considered girls nicer than
|
||
boys."
|
||
|
||
"They're just as nice, anyway," added the Scarecrow, patting Tip
|
||
affectionately upon the head.
|
||
|
||
"And they are equally good students," proclaimed the Woggle-Bug. "I should
|
||
like to become your tutor, when you are transformed into a girl again."
|
||
|
||
"But -- see here!" said Jack Pumpkinhead, with a gasp: "if you become a
|
||
girl, you can't be my dear father any more!"
|
||
|
||
"No," answered Tip, laughing in spite of his anxiety. "and I shall not be
|
||
sorry to escape the relationship." Then he added, hesitatingly, as he turned
|
||
to
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
272 Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
Glinda: "I might try it for awhile,-just to see how it seems, you know. But
|
||
if I don't like being a girl you must promise to change me into a boy
|
||
again."
|
||
|
||
"Really," said the Sorceress, "that is beyond my magic. I never deal in
|
||
transformations, for they are not honest, and no respectable sorceress likes
|
||
to make things appear to be what they are not. Only unscrupulous witches use
|
||
the art, and therefore I must ask Mombi to effect your release from her
|
||
charm, and restore you to your proper form. It will be the last opportunity
|
||
she will have to practice magic."
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
273
|
||
|
||
Now that the truth about Princes Ozma had been discovered, Mombi did not
|
||
care what became of Tip; but she feared Glinda's anger, and the boy
|
||
generously promised to provide for Mombi in her old age if he became the
|
||
ruler of the Emerald City. So the Witch consented to effect the
|
||
transformation, and preparations for the event were at once made.
|
||
|
||
Glinda ordered her own royal couch to be placed in the center of the tent.
|
||
It was piled high with cushions covered with rose-colored silk, and from a
|
||
golden railing above hung many folds of pink gossamer, completely concealing
|
||
the interior of the couch.
|
||
|
||
The first act of the Witch was to make the boy drink a potion which quickly
|
||
sent him into a deep and dreamless sleep. Then the Tin Woodman and the
|
||
Woggle-Bug bore him gently to the couch, placed him upon the soft cushions,
|
||
and drew the gossamer hangings to shut him from all earthly view.
|
||
|
||
The Witch squatted upon the ground and kindled a tiny fire of dried herbs,
|
||
which she drew from her bosom. When the blaze shot up and burned clearly old
|
||
Mombi scattered a handful of magical powder over the fire, which straightway
|
||
gave off a rich violet vapor, filling all the tent with its fragrance and
|
||
forcing the Saw-Horse to sneeze -- although he had been warned to keep
|
||
quiet.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
274 Full page line-art drawing.
|
||
|
||
MOMBI AT HER MAGICAL INCANTATIONS.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
275
|
||
|
||
Then, while the others watched her curiously, the hag chanted a rhythmical
|
||
verse in words which no one understood, and bent her lean body seven times
|
||
back and forth over the fire. And now the incantation seemed complete, for
|
||
the Witch stood upright and cried the one word "Yeowa!" in a loud voice.
|
||
|
||
The vapor floated away; the atmosphere became, clear again; a whiff of fresh
|
||
air filled the tent, and the pink curtains of the couch trembled slightly,
|
||
as if stirred from within.
|
||
|
||
Glinda walked to the canopy and parted the silken hangings. Then she bent
|
||
over the cushions, reached out her hand, and from the couch arose the form
|
||
of a young girl, fresh and beautiful as a May morning. Her eyes sparkled as
|
||
two diamonds, and her lips were tinted like a tourmaline. All adown her back
|
||
floated tresses of ruddy gold, with a slender jeweled circlet confining them
|
||
at the brow. Her robes of silken gauze floated around her like a cloud, and
|
||
dainty satin slippers shod her feet.
|
||
|
||
At this exquisite vision Tip's old comrades stared in wonder for the space
|
||
of a full minute, and then every head bent low in honest admiration of the
|
||
lovely Princess Ozma. The girl herself cast one look into Glinda's bright
|
||
face, which glowed with pleasure and satisfaction, and then turned upon the
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
276
|
||
others. Speaking the words with sweet diffidence, she said:
|
||
|
||
"I hope none of you will care less for me than you did before. I'm just the
|
||
same Tip, you know; only -- only -- "
|
||
|
||
"Only you're different!" said the Pumpkinhead; and everyone thought it was
|
||
the wisest speech he had ever made.
|
||
|
||
Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
277 Full page line-art drawing.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
278 The Riches of Content
|
||
|
||
|
||
When the wonderful tidings reached the ears of Queen Jinjur -- how Mombi the
|
||
Witch had been captured; how she had confessed her crime to Glinda; and how
|
||
the long-lost Princess Ozma had been discovered in no less a personage than
|
||
the boy Tip -- she wept real tears of grief and despair.
|
||
|
||
"To think," she moaned, "that after having ruled as Queen, and lived in a
|
||
palace, I must go back to scrubbing floors and churning butter again! It is
|
||
too horrible to think of! I will never consent!"
|
||
|
||
So when her soldiers, who spent most of their time making fudge in the
|
||
palace kitchens, counseled Jinjur to resist, she listened to their foolish
|
||
prattle and sent a sharp defiance to Glinda the Good and the Princess Ozma.
|
||
The result was a declaration of war, and the very next day Glinda marched
|
||
upon the Emerald City with pennants flying and bands playing,
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
279
|
||
and a forest of shining spears, sparkling brightly beneath the sun's rays.
|
||
|
||
But when it came to the walls this brave assembly made a sudden halt; for
|
||
Jinjur had closed and barred every gateway, and the walls of the Emerald
|
||
City were builded high and thick with many blocks of green marble. Finding
|
||
her advance thus baffled, Glinda bent her brows in deep thought, while the
|
||
Woggle-Bug said, in his most positive tone:
|
||
|
||
"We must lay siege to the city, and starve it into submission. It is the
|
||
only thing we can do."
|
||
|
||
"Not so," answered the Scarecrow. "We still have the Gump, and the Gump can
|
||
still fly"
|
||
|
||
The Sorceress turned quickly at this speech, and her face now wore a bright
|
||
smile.
|
||
|
||
"You are right," she exclaimed, "and certainly have reason to be proud of
|
||
your brains. Let us go to the Gump at once!"
|
||
|
||
So they passed through the ranks of the army until they came to the place,
|
||
near the Scarecrow's tent, where the Gump lay. Glinda and Princess Ozma
|
||
mounted first, and sat upon the sofas. Then the Scarecrow and his friends
|
||
climbed aboard, and still there was room for a Captain and three soldiers,
|
||
which Glinda considered sufficient for a guard.
|
||
|
||
Now, at a word from the Princess, the queer
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
280 Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
Thing they had called the Gump flopped its palm-leaf wings and rose into the
|
||
air, carrying the party of adventurers high above the walls. They hovered
|
||
over the palace, and soon perceived Jinjur reclining in a hammock in the
|
||
courtyard, where she was comfortably reading a novel with a green cover and
|
||
eating green chocolates, confident that the walls would protect her from her
|
||
enemies. Obeying a quick command, the Gump alighted safely in this very
|
||
courtyard, and before Jinjur had time to do more than scream, the Captain
|
||
and three soldiers
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
281
|
||
leaped out and made the former Queen a prisoner, locking strong chains upon
|
||
both her wrists.
|
||
|
||
That act really ended the war; for the Army of Revolt submitted as soon as
|
||
they knew Jinjur to be a captive, and the Captain marched in safety through
|
||
the streets and up to the gates of the city, which she threw wide open. Then
|
||
the bands played their most stirring music while Glinda's army marched into
|
||
the city, and heralds proclaimed the conquest of the audacious Jinjur and
|
||
the accession of the beautiful Princess Ozma to the throne of her royal
|
||
ancestors.
|
||
|
||
At once the men of the Emerald City cast off their aprons. And it is said
|
||
that the women were so tired eating of their husbands' cooking that they
|
||
|
||
Line-Art Drawing
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
282
|
||
all hailed the conquest of Jinjur with Joy. Certain it is that, rushing one
|
||
and all to the kitchens of their houses, the good wives prepared so
|
||
delicious a feast for the weary men that harmony was immediately restored in
|
||
every family.
|
||
|
||
Ozma's first act was to oblige the Army of Revolt to return to her every
|
||
emerald or other gem stolen from the public streets and buildings; and so
|
||
great was the number of precious stones picked from their settings by these
|
||
vain girls, that every one of the royal jewelers worked steadily for more
|
||
than a month to replace them in their settings.
|
||
|
||
Meanwhile the Army of Revolt was disbanded and the girls sent home to their
|
||
mothers. On promise of good behavior Jinjur was likewise released.
|
||
|
||
Ozma made the loveliest Queen the Emerald City had ever known; and, although
|
||
she was so young and inexperienced, she ruled her people with wisdom and
|
||
Justice. For Glinda gave her good advice on all occasions; and the Woggle-
|
||
Bug, who was appointed to the important post of Public Educator, was quite
|
||
helpful to Ozma when her royal duties grew perplexing.
|
||
|
||
The girl, in her gratitude to the Gump for its services, offered the
|
||
creature any reward it might name.
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
283
|
||
|
||
"Then," replied the Gump, "please take me to pieces. I did not wish to be
|
||
brought to life, and I am greatly ashamed of my conglomerate personality.
|
||
Once I was a monarch of the forest, as my antlers fully prove; but now, in
|
||
my present upholstered condition of servitude, I am compelled to fly through
|
||
the air -- my legs being of no use to me whatever. Therefore I beg to be
|
||
dispersed."
|
||
|
||
So Ozma ordered the Gump taken apart. The antlered head was again hung over
|
||
the mantle-piece in the hall, and the sofas were untied and placed in the
|
||
reception parlors. The broom tail resumed its accustomed duties in the
|
||
kitchen, and finally, the Scarecrow replaced all the clotheslines and ropes
|
||
on the pegs from which he had taken them on the eventful day when the Thing
|
||
was constructed.
|
||
|
||
You might think that was the end of the Gump; and so it was, as a flying-
|
||
machine. But the head over the mantle-piece continued to talk whenever it
|
||
took a notion to do so, and it frequently startled, with its abrupt
|
||
questions, the people who waited in the hall for an audience with the Queen.
|
||
|
||
The Saw-Horse, being Ozma's personal property, was tenderly cared for; and
|
||
often she rode the queer creature along the streets of the Emerald City. She
|
||
had its wooden legs shod with gold, to keep them
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
284
|
||
from wearing out, and the tinkle of these golden shoes upon the pavement
|
||
always filled the Queen's subjects with awe as they thought upon this
|
||
evidence of her magical powers.
|
||
|
||
"The Wonderful Wizard was never so wonderful as Queen Ozma," the people said
|
||
to one another, in whispers; "for he claimed to do many things he could not
|
||
do; whereas our new Queen does many things no one would ever expect her to
|
||
accomplish."
|
||
|
||
Jack Pumpkinhead remained with Ozma to the end of his days; and he did not
|
||
spoil as soon as he had feared, although he always remained as stupid as
|
||
ever. The Woggle-Bug tried to teach him several arts and sciences; but Jack
|
||
was so poor a student that any attempt to educate him was soon abandoned.
|
||
|
||
After Glinda's army had marched back home, and peace was restored to the
|
||
Emerald City, the Tin Woodman announced his intention to return to his own
|
||
Kingdom of the Winkies.
|
||
|
||
"It isn't a very big Kingdom," said he to Ozma, "but for that very reason it
|
||
is easier to rule; and I have called myself an Emperor because I am an
|
||
Absolute Monarch, and no one interferes in any way with my conduct of public
|
||
or personal affairs. When I get home I shall have a new coat of nickel
|
||
plate; for I have become somewhat marred and scratched lately;
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
285
|
||
and then I shall be glad to have you pay me a visit."
|
||
|
||
"Thank you," replied Ozma. "Some day I may accept the invitation. But what
|
||
is to become of the Scarecrow?"
|
||
|
||
"I shall return with my friend the Tin Woodman," said the stuffed one,
|
||
seriously. "We have decided never to be parted in the future."
|
||
|
||
"And I have made the Scarecrow my Royal Treasurer," explained the Tin
|
||
Woodman." For it has occurred to me that it is a good thing to have a Royal
|
||
Treasurer who is made of money. What do you think?"
|
||
|
||
"I think," said the little Queen, smiling, "that your friend must be the
|
||
richest man in all the world."
|
||
|
||
"I am," returned the Scarecrow. "but not on account of my money. For I
|
||
consider brains far superior to money, in every way. You may have noticed
|
||
that if one has money without brains, he cannot use it to advantage; but if
|
||
one has brains without money, they will enable him to live comfortably to
|
||
the end of his days."
|
||
|
||
"At the same time," declared the Tin Woodman, "you must acknowledge that a
|
||
good heart is a thing that brains can not create, and that money can not
|
||
buy. Perhaps, after all, it is I who am the richest man in all the world."
|
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
286
|
||
|
||
"You are both rich, my friends," said Ozma, gently; "and your riches are the
|
||
only riches worth having -- the riches of content!"
|
||
|
||
The End
|
||
|
||
|
||
End of Project Gutenberg Etext of "The Marvelous Land of Oz"
|
||
|
||
|
||
|