The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Tin Woodman of Oz, by L. Frank Baum
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Title: The Tin Woodman of Oz
Author: L. Frank Baum
Posting Date: March 23, 2009 [EBook #960]
Release Date: June, 1997
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TIN WOODMAN OF OZ ***
Produced by Anthony Matonac
THE TIN WOODMAN OF OZ
by
L. Frank Baum
A Faithful Story of the Astonishing Adventure
Undertaken by the Tin Woodman, assisted
by Woot the Wanderer, the Scarecrow
of Oz, and Polychrome, the
Rainbow's Daughter
by
L. FRANK BAUM
"Royal historian of Oz"
This Book
is dedicated
to the son of
my son
Frank Alden Baum
TO MY READERS
I know that some of you have been waiting for this story of the Tin
Woodman, because many of my correspondents have asked me, time and
again what ever became of the "pretty Munchkin girl" whom Nick Chopper
was engaged to marry before the Wicked Witch enchanted his axe and he
traded his flesh for tin. I, too, have wondered what became of her, but
until Woot the Wanderer interested himself in the matter the Tin
Woodman knew no more than we did. However, he found her, after many
thrilling adventures, as you will discover when you have read this
story.
I am delighted at the continued interest of both young and old in the
Oz stories. A learned college professor recently wrote me to ask: "For
readers of what age are your books intended?" It puzzled me to answer
that properly, until I had looked over some of the letters I have
received. One says: "I'm a little boy 5 years old, and I Just love your
Oz stories. My sister, who is writing this for me, reads me the Oz
books, but I wish I could read them myself." Another letter says: "I'm
a great girl 13 years old, so you'll be surprised when I tell you I am
not too old yet for the Oz stories." Here's another letter: "Since I
was a young girl I've never missed getting a Baum book for Christmas.
I'm married, now, but am as eager to get and read the Oz stories as
ever." And still another writes: "My good wife and I, both more than 70
years of age, believe that we find more real enjoyment in your Oz books
than in any other books we read." Considering these statements, I wrote
the college professor that my books are intended for all those whose
hearts are young, no matter what their ages may be.
I think I am justified in promising that there will be some astonishing
revelations about The Magic of Oz in my book for 1919. Always your
loving and grateful friend,
L. FRANK BAUM.
Royal Historian of Oz.
"OZCOT"
at HOLLYWOOD
in CALIFORNIA
1918.
LIST OF CHAPTERS
1 Woot the Wanderer
2 The Heart of the Tin Woodman
3 Roundabout
4 The Loons of Loonville
5 Mrs. Yoop, the Giantess
6 The Magic of a Yookoohoo
7 The Lace Apron
8 The Menace of the Forest
9 The Quarrelsome Dragons
10 Tommy Kwikstep
11 Jinjur's Ranch
12 Ozma and Dorothy
13 The Restoration
14 The Green Monkey
15 The Man of Tin
16 Captain Fyter
17 The Workshop of Ku-Klip
18 The Tin Woodman Talks to Himself
19 The Invisible Country
20 Over Night
21 Polychrome's Magic
22 Nimmie Amee
23 Through the Tunnel
24 The Curtain Falls
Chapter One
Woot the Wanderer
The Tin Woodman sat on his glittering tin throne in the handsome tin
hall of his splendid tin castle in the Winkie Country of the Land of
Oz. Beside him, in a chair of woven straw, sat his best friend, the
Scarecrow of Oz. At times they spoke to one another of curious things
they had seen and strange adventures they had known since first they
two had met and become comrades. But at times they were silent, for
these things had been talked over many times between them, and they
found themselves contented in merely being together, speaking now and
then a brief sentence to prove they were wide awake and attentive. But
then, these two quaint persons never slept. Why should they sleep, when
they never tired?
And now, as the brilliant sun sank low over the Winkie Country of Oz,
tinting the glistening tin towers and tin minarets of the tin castle
with glorious sunset hues, there approached along a winding pathway
Woot the Wanderer, who met at the castle entrance a Winkie servant.
The servants of the Tin Woodman all wore tin helmets and tin
breastplates and uniforms covered with tiny tin discs sewed closely
together on silver cloth, so that their bodies sparkled as beautifully
as did the tin castle--and almost as beautifully as did the Tin Woodman
himself.
Woot the Wanderer looked at the man servant--all bright and
glittering--and at the magnificent castle--all bright and
glittering--and as he looked his eyes grew big with wonder. For Woot
was not very big and not very old and, wanderer though he was, this
proved the most gorgeous sight that had ever met his boyish gaze.
"Who lives here?" he asked.
"The Emperor of the Winkies, who is the famous Tin Woodman of Oz,"
replied the servant, who had been trained to treat all strangers with
courtesy.
"A Tin Woodman? How queer!" exclaimed the little wanderer.
"Well, perhaps our Emperor is queer," admitted the servant; "but he is
a kind master and as honest and true as good tin can make him; so we,
who gladly serve him, are apt to forget that he is not like other
people."
"May I see him?" asked Woot the Wanderer, after a moment's thought.
"If it please you to wait a moment, I will go and ask him," said the
servant, and then he went into the hall where the Tin Woodman sat with
his friend the Scarecrow. Both were glad to learn that a stranger had
arrived at the castle, for this would give them something new to talk
about, so the servant was asked to admit the boy at once.
By the time Woot the Wanderer had passed through the grand
corridors--all lined with ornamental tin--and under stately tin
archways and through the many tin rooms all set with beautiful tin
furniture, his eyes had grown bigger than ever and his whole little
body thrilled with amazement. But, astonished though he was, he was
able to make a polite bow before the throne and to say in a respectful
voice: "I salute your Illustrious Majesty and offer you my humble
services."
"Very good!" answered the Tin Woodman in his accustomed cheerful
manner. "Tell me who you are, and whence you come."
"I am known as Woot the Wanderer," answered the boy, "and I have come,
through many travels and by roundabout ways, from my former home in a
far corner of the Gillikin Country of Oz."
"To wander from one's home," remarked the Scarecrow, "is to encounter
dangers and hardships, especially if one is made of meat and bone. Had
you no friends in that corner of the Gillikin Country? Was it not
homelike and comfortable?"
To hear a man stuffed with straw speak, and speak so well, quite
startled Woot, and perhaps he stared a bit rudely at the Scarecrow. But
after a moment he replied:
"I had home and friends, your Honorable Strawness, but they were so
quiet and happy and comfortable that I found them dismally stupid.
Nothing in that corner of Oz interested me, but I believed that in
other parts of the country I would find strange people and see new
sights, and so I set out upon my wandering journey. I have been a
wanderer for nearly a full year, and now my wanderings have brought me
to this splendid castle."
"I suppose," said the Tin Woodman, "that in this year you have seen so
much that you have become very wise."
"No," replied Woot, thoughtfully, "I am not at all wise, I beg to
assure your Majesty. The more I wander the less I find that I know, for
in the Land of Oz much wisdom and many things may be learned."
"To learn is simple. Don't you ask questions?" inquired the Scarecrow.
"Yes; I ask as many questions as I dare; but some people refuse to
answer questions."
"That is not kind of them," declared the Tin Woodman. "If one does not
ask for information he seldom receives it; so I, for my part, make it a
rule to answer any civil question that is asked me."
"So do I," added the Scarecrow, nodding.
"I am glad to hear this," said the Wanderer, "for it makes me bold to
ask for something to eat."
"Bless the boy!" cried the Emperor of the Winkies; "how careless of me
not to remember that wanderers are usually hungry. I will have food
brought you at once."
Saying this he blew upon a tin whistle that was suspended from his tin
neck, and at the summons a servant appeared and bowed low. The Tin
Woodman ordered food for the stranger, and in a few minutes the servant
brought in a tin tray heaped with a choice array of good things to eat,
all neatly displayed on tin dishes that were polished till they shone
like mirrors. The tray was set upon a tin table drawn before the
throne, and the servant placed a tin chair before the table for the boy
to seat himself.
"Eat, friend Wanderer," said the Emperor cordially, "and I trust the
feast will be to your liking. I, myself, do not eat, being made in such
manner that I require no food to keep me alive. Neither does my friend
the Scarecrow. But all my Winkie people eat, being formed of flesh, as
you are, and so my tin cupboard is never bare, and strangers are always
welcome to whatever it contains."
The boy ate in silence for a time, being really hungry, but after his
appetite was somewhat satisfied, he said:
"How happened your Majesty to be made of tin, and still be alive?"
"That," replied the tin man, "is a long story."
"The longer the better," said the boy. "Won't you please tell me the
story?"
"If you desire it," promised the Tin Woodman, leaning back in his tin
throne and crossing his tin legs. "I haven't related my history in a
long while, because everyone here knows it nearly as well as I do. But
you, being a stranger, are no doubt curious to learn how I became so
beautiful and prosperous, so I will recite for your benefit my strange
adventures."
"Thank you," said Woot the Wanderer, still eating.
"I was not always made of tin," began the Emperor, "for in the
beginning I was a man of flesh and bone and blood and lived in the
Munchkin Country of Oz. There I was, by trade, a woodchopper, and
contributed my share to the comfort of the Oz people by chopping up the
trees of the forest to make firewood, with which the women would cook
their meals while the children warmed themselves about the fires. For
my home I had a little hut by the edge of the forest, and my life was
one of much content until I fell in love with a beautiful Munchkin girl
who lived not far away."
"What was the Munchkin girl's name?" asked Woot.
"Nimmie Amee. This girl, so fair that the sunsets blushed when their
rays fell upon her, lived with a powerful witch who wore silver shoes
and who had made the poor child her slave. Nimmie Amee was obliged to
work from morning till night for the old Witch of the East, scrubbing
and sweeping her hut and cooking her meals and washing her dishes. She
had to cut firewood, too, until I found her one day in the forest and
fell in love with her. After that, I always brought plenty of firewood
to Nimmie Amee and we became very friendly. Finally I asked her to
marry me, and she agreed to do so, but the Witch happened to overhear
our conversation and it made her very angry, for she did not wish her
slave to be taken away from her. The Witch commanded me never to come
near Nimmie Amee again, but I told her I was my own master and would do
as I pleased, not realizing that this was a careless way to speak to a
Witch.
"The next day, as I was cutting wood in the forest, the cruel Witch
enchanted my axe, so that it slipped and cut off my right leg."
"How dreadful!" cried Woot the Wanderer.
"Yes, it was a seeming misfortune," agreed the Tin Man, "for a
one-legged woodchopper is of little use in his trade. But I would not
allow the Witch to conquer me so easily. I knew a very skillful
mechanic at the other side of the forest, who was my friend, so I
hopped on one leg to him and asked him to help me. He soon made me a
new leg out of tin and fastened it cleverly to my meat body. It had
joints at the knee and at the ankle and was almost as comfortable as
the leg I had lost."
"Your friend must have been a wonderful workman!" exclaimed Woot.
"He was, indeed," admitted the Emperor. "He was a tinsmith by trade and
could make anything out of tin. When I returned to Nimmie Amee, the
girl was delighted and threw her arms around my neck and kissed me,
declaring she was proud of me. The Witch saw the kiss and was more
angry than before. When I went to work in the forest, next day, my axe,
being still enchanted, slipped and cut off my other leg. Again I
hopped--on my tin leg--to my friend the tinsmith, who kindly made me
another tin leg and fastened it to my body. So I returned joyfully to
Nimmie Amee, who was much pleased with my glittering legs and promised
that when we were wed she would always keep them oiled and polished.
But the Witch was more furious than ever, and as soon as I raised my
axe to chop, it twisted around and cut off one of my arms. The tinsmith
made me a tin arm and I was not much worried, because Nimmie Amee
declared she still loved me."
Chapter Two
The Heart of the Tin Woodman
The Emperor of the Winkies paused in his story to reach for an oil-can,
with which he carefully oiled the joints in his tin throat, for his
voice had begun to squeak a little. Woot the Wanderer, having satisfied
his hunger, watched this oiling process with much curiosity, but begged
the Tin Man to go on with his tale.
"The Witch with the Silver Shoes hated me for having defied her,"
resumed the Emperor, his voice now sounding clear as a bell, "and she
insisted that Nimmie Amee should never marry me. Therefore she made
the enchanted axe cut off my other arm, and the tinsmith also replaced
that member with tin, including these finely-jointed hands that you see
me using. But, alas! after that, the axe, still enchanted by the cruel
Witch, cut my body in two, so that I fell to the ground. Then the
Witch, who was watching from a near-by bush, rushed up and seized the
axe and chopped my body into several small pieces, after which,
thinking that at last she had destroyed me, she ran away laughing in
wicked glee.
"But Nimmie Amee found me. She picked up my arms and legs and head, and
made a bundle of them and carried them to the tinsmith, who set to work
and made me a fine body of pure tin. When he had joined the arms and
legs to the body, and set my head in the tin collar, I was a much
better man than ever, for my body could not ache or pain me, and I was
so beautiful and bright that I had no need of clothing. Clothing is
always a nuisance, because it soils and tears and has to be replaced;
but my tin body only needs to be oiled and polished.
"Nimmie Amee still declared she would marry me, as she still loved me
in spite of the Witch's evil deeds. The girl declared I would make the
brightest husband in all the world, which was quite true. However, the
Wicked Witch was not yet defeated. When I returned to my work the axe
slipped and cut off my head, which was the only meat part of me then
remaining. Moreover, the old woman grabbed up my severed head and
carried it away with her and hid it. But Nimmie Amee came into the
forest and found me wandering around helplessly, because I could not
see where to go, and she led me to my friend the tinsmith. The faithful
fellow at once set to work to make me a tin head, and he had just
completed it when Nimmie Amee came running up with my old head, which
she had stolen from the Witch. But, on reflection, I considered the tin
head far superior to the meat one--I am wearing it yet, so you can see
its beauty and grace of outline--and the girl agreed with me that a man
all made of tin was far more perfect than one formed of different
materials. The tinsmith was as proud of his workmanship as I was, and
for three whole days, all admired me and praised my beauty. Being now
completely formed of tin, I had no more fear of the Wicked Witch, for
she was powerless to injure me. Nimmie Amee said we must be married at
once, for then she could come to my cottage and live with me and keep
me bright and sparkling.
"'I am sure, my dear Nick,' said the brave and beautiful girl--my name
was then Nick Chopper, you should be told--'that you will make the best
husband any girl could have. I shall not be obliged to cook for you,
for now you do not eat; I shall not have to make your bed, for tin does
not tire or require sleep; when we go to a dance, you will not get
weary before the music stops and say you want to go home. All day long,
while you are chopping wood in the forest, I shall be able to amuse
myself in my own way--a privilege few wives enjoy. There is no temper
in your new head, so you will not get angry with me. Finally, I shall
take pride in being the wife of the only live Tin Woodman in all the
world!' Which shows that Nimmie Amee was as wise as she was brave and
beautiful."
"I think she was a very nice girl," said Woot the Wanderer. "But, tell
me, please, why were you not killed when you were chopped to pieces?"
"In the Land of Oz," replied the Emperor, "no one can ever be killed. A
man with a wooden leg or a tin leg is still the same man; and, as I
lost parts of my meat body by degrees, I always remained the same
person as in the beginning, even though in the end I was all tin and no
meat."
"I see," said the boy, thoughtfully. "And did you marry Nimmie Amee?"
"No," answered the Tin Woodman, "I did not. She said she still loved
me, but I found that I no longer loved her. My tin body contained no
heart, and without a heart no one can love. So the Wicked Witch
conquered in the end, and when I left the Munchkin Country of Oz, the
poor girl was still the slave of the Witch and had to do her bidding
day and night."
"Where did you go?" asked Woot.
"Well, I first started out to find a heart, so I could love Nimmie Amee
again; but hearts are more scarce than one would think. One day, in a
big forest that was strange to me, my joints suddenly became rusted,
because I had forgotten to oil them. There I stood, unable to move hand
or foot. And there I continued to stand--while days came and
went--until Dorothy and the Scarecrow came along and rescued me. They
oiled my joints and set me free, and I've taken good care never to rust
again."
"Who was this Dorothy?" questioned the Wanderer.
"A little girl who happened to be in a house when it was carried by a
cyclone all the way from Kansas to the Land of Oz. When the house fell,
in the Munchkin Country, it fortunately landed on the Wicked Witch and
smashed her flat. It was a big house, and I think the Witch is under it
yet."
"No," said the Scarecrow, correcting him, "Dorothy says the Witch
turned to dust, and the wind scattered the dust in every direction."
"Well," continued the Tin Woodman, "after meeting the Scarecrow and
Dorothy, I went with them to the Emerald City, where the Wizard of Oz
gave me a heart. But the Wizard's stock of hearts was low, and he gave
me a Kind Heart instead of a Loving Heart, so that I could not love
Nimmie Amee any more than I did when I was heartless."
"Couldn't the Wizard give you a heart that was both Kind and Loving?"
asked the boy.
"No; that was what I asked for, but he said he was so short on hearts,
just then, that there was but one in stock, and I could take that or
none at all. So I accepted it, and I must say that for its kind it is a
very good heart indeed."
"It seems to me," said Woot, musingly, "that the Wizard fooled you. It
can't be a very Kind Heart, you know."
"Why not?" demanded the Emperor.
"Because it was unkind of you to desert the girl who loved you, and who
had been faithful and true to you when you were in trouble. Had the
heart the Wizard gave you been a Kind Heart, you would have gone back
home and made the beautiful Munchkin girl your wife, and then brought
her here to be an Empress and live in your splendid tin castle."
The Tin Woodman was so surprised at this frank speech that for a time
he did nothing but stare hard at the boy Wanderer. But the Scarecrow
wagged his stuffed head and said in a positive tone:
"This boy is right. I've often wondered, myself, why you didn't go back
and find that poor Munchkin girl."
Then the Tin Woodman stared hard at his friend the Scarecrow. But
finally he said in a serious tone of voice:
"I must admit that never before have I thought of such a thing as
finding Nimmie Amee and making her Empress of the Winkies. But it is
surely not too late, even now, to do this, for the girl must still be
living in the Munchkin Country. And, since this strange Wanderer has
reminded me of Nimmie Amee, I believe it is my duty to set out and find
her. Surely it is not the girl's fault that I no longer love her, and
so, if I can make her happy, it is proper that I should do so, and in
this way reward her for her faithfulness."
"Quite right, my friend!" agreed the Scarecrow.
"Will you accompany me on this errand?" asked the Tin Emperor.
"Of course," said the Scarecrow.
"And will you take me along?" pleaded Woot the Wanderer in an eager
voice.
"To be sure," said the Tin Woodman, "if you care to join our party. It
was you who first told me it was my duty to find and marry Nimmie Amee,
and I'd like you to know that Nick Chopper, the Tin Emperor of the
Winkies, is a man who never shirks his duty, once it is pointed out to
him."
"It ought to be a pleasure, as well as a duty, if the girl is so
beautiful," said Woot, well pleased with the idea of the adventure.
"Beautiful things may be admired, if not loved," asserted the Tin Man.
"Flowers are beautiful, for instance, but we are not inclined to marry
them. Duty, on the contrary, is a bugle call to action, whether you are
inclined to act, or not. In this case, I obey the bugle call of duty."
"When shall we start?" inquired the Scarecrow, who was always glad to
embark upon a new adventure. "I don't hear any bugle, but when do we
go?"
"As soon as we can get ready," answered the Emperor. "I'll call my
servants at once and order them to make preparations for our journey."
Chapter Three
Roundabout
Woot the Wanderer slept that night in the tin castle of the Emperor of
the Winkies and found his tin bed quite comfortable. Early the next
morning he rose and took a walk through the gardens, where there were
tin fountains and beds of curious tin flowers, and where tin birds
perched upon the branches of tin trees and sang songs that sounded like
the notes of tin whistles. All these wonders had been made by the
clever Winkie tinsmiths, who wound the birds up every morning so that
they would move about and sing.
After breakfast the boy went into the throne room, where the Emperor
was having his tin joints carefully oiled by a servant, while other
servants were stuffing sweet, fresh straw into the body of the
Scarecrow.
Woot watched this operation with much interest, for the Scarecrow's
body was only a suit of clothes filled with straw. The coat was
buttoned tight to keep the packed straw from falling out and a rope was
tied around the waist to hold it in shape and prevent the straw from
sagging down. The Scarecrow's head was a gunnysack filled with bran, on
which the eyes, nose and mouth had been painted. His hands were white
cotton gloves stuffed with fine straw. Woot noticed that even when
carefully stuffed and patted into shape, the straw man was awkward in
his movements and decidedly wobbly on his feet, so the boy wondered if
the Scarecrow would be able to travel with them all the way to the
forests of the Munchkin Country of Oz.
The preparations made for this important journey were very simple. A
knapsack was filled with food and given Woot the Wanderer to carry upon
his back, for the food was for his use alone. The Tin Woodman
shouldered an axe which was sharp and brightly polished, and the
Scarecrow put the Emperor's oil-can in his pocket, that he might oil
his friend's joints should they need it.
"Who will govern the Winkie Country during your absence?" asked the boy.
"Why, the Country will run itself," answered the Emperor. "As a matter
of fact, my people do not need an Emperor, for Ozma of Oz watches over
the welfare of all her subjects, including the Winkies. Like a good
many kings and emperors, I have a grand title, but very little real
power, which allows me time to amuse myself in my own way. The people
of Oz have but one law to obey, which is: 'Behave Yourself,' so it is
easy for them to abide by this Law, and you'll notice they behave very
well. But it is time for us to be off, and I am eager to start because
I suppose that that poor Munchkin girl is anxiously awaiting my coming."
"She's waited a long time already, seems to me," remarked the
Scarecrow, as they left the grounds of the castle and followed a path
that led eastward.
"True," replied the Tin Woodman; "but I've noticed that the last end of
a wait, however long it has been, is the hardest to endure; so I must
try to make Nimmie Amee happy as soon as possible."
"Ah; that proves you have a Kind heart," remarked the Scarecrow,
approvingly.
"It's too bad he hasn't a Loving Heart," said Woot. "This Tin Man is
going to marry a nice girl through kindness, and not because he loves
her, and somehow that doesn't seem quite right."
"Even so, I am not sure it isn't best for the girl," said the
Scarecrow, who seemed very intelligent for a straw man, "for a loving
husband is not always kind, while a kind husband is sure to make any
girl content."
"Nimmie Amee will become an Empress!" announced the Tin Woodman,
proudly. "I shall have a tin gown made for her, with tin ruffles and
tucks on it, and she shall have tin slippers, and tin earrings and
bracelets, and wear a tin crown on her head. I am sure that will
delight Nimmie Amee, for all girls are fond of finery."
"Are we going to the Munchkin Country by way of the Emerald City?"
inquired the Scarecrow, who looked upon the Tin Woodman as the leader
of the party.
"I think not," was the reply. "We are engaged upon a rather delicate
adventure, for we are seeking a girl who fears her former lover has
forgotten her. It will be rather hard for me, you must admit, when I
confess to Nimmie Amee that I have come to marry her because it is my
duty to do so, and therefore the fewer witnesses there are to our
meeting the better for both of us. After I have found Nimmie Amee and
she has managed to control her joy at our reunion, I shall take her to
the Emerald City and introduce her to Ozma and Dorothy, and to Betsy
Bobbin and Tiny Trot, and all our other friends; but, if I remember
rightly, poor Nimmie Amee has a sharp tongue when angry, and she may be
a trifle angry with me, at first, because I have been so long in coming
to her."
"I can understand that," said Woot gravely. "But how can we get to that
part of the Munchkin Country where you once lived without passing
through the Emerald City?"
"Why, that is easy," the Tin Man assured him.
"I have a map of Oz in my pocket," persisted the boy, "and it shows
that the Winkie Country, where we now are, is at the west of Oz, and
the Munchkin Country at the east, while directly between them lies the
Emerald City."
"True enough; but we shall go toward the north, first of all, into the
Gillikin Country, and so pass around the Emerald City," explained the
Tin Woodman.
"That may prove a dangerous journey," replied the boy. "I used to live
in one of the top corners of the Gillikin Country, near to Oogaboo, and
I have been told that in this northland country are many people whom it
is not pleasant to meet. I was very careful to avoid them during my
journey south."
"A Wanderer should have no fear," observed the Scarecrow, who was
wobbling along in a funny, haphazard manner, but keeping pace with his
friends.
"Fear does not make one a coward," returned Woot, growing a little red
in the face, "but I believe it is more easy to avoid danger than to
overcome it. The safest way is the best way, even for one who is brave
and determined."
"Do not worry, for we shall not go far to the north," said the Emperor.
"My one idea is to avoid the Emerald City without going out of our way
more than is necessary. Once around the Emerald City we will turn south
into the Munchkin Country, where the Scarecrow and I are well
acquainted and have many friends."
"I have traveled some in the Gillikin Country," remarked the Scarecrow,
"and while I must say I have met some strange people there at times, I
have never yet been harmed by them."
"Well, it's all the same to me," said Woot, with assumed carelessness.
"Dangers, when they cannot be avoided, are often quite interesting, and
I am willing to go wherever you two venture to go."
So they left the path they had been following and began to travel
toward the northeast, and all that day they were in the pleasant Winkie
Country, and all the people they met saluted the Emperor with great
respect and wished him good luck on his journey. At night they stopped
at a house where they were well entertained and where Woot was given a
comfortable bed to sleep in.
"Were the Scarecrow and I alone," said the Tin Woodman, "we would
travel by night as well as by day; but with a meat person in our party,
we must halt at night to permit him to rest."
"Meat tires, after a day's travel," added the Scarecrow, "while straw
and tin never tire at all. Which proves," said he, "that we are
somewhat superior to people made in the common way."
Woot could not deny that he was tired, and he slept soundly until
morning, when he was given a good breakfast, smoking hot.
"You two miss a great deal by not eating," he said to his companions.
"It is true," responded the Scarecrow. "We miss suffering from hunger,
when food cannot be had, and we miss a stomachache, now and then."
As he said this, the Scarecrow glanced at the Tin Woodman, who nodded
his assent.
All that second day they traveled steadily, entertaining one another
the while with stories of adventures they had formerly met and
listening to the Scarecrow recite poetry. He had learned a great many
poems from Professor Wogglebug and loved to repeat them whenever
anybody would listen to him. Of course Woot and the Tin Woodman now
listened, because they could not do otherwise--unless they rudely ran
away from their stuffed comrade. One of the Scarecrow's recitations was
like this:
"What sound is so sweet
As the straw from the wheat
When it crunkles so tender and low?
It is yellow and bright,
So it gives me delight
To crunkle wherever I go.
"Sweet, fresh, golden Straw!
There is surely no flaw
In a stuffing so clean and compact.
It creaks when I walk,
And it thrills when I talk,
And its fragrance is fine, for a fact.
"To cut me don't hurt,
For I've no blood to squirt,
And I therefore can suffer no pain;
The straw that I use
Doesn't lump up or bruise,
Though it's pounded again and again!
"I know it is said
That my beautiful head
Has brains of mixed wheat-straw and bran,
But my thoughts are so good
I'd not change, if I could,
For the brains of a common meat man.
"Content with my lot,
I'm glad that I'm not
Like others I meet day by day;
If my insides get musty,
Or mussed-up, or dusty,
I get newly stuffed right away."
Chapter Four
The Loons of Loonville
Toward evening, the travelers found there was no longer a path to guide
them, and the purple hues of the grass and trees warned them that they
were now in the Country of the Gillikins, where strange peoples dwelt
in places that were quite unknown to the other inhabitants of Oz. The
fields were wild and uncultivated and there were no houses of any sort
to be seen. But our friends kept on walking even after the sun went
down, hoping to find a good place for Woot the Wanderer to sleep; but
when it grew quite dark and the boy was weary with his long walk, they
halted right in the middle of a field and allowed Woot to get his
supper from the food he carried in his knapsack. Then the Scarecrow
laid himself down, so that Woot could use his stuffed body as a pillow,
and the Tin Woodman stood up beside them all night, so the dampness of
the ground might not rust his joints or dull his brilliant polish.
Whenever the dew settled on his body he carefully wiped it off with a
cloth, and so in the morning the Emperor shone as brightly as ever in
the rays of the rising sun.
They wakened the boy at daybreak, the Scarecrow saying to him:
"We have discovered something queer, and therefore we must counsel
together what to do about it."
"What have you discovered?" asked Woot, rubbing the sleep from his eyes
with his knuckles and giving three wide yawns to prove he was fully
awake.
"A Sign," said the Tin Woodman. "A Sign, and another path."
"What does the Sign say?" inquired the boy.
"It says that 'All Strangers are Warned not to Follow this Path to
Loonville,'" answered the Scarecrow, who could read very well when his
eyes had been freshly painted.
"In that case," said the boy, opening his knapsack to get some
breakfast, "let us travel in some other direction."
But this did not seem to please either of his companions.
"I'd like to see what Loonville looks like," remarked the Tin Woodman.
"When one travels, it is foolish to miss any interesting sight," added
the Scarecrow.
"But a warning means danger," protested Woot the Wanderer, "and I
believe it sensible to keep out of danger whenever we can."
They made no reply to this speech for a while. Then said the Scarecrow:
"I have escaped so many dangers, during my lifetime, that I am not much
afraid of anything that can happen."
"Nor am I!" exclaimed the Tin Woodman, swinging his glittering axe
around his tin head, in a series of circles. "Few things can injure
tin, and my axe is a powerful weapon to use against a foe. But our boy
friend," he continued, looking solemnly at Woot, "might perhaps be
injured if the people of Loonville are really dangerous; so I propose
he waits here while you and I, Friend Scarecrow, visit the forbidden
City of Loonville."
"Don't worry about me," advised Woot, calmly. "Wherever you wish to go,
I will go, and share your dangers. During my wanderings I have found it
more wise to keep out of danger than to venture in, but at that time I
was alone, and now I have two powerful friends to protect me."
So, when he had finished his breakfast, they all set out along the path
that led to Loonville.
"It is a place I have never heard of before," remarked the Scarecrow,
as they approached a dense forest. "The inhabitants may be people, of
some sort, or they may be animals, but whatever they prove to be, we
will have an interesting story to relate to Dorothy and Ozma on our
return."
The path led into the forest, but the big trees grew so closely
together and the vines and underbrush were so thick and matted that
they had to clear a path at each step in order to proceed. In one or
two places the Tin Man, who went first to clear the way, cut the
branches with a blow of his axe. Woot followed next, and last of the
three came the Scarecrow, who could not have kept the path at all had
not his comrades broken the way for his straw-stuffed body.
Presently the Tin Woodman pushed his way through some heavy underbrush,
and almost tumbled headlong into a vast cleared space in the forest.
The clearing was circular, big and roomy, yet the top branches of the
tall trees reached over and formed a complete dome or roof for it.
Strangely enough, it was not dark in this immense natural chamber in
the woodland, for the place glowed with a soft, white light that seemed
to come from some unseen source.
In the chamber were grouped dozens of queer creatures, and these so
astonished the Tin Man that Woot had to push his metal body aside, that
he might see, too. And the Scarecrow pushed Woot aside, so that the
three travelers stood in a row, staring with all their eyes.
The creatures they beheld were round and ball-like; round in body,
round in legs and arms, round in hands and feet and round of head. The
only exception to the roundness was a slight hollow on the top of each
head, making it saucer-shaped instead of dome-shaped. They wore no
clothes on their puffy bodies, nor had they any hair. Their skins were
all of a light gray color, and their eyes were mere purple spots. Their
noses were as puffy as the rest of them.
"Are they rubber, do you think?" asked the Scarecrow, who noticed that
the creatures bounded, as they moved, and seemed almost as light as air.
"It is difficult to tell what they are," answered Woot, "they seem to
be covered with warts."
The Loons--for so these folks were called--had been doing many things,
some playing together, some working at tasks and some gathered in
groups to talk; but at the sound of strange voices, which echoed rather
loudly through the clearing, all turned in the direction of the
intruders. Then, in a body, they all rushed forward, running and
bounding with tremendous speed.
The Tin Woodman was so surprised by this sudden dash that he had no
time to raise his axe before the Loons were on them. The creatures
swung their puffy hands, which looked like boxing-gloves, and pounded
the three travelers as hard as they could, on all sides. The blows were
quite soft and did not hurt our friends at all, but the onslaught quite
bewildered them, so that in a brief period all three were knocked over
and fell flat upon the ground. Once down, many of the Loons held them,
to prevent their getting up again, while others wound long tendrils of
vines about them, binding their arms and legs to their bodies and so
rendering them helpless.
"Aha!" cried the biggest Loon of all; "we've got 'em safe; so let's
carry 'em to King Bal and have 'em tried, and condemned and
perforated!" They had to drag their captives to the center of the domed
chamber, for their weight, as compared with that of the Loons,
prevented their being carried. Even the Scarecrow was much heavier than
the puffy Loons. But finally the party halted before a raised platform,
on which stood a sort of throne, consisting of a big, wide chair with a
string tied to one arm of it. This string led upward to the roof of the
dome.
Arranged before the platform, the prisoners were allowed to sit up,
facing the empty throne.
"Good!" said the big Loon who had commanded the party. "Now to get King
Bal to judge these terrible creatures we have so bravely captured."
As he spoke he took hold of the string and began to pull as hard as he
could. One or two of the others helped him and pretty soon, as they
drew in the cord, the leaves above them parted and a Loon appeared at
the other end of the string. It didn't take long to draw him down to
the throne, where he seated himself and was tied in, so he wouldn't
float upward again.
"Hello," said the King, blinking his purple eyes at his followers;
"what's up now!"
"Strangers, your Majesty--strangers and captives," replied the big
Loon, pompously.
"Dear me! I see 'em. I see 'em very plainly," exclaimed the King, his
purple eyes bulging out as he looked at the three prisoners. "What
curious animals! Are they dangerous, do you think, my good Panta?"
"I'm 'fraid so, your Majesty. Of course, they may not be dangerous, but
we mustn't take chances. Enough accidents happen to us poor Loons as it
is, and my advice is to condemn and perforate 'em as quickly as
possible."
"Keep your advice to yourself," said the monarch, in a peeved tone.
"Who's King here, anyhow? You or Me?"
"We made you our King because you have less common sense than the rest
of us," answered Panta Loon, indignantly. "I could have been King
myself, had I wanted to, but I didn't care for the hard work and
responsibility."
As he said this, the big Loon strutted back and forth in the space
between the throne of King Bal and the prisoners, and the other Loons
seemed much impressed by his defiance. But suddenly there came a sharp
report and Panta Loon instantly disappeared, to the great astonishment
of the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and Woot the Wanderer, who saw on the
spot where the big fellow had stood a little heap of flabby, wrinkled
skin that looked like a collapsed rubber balloon.
"There!" exclaimed the King; "I expected that would happen. The
conceited rascal wanted to puff himself up until he was bigger than the
rest of you, and this is the result of his folly. Get the pump working,
some of you, and blow him up again."
"We will have to mend the puncture first, your Majesty," suggested one
of the Loons, and the prisoners noticed that none of them seemed
surprised or shocked at the sad accident to Panta.
"All right," grumbled the King. "Fetch Til to mend him."
One or two ran away and presently returned, followed by a lady Loon
wearing huge, puffed-up rubber skirts. Also she had a purple feather
fastened to a wart on the top of her head, and around her waist was a
sash of fibre-like vines, dried and tough, that looked like strings.
"Get to work, Til," commanded King Bal. "Panta has just exploded."
The lady Loon picked up the bunch of skin and examined it carefully
until she discovered a hole in one foot. Then she pulled a strand of
string from her sash, and drawing the edges of the hole together, she
tied them fast with the string, thus making one of those curious warts
which the strangers had noticed on so many Loons. Having done this, Til
Loon tossed the bit of skin to the other Loons and was about to go away
when she noticed the prisoners and stopped to inspect them.
"Dear me!" said Til; "what dreadful creatures. Where did they come
from?"
"We captured them," replied one of the Loons.
"And what are we going to do with them?" inquired the girl Loon.
"Perhaps we'll condemn 'em and puncture 'em," answered the King.
"Well," said she, still eyeing the "I'm not sure they'll puncture.
Let's try it, and see."
One of the Loons ran to the forest's edge and quickly returned with a
long, sharp thorn. He glanced at the King, who nodded his head in
assent, and then he rushed forward and stuck the thorn into the leg of
the Scarecrow. The Scarecrow merely smiled and said nothing, for the
thorn didn't hurt him at all.
Then the Loon tried to prick the Tin Woodman's leg, but the tin only
blunted the point of the thorn.
"Just as I thought," said Til, blinking her purple eyes and shaking her
puffy head; but just then the Loon stuck the thorn into the leg of Woot
the Wanderer, and while it had been blunted somewhat, it was still
sharp enough to hurt.
"Ouch!" yelled Woot, and kicked out his leg with so much energy that
the frail bonds that tied him burst apart. His foot caught the
Loon--who was leaning over him--full on his puffy stomach, and sent him
shooting up into the air. When he was high over their heads he exploded
with a loud "pop" and his skin fell to the ground.
"I really believe," said the King, rolling his spotlike eyes in a
frightened way, "that Panta was right in claiming these prisoners are
dangerous. Is the pump ready?"
Some of the Loons had wheeled a big machine in front of the throne and
now took Panta's skin and began to pump air into it. Slowly it swelled
out until the King cried "Stop!"
"No, no!" yelled Panta, "I'm not big enough yet."
"You're as big as you're going to be," declared the King. "Before you
exploded you were bigger than the rest of us, and that caused you to
be proud and overbearing. Now you're a little smaller than the rest,
and you will last longer and be more humble."
"Pump me up--pump me up!" wailed Panta "If you don't you'll break my
heart."
"If we do we'll break your skin," replied the King.
So the Loons stopped pumping air into Panta, and pushed him away from
the pump. He was certainly more humble than before his accident, for he
crept into the background and said nothing more.
"Now pump up the other one," ordered the King. Til had already mended
him, and the Loons set to work to pump him full of air.
During these last few moments none had paid much attention to the
prisoners, so Woot, finding his legs free, crept over to the Tin
Woodman and rubbed the bonds that were still around his arms and body
against the sharp edge of the axe, which quickly cut them.
The boy was now free, and the thorn which the Loon had stuck into his
leg was lying unnoticed on the ground, where the creature had dropped
it when he exploded. Woot leaned forward and picked up the thorn, and
while the Loons were busy watching the pump, the boy sprang to his feet
and suddenly rushed upon the group.
"Pop"--"pop"--"pop!" went three of the Loons, when the Wanderer pricked
them with his thorn, and at the sounds the others looked around and saw
their danger. With yells of fear they bounded away in all directions,
scattering about the clearing, with Woot the Wanderer in full chase.
While they could run much faster than the boy, they often stumbled and
fell, or got in one another's way, so he managed to catch several and
prick them with his thorn.
It astonished him to see how easily the Loons exploded. When the air
was let out of them they were quite helpless. Til Loon was one of those
who ran against his thorn and many others suffered the same fate. The
creatures could not escape from the enclosure, but in their fright many
bounded upward and caught branches of the trees, and then climbed out
of reach of the dreaded thorn.
Woot was getting pretty tired chasing them, so he stopped and came
over, panting, to where his friends were sitting, still bound.
"Very well done, my Wanderer," said the Tin Woodman. "It is evident
that we need fear these puffed-up creatures no longer, so be kind
enough to unfasten our bonds and we will proceed upon our journey."
Woot untied the bonds of the Scarecrow and helped him to his feet. Then
he freed the Tin Woodman, who got up without help. Looking around them,
they saw that the only Loon now remaining within reach was Bal Loon,
the King, who had remained seated in his throne, watching the
punishment of his people with a bewildered look in his purple eyes.
"Shall I puncture the King?" the boy asked his companions.
King Bal must have overheard the question, for he fumbled with the cord
that fastened him to the throne and managed to release it. Then he
floated upward until he reached the leafy dome, and parting the
branches he disappeared from sight. But the string that was tied to his
body was still connected with the arm of the throne, and they knew they
could pull his Majesty down again, if they wanted to.
"Let him alone," suggested the Scarecrow. "He seems a good enough king
for his peculiar people, and after we are gone, the Loons will have
something of a job to pump up all those whom Woot has punctured."
"Every one of them ought to be exploded," declared Woot, who was angry
because his leg still hurt him.
"No," said the Tin Woodman, "that would not be just fair. They were
quite right to capture us, because we had no business to intrude here,
having been warned to keep away from Loonville. This is their country,
not ours, and since the poor things can't get out of the clearing, they
can harm no one save those who venture here out of curiosity, as we
did."
"Well said, my friend," agreed tile Scarecrow. "We really had no right
to disturb their peace and comfort; so let us go away."
They easily found the place where they had forced their way into the
enclosure, so the Tin Woodman pushed aside the underbrush and started
first along the path. The Scarecrow followed next and last came Woot,
who looked back and saw that the Loons were still clinging to their
perches on the trees and watching their former captives with frightened
eyes.
"I guess they're glad to see the last of us," remarked the boy, and
laughing at the happy ending of the adventure, he followed his comrades
along the path.
Chapter Five
Mrs. Yoop, the Giantess
When they had reached the end of the path, where they had first seen
the warning sign, they set off across the country in an easterly
direction. Before long they reached Rolling Lands, which were a
succession of hills and valleys where constant climbs and descents were
required, and their journey now became tedious, because on climbing
each hill, they found before them nothing in the valley below it except
grass, or weeds or stones.
Up and down they went for hours, with nothing to relieve the monotony
of the landscape, until finally, when they had topped a higher hill
than usual, they discovered a cup-shaped valley before them in the
center of which stood an enormous castle, built of purple stone. The
castle was high and broad and long, but had no turrets and towers. So
far as they could see, there was but one small window and one big door
on each side of the great building.
"This is strange!" mused the Scarecrow. "I'd no idea such a big castle
existed in this Gillikin Country. I wonder who lives here?"
"It seems to me, from this distance," remarked the Tin Woodman, "that
it's the biggest castle I ever saw. It is really too big for any use,
and no one could open or shut those big doors without a stepladder."
"Perhaps, if we go nearer, we shall find out whether anybody lives
there or not," suggested Woot. "Looks to me as if nobody lived there."
On they went, and when they reached the center of the valley, where the
great stone castle stood, it was beginning to grow dark. So they
hesitated as to what to do.
"If friendly people happen to live here," said Woot. "I shall be glad
of a bed; but should enemies occupy the place, I prefer to sleep upon
the ground."
"And if no one at all lives here," added the Scarecrow, "we can enter,
and take possession, and make ourselves at home."
While speaking he went nearer to one of the great doors, which was
three times as high and broad as any he had ever seen in a house
before, and then he discovered, engraved in big letters upon a stone
over the doorway, the words:
"YOOP CASTLE"
"Oho!" he exclaimed; "I know the place now. This was probably the home
of Mr. Yoop, a terrible giant whom I have seen confined in a cage, a
long way from here. Therefore this castle is likely to be empty and we
may use it in any way we please."
"Yes, yes," said the Tin Emperor, nodding; "I also remember Mr. Yoop.
But how are we to get into his deserted castle? The latch of the door
is so far above our heads that none of us can reach it."
They considered this problem for a while, and then Woot said to the Tin
Man:
"If I stand upon your shoulders, I think I can unlatch the door."
"Climb up, then," was the reply, and when the boy was perched upon the
tin shoulders of Nick Chopper, he was just able to reach the latch and
raise it.
At once the door swung open, its great hinges making a groaning sound
as if in protest, so Woot leaped down and followed his companions into
a big, bare hallway. Scarcely were the three inside, however, when they
heard the door slam shut behind them, and this astonished them because
no one had touched it. It had closed of its own accord, as if by magic.
Moreover, the latch was on the outside, and the thought occurred to
each one of them that they were now prisoners in this unknown castle.
"However," mumbled the Scarecrow, "we are not to blame for what cannot
be helped; so let us push bravely ahead and see what may be seen."
It was quite dark in the hallway, now that the outside door was shut,
so as they stumbled along a stone passage they kept close together, not
knowing what danger was likely to befall them.
Suddenly a soft glow enveloped them. It grew brighter, until they could
see their surroundings distinctly. They had reached the end of the
passage and before them was another huge door. This noiselessly swung
open before them, without the help of anyone, and through the doorway
they observed a big chamber, the walls of which were lined with plates
of pure gold, highly polished.
This room was also lighted, although they could discover no lamps, and
in the center of it was a great table at which sat an immense woman.
She was clad in silver robes embroidered with gay floral designs, and
wore over this splendid raiment a short apron of elaborate lace-work.
Such an apron was no protection, and was not in keeping with the
handsome gown, but the huge woman wore it, nevertheless. The table at
which she sat was spread with a white cloth and had golden dishes upon
it, so the travelers saw that they had surprised the Giantess while she
was eating her supper.
She had her back toward them and did not even turn around, but taking a
biscuit from a dish she began to butter it and said in a voice that was
big and deep but not especially unpleasant:
"Why don't you come in and allow the door to shut? You're causing a
draught, and I shall catch cold and sneeze. When I sneeze, I get cross,
and when I get cross I'm liable to do something wicked. Come in, you
foolish strangers; come in!"
Being thus urged, they entered the room and approached the table, until
they stood where they faced the great Giantess. She continued eating,
but smiled in a curious way as she looked at them. Woot noticed that
the door had closed silently after they had entered, and that didn't
please him at all.
"Well," said the Giantess, "what excuse have you to offer?"
"We didn't know anyone lived here, Madam," explained the Scarecrow;
"so, being travelers and strangers in these parts, and wishing to find
a place for our boy friend to sleep, we ventured to enter your castle."
"You knew it was private property, I suppose?" said she, buttering
another biscuit.
"We saw the words, 'Yoop Castle,' over the door, but we knew that Mr.
Yoop is a prisoner in a cage in a far-off part of the land of Oz, so we
decided there was no one now at home and that we might use the castle
for the night."
"I see," remarked the Giantess, nodding her head and smiling again in
that curious way--a way that made Woot shudder. "You didn't know that
Mr. Yoop was married, or that after he was cruelly captured his wife
still lived in his castle and ran it to suit herself."
"Who captured Mr. Yoop?" asked Woot, looking gravely at the big woman.
"Wicked enemies. People who selfishly objected to Yoop's taking their
cows and sheep for his food. I must admit, however, that Yoop had a bad
temper, and had the habit of knocking over a few houses, now and then,
when he was angry. So one day the little folks came in a great crowd
and captured Mr. Yoop, and carried him away to a cage somewhere in the
mountains. I don't know where it is, and I don't care, for my husband
treated me badly at times, forgetting the respect a giant owes to a
giantess. Often he kicked me on my shins, when I wouldn't wait on him.
So I'm glad he is gone."
"It's a wonder the people didn't capture you, too," remarked Woot.
"Well, I was too clever for them," said she, giving a sudden laugh that
caused such a breeze that the wobbly Scarecrow was almost blown off his
feet and had to grab his friend Nick Chopper to steady himself. "I saw
the people coming," continued Mrs. Yoop, "and knowing they meant
mischief I transformed myself into a mouse and hid in a cupboard. After
they had gone away, carrying my shin-kicking husband with them, I
transformed myself back to my former shape again, and here I've lived
in peace and comfort ever since."
"Are you a Witch, then?" inquired Woot.
"Well, not exactly a Witch," she replied, "but I'm an Artist in
Transformations. In other words, I'm more of a Yookoohoo than a Witch,
and of course you know that the Yookoohoos are the cleverest
magic-workers in the world."
The travelers were silent for a time, uneasily considering this
statement and the effect it might have on their future. No doubt the
Giantess had wilfully made them her prisoners; yet she spoke so
cheerfully, in her big voice, that until now they had not been alarmed
in the least.
By and by the Scarecrow, whose mixed brains had been working steadily,
asked the woman:
"Are we to consider you our friend, Mrs. Yoop, or do you intend to be
our enemy?"
"I never have friends," she said in a matter-of-fact tone, "because
friends get too familiar and always forget to mind their own business.
But I am not your enemy; not yet, anyhow. Indeed, I'm glad you've come,
for my life here is rather lonely. I've had no one to talk to since I
transformed Polychrome, the Daughter of the Rainbow, into a
canary-bird."
"How did you manage to do that?" asked the Tin Woodman, in amazement.
"Polychrome is a powerful fairy!"
"She was," said the Giantess; "but now she's a canary-bird. One day
after a rain, Polychrome danced off the Rainbow and fell asleep on a
little mound in this valley, not far from my castle. The sun came out
and drove the Rainbow away, and before Poly wakened, I stole out and
transformed her into a canary-bird in a gold cage studded with
diamonds. The cage was so she couldn't fly away. I expected she'd sing
and talk and we'd have good times together; but she has proved no
company for me at all. Ever since the moment of her transformation, she
has refused to speak a single word."
"Where is she now?" inquired Woot, who had heard tales of lovely
Polychrome and was much interested in her.
"The cage is hanging up in my bedroom," said the Giantess, eating
another biscuit. The travelers were now more uneasy and suspicious of
the Giantess than before. If Polychrome, the Rainbow's Daughter, who
was a real fairy, had been transformed and enslaved by this huge woman,
who claimed to be a Yookoohoo, what was liable to happen to them? Said
the Scarecrow, twisting his stuffed head around in Mrs. Yoop's
direction:
"Do you know, Ma'am, who we are?"
"Of course," said she; "a straw man, a tin man and a boy."
"We are very important people," declared the Tin Woodman.
"All the better," she replied. "I shall enjoy your society the more on
that account. For I mean to keep you here as long as I live, to amuse
me when I get lonely. And," she added slowly, "in this Valley no one
ever dies."
They didn't like this speech at all, so the Scarecrow frowned in a way
that made Mrs. Yoop smile, while the Tin Woodman looked so fierce that
Mrs. Yoop laughed. The Scarecrow suspected she was going to laugh, so
he slipped behind his friends to escape the wind from her breath. From
this safe position he said warningly:
"We have powerful friends who will soon come to rescue us."
"Let them come," she returned, with an accent of scorn. "When they get
here they will find neither a boy, nor a tin man, nor a scarecrow, for
tomorrow morning I intend to transform you all into other shapes, so
that you cannot be recognized."
This threat filled them with dismay. The good-natured Giantess was more
terrible than they had imagined. She could smile and wear pretty
clothes and at the same time be even more cruel than her wicked husband
had been.
Both the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman tried to think of some way to
escape from the castle before morning, but she seemed to read their
thoughts and shook her head.
"Don't worry your poor brains," said she. "You can't escape me, however
hard you try. But why should you wish to escape? I shall give you new
forms that are much better than the ones you now have. Be contented
with your fate, for discontent leads to unhappiness, and unhappiness,
in any form, is the greatest evil that can befall you."
"What forms do you intend to give us?" asked Woot earnestly.
"I haven't decided, as yet. I'll dream over it tonight, so in the
morning I shall have made up my mind how to transform you. Perhaps
you'd prefer to choose your own transformations?"
"No," said Woot, "I prefer to remain as I am."
"That's funny," she retorted. "You are little, and you're weak; as you
are, you're not much account, anyhow. The best thing about you is that
you're alive, for I shall be able to make of you some sort of live
creature which will be a great improvement on your present form."
She took another biscuit from a plate and dipped it in a pot of honey
and calmly began eating it.
The Scarecrow watched her thoughtfully.
"There are no fields of grain in your Valley," said he; "where, then,
did you get the flour to make your biscuits?"
"Mercy me! do you think I'd bother to make biscuits out of flour?" she
replied. "That is altogether too tedious a process for a Yookoohoo. I
set some traps this afternoon and caught a lot of field-mice, but as I
do not like to eat mice, I transformed them into hot biscuits for my
supper. The honey in this pot was once a wasp's nest, but since being
transformed it has become sweet and delicious. All I need do, when I
wish to eat, is to take something I don't care to keep, and transform
it into any sort of food I like, and eat it. Are you hungry?"
"I don't eat, thank you," said the Scarecrow.
"Nor do I," said the Tin Woodman.
"I have still a little natural food in my knapsack," said Woot the
Wanderer, "and I'd rather eat that than any wasp's nest."
"Every one to his taste," said the Giantess carelessly, and having now
finished her supper she rose to her feet, clapped her hands together,
and the supper table at once disappeared.
Chapter Six
The Magic of a Yookoohoo
Woot had seen very little of magic during his wanderings, while the
Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman had seen a great deal of many sorts in
their lives, yet all three were greatly impressed by Mrs. Yoop's
powers. She did not affect any mysterious airs or indulge in chants or
mystic rites, as most witches do, nor was the Giantess old and ugly or
disagreeable in face or manner. Nevertheless, she frightened her
prisoners more than any witch could have done.
"Please be seated," she said to them, as she sat herself down in a
great arm-chair and spread her beautiful embroidered skirts for them to
admire. But all the chairs in the room were so high that our friends
could not climb to the seats of them. Mrs. Yoop observed this and waved
her hand, when instantly a golden ladder appeared leaning against a
chair opposite her own.
"Climb up," said she, and they obeyed, the Tin Man and the boy
assisting the more clumsy Scarecrow. When they were all seated in a row
on the cushion of the chair, the Giantess continued: "Now tell me how
you happened to travel in this direction, and where you came from and
what your errand is."
So the Tin Woodman told her all about Nimmie Amee, and how he had
decided to find her and marry her, although he had no Loving Heart. The
story seemed to amuse the big woman, who then began to ask the
Scarecrow questions and for the first time in her life heard of Ozma of
Oz, and of Dorothy and Jack Pumpkinhead and Dr. Pipt and Tik-tok and
many other Oz people who are well known in the Emerald City. Also Woot
had to tell his story, which was very simple and did not take long. The
Giantess laughed heartily when the boy related their adventure at
Loonville, but said she knew nothing of the Loons because she never
left her Valley.
"There are wicked people who would like to capture me, as they did my
giant husband, Mr. Yoop," said she; "so I stay at home and mind my own
business."
"If Ozma knew that you dared to work magic without her consent, she
would punish you severely," declared the Scarecrow, "for this castle is
in the Land of Oz, and no persons in the Land of Oz are permitted to
work magic except Glinda the Good and the little Wizard who lives with
Ozma in the Emerald City."
"That for your Ozma!" exclaimed the Giantess, snapping her fingers in
derision. "What do I care for a girl whom I have never seen and who has
never seen me?"
"But Ozma is a fairy," said the Tin Woodman, "and therefore she is very
powerful. Also, we are under Ozma's protection, and to injure us in any
way would make her extremely angry."
"What I do here, in my own private castle in this secluded
Valley--where no one comes but fools like you--can never be known to
your fairy Ozma," returned the Giantess. "Do not seek to frighten me
from my purpose, and do not allow yourselves to be frightened, for it
is best to meet bravely what cannot be avoided. I am now going to bed,
and in the morning I will give you all new forms, such as will be more
interesting to me than the ones you now wear. Good night, and pleasant
dreams."
Saying this, Mrs. Yoop rose from her chair and walked through a doorway
into another room. So heavy was the tread of the Giantess that even the
walls of the big stone castle trembled as she stepped. She closed the
door of her bedroom behind her, and then suddenly the light went out
and the three prisoners found themselves in total darkness.
The Tin Woodman and the Scarecrow didn't mind the dark at all, but Woot
the Wanderer felt worried to be left in this strange place in this
strange manner, without being able to see any danger that might
threaten.
"The big woman might have given me a bed, anyhow," he said to his
companions, and scarcely had he spoken when he felt something press
against his legs, which were then dangling from the seat of the chair.
Leaning down, he put out his hand and found that a bedstead had
appeared, with mattress, sheets and covers, all complete. He lost no
time in slipping down upon the bed and was soon fast asleep.
During the night the Scarecrow and the Emperor talked in low tones
together, and they got out of the chair and moved all about the room,
feeling for some hidden spring that might open a door or window and
permit them to escape.
Morning found them still unsuccessful in the quest and as soon as it
was daylight Woot's bed suddenly disappeared, and he dropped to the
floor with a thump that quickly wakened him. And after a time the
Giantess came from her bedroom, wearing another dress that was quite as
elaborate as the one in which she had been attired the evening before,
and also wearing the pretty lace apron. Having seated herself in a
chair, she said:
"I'm hungry; so I'll have breakfast at once."
She clapped her hands together and instantly the table appeared before
her, spread with snowy linen and laden with golden dishes. But there
was no food upon the table, nor anything else except a pitcher of
water, a bundle of weeds and a handful of pebbles. But the Giantess
poured some water into her coffee-pot, patted it once or twice with her
hand, and then poured out a cupful of steaming hot coffee.
"Would you like some?" she asked Woot.
He was suspicious of magic coffee, but it smelled so good that he could
not resist it; so he answered: "If you please, Madam."
The Giantess poured out another cup and set it on the floor for Woot.
It was as big as a tub, and the golden spoon in the saucer beside the
cup was so heavy the boy could scarcely lift it. But Woot managed to
get a sip of the coffee and found it delicious.
Mrs. Yoop next transformed the weeds into a dish of oatmeal, which she
ate with good appetite.
"Now, then," said she, picking up the pebbles. "I'm wondering whether I
shall have fish-balls or lamb-chops to complete my meal. Which would
you prefer, Woot the Wanderer?"
"If you please, I'll eat the food in my knapsack," answered the boy.
"Your magic food might taste good, but I'm afraid of it."
The woman laughed at his fears and transformed the pebbles into
fish-balls.
"I suppose you think that after you had eaten this food it would turn
to stones again and make you sick," she remarked; "but that would be
impossible. Nothing I transform ever gets back to its former shape
again, so these fish-balls can never more be pebbles. That is why I
have to be careful of my transformations," she added, busily eating
while she talked, "for while I can change forms at will I can never
change them back again--which proves that even the powers of a clever
Yookoohoo are limited. When I have transformed you three people, you
must always wear the shapes that I have given you."
"Then please don't transform us," begged Woot, "for we are quite
satisfied to remain as we are."
"I am not expecting to satisfy you, but intend to please myself," she
declared, "and my pleasure is to give you new shapes. For, if by chance
your friends came in search of you, not one of them would be able to
recognize you."
Her tone was so positive that they knew it would be useless to protest.
The woman was not unpleasant to look at; her face was not cruel; her
voice was big but gracious in tone; but her words showed that she
possessed a merciless heart and no pleadings would alter her wicked
purpose.
Mrs. Yoop took ample time to finish her breakfast and the prisoners had
no desire to hurry her, but finally the meal was concluded and she
folded her napkin and made the table disappear by clapping her hands
together. Then she turned to her captives and said:
"The next thing on the programme is to change your forms."
"Have you decided what forms to give us?" asked the Scarecrow, uneasily.
"Yes; I dreamed it all out while I was asleep. This Tin Man seems a
very solemn person "--indeed, the Tin Woodman was looking solemn, just
then, for he was greatly disturbed--"so I shall change him into an Owl."
All she did was to point one finger at him as she spoke, but
immediately the form of the Tin Woodman began to change and in a few
seconds Nick Chopper, the Emperor of the Winkies, had been transformed
into an Owl, with eyes as big as saucers and a hooked beak and strong
claws. But he was still tin. He was a Tin Owl, with tin legs and beak
and eyes and feathers. When he flew to the back of a chair and perched
upon it, his tin feathers rattled against one another with a tinny
clatter. The Giantess seemed much amused by the Tin Owl's appearance,
for her laugh was big and jolly.
"You're not liable to get lost," said she, "for your wings and feathers
will make a racket wherever you go. And, on my word, a Tin Owl is so
rare and pretty that it is an improvement on the ordinary bird. I did
not intend to make you tin, but I forgot to wish you to be meat.
However, tin you were, and tin you are, and as it's too late to change
you, that settles it."
Until now the Scarecrow had rather doubted the possibility of Mrs.
Yoop's being able to transform him, or his friend the Tin Woodman, for
they were not made as ordinary people are. He had worried more over
what might happen to Woot than to himself, but now he began to worry
about himself.
"Madam," he said hastily, "I consider this action very impolite. It may
even be called rude, considering we are your guests."
"You are not guests, for I did not invite you here," she replied.
"Perhaps not; but we craved hospitality. We threw ourselves upon your
mercy, so to speak, and we now find you have no mercy. Therefore, if
you will excuse the expression, I must say it is downright wicked to
take our proper forms away from us and give us others that we do not
care for."
"Are you trying to make me angry?" she asked, frowning.
"By no means," said the Scarecrow; "I'm just trying to make you act
more ladylike."
"Oh, indeed! In my opinion, Mr. Scarecrow, you are now acting like a
bear--so a Bear you shall be!"
Again the dreadful finger pointed, this time in the Scarecrow's
direction, and at once his form began to change. In a few seconds he
had become a small Brown Bear, but he was stuffed with straw as he had
been before, and when the little Brown Bear shuffled across the floor
he was just as wobbly as the Scarecrow had been and moved just as
awkwardly.
Woot was amazed, but he was also thoroughly frightened.
"Did it hurt?" he asked the little Brown Bear.
"No, of course not," growled the Scarecrow in the Bear's form; "but I
don't like walking on four legs; it's undignified."
"Consider my humiliation!" chirped the Tin Owl, trying to settle its
tin feathers smoothly with its tin beak. "And I can't see very well,
either. The light seems to hurt my eyes."
"That's because you are an Owl," said Woot. "I think you will see
better in the dark."
"Well," remarked the Giantess, "I'm very well pleased with these new
forms, for my part, and I'm sure you will like them better when you get
used to them. So now," she added, turning to the boy, "it is your turn."
"Don't you think you'd better leave me as I am?" asked Woot in a
trembling voice.
"No," she replied, "I'm going to make a Monkey of you. I love
monkeys--they're so cute!--and I think a Green Monkey will be lots of
fun and amuse me when I am sad."
Woot shivered, for again the terrible magic finger pointed, and pointed
directly his way. He felt himself changing; not so very much, however,
and it didn't hurt him a bit. He looked down at his limbs and body and
found that his clothes were gone and his skin covered with a fine,
silk-like green fur. His hands and feet were now those of a monkey. He
realized he really was a monkey, and his first feeling was one of
anger. He began to chatter as monkeys do. He bounded to the seat of a
giant chair, and then to its back and with a wild leap sprang upon the
laughing Giantess. His idea was to seize her hair and pull it out by
the roots, and so have revenge for her wicked transformations. But she
raised her hand and said:
"Gently, my dear Monkey--gently! You're not angry; you're happy as can
be!"
Woot stopped short. No; he wasn't a bit angry now; he felt as
good-humored and gay as ever he did when a boy. Instead of pulling Mrs.
Yoop's hair, he perched on her shoulder and smoothed her soft cheek
with his hairy paw. In return, she smiled at the funny green animal and
patted his head.
"Very good," said the Giantess. "Let us all become friends and be happy
together. How is my Tin Owl feeling?"
"Quite comfortable," said the Owl. "I don't like it, to be sure, but
I'm not going to allow my new form to make me unhappy. But, tell me,
please: what is a Tin Owl good for?"
"You are only good to make me laugh," replied the Giantess.
"Will a stuffed Bear also make you laugh?" inquired the Scarecrow,
sitting back on his haunches to look up at her.
"Of course," declared the Giantess; "and I have added a little magic to
your transformations to make you all contented with wearing your new
forms. I'm sorry I didn't think to do that when I transformed
Polychrome into a Canary-Bird. But perhaps, when she sees how cheerful
you are, she will cease to be silent and sullen and take to singing. I
will go get the bird and let you see her."
With this, Mrs. Yoop went into the next room and soon returned bearing
a golden cage in which sat upon a swinging perch a lovely yellow
Canary. "Polychrome," said the Giantess, "permit me to introduce to you
a Green Monkey, which used to be a boy called Woot the Wanderer, and a
Tin Owl, which used to be a Tin Woodman named Nick Chopper, and a
straw-stuffed little Brown Bear which used to be a live Scarecrow."
"We already know one another," declared the Scarecrow. "The bird is
Polychrome, the Rainbow's Daughter, and she and I used to be good
friends."
"Are you really my old friend, the Scarecrow?" asked; the bird, in a
sweet, low voice.
"There!" cried Mrs. Yoop; "that's the first time she has spoken since
she was transformed."
"I am really your old friend," answered the Scarecrow; "but you must
pardon me for appearing just now in this brutal form."
"I am a bird, as you are, dear Poly," said the Tin Woodman; "but, alas!
a Tin Owl is not as beautiful as a Canary-Bird."
"How dreadful it all is!" sighed the Canary. "Couldn't you manage to
escape from this terrible Yookoohoo?"
"No," answered the Scarecrow, "we tried to escape, but failed. She
first made us her prisoners and then transformed us. But how did she
manage to get you, Polychrome?"
"I was asleep, and she took unfair advantage of me," answered the bird
sadly. "Had I been awake, I could easily have protected myself."
"Tell me," said the Green Monkey earnestly, as he came close to the
cage, "what must we do, Daughter of the Rainbow, to escape from these
transformations? Can't you help us, being a Fairy?"
"At present I am powerless to help even myself," replied the Canary.
"That's the exact truth!" exclaimed the Giantess, who seemed pleased to
hear the bird talk, even though it complained; "you are all helpless
and in my power, so you may as well make up your minds to accept your
fate and be content. Remember that you are transformed for good, since
no magic on earth can break your enchantments. I am now going out for
my morning walk, for each day after breakfast I walk sixteen times
around my castle for exercise. Amuse yourselves while I am gone, and
when I return I hope to find you all reconciled and happy."
So the Giantess walked to the door by which our friends had entered the
great hall and spoke one word: "Open!" Then the door swung open and
after Mrs. Yoop had passed out it closed again with a snap as its
powerful bolts shot into place. The Green Monkey had rushed toward the
opening, hoping to escape, but he was too late and only got a bump on
his nose as the door slammed shut.
Chapter Seven
The Lace Apron
"Now," said the Canary, in a tone more brisk than before, "we may talk
together more freely, as Mrs. Yoop cannot hear us. Perhaps we can
figure out a way to escape."
"Open!" said Woot the Monkey, still facing the door; but his command
had no effect and he slowly rejoined the others.
"You cannot open any door or window in this enchanted castle unless you
are wearing the Magic Apron," said the Canary.
"What Magic Apron do you mean?" asked the Tin Owl, in a curious voice.
"The lace one, which the Giantess always wears. I have been her
prisoner, in this cage, for several weeks, and she hangs my cage in her
bedroom every night, so that she can keep her eye on me," explained
Polychrome the Canary. "Therefore I have discovered that it is the
Magic Apron that opens the doors and windows, and nothing else can move
them. When she goes to bed, Mrs. Yoop hangs her apron on the bedpost,
and one morning she forgot to put it on when she commanded the door to
open, and the door would not move. So then she put on the lace apron
and the door obeyed her. That was how I learned the magic power of the
apron."
"I see--I see!" said the little Brown Bear, wagging his stuffed head.
"Then, if we could get the apron from Mrs. Yoop, we could open the
doors and escape from our prison."
"That is true, and it is the plan I was about to suggest," replied
Polychrome the Canary-Bird. "However, I don't believe the Owl could
steal the apron, or even the Bear, but perhaps the Monkey could hide in
her room at night and get the apron while she is asleep."
"I'll try it!" cried Woot the Monkey. "I'll try it this very night, if
I can manage to steal into her bedroom."
"You mustn't think about it, though," warned the bird, "for she can
read your thoughts whenever she cares to do so. And do not forget,
before you escape, to take me with you. Once I am out of the power of
the Giantess, I may discover a way to save us all."
"We won't forget our fairy friend," promised the boy; "but perhaps you
can tell me how to get into the bedroom."
"No," declared Polychrome, "I cannot advise you as to that. You must
watch for a chance, and slip in when Mrs. Yoop isn't looking."
They talked it over for a while longer and then Mrs. Yoop returned.
When she entered, the door opened suddenly, at her command, and closed
as soon as her huge form had passed through the doorway. During that
day she entered her bedroom several times, on one errand or another,
but always she commanded the door to close behind her and her prisoners
found not the slightest chance to leave the big hall in which they were
confined.
The Green Monkey thought it would be wise to make a friend of the big
woman, so as to gain her confidence, so he sat on the back of her chair
and chattered to her while she mended her stockings and sewed silver
buttons on some golden shoes that were as big as row-boats. This
pleased the Giantess and she would pause at times to pat the Monkey's
head. The little Brown Bear curled up in a corner and lay still all
day. The Owl and the Canary found they could converse together in the
bird language, which neither the Giantess nor the Bear nor the Monkey
could understand; so at times they twittered away to each other and
passed the long, dreary day quite cheerfully.
After dinner Mrs. Yoop took a big fiddle from a big cupboard and played
such loud and dreadful music that her prisoners were all thankful when
at last she stopped and said she was going to bed.
After cautioning the Monkey and Bear and Owl to behave themselves
during the night, she picked up the cage containing the Canary and,
going to the door of her bedroom, commanded it to open. Just then,
however, she remembered she had left her fiddle lying upon a table, so
she went back for it and put it away in the cupboard, and while her
back was turned the Green Monkey slipped through the open door into her
bedroom and hid underneath the bed. The Giantess, being sleepy, did not
notice this, and entering her room she made the door close behind her
and then hung the bird-cage on a peg by the window. Then she began to
undress, first taking off the lace apron and laying it over the
bedpost, where it was within easy reach of her hand.
As soon as Mrs. Yoop was in bed the lights all went out, and Woot the
Monkey crouched under the bed and waited patiently until he heard the
Giantess snoring. Then he crept out and in the dark felt around until
he got hold of the apron, which he at once tied around his own waist.
Next, Woot tried to find the Canary, and there was just enough
moonlight showing through the window to enable him to see where the
cage hung; but it was out of his reach. At first he was tempted to
leave Polychrome and escape with his other friends, but remembering his
promise to the Rainbow's Daughter Woot tried to think how to save her.
A chair stood near the window, and this--showing dimly in the
moonlight--gave him an idea. By pushing against it with all his might,
he found he could move the giant chair a few inches at a time. So he
pushed and pushed until the chair was beneath the bird-cage, and then
he sprang noiselessly upon the seat--for his monkey form enabled him to
jump higher than he could do as a boy--and from there to the back of
the chair, and so managed to reach the cage and take it off the peg.
Then down he sprang to the floor and made his way to the door. "Open!"
he commanded, and at once the door obeyed and swung open, But his voice
wakened Mrs. Yoop, who gave a wild cry and sprang out of bed with one
bound. The Green Monkey dashed through the doorway, carrying the cage
with him, and before the Giantess could reach the door it slammed shut
and imprisoned her in her own bed-chamber!
The noise she made, pounding upon the door, and her yells of anger and
dreadful threats of vengeance, filled all our friends with terror, and
Woot the Monkey was so excited that in the dark he could not find the
outer door of the hall. But the Tin Owl could see very nicely in the
dark, so he guided his friends to the right place and when all were
grouped before the door Woot commanded it to open. The Magic Apron
proved as powerful as when it had been worn by the Giantess, so a
moment later they had rushed through the passage and were standing in
the fresh night air outside the castle, free to go wherever they willed.
Chapter Eight
The Menace of the Forest
"Quick!" cried Polychrome the Canary; "we must hurry, or Mrs. Yoop may
find some way to recapture us, even now. Let us get out of her Valley
as soon as possible."
So they set off toward the east, moving as swiftly as they could, and
for a long time they could hear the yells and struggles of the
imprisoned Giantess. The Green Monkey could run over the ground very
swiftly, and he carried with him the bird-cage containing Polychrome
the Rain-bow's Daughter. Also the Tin Owl could skip and fly along at a
good rate of speed, his feathers rattling against one another with a
tinkling sound as he moved. But the little Brown Bear, being stuffed
with straw, was a clumsy traveler and the others had to wait for him to
follow.
However, they were not very long in reaching the ridge that led out of
Mrs. Yoop's Valley, and when they had passed this ridge and descended
into the next valley they stopped to rest, for the Green Monkey was
tired.
"I believe we are safe, now," said Polychrome, when her cage was set
down and the others had all gathered around it, "for Mrs. Yoop dares
not go outside of her own Valley, for fear of being captured by her
enemies. So we may take our time to consider what to do next."
"I'm afraid poor Mrs. Yoop will starve to death, if no one lets her out
of her bedroom," said Woot, who had a heart as kind as that of the Tin
Woodman. "We've taken her Magic Apron away, and now the doors will
never open."
"Don't worry about that," advised Polychrome. "Mrs. Yoop has plenty of
magic left to console her."
"Are you sure of that?" asked the Green Monkey.
"Yes, for I've been watching her for weeks," said the Canary. "She has
six magic hairpins, which she wears in her hair, and a magic ring which
she wears on her thumb and which is invisible to all eyes except those
of a fairy, and magic bracelets on both her ankles. So I am positive
that she will manage to find a way out of her prison."
"She might transform the door into an archway," suggested the little
Brown Bear.
"That would be easy for her," said the Tin Owl; "but I'm glad she was
too angry to think of that before we got out of her Valley."
"Well, we have escaped the big woman, to be sure," remarked the Green
Monkey, "but we still wear the awful forms the cruel yookoohoo gave us.
How are we going to get rid of these shapes, and become ourselves
again?"
None could answer that question. They sat around the cage, brooding
over the problem, until the Monkey fell asleep. Seeing this, the Canary
tucked her head under her wing and also slept, and the Tin Owl and the
Brown Bear did not disturb them until morning came and it was broad
daylight.
"I'm hungry," said Woot, when he wakened, for his knapsack of food had
been left behind at the castle.
"Then let us travel on until we can find something for you to eat,"
returned the Scarecrow Bear.
"There is no use in your lugging my cage any farther," declared the
Canary. "Let me out, and throw the cage away. Then I can fly with you
and find my own breakfast of seeds. Also I can search for water, and
tell you where to find it."
So the Green Monkey unfastened the door of the golden cage and the
Canary hopped out. At first she flew high in the air and made great
circles overhead, but after a time she returned and perched beside them.
"At the east in the direction we were following," announced the Canary,
"there is a fine forest, with a brook running through it. In the forest
there may be fruits or nuts growing, or berry bushes at its edge, so
let us go that way."
They agreed to this and promptly set off, this time moving more
deliberately. The Tin Owl, which had guided their way during the night,
now found the sunshine very trying to his big eyes, so he shut them
tight and perched upon the back of the little Brown Bear, which carried
the Owl's weight with ease. The Canary sometimes perched upon the Green
Monkey's shoulder and sometimes fluttered on ahead of the party, and in
this manner they traveled in good spirits across that valley and into
the next one to the east of it.
This they found to be an immense hollow, shaped like a saucer, and on
its farther edge appeared the forest which Polychrome had seen from the
sky.
"Come to think of it," said the Tin Owl, waking up and blinking
comically at his friends, "there's no object, now, in our traveling to
the Munchkin Country. My idea in going there was to marry Nimmie Amee,
but however much the Munchkin girl may have loved a Tin Woodman, I
cannot reasonably expect her to marry a Tin Owl."
"There is some truth in that, my friend," remarked the Brown Bear. "And
to think that I, who was considered the handsomest Scarecrow in the
world, am now condemned to be a scrubby, no-account beast, whose only
redeeming feature is that he is stuffed with straw!"
"Consider my case, please," said Woot. "The cruel Giantess has made a
Monkey of a Boy, and that is the most dreadful deed of all!"
"Your color is rather pretty," said the Brown Bear, eyeing Woot
critically. "I have never seen a pea-green monkey before, and it
strikes me you are quite gorgeous."
"It isn't so bad to be a bird," asserted the Canary, fluttering from
one to another with a free and graceful motion, "but I long to enjoy my
own shape again."
"As Polychrome, you were the loveliest maiden I have ever seen--except,
of course, Ozma," said the Tin Owl; "so the Giantess did well to
transform you into the loveliest of all birds, if you were to be
transformed at all. But tell me, since you are a fairy, and have a
fairy wisdom: do you think we shall be able to break these
enchantments?"
"Queer things happen in the Land of Oz," replied the Canary, again
perching on the Green Monkey's shoulder and turning one bright eye
thoughtfully toward her questioner. "Mrs. Yoop has declared that none
of her transformations can ever be changed, even by herself, but I
believe that if we could get to Glinda the Good Sorceress, she might
find a way to restore us to our natural shapes. Glinda, as you know, is
the most powerful Sorceress in the world, and there are few things she
cannot do if she tries."
"In that case," said the Little Brown Bear, "let us return southward
and try to get to Glinda's castle. It lies in the Quadling Country, you
know, so it is a good way from here."
"First, however, let us visit the forest and search for something to
eat," pleaded Woot. So they continued on to the edge of the forest,
which consisted of many tall and beautiful trees. They discovered no
fruit trees, at first, so the Green Monkey pushed on into the forest
depths and the others followed close behind him.
They were traveling quietly along, under the shade of the trees, when
suddenly an enormous jaguar leaped upon them from a limb and with one
blow of his paw sent the little Brown Bear tumbling over and over until
he was stopped by a tree-trunk. Instantly they all took alarm. The Tin
Owl shrieked: "Hoot--hoot!" and flew straight up to the branch of a
tall tree, although he could scarcely see where he was going. The
Canary swiftly darted to a place beside the Owl, and the Green Monkey
sprang up, caught a limb, and soon scrambled to a high perch of safety.
The Jaguar crouched low and with hungry eyes regarded the little Brown
Bear, which slowly got upon its feet and asked reproachfully:
"For goodness' sake, Beast, what were you trying to do?"
"Trying to get my breakfast," answered the Jaguar with a snarl, "and I
believe I've succeeded. You ought to make a delicious meal--unless you
happen to be old and tough."
"I'm worse than that, considered as a breakfast," said the Bear, "for
I'm only a skin stuffed with straw, and therefore not fit to eat."
"Indeed!" cried the Jaguar, in a disappointed voice; "then you must be
a magic Bear, or enchanted, and I must seek my breakfast from among
your companions."
With this he raised his lean head to look up at the Tin Owl and the
Canary and the Monkey, and he lashed his tail upon the ground and
growled as fiercely as any jaguar could.
"My friends are enchanted, also," said the little Brown Bear.
"All of them?" asked the Jaguar.
"Yes. The Owl is tin, so you couldn't possibly eat him. The Canary is a
fairy--Polychrome, the Daughter of the Rainbow--and you never could
catch her because she can easily fly out of your reach."
"There still remains the Green Monkey," remarked the Jaguar hungrily.
"He is neither made of tin nor stuffed with straw, nor can he fly. I'm
pretty good at climbing trees, myself, so I think I'll capture the
Monkey and eat him for my breakfast."
Woot the Monkey, hearing this speech from his perch on the tree, became
much frightened, for he knew the nature of jaguars and realized they
could climb trees and leap from limb to limb with the agility of cats.
So he at once began to scamper through the forest as fast as he could
go, catching at a branch with his long monkey arms and swinging his
green body through space to grasp another branch in a neighboring tree,
and so on, while the Jaguar followed him from below, his eyes fixed
steadfastly on his prey. But presently Woot got his feet tangled in the
Lace Apron, which he was still wearing, and that tripped him in his
flight and made him fall to the ground, where the Jaguar placed one
huge paw upon him and said grimly:
"I've got you, now!"
The fact that the Apron had tripped him made Woot remember its magic
powers, and in his terror he cried out: "Open!" without stopping to
consider how this command might save him. But, at the word, the earth
opened at the exact spot where he lay under the Jaguar's paw, and his
body sank downward, the earth closing over it again. The last thing
Woot the Monkey saw, as he glanced upward, was the Jaguar peering into
the hole in astonishment.
"He's gone!" cried the beast, with a long-drawn sigh of disappointment;
"he's gone, and now I shall have no breakfast."
The clatter of the Tin Owl's wings sounded above him, and the little
Brown Bear came trotting up and asked:
"Where is the monkey? Have you eaten him so quickly?"
"No, indeed," answered the Jaguar. "He disappeared into the earth
before I could take one bite of him!"
And now the Canary perched upon a stump, a little way from the forest
beast, and said:
"I am glad our friend has escaped you; but, as it is natural for a
hungry beast to wish his breakfast, I will try to give you one."
"Thank you," replied the Jaguar. "You're rather small for a full meal,
but it's kind of you to sacrifice yourself to my appetite."
"Oh, I don't intend to be eaten, I assure you," said the Canary, "but
as I am a fairy I know something of magic, and though I am now
transformed into a bird's shape, I am sure I can conjure up a breakfast
that will satisfy you."
"If you can work magic, why don't you break the enchantment you are
under and return to your proper form?" inquired the beast doubtingly.
"I haven't the power to do that," answered the Canary, "for Mrs. Yoop,
the Giantess who transformed me, used a peculiar form of yookoohoo
magic that is unknown to me. However, she could not deprive me of my
own fairy knowledge, so I will try to get you a breakfast."
"Do you think a magic breakfast would taste good, or relieve the pangs
of hunger I now suffer?" asked the Jaguar.
"I am sure it would. What would you like to eat?"
"Give me a couple of fat rabbits," said the beast.
"Rabbits! No, indeed. I'd not allow you to eat the dear little things,"
declared Polychrome the Canary.
"Well, three or four squirrels, then," pleaded the Jaguar.
"Do you think me so cruel?" demanded the Canary, indignantly. "The
squirrels are my especial friends."
"How about a plump owl?" asked the beast. "Not a tin one, you know, but
a real meat owl."
"Neither beast nor bird shall you have," said Polychrome in a positive
voice.
"Give me a fish, then; there's a river a little way off," proposed the
Jaguar.
"No living thing shall be sacrificed to feed you," returned the Canary.
"Then what in the world do you expect me to eat?" said the Jaguar in a
scornful tone.
"How would mush-and-milk do?" asked the Canary.
The Jaguar snarled in derision and lashed his tail against the ground
angrily.
"Give him some scrambled eggs on toast, Poly," suggested the Bear
Scarecrow. "He ought to like that."
"I will," responded the Canary, and fluttering her wings she made a
flight of three circles around the stump. Then she flew up to a tree
and the Bear and the Owl and the Jaguar saw that upon the stump had
appeared a great green leaf upon which was a large portion of scrambled
eggs on toast, smoking hot.
"There!" said the Bear; "eat your breakfast, friend Jaguar, and be
content."
The Jaguar crept closer to the stump and sniffed the fragrance of the
scrambled eggs. They smelled so good that he tasted them, and they
tasted so good that he ate the strange meal in a hurry, proving he had
been really hungry.
"I prefer rabbits," he muttered, licking his chops, "but I must admit
the magic breakfast has filled my stomach full, and brought me comfort.
So I'm much obliged for the kindness, little Fairy, and I'll now leave
you in peace."
Saying this, he plunged into the thick underbrush and soon disappeared,
although they could hear his great body crashing through the bushes
until he was far distant.
"That was a good way to get rid of the savage beast, Poly," said the
Tin Woodman to the Canary; "but I'm surprised that you didn't give our
friend Woot a magic breakfast, when you knew he was hungry."
"The reason for that," answered Polychrome, "was that my mind was so
intent on other things that I quite forgot my power to produce food by
magic. But where is the monkey boy?"
"Gone!" said the Scarecrow Bear, solemnly. "The earth has swallowed him
up."
Chapter Nine
The Quarrelsome Dragons
The Green Monkey sank gently into the earth for a little way and then
tumbled swiftly through space, landing on a rocky floor with a thump
that astonished him. Then he sat up, found that no bones were broken,
and gazed around him.
He seemed to be in a big underground cave, which was dimly lighted by
dozens of big round discs that looked like moons. They were not moons,
however, as Woot discovered when he had examined the place more
carefully. They were eyes. The eyes were in the heads of enormous
beasts whose bodies trailed far behind them. Each beast was bigger than
an elephant, and three times as long, and there were a dozen or more of
the creatures scattered here and there about the cavern. On their
bodies were big scales, as round as pie-plates, which were beautifully
tinted in shades of green, purple and orange. On the ends of their long
tails were clusters of jewels. Around the great, moon-like eyes were
circles of diamonds which sparkled in the subdued light that glowed
from the eyes.
Woot saw that the creatures had wide mouths and rows of terrible teeth
and, from tales he had heard of such beings, he knew he had fallen into
a cavern inhabited by the great Dragons that had been driven from the
surface of the earth and were only allowed to come out once in a
hundred years to search for food. Of course he had never seen Dragons
before, yet there was no mistaking them, for they were unlike any other
living creatures.
Woot sat upon the floor where he had fallen, staring around, and the
owners of the big eyes returned his look, silently and motionless.
Finally one of the Dragons which was farthest away from him asked, in a
deep, grave voice:
"What was that?"
And the greatest Dragon of all, who was just in front of the Green
Monkey, answered in a still deeper voice:
"It is some foolish animal from Outside."
"Is it good to eat?" inquired a smaller Dragon beside the great one.
"I'm hungry."
"Hungry!" exclaimed all the Dragons, in a reproachful chorus; and then
the great one said chidingly: "Tut-tut, my son! You've no reason to be
hungry at this time."
"Why not?" asked the little Dragon. "I haven't eaten anything in eleven
years."
"Eleven years is nothing," remarked another Dragon, sleepily opening
and closing his eyes; "I haven't feasted for eighty-seven years, and I
dare not get hungry for a dozen or so years to come. Children who eat
between meals should be broken of the habit."
"All I had, eleven years ago, was a rhinoceros, and that's not a full
meal at all," grumbled the young one. "And, before that, I had waited
sixty-two years to be fed; so it's no wonder I'm hungry."
"How old are you now?" asked Woot, forgetting his own dangerous
position in his interest in the conversation.
"Why, I'm--I'm--How old am I, Father?" asked the little Dragon.
"Goodness gracious! what a child to ask questions. Do you want to keep
me thinking all the time? Don't you know that thinking is very bad for
Dragons?" returned the big one, impatiently.
"How old am I, Father?" persisted the small Dragon.
"About six hundred and thirty, I believe. Ask your mother."
"No; don't!" said an old Dragon in the background; "haven't I enough
worries, what with being wakened in the middle of a nap, without being
obliged to keep track of my children's ages?"
"You've been fast asleep for over sixty years, Mother," said the child
Dragon. "How long a nap do you wish?"
"I should have slept forty years longer. And this strange little green
beast should be punished for falling into our cavern and disturbing us."
"I didn't know you were here, and I didn't know I was going to fall
in," explained Woot.
"Nevertheless, here you are," said the great Dragon, "and you have
carelessly wakened our entire tribe; so it stands to reason you must be
punished."
"In what way?" inquired the Green Monkey, trembling a little.
"Give me time and I'll think of a way. You're in no hurry, are you?"
asked the great Dragon.
"No, indeed," cried Woot. "Take your time. I'd much rather you'd all go
to sleep again, and punish me when you wake up in a hundred years or
so."
"Let me eat him!" pleaded the littlest Dragon.
"He is too small," said the father. "To eat this one Green Monkey would
only serve to make you hungry for more, and there are no more."
"Quit this chatter and let me get to sleep," protested another Dragon,
yawning in a fearful manner, for when he opened his mouth a sheet of
flame leaped forth from it and made Woot jump back to get out of its
way.
In his jump he bumped against the nose of a Dragon behind him, which
opened its mouth to growl and shot another sheet of flame at him. The
flame was bright, but not very hot, yet Woot screamed with terror and
sprang forward with a great bound. This time he landed on the paw of
the great Chief Dragon, who angrily raised his other front paw and
struck the Green Monkey a fierce blow. Woot went sailing through the
air and fell sprawling upon the rocky floor far beyond the place where
the Dragon Tribe was grouped.
All the great beasts were now thoroughly wakened and aroused, and they
blamed the monkey for disturbing their quiet. The littlest Dragon
darted after Woot and the others turned their unwieldy bodies in his
direction and followed, flashing from their eyes and mouths flames
which lighted up the entire cavern. Woot almost gave himself up for
lost, at that moment, but he scrambled to his feet and dashed away to
the farthest end of the cave, the Dragons following more leisurely
because they were too clumsy to move fast. Perhaps they thought there
was no need of haste, as the monkey could not escape from the cave.
But, away up at the end of the place, the cavern floor was heaped with
tumbled rocks, so Woot, with an agility born of fear, climbed from rock
to rock until he found himself crouched against the cavern roof. There
he waited, for he could go no farther, while on over the tumbled rocks
slowly crept the Dragons--the littlest one coming first because he was
hungry as well as angry.
The beasts had almost reached him when Woot, remembering his lace
apron--now sadly torn and soiled--recovered his wits and shouted:
"Open!" At the cry a hole appeared in the roof of the cavern, just over
his head, and through it the sunlight streamed full upon the Green
Monkey.
The Dragons paused, astonished at the magic and blinking at the
sunlight, and this gave Woot time to climb through the opening. As soon
as he reached the surface of the earth the hole closed again, and the
boy monkey realized, with a thrill of joy, that he had seen the last of
the dangerous Dragon family.
He sat upon the ground, still panting hard from his exertions, when the
bushes before him parted and his former enemy, the Jaguar, appeared.
"Don't run," said the woodland beast, as Woot sprang up; "you are
perfectly safe, so far as I am concerned, for since you so mysteriously
disappeared I have had my breakfast. I am now on my way home to sleep
the rest of the day."
"Oh, indeed!" returned the Green Monkey, in a tone both sorry and
startled. "Which of my friends did you manage to eat?"
"None of them," returned the Jaguar, with a sly grin "I had a dish of
magic scrambled eggs--on toast--and it wasn't a bad feast, at all.
There isn't room in me for even you, and I don't regret it because I
judge, from your green color, that you are not ripe, and would make an
indifferent meal. We jaguars have to be careful of our digestions.
Farewell, Friend Monkey. Follow the path I made through the bushes and
you will find your friends."
With this the Jaguar marched on his way and Woot took his advice and
followed the trail he had made until he came to the place where the
little Brown Bear, and the Tin Owl, and the Canary were conferring
together and wondering what had become of their comrade, the Green
Monkey.
Chapter Ten
Tommy Kwikstep
"Our best plan," said the Scarecrow Bear, when the Green Monkey had
related the story of his adventure with the Dragons, "is to get out of
this Gillikin Country as soon as we can and try to find our way to the
castle of Glinda, the Good Sorceress. There are too many dangers
lurking here to suit me, and Glinda may be able to restore us to our
proper forms."
"If we turn south now," the Tin Owl replied, "we might go straight into
the Emerald City. That's a place I wish to avoid, for I'd hate to have
my friends see me in this sad plight," and he blinked his eyes and
fluttered his tin wings mournfully.
"But I am certain we have passed beyond Emerald City," the Canary
assured him, sailing lightly around their heads. "So, should we turn
south from here, we would pass into the Munchkin Country, and
continuing south we would reach the Quadling Country where Glinda's
castle is located."
"Well, since you're sure of that, let's start right away," proposed the
Bear. "It's a long journey, at the best, and I'm getting tired of
walking on four legs."
"I thought you never tired, being stuffed with straw," said Woot.
"I mean that it annoys me, to be obliged to go on all fours, when two
legs are my proper walking equipment," replied the Scarecrow. "I
consider it beneath my dignity. In other words, my remarkable brains
can tire, through humiliation, although my body cannot tire."
"That is one of the penalties of having brains," remarked the Tin Owl
with a sigh. "I have had no brains since I was a man of meat, and so I
never worry. Nevertheless, I prefer my former manly form to this owl's
shape and would be glad to break Mrs. Yoop's enchantment as soon as
possible. I am so noisy, just now, that I disturb myself," and he
fluttered his wings with a clatter that echoed throughout the forest.
So, being all of one mind, they turned southward, traveling steadily on
until the woods were left behind and the landscape turned from purple
tints to blue tints, which assured them they had entered the Country of
the Munchkins.
"Now I feel myself more safe," said the Scarecrow Bear. "I know this
country pretty well, having been made here by a Munchkin farmer and
having wandered over these lovely blue lands many times. Seems to me,
indeed, that I even remember that group of three tall trees ahead of
us; and, if I do, we are not far from the home of my friend Jinjur."
"Who is Jinjur?" asked Woot, the Green Monkey.
"Haven't you heard of Jinjur?" exclaimed the Scarecrow, in surprise.
"No," said Woot. "Is Jinjur a man, a woman, a beast or a bird?"
"Jinjur is a girl," explained the Scarecrow Bear. "She's a fine girl,
too, although a bit restless and liable to get excited. Once, a long
time ago, she raised an army of girls and called herself 'General
Jinjur.' With her army she captured the Emerald City, and drove me out
of it, because I insisted that an army in Oz was highly improper. But
Ozma punished the rash girl, and afterward Jinjur and I became fast
friends. Now Jinjur lives peacefully on a farm, near here, and raises
fields of cream-puffs, chocolate-caramels and macaroons. They say she's
a pretty good farmer, and in addition to that she's an artist, and
paints pictures so perfect that one can scarcely tell them from nature.
She often repaints my face for me, when it gets worn or mussy, and the
lovely expression I wore when the Giantess transformed me was painted
by Jinjur only a month or so ago."
"It was certainly a pleasant expression," agreed Woot.
"Jinjur can paint anything," continued the Scarecrow Bear, with
enthusiasm, as they walked along together. "Once, when I came to her
house, my straw was old and crumpled, so that my body sagged
dreadfully. I needed new straw to replace the old, but Jinjur had no
straw on all her ranch and I was really unable to travel farther until
I had been restuffed. When I explained this to Jinjur, the girl at once
painted a straw-stack which was so natural that I went to it and
secured enough straw to fill all my body. It was a good quality of
straw, too, and lasted me a long time."
This seemed very wonderful to Woot, who knew that such a thing could
never happen in any place but a fairy country like Oz.
The Munchkin Country was much nicer than the Gillikin Country, and all
the fields were separated by blue fences, with grassy lanes and paths
of blue ground, and the land seemed well cultivated. They were on a
little hill looking down upon this favored country, but had not quite
reached the settled parts, when on turning a bend in the path they were
halted by a form that barred their way.
A more curious creature they had seldom seen, even in the Land of Oz,
where curious creatures abound. It had the head of a young
man--evidently a Munchkin--with a pleasant face and hair neatly combed.
But the body was very long, for it had twenty legs--ten legs on each
side--and this caused the body to stretch out and lie in a horizontal
position, so that all the legs could touch the ground and stand firm.
From the shoulders extended two small arms; at least, they seemed small
beside so many legs.
This odd creature was dressed in the regulation clothing of the
Munchkin people, a dark blue coat neatly fitting the long body and each
pair of legs having a pair of sky-blue trousers, with blue-tinted
stockings and blue leather shoes turned up at the pointed toes.
"I wonder who you are?" said Polychrome the Canary, fluttering above
the strange creature, who had probably been asleep on the path.
"I sometimes wonder, myself, who I am," replied the many-legged young
man; "but, in reality, I am Tommy Kwikstep, and I live in a hollow tree
that fell to the ground with age. I have polished the inside of it, and
made a door at each end, and that's a very comfortable residence for me
because it just fits my shape."
"How did you happen to have such a shape?" asked the Scarecrow Bear,
sitting on his haunches and regarding Tommy Kwikstep with a serious
look. "Is the shape natural?"
"No; it was wished on me," replied Tommy, with a sigh. "I used to be
very active and loved to run errands for anyone who needed my services.
That was how I got my name of Tommy Kwikstep. I could run an errand
more quickly than any other boy, and so I was very proud of myself. One
day, however, I met an old lady who was a fairy, or a witch, or
something of the sort, and she said if I would run an errand for
her--to carry some magic medicine to another old woman--she would grant
me just one Wish, whatever the Wish happened to be. Of course I
consented and, taking the medicine, I hurried away. It was a long
distance, mostly up hill, and my legs began to grow weary. Without
thinking what I was doing I said aloud: 'Dear me; I wish I had twenty
legs!' and in an instant I became the unusual creature you see beside
you. Twenty legs! Twenty on one man! You may count them, if you doubt
my word."
"You've got 'em, all right," said Woot the Monkey, who had already
counted them.
"After I had delivered the magic medicine to the old woman, I returned
and tried to find the witch, or fairy, or whatever she was, who had
given me the unlucky wish, so she could take it away again. I've been
searching for her ever since, but never can I find her," continued poor
Tommy Kwikstep, sadly.
"I suppose," said the Tin Owl, blinking at him, "you can travel very
fast, with those twenty legs."
"At first I was able to," was the reply; "but I traveled so much,
searching for the fairy, or witch, or whatever she was, that I soon got
corns on my toes. Now, a corn on one toe is not so bad, but when you
have a hundred toes--as I have--and get corns on most of them, it is
far from pleasant. Instead of running, I now painfully crawl, and
although I try not to be discouraged I do hope I shall find that witch
or fairy, or whatever she was, before long."
"I hope so, too," said the Scarecrow. "But, after all, you have the
pleasure of knowing you are unusual, and therefore remarkable among the
people of Oz. To be just like other persons is small credit to one,
while to be unlike others is a mark of distinction."
"That sounds very pretty," returned Tommy Kwikstep, "but if you had to
put on ten pair of trousers every morning, and tie up twenty shoes, you
would prefer not to be so distinguished."
"Was the witch, or fairy, or whatever she was, an old person, with
wrinkled skin and half her teeth gone?" inquired the Tin Owl.
"No," said Tommy Kwikstep.
"Then she wasn't Old Mombi," remarked the transformed Emperor.
"I'm not interested in who it wasn't, so much as I am in who it was,"
said the twenty-legged young man. "And, whatever or whomsoever she was,
she has managed to keep out of my way."
"If you found her, do you suppose she'd change you back into a
two-legged boy?" asked Woot.
"Perhaps so, if I could run another errand for her and so earn another
wish."
"Would you really like to be as you were before?" asked Polychrome the
Canary, perching upon the Green Monkey's shoulder to observe Tommy
Kwikstep more attentively.
"I would, indeed," was the earnest reply.
"Then I will see what I can do for you," promised the Rainbow's
Daughter, and flying to the ground she took a small twig in her bill
and with it made several mystic figures on each side of Tommy Kwikstep.
"Are you a witch, or fairy, or something of the sort?" he asked as he
watched her wonderingly.
The Canary made no answer, for she was busy, but the Scarecrow Bear
replied: "Yes; she's something of the sort, and a bird of a magician."
The twenty-legged boy's transformation happened so queerly that they
were all surprised at its method. First, Tommy Kwikstep's last two legs
disappeared; then the next two, and the next, and as each pair of legs
vanished his body shortened. All this while Polychrome was running
around him and chirping mystical words, and when all the young man's
legs had disappeared but two he noticed that the Canary was still busy
and cried out in alarm:
"Stop--stop! Leave me two of my legs, or I shall be worse off than
before."
"I know," said the Canary. "I'm only removing with my magic the corns
from your last ten toes."
"Thank you for being so thoughtful," he said gratefully, and now they
noticed that Tommy Kwikstep was quite a nice looking young fellow.
"What will you do now?" asked Woot the Monkey.
"First," he answered, "I must deliver a note which I've carried in my
pocket ever since the witch, or fairy, or whatever she was, granted my
foolish wish. And I am resolved never to speak again without taking
time to think carefully on what I am going to say, for I realize that
speech without thought is dangerous. And after I've delivered the note,
I shall run errands again for anyone who needs my services."
So he thanked Polychrome again and started away in a different
direction from their own, and that was the last they saw of Tommy
Kwikstep.
Chapter Eleven
Jinjur's Ranch
As they followed a path down the blue-grass hillside, the first house
that met the view of the travelers was joyously recognized by the
Scarecrow Bear as the one inhabited by his friend Jinjur, so they
increased their speed and hurried toward it.
On reaching the place, how ever, they found the house deserted. The
front door stood open, but no one was inside. In the garden surrounding
the house were neat rows of bushes bearing cream-puffs and macaroons,
some of which were still green, but others ripe and ready to eat.
Farther back were fields of caramels, and all the land seemed well
cultivated and carefully tended. They looked through the fields for the
girl farmer, but she was nowhere to be seen.
"Well," finally remarked the little Brown Bear, "let us go into the
house and make ourselves at home. That will be sure to please my friend
Jinjur, who happens to be away from home just now. When she returns,
she will be greatly surprised."
"Would she care if I ate some of those ripe cream-puffs?" asked the
Green Monkey.
"No, indeed; Jinjur is very generous. Help yourself to all you want,"
said the Scarecrow Bear.
So Woot gathered a lot of the cream-puffs that were golden yellow and
filled with a sweet, creamy substance, and ate until his hunger was
satisfied. Then he entered the house with his friends and sat in a
rocking-chair--just as he was accustomed to do when a boy. The Canary
perched herself upon the mantel and daintily plumed her feathers; the
Tin Owl sat on the back of another chair; the Scarecrow squatted on his
hairy haunches in the middle of the room.
"I believe I remember the girl Jinjur," remarked the Canary, in her
sweet voice. "She cannot help us very much, except to direct us on our
way to Glinda's castle, for she does not understand magic. But she's a
good girl, honest and sensible, and I'll be glad to see her."
"All our troubles," said the Owl with a deep sigh, "arose from my
foolish resolve to seek Nimmie Amee and make her Empress of the
Winkies, and while I wish to reproach no one, I must say that it was
Woot the Wanderer who put the notion into my head."
"Well, for my part, I am glad he did," responded the Canary. "Your
journey resulted in saving me from the Giantess, and had you not
traveled to the Yoop Valley, I would still be Mrs. Yoop's prisoner. It
is much nicer to be free, even though I still bear the enchanted form
of a Canary-Bird."
"Do you think we shall ever be able to get our proper forms back
again?" asked the Green Monkey earnestly.
Polychrome did not make reply at once to this important question, but
after a period of thoughtfulness she said:
"I have been taught to believe that there is an antidote for every
magic charm, yet Mrs. Yoop insists that no power can alter her
transformations. I realize that my own fairy magic cannot do it,
although I have thought that we Sky Fairies have more power than is
accorded to Earth Fairies. The yookoohoo magic is admitted to be very
strange in its workings and different from the magic usually practiced,
but perhaps Glinda or Ozma may understand it better than I. In them
lies our only hope. Unless they can help us, we must remain forever as
we are."
"A Canary-Bird on a Rainbow wouldn't be so bad," asserted the Tin Owl,
winking and blinking with his round tin eyes, "so if you can manage to
find your Rainbow again you need have little to worry about."
"That's nonsense, Friend Chopper," exclaimed Woot. "I know just how
Polychrome feels. A beautiful girl is much superior to a little yellow
bird, and a boy--such as I was--far better than a Green Monkey. Neither
of us can be happy again unless we recover our rightful forms."
"I feel the same way," announced the stuffed Bear. "What do you suppose
my friend the Patchwork Girl would think of me, if she saw me wearing
this beastly shape?"
"She'd laugh till she cried," admitted the Tin Owl. "For my part, I'll
have to give up the notion of marrying Nimmie Amee, but I'll try not to
let that make me unhappy. If it's my duty, I'd like to do my duty, but
if magic prevents my getting married I'll flutter along all by myself
and be just as contented."
Their serious misfortunes made them all silent for a time, and as their
thoughts were busy in dwelling upon the evils with which fate had
burdened them, none noticed that Jinjur had suddenly appeared in the
doorway and was looking at them in astonishment. The next moment her
astonishment changed to anger, for there, in her best rocking-chair,
sat a Green Monkey. A great shiny Owl perched upon another chair and a
Brown Bear squatted upon her parlor rug. Jinjur did not notice the
Canary, but she caught up a broomstick and dashed into the room,
shouting as she came:
"Get out of here, you wild creatures! How dare you enter my house?"
With a blow of her broom she knocked the Brown Bear over, and the Tin
Owl tried to fly out of her reach and made a great clatter with his tin
wings. The Green Monkey was so startled by the sudden attack that he
sprang into the fireplace--where there was fortunately no fire--and
tried to escape by climbing up the chimney. But he found the opening
too small, and so was forced to drop down again. Then he crouched
trembling in the fireplace, his pretty green hair all blackened with
soot and covered with ashes. From this position Woot watched to see
what would happen next.
"Stop, Jinjur--stop!" cried the Brown Bear, when the broom again
threatened him. "Don't you know me? I'm your old friend the Scarecrow?"
"You're trying to deceive me, you naughty beast! I can see plainly that
you are a bear, and a mighty poor specimen of a bear, too," retorted
the girl.
"That's because I'm not properly stuffed," he assured her. "When Mrs.
Yoop transformed me, she didn't realize I should have more stuffing."
"Who is Mrs. Yoop?" inquired Jinjur, pausing with the broom still
upraised.
"A Giantess in the Gillikin Country."
"Oh; I begin to understand. And Mrs. Yoop transformed you? You are
really the famous Scarecrow of Oz."
"I was, Jinjur. Just now I'm as you see me--a miserable little Brown
Bear with a poor quality of stuffing. That Tin Owl is none other than
our dear Tin Woodman--Nick Chopper, the Emperor of the Winkies--while
this Green Monkey is a nice little boy we recently became acquainted
with, Woot the Wanderer."
"And I," said the Canary, flying close to Jinjur, "am Polychrome, the
Daughter of the Rainbow, in the form of a bird."
"Goodness me!" cried Jinjur, amazed; "that Giantess must be a powerful
Sorceress, and as wicked as she is powerful."
"She's a yookoohoo," said Polychrome. "Fortunately, we managed to
escape from her castle, and we are now on our way to Glinda the Good to
see if she possesses the power to restore us to our former shapes."
"Then I must beg your pardons; all of you must forgive me," said
Jinjur, putting away the broom. "I took you to be a lot of wild,
unmannerly animals, as was quite natural. You are very welcome to my
home and I'm sorry I haven't the power to help you out of your
troubles. Please use my house and all that I have, as if it were your
own."
At this declaration of peace, the Bear got upon his feet and the Owl
resumed his perch upon the chair and the Monkey crept out of the
fireplace. Jinjur looked at Woot critically, and scowled.
"For a Green Monkey," said she, "you're the blackest creature I ever
saw. And you'll get my nice clean room all dirty with soot and ashes.
Whatever possessed you to jump up the chimney?"
"I--I was scared," explained Woot, somewhat ashamed.
"Well, you need renovating, and that's what will happen to you, right
away. Come with me!" she commanded.
"What are you going to do?" asked Woot.
"Give you a good scrubbing," said Jinjur.
Now, neither boys nor monkeys relish being scrubbed, so Woot shrank
away from the energetic girl, trembling fearfully. But Jinjur grabbed
him by his paw and dragged him out to the back yard, where, in spite of
his whines and struggles, she plunged him into a tub of cold water and
began to scrub him with a stiff brush and a cake of yellow soap.
This was the hardest trial that Woot had endured since he became a
monkey, but no protest had any influence with Jinjur, who lathered and
scrubbed him in a business-like manner and afterward dried him with a
coarse towel.
The Bear and the Owl gravely watched this operation and nodded approval
when Woot's silky green fur shone clear and bright in the afternoon
sun. The Canary seemed much amused and laughed a silvery ripple of
laughter as she said:
"Very well done, my good Jinjur; I admire your energy and judgment. But
I had no idea a monkey could look so comical as this monkey did while
he was being bathed."
"I'm not a monkey!" declared Woot, resentfully; "I'm just a boy in a
monkey's shape, that's all."
"If you can explain to me the difference," said Jinjur, "I'll agree not
to wash you again--that is, unless you foolishly get into the
fireplace. All persons are usually judged by the shapes in which they
appear to the eyes of others. Look at me, Woot; what am I?"
Woot looked at her.
"You're as pretty a girl as I've ever seen," he replied.
Jinjur frowned. That is, she tried hard to frown.
"Come out into the garden with me," she said, "and I'll give you some
of the most delicious caramels you ever ate. They're a new variety,
that no one can grow but me, and they have a heliotrope flavor."
Chapter Twelve
Ozma and Dorothy
In her magnificent palace in the Emerald City, the beautiful girl Ruler
of all the wonderful Land of Oz sat in her dainty boudoir with her
friend Princess Dorothy beside her. Ozma was studying a roll of
manuscript which she had taken from the Royal Library, while Dorothy
worked at her embroidery and at times stooped to pat a shaggy little
black dog that lay at her feet. The little dog's name was Toto, and he
was Dorothy's faithful companion.
To judge Ozma of Oz by the standards of our world, you would think her
very young--perhaps fourteen or fifteen years of age--yet for years she
had ruled the Land of Oz and had never seemed a bit older. Dorothy
appeared much younger than Ozma. She had been a little girl when first
she came to the Land of Oz, and she was a little girl still, and would
never seem to be a day older while she lived in this wonderful
fairyland.
Oz was not always a fairyland, I am told. Once it was much like other
lands, except it was shut in by a dreadful desert of sandy wastes that
lay all around it, thus preventing its people from all contact with the
rest of the world. Seeing this isolation, the fairy band of Queen
Lurline, passing over Oz while on a journey, enchanted the country and
so made it a Fairyland. And Queen Lurline left one of her fairies to
rule this enchanted Land of Oz, and then passed on and forgot all about
it.
From that moment no one in Oz ever died. Those who were old remained
old; those who were young and strong did not change as years passed
them by; the children remained children always, and played and romped
to their hearts' content, while all the babies lived in their cradles
and were tenderly cared for and never grew up. So people in Oz stopped
counting how old they were in years, for years made no difference in
their appearance and could not alter their station. They did not get
sick, so there were no doctors among them. Accidents might happen to
some, on rare occasions, it is true, and while no one could die
naturally, as other people do, it was possible that one might be
totally destroyed. Such incidents, however, were very unusual, and so
seldom was there anything to worry over that the Oz people were as
happy and contented as can be.
Another strange thing about this fairy Land of Oz was that whoever
managed to enter it from the outside world came under the magic spell
of the place and did not change in appearance as long as they lived
there. So Dorothy, who now lived with Ozma, seemed just the same sweet
little girl she had been when first she came to this delightful
fairyland.
Perhaps all parts of Oz might not be called truly delightful, but it
was surely delightful in the neighborhood of the Emerald City, where
Ozma reigned. Her loving influence was felt for many miles around, but
there were places in the mountains of the Gillikin Country, and the
forests of the Quadling Country, and perhaps in far-away parts of the
Munchkin and Winkie Countries, where the inhabitants were somewhat rude
and uncivilized and had not yet come under the spell of Ozma's wise and
kindly rule. Also, when Oz first became a fairyland, it harbored
several witches and magicians and sorcerers and necromancers, who were
scattered in various parts, but most of these had been deprived of
their magic powers, and Ozma had issued a royal edict forbidding anyone
in her dominions to work magic except Glinda the Good and the Wizard of
Oz. Ozma herself, being a real fairy, knew a lot of magic, but she only
used it to benefit her subjects.
This little explanation will help you to understand better the story
you are reaching, but most of it is already known to those who are
familiar with the Oz people whose adventures they have followed in
other Oz books.
Ozma and Dorothy were fast friends and were much together. Everyone in
Oz loved Dorothy almost as well as they did their lovely Ruler, for the
little Kansas girl's good fortune had not spoiled her or rendered her
at all vain. She was just the same brave and true and adventurous child
as before she lived in a royal palace and became the chum of the fairy
Ozma.
In the room in which the two sat--which was one of Ozma's private suite
of apartments--hung the famous Magic Picture. This was the source of
constant interest to little Dorothy. One had but to stand before it and
wish to see what any person was doing, and at once a scene would flash
upon the magic canvas which showed exactly where that person was, and
like our own moving pictures would reproduce the actions of that person
as long as you cared to watch them. So today, when Dorothy tired of her
embroidery, she drew the curtains from before the Magic Picture and
wished to see what her friend Button Bright was doing. Button Bright,
she saw, was playing ball with Ojo, the Munchkin boy, so Dorothy next
wished to see what her Aunt Em was doing. The picture showed Aunt Em
quietly engaged in darning socks for Uncle Henry, so Dorothy wished to
see what her old friend the Tin Woodman was doing.
The Tin Woodman was then just leaving his tin castle in the company of
the Scarecrow and Woot the Wanderer. Dorothy had never seen this boy
before, so she wondered who he was. Also she was curious to know where
the three were going, for she noticed Woot's knapsack and guessed they
had started on a long journey. She asked Ozma about it, but Ozma did
not know.
That afternoon Dorothy again saw the travelers in the Magic Picture,
but they were merely tramping through the country and Dorothy was not
much interested in them. A couple of days later, however, the girl,
being again with Ozma, wished to see her friends, the Scarecrow and the
Tin Woodman in the Magic Picture, and on this occasion found them in
the great castle of Mrs. Yoop, the Giantess, who was at the time about
to transform them. Both Dorothy and Ozma now became greatly interested
and watched the transformations with indignation and horror.
"What a wicked Giantess!" exclaimed Dorothy.
"Yes," answered Ozma, "she must be punished for this cruelty to our
friends, and to the poor boy who is with them."
After this they followed the adventure of the little Brown Bear and the
Tin Owl and the Green Monkey with breathless interest, and were
delighted when they escaped from Mrs. Yoop. They did not know, then,
who the Canary was, but realized it must be the transformation of some
person of consequence, whom the Giantess had also enchanted.
When, finally, the day came when the adventurers headed south into the
Munchkin Country, Dorothy asked anxiously:
"Can't something be done for them, Ozma? Can't you change 'em back into
their own shapes? They've suffered enough from these dreadful
transformations, seems to me."
"I've been studying ways to help them, ever since they were
transformed," replied Ozma. "Mrs. Yoop is now the only yookoohoo in my
dominions, and the yookoohoo magic is very peculiar and hard for others
to understand, yet I am resolved to make the attempt to break these
enchantments. I may not succeed, but I shall do the best I can. From
the directions our friends are taking, I believe they are going to pass
by Jinjur's Ranch, so if we start now we may meet them there. Would you
like to go with me, Dorothy?"
"Of course," answered the little girl; "I wouldn't miss it for
anything."
"Then order the Red Wagon," said Ozma of Oz, "and we will start at
once."
Dorothy ran to do as she was bid, while Ozma went to her Magic Room to
make ready the things she believed she would need. In half an hour the
Red Wagon stood before the grand entrance of the palace, and before it
was hitched the Wooden Sawhorse, which was Ozma's favorite steed.
This Sawhorse, while made of wood, was very much alive and could travel
swiftly and without tiring. To keep the ends of his wooden legs from
wearing down short, Ozma had shod the Sawhorse with plates of pure
gold. His harness was studded with brilliant emeralds and other jewels
and so, while he himself was not at all handsome, his outfit made a
splendid appearance.
Since the Sawhorse could understand her spoken words, Ozma used no
reins to guide him. She merely told him where to go. When she came from
the palace with Dorothy, they both climbed into the Red Wagon and then
the little dog, Toto, ran up and asked:
"Are you going to leave me behind, Dorothy?" Dorothy looked at Ozma,
who smiled in return and said:
"Toto may go with us, if you wish him to."
So Dorothy lifted the little dog into the wagon, for, while he could
run fast, he could not keep up with the speed of the wonderful Sawhorse.
Away they went, over hills and through meadows, covering the ground
with astonishing speed. It is not surprising, therefore, that the Red
Wagon arrived before Jinjur's house just as that energetic young lady
had finished scrubbing the Green Monkey and was about to lead him to
the caramel patch.
Chapter Thirteen
The Restoration
The Tin Owl gave a hoot of delight when he saw the Red Wagon draw up
before Jinjur's house, and the Brown Bear grunted and growled with glee
and trotted toward Ozma as fast as he could wobble. As for the Canary,
it flew swiftly to Dorothy's shoulder and perched there, saying in her
ear:
"Thank goodness you have come to our rescue!"
"But who are you?" asked Dorothy
"Don't you know?" returned the Canary.
"No; for the first time we noticed you in the Magic Picture, you were
just a bird, as you are now. But we've guessed that the giant woman had
transformed you, as she did the others."
"Yes; I'm Polychrome, the Rainbow's Daughter," announced the Canary.
"Goodness me!" cried Dorothy. "How dreadful."
"Well, I make a rather pretty bird, I think," returned Polychrome, "but
of course I'm anxious to resume my own shape and get back upon my
rainbow."
"Ozma will help you, I'm sure," said Dorothy. "How does it feel,
Scarecrow, to be a Bear?" she asked, addressing her old friend.
"I don't like it," declared the Scarecrow Bear. "This brutal form is
quite beneath the dignity of a wholesome straw man."
"And think of me," said the Owl, perching upon the dashboard of the Red
Wagon with much noisy clattering of his tin feathers. "Don't I look
horrid, Dorothy, with eyes several sizes too big for my body, and so
weak that I ought to wear spectacles?"
"Well," said Dorothy critically, as she looked him over, "you're
nothing to brag of, I must confess. But Ozma will soon fix you up
again."
The Green Monkey had hung back, bashful at meeting two lovely girls
while in the form of a beast; but Jinjur now took his hand and led him
forward while she introduced him to Ozma, and Woot managed to make a
low bow, not really ungraceful, before her girlish Majesty, the Ruler
of Oz.
"You have all been forced to endure a sad experience," said Ozma, "and
so I am anxious to do all in my power to break Mrs. Yoop's
enchantments. But first tell me how you happened to stray into that
lonely Valley where Yoop Castle stands."
Between them they related the object of their journey, the Scarecrow
Bear telling of the Tin Woodman's resolve to find Nimmie Amee and marry
her, as a just reward for her loyalty to him. Woot told of their
adventures with the Loons of Loonville, and the Tin Owl described the
manner in which they had been captured and transformed by the Giantess.
Then Polychrome related her story, and when all had been told, and
Dorothy had several times reproved Toto for growling at the Tin Owl,
Ozma remained thoughtful for a while, pondering upon what she had
heard. Finally she looked up, and with one of her delightful smiles,
said to the anxious group:
"I am not sure my magic will be able to restore every one of you,
because your transformations are of such a strange and unusual
character. Indeed, Mrs. Yoop was quite justified in believing no power
could alter her enchantments. However, I am sure I can restore the
Scarecrow to his original shape. He was stuffed with straw from the
beginning, and even the yookoohoo magic could not alter that. The
Giantess was merely able to make a bear's shape of a man's shape, but
the bear is stuffed with straw, just as the man was. So I feel
confident I can make a man of the bear again."
"Hurrah!" cried the Brown Bear, and tried clumsily to dance a jig of
delight.
"As for the Tin Woodman, his case is much the same," resumed Ozma,
still smiling. "The power of the Giantess could not make him anything
but a tin creature, whatever shape she transformed him into, so it will
not be impossible to restore him to his manly form. Anyhow, I shall
test my magic at once, and see if it will do what I have promised."
She drew from her bosom a small silver Wand and, making passes with the
Wand over the head of the Bear, she succeeded in the brief space of a
moment in breaking his enchantment. The original Scarecrow of Oz again
stood before them, well stuffed with straw and with his features nicely
painted upon the bag which formed his head.
The Scarecrow was greatly delighted, as you may suppose, and he
strutted proudly around while the powerful fairy, Ozma of Oz, broke the
enchantment that had transformed the Tin Woodman and made a Tin Owl
into a Tin Man again.
"Now, then," chirped the Canary, eagerly; "I'm next, Ozma!"
"But your case is different," replied Ozma, no longer smiling but
wearing a grave expression on her sweet face. "I shall have to
experiment on you, Polychrome, and I may fail in all my attempts."
She then tried two or three different methods of magic, hoping one of
them would succeed in breaking Polychrome's enchantment, but still the
Rainbow's Daughter remained a Canary-Bird. Finally, however, she
experimented in another way. She transformed the Canary into a Dove,
and then transformed the Dove into a Speckled Hen, and then changed the
Speckled Hen into a rabbit, and then the rabbit into a Fawn. And at the
last, after mixing several powders and sprinkling them upon the Fawn,
the yookoohoo enchantment was suddenly broken and before them stood one
of the daintiest and loveliest creatures in any fairyland in the world.
Polychrome was as sweet and merry in disposition as she was beautiful,
and when she danced and capered around in delight, her beautiful hair
floated around her like a golden mist and her many-hued raiment, as
soft as cobwebs, reminded one of drifting clouds in a summer sky.
Woot was so awed by the entrancing sight of this exquisite Sky Fairy
that he quite forgot his own sad plight until be noticed Ozma gazing
upon him with an intent expression that denoted sympathy and sorrow.
Dorothy whispered in her friend's ear, but the Ruler of Oz shook her
head sadly.
Jinjur, noticing this and understanding Ozma's looks, took the paw of
the Green Monkey in her own hand and patted it softly.
"Never mind," she said to him. "You are a very beautiful color, and a
monkey can climb better than a boy and do a lot of other things no boy
can ever do."
"What's the matter?" asked Woot, a sinking feeling at his heart. "Is
Ozma's magic all used up?"
Ozma herself answered him.
"Your form of enchantment, my poor boy," she said pityingly, "is
different from that of the others. Indeed, it is a form that is
impossible to alter by any magic known to fairies or yookoohoos. The
wicked Giantess was well aware, when she gave you the form of a Green
Monkey, that the Green Monkey must exist in the Land of Oz for all
future time."
Woot drew a long sigh.
"Well, that's pretty hard luck," he said bravely, "but if it can't be
helped I must endure it; that's all. I don't like being a monkey, but
what's the use of kicking against my fate?"
They were all very sorry for him, and Dorothy anxiously asked Ozma:
"Couldn't Glinda save him?"
"No," was the reply. "Glinda's power in transformations is no greater
than my own. Before I left my palace I went to my Magic Room and
studied Woot's case very carefully. I found that no power can do away
with the Green Monkey. He might transfer, or exchange his form with
some other person, it is true; but the Green Monkey we cannot get rid
of by any magic arts known to science."
"But--see here," said the Scarecrow, who had listened intently to this
explanation, "why not put the monkey's form on some one else?"
"Who would agree to make the change?" asked Ozma. "If by force we
caused anyone else to become a Green Monkey, we would be as cruel and
wicked as Mrs. Yoop. And what good would an exchange do?" she
continued. "Suppose, for instance, we worked the enchantment, and made
Toto into a Green Monkey. At the same moment Woot would become a little
dog."
"Leave me out of your magic, please," said Toto, with a reproachful
growl. "I wouldn't become a Green Monkey for anything."
"And I wouldn't become a dog," said Woot. "A green monkey is much
better than a dog, it seems to me."
"That is only a matter of opinion," answered Toto.
"Now, here's another idea," said the Scarecrow. "My brains are working
finely today, you must admit. Why not transform Toto into Woot the
Wanderer, and then have them exchange forms? The dog would become a
green monkey and the monkey would have his own natural shape again."
"To be sure!" cried Jinjur. "That's a fine idea."
"Leave me out of it," said Toto. "I won't do it."
"Wouldn't you be willing to become a green monkey--see what a pretty
color it is--so that this poor boy could be restored to his own shape?"
asked Jinjur, pleadingly.
"No," said Toto.
"I don't like that plan the least bit," declared Dorothy, "for then I
wouldn't have any little dog."
"But you'd have a green monkey in his place," persisted Jinjur, who
liked Woot and wanted to help him.
"I don't want a green monkey," said Dorothy positively.
"Don't speak of this again, I beg of you," said Woot. "This is my own
misfortune and I would rather suffer it alone than deprive Princess
Dorothy of her dog, or deprive the dog of his proper shape. And perhaps
even her Majesty, Ozma of Oz, might not be able to transform anyone
else into the shape of Woot the Wanderer."
"Yes; I believe I might do that," Ozma returned; "but Woot is quite
right; we are not justified in inflicting upon anyone--man or dog--the
form of a green monkey. Also it is certain that in order to relieve the
boy of the form he now wears, we must give it to someone else, who
would be forced to wear it always."
"I wonder," said Dorothy, thoughtfully, "if we couldn't find someone in
the Land of Oz who would be willing to become a green monkey? Seems to
me a monkey is active and spry, and he can climb trees and do a lot of
clever things, and green isn't a bad color for a monkey--it makes him
unusual."
"I wouldn't ask anyone to take this dreadful form," said Woot; "it
wouldn't be right, you know. I've been a monkey for some time, now, and
I don't like it. It makes me ashamed to be a beast of this sort when by
right of birth I'm a boy; so I'm sure it would be wicked to ask anyone
else to take my place."
They were all silent, for they knew he spoke the truth. Dorothy was
almost ready to cry with pity and Ozma's sweet face was sad and
disturbed. The Scarecrow rubbed and patted his stuffed head to try to
make it think better, while the Tin Woodman went into the house and
began to oil his tin joints so that the sorrow of his friends might not
cause him to weep. Weeping is liable to rust tin, and the Emperor
prided himself upon his highly polished body--now doubly dear to him
because for a time he had been deprived of it.
Polychrome had danced down the garden paths and back again a dozen
times, for she was seldom still a moment, yet she had heard Ozma's
speech and understood very well Woot's unfortunate position. But the
Rainbow's Daughter, even while dancing, could think and reason very
clearly, and suddenly she solved the problem in the nicest possible
way. Coming close to Ozma, she said:
"Your Majesty, all this trouble was caused by the wickedness of Mrs.
Yoop, the Giantess. Yet even now that cruel woman is living in her
secluded castle, enjoying the thought that she has put this terrible
enchantment on Woot the Wanderer. Even now she is laughing at our
despair because we can find no way to get rid of the green monkey. Very
well, we do not wish to get rid of it. Let the woman who created the
form wear it herself, as a just punishment for her wickedness. I am
sure your fairy power can give to Mrs. Yoop the form of Woot the
Wanderer--even at this distance from her--and then it will be possible
to exchange the two forms. Mrs. Yoop will become the Green Monkey, and
Woot will recover his own form again."
Ozma's face brightened as she listened to this clever proposal.
"Thank you, Polychrome," said she. "The task you propose is not so easy
as you suppose, but I will make the attempt, and perhaps I may succeed."
Chapter Fourteen
The Green Monkey
They now entered the house, and as an interested group, watched Jinjur,
at Ozma's command, build a fire and put a kettle of water over to boil.
The Ruler of Oz stood before the fire silent and grave, while the
others, realizing that an important ceremony of magic was about to be
performed, stood quietly in the background so as not to interrupt
Ozma's proceedings. Only Polychrome kept going in and coming out,
humming softly to herself as she danced, for the Rainbow's Daughter
could not keep still for long, and the four walls of a room always made
her nervous and ill at ease. She moved so noiselessly, however, that
her movements were like the shifting of sunbeams and did not annoy
anyone.
When the water in the kettle bubbled, Ozma drew from her bosom two tiny
packets containing powders. These powders she threw into the kettle and
after briskly stirring the contents with a branch from a macaroon bush,
Ozma poured the mystic broth upon a broad platter which Jinjur had
placed upon the table. As the broth cooled it became as silver,
reflecting all objects from its smooth surface like a mirror.
While her companions gathered around the table, eagerly attentive--and
Dorothy even held little Toto in her arms that he might see--Ozma waved
her wand over the mirror-like surface. At once it reflected the
interior of Yoop Castle, and in the big hall sat Mrs. Yoop, in her best
embroidered silken robes, engaged in weaving a new lace apron to
replace the one she had lost.
The Giantess seemed rather uneasy, as if she had a faint idea that
someone was spying upon her, for she kept looking behind her and this
way and that, as though expecting danger from an unknown source.
Perhaps some yookoohoo instinct warned her. Woot saw that she had
escaped from her room by some of the magical means at her disposal,
after her prisoners had escaped her. She was now occupying the big hall
of her castle as she used to do. Also Woot thought, from the cruel
expression on the face of the Giantess, that she was planning revenge
on them, as soon as her new magic apron was finished.
But Ozma was now making passes over the platter with her silver Wand,
and presently the form of the Giantess began to shrink in size and to
change its shape. And now, in her place sat the form of Woot the
Wanderer, and as if suddenly realizing her transformation Mrs. Yoop
threw down her work and rushed to a looking-glass that stood against
the wall of her room. When she saw the boy's form reflected as her own,
she grew violently angry and dashed her head against the mirror,
smashing it to atoms.
Just then Ozma was busy with her magic Wand, making strange figures,
and she had also placed her left hand firmly upon the shoulder of the
Green Monkey. So now, as all eyes were turned upon the platter, the
form of Mrs. Yoop gradually changed again. She was slowly transformed
into the Green Monkey, and at the same time Woot slowly regained his
natural form.
It was quite a surprise to them all when they raised their eyes from
the platter and saw Woot the Wanderer standing beside Ozma. And, when
they glanced at the platter again, it reflected nothing more than the
walls of the room in Jinjur's house in which they stood. The magic
ceremonial was ended, and Ozma of Oz had triumphed over the wicked
Giantess.
"What will become of her, I wonder?" said Dorothy, as she drew a long
breath.
"She will always remain a Green Monkey," replied Ozma, "and in that
form she will be unable to perform any magical arts whatsoever. She
need not be unhappy, however, and as she lives all alone in her castle
she probably won't mind the transformation very much after she gets
used to it."
"Anyhow, it serves her right," declared Dorothy, and all agreed with
her.
"But," said the kind hearted Tin Woodman, "I'm afraid the Green Monkey
will starve, for Mrs. Yoop used to get her food by magic, and now that
the magic is taken away from her, what can she eat?"
"Why, she'll eat what other monkeys do," returned the Scarecrow. "Even
in the form of a Green Monkey, she's a very clever person, and I'm sure
her wits will show her how to get plenty to eat."
"Don't worry about her," advised Dorothy. "She didn't worry about you,
and her condition is no worse than the condition she imposed on poor
Woot. She can't starve to death in the Land of Oz, that's certain, and
if she gets hungry at times it's no more than the wicked thing
deserves. Let's forget Mrs. Yoop; for, in spite of her being a
yookoohoo, our fairy friends have broken all of her transformations."
Chapter Fifteen
The Man of Tin
Ozma and Dorothy were quite pleased with Woot the Wanderer, whom they
found modest and intelligent and very well mannered. The boy was truly
grateful for his release from the cruel enchantment, and he promised to
love, revere and defend the girl Ruler of Oz forever afterward, as a
faithful subject.
"You may visit me at my palace, if you wish," said Ozma, "where I will
be glad to introduce you to two other nice boys, Ojo the Munchkin and
Button-Bright."
"Thank your Majesty," replied Woot, and then he turned to the Tin
Woodman and inquired: "What are your further plans, Mr. Emperor? Will
you still seek Nimmie Amee and marry her, or will you abandon the quest
and return to the Emerald City and your own castle?"
The Tin Woodman, now as highly polished and well-oiled as ever,
reflected a while on this question and then answered:
"Well, I see no reason why I should not find Nimmie Amee. We are now in
the Munchkin Country, where we are perfectly safe, and if it was right
for me, before our enchantment, to marry Nimmie Amee and make her
Empress of the Winkies, it must be right now, when the enchantment has
been broken and I am once more myself. Am I correct, friend Scarecrow?"
"You are, indeed," answered the Scarecrow. "No one can oppose such
logic."
"But I'm afraid you don't love Nimmie Amee," suggested Dorothy.
"That is just because I can't love anyone," replied the Tin Woodman.
"But, if I cannot love my wife, I can at least be kind to her, and all
husbands are not able to do that."
"Do you s'pose Nimmie Amee still loves you, after all these years?"
asked Dorothy.
"I'm quite sure of it, and that is why I am going to her to make her
happy. Woot the Wanderer thinks I ought to reward her for being
faithful to me after my meat body was chopped to pieces and I became
tin. What do you think, Ozma?"
Ozma smiled as she said:
"I do not know your Nimmie Amee, and so I cannot tell what she most
needs to make her happy. But there is no harm in your going to her and
asking her if she still wishes to marry you. If she does, we will give
you a grand wedding at the Emerald City and, afterward, as Empress of
the Winkies, Nimmie Amee would become one of the most important ladies
in all Oz."
So it was decided that the Tin Woodman would continue his journey, and
that the Scarecrow and Woot the Wanderer should accompany him, as
before. Polychrome also decided to join their party, somewhat to the
surprise of all.
"I hate to be cooped up in a palace," she said to Ozma, "and of course
the first time I meet my Rainbow I shall return to my own dear home in
the skies, where my fairy sisters are even now awaiting me and my
father is cross because I get lost so often. But I can find my Rainbow
just as quickly while traveling in the Munchkin Country as I could if
living in the Emerald City--or any other place in Oz--so I shall go
with the Tin Woodman and help him woo Nimmie Amee."
Dorothy wanted to go, too, but as the Tin Woodman did not invite her to
join his party, she felt she might be intruding if she asked to be
taken. She hinted, but she found he didn't take the hint. It is quite a
delicate matter for one to ask a girl to marry him, however much she
loves him, and perhaps the Tin Woodman did not desire to have too many
looking on when he found his old sweetheart, Nimmie Amee. So Dorothy
contented herself with the thought that she would help Ozma prepare a
splendid wedding feast, to be followed by a round of parties and
festivities when the Emperor of the Winkies reached the Emerald City
with his bride.
Ozma offered to take them all in the Red Wagon to a place as near to
the great Munchkin forest as a wagon could get. The Red Wagon was big
enough to seat them all, and so, bidding good-bye to Jinjur, who gave
Woot a basket of ripe cream-puffs and caramels to take with him, Ozma
commanded the Wooden Sawhorse to start, and the strange creature moved
swiftly over the lanes and presently came to the Road of Yellow Bricks.
This road led straight to a dense forest, where the path was too narrow
for the Red Wagon to proceed farther, so here the party separated.
Ozma and Dorothy and Toto returned to the Emerald City, after wishing
their friends a safe and successful journey, while the Tin Woodman, the
Scarecrow, Woot the Wanderer and Polychrome, the Rainbow's Daughter,
prepared to push their way through the thick forest. However, these
forest paths were well known to the Tin Man and the Scarecrow, who felt
quite at home among the trees.
"I was born in this grand forest," said Nick Chopper, the tin Emperor,
speaking proudly, "and it was here that the Witch enchanted my axe and
I lost different parts of my meat body until I became all tin. Here,
also--for it is a big forest--Nimmie Amee lived with the Wicked Witch,
and at the other edge of the trees stands the cottage of my friend
Ku-Klip, the famous tinsmith who made my present beautiful form."
"He must be a clever workman," declared Woot, admiringly.
"He is simply wonderful," declared the Tin Woodman.
"I shall be glad to make his acquaintance," said Woot.
"If you wish to meet with real cleverness," remarked the Scarecrow,
"you should visit the Munchkin farmer who first made me. I won't say
that my friend the Emperor isn't all right for a tin man, but any judge
of beauty can understand that a Scarecrow is far more artistic and
refined."
"You are too soft and flimsy," said the Tin Woodman.
"You are too hard and stiff," said the Scarecrow, and this was as near
to quarreling as the two friends ever came. Polychrome laughed at them
both, as well she might, and Woot hastened to change the subject.
At night they all camped underneath the trees. The boy ate cream-puffs
for supper and offered Polychrome some, but she preferred other food
and at daybreak sipped the dew that was clustered thick on the forest
flowers. Then they tramped onward again, and presently the Scarecrow
paused and said:
"It was on this very spot that Dorothy and I first met the Tin Woodman,
who was rusted so badly that none of his joints would move. But after
we had oiled him up, he was as good as new and accompanied us to the
Emerald City."
"Ah, that was a sad experience," asserted the Tin Woodman soberly. "I
was caught in a rainstorm while chopping down a tree for exercise, and
before I realized it, I was firmly rusted in every joint. There I
stood, axe in hand, but unable to move, for days and weeks and months!
Indeed, I have never known exactly how long the time was; but finally
along came Dorothy and I was saved. See! This is the very tree I was
chopping at the time I rusted."
"You cannot be far from your old home, in that case," said Woot.
"No; my little cabin stands not a great way off, but there is no
occasion for us to visit it. Our errand is with Nimmie Amee, and her
house is somewhat farther away, to the left of us."
"Didn't you say she lives with a Wicked Witch, who makes her a slave?"
asked the boy.
"She did, but she doesn't," was the reply. "I am told the Witch was
destroyed when Dorothy's house fell on her, so now Nimmie Amee must
live all alone. I haven't seen her, of course, since the Witch was
crushed, for at that time I was standing rusted in the forest and had
been there a long time, but the poor girl must have felt very happy to
be free from her cruel mistress."
"Well," said the Scarecrow, "let's travel on and find Nimmie Amee. Lead
on, your Majesty, since you know the way, and we will follow."
So the Tin Woodman took a path that led through the thickest part of
the forest, and they followed it for some time. The light was dim here,
because vines and bushes and leafy foliage were all about them, and
often the Tin Man had to push aside the branches that obstructed their
way, or cut them off with his axe. After they had proceeded some
distance, the Emperor suddenly stopped short and exclaimed: "Good
gracious!"
The Scarecrow, who was next, first bumped into his friend and then
peered around his tin body, and said in a tone of wonder:
"Well, I declare!"
Woot the Wanderer pushed forward to see what was the matter, and cried
out in astonishment: "For goodness' sake!"
Then the three stood motionless, staring hard, until Polychrome's merry
laughter rang out behind them and aroused them from their stupor.
In the path before them stood a tin man who was the exact duplicate of
the Tin Woodman. He was of the same size, he was jointed in the same
manner, and he was made of shining tin from top to toe. But he stood
immovable, with his tin jaws half parted and his tin eyes turned
upward. In one of his hands was held a long, gleaming sword. Yes, there
was the difference, the only thing that distinguished him from the
Emperor of the Winkies. This tin man bore a sword, while the Tin
Woodman bore an axe.
"It's a dream; it must be a dream!" gasped Woot.
"That's it, of course," said the Scarecrow; "there couldn't be two Tin
Woodmen."
"No," agreed Polychrome, dancing nearer to the stranger, "this one is a
Tin Soldier. Don't you see his sword?"
The Tin Woodman cautiously put out one tin hand and felt of his
double's arm. Then he said in a voice that trembled with emotion:
"Who are you, friend?"
There was no reply
"Can't you see he's rusted, just as you were once?" asked Polychrome,
laughing again. "Here, Nick Chopper, lend me your oil-can a minute!"
The Tin Woodman silently handed her his oil-can, without which he never
traveled, and Polychrome first oiled the stranger's tin jaws and then
worked them gently to and fro until the Tin Soldier said:
"That's enough. Thank you. I can now talk. But please oil my other
joints."
Woot seized the oil-can and did this, but all the others helped wiggle
the soldier's joints as soon as they were oiled, until they moved
freely.
The Tin Soldier seemed highly pleased at his release. He strutted up
and down the path, saying in a high, thin voice:
"The Soldier is a splendid man
When marching on parade,
And when he meets the enemy
He never is afraid.
He rights the wrongs of nations,
His country's flag defends,
The foe he'll fight with great delight,
But seldom fights his friends."
Chapter Sixteen
Captain Fyter
"Are you really a soldier?" asked Woot, when they had all watched this
strange tin person parade up and down the path and proudly flourish his
sword.
"I was a soldier," was the reply, "but I've been a prisoner to Mr. Rust
so long that I don't know exactly what I am."
"But--dear me!" cried the Tin Woodman, sadly perplexed; "how came you
to be made of tin?"
"That," answered the Soldier, "is a sad, sad story I was in love with a
beautiful Munchkin girl, who lived with a Wicked Witch. The Witch did
not wish me to marry the girl, so she enchanted my sword, which began
hacking me to pieces. When I lost my legs I went to the tinsmith,
Ku-Klip, and he made me some tin legs. When I lost my arms, Ku-Klip
made me tin arms, and when I lost my head he made me this fine one out
of tin. It was the same way with my body, and finally I was all tin.
But I was not unhappy, for Ku-Klip made a good job of me, having had
experience in making another tin man before me."
"Yes," observed the Tin Woodman, "it was Ku-Klip who made me. But, tell
me, what was the name of the Munchkin girl you were in love with?"
"She is called Nimmie Amee," said the Tin Soldier.
Hearing this, they were all so astonished that they were silent for a
time, regarding the stranger with wondering looks. Finally the Tin
Woodman ventured to ask:
"And did Nimmie Amee return your love?"
"Not at first," admitted the Soldier. "When first I marched into the
forest and met her, she was weeping over the loss of her former
sweetheart, a woodman whose name was Nick Chopper."
"That is me," said the Tin Woodman.
"She told me he was nicer than a soldier, because he was all made of
tin and shone beautifully in the sun. She said a tin man appealed to
her artistic instincts more than an ordinary meat man, as I was then.
But I did not despair, because her tin sweetheart had disappeared, and
could not be found. And finally Nimmie Amee permitted me to call upon
her and we became friends. It was then that the Wicked Witch discovered
me and became furiously angry when I said I wanted to marry the girl.
She enchanted my sword, as I said, and then my troubles began. When I
got my tin legs, Nimmie Amee began to take an interest in me; when I
got my tin arms, she began to like me better than ever, and when I was
all made of tin, she said I looked like her dear Nick Chopper and she
would be willing to marry me.
"The day of our wedding was set, and it turned out to be a rainy day.
Nevertheless I started out to get Nimmie Amee, because the Witch had
been absent for some time, and we meant to elope before she got back.
As I traveled the forest paths the rain wetted my joints, but I paid no
attention to this because my thoughts were all on my wedding with
beautiful Nimmie Amee and I could think of nothing else until suddenly
my legs stopped moving. Then my arms rusted at the joints and I became
frightened and cried for help, for now I was unable to oil myself. No
one heard my calls and before long my jaws rusted, and I was unable to
utter another sound. So I stood helpless in this spot, hoping some
wanderer would come my way and save me. But this forest path is seldom
used, and I have been standing here so long that I have lost all track
of time. In my mind I composed poetry and sang songs, but not a sound
have I been able to utter. But this desperate condition has now been
relieved by your coming my way and I must thank you for my rescue."
"This is wonderful!" said the Scarecrow, heaving a stuffy, long sigh.
"I think Ku-Klip was wrong to make two tin men, just alike, and the
strangest thing of all is that both you tin men fell in love with the
same girl."
"As for that," returned the Soldier, seriously, "I must admit I lost my
ability to love when I lost my meat heart. Ku-Klip gave me a tin heart,
to be sure, but it doesn't love anything, as far as I can discover, and
merely rattles against my tin ribs, which makes me wish I had no heart
at all."
"Yet, in spite of this condition, you were going to marry Nimmie Amee?"
"Well, you see I had promised to marry her, and I am an honest man and
always try to keep my promises. I didn't like to disappoint the poor
girl, who had been disappointed by one tin man already."
"That was not my fault," declared the Emperor of the Winkies, and then
he related how he, also, had rusted in the forest and after a long time
had been rescued by Dorothy and the Scarecrow and had traveled with
them to the Emerald City in search of a heart that could love.
"If you have found such a heart, sir," said the Soldier, "I will gladly
allow you to marry Nimmie Amee in my place."
"If she loves you best, sir," answered the Woodman, "I shall not
interfere with your wedding her. For, to be quite frank with you, I
cannot yet love Nimmie Amee as I did before I became tin."
"Still, one of you ought to marry the poor girl," remarked Woot; "and,
if she likes tin men, there is not much choice between you. Why don't
you draw lots for her?"
"That wouldn't be right," said the Scarecrow.
"The girl should be permitted to choose her own husband," asserted
Polychrome. "You should both go to her and allow her to take her
choice. Then she will surely be happy."
"That, to me, seems a very fair arrangement," said the Tin Soldier.
"I agree to it," said the Tin Woodman, shaking the hand of his twin to
show the matter was settled. "May I ask your name, sir?" he continued.
"Before I was so cut up," replied the other, "I was known as Captain
Fyter, but afterward I was merely called 'The Tin Soldier.'"
"Well, Captain, if you are agreeable, let us now go to Nimmie Amee's
house and let her choose between us."
"Very well; and if we meet the Witch, we will both fight her--you with
your axe and I with my sword."
"The Witch is destroyed," announced the Scarecrow, and as they walked
away he told the Tin Soldier of much that had happened in the Land of
Oz since he had stood rusted in the forest.
"I must have stood there longer than I had imagined," he said
thoughtfully.
Chapter Seventeen
The Workshop of Ku-Klip
It was not more than a two hours' journey to the house where Nimmie
Amee had lived, but when our travelers arrived there they found the
place deserted. The door was partly off its hinges, the roof had fallen
in at the rear and the interior of the cottage was thick with dust. Not
only was the place vacant, but it was evident that no one had lived
there for a long time.
"I suppose," said the Scarecrow, as they all stood looking wonderingly
at the ruined house, "that after the Wicked Witch was destroyed, Nimmie
Amee became lonely and went somewhere else to live."
"One could scarcely expect a young girl to live all alone in a forest,"
added Woot. "She would want company, of course, and so I believe she
has gone where other people live."
"And perhaps she is still crying her poor little heart out because no
tin man comes to marry her," suggested Polychrome.
"Well, in that case, it is the clear duty of you two tin persons to
seek Nimmie Amee until you find her," declared the Scarecrow.
"I do not know where to look for the girl," said the Tin Soldier, "for
I am almost a stranger to this part of the country."
"I was born here," said the Tin Woodman, "but the forest has few
inhabitants except the wild beasts. I cannot think of anyone living
near here with whom Nimmie Amee might care to live."
"Why not go to Ku-Klip and ask him what has become of the girl?"
proposed Polychrome.
That struck them all as being a good suggestion, so once more they
started to tramp through the forest, taking the direct path to
Ku-Klip's house, for both the tin twins knew the way, having followed
it many times.
Ku-Klip lived at the far edge of the great forest, his house facing the
broad plains of the Munchkin Country that lay to the eastward. But,
when they came to this residence by the forest's edge, the tinsmith was
not at home.
It was a pretty place, all painted dark blue with trimmings of lighter
blue. There was a neat blue fence around the yard and several blue
benches had been placed underneath the shady blue trees which marked
the line between forest and plain. There was a blue lawn before the
house, which was a good sized building. Ku-Klip lived in the front part
of the house and had his work-shop in the back part, where he had also
built a lean-to addition, in order to give him more room.
Although they found the tinsmith absent on their arrival, there was
smoke coming out of his chimney, which proved that he would soon return.
"And perhaps Nimmie Amee will be with him," said the Scarecrow in a
cheerful voice.
While they waited, the Tin Woodman went to the door of the workshop
and, finding it unlocked, entered and looked curiously around the room
where he had been made.
"It seems almost like home to me," hie told his friends, who had
followed him in. "The first time I came here I had lost a leg, so I had
to carry it in my hand while I hopped on the other leg all the way from
the place in the forest where the enchanted axe cut me. I remember that
old Ku-Klip carefully put my meat leg into a barrel--I think that is
the same barrel, still standing in the corner yonder--and then at once
he began to make a tin leg for me. He worked fast and with skill, and I
was much interested in the job."
"My experience was much the same," said the Tin Soldier. "I used to
bring all the parts of me, which the enchanted sword had cut away, here
to the tinsmith, and Ku-Klip would put them into the barrel."
"I wonder," said Woot, "if those cast-off parts of you two unfortunates
are still in that barrel in the corner?"
"I suppose so." replied the Tin Woodman. "In the Land of Oz no part of
a living creature can ever be destroyed."
"If that is true, how was that Wicked Witch destroyed?" inquired Woot.
"Why, she was very old and was all dried up and withered before Oz
became a fairyland," explained the Scarecrow. "Only her magic arts had
kept her alive so long, and when Dorothy's house fell upon her she just
turned to dust, and was blown away and scattered by the wind. I do not
think, however, that the parts cut away from these two young men could
ever be entirely destroyed and, if they are still in those barrels,
they are likely to be just the same as when the enchanted axe or sword
severed them."
"It doesn't matter, however," said the Tin Woodman; "our tin bodies are
more brilliant and durable, and quite satisfy us."
"Yes, the tin bodies are best," agreed the Tin Soldier. "Nothing can
hurt them."
"Unless they get dented or rusted," said Woot, but both the tin men
frowned on him.
Scraps of tin, of all shapes and sizes, lay scattered around the
workshop. Also there were hammers and anvils and soldering irons and a
charcoal furnace and many other tools such as a tinsmith works with.
Against two of the side walls had been built stout work-benches and in
the center of the room was a long table. At the end of the shop, which
adjoined the dwelling, were several cupboards.
After examining the interior of the workshop until his curiosity was
satisfied, Woot said:
"I think I will go outside until Ku-Klip comes. It does not seem quite
proper for us to take possession of his house while he is absent."
"That is true," agreed the Scarecrow, and they were all about to leave
the room when the Tin Woodman said: "Wait a minute," and they halted in
obedience to the command.
Chapter Eighteen
The Tin Woodman Talks to Himself
The Tin Woodman had just noticed the cupboards and was curious to know
what they contained, so he went to one of them and opened the door.
There were shelves inside, and upon one of the shelves which was about
on a level with his tin chin the Emperor discovered a Head--it looked
like a doll's head, only it was larger, and he soon saw it was the Head
of some person. It was facing the Tin Woodman and as the cupboard door
swung back, the eyes of the Head slowly opened and looked at him. The
Tin Woodman was not at all surprised, for in the Land of Oz one runs
into magic at every turn.
"Dear me!" said the Tin Woodman, staring hard. "It seems as if I had
met you, somewhere, before. Good morning, sir!"
"You have the advantage of me," replied the Head. "I never saw you
before in my life."
"Still, your face is very familiar," persisted the Tin Woodman. "Pardon
me, but may I ask if you--eh--eh--if you ever had a Body?"
"Yes, at one time," answered the Head, "but that is so long ago I can't
remember it. Did you think," with a pleasant smile, "that I was born
just as I am? That a Head would be created without a Body?"
"No, of course not," said the other. "But how came you to lose your
body?"
"Well, I can't recollect the details; you'll have to ask Ku-Klip about
it," returned the Head. "For, curious as it may seem to you, my memory
is not good since my separation from the rest of me. I still possess my
brains and my intellect is as good as ever, but my memory of some of
the events I formerly experienced is quite hazy."
"How long have you been in this cupboard?" asked the Emperor.
"I don't know."
"Haven't you a name?"
"Oh, yes," said the Head; "I used to be called Nick Chopper, when I was
a woodman and cut down trees for a living."
"Good gracious!" cried the Tin Woodman in astonishment. "If you are
Nick Chopper's Head, then you are Me--or I'm You--or--or--What relation
are we, anyhow?"
"Don't ask me," replied the Head. "For my part, I'm not anxious to
claim relationship with any common, manufactured article, like you. You
may be all right in your class, but your class isn't my class. You're
tin."
The poor Emperor felt so bewildered that for a time he could only stare
at his old Head in silence. Then he said:
"I must admit that I wasn't at all bad looking before I became tin.
You're almost handsome--for meat. If your hair was combed, you'd be
quite attractive."
"How do you expect me to comb my hair without help?" demanded the Head,
indignantly. "I used to keep it smooth and neat, when I had arms, but
after I was removed from the rest of me, my hair got mussed, and old
Ku-Klip never has combed it for me."
"I'll speak to him about it," said the Tin Woodman. "Do you remember
loving a pretty Munchkin girl named Nimmie Amee?"
"No," answered the Head. "That is a foolish question. The heart in my
body--when I had a body--might have loved someone, for all I know, but
a head isn't made to love; it's made to think."
"Oh; do you think, then?"
"I used to think."
"You must have been shut up in this cupboard for years and years. What
have you thought about, in all that time?"
"Nothing. That's another foolish question. A little reflection will
convince you that I have had nothing to think about, except the boards
on the inside of the cupboard door, and it didn't take me long to think
of everything about those boards that could be thought of. Then, of
course, I quit thinking."
"And are you happy?"
"Happy? What's that?"
"Don't you know what happiness is?" inquired the Tin Woodman.
"I haven't the faintest idea whether it's round or square, or black or
white, or what it is. And, if you will pardon my lack of interest in
it, I will say that I don't care."
The Tin Woodman was much puzzled by these answers. His traveling
companions had grouped themselves at his back, and had fixed their eyes
on the Head and listened to the conversation with much interest, but
until now, they had not interrupted because they thought the Tin
Woodman had the best right to talk to his own head and renew
acquaintance with it.
But now the Tin Soldier remarked:
"I wonder if my old head happens to be in any of these cupboards," and
he proceeded to open all the cupboard doors. But no other head was to
be found on any of the shelves.
"Oh, well; never mind," said Woot the Wanderer; "I can't imagine what
anyone wants of a cast-off head, anyhow."
"I can understand the Soldier's interest," asserted Polychrome, dancing
around the grimy workshop until her draperies formed a cloud around her
dainty form. "For sentimental reasons a man might like to see his old
head once more, just as one likes to revisit an old home."
"And then to kiss it good-bye," added the Scarecrow.
"I hope that tin thing won't try to kiss me good-bye!" exclaimed the
Tin Woodman's former head. "And I don't see what right you folks have
to disturb my peace and comfort, either."
"You belong to me," the Tin Woodman declared.
"I do not!"
"You and I are one."
"We've been parted," asserted the Head. "It would be unnatural for me
to have any interest in a man made of tin. Please close the door and
leave me alone."
"I did not think that my old Head could be so disagreeable," said the
Emperor. "I--I'm quite ashamed of myself; meaning you."
"You ought to be glad that I've enough sense to know what my rights
are," retorted the Head. "In this cupboard I am leading a simple life,
peaceful and dignified, and when a mob of people in whom I am not
interested disturb me, they are the disagreeable ones; not I."
With a sigh the Tin Woodman closed and latched the cupboard door and
turned away.
"Well," said the Tin Soldier, "if my old head would have treated me as
coldly and in so unfriendly a manner as your old head has treated you,
friend Chopper, I'm glad I could not find it."
"Yes; I'm rather surprised at my head, myself," replied the Tin
Woodman, thoughtfully. "I thought I had a more pleasant disposition
when I was made of meat."
But just then old Ku-Klip the Tinsmith arrived, and he seemed surprised
to find so many visitors. Ku-Klip was a stout man and a short man. He
had his sleeves rolled above his elbows, showing muscular arms, and he
wore a leathern apron that covered all the front of him, and was so
long that Woot was surprised he didn't step on it and trip whenever he
walked. And Ku-Klip had a gray beard that was almost as long as his
apron, and his head was bald on top and his ears stuck out from his
head like two fans. Over his eyes, which were bright and twinkling, he
wore big spectacles. It was easy to see that the tinsmith was a kind
hearted man, as well as a merry and agreeable one. "Oh-ho!" he cried in
a joyous bass voice; "here are both my tin men come to visit me, and
they and their friends are welcome indeed. I'm very proud of you two
characters, I assure you, for you are so perfect that you are proof
that I'm a good workman. Sit down. Sit down, all of you--if you can
find anything to sit on--and tell me why you are here."
So they found seats and told him all of their adventures that they
thought he would like to know. Ku-Klip was glad to learn that Nick
Chopper, the Tin Woodman, was now Emperor of the Winkies and a friend
of Ozma of Oz, and the tinsmith was also interested in the Scarecrow
and Polychrome.
He turned the straw man around, examining him curiously, and patted him
on all sides, and then said:
"You are certainly wonderful, but I think you would be more durable and
steady on your legs if you were made of tin. Would you like me to--"
"No, indeed!" interrupted the Scarecrow hastily; "I like myself better
as I am."
But to Polychrome the tinsmith said:
"Nothing could improve you, my dear, for you are the most beautiful
maiden I have ever seen. It is pure happiness just to look at you."
"That is praise, indeed, from so skillful a workman," returned the
Rainbow's Daughter, laughing and dancing in and out the room.
"Then it must be this boy you wish me to help," said Ku-Klip, looking
at Woot.
"No," said Woot, "we are not here to seek your skill, but have merely
come to you for information."
Then, between them, they related their search for Nimmie Amee, whom the
Tin Woodman explained he had resolved to marry, yet who had promised to
become the bride of the Tin Soldier before he unfortunately became
rusted. And when the story was told, they asked Ku-Klip if he knew what
had become of Nimmie Amee.
"Not exactly," replied the old man, "but I know that she wept bitterly
when the Tin Soldier did not come to marry her, as he had promised to
do. The old Witch was so provoked at the girl's tears that she beat
Nimmie Amee with her crooked stick and then hobbled away to gather some
magic herbs, with which she intended to transform the girl into an old
hag, so that no one would again love her or care to marry her. It was
while she was away on this errand that Dorothy's house fell on the
Wicked Witch, and she turned to dust and blew away. When I heard this
good news, I sent Nimmie Amee to find the Silver Shoes which the Witch
had worn, but Dorothy had taken them with her to the Emerald City."
"Yes, we know all about those Silver Shoes," said the Scarecrow.
"Well," continued Ku-Klip, "after that, Nimmie Amee decided to go away
from the forest and live with some people she was acquainted with who
had a house on Mount Munch. I have never seen the girl since."
"Do you know the name of the people on Mount Munch, with whom she went
to live?" asked the Tin Woodman.
"No, Nimmie Amee did not mention her friend's name, and I did not ask
her. She took with her all that she could carry of the goods that were
in the Witch's house, and she told me I could have the rest. But when I
went there I found nothing worth taking except some magic powders that
I did not know how to use, and a bottle of Magic Glue."
"What is Magic Glue?" asked Woot.
"It is a magic preparation with which to mend people when they cut
themselves. One time, long ago, I cut off one of my fingers by
accident, and I carried it to the Witch, who took down her bottle and
glued it on again for me. See!" showing them his finger, "it is as good
as ever it was. No one else that I ever heard of had this Magic Glue,
and of course when Nick Chopper cut himself to pieces with his
enchanted axe and Captain Fyter cut himself to pieces with his
enchanted sword, the Witch would not mend them, or allow me to glue
them together, because she had herself wickedly enchanted the axe and
sword. Nothing remained but for me to make them new parts out of tin;
but, as you see, tin answered the purpose very well, and I am sure
their tin bodies are a great improvement on their meat bodies."
"Very true," said the Tin Soldier.
"I quite agree with you," said the Tin Woodman. "I happened to find my
old head in your cupboard, a while ago, and certainly it is not as
desirable a head as the tin one I now wear."
"By the way," said the Tin Soldier, "what ever became of my old head,
Ku-Klip?"
"And of the different parts of our bodies?" added the Tin Woodman.
"Let me think a minute," replied Ku-Klip. "If I remember right, you two
boys used to bring me most of your parts, when they were cut off, and I
saved them in that barrel in the corner. You must not have brought me
all the parts, for when I made Chopfyt I had hard work finding enough
pieces to complete the job. I finally had to finish him with one arm."
"Who is Chopfyt?" inquired Woot.
"Oh, haven't I told you about Chopfyt?" exclaimed Ku-Klip. "Of course
not! And he's quite a curiosity, too. You'll be interested in hearing
about Chopfyt. This is how he happened:
"One day, after the Witch had been destroyed and Nimmie Amee had gone
to live with her friends on Mount Munch, I was looking around the shop
for something and came upon the bottle of Magic Glue which I had
brought from the old Witch's house. It occurred to me to piece together
the odds and ends of you two people, which of course were just as good
as ever, and see if I couldn't make a man out of them. If I succeeded,
I would have an assistant to help me with my work, and I thought it
would be a clever idea to put to some practical use the scraps of Nick
Chopper and Captain Fyter. There were two perfectly good heads in my
cupboard, and a lot of feet and legs and parts of bodies in the barrel,
so I set to work to see what I could do.
"First, I pieced together a body, gluing it with the Witch's Magic
Glue, which worked perfectly. That was the hardest part of my job,
however, because the bodies didn't match up well and some parts were
missing. But by using a piece of Captain Fyter here and a piece of Nick
Chopper there, I finally got together a very decent body, with heart
and all the trimmings complete."
"Whose heart did you use in making the body?" asked the Tin Woodman
anxiously.
"I can't tell, for the parts had no tags on them and one heart looks
much like another. After the body was completed, I glued two fine legs
and feet onto it. One leg was Nick Chopper's and one was Captain
Fyter's and, finding one leg longer than the other, I trimmed it down
to make them match. I was much disappointed to find that I had but one
arm. There was an extra leg in the barrel, but I could find only one
arm. Having glued this onto the body, I was ready for the head, and I
had some difficulty in making up my mind which head to use. Finally I
shut my eyes and reached out my hand toward the cupboard shelf, and the
first head I touched I glued upon my new man."
"It was mine!" declared the Tin Soldier, gloomily.
"No, it was mine," asserted Ku-Klip, "for I had given you another in
exchange for it--the beautiful tin head you now wear. When the glue had
dried, my man was quite an interesting fellow. I named him Chopfyt,
using a part of Nick Chopper's name and a part of Captain Fyter's name,
because he was a mixture of both your cast-off parts. Chopfyt was
interesting, as I said, but he did not prove a very agreeable
companion. He complained bitterly because I had given him but one
arm--as if it were my fault!--and he grumbled because the suit of blue
Munchkin clothes, which I got for him from a neighbor, did not fit him
perfectly."
"Ah, that was because he was wearing my old head," remarked the Tin
Soldier. "I remember that head used to be very particular about its
clothes."
"As an assistant," the old tinsmith continued, "Chopfyt was not a
success. He was awkward with tools and was always hungry. He demanded
something to eat six or eight times a day, so I wondered if I had
fitted his insides properly. Indeed, Chopfyt ate so much that little
food was left for myself; so, when he proposed, one day, to go out into
the world and seek adventures, I was delighted to be rid of him. I even
made him a tin arm to take the place of the missing one, and that
pleased him very much, so that we parted good friends."
"What became of Chopfyt after that?" the Scarecrow inquired.
"I never heard. He started off toward the east, into the plains of the
Munchkin Country, and that was the last I ever saw of him."
"It seems to me," said the Tin Woodman reflectively, "that you did
wrong in making a man out of our cast-off parts. It is evident that
Chopfyt could, with justice, claim relationship with both of us."
"Don't worry about that," advised Ku-Klip cheerfully; "it is not likely
that you will ever meet the fellow. And, if you should meet him, he
doesn't know who he is made of, for I never told him the secret of his
manufacture. Indeed, you are the only ones who know of it, and you may
keep the secret to yourselves, if you wish to."
"Never mind Chopfyt," said the Scarecrow. "Our business now is to find
poor Nimmie Amee and let her choose her tin husband. To do that, it
seems, from the information Ku-Klip has given us, we must travel to
Mount Munch."
"If that's the programme, let us start at once," suggested Woot.
So they all went outside, where they found Polychrome dancing about
among the trees and talking with the birds and laughing as merrily as
if she had not lost her Rainbow and so been separated from all her
fairy sisters.
They told her they were going to Mount Munch, and she replied:
"Very well; I am as likely to find my Rainbow there as here, and any
other place is as likely as there. It all depends on the weather. Do
you think it looks like rain?"
They shook their heads, and Polychrome laughed again and danced on
after them when they resumed their journey.
Chapter Nineteen
The Invisible Country
They were proceeding so easily and comfortably on their way to Mount
Munch that Woot said in a serious tone of voice:
"I'm afraid something is going to happen."
"Why?" asked Polychrome, dancing around the group of travelers.
"Because," said the boy, thoughtfully, "I've noticed that when we have
the least reason for getting into trouble, something is sure to go
wrong. Just now the weather is delightful; the grass is beautifully
blue and quite soft to our feet; the mountain we are seeking shows
clearly in the distance and there is no reason anything should happen
to delay us in getting there. Our troubles all seem to be over,
and--well, that's why I'm afraid," he added, with a sigh.
"Dear me!" remarked the Scarecrow, "what unhappy thoughts you have, to
be sure. This is proof that born brains cannot equal manufactured
brains, for my brains dwell only on facts and never borrow trouble.
When there is occasion for my brains to think, they think, but I would
be ashamed of my brains if they kept shooting out thoughts that were
merely fears and imaginings, such as do no good, but are likely to do
harm."
"For my part," said the Tin Woodman, "I do not think at all, but allow
my velvet heart to guide me at all times."
"The tinsmith filled my hollow head with scraps and clippings of tin,"
said the Soldier, "and he told me they would do nicely for brains, but
when I begin to think, the tin scraps rattle around and get so mixed
that I'm soon bewildered. So I try not to think. My tin heart is almost
as useless to me, for it is hard and cold, so I'm sure the red velvet
heart of my friend Nick Chopper is a better guide."
"Thoughtless people are not unusual," observed the Scarecrow, "but I
consider them more fortunate than those who have useless or wicked
thoughts and do not try to curb them. Your oil can, friend Woodman, is
filled with oil, but you only apply the oil to your joints, drop by
drop, as you need it, and do not keep spilling it where it will do no
good. Thoughts should be restrained in the same way as your oil, and
only applied when necessary, and for a good purpose. If used carefully,
thoughts are good things to have."
Polychrome laughed at him, for the Rainbow's Daughter knew more about
thoughts than the Scarecrow did. But the others were solemn, feeling
they had been rebuked, and tramped on in silence.
Suddenly Woot, who was in the lead, looked around and found that all
his comrades had mysteriously disappeared. But where could they have
gone to? The broad plain was all about him and there were neither trees
nor bushes that could hide even a rabbit, nor any hole for one to fall
into. Yet there he stood, alone.
Surprise had caused him to halt, and with a thoughtful and puzzled
expression on his face he looked down at his feet. It startled him anew
to discover that he had no feet. He reached out his hands, but he could
not see them. He could feel his hands and arms and body; he stamped his
feet on the grass and knew they were there, but in some strange way
they had become invisible.
While Woot stood, wondering, a crash of metal sounded in his ears and
he heard two heavy bodies tumble to the earth just beside him.
"Good gracious!" exclaimed the voice of the Tin Woodman.
"Mercy me!" cried the voice of the Tin Soldier.
"Why didn't you look where you were going?" asked the Tin Woodman
reproachfully.
"I did, but I couldn't see you," said the Tin Soldier. "Something has
happened to my tin eyes. I can't see you, even now, nor can I see
anyone else!"
"It's the same way with me," admitted the Tin Woodman.
Woot couldn't see either of them, although he heard them plainly, and
just then something smashed against him unexpectedly and knocked him
over; but it was only the straw-stuffed body of the Scarecrow that fell
upon him and while he could not see the Scarecrow he managed to push
him off and rose to his feet just as Polychrome whirled against him and
made him tumble again.
Sitting upon the ground, the boy asked:
"Can you see us, Poly?"
"No, indeed," answered the Rainbow's Daughter; "we've all become
invisible."
"How did it happen, do you suppose?" inquired the Scarecrow, lying
where he had fallen.
"We have met with no enemy," answered Poly-chrome, "so it must be that
this part of the country has the magic quality of making people
invisible--even fairies falling under the charm. We can see the grass,
and the flowers, and the stretch of plain before us, and we can still
see Mount Munch in the distance; but we cannot see ourselves or one
another."
"Well, what are we to do about it?" demanded Woot.
"I think this magic affects only a small part of the plain," replied
Polychrome; "perhaps there is only a streak of the country where an
enchantment makes people become invisible. So, if we get together and
hold hands, we can travel toward Mount Munch until the enchanted streak
is passed."
"All right," said Woot, jumping up, "give me your hand, Polychrome.
Where are you?"
"Here," she answered. "Whistle, Woot, and keep whistling until I come
to you."
So Woot whistled, and presently Polychrome found him and grasped his
hand.
"Someone must help me up," said the Scarecrow, lying near them; so they
found the straw man and sat him upon his feet, after which he held fast
to Polychrome's other hand.
Nick Chopper and the Tin Soldier had managed to scramble up without
assistance, but it was awkward for them and the Tin Woodman said:
"I don't seem to stand straight, somehow. But my joints all work, so I
guess I can walk."
Guided by his voice, they reached his side, where Woot grasped his tin
fingers so they might keep together.
The Tin Soldier was standing near by and the Scarecrow soon touched him
and took hold of his arm.
"I hope you're not wobbly," said the straw man, "for if two of us walk
unsteadily we will be sure to fall."
"I'm not wobbly," the Tin Soldier assured him, "but I'm certain that
one of my legs is shorter than the other. I can't see it, to tell
what's gone wrong, but I'll limp on with the rest of you until we are
out of this enchanted territory."
They now formed a line, holding hands, and turning their faces toward
Mount Munch resumed their journey. They had not gone far, however, when
a terrible growl saluted their ears. The sound seemed to come from a
place just in front of them, so they halted abruptly and remained
silent, listening with all their ears.
"I smell straw!" cried a hoarse, harsh voice, with more growls and
snarls. "I smell straw, and I'm a Hip-po-gy-raf who loves straw and
eats all he can find. I want to eat this straw! Where is it? Where is
it?"
The Scarecrow, hearing this, trembled but kept silent. All the others
were silent, too, hoping that the invisible beast would be unable to
find them. But the creature sniffed the odor of the straw and drew
nearer and nearer to them until he reached the Tin Woodman, on one end
of the line. It was a big beast and it smelled of the Tin Woodman and
grated two rows of enormous teeth against the Emperor's tin body.
"Bah! that's not straw," said the harsh voice, and the beast advanced
along the line to Woot.
"Meat! Pooh, you're no good! I can't eat meat," grumbled the beast, and
passed on to Polychrome.
"Sweetmeats and perfume--cobwebs and dew! Nothing to eat in a fairy
like you," said the creature.
Now, the Scarecrow was next to Polychrome in the line, and he realized
if the beast devoured his straw he would be helpless for a long time,
because the last farmhouse was far behind them and only grass covered
the vast expanse of plain. So in his fright he let go of Polychrome's
hand and put the hand of the Tin Soldier in that of the Rainbow's
Daughter. Then he slipped back of the line and went to the other end,
where he silently seized the Tin Woodman's hand.
Meantime, the beast had smelled the Tin Soldier and found he was the
last of the line.
"That's funny!" growled the Hip-po-gy-raf; "I can smell straw, but I
can't find it. Well, it's here, somewhere, and I must hunt around until
I do find it, for I'm hungry."
His voice was now at the left of them, so they started on, hoping to
avoid him, and traveled as fast as they could in the direction of Mount
Munch.
"I don't like this invisible country," said Woot with a shudder. "We
can't tell how many dreadful, invisible beasts are roaming around us,
or what danger we'll come to next."
"Quit thinking about danger, please," said the Scarecrow, warningly.
"Why?" asked the boy.
"If you think of some dreadful thing, it's liable to happen, but if you
don't think of it, and no one else thinks of it, it just can't happen.
Do you see?"
"No," answered Woot. "I won't be able to see much of anything until we
escape from this enchantment."
But they got out of the invisible strip of country as suddenly as they
had entered it, and the instant they got out they stopped short, for
just before them was a deep ditch, running at right angles as far as
their eyes could see and stopping all further progress toward Mount
Munch.
"It's not so very wide," said Woot, "but I'm sure none of us can jump
across it."
Polychrome began to laugh, and the Scarecrow said: "What's the matter?"
"Look at the tin men!" she said, with another burst of merry laughter.
Woot and the Scarecrow looked, and the tin men looked at themselves.
"It was the collision," said the Tin Woodman regretfully. "I knew
something was wrong with me, and now I can see that my side is dented
in so that I lean over toward the left. It was the Soldier's fault; he
shouldn't have been so careless."
"It is your fault that my right leg is bent, making it shorter than the
other, so that I limp badly," retorted the Soldier. "You shouldn't have
stood where I was walking."
"You shouldn't have walked where I was standing," replied the Tin
Woodman.
It was almost a quarrel, so Polychrome said soothingly:
"Never mind, friends; as soon as we have time I am sure we can
straighten the Soldier's leg and get the dent out of the Woodman's
body. The Scarecrow needs patting into shape, too, for he had a bad
tumble, but our first task is to get over this ditch."
"Yes, the ditch is the most important thing, just now," added Woot.
They were standing in a row, looking hard at the unexpected barrier,
when a fierce growl from behind them made them all turn quickly. Out of
the invisible country marched a huge beast with a thick, leathery skin
and a surprisingly long neck. The head on the top of this neck was
broad and flat and the eyes and mouth were very big and the nose and
ears very small. When the head was drawn down toward the beast's
shoulders, the neck was all wrinkles, but the head could shoot up very
high indeed, if the creature wished it to.
"Dear me!" exclaimed the Scarecrow, "this must be the Hip-po-gy-raf."
"Quite right," said the beast; "and you're the straw which I'm to eat
for my dinner. Oh, how I love straw! I hope you don't resent my
affectionate appetite?"
With its four great legs it advanced straight toward the Scarecrow, but
the Tin Woodman and the Tin Soldier both sprang in front of their
friend and flourished their weapons.
"Keep off!" said the Tin Woodman, warningly, "or I'll chop you with my
axe."
"Keep off!" said the Tin Soldier, "or I'll cut you with my sword."
"Would you really do that?" asked the Hip-po-gy-raf, in a disappointed
voice.
"We would," they both replied, and the Tin Woodman added: "The
Scarecrow is our friend, and he would be useless without his straw
stuffing. So, as we are comrades, faithful and true, we will defend our
friend's stuffing against all enemies."
The Hip-po-gy-raf sat down and looked at them sorrowfully.
"When one has made up his mind to have a meal of delicious straw, and
then finds he can't have it, it is certainly hard luck," he said. "And
what good is the straw man to you, or to himself, when the ditch keeps
you from going any further?"
"Well, we can go back again," suggested Woot.
"True," said the Hip-po; "and if you do, you'll be as disappointed as I
am. That's some comfort, anyhow."
The travelers looked at the beast, and then they looked across the
ditch at the level plain beyond. On the other side the grass had grown
tall, and the sun had dried it, so there was a fine crop of hay that
only needed to be cut and stacked.
"Why don't you cross over and eat hay?" the boy asked the beast.
"I'm not fond of hay," replied the Hip-po-gy-raf; "straw is much more
delicious, to my notion, and it's more scarce in this neighborhood,
too. Also I must confess that I can't get across the ditch, for my body
is too heavy and clumsy for me to jump the distance. I can stretch my
neck across, though, and you will notice that I've nibbled the hay on
the farther edge--not because I liked it, but because one must eat, and
if one can't get the sort of food he desires, he must take what is
offered or go hungry."
"Ah, I see you are a philosopher," remarked the Scarecrow.
"No, I'm just a Hip-po-gy-raf," was the reply.
Polychrome was not afraid of the big beast. She danced close to him and
said:
"If you can stretch your neck across the ditch, why not help us over?
We can sit on your big head, one at a time, and then you can lift us
across."
"Yes; I can, it is true," answered the Hip-po; "but I refuse to do it.
Unless--" he added, and stopped short.
"Unless what?" asked Polychrome.
"Unless you first allow me to eat the straw with which the Scarecrow is
stuffed."
"No," said the Rainbow's Daughter, "that is too high a price to pay.
Our friend's straw is nice and fresh, for he was restuffed only a
little while ago."
"I know," agreed the Hip-po-gy-raf. "That's why I want it. If it was
old, musty straw, I wouldn't care for it."
"Please lift us across," pleaded Polychrome.
"No," replied the beast; "since you refuse my generous offer, I can be
as stubborn as you are."
After that they were all silent for a time, but then the Scarecrow said
bravely:
"Friends, let us agree to the beast's terms. Give him my straw, and
carry the rest of me with you across the ditch. Once on the other side,
the Tin Soldier can cut some of the hay with his sharp sword, and you
can stuff me with that material until we reach a place where there is
straw. It is true I have been stuffed with straw all my life and it
will be somewhat humiliating to be filled with common hay, but I am
willing to sacrifice my pride in a good cause. Moreover, to abandon our
errand and so deprive the great Emperor of the Winkies--or this noble
Soldier--of his bride, would be equally humiliating, if not more so."
"You're a very honest and clever man!" exclaimed the Hip-po-gy-raf,
admiringly. "When I have eaten your head, perhaps I also will become
clever."
"You're not to eat my head, you know," returned the Scarecrow hastily.
"My head isn't stuffed with straw and I cannot part with it. When one
loses his head he loses his brains."
"Very well, then; you may keep your head," said the beast.
The Scarecrow's companions thanked him warmly for his loyal sacrifice
to their mutual good, and then he laid down and permitted them to pull
the straw from his body. As fast as they did this, the Hip-po-gy-raf
ate up the straw, and when all was consumed Polychrome made a neat
bundle of the clothes and boots and gloves and hat and said she would
carry them, while Woot tucked the Scarecrow's head under his arm and
promised to guard its safety.
"Now, then," said the Tin Woodman, "keep your promise, Beast, and lift
us over the ditch."
"M-m-m-mum, but that was a fine dinner!" said the Hip-po, smacking his
thick lips in satisfaction, "and I'm as good as my word. Sit on my
head, one at a time, and I'll land you safely on the other side."
He approached close to the edge of the ditch and squatted down.
Polychrome climbed over his big body and sat herself lightly upon the
flat head, holding the bundle of the Scarecrow's raiment in her hand.
Slowly the elastic neck stretched out until it reached the far side of
the ditch, when the beast lowered his head and permitted the beautiful
fairy to leap to the ground.
Woot made the queer journey next, and then the Tin Soldier and the Tin
Woodman went over, and all were well pleased to have overcome this
serious barrier to their progress.
"Now, Soldier, cut the hay," said the Scarecrow's head, which was still
held by Woot the Wanderer.
"I'd like to, but I can't stoop over, with my bent leg, without
falling," replied Captain Fyter.
"What can we do about that leg, anyhow?" asked Woot, appealing to
Polychrome.
She danced around in a circle several times without replying, and the
boy feared she had not heard him; but the Rainbow's Daughter was merely
thinking upon the problem, and presently she paused beside the Tin
Soldier and said:
"I've been taught a little fairy magic, but I've never before been
asked to mend tin legs with it, so I'm not sure I can help you. It all
depends on the good will of my unseen fairy guardians, so I'll try, and
if I fail, you will be no worse off than you are now."
She danced around the circle again, and then laid both hands upon the
twisted tin leg and sang in her sweet voice:
"Fairy Powers, come to my aid!
This bent leg of tin is made;
Make it straight and strong and true,
And I'll render thanks to you."
"Ah!" murmured Captain Fyter in a glad voice, as she withdrew her hands
and danced away, and they saw he was standing straight as ever, because
his leg was as shapely and strong as it had been before his accident.
The Tin Woodman had watched Polychrome with much interest, and he now
said:
"Please take the dent out of my side, Poly, for I am more crippled than
was the Soldier."
So the Rainbow's Daughter touched his side lightly and sang:
"Here's a dent by accident;
Such a thing was never meant.
Fairy Powers, so wondrous great,
Make our dear Tin Woodman straight!"
"Good!" cried the Emperor, again standing erect and strutting around to
show his fine figure. "Your fairy magic may not be able to accomplish
all things, sweet Polychrome, but it works splendidly on tin. Thank you
very much."
"The hay--the hay!" pleaded the Scarecrow's head.
"Oh, yes; the hay," said Woot. "What are you waiting for, Captain
Fyter?"
At once the Tin Soldier set to work cutting hay with his sword and in a
few minutes there was quite enough with which to stuff the Scarecrow's
body. Woot and Polychrome did this and it was no easy task because the
hay packed together more than straw and as they had little experience
in such work their job, when completed, left the Scarecrow's arms and
legs rather bunchy. Also there was a hump on his back which made Woot
laugh and say it reminded him of a camel, but it was the best they
could do and when the head was fastened on to the body they asked the
Scarecrow how he felt.
"A little heavy, and not quite natural," he cheerfully replied; "but
I'll get along somehow until we reach a straw-stack. Don't laugh at me,
please, because I'm a little ashamed of myself and I don't want to
regret a good action."
They started at once in the direction of Mount Munch, and as the
Scarecrow proved very clumsy in his movements, Woot took one of his
arms and the Tin Woodman the other and so helped their friend to walk
in a straight line.
And the Rainbow's Daughter, as before, danced ahead of them and behind
them and all around them, and they never minded her odd ways, because
to them she was like a ray of sunshine.
Chapter Twenty
Over Night
The Land of the Munchkins is full of surprises, as our travelers had
already learned, and although Mount Munch was constantly growing larger
as they advanced toward it, they knew it was still a long way off and
were not certain, by any means, that they had escaped all danger or
encountered their last adventure.
The plain was broad, and as far as the eye could see, there seemed to
be a level stretch of country between them and the mountain, but toward
evening they came upon a hollow, in which stood a tiny blue Munchkin
dwelling with a garden around it and fields of grain filling in all the
rest of the hollow.
They did not discover this place until they came close to the edge of
it, and they were astonished at the sight that greeted them because
they had imagined that this part of the plain had no inhabitants.
"It's a very small house," Woot declared. "I wonder who lives there?"
"The way to find out is to knock on the door and ask," replied the Tin
Woodman. "Perhaps it is the home of Nimmie Amee."
"Is she a dwarf?" asked the boy.
"No, indeed; Nimmie Amee is a full sized woman."
"Then I'm sure she couldn't live in that little house," said Woot.
"Let's go down," suggested the Scarecrow. "I'm almost sure I can see a
straw-stack in the back yard."
They descended the hollow, which was rather steep at the sides, and
soon came to the house, which was indeed rather small. Woot knocked
upon a door that was not much higher than his waist, but got no reply.
He knocked again, but not a sound was heard.
"Smoke is coming out of the chimney," announced Polychrome, who was
dancing lightly through the garden, where cabbages and beets and
turnips and the like were growing finely.
"Then someone surely lives here," said Woot, and knocked again.
Now a window at the side of the house opened and a queer head appeared.
It was white and hairy and had a long snout and little round eyes. The
ears were hidden by a blue sunbonnet tied under the chin.
"Oh; it's a pig!" exclaimed Woot.
"Pardon me; I am Mrs. Squealina Swyne, wife of Professor Grunter Swyne,
and this is our home," said the one in the window. "What do you want?"
"What sort of a Professor is your husband?" inquired the Tin Woodman
curiously.
"He is Professor of Cabbage Culture and Corn Perfection. He is very
famous in his own family, and would be the wonder of the world if he
went abroad," said Mrs. Swyne in a voice that was half proud and half
irritable. "I must also inform you intruders that the Professor is a
dangerous individual, for he files his teeth every morning until they
are sharp as needles. If you are butchers, you'd better run away and
avoid trouble."
"We are not butchers," the Tin Woodman assured her.
"Then what are you doing with that axe? And why has the other tin man
a sword?"
"They are the only weapons we have to defend our friends from their
enemies," explained the Emperor of the Winkies, and Woot added:
"Do not be afraid of us, Mrs. Swyne, for we are harmless travelers. The
tin men and the Scarecrow never eat anything and Polychrome feasts only
on dewdrops. As for me, I'm rather hungry, but there is plenty of food
in your garden to satisfy me."
Professor Swyne now joined his wife at the window, looking rather
scared in spite of the boy's assuring speech. He wore a blue Munchkin
hat, with pointed crown and broad brim, and big spectacles covered his
eyes. He peeked around from behind his wife and after looking hard at
the strangers, he said:
"My wisdom assures me that you are merely travelers, as you say, and
not butchers. Butchers have reason to be afraid of me, but you are
safe. We cannot invite you in, for you are too big for our house, but
the boy who eats is welcome to all the carrots and turnips he wants.
Make yourselves at home in the garden and stay all night, if you like;
but in the morning you must go away, for we are quiet people and do not
care for company."
"May I have some of your straw?" asked the Scarecrow.
"Help yourself," replied Professor Swyne.
"For pigs, they're quite respectable," remarked Woot, as they all went
toward the straw-stack.
"I'm glad they didn't invite us in," said Captain Fyter. "I hope I'm
not too particular about my associates, but I draw the line at pigs."
The Scarecrow was glad to be rid of his hay, for during the long walk
it had sagged down and made him fat and squatty and more bumpy than at
first.
"I'm not specially proud," he said, "but I love a manly figure, such as
only straw stuffing can create. I've not felt like myself since that
hungry Hip-po ate my last straw."
Polychrome and Woot set to work removing the hay and then they selected
the finest straw, crisp and golden, and with it stuffed the Scarecrow
anew. He certainly looked better after the operation, and he was so
pleased at being reformed that he tried to dance a little jig, and
almost succeeded.
"I shall sleep under the straw-stack tonight," Woot decided, after he
had eaten some of the vegetables from the garden, and in fact he slept
very well, with the two tin men and the Scarecrow sitting silently
beside him and Polychrome away somewhere in the moonlight dancing her
fairy dances.
At daybreak the Tin Woodman and the Tin Soldier took occasion to polish
their bodies and oil their joints, for both were exceedingly careful of
their personal appearance. They had forgotten the quarrel due to their
accidental bumping of one another in the invisible country, and being
now good friends the Tin Woodman polished the Tin Soldier's back for
him and then the Tin Soldier polished the Tin Woodman's back.
For breakfast the Wanderer ate crisp lettuce and radishes, and the
Rainbow's Daughter, who had now returned to her friends, sipped the
dewdrops that had formed on the petals of the wild-flowers.
As they passed the little house to renew their journey, Woot called out:
"Good-bye, Mr. and Mrs. Swyne!"
The window opened and the two pigs looked out.
"A pleasant journey," said the Professor.
"Have you any children?" asked the Scarecrow, who was a great friend of
children.
"We have nine," answered the Professor; "but they do not live with us,
for when they were tiny piglets the Wizard of Oz came here and offered
to care for them and to educate them. So we let him have our nine tiny
piglets, for he's a good Wizard and can be relied upon to keep his
promises."
"I know the Nine Tiny Piglets," said the Tin Woodman.
"So do I," said the Scarecrow. "They still live in the Emerald City,
and the Wizard takes good care of them and teaches them to do all sorts
of tricks."
"Did they ever grow up?" inquired Mrs. Squealina Swyne, in an anxious
voice.
"No," answered the Scarecrow; "like all other children in the Land of
Oz, they will always remain children, and in the case of the tiny
piglets that is a good thing, because they would not be nearly so cute
and cunning if they were bigger."
"But are they happy?" asked Mrs. Swyne.
"Everyone in the Emerald City is happy," said the Tin Woodman. "They
can't help it."
Then the travelers said good-bye, and climbed the side of the basin
that was toward Mount Munch.
Chapter Twenty-One
Polychrome's Magic
On this morning, which ought to be the last of this important journey,
our friends started away as bright and cheery as could be, and Woot
whistled a merry tune so that Polychrome could dance to the music.
On reaching the top of the hill, the plain spread out before them in
all its beauty of blue grasses and wildflowers, and Mount Munch seemed
much nearer than it had the previous evening. They trudged on at a
brisk pace, and by noon the mountain was so close that they could
admire its appearance. Its slopes were partly clothed with pretty
evergreens, and its foot-hills were tufted with a slender waving
bluegrass that had a tassel on the end of every blade. And, for the
first time, they perceived, near the foot of the mountain, a charming
house, not of great size but neatly painted and with many flowers
surrounding it and vines climbing over the doors and windows.
It was toward this solitary house that our travelers now directed their
steps, thinking to inquire of the people who lived there where Nimmie
Amee might be found.
There were no paths, but the way was quite open and clear, and they
were drawing near to the dwelling when Woot the Wanderer, who was then
in the lead of the little party, halted with such an abrupt jerk that
he stumbled over backward and lay flat on his back in the meadow. The
Scarecrow stopped to look at the boy.
"Why did you do that?" he asked in surprise.
Woot sat up and gazed around him in amazement.
"I--I don't know!" he replied.
The two tin men, arm in arm, started to pass them when both halted and
tumbled, with a great clatter, into a heap beside Woot. Polychrome,
laughing at the absurd sight, came dancing up and she, also, came to a
sudden stop, but managed to save herself from falling.
Everyone of them was much astonished, and the Scarecrow said with a
puzzled look:
"I don't see anything."
"Nor I," said Woot; "but something hit me, just the same."
"Some invisible person struck me a heavy blow," declared the Tin
Woodman, struggling to separate himself from the Tin Soldier, whose
legs and arms were mixed with his own.
"I'm not sure it was a person," said Polychrome, looking more grave
than usual. "It seems to me that I merely ran into some hard substance
which barred my way. In order to make sure of this, let me try another
place."
She ran back a way and then with much caution advanced in a different
place, but when she reached a position on a line with the others she
halted, her arms outstretched before her.
"I can feel something hard--something smooth as glass," she said, "but
I'm sure it is not glass."
"Let me try," suggested Woot, getting up; but when he tried to go
forward, he discovered the same barrier that Polychrome had encountered.
"No," he said, "it isn't glass. But what is it?"
"Air," replied a small voice beside him. "Solid air; that's all."
They all looked downward and found a sky-blue rabbit had stuck his head
out of a burrow in the ground. The rabbit's eyes were a deeper blue
than his fur, and the pretty creature seemed friendly and unafraid.
"Air!" exclaimed Woot, staring in astonishment into the rabbit's blue
eyes; "whoever heard of air so solid that one cannot push it aside?"
"You can't push this air aside," declared the rabbit, "for it was made
hard by powerful sorcery, and it forms a wall that is intended to keep
people from getting to that house yonder."
"Oh; it's a wall, is it?" said the Tin Woodman.
"Yes, it is really a wall," answered the rabbit, "and it is fully six
feet thick."
"How high is it?" inquired Captain Fyter, the Tin Soldier.
"Oh, ever so high; perhaps a mile," said the rabbit.
"Couldn't we go around it?" asked Woot.
"Of course, for the wall is a circle," explained the rabbit. "In the
center of the circle stands the house, so you may walk around the Wall
of Solid Air, but you can't get to the house."
"Who put the air wall around the house?" was the Scarecrow's question.
"Nimmie Amee did that."
"Nimmie Amee!" they all exclaimed in surprise.
"Yes," answered the rabbit. "She used to live with an old Witch, who
was suddenly destroyed, and when Nimmie Amee ran away from the Witch's
house, she took with her just one magic formula--pure sorcery it
was--which enabled her to build this air wall around her house--the
house yonder. It was quite a clever idea, I think, for it doesn't mar
the beauty of the landscape, solid air being invisible, and yet it
keeps all strangers away from the house."
"Does Nimmie Amee live there now?" asked the Tin Woodman anxiously.
"Yes, indeed," said the rabbit.
"And does she weep and wail from morning till night?" continued the
Emperor.
"No; she seems quite happy," asserted the rabbit.
The Tin Woodman seemed quite disappointed to hear this report of his
old sweetheart, but the Scarecrow reassured his friend, saying:
"Never mind, your Majesty; however happy Nimmie Amee is now, I'm sure
she will be much happier as Empress of the Winkies."
"Perhaps," said Captain Fyter, somewhat stiffly, "she will be still
more happy to become the bride of a Tin Soldier."
"She shall choose between us, as we have agreed," the Tin Woodman
promised; "but how shall we get to the poor girl?"
Polychrome, although dancing lightly back and forth, had listened to
every word of the conversation. Now she came forward and sat herself
down just in front of the Blue Rabbit, her many-hued draperies giving
her the appearance of some beautiful flower. The rabbit didn't back
away an inch. Instead, he gazed at the Rainbow's Daughter admiringly.
"Does your burrow go underneath this Wall of Air?" asked Polychrome.
"To be sure," answered the Blue Rabbit; "I dug it that way so I could
roam in these broad fields, by going out one way, or eat the cabbages
in Nimmie Amee's garden by leaving my burrow at the other end. I don't
think Nimmie Amee ought to mind the little I take from her garden, or
the hole I've made under her magic wall. A rabbit may go and come as he
pleases, but no one who is bigger than I am could get through my
burrow."
"Will you allow us to pass through it, if we are able to?" inquired
Polychrome.
"Yes, indeed," answered the Blue Rabbit. "I'm no especial friend of
Nimmie Amee, for once she threw stones at me, just because I was
nibbling some lettuce, and only yesterday she yelled 'Shoo!' at me,
which made me nervous. You're welcome to use my burrow in any way you
choose."
"But this is all nonsense!" declared Woot the Wanderer. "We are every
one too big to crawl through a rabbit's burrow."
"We are too big now," agreed the Scarecrow, "but you must remember that
Polychrome is a fairy, and fairies have many magic powers."
Woot's face brightened as he turned to the lovely Daughter of the
Rainbow.
"Could you make us all as small as that rabbit?" he asked eagerly.
"I can try," answered Polychrome, with a smile. And presently she did
it--so easily that Woot was not the only one astonished. As the now
tiny people grouped themselves before the rabbit's burrow the hole
appeared to them like the entrance to a tunnel, which indeed it was.
"I'll go first," said wee Polychrome, who had made herself grow as
small as the others, and into the tunnel she danced without hesitation.
A tiny Scarecrow went next and then the two funny little tin men.
"Walk in; it's your turn," said the Blue Rabbit to Woot the Wanderer.
"I'm coming after, to see how you get along. This will be a regular
surprise party to Nimmie Amee."
So Woot entered the hole and felt his way along its smooth sides in the
dark until he finally saw the glimmer of daylight ahead and knew the
journey was almost over. Had he remained his natural size, the distance
could have been covered in a few steps, but to a thumb-high Woot it was
quite a promenade. When he emerged from the burrow he found himself but
a short distance from the house, in the center of the vegetable garden,
where the leaves of rhubarb waving above his head seemed like trees.
Outside the hole, and waiting for him, he found all his friends.
"So far, so good!" remarked the Scarecrow cheerfully.
"Yes; so far, but no farther," returned the Tin Woodman in a plaintive
and disturbed tone of voice. "I am now close to Nimmie Amee, whom I
have come ever so far to seek, but I cannot ask the girl to marry such
a little man as I am now."
"I'm no bigger than a toy soldier!" said Captain Fyter, sorrowfully.
"Unless Polychrome can make us big again, there is little use in our
visiting Nimmie Amee at all, for I'm sure she wouldn't care for a
husband she might carelessly step on and ruin."
Polychrome laughed merrily.
"If I make you big, you can't get out of here again," said she, "and if
you remain little Nimmie Amee will laugh at you. So make your choice."
"I think we'd better go back," said Woot seriously
"No," said the Tin Woodman, stoutly, "I have decided that it's my duty
to make Nimmie Amee happy, in case she wishes to marry me."
"So have I," announced Captain Fyter. "A good soldier never shrinks
from doing his duty."
"As for that," said the Scarecrow, "tin doesn't shrink any to speak of,
under any circumstances. But Woot and I intend to stick to our
comrades, whatever they decide to do, so we will ask Polychrome to make
us as big as we were before."
Polychrome agreed to this request and in half a minute all of them,
including herself, had been enlarged again to their natural sizes. They
then thanked the Blue Rabbit for his kind assistance, and at once
approached the house of Nimme Amee.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Nimmie Amee
We may be sure that at this moment our friends were all anxious to see
the end of the adventure that had caused them so many trials and
troubles. Perhaps the Tin Woodman's heart did not beat any faster,
because it was made of red velvet and stuffed with sawdust, and the Tin
Soldier's heart was made of tin and reposed in his tin bosom without a
hint of emotion. However, there is little doubt that they both knew
that a critical moment in their lives had arrived, and that Nimmie
Amee's decision was destined to influence the future of one or the
other.
As they assumed their natural sizes and the rhubarb leaves that had
before towered above their heads now barely covered their feet, they
looked around the garden and found that no person was visible save
themselves. No sound of activity came from the house, either, but they
walked to the front door, which had a little porch built before it, and
there the two tinmen stood side by side while both knocked upon the
door with their tin knuckles.
As no one seemed eager to answer the summons they knocked again; and
then again. Finally they heard a stir from within and someone coughed.
"Who's there?" called a girl's voice.
"It's I!" cried the tin twins, together.
"How did you get there?" asked the voice.
They hesitated how to reply, so Woot answered for them:
"By means of magic."
"Oh," said the unseen girl. "Are you friends, or foes?"
"Friends!" they all exclaimed.
Then they heard footsteps approach the door, which slowly opened and
revealed a very pretty Munchkin girl standing in the doorway.
"Nimmie Amee!" cried the tin twins.
"That's my name," replied the girl, looking at them in cold surprise.
"But who can you be?"
"Don't you know me, Nimmie?" said the Tin Woodman. "I'm your old
sweetheart, Nick Chopper!"
"Don't you know me, my dear?" said the Tin Soldier. "I'm your old
sweetheart, Captain Fyter!"
Nimmie Amee smiled at them both. Then she looked beyond them at the
rest of the party and smiled again. However, she seemed more amused
than pleased.
"Come in," she said, leading the way inside. "Even sweethearts are
forgotten after a time, but you and your friends are welcome."
The room they now entered was cosy and comfortable, being neatly
furnished and well swept and dusted. But they found someone there
besides Nimmie Amee. A man dressed in the attractive Munchkin costume
was lazily reclining in an easy chair, and he sat up and turned his
eves on the visitors with a cold and indifferent stare that was almost
insolent. He did not even rise from his seat to greet the strangers,
but after glaring at them he looked away with a scowl, as if they were
of too little importance to interest him.
The tin men returned this man's stare with interest, but they did not
look away from him because neither of them seemed able to take his eyes
off this Munchkin, who was remarkable in having one tin arm quite like
their own tin arms.
"Seems to me," said Captain Fyter, in a voice that sounded harsh and
indignant, "that you, sir, are a vile impostor!"
"Gently--gently!" cautioned the Scarecrow; "don't be rude to strangers,
Captain."
"Rude?" shouted the Tin Soldier, now very much provoked; "why, he's a
scoundrel--a thief! The villain is wearing my own head!"
"Yes," added the Tin Woodman, "and he's wearing my right arm! I can
recognize it by the two warts on the little finger."
"Good gracious!" exclaimed Woot. "Then this must be the man whom old
Ku-Klip patched together and named Chopfyt."
The man now turned toward them, still scowling.
"Yes, that is my name," he said in a voice like a growl, "and it is
absurd for you tin creatures, or for anyone else, to claim my head, or
arm, or any part of me, for they are my personal property."
"You? You're a Nobody!" shouted Captain Fyter.
"You're just a mix-up," declared the Emperor.
"Now, now, gentlemen," interrupted Nimmie Amee, "I must ask you to be
more respectful to poor Chopfyt. For, being my guests, it is not polite
for you to insult my husband."
"Your husband!" the tin twins exclaimed in dismay.
"Yes," said she. "I married Chopfyt a long time ago, because my other
two sweethearts had deserted me."
This reproof embarrassed both Nick Chopper and Captain Fyter. They
looked down, shamefaced, for a moment, and then the Tin Woodman
explained in an earnest voice:
"I rusted."
"So did I," said the Tin Soldier.
"I could not know that, of course," asserted Nimmie Amee. "All I knew
was that neither of you came to marry me, as you had promised to do.
But men are not scarce in the Land of Oz. After I came here to live, I
met Mr. Chopfyt, and he was the more interesting because he reminded
me strongly of both of you, as you were before you became tin. He even
had a tin arm, and that reminded me of you the more.
"No wonder!" remarked the Scarecrow.
"But, listen, Nimmie Amee!" said the astonished Woot; "he really is
both of them, for he is made of their cast-off parts."
"Oh, you're quite wrong," declared Polychrome, laughing, for she was
greatly enjoying the confusion of the others. "The tin men are still
themselves, as they will tell you, and so Chopfyt must be someone else."
They looked at her bewildered, for the facts in the case were too
puzzling to be grasped at once.
"It is all the fault of old Ku-Klip," muttered the Tin Woodman. "He had
no right to use our castoff parts to make another man with."
"It seems he did it, however," said Nimmie Amee calmly, "and I married
him because he resembled you both. I won't say he is a husband to be
proud of, because he has a mixed nature and isn't always an agreeable
companion. There are times when I have to chide him gently, both with
my tongue and with my broomstick. But he is my husband, and I must make
the best of him."
"If you don't like him," suggested the Tin Woodman, "Captain Fyter and
I can chop him up with our axe and sword, and each take such parts of
the fellow as belong to him. Then we are willing for you to select one
of us as your husband."
"That is a good idea," approved Captain Fyter, drawing his sword.
"No," said Nimmie Amee; "I think I'll keep the husband I now have. He
is now trained to draw the water and carry in the wood and hoe the
cabbages and weed the flower-beds and dust the furniture and perform
many tasks of a like character. A new husband would have to be
scolded--and gently chided--until he learns my ways. So I think it will
be better to keep my Chopfyt, and I see no reason why you should object
to him. You two gentlemen threw him away when you became tin, because
you had no further use for him, so you cannot justly claim him now. I
advise you to go back to your own homes and forget me, as I have
forgotten you."
"Good advice!" laughed Polychrome, dancing.
"Are you happy?" asked the Tin Soldier.
"Of course I am," said Nimmie Amee; "I'm the mistress of all I
survey--the queen of my little domain."
"Wouldn't you like to be the Empress of the Winkies?" asked the Tin
Woodman.
"Mercy, no," she answered. "That would be a lot of bother. I don't care
for society, or pomp, or posing. All I ask is to be left alone and not
to be annoyed by visitors."
The Scarecrow nudged Woot the Wanderer.
"That sounds to me like a hint," he said.
"Looks as if we'd had our journey for nothing," remarked Woot, who was
a little ashamed and disappointed because he had proposed the journey.
"I am glad, however," said the Tin Woodman, "that I have found Nimmie
Amee, and discovered that she is already married and happy. It will
relieve me of any further anxiety concerning her."
"For my part," said the Tin Soldier, "I am not sorry to be free. The
only thing that really annoys me is finding my head upon Chopfyt's
body."
"As for that, I'm pretty sure it is my body, or a part of it, anyway,"
remarked the Emperor of the Winkies. "But never mind, friend Soldier;
let us be willing to donate our cast-off members to insure the
happiness of Nimmie Amee, and be thankful it is not our fate to hoe
cabbages and draw water--and be chided--in the place of this creature
Chopfyt."
"Yes," agreed the Soldier, "we have much to be thankful for."
Polychrome, who had wandered outside, now poked her pretty head through
an open window and exclaimed in a pleased voice:
"It's getting cloudy. Perhaps it is going to rain!"
Chapter Twenty-Three
Through the Tunnel
It didn't rain just then, although the clouds in the sky grew thicker
and more threatening. Polychrome hoped for a thunder-storm, followed by
her Rainbow, but the two tin men did not relish the idea of getting
wet. They even preferred to remain in Nimmie Amee's house, although
they felt they were not welcome there, rather than go out and face the
coming storm. But the Scarecrow, who was a very thoughtful person, said
to his friends:
"If we remain here until after the storm, and Polychrome goes away on
her Rainbow, then we will be prisoners inside the Wall of Solid Air; so
it seems best to start upon our return journey at once. If I get wet,
my straw stuffing will be ruined, and if you two tin gentlemen get wet,
you may perhaps rust again, and become useless. But even that is better
than to stay here. Once we are free of the barrier, we have Woot the
Wanderer to help us, and he can oil your joints and restuff my body, if
it becomes necessary, for the boy is made of meat, which neither rusts
nor gets soggy or moldy."
"Come along, then!" cried Polychrome from the window, and the others,
realizing the wisdom of the Scarecrow's speech, took leave of Nimmie
Amee, who was glad to be rid of them, and said good-bye to her husband,
who merely scowled and made no answer, and then they hurried from the
house.
"Your old parts are not very polite, I must say," remarked the
Scarecrow, when they were in the garden.
"No," said Woot, "Chopfyt is a regular grouch. He might have wished us
a pleasant journey, at the very least."
"I beg you not to hold us responsible for that creature's actions,"
pleaded the Tin Woodman. "We are through with Chopfyt and shall have
nothing further to do with him."
Polychrome danced ahead of the party and led them straight to the
burrow of the Blue Rabbit, which they might have had some difficulty in
finding without her. There she lost no time in making them all small
again. The Blue Rabbit was busy nibbling cabbage leaves in Nimmie
Amee's garden, so they did not ask his permission but at once entered
the burrow.
Even now the raindrops were beginning to fall, but it was quite dry
inside the tunnel and by the time they had reached the other end,
outside the circular Wall of Solid Air, the storm was at its height and
the rain was coming down in torrents.
"Let us wait here," proposed Polychrome, peering out of the hole and
then quickly retreating. "The Rainbow won't appear until after the
storm and I can make you big again in a jiffy, before I join my sisters
on our bow."
"That's a good plan," said the Scarecrow approvingly. "It will save me
from getting soaked and soggy."
"It will save me from rusting," said the Tin Soldier.
"It will enable me to remain highly polished," said the Tin Woodman.
"Oh, as for that, I myself prefer not to get my pretty clothes wet,"
laughed the Rainbow's daughter.
"But while we wait I will bid you all adieu. I must also thank you for
saving me from that dreadful Giantess, Mrs. Yoop. You have been good
and patient comrades and I have enjoyed our adventures together, but I
am never so happy as when on my dear Rainbow."
"Will your father scold you for getting left on the earth?" asked Woot.
"I suppose so," said Polychrome gaily; "I'm always getting scolded for
my mad pranks, as they are called. My sisters are so sweet and lovely
and proper that they never dance off our Rainbow, and so they never
have any adventures. Adventures to me are good fun, only I never like
to stay too long on earth, because I really don't belong here. I shall
tell my Father the Rainbow that I'll try not to be so careless again,
and he will forgive me because in our sky mansions there is always joy
and happiness."
They were indeed sorry to part with their dainty and beautiful
companion and assured her of their devotion if they ever chanced to
meet again. She shook hands with the Scarecrow and the Tin Men and
kissed Woot the Wanderer lightly upon his forehead.
And then the rain suddenly ceased, and as the tiny people left the
burrow of the Blue Rabbit, a glorious big Rainbow appeared in the sky
and the end of its arch slowly descended and touched the ground just
where they stood.
Woot was so busy watching a score of lovely maidens--sisters of
Polychrome--who were leaning over the edge of the bow, and another
score who danced gaily amid the radiance of the splendid hues, that he
did not notice he was growing big again. But now Polychrome joined her
sisters on the Rainbow and the huge arch lifted and slowly melted away
as the sun burst from the clouds and sent its own white beams dancing
over the meadows.
"Why, she's gone!" exclaimed the boy, and turned to see his companions
still waving their hands in token of adieu to the vanished Polychrome.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The Curtain Falls
Well, the rest of the story is quickly told, for the return Journey of
our adventurers was without any important incident. The Scarecrow was
so afraid of meeting the Hip-po-gy-raf, and having his straw eaten
again, that he urged his comrades to select another route to the
Emerald City, and they willingly consented, so that the Invisible
Country was wholly avoided.
Of course, when they reached the Emerald City their first duty was to
visit Ozma's palace, where they were royally entertained. The Tin
Soldier and Woot the Wanderer were welcomed as warmly as any strangers
might be who had been the traveling companions of Ozma's dear old
friends, the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman.
At the banquet table that evening they related the manner in which they
had discovered Nimmie Amee, and told how they had found her happily
married to Chopfyt, whose relationship to Nick Chopper and Captain
Fyter was so bewildering that they asked Ozma's advice what to do about
it.
"You need not consider Chopfyt at all," replied the beautiful girl
Ruler of Oz. "If Nimmie Amee is content with that misfit man for a
husband, we have not even just cause to blame Ku-Klip for gluing him
together."
"I think it was a very good idea," added little Dorothy, "for if
Ku-Klip hadn't used up your castoff parts, they would have been wasted.
It's wicked to be wasteful, isn't it?"
"Well, anyhow," said Woot the Wanderer, "Chopfyt, being kept a prisoner
by his wife, is too far away from anyone to bother either of you tin
men in any way. If you hadn't gone where he is and discovered him, you
would never have worried about him."
"What do you care, anyhow," Betsy Bobbin asked the Tin Woodman, "so
long as Nimmie Amee is satisfied?"
"And just to think," remarked Tiny Trot, "that any girl would rather
live with a mixture like Chopfyt, on far-away Mount Munch, than to be
the Empress of the Winkies!"
"It is her own choice," said the Tin Woodman contentedly; "and, after
all, I'm not sure the Winkies would care to have an Empress."
It puzzled Ozma, for a time, to decide what to do with the Tin Soldier.
If he went with the Tin Woodman to the Emperor's castle, she felt that
the two tin men might not be able to live together in harmony, and
moreover the Emperor would not be so distinguished if he had a double
constantly beside him. So she asked Captain Fyter if he was willing to
serve her as a soldier, and he promptly declared that nothing would
please him more. After he had been in her service for some time, Ozma
sent him into the Gillikin Country, with instructions to keep order
among the wild people who inhabit some parts of that unknown country of
Oz.
As for Woot, being a Wanderer by profession, he was allowed to wander
wherever he desired, and Ozma promised to keep watch over his future
journeys and to protect the boy as well as she was able, in case he
ever got into more trouble.
All this having been happily arranged, the Tin Woodman returned to his
tin castle, and his chosen comrade, the Scarecrow, accompanied him on
the way. The two friends were sure to pass many pleasant hours together
in talking over their recent adventures, for as they neither ate nor
slept they found their greatest amusement in conversation.
THE FAMOUS OZ BOOKS
By L. Frank Baum:
The Wizard of Oz
The Land of Oz
Ozma of Oz
Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz
The Road to Oz
The Emerald City of Oz
The Patchwork Girl of Oz
Tik-Tok of Oz
The Scarecrow of Oz
Rinkitink in Oz
The Lost Princess of Oz
The Tin Woodman of Oz
The Magic Of Oz
Glinda of Oz
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Tin Woodman of Oz, by L. Frank Baum
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