Ozma of Oz
by
L. Frank Baum
Part 1 out of 3
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Ozma of Oz
A Record of Her Adventures with Dorothy Gale of
Kansas, the Yellow Hen, the Scarecrow, the Tin
Woodman, Tiktok, the Cowardly Lion and
the Hungry Tiger; Besides Other Good
People too Numerous to Mention
Faithfully Recorded Herein
by L. Frank Baum
The Author of The Wizard of Oz,
The Land of Oz, etc.
Contents
--Author's Note--
1. The Girl in the Chicken Coop
2. The Yellow Hen
3. Letters in the Sand
4. Tiktok, the Machine Man
5. Dorothy Opens the Dinner Pail
6. The Heads of Langwidere
7. Ozma of Oz to the Rescue
8. The Hungry Tiger
9. The Royal Family of Ev
10. The Giant with the Hammer
11. The Nome King
12. The Eleven Guesses
13. The Nome King Laughs
14. Dorothy Tries to be Brave
15. Billina Frightens the Nome King
16. Purple, Green and Gold
17. The Scarecrow Wins the Fight
18. The Fate of the Tin Woodman
19. The King of Ev
20. The Emerald City
21. Dorothy's Magic Belt
Author's Note
My friends the children are responsible for this new "Oz Book," as
they were for the last one, which was called The Land of Oz. Their
sweet little letters plead to know "more about Dorothy"; and they ask:
"What became of the Cowardly Lion?" and "What did Ozma do
afterward?"--meaning, of course, after she became the Ruler of Oz.
And some of them suggest plots to me, saying: "Please have Dorothy go
to the Land of Oz again"; or, "Why don't you make Ozma and Dorothy
meet, and have a good time together?" Indeed, could I do all that my
little friends ask, I would be obliged to write dozens of books to
satisfy their demands. And I wish I could, for I enjoy writing these
stories just as much as the children say they enjoy reading them.
Well, here is "more about Dorothy," and about our old friends the
Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, and about the Cowardly Lion, and Ozma,
and all the rest of them; and here, likewise, is a good deal about
some new folks that are queer and unusual. One little friend, who
read this story before it was printed, said to me: "Billina is REAL
OZZY, Mr. Baum, and so are Tiktok and the Hungry Tiger."
If this judgment is unbiased and correct, and the little folks find
this new story "real Ozzy," I shall be very glad indeed that I wrote
it. But perhaps I shall get some more of those very welcome letters
from my readers, telling me just how they like "Ozma of Oz." I hope
so, anyway.
L. FRANK BAUM.
MACATAWA, 1907.
1. The Girl in the Chicken Coop
The wind blew hard and joggled the water of the ocean, sending ripples
across its surface. Then the wind pushed the edges of the ripples
until they became waves, and shoved the waves around until they became
billows. The billows rolled dreadfully high: higher even than the
tops of houses. Some of them, indeed, rolled as high as the tops of
tall trees, and seemed like mountains; and the gulfs between the great
billows were like deep valleys.
All this mad dashing and splashing of the waters of the big ocean,
which the mischievous wind caused without any good reason whatever,
resulted in a terrible storm, and a storm on the ocean is liable to
cut many queer pranks and do a lot of damage.
At the time the wind began to blow, a ship was sailing far out upon
the waters. When the waves began to tumble and toss and to grow
bigger and bigger the ship rolled up and down, and tipped
sidewise--first one way and then the other--and was jostled around so
roughly that even the sailor-men had to hold fast to the ropes and
railings to keep themselves from being swept away by the wind or
pitched headlong into the sea.
And the clouds were so thick in the sky that the sunlight couldn't get
through them; so that the day grew dark as night, which added to the
terrors of the storm.
The Captain of the ship was not afraid, because he had seen storms
before, and had sailed his ship through them in safety; but he knew
that his passengers would be in danger if they tried to stay on deck,
so he put them all into the cabin and told them to stay there until
after the storm was over, and to keep brave hearts and not be scared,
and all would be well with them.
Now, among these passengers was a little Kansas girl named Dorothy
Gale, who was going with her Uncle Henry to Australia, to visit some
relatives they had never before seen. Uncle Henry, you must know, was
not very well, because he had been working so hard on his Kansas farm
that his health had given way and left him weak and nervous. So he
left Aunt Em at home to watch after the hired men and to take care of
the farm, while he traveled far away to Australia to visit his cousins
and have a good rest.
Dorothy was eager to go with him on this journey, and Uncle Henry
thought she would be good company and help cheer him up; so he decided
to take her along. The little girl was quite an experienced traveller,
for she had once been carried by a cyclone as far away from home as
the marvelous Land of Oz, and she had met with a good many adventures
in that strange country before she managed to get back to Kansas
again. So she wasn't easily frightened, whatever happened, and when
the wind began to howl and whistle, and the waves began to tumble and
toss, our little girl didn't mind the uproar the least bit.
"Of course we'll have to stay in the cabin," she said to Uncle
Henry and the other passengers, "and keep as quiet as possible
until the storm is over. For the Captain says if we go on deck
we may be blown overboard."
No one wanted to risk such an accident as that, you may be sure;
so all the passengers stayed huddled up in the dark cabin,
listening to the shrieking of the storm and the creaking of the
masts and rigging and trying to keep from bumping into one another
when the ship tipped sidewise.
Dorothy had almost fallen asleep when she was aroused with a start to
find that Uncle Henry was missing. She couldn't imagine where he had
gone, and as he was not very strong she began to worry about him, and
to fear he might have been careless enough to go on deck. In that
case he would be in great danger unless he instantly came down again.
The fact was that Uncle Henry had gone to lie down in his little
sleeping-berth, but Dorothy did not know that. She only remembered
that Aunt Em had cautioned her to take good care of her uncle, so at
once she decided to go on deck and find him, in spite of the fact that
the tempest was now worse than ever, and the ship was plunging in a
really dreadful manner. Indeed, the little girl found it was as much
as she could do to mount the stairs to the deck, and as soon as she
got there the wind struck her so fiercely that it almost tore away the
skirts of her dress. Yet Dorothy felt a sort of joyous excitement in
defying the storm, and while she held fast to the railing she peered
around through the gloom and thought she saw the dim form of a man
clinging to a mast not far away from her. This might be her uncle, so
she called as loudly as she could:
"Uncle Henry! Uncle Henry!"
But the wind screeched and howled so madly that she scarce heard
her own voice, and the man certainly failed to hear her, for he
did not move.
Dorothy decided she must go to him; so she made a dash forward, during
a lull in the storm, to where a big square chicken-coop had been
lashed to the deck with ropes. She reached this place in safety, but
no sooner had she seized fast hold of the slats of the big box in
which the chickens were kept than the wind, as if enraged because the
little girl dared to resist its power, suddenly redoubled its fury.
With a scream like that of an angry giant it tore away the ropes that
held the coop and lifted it high into the air, with Dorothy still
clinging to the slats. Around and over it whirled, this way and that,
and a few moments later the chicken-coop dropped far away into the
sea, where the big waves caught it and slid it up-hill to a foaming
crest and then down-hill into a deep valley, as if it were nothing
more than a plaything to keep them amused.
Dorothy had a good ducking, you may be sure, but she didn't lose her
presence of mind even for a second. She kept tight hold of the stout
slats and as soon as she could get the water out of her eyes she saw
that the wind had ripped the cover from the coop, and the poor
chickens were fluttering away in every direction, being blown by the
wind until they looked like feather dusters without handles. The
bottom of the coop was made of thick boards, so Dorothy found she was
clinging to a sort of raft, with sides of slats, which readily bore up
her weight. After coughing the water out of her throat and getting
her breath again, she managed to climb over the slats and stand upon
the firm wooden bottom of the coop, which supported her easily enough.
"Why, I've got a ship of my own!" she thought, more amused than
frightened at her sudden change of condition; and then, as the coop
climbed up to the top of a big wave, she looked eagerly around for the
ship from which she had been blown.
It was far, far away, by this time. Perhaps no one on board had yet
missed her, or knew of her strange adventure. Down into a valley
between the waves the coop swept her, and when she climbed another
crest the ship looked like a toy boat, it was such a long way off.
Soon it had entirely disappeared in the gloom, and then Dorothy gave a
sigh of regret at parting with Uncle Henry and began to wonder what
was going to happen to her next.
Just now she was tossing on the bosom of a big ocean, with nothing to
keep her afloat but a miserable wooden hen-coop that had a plank
bottom and slatted sides, through which the water constantly splashed
and wetted her through to the skin! And there was nothing to eat when
she became hungry--as she was sure to do before long--and no fresh
water to drink and no dry clothes to put on.
"Well, I declare!" she exclaimed, with a laugh. "You're in a pretty
fix, Dorothy Gale, I can tell you! and I haven't the least idea how
you're going to get out of it!"
As if to add to her troubles the night was now creeping on, and the
gray clouds overhead changed to inky blackness. But the wind, as if
satisfied at last with its mischievous pranks, stopped blowing this
ocean and hurried away to another part of the world to blow something
else; so that the waves, not being joggled any more, began to quiet
down and behave themselves.
It was lucky for Dorothy, I think, that the storm subsided; otherwise,
brave though she was, I fear she might have perished. Many children,
in her place, would have wept and given way to despair; but because
Dorothy had encountered so many adventures and come safely through
them it did not occur to her at this time to be especially afraid.
She was wet and uncomfortable, it is true; but, after sighing that one
sigh I told you of, she managed to recall some of her customary
cheerfulness and decided to patiently await whatever her fate might be.
By and by the black clouds rolled away and showed a blue sky overhead,
with a silver moon shining sweetly in the middle of it and little
stars winking merrily at Dorothy when she looked their way. The coop
did not toss around any more, but rode the waves more gently--almost
like a cradle rocking--so that the floor upon which Dorothy stood was
no longer swept by water coming through the slats. Seeing this, and
being quite exhausted by the excitement of the past few hours, the
little girl decided that sleep would be the best thing to restore her
strength and the easiest way in which she could pass the time. The
floor was damp and she was herself wringing wet, but fortunately this
was a warm climate and she did not feel at all cold.
So she sat down in a corner of the coop, leaned her back against the
slats, nodded at the friendly stars before she closed her eyes, and
was asleep in half a minute.
2. The Yellow Hen
A strange noise awoke Dorothy, who opened her eyes to find that day
had dawned and the sun was shining brightly in a clear sky. She had
been dreaming that she was back in Kansas again, and playing in the
old barn-yard with the calves and pigs and chickens all around her;
and at first, as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, she really
imagined she was there.
"Kut-kut-kut, ka-daw-kut! Kut-kut-kut, ka-daw-kut!"
Ah; here again was the strange noise that had awakened her. Surely it
was a hen cackling! But her wide-open eyes first saw, through the
slats of the coop, the blue waves of the ocean, now calm and placid,
and her thoughts flew back to the past night, so full of danger and
discomfort. Also she began to remember that she was a waif of the
storm, adrift upon a treacherous and unknown sea.
"Kut-kut-kut, ka-daw-w-w--kut!"
"What's that?" cried Dorothy, starting to her feet.
"Why, I've just laid an egg, that's all," replied a small, but sharp
and distinct voice, and looking around her the little girl discovered
a yellow hen squatting in the opposite corner of the coop.
"Dear me!" she exclaimed, in surprise; "have YOU been here all
night, too?"
"Of course," answered the hen, fluttering her wings and yawning.
"When the coop blew away from the ship I clung fast to this corner,
with claws and beak, for I knew if I fell into the water I'd surely be
drowned. Indeed, I nearly drowned, as it was, with all that water
washing over me. I never was so wet before in my life!"
"Yes," agreed Dorothy, "it was pretty wet, for a time, I know. But do
you feel comfor'ble now?"
"Not very. The sun has helped to dry my feathers, as it has your
dress, and I feel better since I laid my morning egg. But what's to
become of us, I should like to know, afloat on this big pond?"
"I'd like to know that, too," said Dorothy. "But, tell me; how does
it happen that you are able to talk? I thought hens could only cluck
and cackle."
"Why, as for that," answered the yellow hen thoughtfully, "I've
clucked and cackled all my life, and never spoken a word before this
morning, that I can remember. But when you asked a question, a minute
ago, it seemed the most natural thing in the world to answer you. So
I spoke, and I seem to keep on speaking, just as you and other human
beings do. Strange, isn't it?"
"Very," replied Dorothy. "If we were in the Land of Oz, I wouldn't
think it so queer, because many of the animals can talk in that fairy
country. But out here in the ocean must be a good long way from Oz."
"How is my grammar?" asked the yellow hen, anxiously. "Do I speak
quite properly, in your judgment?"
"Yes," said Dorothy, "you do very well, for a beginner."
"I'm glad to know that," continued the yellow hen, in a confidential
tone; "because, if one is going to talk, it's best to talk correctly.
The red rooster has often said that my cluck and my cackle were quite
perfect; and now it's a comfort to know I am talking properly."
"I'm beginning to get hungry," remarked Dorothy. "It's breakfast
time; but there's no breakfast."
"You may have my egg," said the yellow hen. "I don't care for it,
you know."
"Don't you want to hatch it?" asked the little girl, in surprise.
"No, indeed; I never care to hatch eggs unless I've a nice snug nest,
in some quiet place, with a baker's dozen of eggs under me. That's
thirteen, you know, and it's a lucky number for hens. So you may as
well eat this egg."
"Oh, I couldn't POSS'BLY eat it, unless it was cooked," exclaimed
Dorothy. "But I'm much obliged for your kindness, just the same."
"Don't mention it, my dear," answered the hen, calmly, and began
preening her feathers.
For a moment Dorothy stood looking out over the wide sea. She was
still thinking of the egg, though; so presently she asked:
"Why do you lay eggs, when you don't expect to hatch them?"
"It's a habit I have," replied the yellow hen. "It has always been my
pride to lay a fresh egg every morning, except when I'm moulting. I
never feel like having my morning cackle till the egg is properly
laid, and without the chance to cackle I would not be happy."
"It's strange," said the girl, reflectively; "but as I'm not a hen I
can't be 'spected to understand that."
"Certainly not, my dear."
Then Dorothy fell silent again. The yellow hen was some company, and
a bit of comfort, too; but it was dreadfully lonely out on the big
ocean, nevertheless.
After a time the hen flew up and perched upon the topmost slat of the
coop, which was a little above Dorothy's head when she was sitting
upon the bottom, as she had been doing for some moments past.
"Why, we are not far from land!" exclaimed the hen.
"Where? Where is it?" cried Dorothy, jumping up in great excitement.
"Over there a little way," answered the hen, nodding her head in a
certain direction. "We seem to be drifting toward it, so that
before noon we ought to find ourselves upon dry land again."
"I shall like that!" said Dorothy, with a little sigh, for her feet
and legs were still wetted now and then by the sea-water that came
through the open slats.
"So shall I," answered her companion. "There is nothing in the world
so miserable as a wet hen."
The land, which they seemed to be rapidly approaching, since it grew
more distinct every minute, was quite beautiful as viewed by the
little girl in the floating hen-coop. Next to the water was a broad
beach of white sand and gravel, and farther back were several rocky
hills, while beyond these appeared a strip of green trees that marked
the edge of a forest. But there were no houses to be seen, nor any
sign of people who might inhabit this unknown land.
"I hope we shall find something to eat," said Dorothy, looking eagerly
at the pretty beach toward which they drifted. "It's long past
breakfast time, now."
"I'm a trifle hungry, myself," declared the yellow hen.
"Why don't you eat the egg?" asked the child. "You don't need to have
your food cooked, as I do."
"Do you take me for a cannibal?" cried the hen, indignantly. "I do
not know what I have said or done that leads you to insult me!"
"I beg your pardon, I'm sure Mrs.--Mrs.--by the way, may I inquire
your name, ma'am?" asked the little girl.
"My name is Bill," said the yellow hen, somewhat gruffly.
"Bill! Why, that's a boy's name."
"What difference does that make?"
"You're a lady hen, aren't you?"
"Of course. But when I was first hatched out no one could tell
whether I was going to be a hen or a rooster; so the little boy at the
farm where I was born called me Bill, and made a pet of me because I
was the only yellow chicken in the whole brood. When I grew up, and
he found that I didn't crow and fight, as all the roosters do, he did
not think to change my name, and every creature in the barn-yard, as
well as the people in the house, knew me as 'Bill.' So Bill I've
always been called, and Bill is my name."
"But it's all wrong, you know," declared Dorothy, earnestly; "and, if
you don't mind, I shall call you 'Billina.' Putting the 'eena' on the
end makes it a girl's name, you see."
"Oh, I don't mind it in the least," returned the yellow hen. "It
doesn't matter at all what you call me, so long as I know the name
means ME."
"Very well, Billina. MY name is Dorothy Gale--just Dorothy to my
friends and Miss Gale to strangers. You may call me Dorothy, if you
like. We're getting very near the shore. Do you suppose it is too
deep for me to wade the rest of the way?"
"Wait a few minutes longer. The sunshine is warm and pleasant, and we
are in no hurry."
"But my feet are all wet and soggy," said the girl. "My dress is dry
enough, but I won't feel real comfor'ble till I get my feet dried."
She waited, however, as the hen advised, and before long the big
wooden coop grated gently on the sandy beach and the dangerous voyage
was over.
It did not take the castaways long to reach the shore, you may be
sure. The yellow hen flew to the sands at once, but Dorothy had to
climb over the high slats. Still, for a country girl, that was not
much of a feat, and as soon as she was safe ashore Dorothy drew off
her wet shoes and stockings and spread them upon the sun-warmed beach
to dry.
Then she sat down and watched Billina, who was pick-pecking away with
her sharp bill in the sand and gravel, which she scratched up and
turned over with her strong claws.
"What are you doing?" asked Dorothy.
"Getting my breakfast, of course," murmured the hen, busily pecking away.
"What do you find?" inquired the girl, curiously.
"Oh, some fat red ants, and some sand-bugs, and once in a while a tiny
crab. They are very sweet and nice, I assure you."
"How dreadful!" exclaimed Dorothy, in a shocked voice.
"What is dreadful?" asked the hen, lifting her head to gaze with one
bright eye at her companion.
"Why, eating live things, and horrid bugs, and crawly ants. You ought
to be 'SHAMED of yourself!"
"Goodness me!" returned the hen, in a puzzled tone; "how queer you
are, Dorothy! Live things are much fresher and more wholesome than
dead ones, and you humans eat all sorts of dead creatures."
"We don't!" said Dorothy.
"You do, indeed," answered Billina. "You eat lambs and sheep and cows
and pigs and even chickens."
"But we cook 'em," said Dorothy, triumphantly.
"What difference does that make?"
"A good deal," said the girl, in a graver tone. "I can't just 'splain
the diff'rence, but it's there. And, anyhow, we never eat such
dreadful things as BUGS."
"But you eat the chickens that eat the bugs," retorted the yellow hen,
with an odd cackle. "So you are just as bad as we chickens are."
This made Dorothy thoughtful. What Billina said was true enough, and
it almost took away her appetite for breakfast. As for the yellow
hen, she continued to peck away at the sand busily, and seemed quite
contented with her bill-of-fare.
Finally, down near the water's edge, Billina stuck her bill deep into
the sand, and then drew back and shivered.
"Ow!" she cried. "I struck metal, that time, and it nearly broke
my beak."
"It prob'bly was a rock," said Dorothy, carelessly.
"Nonsense. I know a rock from metal, I guess," said the hen.
"There's a different feel to it."
"But there couldn't be any metal on this wild, deserted seashore,"
persisted the girl. "Where's the place? I'll dig it up, and prove to
you I'm right,"
Billina showed her the place where she had "stubbed her bill," as she
expressed it, and Dorothy dug away the sand until she felt something
hard. Then, thrusting in her hand, she pulled the thing out, and
discovered it to be a large sized golden key--rather old, but still
bright and of perfect shape.
"What did I tell you?" cried the hen, with a cackle of triumph. "Can
I tell metal when I bump into it, or is the thing a rock?"
"It's metal, sure enough," answered the child, gazing thoughtfully at
the curious thing she had found. "I think it is pure gold, and it must
have lain hidden in the sand for a long time. How do you suppose it came
there, Billina? And what do you suppose this mysterious key unlocks?"
"I can't say," replied the hen. "You ought to know more about locks
and keys than I do."
Dorothy glanced around. There was no sign of any house in that part
of the country, and she reasoned that every key must fit a lock and
every lock must have a purpose. Perhaps the key had been lost by
somebody who lived far away, but had wandered on this very shore.
Musing on these things the girl put the key in the pocket of her dress
and then slowly drew on her shoes and stockings, which the sun had
fully dried.
"I b'lieve, Billina," she said, "I'll have a look 'round, and see if I
can find some breakfast."
3. Letters in the Sand
Walking a little way back from the water's edge, toward the grove of
trees, Dorothy came to a flat stretch of white sand that seemed to
have queer signs marked upon its surface, just as one would write upon
sand with a stick.
"What does it say?" she asked the yellow hen, who trotted along beside
her in a rather dignified fashion.
"How should I know?" returned the hen. "I cannot read."
"Oh! Can't you?"
"Certainly not; I've never been to school, you know."
"Well, I have," admitted Dorothy; "but the letters are big and far
apart, and it's hard to spell out the words."
But she looked at each letter carefully, and finally discovered that
these words were written in the sand:
"BEWARE THE WHEELERS!"
"That's rather strange," declared the hen, when Dorothy had read aloud
the words. "What do you suppose the Wheelers are?"
"Folks that wheel, I guess. They must have wheelbarrows, or baby-cabs
or hand-carts," said Dorothy.
"Perhaps they're automobiles," suggested the yellow hen. "There is no
need to beware of baby-cabs and wheelbarrows; but automobiles are
dangerous things. Several of my friends have been run over by them."
"It can't be auto'biles," replied the girl, "for this is a new, wild
country, without even trolley-cars or tel'phones. The people here
haven't been discovered yet, I'm sure; that is, if there ARE any
people. So I don't b'lieve there CAN be any auto'biles, Billina."
"Perhaps not," admitted the yellow hen. "Where are you going now?"
"Over to those trees, to see if I can find some fruit or nuts,"
answered Dorothy.
She tramped across the sand, skirting the foot of one of the little
rocky hills that stood near, and soon reached the edge of the forest.
At first she was greatly disappointed, because the nearer trees were
all punita, or cotton-wood or eucalyptus, and bore no fruit or nuts at
all. But, bye and bye, when she was almost in despair, the little girl
came upon two trees that promised to furnish her with plenty of food.
One was quite full of square paper boxes, which grew in clusters on
all the limbs, and upon the biggest and ripest boxes the word "Lunch"
could be read, in neat raised letters. This tree seemed to bear all
the year around, for there were lunch-box blossoms on some of the
branches, and on others tiny little lunch-boxes that were as yet quite
green, and evidently not fit to eat until they had grown bigger.
The leaves of this tree were all paper napkins, and it presented a
very pleasing appearance to the hungry little girl.
But the tree next to the lunch-box tree was even more wonderful, for
it bore quantities of tin dinner-pails, which were so full and heavy
that the stout branches bent underneath their weight. Some were small
and dark-brown in color; those larger were of a dull tin color; but
the really ripe ones were pails of bright tin that shone and glistened
beautifully in the rays of sunshine that touched them.
Dorothy was delighted, and even the yellow hen acknowledged that she
was surprised.
The little girl stood on tip-toe and picked one of the nicest and
biggest lunch-boxes, and then she sat down upon the ground and eagerly
opened it. Inside she found, nicely wrapped in white papers, a ham
sandwich, a piece of sponge-cake, a pickle, a slice of new cheese and
an apple. Each thing had a separate stem, and so had to be picked off
the side of the box; but Dorothy found them all to be delicious, and
she ate every bit of luncheon in the box before she had finished.
"A lunch isn't zactly breakfast," she said to Billina, who sat beside
her curiously watching. "But when one is hungry one can eat even
supper in the morning, and not complain."
"I hope your lunch-box was perfectly ripe," observed the yellow hen,
in a anxious tone. "So much sickness is caused by eating green things."
"Oh, I'm sure it was ripe," declared Dorothy, "all, that is, 'cept the
pickle, and a pickle just HAS to be green, Billina. But everything
tasted perfectly splendid, and I'd rather have it than a church
picnic. And now I think I'll pick a dinner-pail, to have when I get
hungry again, and then we'll start out and 'splore the country, and
see where we are."
"Haven't you any idea what country this is?" inquired Billina.
"None at all. But listen: I'm quite sure it's a fairy country, or
such things as lunch-boxes and dinner-pails wouldn't be growing upon
trees. Besides, Billina, being a hen, you wouldn't be able to talk in
any civ'lized country, like Kansas, where no fairies live at all."
"Perhaps we're in the Land of Oz," said the hen, thoughtfully.
"No, that can't be," answered the little girl; because I've been to
the Land of Oz, and it's all surrounded by a horrid desert that no one
can cross."
"Then how did you get away from there again?" asked Billina.
"I had a pair of silver shoes, that carried me through the air; but I
lost them," said Dorothy.
"Ah, indeed," remarked the yellow hen, in a tone of unbelief.
"Anyhow," resumed the girl, "there is no seashore near the Land of Oz,
so this must surely be some other fairy country."
While she was speaking she selected a bright and pretty dinner-pail
that seemed to have a stout handle, and picked it from its branch.
Then, accompanied by the yellow hen, she walked out of the shadow of
the trees toward the sea-shore.
They were part way across the sands when Billina suddenly cried, in a
voice of terror:
"What's that?"
Dorothy turned quickly around, and saw coming out of a path that led
from between the trees the most peculiar person her eyes had ever beheld.
It had the form of a man, except that it walked, or rather rolled,
upon all fours, and its legs were the same length as its arms, giving
them the appearance of the four legs of a beast. Yet it was no beast
that Dorothy had discovered, for the person was clothed most
gorgeously in embroidered garments of many colors, and wore a straw
hat perched jauntily upon the side of its head. But it differed from
human beings in this respect, that instead of hands and feet there
grew at the end of its arms and legs round wheels, and by means of
these wheels it rolled very swiftly over the level ground. Afterward
Dorothy found that these odd wheels were of the same hard substance
that our finger-nails and toe-nails are composed of, and she also
learned that creatures of this strange race were born in this queer
fashion. But when our little girl first caught sight of the first
individual of a race that was destined to cause her a lot of trouble,
she had an idea that the brilliantly-clothed personage was on
roller-skates, which were attached to his hands as well as to his feet.
"Run!" screamed the yellow hen, fluttering away in great fright.
"It's a Wheeler!"
"A Wheeler?" exclaimed Dorothy. "What can that be?"
"Don't you remember the warning in the sand: 'Beware the Wheelers'?
Run, I tell you--run!"
So Dorothy ran, and the Wheeler gave a sharp, wild cry and came after
her in full chase.
Looking over her shoulder as she ran, the girl now saw a great
procession of Wheelers emerging from the forest--dozens and dozens of
them--all clad in splendid, tight-fitting garments and all rolling
swiftly toward her and uttering their wild, strange cries.
"They're sure to catch us!" panted the girl, who was still carrying the
heavy dinner-pail she had picked. "I can't run much farther, Billina."
"Climb up this hill,--quick!" said the hen; and Dorothy found she was
very near to the heap of loose and jagged rocks they had passed on
their way to the forest. The yellow hen was even now fluttering among
the rocks, and Dorothy followed as best she could, half climbing and
half tumbling up the rough and rugged steep.
She was none too soon, for the foremost Wheeler reached the hill a
moment after her; but while the girl scrambled up the rocks the
creature stopped short with howls of rage and disappointment.
Dorothy now heard the yellow hen laughing, in her cackling, henny way.
"Don't hurry, my dear," cried Billina. "They can't follow us among
these rocks, so we're safe enough now."
Dorothy stopped at once and sat down upon a broad boulder, for she was
all out of breath.
The rest of the Wheelers had now reached the foot of the hill, but it
was evident that their wheels would not roll upon the rough and jagged
rocks, and therefore they were helpless to follow Dorothy and the hen
to where they had taken refuge. But they circled all around the
little hill, so the child and Billina were fast prisoners and could
not come down without being captured.
Then the creatures shook their front wheels at Dorothy in a
threatening manner, and it seemed they were able to speak as well as
to make their dreadful outcries, for several of them shouted:
"We'll get you in time, never fear! And when we do get you, we'll
tear you into little bits!"
"Why are you so cruel to me?" asked Dorothy. "I'm a stranger in your
country, and have done you no harm."
"No harm!" cried one who seemed to be their leader. "Did you not pick
our lunch-boxes and dinner-pails? Have you not a stolen dinner-pail
still in your hand?"
"I only picked one of each," she answered. "I was hungry, and I
didn't know the trees were yours."
"That is no excuse," retorted the leader, who was clothed in a most
gorgeous suit. "It is the law here that whoever picks a dinner-pail
without our permission must die immediately."
"Don't you believe him," said Billina. "I'm sure the trees do not
belong to these awful creatures. They are fit for any mischief, and
it's my opinion they would try to kill us just the same if you hadn't
picked a dinner-pail."
"I think so, too," agreed Dorothy. "But what shall we do now?"
"Stay where we are," advised the yellow hen. "We are safe from the
Wheelers until we starve to death, anyhow; and before that time comes
a good many things can happen."
4. Tiktok the Machine Man
After an hour or so most of the band of Wheelers rolled back into the
forest, leaving only three of their number to guard the hill. These
curled themselves up like big dogs and pretended to go to sleep on the
sands; but neither Dorothy nor Billina were fooled by this trick, so
they remained in security among the rocks and paid no attention to
their cunning enemies.
Finally the hen, fluttering over the mound, exclaimed: "Why,
here's a path!"
So Dorothy at once clambered to where Billina sat, and there, sure
enough, was a smooth path cut between the rocks. It seemed to wind
around the mound from top to bottom, like a cork-screw, twisting here
and there between the rough boulders but always remaining level and
easy to walk upon.
Indeed, Dorothy wondered at first why the Wheelers did not roll up
this path; but when she followed it to the foot of the mound she found
that several big pieces of rock had been placed directly across the
end of the way, thus preventing any one outside from seeing it and
also preventing the Wheelers from using it to climb up the mound.
Then Dorothy walked back up the path, and followed it until she came
to the very top of the hill, where a solitary round rock stood that
was bigger than any of the others surrounding it. The path came to an
end just beside this great rock, and for a moment it puzzled the girl
to know why the path had been made at all. But the hen, who had been
gravely following her around and was now perched upon a point of rock
behind Dorothy, suddenly remarked:
"It looks something like a door, doesn't it?"
"What looks like a door?" enquired the child.
"Why, that crack in the rock, just facing you," replied Billina, whose
little round eyes were very sharp and seemed to see everything. "It
runs up one side and down the other, and across the top and the bottom."
"What does?"
"Why, the crack. So I think it must be a door of rock, although I do
not see any hinges."
"Oh, yes," said Dorothy, now observing for the first time the crack in
the rock. "And isn't this a key-hole, Billina?" pointing to a round,
deep hole at one side of the door.
"Of course. If we only had the key, now, we could unlock it and see
what is there," replied the yellow hen. "May be it's a treasure
chamber full of diamonds and rubies, or heaps of shining gold, or--"
"That reminds me," said Dorothy, "of the golden key I picked up on the
shore. Do you think that it would fit this key-hole, Billina?"
"Try it and see," suggested the hen.
So Dorothy searched in the pocket of her dress and found the golden
key. And when she had put it into the hole of the rock, and turned
it, a sudden sharp snap was heard; then, with a solemn creak that made
the shivers run down the child's back, the face of the rock fell outward,
like a door on hinges, and revealed a small dark chamber just inside.
"Good gracious!" cried Dorothy, shrinking back as far as the narrow
path would let her.
For, standing within the narrow chamber of rock, was the form of a
man--or, at least, it seemed like a man, in the dim light. He was
only about as tall as Dorothy herself, and his body was round as a
ball and made out of burnished copper. Also his head and limbs were
copper, and these were jointed or hinged to his body in a peculiar
way, with metal caps over the joints, like the armor worn by knights
in days of old. He stood perfectly still, and where the light struck
upon his form it glittered as if made of pure gold.
"Don't be frightened," called Billina, from her perch. "It isn't alive."
"I see it isn't," replied the girl, drawing a long breath.
"It is only made out of copper, like the old kettle in the barn-yard
at home," continued the hen, turning her head first to one side and
then to the other, so that both her little round eyes could examine
the object.
"Once," said Dorothy, "I knew a man made out of tin, who was a woodman
named Nick Chopper. But he was as alive as we are, 'cause he was born
a real man, and got his tin body a little at a time--first a leg and
then a finger and then an ear--for the reason that he had so many
accidents with his axe, and cut himself up in a very careless manner."
"Oh," said the hen, with a sniff, as if she did not believe the story.
"But this copper man," continued Dorothy, looking at it with big eyes,
"is not alive at all, and I wonder what it was made for, and why it
was locked up in this queer place."
"That is a mystery," remarked the hen, twisting her head to arrange
her wing-feathers with her bill.
Dorothy stepped inside the little room to get a back view of the
copper man, and in this way discovered a printed card that hung
between his shoulders, it being suspended from a small copper peg at
the back of his neck. She unfastened this card and returned to the
path, where the light was better, and sat herself down upon a slab of
rock to read the printing.
"What does it say?" asked the hen, curiously.
Dorothy read the card aloud, spelling out the big words with some
difficulty; and this is what she read:
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| SMITH & TINKER'S |
| Patent Double-Action, Extra-Responsive, |
| Thought-Creating, Perfect-Talking |
| MECHANICAL MAN |
| Fitted with our Special Clock-Work Attachment. |
| Thinks, Speaks, Acts, and Does Everything but Live. |
| Manufactured only at our Works at Evna, Land of Ev. |
| All infringements will be promptly Prosecuted according to Law.|
| |
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
"How queer!" said the yellow hen. "Do you think that is all true,
my dear?"
"I don't know," answered Dorothy, who had more to read. "Listen to
this, Billina:"
+--------------------------------------------------+
| |
| DIRECTIONS FOR USING: |
| For THINKING:--Wind the Clock-work Man under his |
| left arm, (marked No. 1.) |
| For SPEAKING:--Wind the Clock-work Man under his |
| right arm, (marked No. 2.) |
| For WALKING and ACTION:--Wind Clock-work in the |
| middle of his back, (marked No. 3.) |
| N. B.--This Mechanism is guaranteed to work |
| perfectly for a thousand years. |
| |
+--------------------------------------------------+
"Well, I declare!" gasped the yellow hen, in amazement; "if the copper
man can do half of these things he is a very wonderful machine. But I
suppose it is all humbug, like so many other patented articles."
"We might wind him up," suggested Dorothy, "and see what he'll do."
"Where is the key to the clock-work?" asked Billina.
"Hanging on the peg where I found the card."
"Then," said the hen, "let us try him, and find out if he will go. He
is warranted for a thousand years, it seems; but we do not know how
long he has been standing inside this rock."
Dorothy had already taken the clock key from the peg.
"Which shall I wind up first?" she asked, looking again at the
directions on the card.
"Number One, I should think," returned Billina. "That makes him
think, doesn't it?"
"Yes," said Dorothy, and wound up Number One, under the left arm.
"He doesn't seem any different," remarked the hen, critically.
"Why, of course not; he is only thinking, now," said Dorothy.
"I wonder what he is thinking about."
"I'll wind up his talk, and then perhaps he can tell us," said the girl.
So she wound up Number Two, and immediately the clock-work man said,
without moving any part of his body except his lips:
"Good morn-ing, lit-tle girl. Good morn-ing, Mrs. Hen."
The words sounded a little hoarse and creaky, and they were uttered
all in the same tone, without any change of expression whatever; but
both Dorothy and Billina understood them perfectly.
"Good morning, sir," they answered, politely.
"Thank you for res-cu-ing me," continued the machine, in the same
monotonous voice, which seemed to be worked by a bellows inside of
him, like the little toy lambs and cats the children squeeze so that
they will make a noise.
"Don't mention it," answered Dorothy. And then, being very curious,
she asked: "How did you come to be locked up in this place?"
"It is a long sto-ry," replied the copper man; "but I will tell it to
you brief-ly. I was pur-chased from Smith & Tin-ker, my
man-u-fac-tur-ers, by a cru-el King of Ev, named Ev-ol-do, who used to
beat all his serv-ants un-til they died. How-ev-er, he was not a-ble
to kill me, be-cause I was not a-live, and one must first live in
or-der to die. So that all his beat-ing did me no harm, and mere-ly
kept my cop-per bod-y well pol-ished.
"This cru-el king had a love-ly wife and ten beau-ti-ful
chil-dren--five boys and five girls--but in a fit of an-ger he sold
them all to the Nome King, who by means of his mag-ic arts changed
them all in-to oth-er forms and put them in his un-der-ground pal-ace
to or-na-ment the rooms.
"Af-ter-ward the King of Ev re-gret-ted his wick-ed ac-tion, and tried
to get his wife and chil-dren a-way from the Nome King, but with-out
a-vail. So, in de-spair, he locked me up in this rock, threw the key
in-to the o-cean, and then jumped in af-ter it and was drowned."
"How very dreadful!" exclaimed Dorothy.
"It is, in-deed," said the machine. "When I found my-self
im-pris-oned I shout-ed for help un-til my voice ran down; and then I
walked back and forth in this lit-tle room un-til my ac-tion ran down;
and then I stood still and thought un-til my thoughts ran down.
Af-ter that I re-mem-ber noth-ing un-til you wound me up a-gain."
"It's a very wonderful story," said Dorothy, "and proves that the Land
of Ev is really a fairy land, as I thought it was."
"Of course it is," answered the copper man. "I do not sup-pose such a
per-fect ma-chine as I am could be made in an-y place but a fair-y land."
"I've never seen one in Kansas," said Dorothy.
"But where did you get the key to un-lock this door?" asked the
clock-work voice.
"I found it on the shore, where it was prob'ly washed up by the
waves," she answered. "And now, sir, if you don't mind, I'll wind up
your action."
"That will please me ve-ry much," said the machine.
So she wound up Number Three, and at once the copper man in a somewhat
stiff and jerky fashion walked out of the rocky cavern, took off his
copper hat and bowed politely, and then kneeled before Dorothy.
Said he:
"From this time forth I am your o-be-di-ent ser-vant. What-ev-er you
com-mand, that I will do will-ing-ly--if you keep me wound up."
"What is your name?" she asked.
"Tik-tok," he replied. "My for-mer mas-ter gave me that name be-cause
my clock-work al-ways ticks when it is wound up."
"I can hear it now," said the yellow hen.
"So can I," said Dorothy. And then she added, with some anxiety: "You
don't strike, do you?"
"No," answered Tiktok; "and there is no a-larm con-nec-ted with
my ma-chin-er-y. I can tell the time, though, by speak-ing,
and as I nev-er sleep I can wak-en you at an-y hour you wish
to get up in the morn-ing."
"That's nice," said the little girl; "only I never wish to get up in
the morning."
"You can sleep until I lay my egg," said the yellow hen. "Then, when
I cackle, Tiktok will know it is time to waken you."
"Do you lay your egg very early?" asked Dorothy.
"About eight o'clock," said Billina. "And everybody ought to be up by
that time, I'm sure."
5. Dorothy Opens the Dinner Pail
"Now Tiktok," said Dorothy, "the first thing to be done is to find a
way for us to escape from these rocks. The Wheelers are down below,
you know, and threaten to kill us."
"There is no rea-son to be a-fraid of the Wheel-ers," said Tiktok, the
words coming more slowly than before.
"Why not?" she asked.
"Be-cause they are ag-g-g--gr-gr-r-r-"
He gave a sort of gurgle and stopped short, waving his hands
frantically until suddenly he became motionless, with one arm in the
air and the other held stiffly before him with all the copper fingers
of the hand spread out like a fan.
"Dear me!" said Dorothy, in a frightened tone. "What can the matter be?"
"He's run down, I suppose," said the hen, calmly. "You couldn't have
wound him up very tight."
"I didn't know how much to wind him," replied the girl; "but I'll try
to do better next time."
She ran around the copper man to take the key from the peg at the back
of his neck, but it was not there.
"It's gone!" cried Dorothy, in dismay.
"What's gone?" asked Billina.
"The key."
"It probably fell off when he made that low bow to you," returned the
hen. "Look around, and see if you cannot find it again."
Dorothy looked, and the hen helped her, and by and by the girl
discovered the clock-key, which had fallen into a crack of the rock.
At once she wound up Tiktok's voice, taking care to give the key as
many turns as it would go around. She found this quite a task, as you
may imagine if you have ever tried to wind a clock, but the machine
man's first words were to assure Dorothy that he would now run for at
least twenty-four hours.
"You did not wind me much, at first," he calmly said, "and I told
you that long sto-ry a-bout King Ev-ol-do; so it is no won-der that
I ran down."
She next rewound the action clock-work, and then Billina advised her to
carry the key to Tiktok in her pocket, so it would not get lost again.
"And now," said Dorothy, when all this was accomplished, "tell me what
you were going to say about the Wheelers."
"Why, they are noth-ing to be fright-en'd at," said the machine.
"They try to make folks be-lieve that they are ver-y ter-ri-ble, but
as a mat-ter of fact the Wheel-ers are harm-less e-nough to an-y one
that dares to fight them. They might try to hurt a lit-tle girl like
you, per-haps, be-cause they are ver-y mis-chiev-ous. But if I had a
club they would run a-way as soon as they saw me."
"Haven't you a club?" asked Dorothy.
"No," said Tiktok.
"And you won't find such a thing among these rocks, either," declared
the yellow hen.
"Then what shall we do?" asked the girl.
"Wind up my think-works tight-ly, and I will try to think of some
oth-er plan," said Tiktok.
So Dorothy rewound his thought machinery, and while he was thinking
she decided to eat her dinner. Billina was already pecking away at
the cracks in the rocks, to find something to eat, so Dorothy sat down
and opened her tin dinner-pail.
In the cover she found a small tank that was full of very nice
lemonade. It was covered by a cup, which might also, when removed, be
used to drink the lemonade from. Within the pail were three slices of
turkey, two slices of cold tongue, some lobster salad, four slices of
bread and butter, a small custard pie, an orange and nine large
strawberries, and some nuts and raisins. Singularly enough, the nuts
in this dinner-pail grew already cracked, so that Dorothy had no
trouble in picking out their meats to eat.
She spread the feast upon the rock beside her and began her dinner,
first offering some of it to Tiktok, who declined because, as he said,
he was merely a machine. Afterward she offered to share with Billina,
but the hen murmured something about "dead things" and said she
preferred her bugs and ants.
"Do the lunch-box trees and the dinner-pail trees belong to the
Wheelers?" the child asked Tiktok, while engaged in eating her meal.
"Of course not," he answered. "They be-long to the roy-al fam-il-y of
Ev, on-ly of course there is no roy-al fam-il-y just now be-cause King
Ev-ol-do jumped in-to the sea and his wife and ten chil-dren have been
trans-formed by the Nome King. So there is no one to rule the Land of
Ev, that I can think of. Per-haps it is for this rea-son that the
Wheel-ers claim the trees for their own, and pick the lunch-eons and
din-ners to eat them-selves. But they be-long to the King, and you will
find the roy-al "E" stamped up-on the bot-tom of ev-er-y din-ner pail."
Dorothy turned the pail over, and at once discovered the royal mark
upon it, as Tiktok had said.
"Are the Wheelers the only folks living in the Land of Ev?" enquired
the girl.
"No; they on-ly in-hab-it a small por-tion of it just back of the
woods," replied the machine. "But they have al-ways been
mis-chiev-ous and im-per-ti-nent, and my old mas-ter, King Ev-ol-do,
used to car-ry a whip with him, when he walked out, to keep the
crea-tures in or-der. When I was first made the Wheel-ers tried to
run o-ver me, and butt me with their heads; but they soon found I was
built of too sol-id a ma-ter-i-al for them to in-jure."
"You seem very durable," said Dorothy. "Who made you?"
"The firm of Smith & Tin-ker, in the town of Evna, where the roy-al
pal-ace stands," answered Tiktok.
"Did they make many of you?" asked the child.
"No; I am the on-ly au-to-mat-ic me-chan-i-cal man they ev-er
com-plet-ed," he replied. "They were ver-y won-der-ful in-ven-tors,
were my mak-ers, and quite ar-tis-tic in all they did."
"I am sure of that," said Dorothy. "Do they live in the town of
Evna now?"
"They are both gone," replied the machine. "Mr. Smith was an art-ist,
as well as an in-vent-or, and he paint-ed a pic-ture of a riv-er
which was so nat-ur-al that, as he was reach-ing a-cross it to paint
some flow-ers on the op-po-site bank, he fell in-to the wa-ter
and was drowned."
"Oh, I'm sorry for that!" exclaimed the little girl.
"Mis-ter Tin-ker," continued Tiktok, "made a lad-der so tall that he
could rest the end of it a-gainst the moon, while he stood on the
high-est rung and picked the lit-tle stars to set in the points of the
king's crown. But when he got to the moon Mis-ter Tin-ker found it
such a love-ly place that he de-cid-ed to live there, so he pulled up
the lad-der af-ter him and we have nev-er seen him since."
"He must have been a great loss to this country," said Dorothy, who
was by this time eating her custard pie.
"He was," acknowledged Tiktok. "Also he is a great loss to me. For
if I should get out of or-der I do not know of an-y one a-ble to
re-pair me, be-cause I am so com-pli-cat-ed. You have no i-de-a how
full of ma-chin-er-y I am."
"I can imagine it," said Dorothy, readily.
"And now," continued the machine, "I must stop talk-ing and be-gin
think-ing a-gain of a way to es-cape from this rock." So he turned
half way around, in order to think without being disturbed.
"The best thinker I ever knew," said Dorothy to the yellow hen,
"was a scarecrow."
"Nonsense!" snapped Billina.
"It is true," declared Dorothy. "I met him in the Land of Oz,
and he traveled with me to the city of the great Wizard of Oz,
so as to get some brains, for his head was only stuffed with straw.
But it seemed to me that he thought just as well before he got his
brains as he did afterward."
"Do you expect me to believe all that rubbish about the Land of Oz?"
enquired Billina, who seemed a little cross--perhaps because bugs
were scarce.
"What rubbish?" asked the child, who was now finishing her
nuts and raisins.
"Why, your impossible stories about animals that can talk, and a tin
woodman who is alive, and a scarecrow who can think."
"They are all there," said Dorothy, "for I have seen them."
"I don't believe it!" cried the hen, with a toss of her head.
"That's 'cause you're so ign'rant," replied the girl, who was a little
offended at her friend Billina's speech.
"In the Land of Oz," remarked Tiktok, turning toward them, "an-y-thing
is pos-si-ble. For it is a won-der-ful fair-y coun-try."
"There, Billina! what did I say?" cried Dorothy. And then she turned
to the machine and asked in an eager tone: "Do you know the Land of
Oz, Tiktok?"
"No; but I have heard a-bout it," said the cop-per man. "For it is
on-ly sep-a-ra-ted from this Land of Ev by a broad des-ert."
Dorothy clapped her hands together delightedly.
"I'm glad of that!" she exclaimed. "It makes me quite happy to be so
near my old friends. The scarecrow I told you of, Billina, is the
King of the Land of Oz."
"Par-don me. He is not the king now," said Tiktok.
"He was when I left there," declared Dorothy.
"I know," said Tiktok, "but there was a rev-o-lu-tion in the Land of
Oz, and the Scare-crow was de-posed by a sol-dier wo-man named
Gen-er-al Jin-jur. And then Jin-jur was de-posed by a lit-tle girl
named Oz-ma, who was the right-ful heir to the throne and now rules
the land un-der the ti-tle of Oz-ma of Oz."
"That is news to me," said Dorothy, thoughtfully. "But I s'pose
lots of things have happened since I left the Land of Oz. I wonder
what has become of the Scarecrow, and of the Tin Woodman, and the
Cowardly Lion. And I wonder who this girl Ozma is, for I never heard
of her before."
But Tiktok did not reply to this. He had turned around again to
resume his thinking.
Dorothy packed the rest of the food back into the pail, so as not to
be wasteful of good things, and the yellow hen forgot her dignity far
enough to pick up all of the scattered crumbs, which she ate rather
greedily, although she had so lately pretended to despise the things
that Dorothy preferred as food.
By this time Tiktok approached them with his stiff bow.
"Be kind e-nough to fol-low me," he said, "and I will lead you a-way
from here to the town of Ev-na, where you will be more com-for-ta-ble,
and al-so I will pro-tect you from the Wheel-ers."
"All right," answered Dorothy, promptly. "I'm ready!"
6. The Heads of Langwidere
They walked slowly down the path between the rocks, Tiktok going
first, Dorothy following him, and the yellow hen trotting along last
of all.
At the foot of the path the copper man leaned down and tossed aside
with ease the rocks that encumbered the way. Then he turned to
Dorothy and said:
"Let me car-ry your din-ner-pail."
She placed it in his right hand at once, and the copper fingers closed
firmly over the stout handle.
Then the little procession marched out upon the level sands.
As soon as the three Wheelers who were guarding the mound saw them,
they began to shout their wild cries and rolled swiftly toward the
little group, as if to capture them or bar their way. But when the
foremost had approached near enough, Tiktok swung the tin dinner-pail
and struck the Wheeler a sharp blow over its head with the queer
weapon. Perhaps it did not hurt very much, but it made a great noise,
and the Wheeler uttered a howl and tumbled over upon its side. The
next minute it scrambled to its wheels and rolled away as fast as it
could go, screeching with fear at the same time.
"I told you they were harm-less," began Tiktok; but before he could
say more another Wheeler was upon them. Crack! went the dinner-pail
against its head, knocking its straw hat a dozen feet away; and that
was enough for this Wheeler, also. It rolled away after the first
one, and the third did not wait to be pounded with the pail, but
joined its fellows as quickly as its wheels would whirl.
The yellow hen gave a cackle of delight, and flying to a perch upon
Tiktok's shoulder, she said:
"Bravely done, my copper friend! and wisely thought of, too. Now we
are free from those ugly creatures."
But just then a large band of Wheelers rolled from the forest, and
relying upon their numbers to conquer, they advanced fiercely upon
Tiktok. Dorothy grabbed Billina in her arms and held her tight, and
the machine embraced the form of the little girl with his left arm,
the better to protect her. Then the Wheelers were upon them.
Rattlety, bang! bang! went the dinner-pail in every direction, and
it made so much clatter bumping against the heads of the Wheelers that
they were much more frightened than hurt and fled in a great panic.
All, that is, except their leader. This Wheeler had stumbled against
another and fallen flat upon his back, and before he could get his
wheels under him to rise again, Tiktok had fastened his copper fingers
into the neck of the gorgeous jacket of his foe and held him fast.
"Tell your peo-ple to go a-way," commanded the machine.
The leader of the Wheelers hesitated to give this order, so Tiktok
shook him as a terrier dog does a rat, until the Wheeler's teeth
rattled together with a noise like hailstones on a window pane. Then,
as soon as the creature could get its breath, it shouted to the others
to roll away, which they immediately did.
"Now," said Tiktok, "you shall come with us and tell me what
I want to know."
"You'll be sorry for treating me in this way," whined the Wheeler.
"I'm a terribly fierce person."
"As for that," answered Tiktok, "I am only a ma-chine, and can-not
feel sor-row or joy, no mat-ter what hap-pens. But you are wrong to
think your-self ter-ri-ble or fierce."
"Why so?" asked the Wheeler.
"Be-cause no one else thinks as you do. Your wheels make you
help-less to in-jure an-y one. For you have no fists and can not
scratch or e-ven pull hair. Nor have you an-y feet to kick with.
All you can do is to yell and shout, and that does not hurt an-y
one at all."
The Wheeler burst into a flood of tears, to Dorothy's great surprise.
"Now I and my people are ruined forever!" he sobbed; "for you have
discovered our secret. Being so helpless, our only hope is to make
people afraid of us, by pretending we are very fierce and terrible,
and writing in the sand warnings to Beware the Wheelers. Until now we
have frightened everyone, but since you have discovered our weakness
our enemies will fall upon us and make us very miserable and unhappy."
"Oh, no," exclaimed Dorothy, who was sorry to see this beautifully
dressed Wheeler so miserable; "Tiktok will keep your secret, and so
will Billina and I. Only, you must promise not to try to frighten
children any more, if they come near to you."
"I won't--indeed I won't!" promised the Wheeler, ceasing to cry and
becoming more cheerful. "I'm not really bad, you know; but we have to
pretend to be terrible in order to prevent others from attacking us."
"That is not ex-act-ly true," said Tiktok, starting to walk toward the
path through the forest, and still holding fast to his prisoner, who
rolled slowly along beside him. "You and your peo-ple are full of
mis-chief, and like to both-er those who fear you. And you are of-ten
im-pu-dent and dis-a-gree-a-ble, too. But if you will try to cure
those faults I will not tell any-one how help-less you are."
"I'll try, of course," replied the Wheeler, eagerly. "And thank you,
Mr. Tiktok, for your kindness."
"I am on-ly a ma-chine," said Tiktok. "I can not be kind an-y more
than I can be sor-ry or glad. I can on-ly do what I am wound up to do."
"Are you wound up to keep my secret?" asked the Wheeler, anxiously.
"Yes; if you be-have your-self. But tell me: who rules the Land of Ev
now?" asked the machine.
"There is no ruler," was the answer, "because every member of the
royal family is imprisoned by the Nome King. But the Princess
Langwidere, who is a niece of our late King Evoldo, lives in a part of
the royal palace and takes as much money out of the royal treasury as
she can spend. The Princess Langwidere is not exactly a ruler, you
see, because she doesn't rule; but she is the nearest approach to a
ruler we have at present."
"I do not re-mem-ber her," said Tiktok. "What does she look like?"
"That I cannot say," replied the Wheeler, "although I have seen her
twenty times. For the Princess Langwidere is a different person every
time I see her, and the only way her subjects can recognize her at all
is by means of a beautiful ruby key which she always wears on a chain
attached to her left wrist. When we see the key we know we are
beholding the Princess."
"That is strange," said Dorothy, in astonishment. "Do you mean to say
that so many different princesses are one and the same person?"
"Not exactly," answered the Wheeler. "There is, of course, but one
princess; but she appears to us in many forms, which are all more or
less beautiful."
"She must be a witch," exclaimed the girl.
"I do not think so," declared the Wheeler. "But there is some mystery
connected with her, nevertheless. She is a very vain creature, and
lives mostly in a room surrounded by mirrors, so that she can admire
herself whichever way she looks."
No one answered this speech, because they had just passed out of the
forest and their attention was fixed upon the scene before them--a
beautiful vale in which were many fruit trees and green fields, with
pretty farm-houses scattered here and there and broad, smooth roads
that led in every direction.
In the center of this lovely vale, about a mile from where our friends
were standing, rose the tall spires of the royal palace, which
glittered brightly against their background of blue sky. The palace
was surrounded by charming grounds, full of flowers and shrubbery.
Several tinkling fountains could be seen, and there were pleasant
walks bordered by rows of white marble statuary.
All these details Dorothy was, of course, unable to notice or admire
until they had advanced along the road to a position quite near to the
palace, and she was still looking at the pretty sights when her little
party entered the grounds and approached the big front door of the
king's own apartments. To their disappointment they found the door
tightly closed. A sign was tacked to the panel which read as follows:
+----------------------------+
| |
| OWNER ABSENT. |
| |
| Please Knock at the Third |
| Door in the Left Wing. |
| |
+----------------------------+
"Now," said Tiktok to the captive Wheeler, "you must show us the way
to the Left Wing."
"Very well," agreed the prisoner, "it is around here at the right."
"How can the left wing be at the right?" demanded Dorothy, who feared
the Wheeler was fooling them.
"Because there used to be three wings, and two were torn down, so the
one on the right is the only one left. It is a trick of the Princess
Langwidere to prevent visitors from annoying her."
Then the captive led them around to the wing, after which the machine
man, having no further use for the Wheeler, permitted him to depart
and rejoin his fellows. He immediately rolled away at a great pace
and was soon lost to sight.
Tiktok now counted the doors in the wing and knocked loudly upon the
third one.
It was opened by a little maid in a cap trimmed with gay ribbons, who
bowed respectfully and asked:
"What do you wish, good people?"
"Are you the Princess Langwidere?" asked Dorothy.
"No, miss; I am her servant," replied the maid.
"May I see the Princess, please?"
"I will tell her you are here, miss, and ask her to grant you an audience,"
said the maid. "Step in, please, and take a seat in the drawing-room."
So Dorothy walked in, followed closely by the machine. But as the
yellow hen tried to enter after them, the little maid cried "Shoo!"
and flapped her apron in Billina's face.
"Shoo, yourself!" retorted the hen, drawing back in anger and ruffling
up her feathers. "Haven't you any better manners than that?"
"Oh, do you talk?" enquired the maid, evidently surprised.
"Can't you hear me?" snapped Billina. "Drop that apron, and get out of
the doorway, so that I may enter with my friends!"
"The Princess won't like it," said the maid, hesitating.
"I don't care whether she likes it or not," replied Billina, and
fluttering her wings with a loud noise she flew straight at the maid's
face. The little servant at once ducked her head, and the hen reached
Dorothy's side in safety.
"Very well," sighed the maid; "if you are all ruined because of this
obstinate hen, don't blame me for it. It isn't safe to annoy the
Princess Langwidere."
"Tell her we are waiting, if you please," Dorothy requested, with
dignity. "Billina is my friend, and must go wherever I go."
Without more words the maid led them to a richly furnished
drawing-room, lighted with subdued rainbow tints that came in through
beautiful stained-glass windows.
"Remain here," she said. "What names shall I give the Princess?"
"I am Dorothy Gale, of Kansas," replied the child; "and this gentleman
is a machine named Tiktok, and the yellow hen is my friend Billina."
The little servant bowed and withdrew, going through several passages
and mounting two marble stairways before she came to the apartments
occupied by her mistress.
Princess Langwidere's sitting-room was paneled with great mirrors,
which reached from the ceiling to the floor; also the ceiling was
composed of mirrors, and the floor was of polished silver that
reflected every object upon it. So when Langwidere sat in her easy
chair and played soft melodies upon her mandolin, her form was
mirrored hundreds of times, in walls and ceiling and floor, and
whichever way the lady turned her head she could see and admire her
own features. This she loved to do, and just as the maid entered she
was saying to herself:
"This head with the auburn hair and hazel eyes is quite attractive. I
must wear it more often than I have done of late, although it may not
be the best of my collection."
"You have company, Your Highness," announced the maid, bowing low.
"Who is it?" asked Langwidere, yawning.
"Dorothy Gale of Kansas, Mr. Tiktok and Billina," answered the maid.
"What a queer lot of names!" murmured the Princess, beginning to
be a little interested. "What are they like? Is Dorothy Gale of
Kansas pretty?"
"She might be called so," the maid replied.
"And is Mr. Tiktok attractive?" continued the Princess.
"That I cannot say, Your Highness. But he seems very bright. Will
Your Gracious Highness see them?"
"Oh, I may as well, Nanda. But I am tired admiring this head, and if
my visitor has any claim to beauty I must take care that she does not
surpass me. So I will go to my cabinet and change to No. 17, which I
think is my best appearance. Don't you?"
"Your No. 17 is exceedingly beautiful," answered Nanda, with another bow.
Again the Princess yawned. Then she said:
"Help me to rise."
So the maid assisted her to gain her feet, although Langwidere was the
stronger of the two; and then the Princess slowly walked across the
silver floor to her cabinet, leaning heavily at every step upon
Nanda's arm.
Now I must explain to you that the Princess Langwidere had thirty
heads--as many as there are days in the month. But of course she
could only wear one of them at a time, because she had but one neck.
These heads were kept in what she called her "cabinet," which was a
beautiful dressing-room that lay just between Langwidere's
sleeping-chamber and the mirrored sitting-room. Each head was in a
separate cupboard lined with velvet. The cupboards ran all around the
sides of the dressing-room, and had elaborately carved doors with gold
numbers on the outside and jeweled-framed mirrors on the inside of them.
When the Princess got out of her crystal bed in the morning she went
to her cabinet, opened one of the velvet-lined cupboards, and took the
head it contained from its golden shelf. Then, by the aid of the
mirror inside the open door, she put on the head--as neat and straight
as could be--and afterward called her maids to robe her for the day.
She always wore a simple white costume, that suited all the heads.
For, being able to change her face whenever she liked, the Princess
had no interest in wearing a variety of gowns, as have other ladies
who are compelled to wear the same face constantly.
Of course the thirty heads were in great variety, no two formed alike
but all being of exceeding loveliness. There were heads with golden
hair, brown hair, rich auburn hair and black hair; but none with gray
hair. The heads had eyes of blue, of gray, of hazel, of brown and of
black; but there were no red eyes among them, and all were bright and
handsome. The noses were Grecian, Roman, retrousse and Oriental,
representing all types of beauty; and the mouths were of assorted
sizes and shapes, displaying pearly teeth when the heads smiled. As
for dimples, they appeared in cheeks and chins, wherever they might be
most charming, and one or two heads had freckles upon the faces to
contrast the better with the brilliancy of their complexions.
One key unlocked all the velvet cupboards containing these
treasures--a curious key carved from a single blood-red ruby--and this
was fastened to a strong but slender chain which the Princess wore
around her left wrist.
When Nanda had supported Langwidere to a position in front of cupboard
No. 17, the Princess unlocked the door with her ruby key and after
handing head No. 9, which she had been wearing, to the maid, she took
No. 17 from its shelf and fitted it to her neck. It had black hair
and dark eyes and a lovely pearl-and-white complexion, and when
Langwidere wore it she knew she was remarkably beautiful in appearance.
There was only one trouble with No. 17; the temper that went with it
(and which was hidden somewhere under the glossy black hair) was
fiery, harsh and haughty in the extreme, and it often led the Princess
to do unpleasant things which she regretted when she came to wear her
other heads.
But she did not remember this today, and went to meet her guests in
the drawing-room with a feeling of certainty that she would surprise
them with her beauty.
However, she was greatly disappointed to find that her visitors were
merely a small girl in a gingham dress, a copper man that would only
go when wound up, and a yellow hen that was sitting contentedly in
Langwidere's best work-basket, where there was a china egg used for
darning stockings. (It may surprise you to learn that a princess ever
does such a common thing as darn stockings. But, if you will stop to
think, you will realize that a princess is sure to wear holes in her
stockings, the same as other people; only it isn't considered quite
polite to mention the matter.)
"Oh!" said Langwidere, slightly lifting the nose of No. 17. "I
thought some one of importance had called."
"Then you were right," declared Dorothy. "I'm a good deal of
'portance myself, and when Billina lays an egg she has the proudest
cackle you ever heard. As for Tiktok, he's the--"
"Stop--Stop!" commanded the Princess, with an angry flash of her
splendid eyes. "How dare you annoy me with your senseless chatter?"
"Why, you horrid thing!" said Dorothy, who was not accustomed to being
treated so rudely.
The Princess looked at her more closely.
"Tell me," she resumed, "are you of royal blood?"
"Better than that, ma'am," said Dorothy. "I came from Kansas."
"Huh!" cried the Princess, scornfully. "You are a foolish child, and
I cannot allow you to annoy me. Run away, you little goose, and
bother some one else."
Dorothy was so indignant that for a moment she could find no words to
reply. But she rose from her chair, and was about to leave the room
when the Princess, who had been scanning the girl's face, stopped her
by saying, more gently:
"Come nearer to me."
Dorothy obeyed, without a thought of fear, and stood before the
Princess while Langwidere examined her face with careful attention.
"You are rather attractive," said the lady, presently. "Not at all
beautiful, you understand, but you have a certain style of prettiness
that is different from that of any of my thirty heads. So I believe
I'll take your head and give you No. 26 for it."
"Well, I b'lieve you won't!" exclaimed Dorothy.
"It will do you no good to refuse," continued the Princess; "for I
need your head for my collection, and in the Land of Ev my will is
law. I never have cared much for No. 26, and you will find that it is
very little worn. Besides, it will do you just as well as the one
you're wearing, for all practical purposes."
"I don't know anything about your No. 26, and I don't want to," said
Dorothy, firmly. "I'm not used to taking cast-off things, so I'll
just keep my own head."
"You refuse?" cried the Princess, with a frown.
"Of course I do," was the reply.
"Then," said Langwidere, "I shall lock you up in a tower until you
decide to obey me. Nanda," turning to her maid, "call my army."
Nanda rang a silver bell, and at once a big fat colonel in a bright
red uniform entered the room, followed by ten lean soldiers, who all
looked sad and discouraged and saluted the princess in a very
melancholy fashion.
"Carry that girl to the North Tower and lock her up!" cried the
Princess, pointing to Dorothy.
"To hear is to obey," answered the big red colonel, and caught the
child by her arm. But at that moment Tiktok raised his dinner-pail
and pounded it so forcibly against the colonel's head that the big
officer sat down upon the floor with a sudden bump, looking both dazed
and very much astonished.
"Help!" he shouted, and the ten lean soldiers sprang to assist
their leader.
There was great excitement for the next few moments, and Tiktok had
knocked down seven of the army, who were sprawling in every direction
upon the carpet, when suddenly the machine paused, with the
dinner-pail raised for another blow, and remained perfectly motionless.
"My ac-tion has run down," he called to Dorothy. "Wind me up, quick."
She tried to obey, but the big colonel had by this time managed to get
upon his feet again, so he grabbed fast hold of the girl and she was
helpless to escape.
"This is too bad," said the machine. "I ought to have run six hours
lon-ger, at least, but I sup-pose my long walk and my fight with the
Wheel-ers made me run down fast-er than us-u-al."
"Well, it can't be helped," said Dorothy, with a sigh.
"Will you exchange heads with me?" demanded the Princess.
"No, indeed!" cried Dorothy.
"Then lock her up," said Langwidere to her soldiers, and they led
Dorothy to a high tower at the north of the palace and locked her
securely within.
The soldiers afterward tried to lift Tiktok, but they found the
machine so solid and heavy that they could not stir it. So they left
him standing in the center of the drawing-room.
"People will think I have a new statue," said Langwidere, "so it won't
matter in the least, and Nanda can keep him well polished."
"What shall we do with the hen?" asked the colonel, who had just
discovered Billina in the work-basket.
"Put her in the chicken-house," answered the Princess. "Someday I'll
have her fried for breakfast."
"She looks rather tough, Your Highness," said Nanda, doubtfully.
"That is a base slander!" cried Billina, struggling frantically in the
colonel's arms. "But the breed of chickens I come from is said to be
poison to all princesses."
"Then," remarked Langwidere, "I will not fry the hen, but keep her to
lay eggs; and if she doesn't do her duty I'll have her drowned in the
horse trough."
7. Ozma of Oz to the Rescue
Nanda brought Dorothy bread and water for her supper, and she slept
upon a hard stone couch with a single pillow and a silken coverlet.
In the morning she leaned out of the window of her prison in the tower
to see if there was any way to escape. The room was not so very high
up, when compared with our modern buildings, but it was far enough
above the trees and farm houses to give her a good view of the
surrounding country.
To the east she saw the forest, with the sands beyond it and the ocean
beyond that. There was even a dark speck upon the shore that she
thought might be the chicken-coop in which she had arrived at this
singular country.
Then she looked to the north, and saw a deep but narrow valley lying
between two rocky mountains, and a third mountain that shut off the
valley at the further end.
Westward the fertile Land of Ev suddenly ended a little way from the
palace, and the girl could see miles and miles of sandy desert that
stretched further than her eyes could reach. It was this desert, she
thought, with much interest, that alone separated her from the
wonderful Land of Oz, and she remembered sorrowfully that she had been
told no one had ever been able to cross this dangerous waste but
herself. Once a cyclone had carried her across it, and a magical pair
of silver shoes had carried her back again. But now she had neither a
cyclone nor silver shoes to assist her, and her condition was sad
indeed. For she had become the prisoner of a disagreeable princess
who insisted that she must exchange her head for another one that she
was not used to, and which might not fit her at all.
Really, there seemed no hope of help for her from her old friends in
the Land of Oz. Thoughtfully she gazed from her narrow window. On
all the desert not a living thing was stirring.
Wait, though! Something surely WAS stirring on the desert--something
her eyes had not observed at first. Now it seemed like a cloud; now
it seemed like a spot of silver; now it seemed to be a mass of rainbow
colors that moved swiftly toward her.
What COULD it be, she wondered?
Then, gradually, but in a brief space of time nevertheless, the vision
drew near enough to Dorothy to make out what it was.
A broad green carpet was unrolling itself upon the desert, while
advancing across the carpet was a wonderful procession that made the
girl open her eyes in amazement as she gazed.
First came a magnificent golden chariot, drawn by a great Lion and an
immense Tiger, who stood shoulder to shoulder and trotted along as
gracefully as a well-matched team of thoroughbred horses. And
standing upright within the chariot was a beautiful girl clothed in
flowing robes of silver gauze and wearing a jeweled diadem upon her
dainty head. She held in one hand the satin ribbons that guided her
astonishing team, and in the other an ivory wand that separated at the
top into two prongs, the prongs being tipped by the letters "O" and
"Z", made of glistening diamonds set closely together.
The girl seemed neither older nor larger than Dorothy herself, and at once
the prisoner in the tower guessed that the lovely driver of the chariot
must be that Ozma of Oz of whom she had so lately heard from Tiktok.
Following close behind the chariot Dorothy saw her old friend the
Scarecrow, riding calmly astride a wooden Saw-Horse, which pranced and
trotted as naturally as any meat horse could have done.
And then came Nick Chopper, the Tin Woodman, with his funnel-shaped
cap tipped carelessly over his left ear, his gleaming axe over his
right shoulder, and his whole body sparkling as brightly as it had
ever done in the old days when first she knew him.
The Tin Woodman was on foot, marching at the head of a company of
twenty-seven soldiers, of whom some were lean and some fat, some short
and some tall; but all the twenty-seven were dressed in handsome
uniforms of various designs and colors, no two being alike
in any respect.
Behind the soldiers the green carpet rolled itself up again, so that
there was always just enough of it for the procession to walk upon, in
order that their feet might not come in contact with the deadly,
life-destroying sands of the desert.
Dorothy knew at once it was a magic carpet she beheld, and her heart
beat high with hope and joy as she realized she was soon to be rescued
and allowed to greet her dearly beloved friends of Oz--the Scarecrow,
the Tin Woodman and the Cowardly Lion.
Indeed, the girl felt herself as good as rescued as soon as she
recognized those in the procession, for she well knew the courage and
loyalty of her old comrades, and also believed that any others who
came from their marvelous country would prove to be pleasant and
reliable acquaintances.
As soon as the last bit of desert was passed and all the procession,
from the beautiful and dainty Ozma to the last soldier, had reached
the grassy meadows of the Land of Ev, the magic carpet rolled itself
together and entirely disappeared.
Then the chariot driver turned her Lion and Tiger into a broad roadway
leading up to the palace, and the others followed, while Dorothy still
gazed from her tower window in eager excitement.
They came quite close to the front door of the palace and then halted,
the Scarecrow dismounting from his Saw-Horse to approach the sign
fastened to the door, that he might read what it said.
Dorothy, just above him, could keep silent no longer.
"Here I am!" she shouted, as loudly as she could. "Here's Dorothy!"
"Dorothy who?" asked the Scarecrow, tipping his head to look upward
until he nearly lost his balance and tumbled over backward.
"Dorothy Gale, of course. Your friend from Kansas," she answered.
"Why, hello, Dorothy!" said the Scarecrow. "What in the world are you
doing up there?"
"Nothing," she called down, "because there's nothing to do. Save me,
my friend--save me!"
"You seem to be quite safe now," replied the Scarecrow.
"But I'm a prisoner. I'm locked in, so that I can't get out,"
she pleaded.
"That's all right," said the Scarecrow. "You might be worse off,
little Dorothy. Just consider the matter. You can't get drowned, or
be run over by a Wheeler, or fall out of an apple-tree. Some folks
would think they were lucky to be up there."
"Well, I don't," declared the girl, "and I want to get down
immed'i'tly and see you and the Tin Woodman and the Cowardly Lion."
"Very well," said the Scarecrow, nodding. "It shall be just as you
say, little friend. Who locked you up?"
"The princess Langwidere, who is a horrid creature," she answered.
At this Ozma, who had been listening carefully to the conversation,
called to Dorothy from her chariot, asking:
"Why did the Princess lock you up, my dear?"
"Because," exclaimed Dorothy, "I wouldn't let her have my head for her
collection, and take an old, cast-off head in exchange for it."
"I do not blame you," exclaimed Ozma, promptly. "I will see the
Princess at once, and oblige her to liberate you."
"Oh, thank you very, very much!" cried Dorothy, who as soon as she
heard the sweet voice of the girlish Ruler of Oz knew that she would
soon learn to love her dearly.
Ozma now drove her chariot around to the third door of the wing, upon
which the Tin Woodman boldly proceeded to knock.
As soon as the maid opened the door Ozma, bearing in her hand her
ivory wand, stepped into the hall and made her way at once to the
drawing-room, followed by all her company, except the Lion and the
Tiger. And the twenty-seven soldiers made such a noise and a clatter
that the little maid Nanda ran away screaming to her mistress,
whereupon the Princess Langwidere, roused to great anger by this rude
invasion of her palace, came running into the drawing-room without any
assistance whatever.
There she stood before the slight and delicate form of the little girl
from Oz and cried out;--
"How dare you enter my palace unbidden? Leave this room at once, or I
will bind you and all your people in chains, and throw you into my
darkest dungeons!"
"What a dangerous lady!" murmured the Scarecrow, in a soft voice.
"She seems a little nervous," replied the Tin Woodman.
But Ozma only smiled at the angry Princess.
"Sit down, please," she said, quietly. "I have traveled a long way to
see you, and you must listen to what I have to say."
"Must!" screamed the Princess, her black eyes flashing with fury--for
she still wore her No. 17 head. "Must, to ME!"
"To be sure," said Ozma. "I am Ruler of the Land of Oz, and I am
powerful enough to destroy all your kingdom, if I so wish. Yet I did
not come here to do harm, but rather to free the royal family of Ev
from the thrall of the Nome King, the news having reached me that he
is holding the Queen and her children prisoners."
Hearing these words, Langwidere suddenly became quiet.
"I wish you could, indeed, free my aunt and her ten royal children,"
said she, eagerly. "For if they were restored to their proper forms
and station they could rule the Kingdom of Ev themselves, and that
would save me a lot of worry and trouble. At present there are at
least ten minutes every day that I must devote to affairs of state,
and I would like to be able to spend my whole time in admiring my
beautiful heads."
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