The Magic of Oz
by
L. Frank Baum
Part 2 out of 3
"Ah ha!" murmured the Kalidah, "a little more of this will set me
free and allow me to escape!"
So he began breathing as hard as he could, puffing out his chest as
much as possible with each indrawing breath, and by doing this he
managed to raise the stake with each powerful breath, until at last
the Kalidah--using the muscles of his four legs as well as his deep
breaths--found itself free of the sandy soil. The stake was sticking
right through him, however, so he found a rock deeply set in the bank
and pressed the sharp point of the stake upon the surface of this rock
until he had driven it clear through his body. Then, by getting the
stake tangled among some thorny bushes, and wiggling his body, he
managed to draw it out altogether.
"There!" he exclaimed, "except for those two holes in me, I'm as
good as ever; but I must admit that that old wooden-legged fellow
saved both himself and the girl by making me a prisoner."
Now the Kalidahs, although the most disagreeable creatures in the
Land of Oz, were nevertheless magical inhabitants of a magical
Fairyland, and in their natures a certain amount of good was mingled
with the evil. This one was not very revengeful, and now that his late
foes were in danger of perishing, his anger against them faded away.
"Our own Kalidah King," he reflected, "has certain magical powers of
his own. Perhaps he knows how to fill up these two holes in my body."
So without paying any more attention to Trot and Cap'n Bill than
they were paying to him, he entered the forest and trotted along a
secret path that led to the hidden lair of all the Kalidahs.
While the Kalidah was making good its escape Cap'n Bill took his
pipe from his pocket and filled it with tobacco and lighted it. Then,
as he puffed out the smoke, he tried to think what could be done.
"The Glass Cat seems all right," he said, "an' my wooden leg didn't
take roots and grow, either. So it's only flesh that gets caught."
"It's magic that does it, Cap'n!"
"I know, Trot, and that's what sticks me. We're livin' in a magic country,
but neither of us knows any magic an' so we can't help ourselves."
"Couldn't the Wizard of Oz help us--or Glinda the Good?" asked the
little girl.
"Ah, now we're beginnin' to reason," he answered. "I'd probably
thought o' that, myself, in a minute more. By good luck the Glass Cat
is free, an' so it can run back to the Emerald City an' tell the
Wizard about our fix, an' ask him to come an' help us get loose."
"Will you go?" Trot asked the cat, speaking very earnestly.
"I'm no messenger, to be sent here and there," asserted the curious
animal in a sulky tone of voice.
"Well," said Cap'n Bill, "you've got to go home, anyhow, 'cause you
don't want to stay here, I take it. And, when you get home, it
wouldn't worry you much to tell the Wizard what's happened to us."
"That's true," said the cat, sitting on its haunches and lazily
washing its face with one glass paw. "I don't mind telling the
Wizard--when I get home."
"Won't you go now?" pleaded Trot. "We don't want to stay here any
longer than we can help, and everybody in Oz will be interested in
you, and call you a hero, and say nice things about you because you
helped your friends out of trouble."
That was the best way to manage the Glass Cat, which was so vain
that it loved to be praised.
"I'm going home right away," said the creature, "and I'll tell the
Wizard to come and help you."
Saying this, it walked down to the water and disappeared under the
surface. Not being able to manage the raft alone, the Glass Cat
walked on the bottom of the river as it had done when it visited the
island before, and soon they saw it appear on the farther bank and trot
into the forest, where it was quickly lost to sight among the trees.
Then Trot heaved a deep sigh.
"Cap'n," said she, "we're in a bad fix. There's nothing here to
eat, and we can't even lie down to sleep. Unless the Glass Cat
hurries, and the Wizard hurries, I don't know what's going to become
of us!"
11. The Beasts of the Forest of Gugu
That was a wonderful gathering of wild animals in the Forest of Gugu
next sunrise. Rango, the Gray Ape, had even called his monkey
sentinels away from the forest edge, and every beast, little and big,
was in the great clearing where meetings were held on occasions of
great importance.
In the center of the clearing stood a great shelving rock, having a
flat, inclined surface, and on this sat the stately Leopard Gugu, who
was King of the Forest. On the ground beneath him squatted Bru the
Bear, Loo the Unicorn, and Rango the Gray Ape, the King's three
Counselors, and in front of them stood the two strange beasts who had
called themselves Li-Mon-Eags, but were really the transformations of
Ruggedo the Nome, and Kiki Aru the Hyup.
Then came the beasts--rows and rows and rows of them! The smallest
beasts were nearest the King's rock throne; then there were wolves and
foxes, lynxes and hyenas, and the like; behind them were gathered the
monkey tribes, who were hard to keep in order because they teased the
other animals and were full of mischievous tricks. Back of the
monkeys were the pumas, jaguars, tigers and lions, and their kind;
next the bears, all sizes and colors; after them bisons, wild asses,
zebras and unicorns; farther on the rhinoceri and hippopotami, and at
the far edge of the forest, close to the trees that shut in the
clearing, was a row of thick-skinned elephants, still as statues but
with eyes bright and intelligent.
Many other kinds of beasts, too numerous to mention, were there, and
some were unlike any beasts we see in the menageries and zoos in our
country. Some were from the mountains west of the forest, and some
from the plains at the east, and some from the river; but all present
acknowledged the leadership of Gugu, who for many years had ruled them
wisely and forced all to obey the laws.
When the beasts had taken their places in the clearing and the
rising sun was shooting its first bright rays over the treetops, King
Gugu rose on his throne. The Leopard's giant form, towering above all
the others, caused a sudden hush to fall on the assemblage.
"Brothers," he said in his deep voice, "a stranger has come among
us, a beast of curious form who is a great magician and is able to
change the shapes of men or beasts at his will. This stranger has
come to us, with another of his kind, from out of the sky, to warn us
of a danger which threatens us all, and to offer us a way to escape
from that danger. He says he is our friend, and he has proved to me
and to my Counselors his magic powers. Will you listen to what he has
to say to you--to the message he has brought from the sky?"
"Let him speak!" came in a great roar from the great company of
assembled beasts.
So Ruggedo the Nome sprang upon the flat rock beside Gugu the King,
and another roar, gentle this time, showed how astonished the beasts
were at the sight of his curious form. His lion's face was surrounded
by a mane of pure white hair; his eagle's wings were attached to the
shoulders of his monkey body and were so long that they nearly touched
the ground; he had powerful arms and legs in addition to the wings,
and at the end of his long, strong tail was a golden ball. Never had
any beast beheld such a curious creature before, and so the very sight
of the stranger, who was said to be a great magician, filled all
present with awe and wonder.
Kiki stayed down below and, half hidden by the shelf of rock, was
scarcely noticed. The boy realized that the old Nome was helpless
without his magic power, but he also realized that Ruggedo was the
best talker. So he was willing the Nome should take the lead.
"Beasts of the Forest of Gugu," began Ruggedo the Nome, "my comrade
and I are your friends. We are magicians, and from our home in the
sky we can look down into the Land of Oz and see everything that is
going on. Also we can hear what the people below us are saying. That
is how we heard Ozma, who rules the Land of Oz, say to her people:
'The beasts in the Forest of Gugu are lazy and are of no use to us.
Let us go to their forest and make them all our prisoners. Let us tie
them with ropes, and beat them with sticks, until they work for us and
become our willing slaves.' And when the people heard Ozma of Oz say
this, they were glad and raised a great shout and said: 'We will do
it! We will make the beasts of the Forest of Gugu our slaves!'"
The wicked old Nome could say no more, just then, for such a fierce
roar of anger rose from the multitude of beasts that his voice was
drowned by the clamor. Finally the roar died away, like distant
thunder, and Ruggedo the Nome went on with his speech.
"Having heard the Oz people plot against your liberty, we watched to
see what they would do, and saw them all begin making ropes--ropes
long and short--with which to snare our friends the beasts. You are
angry, but we also were angry, for when the Oz people became the
enemies of the beasts they also became our enemies; for we, too, are
beasts, although we live in the sky. And my comrade and I said: 'We
will save our friends and have revenge on the Oz people,' and so we
came here to tell you of your danger and of our plan to save you."
"We can save ourselves," cried an old Elephant. "We can fight."
"The Oz people are fairies, and you can't fight against magic unless
you also have magic," answered the Nome.
"Tell us your plan!" shouted the huge Tiger, and the other beasts
echoed his words, crying: "Tell us your plan."
"My plan is simple," replied Ruggedo. "By our magic we will
transform all you animals into men and women--like the Oz people--and
we will transform all the Oz people into beasts. You can then live in
the fine houses of the Land of Oz, and eat the fine food of the Oz
people, and wear their fine clothes, and sing and dance and be happy.
And the Oz people, having become beasts, will have to live here in the
forest and hunt and fight for food, and often go hungry, as you now
do, and have no place to sleep but a bed of leaves or a hole in the
ground. Having become men and women, you beasts will have all the
comforts you desire, and having become beasts, the Oz people will be
very miserable. That is our plan, and if you agree to it, we will all
march at once into the Land of Oz and quickly conquer our enemies."
When the stranger ceased speaking, a great silence fell on the
assemblage, for the beasts were thinking of what he had said. Finally
one of the walruses asked:
"Can you really transform beasts into men, and men into beasts?"
"He can--he can!" cried Loo the Unicorn, prancing up and down in an
excited manner. "He transformed ME, only last evening, and he can
transform us all."
Gugu the King now stepped forward.
"You have heard the stranger speak," said he, "and now you must answer him.
It is for you to decide. Shall we agree to this plan, or not?"
"Yes!" shouted some of the animals.
"No!" shouted others.
And some were yet silent.
Gugu looked around the great circle.
"Take more time to think," he suggested. "Your answer is very
important. Up to this time we have had no trouble with the Oz people,
but we are proud and free, and never will become slaves. Think
carefully, and when you are ready to answer, I will hear you."
12. Kiki Uses His Magic
Then arose a great confusion of sounds as all the animals began
talking to their fellows. The monkeys chattered and the bears growled
and the voices of the jaguars and lions rumbled, and the wolves yelped
and the elephants had to trumpet loudly to make their voices heard.
Such a hubbub had never been known in the forest before, and each beast
argued with his neighbor until it seemed the noise would never cease.
Ruggedo the Nome waved his arms and fluttered his wings to try to
make them listen to him again, but the beasts paid no attention. Some
wanted to fight the Oz people, some wanted to be transformed, and some
wanted to do nothing at all.
The growling and confusion had grown greater than ever when in a
flash silence fell on all the beasts present, the arguments were
hushed, and all gazed in astonishment at a strange sight.
For into the circle strode a great Lion--bigger and more powerful
than any other lion there--and on his back rode a little girl who
smiled fearlessly at the multitude of beasts. And behind the Lion and
the little girl came another beast--a monstrous Tiger, who bore upon
his back a funny little man carrying a black bag. Right past the rows
of wondering beasts the strange animals walked, advancing until they
stood just before the rock throne of Gugu.
Then the little girl and the funny little man dismounted, and the
great Lion demanded in a loud voice:
"Who is King in this forest?"
"I am!" answered Gugu, looking steadily at the other. "I am Gugu
the Leopard, and I am King of this forest."
"Then I greet Your Majesty with great respect," said the Lion.
"Perhaps you have heard of me, Gugu. I am called the 'Cowardly Lion,'
and I am King of all Beasts, the world over."
Gugu's eyes flashed angrily.
"Yes," said he, "I have heard of you. You have long claimed to be
King of Beasts, but no beast who is a coward can be King over me."
"He isn't a coward, Your Majesty," asserted the little girl, "He's
just cowardly, that's all."
Gugu looked at her. All the other beasts were looking at her, too.
"Who are you?" asked the King.
"Me? Oh, I'm just Dorothy," she answered.
"How dare you come here?" demanded the King.
"Why, I'm not afraid to go anywhere, if the Cowardly Lion is with
me," she said. "I know him pretty well, and so I can trust him. He's
always afraid, when we get into trouble, and that's why he's cowardly;
but he's a terrible fighter, and that's why he isn't a coward. He
doesn't like to fight, you know, but when he HAS to, there isn't any
beast living that can conquer him."
Gugu the King looked at the big, powerful form of the Cowardly Lion,
and knew she spoke the truth. Also the other Lions of the forest now
came forward and bowed low before the strange Lion.
"We welcome Your Majesty," said one. "We have known you many years
ago, before you went to live at the Emerald City, and we have seen you
fight the terrible Kalidahs and conquer them, so we know you are the
King of all Beasts."
"It is true," replied the Cowardly Lion; "but I did not come here to
rule the beasts of this forest. Gugu is King here, and I believe he
is a good King and just and wise. I come, with my friends, to be the
guest of Gugu, and I hope we are welcome."
That pleased the great Leopard, who said very quickly:
"Yes; you, at least, are welcome to my forest. But who are these
strangers with you?"
"Dorothy has introduced herself," replied the Lion, "and you are
sure to like her when you know her better. This man is the Wizard of
Oz, a friend of mine who can do wonderful tricks of magic. And here
is my true and tried friend, the Hungry Tiger, who lives with me in
the Emerald City."
"Is he ALWAYS hungry?" asked Loo the Unicorn.
"I am," replied the Tiger, answering the question himself. "I am
always hungry for fat babies."
"Can't you find any fat babies in Oz to eat?" inquired Loo, the Unicorn.
"There are plenty of them, of course," said the Tiger, "but
unfortunately I have such a tender conscience that it won't allow me
to eat babies. So I'm always hungry for 'em and never can eat 'em,
because my conscience won't let me."
Now of all the surprised beasts in that clearing, not one was so
much surprised at the sudden appearance of these four strangers as
Ruggedo the Nome. He was frightened, too, for he recognized them as
his most powerful enemies; but he also realized that they could not
know he was the former King of the Nomes, because of the beast's form
he wore, which disguised him so effectually. So he took courage and
resolved that the Wizard and Dorothy should not defeat his plans.
It was hard to tell, just yet, what the vast assemblage of beasts
thought of the new arrivals. Some glared angrily at them, but more of
them seemed to be curious and wondering. All were interested,
however, and they kept very quiet and listened carefully to all that
was said.
Kiki Aru, who had remained unnoticed in the shadow of the rock, was
at first more alarmed by the coming of the strangers than even Ruggedo
was, and the boy told himself that unless he acted quickly and without
waiting to ask the advice of the old Nome, their conspiracy was likely
to be discovered and all their plans to conquer and rule Oz be
defeated. Kiki didn't like the way Ruggedo acted either, for the
former King of the Nomes wanted to do everything his own way, and made
the boy, who alone possessed the power of transformations, obey his
orders as if he were a slave.
Another thing that disturbed Kiki Aru was the fact that a real
Wizard had arrived, who was said to possess many magical powers, and
this Wizard carried his tools in a black bag, and was the friend of
the Oz people, and so would probably try to prevent war between the
beasts of the forest and the people of Oz.
All these things passed through the mind of the Hyup boy while the
Cowardly Lion and Gugu the King were talking together, and that was
why he now began to do several strange things.
He had found a place, near to the point where he stood, where there
was a deep hollow in the rock, so he put his face into this hollow and
whispered softly, so he would not be heard:
"I want the Wizard of Oz to become a fox--Pyrzqxgl!"
The Wizard, who had stood smilingly beside his friends, suddenly
felt his form change to that of a fox, and his black bag fell to the
ground. Kiki reached out an arm and seized the bag, and the Fox cried
as loud as it could:
"Treason! There's a traitor here with magic powers!"
Everyone was startled at this cry, and Dorothy, seeing her old
friend's plight, screamed and exclaimed: "Mercy me!"
But the next instant the little girl's form had changed to that of a
lamb with fleecy white wool, and Dorothy was too bewildered to do
anything but look around her in wonder.
The Cowardly Lion's eyes now flashed fire; he crouched low and
lashed the ground with his tail and gazed around to discover who the
treacherous magician might be. But Kiki, who had kept his face in the
hollow rock, again whispered the magic word, and the great lion
disappeared and in his place stood a little boy dressed in Munchkin
costume. The little Munchkin boy was as angry as the lion had been,
but he was small and helpless.
Ruggedo the Nome saw what was happening and was afraid Kiki would
spoil all his plans, so he leaned over the rock and shouted: "Stop,
Kiki--stop!"
Kiki would not stop, however. Instead, he transformed the Nome into
a goose, to Ruggedo's horror and dismay. But the Hungry Tiger had
witnessed all these transformations, and he was watching to see which
of those present was to blame for them. When Ruggedo spoke to Kiki,
the Hungry Tiger knew that he was the magician, so he made a sudden
spring and hurled his great body full upon the form of the Li-Mon-Eag
crouching against the rock. Kiki didn't see the Tiger coming because
his face was still in the hollow, and the heavy body of the tiger bore
him to the earth just as he said "Pyrzqxgl!" for the fifth time.
So now the tiger which was crushing him changed to a rabbit, and
relieved of its weight, Kiki sprang up and, spreading his eagle's
wings, flew into the branches of a tree, where no beast could easily
reach him. He was not an instant too quick in doing this, for Gugu
the King had crouched on the rock's edge and was about to spring on
the boy.
From his tree Kiki transformed Gugu into a fat Gillikin woman, and
laughed aloud to see how the woman pranced with rage, and how
astonished all the beasts were at their King's new shape.
The beasts were frightened, too, fearing they would share the fate
of Gugu, so a stampede began when Rango the Gray Ape sprang into the
forest, and Bru the Bear and Loo the Unicorn followed as quickly as
they could. The elephants backed into the forest, and all the other
animals, big and little, rushed after them, scattering through the
jungles until the clearing was far behind. The monkeys scrambled into
the trees and swung themselves from limb to limb, to avoid being
trampled upon by the bigger beasts, and they were so quick that they
distanced all the rest. A panic of fear seemed to have overtaken the
forest people and they got as far away from the terrible Magician as
they possibly could.
But the transformed ones stayed in the clearing, being so astonished
and bewildered by their new shapes that they could only look at one
another in a dazed and helpless fashion, although each one was greatly
annoyed at the trick that had been played on him.
"Who are you?" the Munchkin boy asked the Rabbit; and "Who are you?"
the Fox asked the Lamb; and "Who are you?" the Rabbit asked the fat
Gillikin woman.
"I'm Dorothy," said the woolly Lamb.
"I'm the Wizard," said the Fox.
"I'm the Cowardly Lion," said the Munchkin boy.
"I'm the Hungry Tiger," said the Rabbit.
"I'm Gugu the King," said the fat Woman.
But when they asked the Goose who he was, Ruggedo the Nome would not
tell them.
"I'm just a Goose," he replied, "and what I was before, I cannot remember."
13. The Loss of the Black Bag
Kiki Aru, in the form of the Li-Mon-Eag, had scrambled into the
high, thick branches of the tree, so no one could see him, and there
he opened the Wizard's black bag, which he had carried away in his
flight. He was curious to see what the Wizard's magic tools looked
like, and hoped he could use some of them and so secure more power;
but after he had taken the articles, one by one, from the bag, he had
to admit they were puzzles to him. For, unless he understood their
uses, they were of no value whatever. Kiki Aru, the Hyup boy, was no
wizard or magician at all, and could do nothing unusual except to use
the Magic Word he had stolen from his father on Mount Munch. So he
hung the Wizard's black bag on a branch of the tree and then climbed
down to the lower limbs that he might see what the victims of his
transformations were doing.
They were all on top of the flat rock, talking together in tones so
low that Kiki could not hear what they said.
"This is certainly a misfortune," remarked the Wizard in the Fox's
form, "but our transformations are a sort of enchantment which is very
easy to break--when you know how and have the tools to do it with.
The tools are in my Black Bag; but where is the Bag?"
No one knew that, for none had seen Kiki Aru fly away with it.
"Let's look and see if we can find it," suggested Dorothy the Lamb.
So they left the rock, and all of them searched the clearning high
and low without finding the Bag of Magic Tools. The Goose searched as
earnestly as the others, for if he could discover it, he meant to hide
it where the Wizard could never find it, because if the Wizard changed
him back to his proper form, along with the others, he would then be
recognized as Ruggedo the Nome, and they would send him out of the
Land of Oz and so ruin all his hopes of conquest.
Ruggedo was not really sorry, now that he thought about it, that
Kiki had transformed all these Oz folks. The forest beasts, it was
true, had been so frightened that they would now never consent to be
transformed into men, but Kiki could transform them against their
will, and once they were all in human forms, it would not be
impossible to induce them to conquer the Oz people.
So all was not lost, thought the old Nome, and the best thing for
him to do was to rejoin the Hyup boy who had the secret of the
transformations. So, having made sure the Wizard's black bag was not
in the clearing, the Goose wandered away through the trees when the
others were not looking, and when out of their hearing, he began
calling, "Kiki Aru! Kiki Aru! Quack--quack! Kiki Aru!"
The Boy and the Woman, the Fox, the Lamb, and the Rabbit, not being able
to find the bag, went back to the rock, all feeling exceedingly strange.
"Where's the Goose?" asked the Wizard.
"He must have run away," replied Dorothy. "I wonder who he was?"
"I think," said Gugu the King, who was the fat Woman, "that the
Goose was the stranger who proposed that we make war upon the Oz
people. If so, his transformation was merely a trick to deceive us,
and he has now gone to join his comrade, that wicked Li-Mon-Eag who
obeyed all his commands."
"What shall we do now?" asked Dorothy. "Shall we go back to the
Emerald City, as we are, and then visit Glinda the Good and ask her to
break the enchantments?"
"I think so," replied the Wizard Fox. "And we can take Gugu the
King with us, and have Glinda restore him to his natural shape. But I
hate to leave my Bag of Magic Tools behind me, for without it I shall
lose much of my power as a Wizard. Also, if I go back to the Emerald
City in the shape of a Fox, the Oz people will think I'm a poor Wizard
and will lose their respect for me."
"Let us make still another search for your tools," suggested the
Cowardly Lion, "and then, if we fail to find the Black Bag anywhere in
this forest, we must go back home as we are."
"Why did you come here, anyway?" inquired Gugu.
"We wanted to borrow a dozen monkeys, to use on Ozma's birthday,"
explained the Wizard. "We were going to make them small, and train
them to do tricks, and put them inside Ozma's birthday cake."
"Well," said the Forest King, "you would have to get the consent of
Rango the Gray Ape, to do that. He commands all the tribes of monkeys."
"I'm afraid it's too late, now," said Dorothy, regretfully. "It was
a splendid plan, but we've got troubles of our own, and I don't like
being a lamb at all."
"You're nice and fuzzy," said the Cowardly Lion.
"That's nothing," declared Dorothy. "I've never been 'specially
proud of myself, but I'd rather be the way I was born than anything
else in the whole world."
The Glass Cat, although it had some disagreeable ways and manners,
nevertheless realized that Trot and Cap'n Bill were its friends and so
was quite disturbed at the fix it had gotten them into by leading them
to the Isle of the Magic Flower. The ruby heart of the Glass Cat was
cold and hard, but still it was a heart, and to have a heart of any
sort is to have some consideration for others. But the queer
transparent creature didn't want Trot and Cap'n Bill to know it was
sorry for them, and therefore it moved very slowly until it had
crossed the river and was out of sight among the trees of the forest.
Then it headed straight toward the Emerald City, and trotted so fast
that it was like a crystal streak crossing the valleys and plains.
Being glass, the cat was tireless, and with no reason to delay its
journey, it reached Ozma's palace in wonderfully quick time.
"Where's the Wizard?" it asked the Pink Kitten, which was curled up
in the sunshine on the lowest step of the palace entrance.
"Don't bother me," lazily answered the Pink Kitten, whose name was Eureka.
"I must find the Wizard at once!" said the Glass Cat.
"Then find him," advised Eureka, and went to sleep again.
The Glass Cat darted up the stairway and came upon Toto, Dorothy's
little black dog.
"Where's the Wizard?" asked the Cat.
"Gone on a journey with Dorothy," replied Toto.
"When did they go, and where have they gone?" demanded the Cat.
"They went yesterday, and I heard them say they would go to the
Great Forest in the Munchkin Country."
"Dear me," said the Glass Cat; "that is a long journey."
"But they rode on the Hungry Tiger and the Cowardly Lion," explained
Toto, "and the Wizard carried his Black Bag of Magic Tools."
The Glass Cat knew the Great Forest of Gugu well, for it had
traveled through this forest many times in its journeys through the
Land of Oz. And it reflected that the Forest of Gugu was nearer to
the Isle of the Magic Flower than the Emerald City was, and so, if it
could manage to find the Wizard, it could lead him across the Gillikin
Country to where Trot and Cap'n Bill were prisoned. It was a wild
country and little traveled, but the Glass Cat knew every path. So
very little time need be lost, after all.
Without stopping to ask any more questions the Cat darted out of the
palace and away from the Emerald City, taking the most direct route to
the Forest of Gugu. Again the creature flashed through the country
like a streak of light, and it would surprise you to know how quickly
it reached the edge of the Great Forest.
There were no monkey guards among the trees to cry out a warning,
and this was so unusual that it astonished the Glass Cat. Going
farther into the forest it presently came upon a wolf, which at first
bounded away in terror. But then, seeing it was only a Glass Cat, the
Wolf stopped, and the Cat could see it was trembling, as if from a
terrible fright.
"What's the matter?" asked the Cat.
"A dreadful Magician has come among us!" exclaimed the Wolf, "and
he's changing the forms of all the beasts--quick as a wink--and making
them all his slaves."
The Glass Cat smiled and said:
"Why, that's only the Wizard of Oz. He may be having some fun with
you forest people, but the Wizard wouldn't hurt a beast for anything."
"I don't mean the Wizard," explained the Wolf. "And if the Wizard
of Oz is that funny little man who rode a great Tiger into the
clearing, he's been transformed himself by the terrible Magician."
"The Wizard transformed? Why, that's impossible," declared the
Glass Cat.
"No; it isn't. I saw him with my own eyes, changed into the form of
a Fox, and the girl who was with him was changed to a woolly Lamb."
The Glass Cat was indeed surprised.
"When did that happen?" it asked.
"Just a little while ago in the clearing. All the animals had met
there, but they ran away when the Magician began his transformations,
and I'm thankful I escaped with my natural shape. But I'm still
afraid, and I'm going somewhere to hide."
With this the Wolf ran on, and the Glass Cat, which knew where the
big clearing was, went toward it. But now it walked more slowly, and
its pink brains rolled and tumbled around at a great rate because it
was thinking over the amazing news the Wolf had told it.
When the Glass Cat reached the clearing, it saw a Fox, a Lamb, a
Rabbit, a Munchkin boy and a fat Gillikin woman, all wandering around
in an aimless sort of way, for they were again searching for the Black
Bag of Magic Tools.
The Cat watched them a moment and then it walked slowly into the
open space. At once the Lamb ran toward it, crying:
"Oh, Wizard, here's the Glass Cat!"
"Where, Dorothy?" asked the Fox.
"Here!"
The Boy and the Woman and the Rabbit now joined the Fox and the
Lamb, and they all stood before the Glass Cat and speaking together,
almost like a chorus, asked: "Have you seen the Black Bag?"
"Often," replied the Glass Cat, "but not lately."
"It's lost," said the Fox, "and we must find it."
"Are you the Wizard?" asked the Cat.
"Yes."
"And who are these others?"
"I'm Dorothy," said the Lamb.
"I'm the Cowardly Lion," said the Munchkin boy.
"I'm the Hungry Tiger," said the Rabbit.
"I'm Gugu, King of the Forest," said the fat Woman.
The Glass Cat sat on its hind legs and began to laugh. "My, what a
funny lot!" exclaimed the Creature. "Who played this joke on you?"
"It's no joke at all," declared the Wizard. "It was a cruel, wicked
transformation, and the Magician that did it has the head of a lion,
the body of a monkey, the wings of an eagle and a round ball on the
end of his tail."
The Glass Cat laughed again. "That Magician must look funnier than
you do," it said. "Where is he now?"
"Somewhere in the forest," said the Cowardly Lion. "He just jumped
into that tall maple tree over there, for he can climb like a monkey
and fly like an eagle, and then he disappeared in the forest."
"And there was another Magician, just like him, who was his friend,"
added Dorothy, "but they probably quarreled, for the wickedest one
changed his friend into the form of a Goose."
"What became of the Goose?" asked the Cat, looking around.
"He must have gone away to find his friend," answered Gugu the King.
"But a Goose can't travel very fast, so we could easily find him if we
wanted to."
"The worst thing of all," said the Wizard, "is that my Black Bag is
lost. It disappeared when I was transformed. If I could find it I
could easily break these enchantments by means of my magic, and we
would resume our own forms again. Will you help us search for the
Black Bag, Friend Cat?"
"Of course," replied the Glass Cat. "But I expect the strange
Magician carried it away with him. If he's a magician, he knows you
need that Bag, and perhaps he's afraid of your magic. So he's
probably taken the Bag with him, and you won't see it again unless you
find the Magician."
"That sounds reasonable," remarked the Lamb, which was Dorothy.
"Those pink brains of yours seem to be working pretty well to-day."
"If the Glass Cat is right," said the Wizard in a solemn voice,
"there's more trouble ahead of us. That Magician is dangerous, and if
we go near him he may transform us into shapes not as nice as these."
"I don't see how we could be any WORSE off," growled Gugu, who was
indignant because he was forced to appear in the form of a fat woman.
"Anyway," said the Cowardly Lion, "our best plan is to find the
Magician and try to get the Black Bag from him. We may manage to
steal it, or perhaps we can argue him into giving it to us."
"Why not find the Goose, first?" asked Dorothy. "The Goose will be
angry at the Magician, and he may be able to help us."
"That isn't a bad idea," returned the Wizard. "Come on, Friends;
let's find that Goose. We will separate and search in different
directions, and the first to find the Goose must bring him here, where
we will all meet again in an hour."
14. The Wizard Learns the Magic Word
Now, the Goose was the transformation of old Ruggedo, who was at one
time King of the Nomes, and he was even more angry at Kiki Aru than
were the others who shapes had been changed. The Nome detested
anything in the way of a bird, because birds lay eggs and eggs are
feared by all the Nomes more than anything else in the world. A goose
is a foolish bird, too, and Ruggedo was dreadfully ashamed of the
shape he was forced to wear. And it would make him shudder to reflect
that the Goose might lay an egg!
So the Nome was afraid of himself and afraid of everything around
him. If an egg touched him he could then be destroyed, and almost any
animal he met in the forest might easily conquer him. And that would
be the end of old Ruggedo the Nome.
Aside from these fears, however, he was filled with anger against
Kiki, whom he had meant to trap by cleverly stealing from him the
Magic Word. The boy must have been crazy to spoil everything the way
he did, but Ruggedo knew that the arrival of the Wizard had scared
Kiki, and he was not sorry the boy had transformed the Wizard and
Dorothy and made them helpless. It was his own transformation that
annoyed him and made him indignant, so he ran about the forest hunting
for Kiki, so that he might get a better shape and coax the boy to
follow his plans to conquer the Land of Oz.
Kiki Aru hadn't gone very far away, for he had surprised himself as
well as the others by the quick transformations and was puzzled as to
what to do next. Ruggedo the Nome was overbearing and tricky, and
Kiki knew he was not to be depended on; but the Nome could plan and
plot, which the Hyup boy was not wise enough to do, and so, when he
looked down through the branches of a tree and saw a Goose waddling
along below and heard it cry out, "Kiki Aru! Quack--quack! Kiki
Aru!" the boy answered in a low voice, "Here I am," and swung himself
down to the lowest limb of the tree.
The Goose looked up and saw him.
"You've bungled things in a dreadful way!" exclaimed the Goose.
"Why did you do it?"
"Because I wanted to," answered Kiki. "You acted as if I was your
slave, and I wanted to show these forest people that I am more
powerful than you."
The Goose hissed softly, but Kiki did not hear that.
Old Ruggedo quickly recovered his wits and muttered to himself:
"This boy is the goose, although it is I who wear the goose's shape.
I will be gentle with him now, and fierce with him when I have him in
my power." Then he said aloud to Kiki:
"Well, hereafter I will be content to acknowledge you the master.
You bungled things, as I said, but we can still conquer Oz."
"How?" asked the boy.
"First give me back the shape of the Li-Mon-Eag, and then we can
talk together more conveniently," suggested the Nome.
"Wait a moment, then," said Kiki, and climbed higher up the tree.
There he whispered the Magic Word and the Goose became a Li-Mon-Eag,
as he had been before.
"Good!" said the Nome, well pleased, as Kiki joined him by dropping
down from the tree. "Now let us find a quiet place where we can talk
without being overheard by the beasts."
So the two started away and crossed the forest until they came to a
place where the trees were not so tall nor so close together, and
among these scattered trees was another clearing, not so large as the
first one, where the meeting of the beasts had been held. Standing on
the edge of this clearing and looking across it, they saw the trees on
the farther side full of monkeys, who were chattering together at a
great rate of the sights they had witnessed at the meeting.
The old Nome whispered to Kiki not to enter the clearing or allow
the monkeys to see them.
"Why not?" asked the boy, drawing back.
"Because those monkeys are to be our army--the army which will
conquer Oz," said the Nome. "Sit down here with me, Kiki, and keep
quiet, and I will explain to you my plan."
Now, neither Kiki Aru nor Ruggedo had noticed that a sly Fox had
followed them all the way from the tree where the Goose had been
transformed to the Li-Mon-Eag. Indeed, this Fox, who was none other
than the Wizard of Oz, had witnessed the transformation of the Goose
and now decided he would keep watch on the conspirators and see what
they would do next.
A Fox can move through a forest very softly, without making any
noise, and so the Wizard's enemies did not suspect his presence. But
when they sat down by the edge of the clearing, to talk, with their
backs toward him, the Wizard did not know whether to risk being seen,
by creeping closer to hear what they said, or whether it would be
better for him to hide himself until they moved on again.
While he considered this question he discovered near him a great
tree which had a hollow trunk, and there was a round hole in this
tree, about three feet above the ground. The Wizard Fox decided it
would be safer for him to hide inside the hollow tree, so he sprang
into the hole and crouched down in the hollow, so that his eyes just
came to the edge of the hole by which he had entered, and from here he
watched the forms of the two Li-Mon-Eags.
"This is my plan," said the Nome to Kiki, speaking so low that the
Wizard could only hear the rumble of his voice. "Since you can
transform anything into any form you wish, we will transform these
monkeys into an army, and with that army we will conquer the Oz people."
"The monkeys won't make much of an army," objected Kiki.
"We need a great army, but not a numerous one," responded the Nome.
"You will transform each monkey into a giant man, dressed in a fine
uniform and armed with a sharp sword. There are fifty monkeys over
there and fifty giants would make as big an army as we need."
"What will they do with the swords?" asked Kiki. "Nothing can kill
the Oz people."
"True," said Ruggedo. "The Oz people cannot be killed, but they can
be cut into small pieces, and while every piece will still be alive,
we can scatter the pieces around so that they will be quite helpless.
Therefore, the Oz people will be afraid of the swords of our army, and
we will conquer them with ease."
"That seems like a good idea," replied the boy, approvingly. "And
in such a case, we need not bother with the other beasts of the forest."
"No; you have frightened the beasts, and they would no longer
consent to assist us in conquering Oz. But those monkeys are foolish
creatures, and once they are transformed to Giants, they will do just
as we say and obey our commands. Can you transform them all at once?"
"No, I must take one at a time," said Kiki. "But the fifty
transformations can be made in an hour or so. Stay here, Ruggedo, and
I will change the first monkey--that one at the left, on the end of
the limb--into a Giant with a sword."
"Where are you going?" asked the Nome.
"I must not speak the Magic Word in the presence of another person,"
declared Kiki, who was determined not to allow his treacherous
companion to learn his secret, "so I will go where you cannot hear me."
Ruggedo the Nome was disappointed, but he hoped still to catch the
boy unawares and surprise the Magic Word. So he merely nodded his
lion head, and Kiki got up and went back into the forest a short
distance. Here he spied a hollow tree, and by chance it was the same
hollow tree in which the Wizard of Oz, now in the form of a Fox, had
hidden himself.
As Kiki ran up to the tree the Fox ducked its head, so that it was
out of sight in the dark hollow beneath the hole, and then Kiki put
his face into the hole and whispered: "I want that monkey on the
branch at the left to become a Giant man fifty feet tall, dressed in a
uniform and with a sharp sword--Pyrzqxgl!"
Then he ran back to Ruggedo, but the Wizard Fox had heard quite
plainly every word that he had said.
The monkey was instantly transformed into the Giant, and the Giant
was so big that as he stood on the ground his head was higher than the
trees of the forest. The monkeys raised a great chatter but did not
seem to understand that the Giant was one of themselves.
"Good!" cried the Nome. "Hurry, Kiki, and transform the others."
So Kiki rushed back to the tree and putting his face to the
hollow, whispered:
"I want the next monkey to be just like the first--Pyrzqxgl!"
Again the Wizard Fox heard the Magic Word, and just how it was
pronounced. But he sat still in the hollow and waited to hear it again,
so it would be impressed on his mind and he would not forget it.
Kiki kept running to the edge of the forest and back to the hollow
tree again until he had whispered the Magic Word six times and six
monkeys had been changed to six great Giants. Then the Wizard decided
he would make an experiment and use the Magic Word himself. So, while
Kiki was running back to the Nome, the Fox stuck his head out of the
hollow and said softly: "I want that creature who is running to become
a hickory-nut--Pyrzqxgl!"
Instantly the Li-Mon-Eag form of Kiki Aru the Hyup disappeared and a
small hickory-nut rolled upon the ground a moment and then lay still.
The Wizard was delighted, and leaped from the hollow just as Ruggedo
looked around to see what had become of Kiki. The Nome saw the Fox
but no Kiki, so he hastily rose to his feet. The Wizard did not know
how powerful the queer beast might be, so he resolved to take no chances.
"I want this creature to become a walnut--Pyrzqxgl!" he said aloud.
But he did not pronounce the Magic Word in quite the right way, and
Ruggedo's form did not change. But the Nome knew at once that
"Pyrzqxgl!" was the Magic Word, so he rushed at the Fox and cried:
"I want you to become a Goose--Pyrzqxgl!"
But the Nome did not pronounce the word aright, either, having never
heard it spoken but once before, and then with a wrong accent. So the
Fox was not transformed, but it had to run away to escape being caught
by the angry Nome.
Ruggedo now began pronouncing the Magic Word in every way he could
think of, hoping to hit the right one, and the Fox, hiding in a bush,
was somewhat troubled by the fear that he might succeed. However, the
Wizard, who was used to magic arts, remained calm and soon remembered
exactly how Kiki Aru had pronounced the word. So he repeated the sentence
he had before uttered and Ruggedo the Nome became an ordinary walnut.
The Wizard now crept out from the bush and said: "I want my own form
again--Pyrzqxgl!"
Instantly he was the Wizard of Oz, and after picking up the
hickory-nut and the walnut, and carefully placing them in his pocket,
he ran back to the big clearing.
Dorothy the Lamb uttered a bleat of delight when she saw her old friend
restored to his natural shape. The others were all there, not having
found the Goose. The fat Gillikin woman, the Munchkin boy, the Rabbit
and the Glass Cat crowded around the Wizard and asked what had happened.
Before he explained anything of his adventure, he transformed them
all--except, of course, the Glass Cat--into their natural shapes, and
when their joy permitted them to quiet somewhat, he told how he had by
chance surprised the Magician's secret and been able to change the two
Li-Mon-Eags into shapes that could not speak, and therefore would be
unable to help themselves. And the little Wizard showed his
astonished friends the hickory-nut and the walnut to prove that he had
spoken the truth.
"But--see here!"--exclaimed Dorothy. "What has become of those
Giant Soldiers who used to be monkeys?"
"I forgot all about them!" admitted the Wizard; "but I suppose they
are still standing there in the forest."
15. The Lonesome Duck
Trot and Cap'n Bill stood before the Magic Flower, actually rooted
to the spot.
"Aren't you hungry, Cap'n?" asked the little girl, with a long sigh,
for she had been standing there for hours and hours.
"Well," replied the sailor-man, "I ain't sayin' as I couldn't EAT,
Trot--if a dinner was handy--but I guess old folks don't get as hungry
as young folks do."
"I'm not sure 'bout that, Cap'n Bill," she said thoughtfully. "Age
MIGHT make a diff'rence, but seems to me SIZE would make a bigger
diff'rence. Seeing you're twice as big as me, you ought to be twice
as hungry."
"I hope I am," he rejoined, "for I can stand it a while longer. I
do hope the Glass Cat will hurry, and I hope the Wizard won't waste
time a-comin' to us."
Trot sighed again and watched the wonderful Magic Flower, because
there was nothing else to do. Just now a lovely group of pink peonies
budded and bloomed, but soon they faded away, and a mass of deep blue
lilies took their place. Then some yellow chrysanthemums blossomed on
the plant, and when they had opened all their petals and reached
perfection, they gave way to a lot of white floral balls spotted with
crimson--a flower Trot had never seen before.
"But I get awful tired watchin' flowers an' flowers an' flowers,"
she said impatiently.
"They're might pretty," observed Cap'n Bill.
"I know; and if a person could come and look at the Magic Flower
just when she felt like it, it would be a fine thing, but to HAVE TO
stand and watch it, whether you want to or not, isn't so much fun. I wish,
Cap'n Bill, the thing would grow fruit for a while instead of flowers."
Scarcely had she spoken when the white balls with crimson spots
faded away and a lot of beautiful ripe peaches took their place. With
a cry of mingled surprise and delight Trot reached out and plucked a
peach from the bush and began to eat it, finding it delicious. Cap'n
Bill was somewhat dazed at the girl's wish being granted so quickly,
so before he could pick a peach they had faded away and bananas took
their place. "Grab one, Cap'n!" exclaimed Trot, and even while eating the
peach she seized a banana with her other hand and tore it from the bush.
The old sailor was still bewildered. He put out a hand indeed, but he was
too late, for now the bananas disappeared and lemons took their place.
"Pshaw!" cried Trot. "You can't eat those things; but watch out,
Cap'n, for something else."
Cocoanuts next appeared, but Cap'n Bill shook his head.
"Ca'n't crack 'em," he remarked, "'cause we haven't anything handy to
smash 'em with."
"Well, take one, anyhow," advised Trot; but the cocoanuts were gone
now, and a deep, purple, pear-shaped fruit which was unknown to them
took their place. Again Cap'n Bill hesitated, and Trot said to him:
"You ought to have captured a peach and a banana, as I did. If
you're not careful, Cap'n, you'll miss all your chances. Here, I'll
divide my banana with you."
Even as she spoke, the Magic Plant was covered with big red apples,
growing on every branch, and Cap'n Bill hesitated no longer. He
grabbed with both hands and picked two apples, while Trot had only
time to secure one before they were gone.
"It's curious," remarked the sailor, munching his apple, "how these
fruits keep good when you've picked 'em, but dis'pear inter thin air if
they're left on the bush."
"The whole thing is curious," declared the girl, "and it couldn't
exist in any country but this, where magic is so common. Those are
limes. Don't pick 'em, for they'd pucker up your mouth and--Ooo! here
come plums!" and she tucked her apple in her apron pocket and captured
three plums--each one almost as big as an egg--before they disappeared.
Cap'n Bill got some too, but both were too hungry to fast any longer,
so they began eating their apples and plums and let the magic bush
bear all sorts of fruits, one after another. The Cap'n stopped once
to pick a fine cantaloupe, which he held under his arm, and Trot,
having finished her plums, got a handful of cherries and an orange;
but when almost every sort of fruit had appeared on the bush, the crop
ceased and only flowers, as before, bloomed upon it.
"I wonder why it changed back," mused Trot, who was not worried
because she had enough fruit to satisfy her hunger.
"Well, you only wished it would bear fruit 'for a while,'" said the
sailor, "and it did. P'raps if you'd said 'forever,' Trot, it would
have always been fruit."
"But why should MY wish be obeyed?" asked the girl. "I'm not a
fairy or a wizard or any kind of a magic-maker."
"I guess," replied Cap'n Bill, "that this little island is a magic
island, and any folks on it can tell the bush what to produce, an'
it'll produce it."
"Do you think I could wish for anything else, Cap'n and get it?" she
inquired anxiously.
"What are you thinkin' of, Trot?"
"I'm thinking of wishing that these roots on our feet would
disappear, and let us free."
"Try it, Trot."
So she tried it, and the wish had no effect whatever.
"Try it yourself, Cap'n," she suggested.
Then Cap'n Bill made the wish to be free, with no better result.
"No," said he, "it's no use; the wishes only affect the Magic Plant;
but I'm glad we can make it bear fruit, 'cause now we know we won't
starve before the Wizard gets to us."
"But I'm gett'n' tired standing here so long," complained the girl.
"If I could only lift one foot, and rest it, I'd feel better."
"Same with me, Trot. I've noticed that if you've got to do a thing,
and can't help yourself, it gets to be a hardship mighty quick."
"Folks that can raise their feet don't appreciate what a blessing it
is," said Trot thoughtfully. "I never knew before what fun it is to
raise one foot, an' then another, any time you feel like it."
"There's lots o' things folks don't 'preciate," replied the
sailor-man. "If somethin' would 'most stop your breath, you'd think
breathin' easy was the finest thing in life. When a person's well, he
don't realize how jolly it is, but when he gets sick he 'members the
time he was well, an' wishes that time would come back. Most folks
forget to thank God for givin' 'em two good legs, till they lose one o'
'em, like I did; and then it's too late, 'cept to praise God for
leavin' one."
"Your wooden leg ain't so bad, Cap'n," she remarked, looking at it
critically. "Anyhow, it don't take root on a Magic Island, like our
meat legs do."
"I ain't complainin'," said Cap'n Bill. "What's that swimmin'
towards us, Trot?" he added, looking over the Magic Flower and across
the water.
The girl looked, too, and then she replied.
"It's a bird of some sort. It's like a duck, only I never saw a
duck have so many colors."
The bird swam swiftly and gracefully toward the Magic Isle, and as
it drew nearer its gorgeously colored plumage astonished them. The
feathers were of many hues of glistening greens and blues and purples,
and it had a yellow head with a red plume, and pink, white and violet
in its tail. When it reached the Isle, it came ashore and approached
them, waddling slowly and turning its head first to one side and then
to the other, so as to see the girl and the sailor better.
"You're strangers," said the bird, coming to a halt near them, "and
you've been caught by the Magic Isle and made prisoners."
"Yes," returned Trot, with a sigh; "we're rooted. But I hope we
won't grow."
"You'll grow small," said the Bird. "You'll keep growing smaller
every day, until bye and bye there'll be nothing left of you. That's
the usual way, on this Magic Isle."
"How do you know about it, and who are you, anyhow?" asked Cap'n Bill.
"I'm the Lonesome Duck," replied the bird. "I suppose you've heard
of me?"
"No," said Trot, "I can't say I have. What makes you lonesome?"
"Why, I haven't any family or any relations," returned the Duck.
"Haven't you any friends?"
"Not a friend. And I've nothing to do. I've lived a long time, and
I've got to live forever, because I belong in the Land of Oz, where no
living thing dies. Think of existing year after year, with no
friends, no family, and nothing to do! Can you wonder I'm lonesome?"
"Why don't you make a few friends, and find something to do?"
inquired Cap'n Bill.
"I can't make friends because everyone I meet--bird, beast, or
person--is disagreeable to me. In a few minutes I shall be unable to
bear your society longer, and then I'll go away and leave you," said
the Lonesome Duck. "And, as for doing anything, there's no use in it.
All I meet are doing something, so I have decided it's common and
uninteresting and I prefer to remain lonesome."
"Don't you have to hunt for your food?" asked Trot.
"No. In my diamond palace, a little way up the river, food is
magically supplied me; but I seldom eat, because it is so common."
"You must be a Magician Duck," remarked Cap'n Bill.
"Why so?"
"Well, ordinary ducks don't have diamond palaces an' magic food,
like you do."
"True; and that's another reason why I'm lonesome. You must
remember I'm the only Duck in the Land of Oz, and I'm not like any
other duck in the outside world."
"Seems to me you LIKE bein' lonesome," observed Cap'n Bill.
"I can't say I like it, exactly," replied the Duck, "but since it
seems to be my fate, I'm rather proud of it."
"How do you s'pose a single, solitary Duck happened to be in the
Land of Oz?" asked Trot, wonderingly.
"I used to know the reason, many years ago, but I've quite forgotten
it," declared the Duck. "The reason for a thing is never so important
as the thing itself, so there's no use remembering anything but the
fact that I'm lonesome."
"I guess you'd be happier if you tried to do something," asserted
Trot. "If you can't do anything for yourself, you can do things for
others, and then you'd get lots of friends and stop being lonesome."
"Now you're getting disagreeable," said the Lonesome Duck, "and I
shall have to go and leave you."
"Can't you help us any," pleaded the girl. "If there's anything
magic about you, you might get us out of this scrape."
"I haven't any magic strong enough to get you off the Magic Isle,"
replied the Lonesome Duck. "What magic I possess is very simple, but
I find it enough for my own needs."
"If we could only sit down a while, we could stand it better," said
Trot, "but we have nothing to sit on."
"Then you will have to stand it," said the Lonesome Duck.
"P'raps you've enough magic to give us a couple of stools,"
suggested Cap'n Bill.
"A duck isn't supposed to know what stools are," was the reply.
"But you're diff'rent from all other ducks."
"That is true." The strange creature seemed to reflect for a
moment, looking at them sharply from its round black eyes. Then it
said: "Sometimes, when the sun is hot, I grow a toadstool to shelter
me from its rays. Perhaps you could sit on toadstools."
"Well, if they were strong enough, they'd do," answered Cap'n Bill.
"Then, before I do I'll give you a couple," said the Lonesome Duck,
and began waddling about in a small circle. It went around the circle
to the right three times, and then it went around to the left three
times. Then it hopped backward three times and forward three times.
"What are you doing?" asked Trot.
"Don't interrupt. This is an incantation," replied the Lonesome
Duck, but now it began making a succession of soft noises that sounded
like quacks and seemed to mean nothing at all. And it kept up these
sounds so long that Trot finally exclaimed:
"Can't you hurry up and finish that 'cantation? If it takes all
summer to make a couple of toadstools, you're not much of a magician."
"I told you not to interrupt," said the Lonesome Duck, sternly.
"If you get TOO disagreeable, you'll drive me away before I finish
this incantation."
Trot kept quiet, after the rebuke, and the Duck resumed the quacky
muttering. Cap'n Bill chuckled a little to himself and remarked to
Trot in a whisper: "For a bird that ain't got anything to do, this
Lonesome Duck is makin' consider'ble fuss. An' I ain't sure, after
all, as toadstools would be worth sittin' on."
Even as he spoke, the sailor-man felt something touch him from
behind and, turning his head, he found a big toadstool in just the
right place and of just the right size to sit upon. There was one
behind Trot, too, and with a cry of pleasure the little girl sank back
upon it and found it a very comfortable seat--solid, yet almost like a
cushion. Even Cap'n Bill's weight did not break his toadstool down,
and when both were seated, they found that the Lonesome Duck had
waddled away and was now at the water's edge.
"Thank you, ever so much!" cried Trot, and the sailor called out:
"Much obliged!"
But the Lonesome Duck paid no attention. Without even looking in
their direction again, the gaudy fowl entered the water and swam
gracefully away.
16. The Glass Cat Finds the Black Bag
When the six monkeys were transformed by Kiki Aru into six giant
soldiers fifty feet tall, their heads came above the top of the
trees, which in this part of the forest were not so high as in some
other parts; and, although the trees were somewhat scattered, the
bodies of the giant soldiers were so big that they quite filled the
spaces in which they stood and the branches pressed them on every side.
Of course, Kiki was foolish to have made his soldiers so big, for
now they could not get out of the forest. Indeed, they could not stir
a step, but were imprisoned by the trees. Even had they been in the
little clearing they could not have made their way out of it, but they
were a little beyond the clearing. At first, the other monkeys who
had not been enchanted were afraid of the soldiers, and hastily
quitted the place; but soon finding that the great men stood stock
still, although grunting indignantly at their transformation, the band
of monkeys returned to the spot and looked at them curiously, not
guessing that they were really monkeys and their own friends.
The soldiers couldn't see them, their heads being above the trees;
they could not even raise their arms or draw their sharp swords, so
closely were they held by the leafy branches. So the monkeys, finding
the giants helpless, began climbing up their bodies, and presently all
the band were perched on the shoulders of the giants and peering into
their faces.
"I'm Ebu, your father," cried one soldier to a monkey who had
perched upon his left ear, "but some cruel person has enchanted me."
"I'm your Uncle Peeker," said another soldier to another monkey.
So, very soon all the monkeys knew the truth and were sorry for
their friends and relations and angry at the person--whoever it
was--who had transformed them. There was a great chattering among the
tree-tops, and the noise attracted other monkeys, so that the clearing
and all the trees around were full of them.
Rango the Gray Ape, who was the Chief of all the monkey tribes of
the forest, heard the uproar and came to see what was wrong with his
people. And Rango, being wiser and more experienced, at once knew
that the strange magician who looked like a mixed-up beast was
responsible for the transformations. He realized that the six giant
soldiers were helpless prisoners, because of their size, and knew he
was powerless to release them. So, although he feared to meet the
terrible magician, he hurried away to the Great Clearing to tell Gugu
the King what had happened and to try to find the Wizard of Oz and
get him to save his six enchanted subjects.
Rango darted into the Great Clearing just as the Wizard had restored
all the enchanted ones around him to their proper shapes, and the Gray
Ape was glad to hear that the wicked magician-beast had been conquered.
"But now, O mighty Wizard, you must come with me to where six of my
people are transformed into six great giant men," he said, "for if
they are allowed to remain there, their happiness and their future
lives will be ruined."
The Wizard did not reply at once, for he was thinking this a good
opportunity to win Rango's consent to his taking some monkeys to the
Emerald City for Ozma's birthday cake.
"It is a great thing you ask of me, O Rango the Gray Ape," said he,
"for the bigger the giants are the more powerful their enchantment,
and the more difficult it will be to restore them to their natural
forms. However, I will think it over."
Then the Wizard went to another part of the clearing and sat on a
log and appeared to be in deep thought.
The Glass Cat had been greatly interested in the Gray Ape's story and
was curious to see what the giant soldiers looked like. Hearing that
their heads extended above the tree-tops, the Glass Cat decided that
if it climbed the tall avocado tree that stood at the side of the
clearing, it might be able to see the giants' heads. So, without
mentioning her errand, the crystal creature went to the tree and, by
sticking her sharp glass claws in the bark, easily climbed the tree to
its very top and, looking over the forest, saw the six giant heads,
although they were now a long way off. It was, indeed, a remarkable
sight, for the huge heads had immense soldier caps on them, with red
and yellow plumes and looked very fierce and terrible, although the
monkey hearts of the giants were at that moment filled with fear.
Having satisfied her curiosity, the Glass Cat began to climb down
from the tree more slowly. Suddenly she discerned the Wizard's black
bag hanging from a limb of the tree. She grasped the black bag in her
glass teeth, and although it was rather heavy for so small an animal,
managed to get it free and to carry it safely down to the ground.
Then she looked around for the Wizard and seeing him seated upon the
stump she hid the black bag among some leaves and then went over to
where the Wizard sat.
"I forgot to tell you," said the Glass Cat, "that Trot and Cap'n
Bill are in trouble, and I came here to hunt you up and get you to go
and rescue them."
"Good gracious, Cat! Why didn't you tell me before?" exclaimed the Wizard.
"For the reason that I found so much excitement here that I forgot
Trot and Cap'n Bill."
"What's wrong with them?" asked the Wizard.
Then the Glass Cat explained how they had gone to get the Magic
Flower for Ozma's birthday gift and had been trapped by the magic of
the queer island. The Wizard was really alarmed, but he shook his
head and said sadly:
"I'm afraid I can't help my dear friends, because I've lost my black bag."
"If I find it, will you go to them?" asked the creature.
"Of course," replied the Wizard. "But I do not think that a Glass
Cat with nothing but pink brains can succeed when all the rest of us
have failed."
"Don't you admire my pink brains?" demanded the Cat.
"They're pretty," admitted the Wizard, "but they're not regular
brains, you know, and so we don't expect them to amount to much."
"But if I find your black bag--and find it inside of five
minutes--will you admit my pink brains are better than your common
human brains?"
"Well, I'll admit they're better HUNTERS," said the Wizard,
reluctantly, "but you can't do it. We've searched everywhere, and the
black bag isn't to be found."
"That shows how much you know!" retorted the Glass Cat, scornfully.
"Watch my brains a minute, and see them whirl around."
The Wizard watched, for he was anxious to regain his black bag, and
the pink brains really did whirl around in a remarkable manner.
"Now, come with me," commanded the Glass Cat, and led the Wizard
straight to the spot where it had covered the bag with leaves.
"According to my brains," said the creature, "your black bag ought to
be here."
Then it scratched at the leaves and uncovered the bag, which the
Wizard promptly seized with a cry of delight. Now that he had
regained his Magic Tools, he felt confident he could rescue Trot and
Cap'n Bill.
Rango the Gray Ape was getting impatient. He now approached the
Wizard and said:
"Well, what do you intend to do about those poor enchanted monkeys?"
"I'll make a bargain with you, Rango," replied the little man. "If
you will let me take a dozen of your monkeys to the Emerald City, and
keep them until after Ozma's birthday, I'll break the enchantment of
the six Giant Soldiers and return them to their natural forms."
But the Gray Ape shook his head.
"I can't do it," he declared. "The monkeys would be very lonesome
and unhappy in the Emerald City and your people would tease them and
throw stones at them, which would cause them to fight and bite."
"The people won't see them till Ozma's birthday dinner," promised
the Wizard. "I'll make them very small--about four inches high, and
I'll keep them in a pretty cage in my own room, where they will be
safe from harm. I'll feed them the nicest kind of food, train them to
do some clever tricks, and on Ozma's birthday I'll hide the twelve
little monkeys inside a cake. When Ozma cuts the cake the monkeys
will jump out on to the table and do their tricks. The next day I
will bring them back to the forest and make them big as ever, and
they'll have some exciting stories to tell their friends. What do you
say, Rango?"
"I say no!" answered the Gray Ape. "I won't have my monkeys
enchanted and made to do tricks for the Oz people."
"Very well," said the Wizard calmly; "then I'll go. Come, Dorothy,"
he called to the little girl, "let's start on our journey."
"Aren't you going to save those six monkeys who are giant soldiers?"
asked Rango, anxiously.
"Why should I?" returned the Wizard. "If you will not do me the
favor I ask, you cannot expect me to favor you."
"Wait a minute," said the Gray Ape. "I've changed my mind. If you
will treat the twelve monkeys nicely and bring them safely back to the
forest, I'll let you take them."
"Thank you," replied the Wizard, cheerfully. "We'll go at once and
save those giant soldiers."
So all the party left the clearing and proceeded to the place where
the giants still stood among the trees. Hundreds of monkeys, apes,
baboons and orangoutangs had gathered round, and their wild chatter
could be heard a mile away. But the Gray Ape soon hushed the babel of
sounds, and the Wizard lost no time in breaking the enchantments.
First one and then another giant soldier disappeared and became an
ordinary monkey again, and the six were shortly returned to their
friends in their proper forms.
This action made the Wizard very popular with the great army of
monkeys, and when the Gray Ape announced that the Wizard wanted to
borrow twelve monkeys to take to the Emerald City for a couple of
weeks, and asked for volunteers, nearly a hundred offered to go,
so great was their confidence in the little man who had saved
their comrades.
The Wizard selected a dozen that seemed intelligent and
good-tempered, and then he opened his black bag and took out a queerly
shaped dish that was silver on the outside and gold on the inside.
Into this dish he poured a powder and set fire to it. It made a thick
smoke that quite enveloped the twelve monkeys, as well as the form of
the Wizard, but when the smoke cleared away the dish had been changed
to a golden cage with silver bars, and the twelve monkeys had become
about three inches high and were all seated comfortably inside the cage.
The thousands of hairy animals who had witnessed this act of magic
were much astonished and applauded the Wizard by barking aloud and
shaking the limbs of the trees in which they sat. Dorothy said: "That
was a fine trick, Wizard!" and the Gray Ape remarked: "You are
certainly the most wonderful magician in all the Land of Oz!"
"Oh, no," modestly replied the little man. "Glinda's magic is
better than mine, but mine seems good enough to use on ordinary
occasions. And now, Rango, we will say good-bye, and I promise to
return your monkeys as happy and safe as they are now."
The Wizard rode on the back of the Hungry Tiger and carried the cage
of monkeys very carefully, so as not to joggle them. Dorothy rode on
the back of the Cowardly Lion, and the Glass Cat trotted, as before,
to show them the way.
Gugu the King crouched upon a log and watched them go, but as he
bade them farewell, the enormous Leopard said:
"I know now that you are the friends of beasts and that the forest
people may trust you. Whenever the Wizard of Oz and Princess Dorothy
enter the Forest of Gugu hearafter, they will be as welcome and as
safe with us as ever they are in the Emerald City."
17. A Remarkable Journey
"You see," explained the Glass Cat, "that Magic Isle where Trot and
Cap'n Bill are stuck is also in this Gillikin Country--over at the
east side of it, and it's no farther to go across-lots from here than
it is from here to the Emerald City. So we'll save time by cutting
across the mountains."
"Are you sure you know the way?" asked Dorothy.
"I know all the Land of Oz better than any other living creature
knows it," asserted the Glass Cat.
"Go ahead, then, and guide us," said the Wizard. "We've left our
poor friends helpless too long already, and the sooner we rescue them
the happier they'll be."
"Are you sure you can get 'em out of their fix?" the little girl inquired.
"I've no doubt of it," the Wizard assured her. "But I can't tell
what sort of magic I must use until I get to the place and discover
just how they are enchanted."
"I've heard of that Magic Isle where the Wonderful Flower grows,"
remarked the Cowardly Lion. "Long ago, when I used to live in the
forests, the beasts told stories about the Isle and how the Magic
Flower was placed there to entrap strangers--men or beasts."
"Is the Flower really wonderful?" questioned Dorothy.
"I have heard it is the most beautiful plant in the world," answered
the Lion. "I have never seen it myself, but friendly beasts have told
me that they have stood on the shore of the river and looked across at
the plant in the gold flower-pot and seen hundreds of flowers, of all
sorts and sizes, blossom upon it in quick succession. It is said that
if one picks the flowers while they are in bloom they will remain
perfect for a long time, but if they are not picked they soon
disappear and are replaced by other flowers. That, in my opinion,
make the Magic Plant the most wonderful in existence."
"But these are only stories," said the girl. "Has any of your
friends ever picked a flower from the wonderful plant?"
"No," admitted the Cowardly Lion, "for if any living thing ventures
upon the Magic Isle, where the golden flower-pot stands, that man or
beast takes root in the soil and cannot get away again."
"What happens to them, then?" asked Dorothy.
"They grow smaller, hour by hour and day by day, and finally
disappear entirely."
"Then," said the girl anxiously, "we must hurry up, or Cap'n Bill
an' Trot will get too small to be comf'table."
They were proceeding at a rapid pace during this conversation, for
the Hungry Tiger and the Cowardly Lion were obliged to move swiftly in
order to keep pace with the Glass Cat. After leaving the Forest of Gugu
they crossed a mountain range, and then a broad plain, after which
they reached another forest, much smaller than that where Gugu ruled.
"The Magic Isle is in this forest," said the Glass Cat, "but the
river is at the other side of the forest. There is no path through
the trees, but if we keep going east, we will find the river, and then
it will be easy to find the Magic Isle."
"Have you ever traveled this way before?" inquired the Wizard.
"Not exactly," admitted the Cat, "but I know we shall reach the
river if we go east through the forest."
"Lead on, then," said the Wizard.
The Glass Cat started away, and at first it was easy to pass between
the trees; but before long the underbrush and vines became thick and
tangled, and after pushing their way through these obstacles for a
time, our travelers came to a place where even the Glass Cat could not
push through.
"We'd better go back and find a path," suggested the Hungry Tiger.
"I'm s'prised at you," said Dorothy, eyeing the Glass Cat severely.
"I'm surprised, myself," replied the Cat. "But it's a long way
around the forest to where the river enters it, and I thought we could
save time by going straight through."
"No one can blame you," said the Wizard, "and I think, instead of
turning back, I can make a path that will allow us to proceed."
He opened his black bag and after searching among his magic tools
drew out a small axe, made of some metal so highly polished that it
glittered brightly even in the dark forest. The Wizard laid the
little axe on the ground and said in a commanding voice:
"Chop, Little Axe, chop clean and true;
A path for our feet you must quickly hew.
Chop till this tangle of jungle is passed;
Chop to the east, Little Axe--chop fast!"
Then the little axe began to move and flashed its bright blade right
and left, clearing a way through vine and brush and scattering the
tangled barrier so quickly that the Lion and the Tiger, carrying
Dorothy and the Wizard and the cage of monkeys on their backs, were
able to stride through the forest at a fast walk. The brush seemed to
melt away before them and the little axe chopped so fast that their
eyes only saw a twinkling of the blade. Then, suddenly, the forest
was open again, and the little axe, having obeyed its orders, lay
still upon the ground.
The Wizard picked up the magic axe and after carefully wiping it
with his silk handkerchief put it away in his black bag. Then they
went on and in a short time reached the river.
"Let me see," said the Glass Cat, looking up and down the stream, "I
think we are below the Magic Isle; so we must go up the stream until
we come to it."
So up the stream they traveled, walking comfortably on the river
bank, and after a while the water broadened and a sharp bend appeared
in the river, hiding all below from their view. They walked briskly
along, however, and had nearly reached the bend when a voice cried
warningly: "Look out!"
The travelers halted abruptly and the Wizard said: "Look out for what?"
"You almost stepped on my Diamond Palace," replied the voice, and a
duck with gorgeously colored feathers appeared before them. "Beasts
and men are terribly clumsy," continued the Duck in an irritated tone,
"and you've no business on this side of the River, anyway. What are
you doing here?"
"We've come to rescue some friends of ours who are stuck fast on the
Magic Isle in this river," explained Dorothy.
"I know 'em," said the Duck. "I've been to see 'em, and they're
stuck fast, all right. You may as well go back home, for no power can
save them."
"This is the Wonderful Wizard of Oz," said Dorothy, pointing to the
little man.
"Well, I'm the Lonesome Duck," was the reply, as the fowl strutted
up and down to show its feathers to best advantage. "I'm the great
Forest Magician, as any beast can tell you, but even I have no power
to destroy the dreadful charm of the Magic Isle."
"Are you lonesome because you're a magician?" inquired Dorothy.
"No; I'm lonesome because I have no family and no friends. But I
like to be lonesome, so please don't offer to be friendly with me. Go
away, and try not to step on my Diamond Palace."
"Where is it?" asked the girl.
"Behind this bush."
Dorothy hopped off the lion's back and ran around the bush to see
the Diamond Palace of the Lonesome Duck, although the gaudy fowl
protested in a series of low quacks. The girl found, indeed, a
glistening dome formed of clearest diamonds, neatly cemented together,
with a doorway at the side just big enough to admit the duck.
"Where did you find so many diamonds?" asked Dorothy, wonderingly.
"I know a place in the mountains where they are thick as pebbles,"
said the Lonesome Duck, "and I brought them here in my bill, one by one
and put them in the river and let the water run over them until they
were brightly polished. Then I built this palace, and I'm positive
it's the only Diamond Palace in all the world."
"It's the only one I know of," said the little girl; "but if you
live in it all alone, I don't see why it's any better than a wooden
palace, or one of bricks or cobble-stones."
"You're not supposed to understand that," retorted the Lonesome
Duck. "But I might tell you, as a matter of education, that a home of
any sort should be beautiful to those who live in it, and should not
be intended to please strangers. The Diamond Palace is my home, and I
like it. So I don't care a quack whether YOU like it or not."
"Oh, but I do!" exclaimed Dorothy. "It's lovely on the outside,
but--" Then she stopped speaking, for the Lonesome Duck had entered
his palace through the little door without even saying good-bye. So
Dorothy returned to her friends and they resumed their journey.
"Do you think, Wizard, the Duck was right in saying no magic can
rescue Trot and Cap'n Bill?" asked the girl in a worried tone of voice.
"No, I don't think the Lonesome Duck was right in saying that,"
answered the Wizard, gravely, "but it is possible that their
enchantment will be harder to overcome than I expected. I'll do my
best, of course, and no one can do more than his best."
That didn't entirely relieve Dorothy's anxiety, but she said nothing
more, and soon, on turning the bend in the river, they came in sight
of the Magic Isle.
"There they are!" exclaimed Dorothy eagerly.
"Yes, I see them," replied the Wizard, nodding. "They are sitting
on two big toadstools."
"That's queer," remarked the Glass Cat. "There were no toadstools
there when I left them."
"What a lovely flower!" cried Dorothy in rapture, as her gaze fell
on the Magic Plant.
"Never mind the Flower, just now," advised the Wizard. "The most
important thing is to rescue our friends."
By this time they had arrived at a place just opposite the Magic
Isle, and now both Trot and Cap'n Bill saw the arrival of their
friends and called to them for help.
"How are you?" shouted the Wizard, putting his hands to his mouth
so they could hear him better across the water.
"We're in hard luck," shouted Cap'n Bill, in reply. "We're anchored
here and can't move till you find a way to cut the hawser."
"What does he mean by that?" asked Dorothy.
"We can't move our feet a bit!" called Trot, speaking as loud as she could.
"Why not?" inquired Dorothy.
"They've got roots on 'em," explained Trot.
It was hard to talk from so great a distance, so the Wizard said to
the Glass Cat:
"Go to the island and tell our friends to be patient, for we have
come to save them. It may take a little time to release them, for the
Magic of the Isle is new to me and I shall have to experiment. But
tell them I'll hurry as fast as I can."
So the Glass Cat walked across the river under the water to tell Trot
and Cap'n Bill not to worry, and the Wizard at once opened his black
bag and began to make his preparations.
18. The Magic of the Wizard
He first set up a small silver tripod and placed a gold basin at the
top of it. Into this basin he put two powders--a pink one and a
sky-blue one--and poured over them a yellow liquid from a crystal
vial. Then he mumbled some magic words, and the powders began to
sizzle and burn and send out a cloud of violet smoke that floated
across the river and completely enveloped both Trot and Cap'n Bill, as
well as the toadstools on which they sat, and even the Magic Plant in
the gold flower-pot. Then, after the smoke had disappeared into air,
the Wizard called out to the prisoners:
"Are you free?"
Both Trot and Cap'n Bill tried to move their feet and failed.
"No!" they shouted in answer.
The Wizard rubbed his bald head thoughtfully and then took some
other magic tools from the bag.
First he placed a little black ball in a silver pistol and shot it
toward the Magic Isle. The ball exploded just over the head of Trot
and scattered a thousand sparks over the little girl.
"Oh!" said the Wizard, "I guess that will set her free."
But Trot's feet were still rooted in the ground of the Magic Isle,
and the disappointed Wizard had to try something else.
For almost an hour he worked hard, using almost every magic tool in
his black bag, and still Cap'n Bill and Trot were not rescued.
"Dear me!" exclaimed Dorothy, "I'm 'fraid we'll have to go to
Glinda, after all."
That made the little Wizard blush, for it shamed him to think that
his magic was not equal to that of the Magic Isle.
"I won't give up yet, Dorothy," he said, "for I know a lot of
wizardry that I haven't yet tried. I don't know what magician
enchanted this little island, or what his powers were, but I DO know
that I can break any enchantment known to the ordinary witches and
magicians that used to inhabit the Land of Oz. It's like unlocking a
door; all you need is to find the right key."
"But 'spose you haven't the right key with you." suggested Dorothy;
"what then?"
"Then we'll have to make the key," he answered.
The Glass Cat now came back to their side of the river, walking
under the water, and said to the Wizard: "They're getting frightened
over there on the island because they're both growing smaller every
minute. Just now, when I left them, both Trot and Cap'n Bill were
only about half their natural sizes."
"I think," said the Wizard reflectively, "that I'd better go to the
shore of the island, where I can talk to them and work to better
advantage. How did Trot and Cap'n Bill get to the island?"
"On a raft," answered the Glass Cat. "It's over there now on the beach."
"I suppose you're not strong enough to bring the raft to this side,
are you?"
"No; I couldn't move it an inch," said the Cat.
"I'll try to get it for you," volunteered the Cowardly Lion. "I'm
dreadfully scared for fear the Magic Isle will capture me, too; but
I'll try to get the raft and bring it to this side for you."
"Thank you, my friend," said the Wizard.
So the Lion plunged into the river and swam with powerful strokes
across to where the raft was beached upon the island. Placing one paw
on the raft, he turned and struck out with his other three legs and so
strong was the great beast that he managed to drag the raft from off the
beach and propel it slowly to where the Wizard stood on the river bank.
"Good!" exclaimed the little man, well pleased.
"May I go across with you?" asked Dorothy.
The Wizard hesitated.
"If you'll take care not to leave the raft or step foot on the
island, you'll be quite safe," he decided. So the Wizard told the
Hungry Tiger and the Cowardly Lion to guard the cage of monkeys until
he returned, and then he and Dorothy got upon the raft. The paddle
which Cap'n Bill had made was still there, so the little Wizard paddled
the clumsy raft across the water and ran it upon the beach of the
Magic Isle as close to the place where Cap'n Bill and Trot were
rooted as he could.
Dorothy was shocked to see how small the prisoners had become, and
Trot said to her friends: "If you can't save us soon, there'll be
nothing left of us."
"Be patient, my dear," counseled the Wizard, and took the little axe
from his black bag.
"What are you going to do with that?" asked Cap'n Bill.
"It's a magic axe," replied the Wizard, "and when I tell it to chop,
it will chop those roots from your feet and you can run to the raft
before they grow again."
"Don't!" shouted the sailor in alarm. "Don't do it! Those roots
are all flesh roots, and our bodies are feeding 'em while they're
growing into the ground."
"To cut off the roots," said Trot, "would be like cutting off our
fingers and toes."
The Wizard put the little axe back in the black bag and took out a
pair of silver pincers.
"Grow--grow--grow!" he said to the pincers, and at once they grew
and extended until they reached from the raft to the prisoners.
"What are you going to do now?" demanded Cap'n Bill, fearfully
eyeing the pincers.
"This magic tool will pull you up, roots and all, and land you on
this raft," declared the Wizard.
"Don't do it!" pleaded the sailor, with a shudder. "It would hurt
us awfully."
"It would be just like pulling teeth to pull us up by the roots,"
explained Trot.
"Grow small!" said the Wizard to the pincers, and at once they
became small and he threw them into the black bag.
"I guess, friends, it's all up with us, this time," remarked Cap'n Bill,
with a dismal sigh.
"Please tell Ozma, Dorothy," said Trot, "that we got into trouble
trying to get her a nice birthday present. Then she'll forgive us.
The Magic Flower is lovely and wonderful, but it's just a lure to
catch folks on this dreadful island and then destroy them. You'll
have a nice birthday party, without us, I'm sure; and I hope, Dorothy,
that none of you in the Emerald City will forget me--or dear ol'
Cap'n Bill."
19. Dorothy and the Bumble Bees
Dorothy was greatly distressed and had hard work to keep the tears
from her eyes.
"Is that all you can do, Wizard?" she asked the little man.
"It's all I can think of just now," he replied sadly. "But I intend
to keep on thinking as long--as long--well, as long as thinking will
do any good."
They were all silent for a time, Dorothy and the Wizard sitting
thoughtfully on the raft, and Trot and Cap'n Bill sitting thoughtfully
on the toadstools and growing gradually smaller and smaller in size.
Suddenly Dorothy said: "Wizard, I've thought of something!"
"What have you thought of?" he asked, looking at the little girl
with interest.
"Can you remember the Magic Word that transforms people?" she asked.
"Of course," said he.
"Then you can transform Trot and Cap'n Bill into birds or bumblebees,
and they can fly away to the other shore. When they're there, you can
transform 'em into their reg'lar shapes again!"
"Can you do that, Wizard?" asked Cap'n Bill, eagerly.
"I think so."
"Roots an' all?" inquired Trot.
"Why, the roots are now a part of you, and if you were transformed
to a bumblebee the whole of you would be transformed, of course, and
you'd be free of this awful island."
"All right; do it!" cried the sailor-man.
So the Wizard said slowly and distinctly:
"I want Trot and Cap'n Bill to become bumblebees--Pyrzqxgl!"
Fortunately, he pronounced the Magic Word in the right way, and
instantly Trot and Cap'n Bill vanished from view, and up from the
places where they had been flew two bumblebees.
"Hooray!" shouted Dorothy in delight; "they're saved!"
"I guess they are," agreed the Wizard, equally delighted.
The bees hovered over the raft an instant and then flew across the
river to where the Lion and the Tiger waited. The Wizard picked up
the paddle and paddled the raft across as fast as he could. When it
reached the river bank, both Dorothy and the Wizard leaped ashore and
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