The Road to Oz
by
L. Frank Baum
Part 2 out of 3
Just find another, high or low, to match me if you can.
Some people try, but can't, to play
And have to practice every day;
But I've been musical always, since first my life began.
"Why, I b'lieve he's proud of it," exclaimed Dorothy; "and seems to me
I've heard worse music than he makes."
"Where?" asked Button-Bright.
"I've forgotten, just now. But Mr. Da Capo is certainly a strange
person--isn't he?--and p'r'aps he's the only one of his kind in all
the world."
This praise seemed to please the little fat musicker, for he swelled
out his chest, looked important and sang as follows:
I wear no band around me,
And yet I am a band!
I do not strain to make my strains
But, on the other hand,
My toot is always destitute
Of flats or other errors;
To see sharp and be natural are
For me but minor terrors.
"I don't quite understand that," said Polychrome, with a puzzled
look; "but perhaps it's because I'm accustomed only to the music
of the spheres."
"What's that?" asked Button-Bright.
"Oh, Polly means the atmosphere and hemisphere, I s'pose,"
explained Dorothy.
"Oh," said Button-Bright.
"Bow-wow!" said Toto.
But the musicker was still breathing his constant
Oom, pom-pom; Oom pom-pom--
and it seemed to jar on the shaggy man's nerves.
"Stop it, can't you?" he cried angrily; "or breathe in a whisper;
or put a clothes-pin on your nose. Do something, anyhow!"
But the fat one, with a sad look, sang this answer:
Music hath charms, and it may
Soothe even the savage, they say;
So if savage you feel
Just list to my reel,
For sooth to say that's the real way.
The shaggy man had to laugh at this, and when he laughed he stretched
his donkey mouth wide open. Said Dorothy:
"I don't know how good his poetry is, but it seems to fit the notes,
so that's all that can be 'xpected."
"I like it," said Button-Bright, who was staring hard at the musicker,
his little legs spread wide apart. To the surprise of his companions,
the boy asked this long question:
"If I swallowed a mouth-organ, what would I be?"
"An organette," said the shaggy man. "But come, my dears; I think
the best thing we can do is to continue on our journey before
Button-Bright swallows anything. We must try to find that Land of Oz,
you know."
Hearing this speech the musicker sang, quickly:
If you go to the Land of Oz
Please take me along, because
On Ozma's birthday
I'm anxious to play
The loveliest song ever was.
"No thank you," said Dorothy; "we prefer to travel alone. But if I
see Ozma I'll tell her you want to come to her birthday party."
"Let's be going," urged the shaggy man, anxiously.
Polly was already dancing along the road, far in advance, and the
others turned to follow her. Toto did not like the fat musicker and
made a grab for his chubby leg. Dorothy quickly caught up the
growling little dog and hurried after her companions, who were walking
faster than usual in order to get out of hearing. They had to climb a
hill, and until they got to the top they could not escape the
musicker's monotonous piping:
Oom, pom-pom; oom, pom-pom;
Tiddle-iddle-widdle, oom, pom-pom;
Oom, pom-pom--pah!
As they passed the brow of the hill, however, and descended on
the other side, the sounds gradually died away, whereat they all
felt much relieved.
"I'm glad I don't have to live with the organ-man; aren't you, Polly?"
said Dorothy.
"Yes indeed," answered the Rainbow's Daughter.
"He's nice," declared Button-Bright, soberly.
"I hope your Princess Ozma won't invite him to her birthday
celebration," remarked the shaggy man; "for the fellow's music would
drive her guests all crazy. You've given me an idea, Button-Bright;
I believe the musicker must have swallowed an accordeon in his youth."
"What's 'cordeon?" asked the boy.
"It's a kind of pleating," explained Dorothy, putting down the dog.
"Bow-wow!" said Toto, and ran away at a mad gallop to chase a bumble-bee.
9. Facing the Scoodlers
The country wasn't so pretty now. Before the travelers appeared a
rocky plain covered with hills on which grew nothing green. They were
nearing some low mountains, too, and the road, which before had been
smooth and pleasant to walk upon, grew rough and uneven.
Button-Bright's little feet stumbled more than once, and Polychrome
ceased her dancing because the walking was now so difficult that she
had no trouble to keep warm.
It had become afternoon, yet there wasn't a thing for their luncheon
except two apples which the shaggy man had taken from the breakfast
table. He divided these into four pieces and gave a portion to each
of his companions. Dorothy and Button-Bright were glad to get theirs;
but Polly was satisfied with a small bite, and Toto did not like apples.
"Do you know," asked the Rainbow's Daughter, "if this is the right
road to the Emerald City?"
"No, I don't," replied Dorothy, "but it's the only road in this part
of the country, so we may as well go to the end of it."
"It looks now as if it might end pretty soon," remarked the shaggy man;
"and what shall we do if it does?"
"Don't know," said Button-Bright.
"If I had my Magic Belt," replied Dorothy, thoughtfully, "it could do
us a lot of good just now."
"What is your Magic Belt?" asked Polychrome.
"It's a thing I captured from the Nome King one day, and it can do
'most any wonderful thing. But I left it with Ozma, you know; 'cause
magic won't work in Kansas, but only in fairy countries."
"Is this a fairy country?" asked Button-Bright.
"I should think you'd know," said the little girl, gravely.
"If it wasn't a fairy country you couldn't have a fox head
and the shaggy man couldn't have a donkey head, and the Rainbow's
Daughter would be invis'ble."
"What's that?" asked the boy.
"You don't seem to know anything, Button-Bright. Invis'ble is a thing
you can't see."
"Then Toto's invis'ble," declared the boy, and Dorothy found he was
right. Toto had disappeared from view, but they could hear him
barking furiously among the heaps of grey rock ahead of them.
They moved forward a little faster to see what the dog was barking at,
and found perched upon a point of rock by the roadside a curious
creature. It had the form of a man, middle-sized and rather slender
and graceful; but as it sat silent and motionless upon the peak they
could see that its face was black as ink, and it wore a black cloth
costume made like a union suit and fitting tight to its skin. Its
hands were black, too, and its toes curled down, like a bird's. The
creature was black all over except its hair, which was fine, and
yellow, banged in front across the black forehead and cut close at the
sides. The eyes, which were fixed steadily upon the barking dog, were
small and sparkling and looked like the eyes of a weasel.
"What in the world do you s'pose that is?" asked Dorothy in
a hushed voice, as the little group of travelers stood watching
the strange creature.
"Don't know," said Button-Bright.
The thing gave a jump and turned half around, sitting in the same
place but with the other side of its body facing them. Instead of
being black, it was now pure white, with a face like that of a clown
in a circus and hair of a brilliant purple. The creature could bend
either way, and its white toes now curled the same way the black ones
on the other side had done.
"It has a face both front and back," whispered Dorothy, wonderingly;
"only there's no back at all, but two fronts."
Having made the turn, the being sat motionless as before, while Toto
barked louder at the white man than he had done at the black one.
"Once," said the shaggy man, "I had a jumping jack like that,
with two faces."
"Was it alive?" asked Button-Bright.
"No," replied the shaggy man; "it worked on strings and was made of wood."
"Wonder if this works with strings," said Dorothy; but Polychrome
cried "Look!" for another creature just like the first had suddenly
appeared sitting on another rock, its black side toward them. The two
twisted their heads around and showed a black face on the white side
of one and a white face on the black side of the other.
"How curious," said Polychrome; "and how loose their heads seem to be!
Are they friendly to us, do you think?"
"Can't tell, Polly," replied Dorothy. "Let's ask 'em."
The creatures flopped first one way and then the other, showing black
or white by turns; and now another joined them, appearing on another
rock. Our friends had come to a little hollow in the hills, and the
place where they now stood was surrounded by jagged peaks of rock,
except where the road ran through.
"Now there are four of them," said the shaggy man.
"Five," declared Polychrome.
"Six," said Dorothy.
"Lots of 'em!" cried Button-Bright; and so there were--quite a row of
the two-sided black and white creatures sitting on the rocks all around.
Toto stopped barking and ran between Dorothy's feet, where he crouched
down as if afraid. The creatures did not look pleasant or friendly,
to be sure, and the shaggy man's donkey face became solemn, indeed.
"Ask 'em who they are, and what they want," whispered Dorothy;
so the shaggy man called out in a loud voice:
"Who are you?"
"Scoodlers!" they yelled in chorus, their voices sharp and shrill.
"What do you want?" called the shaggy man.
"You!" they yelled, pointing their thin fingers at the group;
and they all flopped around, so they were white, and then all
flopped back again, so they were black.
"But what do you want us for?" asked the shaggy man, uneasily.
"Soup!" they all shouted, as if with one voice.
"Goodness me!" said Dorothy, trembling a little; "the Scoodlers must
be reg'lar cannibals."
"Don't want to be soup," protested Button-Bright, beginning to cry.
"Hush, dear," said the little girl, trying to comfort him; "we don't
any of us want to be soup. But don't worry; the shaggy man will take
care of us."
"Will he?" asked Polychrome, who did not like the Scoodlers at all,
and kept close to Dorothy.
"I'll try," promised the shaggy man; but he looked worried.
Happening just then to feel the Love Magnet in his pocket,
he said to the creatures, with more confidence:
"Don't you love me?"
"Yes!" they shouted, all together.
"Then you mustn't harm me, or my friends," said the shaggy man, firmly.
"We love you in soup!" they yelled, and in a flash turned their white
sides to the front.
"How dreadful!" said Dorothy. "This is a time, Shaggy Man, when you
get loved too much."
"Don't want to be soup!" wailed Button-Bright again; and Toto began
to whine dismally, as if he didn't want to be soup, either.
"The only thing to do," said the shaggy man to his friends, in a low
tone, "is to get out of this pocket in the rocks as soon as we can, and
leave the Scoodlers behind us. Follow me, my dears, and don't pay any
attention to what they do or say."
With this, he began to march along the road to the opening in the
rocks ahead, and the others kept close behind him. But the Scoodlers
closed up in front, as if to bar their way, and so the shaggy man
stooped down and picked up a loose stone, which he threw at the
creatures to scare them from the path.
At this the Scoodlers raised a howl. Two of them picked their heads
from their shoulders and hurled them at the shaggy man with such force
that he fell over in a heap, greatly astonished. The two now ran
forward with swift leaps, caught up their heads, and put them on
again, after which they sprang back to their positions on the rocks.
10. Escaping the Soup-Kettle
The shaggy man got up and felt of himself to see if he was hurt; but
he was not. One of the heads had struck his breast and the other his
left shoulder; yet though they had knocked him down, the heads were
not hard enough to bruise him.
"Come on," he said firmly; "we've got to get out of here some way,"
and forward he started again.
The Scoodlers began yelling and throwing their heads in great numbers
at our frightened friends. The shaggy man was knocked over again, and
so was Button-Bright, who kicked his heels against the ground and
howled as loud as he could, although he was not hurt a bit. One head
struck Toto, who first yelped and then grabbed the head by an ear and
started running away with it.
The Scoodlers who had thrown their heads began to scramble down and
run to pick them up, with wonderful quickness; but the one whose head
Toto had stolen found it hard to get it back again. The head couldn't
see the body with either pair of its eyes, because the dog was in the
way, so the headless Scoodler stumbled around over the rocks and
tripped on them more than once in its effort to regain its top. Toto
was trying to get outside the rocks and roll the head down the hill;
but some of the other Scoodlers came to the rescue of their
unfortunate comrade and pelted the dog with their own heads until he
was obliged to drop his burden and hurry back to Dorothy.
The little girl and the Rainbow's Daughter had both escaped the shower
of heads, but they saw now that it would be useless to try to run away
from the dreadful Scoodlers.
"We may as well submit," declared the shaggy man, in a rueful voice,
as he got upon his feet again. He turned toward their foes and asked:
"What do you want us to do?"
"Come!" they cried, in a triumphant chorus, and at once sprang from
the rocks and surrounded their captives on all sides. One funny thing
about the Scoodlers was they could walk in either direction, coming or
going, without turning around; because they had two faces and, as
Dorothy said, "two front sides," and their feet were shaped like the
letter T upside down. They moved with great rapidity and there was
something about their glittering eyes and contrasting colors and
removable heads that inspired the poor prisoners with horror, and made
them long to escape.
But the creatures led their captives away from the rocks and the road,
down the hill by a side path until they came before a low mountain of
rock that looked like a huge bowl turned upside down. At the edge of
this mountain was a deep gulf--so deep that when you looked into it
there was nothing but blackness below. Across the gulf was a narrow
bridge of rock, and at the other end of the bridge was an arched
opening that led into the mountain.
Over this bridge the Scoodlers led their prisoners, through the
opening into the mountain, which they found to be an immense hollow
dome lighted by several holes in the roof. All around the circular
space were built rock houses, set close together, each with a door in
the front wall. None of these houses was more than six feet wide, but
the Scoodlers were thin people sidewise and did not need much room.
So vast was the dome that there was a large space in the middle of the
cave, in front of all these houses, where the creatures might congregate
as in a great hall.
It made Dorothy shudder to see a huge iron kettle suspended by a stout
chain in the middle of the place, and underneath the kettle a great
heap of kindling wood and shavings, ready to light.
"What's that?" asked the shaggy man, drawing back as they approached
this place, so that they were forced to push him forward.
"The Soup Kettle!" yelled the Scoodlers, and then they shouted in the
next breath:
"We're hungry!"
Button-Bright, holding Dorothy's hand in one chubby fist and Polly's
hand in the other, was so affected by this shout that he began to cry
again, repeating the protest:
"Don't want to be soup, I don't!"
"Never mind," said the shaggy man, consolingly; "I ought to make enough
soup to feed them all, I'm so big; so I'll ask them to put me in the
kettle first."
"All right," said Button-Bright, more cheerfully.
But the Scoodlers were not ready to make soup yet. They led the
captives into a house at the farthest side of the cave--a house
somewhat wider than the others.
"Who lives here?" asked the Rainbow's Daughter. The Scoodlers
nearest her replied:
"The Queen."
It made Dorothy hopeful to learn that a woman ruled over these fierce
creatures, but a moment later they were ushered by two or three of the
escort into a gloomy, bare room--and her hope died away.
For the Queen of the Scoodlers proved to be much more dreadful in
appearance than any of her people. One side of her was fiery red,
with jet-black hair and green eyes and the other side of her was
bright yellow, with crimson hair and black eyes. She wore a short
skirt of red and yellow and her hair, instead of being banged, was a
tangle of short curls upon which rested a circular crown of
silver--much dented and twisted because the Queen had thrown her head
at so many things so many times. Her form was lean and bony and both
her faces were deeply wrinkled.
"What have we here?" asked the Queen sharply, as our friends were made
to stand before her.
"Soup!" cried the guard of Scoodlers, speaking together.
"We're not!" said Dorothy, indignantly; "we're nothing of the sort."
"Ah, but you will be soon," retorted the Queen, a grim smile making
her look more dreadful than before.
"Pardon me, most beautiful vision," said the shaggy man, bowing before
the queen politely. "I must request your Serene Highness to let us go
our way without being made into soup. For I own the Love Magnet, and
whoever meets me must love me and all my friends."
"True," replied the Queen. "We love you very much; so much that we
intend to eat your broth with real pleasure. But tell me, do you
think I am so beautiful?"
"You won't be at all beautiful if you eat me," he said, shaking his
head sadly. "Handsome is as handsome does, you know."
The Queen turned to Button-Bright.
"Do YOU think I'm beautiful?" she asked.
"No," said the boy; "you're ugly."
"I think you're a fright," said Dorothy.
"If you could see yourself you'd be terribly scared," added Polly.
The Queen scowled at them and flopped from her red side to her
yellow side.
"Take them away," she commanded the guard, "and at six o'clock run
them through the meat chopper and start the soup kettle boiling.
And put plenty of salt in the broth this time, or I'll punish
the cooks severely."
"Any onions, your Majesty?" asked one of the guard.
"Plenty of onions and garlic and a dash of red pepper. Now, go!"
The Scoodlers led the captives away and shut them up in one of the
houses, leaving only a single Scoodler to keep guard.
The place was a sort of store-house; containing bags of potatoes and
baskets of carrots, onions and turnips.
"These," said their guard, pointing to the vegetables, "we use to
flavor our soups with."
The prisoners were rather disheartened by this time, for they saw no
way to escape and did not know how soon it would be six o'clock and
time for the meatchopper to begin work. But the shaggy man was brave
and did not intend to submit to such a horrid fate without a struggle.
"I'm going to fight for our lives," he whispered to the children, "for
if I fail we will be no worse off than before, and to sit here
quietly until we are made into soup would be foolish and cowardly."
The Scoodler on guard stood near the doorway, turning first his white
side toward them and then his black side, as if he wanted to show to
all of his greedy four eyes the sight of so many fat prisoners. The
captives sat in a sorrowful group at the other end of the room--except
Polychrome, who danced back and forth in the little place to keep
herself warm, for she felt the chill of the cave. Whenever she
approached the shaggy man he would whisper something in her ear, and
Polly would nod her pretty head as if she understood.
The shaggy man told Dorothy and Button-Bright to stand before him
while he emptied the potatoes out of one of the sacks. When this had
been secretly done, little Polychrome, dancing near to the guard,
suddenly reached out her hand and slapped his face, the next instant
whirling away from him quickly to rejoin her friends.
The angry Scoodler at once picked off his head and hurled it at the
Rainbow's Daughter; but the shaggy man was expecting that, and caught
the head very neatly, putting it in the sack, which he tied at the
mouth. The body of the guard, not having the eyes of its head to
guide it, ran here and there in an aimless manner, and the shaggy man
easily dodged it and opened the door. Fortunately, there was no one
in the big cave at that moment, so he told Dorothy and Polly to run as
fast as they could for the entrance, and out across the narrow bridge.
"I'll carry Button-Bright," he said, for he knew the little boy's legs
were too short to run fast.
Dorothy picked up Toto and then seized Polly's hand and ran swiftly
toward the entrance to the cave. The shaggy man perched Button-Bright
on his shoulders and ran after them. They moved so quickly and their
escape was so wholly unexpected that they had almost reached the
bridge when one of the Scoodlers looked out of his house and saw them.
The creature raised a shrill cry that brought all of its fellows
bounding out of the numerous doors, and at once they started in chase.
Dorothy and Polly had reached the bridge and crossed it when the
Scoodlers began throwing their heads. One of the queer missiles
struck the shaggy man on his back and nearly knocked him over; but he
was at the mouth of the cave now, so he set down Button-Bright and
told the boy to run across the bridge to Dorothy.
Then the shaggy man turned around and faced his enemies, standing just
outside the opening, and as fast as they threw their heads at him he
caught them and tossed them into the black gulf below. The headless
bodies of the foremost Scoodlers kept the others from running close
up, but they also threw their heads in an effort to stop the escaping
prisoners. The shaggy man caught them all and sent them whirling down
into the black gulf. Among them he noticed the crimson and yellow head
of the Queen, and this he tossed after the others with right good will.
Presently every Scoodler of the lot had thrown its head, and every
head was down in the deep gulf, and now the helpless bodies of the
creatures were mixed together in the cave and wriggling around in a
vain attempt to discover what had become of their heads. The shaggy
man laughed and walked across the bridge to rejoin his companions.
"It's lucky I learned to play base-ball when I was young," he remarked,
"for I caught all those heads easily and never missed one. But come
along, little ones; the Scoodlers will never bother us or anyone else
any more."
Button-Bright was still frightened and kept insisting, "I don't want
to be soup!" for the victory had been gained so suddenly that the boy
could not realize they were free and safe. But the shaggy man assured
him that all danger of their being made into soup was now past, as the
Scoodlers would be unable to eat soup for some time to come.
So now, anxious to get away from the horrid gloomy cave as soon as
possible, they hastened up the hillside and regained the road just
beyond the place where they had first met the Scoodlers; and you may be
sure they were glad to find their feet on the old familiar path again.
11. Johnny Dooit Does It
"It's getting awful rough walking," said Dorothy, as they trudged
along. Button-Bright gave a deep sigh and said he was hungry.
Indeed, all were hungry, and thirsty, too; for they had eaten nothing
but the apples since breakfast; so their steps lagged and they grew
silent and weary. At last they slowly passed over the crest of a
barren hill and saw before them a line of green trees with a strip of
grass at their feet. An agreeable fragrance was wafted toward them.
Our travelers, hot and tired, ran forward on beholding this refreshing
sight and were not long in coming to the trees. Here they found a
spring of pure bubbling water, around which the grass was full of wild
strawberry plants, their pretty red berries ripe and ready to eat.
Some of the trees bore yellow oranges and some russet pears, so the
hungry adventurers suddenly found themselves provided with plenty to
eat and to drink. They lost no time in picking the biggest
strawberries and ripest oranges and soon had feasted to their hearts'
content. Walking beyond the line of trees they saw before them a
fearful, dismal desert, everywhere gray sand. At the edge of this
awful waste was a large, white sign with black letters neatly painted
upon it and the letters made these words:
ALL PERSONS ARE WARNED NOT TO VENTURE UPON THIS DESERT
For the Deadly Sands will Turn Any Living Flesh
to Dust in an instant. Beyond This Barrier is the
LAND OF OZ
But no one can Reach that Beautiful Country
because of these Destroying Sands
"Oh," said Dorothy, when the shaggy man had read the sign aloud;
"I've seen this desert before, and it's true no one can live who
tries to walk upon the sands."
"Then we musn't try it," answered the shaggy man thoughtfully.
"But as we can't go ahead and there's no use going back,
what shall we do next?"
"Don't know," said Button-Bright.
"I'm sure I don't know, either," added Dorothy, despondently.
"I wish father would come for me," sighed the pretty Rainbow's
Daughter, "I would take you all to live upon the rainbow, where you
could dance along its rays from morning till night, without a care or
worry of any sort. But I suppose father's too busy just now to search
the world for me."
"Don't want to dance," said Button-Bright, sitting down wearily upon
the soft grass.
"It's very good of you, Polly," said Dorothy; "but there are other
things that would suit me better than dancing on rainbows. I'm 'fraid
they'd be kind of soft an' squashy under foot, anyhow, although
they're so pretty to look at."
This didn't help to solve the problem, and they all fell silent and
looked at one another questioningly.
"Really, I don't know what to do," muttered the shaggy man, gazing
hard at Toto; and the little dog wagged his tail and said "Bow-wow!"
just as if he could not tell, either, what to do. Button-Bright got a
stick and began to dig in the earth, and the others watched him for a
while in deep thought. Finally, the shaggy man said:
"It's nearly evening, now; so we may as well sleep in this pretty
place and get rested; perhaps by morning we can decide what is best
to be done."
There was little chance to make beds for the children, but the leaves
of the trees grew thickly and would serve to keep off the night dews,
so the shaggy man piled soft grasses in the thickest shade and when
it was dark they lay down and slept peacefully until morning.
Long after the others were asleep, however, the shaggy man sat in the
starlight by the spring, gazing thoughtfully into its bubbling waters.
Suddenly he smiled and nodded to himself as if he had found a good
thought, after which he, too, laid himself down under a tree and was
soon lost in slumber.
In the bright morning sunshine, as they ate of the strawberries and
sweet juicy pears, Dorothy said:
"Polly, can you do any magic?"
"No dear," answered Polychrome, shaking her dainty head.
"You ought to know SOME magic, being the Rainbow's Daughter,"
continued Dorothy, earnestly.
"But we who live on the rainbow among the fleecy clouds have no use
for magic," replied Polychrome.
"What I'd like," said Dorothy, "is to find some way to cross the
desert to the Land of Oz and its Emerald City. I've crossed it
already, you know, more than once. First a cyclone carried my house
over, and some Silver Shoes brought me back again--in half a second.
Then Ozma took me over on her Magic Carpet, and the Nome King's Magic
Belt took me home that time. You see it was magic that did it every
time 'cept the first, and we can't 'spect a cyclone to happen along
and take us to the Emerald City now."
"No indeed," returned Polly, with a shudder, "I hate cyclones, anyway."
"That's why I wanted to find out if you could do any magic," said the
little Kansas girl. "I'm sure I can't; and I'm sure Button-Bright
can't; and the only magic the shaggy man has is the Love Magnet, which
won't help us much."
"Don't be too sure of that, my dear," spoke the shaggy man, a smile
on his donkey face. "I may not be able to do magic myself, but I
can call to us a powerful friend who loves me because I own the Love
Magnet, and this friend surely will be able to help us."
"Who is your friend?" asked Dorothy.
"Johnny Dooit."
"What can Johnny do?"
"Anything," answered the shaggy man, with confidence.
"Ask him to come," she exclaimed, eagerly.
The shaggy man took the Love Magnet from his pocket and unwrapped the
paper that surrounded it. Holding the charm in the palm of his hand
he looked at it steadily and said these words:
"Dear Johnny Dooit, come to me.
I need you bad as bad can be."
"Well, here I am," said a cheery little voice; "but you shouldn't say
you need me bad, 'cause I'm always, ALWAYS, good."
At this they quickly whirled around to find a funny little man sitting
on a big copper chest, puffing smoke from a long pipe. His hair was
grey, his whiskers were grey; and these whiskers were so long that he
had wound the ends of them around his waist and tied them in a hard
knot underneath the leather apron that reached from his chin nearly to
his feet, and which was soiled and scratched as if it had been used a
long time. His nose was broad, and stuck up a little; but his eyes
were twinkling and merry. The little man's hands and arms were as
hard and tough as the leather in his apron, and Dorothy thought Johnny
Dooit looked as if he had done a lot of hard work in his lifetime.
"Good morning, Johnny," said the shaggy man. "Thank you for coming to
me so quickly."
"I never waste time," said the newcomer, promptly. "But what's
happened to you? Where did you get that donkey head? Really,
I wouldn't have known you at all, Shaggy Man, if I hadn't looked
at your feet."
The shaggy man introduced Johnny Dooit to Dorothy and Toto and
Button-Bright and the Rainbow's Daughter, and told him the story of
their adventures, adding that they were anxious now to reach the
Emerald City in the Land of Oz, where Dorothy had friends who would
take care of them and send them safe home again.
"But," said he, "we find that we can't cross this desert, which turns
all living flesh that touches it into dust; so I have asked you to
come and help us."
Johnny Dooit puffed his pipe and looked carefully at the dreadful
desert in front of them--stretching so far away they could not see
its end.
"You must ride," he said, briskly.
"What in?" asked the shaggy man.
"In a sand-boat, which has runners like a sled and sails like a ship.
The wind will blow you swiftly across the desert and the sand cannot
touch your flesh to turn it into dust."
"Good!" cried Dorothy, clapping her hands delightedly. "That was the
way the Magic Carpet took us across. We didn't have to touch the
horrid sand at all."
"But where is the sand-boat?" asked the shaggy man, looking all
around him.
"I'll make you one," said Johnny Dooit.
As he spoke, he knocked the ashes from his pipe and put it in his
pocket. Then he unlocked the copper chest and lifted the lid, and
Dorothy saw it was full of shining tools of all sorts and shapes.
Johnny Dooit moved quickly now--so quickly that they were astonished
at the work he was able to accomplish. He had in his chest a tool for
everything he wanted to do, and these must have been magic tools
because they did their work so fast and so well.
The man hummed a little song as he worked, and Dorothy tried to listen
to it. She thought the words were something like these:
The only way to do a thing
Is do it when you can,
And do it cheerfully, and sing
And work and think and plan.
The only real unhappy one
Is he who dares to shirk;
The only really happy one
Is he who cares to work.
Whatever Johnny Dooit was singing he was certainly doing things, and
they all stood by and watched him in amazement.
He seized an axe and in a couple of chops felled a tree. Next he took
a saw and in a few minutes sawed the tree-trunk into broad, long
boards. He then nailed the boards together into the shape of a boat,
about twelve feet long and four feet wide. He cut from another tree a
long, slender pole which, when trimmed of its branches and fastened
upright in the center of the boat, served as a mast. From the chest
he drew a coil of rope and a big bundle of canvas, and with
these--still humming his song--he rigged up a sail, arranging it so
it could be raised or lowered upon the mast.
Dorothy fairly gasped with wonder to see the thing grow so speedily
before her eyes, and both Button-Bright and Polly looked on with the
same absorbed interest.
"It ought to be painted," said Johnny Dooit, tossing his tools back
into the chest, "for that would make it look prettier. But 'though I
can paint it for you in three seconds it would take an hour to dry,
and that's a waste of time."
"We don't care how it looks," said the shaggy man, "if only it will
take us across the desert."
"It will do that," declared Johnny Dooit. "All you need worry about
is tipping over. Did you ever sail a ship?"
"I've seen one sailed," said the shaggy man.
"Good. Sail this boat the way you've seen a ship sailed, and you'll
be across the sands before you know it."
With this he slammed down the lid of the chest, and the noise made
them all wink. While they were winking the workman disappeared,
tools and all.
12. The Deadly Desert Crossed
"Oh, that's too bad!" cried Dorothy; "I wanted to thank Johnny Dooit
for all his kindness to us."
"He hasn't time to listen to thanks," replied the shaggy man; "but I'm
sure he knows we are grateful. I suppose he is already at work in
some other part of the world."
They now looked more carefully at the sand-boat, and saw that the
bottom was modeled with two sharp runners which would glide through
the sand. The front of the sand-boat was pointed like the bow of a
ship, and there was a rudder at the stern to steer by.
It had been built just at the edge of the desert, so that all its
length lay upon the gray sand except the after part, which still
rested on the strip of grass.
"Get in, my dears," said the shaggy man; "I'm sure I can manage this
boat as well as any sailor. All you need do is sit still in your places."
Dorothy got in, Toto in her arms, and sat on the bottom of the boat
just in front of the mast. Button-Bright sat in front of Dorothy,
while Polly leaned over the bow. The shaggy man knelt behind the
mast. When all were ready he raised the sail half-way. The wind
caught it. At once the sand-boat started forward--slowly at first,
then with added speed. The shaggy man pulled the sail way up, and
they flew so fast over the Deadly Desert that every one held fast to
the sides of the boat and scarcely dared to breathe.
The sand lay in billows, and was in places very uneven, so that the
boat rocked dangerously from side to side; but it never quite tipped
over, and the speed was so great that the shaggy man himself became
frightened and began to wonder how he could make the ship go slower.
"It we're spilled in this sand, in the middle of the desert," Dorothy
thought to herself, "we'll be nothing but dust in a few minutes, and
that will be the end of us."
But they were not spilled, and by-and-by Polychrome, who was clinging
to the bow and looking straight ahead, saw a dark line before them and
wondered what it was. It grew plainer every second, until she
discovered it to be a row of jagged rocks at the end of the desert,
while high above these rocks she could see a tableland of green grass
and beautiful trees.
"Look out!" she screamed to the shaggy man. "Go slowly, or we shall
smash into the rocks."
He heard her, and tried to pull down the sail; but the wind would
not let go of the broad canvas and the ropes had become tangled.
Nearer and nearer they drew to the great rocks, and the shaggy man
was in despair because he could do nothing to stop the wild rush
of the sand-boat.
They reached the edge of the desert and bumped squarely into the
rocks. There was a crash as Dorothy, Button-Bright, Toto and Polly
flew up in the air in a curve like a skyrocket's, one after another
landing high upon the grass, where they rolled and tumbled for a time
before they could stop themselves.
The shaggy man flew after them, head first, and lighted in a heap
beside Toto, who, being much excited at the time, seized one of the
donkey ears between his teeth and shook and worried it as hard as he
could, growling angrily. The shaggy man made the little dog let go,
and sat up to look around him.
Dorothy was feeling one of her front teeth, which was loosened by
knocking against her knee as she fell. Polly was looking sorrowfully
at a rent in her pretty gauze gown, and Button-Bright's fox head had
stuck fast in a gopher hole and he was wiggling his little fat legs
frantically in an effort to get free.
Otherwise they were unhurt by the adventure; so the shaggy man stood
up and pulled Button-Bright out of the hole and went to the edge of
the desert to look at the sand-boat. It was a mere mass of splinters
now, crushed out of shape against the rocks. The wind had torn away
the sail and carried it to the top of a tall tree, where the fragments
of it fluttered like a white flag.
"Well," he said, cheerfully, "we're here; but where the here is
I don't know."
"It must be some part of the Land of Oz," observed Dorothy, coming to
his side.
"Must it?"
"'Course it must. We're across the desert, aren't we? And somewhere
in the middle of Oz is the Emerald City."
"To be sure," said the shaggy man, nodding. "Let's go there."
"But I don't see any people about, to show us the way," she continued.
"Let's hunt for them," he suggested. "There must be people somewhere;
but perhaps they did not expect us, and so are not at hand to give us
a welcome."
13. The Truth Pond
They now made a more careful examination of the country around them.
All was fresh and beautiful after the sultriness of the desert, and
the sunshine and sweet, crisp air were delightful to the wanderers.
Little mounds of yellowish green were away at the right, while on the
left waved a group of tall leafy trees bearing yellow blossoms that
looked like tassels and pompoms. Among the grasses carpeting the
ground were pretty buttercups and cowslips and marigolds. After
looking at these a moment Dorothy said reflectively:
"We must be in the Country of the Winkies, for the color of that
country is yellow, and you will notice that 'most everything here is
yellow that has any color at all."
"But I thought this was the Land of Oz," replied the shaggy man,
as if greatly disappointed.
"So it is," she declared; "but there are four parts to the Land of Oz.
The North Country is purple, and it's the Country of the Gillikins.
The East Country is blue, and that's the Country of the Munchkins.
Down at the South is the red Country of the Quadlings, and here, in
the West, the yellow Country of the Winkies. This is the part that is
ruled by the Tin Woodman, you know."
"Who's he?" asked Button-Bright.
"Why, he's the tin man I told you about. His name is Nick Chopper,
and he has a lovely heart given him by the wonderful Wizard."
"Where does HE live?" asked the boy.
"The Wizard? Oh, he lives in the Emerald City, which is just in the
middle of Oz, where the corners of the four countries meet."
"Oh," said Button-Bright, puzzled by this explanation.
"We must be some distance from the Emerald City," remarked the shaggy man.
"That's true," she replied; "so we'd better start on and see if we can
find any of the Winkies. They're nice people," she continued, as the
little party began walking toward the group of trees, "and I came here
once with my friends the Scarecrow, and the Tin Woodman, and the
Cowardly Lion, to fight a wicked witch who had made all the Winkies
her slaves."
"Did you conquer her?" asked Polly.
"Why, I melted her with a bucket of water, and that was the end of
her," replied Dorothy. "After that the people were free, you know,
and they made Nick Chopper--that's the Tin Woodman--their Emp'ror."
"What's that?" asked Button-Bright.
"Emp'ror? Oh, it's something like an alderman, I guess."
"Oh," said the boy.
"But I thought Princess Ozma ruled Oz," said the shaggy man.
"So she does; she rules the Emerald City and all the four countries
of Oz; but each country has another little ruler, not so big as Ozma.
It's like the officers of an army, you see; the little rulers are all
captains, and Ozma's the general."
By this time they had reached the trees, which stood in a perfect
circle and just far enough apart so that their thick branches
touched--or "shook hands," as Button-Bright remarked. Under the shade
of the trees they found, in the center of the circle, a crystal pool,
its water as still as glass. It must have been deep, too, for when
Polychrome bent over it she gave a little sigh of pleasure.
"Why, it's a mirror!" she cried; for she could see all her pretty
face and fluffy, rainbow-tinted gown reflected in the pool,
as natural as life.
Dorothy bent over, too, and began to arrange her hair, blown by the
desert wind into straggling tangles. Button-Bright leaned over the
edge next, and then began to cry, for the sight of his fox head
frightened the poor little fellow.
"I guess I won't look," remarked the shaggy man, sadly, for he didn't
like his donkey head, either. While Polly and Dorothy tried to
comfort Button-Bright, the shaggy man sat down near the edge of the
pool, where his image could not be reflected, and stared at the water
thoughtfully. As he did this he noticed a silver plate fastened to a
rock just under the surface of the water, and on the silver plate was
engraved these words:
THE TRUTH POND
"Ah!" cried the shaggy man, springing to his feet with eager joy;
"we've found it at last."
"Found what?" asked Dorothy, running to him.
"The Truth Pond. Now, at last, I may get rid of this frightful head;
for we were told, you remember, that only the Truth Pond could restore
to me my proper face."
"Me, too!" shouted Button-Bright, trotting up to them.
"Of course," said Dorothy. "It will cure you both of your bad heads,
I guess. Isn't it lucky we found it?"
"It is, indeed," replied the shaggy man. "I hated dreadfully to go to
Princess Ozma looking like this; and she's to have a birthday
celebration, too."
Just then a splash startled them, for Button-Bright, in his anxiety
to see the pool that would "cure" him, had stepped too near the edge
and tumbled heels over head into the water. Down he went, out of
sight entirely, so that only his sailor hat floated on the top of
the Truth Pond.
He soon bobbed up, and the shaggy man seized him by his sailor
collar and dragged him to the shore, dripping and gasping for breath.
They all looked upon the boy wonderingly, for the fox head with its
sharp nose and pointed ears was gone, and in its place appeared the
chubby round face and blue eyes and pretty curls that had belonged to
Button-Bright before King Dox of Foxville transformed him.
"Oh, what a darling!" cried Polly, and would have hugged the little
one had he not been so wet.
Their joyful exclamations made the child rub the water out of his eyes
and look at his friends questioningly.
"You're all right now, dear," said Dorothy. "Come and look at yourself."
She led him to the pool, and although there were still a few ripples
on the surface of the water he could see his reflection plainly.
"It's me!" he said, in a pleased yet awed whisper.
"'Course it is," replied the girl, "and we're all as glad as
you are, Button-Bright."
"Well," announced the shaggy man, "it's my turn next." He took off
his shaggy coat and laid it on the grass and dived head first into the
Truth Pond.
When he came up the donkey head had disappeared, and the shaggy man's
own shaggy head was in its place, with the water dripping in little
streams from his shaggy whiskers. He scrambled ashore and shook
himself to get off some of the wet, and then leaned over the pool to
look admiringly at his reflected face.
"I may not be strictly beautiful, even now," he said to his
companions, who watched him with smiling faces; "but I'm so much
handsomer than any donkey that I feel as proud as I can be."
"You're all right, Shaggy Man," declared Dorothy. "And Button-Bright
is all right, too. So let's thank the Truth Pond for being so nice,
and start on our journey to the Emerald City."
"I hate to leave it," murmured the shaggy man, with a sigh. "A truth
pond wouldn't be a bad thing to carry around with us." But he put on
his coat and started with the others in search of some one to direct
them on their way.
14. Tik-Tok and Billina
They had not walked far across the flower-strewn meadows when they came
upon a fine road leading toward the northwest and winding gracefully
among the pretty yellow hills.
"That way," said Dorothy, "must be the direction of the Emerald City.
We'd better follow the road until we meet some one or come to a house."
The sun soon dried Button-Bright's sailor suit and the shaggy man's
shaggy clothes, and so pleased were they at regaining their own heads
that they did not mind at all the brief discomfort of getting wet.
"It's good to be able to whistle again," remarked the shaggy man, "for
those donkey lips were so thick I could not whistle a note with them."
He warbled a tune as merrily as any bird.
"You'll look more natural at the birthday celebration, too," said
Dorothy, happy in seeing her friends so happy.
Polychrome was dancing ahead in her usual sprightly manner, whirling
gaily along the smooth, level road, until she passed from sight around
the curve of one of the mounds. Suddenly they heard her exclaim "Oh!"
and she appeared again, running toward them at full speed.
"What's the matter, Polly?" asked Dorothy, perplexed.
There was no need for the Rainbow's Daughter to answer, for turning
the bend in the road there came advancing slowly toward them a funny
round man made of burnished copper, gleaming brightly in the sun.
Perched on the copper man's shoulder sat a yellow hen, with fluffy
feathers and a pearl necklace around her throat.
"Oh, Tik-tok!" cried Dorothy, running forward. When she came to him,
the copper man lifted the little girl in his copper arms and kissed
her cheek with his copper lips.
"Oh, Billina!" cried Dorothy, in a glad voice, and the yellow hen flew
to her arms, to be hugged and petted by turns.
The others were curiously crowding around the group, and the girl said
to them:
"It's Tik-tok and Billina; and oh! I'm so glad to see them again."
"Wel-come to Oz," said the copper man in a monotonous voice.
Dorothy sat right down in the road, the yellow hen in her arms, and
began to stroke Billina's back. Said the hen:
"Dorothy, dear, I've got some wonderful news to tell you."
"Tell it quick, Billina!" said the girl.
Just then Toto, who had been growling to himself in a cross way, gave
a sharp bark and flew at the yellow hen, who ruffled her feathers and
let out such an angry screech that Dorothy was startled.
"Stop, Toto! Stop that this minute!" she commanded. "Can't you see
that Billina is my friend?" In spite of this warning had she not
grabbed Toto quickly by the neck the little dog would have done the
yellow hen a mischief, and even now he struggled madly to escape
Dorothy's grasp. She slapped his ears once or twice and told him to
behave, and the yellow hen flew to Tik-tok's shoulder again, where she
was safe.
"What a brute!" croaked Billina, glaring down at the little dog.
"Toto isn't a brute," replied Dorothy, "but at home Uncle Henry has to
whip him sometimes for chasing the chickens. Now look here, Toto,"
she added, holding up her finger and speaking sternly to him, "you've
got to understand that Billina is one of my dearest friends, and musn't
be hurt--now or ever."
Toto wagged his tail as if he understood.
"The miserable thing can't talk," said Billina, with a sneer.
"Yes, he can," replied Dorothy; "he talks with his tail, and I know
everything he says. If you could wag your tail, Billina, you wouldn't
need words to talk with."
"Nonsense!" said Billina.
"It isn't nonsense at all. Just now Toto says he's sorry, and that
he'll try to love you for my sake. Don't you, Toto?"
"Bow-wow!" said Toto, wagging his tail again.
"But I've such wonderful news for you, Dorothy," cried the
yellow hen; "I've--"
"Wait a minute, dear," interrupted the little girl; "I've got to
introduce you all, first. That's manners, Billina. This," turning to
her traveling companions, "is Mr. Tik-tok, who works by machinery
'cause his thoughts wind up, and his talk winds up, and his action
winds up--like a clock."
"Do they all wind up together?" asked the shaggy man.
"No; each one separate. But he works just lovely, and Tik-tok was a
good friend to me once, and saved my life--and Billina's life, too."
"Is he alive?" asked Button-Bright, looking hard at the copper man.
"Oh, no, but his machinery makes him just as good as alive." She
turned to the copper man and said politely: "Mr. Tik-tok, these are
my new friends: the shaggy man, and Polly the Rainbow's Daughter, and
Button-Bright, and Toto. Only Toto isn't a new friend, 'cause he's
been to Oz before."
The copper man bowed low, removing his copper hat as he did so.
"I'm ve-ry pleased to meet Dor-o-thy's fr-r-r-r---" Here he
stopped short.
"Oh, I guess his speech needs winding!" said the little girl, running
behind the copper man to get the key off a hook at his back. She
wound him up at a place under his right arm and he went on to say:
"Par-don me for run-ning down. I was a-bout to say I am pleased to
meet Dor-o-thy's friends, who must be my friends." The words were
somewhat jerky, but plain to understand.
"And this is Billina," continued Dorothy, introducing the yellow hen,
and they all bowed to her in turn.
"I've such wonderful news," said the hen, turning her head so that one
bright eye looked full at Dorothy.
"What is it, dear?" asked the girl.
"I've hatched out ten of the loveliest chicks you ever saw."
"Oh, how nice! And where are they, Billina?"
"I left them at home. But they're beauties, I assure you, and all
wonderfully clever. I've named them Dorothy."
"Which one?" asked the girl.
"All of them," replied Billina.
"That's funny. Why did you name them all with the same name?"
"It was so hard to tell them apart," explained the hen. "Now, when
I call 'Dorothy,' they all come running to me in a bunch; it's much
easier, after all, than having a separate name for each."
"I'm just dying to see 'em, Billina," said Dorothy, eagerly. "But tell
me, my friends, how did you happen to be here, in the Country of the
Winkies, the first of all to meet us?"
"I'll tell you," answered Tik-tok, in his monotonous voice, all the
sounds of his words being on one level--"Prin-cess Oz-ma saw you in
her mag-ic pic-ture, and knew you were com-ing here; so she sent
Bil-lin-a and me to wel-come you as she could not come her-self; so
that--fiz-i-dig-le cum-so-lut-ing hy-ber-gob-ble in-tu-zib-ick--"
"Good gracious! Whatever's the matter now?" cried Dorothy, as the
copper man continued to babble these unmeaning words, which no one
could understand at all because they had no sense.
"Don't know," said Button-Bright, who was half scared. Polly whirled
away to a distance and turned to look at the copper man in a fright.
"His thoughts have run down, this time," remarked Billina composedly,
as she sat on Tik-tok's shoulder and pruned her sleek feathers. "When
he can't think, he can't talk properly, any more than you can. You'll
have to wind up his thoughts, Dorothy, or else I'll have to finish his
story myself."
Dorothy ran around and got the key again and wound up Tik-tok under
his left arm, after which he could speak plainly again.
"Par-don me," he said, "but when my thoughts run down, my speech has
no mean-ing, for words are formed on-ly by thought. I was a-bout to
say that Oz-ma sent us to wel-come you and in-vite you to come
straight to the Em-er-ald Ci-ty. She was too bus-y to come her-self,
for she is pre-par-ing for her birth-day cel-e-bra-tion, which is to
be a grand af-fair."
"I've heard of it," said Dorothy, "and I'm glad we've come in time to
attend. Is it far from here to the Emerald City?"
"Not ve-ry far," answered Tik-tok, "and we have plen-ty of time.
To-night we will stop at the pal-ace of the Tin Wood-man, and
to-mor-row night we will ar-rive at the Em-er-ald Ci-ty."
"Goody!" cried Dorothy. "I'd like to see dear Nick Chopper again.
How's his heart?"
"It's fine," said Billina; "the Tin Woodman says it gets softer and
kindlier every day. He's waiting at his castle to welcome you,
Dorothy; but he couldn't come with us because he's getting polished as
bright as possible for Ozma's party."
"Well then," said Dorothy, "let's start on, and we can talk more as we go."
They proceeded on their journey in a friendly group, for Polychrome
had discovered that the copper man was harmless and was no longer
afraid of him. Button-Bright was also reassured, and took quite a
fancy to Tik-tok. He wanted the clockwork man to open himself, so that
he might see the wheels go round; but that was a thing Tik-tok could
not do. Button-Bright then wanted to wind up the copper man, and
Dorothy promised he should do so as soon as any part of the machinery
ran down. This pleased Button-Bright, who held fast to one of
Tik-tok's copper hands as he trudged along the road, while Dorothy
walked on the other side of her old friend and Billina perched by
turns upon his shoulder or his copper hat. Polly once more joyously
danced ahead and Toto ran after her, barking with glee. The shaggy
man was left to walk behind; but he didn't seem to mind that a bit,and
whistled merrily or looked curiously upon the pretty scenes they passed.
At last they came to a hilltop from which the tin castle of Nick
Chopper could plainly be seen, its towers glistening magnificently
under the rays of the declining sun.
"How pretty!" exclaimed Dorothy. "I've never seen the Emp'ror's new
house before."
"He built it because the old castle was damp, and likely to rust his
tin body," said Billina. "All those towers and steeples and domes and
gables took a lot of tin, as you can see."
"Is it a toy?" asked Button-Bright softly.
"No, dear," answered Dorothy; "it's better than that. It's the fairy
dwelling of a fairy prince."
15. The Emperor's Tin Castle
The grounds around Nick Chopper's new house were laid out in pretty
flower-beds, with fountains of crystal water and statues of tin
representing the Emperor's personal friends. Dorothy was astonished
and delighted to find a tin statue of herself standing on a tin
pedestal at a bend in the avenue leading up to the entrance. It was
life-size and showed her in her sunbonnet with her basket on her arm,
just as she had first appeared in the Land of Oz.
"Oh, Toto--you're there too!" she exclaimed; and sure enough there
was the tin figure of Toto lying at the tin Dorothy's feet.
Also, Dorothy saw figures of the Scarecrow, and the Wizard, and Ozma,
and of many others, including Tik-tok. They reached the grand tin
entrance to the tin castle, and the Tin Woodman himself came running
out of the door to embrace little Dorothy and give her a glad welcome.
He welcomed her friends as well, and the Rainbow's Daughter he
declared to be the loveliest vision his tin eyes had ever beheld. He
patted Button-Bright's curly head tenderly, for he was fond of
children, and turned to the shaggy man and shook both his hands at the
same time.
Nick Chopper, the Emperor of the Winkies, who was also known
throughout the Land of Oz as the Tin Woodman, was certainly a
remarkable person. He was neatly made, all of tin, nicely soldered at
the joints, and his various limbs were cleverly hinged to his body so
that he could use them nearly as well as if they had been common
flesh. Once, he told the shaggy man, he had been made all of flesh
and bones, as other people are, and then he chopped wood in the
forests to earn his living. But the axe slipped so often and cut off
parts of him--which he had replaced with tin--that finally there was
no flesh left, nothing but tin; so he became a real tin woodman. The
wonderful Wizard of Oz had given him an excellent heart to replace his
old one, and he didn't at all mind being tin. Every one loved him, he
loved every one; and he was therefore as happy as the day was long.
The Emperor was proud of his new tin castle, and showed his visitors
through all the rooms. Every bit of the furniture was made of
brightly polished tin--the tables, chairs, beds, and all--even the
floors and walls were of tin.
"I suppose," said he, "that there are no cleverer tinsmiths in all the
world than the Winkies. It would be hard to match this castle in
Kansas; wouldn't it, little Dorothy?"
"Very hard," replied the child, gravely.
"It must have cost a lot of money," remarked the shaggy man.
"Money! Money in Oz!" cried the Tin Woodman. "What a queer idea!
Did you suppose we are so vulgar as to use money here?"
"Why not?" asked the shaggy man.
"If we used money to buy things with, instead of love and kindness and
the desire to please one another, then we should be no better than the
rest of the world," declared the Tin Woodman. "Fortunately money is
not known in the Land of Oz at all. We have no rich, and no poor; for
what one wishes the others all try to give him, in order to make him
happy, and no one in all Oz cares to have more than he can use."
"Good!" cried the shaggy man, greatly pleased to hear this. "I also
despise money--a man in Butterfield owes me fifteen cents, and I will
not take it from him. The Land of Oz is surely the most favored land
in all the world, and its people the happiest. I should like to live
here always."
The Tin Woodman listened with respectful attention. Already he loved
the shaggy man, although he did not yet know of the Love Magnet.
So he said:
"If you can prove to the Princess Ozma that you are honest and true
and worthy of our friendship, you may indeed live here all your days,
and be as happy as we are."
"I'll try to prove that," said the shaggy man, earnestly.
"And now," continued the Emperor, "you must all go to your rooms and
prepare for dinner, which will presently be served in the grand tin
dining-hall. I am sorry, Shaggy Man, that I can not offer you a
change of clothing; but I dress only in tin, myself, and I suppose
that would not suit you."
"I care little about dress," said the shaggy man, indifferently.
"So I should imagine," replied the Emperor, with true politeness.
They were shown to their rooms and permitted to make such toilets as
they could, and soon they assembled again in the grand tin dining-hall,
even Toto being present. For the Emperor was fond of Dorothy's
little dog, and the girl explained to her friends that in Oz all
animals were treated with as much consideration as the people--"if
they behave themselves," she added.
Toto behaved himself, and sat in a tin high-chair beside Dorothy and
ate his dinner from a tin platter.
Indeed, they all ate from tin dishes, but these were of pretty shapes
and brightly polished; Dorothy thought they were just as good as silver.
Button-Bright looked curiously at the man who had "no appetite inside
him," for the Tin Woodman, although he had prepared so fine a feast
for his guests, ate not a mouthful himself, sitting patiently in his
place to see that all built so they could eat were well and
plentifully served.
What pleased Button-Bright most about the dinner was the tin orchestra
that played sweet music while the company ate. The players were not
tin, being just ordinary Winkies; but the instruments they played upon
were all tin--tin trumpets, tin fiddles, tin drums and cymbals and
flutes and horns and all. They played so nicely the "Shining Emperor
Waltz," composed expressly in honor of the Tin Woodman by Mr. H. M.
Wogglebug, T.E., that Polly could not resist dancing to it. After she
had tasted a few dewdrops, freshly gathered for her, she danced
gracefully to the music while the others finished their repast; and
when she whirled until her fleecy draperies of rainbow hues enveloped
her like a cloud, the Tin Woodman was so delighted that he clapped his
tin hands until the noise of them drowned the sound of the cymbals.
Altogether it was a merry meal, although Polychrome ate little and the
host nothing at all.
"I'm sorry the Rainbow's Daughter missed her mist-cakes," said the Tin
Woodman to Dorothy; "but by a mistake Miss Polly's mist-cakes were mislaid
and not missed until now. I'll try to have some for her breakfast."
They spent the evening telling stories, and the next morning left the
splendid tin castle and set out upon the road to the Emerald City.
The Tin Woodman went with them, of course, having by this time been so
brightly polished that he sparkled like silver. His axe, which he
always carried with him, had a steel blade that was tin plated and a
handle covered with tin plate beautifully engraved and set with diamonds.
The Winkies assembled before the castle gates and cheered their
Emperor as he marched away, and it was easy to see that they all
loved him dearly.
16. Visiting the Pumpkin-Field
Dorothy let Button-Bright wind up the clock-work in the copper man this
morning--his thinking machine first, then his speech, and finally his
action; so he would doubtless run perfectly until they had reached the
Emerald City. The copper man and the tin man were good friends, and
not so much alike as you might think. For one was alive and the other
moved by means of machinery; one was tall and angular and the other
short and round. You could love the Tin Woodman because he had a fine
nature, kindly and simple; but the machine man you could only admire
without loving, since to love such a thing as he was as impossible as
to love a sewing-machine or an automobile. Yet Tik-tok was popular
with the people of Oz because he was so trustworthy, reliable and
true; he was sure to do exactly what he was wound up to do, at all
times and in all circumstances. Perhaps it is better to be a machine
that does its duty than a flesh-and-blood person who will not, for a
dead truth is better than a live falsehood.
About noon the travelers reached a large field of pumpkins--a
vegetable quite appropriate to the yellow country of the Winkies--and
some of the pumpkins which grew there were of remarkable size. Just
before they entered upon this field they saw three little mounds that
looked like graves, with a pretty headstone to each one of them.
"What is this?" asked Dorothy, in wonder.
"It's Jack Pumpkinhead's private graveyard," replied the Tin Woodman.
"But I thought nobody ever died in Oz," she said.
"Nor do they; although if one is bad, he may be condemned and killed
by the good citizens," he answered.
Dorothy ran over to the little graves and read the words engraved upon
the tombstones. The first one said:
Here Lies the Mortal Part of
JACK PUMPKINHEAD
Which Spoiled April 9th.
She then went to the next stone, which read:
Here Lies the Mortal Part of
JACK PUMPKINHEAD
Which Spoiled October 2nd.
On the third stone were carved these words:
Here Lies the Mortal Part of
JACK PUMPKINHEAD
Which Spoiled January 24th.
"Poor Jack!" sighed Dorothy. "I'm sorry he had to die in three
parts, for I hoped to see him again."
"So you shall," declared the Tin Woodman, "since he is still alive.
Come with me to his house, for Jack is now a farmer and lives in this
very pumpkin field."
They walked over to a monstrous big, hollow pumpkin which had a door
and windows cut through the rind. There was a stovepipe running through
the stem, and six steps had been built leading up to the front door.
They walked up to this door and looked in. Seated on a bench
was a man clothed in a spotted shirt, a red vest, and faded blue
trousers, whose body was merely sticks of wood, jointed clumsily
together. On his neck was set a round, yellow pumpkin, with a face
carved on it such as a boy often carves on a jack-lantern.
This queer man was engaged in snapping slippery pumpkin-seeds with his
wooden fingers, trying to hit a target on the other side of the room
with them. He did not know he had visitors until Dorothy exclaimed:
"Why, it's Jack Pumpkinhead himself!"
He turned and saw them, and at once came forward to greet the little
Kansas girl and Nick Chopper, and to be introduced to their new friends.
Button-Bright was at first rather shy with the quaint Pumpkinhead, but
Jack's face was so jolly and smiling--being carved that way--that the
boy soon grew to like him.
"I thought a while ago that you were buried in three parts," said
Dorothy, "but now I see you're just the same as ever."
"Not quite the same, my dear, for my mouth is a little more one-sided
than it used to be; but pretty nearly the same. I've a new head, and
this is the fourth one I've owned since Ozma first made me and brought
me to life by sprinkling me with the Magic Powder."
"What became of the other heads, Jack?"
"They spoiled and I buried them, for they were not even fit for pies.
Each time Ozma has carved me a new head just like the old one, and as
my body is by far the largest part of me, I am still Jack Pumpkinhead,
no matter how often I change my upper end. Once we had a dreadful
time to find another pumpkin, as they were out of season, and so I was
obliged to wear my old head a little longer than was strictly healthy.
But after this sad experience I resolved to raise pumpkins myself, so
as never to be caught again without one handy; and now I have this
fine field that you see before you. Some grow pretty big--too big to
be used for heads--so I dug out this one and use it for a house."
"Isn't it damp?" asked Dorothy.
"Not very. There isn't much left but the shell, you see, and it will
last a long time yet."
"I think you are brighter than you used to be, Jack," said the Tin
Woodman. "Your last head was a stupid one."
"The seeds in this one are better," was the reply.
"Are you going to Ozma's party?" asked Dorothy.
"Yes," said he, "I wouldn't miss it for anything. Ozma's my parent,
you know, because she built my body and carved my pumpkin head. I'll
follow you to the Emerald City to-morrow, where we shall meet again.
I can't go to-day, because I have to plant fresh pumpkin-seeds and water
the young vines. But give my love to Ozma, and tell her I'll be there
in time for the jubilation."
"We will," she promised; and then they all left him and resumed
their journey.
17. The Royal Chariot Arrives
The neat yellow houses of the Winkies were now to be seen standing
here and there along the roadway, giving the country a more cheerful
and civilized look. They were farm-houses, though, and set far apart;
for in the Land of Oz there were no towns or villages except the
magnificent Emerald City in its center.
Hedges of evergreen or of yellow roses bordered the broad highway and
the farms showed the care of their industrious inhabitants. The
nearer the travelers came to the great city the more prosperous the
country became, and they crossed many bridges over the sparkling
streams and rivulets that watered the lands.
As they walked leisurely along the shaggy man said to the Tin Woodman:
"What sort of a Magic Powder was it that made your friend the
Pumpkinhead live?"
"It was called the Powder of Life," was the answer; "and it was
invented by a crooked Sorcerer who lived in the mountains of the North
Country. A Witch named Mombi got some of this powder from the crooked
Sorcerer and took it home with her. Ozma lived with the Witch then,
for it was before she became our Princess, while Mombi had transformed
her into the shape of a boy. Well, while Mombi was gone to the
crooked Sorcerer's, the boy made this pumpkin-headed man to amuse
himself, and also with the hope of frightening the Witch with it when
she returned. But Mombi was not scared, and she sprinkled the
Pumpkinhead with her Magic Powder of Life, to see if the Powder would
work. Ozma was watching, and saw the Pumpkinhead come to life; so that
night she took the pepper-box containing the Powder and ran away with
it and with Jack, in search of adventures.
"Next day they found a wooden Saw-Horse standing by the roadside, and
sprinkled it with the Powder. It came to life at once, and Jack
Pumpkinhead rode the Saw-Horse to the Emerald City."
"What became of the Saw-Horse, afterward?" asked the shaggy man, much
interested in this story.
"Oh, it's alive yet, and you will probably meet it presently in the
Emerald City. Afterward, Ozma used the last of the Powder to bring
the Flying Gump to life; but as soon as it had carried her away from
her enemies the Gump was taken apart, so it doesn't exist any more."
"It's too bad the Powder of Life was all used up," remarked the shaggy
man; "it would be a handy thing to have around."
"I am not so sure of that, sir," answered the Tin Woodman. "A while
ago the crooked Sorcerer who invented the Magic Powder fell down a
precipice and was killed. All his possessions went to a relative--an
old woman named Dyna, who lives in the Emerald City. She went to the
mountains where the Sorcerer had lived and brought away everything she
thought of value. Among them was a small bottle of the Powder of
Life; but of course Dyna didn't know it was a Magic Powder, at all. It
happened she had once had a big blue bear for a pet; but the bear
choked to death on a fishbone one day, and she loved it so dearly
that Dyna made a rug of its skin, leaving the head and four paws on
the hide. She kept the rug on the floor of her front parlor."
"I've seen rugs like that," said the shaggy man, nodding, "but never
one made from a blue bear."
"Well," continued the Tin Woodman, "the old woman had an idea that the
Powder in the bottle must be moth-powder, because it smelled something
like moth-powder; so one day she sprinkled it on her bear rug to keep
the moths out of it. She said, looking lovingly at the skin: 'I wish
my dear bear were alive again!' To her horror, the bear rug at once
came to life, having been sprinkled with the Magic Powder; and now this
live bear rug is a great trial to her, and makes her a lot of trouble."
"Why?" asked the shaggy man.
"Well, it stands up on its four feet and walks all around, and gets in
the way; and that spoils it for a rug. It can't speak, although it is
alive; for, while its head might say words, it has no breath in a solid
body to push the words out of its mouth. It's a very slimpsy affair
altogether, that bear rug, and the old woman is sorry it came to life.
Every day she has to scold it, and make it lie down flat on the parlor
floor to be walked upon; but sometimes when she goes to market the
rug will hump up its back skin, and stand on its four feet, and trot
along after her."
"I should think Dyna would like that," said Dorothy.
"Well, she doesn't; because every one knows it isn't a real bear, but
just a hollow skin, and so of no actual use in the world except for a
rug," answered the Tin Woodman. "Therefore I believe it is a good
thing that all the Magic Powder of Life is now used up, as it can not
cause any more trouble."
"Perhaps you're right," said the shaggy man, thoughtfully.
At noon they stopped at a farmhouse, where it delighted the farmer and
his wife to be able to give them a good luncheon. The farm people
knew Dorothy, having seen her when she was in the country before, and
they treated the little girl with as much respect as they did the
Emperor, because she was a friend of the powerful Princess Ozma.
They had not proceeded far after leaving this farm-house before coming
to a high bridge over a broad river. This river, the Tin Woodman
informed them, was the boundary between the Country of the Winkies and
the territory of the Emerald City. The city itself was still a long
way off, but all around it was a green meadow as pretty as a well-kept
lawn, and in this were neither houses nor farms to spoil the beauty of
the scene.
From the top of the high bridge they could see far away the
magnificent spires and splendid domes of the superb city, sparkling
like brilliant jewels as they towered above the emerald walls. The
shaggy man drew a deep breath of awe and amazement, for never had he
dreamed that such a grand and beautiful place could exist--even in the
fairyland of Oz.
Polly was so pleased that her violet eyes sparkled like amethysts, and
she danced away from her companions across the bridge and into a group
of feathery trees lining both the roadsides. These trees she stopped
to look at with pleasure and surprise, for their leaves were shaped
like ostrich plumes, their feather edges beautifully curled; and all
the plumes were tinted in the same dainty rainbow hues that appeared
in Polychrome's own pretty gauze gown.
"Father ought to see these trees," she murmured; "they are almost as
lovely as his own rainbows."
Then she gave a start of terror, for beneath the trees came stalking
two great beasts, either one big enough to crush the little Daughter
of the Rainbow with one blow of his paws, or to eat her up with one
snap of his enormous jaws. One was a tawny lion, as tall as a horse,
nearly; the other a striped tiger almost the same size.
Polly was too frightened to scream or to stir; she stood still with a
wildly beating heart until Dorothy rushed past her and with a glad cry
threw her arms around the huge lion's neck, hugging and kissing the
beast with evident joy.
"Oh, I'm SO glad to see you again!" cried the little Kansas girl.
"And the Hungry Tiger, too! How fine you're both looking. Are you
well and happy?"
"We certainly are, Dorothy," answered the Lion, in a deep voice that
sounded pleasant and kind; "and we are greatly pleased that you have
come to Ozma's party. It's going to be a grand affair, I promise you."
"There will be lots of fat babies at the celebration, I hear,"
remarked the Hungry Tiger, yawning so that his mouth opened dreadfully
wide and showed all his big, sharp teeth; "but of course I can't eat
any of 'em."
"Is your Conscience still in good order?" asked Dorothy, anxiously.
"Yes; it rules me like a tyrant," answered the Tiger, sorrowfully. "I
can imagine nothing more unpleasant than to own a Conscience," and he
winked slyly at his friend the Lion.
"You're fooling me!" said Dorothy, with a laugh. "I don't b'lieve
you'd eat a baby if you lost your Conscience. Come here, Polly," she
called, "and be introduced to my friends."
Polly advanced rather shyly.
"You have some queer friends, Dorothy," she said.
"The queerness doesn't matter so long as they're friends," was the
answer. "This is the Cowardly Lion, who isn't a coward at all, but
just thinks he is. The Wizard gave him some courage once, and he has
part of it left."
The Lion bowed with great dignity to Polly.
"You are very lovely, my dear," said he. "I hope we shall be friends
when we are better acquainted."
"And this is the Hungry Tiger," continued Dorothy. "He says he longs
to eat fat babies; but the truth is he is never hungry at all, 'cause
he gets plenty to eat; and I don't s'pose he'd hurt anybody even if he
WAS hungry."
"Hush, Dorothy," whispered the Tiger; "you'll ruin my reputation if
you are not more discreet. It isn't what we are, but what folks think
we are, that counts in this world. And come to think of it Miss
Polly would make a fine variegated breakfast, I'm sure."
18. The Emerald City
The others now came up, and the Tin Woodman greeted the Lion and the
Tiger cordially. Button-Bright yelled with fear when Dorothy first
took his hand and led him toward the great beasts; but the girl
insisted they were kind and good, and so the boy mustered up courage
enough to pat their heads; after they had spoken to him gently and he
had looked into their intelligent eyes his fear vanished entirely
and he was so delighted with the animals that he wanted to keep close
to them and stroke their soft fur every minute.
As for the shaggy man, he might have been afraid if he had met the
beasts alone, or in any other country, but so many were the marvels in;
the Land of Oz that he was no longer easily surprised, and Dorothy's
friendship for the Lion and Tiger was enough to assure him they were
safe companions. Toto barked at the Cowardly Lion in joyous greeting,
for he knew the beast of old and loved him, and it was funny to see
how gently the Lion raised his huge paw to pat Toto's head. The
little dog smelled of the Tiger's nose, and the Tiger politely shook
paws with him; so they were quite likely to become firm friends.
Tik-tok and Billina knew the beasts well, so merely bade them good day
and asked after their healths and inquired about the Princess Ozma.
Now it was seen that the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger were
drawing behind them a splendid golden chariot, to which they were
harnessed by golden cords. The body of the chariot was decorated on
the outside with designs in clusters of sparkling emeralds, while
inside it was lined with a green and gold satin, and the cushions of
the seats were of green plush embroidered in gold with a crown,
underneath which was a monogram.
"Why, it's Ozma's own royal chariot!" exclaimed Dorothy.
"Yes," said the Cowardly Lion; "Ozma sent us to meet you here, for
she feared you would be weary with your long walk and she wished you
to enter the City in a style becoming your exalted rank."
"What!" cried Polly, looking at Dorothy curiously. "Do you belong to
the nobility?"
"Just in Oz I do," said the child, "'cause Ozma made me a Princess,
you know. But when I'm home in Kansas I'm only a country girl, and
have to help with the churning and wipe the dishes while Aunt Em
washes 'em. Do you have to help wash dishes on the rainbow, Polly?"
"No, dear," answered Polychrome, smiling.
"Well, I don't have to work any in Oz, either," said Dorothy. "It's
kind of fun to be a Princess once in a while; don't you think so?"
"Dorothy and Polychrome and Button-Bright are all to ride in the
chariot," said the Lion. "So get in, my dears, and be careful not to
mar the gold or put your dusty feet on the embroidery."
Button-Bright was delighted to ride behind such a superb team, and he
told Dorothy it made him feel like an actor in a circus. As the
strides of the animals brought them nearer to the Emerald City
every one bowed respectfully to the children, as well as to the Tin
Woodman, Tik-tok, and the shaggy man, who were following behind.
The Yellow Hen had perched upon the back of the chariot, where she
could tell Dorothy more about her wonderful chickens as they rode.
And so the grand chariot came finally to the high wall surrounding the
City, and paused before the magnificent jewel-studded gates.
These were opened by a cheerful-looking little man who wore green
spectacles over his eyes. Dorothy introduced him to her friends as
the Guardian of the Gates, and they noticed a big bunch of keys
suspended on the golden chain that hung around his neck. The chariot
passed through the outer gates into a fine arched chamber built in
the thick wall, and through the inner gates into the streets of the
Emerald City.
Polychrome exclaimed in rapture at the wondrous beauty that met her
eyes on every side as they rode through this stately and imposing
City, the equal of which has never been discovered, even in Fairyland.
Button-Bright could only say "My!" so amazing was the sight; but his
eyes were wide open and he tried to look in every direction at the
same time, so as not to miss anything.
The shaggy man was fairly astounded at what he saw, for the graceful
and handsome buildings were covered with plates of gold and set with
emeralds so splendid and valuable that in any other part of the world
any one of them would have been worth a fortune to its owner. The
sidewalks were superb marble slabs polished as smooth as glass, and
the curbs that separated the walks from the broad street were also set
thick with clustered emeralds. There were many people on these
walks--men, women and children--all dressed in handsome garments of
silk or satin or velvet, with beautiful jewels. Better even than
this: all seemed happy and contented, for their faces were smiling and
free from care, and music and laughter might be heard on every side.
"Don't they work at all?" asked the shaggy man.
"To be sure they work," replied the Tin Woodman; "this fair city
could not be built or cared for without labor, nor could the fruit and
vegetables and other food be provided for the inhabitants to eat. But
no one works more than half his time, and the people of Oz enjoy their
labors as much as they do their play."
"It's wonderful!" declared the shaggy man. "I do hope Ozma will let
me live here."
The chariot, winding through many charming streets, paused before a
building so vast and noble and elegant that even Button-Bright guessed
at once that it was the Royal Palace. Its gardens and ample grounds
were surrounded by a separate wall, not so high or thick as the wall
around the City, but more daintily designed and built all of green
marble. The gates flew open as the chariot appeared before them, and
the Cowardly Lion and Hungry Tiger trotted up a jeweled driveway to
the front door of the palace and stopped short.
"Here we are!" said Dorothy, gaily, and helped Button-Bright from the
chariot. Polychrome leaped out lightly after them, and they were
greeted by a crowd of gorgeously dressed servants who bowed low as the
visitors mounted the marble steps. At their head was a pretty little
maid with dark hair and eyes, dressed all in green embroidered with
silver. Dorothy ran up to her with evident pleasure, and exclaimed:
"O, Jellia Jamb! I'm so glad to see you again. Where's Ozma?"
"In her room, your Highness," replied the little maid demurely, for
this was Ozma's favorite attendant. "She wishes you to come to her as
soon as you have rested and changed your dress, Princess Dorothy. And
you and your friends are to dine with her this evening."
"When is her birthday, Jellia?" asked the girl.
"Day after to-morrow, your Highness."
"And where's the Scarecrow?"
"He's gone into the Munchkin country to get some fresh straw to stuff
himself with, in honor of Ozma's celebration," replied the maid. "He
returns to the Emerald City to-morrow, he said."
By this time, Tok-tok, the Tin Woodman, and the shaggy man had arrived
and the chariot had gone around to the back of the palace, Billina
going with the Lion and Tiger to see her chickens after her absence
from them. But Toto stayed close beside Dorothy.
"Come in, please," said Jellia Jamb; "it shall be our pleasant duty
to escort all of you to the rooms prepared for your use."
The shaggy man hesitated. Dorothy had never known him to be ashamed
of his shaggy looks before, but now that he was surrounded by so much
magnificence and splendor the shaggy man felt sadly out of place.
Dorothy assured him that all her friends were welcome at Ozma's
palace, so he carefully dusted his shaggy shoes with his shaggy
handkerchief and entered the grand hall after the others.
Tik-tok lived at the Royal Palace and the Tin Woodman always had the
same room whenever he visited Ozma, so these two went at once to
remove the dust of the journey from their shining bodies. Dorothy
also had a pretty suite of rooms which she always occupied when in the
Emerald City; but several servants walked ahead politely to show the
way, although she was quite sure she could find the rooms herself.
She took Button-Bright with her, because he seemed too small to be
left alone in such a big palace; but Jellia Jamb herself ushered the
beautiful Daughter of the Rainbow to her apartments, because it was
easy to see that Polychrome was used to splendid palaces and was
therefore entitled to especial attention.
19. The Shaggy Man's Welcome
The shaggy man stood in the great hall, his shaggy hat in his hands,
wondering what would become of him. He had never been a guest in a
fine palace before; perhaps he had never been a guest anywhere. In
the big, cold, outside world people did not invite shaggy men to their
homes, and this shaggy man of ours had slept more in hay-lofts and
stables than in comfortable rooms. When the others left the great
hall he eyed the splendidly dressed servants of the Princess Ozma as
if he expected to be ordered out; but one of them bowed before him as
respectfully as if he had been a prince, and said:
"Permit me, sir, to conduct you to your apartments."
The shaggy man drew a long breath and took courage.
"Very well," he answered. "I'm ready."
Through the big hall they went, up the grand staircase carpeted thick
with velvet, and so along a wide corridor to a carved doorway. Here
the servant paused, and opening the door said with polite deference:
"Be good enough to enter, sir, and make yourself at home in the rooms
our Royal Ozma has ordered prepared for you. Whatever you see is for
you to use and enjoy, as if your own. The Princess dines at seven, and
I shall be here in time to lead you to the drawing-room, where you
will be privileged to meet the lovely Ruler of Oz. Is there any
command, in the meantime, with which you desire to honor me?"
"No," said the shaggy man; "but I'm much obliged."
He entered the room and shut the door, and for a time stood in
bewilderment, admiring the grandeur before him.
He had been given one of the handsomest apartments in the most
magnificent palace in the world, and you can not wonder that his good
fortune astonished and awed him until he grew used to his surroundings.
The furniture was upholstered in cloth of gold, with the royal crown
embroidered upon it in scarlet. The rug upon the marble floor was so
thick and soft that he could not hear the sound of his own footsteps,
and upon the walls were splendid tapestries woven with scenes from the
Land of Oz. Books and ornaments were scattered about in profusion,
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