"                             The WONDERFUL\n                                 WIZARD\n                                   OF\n                                   OZ\n\n                            BY L. Frank Baum\n\n                             W. W. Denslow.\n\n \n\n                            Geo. M. Hill Co.\n                               New York.\n\n\n\n\n                             INTRODUCTION.\n\n\nFolk lore, legends, myths and fairy tales have followed childhood\nthrough the ages, for every healthy youngster has a wholesome and\ninstinctive love for stories fantastic, marvelous and manifestly\nunreal. The winged fairies of Grimm and Andersen have brought more\nhappiness to childish hearts than all other human creations.\n\nYet the old-time fairy tale, having served for generations, may\nnow be classed as \"historical\" in the children's library; for the\ntime has come for a series of newer \"wonder tales\" in which the\nstereotyped genie, dwarf and fairy are eliminated, together with all\nthe horrible and blood-curdling incident devised by their authors\nto point a fearsome moral to each tale. Modern education includes\nmorality; therefore the modern child seeks only entertainment in its\nwonder-tales and gladly dispenses with all disagreeable incident.\n\n \n\nHaving this thought in mind, the story of \"The Wonderful Wizard of\nOz\" was written solely to pleasure children of today. It aspires to\nbeing a modernized fairy tale, in which the wonderment and joy are\nretained and the heart-aches and nightmares are left out.\n\n                     L. FRANK BAUM.\n\n  CHICAGO, APRIL, 1900.\n\n   _This book is dedicated to my\n  good friend & comrade.\n\n                My Wife\n\n                      L.F.B._\n\n\n\n\n                               Chapter I.\n\n                              The Cyclone.\n\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\nDorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies, with Uncle\nHenry, who was a farmer, and Aunt Em, who was the farmer's wife.\nTheir house was small, for the lumber to build it had to be carried\nby wagon many miles. There were four walls, a floor and a roof,\nwhich made one room; and this room contained a rusty looking cooking\nstove, a cupboard for the dishes, a table, three or four chairs,\nand the beds. Uncle Henry and Aunt Em had a big bed in one corner,\nand Dorothy a little bed in another corner. There was no garret at\nall, and no cellar--except a small hole, dug in the ground, called a\ncyclone cellar, where the family could go in case one of those great\nwhirlwinds arose, mighty enough to crush any building in its path. It\nwas reached by a trap-door in the middle of the floor, from which a\nladder led down into the small, dark hole.\n\nWhen Dorothy stood in the doorway and looked around, she could see\nnothing but the great gray prairie on every side. Not a tree nor a\nhouse broke the broad sweep of flat country that reached the edge of\nthe sky in all directions. The sun had baked the plowed land into a\ngray mass, with little cracks running through it. Even the grass was\nnot green, for the sun had burned the tops of the long blades until\nthey were the same gray color to be seen everywhere. Once the house had\nbeen painted, but the sun blistered the paint and the rains washed it\naway, and now the house was as dull and gray as everything else.\n\n[Illustration: \"_She caught Toto by the ear._\"]\n\nWhen Aunt Em came there to live she was a young, pretty wife. The\nsun and wind had changed her, too. They had taken the sparkle from\nher eyes and left them a sober gray; they had taken the red from her\ncheeks and lips, and they were gray also. She was thin and gaunt,\nand never smiled, now. When Dorothy, who was an orphan, first came\nto her, Aunt Em had been so startled by the child's laughter that\nshe would scream and press her hand upon her heart whenever Dorothy's\nmerry voice reached her ears; and she still looked at the little girl\nwith wonder that she could find anything to laugh at.\n\nUncle Henry never laughed. He worked hard from morning till night and\ndid not know what joy was. He was gray also, from his long beard to\nhis rough boots, and he looked stern and solemn, and rarely spoke.\n\nIt was Toto that made Dorothy laugh, and saved her from growing as\ngray as her other surroundings. Toto was not gray; he was a little\nblack dog, with long, silky hair and small black eyes that twinkled\nmerrily on either side of his funny, wee nose. Toto played all day\nlong, and Dorothy played with him, and loved him dearly.\n\n \n\nTo-day, however, they were not playing. Uncle Henry sat upon the\ndoor-step and looked anxiously at the sky, which was even grayer than\nusual. Dorothy stood in the door with Toto in her arms, and looked at\nthe sky too. Aunt Em was washing the dishes.\n\nFrom the far north they heard a low wail of the wind, and Uncle\nHenry and Dorothy could see where the long grass bowed in waves\nbefore the coming storm. There now came a sharp whistling in the\nair from the south, and as they turned their eyes that way they saw\nripples in the grass coming from that direction also.\n\nSuddenly Uncle Henry stood up.\n\n\"There's a cyclone coming, Em,\" he called to his wife; \"I'll go look\nafter the stock.\" Then he ran toward the sheds where the cows and\nhorses were kept.\n\nAunt Em dropped her work and came to the door. One glance told her of\nthe danger close at hand.\n\n\"Quick, Dorothy!\" she screamed; \"run for the cellar!\"\n\nToto jumped out of Dorothy's arms and hid under the bed, and the\ngirl started to get him. Aunt Em, badly frightened, threw open the\ntrap-door in the floor and climbed down the ladder into the small,\ndark hole. Dorothy caught Toto at last, and started to follow her\naunt. When she was half way across the room there came a great shriek\nfrom the wind, and the house shook so hard that she lost her footing\nand sat down suddenly upon the floor.\n\nA strange thing then happened.\n\nThe house whirled around two or three times and rose slowly through\nthe air. Dorothy felt as if she were going up in a balloon.\n\nThe north and south winds met where the house stood, and made it the\nexact center of the cyclone. In the middle of a cyclone the air is\ngenerally still, but the great pressure of the wind on every side of\nthe house raised it up higher and higher, until it was at the very\ntop of the cyclone; and there it remained and was carried miles and\nmiles away as easily as you could carry a feather.\n\nIt was very dark, and the wind howled horribly around her, but\nDorothy found she was riding quite easily. After the first few whirls\naround, and one other time when the house tipped badly, she felt as\nif she were being rocked gently, like a baby in a cradle.\n\nToto did not like it. He ran about the room, now here, now there,\nbarking loudly; but Dorothy sat quite still on the floor and waited\nto see what would happen.\n\nOnce Toto got too near the open trap-door, and fell in; and at first\nthe little girl thought she had lost him. But soon she saw one of his\nears sticking up through the hole, for the strong pressure of the air\nwas keeping him up so that he could not fall. She crept to the hole,\ncaught Toto by the ear, and dragged him into the room again; afterward\nclosing the trap-door so that no more accidents could happen.\n\nHour after hour passed away, and slowly Dorothy got over her fright;\nbut she felt quite lonely, and the wind shrieked so loudly all about\nher that she nearly became deaf. At first she had wondered if she\nwould be dashed to pieces when the house fell again; but as the hours\npassed and nothing terrible happened, she stopped worrying and\nresolved to wait calmly and see what the future would bring. At last\nshe crawled over the swaying floor to her bed, and lay down upon it;\nand Toto followed and lay down beside her.\n\nIn spite of the swaying of the house and the wailing of the wind,\nDorothy soon closed her eyes and fell fast asleep.\n\n \n\n\n\n\n                              Chapter II.\n\n                            The Council with\n                             The Munchkins.\n\n\n \n\n \n\n\nShe was awakened by a shock, so sudden and severe that if Dorothy\nhad not been lying on the soft bed she might have been hurt. As it\nwas, the jar made her catch her breath and wonder what had happened;\nand Toto put his cold little nose into her face and whined dismally.\nDorothy sat up and noticed that the house was not moving; nor was it\ndark, for the bright sunshine came in at the window, flooding the\nlittle room. She sprang from her bed and with Toto at her heels ran\nand opened the door.\n\nThe little girl gave a cry of amazement and looked about her, her\neyes growing bigger and bigger at the wonderful sights she saw.\n\nThe cyclone had set the house down, very gently--for a cyclone--in\nthe midst of a country of marvelous beauty. There were lovely patches\nof green sward all about, with stately trees bearing rich and\nluscious fruits. Banks of gorgeous flowers were on every hand, and\nbirds with rare and brilliant plumage sang and fluttered in the trees\nand bushes. A little way off was a small brook, rushing and sparkling\nalong between green banks, and murmuring in a voice very grateful to\na little girl who had lived so long on the dry, gray prairies.\n\nWhile she stood looking eagerly at the strange and beautiful sights,\nshe noticed coming toward her a group of the queerest people she had\never seen. They were not as big as the grown folk she had always been\nused to; but neither were they very small. In fact, they seemed about\nas tall as Dorothy, who was a well-grown child for her age, although\nthey were, so far as looks go, many years older.\n\n[Illustration: \"_I am the Witch of the North._\"]\n\nThree were men and one a woman, and all were oddly dressed. They wore\nround hats that rose to a small point a foot above their heads, with\nlittle bells around the brims that tinkled sweetly as they moved. The\nhats of the men were blue; the little woman's hat was white, and she\nwore a white gown that hung in plaits from her shoulders; over it were\nsprinkled little stars that glistened in the sun like diamonds. The men\nwere dressed in blue, of the same shade as their hats, and wore well\npolished boots with a deep roll of blue at the tops. The men, Dorothy\nthought, were about as old as Uncle Henry, for two of them had beards.\nBut the little woman was doubtless much older: her face was covered\nwith wrinkles, her hair was nearly white, and she walked rather stiffly.\n\nWhen these people drew near the house where Dorothy was standing in\nthe doorway, they paused and whispered among themselves, as if afraid\nto come farther. But the little old woman walked up to Dorothy, made\na low bow and said, in a sweet voice,\n\n\"You are welcome, most noble Sorceress, to the land of the Munchkins.\nWe are so grateful to you for having killed the wicked Witch of the\nEast, and for setting our people free from bondage.\"\n\n \n\nDorothy listened to this speech with wonder. What could the little\nwoman possibly mean by calling her a sorceress, and saying she\nhad killed the wicked Witch of the East? Dorothy was an innocent,\nharmless little girl, who had been carried by a cyclone many miles\nfrom home; and she had never killed anything in all her life.\n\nBut the little woman evidently expected her to answer; so Dorothy\nsaid, with hesitation,\n\n\"You are very kind; but there must be some mistake. I have not killed\nanything.\"\n\n\"Your house did, anyway,\" replied the little old woman, with a laugh;\n\"and that is the same thing. See!\" she continued, pointing to the\ncorner of the house; \"there are her two toes, still sticking out from\nunder a block of wood.\"\n\nDorothy looked, and gave a little cry of fright. There, indeed, just\nunder the corner of the great beam the house rested on, two feet were\nsticking out, shod in silver shoes with pointed toes.\n\n\"Oh, dear! oh, dear!\" cried Dorothy, clasping her hands together in\ndismay; \"the house must have fallen on her. What ever shall we do?\"\n\n\"There is nothing to be done,\" said the little woman, calmly.\n\n \n\n\"But who was she?\" asked Dorothy.\n\n\"She was the wicked Witch of the East, as I said,\" answered the\nlittle woman. \"She has held all the Munchkins in bondage for many\nyears, making them slave for her night and day. Now they are all set\nfree, and are grateful to you for the favour.\"\n\n\"Who are the Munchkins?\" enquired Dorothy.\n\n\"They are the people who live in this land of the East, where the\nwicked Witch ruled.\"\n\n\"Are you a Munchkin?\" asked Dorothy.\n\n\"No; but I am their friend, although I live in the land of the North.\nWhen they saw the Witch of the East was dead the Munchkins sent a swift\nmessenger to me, and I came at once. I am the Witch of the North.\"\n\n\"Oh, gracious!\" cried Dorothy; \"are you a real witch?\"\n\n\"Yes, indeed;\" answered the little woman. \"But I am a good witch, and\nthe people love me. I am not as powerful as the wicked Witch was who\nruled here, or I should have set the people free myself.\"\n\n\"But I thought all witches were wicked,\" said the girl, who was half\nfrightened at facing a real witch.\n\n\"Oh, no; that is a great mistake. There were only four witches in all\nthe Land of Oz, and two of them, those who live in the North and the\nSouth, are good witches. I know this is true, for I am one of them\nmyself, and cannot be mistaken. Those who dwelt in the East and the\nWest were, indeed, wicked witches; but now that you have killed one\nof them, there is but one wicked Witch in all the Land of Oz--the one\nwho lives in the West.\"\n\n\"But,\" said Dorothy, after a moment's thought, \"Aunt Em has told me\nthat the witches were all dead--years and years ago.\"\n\n\"Who is Aunt Em?\" inquired the little old woman.\n\n\"She is my aunt who lives in Kansas, where I came from.\"\n\nThe Witch of the North seemed to think for a time, with her head\nbowed and her eyes upon the ground. Then she looked up and said,\n\n\"I do not know where Kansas is, for I have never heard that country\nmentioned before. But tell me, is it a civilized country?\"\n\n\"Oh, yes;\" replied Dorothy.\n\n\"Then that accounts for it. In the civilized countries I believe\nthere are no witches left; nor wizards, nor sorceresses, nor\nmagicians. But, you see, the Land of Oz has never been civilized, for\nwe are cut off from all the rest of the world. Therefore we still\nhave witches and wizards amongst us.\"\n\n\"Who are the Wizards?\" asked Dorothy.\n\n\"Oz himself is the Great Wizard,\" answered the Witch, sinking her\nvoice to a whisper. \"He is more powerful than all the rest of us\ntogether. He lives in the City of Emeralds.\"\n\nDorothy was going to ask another question, but just then the Munchkins,\nwho had been standing silently by, gave a loud shout and pointed to the\ncorner of the house where the Wicked Witch had been lying.\n\n \n\n\"What is it?\" asked the little old woman; and looked, and began\nto laugh. The feet of the dead Witch had disappeared entirely and\nnothing was left but the silver shoes.\n\n\"She was so old,\" explained the Witch of the North, \"that she dried\nup quickly in the sun. That is the end of her. But the silver shoes\nare yours, and you shall have them to wear.\" She reached down and\npicked up the shoes, and after shaking the dust out of them handed\nthem to Dorothy.\n\n\"The Witch of the East was proud of those silver shoes,\" said one of\nthe Munchkins; \"and there is some charm connected with them; but what\nit is we never knew.\"\n\nDorothy carried the shoes into the house and placed them on the\ntable. Then she came out again to the Munchkins and said,\n\n\"I am anxious to get back to my Aunt and Uncle, for I am sure they\nwill worry about me. Can you help me find my way?\"\n\nThe Munchkins and the Witch first looked at one another, and then at\nDorothy, and then shook their heads.\n\n\"At the East, not far from here,\" said one, \"there is a great desert,\nand none could live to cross it.\"\n\n\"It is the same at the South,\" said another, \"for I have been there\nand seen it. The South is the country of the Quadlings.\"\n\n\"I am told,\" said the third man, \"that it is the same at the West. And\nthat country, where the Winkies live, is ruled by the wicked Witch of\nthe West, who would make you her slave if you passed her way.\"\n\n\"The North is my home,\" said the old lady, \"and at its edge is the\nsame great desert that surrounds this land of Oz. I'm afraid, my\ndear, you will have to live with us.\"\n\nDorothy began to sob, at this, for she felt lonely among all\nthese strange people. Her tears seemed to grieve the kind-hearted\nMunchkins, for they immediately took out their handkerchiefs and\nbegan to weep also. As for the little old woman, she took off her\ncap and balanced the point on the end of her nose, while she counted\n\"one, two, three\" in a solemn voice. At once the cap changed to a\nslate, on which was written in big, white chalk marks:\n\n\"LET DOROTHY GO TO THE CITY OF EMERALDS.\"\n\n \n\nThe little old woman took the slate from her nose, and, having read\nthe words on it, asked,\n\n\"Is your name Dorothy, my dear?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" answered the child, looking up and drying her tears.\n\n\"Then you must go to the City of Emeralds. Perhaps Oz will help you.\"\n\n\"Where is this City?\" asked Dorothy.\n\n\"It is exactly in the center of the country, and is ruled by Oz, the\nGreat Wizard I told you of.\"\n\n\"Is he a good man?\" enquired the girl, anxiously.\n\n\"He is a good Wizard. Whether he is a man or not I cannot tell, for I\nhave never seen him.\"\n\n\"How can I get there?\" asked Dorothy.\n\n\"You must walk. It is a long journey, through a country that is\nsometimes pleasant and sometimes dark and terrible. However, I will\nuse all the magic arts I know of to keep you from harm.\"\n\n\"Won't you go with me?\" pleaded the girl, who had begun to look upon\nthe little old woman as her only friend.\n\n\"No, I cannot do that,\" she replied; \"but I will give you my kiss,\nand no one will dare injure a person who has been kissed by the Witch\nof the North.\"\n\nShe came close to Dorothy and kissed her gently on the forehead.\nWhere her lips touched the girl they left a round, shining mark, as\nDorothy found out soon after.\n\n\"The road to the City of Emeralds is paved with yellow brick,\" said the\nWitch; \"so you cannot miss it. When you get to Oz do not be afraid of\nhim, but tell your story and ask him to help you. Good-bye, my dear.\"\n\n \n\nThe three Munchkins bowed low to her and wished her a pleasant\njourney, after which they walked away through the trees. The Witch\ngave Dorothy a friendly little nod, whirled around on her left heel\nthree times, and straightway disappeared, much to the surprise of\nlittle Toto, who barked after her loudly enough when she had gone,\nbecause he had been afraid even to growl while she stood by.\n\nBut Dorothy, knowing her to be a witch, had expected her to disappear\nin just that way, and was not surprised in the least.\n\n\n\n\n                              Chapter III\n\n                           How Dorothy saved\n                             the Scarecrow.\n\n \n\nWhen Dorothy was left alone she began to feel hungry. So she went\nto the cupboard and cut herself some bread, which she spread with\nbutter. She gave some to Toto, and taking a pail from the shelf\nshe carried it down to the little brook and filled it with clear,\nsparkling water. Toto ran over to the trees and began to bark at the\nbirds sitting there. Dorothy went to get him, and saw such delicious\nfruit hanging from the branches that she gathered some of it, finding\nit just what she wanted to help out her breakfast.\n\nThen she went back to the house, and having helped herself and Toto\nto a good drink of the cool, clear water, she set about making ready\nfor the journey to the City of Emeralds.\n\nDorothy had only one other dress, but that happened to be clean and\nwas hanging on a peg beside her bed. It was gingham, with checks\nof white and blue; and although the blue was somewhat faded with\nmany washings, it was still a pretty frock. The girl washed herself\ncarefully, dressed herself in the clean gingham, and tied her pink\nsunbonnet on her head. She took a little basket and filled it with\nbread from the cupboard, laying a white cloth over the top. Then she\nlooked down at her feet and noticed how old and worn her shoes were.\n\n\"They surely will never do for a long journey, Toto,\" she said. And\nToto looked up into her face with his little black eyes and wagged\nhis tail to show he knew what she meant.\n\nAt that moment Dorothy saw lying on the table the silver shoes that\nhad belonged to the Witch of the East.\n\n\"I wonder if they will fit me,\" she said to Toto. \"They would be just\nthe thing to take a long walk in, for they could not wear out.\"\n\nShe took off her old leather shoes and tried on the silver ones,\nwhich fitted her as well as if they had been made for her.\n\nFinally she picked up her basket.\n\n\"Come along, Toto,\" she said, \"we will go to the Emerald City and ask\nthe great Oz how to get back to Kansas again.\"\n\nShe closed the door, locked it, and put the key carefully in the\npocket of her dress. And so, with Toto trotting along soberly behind\nher, she started on her journey.\n\nThere were several roads near by, but it did not take her long to\nfind the one paved with yellow brick. Within a short time she was\nwalking briskly toward the Emerald City, her silver shoes tinkling\nmerrily on the hard, yellow roadbed. The sun shone bright and the\nbirds sang sweet and Dorothy did not feel nearly as bad as you might\nthink a little girl would who had been suddenly whisked away from her\nown country and set down in the midst of a strange land.\n\n \n\nShe was surprised, as she walked along, to see how pretty the country\nwas about her. There were neat fences at the sides of the road,\npainted a dainty blue color, and beyond them were fields of grain and\nvegetables in abundance. Evidently the Munchkins were good farmers\nand able to raise large crops. Once in a while she would pass a\nhouse, and the people came out to look at her and bow low as she\nwent by; for everyone knew she had been the means of destroying the\nwicked witch and setting them free from bondage. The houses of the\nMunchkins were odd looking dwellings, for each was round, with a big\ndome for a roof. All were painted blue, for in this country of the\nEast blue was the favorite color.\n\nTowards evening, when Dorothy was tired with her long walk and began\nto wonder where she should pass the night, she came to a house rather\nlarger than the rest. On the green lawn before it many men and women\nwere dancing. Five little fiddlers played as loudly as possible and\nthe people were laughing and singing, while a big table near by was\nloaded with delicious fruits and nuts, pies and cakes, and many other\ngood things to eat.\n\nThe people greeted Dorothy kindly, and invited her to supper and to\npass the night with them; for this was the home of one of the richest\nMunchkins in the land, and his friends were gathered with him to\ncelebrate their freedom from the bondage of the wicked witch.\n\nDorothy ate a hearty supper and was waited upon by the rich Munchkin\nhimself, whose name was Boq. Then she sat down upon a settee and\nwatched the people dance.\n\nWhen Boq saw her silver shoes he said,\n\n\"You must be a great sorceress.\"\n\n\"Why?\" asked the girl.\n\n\"Because you wear silver shoes and have killed the wicked witch.\nBesides, you have white in your frock, and only witches and\nsorceresses wear white.\"\n\n[Illustration: \"_You must be a great sorceress._\"]\n\n\"My dress is blue and white checked,\" said Dorothy, smoothing out the\nwrinkles in it.\n\n\"It is kind of you to wear that,\" said Boq. \"Blue is the color of\nthe Munchkins, and white is the witch color; so we know you are a\nfriendly witch.\"\n\nDorothy did not know what to say to this, for all the people seemed\nto think her a witch, and she knew very well she was only an ordinary\nlittle girl who had come by the chance of a cyclone into a strange land.\n\nWhen she had tired watching the dancing, Boq led her into the house,\nwhere he gave her a room with a pretty bed in it. The sheets were\nmade of blue cloth, and Dorothy slept soundly in them till morning,\nwith Toto curled up on the blue rug beside her.\n\nShe ate a hearty breakfast, and watched a wee Munchkin baby, who\nplayed with Toto and pulled his tail and crowed and laughed in a way\nthat greatly amused Dorothy. Toto was a fine curiosity to all the\npeople, for they had never seen a dog before.\n\n\"How far is it to the Emerald City?\" the girl asked.\n\n \n\n\"I do not know,\" answered Boq, gravely, \"for I have never been there.\nIt is better for people to keep away from Oz, unless they have\nbusiness with him. But it is a long way to the Emerald City, and it\nwill take you many days. The country here is rich and pleasant, but\nyou must pass through rough and dangerous places before you reach the\nend of your journey.\"\n\nThis worried Dorothy a little, but she knew that only the great Oz\ncould help her get to Kansas again, so she bravely resolved not to\nturn back.\n\nShe bade her friends good-bye, and again started along the road of\nyellow brick. When she had gone several miles she thought she would\nstop to rest, and so climbed to the top of the fence beside the road\nand sat down. There was a great cornfield beyond the fence, and not\nfar away she saw a Scarecrow, placed high on a pole to keep the birds\nfrom the ripe corn.\n\nDorothy leaned her chin upon her hand and gazed thoughtfully at the\nScarecrow. Its head was a small sack stuffed with straw, with eyes,\nnose and mouth painted on it to represent a face. An old, pointed\nblue hat, that had belonged to some Munchkin, was perched on this\nhead, and the rest of the figure was a blue suit of clothes, worn and\nfaded, which had also been stuffed with straw. On the feet were some\nold boots with blue tops, such as every man wore in this country, and\nthe figure was raised above the stalks of corn by means of the pole\nstuck up its back.\n\n[Illustration: \"_Dorothy gazed thoughtfully at the Scarecrow._\"]\n\nWhile Dorothy was looking earnestly into the queer, painted face of\nthe Scarecrow, she was surprised to see one of the eyes slowly wink\nat her. She thought she must have been mistaken, at first, for none of\nthe scarecrows in Kansas ever wink; but presently the figure nodded its\nhead to her in a friendly way. Then she climbed down from the fence and\nwalked up to it, while Toto ran around the pole and barked.\n\n\"Good day,\" said the Scarecrow, in a rather husky voice.\n\n\"Did you speak?\" asked the girl, in wonder.\n\n\"Certainly,\" answered the Scarecrow; \"how do you do?\"\n\n\"I'm pretty well, thank you,\" replied Dorothy, politely; \"how do you\ndo?\"\n\n\"I'm not feeling well,\" said the Scarecrow, with a smile, \"for it is\nvery tedious being perched up here night and day to scare away crows.\"\n\n\"Can't you get down?\" asked Dorothy.\n\n\"No, for this pole is stuck up my back. If you will please take away\nthe pole I shall be greatly obliged to you.\"\n\nDorothy reached up both arms and lifted the figure off the pole; for,\nbeing stuffed with straw, it was quite light.\n\n\"Thank you very much,\" said the Scarecrow, when he had been set down\non the ground. \"I feel like a new man.\"\n\nDorothy was puzzled at this, for it sounded queer to hear a stuffed\nman speak, and to see him bow and walk along beside her.\n\n\"Who are you?\" asked the Scarecrow, when he had stretched himself and\nyawned, \"and where are you going?\"\n\n\"My name is Dorothy,\" said the girl, \"and I am going to the Emerald\nCity, to ask the great Oz to send me back to Kansas.\"\n\n\"Where is the Emerald City?\" he enquired; \"and who is Oz?\"\n\n\"Why, don't you know?\" she returned, in surprise.\n\n\"No, indeed; I don't know anything. You see, I am stuffed, so I have\nno brains at all,\" he answered, sadly.\n\n \n\n\"Oh,\" said Dorothy; \"I'm awfully sorry for you.\"\n\n\"Do you think,\" he asked, \"If I go to the Emerald City with you, that\nthe great Oz would give me some brains?\"\n\n\"I cannot tell,\" she returned; \"but you may come with me, if you\nlike. If Oz will not give you any brains you will be no worse off\nthan you are now.\"\n\n\"That is true,\" said the Scarecrow. \"You see,\" he continued,\nconfidentially, \"I don't mind my legs and arms and body being stuffed,\nbecause I cannot get hurt. If anyone treads on my toes or sticks a\npin into me, it doesn't matter, for I cant feel it. But I do not want\npeople to call me a fool, and if my head stays stuffed with straw\ninstead of with brains, as yours is, how am I ever to know anything?\"\n\n\"I understand how you feel,\" said the little girl, who was truly\nsorry for him. \"If you will come with me I'll ask Oz to do all he can\nfor you.\"\n\n\"Thank you,\" he answered, gratefully.\n\nThey walked back to the road, Dorothy helped him over the fence, and\nthey started along the path of yellow brick for the Emerald City.\n\nToto did not like this addition to the party, at first. He smelled\naround the stuffed man as if he suspected there might be a nest of\nrats in the straw, and he often growled in an unfriendly way at the\nScarecrow.\n\n\"Don't mind Toto,\" said Dorothy, to her new friend; \"he never bites.\"\n\n\"Oh, I'm not afraid,\" replied the Scarecrow, \"he can't hurt the\nstraw. Do let me carry that basket for you. I shall not mind it,\nfor I can't get tired. I'll tell you a secret,\" he continued, as he\nwalked along; \"there is only one thing in the world I am afraid of.\"\n\n\"What is that?\" asked Dorothy; \"the Munchkin farmer who made you?\"\n\n\"No,\" answered the Scarecrow; \"it's a lighted match.\"\n\n\n\n\n                              Chapter IV.\n\n                            The Road through\n                              the Forest.\n\n\n \n\nAfter a few hours the road began to be rough, and the walking grew so\ndifficult that the Scarecrow often stumbled over the yellow brick,\nwhich were here very uneven. Sometimes, indeed, they were broken or\nmissing altogether, leaving holes that Toto jumped across and Dorothy\nwalked around. As for the Scarecrow, having no brains he walked\nstraight ahead, and so stepped into the holes and fell at full length\non the hard bricks. It never hurt him, however, and Dorothy would\npick him up and set him upon his feet again, while he joined her in\nlaughing merrily at his own mishap.\n\n \n\nThe farms were not nearly so well cared for here as they were farther\nback. There were fewer houses and fewer fruit trees, and the farther\nthey went the more dismal and lonesome the country became.\n\nAt noon they sat down by the roadside, near a little brook, and\nDorothy opened her basket and got out some bread. She offered a piece\nto the Scarecrow, but he refused.\n\n\"I am never hungry,\" he said; \"and it is a lucky thing I am not. For\nmy mouth is only painted, and if I should cut a hole in it so I could\neat, the straw I am stuffed with would come out, and that would spoil\nthe shape of my head.\"\n\nDorothy saw at once that this was true, so she only nodded and went\non eating her bread.\n\n\"Tell me something about yourself, and the country you came from,\"\nsaid the Scarecrow, when she had finished her dinner. So she told\nhim all about Kansas, and how gray everything was there, and how\nthe cyclone had carried her to this queer land of Oz. The Scarecrow\nlistened carefully, and said,\n\n\"I cannot understand why you should wish to leave this beautiful\ncountry and go back to the dry, gray place you call Kansas.\"\n\n[Illustration: \"_'I was only made yesterday,' said the Scarecrow._\"]\n\n\"That is because you have no brains,\" answered the girl. \"No matter\nhow dreary and gray our homes are, we people of flesh and blood\nwould rather live there than in any other country, be it ever so\nbeautiful. There is no place like home.\"\n\nThe Scarecrow sighed.\n\n\"Of course I cannot understand it,\" he said. \"If your heads were\nstuffed with straw, like mine, you would probably all live in the\nbeautiful places, and then Kansas would have no people at all. It is\nfortunate for Kansas that you have brains.\"\n\n\"Won't you tell me a story, while we are resting?\" asked the child.\n\nThe Scarecrow looked at her reproachfully, and answered,\n\n\"My life has been so short that I really know nothing whatever. I was\nonly made day before yesterday. What happened in the world before\nthat time is all unknown to me. Luckily, when the farmer made my\nhead, one of the first things he did was to paint my ears, so that I\nheard what was going on. There was another Munchkin with him, and the\nfirst thing I heard was the farmer saying,\n\n\"'How do you like those ears?'\n\n\"'They aren't straight,' answered the other.\n\n\"'Never mind,' said the farmer; 'they are ears just the same,' which\nwas true enough.\n\n\"'Now I'll make the eyes,' said the farmer. So he painted my right\neye, and as soon as it was finished I found myself looking at him and\nat everything around me with a great deal of curiosity, for this was\nmy first glimpse of the world.\n\n\"'That's a rather pretty eye,' remarked the Munchkin who was watching\nthe farmer; 'blue paint is just the color for eyes.'\n\n\"'I think I'll make the other a little bigger,' said the farmer; and\nwhen the second eye was done I could see much better than before.\nThen he made my nose and my mouth; but I did not speak, because\nat that time I didn't know what a mouth was for. I had the fun of\nwatching them make my body and my arms and legs; and when they\nfastened on my head, at last, I felt very proud, for I thought I was\njust as good a man as anyone.\n\n\"'This fellow will scare the crows fast enough,' said the farmer; 'he\nlooks just like a man.'\n\n\"'Why, he is a man,' said the other, and I quite agreed with him. The\nfarmer carried me under his arm to the cornfield, and set me up on a\ntall stick, where you found me. He and his friend soon after walked\naway and left me alone.\n\n\"I did not like to be deserted this way; so I tried to walk after\nthem, but my feet would not touch the ground, and I was forced to\nstay on that pole. It was a lonely life to lead, for I had nothing to\nthink of, having been made such a little while before. Many crows and\nother birds flew into the cornfield, but as soon as they saw me they\nflew away again, thinking I was a Munchkin; and this pleased me and\nmade me feel that I was quite an important person. By and by an old\ncrow flew near me, and after looking at me carefully he perched upon\nmy shoulder and said,\n\n \n\n\"'I wonder if that farmer thought to fool me in this clumsy manner.\nAny crow of sense could see that you are only stuffed with straw.'\nThen he hopped down at my feet and ate all the corn he wanted. The\nother birds, seeing he was not harmed by me, came to eat the corn\ntoo, so in a short time there was a great flock of them about me.\"\n\n\"I felt sad at this, for it showed I was not such a good Scarecrow\nafter all; but the old crow comforted me, saying: 'If you only had\nbrains in your head you would be as good a man as any of them, and a\nbetter man than some of them. Brains are the only things worth having\nin this world, no matter whether one is a crow or a man.'\n\n\"After the crows had gone I thought this over, and decided I would\ntry hard to get some brains. By good luck, you came along and pulled\nme off the stake, and from what you say I am sure the great Oz will\ngive me brains as soon as we get to the Emerald City.\"\n\n\"I hope so,\" said Dorothy, earnestly, \"since you seem anxious to have\nthem.\"\n\n\"Oh yes; I am anxious,\" returned the Scarecrow. \"It is such an\nuncomfortable feeling to know one is a fool.\"\n\n \n\n\"Well,\" said the girl, \"let us go.\" And she handed the basket to the\nScarecrow.\n\nThere were no fences at all by the road side now, and the land was\nrough and untilled. Towards evening they came to a great forest,\nwhere the trees grew so big and close together that their branches\nmet over the road of yellow brick. It was almost dark under the\ntrees, for the branches shut out the daylight; but the travellers did\nnot stop, and went on into the forest.\n\n\"If this road goes in, it must come out,\" said the Scarecrow, \"and as\nthe Emerald City is at the other end of the road, we must go wherever\nit leads us.\"\n\n\"Anyone would know that,\" said Dorothy.\n\n\"Certainly; that is why I know it,\" returned the Scarecrow. \"If it\nrequired brains to figure it out, I never should have said it.\"\n\nAfter an hour or so the light faded away, and they found themselves\nstumbling along in the darkness. Dorothy could not see at all,\nbut Toto could, for some dogs see very well in the dark; and the\nScarecrow declared he could see as well as by day. So she took hold\nof his arm, and managed to get along fairly well.\n\n\"If you see any house, or any place where we can pass the night,\" she\nsaid, \"you must tell me; for it is very uncomfortable walking in the\ndark.\"\n\nSoon after the Scarecrow stopped.\n\n\"I see a little cottage at the right of us,\" he said, \"built of logs\nand branches. Shall we go there?\"\n\n\"Yes, indeed;\" answered the child. \"I am all tired out.\"\n\nSo the Scarecrow led her through the trees until they reached the\ncottage, and Dorothy entered and found a bed of dried leaves in one\ncorner. She lay down at once, and with Toto beside her soon fell\ninto a sound sleep. The Scarecrow, who was never tired, stood up in\nanother corner and waited patiently until morning came.\n\n \n\n\n\n\n                               Chapter V.\n\n                             The Rescue of\n                            the Tin Woodman\n\n\n \n\n \n\nWhen Dorothy awoke the sun was shining through the trees and Toto\nhad long been out chasing birds and squirrels. She sat up and looked\naround her. There was the Scarecrow, still standing patiently in his\ncorner, waiting for her.\n\n\"We must go and search for water,\" she said to him.\n\n\"Why do you want water?\" he asked.\n\n\"To wash my face clean after the dust of the road, and to drink, so\nthe dry bread will not stick in my throat.\"\n\n\"It must be inconvenient to be made of flesh,\" said the Scarecrow,\nthoughtfully; \"for you must sleep, and eat and drink. However, you\nhave brains, and it is worth a lot of bother to be able to think\nproperly.\"\n\nThey left the cottage and walked through the trees until they found a\nlittle spring of clear water, where Dorothy drank and bathed and ate\nher breakfast. She saw there was not much bread left in the basket,\nand the girl was thankful the Scarecrow did not have to eat anything,\nfor there was scarcely enough for herself and Toto for the day.\n\nWhen she had finished her meal, and was about to go back to the road\nof yellow brick, she was startled to hear a deep groan near by.\n\n\"What was that?\" she asked, timidly.\n\n\"I cannot imagine,\" replied the Scarecrow; \"but we can go and see.\"\n\nJust then another groan reached their ears, and the sound seemed to\ncome from behind them. They turned and walked through the forest a\nfew steps, when Dorothy discovered something shining in a ray of\nsunshine that fell between the trees. She ran to the place, and then\nstopped short, with a cry of surprise.\n\nOne of the big trees had been partly chopped through, and standing\nbeside it, with an uplifted axe in his hands, was a man made entirely\nof tin. His head and arms and legs were jointed upon his body, but he\nstood perfectly motionless, as if he could not stir at all.\n\nDorothy looked at him in amazement, and so did the Scarecrow, while\nToto barked sharply and made a snap at the tin legs, which hurt his\nteeth.\n\n\"Did you groan?\" asked Dorothy.\n\n\"Yes,\" answered the tin man; \"I did. I've been groaning for more than\na year, and no one has ever heard me before or come to help me.\"\n\n\"What can I do for you?\" she enquired, softly, for she was moved by\nthe sad voice in which the man spoke.\n\n \n\n\"Get an oil-can and oil my joints,\" he answered. \"They are rusted so\nbadly that I cannot move them at all; if I am well oiled I shall soon\nbe all right again. You will find an oil-can on a shelf in my cottage.\"\n\nDorothy at once ran back to the cottage and found the oil-can, and\nthen she returned and asked, anxiously,\n\n\"Where are your joints?\"\n\n\"Oil my neck, first,\" replied the Tin Woodman. So she oiled it, and\nas it was quite badly rusted the Scarecrow took hold of the tin head\nand moved it gently from side to side until it worked freely, and\nthen the man could turn it himself.\n\n\"Now oil the joints in my arms,\" he said. And Dorothy oiled them and\nthe Scarecrow bent them carefully until they were quite free from\nrust and as good as new.\n\nThe Tin Woodman gave a sigh of satisfaction and lowered his axe,\nwhich he leaned against the tree.\n\n\"This is a great comfort,\" he said. \"I have been holding that axe in\nthe air ever since I rusted, and I'm glad to be able to put it down\nat last. Now, if you will oil the joints of my legs, I shall be all\nright once more.\"\n\nSo they oiled his legs until he could move them freely; and he\nthanked them again and again for his release, for he seemed a very\npolite creature, and very grateful.\n\n\"I might have stood there always if you had not come along,\" he said;\n\"so you have certainly saved my life. How did you happen to be here?\"\n\n\"We are on our way to the Emerald City, to see the great Oz,\" she\nanswered, \"and we stopped at your cottage to pass the night.\"\n\n\"Why do you wish to see Oz?\" he asked.\n\n\"I want him to send me back to Kansas; and the Scarecrow wants him to\nput a few brains into his head,\" she replied.\n\nThe Tin Woodman appeared to think deeply for a moment. Then he said:\n\n\"Do you suppose Oz could give me a heart?\"\n\n\"Why, I guess so,\" Dorothy answered; \"it would be as easy as to give\nthe Scarecrow brains.\"\n\n[Illustration: \"_'This is a great comfort,' said the Tin Woodman._\"]\n\n\"True,\" the Tin Woodman returned. \"So, if you will allow me to join\nyour party, I will also go to the Emerald City and ask Oz to help me.\"\n\n\"Come along,\" said the Scarecrow, heartily; and Dorothy added\nthat she would be pleased to have his company. So the Tin Woodman\nshouldered his axe and they all passed through the forest until they\ncame to the road that was paved with yellow brick.\n\nThe Tin Woodman had asked Dorothy to put the oil-can in her basket.\n\"For,\" he said, \"if I should get caught in the rain, and rust again,\nI would need the oil-can badly.\"\n\nIt was a bit of good luck to have their new comrade join the party,\nfor soon after they had begun their journey again they came to a place\nwhere the trees and branches grew so thick over the road that the\ntravellers could not pass. But the Tin Woodman set to work with his axe\nand chopped so well that soon he cleared a passage for the entire party.\n\nDorothy was thinking so earnestly as they walked along that she did\nnot notice when the Scarecrow stumbled into a hole and rolled over to\nthe side of the road. Indeed, he was obliged to call to her to help\nhim up again.\n\n\"Why didn't you walk around the hole?\" asked the Tin Woodman.\n\n\"I don't know enough,\" replied the Scarecrow, cheerfully. \"My head is\nstuffed with straw, you know, and that is why I am going to Oz to ask\nhim for some brains.\"\n\n\"Oh, I see;\" said the Tin Woodman. \"But, after all, brains are not\nthe best things in the world.\"\n\n\"Have you any?\" enquired the Scarecrow.\n\n\"No, my head is quite empty,\" answered the Woodman; \"but once I had\nbrains, and a heart also; so, having tried them both, I should much\nrather have a heart.\"\n\n\"And why is that?\" asked the Scarecrow.\n\n\"I will tell you my story, and then you will know.\"\n\nSo, while they were walking through the forest, the Tin Woodman told\nthe following story:\n\n\"I was born the son of a woodman who chopped down trees in the\nforest and sold the wood for a living. When I grew up I too became a\nwood-chopper, and after my father died I took care of my old mother\nas long as she lived. Then I made up my mind that instead of living\nalone I would marry, so that I might not become lonely.\n\n \n\n\"There was one of the Munchkin girls who was so beautiful that I\nsoon grew to love her with all my heart. She, on her part, promised\nto marry me as soon as I could earn enough money to build a better\nhouse for her; so I set to work harder than ever. But the girl lived\nwith an old woman who did not want her to marry anyone, for she was\nso lazy she wished the girl to remain with her and do the cooking\nand the housework. So the old woman went to the wicked Witch of the\nEast, and promised her two sheep and a cow if she would prevent the\nmarriage. Thereupon the wicked Witch enchanted my axe, and when I was\nchopping away at my best one day, for I was anxious to get the new\nhouse and my wife as soon as possible, the axe slipped all at once\nand cut off my left leg.\n\n\"This at first seemed a great misfortune, for I knew a one-legged man\ncould not do very well as a wood-chopper. So I went to a tin-smith\nand had him make me a new leg out of tin. The leg worked very well,\nonce I was used to it; but my action angered the wicked Witch of\nthe East, for she had promised the old woman I should not marry the\npretty Munchkin girl. When I began chopping again my axe slipped and\ncut off my right leg. Again I went to the tinner, and again he made\nme a leg out of tin. After this the enchanted axe cut off my arms,\none after the other; but, nothing daunted, I had them replaced with\ntin ones. The wicked Witch then made the axe slip and cut off my\nhead, and at first I thought that was the end of me. But the tinner\nhappened to come along, and he made me a new head out of tin.\n\n\"I thought I had beaten the wicked Witch then, and I worked harder than\never; but I little knew how cruel my enemy could be. She thought of a\nnew way to kill my love for the beautiful Munchkin maiden, and made my\naxe slip again, so that it cut right through my body, splitting me\ninto two halves. Once more the tinner came to my help and made me a\nbody of tin, fastening my tin arms and legs and head to it, by means of\njoints, so that I could move around as well as ever. But, alas! I had\nnow no heart, so that I lost all my love for the Munchkin girl, and did\nnot care whether I married her or not. I suppose she is still living\nwith the old woman, waiting for me to come after her.\n\n \n\n\"My body shone so brightly in the sun that I felt very proud of it\nand it did not matter now if my axe slipped, for it could not cut me.\nThere was only one danger--that my joints would rust; but I kept an\noil-can in my cottage and took care to oil myself whenever I needed\nit. However, there came a day when I forgot to do this, and, being\ncaught in a rainstorm, before I thought of the danger my joints had\nrusted, and I was left to stand in the woods until you came to help\nme. It was a terrible thing to undergo, but during the year I stood\nthere I had time to think that the greatest loss I had known was\nthe loss of my heart. While I was in love I was the happiest man on\nearth; but no one can love who has not a heart, and so I am resolved\nto ask Oz to give me one. If he does, I will go back to the Munchkin\nmaiden and marry her.\"\n\nBoth Dorothy and the Scarecrow had been greatly interested in the\nstory of the Tin Woodman, and now they knew why he was so anxious to\nget a new heart.\n\n\"All the same,\" said the Scarecrow, \"I shall ask for brains instead\nof a heart; for a fool would not know what to do with a heart if he\nhad one.\"\n\n\"I shall take the heart,\" returned the Tin Woodman; \"for brains do\nnot make one happy, and happiness is the best thing in the world.\"\n\nDorothy did not say anything, for she was puzzled to know which of\nher two friends was right, and she decided if she could only get back\nto Kansas and Aunt Em it did not matter so much whether the Woodman\nhad no brains and the Scarecrow no heart, or each got what he wanted.\n\n \n\nWhat worried her most was that the bread was nearly gone, and another\nmeal for herself and Toto would empty the basket. To be sure neither\nthe Woodman nor the Scarecrow ever ate anything, but she was not made\nof tin nor straw, and could not live unless she was fed.\n\n\n\n\n                              Chapter VI.\n\n                              The Cowardly\n                                 Lion.\n\n\n \n\n[Illustration: \"_You ought to be ashamed of yourself!_\"]\n\n \n\nAll this time Dorothy and her companions had been walking through the\nthick woods. The road was still paved with yellow brick, but these\nwere much covered by dried branches and dead leaves from the trees,\nand the walking was not at all good.\n\nThere were few birds in this part of the forest, for birds love the\nopen country where there is plenty of sunshine; but now and then\nthere came a deep growl from some wild animal hidden among the trees.\nThese sounds made the little girl's heart beat fast, for she did not\nknow what made them; but Toto knew, and he walked close to Dorothy's\nside, and did not even bark in return.\n\n\"How long will it be,\" the child asked of the Tin Woodman, \"before we\nare out of the forest?\"\n\n\"I cannot tell,\" was the answer, \"for I have never been to the\nEmerald City. But my father went there once, when I was a boy, and\nhe said it was a long journey through a dangerous country, although\nnearer to the city where Oz dwells the country is beautiful. But I\nam not afraid so long as I have my oil-can, and nothing can hurt the\nScarecrow, while you bear upon your forehead the mark of the good\nWitch's kiss, and that will protect you from harm.\"\n\n\"But Toto!\" said the girl, anxiously; \"what will protect him?\"\n\n\"We must protect him ourselves, if he is in danger,\" replied the Tin\nWoodman.\n\nJust as he spoke there came from the forest a terrible roar, and the\nnext moment a great Lion bounded into the road. With one blow of his\npaw he sent the Scarecrow spinning over and over to the edge of the\nroad, and then he struck at the Tin Woodman with his sharp claws.\nBut, to the Lion's surprise, he could make no impression on the tin,\nalthough the Woodman fell over in the road and lay still.\n\nLittle Toto, now that he had an enemy to face, ran barking toward the\nLion, and the great beast had opened his mouth to bite the dog, when\nDorothy, fearing Toto would be killed, and heedless of danger, rushed\nforward and slapped the Lion upon his nose as hard as she could,\nwhile she cried out:\n\n\"Don't you dare to bite Toto! You ought to be ashamed of yourself, a\nbig beast like you, to bite a poor little dog!\"\n\n\"I didn't bite him,\" said the Lion, as he rubbed his nose with his\npaw where Dorothy had hit it.\n\n\"No, but you tried to,\" she retorted. \"You are nothing but a big\ncoward.\"\n\n\"I know it,\" said the Lion, hanging his head in shame; \"I've always\nknown it. But how can I help it?\"\n\n\"I don't know, I'm sure. To think of your striking a stuffed man,\nlike the poor Scarecrow!\"\n\n\"Is he stuffed?\" asked the Lion, in surprise, as he watched her pick\nup the Scarecrow and set him upon his feet, while she patted him into\nshape again.\n\n\"Of course he's stuffed,\" replied Dorothy, who was still angry.\n\n\"That's why he went over so easily,\" remarked the Lion. \"It astonished\nme to see him whirl around so. Is the other one stuffed, also?\"\n\n\"No,\" said Dorothy, \"he's made of tin.\" And she helped the Woodman up\nagain.\n\n\"That's why he nearly blunted my claws,\" said the Lion. \"When they\nscratched against the tin it made a cold shiver run down my back.\nWhat is that little animal you are so tender of?\"\n\n\"He is my dog, Toto,\" answered Dorothy.\n\n\"Is he made of tin, or stuffed?\" asked the Lion.\n\n\"Neither. He's a--a--a meat dog,\" said the girl.\n\n\"Oh. He's a curious animal, and seems remarkably small, now that I\nlook at him. No one would think of biting such a little thing except\na coward like me,\" continued the Lion, sadly.\n\n\"What makes you a coward?\" asked Dorothy, looking at the great beast\nin wonder, for he was as big as a small horse.\n\n \n\n\"It's a mystery,\" replied the Lion. \"I suppose I was born that\nway. All the other animals in the forest naturally expect me to be\nbrave, for the Lion is everywhere thought to be the King of Beasts.\nI learned that if I roared very loudly every living thing was\nfrightened and got out of my way. Whenever I've met a man I've been\nawfully scared; but I just roared at him, and he has always run away\nas fast as he could go. If the elephants and the tigers and the bears\nhad ever tried to fight me, I should have run myself--I'm such a\ncoward; but just as soon as they hear me roar they all try to get\naway from me, and of course I let them go.\"\n\n\"But that isn't right. The King of Beasts shouldn't be a coward,\"\nsaid the Scarecrow.\n\n\"I know it,\" returned the Lion, wiping a tear from his eye with the\ntip of his tail; \"it is my great sorrow, and makes my life very\nunhappy. But whenever there is danger my heart begins to beat fast.\"\n\n\"Perhaps you have heart disease,\" said the Tin Woodman.\n\n\"It may be,\" said the Lion.\n\n\"If you have,\" continued the Tin Woodman, \"you ought to be glad, for\nit proves you have a heart. For my part, I have no heart; so I cannot\nhave heart disease.\"\n\n\"Perhaps,\" said the Lion, thoughtfully, \"if I had no heart I should\nnot be a coward.\"\n\n\"Have you brains?\" asked the Scarecrow.\n\n\"I suppose so. I've never looked to see,\" replied the Lion.\n\n\"I am going to the great Oz to ask him to give me some,\" remarked the\nScarecrow, \"for my head is stuffed with straw.\"\n\n\"And I am going to ask him to give me a heart,\" said the Woodman.\n\n\"And I am going to ask him to send Toto and me back to Kansas,\" added\nDorothy.\n\n\"Do you think Oz could give me courage?\" asked the cowardly Lion.\n\n\"Just as easily as he could give me brains,\" said the Scarecrow.\n\n\"Or give me a heart,\" said the Tin Woodman.\n\n\"Or send me back to Kansas,\" said Dorothy.\n\n\"Then, if you don't mind, I'll go with you,\" said the Lion, \"for my\nlife is simply unbearable without a bit of courage.\"\n\n\"You will be very welcome,\" answered Dorothy, \"for you will help to\nkeep away the other wild beasts. It seems to me they must be more\ncowardly than you are if they allow you to scare them so easily.\"\n\n\"They really are,\" said the Lion; \"but that doesn't make me any braver,\nand as long as I know myself to be a coward I shall be unhappy.\"\n\nSo once more the little company set off upon the journey, the Lion\nwalking with stately strides at Dorothy's side. Toto did not approve\nthis new comrade at first, for he could not forget how nearly he\nhad been crushed between the Lion's great jaws; but after a time he\nbecame more at ease, and presently Toto and the Cowardly Lion had\ngrown to be good friends.\n\nDuring the rest of that day there was no other adventure to mar the\npeace of their journey. Once, indeed, the Tin Woodman stepped upon a\nbeetle that was crawling along the road, and killed the poor little\nthing. This made the Tin Woodman very unhappy, for he was always\ncareful not to hurt any living creature; and as he walked along he\nwept several tears of sorrow and regret. These tears ran slowly down\nhis face and over the hinges of his jaw, and there they rusted.\nWhen Dorothy presently asked him a question the Tin Woodman could\nnot open his mouth, for his jaws were tightly rusted together. He\nbecame greatly frightened at this and made many motions to Dorothy to\nrelieve him, but she could not understand. The Lion was also puzzled\nto know what was wrong. But the Scarecrow seized the oil-can from\nDorothy's basket and oiled the Woodman's jaws, so that after a few\nmoments he could talk as well as before.\n\n \n\n\"This will serve me a lesson,\" said he, \"to look where I step. For if\nI should kill another bug or beetle I should surely cry again, and\ncrying rusts my jaw so that I cannot speak.\"\n\nThereafter he walked very carefully, with his eyes on the road,\nand when he saw a tiny ant toiling by he would step over it, so as\nnot to harm it. The Tin Woodman knew very well he had no heart, and\ntherefore he took great care never to be cruel or unkind to anything.\n\n\"You people with hearts,\" he said, \"have something to guide you,\nand need never do wrong; but I have no heart, and so I must be very\ncareful. When Oz gives me a heart of course I needn't mind so much.\"\n\n\n\n\n                              Chapter VII.\n\n                             The Journey to\n                             The Great Oz.\n\n\n \n\n \n\nThey were obliged to camp out that night under a large tree in the\nforest, for there were no houses near. The tree made a good, thick\ncovering to protect them from the dew, and the Tin Woodman chopped a\ngreat pile of wood with his axe and Dorothy built a splendid fire that\nwarmed her and made her feel less lonely. She and Toto ate the last of\ntheir bread, and now she did not know what they would do for breakfast.\n\n\"If you wish,\" said the Lion, \"I will go into the forest and kill a\ndeer for you. You can roast it by the fire, since your tastes are so\npeculiar that you prefer cooked food, and then you will have a very\ngood breakfast.\"\n\n\"Don't! please don't,\" begged the Tin Woodman. \"I should certainly\nweep if you killed a poor deer, and then my jaws would rust again.\"\n\n \n\nBut the Lion went away into the forest and found his own supper, and no\none ever knew what it was, for he didn't mention it. And the Scarecrow\nfound a tree full of nuts and filled Dorothy's basket with them, so\nthat she would not be hungry for a long time. She thought this was very\nkind and thoughtful of the Scarecrow, but she laughed heartily at the\nawkward way in which the poor creature picked up the nuts. His padded\nhands were so clumsy and the nuts were so small that he dropped almost\nas many as he put in the basket. But the Scarecrow did not mind how\nlong it took him to fill the basket, for it enabled him to keep away\nfrom the fire, as he feared a spark might get into his straw and burn\nhim up. So he kept a good distance away from the flames, and only came\nnear to cover Dorothy with dry leaves when she lay down to sleep. These\nkept her very snug and warm and she slept soundly until morning.\n\nWhen it was daylight the girl bathed her face in a little rippling\nbrook and soon after they all started toward the Emerald City.\n\nThis was to be an eventful day for the travellers. They had hardly\nbeen walking an hour when they saw before them a great ditch that\ncrossed the road and divided the forest as far as they could see on\neither side. It was a very wide ditch, and when they crept up to the\nedge and looked into it they could see it was also very deep, and\nthere were many big, jagged rocks at the bottom. The sides were so\nsteep that none of them could climb down, and for a moment it seemed\nthat their journey must end.\n\n\"What shall we do?\" asked Dorothy, despairingly.\n\n\"I haven't the faintest idea,\" said the Tin Woodman; and the Lion\nshook his shaggy mane and looked thoughtful. But the Scarecrow said:\n\n\"We cannot fly, that is certain; neither can we climb down into this\ngreat ditch. Therefore, if we cannot jump over it, we must stop where\nwe are.\"\n\n\"I think I could jump over it,\" said the Cowardly Lion, after\nmeasuring the distance carefully in his mind.\n\n\"Then we are all right,\" answered the Scarecrow, \"for you can carry\nus all over on your back, one at a time.\"\n\n\"Well, I'll try it,\" said the Lion. \"Who will go first?\"\n\n\"I will,\" declared the Scarecrow; \"for, if you found that you could\nnot jump over the gulf, Dorothy would be killed, or the Tin Woodman\nbadly dented on the rocks below. But if I am on your back it will not\nmatter so much, for the fall would not hurt me at all.\"\n\n \n\n\"I am terribly afraid of falling, myself,\" said the Cowardly Lion,\n\"but I suppose there is nothing to do but try it. So get on my back\nand we will make the attempt.\"\n\nThe Scarecrow sat upon the Lion's back, and the big beast walked to\nthe edge of the gulf and crouched down.\n\n\"Why don't you run and jump?\" asked the Scarecrow.\n\n\"Because that isn't the way we Lions do these things,\" he replied.\nThen giving a great spring, he shot through the air and landed safely\non the other side. They were all greatly pleased to see how easily he\ndid it, and after the Scarecrow had got down from his back the Lion\nsprang across the ditch again.\n\nDorothy thought she would go next; so she took Toto in her arms and\nclimbed on the Lion's back, holding tightly to his mane with one\nhand. The next moment it seemed as if she was flying through the air;\nand then, before she had time to think about it, she was safe on the\nother side. The Lion went back a third time and got the Tin Woodman,\nand then they all sat down for a few moments to give the beast a\nchance to rest, for his great leaps had made his breath short, and he\npanted like a big dog that has been running too long.\n\n \n\nThey found the forest very thick on this side, and it looked dark\nand gloomy. After the Lion had rested they started along the road\nof yellow brick, silently wondering, each in his own mind, if ever\nthey would come to the end of the woods and reach the bright sunshine\nagain. To add to their discomfort, they soon heard strange noises in\nthe depths of the forest, and the Lion whispered to them that it was\nin this part of the country that the Kalidahs lived.\n\n\"What are the Kalidahs?\" asked the girl.\n\n\"They are monstrous beasts with bodies like bears and heads like\ntigers,\" replied the Lion; \"and with claws so long and sharp that\nthey could tear me in two as easily as I could kill Toto. I'm\nterribly afraid of the Kalidahs.\"\n\n\"I'm not surprised that you are,\" returned Dorothy \"They must be\ndreadful beasts.\"\n\nThe Lion was about to reply when suddenly they came to another gulf\nacross the road; but this one was so broad and deep that the Lion\nknew at once he could not leap across it.\n\nSo they sat down to consider what they should do, and after serious\nthought the Scarecrow said,\n\n\"Here is a great tree, standing close to the ditch. If the Tin\nWoodman can chop it down, so that it will fall to the other side, we\ncan walk across it easily.\"\n\n\"That is a first rate idea,\" said the Lion. \"One would almost suspect\nyou had brains in your head, instead of straw.\"\n\nThe Woodman set to work at once, and so sharp was his axe that the\ntree was soon chopped nearly through. Then the Lion put his strong\nfront legs against the tree and pushed with all his might, and slowly\nthe big tree tipped and fell with a crash across the ditch, with its\ntop branches on the other side.\n\nThey had just started to cross this queer bridge when a sharp growl\nmade them all look up, and to their horror they saw running toward\nthem two great beasts with bodies like bears and heads like tigers.\n\n\"They are the Kalidahs!\" said the Cowardly Lion, beginning to tremble.\n\n\"Quick!\" cried the Scarecrow, \"let us cross over.\"\n\n[Illustration: \"_The tree fell with a crash into the gulf._\"]\n\nSo Dorothy went first, holding Toto in her arms; the Tin Woodman\nfollowed, and the Scarecrow came next. The Lion, although he was\ncertainly afraid, turned to face the Kalidahs, and then he gave so\nloud and terrible a roar that Dorothy screamed and the Scarecrow fell\nover backwards, while even the fierce beasts stopped short and looked\nat him in surprise.\n\nBut, seeing they were bigger than the Lion, and remembering that\nthere were two of them and only one of him, the Kalidahs again rushed\nforward, and the Lion crossed over the tree and turned to see what\nthey would do next. Without stopping an instant the fierce beasts\nalso began to cross the tree, and the Lion said to Dorothy,\n\n\"We are lost, for they will surely tear us to pieces with their sharp\nclaws. But stand close behind me, and I will fight them as long as I\nam alive.\"\n\n\"Wait a minute!\" called the Scarecrow. He had been thinking what was\nbest to be done, and now he asked the Woodman to chop away the end\nof the tree that rested on their side of the ditch. The Tin Woodman\nbegan to use his axe at once, and, just as the two Kalidahs were\nnearly across, the tree fell with a crash into the gulf, carrying the\nugly, snarling brutes with it, and both were dashed to pieces on the\nsharp rocks at the bottom.\n\n\"Well,\" said the Cowardly Lion, drawing a long breath of relief, \"I\nsee we are going to live a little while longer, and I am glad of it,\nfor it must be a very uncomfortable thing not to be alive. Those\ncreatures frightened me so badly that my heart is beating yet.\"\n\n\"Ah.\" said the Tin Woodman, sadly, \"I wish I had a heart to beat.\"\n\n \n\nThis adventure made the travellers more anxious than ever to get out of\nthe forest, and they walked so fast that Dorothy became tired, and had\nto ride on the Lion's back. To their great joy the trees became thinner\nthe further they advanced, and in the afternoon they suddenly came upon\na broad river, flowing swiftly just before them. On the other side of\nthe water they could see the road of yellow brick running through a\nbeautiful country, with green meadows dotted with bright flowers and\nall the road bordered with trees hanging full of delicious fruits. They\nwere greatly pleased to see this delightful country before them.\n\n\"How shall we cross the river?\" asked Dorothy.\n\n\"That is easily done,\" replied the Scarecrow. \"The Tin Woodman must\nbuild us a raft, so we can float to the other side.\"\n\nSo the Woodman took his axe and began to chop down small trees to make\na raft, and while he was busy at this the Scarecrow found on the river\nbank a tree full of fine fruit. This pleased Dorothy, who had eaten\nnothing but nuts all day, and she made a hearty meal of the ripe fruit.\n\nBut it takes time to make a raft, even when one is as industrious and\nuntiring as the Tin Woodman, and when night came the work was not done.\nSo they found a cozy place under the trees where they slept well until\nthe morning; and Dorothy dreamed of the Emerald City, and of the good\nWizard Oz, who would soon send her back to her own home again.\n\n \n\n\n\n\n                             Chapter VIII.\n\n                               The Deadly\n                              Poppy Field.\n\n\n \n\n \n\nOur little party of travellers awakened next morning refreshed and\nfull of hope, and Dorothy breakfasted like a princess off peaches and\nplums from the trees beside the river.\n\nBehind them was the dark forest they had passed safely through,\nalthough they had suffered many discouragements; but before them was a\nlovely, sunny country that seemed to beckon them on to the Emerald City.\n\nTo be sure, the broad river now cut them off from this beautiful\nland; but the raft was nearly done, and after the Tin Woodman had cut\na few more logs and fastened them together with wooden pins, they\nwere ready to start. Dorothy sat down in the middle of the raft and\nheld Toto in her arms. When the Cowardly Lion stepped upon the raft\nit tipped badly, for he was big and heavy; but the Scarecrow and the\nTin Woodman stood upon the other end to steady it, and they had long\npoles in their hands to push the raft through the water.\n\nThey got along quite well at first, but when they reached the middle\nof the river the swift current swept the raft down stream, farther\nand farther away from the road of yellow brick; and the water grew so\ndeep that the long poles would not touch the bottom.\n\n\"This is bad,\" said the Tin Woodman, \"for if we cannot get to the\nland we shall be carried into the country of the wicked Witch of the\nWest, and she will enchant us and make us her slaves.\"\n\n\"And then I should get no brains,\" said the Scarecrow.\n\n\"And I should get no courage,\" said the Cowardly Lion.\n\n \n\n\"And I should get no heart,\" said the Tin Woodman.\n\n\"And I should never get back to Kansas,\" said Dorothy.\n\n\"We must certainly get to the Emerald City if we can,\" the Scarecrow\ncontinued, and he pushed so hard on his long pole that it stuck fast\nin the mud at the bottom of the river, and before he could pull it\nout again, or let go, the raft was swept away and the poor Scarecrow\nleft clinging to the pole in the middle of the river.\n\n\"Good bye!\" he called after them, and they were very sorry to leave\nhim; indeed, the Tin Woodman began to cry, but fortunately remembered\nthat he might rust, and so dried his tears on Dorothy's apron.\n\nOf course this was a bad thing for the Scarecrow.\n\n\"I am now worse off than when I first met Dorothy,\" he thought.\n\"Then, I was stuck on a pole in a cornfield, where I could make\nbelieve scare the crows, at any rate; but surely there is no use for\na Scarecrow stuck on a pole in the middle of a river. I am afraid I\nshall never have any brains, after all!\"\n\n \n\nDown the stream the raft floated, and the poor Scarecrow was left far\nbehind. Then the Lion said:\n\n\"Something must be done to save us. I think I can swim to the shore\nand pull the raft after me, if you will only hold fast to the tip of\nmy tail.\"\n\n \n\nSo he sprang into the water and the Tin Woodman caught fast hold\nof his tail, when the Lion began to swim with all his might toward\nthe shore. It was hard work, although he was so big; but by and by\nthey were drawn out of the current, and then Dorothy took the Tin\nWoodman's long pole and helped push the raft to the land.\n\nThey were all tired out when they reached the shore at last and\nstepped off upon the pretty green grass, and they also knew that the\nstream had carried them a long way past the road of yellow brick that\nled to the Emerald City.\n\n\"What shall we do now?\" asked the Tin Woodman, as the Lion lay down\non the grass to let the sun dry him.\n\n\"We must get back to the road, in some way,\" said Dorothy.\n\n\"The best plan will be to walk along the river bank until we come to\nthe road again,\" remarked the Lion.\n\nSo, when they were rested, Dorothy picked up her basket and they\nstarted along the grassy bank, back to the road from which the river\nhad carried them. It was a lovely country, with plenty of flowers\nand fruit trees and sunshine to cheer them, and had they not felt so\nsorry for the poor Scarecrow they could have been very happy.\n\nThey walked along as fast as they could, Dorothy only stopping once to\npick a beautiful flower; and after a time the Tin Woodman cried out,\n\n\"Look!\"\n\nThen they all looked at the river and saw the Scarecrow perched upon\nhis pole in the middle of the water, looking very lonely and sad.\n\n\"What can we do to save him?\" asked Dorothy.\n\nThe Lion and the Woodman both shook their heads, for they did not\nknow. So they sat down upon the bank and gazed wistfully at the\nScarecrow until a Stork flew by, which, seeing them, stopped to rest\nat the water's edge.\n\n\"Who are you, and where are you going?\" asked the Stork.\n\n\"I am Dorothy,\" answered the girl; \"and these are my friends, the Tin\nWoodman and the Cowardly Lion; and we are going to the Emerald City.\"\n\n\"This isn't the road,\" said the Stork, as she twisted her long neck\nand looked sharply at the queer party.\n\n\"I know it,\" returned Dorothy, \"but we have lost the Scarecrow, and\nare wondering how we shall get him again.\"\n\n\"Where is he?\" asked the Stork.\n\n\"Over there in the river,\" answered the girl.\n\n\"If he wasn't so big and heavy I would get him for you,\" remarked the\nStork.\n\n\"He isn't heavy a bit,\" said Dorothy, eagerly, \"for he is stuffed\nwith straw; and if you will bring him back to us we shall thank you\never and ever so much.\"\n\n\"Well, I'll try,\" said the Stork; \"but if I find he is too heavy to\ncarry I shall have to drop him in the river again.\"\n\nSo the big bird flew into the air and over the water till she came to\nwhere the Scarecrow was perched upon his pole. Then the Stork with\nher great claws grabbed the Scarecrow by the arm and carried him up\ninto the air and back to the bank, where Dorothy and the Lion and the\nTin Woodman and Toto were sitting.\n\nWhen the Scarecrow found himself among his friends again he was so\nhappy that he hugged them all, even the Lion and Toto; and as they\nwalked along he sang \"Tol-de-ri-de-oh!\" at every step, he felt so gay.\n\n\"I was afraid I should have to stay in the river forever,\" he said,\n\"but the kind Stork saved me, and if I ever get any brains I shall\nfind the Stork again and do it some kindness in return.\"\n\n\"That's all right,\" said the Stork, who was flying along beside them.\n\"I always like to help anyone in trouble. But I must go now, for\nmy babies are waiting in the nest for me. I hope you will find the\nEmerald City and that Oz will help you.\"\n\n\"Thank you,\" replied Dorothy, and then the kind Stork flew into the\nair and was soon out of sight.\n\n[Illustration: \"_The Stork carried him up into the air._\"]\n\nThey walked along listening to the singing of the bright-colored\nbirds and looking at the lovely flowers which now became so thick that\nthe ground was carpeted with them. There were big yellow and white and\nblue and purple blossoms, besides great clusters of scarlet poppies,\nwhich were so brilliant in color they almost dazzled Dorothy's eyes.\n\n\"Aren't they beautiful?\" the girl asked, as she breathed in the spicy\nscent of the flowers.\n\n\"I suppose so,\" answered the Scarecrow. \"When I have brains I shall\nprobably like them better.\"\n\n\"If I only had a heart I should love them,\" added the Tin Woodman.\n\n\"I always did like flowers,\" said the Lion; \"they seem so helpless\nand frail. But there are none in the forest so bright as these.\"\n\nThey now came upon more and more of the big scarlet poppies, and\nfewer and fewer of the other flowers; and soon they found themselves\nin the midst of a great meadow of poppies. Now it is well known\nthat when there are many of these flowers together their odor is so\npowerful that anyone who breathes it falls asleep, and if the sleeper\nis not carried away from the scent of the flowers he sleeps on and on\nforever. But Dorothy did not know this, nor could she get away from\nthe bright red flowers that were everywhere about; so presently her\neyes grew heavy and she felt she must sit down to rest and to sleep.\n\nBut the Tin Woodman would not let her do this.\n\n\"We must hurry and get back to the road of yellow brick before dark,\"\nhe said; and the Scarecrow agreed with him. So they kept walking\nuntil Dorothy could stand no longer. Her eyes closed in spite of\nherself and she forgot where she was and fell among the poppies, fast\nasleep.\n\n\"What shall we do?\" asked the Tin Woodman.\n\n\"If we leave her here she will die,\" said the Lion. \"The smell of the\nflowers is killing us all. I myself can scarcely keep my eyes open\nand the dog is asleep already.\"\n\nIt was true; Toto had fallen down beside his little mistress. But\nthe Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, not being made of flesh, were not\ntroubled by the scent of the flowers.\n\n \n\n\"Run fast,\" said the Scarecrow to the Lion, \"and get out of this\ndeadly flower-bed as soon as you can. We will bring the little girl\nwith us, but if you should fall asleep you are too big to be carried.\"\n\nSo the Lion aroused himself and bounded forward as fast as he could\ngo. In a moment he was out of sight.\n\n\"Let us make a chair with our hands, and carry her,\" said the\nScarecrow. So they picked up Toto and put the dog in Dorothy's lap, and\nthen they made a chair with their hands for the seat and their arms for\nthe arms and carried the sleeping girl between them through the flowers.\n\nOn and on they walked, and it seemed that the great carpet of deadly\nflowers that surrounded them would never end. They followed the bend\nof the river, and at last came upon their friend the Lion, lying\nfast asleep among the poppies. The flowers had been too strong for\nthe huge beast and he had given up, at last, and fallen only a short\ndistance from the end of the poppy-bed, where the sweet grass spread\nin beautiful green fields before them.\n\n\"We can do nothing for him,\" said the Tin Woodman, sadly; \"for he is\nmuch too heavy to lift. We must leave him here to sleep on forever,\nand perhaps he will dream that he has found courage at last.\"\n\n\"I'm sorry,\" said the Scarecrow; \"the Lion was a very good comrade\nfor one so cowardly. But let us go on.\"\n\nThey carried the sleeping girl to a pretty spot beside the river,\nfar enough from the poppy field to prevent her breathing any more of\nthe poison of the flowers, and here they laid her gently on the soft\ngrass and waited for the fresh breeze to waken her.\n\n \n\n\n\n\n                              Chapter IX.\n\n                            The Queen of the\n                              Field Mice.\n\n\n \n\n \n\n\"We cannot be far from the road of yellow brick, now,\" remarked the\nScarecrow, as he stood beside the girl, \"for we have come nearly as\nfar as the river carried us away.\"\n\nThe Tin Woodman was about to reply when he heard a low growl, and\nturning his head (which worked beautifully on hinges) he saw a\nstrange beast come bounding over the grass towards them. It was,\nindeed, a great, yellow wildcat, and the Woodman thought it must be\nchasing something, for its ears were lying close to its head and its\nmouth was wide open, showing two rows of ugly teeth, while its red\neyes glowed like balls of fire. As it came nearer the Tin Woodman\nsaw that running before the beast was a little gray field-mouse, and\nalthough he had no heart he knew it was wrong for the wildcat to try\nto kill such a pretty, harmless creature.\n\nSo the Woodman raised his axe, and as the wildcat ran by he gave it a\nquick blow that cut the beast's head clean off from its body, and it\nrolled over at his feet in two pieces.\n\nThe field-mouse, now that it was freed from its enemy, stopped short;\nand coming slowly up to the Woodman it said, in a squeaky little voice,\n\n\"Oh, thank you! Thank you ever so much for saving my life.\"\n\n\"Don't speak of it, I beg of you,\" replied the Woodman. \"I have no\nheart, you know, so I am careful to help all those who may need a\nfriend, even if it happens to be only a mouse.\"\n\n\"Only a mouse!\" cried the little animal, indignantly; \"why, I am a\nQueen--the Queen of all the field-mice!\"\n\n\"Oh, indeed,\" said the Woodman, making a bow.\n\n\"Therefore you have done a great deed, as well as a brave one, in\nsaving my life,\" added the Queen.\n\nAt that moment several mice were seen running up as fast as their\nlittle legs could carry them, and when they saw their Queen they\nexclaimed,\n\n[Illustration: \"_Permit me to introduce to you her Majesty, the\nQueen._\"]\n\n\"Oh, your Majesty, we thought you would be killed! How did you manage\nto escape the great Wildcat?\" and they all bowed so low to the\nlittle Queen that they almost stood upon their heads.\n\n\"This funny tin man,\" she answered, \"killed the Wildcat and saved my\nlife. So hereafter you must all serve him, and obey his slightest wish.\"\n\n\"We will!\" cried all the mice, in a shrill chorus. And then they\nscampered in all directions, for Toto had awakened from his sleep,\nand seeing all these mice around him he gave one bark of delight and\njumped right into the middle of the group. Toto had always loved to\nchase mice when he lived in Kansas, and he saw no harm in it.\n\nBut the Tin Woodman caught the dog in his arms and held him tight,\nwhile he called to the mice: \"Come back! come back! Toto shall not\nhurt you.\"\n\nAt this the Queen of the Mice stuck her head out from a clump of\ngrass and asked, in a timid voice,\n\n\"Are you sure he will not bite us?\"\n\n\"I will not let him,\" said the Woodman; \"so do not be afraid.\"\n\n \n\nOne by one the mice came creeping back, and Toto did not bark again,\nalthough he tried to get out of the Woodman's arms, and would have\nbitten him had he not known very well he was made of tin. Finally one\nof the biggest mice spoke.\n\n\"Is there anything we can do,\" it asked, \"to repay you for saving the\nlife of our Queen?\"\n\n\"Nothing that I know of,\" answered the Woodman; but the Scarecrow,\nwho had been trying to think, but could not because his head was\nstuffed with straw, said, quickly,\n\n\"Oh, yes; you can save our friend, the Cowardly Lion, who is asleep\nin the poppy bed.\"\n\n\"A Lion!\" cried the little Queen; \"why, he would eat us all up.\"\n\n\"Oh, no;\" declared the Scarecrow; \"this Lion is a coward.\"\n\n\"Really?\" asked the Mouse.\n\n\"He says so himself,\" answered the Scarecrow, \"and he would never\nhurt anyone who is our friend. If you will help us to save him I\npromise that he shall treat you all with kindness.\"\n\n\"Very well,\" said the Queen, \"we will trust you. But what shall we do?\"\n\n\"Are there many of these mice which call you Queen and are willing to\nobey you?\"\n\n\"Oh, yes; there are thousands,\" she replied.\n\n\"Then send for them all to come here as soon as possible, and let\neach one bring a long piece of string.\"\n\nThe Queen turned to the mice that attended her and told them to go at\nonce and get all her people. As soon as they heard her orders they\nran away in every direction as fast as possible.\n\n\"Now,\" said the Scarecrow to the Tin Woodman, \"you must go to those\ntrees by the river-side and make a truck that will carry the Lion.\"\n\nSo the Woodman went at once to the trees and began to work; and he\nsoon made a truck out of the limbs of trees, from which he chopped\naway all the leaves and branches. He fastened it together with\nwooden pegs and made the four wheels out of short pieces of a big\ntree-trunk. So fast and so well did he work that by the time the mice\nbegan to arrive the truck was all ready for them.\n\nThey came from all directions, and there were thousands of them: big\nmice and little mice and middle-sized mice; and each one brought a\npiece of string in his mouth. It was about this time that Dorothy woke\nfrom her long sleep and opened her eyes. She was greatly astonished\nto find herself lying upon the grass, with thousands of mice standing\naround and looking at her timidly. But the Scarecrow told her about\neverything, and turning to the dignified little Mouse, he said,\n\n\"Permit me to introduce to you her Majesty, the Queen.\"\n\nDorothy nodded gravely and the Queen made a courtesy, after which she\nbecame quite friendly with the little girl.\n\nThe Scarecrow and the Woodman now began to fasten the mice to the\ntruck, using the strings they had brought. One end of a string was\ntied around the neck of each mouse and the other end to the truck.\nOf course the truck was a thousand times bigger than any of the mice\nwho were to draw it; but when all the mice had been harnessed they\nwere able to pull it quite easily. Even the Scarecrow and the Tin\nWoodman could sit on it, and were drawn swiftly by their queer little\nhorses to the place where the Lion lay asleep.\n\n \n\nAfter a great deal of hard work, for the Lion was heavy, they managed\nto get him up on the truck. Then the Queen hurriedly gave her people\nthe order to start, for she feared if the mice stayed among the\npoppies too long they also would fall asleep.\n\n \n\nAt first the little creatures, many though they were, could hardly stir\nthe heavily loaded truck; but the Woodman and the Scarecrow both pushed\nfrom behind, and they got along better. Soon they rolled the Lion out\nof the poppy bed to the green fields, where he could breathe the sweet,\nfresh air again, instead of the poisonous scent of the flowers.\n\nDorothy came to meet them and thanked the little mice warmly for\nsaving her companion from death. She had grown so fond of the big\nLion she was glad he had been rescued.\n\nThen the mice were unharnessed from the truck and scampered away\nthrough the grass to their homes. The Queen of the Mice was the last\nto leave.\n\n\"If ever you need us again,\" she said, \"come out into the field and\ncall, and we shall hear you and come to your assistance. Good bye!\"\n\n\"Good bye!\" they all answered, and away the Queen ran, while Dorothy\nheld Toto tightly lest he should run after her and frighten her.\n\nAfter this they sat down beside the Lion until he should awaken; and\nthe Scarecrow brought Dorothy some fruit from a tree near by, which\nshe ate for her dinner.\n\n \n\n\n\n\n                               Chapter X.\n\n                              The Guardian\n                              of the Gate.\n\n\n \n\n \n\nIt was some time before the Cowardly Lion awakened, for he had lain\namong the poppies a long while, breathing in their deadly fragrance;\nbut when he did open his eyes and roll off the truck he was very glad\nto find himself still alive.\n\n\"I ran as fast as I could,\" he said, sitting down and yawning; \"but\nthe flowers were too strong for me. How did you get me out?\"\n\nThen they told him of the field-mice, and how they had generously\nsaved him from death; and the Cowardly Lion laughed, and said,\n\n\"I have always thought myself very big and terrible; yet such small\nthings as flowers came near to killing me, and such small animals as\nmice have saved my life. How strange it all is! But, comrades, what\nshall we do now?\"\n\n\"We must journey on until we find the road of yellow brick again,\"\nsaid Dorothy; \"and then we can keep on to the Emerald City.\"\n\nSo, the Lion being fully refreshed, and feeling quite himself again,\nthey all started upon the journey, greatly enjoying the walk through\nthe soft, fresh grass; and it was not long before they reached the\nroad of yellow brick and turned again toward the Emerald City where\nthe great Oz dwelt.\n\n \n\nThe road was smooth and well paved, now, and the country about was\nbeautiful; so that the travelers rejoiced in leaving the forest far\nbehind, and with it the many dangers they had met in its gloomy\nshades. Once more they could see fences built beside the road; but\nthese were painted green, and when they came to a small house, in\nwhich a farmer evidently lived, that also was painted green. They\npassed by several of these houses during the afternoon, and sometimes\npeople came to the doors and looked at them as if they would like to\nask questions; but no one came near them nor spoke to them because of\nthe great Lion, of which they were much afraid. The people were all\ndressed in clothing of a lovely emerald green color and wore peaked\nhats like those of the Munchkins.\n\n \n\n\"This must be the Land of Oz,\" said Dorothy, \"and we are surely\ngetting near the Emerald City.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" answered the Scarecrow; \"everything is green here, while in\nthe country of the Munchkins blue was the favorite color. But the\npeople do not seem to be as friendly as the Munchkins and I'm afraid\nwe shall be unable to find a place to pass the night.\"\n\n\"I should like something to eat besides fruit,\" said the girl, \"and\nI'm sure Toto is nearly starved. Let us stop at the next house and\ntalk to the people.\"\n\nSo, when they came to a good sized farm house, Dorothy walked boldly\nup to the door and knocked. A woman opened it just far enough to look\nout, and said,\n\n\"What do you want, child, and why is that great Lion with you?\"\n\n\"We wish to pass the night with you, if you will allow us,\" answered\nDorothy; \"and the Lion is my friend and comrade, and would not hurt\nyou for the world.\"\n\n\"Is he tame?\" asked the woman, opening the door a little wider.\n\n\"Oh, yes;\" said the girl, \"and he is a great coward, too; so that he\nwill be more afraid of you than you are of him.\"\n\n\"Well,\" said the woman, after thinking it over and taking another\npeep at the Lion, \"if that is the case you may come in, and I will\ngive you some supper and a place to sleep.\"\n\nSo they all entered the house, where there were, besides the woman,\ntwo children and a man. The man had hurt his leg, and was lying on the\ncouch in a corner. They seemed greatly surprised to see so strange a\ncompany, and while the woman was busy laying the table the man asked,\n\n\"Where are you all going?\"\n\n\"To the Emerald City,\" said Dorothy, \"to see the Great Oz.\"\n\n\"Oh, indeed!\" exclaimed the man. \"Are you sure that Oz will see you?\"\n\n\"Why not?\" she replied.\n\n\"Why, it is said that he never lets any one come into his presence. I\nhave been to the Emerald City many times, and it is a beautiful and\nwonderful place; but I have never been permitted to see the Great Oz,\nnor do I know of any living person who has seen him.\"\n\n\"Does he never go out?\" asked the Scarecrow.\n\n\"Never. He sits day after day in the great throne room of his palace,\nand even those who wait upon him do not see him face to face.\"\n\n\"What is he like?\" asked the girl.\n\n\"That is hard to tell,\" said the man, thoughtfully. \"You see, Oz is a\ngreat Wizard, and can take on any form he wishes. So that some say he\nlooks like a bird; and some say he looks like an elephant; and some\nsay he looks like a cat. To others he appears as a beautiful fairy,\nor a brownie, or in any other form that pleases him. But who the real\nOz is, when he is in his own form, no living person can tell.\"\n\n\"That is very strange,\" said Dorothy; \"but we must try, in some way,\nto see him, or we shall have made our journey for nothing.\"\n\n \n\n\"Why do you wish to see the terrible Oz?\" asked the man.\n\n\"I want him to give me some brains,\" said the Scarecrow, eagerly.\n\n\"Oh, Oz could do that easily enough,\" declared the man. \"He has more\nbrains than he needs.\"\n\n\"And I want him to give me a heart,\" said the Tin Woodman.\n\n\"That will not trouble him,\" continued the man, \"for Oz has a large\ncollection of hearts, of all sizes and shapes.\"\n\n\"And I want him to give me courage,\" said the Cowardly Lion.\n\n\"Oz keeps a great pot of courage in his throne room,\" said the man,\n\"which he has covered with a golden plate, to keep it from running\nover. He will be glad to give you some.\"\n\n\"And I want him to send me back to Kansas,\" said Dorothy.\n\n\"Where is Kansas?\" asked the man, in surprise.\n\n\"I don't know,\" replied Dorothy, sorrowfully; \"but it is my home, and\nI'm sure it's somewhere.\"\n\n\"Very likely. Well, Oz can do anything; so I suppose he will find\nKansas for you. But first you must get to see him, and that will be\na hard task; for the great Wizard does not like to see anyone, and\nhe usually has his own way. But what do you want?\" he continued,\nspeaking to Toto. Toto only wagged his tail; for, strange to say, he\ncould not speak.\n\n[Illustration: \"_The Lion ate some of the porridge._\"]\n\nThe woman now called to them that supper was ready, so they gathered\naround the table and Dorothy ate some delicious porridge and a dish of\nscrambled eggs and a plate of nice white bread, and enjoyed her meal.\nThe Lion ate some of the porridge, but did not care for it, saying it\nwas made from oats and oats were food for horses, not for lions. The\nScarecrow and the Tin Woodman ate nothing at all. Toto ate a little of\neverything, and was glad to get a good supper again.\n\nThe woman now gave Dorothy a bed to sleep in, and Toto lay down beside\nher, while the Lion guarded the door of her room so she might not be\ndisturbed. The Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman stood up in a corner and\nkept quiet all night, although of course they could not sleep.\n\nThe next morning, as soon as the sun was up, they started on their\nway, and soon saw a beautiful green glow in the sky just before them.\n\n\"That must be the Emerald City,\" said Dorothy.\n\nAs they walked on, the green glow became brighter and brighter, and it\nseemed that at last they were nearing the end of their travels. Yet it\nwas afternoon before they came to the great wall that surrounded the\nCity. It was high, and thick, and of a bright green color.\n\nIn front of them, and at the end of the road of yellow brick, was a big\ngate, all studded with emeralds that glittered so in the sun that even\nthe painted eyes of the Scarecrow were dazzled by their brilliancy.\n\nThere was a bell beside the gate, and Dorothy pushed the button and\nheard a silvery tinkle sound within. Then the big gate swung slowly\nopen, and they all passed through and found themselves in a high\narched room, the walls of which glistened with countless emeralds.\n\nBefore them stood a little man about the same size as the Munchkins.\nHe was clothed all in green, from his head to his feet, and even his\nskin was of a greenish tint. At his side was a large green box.\n\nWhen he saw Dorothy and her companions the man asked,\n\n\"What do you wish in the Emerald City?\"\n\n\"We came here to see the Great Oz,\" said Dorothy.\n\nThe man was so surprised at this answer that he sat down to think it\nover.\n\n\"It has been many years since anyone asked me to see Oz,\" he said,\nshaking his head in perplexity. \"He is powerful and terrible, and if\nyou come on an idle or foolish errand to bother the wise reflections of\nthe Great Wizard, he might be angry and destroy you all in an instant.\"\n\n \n\n\"But it is not a foolish errand, nor an idle one,\" replied the\nScarecrow; \"it is important. And we have been told that Oz is a good\nWizard.\"\n\n\"So he is,\" said the green man; \"and he rules the Emerald City wisely\nand well. But to those who are not honest, or who approach him from\ncuriosity, he is most terrible, and few have ever dared ask to see\nhis face. I am the Guardian of the Gates, and since you demand to see\nthe Great Oz I must take you to his palace. But first you must put on\nthe spectacles.\"\n\n\"Why?\" asked Dorothy.\n\n\"Because if you did not wear spectacles the brightness and glory of\nthe Emerald City would blind you. Even those who live in the City\nmust wear spectacles night and day. They are all locked on, for Oz\nso ordered it when the City was first built, and I have the only key\nthat will unlock them.\"\n\n \n\nHe opened the big box, and Dorothy saw that it was filled with\nspectacles of every size and shape. All of them had green glasses\nin them. The Guardian of the gates found a pair that would just fit\nDorothy and put them over her eyes. There were two golden bands\nfastened to them that passed around the back of her head, where they\nwere locked together by a little key that was at the end of a chain the\nGuardian of the Gates wore around his neck. When they were on, Dorothy\ncould not take them off had she wished, but of course she did not want\nto be blinded by the glare of the Emerald City, so she said nothing.\n\nThen the green man fitted spectacles for the Scarecrow and the Tin\nWoodman and the Lion, and even on little Toto; and all were locked\nfast with the key.\n\nThen the Guardian of the Gates put on his own glasses and told them\nhe was ready to show them to the palace. Taking a big golden key from\na peg on the wall he opened another gate, and they all followed him\nthrough the portal into the streets of the Emerald City.\n\n\n\n\n                              Chapter XI.\n\n                             The Wonderful\n                          Emerald City of Oz.\n\n \n\nEven with eyes protected by the green spectacles Dorothy and her\nfriends were at first dazzled by the brilliancy of the wonderful City.\nThe streets were lined with beautiful houses all built of green marble\nand studded everywhere with sparkling emeralds. They walked over a\npavement of the same green marble, and where the blocks were joined\ntogether were rows of emeralds, set closely, and glittering in the\nbrightness of the sun. The window panes were of green glass; even the\nsky above the City had a green tint, and the rays of the sun were green.\n\nThere were many people, men, women and children, walking about, and\nthese were all dressed in green clothes and had greenish skins. They\nlooked at Dorothy and her strangely assorted company with wondering\neyes, and the children all ran away and hid behind their mothers when\nthey saw the Lion; but no one spoke to them. Many shops stood in the\nstreet, and Dorothy saw that everything in them was green. Green\ncandy and green pop-corn were offered for sale, as well as green\nshoes, green hats and green clothes of all sorts. At one place a man\nwas selling green lemonade, and when the children bought it Dorothy\ncould see that they paid for it with green pennies.\n\nThere seemed to be no horses nor animals of any kind; the men carried\nthings around in little green carts, which they pushed before them.\nEveryone seemed happy and contented and prosperous.\n\nThe Guardian of the Gates led them through the streets until they\ncame to a big building, exactly in the middle of the City, which was\nthe Palace of Oz, the Great Wizard. There was a soldier before the\ndoor, dressed in a green uniform and wearing a long green beard.\n\n\"Here are strangers,\" said the Guardian of the Gates to him, \"and\nthey demand to see the Great Oz.\"\n\n\"Step inside,\" answered the soldier, \"and I will carry your message\nto him.\"\n\nSo they passed through the Palace gates and were led into a big room\nwith a green carpet and lovely green furniture set with emeralds.\nThe soldier made them all wipe their feet upon a green mat before\nentering this room, and when they were seated he said, politely,\n\n\"Please make yourselves comfortable while I go to the door of the\nThrone Room and tell Oz you are here.\"\n\nThey had to wait a long time before the soldier returned. When, at\nlast, he came back, Dorothy asked,\n\n\"Have you seen Oz?\"\n\n \n\n\"Oh, no;\" returned the soldier; \"I have never seen him. But I spoke\nto him as he sat behind his screen, and gave him your message. He\nsays he will grant you an audience, if you so desire; but each one\nof you must enter his presence alone, and he will admit but one each\nday. Therefore, as you must remain in the Palace for several days, I\nwill have you shown to rooms where you may rest in comfort after your\njourney.\"\n\n\"Thank you,\" replied the girl; \"that is very kind of Oz.\"\n\nThe soldier now blew upon a green whistle, and at once a young girl,\ndressed in a pretty green silk gown, entered the room. She had\nlovely green hair and green eyes, and she bowed low before Dorothy as\nshe said,\n\n\"Follow me and I will show you your room.\"\n\nSo Dorothy said good-bye to all her friends except Toto, and taking\nthe dog in her arms followed the green girl through seven passages\nand up three flights of stairs until they came to a room at the front\nof the Palace. It was the sweetest little room in the world, with\na soft, comfortable bed that had sheets of green silk and a green\nvelvet counterpane. There was a tiny fountain in the middle of the\nroom, that shot a spray of green perfume into the air, to fall back\ninto a beautifully carved green marble basin. Beautiful green flowers\nstood in the windows, and there was a shelf with a row of little\ngreen books. When Dorothy had time to open these books she found them\nfull of queer green pictures that made her laugh, they were so funny.\n\nIn a wardrobe were many green dresses, made of silk and satin and\nvelvet; and all of them fitted Dorothy exactly.\n\n\"Make yourself perfectly at home,\" said the green girl, \"and if you\nwish for anything ring the bell. Oz will send for you to-morrow\nmorning.\"\n\nShe left Dorothy alone and went back to the others. These she also\nled to rooms, and each one of them found himself lodged in a very\npleasant part of the Palace. Of course this politeness was wasted on\nthe Scarecrow; for when he found himself alone in his room he stood\nstupidly in one spot, just within the doorway, to wait till morning.\nIt would not rest him to lie down, and he could not close his eyes;\nso he remained all night staring at a little spider which was weaving\nits web in a corner of the room, just as if it were not one of the\nmost wonderful rooms in the world. The Tin Woodman lay down on his\nbed from force of habit, for he remembered when he was made of flesh;\nbut not being able to sleep he passed the night moving his joints up\nand down to make sure they kept in good working order. The Lion would\nhave preferred a bed of dried leaves in the forest, and did not like\nbeing shut up in a room; but he had too much sense to let this worry\nhim, so he sprang upon the bed and rolled himself up like a cat and\npurred himself asleep in a minute.\n\nThe next morning, after breakfast, the green maiden came to fetch\nDorothy, and she dressed her in one of the prettiest gowns--made of\ngreen brocaded satin. Dorothy put on a green silk apron and tied a\ngreen ribbon around Toto's neck, and they started for the Throne Room\nof the Great Oz.\n\n \n\nFirst they came to a great hall in which were many ladies and\ngentlemen of the court, all dressed in rich costumes. These people\nhad nothing to do but talk to each other, but they always came to\nwait outside the Throne Room every morning, although they were never\npermitted to see Oz. As Dorothy entered they looked at her curiously,\nand one of them whispered,\n\n\"Are you really going to look upon the face of Oz the Terrible?\"\n\n\"Of course,\" answered the girl, \"if he will see me.\"\n\n\"Oh, he will see you,\" said the soldier who had taken her message\nto the Wizard, \"although he does not like to have people ask to see\nhim. Indeed, at first he was angry, and said I should send you back\nwhere you came from. Then he asked me what you looked like, and when\nI mentioned your silver shoes he was very much interested. At last I\ntold him about the mark upon your forehead, and he decided he would\nadmit you to his presence.\"\n\nJust then a bell rang, and the green girl said to Dorothy,\n\n\"That is the signal. You must go into the Throne Room alone.\"\n\nShe opened a little door and Dorothy walked boldly through and found\nherself in a wonderful place. It was a big, round room with a high\narched roof, and the walls and ceiling and floor were covered with\nlarge emeralds set closely together. In the center of the roof was a\ngreat light, as bright as the sun, which made the emeralds sparkle in\na wonderful manner.\n\nBut what interested Dorothy most was the big throne of green marble\nthat stood in the middle of the room. It was shaped like a chair\nand sparkled with gems, as did everything else. In the center of the\nchair was an enormous Head, without body to support it or any arms or\nlegs whatever. There was no hair upon this head, but it had eyes and\nnose and mouth, and was bigger than the head of the biggest giant.\n\nAs Dorothy gazed upon this in wonder and fear the eyes turned slowly\nand looked at her sharply and steadily. Then the mouth moved, and\nDorothy heard a voice say:\n\n\"I am Oz, the Great and Terrible. Who are you, and why do you seek me?\"\n\nIt was not such an awful voice as she had expected to come from the\nbig Head; so she took courage and answered,\n\n\"I am Dorothy, the Small and Meek. I have come to you for help.\"\n\nThe eyes looked at her thoughtfully for a full minute. Then said the\nvoice:\n\n\"Where did you get the silver shoes?\"\n\n\"I got them from the wicked Witch of the East, when my house fell on\nher and killed her,\" she replied.\n\n\"Where did you get the mark upon your forehead?\" continued the voice.\n\n\"That is where the good Witch of the North kissed me when she bade me\ngood-bye and sent me to you,\" said the girl.\n\nAgain the eyes looked at her sharply, and they saw she was telling\nthe truth. Then Oz asked,\n\n\"What do you wish me to do?\"\n\n\"Send me back to Kansas, where my Aunt Em and Uncle Henry are,\" she\nanswered, earnestly. \"I don't like your country, although it is so\nbeautiful. And I am sure Aunt Em will be dreadfully worried over my\nbeing away so long.\"\n\nThe eyes winked three times, and then they turned up to the ceiling and\ndown to the floor and rolled around so queerly that they seemed to see\nevery part of the room. And at last they looked at Dorothy again.\n\n\"Why should I do this for you?\" asked Oz.\n\n\"Because you are strong and I am weak; because you are a Great Wizard\nand I am only a helpless little girl,\" she answered.\n\n\"But you were strong enough to kill the wicked Witch of the East,\"\nsaid Oz.\n\n\"That just happened,\" returned Dorothy, simply; \"I could not help it.\"\n\n\"Well,\" said the Head, \"I will give you my answer. You have no right\nto expect me to send you back to Kansas unless you do something for\nme in return. In this country everyone must pay for everything he\ngets. If you wish me to use my magic power to send you home again you\nmust do something for me first. Help me and I will help you.\"\n\n\"What must I do?\" asked the girl.\n\n\"Kill the wicked Witch of the West,\" answered Oz.\n\n\"But I cannot!\" exclaimed Dorothy, greatly surprised.\n\n\"You killed the Witch of the East and you wear the silver shoes,\nwhich bear a powerful charm. There is now but one Wicked Witch left\nin all this land, and when you can tell me she is dead I will send\nyou back to Kansas--but not before.\"\n\nThe little girl began to weep, she was so much disappointed; and the\neyes winked again and looked upon her anxiously, as if the Great Oz\nfelt that she could help him if she would.\n\n\"I never killed anything, willingly,\" she sobbed; \"and even if I wanted\nto, how could I kill the Wicked Witch? If you, who are Great and\nTerrible, cannot kill her yourself, how do you expect me to do it?\"\n\n \n\n\"I do not know,\" said the Head; \"but that is my answer, and until the\nWicked Witch dies you will not see your Uncle and Aunt again. Remember\nthat the Witch is Wicked--tremendously Wicked--and ought to be killed.\nNow go, and do not ask to see me again until you have done your task.\"\n\nSorrowfully Dorothy left the Throne Room and went back where the\nLion and the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman were waiting to hear what\nOz had said to her.\n\n\"There is no hope for me,\" she said, sadly, \"for Oz will not send me\nhome until I have killed the Wicked Witch of the West; and that I can\nnever do.\"\n\nHer friends were sorry, but could do nothing to help her; so she went\nto her own room and lay down on the bed and cried herself to sleep.\n\nThe next morning the soldier with the green whiskers came to the\nScarecrow and said,\n\n\"Come with me, for Oz has sent for you.\"\n\nSo the Scarecrow followed him and was admitted into the great Throne\nRoom, where he saw, sitting in the emerald throne, a most lovely\nlady. She was dressed in green silk gauze and wore upon her flowing\ngreen locks a crown of jewels. Growing from her shoulders were wings,\ngorgeous in color and so light that they fluttered if the slightest\nbreath of air reached them.\n\nWhen the Scarecrow had bowed, as prettily as his straw stuffing would\nlet him, before this beautiful creature, she looked upon him sweetly,\nand said,\n\n\"I am Oz, the Great and Terrible. Who are you, and why do you seek me?\"\n\nNow the Scarecrow, who had expected to see the great Head Dorothy had\ntold him of, was much astonished; but he answered her bravely.\n\n\"I am only a Scarecrow, stuffed with straw. Therefore I have no\nbrains, and I come to you praying that you will put brains in my head\ninstead of straw, so that I may become as much a man as any other in\nyour dominions.\"\n\n\"Why should I do this for you?\" asked the lady.\n\n\"Because you are wise and powerful, and no one else can help me,\"\nanswered the Scarecrow.\n\n\"I never grant favors without some return,\" said Oz; \"but this much I\nwill promise. If you will kill for me the Wicked Witch of the West I\nwill bestow upon you a great many brains, and such good brains that\nyou will be the wisest man in all the Land of Oz.\"\n\n\"I thought you asked Dorothy to kill the Witch,\" said, the Scarecrow,\nin surprise.\n\n \n\n\"So I did. I don't care who kills her. But until she is dead I will\nnot grant your wish. Now go, and do not seek me again until you have\nearned the brains you so greatly desire.\"\n\nThe Scarecrow went sorrowfully back to his friends and told them what\nOz had said; and Dorothy was surprised to find that the great Wizard\nwas not a Head, as she had seen him, but a lovely lady.\n\n\"All the same,\" said the Scarecrow, \"she needs a heart as much as the\nTin Woodman.\"\n\nOn the next morning the soldier with the green whiskers came to the\nTin Woodman and said,\n\n\"Oz has sent for you. Follow me,\"\n\nSo the Tin Woodman followed him and came to the great Throne Room. He\ndid not know whether he would find Oz a lovely lady or a Head, but\nhe hoped it would be the lovely lady. \"For,\" he said to himself, \"if\nit is the Head, I am sure I shall not be given a heart, since a head\nhas no heart of its own and therefore cannot feel for me. But if it\nis the lovely lady I shall beg hard for a heart, for all ladies are\nthemselves said to be kindly hearted.\"\n\nBut when the Woodman entered the great Throne Room he saw neither\nthe Head nor the Lady, for Oz had taken the shape of a most terrible\nBeast. It was nearly as big as an elephant, and the green throne\nseemed hardly strong enough to hold its weight. The Beast had a head\nlike that of a rhinoceros, only there were five eyes in its face.\nThere were five long arms growing out of its body and it also had\nfive long, slim legs. Thick, woolly hair covered every part of it,\nand a more dreadful looking monster could not be imagined. It was\nfortunate the Tin Woodman had no heart at that moment, for it would\nhave beat loud and fast from terror. But being only tin, the Woodman\nwas not at all afraid, although he was much disappointed.\n\n\"I am Oz, the Great and Terrible,\" spake the Beast, in a voice that\nwas one great roar. \"Who are you, and why do you seek me?\"\n\n[Illustration: \"_The Eyes looked at her thoughtfully._\"]\n\n\"I am a Woodman, and made of tin. Therefore I have no heart, and cannot\nlove. I pray you to give me a heart that I may be as other men are.\"\n\n\"Why should I do this?\" demanded the Beast.\n\n\"Because I ask it, and you alone can grant my request,\" answered the\nWoodman.\n\nOz gave a low growl at this, but said, gruffly,\n\n\"If you indeed desire a heart, you must earn it.\"\n\n\"How?\" asked the Woodman.\n\n\"Help Dorothy to kill the Wicked Witch of the West,\" replied the\nBeast. \"When the Witch is dead, come to me, and I will then give you\nthe biggest and kindest and most loving heart in all the Land of Oz.\"\n\nSo the Tin Woodman was forced to return sorrowfully to his friends\nand tell them of the terrible Beast he had seen. They all wondered\ngreatly at the many forms the great Wizard could take upon himself,\nand the Lion said,\n\n \n\n\"If he is a beast when I go to see him, I shall roar my loudest, and\nso frighten him that he will grant all I ask. And if he is the lovely\nlady, I shall pretend to spring upon her, and so compel her to do my\nbidding. And if he is the great Head, he will be at my mercy; for I\nwill roll this head all about the room until he promises to give us\nwhat we desire. So be of good cheer my friends for all will yet be\nwell.\"\n\nThe next morning the soldier with the green whiskers led the Lion to\nthe great Throne Room and bade him enter the presence of Oz.\n\nThe Lion at once passed through the door, and glancing around saw, to\nhis surprise, that before the throne was a Ball of Fire, so fierce\nand glowing he could scarcely bear to gaze upon it. His first thought\nwas that Oz had by accident caught on fire and was burning up; but,\nwhen he tried to go nearer, the heat was so intense that it singed\nhis whiskers, and he crept back tremblingly to a spot nearer the door.\n\nThen a low, quiet voice came from the Ball of Fire, and these were\nthe words it spoke:\n\n \n\n\"I am Oz, the Great and Terrible. Who are you, and why do you seek\nme?\" And the Lion answered,\n\n\"I am a Cowardly Lion, afraid of everything. I come to you to beg\nthat you give me courage, so that in reality I may become the King of\nBeasts, as men call me.\"\n\n\"Why should I give you courage?\" demanded Oz.\n\n\"Because of all Wizards you are the greatest, and alone have power to\ngrant my request,\" answered the Lion.\n\nThe Ball of Fire burned fiercely for a time, and the voice said,\n\n\"Bring me proof that the Wicked Witch is dead, and that moment I will\ngive you courage. But so long as the Witch lives you must remain a\ncoward.\"\n\nThe Lion was angry at this speech, but could say nothing in reply,\nand while he stood silently gazing at the Ball of Fire it became\nso furiously hot that he turned tail and rushed from the room. He\nwas glad to find his friends waiting for him, and told them of his\nterrible interview with the Wizard.\n\n\"What shall we do now?\" asked Dorothy, sadly.\n\n\"There is only one thing we can do,\" returned the Lion, \"and that\nis to go to the land of the Winkies, seek out the Wicked Witch, and\ndestroy her.\"\n\n\"But suppose we cannot?\" said the girl.\n\n\"Then I shall never have courage,\" declared the Lion.\n\n\"And I shall never have brains,\" added the Scarecrow.\n\n\"And I shall never have a heart,\" spoke the Tin Woodman.\n\n\"And I shall never see Aunt Em and Uncle Henry,\" said Dorothy,\nbeginning to cry.\n\n\"Be careful!\" cried the green girl, \"the tears will fall on your\ngreen silk gown, and spot it.\"\n\nSo Dorothy dried her eyes and said,\n\n\"I suppose we must try it; but I am sure I do not want to kill\nanybody, even to see Aunt Em again.\"\n\n\"I will go with you; but I'm too much of a coward to kill the Witch,\"\nsaid the Lion.\n\n\"I will go too,\" declared the Scarecrow; \"but I shall not be of much\nhelp to you, I am such a fool.\"\n\n\"I haven't the heart to harm even a Witch,\" remarked the Tin Woodman;\n\"but if you go I certainly shall go with you.\"\n\nTherefore it was decided to start upon their journey the next\nmorning, and the Woodman sharpened his axe on a green grindstone and\nhad all his joints properly oiled. The Scarecrow stuffed himself with\nfresh straw and Dorothy put new paint on his eyes that he might see\nbetter. The green girl, who was very kind to them, filled Dorothy's\nbasket with good things to eat, and fastened a little bell around\nToto's neck with a green ribbon.\n\nThey went to bed quite early and slept soundly until daylight, when\nthey were awakened by the crowing of a green cock that lived in the\nback yard of the palace, and the cackling of a hen that had laid a\ngreen egg.\n\n[Illustration: \"_The Soldier with the green whiskers led them through\nthe streets._\"]\n\n\n\n\n                              Chapter XII.\n\n                           The Search for the\n                             Wicked Witch.\n\n\n \n\n \n\nThe soldier with the green whiskers led them through the streets of\nthe Emerald City until they reached the room where the Guardian of the\nGates lived. This officer unlocked their spectacles to put them back in\nhis great box, and then he politely opened the gate for our friends.\n\n\"Which road leads to the Wicked Witch of the West?\" asked Dorothy.\n\n\"There is no road,\" answered the Guardian of the Gates; \"no one ever\nwishes to go that way.\"\n\n\"How, then, are we to find her?\" enquired the girl.\n\n \n\n\"That will be easy,\" replied the man; \"for when she knows you are in\nthe Country of the Winkies she will find you, and make you all her\nslaves.\"\n\n\"Perhaps not,\" said the Scarecrow, \"for we mean to destroy her.\"\n\n \n\n\"Oh, that is different,\" said the Guardian of the Gates. \"No one has\never destroyed her before, so I naturally thought she would make\nslaves of you, as she has of all the rest. But take care; for she is\nwicked and fierce, and may not allow you to destroy her. Keep to the\nWest, where the sun sets, and you cannot fail to find her.\"\n\nThey thanked him and bade him good-bye, and turned toward the West,\nwalking over fields of soft grass dotted here and there with daisies\nand buttercups. Dorothy still wore the pretty silk dress she had\nput on in the palace, but now, to her surprise, she found it was no\nlonger green, but pure white. The ribbon around Toto's neck had also\nlost its green color and was as white as Dorothy's dress.\n\nThe Emerald City was soon left far behind. As they advanced the\nground became rougher and hillier, for there were no farms nor houses\nin this country of the West, and the ground was untilled.\n\nIn the afternoon the sun shone hot in their faces, for there were no\ntrees to offer them shade; so that before night Dorothy and Toto and\nthe Lion were tired, and lay down upon the grass and fell asleep,\nwith the Woodman and the Scarecrow keeping watch.\n\nNow the Wicked Witch of the West had but one eye, yet that was as\npowerful as a telescope, and could see everywhere. So, as she sat in\nthe door of her castle, she happened to look around and saw Dorothy\nlying asleep, with her friends all about her. They were a long\ndistance off, but the Wicked Witch was angry to find them in her\ncountry; so she blew upon a silver whistle that hung around her neck.\n\nAt once there came running to her from all directions a pack of great\nwolves. They had long legs and fierce eyes and sharp teeth.\n\n\"Go to those people,\" said the Witch, \"and tear them to pieces.\"\n\n\"Are you not going to make them your slaves?\" asked the leader of the\nwolves.\n\n\"No,\" she answered, \"one is of tin, and one of straw; one is a girl\nand another a Lion. None of them is fit to work, so you may tear them\ninto small pieces.\"\n\n\"Very well,\" said the wolf, and he dashed away at full speed,\nfollowed by the others.\n\nIt was lucky the Scarecrow and the Woodman were wide awake and heard\nthe wolves coming.\n\n\"This is my fight,\" said the Woodman; \"so get behind me and I will\nmeet them as they come.\"\n\nHe seized his axe, which he had made very sharp, and as the leader\nof the wolves came on the Tin Woodman swung his arm and chopped the\nwolf's head from its body, so that it immediately died. As soon as he\ncould raise his axe another wolf came up, and he also fell under the\nsharp edge of the Tin Woodman's weapon. There were forty wolves, and\nforty times a wolf was killed; so that at last they all lay dead in a\nheap before the Woodman.\n\nThen he put down his axe and sat beside the Scarecrow, who said,\n\n\"It was a good fight, friend.\"\n\nThey waited until Dorothy awoke the next morning. The little girl was\nquite frightened when she saw the great pile of shaggy wolves, but\nthe Tin Woodman told her all. She thanked him for saving them and sat\ndown to breakfast, after which they started again upon their journey.\n\n \n\nNow this same morning the Wicked Witch came to the door of her castle\nand looked out with her one eye that could see afar off. She saw all\nher wolves lying dead, and the strangers still travelling through her\ncountry. This made her angrier than before, and she blew her silver\nwhistle twice.\n\nStraightway a great flock of wild crows came flying toward her,\nenough to darken the sky. And the Wicked Witch said to the King Crow,\n\n\"Fly at once to the strangers; peck out their eyes and tear them to\npieces.\"\n\nThe wild crows flew in one great flock toward Dorothy and her\ncompanions. When the little girl saw them coming she was afraid. But\nthe Scarecrow said,\n\n\"This is my battle; so lie down beside me and you will not be harmed.\"\n\nSo they all lay upon the ground except the Scarecrow, and he stood\nup and stretched out his arms. And when the crows saw him they were\nfrightened, as these birds always are by scarecrows, and did not dare\nto come any nearer. But the King Crow said,\n\n\"It is only a stuffed man. I will peck his eyes out.\"\n\nThe King Crow flew at the Scarecrow, who caught it by the head and\ntwisted its neck until it died. And then another crow flew at him,\nand the Scarecrow twisted its neck also. There were forty crows, and\nforty times the Scarecrow twisted a neck, until at last all were\nlying dead beside him. Then he called to his companions to rise, and\nagain they went upon their journey.\n\nWhen the Wicked Witch looked out again and saw all her crows lying in\na heap, she got into a terrible rage, and blew three times upon her\nsilver whistle.\n\n \n\nForthwith there was heard a great buzzing in the air, and a swarm\nof black bees came flying towards her. \"Go to the strangers and\nsting them to death!\" commanded the Witch, and the bees turned and\nflew rapidly until they came to where Dorothy and her friends were\nwalking. But the Woodman had seen them coming and the Scarecrow had\ndecided what to do.\n\n\"Take out my straw and scatter it over the little girl and the dog\nand the lion,\" he said to the Woodman, \"and the bees cannot sting\nthem.\" This the Woodman did, and as Dorothy lay close beside the Lion\nand held Toto in her arms, the straw covered them entirely.\n\nThe bees came and found no one but the Woodman to sting, so they\nflew at him and broke off all their stings against the tin, without\nhurting the Woodman at all. And as bees cannot live when their stings\nare broken that was the end of the black bees, and they lay scattered\nthick about the Woodman, like little heaps of fine coal.\n\nThen Dorothy and the Lion got up, and the girl helped the Tin Woodman\nput the straw back into the Scarecrow again, until he was as good as\never. So they started upon their journey once more.\n\nThe Wicked Witch was so angry when she saw her black bees in little\nheaps like fine coal that she stamped her foot and tore her hair and\ngnashed her teeth. And then she called a dozen of her slaves, who\nwere the Winkies, and gave them sharp spears, telling them to go to\nthe strangers and destroy them.\n\nThe Winkies were not a brave people, but they had to do as they were\ntold; so they marched away until they came near to Dorothy. Then the\nLion gave a great roar and sprang toward them, and the poor Winkies\nwere so frightened that they ran back as fast as they could.\n\nWhen they returned to the castle the Wicked Witch beat them well\nwith a strap, and sent them back to their work, after which she sat\ndown to think what she should do next. She could not understand how\nall her plans to destroy these strangers had failed; but she was a\npowerful Witch, as well as a wicked one, and she soon made up her\nmind how to act.\n\n \n\nThere was, in her cupboard, a Golden Cap, with a circle of diamonds and\nrubies running round it. This Golden Cap had a charm. Whoever owned\nit could call three times upon the Winged Monkeys, who would obey\nany order they were given. But no person could command these strange\ncreatures more than three times. Twice already the Wicked Witch had\nused the charm of the Cap. Once was when she had made the Winkies her\nslaves, and set herself to rule over their country. The Winged Monkeys\nhad helped her do this. The second time was when she had fought against\nthe Great Oz himself, and driven him out of the land of the West. The\nWinged Monkeys had also helped her in doing this. Only once more could\nshe use this Golden Cap, for which reason she did not like to do so\nuntil all her other powers were exhausted. But now that her fierce\nwolves and her wild crows and her stinging bees were gone, and her\nslaves had been scared away by the Cowardly Lion, she saw there was\nonly one way left to destroy Dorothy and her friends.\n\n \n\nSo the Wicked Witch took the Golden Cap from her cupboard and placed\nit upon her head.\n\nThen she stood upon her left foot and said, slowly, \"Ep-pe, pep-pe,\nkak-ke!\"\n\nNext she stood upon her right foot and said, \"Hil-lo, hol-lo, hel-lo!\"\n\nAfter this she stood upon both feet and cried in a loud voice,\n\"Ziz-zy, zuz-zy, zik!\"\n\nNow the charm began to work. The sky was darkened, and a low\nrumbling sound was heard in the air. There was a rushing of many\nwings; a great chattering and laughing; and the sun came out of the\ndark sky to show the Wicked Witch surrounded by a crowd of monkeys,\neach with a pair of immense and powerful wings on his shoulders.\n\nOne, much bigger than the others, seemed to be their leader. He flew\nclose to the Witch and said,\n\n\"You have called us for the third and last time. What do you command?\"\n\n\"Go to the strangers who are within my land and destroy them all\nexcept the Lion,\" said the Wicked Witch. \"Bring that beast to me, for\nI have a mind to harness him like a horse, and make him work.\"\n\n\"Your commands shall be obeyed,\" said the leader; and then, with a\ngreat deal of chattering and noise, the Winged Monkeys flew away to\nthe place where Dorothy and her friends were walking.\n\n \n\nSome of the Monkeys seized the Tin Woodman and carried him through\nthe air until they were over a country thickly covered with sharp\nrocks. Here they dropped the poor Woodman, who fell a great distance\nto the rocks, where he lay so battered and dented that he could\nneither move nor groan.\n\nOthers of the Monkeys caught the Scarecrow, and with their long\nfingers pulled all of the straw out of his clothes and head. They\nmade his hat and boots and clothes into a small bundle and threw it\ninto the top branches of a tall tree.\n\nThe remaining Monkeys threw pieces of stout rope around the Lion\nand wound many coils about his body and head and legs, until he was\nunable to bite or scratch or struggle in any way. Then they lifted\nhim up and flew away with him to the Witch's castle, where he was\nplaced in a small yard with a high iron fence around it, so that he\ncould not escape.\n\nBut Dorothy they did not harm at all. She stood, with Toto in her\narms, watching the sad fate of her comrades and thinking it would\nsoon be her turn. The leader of the Winged Monkeys flew up to her,\nhis long, hairy arms stretched out and his ugly face grinning\nterribly; but he saw the mark of the Good Witch's kiss upon her\nforehead and stopped short, motioning the others not to touch her.\n\n[Illustration: \"_The Monkeys wound many coils about his body._\"]\n\n\"We dare not harm this little girl,\" he said to them, \"for she is\nprotected by the Power of Good, and that is greater than the Power\nof Evil. All we can do is to carry her to the castle of the Wicked\nWitch and leave her there.\"\n\nSo, carefully and gently, they lifted Dorothy in their arms and\ncarried her swiftly through the air until they came to the castle,\nwhere they set her down upon the front door step. Then the leader\nsaid to the Witch,\n\n\"We have obeyed you as far as we were able. The Tin Woodman and the\nScarecrow are destroyed, and the Lion is tied up in your yard. The\nlittle girl we dare not harm, nor the dog she carries in her arms. Your\npower over our band is now ended, and you will never see us again.\"\n\nThen all the Winged Monkeys, with much laughing and chattering and\nnoise, flew into the air and were soon out of sight.\n\n \n\nThe Wicked Witch was both surprised and worried when she saw the mark\non Dorothy's forehead, for she knew well that neither the Winged\nMonkeys nor she, herself, dare hurt the girl in any way. She looked\ndown at Dorothy's feet, and seeing the Silver Shoes, began to tremble\nwith fear, for she knew what a powerful charm belonged to them. At\nfirst the Witch was tempted to run away from Dorothy; but she happened\nto look into the child's eyes and saw how simple the soul behind them\nwas, and that the little girl did not know of the wonderful power the\nSilver Shoes gave her. So the Wicked Witch laughed to herself, and\nthought, \"I can still make her my slave, for she does not know how to\nuse her power.\" Then she said to Dorothy, harshly and severely,\n\n\"Come with me; and see that you mind everything I tell you, for if\nyou do not I will make an end of you, as I did of the Tin Woodman and\nthe Scarecrow.\"\n\nDorothy followed her through many of the beautiful rooms in her castle\nuntil they came to the kitchen, where the Witch bade her clean the pots\nand kettles and sweep the floor and keep the fire fed with wood.\n\nDorothy went to work meekly, with her mind made up to work as hard as\nshe could; for she was glad the Wicked Witch had decided not to kill\nher.\n\nWith Dorothy hard at work the Witch thought she would go into the\ncourt-yard and harness the Cowardly Lion like a horse; it would amuse\nher, she was sure, to make him draw her chariot whenever she wished\nto go to drive. But as she opened the gate the Lion gave a loud roar\nand bounded at her so fiercely that the Witch was afraid, and ran out\nand shut the gate again.\n\n\"If I cannot harness you,\" said the Witch to the Lion, speaking\nthrough the bars of the gate, \"I can starve you. You shall have\nnothing to eat until you do as I wish.\"\n\nSo after that she took no food to the imprisoned Lion; but every day\nshe came to the gate at noon and asked,\n\n\"Are you ready to be harnessed like a horse?\"\n\nAnd the Lion would answer,\n\n\"No. If you come in this yard I will bite you.\"\n\nThe reason the Lion did not have to do as the Witch wished was that\nevery night, while the woman was asleep Dorothy carried him food from\nthe cupboard. After he had eaten he would lie down on his bed of straw,\nand Dorothy would lie beside him and put her head on his soft, shaggy\nmane, while they talked of their troubles and tried to plan some way to\nescape. But they could find no way to get out of the castle, for it was\nconstantly guarded by the yellow Winkies, who were the slaves of the\nWicked Witch and too afraid of her not to do as she told them.\n\nThe girl had to work hard during the day, and often the Witch\nthreatened to beat her with the same old umbrella she always carried in\nher hand. But, in truth, she did not dare to strike Dorothy, because of\nthe mark upon her forehead. The child did not know this, and was full\nof fear for herself and Toto. Once the Witch struck Toto a blow with\nher umbrella and the brave little dog flew at her and bit her leg, in\nreturn. The Witch did not bleed where she was bitten, for she was so\nwicked that the blood in her had dried up many years before.\n\nDorothy's life became very sad as she grew to understand that it\nwould be harder than ever to get back to Kansas and Aunt Em again.\nSometimes she would cry bitterly for hours, with Toto sitting at her\nfeet and looking into her face, whining dismally to show how sorry he\nwas for his little mistress. Toto did not really care whether he was\nin Kansas or the Land of Oz so long as Dorothy was with him; but he\nknew the little girl was unhappy, and that made him unhappy too.\n\nNow the Wicked Witch had a great longing to have for her own the\nSilver Shoes which the girl always wore. Her Bees and her Crows and\nher Wolves were lying in heaps and drying up, and she had used up\nall the power of the Golden Cap; but if she could only get hold of\nthe Silver Shoes they would give her more power than all the other\nthings she had lost. She watched Dorothy carefully, to see if she\never took off her shoes, thinking she might steal them. But the child\nwas so proud of her pretty shoes that she never took them off except\nat night and when she took her bath. The Witch was too much afraid\nof the dark to dare go in Dorothy's room at night to take the shoes,\nand her dread of water was greater than her fear of the dark, so she\nnever came near when Dorothy was bathing. Indeed, the old Witch never\ntouched water, nor ever let water touch her in any way.\n\nBut the wicked creature was very cunning, and she finally thought of\na trick that would give her what she wanted. She placed a bar of iron\nin the middle of the kitchen floor, and then by her magic arts made\nthe iron invisible to human eyes. So that when Dorothy walked across\nthe floor she stumbled over the bar, not being able to see it, and\nfell at full length. She was not much hurt, but in her fall one of\nthe Silver Shoes came off, and before she could reach it the Witch\nhad snatched it away and put it on her own skinny foot.\n\nThe wicked woman was greatly pleased with the success of her trick,\nfor as long as she had one of the shoes she owned half the power of\ntheir charm, and Dorothy could not use it against her, even had she\nknown how to do so.\n\n \n\nThe little girl, seeing she had lost one of her pretty shoes, grew\nangry, and said to the Witch,\n\n\"Give me back my shoe!\"\n\n\"I will not,\" retorted the Witch, \"for it is now my shoe, and not\nyours.\"\n\n\"You are a wicked creature!\" cried Dorothy. \"You have no right to\ntake my shoe from me.\"\n\n\"I shall keep it, just the same,\" said the Witch, laughing at her,\n\"and some day I shall get the other one from you, too.\"\n\nThis made Dorothy so very angry that she picked up the bucket of\nwater that stood near and dashed it over the Witch, wetting her from\nhead to foot.\n\nInstantly the wicked woman gave a loud cry of fear; and then, as\nDorothy looked at her in wonder, the Witch began to shrink and fall\naway.\n\n\"See what you have done!\" she screamed. \"In a minute I shall melt\naway.\"\n\n\"I'm very sorry, indeed,\" said Dorothy, who was truly frightened to\nsee the Witch actually melting away like brown sugar before her very\neyes.\n\n\"Didn't you know water would be the end of me?\" asked the Witch, in a\nwailing, despairing voice.\n\n\"Of course not,\" answered Dorothy; \"how should I?\"\n\n\"Well, in a few minutes I shall be all melted, and you will have the\ncastle to yourself. I have been wicked in my day, but I never thought\na little girl like you would ever be able to melt me and end my\nwicked deeds. Look out--here I go!\"\n\nWith these words the Witch fell down in a brown, melted, shapeless\nmass and began to spread over the clean boards of the kitchen floor.\nSeeing that she had really melted away to nothing, Dorothy drew\nanother bucket of water and threw it over the mess. She then swept\nit all out the door. After picking out the silver shoe, which was\nall that was left of the old woman, she cleaned and dried it with a\ncloth, and put it on her foot again. Then, being at last free to do\nas she chose, she ran out to the court-yard to tell the Lion that the\nWicked Witch of the West had come to an end, and that they were no\nlonger prisoners in a strange land.\n\n \n\n\n\n\n                             Chapter XIII.\n\n                               The Rescue\n\n\n \n\n \n\nThe Cowardly Lion was much pleased to hear that the Wicked Witch\nhad been melted by a bucket of water, and Dorothy at once unlocked\nthe gate of his prison and set him free. They went in together to\nthe castle, where Dorothy's first act was to call all the Winkies\ntogether and tell them that they were no longer slaves.\n\nThere was great rejoicing among the yellow Winkies, for they had\nbeen made to work hard during many years for the Wicked Witch, who\nhad always treated them with great cruelty. They kept this day as\na holiday, then and ever after, and spent the time in feasting and\ndancing.\n\n\"If our friends, the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, were only with\nus,\" said the Lion, \"I should be quite happy.\"\n\n\"Don't you suppose we could rescue them?\" asked the girl, anxiously.\n\n\"We can try,\" answered the Lion.\n\nSo they called the yellow Winkies and asked them if they would help\nto rescue their friends, and the Winkies said that they would be\ndelighted to do all in their power for Dorothy, who had set them free\nfrom bondage. So she chose a number of the Winkies who looked as if\nthey knew the most, and they all started away. They travelled that\nday and part of the next until they came to the rocky plain where the\nTin Woodman lay, all battered and bent. His axe was near him, but the\nblade was rusted and the handle broken off short.\n\nThe Winkies lifted him tenderly in their arms, and carried him back\nto the yellow castle again, Dorothy shedding a few tears by the way\nat the sad plight of her old friend, and the Lion looking sober and\nsorry. When they reached the castle Dorothy said to the Winkies,\n\n\"Are any of your people tinsmiths?\"\n\n\"Oh, yes; some of us are very good tinsmiths,\" they told her.\n\n\"Then bring them to me,\" she said. And when the tinsmiths came,\nbringing with them all their tools in baskets, she enquired,\n\n[Illustration: \"_The Tinsmiths worked for three days and four\nnights._\"]\n\n\"Can you straighten out those dents in the Tin Woodman, and bend\nhim back into shape again, and solder him together where he is\nbroken?\"\n\nThe tinsmiths looked the Woodman over carefully and then answered\nthat they thought they could mend him so he would be as good as ever.\nSo they set to work in one of the big yellow rooms of the castle and\nworked for three days and four nights, hammering and twisting and\nbending and soldering and polishing and pounding at the legs and body\nand head of the Tin Woodman, until at last he was straightened out into\nhis old form, and his joints worked as well as ever. To be sure, there\nwere several patches on him, but the tinsmiths did a good job, and as\nthe Woodman was not a vain man he did not mind the patches at all.\n\nWhen, at last, he walked into Dorothy's room and thanked her for\nrescuing him, he was so pleased that he wept tears of joy, and\nDorothy had to wipe every tear carefully from his face with her\napron, so his joints would not be rusted. At the same time her own\ntears fell thick and fast at the joy of meeting her old friend again,\nand these tears did not need to be wiped away. As for the Lion, he\nwiped his eyes so often with the tip of his tail that it became quite\nwet, and he was obliged to go out into the court-yard and hold it in\nthe sun till it dried.\n\n\"If we only had the Scarecrow with us again,\" said the Tin Woodman,\nwhen Dorothy had finished telling him everything that had happened,\n\"I should be quite happy.\"\n\n\"We must try to find him,\" said the girl.\n\nSo she called the Winkies to help her, and they walked all that day\nand part of the next until they came to the tall tree in the branches\nof which the Winged Monkeys had tossed the Scarecrow's clothes.\n\nIt was a very tall tree, and the trunk was so smooth that no one\ncould climb it; but the Woodman said at once,\n\n\"I'll chop it down, and then we can get the Scarecrow's clothes.\"\n\nNow while the tinsmiths had been at work mending the Woodman himself,\nanother of the Winkies, who was a goldsmith, had made an axe-handle\nof solid gold and fitted it to the Woodman's axe, instead of the\nold broken handle. Others polished the blade until all the rust was\nremoved and it glistened like burnished silver.\n\nAs soon as he had spoken, the Tin Woodman began to chop, and in a\nshort time the tree fell over with a crash, when the Scarecrow's\nclothes fell out of the branches and rolled off on the ground.\n\nDorothy picked them up and had the Winkies carry them back to the\ncastle, where they were stuffed with nice, clean straw; and, behold!\nhere was the Scarecrow, as good as ever, thanking them over and over\nagain for saving him.\n\nNow they were reunited, Dorothy and her friends spent a few happy days\nat the Yellow Castle, where they found everything they needed to make\nthem comfortable. But one day the girl thought of Aunt Em, and said,\n\n\"We must go back to Oz, and claim his promise.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said the Woodman, \"at last I shall get my heart.\"\n\n\"And I shall get my brains,\" added the Scarecrow, joyfully.\n\n\"And I shall get my courage,\" said the Lion, thoughtfully.\n\n\"And I shall get back to Kansas,\" cried Dorothy, clapping her hands.\n\"Oh, let us start for the Emerald City to-morrow!\"\n\n \n\nThis they decided to do. The next day they called the Winkies together\nand bade them good-bye. The Winkies were sorry to have them go, and\nthey had grown so fond of the Tin Woodman that they begged him to stay\nand rule over them and the Yellow Land of the West. Finding they were\ndetermined to go, the Winkies gave Toto and the Lion each a golden\ncollar; and to Dorothy they presented a beautiful bracelet, studded\nwith diamonds; and to the Scarecrow they gave a gold-headed walking\nstick, to keep him from stumbling; and to the Tin Woodman they offered\na silver oil-can, inlaid with gold and set with precious jewels.\n\nEvery one of the travellers made the Winkies a pretty speech in\nreturn, and all shook hands with them until their arms ached.\n\nDorothy went to the Witch's cupboard to fill her basket with food for\nthe journey, and there she saw the Golden Cap. She tried it on her own\nhead and found that it fitted her exactly. She did not know anything\nabout the charm of the Golden Cap, but she saw that it was pretty, so\nshe made up her mind to wear it and carry her sunbonnet in the basket.\n\nThen, being prepared for the journey, they all started for the\nEmerald City; and the Winkies gave them three cheers and many good\nwishes to carry with them.\n\n\n\n\n                              Chapter XIV.\n\n                               The Winged\n                                Monkeys\n\n\n \n\n \n\nYou will remember there was no road--not even a pathway--between\nthe castle of the Wicked Witch and the Emerald City. When the four\ntravellers went in search of the Witch she had seen them coming, and\nso sent the Winged Monkeys to bring them to her. It was much harder\nto find their way back through the big fields of buttercups and\nyellow daisies than it was being carried. They knew, of course, they\nmust go straight east, toward the rising sun; and they started off\nin the right way. But at noon, when the sun was over their heads,\nthey did not know which was east and which was west, and that was\nthe reason they were lost in the great fields. They kept on walking,\nhowever, and at night the moon came out and shone brightly. So they\nlay down among the sweet smelling yellow flowers and slept soundly\nuntil morning--all but the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman.\n\nThe next morning the sun was behind a cloud, but they started on, as\nif they were quite sure which way they were going.\n\n\"If we walk far enough,\" said Dorothy, \"we shall sometime come to\nsome place, I am sure.\"\n\nBut day by day passed away, and they still saw nothing before them\nbut the yellow fields. The Scarecrow began to grumble a bit.\n\n\"We have surely lost our way,\" he said, \"and unless we find it again\nin time to reach the Emerald City I shall never get my brains.\"\n\n\"Nor I my heart,\" declared the Tin Woodman. \"It seems to me I can\nscarcely wait till I get to Oz, and you must admit this is a very\nlong journey.\"\n\n\"You see,\" said the Cowardly Lion, with a whimper, \"I haven't the\ncourage to keep tramping forever, without getting anywhere at all.\"\n\n \n\nThen Dorothy lost heart. She sat down on the grass and looked at her\ncompanions, and they sat down and looked at her, and Toto found that\nfor the first time in his life he was too tired to chase a butterfly\nthat flew past his head; so he put out his tongue and panted and\nlooked at Dorothy as if to ask what they should do next.\n\n\"Suppose we call the Field Mice,\" she suggested. \"They could probably\ntell us the way to the Emerald City.\"\n\n\"To be sure they could,\" cried the Scarecrow; \"why didn't we think of\nthat before?\"\n\nDorothy blew the little whistle she had always carried about her neck\nsince the Queen of the Mice had given it to her. In a few minutes\nthey heard the pattering of tiny feet, and many of the small grey\nmice came running up to her. Among them was the Queen herself, who\nasked, in her squeaky little voice,\n\n\"What can I do for my friends?\"\n\n\"We have lost our way,\" said Dorothy. \"Can you tell us where the\nEmerald City is?\"\n\n \n\n\"Certainly,\" answered the Queen; \"but it is a great way off, for you\nhave had it at your backs all this time.\" Then she noticed Dorothy's\nGolden Cap, and said, \"Why don't you use the charm of the Cap, and\ncall the Winged Monkeys to you? They will carry you to the City of Oz\nin less than an hour.\"\n\n\"I didn't know there was a charm,\" answered Dorothy, in surprise.\n\"What is it?\"\n\n\"It is written inside the Golden Cap,\" replied the Queen of the Mice;\n\"but if you are going to call the Winged Monkeys we must run away,\nfor they are full of mischief and think it great fun to plague us.\"\n\n\"Won't they hurt me?\" asked the girl, anxiously.\n\n\"Oh, no; they must obey the wearer of the Cap. Good-bye!\" And she\nscampered out of sight, with all the mice hurrying after her.\n\nDorothy looked inside the Golden Cap and saw some words written upon\nthe lining. These, she thought, must be the charm, so she read the\ndirections carefully and put the Cap upon her head.\n\n\"Ep-pe, pep-pe, kak-ke!\" she said, standing on her left foot.\n\n\"What did you say?\" asked the Scarecrow, who did not know what she\nwas doing.\n\n\"Hil-lo, hol-lo, hel-lo!\" Dorothy went on, standing this time on her\nright foot.\n\n\"Hello!\" replied the Tin Woodman, calmly.\n\n[Illustration: \"_The Monkeys caught Dorothy in their arms and flew\naway with her._\"]\n\n\"Ziz-zy, zuz-zy, zik!\" said Dorothy, who was now standing on both\nfeet. This ended the saying of the charm, and they heard a great\nchattering and flapping of wings, as the band of Winged Monkeys\nflew up to them. The King bowed low before Dorothy, and asked,\n\n\"What is your command?\"\n\n\"We wish to go to the Emerald City,\" said the child, \"and we have\nlost our way.\"\n\n\"We will carry you,\" replied the King, and no sooner had he spoken\nthan two of the Monkeys caught Dorothy in their arms and flew away\nwith her. Others took the Scarecrow and the Woodman and the Lion, and\none little Monkey seized Toto and flew after them, although the dog\ntried hard to bite him.\n\nThe Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman were rather frightened at first,\nfor they remembered how badly the Winged Monkeys had treated them\nbefore; but they saw that no harm was intended, so they rode through\nthe air quite cheerfully, and had a fine time looking at the pretty\ngardens and woods far below them.\n\nDorothy found herself riding easily between two of the biggest\nMonkeys, one of them the King himself. They had made a chair of their\nhands and were careful not to hurt her.\n\n\"Why do you have to obey the charm of the Golden Cap?\" she asked.\n\n\"That is a long story,\" answered the King, with a laugh; \"but as we\nhave a long journey before us I will pass the time by telling you\nabout it, if you wish.\"\n\n\"I shall be glad to hear it,\" she replied.\n\n\"Once,\" began the leader, \"we were a free people, living happily in\nthe great forest, flying from tree to tree, eating nuts and fruit,\nand doing just as we pleased without calling anybody master. Perhaps\nsome of us were rather too full of mischief at times, flying down to\npull the tails of the animals that had no wings, chasing birds, and\nthrowing nuts at the people who walked in the forest. But we were\ncareless and happy and full of fun, and enjoyed every minute of the\nday. This was many years ago, long before Oz came out of the clouds\nto rule over this land.\n\n\"There lived here then, away at the North, a beautiful princess, who\nwas also a powerful sorceress. All her magic was used to help the\npeople, and she was never known to hurt anyone who was good. Her name\nwas Gayelette, and she lived in a handsome palace built from great\nblocks of ruby. Everyone loved her, but her greatest sorrow was that\nshe could find no one to love in return, since all the men were much\ntoo stupid and ugly to mate with one so beautiful and wise. At last,\nhowever, she found a boy who was handsome and manly and wise beyond\nhis years. Gayelette made up her mind that when he grew to be a man\nshe would make him her husband, so she took him to her ruby palace\nand used all her magic powers to make him as strong and good and\nlovely as any woman could wish. When he grew to manhood, Quelala,\nas he was called, was said to be the best and wisest man in all the\nland, while his manly beauty was so great that Gayelette loved him\ndearly, and hastened to make everything ready for the wedding.\n\n\"My grandfather was at that time the King of the Winged Monkeys which\nlived in the forest near Gayalette's palace, and the old fellow loved\na joke better than a good dinner. One day, just before the wedding,\nmy grandfather was flying out with his band when he saw Quelala\nwalking beside the river. He was dressed in a rich costume of pink\nsilk and purple velvet, and my grandfather thought he would see what\nhe could do. At his word the band flew down and seized Quelala,\ncarried him in their arms until they were over the middle of the\nriver, and then dropped him into the water.\n\n\"'Swim out, my fine fellow,'\" cried my grandfather, \"'and see if the\nwater has spotted your clothes.'\" Quelala was much too wise not to\nswim, and he was not in the least spoiled by all his good fortune. He\nlaughed, when he came to the top of the water, and swam in to shore.\nBut when Gayelette came running out to him she found his silks and\nvelvet all ruined by the river.\n\n \n\n\"The princess was very angry, and she knew, of course, who did it. She\nhad all the Winged Monkeys brought before her, and she said at first\nthat their wings should be tied and they should be treated as they had\ntreated Quelala, and dropped in the river. But my grandfather pleaded\nhard, for he knew the Monkeys would drown in the river with their wings\ntied, and Quelala said a kind word for them also; so that Gayelette\nfinally spared them, on condition that the Winged Monkeys should ever\nafter do three times the bidding of the owner of the Golden Cap. This\nCap had been made for a wedding present to Quelala, and it is said to\nhave cost the princess half her kingdom. Of course my grandfather and\nall the other Monkeys at once agreed to the condition, and that is\nhow it happens that we are three times the slaves of the owner of the\nGolden Cap, whomsoever he may be.\"\n\n\"And what became of them?\" asked Dorothy, who had been greatly\ninterested in the story.\n\n\"Quelala being the first owner of the Golden Cap,\" replied the\nMonkey, \"he was the first to lay his wishes upon us. As his bride\ncould not bear the sight of us, he called us all to him in the forest\nafter he had married her and ordered us to always keep where she\ncould never again set eyes on a Winged Monkey, which we were glad to\ndo, for we were all afraid of her.\n\n\"This was all we ever had to do until the Golden Cap fell into the\nhands of the Wicked Witch of the West, who made us enslave the\nWinkies, and afterward drive Oz himself out of the Land of the West.\nNow the Golden Cap is yours, and three times you have the right to\nlay your wishes upon us.\"\n\nAs the Monkey King finished his story Dorothy looked down and saw the\ngreen, shining walls of the Emerald City before them. She wondered\nat the rapid flight of the Monkeys, but was glad the journey was\nover. The strange creatures set the travellers down carefully before\nthe gate of the City, the King bowed low to Dorothy, and then flew\nswiftly away, followed by all his band.\n\n\"That was a good ride,\" said the little girl.\n\n\"Yes, and a quick way out of our troubles.\" replied the Lion. \"How\nlucky it was you brought away that wonderful Cap!\"\n\n \n\n\n\n\n                              Chapter XV.\n\n                            The Discovery of\n                           OZ, The Terrible.\n\n\n \n\n \n\nThe four travellers walked up to the great gate of the Emerald City\nand rang the bell. After ringing several times it was opened by the\nsame Guardian of the Gate they had met before.\n\n\"What! are you back again?\" he asked, in surprise.\n\n\"Do you not see us?\" answered the Scarecrow.\n\n\"But I thought you had gone to visit the Wicked Witch of the West.\"\n\n\"We did visit her,\" said the Scarecrow.\n\n\"And she let you go again?\" asked the man, in wonder.\n\n\"She could not help it, for she is melted,\" explained the Scarecrow.\n\n\"Melted! Well, that is good news, indeed,\" said the man. \"Who melted\nher?\"\n\n\"It was Dorothy,\" said the Lion, gravely.\n\n\"Good gracious!\" exclaimed the man, and he bowed very low indeed\nbefore her.\n\nThen he led them into his little room and locked the spectacles\nfrom the great box on all their eyes, just as he had done before.\nAfterward they passed on through the gate into the Emerald City, and\nwhen the people heard from the Guardian of the Gate that they had\nmelted the Wicked Witch of the West they all gathered around the\ntravellers and followed them in a great crowd to the Palace of Oz.\n\nThe soldier with the green whiskers was still on guard before the\ndoor, but he let them in at once and they were again met by the\nbeautiful green girl, who showed each of them to their old rooms at\nonce, so they might rest until the Great Oz was ready to receive them.\n\nThe soldier had the news carried straight to Oz that Dorothy and the\nother travellers had come back again, after destroying the Wicked\nWitch; but Oz made no reply. They thought the Great Wizard would send\nfor them at once, but he did not. They had no word from him the next\nday, nor the next, nor the next. The waiting was tiresome and wearing,\nand at last they grew vexed that Oz should treat them in so poor a\nfashion, after sending them to undergo hardships and slavery. So the\nScarecrow at last asked the green girl to take another message to Oz,\nsaying if he did not let them in to see him at once they would call the\nWinged Monkeys to help them, and find out whether he kept his promises\nor not. When the Wizard was given this message he was so frightened\nthat he sent word for them to come to the Throne Room at four minutes\nafter nine o'clock the next morning. He had once met the Winged Monkeys\nin the Land of the West, and he did not wish to meet them again.\n\nThe four travellers passed a sleepless night, each thinking of the\ngift Oz had promised to bestow upon him. Dorothy fell asleep only\nonce, and then she dreamed she was in Kansas, where Aunt Em was\ntelling her how glad she was to have her little girl at home again.\n\nPromptly at nine o'clock the next morning the green whiskered soldier\ncame to them, and four minutes later they all went into the Throne\nRoom of the Great Oz.\n\nOf course each one of them expected to see the Wizard in the shape\nhe had taken before, and all were greatly surprised when they looked\nabout and saw no one at all in the room. They kept close to the door\nand closer to one another, for the stillness of the empty room was\nmore dreadful than any of the forms they had seen Oz take.\n\n \n\nPresently they heard a Voice, seeming to come from somewhere near\nthe top of the great dome, and it said, solemnly.\n\n\"I am Oz, the Great and Terrible. Why do you seek me?\"\n\nThey looked again in every part of the room, and then, seeing no one,\nDorothy asked,\n\n\"Where are you?\"\n\n\"I am everywhere,\" answered the Voice, \"but to the eyes of common\nmortals I am invisible. I will now seat myself upon my throne, that\nyou may converse with me.\" Indeed, the Voice seemed just then to come\nstraight from the throne itself; so they walked toward it and stood\nin a row while Dorothy said:\n\n\"We have come to claim our promise, O Oz.\"\n\n\"What promise?\" asked Oz.\n\n\"You promised to send me back to Kansas when the Wicked Witch was\ndestroyed,\" said the girl.\n\n\"And you promised to give me brains,\" said the Scarecrow.\n\n\"And you promised to give me a heart,\" said the Tin Woodman.\n\n\"And you promised to give me courage,\" said the Cowardly Lion.\n\n\"Is the Wicked Witch really destroyed?\" asked the Voice, and Dorothy\nthought it trembled a little.\n\n\"Yes,\" she answered, \"I melted her with a bucket of water.\"\n\n\"Dear me,\" said the Voice; \"how sudden! Well, come to me to-morrow,\nfor I must have time to think it over.\"\n\n\"You've had plenty of time already,\" said the Tin Woodman, angrily.\n\n\"We shan't wait a day longer,\" said the Scarecrow.\n\n\"You must keep your promises to us!\" exclaimed Dorothy.\n\nThe Lion thought it might be as well to frighten the Wizard, so\nhe gave a large, loud roar, which was so fierce and dreadful that\nToto jumped away from him in alarm and tipped over the screen that\nstood in a corner. As it fell with a crash they looked that way,\nand the next moment all of them were filled with wonder. For they\nsaw, standing in just the spot the screen had hidden, a little, old\nman, with a bald head and a wrinkled face, who seemed to be as much\nsurprised as they were. The Tin Woodman, raising his axe, rushed\ntoward the little man and cried out,\n\n \n\n\"Who are you?\"\n\n\"I am Oz, the Great and Terrible,\" said the little man, in a\ntrembling voice, \"but don't strike me--please don't!--and I'll do\nanything you want me to.\"\n\nOur friends looked at him in surprise and dismay.\n\n\"I thought Oz was a great Head,\" said Dorothy.\n\n\"And I thought Oz was a lovely Lady,\" said the Scarecrow.\n\n\"And I thought Oz was a terrible Beast,\" said the Tin Woodman.\n\n\"And I thought Oz was a Ball of Fire,\" exclaimed the Lion.\n\n\"No; you are all wrong,\" said the little man, meekly. \"I have been\nmaking believe.\"\n\n\"Making believe!\" cried Dorothy. \"Are you not a great Wizard?\"\n\n\"Hush, my dear,\" he said; \"don't speak so loud, or you will be\noverheard--and I should be ruined. I'm supposed to be a Great Wizard.\"\n\n\"And aren't you?\" she asked.\n\n\"Not a bit of it, my dear; I'm just a common man.\"\n\n\"You're more than that,\" said the Scarecrow, in a grieved tone;\n\"you're a humbug.\"\n\n\"Exactly so!\" declared the little man, rubbing his hands together as\nif it pleased him; \"I am a humbug.\"\n\n\"But this is terrible,\" said the Tin Woodman; \"how shall I ever get\nmy heart?\"\n\n\"Or I my courage?\" asked the Lion.\n\n\"Or I my brains?\" wailed the Scarecrow, wiping the the tears from his\neyes with his coat-sleeve.\n\n[Illustration: \"_Exactly so! I am a humbug._\"]\n\n\"My dear friends,\" said Oz, \"I pray you not to speak of these\nlittle things. Think of me, and the terrible trouble I'm in at being\nfound out.\"\n\n\"Doesn't anyone else know you're a humbug?\" asked Dorothy.\n\n\"No one knows it but you four--and myself,\" replied Oz. \"I have\nfooled everyone so long that I thought I should never be found out.\nIt was a great mistake my ever letting you into the Throne Room.\nUsually I will not see even my subjects, and so they believe I am\nsomething terrible.\"\n\n\"But, I don't understand,\" said Dorothy, in bewilderment. \"How was it\nthat you appeared to me as a great Head?\"\n\n\"That was one of my tricks,\" answered Oz. \"Step this way, please, and\nI will tell you all about it.\"\n\nHe led the way to a small chamber in the rear of the Throne Room,\nand they all followed him. He pointed to one corner, in which lay\nthe Great Head, made out of many thicknesses of paper, and with a\ncarefully painted face.\n\n\"This I hung from the ceiling by a wire,\" said Oz; \"I stood behind the\nscreen and pulled a thread, to make the eyes move and the mouth open.\"\n\n\"But how about the voice?\" she enquired.\n\n\"Oh, I am a ventriloquist,\" said the little man, \"and I can throw\nthe sound of my voice wherever I wish; so that you thought it was\ncoming out of the Head. Here are the other things I used to deceive\nyou.\" He showed the Scarecrow the dress and the mask he had worn when\nhe seemed to be the lovely Lady; and the Tin Woodman saw that his\nTerrible Beast was nothing but a lot of skins, sewn together, with\nslats to keep their sides out. As for the Ball of Fire, the false\nWizard had hung that also from the ceiling. It was really a ball of\ncotton, but when oil was poured upon it the ball burned fiercely.\n\n\"Really,\" said the Scarecrow, \"you ought to be ashamed of yourself\nfor being such a humbug.\"\n\n\"I am--I certainly am,\" answered the little man, sorrowfully; \"but it\nwas the only thing I could do. Sit down, please, there are plenty of\nchairs; and I will tell you my story.\"\n\nSo they sat down and listened while he told the following tale:\n\n\"I was born in Omaha--\"\n\n\"Why, that isn't very far from Kansas!\" cried Dorothy.\n\n\"No; but it's farther from here,\" he said, shaking his head at her,\nsadly. \"When I grew up I became a ventriloquist, and at that I was\nvery well trained by a great master. I can imitate any kind of a\nbird or beast.\" Here he mewed so like a kitten that Toto pricked up\nhis ears and looked everywhere to see where she was. \"After a time,\"\ncontinued Oz, \"I tired of that, and became a balloonist.\"\n\n\"What is that?\" asked Dorothy.\n\n\"A man who goes up in a balloon on circus day, so as to draw a crowd\nof people together and get them to pay to see the circus,\" he explained.\n\n \n\n\"Oh,\" she said; \"I know.\"\n\n\"Well, one day I went up in a balloon and the ropes got twisted, so\nthat I couldn't come down again. It went way up above the clouds, so\nfar that a current of air struck it and carried it many, many miles\naway. For a day and a night I travelled through the air, and on the\nmorning of the second day I awoke and found the balloon floating over\na strange and beautiful country.\n\n\"It came down gradually, and I was not hurt a bit. But I found myself\nin the midst of a strange people, who, seeing me come from the clouds,\nthought I was a great Wizard. Of course I let them think so, because\nthey were afraid of me, and promised to do anything I wished them to.\n\n\"Just to amuse myself, and keep the good people busy, I ordered them to\nbuild this City, and my palace; and they did it all willingly and well.\nThen I thought, as the country was so green and beautiful, I would\ncall it the Emerald City, and to make the name fit better I put green\nspectacles on all the people, so that everything they saw was green.\"\n\n\"But isn't everything here green?\" asked Dorothy.\n\n\"No more than in any other city,\" replied Oz; \"but when you wear\ngreen spectacles, why of course everything you see looks green to\nyou. The Emerald City was built a great many years ago, for I was a\nyoung man when the balloon brought me here, and I am a very old man\nnow. But my people have worn green glasses on their eyes so long that\nmost of them think it really is an Emerald City, and it certainly is\na beautiful place, abounding in jewels and precious metals, and every\ngood thing that is needed to make one happy. I have been good to the\npeople, and they like me; but ever since this Palace was built I have\nshut myself up and would not see any of them.\n\n\"One of my greatest fears was the Witches, for while I had no magical\npowers at all I soon found out that the Witches were really able to\ndo wonderful things. There were four of them in this country, and\nthey ruled the people who live in the North and South and East and\nWest. Fortunately, the Witches of the North and South were good, and\nI knew they would do me no harm; but the Witches of the East and West\nwere terribly wicked, and had they not thought I was more powerful\nthan they themselves, they would surely have destroyed me. As it was,\nI lived in deadly fear of them for many years; so you can imagine how\npleased I was when I heard your house had fallen on the Wicked Witch\nof the East. When you came to me I was willing to promise anything if\nyou would only do away with the other Witch; but, now that you have\nmelted her, I am ashamed to say that I cannot keep my promises.\"\n\n\"I think you are a very bad man,\" said Dorothy.\n\n\"Oh, no, my dear; I'm really a very good man; but I'm a very bad\nWizard, I must admit.\"\n\n\"Can't you give me brains?\" asked the Scarecrow.\n\n\"You don't need them. You are learning something every day. A baby\nhas brains, but it doesn't know much. Experience is the only thing\nthat brings knowledge, and the longer you are on earth the more\nexperience you are sure to get.\"\n\n\"That may all be true,\" said the Scarecrow, \"but I shall be very\nunhappy unless you give me brains.\"\n\nThe false wizard looked at him carefully.\n\n\"Well,\" he said, with a sigh, \"I'm not much of a magician, as I said;\nbut if you will come to me to-morrow morning, I will stuff your head\nwith brains. I cannot tell you how to use them, however; you must\nfind that out for yourself.\"\n\n \n\n\"Oh, thank you--thank you!\" cried the Scarecrow. \"I'll find a way to\nuse them, never fear!\"\n\n\"But how about my courage?\" asked the Lion, anxiously.\n\n\"You have plenty of courage, I am sure,\" answered Oz. \"All you need\nis confidence in yourself. There is no living thing that is not\nafraid when it faces danger. True courage is in facing danger when\nyou are afraid, and that kind of courage you have in plenty.\"\n\n\"Perhaps I have, but I'm scared just the same,\" said the Lion. \"I\nshall really be very unhappy unless you give me the sort of courage\nthat makes one forget he is afraid.\"\n\n\"Very well; I will give you that sort of courage to-morrow,\" replied Oz.\n\n\"How about my heart?\" asked the Tin Woodman.\n\n\"Why, as for that,\" answered Oz, \"I think you are wrong to want a\nheart. It makes most people unhappy. If you only knew it, you are in\nluck not to have a heart.\"\n\n\"That must be a matter of opinion,\" said the Tin Woodman. \"For my\npart, I will bear all the unhappiness without a murmur, if you will\ngive me the heart.\"\n\n \n\n\"Very well,\" answered Oz, meekly. \"Come to me to-morrow and you shall\nhave a heart. I have played Wizard for so many years that I may as\nwell continue the part a little longer.\"\n\n\"And now,\" said Dorothy, \"how am I to get back to Kansas?\"\n\n\"We shall have to think about that,\" replied the little man, \"Give\nme two or three days to consider the matter and I'll try to find a\nway to carry you over the desert. In the meantime you shall all be\ntreated as my guests, and while you live in the Palace my people\nwill wait upon you and obey your slightest wish. There is only one\nthing I ask in return for my help--such as it is. You must keep my\nsecret and tell no one I am a humbug.\"\n\nThey agreed to say nothing of what they had learned, and went back to\ntheir rooms in high spirits. Even Dorothy had hope that \"The Great\nand Terrible Humbug,\" as she called him, would find a way to send her\nback to Kansas, and if he did that she was willing to forgive him\neverything.\n\n \n\n\n\n\n                              Chapter XVI.\n\n                            The Magic Art of\n                           the Great Humbug.\n\n\n \n\n \n\nNext morning the Scarecrow said to his friends:\n\n\"Congratulate me. I am going to Oz to get my brains at last. When I\nreturn I shall be as other men are.\"\n\n\"I have always liked you as you were,\" said Dorothy, simply.\n\n\"It is kind of you to like a Scarecrow,\" he replied. \"But surely you\nwill think more of me when you hear the splendid thoughts my new brain\nis going to turn out.\" Then he said good-bye to them all in a cheerful\nvoice and went to the Throne Room, where he rapped upon the door.\n\n\"Come in,\" said Oz.\n\nThe Scarecrow went in and found the little man sitting down by the\nwindow, engaged in deep thought.\n\n\"I have come for my brains,\" remarked the Scarecrow, a little uneasily.\n\n\"Oh, yes; sit down in that chair, please,\" replied Oz. \"You must\nexcuse me for taking your head off, but I shall have to do it in\norder to put your brains in their proper place.\"\n\n\"That's all right,\" said the Scarecrow. \"You are quite welcome to\ntake my head off, as long as it will be a better one when you put it\non again.\"\n\nSo the Wizard unfastened his head and emptied out the straw. Then he\nentered the back room and took up a measure of bran, which he mixed\nwith a great many pins and needles. Having shaken them together\nthoroughly, he filled the top of the Scarecrow's head with the mixture\nand stuffed the rest of the space with straw, to hold it in place. When\nhe had fastened the Scarecrow's head on his body again he said to him,\n\n\"Hereafter you will be a great man, for I have given you a lot of\nbran-new brains.\"\n\nThe Scarecrow was both pleased and proud at the fulfillment of his\ngreatest wish, and having thanked Oz warmly he went back to his friends.\n\nDorothy looked at him curiously. His head was quite bulging out at\nthe top with brains.\n\n\"How do you feel?\" she asked.\n\n[Illustration: \"_'I feel wise, indeed,' said the Scarecrow._\"]\n\n\"I feel wise, indeed,\" he answered, earnestly. \"When I get used to my\nbrains I shall know everything.\"\n\n\"Why are those needles and pins sticking out of your head?\" asked the\nTin Woodman.\n\n\"That is proof that he is sharp,\" remarked the Lion.\n\n\"Well, I must go to Oz and get my heart,\" said the Woodman. So he\nwalked to the Throne Room and knocked at the door.\n\n\"Come in,\" called Oz, and the Woodman entered and said,\n\n\"I have come for my heart.\"\n\n\"Very well,\" answered the little man. \"But I shall have to cut a hole\nin your breast, so I can put your heart in the right place. I hope it\nwon't hurt you.\"\n\n\"Oh, no;\" answered the Woodman. \"I shall not feel it at all.\"\n\n \n\nSo Oz brought a pair of tinners' shears and cut a small, square hole\nin the left side of the Tin Woodman's breast. Then, going to a chest\nof drawers, he took out a pretty heart, made entirely of silk and\nstuffed with sawdust.\n\n\"Isn't it a beauty?\" he asked.\n\n\"It is, indeed!\" replied the Woodman, who was greatly pleased. \"But\nis it a kind heart?\"\n\n\"Oh, very!\" answered Oz. He put the heart in the Woodman's breast and\nthen replaced the square of tin, soldering it neatly together where\nit had been cut.\n\n\"There,\" said he; \"now you have a heart that any man might be proud\nof. I'm sorry I had to put a patch on your breast, but it really\ncouldn't be helped.\"\n\n\"Never mind the patch,\" exclaimed the happy Woodman. \"I am very\ngrateful to you, and shall never forget your kindness.\"\n\n \n\n\"Don't speak of it,\" replied Oz.\n\nThen the Tin Woodman went back to his friends, who wished him every\njoy on account of his good fortune.\n\nThe Lion now walked to the Throne Room and knocked at the door.\n\n\"Come in,\" said Oz.\n\n\"I have come for my courage,\" announced the Lion, entering the room.\n\n\"Very well,\" answered the little man; \"I will get it for you.\"\n\nHe went to a cupboard and reaching up to a high shelf took down\na square green bottle, the contents of which he poured into a\ngreen-gold dish, beautifully carved. Placing this before the Cowardly\nLion, who sniffed at it as if he did not like it, the Wizard said,\n\n\"Drink.\"\n\n\"What is it?\" asked the Lion.\n\n\"Well,\" answered Oz, \"if it were inside of you, it would be courage.\nYou know, of course, that courage is always inside one; so that\nthis really cannot be called courage until you have swallowed it.\nTherefore I advise you to drink it as soon as possible.\"\n\nThe Lion hesitated no longer, but drank till the dish was empty.\n\n\"How do you feel now?\" asked Oz.\n\n\"Full of courage,\" replied the Lion, who went joyfully back to his\nfriends to tell them of his good fortune.\n\nOz, left to himself, smiled to think of his success in giving the\nScarecrow and the Tin Woodman and the Lion exactly what they thought\nthey wanted. \"How can I help being a humbug,\" he said, \"when all\nthese people make me do things that everybody knows can't be done? It\nwas easy to make the Scarecrow and the Lion and the Woodman happy,\nbecause they imagined I could do anything. But it will take more than\nimagination to carry Dorothy back to Kansas, and I'm sure I don't\nknow how it can be done.\"\n\n\n\n\n                             Chapter XVII.\n\n                            How the Balloon\n                             was Launched.\n\n \n\nFor three days Dorothy heard nothing from Oz. These were sad days\nfor the little girl, although her friends were all quite happy and\ncontented. The Scarecrow told them there were wonderful thoughts in\nhis head; but he would not say what they were because he knew no one\ncould understand them but himself. When the Tin Woodman walked about\nhe felt his heart rattling around in his breast; and he told Dorothy\nhe had discovered it to be a kinder and more tender heart than the\none he had owned when he was made of flesh. The Lion declared he was\nafraid of nothing on earth, and would gladly face an army of men or a\ndozen of the fierce Kalidahs.\n\nThus each of the little party was satisfied except Dorothy, who\nlonged more than ever to get back to Kansas.\n\nOn the fourth day, to her great joy, Oz sent for her, and when she\nentered the Throne Room he said, pleasantly:\n\n\"Sit down, my dear; I think I have found the way to get you out of\nthis country.\"\n\n\"And back to Kansas?\" she asked, eagerly.\n\n\"Well, I'm not sure about Kansas,\" said Oz; \"for I haven't the\nfaintest notion which way it lies. But the first thing to do is to\ncross the desert, and then it should be easy to find your way home.\"\n\n\"How can I cross the desert?\" she enquired.\n\n\"Well, I'll tell you what I think,\" said the little man. \"You see,\nwhen I came to this country it was in a balloon. You also came\nthrough the air, being carried by a cyclone. So I believe the best\nway to get across the desert will be through the air. Now, it is\nquite beyond my powers to make a cyclone; but I've been thinking the\nmatter over, and I believe I can make a balloon.\"\n\n\"How?\" asked Dorothy.\n\n\"A balloon,\" said Oz, \"is made of silk, which is coated with glue to\nkeep the gas in it. I have plenty of silk in the Palace, so it will\nbe no trouble for us to make the balloon. But in all this country\nthere is no gas to fill the balloon with, to make it float.\"\n\n\"If it won't float,\" remarked Dorothy, \"it will be of no use to us.\"\n\n\"True,\" answered Oz. \"But there is another way to make it float,\nwhich is to fill it with hot air. Hot air isn't as good as gas, for\nif the air should get cold the balloon would come down in the desert,\nand we should be lost.\"\n\n\"We!\" exclaimed the girl; \"are you going with me?\"\n\n\"Yes, of course,\" replied Oz. \"I am tired of being such a humbug. If I\nshould go out of this Palace my people would soon discover I am not a\nWizard, and then they would be vexed with me for having deceived them.\nSo I have to stay shut up in these rooms all day, and it gets tiresome.\nI'd much rather go back to Kansas with you and be in a circus again.\"\n\n \n\n\"I shall be glad to have your company,\" said Dorothy.\n\n\"Thank you,\" he answered. \"Now, if you will help me sew the silk\ntogether, we will begin to work on our balloon.\"\n\nSo Dorothy took a needle and thread, and as fast as Oz cut the strips\nof silk into proper shape the girl sewed them neatly together. First\nthere was a strip of light green silk, then a strip of dark green and\nthen a strip of emerald green; for Oz had a fancy to make the balloon\nin different shades of the color about them. It took three days to\nsew all the strips together, but when it was finished they had a big\nbag of green silk more than twenty feet long.\n\nThen Oz painted it on the inside with a coat of thin glue, to make it\nair-tight, after which he announced that the balloon was ready.\n\n\"But we must have a basket to ride in,\" he said. So he sent the\nsoldier with the green whiskers for a big clothes basket, which he\nfastened with many ropes to the bottom of the balloon.\n\nWhen it was all ready, Oz sent word to his people that he was going\nto make a visit to a great brother Wizard who lived in the clouds.\nThe news spread rapidly throughout the city and everyone came to see\nthe wonderful sight.\n\nOz ordered the balloon carried out in front of the Palace, and the\npeople gazed upon it with much curiosity. The Tin Woodman had chopped a\nbig pile of wood, and now he made a fire of it, and Oz held the bottom\nof the balloon over the fire so that the hot air that arose from it\nwould be caught in the silken bag. Gradually the balloon swelled out\nand rose into the air, until finally the basket just touched the ground.\n\nThen Oz got into the basket and said to all the people in a loud voice:\n\n\"I am now going away to make a visit. While I am gone the Scarecrow\nwill rule over you. I command you to obey him as you would me.\"\n\nThe balloon was by this time tugging hard at the rope that held it to\nthe ground, for the air within it was hot, and this made it so much\nlighter in weight than the air without that it pulled hard to rise\ninto the sky.\n\n\"Come, Dorothy!\" cried the Wizard; \"hurry up, or the balloon will fly\naway.\"\n\n\"I can't find Toto anywhere,\" replied Dorothy, who did not wish to\nleave her little dog behind. Toto had run into the crowd to bark at\na kitten, and Dorothy at last found him. She picked him up and ran\ntoward the balloon.\n\n \n\nShe was within a few steps of it, and Oz was holding out his hands\nto help her into the basket, when, crack! went the ropes, and the\nballoon rose into the air without her.\n\n \n\n\"Come back!\" she screamed; \"I want to go, too!\"\n\n\"I can't come back, my dear,\" called Oz from the basket. \"Good-bye!\"\n\n\"Good-bye!\" shouted everyone, and all eyes were turned upward to\nwhere the Wizard was riding in the basket, rising every moment\nfarther and farther into the sky.\n\nAnd that was the last any of them ever saw of Oz, the Wonderful Wizard,\nthough he may have reached Omaha safely, and be there now, for all we\nknow. But the people remembered him lovingly, and said to one another,\n\n\"Oz was always our friend. When he was here he built for us this\nbeautiful Emerald City, and now he is gone he has left the Wise\nScarecrow to rule over us.\"\n\nStill, for many days they grieved over the loss of the Wonderful\nWizard, and would not be comforted.\n\n\n\n\n                             Chapter XVIII.\n\n                              Away to the\n                                 South.\n\n\n \n\n \n\nDorothy wept bitterly at the passing of her hope to get home to\nKansas again; but when she thought it all over she was glad she had\nnot gone up in a balloon. And she also felt sorry at losing Oz, and\nso did her companions.\n\nThe Tin Woodman came to her and said,\n\n\"Truly I should be ungrateful if I failed to mourn for the man who gave\nme my lovely heart. I should like to cry a little because Oz is gone,\nif you will kindly wipe away my tears, so that I shall not rust.\"\n\n \n\n\"With pleasure,\" she answered, and brought a towel at once. Then\nthe Tin Woodman wept for several minutes, and she watched the tears\ncarefully and wiped them away with the towel. When he had finished\nhe thanked her kindly and oiled himself thoroughly with his jewelled\noil-can, to guard against mishap.\n\nThe Scarecrow was now the ruler of the Emerald City, and although\nhe was not a Wizard the people were proud of him. \"For,\" they said,\n\"there is not another city in all the world that is ruled by a\nstuffed man.\" And, so far as they knew, they were quite right.\n\nThe morning after the balloon had gone up with Oz the four travellers\nmet in the Throne Room and talked matters over. The Scarecrow sat in\nthe big throne and the others stood respectfully before him.\n\n\"We are not so unlucky,\" said the new ruler; \"for this Palace and\nthe Emerald City belong to us, and we can do just as we please. When\nI remember that a short time ago I was up on a pole in a farmer's\ncornfield, and that I am now the ruler of this beautiful City, I am\nquite satisfied with my lot.\"\n\n\"I also,\" said the Tin Woodman, \"am well pleased with my new heart;\nand, really, that was the only thing I wished in all the world.\"\n\n\"For my part, I am content in knowing I am as brave as any beast that\never lived, if not braver,\" said the Lion, modestly,\n\n[Illustration: \"_The Scarecrow sat on the big throne._\"]\n\n\"If Dorothy would only be contented to live in the Emerald City,\"\ncontinued the Scarecrow, \"we might all be happy together.\"\n\n\"But I don't want to live here,\" cried Dorothy. \"I want to go to\nKansas, and live with Aunt Em and Uncle Henry.\"\n\n\"Well, then, what can be done?\" enquired the Woodman.\n\nThe Scarecrow decided to think, and he thought so hard that the pins\nand needles began to stick out of his brains. Finally he said:\n\n\"Why not call the Winged Monkeys, and asked them to carry you over\nthe desert?\"\n\n\"I never thought of that!\" said Dorothy, joyfully. \"It's just the\nthing. I'll go at once for the Golden Cap.\"\n\nWhen she brought it into the Throne Room she spoke the magic words,\nand soon the band of Winged Monkeys flew in through an open window\nand stood beside her.\n\n\"This is the second time you have called us,\" said the Monkey King,\nbowing before the little girl. \"What do you wish?\"\n\n\"I want you to fly with me to Kansas,\" said Dorothy.\n\nBut the Monkey King shook his head.\n\n\"That cannot be done,\" he said. \"We belong to this country alone, and\ncannot leave it. There has never been a Winged Monkey in Kansas yet,\nand I suppose there never will be, for they don't belong there. We\nshall be glad to serve you in any way in our power, but we cannot\ncross the desert. Good-bye.\"\n\nAnd with another bow the Monkey King spread his wings and flew away\nthrough the window, followed by all his band.\n\nDorothy was almost ready to cry with disappointment.\n\n\"I have wasted the charm of the Golden Cap to no purpose,\" she said,\n\"for the Winged Monkeys cannot help me.\"\n\n\"It is certainly too bad!\" said the tender hearted Woodman.\n\nThe Scarecrow was thinking again, and his head bulged out so horribly\nthat Dorothy feared it would burst.\n\n\"Let us call in the soldier with the green whiskers,\" he said, \"and\nask his advice.\"\n\n \n\nSo the soldier was summoned and entered the Throne Room timidly, for\nwhile Oz was alive he never was allowed to come further than the door.\n\n\"This little girl,\" said the Scarecrow to the soldier, \"wishes to\ncross the desert. How can she do so?\"\n\n\"I cannot tell,\" answered the soldier; \"for nobody has ever crossed\nthe desert, unless it is Oz himself.\"\n\n\"Is there no one who can help me?\" asked Dorothy, earnestly.\n\n\"Glinda might,\" he suggested.\n\n\"Who is Glinda?\" enquired the Scarecrow.\n\n\"The Witch of the South. She is the most powerful of all the Witches,\nand rules over the Quadlings. Besides, her castle stands on the edge\nof the desert, so she may know a way to cross it.\"\n\n\"Glinda is a good Witch, isn't she?\" asked the child.\n\n\"The Quadlings think she is good,\" said the soldier, \"and she is kind\nto everyone. I have heard that Glinda is a beautiful woman, who knows\nhow to keep young in spite of the many years she has lived.\"\n\n\"How can I get to her castle?\" asked Dorothy.\n\n\"The road is straight to the South,\" he answered, \"but it is said to be\nfull of dangers to travellers. There are wild beasts in the woods, and\na race of queer men who do not like strangers to cross their country.\nFor this reason none of the Quadlings ever come to the Emerald City.\"\n\nThe soldier then left them and the Scarecrow said,\n\n\"It seems, in spite of dangers, that the best thing Dorothy can do is\nto travel to the Land of the South and ask Glinda to help her. For,\nof course, if Dorothy stays here she will never get back to Kansas.\"\n\n\"You must have been thinking again,\" remarked the Tin Woodman.\n\n\"I have,\" said the Scarecrow.\n\n\"I shall go with Dorothy,\" declared the Lion, \"for I am tired of your\ncity and long for the woods and the country again. I am really a wild\nbeast, you know. Besides, Dorothy will need someone to protect her.\"\n\n\"That is true,\" agreed the Woodman. \"My axe may be of service to her;\nso I, also, will go with her to the Land of the South.\"\n\n\"When shall we start?\" asked the Scarecrow.\n\n\"Are you going?\" they asked, in surprise.\n\n\"Certainly. If it wasn't for Dorothy I should never have had brains.\nShe lifted me from the pole in the cornfield and brought me to the\nEmerald City. So my good luck is all due to her, and I shall never\nleave her until she starts back to Kansas for good and all.\"\n\n\"Thank you,\" said Dorothy, gratefully. \"You are all very kind to me.\nBut I should like to start as soon as possible.\"\n\n\"We shall go to-morrow morning,\" returned the Scarecrow. \"So now let\nus all get ready, for it will be a long journey.\"\n\n \n\n\n\n\n                              Chapter XIX.\n\n                            Attacked by the\n                            Fighting Trees.\n\n\n \n\n \n\nThe next morning Dorothy kissed the pretty green girl good-bye, and\nthey all shook hands with the soldier with the green whiskers, who\nhad walked with them as far as the gate. When the Guardian of the\nGate saw them again he wondered greatly that they could leave the\nbeautiful City to get into new trouble. But he at once unlocked their\nspectacles, which he put back into the green box, and gave them many\ngood wishes to carry with them.\n\n\"You are now our ruler,\" he said to the Scarecrow; \"so you must come\nback to us as soon as possible.\"\n\n\"I certainly shall if I am able,\" the Scarecrow replied; \"but I must\nhelp Dorothy to get home, first.\"\n\nAs Dorothy bade the good-natured Guardian a last farewell she said,\n\n\"I have been very kindly treated in your lovely City, and everyone\nhas been good to me. I cannot tell you how grateful I am.\"\n\n\"Don't try, my dear,\" he answered. \"We should like to keep you with\nus, but if it is your wish to return to Kansas I hope you will find a\nway.\" He then opened the gate of the outer wall and they walked forth\nand started upon their journey.\n\nThe sun shone brightly as our friends turned their faces toward the\nLand of the South. They were all in the best of spirits, and laughed\nand chatted together. Dorothy was once more filled with the hope of\ngetting home, and the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman were glad to be\nof use to her. As for the Lion, he sniffed the fresh air with delight\nand whisked his tail from side to side in pure joy at being in the\ncountry again, while Toto ran around them and chased the moths and\nbutterflies, barking merrily all the time.\n\n\"City life does not agree with me at all,\" remarked the Lion, as they\nwalked along at a brisk pace. \"I have lost much flesh since I lived\nthere, and now I am anxious for a chance to show the other beasts how\ncourageous I have grown.\"\n\n[Illustration: \"_The branches bent down and twined around him._\"]\n\nThey now turned and took a last look at the Emerald City. All they\ncould see was a mass of towers and steeples behind the green walls,\nand high up above everything the spires and dome of the Palace of Oz.\n\n\"Oz was not such a bad Wizard, after all,\" said the Tin Woodman, as\nhe felt his heart rattling around in his breast.\n\n\"He knew how to give me brains, and very good brains, too,\" said the\nScarecrow.\n\n\"If Oz had taken a dose of the same courage he gave me,\" added the\nLion, \"he would have been a brave man.\"\n\nDorothy said nothing. Oz had not kept the promise he made her, but he\nhad done his best, so she forgave him. As he said, he was a good man,\neven if he was a bad Wizard.\n\nThe first day's journey was through the green fields and bright\nflowers that stretched about the Emerald City on every side. They\nslept that night on the grass, with nothing but the stars over them;\nand they rested very well indeed.\n\nIn the morning they travelled on until they came to a thick wood. There\nwas no way of going around it, for it seemed to extend to the right and\nleft as far as they could see; and, besides, they did not dare change\nthe direction of their journey for fear of getting lost. So they looked\nfor the place where it would be easiest to get into the forest.\n\nThe Scarecrow, who was in the lead, finally discovered a big tree\nwith such wide spreading-branches that there was room for the party\nto pass underneath. So he walked forward to the tree, but just as he\ncame under the first branches they bent down and twined around him,\nand the next minute he was raised from the ground and flung headlong\namong his fellow travellers.\n\nThis did not hurt the Scarecrow, but it surprised him, and he looked\nrather dizzy when Dorothy picked him up.\n\n\"Here is another space between the trees,\" called the Lion.\n\n \n\n\"Let me try it first,\" said the Scarecrow, \"for it doesn't hurt me to\nget thrown about.\" He walked up to another tree, as he spoke, but its\nbranches immediately seized him and tossed him back again.\n\n\"This is strange,\" exclaimed Dorothy; \"what shall we do?\"\n\n\"The trees seem to have made up their minds to fight us, and stop our\njourney,\" remarked the Lion.\n\n\"I believe I will try it myself,\" said the Woodman, and shouldering\nhis axe he marched up to the first tree that had handled the\nScarecrow so roughly. When a big branch bent down to seize him the\nWoodman chopped at it so fiercely that he cut it in two. At once\nthe tree began shaking all its branches as if in pain, and the Tin\nWoodman passed safely under it.\n\n\"Come on!\" he shouted to the others; \"be quick!\"\n\nThey all ran forward and passed under the tree without injury, except\nToto, who was caught by a small branch and shaken until he howled. But\nthe Woodman promptly chopped off the branch and set the little dog free.\n\nThe other trees of the forest did nothing to keep them back, so they\nmade up their minds that only the first row of trees could bend down\ntheir branches, and that probably these were the policemen of the\nforest, and given this wonderful power in order to keep strangers out\nof it.\n\nThe four travellers walked with ease through the trees until they came\nto the further edge of the wood. Then, to their surprise, they found\nbefore them a high wall, which seemed to be made of white china. It was\nsmooth, like the surface of a dish, and higher than their heads.\n\n\"What shall we do now?\" asked Dorothy.\n\n\"I will make a ladder,\" said the Tin Woodman, \"for we certainly must\nclimb over the wall.\"\n\n\n\n\n                              Chapter XX.\n\n                               The Dainty\n                             China Country.\n\n\n \n\n \n\nWhile the Woodman was making a ladder from wood which he found in the\nforest Dorothy lay down and slept, for she was tired by the long walk.\nThe Lion also curled himself up to sleep and Toto lay beside him.\n\nThe Scarecrow watched the Woodman while he worked, and said to him:\n\n\"I cannot think why this wall is here, nor what it is made of.\"\n\n\"Rest your brains and do not worry about the wall,\" replied the\nWoodman; \"when we have climbed over it we shall know what is on the\nother side.\"\n\nAfter a time the ladder was finished. It looked clumsy, but the Tin\nWoodman was sure it was strong and would answer their purpose. The\nScarecrow waked Dorothy and the Lion and Toto, and told them that the\nladder was ready. The Scarecrow climbed up the ladder first, but he\nwas so awkward that Dorothy had to follow close behind and keep him\nfrom falling off. When he got his head over the top of the wall the\nScarecrow said,\n\n\"Oh, my!\"\n\n\"Go on,\" exclaimed Dorothy.\n\nSo the Scarecrow climbed further up and sat down on the top of the\nwall, and Dorothy put her head over and cried,\n\n\"Oh, my!\" just as the Scarecrow had done.\n\nThen Toto came up, and immediately began to bark, but Dorothy made\nhim be still.\n\nThe Lion climbed the ladder next, and the Tin Woodman came last; but\nboth of them cried, \"Oh, my!\" as soon as they looked over the wall.\nWhen they were all sitting in a row on the top of the wall they\nlooked down and saw a strange sight.\n\n[Illustration: \"_These people were all made of china._\"]\n\nBefore them was a great stretch of country having a floor as smooth\nand shining and white as the bottom of a big platter. Scattered\naround were many houses made entirely of china and painted in the\nbrightest colours. These houses were quite small, the biggest of them\nreaching only as high as Dorothy's waist. There were also pretty\nlittle barns, with china fences around them, and many cows and sheep\nand horses and pigs and chickens, all made of china, were standing\nabout in groups.\n\nBut the strangest of all were the people who lived in this queer\ncountry. There were milk-maids and shepherdesses, with bright-colored\nbodices and golden spots all over their gowns; and princesses with\nmost gorgeous frocks of silver and gold and purple; and shepherds\ndressed in knee-breeches with pink and yellow and blue stripes down\nthem, and golden buckles on their shoes; and princes with jewelled\ncrowns upon their heads, wearing ermine robes and satin doublets; and\nfunny clowns in ruffled gowns, with round red spots upon their cheeks\nand tall, pointed caps. And, strangest of all, these people were all\nmade of china, even to their clothes, and were so small that the\ntallest of them was no higher than Dorothy's knee.\n\nNo one did so much as look at the travellers at first, except one\nlittle purple china dog with an extra-large head, which came to the\nwall and barked at them in a tiny voice, afterwards running away again.\n\n\"How shall we get down?\" asked Dorothy.\n\nThey found the ladder so heavy they could not pull it up, so the\nScarecrow fell off the wall and the others jumped down upon him so\nthat the hard floor would not hurt their feet. Of course they took\npains not to light on his head and get the pins in their feet. When\nall were safely down they picked up the Scarecrow, whose body was\nquite flattened out, and patted his straw into shape again.\n\n\"We must cross this strange place in order to get to the other side,\"\nsaid Dorothy; \"for it would be unwise for us to go any other way\nexcept due South.\"\n\nThey began walking through the country of the china people, and the\nfirst thing they came to was a china milk-maid milking a china cow.\nAs they drew near the cow suddenly gave a kick and kicked over the\nstool, the pail, and even the milk-maid herself, all falling on the\nchina ground with a great clatter.\n\nDorothy was shocked to see that the cow had broken her leg short off,\nand that the pail was lying in several small pieces, while the poor\nmilk-maid had a nick in her left elbow.\n\n\"There!\" cried the milk-maid, angrily; \"see what you have done! My\ncow has broken her leg, and I must take her to the mender's shop\nand have it glued on again. What do you mean by coming here and\nfrightening my cow?\"\n\n\"I'm very sorry,\" returned Dorothy; \"please forgive us.\"\n\nBut the pretty milk-maid was much too vexed to make any answer. She\npicked up the leg sulkily and led her cow away, the poor animal\nlimping on three legs. As she left them the milk-maid cast many\nreproachful glances over her shoulder at the clumsy strangers,\nholding her nicked elbow close to her side.\n\n \n\nDorothy was quite grieved at this mishap.\n\n\"We must be very careful here,\" said the kind-hearted Woodman, \"or we\nmay hurt these pretty little people so they will never get over it.\"\n\nA little farther on Dorothy met a most beautiful dressed young\nprincess, who stopped short as she saw the strangers and started to\nrun away.\n\nDorothy wanted to see more of the Princess, so she ran after her; but\nthe china girl cried out,\n\n\"Don't chase me! don't chase me!\"\n\nShe had such a frightened little voice that Dorothy stopped and said,\n\n\"Why not?\"\n\n\"Because,\" answered the princess, also stopping, a safe distance\naway, \"if I run I may fall down and break myself.\"\n\n\"But couldn't you be mended?\" asked the girl.\n\n\"Oh, yes; but one is never so pretty after being mended, you know,\"\nreplied the princess.\n\n\"I suppose not,\" said Dorothy.\n\n\"Now there is Mr. Joker, one of our clowns,\" continued the china\nlady, \"who is always trying to stand upon his head. He has broken\nhimself so often that he is mended in a hundred places, and doesn't\nlook at all pretty. Here he comes now, so you can see for yourself.\"\n\nIndeed, a jolly little Clown now came walking toward them, and\nDorothy could see that in spite of his pretty clothes of red and\nyellow and green he was completely covered with cracks, running every\nwhich way and showing plainly that he had been mended in many places.\n\nThe Clown put his hands in his pockets, and after puffing out his\ncheeks and nodding his head at them saucily he said,\n\n            \"My lady fair,\n             Why do you stare\n          At poor old Mr. Joker?\n             You're quite as stiff\n             And prim as if\n          You'd eaten up a poker!\"\n\n\"Be quiet, sir!\" said the princess; \"can't you see these are\nstrangers, and should be treated with respect?\"\n\n\"Well, that's respect, I expect,\" declared the Clown, and immediately\nstood upon his head.\n\n\"Don't mind Mr. Joker,\" said the princess to Dorothy; \"he is\nconsiderably cracked in his head, and that makes him foolish.\"\n\n \n\n\"Oh, I don't mind him a bit,\" said Dorothy. \"But you are so\nbeautiful,\" she continued, \"that I am sure I could love you dearly.\nWon't you let me carry you back to Kansas and stand you on Aunt Em's\nmantle-shelf? I could carry you in my basket.\"\n\n\"That would make me very unhappy,\" answered the china princess. \"You\nsee, here in our own country we live contentedly, and can talk and\nmove around as we please. But whenever any of us are taken away\nour joints at once stiffen, and we can only stand straight and look\npretty. Of course that is all that is expected of us when we are on\nmantle-shelves and cabinets and drawing-room tables, but our lives\nare much pleasanter here in our own country.\"\n\n\"I would not make you unhappy for all the world!\" exclaimed Dorothy;\n\"so I'll just say good-bye.\"\n\n\"Good-bye,\" replied the princess.\n\nThey walked carefully through the china country. The little animals\nand all the people scampered out of their way, fearing the strangers\nwould break them, and after an hour or so the travellers reached the\nother side of the country and came to another china wall.\n\nIt was not as high as the first, however, and by standing upon the\nLion's back they all managed to scramble to the top. Then the Lion\ngathered his legs under him and jumped on the wall; but just as he\njumped he upset a china church with his tail and smashed it all to\npieces.\n\n\"That was too bad,\" said Dorothy, \"but really I think we were lucky\nin not doing these little people more harm than breaking a cow's leg\nand a church. They are all so brittle!\"\n\n\"They are, indeed,\" said the Scarecrow, \"and I am thankful I am made\nof straw and cannot be easily damaged. There are worse things in the\nworld than being a Scarecrow.\"\n\n\n\n\n                              Chapter XXI.\n\n                            The Lion Becomes\n                          the King of Beasts.\n\n\n \n\n \n\nAfter climbing down from the china wall the travellers found\nthemselves in a disagreeable country, full of bogs and marshes and\ncovered with tall, rank grass. It was difficult to walk far without\nfalling into muddy holes, for the grass was so thick that it hid them\nfrom sight. However, by carefully picking their way, they got safely\nalong until they reached solid ground. But here the country seemed\nwilder than ever, and after a long and tiresome walk through the\nunderbrush they entered another forest, where the trees were bigger\nand older than any they had ever seen.\n\n\"This forest is perfectly delightful,\" declared the Lion, looking\naround him with joy; \"never have I seen a more beautiful place.\"\n\n\"It seems gloomy,\" said the Scarecrow.\n\n\"Not a bit of it,\" answered the Lion; \"I should like to live here all\nmy life. See how soft the dried leaves are under your feet and how\nrich and green the moss is that clings to these old trees. Surely no\nwild beast could wish a pleasanter home.\"\n\n\"Perhaps there are wild beasts in the forest now,\" said Dorothy.\n\n\"I suppose there are,\" returned the Lion; \"but I do not see any of\nthem about.\"\n\nThey walked through the forest until it became too dark to go any\nfarther. Dorothy and Toto and the Lion lay down to sleep, while the\nWoodman and the Scarecrow kept watch over them as usual.\n\nWhen morning came they started again. Before they had gone far they\nheard a low rumble, as of the growling of many wild animals. Toto\nwhimpered a little but none of the others was frightened and they kept\nalong the well-trodden path until they came to an opening in the wood,\nin which were gathered hundreds of beasts of every variety. There were\ntigers and elephants and bears and wolves and foxes and all the others\nin the natural history, and for a moment Dorothy was afraid. But the\nLion explained that the animals were holding a meeting, and he judged\nby their snarling and growling that they were in great trouble.\n\nAs he spoke several of the beasts caught sight of him, and at once\nthe great assemblage hushed as if by magic. The biggest of the tigers\ncame up to the Lion and bowed, saying,\n\n \n\n\"Welcome, O King of Beasts! You have come in good time to fight our\nenemy and bring peace to all the animals of the forest once more.\"\n\n\"What is your trouble?\" asked the Lion, quietly.\n\n\"We are all threatened,\" answered the tiger, \"by a fierce enemy which\nhas lately come into this forest. It is a most tremendous monster, like\na great spider, with a body as big as an elephant and legs as long as\na tree trunk. It has eight of these long legs, and as the monster\ncrawls through the forest he seizes an animal with a leg and drags it\nto his mouth, where he eats it as a spider does a fly. Not one of us is\nsafe while this fierce creature is alive, and we had called a meeting\nto decide how to take care of ourselves when you came among us.\"\n\nThe Lion thought for a moment.\n\n\"Are there any other lions in this forest?\" he asked.\n\n\"No; there were some, but the monster has eaten them all. And,\nbesides, they were none of them nearly so large and brave as you.\"\n\n\"If I put an end to your enemy will you bow down to me and obey me as\nKing of the Forest?\" enquired the Lion.\n\n\"We will do that gladly,\" returned the tiger; and all the other\nbeasts roared with a mighty roar: \"We will!\"\n\n\"Where is this great spider of yours now?\" asked the Lion.\n\n\"Yonder, among the oak trees,\" said the tiger, pointing with his\nfore-foot.\n\n\"Take good care of these friends of mine,\" said the Lion, \"and I will\ngo at once to fight the monster.\"\n\nHe bade his comrades good-bye and marched proudly away to do battle\nwith the enemy.\n\nThe great spider was lying asleep when the Lion found him, and it\nlooked so ugly that its foe turned up his nose in disgust. Its legs\nwere quite as long as the tiger had said, and it's body covered with\ncoarse black hair. It had a great mouth, with a row of sharp teeth\na foot long; but its head was joined to the pudgy body by a neck as\nslender as a wasp's waist. This gave the Lion a hint of the best way\nto attack the creature, and as he knew it was easier to fight it\nasleep than awake, he gave a great spring and landed directly upon\nthe monster's back. Then, with one blow of his heavy paw, all armed\nwith sharp claws, he knocked the spider's head from its body. Jumping\ndown, he watched it until the long legs stopped wiggling, when he\nknew it was quite dead.\n\nThe Lion went back to the opening where the beasts of the forest were\nwaiting for him and said, proudly, \"You need fear your enemy no longer.\"\n\nThen the beasts bowed down to the Lion as their King, and he promised\nto come back and rule over them as soon as Dorothy was safely on her\nway to Kansas.\n\n\n\n\n                             Chapter XXII.\n\n                              The Country\n                            of the Quadlings\n\n\n \n\n[Illustration: \"_The Head shot forward and struck the Scarecrow._\"]\n\n \n\nThe four travellers passed through the rest of the forest in safety,\nand when they came out from its gloom saw before them a steep hill,\ncovered from top to bottom with great pieces of rock.\n\n\"That will be a hard climb,\" said the Scarecrow, \"but we must get\nover the hill, nevertheless.\"\n\nSo he led the way and the others followed. They had nearly reached\nthe first rock when they heard a rough voice cry out,\n\n\"Keep back!\"\n\n\"Who are you?\" asked the Scarecrow. Then a head showed itself over\nthe rock and the same voice said,\n\n\"This hill belongs to us, and we don't allow anyone to cross it.\"\n\n\"But we must cross it,\" said the Scarecrow. \"We're going to the\ncountry of the Quadlings.\"\n\n\"But you shall not!\" replied the voice, and there stepped from behind\nthe rock the strangest man the travellers had ever seen.\n\nHe was quite short and stout and had a big head, which was flat at the\ntop and supported by a thick neck full of wrinkles. But he had no arms\nat all, and, seeing this, the Scarecrow did not fear that so helpless a\ncreature could prevent them from climbing the hill. So he said,\n\n\"I'm sorry not to do as you wish, but we must pass over your hill\nwhether you like it or not,\" and he walked boldly forward.\n\nAs quick as lightning the man's head shot forward and his neck\nstretched out until the top of the head, where it was flat, struck\nthe Scarecrow in the middle and sent him tumbling, over and over,\ndown the hill. Almost as quickly as it came the head went back to the\nbody, and the man laughed harshly as he said,\n\n\"It isn't as easy as you think!\"\n\nA chorus of boisterous laughter came from the other rocks, and\nDorothy saw hundreds of the armless Hammer-Heads upon the hillside,\none behind every rock.\n\nThe Lion became quite angry at the laughter caused by the Scarecrow's\nmishap, and giving a loud roar that echoed like thunder he dashed up\nthe hill.\n\nAgain a head shot swiftly out, and the great Lion went rolling down\nthe hill as if he had been struck by a cannon ball.\n\nDorothy ran down and helped the Scarecrow to his feet, and the Lion\ncame up to her, feeling rather bruised and sore, and said,\n\n\"It is useless to fight people with shooting heads; no one can\nwithstand them.\"\n\n\"What can we do, then?\" she asked.\n\n\"Call the Winged Monkeys,\" suggested the Tin Woodman; \"you have still\nthe right to command them once more.\"\n\n\"Very well,\" she answered, and putting on the Golden Cap she uttered\nthe magic words. The Monkeys were as prompt as ever, and in a few\nmoments the entire band stood before her.\n\n\"What are your commands?\" enquired the King of the Monkeys, bowing low.\n\n\"Carry us over the hill to the country of the Quadlings,\" answered\nthe girl.\n\n\"It shall be done,\" said the King, and at once the Winged Monkeys\ncaught the four travellers and Toto up in their arms and flew away\nwith them. As they passed over the hill the Hammer-Heads yelled with\nvexation, and shot their heads high in the air; but they could not\nreach the Winged Monkeys, which carried Dorothy and her comrades\nsafely over the hill and set them down in the beautiful country of\nthe Quadlings.\n\n\"This is the last time you can summon us,\" said the leader to\nDorothy; \"so good-bye and good luck to you.\"\n\n\"Good-bye, and thank you very much,\" returned the girl; and the\nMonkeys rose into the air and were out of sight in a twinkling.\n\nThe country of the Quadlings seemed rich and happy. There was field\nupon field of ripening grain, with well-paved roads running between,\nand pretty rippling brooks with strong bridges across them. The fences\nand houses and bridges were all painted bright red, just as they had\nbeen painted yellow in the country of the Winkies and blue in the\ncountry of the Munchkins. The Quadlings themselves, who were short and\nfat and looked chubby and good natured, were dressed all in red, which\nshowed bright against the green grass and the yellowing grain.\n\nThe Monkeys had set them down near a farm house, and the four\ntravellers walked up to it and knocked at the door. It was opened by\nthe farmer's wife, and when Dorothy asked for something to eat the\nwoman gave them all a good dinner, with three kinds of cake and four\nkinds of cookies, and a bowl of milk for Toto.\n\n\"How far is it to the Castle of Glinda?\" asked the child.\n\n\"It is not a great way,\" answered the farmer's wife. \"Take the road\nto the South and you will soon reach it.\"\n\nThanking the good woman, they started afresh and walked by the fields\nand across the pretty bridges until they saw before them a very\nbeautiful Castle. Before the gates were three young girls, dressed\nin handsome red uniforms trimmed with gold braid; and as Dorothy\napproached one of them said to her,\n\n\"Why have you come to the South Country?\"\n\n\"To see the Good Witch who rules here,\" she answered. \"Will you take\nme to her?\"\n\n\"Let me have your name and I will ask Glinda if she will receive\nyou.\" They told who they were, and the girl soldier went into the\nCastle. After a few moments she came back to say that Dorothy and the\nothers were to be admitted at once.\n\n \n\n\n\n\n                             Chapter XXIII.\n\n                             The Good Witch\n                            Grants Dorothy's\n                                 Wish.\n\n\n \n\n[Illustration: \"_You must give me the Golden Cap._\"]\n\n \n\nBefore they went to see Glinda, however, they were taken to a room of\nthe Castle, where Dorothy washed her face and combed her hair, and\nthe Lion shook the dust out of his mane, and the Scarecrow patted\nhimself into his best shape, and the Woodman polished his tin and\noiled his joints.\n\nWhen they were all quite presentable they followed the soldier girl\ninto a big room where the Witch Glinda sat upon a throne of rubies.\n\nShe was both beautiful and young to their eyes. Her hair was a rich\nred in color and fell in flowing ringlets over her shoulders. Her\ndress was pure white; but her eyes were blue, and they looked kindly\nupon the little girl.\n\n\"What can I do for you, my child?\" she asked.\n\nDorothy told the Witch all her story; how the cyclone had brought\nher to the Land of Oz, how she had found her companions, and of the\nwonderful adventures they had met with.\n\n\"My greatest wish now,\" she added, \"is to get back to Kansas, for\nAunt Em will surely think something dreadful has happened to me, and\nthat will make her put on mourning; and unless the crops are better\nthis year than they were last I am sure Uncle Henry cannot afford it.\"\n\nGlinda leaned forward and kissed the sweet, upturned face of the\nloving little girl.\n\n\"Bless your dear heart,\" she said, \"I am sure I can tell you of a way\nto get back to Kansas.\" Then she added:\n\n\"But, if I do, you must give me the Golden Cap.\"\n\n\"Willingly!\" exclaimed Dorothy; \"indeed, it is of no use to me now,\nand when you have it you can command the Winged Monkeys three times.\"\n\n\"And I think I shall need their service just those three times,\"\nanswered Glinda, smiling.\n\nDorothy then gave her the Golden Cap, and the Witch said to the\nScarecrow,\n\n\"What will you do when Dorothy has left us?\"\n\n\"I will return to the Emerald City,\" he replied, \"for Oz has made me\nits ruler and the people like me. The only thing that worries me is\nhow to cross the hill of the Hammer-Heads.\"\n\n\"By means of the Golden Cap I shall command the Winged Monkeys to\ncarry you to the gates of the Emerald City,\" said Glinda, \"for it\nwould be a shame to deprive the people of so wonderful a ruler.\"\n\n\"Am I really wonderful?\" asked the Scarecrow.\n\n\"You are unusual,\" replied Glinda.\n\nTurning to the Tin Woodman, she asked:\n\n\"What will become of you when Dorothy leaves this country?\"\n\nHe leaned on his axe and thought a moment. Then he said,\n\n\"The Winkies were very kind to me, and wanted me to rule over them\nafter the Wicked Witch died. I am fond of the Winkies, and if I could\nget back again to the country of the West I should like nothing\nbetter than to rule over them forever.\"\n\n\"My second command to the Winged Monkeys,\" said Glinda, \"will be that\nthey carry you safely to the land of the Winkies. Your brains may not\nbe so large to look at as those of the Scarecrow, but you are really\nbrighter than he is--when you are well polished--and I am sure you\nwill rule the Winkies wisely and well.\"\n\nThen the Witch looked at the big, shaggy Lion and asked,\n\n\"When Dorothy has returned to her own home, what will become of you?\"\n\n\"Over the hill of the Hammer-Heads,\" he answered, \"lies a grand old\nforest, and all the beasts that live there have made me their King.\nIf I could only get back to this forest I would pass my life very\nhappily there.\"\n\n\"My third command to the Winged Monkeys,\" said Glinda, \"shall be to\ncarry you to your forest. Then, having used up the powers of the\nGolden Cap, I shall give it to the King of the Monkeys, that he and\nhis band may thereafter be free for evermore.\"\n\nThe Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman and the Lion now thanked the Good\nWitch earnestly for her kindness, and Dorothy exclaimed,\n\n \n\n\"You are certainly as good as you are beautiful! But you have not yet\ntold me how to get back to Kansas.\"\n\n\"Your Silver Shoes will carry you over the desert,\" replied Glinda.\n\"If you had known their power you could have gone back to your Aunt\nEm the very first day you came to this country.\"\n\n\"But then I should not have had my wonderful brains!\" cried the\nScarecrow. \"I might have passed my whole life in the farmer's\ncornfield.\"\n\n\"And I should not have had my lovely heart,\" said the Tin Woodman. \"I\nmight have stood and rusted in the forest till the end of the world.\"\n\n\"And I should have lived a coward forever,\" declared the Lion, \"and\nno beast in all the forest would have had a good word to say to me.\"\n\n\"This is all true,\" said Dorothy, \"and I am glad I was of use to\nthese good friends. But now that each of them has had what he most\ndesired, and each is happy in having a kingdom to rule beside, I\nthink I should like to go back to Kansas.\"\n\n\"The Silver Shoes,\" said the Good Witch, \"have wonderful powers. And\none of the most curious things about them is that they can carry you to\nany place in the world in three steps, and each step will be made in\nthe wink of an eye. All you have to do is to knock the heels together\nthree times and command the shoes to carry you wherever you wish to go.\"\n\n\"If that is so,\" said the child, joyfully, \"I will ask them to carry\nme back to Kansas at once.\"\n\nShe threw her arms around the Lion's neck and kissed him, patting\nhis big head tenderly. Then she kissed the Tin Woodman, who was\nweeping in a way most dangerous to his joints. But she hugged the\nsoft, stuffed body of the Scarecrow in her arms instead of kissing\nhis painted face, and found she was crying herself at this sorrowful\nparting from her loving comrades.\n\nGlinda the Good stepped down from her ruby throne to give the little\ngirl a good-bye kiss, and Dorothy thanked her for all the kindness\nshe had shown to her friends and herself.\n\nDorothy now took Toto up solemnly in her arms, and having said one\nlast good-bye she clapped the heels of her shoes together three\ntimes, saying,\n\n\"Take me home to Aunt Em!\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nInstantly she was whirling through the air, so swiftly that all she\ncould see or feel was the wind whistling past her ears.\n\nThe Silver Shoes took but three steps, and then she stopped so\nsuddenly that she rolled over upon the grass several times before she\nknew where she was.\n\nAt length, however, she sat up and looked about her.\n\n\"Good gracious!\" she cried.\n\nFor she was sitting on the broad Kansas prairie, and just before\nher was the new farm-house Uncle Henry built after the cyclone had\ncarried away the old one. Uncle Henry was milking the cows in the\nbarnyard, and Toto had jumped out of her arms and was running toward\nthe barn, barking joyously.\n\nDorothy stood up and found she was in her stocking-feet. For the\nSilver Shoes had fallen off in her flight through the air, and were\nlost forever in the desert.\n\n\n\n\n\n                             Chapter XXIV.\n\n                              Home Again.\n\n\nAunt Em had just come out of the house to water the cabbages when she\nlooked up and saw Dorothy running toward her.\n\n\"My darling child!\" she cried, folding the little girl in her arms and\ncovering her face with kisses; \"where in the world did you come from?\"\n\n\"From the Land of Oz,\" said Dorothy, gravely. \"And here is Toto, too.\nAnd oh, Aunt Em! I'm so glad to be at home again!\""