“Nothing like it,” said Scraps. “It’s a make-believe. You see it, but it isn’t. Come on into the city; we’ve been wasting our time.” With this, she danced into the wall again and once more disappeared. Button-Bright, who was rather venture-some, dashed away after her and also became invisible to them. The others followed more cautiously, stretching out their hands to feel the wall and finding, to their astonishment, that they could feel nothing because nothing opposed them. They walked on a few steps and found themselves in the streets of a very beautiful city. Behind them they again saw the wall, grim and forbidding as ever, but now they knew it was merely an illusion prepared to keep strangers from entering the city.
But the wall was soon forgotten, for in front of them were a number of quaint people who stared at them in amazement as if wondering where they had come from. Our friends forgot their good manners for a time and returned the stares with interest, for so remarkable a people had never before been discovered in all the remarkable Land of Oz. Their heads were shaped like diamonds, and their bodies like hearts. All the hair they had was a little bunch at the tip top of their diamond-shaped heads, and their eyes were very large and round, and their noses and mouths very small. Their clothing was tight fitting and of brilliant colors, being handsomely embroidered in quaint designs with gold or silver threads; but on their feet they wore sandals with no stockings whatever. The expression of their faces was pleasant enough, although they now showed surprise at the appearance of strangers so unlike themselves, and our friends thought they seemed quite harmless.
“I beg your pardon,” said the Wizard, speaking for his party, “for intruding upon you uninvited, but we are traveling on important business and find it necessary to visit your city. Will you kindly tell us by what name your city is called?”
They looked at one another uncertainly, each expecting some other to answer. Finally, a short one whose heart-shaped body was very broad replied, “We have no occasion to call our city anything. It is where we live, that is all.”
“But by what name do others call your city?”asked the Wizard.
“We know of no others except yourselves,” said the man. And then he inquired, “Were you born with those queer forms you have, or has some cruel magician transformed you to them from your natural shapes?”
“These are our natural shapes,” declared the Wizard, “and we consider them very good shapes, too.”
The group of inhabitants was constantly being enlarged by others who joined it. All were evidently startled and uneasy at the arrival of strangers. “Have you a King?”asked Dorothy, who knew it was better to speak with someone in authority.
But the man shook his diamond-like head. “What is a King?” he asked.
“Isn’t there anyone who rules over you?”inquired the Wizard.
“No,” was the reply, “each of us rules himself, or at least tries to do so. It is not an easy thing to do, as you probably know.”
The Wizard reflected.
“If you have disputes among you,” said he after a little thought, “who settles them?”
“The High Coco-Lorum,” they answered in a chorus.
“And who is he?”
“The judge who enforces the laws,” said the man who had first spoken.
“Then he is the principal person here?”continued the Wizard.
“Well, I would not say that,” returned the man in a puzzled way. “The High Coco-Lorum is a public servant. However, he represents the laws, which we must all obey.”
“I think,” said the Wizard, “we ought to see your High Coco-Lorum and talk with him. Our mission here requires us to consult one high in authority, and the High Coco-Lorum ought to be high, whatever else he is.”
The inhabitants seemed to consider this proposition reasonable, for they nodded their diamond-shaped heads in approval. So the broad one who had been their spokesman said, “Follow me,” and turning led the way along one of the streets. The entire party followed him, the natives falling in behind. The dwellings they passed were quite nicely planned and seemed comfortable and convenient. After leading them a few blocks, their conductor stopped before a house which was neither better nor worse than the others. The doorway was shaped to admit the strangely formed bodies of these people, being narrow at the top, broad in the middle and tapering at the bottom. The windows were made in much the same way, giving the house a most peculiar appearance. When their guide opened the gate, a music box concealed in the gatepost began to play, and the sound attracted the attention of the High Coco-Lorum, who appeared at an open window and inquired, “What has happened now?”
But in the same moment his eyes fell upon the strangers and he hastened to open the door and admit them–all but the animals, which were left outside with the throng of natives that had now gathered. For a small city there seemed to be a large number of inhabitants, but they did not try to enter the house and contented themselves with staring curiously at the strange animals. Toto followed Dorothy.
Our friends entered a large room at the front of the house, where the High Coco-Lorum asked them to be seated. “I hope your mission here is a peaceful one,” he said, looking a little worried, “for the Thists are not very good fighters and object to being conquered.”
“Are your people called Thists?” asked Dorothy.
“Yes. I thought you knew that. And we call our city Thi.”
“Oh!”
.”We are Thists because we eat thistles, you know,” continued the High Coco-Lorum.
“Do you really eat those prickly things?”inquired Button-Bright wonderingly.
“Why not?” replied the other. “The sharp points of the thistles cannot hurt us, because all our insides are gold-lined.”
“Gold-lined!”
“To be sure. Our throats and stomachs are lined with solid gold, and we find the thistles nourishing and good to eat. As a matter of fact, there is nothing else in our country that is fit for food. All around the City of Thi grow countless thistles, and all we need do is to go and gather them. If we wanted anything else to eat, we would have to plant it, and grow it, and harvest it, and that would be a lot of trouble and make us work, which is an occupation we detest.”
“But tell me, please,” said the Wizard, “how does it happen that your city jumps around so, from one part of the country to another?”
“The city doesn’t jump. It doesn’t move at all,” declared the High Coco-Lorum. “However, I will admit that the land that surrounds it has a trick of turning this way or that, and so if one is standing upon the plain and facing north, he is likely to find himself suddenly facing west or east or south. But once you reach the thistle fields, you are on solid ground.”
“Ah, I begin to understand,” said the Wizard, nodding his head. “But I have another question to ask: How does it happen that the Thists have no King to rule over them?”
“Hush!”whispered the High Coco-Lorum, looking uneasily around to make sure they were not overheard. “In reality, I am the King, but the people don’t know it. They think they rule themselves, but the fact is I have everything my own way. No one else knows anything about our laws, and so I make the laws to suit myself. If any oppose me or question my acts, I tell them it’s the law and that settles it. If I called myself King, however, and wore a crown and lived in royal style, the people would not like me and might do me harm. As the High Coco-Lorum of Thi, I am considered a very agreeable person.”
“It seems a very clever arrangement,” said the Wizard. “And now, as you are the principal person in Thi, I beg you to tell us if the Royal Ozma is a captive in your city.”
“No,” answered the diamond-headed man. “We have no captives. No strangers but yourselves are here, and we have never before heard of the Royal Ozma.”
“She rules over all of Oz,” said Dorothy, “and so she rules your city and you, because you are in the Winkie Country, which is a part of the Land of Oz.”
“It may be,” returned the High Coco-Lorum, “for we do not study geography and have never inquired whether we live in the Land of Oz or not. And any Ruler who rules us from a distance and unknown to us is welcome to the job. But what has happened to your Royal Ozma?”
“Someone has stolen her,” said the Wizard. “Do you happen to have any talented magician among your people, one who is especially clever, you know?”
“No, none especially clever. We do some magic, of course, but it is all of the ordinary kind. I do not think any of us has yet aspired to stealing Rulers, either by magic or otherwise.”
“Then we’ve come a long way for nothing!”exclaimed Trot regretfully.
“But we are going farther than this,” asserted the Patchwork Girl, bending her stuffed body backward until her yarn hair touched the floor and then walking around on her hands with her feet in the air.
The High Coco-Lorum watched Scraps admiringly.
“You may go farther
on, of course,” said he, “but I advise you not to. The Herkus live back of us, beyond the thistles and the twisting lands, and they are not very nice people to meet, I assure you.”
“Are they giants?” asked Betsy.
“They are worse than that,” was the reply. “They have giants for their slaves and they are so much stronger than giants that the poor slaves dare not rebel for fear of being torn to pieces.”
“How do you know?” asked Scraps.
“Everyone says so,” answered the High Coco-Lorum.
“Have you seen the Herkus yourself?”inquired Dorothy.
“No, but what everyone says must be true, otherwise what would be the use of their saying it?”
“We were told before we got here that you people hitch dragons to your chariots,” said the little girl.
“So we do,” declared the High Coco-Lorum. “And that reminds me that I ought to entertain you as strangers and my guests by taking you for a ride around our splendid City of Thi.” He touched a button, and a band began to play. At least, they heard the music of a band, but couldn’t tell where it came from. “That tune is the order to my charioteer to bring around my dragon-chariot,” said the High Coco-Lorum. “Every time I give an order, it is in music, which is a much more pleasant way to address servants than in cold, stern words.”
“Does this dragon of yours bite?” asked Button-Bright.
“Mercy no! Do you think I’d risk the safety of my innocent people by using a biting dragon to draw my chariot? I’m proud to say that my dragon is harmless, unless his steering gear breaks, and he was manufactured at the famous dragon factory in this City of Thi. Here he comes, and you may examine him for yourselves.”
They heard a low rumble and a shrill squeaking sound, and going out to the front of the house, they saw coming around the corner a car drawn by a gorgeous jeweled dragon, which moved its head to right and left and flashed its eyes like headlights of an automobile and uttered a growling noise as it slowly moved toward them. When it stopped before the High Coco-Lorum’s house, Toto barked sharply at the sprawling beast, but even tiny Trot could see that the dragon was not alive. Its scales were of gold, and each one was set with sparkling jewels, while it walked in such a stiff, regular manner that it could be nothing else than a machine. The chariot that trailed behind it was likewise of gold and jewels, and when they entered it, they found there were no seats. Everyone was supposed to stand up while riding. The charioteer was a little, diamond-headed fellow who straddled the neck of the dragon and moved the levers that made it go.
“This,” said the High Coco-Lorum pompously, “is a wonderful invention. We are all very proud of our auto-dragons, many of which are in use by our wealthy inhabitants. Start the thing going, charioteer!”
The charioteer did not move.
“You forgot to order him in music,”
suggested Dorothy.
“Ah, so I did.”
He touched a button and a music box in the dragon’s head began to play a tune. At once the little charioteer pulled over a lever, and the dragon began to move, very slowly and groaning dismally as it drew the clumsy chariot after it. Toto trotted between the wheels. The Sawhorse, the Mule, the Lion and the Woozy followed after and had no trouble in keeping up with the machine. Indeed, they had to go slow to keep from running into it. When the wheels turned, another music box concealed somewhere under the chariot played a lively march tune which was in striking contrast with the dragging movement of the strange vehicle, and Button-Bright decided that the music he had heard when they first sighted this city was nothing else than a chariot plodding its weary way through the streets.
All the travelers from the Emerald City thought this ride the most uninteresting and dreary they had ever experienced, but the High Coco-Lorum seemed to think it was grand. He pointed out the different buildings and parks and fountains in much the same way that the conductor does on an American “sightseeing wagon” does, and being guests they were obliged to submit to the ordeal. But they became a little worried when their host told them he had ordered a banquet prepared for them in the City Hall. “What are we going to eat?”asked Button-Bright suspiciously.
“Thistles,” was the reply. “Fine, fresh thistles, gathered this very day.”
Scraps laughed, for she never ate anything, but Dorothy said in a protesting voice, “OUR insides are not lined with gold, you know.”
“How sad!”exclaimed the High Coco-Lorum, and then he added as an afterthought, “but we can have the thistles boiled, if you prefer.”
I’m ‘fraid they wouldn’t taste good even then,” said little Trot. “Haven’t you anything else to eat?”
The High Coco-Lorum shook his diamond-shaped head.
“Nothing that I know of,” said he. “But why should we have anything else when we have so many thistles? However, if you can’t eat what we eat, don’t eat anything. We shall not be offended, and the banquet will be just as merry and delightful.”
Knowing his companions were all hungry, the Wizard said, “I trust you will excuse us from the banquet, sir, which will be merry enough without us, although it is given in our honor. For, as Ozma is not in your city, we must leave here at once and seek her elsewhere.”
“Sure we must!” Dorothy, and she whispered to Betsy and Trot, “I’d rather starve somewhere else than in this city, and who knows, we may run across somebody who eats reg’lar food and will give us some.”
So when the ride was finished, in spite of the protests of the High Coco-Lorum, they insisted on continuing their journey. “It will soon be dark,” he objected.
“We don’t mind the darkness,” replied the Wizard.
“Some wandering Herku may get you.”
“Do you think the Herkus would hurt us?”asked Dorothy.
“I cannot say, not having had the honor of their acquaintance. But they are said to be so strong that if they had any other place to stand upon they could lift the world.”
“All of them together?”asked Button-Bright wonderingly.
“Any one of them could do it,” said the High Coco-Lorum.
“Have you heard of any magicians being among them?” asked the Wizard, knowing that only a magician could have stolen Ozma in the way she had been stolen.
“I am told it is quite a magical country,” declared the High Coco-Lorum, “and magic is usually performed by magicians. But I have never heard that they have any invention or sorcery to equal our wonderful auto-dragons.”
They thanked him for his courtesy, and mounting their own animals rode to the farther side of the city and right through the Wall of Illusion out into the open country. “I’m glad we got away so easily,” said Betsy. “I didn’t like those queer-shaped people.”
“Nor did I,” agreed Dorothy. “It seems dreadful to be lined with sheets of pure gold and have nothing to eat but thistles.”
“They seemed happy and contented, though,” remarked the Wizard, “and those who are contented have nothing to regret and nothing more to wish for.”
CHAPTER 10
TOTO LOSES SOMETHING
For a while the travelers were constantly losing their direction, for beyond the thistle fields they again found themselves upon the turning-lands, which swung them around one way and then another. But by keeping the City of Thi constantly behind them, the adventurers finally passed the treacherous turning-lands and came upon a stony country where no grass grew at all. There were plenty of bushes, however, and although it was now almost dark, the girls discovered some delicious yellow berries growing upon the bushes, one taste of which set them all to picking as many as they could find. The berries relieved their pangs of hunger for a time, and as it now became too dark to see anything, they camped where they were.
The three girls lay down upon one of the blankets–all in a row–and the Wizard covered them with the other blanket and tucked them in. Button-Bright crawled under the shelter of some bushes and was asleep
The Wizard sat down with his back to a big stone and looked at the stars in the sky and thought gravely upon the dangerous adventure they had undertaken, wondering if they would ever be able to find their beloved Ozma again. The animals lay in a group by themselves, a little distance from the others. “I’ve lost my growl!” said Toto, who had been very silent and sober all that day. “What do you suppose has become of it?”
“If you had asked me to keep track of your growl, I might be able to tell you,” remarked the Lion sleepily. “But frankly, Toto, I supposed you were taking care of it yourself.”
“It’s an awful thing to lose one’s growl,” said Toto, wagging his tail disconsolately. “What if you lost your roar, Lion? Wouldn’t you feel terrible?”
“My roar,”replied the Lion, “is the fiercest thing about me. I depend on it to frighten my enemies so badly that they won’t dare to fight me.”
“Once,” said the Mule, “I lost my bray so that I couldn’t call to Betsy to let her know I was hungry. That was before I could talk, you know, for I had not yet come into the Land of Oz, and I found it was certainly very uncomfortable not to be able to make a noise.”
“You make enough noise now,” declared Toto. “But none of you have answered my question: Where is my growl?”
“You may search ME,” said the Woozy. “I don’t care for such things, myself.”
“You snore terribly,” asserted Toto.
“It may be,” said the Woozy. “What one does when asleep one is not accountable for. I wish you would wake me up sometime when I’m snoring and let me hear the sound. Then I can judge whether it is terrible or delightful.”
“It isn’t pleasant, I assure you,” said the Lion, yawning.
“To me it seems wholly unnecessary,” declared Hank the Mule.
“You ought to break yourself of the habit,” said the Sawhorse. “You never hear me snore, because I never sleep. I don’t even whinny as those puffy meat horses do. I wish that whoever stole Toto’s growl had taken the Mule’s bray and the Lion’s roar and the Woozy’s snore at the same time.”
“Do you think, then, that my growl was stolen?”
“You have never lost it before, have you?” inquired inquired the Sawhorse.
“Only once, when I had a sore throat from barking too long at the moon.”
“Is your throat sore now?” asked the Woozy.
“No,” replied the dog.
“I can’t understand,” said Hank, “why dogs bark at the moon. They can’t scare the moon, and the moon doesn’t pay any attention to the bark. So why do dogs do it?”
“Were you ever a dog?” asked Toto.
“No indeed,” replied Hank. “I am thankful to say I was created a mule–the most beautiful of all beasts–and have always remained one.”
The Woozy sat upon his square haunches to examine Hank with care. “Beauty,” he said, “must be a matter of taste. I don’t say your judgment is bad, friend Hank, or that you are so vulgar as to be conceited. But if you admire big, waggy ears and a tail like a paintbrush and hoofs big enough for an elephant and a long neck and a body so skinny that one can count the ribs with one eye shut–if that’s your idea of beauty, Hank, then either you or I must be much mistaken.”
“You’re full of edges,” sneered the Mule. “If I were square as you are, I suppose you’d think me lovely.”
“Outwardly, dear Hank, I would,” replied the Woozy. “But to be really lovely, one must be beautiful without and within.”
The Mule couldn’t deny this statement, so he gave a disgusted grunt and rolled over so that his back was toward the Woozy. But the Lion, regarding the two calmly with his great, yellow eyes, said to the dog, “My dear Toto, our friends have taught us a lesson in humility. If the Woozy and the Mule are indeed beautiful creatures as they seem to think, you and I must be decidedly ugly.”
“Not to ourselves,” protested Toto, who was a shrewd little dog. “You and I, Lion, are fine specimens of our own races. I am a fine dog, and you are a fine lion. Only in point of comparison, one with another, can we be properly judged, so I will leave it to the poor old Sawhorse to decide which is the most beautiful animal among us all. The Sawhorse is wood, so he won’t be prejudiced and will speak the truth.”
“I surely will,” responded the Sawhorse, wagging his ears, which were chips set in his wooden head. “Are you all agreed to accept my judgment?”
“We are!” they declared, each one hopeful.
“Then,” said the Sawhorse, “I must point out to you the fact that you are all meat creatures, who tire unless they sleep and starve unless they eat and suffer from thirst unless they drink. Such animals must be very imperfect, and imperfect creatures cannot be beautiful. Now, I am made of wood.”
“You surely have a wooden head,” said the Mule.
“Yes, and a wooden body and wooden legs, which are as swift as the wind and as tireless. I’ve heard Dorothy say that ‘handsome is as handsome does,’ and I surely perform my duties in a handsome manner. Therefore, if you wish my honest judgment, I will confess that among us all I am the most beautiful.”
The Mule snorted, and the Woozy laughed; Toto had lost his growl and could only look scornfully at the Sawhorse, who stood in his place unmoved. But the Lion stretched himself and yawned, saying quietly, “Were we all like the Sawhorse, we would all be Sawhorses, which would be too many of the kind. Were we all like Hank, we would be a herd of mules; if like Toto, we would be a pack of dogs; should we all become the shape of the Woozy, he would no longer be remarkable for his unusual appearance. Finally, were you all like me, I would consider you so common that I would not care to associate with you. To be individual, my friends, to be different from others, is the only way to become distinguished from the common herd. Let us be glad, therefore, that we differ from one another in form and in disposition. Variety is the spice of life, and we are various enough to enjoy one another’s society; so let us be content.”
“There is some truth in that speech,” remarked Toto reflectively. “But how about my lost growl?”
“The growl is of importance only to you,” responded the Lion, “so it is your business to worry over the loss, not ours. If you love us, do not afflict your burdens on us; be unhappy all by yourself.”
“If the same person stole my growl who stole Ozma,” said the little dog, “I hope we shall find him very soon and punish him as he deserves. He must be the most cruel person in all the world, for to prevent a dog from growling when it is his nature to growl is just as wicked, in my opinion, as stealing all the magic in Oz.”
CHAPTER 11
BUTTON-BRIGHT LOSES HIMSELF
The Patchwork Girl, who never slept and who could see very well in the dark, had wandered among the rocks and bushes all night long, with the result that she was able to tell some good news the next morning. “Over the crest of the hill before us,” she said, “is a big grove of trees of many kinds on which all sorts of fruits grow. If you will go there, you will find a nice breakfast awaiting you.” This made them eager to start, so as soon as the blankets were folded and strapped to the back of the Sawhorse, they all took their places on the animals and set out for the big grove Scraps had told them of.
As soon as they got over the brow of the hill, they discovered it to be a really immense orchard, extending for miles to the right and left of them. As their way led straight through the trees, they hurried forward as fast as possible. The first trees they came to bore quinces, which they did not like. Then there were rows of citron trees and then crab apples and afterward limes and lemons. But beyond these they found a grove of big, golden oranges, juicy and sweet, and the fruit hung low on the branches so they could pluck it easily.
They helped themselves freely and all ate oranges as they continued on their way. Then, a little farther along, they came to some trees bearing fine, red apples, which they also feasted on, and the Wizard stopped here long enough to tie a lot of the apples in one end of a blanket.
“We do not know what will happen to us after we leave this delightful orchard,” he said, “so I think it wise to carry a supply of apples with us. We can’t starve as long as we have apples, you know.”
Scraps wasn’t riding the Woozy just now. She loved to climb the trees and swing herself by the branches from one tree to another. Some of the choicest fruit was gathered by the Patchwork Girl from the very highest limbs and tossed down to the others. Suddenly, Trot asked, “Where’s Button-Bright?” and when the others looked for him, they found the boy had disappeared.
“Dear me!” cried Dorothy. “I guess he’s lost again, and that will mean our waiting here until we can find him.”
“It’s a good place to wait,” suggested Betsy, who had found a plum tree and was eating some of its fruit.
“How can you wait here and find Button-Bright at one and the same time?” inquired the Patchwork Girl, hanging by her toes on a limb just over the heads of the three mortal girls.
“Perhaps he’ll come back here,” answered Dorothy.
“If he tries that, he’ll prob’ly lose his way,” said Trot. “I’ve known him to do that lots of times. It’s losing his way that gets him lost.”
“Very true,” said the Wizard. “So all the rest of you must stay here while I go look for the boy.”
“Won’t YOU get lost, too?” asked Betsy.
“I hope not, my dear.”
“Let ME go,” said Scraps, dropping lightly to the ground. “I can’t get lost, and I’m more likely to find Button-Bright than any of you.” Without waiting for permission, she darted away through the trees and soon disappeared from their view.
“Dorothy,” said Toto, squatting beside his little mistress, “I’ve lost my growl.”
“How did that happen?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” replied Toto. “Yesterday morning the Woozy nearly stepped on me, and I tried to growl at him and found I couldn’t growl a bit.”
“Can you bark?” inquired Dorothy.
“Oh, yes indeed.”
“Then never mind the growl,” said she.
“But what will I do when I get home to the Glass Cat and the Pink Kitten?” asked the little dog in an anxious tone.
“They won’t mind if you can’t growl at them, I’m sure,” said Dorothy. “I’m sorry for you, of course, Toto, for it’s just those things we can’t do that we want to do most of all; but before we get back, you may find your growl again.”
“Do you think the person who stole Ozma stole my growl?”
Dorothy smiled.
“Perhaps, Toto.”
“Then he’s a scoundrel!” cried the little dog.
“Anyone who would steal Ozma is as bad as bad can be,” agreed Dorothy, “and when we remember that our dear friend, the lovely Ruler of Oz, is lost, we ought not to worry over just a growl.”
Toto was not entirely satisfied with this remark, for the more he thought upon his lost growl, the more important his misfortune became. When no one was looking, he went away among the trees and tried his best to growl–even a little bit–but could not manage to do so. All he could do was bark, and a bark cannot take the place of a growl, so he sadly returned to the others.
Now Button-Bright had no idea that he was lost at first. He had merely wandered from tree to tree seeking the finest fruit until he discovered he was alone in the great orchard. But that didn’t worry him just then, and seeing some apricot trees farther on, he went to them. Then he discovered some cherry trees; just beyond these were some tangerines. “We’ve found ‘most ev’ry kind of fruit but peaches,” he said to himself, “so I guess there are peaches here, too, if I can find the trees.”
He searched here and there, paying no attention to his way, until he found that the trees surrounding him bore only nuts. He put some walnuts in his pockets and kept on searching, and at last–right among the nut trees–he came upon one solitary peach tree. It was a graceful, beautiful tree, but although it was thickly leaved, it bore no fruit except one large, splendid peach, rosy-cheeked and fuzzy and just right to eat.
In his heart he doubted this statement, for this was a solitary peach tree, while all the other fruits grew upon many trees set close to one another; but that one luscious bite made him unable to resist eating the rest of it, and soon the peach was all gone except the pit. Button-Bright was about to throw this peach pit away when he noticed that it was of pure gold. Of course, this surprised him, but so many things in the Land of Oz were surprising that he did not give much thought to the golden peach pit. He put it in his pocket, however, to show to the girls, and five minutes afterward had forgotten all about it.
For now he realized that he was far separated from his companions, and knowing that this would worry them and delay their journey, he began to shout as loud as he could. His voice did not penetrate very far among all those trees, and after shouting a dozen times and getting no answer, he sat down on the ground and said, “Well, I’m lost again. It’s too bad, but I don’t see how it can be helped.”
As he leaned his back against a tree, he looked up and saw a Bluefinch fly down from the sky and alight upon a branch just before him. The bird looked and looked at him. First it looked with one bright eye and then turned its head and looked at him with the other eye. Then, fluttering its wings a little, it said, “Oho! So you’ve eaten the enchanted peach, have you?”
“Was it enchanted?” asked Button-Bright.
“Of course,” replied the Bluefinch.”Ugu the Shoemaker did that.”
“But why? And how was it enchanted? And what will happen to one who eats it?” questioned the boy.
.”Ask Ugu the Shoemaker. He knows,” said the bird, preening its feathers with its bill.
“And who is Ugu the Shoemaker?”
“The one who enchanted the peach and placed it here–in the exact center of the Great Orchard–so no one would ever find it. We birds didn’t dare to eat it; we are too wise for that. But you are Button-Bright from the Emerald City, and you, YOU, YOU ate the enchanted peach!
You must explain to Ugu the Shoemaker why you did that.” And then, before the boy could ask any more questions, the bird flew away and left him alone.
Button-Bright was not much worried to find that the peach he had eaten was enchanted. It certainly had tasted very good, and his stomach didn’t ache a bit. So again he began to reflect upon the best way to rejoin his friends. “Whichever direction I follow is likely to be the wrong one,” he said to himself, “so I’d better stay just where I am and let THEM find ME–if they can.”
A White Rabbit came hopping through the orchard and paused a little way off to look at him. “Don’t be afraid,” said Button-Bright. “I won’t hurt you.”
“Oh, I’m not afraid for myself,” returned the White Rabbit. “It’s you I’m worried about.”
.”Yes, I’m lost,’ said the boy.
“I fear you are, indeed,” answered the Rabbit. “Why on earth did you eat the enchanted peach?”
The boy looked at the excited little animal thoughtfully. “There were two reasons,” he explained. “One reason was that I like peaches, and the other reason was that I didn’t know it was enchanted.”
“That won’t save you from Ugu the Shoemaker,” declared the White Rabbit, and it scurried away before the boy could ask any more questions.
“Rabbits and birds,” he thought, “are timid creatures and seem afraid of this shoemaker, whoever he may be. If there was another peach half as good as that other, I’d eat it in spite of a dozen enchantments or a hundred shoemakers!”
Just then, Scraps came dancing along and saw him sitting at the foot of the tree. “Oh, here you are!” she said. “Up to your old tricks, eh? Don’t you know it’s impolite to get lost and keep everybody waiting for you? Come along, and I’ll lead you back to Dorothy and the others.”
Button-Bright rose slowly to accompany her.
“That wasn’t much of a loss,” he said cheerfully. “I haven’t been gone half a day, so there’s no harm done.”
Dorothy, however, when the boy rejoined the party, gave him a good scolding. “When we’re doing such an important thing as searching for Ozma,” said she, “it’s naughty for you to wander away and keep us from getting on. S’pose she’s a pris’ner in a dungeon cell! Do you want to keep our dear Ozma there any longer than we can help?”
“If she’s in a dungeon cell, how are you going to get her out?” inquired the boy.
“Never you mind. We’ll leave that to the Wizard. He’s sure to find a way.”
The Wizard said nothing, for he realized that without his magic tools he could do no more than any other person. But there was no use reminding his companions of that fact; it might discourage them. “The important thing just now,” he remarked, “is to find Ozma, and as our party is again happily reunited, I propose we move on.”
As they came to the edge of the Great Orchard, the sun was setting and they knew it would soon be dark. So it was decided to camp under the trees, as another broad plain was before them. The Wizard spread the blankets on a bed of soft leaves, and presently all of them except Scraps and the Sawhorse were fast asleep. Toto snuggled close to his friend the Lion, and the Woozy snored so loudly that the Patchwork Girl covered his square head with her apron to deaden the sound.
CHAPTER 12
CZAROVER OF HERKU
Trot wakened just as the sun rose, and slipping out of the blankets, went to the edge of the Great Orchard and looked across the plain. Something glittered in the far distance. “That looks like another city,” she said half aloud.
“And another city it is,” declared Scraps, who had crept to Trot’s side unheard, for her stuffed feet made no sound. “The Sawhorse and I made a journey in the dark while you were all asleep, and we found over there a bigger city than Thi. There’s a wall around it, too, but it has gates and plenty of pathways.”
“Did you get in?” asked Trot.
“No, for the gates were locked and the wall was a real wall. So we came back here again. It isn’t far to the city. We can reach it in two hours after you’ve had your breakfasts.”
Trot went back, and finding the other girls now awake, told them what Scraps had said. So they hurriedly ate some fruit–there were plenty of plums and fijoas in this part of the orchard–and then they mounted the animals and set out upon the journey to the strange city. Hank the Mule had breakfasted on grass, and the Lion had stolen away and found a breakfast to his liking; he never told what it was, but Dorothy hoped the little rabbits and the field mice had kept out of his way. She warned Toto not to chase birds and gave the dog some apple, with which he was quite content. The Woozy was as fond of fruit as of any other food except honey, and the Sawhorse never ate at all.
Except for their worry over Ozma, they were all in good spirits as they proceeded swiftly over the plain. Toto still worried over his lost growl, but like a wise little dog kept his worry to himself. Before long, the city grew nearer and they could examine it with interest.
In outward appearance the place was more imposing than Thi, and it was a square city, with a square, four-sided wall around it, and on each side was a square gate of burnished copper. Everything about the city looked solid and substantial; there were no banners flying, and the towers that rose above the city wall seemed bare of any ornament whatever.
A path led from the fruit orchard directly to one of the city gates, showing that the inhabitants preferred fruit to thistles. Our friends followed this path to the gate, which they found fast shut. But the Wizard advanced and pounded upon it with his fist, saying in a loud voice, “Open!”
At once there rose above the great wall a row of immense heads, all of which looked down at them as if to see who was intruding. The size of these heads was astonishing, and our friends at once realized that they belonged to giants who were standing within the city. All had thick, bushy hair and whiskers, on some the hair being white and on others black or red or yellow, while the hair of a few was just turning gray, showing that the giants were of all ages. However fierce the heads might seem, the eyes were mild in expression, as if the creatures had been long subdued, and their faces expressed patience rather than ferocity.
“What’s wanted?” asked one old giant in a low, grumbling voice.
“We are strangers, and we wish to enter the city,” replied the Wizard.
“Do you come in war or peace?” asked another.
“In peace, of course,” retorted the Wizard, and he added impatiently, “Do we look like an army of conquest?”
“No,” said the first giant who had spoken, “you look like innocent tramps; but you never can tell by appearances. Wait here until we report to our masters. No one can enter here without the permission of Vig, the Czarover.”
“Who’s that?” inquired Dorothy.
But the heads had all bobbed down and disappeared behind the walls, so there was no answer. They waited a long time before the gate rolled back with a rumbling sound, and a loud voice cried, “Enter!” But they lost no time in taking advantage of the invitation.
On either side of the broad street that led into the city from the gate stood a row of huge giants, twenty of them on a side and all standing so close together that their elbows touched. They wore uniforms of blue and yellow and were armed with clubs as big around as treetrunks. Each giant had around his neck a broad band of gold, riveted on, to show he was a slave.
As our friends entered riding upon the Lion, the Woozy, the Sawhorse and the Mule, the giants half turned and walked in two files on either side of them, as if escorting them on their way. It looked to Dorothy as if all her party had been made prisoners, for even mounted on their animals their heads scarcely reached to the knees of the marching giants. The girls and Button-Bright were anxious to know what sort of a city they had entered, and what the people were like who had made these powerful creatures their slaves. Through the legs of the giants as they walked, Dorothy could see rows of houses on each side of the street and throngs of people standing on the sidewalks, but the people were of ordinary size and the only remarkable thing about them was the fact that they were dreadfully lean and thin. Between their skin and their bones there seemed to be little or no flesh, and they were mostly stoop-shouldered and weary looking, even to the little children.
More and more, Dorothy wondered how and why the great giants had ever submitted to become slaves of such skinny, languid masters, but there was no chance to question anyone until they arrived at a big palace located in the heart of the city. Here the giants formed lines to the entrance and stood still while our friends rode into the courtyard of the palace. Then the gates closed behind them, and before them was a skinny little man who bowed low and said in a sad voice, “If you will be so obliging as to dismount, it will give me pleasure to lead you into the presence of the World’s Most Mighty Ruler, Vig the Czarover.”
“I don’t believe it!” said Dorothy indignantly.
“What don’t you believe?” asked the man.
“I don’t believe your Czarover can hold a candle to our Ozma.”
“He wouldn’t hold a candle under any circumstances, or to any living person,” replied the man very seriously, “for he has slaves to do such things and the Mighty Vig is too dignified to do anything that others can do for him. He even obliges a slave to sneeze for him, if ever he catches cold. However, if you dare to face our powerful ruler, follow me.”
“We dare anything,” said the Wizard, “so go ahead.”
Through several marble corridors having lofty ceilings they passed, finding each corridor and doorway guarded by servants. But these servants of the palace were of the people and not giants, and they were so thin that they almost resembled skeletons. Finally, they entered a great circular room with a high, domed ceiling, where the Czarover sat on a throne cut from a solid block of white marble and decorated with purple silk hangings and gold tassels.
The ruler of these people was combing his eyebrows when our friends entered the throne room and stood before him, but he put the comb in his pocket and examined the strangers with evident curiosity. Then he said, “Dear me, what a surprise! You have really shocked me. For no outsider has ever before come to our City of Herku, and I cannot imagine why you have ventured to do so.”
“We are looking for Ozma, the Supreme Ruler of the Land of Oz,” replied the Wizard.
“Do you see her anywhere around here?” asked the Czarover.
“Not yet, Your Majesty, but perhaps you may tell us where she is.”
“No, I have my hands full keeping track of my own people. I find them hard to manage because they are so tremendously strong.”
“They don’t look very strong,” said Dorothy. “It seems as if a good wind would blow ’em way out of the city if it wasn’t for the wall.”
“Just so, just so,” admitted the Czarover. “They really look that way, don’t they? But you must never trust to appearances, which have a way of fooling one. Perhaps you noticed that I prevented you from meeting any of my people. I protected you with my giants while you were on the way from the gates to my palace so that not a Herku got near you.”
“Are your people so dangerous, then?”asked the Wizard.
“To strangers, yes. But only because they are so friendly. For if they shake hands with you, they are likely to break your arms or crush your fingers to a jelly.”
“Why?” asked Button-Bright.
“Because we are the strongest people in all the world.”
“Pshaw!”exclaimed the boy. “That’s bragging. You prob’ly don’t know how strong other people are. Why, once I knew a man in Philadelphi’ who could bend iron bars with just his hands!”
“But mercy me, it’s no trick to bend iron bars,” said His Majesty. “Tell me, could this man crush a block of stone with his bare hands?”
“No one could do that,” declared the boy.
“If I had a block of stone, I’d show you,” said the Czarover, looking around the room. “Ah, here is my throne. The back is too high, anyhow, so I’ll just break off a piece of that.” He rose to his feet and tottered in an uncertain way around the throne. Then he took hold of the back and broke off a piece of marble over a foot thick. “This,” said he, coming back to his seat, “is very solid marble and much harder than ordinary stone. Yet I can crumble it easily with my fingers, a proof that I am very strong.”
Even as he spoke, he began breaking off chunks of marble and crumbling them as one would a bit of earth. The Wizard was so astonished that he took a piece in his own hands and tested it, finding it very hard indeed.
Just then one of the giant servants entered and exclaimed, “Oh, Your Majesty, the cook has burned the soup! What shall we do?”
“How dare you interrupt me?”.
“asked the Czarover, and grasping the immense giant by one of his legs, he raised him in the air and threw him headfirst out of an open window. “Now, tell me,” he said, turning to Button-Bright, “could your man in Philadelphia crumble marble in his fingers?”
.”I guess not,” said Button-Bright, much impressed by the skinny monarch’s strength.
“What makes you so strong?” inquired Dorothy.
“It’s the zosozo,” he explained, “which is an invention of my own. I and all my people eat zosozo, and it gives us tremendous strength. Would you like to eat some?”
“No thank you,” replied the girl. “I–I don’t want to get so thin.”
“Well, of course one can’t have strength and flesh at the same time,” said the Czarover. “Zosozo is pure energy, and it’s the only compound of its sort in existence. I never allow our giants to have it, you know, or they would soon become our masters, since they are bigger that we; so I keep all the stuff locked up in my private laboratory. Once a year I feed a teaspoonful of it to each of my people–men, women and children–so every one of them is nearly as strong as I am. Wouldn’t YOU like a dose, sir?” he asked, turning to the Wizard.
“Well,” said the Wizard, “if you would give me a little zosozo in a bottle, I’d like to take it with me on my travels. It might come in handy on occasion.”
“To be sure. I’ll give you enough for six doses,” promised the Czarover.
“But don’t take more than a teaspoonful at a time. Once Ugu the Shoemaker took two teaspoonsful, and it made him so strong that when he leaned against the city wall, he pushed it over, and we had to build it up again.”
“Who is Ugu the Shoemaker?”
Button-Bright curiously, for he now remembered that the bird and the rabbit had claimed Ugu the Shoemaker had enchanted the peach he had eaten.
“Why, Ugu is a great magician who used to live here. But he’s gone away now,” replied the Czarover.
“Where has he gone?” asked the Wizard quickly.
“I am told he lives in a wickerwork castle in the mountains to the west of here. You see, Ugu became such a powerful magician that he didn’t care to live in our city any longer for fear we would discover some of his secrets. So he went to the mountains and built him a splendid wicker castle which is so strong that even I and my people could not batter it down, and there he lives all by himself.”
“This is good news,” declared the Wizard, “for I think this is just the magician we are searching for. But why is he called Ugu the Shoemaker?”
“Once he was a very common citizen here and made shoes for a living,” replied the monarch of Herku. “But he was descended from the greatest wizard and sorcerer who ever lived in this or in any other country, and one day Ugu the Shoemaker discovered all the magical books and recipes of his famous great-grandfather, which had been hidden away in the attic of his house. So he began to study the papers and books and to practice magic, and in time he became so skillful that, as I said, he scorned our city and built a solitary castle for himself.”
“Do you think” asked Dorothy anxiously, “that Ugu the Shoemaker would be wicked enough to steal our Ozma of Oz?”
“And the Magic Picture?” asked Trot.
“And the Great Book of Records of Glinda the Good?” asked Betsy.
“And my own magic tools?” asked the Wizard.
” replied the Czarover, “I won’t say that Ugu is wicked, exactly, but he is very ambitious to become the most powerful magician in the world, and so I suppose he would not be too proud to steal any magic things that belonged to anybody else–if he could manage to do so.”
“But how about Ozma? Why would he wish to steal HER?”questioned Dorothy.
“Don’t ask me, my dear. Ugu doesn’t tell me why he does things, I assure you.”
Then we must go and ask him ourselves,” declared the little girl.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” advised the Czarover, looking first at the three girls and then at the boy and the little Wizard and finally at the stuffed Patchwork Girl. “If Ugu has really stolen your Ozma, he will probably keep her a prisoner, in spite of all your threats or entreaties. And with all his magical knowledge he would be a dangerous person to attack. Therefore, if you are wise, you will go home again and find a new Ruler for the Emerald City and the Land of Oz. But perhaps it isn’t Ugu the Shoemaker who has stolen your Ozma.”
“The only way to settle that question,” replied the Wizard, “is to go to Ugu’s castle and see if Ozma is there. If she is, we will report the matter to the great Sorceress Glinda the Good, and I’m pretty sure she will find a way to rescue our darling ruler from the Shoemaker.”
“Well, do as you please,” said the Czarover, “but if you are all transformed into hummingbirds or caterpillars, don’t blame me for not warning you.”
They stayed the rest of that day in the City of Herku and were fed at the royal table of the Czarover and given sleeping rooms in his palace. The strong monarch treated them very nicely and gave the Wizard a little golden vial of zosozo to use if ever he or any of his
Even at the last, the Czarover tried to persuade them not to go near Ugu the Shoemaker, but they were resolved on the venture, and the next morning bade the friendly monarch a cordial goodbye and, mounting upon their animals, left the Herkus and the City of Herku and headed for the mountains that lay to the west.
CHAPTER 13
TRUTH POND
It seems a long time since we have heard anything of the Frogman and Cayke the Cookie Cook, who had left the Yip Country in search of the diamond-studded dishpan which had been mysteriously stolen the same night that Ozma had disappeared from the Emerald City. But you must remember that while the Frogman and the Cookie Cook were preparing to descend from their mountaintop, and even while on their way to the farmhouse of Wiljon the Winkie, Dorothy and the Wizard and their friends were encountering the adventures we have just related.
So it was that on the very morning when the travelers from the Emerald City bade farewell to the Czarover of the City of Herku, Cayke and the Frogman awoke in a grove in which they had passed the night sleeping on beds of leaves. There were plenty of farmhouses in the neighborhood, but no one seemed to welcome the puffy, haughty Frogman or the little dried-up Cookie Cook, and so they slept comfortably enough underneath the trees of the grove. The Frogman wakened first on this morning, and after going to the tree where Cayke slept and finding her still wrapped in slumber, he decided to take a little walk and seek some breakfast. Coming to the edge of the grove, he observed half a mile away a pretty yellow house that was surrounded by a yellow picket fence, so he walked toward this house and on entering the yard found a Winkie woman picking up sticks with which to build a fire to cook her morning meal.
“For goodness sake!” she exclaimed on seeing the Frogman. “What are you doing out of your frog-pond?”
“I am traveling in search of a jeweled gold dishpan, my good woman,” he replied with an air of great dignity.
“You won’t find it here, then,” said she.”Our dishpans are tin, and they’re good enough for anybody. So go back to your pond and leave me alone.” She spoke rather crossly and with a lack of respect that greatly annoyed the Frogman.
“Allow me to tell you, madam,” said he, “that although I am a frog, I am the Greatest and Wisest Frog in all the world. I may add that I possess much more wisdom than any Winkie–man or woman–in this land. Wherever I go, people fall on their knees before me and render homage to the Great Frogman! No one else knows so much as I; no one else is so grand, so magnificent!”
“If you know so much,” she retorted, “why don’t you know where your dishpan is instead of chasing around the country after it?”
“Presently,” he answered, “I am going where it is, but just now I am traveling and have had no breakfast. Therefore I honor you by asking you for something to eat.”
“Oho! The Great Frogman is hungry as any tramp, is he? Then pick up these sticks and help me to build the fire,” said the woman contemptuously.
“Me! The Great Frogman pick up sticks?” he exclaimed in horror. “In the Yip Country where I am more honored and powerful than any King could be, people weep with joy when I ask them to feed me.”
“Then that’s the place to go for your breakfast,” declared the woman.
“I fear you do not realize my importance,” urged the Frogman. “Exceeding wisdom renders me superior to menial duties.”
“It’s a great wonder to me,” remarked the woman, carrying her sticks to the house, “that your wisdom doesn’t inform you that you’ll get no breakfast here.” And she went in and slammed the door behind her.
The Frogman felt he had been insulted, so he gave a loud croak of indignation and turned away. After going a short distance, he came upon a faint path which led across a meadow in the direction of a grove of pretty trees, and thinking this circle of evergreens must surround a house where perhaps he would be kindly received, he decided to follow the path. And by and by he came to the trees, which were set close together, and pushing aside some branches he found no house inside the circle, but instead a very beautiful pond of clear water.
Now the Frogman, although he was so big and well educated and now aped the ways and customs of human beings, was still a frog. As he gazed at this solitary, deserted pond, his love for water returned to him with irresistible force. “If I cannot get a breakfast, I may at least have a fine swim,” said he, and pushing his way between the trees, he reached the bank. There he took off his fine clothing, laying his shiny purple hat and his gold-headed cane beside it. A moment later, he sprang with one leap into the water and dived to the very bottom of the pond.
The water was deliciously cool and grateful to his thick, rough skin, and the Frogman swam around the pond several times before he stopped to rest. Then he floated upon the surface and examined the pond with The bottom and sides were all lined with glossy tiles of a light pink color; just one place in the bottom where the water bubbled up from a hidden spring had been left free. On the banks, the green grass grew to the edge of the pink tiling. And now, as the Frogman examined the place, he found that on one side of the pool, just above the water line, had been set a golden plate on which some words were deeply engraved. He swam toward this plate, and on reaching it read the following inscription:
This is
THE TRUTH POND
$$Whoever bathes in this
water must always afterward tell
THE TRUTH.&&
This statement startled the Frogman. It even worried him, so that he leaped upon the bank and hurriedly began to dress himself. “A great misfortune has befallen me,” he told himself, “for hereafter I cannot tell people I am wise, since it is not the truth. The truth is that my boasted wisdom is all a sham, assumed by me to deceive people and make them defer to me. In truth, no living creature can know much more than his fellows, for one may know one thing, and another know another thing, so that wisdom is evenly scattered throughout the world. But–ah me!–what a terrible fate will now be mine. Even Cayke the Cookie Cook will soon discover that my knowledge is no greater than her own, for having bathed in the enchanted water of the Truth Pond, I can no longer deceive her or tell a lie.”
More humbled than he had been for many years, the Frogman went back to the grove where he had left Cayke and found the woman now awake and washing her face in a tiny brook. “Where has Your Honor been?” she asked.
“To a farmhouse to ask for something to eat,” said he, “but the woman refused me.”
“How dreadful!” she exclaimed. “But never mind, there are other houses where the people will be glad to feed the Wisest Creature in all the World.”
“Do you mean yourself?” he asked.
“No, I mean you.”
The Frogman felt strongly impelled to tell the truth, but struggled hard against it. His reason told him there was no use in letting Cayke know he was not wise, for then she would lose much respect for him, but each time he opened his mouth to speak, he realized he was about to tell the truth and shut it again as quickly as possible. He tried to talk about something else, but the words necessary to undeceive the woman would force themselves to his lips in spite of all his struggles. Finally, knowing that he must either remain dumb or let the truth prevail, he gave a low groan of despair and said, “Cayke, I am NOT the Wisest Creature in all the World; I am not wise at all.”
“Oh, you must be!” she protested. “You told me so yourself, only last evening.”
“Then last evening I failed to tell you the truth,” he admitted, looking very shamefaced for a frog. “I am sorry I told you this lie, my good Cayke, but if you must know the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, I am not really as wise as you are.”
The Cookie Cook was greatly shocked to hear this, for it shattered one of her most pleasing illusions. She looked at the gorgeously dressed Frogman in amazement. “What has caused you to change your mind so suddenly?” she inquired.
“I have bathed in the Truth Pond,” he said, “and whoever bathes in that water is ever afterward obliged to tell the truth.”
“You were foolish to do that,” declared the woman.
“It is often very embarrassing to tell the truth. I’m glad I didn’t bathe in that dreadful water!”
The Frogman looked at his companion thoughtfully. “Cayke,” said he, “I want you to go to the Truth Pond and take a bath in its water. For if we are to travel together and encounter unknown adventures, it would not be fair that I alone must always tell you the truth, while you could tell me whatever you pleased. If we both dip in the enchanted water, there will be no chance in the future of our deceiving one another.”
“No,” she asserted, shaking her head positively, “I won’t do it, Your Honor. For if I told you the truth, I’m sure you wouldn’t like me. No Truth Pond for me.
I’ll be just as I am, an honest woman who can say what she wants to without hurting anyone’s feelings.”
With this decision the Frogman was forced to be content, although he was sorry the Cookie Cook would not listen to his advice.
CHAPTER 14
THE UNHAPPY FERRYMAN
Leaving the grove where they had slept, the Frogman and the Cookie Cook turned to the east to seek another house, and after a short walk came to one where the people received them very politely. The children stared rather hard at the big, pompous Frogman, but the woman of the house, when Cayke asked for something to eat, at once brought them food and said they were welcome to it. “Few people in need of help pass this way,” she remarked, “for the Winkies are all prosperous and love to stay in their own homes. But perhaps you are not a Winkie,” she added.
“No,” said Cayke, “I am a Yip, and my home is on a high mountain at the southeast of your country.”
“And the Frogman, is he also a Yip?”
“I do not know what he is, other than a very remarkable and highly educated creature,” replied the Cookie Cook. “But he has lived many years among the Yips, who have found him so wise and intelligent that they always go to him for advice.”
“May I ask why you have left your home and where you are going?” said the Winkie woman.
Then Cayke told her of the diamond-studded gold dishpan and how it had been mysteriously stolen from her house, after which she had discovered that she could no longer cook good cookies. So she had resolved to search until she found her dishpan again, because a Cookie cook who cannot cook good cookies is not of much use. The Frogman, who had wanted to see more of the world, had accompanied her to assist in the search. When the woman had listened to this story, she asked, “Then you have no idea as yet who has stolen your dishpan?”
“I only know it must have been some mischievous fairy, or a magician, or some such powerful person, because none other could have climbed the steep mountain to the Yip Country. And who else could have carried away my beautiful magic dishpan without being seen?”
The woman thought about this during the time that Cayke and the Frogman ate their breakfast. When they had finished, she said, “Where are you going next?”
“We have not decided,” answered the Cookie cook.
“Our plan,” explained the Frogman in his important way, “is to travel from place to place until we learn where the thief is located and then to force him to return the dishpan to its proper owner.”
“The plan is all right,” agreed the woman, “but it may take you a long time before you succeed, your method being sort of haphazard and indefinite. However, I advise you to travel toward the east.”
“Why?” asked the Frogman.
“Because if you went west, you would soon come to the desert, and also because in this part of the Winkie Country no one steals, so your time here would be wasted. But toward the east, beyond the river, live many strange people whose honesty I would not vouch for. Moreover, if you journey far enough east and cross the river for a second time, you will come to the Emerald City, where there is much magic and sorcery. The Emerald City is ruled by a dear little girl called Ozma, who also rules the Emperor of the Winkies and all the Land of Oz. So, as Ozma is a fairy, she may be able to tell you just who has taken your precious dishpan. Provided, of course, you do not find it before you reach her.”
.”This seems to be to be excellent advice,” said the Frogman, and Cayke agreed with him.
.”The most sensible thing for you to do,” continued the woman, “would be to return to your home and use another dishpan, learn to cook cookies as other people cook cookies, without the aid of magic. But if you cannot be happy without the magic dishpan you have lost, you are likely to learn more about it in the Emerald City than at any other place in Oz.”
They thanked the good woman, and on leaving her house faced the east and continued in that direction all the way. Toward evening they came to the west branch of the Winkie River and there, on the riverbank, found a ferryman who lived all alone in a little yellow house. This ferryman was a Winkie with a very small head and a very large body. He was sitting in his doorway as the travelers approached him and did not even turn his head to look at them.
“Good evening,” said the Frogman.
The ferryman made no reply.
“We would like some supper and the privilege of sleeping in your house until morning,” continued the Frogman. “At daybreak, we would like some breakfast, and then we would like to have you row us across the river.”
The ferryman neither moved nor spoke. He sat in his doorway and looked straight ahead. “I think he must be deaf and dumb,” Cayke whispered to her companion. Then she stood directly in front of the ferryman, and putting her mouth close to his ear, she yelled as loudly as she could, “Good evening!”
The ferryman scowled.
“Why do you yell at me, woman?” he asked.
“Can you hear what I say?” asked in her ordinary tone of voice.
“Of course,” replied the man.
“Then why didn’t you answer the Frogman?” “Because,” said the ferryman, “I don’t understand the frog language.”
“He speaks the same words that I do and in the same way,” declared Cayke.
“Perhaps,” replied the ferryman, “but to me his voice sounded like a frog’s croak. I know that in the Land of Oz animals can speak our language, and so can the birds and bugs and fishes; but in MY ears, they sound merely like growls and chirps and croaks.”
“Why is that?” asked the Cookie Cook in surprise.
“Once, many years ago, I cut the tail off a fox which had taunted me, and I stole some birds’ eggs from a nest to make an omelet with, and also I pulled a fish from the river and left it lying on the bank to gasp for lack of water until it died. I don’t know why I did those wicked things, but I did them. So the Emperor of the Winkies–who is the Tin Woodman and has a very tender tin heart–punished me by denying me any communication with beasts, birds or fishes. I cannot understand them when they speak to me, although I know that other people can do so, nor can the creatures understand a word I say to them. Every time I meet one of them, I am reminded of my former cruelty, and it makes me very unhappy.”
“Really,” said Cayke, “I’m sorry for you, although the Tin Woodman is not to blame for punishing you.”
“What is he mumbling about?” asked the Frogman.
“He is talking to me, but you don’t understand him,” she replied. And then she told him of the ferryman’s punishment and afterward explained to the ferryman that they wanted to stay all night with him and be fed. He gave them some fruit and bread, which was the only sort of food he had, and he allowed Cayke to sleep in a room of his cottage. But the Frogman he refused to admit to his house, saying that the frog’s presence made him miserable and unhappy. At no time would he directly at the Frogman, or even toward him, fearing he would shed tears if he did so; so the big frog slept on the riverbank where he could hear little frogs croaking in the river all the night through. But that did not keep him awake; it merely soothed him to slumber, for he realized how much superior he was to them.
Just as the sun was rising on a new day, the ferryman rowed the two travelers across the river–keeping his back to the Frogman all the way–and then Cayke thanked him and bade him goodbye and the ferryman rowed home again.
On this side of the river, there were no paths at all, so it was evident they had reached a part of the country little frequented by travelers. There was a marsh at the south of them, sandhills at the north, and a growth of scrubby underbrush leading toward a forest at the east. So the east was really the least difficult way to go, and that direction was the one they had determined to follow.
Now the Frogman, although he wore green patent-leather shoes with ruby buttons, had very large and flat feet, and when he tramped through the scrub, his weight crushed down the underbrush and made a path for Cayke to follow him. Therefore they soon reached the forest, where the tall trees were set far apart but were so leafy that they shaded all the spaces between them with their branches. “There are no bushes here,” said Cayke, much pleased, “so we can now travel faster and with more comfort.”
CHAPTER 15
THE BIG LAVENDER BEAR
It was a pleasant place to wander, and the two travelers were proceeding at a brisk pace when suddenly a voice shouted, “Halt!”
They looked around in surprise, seeing at first no one at all. Then from behind a tree there stepped a brown, fuzzy bear whose head came about as high as Cayke’s waist–and Cayke was a small woman. The bear was chubby as well as fuzzy; his body was even puffy, while his legs and arms seemed jointed at the knees and elbows and fastened to his body by pins or rivets. His ears were round in shape and stuck out in a comical way, while his round, black eyes were bright and sparkling as beads. Over his shoulder the little brown bear bore a gun with a tin barrel. The barrel had a cork in the end of it, and a string was attached to the cork and to the handle of the gun. Both the Frogman and Cayke gazed hard at this curious bear, standing silent for some time. But finally the Frogman recovered from his surprise and remarked, “It seems to me that you are stuffed with sawdust and ought not to be alive.”
“That’s all you know about it,” answered the little Brown Bear in a squeaky voice. “I am stuffed with a very good quality of curled hair, and my skin is the best plush that was ever made. As for my being alive, that is my own affair and cannot concern you at all, except that it gives me the privilege to say you are my prisoners.”
“Prisoners! Why do you speak such nonsense?” the Frogman angrily. “Do you think we are afraid of a toy bear with a toy gun?”
“You ought to be,” was the confident reply, “for I am merely the sentry guarding the way to Bear Center, which is a city containing hundreds of my race, who are ruled by a very powerful sorcerer known as the Lavender Bear.
He ought to be a purple color, you know, seeing he is a King, but he’s only light lavender, which is, of course, second cousin to royal purple. So unless you come with me peaceably as my prisoners, I shall fire my gun and bring a hundred bears of all sizes and colors to capture you.”
“Why do you wish to capture us?” inquired the Frogman, who had listened to his speech with much astonishment.
“I don’t wish to, as a matter of fact,” replied the little Brown Bear, “but it is my duty to, because you are now trespassing on the domain of His Majesty, the King of Bear Center. Also, I will admit that things are rather quiet in our city just now, and the excitement of your capture, followed by your trial and execution, should afford us much entertainment.”
“We defy you!” said the Frogman.
“Oh no, don’t do that,” pleaded Cayke, speaking to her companion. “He says his King is a sorcerer, so perhaps it is he or one of his bears who ventured to steal my jeweled dishpan. Let us go to the City of the Bears and discover if my dishpan is there.”
“I must now register one more charge against you,” remarked the little Brown Bear with evident satisfaction. “You have just accused us of stealing, and that is such a dreadful thing to say that I am quite sure our noble King will command you to be executed.”
“But how could you execute us?” inquired the Cookie Cook.
“I’ve no idea. But our King is a wonderful inventor, and there is no doubt he can find a proper way to destroy you. So tell me, are you going to struggle, or will you go peaceably to meet your doom?”
It was all so ridiculous that Cayke laughed aloud, and even the Frogman’s wide mouth curled in a smile. Neither was a bit afraid to go to the Bear City, and it seemed to both that there was a possibility they might discover the missing dishpan. So the Frogman said, “Lead the way, little Bear, and we will follow without a struggle.”
“That’s very sensible of you, very sensible indeed,” declared the Brown Bear. “So for-ward, MARCH!” And with the command he turned around and began to waddle along a path that led between the trees.
Cayke and the Frogman, as they followed their conductor, could scarce forbear laughing at his stiff, awkward manner of walking, and although he moved his stuffy legs fast, his steps were so short that they had to go slowly in order not to run into him. But after a time they reached a large, circular space in the center of the forest, which was clear of any stumps or underbrush. The ground was covered by a soft, gray moss, pleasant to tread upon. All the trees surrounding this space seemed to be hollow and had round holes in their trunks, set a little way above the ground, but otherwise there was nothing unusual about the place and nothing, in the opinion of the prisoners, to indicate a settlement. But the little Brown Bear said in a proud and impressive voice (although it still squeaked), “This is the wonderful city known to fame as Bear Center!”
“But there are no houses, there are no bears living here at all!” exclaimed Cayke.
“Oh indeed!” retorted their captor, and raising his gun he pulled the trigger. The cork flew out of the tin barrel with a loud “pop!” and at once from every hole in every tree within view of the clearing appeared the head of a bear. They were of many colors and of many sizes, but all were made in the same manner as the bear who had met and captured them.
At first a chorus of growls arose, and then a sharp voice cried, “What has happened, Corporal Waddle?”
“Captives, Your Majesty!” answered the Brown Bear. “Intruders upon our domain and slanderers of our good name.”
“Ah, that’s important,” answered the voice.
Then from out the hollow trees tumbled a whole regiment of stuffed bears, some carrying tin swords, some popguns and others long spears with gay ribbons tied to the handles. There were hundreds of them, altogether, and they quietly formed a circle around the Frogman and the Cookie Cook, but kept at a distance and left a large space for the prisoners to stand in. Presently, this circle parted, and into the center of it stalked a huge toy bear of a lovely lavender color. He walked upon his hind legs, as did all the others, and on his head he wore a tin crown set with diamonds and amethysts, while in one paw he carried a short wand of some glittering metal that resembled silver but wasn’t.
“His Majesty the King!” Corporal Waddle, and all the bears bowed low. Some bowed so low that they lost their balance and toppled over, but they soon scrambled up again, and the Lavender King squatted on his haunches before the prisoners and gazed at them steadily with his bright, pink eyes.
CHAPTER 16
THE LITTLE PINK BEAR
“One Person and one Freak,” said the big Lavender Bear when he had carefully examined the strangers.
“I am sorry to hear you call poor Cayke the Cookie Cook a Freak,” remonstrated the Frogman.
“She is the Person,” asserted the King. “Unless I am mistaken, it is you who are the Freak.”
The Frogman was silent, for he could not truthfully deny it.
“Why have you dared intrude in my forest?” demanded demanded the Bear King.
“We didn’t know it was your forest,” said Cayke, “and we are on our way to the far east, where the Emerald City is.”
“Ah, it’s a long way from here to the Emerald City,” remarked the King. “It is so far away, indeed, that no bear among us has even been there. But what errand requires you to travel such a distance?”
“Someone has stolen my diamond-studded gold dishpan,” explained Cayke, “and as I cannot be happy without it, I have decided to search the world over until I find it again. The Frogman, who is very learned and wonderfully wise, has come with me to give me his assistance. Isn’t it kind of him?”
The King looked at the Frogman.
“What makes you so wonderfully wise?” he asked.
“I’m not,” was the candid reply.”The Cookie Cook and some others in the Yip Country think because I am a big frog and talk and act like a man that I must be very wise. I have learned more than a frog usually knows, it is true, but I am not yet so wise as I hope to become at some future time.”
The King nodded, and when he did so, something squeaked in his chest. “Did Your Majesty speak?” asked Cayke.
“Not just then,” answered the Lavender Bear, seeming to be somewhat embarrassed. “I am so built, you must know, that when anything pushes against my chest, as my chin accidentally did just then, I make that silly noise. In this city it isn’t considered good manners to notice. But I like your Frogman.
He is honest and truthful, which is more than can be said of many others. As for your late lamented dishpan, I’ll show it to you.” With this he waved three times the metal wand which he held in his paw, and instantly there appeared upon the ground midway between the King and Cayke a big, round pan made of beaten gold. Around the top edge was a row of small diamonds; around the center of the pan was another row of larger diamonds; and at the bottom was a row of exceedingly large and brilliant diamonds. In fact, they all sparkled magnificently, and the pan was so big and broad that it took a lot of diamonds to go around it three times.
Cayke stared so hard that her eyes seemed about to pop out of her head. “O-o-o-h!” she exclaimed, drawing a deep breath of delight.
“Is this your dishpan?” inquired the King.
“It is, it is!” cried the Cookie Cook, and rushing forward, she fell on her knees and threw her arms around the precious pan. But her arms came together without meeting any resistance at all. Cayke tried to seize the edge, but found nothing to grasp. The pan was surely there, she thought, for she could see it plainly; but it was not solid; she could not feel it at all. With a moan of astonishment and despair, she raised her head to look at the Bear King, who was watching her actions curiously. Then she turned to the pan again, only to find it had completely disappeared.
“Poor creature!” murmured the King pityingly. “You must have thought, for the moment, that you had actually recovered your dishpan. But what you saw was merely the image of it, conjured up by means of my magic. It is a pretty dishpan, indeed, though rather big and awkward to handle. I hope you will some day find it.”
Cayke was grievously disappointed. She began to cry, wiping her eyes on her apron. The King turned to the throng of toy bears surrounding him and asked, “Has any of you ever seen this golden dishpan before?”
“No,” they answered in a chorus.
The King seemed to reflect. Presently he inquired, “Where is the Little Pink Bear?”
“At home, Your Majesty,” was the reply.
“Fetch him here,” commanded the King.
Several of the bears waddled over to one of the trees and pulled from its hollow a tiny pink bear, smaller than any of the others. A big, white bear carried the pink one in his arms and set it down beside the King, arranging the joints of its legs so that it would stand upright.
This Pink Bear seemed lifeless until the King turned a crank which protruded from its side, when the little creature turned its head stiffly from side to side and said in a small, shrill voice, “Hurrah for the King of Bear Center!”
“Very good,” said the big Lavender Bear. “He seems to be working very well today. Tell me, my Pink Pinkerton, what has become of this lady’s jeweled dishpan?”
“U-u-u,” said the Pink Bear, and then stopped short.
The King turned the crank again.
“U-g-u the Shoemaker has it,” said
the Pink Bear.
“Who is Ugu the Shoemaker?” demanded the King, again turning the crank.
“A magician who lives on a mountain in a wickerwork castle,” was the reply.
“Where is the mountain?” was the next question.
“Nineteen miles and three furlongs from Bear Center to the northeast.”
“And is the dishpan still at the castle of Ugu the Shoemaker?” asked the King.
“It is.”
The King turned to Cayke.
“You may rely on this information,” said he. “The Pink Bear can tell us anything we wish to know, and his words are always words of truth.”
“Is he alive?” asked the Frogman, much interested in the Pink Bear.
“Something animates him when you turn his crank,” replied the King. “I do not know if it is life or what it is or how it happens that the Little Pink Bear can answer correctly every question put to him. We discovered his talent a long time ago, and whenever we wish to know anything–which is not very often–we ask the Pink Bear. There is no doubt whatever, madam, that Ugu the Magician has your dishpan, and if you dare to go to him, you may be able to recover it. But of that I am not certain.”
“Can’t the Pink Bear tell?” asked Cayke anxiously.
“No, for that is in the future. He can tell anything that HAS happened, but nothing that is going to happen. Don’t ask me why, for I don’t know.”
“Well,” said the Cookie Cook after a little thought, “I mean to go to this magician, anyhow, and tell him I want my dishpan. I wish I knew what Ugu the Shoemaker is like.”
“Then I’ll show him to you,” promised the King. “But do not be frightened. It won’t be Ugu, remember, but only his image.” With this, he waved his metal wand, and in the circle suddenly appeared a thin little man, very old and skinny, who was seated on a wicker stool before a wicker table. On the table lay a Great Book with gold clasps. The Book was open, and the man was reading in it. He wore great spectacles which were fastened before his eyes by means of a ribbon that passed around his head and was tied in a bow at the neck. His hair was very thin and white; his skin, which clung fast to his bones, was brown and seared with furrows; he had a big, fat nose and little eyes set close together.
On no account was Ugu the Shoemaker a pleasant person to gaze at. As his image appeared before the, all were silent and intent until Corporal Waddle, the Brown Bear, became nervous and pulled the trigger of his gun. Instantly, the cork flew out of the tin barrel with a loud “pop!” that made them all jump. And at this sound, the image of the magician vanished. “So THAT’S the thief, is it?” said Cayke in an angry voice. “I should think he’d be ashamed of himself for stealing a poor woman’s diamond dishpan! But I mean to face him in his wicker castle and force him to return my property.”
“To me,” said the Bear King reflectively, “he looked like a dangerous person. I hope he won’t be so unkind as to argue the matter with you.”
The Frogman was much disturbed by the vision of Ugu the Shoemaker, and Cayke’s determination to go to the magician filled her companion with misgivings. But he would not break his pledged word to assist the Cookie Cook, and after breathing a deep sigh of resignation, he asked the King, “Will Your Majesty lend us this Pink Bear who answers questions that we may take him with us on our journey? He would be very useful to us, and we will promise to bring him safely back to you.”
The King did not reply at once. He seemed to be thinking.
“PLEASE let us take the Pink Bear,” begged Cayke. “I’m sure he would be a great help to us.”
“The Pink Bear,” said the King, “is the best bit of magic I possess, and there is not another like him in the world. I do not care to let him out of my sight, nor do I wish to disappoint you; so I believe I will make the journey in your company and carry my Pink Bear with me. He can walk when you wind the other side of him, but so slowly and awkwardly that he would delay you. But if I go along, I can carry him in my arms, so I will join your party. Whenever you are ready to start, let me know.”
“But Your Majesty!” exclaimed Corporal Waddle in protest, “I hope you do not intend to let these prisoners escape without punishment.”
“Of what crime do you accuse them?” inquired the King.
“Why, they trespassed on your domain, for one thing,” said the Brown Bear.
“We didn’t know it was private property, Your Majesty,” said the Cookie Cook. “And they asked if any of us had stolen the dishpan!” continued Corporal Waddle indignantly. “That is the same thing as calling us thieves and robbers and bandits and brigands, is it not?”
“Every person has the right to ask questions,” said the Frogman.
“But the Corporal is quite correct,” declared the Lavender Bear. “I condemn you both to death, the execution to take place ten years from this hour.”
“But we belong in the Land of Oz, where no one ever dies,” Cayke reminded him.
“Very true,” said the King. “I condemn you to death merely as a matter of form. It sounds quite terrible, and in ten years we shall have forgotten all about it. Are you ready to start for the wicker castle of Ugu the Shoemaker?”
“Quite ready, Your Majesty.”
“But who will rule in your place while you are gone?” asked a big Yellow Bear.
“I myself will rule while I am gone,” was the reply.
“A King isn’t required to stay at home forever, and if he takes a notion to travel, whose business is it but his own? All I ask is that you bears behave yourselves while I am away. If any of you is naughty, I’ll send him to some girl or boy in America to play with.”
This dreadful threat made all the toy bears look solemn. They assured the King in a chorus of growls that they would be good. Then the big Lavender Bear picked up the little Pink Bear, and after tucking it carefully under one arm, he said, “Goodbye till I come back!” and waddled along the path that led through the forest. The Frogman and Cayke the Cookie Cook also said goodbye to the bears and then followed after the King, much to the regret of the little Brown Bear, who pulled the trigger of his gun and popped the cork as a parting salute.
CHAPTER 17
THE MEETING
While the Frogman and his party were advancing from the west, Dorothy and her party were advancing from the east, and so it happened that on the following night they all camped at a little hill that was only a few miles from the wicker castle of Ugu the Shoemaker. But the two parties did not see one another that night, for one camped on one side of the hill while the other camped on the opposite side. But the next morning, the Frogman thought he would climb the hill and see what was on top of it, and at the same time Scraps, the Patchwork Girl, also decided to climb the hill to find if the wicker castle was visible from its top. So she stuck her head over an edge just as the Frogman’s head appeared over another edge, and both, being surprised, kept still while they took a good look at one another.
Scraps recovered from her astonishment first, and bounding upward, she turned a somersault and landed sitting down and facing the big Frogman, who slowly advanced and sat opposite her. “Well met, Stranger!” cried the Patchwork Girl with a whoop of laughter. “You are quite the funniest individual I have seen in all my travels.”
“Do you suppose I can be any funnier than you?” asked the Frogman, gazing at her in wonder.
“I’m not funny to myself, you know,” returned Scraps. “I wish I were. And perhaps you are so used to your own absurd shape that you do not laugh whenever you see your reflection in a pool or in a mirror.”
“No,” said the Frogman gravely, “I do not. I used to be proud of my great size and vain of my culture and education, but since I bathed in the Truth Pond, I sometimes think it is not right that I should be different from all other frogs.”
“Right or wrong,” said the Patchwork Girl, “to be different is to be distinguished. Now in my case, I’m just like all other Patchwork Girls because I’m the only one there is. But tell me, where did you come from?”
“The Yip Country,” said he.
“Is that in the Land of Oz?”
“Of course,” replied the Frogman.
“And do you know that your Ruler, Ozma of Oz, has been stolen?”
“I was not aware that I had a Ruler, so of course I couldn’t know that she was stolen.”
“Well, you have. All the people of Oz,” explained Scraps, “are ruled by Ozma, whether they know it or not. And she has been stolen. Aren’t you angry? Aren’t you indignant? Your Ruler, whom you didn’t know you had, has positively been stolen!”
“That is queer,” remarked the Frogman thoughtfully. “Stealing is a thing practically unknown in Oz, yet this Ozma has been taken, and a friend of mine has also had her dishpan stolen. With her I have traveled all the way from the Yip Country in order to recover it.”
“I don’t see any connection between a Royal Ruler of Oz and a dishpan!” declared Scraps.
“They’ve both been stolen, haven’t they?”
“True. But why can’t your friend wash her dishes in another dishpan?” asked Scraps.
“Why can’t you use another Royal Ruler? I suppose you prefer the one who is lost, and my friend wants her own dishpan, which is made of gold and studded with diamonds and has magic powers.”
“Magic, eh?” exclaimed Scraps. “THERE is a link that connects the two steals, anyhow, for it seems that all the magic in the Land of Oz was stolen at the same time, whether it was in the Emerald City of in Glinda’s castle or in the Yip Country. Seems mighty strange and mysterious, doesn’t it?”
“It used to seem that way to me,” admitted the Frogman, “but we have now discovered who took our dishpan. It was Ugu the Shoemaker.”
“Ugu? Good gracious! That’s the same magician we think has stolen Ozma. We are now on our way to the castle of this Shoemaker.”
“So are we,” said the Frogman.
“Then follow me, quick! And let me introduce you to Dorothy and the other girls and to the Wizard of Oz and all the rest of us.”
She sprang up and seized his coatsleeve, dragging him off the hilltop and down the other side from that whence he had come. And at the foot of the hill, the Frogman was astonished to find the three girls and the Wizard and Button-Bright, who were surrounded by a wooden Sawhorse, a lean Mule, a square Woozy, and a Cowardly Lion. A little black dog ran up and smelled at the Frogman, but couldn’t growl at him.
“I’ve discovered another party that has been robbed,” shouted Scraps as she joined them. “This is their leader, and they’re all going to Ugu’s castle to fight the wicked Shoemaker!”
They regarded the Frogman with much curiosity and interest, and finding all eyes fixed upon him, the newcomer arranged his necktie and smoothed his beautiful vest and swung his gold-headed cane like a regular dandy. The big spectacles over his eyes quite altered his froglike countenance and gave him a learned and impressive look. Used as she was to seeing strange creatures in the Land of Oz, Dorothy was amazed at discovering the Frogman. So were all her companions. Toto wanted to growl at him, but couldn’t, and he didn’t dare bark. The Sawhorse snorted rather contemptuously, but the Lion whispered to the wooden steed, “Bear with this strange creature, my friend, and remember he is no more extraordinary than you are. Indeed, it is more natural for a frog to be big than for a Sawhorse to be alive.”
On being questioned, the Frogman told them the whole story of the loss of Cayke’s highly prized dishpan and their adventures in search of it. When he came to tell of the Lavender Bear King and of the Little Pink Bear who could tell anything you wanted to know, his hearers became eager to see such interesting animals. “It will be best,” said the Wizard, “to unite our two parties and share our fortunes together, for we are all bound on the same errand, and as one band we may more easily defy this shoemaker magician than if separate. Let us be allies.”
“I will ask my friends about that,” replied the Frogman, and he climbed over the hill to find Cayke and the toy bears. The Patchwork Girl accompanied him, and when they came upon the Cookie Cook and the Lavender Bear and the Pink Bear, it was hard to tell which of the lot was the most surprised.
“Mercy me!” cried Cayke, addressing the Patchwork Girl. “However did you come alive?”
Scraps stared at the bears.
“Mercy me!” she echoed, “You are stuffed, as I am, with cotton, and you appear to be living. That makes me feel ashamed, for I have prided myself on being the only live cotton-stuffed person in Oz.”
“Perhaps you are,” returned the Lavender Bear, “for I am stuffed with extra-quality curled hair, and so is the Little Pink Bear.”