L. Frank Baum_Oz 12 (17 page)

"Of course, for the wall is a circle," explained the rabbit. "In the
center of the circle stands the house, so you may walk around the Wall
of Solid Air, but you can't get to the house."

"Who put the air wall around the house?" was the Scarecrow's question.

"Nimmie Amee did that."

"Nimmie Amee!" they all exclaimed in surprise.

"Yes," answered the rabbit. "She used to live with an old Witch, who
was suddenly destroyed, and when Nimmie Amee ran away from the Witch's
house, she took with her just one magic formula—pure sorcery it
was—which enabled her to build this air wall around her house—the
house yonder. It was quite a clever idea, I think, for it doesn't mar
the beauty of the landscape, solid air being invisible, and yet it
keeps all strangers away from the house."

"Does Nimmie Amee live there now?" asked the Tin Woodman anxiously.

"Yes, indeed," said the rabbit.

"And does she weep and wail from morning till night?" continued the
Emperor.

"No; she seems quite happy," asserted the rabbit.

The Tin Woodman seemed quite disappointed to hear this report of his
old sweetheart, but the Scarecrow reassured his friend, saying:

"Never mind, your Majesty; however happy Nimmie Amee is now, I'm sure
she will be much happier as Empress of the Winkies."

"Perhaps," said Captain Fyter, somewhat stiffly, "she will be still
more happy to become the bride of a Tin Soldier."

"She shall choose between us, as we have agreed," the Tin Woodman
promised; "but how shall we get to the poor girl?"

Polychrome, although dancing lightly back and forth, had listened to
every word of the conversation. Now she came forward and sat herself
down just in front of the Blue Rabbit, her many-hued draperies giving
her the appearance of some beautiful flower. The rabbit didn't back
away an inch. Instead, he gazed at the Rainbow's Daughter admiringly.

"Does your burrow go underneath this Wall of Air?" asked Polychrome.

"To be sure," answered the Blue Rabbit; "I dug it that way so I could
roam in these broad fields, by going out one way, or eat the cabbages
in Nimmie Amee's garden by leaving my burrow at the other end. I don't
think Nimmie Amee ought to mind the little I take from her garden, or
the hole I've made under her magic wall. A rabbit may go and come as he
pleases, but no one who is bigger than I am could get through my
burrow."

"Will you allow us to pass through it, if we are able to?" inquired
Polychrome.

"Yes, indeed," answered the Blue Rabbit. "I'm no especial friend of
Nimmie Amee, for once she threw stones at me, just because I was
nibbling some lettuce, and only yesterday she yelled 'Shoo!' at me,
which made me nervous. You're welcome to use my burrow in any way you
choose."

"But this is all nonsense!" declared Woot the Wanderer. "We are every
one too big to crawl through a rabbit's burrow."

"We are too big now," agreed the Scarecrow, "but you must remember that
Polychrome is a fairy, and fairies have many magic powers."

Woot's face brightened as he turned to the lovely Daughter of the
Rainbow.

"Could you make us all as small as that rabbit?" he asked eagerly.

"I can try," answered Polychrome, with a smile. And presently she did
it—so easily that Woot was not the only one astonished. As the now
tiny people grouped themselves before the rabbit's burrow the hole
appeared to them like the entrance to a tunnel, which indeed it was.

"I'll go first," said wee Polychrome, who had made herself grow as
small as the others, and into the tunnel she danced without hesitation.
A tiny Scarecrow went next and then the two funny little tin men.

"Walk in; it's your turn," said the Blue Rabbit to Woot the Wanderer.
"I'm coming after, to see how you get along. This will be a regular
surprise party to Nimmie Amee."

So Woot entered the hole and felt his way along its smooth sides in the
dark until he finally saw the glimmer of daylight ahead and knew the
journey was almost over. Had he remained his natural size, the distance
could have been covered in a few steps, but to a thumb-high Woot it was
quite a promenade. When he emerged from the burrow he found himself but
a short distance from the house, in the center of the vegetable garden,
where the leaves of rhubarb waving above his head seemed like trees.
Outside the hole, and waiting for him, he found all his friends.

"So far, so good!" remarked the Scarecrow cheerfully.

"Yes; so far, but no farther," returned the Tin Woodman in a plaintive
and disturbed tone of voice. "I am now close to Nimmie Amee, whom I
have come ever so far to seek, but I cannot ask the girl to marry such
a little man as I am now."

"I'm no bigger than a toy soldier!" said Captain Fyter, sorrowfully.
"Unless Polychrome can make us big again, there is little use in our
visiting Nimmie Amee at all, for I'm sure she wouldn't care for a
husband she might carelessly step on and ruin."

Polychrome laughed merrily.

"If I make you big, you can't get out of here again," said she, "and if
you remain little Nimmie Amee will laugh at you. So make your choice."

"I think we'd better go back," said Woot seriously

"No," said the Tin Woodman, stoutly, "I have decided that it's my duty
to make Nimmie Amee happy, in case she wishes to marry me."

"So have I," announced Captain Fyter. "A good soldier never shrinks
from doing his duty."

"As for that," said the Scarecrow, "tin doesn't shrink any to speak of,
under any circumstances. But Woot and I intend to stick to our
comrades, whatever they decide to do, so we will ask Polychrome to make
us as big as we were before."

Polychrome agreed to this request and in half a minute all of them,
including herself, had been enlarged again to their natural sizes. They
then thanked the Blue Rabbit for his kind assistance, and at once
approached the house of Nimme Amee.

We may be sure that at this moment our friends were all anxious to see
the end of the adventure that had caused them so many trials and
troubles. Perhaps the Tin Woodman's heart did not beat any faster,
because it was made of red velvet and stuffed with sawdust, and the Tin
Soldier's heart was made of tin and reposed in his tin bosom without a
hint of emotion. However, there is little doubt that they both knew
that a critical moment in their lives had arrived, and that Nimmie
Amee's decision was destined to influence the future of one or the
other.

As they assumed their natural sizes and the rhubarb leaves that had
before towered above their heads now barely covered their feet, they
looked around the garden and found that no person was visible save
themselves. No sound of activity came from the house, either, but they
walked to the front door, which had a little porch built before it, and
there the two tinmen stood side by side while both knocked upon the
door with their tin knuckles.

As no one seemed eager to answer the summons they knocked again; and
then again. Finally they heard a stir from within and someone coughed.

"Who's there?" called a girl's voice.

"It's I!" cried the tin twins, together.

"How did you get there?" asked the voice.

They hesitated how to reply, so Woot answered for them:

"By means of magic."

"Oh," said the unseen girl. "Are you friends, or foes?"

"Friends!" they all exclaimed.

Then they heard footsteps approach the door, which slowly opened and
revealed a very pretty Munchkin girl standing in the doorway.

"Nimmie Amee!" cried the tin twins.

"That's my name," replied the girl, looking at them in cold surprise.
"But who can you be?"

"Don't you know me, Nimmie?" said the Tin Woodman. "I'm your old
sweetheart, Nick Chopper!"

"Don't you know me, my dear?" said the Tin Soldier. "I'm your old
sweetheart, Captain Fyter!"

Nimmie Amee smiled at them both. Then she looked beyond them at the
rest of the party and smiled again. However, she seemed more amused
than pleased.

"Come in," she said, leading the way inside. "Even sweethearts are
forgotten after a time, but you and your friends are welcome."

The room they now entered was cosy and comfortable, being neatly
furnished and well swept and dusted. But they found someone there
besides Nimmie Amee. A man dressed in the attractive Munchkin costume
was lazily reclining in an easy chair, and he sat up and turned his
eves on the visitors with a cold and indifferent stare that was almost
insolent. He did not even rise from his seat to greet the strangers,
but after glaring at them he looked away with a scowl, as if they were
of too little importance to interest him.

The tin men returned this man's stare with interest, but they did not
look away from him because neither of them seemed able to take his eyes
off this Munchkin, who was remarkable in having one tin arm quite like
their own tin arms.

"Seems to me," said Captain Fyter, in a voice that sounded harsh and
indignant, "that you, sir, are a vile impostor!"

"Gently—gently!" cautioned the Scarecrow; "don't be rude to strangers,
Captain."

"Rude?" shouted the Tin Soldier, now very much provoked; "why, he's a
scoundrel—a thief! The villain is wearing my own head!"

"Yes," added the Tin Woodman, "and he's wearing my right arm! I can
recognize it by the two warts on the little finger."

"Good gracious!" exclaimed Woot. "Then this must be the man whom old
Ku-Klip patched together and named Chopfyt."

The man now turned toward them, still scowling.

"Yes, that is my name," he said in a voice like a growl, "and it is
absurd for you tin creatures, or for anyone else, to claim my head, or
arm, or any part of me, for they are my personal property."

"You? You're a Nobody!" shouted Captain Fyter.

"You're just a mix-up," declared the Emperor.

"Now, now, gentlemen," interrupted Nimmie Amee, "I must ask you to be
more respectful to poor Chopfyt. For, being my guests, it is not polite
for you to insult my husband."

"Your husband!" the tin twins exclaimed in dismay.

"Yes," said she. "I married Chopfyt a long time ago, because my other
two sweethearts had deserted me."

This reproof embarrassed both Nick Chopper and Captain Fyter. They
looked down, shamefaced, for a moment, and then the Tin Woodman
explained in an earnest voice:

"I rusted."

"So did I," said the Tin Soldier.

"I could not know that, of course," asserted Nimmie Amee. "All I knew
was that neither of you came to marry me, as you had promised to do.
But men are not scarce in the Land of Oz. After I came here to live, I
met Mr. Chopfyt, and he was the more interesting because he reminded
me strongly of both of you, as you were before you became tin. He even
had a tin arm, and that reminded me of you the more.

"No wonder!" remarked the Scarecrow.

"But, listen, Nimmie Amee!" said the astonished Woot; "he really is
both of them, for he is made of their cast-off parts."

"Oh, you're quite wrong," declared Polychrome, laughing, for she was
greatly enjoying the confusion of the others. "The tin men are still
themselves, as they will tell you, and so Chopfyt must be someone else."

They looked at her bewildered, for the facts in the case were too
puzzling to be grasped at once.

"It is all the fault of old Ku-Klip," muttered the Tin Woodman. "He had
no right to use our castoff parts to make another man with."

"It seems he did it, however," said Nimmie Amee calmly, "and I married
him because he resembled you both. I won't say he is a husband to be
proud of, because he has a mixed nature and isn't always an agreeable
companion. There are times when I have to chide him gently, both with
my tongue and with my broomstick. But he is my husband, and I must make
the best of him."

"If you don't like him," suggested the Tin Woodman, "Captain Fyter and
I can chop him up with our axe and sword, and each take such parts of
the fellow as belong to him. Then we are willing for you to select one
of us as your husband."

"That is a good idea," approved Captain Fyter, drawing his sword.

"No," said Nimmie Amee; "I think I'll keep the husband I now have. He
is now trained to draw the water and carry in the wood and hoe the
cabbages and weed the flower-beds and dust the furniture and perform
many tasks of a like character. A new husband would have to be
scolded—and gently chided—until he learns my ways. So I think it will
be better to keep my Chopfyt, and I see no reason why you should object
to him. You two gentlemen threw him away when you became tin, because
you had no further use for him, so you cannot justly claim him now. I
advise you to go back to your own homes and forget me, as I have
forgotten you."

"Good advice!" laughed Polychrome, dancing.

"Are you happy?" asked the Tin Soldier.

"Of course I am," said Nimmie Amee; "I'm the mistress of all I
survey—the queen of my little domain."

"Wouldn't you like to be the Empress of the Winkies?" asked the Tin
Woodman.

"Mercy, no," she answered. "That would be a lot of bother. I don't care
for society, or pomp, or posing. All I ask is to be left alone and not
to be annoyed by visitors."

The Scarecrow nudged Woot the Wanderer.

"That sounds to me like a hint," he said.

"Looks as if we'd had our journey for nothing," remarked Woot, who was
a little ashamed and disappointed because he had proposed the journey.

"I am glad, however," said the Tin Woodman, "that I have found Nimmie
Amee, and discovered that she is already married and happy. It will
relieve me of any further anxiety concerning her."

"For my part," said the Tin Soldier, "I am not sorry to be free. The
only thing that really annoys me is finding my head upon Chopfyt's
body."