L. Frank Baum_Oz 12 (3 page)

"Even so, I am not sure it isn't best for the girl," said the
Scarecrow, who seemed very intelligent for a straw man, "for a loving
husband is not always kind, while a kind husband is sure to make any
girl content."

"Nimmie Amee will become an Empress!" announced the Tin Woodman,
proudly. "I shall have a tin gown made for her, with tin ruffles and
tucks on it, and she shall have tin slippers, and tin earrings and
bracelets, and wear a tin crown on her head. I am sure that will
delight Nimmie Amee, for all girls are fond of finery."

"Are we going to the Munchkin Country by way of the Emerald City?"
inquired the Scarecrow, who looked upon the Tin Woodman as the leader
of the party.

"I think not," was the reply. "We are engaged upon a rather delicate
adventure, for we are seeking a girl who fears her former lover has
forgotten her. It will be rather hard for me, you must admit, when I
confess to Nimmie Amee that I have come to marry her because it is my
duty to do so, and therefore the fewer witnesses there are to our
meeting the better for both of us. After I have found Nimmie Amee and
she has managed to control her joy at our reunion, I shall take her to
the Emerald City and introduce her to Ozma and Dorothy, and to Betsy
Bobbin and Tiny Trot, and all our other friends; but, if I remember
rightly, poor Nimmie Amee has a sharp tongue when angry, and she may be
a trifle angry with me, at first, because I have been so long in coming
to her."

"I can understand that," said Woot gravely. "But how can we get to that
part of the Munchkin Country where you once lived without passing
through the Emerald City?"

"Why, that is easy," the Tin Man assured him.

"I have a map of Oz in my pocket," persisted the boy, "and it shows
that the Winkie Country, where we now are, is at the west of Oz, and
the Munchkin Country at the east, while directly between them lies the
Emerald City."

"True enough; but we shall go toward the north, first of all, into the
Gillikin Country, and so pass around the Emerald City," explained the
Tin Woodman.

"That may prove a dangerous journey," replied the boy. "I used to live
in one of the top corners of the Gillikin Country, near to Oogaboo, and
I have been told that in this northland country are many people whom it
is not pleasant to meet. I was very careful to avoid them during my
journey south."

"A Wanderer should have no fear," observed the Scarecrow, who was
wobbling along in a funny, haphazard manner, but keeping pace with his
friends.

"Fear does not make one a coward," returned Woot, growing a little red
in the face, "but I believe it is more easy to avoid danger than to
overcome it. The safest way is the best way, even for one who is brave
and determined."

"Do not worry, for we shall not go far to the north," said the Emperor.
"My one idea is to avoid the Emerald City without going out of our way
more than is necessary. Once around the Emerald City we will turn south
into the Munchkin Country, where the Scarecrow and I are well
acquainted and have many friends."

"I have traveled some in the Gillikin Country," remarked the Scarecrow,
"and while I must say I have met some strange people there at times, I
have never yet been harmed by them."

"Well, it's all the same to me," said Woot, with assumed carelessness.
"Dangers, when they cannot be avoided, are often quite interesting, and
I am willing to go wherever you two venture to go."

So they left the path they had been following and began to travel
toward the northeast, and all that day they were in the pleasant Winkie
Country, and all the people they met saluted the Emperor with great
respect and wished him good luck on his journey. At night they stopped
at a house where they were well entertained and where Woot was given a
comfortable bed to sleep in.

"Were the Scarecrow and I alone," said the Tin Woodman, "we would
travel by night as well as by day; but with a meat person in our party,
we must halt at night to permit him to rest."

"Meat tires, after a day's travel," added the Scarecrow, "while straw
and tin never tire at all. Which proves," said he, "that we are
somewhat superior to people made in the common way."

Woot could not deny that he was tired, and he slept soundly until
morning, when he was given a good breakfast, smoking hot.

"You two miss a great deal by not eating," he said to his companions.

"It is true," responded the Scarecrow. "We miss suffering from hunger,
when food cannot be had, and we miss a stomachache, now and then."

As he said this, the Scarecrow glanced at the Tin Woodman, who nodded
his assent.

All that second day they traveled steadily, entertaining one another
the while with stories of adventures they had formerly met and
listening to the Scarecrow recite poetry. He had learned a great many
poems from Professor Wogglebug and loved to repeat them whenever
anybody would listen to him. Of course Woot and the Tin Woodman now
listened, because they could not do otherwise—unless they rudely ran
away from their stuffed comrade. One of the Scarecrow's recitations was
like this:

"What sound is so sweet
As the straw from the wheat
When it crunkles so tender and low?
It is yellow and bright,
So it gives me delight
To crunkle wherever I go.

"Sweet, fresh, golden Straw!
There is surely no flaw
In a stuffing so clean and compact.
It creaks when I walk,
And it thrills when I talk,
And its fragrance is fine, for a fact.
"To cut me don't hurt,

For I've no blood to squirt,
And I therefore can suffer no pain;
The straw that I use
Doesn't lump up or bruise,
Though it's pounded again and again!

"I know it is said
That my beautiful head
Has brains of mixed wheat-straw and bran,
But my thoughts are so good
I'd not change, if I could,
For the brains of a common meat man.

"Content with my lot,
I'm glad that I'm not
Like others I meet day by day;
If my insides get musty,
Or mussed-up, or dusty,
I get newly stuffed right away."

Toward evening, the travelers found there was no longer a path to guide
them, and the purple hues of the grass and trees warned them that they
were now in the Country of the Gillikins, where strange peoples dwelt
in places that were quite unknown to the other inhabitants of Oz. The
fields were wild and uncultivated and there were no houses of any sort
to be seen. But our friends kept on walking even after the sun went
down, hoping to find a good place for Woot the Wanderer to sleep; but
when it grew quite dark and the boy was weary with his long walk, they
halted right in the middle of a field and allowed Woot to get his
supper from the food he carried in his knapsack. Then the Scarecrow
laid himself down, so that Woot could use his stuffed body as a pillow,
and the Tin Woodman stood up beside them all night, so the dampness of
the ground might not rust his joints or dull his brilliant polish.
Whenever the dew settled on his body he carefully wiped it off with a
cloth, and so in the morning the Emperor shone as brightly as ever in
the rays of the rising sun.

They wakened the boy at daybreak, the Scarecrow saying to him:

"We have discovered something queer, and therefore we must counsel
together what to do about it."

"What have you discovered?" asked Woot, rubbing the sleep from his eyes
with his knuckles and giving three wide yawns to prove he was fully
awake.

"A Sign," said the Tin Woodman. "A Sign, and another path."

"What does the Sign say?" inquired the boy.

"It says that 'All Strangers are Warned not to Follow this Path to
Loonville,'" answered the Scarecrow, who could read very well when his
eyes had been freshly painted.

"In that case," said the boy, opening his knapsack to get some
breakfast, "let us travel in some other direction."

But this did not seem to please either of his companions.

"I'd like to see what Loonville looks like," remarked the Tin Woodman.

"When one travels, it is foolish to miss any interesting sight," added
the Scarecrow.

"But a warning means danger," protested Woot the Wanderer, "and I
believe it sensible to keep out of danger whenever we can."

They made no reply to this speech for a while. Then said the Scarecrow:

"I have escaped so many dangers, during my lifetime, that I am not much
afraid of anything that can happen."

"Nor am I!" exclaimed the Tin Woodman, swinging his glittering axe
around his tin head, in a series of circles. "Few things can injure
tin, and my axe is a powerful weapon to use against a foe. But our boy
friend," he continued, looking solemnly at Woot, "might perhaps be
injured if the people of Loonville are really dangerous; so I propose
he waits here while you and I, Friend Scarecrow, visit the forbidden
City of Loonville."

"Don't worry about me," advised Woot, calmly. "Wherever you wish to go,
I will go, and share your dangers. During my wanderings I have found it
more wise to keep out of danger than to venture in, but at that time I
was alone, and now I have two powerful friends to protect me."

So, when he had finished his breakfast, they all set out along the path
that led to Loonville.

"It is a place I have never heard of before," remarked the Scarecrow,
as they approached a dense forest. "The inhabitants may be people, of
some sort, or they may be animals, but whatever they prove to be, we
will have an interesting story to relate to Dorothy and Ozma on our
return."

The path led into the forest, but the big trees grew so closely
together and the vines and underbrush were so thick and matted that
they had to clear a path at each step in order to proceed. In one or
two places the Tin Man, who went first to clear the way, cut the
branches with a blow of his axe. Woot followed next, and last of the
three came the Scarecrow, who could not have kept the path at all had
not his comrades broken the way for his straw-stuffed body.

Presently the Tin Woodman pushed his way through some heavy underbrush,
and almost tumbled headlong into a vast cleared space in the forest.
The clearing was circular, big and roomy, yet the top branches of the
tall trees reached over and formed a complete dome or roof for it.
Strangely enough, it was not dark in this immense natural chamber in
the woodland, for the place glowed with a soft, white light that seemed
to come from some unseen source.

In the chamber were grouped dozens of queer creatures, and these so
astonished the Tin Man that Woot had to push his metal body aside, that
he might see, too. And the Scarecrow pushed Woot aside, so that the
three travelers stood in a row, staring with all their eyes.

The creatures they beheld were round and ball-like; round in body,
round in legs and arms, round in hands and feet and round of head. The
only exception to the roundness was a slight hollow on the top of each
head, making it saucer-shaped instead of dome-shaped. They wore no
clothes on their puffy bodies, nor had they any hair. Their skins were
all of a light gray color, and their eyes were mere purple spots. Their
noses were as puffy as the rest of them.

"Are they rubber, do you think?" asked the Scarecrow, who noticed that
the creatures bounded, as they moved, and seemed almost as light as air.

"It is difficult to tell what they are," answered Woot, "they seem to
be covered with warts."

The Loons—for so these folks were called—had been doing many things,
some playing together, some working at tasks and some gathered in
groups to talk; but at the sound of strange voices, which echoed rather
loudly through the clearing, all turned in the direction of the
intruders. Then, in a body, they all rushed forward, running and
bounding with tremendous speed.

The Tin Woodman was so surprised by this sudden dash that he had no
time to raise his axe before the Loons were on them. The creatures
swung their puffy hands, which looked like boxing-gloves, and pounded
the three travelers as hard as they could, on all sides. The blows were
quite soft and did not hurt our friends at all, but the onslaught quite
bewildered them, so that in a brief period all three were knocked over
and fell flat upon the ground. Once down, many of the Loons held them,
to prevent their getting up again, while others wound long tendrils of
vines about them, binding their arms and legs to their bodies and so
rendering them helpless.

"Aha!" cried the biggest Loon of all; "we've got 'em safe; so let's
carry 'em to King Bal and have 'em tried, and condemned and
perforated!" They had to drag their captives to the center of the domed
chamber, for their weight, as compared with that of the Loons,
prevented their being carried. Even the Scarecrow was much heavier than
the puffy Loons. But finally the party halted before a raised platform,
on which stood a sort of throne, consisting of a big, wide chair with a
string tied to one arm of it. This string led upward to the roof of the
dome.

Arranged before the platform, the prisoners were allowed to sit up,
facing the empty throne.

"Good!" said the big Loon who had commanded the party. "Now to get King
Bal to judge these terrible creatures we have so bravely captured."

As he spoke he took hold of the string and began to pull as hard as he
could. One or two of the others helped him and pretty soon, as they
drew in the cord, the leaves above them parted and a Loon appeared at
the other end of the string. It didn't take long to draw him down to
the throne, where he seated himself and was tied in, so he wouldn't
float upward again.

"Hello," said the King, blinking his purple eyes at his followers;
"what's up now!"

"Strangers, your Majesty—strangers and captives," replied the big
Loon, pompously.

"Dear me! I see 'em. I see 'em very plainly," exclaimed the King, his
purple eyes bulging out as he looked at the three prisoners. "What
curious animals! Are they dangerous, do you think, my good Panta?"