L. Frank Baum_Oz 12 (6 page)

"If you please, I'll eat the food in my knapsack," answered the boy.
"Your magic food might taste good, but I'm afraid of it."

The woman laughed at his fears and transformed the pebbles into
fish-balls.

"I suppose you think that after you had eaten this food it would turn
to stones again and make you sick," she remarked; "but that would be
impossible. Nothing I transform ever gets back to its former shape
again, so these fish-balls can never more be pebbles. That is why I
have to be careful of my transformations," she added, busily eating
while she talked, "for while I can change forms at will I can never
change them back again—which proves that even the powers of a clever
Yookoohoo are limited. When I have transformed you three people, you
must always wear the shapes that I have given you."

"Then please don't transform us," begged Woot, "for we are quite
satisfied to remain as we are."

"I am not expecting to satisfy you, but intend to please myself," she
declared, "and my pleasure is to give you new shapes. For, if by chance
your friends came in search of you, not one of them would be able to
recognize you."

Her tone was so positive that they knew it would be useless to protest.
The woman was not unpleasant to look at; her face was not cruel; her
voice was big but gracious in tone; but her words showed that she
possessed a merciless heart and no pleadings would alter her wicked
purpose.

Mrs. Yoop took ample time to finish her breakfast and the prisoners had
no desire to hurry her, but finally the meal was concluded and she
folded her napkin and made the table disappear by clapping her hands
together. Then she turned to her captives and said:

"The next thing on the programme is to change your forms."

"Have you decided what forms to give us?" asked the Scarecrow, uneasily.

"Yes; I dreamed it all out while I was asleep. This Tin Man seems a
very solemn person "—indeed, the Tin Woodman was looking solemn, just
then, for he was greatly disturbed—"so I shall change him into an Owl."

All she did was to point one finger at him as she spoke, but
immediately the form of the Tin Woodman began to change and in a few
seconds Nick Chopper, the Emperor of the Winkies, had been transformed
into an Owl, with eyes as big as saucers and a hooked beak and strong
claws. But he was still tin. He was a Tin Owl, with tin legs and beak
and eyes and feathers. When he flew to the back of a chair and perched
upon it, his tin feathers rattled against one another with a tinny
clatter. The Giantess seemed much amused by the Tin Owl's appearance,
for her laugh was big and jolly.

"You're not liable to get lost," said she, "for your wings and feathers
will make a racket wherever you go. And, on my word, a Tin Owl is so
rare and pretty that it is an improvement on the ordinary bird. I did
not intend to make you tin, but I forgot to wish you to be meat.
However, tin you were, and tin you are, and as it's too late to change
you, that settles it."

Until now the Scarecrow had rather doubted the possibility of Mrs.
Yoop's being able to transform him, or his friend the Tin Woodman, for
they were not made as ordinary people are. He had worried more over
what might happen to Woot than to himself, but now he began to worry
about himself.

"Madam," he said hastily, "I consider this action very impolite. It may
even be called rude, considering we are your guests."

"You are not guests, for I did not invite you here," she replied.

"Perhaps not; but we craved hospitality. We threw ourselves upon your
mercy, so to speak, and we now find you have no mercy. Therefore, if
you will excuse the expression, I must say it is downright wicked to
take our proper forms away from us and give us others that we do not
care for."

"Are you trying to make me angry?" she asked, frowning.

"By no means," said the Scarecrow; "I'm just trying to make you act
more ladylike."

"Oh, indeed! In my opinion, Mr. Scarecrow, you are now acting like a
bear—so a Bear you shall be!"

Again the dreadful finger pointed, this time in the Scarecrow's
direction, and at once his form began to change. In a few seconds he
had become a small Brown Bear, but he was stuffed with straw as he had
been before, and when the little Brown Bear shuffled across the floor
he was just as wobbly as the Scarecrow had been and moved just as
awkwardly.

Woot was amazed, but he was also thoroughly frightened.

"Did it hurt?" he asked the little Brown Bear.

"No, of course not," growled the Scarecrow in the Bear's form; "but I
don't like walking on four legs; it's undignified."

"Consider my humiliation!" chirped the Tin Owl, trying to settle its
tin feathers smoothly with its tin beak. "And I can't see very well,
either. The light seems to hurt my eyes."

"That's because you are an Owl," said Woot. "I think you will see
better in the dark."

"Well," remarked the Giantess, "I'm very well pleased with these new
forms, for my part, and I'm sure you will like them better when you get
used to them. So now," she added, turning to the boy, "it is your turn."

"Don't you think you'd better leave me as I am?" asked Woot in a
trembling voice.

"No," she replied, "I'm going to make a Monkey of you. I love
monkeys—they're so cute!—and I think a Green Monkey will be lots of
fun and amuse me when I am sad."

Woot shivered, for again the terrible magic finger pointed, and pointed
directly his way. He felt himself changing; not so very much, however,
and it didn't hurt him a bit. He looked down at his limbs and body and
found that his clothes were gone and his skin covered with a fine,
silk-like green fur. His hands and feet were now those of a monkey. He
realized he really was a monkey, and his first feeling was one of
anger. He began to chatter as monkeys do. He bounded to the seat of a
giant chair, and then to its back and with a wild leap sprang upon the
laughing Giantess. His idea was to seize her hair and pull it out by
the roots, and so have revenge for her wicked transformations. But she
raised her hand and said:

"Gently, my dear Monkey—gently! You're not angry; you're happy as can
be!"

Woot stopped short. No; he wasn't a bit angry now; he felt as
good-humored and gay as ever he did when a boy. Instead of pulling Mrs.
Yoop's hair, he perched on her shoulder and smoothed her soft cheek
with his hairy paw. In return, she smiled at the funny green animal and
patted his head.

"Very good," said the Giantess. "Let us all become friends and be happy
together. How is my Tin Owl feeling?"

"Quite comfortable," said the Owl. "I don't like it, to be sure, but
I'm not going to allow my new form to make me unhappy. But, tell me,
please: what is a Tin Owl good for?"

"You are only good to make me laugh," replied the Giantess.

"Will a stuffed Bear also make you laugh?" inquired the Scarecrow,
sitting back on his haunches to look up at her.

"Of course," declared the Giantess; "and I have added a little magic to
your transformations to make you all contented with wearing your new
forms. I'm sorry I didn't think to do that when I transformed
Polychrome into a Canary-Bird. But perhaps, when she sees how cheerful
you are, she will cease to be silent and sullen and take to singing. I
will go get the bird and let you see her."

With this, Mrs. Yoop went into the next room and soon returned bearing
a golden cage in which sat upon a swinging perch a lovely yellow
Canary. "Polychrome," said the Giantess, "permit me to introduce to you
a Green Monkey, which used to be a boy called Woot the Wanderer, and a
Tin Owl, which used to be a Tin Woodman named Nick Chopper, and a
straw-stuffed little Brown Bear which used to be a live Scarecrow."

"We already know one another," declared the Scarecrow. "The bird is
Polychrome, the Rainbow's Daughter, and she and I used to be good
friends."

"Are you really my old friend, the Scarecrow?" asked; the bird, in a
sweet, low voice.

"There!" cried Mrs. Yoop; "that's the first time she has spoken since
she was transformed."

"I am really your old friend," answered the Scarecrow; "but you must
pardon me for appearing just now in this brutal form."

"I am a bird, as you are, dear Poly," said the Tin Woodman; "but, alas!
a Tin Owl is not as beautiful as a Canary-Bird."

"How dreadful it all is!" sighed the Canary. "Couldn't you manage to
escape from this terrible Yookoohoo?"

"No," answered the Scarecrow, "we tried to escape, but failed. She
first made us her prisoners and then transformed us. But how did she
manage to get you, Polychrome?"

"I was asleep, and she took unfair advantage of me," answered the bird
sadly. "Had I been awake, I could easily have protected myself."

"Tell me," said the Green Monkey earnestly, as he came close to the
cage, "what must we do, Daughter of the Rainbow, to escape from these
transformations? Can't you help us, being a Fairy?"

"At present I am powerless to help even myself," replied the Canary.

"That's the exact truth!" exclaimed the Giantess, who seemed pleased to
hear the bird talk, even though it complained; "you are all helpless
and in my power, so you may as well make up your minds to accept your
fate and be content. Remember that you are transformed for good, since
no magic on earth can break your enchantments. I am now going out for
my morning walk, for each day after breakfast I walk sixteen times
around my castle for exercise. Amuse yourselves while I am gone, and
when I return I hope to find you all reconciled and happy."

So the Giantess walked to the door by which our friends had entered the
great hall and spoke one word: "Open!" Then the door swung open and
after Mrs. Yoop had passed out it closed again with a snap as its
powerful bolts shot into place. The Green Monkey had rushed toward the
opening, hoping to escape, but he was too late and only got a bump on
his nose as the door slammed shut.

"Now," said the Canary, in a tone more brisk than before, "we may talk
together more freely, as Mrs. Yoop cannot hear us. Perhaps we can
figure out a way to escape."

"Open!" said Woot the Monkey, still facing the door; but his command
had no effect and he slowly rejoined the others.

"You cannot open any door or window in this enchanted castle unless you
are wearing the Magic Apron," said the Canary.

"What Magic Apron do you mean?" asked the Tin Owl, in a curious voice.

"The lace one, which the Giantess always wears. I have been her
prisoner, in this cage, for several weeks, and she hangs my cage in her
bedroom every night, so that she can keep her eye on me," explained
Polychrome the Canary. "Therefore I have discovered that it is the
Magic Apron that opens the doors and windows, and nothing else can move
them. When she goes to bed, Mrs. Yoop hangs her apron on the bedpost,
and one morning she forgot to put it on when she commanded the door to
open, and the door would not move. So then she put on the lace apron
and the door obeyed her. That was how I learned the magic power of the
apron."

"I see—I see!" said the little Brown Bear, wagging his stuffed head.
"Then, if we could get the apron from Mrs. Yoop, we could open the
doors and escape from our prison."

"That is true, and it is the plan I was about to suggest," replied
Polychrome the Canary-Bird. "However, I don't believe the Owl could
steal the apron, or even the Bear, but perhaps the Monkey could hide in
her room at night and get the apron while she is asleep."

"I'll try it!" cried Woot the Monkey. "I'll try it this very night, if
I can manage to steal into her bedroom."

"You mustn't think about it, though," warned the bird, "for she can
read your thoughts whenever she cares to do so. And do not forget,
before you escape, to take me with you. Once I am out of the power of
the Giantess, I may discover a way to save us all."

"We won't forget our fairy friend," promised the boy; "but perhaps you
can tell me how to get into the bedroom."

"No," declared Polychrome, "I cannot advise you as to that. You must
watch for a chance, and slip in when Mrs. Yoop isn't looking."

They talked it over for a while longer and then Mrs. Yoop returned.
When she entered, the door opened suddenly, at her command, and closed
as soon as her huge form had passed through the doorway. During that
day she entered her bedroom several times, on one errand or another,
but always she commanded the door to close behind her and her prisoners
found not the slightest chance to leave the big hall in which they were
confined.

The Green Monkey thought it would be wise to make a friend of the big
woman, so as to gain her confidence, so he sat on the back of her chair
and chattered to her while she mended her stockings and sewed silver
buttons on some golden shoes that were as big as row-boats. This
pleased the Giantess and she would pause at times to pat the Monkey's
head. The little Brown Bear curled up in a corner and lay still all
day. The Owl and the Canary found they could converse together in the
bird language, which neither the Giantess nor the Bear nor the Monkey
could understand; so at times they twittered away to each other and
passed the long, dreary day quite cheerfully.

After dinner Mrs. Yoop took a big fiddle from a big cupboard and played
such loud and dreadful music that her prisoners were all thankful when
at last she stopped and said she was going to bed.

After cautioning the Monkey and Bear and Owl to behave themselves
during the night, she picked up the cage containing the Canary and,
going to the door of her bedroom, commanded it to open. Just then,
however, she remembered she had left her fiddle lying upon a table, so
she went back for it and put it away in the cupboard, and while her
back was turned the Green Monkey slipped through the open door into her
bedroom and hid underneath the bed. The Giantess, being sleepy, did not
notice this, and entering her room she made the door close behind her
and then hung the bird-cage on a peg by the window. Then she began to
undress, first taking off the lace apron and laying it over the
bedpost, where it was within easy reach of her hand.