The Tin Woodman was the first
to address the meeting.
"To begin with," said he, "word
came to our noble and illustrious
Ruler, Ozma of Oz, that the wife
and ten children--five boys and
five girls--of the former King
of Ev, by name Evoldo, have been
enslaved by the Nome King and
are held prisoners in his underground
palace. Also that there was no
one in Ev powerful enough to
release them. Naturally our Ozma
wished to undertake the adventure
of liberating the poor prisoners;
but for a long time she could
find no way to cross the great
desert between the two countries.
Finally she went to a friendly
sorceress of our land named Glinda
the Good, who heard the story
and at once presented Ozma a
magic carpet, which would continually
unroll beneath our feet and so
make a comfortable path for us
to cross the desert. As soon
as she had received the carpet
our gracious Ruler ordered me
to assemble our army, which I
did. You behold in these bold
warriors the pick of all the
finest soldiers of Oz; and, if
we are obliged to fight the Nome
King, every officer as well as
the private, will battle fiercely
unto death."
Then Tiktok spoke.
"Why should you fight the Nome
King?" he asked. "He has done
no wrong."
"No wrong!" cried Dorothy. "Isn't
it wrong to imprison a queen
mother and her ten children?"
"They were sold to the Nome
King by King Ev-ol-do," replied
Tiktok. "It was the King of Ev
who did wrong, and when he re-al-ized
what he had done he jumped in-to
the sea and drowned him-self."
"This is news to me," said
Ozma, thoughtfully. "I had supposed
the Nome King was all to blame
in the matter. But, in any case,
he must be made to liberate the
prisoners."
"My uncle Evoldo was a very
wicked man," declared the Princess
Langwidere. "If he had drowned
himself before he sold his family,
no one would have cared. But
he sold them to the powerful
Nome King in exchange for a long
life, and afterward destroyed
the life by jumping into the
sea."
"Then," said Ozma, "he
did not get the long life,
and the
Nome King must give up the prisoners.
Where are they confined?"
"No one knows, exactly," replied
the Princess. "For the king,
whose name is Roquat of the Rocks,
owns a splendid palace underneath
the great mountain which is at
the north end of this kingdom,
and he has transformed the queen
and her children into ornaments
and bric-a-brac with which to
decorate his rooms."
"I'd like to know," said Dorothy, "who
this Nome King is?"
"I will tell you," replied
Ozma. "He is said to be the Ruler
of the Underground World, and
commands the rocks and all that
the rocks contain. Under his
rule are many thousands of the
Nomes, who are queerly shaped
but powerful sprites that labor
at the furnaces and forges of
their king, making gold and silver
and other metals which they conceal
in the crevices of the rocks,
so that those living upon the
earth's surface can only find
them with great difficulty. Also
they make diamonds and rubies
and emeralds, which they hide
in the ground; so that the kingdom
of the Nomes is wonderfully rich,
and all we have of precious stones
and silver and gold is what we
take from the earth and rocks
where the Nome King has hidden
them."
"I understand," said
Dorothy, nodding her little
head wisely.
"For the reason that we often
steal his treasures," continued
Ozma, "the Ruler of the Underground
World is not fond of those who
live upon the earth's surface,
and never appears among us. If
we wish to see King Roquat of
the Rocks, we must visit his
own country, where he is all
powerful, and therefore it will
be a dangerous undertaking."
"But, for the sake of the poor
prisoners," said Dorothy, "we
ought to do it."
"We shall do it," replied the
Scarecrow, "although it requires
a lot of courage for me to go
near to the furnaces of the Nome
King. For I am only stuffed with
straw, and a single spark of
fire might destroy me entirely."
"The furnaces may also melt
my tin," said the Tin Woodman; "but
I am going."
"I can't bear heat," remarked
the Princess Langwidere, yawning
lazily, "so I shall stay at home.
But I wish you may have success
in your undertaking, for I am
heartily tired of ruling this
stupid kingdom, and I need more
leisure in which to admire my
beautiful heads."
"We do not need you," said
Ozma. "For, if with the aid of
my brave followers I cannot accomplish
my purpose, then it would be
useless for you to undertake
the journey."
"Quite true," sighed the Princess. "So,
if you'll excuse me, I will now
retire to my cabinet. I've worn
this head quite awhile, and I
want to change it for another."
When she had left them (and
you may be sure no one was sorry
to see her go) Ozma said to Tiktok:
"Will you join
our party?"
"I am the slave of the girl
Dor-oth-y, who rescued me from
pris-on," replied the machine. "Where
she goes I will go."
"Oh, I am going with my friends,
of course," said Dorothy, quickly. "I
wouldn't miss the fun for anything.
Will you go, too, Billina?"
"To be sure," said
Billina in a careless tone.
She was smoothing
down the feathers of her back
and not paying much attention.
"Heat is just in her line," remarked
the Scarecrow. "If she is nicely
roasted, she will be better than
ever."
"Then" said Ozma, "we
will arrange to start for the
Kingdom
of the Nomes at daybreak tomorrow.
And, in the meantime, we will
rest and prepare ourselves for
the journey."
Although Princess Langwidere
did not again appear to her guests,
the palace servants waited upon
the strangers from Oz and did
everything in their power to
make the party comfortable. There
were many vacant rooms at their
disposal, and the brave Army
of twenty-seven was easily provided
for and liberally feasted.
The Cowardly Lion and the Hungry
Tiger were unharnessed from the
chariot and allowed to roam at
will throughout the palace, where
they nearly frightened the servants
into fits, although they did
no harm at all. At one time Dorothy
found the little maid Nanda crouching
in terror in a corner, with the
Hungry Tiger standing before
her.
"You certainly look delicious," the
beast was saying. "Will you kindly
give me permission to eat you?"
"No, no, no!" cried
the maid in reply.
"Then," said the Tiger, yawning
frightfully, "please to get me
about thirty pounds of tenderloin
steak, cooked rare, with a peck
of boiled potatoes on the side,
and five gallons of ice-cream
for dessert."
"I--I'll do the best I can!" said
Nanda, and she ran away as fast
as she could go.
"Are you so very hungry?" asked
Dorothy, in wonder.
"You can hardly imagine the
size of my appetite," replied
the Tiger, sadly. "It seems to
fill my whole body, from the
end of my throat to the tip of
my tail. I am very sure the appetite
doesn't fit me, and is too large
for the size of my body. Some
day, when I meet a dentist with
a pair of forceps, I'm going
to have it pulled."
"What, your tooth?" asked
Dorothy.
"No, my appetite," said
the Hungry Tiger.
The little girl spent most
of the afternoon talking with
the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman,
who related to her all that had
taken place in the Land of Oz
since Dorothy had left it. She
was much interested in the story
of Ozma, who had been, when a
baby, stolen by a wicked old
witch and transformed into a
boy. She did not know that she
had ever been a girl until she
was restored to her natural form
by a kind sorceress. Then it
was found that she was the only
child of the former Ruler of
Oz, and was entitled to rule
in his place. Ozma had many adventures,
however, before she regained
her father's throne, and in these
she was accompanied by a pumpkin-headed
man, a highly magnified and thoroughly
educated Woggle-Bug, and a wonderful
sawhorse that had been brought
to life by means of a magic powder.
The Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman
had also assisted her; but the
Cowardly Lion, who ruled the
great forest as the King of Beasts,
knew nothing of Ozma until after
she became the reigning princess
of Oz. Then he journeyed to the
Emerald City to see her, and
on hearing she was about to visit
the Land of Ev to set free the
royal family of that country,
the Cowardly Lion begged to go
with her, and brought along his
friend, the Hungry Tiger, as
well.
Having heard this story, Dorothy
related to them her own adventures,
and then went out with her friends
to find the Sawhorse, which Ozma
had caused to be shod with plates
of gold, so that its legs would
not wear out.
They came upon the Sawhorse
standing motionless beside the
garden gate, but when Dorothy
was introduced to him he bowed
politely and blinked his eyes,
which were knots of wood, and
wagged his tail, which was only
the branch of a tree.
"What a remarkable thing, to
be alive!" exclaimed Dorothy.
"I quiet agree with you," replied
the Sawhorse, in a rough but
not unpleasant voice. "A creature
like me has no business to live,
as we all know. But it was the
magic powder that did it, so
I cannot justly be blamed."
"Of course not," said Dorothy. "And
you seem to be of some use, 'cause
I noticed the Scarecrow riding
upon your back."
"Oh, yes; I'm of use," returned
the Sawhorse; "and I never tire,
never have to be fed, or cared
for in any way."
"Are you intel'gent?" asked
the girl.
"Not very," said the creature. "It
would be foolish to waste intelligence
on a common Sawhorse, when so
many professors need it. But
I know enough to obey my masters,
and to gid-dup, or whoa, when
I'm told to. So I'm pretty well
satisfied."
That night Dorothy slept in
a pleasant little bed-chamber
next to that occupied by Ozma
of Oz, and Billina perched upon
the foot of the bed and tucked
her head under her wing and slept
as soundly in that position as
did Dorothy upon her soft cushions.
But before daybreak every one
was awake and stirring, and soon
the adventurers were eating a
hasty breakfast in the great
dining-room of the palace. Ozma
sat at the head of a long table,
on a raised platform, with Dorothy
on her right hand and the Scarecrow
on her left. The Scarecrow did
not eat, of course; but Ozma
placed him near her so that she
might ask his advice about the
journey while she ate.
Lower down the table were the
twenty-seven warriors of Oz,
and at the end of the room the
Lion and the Tiger were eating
out of a kettle that had been
placed upon the floor, while
Billina fluttered around to pick
up any scraps that might be scattered.
It did not take long to finish
the meal, and then the Lion and
the Tiger were harnessed to the
chariot and the party was ready
to start for the Nome King's
Palace.
First rode Ozma, with Dorothy
beside her in the golden chariot
and holding Billina fast in her
arms. Then came the Scarecrow
on the Sawhorse, with the Tin
Woodman and Tiktok marching side
by side just behind him. After
these tramped the Army, looking
brave and handsome in their splendid
uniforms. The generals commanded
the colonels and the colonels
commanded the majors and the
majors commanded the captains
and the captains commanded the
private, who marched with an
air of proud importance because
it required so many officers
to give him his orders.
And so the magnificent procession
left the palace and started along
the road just as day was breaking,
and by the time the sun came
out they had made good progress
toward the valley that led to
the Nome King's domain.
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