Before they went to see Glinda,
however, they were taken to a
room of the Castle, where Dorothy
washed her face and combed her
hair, and the Lion shook the
dust out of his mane, and the
Scarecrow patted himself into
his best shape, and the Woodman
polished his tin and oiled his
joints.
When they were all quite presentable
they followed the soldier girl
into a big room where the Witch
Glinda sat upon a throne of rubies.
She was both beautiful and
young to their eyes. Her hair
was a rich red in color and fell
in flowing ringlets over her
shoulders. Her dress was pure
white but her eyes were blue,
and they looked kindly upon the
little girl.
"What can I do for you, my
child?" she asked.
Dorothy told the Witch all
her story: how the cyclone had
brought her to the Land of Oz,
how she had found her companions,
and of the wonderful adventures
they had met with.
"My greatest wish now," she
added, "is to get back to Kansas,
for Aunt Em will surely think
something dreadful has happened
to me, and that will make her
put on mourning; and unless the
crops are better this year than
they were last, I am sure Uncle
Henry cannot afford it."
Glinda leaned forward and kissed
the sweet, upturned face of the
loving little girl.
"Bless your dear heart," she
said, "I am sure I can tell you
of a way to get back to Kansas." Then
she added, "But, if I do, you
must give me the Golden Cap."
"Willingly!" exclaimed Dorothy; "indeed,
it is of no use to me now, and
when you have it you can command
the Winged Monkeys three times."
"And I think I shall need their
service just those three times," answered
Glinda, smiling.
Dorothy then
gave her the Golden Cap, and
the Witch said to the
Scarecrow, "What will you do
when Dorothy has left us?"
"I will return to the Emerald
City," he replied, "for Oz has
made me its ruler and the people
like me. The only thing that
worries me is how to cross the
hill of the Hammer-Heads."
"By means of the Golden Cap
I shall command the Winged Monkeys
to carry you to the gates of
the Emerald City," said Glinda, "for
it would be a shame to deprive
the people of so wonderful a
ruler."
"Am I really wonderful?" asked
the Scarecrow.
"You are unusual," replied
Glinda.
Turning to
the Tin Woodman, she asked, "What
will become of you when Dorothy
leaves this
country?"
He leaned on
his axe and thought a moment.
Then he said, "The
Winkies were very kind to me,
and wanted me to rule over them
after the Wicked Witch died.
I am fond of the Winkies, and
if I could get back again to
the Country of the West, I should
like nothing better than to rule
over them forever."
"My second command to the Winged
Monkeys," said Glinda "will be
that they carry you safely to
the land of the Winkies. Your
brain may not be so large to
look at as those of the Scarecrow,
but you are really brighter than
he is--when you are well polished--
and I am sure you will rule the
Winkies wisely and well."
Then the Witch
looked at the big, shaggy Lion
and asked, "When
Dorothy has returned to her own
home, what will become of you?"
"Over the hill of the Hammer-Heads," he
answered, "lies a grand old forest,
and all the beasts that live
there have made me their King.
If I could only get back to this
forest, I would pass my life
very happily there."
"My third command to the Winged
Monkeys," said Glinda, "shall
be to carry you to your forest.
Then, having used up the powers
of the Golden Cap, I shall give
it to the King of the Monkeys,
that he and his band may thereafter
be free for evermore."
The Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman
and the Lion now thanked the
Good Witch earnestly for her
kindness; and Dorothy exclaimed:
"You are certainly
as good as you are beautiful!
But you
have not yet told me how to get
back to Kansas."
"Your Silver Shoes will carry
you over the desert," replied
Glinda. "If you had known their
power you could have gone back
to your Aunt Em the very first
day you came to this country."
"But then I should not have
had my wonderful brains!" cried
the Scarecrow. "I might have
passed my whole life in the farmer's
cornfield."
"And I should not have had
my lovely heart," said the Tin
Woodman. "I might have stood
and rusted in the forest till
the end of the world."
"And I should have lived a
coward forever," declared the
Lion, "and no beast in all the
forest would have had a good
word to say to me."
"This is all true," said Dorothy, "and
I am glad I was of use to these
good friends. But now that each
of them has had what he most
desired, and each is happy in
having a kingdom to rule besides,
I think I should like to go back
to Kansas."
"The Silver Shoes," said the
Good Witch, "have wonderful powers.
And one of the most curious things
about them is that they can carry
you to any place in the world
in three steps, and each step
will be made in the wink of an
eye. All you have to do is to
knock the heels together three
times and command the shoes to
carry you wherever you wish to
go."
"If that is so," said the child
joyfully, "I will ask them to
carry me back to Kansas at once."
She threw her arms around the
Lion's neck and kissed him, patting
his big head tenderly. Then she
kissed the Tin Woodman, who was
weeping in a way most dangerous
to his joints. But she hugged
the soft, stuffed body of the
Scarecrow in her arms instead
of kissing his painted face,
and found she was crying herself
at this sorrowful parting from
her loving comrades.
Glinda the Good stepped down
from her ruby throne to give
the little girl a good-bye kiss,
and Dorothy thanked her for all
the kindness she had shown to
her friends and herself.
Dorothy now took Toto up solemnly
in her arms, and having said
one last good-bye she clapped
the heels of her shoes together
three times, saying:
"Take me home
to Aunt Em!"
Instantly she was whirling
through the air, so swiftly that
all she could see or feel was
the wind whistling past her ears.
The Silver Shoes took but three
steps, and then she stopped so
suddenly that she rolled over
upon the grass several times
before she knew where she was.
At length, however, she sat
up and looked about her.
"Good gracious!" she
cried.
For she was sitting on the
broad Kansas prairie, and just
before her was the new farmhouse
Uncle Henry built after the cyclone
had carried away the old one.
Uncle Henry was milking the cows
in the barnyard, and Toto had
jumped out of her arms and was
running toward the barn, barking
furiously.
Dorothy stood up and found
she was in her stocking-feet.
For the Silver Shoes had fallen
off in her flight through the
air, and were lost forever in
the desert.
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