2015년 1월 28일 수요일

The Lost Princess of Oz 1

The Lost Princess of Oz 1

The Lost Princess of Oz
: L. Frank Baum

To My Readers

Some of my youthful readers are developing wonderful imaginations. This
pleases me. Imagination has brought mankind through the Dark Ages to
its present state of civilization. Imagination led Columbus to discover
America. Imagination led Franklin to discover electricity. Imagination
has given us the steam engine, the telephone, the talking-machine and
the automobile, for these things had to be dreamed of before they
became realities. So I believe that dreams--day dreams, you know, with
your eyes wide open and your brain-machinery whizzing--are likely to
lead to the betterment of the world. The imaginative child will become
the imaginative man or woman most apt to create, to invent, and
therefore to foster civilization. A prominent educator tells me that
fairy tales are of untold value in developing imagination in the young.
I believe it.

Among the letters I receive from children are many containing
suggestions of "what to write about in the next Oz Book." Some of the
ideas advanced are mighty interesting, while others are too extravagant
to be seriously considered--even in a fairy tale. Yet I like them all,
and I must admit that the main idea in "The Lost Princess of Oz" was
suggested to me by a sweet little girl of eleven who called to see me
and to talk about the Land of Oz. Said she: "I s'pose if Ozma ever got
lost, or stolen, ev'rybody in Oz would be dreadful sorry."

That was all, but quite enough foundation to build this present story
on. If you happen to like the story, give credit to my little friend's
clever hint.

L. Frank Baum
  Royal Historian of Oz




LIST OF CHAPTERS

   1  A Terrible Loss
   2  The Troubles of Glinda the Good
   3  The Robbery of Cayke the Cookie Cook
   4  Among the Winkies
   5  Ozma's Friends Are Perplexed
   6  The Search Party
   7  The Merry-Go-Round Mountains
   8  The Mysterious City
   9  The High Coco-Lorum of Thi
  10  Toto Loses Something
  11  Button-Bright Loses Himself
  12  The Czarover of Herku
  13  The Truth Pond
  14  The Unhappy Ferryman
  15  The Big Lavender Bear
  16  The Little Pink Bear
  17  The Meeting
  18  The Conference
  19  Ugu the Shoemaker
  20  More Surprises
  21  Magic Against Magic
  22  In the Wicker Castle
  23  The Defiance of Ugu the Shoemaker
  24  The Little Pink Bear Speaks Truly
  25  Ozma of Oz
  26  Dorothy Forgives




THE LOST PRINCESS

BY L. FRANK BAUM



CHAPTER 1

A TERRIBLE LOSS


There could be no doubt of the fact: Princess Ozma, the lovely girl
ruler of the Fairyland of Oz, was lost.  She had completely
disappeared.  Not one of her subjects--not even her closest
friends--knew what had become of her.  It was Dorothy who first
discovered it.  Dorothy was a little Kansas girl who had come to the
Land of Oz to live and had been given a delightful suite of rooms in
Ozma's royal palace just because Ozma loved Dorothy and wanted her to
live as near her as possible so the two girls might be much together.

Dorothy was not the only girl from the outside world who had been
welcomed to Oz and lived in the royal palace.  There was another named
Betsy Bobbin, whose adventures had led her to seek refuge with Ozma,
and still another named Trot, who had been invited, together with her
faithful companion Cap'n Bill, to make her home in this wonderful
fairyland.  The three girls all had rooms in the palace and were great
chums; but Dorothy was the dearest friend of their gracious Ruler and
only she at any hour dared to seek Ozma in her royal apartments.  For
Dorothy had lived in Oz much longer than the other girls and had been
made a Princess of the realm.

Betsy was a year older than Dorothy and Trot was a year younger, yet
the three were near enough of an age to become great playmates and to
have nice times together.  It was while the three were talking together
one morning in Dorothy's room that Betsy proposed they make a journey
into the Munchkin Country, which was one of the four great countries of
the Land of Oz ruled by Ozma.  "I've never been there yet," said Betsy
Bobbin, "but the Scarecrow once told me it is the prettiest country in
all Oz."

"I'd like to go, too," added Trot.


"All right," said Dorothy.  "I'll go and ask Ozma.  Perhaps she will
let us take the Sawhorse and the Red Wagon, which would be much nicer
for us than having to walk all the way.  This Land of Oz is a pretty
big place when you get to all the edges of it."

So she jumped up and went along the halls of the splendid palace until
she came to the royal suite, which filled all the front of the second
floor.  In a little waiting room sat Ozma's maid, Jellia Jamb, who was
busily sewing.  "Is Ozma up yet?" inquired Dorothy.

"I don't know, my dear," replied Jellia.  "I haven't heard a word from
her this morning.  She hasn't even called for her bath or her
breakfast, and it is far past her usual time for them."

"That's strange!" exclaimed the little girl.

"Yes," agreed the maid, "but of course no harm could have happened to
her.  No one can die or be killed in the Land of Oz, and Ozma is
herself a powerful fairy, and she has no enemies so far as we know.
Therefore I am not at all worried about her, though I must admit her
silence is unusual."

"Perhaps," said Dorothy thoughtfully, "she has overslept.  Or she may
be reading or working out some new sort of magic to do good to her
people."

"Any of these things may be true," replied Jellia Jamb, "so I haven't
dared disturb our royal mistress.  You, however, are a privileged
character, Princess, and I am sure that Ozma wouldn't mind at all if
you went in to see her."

"Of course not," said Dorothy, and opening the door of the outer
chamber, she went in.  All was still here.  She walked into another
room, which was Ozma's boudoir, and then, pushing back a heavy drapery
richly broidered with threads of pure gold, the girl entered the
sleeping-room of the fairy Ruler of Oz.  The bed of ivory and gold was
vacant; the room was vacant; not a trace of Ozma was to be found.

Very much surprised, yet still with no fear that anything had happened
to her friend, Dorothy returned through the boudoir to the other rooms
of the suite.  She went into the music room, the library, the
laboratory, the bath, the wardrobe, and even into the great throne
room, which adjoined the royal suite, but in none of these places could
she find Ozma.

So she returned to the anteroom where she had left the maid, Jellia
Jamb, and said:

"She isn't in her rooms now, so she must have gone out."

"I don't understand how she could do that without my seeing her,"
replied Jellia, "unless she made herself invisible."

"She isn't there, anyhow," declared Dorothy.

"Then let us go find her," suggested the maid, who appeared to be a
little uneasy.  So they went into the corridors, and there Dorothy
almost stumbled over a queer girl who was dancing lightly along the
passage.

"Stop a minute, Scraps!" she called, "Have you seen Ozma this morning?"

"Not I!" replied the queer girl, dancing nearer.  "I lost both my eyes
in a tussle with the Woozy last night, for the creature scraped 'em
both off my face with his square paws.  So I put the eyes in my pocket,
and this morning Button-Bright led me to Aunt Em, who sewed 'em on
again.  So I've seen nothing at all today, except during the last five
minutes.  So of course I haven't seen Ozma."

"Very well, Scraps," said Dorothy, looking curiously at the eyes, which
were merely two round, black buttons sewed upon the girl's face.

There were other things about Scraps that would have seemed curious to
one seeing her for the first time.  She was commonly called "the
Patchwork Girl" because her body and limbs were made from a gay-colored
patchwork quilt which had been cut into shape and stuffed with cotton.
Her head was a round ball stuffed in the same manner and fastened to
her shoulders.  For hair, she had a mass of brown yarn, and to make a
nose for her a part of the cloth had been pulled out into the shape of
a knob and tied with a string to hold it in place. Her mouth had been
carefully made by cutting a slit in the proper place and lining it with
red silk, adding two rows of pearls for teeth and a bit of red flannel
for a tongue.

In spite of this queer make-up, the Patchwork Girl was magically alive
and had proved herself not the least jolly and agreeable of the many
quaint characters who inhabit the astonishing Fairyland of Oz. Indeed,
Scraps was a general favorite, although she was rather flighty and
erratic and did and said many things that surprised her friends. She
was seldom still, but loved to dance, to turn handsprings and
somersaults, to climb trees and to indulge in many other active sports.

"I'm going to search for Ozma," remarked Dorothy, "for she isn't in her
rooms, and I want to ask her a question."

"I'll go with you," said Scraps, "for my eyes are brighter than yours,
and they can see farther."

"I'm not sure of that," returned Dorothy.  "But come along, if you
like."

Together they searched all through the great palace and even to the
farthest limits of the palace grounds, which were quite extensive, but
nowhere could they find a trace of Ozma.  When Dorothy returned to
where Betsy and Trot awaited her, the little girl's face was rather
solemn and troubled, for never before had Ozma gone away without
telling her friends where she was going, or without an escort that
befitted her royal state.  She was gone, however, and none had seen her
go.  Dorothy had met and questioned the Scarecrow, Tik-Tok, the Shaggy
Man, Button-Bright, Cap'n Bill, and even the wise and powerful Wizard
of Oz, but not one of them had seen Ozma since she parted with her
friends the evening before and had gone to her own rooms.

"She didn't say anything las' night about going anywhere," observed
little Trot.

"No, and that's the strange part of it," replied Dorothy.  "Usually
Ozma lets us know of everything she does."

"Why not look in the Magic Picture?" suggested Betsy Bobbin.  "That
will tell us where she is in just one second."

"Of course!" cried Dorothy.  "Why didn't I think of that before?"  And
at once the three girls hurried away to Ozma's boudoir, where the Magic
Picture always hung.  This wonderful Magic Picture was one of the royal
Ozma's greatest treasures.  There was a large gold frame in the center
of which was a bluish-gray canvas on which various scenes constantly
appeared and disappeared.  If one who stood before it wished to see
what any person anywhere in the world was doing, it was only necessary
to make the wish and the scene in the Magic Picture would shift to the
scene where that person was and show exactly what he or she was then
engaged in doing.  So the girls knew it would be easy for them to wish
to see Ozma, and from the picture they could quickly learn where she
was.

Dorothy advanced to the place where the picture was usually protected
by thick satin curtains and pulled the draperies aside.  Then she
stared in amazement, while her two friends uttered exclamations of
disappointment.

The Magic Picture was gone. Only a blank space on the wall behind the
curtains showed where it had formerly hung.




CHAPTER 2

THE TROUBLES OF GLINDA THE GOOD


That same morning there was great excitement in the castle of the
powerful Sorceress of Oz, Glinda the Good.  This castle, situated in
the Quadling Country, far south of the Emerald City where Ozma ruled,
was a splendid structure of exquisite marbles and silver grilles. Here
the Sorceress lived, surrounded by a bevy of the most beautiful maidens
of Oz, gathered from all the four countries of that fairyland as well
as from the magnificent Emerald City itself, which stood in the place
where the four countries cornered.  It was considered a great honor to
be allowed to serve the good Sorceress, whose arts of magic were used
only to benefit the Oz people.  Glinda was Ozma's most valued servant,
for her knowledge of sorcery was wonderful, and she could accomplish
almost anything that her mistress, the lovely girl Ruler of Oz, wished
her to.

Of all the magical things which surrounded Glinda in her castle, there
was none more marvelous than her Great Book of Records.  On the pages
of this Record Book were constantly being inscribed, day by day and
hour by hour, all the important events that happened anywhere in the
known world, and they were inscribed in the book at exactly the moment
the events happened.  Every adventure in the Land of Oz and in the big
outside world, and even in places that you and I have never heard of,
were recorded accurately in the Great Book, which never made a mistake
and stated only the exact truth.  For that reason, nothing could be
concealed from Glinda the Good, who had only to look at the pages of
the Great Book of Records to know everything that had taken place. That
was one reason she was such a great Sorceress, for the records made her
wiser than any other living person.

This wonderful book was placed upon a big gold table that stood in the
middle of Glinda's drawing room.  The legs of the table, which were
incrusted with precious gems, were firmly fastened to the tiled floor,
and the book itself was chained to the table and locked with six stout
golden padlocks, the keys to which Glinda carried on a chain that was
secured around her own neck.  The pages of the Great Book were larger
in size than those of an American newspaper, and although they were
exceedingly thin, there were so many of them that they made an
enormous, bulky volume.  With its gold cover and gold clasps, the book
was so heavy that three men could scarcely have lifted it.  Yet this
morning when Glinda entered her drawing room after breakfast, the good
Sorceress was amazed to discover that her Great Book of Records had
mysteriously disappeared.

Advancing to the table, she found the chains had been cut with some
sharp instrument, and this must have been done while all in the castle
slept. Glinda was shocked and grieved.  Who could have done this
wicked, bold thing?  And who could wish to deprive her of her Great
Book of Records?

The Sorceress was thoughtful for a time, considering the consequences
of her loss.  Then she went to her Room of Magic to prepare a charm
that would tell her who had stolen the Record Book.  But when she
unlocked her cupboard and threw open the doors, all of her magical
instruments and rare chemical compounds had been removed from the
shelves.  The Sorceress has now both angry and alarmed.  She sat down
in a chair and tried to think how this extraordinary robbery could have
taken place.  It was evident that the thief was some person of very
great power, or the theft could not have been accomplished without her
knowledge. But who, in all the Land of Oz, was powerful and skillful
enough to do this awful thing?  And who, having the power, could also
have an object in defying the wisest and most talented Sorceress the
world has ever known?

Glinda thought over the perplexing matter for a full hour, at the end
of which time she was still puzzled how to explain it.  But although
her instruments and chemicals were gone, her KNOWLEDGE of magic had not
been stolen, by any means, since no thief, however skillful, can rob
one of knowledge, and that is why knowledge is the best and safest
treasure to acquire.  Glinda believed that when she had time to gather
more magical herbs and elixirs and to manufacture more magical
instruments, she would be able to discover who the robber was and what
had become of her precious Book of Records.

"Whoever has done this," she said to her maidens, "is a very foolish
person, for in time he is sure to be found out and will then be
severely punished."

She now made a list of the things she needed and dispatched messengers
to every part of Oz with instructions to obtain them and bring them to
her as soon as possible.  And one of her messengers met the little
Wizard of Oz, who was seated on the back of the famous live Sawhorse
and was clinging to its neck with both his arms, for the Sawhorse was
speeding to Glinda's castle with the velocity of the wind, bearing the
news that Royal Ozma, Ruler of all the great Land of Oz, had suddenly
disappeared and no one in the Emerald City knew what had become of her.

"Also," said the Wizard as he stood before the astonished Sorceress,
"Ozma's Magic Picture is gone, so we cannot consult it to discover
where she is.  So I came to you for assistance as soon as we realized
our loss.  Let us look in the Great Book of Records."

"Alas," returned the Sorceress sorrowfully, "we cannot do that, for the
Great Book of Records has also disappeared!"




CHAPTER 3

THE ROBBERY OF CAYKE THE COOKIE COOK


One more important theft was reported in the Land of Oz that eventful
morning, but it took place so far from either the Emerald City or the
castle of Glinda the Good that none of those persons we have mentioned
learned of the robbery until long afterward.

In the far southwestern corner of the Winkie Country is a broad
tableland that can be reached only by climbing a steep hill, whichever
side one approaches it.  On the hillside surrounding this tableland are
no paths at all, but there are quantities of bramble bushes with sharp
prickers on them, which prevent any of the Oz people who live down
below from climbing up to see what is on top.  But on top live the
Yips, and although the space they occupy is not great in extent, the
wee country is all their own.  The Yips had never--up to the time this
story begins--left their broad tableland to go down into the Land of
Oz, nor had the Oz people ever climbed up to the country of the Yips.

Living all alone as they did, the Yips had queer ways and notions of
their own and did not resemble any other people of the Land of Oz.
Their houses were scattered all over the flat surface; not like a city,
grouped together, but set wherever their owners' fancy dictated, with
fields here, trees there, and odd little paths connecting the houses
one with another.  It was here, on the morning when Ozma so strangely
disappeared from the Emerald City, that Cayke the Cookie Cook
discovered that her diamond-studded gold dishpan had been stolen, and
she raised such a hue and cry over her loss and wailed and shrieked so
loudly that many of the Yips gathered around her house to inquire what
was the matter.

It was a serious thing in any part of the Land of Oz to accuse one of
stealing, so when the Yips heard Cayke the Cookie Cook declare that her
jeweled dishpan had been stolen, they were both humiliated and
disturbed and forced Cayke to go with them to the Frogman to see what
could be done about it.  I do not suppose you have ever before heard of
the Frogman, for like all other dwellers on that tableland, he had
never been away from it, nor had anyone come up there to see him.  The
Frogman was in truth descended from the common frogs of Oz, and when he
was first born he lived in a pool in the Winkie Country and was much
like any other frog.  Being of an adventurous nature, however, he soon
hopped out of his pool and began to travel, when a big bird came along
and seized him in its beak and started to fly away with him to its
nest.  When high in the air, the frog wriggled so frantically that he
got loose and fell down, down, down into a small hidden pool on the
tableland of the Yips.  Now that pool, it seems, was unknown to the
Yips because it was surrounded by thick bushes and was not near to any
dwelling, and it proved to be an enchanted pool, for the frog grew very
fast and very big, feeding on the magic skosh which is found nowhere
else on earth except in that one pool.  And the skosh not only made the
frog very big so that when he stood on his hind legs he was as tall as
any Yip in the country, but it made him unusually intelligent, so that
he soon knew more than the Yips did and was able to reason and to argue
very well indeed.

No one could expect a frog with these talents to remain in a hidden
pool, so he finally got out of it and mingled with the people of the
tableland, who were amazed at his appearance and greatly impressed by
his learning.  They had never seen a frog before, and the frog had
never seen a Yip before, but as there were plenty of Yips and only one
frog, the frog became the most important.  He did not hop any more, but
stood upright on his hind legs and dressed himself in fine clothes and
sat in chairs and did all the things that people do, so he soon came to
be called the Frogman, and that is the only name he has ever had.
After some years had passed, the people came to regard the Frogman as
their adviser in all matters that puzzled them.  They brought all their
difficulties to him, and when he did not know anything, he pretended to
know it, which seemed to answer just as well.  Indeed, the Yips thought
the Frogman was much wiser than he really was, and he allowed them to
think so, being very proud of his position of authority.

There was another pool on the tableland which was not enchanted but
contained good, clear water and was located close to the dwellings.
Here the people built the Frogman a house of his own, close to the edge
of the pool so that he could take a bath or a swim whenever he wished.
He usually swam in the pool in the early morning before anyone else was
up, and during the day he dressed himself in his beautiful clothes and
sat in his house and received the visits of all the Yips who came to
him to ask his advice.  The Frogman's usual costume consisted of
knee-breeches made of yellow satin plush, with trimmings of gold braid
and jeweled knee-buckles; a white satin vest with silver buttons in
which were set solitaire rubies; a swallow-tailed coat of bright
yellow; green stockings and red leather shoes turned up at the toes and
having diamond buckles.  He wore, when he walked out, a purple silk hat
and carried a gold-headed cane.  Over his eyes he wore great spectacles
with gold rims, not because his eyes were bad, but because the
spectacles made him look wise, and so distinguished and gorgeous was
his appearance that all the Yips were very proud of him.

There was no King or Queen in the Yip Country, so the simple
inhabitants naturally came to look upon the Frogman as their leader as
well as their counselor in all times of emergency.  In his heart the
big frog knew he was no wiser than the Yips, but for a frog to know as
much as a person was quite remarkable, and the Frogman was shrewd
enough to make the people believe he was far more wise than he really
was.  They never suspected he was a humbug, but listened to his words
with great respect and did just what he advised them to do.

Now when Cayke the Cookie Cook raised such an outcry over the theft of
her diamond-studded dishpan, the first thought of the people was to
take her to the Frogman and inform him of the loss, thinking that of
course he would tell her where to find it.  He listened to the story
with his big eyes wide open behind his spectacles, and said in his
deep, croaking voice, "If the dishpan is stolen, somebody must have
taken it."

"But who?" asked Cayke anxiously.  "Who is the thief?"

"The one who took the dishpan, of course," replied the Frogman, and
hearing this all the Yips nodded their heads gravely and said to one
another, "It is absolutely true!"

"But I want my dishpan!" cried Cayke.

"No one can blame you for that wish," remarked the Frogman.

"Then tell me where I may find it," she urged.

The look the Frogman gave her was a very wise look, and he rose from
his chair and strutted up and down the room with his hands under his
coattails in a very pompous and imposing manner.  This was the first
time so difficult a matter had been brought to him, and he wanted time
to think.  It would never do to let them suspect his ignorance, and so
he thought very, very hard how best to answer the woman without
betraying himself.  "I beg to inform you," said he, "that nothing in
the Yip Country has ever been stolen before."

"We know that already," answered Cayke the Cookie Cook impatiently.

"Therefore," continued the Frogman, "this theft becomes a very
important matter."

"Well, where is my dishpan?" demanded the woman.

"It is lost, but it must be found.  Unfortunately, we have no policemen
or detectives to unravel the mystery, so we must employ other means to
regain the lost article.  Cayke must first write a Proclamation and
tack it to the door of her house, and the Proclamation must read that
whoever stole the jeweled dishpan must return it at once."

"But suppose no one returns it," suggested Cayke.

"Then," said the Frogman, "that very fact will be proof that no one has
stolen it."

Cayke was not satisfied, but the other Yips seemed to approve the plan
highly.  They all advised her to do as the Frogman had told her to, so
she posted the sign on her door and waited patiently for someone to
return the dishpan--which no one ever did.  Again she went, accompanied
by a group of her neighbors, to the Frogman, who by this time had given
the matter considerable thought.  Said he to Cayke, "I am now convinced
that no Yip has taken your dishpan, and since it is gone from the Yip
Country, I suspect that some stranger came from the world down below us
in the darkness of night when all of us were asleep and took away your
treasure.  There can be no other explanation of its disappearance.  So
if you wish to recover that golden, diamond-studded dishpan, you must
go into the lower world after it."

This was indeed a startling proposition.  Cayke and her friends went to
the edge of the flat tableland and looked down the steep hillside to
the plains below.  It was so far to the bottom of the hill that nothing
there could be seen very distinctly, and it seemed to the Yips very
venturesome, if not dangerous, to go so far from home into an unknown
land.  However, Cayke wanted her dishpan very badly, so she turned to
her friends and asked, "Who will go with me?"

No one answered the question, but after a period of silence one of the
Yips said, "We know what is here on the top of this flat hill, and it
seems to us a very pleasant place, but what is down below we do not
know.  The chances are it is not so pleasant, so we had best stay where
we are."

"It may be a far better country than this is," suggested the Cookie
Cook.

"Maybe, maybe," responded another Yip, "but why take chances?
Contentment with one's lot is true wisdom. Perhaps in some other
country there are better cookies than you cook, but as we have always
eaten your cookies and liked them--except when they are burned on the
bottom--we do not long for any better ones."

Cayke might have agreed to this argument had she not been so anxious to
find her precious dishpan, but now she exclaimed impatiently, "You are
cowards, all of you!  If none of you are willing to explore with me the
great world beyond this small hill, I will surely go alone."

"That is a wise resolve," declared the Yips, much relieved.  "It is
your dishpan that is lost, not ours.  And if you are willing to risk
your life and liberty to regain it, no one can deny you the privilege."

While they were thus conversing, the Frogman joined them and looked
down at the plain with his big eyes and seemed unusually thoughtful. In
fact, the Frogman was thinking that he'd like to see more of the world.
Here in the Yip Country he had become the most important creature of
them all, and his importance was getting to be a little tame.  It would
be nice to have other people defer to him and ask his advice, and there
seemed no reason so far as he could see why his fame should not spread
throughout all Oz.  He knew nothing of the rest of the world, but it
was reasonable to believe that there were more people beyond the
mountain where he now lived than there were Yips, and if he went among
them he could surprise them with his display of wisdom and make them
bow down to him as the Yips did.  In other words, the Frogman was
ambitious to become still greater than he was, which was impossible if
he always remained upon this mountain.  He wanted others to see his
gorgeous clothes and listen to his solemn sayings, and here was an
excuse for him to get away from the Yip Country.  So he said to Cayke
the Cookie Cook, "I will go with you, my good woman," which greatly
pleased Cayke because she felt the Frogman could be of much assistance
to her in her search.

But now, since the mighty Frogman had decided to undertake the journey,
several of the Yips who were young and daring at once made up their
minds to go along, so the next morning after breakfast the Frogman and
Cayke the Cookie Cook and nine of the Yips started to slide down the
side of the mountain.  The bramble bushes and cactus plants were very
prickly and uncomfortable to the touch, so the Frogman quickly
commanded the Yips to go first and break a path, so that when he
followed them he would not tear his splendid clothes. Cayke, too, was
wearing her best dress and was likewise afraid of the thorns and
prickers, so she kept behind the Frogman.

They made rather slow progress and night overtook them before they were
halfway down the mountainside, so they found a cave in which they
sought shelter until morning.  Cayke had brought along a basket full of
her famous cookies, so they all had plenty to eat.  On the second day
the Yips began to wish they had not embarked on this adventure. They
grumbled a good deal at having to cut away the thorns to make the path
for the Frogman and the Cookie Cook, for their own clothing suffered
many tears, while Cayke and the Frogman traveled safely and in comfort.

"If it is true that anyone came to our country to steal your diamond
dishpan," said one of the Yips to Cayke, "it must have been a bird, for
no person in the form of a man, woman or child could have climbed
through these bushes and back again."

"And, allowing he could have done so," said another Yip, "the
diamond-studded gold dishpan would not have repaid him for his troubles
and his tribulations."

"For my part," remarked a third Yip, "I would rather go back home and
dig and polish some more diamonds and mine some more gold and make you
another dishpan than be scratched from head to heel by these dreadful
bushes.  Even now, if my mother saw me, she would not know I am her
son."

Cayke paid no heed to these mutterings, nor did the Frogman.  Although
their journey was slow, it was being made easy for them by the Yips, so
they had nothing to complain of and no desire to turn back.  Quite near
to the bottom of the great hill they came upon a great gulf, the sides
of which were as smooth as glass.  The gulf extended a long
distance--as far as they could see in either direction--and although it
was not very wide, it was far too wide for the Yips to leap across it.
And should they fall into it, it was likely they might never get out
again.  "Here our journey ends," said the Yips. "We must go back again."

Cayke the Cookie Cook began to weep.

"I shall never find my pretty dishpan again, and my heart will be
broken!" she sobbed.

The Frogman went to the edge of the gulf and with his eye carefully
measured the distance to the other side.  "Being a frog," said he, "I
can leap, as all frogs do, and being so big and strong, I am sure I can
leap across this gulf with ease.  But the rest of you, not being frogs,
must return the way you came."

"We will do that with pleasure," cried the Yips, and at once they
turned and began to climb up the steep mountain, feeling they had had
quite enough of this unsatisfactory adventure.  Cayke the Cookie Cook
did not go with them, however.  She sat on a rock and wept and wailed
and was very miserable.

"Well," said the Frogman to her, "I will now bid you goodbye.  If I
find your diamond-decorated gold dishpan, I will promise to see that it
is safely returned to you."

"But I prefer to find it myself!" she said. "See here, Frogman, why
can't you carry me across the gulf when you leap it?  You are big and
strong, while I am small and thin."

The Frogman gravely thought over this suggestion. It was a fact that
Cayke the Cookie Cook was not a heavy person.  Perhaps he could leap
the gulf with her on his back.  "If you are willing to risk a fall,"
said he, "I will make the attempt."

At once she sprang up and grabbed him around his neck with both her
arms.  That is, she grabbed him where his neck ought to be, for the
Frogman had no neck at all.  Then he squatted down, as frogs do when
they leap, and with his powerful rear legs he made a tremendous jump.
Over the gulf they sailed, with the Cookie Cook on his back, and he had
leaped so hard--to make sure of not falling in--that he sailed over a
lot of bramble bushes that grew on the other side and landed in a clear
space which was so far beyond the gulf that when they looked back they
could not see it at all.

Cayke now got off the Frogman's back and he stood erect again and
carefully brushed the dust from his velvet coat and rearranged his
white satin necktie.

"I had no idea I could leap so far," he said wonderingly.  "Leaping is
one more accomplishment I can now add to the long list of deeds I am
able to perform."

"You are certainly fine at leap-frog," said the Cookie Cook admiringly,
"but, as you say, you are wonderful in many ways.  If we meet with any
people down here, I am sure they will consider you the greatest and
grandest of all living creatures."

"Yes," he replied, "I shall probably astonish strangers, because they
have never before had the pleasure of seeing me.  Also, they will
marvel at my great learning.  Every time I open my mouth, Cayke, I am
liable to say something important."

"That is true," she agreed, "and it is fortunate your mouth is so very
wide and opens so far, for otherwise all the wisdom might not be able
to get out of it."

"Perhaps nature made it wide for that very reason," said the Frogman.
"But come, let us now go on, for it is getting late and we must find
some sort of shelter before night overtakes us."




CHAPTER 4

AMONG THE WINKIES


The settled parts of the Winkie Country are full of happy and contented
people who are ruled by a tin Emperor named Nick Chopper, who in turn
is a subject of the beautiful girl Ruler, Ozma of Oz.  But not all of
the Winkie Country is fully settled.  At the east, which part lies
nearest the Emerald City, there are beautiful farmhouses and roads, but
as you travel west, you first come to a branch of the Winkie River,
beyond which there is a rough country where few people live, and some
of these are quite unknown to the rest of the world. After passing
through this rude section of territory, which no one ever visits, you
would come to still another branch of the Winkie River, after crossing
which you would find another well-settled part of the Winkie Country
extending westward quite to the Deadly Desert that surrounds all the
Land of Oz and separates that favored fairyland from the more common
outside world.  The Winkies who live in this west section have many tin
mines, from which metal they make a great deal of rich jewelry and
other articles, all of which are highly esteemed in the Land of Oz
because tin is so bright and pretty and there is not so much of it as
there is of gold and silver.

Not all the Winkies are miners, however, for some till the fields and
grow grains for food, and it was at one of these far-west Winkie farms
that the Frogman and Cayke the Cookie Cook first arrived after they had
descended from the mountain of the Yips.  "Goodness me!" cried Nellary
the Winkie wife when she saw the strange couple approaching her house.
"I have seen many queer creatures in the Land of Oz, but none more
queer than this giant frog who dresses like a man and walks on his hind
legs.  Come here, Wiljon," she called to her husband, who was eating
his breakfast, "and take a look at this astonishing freak."

Wiljon the Winkie came to the door and looked out.  He was still
standing in the doorway when the Frogman approached and said with a
haughty croak, "Tell me, my good man, have you seen a diamond-studded
gold dishpan?"

"No, nor have I seen a copper-plated lobster," replied Wiljon in an
equally haughty tone.

The Frogman stared at him and said, "Do not be insolent, fellow!"

"No," added Cayke the Cookie Cook hastily, "you must be very polite to
the great Frogman, for he is the wisest creature in all the world."

"Who says that?" inquired Wiljon.

"He says so himself," replied Cayke, and the Frogman nodded and
strutted up and down, twirling his gold-headed cane very gracefully.

"Does the Scarecrow admit that this overgrown frog is the wisest
creature in the world?" asked Wiljon.

"I do not know who the Scarecrow is," answered Cayke the Cookie Cook.

"Well, he lives at the Emerald City, and he is supposed to have the
finest brains in all Oz.  The Wizard gave them to him, you know."

"Mine grew in my head," said the Frogman pompously, "so I think they
must be better than any wizard brains.  I am so wise that sometimes my
wisdom makes my head ache.  I know so much that often I have to forget
part of it, since no one creature, however great, is able to contain so
much knowledge."

"It must be dreadful to be stuffed full of wisdom," remarked Wiljon
reflectively and eyeing the Frogman with a doubtful look.  "It is my
good fortune to know very little."

"I hope, however, you know where my jeweled dishpan is," said the
Cookie Cook anxiously.

"I do not know even that," returned the Winkie.  "We have trouble
enough in keeping track of our own dishpans without meddling with the
dishpans of strangers."

Finding him so ignorant, the Frogman proposed that they walk on and
seek Cayke's dishpan elsewhere.  Wiljon the Winkie did not seem greatly
impressed by the great Frogman, which seemed to that personage as
strange as it was disappointing.  But others in this unknown land might
prove more respectful.

"I'd like to meet that Wizard of Oz," remarked Cayke as they walked
along a path.  "If he could give a Scarecrow brains, he might be able
to find my dishpan."

"Poof!" grunted the Frogman scornfully.  "I am greater than any wizard.
Depend on ME.  If your dishpan is anywhere in the world, I am sure to
find it."

"If you do not, my heart will be broken," declared the Cookie Cook in a
sorrowful voice.

For a while the Frogman walked on in silence. Then he asked, "Why do
you attach so much importance to a dishpan?"

"It is the greatest treasure I possess," replied the woman.  "It
belonged to my mother and to all my grandmothers since the beginning of
time.  It is, I believe, the very oldest thing in all the Yip
Country--or was while it was there--and," she added, dropping her voice
to an awed whisper, "it has magic powers!"

"In what way?" inquired the Frogman, seeming to be surprised at this
statement.

"Whoever has owned that dishpan has been a good cook, for one thing. No
one else is able to make such good cookies as I have cooked, as you and
all the Yips know.  Yet the very morning after my dishpan was stolen, I
tried to make a batch of cookies and they burned up in the oven!  I
made another batch that proved too tough to eat, and I was so ashamed
of them that I buried them in the ground.  Even the third batch of
cookies, which I brought with me in my basket, were pretty poor stuff
and no better than any woman could make who does not own my
diamond-studded gold dishpan.  In fact, my good Frogman, Cayke the
Cookie Cook will never be able to cook good cookies again until her
magic dishpan is restored to her."

"In that case," said the Frogman with a sigh, "I suppose we must manage to find it."

댓글 없음: