CHAPTER 8
THE MYSTERIOUS CITY
There they sat upon the grass, their heads still swimming from their
dizzy flights, and looked at one another in silent bewilderment. But
presently, when assured that no one was injured, they grew more calm
and collected, and the Lion said with a sigh of relief, "Who would have
thought those Merry-Go-Round Mountains were made of rubber?"
"Are they really rubber?" asked Trot.
"They must be," replied the Lion, "for otherwise we would not have
bounded so swiftly from one to another without getting hurt."
"That is all guesswork," declared the Wizard, unwinding the blankets
from his body, "for none of us stayed long enough on the mountains to
discover what they are made of. But where are we?"
"That's guesswork," said Scraps. "The shepherd said the Thistle-Eaters
live this side of the mountains and are waited on by giants."
"Oh no," said Dorothy, "it's the Herkus who have giant slaves, and the
Thistle-Eaters hitch dragons to their chariots."
"How could they do that?" asked the Woozy. "Dragons have long tails,
which would get in the way of the chariot wheels."
"And if the Herkus have conquered the giants," said Trot, "they must be
at least twice the size of giants. P'raps the Herkus are the biggest
people in all the world!"
"Perhaps they are," assented the Wizard in a thoughtful tone of voice.
"And perhaps the shepherd didn't know what he was talking about. Let
us travel on toward the west and discover for ourselves what the people
of this country are like."
It seemed a pleasant enough country, and it was quite still and
peaceful when they turned their eyes away from the silently whirling
mountains. There were trees here and there and green bushes, while
throughout the thick grass were scattered brilliantly colored flowers.
About a mile away was a low hill that hid from them all the country
beyond it, so they realized they could not tell much about the country
until they had crossed the hill. The Red Wagon having been left
behind, it was now necessary to make other arrangements for traveling.
The Lion told Dorothy she could ride upon his back as she had often
done before, and the Woozy said he could easily carry both Trot and the
Patchwork Girl. Betsy still had her mule, Hank, and Button-Bright and
the Wizard could sit together upon the long, thin back of the Sawhorse,
but they took care to soften their seat with a pad of blankets before
they started. Thus mounted, the adventurers started for the hill,
which was reached after a brief journey.
As they mounted the crest and gazed beyond the hill, they discovered
not far away a walled city, from the towers and spires of which gay
banners were flying. It was not a very big city, indeed, but its walls
were very high and thick, and it appeared that the people who lived
there must have feared attack by a powerful enemy, else they would not
have surrounded their dwellings with so strong a barrier. There was no
path leading from the mountains to the city, and this proved that the
people seldom or never visited the whirling hills, but our friends
found the grass soft and agreeable to travel over, and with the city
before them they could not well lose their way. When they drew nearer
to the walls, the breeze carried to their ears the sound of music--dim
at first, but growing louder as they advanced.
"That doesn't seem like a very terr'ble place," remarked Dorothy.
"Well, it LOOKS all right," replied Trot from her seat on the Woozy,
"but looks can't always be trusted."
"MY looks can," said Scraps. "I LOOK patchwork, and I AM patchwork,
and no one but a blind owl could ever doubt that I'm the Patchwork
Girl." Saying which, she turned a somersault off the Woozy and,
alighting on her feet, began wildly dancing about.
"Are owls ever blind?" asked Trot.
"Always, in the daytime," said Button-Bright. "But Scraps can see
with her button eyes both day and night. Isn't it queer?"
"It's queer that buttons can see at all," answered Trot. "But good
gracious! What's become of the city?"
"I was going to ask that myself," said Dorothy. "It's gone!"
"It's gone!"
The animals came to a sudden halt, for the city had really disappeared,
walls and all, and before them lay the clear, unbroken sweep of the
country. "Dear me!" exclaimed the Wizard. "This is rather
disagreeable. It is annoying to travel almost to a place and then find
it is not there."
"Where can it be, then?" asked Dorothy. "It cert'nly was there a
minute ago."
"I can hear the music yet," declared Button-Bright, and when they all
listened, the strains of music could plainly be heard.
"Oh! There's the city over at the left," called Scraps, and turning
their eyes, they saw the walls and towers and fluttering banners far to
the left of them.
"We must have lost our way," suggested Dorothy.
"Nonsense," said the Lion.
"I, and all the other animals, have been tramping straight toward the
city ever since we first saw it."
"Then how does it happen--"
"Never mind," interrupted the Wizard, "we are no farther from it than
we were before. It is in a different direction, that's all, so let us
hurry and get there before it again escapes us."
So on they went directly toward the city, which seemed only a couple of
miles distant. But when they had traveled less than a mile, it
suddenly disappeared again. Once more they paused, somewhat
discouraged, but in a moment the button eyes of Scraps again discovered
the city, only this time it was just behind them in the direction from
which they had come. "Goodness gracious!" cried Dorothy. "There's
surely something wrong with that city. Do you s'pose it's on wheels,
Wizard?"
"It may not be a city at all," he replied, looking toward it with a
speculative glance.
"What COULD it be, then?"
"Just an illusion."
"What's that?" asked Trot.
"Something you think you see and don't see."
"I can't believe that," said Button-Bright. "If we only saw it, we
might be mistaken, but if we can see it and hear it, too, it must be
there."
"Where?" asked the Patchwork Girl.
"Somewhere near us," he insisted.
"We will have to go back, I suppose," said the Woozy with a sigh.
So back they turned and headed for the walled city until it disappeared
again, only to reappear at the right of them. They were constantly
getting nearer to it, however, so they kept their faces turned toward
it as it flitted here and there to all points of the compass.
Presently the Lion, who was leading the procession, halted abruptly and
cried out, "Ouch!"
"What's the matter?" asked Dorothy.
"Ouch--Ouch!" repeated the Lion, and leaped backward so suddenly that
Dorothy nearly tumbled from his back. At the same time Hank the Mule
yelled "Ouch!"
"Ouch! Ouch!" repeated the Lion and leaped backward so suddenly that
Dorothy nearly tumbled from his back. At the same time, Hank the Mule
yelled "Ouch!" almost as loudly as the Lion had done, and he also
pranced backward a few paces.
"It's the thistles," said Betsy. "They prick their legs."
Hearing this, all looked down, and sure enough the ground was thick
with thistles, which covered the plain from the point where they stood
way up to the walls of the mysterious city. No pathways through them
could be seen at all; here the soft grass ended and the growth of
thistles began. "They're the prickliest thistles I ever felt,"
grumbled the Lion. "My legs smart yet from their stings, though I
jumped out of them as quickly as I could."
"Here is a new difficulty," remarked the Wizard in a grieved tone. "The
city has stopped hopping around, it is true, but how are we to get to
it over this mass of prickers?"
"They can't hurt ME," said the thick-skinned Woozy, advancing
fearlessly and trampling among the thistles.
"Nor me," said the Wooden Sawhorse.
"But the Lion and the Mule cannot stand the prickers," asserted
Dorothy, "and we can't leave them behind."
"Must we all go back?" asked Trot.
"Course not!" replied Button-Bright scornfully. "Always when there's
trouble, there's a way out of it if you can find it."
"I wish the Scarecrow was here," said Scraps, standing on her head on
the Woozy's square back. "His splendid brains would soon show us how
to conquer this field of thistles."
"What's the matter with YOUR brains?" asked the boy.
"Nothing," she said, making a flip-flop into the thistles and dancing
among them without feeling their sharp points. "I could tell you in
half a minute how to get over the thistles if I wanted to."
"Tell us, Scraps!" begged Dorothy.
"I don't want to wear my brains out with overwork," replied the
Patchwork Girl.
"Don't you love Ozma? And don't you want to find her?" asked Betsy
reproachfully.
"Yes indeed," said Scraps, walking on her hands as an acrobat does at
the circus.
"Well, we can't find Ozma unless we get past these thistles," declared
Dorothy.
Scraps danced around them two or three times without reply. Then she
said, "Don't look at me, you stupid folks. Look at those blankets."
The Wizard's face brightened at once.
"Why didn't we think of those blankets before?"
"Because you haven't magic brains," laughed Scraps. "Such brains as
you have are of the common sort that grow in your heads, like weeds in
a garden. I'm sorry for you people who have to be born in order to be
alive."
But the Wizard was not listening to her. He quickly removed the
blankets from the back of the Sawhorse and spread one of them upon the
thistles, just next the grass. The thick cloth rendered the prickers
harmless, so the Wizard walked over this first blanket and spread the
second one farther on, in the direction of the phantom city. "These
blankets," said he, "are for the Lion and the Mule to walk upon. The
Sawhorse and the Woozy can walk on the thistles."
So the Lion and the Mule walked over the first blanket and stood upon
the second one until the Wizard had picked up the one they had passed
over and spread it in front of them, when they advanced to that one and
waited while the one behind them was again spread in front. "This is
slow work," said the Wizard, "but it will get us to the city after a
while."
"The city is a good half mile away yet," announced Button-Bright.
"And this is awful hard work for the Wizard," added Trot.
"Why couldn't the Lion ride on the Woozy's back?" asked Dorothy. "It's
a big, flat back, and the Woozy's mighty strong. Perhaps the Lion
wouldn't fall off."
"You may try it if you like," said the Woozy to the Lion. "I can take
you to the city in a jiffy and then come back for Hank."
"I'm--I'm afraid," said the Cowardly Lion. He was twice as big as the
Woozy.
"Try it," pleaded Dorothy.
"And take a tumble among the thistles?" asked the Lion reproachfully.
But when the Woozy came close to him, the big beast suddenly bounded
upon its back and managed to balance himself there, although forced to
hold his four legs so close together that he was in danger of toppling
over. The great weight of the monster Lion did not seem to affect the
Woozy, who called to his rider, "Hold on tight!" and ran swiftly over
the thistles toward the city.
The others stood on the blanket and watched the strange sight
anxiously. Of course, the Lion couldn't "hold on tight" because there
was nothing to hold to, and he swayed from side to side as if likely to
fall off any moment. Still, he managed to stick to the Woozy's back
until they were close to the walls of the city, when he leaped to the
ground. Next moment the Woozy came dashing back at full speed.
"There's a little strip of ground next the wall where there are no
thistles," he told them when he had reached the adventurers once more.
"Now then, friend Hank, see if you can ride as well as the Lion did."
"Take the others first," proposed the Mule. So the Sawhorse and the
Woozy made a couple of trips over the thistles to the city walls and
carried all the people in safety, Dorothy holding little Toto in her
arms. The travelers then sat in a group on a little hillock just
outside the wall and looked at the great blocks of gray stone and
waited for the Woozy to bring Hank to them. The Mule was very awkward,
and his legs trembled so badly that more than once they thought he
would tumble off, but finally he reached them in safety, and the entire
party was now reunited. More than that, they had reached the city that
had eluded them for so long and in so strange a manner.
"The gates must be around the other side," said the Wizard. "Let us
follow the curve of the wall until we reach an opening in it."
"Which way?" asked Dorothy.
"We must guess that," he replied. "Suppose we go to the left. One
direction is as good as another." They formed in marching order and
went around the city wall to the left. It wasn't a big city, as I have
said, but to go way around it outside the high wall was quite a walk,
as they became aware. But around it our adventurers went without
finding any sign of a gateway or other opening. When they had returned
to the little mound from which they had started, they dismounted from
the animals and again seated themselves on the grassy mound.
"It's mighty queer, isn't it?" asked Button-Bright.
"There must be SOME way for the people to get out and in," declared
Dorothy. "Do you s'pose they have flying machines, Wizard?"
"No," he replied, "for in that case they would be flying all over the
Land of Oz, and we know they have not done that. Flying machines are
unknown here. I think it more likely that the people use ladders to
get over the walls."
"It would be an awful climb over that high stone wall," said Betsy.
"Stone, is it?" Scraps, who was again dancing wildly around, for she
never tired and could never keep still for long.
"Course it's stone," answered Betsy scornfully. "Can't you see?"
"Yes," said Scraps, going closer. "I can SEE the wall, but I can't
FEEL it." And then, with her arms outstretched, she did a very queer
thing. She walked right into the wall and disappeared.
"For goodness sake!" Dorothy, amazed, as indeed they all were.
CHAPTER 9
THE HIGH COCO-LORUM OF THI
And now the Patchwork Girl came dancing out of the wall again.
"Come on!" she called. "It isn't there. There isn't any wall at all."
"What? No wall?" exclaimed the Wizard.
"Nothing like it," said Scraps. "It's a make-believe. You see it, but
it isn't. Come on into the city; we've been wasting our time."
With this, she danced into the wall again and once more disappeared.
Button-Bright, who was rather venture-some, dashed away after her and
also became invisible to them. The others followed more cautiously,
stretching out their hands to feel the wall and finding, to their
astonishment, that they could feel nothing because nothing opposed
them. They walked on a few steps and found themselves in the streets
of a very beautiful city. Behind them they again saw the wall, grim
and forbidding as ever, but now they knew it was merely an illusion
prepared to keep strangers from entering the city.
But the wall was soon forgotten, for in front of them were a number of
quaint people who stared at them in amazement as if wondering where
they had come from. Our friends forgot their good manners for a time
and returned the stares with interest, for so remarkable a people had
never before been discovered in all the remarkable Land of Oz.
Their heads were shaped like diamonds, and their bodies like hearts.
All the hair they had was a little bunch at the tip top of their
diamond-shaped heads, and their eyes were very large and round, and
their noses and mouths very small. Their clothing was tight fitting
and of brilliant colors, being handsomely embroidered in quaint designs
with gold or silver threads; but on their feet they wore sandals with
no stockings whatever. The expression of their faces was pleasant
enough, although they now showed surprise at the appearance of
strangers so unlike themselves, and our friends thought they seemed
quite harmless.
"I beg your pardon," said the Wizard, speaking for his party, "for
intruding upon you uninvited, but we are traveling on important
business and find it necessary to visit your city. Will you kindly
tell us by what name your city is called?"
They looked at one another uncertainly, each expecting some other to
answer. Finally, a short one whose heart-shaped body was very broad
replied, "We have no occasion to call our city anything. It is where
we live, that is all."
"But by what name do others call your city?" asked the Wizard.
"We know of no others except yourselves," said the man. And then he
inquired, "Were you born with those queer forms you have, or has some
cruel magician transformed you to them from your natural shapes?"
"These are our natural shapes," declared the Wizard, "and we consider
them very good shapes, too."
The group of inhabitants was constantly being enlarged by others who
joined it. All were evidently startled and uneasy at the arrival of
strangers.
"Have you a King?" asked Dorothy, who knew it was better to speak with
someone in authority.
But the man shook his diamond-like head. "What is a King?" he asked.
"Isn't there anyone who rules over you?" inquired the Wizard.
"No," was the reply, "each of us rules himself, or at least tries to do
so. It is not an easy thing to do, as you probably know."
The Wizard reflected.
"If you have disputes among you," said he after a little thought, "who
settles them?"
"The High Coco-Lorum," they answered in a chorus.
"And who is he?"
"The judge who enforces the laws," said the man who had first spoken.
"Then he is the principal person here?" continued the Wizard.
"Well, I would not say that," returned the man in a puzzled way. "The
High Coco-Lorum is a public servant. However, he represents the laws,
which we must all obey."
"I think," said the Wizard, "we ought to see your High Coco-Lorum and
talk with him. Our mission here requires us to consult one high in
authority, and the High Coco-Lorum ought to be high, whatever else he
is."
The inhabitants seemed to consider this proposition reasonable, for
they nodded their diamond-shaped heads in approval. So the broad one
who had been their spokesman said, "Follow me," and turning led the way
along one of the streets. The entire party followed him, the natives
falling in behind. The dwellings they passed were quite nicely planned
and seemed comfortable and convenient. After leading them a few
blocks, their conductor stopped before a house which was neither better
nor worse than the others. The doorway was shaped to admit the
strangely formed bodies of these people, being narrow at the top, broad
in the middle and tapering at the bottom. The windows were made in
much the same way, giving the house a most peculiar appearance. When
their guide opened the gate, a music box concealed in the gatepost
began to play, and the sound attracted the attention of the High
Coco-Lorum, who appeared at an open window and inquired, "What has
happened now?"
But in the same moment his eyes fell upon the strangers and he hastened
to open the door and admit them--all but the animals, which were left
outside with the throng of natives that had now gathered. For a small
city there seemed to be a large number of inhabitants, but they did not
try to enter the house and contented themselves with staring curiously
at the strange animals. Toto followed Dorothy.
Our friends entered a large room at the front of the house, where the
High Coco-Lorum asked them to be seated. "I hope your mission here is
a peaceful one," he said, looking a little worried, "for the Thists are
not very good fighters and object to being conquered."
"Are your people called Thists?" asked Dorothy.
"Yes. I thought you knew that. And we call our city Thi."
"Oh!"
"We are Thists because we eat thistles, you know," continued the High
Coco-Lorum.
"Do you really eat those prickly things?" inquired Button-Bright
wonderingly.
"Why not?" replied the other. "The sharp points of the thistles cannot
hurt us, because all our insides are gold-lined."
"Gold-lined!"
"To be sure. Our throats and stomachs are lined with solid gold, and
we find the thistles nourishing and good to eat. As a matter of fact,
there is nothing else in our country that is fit for food. All around
the City of Thi grow countless thistles, and all we need do is to go
and gather them. If we wanted anything else to eat, we would have to
plant it, and grow it, and harvest it, and that would be a lot of
trouble and make us work, which is an occupation we detest."
"But tell me, please," said the Wizard, "how does it happen that your
city jumps around so, from one part of the country to another?"
"The city doesn't jump. It doesn't move at all," declared the High
Coco-Lorum. "However, I will admit that the land that surrounds it has
a trick of turning this way or that, and so if one is standing upon the
plain and facing north, he is likely to find himself suddenly facing
west or east or south. But once you reach the thistle fields, you are
on solid ground."
"Ah, I begin to understand," said the Wizard, nodding his head. "But I
have another question to ask: How does it happen that the Thists have
no King to rule over them?"
"Hush!" whispered the High Coco-Lorum, looking uneasily around to make
sure they were not overheard. "In reality, I am the King, but the
people don't know it. They think they rule themselves, but the fact is
I have everything my own way. No one else knows anything about our
laws, and so I make the laws to suit myself. If any oppose me or
question my acts, I tell them it's the law and that settles it. If I
called myself King, however, and wore a crown and lived in royal style,
the people would not like me and might do me harm. As the High
Coco-Lorum of Thi, I am considered a very agreeable person."
"It seems a very clever arrangement," said the Wizard. "And now, as
you are the principal person in Thi, I beg you to tell us if the Royal
Ozma is a captive in your city."
"No," answered the diamond-headed man. "We have no captives. No
strangers but yourselves are here, and we have never before heard of
the Royal Ozma."
"She rules over all of Oz," said Dorothy, "and so she rules your city
and you, because you are in the Winkie Country, which is a part of the
Land of Oz."
"It may be," returned the High Coco-Lorum, "for we do not study
geography and have never inquired whether we live in the Land of Oz or
not. And any Ruler who rules us from a distance and unknown to us is
welcome to the job. But what has happened to your Royal Ozma?"
"Someone has stolen her," said the Wizard. "Do you happen to have any
talented magician among your people, one who is especially clever, you
know?"
"No, none especially clever. We do some magic, of course, but it is
all of the ordinary kind. I do not think any of us has yet aspired to
stealing Rulers, either by magic or otherwise."
"Then we've come a long way for nothing!" exclaimed Trot regretfully.
"But we are going farther than this," asserted the Patchwork Girl,
bending her stuffed body backward until her yarn hair touched the floor
and then walking around on her hands with her feet in the air.
The High Coco-Lorum watched Scraps admiringly.
"You may go farther on, of course," said he, "but I advise you not to.
The Herkus live back of us, beyond the thistles and the twisting lands,
and they are not very nice people to meet, I assure you."
"Are they giants?" asked Betsy.
"They are worse than that," was the reply. "They have giants for their
slaves and they are so much stronger than giants that the poor slaves
dare not rebel for fear of being torn to pieces."
"How do you know?" asked Scraps.
"Everyone says so," answered the High Coco-Lorum.
"Have you seen the Herkus yourself?" inquired Dorothy.
"No, but what everyone says must be true, otherwise what would be the
use of their saying it?"
"We were told before we got here that you people hitch dragons to your
chariots," said the little girl.
"So we do," declared the High Coco-Lorum. "And that reminds me that I
ought to entertain you as strangers and my guests by taking you for a
ride around our splendid City of Thi." He touched a button, and a band
began to play. At least, they heard the music of a band, but couldn't
tell where it came from. "That tune is the order to my charioteer to
bring around my dragon-chariot," said the High Coco-Lorum. "Every time
I give an order, it is in music, which is a much more pleasant way to
address servants than in cold, stern words."
"Does this dragon of yours bite?" asked Button-Bright.
"Mercy no! Do you think I'd risk the safety of my innocent people by
using a biting dragon to draw my chariot? I'm proud to say that my
dragon is harmless, unless his steering gear breaks, and he was
manufactured at the famous dragon factory in this City of Thi. Here he
comes, and you may examine him for yourselves."
They heard a low rumble and a shrill squeaking sound, and going out to
the front of the house, they saw coming around the corner a car drawn
by a gorgeous jeweled dragon, which moved its head to right and left
and flashed its eyes like headlights of an automobile and uttered a
growling noise as it slowly moved toward them. When it stopped before
the High Coco-Lorum's house, Toto barked sharply at the sprawling
beast, but even tiny Trot could see that the dragon was not alive. Its
scales were of gold, and each one was set with sparkling jewels, while
it walked in such a stiff, regular manner that it could be nothing else
than a machine. The chariot that trailed behind it was likewise of
gold and jewels, and when they entered it, they found there were no
seats. Everyone was supposed to stand up while riding. The charioteer
was a little, diamond-headed fellow who straddled the neck of the
dragon and moved the levers that made it go.
"This," said the High Coco-Lorum pompously, "is a wonderful invention.
We are all very proud of our auto-dragons, many of which are in use by
our wealthy inhabitants. Start the thing going, charioteer!"
The charioteer did not move.
"You forgot to order him in music," suggested Dorothy.
"Ah, so I did."
He touched a button and a music box in the dragon's head began to play
a tune. At once the little charioteer pulled over a lever, and the
dragon began to move, very slowly and groaning dismally as it drew the
clumsy chariot after it. Toto trotted between the wheels. The
Sawhorse, the Mule, the Lion and the Woozy followed after and had no
trouble in keeping up with the machine. Indeed, they had to go slow to
keep from running into it. When the wheels turned, another music box
concealed somewhere under the chariot played a lively march tune which
was in striking contrast with the dragging movement of the strange
vehicle, and Button-Bright decided that the music he had heard when
they first sighted this city was nothing else than a chariot plodding
its weary way through the streets.
All the travelers from the Emerald City thought this ride the most
uninteresting and dreary they had ever experienced, but the High
Coco-Lorum seemed to think it was grand. He pointed out the different
buildings and parks and fountains in much the same way that the
conductor does on an American "sightseeing wagon" does, and being
guests they were obliged to submit to the ordeal. But they became a
little worried when their host told them he had ordered a banquet
prepared for them in the City Hall.
"What are we going to eat?" asked Button-Bright suspiciously.
"Thistles," was the reply. "Fine, fresh thistles, gathered this very
day."
Scraps laughed, for she never ate anything, but Dorothy said in a
protesting voice, "OUR insides are not lined with gold, you know."
"How sad!" exclaimed the High Coco-Lorum, and then he added as an
afterthought, "but we can have the thistles boiled, if you prefer."
"I'm 'fraid they wouldn't taste good even then," said little Trot.
"Haven't you anything else to eat?"
The High Coco-Lorum shook his diamond-shaped head.
"Nothing that I know of," said he. "But why should we have anything
else when we have so many thistles? However, if you can't eat what we
eat, don't eat anything. We shall not be offended, and the banquet
will be just as merry and delightful."
Knowing his companions were all hungry, the Wizard said, "I trust you
will excuse us from the banquet, sir, which will be merry enough
without us, although it is given in our honor. For, as Ozma is not in
your city, we must leave here at once and seek her elsewhere."
"Sure we must!" Dorothy, and she whispered to Betsy and Trot, "I'd
rather starve somewhere else than in this city, and who knows, we may
run across somebody who eats reg'lar food and will give us some."
So when the ride was finished, in spite of the protests of the High
Coco-Lorum, they insisted on continuing their journey. "It will soon
be dark," he objected.
"We don't mind the darkness," replied the Wizard.
"Some wandering Herku may get you."
"Do you think the Herkus would hurt us?" asked Dorothy.
"I cannot say, not having had the honor of their acquaintance. But
they are said to be so strong that if they had any other place to stand
upon they could lift the world."
"All of them together?" asked Button-Bright wonderingly.
"Any one of them could do it," said the High Coco-Lorum.
"Have you heard of any magicians being among them?" asked the Wizard,
knowing that only a magician could have stolen Ozma in the way she had
been stolen.
"I am told it is quite a magical country," declared the High
Coco-Lorum, "and magic is usually performed by magicians. But I have
never heard that they have any invention or sorcery to equal our
wonderful auto-dragons."
They thanked him for his courtesy, and mounting their own animals rode
to the farther side of the city and right through the Wall of Illusion
out into the open country. "I'm glad we got away so easily," said
Betsy. "I didn't like those queer-shaped people."
"Nor did I," agreed Dorothy. "It seems dreadful to be lined with sheets
of pure gold and have nothing to eat but thistles."
"They seemed happy and contented, though," remarked the Wizard, "and
those who are contented have nothing to regret and nothing more to wish
for."
CHAPTER 10
TOTO LOSES SOMETHING
For a while the travelers were constantly losing their direction, for
beyond the thistle fields they again found themselves upon the
turning-lands, which swung them around one way and then another. But
by keeping the City of Thi constantly behind them, the adventurers
finally passed the treacherous turning-lands and came upon a stony
country where no grass grew at all. There were plenty of bushes,
however, and although it was now almost dark, the girls discovered some
delicious yellow berries growing upon the bushes, one taste of which
set them all to picking as many as they could find. The berries
relieved their pangs of hunger for a time, and as it now became too
dark to see anything, they camped where they were.
The three girls lay down upon one of the blankets--all in a row--and
the Wizard covered them with the other blanket and tucked them in.
Button-Bright crawled under the shelter of some bushes and was asleep
in half a minute. The Wizard sat down with his back to a big stone and
looked at the stars in the sky and thought gravely upon the dangerous
adventure they had undertaken, wondering if they would ever be able to
find their beloved Ozma again. The animals lay in a group by
themselves, a little distance from the others.
"I've lost my growl!" said Toto, who had been very silent and sober all
that day. "What do you suppose has become of it?"
"If you had asked me to keep track of your growl, I might be able to
tell you," remarked the Lion sleepily. "But frankly, Toto, I supposed
you were taking care of it yourself."
"It's an awful thing to lose one's growl," said Toto, wagging his tail
disconsolately. "What if you lost your roar, Lion? Wouldn't you feel
terrible?"
"My roar," replied the Lion, "is the fiercest thing about me. I depend
on it to frighten my enemies so badly that they won't dare to fight me."
"Once," said the Mule, "I lost my bray so that I couldn't call to Betsy
to let her know I was hungry. That was before I could talk, you know,
for I had not yet come into the Land of Oz, and I found it was
certainly very uncomfortable not to be able to make a noise."
"You make enough noise now," declared Toto. "But none of you have
answered my question: Where is my growl?"
"You may search ME," said the Woozy. "I don't care for such things,
myself."
"You snore terribly," asserted Toto.
"It may be," said the Woozy. "What one does when asleep one is not
accountable for. I wish you would wake me up sometime when I'm snoring
and let me hear the sound. Then I can judge whether it is terrible or
delightful."
"It isn't pleasant, I assure you," said the Lion, yawning.
"To me it seems wholly unnecessary," declared Hank the Mule.
"You ought to break yourself of the habit," said the Sawhorse. "You
never hear me snore, because I never sleep. I don't even whinny as
those puffy meat horses do. I wish that whoever stole Toto's growl had
taken the Mule's bray and the Lion's roar and the Woozy's snore at the
same time."
"Do you think, then, that my growl was stolen?"
"You have never lost it before, have you?" inquired inquired the
Sawhorse.
"Only once, when I had a sore throat from barking too long at the moon."
"Is your throat sore now?" asked the Woozy.
"No," replied the dog.
"I can't understand," said Hank, "why dogs bark at the moon. They
can't scare the moon, and the moon doesn't pay any attention to the
bark. So why do dogs do it?"
"Were you ever a dog?" asked Toto.
"No indeed," replied Hank. "I am thankful to say I was created a
mule--the most beautiful of all beasts--and have always remained one."
The Woozy sat upon his square haunches to examine Hank with care.
"Beauty," he said, "must be a matter of taste. I don't say your
judgment is bad, friend Hank, or that you are so vulgar as to be
conceited. But if you admire big, waggy ears and a tail like a
paintbrush and hoofs big enough for an elephant and a long neck and a
body so skinny that one can count the ribs with one eye shut--if that's
your idea of beauty, Hank, then either you or I must be much mistaken."
"You're full of edges," sneered the Mule. "If I were square as you are,
I suppose you'd think me lovely."
"Outwardly, dear Hank, I would," replied the Woozy. "But to be really
lovely, one must be beautiful without and within."
The Mule couldn't deny this statement, so he gave a disgusted grunt and
rolled over so that his back was toward the Woozy. But the Lion,
regarding the two calmly with his great, yellow eyes, said to the dog,
"My dear Toto, our friends have taught us a lesson in humility. If the
Woozy and the Mule are indeed beautiful creatures as they seem to
think, you and I must be decidedly ugly."
"Not to ourselves," protested Toto, who was a shrewd little dog. "You
and I, Lion, are fine specimens of our own races. I am a fine dog, and
you are a fine lion. Only in point of comparison, one with another,
can we be properly judged, so I will leave it to the poor old Sawhorse
to decide which is the most beautiful animal among us all. The Sawhorse
is wood, so he won't be prejudiced and will speak the truth." |
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