he performed a magical rite that was simple and effective. Therefore
those seated in the Nome King's cavern were both startled and amazed
when all the people of Oogaboo suddenly disappeared from the room, and
with them the Rose Princess. At first they could not understand it at
all; but presently Shaggy suspected the truth, and believing that Ozma
was now taking an interest in the party he drew from his pocket a tiny
instrument which he placed against his ear.
Ozma, observing this action in her Magic Picture, at once caught up a
similar instrument from a table beside her and held it to her own ear.
The two instruments recorded the same delicate vibrations of sound and
formed a wireless telephone, an invention of the Wizard. Those
separated by any distance were thus enabled to converse together with
perfect ease and without any wire connection.
"Do you hear me, Shaggy Man?" asked Ozma.
"Yes, Your Highness," he replied.
"I have sent the people of Oogaboo back to their own little valley,"
announced the Ruler of Oz; "so do not worry over their disappearance."
"That was very kind of you," said Shaggy. "But Your Highness must
permit me to report that my own mission here is now ended. I have found
my lost brother, and he is now beside me, freed from the enchantment of
ugliness which Ruggedo cast upon him. Tik-Tok has served me and my
comrades faithfully, as you requested him to do, and I hope you will
now transport the Clockwork Man back to your fairyland of Oz."
"I will do that," replied Ozma. "But how about yourself, Shaggy?"
"I have been very happy in Oz," he said, "but my duty to others forces
me to exile myself from that delightful land. I must take care of my
new-found brother, for one thing, and I have a new comrade in a dear
little girl named Betsy Bobbin, who has no home to go to, and no other
friends but me and a small donkey named Hank. I have promised Betsy
never to desert her as long as she needs a friend, and so I must give
up the delights of the Land of Oz forever."
He said this with a sigh of regret, and Ozma made no reply but laid the
tiny instrument on her table, thus cutting off all further
communication with the Shaggy Man. But the lovely Ruler of Oz still
watched her magic picture, with a thoughtful expression upon her face,
and the little Wizard of Oz watched Ozma and smiled softly to himself.
In the cavern of the Nome King Shaggy replaced the wireless telephone
in his pocket and turning to Betsy said in as cheerful a voice as he
could muster:
"Well, little comrade, what shall we do next?"
"I don't know, I'm sure," she answered with a puzzled face. "I'm kind
of sorry our adventures are over, for I enjoyed them, and now that
Queen Ann and her people are gone, and Polychrome is gone, and--dear
me!--where's Tik-Tok, Shaggy?"
"He also has disappeared," said Shaggy, looking around the cavern and
nodding wisely. "By this time he is in Ozma's palace in the Land of Oz,
which is his home."
"Isn't it your home, too?" asked Betsy.
"It used to be, my dear; but now my home is wherever you and my brother
are. We are wanderers, you know, but if we stick together I am sure we
shall have a good time."
"Then," said the girl, "let us get out of this stuffy, underground
cavern and go in search of new adventures. I'm sure it has stopped
raining."
"I'm ready," said Shaggy, and then they bade good-bye to King Kaliko,
and thanked him for his assistance, and went out to the mouth of the
passage.
The sky was now clear and a brilliant blue in color; the sun shone
brightly and even this rugged, rocky country seemed delightful after
their confinement underground. There were but four of them now--Betsy
and Hank, and Shaggy and his brother--and the little party made their
way down the mountain and followed a faint path that led toward the
southwest.
During this time Ozma had been holding a conference with the Wizard,
and later with Tik-Tok, whom the magic of the Wizard had quickly
transported to Ozma's palace. Tik-Tok had only words of praise for
Betsy Bobbin, "who," he said, "is al-most as nice as Dor-o-thy
her-self."
"Let us send for Dorothy," said Ozma, and summoning her favorite maid,
who was named Jellia Jamb, she asked her to request Princess Dorothy to
attend her at once. So a few moments later Dorothy entered Ozma's room
and greeted her and the Wizard and Tik-Tok with the same gentle smile
and simple manner that had won for the little girl the love of everyone
she met.
"Did you want to see me, Ozma?" she asked.
"Yes, dear. I am puzzled how to act, and I want your advice."
"I don't b'lieve it's worth much," replied Dorothy, "but I'll do the
best I can. What is it all about, Ozma?"
"You all know," said the girl Ruler, addressing her three friends,
"what a serious thing it is to admit any mortals into this fairyland of
Oz. It is true I have invited several mortals to make their home here,
and all of them have proved true and loyal subjects. Indeed, no one of
you three was a native of Oz. Dorothy and the Wizard came here from the
United States, and Tik-Tok came from the Land of Ev. But of course he
is not a mortal. Shaggy is another American, and he is the cause of all
my worry, for our dear Shaggy will not return here and desert the new
friends he has found in his recent adventures, because he believes they
need his services."
"Shaggy Man was always kind-hearted," remarked Dorothy. "But who are
these new friends he has found?"
"One is his brother, who for many years has been a prisoner of the Nome
King, our old enemy Ruggedo. This brother seems a kindly, honest
fellow, but he has done nothing to entitle him to a home in the Land of
Oz."
"Who else?" asked Dorothy.
"I have told you about Betsy Bobbin, the little girl who was
shipwrecked--in much the same way you once were--and has since been
following the Shaggy Man in his search for his lost brother. You
remember her, do you not?"
"Oh, yes!" exclaimed Dorothy. "I've often watched her and Hank in the
Magic Picture, you know. She's a dear little girl, and old Hank is a
darling! Where are they now?"
"Look and see," replied Ozma with a smile at her friend's enthusiasm.
Dorothy turned to the Picture, which showed Betsy and Hank, with Shaggy
and his brother, trudging along the rocky paths of a barren country.
"Seems to me," she said, musingly, "that they're a good way from any
place to sleep, or any nice things to eat."
"You are right," said Tik-Tok. "I have been in that coun-try, and it is
a wil-der-ness."
"It is the country of the nomes," explained the Wizard, "who are so
mischievous that no one cares to live near them. I'm afraid Shaggy and
his friends will endure many hardships before they get out of that
rocky place, unless--"
He turned to Ozma and smiled.
"Unless I ask you to transport them all here?" she asked.
"Yes, your Highness."
"Could your magic do that?" inquired Dorothy.
"I think so," said the Wizard.
"Well," said Dorothy, "as far as Betsy and Hank are concerned, I'd like
to have them here in Oz. It would be such fun to have a girl playmate
of my own age, you see. And Hank is such a dear little mule!"
Ozma laughed at the wistful expression in the girl's eyes, and then she
drew Dorothy to her and kissed her.
"Am I not your friend and playmate?" she asked.
Dorothy flushed.
"You know how dearly I love you, Ozma!" she cried. "But you're so busy
ruling all this Land of Oz that we can't always be together."
"I know, dear. My first duty is to my subjects, and I think it would be
a delight to us all to have Betsy with us. There's a pretty suite of
rooms just opposite your own where she can live, and I'll build a
golden stall for Hank in the stable where the Sawhorse lives. Then
we'll introduce the mule to the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger, and
I'm sure they will soon become firm friends. But I cannot very well
admit Betsy and Hank into Oz unless I also admit Shaggy's brother."
"And, unless you admit Shaggy's brother, you will keep out poor Shaggy,
whom we are all very fond of," said the Wizard.
"Well, why not ad-mit him?" demanded Tik-Tok.
"The Land of Oz is not a refuge for all mortals in distress," explained
Ozma. "I do not wish to be unkind to Shaggy Man, but his brother has no
claim on me."
"The Land of Oz isn't crowded," suggested Dorothy.
"Then you advise me to admit Shaggy's brother?" inquired Ozma.
"Well, we can't afford to lose our Shaggy Man, can we?"
"No, indeed!" returned Ozma. "What do you say, Wizard?"
"I'm getting my magic ready to transport them all."
"And you, Tik-Tok?"
"Shag-gy's broth-er is a good fel-low, and we can't spare Shag-gy."
"So, then; the question is settled," decided Ozma. "Perform your magic,
Wizard!"
He did so, placing a silver plate upon a small standard and pouring
upon the plate a small quantity of pink powder which was contained in a
crystal vial. Then he muttered a rather difficult incantation which the
sorceress Glinda the Good had taught him, and it all ended in a puff of
perfumed smoke from the silver plate. This smoke was so pungent that it
made both Ozma and Dorothy rub their eyes for a moment.
"You must pardon these disagreeable fumes," said the Wizard. "I assure
you the smoke is a very necessary part of my wizardry."
"Look!" cried Dorothy, pointing to the Magic Picture; "they're gone!
All of them are gone."
Indeed, the picture now showed the same rocky landscape as before, but
the three people and the mule had disappeared from it.
"They are gone," said the Wizard, polishing the silver plate and
wrapping it in a fine cloth, "because they are here."
At that moment Jellia Jamb entered the room.
"Your Highness," she said to Ozma, "the Shaggy Man and another man are
in the waiting room and ask to pay their respects to you. Shaggy is
crying like a baby, but he says they are tears of joy."
"Send them here at once, Jellia!" commanded Ozma.
"Also," continued the maid, "a girl and a small-sized mule have
mysteriously arrived, but they don't seem to know where they are or how
they came here. Shall I send them here, too?"
"Oh, no!" exclaimed Dorothy, eagerly jumping up from her chair; "I'll
go to meet Betsy myself, for she'll feel awful strange in this big
palace."
And she ran down the stairs two at a time to greet her new friend,
Betsy Bobbin.
Chapter Twenty-Five
The Land of Love
"Well, is 'hee-haw' all you are able to say?" inquired the Sawhorse, as
he examined Hank with his knot eyes and slowly wagged the branch that
served him for a tail.
They were in a beautiful stable in the rear of Ozma's palace, where the
wooden Sawhorse--very much alive--lived in a gold-paneled stall, and
where there were rooms for the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger,
which were filled with soft cushions for them to lie upon and golden
troughs for them to eat from.
Beside the stall of the Sawhorse had been placed another for Hank, the
mule. This was not quite so beautiful as the other, for the Sawhorse
was Ozma's favorite steed; but Hank had a supply of cushions for a bed
(which the Sawhorse did not need because he never slept) and all this
luxury was so strange to the little mule that he could only stand still
and regard his surroundings and his queer companions with wonder and
amazement.
The Cowardly Lion, looking very dignified, was stretched out upon the
marble floor of the stable, eyeing Hank with a calm and critical gaze,
while near by crouched the huge Hungry Tiger, who seemed equally
interested in the new animal that had just arrived. The Sawhorse,
standing stiffly before Hank, repeated his question:
"Is 'hee-haw' all you are able to say?"
Hank moved his ears in an embarrassed manner.
"I have never said anything else, until now," he replied; and then he
began to tremble with fright to hear himself talk.
"I can well understand that," remarked the Lion, wagging his great head
with a swaying motion. "Strange things happen in this Land of Oz, as
they do everywhere else. I believe you came here from the cold,
civilized, outside world, did you not?"
"I did," replied Hank. "One minute I was outside of Oz--and the next
minute I was inside! That was enough to give me a nervous shock, as you
may guess; but to find myself able to talk, as Betsy does, is a marvel
that staggers me."
"That is because you are in the Land of Oz," said the Sawhorse. "All
animals talk, in this favored country, and you must admit it is more
sociable than to bray your dreadful 'hee-haw,' which nobody can
understand."
"Mules understand it very well," declared Hank.
"Oh, indeed! Then there must be other mules in your outside world,"
said the Tiger, yawning sleepily.
"There are a great many in America," said Hank. "Are you the only Tiger
in Oz?"
"No," acknowledged the Tiger, "I have many relatives living in the
Jungle Country; but I am the only Tiger living in the Emerald City."
"There are other Lions, too," said the Sawhorse; "but I am the only
horse, of any description, in this favored Land."
"That is why this Land is favored," said the Tiger. "You must
understand, friend Hank, that the Sawhorse puts on airs because he is
shod with plates of gold, and because our beloved Ruler, Ozma of Oz,
likes to ride upon his back."
"Betsy rides upon _my_ back," declared Hank proudly.
"Who is Betsy?"
"The dearest, sweetest girl in all the world!"
The Sawhorse gave an angry snort and stamped his golden feet. The Tiger
crouched and growled. Slowly the great Lion rose to his feet, his mane
bristling.
"Friend Hank," said he, "either you are mistaken in judgment or you are
willfully trying to deceive us. The dearest, sweetest girl in the world
is our Dorothy, and I will fight anyone--animal or human--who dares to
deny it!"
"So will I!" snarled the Tiger, showing two rows of enormous white
teeth.
"You are all wrong!" asserted the Sawhorse in a voice of scorn. "No
girl living can compare with my mistress, Ozma of Oz!"
Hank slowly turned around until his heels were toward the others. Then
he said stubbornly:
"I am not mistaken in my statement, nor will I admit there can be a
sweeter girl alive than Betsy Bobbin. If you want to fight, come
on--I'm ready for you!"
While they hesitated, eyeing Hank's heels doubtfully, a merry peal of
laughter startled the animals and turning their heads they beheld three
lovely girls standing just within the richly carved entrance to the
stable. In the center was Ozma, her arms encircling the waists of
Dorothy and Betsy, who stood on either side of her. Ozma was nearly
half a head taller than the two other girls, who were almost of one
size. Unobserved, they had listened to the talk of the animals, which
was a very strange experience indeed to little Betsy Bobbin.
"You foolish beasts!" exclaimed the Ruler of Oz, in a gentle but
chiding tone of voice. "Why should you fight to defend us, who are
all three loving friends and in no sense rivals? Answer me!" she
continued, as they bowed their heads sheepishly.
"I have the right to express my opinion, your Highness," pleaded the
Lion.
"And so have the others," replied Ozma. "I am glad you and the Hungry
Tiger love Dorothy best, for she was your first friend and companion.
Also I am pleased that my Sawhorse loves me best, for together we have
endured both joy and sorrow. Hank has proved his faith and loyalty by
defending his own little mistress; and so you are all right in one way,
but wrong in another. Our Land of Oz is a Land of Love, and here
friendship outranks every other quality. Unless you can all be friends,
you cannot retain our love."
They accepted this rebuke very meekly.
"All right," said the Sawhorse, quite cheerfully; "shake hoofs, friend
Mule."
Hank touched his hoof to that of the wooden horse.
"Let us be friends and rub noses," said the Tiger. So Hank modestly
rubbed noses with the big beast.
The Lion merely nodded and said, as he crouched before the mule:
"Any friend of a friend of our beloved Ruler is a friend of the
Cowardly Lion. That seems to cover your case. If ever you need help or
advice, friend Hank, call on me."
"Why, this is as it should be," said Ozma, highly pleased to see them
so fully reconciled. Then she turned to her companions: "Come, my
dears, let us resume our walk."
As they turned away Betsy said wonderingly:
"Do all the animals in Oz talk as we do?"
"Almost all," answered Dorothy. "There's a Yellow Hen here, and she can
talk, and so can her chickens; and there's a Pink Kitten upstairs in my
room who talks very nicely; but I've a little fuzzy black dog, named
Toto, who has been with me in Oz a long time, and he's never said a
single word but 'Bow-wow!'"
"Do you know why?" asked Ozma.
"Why, he's a Kansas dog; so I s'pose he's different from these fairy
animals," replied Dorothy.
"Hank isn't a fairy animal, any more than Toto," said Ozma, "yet as
soon as he came under the spell of our fairyland he found he could
talk. It was the same way with Billina, the Yellow Hen whom you brought
here at one time. The same spell has affected Toto, I assure you; but
he's a wise little dog and while he knows everything that is said to
him he prefers not to talk."
"Goodness me!" exclaimed Dorothy. "I never s'pected Toto was fooling me
all this time." Then she drew a small silver whistle from her pocket
and blew a shrill note upon it. A moment later there was a sound of
scurrying footsteps, and a shaggy black dog came running up the path.
Dorothy knelt down before him and shaking her finger just above his
nose she said:
"Toto, haven't I always been good to you?"
Toto looked up at her with his bright black eyes and wagged his tail.
"Bow-wow!" he said, and Betsy knew at once that meant yes, as well as
Dorothy and Ozma knew it, for there was no mistaking the tone of Toto's
voice.
"That's a dog answer," said Dorothy. "How would you like it, Toto, if I
said nothing to you but 'bow-wow'?"
Toto's tail was wagging furiously now, but otherwise he was silent.
"Really, Dorothy," said Betsy, "he can talk with his bark and his tail
just as well as we can. Don't you understand such dog language?"
"Of course I do," replied Dorothy. "But Toto's got to be more sociable.
See here, sir!" she continued, addressing the dog, "I've just learned,
for the first time, that you can say words--if you want to. Don't you
want to, Toto?"
"Woof!" said Toto, and that meant "no."
"Not just one word, Toto, to prove you're as any other animal in Oz?"
"Woof!"
"Just one word, Toto--and then you may run away."
He looked at her steadily a moment.
"All right. Here I go!" he said, and darted away as swift as an arrow.
Dorothy clapped her hands in delight, while Betsy and Ozma both laughed
heartily at her pleasure and the success of her experiment. Arm in arm
they sauntered away through the beautiful gardens of the palace, where
magnificent flowers bloomed in abundance and fountains shot their
silvery sprays far into the air. And by and by, as they turned a
corner, they came upon Shaggy Man and his brother, who were seated
together upon a golden bench.
The two arose to bow respectfully as the Ruler of Oz approached them.
"How are you enjoying our Land of Oz?" Ozma asked the stranger.
"I am very happy here, Your Highness," replied Shaggy's brother. "Also
I am very grateful to you for permitting me to live in this delightful
place."
"You must thank Shaggy for that," said Ozma. "Being his brother, I have
made you welcome here."
"When you know Brother better," said Shaggy earnestly, "you will be
glad he has become one of your loyal subjects. I am just getting
acquainted with him myself and I find much in his character to admire."
Leaving the brothers, Ozma and the girls continued their walk.
Presently Betsy exclaimed:
"Shaggy's brother can't ever be as happy in Oz as _I_ am. Do you know,
Dorothy, I didn't believe any girl could ever have such a good
time--_anywhere_--as I'm having now?"
"I know," answered Dorothy. "I've felt that way myself, lots of times."
"I wish," continued Betsy, dreamily, "that every little girl in the
world could live in the Land of Oz; and every little boy, too!"
Ozma laughed at this.
"It is quite fortunate for us, Betsy, that your wish cannot be
granted," said she, "for all that army of girls and boys would crowd us
so that we would have to move away."
"Yes," agreed Betsy, after a little thought, "I guess that's true."
THE END
The Wonderful Oz Books by L. Frank Baum
THE WIZARD OF OZ
THE LAND OF OZ
OZMA OF OZ
DOROTHY AND THE WIZARD IN OZ
THE ROAD TO OZ
THE EMERALD CITY OF OZ
THE PATCHWORK GIRL OF OZ
TIK-TOK OF OZ
THE SCARECROW OF OZ
RINKITINK IN OZ
THE LOST PRINCESS OF OZ
THE TIN WOODMAN OF OZ
THE MAGIC OF OZ
GLINDA OF OZ