Raggedy Andy soon reached the large gate in front of the Magician’s
castle. There stood the two soldiers; one with a real long sword and
the other with a real long gun and they held up their hands and cried,
“Stop!”
“Did you see a Dragon come by this way?” Raggedy Andy asked the two
soldiers.
“Yes!” the soldiers replied. “The Dragon frightened us so we ran and
hid and the Dragon climbed right up to the window and wiggled in the
castle. Maybe by this time the Dragon has eaten the Magician.”
“I shall go inside and see!” Raggedy Andy replied.
But the two soldiers said, “We will not let you go inside the castle
and be eaten by the Dragon!”
But Raggedy Andy looked back and saw that Mr. Doodle was running after
him as hard as he could come, so Raggedy Andy just whispered to the
magic wooden sword and the magic wooden sword carried Raggedy Andy
right over the two soldiers’ heads and over the gate, just as Mr.
Doodle came running up.
“Catch him!” Mr. Doodle cried, but of course he was too late. The
wooden sword carried Raggedy Andy right to the castle door, but the
door was locked and Raggedy Andy could not get in.
Mr. Doodle kicked so much, the two soldiers could not hold him so just
as Mr. Doodle came running up, Raggedy Andy cried to the wooden sword,
“Get up, wooden sword, fly up through the window in the castle!”
Once inside the Magician’s castle, Raggedy Andy went down stairs to the
room where the Magician usually sat upon his throne. But everything was
topsy turvy. The chairs were turned over and the Magician’s throne was
upside down.
“Dear me!” Raggedy Andy exclaimed as he ran his rag hand up through his
red yarn hair, “I wonder what could have happened?” So Raggedy Andy
went all through the castle until he found the Dragon.
“Well!” said Raggedy Andy, “I’m glad that I found you. I had a hard
time escaping from Mr. Doodle. He dragged me home and made me start
building his chicken coop, but while he was eating his dinner, I sawed
the string with which he had tied me and escaped.”
The Dragon only looked at Raggedy Andy in a funny way, but did not say
anything.
[Illustration]
“Have you seen the Magician and Raggedy Ann and Marggy and her Mama?”
Raggedy Andy asked the Dragon.
“Mumble, mumble, mumble,” was all the Dragon replied, for he was trying
to talk without opening his mouth.
“Now!” Raggedy Andy said as he pointed his rag thumb at the Dragon.
“Tell me! Did you swallow the Magician?”
The Dragon nodded his head up and down and Raggedy Andy knew then that
the Dragon had swallowed them.
“Open your mouth!” Raggedy Andy told the Dragon. So the Dragon opened
his mouth and the Magician and Raggedy Ann and Marggy and her Mama came
walking out.
[Illustration]
“You must leave my castle right away!” the Magician cried. “I won’t
have a Dragon around here swallowing people like this Dragon did.”
“But he is only a paper Dragon, Mr. Magician!”
“I know he is now!” the Magician replied. “But how was I to know he
was made out of paper when he came wiggling through the window and
swallowed all of us?”
“Why did you swallow them?” Raggedy Andy asked the Dragon.
“I did not know what to do until you came,” the Dragon replied. “So I
just swallowed everybody and waited until you came.”
“And now you must take the Dragon and leave!” the Magician cried and
pushed them all outside.
“Oh, dear!” Raggedy Andy cried. “Now that the Dragon has made the
Magician so peevish, he will never tell us where Marggy’s Daddy is and
we shall never find him. And, besides, Mr. Doodle is out here fighting
with the two soldiers and if he wins the fight, he will capture the
Dragon and we will have to rescue the Dragon all over again!”
“Let us hurry away while Mr. Doodle and the two soldiers are still
fighting,” Raggedy Ann suggested. “Perhaps Mr. Doodle will not see us!”
So they all started to run. But Mr. Doodle, just as soon as he caught
sight of the Dragon and Raggedy Ann and Andy trying to escape, quit
fighting with the two soldiers and ran after our friends, and because
Marggy and her Mama could not run very fast Mr. Doodle soon caught the
Dragon’s tail and stopped him. Mr. Doodle started to drag the Dragon
towards his house, but Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy and Marggy and her
Mama caught hold of the Dragon’s head and pulled the other way.
Mr. Doodle pulled and pulled and our friends pulled and pulled until
they all pulled so hard, the paper Dragon tore right in two. And Mr.
Doodle was pulling so hard and our friends were pulling so hard, when
the paper Dragon was torn in two, they all fell over backwards.
“Now then you have done it, Mr. Doodle,” Raggedy Ann cried as she
jumped to her feet and ran back to Mr. Doodle. “Aren’t you ashamed of
yourself?”
“No I am not!” Mr. Doodle replied. “If you had not pulled upon the
Dragon’s head, he would not have torn in two!”
Raggedy Andy took the Dragon’s tail away from Mr. Doodle. “I have a
good mind to box your ears, Mr. Doodle!” Raggedy Andy said.
“Ha! Ha! Ha!” Mr. Doodle laughed. “Your hands are made of cloth and
stuffed with cotton, so it wouldn’t hurt if you did!”
“Then I shall try mine!” Marggy’s Mama cried. And if Raggedy Ann had
not stopped her, Marggy’s Mama would have given Mr. Doodle a box on the
ear which he would have remembered for a long time.
The paper Dragon looked very sad, for he could not wiggle at all with
his tail torn off and he wished to go with our friends on their journey
in search of Marggy’s Daddy. And then, too, when the paper Dragon was
torn in two, that let the air whistle right through his paper body each
time he opened his mouth. Marggy’s Mama would have liked to paddywhack
Mr. Doodle, but she knew that would do no good. “We must fix the paper
Dragon together some way,” she said.
[Illustration]
Raggedy Ann had mended a hole in the paper Dragon’s side once before
with the cream from a cream puff and a pretty colored Sunday newspaper,
but now they only had chocolate cake, doughnuts and cookies left,
for they had eaten all the cream puffs. Raggedy Andy suggested that by
using little sticks as pins, they might pin the Dragon’s tail together.
“Of course he will still be torn!” Raggedy Andy said, “but if we can
fix him together so that he can travel with us, maybe along the way, we
will find a way to glue him together!”
So they all gathered little twigs and with these they pinned the
Dragon’s tail to the front part of his body. Even Mr. Doodle helped.
Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy did not care to have Mr. Doodle go with
them in search of Marggy’s Daddy, nor did they wish him to take the
Dragon back home for a chicken coop, but they were too polite to tell
him so.
“It is too bad Mr. Doodle tore the tail from the paper Dragon,” Raggedy
Ann said, “’cause now the paper Dragon can not wiggle along very fast.”
“I’m glad he can’t wiggle along very fast,” Mr. Doodle laughed. “For
I will follow you and just as soon as you find someone to mend the
Dragon, I will take him away from you and use him for a chicken coop.”
Raggedy Andy did not reply to Mr. Doodle but he thought, “When we have
the nice paper Dragon mended, I will not let you take him away from us!”
So the Dragon wiggled along very slowly so as not to unfasten his tail
and Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy and Marggy and her Mama walked beside
him. Although they did not want him with them, Mr. Doodle went along.
After a while they came to a funny little house. There was only one
room down stairs and all the other rooms were built right on top of
each other.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]