The Village of Pineville
Dorothy and the Wizard awakened bright and early the next morning,
eager to pursue their adventures. Mrs. Hi-Lo prepared a hearty
breakfast for them from her magic recipe and, as they made ready to
leave the pretty little cottage, Hi-Lo advised them:
"Just follow the trail that leads through the Pine Forest and you will
come to the Village of Pineville where Princess Ozana lives. You can't
miss it, and if you walk steadily you should be there by noon."
Stepping from the cottage, Dorothy and the Wizard found the morning sun
bright and warm and the air filled with the pungent aroma of pine from
the forest.
"Good-bye!" called Mrs. Hi-Lo from the door of the cottage.
"Good-bye!" called Mr. Hi-Lo. "Don't forget to remember us to the
Princess!"
"We won't," promised Dorothy. "We'll tell her how kind you've been to
us."
In a short time the cottage was lost to their view, and the two
travelers were deep in the cool shade of the Pine Forest. The trail
over which they walked was carpeted with pine needles, making a soft
and pleasant path for their feet.
Once when they paused to rest for a few moments a red squirrel frisked
down a nearby tree and, sitting on a stump before Dorothy, asked
saucily, "Where to, strangers?"
"We're on our way to see Princess Ozana," said Dorothy.
"Oh, are you indeed!" exclaimed the squirrel with a flirt of his
whiskers. "Well, you are just halfway there. If you walk briskly you'll
find yourselves out of the forest in another two hours."
"How do you know we are just halfway there?" asked Dorothy.
"Because I've measured the distance many times," replied the squirrel.
"I should think you would prefer to live nearer the village of
Pineville," remarked Dorothy. "It must be very lonesome here in this
deep pine forest."
"Oho! That shows how unobserving you mortals are!" exclaimed the red
squirrel. "My family and I wouldn't think of living anywhere but here,
no matter how lonely it is. Know why?"
"No, I must say I don't," confessed the girl.
"Look at my tree--look at my tree!" chattered the squirrel, flirting
his big bushy tail in the direction of the tree from which he had
appeared.
"Of course!" chuckled the Wizard. "It's a hickory tree!"
"But I don't see--" began Dorothy in perplexity.
"What do squirrels like best of all, my dear?" asked the Wizard,
smiling with amusement.
"Oh, Wizard, why didn't I think of that? They like nuts, of course!"
"Exactly!" snapped the little red squirrel. "And since pine trees do
not bear nuts and hickory trees do--well, city life and fine company
may be all right for some folks, but I prefer to remain here in comfort
where I know my family will be well provided for."
And with that the wise little creature gave a leap and a bound and
darted up the trunk of the one and only nut tree in all the Pine Forest.
Dorothy and the Wizard followed the pine-needle trail on through the
Pine Forest until finally the trees thinned and they stepped out into
an open meadow, bright with yellow buttercups. The sun was almost
directly overhead by this time.
Below the two travelers, in a pretty green valley that formed the
center of the mountain top, lay a small village of several hundred
cottages, all similar to Hi-Lo's. The buildings were painted with
glossy blue enamel and shone brilliantly in the sun. They were grouped
in a circle about one large central cottage that differed from the
others in that it was considerably larger, and, from where Dorothy and
the Wizard stood, appeared to be surrounded by rather extensive gardens
and grounds.
Dorothy and the Wizard followed the trail over the meadow to a point
where it broadened into a street that led among the houses. The two
travelers set out on this street, which was wide and pleasant and paved
with blocks of white pine.
As Dorothy and the Wizard walked through the village, they saw that the
cottages were occupied by wooden folks, much like Hi-Lo and his wife.
A wooden woman was washing the windows of her cottage. A wooden man
with wooden shears was trimming the hedge around his house. Another
was repairing the white picket fence around his cottage. Tiny wooden
children, almost doll-like they were so small, played in the yards.
From one cottage a spotted wooden dog ran into the road and barked at
the strangers.
"I suppose he's made of dog-wood," observed Dorothy with a smile.
Dorothy and the Wizard aroused much curiosity among the little wooden
folk, most of whom paused in their work to stare at the strangers as
they passed. But none of them seemed to fear the meat people.
A wooden lady approached them, walking down the street with quick,
lively steps. On her arm was a market basket full of green pine cones.
Pausing, the Wizard removed his hat and in his most polite manner
addressed her.
"Pardon me, Madame. Can you tell me if this street leads to the palace
of Princess Ozana?"
"Palace? What's that?" asked the woman with a puzzled expression on
her face. "I don't know what a palace is, Sir, but if you follow this
street you will come to the cottage where our Princess Ozana dwells."
"Thank you, Madame," said the Wizard, and the little woman trotted
busily down the street.
In a few minutes more Dorothy and the Wizard had reached the central
part of Pineville. Here a trim, white picket fence encircled a large
area that seemed to be one huge flower garden with every sort of flower
imaginable growing in it. In the exact center of this enclosure stood
an attractive blue cottage, large enough to accommodate comfortably
full-sized human beings. Just in front of the cottage was a pond of
placid blue water. In the pond grew water lilies and all sorts of
flowering plants that one finds in lakes and ponds.
The path that led from the entrance of the cottage divided at the
pond's edge and encircled the water, meeting on the opposite side of
the pond and running again as a single path to a gate in the fence
before which Dorothy and the Wizard stood. Forming a bower over the
gate was a white wooden trellis covered with roses. From the center of
the pretty trellis hung a blue sign with these words in white enameled
letters:
WELCOME
COTTAGE OF PRINCESS OZANA
WALK IN
"Well, I guess that means us," said the Wizard with a smile, as he read
the sign and pushed open the gate.