The Man in the Bottle
The firelight lit up the little cottage quite cheerfully and after
looking all over and even taking a candle end into the attic, Philador
curled up in a big easy chair to await the return of the good witch.
"She's probably out visiting a neighbor," decided the little Prince
sleepily. The chair was so comfortable, and Philador so drowsy from his
long fly through the night air, he soon fell fast asleep and dreamed he
had found his royal mother and saved his father's Kingdom. A soft thud
in his lap wakened him next morning and starting up in alarm he looked
straight into the green eyes of the cat with two tails.
"Well," sniffed the cat, transferring herself to the arm of the chair,
"since you are still here you may as well fetch me my breakfast."
"But where's Tattypoo?" cried Philador, rubbing his eyes and trying not
to show his astonishment at a two tailed cat.
"Gone!" announced the cat calmly washing her face.
"Gone!" exclaimed the little Prince jumping to his feet in great
distress. "Why, where has she gone?"
"Oh, she probably fell down the well," muttered the cat, walking
unconcernedly toward the kitchen.
"You don't really mean that she fell down the well?" begged Philador,
running distractedly after the unfeeling creature. "Not really?"
"How should I know?" yawned the cat. "The milk is in that chest, boy.
Just pour me a full saucer, will you?" Her eyes glittered so cruelly
and she sharpened her claws so suggestively on the rug, Philador
hastily opened the chest, took out a jug of milk and poured her a full
saucer. Then dropping into a kitchen chair he wondered what in Oz to
do next. He had counted so entirely on Tattypoo's help that without
her he felt utterly lost and bewildered. The witch's cat looked at
him curiously from time to time and after she had finished her milk,
deigned to speak. "There might be a message on the slate by the stove,"
she announced stepping daintily through the open door into the forest.
Immediately Philador rushed over to the stove. Sure enough, there was
a slate hanging on the wall, but there was nothing written on it. With
a sigh the little boy was turning away, when the pencil hanging on a
cord beside the slate moved upward and began to write on the smooth
black surface. Philador's scalp prickled uncomfortably at this odd
occurrence, but recovering himself quickly, he leaned forward to read
the message.
"The good witch of the North will never return!" stated the pencil
mournfully, and falling the full length of the cord swung excitedly to
and fro. Such a message was almost worse than none and Philador stared
in horror at the gloomy announcement. If Tattypoo never was coming
back, how could she help him save the Kingdom, and without Tattypoo to
help him how was he to save the Ozure Isles all by himself? The slate
must have been of a magic sort, for while the little Prince stood
dismally wondering what to do, the pencil began scribbling a second
message.
"Go to the Emerald City, Ozma of Oz will help you," wrote the pencil
in a firm, decided hand. Philador waited a few minutes to see whether
any more advice was coming but the pencil dropped beside the slate and
refused to write another word. With only two days left before Quiberon
would destroy his father's Kingdom, the little boy did not see how he
was ever to reach the Emerald City in time, especially as he did not
even know in which direction it lay. Going over to the little window he
drew aside the checked curtain and looked out. Deep and impenetrable,
the purple forest loomed up on all sides, and with a long sigh Philador
let the curtain drop and went back to his chair. But it was not long
before his natural courage and cheerfulness began to reassert itself.
Surely the good witch's slate would not advise him to go to the Emerald
City if the journey were impossible and, jumping up resolutely,
Philador began to make his preparations.
First he cooked himself some breakfast. There were bread and coffee in
the cupboard, and eggs and milk in the chest and after he had eaten,
Philador's spirits rose considerably. Putting a loaf of bread, a
square of butter, some cheese and a jar of honey into a small basket,
he was about to step out into the forest, when a really splendid idea
occurred to him. Perhaps there might be some magic contrivance in the
good witch's hut to help him on his journey. Setting down the basket,
Philador searched carefully through the whole cottage and in a small
shed at the back found Tattypoo's witch work-shop. A huge cauldron
hanging on a crane was set in the large fire place. The walls were
lined with shelves and the shelves covered with curious boxes and
bottles. With both hands in his pockets and his crown on the back of
his head, the little Prince tried to decide which to take. The labels
were mostly in magic, a language Philador had unfortunately never
studied. Taking down a blue box he started to open it. Now this box
had an eyelid and it winked at Philador so knowingly that he gave a
jump and knocked a simply enormous bottle from the shelf over his head.
The bottle fell to the floor with a loud crash, breaking into three
separate pieces and a thick brown liquid began to ooze out upon the
floor. As Philador, dropping the blue box, looked down in fright and
dismay, the liquid began to run into the shape of a man. Backing into
a corner the little Prince watched the queer figure forming on the
floor. It grew more and more distinct, thickening through the middle
and finally as Philador, with both hands before his face, backed as far
into the corner as he could, the man out of the bottle curled upward
and made him a deep bow.
"I thank you," he began in a husky voice. "I've been shut up in that
bottle for thirty years and thought I was shelved for life."
"Who--what are you?" stuttered Philador in an unsteady voice. "And how
did you get into the bottle?" He half expected the man to melt and run
away, but the liquid from which he was formed seemed to have hardened
perfectly and, except for his strange eyes and powdered hair, the old
fellow looked almost natural. He sighed deeply at the little Prince's
question and seating himself on a low bench, motioned for the Prince to
sit beside him. Rather nervously Philador seated himself on the other
end of the bench.
"I am a medicine man, and a Gilliken," began the old gentleman solemnly.
"Of course!" thought Philador with a little chuckle. "Who but a
medicine man would come out of a bottle!"
"I spent my whole life studying cures and remedies, but though I
hung out my sign, and had office hours every day, no one ever came
to consult me," said the medicine man sorrowfully. "But this was not
strange when you stop to consider that no one in Oz is ever ill;
however, it was very dull for me."
The little Prince nodded sympathetically and gave a slight start
as he noticed for the first time that the medicine man's eyes were
cough drops. He was so interested in this discovery he missed a whole
sentence of the old fellow's story. "So I decided to travel," the
medicine man was now hurrying on to explain, "and discover cures
for trouble Oz people really did suffer from, such as impatience,
bad tempers, rudeness and so on. In the forests hereabout grow many
powerful roots and herbs and it was while I was searching for an herb
to prevent talkativeness that I met the wicked witch of the North."
"Mombi!" gasped Philador, edging closer, and thinking how much mischief
this old sorceress was responsible for.
"Yes, Mombi!" sighed the medicine man mournfully. "I had a great
cauldron of cough mixture, which I always use as the basis for all
my cures, boiling over the fire, and Mombi, declaring I had stolen
her rarest herbs, threw me into the pot." Philador shuddered. He
could fairly see the furious witch pouncing upon the helpless little
gentleman.
"Didn't you fight?" he asked, as the medicine man stared sadly at his
boots.
"Oh, yes!" the little fellow assured him earnestly, "but Mombi had
the strength of ten men and tumbled me into the cauldron before I
could even call for help. Being a native of Oz, I could not be utterly
destroyed. I remember quite distinctly melting into the cough mixture
and later being poured into a bottle. After that I recall nothing till
you knocked me from the shelf this morning. How do I look?" he asked.
[Illustration: "SHE THREW ME INTO THE POT"]
"You look all right to me," answered Philador kindly. "How do you feel?"
"Well," answered the medicine man, clearing his throat experimentally,
"I feel a little hoarse, but I suppose that's the cough mixture."
Jumping briskly to his feet he walked over to a large mirror that hung
on the wall of the shed, and leaning forward stared long and earnestly
at his reflection.
"Well?" asked Philador as the little man continued to gaze in the
mirror, "are you the same?"
"No, I've shrunk! It must have been the boiling," mused the medicine
man in a depressed voice. "My eyes look queer and there's a queer
rattle in my chest. Hear it?" He shook himself from side to side, and
Philador was forced to confess that he did. "Never mind, though,"
piped the little fellow at last. "I'm out of that bottle and that's
something!" Throwing out his chest he put both hands in his pockets and
beamed upon the little boy.
Philador gave a frightened scream and pointing at his shirt front
bade him look in the mirror. No wonder Philador had screamed! When
the medicine man threw out his chest, both sides of his shirt front
flew open like the doors in a small closet, disclosing three shelves.
On these shelves stood a row of boxes and bottles and as the little
Prince continued to stare, the old gentleman took out first one and
then another. Clicking his heels together he sprang gleefully into the
air.
"It's all my remedies!" he explained excitedly. "My laugh lozenges,
soothing syrup, cross drops and everything! How handy to have a
medicine chest and always right with me!"
"Doesn't it hurt?" asked Philador doubtfully. "Can you breathe all
right and don't it feel hollow?" The medicine man took three long
breaths, put back all the bottles and boxes and slamming the doors of
his chest shook his head delightedly.
"It feels fine!" he said gaily. "But look here, isn't this Mombi's hut
and hadn't we better run before she comes back?" Philador had been so
interested he had forgotten his own troubles for a few moments, but now
he rapidly told the medicine man the mischief Mombi had done to his own
royal family and of the threat of Quiberon to destroy the Ozure Isles.
Then he explained how Mombi herself had been conquered by Tattypoo and
later put out by order of Ozma of Oz.
The medicine man listened with interest and concern and when the little
Prince told of his flight on the blue gull to the good witch's hut and
of the strange disappearance of Tattypoo and the message on the magic
slate he ruffled up his wonderful hair and declared himself ready to go
at once to the Emerald City.
"Two heads are better than one," he asserted stoutly. "You released me
from that odious bottle and I shall never rest until I have repaid you."
"Thank you, Sir!" Straightening his crown, Philador smiled gratefully
at his strange new friend.
"Oh, call me Herby," chuckled the medicine man, winking his cough drops
eyes merrily, "and I'll call you Phil for short. How will that be?"
"All right, Herby," laughed the little Prince, deciding it would
be quite jolly to have this gay little Gilliken accompany him to
the capital. Herby heartily approved of his plan for taking some of
Tattypoo's magic along and after a short search they took the good
witch's thinking cap from a peg on the door and a rope they found
curled up on the kitchen table. The rope was marked "jumping rope,"
and would come in mighty handily on a journey of adventures. Pouring
several saucers of milk for the cat with two tails, Philador put the
jumping rope in the basket, the basket on his arm and declared himself
ready to start. Herby had the witch's thinking cap slung round his
neck and almost instantly it proved its magic powers. Neither Herby
nor the little Prince knew in which direction the Emerald City lay,
and as they stood looking uncertainly into the forest the medicine
man bethought himself of the cap. Putting it on his head he asked it
to tell them the way to the capital. The medicine man's little brown
face looked so comical under the cap ruffles, Philador could not help
laughing, but Herby, closing his eyes began to walk straight ahead.