THE WISHING HORSE OF OZ
By
RUTH PLUMLY THOMPSON
Founded on and continuing the Famous Oz Stories
By
L. FRANK BAUM
"Royal Historian of Oz"
Illustrated by
JOHN R. NEILL
The Reilly & Lee Co.
CHICAGO
COPYRIGHT, 1935
by
The REILLY & LEE CO.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.
* * * * *
_Dear Boys and Girls:_
_What could be more interesting than an Oz mystery? What, indeed?
"Why," I can almost hear you shout, "Two Oz mysteries." And here you
have them in this newest Oz story, two very mysterious mysteries to
solve and ponder over and so many new Kingdoms and characters, I can
hardly remember the proper spelling for their names._
_You will be glad to know that Dorothy has most of the strange
adventures in this book and remember Pigasus? Well, I have long
suspected Pigasus could be useful as well as poetical, and now that he
has so convincingly proved his prowess (how do you like THAT word?)
we'll have to treat him with more respect and dignity._
_Your letters all year have been grand and if I had the magic necklace
mentioned in this story I would wish you three hundred and sixty-five
days of happiness._
_But after all, I HAVE a magic necklace. Each boy or girl who reads
the Oz books is one shining link in the friendly chain that holds us
together. All friends and all for Oz._
_You believe in Oz and I'll believe in YOU
Ho, that's the stuff that's strong enough
To make my wish come true.
_So, happy year to you, dears. And next year? Ah well, who knows what
will happen next year? Another Oz book maybe, if you still want one.
Write me if you do, and best of everything wonderful to you all,
always!_
RUTH PLUMLY THOMPSON.
110 Schoolhouse Lane, Ardmore, Pennsylvania
* * * * *
THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED WITH PRIDE AND AFFECTION
TO MABEL HAMMER ASSHETON
WHOSE GALLANT AND ADVENTUROUS SPIRIT SWEEPS LIKE A FRESHENING
BREEZE THROUGH MY LIFE, TOUCHING IT AGAIN AND AGAIN WITH COLOR, VIGOR,
INTEREST AND GAIETY. TO MABEL!!
Ruth Plumly Thompson
* * * * *
LIST OF CHAPTERS
1 The King of Skampavia
2 The King and the Merchant
3 More About the Emeralds
4 The King and His Talking Horse
5 A Great Celebration in Oz
6 A Strange Warning
7 What Wizard?
8 Way for the Emperor!
9 The Journey Begins
10 The Witch of the Black Forest
11 Black Magic
12 Farewell to the Black Forest
13 In Kalico's Castle
14 The Emperor of Oz
15 The Dooners!
16 The Seer of Some Summit
17 Skamperoo in Oz
18 The Emperor's Horse Makes a Bargain
19 The Story of the Necklaces
20 Back in Skampavia
CHAPTER 1
The King of Skampavia
"Is this all?" The King of Skampavia frowned at the great stack of
bags, bales, crates and carriers heaped around his throne. Leaning
forward, he gingerly extracted a fig from one of the baskets and popped
it into his enormous mouth.
"Pah, dry as a blotter," spluttered the red-faced ruler, gritting his
teeth with disgust, "and look at those cocoanuts, no bigger round than
a baby's rattle!" Leaping off his throne, he began kicking at the
baskets of vegetables and bales of cotton and other merchandise. "What
dusty junk is this?" he raged, glaring furiously at Pinny Penny, his
patient Prime Minister. "How dare they send me such stuff?" Clasping
and unclasping his hands nervously, Pinny Penny nevertheless spoke up
boldly.
"Because they have nothing better, your Majesty. What can our poor
subjects do with land so unprofitable and barren? Then, not only must
they produce enough for their own needs, but are required by the law to
give one-third of all they raise to the crown."
"And why not?" blustered Skamperoo, settling back argumentatively on
his throne. "I am the KING! You can't get around that, you know."
"No," sighed Pinny Penny, and drawing aside one of the shabby curtains
he looked sorrowfully out into the courtyard.
"What's all that racket?" demanded his Master, as a medley of shouts,
roars, and dull thuds came rolling up to them. Forgetting his anger for
a moment, he bounded to his feet and came across the room to look over
Pinny Penny's shoulder.
"A slight argument seems to have arisen among the Supervisors,"
murmured Pinny Penny resignedly.
Now Skampavia, I must tell you, is roughly divided into seven
counties, and over each county Skamperoo had set a Supervisor whose
duty it was to govern the province and to turn over to him one-third of
all produce and merchandise in that county. To save time, and easily
identify them, the supervisors were known by the size of the counties
they governed. For instance, the Supervisor of the First County,
which was one mile wide and ten miles long, was called Onebyten;
the Supervisor of the Second County Twobyfour; and the others were
variously known as Threebysix, Ninebyfive, Eightbyeight, Fivebynine and
Fourbyseven. Twice a year the Supervisors rode into the capital with
their tribute, and now, down in the courtyard, the seven tremendous
Skampavians were in a perfect pitched battle, helped out by all the
guards and palace servants.
"Argument!" roared the King, slapping Pinny Penny rudely on the
shoulder. "It's a fight, and you know it! Ho, ho! Just look at the
good-for-nothing rascals. I tell you, old Two Pins, however poorly
they serve us as farmers and merchants, our Skampavians can certainly
fight. And who says I'm too hard on them? Have I not given every man
Jack a dress uniform and gun and made them learn military drilling and
marching at the Royal College?"
"And what use is all this drilling and marching?" inquired Pinny Penny
wearily. Letting the curtain fall, he hurried away, for well he knew,
if he did not put a stop to the conflict in the courtyard every window
in the palace would be broken.
"Now what did he mean by that?" muttered Skamperoo peevishly as his
little Prime Minister whisked out of sight. Pursing his lips, he seated
himself heavily on his throne. After all, Pinny Penny had only spoken
the truth. Why had his father or his father's father ever picked out
this pesky little country in the first place? Located in the southern
part of the desert of Noland, between the Kingdoms of Ix and Merryland,
Skampavia, he was forced to admit, had neither riches, beauty, nor
interest. His castle, though poor and shabby, was comfortable enough,
and having lived in it all his life, he was used to it. He had put up
with the hot dry climate and the poor quality of the food, but after
all, why should he continue to do so? In those long ago days in the
school room he had studied of energetic rulers who had taken their
armies and gone forth to conquer richer and more desirable lands from
their neighbors. Well, then, why should not he take his men, push over
the border into a more fertile and kindly land? The idea pleased but
at the same time annoyed him. Skamperoo was fat and lazy. He loved
quiet and ease and the thought of a hard military campaign made him
shudder with distaste. Still, he reflected, remembering Pinny Penny's
reproachful face, a King should do something for his subjects and
the more he did for them--Ho, ho! the more he could make them do for
him. A rich and prosperous country meant a rich and prosperous ruler.
Discontentedly fingering the rough cloth from which his royal robes
were fashioned, he began to picture himself decked out in splendid
satins and velvets heavily encrusted with jewels. Jewels. Pah! All
the jewels he had were his plain gold scepter, badly dented and bent
from hurling at Pinny Penny. Taking off the crown, he scowled at it
critically and began considering the realms on either side of his own
dominions.
To the north there was nothing but a sandy strip of desert and the
tossing waters of the Nonestic Ocean. East lay the Kingdom of Ix, and
Zixie the little Queen he considered too pleasant and friendly to
conquer. Besides, the climate of Ix was not much better than that of
his own country. To the west of Skampavia was Merryland and at one
time a band of his roistering Skampavians had crossed over into that
country bent on theft and mischief. Recalling the way they had been
welcomed and entertained by the cheerful King of Merryland and sent
home simply laden with presents, he hastily dismissed that country too.
How could he fight a monarch like that? To the south lay the burning
sands of the Deadly Desert, which no man in his own Kingdom had ever
succeeded in crossing.
So, having exhausted all the possibilities in the immediate
neighborhood, Skamperoo tapped his foot in vexation and began casting
about in his mind for some fair and faraway country to conquer. He
closed his eyes in order to think better and was just on the point of
falling into a pleasant doze of riches and conquest, when Pinny Penny
came noisily into the room.
He was preceded by two of the King's Supervisors, who, urged forward by
the fearless little Prime Minister, stood sulkily and defiantly before
the throne.
"Well, what now?" demanded Skamperoo, blinking his eyes sleepily. "Can
you not handle these arguments yourself, Pinny Penny? Is a King to have
no rest or privacy at all?"
Instead of answering, Pinny Penny took a small cotton bag from the
tallest of the Supervisors and handed it silently to the King. Still
half asleep, Skamperoo untied the draw string of the small bag and
emptied the contents into his fat hand. What he saw there made his
eyes fly open--wide open! Jewels! The very thing for which he had been
wishing.
"Emeralds!" gasped the King, rubbing the glittering necklace between
his fingers. "Where did you get this, Twobyfour?"
"They were sent to your Majesty by a merchant in the Second County,
who got them from a traveling peddler. The peddler had got them from
a Gilliken, who had got them from a Quadling, who had got them from a
Munchkin, who had once lived in the Emerald City of Oz."
"OZ!" snapped the King, sitting up very straight. "Where is Oz?"
"Oz is a great and powerful Kingdom on the other side of the Deadly
Desert," answered Twobyfour, looking uneasily over his shoulder at
Pinny Penny.
"Then how did this peddler cross the desert?" demanded Skamperoo,
holding the necklace up to the light and feasting his eyes greedily on
its gleaming emeralds.
"That, I cannot say." Twobyfour cast a longing glance at the door,
heartily wishing himself on the other side.
"Then perhaps you will tell us why you did not turn this necklace over
to the King?" suggested Pinny Penny mournfully.
"Yes, how dared you keep it?" panted Skamperoo indignantly. "And what
are you gaping at, Threebysix? I'll wager you were in this, too."
"He was," shouted Twobyfour hoarsely. "He tried to steal the jewels
from me. That's how he got the black eye."
"But you tried to steal them from me, and what about _that_ my fine
fellow?" Twobyfour turned a painful and uncomfortable scarlet under the
King's accusing eye.
"In Skampavia we have so little, your Majesty," he stuttered miserably.
"With these emeralds I thought I might buy a bit of land in some cooler
and more comfortable country where my wife and two boys could be
happy--a country where flowers would grow in a garden, and where a man
would not have to spend his whole life wrestling with rocks and weeds
and drilling for hours in the hot sun for no reason whatsoever."
"Hah!" exclaimed Pinny Penny, looking meaningly at the King.
"Hah, yourself!" grunted Skamperoo wrathfully, then as the emeralds
continued to sparkle and glitter in his hand his anger subsided.
"You did very wrong to keep the necklace, Twobyfour," he stated mildly.
"But I have decided to forgive you. Return now to the Second County and
explain to the merchant who gave you this necklace that I must have all
three."
"All three!" exclaimed Twobyfour. "But he's entitled by law to two of
them."
"My word is the law here, and you can choose between a broken law or a
broken head," Skamperoo told him calmly.
"He is the KING," murmured Pinny Penny in a quiet voice. There was
nothing sarcastic in the manner of his speech, but something in the
Prime Minister's expression made the King prickle all over with
discomfort.
"Yes, I am the King," he shouted explosively, "and moreover I have
spoken. Begone, both of you, and YOU, Twobyfour, have two days to
return with those two necklaces. The necklaces or your HEAD, do you
understand? And--er--er--you may tell that merchant in your county that
he need send no more of his wares to the capital, the three necklaces
will suffice," he bellowed as the two Supervisors went bolting through
the door.
"How nice--they will suffice. You are the King," sniffed Pinny Penny
with a sour smile.
"Are you a parrot or a Prime Minister? Stop repeating that silly stuff
and tell me about Oz," commanded Skamperoo, clasping the emerald
necklace around his fat throat. "Have you ever heard of this place,
Pinny Penny? It must be a rich and marvelous country if peddlers can
trade emerald necklaces as carelessly as we trade wooden beads."
"It is a marvelous country," answered Pinny Penny thoughtfully. "I
remember my father telling me about the capital of Oz, an Emerald City,
where even the streets were inlaid with jewels and every tower and wall
was studded with emeralds."
"Well, why have I never been told about this?" wheezed the King
peevishly. "A country like that just a precious stone's throw away, so
to speak."
"Your Majesty has never cared for reading or study," Pinny Penny
reminded him a bit maliciously. "In our library there is a whole
history of Oz."
"Fetch it! Fetch it, bring it to me at once!" panted the King, bouncing
up and down on his throne like a big bad baby (which in truth he was).
"I must discover why Oz is so rich and prosperous while we are so poor
and unfortunate."
"Not so unfortunate and poor as we are unwise and greedy," stated Pinny
Penny, stalking calmly across the room. "If your Majesty would study
ways to improve Skampavia and allow your own subjects to keep a fair
share of their crops and merchandise, we might be a powerful country,
too."
"Nonsense! What can we do with a rocky little desert like this?"
blustered Skamperoo contemptuously. "Skampavia is a dull little
Kingdom, a dumb little Kingdom--a KingDUMB, that's a good name for it."
"And you?" murmured Pinny Penny under his breath as he hastened away to
fetch the book on Oz. Returning, he plumped the fat volume down on the
King's knees and stood back with folded arms.
"Well--well? Do you expect me to read all this?" wailed Skamperoo
in dismay. "Why, it would take a year or more. Explain it to me,
Pinny Penny. Just give me the gist of the matter. Just give me the
gist--there, I've made a joke. Ha! ha! ha! I've made a joke."
"But Oz is no joke," said the Prime Minister shortly, "your Majesty
had better get that through your head at once. Now attend closely and
I will endeavor to give you the most important facts about this rich
and enchanting country across the desert. In the first place," Pinny
Penny looked severely over his specs, "Oz is about fifty times as large
as Skampavia, a great oblong, undulating country divided into four
triangular Kingdoms. Each of these Kingdoms has its own ruler, but all
four are subject to the rule of Ozma of Oz, whose capital, the Emerald
City, is in the exact center of Oz."
"A girl?" exclaimed Skamperoo, leaning forward excitedly. "How can a
mere girl rule over an important country like that?"
"By using her heart as well as her head, by encouraging thrift and
rewarding industry," announced Pinny Penny in a tone that made the King
wince. "Your Majesty would do well to read of her wise laws and plans
for the betterment of her country."
"You may just skip all that," sniffed Skamperoo, closing his mouth
stubbornly. "Tell me who are the rulers of these four Kingdoms and the
general customs and characteristics of the people."
Closing his eyes and putting his finger tips together, Pinny Penny
began solemnly: "The Northern-most country of Oz is the Land of
the Gillikens, famed for its luscious grapes, plums, wisteria, and
heather. It is a purple country and is ruled over by Joe King and Queen
Hyacinth, who live in an amethyst trimmed castle high in the Gilliken
Mountains. The Eastern Empire of Oz is a yellow country, known for its
wheat, corn, butter, pumpkins, daffodils, and gold mines. Nick Chopper
is Emperor of the Winkies and this singular ruler is entirely made of
tin plate and celebrated in song and story as 'The Tin Woodman of Oz.'"
Pinny Penny paused a moment to catch his breath and then continued
quietly:
"The Southland is red and noted for its strawberries, tomatoes, beets,
red birds, red wood, and red-heads. Glinda, the Good Sorceress, governs
the Quadlings, who make up its inhabitants, and she knows as much
magic as Ozma herself--"
"Oh, it's one of those magic places where one just snaps the fingers
to get what he wants," sighed the King discontentedly. "Well--well--go
on--"
"The Western Country of Oz is blue," continued Pinny Penny obligingly,
"and everyone has heard of its famous blue ridge mountains, its blue
birds, its violets, its blue skies and its capital, the Sapphire City.
Cheeriobed is King, and Orin is Queen of the Munchkins, and they live
in the Sapphire City, in almost as much magnificence as Ozma in the
Emerald City. Is that all you wish to know?"
"About the army?" muttered Skamperoo, wrinkling up his forehead. "Has
this girl ruler a great army stationed at her capital?"
Pinny Penny grinned in spite of himself. "The young fairy ruler of
Oz is opposed to all wars and fighting and has at her court an army
consisting of one tall soldier with green whiskers," he explained
hurriedly.
"One soldier with green whiskers!" shouted the King, nearly tumbling
off his throne. "I never heard anything more ridiculous in my life. I
thought you said Oz wasn't a joke and yet you stand there and tell me
about an army of one soldier. Why, that's the funniest thing I ever
heard. Ha, haw, haw!"
"Laugh if you wish," said Pinny Penny resignedly, "but don't forget
that Ozma has more magic appliances at her finger tips than we have
pebbles on our desert. In her palace lives the famous Wizard of Oz, who
can work every sort of transformation and enchantment, but does so only
for the good of the country."
"Humph!" exclaimed the King. "Well, how many fighting men have we?"
"Seven hundred Skampavian soldiers in each of the seven counties,"
answered Pinny Penny reluctantly, "but let me warn your Majesty that
the idea you have in your head is sheer madness and will lead to
nothing but ruin. Take off your crown, put on your night cap and dream
away this foolishness."
"And a fine looking crown it is," snapped the King, snatching off his
crown and looking at it angrily. "But these emeralds will brighten it
up a bit, eh, Pinny Penny?"
"It is not the sparkle of gems in a King's crown that count, it is the
jewels of wisdom in the head under the crown that make him happy and
well beloved--"
"Stop! Enough!" yelled the King, hurling the crown with all his might
at Pinny Penny. "When will you stop this infernal lecturing and
scolding?"
"When your Majesty stops talking nonsense," sighed Pinny, catching the
crown with one hand and pulling a long bell cord with the other. "Come
now, let us have our tea and forget about Oz," he proposed calmly.
"Lemon or cream, your Highness?"
"Lemon!" growled the King sourly, and slapping open the book of history
on his knees, he stared long and enviously at a picture of the Emerald
City of Oz.