The Story of the Necklaces
Ozma's surprise and the astonishment of all the rest of that company
around the Wizard's table can well be imagined.
"I didn't hear any thunder," snorted Highboy, lowering himself down
to Bitty Bit's level. "Not a clap! And if we were at the bottom of
Lightning Lake, what did we eat?"
"We didn't!" announced Jinnicky in a hollow voice, "what COULD we
have eaten in such a place, you old fire-eater, you?" To have been
enchanted and put out of existence for three whole days was an amazing
experience, and as Dorothy and Bitty Bit, helped out now and then by
Pigasus, explained all that had happened to the victims of Skamperoo's
ambition and to themselves in the course of their journey of rescue,
Ozma's face grew both grave and serious. It was disturbing to realize
how easily Oz had been captured and the powerful Wizards and Glinda the
Sorceress pushed aside. The Wizard of Oz himself seemed to feel the
most discouraged and downcast of all to think he had been so easily
overcome, and that his magic had not been strong enough to withstand
the wicked spell of the invaders.
"I should have foreseen something like this, and been prepared,"
mourned the little man, mopping his head with a map of Oz which he
happened to have in his pocket.
"Yes," sighed the Tin Woodman, feeling his joints anxiously to see
whether they had been rusted by his three-day immersion in Lightning
Lake, "we might have been prisoners in Thunder Mountain forever had it
not been for Dorothy and Pigasus and this sagacious little Seer. But
tell me, Dorothy, how was it that you alone, of all the people in the
palace, remembered and missed us?"
"Well," confessed Dorothy, seating herself cautiously on Nick Chopper's
tin knees, "it must have been the Wizard's wishing pill. You see,
just as the Soldier's beard turned red, I found one in my pocket, and
popping it into my mouth, wished that I might save Oz from any danger
that threatened. It kept me from forgetting Ozma and all of you, and
when I sat on Pigasus' back, he remembered, too, and we--"
"Did save Oz!" finished the little Wizard, bounding triumphantly to
his feet and restored to instant cheerfulness by Dorothy's generous
statement. "I tell you, I'll match my wishing powers with any wishing
powers in the country!"
"But you won't have to, now," smiled Bitty Bit with an envious glance
at the sparkling necklaces Dorothy had placed on the table before Ozma.
"With these emeralds and your own magic powers, nothing like this could
ever happen in Oz again."
"Thank you, Bitty Bit," smiled the little Queen, nodding graciously.
"Thank you a hundred times for all you have done for us and for Oz, and
perhaps, if we coaxed, you might remain as our Royal Seer?"
"Hear, hear, our Royal Seer!" cried Pigasus, clapping his wings. "Will
you be it, Sir Bitty Bit?"
"Well," acknowledged Bitty Bit, with a low bow toward Ozma, "I'm
tempted to accept, but, on the other hand, I am so foolishly fond of my
own castle, I just could not be content in any other place. But if Your
Majesty ever needs me for serious business, you can always command my
services by using either the wishing necklaces or your magic belt."
"And he'll come like a shot in his shooting tower," Dorothy smiled as
she slid carefully from Nick Chopper's knee. "But, say--what's that?"
A hundred footsteps sounded in the corridor, accompanied by confused
voices, questioning calls and finally loud thumps on the door. "It must
be all the rest of the courtiers and visitors remembering they have a
Queen!"
"I hear Scraps and the Scarecrow," squealed Pigasus, "I hear Bettsy
Bobbin and Trot. Quick, Dorothy, open the door."
"No, no, not yet," said Ozma gently but firmly. "There is more, much
more for us to hear and settle. But you go out, Pigasus, and tell them
all about our enchantment, Skamperoo's reign and our rescue."
"Be glad to! Charmed! And trust me to do it right." Swelling up with
importance and pride, Pigasus flew out the window before Dorothy
had time to open the door. A few moments later, the company in the
Wizard's laboratory heard him calling everyone to follow him to the
Throne Room and hear the most startling news since Dorothy killed the
wicked Witches of the East and West.
"And how he'll love telling it," said Bitty Bit, smiling across at the
Wizard of Ev. "A great idea of yours, this pig, Jinny. Even if his
verses are low, I like him."
"Oh, everyone likes Pigasus," declared Dorothy, coming over to sit
on the arm of Glinda's chair. "But what I'd like to know is how that
Kitchen Boy happened to have the emeralds, how Skamperoo got them and
where they came from in the first place?"
"Yes," murmured Glinda, who, like the Wizard, felt very much annoyed
to have been overpowered by a fat, unimportant monarch like Skamperoo.
"Now that we have these wishing chains, we must guard them carefully to
keep them from falling into such mischievous hands again."
"I believe Bitty Bit can tell us the story of the emeralds," said Ozma,
who had been much impressed by the cheerful little seer of Some Summit.
"With his gift of foreseeing and foretelling he probably knows the
whole story."
"Can he look backward as well as forward?" inquired the Wizard
challengingly.
"Just as well," confessed Bitty Bit with an embarrassed little cough,
and as every head turned expectantly toward him, the sage closed his
eyes and quietly told them the interesting history of Matiah's three
necklaces.
"These magic emeralds," began Bitty Bit, waving his hands rhythmically
backward and forward, "were first collected and strung into necklaces
by a wizard named Wam for the King of the Green Mountain as a gift for
the wood nymph Lorna. But the King of the Green Mountain was an ugly
little dwarf, and though she had promised to marry him, no sooner did
Lorna have the necklaces than she turned the King into a frog and hid
herself away in her own forest. In the giant hollow tree where Lorna
lived there was a mischievous family of squirrels. That night, as Lorna
lay sleeping with the emeralds on a little golden plate beside her,
one of the squirrels, thinking the gems some new and delicious kind of
nuts, stole and buried them away for the winter. Next morning, though
Lorna ran crying and searching all through the forest, she was unable
to find her wishing necklaces."
"Then what became of them?" gasped Dorothy as Bitty Bit, opening his
eyes for a moment, blinked cheerfully over their heads.
"Wait, I'll tell you!" Closing his eyes, the sage went hurriedly on
with the story. "Ah, so this is it! A woodcutter's boy, poking about
among the leaves, found the emeralds and as emeralds in themselves
are not uncommon in Oz, he traded them to a peddler for a new ax. The
peddler, arriving after a long while in Skampavia, had no trouble in
disposing of the jewels. In Skampavia, you must know, emeralds, pearls,
or jewels of any kind are practically unknown, and a merchant gave the
peddler not only his house and shop, but all of his merchandise for the
three sparkling chains. By a law in Skampavia every subject must render
to the King one-third of all he owns or raises, and in due course, one
of the necklaces was sent to Skamperoo. The King, delighted with the
sparkling gems, insisted on having all three necklaces, and Matiah
himself brought them to the castle, determined, if possible, to steal
them back at the first opportunity. In order to do so without arousing
the suspicions of the King, he pretends to be a Wizard and tells him if
he, Matiah, wears the three necklaces, he can grant any wish the King
may make, but that as he makes the wish he must close his eyes and
count to a hundred. As soon as Skamperoo began to count, Matiah started
to run off with the emeralds and that accounts for the white horse,
for you see Skamperoo's first wish was for a splendid white charger
with a golden mane and tail. Frightened almost out of his senses by
the sudden appearance of the horse and the knowledge that the chains
really did have some magic power, Matiah steals back beside the King,
resolved to wait for another opportunity to procure the necklaces.
Meanwhile, Skamperoo, excited and happy over the granting of his first
wish, confides in the merchant his second wish and ambition to be ruler
of Oz. Matiah, to gain time in which he can work out the secret of the
emeralds' power, approves of the King's idea, but tells him he can
only grant one wish a week. He then advises Skamperoo to cause all the
people in Oz to forget their former rulers and to remove the Wizard and
all his magic, Ozma, and the rulers of the four Oz countries to the
inaccessible caverns of Thunder Mountain.
"Now while Matiah is trying his best to discover the trick of the magic
emeralds, Skamperoo, growing tired of the tempery fellow, appealed
to his horse. The horse, being magically brought to life and being
unusually sharp-witted and quick, soon worked out the problem. With his
help Skamperoo wished the spell of forgetting upon Ozma's subjects,
banished her Highness and all of the others just as Matiah had
suggested and managed to rule Oz for three whole days."
"But what became of Matiah?" asked Glinda, leaning forward eagerly.
"At this moment Matiah is lying in a senseless condition in the
underground chamber beneath this castle," Bitty Bit told them solemnly
and without opening his eyes. "Soon after Skamperoo left for Oz, the
merchant was driven out of Skampavia by Pinny Penny, whom Skamperoo had
made King. Matiah, furious to think the apparently stupid sovereign had
outwitted him, bribed an eagle to carry him across the desert, arrived
at the Emerald City and soon afterward managed to really steal the
necklaces from Skamperoo. Discovering beneath the cellar the excavated
chambers of the old Gnome King, he retired to this quiet spot to again
experiment with the emeralds. Needing another person to help, he seized
the Kitchen Boy who had come to the cellar for supplies and forced him
to assist in his experiments. How soon he might have discovered the
real trick of the chains I cannot say, but our own arrival and Gloma's
powder of darkness happily interrupted him. The Kitchen Boy, who had
kept his eyes glued to the stone steps and trapdoor during the entire
morning, made an immediate dash for freedom and managed to escape in
spite of the darkness. Matiah, not so fortunate, rushed into a stone
pillar and knocked himself senseless. He's still lying there, and I
suggest that your Majesty deal with him at once."
"I will," decided Ozma firmly, as Bitty Bit opened his eyes and looked
cheerfully around the table. "And I'll do it by means of these very
magic emeralds. Put on the emeralds, Dorothy, for you alone know the
secret of their magic power." So Dorothy, anxious to have Matiah out
of Oz before he recovered his wicked wits, hastily clasped the three
chains around her slim throat.
"It is my earnest wish that Matiah shall immediately and henceforth
forget the emerald necklaces of Oz, return to his country and become a
good and simple citizen of Skampavia," said Ozma seriously, beginning
her count to one hundred.
"He's gone! He's gone!" piped up Bitty Bit, who had closed his eyes as
soon as Ozma started to speak. "And if I were you, my dear, I would
send off that red eagle too. I see him lurking on the edge of our city
with an exceedingly fierce light in his eye." So Ozma made another
wish, turning the eagle to a harmless sparrow.
"And what about Skamperoo?" asked Cheeriobed, King of the Munchkins,
who up to this time had not spoken a word. "Should he not be punished
in some way?"
"I would not bother with old Skamper," advised Bitty Bit with a small
chuckle. "Before I agreed to give his white horse those five wishes,
I closed my eyes, looked ahead, and discovered that they would all be
good wishes. Not only good but wise, and from now on I think you can
trust that clever white horse and a little fellow called Pinny Penny to
keep their Master out of mischief and Oz."
"Well, in that case," sighed Ozma, rather breathless from so much
counting, "everything is happily settled."
"And in that case," boomed Joe King, gallantly helping his little Queen
to her feet, "I suggest we start celebrating all over again, not only
the discovery of Oz by mortals, but the saving of Oz as well! I, for
one, feel terribly cheated at missing Notta's circus."
"So do I! So do I!" exclaimed little Prince Philador, climbing
boisterously into Highboy's saddle. "I want to see a circus!"
"And so you shall," promised Ozma gaily, "we will start the celebration
at exactly the point where we left Oz for Thunder Mountain, and have
the tableaux, the pageants, and the picnics all over again."
And that, my dear, is exactly what they _did_ do, and everyone,
including Bitty Bit, enjoyed himself so much there was not an unhappy
person in the Emerald City. And not until the end of the second day did
Dorothy remember to tell Ozma the magic secret of the wishing emeralds.
"On the sixth count, you wink both eyes," whispered Dorothy, giving
Ozma a little hug. "Good night!"
"Good gracious, so THAT'S it!" smiled Ozma, comprehending instantly
what Dorothy meant. "I suppose Matiah did it in sheer excitement the
first time. Well, I have often heard of doing things in the twinkling
of an eye, but now we shall really be able to have them that way.
No one knows this secret but you and me and a white horse, and no
one _must_ ever know it, for wishes are dangerous and cause more
unhappiness than joy, so we'll never tell another soul, will we,
Dorothy?"
"Never!" agreed the little girl, looking solemnly over her shoulder at
the safe where Ozma had hidden her new treasure.