Woot had seen very little of magic during his wanderings, while the
Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman had seen a great deal of many sorts in
their lives, yet all three were greatly impressed by Mrs. Yoop's powers.
She did not affect any mysterious airs or indulge in chants or mystic
rites, as most witches do, nor was the Giantess old and ugly or
disagreeable in face or manner. Nevertheless, she frightened her
prisoners more than any witch could have done.
"Please be seated," she said to them, as she sat herself down in a great
arm-chair and spread her beautiful embroidered skirts for them to
admire. But all the chairs in the room were so high that our friends
could not climb to the seats of them. Mrs. Yoop observed this and waved
her hand, when instantly a golden ladder appeared leaning against a
chair opposite her own.
"Climb up," said she, and they obeyed, the Tin Man and the boy assisting
the more clumsy Scarecrow. When they were all seated in a row on the
cushion of the chair, the Giantess continued: "Now tell me how you
happened to travel in this direction, and where you came from and what
your errand is."
So the Tin Woodman told her all about Nimmie Amee, and how he had
decided to find her and marry her, although he had no Loving Heart. The
story seemed to amuse the big woman, who then began to ask the Scarecrow
questions and for the first time in her life heard of Ozma of Oz, and of
Dorothy and Jack Pumpkinhead and Dr. Pipt and Tik-tok and many other Oz
people who are well known in the Emerald City. Also Woot had to tell
his story, which was very simple and did not take long. The Giantess
laughed heartily when the boy related their adventure at Loonville, but
said she knew nothing of the Loons because she never left her Valley.
"There are wicked people who would like to capture me, as they did my
giant husband, Mr. Yoop," said she; "so I stay at home and mind my own
business."
"If Ozma knew that you dared to work magic without her consent, she
would punish you severely," declared the Scarecrow, "for this castle is
in the Land of Oz, and no persons in the Land of Oz are permitted to
work magic except Glinda the Good and the little Wizard who lives with
Ozma in the Emerald City."
"_That_ for your Ozma!" exclaimed the Giantess, snapping her fingers in
derision. "What do I care for a girl whom I have never seen and who has
never seen me?"
"But Ozma is a fairy," said the Tin Woodman, "and therefore she is very
powerful. Also, we are under Ozma's protection, and to injure us in any
way would make her extremely angry."
"What I do here, in my own private castle in this secluded
Valley--where no one comes but fools like you--can never be known to
your fairy Ozma," returned the Giantess. "Do not seek to frighten me
from my purpose, and do not allow yourselves to be frightened, for it is
best to meet bravely what cannot be avoided. I am now going to bed, and
in the morning I will give you all new forms, such as will be more
interesting to me than the ones you now wear. Good night, and pleasant
dreams."
Saying this, Mrs. Yoop rose from her chair and walked through a doorway
into another room. So heavy was the tread of the Giantess that even the
walls of the big stone castle trembled as she stepped. She closed the
door of her bedroom behind her, and then suddenly the light went out and
the three prisoners found themselves in total darkness.
The Tin Woodman and the Scarecrow didn't mind the dark at all, but Woot
the Wanderer felt worried to be left in this strange place in this
strange manner, without being able to see any danger that might
threaten.
"The big woman might have given me a bed, anyhow," he said to his
companions, and scarcely had he spoken when he felt something press
against his legs, which were then dangling from the seat of the chair.
Leaning down, he put out his hand and found that a bedstead had
appeared, with mattress, sheets and covers, all complete. He lost no
time in slipping down upon the bed and was soon fast asleep.
During the night the Scarecrow and the Emperor talked in low tones
together, and they got out of the chair and moved all about the room,
feeling for some hidden spring that might open a door or window and
permit them to escape.
Morning found them still unsuccessful in the quest and as soon as it was
daylight Woot's bed suddenly disappeared, and he dropped to the floor
with a thump that quickly wakened him. And after a time the Giantess
came from her bedroom, wearing another dress that was quite as elaborate
as the one in which she had been attired the evening before, and also
wearing the pretty lace apron. Having seated herself in a chair, she
said:
"I'm hungry; so I'll have breakfast at once."
She clapped her hands together and instantly the table appeared before
her, spread with snowy linen and laden with golden dishes. But there was
no food upon the table, nor anything else except a pitcher of water, a
bundle of weeds and a handful of pebbles. But the Giantess poured some
water into her coffee-pot, patted it once or twice with her hand, and
then poured out a cupful of steaming hot coffee.
"Would you like some?" she asked Woot.
He was suspicious of magic coffee, but it smelled so good that he could
not resist it; so he answered: "If you please, Madam."
The Giantess poured out another cup and set it on the floor for Woot. It
was as big as a tub, and the golden spoon in the saucer beside the cup
was so heavy the boy could scarcely lift it. But Woot managed to get a
sip of the coffee and found it delicious.
Mrs. Yoop next transformed the weeds into a dish of oatmeal, which she
ate with good appetite.
"Now, then," said she, picking up the pebbles, "I'm wondering whether I
shall have fish-balls or lamb-chops to complete my meal. Which would you
prefer, Woot the Wanderer?"
"If you please, I'll eat the food in my knapsack," answered the boy.
"Your magic food might taste good, but I'm afraid of it."
The woman laughed at his fears and transformed the pebbles into
fish-balls.
[Illustration]
"I suppose you think that after you had eaten this food it would turn to
stones again and make you sick," she remarked; "but that would be
impossible. _Nothing I transform ever gets back to its former shape
again_, so these fish-balls can never more be pebbles. That is why I
have to be careful of my transformations," she added, busily eating
while she talked, "for while I can change forms at will I can never
change them back again--which proves that even the powers of a clever
Yookoohoo are limited. When I have transformed you three people, you
must always wear the shapes that I have given you."
"Then please don't transform us," begged Woot, "for we are quite
satisfied to remain as we are."
"I am not expecting to satisfy you, but intend to please myself," she
declared, "and my pleasure is to give you new shapes. For, if by chance
your friends came in search of you, not one of them would be able to
recognize you."
Her tone was so positive that they knew it would be useless to protest.
The woman was not unpleasant to look at; her face was not cruel; her
voice was big but gracious in tone; but her words showed that she
possessed a merciless heart and no pleadings would alter her wicked
purpose.
Mrs. Yoop took ample time to finish her breakfast and the prisoners had
no desire to hurry her, but finally the meal was concluded and she
folded her napkin and made the table disappear by clapping her hands
together. Then she turned to her captives and said:
"The next thing on the programme is to change your forms."
"Have you decided what forms to give us?" asked the Scarecrow, uneasily.
"Yes; I dreamed it all out while I was asleep. This Tin Man seems a very
solemn person"--indeed, the Tin Woodman _was_ looking solemn, just then,
for he was greatly disturbed--"so I shall change him into an Owl."
All she did was to point one finger at him as she spoke, but immediately
the form of the Tin Woodman began to change and in a few seconds Nick
Chopper, the Emperor of the Winkies, had been transformed into an Owl,
with eyes as big as saucers and a hooked beak and strong claws. But he
was still tin. He was a Tin Owl, with tin legs and beak and eyes and
feathers. When he flew to the back of a chair and perched upon it, his
tin feathers rattled against one another with a tinny clatter.
The Giantess seemed much amused by the Tin Owl's appearance, for her
laugh was big and jolly.
"You're not liable to get lost," said she, "for your wings and feathers
will make a racket wherever you go. And, on my word, a Tin Owl is so
rare and pretty that it is an improvement on the ordinary bird. I did
not intend to make you tin, but I forgot to wish you to be meat.
However, tin you were, and tin you are, and as it's too late to change
you, that settles it."
Until now the Scarecrow had rather doubted the possibility of Mrs.
Yoop's being able to transform him, or his friend the Tin Woodman, for
they were not made as ordinary people are. He had worried more over what
might happen to Woot than to himself, but now he began to worry about
himself.
"Madam," he said hastily, "I consider this action very impolite. It may
even be called rude, considering we are your guests."
"You are not guests, for I did not invite you here," she replied.
"Perhaps not; but we craved hospitality. We threw ourselves upon your
mercy, so to speak, and we now find you have no mercy. Therefore, if you
will excuse the expression, I must say it is downright wicked to take
our proper forms away from us and give us others that we do not care
for."
"Are you trying to make me angry?" she asked, frowning.
"By no means," said the Scarecrow; "I'm just trying to make you act more
ladylike."
[Illustration]
"Oh, indeed! In _my_ opinion, Mr. Scarecrow, you are now acting like a
bear--so a Bear you shall be!"
Again the dreadful finger pointed, this time in the Scarecrow's
direction, and at once his form began to change. In a few seconds he had
become a small Brown Bear, but he was stuffed with straw as he had been
before, and when the little Brown Bear shuffled across the floor he was
just as wobbly as the Scarecrow had been and moved just as awkwardly.
Woot was amazed, but he was also thoroughly frightened.
"Did it hurt?" he asked the little Brown Bear.
"No, of course not," growled the Scarecrow in the Bear's form; "but I
don't like walking on four legs; it's undignified."
"Consider _my_ humiliation!" chirped the Tin Owl, trying to settle its
tin feathers smoothly with its tin beak. "And I can't see very well,
either. The light seems to hurt my eyes."
"That's because you are an Owl," said Woot. "I think you will see better
in the dark."
"Well," remarked the Giantess, "I'm very well pleased with these new
forms, for my part, and I'm sure you will like them better when you get
used to them. So now," she added, turning to the boy, "it is _your_
turn."
"Don't you think you'd better leave me as I am?" asked Woot in a
trembling voice.
"No," she replied, "I'm going to make a Monkey of you. I love
monkeys--they're so cute!--and I think a Green Monkey will be lots of
fun and amuse me when I am sad."
Woot shivered, for again the terrible magic finger pointed, and pointed
directly his way. He felt himself changing; not so very much, however,
and it didn't hurt him a bit. He looked down at his limbs and body and
found that his clothes were gone and his skin covered with a fine,
silk-like green fur. His hands and feet were now those of a monkey. He
realized he really _was_ a monkey, and his first feeling was one of
anger. He began to chatter as monkeys do. He bounded to the seat of a
giant chair, and then to its back and with a wild leap sprang upon the
laughing Giantess. His idea was to seize her hair and pull it out by the
roots, and so have revenge for her wicked transformations. But she
raised her hand and said:
"Gently, my dear Monkey--gently! You're not angry; you're happy as can
be!"
Woot stopped short. No; he wasn't a bit angry now; he felt as
good-humored and gay as ever he did when a boy. Instead of pulling Mrs.
Yoop's hair, he perched on her shoulder and smoothed her soft cheek with
his hairy paw. In return, she smiled at the funny green animal and
patted his head.
"Very good," said the Giantess. "Let us all become friends and be happy
together. How is my Tin Owl feeling?"
"Quite comfortable," said the Owl. "I don't like it, to be sure, but I'm
not going to allow my new form to make me unhappy. But, tell me, please:
What is a Tin Owl good for?"
"You are only good to make me laugh," replied the Giantess.
"Will a stuffed Bear also make you laugh?" inquired the Scarecrow,
sitting back on his haunches to look up at her.
"Of course," declared the Giantess; "and I have added a little magic to
your transformations to make you all contented with wearing your new
forms. I'm sorry I didn't think to do that when I transformed Polychrome
into a Canary-Bird. But perhaps, when she sees how cheerful you are, she
will cease to be silent and sullen and take to singing. I will go get
the bird and let you see her."
With this, Mrs. Yoop went into the next room and soon returned bearing a
golden cage in which sat upon a swinging perch a lovely yellow Canary.
[Illustration]
"Polychrome," said the Giantess, "permit me to introduce to you a Green
Monkey, which used to be a boy called Woot the Wanderer, and a Tin Owl,
which used to be a Tin Woodman named Nick Chopper, and a straw-stuffed
little Brown Bear which used to be a live Scarecrow."
"We already know one another," declared the Scarecrow. "The bird is
Polychrome, the Rainbow's Daughter, and she and I used to be good
friends."
"Are you really my old friend, the Scarecrow?" asked the bird, in a
sweet, low voice.
"There!" cried Mrs. Yoop; "that's the first time she has spoken since
she was transformed."
"I am really your old friend," answered the Scarecrow; "but you must
pardon me for appearing just now in this brutal form."
"I am a bird, as you are, dear Poly," said the Tin Woodman; "but, alas!
a Tin Owl is not as beautiful as a Canary-Bird."
"How dreadful it all is!" sighed the Canary. "Couldn't you manage to
escape from this terrible Yookoohoo?"
"No," answered the Scarecrow, "we tried to escape, but failed. She first
made us her prisoners and then transformed us. But how did she manage to
get _you_, Polychrome?"
"I was asleep, and she took unfair advantage of me," answered the bird
sadly. "Had I been awake, I could easily have protected myself."
"Tell me," said the Green Monkey earnestly, as he came close to the
cage, "what must we do, Daughter of the Rainbow, to escape from these
transformations? Can't you help us, being a Fairy?"
[Illustration]
"At present I am powerless to help even myself," replied the Canary.
"That's the exact truth!" exclaimed the Giantess, who seemed pleased to
hear the bird talk, even though it complained; "you are all helpless and
in my power, so you may as well make up your minds to accept your fate
and be content. Remember that you are transformed for good, since no
magic on earth can break your enchantments. I am now going out for my
morning walk, for each day after breakfast I walk sixteen times around
my castle for exercise. Amuse yourselves while I am gone, and when I
return I hope to find you all reconciled and happy."
So the Giantess walked to the door by which our friends had entered the
great hall and spoke one word: "Open!" Then the door swung open and
after Mrs. Yoop had passed out it closed again with a snap as its
powerful bolts shot into place. The Green Monkey had rushed toward the
opening, hoping to escape, but he was too late and only got a bump on
his nose as the door slammed shut.
The Lace Apron
[Illustration]