Woot the Wanderer slept that night in the tin castle of the Emperor of
the Winkies and found his tin bed quite comfortable. Early the next
morning he rose and took a walk through the gardens, where there were
tin fountains and beds of curious tin flowers, and where tin birds
perched upon the branches of tin trees and sang songs that sounded like
the notes of tin whistles. All these wonders had been made by the
clever Winkie tinsmiths, who wound the birds up every morning so that
they would move about and sing.
After breakfast the boy went into the throne room, where the Emperor
was having his tin joints carefully oiled by a servant, while other
servants were stuffing sweet, fresh straw into the body of the
Scarecrow.
Woot watched this operation with much interest, for the Scarecrow's
body was only a suit of clothes filled with straw. The coat was
buttoned tight to keep the packed straw from falling out and a rope was
tied around the waist to hold it in shape and prevent the straw from
sagging down. The Scarecrow's head was a gunnysack filled with bran, on
which the eyes, nose and mouth had been painted. His hands were white
cotton gloves stuffed with fine straw. Woot noticed that even when
carefully stuffed and patted into shape, the straw man was awkward in
his movements and decidedly wobbly on his feet, so the boy wondered if
the Scarecrow would be able to travel with them all the way to the
forests of the Munchkin Country of Oz.
The preparations made for this important journey were very simple. A
knapsack was filled with food and given Woot the Wanderer to carry upon
his back, for the food was for his use alone. The Tin Woodman
shouldered an axe which was sharp and brightly polished, and the
Scarecrow put the Emperor's oil-can in his pocket, that he might oil
his friend's joints should they need it.
"Who will govern the Winkie Country during your absence?" asked the boy.
"Why, the Country will run itself," answered the Emperor. "As a matter
of fact, my people do not need an Emperor, for Ozma of Oz watches over
the welfare of all her subjects, including the Winkies. Like a good
many kings and emperors, I have a grand title, but very little real
power, which allows me time to amuse myself in my own way. The people
of Oz have but one law to obey, which is: 'Behave Yourself,' so it is
easy for them to abide by this Law, and you'll notice they behave very
well. But it is time for us to be off, and I am eager to start because
I suppose that that poor Munchkin girl is anxiously awaiting my coming."
"She's waited a long time already, seems to me," remarked the
Scarecrow, as they left the grounds of the castle and followed a path
that led eastward.
"True," replied the Tin Woodman; "but I've noticed that the last end of
a wait, however long it has been, is the hardest to endure; so I must
try to make Nimmie Amee happy as soon as possible."
"Ah; that proves you have a Kind heart," remarked the Scarecrow,
approvingly.
"It's too bad he hasn't a Loving Heart," said Woot. "This Tin Man is
going to marry a nice girl through kindness, and not because he loves
her, and somehow that doesn't seem quite right."
"Even so, I am not sure it isn't best for the girl," said the
Scarecrow, who seemed very intelligent for a straw man, "for a loving
husband is not always kind, while a kind husband is sure to make any
girl content."
"Nimmie Amee will become an Empress!" announced the Tin Woodman,
proudly. "I shall have a tin gown made for her, with tin ruffles and
tucks on it, and she shall have tin slippers, and tin earrings and
bracelets, and wear a tin crown on her head. I am sure that will
delight Nimmie Amee, for all girls are fond of finery."
"Are we going to the Munchkin Country by way of the Emerald City?"
inquired the Scarecrow, who looked upon the Tin Woodman as the leader
of the party.
"I think not," was the reply. "We are engaged upon a rather delicate
adventure, for we are seeking a girl who fears her former lover has
forgotten her. It will be rather hard for me, you must admit, when I
confess to Nimmie Amee that I have come to marry her because it is my
duty to do so, and therefore the fewer witnesses there are to our
meeting the better for both of us. After I have found Nimmie Amee and
she has managed to control her joy at our reunion, I shall take her to
the Emerald City and introduce her to Ozma and Dorothy, and to Betsy
Bobbin and Tiny Trot, and all our other friends; but, if I remember
rightly, poor Nimmie Amee has a sharp tongue when angry, and she may be
a trifle angry with me, at first, because I have been so long in coming
to her."
"I can understand that," said Woot gravely. "But how can we get to that
part of the Munchkin Country where you once lived without passing
through the Emerald City?"
"Why, that is easy," the Tin Man assured him.
"I have a map of Oz in my pocket," persisted the boy, "and it shows
that the Winkie Country, where we now are, is at the west of Oz, and
the Munchkin Country at the east, while directly between them lies the
Emerald City."
"True enough; but we shall go toward the north, first of all, into the
Gillikin Country, and so pass around the Emerald City," explained the
Tin Woodman.
"That may prove a dangerous journey," replied the boy. "I used to live
in one of the top corners of the Gillikin Country, near to Oogaboo, and
I have been told that in this northland country are many people whom it
is not pleasant to meet. I was very careful to avoid them during my
journey south."
"A Wanderer should have no fear," observed the Scarecrow, who was
wobbling along in a funny, haphazard manner, but keeping pace with his
friends.
"Fear does not make one a coward," returned Woot, growing a little red
in the face, "but I believe it is more easy to avoid danger than to
overcome it. The safest way is the best way, even for one who is brave
and determined."
"Do not worry, for we shall not go far to the north," said the Emperor.
"My one idea is to avoid the Emerald City without going out of our way
more than is necessary. Once around the Emerald City we will turn south
into the Munchkin Country, where the Scarecrow and I are well
acquainted and have many friends."
"I have traveled some in the Gillikin Country," remarked the Scarecrow,
"and while I must say I have met some strange people there at times, I
have never yet been harmed by them."
"Well, it's all the same to me," said Woot, with assumed carelessness.
"Dangers, when they cannot be avoided, are often quite interesting, and
I am willing to go wherever you two venture to go."
So they left the path they had been following and began to travel
toward the northeast, and all that day they were in the pleasant Winkie
Country, and all the people they met saluted the Emperor with great
respect and wished him good luck on his journey. At night they stopped
at a house where they were well entertained and where Woot was given a
comfortable bed to sleep in.
"Were the Scarecrow and I alone," said the Tin Woodman, "we would
travel by night as well as by day; but with a meat person in our party,
we must halt at night to permit him to rest."
"Meat tires, after a day's travel," added the Scarecrow, "while straw
and tin never tire at all. Which proves," said he, "that we are
somewhat superior to people made in the common way."
Woot could not deny that he was tired, and he slept soundly until
morning, when he was given a good breakfast, smoking hot.
"You two miss a great deal by not eating," he said to his companions.
"It is true," responded the Scarecrow. "We miss suffering from hunger,
when food cannot be had, and we miss a stomachache, now and then."
As he said this, the Scarecrow glanced at the Tin Woodman, who nodded
his assent.
All that second day they traveled steadily, entertaining one another
the while with stories of adventures they had formerly met and
listening to the Scarecrow recite poetry. He had learned a great many
poems from Professor Wogglebug and loved to repeat them whenever
anybody would listen to him. Of course Woot and the Tin Woodman now
listened, because they could not do otherwise--unless they rudely ran
away from their stuffed comrade. One of the Scarecrow's recitations was
like this:
"What sound is so sweet
As the straw from the wheat
When it crunkles so tender and low?
It is yellow and bright,
So it gives me delight
To crunkle wherever I go.
"Sweet, fresh, golden Straw!
There is surely no flaw
In a stuffing so clean and compact.
It creaks when I walk,
And it thrills when I talk,
And its fragrance is fine, for a fact.
"To cut me don't hurt,
For I've no blood to squirt,
And I therefore can suffer no pain;
The straw that I use
Doesn't lump up or bruise,
Though it's pounded again and again!
"I know it is said
That my beautiful head
Has brains of mixed wheat-straw and bran,
But my thoughts are so good
I'd not change, if I could,
For the brains of a common meat man.
"Content with my lot,
I'm glad that I'm not
Like others I meet day by day;
If my insides get musty,
Or mussed-up, or dusty,
I get newly stuffed right away."