In her magnificent palace in the Emerald City, the beautiful girl Ruler
of all the wonderful Land of Oz sat in her dainty boudoir with her
friend Princess Dorothy beside her. Ozma was studying a roll of
manuscript which she had taken from the Royal Library, while Dorothy
worked at her embroidery and at times stooped to pat a shaggy little
black dog that lay at her feet. The little dog's name was Toto, and he
was Dorothy's faithful companion.
To judge Ozma of Oz by the standards of our world, you would think her
very young--perhaps fourteen or fifteen years of age--yet for years she
had ruled the Land of Oz and had never seemed a bit older. Dorothy
appeared much younger than Ozma. She had been a little girl when first
she came to the Land of Oz, and she was a little girl still, and would
never seem to be a day older while she lived in this wonderful
fairyland.
Oz was not always a fairyland, I am told. Once it was much like other
lands, except it was shut in by a dreadful desert of sandy wastes that
lay all around it, thus preventing its people from all contact with the
rest of the world. Seeing this isolation, the fairy band of Queen
Lurline, passing over Oz while on a journey, enchanted the country and
so made it a Fairyland. And Queen Lurline left one of her fairies to
rule this enchanted Land of Oz, and then passed on and forgot all about
it.
From that moment no one in Oz ever died. Those who were old remained
old; those who were young and strong did not change as years passed
them by; the children remained children always, and played and romped
to their hearts' content, while all the babies lived in their cradles
and were tenderly cared for and never grew up. So people in Oz stopped
counting how old they were in years, for years made no difference in
their appearance and could not alter their station. They did not get
sick, so there were no doctors among them. Accidents might happen to
some, on rare occasions, it is true, and while no one could die
naturally, as other people do, it was possible that one might be
totally destroyed. Such incidents, however, were very unusual, and so
seldom was there anything to worry over that the Oz people were as
happy and contented as can be.
Another strange thing about this fairy Land of Oz was that whoever
managed to enter it from the outside world came under the magic spell
of the place and did not change in appearance as long as they lived
there. So Dorothy, who now lived with Ozma, seemed just the same sweet
little girl she had been when first she came to this delightful
fairyland.
Perhaps all parts of Oz might not be called truly delightful, but it
was surely delightful in the neighborhood of the Emerald City, where
Ozma reigned. Her loving influence was felt for many miles around, but
there were places in the mountains of the Gillikin Country, and the
forests of the Quadling Country, and perhaps in far-away parts of the
Munchkin and Winkie Countries, where the inhabitants were somewhat rude
and uncivilized and had not yet come under the spell of Ozma's wise and
kindly rule. Also, when Oz first became a fairyland, it harbored
several witches and magicians and sorcerers and necromancers, who were
scattered in various parts, but most of these had been deprived of
their magic powers, and Ozma had issued a royal edict forbidding anyone
in her dominions to work magic except Glinda the Good and the Wizard of
Oz. Ozma herself, being a real fairy, knew a lot of magic, but she only
used it to benefit her subjects.
This little explanation will help you to understand better the story
you are reaching, but most of it is already known to those who are
familiar with the Oz people whose adventures they have followed in
other Oz books.
Ozma and Dorothy were fast friends and were much together. Everyone in
Oz loved Dorothy almost as well as they did their lovely Ruler, for the
little Kansas girl's good fortune had not spoiled her or rendered her
at all vain. She was just the same brave and true and adventurous child
as before she lived in a royal palace and became the chum of the fairy
Ozma.
In the room in which the two sat--which was one of Ozma's private suite
of apartments--hung the famous Magic Picture. This was the source of
constant interest to little Dorothy. One had but to stand before it and
wish to see what any person was doing, and at once a scene would flash
upon the magic canvas which showed exactly where that person was, and
like our own moving pictures would reproduce the actions of that person
as long as you cared to watch them. So today, when Dorothy tired of her
embroidery, she drew the curtains from before the Magic Picture and
wished to see what her friend Button Bright was doing. Button Bright,
she saw, was playing ball with Ojo, the Munchkin boy, so Dorothy next
wished to see what her Aunt Em was doing. The picture showed Aunt Em
quietly engaged in darning socks for Uncle Henry, so Dorothy wished to
see what her old friend the Tin Woodman was doing.
The Tin Woodman was then just leaving his tin castle in the company of
the Scarecrow and Woot the Wanderer. Dorothy had never seen this boy
before, so she wondered who he was. Also she was curious to know where
the three were going, for she noticed Woot's knapsack and guessed they
had started on a long journey. She asked Ozma about it, but Ozma did
not know.
That afternoon Dorothy again saw the travelers in the Magic Picture,
but they were merely tramping through the country and Dorothy was not
much interested in them. A couple of days later, however, the girl,
being again with Ozma, wished to see her friends, the Scarecrow and the
Tin Woodman in the Magic Picture, and on this occasion found them in
the great castle of Mrs. Yoop, the Giantess, who was at the time about
to transform them. Both Dorothy and Ozma now became greatly interested
and watched the transformations with indignation and horror.
"What a wicked Giantess!" exclaimed Dorothy.
"Yes," answered Ozma, "she must be punished for this cruelty to our
friends, and to the poor boy who is with them."
After this they followed the adventure of the little Brown Bear and the
Tin Owl and the Green Monkey with breathless interest, and were
delighted when they escaped from Mrs. Yoop. They did not know, then,
who the Canary was, but realized it must be the transformation of some
person of consequence, whom the Giantess had also enchanted.
When, finally, the day came when the adventurers headed south into the
Munchkin Country, Dorothy asked anxiously:
"Can't something be done for them, Ozma? Can't you change 'em back into
their own shapes? They've suffered enough from these dreadful
transformations, seems to me."
"I've been studying ways to help them, ever since they were
transformed," replied Ozma. "Mrs. Yoop is now the only yookoohoo in my
dominions, and the yookoohoo magic is very peculiar and hard for others
to understand, yet I am resolved to make the attempt to break these
enchantments. I may not succeed, but I shall do the best I can. From
the directions our friends are taking, I believe they are going to pass
by Jinjur's Ranch, so if we start now we may meet them there. Would you
like to go with me, Dorothy?"
"Of course," answered the little girl; "I wouldn't miss it for
anything."
"Then order the Red Wagon," said Ozma of Oz, "and we will start at
once."
Dorothy ran to do as she was bid, while Ozma went to her Magic Room to
make ready the things she believed she would need. In half an hour the
Red Wagon stood before the grand entrance of the palace, and before it
was hitched the Wooden Sawhorse, which was Ozma's favorite steed.
This Sawhorse, while made of wood, was very much alive and could travel
swiftly and without tiring. To keep the ends of his wooden legs from
wearing down short, Ozma had shod the Sawhorse with plates of pure
gold. His harness was studded with brilliant emeralds and other jewels
and so, while he himself was not at all handsome, his outfit made a
splendid appearance.
Since the Sawhorse could understand her spoken words, Ozma used no
reins to guide him. She merely told him where to go. When she came from
the palace with Dorothy, they both climbed into the Red Wagon and then
the little dog, Toto, ran up and asked:
"Are you going to leave me behind, Dorothy?" Dorothy looked at Ozma,
who smiled in return and said:
"Toto may go with us, if you wish him to."
So Dorothy lifted the little dog into the wagon, for, while he could
run fast, he could not keep up with the speed of the wonderful Sawhorse.
Away they went, over hills and through meadows, covering the ground
with astonishing speed. It is not surprising, therefore, that the Red
Wagon arrived before Jinjur's house just as that energetic young lady
had finished scrubbing the Green Monkey and was about to lead him to
the caramel patch.