HANDY MANDY IN 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 1937
By
THE REILLY & LEE CO.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
PRINTED IN THE U. S. A.
[Transcriber's Note: Extensive research did not uncover any
evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
* * * * *
_Hello there!_
Another spring, another book and another old Wizard in Oz!
Imagine! And with Ruggedo mixed up in the story there's bound to be
fun and excitement.
Now I do hope you like Handy Mandy and Nox. I'm very fond of
the Royal Ox, myself. He rather reminds me of Kabumpo, while Kerry
is as nice a young King as I've met in an Oz age. But tell me what
YOU think. No one, not even Ozma, receives as fine letters as you all
write me, and I can hardly wait to hear all this year's news and those
interesting Ozzy suggestions. My news comes from the palace of the
Red Jinn, today. It seems that he and Kabumpo are really going to pay
that long-promised visit to Randy in Regalia. My--y, I'll have to look
into this. Meanwhile, best and merriest wishes and a high old happy-go-lucky
year to you!
RUTH PLUMLY THOMPSON.
254 S. Farragut Terrace,
West Philadelphia, Pa.
* * * * *
This book is lovingly dedicated to all
the boys and girls who have written
me letters! Yes, here's to YOU and
cheers to you!
RUTH PLUMLY THOMPSON
April, 1937
* * * * *
Handy Mandy in Oz
On many a day had Handy, the Goat Girl of Mern, pursued her goats
up and down the rocky eminences of her native mountain. And
never--NEVER--in her fourteen or so years' experience had she
been blown up by a mountain spring. But there comes, in every one's
experience a day which is unlike every other day, and so it was with
the Goat Girl. As she was pursuing What-a-butter, her favorite goat,
there was a sudden crash, a whish, and up flew the slab of rock on
which she was standing, up and away.
The adventures into which she was carried by this simple though awefull
beginning take a whole book to relate. How she met Nox the Royal Ox of
Keretaria, how together they went in search of little King Kerry, how
at last they rescued him and found themselves feted guests of Ozma of
Oz, all these things you must read for yourselves.
Read what the University of Washington Chapbooks have to say about
the famous Oz series. They _have taught American children to look for
the elements of wonder in the life around them, to realize that even
smoke and machinery may be transformed into fairy lore if only we have
sufficient energy and vision to penetrate to their significance and
transform them to our use.... Some day we may have better fairytales
but that will not be until America is a better country._
(_Edward Wagenknecht._)
CONTENTS
1 Mandy Leaves the Mountain
2 The End of the Ride
3 The King of Keretaria
4 The Message in the Horn
5 Out of Keretaria!
6 Turn Town!
7 A Horn of Plenty
8 Handy Mandy Learns about Oz!
9 The Magic Hammer
10 The King of the Silver Mountain
11 Down to the Prisoners' Pit!
12 Prisoners of the Wizard
13 In the Emerald City of Oz
14 The Robbery Is Discovered
15 The Pilgrim Returns to the Mountain
16 The Wizard's Bargain!
17 Out of the Prison Pit
18 Wutz and the Gnome King Leave for the Capital!
19 At the Bottom of the Mountain!
20 Just in Time!
21 The Hammer Elf Explains
CHAPTER 1
Mandy Leaves the Mountain
"What-a-BUTTER! What-a-BUTTER!" High and clear above the peaks of Mt.
Mern floated the voice of the Goat Girl calling the finest, fattest
but most troublesome of her flock. All the other goats were winding
obediently down toward the village that perched precariously on the
edge of the mountain. But of What-a-butter there was not a single sign
nor whisker.
"Serves me right for spoiling the contrary creature," panted Mandy,
pushing back her thick yellow braids with her second best hand. "Always
wants her own way, that goat--so she does. What-a-butter, I say
WHAT-A-BUTTER--come down here this instant." But only the tantalizing
tinkle of the goat's silver bell came to answer her, for What-a-butter
was climbing up, not down, and there was nothing for Mandy to do but go
after her.
Muttering dire threats which she was much too soft hearted ever to
carry out, the rosy cheeked mountain lass scrambled over crags and
stones, pulling herself up steep precipices, the goat always managing
to keep a few jumps ahead, till soon they were almost at the top of the
mountain!
Here, stopping on a jutting rock to catch her breath and remove the
burrs from her stockings, Mandy heard a dreadful roar and felt an
ominous rumbling beneath her feet. What-a-butter on a narrow ledge just
above heard it too, and cocked her head anxiously on one side. Perhaps
she had best jump down to Mandy. After all, the great silly girl did
feed and pet her, and from the sound of things a storm was brewing.
If there was one thing the goat feared more than another, it was a
thunder-storm, so, rolling her eyes as innocently as if she had not
dragged Mandy all over the mountain she stretched her nose down toward
her weary mistress.
"Bah--ah-ah-ahhhhhhhhhh!" bleated What-a-butter affectionately.
"Oh 'Bah' yourself!" fumed Mandy, making an angry snatch for the Nanny
Goat's beard. "Pets and children are all alike--never appreciate a body
till they have a stomach ache, or a thunder-storm is coming. Now then,
m'lass, be quick with you!"
Holding out her strong arms, Mandy made ready to catch the goat as it
jumped off the ledge. But before What-a-butter could stir, there was
a perfectly awful crash and explosion and up shot the slab of rock on
which Mandy was standing, up--UP and out of sight entirely. Where the
mountain girl had been, a crystal column of water spurted viciously
into the air, so high the bulging eyes of the goat could see no end to
it. Rearing up on her hind legs, What-a-butter turned round and round
in a frantic effort to catch a glimpse of her vanishing Mistress.
Then thinking suddenly what would happen should the torrent turn and
fall upon her, the goat sprang off the ledge and ran madly down the
mountain, bleating like a whole herd of Banshees.
And Mandy, as you can well believe, was as frightened as What-a-butter
and with twice as much reason. The first upheaval, as the rock left the
earth, flung her flat on her nose. Grasping the edges of the slab with
all hands, Mandy hung on for dear life and as a stinging shower of icy
water sprayed her from head to foot, wondered what under the earth was
happening to her. Thorns and thistles! Could the thunder-storm really
have come UP instead of down? Certainly it was raining up, and what
ever was carrying her aloft with such terrible force and relentlessness?
How could the Goat Girl know that a turbulent spring pent up for
thousands of years in the center of Mt. Mern had suddenly burst its
way to freedom! And you have no idea of the tremendous power in a
mountain spring once it uncoils and lets itself go. Mandy's rock might
just as well have been shot into the air by a magic cannon. First it
tore upward as if it meant to knock a hole in the sky, then, still
travelling at incalculable speed, began to arch and take a horizontal
course over the mountains, hills and valleys west of Mern. All poor
Mandy knew was that she was hurtling through space at break-neck speed
with nothing to save or stop her. The long yellow braids of the Goat
Girl streamed out like pennants, while her striped skirt and voluminous
petticoats snapped and fluttered like banners in the wind.
"What-a-butter! Oh What-a-butter!" moaned Mandy, gazing wildly
over the edge of the rock. But pshaw, what was the use of calling?
What-a-butter, even if she heard, could not fly after her through
the air, and when she herself came down not even her own goat would
recognize her. At this depressing thought, Mandy dropped her head on
her arms and began to weep bitterly, for she was quite sure she would
never see her friends--her home--or her goats again.
But the rough and frugal life on Mt. Mern had made the Goat Girl both
brave and resourceful, so she soon dried her tears and as the rock
still showed no signs of slowing up nor dashing down, she began to take
heart and even a desperate sort of interest in her experience. Slowly
and cautiously she pulled herself to a sitting position and still
clutching the edges of the rock, dared to look down at the countries
and towns flashing away below.
"After all," sniffed the reckless maiden, "nothing very dreadful has
happened yet. I've always wanted to travel and now I AM travelling. Not
many people have flown through the air on a rock--why it's really a
rocket!" decided Mandy, with a nervous giggle. "And that, I suppose,
makes me the first rocket rider in the country, and the LAST, too," she
finished soberly as she measured with her eye the distance she would
plunge when her rock started earthward. "Now if we'd just come down in
that blue lake, below, I might have a chance. Perhaps I should jump?"
But by the time Mandy made up her mind to jump the lake was far behind
and nothing but a great desert of smoking sand stretched beneath her.