PRINCESS OZMA AND BETSY BOBBIN TALK IT OVER
"Dorothy must be having a lovely time at the Scarecrow's," remarked
Betsy Bobbin to Ozma one afternoon as they sat reading in the Royal
Gardens several days after Dorothy's departure from the Emerald City
of Oz.
"One always has a jolly time at the Scarecrow's," laughed the little
Queen of Oz. "I must look in my Magic Picture and see what they are
doing. Too bad she missed the A-B-Sea Serpent and Rattlesnakes.
Weren't they the funniest creatures?"
Both the little girls (for Ozma is really just a little girl) went
off into a gale of laughter. The two queer creatures had followed the
Scarecrow's advice and had spent their vacation in the Emerald City,
and partly because they were so dazzled by their surroundings and
partly because they have no sort of memories whatever, they never
mentioned the Scarecrow himself or said anything about his plan to
hunt his family tree. They talked incessantly of the Mer City and
told innumerable A-B-Sea stories to Scraps and the Tin Woodman and
the children of the Emerald City. When they were ready to go, the
A-B-Sea Serpent snapped off its X block for Ozma. X, he said, meant
almost everything, and pretty well expressed his gratitude to the
lovely little ruler of Oz. Ozma in turn gave each of the visitors an
emerald collar, and that very morning they had started back to the
Munchkin River, and all the celebrities of Oz had gotten up to see
them off.
"Maybe they'll come again some time," said Betsy Bobbin, swinging her
feet. "But look, Ozma, here comes a messenger." A messenger it surely
was, dressed in the quaint red costume of the Quadlings. It was from
Glinda, the Good Sorceress, and caused the Princess to sigh with
vexation.
"Tell Jack Pumpkinhead to harness the Sawhorse to the red wagon,"
said Ozma after glancing hastily at the little note. "The Horners and
Hoppers are at war again. And tell the Wizard to make ready for a
journey."
"May I come, too,?" asked Betsy. Ozma nodded with a troubled little
frown, and Betsy bustled off importantly. Not many little girls are
called upon to help settle wars and rule a country as wonderful as
Oz.
The Horners and Hoppers are a quarrelsome and curious folk living in
the Quadling mountains, and soon Ozma, Jack Pumpkinhead, Betsy and
the Wizard of Oz were rattling off at the best speed the Sawhorse
could manage. This was pretty fast, for the little horse, being made
of wood and magically brought to life, never tires and could outrun
anything on legs in the fairy Kingdom of Oz.
But the fact that interests us is that Ozma did not look in the Magic
Picture or see what exciting adventures the Scarecrow and Dorothy
really were having!
As for Professor Wogglebug, who had caused all the trouble, he was
busily at work on the twelfth chapter of the Royal Book of Oz, which
he had modestly headed:
H. M. WOGGLEBUG T.E., PRINCE OF BUGS,
Cultured and Eminent Educator
and also
Great Grand and General Genealogist of Oz.