THE THREE PRINCES PLOT TO UNDO THE EMPEROR
"Let me help your Imperial Serenity!"
"Bring a cane!"
"Carefully, now!"
The three royal Princes, with every show of affection, were
supporting the Scarecrow to the silver bench in the garden where he
usually sat during luncheon.
"Are you quite comfortable?" asked the elder. "Here, Happy, you
rogue, fetch a scarf for his Imperial Highness. You must be careful,
dear Papa Scarecrow. At your age, drafts are dangerous." The rascally
Prince wound the scarf about the Scarecrow's neck.
"What do you suppose they are up to?" asked the Scarecrow, staring
after the three suspiciously. "Why this sudden devotion? It upsets my
Imperial Serenity a lot."
"Trying to make you feel old," grumbled Happy. Several hours had
passed since they had overheard the conversation in the garden. The
Scarecrow had decided to watch his sons closely and fall in with any
plan they suggested so they would suspect nothing. Then, when the
time came, he would act. Just what he would do he did not know, but
his excellent brains would not, he felt sure, desert him. Happy Toko
sat as close to the Scarecrow as he could and scowled terribly
whenever the Princes approached, which was every minute or so during
the afternoon.
"How is the Scarecrow's celestial old head?"
"Does he suffer from honorable gout?"
"Should they fetch the Imperial Doctor?"
The Scarecrow, who had never thought of age in his whole straw life,
became extremely nervous.
Was he really old? Did his head ache? When no one was looking, he
felt himself carefully all over. Then something of his old time Oz
spirit returned. Seizing the cushion that his eldest son was placing
at his back, he hurled it over his head. Leaping from his throne, he
began turning handsprings in a careless and sprightly manner.
"Don't you worry about your honorable old papa," chuckled the
Scarecrow, winking at Happy Toko. "He's good for a couple of
centuries!"
The three Princes stared sourly at this exhibition of youth.
"But your heart," objected the eldest Prince.
"Have none," laughed the Scarecrow. Snatching off the silver cord
from around his waist, he began skipping rope up and down the hall.
The Princes, tapping their foreheads significantly, retired, and the
Scarecrow, throwing his arm around Happy Toko, began whispering in
his ear. He had a plan himself. They would see!
* * * * *
Meanwhile, off in his dark cave in one of the silver mountains, the
Grand Gheewizard of the Silver Island was stirring a huge kettle of
magic. Every few moments he paused to read out of a great yellow book
that he had propped up on the mantle. The fire in the huge grate
leaped fiercely under the big, black pot, and the sputtering candles
on each side of the book sent creepy shadows into the dark cave. Dark
chests, books, bundles of herbs, and heaps of gold and silver were
everywhere. Whenever the Gheewizard turned his back, a rheumatic
silver-scaled old dragon would crawl toward the fire and swallow a
mouthful of coals, until the old Gheewizard caught him in the act and
chained him to a ring in the corner of the cave.
"Be patient, little joy of my heart! Our fortune is about to be
made," hissed the wizened little man, waving a long iron spoon at the
dragon. "You shall have a bucket of red-hot coals every hour and I a
silver cap with a tassel. Have not the Royal Princes promised it?"
The dragon shuffled about and finally went to sleep, smoking sulkily.
"Is it finished, son of a yellow dog?" Through the narrow opening of
the cave, the youngest Prince stuck his head.
"I am working as fast as I can, Honorable Prince, but the elixir must
boil yet one more night. Tomorrow, when the sun shines on the first
bar of your celestial window, come, and all will be ready."
"Are you sure you have found it?" asked the Prince, withdrawing his
head, for the smoking dragon and steam from the kettle made him
cough.
"Quite sure," wheezed the Grand Gheewizard, and fell to stirring the
kettle with all his might.
* * * * *
The Scarecrow, although busy with trials in the great courtroom of
the palace, felt that something unusual was in the air. The Princes
kept nodding to one another, and the Grand Chew Chew and General
Mugwump had their heads together at every opportunity.
"Something's going to happen, Tappy. I feel it in my straw,"
whispered the Scarecrow as he finished trying the last case. At that
very minute, the Grand Chew Chew arose and held up his hand for
silence. Everybody paused in their way to the exits and looked with
surprise at the old Silverman.
"I have to announce," said the Grand Chew Chew in a solemn voice,
"that the Great and Imperial Chang Wang Woe will tomorrow be restored
to his own rightful shape. The Grand Gheewizard of the realm has
discovered a magic formula to break the enchantment and free him from
this distressing Scarecrow body. Behold for the last the Scarecrow of
Oz. Tomorrow he will be our old and glorious Emperor!"
"Old and glorious?" gasped the Scarecrow, nearly falling from his
throne.
"Tappy! I forgot to lock up the wizards. Great Cornstarch! Tomorrow I
will be eighty-five years old."
Such cheers greeted the Grand Chew Chew's announcement that no one
even noticed the Scarecrow's distress.
"I, also, have an announcement!" cried the eldest Prince, standing up
proudly. "To make the celebration of my royal Papa's restoration
complete, we have chosen the lovely and charming Orange Blossom for
his bride."
"Bride!" gulped the Scarecrow. "But I do not approve of second
marriages. I refuse to--"
No one paid the slightest attention to the Scarecrow's remarks.
"Hold my hand, Tappy," sighed the Scarecrow weakly. "It may be your
last chance." Then he sat up and stared in good earnest, for the
Prince was leading forward a tall, richly clad lady.
"Orange Blossom!" muttered the Scarecrow under his breath. "He means
Lemon Peel! Silver grandmother, Tappy!" Orange Blossom was a
cross-looking Princess of seventy-five, at least.
"She is a sister of the King of the Golden Islands," whispered
General Mugwump. "Of a richness surpassing your own. Let me
felicitate your Highness."
"Fan me, Tappy! Fan me!" gasped the Scarecrow. Then he straightened
himself suddenly. The time had come for action. He would say nothing
to anyone, but that night he would escape and try to find his way
back to Oz, family or no family! He bowed graciously to Princess
Orange Blossom, to the Grand Chew Chew, and to his sons.
"Let everything be made ready for the ceremony, and may tomorrow
indeed bring me to myself," he repeated solemnly. Nothing was talked
of that evening but the Emperor's impending marriage and the Grand
Gheewizard's discovery. The Scarecrow seemed the least excited person
in the palace. Sitting on his throne, he pretended to read the Royal
Silver Journal, but he was really waiting impatiently for the
courtiers to retire. Finally, when the last one had bowed himself out
and only Happy Toko remained in the throne room, the Scarecrow began
making his plans.
"It's no use, Tappy," said he, tying up a few little trinkets for
Dorothy in a silk handkerchief, "I'd rather be straw than meat. I'd
rather be a plain Scarecrow in Oz than Emperor of the Earth! They may
be my sons, but all they want is my death. I'm going back to my old
friends. I'd rather--". He got no farther. A huge slave seized him
suddenly from behind, while another caught Happy Toko around his fat
little waist.
"Tie them fast," said the eldest Prince, smiling wickedly at the
Scarecrow. "Here, tie him to the beanstalk. Merely a part of the
Grand Gheewizard's formula," he exclaimed maliciously as the
struggling Scarecrow was bound securely to his family tree. "Good
night, dear papa Scarecrow. Tomorrow you will be your old self again,
and in a few short years _I_ will be Emperor of the Silver Islands!"
"This rather upsets our plans, eh Tappy?" wheezed the Scarecrow after
a struggle with his bonds.
"Pigs! Weasels!" choked Tappy. "What are we to do?"
"Alas!" groaned the Scarecrow. "Tomorrow there will be no Scarecrow
in Oz. What will Dorothy and Ozma think? And once I am changed into
my old Imperial self, I can never make the journey to the Emerald
City. Eighty-six is too old for traveling."
"Has your Majesty forgotten the wonderful brains given to you by the
Wizard of Oz?"
"I had--for a moment," confessed the Scarecrow. "Be quiet, Tappy,
while I think." Pressing his head against the magic beanpole, the
Scarecrow thought and thought, harder than he had ever done in the
course of his adventurous life, and in the great, silent hall Happy
Toko struggled to set himself free.