[Illustration]
The Famous Oz Books
Since 1900, when L. Frank Baum introduced to the children of America THE
WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ and all the other exciting characters who inhabit
the land of Oz, these delightful fairy tales have stimulated the
imagination of millions of young readers.
These are stories which are genuine fantasy—creative, funny, tender,
exciting and surprising. Filled with the rarest and most absurd
creatures, each of the 40 volumes which now comprise the series, has
been eagerly sought out by generation after generation until today they
are known to all except the very young or those who were never young at
all.
When, in a recent survey, The New York Times polled a group of teen
agers on the books they liked best when they were young, the Oz books
topped the list.
_THE FAMOUS OZ BOOKS_
By L. Frank Baum:
THE WIZARD OF OZ
THE LAND OF OZ
OZMA OF OZ
DOROTHY AND THE WIZARD IN OZ
THE ROAD TO OZ
THE EMERALD CITY OF OZ
THE PATCHWORK GIRL OF OZ
TIK-TOK OF OZ
THE SCARECROW OF OZ
RINKITINK IN OZ
THE LOST PRINCESS OF OZ
THE TIN WOODMAN OF OZ
THE MAGIC OF OZ
GLINDA OF OZ
By Ruth Plumly Thompson:
THE ROYAL BOOK OF OZ
KABUMPO IN OZ
THE COWARDLY LION OF OZ
GRAMPA IN OZ
THE LOST KING OF OZ
THE HUNGRY TIGER OF OZ
THE GNOME KING OF OZ
THE GIANT HORSE OF OZ
JACK PUMPKINHEAD OF OZ
THE YELLOW KNIGHT OF OZ
PIRATES IN OZ
THE PURPLE PRINCE OF OZ
OJO IN OZ
SPEEDY IN OZ
THE WISHING HORSE OF OZ
CAPTAIN SALT IN OZ
HANDY MANDY IN OZ
THE SILVER PRINCESS IN OZ
OZOPLANING WITH THE WIZARD OF OZ
By John R. Neill:
THE WONDER CITY OF OZ
SCALAWAGONS OF OZ
LUCKY BUCKY IN OZ
By Jack Snow:
THE MAGICAL MIMICS IN OZ
THE SHAGGY MAN OF OZ
By Rachel R. Cosgrove:
THE HIDDEN VALLEY OF OZ
By Eloise Jarvis McGraw & Lauren McGraw Wagner:
MERRY GO ROUND IN OZ
Chicago THE REILLY & LEE CO. _Publishers_
[Illustration: This Book Belongs To]
[Illustration: _The Magic of Oz_]
[Illustration: Dorothy _and the_ Wizard]
THE MAGIC OF OZ
A Faithful Record of the Remarkable Adventures of Dorothy
and Trot and the Wizard of Oz, together with the
Cowardly Lion, the Hungry Tiger and Cap’n
Bill, in their successful search for a Magical
and Beautiful Birthday Present for
Princess Ozma of Oz
BY
L. FRANK BAUM
“Royal Historian of Oz”
[Illustration]
ILLUSTRATED BY
JOHN R. NEILL
The Reilly & Lee Co.
Chicago
[Illustration]
Copyright 1919 By
L Frank Baum
All Rights Reserved
MADE IN U.S.A.
[Illustration]
I Dedicate this Book to the Children of our Soldiers, the Americans and
their Allies, with unmeasured Pride and Affection.
L. F. B.
[Illustration: THE HUNGRY TIGER AND THE COWARDLY LION]
[Illustration]
TO MY READERS
Curiously enough, in the events which have taken place in the last few
years in our “great outside world,” we may find incidents so marvelous
and inspiring that I cannot hope to equal them with stories of The Land
of Oz.
However, “The Magic of Oz” is really more strange and unusual than
anything I have read or heard about on our side of The Great Sandy
Desert which shuts us off from The Land of Oz, even during the past
exciting years, so I hope it will appeal to your love of novelty.
A long and confining illness has prevented my answering all the good
letters sent me—unless stamps were enclosed—but from now on I hope to be
able to give prompt attention to each and every letter with which my
readers favor me.
Assuring you that my love for you has never faltered and hoping the Oz
Books will continue to give you pleasure as long as I am able to write
them, I am
Yours affectionately,
L. FRANK BAUM,
“Royal Historian of Oz.”
“OZCOT”
at HOLLYWOOD
in CALIFORNIA
1919
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LIST OF CHAPTERS
1 Mount Munch 17
2 The Hawk 27
3 Two Bad Ones 34
4 Conspirators 48
5 A Happy Corner of Oz 53
6 Ozma’s Birthday Presents 65
7 The Forest of Gugu 81
8 The Li-Mon-Eags Make Trouble 87
9 The Isle of the Magic Flower 99
10 Stuck Fast 112
11 The Beasts of the Forest of Gugu 121
12 Kiki Uses His Magic 131
13 The Loss of the Black Bag 144
14 The Wizard Learns the Magic Word 157
15 The Lonesome Duck 169
16 The Glass Cat Finds the Black Bag 183
17 A Remarkable Journey 197
18 The Magic of the Wizard 209
19 Dorothy and the Bumble Bees 217
20 The Monkeys Have Trouble 226
21 The College of Athletic Arts 235
22 Ozma’s Birthday Party 240
23 The Fountain of Oblivion 255
[Illustration]
[Illustration: The Magic of Oz]
[Illustration: Mt. Munch]
Mount Munch
CHAPTER 1
On the east edge of the Land of Oz, in the Munchkin Country, is a big,
tall hill called Mount Munch. On one side, the bottom of this hill just
touches the Deadly Sandy Desert that separates the Fairyland of Oz from
all the rest of the world, but on the other side, the hill touches the
beautiful, fertile Country of the Munchkins.
The Munchkin folks, however, merely stand off and look at Mount Munch
and know very little about it; for, about a third of the way up, its
sides become too steep to climb, and if any people live upon the top of
that great towering peak that seems to reach nearly to the skies, the
Munchkins are not aware of the fact.
But people _do_ live there, just the same. The top of Mount Munch is
shaped like a saucer, broad and deep, and in the saucer are fields where
grains and vegetables grow, and flocks are fed, and brooks flow and
trees bear all sorts of things. There are houses scattered here and
there, each having its family of Hyups, as the people call themselves.
The Hyups seldom go down the mountain, for the same reason that the
Munchkins never climb up: the sides are too steep.
In one of the houses lived a wise old Hyup named Bini Aru, who used to
be a clever Sorcerer. But Ozma of Oz, who rules everyone in the Land of
Oz, had made a decree that no one should practice magic in her dominions
except Glinda the Good and the Wizard of Oz, and when Glinda sent this
royal command to the Hyups by means of a strong-winged Eagle, old Bini
Aru at once stopped performing magical arts. He destroyed many of his
magic powders and tools of magic, and afterward honestly obeyed the law.
He had never seen Ozma, but he knew she was his Ruler and must be
obeyed.
There was only one thing that grieved him. He had discovered a new and
secret method of transformations that was unknown to any other Sorcerer.
Glinda the Good did not know it, nor did the little Wizard of Oz, nor
Dr. Pipt nor old Mombi, nor anyone else who dealt in magic arts. It was
Bini Aru’s own secret. By its means, it was the simplest thing in the
world to transform anyone into beast, bird or fish, or anything else,
and back again, once you knew how to pronounce the mystical word:
“Pyrzqxgl.”
Bini Aru had used this secret many times, but not to cause evil or
suffering to others. When he had wandered far from home and was hungry,
he would say: “I want to become a cow—Pyrzqxgl!” In an instant he would
be a cow, and then he would eat grass and satisfy his hunger. All beasts
and birds can talk in the Land of Oz, so when the cow was no longer
hungry, it would say: “I want to be Bini Aru again: Pyrzqxgl!” and the
magic word, properly pronounced, would instantly restore him to his
proper form.
Now, of course, I would not dare to write down this magic word so
plainly if I thought my readers would pronounce it properly and so be
able to transform themselves and others, but it is a fact that no one in
all the world except Bini Aru, had ever (up to the time this story
begins) been able to pronounce “Pyrzqxgl” the right way, so I think it
is safe to give it to you. It might be well, however, in reading this
story aloud, to be careful not to pronounce Pyrzqxgl the proper way, and
thus avoid all danger of the secret being able to work mischief.
Bini Aru, having discovered the secret of instant transformation, which
required no tools or powders or other chemicals or herbs and always
worked perfectly, was reluctant to have such a wonderful discovery
entirely unknown or lost to all human knowledge. He decided not to use
it again, since Ozma had forbidden him to do so, but he reflected that
Ozma was a girl and some time might change her mind and allow her
subjects to practice magic, in which case Bini Aru could again transform
himself and others at will,—unless, of course, he forgot how to
pronounce Pyrzqxgl in the meantime.
After giving the matter careful thought, he decided to write the word,
and how it should be pronounced, in some secret place, so that he could
find it after many years, but where no one else could ever find it.
That was a clever idea, but what bothered the old Sorcerer was to find a
secret place. He wandered all over the Saucer at the top of Mount Munch,
but found no place in which to write the secret word where others might
not be likely to stumble upon it. So finally he decided it must be
written somewhere in his own house.
Bini Aru had a wife named Mopsi Aru who was famous for making fine
huckleberry pies, and he had a son named Kiki Aru who was not famous at
all. He was noted as being cross and disagreeable because he was not
happy, and he was not happy because he wanted to go down the mountain
and visit the big world below and his father would not let him. No one
paid any attention to Kiki Aru, because he didn’t amount to anything,
anyway.
Once a year there was a festival on Mount Munch which all the Hyups
attended. It was held in the center of the saucer-shaped country, and
the day was given over to feasting and merry-making. The young folks
danced and sang songs; the women spread the tables with good things to
eat, and the men played on musical instruments and told fairy tales.
Kiki Aru usually went to these festivals with his parents, and then sat
sullenly outside the circle and would not dance or sing or even talk to
the other young people. So the festival did not make him any happier
than other days, and this time he told Bini Aru and Mopsi Aru that he
would not go. He would rather stay at home and be unhappy all by
himself, he said, and so they gladly let him stay.
But after he was left alone Kiki decided to enter his father’s private
room, where he was forbidden to go, and see if he could find any of the
magic tools Bini Aru used to work with when he practiced sorcery. As he
went in Kiki stubbed his toe on one of the floor boards. He searched
everywhere but found no trace of his father’s magic. All had been
destroyed.
Much disappointed, he started to go out again when he stubbed his toe on
the same floor board. That set him thinking. Examining the board more
closely, Kiki found it had been pried up and then nailed down again in
such a manner that it was a little higher than the other boards. But why
had his father taken up the board? Had he hidden some of his magic tools
underneath the floor?
[Illustration]
Kiki got a chisel and pried up the board, but found nothing under it. He
was just about to replace the board when it slipped from his hand and
turned over, and he saw something written on the underside of it. The
light was rather dim, so he took the board to the window and examined
it, and found that the writing described exactly how to pronounce the
magic word Pyrzqxgl, which would transform anyone into anything
instantly, and back again when the word was repeated.
Now, at first, Kiki Aru didn’t realize what a wonderful secret he had
discovered; but he thought it might be of use to him and so he took a
piece of paper and made on it an exact copy of the instructions for
pronouncing Pyrzqxgl. Then he folded the paper and put it in his pocket,
and replaced the board in the floor so that no one would suspect it had
been removed.
After this Kiki went into the garden and sitting beneath a tree made a
careful study of the paper. He had always wanted to get away from Mount
Munch and visit the big world—especially the Land of Oz—and the idea now
came to him that if he could transform himself into a bird, he could fly
to any place he wished to go and fly back again whenever he cared to. It
was necessary, however, to learn by heart the way to pronounce the magic
word, because a bird would have no way to carry a paper with it, and
Kiki would be unable to resume his proper shape if he forgot the word or
its pronunciation.
So he studied it a long time, repeating it a hundred times in his mind
until he was sure he would not forget it. But to make safety doubly sure
he placed the paper in a tin box in a neglected part of the garden and
covered the box with small stones.
By this time it was getting late in the day and Kiki wished to attempt
his first transformation before his parents returned from the festival.
So he stood on the front porch of his home and said:
“I want to become a big, strong bird, like a hawk—Pyrzqxgl!” He
pronounced it the right way, so in a flash he felt that he was
completely changed in form. He flapped his wings, hopped to the porch
railing and said: “Caw-oo! Caw-oo!”
Then he laughed and said half aloud: “I suppose that’s the funny sound
this sort of a bird makes. But now let me try my wings and see if I’m
strong enough to fly across the desert.”
For he had decided to make his first trip to the country outside the
Land of Oz. He had stolen this secret of transformation and he knew he
had disobeyed the law of Oz by working magic. Perhaps Glinda or the
Wizard of Oz would discover him and punish him, so it would be good
policy to keep away from Oz altogether.
Slowly Kiki rose into the air, and resting on his broad wings, floated
in graceful circles above the saucer-shaped mountain-top. From his
height, he could see, far across the burning sands of the Deadly Desert,
another country that might be pleasant to explore, so he headed that
way, and with strong, steady strokes of his wings, began the long
flight.
[Illustration]
THE HAWK