“Now,” said the Wizard, “we must start for home. But how are we going to
carry that big gold flowerpot? Cap’n Bill can’t lug it all the way,
that’s certain.”
“No,” acknowledged the sailor-man; “it’s pretty heavy. I could carry it
for a little while, but I’d have to stop to rest every few minutes.”
“Couldn’t we put it on your back?” Dorothy asked the Cowardly Lion, with
a good-natured yawn.
“I don’t object to carrying it, if you can fasten it on,” answered the
Lion.
“If it falls off,” said Trot, “it might get smashed an’ be ruined.”
“I’ll fix it,” promised Cap’n Bill. “I’ll make a flat board out of one
of these tree trunks, an’ tie the board on the lion’s back, an’ set the
flowerpot on the board.” He set to work at once to do this, but as he
only had his big knife for a tool his progress was slow.
So the Wizard took from his black bag a tiny saw that shone like silver
and said to it:
“Saw, little Saw, come show your power;
Make us a board for the Magic Flower.”
And at once the Little Saw began to move and it sawed the log so fast
that those who watched it work were astonished. It seemed to understand,
too, just what the board was to be used for, for when it was completed
it was flat on top and hollowed beneath in such a manner that it exactly
fitted the Lion’s back.
“That beats whittlin’!” exclaimed Cap’n Bill, admiringly. “You don’t
happen to have _two_ o’ them saws; do you, Wizard?”
“No,” replied the Wizard, wiping the Magic Saw carefully with his silk
handkerchief and putting it back in the black bag. “It’s the only saw of
its kind in the world; and if there were more like it, it wouldn’t be so
wonderful.”
They now tied the board on the Lion’s back, flat side up, and Cap’n Bill
carefully placed the Magic Flower on the board.
“For fear o’ accidents,” he said, “I’ll walk beside the lion and hold
onto the flowerpot.”
Trot and Dorothy could both ride on the back of the Hungry Tiger, and
between them they carried the cage of monkeys. But this arrangement left
the Wizard, as well as the sailor, to make the journey on foot, and so
the procession moved slowly and the Glass Cat grumbled because it would
take so long to get to the Emerald City.
The Cat was sour-tempered and grumpy, at first, but before they had
journeyed far, the crystal creature had discovered a fine amusement. The
long tails of the monkeys were constantly sticking through the bars of
their cage, and when they did, the Glass Cat would slyly seize the tails
in her paws and pull them. That made the monkeys scream, and their
screams pleased the Glass Cat immensely. Trot and Dorothy tried to stop
this naughty amusement, but when they were not looking the Cat would
pull the tails again, and the creature was so sly and quick that the
monkeys could seldom escape. They scolded the Cat angrily and shook the
bars of their cage, but they could not get out and the Cat only laughed
at them.
[Illustration]
After the party had left the forest and were on the plains of the
Munchkin Country, it grew dark, and they were obliged to make camp for
the night, choosing a pretty place beside a brook. By means of his magic
the Wizard created three tents, pitched in a row on the grass and nicely
fitted with all that was needful for the comfort of his comrades. The
middle tent was for Dorothy and Trot, and had in it two cosy white beds
and two chairs. Another tent, also with beds and chairs, was for the
Wizard and Cap’n Bill, while the third tent was for the Hungry Tiger,
the Cowardly Lion, the cage of Monkeys and the Glass Cat. Outside the
tents the Wizard made a fire and placed over it a magic kettle from
which he presently drew all sorts of nice things for their supper,
smoking hot.
After they had eaten and talked together for a while under the twinkling
stars, they all went to bed and the people were soon asleep. The Lion
and the Tiger had almost fallen asleep, too, when they were roused by
the screams of the monkeys, for the Glass Cat was pulling their tails
again. Annoyed by the uproar, the Hungry Tiger cried: “Stop that
racket!” and getting sight of the Glass Cat, he raised his big paw and
struck at the creature. The cat was quick enough to dodge the blow, but
the claws of the Hungry Tiger scraped the monkeys’ cage and bent two of
the bars.
[Illustration]
Then the Tiger lay down again to sleep, but the monkeys soon discovered
that the bending of the bars would allow them to squeeze through. They
did not leave the cage, however, but after whispering together they let
their tails stick out and all remained quiet. Presently the Glass Cat
stole near the cage again and gave a yank to one of the tails. Instantly
the monkeys leaped through the bars, one after another, and although
they were so small the entire dozen of them surrounded the Glass Cat and
clung to her claws and tail and ears and made her a prisoner. Then they
forced her out of the tent and down to the banks of the stream. The
monkeys had noticed that these banks were covered with thick, slimy mud
of a dark blue color, and when they had taken the Cat to the stream,
they smeared this mud all over the glass body of the cat, filling the
creature’s ears and eyes with it, so that she could neither see nor
hear. She was no longer transparent and so thick was the mud upon her
that no one could see her pink brains or her ruby heart.
In this condition they led the pussy back to the tent and then got
inside their cage again.
By morning the mud had dried hard on the Glass Cat and it was a dull
blue color throughout. Dorothy and Trot were horrified, but the Wizard
shook his head and said it served the Glass Cat right for teasing the
monkeys.
Cap’n Bill, with his strong hands, soon bent the golden wires of the
monkeys’ cage into the proper position and then he asked the Wizard if
he should wash the Glass Cat in the water of the brook.
“Not just yet,” answered the Wizard. “The Cat deserves to be punished,
so I think I’ll leave that blue mud—which is as bad as paint—upon her
body until she gets to the Emerald City. The silly creature is so vain
that she will be greatly shamed when the Oz people see her in this
condition, and perhaps she’ll take the lesson to heart and leave the
monkeys alone hereafter.”
However, the Glass Cat could not see or hear, and to avoid carrying her
on the journey the Wizard picked the mud out of her eyes and ears and
Dorothy dampened her handkerchief and washed both the eyes and ears
clean.
As soon as she could speak the Glass Cat asked indignantly: “Aren’t you
going to punish those monkeys for playing such a trick on me?”
“No,” answered the Wizard. “You played a trick on them by pulling their
tails, so this is only tit-for-tat, and I’m glad the monkeys had their
revenge.”
He wouldn’t allow the Glass Cat to go near the water, to wash herself,
but made her follow them when they resumed their journey toward the
Emerald City.
“This is only part of your punishment,” said the Wizard, severely. “Ozma
will laugh at you, when we get to her palace, and so will the Scarecrow,
and the Tin Woodman, and Tik-Tok, and the Shaggy Man, and Button-Bright,
and the Patchwork Girl, and—”
“And the Pink Kitten,” added Dorothy.
That suggestion hurt the Glass Cat more than anything else. The Pink
Kitten always quarreled with the Glass Cat and insisted that flesh was
superior to glass, while the Glass Cat would jeer at the Pink Kitten,
because it had no pink brains. But the pink brains were all daubed with
blue mud, just now, and if the Pink Kitten should see the Glass Cat in
such a condition, it would be dreadfully humiliating.
For several hours the Glass Cat walked along very meekly, but toward
noon it seized an opportunity when no one was looking and darted away
through the long grass. It remembered that there was a tiny lake of pure
water near by, and to this lake the Cat sped as fast as it could go.
The others never missed her until they stopped for lunch, and then it
was too late to hunt for her.
“I s’pect she’s gone somewhere to clean herself,” said Dorothy.
“Never mind,” replied the Wizard. “Perhaps this glass creature has been
punished enough, and we must not forget she saved both Trot and Cap’n
Bill.”
“After first leading ’em onto an enchanted island,” added Dorothy. “But
I think, as you do, that the Glass Cat is punished enough, and p’raps
she won’t try to pull the monkeys’ tails again.”
The Glass Cat did not rejoin the party of travelers. She was still
resentful, and they moved too slowly to suit her, besides. When they
arrived at the Royal Palace, one of the first things they saw was the
Glass Cat curled up on a bench as bright and clean and transparent as
ever. But she pretended not to notice them, and they passed her by
without remark.
The College of Athletic Arts