Oz Magic Triumphs
Seven magic words! No sooner were they uttered than the nine thousand
nine hundred and ninety-nine lions were turned to so many stone
statues--some just as they were about to spring, some half way in the
air, so that they came clattering heavily down one on top of the other,
and the poor Cowardly Lion at the bottom of the heap!
"Somebody stop him!" gasped Ozma who was sitting exactly as she had
fallen on a small sand dune. Sir Hokus of Pokes sprang bravely at
Crunch, but his sword snapped at the first thrust, and the Stone Man,
paying no more attention to the people from the Emerald City than if
they had been so many flies, began bending out the iron bars of the
lion enclosure. Mustafa, petrified with terror, might have been a
statue himself, and the Mudger Guards had long since taken to their
heels.
"What have you done?" wailed Notta, trying to attract the Stone Man's
attention. He seized an iron bar that Crouch had loosened and began
valiantly belaboring Crunch about the shins.
"Oh, hello!" rasped Crouch, glancing down at the clown. "Back again?
Well, I've taken your advice, you see."
"My advice!" groaned Notta.
"Yes." Crunch, who had now broken an opening for himself, stepped into
the enclosure. "I've helped the Cowardly Lion by changing him to stone.
Now he will never feel cowardly again, and what's more, he belongs to
me!" Leaning over, he began tossing Mustafa's lions aside as if they
had been so many paper weights.
"Oh, help!" screamed Snorer. "Aren't there any wizards here to stop
this fellow? Are you going to sit like images while he runs off with
the bravest lion in Oz?"
"I must think!" groaned the Scarecrow, putting his white cotton glove
to his head, while Dorothy and Bob ran close to the bars and looked
anxiously for the first glimpse of their old friend.
But Glinda and the Wizard of Oz already had their heads together.
"First," whispered the little Wizard of Oz, "we will let him find the
Cowardly Lion, for those statues would be too heavy for us to lift.
Then, we will deprive him of all power to move."
Tik Tok and Sir Hokus had followed the Stone Man into the enclosure,
but a stone lion flung carelessly to one side, knocked Tik Tok head
over heels, and Sir Hokus, deciding that flight was the better part
of valor, retired to a safe distance, where he began threatening the
Stone Man with every sort of destruction from hammering to hanging. But
Crunch continued calmly tossing the lions about, and at last uncovered
the Cowardly Lion himself. He recognized him at once, for his mane, a
mass of stony waves, stood straight on end. The Cowardly Lion, you see,
had been petrified in one of his most trying moments, and, while he was
preparing to fight with all his might, he could not control his mane
and hence looked as natural as possible.
Dorothy could not help crying as Crunch tucked this lifelike image of
her old chum under his arm and prepared to tramp off. But he got no
further than two steps, for at the second step the combined magic of
Glinda and the Wizard of Oz deprived him of all power to move. Crunch
dropped the Cowardly Lion with a crash that chipped off a piece of his
mane, and with one foot raised in the air stood perfectly motionless.
The Stone Man was no longer alive!
"Oh!" cried Notta, frightened by the ease with which Glinda had
deprived the stone giant of life, "who will bring the Cowardly Lion to
himself again?" And at once everyone ran over to the poor petrified
lion, and tugging and pulling, managed to get him to his feet.
"It was the only thing we could do," puffed the little Wizard of Oz,
gazing up worriedly at the huge statue of Crunch. "He did not know how
to use the gift of life, and would only have brought more trouble upon
us."
"Isn't this trouble enough?" cried Dorothy, throwing her arms around
the cold, still figure of the Cowardly Lion.
"There, there, my dear! Glinda will find a way out of all this,"
comforted the Scarecrow, and Notta and Bob joined him in his efforts
to console the little girl, while Sir Hokus and the Tin Woodman ran to
help Tik Tok to his feet.
"All this has happened because of you!" declared Ozma, stamping her
foot for the first time in her gentle little life, and looking sternly
at Mustafa.
"And for a punishment," she pointed at the huge, craggy figure of
Crunch, "for a punishment this Stone Man shall stand forever in Mudge,
a monument to your greediness and folly."
"Take away his ring," whispered Bob, tip-toeing up to the little
fairy ruler, for he had seen Mustafa slyly beginning to take it off and
Bob knew its dreadful power. Without losing a minute, Ozma commanded
Mustafa to hand over the ring. Tremblingly, the wretched old Mudger
obeyed. So much had happened in the last few minutes, he was positively
stunned by his misfortune. Not only had he offended the ruler of all
Oz, lost the Cowardly Lion and his ring, but all of his other lions
were turned to stone. Jerking his turban over one eye, the miserable
monarch shuffled mournfully to his tent, and no one cared enough to
stop him. Then, as the whole party was heartily disgusted with the hot,
desert city of the Mudgers, Glinda, by a quick transportation phrase,
wished them all safely back to the Emerald City.
There, for several hours Glinda, the Wizard of Oz, and Ozma worked over
the Cowardly Lion, but all of their magic failed to undo the Stone
Man's spell, and it looked as if the huge beast would have to spend the
rest of his life as a garden ornament. Twenty of the palace servants
bore him down the steps and placed him gently in the center of a large
flower bed, and all the inhabitants of the city came and gazed sadly at
their once lively and cowardly comrade.
"He is the image of himself," choked the Scarecrow, hanging a wreath
of daisies round his neck, which was still adorned with Mustafa's gold
collar.
"But I don't want an image," cried Princess Dorothy and, climbing on
the Cowardly Lion's stone back, she cried as if her heart would break.
Notta and Bob were too overcome by this dreadful misfortune to think
about themselves. It did not even seem right to enjoy the lovely sights
in the Emerald City, so the clown and little boy sat on a bench in the
garden and gazed sorrowfully at the monument of their faithful old
friend.
[Illustration: DOROTHY CRIED AS SHE CAME UPON THE PETRIFIED FIGURE
OF HER FRIEND, THE COWARDLY LION]
Then, all at once Bob jumped up with a little shout. "Look," he cried,
waving his cap joyfully. "Look! He's coming alive again!" And so he
was! For tears are more magic than anything else, when it comes to
melting stone, and every spot where Dorothy's tears fell was beginning
to quiver with life. When Notta ran to the palace with the news, the
excitement was tremendous. Everyone, from Ozma down to the littlest
kitchen maid, came to weep over the Cowardly Lion, and bring him back
to life. The Tin Woodman cried a perfect torrent of tears and quite
rusted his chain. The Scarecrow and Scraps had not a tear in their
cotton constitutions, but Snorer made up for this by crying enough
for three. Everybody cried, and in less than a minute the dear, old
kind-hearted lion opened his eyes. Shaking himself sleepily, he looked
inquiringly at the weeping company and wanted to know what was the
matter. All talking at once, and each trying to hug him first, they
explained what had happened. The Cowardly Lion remembered nothing after
being pushed into the lion enclosure. You can well imagine his relief
when he discovered what a hard and horrible fate he had escaped.
"All this comes of my foolish wish for courage," roared the Cowardly
Lion, shaking his mane, which was quite perfect except for the piece
Crunch had broken off. "I would rather be a Cowardly Lion for five
minutes than a stone lion for a century. Why, a stone lion has not
enough sense to be frightened."
"Hurrah for the Cowardly Lion of Oz!" shouted the Scarecrow, and Bob
Up, who felt more at home among these odd and friendly people than he
had ever felt anywhere in his life, climbed on the Cowardly Lion's back
and hugged him with both arms. Dorothy hopped up again too, and in
triumph they all trooped back to the throne room.