The grounds around Nick Chopper's new house were laid out in pretty
flower-beds, with fountains of crystal water and statues of tin
representing the Emperor's personal friends. Dorothy was astonished
and delighted to find a tin statue of herself standing on a tin
pedestal at a bend in the avenue leading up to the entrance. It was
life-size and showed her in her sunbonnet with her basket on her arm,
just as she had first appeared in the Land of Oz.
"Oh, Toto--you're there too!" she exclaimed; and sure enough there was
the tin figure of Toto lying at the tin Dorothy's feet.
Also, Dorothy saw figures of the Scarecrow, and the Wizard, and Ozma,
and of many others, including Tik-tok. They reached the grand tin
entrance to the tin castle, and the Tin Woodman himself came running
out of the door to embrace little Dorothy and give her a glad welcome.
He welcomed her friends as well, and the Rainbow's Daughter he declared
to be the loveliest vision his tin eyes had ever beheld. He patted
Button-Bright's curly head tenderly, for he was fond of children, and
turned to the shaggy man and shook both his hands at the same time.
Nick Chopper, the Emperor of the Winkies, who was also known throughout
the Land of Oz as the Tin Woodman, was certainly a remarkable person.
He was neatly made, all of tin, nicely soldered at the joints, and his
various limbs were cleverly hinged to his body so that he could use
them nearly as well as if they had been common flesh. Once, he told
the shaggy man, he had been made all of flesh and bones, as other
people are, and then he chopped wood in the forests to earn his living.
But the axe slipped so often and cut off parts of him--which he had
replaced with tin--that finally there was no flesh left, nothing but
tin; so he became a real tin woodman. The wonderful Wizard of Oz had
given him an excellent heart to replace his old one, and he didn't at
all mind being tin. Every one loved him, he loved every one; and he
was therefore as happy as the day was long.
The Emperor was proud of his new tin castle, and showed his visitors
through all the rooms. Every bit of the furniture was made of brightly
polished tin--the tables, chairs, beds, and all--even the floors and
walls were of tin.
"I suppose," said he, "that there are no cleverer tinsmiths in all the
world than the Winkies. It would be hard to match this castle in
Kansas; wouldn't it, little Dorothy?"
"Very hard," replied the child, gravely.
"It must have cost a lot of money," remarked the shaggy man.
"Money! Money in Oz!" cried the Tin Woodman. "What a queer idea! Did
you suppose we are so vulgar as to use money here?"
"Why not?" asked the shaggy man.
"If we used money to buy things with, instead of love and kindness and
the desire to please one another, then we should be no better than the
rest of the world," declared the Tin Woodman. "Fortunately money is
not known in the Land of Oz at all. We have no rich, and no poor; for
what one wishes the others all try to give him, in order to make him
happy, and no one in all Oz cares to have more than he can use."
"Good!" cried the shaggy man, greatly pleased to hear this. "I also
despise money--a man in Butterfield owes me fifteen cents, and I will
not take it from him. The Land of Oz is surely the most favored land
in all the world, and its people the happiest. I should like to live
here always."
The Tin Woodman listened with respectful attention. Already he loved
the shaggy man, although he did not yet know of the Love Magnet. So he
said:
"If you can prove to the Princess Ozma that you are honest and true and
worthy of our friendship, you may indeed live here all your days, and
be as happy as we are."
"I'll try to prove that," said the shaggy man, earnestly.
"And now," continued the Emperor, "you must all go to your rooms and
prepare for dinner, which will presently be served in the grand tin
dining-hall. I am sorry, Shaggy Man, that I can not offer you a change
of clothing; but I dress only in tin, myself, and I suppose that would
not suit you."
"I care little about dress," said the shaggy man, indifferently.
"So I should imagine," replied the Emperor, with true politeness.
They were shown to their rooms and permitted to make such toilets as
they could, and soon they assembled again in the grand tin dining-hall,
even Toto being present. For the Emperor was fond of Dorothy's little
dog, and the girl explained to her friends that in Oz all animals were
treated with as much consideration as the people--"if they behave
themselves," she added.
Toto behaved himself, and sat in a tin high-chair beside Dorothy and
ate his dinner from a tin platter.
Indeed, they all ate from tin dishes, but these were of pretty shapes
and brightly polished; Dorothy thought they were just as good as silver.
Button-Bright looked curiously at the man who had "no appetite inside
him," for the Tin Woodman, although he had prepared so fine a feast for
his guests, ate not a mouthful himself, sitting patiently in his place
to see that all built so they could eat were well and plentifully
served.
What pleased Button-Bright most about the dinner was the tin orchestra
that played sweet music while the company ate. The players were not
tin, being just ordinary Winkies; but the instruments they played upon
were all tin--tin trumpets, tin fiddles, tin drums and cymbals and
flutes and horns and all. They played so nicely the "Shining Emperor
Waltz," composed expressly in honor of the Tin Woodman by Mr. H. M.
Wogglebug, T.E., that Polly could not resist dancing to it. After she
had tasted a few dewdrops, freshly gathered for her, she danced
gracefully to the music while the others finished their repast; and
when she whirled until her fleecy draperies of rainbow hues enveloped
her like a cloud, the Tin Woodman was so delighted that he clapped his
tin hands until the noise of them drowned the sound of the cymbals.
Altogether it was a merry meal, although Polychrome ate little and the
host nothing at all.
"I'm sorry the Rainbow's Daughter missed her mist-cakes," said the Tin
Woodman to Dorothy; "but by a mistake Miss Polly's mist-cakes were
mislaid and not missed until now. I'll try to have some for her
breakfast."
They spent the evening telling stories, and the next morning left the
splendid tin castle and set out upon the road to the Emerald City. The
Tin Woodman went with them, of course, having by this time been so
brightly polished that he sparkled like silver. His axe, which he
always carried with him, had a steel blade that was tin plated and a
handle covered with tin plate beautifully engraved and set with
diamonds.
The Winkies assembled before the castle gates and cheered their Emperor
as he marched away, and it was easy to see that they all loved him
dearly.