The Rescue of
the Tin Woodman
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
When Dorothy awoke the sun was shining through the trees and Toto
had long been out chasing birds and squirrels. She sat up and looked
around her. There was the Scarecrow, still standing patiently in his
corner, waiting for her.
"We must go and search for water," she said to him.
"Why do you want water?" he asked.
"To wash my face clean after the dust of the road, and to drink, so
the dry bread will not stick in my throat."
"It must be inconvenient to be made of flesh," said the Scarecrow,
thoughtfully; "for you must sleep, and eat and drink. However, you
have brains, and it is worth a lot of bother to be able to think
properly."
They left the cottage and walked through the trees until they found a
little spring of clear water, where Dorothy drank and bathed and ate
her breakfast. She saw there was not much bread left in the basket,
and the girl was thankful the Scarecrow did not have to eat anything,
for there was scarcely enough for herself and Toto for the day.
When she had finished her meal, and was about to go back to the road
of yellow brick, she was startled to hear a deep groan near by.
"What was that?" she asked, timidly.
"I cannot imagine," replied the Scarecrow; "but we can go and see."
Just then another groan reached their ears, and the sound seemed to
come from behind them. They turned and walked through the forest a
few steps, when Dorothy discovered something shining in a ray of
sunshine that fell between the trees. She ran to the place, and then
stopped short, with a cry of surprise.
One of the big trees had been partly chopped through, and standing
beside it, with an uplifted axe in his hands, was a man made entirely
of tin. His head and arms and legs were jointed upon his body, but he
stood perfectly motionless, as if he could not stir at all.
Dorothy looked at him in amazement, and so did the Scarecrow, while
Toto barked sharply and made a snap at the tin legs, which hurt his
teeth.
"Did you groan?" asked Dorothy.
"Yes," answered the tin man; "I did. I've been groaning for more than
a year, and no one has ever heard me before or come to help me."
"What can I do for you?" she enquired, softly, for she was moved by
the sad voice in which the man spoke.
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"Get an oil-can and oil my joints," he answered. "They are rusted so
badly that I cannot move them at all; if I am well oiled I shall soon
be all right again. You will find an oil-can on a shelf in my cottage."
Dorothy at once ran back to the cottage and found the oil-can, and
then she returned and asked, anxiously,
"Where are your joints?"
"Oil my neck, first," replied the Tin Woodman. So she oiled it, and
as it was quite badly rusted the Scarecrow took hold of the tin head
and moved it gently from side to side until it worked freely, and
then the man could turn it himself.
"Now oil the joints in my arms," he said. And Dorothy oiled them and
the Scarecrow bent them carefully until they were quite free from
rust and as good as new.
The Tin Woodman gave a sigh of satisfaction and lowered his axe,
which he leaned against the tree.
"This is a great comfort," he said. "I have been holding that axe in
the air ever since I rusted, and I'm glad to be able to put it down
at last. Now, if you will oil the joints of my legs, I shall be all
right once more."
So they oiled his legs until he could move them freely; and he
thanked them again and again for his release, for he seemed a very
polite creature, and very grateful.
"I might have stood there always if you had not come along," he said;
"so you have certainly saved my life. How did you happen to be here?"
"We are on our way to the Emerald City, to see the great Oz," she
answered, "and we stopped at your cottage to pass the night."
"Why do you wish to see Oz?" he asked.
"I want him to send me back to Kansas; and the Scarecrow wants him to
put a few brains into his head," she replied.
The Tin Woodman appeared to think deeply for a moment. Then he said:
"Do you suppose Oz could give me a heart?"
"Why, I guess so," Dorothy answered; "it would be as easy as to give
the Scarecrow brains."
[Illustration: "_'This is a great comfort,' said the Tin Woodman._"]
"True," the Tin Woodman returned. "So, if you will allow me to join
your party, I will also go to the Emerald City and ask Oz to help me."
"Come along," said the Scarecrow, heartily; and Dorothy added
that she would be pleased to have his company. So the Tin Woodman
shouldered his axe and they all passed through the forest until they
came to the road that was paved with yellow brick.
The Tin Woodman had asked Dorothy to put the oil-can in her basket.
"For," he said, "if I should get caught in the rain, and rust again,
I would need the oil-can badly."
It was a bit of good luck to have their new comrade join the party,
for soon after they had begun their journey again they came to a place
where the trees and branches grew so thick over the road that the
travellers could not pass. But the Tin Woodman set to work with his axe
and chopped so well that soon he cleared a passage for the entire party.
Dorothy was thinking so earnestly as they walked along that she did
not notice when the Scarecrow stumbled into a hole and rolled over to
the side of the road. Indeed, he was obliged to call to her to help
him up again.
"Why didn't you walk around the hole?" asked the Tin Woodman.
"I don't know enough," replied the Scarecrow, cheerfully. "My head is
stuffed with straw, you know, and that is why I am going to Oz to ask
him for some brains."
"Oh, I see;" said the Tin Woodman. "But, after all, brains are not
the best things in the world."
"Have you any?" enquired the Scarecrow.
"No, my head is quite empty," answered the Woodman; "but once I had
brains, and a heart also; so, having tried them both, I should much
rather have a heart."
"And why is that?" asked the Scarecrow.
"I will tell you my story, and then you will know."
So, while they were walking through the forest, the Tin Woodman told
the following story:
"I was born the son of a woodman who chopped down trees in the
forest and sold the wood for a living. When I grew up I too became a
wood-chopper, and after my father died I took care of my old mother
as long as she lived. Then I made up my mind that instead of living
alone I would marry, so that I might not become lonely.
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"There was one of the Munchkin girls who was so beautiful that I
soon grew to love her with all my heart. She, on her part, promised
to marry me as soon as I could earn enough money to build a better
house for her; so I set to work harder than ever. But the girl lived
with an old woman who did not want her to marry anyone, for she was
so lazy she wished the girl to remain with her and do the cooking
and the housework. So the old woman went to the wicked Witch of the
East, and promised her two sheep and a cow if she would prevent the
marriage. Thereupon the wicked Witch enchanted my axe, and when I was
chopping away at my best one day, for I was anxious to get the new
house and my wife as soon as possible, the axe slipped all at once
and cut off my left leg.
"This at first seemed a great misfortune, for I knew a one-legged man
could not do very well as a wood-chopper. So I went to a tin-smith
and had him make me a new leg out of tin. The leg worked very well,
once I was used to it; but my action angered the wicked Witch of
the East, for she had promised the old woman I should not marry the
pretty Munchkin girl. When I began chopping again my axe slipped and
cut off my right leg. Again I went to the tinner, and again he made
me a leg out of tin. After this the enchanted axe cut off my arms,
one after the other; but, nothing daunted, I had them replaced with
tin ones. The wicked Witch then made the axe slip and cut off my
head, and at first I thought that was the end of me. But the tinner
happened to come along, and he made me a new head out of tin.
"I thought I had beaten the wicked Witch then, and I worked harder than
ever; but I little knew how cruel my enemy could be. She thought of a
new way to kill my love for the beautiful Munchkin maiden, and made my
axe slip again, so that it cut right through my body, splitting me
into two halves. Once more the tinner came to my help and made me a
body of tin, fastening my tin arms and legs and head to it, by means of
joints, so that I could move around as well as ever. But, alas! I had
now no heart, so that I lost all my love for the Munchkin girl, and did
not care whether I married her or not. I suppose she is still living
with the old woman, waiting for me to come after her.
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"My body shone so brightly in the sun that I felt very proud of it
and it did not matter now if my axe slipped, for it could not cut me.
There was only one danger--that my joints would rust; but I kept an
oil-can in my cottage and took care to oil myself whenever I needed
it. However, there came a day when I forgot to do this, and, being
caught in a rainstorm, before I thought of the danger my joints had
rusted, and I was left to stand in the woods until you came to help
me. It was a terrible thing to undergo, but during the year I stood
there I had time to think that the greatest loss I had known was
the loss of my heart. While I was in love I was the happiest man on
earth; but no one can love who has not a heart, and so I am resolved
to ask Oz to give me one. If he does, I will go back to the Munchkin
maiden and marry her."
Both Dorothy and the Scarecrow had been greatly interested in the
story of the Tin Woodman, and now they knew why he was so anxious to
get a new heart.
"All the same," said the Scarecrow, "I shall ask for brains instead
of a heart; for a fool would not know what to do with a heart if he
had one."
"I shall take the heart," returned the Tin Woodman; "for brains do
not make one happy, and happiness is the best thing in the world."
Dorothy did not say anything, for she was puzzled to know which of
her two friends was right, and she decided if she could only get back
to Kansas and Aunt Em it did not matter so much whether the Woodman
had no brains and the Scarecrow no heart, or each got what he wanted.
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What worried her most was that the bread was nearly gone, and another
meal for herself and Toto would empty the basket. To be sure neither
the Woodman nor the Scarecrow ever ate anything, but she was not made
of tin nor straw, and could not live unless she was fed.