The Hidden Valley of Oz

by L. Frank Baum

  "Where is the stupid serf who told me that the boy had been seen here?" He roared. "Bring him before me so that I may punish him!"

  The Gillikens, however, protected their friend and told Terp that they did not know who had called him forth from his castle on this useless search. Just then, on the edge of the crowd of slaves, one of the little Gilliken's friends, who had been let in on the secret, cried "Someone has seen Jam running through the valley toward the factory. Hurry, hurry, we may catch him," and he turned from them and began racing down the slopes into the valley in the direction of the jam factory and the tall smokestack.

  Terp, hearing the shout, turned and saw the purple-clad Gilliken running along the road toward the factory. So he motioned to his slaves to follow and he rushed down the hill with long strides that covered a block at a time. When he reached the door of the factory, he found that it had been flung open and the Gilliken was pointing toward the huge furnace in which the fire no longer burned.

  "He went into the furnace," he said to Terp, bowing low.

  "Follow him," roared Terp, so the Gilliken crawled into the furnace. But in a moment he crawled back out and said: "Oh, noble Terp, the boy, Jam, has climbed up into the smokestack, and I cannot reach him, for I am not tall. You, however, oh high and noble ruler, are tall enough to reach up and take the very stars from the heavens. So if you could crawl into the furnace and reach up into the smokestack, you would be able to reach the boy easily."

  "Very well," roared the giant. "I shall get him myself, since all of you seem so unresourceful." He went over to the furnace and crowded into it. At first he seemed to stick in the opening, and the watching Gillikens held their breath for fear he could not get into the smokestack. However, he struggled and struggled, rattling the furnace on its foundations, and finally he managed to get in. There he stood erect and looked up through the smokestack.

  "Where is he?" Came a muffled roar from the inside of the furnace. "I can see nothing but stars in the sky above here."

  At these words there came a mighty clang, and Terp found that the door to the furnace had been closed tight. He tried to open it, but it had been barred from the outside by the Gillikens.

  "Let me out, let me out!" Roared the giant in a terrible voice. "How dare you lock me in this furnace! I'll destroy all of you when you let me out."

  "But we won't let you out," came a chorus from outside the smokestack. "You will never again enslave us, oh Terp."

  "You'll regret this," he howled, shaking the furnace door until the building shook. "You will all have to work twice as hard as you have been working."

  "Ha, ha, ha. You can't scare us," came the voices from the factory. "We know what will happen to you when you are here for a few days."

  "A few days!" Cried the giant in terror. "You can't keep me here that long."

  "Oh, yes we can," the Gillikens said in determined tones. "We have been your slaves for many years but the tables have turned, and you are now in our power. In a few days, you will be utterly harmless and then we will let you out of the furnace. But until that time, in you stay."

  "But I shall starve," Terp exclaimed. "You can't be so cruel as to let me languish from lack of food."

  "We shall feed you," one Gilliken said. "We are not so cruel and heartless as you have been."

  Terp thought to himself that when the little men opened the furnace to give him food, he could force his way out of the building. They seemed to read his thoughts, for they said: "We can lower your food to you from the top of the smokestack. We can find a tall ladder and a long rope, and you will not have to starve."

  Terp called out craftily," Of course you will bring me some of the muffins from the tree in my courtyard."

  "How can we do that?" They asked. "The ferocious two-headed monster guards the tree very carefully and no one dares to venture near it."

  "You could get a long pole with a little basket on the end and reach the muffins without having to get near the beast," he suggested desperately, rueing the day he had chained the monster to the tree.

  "Ah, but it really doesn't matter," declared one of the Gillikens. "By this time the monster has been rendered harmless, and the tree has been destroyed by the famous Tin Woodman and his companions."

  "What?" Screamed the giant. "What did you say?"

  "Destroyed," they all cried together. "The monster is gone and the tree has been chopped to the ground."

  "Oh, no, that cannot be," sobbed Terp, the Terrible, not so terrible now that his source of power was gone. "You could not do such a thing to me."

  "We could and we would and we have," they stated flatly. "We know now that the magic muffins were all that kept you a giant, and we have had them destroyed. In a few days, you will be our own size, and then we will let you out of the smokestack, but not one instant sooner."

  The miserable giant wept bitterly, and he cried so long, and his teardrops were so large, that a little stream of salt water was soon running out of the cracks of the furnace. The men were not sorry for him, though, for he had been such a cruel oppressor that they were glad to get rid of him.

  Leaving a few of their number to guard the furnace, the rest of the natives now hurried toward the castle to see if the Tin Woodman had accomplished his mission. When they arrived at the courtyard they could see that the monster was gone, and the magic tree cut down and its power destroyed. All of them bowed low before the Tin Woodman and his friends and cheered loudly and long. Then they began dancing around the courtyard filling the night with the sounds of their merry-making. Several of the men seized the Tin Woodman and lifted him to their shoulders, while others caught up the Scarecrow Percy, Jam, and Dorothy and started a parade into the village. The Hungry Tiger and the Cowardly Lion were too large for them to carry, but they picked flowers from the gardens by the light of the moon and hung them in lovely garlands around the huge beasts' necks.

  When they reached the valley, all of the villagers ran out to meet them, and the women prepared refreshments for the whole party. Then the boy and girl and their friends were taken into the little dome-shaped houses and given comfortable rooms for the night.

  Next morning after breakfast, all of them went down to the jam factory to see Terp, the Terrible, in captivity. A tall ladder was found, and one brave man placed it against the tall smokestack and climbed up to the very top, where he leaned over the opening and looked down at the giant. He could see that already Terp was beginning to shrink so he called the joyful news down to the gathered populace. Then he lowered a basket of food to the giant so he would not starve in captivity.

  All of the citizens of Hidden Valley begged the Tin Woodman and all the rest to remain there with them, but Jam said "You have been very nice to us, and we are all glad that you are now free from the power of Terp but I want to hurry to the Emerald City to meet the Princess Ozma of Oz."

  "And I want to be made big permanently," said Percy. "So, so long, kiddos, maybe we'll see you again sometime."

  Amid cheers of the people, our friends started on their journey to the Emerald City. They each carried a basket filled with food for the trip; and the Gillikens said that they planned to erect statues of all of them in the courtyard of the palace that Terp had owned. So, leaving Terp to the Gillikens who said they would teach him to live as they did if he stopped causing trouble when he became their size our friends turned their faces toward the south and began the last lap of their adventuresome journey.

  They started straight south toward the Emerald City for they wanted to avoid Bookville and Icetown and the river that had delayed them on their journey from the Tin Woodman's castle to Hidden Valley.

  Chapter 22

  The Emerald City of Oz

  FOR the first part of their journey, Jam and Dorothy decided to walk instead of riding on the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger, for it was a beautiful day, balmy and mild, and strolling along the countryside was a pleasure. The grateful Gillikens accompanied them to the edge of the great plain. When they reached i
t the Tin Woodman told them that he thought they need have no further fear of the dreaded Equinots, who had been so thoroughly frightened by the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger that they would never prey upon the unwary traveler again.

  The Gillikens again thanked the little group for their deliverance from bondage and stood watching until our friends had passed out of sight upon the flat land covered with purple sage. The Scarecrow thought they would probably be able to reach the capitol city of Oz in two days' time if they traveled steadily, and the prospect of once more returning home kept them walking at a good rate of speed across the even ground. After several hours they had crossed the plain and had come to a shady wood with pleasant paths. They were still in the Gilliken country, for the flowers that nodded by the lilting streams were a delicate lavender hue, and there were purple grapes growing on the vines that twined through the branches of the trees.

  "I shall never see grapes again without thinking of Terp, and how he wanted to eat me on muffins for breakfast," said Jam, sighing deeply.

  "Right, kiddo," said Percy, frolicking along beside him. "I'll bet the people in Hidden Valley never eat any more grape jam as long as they live."

  "Which is always," said Dorothy, "for no one dies in the Land of Oz. They may be totally destroyed by some accident, or some sort of witchcraft, but they live on forever at any age they like."

  "I never heard of a place like this before," said Jam. "Things like that don't happen in the outside world."

  "Things like that could happen only in a fairyland," smiled Dorothy. "That's why I like to live here."

  "If my mother and father were here, I'd like it too," said the little boy. "But I'm getting awfully lonesome for them, and I know that they miss me too."

  "It won't be long now until you can go home," the Scarecrow told Jam, "for as soon as we reach the Emerald City I shall request an audience with Ozma and ask her to transport you to your home immediately."

  "We would like to have you visit with us longer,"

  said the Tin Woodman," but we understand that you would rather be at home than any place else in the world. So just be patient for a little while longer and your wish will be granted."

  "How will Ozma send me home?" Asked Jam. "I came by kite, but I can't return that way."

  "We'll just have to wait and see," said the Scarecrow.

  Jam did not notice, but the Scarecrow had a knowing little smile on his face. Dorothy saw it and knew that her stuffed friend had some idea, but she did not ask him what he was thinking of, for she felt that it might be some sort of nice surprise for the little boy. So the time passed swiftly as they walked along, and when evening came, they slept beneath the bright stars that twinkled in the heavens above them, lulled by the song of the evening birds.

  Jam and Dorothy woke at dawn, and after washing their faces in the clear water of a brook that flowed through the forest, they ate some of the food that was left in the baskets the Gillikens had given them. Then all of them started on the last part of their journey, for they expected to see the walls of the Emerald City before night fell again.

  The little boy from Ohio whistled as he hurried along. His happy little tunes kept all of them in good humor. The forest through which they had been traveling had become less dense, and soon they left its purple shadows behind them. The country lost its wild look, and they passed many well kept farmhouses surrounded by velvety lawns and prosperous looking gardens.

  "The country begins to look more civilized," said the Scarecrow. "That means that we are getting nearer and nearer to the capitol city."

  "It is a magnificent sight," the Cowardly Lion told Percy. "The walls are of the finest green marble that can be found, and the walls and streets and buildings are studded with great, gleaming emeralds, some of them as big as building blocks."

  "Who ever heard of emeralds that big, kiddo?"

  Scoffed Percy.

  The Tin Woodman came to the aid of his friend the lion, and said, "The Cowardly Lion is not exaggerating in the least."

  And Dorothy said, "You'll see when you get there that the city is even more wonderful than any description could ever be."

  "Do you live in the city?" Asked Jam.

  "Yes, I have my own suite in the royal palace,"

  the girl told him, "for Ozma and I are the best of friends, and she likes to have me near her."

  "It all sounds very nice," he said.

  At noon the travelers were invited to stop for lunch at one of the farmhouses that were scattered over the countryside, for the farmer and his wife recognized the Tin Woodman, the Scarecrow, and the Princess Dorothy and were greatly honored to have such distinguished company in their home.

  Dorothy and Jam were glad to eat a hot meal and thanked the couple for their kind hospitality. The farmer's children were a little shy. At first they were afraid of the queer looking Scarecrow and his companion, the Tin Woodman, but these two soon won them over by telling them stories, and when the party took leave of the farmer and his wife, the children wanted to go with them.

  "Some day you must come to the Emerald City to see us," suggested Dorothy, and the children were satisfied with this suggestion and let their new friends go on without them.

  "The country looks very familiar, now," said Dorothy. "We will be in the Emerald City in time for dinner this evening."

  "And how soon will Ozma send me home?" Asked Jam.

  "Probably tomorrow morning," the little girl told him.

  "How will I get there?"

  "You'll be whisked through the air so fast that you won't even know you've started-and there you'll be at home."

  "Will it hurt any?" He asked in worried tones.

  "Not a bit," Dorothy reassured him. "I've done it several times, and it doesn't hurt at all."

  "Well, I just wish that it were tomorrow," he said wistfully.

  "Never mind, kiddo," Percy comforted him, "it won't be long now."

  More and more people were now traveling along the road, and one after another they greeted Dorothy and her friends.

  "They aren't dressed in purple costumes," Jam observed. "All of them seem to be wearing green."

  "Yes," Dorothy told him, "we have passed the boundary of the Gilliken country and are now in the section surrounding the Emerald City. The favorite color here is green, in honor of the capitol, so all the citizens wear different shades of green clothing instead of the purple worn in the North Country."

  "What's that shack over there?" Asked the white rat, pointing to a fine edifice with banners flying from its rooftop. Young men and women were going in and out, and it seemed a busy place.

  "That is the Royal College of Athletic Sciences,"

  the Scarecrow informed him. "It is supervised by Professor H. M. Wogglebug, T. E., Our highly magnified colleague. He would interest you very much,"

  the straw man continued to the rat, "for he is much larger than the normal woggle bug."

  "He used to live under a hearthstone in a schoolroom," Dorothy took up the story, "and so he became Thoroughly Educated. That's what the T. E. After his name means. One day the schoolmaster discovered him and threw a magnified image of him on a screen so all the students could see what he looked like. While in this Highly Magnified state, he escaped, and so he exists today."

  "Very interesting, kiddos," nodded Percy. "I'd like to meet him sometime and have a little heart to heart chat about our sizes."

  "If you stay in the Emerald City, you no doubt will see him often, for he is a frequent visitor at the palace. He and Ozma had many interesting adventures with the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman while Ozma was a boy."

  "A boy!" Exclaimed Jam.

  "Yes, she had been enchanted by a wicked witch called Mombi and didn't even know that she was the rightful ruler of Oz," Dorothy explained, "but Glinda, the Good Sorceress, rescued her, and now she is the most loved person in all the Land of Oz."

  "Maybe you're an enchanted princess, kiddo,"

  Percy suggested to Jam; but the little
boy assured him he wasn't.

  "I wouldn't want to be a girl, anyway, "he said and Dorothy laughed merrily.

  With such pleasant conversation, they passed the time as they traveled along the yellow brick road that led to the Emerald City. The houses and gardens were becoming more and more sumptuous as they neared the capitol. Suddenly a green glow appeared in the sky to the south.

  "What's that funny color in the sky?" Asked Jam with alarm in his voice.

  "That is the reflection of the sun on the walls of the Emerald City," he was told. "The emeralds that stud the walls are so brilliant that the green glow can be seen for miles around."

  "It won't be long until our journey is over," Dorothy told him, "for when we reach the top of this little hill, you will at last be able to see the city walls."

  When they reached the crest of the hill, Jam beheld the most beautiful sight that he had ever seen.

  There below him lay the Emerald City, which resembled the lovely jewels for which it was named. It glittered and shone in the sunlight, and gaily colored banners floated from the spires and parapets of the walls and from the tops of the buildings within. In the center of the city, the towers of the royal palace rose high above all the other buildings, and from the top of the highest tower floated the royal banner of Oz, a flag divided into red, yellow, blue, and purple sections, to represent each of the countries of Oz with a green patch in the center in honor of the Emerald City.

  "Oh," breathed the little boy in awe, "It's the most beautiful place I've ever seen."

  "And look," cried the Scarecrow, "I believe someone is coming to meet us."

  Looking down the road, they could see someone hurrying in their direction.

  "It's Scraps, riding the Sawhorse," Dorothy exclaimed.

  "And that looks like our friend, Spots, with them,"

  said the Hungry Tiger.

  "But how did they know we were coming now?"

  Asked the white rat in amazement.

  "Probably Ozma has been watching us in her magic picture," said Dorothy, "and saw that we were near the city gates."