THE JOURNEY
CHAP. SIX
Ojo had never traveled before and so he only knew that the path down themountainside led into the open Munchkin Country, where large numbers ofpeople dwelt. Scraps was quite new and not supposed to know anything ofthe Land of Oz, while the Glass Cat admitted she had never wandered veryfar away from the Magician's house. There was only one path before them,at the beginning, so they could not miss their way, and for a time theywalked through the thick forest in silent thought, each one impressedwith the importance of the adventure they had undertaken.
Suddenly the Patchwork Girl laughed. It was funny to see her laugh,because her cheeks wrinkled up, her nose tipped, her silver button eyestwinkled and her mouth curled at the corners in a comical way.
"Has something pleased you?" asked Ojo, who was feeling solemn andjoyless through thinking upon his uncle's sad fate.
"Yes," she answered. "Your world pleases me, for it's a queer world, andlife in it is queerer still. Here am I, made from an old bed-quilt andintended to be a slave to Margolotte, rendered free as air by anaccident that none of you could foresee. I am enjoying life and seeingthe world, while the woman who made me is standing helpless as a blockof wood. If that isn't funny enough to laugh at, I don't know what is."
"You're not seeing much of the world yet, my poor, innocent Scraps,"remarked the Cat. "The world doesn't consist wholly of the trees thatare on all sides of us."
"But they're part of it; and aren't they pretty trees?" returned Scraps,bobbing her head until her brown yarn curls fluttered in the breeze."Growing between them I can see lovely ferns and wild-flowers, and softgreen mosses. If the rest of your world is half as beautiful I shall beglad I'm alive."
"I don't know what the rest of the world is like, I'm sure," said thecat; "but I mean to find out."
"I have never been out of the forest," Ojo added; "but to me the treesare gloomy and sad and the wild-flowers seem lonesome. It must be nicerwhere there are no trees and there is room for lots of people to livetogether."
"I wonder if any of the people we shall meet will be as splendid as Iam," said the Patchwork Girl. "All I have seen, so far, have pale,colorless skins and clothes as blue as the country they live in, while Iam of many gorgeous colors--face and body and clothes. That is why I ambright and contented, Ojo, while you are blue and sad."
"I think I made a mistake in giving you so many sorts of brains,"observed the boy. "Perhaps, as the Magician said, you have an overdose,and they may not agree with you."
"What had you to do with my brains?" asked Scraps.
"A lot," replied Ojo. "Old Margolotte meant to give you only a few--justenough to keep you going--but when she wasn't looking I added a goodmany more, of the best kinds I could find in the Magician's cupboard."
"Thanks," said the girl, dancing along the path ahead of Ojo and thendancing back to his side. "If a few brains are good, many brains must bebetter."
"But they ought to be evenly balanced," said the boy, "and I had no timeto be careful. From the way you're acting, I guess the dose was badlymixed."
"Scraps hasn't enough brains to hurt her, so don't worry," remarked thecat, which was trotting along in a very dainty and graceful manner. "Theonly brains worth considering are mine, which are pink. You can see 'emwork."
After walking a long time they came to a little brook that trickledacross the path, and here Ojo sat down to rest and eat something fromhis basket. He found that the Magician had given him part of a loaf ofbread and a slice of cheese. He broke off some of the bread and wassurprised to find the loaf just as large as it was before. It was thesame way with the cheese: however much he broke off from the slice, itremained exactly the same size.
"Ah," said he, nodding wisely; "that's magic. Dr. Pipt has enchanted thebread and the cheese, so it will last me all through my journey, howevermuch I eat."
"Why do you put those things into your mouth?" asked Scraps, gazing athim in astonishment. "Do you need more stuffing? Then why don't you usecotton, such as I am stuffed with?"
"I don't need that kind," said Ojo.
"But a mouth is to talk with, isn't it?"
"It is also to eat with," replied the boy. "If I didn't put food into mymouth, and eat it, I would get hungry and starve."
"Ah, I didn't know that," she said. "Give me some."
Ojo handed her a bit of the bread and she put it in her mouth.
"What next?" she asked, scarcely able to speak.
"Chew it and swallow it," said the boy.
Scraps tried that. Her pearl teeth were unable to chew the bread andbeyond her mouth there was no opening. Being unable to swallow she threwaway the bread and laughed.
"I must get hungry and starve, for I can't eat," she said.
"Neither can I," announced the cat; "but I'm not fool enough to try.Can't you understand that you and I are superior people and not madelike these poor humans?"
"Why should I understand that, or anything else?" asked the girl. "Don'tbother my head by asking conundrums, I beg of you. Just let me discovermyself in my own way."
With this she began amusing herself by leaping across the brook and backagain.
"Be careful, or you'll fall in the water," warned Ojo.
"Never mind."
"You'd better. If you get wet you'll be soggy and can't walk. Yourcolors might run, too," he said.
"Don't my colors run whenever I run?" she asked.
"Not in the way I mean. If they get wet, the reds and greens and yellowsand purples of your patches might run into each other and become just ablur--no color at all, you know."
"Then," said the Patchwork Girl, "I'll be careful, for if I spoiled mysplendid colors I would cease to be beautiful."
"Pah!" sneered the Glass Cat, "such colors are not beautiful; they'reugly, and in bad taste. Please notice that my body has no color at all.I'm transparent, except for my exquisite red heart and my lovely pinkbrains--you can see 'em work."
"Shoo--shoo--shoo!" cried Scraps, dancing around and laughing. "And yourhorrid green eyes, Miss Bungle! You can't see your eyes, but we can, andI notice you're very proud of what little color you have. Shoo, MissBungle, shoo--shoo--shoo! If you were all colors and many colors, as Iam, you'd be too stuck up for anything." She leaped over the cat andback again, and the startled Bungle crept close to a tree to escape her.This made Scraps laugh more heartily than ever, and she said:
"Whoop-te-doodle-doo! The cat has lost her shoe. Her tootsie's bare, but she don't care, So what's the odds to you?"
"Dear me, Ojo," said the cat; "don't you think the creature is a littlebit crazy?"
"It may be," he answered, with a puzzled look.
"If she continues her insults I'll scratch off her suspender-buttoneyes," declared the cat.
"Don't quarrel, please," pleaded the boy, rising to resume the journey."Let us be good comrades and as happy and cheerful as possible, for weare likely to meet with plenty of trouble on our way."
It was nearly sundown when they came to the edge of the forest and sawspread out before them a delightful landscape. There were broad bluefields stretching for miles over the valley, which was dotted everywherewith pretty, blue domed houses, none of which, however, was very near tothe place where they stood. Just at the point where the path left theforest stood a tiny house covered with leaves from the trees, and beforethis stood a Munchkin man with an axe in his hand. He seemed very muchsurprised when Ojo and Scraps and the Glass Cat came out of the woods,but as the Patchwork Girl approached nearer he sat down upon a bench andlaughed so hard that he could not speak for a long time.
This man was a woodchopper and lived all alone in the little house. Hehad bushy blue whiskers and merry blue eyes and his blue clothes werequite old and worn.
"Mercy me!" exclaimed the woodchopper, when at last he could stoplaughing. "Who would think such a funny harlequin lived in the Land ofOz? Where did you come from, Crazy-quilt?"
"Do you mean me?" asked the Patchwork Girl.
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bsp; "Of course," he replied.
"You misjudge my ancestry. I'm not a crazy-quilt; I'm patchwork," shesaid.
"There's no difference," he replied, beginning to laugh again. "When myold grandmother sews such things together she calls it a crazy-quilt;but I never thought such a jumble could come to life."
"It was the Magic Powder that did it," explained Ojo.
"Oh, then you have come from the Crooked Magician on the mountain. Imight have known it, for--Well, I declare! here's a glass cat. But theMagician will get in trouble for this; it's against the law for anyoneto work magic except Glinda the Good and the royal Wizard of Oz. If youpeople--or things--or glass spectacles--or crazy-quilts--or whatever youare, go near the Emerald City, you'll be arrested."
"We're going there, anyhow," declared Scraps, sitting upon the bench andswinging her stuffed legs.
"If any of us takes a rest, We'll be arrested sure, And get no restitution 'Cause the rest we must endure."
"I see," said the woodchopper, nodding; "you're as crazy as thecrazy-quilt you're made of."
"She really _is_ crazy," remarked the Glass Cat. "But that isn't to bewondered at when you remember how many different things she's made of.For my part, I'm made of pure glass--except my jewel heart and my prettypink brains. Did you notice my brains, stranger? You can see 'em work."
"So I can," replied the woodchopper; "but I can't see that theyaccomplish much. A glass cat is a useless sort of thing, but a PatchworkGirl is really useful. She makes me laugh, and laughter is the bestthing in life. There was once a woodchopper, a friend of mine, who wasmade all of tin, and I used to laugh every time I saw him."
"A tin woodchopper?" said Ojo. "That is strange."
"My friend wasn't always tin," said the man, "but he was careless withhis axe, and used to chop himself very badly. Whenever he lost an arm ora leg he had it replaced with tin; so after a while he was all tin."
"And could he chop wood then?" asked the boy.
"He could if he didn't rust his tin joints. But one day he met Dorothyin the forest and went with her to the Emerald City, where he made hisfortune. He is now one of the favorites of Princess Ozma, and she hasmade him the Emperor of the Winkies--the Country where all is yellow."
"Who is Dorothy?" inquired the Patchwork Girl.
"A little maid who used to live in Kansas, but is now a Princess of Oz.She's Ozma's best friend, they say, and lives with her in the royalpalace."
"Is Dorothy made of tin?" inquired Ojo.
"Is she patchwork, like me?" inquired Scraps.
"No," said the man; "Dorothy is flesh, just as I am. I know of only onetin person, and that is Nick Chopper, the Tin Woodman; and there willnever be but one Patchwork Girl, for any magician that sees you willrefuse to make another one like you."
"I suppose we shall see the Tin Woodman, for we are going to the Countryof the Winkies," said the boy.
"What for?" asked the woodchopper.
"To get the left wing of a yellow butterfly."
"It is a long journey," declared the man, "and you will go throughlonely parts of Oz and cross rivers and traverse dark forests before youget there."
"Suits me all right," said Scraps. "I'll get a chance to see thecountry."
"You're crazy, girl. Better crawl into a rag-bag and hide there; or giveyourself to some little girl to play with. Those who travel are likelyto meet trouble; that's why I stay at home."
The woodchopper then invited them all to stay the night at his littlehut, but they were anxious to get on and so left him and continued alongthe path, which was broader, now, and more distinct.
They expected to reach some other house before it grew dark, but thetwilight was brief and Ojo soon began to fear they had made a mistake inleaving the woodchopper.
"I can scarcely see the path," he said at last. "Can you see it,Scraps?"
"No," replied the Patchwork Girl, who was holding fast to the boy's armso he could guide her.
"I can see," declared the Glass Cat. "My eyes are better than yours, andmy pink brains--"
"Never mind your pink brains, please," said Ojo hastily; "just run aheadand show us the way. Wait a minute and I'll tie a string to you; forthen you can lead us."
He got a string from his pocket and tied it around the cat's neck, andafter that the creature guided them along the path. They had proceededin this way for about an hour when a twinkling blue light appeared aheadof them.
"Good! there's a house at last," cried Ojo. "When we reach it the goodpeople will surely welcome us and give us a night's lodging." Buthowever far they walked the light seemed to get no nearer, so by and bythe cat stopped short, saying:
"I think the light is traveling, too, and we shall never be able tocatch up with it. But here is a house by the roadside, so why gofarther?"
"Where is the house, Bungle?"
"Just here beside us, Scraps."
Ojo was now able to see a small house near the pathway. It was dark andsilent, but the boy was tired and wanted to rest, so he went up to thedoor and knocked.
"Who is there?" cried a voice from within.
"I am Ojo the Unlucky, and with me are Miss Scraps Patchwork and theGlass Cat," he replied.
"What do you want?" asked the Voice.
"A place to sleep," said Ojo.
"Come in, then; but don't make any noise, and you must go directly tobed," returned the Voice.
Ojo unlatched the door and entered. It was very dark inside and he couldsee nothing at all. But the cat exclaimed: "Why, there's no one here!"
"There must be," said the boy. "Some one spoke to me."
"I can see everything in the room," replied the cat, "and no one ispresent but ourselves. But here are three beds, all made up, so we mayas well go to sleep."
"What is sleep?" inquired the Patchwork Girl.
"It's what you do when you go to bed," said Ojo.
"But why do you go to bed?" persisted the Patchwork Girl.
"Here, here! You are making altogether too much noise," cried the Voicethey had heard before. "Keep quiet, strangers, and go to bed."
The cat, which could see in the dark, looked sharply around for theowner of the Voice, but could discover no one, although the Voice hadseemed close beside them. She arched her back a little and seemedafraid. Then she whispered to Ojo: "Come!" and led him to a bed.
With his hands the boy felt of the bed and found it was big and soft,with feather pillows and plenty of blankets. So he took off his shoesand hat and crept into the bed. Then the cat led Scraps to another bedand the Patchwork Girl was puzzled to know what to do with it.
"Lie down and keep quiet," whispered the cat, warningly.
"Can't I sing?" asked Scraps.
"No."
"Can't I whistle?" asked Scraps.
"No."
"Can't I dance till morning, if I want to?" asked Scraps.
"You must keep quiet," said the cat, in a soft voice.
"I don't want to," replied the Patchwork Girl, speaking as loudly asusual. "What right have you to order me around? If I want to talk, oryell, or whistle--"
Before she could say anything more an unseen hand seized her firmly andthrew her out of the door, which closed behind her with a sharp slam.She found herself bumping and rolling in the road and when she got upand tried to open the door of the house again she found it locked.
"What has happened to Scraps?" asked Ojo.
"Never mind. Let's go to sleep, or something will happen to us,"answered the Glass Cat.
So Ojo snuggled down in his bed and fell asleep, and he was so tiredthat he never wakened until broad daylight.
The Patchwork Girl of Oz Page 7
