CHAPTER 2
Ozma and Dorothy
Residing in Ozma's palace at this time was a live Scarecrow, a mostremarkable and intelligent creature who had once ruled the Land of Ozfor a brief period and was much loved and respected by all thepeople. Once a Munchkin farmer had stuffed an old suit of clothes withstraw and put stuffed boots on the feet and used a pair of stuffedcotton gloves for hands. The head of the Scarecrow was a stuffed sackfastened to the body, with eyes, nose, mouth and ears painted on thesack. When a hat had been put on the head, the thing was a goodimitation of a man. The farmer placed the Scarecrow on a pole in hiscornfield and it came to life in a curious manner. Dorothy, who waspassing by the field, was hailed by the live Scarecrow and lifted himoff his pole. He then went with her to the Emerald City, where theWizard of Oz gave him some excellent brains, and the Scarecrow soonbecame an important personage.
Ozma considered the Scarecrow one of her best friends and most loyalsubjects, so the morning after her visit to Glinda she asked him totake her place as Ruler of the Land of Oz while she was absent on ajourney, and the Scarecrow at once consented without asking anyquestions.
Ozma had warned Dorothy to keep their journey a secret and say nothingto anyone about the Skeezers and Flatheads until their return, andDorothy promised to obey. She longed to tell her girl friends, tinyTrot and Betsy Bobbin, of the adventure they were undertaking, butrefrained from saying a word on the subject although both these girlslived with her in Ozma's palace.
Indeed, only Glinda the Sorceress knew they were going, until afterthey had gone, and even the Sorceress didn't know what their errandmight be.
Princess Ozma took the Sawhorse and the Red Wagon, although she wasnot sure there was a wagon road all the way to the Lake of theSkeezers. The Land of Oz is a pretty big place, surrounded on allsides by a Deadly Desert which it is impossible to cross, and theSkeezer Country, according to the map, was in the farthestnorthwestern part of Oz, bordering on the north desert. As the EmeraldCity was exactly in the center of Oz, it was no small journey fromthere to the Skeezers.
Around the Emerald City the country is thickly settled in everydirection, but the farther away you get from the city the fewer peoplethere are, until those parts that border on the desert have smallpopulations. Also those faraway sections are little known to the Ozpeople, except in the south, where Glinda lives and where Dorothy hasoften wandered on trips of exploration.
The least known of all is the Gillikin Country, which harbors manystrange bands of people among its mountains and valleys and forestsand streams, and Ozma was now bound for the most distant part of theGillikin Country.
"I am really sorry," said Ozma to Dorothy, as they rode away in theRed Wagon, "not to know more about the wonderful Land I rule. It is myduty to be acquainted with every tribe of people and every strange andhidden country in all Oz, but I am kept so busy at my palace makinglaws and planning for the comforts of those who live near the EmeraldCity, that I do not often find time to make long journeys."
"Well," replied Dorothy, "we'll prob'bly find out a lot on this trip,and we'll learn all about the Skeezers and Flatheads, anyhow. Timedoesn't make much diff'rence in the Land of Oz, 'cause we don't growup, or get old, or become sick and die, as they do other places; so,if we explore one place at a time, we'll by-an'-by know all aboutevery nook and corner in Oz."
Dorothy wore around her waist the Nome King's Magic Belt, whichprotected her from harm, and the Magic Ring which Glinda had given herwas on her finger. Ozma had merely slipped a small silver wand intothe bosom of her gown, for fairies do not use chemicals and herbs andthe tools of wizards and sorcerers to perform their magic. The SilverWand was Ozma's one weapon of offense and defense and by its use shecould accomplish many things.
They had left the Emerald City just at sunrise and the Sawhorsetraveled very swiftly over the roads towards the north, but in a fewhours the wooden animal had to slacken his pace because the farmhouses had become few and far between and often there were no paths atall in the direction they wished to follow. At such times they crossedthe fields, avoiding groups of trees and fording the streams andrivulets whenever they came to them. But finally they reached a broadhillside closely covered with scrubby brush, through which the wagoncould not pass.
"It will be difficult even for you and me to get through withouttearing our dresses," said Ozma, "so we must leave the Sawhorse andthe Wagon here until our return."
"That's all right," Dorothy replied, "I'm tired riding, anyhow. Do yous'pose, Ozma, we're anywhere near the Skeezer Country?"
"I cannot tell, Dorothy dear, but I know we've been going in the rightdirection, so we are sure to find it in time."
The scrubby brush was almost like a grove of small trees, for itreached as high as the heads of the two girls, neither of whom wasvery tall. They were obliged to thread their way in and out, untilDorothy was afraid they would get lost, and finally they were haltedby a curious thing that barred their further progress. It was a hugeweb--as if woven by gigantic spiders--and the delicate, lacy film wasfastened stoutly to the branches of the bushes and continued to theright and left in the form of a half circle. The threads of this webwere of a brilliant purple color and woven into numerous artisticpatterns, but it reached from the ground to branches above the headsof the girls and formed a sort of fence that hedged them in.
"It doesn't look very strong, though," said Dorothy. "I wonder if wecouldn't break through." She tried but found the web stronger than itseemed. All her efforts could not break a single thread.
"We must go back, I think, and try to get around this peculiar web,"Ozma decided.
So they turned to the right and, following the web, found that itseemed to spread in a regular circle. On and on they went untilfinally Ozma said they had returned to the exact spot from which theyhad started. "Here is a handkerchief you dropped when we were herebefore," she said to Dorothy.
"In that case, they must have built the web behind us, after we walkedinto the trap," exclaimed the little girl.
"True," agreed Ozma, "an enemy has tried to imprison us."
"And they did it, too," said Dorothy. "I wonder who it was."
"It's a spider-web, I'm quite sure," returned Ozma, "but it must bethe work of enormous spiders."
"Quite right!" cried a voice behind them. Turning quickly around theybeheld a huge purple spider sitting not two yards away and regardingthem with its small bright eyes.
Then there crawled from the bushes a dozen more great purple spiders,which saluted the first one and said:
"The web is finished, O King, and the strangers are our prisoners."
Dorothy did not like the looks of these spiders at all. They had bigheads, sharp claws, small eyes and fuzzy hair all over their purplebodies.
"They look wicked," she whispered to Ozma. "What shall we do?"
Ozma gazed upon the spiders with a serious face.
"What is your object in making us prisoners?" she inquired.
"We need someone to keep house for us," answered the Spider King."There is sweeping and dusting to be done, and polishing and washingof dishes, and that is work my people dislike to do. So we decidedthat if any strangers came our way we would capture them and make themour servants."
"I am Princess Ozma, Ruler of all Oz," said the girl with dignity.
"Well, I am King of all Spiders," was the reply, "and that makes meyour master. Come with me to my palace and I will instruct you in yourwork."
"I won't," said Dorothy indignantly. "We won't have anything to dowith you."
"We'll see about that," returned the Spider in a severe tone, and thenext instant he made a dive straight at Dorothy, opening the claws inhis legs as if to grab and pinch her with the sharp points. But thegirl was wearing her Magic Belt and was not harmed. The Spider Kingcould not even touch her.
He turned swiftly and made a dash at Ozma, but she held her Magic Wandover his head and the monster recoiled as if it had been struck.
"You'd better let us go," Dor
othy advised him, "for you see you can'thurt us."
"So I see," returned the Spider King angrily. "Your magic is greaterthan mine. But I'll not help you to escape. If you can break the magicweb my people have woven you may go; if not you must stay here andstarve." With that the Spider King uttered a peculiar whistle and allthe spiders disappeared.
"There is more magic in my fairyland than I dreamed of," remarked thebeautiful Ozma, with a sigh of regret. "It seems that my laws have notbeen obeyed, for even these monstrous spiders defy me by means ofmagic."
"Never mind that now," said Dorothy; "let's see what we can do to getout of this trap."
They now examined the web with great care and were amazed at itsstrength. Although finer than the finest silken hairs, it resisted alltheir efforts to work through, even though both girls threw all theirweight against it.
"We must find some instrument which will cut the threads of the web,"said Ozma, finally. "Let us look about for such a tool."
So they wandered among the bushes and finally came to a shallow poolof water, formed by a small bubbling spring. Dorothy stooped to get adrink and discovered in the water a green crab, about as big as herhand. The crab had two big, sharp claws, and as soon as Dorothy sawthem she had an idea that those claws could save them.
"Come out of the water," she called to the crab; "I want to talk toyou."
Rather lazily the crab rose to the surface and caught hold of a bit ofrock. With his head above the water he said in a cross voice:
"What do you want?"
"We want you to cut the web of the purple spiders with your claws, sowe can get through it," answered Dorothy. "You can do that, can'tyou?"
"I suppose so," replied the crab. "But if I do what will you give me?"
"What do you wish?" Ozma inquired.
"I wish to be white, instead of green," said the crab. "Green crabsare very common, and white ones are rare; besides the purple spiders,which infest this hillside, are afraid of white crabs. Could you makeme white if I should agree to cut the web for you?"
"Yes," said Ozma, "I can do that easily. And, so you may know I amspeaking the truth, I will change your color now."
She waved her silver wand over the pool and the crab instantly becamesnow-white--all except his eyes, which remained black. The creaturesaw his reflection in the water and was so delighted that he at onceclimbed out of the pool and began moving slowly toward the web, bybacking away from the pool. He moved so very slowly that Dorothy criedout impatiently: "Dear me, this will never do!" Catching the crab inher hands she ran with him to the web.
She had to hold him up even then, so he could reach with his clawsstrand after strand of the filmy purple web, which he was able tosever with one nip.
When enough of the web had been cut to allow them to pass, Dorothy ranback to the pool and placed the white crab in the water, after whichshe rejoined Ozma. They were just in time to escape through the web,for several of the purple spiders now appeared, having discovered thattheir web had been cut, and had the girls not rushed through theopening the spiders would have quickly repaired the cuts and againimprisoned them.
Ozma and Dorothy ran as fast as they could and although the angryspiders threw a number of strands of web after them, hoping to lassothem or entangle them in the coils, they managed to escape and clamberto the top of the hill.
Glinda of Oz Page 2
