Chapter XV.
The Discovery of OZ, The Terrible.
The four travellers walked up to the great gate of the Emerald Cityand rang the bell. After ringing several times it was opened by thesame Guardian of the Gate they had met before.
"What! are you back again?" he asked, in surprise.
"Do you not see us?" answered the Scarecrow.
"But I thought you had gone to visit the Wicked Witch of the West."
"We did visit her," said the Scarecrow.
"And she let you go again?" asked the man, in wonder.
"She could not help it, for she is melted," explained the Scarecrow.
"Melted! Well, that is good news, indeed," said the man. "Who meltedher?"
"It was Dorothy," said the Lion, gravely.
"Good gracious!" exclaimed the man, and he bowed very low indeedbefore her.
Then he led them into his little room and locked the spectaclesfrom the great box on all their eyes, just as he had done before.Afterward they passed on through the gate into the Emerald City, andwhen the people heard from the Guardian of the Gate that they hadmelted the Wicked Witch of the West they all gathered around thetravellers and followed them in a great crowd to the Palace of Oz.
The soldier with the green whiskers was still on guard before thedoor, but he let them in at once and they were again met by thebeautiful green girl, who showed each of them to their old rooms atonce, so they might rest until the Great Oz was ready to receive them.
The soldier had the news carried straight to Oz that Dorothy and theother travellers had come back again, after destroying the WickedWitch; but Oz made no reply. They thought the Great Wizard would sendfor them at once, but he did not. They had no word from him the nextday, nor the next, nor the next. The waiting was tiresome and wearing,and at last they grew vexed that Oz should treat them in so poor afashion, after sending them to undergo hardships and slavery. So theScarecrow at last asked the green girl to take another message to Oz,saying if he did not let them in to see him at once they would call theWinged Monkeys to help them, and find out whether he kept his promisesor not. When the Wizard was given this message he was so frightenedthat he sent word for them to come to the Throne Room at four minutesafter nine o'clock the next morning. He had once met the Winged Monkeysin the Land of the West, and he did not wish to meet them again.
The four travellers passed a sleepless night, each thinking of thegift Oz had promised to bestow upon him. Dorothy fell asleep onlyonce, and then she dreamed she was in Kansas, where Aunt Em wastelling her how glad she was to have her little girl at home again.
Promptly at nine o'clock the next morning the green whiskered soldiercame to them, and four minutes later they all went into the ThroneRoom of the Great Oz.
Of course each one of them expected to see the Wizard in the shapehe had taken before, and all were greatly surprised when they lookedabout and saw no one at all in the room. They kept close to the doorand closer to one another, for the stillness of the empty room wasmore dreadful than any of the forms they had seen Oz take.
Presently they heard a Voice, seeming to come from somewhere nearthe top of the great dome, and it said, solemnly.
"I am Oz, the Great and Terrible. Why do you seek me?"
They looked again in every part of the room, and then, seeing no one,Dorothy asked,
"Where are you?"
"I am everywhere," answered the Voice, "but to the eyes of commonmortals I am invisible. I will now seat myself upon my throne, thatyou may converse with me." Indeed, the Voice seemed just then to comestraight from the throne itself; so they walked toward it and stoodin a row while Dorothy said:
"We have come to claim our promise, O Oz."
"What promise?" asked Oz.
"You promised to send me back to Kansas when the Wicked Witch wasdestroyed," said the girl.
"And you promised to give me brains," said the Scarecrow.
"And you promised to give me a heart," said the Tin Woodman.
"And you promised to give me courage," said the Cowardly Lion.
"Is the Wicked Witch really destroyed?" asked the Voice, and Dorothythought it trembled a little.
"Yes," she answered, "I melted her with a bucket of water."
"Dear me," said the Voice; "how sudden! Well, come to me to-morrow,for I must have time to think it over."
"You've had plenty of time already," said the Tin Woodman, angrily.
"We shan't wait a day longer," said the Scarecrow.
"You must keep your promises to us!" exclaimed Dorothy.
The Lion thought it might be as well to frighten the Wizard, sohe gave a large, loud roar, which was so fierce and dreadful thatToto jumped away from him in alarm and tipped over the screen thatstood in a corner. As it fell with a crash they looked that way,and the next moment all of them were filled with wonder. For theysaw, standing in just the spot the screen had hidden, a little, oldman, with a bald head and a wrinkled face, who seemed to be as muchsurprised as they were. The Tin Woodman, raising his axe, rushedtoward the little man and cried out,
"Who are you?"
"I am Oz, the Great and Terrible," said the little man, in atrembling voice, "but don't strike me--please don't!--and I'll doanything you want me to."
Our friends looked at him in surprise and dismay.
"I thought Oz was a great Head," said Dorothy.
"And I thought Oz was a lovely Lady," said the Scarecrow.
"And I thought Oz was a terrible Beast," said the Tin Woodman.
"And I thought Oz was a Ball of Fire," exclaimed the Lion.
"No; you are all wrong," said the little man, meekly. "I have beenmaking believe."
"Making believe!" cried Dorothy. "Are you not a great Wizard?"
"Hush, my dear," he said; "don't speak so loud, or you will beoverheard--and I should be ruined. I'm supposed to be a Great Wizard."
"And aren't you?" she asked.
"Not a bit of it, my dear; I'm just a common man."
"You're more than that," said the Scarecrow, in a grieved tone;"you're a humbug."
"Exactly so!" declared the little man, rubbing his hands together asif it pleased him; "I am a humbug."
"But this is terrible," said the Tin Woodman; "how shall I ever getmy heart?"
"Or I my courage?" asked the Lion.
"Or I my brains?" wailed the Scarecrow, wiping the the tears from hiseyes with his coat-sleeve.
"_Exactly so! I am a humbug._"]
"My dear friends," said Oz, "I pray you not to speak of theselittle things. Think of me, and the terrible trouble I'm in at beingfound out."
"Doesn't anyone else know you're a humbug?" asked Dorothy.
"No one knows it but you four--and myself," replied Oz. "I havefooled everyone so long that I thought I should never be found out.It was a great mistake my ever letting you into the Throne Room.Usually I will not see even my subjects, and so they believe I amsomething terrible."
"But, I don't understand," said Dorothy, in bewilderment. "How was itthat you appeared to me as a great Head?"
"That was one of my tricks," answered Oz. "Step this way, please, andI will tell you all about it."
He led the way to a small chamber in the rear of the Throne Room,and they all followed him. He pointed to one corner, in which laythe Great Head, made out of many thicknesses of paper, and with acarefully painted face.
"This I hung from the ceiling by a wire," said Oz; "I stood behind thescreen and pulled a thread, to make the eyes move and the mouth open."
"But how about the voice?" she enquired.
"Oh, I am a ventriloquist," said the little man, "and I can throwthe sound of my voice wherever I wish; so that you thought it wascoming out of the Head. Here are the other things I used to deceiveyou." He showed the Scarecrow the dress and the mask he had worn whenhe seemed to be the lovely Lady; and the Tin Woodman saw that hisTerrible Beast was nothing but a lot of skins, se
wn together, withslats to keep their sides out. As for the Ball of Fire, the falseWizard had hung that also from the ceiling. It was really a ball ofcotton, but when oil was poured upon it the ball burned fiercely.
"Really," said the Scarecrow, "you ought to be ashamed of yourselffor being such a humbug."
"I am--I certainly am," answered the little man, sorrowfully; "but itwas the only thing I could do. Sit down, please, there are plenty ofchairs; and I will tell you my story."
So they sat down and listened while he told the following tale:
"I was born in Omaha--"
"Why, that isn't very far from Kansas!" cried Dorothy.
"No; but it's farther from here," he said, shaking his head at her,sadly. "When I grew up I became a ventriloquist, and at that I wasvery well trained by a great master. I can imitate any kind of abird or beast." Here he mewed so like a kitten that Toto pricked uphis ears and looked everywhere to see where she was. "After a time,"continued Oz, "I tired of that, and became a balloonist."
"What is that?" asked Dorothy.
"A man who goes up in a balloon on circus day, so as to draw a crowdof people together and get them to pay to see the circus," he explained.
"Oh," she said; "I know."
"Well, one day I went up in a balloon and the ropes got twisted, sothat I couldn't come down again. It went way up above the clouds, sofar that a current of air struck it and carried it many, many milesaway. For a day and a night I travelled through the air, and on themorning of the second day I awoke and found the balloon floating overa strange and beautiful country.
"It came down gradually, and I was not hurt a bit. But I found myselfin the midst of a strange people, who, seeing me come from the clouds,thought I was a great Wizard. Of course I let them think so, becausethey were afraid of me, and promised to do anything I wished them to.
"Just to amuse myself, and keep the good people busy, I ordered them tobuild this City, and my palace; and they did it all willingly and well.Then I thought, as the country was so green and beautiful, I wouldcall it the Emerald City, and to make the name fit better I put greenspectacles on all the people, so that everything they saw was green."
"But isn't everything here green?" asked Dorothy.
"No more than in any other city," replied Oz; "but when you weargreen spectacles, why of course everything you see looks green toyou. The Emerald City was built a great many years ago, for I was ayoung man when the balloon brought me here, and I am a very old mannow. But my people have worn green glasses on their eyes so long thatmost of them think it really is an Emerald City, and it certainly isa beautiful place, abounding in jewels and precious metals, and everygood thing that is needed to make one happy. I have been good to thepeople, and they like me; but ever since this Palace was built I haveshut myself up and would not see any of them.
"One of my greatest fears was the Witches, for while I had no magicalpowers at all I soon found out that the Witches were really able todo wonderful things. There were four of them in this country, andthey ruled the people who live in the North and South and East andWest. Fortunately, the Witches of the North and South were good, andI knew they would do me no harm; but the Witches of the East and Westwere terribly wicked, and had they not thought I was more powerfulthan they themselves, they would surely have destroyed me. As it was,I lived in deadly fear of them for many years; so you can imagine howpleased I was when I heard your house had fallen on the Wicked Witchof the East. When you came to me I was willing to promise anything ifyou would only do away with the other Witch; but, now that you havemelted her, I am ashamed to say that I cannot keep my promises."
"I think you are a very bad man," said Dorothy.
"Oh, no, my dear; I'm really a very good man; but I'm a very badWizard, I must admit."
"Can't you give me brains?" asked the Scarecrow.
"You don't need them. You are learning something every day. A babyhas brains, but it doesn't know much. Experience is the only thingthat brings knowledge, and the longer you are on earth the moreexperience you are sure to get."
"That may all be true," said the Scarecrow, "but I shall be veryunhappy unless you give me brains."
The false wizard looked at him carefully.
"Well," he said, with a sigh, "I'm not much of a magician, as I said;but if you will come to me to-morrow morning, I will stuff your headwith brains. I cannot tell you how to use them, however; you mustfind that out for yourself."
"Oh, thank you--thank you!" cried the Scarecrow. "I'll find a way touse them, never fear!"
"But how about my courage?" asked the Lion, anxiously.
"You have plenty of courage, I am sure," answered Oz. "All you needis confidence in yourself. There is no living thing that is notafraid when it faces danger. True courage is in facing danger whenyou are afraid, and that kind of courage you have in plenty."
"Perhaps I have, but I'm scared just the same," said the Lion. "Ishall really be very unhappy unless you give me the sort of couragethat makes one forget he is afraid."
"Very well; I will give you that sort of courage to-morrow," replied Oz.
"How about my heart?" asked the Tin Woodman.
"Why, as for that," answered Oz, "I think you are wrong to want aheart. It makes most people unhappy. If you only knew it, you are inluck not to have a heart."
"That must be a matter of opinion," said the Tin Woodman. "For mypart, I will bear all the unhappiness without a murmur, if you willgive me the heart."
"Very well," answered Oz, meekly. "Come to me to-morrow and you shallhave a heart. I have played Wizard for so many years that I may aswell continue the part a little longer."
"And now," said Dorothy, "how am I to get back to Kansas?"
"We shall have to think about that," replied the little man, "Giveme two or three days to consider the matter and I'll try to find away to carry you over the desert. In the meantime you shall all betreated as my guests, and while you live in the Palace my peoplewill wait upon you and obey your slightest wish. There is only onething I ask in return for my help--such as it is. You must keep mysecret and tell no one I am a humbug."
They agreed to say nothing of what they had learned, and went back totheir rooms in high spirits. Even Dorothy had hope that "The Greatand Terrible Humbug," as she called him, would find a way to send herback to Kansas, and if he did that she was willing to forgive himeverything.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Page 15
