The Emerald City of Oz

by L. Frank Baum

  _How_ THEY MATCHED THE FUDDLES

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Dorothy and her fellow travelers rode away from the Cuttenclip villageand followed the indistinct path as far as the sign-post. Here they tookthe main road again and proceeded pleasantly through the pretty farmingcountry. When evening came they stopped at a dwelling and were joyfullywelcomed and given plenty to eat and good beds for the night.

  Early next morning, however, they were up and eager to start, and aftera good breakfast they bade their host good-bye and climbed into the redwagon, to which the Sawhorse had been hitched all night. Being made ofwood, this horse never got tired nor cared to lie down. Dorothy was notquite sure whether he ever slept or not, but it was certain that henever did when anybody was around.

  The weather is always beautiful in Oz, and this morning the air wascool and refreshing and the sunshine brilliant and delightful.

  In about an hour they came to a place where another road branched off.There was a sign-post here which read:

  (hand pointing right)] THIS WAY TO FUDDLECUMJIG

  "Oh, here is where we turn," said Dorothy, observing the sign.

  "What! Are we going to Fuddlecumjig?" asked the Captain General.

  "Yes; Ozma thought we would enjoy the Fuddles. They are said to be veryinteresting," she replied.

  "No one would suspect it from their name," said Aunt Em. "Who are they,anyhow? More paper things?"

  "I think not," answered Dorothy, laughing; "but I can't say 'zactly,Aunt Em, what they are. We'll find out when we get there."

  "Perhaps the Wizard knows," suggested Uncle Henry.

  "No; I've never been there before," said the Wizard. "But I've oftenheard of Fuddlecumjig and the Fuddles, who are said to be the mostpeculiar people in all the Land of Oz."

  "In what way?" asked the Shaggy Man.

  "I don't know, I'm sure," said the Wizard.

  Just then, as they rode along the pretty green lane towardFuddlecumjig, they espied a kangaroo sitting by the roadside. The pooranimal had its face covered with both its front paws and was crying sobitterly that the tears coursed down its cheeks in two tiny streams andtrickled across the road, where they formed a pool in a small hollow.

  The Sawhorse stopped short at this pitiful sight, and Dorothy cried out,with ready sympathy:

  "What's the matter, Kangaroo?"

  "Boo-hoo! Boo-hoo!" wailed the kangaroo; "I've lost my mi--mi--mi--Oh,boo-hoo! Boo-hoo!"--

  "Poor thing," said the Wizard, "she's lost her mister. It's probably herhusband, and he's dead."

  "No, no, no!" sobbed the kangaroo. "It--it isn't that. I've lost mymi--mi--Oh, boo, boo-hoo!"

  "I know," said the Shaggy Man; "she's lost her mirror."

  "No; it's my mi--mi--mi--Boo-hoo! My mi--Oh, Boo-hoo!" and the kangaroocried harder than ever.

  "It must be her mince-pie," suggested Aunt Em.

  "Or her milk-toast," proposed Uncle Henry.

  "I've lost my mi--mi--mittens!" said the kangaroo, getting it out atlast.

  "Oh!" cried the Yellow Hen, with a cackle of relief. "Why didn't you sayso before?"

  "Boo-hoo! I--I--couldn't," answered the kangaroo.

  "But, see here," said Dorothy, "you don't need mittens in this warmweather."

  "Yes, indeed I do," replied the animal, stopping her sobs and removingher paws from her face to look at the little girl reproachfully. "Myhands will get all sunburned and tanned without my mittens, and I'veworn them so long that I'll probably catch cold without them."

  "Nonsense!" said Dorothy. "I never heard before of any kangaroo wearingmittens."

  "Didn't you?" asked the animal, as if surprised.

  "Never!" repeated the girl. "And you'll probably make yourself sick ifyou don't stop crying. Where do you live?"

  "About two miles beyond Fuddlecumjig," was the answer. "Grandmother Gnitmade me the mittens, and she's one of the Fuddles."

  "Well, you'd better go home now, and perhaps the old lady will make youanother pair," suggested Dorothy. "We're on our way to Fuddlecumjig, andyou may hop along beside us."

  So they rode on, and the kangaroo hopped beside the red wagon and seemedquickly to have forgotten her loss. By and by the Wizard said to theanimal:

  "Are the Fuddles nice people?"

  "Oh, very nice," answered the kangaroo; "that is, when they're properlyput together. But they get dreadfully scattered and mixed up, at times,and then you can't do anything with them."

  "What do you mean by their getting scattered?" inquired Dorothy.

  "Why, they're made in a good many small pieces," explained the kangaroo;"and whenever any stranger comes near them they have a habit of fallingapart and scattering themselves around. That's when they get sodreadfully mixed, and its a hard puzzle to put them together again."

  "Who usually puts them together?" asked Omby Amby.

  "Any one who is able to match the pieces. I sometimes put GrandmotherGnit together myself, because I know her so well I can tell every piecethat belongs to her. Then, when she's all matched, she knits for me, andthat's how she made my mittens. But it took a good many days hardknitting, and I had to put Grandmother together a good many times,because every time I came near she'd scatter herself."

  "I should think she would get used to your coming, and not be afraid,"said Dorothy.

  "It isn't that," replied the kangaroo. "They're not a bit afraid, whenthey're put together, and usually they're very jolly and pleasant. It'sjust a habit they have, to scatter themselves, and if they didn't do itthey wouldn't be Fuddles."

  The travelers thought upon this quite seriously for a time, while theSawhorse continued to carry them rapidly forward. Then Aunt Em remarked:

  "I don't see much use our visitin' these Fuddles. If we find themscattered, all we can do is to sweep 'em up, and then go about ourbusiness."

  "Oh, I b'lieve we'd better go on," replied Dorothy. "I'm getting hungry,and we must try to get some luncheon at Fuddlecumjig. Perhaps the foodwon't be scattered as badly as the people."

  "You'll find plenty to eat there," declared the kangaroo, hopping alongin big bounds because the Sawhorse was going so fast; "and they have afine cook, too, if you can manage to put him together. There's the townnow--just ahead of us!"

  They looked ahead and saw a group of very pretty houses standing in agreen field a little apart from the main road.

  "Some Munchkins came here a few days ago and matched a lot of peopletogether," said the kangaroo. "I think they are together yet, and if yougo softly, without making any noise, perhaps they won't scatter."

  "Let's try it," suggested the Wizard.

  So they stopped the Sawhorse and got out of the wagon, and, afterbidding good bye to the kangaroo, who hopped away home, they entered thefield and very cautiously approached the group of houses.

  So silently did they move that soon they saw through the windows of thehouses, people moving around, while others were passing to and fro inthe yards between the buildings. They seemed much like other people,from a distance, and apparently they did not notice the little party soquietly approaching.

  They had almost reached the nearest house when Toto saw a large beetlecrossing the path and barked loudly at it. Instantly a wild clatter washeard from the houses and yards. Dorothy thought it sounded like asudden hailstorm, and the visitors, knowing that caution was no longernecessary, hurried forward to see what had happened.

  After the clatter an intense stillness reigned in the town. Thestrangers entered the first house they came to, which was also thelargest, and found the floor strewn with pieces of the people who livedthere. They looked much like fragments of wood neatly painted, and wereof all sorts of curious and fantastic shapes, no two pieces being in anyway alike.

  They picked up some of these pieces and looked at them carefully. On onewhich Dorothy held was an eye, which looked at her pleasantly but withan interested expression, as if it wondered what she was going to dowith it. Quite near by she discovered and picked up a nose, and bymatching the two
pieces together found that they were part of a face.

  "If I could find the mouth," she said, "this Fuddle might be able totalk, and tell us what to do next."

  "Then let us find it," replied the Wizard, and so all got down on theirhands and knees and began examining the scattered pieces.

  "I've found it!" cried the Shaggy Man, and ran to Dorothy with aqueer-shaped piece that had a mouth on it. But when they tried to fit itto the eye and nose they found the parts wouldn't match together.

  "That mouth belongs to some other person," said Dorothy. "You see weneed a curve here and a point there, to make it fit the face."

  "Well, it must be here some place," declared the Wizard; "so if wesearch long enough we shall find it."

  Dorothy fitted an ear on next, and the ear had a little patch of redhair above it. So while the others were searching for the mouth shehunted for pieces with red hair, and found several of them which, whenmatched to the other pieces, formed the top of a man's head. She hadalso found the other eye and the ear by the time Omby Amby in a farcorner discovered the mouth. When the face was thus completed all theparts joined together with a nicety that was astonishing.

  "Why, it's like a picture puzzle!" exclaimed the little girl. "Let'sfind the rest of him, and get him all together."

  "What's the rest of him like?" asked the Wizard. "Here are some piecesof blue legs and green arms, but I don't know whether they are his ornot."

  "Look for a white shirt and a white apron," said the head which had beenput together, speaking in a rather faint voice. "I'm the cook."

  "I'M THE COOK".]

  "Oh, thank you," said Dorothy. "It's lucky we started you first, for I'mhungry, and you can be cooking something for us to eat while we matchthe other folks together."

  It was not so very difficult, now that they had a hint as to how the manwas dressed, to find the other pieces belonging to him, and as all ofthem now worked on the cook, trying piece after piece to see if it wouldfit, they finally had the cook set up complete.

  When he was finished he made them a low bow and said:

  "I will go at once to the kitchen and prepare your dinner. You will findit something of a job to get all the Fuddles together, so I advise youto begin on the Lord High Chigglewitz, whose first name is Larry. He's abald-headed fat man and is dressed in a blue coat with brass buttons, apink vest and drab breeches. A piece of his left knee is missing, havingbeen lost years ago when he scattered himself too carelessly. That makeshim limp a little, but he gets along very well with half a knee. As heis the chief personage in this town of Fuddlecumjig, he will be able towelcome you and assist you with the others. So it will be best to workon him while I'm getting your dinner."

  "We will," said the Wizard; "and thank you very much, Cook, for thesuggestion."

  Aunt Em was the first to discover a piece of the Lord High Chigglewitz.

  "It seems to me like a fool business, this matching folks together," sheremarked; "but as we haven't anything to do till dinner's ready we mayas well get rid of some of this rubbish. Here, Henry, get busy andlook for Larry's bald head. I've got his pink vest, all right."

  They worked with eager interest, and Billina proved a great help tothem. The Yellow Hen had sharp eyes and could put her head close to thevarious pieces that lay scattered around. She would examine the LordHigh Chigglewitz and see which piece of him was next needed, and thenhunt around until she found it. So before an hour had passed old Larrywas standing complete before them.

  "I congratulate you, my friends," he said, speaking in a cheerful voice."You are certainly the cleverest people who ever visited us. I was nevermatched together so quickly in my life. I'm considered a great puzzle,usually."

  "Well," said Dorothy, "there used to be a picture puzzle craze inKansas, and so I've had some 'sperience matching puzzles. But thepictures were flat, while you are round, and that makes you harder tofigure out."

  "Thank you, my dear," replied old Larry, greatly pleased. "I feel highlycomplimented. Were I not a really good puzzle there would be no objectin my scattering myself."

  "Why do you do it?" asked Aunt Em, severely. "Why don't you behaveyourself, and stay put together?"

  The Lord High Chigglewitz seemed annoyed by this speech; but he replied,politely:

  "Madam, you have perhaps noticed that every person has somepeculiarity. Mine is to scatter myself. What your own peculiarity is Iwill not venture to say; but I shall never find fault with you, whateveryou do."

  "Now, you've got your diploma, Em," said Uncle Henry, with a laugh, "andI'm glad of it. This is a queer country, and we may as well take peopleas we find them."

  "If we did, we'd leave these folks scattered," she returned, and thisretort made everybody laugh good-naturedly.

  Just then Omby Amby found a hand with a knitting needle in it, and theydecided to put Grandmother Gnit together. She proved an easier puzzlethan old Larry, and when she was completed they found her a pleasant oldlady who welcomed them cordially. Dorothy told her how the kangaroo hadlost her mittens, and Grandmother Gnit promised to set to work at onceand make the poor animal another pair.

  Then the cook came to call them to dinner, and they found an invitingmeal prepared for them. The Lord High Chigglewitz sat at the head of thetable and Grandmother Gnit at the foot, and the guests had a merry timeand thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

  After dinner they went out into the yard and matched several otherpeople together, and this work was so interesting that they might havespent the entire day at Fuddlecumjig had not the Wizard suggested thatthey resume their journey.

  "But I don't like to leave all these poor people scattered," saidDorothy, undecided what to do.

  "Oh, don't mind us, my dear," returned old Larry. "Every day or so someof the Gillikins, or Munchkins, or Winkies come here to amuse themselvesby matching us together, so there will be no harm in leaving thesepieces where they are for a time. But I hope you will visit us again,and if you do you will always be welcome, I assure you."

  "Don't you ever match each other?" she inquired.

  "Never; for we are no puzzles to ourselves, and so there wouldn't be anyfun in it."

  They now said goodbye to the queer Fuddles and got into their wagon tocontinue their journey.

  "Those are certainly strange people," remarked Aunt Em, thoughtfully, asthey drove away from Fuddlecumjig, "but I really can't see what use theyare, at all."

  "Why, they amused us all for several hours," replied the Wizard. "Thatis being of use to us, I'm sure."

  "I think they're more fun than playing solitaire or mumbletypeg,"declared Uncle Henry, soberly. "For my part, I'm glad we visited theFuddles."