Little Wizard Stories of Oz

by L. Frank Baum

  JACK PUMPKINHEAD AND THE SAWHORSE

  In a room of the Royal Palace of the Emerald City of Oz hangs a MagicPicture, in which are shown all the important scenes that transpire inthose fairy dominions. The scenes shift constantly and by watching them,Ozma, the girl Ruler, is able to discover events taking place in anypart of her kingdom.

  One day she saw in her Magic Picture that a little girl and a little boyhad wandered together into a great, gloomy forest at the far west of Ozand had become hopelessly lost. Their friends were seeking them in thewrong direction and unless Ozma came to their rescue the little oneswould never be found in time to save them from starving.

  So the Princess sent a message to Jack Pumpkinhead and asked him to cometo the palace. This personage, one of the queerest of the queerinhabitants of Oz, was an old friend and companion of Ozma. His form wasmade of rough sticks fitted together and dressed in ordinary clothes.His head was a pumpkin with a face carved upon it, and was set on top asharp stake which formed his neck.

  Jack was active, good-natured and a general favorite; but his pumpkinhead was likely to spoil with age, so in order to secure a good supplyof heads he grew a big field of pumpkins and lived in the middle of it,his house being a huge pumpkin hollowed out. Whenever he needed a newhead he picked a pumpkin, carved a face on it and stuck it upon thestake of his neck, throwing away the old head as of no further use.

  The day Ozma sent for him Jack was in prime condition and was glad to beof service in rescuing the lost children. Ozma made him a map, showingjust where the forest was and how to get to it and the paths he musttake to reach the little ones. Then she said:

  "You'd better ride the Sawhorse, for he is swift and intelligent andwill help you accomplish your task."

  "All right," answered Jack, and went to the royal stable to tell theSawhorse to be ready for the trip.

  This remarkable animal was not unlike Jack Pumpkinhead in form, althoughso different in shape. Its body was a log, with four sticks stuck intoit for legs. A branch at one end of the log served as a tail, while inthe other end was chopped a gash that formed a mouth. Above this weretwo small knots that did nicely for eyes. The Sawhorse was the favoritesteed of Ozma and to prevent its wooden legs from wearing out she hadthem shod with plates of gold.

  Jack said "Good morning" to the Sawhorse and placed upon the creature'sback a saddle of purple leather, studded with jewels.

  "Where now?" asked the horse, blinking its knot eyes at Jack.

  "We're going to rescue two babes in the wood," was the reply. Then heclimbed into the saddle and the wooden animal pranced out of the stable,through the streets of the Emerald City and out upon the highway leadingto the western forest where the children were lost.

  Small though he was, the Sawhorse was swift and untiring. By nightfallthey were in the far west and quite close to the forest they sought.They passed the night standing quietly by the roadside. They needed nofood, for their wooden bodies never became hungry; nor did they sleep,because they never tired. At daybreak they continued their journey andsoon reached the forest.

  Jack now examined the map Ozma had given him and found the right path totake, which the Sawhorse obediently followed. Underneath the trees allwas silent and gloomy and Jack beguiled the way by whistling gayly asthe Sawhorse trotted along.

  The paths branched so many times and in so many different ways that thePumpkinhead was often obliged to consult Ozma's map, and finally theSawhorse became suspicious.

  "Are you sure you are right?" it asked.

  "Of course," answered Jack. "Even a Pumpkinhead whose brains are seedscan follow so clear a map as this. Every path is plainly marked, andhere is a cross where the children are."

  Finally they reached a place, in the very heart of the forest, wherethey came upon the lost boy and girl. But they found the two childrenbound fast to the trunk of a big tree, at the foot of which they weresitting.

  When the rescuers arrived, the little girl was sobbing bitterly and theboy was trying to comfort her, though he was probably frightened asmuch as she.

  "Cheer up, my dears," said Jack, getting out of the saddle. "I have cometo take you back to your parents. But why are you bound to that tree?"

  "Because," cried a small, sharp voice, "they are thieves and robbers.That's why!"

  "Dear me!" said Jack, looking around to see who had spoken. The voiceseemed to come from above.

  A big grey squirrel was sitting upon a low branch of the tree. Upon thesquirrel's head was a circle of gold, with a diamond set in the centerof it. He was running up and down the limbs and chattering excitedly.

  "These children," continued the squirrel, angrily, "robbed ourstorehouse of all the nuts we had saved up for winter. Therefore, beingKing of all the Squirrels in this forest, I ordered them arrested andput in prison, as you now see them. They had no right to steal ourprovisions and we are going to punish them."

  "We were hungry," said the boy, pleadingly, "and we found a hollow treefull of nuts, and ate them to keep alive. We didn't want to starve whenthere was food right in front of us."

  "Quite right," remarked Jack, nodding his pumpkin head. "I don't blameyou one bit, under the circumstances. Not a bit."

  Then he began to untie the ropes that bound the children to the tree.

  "Stop that!" cried the King Squirrel, chattering and whisking about."You mustn't release our prisoners. You have no right to."

  But Jack paid no attention to the protest. His wooden fingers wereawkward and it took him some time to untie the ropes. When at last hesucceeded, the tree was full of squirrels, called together by theirKing, and they were furious at losing their prisoners. From the treethey began to hurl nuts at the Pumpkinhead, who laughed at them as hehelped the two children to their feet.

  Now, at the top of this tree was a big dead limb, and so many squirrelsgathered upon it that suddenly it broke away and fell to the ground.Poor Jack was standing directly under it and when the limb struck him itsmashed his pumpkin head into a pulpy mass and sent Jack's wooden formtumbling, to stop with a bump against a tree a dozen feet away.

  He sat up, a moment afterward, but when he felt for his head it wasgone. He could not see; neither could he speak. It was perhaps thegreatest misfortune that could have happened to Jack Pumpkinhead, andthe squirrels were delighted. They danced around in the tree in greatglee as they saw Jack's plight.

  The boy and girl were indeed free, but their protector was ruined. TheSawhorse was there, however, and in his way he was wise. He had seenthe accident and knew that the smashed pumpkin would never again serveJack as a head. So he said to the children, who were frightened at thisaccident to their new found friend:

  "Pick up the Pumpkinhead's body and set it on my saddle. Then mountbehind it and hold on. We must get out of this forest as soon as we can,or the squirrels may capture you again. I must guess at the right path,for Jack's map is no longer of any use to him since that limb destroyedhis head."

  The two children lifted Jack's body, which was not at all heavy, andplaced it upon the saddle. Then they climbed up behind it and theSawhorse immediately turned and trotted back along the path he hadcome, bearing all three with ease. However, when the path began tobranch into many paths, all following different directions, the woodenanimal became puzzled and soon was wandering aimlessly about, withoutany hope of finding the right way. Toward evening they came upon a finefruit tree, which furnished the children a supper, and at night thelittle ones lay upon a bed of leaves while the Sawhorse stood watch,with the limp, headless form of poor Jack Pumpkinhead lying helplessacross the saddle.

  Now, Ozma had seen in her Magic Picture all that had happened in theforest, so she sent the little Wizard, mounted upon the Cowardly Lion,to save the unfortunates. The Lion knew the forest well and when hereached it he bounded straight through the tangled paths to where theSawhorse was wandering, with Jack and the two children on his back.

  The Wizard was grieved at the sight of the headless Jack, but believedhe could save him. He first led
the Sawhorse out of the forest andrestored the boy and girl to the arms of their anxious friends, and thenhe sent the Lion back to Ozma to tell her what had happened.

  The Wizard now mounted the Sawhorse and supported Jack's form on thelong ride to the pumpkin field. When they arrived at Jack's house theWizard selected a fine pumpkin--not too ripe--and very neatly carved aface on it. Then he stuck the pumpkin solidly on Jack's neck and askedhim:

  "Well, old friend, how do you feel?"

  "Fine!" replied Jack, and shook the hand of the little Wizardgratefully. "You have really saved my life, for without your assistanceI could not have found my way home to get a new head. But I'm all right,now, and I shall be very careful not to get this beautiful headsmashed." And he shook the Wizard's hand again.

  "Are the brains in the new head any better than the old ones?" inquiredthe Sawhorse, who had watched Jack's restoration.

  "Why, these seeds are quite tender," replied the Wizard, "so they willgive our friend tender thoughts. But, to speak truly, my dear Sawhorse,Jack Pumpkinhead, with all his good qualities, will never be noted forhis wisdom."

  THE SCARECROW AND THE TIN WOODMAN

  There lived in the Land of Oz two queerly made men who were the best offriends. They were so much happier when together that they were seldomapart; yet they liked to separate, once in a while, that they mightenjoy the pleasure of meeting again.

  One was a Scarecrow. That means he was a suit of blue Munchkin clothes,stuffed with straw, on top of which was fastened a round cloth head,filled with bran to hold it in shape. On the head were painted two eyes,two ears, a nose and a mouth. The Scarecrow had never been much of asuccess in scaring crows, but he prided himself on being a superior man,because he could feel no pain, was never tired and did not have to eator drink. His brains were sharp, for the Wizard of Oz had put pins andneedles in the Scarecrow's brains.

  The other man was made all of tin, his arms and legs and head beingcleverly jointed so that he could move them freely. He was known as theTin Woodman, having at one time been a woodchopper, and everyone lovedhim because the Wizard had given him an excellent heart of red plush.

  The Tin Woodman lived in a magnificent tin castle, built on his countryestate in the Winkie Land, not far from the Emerald City of Oz. It hadpretty tin furniture and was surrounded by lovely gardens in which weremany tin trees and beds of tin flowers. The palace of the Scarecrow wasnot far distant, on the banks of a river, and this palace was in theshape of an immense ear of corn.

  One morning the Tin Woodman went to visit his friend the Scarecrow, andas they had nothing better to do they decided to take a boat ride on theriver. So they got into the Scarecrow's boat, which was formed from abig corncob, hollowed out and pointed at both ends and decorated aroundthe edges with brilliant jewels. The sail was of purple silk andglittered gayly in the sunshine.

  There was a good breeze that day, so the boat glided swiftly over thewater. By and by they came to a smaller river that flowed from out adeep forest, and the Tin Woodman proposed they sail up this stream, asit would be cool and shady beneath the trees of the forest. So theScarecrow, who was steering, turned the boat up the stream and thefriends continued talking together of old times and the wonderfuladventures they had met with while traveling with Dorothy, the littleKansas girl. They became so much interested in this talk that theyforgot to notice that the boat was now sailing through the forest, orthat the stream was growing more narrow and crooked.

  Suddenly the Scarecrow glanced up and saw a big rock just ahead of them.

  "Look out!" he cried; but the warning came too late.

  The Tin Woodman sprang to his feet just as the boat bumped into therock, and the jar made him lose his balance. He toppled and felloverboard and being made of tin he sank to the bottom of the water in aninstant and lay there at full length, face up.

  Immediately the Scarecrow threw out the anchor, so as to hold the boatin that place, and then he leaned over the side and through the clearwater looked at his friend sorrowfully.

  "Dear me!" he exclaimed; "what a _misfortune_!"

  "It is, indeed," replied the Tin Woodman, speaking in muffled tonesbecause so much water covered him. "I cannot drown, of course, but Imust lie here until you find a way to get me out. Meantime, the water issoaking into all my joints and I shall become badly rusted before I amrescued."

  "Very true," agreed the Scarecrow; "but be patient, my friend, and I'lldive down and get you. My straw will not rust, and is easily replaced,if damaged, so I'm not afraid of the water."

  The Scarecrow now took off his hat and made a dive from the boat intothe water; but he was so light in weight that he barely dented thesurface of the stream, nor could he reach the Tin Woodman with hisoutstretched straw arms. So he floated to the boat and climbed into it,saying the while:

  "Do not despair, my friend. We have an extra anchor aboard, and I willtie it around my waist, to make me sink, and dive again."

  "Don't do that!" called the tin man. "That would anchor you also to thebottom, where I am, and we'd both be helpless."

  "True enough," sighed the Scarecrow, wiping his wet face with ahandkerchief; and then he gave a cry of astonishment, for he found hehad wiped off one painted eye and now had but one eye to see with.

  "How dreadful!" said the poor Scarecrow. "That eye must have beenpainted in water-color, instead of oil. I must be careful not to wipeoff the other eye, for then I could not see to help you at all."

  A shriek of elfish laughter greeted this speech and looking up theScarecrow found the trees full of black crows, who seemed much amused bythe straw man's one-eyed countenance. He knew the crows well, however,and they had usually been friendly to him because he had never deceivedthem into thinking he was a meat man--the sort of man they reallyfeared.

  "Don't laugh," said he; "you may lose an eye yourselves some day."

  "We couldn't look as funny as you, if we did," replied one old crow, theking of them. "But what has gone wrong with you?"

  "The Tin Woodman, my dear friend and companion, has fallen overboard andis now on the bottom of the river," said the Scarecrow. "I'm trying toget him out again, but I fear I shall not succeed."

  "Why, it's easy enough," declared the old crow. "Tie a string to him andall of my crows will fly down, take hold of the string, and pull him upout of the water. There are hundreds of us here, so our united strengthcould lift much more than that."

  "But I can't tie a string to him," replied the Scarecrow. "My straw isso light that I am unable to dive through the water. I've tried it, andknocked one eye out."

  "Can't you fish for him?"

  "Ah, that is a good idea," said the Scarecrow. "I'll make the attempt."

  He found a fishline in the boat, with a stout hook at the end of it. Nobait was needed, so the Scarecrow dropped the hook into the water tillit touched the Woodman.

  "Hook it into a joint," advised the crow, who was now perched upon abranch that stuck far out and bent down over the water.

  The Scarecrow tried to do this, but having only one eye he could not seethe joints very clearly.

  "Hurry up, please," begged the Tin Woodman; "you've no idea how damp itis down here."

  "Can't you help?" asked the crow.

  "How?" inquired the tin man.

  "Catch the line and hook it around your neck."

  The Tin Woodman made the attempt and after several trials wound the linearound his neck and hooked it securely.

  "Good!" cried the King Crow, a mischievous old fellow. "Now, then, we'llall grab the line and pull you out."

  At once the air was filled with black crows, each of whom seized thecord with beak or talons. The Scarecrow watched them with much interestand forgot that he had tied the other end of the line around his ownwaist, so he would not lose it while fishing for his friend.

  "All together for the good caws!" shrieked the King Crow, and with agreat flapping of wings the birds rose into the air.

  The Scarecrow clapped his stuffed hands in glee as he saw his f
rienddrawn from the water into the air; but the next moment the straw man washimself in the air, his stuffed legs kicking wildly; for the crows hadflown straight up through the trees. On one end of the line dangled theTin Woodman, hung by the neck, and on the other dangled the Scarecrow,hung by the waist and clinging fast to the spare anchor of the boat,which he had seized hoping to save himself.

  "Hi, there--be careful!" shouted the Scarecrow to the crows. "Don't takeus so high. Land us on the river bank."

  But the crows were bent on mischief. They thought it a good joke tobother the two, now that they held them captive.

  "Here's where the crows scare the Scarecrow!" chuckled the naughty KingCrow, and at his command the birds flew over the forest to where a talldead tree stood higher than all the other trees. At the very top was acrotch, formed by two dead limbs, and into the crotch the crows droppedthe center of the line. Then, letting go their hold, they flew away,chattering with laughter, and left the two friends suspended high in theair--one on each side of the tree.

  Now the Tin Woodman was much heavier than the Scarecrow, but the reasonthey balanced so nicely was because the straw man still clung fast tothe iron anchor. There they hung, not ten feet apart, yet unable toreach the bare tree-trunk.

  "For goodness sake don't drop that anchor," said the Tin Woodmananxiously.

  "Why not?" inquired the Scarecrow.

  "If you did I'd tumble to the ground, where my tin would be badly dentedby the fall. Also you would shoot into the air and alight somewhereamong the tree-tops."

  "Then," said the Scarecrow, earnestly, "I shall hold fast to theanchor."

  For a time they both dangled in silence, the breeze swaying them gentlyto and fro. Finally the tin man said: "Here is an emergency, friend,where only brains can help us. We must think of some way to escape."

  "I'll do the thinking," replied the Scarecrow. "My brains are thesharpest."

  He thought so long that the tin man grew tired and tried to change hisposition, but found his joints had already rusted so badly that he couldnot move them. And his oil-can was back in the boat.

  "Do you suppose your brains are rusted, friend Scarecrow?" he asked in aweak voice, for his jaws would scarcely move.

  "No, indeed. Ah, here's an idea at last!"

  And with this the Scarecrow clapped his hands to his head, forgettingthe anchor, which tumbled to the ground. The result was astonishing;for, just as the tin man had said, the light Scarecrow flew into theair, sailed over the top of the tree and landed in a bramble-bush, whilethe tin man fell plump to the ground, and landing on a bed of dry leaveswas not dented at all. The Tin Woodman's joints were so rusted, however,that he was unable to move, while the thorns held the Scarecrow a fastprisoner.

  While they were in this sad plight the sound of hoofs was heard andalong the forest path rode the little Wizard of Oz, seated on a woodenSawhorse. He smiled when he saw the one-eyed head of the Scarecrowsticking out of the bramble-bush, but he helped the poor straw man outof his prison.

  "Thank you, dear Wiz," said the grateful Scarecrow. "Now we must get theoil-can and rescue the Tin Woodman."

  Together they ran to the river bank, but the boat was floating inmidstream and the Wizard was obliged to mumble some magic words to drawit to the bank, so the Scarecrow could get the oil-can. Then back theyflew to the tin man, and while the Scarecrow carefully oiled each jointthe little Wizard moved the joints gently back and forth until theyworked freely. After an hour of this labor the Tin Woodman was again onhis feet, and although still a little stiff he managed to walk to theboat.

  The Wizard and the Sawhorse also got aboard the corncob craft andtogether they returned to the Scarecrow's palace. But the Tin Woodmanwas very careful not to stand up in the boat again.