Oz, The Complete Collection

by L. Frank Baum

  Happy bowed, too confused and excited for speech.

  “Now,” said the Scarecrow, seizing Dorothy’s hand, “I can return to Oz with an easy mind.”

  “Doubt that,” said the Doubtful Dromedary.

  “You needn’t!” announced Dorothy. “I’ve thought it all out.” In a few short sentences she outlined her plan.

  “Bravo!” roared the Cowardly Lion, and now the little party began in real earnest the preparation for the journey back to Oz.

  First, Happy brought them a delicious luncheon, with plenty of twigs and hay for the Camel and Dromedary and meat for the Cowardly Lion. The Scarecrow packed into the Camel’s sacks a few little souvenirs for the people of Oz. Then they dressed Happy Toko in the Scarecrow’s most splendid robe and ordered him to sit upon the throne. Next, the Scarecrow rang for one of the palace servants and ordered the people of the Silver Islands to assemble in the hall.

  Presently the Silvermen began to come trooping in, packing the great Throne Room until it could hold no more. Everyone was chattering excitedly.

  It was quite a different company that greeted them. The Scarecrow, cheerful and witty in his old Munchkin suit, Dorothy and Sir Hokus smiling happily, and the three animal members of the party fairly blinking with contentment.

  “This,” said the Scarecrow pleasantly when everyone was quiet, “is your new Emperor, to whom I ask you to pledge allegiance.” He waved proudly in the direction of Happy Toko, who, to tell the truth, presented a truly royal appearance. “It is not possible for me to remain with you, but I shall always watch over this delightful island and with the magic fan vanquish all its enemies and punish all offenders.”

  Happy Toko bowed to his subjects.

  The Silver Islanders exchanged startled glances, then, as the Scarecrow carelessly lifted the fan, they fell prostrate to the earth.

  “Ah!” said the Scarecrow with a broad wink at Happy. “This is delightful. You agree with me, I see. Now then, three cheers for Tappy Oko, Imperial Emperor of the Silver Islands.”

  The cheers were given with a will, and Happy in acknowledgement made a speech that has since been written into the Royal Book of state as a masterpiece of eloquence.

  Having arranged affairs so satisfactorily, the Scarecrow embraced Happy Toko with deep emotion. Dorothy and Sir Hokus shook hands with him and wished him every success and happiness. Then the little party from Oz walked deliberately to the bean pole in the center of the hall.

  The Silver Islanders were still a bit dazed by the turn affairs had taken and stared in astonishment as the Scarecrow and Sir Hokus fastened thick ropes around the Cowardly Lion, the Doubtful Dromedary and the Comfortable Camel. Similar ropes they tied around their own waists and Dorothy’s, and the ends of all were fastened securely to the handle of the magic parasol, which Dorothy held carefully.

  “Good-bye, everybody!” called the little girl, suddenly opening the parasol.

  “Good-bye!” cried the genial Scarecrow, waving his hand.

  Too stupefied for speech, the assemblage gaped with amazement as the party floated gently upward. Up—up—and out of sight whirled the entire party.

  Chapter 22

  The FLIGHT of the PARASOL

  olding the handle of the parasol, Dorothy steered it with all the skill of an aviator, and in several minutes after their start the party had entered the deep, black passage down which the Scarecrow had fallen. Each one of the adventurers was fastened to the parasol with ropes of different length so that none of them bumped together, but even with all the care in the world it was not possible to keep them from bumping the sides of the tube. The Comfortable Camel grunted plaintively from time to time, and Dorothy could hear the Doubtful Dromedary complaining bitterly in the darkness. It was pitch dark, but by keeping one hand in touch with the bean pole, Dorothy managed to hold the parasol in the center.

  “How long will it take?” she called breathlessly to the Scarecrow, who was dangling just below.

  “Hours!” wheezed the Scarecrow, holding fast to his hat. “I hope none of the parties on this line hear us,” he added nervously, thinking of the Middlings.

  “What recks it?” blustered Sir Hokus. “Hast forgotten my trusty sword?” But his words were completely drowned in the rattle of his armor.

  “Hush!” warned the Scarecrow, “Or we’ll be pulled in.” So for almost an hour, they flew up the dark, chimney-like tube with only an occasional groan as one or another scraped against the rough sides of the passage. Then, before they knew what was happening, the parasol crashed into something, half closed, and the whole party started to fall head over heels over helmets.

  “O!” gasped Dorothy, turning a complete somersault, “catch hold of the bean pole, somebody!”

  “Put up the parasol!” shrieked the Scarecrow. Just then Dorothy, finding herself right side up, grasped the pole herself and snapped the parasol wide open. Up, up, up they soared again, faster than ever!

  “We’re flying up much faster than I fell down. We must be at the top!” called the Scarecrow hoarsely, “and somebody has closed the opening!”

  Chapter 23

  SAFE at LAST in the LAND of OZ

  ust we keep bumping until we bump through?” panted Dorothy anxiously.

  “No, by my hilts!” roared Sir Hokus, and setting his foot in a notch of the beanstalk, he cut with his sword the rope that bound him to the parasol. “Put the parasol down half way, and I’ll climb ahead and cut an opening.”

  With great difficulty Dorothy partially lowered the parasol, and instantly their speed diminished. Indeed, they barely moved at all, and the Knight had soon passed them on his climb to the top.

  “Are you there?” rumbled the Cowardly Lion anxiously. A great clod of earth landed on his head, filling his eyes and mouth with mud.

  “Ugh!” roared the lion.

  “It’s getting light! It’s getting light!” screamed Dorothy, and in her excitement snapped the parasol up.

  Sir Hokus, having cut with his sword a large circular hole in the thin crust of earth covering the tube, was about to step out when the parasol, hurling up from below, caught him neatly on its top, and out burst the whole party and sailed up almost to the clouds!

  “Welcome to Oz!” cried Dorothy, looking down happily on the dear familiar Munchkin landscape.

  “Home at last!” exulted the Scarecrow, wafting a kiss downward.

  “Let’s get down to earth before we knock the sun into a cocked hat,” gasped the Cowardly Lion, for Dorothy, in her excitement, had forgotten to lower the parasol.

  Now the little girl lowered the parasol carefully at first, then faster and faster and finally shut it altogether.

  Sir Hokus took a high dive from the top. Down tumbled the others, over and over. But fortunately for all, there was a great haystack below, and upon this they landed in a jumbled heap close to the magic bean pole. As it happened, there was no one in sight. Up they jumped in a trice, and while the Comfortable Camel and Doubtful Dromedary munched contentedly at the hay, Sir Hokus and the Scarecrow placed some loose boards over the opening around the bean pole and covered them with dirt and cornstalks.

  “I will get Ozma to close it properly with the Magic Belt,” said the Scarecrow gravely. “It wouldn’t do to have people sliding down my family tree and scaring poor Tappy. As for me, I shall never leave Oz again!”

  “I hope not,” growled the Cowardly Lion, tenderly examining his scratched hide.

  “But if you hadn’t, I’d never have had such lovely adventures or found Sir Hokus and the Comfortable Camel and Doubtful Dromedary,” said Dorothy. “And what a lot I have to tell Ozma! Let’s go straight to the Emerald City.”

  “It’s quite a journey,” explained the Scarecrow to Sir Hokus, who was cleaning off his armor with a handful of straw.

  “I go where Lady Dot goes,” replied the Knight, smiling affectionately at the little girl and straightening the ragged hair ribbon which he still wore on his arm.

  “Don’t f
orget me, dear Karwan Bashi,” wheezed the Comfortable Camel, putting his head on the Knight’s shoulder.

  “You’re a sentimental dunce, Camy. I doubt whether they’ll take us at all!” The Doubtful Dromedary looked wistfully at Dorothy.

  “Go to, now!” cried Sir Hokus, putting an arm around each neck. “You’re just like two of the family!”

  “It will be very comfortable to go to now,” sighed the Camel.

  “We’re all a big, jolly family here,” said the Scarecrow, smiling brightly, “and Oz is the friendliest country in the world.”

  “Right,” said the Cowardly Lion, “but let’s get started!” He stretched his tired muscles and began limping stiffly toward the yellow brick road.

  “Wait,” cried Dorothy, “have you forgotten the parasol?”

  “I wish I could,” groaned the Cowardly Lion, rolling his eyes.

  Sir Hokus, with folded arms, was gazing regretfully at the bean pole. “It has been a brave quest,” he sighed, “but now, I take it, our adventures are over!” Absently, the Knight felt in his boot-top and drawing out a small red bean popped it into his mouth. Just before reaching the top of the tube, he had pulled a handful of them from the beanstalk, but the others had fallen out when he dove into the hay.

  “Shall we use the parasol again, Lady Dot?” he asked, still staring pensively at the bean pole. “Shall—?”

  He got no farther, nor did Dorothy answer his question. Instead, she gave a loud scream and clutched the Scarecrow’s arm. The Scarecrow, taken by surprise, fell over backward, and the Comfortable Camel, raising his head inquiringly, gave a bellow of terror. From the Knight’s shoulders a green branch had sprung, and while the company gazed in round-eyed amazement it stretched toward the bean pole, attached itself firmly, and then shot straight up into the air, the Knight kicking and struggling on the end. In another second, he was out of sight.

  “Come back! Come back!” screamed the Comfortable Camel, running around distractedly.

  “I doubt we’ll ever see him again!” groaned the Doubtful Dromedary, craning his neck upward.

  “Do something! Do something!” begged Dorothy. At which the Scarecrow jumped up and dashed toward the little farmhouse.

  “I’ll get an ax,” he called over his shoulder, “and chop down the bean pole.”

  “No, don’t do that!” roared the Cowardly Lion, starting after him. “Do you want to break him to pieces?”

  “Oh! Oh! Can’t you think of something else?” cried Dorothy. “And hurry, or he’ll be up to the moon!”

  The Scarecrow put both hands to his head and stared around wildly. Then, with a triumphant wave of his hat, declared himself ready to act.

  “The parasol!” cried the late Emperor of Silver Islands. “Quick, Dorothy, put up the parasol!”

  Snatching the parasol, which lay at the foot of the bean pole, Dorothy snapped it open, and the Scarecrow just had time to make a flying leap and seize the handle before it soared upward, and in a trice they, too, had disappeared.

  “Doubty! Doubty!” wailed the Comfortable Camel, crowding up to his humpbacked friend, “we’re having a pack of trouble. My knees are all a-tremble!”

  “Now don’t you worry,” advised the Cowardly Lion, sitting down resignedly. “I’m frightened myself, but that’s because I’m so cowardly. Queer things happen in Oz, but they usually turn out all right. Why, Hokus is just growing up with the country, that’s all, just growing up with the country.”

  “Doubt that,” sniffed the Doubtful Dromedary faintly. “He was grown up in the beginning.”

  “But think of the Scarecrow’s brains. You leave things to the Scarecrow.” But it was no use. Both beasts began to roar dismally.

  “I don’t want a plant. I want my Karwan Bashi,” sobbed the Comfortable Camel broken-heartedly.

  “Well, don’t drown me,” begged the Cowardly Lion, moving out of the way of the Camel’s tears. “Say, what’s that draft?”

  What indeed? In the trees overhead, a very cyclone whistled, and before the three had even time to catch their breath, they were blown high into the air and the next instant were hurtling toward the Emerald City like three furry cannonballs, faster and faster.

  Chapter 24

  HOMEWARD BOUND to the EMERALD CITY

  orothy and the Scarecrow, clinging fast to the magic parasol, had followed the Knight almost to the clouds. At first, it looked as if they would never catch up with him, so swiftly was the branch growing, but it was not long before the little umbrella began to gain, and in several minutes more they were beside Sir Hokus himself.

  “Beshrew me, now!” gasped the Knight, stretching out his hand toward Dorothy. “Can’st stop this reckless plant?”

  “Give me your sword,” commanded the Scarecrow, “and I’ll cut you off.”

  Dorothy, with great difficulty, kept the parasol close to the Knight while the Scarecrow reached for the sword. But Sir Hokus backed away in alarm.

  “’Tis part of me, an’ you cut it off, I will be cut off, too. ’Tis rooted in my back,” he puffed.

  “What shall we do?” cried Dorothy in distress. “Maybe if we take hold of his hands we can keep him from going any higher.”

  The Scarecrow, jamming down his hat so it wouldn’t blow off, nodded approvingly, and each holding the parasol with one hand gave the other to the Knight. And when Dorothy pointed the parasol down, to her great delight Sir Hokus came also, the thin green branch growing just about as fast as they moved.

  Just then the little fan, which had been rolling around merrily in Dorothy’s pocket, slipped out and fell straight down toward the three unsuspecting beasts below. Draft! No wonder!

  But Dorothy never missed it, and quite unconscious of such a calamity anxiously talked over the Knight’s predicament with the Scarecrow. They both decided that the best plan was to fly straight to the Emerald City and have Ozma release the Knight from the enchanted beanstalk.

  “I’m sorry you got tangled up in my family tree, old fellow,” said the Scarecrow after they had flown some time in silence, “but this makes us relations, doesn’t it?” He winked broadly at the Knight.

  “So it does,” said Sir Hokus jovially. “I’m a branch of your family now. Yet methinks I should not have swallowed that bean.”

  “Bean?” questioned Dorothy. “What bean?” The Knight carefully explained how he had plucked a handful of red beans from the beanstalk just before reaching the top of the tube and how he had eaten one.

  “So that’s what started you growing!” exclaimed Dorothy in surprise.

  “Alas, yes!” admitted the Knight. “I’ve never felt more grown-up in my life,” he finished solemnly. “An adventurous country, this Oz!”

  “I should say it was,” chuckled the Scarecrow. “But isn’t it almost time we were reaching the Emerald City, Dorothy?”

  “I think I’m going in the right direction,” answered the little girl, “but I’ll fly a little lower to be sure.”

  “Not too fast! Not too fast!” warned Sir Hokus, looking nervously over his shoulder at his long, wriggling stem.

  “There’s Ozma’s palace!” cried the Scarecrow all at once.

  “And there’s Ozma!” screamed Dorothy, peering down delightedly. “And Scraps and Tik-Tok and everybody!”

  She pointed the parasol straight down, when a sharp tug from Sir Hokus jerked them all back. They were going faster than the poor Knight was growing, so Dorothy lowered the parasol half way, and slowly they floated toward the earth, landing gently in one of the flower beds of Ozma’s lovely garden.

  “Come along and meet the folks,” said the Scarecrow as Dorothy closed the parasol. But Sir Hokus clutched him in alarm.

  “Hold! Hold!” gasped the Knight. “I’ve stopped growing, but if you leave me I’ll shoot up into the air again.”

  The Scarecrow and Dorothy looked at each other in dismay. Sure enough, the Knight had stopped growing, and it was all they could do to hold him down to earth, for the stubborn branch of b
eanstalk was trying to straighten up. They had fallen quite a distance from the palace itself, and all the people of Oz had their backs turned, so had not seen their singular arrival.

  “Hello!” called the Scarecrow loudly. Then “Help! Help!” as the Knight jerked him twice into the air. But Ozma, Trot, Jack Pumpkinhead and all the rest were staring upward and talking so busily among themselves that they did not hear either Dorothy’s or the Scarecrow’s cries. First one, then the other was snatched off his feet, and although Sir Hokus, with tears in his eyes, begged them to leave him to his fate, they held on with all their might. Just as it looked as if they all three would fly into the air again, the little Wizard of Oz happened to turn around.

  “Look! Look!” he cried, tugging Ozma’s sleeve.

  “Why, it’s Dorothy!” gasped Ozma, rubbing her eyes. “It’s Dorothy and—”

  “Help! Help!” screamed the Scarecrow, waving one arm wildly. Without waiting another second, all the celebrities of Oz came running toward the three adventurers.

  “Somebody heavy come take hold!” puffed Dorothy, out of breath with her efforts to keep Sir Hokus on the ground.

  The Ozites, seeing that help was needed at once, suppressed their curiosity.

  “I’m heavy,” said Tik-Tok solemnly, clasping the Knight’s arm. The Tin Woodman seized his other hand, and Dorothy sank down exhausted on the grass.

  Princess Ozma pressed forward.

  “What does it all mean? Where did you come from?” asked the little Ruler of Oz, staring in amazement at the strange spectacle before her.

  “And who is this medieval person?” asked Professor Wogglebug, pushing forward importantly. (He had returned to the palace to collect more data for the Royal Book of Oz.)

  “He doesn’t look evil to me,” giggled Scraps, dancing up to Sir Hokus, her suspender button eyes snapping with fun.

  “He isn’t,” said Dorothy indignantly, for Sir Hokus was too shaken about to answer. “He’s my Knight Errant.”