In the elephant’s body was the soul of Bayal the Porcupine. He did not await the onslaught, but, swinging his huge bulk around, he fled with marvellous speed, trumpeting in terror as he went.
The rent in his breast alarmed him. When, miles away from the scene of his humiliation and defeat, he paused to find he was not pursued, the pain of his body overcame his fear of mind, and he stood still and trembled.
What could a wounded elephant do to seek relief? And why should his own people have turned against him? Was he not an elephant? The porcupines, he remembered, never interfered with their fellows, nor fought them. Were elephants less considerate of their kind? Perhaps he had made a mistake after all, to choose to become an elephant.
Again he trembled, and a great sob rose to his throat.
“Athlos! Oh, Athlos — come to me!” he moaned. And Athlos responded to the call and stood before him.
“I was wrong, Athlos, to wish to become an elephant,” he said, his big body swaying from side to side with faintness. “Give me, I beg of you, another form!”
“Will you be a porcupine again?” asked the fairy gently.
“No, not that!” he cried, shuddering; “but elephants are very — too big! And they are ugly, and herd in families, and have no welcome for strangers. I would be a smaller animal, smaller, and yet strong and masterful. Give me, I implore you, the form of a black bear!”
“So shall it be,” the fairy answered, sighing; and Bayal felt himself shrink away and change in form. A moment more and the elephant shape, with its pains and fears, was gone, and Bayal found himself standing alone in the wilderness and wearing the likeness of a great bear — black and shaggy, strong and muscular.
Bayal was pleased, and shook his furry coat with fierce joy.
“Oh, ho!” he cried; “see what great claws I have! And these teeth. Now, indeed, I am of some importance in the Wilderness!”
At a jog-trot he mounted the low hills and made for the mountains beyond. The smaller animals scattered wildly at his approach, and it made his heart glad to realize how terribly he was feared.
His instinct led him to seek a cave, and the mountains would have many caves. He was near them, now.
“When I have found a cave I will hide until evening cools these rocks,” he thought; “then I will go forth and hunt.”
A glance showed him a jaguar crouching beside his path. Had he still been a porcupine Bayal would have instantly rolled himself into a ball. Even jaguars avoided porcupine quills. But he was a bear now: the jaguar’s master!
So he tramped proudly on, with a low growl.
The jaguar’s tail lashed the ground. He waited until the black bear was several paces in advance. Then the great cat launched its tawny body in the air and settled firmly upon the bear’s haunches, clinging stubbornly.
Bayal whirled his fat body around with a growl of mingled surprise and pain. The jaws closed tighter, the jaguar was not to be shaken off. Fear entered into the soul of the black bear — which was the soul of Bayal the Porcupine. He wondered what he could do to escape, what a bear ought to do in such a terrible crisis. But he had not been a bear long enough to know; so he turned coward and ran.
Dreadful pains streaked through all the vast bulk of his body, and then he stumbled on a loose stone and fell, rolling over and over. When he regained his feet the jaguar still clung to his flank — motionless, evilly intent upon his death.
With great strides the frantic bear plunged forward. At last he saw a dim opening in the face of the cliff -the mouth of a cavern. It did not seem quite large enough for his body to enter. But Bayal was desperate. Summoning his last strength he dashed through the opening.
As he did so he uttered a cry that was almost a scream. For although the hole proved big enough for his own carcass it was not big enough to admit the jaguar. Knocked from its hold the creature tumbled to the ground.
If the spirit of Bayal was cowardly, no less so was the spirit of the jaguar. The brute stood up and peered within the cave, which showed black in the shadow of the cliff; then he slunk away and disappeared.
Bayal had found that the cavern widened from its mouth, but as he staggered into the vaulted chamber beyond, his senses left him, and he swooned and fell lifeless upon the damp floor. When the awful consciousness of his plight came back to him he moaned with pain.
The suffering was at first too great to admit of thought; but in the midst of his agony he remembered Athlos, and called upon her name. Again the fairy responded, and gazed sadly into the bear’s pleading eyes.
“I was — wrong — to wish — to be a bear!” said Bayal, gasping painfully the words. “Give unto me another form — good Athlos — and quickly — or I shall die!”
“Do you wish to be a porcupine again?” she asked, looking upon her foolish charge with tender sympathy.
“No, no!” he cried, trying to crawl to the fairy’s feet, and sobbing with pain and longing; “not that, dear Athlos! But take away this shape of a bear, I beseech you! It is too big, and too ungainly. And the bear has dreadful enemies to maim and destroy him! I would have a form slender and fleet — a form fitted to prey, not to be preyed upon. Transform me into a jackal, fair Athlos!”
To the former porcupine his new shape seemed perfect. Relieved from his suffering, Bayal gave vent to a joyous yelp and darted from the cavern, not even remembering to be grateful to Athlos for her favor in saving him from death.
He was lean and muscular, and sped with wonderful fleetness down the mountain and into the grim forest. Night had fallen, and as the jackal ran the moon rose over the wilderness and lent to all things therein a soft and mellow radiance.
Bayal paused, squatted upon his haunches, and barked at the moon. The jackal is but a wild dog, and has a dog’s instincts. He longed to sit there and bay the moon forever; but presently his insistent hunger urged him on.
“This is the true life, after all,” he mused, clicking his teeth. “To be wild and free; to prey upon all other animals; to fear nothing; to hide by day and hunt by night — ah! why did I not choose in the beginning to be a jackal?”
He heard a far-away yelping in the depths of the forest and headed toward the sound. Jackals hunt in packs. The coward streak is in their nature, too, and they know they are more powerful when banded together.
After a long run Bayal entered a clearing in the forest and saw a score of fellow jackals leaping about, quarrelling, snapping at one another hungrily — but each fearful of engaging in open fight. Near them squatted their leader, old and gray, thinner than the rest, perhaps more hungry — and surely more wise. He caught a glimpse of Bayal and darted toward him.
“A stranger!” he snarled, with defiant, blood-shot eyes flashing an evil light.
“Where do you come from?”
“The mountains,” answered Bayal.
“Why are you here?” the leader inquired, suspiciously.
“To join your pack, and hunt in your company,” said Bayal.
“Will you obey my word?” asked the leader.
“Of course,” said Bayal.
“Then you may join us.”
That pleased Bayal. There seemed more chance of securing prey in company with these fierce-eyed jackals surrounding him than in hunting alone. And he was hungry.
None of the band welcomed Bayal or even noticed him except to snarl and snap if he came too near; but he was as powerful as any among them, and they had respect for his size and took care not to provoke him openly.
Before long a scout came darting in with good news. A few miles away he had tracked a wounded stag.
With joyful yelps the pack was off, following their leader in a swift lope toward the trail of their victim. And Bayal ran with the rest, his strong limbs keeping him close in the wake of the gray chieftain.
Such speed covered the ground quickly, and before long they came upon the stag, who limped painfully down a woodland path and was unable to increase his pace as he heard the hungry yelps of the jackals.
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bsp; “Look out!” cried the leader to his pack; for the stag, trembling and terrified, turned suddenly upon them and. throwing up his antlered head, stood at bay.
Most of the pack drew back on the instant, yelping wildly; but Bayal did not understand. The sight of prey roused him to fury, and his hunger made him careless of danger.
He launched his body at the stag’s throat; but he never reached it, for the prongs of the antlers met him.
Shaking his head fiercely, the stag dislodged his foe and trampled him under foot. Then he turned threateningly upon the circle of howling jackals which summoned him to death, yet feared to venture near.
The body of Bayal quivered, and presently he found strength to creep away from the feet of the maddened stag. But now every member of the pack turned greedy eyes upon the maimed and helpless jackal, licking their hungry jaws as the leader said:
“He disobeyed me, and death is his portion. Fall upon him, my braves! He may hold our hunger in check until we are able to pull down the stag.”
Bayal listened with horror, and shrank back toward the stag, seeking refuge where the jackals dared not tread. To be devoured by his own kind seemed a fate more dreadful than to be gored to death by the Forest King himself.
“Athlos!” he cried, terrified at the approach of death, “Athlos, come to me!”
The stag turned suddenly and dashed away, the pack yelping at his heels. Bayal, struggling for breath, faced the gentle fairy for the last time.
“I have been wrong, Athlos,” he moaned, “wrong and wicked in my wish to wear a form other than my own. I have been punished, and I repent. Farewell, Athlos, for I die!”
Indeed, his eyes were already glazing as the fairy reached out and touched him, pityingly. But at the touch his pain passed from him, his heart gave a sudden throb of joy, and he stood up, full of health, and bowed low before the guardian of his race. His long quills trailed low upon the ground; his small black eyes looked happily upon the dawn of the coming day; his soul swelled with peace.
For the kind fairy had befriended him in spite of his folly and rebellion, and had given him back his own form.
In a lonely part of the wilderness Bayal the Porcupine has won the reputation among his intimates of being a wise philosopher. Indeed, he is known to envy no other animal that exists, and often declares he is glad to be an insignificant porcupine. Also, he is considerate of his neighbours, and has developed a most genial disposition.
A gray lizard that suns itself on a dead branch often converses lazily with Bayal, and listens with much respect to the porcupine’s gossip.
“There goes a jackal!” the philosopher will say. “Poor creature; he lives in fear of his life, and is always hungry.”
When a bear slouches along the path Bayal says to the lizard: “He looks big and strong; but he has his troubles, that fellow! I am quite sorry for the poor bears.”
As for the elephants, he laughs at them, shaking his quills merrily.
“How awkward they are!” he cries, “and how they suffer if they are hurt! For the bigger the beast the bigger his pain, since there is more of him to ache. I’m glad that I am small and peaceful.”
With that he curls up into a ball, with his quills spreading in every direction, and goes to sleep. And the lizard looks at him pityingly and whispers to herself:
“Poor thing! It’s not very grand to be a porcupine and root for beetles and ants. But if Bayal is happy in his lowly condition it’s no use regretting he is not a lizard!”
Mow wonderful these magic charms are! Here in the shallow pool stood the old Magic-Maker himself, while the startled deer screamed at sight of him and dashed into the forest.
The cry was heard by the father tiger, who stalked out of the thicket to find Nog scrambling from the water and grinning an evil grin of joy at regaining his natural form.
“Oh,” said the father tiger, clicking his teeth together. “I believe I owe you a debt for destroying my child. Prepare to die, Magic-Maker!”
The yellow body made a spring, but Nog dodged it and sped away through the jungle, trying to reach the safety of his home. The father tiger followed in pursuit, and an interesting race took place. Fear made the old wizard’s feet to fly, and the tiger’s leaps were long and swift, for his heart was bursting with rage and sorrow.
Near the edge of the jungle a vine tripped Nog and he fell flat upon his face. An instant later the great body of the tiger fell upon the Magic-Maker — and so the story ends.
It is a fairy tale told me by a black man who once lived on that same island of Pocofo.
UNCOLLECTED SHORT STORIES
CONTENTS
The Queer Visitors From Oz
The Mating Day
The Return of Dick Weemins
The Extravagance of Dan
Nelebel’s Fairyland
To Macatawa
The Equine Paradox
My Ruby Wedding Ring
The Runaway Shadows
Jack Burgitt’s Honor
Aunt Phroney’s Boy
Who Called “Perry?”
Haldeman
The King Who Changed His Mind
A Kidnapped Santa Claus.
Juggerjook
A Cold Day on the Railroad
A Shadow Cast Before
Aunt Hulda’s Good Time
Bessie’s Fairy Tale
The Man-Fairy
The Suicide of Kiaros
The Tiger’s Eye
They Played a New Hamlet
Yesterday at the Exposition
How the Scroggs Won the Reward
The Loveridge Burglary
The Bad Man
The Diamond Back
The Man with the Red Shirt
The Witchcraft of Mary-Marie
The Ryl of the Lillies
The Strange Adventures of an Easter Egg
The Tramp and the Baby
The Yellow Ryl
The Littlest Giant
The Queer Visitors From Oz
The collected and complete “Queer Visitors from the Marvelous Land of Oz” and “The Woggle-Bug Book” with original promotional articles and lyrics to “What Did The Woggle-Bug Say?”
In which is related the strange and wonderful adventures of the Scarecrow and his companions the Tin Woodman, Jack Pumpkinhead, the Sawhorse, Professor H.M. Woggle-bug T.E., and the flying Gump during a visit to the marvelous fairyland known as the United States of America.
BY L. FRANK BAUM
PROLOGUE
August 18, 1904: PLANET IN A PANIC OVER QUEER VISITOR
Big As a Horse and Beats the Air With Fans. ASTRONOMERS PUZZLED Special wireless telegraph to The North American from an unknown planet in the vicinity of Argo. (Copyrighted, 1904, on all planets throughout the universe.) August 17. Professor Swoggleman, the great astronomer of our planet, states that a body moving at a terrible rate of speed passed this planet last night at 11:34. The body had a most unusual appearance. It was as large as a coraman; or, as it is termed on the earth, a horse. Around the body there was a strange vibration or motion of air. This motion of the air seemed to be affected as if by the operating of large fans. The commotion seemed to be entirely beneath the body, and Professor Swoggleman thinks that the air was used to hold it up and give it motion. There was no light connected with the body. Professor Swoggleman thinks that it could not have been a meteor, unless it was just beginning its journey and had not attained the general characteristics of an aerolite. The body passed on the west side of this planet, and Professor Swoggleman was able to see it by the aid of his trans-reflector. The trans-reflector is a new invention of the professor’s by which he can see on any side of our planets. A wireless dispatch has been sent to Professor Nindon, on the west side of the planet, to watch for the body. He wired back that he had already located it, and would send information about his discoveries.
August 19, 1904: FELL IN FRIGHT AT SIGHT OF MONSTER
Inhabitants of Argo Stricken by Queer Apparition. IS AS BIG AS A CAMEL.
Wireless special dispatch to The North American from the unknown planet in the vicinity of Argo. (Copyrighted, 1904, on all planets.) August 18. The following dispatch was received from Professor Nindon in relation to the moving body which Professor Swoggleman discovered on the other side of our planet: “Professor Swoggleman. “Dear Sir: The body you discovered passed on the west side of this planet today. It passed very near, so that it was unnecessary to use the telescope. Never have I seen its like in astronomy. “The body was as large as a smokdaugh; or, in the words of the earth, a camel. It moved by flopping large, fan-like things attached to its sides. “Upon its back was a cluster of curious-looking objects, tied together with rope. These curious things moved and looked at us as if they were alive and understood their surroundings. “The entire population of all the cities on this side was terribly frightened at the monster. A large number of people deserted their homes and fled to the mountains. Others rushed to the temples, while many fell prostrate on the streets. It was a common opinion that the monster had been sent to chastise the people for their wickedness. “For nearly three hours the object was in full view of the entire populace. At the end of that time it disappeared in the sky. “I am of the opinion that the monster might be one of those things which on the Earth are known as birds. Of course we have no birds on this planet; and I would not want my name used as saying it was a bird.”
August 20, 1904: 20,000 SOLDIERS LAY DOWN A KING’S ARMS
Hoodman’s Guards Flee Because of Fear of Strange Monster. PEOPLE QUIT THE CITY Special wireless dispatch to The North American from the North Star. (Copyrighted on all planets.) August 19. Over 20,000 soldiers deserted from the army of King Hoodman today. The army rebelled at an order of the King to attack a foreign monster which came through the air and alighted on Mount Haldon. The monster circled about the city of Tarnia and frightened the people so that thousands fled from every gate. Even the soldiers were frightened, and they would not fire upon the monster unless the entire army was called out. The King accordingly called out the army of 30,000 men, and the army fired upon the monster as it circled in the air. It is not thought to have been hit, but it sped away to Haldon Mountain, where it alighted on the top. The King ordered the army to ascend the hill and attack the monster. The men started, but were overcome by fear, and over 20,000 deserted. After some time, the King got 10,000 men together, and he led the army up the hill to where the monster was seen resting. Before the King reached the top the creature went into the air again and sailed away. Upon its back was a bag filled with berries which were picked from the berry plants on top of the mountain. It is supposed that the bad witch of the north picked them and gave them to the creatures.
Complete Works of L. Frank Baum Page 834
