Ozma of Oz

by L. Frank Baum

  Dorothy Tries to be Brave

  Meantime the Chief Steward had returned to the throne room, where hesaid to the King:

  "You are a fool to waste so much time upon these people."

  "What!" cried his Majesty, in so enraged a voice that it awoke Billina,who was asleep under his throne. "How dare you call me a fool?"

  "Because I like to speak the truth," said the Steward. "Why didn't youenchant them all at once, instead of allowing them to go one by one intothe palace and guess which ornaments are the Queen of Ev and herchildren?"

  "Why, you stupid rascal, it is more fun this way," returned the King,"and it serves to keep me amused for a long time."

  "But suppose some of them happen to guess aright," persisted theSteward; "then you would lose your old ornaments and these new ones,too."

  "There is no chance of their guessing aright," replied the monarch, witha laugh. "How could they know that the Queen of Ev and her family areall ornaments of a royal purple color?"

  "But there are no other purple ornaments in the palace," said theSteward.

  "There are many other colors, however, and the purple ones are scatteredthroughout the rooms, and are of many different shapes and sizes. Takemy word for it, Steward, they will never think of choosing the purpleornaments."

  Billina, squatting under the throne, had listened carefully to all thistalk, and now chuckled softly to herself as she heard the King disclosehis secret.

  "Still, you are acting foolishly by running the chance," continued theSteward, roughly; "and it is still more foolish of you to transform allthose people from Oz into green ornaments."

  "HOW DARE YOU CALL ME A FOOL?"]

  "I did that because they came from the Emerald City," replied theKing; "and I had no green ornaments in my collection until now. I thinkthey will look quite pretty, mixed with the others. Don't you?"

  The Steward gave an angry grunt.

  "Have your own way, since you are the King," he growled. "But if youcome to grief through your carelessness, remember that I told you so. IfI wore the magic belt which enables you to work all yourtransformations, and gives you so much other power, I am sure I wouldmake a much wiser and better King than you are."

  "Oh, cease your tiresome chatter!" commanded the King, getting angryagain. "Because you are my Chief Steward you have an idea you can scoldme as much as you please. But the very next time you become impudent, Iwill send you to work in the furnaces, and get another Nome to fill yourplace. Now follow me to my chamber, for I am going to bed. And see thatI am wakened early tomorrow morning. I want to enjoy the fun oftransforming the rest of these people into ornaments."

  "What color will you make the Kansas girl?" asked the Steward.

  "Gray, I think," said his Majesty.

  "And the Scarecrow and the machine man?"

  "Oh, they shall be of solid gold, because they are so ugly in reallife."

  Then the voices died away, and Billina knew that the King and hisSteward had left the room. She fixed up some of her tail feathers thatwere not straight, and then tucked her head under her wing again andwent to sleep.

  In the morning Dorothy and the Lion and Tiger were given their breakfastin their rooms, and afterward joined the King in his throne room. TheTiger complained bitterly that he was half starved, and begged to gointo the palace and become an ornament, so that he would no longersuffer the pangs of hunger.

  "Haven't you had your breakfast?" asked the Nome King.

  "Oh, I had just a bite," replied the beast. "But what good is a bite, toa hungry tiger?"

  "He ate seventeen bowls of porridge, a platter full of fried sausages,eleven loaves of bread and twenty-one mince pies," said the Steward.

  "What more do you want?" demanded the King.

  "A fat baby. I want a fat baby," said the Hungry Tiger. "A nice, plump,juicy, tender, fat baby. But, of course, if I had one, my consciencewould not allow me to eat it. So I'll have to be an ornament and forgetmy hunger."

  "Impossible!" exclaimed the King. "I'll have no clumsy beasts enter mypalace, to overturn and break all my pretty nick-nacks. When the rest ofyour friends are transformed you can return to the upper world, and goabout your business."

  "As for that we have no business, when our friends are gone," said theLion. "So we do not care much what becomes of us."

  Dorothy begged to be allowed to go first into the palace, but Tiktokfirmly maintained that the slave should face danger before the mistress.The Scarecrow agreed with him in that, so the Nome King opened the doorfor the machine man, who tramped into the palace to meet his fate. Thenhis Majesty returned to his throne and puffed his pipe so contentedlythat a small cloud of smoke formed above his head.

  Bye and bye he said:

  "I'm sorry there are so few of you left. Very soon, now, my fun will beover, and then for amusement I shall have nothing to do but admire mynew ornaments."

  "It seems to me," said Dorothy, "that you are not so honest as youpretend to be."

  THE NOME KING PUFFED HIS PIPE]

  "How's that?" asked the King.

  "Why, you made us think it would be easy to guess what ornaments thepeople of Ev were changed into."

  "It _is_ easy," declared the monarch, "if one is a good guesser. But itappears that the members of your party are all poor guessers."

  "What is Tiktok doing now?" asked the girl, uneasily.

  "Nothing," replied the King, with a frown. "He is standing perfectlystill, in the middle of a room."

  "Oh, I expect he's run down," said Dorothy. "I forgot to wind him upthis morning. How many guesses has he made?"

  "All that he is allowed except one," answered the King. "Suppose you goin and wind him up, and then you can stay there and make your ownguesses."

  "All right," said Dorothy.

  "It is my turn next," declared the Scarecrow.

  "Why, you don't want to go away and leave me all alone, do you?" askedthe girl. "Besides, if I go now I can wind up Tiktok, so that he canmake his last guess."

  "Very well, then," said the Scarecrow, with a sigh. "Run along, littleDorothy, and may good luck go with you!"

  So Dorothy, trying to be brave in spite of her fears, passed through thedoorway into the gorgeous rooms of the palace. The stillness of theplace awed her, at first, and the child drew short breaths, and pressedher hand to her heart, and looked all around with wondering eyes.

  Yes, it was a beautiful place; but enchantments lurked in every nook andcorner, and she had not yet grown accustomed to the wizardries of thesefairy countries, so different from the quiet and sensible common-placesof her own native land.

  Slowly she passed through several rooms until she came upon Tiktok,standing motionless. It really seemed, then, that she had found a friendin this mysterious palace, so she hastened to wind up the machine man'saction and speech and thoughts.

  "Thank you, Dor-oth-y," were his first words. "I have now one more guessto make."

  "Oh, be very careful, Tiktok; won't you?" cried the girl.

  "Yes. But the Nome King has us in his power, and he has set a trap forus. I fear we are all lost," he answered.

  "I fear so, too," said Dorothy, sadly.

  "If Smith & Tin-ker had giv-en me a guess-ing clock-work at-tach-ment,"continued Tiktok, "I might have de-fied the Nome King. But my thoughtsare plain and sim-ple, and are not of much use in this case."

  "Do the best you can," said Dorothy, encouragingly, "and if you fail Iwill watch and see what shape you are changed into."

  So Tiktok touched a yellow glass vase that had daisies painted on oneside, and he spoke at the same time the word "Ev."

  In a flash the machine man had disappeared, and although the girl lookedquickly in every direction, she could not tell which of the manyornaments the room contained had a moment before been her faithfulfriend and servant.

  So all she could do was to accept the hopeless task set her, and makeher guesses and abide by the result.

  "It can't hurt very much," she thought, "for I haven't h
eard any of themscream or cry out--not even the poor officers. Dear me! I wonder ifUncle Henry or Aunt Em will ever know I have become an orn'ment in theNome King's palace, and must stand forever and ever in one place andlook pretty--'cept when I'm moved to be dusted. It isn't the way Ithought I'd turn out, at all; but I s'pose it can't be helped."

  She walked through all the rooms once more, and examined with care allthe objects they contained; but there were so many, they bewildered her,and she decided, after all, as Ozma had done, that it could be onlyguess work at the best, and that the chances were much against herguessing aright.

  Timidly she touched an alabaster bowl and said: "Ev."

  "That's one failure, anyhow," she thought. "But how am I to know whichthing is enchanted, and which is not?"

  Next she touched the image of a purple kitten that stood on the cornerof a mantel, and as she pronounced the word "Ev" the kitten disappeared,and a pretty, fair-haired boy stood beside her. At the same time a bellrang somewhere in the distance, and as Dorothy started back, partly insurprise and partly in joy, the little one exclaimed:

  "Where am I? And who are you? And what has happened to me?"

  "Well, I declare!" said Dorothy. "I've really done it."

  "Done what?" asked the boy.

  "Saved myself from being an ornament," replied the girl, with a laugh,"and saved you from being forever a purple kitten."

  "A purple kitten?" he repeated. "There _is_ no such thing."

  "I know," she answered. "But there was, a minute ago. Don't you rememberstanding on a corner of the mantel?"

  "Of course not. I am a Prince of Ev, and my name is Evring," the littleone announced, proudly. "But my father, the King, sold my mother and allher children to the cruel ruler of the Nomes, and after that I remembernothing at all."

  "A purple kitten can't be 'spected to remember, Evring," said Dorothy."But now you are yourself again, and I'm going to try to save some ofyour brothers and sisters, and perhaps your mother, as well. So comewith me."

  She seized the child's hand and eagerly hurried here and there, tryingto decide which object to choose next. The third guess was anotherfailure, and so was the fourth and the fifth.

  Little Evring could not imagine what she was doing, but he trotted alongbeside her very willingly, for he liked the new companion he had found.

  Dorothy's further quest proved unsuccessful; but after her firstdisappointment was over, the little girl was filled with joy andthankfulness to think that after all she had been able to save onemember of the royal family of Ev, and could restore the little Prince tohis sorrowing country. Now she might return to the terrible Nome King insafety, carrying with her the prize she had won in the person of thefair-haired boy.

  So she retraced her steps until she found the entrance to the palace,and as she approached, the massive doors of rock opened of their ownaccord, allowing both Dorothy and Evring to pass the portals and enterthe throne room.