The Royal Book of Oz Read online

  Produced by Michael Gray

  THE ROYAL BOOK OF OZ

  In which the Scarecrow goes to search for his family tree anddiscovers that he is the Long Lost Emperor of theSilver Island, and how he was rescued andbrought back to Oz by Dorothyand the Cowardly Lion

  BY

  L. FRANK BAUM

  ENLARGED AND EDITEDBY

  RUTH PLUMLY THOMPSON

  ILLUSTRATED BY

  JOHN R. NEILL

  The Reilly & Lee Co.Chicago

  _Printed in the United States of America_

  Copyright, 1921byThe Reilly & Britton Co.

  All Rights Reserved

  Dear Children:

  You will remember that, in the front part of Glinda of Oz, thePublishers told you that when Mr. Baum went away from this world heleft behind some unfinished notes about the Princess Ozma and Dorothyand the jolly people of the Wonderful Land of Oz. The Publisherspromised that they would try to put these notes together into a newOz book for you.

  Well, here it is--The Royal Book of Oz.

  I am sure that Mr. Baum would be pleased that Ruth Plumly Thompson,who has known and loved the Oz Stories ever since she was a littlegirl, has made this new Oz story, with all the Oz folks in it andtrue to life.

  You see I am Mrs. Baum, the wife of the Royal Historian of Oz, and soI know how he feels about everything.

  Now, about the story:

  Of course, we all knew the Scarecrow was a very fine fellow, butsurely we never guessed he ascended from an emperor. Most of usdescend from our ancestors, but the Scarecrow really ASCENDED.

  The Scarecrow had a most exciting and adventurous time on the SilverIsle and Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion just ran out of one adventureinto another trying to rescue him. They made some charming newfriends in their travels--Sir Hokus of Pokes, the Doubtful Dromedary,and the Comfortable Camel. You'll find them very unusual and likable.They have the same peculiar, delightful and informal natures that welove in all the queer Oz people.

  Of course every one of us is happy that John R. Neill has drawn thefunny and lovely pictures for the new book. Mr. Neill surely is theRoyal Painter of Oz.

  This note is intended for all the children of America, who knew andloved Mr. Baum, and it goes to each of you with his love and mine.

  MAUD G. BAUM.

  OZCOTHOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIAIN THE SPRING, 1921

  LIST OF CHAPTERS

  1 Professor Wogglebug's Great Idea 2 The Scarecrow's Family Tree 3 Down the Magic Bean Pole 4 Dorothy's Lonely Breakfast 5 Sir Hokus of Pokes 6 Singing Their Way Out of Pokes 7 The Scarecrow Is Hailed As Emperor! 8 The Scarecrow Studies the Silver Island 9 "Save Us With Your Magic, Exalted One!" 10 Princess Ozma and Betsy Bobbin Talk It Over 11 Sir Hokus Overcometh the Giant 12 Dorothy and Sir Hokus Come to Fix City 13 Dancing Beds and the Road That Unrolled 14 Sons and Grandsons Greet the Scarecrow 15 The Three Princes Plot to Undo the Emperor 16 Dorothy and Her Guardians Meet New Friends 17 Doubty and Camy Vanish Into Space 18 Dorothy Finds the Scarecrow! 19 Planning to Fly From the Silver Island 20 Dorothy Upsets the Ceremony of the Island 21 The Escape From the Silver Island 22 The Flight of the Parasol 23 Safe at Last in the Land of Oz 24 Homeward Bound to the Emerald City

  CHAPTER 1

  PROFESSOR WOGGLEBUG'S GREAT IDEA

  "The very thing!" exclaimed Professor Wogglebug, bounding into theair and upsetting his gold inkwell. "The very next idea!"

  "Who--me?" A round-faced little Munchkin boy stuck his head in thedoor and regarded Professor Wogglebug solemnly. He was working hisway through the Professor's Athletic college, and one of his dutieswas to wait upon this eminent educator of Oz.

  "Certainly not!" snapped Professor Wogglebug. "You're a nobody or anothing. Stop gaping and fetch me my hat. I'm off to the EmeraldCity. And mind the pupils take their history pills regularly whileI'm gone," he added, clapping his tall hat Zif held out to him on theback of his head.

  "Yes, sir!" said the little Munchkin respectfully.

  "Don't hurry back, sir!" This last remark the Professor did not hear,for he was already half way down the college steps.

  "Ozma will be delighted with the idea. How clever I am!" he murmured,twirling his antennae and walking rapidly down the pleasant bluelane.

  The Professor, whose College of Art and Athletic Perfection is in thesouthwestern part of the Munchkin country, is the biggest bug in Oz,or in anyplace else, for that matter. He has made education painlessby substituting school pills for books. His students take Latin,history and spelling pills; they swallow knowledge of every kind withease and pleasure and spend the rest of their time in sport. Nowonder he is so well thought of in Oz! No wonder he thinks so well ofhimself!

  Swinging his cane jauntily, the Professor hurried toward the yellowbrick road that leads to the Emerald City, and by nightfall hadreached the lovely capital of Oz.

  Oz!--that marvelous country where no one grows old--where animals andbirds talk as sensibly as people, and adventures happen every day.Indeed, of all fairylands in the world, Oz is the most delightful,and of all fairy cities, the Emerald City is the most beautiful. Asoft green light shone for miles about, and the gemmed turrets andspires of the palace flashed more brightly than the stars. But itsloveliness was familiar to Professor Wogglebug, and without a pausehe proceeded to Ozma's palace and was at once admitted to the greathall.

  A roar of merriment greeted his ears. Ozma, the lovely girl ruler ofOz, was having a party, and the room was full of most surprisingpeople--surprising to some, that is, but old friends to most of us.

  Jack, holding tightly to his pumpkin head, was running as fast as hiswooden feet and wobbly legs would take him from Dorothy. A game ofblind-man's-buff was in full swing, and Scraps and Tik-Tok, theScarecrow and Nick Chopper, the Glass Cat and the Cowardly Lion, theWizard of Oz and the wooden Sawhorse, Cap'n Bill and Betsy Bobbin,Billina and the Hungry Tiger were tumbling over each other in aneffort to keep away from the blindfolded little girl.

  But Dorothy was too quick for them. With a sudden whirl, she spun'round and grasped a coatsleeve.

  "The Scarecrow!" she laughed triumphantly. "I can tell by the way heskwoshes--and now _he's_ it!"

  "I'm always _it!"_ chuckled the droll person. "But--hah! Behold thelearned Professor standing so aloofly in our midst."

  No one had noticed Professor Wogglebug, who had been quietly watchingthe game.

  "I don't like to interrupt the party," he began, approaching Ozma'sthrone apologetically, "but I've just had a most brilliant idea!"

  "What? Another?" murmured the Scarecrow, rolling up his eyes.

  "Where did you lose it?" asked Jack Pumpkinhead, edging forwardanxiously.

  "Lose it! Who said I'd lost it?" snapped the Professor, glaring atpoor Jack.

  "Well, you said you'd had it, and had is the past tense, so--" Jack'svoice trailed off uncertainly, and Ozma, seeing he was embarrassed,begged the Professor to explain.

  "Your Highness!" began Professor Wogglebug, while the company settleddown in a resigned circle on the floor, "As Oz is the mostinteresting and delightful country on the Continent of Imaginationand its people the most unusual and talented, I am about to compile aRoyal Book which will give the names and history of all our people.In other words, I am to be the Great, Grand Genealogist of Oz!"

  "Whatever that is," the Scarecrow whispered in Dorothy's ear.

  "And," the Professor frowned severely on the Scarecrow, "with yourMajesty's permission, I shall start at once!"

  "Please do," said the Scarecrow with a wave toward the door, "and wewill go on with the party!"

  Scraps, the Patchwork Girl, who had been staring fixedly at theProfessor with her silver suspender-but
ton eyes, now sprang to herfeet:

  "What is a genealogist? It's something no one here has missed; What puts such notions in your head? Turn out your toes--or go to bed!"

  she shouted gaily, then, catching Ozma's disapproving glance, fellover backwards.

  "I don't understand it at all," said Jack Pumpkinhead in a depressedvoice. "I'm afraid my head's too ripe."

  "Nor I," said Tik-Tok, the copper clockwork man. "Please wind me up alit-tle tight-er Dor-o-thy, I want to think!"

  Dorothy obligingly took a key suspended from a hook on his back andwound him up under his left arm. Everybody began to talk at once, andwhat with the Cowardly Lion's deep growl and Tik-Tok's squeaky voiceand all the rest of the tin and meat and wooden voices, the confusionwas terrible.

  "Wait!" cried Ozma, clapping her hands.

  Immediately the room grew so still that one could hear Tik-Tok'smachinery whirring 'round.

  "Now!" said Ozma, "One at a time, please, and let us hear from theScarecrow first."

  The Scarecrow rose. "I think, your Highness," he said modestly, "thatanyone who has studied his Geozify already knows who we are and--"

  "Who you are?" broke in the Wogglebug scornfully--"Of course theydo--but _I_ shall tell them who you _were!"_

  "Who I were?" gasped the Scarecrow in a dazed voice, raising hiscotton glove to his forehead. "Who I were? Well, who were I?"

  "That's just the point," said Professor Wogglebug. "Who were you? Whowere your ancestors? Where is your family? Where is your family tree?From what did you descend?"

  At each question, the Scarecrow looked more embarrassed. He repeatedthe last one several times.

  "From what did I descend? From what did I descend? Why, from a beanpole!" he cried.

  This was perfectly true, for Dorothy, a little girl blown by a Kansascyclone to the Kingdom of Oz, had discovered the Scarecrow in afarmer's cornfield and had lifted him down from his pole. Togetherthey had made the journey to the Emerald City, where the Wizard of Ozhad fitted him out with a fine set of brains. At one time, he hadruled Oz and was generally considered its cleverest citizen.

  Before he could reply further, the Patchwork Girl, who was simplyirrepressible, burst out:

  "An ex-straw-ordinary man is he! A bean pole for his family tree, A Cornishman, upon my soul, Descended from a tall, thin Pole!"

  "Nonsense!" said Professor Wogglebug sharply, "Being stuffed withstraw may make him extraordinary, but it is quite plain that theScarecrow was nobody before he was himself. He has no ancestors, nofamily; only a bean pole for a family tree, and is therefore entitledto the merest mention in the Royal Book of Oz!"

  "How about my brains?" asked the Scarecrow in a hurt voice. "Aren'tthey enough?"

  "Brains have simply nothing to do with royalty!" Professor Wogglebugwaved his fountain pen firmly. "Now--"

  "But see here, wasn't I ruler of Oz?" put in the Scarecrow anxiously.

  "A Ruler but _never_ a royalty!" snapped out the Professor. "Now, ifyou will all answer my questions as I call your names, I'll get thenecessary data and be off."

  He took out a small memorandum book.

  "Your Highness," he bowed to Ozma, "need not bother. I have alreadyentered your name at the head of the list. Being descended as you arefrom a long line of fairies, your family tree is the oldest and mostillustrious in Oz."

  "Princess Dorothy!"

  At the sound of her name, the little girl stood up.

  "I know you are from Kansas and were created a Princess of Oz by ourgracious Ruler, but can you tell me anything of your ancestors inAmerica?" demanded the Professor, staring over the top of his thickglasses.

  "You'll have to ask Uncle Henry and Aunt Em," said Dorothy rathersulkily. The Professor had hurt the feelings of her best friend, theScarecrow, and ancestors did not interest her one little bit.

  "Very well," said the Professor, writing industriously in his book."I'll just enter you as 'Dorothy, Princess of Oz and sixth cousin toa President!'"

  "I'm not!" Dorothy shook her head positively.

  "Oh, everyone in America can claim that!" said the Professor easily.

  "Nick Chopper!"

  Now up rose our old friend the Tin Woodman, who had also beendiscovered by Dorothy on her first trip to the Fairyland of Oz.

  "You were a man of meat at one time and a woodman by trade?" queriedProfessor Wogglebug, poising his pen in the air.

  "I am a Tin Woodman, and you may enter me in your book under the nameof Smith, for a tin Smith made me, and as Royal Emperor of theWinkies, I do not care to go back to my meat connections," said theTin Woodman in a dignified voice.

  The company applauded, and the Cowardly Lion thumped the floor withhis tail.

  "Smith is a very good name. I can work up a whole chapter on that,"smiled the Professor. The Tin Woodman _had_ once been a regular person,but a wicked witch enchanted his ax, and first it chopped off oneleg, then the other, and next both arms and his head. After eachaccident, Nick went to a tinsmith for repairs, and finally wasentirely made of tin. Nowhere but in Oz could such a thing happen.But no one can be killed in this marvelous country, and Nick, withhis tin body, went gaily on living and was considered sodistinguished that the Winkies had begged him to be their Emperor.

  "Scraps!" called the Professor as Nick sat stiffly down besideDorothy.

  The Patchwork Girl pirouetted madly to the front. Putting one fingerin her mouth, she sang:

  "I'm made of patches, as you see. A clothes tree is my family tree But, pshaw! It's all the same to me!"

  A clothes tree? Even Professor Wogglebug grinned. Who could helplaughing at Scraps? Made of odd pieces of goods and brought to lifeby the powder of life, the comical girl was the jolliest personimaginable.

  "Put me down as a man of me-tal!" drawled Tik-Tok the copper man asthe laugh following Scraps' rhyme had subsided. Tik-Tok was stillanother of Dorothy's discoveries, and this marvelous machine man,guaranteed to last a thousand years, could think, walk, and talk whenproperly wound.

  The Cowardly Lion was entered as a King in his own right. One afterthe other, the celebrities of Oz came forward to answer ProfessorWogglebug's questions. The Professor wrote rapidly in his littlebook. Ozma listened attentively to each one, and they all seemedinterested except the Scarecrow. Slumped down beside Dorothy, hestared morosely at the ceiling, his jolly face all wrinkled down onone side.

  "If I only knew who I were!" he muttered over and over. "I mustthink!"

  "Don't you mind." Dorothy patted his shoulder kindly. "Royalties areout of date, and I'll bet the Professor's family tree was amilkweed!"

  But the Scarecrow refused to be comforted, and long after the companyhad retired he sat hunched sadly in his corner.

  "I'll do it! I'll do it!" he exclaimed at last, rising unsteadily tohis feet. Jellia Jamb, Ozma's little waiting maid, returning somewhatlater to fetch a handkerchief her mistress had dropped, was surprisedto see him running through the long hall.

  "Why, where are you going?" asked Jellia.

  "To find my family tree!" said the Scarecrow darkly, and drawinghimself up to his full height, he fell through the doorway.