Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz Read online

  Produced by Dennis Amundson.

  Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz

  A Faithful Record of Their Amazing Adventures in an Underground World; and How with the Aid of Their Friends Zeb Hugson, Eureka the Kitten, and Jim the Cab-Horse, They Finally Reached the Wonderful Land of Oz

  by

  L. Frank Baum

  "Royal Historian of Oz"

  --To My Readers-- 1. The Earthquake 2. The Glass City 3. The Arrival of the Wizard 4. The Vegetable Kingdom 5. Dorothy Picks the Princess 6. The Mangaboos Prove Dangerous 7. Into the Black Pit and Out Again 8. The Valley of Voices 9. They Fight the Invisible Bears 10. The Braided Man of Pyramid Mountain 11. They Meet the Wooden Gargoyles 12. A Wonderful Escape 13. The Den of the Dragonettes 14. Ozma Uses the Magic Belt 15. Old Friends are Reunited 16. Jim, the Cab-Horse 17. The Nine Tiny Piglets 18. The Trial of Eureka, the Kitten 19. The Wizard Performs Another Trick 20. Zeb Returns to the Ranch

  To My Readers

  It's no use; no use at all. The children won't let me stop tellingtales of the Land of Oz. I know lots of other stories, and I hope totell them, some time or another; but just now my loving tyrants won'tallow me. They cry: "Oz--Oz! more about Oz, Mr. Baum!" and what can Ido but obey their commands?

  This is Our Book--mine and the children's. For they have flooded mewith thousands of suggestions in regard to it, and I have honestlytried to adopt as many of these suggestions as could be fitted into onestory.

  After the wonderful success of "Ozma of Oz" it is evident that Dorothyhas become a firm fixture in these Oz stories. The little ones alllove Dorothy, and as one of my small friends aptly states: "It isn't areal Oz story without her." So here she is again, as sweet and gentleand innocent as ever, I hope, and the heroine of another strangeadventure.

  There were many requests from my little correspondents for "more aboutthe Wizard." It seems the jolly old fellow made hosts of friends inthe first Oz book, in spite of the fact that he frankly acknowledgedhimself "a humbug." The children had heard how he mounted into the skyin a balloon and they were all waiting for him to come down again. Sowhat could I do but tell "what happened to the Wizard afterward"? Youwill find him in these pages, just the same humbug Wizard as before.

  There was one thing the children demanded which I found it impossibleto do in this present book: they bade me introduce Toto, Dorothy'slittle black dog, who has many friends among my readers. But you willsee, when you begin to read the story, that Toto was in Kansas whileDorothy was in California, and so she had to start on her adventurewithout him. In this book Dorothy had to take her kitten with herinstead of her dog; but in the next Oz book, if I am permitted to writeone, I intend to tell a good deal about Toto's further history.

  Princess Ozma, whom I love as much as my readers do, is againintroduced in this story, and so are several of our old friends of Oz.You will also become acquainted with Jim the Cab-Horse, the Nine TinyPiglets, and Eureka, the Kitten. I am sorry the kitten was not as wellbehaved as she ought to have been; but perhaps she wasn't brought upproperly. Dorothy found her, you see, and who her parents were nobodyknows.

  I believe, my dears, that I am the proudest story-teller that everlived. Many a time tears of pride and joy have stood in my eyes whileI read the tender, loving, appealing letters that came to me in almostevery mail from my little readers. To have pleased you, to haveinterested you, to have won your friendship, and perhaps your love,through my stories, is to my mind as great an achievement as to becomePresident of the United States. Indeed, I would much rather be yourstory-teller, under these conditions, than to be the President. So youhave helped me to fulfill my life's ambition, and I am more grateful toyou, my dears, than I can express in words.

  I try to answer every letter of my young correspondents; yet sometimesthere are so many letters that a little time must pass before you getyour answer. But be patient, friends, for the answer will surely come,and by writing to me you more than repay me for the pleasant task ofpreparing these books. Besides, I am proud to acknowledge that thebooks are partly yours, for your suggestions often guide me in tellingthe stories, and I am sure they would not be half so good without yourclever and thoughtful assistance.

  L. FRANK BAUM

  Coronado, 1908.