Ozma of Oz Page 10

  The Royal Family of Ev

  The Tin Woodman was the first to address the meeting.

  "To begin with," said he, "word came to our noble and illustrous Ruler,Ozma of Oz, that the wife and ten children--five boys and five girls--ofthe former King of Ev, by name Evoldo, have been enslaved by the NomeKing and are held prisoners in his underground palace. Also that therewas no one in Ev powerful enough to release them. Naturally our Ozmawished to undertake the adventure of liberating the poor prisoners; butfor a long time she could find no way to cross the great desert betweenthe two countries. Finally she went to a friendly sorceress of our landnamed Glinda the Good, who heard the story and at once presented Ozma amagic carpet, which would continually unroll beneath our feet and somake a comfortable path for us to cross the desert. As soon as she hadreceived the carpet our gracious Ruler ordered me to assemble our army,which I did. You behold in these bold warriors the pick of all thefinest soldiers of Oz; and, if we are obliged to fight the Nome King,every officer as well as the private, will battle fiercely unto death."

  Then Tiktok spoke.

  "Why should you fight the Nome King?" he asked. "He has done no wrong."

  "No wrong!" cried Dorothy. "Isn't it wrong to imprison a queen motherand her ten children?"

  "They were sold to the Nome King by King Ev-ol-do," replied Tiktok. "Itwas the King of Ev who did wrong, and when he re-al-ized what he haddone he jumped in-to the sea and drowned him-self."

  "This is news to me," said Ozma, thoughtfully. "I had supposed the NomeKing was all to blame in the matter. But, in any case, he must be madeto liberate the prisoners."

  "My uncle Evoldo was a very wicked man," declared the PrincessLangwidere. "If he had drowned himself before he sold his family, no onewould have cared. But he sold them to the powerful Nome King in exchangefor a long life, and afterward destroyed the life by jumping into thesea."

  "Then," said Ozma, "he did not get the long life, and the Nome King mustgive up the prisoners. Where are they confined?"

  "No one knows, exactly," replied the Princess. "For the king, whose nameis Roquat of the Rocks, owns a splendid palace underneath the greatmountain which is at the north end of this kingdom, and he hastransformed the queen and her children into ornaments and bric-a-bracwith which to decorate his rooms."

  "I'd like to know," said Dorothy, "who this Nome King is?"

  "I will tell you," replied Ozma. "He is said to be the Ruler of theUnderground World, and commands the rocks and all that the rockscontain. Under his rule are many thousands of the Nomes, who are queerlyshaped but powerful sprites that labor at the furnaces and forges oftheir king, making gold and silver and other metals which they concealin the crevices of the rocks, so that those living upon the earth'ssurface can only find them with great difficulty. Also they makediamonds and rubies and emeralds, which they hide in the ground; so thatthe kingdom of the Nomes is wonderfully rich, and all we have ofprecious stones and silver and gold is what we take from the earth androcks where the Nome King has hidden them."

  "I understand," said Dorothy, nodding her little head wisely.

  "For the reason that we often steal his treasures," continued Ozma, "theRuler of the Underground World is not fond of those who live upon theearth's surface, and never appears among us. If we wish to see KingRoquat of the Rocks, we must visit his own country, where he is allpowerful, and therefore it will be a dangerous undertaking."

  "But, for the sake of the poor prisoners," said Dorothy, "we ought to doit."

  "We shall do it," replied the Scarecrow, "although it requires a lot ofcourage for me to go near to the furnaces of the Nome King. For I amonly stuffed with straw, and a single spark of fire might destroy meentirely."

  "The furnaces may also melt my tin," said the Tin Woodman; "but I amgoing."

  "I can't bear heat," remarked the Princess Langwidere, yawning lazily,"so I shall stay at home. But I wish you may have success in yourundertaking, for I am heartily tired of ruling this stupid kingdom, andI need more leisure in which to admire my beautiful heads."

  "We do not need you," said Ozma. "For, if with the aid of my bravefollowers I cannot accomplish my purpose, then it would be useless foryou to undertake the journey."

  "Quite true," sighed the Princess. "So, if you'll excuse me, I will nowretire to my cabinet. I've worn this head quite awhile, and I want tochange it for another."

  When she had left them (and you may be sure no one was sorry to see hergo) Ozma said to Tiktok:

  "Will you join our party?"

  "I am the slave of the girl Dor-oth-y, who res-cued me from pris-on,"replied the machine. "Where she goes I will go."

  "Oh, I am going with my friends, of course," said Dorothy, quickly. "Iwouldn't miss the fun for anything. Will you go, too, Billina?"

  "To be sure," said Billina in a careless tone. She was smoothing downthe feathers of her back and not paying much attention.

  "I CAN'T BEAR HEAT," REMARKED LANGWIDERE]

  "Heat is just in her line," remarked the Scarecrow. "If she is nicelyroasted, she will be better than ever."

  "Then," said Ozma, "we will arrange to start for the Kingdom of the Nomesat daybreak tomorrow. And, in the meantime, we will rest and prepareourselves for the journey."

  Although Princess Langwidere did not again appear to her guests, thepalace servants waited upon the strangers from Oz and did everything intheir power to make the party comfortable. There were many vacant roomsat their disposal, and the brave Army of twenty-seven was easilyprovided for and liberally feasted.

  The Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger were unharnessed from the chariotand allowed to roam at will throughout the palace, where they nearlyfrightened the servants into fits, although they did no harm at all. Atone time Dorothy found the little maid Nanda crouching in terror in acorner, with the Hungry Tiger standing before her.

  "You certainly look delicious," the beast was saying. "Will you kindlygive me permission to eat you?"

  "No, no, no!" cried the maid in reply.

  "Then," said the Tiger, yawning frightfully, "please to get me aboutthirty pounds of tenderloin steak, cooked rare, with a peck of boiledpotatoes on the side, and five gallons of ice-cream for dessert."

  "I--I'll do the best I can!" said Nanda, and she ran away as fast as shecould go.

  "Are you so very hungry?" asked Dorothy, in wonder.

  "You can hardly imagine the size of my appetite," replied the Tiger,sadly. "It seems to fill my whole body, from the end of my throat to thetip of my tail. I am very sure the appetite doesn't fit me, and is toolarge for the size of my body. Some day, when I meet a dentist with apair of forceps, I'm going to have it pulled."

  "What, your tooth?" asked Dorothy.

  "No, my appetite," said the Hungry Tiger.

  DOROTHY RELATED TO THEM HER OWN ADVENTURES]

  The little girl spent most of the afternoon talking with the Scarecrowand the Tin Woodman, who related to her all that had taken place in theLand of Oz since Dorothy had left it. She was much interested in thestory of Ozma, who had been, when a baby, stolen by a wicked old witchand transformed into a boy. She did not know that she had ever been agirl until she was restored to her natural form by a kind sorceress.Then it was found that she was the only child of the former Ruler ofOz, and was entitled to rule in his place. Ozma had many adventures,however, before she regained her father's throne, and in these she wasaccompanied by a pumpkin-headed man, a highly magnified and thoroughlyeducated Woggle-Bug, and a wonderful sawhorse that had been brought tolife by means of a magic powder. The Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman hadalso assisted her; but the Cowardly Lion, who ruled the great forest asthe King of Beasts, knew nothing of Ozma until after she became thereigning princess of Oz. Then he journeyed to the Emerald City to seeher, and on hearing she was about to visit the Land of Ev to set freethe royal family of that country, the Cowardly Lion begged to go withher, and brought along his friend, the Hungry Tiger, as well.

  Having heard this story, Dorothy related to them h
er own adventures, andthen went out with her friends to find the Sawhorse, which Ozma hadcaused to be shod with plates of gold, so that its legs would not wearout.

  They came upon the Sawhorse standing motionless beside the garden gate,but when Dorothy was introduced to him he bowed politely and blinked hiseyes, which were knots of wood, and wagged his tail, which was only thebranch of a tree.

  "What a remarkable thing, to be alive!" exclaimed Dorothy.

  "I quite agree with you," replied the Sawhorse, in a rough but notunpleasant voice. "A creature like me has no business to live, as we allknow. But it was the magic powder that did it, so I cannot justly beblamed."

  "Of course not," said Dorothy. "And you seem to be of some use, 'cause Inoticed the Scarecrow riding upon your back."

  "Oh, yes; I'm of use," returned the Sawhorse; "and I never tire, neverhave to be fed, or cared for in any way."

  "Are you intel'gent?" asked the girl.

  "Not very," said the creature. "It would be foolish to waste intelligenceon a common Sawhorse, when so many professors need it. But I know enoughto obey my masters, and to gid-dup, or whoa, when I'm told to. So I'mpretty well satisfied."

  That night Dorothy slept in a pleasant little bedchamber next to thatoccupied by Ozma of Oz, and Billina perched upon the foot of the bed andtucked her head under her wing and slept as soundly in that position asdid Dorothy upon her soft cushions.

  But before daybreak every one was awake and stirring, and soon theadventurers were eating a hasty breakfast in the great dining-room ofthe palace. Ozma sat at the head of a long table, on a raised platform,with Dorothy on her right hand and the Scarecrow on her left. TheScarecrow did not eat, of course; but Ozma placed him near her so thatshe might ask his advice about the journey while she ate.

  Lower down the table were the twenty-seven warriors of Oz, and at theend of the room the Lion and the Tiger were eating out of a kettle thathad been placed upon the floor, while Billina fluttered around to pickup any scraps that might be scattered.

  It did not take long to finish the meal, and then the Lion and the Tigerwere harnessed to the chariot and the party was ready to start for theNome King's Palace.

  First rode Ozma, with Dorothy beside her in the golden chariot andholding Billina fast in her arms. Then came the Scarecrow on theSawhorse, with the Tin Woodman and Tiktok marching side by side justbehind him. After these tramped the Army, looking brave and handsome intheir splendid uniforms. The generals commanded the colonels and thecolonels commanded the majors and the majors commanded the captains andthe captains commanded the private, who marched with an air of proudimportance because it required so many officers to give him his orders.

  And so the magnificent procession left the palace and started along theroad just as day was breaking, and by the time the sun came out they hadmade good progress toward the valley that led to the Nome King'sdomain.