The Road to Oz Page 22
Dorothy Receives the Guests
Next morning Dorothy's breakfast was served in her own pretty sittingroom, and she sent to invite Polly and the shaggy man to join her andButton-Bright at the meal. They came gladly, and Toto also had breakfastwith them, so that the little party that had traveled together to Oz wasonce more reunited.
No sooner had they finished eating than they heard the distant blast ofmany trumpets, and the sound of a brass band playing martial music; sothey all went out upon the balcony. This was at the front of the palaceand overlooked the streets of the City, being higher than the wall thatshut in the palace grounds. They saw approaching down the street a bandof musicians, playing as hard and loud as they could, while the peopleof the Emerald City crowded the sidewalks and cheered so lustily thatthey almost drowned the noise of the drums and horns.
Dorothy looked to see what they were cheering at, and discovered thatbehind the band was the famous Scarecrow, riding proudly upon the backof a wooden Saw-Horse which pranced along the street almost asgracefully as if it had been made of flesh. Its hoofs, or rather theends of its wooden legs, were shod with plates of solid gold, and thesaddle strapped to the wooden body was richly embroidered and glitteredwith jewels.
As he reached the palace the Scarecrow looked up and saw Dorothy, and atonce waved his peaked hat at her in greeting. He rode up to the frontdoor and dismounted, and the band stopped playing and went away and thecrowds of people returned to their dwellings.
By the time Dorothy and her friends had re-entered her room theScarecrow was there, and he gave the girl a hearty embrace and shook thehands of the others with his own squashy hands, which were white glovesfilled with straw.
The shaggy man, Button-Bright, and Polychrome stared hard at thiscelebrated person, who was acknowledged to be the most popular and mostbeloved man in all the Land of Oz.
"Why, your face has been newly painted!" exclaimed Dorothy, when thefirst greetings were over.
"I had it touched up a bit by the Munchkin farmer who first made me,"answered the Scarecrow, pleasantly. "My complexion had become a bit greyand faded, you know, and the paint had peeled off one end of my mouth,so I couldn't talk quite straight. Now I feel like myself again, and Imay say without immodesty that my body is stuffed with the loveliestoat-straw in all Oz." He pushed against his chest. "Hear me crunkle?" heasked.
"Yes," said Dorothy; "you sound fine."
Button-Bright was wonderfully attracted by the straw man, and so wasPolly. The shaggy man treated him with great respect, because he was soqueerly made.
Jellia Jamb now came to say that Ozma wanted Princess Dorothy to receivethe invited guests in the Throne-Room, as they arrived. The Ruler washerself busy ordering the preparations for the morrow's festivities, soshe wished her friend to act in her place.
Dorothy willingly agreed, being the only other Princess in the EmeraldCity; so she went to the great Throne-Room and sat in Ozma's seat,placing Polly on one side of her and Button-Bright on the other. TheScarecrow stood at the left of the throne and the Tin Woodman at theright, while the Wonderful Wizard and the shaggy man stood behind.
The Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger came in, with bright new bows ofribbon on their collars and tails. After greeting Dorothy affectionatelythe huge beasts lay down at the foot of the throne.
While they waited, the Scarecrow, who was near the little boy, asked:
"Why are you called Button-Bright?"
"Don't know," was the answer.
"Oh yes, you do, dear," said Dorothy. "Tell the Scarecrow how you gotyour name."
"Papa always said I was bright as a button, so mamma always called meButton-Bright," announced the boy.
"Where is your mamma?" asked the Scarecrow.
"Don't know," said Button-Bright.
"Where is your home?" asked the Scarecrow.
"Don't know," said Button-Bright.
"Don't you want to find your mamma again?" asked the Scarecrow.
"Don't know," said Button-Bright, calmly.
The Scarecrow looked thoughtful.
"Your papa may have been right," he observed; "but there are many kindsof buttons, you see. There are silver and gold buttons, which are highlypolished and glitter brightly. There are pearl and rubber buttons, andother kinds, with surfaces more or less bright. But there is stillanother sort of button which is covered with dull cloth, and that mustbe the sort your papa meant when he said you were bright as a button.Don't you think so?"
"Don't know," said Button-Bright.
Jack Pumpkinhead arrived, wearing a pair of new white kid gloves; and hebrought a birthday present for Ozma consisting of a necklace ofpumpkin-seeds. In each seed was set a sparkling carolite, which isconsidered the rarest and most beautiful gem that exists. The necklacewas in a plush case and Jellia Jamb put it on a table with the PrincessOzma's other presents.
Next came a tall, beautiful woman clothed in a splendid trailing gown,trimmed with exquisite lace as fine as cobweb. This was the importantSorceress known as Glinda the Good, who had been of great assistance toboth Ozma and Dorothy. There was no humbug about her magic, you may besure, and Glinda was as kind as she was powerful. She greeted Dorothymost lovingly, and kissed Button-Bright and Polly, and smiled upon theshaggy man, after which Jellia Jamb led the Sorceress to one of the mostmagnificent rooms of the royal palace and appointed fifty servants towait upon her.
The next arrival was Mr. H. M. Woggle-Bug, T. E.; the "H. M." meaningHighly Magnified and the "T. E." meaning Thoroughly Educated. TheWoggle-Bug was head professor at the Royal College of Oz, and he hadcomposed a fine Ode in honor of Ozma's birthday. This he wanted to readto them; but the Scarecrow wouldn't let him.
Soon they heard a clucking sound and a chorus of "cheep! cheep!" and aservant threw open the door to allow Billina and her ten fluffy chicksto enter the Throne-Room. As the Yellow Hen marched proudly at the headof her family, Dorothy cried, "Oh, you lovely things!" and ran down fromher seat to pet the little yellow downy balls. Billina wore a pearlnecklace, and around the neck of each chicken was a tiny gold chainholding a locket with the letter "D" engraved upon the outside.
"Open the lockets, Dorothy," said Billina. The girl obeyed and found apicture of herself in each locket. "They were named after you, my dear,"continued the Yellow Hen, "so I wanted all my chickens to wear yourpicture. Cluck--cluck! come here, Dorothy--this minute!" she cried, forthe chickens were scattered and wandering all around the big room.
They obeyed the call at once, and came running as fast as they could,fluttering their fluffy wings in a laughable way.
It was lucky that Billina gathered the little ones under her soft breastjust then, for Tik-tok came in and tramped up to the throne on his flatcopper feet.
"I am all wound up and work-ing fine-ly," said the clockwork man toDorothy.
"I can hear him tick," declared Button-Bright.
"You are quite the polished gentleman," said the Tin Woodman. "Stand uphere beside the shaggy man, Tik-tok, and help receive the company."
Dorothy placed soft cushions in a corner for Billina and her chicks, andhad just returned to the Throne and seated herself when the playing ofthe royal band outside the palace announced the approach ofdistinguished guests.
And my, how they did stare when the High Chamberlain threw open thedoors and the visitors entered the Throne-Room!
First walked a gingerbread man, neatly formed and baked to a lovelybrown tint. He wore a silk hat and carried a candy cane prettily stripedwith red and yellow. His shirt-front and cuffs were white frosting, andthe buttons on his coat were licorice drops.
Behind the gingerbread man came a child with flaxen hair and merry blueeyes, dressed in white pajamas, with sandals on the soles of its prettybare feet. The child looked around smiling and thrust its hands into thepockets of the pajamas. Close after it came a big rubber bear, walkingerect on its hind feet. The bear had twinkling black eyes and its bodylooked as if it had been pumped full of air.
Following these curiou
s visitors were two tall, thin men and two short,fat men, all four dressed in gorgeous uniforms.
KING DOUGH, THE HEAD BOOLEYWAG, AND PARA BRUIN]
Ozma's High Chamberlain now hurried forward to announce the names of thenew arrivals, calling out in a loud voice:
"His Gracious and Most Edible Majesty, King Dough the First, Ruler ofthe Two Kingdoms of Hiland and Loland. Also the Head Booleywag of hisMajesty, known as Chick the Cherub, and their faithful friend ParaBruin, the rubber bear."
These great personages bowed low as their names were called, and Dorothyhastened to introduce them to the assembled company. They were the firstforeign arrivals, and the friends of Princess Ozma were polite to themand tried to make them feel that they were welcome.
Chick the Cherub shook hands with every one, including Billina, and wasso joyous and frank and full of good spirits that John Dough's HeadBooleywag at once became a prime favorite.
"Is it a boy or a girl?" whispered Dorothy.
"Don't know," said Button-Bright.
"Goodness me! what a queer lot of people you are," exclaimed the rubberbear, looking at the assembled company.
"So're you," said Button-Bright, gravely. "Is King Dough good to eat?"
"He's too good to eat," laughed Chick the Cherub.
"I hope none of you are fond of gingerbread," said the King, ratheranxiously.
"We should never think of eating our visitors, if we were," declared theScarecrow; "so please do not worry, for you will be perfectly safe whileyou remain in Oz."
"Why do they call you Chick?" the Yellow Hen asked the child.
"Because I'm an Incubator Baby, and never had any parents," replied theHead Booleywag.
"My chicks have a parent, and I'm it," said Billina.
"I'm glad of that," answered the Cherub, "because they'll have more funworrying you than if they were brought up in an Incubator. The Incubatornever worries, you know."
King John Dough had brought for Ozma's birthday present a lovelygingerbread crown, with rows of small pearls around it and a fine bigpearl in each of its five points. After this had been received byDorothy with proper thanks and placed on the table with the otherpresents, the visitors from Hiland and Loland were escorted to theirrooms by the High Chamberlain.
They had no sooner departed than the band before the palace began toplay again, announcing more arrivals, and as these were doubtless fromforeign parts the High Chamberlain hurried back to receive them in hismost official manner.