The Magic of Oz Page 5

  Two Bad Ones

  CHAPTER 3

  Kiki turned around and saw a queer old man standing near. He didn'tstand straight, for he was crooked. He had a fat body and thin legs andarms. He had a big, round face with bushy, white whiskers that came to apoint below his waist, and white hair that came to a point on top of hishead. He wore dull-gray clothes that were tight fitting, and his pocketswere all bunched out as if stuffed full of something.

  "I didn't know you were here," said Kiki.

  "I didn't come until after you did," said the queer old man.

  "Who are you?" asked Kiki.

  "My name's Ruggedo. I used to be the Nome King; but I got kicked out ofmy country, and now I'm a wanderer."

  "What made them kick you out?" inquired the Hyup boy.

  "Well, it's the fashion to kick kings nowadays. I was a pretty goodKing--to myself--but those dreadful Oz people wouldn't let me alone. SoI had to abdicate."

  "What does that mean?"

  "It means to be kicked out. But let's talk about something pleasant. Whoare you and where did you come from?"

  "I'm called Kiki Aru. I used to live on Mount Munch in the Land of Oz,but now I'm a wanderer like yourself."

  The Nome King gave him a shrewd look.

  "I heard that bird say that you transformed yourself into a magpie andback again. Is that true?"

  Kiki hesitated, but saw no reason to deny it. He felt that it would makehim appear more important.

  "Well--yes," he said.

  "Then you're a wizard?"

  "No; I only understand transformations," he admitted.

  "Well, that's pretty good magic, anyhow," declared old Ruggedo. "I usedto have some very fine magic, myself, but my enemies took it all awayfrom me. Where are you going now?"

  "I'm going into the inn, to get some supper and a bed," said Kiki.

  "Have you the money to pay for it?" asked the Nome.

  "I have one gold piece."

  "Which you stole. Very good. And you're glad that you're wicked. Betteryet. I like you, young man, and I'll go to the inn with you if you'llpromise not to eat eggs for supper."

  "Don't you like eggs?" asked Kiki.

  "I'm afraid of 'em; they're dangerous!" said Ruggedo, with a shudder.

  "All right," agreed Kiki; "I won't ask for eggs."

  "Then come along," said the Nome.

  When they entered the inn, the landlord scowled at Kiki and said:

  "I told you I would not feed you unless you had money."

  Kiki showed him the gold piece.

  "And how about you?" asked the landlord, turning to Ruggedo. "Have youmoney?"

  "I've something better," answered the old Nome, and taking a bag fromone of his pockets he poured from it upon the table a mass of glitteringgems--diamonds, rubies and emeralds.

  The landlord was very polite to the strangers after that. He served theman excellent supper, and while they ate it, the Hyup boy asked hiscompanion:

  "Where did you get so many jewels?"

  "Well, I'll tell you," answered the Nome. "When those Oz people took mykingdom away from me--just because it was my kingdom and I wanted to runit to suit myself--they said I could take as many precious stones as Icould carry. So I had a lot of pockets made in my clothes and loadedthem all up. Jewels are fine things to have with you when you travel;you can trade them for anything."

  "Are they better than gold pieces?" asked Kiki.

  "The smallest of these jewels is worth a hundred gold pieces such as youstole from the old man."

  "Don't talk so loud," begged Kiki, uneasily. "Some one else might hearwhat you are saying."

  After supper they took a walk together, and the former Nome King said:

  "Do you know the Shaggy Man, and the Scarecrow, and the Tin Woodman, andDorothy, and Ozma and all the other Oz people?"

  "No," replied the boy, "I have never been away from Mount Munch until Iflew over the Deadly Desert the other day in the shape of a hawk."

  "Then you've never seen the Emerald City of Oz?"

  "Never."

  "Well," said the Nome, "I knew all the Oz people, and you can guess I donot love them. All during my wanderings I have brooded on how I can berevenged on them. Now that I've met you I can see a way to conquer theLand of Oz and be King there myself, which is better than being King ofthe Nomes."

  "How can you do that?" inquired Kiki Aru, wonderingly.

  "Never mind how. In the first place, I'll make a bargain with you. Tellme the secret of how to perform transformations and I will give you apocketful of jewels, the biggest and finest that I possess."

  "No," said Kiki, who realized that to share his power with another wouldbe dangerous to himself.

  "I'll give you _two_ pocketsful of jewels," said the Nome.

  "No;" answered Kiki.

  "I'll give you every jewel I possess."

  "No, no, no!" said Kiki, who was beginning to be frightened.

  "Then," said the Nome, with a wicked look at the boy, "I'll tell theinn-keeper that you stole that gold piece and he will have you put inprison."

  Kiki laughed at the threat.

  "Before he can do that," said he, "I will transform myself into a lionand tear him to pieces, or into a bear and eat him up, or into a fly andfly away where he could not find me."

  "Can you really do such wonderful transformations?" asked the old Nome,looking at him curiously.

  "Of course," declared Kiki. "I can transform you into a stick of wood,in a flash, or into a stone, and leave you here by the roadside."

  The wicked Nome shivered a little when he heard that, but it made himlong more than ever to possess the great secret. After a while he said:

  "I'll tell you what I'll do. If you will help me to conquer Oz and totransform the Oz people, who are my enemies, into sticks or stones, bytelling me your secret, I'll agree to make _you_ the Ruler of all Oz,and I will be your Prime Minister and see that your orders are obeyed."

  "I'll help do that," said Kiki, "but I won't tell you my secret."

  The Nome was so furious at this refusal that he jumped up and down withrage and spluttered and choked for a long time before he could controlhis passion. But the boy was not at all frightened. He laughed at thewicked old Nome, which made him more furious than ever.

  "Let's give up the idea," he proposed, when Ruggedo had quietedsomewhat. "I don't know the Oz people you mention and so they are not myenemies. If they've kicked you out of your kingdom, that's youraffair--not mine."

  "Wouldn't you like to be king of that splendid fairyland?" askedRuggedo.

  "Yes, I would," replied Kiki Aru; "but you want to be king yourself, andwe would quarrel over it."

  "No," said the Nome, trying to deceive him. "I don't care to be king ofOz, come to think it over. I don't even care to live in that country.What I want first is revenge. If we can conquer Oz, I'll get enoughmagic then to conquer my own kingdom of the Nomes, and I'll go back andlive in my underground caverns, which are more home-like than the top ofthe earth. So here's my proposition: Help me conquer Oz and get revenge,and help me get the magic away from Glinda and the Wizard, and I'll letyou be King of Oz forever afterward."

 

  "I'll think it over," answered Kiki, and that is all he would say thatevening.

  In the night when all in the Inn were asleep but himself, old Ruggedothe Nome, rose softly from his couch and went into the room of Kiki Aruthe Hyup, and searched everywhere for the magic tool that performed histransformations. Of course, there was no such tool, and although Ruggedosearched in all the boy's pockets, he found nothing magical whatever. Sohe went back to his bed and began to doubt that Kiki could performtransformations.

  Next morning he said:

  "Which way do you travel to-day?"

  "I think I shall visit the Rose Kingdom," answered the boy.

  "That is a long journey," declared the Nome.

  "I shall transform myself into a bird," said Kiki, "and so fly to theRose Kingdom in an hour."

  "Then transform me, also, into a bird, and I will go with you,"suggested Ruggedo. "But, in that case, let us fly together to the Landof Oz, and see what it looks like."

  Kiki thought this over. Pleasant as were the countries he had visited,he heard everywhere that the Land of Oz was more beautiful anddelightful. The Land of Oz was his own country, too, and if there wasany possibility of his becoming its King, he must know something aboutit.

  While Kiki the Hyup thought, Ruggedo the Nome was also thinking. Thisboy possessed a marvelous power, and although very simple in some ways,he was determined not to part with his secret. However, if Ruggedo couldget him to transport the wily old Nome to Oz, which he could reach in noother way, he might then induce the boy to follow his advice and enterinto the plot for revenge, which he had already planned in his wickedheart.

  "There are wizards and magicians in Oz," remarked Kiki, after a time."They might discover us, in spite of our transformations."

  "Not if we are careful," Ruggedo assured him. "Ozma has a Magic Picture,in which she can see whatever she wishes to see; but Ozma will knownothing of our going to Oz, and so she will not command her MagicPicture to show where we are or what we are doing. Glinda the Good has aGreat Book called the Book of Records, in which is magically writteneverything that people do in the Land of Oz, just the instant they doit."

  "Then," said Kiki, "there is no use our attempting to conquer thecountry, for Glinda would read in her book all that we do, and as hermagic is greater than mine, she would soon put a stop to our plans."

  "I said 'people,' didn't I?" retorted the Nome. "The book doesn't make arecord of what birds do, or beasts. It only tells the doings of people.So, if we fly into the country as b
irds, Glinda won't know anythingabout it."

 

  "Two birds couldn't conquer the Land of Oz," asserted the boy,scornfully.

  "No; that's true," admitted Ruggedo, and then he rubbed his forehead andstroked his long pointed beard and thought some more.

  "Ah, now I have the idea!" he declared. "I suppose you can transform usinto beasts as well as birds?"

  "Of course."

  "And can you make a bird a beast, and a beast a bird again, withouttaking a human form in between?"

  "Certainly," said Kiki. "I can transform myself or others into anythingthat can talk. There's a magic word that must be spoken in connectionwith the transformations, and as beasts and birds and dragons and fishescan talk in Oz, we may become any of these we desire to. However, if Itransformed myself into a tree, I would always remain a tree, becausethen I could not utter the magic word to change the transformation."

  "I see; I see," said Ruggedo, nodding his bushy, white head until thepoint of his hair waved back and forth like a pendulum. "That fits inwith my idea, exactly. Now, listen, and I'll explain to you my plan.We'll fly to Oz as birds and settle in one of the thick forests in theGillikin Country. There you will transform us into powerful beasts, andas Glinda doesn't keep any track of the doings of beasts we can actwithout being discovered."

  "But how can two beasts raise an army to conquer the powerful people ofOz?" inquired Kiki.

  "That's easy. But not an army of _people_, mind you. That would bequickly discovered. And while we are in Oz you and I will never resumeour human forms until we've conquered the country and destroyed Glinda,and Ozma, and the Wizard, and Dorothy, and all the rest, and so havenothing more to fear from them."

  "It is impossible to kill anyone in the Land of Oz," declared Kiki.

  "It isn't necessary to kill the Oz people," rejoined Ruggedo.

  "I'm afraid I don't understand you," objected the boy. "What will happento the Oz people, and what sort of an army could we get together, exceptof people?"

  "I'll tell you. The forests of Oz are full of beasts. Some of them, inthe far-away places, are savage and cruel, and would gladly follow aleader as savage as themselves. They have never troubled the Oz peoplemuch, because they had no leader to urge them on, but we will tell themto help us conquer Oz and as a reward we will transform all the beastsinto men and women, and let them live in the houses and enjoy all thegood things; and we will transform all the people of Oz into beasts ofvarious sorts, and send them to live in the forests and the jungles.That is a splendid idea, you must admit, and it's so easy that we won'thave any trouble at all to carry it through to success."

  "Will the beasts consent, do you think?" asked the boy.

  "To be sure they will. We can get every beast in Oz on our side--excepta few who live in Ozma's palace, and they won't count."