The Lost Princess of Oz Read online

  Among the Winkies

  CHAPTER 4

  The settled parts of the Winkie Country are full of happy and contentedpeople who are ruled by a tin Emperor named Nick Chopper, who in turn isa subject of the beautiful girl Ruler, Ozma of Oz. But not all of theWinkie Country is fully settled. At the east, which part lies nearestthe Emerald City, there are beautiful farmhouses and roads, but as youtravel west you first come to a branch of the Winkie River, beyondwhich there is a rough country where few people live, and some of theseare quite unknown to the rest of the world. After passing through thisrude section of territory, which no one ever visits, you would come tostill another branch of the Winkie River, after crossing which you wouldfind another well-settled part of the Winkie Country, extending westwardquite to the Deadly Desert that surrounds all the Land of Oz andseparates that favored fairyland from the more common outside world. TheWinkies who live in this west section have many tin mines, from whichmetal they make a great deal of rich jewelry and other articles, all ofwhich are highly esteemed in the Land of Oz because tin is so bright andpretty, and there is not so much of it as there is of gold and silver.

  Not all the Winkies are miners, however, for some till the fields andgrow grains for food, and it was at one of these far west Winkie farmsthat the Frogman and Cayke the Cookie Cook first arrived after they haddescended from the mountain of the Yips.

  "Goodness me!" cried Nellary, the Winkie wife, when she saw the strangecouple approaching her house. "I have seen many queer creatures in theLand of Oz, but none more queer than this giant frog, who dresses likea man and walks on his hind legs. Come here, Wiljon," she called to herhusband, who was eating his breakfast, "and take a look at thisastonishing freak."

  Wiljon the Winkie came to the door and looked out. He was still standingin the doorway when the Frogman approached and said with a haughtycroak:

  "Tell me, my good man, have you seen a diamond-studded gold dishpan?"

  "No; nor have I seen a copper-plated lobster," replied Wiljon, in anequally haughty tone.

  The Frogman stared at him and said:

  "Do not be insolent, fellow!"

  "No," added Cayke the Cookie Cook, hastily, "you must be very polite tothe great Frogman, for he is the wisest creature in all the world."

  "Who says that?" inquired Wiljon.

  "He says so himself," replied Cayke, and the Frogman nodded and struttedup and down, twirling his gold-headed cane very gracefully.

  "Does the Scarecrow admit that this overgrown frog is the wisestcreature in the world?" asked Wiljon.

  "I do not know who the Scarecrow is," answered Cayke the Cookie Cook.

  "Well, he lives at the Emerald City, and he is supposed to have thefinest brains in all Oz. The Wizard gave them to him, you know."

  "Mine grew in my head," said the Frogman pompously, "so I think theymust be better than any wizard brains. I am so wise that sometimes mywisdom makes my head ache. I know so much that often I have to forgetpart of it, since no one creature, however great, is able to contain somuch knowledge."

  "It must be dreadful to be stuffed full of wisdom," remarked Wiljonreflectively, and eyeing the Frogman with a doubtful look. "It is mygood fortune to know very little."

  "I hope, however, you know where my jeweled dishpan is," said the CookieCook anxiously.

  "I do not know even that," returned the Winkie. "We have trouble enoughin keeping track of our own dishpans, without meddling with the dishpansof strangers."

  Finding him so ignorant, the Frogman proposed that they walk on and seekCayke's dishpan elsewhere. Wiljon the Winkie did not seem greatlyimpressed by the great Frogman, which seemed to that personage asstrange as it was disappointing; but others in this unknown land mightprove more respectful.

  "I'd like to meet that Wizard of Oz," remarked Cayke, as they walkedalong a path. "If he could give a Scarecrow brains he might be able tofind my dishpan."

  "Poof!" grunted the Frogman scornfully; "I am greater than any wizard.Depend on _me_. If your dishpan is anywhere in the world I am sure tofind it."

  "If you do not, my heart will be broken," declared the Cookie Cook in asorrowful voice.

  For a while the Frogman walked on in silence. Then he asked:

  "Why do you attach so much importance to a dishpan?"

  "It is the greatest treasure I possess," replied the woman. "It belongedto my mother and to all my grandmothers, since the beginning of time. Itis, I believe, the very oldest thing in all the Yip Country--or waswhile it was there--and," she added, dropping her voice to an awedwhisper, "it has magic powers!"

  "In what way?" inquired the Frogman, seeming to be surprised at thisstatement.

  "Whoever has owned that dishpan has been a good cook, for one thing. Noone else is able to make such good cookies as I have cooked, as you andall the Yips know. Yet, the very morning after my dishpan was stolen, Itried to make a batch of cookies and they burned up in the oven! I madeanother batch that proved too tough to eat, and I was so ashamed of themthat I buried them in the ground. Even the third batch of cookies, whichI brought with me in my basket, were pretty poor stuff and no betterthan any woman could make who does not own my diamond-studded golddishpan. In fact, my good Frogman, Cayke the Cookie Cook will never beable to cook good cookies again until her magic dishpan is restored toher."

  "In that case," said the Frogman with a sigh, "I suppose we must manageto find it."