The Road to Oz Read online

  King Dox

  It was amusing to note the expression on the face of King Dox as helooked the boy over, from his sailor hat to his stubby shoes; and it wasequally diverting to watch Button-Bright stare at the King in return. Nofox ever beheld a fresher, fairer child's face, and no child had everbefore heard a fox talk, or met with one who dressed so handsomely andruled so big a city. I am sorry to say that no one had ever told thelittle boy much about fairies of any kind; this being the case, it iseasy to understand how much this strange experience startled andastonished him.

  "How do you like us?" asked the King.

  "Don't know," said Button-Bright.

  "Of course you don't. It's too short an acquaintance," returned hisMajesty. "What do you suppose my name is?"

  "Don't know," said Button-Bright.

  "How should you? Well, I'll tell you. My private name is Dox, but a Kingcan't be called by his private name; he has to take one that isofficial. Therefore my official name is King Renard the Fourth. Ren-ardwith the accent on the 'Ren'."

  "What's 'ren'?" asked Button-Bright.

  "How clever!" exclaimed the King, turning a pleased face toward hiscounselors. "This boy is indeed remarkably bright. 'What's 'ren''? heasks; and of course 'ren' is nothing at all, all by itself. Yes; he'svery bright indeed."

  "That question is what your Majesty might call foxy," said one of thecounselors, an old grey fox.

  "So it is," declared the King. Turning again to Button-Bright, he asked:

  "Having told you my name, what would you call me?"

  "King Dox," said the boy.

  "Why?"

  "'Cause 'ren''s nothing at all," was the reply.

  "Good! Very good indeed! You certainly have a brilliant mind. Do youknow why two and two make four?"

  "No," said Button-Bright.

  "Clever! clever indeed. Of course you don't know. Nobody knows why; weonly know it's so, and can't tell why it's so. Button-Bright, thosecurls and blue eyes do not go well with so much wisdom. They make youlook too youthful, and hide your real cleverness. Therefore, I will doyou a great favor. I will confer upon you the head of a fox, so that youmay hereafter look as bright as you really are."

  As he spoke the King waved his paw toward the boy, and at once thepretty curls and fresh round face and big blue eyes were gone, while intheir place a fox's head appeared upon Button-Bright's shoulders--ahairy head with a sharp nose, pointed ears, and keen little eyes.

  "Oh, don't do that!" cried Dorothy, shrinking back from her transformedcompanion with a shocked and dismayed face.

  "Too late, my dear; it's done. But you also shall have a fox's head ifyou can prove you're as clever as Button-Bright."

  "I don't want it; it's dreadful!" she exclaimed; and, hearing thisverdict, Button-Bright began to boo-hoo just as if he were still alittle boy.

  "How can you call that lovely head dreadful?" asked the King. "It's amuch prettier face than he had before, to my notion, and my wife saysI'm a good judge of beauty. Don't cry, little fox-boy. Laugh and beproud, because you are so highly favored. How do you like the new head,Button-Bright?"

  "D-d-don't n-n-n-know!" sobbed the child.

  "Please, _please_ change him back again, your Majesty!" begged Dorothy.

  King Renard IV shook his head.

  "I can't do that," he said; "I haven't the power, even if I wanted to.No, Button-Bright must wear his fox head, and he'll be sure to love itdearly as soon as he gets used to it."

  Both the shaggy man and Dorothy looked grave and anxious, for they weresorrowful that such a misfortune had overtaken their little companion.Toto barked at the fox-boy once or twice, not realizing it was hisformer friend who now wore the animal head; but Dorothy cuffed the dogand made him stop. As for the foxes, they all seemed to thinkButton-Bright's new head very becoming and that their King had conferreda great honor on this little stranger.

  It was funny to see the boy reach up to feel of his sharp nose and widemouth, and wail afresh with grief. He wagged his ears in a comicalmanner and tears were in his little black eyes. But Dorothy couldn'tlaugh at her friend just yet, because she felt so sorry.

  Just then three little fox-princesses, daughters of the King, enteredthe room, and when they saw Button-Bright one exclaimed: "How lovely heis!" and the next one cried in delight: "How sweet he is!" and the thirdprincess clapped her hands with pleasure and said, "How beautiful heis!"

  Button-Bright stopped crying and asked timidly:

  "Am I?"

  "In all the world there is not another face so pretty," declared thebiggest fox-princess.

  "You must live with us always, and be our brother," said the next.

  "We shall all love you dearly," the third said.

  This praise did much to comfort the boy, and he looked around and triedto smile. It was a pitiful attempt, because the fox face was new andstiff, and Dorothy thought his expression more stupid than before thetransformation.

  "I think we ought to be going now," said the shaggy man, uneasily, forhe didn't know what the King might take into his head to do next.

  "Don't leave us yet, I beg of you," pleaded King Renard. "I intend tohave several days of feasting and merrymaking, in honor of your visit."

  "Have it after we're gone, for we can't wait," said Dorothy, decidedly.But seeing this displeased the King, she added: "If I'm going to getOzma to invite you to her party I'll have to find her as soon asposs'ble, you know."

  In spite of all the beauty of Foxville and the gorgeous dresses of itsinhabitants, both the girl and the shaggy man felt they were not quitesafe there, and would be glad to see the last of it.

  "But it is now evening," the King reminded them, "and you must stay withus until morning, anyhow. Therefore I invite you to be my guests atdinner, and to attend the theater afterward and sit in the royal box.To-morrow morning, if you really insist upon it, you may resume yourjourney."

  They consented to this, and some of the fox-servants led them to a suiteof lovely rooms in the big palace.

  Button-Bright was afraid to be left alone, so Dorothy took him into herown room. While a maid-fox dressed the little girl's hair--which was abit tangled--and put some bright, fresh ribbons in it, another maid-foxcombed the hair on poor Button-Bright's face and head and brushed itcarefully, tying a pink bow to each of his pointed ears. The maidswanted to dress the children in fine costumes of woven feathers, such asall the foxes wore; but neither of them consented to that.

  "A sailor suit and a fox head do not go well together," said one of themaids; "for no fox was ever a sailor that I can remember."

  "I'm not a fox!" cried Button-Bright.

  "Alas, no," agreed the maid. "But you've got a lovely fox head on yourskinny shoulders, and that's _almost_ as good as being a fox."

  The boy, reminded of his misfortune, began to cry again. Dorothy pettedand comforted him and promised to find some way to restore him his ownhead.

  "If we can manage to get to Ozma," she said, "the Princess will changeyou back to yourself in half a second; so you just wear that fox head ascomf't'bly as you can, dear, and don't worry about it at all. It isn'tnearly as pretty as your own head, no matter what the foxes say; but youcan get along with it for a little while longer, can't you?"

  "Don't know," said Button-Bright, doubtfully; but he didn't cry any moreafter that.

  Dorothy let the maids pin ribbons to her shoulders, after which theywere ready for the King's dinner. When they met the shaggy man in thesplendid drawing-room of the palace they found him just the same asbefore. He had refused to give up his shaggy clothes for new ones,because if he did that he would no longer be the shaggy man, he said,and he might have to get acquainted with himself all over again.

  He told Dorothy he had brushed his shaggy hair and whiskers; but shethought he must have brushed them the wrong way, for they were quite asshaggy as before.

  As for the company of foxes assembled to dine with the strangers, theywere most beautifully costumed, and their rich dresses made Dorothy'ssimpl
e gown and Button-Bright's sailor suit and the shaggy man's shaggyclothes look commonplace. But they treated their guests with greatrespect and the King's dinner was a very good dinner indeed.

  Foxes, as you know, are fond of chicken and other fowl; so they servedchicken soup and roasted turkey and stewed duck and fried grouse andbroiled quail and goose pie, and as the cooking was excellent the King'sguests enjoyed the meal and ate heartily of the various dishes.

  The party went to the theater, where they saw a play acted by foxesdressed in costumes of brilliantly colored feathers. The play was abouta fox-girl who was stolen by some wicked wolves and carried to theircave; and just as they were about to kill her and eat her a company offox-soldiers marched up, saved the girl, and put all the wicked wolvesto death.

  "How do you like it?" the King asked Dorothy.

  "Pretty well," she answered. "It reminds me of one of Mr. Aesop'sfables."

  "Don't mention Aesop to me, I beg of you!" exclaimed King Dox. "I hatethat man's name. He wrote a good deal about foxes, but always made themout cruel and wicked, whereas we are gentle and kind, as you may see."

  "But his fables showed you to be wise and clever, and more shrewd thanother animals," said the shaggy man, thoughtfully.

  "So we are. There is no question about our knowing more than men do,"replied the King, proudly. "But we employ our wisdom to do good, insteadof harm; so that horrid Aesop did not know what he was talking about."

  They did not like to contradict him, because they felt he ought to knowthe nature of foxes better than men did; so they sat still and watchedthe play, and Button-Bright became so interested that for the time heforgot he wore a fox head.

  Afterward they went back to the palace and slept in soft beds stuffedwith feathers; for the foxes raised many fowl for food, and used theirfeathers for clothing and to sleep upon.

  Dorothy wondered why the animals living in Foxville did not wear justtheir own hairy skins, as wild foxes do; when she mentioned it to KingDox he said they clothed themselves because they were civilized.

  "But you were born without clothes," she observed, "and you don't seemto me to need them."

  "So were human beings born without clothes," he replied; "and until theybecame civilized they wore only their natural skins. But to becomecivilized means to dress as elaborately and prettily as possible, and tomake a show of your clothes so your neighbors will envy you, and forthat reason both civilized foxes and civilized humans spend most oftheir time dressing themselves."

  "I don't," declared the shaggy man.

  "That is true," said the King, looking at him carefully: "but perhapsyou are not civilized."

  After a sound sleep and a good night's rest they had their breakfastwith the King and then bade his Majesty good-bye.

  "You've been kind to us--'cept poor Button-Bright," said Dorothy, "andwe've had a nice time in Foxville."

  "Then," said King Dox, "perhaps you'll be good enough to get me aninvitation to Princess Ozma's birthday celebration."

  "I'll try," she promised; "if I see her in time."

  "It's on the twenty-first, remember," he continued; "and if you'll justsee that I'm invited I'll find a way to cross the Dreadful Desert intothe marvelous Land of Oz. I've always wanted to visit the Emerald City,so I'm sure it was fortunate you arrived here just when you did, youbeing Princess Ozma's friend and able to assist me in getting theinvitation."

  "If I see Ozma I'll ask her to invite you," she replied.

  The Fox-King had a delightful luncheon put up for them, which the shaggyman shoved in his pocket, and the fox-captain escorted them to an archat the side of the village opposite the one by which they had entered.Here they found more soldiers guarding the road.

  "Are you afraid of enemies?" asked Dorothy.

  "No; because we are watchful and able to protect ourselves," answeredthe captain. "But this road leads to another village peopled by big,stupid beasts who might cause us trouble if they thought we were afraidof them."

  "What beasts are they?" asked the shaggy man.

  The captain hesitated to answer. Finally he said:

  "You will learn all about them when you arrive at their city. But do notbe afraid of them. Button-Bright is so wonderfully clever and has nowsuch an intelligent face that I'm sure he will manage to find a way toprotect you."

  This made Dorothy and the shaggy man rather uneasy, for they had not somuch confidence in the fox-boy's wisdom as the captain seemed to have.But as their escort would say no more about the beasts, they bade himgood-bye and proceeded on their journey.