The Road to Oz Page 7

  The City of Beasts

  When noon came they opened the Fox-King's basket of luncheon, and founda nice roasted turkey with cranberry sauce and some slices of bread andbutter. As they sat on the grass by the roadside the shaggy man cut upthe turkey with his pocket-knife and passed slices of it around.

  "Haven't you any dewdrops, or mist-cakes, or cloud-buns?" askedPolychrome, longingly.

  "'Course not," replied Dorothy. "We eat solid things, down here on theearth. But there's a bottle of cold tea. Try some, won't you?"

  The Rainbow's Daughter watched Button-Bright devour one leg of theturkey.

  "Is it good?" she asked.

  He nodded.

  "Do you think I could eat it?"

  "Not this," said Button-Bright.

  "But I mean another piece?"

  "Don't know," he replied.

  "Well, I'm going to try, for I'm very hungry," she decided, and took athin slice of the white breast of turkey which the shaggy man cut forher, as well as a bit of bread and butter. When she tasted it Polychromethought the turkey was good--better even than mist-cakes; but a littlesatisfied her hunger and she finished with a tiny sip of cold tea.

  "That's about as much as a fly would eat," said Dorothy, who was makinga good meal herself. "But I know some people in Oz who eat nothing atall."

  "Who are they?" inquired the shaggy man.

  "One is a scarecrow who's stuffed with straw, and the other a woodmanmade out of tin. They haven't any appetites inside of 'em, you see; sothey never eat anything at all."

  "Are they alive?" asked Button-Bright.

  "Oh yes," replied Dorothy; "and they're very clever and very nice, too.If we get to Oz I'll introduce them to you."

  "Do you really expect to get to Oz?" inquired the shaggy man, taking adrink of cold tea.

  POLLY SIPPED A LITTLE COLD TEA]

  "I don't know just what to 'spect," answered the child, seriously;"but I've noticed if I happen to get lost I'm almost sure to come to theLand of Oz in the end, somehow 'r other; so I may get there this time.But I can't promise, you know; all I can do is wait and see."

  "Will the Scarecrow scare me?" asked Button-Bright.

  "No; 'cause you're not a crow," she returned. "He has the loveliestsmile you ever saw--only it's painted on and he can't help it."

  Luncheon being over they started again upon their journey, the shaggyman, Dorothy and Button-Bright walking soberly along, side by side, andthe Rainbow's Daughter dancing merrily before them.

  Sometimes she darted along the road so swiftly that she was nearly outof sight, then she came tripping back to greet them with her silverylaughter. But once she came back more sedately, to say:

  "There's a city a little way off."

  "I 'spected that," returned Dorothy; "for the fox-people warned us therewas one on this road. It's filled with stupid beasts of some sort, butwe mustn't be afraid of 'em 'cause they won't hurt us."

  "All right," said Button-Bright; but Polychrome didn't know whether itwas all right or not.

  "It's a big city," she said, "and the road runs straight through it."

  "Never mind," said the shaggy man; "as long as I carry the Love Magnetevery living thing will love me, and you may be sure I shan't allow anyof my friends to be harmed in any way."

  This comforted them somewhat, and they moved on again. Pretty soon theycame to a sign-post that read:

  "HAF A MYLE TO DUNKITON."

  "Oh," said the shaggy man, "if they're donkeys we've nothing to fear atall."

  "They may kick," said Dorothy, doubtfully.

  "Then we will cut some switches, and make them behave," he replied. Atthe first tree he cut himself a long, slender switch from one of thebranches, and shorter switches for the others.

  "Don't be afraid to order the beasts around," he said; "they're used toit."

  Before long the road brought them to the gates of the city. There was ahigh wall all around, which had been whitewashed, and the gate justbefore our travelers was a mere opening in the wall, with no bars acrossit. No towers or steeples or domes showed above the enclosure, nor wasany living thing to be seen as our friends drew near.

  Suddenly, as they were about to boldly enter through the opening, therearose a harsh clamor of sound that swelled and echoed on every side,until they were nearly deafened by the racket and had to put theirfingers to their ears to keep the noise out.

  It was like the firing of many cannon, only there were no cannon-ballsor other missiles to be seen; it was like the rolling of mighty thunder,only not a cloud was in the sky; it was like the roar of countlessbreakers on a rugged seashore, only there was no sea or other wateranywhere about.

  They hesitated to advance; but, as the noise did no harm, they enteredthrough the whitewashed wall and quickly discovered the cause of theturmoil. Inside were suspended many sheets of tin or thin iron, andagainst these metal sheets a row of donkeys were pounding their heelswith vicious kicks.

  The shaggy man ran up to the nearest donkey and gave the beast a sharpblow with his switch.

  "Stop that noise!" he shouted; and the donkey stopped kicking the metalsheet and turned its head to look with surprise at the shaggy man. Heswitched the next donkey, and made him stop, and then the next, so thatgradually the rattling of heels ceased and the awful noise subsided. Thedonkeys stood in a group and eyed the strangers with fear and trembling.

  "What do you mean by making such a racket?" asked the shaggy man,sternly.

  "We were scaring away the foxes," said one of the donkeys, meekly."Usually they run fast enough when they hear the noise, which makes themafraid."

  "There are no foxes here," said the shaggy man.

  "I beg to differ with you. There's one, anyhow," replied the donkey,sitting upright on its haunches and waving a hoof toward Button-Bright."We saw him coming and thought the whole army of foxes was marching toattack us."

  "Button-Bright isn't a fox," explained the shaggy man. "He's onlywearing a fox head for a time, until he can get his own head back."

  "Oh, I see," remarked the donkey, waving its left ear reflectively. "I'msorry we made such a mistake, and had all our work and worry fornothing."

  The other donkeys by this time were sitting up and examining thestrangers with big, glassy eyes. They made a queer picture, indeed; forthey wore wide, white collars around their necks and the collars hadmany scallops and points. The gentlemen-donkeys wore high pointed capsset between their great ears, and the lady-donkeys wore sunbonnets withholes cut in the top for the ears to stick through. But they had noother clothing except their hairy skins, although many wore gold andsilver bangles on their front wrists and bands of different metals ontheir rear ankles. When they were kicking they had braced themselveswith their front legs, but now they all stood or sat upright on theirhind legs and used their front ones as arms. Having no fingers or handsthe beasts were rather clumsy, as you may guess; but Dorothy wassurprised to observe how many things they could do with their stiff,heavy hoofs.

  Some of the donkeys were white, some were brown, or gray, or black, orspotted; but their hair was sleek and smooth and their broad collars andcaps gave them a neat, if whimsical, appearance.

  "This is a nice way to welcome visitors, I must say!" remarked theshaggy man, in a reproachful tone.

  "Oh, we did not mean to be impolite," replied a grey donkey which hadnot spoken before. "But you were not expected, nor did you send in yourvisiting cards, as it is proper to do."

  "There is some truth in that," admitted the shaggy man; "but, now youare informed that we are important and distinguished travelers, I trustyou will accord us proper consideration."

  These big words delighted the donkeys, and made them bow to the shaggyman with great respect. Said the grey one:

  "You shall be taken before his great and glorious Majesty KingKik-a-bray, who will greet you as becomes your exalted stations."

  "That's right," answered Dorothy. "Take us to some one who knowssomething."

  "Oh, we all know someth
ing, my child, or we shouldn't be donkeys,"asserted the grey one, with dignity. "The word 'donkey' means 'clever,'you know."

  "I didn't know it," she replied. "I thought it meant 'stupid'."

  "Not at all, my child. If you will look in the Encyclopedia Donkaniarayou will find I'm correct. But come; I will myself lead you before oursplendid, exalted, and most intellectual ruler."

  All donkeys love big words, so it is no wonder the grey one used so manyof them.