The Tin Woodman of Oz Page 8

  Chapter Eight

  The Menace of the Forest

  "Quick!" cried Polychrome the Canary; "we must hurry, or Mrs. Yoop mayfind some way to recapture us, even now. Let us get out of her Valleyas soon as possible."

  So they set off toward the east, moving as swiftly as they could, andfor a long time they could hear the yells and struggles of theimprisoned Giantess. The Green Monkey could run over the ground veryswiftly, and he carried with him the bird-cage containing Polychromethe Rain-bow's Daughter. Also the Tin Owl could skip and fly along at agood rate of speed, his feathers rattling against one another with atinkling sound as he moved. But the little Brown Bear, being stuffedwith straw, was a clumsy traveler and the others had to wait for him tofollow.

  However, they were not very long in reaching the ridge that led out ofMrs. Yoop's Valley, and when they had passed this ridge and descendedinto the next valley they stopped to rest, for the Green Monkey wastired.

  "I believe we are safe, now," said Polychrome, when her cage was setdown and the others had all gathered around it, "for Mrs. Yoop daresnot go outside of her own Valley, for fear of being captured by herenemies. So we may take our time to consider what to do next."

  "I'm afraid poor Mrs. Yoop will starve to death, if no one lets her outof her bedroom," said Woot, who had a heart as kind as that of the TinWoodman. "We've taken her Magic Apron away, and now the doors willnever open."

  "Don't worry about that," advised Polychrome. "Mrs. Yoop has plenty ofmagic left to console her."

  "Are you sure of that?" asked the Green Monkey.

  "Yes, for I've been watching her for weeks," said the Canary. "She hassix magic hairpins, which she wears in her hair, and a magic ring whichshe wears on her thumb and which is invisible to all eyes except thoseof a fairy, and magic bracelets on both her ankles. So I am positivethat she will manage to find a way out of her prison."

  "She might transform the door into an archway," suggested the littleBrown Bear.

  "That would be easy for her," said the Tin Owl; "but I'm glad she wastoo angry to think of that before we got out of her Valley."

  "Well, we have escaped the big woman, to be sure," remarked the GreenMonkey, "but we still wear the awful forms the cruel yookoohoo gave us.How are we going to get rid of these shapes, and become ourselvesagain?"

  None could answer that question. They sat around the cage, broodingover the problem, until the Monkey fell asleep. Seeing this, the Canarytucked her head under her wing and also slept, and the Tin Owl and theBrown Bear did not disturb them until morning came and it was broaddaylight.

  "I'm hungry," said Woot, when he wakened, for his knapsack of food hadbeen left behind at the castle.

  "Then let us travel on until we can find something for you to eat,"returned the Scarecrow Bear.

  "There is no use in your lugging my cage any farther," declared theCanary. "Let me out, and throw the cage away. Then I can fly with youand find my own breakfast of seeds. Also I can search for water, andtell you where to find it."

  So the Green Monkey unfastened the door of the golden cage and theCanary hopped out. At first she flew high in the air and made greatcircles overhead, but after a time she returned and perched beside them.

  "At the east in the direction we were following," announced the Canary,"there is a fine forest, with a brook running through it. In the forestthere may be fruits or nuts growing, or berry bushes at its edge, solet us go that way."

  They agreed to this and promptly set off, this time moving moredeliberately. The Tin Owl, which had guided their way during the night,now found the sunshine very trying to his big eyes, so he shut themtight and perched upon the back of the little Brown Bear, which carriedthe Owl's weight with ease. The Canary sometimes perched upon the GreenMonkey's shoulder and sometimes fluttered on ahead of the party, and inthis manner they traveled in good spirits across that valley and intothe next one to the east of it.

  This they found to be an immense hollow, shaped like a saucer, and onits farther edge appeared the forest which Polychrome had seen from thesky.

  "Come to think of it," said the Tin Owl, waking up and blinkingcomically at his friends, "there's no object, now, in our traveling tothe Munchkin Country. My idea in going there was to marry Nimmie Amee,but however much the Munchkin girl may have loved a Tin Woodman, Icannot reasonably expect her to marry a Tin Owl."

  "There is some truth in that, my friend," remarked the Brown Bear. "Andto think that I, who was considered the handsomest Scarecrow in theworld, am now condemned to be a scrubby, no-account beast, whose onlyredeeming feature is that he is stuffed with straw!"

  "Consider my case, please," said Woot. "The cruel Giantess has made aMonkey of a Boy, and that is the most dreadful deed of all!"

  "Your color is rather pretty," said the Brown Bear, eyeing Wootcritically. "I have never seen a pea-green monkey before, and itstrikes me you are quite gorgeous."

  "It isn't so bad to be a bird," asserted the Canary, fluttering fromone to another with a free and graceful motion, "but I long to enjoy myown shape again."

  "As Polychrome, you were the loveliest maiden I have ever seen--except,of course, Ozma," said the Tin Owl; "so the Giantess did well totransform you into the loveliest of all birds, if you were to betransformed at all. But tell me, since you are a fairy, and have afairy wisdom: do you think we shall be able to break theseenchantments?"

  "Queer things happen in the Land of Oz," replied the Canary, againperching on the Green Monkey's shoulder and turning one bright eyethoughtfully toward her questioner. "Mrs. Yoop has declared that noneof her transformations can ever be changed, even by herself, but Ibelieve that if we could get to Glinda the Good Sorceress, she mightfind a way to restore us to our natural shapes. Glinda, as you know, isthe most powerful Sorceress in the world, and there are few things shecannot do if she tries."

  "In that case," said the Little Brown Bear, "let us return southwardand try to get to Glinda's castle. It lies in the Quadling Country, youknow, so it is a good way from here."

  "First, however, let us visit the forest and search for something toeat," pleaded Woot. So they continued on to the edge of the forest,which consisted of many tall and beautiful trees. They discovered nofruit trees, at first, so the Green Monkey pushed on into the forestdepths and the others followed close behind him.

  They were traveling quietly along, under the shade of the trees, whensuddenly an enormous jaguar leaped upon them from a limb and with oneblow of his paw sent the little Brown Bear tumbling over and over untilhe was stopped by a tree-trunk. Instantly they all took alarm. The TinOwl shrieked: "Hoot--hoot!" and flew straight up to the branch of atall tree, although he could scarcely see where he was going. TheCanary swiftly darted to a place beside the Owl, and the Green Monkeysprang up, caught a limb, and soon scrambled to a high perch of safety.

  The Jaguar crouched low and with hungry eyes regarded the little BrownBear, which slowly got upon its feet and asked reproachfully:

  "For goodness' sake, Beast, what were you trying to do?"

  "Trying to get my breakfast," answered the Jaguar with a snarl, "and Ibelieve I've succeeded. You ought to make a delicious meal--unless youhappen to be old and tough."

  "I'm worse than that, considered as a breakfast," said the Bear, "forI'm only a skin stuffed with straw, and therefore not fit to eat."

  "Indeed!" cried the Jaguar, in a disappointed voice; "then you must bea magic Bear, or enchanted, and I must seek my breakfast from amongyour companions."

  With this he raised his lean head to look up at the Tin Owl and theCanary and the Monkey, and he lashed his tail upon the ground andgrowled as fiercely as any jaguar could.

  "My friends are enchanted, also," said the little Brown Bear.

  "All of them?" asked the Jaguar.

  "Yes. The Owl is tin, so you couldn't possibly eat him. The Canary is afairy--Polychrome, the Daughter of the Rainbow--and you never couldcatch her because she can easily fly out of your reach."

  "There still remains the
Green Monkey," remarked the Jaguar hungrily."He is neither made of tin nor stuffed with straw, nor can he fly. I'mpretty good at climbing trees, myself, so I think I'll capture theMonkey and eat him for my breakfast."

  Woot the Monkey, hearing this speech from his perch on the tree, becamemuch frightened, for he knew the nature of jaguars and realized theycould climb trees and leap from limb to limb with the agility of cats.So he at once began to scamper through the forest as fast as he couldgo, catching at a branch with his long monkey arms and swinging hisgreen body through space to grasp another branch in a neighboring tree,and so on, while the Jaguar followed him from below, his eyes fixedsteadfastly on his prey. But presently Woot got his feet tangled in theLace Apron, which he was still wearing, and that tripped him in hisflight and made him fall to the ground, where the Jaguar placed onehuge paw upon him and said grimly:

  "I've got you, now!"

  The fact that the Apron had tripped him made Woot remember its magicpowers, and in his terror he cried out: "Open!" without stopping toconsider how this command might save him. But, at the word, the earthopened at the exact spot where he lay under the Jaguar's paw, and hisbody sank downward, the earth closing over it again. The last thingWoot the Monkey saw, as he glanced upward, was the Jaguar peering intothe hole in astonishment.

  "He's gone!" cried the beast, with a long-drawn sigh of disappointment;"he's gone, and now I shall have no breakfast."

  The clatter of the Tin Owl's wings sounded above him, and the littleBrown Bear came trotting up and asked:

  "Where is the monkey? Have you eaten him so quickly?"

  "No, indeed," answered the Jaguar. "He disappeared into the earthbefore I could take one bite of him!"

  And now the Canary perched upon a stump, a little way from the forestbeast, and said:

  "I am glad our friend has escaped you; but, as it is natural for ahungry beast to wish his breakfast, I will try to give you one."

  "Thank you," replied the Jaguar. "You're rather small for a full meal,but it's kind of you to sacrifice yourself to my appetite."

  "Oh, I don't intend to be eaten, I assure you," said the Canary, "butas I am a fairy I know something of magic, and though I am nowtransformed into a bird's shape, I am sure I can conjure up a breakfastthat will satisfy you."

  "If you can work magic, why don't you break the enchantment you areunder and return to your proper form?" inquired the beast doubtingly.

  "I haven't the power to do that," answered the Canary, "for Mrs. Yoop,the Giantess who transformed me, used a peculiar form of yookoohoomagic that is unknown to me. However, she could not deprive me of myown fairy knowledge, so I will try to get you a breakfast."

  "Do you think a magic breakfast would taste good, or relieve the pangsof hunger I now suffer?" asked the Jaguar.

  "I am sure it would. What would you like to eat?"

  "Give me a couple of fat rabbits," said the beast.

  "Rabbits! No, indeed. I'd not allow you to eat the dear little things,"declared Polychrome the Canary.

  "Well, three or four squirrels, then," pleaded the Jaguar.

  "Do you think me so cruel?" demanded the Canary, indignantly. "Thesquirrels are my especial friends."

  "How about a plump owl?" asked the beast. "Not a tin one, you know, buta real meat owl."

  "Neither beast nor bird shall you have," said Polychrome in a positivevoice.

  "Give me a fish, then; there's a river a little way off," proposed theJaguar.

  "No living thing shall be sacrificed to feed you," returned the Canary.

  "Then what in the world do you expect me to eat?" said the Jaguar in ascornful tone.

  "How would mush-and-milk do?" asked the Canary.

  The Jaguar snarled in derision and lashed his tail against the groundangrily.

  "Give him some scrambled eggs on toast, Poly," suggested the BearScarecrow. "He ought to like that."

  "I will," responded the Canary, and fluttering her wings she made aflight of three circles around the stump. Then she flew up to a treeand the Bear and the Owl and the Jaguar saw that upon the stump hadappeared a great green leaf upon which was a large portion of scrambledeggs on toast, smoking hot.

  "There!" said the Bear; "eat your breakfast, friend Jaguar, and becontent."

  The Jaguar crept closer to the stump and sniffed the fragrance of thescrambled eggs. They smelled so good that he tasted them, and theytasted so good that he ate the strange meal in a hurry, proving he hadbeen really hungry.

  "I prefer rabbits," he muttered, licking his chops, "but I must admitthe magic breakfast has filled my stomach full, and brought me comfort.So I'm much obliged for the kindness, little Fairy, and I'll now leaveyou in peace."

  Saying this, he plunged into the thick underbrush and soon disappeared,although they could hear his great body crashing through the bushesuntil he was far distant.

  "That was a good way to get rid of the savage beast, Poly," said theTin Woodman to the Canary; "but I'm surprised that you didn't give ourfriend Woot a magic breakfast, when you knew he was hungry."

  "The reason for that," answered Polychrome, "was that my mind was sointent on other things that I quite forgot my power to produce food bymagic. But where is the monkey boy?"

  "Gone!" said the Scarecrow Bear, solemnly. "The earth has swallowed himup."