The Magic of Oz Page 8

  Ozma's Birthday Presents

  CHAPTER 6

  When Cap'n Bill and Trot and the Glass Cat had started for the hiddenisland in the far-off river to get the Magic Flower, Dorothy wonderedagain what she could give Ozma on her birthday. She met the PatchworkGirl and said:

  "What are you going to give Ozma for a birthday present?"

  "I've written a song for her," answered the strange Patchwork Girl, whowent by the name of "Scraps," and who, though stuffed with cotton, had afair assortment of mixed brains. "It's a splendid song and the chorusruns this way:

  "I am crazy; You're a daisy, Ozma dear; I'm demented; You're contented, Ozma dear; I am patched and gay and glary; You're a sweet and lovely fairy; May your birthdays all be happy, Ozma dear!"

  "How do you like it, Dorothy?" inquired the Patchwork Girl.

  "Is it good poetry, Scraps?" asked Dorothy, doubtfully.

  "It's as good as any ordinary song," was the reply. "I have given it adandy title, too. I shall call the song: 'When Ozma Has a Birthday,Everybody's Sure to Be Gay, for She Cannot Help the Fact That She WasBorn.'"

  "That's a pretty long title, Scraps," said Dorothy.

  "That makes it stylish," replied the Patchwork Girl, turning asomersault and alighting on one stuffed foot. "Now-a-days the titles aresometimes longer than the songs."

 

  Dorothy left her and walked slowly toward the palace, where she met theTin Woodman just going up the front steps.

  "What are you going to give Ozma on her birthday?" she asked.

  "It's a secret, but I'll tell you," replied the Tin Woodman, who wasEmperor of the Winkies. "I am having my people make Ozma a lovely girdleset with beautiful tin nuggets. Each tin nugget will be surrounded by acircle of emeralds, just to set it off to good advantage. The clasp ofthe girdle will be pure tin! Won't that be fine?"

  "I'm sure she'll like it," said Dorothy. "Do you know what _I_ can giveher?"

  "I haven't the slightest idea, Dorothy. It took me three months to thinkof my own present for Ozma."

  The girl walked thoughtfully around to the back of the palace, andpresently came upon the famous Scarecrow of Oz, who was having two ofthe palace servants stuff his legs with fresh straw.

  "What are you going to give Ozma on her birthday?" asked Dorothy.

  "I want to surprise her," answered the Scarecrow.

  "I won't tell," promised Dorothy.

  "Well, I'm having some straw slippers made for her--all straw, mind you,and braided very artistically. Ozma has always admired my straw filling,so I'm sure she'll be pleased with these lovely straw slippers."

  "Ozma will be pleased with anything her loving friends give her," saidthe girl. "What _I'm_ worried about, Scarecrow, is what to give Ozmathat she hasn't got already."

  "That's what worried me, until I thought of the slippers," said theScarecrow. "You'll have to _think_, Dorothy; that's the only way to geta good idea. If I hadn't such wonderful brains, I'd never have thoughtof those straw foot-decorations."

 

  Dorothy left him and went to her room, where she sat down and tried tothink hard. A Pink Kitten was curled up on the window-sill and Dorothyasked her:

  "What can I give Ozma for her birthday present?"

  "Oh, give her some milk," replied the Pink Kitten; "that's the nicestthing I know of."

  A fuzzy little black dog had squatted down at Dorothy's feet and nowlooked up at her with intelligent eyes.

  "Tell me, Toto," said the girl; "what would Ozma like best for abirthday present?"

  The little black dog wagged his tail.

  "Your love," said he. "Ozma wants to be loved more than anything else."

  "But I already love her, Toto!"

  "Then tell her you love her twice as much as you ever did before."

  "That wouldn't be true," objected Dorothy, "for I've always loved her asmuch as I could, and, really, Toto, I want to give Ozma some _present_,'cause everyone else will give her a present."

  "Let me see," said Toto. "How would it be to give her that useless PinkKitten?"

  "No, Toto; that wouldn't do."

  "Then six kisses."

  "No; that's no present."

  "Well, I guess you'll have to figure it out for yourself, Dorothy," saidthe little dog. "To _my_ notion you're more particular than Ozma willbe."

  Dorothy decided that if anyone could help her it would be Glinda theGood, the wonderful Sorceress of Oz who was Ozma's faithful subject andfriend. But Glinda's castle was in the Quadling Country and quite ajourney from the Emerald City.

 

  So the little girl went to Ozma and asked permission to use the WoodenSawhorse and the royal Red Wagon to pay a visit to Glinda, and the girlRuler kissed Princess Dorothy and graciously granted permission.

  The Wooden Sawhorse was one of the most remarkable creatures in Oz. Itsbody was a small log and its legs were limbs of trees stuck in the body.Its eyes were knots, its mouth was sawed in the end of the log and itsears were two chips. A small branch had been left at the rear end of thelog to serve as a tail.

  Ozma herself, during one of her early adventures, had brought thiswooden horse to life, and so she was much attached to the queer animaland had shod the bottoms of its wooden legs with plates of gold so theywould not wear out. The sawhorse was a swift and willing traveler, andthough it could talk if need arose, it seldom said anything unlessspoken to. When the Sawhorse was harnessed to the Red Wagon there wereno reins to guide him because all that was needed was to tell him whereto go.

  Dorothy now told him to go to Glinda's Castle and the Sawhorse carriedher there with marvelous speed.

  "Glinda," said Dorothy, when she had been greeted by the Sorceress, whowas tall and stately, with handsome and dignified features and dressedin a splendid and becoming gown, "what are you going to give Ozma for abirthday present?"

  The Sorceress smiled and answered:

  "Come into my patio and I will show you."

 

  So they entered a place that was surrounded by the wings of the greatcastle but had no roof, and was filled with flowers and fountains andexquisite statuary and many settees and chairs of polished marble orfiligree gold. Here there were gathered fifty beautiful young girls,Glinda's handmaids, who had been selected from all parts of the Land ofOz on account of their wit and beauty and sweet dispositions. It was agreat honor to be made one of Glinda's handmaidens.

  When Dorothy followed the Sorceress into this delightful patio all thefifty girls were busily weaving, and their shuttles were filled with asparkling green spun glass such as the little girl had never seenbefore.

  "What is it, Glinda?" she asked.

  "One of my recent discoveries," explained the Sorceress. "I have found away to make threads from emeralds, by softening the stones and thenspinning them into long, silken strands. With these emerald threads weare weaving cloth to make Ozma a splendid court gown for her birthday.You will notice that the threads have all the beautiful glitter andluster of the emeralds from which they are made, and so Ozma's new dresswill be the most magnificent the world has ever seen, and quite fittingfor our lovely Ruler of the Fairyland of Oz."

  Dorothy's eyes were fairly dazed by the brilliance of the emerald cloth,some of which the girls had already woven.

  "I've never seen _any_thing so beautiful!" she said, with a sigh. "Buttell me, Glinda, what can _I_ give our lovely Ozma on her birthday?"

  The good Sorceress considered this question for a long time before shereplied. Finally she said:

  "Of course there will be a grand feast at the Royal Palace on Ozma'sbirthday, and all our friends will be present. So I suggest that youmake a fine big birthday cake for Ozma, and surround it with candles."

  "Oh, just a _cake_!" exclaimed Dorothy, in disappointment.

  "No
thing is nicer for a birthday," said the Sorceress.

  "How many candles should there be on the cake?" asked the girl.

  "Just a row of them," replied Glinda, "for no one knows how old Ozma is,although she appears to us to be just a young girl--as fresh and fair asif she had lived but a few years."

  "A cake doesn't seem like much of a present," Dorothy asserted.

  "Make it a surprise cake," suggested the Sorceress. "Don't you rememberthe four and twenty blackbirds that were baked in a pie? Well, you neednot use live blackbirds in your cake, but you could have some surpriseof a different sort."

  "Like what?" questioned Dorothy, eagerly.

  "If I told you, it wouldn't be _your_ present to Ozma, but _mine_,"answered the Sorceress, with a smile. "Think it over, my dear, and I amsure you can originate a surprise that will add greatly to the joy andmerriment of Ozma's birthday banquet."

  Dorothy thanked her friend and entered the Red Wagon and told theSawhorse to take her back home to the palace in the Emerald City.

  On the way she thought the matter over seriously of making a surprisebirthday cake and finally decided what to do.

  As soon as she reached home, she went to the Wizard of Oz, who had aroom fitted up in one of the high towers of the palace, where he studiedmagic so as to be able to perform such wizardry as Ozma commanded him todo for the welfare of her subjects.

  The Wizard and Dorothy were firm friends and had enjoyed many strangeadventures together. He was a little man with a bald head and sharp eyesand a round, jolly face, and because he was neither haughty nor proud hehad become a great favorite with the Oz people.

  "Wizard," said Dorothy, "I want you to help me fix up a present forOzma's birthday."

  "I'll be glad to do anything for you and for Ozma," he answered. "What'son your mind, Dorothy?"

  "I'm going to make a great cake, with frosting and candles, and allthat, you know."

  "Very good," said the Wizard.

  "In the center of this cake I'm going to leave a hollow place, with justa roof of the frosting over it," continued the girl.

 

  "Very good," repeated the Wizard, nodding his bald head.

  "In that hollow place," said Dorothy, "I want to hide a lot of monkeysabout three inches high, and after the cake is placed on the banquettable, I want the monkeys to break through the frosting and dance aroundon the table-cloth. Then, I want each monkey to cut out a piece of cakeand hand it to a guest."

  "Mercy me!" cried the little Wizard, as he chuckled with laughter. "Isthat _all_ you want, Dorothy?"

  "Almost," said she. "Can you think of anything more the little monkeyscan do, Wizard?"

  "Not just now," he replied. "But where will you get such tiny monkeys?"

  "That's where you're to help me," said Dorothy. "In some of those wildforests in the Gillikin Country are lots of monkeys."

  "Big ones," said the Wizard.

  "Well, you and I will go there, and we'll get some of the big monkeys,and you will make them small--just three inches high--by means of yourmagic, and we'll put the little monkeys all in a basket and bring themhome with us. Then you'll train them to dance--up here in your room,where no one can see them--and on Ozma's birthday we'll put 'em into thecake and they'll know by that time just what to do."

  The Wizard looked at Dorothy with admiring approval, and chuckled again.

  "That's really clever, my dear," he said, "and I see no reason why wecan't do it, just the way you say, if only we can get the wild monkeysto agree to it."

  "Do you think they'll object?" asked the girl.

  "Yes; but perhaps we can argue them into it. Anyhow, it's worth trying,and I'll help you if you'll agree to let this Surprise Cake be a presentto Ozma from you and me together. I've been wondering what _I_ couldgive Ozma, and as I've got to train the monkeys as well as make themsmall, I think you ought to make me your partner."

  "Of course," said Dorothy; "I'll be glad to do so."

  "Then, it's a bargain," declared the Wizard. "We must go to seek thosemonkeys at once, however, for it will take time to train them and we'llhave to travel a good way to the Gillikin forests where they live."

  "I'm ready to go any time," agreed Dorothy. "Shall we ask Ozma to let ustake the Sawhorse?"

  The Wizard did not answer that at once. He took time to think of thesuggestion.

  "No," he answered at length, "the Red Wagon couldn't get through thethick forests and there's some danger to us in going into the wildplaces to search for monkeys. So I propose we take the Cowardly Lion andthe Hungry Tiger. We can ride on their backs as well as in the RedWagon, and if there is danger to us from other beasts, these twofriendly champions will protect us from all harm."

  "That's a splendid idea!" exclaimed Dorothy. "Let's go now and ask theHungry Tiger and the Cowardly Lion if they will help us. Shall we askOzma if we can go?"

  "I think not," said the Wizard, getting his hat and his black bag ofmagic tools. "This is to be a surprise for her birthday, and so shemustn't know where we're going. We'll just leave word, in case Ozmainquires for us, that we'll be back in a few days."