The Tin Woodman of Oz Page 9

  Chapter Nine

  The Quarrelsome Dragons

  The Green Monkey sank gently into the earth for a little way and thentumbled swiftly through space, landing on a rocky floor with a thumpthat astonished him. Then he sat up, found that no bones were broken,and gazed around him.

  He seemed to be in a big underground cave, which was dimly lighted bydozens of big round discs that looked like moons. They were not moons,however, as Woot discovered when he had examined the place morecarefully. They were eyes. The eyes were in the heads of enormousbeasts whose bodies trailed far behind them. Each beast was bigger thanan elephant, and three times as long, and there were a dozen or more ofthe creatures scattered here and there about the cavern. On theirbodies were big scales, as round as pie-plates, which were beautifullytinted in shades of green, purple and orange. On the ends of their longtails were clusters of jewels. Around the great, moon-like eyes werecircles of diamonds which sparkled in the subdued light that glowedfrom the eyes.

  Woot saw that the creatures had wide mouths and rows of terrible teethand, from tales he had heard of such beings, he knew he had fallen intoa cavern inhabited by the great Dragons that had been driven from thesurface of the earth and were only allowed to come out once in ahundred years to search for food. Of course he had never seen Dragonsbefore, yet there was no mistaking them, for they were unlike any otherliving creatures.

  Woot sat upon the floor where he had fallen, staring around, and theowners of the big eyes returned his look, silently and motionless.Finally one of the Dragons which was farthest away from him asked, in adeep, grave voice:

  "What was that?"

  And the greatest Dragon of all, who was just in front of the GreenMonkey, answered in a still deeper voice:

  "It is some foolish animal from Outside."

  "Is it good to eat?" inquired a smaller Dragon beside the great one."I'm hungry."

  "Hungry!" exclaimed all the Dragons, in a reproachful chorus; and thenthe great one said chidingly: "Tut-tut, my son! You've no reason to behungry at this time."

  "Why not?" asked the little Dragon. "I haven't eaten anything in elevenyears."

  "Eleven years is nothing," remarked another Dragon, sleepily openingand closing his eyes; "I haven't feasted for eighty-seven years, and Idare not get hungry for a dozen or so years to come. Children who eatbetween meals should be broken of the habit."

  "All I had, eleven years ago, was a rhinoceros, and that's not a fullmeal at all," grumbled the young one. "And, before that, I had waitedsixty-two years to be fed; so it's no wonder I'm hungry."

  "How old are you now?" asked Woot, forgetting his own dangerousposition in his interest in the conversation.

  "Why, I'm--I'm--How old am I, Father?" asked the little Dragon.

  "Goodness gracious! what a child to ask questions. Do you want to keepme thinking all the time? Don't you know that thinking is very bad forDragons?" returned the big one, impatiently.

  "How old am I, Father?" persisted the small Dragon.

  "About six hundred and thirty, I believe. Ask your mother."

  "No; don't!" said an old Dragon in the background; "haven't I enoughworries, what with being wakened in the middle of a nap, without beingobliged to keep track of my children's ages?"

  "You've been fast asleep for over sixty years, Mother," said the childDragon. "How long a nap do you wish?"

  "I should have slept forty years longer. And this strange little greenbeast should be punished for falling into our cavern and disturbing us."

  "I didn't know you were here, and I didn't know I was going to fallin," explained Woot.

  "Nevertheless, here you are," said the great Dragon, "and you havecarelessly wakened our entire tribe; so it stands to reason you must bepunished."

  "In what way?" inquired the Green Monkey, trembling a little.

  "Give me time and I'll think of a way. You're in no hurry, are you?"asked the great Dragon.

  "No, indeed," cried Woot. "Take your time. I'd much rather you'd all goto sleep again, and punish me when you wake up in a hundred years orso."

  "Let me eat him!" pleaded the littlest Dragon.

  "He is too small," said the father. "To eat this one Green Monkey wouldonly serve to make you hungry for more, and there are no more."

  "Quit this chatter and let me get to sleep," protested another Dragon,yawning in a fearful manner, for when he opened his mouth a sheet offlame leaped forth from it and made Woot jump back to get out of itsway.

  In his jump he bumped against the nose of a Dragon behind him, whichopened its mouth to growl and shot another sheet of flame at him. Theflame was bright, but not very hot, yet Woot screamed with terror andsprang forward with a great bound. This time he landed on the paw ofthe great Chief Dragon, who angrily raised his other front paw andstruck the Green Monkey a fierce blow. Woot went sailing through theair and fell sprawling upon the rocky floor far beyond the place wherethe Dragon Tribe was grouped.

  All the great beasts were now thoroughly wakened and aroused, and theyblamed the monkey for disturbing their quiet. The littlest Dragondarted after Woot and the others turned their unwieldy bodies in hisdirection and followed, flashing from their eyes and mouths flameswhich lighted up the entire cavern. Woot almost gave himself up forlost, at that moment, but he scrambled to his feet and dashed away tothe farthest end of the cave, the Dragons following more leisurelybecause they were too clumsy to move fast. Perhaps they thought therewas no need of haste, as the monkey could not escape from the cave.But, away up at the end of the place, the cavern floor was heaped withtumbled rocks, so Woot, with an agility born of fear, climbed from rockto rock until he found himself crouched against the cavern roof. Therehe waited, for he could go no farther, while on over the tumbled rocksslowly crept the Dragons--the littlest one coming first because he washungry as well as angry.

  The beasts had almost reached him when Woot, remembering his laceapron--now sadly torn and soiled--recovered his wits and shouted:"Open!" At the cry a hole appeared in the roof of the cavern, just overhis head, and through it the sunlight streamed full upon the GreenMonkey.

  The Dragons paused, astonished at the magic and blinking at thesunlight, and this gave Woot time to climb through the opening. As soonas he reached the surface of the earth the hole closed again, and theboy monkey realized, with a thrill of joy, that he had seen the last ofthe dangerous Dragon family.

  He sat upon the ground, still panting hard from his exertions, when thebushes before him parted and his former enemy, the Jaguar, appeared.

  "Don't run," said the woodland beast, as Woot sprang up; "you areperfectly safe, so far as I am concerned, for since you so mysteriouslydisappeared I have had my breakfast. I am now on my way home to sleepthe rest of the day."

  "Oh, indeed!" returned the Green Monkey, in a tone both sorry andstartled. "Which of my friends did you manage to eat?"

  "None of them," returned the Jaguar, with a sly grin "I had a dish ofmagic scrambled eggs--on toast--and it wasn't a bad feast, at all.There isn't room in me for even you, and I don't regret it because Ijudge, from your green color, that you are not ripe, and would make anindifferent meal. We jaguars have to be careful of our digestions.Farewell, Friend Monkey. Follow the path I made through the bushes andyou will find your friends."

  With this the Jaguar marched on his way and Woot took his advice andfollowed the trail he had made until he came to the place where thelittle Brown Bear, and the Tin Owl, and the Canary were conferringtogether and wondering what had become of their comrade, the GreenMonkey.