The Road to Oz Page 9
The Musicker
About the middle of the forenoon they began to go up a long hill.By-and-by this hill suddenly dropped down into a pretty valley, wherethe travelers saw to their surprise, a small house standing by theroadside.
It was the first house they had seen, and they hastened into the valleyto discover who lived there. No one was in sight as they approached, butwhen they began to get nearer the house they heard queer sounds comingfrom it. They could not make these out at first, but as they becamelouder our friends thought they heard a sort of music like that made bya wheezy hand-organ; the music fell upon their ears in this way:
_Tiddle-widdle-iddle, oom pom-pom!_ _Oom, pom-pom! oom, pom-pom!_ _Tiddle-tiddle-tiddle, oom pom-pom!_ _Oom, pom-pom--pah!_
"What is it, a band or a mouth-organ?" asked Dorothy.
"Don't know," said Button-Bright.
"Sounds to me like a played-out phonograph," said the shaggy man,lifting his enormous ears to listen.
"Oh, there just _couldn't_ be a funnygraf in Fairyland!" cried Dorothy.
"It's rather pretty, isn't it?" asked Polychrome, trying to dance to thestrains.
_Tiddle-widdle-iddle, oom pom-pom,_ _Oom pom-pom; oom pom-pom!_
came the music to their ears, more distinctly as they drew nearer thehouse. Presently they saw a little fat man sitting on a bench before thedoor. He wore a red, braided jacket that reached to his waist, a bluewaistcoat, and white trousers with gold stripes down the sides. On hisbald head was perched a little, round, red cap held in place by a rubberelastic underneath his chin. His face was round, his eyes a faded blue,and he wore white cotton gloves. The man leaned on a stout gold-headedcane, bending forward on his seat to watch his visitors approach.
Singularly enough, the musical sounds they had heard seemed to come fromthe inside of the fat man himself; for he was playing no instrument norwas any to be seen near him.
They came up and stood in a row, staring at him, and he stared backwhile the queer sounds came from him as before:
_Tiddle-iddle-iddle, oom pom-pom,_ _Oom, pom-pom; oom pom-pom!_ _Tiddle-widdle-iddle, oom pom-pom,_ _Oom, pom-pom--pah!_
"Why, he's a reg'lar musicker!" said Button-Bright.
"What's a musicker?" asked Dorothy.
"Him!" said the boy.
Hearing this the fat man sat up a little stiffer than before, as if hehad received a compliment, and still came the sounds:
_Tiddle-widdle-iddle, oom pom-pom,_ _Oom pom-pom, oom---- _
"Stop it!" cried the shaggy man, earnestly. "Stop that dreadful noise!"
The fat man looked at him sadly and began his reply. When he spoke themusic changed and the words seemed to accompany the notes. He said--orrather sang:
_It isn't a noise that you hear,_ _But Music, harmonic and clear._ _My breath makes me play_ _Like an organ, all day--_ _That bass note is in my left ear._
"How funny!" exclaimed Dorothy; "he says his breath makes the music."
"That's all nonsense," declared the shaggy man; but now the music beganagain, and they all listened carefully.
_My lungs are full of reeds like those_ _In organs, therefore I suppose,_ _If I breathe in or out my nose,_ _The reeds are bound to play._
_So, as I breathe to live, you know,_ _I squeeze out music as I go;_ _I'm very sorry this is so---- _ _Forgive my piping, pray!_
"Poor man," said Polychrome; "he can't help it. What a great misfortuneit is!"
"Yes," replied the shaggy man; "we are only obliged to hear this music ashort time, until we leave him and go away; but the poor fellow mustlisten to himself as long as he lives, and that is enough to drive himcrazy. Don't you think so?"
"Don't know," said Button-Bright. Toto said "Bow-wow!" and the otherslaughed.
"Perhaps that's why he lives all alone," suggested Dorothy.
"Yes; if he had neighbors they might do him an injury," responded theshaggy man.
All this while the little fat musicker was breathing the notes:
_Tiddle-tiddle-iddle, oom, pom-pom,_
and they had to speak loud in order to hear themselves. The shaggy mansaid:
"Who are you, sir?"
The reply came in the shape of this sing-song:
_I'm Allegro da Capo, a very famous man;_ _Just find another, high or low, to match me if you can._ _Some people try, but can't, to play_ _And have to practice every day;_ _But I've been musical alway, since first my life began._
"Why, I b'lieve he's proud of it," exclaimed Dorothy, "and seems to meI've heard worse music than he makes."
"Where?" asked Button-Bright.
"I've forgotten, just now. But Mr. Da Capo is certainly a strangeperson--isn't he?--and p'r'aps he's the only one of his kind in all theworld."
This praise seemed to please the little fat musicker, for he swelled outhis chest, looked important and sang as follows:
_I wear no band around me,_ _And yet I am a band!_ _I do not strain to make my strains_ _But, on the other hand,_ _My toot is always destitute_ _Of flats or other errors;_ _To see sharp and be natural are_ _For me but minor terrors._
"I don't quite understand that," said Polychrome, with a puzzled look;"but perhaps it's because I'm accustomed only to the music of thespheres."
"What's that?" asked Button-Bright.
"Oh, Polly means the atmosphere and hemisphere, I s'pose," explainedDorothy.
"Oh," said Button-Bright.
"Bow-wow!" said Toto.
But the musicker was still breathing his constant
_Oom, pom-pom; oom, pom-pom---- _
and it seemed to jar on the shaggy man's nerves.
"Stop it, can't you?" he cried, angrily; "or breathe in a whisper; orput a clothes-pin on your nose. Do something, anyhow!"
But the fat one, with a sad look, sang this answer:
_"Music hath charms, and it may_ _Soothe even the savage, they say;_ _So if savage you feel_ _Just list to my reel,_ _For sooth to say that's the real way."_
The shaggy man had to laugh at this, and when he laughed he stretchedhis donkey mouth wide open. Said Dorothy:
"I don't know how good his poetry is, but it seems to fit the notes, sothat's all that can be 'xpected."
"I like it," said Button-Bright, who was staring hard at the musicker,his little legs spread wide apart. To the surprise of his companions,the boy asked this long question:
"If I swallowed a mouth-organ, what would I be?"
"An organette," said the shaggy man. "But come, my dears; I think thebest thing we can do is to continue on our journey before Button-Brightswallows anything. We must try to find that Land of Oz, you know."
Hearing this speech the musicker sang, quickly:
_If you go to the hand of Oz_ _Please take me along, because_ _On Ozma's birthday_ _I'm anxious to play_ _The loveliest song ever was._
"No, thank you," said Dorothy; "we prefer to travel alone. But if I seeOzma I'll tell her you want to come to her birthday party."
"Let's be going," urged the shaggy man, anxiously.
Polly was already dancing along the road, far in advance, and theothers turned to follow her. Toto did not like the fat musicker and madea grab for his chubby leg. Dorothy quickly caught up the growling littledog and hurried after her companions, who were walking faster than usualin order to get out of hearing. They had to climb a hill, and until theygot to the top they could not escape the musicker's monotonous piping:
_"Oom, pom-pom; oom, pom-pom;_ _Tiddle-iddle-widdle, oom, pom-pom;_ _Oom, pom-pom--pah!"_
As they passed the brow of the hill, however, and descended on the otherside, the sounds gradually died away, whereat they all felt muchrelieved.
"I'm glad I don't have to live with the organ-man; aren't you, Polly?"said Dorothy.
"Yes, indeed," answered the Rainbow's Daughter.
"He's nice," declared Button-Bright, soberly.
"I hope your Princess Ozma won't invite him to her birthdaycelebration," remarked the shaggy man; "for the fellow's music woulddrive her guests all crazy. You've given me an idea, Button-Bright; Ibelieve the musicker must have swallowed an accordeon in his youth."
"What's 'cordeon?" asked the boy.
"It's a kind of pleating," explained Dorothy, putting down the dog.
"Bow-wow!" said Toto, and ran away at a mad gallop to chase abumble-bee.