Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz
"No; but they will grow together again, in time, and we must wait until
they do."
They first passed through many beautiful gardens of flowers, which grew
nearest the city; but Dorothy could hardly tell what kind of flowers
they were, because the colors were constantly changing under the
shifting lights of the six suns. A flower would be pink one second,
white the next, then blue or yellow; and it was the same way when they
came to the plants, which had broad leaves and grew close to the ground.
When they passed over a field of grass Jim immediately stretched down
his head and began to nibble.
"A nice country this is," he grumbled, "where a respectable horse has to
eat pink grass!"
"It's violet," said the Wizard, who was in the buggy.
"Now it's blue," complained the horse. "As a matter of fact, I'm eating
rainbow grass."
"How does it taste?" asked the Wizard.
"Not bad at all," said Jim. "If they give me plenty of it I'll not
complain about its color."
By this time the party had reached a freshly plowed field, and the
Prince said to Dorothy:
"This is our planting-ground."
Several Mangaboos came forward with glass spades and dug a hole in the
ground. Then they put the two halves of the Sorcerer into it and covered
him up. After that other people brought water from a brook and sprinkled
the earth.
"He will sprout very soon," said the Prince, "and grow into a large
bush, from which we shall in time be able to pick several very good
sorcerers."
"Do all your people grow on bushes?" asked the boy.
"Certainly," was the reply. "Do not all people grow upon bushes where
you came from, on the outside of the earth."
"Not that I ever heard of."
"How strange! But if you will come with me to one of our folk gardens I
will show you the way we grow in the Land of the Mangaboos."
It appeared that these odd people, while they were able to walk through
the air with ease, usually moved upon the ground in the ordinary way.
There were no stairs in their houses, because they did not need them,
but on a level surface they generally walked just as we do.
The little party of strangers now followed the Prince across a few more
of the glass bridges and along several paths until they came to a garden
enclosed by a high hedge. Jim had refused to leave the field of grass,
where he was engaged in busily eating; so the Wizard got out of the
buggy and joined Zeb and Dorothy, and the kitten followed demurely at
their heels.
Inside the hedge they came upon row after row of large and handsome
plants with broad leaves gracefully curving until their points nearly
reached the ground. In the center of each plant grew a daintily dressed
Mangaboo, for the clothing of all these creatures grew upon them and was
attached to their bodies.
The growing Mangaboos were of all sizes, from the blossom that had just
turned into a wee baby to the full-grown and almost ripe man or woman.
On some of the bushes might be seen a bud, a blossom, a baby, a
half-grown person and a ripe one; but even those ready to pluck were
motionless and silent, as if devoid of life. This sight explained to
Dorothy why she had seen no children among the Mangaboos, a thing she
had until now been unable to account for.
"Our people do not acquire their real life until they leave their
bushes," said the Prince. "You will notice they are all attached to the
plants by the soles of their feet, and when they are quite ripe they are
easily separated from the stems and at once attain the powers of motion
and speech. So while they grow they cannot be said to really live, and
they must be picked before they can become good citizens."
"How long do you live, after you are picked?" asked Dorothy.
"That depends upon the care we take of ourselves," he replied. "If we
keep cool and moist, and meet with no accidents, we often live for five
years. I've been picked over six years, but our family is known to be
especially long lived."
"Do you eat?" asked the boy.
"Eat! No, indeed. We are quite solid inside our bodies, and have no need
to eat, any more than does a potato."
"But the potatoes sometimes sprout," said Zeb.
"And sometimes we do," answered the Prince; "but that is considered a
great misfortune, for then we must be planted at once."
"Where did you grow?" asked the Wizard.
"I will show you," was the reply. "Step this way, please."
He led them within another but smaller circle of hedge, where grew one
large and beautiful bush.
"This," said he, "is the Royal Bush of the Mangaboos. All of our Princes
and Rulers have grown upon this one bush from time immemorial."
They stood before it in silent admiration. On the central stalk stood
poised the figure of a girl so exquisitely formed and colored and so
lovely in the expression of her delicate features that Dorothy thought
she had never seen so sweet and adorable a creature in all her life.
The maiden's gown was soft as satin and fell about her in ample folds,
while dainty lace-like traceries trimmed the bodice and sleeves. Her
flesh was fine and smooth as polished ivory, and her poise expressed
both dignity and grace.
"Who is this?" asked the Wizard, curiously.
The Prince had been staring hard at the girl on the bush. Now he
answered, with a touch of uneasiness in his cold tones:
"She is the Ruler destined to be my successor, for she is a Royal
Princess. When she becomes fully ripe I must abandon the sovereignty of
the Mangaboos to her."
"Isn't she ripe now?" asked Dorothy.
He hesitated.
"Not quite," said he, finally. "It will be several days before she needs
to be picked, or at least that is my judgment. I am in no hurry to
resign my office and be planted, you may be sure."
"Probably not," declared the Wizard, nodding.
"This is one of the most unpleasant things about our vegetable lives,"
continued the Prince, with a sigh, "that while we are in our full prime
we must give way to another, and be covered up in the ground to sprout
and grow and give birth to other people."
"I'm sure the Princess is ready to be picked," asserted Dorothy, gazing
hard at the beautiful girl on the bush. "She's as perfect as she can
be."
"Never mind," answered the Prince, hastily, "she will be all right for a
few days longer, and it is best for me to rule until I can dispose of
you strangers, who have come to our land uninvited and must be attended
to at once."
"What are you going to do with us?" asked Zeb.
"That is a matter I have not quite decided upon," was the reply. "I
think I shall keep this Wizard until a new Sorcerer is ready to pick,
for he seems quite skillful and may be of use to us. But the rest of you
must be destroyed in some way, and you cannot be planted, because I do
not wish horses and cats and meat people growing all over our country."
"You needn't worry," said Dorothy. "We wouldn't grow under ground, I'm
sure."
"But why destroy my friends?" asked the little Wizard. "Why not let them
live?"
"They do not belong here," returned the Prince. "They have no right to
be inside the earth at all."
"We didn't ask to come down here; we fell," said Dorothy.
"That is no excuse," declared the Prince, coldly.
The children looked at each other in perplexity, and the Wizard sighed.
Eureka rubbed her paw on her face and said in her soft, purring voice:
"He won't need to destroy _me_, for if I don't get something to eat
pretty soon I shall starve to death, and so save him the trouble."
"If he planted you, he might grow some cat-tails," suggested the Wizard.
"Oh, Eureka! perhaps we can find you some milk-weeds to eat," said the
boy.
"Phoo!" snarled the kitten; "I wouldn't touch the nasty things!"
"You don't need milk, Eureka," remarked Dorothy; "you are big enough now
to eat any kind of food."
"If I can get it," added Eureka.
"I'm hungry myself," said Zeb. "But I noticed some strawberries growing
in one of the gardens, and some melons in another place. These people
don't eat such things, so perhaps on our way back they will let us get
them."
"Never mind your hunger," interrupted the Prince. "I shall order you
destroyed in a few minutes, so you will have no need to ruin our pretty
melon vines and berry bushes. Follow me, please, to meet your doom."
CHAPTER 5.
DOROTHY PICKS THE PRINCESS
The words of the cold and moist vegetable Prince were not very
comforting, and as he spoke them he turned away and left the enclosure.
The children, feeling sad and despondent, were about to follow him when
the Wizard touched Dorothy softly on her shoulder.
"Wait!" he whispered.
"What for?" asked the girl.
"Suppose we pick the Royal Princess," said the Wizard. "I'm quite sure
she's ripe, and as soon as she comes to life she will be the Ruler, and
may treat us better than that heartless Prince intends to."
"All right!" exclaimed Dorothy, eagerly. "Let's pick her while we have
the chance, before the man with the star comes back."
So together they leaned over the great bush and each of them seized one
hand of the lovely Princess.
"Pull!" cried Dorothy, and as they did so the royal lady leaned toward
them and the stems snapped and separated from her feet. She was not at
all heavy, so the Wizard and Dorothy managed to lift her gently to the
ground.
The beautiful creature passed her hands over her eyes an instant, tucked
in a stray lock of hair that had become disarranged, and after a look
around the garden made those present a gracious bow and said, in a sweet
but even toned voice:
"I thank you very much."
"We salute your Royal Highness!" cried the Wizard, kneeling and kissing
her hand.
Just then the voice of the Prince was heard calling upon them to hasten,
and a moment later he returned to the enclosure, followed by a number of
his people.
Instantly the Princess turned and faced him, and when he saw that she
was picked the Prince stood still and began to tremble.
"Sir," said the Royal Lady, with much dignity, "you have wronged me
greatly, and would have wronged me still more had not these strangers
come to my rescue. I have been ready for picking all the past week, but
because you were selfish and desired to continue your unlawful rule,
you left me to stand silent upon my bush."
"I did not know that you were ripe," answered the Prince, in a low
voice.
"Give me the Star of Royalty!" she commanded.
Slowly he took the shining star from his own brow and placed it upon
that of the Princess. Then all the people bowed low to her, and the
Prince turned and walked away alone. What became of him afterward our
friends never knew.
The people of Mangaboo now formed themselves into a procession and
marched toward the glass city to escort their new ruler to her palace
and to perform those ceremonies proper to the occasion. But while the
people in the procession walked upon the ground the Princess walked in
the air just above their heads, to show that she was a superior being
and more exalted than her subjects.
No one now seemed to pay any attention to the strangers, so Dorothy and
Zeb and the Wizard let the train pass on and then wandered by themselves
into the vegetable gardens. They did not bother to cross the bridges
over the brooks, but when they came to a stream they stepped high and
walked in the air to the other side. This was a very interesting
experience to them, and Dorothy said:
"I wonder why it is that we can walk so easily in the air."
"Perhaps," answered the Wizard, "it is because we are close to the
center of the earth, where the attraction of gravitation is very slight.
But I've noticed that many queer things happen in fairy countries."
"Is this a fairy country?" asked the boy.
"Of course it is," returned Dorothy, promptly. "Only a fairy country