The Marvelous Land of Oz
“Well,” returned Mombi, with downcast eyes, “he visited me to learn the
way I make tea-biscuits.”
“Look up!” commanded the Sorceress.
Mombi obeyed.
“What is the color of my pearl?” demanded Glinda.
“Why—it is black!” replied the old Witch, in a tone of wonder.
“Then you have told me a falsehood!” cried Glinda, angrily. “Only when
the truth is spoken will my magic pearl remain a pure white in color.”
Mombi now saw how useless it was to try to deceive the Sorceress; so
she said, meanwhile scowling at her defeat:
“The Wizard brought to me the girl Ozma, who was then no more than a
baby, and begged me to conceal the child.”
“That is what I thought,” declared Glinda, calmly. “What did he give
you for thus serving him?”
“He taught me all the magical tricks he knew. Some were good tricks,
and some were only frauds; but I have remained faithful to my promise.”
“What did you do with the girl?” asked Glinda; and at this question
everyone bent forward and listened eagerly for the reply.
“I enchanted her,” answered Mombi.
“In what way?”
“I transformed her into—into—”
“Into what?” demanded Glinda, as the Witch hesitated.
“_Into a boy!_” said Mombi, in a low tone.
“A boy!” echoed every voice; and then, because they knew that this old
woman had reared Tip from childhood, all eyes were turned to where the
boy stood.
“Yes,” said the old Witch, nodding her head; “that is the Princess
Ozma—the child brought to me by the Wizard who stole her father’s
throne. That is the rightful ruler of the Emerald City!” and she
pointed her long bony finger straight at the boy.
“I!” cried Tip, in amazement. “Why, I’m no Princess Ozma—I’m not a
girl!”
Glinda smiled, and going to Tip she took his small brown hand within
her dainty white one.
“You are not a girl just now” said she, gently, “because Mombi
transformed you into a boy. But you were born a girl, and also a
Princess; so you must resume your proper form, that you may become
Queen of the Emerald City.”
“Oh, let Jinjur be the Queen!” exclaimed Tip, ready to cry. “I want to
stay a boy, and travel with the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, and the
Woggle-Bug, and Jack—yes! and my friend the Saw-Horse—and the Gump! I
don’t want to be a girl!”
“Never mind, old chap,” said the Tin Woodman, soothingly; “it don’t
hurt to be a girl, I’m told; and we will all remain your faithful
friends just the same. And, to be honest with you, I’ve always
considered girls nicer than boys.”
“They’re just as nice, anyway,” added the Scarecrow, patting Tip
affectionately upon the head.
“And they are equally good students,” proclaimed the Woggle-Bug. “I
should like to become your tutor, when you are transformed into a girl
again.”
“But—see here!” said Jack Pumpkinhead, with a gasp: “if you become a
girl, you can’t be my dear father any more!”
“No,” answered Tip, laughing in spite of his anxiety. “and I shall not
be sorry to escape the relationship.” Then he added, hesitatingly, as
he turned to Glinda: “I might try it for awhile,-just to see how it
seems, you know. But if I don’t like being a girl you must promise to
change me into a boy again.”
“Really,” said the Sorceress, “that is beyond my magic. I never deal in
transformations, for they are not honest, and no respectable sorceress
likes to make things appear to be what they are not. Only unscrupulous
witches use the art, and therefore I must ask Mombi to effect your
release from her charm, and restore you to your proper form. It will be
the last opportunity she will have to practice magic.”
Now that the truth about Princes Ozma had been discovered, Mombi did
not care what became of Tip; but she feared Glinda’s anger, and the boy
generously promised to provide for Mombi in her old age if he became
the ruler of the Emerald City. So the Witch consented to effect the
transformation, and preparations for the event were at once made.
Glinda ordered her own royal couch to be placed in the center of the
tent. It was piled high with cushions covered with rose-colored silk,
and from a golden railing above hung many folds of pink gossamer,
completely concealing the interior of the couch.
The first act of the Witch was to make the boy drink a potion which
quickly sent him into a deep and dreamless sleep. Then the Tin Woodman
and the Woggle-Bug bore him gently to the couch, placed him upon the
soft cushions, and drew the gossamer hangings to shut him from all
earthly view.
The Witch squatted upon the ground and kindled a tiny fire of dried
herbs, which she drew from her bosom. When the blaze shot up and burned
clearly old Mombi scattered a handful of magical powder over the fire,
which straightway gave off a rich violet vapor, filling all the tent
with its fragrance and forcing the Saw-Horse to sneeze—although he had
been warned to keep quiet.
Then, while the others watched her curiously, the hag chanted a
rhythmical verse in words which no one understood, and bent her lean
body seven times back and forth over the fire. And now the incantation
seemed complete, for the Witch stood upright and cried the one word
“Yeowa!” in a loud voice.
The vapor floated away; the atmosphere became, clear again; a whiff of
fresh air filled the tent, and the pink curtains of the couch trembled
slightly, as if stirred from within.
Glinda walked to the canopy and parted the silken hangings. Then she
bent over the cushions, reached out her hand, and from the couch arose
the form of a young girl, fresh and beautiful as a May morning. Her
eyes sparkled as two diamonds, and her lips were tinted like a
tourmaline. All adown her back floated tresses of ruddy gold, with a
slender jeweled circlet confining them at the brow. Her robes of silken
gauze floated around her like a cloud, and dainty satin slippers shod
her feet.
At this exquisite vision Tip’s old comrades stared in wonder for the
space of a full minute, and then every head bent low in honest
admiration of the lovely Princess Ozma. The girl herself cast one look
into Glinda’s bright face, which glowed with pleasure and satisfaction,
and then turned upon the others. Speaking the words with sweet
diffidence, she said:
“I hope none of you will care less for me than you did before. I’m just
the same Tip, you know; only—only—”
“Only you’re different!” said the Pumpkinhead; and everyone thought it
was the wisest speech he had ever made.
The Riches of Content
When the wonderful tidings reached the ears of Queen Jinjur—how Mombi
the Witch had been captured; how she had confessed her crime to Glinda;
and how the long-lost Princess Ozma had been discovered in no less a
personage than the boy Tip—she wept real tears of grief and despair.
“To think,” she moaned, “that after having ruled as Queen, and lived in
a palace, I must go back to scrubbing floors and churning butter again!
It is too horrible to think of! I will never consent!”
So when her soldiers, who spent most of their time making fudge in the
palace kitchens, counseled Jinjur to resist, she listened to their
foolish prattle and sent a sharp defiance to Glinda the Good and the
Princess Ozma. The result was a declaration of war, and the very next
day Glinda marched upon the Emerald City with pennants flying and bands
playing, and a forest of shining spears, sparkling brightly beneath the
sun’s rays.
But when it came to the walls this brave assembly made a sudden halt;
for Jinjur had closed and barred every gateway, and the walls of the
Emerald City were builded high and thick with many blocks of green
marble. Finding her advance thus baffled, Glinda bent her brows in deep
thought, while the Woggle-Bug said, in his most positive tone:
“We must lay siege to the city, and starve it into submission. It is
the only thing we can do.”
“Not so,” answered the Scarecrow. “We still have the Gump, and the Gump
can still fly”
The Sorceress turned quickly at this speech, and her face now wore a
bright smile.
“You are right,” she exclaimed, “and certainly have reason to be proud
of your brains. Let us go to the Gump at once!”
So they passed through the ranks of the army until they came to the
place, near the Scarecrow’s tent, where the Gump lay. Glinda and
Princess Ozma mounted first, and sat upon the sofas. Then the Scarecrow
and his friends climbed aboard, and still there was room for a Captain
and three soldiers, which Glinda considered sufficient for a guard.
Now, at a word from the Princess, the queer Thing they had called the
Gump flopped its palm-leaf wings and rose into the air, carrying the
party of adventurers high above the walls. They hovered over the
palace, and soon perceived Jinjur reclining in a hammock in the
courtyard, where she was comfortably reading a novel with a green cover
and eating green chocolates, confident that the walls would protect her
from her enemies. Obeying a quick command, the Gump alighted safely in
this very courtyard, and before Jinjur had time to do more than scream,
the Captain and three soldiers leaped out and made the former Queen a
prisoner, locking strong chains upon both her wrists.
That act really ended the war; for the Army of Revolt submitted as soon
as they knew Jinjur to be a captive, and the Captain marched in safety
through the streets and up to the gates of the city, which she threw
wide open. Then the bands played their most stirring music while
Glinda’s army marched into the city, and heralds proclaimed the
conquest of the audacious Jinjur and the accession of the beautiful
Princess Ozma to the throne of her royal ancestors.
At once the men of the Emerald City cast off their aprons. And it is
said that the women were so tired eating of their husbands’ cooking
that they all hailed the conquest of Jinjur with Joy. Certain it is
that, rushing one and all to the kitchens of their houses, the good
wives prepared so delicious a feast for the weary men that harmony was
immediately restored in every family.
Ozma’s first act was to oblige the Army of Revolt to return to her
every emerald or other gem stolen from the public streets and
buildings; and so great was the number of precious stones picked from
their settings by these vain girls, that every one of the royal
jewelers worked steadily for more than a month to replace them in their
settings.
Meanwhile the Army of Revolt was disbanded and the girls sent home to
their mothers. On promise of good behavior Jinjur was likewise
released.
Ozma made the loveliest Queen the Emerald City had ever known; and,
although she was so young and inexperienced, she ruled her people with
wisdom and Justice. For Glinda gave her good advice on all occasions;
and the Woggle-Bug, who was appointed to the important post of Public
Educator, was quite helpful to Ozma when her royal duties grew
perplexing.
The girl, in her gratitude to the Gump for its services, offered the
creature any reward it might name.
“Then,” replied the Gump, “please take me to pieces. I did not wish to
be brought to life, and I am greatly ashamed of my conglomerate
personality. Once I was a monarch of the forest, as my antlers fully
prove; but now, in my present upholstered condition of servitude, I am
compelled to fly through the air—my legs being of no use to me
whatever. Therefore I beg to be dispersed.”
So Ozma ordered the Gump taken apart. The antlered head was again hung
over the mantle-piece in the hall, and the sofas were untied and placed
in the reception parlors. The broom tail resumed its accustomed duties
in the kitchen, and finally, the Scarecrow replaced all the
clotheslines and ropes on the pegs from which he had taken them on the
eventful day when the Thing was constructed.