Read The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Online
Authors: Lyman Frank Baum
Tags: #Fantasy fiction, #Fantasy, #Fiction, #General, #Classics, #Criticism, #Literature - Classics, #Literary Criticism, #Juvenile Fiction, #Fantasy & Magic, #Children's Books, #Children: Grades 4-6, #Oz (Imaginary place), #Cowardly Lion (Fictitious character), #Ages 4-8 Fiction, #Gale; Dorothy (Fictitious character), #Wizard of Oz (Fictitious character), #Scarecrow (Fictitious character : Baum), #Voyages; Imaginary, #Scarecrow (Fictitious character: Baum), #Tin Woodman (Fictitious character)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (23 page)
Before
they went to see Glinda, however, they were taken to a room of the Castle, where orothy washed her face and combed her air, and the Lion shook the dust out of his ane, and the Scarecrow patted himself into his est shape, and the Woodman polished his tin and oiled his joints.
they went to see Glinda, however, they were taken to a room of the Castle, where orothy washed her face and combed her air, and the Lion shook the dust out of his ane, and the Scarecrow patted himself into his est shape, and the Woodman polished his tin and oiled his joints.
When they were all quite presentable they followed the soldier girl into a big room where the Witch Glinda sat upon a throne of rubies.
She was both beautiful and young to their eyes. Her hair was a rich red in color and fell in flowing ringlets over her shoulders. Her dress was pure white; but her eyes were blue,
44
and they looked kindly upon the little girl.
44
and they looked kindly upon the little girl.
“What can I do for you, my child?” she asked.
Dorothy told the Witch all her story; how the cyclone had brought her to the Land of Oz, how she had found her companions, and of the wonderful adventures they had met with.
“My greatest wish now,” she added, “is to get back to Kansas, for Aunt Em will surely think something dreadful has happened to me, and that will make her put on mourning; and unless the crops are better this year than they were last I am sure Uncle Henry cannot afford it.”
Glinda leaned forward and kissed the sweet, upturned face of the loving little girl.
“Bless your dear heart,” she said, “I am sure I can tell you of a way to get back to Kansas.” Then she added:
“But, if I do, you must give me the Golden Cap.”
“Willingly!” exclaimed Dorothy; “indeed, it is of no use to me now, and when you have it you can command the Winged Monkeys three times.”
“And I think I shall need their service just those three times,” answered Glinda, smiling.
Dorothy then gave her the Golden Cap, and the Witch said to the Scarecrow,
“What will you do when Dorothy has left us?”
“I will return to the Emerald City,” he replied, “for Oz has made me its ruler and the people like me. The only thing that worries me is how to cross the hill of the Hammer-Heads.”
“By means of the Golden Cap I shall command the Winged Monkeys to carry you to the gates of the Emerald City,” said Glinda, “for it would be a shame to deprive the people of so wonderful a ruler.”
“Am I really wonderful?” asked the Scarecrow.
“You are unusual,” replied Glinda.
Turning to the Tin Woodman, she asked:
“What will become of you when Dorothy leaves this country?”
He leaned on his axe and thought a moment. Then he said,
“The Winkies were very kind to me, and wanted me to rule over them after the Wicked Witch died. I am fond of the Winkies, and if I could get back again to the country of the West I should like nothing better than to rule over them forever.”
“My second command to the Winged Monkeys,” said Glinda, “will be that they carry you safely to the land of the Winkies. Your brains may not be so large to look at as those of the Scarecrow, but you are really brighter than he is—when you are well polished—and I am sure you will rule the Winkies wisely and well.”
“You must give me the Golden Cap.”
Then the Witch looked at the big, shaggy Lion and asked,
“When Dorothy has returned to her own home, what will become of you?”
“Over the hill of the Hammer-Heads,” he answered, “lies a grand old forest, and all the beasts that live there have made me their King. If I could only get back to this forest I would pass my life very happily there.”
“My third command to the Winged Monkeys,” said Glinda, “shall be to carry you to your forest. Then, having used up the powers of the Golden Cap, I shall give it to the King of the Monkeys, that he and his band may thereafter be free for evermore.”
The Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman and the Lion now thanked the Good Witch earnestly for her kindness, and Dorothy exclaimed,
“You are certainly as good as you are beautiful! But you have not yet told me how to get back to Kansas.”
“Your Silver Shoes will carry you over the desert,” replied Glinda. “If you had known their power you could have gone back to your Aunt Em the very first day you came to this country.”
“But then I should not have had my wonderful brains!” cried the Scarecrow. “I might have passed my whole life in the farmer’s cornfield.”
“And I should not have had my lovely heart,” said the Tin Woodman. “I might have stood and rusted in the forest till the end of the world.”
“And I should have lived a coward forever,” declared the Lion, “and no beast in all the forest would have had a good word to say to me.”
“This is all true,” said Dorothy, “and I am glad I was of use to these good friends. But now that each of them has had what he most desired, and each is happy in having a kingdom to rule besides, I think I should like to go back to Kansas.”
“The Silver Shoes,” said the Good Witch, “have wonderful powers. And one of the most curious things about them is that they can carry you to any place in the world in three steps, and each step will be made in the wink of an eye. All you have to do is to knock the heels together three times and command the shoes to carry you wherever you wish to go.”
“If that is so,” said the child, joyfully, “I will ask them to carry me back to Kansas at once.”
She threw her arms around the Lion’s neck and kissed him, patting his big head tenderly. Then she kissed the Tin Woodman, who was weeping in a way most dangerous to his joints. But she hugged the soft, stuffed body of the Scarecrow in her arms instead of kissing his painted face, and found she was crying herself at this sorrowful parting from her loving comrades.
Glinda the Good stepped down from her ruby throne to give the little girl a good-bye kiss, and Dorothy thanked her for all the kindness she had shown to her friends and herself.
Dorothy now took Toto up solemnly in her arms, and having said one last good-bye she clapped the heels of her shoes together three times, saying,
“Take me home to Aunt Em!”
Instantly she was whirling through the air, so swiftly that all she could see or feel was the wind whistling past her ears.
The Silver Shoes took but three steps, and then she stopped so suddenly that she rolled over upon the grass several times before she knew where she was.
At length, however, she sat up and looked about her.
“Good gracious!” she cried.
For she was sitting on the broad Kansas prairie, and just before her was the new farm house Uncle Henry built after the cyclone had carried away the old one. Uncle Henry was milking the cows in the barnyard, and Toto had jumped out of her arms and was running toward the barn, barking joyously.
Dorothy stood up and found she was in her stocking-feet. For the Silver Shoes had fallen off in her flight through the air, and were lost forever in the desert.
Home Again.
A
unt Em had just come out of the house to water the cabbages when she looked up and saw Dorothy running toward her.
unt Em had just come out of the house to water the cabbages when she looked up and saw Dorothy running toward her.
“My darling child!” she cried, folding the little girl in her arms and covering her face with kisses; “where in the world did you come from?”
“From the Land of Oz,” said Dorothy, gravely. “And here is Toto, too. And oh, Aunt Em! I’m so glad to be at home again!”
Here ends the story of “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” which was written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by William Wallace Denslow. The engravings were made by the Illinois Engraving Company, the paper was supplied by Dwight Bros. Paper Company, and Messrs. A. R. Barnes & Company printed the book for the publishers, the George M. Hill Company, completing it on the fifteenth day of May, in the year nineteen hundred.
Endnotes
No commentary on
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
is possible without Michael Patrick Hearn’s indispensable annotated editions (1973, 2000) of
The Annotated Wizard of Oz: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,
the latter edition of which I refer to amply here and in my introduction. I am also indebted to Katherine Rogers’s
L. Frank Baum, Creator of Oz
and Michael O. Riley’s
Oz and Beyond: The Fantasy World of L. Frank Baum,
for their informative backgrounds to the work and the author. See “For Further Reading” for full information on these titles.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
is possible without Michael Patrick Hearn’s indispensable annotated editions (1973, 2000) of
The Annotated Wizard of Oz: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,
the latter edition of which I refer to amply here and in my introduction. I am also indebted to Katherine Rogers’s
L. Frank Baum, Creator of Oz
and Michael O. Riley’s
Oz and Beyond: The Fantasy World of L. Frank Baum,
for their informative backgrounds to the work and the author. See “For Further Reading” for full information on these titles.
1
(p. 14)
the house was as dull and gray as everything else:
In some form, the adjective “gray” appears ten times in the first six paragraphs to emphasize, by repetition, the aspect of home that Dorothy has sublimated but that the audience realizes is an essential element in her outlook.
(p. 14)
the house was as dull and gray as everything else:
In some form, the adjective “gray” appears ten times in the first six paragraphs to emphasize, by repetition, the aspect of home that Dorothy has sublimated but that the audience realizes is an essential element in her outlook.
2
(p. 14)
cyclone:
A
cyclone
is a storm system in which strong winds rotate around a center of low pressure. A
tropical cyclone
is a hurricane. In the midwestern United States,
cyclone
often means
tornado
; the two terms were interchangeable in Baum’s day.
(p. 14)
cyclone:
A
cyclone
is a storm system in which strong winds rotate around a center of low pressure. A
tropical cyclone
is a hurricane. In the midwestern United States,
cyclone
often means
tornado
; the two terms were interchangeable in Baum’s day.
3
(p. 22)
on the dry gray prairies:
Oz announces its spectacular difference from Kansas instantly—with flowers, birds, and a river that mur muringly voices a greeting to Dorothy.
(p. 22)
on the dry gray prairies:
Oz announces its spectacular difference from Kansas instantly—with flowers, birds, and a river that mur muringly voices a greeting to Dorothy.
4
(p. 22)
the little woman’s hat was white:
White is the witch color in Oz. Dorothy does not yet know it, but the Witch of the North is the little woman in the white dress in the company of the Munchkins.
(p. 22)
the little woman’s hat was white:
White is the witch color in Oz. Dorothy does not yet know it, but the Witch of the North is the little woman in the white dress in the company of the Munchkins.
5
(p. 23)
“But I thought all witches were wicked”:
So did most of Baum’s audience. The appearance of a good witch is unprecedented in children’s literature and may have some bearing on Baum’s acquaintance with theosophical beliefs and his apparent indifference to established religions.
(p. 23)
“But I thought all witches were wicked”:
So did most of Baum’s audience. The appearance of a good witch is unprecedented in children’s literature and may have some bearing on Baum’s acquaintance with theosophical beliefs and his apparent indifference to established religions.
6
(p. 27)
“The road to the City of Emeralds is paved with yellow brick”:
While it is impossible to be certain about many of the elements in this story that at first appear to be symbolic, mixing the color of the road (yellow) and of the Munchkins (blue) yields green, the color of Dorothy’s destination.
(p. 27)
“The road to the City of Emeralds is paved with yellow brick”:
While it is impossible to be certain about many of the elements in this story that at first appear to be symbolic, mixing the color of the road (yellow) and of the Munchkins (blue) yields green, the color of Dorothy’s destination.
7
(p. 31)
It was gingham, with checks of white and blue:
The description of Dorothy’s dress is interesting in that, while an American import into Oz, the colors of the dress include both Munchkin blue and witch white, another suggestion that Dorothy lands in Oz to fulfill her destiny.
(p. 31)
It was gingham, with checks of white and blue:
The description of Dorothy’s dress is interesting in that, while an American import into Oz, the colors of the dress include both Munchkin blue and witch white, another suggestion that Dorothy lands in Oz to fulfill her destiny.
8
(p. 32)
as well as if they had been made for her:
The Cinderella touch of the Silver Shoes is another twist on a familiar detail. The Shoes are talismanic objects like the Golden Cap, which also “fitted her exactly” (page 135) and that she possesses once the Wicked Witch of the West is dead.
(p. 32)
as well as if they had been made for her:
The Cinderella touch of the Silver Shoes is another twist on a familiar detail. The Shoes are talismanic objects like the Golden Cap, which also “fitted her exactly” (page 135) and that she possesses once the Wicked Witch of the West is dead.
9
(p. 32)
the one paved with yellow brick:
The yellow brick road is one among many symbolic referents decoded by Littlefield in his famous analysis of
The Wizard of Oz
as a political allegory. See Henry M. Littlefield, “
The Wizard of Oz
: Parable on Populism,”
American Quarterly
1964 16:1, pp. 47-71.
(p. 32)
the one paved with yellow brick:
The yellow brick road is one among many symbolic referents decoded by Littlefield in his famous analysis of
The Wizard of Oz
as a political allegory. See Henry M. Littlefield, “
The Wizard of Oz
: Parable on Populism,”
American Quarterly
1964 16:1, pp. 47-71.
10
(p. 50)
a man made entirely of tin:
Tin is not subject to rust, and in fact resists corrosion. Hearn (p. 135) reports that Russian versions of the novel describe the Woodman as made of iron.
(p. 50)
a man made entirely of tin:
Tin is not subject to rust, and in fact resists corrosion. Hearn (p. 135) reports that Russian versions of the novel describe the Woodman as made of iron.
11
(p. 53)
“the girl lived with an old woman”:
The Tin Woodman fell in love with a girl whose story is consistent with those of distressed young maidens of fairy tales. The difference, of course, is Baum’s indifference to the details of the romance and any erotic overtones that often play a subliminal role in the workings of fairy-tale plots.
(p. 53)
“the girl lived with an old woman”:
The Tin Woodman fell in love with a girl whose story is consistent with those of distressed young maidens of fairy tales. The difference, of course, is Baum’s indifference to the details of the romance and any erotic overtones that often play a subliminal role in the workings of fairy-tale plots.
12
(p. 63)
“It seems to me they must be more cowardly than you”:
Dorothy, whom the audience will identify with, at times seems in on the authorial joke that is the center of the story: None of her companions actually lacks what he seeks. Despite her flatness as a literary character, Dorothy’s approach reveals a core of common sense and confidence in the world around her.
(p. 63)
“It seems to me they must be more cowardly than you”:
Dorothy, whom the audience will identify with, at times seems in on the authorial joke that is the center of the story: None of her companions actually lacks what he seeks. Despite her flatness as a literary character, Dorothy’s approach reveals a core of common sense and confidence in the world around her.
13
(p. 67)
a tree full of nuts:
Was Dorothy originally a vegan? The only confirmed carnivore in the book is the Cowardly Lion, who takes his meals discreetly and always offstage. Dorothy’s usual meal is nuts and fruit, and Toto at one point has milk. Another possible bit of evidence of the influence of Theosophy on Baum.
(p. 67)
a tree full of nuts:
Was Dorothy originally a vegan? The only confirmed carnivore in the book is the Cowardly Lion, who takes his meals discreetly and always offstage. Dorothy’s usual meal is nuts and fruit, and Toto at one point has milk. Another possible bit of evidence of the influence of Theosophy on Baum.
14
(p. 70)
Kalidahs:
There is no consensus about the origins of this nonce word, one of Baum’s many verbal improvisations.
(p. 70)
Kalidahs:
There is no consensus about the origins of this nonce word, one of Baum’s many verbal improvisations.
15
(p. 78)
the kind Stork:
The Stork, who always likes “to help anyone in trouble,” represents one of those deputies of benign Nature who are legion in fairy tales and children’s books, from the birds that communicate between Cinderella and her deceased mother to the robin that leads Mary Lennox to the gate of the secret garden. The Stork enunciates a principle that Dorothy repeats in her interview with the Wizard: The strength of the strong should always be in the service of the weak.
(p. 78)
the kind Stork:
The Stork, who always likes “to help anyone in trouble,” represents one of those deputies of benign Nature who are legion in fairy tales and children’s books, from the birds that communicate between Cinderella and her deceased mother to the robin that leads Mary Lennox to the gate of the secret garden. The Stork enunciates a principle that Dorothy repeats in her interview with the Wizard: The strength of the strong should always be in the service of the weak.
16
(p. 80)
lying fast asleep among the poppies:
There is nothing scientific or realistic about Baum’s use of the poppy field. The scent of poppies does not cause sleepiness.
(p. 80)
lying fast asleep among the poppies:
There is nothing scientific or realistic about Baum’s use of the poppy field. The scent of poppies does not cause sleepiness.
Other books
Just Desserts by G. A. McKevett
Blessings From the Father by Michelle Larks
The Tutor by Andrea Chapin
Rasputín: Rusia entre Dios y el diablo by Henri Troyat
Goat Pie by Alan MacDonald
The Prisoner's Release and Other Stories by Gold, Kyell
Story of the Phantom by Lee Falk
The Book of Chameleons by José Eduardo Agualusa
Third Time's the Bride! by Merline Lovelace
The Two of Swords: Part 9 by K. J. Parker