Chap 19, Wonderful Wizard of Oz - The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

Dorothy and her friends are not out of danger yet. They leave the Emerald City to resume their travels and run into a very unusual form of danger.

Read by Natasha.

19. Attacked by the Fighting Trees

The next morning Dorothy kissed the pretty green girl good-bye, and
they all shook hands with the soldier with the green whiskers, who had
walked with them as far as the gate. When the Guardian of the Gate saw
them again he wondered greatly that they could leave the beautiful City
to get into new trouble. But he at once unlocked their spectacles,
which he put back into the green box, and gave them many good wishes to
carry with them.

"You are now our ruler," he said to the Scarecrow; "so you must come
back to us as soon as possible."

"I certainly shall if I am able," the Scarecrow replied; "but I must
help Dorothy to get home, first."

As Dorothy bade the good-natured Guardian a last farewell she said:

"I have been very kindly treated in your lovely City, and everyone has
been good to me. I cannot tell you how grateful I am."

"Don't try, my dear," he answered. "We should like to keep you with
us, but if it is your wish to return to Kansas, I hope you will find a
way." He then opened the gate of the outer wall, and they walked forth
and started upon their journey.

The sun shone brightly as our friends turned their faces toward the
Land of the South. They were all in the best of spirits, and laughed
and chatted together. Dorothy was once more filled with the hope of
getting home, and the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman were glad to be of
use to her. As for the Lion, he sniffed the fresh air with delight and
whisked his tail from side to side in pure joy at being in the country
again, while Toto ran around them and chased the moths and butterflies,
barking merrily all the time.

"City life does not agree with me at all," remarked the Lion, as they
walked along at a brisk pace. "I have lost much flesh since I lived
there, and now I am anxious for a chance to show the other beasts how
courageous I have grown."

They now turned and took a last look at the Emerald City. All they
could see was a mass of towers and steeples behind the green walls, and
high up above everything the spires and dome of the Palace of Oz.

"Oz was not such a bad Wizard, after all," said the Tin Woodman, as he
felt his heart rattling around in his breast.

"He knew how to give me brains, and very good brains, too," said the
Scarecrow.

"If Oz had taken a dose of the same courage he gave me," added the
Lion, "he would have been a brave man."

Dorothy said nothing. Oz had not kept the promise he made her, but he
had done his best, so she forgave him. As he said, he was a good man,
even if he was a bad Wizard.

The first day's journey was through the green fields and bright flowers
that stretched about the Emerald City on every side. They slept that
night on the grass, with nothing but the stars over them; and they
rested very well indeed.

In the morning they traveled on until they came to a thick wood. There
was no way of going around it, for it seemed to extend to the right and
left as far as they could see; and, besides, they did not dare change
the direction of their journey for fear of getting lost. So they
looked for the place where it would be easiest to get into the forest.

The Scarecrow, who was in the lead, finally discovered a big tree with
such wide-spreading branches that there was room for the party to pass
underneath. So he walked forward to the tree, but just as he came
under the first branches they bent down and twined around him, and the
next minute he was raised from the ground and flung headlong among his
fellow travelers.

This did not hurt the Scarecrow, but it surprised him, and he looked
rather dizzy when Dorothy picked him up.

"Here is another space between the trees," called the Lion.

"Let me try it first," said the Scarecrow, "for it doesn't hurt me to
get thrown about." He walked up to another tree, as he spoke, but its
branches immediately seized him and tossed him back again.

"This is strange," exclaimed Dorothy. "What shall we do?"

"The trees seem to have made up their minds to fight us, and stop our
journey," remarked the Lion.

"I believe I will try it myself," said the Woodman, and shouldering his
axe, he marched up to the first tree that had handled the Scarecrow so
roughly. When a big branch bent down to seize him the Woodman chopped
at it so fiercely that he cut it in two. At once the tree began
shaking all its branches as if in pain, and the Tin Woodman passed
safely under it.

"Come on!" he shouted to the others. "Be quick!" They all ran forward
and passed under the tree without injury, except Toto, who was caught
by a small branch and shaken until he howled. But the Woodman promptly
chopped off the branch and set the little dog free.

The other trees of the forest did nothing to keep them back, so they
made up their minds that only the first row of trees could bend down
their branches, and that probably these were the policemen of the
forest, and given this wonderful power in order to keep strangers out
of it.

The four travelers walked with ease through the trees until they came
to the farther edge of the wood. Then, to their surprise, they found
before them a high wall which seemed to be made of white china. It was
smooth, like the surface of a dish, and higher than their heads.

"What shall we do now?" asked Dorothy.

"I will make a ladder," said the Tin Woodman, "for we certainly must
climb over the wall."

20. The Dainty China Country

While the Woodman was making a ladder from wood which he found in the
forest Dorothy lay down and slept, for she was tired by the long walk.
The Lion also curled himself up to sleep and Toto lay beside him.

The Scarecrow watched the Woodman while he worked, and said to him:

"I cannot think why this wall is here, nor what it is made of."

"Rest your brains and do not worry about the wall," replied the
Woodman. "When we have climbed over it, we shall know what is on the
other side."

After a time the ladder was finished. It looked clumsy, but the Tin
Woodman was sure it was strong and would answer their purpose. The
Scarecrow waked Dorothy and the Lion and Toto, and told them that the
ladder was ready. The Scarecrow climbed up the ladder first, but he
was so awkward that Dorothy had to follow close behind and keep him
from falling off. When he got his head over the top of the wall the
Scarecrow said, "Oh, my!"

"Go on," exclaimed Dorothy.

So the Scarecrow climbed farther up and sat down on the top of the
wall, and Dorothy put her head over and cried, "Oh, my!" just as the
Scarecrow had done.

Then Toto came up, and immediately began to bark, but Dorothy made him
be still.

The Lion climbed the ladder next, and the Tin Woodman came last; but
both of them cried, "Oh, my!" as soon as they looked over the wall.
When they were all sitting in a row on the top of the wall, they looked
down and saw a strange sight.

Before them was a great stretch of country having a floor as smooth and
shining and white as the bottom of a big platter. Scattered around
were many houses made entirely of china and painted in the brightest
colors. These houses were quite small, the biggest of them reaching
only as high as Dorothy's waist. There were also pretty little barns,
with china fences around them; and many cows and sheep and horses and
pigs and chickens, all made of china, were standing about in groups.

But the strangest of all were the people who lived in this queer
country. There were milkmaids and shepherdesses, with brightly colored
bodices and golden spots all over their gowns; and princesses with most
gorgeous frocks of silver and gold and purple; and shepherds dressed in
knee breeches with pink and yellow and blue stripes down them, and
golden buckles on their shoes; and princes with jeweled crowns upon
their heads, wearing ermine robes and satin doublets; and funny clowns
in ruffled gowns, with round red spots upon their cheeks and tall,
pointed caps. And, strangest of all, these people were all made of
china, even to their clothes, and were so small that the tallest of
them was no higher than Dorothy's knee.

No one did so much as look at the travelers at first, except one little
purple china dog with an extra-large head, which came to the wall and
barked at them in a tiny voice, afterwards running away again.

"How shall we get down?" asked Dorothy.

They found the ladder so heavy they could not pull it up, so the
Scarecrow fell off the wall and the others jumped down upon him so that
the hard floor would not hurt their feet. Of course they took pains
not to light on his head and get the pins in their feet. When all were
safely down they picked up the Scarecrow, whose body was quite
flattened out, and patted his straw into shape again.

"We must cross this strange place in order to get to the other side,"
said Dorothy, "for it would be unwise for us to go any other way except
due South."

They began walking through the country of the china people, and the
first thing they came to was a china milkmaid milking a china cow. As
they drew near, the cow suddenly gave a kick and kicked over the stool,
the pail, and even the milkmaid herself, and all fell on the china
ground with a great clatter.

Dorothy was shocked to see that the cow had broken her leg off, and
that the pail was lying in several small pieces, while the poor
milkmaid had a nick in her left elbow.

"There!" cried the milkmaid angrily. "See what you have done! My cow
has broken her leg, and I must take her to the mender's shop and have
it glued on again. What do you mean by coming here and frightening my
cow?"

"I'm very sorry," returned Dorothy. "Please forgive us."

But the pretty milkmaid was much too vexed to make any answer. She
picked up the leg sulkily and led her cow away, the poor animal limping
on three legs. As she left them the milkmaid cast many reproachful
glances over her shoulder at the clumsy strangers, holding her nicked
elbow close to her side.

Dorothy was quite grieved at this mishap.

"We must be very careful here," said the kind-hearted Woodman, "or we
may hurt these pretty little people so they will never get over it."

A little farther on Dorothy met a most beautifully dressed young
Princess, who stopped short as she saw the strangers and started to run
away.

Dorothy wanted to see more of the Princess, so she ran after her. But
the china girl cried out:

"Don't chase me! Don't chase me!"

She had such a frightened little voice that Dorothy stopped and said,
"Why not?"

"Because," answered the Princess, also stopping, a safe distance away,
"if I run I may fall down and break myself."

"But could you not be mended?" asked the girl.

"Oh, yes; but one is never so pretty after being mended, you know,"
replied the Princess.

"I suppose not," said Dorothy.

"Now there is Mr. Joker, one of our clowns," continued the china lady,
"who is always trying to stand upon his head. He has broken himself so
often that he is mended in a hundred places, and doesn't look at all
pretty. Here he comes now, so you can see for yourself."

Indeed, a jolly little clown came walking toward them, and Dorothy
could see that in spite of his pretty clothes of red and yellow and
green he was completely covered with cracks, running every which way
and showing plainly that he had been mended in many places.

The Clown put his hands in his pockets, and after puffing out his
cheeks and nodding his head at them saucily, he said:

"My lady fair,
Why do you stare
At poor old Mr. Joker?
You're quite as stiff
And prim as if
You'd eaten up a poker!"

"Be quiet, sir!" said the Princess. "Can't you see these are
strangers, and should be treated with respect?"

"Well, that's respect, I expect," declared the Clown, and immediately
stood upon his head.

"Don't mind Mr. Joker," said the Princess to Dorothy. "He is
considerably cracked in his head, and that makes him foolish."

"Oh, I don't mind him a bit," said Dorothy. "But you are so
beautiful," she continued, "that I am sure I could love you dearly.
Won't you let me carry you back to Kansas, and stand you on Aunt Em's
mantel? I could carry you in my basket."

"That would make me very unhappy," answered the china Princess. "You
see, here in our country we live contentedly, and can talk and move
around as we please. But whenever any of us are taken away our joints
at once stiffen, and we can only stand straight and look pretty. Of
course that is all that is expected of us when we are on mantels and
cabinets and drawing-room tables, but our lives are much pleasanter
here in our own country."

"I would not make you unhappy for all the world!" exclaimed Dorothy.
"So I'll just say good-bye."

"Good-bye," replied the Princess.

They walked carefully through the china country. The little animals
and all the people scampered out of their way, fearing the strangers
would break them, and after an hour or so the travelers reached the
other side of the country and came to another china wall.

It was not so high as the first, however, and by standing upon the
Lion's back they all managed to scramble to the top. Then the Lion
gathered his legs under him and jumped on the wall; but just as he
jumped, he upset a china church with his tail and smashed it all to
pieces.

"That was too bad," said Dorothy, "but really I think we were lucky in
not doing these little people more harm than breaking a cow's leg and a
church. They are all so brittle!"

"They are, indeed," said the Scarecrow, "and I am thankful I am made of
straw and cannot be easily damaged. There are worse things in the
world than being a Scarecrow."