L. Frank Baum - Oz 17

by The Cowardly Lion Of Oz

  “Help!” wailed Scraps, tumbling out of the window, and the rest of the company began backing into corners. But the clown, now satisfied with his army of invasion, seized the yellow hand of the Scarecrow and repeated his verse for the last time:

  “Udge! Budge! Come to Mudge! Udgers Budgers, We are Mudgers!”

  In a flash they were in Mudge-every single person the clown had touched. And the sight that met their eyes was simply terrifying.

  CHAPTER 20 The Cowardly Lion’s Peril

  To understand how the Cowardly Lion made the journey to Mudge in one day instead of three, we must go back to the afternoon he started down the mountain with the Stone Man of Oz. Crunch, as he tramped along beside the Cowardly Lion, was thinking harder than in all the stone ages of his hard life. The Wizard Wam had given him brains of a sort, and though they had not been used before the events of the afternoon had brought them quite suddenly into action. The mountain where Crunch had stood for so many centuries, while quite near the Emerald City, was never visited by anyone; so that the Stone Man knew very little of life as it was lived in Oz. Notta’s suggestions had aroused his curiosity, and for the Cowardly Lion he was developing a great fondness. As the afternoon progressed the Cowardly Lion grew positively embarrassed by his terms of endearment.

  “You are the handsomest creature in Oz,” insisted Crunch over and over, “and if you were only of stone you would be more beautiful still.”

  “Very still,” rumbled the Cowardly Lion, putting back his ears. “Though I suppose,” he added thoughtfully, “a stone lion is never afraid.” To change the subject he began telling Crunch about his cowardice, and how he had started out originally to find himself some courage.

  “Would it make you happy to be afraid of nothing?” asked the Stone Man in his grinding voice.

  “Perfectly happy,” sighed the Cowardly Lion, “for though I fight when danger threatens; I

  suffer terribly from a desire to run away.”

  “Then if you had no desire to run away you would be perfectly happy?” asked Crunch, with a stamp that threw the Cowardly Lion off his feet. “Why, I can easily fix that!”

  “Do you mean to say you could give me courage?” roared the Cowardly Lion, stopping perfectly still in his tracks.

  “I know a trick to fix you so that you will never again be afraid,” answered the Stone Man, rolling his eyes from side to side. “That is one thing I can do.”

  “Who taught you magic?” rumbled the Cowardly Lion suspiciously.

  “No one,” grated Crunch, “but this hard little secret was in the brains Wam wished into my block head. Shall I change you now?”

  The Cowardly Lion sat down and scratched his ear with his hind leg. He had lived long enough in a magic country to believe anything Possible, but somehow this huge, craggy giant filled him with misgivings.

  “I’d like to think about this a little longer, if you don’t mind,” he answered cautiously. “Tell me more about it, can’t you?”

  Crunch shook his head solemnly. “If I told you it wouldn’t work. Better let me change you, old

  fellow.”

  “No,” wheezed the Cowardly Lion uneasily, “I think I’ll wait a bit. I tell you,” he added, brightening up, “let’s not try it until this little Mudge affair is over. It isn’t quite right to think of ourselves when my good friend Notta is in danger. Help me first and change me afterward.”

  “All right,” agreed the Stone Man, starting stolidly forward, but several times the Cowardly Lion, glancing up unexpectedly, caught him moving his stiff lips and looking at him with such a stony glare that it sent a shiver of terror down his spine.

  “Now, see here,” roared the lion, planting himself determinedly in Crunch’s path. “You must promise me not to try that trick till I’m ready. I’ve been frightened all my life and I don’t wish to be frightened into a courageous lion without knowing it.”

  “Oh, all right,” grumbled the Stone Man again, “but I don’t see any sense in all this delay. What if your friends do turn blue? It won’t hurt them, and why should you put yourself in the clutches of this wicked old Mudger?”

  “That is my affair,” roared the Cowardly Lion, shocked at Crunch’s unfeeling words. “I suppose a person entirely composed of stone cannot help being hard and unsympathetic,” he reflected to himself. Aloud he called, “Come along, let’s hurry,” and hurry they did as fast as their legs would carry them.

  A Munchkin farmer, whose cottage they passed just at dusk, gave the Cowardly Lion a hearty dinner, but he shook his head doubtfully at Crunch, who had propped himself up against a barn while the lion ate.

  “He’ll break something,” whispered the farmer nervously. “He’s too heavy to be walking about. What’s he doing alive anyway? Has Ozma seen him? Or the Scarecrow? Here, here!” he called angrily, as the barn began to creak and lean to one side, “you’ll have to lean against something else!”

  “I’ll stand right here, and nothing will budge me,” grumbled Crunch disagreeably. At this the Cowardly Lion swallowed the rest of his dinner at one gulp and started to run down the road. He knew that the Stone Man would follow him and he did not want the poor farmer’s barn demolished.

  “I thought you were going to help people,” he roared reproachfully, as Crunch overtook him. “No, I’ve changed my mind,” announced Crunch with a terrible grin, “I’m only going to help you.” The Cowardly Lion started to lecture the Stone Man, but, as he paid not the slightest attention, he finally gave it up and trotted along in silence. He was growing wearier every minute, and finally on the edge of a little wood he stopped altogether. Night was coming on, and after the flights and excitement of the past two days the Cowardly Lion felt he must snatch a little rest.

  “Crunch, old rock, will you keep watch while I get a little sleep?” he yawned. The Stone Man nodded impassively. He had watched men sleep in the long ago stone age and, though he could not see any use in this strange custom, he concluded it was another tiresome habit of these creatures not brought to life by magic.

  With a long sigh, for he sadly missed his jolly companions, the Cowardly Lion stretched himself out under a tree and almost instantly fell into a heavy slumber. For a time the Stone Man stood perfectly still. Then he began to mutter crossly to himself. The idea of waiting until they reached Mudge to try his trick was not pleasing to the stony fellow, for after the change, though he had been careful not to say so, the Cowardly Lion would be absolutely in his power. And, with the Cowardly Lion, he meant to return to his lonely mountain and stand happily ever afterward. Already the thought of offering his services to the Queen and building a city had begun to bore him. This pounding about chipped his toes and jarred his granite. Why had he ever made that ridiculous promise to the Cowardly Lion? But made it was, and a Stone Man can no sooner break his promise than his head. Kicking the earth up fretfully, Crunch tried to think of a way out of the difficulty. Just as the twentieth star came pricking out in the heavens, he had an idea. Crunch, being of stone, never tired and could therefore travel indefinitely. If this Mudge business had to be got through with, then the sooner they arrived in Mudge the better. He knew that he could go three times as quickly as an ordinary flesh and bone man, therefore he ought to reach Mustafa’s Kingdom by morning.

  Snatching into the air a startled Munchkin shepherd, who was strolling along with his hands in his pockets, he asked him the way to Mudge. When the lad’s teeth stopped chattering long enough to tell him, he dropped him carelessly on the ground and picked up the Cowardly Lion. The next instant he was running with all his might toward Mustafa’s dreadful desert, trampling under his feet any fences or small buildings that got in the way, and jarring the whole country with his heavy strides. The Cowardly Lion awakened almost immediately and tried to wriggle out of his grasp, but escape from those mighty arms was an impossibility.

  “Where are you going?” he growled angrily, the words being fairly jolted out of him.

  “To Mudge!” shouted Crunch without
slackening his speed. “I promised not to change you to a courageous lion till we finished with Mustafa. Well, now, I am going to finish Mustafa.”

  “Stop!” implored the Cowardly Lion, but he might as well have argued with the wind, and to continue the argument, when Crunch’s every step deprived him of his breath, took the whole of his strength and determination. But continue it he did, with roars, threats and rumblings. To these the Stone

  Man paid not the slightest attention, and finally the Cowardly Lion was too exhausted and shaken to utter another roar.

  “There’s no use reasoning with me,” Crunch had insisted stubbornly, “for I am a hard mass of mineral matter. I will take you to Mudge because that I promised to do, but as soon as we reach Mudge you will be mine forever!”

  The Cowardly Lion had not even strength to tremble at these awful words, so he closed his eyes and tried not to think about Mustafa and his nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine lions, nor Crunch and his terrible threat. It would be impossible for Notta and Bob to reach Mudge in time to help him now, so the poor Cowardly Lion resolved to fight as long as he could, and then bravely resign himself to whatever fate had in Store for him. At every step of the Stone Man, he more bitterly regretted the moment he had trusted himself to the company of this treacherous giant.

  Whether he fell asleep, or was shaken into unconsciousness, the Cowardly Lion never knew. The next thing he remembered was leaning up against an iron encosure and hearing Crunch calling loudly for admittance into Mudge. For the Stone Man had run, without turning so much as an inch out of the way, directly to the land of the Mudgers.

  The sun was high in the Heavens, and winds from Mustafa’s desert blew hotly in their faces. The Mudger Guard, hearing the terrible clamor, came running to see who was hammering on the gates, and when they saw Crunch and the Cowardly Lion they turned and flew toward their master’s striped tent.

  Mustafa, still gazing fixedly at his ring, hardly heard their terrified description of the stone giant. All that he heard was the wonderful news that a lion, undoubtedly the Cowardly Lion of Oz, had at last been delivered into his power. Calling Panapee, and running so fast he lost both of his sandals, Mustafa rushed out to the lion enclosure and with trembling hands unlocked the gates. Fortunately the nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine lions were in another part, and when he waved for Crunch and the Cowardly Lion to enter, they did so without disturbing Mustafa’s ferocious pets. The Cowardly Lion wobbled slightly, for he was still shaken by his terrible journey, but the Stone Man tramped defiantly toward the blue whiskered monarch of Mudge.

  “Welcome!” wheezed Mustafa, waving his scimitar. Panny, with an outraged glance at the Stone Man, climbed the nearest palm tree.

  “I understand you wished to have me captured,” growled the Cowardly Lion, trembling slightly, but resolved to go through with this disagreeable business.

  “Don’t say captured,” cried Mustafa slyly. “Let us say that I wished to have my court honored by your cowardly and perfect presence. I understand you are a terrible fighter,” he added, tugging at his whiskers joyfully.

  “Shall I crush or crumble him?” asked Crunch, interrupting Mustafa’s further remarks and ramblings. And then Mustafa for the first time became really aware of the Stone Man. The more he exclaimed, the more horribly aware of him he became.

  “Panny!” he shrilled, looking all around for his chief chamberlain, “Panny, call out the Guard!”

  “Call them out yourself,” chattered the trembling chamberlain, frightened out of his usual submissiveness. “I’ll not stir from this tree.” Crunch made a snatch at Mustafa, but the Cowardly Lion

  hastily intervened. Wicked though Mustafa had been, the kind-hearted lion was not going to stand by and see him crushed to a crumble. He motioned for Crunch to follow him a few steps aside and quite sulkily the Stone Man obeyed.

  “This is my fight,” puffed the Cowardly Lion. “Now be a good fellow and keep out of it till I

  need you.”

  “How long will it take?” grated Crunch, slightly mollified. To tell the truth, he wanted to think over the formula needed to change the Cowardly Lion. One of the magic words had slipped his stone memory.

  “Oh, an hour or two,” answered the lion uneasily, determined, if he could, to escape from both of these treacherous villains.

  “All right, old fellow.” Crunch smiled as he said this. He felt he could afford to be generous, for in a few hours the Cowardly Lion would belong to him for good. So he leaned stolidly against the enclosure, while the Cowardly Lion hurried after Mustafa, who was running in a cloud of sand toward his tent.

  “Where’s that animated tombstone?” gasped Mustafa, sinking down on his throne. “Outside,” panted the Cowardly Lion, too tired to notice the signal that passed between Mustafa and two Guardsmen in the opening of the tent. In an instant a gold collar and chain had been clapped ‘round his tawny neck.

  “Now then,” exulted Mustafa, “who says you’re not captured.” Forgeting all about the Stone Man and his threats, he bade the two Guardsmen drag the Cowardly Lion to the royal enclosure. As they left through an opening in another side of the tent, Crunch knew nothing of their going. The Cowardly Lion planted all four feet and roared terribly but six more Guardsmen came to help the others and ignominiously he was dragged along.

  “Now we shall see a famous fight, and discover whether this Cowardly Lion is as brave as he is said to be,” chuckled Mustafa, shuffling along beside him. The part of the enclosure to which they were taking the lion was widened out into a regular arena. Already the nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine lions, with noses pressed against the bars, were watching the approach of their rival. For Mustafa had talked so long and tiresomely of the Cowardly Lion, who was coming to fight the whole company of them, that they considered him an enemy to be destroyed upon the spot. They did not have long to wait, for while two Guardsmen opened the gates of the enclosure, six more with the ends of their scimitars urged the Cowardly Lion forward. Stars! What an array of eyes, tails and gleaming teeth! What a thunder of savage growls, roars and rumbles!

  Before they made a spring at the Cowardly Lion an unexpected interruption startled them. It was Sir Hokus of Pokes, falling down like a ton of kitchen tins beside the monarch of Mudge. And before the lions had stopped blinking at that, down rattled the Tin Woodman and Tik Tok, Glinda and the little Wizard of Oz, followed by Dorothy, Snorer and Bob and last of all, Ozma, the Scarecrow and Notta Bit More.

  “Help!” screeched the Guards running in every direction.

  “It’s raining royalty!” shrilled Tazzywaller, who had sneaked out to witness the fight. “Fly for your life!” The fat little lion feeder tugged at Mustafa’s robe, for he had at once recognized Princess Dorothy and Ozma of Oz. But before Mustafa could flee, or the company from the Emerald City had

  caught their breath, Mustafa’s lions, recovering from the shock of so many fallers, sprang with nine thousand different dreadful roars toward the Cowardly Lion.

  Dorothy screamed and the Scarecrow recklessly tried to squeeze himself through the bars, but before anyone from the Emerald City could raise a hand, Crunch, aroused by the thumps and roars, came pounding upon the scene. Just as the Cowardly Lion crouched to meet the overwhelming rush of Mustafa’s lions, the Stone Man held up his arm and shouted seven magic words!

  CHAPTER 21 Oz Magic Triumphs

  SEVEN magic words! No sooner were they uttered than the nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine lions were turned to so many stone statues-some just as they were about to spring, some half way in the air, so that they came clattering heavily down one on top of the other, and the poor Cowardly Lion at the bottom of the heap!

  “Somebody stop him!” gasped Ozma who was sitting exactly as she had fallen on a small sand dune. Sir Hokus of Pokes sprang bravely at Crunch, but his sword snapped at the first thrust, and the Stone Man, paying no more attention to the people from the Emerald City than if they had been so many flies, began be
nding out the iron bars of the lion enclosure. Mustafa, petrified with terror, might have been a statue himself, and the Mudger Guards had long since taken to their heels.

  “What have you done?” wailed Notta, trying to attract the Stone Man’s attention. He seized an iron bar that Crunch had loosened and began valiantly belaboring Crunch about the shins.

  “Oh, hello!” rasped Crunch, glancing down at the clown. “Back again? Well, I’ve taken your advice, you see.

  “My advice!” groaned Notta.

  “Yes.” Crunch, who had now broken an opening for himself, stepped into the enclosure.

  “I’ve helped the Cowardly Lion by changing him to stone. Now he will never feel cowardly again, and what’s more, he belongs to me!” Leaning over, he began tossing Mustafa’s lions aside as if they had been so many paper weights.

  “Oh, help!” screamed Snorer. “Aren’t there any wizards here to stop this fellow? Are you going to sit like images while he runs off with the bravest lion in Oz?”

  “I must think!” groaned the Scarecrow, putting his white cotton glove to his head, while Dorothy and Bob ran close to the bars and looked anxiously for the first glimpse of their old friend. But Glinda and the Wizard of Oz already had their heads together. “First,” whispered the little Wizard of Oz, “we will let him find the Cowardly Lion, for those statues would be too heavy for us to lift. Then, we will deprive him of all power to move.