Tik Tok and Sir Hokus had followed the Stone Man into the enclosure, but a stone lion flung carelessly to one side, knocked Tik Tok head over heels, and Sir Hokus, deciding that flight was the better part of valor, retired to a safe distance, where he began threatening the Stone Man with every sort
of destruction from hammering to hanging. But Crunch continued calmly tossing the lions about, and at last uncovered the Cowardly Lion himself. He recognized him at once, for his mane, a mass of stony waves, stood straight on end. The Cowardly Lion, you see, had been petrified in one of his most trying moments, and, while he was preparing to fight with all his might, he could not control his mane and hence looked as natural as possible.
Dorothy could not help crying as Crunch tucked this lifelike image of her old chum under his arm and prepared to tramp off. But he got no further than two steps, for at the second step the combined magic of Glinda and the Wizard of Oz deprived him of all power to move. Crunch dropped the Cowardly Lion with a crash that chipped off a piece of his mane, and with one foot raised in the air stood perfecly motionless. The Stone Man was no longer alive!
“Oh!” cried Notta, frightened by the ease with which Glinda had deprived the stone giant of life, “who will bring the Cowardly Lion to himself again?” And at once everyone ran over to the poor petrified lion, and tugging and pulling, managed to get him to his feet.
“It was the only thing we could do,” puffed the little Wizard of Oz, gazing up worriedly at the huge statue of Crunch. “He did not know how to use the gift of life, and would only have brought more trouble upon us.”
“Isn’t this trouble enough?” cried Dorothy, throwing her arms around the cold, still figure of the Cowardly Lion.
“There, there, my dear! Glinda will find a way out of all this,” comforted the Scarecrow, and Notta and Bob joined him in his efforts to console the little girl, while Sir Hokus and the Tin Woodman ran to help Tik Tok to his feet.
“All this has happened because of you!” declared Ozma, stamping her foot for the first time in her gentle little life, and looking sternly at Mustafa.
“And for a punishment,” she pointed at the huge, craggy figure of Crunch, “for a punishment this Stone Man shall stand forever in Mudge, a monument to your greediness and folly.”
“Take away his ring,” whispered Bob, tiptoeing up to the little fairy ruler, for he had seen Mustafa slyly beginning to take it off and Bob knew its dreadful power. Without losing a minute, Ozma commanded Mustafa to hand over the ring. Tremblingly, the wretched old Mudger obeyed. So much had happened in the last few minutes, he was positively stunned by his misfortune. Not only had he offended the ruler of all Oz, lost the Cowardly Lion and his ring, but all of his other lions were turned to stone. Jerking his turban over one eye, the miserable monarch shuffled mournfully to his tent, and no one cared enough to stop him. Then, as the whole party was heartily disgusted with the hot, desert city of the Mudgers, Glinda, by a quick transportation phrase, wished them all safely back to the Emerald City.
There, for several hours Glinda, the Wizard of Oz, and Ozma worked over the Cowardly Lion, but all of their magic failed to undo the Stone Man’s spell, and it looked as if the huge beast would have to spend the rest of his life as a garden ornament. Twenty of the palace servants bore him down the steps and placed him gently in the center of a large flower bed, and all the inhabitants of the city came and gazed sadly at their once lively and cowardly comrade.
“He is the image of himself,” choked the Scarecrow, hanging a wreath of daisies round his neck, which was still adorned with Mustafa’s gold collar.
“But I don’t want an image,” cried Princess Dorothy and, climbing on the Cowardly Lion’s stone back, she cried as if her heart would break. Notta and Bob were too overcome by this dreadful misfortune to think about themselves. It did not even seem right to enjoy the lovely sights in the Emerald City, so the clown and little boy sat on a bench in the garden and gazed sorrowfully at the monument of their faithful old friend.
Then, all at once Bob jumped up with a little shout. “Look,” he cried, waving his cap joyfully. “Look! He’s coming alive again!” And so he was! For tears are more magic than anything else, when it comes to melting stone, and every spot where Dorothy’s tears fell was beginning to quiver with life. When Notta ran to the palace with the news, the excitement was tremendous. Everyone, from Ozma down to the littlest kitchen maid, came to weep over the Cowardly Lion, and bring him back to life. The Tin Woodman cried a perfect torrent of tears and quite rusted his chain. The Scarecrow and Scraps had not a tear in their cotton constitutions, but Snorer made up for this by crying enough for three. Everybody cried, and in less than a minute the dear, old kind-hearted lion opened his eyes. Shaking himself sleepily, he looked inquiringly at the weeping company and wanted to know what was the matter. All talking at once, and each trying to hug him first, they explained what had happened. The Cowardly Lion remembered nothing after being pushed into the lion enclosure. You can well imagine his relief when he discovered what a hard and horrible fate he had escaped.
“All this comes of my foolish wish for courage,” roared the Cowardly Lion, shaking his mane, which was quite perfect except for the piece Crunch had broken off. “I would rather be a Cowardly Lion for five minutes than a stone lion for a century. Why, a stone lion has not enough sense to be frightened.”
“Hurrah for the Cowardly Lion of Oz!” shouted the Scarecrow, and Bob Up, who felt more at home among these odd and friendly people than he had ever felt anywhere in his life, climbed on the Cowardly Lion’s back and hugged him with both arms. Dorothy hopped up again too, and in triumph they all trooped back to the throne room.
CHAPTER 22 A Happy Home in Oz
“AND now,” sighed the little Queen of Oz, sinking down among the soft cushions of her emerald throne, “let’s have the whole story!” Nothing could have exceeded her amazement, as Notta told of their marvelous adventures in Oz of Doorways and Un and Preserva the Great, of the Flyaboutabus and the Fiddlebow Boat. Dorothy was so curious about the Skyle of Un that they all ran to look in Ozma’s Magic Picture, which shows any place or person one wishes to see. “Show us the Uns,” commanded Ozma breathlessly, and Bob and Notta almost tumbled over backwards when the Magic Picture showed them I-wish-I-was and his Featherheads. A great battle was in progress, for I-wish-I-was was furious at the loss of the Flyaboutabus. The Guards and their friends on one side and the wicked ruler on the other were fighting tumultuously.
Sticks and feathers were flying in every direction and they were even pulling down their tree
houses.
Ozma shook her head gravely, but Bob Up, who had been thinking about the only good Un ever since they left the skyland, suddenly remembered his name and triumphantly whispered it to Ozma. Instantly Ozma, with the help of Glinda and the Wizard, commanded the good Un to come out from his hiding and sit upon the throne. The fighting ceased at once and the Uns began to look at one another with
puzzled expressions, as if they could not remember what they had been quarreling about. Bob and Notta and the Cowardly Lion shouted with approval, forgetting in their interest that the Uns in the picture could not hear them.
The good Un’s name was Unselfish and, as Glinda assured Ozma that the skyle would thereafter be ruled wisely and well, they all returned to the throne room. After Dorothy had hugged Notta a dozen times for his devotion to the Cowardly Lion, and the clown had turned his best somersaults, told his best jokes and generally made himself so funny that everyone was doubled up with laughter, Ozma again raised her scepter for silence.
“I suppose,” said the little fairy regretfully, for she had taken a great fancy to the clown and Snorer and Bob Up, “I suppose that now you are anxious to return to America.”
Notta took off his cap and scratched his ear, a habit he had when puzzled or embarrassed.
“Don’t go yet!” begged Dorothy, seizing the clown’s arm imploringly. As for Bob Up, he retired behind an emerald pillar so
that no one could see that he was crying.
“Oh, yes,” cawed Snorer, flapping down from the back of a tall chair where he had been enjoying a noisy little nap. “Oh, yes, we must go to America and make our fortune. I am going to have my nose patented and teach the people there how to snore properly.”
“That’s right,” agreed Notta soberly. “I’m a family man now and must go back and earn enough to send Bob to college, and I must save up for my old age, for clowns can’t be tumbling around the country forever.”
“Why, it’s nothing but fun,” cried Scraps, who had been quiet as long as she could contain
herself.
“Not always,” sighed Notta. “Making people laugh is the hardest work in the world. Look how easy it is to make them cry? But come along, Bob Up. It’s high time we were going, and if this little lady will just say the magic word we’ll bid you all goodbye. I must be saving up for my old age,” he repeated mournfully.
When Notta was sad, he always thought about his old age, and the idea of leaving the Cowardly Lion and all of this merry and childlike company made him sad indeed. And Ozma, who is the cleverest little mind and heart reader anywhere in the world or out-Ozma guessed his secret.
“Don’t go!” cried the little Queen impulsively.
“Stay with us and you won’t have any old age.
Stay in Oz, dear Notta, and be happy forever.”
At this the excitement was terrific. Every man, woman, child, animal, and celebrity added his or her voice to Ozma’s, and when the clown, with tears in his eyes, accepted the little Queen’s generous offer, they seized hands or paws, as the case might be, and danced merrily ‘round Bob, Snorer and Notta Bit More.
“You shall have the jolliest cottage in Oz,” promised the Scarecrow, when the excitement had subsided a bit.
“A tent would seem more homelike,” whispered Notta in the cloth ear of that charming gentleman. And a tent he did have, on the outskirts of the Emerald City-a tent shared with Snorer and Bob, where, with the help of the charming and unusual inhabitants of Oz, the clown gave the most surprising shows that had ever been seen in that magical country.
Bob, in his good fortune, did not forget the half a lion, and the Wizard of Oz reunited the unfortunate creature, after bringing both halves, with the aid of Ozma’s magic belt, to the Emerald City. The poor beast, whose hind quarters had fortunately escaped Crunch’s stone spell, was so overjoyed to see his tail again that he raced round in circles for several hours after his reunion.
As for Mustafa, he grew amazingly rich from the sale of his stone lions, and you can see them any fine day, guarding the doors of public buildings or standing proudly in the various parks of Oz. But in spite of his great wealth, he was far from happy, for his eyes, from staring so hard at his ring, had become hopelessly crossed, and cross-eyed he remained to the end of his days. Bob Up is friends with everyone, but most of all with Button Bright, a little boy who once visited Sky Island and who could not hear enough of the Skyle of Un.
Notta has saved up enough for Bob’s entire education and has gone off to confer with Professor Wogglebug, President of the College of Art and Athletic Perfection, about the future of the little boy.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1 Mustafa of Mudge
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 4 Mustafa’s Mandate
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6 The Seven Doors
CHAPTER 7 The Escape From Doorways
CHAPTER 11 A Strange Fishing Party
CHAPTER 12 Saved by a Flyaboutabus
CHAPTER 13 Mustafa’s Blue Magic
CHAPTER 14 Flying in a Deluge
CHAPTER 15 Mustafa Keeps Watch
CHAPTER 18 Notta’s Last Disguise
CHAPTER 19 In the Emerald City
CHAPTER 21 Oz Magic Triumphs
L. Frank Baum - Oz 17 Page 15