The Royal Book of Oz

by L. Frank Baum

  CHAPTER 23

  SAFE AT LAST IN THE LAND OF OZ

  "Must we keep bumping until we bump through?" panted Dorothyanxiously.

  "No, by my hilts!" roared Sir Hokus, and setting his foot in a notchof the beanstalk, he cut with his sword the rope that bound him tothe parasol. "Put the parasol down half way, and I'll climb ahead andcut an opening."

  With great difficulty Dorothy partially lowered the parasol, andinstantly their speed diminished. Indeed, they barely moved at all,and the Knight had soon passed them on his climb to the top.

  "Are you there?" rumbled the Cowardly Lion anxiously. A great clod ofearth landed on his head, filling his eyes and mouth with mud.

  "Ugh!" roared the lion.

  "It's getting light! It's getting light!" screamed Dorothy, and inher excitement snapped the parasol up.

  Sir Hokus, having cut with his sword a large circular hole in thethin crust of earth covering the tube, was about to step out when theparasol, hurling up from below, caught him neatly on its top, and outburst the whole party and sailed up almost to the clouds!

  "Welcome to Oz!" cried Dorothy, looking down happily on the dearfamiliar Munchkin landscape.

  "Home at last!" exulted the Scarecrow, wafting a kiss downward.

  "Let's get down to earth before we knock the sun into a cocked hat,"gasped the Cowardly Lion, for Dorothy, in her excitement, hadforgotten to lower the parasol.

  Now the little girl lowered the parasol carefully at first, thenfaster and faster and finally shut it altogether.

  Sir Hokus took a high dive from the top. Down tumbled the others,over and over. But fortunately for all, there was a great haystackbelow, and upon this they landed in a jumbled heap close to the magicbean pole. As it happened, there was no one in sight. Up they jumpedin a trice, and while the Comfortable Camel and Doubtful Dromedarymunched contentedly at the hay, Sir Hokus and the Scarecrow placedsome loose boards over the opening around the bean pole and coveredthem with dirt and cornstalks.

  "I will get Ozma to close it properly with the Magic Belt," said theScarecrow gravely. "It wouldn't do to have people sliding down myfamily tree and scaring poor Tappy. As for me, I shall never leave Ozagain!"

  "I hope not," growled the Cowardly Lion, tenderly examining hisscratched hide.

  "But if you hadn't, I'd never have had such lovely adventures orfound Sir Hokus and the Comfortable Camel and Doubtful Dromedary,"said Dorothy. "And what a lot I have to tell Ozma! Let's go straightto the Emerald City."

  "It's quite a journey," explained the Scarecrow to Sir Hokus, who wascleaning off his armor with a handful of straw.

  "I go where Lady Dot goes," replied the Knight, smilingaffectionately at the little girl and straightening the ragged hairribbon which he still wore on his arm.

  "Don't forget me, dear Karwan Bashi," wheezed the Comfortable Camel,putting his head on the Knight's shoulder.

  "You're a sentimental dunce, Camy. I doubt whether they'll take us atall!" The Doubtful Dromedary looked wistfully at Dorothy.

  "Go to, now!" cried Sir Hokus, putting an arm around each neck."You're just like two of the family!"

  "It will be very comfortable to go to now," sighed the camel.

  "We're all a big, jolly family here," said the Scarecrow, smilingbrightly, "and Oz is the friendliest country in the world."

  "Right," said the Cowardly Lion, "but let's get started!" Hestretched his tired muscles and began limping stiffly toward theyellow brick road.

  "Wait," cried Dorothy, "have you forgotten the parasol?"

  "I wish I could," groaned the Cowardly Lion, rolling his eyes.

  Sir Hokus, with folded arms, was gazing regretfully at the bean pole."It has been a brave quest," he sighed, "but now, I take it, ouradventures are over!" Absently, the Knight felt in his boot-top anddrawing out a small red bean popped it into his mouth. Just beforereaching the top of the tube, he had pulled a handful of them fromthe beanstalk, but the others had fallen out when he dove into thehay.

  "Shall we use the parasol again, Lady Dot?" he asked, still staringpensively at the bean pole. "Shall--?"

  He got no farther, nor did Dorothy answer his question. Instead, shegave a loud scream and clutched the Scarecrow's arm. The Scarecrow,taken by surprise, fell over backward, and the Comfortable Camel,raising his head inquiringly, gave a bellow of terror. From theKnight's shoulders a green branch had sprung, and while the companygazed in round-eyed amazement it stretched toward the bean pole,attached itself firmly, and then shot straight up into the air, theKnight kicking and struggling on the end. In another second, he wasout of sight.

  "Come back! Come back!" screamed the Comfortable Camel, runningaround distractedly.

  "I doubt we'll ever see him again!" groaned the Doubtful Dromedary,craning his neck upward.

  "Do something! Do something!" begged Dorothy. At which the Scarecrowjumped up and dashed toward the little farmhouse.

  "I'll get an ax," he called over his shoulder, "and chop down thebean pole."

  "No, don't do that!" roared the Cowardly Lion, starting after him."Do you want to break him to pieces?"

  "Oh! Oh! Can't you think of something else?" cried Dorothy. "Andhurry, or he'll be up to the moon!"

  The Scarecrow put both hands to his head and stared around wildly.Then, with a triumphant wave of his hat, declared himself ready toact.

  "The parasol!" cried the late Emperor of Silver Island. "Quick,Dorothy, put up the parasol!"

  Snatching the parasol, which lay at the foot of the bean pole,Dorothy snapped it open, and the Scarecrow just had time to make aflying leap and seize the handle before it soared upward, and in atrice they, too, had disappeared.

  "Doubty! Doubty!" wailed the Comfortable Camel, crowding up to hishumpbacked friend, "we're having a pack of trouble. My knees are alla-tremble!"

  "Now don't you worry," advised the Cowardly Lion, sitting downresignedly. "I'm frightened myself, but that's because I'm socowardly. Queer things happen in Oz, but they usually turn out allright. Why, Hokus is just growing up with the country, that's all,just growing up with the country."

  "Doubt that," sniffed the Doubtful Dromedary faintly. "He was grownup in the beginning."

  "But think of the Scarecrow's brains. You leave things to theScarecrow." But it was no use. Both beasts began to roar dismally.

  "I don't want a plant. I want my Karwan Bashi," sobbed theComfortable Camel broken-heartedly.

  "Well, don't drown me," begged the Cowardly Lion, moving out of theway of the camel's tears. "Say, what's that draft?"

  What indeed? In the trees overhead, a very cyclone whistled, andbefore the three had even time to catch their breath, they were blownhigh into the air and the next instant were hurtling toward theEmerald City like three furry cannonballs, faster and faster.

  CHAPTER 24

  HOMEWARD BOUND TO THE EMERALD CITY

  Dorothy and the Scarecrow, clinging fast to the magic parasol, hadfollowed the Knight almost to the clouds. At first, it looked as ifthey would never catch up with him, so swiftly was the branchgrowing, but it was not long before the little umbrella began togain, and in several minutes more they were beside Sir Hokus himself.

  "Beshrew me, now!" gasped the Knight, stretching out his hand towardDorothy. "Can'st stop this reckless plant?"

  "Give me your sword," commanded the Scarecrow, "and I'll cut youoff."

  Dorothy, with great difficulty, kept the parasol close to the Knightwhile the Scarecrow reached for the sword. But Sir Hokus backed awayin alarm.

  "'Tis part of me, an' you cut it off, I will be cut off, too. 'Tisrooted in my back," he puffed.

  "What shall we do?" cried Dorothy in distress. "Maybe if we take holdof his hands we can keep him from going any higher."

  The Scarecrow, jamming down his hat so it wouldn't blow off, noddedapprovingly, and each holding the parasol with one hand gave theother to the Knight. And when Dorothy pointed the parasol down, toher great delight Sir Hokus came also, the thin green branch growingjust ab
out as fast as they moved.

  Just then the little fan, which had been rolling around merrily inDorothy's pocket, slipped out and fell straight down toward the threeunsuspecting beasts below. Draft! No wonder!

  But Dorothy never missed it, and quite unconscious of such a calamityanxiously talked over the Knight's predicament with the Scarecrow.They both decided that the best plan was to fly straight to theEmerald City and have Ozma release the Knight from the enchantedbeanstalk.

  "I'm sorry you got tangled up in my family tree, old fellow," saidthe Scarecrow after they had flown some time in silence, "but thismakes us relations, doesn't it?" He winked broadly at the Knight.

  "So it does," said Sir Hokus jovially. "I'm a branch of your familynow. Yet methinks I should not have swallowed that bean."

  "Bean?" questioned Dorothy. "What bean?" The Knight carefullyexplained how he had plucked a handful of red beans from thebeanstalk just before reaching the top of the tube and how he hadeaten one.

  "So that's what started you growing!" exclaimed Dorothy in surprise.

  "Alas, yes!" admitted the Knight. "I've never felt more grown-up inmy life," he finished solemnly. "An adventurous country, this Oz!"

  "I should say it was," chuckled the Scarecrow. "But isn't it almosttime we were reaching the Emerald City, Dorothy?"

  "I think I'm going in the right direction," answered the little girl,"but I'll fly a little lower to be sure."

  "Not too fast! Not too fast!" warned Sir Hokus, looking nervouslyover his shoulder at his long, wriggling stem.

  "There's Ozma's palace!" cried the Scarecrow all at once.

  "And there's Ozma!" screamed Dorothy, peering down delightedly. "AndScraps and Tik-Tok and everybody!"

  She pointed the parasol straight down, when a sharp tug from SirHokus jerked them all back. They were going faster than the poorKnight was growing, so Dorothy lowered the parasol half way, andslowly they floated toward the earth, landing gently in one of theflower beds of Ozma's lovely garden.

  "Come along and meet the folks," said the Scarecrow as Dorothy closedthe parasol. But Sir Hokus clutched him in alarm.

  "Hold! Hold!" gasped the Knight. "I've stopped growing, but if youleave me I'll shoot up into the air again."

  The Scarecrow and Dorothy looked at each other in dismay. Sureenough, the Knight had stopped growing, and it was all they could doto hold him down to earth, for the stubborn branch of beanstalk wastrying to straighten up. They had fallen quite a distance from thepalace itself, and all the people of Oz had their backs turned, sohad not seen their singular arrival.

  "Hello!" called the Scarecrow loudly. Then "Help! Help!" as theKnight jerked him twice into the air. But Ozma, Trot, JackPumpkinhead and all the rest were staring upward and talking sobusily among themselves that they did not hear either Dorothy's orthe Scarecrow's cries. First one, then the other was snatched off hisfeet, and although Sir Hokus, with tears in his eyes, begged them toleave him to his fate, they held on with all their might. Just as itlooked as if they all three would fly into the air again, the littleWizard of Oz happened to turn around.

  "Look! Look!" he cried, tugging Ozma's sleeve.

  "Why, it's Dorothy!" gasped Ozma, rubbing her eyes. "It's Dorothyand--"

  "Help! Help!" screamed the Scarecrow, waving one arm wildly. Withoutwaiting another second, all the celebrities of Oz came running towardthe three adventurers.

  "Somebody heavy come take hold!" puffed Dorothy, out of breath withher efforts to keep Sir Hokus on the ground.

  The Ozites, seeing that help was needed at once, suppressed theircuriosity.

  "I'm heavy," said Tik-Tok solemnly, clasping the Knight's arm. TheTin Woodman seized his other hand, and Dorothy sank down exhausted onthe grass.

  Princess Ozma pressed forward.

  "What does it all mean? Where did you come from?" asked the littleQueen of Oz, staring in amazement at the strange spectacle beforeher.

  "And who is this medieval person?" asked Professor Wogglebug, pushingforward importantly. (He had returned to the palace to collect moredata for the Royal Book of Oz.)

  "He doesn't look evil to me," giggled Scraps, dancing up to SirHokus, her suspender button eyes snapping with fun.

  "He isn't," said Dorothy indignantly, for Sir Hokus was too shakenabout to answer. "He's my Knight Errant."

  "Ah, I see," replied Professor Wogglebug. "A case of 'When Knighthoodwas in flower.'" And would you believe it--the beanstalk at thatminute burst into a perfect shower of red blossoms that came tumblingdown over everyone. Before they had recovered from their surprise,the branch snapped off close to the Knight's armor, and Tik-Tok, theTin Woodman and Sir Hokus rolled over in a heap. The branch itselfwhistled through the air and disappeared.

  "Oh," cried Dorothy, hugging the Knight impulsively, "I'm so glad."

  "Are you all right?" asked the Scarecrow anxiously.

  "Good as ever!" announced Sir Hokus, and indeed all traces of themagic stalk had disappeared from his shoulders.

  "Dorothy!" cried Ozma again. "What does it all mean?"

  "Merely that I slid down my family tree and that Dorothy and thisKnight rescued me," said the Scarecrow calmly.

  "And he's a real Royalty--so there!" cried Dorothy with a wave at theScarecrow and making a little face at Professor Wogglebug. "Meet hisSupreme Highness, Chang Wang Woe of Silver Island, who had abdicatedhis throne and returned to be a plain Scarecrow in Oz!"

  Then, as the eminent Educator of Oz stood gaping at the Scarecrow,"Oh, Ozma, I've so much to tell you!"

  "Begin! Begin!" cried the little Wizard. "For everything's mightymysterious. First, the Cowardly Lion and two unknown beasts shootthrough the air and stop just outside the third-story windows, andthere they hang although I've tried all my magic to get them down.Then you and the Scarecrow drop in with a strange Knight!"

  "Oh, the poor Cowardly Lion!" gasped Dorothy as the Wizard finishedspeaking. "The magic fan!" She felt hurriedly in her pocket. "It'sgone!"

  "It must have slipped out of your pocket and blown them here, andthey'll never come down till that fan is closed," cried the Scarecrowin an agitated voice.

  All of this was Greek to Ozma and the others, but when Dorothy beggedthe little Queen to send for her Magic Belt, she did it withoutquestion. This belt Dorothy had captured from the Gnome King, and itenabled the wearer to wish people and objects wherever one wantedthem.

  "I wish the magic fan to close and to come safely back to me," saidDorothy as soon as she had clasped the belt around her waist. Nosooner were the words out before there was a loud crash and a seriesof roars and groans. Everybody started on a run for the palace, SirHokus ahead of all the rest. The fan had mysteriously returned toDorothy's pocket.

  The three animals had fallen into a huge cluster of rose bushes and,though badly scratched and frightened, were really unhurt.

  "I doubt that I'll like Oz," quavered the Doubtful Dromedary,lurching toward Sir Hokus.

  "You might have been more careful of that fan," growled the CowardlyLion reproachfully, plucking thorns from his hide. The ComfortableCamel was so overjoyed to see the Knight that he rested his head onSir Hokus's shoulder and began weeping down his armor.

  And now that their adventures seemed really over, what explanationswere to be made! Sitting on the top step of the palace with all ofthem around her, Dorothy told the whole wonderful story of theScarecrow's family tree. When her breath gave out, the Scarecrow tookup the tale himself, and as they all realized how nearly they hadlost their jolly comrade, many of the party shed real tears. Indeed,Nick Chopper hugged the Scarecrow till there was not a whole straw inhis body.

  "Never leave us again," begged Ozma, and the Scarecrow, crossing NickChopper's heart (he had none of his own), promised that he neverwould.

  And what a welcome they gave Sir Hokus, the Doubtful Dromedary andthe Comfortable Camel! Only Professor Wogglebug seemed disturbed.During the strange recital, he had grown quieter and quieter andfinally, with an embarrassed cough, had excused himsel
f and hurriedinto the palace.

  He went directly to the study, and seating himself at a desk opened alarge book, none other than _The Royal Book of Oz_. Dipping an emeraldpen in the ink, he began a new chapter headed thus:

  HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY, THE SCARECROW

  Late Emperor and Imperial Sovereign of Silver Island

  Then, flipping over several pages to a chapter headed "PrincessDorothy!", he wrote carefully at the end, "Dorothy, Princess andRoyal Discoverer of Oz."

  Meanwhile, below stairs, the Scarecrow was distributing his gifts.There were silver chains for everyone in the palace and shiningsilver slippers for Ozma, Betsy Bobbin, Trot and Dorothy, and abottle of silver polish for Nick Chopper.

  Dorothy presented Ozma with the magic fan and parasol, and they weresafely put away by Jellia Jamb with the other magic treasures of Oz.

  Next, because they were all curious to see the Scarecrow's wonderfulKingdom, they hurried upstairs to look in the Magic Picture.

  "Show us the Emperor of Silver Island," commanded Ozma. Immediatelythe beautiful silver throne room appeared. Happy Toko had removed hisimperial hat and was standing on his head to the great delight of thewhole court, and a host of little Silver Islander boys were peekingin at the windows.

  "Now doesn't that look cheerful?" asked the Scarecrow delightedly. "Iknew he'd make a good Emperor."

  "I wish we would hear what he's saying," said Dorothy. "Oh, do lookat Chew Chew!" The Grand Chew Chew was standing beside the thronescowling horribly.

  "I think I can arrange for you to hear," muttered the Wizard of Oz,and taking a queer magic instrument from his pocket, he whispered"Aohbeeobbuy."

  Instantly they heard the jolly voice of Happy Toko singing:

  Oh shine his shoes of silver, And brush his silver queue, For I am but an Emperor And he's the Grand Chew Chew!

  Ozma laughed heartily as the picture faded away, and so did theothers. Indeed, there was so much to ask and wonder about that itseemed as if they never would finish talking.

  "Let's have a party--an old-fashioned Oz party," proposed Ozma whenthe excitement had calmed down a bit. And an old-fashioned party itwas, with places for everybody and a special table for the CowardlyLion, the Hungry Tiger, Toto, the Glass Cat, the Comfortable Camel,the Doubtful Dromedary and all the other dear creatures of thatamazing Kingdom.

  Sir Hokus insisted upon stirring up a huge pasty for the occasion,and there were songs, speeches and cheers for everyone, notforgetting the Doubtful Dromedary.

  At the cheering he rose with an embarrassed jerk of his long neck."In my left-hand saddle-sack," he said gruffly, "there is a quantityof silken shawls and jewels. I doubt whether they are good enough,but I would like Dorothy and Queen Ozma to have them."

  "Hear! Hear!" cried the Scarecrow, pounding on the table with hisknife. Then everything grew quiet as Ozma told how she, with the helpof Glinda, the Good Sorceress, had stopped the war between theHorners and Hoppers.

  When she had finished, Sir Hokus sprang up impulsively. "I prithee,lovely Lady, never trouble your royal head about wars again. From nowon, I will do battle for you and little Dorothy and Oz, and _I_ will beyour good Knight every day." At this, the applause was tremendous.

  Ye good Knight of Oz, full of courage and vim, Will do battle for us, and we'll take care of him!

  shouted Scraps, who was becoming more excited every minute.

  "I'll lend you some of my polish for your armor, old fellow," saidNick Chopper as the Knight sat down, beaming with pleasure.

  "Well," said Ozma with a smile when everyone had feasted and talkedto heart's content, "is everybody happy?"

  "I am!" cried the Comfortable Camel. "For here I am perfectlycomfortable."

  "I am!" cried Dorothy, putting her arm around the Scarecrow, who satnext to her. "For I have found my old friend and made some new ones."

  "I'm happy!" cried the Scarecrow, waving his glass, "because there isno age in Oz, and I am still my old Ozish self."

  "As for me," said the Knight, "I am happy, for I have served a Lady,gone on a Quest, and _Slain a Dragon! Ozma, and Oz forever!_