*
Chapter Five:
A Visit from the Wicked Witch of the Deep South
*
"My, the river's flowing fast. I'm glad it's not that deep," said theTin Woodman, after they were underway. "If it were, and I felloverboard, I could rust up solid for all eternity. Do you think the raftwill stay big? Oh dear, what if it gets little again? We'll all bespilled into the water!"
"Don't worry so much," said Dorothy, smiling. "You'll worry yourself todeath."
"Can people really do that?" asked the Tin Woodman. "Worry themselves todeath?"
"Of course not," laughed the girl. "But I suppose a person could becomequite sick if he constantly worried over things."
"Never worry worry, 'til worry worries you," said the Scarecrow in amatter-of-fact tone.
"What is that supposed to mean?" inquired the Tin Woodman.
"I think it means," answered the Scarecrow, "don't worry about somethinguntil it actually happens."
"Oh! I see," said the Tin Woodman. "In other words, most of our worriesnever materialize, so why fret constantly over something that in allprobability will never occur?"
"I think you've got it," said Dorothy.
"I think you've got it," echoed the Scarecrow.
Everyone laughed uproariously. Then the Tin Woodman broke into song....
"Oh ... never worry worry 'til worry worries you, 'cause if you worry worry your worry'll worry you."
Dorothy and the Scarecrow joined in:
"Oh ... never worry worry 'til worry worries you, 'cause if you worry worry your worry'll worry you."
Suddenly a dark shadow covered their raft, and a piercing scream filledthe air. They all looked up to see the Wicked Witch of the Deep South ona huge broomstick sweeping down on them. She had the ugliest, meanestface Dorothy had ever seen. As her eyes met Dorothy's, she pointed along bony green finger at her and screamed, "I'll get you, Deary! Youkilled my sisters. You'll never leave Oz alive!" Then she screeched withterrible laughter as she roared away.
Everyone except Dorothy was shaking with fright. Dorothy was shakingtoo, inside, but she didn't show it.
"N-n-n-never w-w-worry w-worry 't-t-till worry w-worries y-you,"stuttered the Tin Woodman.
"Now pull yourself together," ordered Dorothy. "She's gone.... I think Isee the Dainty Land of China. We should be there in a few minutes."
*
Chapter 6:
The Dainty Land of China*
The Tin Woodman did very well steering the raft to the bank of theriver. As the Dainty China Country came into view he became quiteexcited, but then a little confused. "I wonder what happened to thewall," he said, half to himself. "But looks like there's a welcomingparty awaiting us."
Dorothy and the Scarecrow stood up at once, almost toppling the TinWoodman into the water. Sure enough, quite a large entourage was waitingby the dockside. Several china soldiers ran down to the raft as the TinWoodman steered it into the dock.
As everyone disembarked from the raft they heard a big whoosh as theriver reversed course to return to its source. They were immediatelyinformed by the soldiers that the King and Queen wished to speak tothem. The soldiers took Dorothy and her friends by the arms and escortedthem to where the King and Queen were standing.
"You are most unwelcome!" snapped the King.
"Most Unwelcome!" echoed the Queen. "The last time strangers were herethey broke several of our people."
"And we had to pay the menders overtime," said the King.
"Not to mention the expense of the glue," said the Queen.
"And glue's not cheap, you know," said the King.
"Not cheap, you know," said the Queen.
"We're terribly sorry," said Dorothy. "We'll be extremely careful, won'twe everyone?" she said as she looked around at her friends.
"Oh, yes," they all chorused. "Extremely careful."
"I hope so," said the King.
"I hope so," said the Queen.
"It would take us several days to get to the Lion's forest if we had togo around your country," said the Tin Woodman.
"Very well," said the King. "The sooner you get started the better. Itmakes me very nervous to have you here. We had a high protective wallaround us until a wicked witch zapped it off to some other realm out ofspite. Now we are getting all kinds of riffraff wandering through ourlands stepping on people willy-nilly. My army will escort you to theborder to make sure you do not break anything, or anyone. If you do, mysoldiers will attack you, for that is what they are trained to do."
"You can rest assured," said Dorothy, "that we will take every precaution."
As Dorothy spoke, she stepped back slightly to curtsy, but the heel ofher shoe caught the Captain of the Guard's horse, causing it to rear up.The Captain dropped his sword with a clatter on the ground, breaking itinto several pieces.
"My sword! My sword!" he cried, looking at it in dismay.
"Call the menders," ordered the King in a very loud voice.
"Call the menders," echoed the Queen in an equally loud voice.
The Captain of the Guard's face was red with anger and embarrassment.
"Attack!" he shouted to his men. "Attack! Before they break us all up!"
The soldiers rushed at the little group, poking at their feet and ankleswith their swords and lances. Of course, this didn't bother the TinWoodman. In fact, several more swords were broken as the soldiers jabbedat him. However, they did hurt Dorothy. It felt like someone wassticking needles in her feet and ankles.
The Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman attempted to defend Dorothy by wavingtheir hands in the faces of the soldiers.
"Run for it!" shouted the Tin Woodman.
The three ran as fast as their legs would allow and soon outdistancedthe soldiers. Fortunately, they had run across a flat area devoid ofhouses and people. Otherwise they could have caused great damage.
As they ran, they noticed the ground getting steeper and more slippery.Large china boulders were scattered everywhere. To make matters worse, amist suddenly descended, making it difficult to see more than a few feetin front of them.
The terrain rose sharply as they felt their way around some large rocks.The Tin Woodman slipped and fell several times, but, of course, didn'thurt himself. However, the going was getting rough, and Dorothy wasgetting tired.
The voices of the soldiers could now be heard in the distance, butthrough the mist Dorothy caught a glimpse of a little path winding itsway up the mountain.
"Quick! Over this way," she said to her companions. The three managed tomake their way over to the path.
The mountain path was a bit slippery, but not too steep. It wascertainly a lot easier going.
When they finally reached the top of the mountain, the mist had cleared.Apparently, the soldiers had decided against following them, for theycould be clearly seen setting up camp at the base, thereby ensuring thatDorothy and her friends did not attempt to return the way they had come.
The view from the top of the mountain was quite beautiful. The chinahomes and farms was spread out in a colorful panorama below. The onlybarren part was the segment of land they had traversed to make their escape.
"It's a shame everything is so easily breakable here," said the TinWoodman. "I can't blame the china people for not wanting visitors."
"I don't know why the Captain of the Guard was so angry," said theScarecrow. "Dorothy didn't try to make him drop his sword."
"I think he was so embarrassed," said Dorothy, "that he was just tryingto save face in front of his men."
Dorothy was about to sit down to rest, but the light began to faderather quickly. "Perhaps we should be on our way," said the girl.
"No question about it," said the Tin Woodman.
"Absolutely!" said the Scarecrow.
As they started down the other side of the mountain,
the path becameextremely slippery and steep. Suddenly the Tin Woodman started to slidevery fast. He called out to Dorothy: "Help! Dorothy! I can't stop!"
At that moment, the Scarecrow slipped and sat down with a thump. ThenDorothy did the same. She and the Scarecrow sped down the mountain pathso fast they caught up with the Tin Woodman. The impact caused him tofall backwards into Scarecrow's lap.
"Wheee..." They all yelled as they whizzed around the hairpin bends.
"What fun!" cried Dorothy.
As they neared the bottom, their descent slowed. They came to a stop infront of a big sign:
*YOU ARE NOW LEAVING*
* DAINTY CHINA COUNTRY.*
* THANK YOU FOR VISITING*
* (But thank you more for leaving)*
* !!!PLEASE DON'T HURRY BACK!!!*
"What a funny sign," said Dorothy. "But it's plain to see that they getvery nervous when non-china people are in their midst. I suppose they'dbe quite happy to be left entirely alone."
"I can't say I blame them," said the Tin Woodman. "If I were a smalldelicate person made of china, I wouldn't want big clumsy people around.
"Thank goodness you're a big clunk!" said the Scarecrow. Dorothy laughedas the Tin Woodman chased the Scarecrow around the sign. As he did so,Dorothy's eye caught what appeared to be another sign a little furtheron. She walked up to it and read the following:
YOU ARE NOW ENTERING THE DOMAIN
OF THE GIRREPHALUMPS.
PLEASE KNOCK TWICE TO INDICATE
YOUR REQUEST FOR OUR SERVICES.
Dorothy's Mystical Adventures in Oz Page 5