*
Chapter Nine:
The Mission Begins
*
The next morning, as Dorothy awoke to feel the warm sun on her face, shewas surprised to find that the Lion and the others had prepared abreakfast of exotic fruits for her. As she bit into one of the luscioussoft fruits the juice burst forth with a flavor that can only bedescribed as divine. Nothing, absolutely nothing she had ever tastedbefore could compare.
"We let you sleep a little longer, Dorothy," said the Lion, as she ate."You needed a good rest. Isn't it a beautiful day?"
"Indeed it is!" answered the girl. "Between this wonderful fruit and thebeautiful surroundings, I feel I'm in paradise.
The dew was glistening on the grass and there were pretty littlewildflowers everywhere. Hundreds of birds of every variety were chirpingaway happily as they searched for their breakfast. The sweet earlymorning smell of the forest permeated the air, and running through thecamp was a bubbling brook of crystal clear water with little fishhappily darting about the little pools.
"You certainly have a lovely home here, Lion," said Dorothy.
"Thank you," the Lion replied. "It is beautiful, isn't it?"
"You must be very happy here," went on the girl.
"Oh, indeed I am. Yes, indeed," the Lion replied. "Only ... only ..."
"Only what?" interceded Dorothy.
"Well, it does get a little lonely at times."
"You mean there is no lady lion to keep you company?" said Dorothy witha sly wink.
"That is true," answered the Lion. "I am the only one here."
"Well, I'm sure we're bound to run into another lion on our journey,"said Dorothy encouragingly.
"Oh, very doubtful," replied the Lion. "I've never heard of another one."
"There are parts of Oz," said the Tin Woodman, who had been listeningintently, "that are unexplored. No one knows what's there."
"You see!" Dorothy exclaimed.
The Lion shrugged. "It would be nice," he said, "if we came across alady lion. Very nice indeed."
"Well, we'd better start some plans," said Dorothy. "Did anyone bring amap with them?"
"Oh, yes, I did," said the Tin Woodman, opening a little door in hisside. "I kept it here to make sure it wouldn't get wet."
They unfolded the map and placed it on the ground.
"Now, let's see," said Dorothy. "We're here," pointing her finger at acircle which said "Lion's Forest."
"We can't go due south," said the Scarecrow, "or we'll run intoswamplands. We'll have to head west through Octapongland, then southwestthrough Colorland."
"Octapongland?" said Dorothy. "How strange! And Colorland?"
"These are newly discovered lands," said the Lion.
"Haven't you heard the song?" said the leader of the Girrephalumps.
"What song?" said Dorothy.
"The Octapong song, of course," said the Girrephalump, and in a deepbaritone voice he sang,
"In the country where I'm from, there are lots of Octapong. Octapong are people who, have eight feet but only one shoe. That one shoe goes clippity-clop, while the other feet go hippity-hop. With a hippity-hop and a bing-bang-boo, those Octapong are after you. If you see one, run, don't stop -- 'cause if you do, your shoes he'll cop."
"Oh my," said Dorothy. "How terrible. Must we go through Octapongland?"
"I'm afraid we must," said the Lion. "There's no other way."
"And what about Colorland?" asked Dorothy. "What's that like?"
"No one lives in Colorland," said the Scarecrow. "It's just a place tovisit for therapy."
"Therapy?" said Dorothy, looking perplexed. "Yes," said the Tin Woodman."For example, if you're feeling sad, you spend a half-hour in the YellowBelt."
"Yellow Belt?" Dorothy said, looking puzzled again.
"Yes. You see," said the Lion, "Colorland is divided into seven ColorBelts; each is a half mile wide. There's the Red Belt, the Orange Belt,the Yellow Belt, the Green Belt, the Blue Belt, the Indigo Belt, and thePurple Belt."
The Lion could see that Dorothy was still very puzzled. "Let meexplain," he said. "You see, each of the seven colors affects you in adifferent way. For example, the first color we will pass through will bethe Red Belt. Now you should never go into the Red Belt feeling angry."
"Why not?" asked Dorothy.
"Well," said the Lion, "you've heard the expression 'so and so makes mesee red'?"
Dorothy nodded. "Well, red is associated with anger," said the Lion. "Soif you walk through the Red Belt feeling angry or resentful, it willjust make you more angry or resentful."
"How does it make you feel if you're not angry or resentful?" said Dorothy.
"Then it will have a positive effect on you," said the Lion. "It willgive you lots of energy, and if you're cold, it will make you feel niceand warm."
"How strange," said Dorothy. "It will certainly be very interesting.We'd better look at the map again to see what comes after Colorland."
As Dorothy studied the map, the Scarecrow started to get the giggles."Oh dear!" he said, giggling uncontrollably. "Not again!"
"My goodness," said Dorothy. "What's going on?"
"Don't you see the name of the land next to Colorland?" said theScarecrow. Dorothy peered at the map.
"Tickleland?" she said as she started to laugh. "I can't wait for you toexplain this one."
"Let me explain," said the Tin Woodman. "The Scarecrow and myself areprobably the only ones here who are not ticklish, so we're not concernedabout traveling through Tickleland. But for you it will be an ordeal,believe me."
"An ordeal?" said Dorothy.
"I'm afraid so," replied the Tin Woodman. "You see, Tickleland is filledwith Ticklemonsters. They are cousins of the Octapong; and whereas theOctapong have eight feet, the Ticklemonsters have eight arms, and thatmakes forty fingers to tickle you with if they catch you."
"Oh my goodness!" said Dorothy.
"You can imagine what it's like to be tickled all over at the sametime," said the Scarecrow.
"Why on earth do they do that?" asked Dorothy. "And how can you get themto stop?"
"Well," said the Tin Woodman. "The reason they do it is quite simple:they do it for food, and the reason --"
"For food?" interrupted Dorothy. "Now you've lost me. What on earth hasfood got to do with it?"
"Well, they don't eat solid food like you do," said the Tin Woodman."They absorb their nourishment through the skin, and the sound oflaughter is to them what food is to you. You see, the laughter energizestheir skin molecules to give them energy and sustenance."
"Well, I never," said Dorothy.
"You never what?" said the Scarecrow.
"That's just another expression, silly," said the Tin Woodman.
"It's like saying, 'Well, I never would have believed that,'" said Dorothy.
"Well, anyway," said the Tin Woodman, "that's why they are calledTicklemonsters and why the land they live in is called Tickleland."
"Will they stop tickling you if you ask them to?" said Dorothy.
"On the contrary," said the Tin Woodman. "If you ask them to stop,they'll just tickle you all the more."
"What happens if you ask them to tickle you more?" she asked.
"Then they'll stop," said the Tin Woodman. "They don't like being toldwhat to do, so they'll just go and find someone else to tickle."
"That's really something," said Dorothy, shaking her head. "I suppose wemust go through Tickleland?" she asked.
"I'm afraid we must," said everyone.
"If they just look at me threateningly, I'll laugh," said Dorothy. "I'mso ticklish you wouldn't believe it"
"I'm not ticklish, but I laugh a lot when people say funny things," saidthe Scarecrow.
Dorothy smiled. "How long do you think our journey will take?"
"Oh, weeks and weeks
," said the Scarecrow.
"My, that is longer than I expected," replied Dorothy. "Do you reallythink it'll take that long?"
"Yes, but we'll survive, I'm sure," answered the Scarecrow.
"It'll take some time to cross Elfland," said the Lion.
"Elfland?" questioned Dorothy. "That sounds fascinating. How long agowas their land discovered?"
"Oh, quite recently," replied the Lion. "Of course, Elves have alwaysexisted. This particular type of elf visits the mortal lands all thetime. They do a lot of work there."
"Well, I'm really looking forward to visiting their country," said Dorothy.
"Let's look at this map again to see what comes after Elfland." Shespread the map out on the ground, and they all peered at it intently.
Dorothy's Mystical Adventures in Oz Page 8