_How_ THEY CAME TO BUNBURY
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Wandering through the woods, without knowing where you are going or whatadventure you are about to meet next, is not as pleasant as one mightthink. The woods are always beautiful and impressive, and if you are notworried or hungry you may enjoy them immensely; but Dorothy was worriedand hungry that morning, so she paid little attention to the beauties ofthe forest, and hurried along as fast as she could go. She tried to keepin one direction and not circle around, but she was not at all sure thatthe direction she had chosen would lead her to the camp.
By and by, to her great joy, she came upon a path. It ran to the rightand to the left, being lost in the trees in both directions, and justbefore her, upon a big oak, were fastened two signs, with arms pointingboth ways. One sign read:
(hand pointing right)] TAKE THE OTHER ROAD TO BUNBURY
and the second sign read:
(hand pointing right)] TAKE THE OTHER ROAD TO BUNNYBURY
"Well!" exclaimed Billina, eyeing the signs, "this looks as if we weregetting back to civilization again."
"I'm not sure about the civil'zation, dear," replied the little girl;"but it looks as if we might get _somewhere_, and that's a big relief,anyhow."
"Which path shall we take?" inquired the Yellow Hen.
Dorothy stared at the signs thoughtfully.
"Bunbury sounds like something to eat," she said. "Let's go there."
"It's all the same to me," replied Billina. She had picked up enoughbugs and insects from the moss as she went along to satisfy her ownhunger, but the hen knew Dorothy could not eat bugs; nor could Toto.
The path to Bunbury seemed little traveled, but it was distinct enoughand ran through the trees in a zigzag course until it finally led themto an open space filled with the queerest houses Dorothy had ever seen.They were all made of crackers, laid out in tiny squares, and were ofmany pretty and ornamental shapes, having balconies and porches withposts of bread-sticks and roofs shingled with wafer-crackers.
There were walks of bread-crusts leading from house to house andforming streets, and the place seemed to have many inhabitants.
When Dorothy, followed by Billina and Toto, entered the place, theyfound people walking the streets or assembled in groups talkingtogether, or sitting upon the porches and balconies.
And what funny people they were!
Men, women, and children were all made of buns and bread. Some were thinand others fat; some were white, some light brown and some very dark ofcomplexion. A few of the buns, which seemed to form the more importantclass of the people, were neatly frosted. Some had raisins for eyes andcurrant buttons on their clothes; others had eyes of cloves and legs ofstick cinnamon, and many wore hats and bonnets frosted pink and green.
There was something of a commotion in Bunbury when the strangerssuddenly appeared among them. Women caught up their children and hurriedinto their houses, shutting the cracker doors carefully behind them.Some men ran so hastily that they tumbled over one another, whileothers, more brave, assembled in a group and faced the intrudersdefiantly.
Dorothy at once realized that she must act with caution in order not tofrighten these shy people, who were evidently unused to the presence ofstrangers. There was a delightful fragrant odor of fresh bread in thetown, and this made the little girl more hungry than ever. She told Totoand Billina to stay back while she slowly advanced toward the group thatstood silently awaiting her.
"You must 'scuse me for coming unexpected," she said, softly, "but Ireally didn't know I was coming here until I arrived. I was lost in thewoods, you know, and I'm as hungry as anything."
"Hungry!" they murmured, in a horrified chorus.
"Yes; I haven't had anything to eat since last night's supper," sheexplained. "Are there any eatables in Bunbury?"
They looked at one another undecidedly, and then one portly bun man, whoseemed a person of consequence, stepped forward and said:
"Little girl, to be frank with you, we are all eatables. Everything inBunbury is eatable to ravenous human creatures like you. But it is toescape being eaten and destroyed that we have secluded ourselves in thisout-of-the-way place, and there is neither right nor justice in yourcoming here to feed upon us."
Dorothy looked at him longingly.
"You're bread, aren't you?" she asked.
"Yes; bread and butter. The butter is inside me, so it won't melt andrun. I do the running myself."
At this joke all the others burst into a chorus of laughter, and Dorothythought they couldn't be much afraid if they could laugh like that.
"Couldn't I eat something besides people?" she asked. "Couldn't I eatjust one house, or a side-walk, or something? I wouldn't mind much whatit was, you know."
"This is not a public bakery, child," replied the man, sternly. "It'sprivate property."
"I know Mr.--Mr.--"
"My name is C. Bunn, Esquire," said the man. "C stands for Cinnamon, andthis place is called after my family, which is the most aristocratic inthe town."
"Oh, I don't know about that," objected another of the queer people."The Grahams and the Browns and Whites are all excellent families, andthere are none better of their kind. I'm a Boston Brown, myself."
"I admit you are all desirable citizens," said Mr. Bunn, rather stiffly;"but the fact remains that our town is called Bunbury."
"'Scuse me," interrupted Dorothy; "but I'm getting hungrier everyminute. Now, if you're polite and kind, as I'm sure you ought to be,you'll let me eat _something_. There's so much to eat here that younever will miss it."
Then a big, puffed-up man, of a delicate brown color, stepped forwardand said:
"I think it would be a shame to send this child away hungry, especiallyas she agrees to eat whatever we can spare and not touch our people."
"So do I, Pop," replied a Roll who stood near.
"What, then, do you suggest, Mr. Over?" inquired Mr. Bunn.
"Why, I'll let her eat my back fence, if she wants to. It's made ofwaffles, and they're very crisp and nice."
"She may also eat my wheelbarrow," added a pleasant looking Muffin."It's made of nabiscos with a zuzu wheel."
"Very good; very good," remarked Mr. Bunn. "That is certainly very kindof you. Go with Pop Over and Mr. Muffin, little girl, and they will feedyou."
"Thank you very much," said Dorothy, gratefully. "May I bring my dogToto, and the Yellow Hen? They're hungry, too."
"Will you make them behave?" asked the Muffin.
"Of course," promised Dorothy.
"Then come along," said Pop Over.
So Dorothy and Billina and Toto walked up the street and the peopleseemed no longer to be at all afraid of them. Mr. Muffin's house camefirst, and as his wheelbarrow stood in the front yard the little girlate that first. It didn't seem very fresh, but she was so hungry thatshe was not particular. Toto ate some, too, while Billina picked up thecrumbs.
While the strangers were engaged in eating, many of the people came andstood in the street curiously watching them. Dorothy noticed six roguishlooking brown children standing all in a row, and she asked:
"Who are you, little ones?"
"We're the Graham Gems," replied one; "and we're all twins."
"I wonder if your mother could spare one or two of you?" asked Billina,who decided that they were fresh baked; but at this dangerous questionthe six little gems ran away as fast as they could go.
"You mustn't say such things, Billina," said Dorothy, reprovingly. "Nowlet's go into Pop Over's back yard and get the waffles."
"I sort of hate to let that fence go," remarked Mr. Over, nervously, asthey walked toward his house. "The neighbors back of us are SodaBiscuits, and I don't care to mix with them."
"But I'm hungry yet," declared the girl. "That wheelbarrow wasn't verybig."
"I've got a shortcake piano, but none of my family can play on it," hesaid, reflectively. "Suppose you eat that."
"All right," said Dorothy; "I don't mind. Anything to be accomodating.
"
So Mr. Over led her into the house, where she ate the piano, which wasof an excellent flavor.
"Is there anything to drink here?" she asked.
"Yes; I've a milk pump and a water pump; which will you have?" he asked.
"I guess I'll try 'em both," said Dorothy.
So Mr. Over called to his wife, who brought into the yard a pail made ofsome kind of baked dough, and Dorothy pumped the pail full of cool,sweet milk and drank it eagerly.
The wife of Pop Over was several shades darker than her husband.
"Aren't you overdone?" the little girl asked her.
"No indeed," answered the woman. "I'm neither overdone nor done over;I'm just Mrs. Over, and I'm the President of the Bunbury BreakfastBand."
Dorothy thanked them for their hospitality and went away. At the gateMr. Cinnamon Bunn met her and said he would show her around the town.
"We have some very interesting inhabitants," he remarked, walkingstiffly beside her on his stick-cinnamon legs; "and all of us who are ingood health are well bred. If you are no longer hungry we will call upona few of the most important citizens."
Toto and Billina followed behind them, behaving very well, and a littleway down the street they came to a handsome residence where Aunt SallyLunn lived. The old lady was glad to meet the little girl and gave her aslice of white bread and butter which had been used as a door-mat. Itwas almost fresh and tasted better than anything Dorothy had eaten inthe town.
"Where do you get the butter?" she inquired.
"We dig it out of the ground, which, as you may have observed, is allflour and meal," replied Mr. Bunn. "There is a butter mine just at theopposite side of the village. The trees which you see here are alldoughleanders and doughderas, and in the season we get quite a crop ofdough-nuts off them."
"I should think the flour would blow around and get into your eyes,"said Dorothy.
"No," said he; "we are bothered with cracker dust sometimes, but neverwith flour."
Then he took her to see Johnny Cake, a cheerful old gentleman who livednear by.
"I suppose you've heard of me," said old Johnny, with an air of pride."I'm a great favorite all over the world."
"Aren't you rather yellow?" asked Dorothy, looking at him critically.
"Maybe, child. But don't think I'm bilious, for I was never in betterhealth in my life," replied the old gentleman. "If anything ailed me,I'd willingly acknowledge the corn."
"Johnny's a trifle stale," said Mr. Bunn, as they went away; "but he's agood mixer and never gets cross-grained. I will now take you to callupon some of my own relatives."
They visited the Sugar Bunns, the Currant Bunns and the Spanish Bunns,the latter having a decidedly foreign appearance. Then they saw theFrench Rolls, who were very polite to them, and made a brief call uponthe Parker H. Rolls, who seemed a bit proud and overbearing.
"But they're not as stuck up as the Frosted Jumbles," declared Mr. Bunn,"who are people I really can't abide. I don't like to be suspicious ortalk scandal, but sometimes I think the Jumbles have too much bakingpowder in them."
Just then a dreadful scream was heard, and Dorothy turned hastily aroundto find a scene of great excitement a little way down the street. Thepeople were crowding around Toto and throwing at him everything theycould find at hand. They pelted the little dog with hard-tack, crackers,and even articles of furniture which were hard baked and heavy enoughfor missiles.
Toto howled a little as the assortment of bake stuff struck him; but hestood still, with head bowed and tail between his legs, until Dorothyran up and inquired what the matter was.
"Matter!" cried a rye loafer, indignantly, "why the horrid beast haseaten three of our dear Crumpets, and is now devouring a Salt-risingBiscuit!"
"Oh, Toto! How could you?" exclaimed Dorothy, much distressed.
Toto's mouth was full of his salt-rising victim; so he only whined andwagged his tail. But Billina, who had flown to the top of a crackerhouse to be in a safe place, called out:
"Don't blame him, Dorothy; the Crumpets dared him to do it."
"Yes, and you pecked out the eyes of a Raisin Bunn--one of our bestcitizens!" shouted a bread pudding, shaking its fist at the Yellow Hen.
"What's that! What's that?" wailed Mr. Cinnamon Bunn, who had now joinedthem. "Oh, what a misfortune--what a terrible misfortune!"
"See here," said Dorothy, determined to defend her pets, "I think we'vetreated you all pretty well, seeing you're eatables, an' reg'lar foodfor us. I've been kind to you, and eaten your old wheelbarrows andpianos and rubbish, an' not said a word. But Toto and Billina can't be'spected to go hungry when the town's full of good things they like toeat, 'cause they can't understand your stingy ways as I do."
"You must leave here at once!" said Mr. Bunn, sternly.
"Suppose we won't go?" asked Dorothy, who was now much provoked.
"Then," said he, "we will put you into the great ovens where we aremade, and bake you."
Dorothy gazed around and saw threatening looks upon the faces of all.She had not noticed any ovens in the town, but they might be there,nevertheless, for some of the inhabitants seemed very fresh. So shedecided to go, and calling to Toto and Billina to follow her she marchedup the street with as much dignity as possible, considering that she wasfollowed by the hoots and cries of the buns and biscuits and other bakestuff.
The Emerald City of Oz Page 18