The Wicked Years Complete Collection

by Gregory Maguire

  “Who are the wizards?” asked Dorothy.

  “Oz himself is the Great Wizard,” answered the Witch, sinking her voice to a whisper. “He is more powerful than all the rest of us together. He lives in the City of Emeralds.”

  Dorothy was going to ask another question, but just then the Munchkins, who had been standing silently by, gave a loud shout and pointed to the corner of the house where the Wicked Witch had been lying.

  “What is it?” asked the little old woman; and looked, and began to laugh. The feet of the dead Witch had disappeared entirely and nothing was left but the silver shoes.

  “She was so old,” explained the Witch of the North, “that she dried up quickly in the sun. That is the end of her. But the silver shoes are yours, and you shall have them to wear.” She reached down and picked up the shoes, and after shaking the dust out of them handed them to Dorothy.

  “The Witch of the East was proud of those silver shoes,” said one of the Munchkins; “and there is some charm connected with them; but what it is we never knew.”

  Dorothy carried the shoes into the house and placed them on the table. Then she came out again to the Munchkins and said,

  “I am anxious to get back to my Aunt and Uncle, for I am sure they will worry about me. Can you help me find my way?”

  The Munchkins and the Witch first looked at one another, and then at Dorothy, and then shook their heads.

  “At the East, not far from here,” said one, “there is a great desert, and none could live to cross it.”

  “It is the same at the South,” said another, “for I have been there and seen it. The South is the country of the Quadlings.”

  “I am told,” said the third man, “that it is the same at the West. And that country, where the Winkies live, is ruled by the Wicked Witch of the West, who would make you her slave if you passed her way.”

  “The North is my home,” said the old lady, “and at its edge is the same great desert that surrounds this Land of Oz. I’m afraid, my dear, you will have to live with us.”

  Dorothy began to sob, at this, for she felt lonely among all these strange people. Her tears seemed to grieve the kind-hearted Munchkins, for they immediately took out their handkerchiefs and began to weep also. As for the little old woman, she took off her cap and balanced the point on the end of her nose, while she counted “One, two, three” in a solemn voice. At once the cap changed to a slate, on which was written in big, white chalk marks:

  “let dorothy go to the city of emeralds.”

  The little old woman took the slate from her nose, and, having read the words on it, asked,

  “Is your name Dorothy, my dear?”

  “Yes,” answered the child, looking up and drying her tears.

  “Then you must go to the City of Emeralds. Perhaps Oz will help you.”

  “Where is this city?” asked Dorothy.

  “It is exactly in the center of the country, and is ruled by Oz, the Great Wizard I told you of.”

  “Is he a good man?” inquired the girl, anxiously.

  “He is a good Wizard. Whether he is a man or not I cannot tell, for I have never seen him.”

  “How can I get there?” asked Dorothy.

  “You must walk. It is a long journey, through a country that is sometimes pleasant and sometimes dark and terrible. However, I will use all the magic arts I know of to keep you from harm.”

  “Won’t you go with me?” pleaded the girl, who had begun to look upon the little old woman as her only friend.

  “No, I cannot do that,” she replied; “but I will give you my kiss, and no one will dare injure a person who has been kissed by the Witch of the North.”

  She came close to Dorothy and kissed her gently on the forehead. Where her lips touched the girl they left a round, shining mark, as Dorothy found out soon after.

  “The road to the City of Emeralds is paved with yellow brick,” said the Witch; “so you cannot miss it. When you get to Oz do not be afraid of him, but tell your story and ask him to help you. Good-bye, my dear.”

  The three Munchkins bowed low to her and wished her a pleasant journey, after which they walked away through the trees. The Witch gave Dorothy a friendly little nod, whirled around on her left heel three times, and straightway disappeared, much to the surprise of little Toto, who barked after her loudly enough when she had gone, because he had been afraid even to growl while she stood by.

  But Dorothy, knowing her to be a witch, had expected her to disappear in just that way, and was not surprised in the least.

  Chapter III.

  How Dorothy Saved

  the Scarecrow.

  WHEN DOROTHY WAS left alone she began to feel hungry. So she went to the cupboard and cut herself some bread, which she spread with butter. She gave some to Toto, and taking a pail from the shelf she carried it down to the little brook and filled it with clear, sparkling water. Toto ran over to the trees and began to bark at the birds sitting there. Dorothy went to get him, and saw such delicious fruit hanging from the branches that she gathered some of it, finding it just what she wanted to help out her breakfast.

  Then she went back to the house, and having helped herself and Toto to a good drink of the cool, clear water, she set about making ready for the journey to the City of Emeralds.

  Dorothy had only one other dress, but that happened to be clean and was hanging on a peg beside her bed. It was gingham, with checks of white and blue; and although the blue was somewhat faded with many washings, it was still a pretty frock. The girl washed herself carefully, dressed herself in the clean gingham, and tied her pink sunbonnet on her head. She took a little basket and filled it with bread from the cupboard, laying a white cloth over the top. Then she looked down at her feet and noticed how old and worn her shoes were.

  “They surely will never do for a long journey, Toto,” she said. And Toto looked up into her face with his little black eyes and wagged his tail to show he knew what she meant.

  At that moment Dorothy saw lying on the table the silver shoes that had belonged to the Witch of the East.

  “I wonder if they will fit me,” she said to Toto. “They would be just the thing to take a long walk in, for they could not wear out.”

  She took off her old leather shoes and tried on the silver ones, which fitted her as well as if they had been made for her.

  Finally she picked up her basket.

  “Come along, Toto,” she said, “we will go to the Emerald City and ask the Great Oz how to get back to Kansas again.”

  She closed the door, locked it, and put the key carefully in the pocket of her dress. And so, with Toto trotting along soberly behind her, she started on her journey.

  There were several roads near by, but it did not take her long to find the one paved with yellow brick. Within a short time she was walking briskly toward the Emerald City, her silver shoes tinkling merrily on the hard, yellow roadbed. The sun shone bright and the birds sang sweet, and Dorothy did not feel nearly as bad as you might think a little girl would who had been suddenly whisked away from her own country and set down in the midst of a strange land.

  She was surprised, as she walked along, to see how pretty the country was about her. There were neat fences at the sides of the road, painted a dainty blue color, and beyond them were fields of grain and vegetables in abundance. Evidently the Munchkins were good farmers and able to raise large crops. Once in a while she would pass a house, and the people came out to look at her and bow low as she went by; for everyone knew she had been the means of destroying the Wicked Witch and setting them free from bondage. The houses of the Munchkins were odd looking dwellings, for each was round, with a big dome for a roof. All were painted blue, for in this country of the East blue was the favorite color.

  Towards evening, when Dorothy was tired with her long walk and began to wonder where she should pass the night, she came to a house rather larger than the rest. On the green lawn before it many men and women were dancing. Five little fiddlers played as loud
ly as possible and the people were laughing and singing, while a big table near by was loaded with delicious fruits and nuts, pies and cakes, and many other good things to eat.

  The people greeted Dorothy kindly, and invited her to supper and to pass the night with them; for this was the home of one of the richest Munchkins in the land, and his friends were gathered with him to celebrate their freedom from the bondage of the Wicked Witch.

  Dorothy ate a hearty supper and was waited upon by the rich Munchkin himself, whose name was Boq. Then she sat upon a settee and watched the people dance.

  When Boq saw her silver shoes he said,

  “You must be a great sorceress.”

  “Why?” asked the girl.

  “Because you wear silver shoes and have killed the Wicked Witch. Besides, you have white in your frock, and only witches and sorceresses wear white.”

  “My dress is blue and white checked,” said Dorothy, smoothing out the wrinkles in it.

  “It is kind of you to wear that,” said Boq. “Blue is the color of the Munchkins, and white is the witch color; so we know you are a friendly witch.”

  Dorothy did not know what to say to this, for all the people seemed to think her a witch, and she knew very well she was only an ordinary little girl who had come by the chance of a cyclone into a strange land.

  When she had tired watching the dancing, Boq led her into the house, where he gave her a room with a pretty bed in it. The sheets were made of blue cloth, and Dorothy slept soundly in them till morning, with Toto curled up on the blue rug beside her.

  She ate a hearty breakfast, and watched a wee Munchkin baby, who played with Toto and pulled his tail and crowed and laughed in a way that greatly amused Dorothy. Toto was a fine curiosity to all the people, for they had never seen a dog before.

  “How far is it to the Emerald City?” the girl asked.

  “I do not know,” answered Boq, gravely, “for I have never been there. It is better for people to keep away from Oz, unless they have business with him. But it is a long way to the Emerald City, and it will take you many days. The country here is rich and pleasant, but you must pass through rough and dangerous places before you reach the end of your journey.”

  This worried Dorothy a little, but she knew that only the Great Oz could help her get to Kansas again, so she bravely resolved not to turn back.

  She bade her friends good-bye, and again started along the road of yellow brick. When she had gone several miles she thought she would stop to rest, and so climbed to the top of the fence beside the road and sat down. There was a great cornfield beyond the fence, and not far away she saw a Scarecrow, placed high on a pole to keep the birds from the ripe corn.

  Dorothy leaned her chin upon her hand and gazed thoughtfully at the Scarecrow. Its head was a small sack stuffed with straw, with eyes, nose, and mouth painted on it to represent a face. An old, pointed blue hat, that had belonged to some Munchkin, was perched on this head, and the rest of the figure was a blue suit of clothes, worn and faded, which had also been stuffed with straw. On the feet were some old boots with blue tops, such as every man wore in this country, and the figure was raised above the stalks of corn by means of the pole stuck up its back.

  While Dorothy was looking earnestly into the queer, painted face of the Scarecrow, she was surprised to see one of the eyes slowly wink at her. She thought she must have been mistaken, at first, for none of the scarecrows in Kansas ever wink; but presently the figure nodded its head to her in a friendly way. Then she climbed down from the fence and walked up to it, while Toto ran around the pole and barked.

  “Good day,” said the Scarecrow, in a rather husky voice.

  “Did you speak?” asked the girl, in wonder.

  “Certainly,” answered the Scarecrow; “how do you do?”

  “I’m pretty well, thank you,” replied Dorothy politely; “how do you do?”

  “I’m not feeling well,” said the Scarecrow, with a smile, “for it is very tedious being perched up here night and day to scare away crows.”

  “Can’t you get down?” asked Dorothy.

  “No, for this pole is stuck up my back. If you will please take away the pole I shall be greatly obliged to you.”

  Dorothy reached up both arms and lifted the figure off the pole; for, being stuffed with straw, it was quite light.

  “Thank you very much,” said the Scarecrow, when he had been set down on the ground. “I feel like a new man.”

  Dorothy was puzzled at this, for it sounded queer to hear a stuffed man speak, and to see him bow and walk along beside her.

  “Who are you?” asked the Scarecrow, when he had stretched himself and yawned. “And where are you going?”

  “My name is Dorothy,” said the girl, “and I am going to the Emerald City, to ask the Great Oz to send me back to Kansas.”

  “Where is the Emerald City?” he enquired; “and who is Oz?”

  “Why, don’t you know?” she returned, in surprise.

  “No, indeed; I don’t know anything. You see, I am stuffed, so I have no brains at all,” he answered, sadly.

  “Oh,” said Dorothy; “I’m awfully sorry for you.”

  “Do you think,” he asked, “if I go to the Emerald City with you, that the Great Oz would give me some brains?”

  “I cannot tell,” she returned; “but you may come with me, if you like. If Oz will not give you any brains you will be no worse off than you are now.”

  “That is true,” said the Scarecrow. “You see,” he continued, confidentially, “I don’t mind my legs and arms and body being stuffed, because I cannot get hurt. If anyone treads on my toes or sticks a pin into me, it doesn’t matter, for I can’t feel it. But I do not want people to call me a fool, and if my head stays stuffed with straw instead of with brains, as yours is, how am I ever to know anything?”

  “I understand how you feel,” said the little girl, who was truly sorry for him. “If you will come with me I’ll ask Oz to do all he can for you.”

  “Thank you,” he answered, gratefully.

  They walked back to the road, Dorothy helped him over the fence, and they started along the path of yellow brick for the Emerald City.

  Toto did not like this addition to the party, at first. He smelled around the stuffed man as if he suspected there might be a nest of rats in the straw, and he often growled in an unfriendly way at the Scarecrow.

  “Don’t mind Toto,” said Dorothy to her new friend; “he never bites.”

  “Oh, I’m not afraid,” replied the Scarecrow, “he can’t hurt the straw. Do let me carry that basket for you. I shall not mind it, for I can’t get tired. I’ll tell you a secret,” he continued, as he walked along; “there is only one thing in the world I am afraid of.”

  “What is that?” asked Dorothy; “the Munchkin farmer who made you?”

  “No,” answered the Scarecrow; “it’s a lighted match.”

  Chapter IV.

  The Road Through

  the Forest.

  AFTER A FEW the road began to be rough, and the walking grew so difficult that the Scarecrow often stumbled over the yellow brick, which were here very uneven. Sometimes, indeed, they were broken or missing altogether, leaving holes that Toto jumped across and Dorothy walked around. As for the Scarecrow, having no brains he walked straight ahead, and so stepped into the holes and fell at full length on the hard bricks. It never hurt him, however, and Dorothy would pick him up and set him upon his feet again, while he joined her in laughing merrily at his own mishap.

  The farms were not nearly so well cared for here as they were farther back. There were fewer houses and fewer fruit trees, and the farther they went the more dismal and lonesome the country became.

  At noon they sat down by the roadside, near a little brook, and Dorothy opened her basket and got out some bread. She offered a piece to the Scarecrow, but he refused.

  “I am never hungry,” he said; “and it is a lucky thing I am not. For my mouth is only painted, and if I should cut
a hole in it so I could eat, the straw I am stuffed with would come out, and that would spoil the shape of my head.”

  Dorothy saw at once that this was true, so she only nodded and went on eating her bread.

  “Tell me something about yourself, and the country you came from,” said the Scarecrow, when she had finished her dinner. So she told him all about Kansas, and how gray everything was there, and how the cyclone had carried her to this queer Land of Oz. The Scarecrow listened carefully, and said,

  “I cannot understand why you should wish to leave this beautiful country and go back to the dry, gray place you call Kansas.”

  “That is because you have no brains,” answered the girl. “No matter how dreary and gray our homes are, we people of flesh and blood would rather live there than in any other country, be it ever so beautiful. There is no place like home.”

  The Scarecrow sighed.

  “Of course I cannot understand it,” he said. “If your heads were stuffed with straw, like mine, you would probably all live in the beautiful places, and then Kansas would have no people at all. It is fortunate for Kansas that you have brains.”

  “Won’t you tell me a story, while we are resting?” asked the child.

  The Scarecrow looked at her reproachfully, and answered,

  “My life has been so short that I really know nothing whatever. I was only made day before yesterday. What happened in the world before that time is all unknown to me. Luckily, when the farmer made my head, one of the first things he did was to paint my ears, so that I heard what was going on. There was another Munchkin with him, and the first thing I heard was the farmer saying,

  “’How do you like those ears?’

  “’They aren’t straight,’ answered the other.

  “’Never mind,’ said the farmer; ‘they are ears just the same,’ which was true enough.

  “’Now I’ll make the eyes,’ said the farmer. So he painted my right eye, and as soon as it was finished I found myself looking at him and at everything around me with a great deal of curiosity, for this was my first glimpse of the world.