Chapter Eleven
Jinjur's Ranch
As they followed a path down the blue-grass hillside, the first housethat met the view of the travelers was joyously recognized by theScarecrow Bear as the one inhabited by his friend Jinjur, so theyincreased their speed and hurried toward it.
On reaching the place, how ever, they found the house deserted. Thefront door stood open, but no one was inside. In the garden surroundingthe house were neat rows of bushes bearing cream-puffs and macaroons,some of which were still green, but others ripe and ready to eat.Farther back were fields of caramels, and all the land seemed wellcultivated and carefully tended. They looked through the fields for thegirl farmer, but she was nowhere to be seen.
"Well," finally remarked the little Brown Bear, "let us go into thehouse and make ourselves at home. That will be sure to please my friendJinjur, who happens to be away from home just now. When she returns,she will be greatly surprised."
"Would she care if I ate some of those ripe cream-puffs?" asked theGreen Monkey.
"No, indeed; Jinjur is very generous. Help yourself to all you want,"said the Scarecrow Bear.
So Woot gathered a lot of the cream-puffs that were golden yellow andfilled with a sweet, creamy substance, and ate until his hunger wassatisfied. Then he entered the house with his friends and sat in arocking-chair--just as he was accustomed to do when a boy. The Canaryperched herself upon the mantel and daintily plumed her feathers; theTin Owl sat on the back of another chair; the Scarecrow squatted on hishairy haunches in the middle of the room.
"I believe I remember the girl Jinjur," remarked the Canary, in hersweet voice. "She cannot help us very much, except to direct us on ourway to Glinda's castle, for she does not understand magic. But she's agood girl, honest and sensible, and I'll be glad to see her."
"All our troubles," said the Owl with a deep sigh, "arose from myfoolish resolve to seek Nimmie Amee and make her Empress of theWinkies, and while I wish to reproach no one, I must say that it wasWoot the Wanderer who put the notion into my head."
"Well, for my part, I am glad he did," responded the Canary. "Yourjourney resulted in saving me from the Giantess, and had you nottraveled to the Yoop Valley, I would still be Mrs. Yoop's prisoner. Itis much nicer to be free, even though I still bear the enchanted formof a Canary-Bird."
"Do you think we shall ever be able to get our proper forms backagain?" asked the Green Monkey earnestly.
Polychrome did not make reply at once to this important question, butafter a period of thoughtfulness she said:
"I have been taught to believe that there is an antidote for everymagic charm, yet Mrs. Yoop insists that no power can alter hertransformations. I realize that my own fairy magic cannot do it,although I have thought that we Sky Fairies have more power than isaccorded to Earth Fairies. The yookoohoo magic is admitted to be verystrange in its workings and different from the magic usually practiced,but perhaps Glinda or Ozma may understand it better than I. In themlies our only hope. Unless they can help us, we must remain forever aswe are."
"A Canary-Bird on a Rainbow wouldn't be so bad," asserted the Tin Owl,winking and blinking with his round tin eyes, "so if you can manage tofind your Rainbow again you need have little to worry about."
"That's nonsense, Friend Chopper," exclaimed Woot. "I know just howPolychrome feels. A beautiful girl is much superior to a little yellowbird, and a boy--such as I was--far better than a Green Monkey. Neitherof us can be happy again unless we recover our rightful forms."
"I feel the same way," announced the stuffed Bear. "What do you supposemy friend the Patchwork Girl would think of me, if she saw me wearingthis beastly shape?"
"She'd laugh till she cried," admitted the Tin Owl. "For my part, I'llhave to give up the notion of marrying Nimmie Amee, but I'll try not tolet that make me unhappy. If it's my duty, I'd like to do my duty, butif magic prevents my getting married I'll flutter along all by myselfand be just as contented."
Their serious misfortunes made them all silent for a time, and as theirthoughts were busy in dwelling upon the evils with which fate hadburdened them, none noticed that Jinjur had suddenly appeared in thedoorway and was looking at them in astonishment. The next moment herastonishment changed to anger, for there, in her best rocking-chair,sat a Green Monkey. A great shiny Owl perched upon another chair and aBrown Bear squatted upon her parlor rug. Jinjur did not notice theCanary, but she caught up a broomstick and dashed into the room,shouting as she came:
"Get out of here, you wild creatures! How dare you enter my house?"
With a blow of her broom she knocked the Brown Bear over, and the TinOwl tried to fly out of her reach and made a great clatter with his tinwings. The Green Monkey was so startled by the sudden attack that hesprang into the fireplace--where there was fortunately no fire--andtried to escape by climbing up the chimney. But he found the openingtoo small, and so was forced to drop down again. Then he crouchedtrembling in the fireplace, his pretty green hair all blackened withsoot and covered with ashes. From this position Woot watched to seewhat would happen next.
"Stop, Jinjur--stop!" cried the Brown Bear, when the broom againthreatened him. "Don't you know me? I'm your old friend the Scarecrow?"
"You're trying to deceive me, you naughty beast! I can see plainly thatyou are a bear, and a mighty poor specimen of a bear, too," retortedthe girl.
"That's because I'm not properly stuffed," he assured her. "When Mrs.Yoop transformed me, she didn't realize I should have more stuffing."
"Who is Mrs. Yoop?" inquired Jinjur, pausing with the broom stillupraised.
"A Giantess in the Gillikin Country."
"Oh; I begin to understand. And Mrs. Yoop transformed you? You arereally the famous Scarecrow of Oz."
"I was, Jinjur. Just now I'm as you see me--a miserable little BrownBear with a poor quality of stuffing. That Tin Owl is none other thanour dear Tin Woodman--Nick Chopper, the Emperor of the Winkies--whilethis Green Monkey is a nice little boy we recently became acquaintedwith, Woot the Wanderer."
"And I," said the Canary, flying close to Jinjur, "am Polychrome, theDaughter of the Rainbow, in the form of a bird."
"Goodness me!" cried Jinjur, amazed; "that Giantess must be a powerfulSorceress, and as wicked as she is powerful."
"She's a yookoohoo," said Polychrome. "Fortunately, we managed toescape from her castle, and we are now on our way to Glinda the Good tosee if she possesses the power to restore us to our former shapes."
"Then I must beg your pardons; all of you must forgive me," saidJinjur, putting away the broom. "I took you to be a lot of wild,unmannerly animals, as was quite natural. You are very welcome to myhome and I'm sorry I haven't the power to help you out of yourtroubles. Please use my house and all that I have, as if it were yourown."
At this declaration of peace, the Bear got upon his feet and the Owlresumed his perch upon the chair and the Monkey crept out of thefireplace. Jinjur looked at Woot critically, and scowled.
"For a Green Monkey," said she, "you're the blackest creature I eversaw. And you'll get my nice clean room all dirty with soot and ashes.Whatever possessed you to jump up the chimney?"
"I--I was scared," explained Woot, somewhat ashamed.
"Well, you need renovating, and that's what will happen to you, rightaway. Come with me!" she commanded.
"What are you going to do?" asked Woot.
"Give you a good scrubbing," said Jinjur.
Now, neither boys nor monkeys relish being scrubbed, so Woot shrankaway from the energetic girl, trembling fearfully. But Jinjur grabbedhim by his paw and dragged him out to the back yard, where, in spite ofhis whines and struggles, she plunged him into a tub of cold water andbegan to scrub him with a stiff brush and a cake of yellow soap.
This was the hardest trial that Woot had endured since he became amonkey, but no protest had any influence with Jinjur, who lathered andscrubbed him in a business-like manner and afterward dried him with acoarse towel.
The Bear and the Owl gravely wat
ched this operation and nodded approvalwhen Woot's silky green fur shone clear and bright in the afternoonsun. The Canary seemed much amused and laughed a silvery ripple oflaughter as she said:
"Very well done, my good Jinjur; I admire your energy and judgment. ButI had no idea a monkey could look so comical as this monkey did whilehe was being bathed."
"I'm not a monkey!" declared Woot, resentfully; "I'm just a boy in amonkey's shape, that's all."
"If you can explain to me the difference," said Jinjur, "I'll agree notto wash you again--that is, unless you foolishly get into thefireplace. All persons are usually judged by the shapes in which theyappear to the eyes of others. Look at me, Woot; what am I?"
Woot looked at her.
"You're as pretty a girl as I've ever seen," he replied.
Jinjur frowned. That is, she tried hard to frown.
"Come out into the garden with me," she said, "and I'll give you someof the most delicious caramels you ever ate. They're a new variety,that no one can grow but me, and they have a heliotrope flavor."
The Tin Woodman of Oz Page 11