Complete Works of L. Frank Baum

by L. Frank Baum

  The First and Foremost saw Ozma and her companions beyond the fountain, but instead of making an effort to capture her he merely stared at her in pleased admiration of her beauty--for he had forgotten where he was and why he had come there.

  But now the Grand Gallipoot arrived, rushing from the tunnel with a hoarse cry of mingled rage and thirst. He too saw the fountain and hastened to drink of its forbidden waters. The other Growleywogs were not slow to follow suit, and even before they had finished drinking the Chief of the Whimsies and his people came to push them away, while they one and all cast off their false heads that they might slake their thirst at the fountain.

  When the Nome King and General Guph arrived they both made a dash to drink, but the General was so mad with thirst that he knocked his King over, and while Roquat lay sprawling upon the ground the General drank heartily of the Water of Oblivion.

  This rude act of his General made the Nome King so angry that for a moment he forgot he was thirsty and rose to his feet to glare upon the group of terrible warriors he had brought here to assist him. He saw Ozma and her people, too, and yelled out:

  “Why don’t you capture them? Why don’t you conquer Oz, you idiots? Why do you stand there like a lot of dummies?”

  But the great warriors had become like little children. They had forgotten all their enmity against Ozma and against Oz. They had even forgotten who they themselves were, or why they were in this strange and beautiful country. As for the Nome King, they did not recognize him, and wondered who he was.

  The sun came up and sent its flood of silver rays to light the faces of the invaders. The frowns and scowls and evil looks were all gone. Even the most monstrous of the creatures there assembled smiled innocently and seemed light-hearted and content merely to be alive.

  Not so with Roquat, the Nome King. He had not drunk from the Forbidden Fountain and all his former rage against Ozma and Dorothy now inflamed him as fiercely as ever. The sight of General Guph babbling like a happy child and playing with his hands in the cool waters of the fountain astonished and maddened Red Roquat. Seeing that his terrible allies and his own General refused to act, the Nome King turned to order his great army of Nomes to advance from the tunnel and seize the helpless Oz people.

  But the Scarecrow suspected what was in the King’s mind and spoke a word to the Tin Woodman. Together they ran at Roquat and grabbing him up tossed him into the great basin of the fountain.

  The Nome King’s body was round as a ball, and it bobbed up and down in the Water of Oblivion while he spluttered and screamed with fear lest he should drown. And when he cried out, his mouth filled with water, which ran down his throat, so that straightway he forgot all he had formerly known just as completely as had all the other invaders.

  Ozma and Dorothy could not refrain from laughing to see their dreaded enemies become as harmless as babies. There was no danger now that Oz would be destroyed. The only question remaining to solve was how to get rid of this horde of intruders.

  The Shaggy Man kindly pulled the Nome King out of the fountain and set him upon his thin legs. Roquat was dripping wet, but he chattered and laughed and wanted to drink more of the water. No thought of injuring any person was now in his mind.

  Before he left the tunnel he had commanded his fifty thousand Nomes to remain there until he ordered them to advance, as he wished to give his allies time to conquer Oz before he appeared with his own army. Ozma did not wish all these Nomes to overrun her land, so she advanced to King Roquat and taking his hand in her own said gently:

  “Who are you? What is your name?”

  “I don’t know,” he replied, smiling at her. “Who are you, my dear?”

  “My name is Ozma,” she said; “and your name is Roquat.”

  “Oh, is it?” he replied, seeming pleased.

  “Yes; you are King of the Nomes,” she said.

  “Ah; I wonder what the Nomes are!” returned the King, as if puzzled.

  “They are underground elves, and that tunnel over there is full of them,” she answered. “You have a beautiful cavern at the other end of the tunnel, so you must go to your Nomes and say: ‘March home!’ Then follow after them and in time you will reach the pretty cavern where you live.”

  The Nome King was much pleased to learn this, for he had forgotten he had a cavern. So he went to the tunnel and said to his army: ‘March home!’ At once the Nomes turned and marched back through the tunnel, and the King followed after them, laughing with delight to find his orders so readily obeyed.

  The Wizard went to General Guph, who was trying to count his fingers, and told him to follow the Nome King, who was his master. Guph meekly obeyed, and so all the Nomes quitted the Land of Oz forever.

  But there were still the Phanfasms and Whimsies and Growleywogs standing around in groups, and they were so many that they filled the gardens and trampled upon the flowers and grass because they did not know that the tender plants would be injured by their clumsy feet. But in all other respects they were perfectly harmless and played together like children or gazed with pleasure upon the pretty sights of the royal gardens.

  After counseling with the Scarecrow Ozma sent Omby Amby to the palace for the Magic Belt, and when the Captain General returned with it the Ruler of Oz at once clasped the precious Belt around her waist.

  “I wish all these strange people--the Whimsies and the Growleywogs and the Phanfasms--safe back in their own homes!” she said.

  It all happened in a twinkling, for of course the wish was no sooner spoken than it was granted.

  All the hosts of the invaders were gone, and only the trampled grass showed that they had ever been in the Land of Oz.

  29. How Glinda Worked a Magic Spell

  “That was better than fighting,” said Ozma, when all our friends were assembled in the palace after the exciting events of the morning; and each and every one agreed with her.

  “No one was hurt,” said the Wizard, delightedly.

  “And no one hurt us,” added Aunt Em.

  “But, best of all,” said Dorothy, “the wicked people have all forgotten their wickedness, and will not wish to hurt any one after this.”

  “True, Princess,” declared the Shaggy Man. “It seems to me that to have reformed all those evil characters is more important than to have saved Oz.”

  “Nevertheless,” remarked the Scarecrow, “I am glad Oz is saved. I can now go back to my new mansion and live happily.”

  “And I am glad and grateful that my pumpkin farm is saved,” said Jack.

  “For my part,” added the Tin Woodman, “I cannot express my joy that my lovely tin castle is not to be demolished by wicked enemies.”

  “Still,” said Tiktok, “o-ther en-e-mies may come to Oz some day.”

  “Why do you allow your clock-work brains to interrupt our joy?” asked Omby Amby, frowning at the machine man.

  “I say what I am wound up to say,” answered Tiktok.

  “And you are right,” declared Ozma. “I myself have been thinking of this very idea, and it seems to me there are entirely too many ways for people to get to the Land of Oz. We used to think the deadly desert that surrounds us was enough protection; but that is no longer the case. The Wizard and Dorothy have both come here through the air, and I am told the earth people have invented airships that can fly anywhere they wish them to go.”

  “Why, sometimes they do, and sometimes they don’t,” asserted Dorothy.

  “But in time the airships may cause us trouble,” continued Ozma, “for if the earth folk learn how to manage them we would be overrun with visitors who would ruin our lovely, secluded fairyland.”

  “That is true enough,” agreed the Wizard.

  “Also the desert fails to protect us in other ways,” Ozma went on, thoughtfully. “Johnny Dooit once made a sand-boat that sailed across it, and the Nome King made a tunnel under it. So I believe something ought to be done to cut us off from the rest of the world entirely, so that no one in the future will ever be able to
intrude upon us.”

  “How will you do that?” asked the Scarecrow.

  “I do not know; but in some way I am sure it can be accomplished. To-morrow I will make a journey to the castle of Glinda the Good, and ask her advice.”

  “May I go with you?” asked Dorothy, eagerly.

  “Of course, my dear Princess; and I also invite any of our friends here who would like to undertake the journey.”

  They all declared they wished to accompany their girl Ruler, for this was indeed an important mission, since the future of the Land of Oz to a great extent depended upon it. So Ozma gave orders to her servants to prepare for the journey on the morrow.

  That day she watched her Magic Picture, and when it showed her that all the Nomes had returned through the tunnel to their underground caverns, Ozma used the Magic Belt to close up the tunnel, so that the earth underneath the desert sands became as solid as it was before the Nomes began to dig.

  Early the following morning a gay cavalcade set out to visit the famous Sorceress, Glinda the Good. Ozma and Dorothy rode in a chariot drawn by the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger, while the Sawhorse drew the red wagon in which rode the rest of the party.

  With hearts light and free from care they traveled merrily along through the lovely and fascinating Land of Oz, and in good season reached the stately castle in which resided the Sorceress.

  Glinda knew that they were coming.

  “I have been reading about you in my Magic Book,” she said, as she greeted them in her gracious way.

  “What is your Magic Book like?” inquired Aunt Em, curiously.

  “It is a record of everything that happens,” replied the Sorceress. “As soon as an event takes place, anywhere in the world, it is immediately found printed in my Magic Book. So when I read its pages I am well informed.”

  “Did it tell you how our enemies drank the Water of ‘Blivion?” asked Dorothy.

  “Yes, my dear; it told all about it. And also it told me you were all coming to my castle, and why.”

  “Then,” said Ozma, “I suppose you know what is in my mind, and that I am seeking a way to prevent any one in the future from discovering the Land of Oz.”

  “Yes; I know that. And while you were on your journey I have thought of a way to accomplish your desire. For it seems to me unwise to allow too many outside people to come here. Dorothy, with her uncle and aunt, has now returned to Oz to live always, and there is no reason why we should leave any way open for others to travel uninvited to our fairyland. Let us make it impossible for any one ever to communicate with us in any way, after this. Then we may live peacefully and contentedly.”

  “Your advice is wise,” returned Ozma. “I thank you, Glinda, for your promise to assist me.”

  “But how can you do it?” asked Dorothy. “How can you keep every one from ever finding Oz?”

  “By making our country invisible to all eyes but our own,” replied the Sorceress, smiling. “I have a magic charm powerful enough to accomplish that wonderful feat, and now that we have been warned of our danger by the Nome King’s invasion, I believe we must not hesitate to separate ourselves forever from all the rest of the world.”

  “I agree with you,” said the Ruler of Oz.

  “Won’t it make any difference to us?” asked Dorothy, doubtfully.

  “No, my dear,” Glinda answered, assuringly. “We shall still be able to see each other and everything in the Land of Oz. It won’t affect us at all; but those who fly through the air over our country will look down and see nothing at all. Those who come to the edge of the desert, or try to cross it, will catch no glimpse of Oz, or know in what direction it lies. No one will try to tunnel to us again because we cannot be seen and therefore cannot be found. In other words, the Land of Oz will entirely disappear from the knowledge of the rest of the world.”

  “That’s all right,” said Dorothy, cheerfully. “You may make Oz invis’ble as soon as you please, for all I care.”

  “It is already invisible,” Glinda stated. “I knew Ozma’s wishes, and performed the Magic Spell before you arrived.”

  Ozma seized the hand of the Sorceress and pressed it gratefully.

  “Thank you!” she said.

  30. How the Story of Oz Came to an End

  The writer of these Oz stories has received a little note from Princess Dorothy of Oz which, for a time, has made him feel rather disconcerted. The note was written on a broad, white feather from a stork’s wing, and it said:

  “YOU WILL NEVER HEAR ANYTHING MORE ABOUT OZ, BECAUSE WE ARE NOW CUT OFF FOREVER FROM ALL THE REST OF THE WORLD. BUT TOTO AND I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU AND ALL THE OTHER CHILDREN WHO LOVE US.

  “DOROTHY GALE.”

  This seemed to me too bad, at first, for Oz is a very interesting fairyland. Still, we have no right to feel grieved, for we have had enough of the history of the Land of Oz to fill six story books, and from its quaint people and their strange adventures we have been able to learn many useful and amusing things.

  So good luck to little Dorothy and her companions. May they live long in their invisible country and be very happy!

  THE END

  THE PATCHWORK GIRL OF OZ

  Although Baum had planned to end the Oz series with The Emerald City of Oz, between financial considerations and the popularity of the series, he decided to return to his enchanted land with a seventh book, The Patchwork Girl of Oz, published by Reilly & Britton in 1913, and once again illustrated by John R. Neill. For the first time since The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, a quest leads Baum’s characters on a journey throughout Oz, allowing the author to explore even more of its unusual features and creatures. A Munchkin boy named Ojo the Unlucky lives with his Uncle, “Unc Nunkie,” a man so reticent that uttering two words is a long speech. They are starving and decide to visit an old friend of Unc’s, Dr. Pipt, who demonstrates the “Powder of Life” and the “Liquid of Petrifaction,” which unfortunately turns Unc Nunkie into a marble statue. In order to create the antidote, Ojo must travel throughout Oz in search of the rare ingredients. He travels with the Patchwork Girl named Scraps, animated via the “Powder of Life” and a variety of “Brain Furniture,” and along the way he finds help from others, including Dorothy, the Scarecrow, and the Shaggy Man. Among other fascinating characters, readers also meet the Glass Cat, the Woozy, the Tottenhots, and the warring Hoppers and Horners. Baum considered The Patchwork Girl of Oz one of his finest fantasies.

  A copy of the first edition of The Patchwork Girl of Oz

  CONTENTS

  PROLOGUE

  1 Ojo and Unc Nunkie

  2 The Crooked Magician

  3 The Patchwork Girl

  4 The Glass Cat

  5 A Terrible Accident

  6 The Journey

  7 The Troublesome Phonograph

  8 The Foolish Owl and the Wise Donkey

  9 They Meet the Woozy

  10 Shaggy Man to the Rescue

  11 A Good Friend

  12 The Giant Porcupine

  13 Scraps and the Scarecrow

  14 Ojo Breaks the Law

  15 Ozma’s Prisoner

  16 Princess Dorothy

  17 Ozma and Her Friends

  18 Ojo is Forgiven

  19 Trouble with the Tottenhots

  20 The Captive Yoop

  21 Hiphopper the Champion

  22 The Joking Horners

  23 Peace is Declared

  24 Ojo Finds the Dark Well

  25 They Bribe the Lazy Quadling

  26 The Trick River

  27 The Tin Woodman Objects

  28 The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

  Ozma of Oz as portrayed in the 1914 film, The Patchwork Girl of Oz

  PROLOGUE

  THROUGH the kindness of Dorothy Gale of Kansas, afterward Princess Dorothy of Oz, an humble writer in the United States of America was once appointed Royal Historian of Oz, with the privilege of writing the chronicle of that wonderful fairyland. But after making six books about the adventures of those i
nteresting but queer people who live in the Land of Oz, the Historian learned with sorrow that by an edict of the Supreme Ruler, Ozma of Oz, her country would thereafter be rendered invisible to all who lived outside its borders and that all communication with Oz would, in the future, be cut off.

  The children who had learned to look for the books about Oz and who loved the stories about the gay and happy people inhabiting that favored country, were as sorry as their Historian that there would be no more books of Oz stories. They wrote many letters asking if the Historian did not know of some adventures to write about that had happened before the Land of Oz was shut out from all the rest of the world. But he did not know of any. Finally one of the children inquired why we couldn’t hear from Princess Dorothy by wireless telegraph, which would enable her to communicate to the Historian whatever happened in the far-off Land of Oz without his seeing her, or even knowing just where Oz is.

  That seemed a good idea; so the Historian rigged up a high tower in his back yard, and took lessons in wireless telegraphy until he understood it, and then began to call “Princess Dorothy of Oz” by sending messages into the air.

  Now, it wasn’t likely that Dorothy would be looking for wireless messages or would heed the call; but one thing the Historian was sure of, and that was that the powerful Sorceress, Glinda, would know what he was doing and that he desired to communicate with Dorothy. For Glinda has a big book in which is recorded every event that takes place anywhere in the world, just the moment that it happens, and so of course the book would tell her about the wireless message.

  And that was the way Dorothy heard that the Historian wanted to speak with her, and there was a Shaggy Man in the Land of Oz who knew how to telegraph a wireless reply. The result was that the Historian begged so hard to be told the latest news of Oz, so that he could write it down for the children to read, that Dorothy asked permission of Ozma and Ozma graciously consented.