The Classic Children's Literature Collection: 39 Classic Novels

by Various Authors

  “Why not?” inquired Polychrome, as if surprised.

  “Because you’re so lovely and sweet.”

  The little maiden smiled through her tears, came up to Dorothy, and placed her slender fingers in the Kansas girl’s chubby hand.

  “You’ll be my friend—won’t you?” she said, pleadingly.

  “Of course.”

  “And what is your name?”

  “I’m Dorothy; and this is my friend Shaggy Man, who owns the Love Magnet; and this is Button-Bright—only you don’t see him as he really is because the Fox-King carelessly changed his head into a fox head. But the real Button-Bright is good to look at, and I hope to get him changed back to himself, some time.”

  The Rainbow’s Daughter nodded cheerfully, no longer afraid of her new companions.

  “But who is this?” she asked, pointing to Toto, who was sitting before her wagging his tail in the most friendly manner and admiring the pretty maid with his bright eyes. “Is this, also, some enchanted person?”

  “Oh no, Polly—I may call you Polly, mayn’t I? Your whole name’s awful hard to say.”

  “Call me Polly if you wish, Dorothy.”

  “Well, Polly, Toto’s just a dog; but he has more sense than Button-Bright, to tell the truth; and I’m very fond of him.”

  “So am I,” said Polychrome, bending gracefully to pat Toto’s head.

  “But how did the Rainbow’s Daughter ever get on this lonely road, and become lost?” asked the shaggy man, who had listened wonderingly to all this.

  “Why, my father stretched his rainbow over here this morning, so that one end of it touched this road,” was the reply; “and I was dancing upon the pretty rays, as I love to do, and never noticed I was getting too far over the bend in the circle. Suddenly I began to slide, and I went faster and faster until at last I bumped on the ground, at the very end. Just then father lifted the rainbow again, without noticing me at all, and though I tried to seize the end of it and hold fast, it melted away entirely and I was left alone and helpless on the cold, hard earth!”

  “It doesn’t seem cold to me, Polly,” said Dorothy; “but perhaps you’re not warmly dressed.”

  “I’m so used to living nearer the sun,” replied the Rainbow’s Daughter, “that at first I feared I would freeze down here. But my dance has warmed me some, and now I wonder how I am ever to get home again.”

  “Won’t your father miss you, and look for you, and let down another rainbow for you?”

  “Perhaps so, but he’s busy just now because it rains in so many parts of the world at this season, and he has to set his rainbow in a lot of different places. What would you advise me to do, Dorothy?”

  “Come with us,” was the answer. “I’m going to try to find my way to the Emerald City, which is in the fairy Land of Oz. The Emerald City is ruled by a friend of mine, the Princess Ozma, and if we can manage to get there I’m sure she will know a way to send you home to your father again.”

  “Do you really think so?” asked Polychrome, anxiously.

  “I’m pretty sure.”

  “Then I’ll go with you,” said the little maid; “for travel will help keep me warm, and father can find me in one part of the world as well as another—if he gets time to look for me.”

  “Come along, then,” said the shaggy man, cheerfully; and they started on once more. Polly walked beside Dorothy a while, holding her new friend’s hand as if she feared to let it go; but her nature seemed as light and buoyant as her fleecy robes, for suddenly she darted ahead and whirled round in a giddy dance. Then she tripped back to them with sparkling eyes and smiling cheeks, having regained her usual happy mood and forgotten all her worry about being lost.

  They found her a charming companion, and her dancing and laughter—for she laughed at times like the tinkling of a silver bell—did much to enliven their journey and keep them contented.

  6. The City Of Beasts

  When noon came they opened the Fox-King’s basket of luncheon, and found a nice roasted turkey with cranberry sauce and some slices of bread and butter. As they sat on the grass by the roadside the shaggy man cut up the turkey with his pocket-knife and passed slices of it around.

  “Haven’t you any dewdrops, or mist-cakes, or cloudbuns?” asked Polychrome, longingly.

  “‘Course not,” replied Dorothy. “We eat solid things, down here on the earth. But there’s a bottle of cold tea. Try some, won’t you?”

  The Rainbow’s Daughter watched Button-Bright devour one leg of the turkey.

  “Is it good?” she asked.

  He nodded.

  “Do you think I could eat it?”

  “Not this,” said Button-Bright.

  “But I mean another piece?”

  “Don’t know,” he replied.

  “Well, I’m going to try, for I’m very hungry,” she decided, and took a thin slice of the white breast of turkey which the shaggy man cut for her, as well as a bit of bread and butter. When she tasted it Polychrome thought the turkey was good—better even than mist-cakes; but a little satisfied her hunger and she finished with a tiny sip of cold tea.

  “That’s about as much as a fly would eat,” said Dorothy, who was making a good meal herself. “But I know some people in Oz who eat nothing at all.”

  “Who are they?” inquired the shaggy man.

  “One is a scarecrow who’s stuffed with straw, and the other a woodman made out of tin. They haven’t any appetites inside of ‘em, you see; so they never eat anything at all.”

  “Are they alive?” asked Button-Bright.

  “Oh yes,” replied Dorothy; “and they’re very clever and very nice, too. If we get to Oz I’ll introduce them to you.”

  “Do you really expect to get to Oz?” inquired the shaggy man, taking a drink of cold tea.

  “I don’t know just what to ‘spect,” answered the child, seriously; “but I’ve noticed if I happen to get lost I’m almost sure to come to the Land of Oz in the end, somehow ‘r other; so I may get there this time. But I can’t promise, you know; all I can do is wait and see.”

  “Will the Scarecrow scare me?” asked Button-Bright.

  “No; ‘cause you’re not a crow,” she returned. “He has the loveliest smile you ever saw—only it’s painted on and he can’t help it.”

  Luncheon being over they started again upon their journey, the shaggy man, Dorothy and Button-Bright walking soberly along, side by side, and the Rainbow’s Daughter dancing merrily before them.

  Sometimes she darted along the road so swiftly that she was nearly out of sight, then she came tripping back to greet them with her silvery laughter. But once she came back more sedately, to say:

  “There’s a city a little way off.”

  “I ‘spected that,” returned Dorothy; “for the fox-people warned us there was one on this road. It’s filled with stupid beasts of some sort, but we musn’t be afraid of ‘em ‘cause they won’t hurt us.”

  “All right,” said Button-Bright; but Polychrome didn’t know whether it was all right or not.

  “It’s a big city,” she said, “and the road runs straight through it.”

  “Never mind,” said the shaggy man; “as long as I carry the Love Magnet every living thing will love me, and you may be sure I shan’t allow any of my friends to be harmed in any way.”

  This comforted them somewhat, and they moved on again. Pretty soon they came to a signpost that read:

  “HAF A MYLE TO DUNKITON.”

  “Oh,” said the shaggy man, “if they’re donkeys, we’ve nothing to fear at all.”

  “They may kick,” said Dorothy, doubtfully.

  “Then we will cut some switches, and make them behave,” he replied. At the first tree he cut himself a long, slender switch from one of the branches, and shorter switches for the others.

  “Don’t be
afraid to order the beasts around,” he said; “they’re used to it.”

  Before long the road brought them to the gates of the city. There was a high wall all around, which had been whitewashed, and the gate just before our travelers was a mere opening in the wall, with no bars across it. No towers or steeples or domes showed above the enclosure, nor was any living thing to be seen as our friends drew near.

  Suddenly, as they were about to boldly enter through the opening, there arose a harsh clamor of sound that swelled and echoed on every side, until they were nearly deafened by the racket and had to put their fingers to their ears to keep the noise out.

  It was like the firing of many cannon, only there were no cannon-balls or other missiles to be seen; it was like the rolling of mighty thunder, only not a cloud was in the sky; it was like the roar of countless breakers on a rugged seashore, only there was no sea or other water anywhere about.

  They hesitated to advance; but, as the noise did no harm, they entered through the whitewashed wall and quickly discovered the cause of the turmoil. Inside were suspended many sheets of tin or thin iron, and against these metal sheets a row of donkeys were pounding their heels with vicious kicks.

  The shaggy man ran up to the nearest donkey and gave the beast a sharp blow with his switch.

  “Stop that noise!” he shouted; and the donkey stopped kicking the metal sheet and turned its head to look with surprise at the shaggy man. He switched the next donkey, and made him stop, and then the next, so that gradually the rattling of heels ceased and the awful noise subsided. The donkeys stood in a group and eyed the strangers with fear and trembling.

  “What do you mean by making such a racket?” asked the shaggy man, sternly.

  “We were scaring away the foxes,” said one of the donkeys, meekly. “Usually they run fast enough when they hear the noise, which makes them afraid.”

  “There are no foxes here,” said the shaggy man.

  “I beg to differ with you. There’s one, anyhow,” replied the donkey, sitting upright on its haunches and waving a hoof toward Button-Bright. “We saw him coming and thought the whole army of foxes was marching to attack us.”

  “Button-Bright isn’t a fox,” explained the shaggy man. “He’s only wearing a fox head for a time, until he can get his own head back.”

  “Oh, I see,” remarked the donkey, waving its left ear reflectively. “I’m sorry we made such a mistake, and had all our work and worry for nothing.”

  The other donkeys by this time were sitting up and examining the strangers with big, glassy eyes. They made a queer picture, indeed; for they wore wide, white collars around their necks and the collars had many scallops and points. The gentlemen-donkeys wore high pointed caps set between their great ears, and the lady-donkeys wore sunbonnets with holes cut in the top for the ears to stick through. But they had no other clothing except their hairy skins, although many wore gold and silver bangles on their front wrists and bands of different metals on their rear ankles. When they were kicking they had braced themselves with their front legs, but now they all stood or sat upright on their hind legs and used the front ones as arms. Having no fingers or hands the beasts were rather clumsy, as you may guess; but Dorothy was surprised to observe how many things they could do with their stiff, heavy hoofs.

  Some of the donkeys were white, some were brown, or gray, or black, or spotted; but their hair was sleek and smooth and their broad collars and caps gave them a neat, if whimsical, appearance.

  “This is a nice way to welcome visitors, I must say!” remarked the shaggy man, in a reproachful tone.

  “Oh, we did not mean to be impolite,” replied a grey donkey which had not spoken before. “But you were not expected, nor did you send in your visiting cards, as it is proper to do.”

  “There is some truth in that,” admitted the shaggy man; “but, now you are informed that we are important and distinguished travelers, I trust you will accord us proper consideration.”

  These big words delighted the donkeys, and made them bow to the shaggy man with great respect. Said the grey one:

  “You shall be taken before his great and glorious Majesty King Kik-a-bray, who will greet you as becomes your exalted stations.”

  “That’s right,” answered Dorothy. “Take us to some one who knows something.”

  “Oh, we all know something, my child, or we shouldn’t be donkeys,” asserted the grey one, with dignity. “The word ‘donkey’ means ‘clever,’ you know.”

  “I didn’t know it,” she replied. “I thought it meant ‘stupid’.”

  “Not at all, my child. If you will look in the Encyclopedia Donkaniara you will find I’m correct. But come; I will myself lead you before our splendid, exalted, and most intellectual ruler.”

  All donkeys love big words, so it is no wonder the grey one used so many of them.

  7. The Shaggy Man’s Transformation

  They found the houses of the town all low and square and built of bricks, neatly whitewashed inside and out. The houses were not set in rows, forming regular streets, but placed here and there in a haphazard manner which made it puzzling for a stranger to find his way.

  “Stupid people must have streets and numbered houses in their cities, to guide them where to go,” observed the grey donkey, as he walked before the visitors on his hind legs, in an awkward but comical manner; “but clever donkeys know their way about without such absurd marks. Moreover, a mixed city is much prettier than one with straight streets.”

  Dorothy did not agree with this, but she said nothing to contradict it. Presently she saw a sign on a house that read: “Madam de Fayke, Hoofist,” and she asked their conductor:

  “What’s a ‘hoofist,’ please?”

  “One who reads your fortune in your hoofs,” replied the grey donkey.

  “Oh, I see,” said the little girl. “You are quite civilized here.”

  “Dunkiton,” he replied, “is the center of the world’s highest civilization.”

  They came to a house where two youthful donkeys were whitewashing the wall, and Dorothy stopped a moment to watch them. They dipped the ends of their tails, which were much like paint-brushes, into a pail of whitewash, backed up against the house, and wagged their tails right and left until the whitewash was rubbed on the wall, after which they dipped these funny brushes in the pail again and repeated the performance.

  “That must be fun,” said Button-Bright.

  “No, it’s work,” replied the old donkey; “but we make our youngsters do all the whitewashing, to keep them out of mischief.”

  “Don’t they go to school?” asked Dorothy.

  “All donkeys are born wise,” was the reply, “so the only school we need is the school of experience. Books are only for those who know nothing, and so are obliged to learn things from other people.”

  “In other words, the more stupid one is, the more he thinks he knows,” observed the shaggy man. The grey donkey paid no attention to this speech because he had just stopped before a house which had painted over the doorway a pair of hoofs, with a donkey tail between them and a rude crown and sceptre above.

  “I’ll see if his magnificent Majesty King Kik-a-bray is at home,” said he. He lifted his head and called “Whee-haw! whee-haw! whee-haw!” three times, in a shocking voice, turning about and kicking with his heels against the panel of the door. For a time there was no reply; then the door opened far enough to permit a donkey’s head to stick out and look at them.

  It was a white head, with big, awful ears and round, solemn eyes.

  “Have the foxes gone?” it asked, in a trembling voice.

  “They haven’t been here, most stupendous Majesty,” replied the grey one. “The new arrivals prove to be travelers of distinction.”

  “Oh,” said the King, in a relieved tone of voice. “Let them come in.”

  He opened the door wide, and
the party marched into a big room, which, Dorothy thought, looked quite unlike a king’s palace. There were mats of woven grasses on the floor and the place was clean and neat; but his Majesty had no other furniture at all—perhaps because he didn’t need it. He squatted down in the center of the room and a little brown donkey ran and brought a big gold crown which it placed on the monarch’s head, and a golden staff with a jeweled ball at the end of it, which the King held between his front hoofs as he sat upright.

  “Now then,” said his Majesty, waving his long ears gently to and fro, “tell me why you are here, and what you expect me to do for you.” He eyed Button-Bright rather sharply, as if afraid of the little boy’s queer head, though it was the shaggy man who undertook to reply.

  “Most noble and supreme ruler of Dunkiton,” he said, trying not to laugh in the solemn King’s face, “we are strangers traveling through your dominions and have entered your magnificent city because the road led through it, and there was no way to go around. All we desire is to pay our respects to your Majesty—the cleverest king in all the world, I’m sure—and then to continue on our way.”

  This polite speech pleased the King very much; indeed, it pleased him so much that it proved an unlucky speech for the shaggy man. Perhaps the Love Magnet helped to win his Majesty’s affections as well as the flattery, but however this may be, the white donkey looked kindly upon the speaker and said:

  “Only a donkey should be able to use such fine, big words, and you are too wise and admirable in all ways to be a mere man. Also, I feel that I love you as well as I do my own favored people, so I will bestow upon you the greatest gift within my power—a donkey’s head.”

  As he spoke he waved his jeweled staff. Although the shaggy man cried out and tried to leap backward and escape, it proved of no use. Suddenly his own head was gone and a donkey head appeared in its place—a brown, shaggy head so absurd and droll that Dorothy and Polly both broke into merry laughter, and even Button-Bright’s fox face wore a smile.