“Did you conquer her?” asked Polly.
“Why, I melted her with a bucket of water, and that was the end of her,” replied Dorothy. “After that the people were free, you know, and they made Nick Chopper—that’s the Tin Woodman—their Emp’ror.”
“What’s that?” asked Button-Bright.
“Emp’ror? Oh, it’s something like an alderman, I guess.”
“Oh,” said the boy.
“But I thought Princess Ozma ruled Oz,” said the shaggy man.
“So she does; she rules the Emerald City and all the four countries of Oz; but each country has another little ruler, not so big as Ozma. It’s like the officers of an army, you see; the little rulers are all captains, and Ozma’s the general.”
By this time they had reached the trees, which stood in a perfect circle and just far enough apart so that their thick branches touched—or “shook hands,” as Button-Bright remarked. Under the shade of the trees they found, in the center of the circle, a crystal pool, its water as still as glass. It must have been deep, too, for when Polychrome bent over it she gave a little sigh of pleasure.
“Why, it’s a mirror!” she cried; for she could see all her pretty face and fluffy, rainbow-tinted gown reflected in the pool, as natural as life.
Dorothy bent over, too, and began to arrange her hair, blown by the desert wind into straggling tangles. Button-Bright leaned over the edge next, and then began to cry, for the sight of his fox head frightened the poor little fellow.
“I guess I won’t look,” remarked the shaggy man, sadly, for he didn’t like his donkey head, either. While Polly and Dorothy tried to comfort Button-Bright, the shaggy man sat down near the edge of the pool, where his image could not be reflected, and stared at the water thoughtfully. As he did this he noticed a silver plate fastened to a rock just under the surface of the water, and on the silver plate was engraved these words:
THE TRUTH POND
“Ah!” cried the shaggy man, springing to his feet with eager joy; “we’ve found it at last.”
“Found what?” asked Dorothy, running to him.
“The Truth Pond. Now, at last, I may get rid of this frightful head; for we were told, you remember, that only the Truth Pond could restore to me my proper face.”
“Me, too!” shouted Button-Bright, trotting up to them.
“Of course,” said Dorothy. “It will cure you both of your bad heads, I guess. Isn’t it lucky we found it?”
“It is, indeed,” replied the shaggy man. “I hated dreadfully to go to Princess Ozma looking like this; and she’s to have a birthday celebration, too.”
Just then a splash startled them, for Button-Bright, in his anxiety to see the pool that would “cure” him, had stepped too near the edge and tumbled heels over head into the water. Down he went, out of sight entirely, so that only his sailor hat floated on the top of the Truth Pond.
He soon bobbed up, and the shaggy man seized him by his sailor collar and dragged him to the shore, dripping and gasping for breath. They all looked upon the boy wonderingly, for the fox head with its sharp nose and pointed ears was gone, and in its place appeared the chubby round face and blue eyes and pretty curls that had belonged to Button-Bright before King Dox of Foxville transformed him.
“Oh, what a darling!” cried Polly, and would have hugged the little one had he not been so wet.
Their joyful exclamations made the child rub the water out of his eyes and look at his friends questioningly.
“You’re all right now, dear,” said Dorothy. “Come and look at yourself.” She led him to the pool, and although there were still a few ripples on the surface of the water he could see his reflection plainly.
“It’s me!” he said, in a pleased yet awed whisper.
“‘Course it is,” replied the girl, “and we’re all as glad as you are, Button-Bright.”
“Well,” announced the shaggy man, “it’s my turn next.” He took off his shaggy coat and laid it on the grass and dived head first into the Truth Pond.
When he came up the donkey head had disappeared, and the shaggy man’s own shaggy head was in its place, with the water dripping in little streams from his shaggy whiskers. He scrambled ashore and shook himself to get off some of the wet, and then leaned over the pool to look admiringly at his reflected face.
“I may not be strictly beautiful, even now,” he said to his companions, who watched him with smiling faces; “but I’m so much handsomer than any donkey that I feel as proud as I can be.”
“You’re all right, Shaggy Man,” declared Dorothy. “And Button-Bright is all right, too. So let’s thank the Truth Pond for being so nice, and start on our journey to the Emerald City.”
“I hate to leave it,” murmured the shaggy man, with a sigh. “A truth pond wouldn’t be a bad thing to carry around with us.” But he put on his coat and started with the others in search of some one to direct them on their way.
14. Tik-Tok and Billina
They had not walked far across the flower-strewn meadows when they came upon a fine road leading toward the northwest and winding gracefully among the pretty yellow hills.
“That way,” said Dorothy, “must be the direction of the Emerald City. We’d better follow the road until we meet some one or come to a house.”
The sun soon dried Button-Bright’s sailor suit and the shaggy man’s shaggy clothes, and so pleased were they at regaining their own heads that they did not mind at all the brief discomfort of getting wet.
“It’s good to be able to whistle again,” remarked the shaggy man, “for those donkey lips were so thick I could not whistle a note with them.” He warbled a tune as merrily as any bird.
“You’ll look more natural at the birthday celebration, too,” said Dorothy, happy in seeing her friends so happy.
Polychrome was dancing ahead in her usual sprightly manner, whirling gaily along the smooth, level road, until she passed from sight around the curve of one of the mounds. Suddenly they heard her exclaim “Oh!” and she appeared again, running toward them at full speed.
“What’s the matter, Polly?” asked Dorothy, perplexed.
There was no need for the Rainbow’s Daughter to answer, for turning the bend in the road there came advancing slowly toward them a funny round man made of burnished copper, gleaming brightly in the sun. Perched on the copper man’s shoulder sat a yellow hen, with fluffy feathers and a pearl necklace around her throat.
“Oh, Tik-tok!” cried Dorothy, running forward. When she came to him, the copper man lifted the little girl in his copper arms and kissed her cheek with his copper lips.
“Oh, Billina!” cried Dorothy, in a glad voice, and the yellow hen flew to her arms, to be hugged and petted by turns.
The others were curiously crowding around the group, and the girl said to them:
“It’s Tik-tok and Billina; and oh! I’m so glad to see them again.”
“Wel-come to Oz,” said the copper man in a monotonous voice.
Dorothy sat right down in the road, the yellow hen in her arms, and began to stroke Billina’s back. Said the hen:
“Dorothy, dear, I’ve got some wonderful news to tell you.”
“Tell it quick, Billina!” said the girl.
Just then Toto, who had been growling to himself in a cross way, gave a sharp bark and flew at the yellow hen, who ruffled her feathers and let out such an angry screech that Dorothy was startled.
“Stop, Toto! Stop that this minute!” she commanded. “Can’t you see that Billina is my friend?” In spite of this warning had she not grabbed Toto quickly by the neck the little dog would have done the yellow hen a mischief, and even now he struggled madly to escape Dorothy’s grasp. She slapped his ears once or twice and told him to behave, and the yellow hen flew to Tik-tok’s shoulder again, where she was safe.
“What a brute!” croaked Billina, g
laring down at the little dog.
“Toto isn’t a brute,” replied Dorothy, “but at home Uncle Henry has to whip him sometimes for chasing the chickens. Now look here, Toto,” she added, holding up her finger and speaking sternly to him, “you’ve got to understand that Billina is one of my dearest friends, and musn’t be hurt—now or ever.”
Toto wagged his tail as if he understood.
“The miserable thing can’t talk,” said Billina, with a sneer.
“Yes, he can,” replied Dorothy; “he talks with his tail, and I know everything he says. If you could wag your tail, Billina, you wouldn’t need words to talk with.”
“Nonsense!” said Billina.
“It isn’t nonsense at all. Just now Toto says he’s sorry, and that he’ll try to love you for my sake. Don’t you, Toto?”
“Bow-wow!” said Toto, wagging his tail again.
“But I’ve such wonderful news for you, Dorothy,” cried the yellow hen; “I’ve—”
“Wait a minute, dear,” interrupted the little girl; “I’ve got to introduce you all, first. That’s manners, Billina. This,” turning to her traveling companions, “is Mr. Tik-tok, who works by machinery ‘cause his thoughts wind up, and his talk winds up, and his action winds up—like a clock.”
“Do they all wind up together?” asked the shaggy man.
“No; each one separate. But he works just lovely, and Tik-tok was a good friend to me once, and saved my life—and Billina’s life, too.”
“Is he alive?” asked Button-Bright, looking hard at the copper man.
“Oh, no, but his machinery makes him just as good as alive.” She turned to the copper man and said politely: “Mr. Tik-tok, these are my new friends: the shaggy man, and Polly the Rainbow’s Daughter, and Button-Bright, and Toto. Only Toto isn’t a new friend, ‘cause he’s been to Oz before.”
The copper man bowed low, removing his copper hat as he did so.
“I’m ve-ry pleased to meet Dor-o-thy’s fr-r-r-r—-“ Here he stopped short.
“Oh, I guess his speech needs winding!” said the little girl, running behind the copper man to get the key off a hook at his back. She wound him up at a place under his right arm and he went on to say:
“Par-don me for run-ning down. I was a-bout to say I am pleased to meet Dor-o-thy’s friends, who must be my friends.” The words were somewhat jerky, but plain to understand.
“And this is Billina,” continued Dorothy, introducing the yellow hen, and they all bowed to her in turn.
“I’ve such wonderful news,” said the hen, turning her head so that one bright eye looked full at Dorothy.
“What is it, dear?” asked the girl.
“I’ve hatched out ten of the loveliest chicks you ever saw.”
“Oh, how nice! And where are they, Billina?”
“I left them at home. But they’re beauties, I assure you, and all wonderfully clever. I’ve named them Dorothy.”
“Which one?” asked the girl.
“All of them,” replied Billina.
“That’s funny. Why did you name them all with the same name?”
“It was so hard to tell them apart,” explained the hen. “Now, when I call ‘Dorothy,’ they all come running to me in a bunch; it’s much easier, after all, than having a separate name for each.”
“I’m just dying to see ‘em, Billina,” said Dorothy, eagerly. “But tell me, my friends, how did you happen to be here, in the Country of the Winkies, the first of all to meet us?”
“I’ll tell you,” answered Tik-tok, in his monotonous voice, all the sounds of his words being on one level—"Prin-cess Oz-ma saw you in her mag-ic pic-ture, and knew you were com-ing here; so she sent Bil-lin-a and me to wel-come you as she could not come her-self; so that—fiz-i-dig-le cum-so-lut-ing hy-ber-gob-ble in-tu-zib-ick—”
“Good gracious! Whatever’s the matter now?” cried Dorothy, as the copper man continued to babble these unmeaning words, which no one could understand at all because they had no sense.
“Don’t know,” said Button-Bright, who was half scared. Polly whirled away to a distance and turned to look at the copper man in a fright.
“His thoughts have run down, this time,” remarked Billina composedly, as she sat on Tik-tok’s shoulder and pruned her sleek feathers. “When he can’t think, he can’t talk properly, any more than you can. You’ll have to wind up his thoughts, Dorothy, or else I’ll have to finish his story myself.”
Dorothy ran around and got the key again and wound up Tik-tok under his left arm, after which he could speak plainly again.
“Par-don me,” he said, “but when my thoughts run down, my speech has no mean-ing, for words are formed on-ly by thought. I was a-bout to say that Oz-ma sent us to wel-come you and in-vite you to come straight to the Em-er-ald Ci-ty. She was too bus-y to come her-self, for she is pre-par-ing for her birth-day cel-e-bra-tion, which is to be a grand af-fair.”
“I’ve heard of it,” said Dorothy, “and I’m glad we’ve come in time to attend. Is it far from here to the Emerald City?”
“Not ve-ry far,” answered Tik-tok, “and we have plen-ty of time. To-night we will stop at the pal-ace of the Tin Wood-man, and to-mor-row night we will ar-rive at the Em-er-ald Ci-ty.”
“Goody!” cried Dorothy. “I’d like to see dear Nick Chopper again. How’s his heart?”
“It’s fine,” said Billina; “the Tin Woodman says it gets softer and kindlier every day. He’s waiting at his castle to welcome you, Dorothy; but he couldn’t come with us because he’s getting polished as bright as possible for Ozma’s party.”
“Well then,” said Dorothy, “let’s start on, and we can talk more as we go.”
They proceeded on their journey in a friendly group, for Polychrome had discovered that the copper man was harmless and was no longer afraid of him. Button-Bright was also reassured, and took quite a fancy to Tik-tok. He wanted the clockwork man to open himself, so that he might see the wheels go round; but that was a thing Tik-tok could not do. Button-Bright then wanted to wind up the copper man, and Dorothy promised he should do so as soon as any part of the machinery ran down. This pleased Button-Bright, who held fast to one of Tik-tok’s copper hands as he trudged along the road, while Dorothy walked on the other side of her old friend and Billina perched by turns upon his shoulder or his copper hat. Polly once more joyously danced ahead and Toto ran after her, barking with glee. The shaggy man was left to walk behind; but he didn’t seem to mind that a bit, and whistled merrily or looked curiously upon the pretty scenes they passed.
At last they came to a hilltop from which the tin castle of Nick Chopper could plainly be seen, its towers glistening magnificently under the rays of the declining sun.
“How pretty!” exclaimed Dorothy. “I’ve never seen the Emp’ror’s new house before.”
“He built it because the old castle was damp, and likely to rust his tin body,” said Billina. “All those towers and steeples and domes and gables took a lot of tin, as you can see.”
“Is it a toy?” asked Button-Bright softly.
“No, dear,” answered Dorothy; “it’s better than that. It’s the fairy dwelling of a fairy prince.”
15. The Emperor’s Tin Castle
The grounds around Nick Chopper’s new house were laid out in pretty flower-beds, with fountains of crystal water and statues of tin representing the Emperor’s personal friends. Dorothy was astonished and delighted to find a tin statue of herself standing on a tin pedestal at a bend in the avenue leading up to the entrance. It was life-size and showed her in her sunbonnet with her basket on her arm, just as she had first appeared in the Land of Oz.
“Oh, Toto—you’re there too!” she exclaimed; and sure enough there was the tin figure of Toto lying at the tin Dorothy’s feet.
Also, Dorothy saw figures of the Scarecrow, and the Wizard, and Ozma, and of ma
ny others, including Tik-tok. They reached the grand tin entrance to the tin castle, and the Tin Woodman himself came running out of the door to embrace little Dorothy and give her a glad welcome. He welcomed her friends as well, and the Rainbow’s Daughter he declared to be the loveliest vision his tin eyes had ever beheld. He patted Button-Bright’s curly head tenderly, for he was fond of children, and turned to the shaggy man and shook both his hands at the same time.
Nick Chopper, the Emperor of the Winkies, who was also known throughout the Land of Oz as the Tin Woodman, was certainly a remarkable person. He was neatly made, all of tin, nicely soldered at the joints, and his various limbs were cleverly hinged to his body so that he could use them nearly as well as if they had been common flesh. Once, he told the shaggy man, he had been made all of flesh and bones, as other people are, and then he chopped wood in the forests to earn his living. But the axe slipped so often and cut off parts of him—which he had replaced with tin—that finally there was no flesh left, nothing but tin; so he became a real tin woodman. The wonderful Wizard of Oz had given him an excellent heart to replace his old one, and he didn’t at all mind being tin. Every one loved him, he loved every one; and he was therefore as happy as the day was long.
The Emperor was proud of his new tin castle, and showed his visitors through all the rooms. Every bit of the furniture was made of brightly polished tin—the tables, chairs, beds, and all—even the floors and walls were of tin.
“I suppose,” said he, “that there are no cleverer tinsmiths in all the world than the Winkies. It would be hard to match this castle in Kansas; wouldn’t it, little Dorothy?”
“Very hard,” replied the child, gravely.
“It must have cost a lot of money,” remarked the shaggy man.
The Classic Children's Literature Collection: 39 Classic Novels Page 173