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After climbing down from the china wall the travelers found themselves in a country ath was hard to cross. It was full of bogs and marshes and covered with tall grass. It was difficult to walk without falling into muddy holes.
However, they safely got to the solid ground. Here the country seemed wilder than ever, and after a long and tiresome walk they entered another forest, where the trees were bigger and older than any they had ever seen.
“This forest is perfectly delightful,” declared the Lion, looking around him with joy. “Never have I seen a more beautiful place.”
“It seems gloomy,” said the Scarecrow.
“I like it,” answered the Lion. “I should like to live here all my life. See how soft the dried leaves are under your feet and how rich and green the moss on the trees is.”
“Perhaps there are wild beasts in the forest now,” said Dorothy.
“I suppose there are,” returned the Lion, “but I do not see any of them about.”
They walked through the forest until it became too dark to go any farther. Dorothy and Toto and the Lion lay down to sleep, while the Woodman and the Scarecrow kept watch over them as usual.
When morning came, they started walking again. Soon they heard a low rumble, as of the growling of many wild animals. They kept walking along the path until they came to an opening in the wood, in which were gathered hundreds of beasts of every variety. There were tigers and elephants and bears and wolves and foxes and all the others in the natural history, and for a moment Dorothy was afraid. But the Lion explained that the animals were holding a meeting, and he judged by their snarling and growling that they were in great trouble.
Several of the beasts caught sight of him, and at once everyone stopped talking. The biggest of the tigers came up to the Lion and bowed, saying:
“Welcome, O King of Beasts! You have come in good time to fight our enemy and bring peace to all the animals of the forest once more.”
“What is your trouble?” asked the Lion quietly.
“We are all threatened,” answered the tiger, “by a fierce enemy which has lately come into this forest. It is a most tremendous monster, like a great spider, with a body as big as an elephant and legs as long as a tree trunk. It has eight of these long legs, and as the monster crawls through the forest he seizes animals and eats them. Not one of us are safe while this creature is alive.”
The Lion thought for a moment.
“Are there any other lions in this forest?” he asked.
“No; there were some, but the monster has eaten them all. And, besides, they were none of them nearly so large and brave as you.”
“If I put an end to your enemy, will you make me a King of the Forest?” inquired the Lion.
“We will do that gladly,” returned the tiger; and all the other beasts roared with a mighty roar: “We will!”
“Where is this great spider of yours now?” asked the Lion.
“There, among the oak trees,” said the tiger.
“Take good care of these friends of mine,” said the Lion, “and I will go at once to fight the monster.”
He told his friends good-bye and marched proudly away to do battle with the enemy.
The great spider was lying asleep when the Lion found him. Its legs were quite as long as the tiger had said, and its body covered with coarse black hair. It had a great mouth, with a row of sharp teeth; but its head was joined to the body by a slender neck. The Lion jumped and landed directly upon the monster’s back. Then, with one blow of his heavy paw, armed with sharp claws, he knocked the spider’s head from its body. He then jumped down and watched the spider, until its legs stopped wiggling.
The Lion went back to the opening where the beasts of the forest were waiting for him and said proudly:
“You need fear your enemy no longer.”
Then the beasts bowed down to the Lion as their King, and he promised to come back and rule over them as soon as Dorothy was safely on her way to Kansas.
The four travelers passed through the rest of the forest in safety, and when they came out they saw before them a steep hill, covered from top to bottom with great pieces of rock.
“That will be a hard climb,” said the Scarecrow, “but we must get over the hill, nevertheless.”
So he led the way and the others followed. They had nearly reached the first rock when they heard a voice.
“Keep back!”
“Who are you?” asked the Scarecrow.
Then a head showed itself over the rock and the same voice said, “This hill belongs to us, and we don’t allow anyone to cross it.”
“But we must cross it,” said the Scarecrow. “We’re going to the country of the Quadlings.”
“But you shall not!” replied the voice, and there stepped from behind the rock the strangest man the travelers had ever seen.
He was short and had a big head, which was flat at the top. He had no arms at all, and, seeing this, the Scarecrow did not fear the creature. So he said, “I’m sorry but we must pass over your hill whether you like it or not,” and he walked forward.
As quick as lightning the man’s head shot forward and his neck stretched out until the top of the head, where it was flat, struck the Scarecrow in the middle and made him fall over. Almost as quickly as it came the head went back to the body, and the man laughed harshly as he said, “It isn’t as easy as you think!”
A chorus of laughter came from the other rocks, and Dorothy saw hundreds of the armless Hammer-Heads upon the hillside, one behind every rock.
“What can we do?” asked Dorothy.
“Call the Winged Monkeys,” suggested the Tin Woodman.
“Very well,” she answered, and putting on the Golden Cap she uttered the magic words. The Monkeys arrived quickly.
“What are your commands?” inquired the King of the Monkeys, bowing low.
“Carry us over the hill to the country of the Quadlings,” answered the girl.
“It shall be done,” said the King, and at once the Winged Monkeys carried Dorothy and her comrades safely over the hill and set them down in the beautiful country of the Quadlings.
“This is the last time you can summon us,” said the leader to Dorothy; “so good-bye and good luck to you.”
“Good-bye, and thank you very much,” returned the girl; and the Monkeys rose into the air and were out of sight.
The country of the Quadlings seemed rich and happy. There were fields with grain, well-paved roads, and pretty rippling brooks with bridges across them. The fences and houses and bridges were all painted bright red. The Quadlings themselves, who were short and fat and looked chubby and good-natured, were dressed all in red.
The Monkeys had set them down near a farmhouse, and the four travelers walked up to it and knocked at the door. It was opened by the farmer’s wife. Dorothy asked for something to eat. The woman gave them all a good dinner, with three kinds of cake and four kinds of cookies, and a bowl of milk for Toto.
“How far is it to the Castle of Glinda?” asked the child.
“It is not a great way,” answered the farmer’s wife. “Take the road to the South and you will soon reach it.”
Thanking the good woman, they conitnued walking until they saw a very beautiful Castle. Before the gates were three young girls, dressed in handsome red uniforms trimmed with gold braid. As Dorothy approached, one of them said to her:
“Why have you come to the South Country?”
“To see the Good Witch who rules here,” she answered. “Will you take me to her?”
“Let me have your name, and I will ask Glinda if she will receive you.”
They told who they were, and the girl soldier went into the Castle. After a few moments she came back to say that Dorothy and the others were welcome to come in.
Before they went to see Glinda, however, they were taken to a room of the Castle, where Dorothy washed her face and combed her hair. The Lion shook the dust out of his mane, the Scarecrow patted himself into his best shape, and the Woodman polished his tin and oiled his joints.
Then they followed the soldier girl into a big room where the Witch Glinda sat upon a throne of rubies.
She was both beautiful and young to their eyes. Her hair was a rich red color. Her dress was pure white but her eyes were blue and kind.
“What can I do for you, my child?” she asked.
Dorothy told the Witch all her story.
“My greatest wish now,” she added, “is to get back to Kansas.”
Glinda leaned forward and kissed girl’s face.
“Bless your dear heart,” she said, “I am sure I can tell you of a way to get back to Kansas.” Then she added, “But, if I do, you must give me the Golden Cap.”
“Of course!” exclaimed Dorothy; “It is of no use to me now, and when you have it you can command the Winged Monkeys three times.”
Dorothy then gave her the Golden Cap, and the Witch said to the Scarecrow, “What will you do when Dorothy has left us?”
“I will return to the Emerald City,” he replied, “for Oz has made me its ruler and the people like me. The only thing that worries me is how to cross the hill of the Hammer-Heads.”
“I shall command the Winged Monkeys to carry you to the gates of the Emerald City,” said Glinda, “for it would be a shame to deprive the people of so wonderful a ruler.”
“Am I really wonderful?” asked the Scarecrow.
“You are unusual,” replied Glinda.
Turning to the Tin Woodman, she asked, “What will become of you when Dorothy leaves this country?”
He leaned on his axe and thought a moment. Then he said, “The Winkies were very kind to me, and wanted me to rule over them after the Wicked Witch died. If I could get back to the Country of the West, I should like nothing better than to rule over them forever.”
“My second command to the Winged Monkeys,” said Glinda “will be that they carry you safely to the land of the Winkies.”
Then the Witch looked at the big, shaggy Lion and asked, “When Dorothy has returned to her own home, what will you do?”
“Over the hill of the Hammer-Heads,” he answered, “lies a grand old forest, and all the beasts that live there have made me their King. If I could only get back to this forest, I would pass my life very happily there.”
“My third command to the Winged Monkeys,” said Glinda, “shall be to carry you to your forest. Then, having used up the powers of the Golden Cap, I shall give it to the King of the Monkeys, that he and his band may thereafter be free.”
The Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman and the Lion now thanked the Good Witch for her kindness; and Dorothy exclaimed:
“You are certainly as good as you are beautiful! But you have not yet told me how to get back to Kansas.”
“Your Silver Shoes will carry you over the desert,” replied Glinda. “If you had known their power you could have gone back to your Aunt Em the very first day you came to this country.”
“But then I should not have had my wonderful brains!” cried the Scarecrow. “I might have passed my whole life in the farmer’s cornfield.”
“And I should not have had my lovely heart,” said the Tin Woodman. “I might have stood and rusted in the forest till the end of the world.”
“And I should have lived a coward forever,” declared the Lion, “and no beast in all the forest would have had a good word to say to me.”
“This is all true,” said Dorothy, “and I am glad I was of use to these good friends. But now I think I should like to go back to Kansas.”
“The Silver Shoes,” said the Good Witch, “have wonderful powers. And one of the most curious things about them is that they can carry you to any place in the world in three steps, and each step will be made in the wink of an eye. All you have to do is to knock the heels together three times and command the shoes to carry you wherever you wish to go.”
“If that is so,” said the child joyfully, “I will ask them to carry me back to Kansas at once.”
She threw her arms around the Lion’s neck and kissed him, patting his big head. Then she kissed the Tin Woodman, who was weeping. Then she hugged the Scarecrow, and found she was crying herself at this sorrowful parting from her loving comrades.
Glinda the Good stepped down from her ruby throne to give the little girl a good-bye kiss, and Dorothy thanked her for all the kindness she had shown to her friends and herself.
Dorothy now took Toto into her arms, and having said one last good-bye she clapped the heels of her shoes together three times, saying:
“Take me home to Aunt Em!”
Instantly she was whirling through the air, so swiftly that all she could see or feel was the wind whistling past her ears.
Then she stopped so suddenly that she rolled over upon the grass several times before she knew where she was.
She sat up and looked about her.
“Good gracious!” she cried.
She was sitting on the broad Kansas prairie, and just before her was the new farmhouse Uncle Henry built after the cyclone had carried away the old one. Uncle Henry was milking the cows in the barnyard, and Toto had jumped out of her arms and was running toward the barn, barking furiously.
Dorothy stood up and found she was in her stocking-feet. For the Silver Shoes had fallen off in her flight through the air, and were lost forever in the desert.
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