Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz

Dorothy Gale was visiting Hugson’s Ranch in California. One warm day she rode in a little buggy with her cousin Zeb and his old cab-horse, Jim. Dorothy carried her white kitten, Eureka, in a small basket on her lap. They were talking about the dusty road and the mountains when the ground gave a great shiver. An earthquake cracked the earth wide open, and the buggy, the horse, Dorothy, Zeb, and the kitten tumbled down, down into the darkness.

Instead of crashing, they floated like feathers. The air below was thick and soft, and it held them up until they settled gently in a strange, bright valley under the ground. The trees looked like glass. The sunshine came through a clear roof far above them. And walking toward them were people who looked like shining vegetables—cool-faced folks grown from vines in a garden. They called themselves Mangaboos. They did not like “meat people,” as they called Dorothy, Zeb, and Jim. Their Sorcerer, a tall, stiff person with a face as smooth as a turnip, said the strangers must be “removed.”

Just then a colorful balloon drifted down from a crack in the glassy sky. Out stepped a small man with sharp eyes, a black bag, and nine tiny pink piglets trotting behind him. Dorothy cried out in delight, for it was her old friend, the Wizard of Oz, the great Humbug from Omaha—only here, in fairy countries, his tricks sometimes worked like real magic.

The Mangaboo Sorcerer tried to show his power, but the Wizard was quick. He performed clever feats, drew shining things from his bag, and puzzled the vegetable people. When the Sorcerer grew angry and reached to harm them, the Wizard used a bright, sharp trick so swiftly that the Sorcerer—being only a vegetable person inside—fell apart into harmless slices. This shocked the Mangaboos, who grew a new Sorcerer at once and declared Dorothy and her friends must still be punished. They sent the travelers to the Garden of Twining Vines, where long, ropey stems tried to snatch and squeeze them.

But Dorothy was brave, Zeb was steady, Jim was strong, and the Wizard was very clever. They fought through the clutching vines, found a dark tunnel at the garden’s edge, and slipped away from the valley of glass and vegetables.

Soon they reached a soft green place called the Valley of Voe. The people there lived in tree houses and were very kind—but Dorothy could not see them at first. They told her they ate a special fruit that made them invisible. It kept them safe from the enormous invisible bears that prowled the valley. The tree people gave Dorothy, Zeb, Jim, the Wizard, and even little Eureka some of the fruit. For a time the travelers could not see one another at all! Invisible and quiet, they tiptoed past the hungry, unseen bears. When the magic wore off, they thanked their new friends and climbed on.

After that they came to a rocky place where the Scoodlers lived—queer creatures who could twist their heads off and throw them like rubber balls. The Scoodlers danced and chanted that they would make the strangers into soup and invited them toward black kettles. “We won’t be soup!” Dorothy said firmly. She swung a tin pail and knocked a flying head out of the air. The Wizard flung a rope over a jutting rock and made a swing so they could cross a deep crack in the ground. One by one they swung over, while the Scoodlers’ tossed heads bounced and rolled and their bodies scrambled after them. The travelers scrambled away and didn’t look back.

Next came the Land of the Wooden Gargoyles, where everything—houses, trees, even the birds—was made of wood. The wooden people had joints that clicked and little wings that flapped. They seized Dorothy and her friends and shut them in a wooden house. The Wizard struck a match. The tiny flame made every wooden gargoyle jump back in terror, for wooden folk fear fire more than anything. Using the fright to their advantage, the travelers slipped out, chopped long pieces of wood, and built a tall ladder in sections. Up, up they climbed toward a hole high in the wooden sky. Each time they reached the top of a section, they pulled the ladder up after them. The wooden gargoyles dared not follow because the Wizard kept a bright little flame ready in his hand.

Beyond the wooden country they found a warm, wide cave where baby dragonettes squirmed on a nest of jewels. The babies were curious and harmless, puffing tiny clouds of smoke. But the mother dragon’s heavy wingbeats boomed in the tunnel. “Quick!” whispered Zeb. They hurried along the rocky wall, keeping very still. The mother dragon swooped to her nest, and the travelers slipped past before she noticed them.

They went on through caverns and tunnels, sometimes climbing, sometimes slipping on smooth stone. At last they came to a place where the way ahead was blocked by rocks they could not move and a cliff they could not climb. They rested there, tired and unsure what to do next.

Far away, in the Emerald City of Oz, Princess Ozma sat before her Magic Picture, a painting that showed whatever she wished to see. Every day she looked to be sure her friend Dorothy was safe. When Ozma saw Dorothy and her companions trapped under the earth, she took the Magic Belt from her waist and wished them all—Dorothy, Zeb, Jim, Eureka, and the Wizard—safe to her palace.

In a blink they stood on shining green floors. The Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, the Woggle-Bug, and the lively Sawhorse came to greet them. Everyone laughed and cheered. Jim munched sweet clover and boasted he could run as well as any wooden horse. He raced the Sawhorse around the courtyard. The Sawhorse was quicker, but old Jim tried bravely and was applauded for his effort.

The Wizard bowed to Princess Ozma and asked to stay. “You may be our Royal Wizard,” Ozma said kindly. “Here you can learn real magic and help our people.” The Wizard’s nine tiny piglets trotted in circles and squealed with joy.

Then trouble popped up. One little piglet was missing! Eureka, the kitten, purred and said she had eaten it. Everyone was shocked. Ozma ordered a fair and proper trial. Dorothy’s heart ached, for she loved her kitten. But before any punishment could be decided, a soft oink came from behind a cushion. The lost piglet waddled out, perfectly fine. He had simply squeezed into a crack and fallen asleep. Eureka stretched and admitted she had only been teasing. “I won’t make such jokes again,” she promised. Ozma forgave her at once.

At last it was time to choose. Ozma invited everyone to stay in Oz, where no one grows old or hungry. The Wizard stayed to serve Ozma. But Dorothy missed Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, and Zeb had work with his uncle, and old Jim belonged in his own stable. So Ozma used the Magic Belt again. In a flash Dorothy, Zeb, Jim, and Eureka were back at Hugson’s Ranch, the sunshine of California warm on their faces.

They often remembered the glassy Mangaboos, the invisible people of Voe, the silly Scoodlers, the wooden gargoyles, and the dragonettes—and the good friends in the Emerald City. Dorothy knew in her heart that one day she would see Oz again.