The Marvelous Land of Oz

In the north of the Land of Oz lived a boy named Tip. He worked for an old woman called Mombi, who liked using little tricks and was not very kind. One day, to amuse himself and maybe to frighten Mombi a bit, Tip carved a man out of wood and stuck a big pumpkin on top for a head. He gave the Pumpkinhead a friendly grin and a twiggy body and called him Jack.

Mombi found a strange magic powder and, just to see what would happen, she sprinkled it over Jack Pumpkinhead. To Tip’s amazement, Jack blinked, bowed, and spoke! Mombi laughed at the fun of it, but later she grew cross and told Tip she might change him into a marble statue so he would never run away.

Tip decided not to wait. That night he took the Powder of Life, woke Jack, and together they crept into the dark. Because Jack’s legs were wobbly, Tip built a fast little Sawhorse out of sticks and brought it to life, too. The Sawhorse carried them swiftly along the road to the Emerald City, where the Scarecrow was king.

The Scarecrow welcomed Tip and Jack and let the Sawhorse clatter across the shining floors of the palace. But trouble was close. General Jinjur, with an Army of Girls armed with knitting needles and filled with bold ideas, marched into the city. The Scarecrow’s straw soldiers were no match for them, and the throne was seized. Tip, Jack, and the Scarecrow escaped on the Sawhorse and hurried away to seek help.

On the road they met a curious creature: a Highly Magnified and Thoroughly Educated Woggle-Bug. Long ago a schoolmaster’s magnifying glass had made him very large, and many lessons had made him very proud. The Woggle-Bug bowed grandly and joined the company at once.

Together they traveled to the west, to the Winkie Country, where the Tin Woodman ruled kindly over the land. The Tin Woodman polished his heart with a handkerchief, hugged his old friends, and promised to help them win back the Emerald City. They tried to march against Jinjur, but the girls held the gates tight and would not let them in. Fighting did not seem wise or right, so the friends slipped into the palace by a clever trick and then found themselves trapped, with the Army surrounding them.

Tip had a daring idea. He gathered a big, soft sofa, tied palm-leaf wings to its sides, fixed two broomsticks for a tail, and fastened to the front the stuffed head of a creature called a Gump that had once hung on a wall. When the strange thing was ready, Tip sprinkled it with the Powder of Life. The head blinked. The sofa shivered. “Good evening,” said the Gump politely, though it had never had an evening before. And then, with everyone aboard—Tip, Jack, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, the Woggle-Bug, and the Sawhorse—the Gump rose and flew right out the window into the wide, green air.

The flight was wild and wonderful. The Gump did its best, but it had never been meant to fly, and the wind tossed it about. At last it came tumbling down into a giant nest of jackdaws high on a rocky peak. The birds had filled the nest with shiny treasures they had stolen. In the scramble, the Scarecrow’s straw spilled out, but Tip stuffed him again with soft banknotes from a little chest. “I am wealthy at last!” the Scarecrow declared cheerfully.

The Gump was damaged, yet Tip and his friends tied it back together and climbed down safely. They had flown far into the South, where the land was red and warm. There lived Glinda, the great and good ruler of that country. “We should ask Glinda to help us,” Tip said. Everyone agreed. They walked to her lovely palace with its ruby flags.

Glinda listened kindly to their story: to Jack who worried his pumpkin head might spoil, to the Tin Woodman who wished for peace, to the Scarecrow who wanted his city back, and to Tip who only wanted to be free of Mombi. Glinda’s eyes grew thoughtful.

“There is a deeper matter,” she said at last. “Long ago the true ruler of Oz was a little princess named Ozma. The old Wizard hid her and gave her into Mombi’s keeping. The child vanished, and the throne was never rightly filled again.”

Glinda found Mombi and gently but firmly took away her wicked tricks. Faced with Glinda’s truth, Mombi confessed a secret she had kept for years. She had hidden the princess by changing her into someone no one would ever suspect. She had changed the princess into a boy—into Tip himself.

Tip’s heart thumped. “Does that mean I am—?”

“It means,” said Glinda softly, “that you were born Ozma, the true heir to the throne. It is right that you be yourself again.”

Tip looked at his friends. Jack held his pumpkin head a little straighter. The Tin Woodman patted Tip’s shoulder with a tin hand. The Scarecrow nodded wisely. “Whatever you are,” he said, “you are our friend.”

So Mombi spoke the undoing spell, and in a breath, Tip changed. A bright light seemed to shine, and there stood Princess Ozma, graceful and brave, with the same clear eyes that Tip had always had. She smiled at her companions, and they saw that their friend was still their friend.

Glinda led Ozma and the others back to the Emerald City. When General Jinjur saw the rightful ruler return with such good company and good sense, she gave up the throne without a fight. Order and laughter came back to the palace halls. The Scarecrow found a comfortable home where his brains could be of use. The Tin Woodman returned to rule the Winkies kindly. The Woggle-Bug began a grand college where students could become Highly Educated, though perhaps not so Thoroughly Proud. Jack was given a fine pumpkin patch so he could grow new heads whenever he needed. The Sawhorse became Ozma’s swift and faithful steed. As for the Gump, it asked politely to rest, and its head was hung in a pleasant place where it could chat with visitors now and then.

Princess Ozma reigned with a gentle hand. She remembered what it felt like to be Tip—curious, bold, and loyal—and she ruled so that everyone in Oz might feel safe and happy. And sometimes, when the sun lit the Emerald City windows just right, she and her friends would sit together and laugh about the time they flew a sofa across the sky and stuffed a Scarecrow with paper money.

The Land of Oz was marvelous indeed, and with Ozma on the throne, it became even more so.