The Scarecrow of Oz
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Only a short time elapsed before a gray grasshopper with a wooden leg came hopping along and lit directly on the upturned face of the Scarecrow’s head.
“Pardon me, but you are resting yourself upon my nose,” remarked the Scarecrow.
“Oh! are you alive?” asked the grasshopper.
“That is a question I have never been able to decide,” said the Scarecrow’s head. “When my body is properly stuffed I have animation and can move around as well as any live person. The brains in the head you are now occupying as a throne, are of very superior quality and do a lot of very clever thinking. But whether that is being alive, or not, I cannot prove to you; for one who lives is liable to death, while I am only liable to destruction.”
“Seems to me,” said the grasshopper, rubbing his nose with his front legs, “that in your case it doesn’t matter – unless you’re destroyed already.”
“I am not; all I need is re-stuffing,” declared the Scarecrow; “and if Pon and Trot escape the witch, and come back here, I am sure they will do me that favor.”
“Tell me! Are Trot and Pon around here?” inquired the grasshopper, its small voice trembling with excitement.
The Scarecrow did not answer at once, for both his eyes were staring straight upward at a beautiful face that was slightly bent over his head. It was, indeed, Princess Gloria, who had wandered to this spot, very much surprised when she heard the Scarecrow’s head talk and the tiny gray grasshopper answer it.
“This,” said the Scarecrow, still staring at her, “must be the Princess who loves Pon, the gardener’s boy.”
“Oh, indeed!” exclaimed the grasshopper – who of course was Cap’n Bill – as he examined the young lady curiously.
“No,” said Gloria frigidly, “I do not love Pon, or anyone else, for the Wicked Witch has frozen my heart.”
“What a shame!” cried the Scarecrow. “One so lovely should be able to love. But would you mind, my dear, stuffing that straw into my body again?”
The dainty Princess glanced at the straw and at the well-worn blue Munchkin clothes and shrank back in disdain. But she was spared from refusing the Scarecrow’s request by the appearance of Trot and Pon, who had hidden in some bushes just over the brow of the hill and waited until old Blinkie had passed them by. Their hiding place was on the same side as the witch’s blind eye, and she rushed on in the chase of the girl and the youth without being aware that they had tricked her.
Trot was shocked at the Scarecrow’s sad condition and at once began putting the straw back into his body. Pon, at sight of Gloria, again appealed to her to take pity on him, but the frozen-hearted Princess turned coldly away and with a sigh the gardener’s boy began to assist Trot.
Neither of them at first noticed the small grasshopper, which at their appearance had skipped off the Scarecrow’s nose and was now clinging to a wisp of grass beside the path, where he was not likely to be stepped upon. Not until the Scarecrow had been neatly restuffed and set upon his feet again when he bowed to his restorers and expressed his thanks did the grasshopper move from his perch. Then he leaped lightly into the path and called out:
“Trot – Trot! Look at me. I’m Cap’n Bill! See what the Wicked Witch has done to me.”
The voice was small, to be sure, but it reached Trot’s ears and startled her greatly. She looked intently at the grasshopper, her eyes wide with fear at first; then she knelt down and, noticing the wooden leg, she began to weep sorrowfully.
“Oh, Cap’n Bill – dear Cap’n Bill! What a cruel thing to do!” she sobbed.
“Don’t cry, Trot,” begged the grasshopper. “It didn’t hurt any, and it doesn’t hurt now. But it’s mighty inconvenient an’ humiliatin’, to say the least.”
“I wish,” said the girl indignantly, while trying hard to restrain her tears, “that I was big ’nough an’ strong ’nough to give that horrid witch a good beating. She ought to be turned into a toad for doing this to you, Cap’n Bill!”
“Never mind,” urged the Scarecrow, in a comforting voice, “such a transformation doesn’t last always, and as a general thing there’s some way to break the enchantment. I’m sure Glinda could do it, in a jiffy.”
“Who is Glinda?” inquired Cap’n Bill.
Then the Scarecrow told them all about Glinda, not forgetting to mention her beauty and goodness and her wonderful powers of magic. He also explained how the Royal Sorceress had sent him to Jinxland especially to help the strangers, whom she knew to be in danger because of the wiles of the cruel King and the Wicked Witch.
CHAPTER 16
Pon Summons the King to Surrender
Gloria had drawn near to the group to listen to their talk, and it seemed to interest her in spite of her frigid manner. They knew, of course, that the poor Princess could not help being cold and reserved, so they tried not to blame her.
“I ought to have come here a little sooner,” said the Scarecrow, regretfully; “but Glinda sent me as soon as she discovered you were here and were likely to get into trouble. And now that we are all together – except Button-Bright, over whom it is useless to worry – I propose we hold a council of war, to decide what is best to be done.”
That seemed a wise thing to do, so they all sat down upon the grass, including Gloria, and the grasshopper perched upon Trot’s shoulder and allowed her to stroke him gently with her hand.
“In the first place,” began the Scarecrow, “this King Krewl is a usurper and has no right to rule this Kingdom of Jinxland.”
“That is true,” said Pon, eagerly. “My father was King before him, and I – ”
“You are a gardener’s boy,” interrupted the Scarecrow. “Your father had no right to rule, either, for the rightful King of this land was the father of Princess Gloria, and only she is entitled to sit upon the throne of Jinxland.”
“Good!” exclaimed Trot. “But what’ll we do with King Krewl? I s’pose he won’t give up the throne unless he has to.”
“No, of course not,” said the Scarecrow. “Therefore it will be our duty to make him give up the throne.”
“How?” asked Trot.
“Give me time to think,” was the reply. "That’s what my brains are for. I don’t know whether you people ever think, or not, but my brains are the best that the Wizard of Oz ever turned out, and if I give them plenty of time to work, the result usually surprises me."
“Take your time, then,” suggested Trot. “There’s no hurry.”
“Thank you,” said the straw man, and sat perfectly still for half an hour. During this interval the grasshopper whispered in Trot’s ear, to which he was very close, and Trot whispered back to the grasshopper sitting upon her shoulder. Pon cast loving glances at Gloria, who paid not the slightest heed to them.
Finally the Scarecrow laughed aloud.
“Brains working?” inquired Trot.
“Yes. They seem in fine order to-day. We will conquer King Krewl and put Gloria upon his throne as Queen of Jinxland.”
“Fine!” cried the little girl, clapping her hands together gleefully. “But how?”
“Leave the how to me,” said the Scarecrow proudly. “As a conqueror I’m a wonder. We will, first of all, write a message to send to King Krewl, asking him to surrender. If he refuses, then we will make him surrender.”
“Why ask him, when we know he’ll refuse?” inquired Pon.
“Why, we must be polite, whatever we do,” explained the Scarecrow. “It would be very rude to conquer a King without proper notice.”
They found it difficult to write a message without paper, pen and ink, none of which was at hand; so it was decided to send Pon as a messenger, with instructions to ask the King, politely but firmly, to surrender.
Pon was not anxious to be the messenger. Indeed, he hinted that it might prove a dangerous mission.
But the Scarecrow was now the acknowledged head of the Army of Conquest, and he would listen to no refusal. So off Pon started for the King’s castle, and the others accompanied him as far as his hut, where they had decided to await the gardener’s boy’s return.
I think it was because Pon had known the Scarecrow such a short time that he lacked confidence in the straw man’s wisdom. It was easy to say: “We will conquer King Krewl,” but when Pon drew near to the great castle he began to doubt the ability of a straw-stuffed man, a girl, a grasshopper and a frozen-hearted Princess to do it. As for himself, he had never thought of defying the King before.
That was why the gardener’s boy was not very bold when he entered the castle and passed through to the enclosed court where the King was just then seated, with his favorite courtiers around him. None prevented Pon’s entrance, because he was known to be the gardener’s boy, but when the King saw him he began to frown fiercely. He considered Pon to be to blame for all his trouble with Princess Gloria, who since her heart had been frozen had escaped to some unknown place, instead of returning to the castle to wed Googly-Goo, as she had been expected to do. So the King bared his teeth angrily as he demanded:
“What have you done with Princess Gloria?”
“Nothing, your Majesty! I have done nothing at all,” answered Pon in a faltering voice. “She does not love me any more and even refuses to speak to me.”
“Then why are you here, you rascal?” roared the King.
Pon looked first one way and then another, but saw no means of escape; so he plucked up courage.
“I am here to summon your Majesty to surrender.”
“What!” shouted the King. “Surrender? Surrender to whom?”
Pon’s heart sank to his boots.
“To the Scarecrow,” he replied.
Some of the courtiers began to titter, but King Krewl was greatly annoyed. He sprang up and began to beat poor Pon with the golden staff he carried. Pon howled lustily and would have run away had not two of the soldiers held him until his Majesty was exhausted with punishing the boy. Then they let him go and he left the castle and returned along the road, sobbing at every step because his body was so sore and aching.
“Well,” said the Scarecrow, “did the King surrender?”
“No; but he gave me a good drubbing!” sobbed poor Pon.
Trot was very sorry for Pon, but Gloria did not seem affected in any way by her lover’s anguish. The grasshopper leaped to the Scarecrow’s shoulder and asked him what he was going to do next.
“Conquer,” was the reply. “But I will go alone, this time, for beatings cannot hurt me at all; nor can lance thrusts – or sword cuts – or arrow pricks.”
“Why is that?” inquired Trot.
“Because I have no nerves, such as you meat people possess. Even grasshoppers have nerves, but straw doesn’t; so whatever they do – except just one thing – they cannot injure me. Therefore I expect to conquer King Krewl with ease.”
“What is that one thing you excepted?” asked Trot.
“They will never think of it, so never mind. And now, if you will kindly excuse me for a time, I’ll go over to the castle and do my conquering.”
“You have no weapons,” Pon reminded him.
“True,” said the Scarecrow. "But if I carried weapons I might injure someone – perhaps seriously – and that would make me unhappy. I will just borrow that riding-whip, which I see in the corner of your hut, if you don’t mind. It isn’t exactly proper to walk with a riding-whip, but I trust you will excuse the inconsistency."
Pon handed him the whip and the Scarecrow bowed to all the party and left the hut, proceeding leisurely along the way to the King’s castle.
CHAPTER 17
The Ork Rescues Button-Bright
I must now tell you what had become of Button-Bright since he wandered away in the morning and got lost. This small boy, as perhaps you have discovered, was almost as destitute of nerves as the Scarecrow. Nothing ever astonished him much; nothing ever worried him or made him unhappy. Good fortune or bad fortune he accepted with a quiet smile, never complaining, whatever happened. This was one reason why Button-Bright was a favorite with all who knew him – and perhaps it was the reason why he so often got into difficulties, or found himself lost.
To-day, as he wandered here and there, over hill and down dale, he missed Trot and Cap’n Bill, of whom he was fond, but nevertheless he was not unhappy. The birds sang merrily and the wildflowers were beautiful and the breeze had a fragrance of new-mown hay.
“The only bad thing about this country is its King,” he reflected; “but the country isn’t to blame for that.”
A prairie-dog stuck its round head out of a mound of earth and looked at the boy with bright eyes.
“Walk around my house, please,” it said, “and then you won’t harm it or disturb the babies.”
“All right,” answered Button-Bright, and took care not to step on the mound. He went on, whistling merrily, until a petulant voice cried:
“Oh, stop it! Please stop that noise. It gets on my nerves.”
Button-Bright saw an old gray owl sitting in the crotch of a tree, and he replied with a laugh: “All right, old Fussy,” and stopped whistling until he had passed out of the owl’s hearing. At noon he came to a farmhouse where an aged couple lived. They gave him a good dinner and treated him kindly, but the man was deaf and the woman was dumb, so they could answer no questions to guide him on the way to Port’s house. When he left them he was just as much lost as he had been before.
Every grove of trees he saw from a distance he visited, for he remembered that the King’s castle was near a grove of trees and Pon’s hut was near the King’s castle; but always he met with disappointment. Finally, passing through one of these groves, he came out into the open and found himself face to face with the Ork.
“Hello!” said Button-Bright. “Where did you come from?”
“From Orkland,” was the reply. “I’ve found my own country, at last, and it is not far from here, either. I would have come back to you sooner, to see how you are getting along, had not my family and friends welcomed my return so royally that a great celebration was held in my honor. So I couldn’t very well leave Orkland again until the excitement was over.”
“Can you find your way back home again?” asked the boy.
“Yes, easily; for now I know exactly where it is. But where are Trot and Cap’n Bill?”
Button-Bright related to the Ork their adventures since it had left them in Jinxland, telling of Trot’s fear that the King had done something wicked to Cap’n Bill, and of Pon’s love for Gloria, and how Trot and Button-Bright had been turned out of the King’s castle. That was all the news that the boy had, but it made the Ork anxious for the safety of his friends.
“We must go to them at once, for they may need us,” he said.
“I don’t know where to go,” confessed Button-Bright. “I’m lost.”
“Well, I can take you back to the hut of the gardener’s boy,” promised the Ork, "for when I fly high in the air I can look down and easily spy the King’s castle. That was how I happened to spy you, just entering the grove; so I flew down and waited until you came out."
“How can you carry me?” asked the boy.
“You’ll have to sit straddle my shoulders and put your arms around my neck. Do you think you can keep from falling off?”
“Til try,” said Button-Bright. So the Ork squatted down and the boy took his seat and held on tight. Then the skinny creature’s tail began whirling and up they went, far above all the tree-tops.
After the Ork had circled around once or twice, its sharp eyes located the towers of the castle and away it flew, straight toward the place. As it hovered in the air, near by the castle, Button-Bright pointed out Pon’s hut, so they landed just before it and Trot came running out to greet them.
Gloria was introduced to the Ork, who was surprised to find Cap’n Bill transformed into a grasshopper.
“How do you like it?” asked the creature.
“Why, it worries me a good deal,” answered Cap’n Bill, perched upon Trot’s shoulder. "I’m always afraid o’ bein’ stepped on, and I don’t like the flavor of grass an’ can’t seem to get used to it. It’s my nature to eat grass, you know, but I begin to suspect it’s an acquired taste."
“Can you give molasses?” asked the Ork.
“I guess I’m not that kind of a grasshopper,” replied Cap’n Bill. “But I can’t say what I might do if I was squeezed – which I hope I won’t be.”
“Well,” said the Ork, “it’s a great pity, and I’d like to meet that cruel King and his Wicked Witch and punish them both severely. You’re awfully small, Cap’n Bill, but I think I would recognize you anywhere by your wooden leg.”
Then the Ork and Button-Bright were told all about Gloria’s frozen heart and how the Scarecrow had come from the Land of Oz to help them. The Ork seemed rather disturbed when it learned that the Scarecrow had gone alone to conquer King Krewl.
“I’m afraid he’ll make a fizzle of it,” said the skinny creature, “and there’s no telling what that terrible King might do to the poor Scarecrow, who seems like a very interesting person. So I believe I’ll take a hand in this conquest myself.”
“How?” asked Trot.
“Wait and see,” was the reply. "But, first of all, I must fly home again – back to my own country – so if you’ll forgive my leaving you so soon, I’ll be off at once. Stand away from my tail, please, so that the wind from it, when it revolves, won’t knock you over."
They gave the creature plenty of room and away it went like a flash and soon disappeared in the sky.
“I wonder,” said Button-Bright, looking solemnly after the Ork, “whether he’ll ever come back again.”
“Of course he will!” returned Trot. “The Ork’s a pretty good fellow, and we can depend on him. An’ mark my words, Button-Bright, whenever our Ork does come back, there’s one cruel King in Jinxland that’ll wish he hadn’t.”
CHAPTER 18
The Scarecrow Meets an Enemy
The Scarecrow was not a bit afraid of King Krewl. Indeed, he rather enjoyed the prospect of conquering the evil King and putting Gloria on the throne of Jinxland in his place. So he advanced boldly to the royal castle and demanded admittance.
Seeing that he was a stranger, the soldiers allowed him to enter. He made his way straight to the throne room, where at that time his Majesty was settling the disputes among his subjects.
“Who are you?” demanded the King.
“I’m the Scarecrow of Oz, and I command you to surrender yourself my prisoner.”
“Why should I do that?” inquired the King, much astonished at the straw man’s audacity.
“Because I’ve decided you are too cruel a King to rule so beautiful a country. You must remember that Jinxland is a part of Oz, and therefore you owe allegiance to Ozma of Oz, whose friend and servant I am.”
Now, when he heard this, King Krewl was much disturbed in mind, for he knew the Scarecrow spoke the truth. But no one had ever before come to Jinxland from the Land of Oz and the King did not intend to be put out of his throne if he could help it. Therefore he gave a harsh, wicked laugh of derision and said:
“I’m busy, now. Stand out of my way, Scarecrow, and I’ll talk with you by and by.”
But the Scarecrow turned to the assembled courtiers and people and called in a loud voice:
“I hereby declare, in the name of Ozma of Oz, that this man is no longer ruler of Jinxland. From this moment Princess Gloria is your rightful Queen, and I ask all of you to be loyal to her and to obey her commands.”
The people looked fearfully at the King, whom they all hated in their hearts, but likewise feared. Krewl was now in a terrible rage and he raised his golden sceptre and struck the Scarecrow so heavy a blow that he fell to the floor.
But he was up again, in an instant, and with Pon’s riding-whip he switched the King so hard that the wicked monarch roared with pain as much as with rage, calling on his soldiers to capture the Scarecrow.
They tried to do that, and thrust their lances and swords into the straw body, but without doing any damage except to make holes in the Scarecrow’s clothes. However, they were many against one and finally old Googly-Goo brought a rope which he wound around the Scarecrow, binding his legs together and his arms to his sides, and after that the fight was over.
The King stormed and danced around in a dreadful fury, for he had never been so switched since he was a boy – and perhaps not then. He ordered the Scarecrow thrust into the castle prison, which was no task at all because one man could carry him easily, bound as he was.
Even after the prisoner was removed the King could not control his anger. He tried to figure out some way to be revenged upon the straw man, but could think of nothing that could hurt him.
At last, when the terrified people and the frightened courtiers had all slunk away, old Googly-Goo approached the king with a malicious grin upon his face.
“I’ll tell you what to do,” said he. “Build a big bonfire and burn the Scarecrow up, and that will be the end of him.”
The King was so delighted with this suggestion that he hugged old Googly-Goo in his joy.
“Of course!” he cried. “The very thing. Why did I not think of it my self?”
So he summoned his soldiers and retainers and bade them prepare a great bonfire in an open space in the castle park. Also he sent word to all his people to assemble and witness the destruction of the Scarecrow who had dared to defy his power. Before long a vast throng gathered in the park and the servants had heaped up enough fuel to make a fire that might be seen for miles away – even in the daytime.
When all was prepared, the King had his throne brought out for him to sit upon and enjoy the spectacle, and then he sent his soldiers to fetch the Scarecrow.
Now the one thing in all the world that the straw man really feared was fire. He knew he would burn very easily and that his ashes wouldn’t amount to much afterward. It wouldn’t hurt him to be destroyed in such a manner, but he realized that many people in the Land of Oz, and especially Dorothy and the Royal Ozma, would feel sad if they learned that their old friend the Scarecrow was no longer in existence.
In spite of this, the straw man was brave and faced his fiery fate like a hero. When they marched him out before the concourse of people he turned to the King with great calmness and said:
“This wicked deed will cost you your throne, as well as much suffering, for my friends will avenge my destruction.”
“Your friends are not here, nor will they know what I have done to you, when you are gone and cannot tell them,” answered the King in a scornful voice.
Then he ordered the Scarecrow bound to a stout stake that he had had driven into the ground, and the materials for the fire were heaped all around him. When this had been done, the King’s brass band struck up a lively tune and old Googly-Goo came forward with a lighted match and set fire to the pile.
At once the flames shot up and crept closer and closer toward the Scarecrow. The King and all his people were so intent upon this terrible spectacle that none of them noticed how the sky grew suddenly dark. Perhaps they thought that the loud buzzing sound – like the noise of a dozen moving railway trains – came from the blazing fagots; that the rush of wind was merely a breeze. But suddenly down swept a flock of Orks, half a hundred of them at the least, and the powerful currents of air caused by their revolving tails sent the bonfire scattering in every direction, so that not one burning brand ever touched the Scarecrow.
But that was not the only effect of this sudden tornado. King Krewl was blown out of his throne and went tumbling heels over head until he landed with a bump against the stone wall of his own castle, and before he could rise a big Ork sat upon him and held him pressed flat to the ground. Old Googly-Goo shot up into the air like a rocket and landed on a tree, where he hung by the middle on a high limb, kicking the air with his feet and clawing the air with his hands, and howling for mercy like the coward he was.
The people pressed back until they were jammed close together, while all the soldiers were knocked over and sent sprawling to the earth. The excitement was great for a few minutes, and every frightened inhabitant of Jinxland looked with awe and amazement at the great Orks whose descent had served to rescue the Scarecrow and conquer King Krewl at one and the same time.
The Ork, who was the leader of the band, soon had the Scarecrow free of his bonds. Then he said: “Well, we were just in time to save you, which is better than being a minute too late. You are now the master here, and we are determined to see your orders obeyed.”