Then the Witch looked at the big, shaggy Lion and asked, "When Dorothy has returned to her own home, what will be- come of you?”
For the Silver Shoes had fallen off in her flight through the air, and were lost forever in the desert.
"And I think I shall need their service just those three times," answered Glinda, smiling.
"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.”
cried the Scarecrow. "I might have passed my whole life in the farmers cornfield.”
Dorothy stood up and found she was in her stocking-feet.
"You are certainly as good as you are beautiful! But you have not yet told me how to get back to Kansas.”
Dorothy now took Toto up solemnly in her arms, and hav- ing said one last good-bye she clapped the heels of her shoes together three times, saying:
For she was sitting on the broad Kansas prairie, and just be- fore her was the new farmhouse Uncle Henry built after the cyclone had carried away the old one. Uncle Henry was milk- ing the cows in the barnyard, and Toto had jumped out of her arms and was running toward the barn, barking furiously.
"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.”
She was both beautiful and young to their eyes. Her hair was a rich red in color and fell in flowing ringlets over her shoulders. Her dress was pure white but her eyes were blue, and they looked kindly upon the little girl.
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. I am fond of the Winkies, and if I could get back again to the Country of the West, I should like nothing better than to rule over them for- ever.”
"Willingly!" exclaimed Dorothy; "indeed, it is of no use to me now, and when you have it you can command the Winged Monkeys three times.”
The Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman and the Lion now thanked the Good Witch earnestly for her kindness; and Dorothy exclaimed:
"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.”
"But then I should not have had my wonderful brains!”
At length, however, she sat up and looked about her.
Dorothy told the Witch all her story: how the cyclone had brought her to the Land of Oz, how she had found her com- panions, and of the wonderful adventures they had met with.
"By means of the Golden Cap 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.”
"If that is so," said the child joyfully, "I will ask them to carry me back to Kansas at once.”
But she hugged the soft, stuffed body of the Scarecrow in her arms instead of kissing his painted face, and found she was crying herself at this sorrowful parting from her loving com- rades.
"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 com- mand the shoes to carry you wherever you wish to go.”
"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.”
When they were all quite presentable they followed the sol- dier girl into a big room where the Witch Glinda sat upon a throne of rubies.
"Take me home to Aunt Em!”
"My greatest wish now," she added, "is to get back to Kansas, for Aunt Em will surely think something dreadful has happened to me, and that will make her put on mourning; and unless the crops are better this year than they were last, I am sure Uncle Henry cannot afford it.”
Glinda The Good Witch Grants Dorothys
She threw her arms around the Lions neck and kissed him, patting his big head tenderly. Then she kissed the Tin Wood- man, who was weeping in a way most dangerous to his joints.
"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.”
"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 for ever- more.”
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.
"You are unusual," replied Glinda.
The Silver Shoes took but three steps, and then she stopped so suddenly that she rolled over upon the grass several times before she knew where she was.
"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.”
"What can I do for you, my child?" she asked.
L. Frank Baum
"Mysecond command to the Winged Monkeys," said Glinda "will be that they carry you safely to the land of the Winkies. Your brain may not be so large to look at as those of the Scarecrow, but you are really brighter than he is?awhen you are well polished?aand I am sure you will rule the Winkies wisely and well.”
Wish 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, and the Lion shook the dust out of his mane, and the Scarecrow patted himself into his best shape, and the Woodman polished his tin and oiled his joints.
"Good gracious!" she cried.
Glinda leaned forward and kissed the sweet, upturned face of the loving little girl.
Turning to the Tin Woodman, she asked, "What will be- come of you when Dorothy leaves this country?”
"This is all true," said Dorothy, "and I am glad I was of use to these good friends. But now that each of them has had what he most desired, and each is happy in having a kingdom to rule besides, I think I should like to go back to Kansas.”
"Am I really wonderful?" asked the Scarecrow.
Dorothy then gave her the Golden Cap, and the Witch said to the Scarecrow, "What will you do when Dorothy has left us?”
* * * * * Instantly she was whirling through the air, so swiftly that all she could see or feel was the wind whistling past her ears.
