FANTASTICAL ADVENTURES – L. Frank Baum Edition (Childhood Essentials Library). Лаймен Фрэнк Баум

to call myself a Wizard, and do tricks of ventriloquism.”

      “What does that mean?” asked the Princess.

      “Throwing my voice into any object I pleased, to make it appear that the object was speaking instead of me. Also I began to make balloon ascensions. On my balloon and on all the other articles I used in the circus I painted the two initials: ‘O. Z.’, to show that those things belonged to me.

      “One day my balloon ran away with me and brought me across the deserts to this beautiful country. When the people saw me come from the sky they naturally thought me some superior creature, and bowed down before me. I told them I was a Wizard, and showed them some easy tricks that amazed them; and when they saw the initials painted on the balloon they called me Oz.”

      “Now I begin to understand,” said the Princess, smiling.

      “At that time,” continued the Wizard, busily eating his soup while talking, “there were four separate countries in this Land, each one of the four being ruled by a Witch. But the people thought my power was greater than that of the Witches; and perhaps the Witches thought so too, for they never dared oppose me. I ordered the Emerald City to be built just where the four countries cornered together, and when it was completed I announced myself the Ruler of the Land of Oz, which included all the four countries of the Munchkins, the Gillikins, the Winkies and the Quadlings. Over this Land I ruled in peace for many years, until I grew old and longed to see my native city once again. So when Dorothy was first blown to this place by a cyclone I arranged to go away with her in a balloon; but the balloon escaped too soon and carried me back alone. After many adventures I reached Omaha, only to find that all my old friends were dead or had moved away. So, having nothing else to do, I joined a circus again, and made my balloon ascensions until the earthquake caught me.”

      “That is quite a history,” said Ozma; “but there is a little more history about the Land of Oz that you do not seem to understand—perhaps for the reason that no one ever told it you. Many years before you came here this Land was united under one Ruler, as it is now, and the Ruler’s name was always ‘Oz,’ which means in our language ‘Great and Good’; or, if the Ruler happened to be a woman, her name was always ‘Ozma.’ But once upon a time four Witches leagued together to depose the king and rule the four parts of the kingdom themselves; so when the Ruler, my grandfather, was hunting one day, one Wicked Witch named Mombi stole him and carried him away, keeping him a close prisoner. Then the Witches divided up the kingdom, and ruled the four parts of it until you came here. That was why the people were so glad to see you, and why they thought from your initials that you were their rightful ruler.”

      “But, at that time,” said the Wizard, thoughtfully, “there were two Good Witches and two Wicked Witches ruling in the land.”

      “Yes,” replied Ozma, “because a good Witch had conquered Mombi in the North and Glinda the Good had conquered the evil Witch in the South. But Mombi was still my grandfather’s jailor, and afterward my father’s jailor. When I was born she transformed me into a boy, hoping that no one would ever recognize me and know that I was the rightful Princess of the Land of Oz. But I escaped from her and am now the Ruler of my people.”

      “I am very glad of that,” said the Wizard, “and hope you will consider me one of your most faithful and devoted subjects.”

      “We owe a great deal to the Wonderful Wizard,” continued the Princess, “for it was you who built this splendid Emerald City.”

      “Your people built it,” he answered. “I only bossed the job, as we say in Omaha.”

      “But you ruled it wisely and well for many years,” said she, “and made the people proud of your magical art. So, as you are now too old to wander abroad and work in a circus, I offer you a home here as long as you live. You shall be the Official Wizard of my kingdom, and be treated with every respect and consideration.”

      “I accept your kind offer with gratitude, gracious Princess,” the little man said, in a soft voice, and they could all see that tear-drops were standing in his keen old eyes. It meant a good deal to him to secure a home like this.

      “He’s only a humbug Wizard, though,” said Dorothy, smiling at him.

      “And that is the safest kind of a Wizard to have,” replied Ozma, promptly.

      “Oz can do some good tricks, humbug or no humbug,” announced Zeb, who was now feeling more at ease.

      “He shall amuse us with his tricks tomorrow,” said the Princess. “I have sent messengers to summon all of Dorothy’s old friends to meet her and give her welcome, and they ought to arrive very soon, now.”

      Indeed, the dinner was no sooner finished than in rushed the Scarecrow, to hug Dorothy in his padded arms and tell her how glad he was to see her again. The Wizard was also most heartily welcomed by the straw man, who was an important personage in the Land of Oz.

      “How are your brains?” enquired the little humbug, as he grasped the soft, stuffed hands of his old friend.

      “Working finely,” answered the Scarecrow. “I’m very certain, Oz, that you gave me the best brains in the world, for I can think with them day and night, when all other brains are fast asleep.”

      “How long did you rule the Emerald City, after I left here?” was the next question.

      “Quite awhile, until I was conquered by a girl named General Jinjur. But Ozma soon conquered her, with the help of Glinda the Good, and after that I went to live with Nick Chopper, the Tin Woodman.”

      Just then a loud cackling was heard outside; and, when a servant threw open the door with a low bow, a yellow hen strutted in. Dorothy sprang forward and caught the fluffy fowl in her arms, uttering at the same time a glad cry.

      “Oh, Billina!” she said; “how fat and sleek you’ve grown.”

      “Why shouldn’t I?” asked the hen, in a sharp, clear voice. “I live on the fat of the land—don’t I, Ozma?”

      “You have everything you wish for,” said the Princess.

      Around Billina’s neck was a string of beautiful pearls, and on her legs were bracelets of emeralds. She nestled herself comfortably in Dorothy’s lap until the kitten gave a snarl of jealous anger and leaped up with a sharp claw fiercely bared to strike Billina a blow. But the little girl gave the angry kitten such a severe cuff that it jumped down again without daring to scratch.

      “How horrid of you, Eureka!” cried Dorothy. “Is that the way to treat my friends?”

      “You have queer friends, seems to me,” replied the kitten, in a surly tone.

      “Seems to me the same way,” said Billina, scornfully, “if that beastly cat is one of them.”

      “Look here!” said Dorothy, sternly. “I won’t have any quarrelling in the Land of Oz, I can tell you! Everybody lives in peace here, and loves everybody else; and unless you two, Billina and Eureka, make up and be friends, I’ll take my Magic Belt and wish you both home again, IMMEJITLY. So, there!”

      They were both much frightened at the threat, and promised meekly to be good. But it was never noticed that they became very warm friends, for all of that.

      And now the Tin Woodman arrived, his body most beautifully nickle-plated, so that it shone splendidly in the brilliant light of the room. The Tin Woodman loved Dorothy most tenderly, and welcomed with joy the return of the little old Wizard.

      “Sir,” said he to the latter, “I never can thank you enough for the excellent heart you once gave me. It has made me many friends, I assure you, and it beats as kindly and lovingly today as it every did.”

      “I’m glad to hear that,” said the Wizard. “I was afraid it would get moldy in that tin body of yours.”

      “Not at all,” returned Nick Chopper. “It keeps finely, being preserved in my airtight chest.”

      Zeb was a little shy when first introduced to