[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
The Emerald City of Oz
by L. Frank Baum
Author of The Road to Oz,
Dorothy and The Wizard in Oz,
The Land of Oz, etc.
Contents
--Author's Note--
1. How the Nome King Became Angry
2. How Uncle Henry Got Into Trouble
3. How Ozma Granted Dorothy's Request
4. How The Nome King Planned Revenge
5. How Dorothy Became a Princess
6. How Guph Visited the Whimsies
7. How Aunt Em Conquered the Lion
8. How the Grand Gallipoot Joined The Nomes
9. How the Wogglebug Taught Athletics
10. How the Cuttenclips Lived
11. How the General Met the First and Foremost
12. How they Matched the Fuddles
13. How the General Talked to the King
14. How the Wizard Practiced Sorcery
15. How Dorothy Happened to Get Lost
16. How Dorothy Visited Utensia
17. How They Came to Bunbury
18. How Ozma Looked into the Magic Picture
19. How Bunnybury Welcomed the Strangers
20. How Dorothy Lunched With a King
21. How the King Changed His Mind
22. How the Wizard Found Dorothy
23. How They Encountered the Flutterbudgets
24. How the Tin Woodman Told the Sad News
25. How the Scarecrow Displayed His Wisdom
26. How Ozma Refused to Fight for Her Kingdom
27. How the Fierce Warriors Invaded Oz
28. How They Drank at the Forbidden Fountain
29. How Glinda Worked a Magic Spell
30. How the Story of Oz Came to an End
Author's Note
Perhaps I should admit on the title page that this book is "By L.
Frank Baum and his correspondents," for I have used many suggestions
conveyed to me in letters from children. Once on a time I really
imagined myself "an author of fairy tales," but now I am merely an
editor or private secretary for a host of youngsters whose ideas I am
requestsed to weave into the thread of my stories.
These ideas are often clever. They are also logical and interesting.
So I have used them whenever I could find an opportunity, and it is
but just that I acknowledge my indebtedness to my little friends.
My, what imaginations these children have developed! Sometimes I am
fairly astounded by their daring and genius. There will be no lack of
fairy-tale authors in the future, I am sure. My readers have told me
what to do with Dorothy, and Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, and I have
obeyed their mandates. They have also given me a variety of subjects
to write about in the future: enough, in fact, to keep me busy for
some time. I am very proud of this alliance. Children love these
stories because children have helped to create them. My readers know
what they want and realize that I try to please them. The result is
very satisfactory to the publishers, to me, and (I am quite sure) to
the children.
I hope, my dears, it will be a long time before we are obliged to
dissolve partnership.
L. FRANK BAUM.
Coronado, 1910
1. How the Nome King Became Angry
The Nome King was in an angry mood, and at such times he was
very disagreeable. Every one kept away from him, even his
Chief Steward Kaliko.
Therefore the King stormed and raved all by himself, walking up and
down in his jewel-studded cavern and getting angrier all the time.
Then he remembered that it was no fun being angry unless he had
some one to frighten and make miserable, and he rushed to his big
gong and made it clatter as loud as he could.
In came the Chief Steward, trying not to show the Nome King how
frightened he was.
"Send the Chief Counselor here!" shouted the angry monarch.
Kaliko ran out as fast as his spindle legs could carry his fat,
round body, and soon the Chief Counselor entered the cavern.
The King scowled and said to him:
"I'm in great trouble over the loss of my Magic Belt. Every little
while I want to do something magical, and find I can't because the
Belt is gone. That makes me angry, and when I'm angry I can't have
a good time. Now, what do you advise?"
"Some people," said the Chief Counselor, "enjoy getting angry."
"But not all the time," declared the King. "To be angry once in a
while is really good fun, because it makes others so miserable. But
to be angry morning, noon and night, as I am, grows monotonous and
prevents my gaining any other pleasure in life. Now what do you advise?"
"Why, if you are angry because you want to do magical things and
can't, and if you don't want to get angry at all, my advice is not to
want to do magical things."
Hearing this, the King glared at his Counselor with a furious
expression and tugged at his own long white whiskers until he pulled
them so hard that he yelled with pain.
"You are a fool!" he exclaimed.
"I share that honor with your Majesty," said the Chief Counselor.
The King roared with rage and stamped his foot.
"Ho, there, my guards!" he cried. "Ho" is a royal way of saying,
"Come here." So, when the guards had hoed, the King said to them:
"Take this Chief Counselor and throw him away."
Then the guards took the Chief Counselor, and bound him with chains to
prevent his struggling, and threw him away. And the King paced up and
down his cavern more angry than before.
Finally he rushed to his big gong and made it clatter like a fire
alarm. Kaliko appeared again, trembling and white with fear.
"Fetch my pipe!" yelled the King.
"Your pipe is already here, your Majesty," replied Kaliko.
"Then get my tobacco!" roared the King.
"The tobacco is in your pipe, your Majesty," returned the Steward.
"Then bring a live coal from the furnace!" commanded the King.
"The tobacco is lighted, and your Majesty is already smoking your
pipe," answered the Steward.
"Why, so I am!" said the King, who had forgotten this fact; "but you
are very rude to remind me of it."
"I am a lowborn, miserable villain," declared the Chief Steward, humbly.
The Nome King could think of nothing to say next, so he puffed away at
his pipe and paced up and down the room. Finally, he remembered how
angry he was, and cried out:
"What do you mean, Kaliko, by being so contented when your monarch
is unhappy?"
"What makes you unhappy?" asked the Steward.
"I've lost my Magic Belt. A little girl named Dorothy, who was here
with Ozma of Oz, stole my Belt and carried it away with her," said the
King, grinding his teeth with rage.
"She captured it in a fair fight," Kaliko ventured to say.
"But I want it! I must have it! Half my power is gone with that
Belt!" roared the King.
"You will have to go to the Land of Oz to recover it, and your Majesty
can't get to the Land of Oz in any possible way," said the Steward,
yawning because he had been on duty ninety-six hours, and was sleepy.
"Why not?" asked the King.
"Because there is a deadly desert all around that fairy country, which
no one is able to cross. You know that fact as well as I do, your
Majesty. Never mind the lost Belt. You have plenty of power left,
for you rule this underground kingdom like a tyrant, and thousands of
Nomes obey your commands. I advise you to drink a glass of melted
silver, to quiet your nerves, and then go to bed."
The King grabbed a big ruby and threw it at Kaliko's head. The
Steward ducked to escape the heavy jewel, which crashed against the
door just over his left ear.
"Get out of my sight! Vanish! Go away--and send General Blug here,"
screamed the Nome King.
Kaliko hastily withdrew, and the Nome King stamped up and down until
the General of his armies appeared.
This Nome was known far and wide as a terrible fighter and a cruel,
desperate commander. He had fifty thousand Nome soldiers, all well
drilled, who feared nothing but their stern master. Yet General Blug
was a trifle uneasy when he arrived and saw how angry the Nome King was.
"Ha! So you're here!" cried the King.
"So I am," said the General.
"March your army at once to the Land of Oz, capture and destroy the
Emerald City, and bring back to me my Magic Belt!" roared the King.
"You're crazy," calmly remarked the General.
"What's that? What's that? What's that?" And the Nome King danced
around on his pointed toes, he was so enraged.
"You don't know what you're talking about," continued the General,
seating himself upon a large cut diamond. "I advise you to stand
in a corner and count sixty before you speak again. By that time
you may be more sensible."
The King looked around for something to throw at General Blug, but as
nothing was handy he began to consider that perhaps the man was right
and he had been talking foolishly. So he merely threw himself into
his glittering throne and tipped his crown over his ear and curled his
feet up under him and glared wickedly at Blug.
"In the first place," said the General, "we cannot march across the
deadly desert to the Land of Oz. And if we could, the Ruler of that
country, Princess Ozma, has certain fairy powers that would render my
army helpless. Had you not lost your Magic Belt we might have some
chance of defeating Ozma; but the Belt is gone."
"I want it!" screamed the King. "I must have it."
"Well, then, let us try in a sensible way to get it," replied the
General. "The Belt was captured by a little girl named Dorothy, who
lives in Kansas, in the United States of America."
"But she left it in the Emerald City, with Ozma," declared the King.
"How do you know that?" asked the General.
"One of my spies, who is a Blackbird, flew over the desert to the
Land of Oz, and saw the Magic Belt in Ozma's palace," replied the
King with a groan.
"Now that gives me an idea," said General Blug, thoughtfully. "There
are two ways to get to the Land of Oz without traveling across the
sandy desert."
"What are they?" demanded the King, eagerly.
"One way is OVER the desert, through the air; and the other way is
UNDER the desert, through the earth."
Hearing this the Nome King uttered a yell of joy and leaped from his
throne, to resume his wild walk up and down the cavern.
"That's it, Blug!" he shouted. "That's the idea, General! I'm King
of the Under World, and my subjects are all miners. I'll make a
secret tunnel under the desert to the Land of Oz--yes! right up to the
Emerald City--and you will march your armies there and capture the
whole country!"
"Softly, softly, your Majesty. Don't go too fast," warned the
General. "My Nomes are good fighters, but they are not strong enough
to conquer the Emerald City."
"Are you sure?" asked the King.
"Absolutely certain, your Majesty."
"Then what am I to do?"
"Give up the idea and mind your own business," advised the General.
"You have plenty to do trying to rule your underground kingdom."
"But I want the Magic Belt--and I'm going to have it!" roared the
Nome King.
"I'd like to see you get it," replied the General, laughing maliciously.
The King was by this time so exasperated that he picked up his
s...
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]