Chapter XXIII.
Glinda The Good Witch Grants Dorothy's 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.
When they were all quite presentable they followed the soldier
girl into a big room where the Witch Glinda sat upon a throne of rubies.
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.
"What can I do for you, my child?" she asked.
Dorothy told the Witch all her story: how the cyclone had
brought her to the Land of Oz, how she had found her companions,
and of the wonderful adventures they had met with.
"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 leaned forward and kissed the sweet, upturned face of
the loving little girl.
"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."
"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."
"And I think I shall need their service just those three times,"
answered Glinda, smiling.
Dorothy then gave her the Golden Cap, and the Witch said to
the Scarecrow, "What will you do when Dorothy has left us?"
"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."
"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."
"Am I really wonderful?" asked the Scarecrow.
"You are unusual," replied Glinda.
Turning to the Tin Woodman, she asked, "What will become of
you when Dorothy leaves this country?"
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 forever."
"My second 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--when you are well polished--
and I am sure you will rule the Winkies wisely and well."
Then the Witch looked at the big, shaggy Lion and asked, "When
Dorothy has returned to her own home, what will become of you?"
"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."
"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 evermore."
The Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman and the Lion now thanked the
Good Witch earnestly for her kindness; and Dorothy exclaimed:
"You are certainly as good as you are beautiful! But you have
not yet told me how to get back to Kansas."
"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."
"But then I should not have had my wonderful brains!" cried the Scarecrow.
"I might have passed my whole life in the farmer's cornfield."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"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 command the shoes to carry you wherever you
wish to go."
"If that is so," said the child joyfully, "I will ask them to
carry me back to Kansas at once."
She threw her arms around the Lion's neck and kissed him,
patting his big head tenderly. Then she kissed the Tin Woodman,
who was weeping in a way most dangerous to his joints. 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 comrades.
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.
Dorothy now took Toto up solemnly in her arms, and having said
one last good-bye she clapped the heels of her shoes together three
times, saying:
"Take me home to Aunt Em!"
Instantly she was whirling through the air, so swiftly that
all she could see or feel was the wind whistling past her ears.
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.
At length, however, she sat up and looked about her.
"Good gracious!" she cried.
For she was sitting on the broad Kansas prairie, and just
before her was the new farmhouse Uncle Henry built after the
cyclone had carried away the old one. Uncle Henry was milking the
cows in the barnyard, and Toto had jumped out of her arms and was
running toward the barn, barking furiously.
Dorothy stood up and found she was in her stocking-feet.
For the Silver Shoes had fallen off in her flight through the air,
and were lost forever in the desert. |
