L. Frank Baum_Oz 12 (11 page)

"I am not sure my magic will be able to restore every one of you,
because your transformations are of such a strange and unusual
character. Indeed, Mrs. Yoop was quite justified in believing no power
could alter her enchantments. However, I am sure I can restore the
Scarecrow to his original shape. He was stuffed with straw from the
beginning, and even the yookoohoo magic could not alter that. The
Giantess was merely able to make a bear's shape of a man's shape, but
the bear is stuffed with straw, just as the man was. So I feel
confident I can make a man of the bear again."

"Hurrah!" cried the Brown Bear, and tried clumsily to dance a jig of
delight.

"As for the Tin Woodman, his case is much the same," resumed Ozma,
still smiling. "The power of the Giantess could not make him anything
but a tin creature, whatever shape she transformed him into, so it will
not be impossible to restore him to his manly form. Anyhow, I shall
test my magic at once, and see if it will do what I have promised."

She drew from her bosom a small silver Wand and, making passes with the
Wand over the head of the Bear, she succeeded in the brief space of a
moment in breaking his enchantment. The original Scarecrow of Oz again
stood before them, well stuffed with straw and with his features nicely
painted upon the bag which formed his head.

The Scarecrow was greatly delighted, as you may suppose, and he
strutted proudly around while the powerful fairy, Ozma of Oz, broke the
enchantment that had transformed the Tin Woodman and made a Tin Owl
into a Tin Man again.

"Now, then," chirped the Canary, eagerly; "I'm next, Ozma!"

"But your case is different," replied Ozma, no longer smiling but
wearing a grave expression on her sweet face. "I shall have to
experiment on you, Polychrome, and I may fail in all my attempts."

She then tried two or three different methods of magic, hoping one of
them would succeed in breaking Polychrome's enchantment, but still the
Rainbow's Daughter remained a Canary-Bird. Finally, however, she
experimented in another way. She transformed the Canary into a Dove,
and then transformed the Dove into a Speckled Hen, and then changed the
Speckled Hen into a rabbit, and then the rabbit into a Fawn. And at the
last, after mixing several powders and sprinkling them upon the Fawn,
the yookoohoo enchantment was suddenly broken and before them stood one
of the daintiest and loveliest creatures in any fairyland in the world.
Polychrome was as sweet and merry in disposition as she was beautiful,
and when she danced and capered around in delight, her beautiful hair
floated around her like a golden mist and her many-hued raiment, as
soft as cobwebs, reminded one of drifting clouds in a summer sky.

Woot was so awed by the entrancing sight of this exquisite Sky Fairy
that he quite forgot his own sad plight until be noticed Ozma gazing
upon him with an intent expression that denoted sympathy and sorrow.
Dorothy whispered in her friend's ear, but the Ruler of Oz shook her
head sadly.

Jinjur, noticing this and understanding Ozma's looks, took the paw of
the Green Monkey in her own hand and patted it softly.

"Never mind," she said to him. "You are a very beautiful color, and a
monkey can climb better than a boy and do a lot of other things no boy
can ever do."

"What's the matter?" asked Woot, a sinking feeling at his heart. "Is
Ozma's magic all used up?"

Ozma herself answered him.

"Your form of enchantment, my poor boy," she said pityingly, "is
different from that of the others. Indeed, it is a form that is
impossible to alter by any magic known to fairies or yookoohoos. The
wicked Giantess was well aware, when she gave you the form of a Green
Monkey, that the Green Monkey must exist in the Land of Oz for all
future time."

Woot drew a long sigh.

"Well, that's pretty hard luck," he said bravely, "but if it can't be
helped I must endure it; that's all. I don't like being a monkey, but
what's the use of kicking against my fate?"

They were all very sorry for him, and Dorothy anxiously asked Ozma:

"Couldn't Glinda save him?"

"No," was the reply. "Glinda's power in transformations is no greater
than my own. Before I left my palace I went to my Magic Room and
studied Woot's case very carefully. I found that no power can do away
with the Green Monkey. He might transfer, or exchange his form with
some other person, it is true; but the Green Monkey we cannot get rid
of by any magic arts known to science."

"But—see here," said the Scarecrow, who had listened intently to this
explanation, "why not put the monkey's form on some one else?"

"Who would agree to make the change?" asked Ozma. "If by force we
caused anyone else to become a Green Monkey, we would be as cruel and
wicked as Mrs. Yoop. And what good would an exchange do?" she
continued. "Suppose, for instance, we worked the enchantment, and made
Toto into a Green Monkey. At the same moment Woot would become a little
dog."

"Leave me out of your magic, please," said Toto, with a reproachful
growl. "I wouldn't become a Green Monkey for anything."

"And I wouldn't become a dog," said Woot. "A green monkey is much
better than a dog, it seems to me."

"That is only a matter of opinion," answered Toto.

"Now, here's another idea," said the Scarecrow. "My brains are working
finely today, you must admit. Why not transform Toto into Woot the
Wanderer, and then have them exchange forms? The dog would become a
green monkey and the monkey would have his own natural shape again."

"To be sure!" cried Jinjur. "That's a fine idea."

"Leave me out of it," said Toto. "I won't do it."

"Wouldn't you be willing to become a green monkey—see what a pretty
color it is—so that this poor boy could be restored to his own shape?"
asked Jinjur, pleadingly.

"No," said Toto.

"I don't like that plan the least bit," declared Dorothy, "for then I
wouldn't have any little dog."

"But you'd have a green monkey in his place," persisted Jinjur, who
liked Woot and wanted to help him.

"I don't want a green monkey," said Dorothy positively.

"Don't speak of this again, I beg of you," said Woot. "This is my own
misfortune and I would rather suffer it alone than deprive Princess
Dorothy of her dog, or deprive the dog of his proper shape. And perhaps
even her Majesty, Ozma of Oz, might not be able to transform anyone
else into the shape of Woot the Wanderer."

"Yes; I believe I might do that," Ozma returned; "but Woot is quite
right; we are not justified in inflicting upon anyone—man or dog—the
form of a green monkey. Also it is certain that in order to relieve the
boy of the form he now wears, we must give it to someone else, who
would be forced to wear it always."

"I wonder," said Dorothy, thoughtfully, "if we couldn't find someone in
the Land of Oz who would be willing to become a green monkey? Seems to
me a monkey is active and spry, and he can climb trees and do a lot of
clever things, and green isn't a bad color for a monkey—it makes him
unusual."

"I wouldn't ask anyone to take this dreadful form," said Woot; "it
wouldn't be right, you know. I've been a monkey for some time, now, and
I don't like it. It makes me ashamed to be a beast of this sort when by
right of birth I'm a boy; so I'm sure it would be wicked to ask anyone
else to take my place."

They were all silent, for they knew he spoke the truth. Dorothy was
almost ready to cry with pity and Ozma's sweet face was sad and
disturbed. The Scarecrow rubbed and patted his stuffed head to try to
make it think better, while the Tin Woodman went into the house and
began to oil his tin joints so that the sorrow of his friends might not
cause him to weep. Weeping is liable to rust tin, and the Emperor
prided himself upon his highly polished body—now doubly dear to him
because for a time he had been deprived of it.

Polychrome had danced down the garden paths and back again a dozen
times, for she was seldom still a moment, yet she had heard Ozma's
speech and understood very well Woot's unfortunate position. But the
Rainbow's Daughter, even while dancing, could think and reason very
clearly, and suddenly she solved the problem in the nicest possible
way. Coming close to Ozma, she said:

"Your Majesty, all this trouble was caused by the wickedness of Mrs.
Yoop, the Giantess. Yet even now that cruel woman is living in her
secluded castle, enjoying the thought that she has put this terrible
enchantment on Woot the Wanderer. Even now she is laughing at our
despair because we can find no way to get rid of the green monkey. Very
well, we do not wish to get rid of it. Let the woman who created the
form wear it herself, as a just punishment for her wickedness. I am
sure your fairy power can give to Mrs. Yoop the form of Woot the
Wanderer—even at this distance from her—and then it will be possible
to exchange the two forms. Mrs. Yoop will become the Green Monkey, and
Woot will recover his own form again."

Ozma's face brightened as she listened to this clever proposal.

"Thank you, Polychrome," said she. "The task you propose Is not so easy
as you suppose, but I will make the attempt, and perhaps I may succeed."

They now entered the house, and as an interested group, watched Jinjur,
at Ozma's command, build a fire and put a kettle of water over to boil.
The Ruler of Oz stood before the fire silent and grave, while the
others, realizing that an important ceremony of magic was about to be
performed, stood quietly in the background so as not to interrupt
Ozma's proceedings. Only Polychrome kept going in and coming out,
humming softly to herself as she danced, for the Rainbow's Daughter
could not keep still for long, and the four walls of a room always made
her nervous and ill at ease. She moved so noiselessly, however, that
her movements were like the shifting of sunbeams and did not annoy
anyone.

When the water in the kettle bubbled, Ozma drew from her bosom two tiny
packets containing powders. These powders she threw into the kettle and
after briskly stirring the contents with a branch from a macaroon bush,
Ozma poured the mystic broth upon a broad platter which Jinjur had
placed upon the table. As the broth cooled it became as silver,
reflecting all objects from its smooth surface like a mirror.

While her companions gathered around the table, eagerly attentive—and
Dorothy even held little Toto in her arms that he might see—Ozma waved
her wand over the mirror-like surface. At once it reflected the
interior of Yoop Castle, and in the big hall sat Mrs. Yoop, in her best
embroidered silken robes, engaged in weaving a new lace apron to
replace the one she had lost.

The Giantess seemed rather uneasy, as if she had a faint idea that
someone was spying upon her, for she kept looking behind her and this
way and that, as though expecting danger from an unknown source.
Perhaps some yookoohoo instinct warned her. Woot saw that she had
escaped from her room by some of the magical means at her disposal,
after her prisoners had escaped her. She was now occupying the big hall
of her castle as she used to do. Also Woot thought, from the cruel
expression on the face of the Giantess, that she was planning revenge
on them, as soon as her new magic apron was finished.

But Ozma was now making passes over the platter with her silver Wand,
and presently the form of the Giantess began to shrink in size and to
change its shape. And now, in her place sat the form of Woot the
Wanderer, and as if suddenly realizing her transformation Mrs. Yoop
threw down her work and rushed to a looking-glass that stood against
the wall of her room. When she saw the boy's form reflected as her own,
she grew violently angry and dashed her head against the mirror,
smashing it to atoms.

Just then Ozma was busy with her magic Wand, making strange figures,
and she had also placed her left hand firmly upon the shoulder of the
Green Monkey. So now, as all eyes were turned upon the platter, the
form of Mrs. Yoop gradually changed again. She was slowly transformed
into the Green Monkey, and at the same time Woot slowly regained his
natural form.

It was quite a surprise to them all when they raised their eyes from
the platter and saw Woot the Wanderer standing beside Ozma. And, when
they glanced at the platter again, it reflected nothing more than the
walls of the room in Jinjur's house in which they stood. The magic
ceremonial was ended, and Ozma of Oz had triumphed over the wicked
Giantess.

"What will become of her, I wonder?" said Dorothy, as she drew a long
breath.

"She will always remain a Green Monkey," replied Ozma, "and in that
form she will be unable to perform any magical arts whatsoever. She
need not be unhappy, however, and as she lives all alone in her castle
she probably won't mind the transformation very much after she gets
used to it."

"Anyhow, it serves her right," declared Dorothy, and all agreed with
her.

"But," said the kind hearted Tin Woodman, "I'm afraid the Green Monkey
will starve, for Mrs. Yoop used to get her food by magic, and now that
the magic is taken away from her, what can she eat?"

"Why, she'll eat what other monkeys do," returned the Scarecrow. "Even
in the form of a Green Monkey, she's a very clever person, and I'm sure
her wits will show her how to get plenty to eat."

"Don't worry about her," advised Dorothy. "She didn't worry about you,
and her condition is no worse than the condition she imposed on poor
Woot. She can't starve to death in the Land of Oz, that's certain, and
if she gets hungry at times it's no more than the wicked thing
deserves. Let's forget Mrs. Yoop; for, in spite of her being a
yookoohoo, our fairy friends have broken all of her transformations."