Ruth Plumly Thompson

“ Pompa jumped up in a hurry and backed toward Kabumpo. “Be careful how you talk to him,” roared the Elegant Elephant, swaying backwards and forward like a big ship. “He’s a Prince—the Prince of Pumperdink!” Kabumpo tossed his trunk threateningly.
“A Prince?” spluttered the King, changing his tone instantly. “Well, that’s different. A Prince can fall in on us any time and welcome but an Ouch! Why bring this great clumsy Ouch along?” He rolled his eyes mournfully at Kabumpo.
“He’s not an Ouch,” explained Pompa, who was gradually recovering from the shock of his fall. ”

“ Glinda, you know, is the good Sorceress of Oz, who knows more magic than anyone in the Kingdom, but who only practices it for the people’s good. Indeed, Glinda and the Wizard of Oz are the only ones permitted to practice magic, for so much harm had come of it that Ozma made a law forbidding sorcery in all of its branches. But even in a fairy country people do not always obey the laws and everyone felt that magic was at the bottom of this disaster. ”

“ Peg Amy had followed Wag’s gaze and now she jumped up in great excitement. “I see it now!” cried Peg. “It’s us, Wag. Everything’s the same but we are different. Some of that Mixed Magic has made us grow. We’re bigger and everything else is the same. I am as tall as the little girl who used to play with me and you are even bigger and I’m glad, because now we can help find the castle and Ruggedo and try to make everything right again.” ”

“ Has your Majesty forgotten Faleero, royal Princess of Follensby forest?”
“Why, of course!” The King snapped his fingers joyfully. “Everyone says Faleero is a Fairy Princess. She must be the proper one!”
“Fa—leero!” trumpeted the Elegant Elephant, sitting down with a terrific thud. “That awful old creature! You ought to be ashamed of yourself!”
“Silence!” thundered the King.
“Nonsense!” trumpeted Kabumpo. “She’s a thousand years old and as ugly as a stone Lukoogoo. Don’t you marry her, Pompa.” ”

“ Nothing very exciting could happen to a shabby Wooden Doll.
“Why, I haven’t even any right to be alive,” she reflected sadly. “I’m only meant to be funny. Well, never mind! Perhaps I can help Pompa and maybe that’s why I was brought to life.”
This thought, and the gleam of the lovely pearls Kabumpo had given her, so cheered Peg that she began to hum a queer, squeaky little song. The country was growing rougher and more hilly every minute. The sunny farmlands lay far behind them now and as Peg finished her song they came to the edge of a queer, dead-looking forest. ”

“ The thought of Kabumpo in Glinda’s chariot made Pompa smile in spite of himself.
“There! That’s better,” said the Elegant Elephant more pleasantly.
“Now, what’s to hinder us from going to Ev and rescuing Princess Ozma? She couldn’t help marrying you if you saved her from a giant, could she?”
“But could I save her—that’s the question,” muttered the Prince, looking uneasily at the yawning cavity where the castle had stood. “This giant must be a terrible fellow!”
“Pooh!” said Kabumpo airily. “Who’s afraid of giants? I’ll wind my trunk around his leg and pull him to earth. ”

“ Did you ever hear of a wooden Princess, Wag?”
“You look like a Princess to me,” said the rabbit stoutly. “Dresses don’t matter.”
This speech so tickled the Wooden Doll that she gave Wag a good hug and began dancing again. “Being alive is such fun!” she called gaily over her shoulder, “and you are so wonderful!”
Wag’s chest expanded at least three inches and his whiskers trembled with emotion. “Hop on my back Peg and I’ll take you anywhere you want to go,” he puffed magnificently. ”

“ Ozma put both hands to her head as Pompa finished his recital and really it was enough to puzzle any fairy. Scrolls, live Wooden Dolls, a giant rabbit, a mysterious magician threatening disappearances and Ruggedo’s wicked use of the box of Mixed Magic.
“Goodness!” cried the little Ruler of Oz. “I wish the Scarecrow would come back. He’s so clever I’m sure he could help us; but first you had better bring me the magic box.”
Pompa rose slowly and, picking up all the little flasks and boxes that had spilled out when Wag pounded Ruggedo, he put them back into the casket and handed it to Ozma. ”

“ There are only a few more mysteries to clear up before we leave for a time the jolly Kingdom of Oz. Ruggedo, much shaken by his terrible experiences with Glegg’s magic, confessed everything to Ozma on her return to the Emerald City. You can imagine the surprise of the little Fairy Ruler on learning how her palace had come to be impaled upon the spikes of the wicked old gnome’s gray head. ”

“ All of this Dorothy saw, and was about to ask Ozma what it could mean when an overpowering drowsiness stole over her. Before she could speak her eyes closed, and she sank backward into a big arm chair. Trot and Betsy Bobbin with two little sighs crumpled down to the floor. The head of Sir Hokus dropped heavily on the sill, and not even in Pokes had he snored so lustily. Ozma slipped gently down beside Betsy and Trot, and in a moment there was not a person awake in that whole big palace. Even the little mice in the kitchen were fast asleep, with heads on their paws. ”

“ Peg glanced lovingly around the room. “I only felt that I had been alive before. So you!” Peg jumped up and flung one arm around Wag, “and you,” she flung the other around Pompa, “saved me by calling me a Princess and really believing I was one. And you!” Peg hastened over to Kabumpo, who was rolling his eyes sadly. “You are the darlingest old elephant in Oz! See, I still have the necklace and bracelet!” And sure enough on Peg’s round arm and white neck gleamed the jewels the Elegant Elephant had generously given when he thought her only a funny Wooden Doll. ”

“ I wouldn’t mind going,” she added generously.
“You shall do nothing of the sort,” cried Kabumpo angrily. “You’re going back to Pumperdink with Pompa and me.”
“She’s going with me,” cried Wag. “Aren’t you, Peg?”
“You seem to be a very popular person,” smiled Ozma. “While a Country has no right to run away, and while I never heard of one doing it before, I’ve no objections to its being an island. It’s running off with people I object to.” ”

“ The moon had come up brightly and even Kabumpo began to feel more like himself. “There’s a lot to be learned by traveling, eh, Wag?” He winked at the rabbit, who was just behind him. “Let’s see—somersaults for sums—never be gormish—and now, how to be cheerful in three chirps. Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!” The Elegant Elephant began to plow swiftly through the daisy field, so that in almost no time they reached the top of the little hill and as they did so Peg gave a little scream of delight. ”

“ Next instant she clapped her hands and down swept a shining chariot drawn by white swans.
“Good-bye!” called Glinda, springing in lightly. “I’m off to Ev to try my magic against the giant’s. Wait here and when I’ve helped Ozma perhaps I can help you!”
“Can’t we help? Can’t we go?” cried Pompa, running a few steps after the chariot, but Glinda, already high in the air, did not hear him and in the wink of an eye the chariot and its lovely occupant had melted into the pink morning clouds. ”

“ Glinda looked at Kabumpo gravely. “It’s unlawful to practice magic. You must know that,” said the Sorceress sternly.
“But it’s not our magic, your Highness,” explained Peg Amy, setting down the little kettle. “We found it, and we’re only trying to help Ozma.”
“Well, in that case,” Glinda could not help smiling at the Wooden Doll’s quaint appearance, “I shall be glad to assist you, as all of my magic has proved useless.”
“Aren’t you the Prince of Pumperdink?” she asked, nodding toward Pompa. ”

“ Sir Hokus was too heavy to move, so they merely loosened his armor and put a sofa cushion under his head. Then, just as Scraps was going for some water, the room began to tremble again.
“I told you it wasn’t over,” cried Scraps, flinging both arms about the Scarecrow’s neck. And as they rocked to and fro she shouted merrily:
“Shaker! Shaker! Who art thee,
To shake a castle like a tree?
Shaker! Shaker! Go away
And come again some other day!”
“Now, Scraps,” begged the Scarecrow, steadying the Patch Work Girl with one hand and catching hold of a table with the other, “everything depends on us. ”

“ King over one wooden doll, six rocks and twenty-seven sofa cushions! You may have been a King once, but now you’re just a plain gnome and nothing else, and if you go and sit quietly in your plain rocking chair I’ll bring you a cup of plain mud.”
With a chuckle, the rabbit retired, and Ruggedo, spluttering with fury, flounced into a doll’s broken rocker that was set in the exact center of the cave.
“Here I give that rabbit everything I steal and he won’t even allow me the little luxury of calling him an idiot or of pulling his ears. How can I pretend to be a King without an ear to pull?” ”

“ You are alive and very jolly. You are traveling with the most Elegant Elephant in Oz and in the company of a Prince. Isn’t that enough?”
Peg Amy did not reply but kept on beating the plush robe with determined little thumps and staring off through the trees with a very puzzled expression in her painted blue eyes. They had traveled swiftly all morning through the fertile farmlands of the Winkies and had paused for lunch in this little grove. Peg, not needing food, and Kabumpo, finding plenty of tender branches handy, had remained together while Wag and the Prince sought more nourishing fare. ”

“ The Elegant Elephant looked ruefully at his silk robe of state, which was hopelessly smeared with icing; then put his trunk to his head, for something hard had struck him between the eyes. He felt about the floor and found a round shiny object which he was about to show the King when Pompus pounced upon a tall scroll sitting upright in his tumbler. ”

“ Up in the palace the entire company fell over and twenty windows were shaken to bits. Then everything grew quiet and there was perfect silence; for Ruggedo, realizing his danger, grew rigid with fright. Giant drops of perspiration trickled down his forehead. How long could he keep from moving?
“Well,” said Dorothy after a few minutes had passed, “I guess that will keep him quiet, but what next? Shall we let ourselves down with ropes?”
“We have none long enough,” said Sir Hokus.
“Then I’ll fall out and go for help,” said the Scarecrow brightly, and started toward the window. ”

“ Pompa sighed dismally. “No one will want to marry me now. It’s all coming true, Kabumpo, just as Count It Up said. Remember? ‘If a thin Prince sets out on a fat elephant to find a Proper Princess, how many yards of fringe will the elephant lose from his robe and how bald will the Prince be at the end of the journey?’ And we’ve scarcely begun!” ”

“ Can’t you eat grass and fish? There’s fine fish in my lakes.”
“Well, I don’t eat at all,” explained Peg pleasantly, “but Pompa is a Prince and a Prince has to have meat and vegetables and puddings on Sunday—”
“And I have to have lettuce and carrots and cabbages, or I won’t work!” cried Wag, thumping with his hind feet and winking at Kabumpo. “I’ll not dig a single mountain!”
“And I’ve got to have my ton of hay a day, too!” trumpeted the Elegant Elephant, “or I’ll not lug a single log. Pretty poor sort of a Country you are, expecting us to live on grass as if we were donkeys and goats.” ”

“ She moved one arm, then the other and turned her head stiffly from side to side. “I can walk!” cried Peg. “I can walk; I can skip; I can run!” Here Peg began running around the cave, her joints squeaking merrily at every step.
At Peg’s first move Ruggedo had jumped back of a rock, his every spike standing on end. Too late he realized his mistake. This huge wooden creature clattering around the cave was positively dangerous. Why, she might easily pound him to bits. Why on earth had he meddled with the magic rays and why under the earth should a wooden doll come to life? ”

“ There was a smooth patch of sand under the trees and Wag hopped over and began marking out the squares with his paw.
“Scop hotch!” laughed Pompa, While Peg gave a skip of delight.
“Play if you want to,” wheezed Kabumpo, shaking himself wearily, “I feel about as playful as a stone lion. Besides, hop scotch isn’t an elephant game.”
Peg, Wag and Pompa began to hop scotch for dear life. Peg often tumbled over, for it is hard to keep your balance on wooden legs, but it was Peg who won in the end and Wag crowned her with daisies. ”

“ How did you know about Ozma’s disappearance and how were you going to help her?”
“Mixed Magic!” whispered Wag, crossing his ears and his eyes as well. “Mixed Magic!”
“Magic?” gulped Kabumpo, swallowing a branch of sticky leaves whole. “Have you any magic?”
“A whole box full,” sighed Peg Amy, patting her pocket softly.
“In that box is the magic that brought Peg to life!” shrilled Wag, pointing a trembling paw. “In that box is the magic that made us grow. In that box is the magic that caused Ozma’s castle to disappear—!” ”

“ There at his feet lay the King of the Candles, stiff and lifeless and with never a head to bless himself with. While the Elegant Elephant stared at the long candlestick figure a fat little Candleman rushed forward and lit with his own head the small black wick sticking out of the King’s collar.
Instantly the ruddy flame face of the King appeared, his eyes snapping dangerously. Jumping to his feet he advanced toward Pompadore. “Is this your Ouch?” spluttered the King, jerking his thumb at Kabumpo. “You must take him away at once. I never was so put out in my life. ”

“ I don’t care if he is a giant! I’ll pound his curly toes off!”
The stick whistled through the air and whacked the giant’s toes again.
Now of course we have known all along that the giant was Ruggedo, but it was a great surprise for the rescuers. Ruggedo was bad enough to deal with as a gnome—but a giant Ruggedo! Horrors!
“Stop him! Stop him!” cried Peg Amy, throwing up her hands and scattering the contents of the box of magic in every direction.
“What are you trying to do?” roared Kabumpo, plunging forward. “Get us all trampled on?” ”