The Oz Series
Chapter 25
Part of the The Marvelous Land of Oz: Tip's Rebellion and the Return of Ozma arc.
What happens
In the Country of the Gillikins, at the North of the Land of Oz, lives a youth called Tip, whose full name old Mombi declares is Tippetarius, though no one uses so long a word. The boy remembers nothing of his parents, having been brought young to be reared by the old woman Mombi, whose reputation is poor; the Gillikin people suspect her of magical arts and hesitate to associate with her. Mombi is not exactly a Witch, because the Good Witch who rules that part of Oz has forbidden any other Witch to exist in her dominions, so Mombi is at most a Sorceress or Wizardess. Tip is made to carry wood from the forest for Mombi's pot, work in the corn-fields hoeing and husking, feed the pigs, and milk the four-horned cow that is Mombi's especial pride. He does not work all the time, however, often climbing trees for birds' eggs, chasing white rabbits, fishing with bent pins, digging in gopher holes, or napping between the corn rows when the stalks hide him from Mombi's view, growing strong and rugged by not exhausting himself. Mombi's curious magic frightens her neighbors, who treat her shyly but respectfully, while Tip frankly hates her and shows little respect for his guardian.
Pumpkins grow golden red among the green stalks in Mombi's corn-fields, planted so the four-horned cow may eat them in winter. One day, after the corn is cut and stacked, Tip is carrying the pumpkins to the stable when he takes a notion to make a "Jack Lantern" to frighten the old woman. He selects a fine, big, lustrous orange-red pumpkin and carves two round eyes, a three-cornered nose, and a mouth shaped like a new moon; the face wears a jolly, broad smile that makes even Tip laugh. Having no playmates, Tip does not know boys usually hollow out a pumpkin-jack and insert a candle, but he conceives his own idea to manufacture the form of a man to wear the pumpkin head and stand it where Mombi will meet it face to face, expecting she will squeal and shiver with fright. He has plenty of time because Mombi has gone to a village to buy groceries, a journey of at least two days.
Tip takes his axe to the forest, cuts and trims stout straight saplings for the man's arms, legs, and feet, and strips a sheet of thick bark from a big tree to fashion a cylinder body, pinning the edges with wooden pegs. He joints the limbs and fastens them to the body with pegs whittled with his knife, then carries the wooden man home to milk the cow and feed the pigs. During the evening by the kitchen fire, Tip rounds the joints and smooths the rough places, stands the remarkably tall figure against the wall, and admires it, not objecting to its size.
The next morning Tip realizes he has forgotten to give the dummy a neck to fasten the pumpkin head. He returns to the forest, chops several pieces of wood, fastens a cross-piece to the upper end of the body with a hole through the center, and inserts a sharpened neck-piece. He presses the pumpkin head down onto the neck and finds it fits well, the head able to turn side to side and the jointed arms and legs allowing any position. Declaring it a very fine man that ought to frighten Mombi, Tip decides it would look more lifelike if dressed. He ransacks the great chest where Mombi keeps her keepsakes and treasures, finding at the bottom some purple trousers, a red shirt, and a pink white-spotted vest, and dresses the creature in a jaunty fashion along with Mombi's knit stockings and a worn pair of his own shoes. Delighted, Tip dances and laughs, then declares such a good man must have a name, and after a moment's thought names the fellow "Jack Pumpkinhead."
Who is in play
- Tip
- Jack Pumpkinhead
- Mombi
- Witch of the North
- Land of Oz
- Country of the Gillikins
- Gillikins
- four-horned cow