The Oz Series
Chapter 29
Part of the The Marvelous Land of Oz: Tip's Rebellion and the Return of Ozma arc.
What happens
The newly living Saw-Horse is astonished and, lacking a neck, spins in circles trying to see its own body; its stiff, kneeless legs cause it to bump into Jack Pumpkinhead and knock him to the moss. Tip's shouts of "Whoa" are ignored, and the Saw-Horse steps on his foot; Jack observes the animal cannot hear because it has no ears. The Saw-Horse stops on its own after concluding it cannot see its body, then approaches Tip; it walks like a pacing horse, moving the legs on each side together so its body rocks like a cradle. Tip's attempt to tether it with a cord fails when the Saw-Horse snaps the string, though it does not run away.
Acting on Jack's suggestion, Tip whittles ears from tree bark, keeping them small so the horse does not become a donkey, and bores holes to insert them while Jack holds the head. Jack's admiring words, the first sounds the Saw-Horse ever hears, startle it into bolting; it tumbles both Tip and Jack, then stumbles into a gopher-hole and falls onto its back waving its legs. Tip rights it and explains the commands, and the Saw-Horse, learning that "whoa" means stop, agrees to obey. One ear is broken in the fall, so Tip whittles and attaches a new one.
Tip teaches the Saw-Horse the commands: "Whoa" means stop, "Get-Up" means walk forward, and "Trot" means go as fast as possible. He announces the party is journeying to the Emerald City to see His Majesty the Scarecrow, with Jack riding on the Saw-Horse's back to spare his joints. To give Jack a safe handhold, since holding the ears would deafen the horse, Tip cuts a sharpened limb and hammers it as a post into a hole behind the horse's head, jarring the animal, and instructs Jack to hold the post to avoid smashing his pumpkin head.
Tip walks beside the Saw-Horse and begins whistling, which he explains merely signals satisfaction; Jack laments he cannot whistle. The narrow path turns into a broad yellow-brick roadway, and a sign-post reads "NINE MILES TO THE EMERALD CITY." As darkness falls, Tip decides to camp for the night on a grassy mound with bushy trees. He lays the Pumpkinhead on the ground for safety and has the sleepless Saw-Horse stand watch, then falls asleep on the grass, greatly wearied by the journey.