The Oz Series
Chapter 3
Part of the Dorothy's Journey to the Wizard and Back to Kansas arc.
What happens
Left alone and hungry, Dorothy cuts bread and butter from the cupboard, shares it with Toto, fills a pail with clear water from the brook, and gathers delicious fruit from the trees for her breakfast. She then prepares for the journey to the City of Emeralds. She washes and dresses in her one clean gingham frock of white and blue checks, ties on her pink sunbonnet, and fills a basket with bread covered by a white cloth. Noticing her leather shoes are old and worn and unfit for a long journey, she tries on the silver shoes that belonged to the Witch of the East; they fit perfectly and, she reasons, could not wear out. She closes and locks the house, pockets the key, and sets off with Toto.
Dorothy quickly finds the road paved with yellow bricks and walks briskly toward the Emerald City, her silver shoes tinkling. The country is pretty, with neat blue-painted fences and abundant fields of grain and vegetables, showing the Munchkins are good farmers. Munchkins come out of their round, dome-roofed blue houses to bow to her, everyone knowing she destroyed the Wicked Witch and freed them. Toward evening, tired, Dorothy reaches a larger house where men and women dance on the lawn, five little fiddlers play, and a table is loaded with food; this is the home of one of the richest Munchkins, whose friends are celebrating their freedom.
The people invite Dorothy to supper and to stay the night. She is waited upon by the rich Munchkin himself, named Boq. Seeing her silver shoes, Boq calls her a great sorceress, explaining that the silver shoes, her killing of the Wicked Witch, and the white in her frock mark her as a witch, since only witches and sorceresses wear white; the blue and white of her dress makes her a friendly witch. Dorothy, knowing she is only an ordinary girl brought by a cyclone, does not know how to respond. Boq gives her a room with a blue-sheeted bed, where she sleeps soundly with Toto on the blue rug.
After a hearty breakfast, Dorothy watches a Munchkin baby play with Toto, who is a curiosity because the Munchkins have never seen a dog. Boq tells her he has never been to the Emerald City and that it is a long journey of many days through rough and dangerous places, warning that it is better to keep away from Oz unless one has business with him. Determined that only the Great Oz can send her back to Kansas, Dorothy resolves not to turn back, bids her friends good-bye, and continues along the yellow brick road. Stopping to rest on a fence, she sees a great cornfield and a Scarecrow raised on a pole to keep birds away.
The Scarecrow has a straw-stuffed sack head with a painted face, an old pointed blue Munchkin hat, a faded blue suit stuffed with straw, and blue-topped boots. As Dorothy gazes at it, one eye winks and the head nods in a friendly way. She approaches and the Scarecrow speaks, saying it is tedious to be perched up scaring crows. Dorothy lifts the light straw figure off the pole at his request. Learning she is going to the Emerald City to ask the Great Oz to send her back to Kansas, the Scarecrow, who says he is stuffed and has no brains, asks whether Oz might give him brains. Dorothy invites him to come along, since he would be no worse off. The Scarecrow explains he does not mind being stuffed because he cannot be hurt, but does not want to be called a fool. Toto growls suspiciously at the Scarecrow at first. As they set off, the Scarecrow offers to carry the basket and confides that the one thing he fears in the world is a lighted match.
Who is in play
- Dorothy
- Scarecrow
- City of Emeralds
- Kansas
- Munchkins
- Oz
- Silver Shoes
- Toto
- Wicked Witch of the East
- Land of the Munchkins
- road of yellow brick
- Boq