The Oz Series
Chapter 37
Part of the The Marvelous Land of Oz: Tip's Rebellion and the Return of Ozma arc.
What happens
The Woggle-Bug recounts his history, honestly acknowledging he was born an ordinary Woggle-Bug who used arms and legs to crawl under stones and among grass roots, feeding on smaller insects, stiffening in the chill nights and reviving each morning in the sun, in the regular ordained miserable existence of Woggle-Bugs. One day, drawn by the hum of students, he crept into a country school-house through a crack between boards and reached a warm hearth by the master's desk, where he established a home in a nest between two bricks for many months. There he listened to the lectures of Professor Nowitall, the most famous scholar in the Land of Oz, and acquired marvelous knowledge, which is why he places "T. E." (Thoroughly Educated) on his cards and prides himself on his unmatched culture and erudition.
His narration prompts asides: the Scarecrow boasts of his own unexcelled Wizard-given brains, the Tin Woodman argues a good heart is more desirable than education or brains, the Saw-Horse declares a good leg more desirable than either, and Jack Pumpkinhead abruptly asks whether seeds could be considered brains before Tip sternly commands him to keep quiet. The Woggle-Bug resumes, saying he lived fully three years in the school-house hearth drinking of limpid knowledge, which the Scarecrow calls poetical.
One day the Professor discovered the Woggle-Bug crawling across the hearth and caught him between thumb and forefinger, announcing to his pupils a rare captured specimen. To show its construction, the Professor brought out his famous magnifying-glass and threw the insect upon a screen in a highly-magnified condition, leaving the Woggle-Bug magnified as he now appears. The students craned to see, and two little girls climbed onto an open window-sill. When the Professor cried "Behold," the Woggle-Bug, knowing what a cultured gentleman does, stood upright and bowed politely; the unexpected action startled one girl into screaming and falling backward out the window, dragging her companion with her.
The Professor rushed out in horror to check on the children, followed by the scholars in a wild mob, leaving the Woggle-Bug alone, still Highly-Magnified and free. Realizing this was his chance to escape and that his great size now let him travel safely anywhere as a fit associate for learned people, he calmly walked out, turned a corner, and escaped unnoticed to a grove of trees while the Professor picked up the more frightened than hurt little girls. The Pumpkinhead calls this wonderful, and the Woggle-Bug congratulates himself on escaping while magnified, since his knowledge would have been useless in a tiny insignificant body.
Asked by Tip how insects come to wear clothes, the Woggle-Bug explains he saved the ninth life of a tailor (tailors, like cats, having nine lives), who gratefully furnished the stylish costume he now wears and turns to display. He states he was going nowhere in particular but intends to visit the Emerald City to give a course of lectures on the "Advantages of Magnification." The Tin Woodman invites him to travel in their company toward the Emerald City, which the Woggle-Bug graciously accepts as the most congenial company in Oz. When the Woggle-Bug suggests they set off, Tip explains they cannot because the Saw-Horse has a broken leg with no wood around to replace it, and the stiff-jointed Pumpkinhead must ride. The Woggle-Bug cleverly proposes using one of Jack's wooden legs to make a leg for the Saw-Horse that carries him. Despite Jack's and the Saw-Horse's displeasure and mutual insults over the amputated leg, the Tin Woodman amputates Jack's left leg and whittles it to fit the Saw-Horse's left leg; the Tin Woodman pleads against quarreling, the Woggle-Bug praises his heart, and they tie the one-legged Pumpkinhead onto the Saw-Horse and advance toward the Emerald City following the Scarecrow.
Who is in play
- Tin Woodman
- Tip
- Jack Pumpkinhead
- Saw-Horse
- Scarecrow
- Woggle-Bug
- City of Emeralds
- Land of Oz
- Oz
- Professor Nowitall