The Oz Series
Chapter 5
Part of the Dorothy's Journey to the Wizard and Back to Kansas arc.
What happens
Dorothy awakes to sunshine with Toto already out chasing birds and squirrels, and finds the Scarecrow still standing patiently in his corner. She proposes searching for water to wash and drink so the dry bread will not stick in her throat. The Scarecrow remarks it must be inconvenient to be made of flesh, needing sleep, food, and drink, but concedes brains are worth the bother. They walk through the trees to a little spring of clear water where Dorothy drinks, bathes, and eats breakfast, noting there is little bread left and being thankful the Scarecrow needs no food.
As they prepare to return to the road, a deep groan startles them. Following the repeated sound, Dorothy discovers something shining and finds a man made entirely of tin standing beside a partly chopped tree with an uplifted axe, perfectly motionless. Toto barks and snaps at the tin legs, hurting his teeth. The tin man says he has been groaning for over a year with no one to hear him, and asks Dorothy to fetch an oil-can from a shelf in his cottage to oil his rusted joints. Dorothy retrieves the oil-can and, following his directions, oils his neck first while the Scarecrow works the head free, then his arms.
The Tin Woodman lowers his axe with relief, having held it in the air since he rusted, and asks that his legs be oiled so he can move freely again. Thanking them repeatedly for saving his life, he learns they are going to the Emerald City to see the Great Oz, that Dorothy wants to return to Kansas and the Scarecrow wants brains. The Tin Woodman asks whether Oz could give him a heart; Dorothy says it should be as easy as giving the Scarecrow brains. He joins the party, shoulders his axe, and they return to the yellow brick road. He asks Dorothy to keep the oil-can in her basket in case he is caught in rain and rusts again.
The Tin Woodman soon proves useful by chopping through thick branches blocking the road. When the Scarecrow stumbles into a hole, the Tin Woodman asks why he did not walk around it, and the Scarecrow explains his straw-stuffed head lacks the knowledge, which is why he seeks brains from Oz. The Tin Woodman states that brains are not the best things in the world, revealing he once had both brains and a heart and, having tried them both, would much rather have a heart. He then tells his story.
The Tin Woodman was born the son of a woodman and became a wood-chopper, caring for his mother until she died. He fell in love with a beautiful Munchkin girl who promised to marry him once he earned enough to build a better house. But the girl lived with a lazy old woman who did not want to lose her housekeeper and bribed the Wicked Witch of the East with two sheep and a cow to prevent the marriage. The Wicked Witch enchanted his axe, which slipped and cut off his left leg; a tinsmith replaced it with tin. Successively the enchanted axe cut off his right leg, both arms, and his head, each replaced with tin by the tinsmith; finally it split his body in two, and the tinsmith made him a tin body with jointed limbs.
Having no heart, the Tin Woodman lost all love for the Munchkin girl and no longer cared whether he married her, supposing she still lives with the old woman awaiting him. His tin body could not be cut, but risked rusting; he kept an oil-can and oiled himself, until one day he forgot and was caught in a rainstorm, rusting until Dorothy freed him. During his year standing rusted, he concluded that losing his heart was his greatest loss and resolved to ask Oz for a heart so he could return and marry the Munchkin maiden. The Scarecrow declares he will ask for brains instead, since a fool would not know what to do with a heart, while the Tin Woodman insists happiness from a heart is the best thing in the world. Dorothy, puzzled over which friend is right, decides it matters little if only she can return to Kansas and Aunt Em, and worries most that the bread is nearly gone, since she alone must eat.