The Oz Series
Chapter 54
Part of the Ozma of Oz: The Land of Ev and the Nome King arc.
What happens
The little procession walks slowly down the path between the rocks, Tiktok first, Dorothy following, and Billina trotting last. At the foot of the path Tiktok easily tosses aside the rocks blocking the way and offers to carry Dorothy's dinner-pail; she places it in his right hand, and his copper fingers close firmly over the handle. They march out onto the level sands.
As soon as the three guarding Wheelers see them, they shout their wild cries and roll swiftly toward the group. When the foremost approaches, Tiktok swings the tin dinner-pail and strikes it a sharp blow over the head; though it may not hurt much, it makes a great noise, and the Wheeler howls, tumbles over, then scrambles to its wheels and rolls away screeching. Tiktok begins to repeat that they are harmless, but a second Wheeler attacks; a crack of the dinner-pail against its head knocks its straw hat a dozen feet away, and it too flees, followed by the third, which does not wait to be struck.
Billina cackles with delight and perches on Tiktok's shoulder, praising him. But a large band of Wheelers then rolls from the forest and, relying on numbers, advances fiercely on Tiktok. Dorothy clutches Billina, and the machine embraces the little girl with his left arm to protect her while swinging the dinner-pail in every direction. The clatter of the pail bumping against Wheeler heads frightens them more than it hurts, and they flee in panic, all except their leader. This leader, having stumbled against another and fallen flat on his back, is seized by Tiktok, who fastens his copper fingers into the neck of the leader's gorgeous jacket and holds him fast.
Tiktok commands the leader to tell his people to go away; when the Wheeler hesitates, Tiktok shakes him like a terrier shaking a rat until his teeth rattle, and the creature shouts to the others to roll away, which they do. Tiktok declares the leader must come with them and tell what he wants to know. The Wheeler whines that Tiktok will be sorry, claiming to be a terribly fierce person, but Tiktok, saying he is only a machine that cannot feel sorrow or joy, tells the Wheeler he is neither terrible nor fierce because no one else thinks so; his wheels make him helpless, with no fists to scratch or pull hair and no feet to kick, so all he can do is yell and shout, which hurts no one.
The Wheeler bursts into tears, lamenting that he and his people are ruined forever now that their secret is discovered; being helpless, their only hope was to make people afraid by pretending fierceness and writing warnings in the sand to Beware the Wheelers, and now their enemies will fall upon them. Dorothy, sorry for the well-dressed Wheeler, promises that Tiktok, Billina, and she will keep the secret if he promises not to frighten children anymore. The Wheeler promises, admitting he is not really bad but must pretend to be terrible to prevent attacks. Tiktok corrects this, saying the Wheelers are full of mischief, impudent, and disagreeable, but if the Wheeler tries to cure those faults Tiktok will not reveal their helplessness. The Wheeler agrees and thanks him; Tiktok repeats he is only a machine that can only do what it is wound up to do, and promises to keep the secret if the Wheeler behaves.
Tiktok then asks who rules the Land of Ev. The Wheeler answers there is no ruler because every member of the royal family is imprisoned by the Nome King, but the Princess Langwidere, a niece of late King Evoldo, lives in part of the royal palace and takes as much money from the treasury as she can spend; she does not truly rule but is the nearest approach to a ruler. Tiktok does not remember her and asks what she looks like. The Wheeler says he cannot say, for the Princess is a different person every time he sees her, and her subjects can only recognize her by a beautiful ruby key she always wears on a chain attached to her left wrist. Dorothy is astonished that so many different princesses are one person; the Wheeler clarifies there is one princess who appears in many beautiful forms. Dorothy calls her a witch, but the Wheeler denies it, noting only some mystery, and describes her as vain, living mostly in a room surrounded by mirrors.
No one answers because they have passed out of the forest and see before them a beautiful vale with fruit trees, green fields, farm-houses, and smooth roads. About a mile away rise the tall spires of the royal palace, surrounded by charming grounds with flowers, fountains, and white marble statuary. As Dorothy's party enters the grounds and approaches the big front door of the king's apartments, they find it tightly closed with a sign reading OWNER ABSENT and directing visitors to knock at the Third Door in the Left Wing.
Tiktok orders the captive Wheeler to show them the Left Wing, which the Wheeler says is around at the right; he explains there used to be three wings, two were torn down, and the one on the right is the only one left, a trick of the Princess to prevent annoyance. The captive leads them to the wing, after which Tiktok releases him, and the Wheeler rolls away rapidly. Tiktok counts the doors and knocks loudly on the third. A little maid in a ribbon-trimmed cap opens it, and when Dorothy asks to see the Princess, the maid agrees to announce them but cries "Shoo!" and flaps her apron at Billina. Billina retorts angrily, surprising the maid by talking, and flies at the maid's face until she ducks, reaching Dorothy's side safely. Dorothy insists Billina is her friend and must go wherever she goes.
The maid leads them to a richly furnished drawing-room lit by stained-glass windows and asks for their names; Dorothy identifies herself as Dorothy Gale of Kansas, the machine as Tiktok, and the hen as her friend Billina. The maid withdraws through passages and up two marble stairways to her mistress. Princess Langwidere's sitting-room is paneled floor-to-ceiling with mirrors, its ceiling also mirrored and its floor of polished silver, so her form is mirrored hundreds of times as she plays her mandolin and admires herself. As the maid enters, Langwidere is admiring her auburn-haired, hazel-eyed head. The maid announces the visitors, and Langwidere, mildly interested, decides to change to her No. 17 head, which the maid Nanda calls exceedingly beautiful.
An explanation follows: Princess Langwidere has thirty heads, as many as days in the month, but wears only one at a time because she has but one neck. The heads are kept in her cabinet, a dressing-room between her sleeping-chamber and the mirrored sitting-room, each head in a separate velvet-lined cupboard with carved doors bearing gold numbers outside and jeweled-framed mirrors inside. Each morning she selects a head, fits it on using the mirror, and has her maids robe her in a simple white costume that suits all heads, since changing faces removes any need for varied gowns. The thirty heads vary greatly, no two alike, all lovely, with golden, brown, auburn, and black hair (none gray); blue, gray, hazel, brown, and black eyes (none red); Grecian, Roman, retrousse, and Oriental noses; assorted mouths, dimples, and a few freckles. One curious key carved from a single blood-red ruby, fastened to a slender chain on her left wrist, unlocks all the cupboards.
Nanda supports Langwidere to cupboard No. 17; the Princess unlocks it with her ruby key, hands the No. 9 head she was wearing to the maid, and fits No. 17, which has black hair, dark eyes, and a pearl-and-white complexion. The narration notes that No. 17's temper, hidden under the glossy black hair, is fiery, harsh, and haughty, often leading the Princess to do unpleasant things she regrets when wearing other heads, though she does not remember this today. Confident of surprising her guests with her beauty, she is disappointed to find only a small girl in a gingham dress, a copper man that goes only when wound, and a yellow hen contentedly sitting in Langwidere's work-basket beside a china darning egg.
Langwidere haughtily dismisses Dorothy's chatter, calling it senseless, and Dorothy retorts. The Princess asks if Dorothy is of royal blood; Dorothy says she is better than that, having come from Kansas. Scornful, Langwidere tells her to run away, but then, scanning the girl's face, calls her nearer and examines her carefully. She judges Dorothy rather attractive with a style of prettiness different from her thirty heads and proposes to take Dorothy's head in exchange for No. 26. Dorothy firmly refuses, unwilling to take cast-off things. When she persists in refusing, Langwidere threatens to lock her in a tower and calls her army. Nanda rings a silver bell, and a big fat colonel in a red uniform enters with ten lean, sad-looking soldiers.
The Princess orders the colonel to carry Dorothy to the North Tower. The colonel seizes the child, but Tiktok pounds his dinner-pail against the colonel's head, knocking him to the floor, and knocks down seven of the ten soldiers before his action runs down and he freezes with the pail raised. He calls to Dorothy to wind him, but the recovered colonel grabs her, leaving her helpless; Tiktok notes he should have run six hours longer but his long walk and the Wheeler fight ran him down faster. Dorothy again refuses to exchange heads, so Langwidere's soldiers lead her to the high North Tower and lock her in. The soldiers cannot lift the heavy Tiktok, so they leave him standing in the drawing-room, and Langwidere decides he will pass for a new statue that Nanda can keep polished. Told about Billina in the work-basket, the Princess orders her put in the chicken-house to be fried for breakfast someday; when Nanda calls the hen tough and Billina claims her breed is poison to princesses, Langwidere decides instead to keep the hen for laying eggs, threatening to drown her in the horse trough if she fails.
Who is in play
- Dorothy
- Billina
- Princess Langwidere
- Tiktok
- Wheelers
- Kansas
- royal_family_of_ev
- royal palace of Ev
- the Nome King
- Evoldo
- Land of Ev
- leader of the Wheelers
- colonel
- Nanda
- ruby key
- Langwidere's army