The Oz Series
Chapter 77
Part of the Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz: The Underground World arc.
What happens
Passing through the glass mountain brings the travelers to a delightful valley shaped like the hollow of a great cup, bounded by another rugged mountain on the far side and soft green hills at the ends, and laid out in lovely lawns, gardens, pebble paths, groves of stately trees, orchards bearing fruits unknown in the surface world, crystal brooks, and dozens of picturesque cottages, each set apart with its own grounds rather than clustered into villages. The party is enraptured by the beauty and fragrance after the confined tunnel air. They notice two singular facts: the valley is lit from an unseen source with no sun or moon in the arched blue sky, and, despite overlooking the whole valley, they see not a single moving inhabitant. The mountain on this side is granite-like stone rather than glass; Jim drags the buggy down over loose rocks to the green lawns below.
Dorothy springs out joyously and lets Eureka frolic on the grass; Zeb is relieved to have escaped the vegetable people, and the Wizard remarks the place is so pretty he would not mind living there always. He releases the piglets to run on the grass, and Jim samples the grass and declares himself contented. Eureka tries and fails to walk in the air, and the Wizard concludes they are nearer the surface of the earth than in the Mangaboo country because everything is more homelike. They hear a bird twittering but cannot see the creature. Walking toward the nearest cottage, they come upon a low broad-leaved plant bearing a single fragrant, peach-sized fruit; before Dorothy can pluck it, all nine piglets rush in and devour it eagerly, then vanish from sight.
The Wizard calls the piglets, hears their squeals and grunts at his feet, and, stooping, feels one of the small fat bodies but cannot see what he holds; the piglets report they can still see the travelers. The Wizard concludes the piglets have become invisible, and Eureka guesses it is because they ate the fruit. He warns the children not to eat the strange fruit lest they too turn invisible and lose one another, and to avoid any more of it. He picks up each piglet by feel, returns them to his buttoned pocket, and the group resumes walking to the vine-covered cottage. Its door stands open, a table is set with four chairs, plates, knives, forks, and dishes of bread, meat, and fruits; the meat is smoking hot and the knives and forks perform strange antics, jumping about, though no person is visible.
Merry laughter answers Dorothy, the cutlery clatters down, a chair pushes back, and unseen voices speak: a shrill childish voice announces strangers to "mama," a soft womanly voice and a stern gruff man's voice respond. The Wizard confirms there are invisible people present and asks who they are; the woman explains they are the people of Voe and are surprised the strangers cannot see them. The Wizard recounts falling through an earthquake crack into the Country of the Mangaboos, being walled up, and finding the tunnel to this Valley of Voe. The man's voice grows friendlier and welcomes them to eat. When Jim is identified as a horse that draws the buggy but cannot fight, the invisible man warns that fierce, large bears roam the Valley of Voe and eat people when they catch them, though the people are seldom caught because they are invisible. The bears too are invisible, because they eat the dama-fruit, as all the people do; the dama-fruit is the low-bush, peach-like fruit that confers invisibility, eaten because it is the most delicious food and because invisibility hides them from the bears. The woman then invites the wanderers to sit and eat their luncheon.
Who is in play
- Dorothy
- Valley of Voe
- underground_traveling_party
- Zeb
- dama-fruit
- Jim
- Land of the Mangaboos
- Mangaboos
- Oz
- the people of Voe
- Eureka
- the bears of the Valley of Voe
- the buggy
- the nine tiny piglets